1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:05,800 Thank you for listening to the river. 2 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:09,600 Bend Church podcast Riverbend Church exists, Elite all people 3 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:12,700 to know love and live New Life in Jesus Christ. 4 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:15,000 We hope that you enjoy this message. 5 00:00:18,100 --> 00:00:20,000 Now this morning, we're closing out a series called. 6 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:24,100 What if and the premise of this series is no matter who we are, 7 00:00:24,100 --> 00:00:26,700 where we've been what we've gone through or what we're going 8 00:00:26,700 --> 00:00:29,600 through, we all ask, what if questions we all ask? 9 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:32,800 What if questions about adequacy or inadequacy? 10 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,500 We ask what if questions about Hope or hopelessness? 11 00:00:36,700 --> 00:00:40,300 We asked what if questions about Community or even loneliness. 12 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:44,500 These are some very, very common questions that we asked some 13 00:00:44,700 --> 00:00:48,300 very personal questions that we ask and here's What we believe 14 00:00:48,300 --> 00:00:51,900 is, we believe that there's not a question that we can ask that 15 00:00:51,900 --> 00:00:54,500 God's word is solid on. There's not a question that we 16 00:00:54,508 --> 00:00:56,300 can ask that God sits there and goes. 17 00:00:56,300 --> 00:00:58,400 Hmm, let me think on that, that's a good one. 18 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:01,800 You kind of stumped me. God actually has an answer and 19 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,600 not just an answer but direction to our most personal questions. 20 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:10,000 But here's the thing in order to not just know what God says, but 21 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:14,300 actually to experience God and what I mean by that is we can 22 00:01:14,300 --> 00:01:17,900 know a lot of facts about God. If you grew up in church and you 23 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,700 You grew up, like, in a family, playing Bible trivia, or 24 00:01:20,700 --> 00:01:23,400 whatever you can do. A lot of details about God, you 25 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:25,400 can know a lot of facts about God, but when it comes to 26 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:28,200 actually spirits and God, that's a whole nother ball game. 27 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:32,300 And what I mean by that is actually experiencing like, we 28 00:01:32,300 --> 00:01:35,400 know God is love, but experiencing the love of God, we 29 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,100 know that God, gives grace, and mercy and kindness and 30 00:01:38,100 --> 00:01:41,300 compassion but to actually experience God's grace, mercy, 31 00:01:41,300 --> 00:01:44,300 kindness and compassion, that's a whole nother ball game, right? 32 00:01:44,300 --> 00:01:48,900 So one of the things that we come back to In this series and 33 00:01:48,900 --> 00:01:53,000 that we've been together Oakwood in this series, is understanding 34 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,400 to bring our most personal questions to God. 35 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:59,200 We have to first be honest with ourselves about ourselves about 36 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:03,900 our questions and we have to be honest with ourselves and with 37 00:02:03,900 --> 00:02:07,300 God about God and our questions towards God. 38 00:02:07,700 --> 00:02:10,500 Now, if you grow up in church, like me that can kind of be a 39 00:02:10,500 --> 00:02:15,500 scary thought, being completely honest and open and transparent 40 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:20,200 with God about what I About God and here's what like we know, 41 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:23,100 the Bible stories, right? We know that God flooded the 42 00:02:23,100 --> 00:02:26,100 Earth, we know that God rain down fire from heaven. 43 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:29,000 We know that God smited, his enemies not really a verb that 44 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:32,000 we use in 2023, but he smited his enemies. 45 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:34,500 And if we're really being honest, we really don't want to 46 00:02:34,500 --> 00:02:36,900 be on the equation on that side of the equation. 47 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:39,300 We can't swim that good. We don't want to be crispy and 48 00:02:39,300 --> 00:02:40,700 we really don't want to be smited. 49 00:02:40,700 --> 00:02:42,600 Horse moated, whatever the verb tense. 50 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:46,800 There is right. And even further, there's a part 51 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:53,900 of us that we start to think. How arrogant is it of me to 52 00:02:53,900 --> 00:02:56,800 bring my feelings about God to God? 53 00:02:57,300 --> 00:03:01,200 Like when I'm confused about God, when I may be angry about 54 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:06,400 God or where God has me or maybe I have some doubts about God or 55 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:11,400 some fears, how arrogant is it of me to bring that to be open 56 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:17,300 and honest with God? because, you know, he's God, I'm 57 00:03:17,300 --> 00:03:20,400 not And here's what I would tell you. 58 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:22,800 I would tell you that God knows it all. 59 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:25,800 Anyway, we might as well be honest with him. 60 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:31,900 And number two, God is big enough to handle it and loving 61 00:03:31,900 --> 00:03:35,200 enough to goddess through it. Here's my encouragement to you 62 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:39,500 Gainesville Oakwood online, keep directing your questions to God, 63 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:42,400 keep directing your honest feelings in your honest. 64 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:45,300 Thoughts about God toward God and see. 65 00:03:45,300 --> 00:03:47,900 I think this is what Jesus was getting at in part, when he said 66 00:03:47,900 --> 00:03:50,900 this in Matthew 7, keep on asking, you'll receive what you 67 00:03:50,900 --> 00:03:52,700 ask for. Keep on seeking, you'll find 68 00:03:52,700 --> 00:03:55,300 keep on knocking, on the door, will be opened for you, for 69 00:03:55,300 --> 00:03:57,100 everyone who asks receives everyone. 70 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:00,800 Seeks finds and to everyone who knocks the door will be open to 71 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:02,400 them. Here's where I would tell you 72 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:08,600 keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking, keep directing 73 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:12,000 them at God, whatever. What if questions you may have? 74 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:18,300 Keep on directing them to God. And this morning, I want to end 75 00:04:18,300 --> 00:04:22,100 this series with probably one of the most personal one of the 76 00:04:22,100 --> 00:04:26,800 most profit one of the most common questions that we ask. 77 00:04:26,900 --> 00:04:30,300 We don't give verbage to we don't say out loud because we're 78 00:04:30,300 --> 00:04:32,700 afraid of what it sounds like. If we say out loud and we're 79 00:04:32,700 --> 00:04:34,300 afraid of what other people may think. 80 00:04:34,300 --> 00:04:37,100 If we say it out loud and somehow we think that if God 81 00:04:37,100 --> 00:04:40,200 Hears A say it out loud then it actually matters more or it 82 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:42,500 offends him more, here's the question. 83 00:04:43,500 --> 00:04:45,500 What if I feel like God's forgotten about me? 84 00:04:52,700 --> 00:04:58,500 You ever ask that question? Like you've ever felt that 85 00:04:58,500 --> 00:05:01,900 question. What if I feel like God has 86 00:05:01,900 --> 00:05:05,600 forgotten about me? This question is, most often 87 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:08,200 asked on the backside of some trauma. 88 00:05:09,100 --> 00:05:11,600 This question is often asked, maybe on the backside of a 89 00:05:11,608 --> 00:05:15,800 medical diagnosis, this question is asked maybe on the backside 90 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:19,300 of a shift and relationships with friends or family. 91 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,900 This question is often asked with a shift of financial 92 00:05:22,900 --> 00:05:27,400 situation, maybe it work. This question is often I asked 93 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:31,100 when you fill in between what was and what will be, but you 94 00:05:31,100 --> 00:05:36,800 kind of in that in between Zone This question is probably the 95 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:39,800 most personal most private. The most common question that is 96 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:43,900 not given voice to out loud, but I want to tell you something 97 00:05:43,900 --> 00:05:47,200 Church, there is great precedence. 98 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:49,900 In this question being asked remember how I told you that the 99 00:05:49,900 --> 00:05:52,300 Bible is never silent on anything that you and I will 100 00:05:52,300 --> 00:05:56,000 ever face go through field or ask this question is actually 101 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:00,200 personified and exemplified and a passage in the book of Exodus. 102 00:06:00,300 --> 00:06:02,300 If you have a Bible with you, whether it's hard, copy, or 103 00:06:02,300 --> 00:06:04,400 digital, I want to get you to turn over. 104 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:07,800 To Exodus chapter 24, starting in verse 1. 105 00:06:08,300 --> 00:06:10,500 Now, while you're looking for it, let me kind of bring you up 106 00:06:10,500 --> 00:06:13,200 to speed on some context. So we're all on the same page. 107 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:17,700 The book of Exodus is written about a historical event, the 108 00:06:17,700 --> 00:06:20,400 leaving the Israelites captivity, and they're leaving 109 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:22,900 slavery. They're leaving captivity out of 110 00:06:22,900 --> 00:06:25,700 Egypt. What I mean by that is the 111 00:06:25,700 --> 00:06:28,500 nation of Israel. The Israelites, the Hebrew 112 00:06:28,500 --> 00:06:31,100 people, the Jews. They were enslaved by the 113 00:06:31,100 --> 00:06:35,800 Egyptians for 100 years. And we know this that God 114 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:37,900 selected an 80 something-year-old Man by the 115 00:06:37,900 --> 00:06:42,400 name of Moses, to be his primary mouthpiece his deliverer to the 116 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:45,900 nation of Israel for him to go to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and 117 00:06:45,900 --> 00:06:48,800 says hey got the god of the Israelites said, let him go. 118 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:53,400 And finally he relents, he lets him go and we know historically 119 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:59,100 around 14 44 BC that about 2 million Israelites left. 120 00:06:59,100 --> 00:07:02,100 The Empire of Egypt and started their track. 121 00:07:02,100 --> 00:07:07,300 Not just East, but Southeast If they left captivity and during 122 00:07:07,300 --> 00:07:12,000 this track called known as The Exodus during this track, the 123 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:15,200 God would would guide them through a pillar of cloud by day 124 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:18,200 and a pillar of Fire by night. And he would do some absolutely 125 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:20,100 amazing miracles on their behalf. 126 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:23,000 He would part the Red Sea to where they could walk across on 127 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:26,100 dry ground. He would feed them daily with 128 00:07:26,100 --> 00:07:28,700 quail. And Manna From Heaven, he would 129 00:07:28,700 --> 00:07:32,000 even when they got thirsty and there were no springs, no Oasis. 130 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:38,000 And the area he would, he would Instruct Moses to strike a rock. 131 00:07:39,700 --> 00:07:44,000 To speak to a rock and out of that rock, water, would flow 132 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:46,000 out, and it would give sustenance. 133 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:48,200 That would give hydration to the people. 134 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:51,300 He did some amazing miracles on behalf of the people. 135 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:56,000 So, by the time we get to Exodus chapter 24 and verse 1. 136 00:07:56,500 --> 00:07:59,400 The nation of Israel is kind of camped out at the base of Mount 137 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:02,100 Sinai. Now, to give you some historical 138 00:08:02,100 --> 00:08:05,200 reference, you can actually visit this site today, it's 139 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:07,900 actually in the middle of the Sinai Peninsula, which is in the 140 00:08:07,907 --> 00:08:11,500 Middle East and it's called Good job will Musa is the name of the 141 00:08:11,500 --> 00:08:15,700 mountain. That's modern-day Mount Sinai. 142 00:08:16,500 --> 00:08:20,300 So here's where we pick up. The Narrative. 143 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:24,200 It says in verse 1, chapter 24, then the Lord instructed Moses, 144 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:27,600 and let me kind of go ahead and put a precursor out there to us. 145 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:30,600 We're going to do a little bit of reading this morning. 146 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:33,799 Probably more reading than we normally do, just for the just 147 00:08:33,799 --> 00:08:36,000 for the overview of The Narrative of where we're going. 148 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:38,500 Because we need to get a complete picture of actually 149 00:08:38,500 --> 00:08:41,100 what's going on, a complete context of what's going on. 150 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:45,600 Verse 1 chapter 24, says the Lord instructed Moses come up 151 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:50,000 here to me and bring along Aaron nadab a Bahu and the 70, and 70 152 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:52,900 of Israel's Elders, all of you must worship from a distance, 153 00:08:53,900 --> 00:08:57,000 only Moses allowed to come near to the Lord. 154 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,900 The others must not come near and none of the other people are 155 00:08:59,900 --> 00:09:02,500 allowed to climb up the mountain with him. 156 00:09:03,700 --> 00:09:05,900 Then Moses went down to the people and repeated all the 157 00:09:05,900 --> 00:09:08,800 instructions and regulations, the Lord had given him and all 158 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:12,000 the people answered with one voice, we will do everything, 159 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:14,800 the Lord has commanded. Then Moses carefully wrote down 160 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:17,800 all the Lord's instructions. Because if your parent out 161 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:21,100 there, you feel me, your parent, your kids, when you say, hey, 162 00:09:21,100 --> 00:09:23,900 I'm going, I need you to do this. 163 00:09:23,900 --> 00:09:26,200 What do you do before you leave? You write it down for him, 164 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:27,900 right? Moses did the same thing. 165 00:09:27,900 --> 00:09:30,300 He wrote down all the Lord's instructions, early. 166 00:09:30,300 --> 00:09:33,200 The next morning, Moses got up, and built an altar at The foot 167 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:36,300 of the mountain and he also set up 12 pillars, one for each of 168 00:09:36,300 --> 00:09:39,000 the 12 tribes of Israel. Then he sent some of the young 169 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,100 Israelite men to present burnt offerings and to sacrifice Bulls 170 00:09:42,300 --> 00:09:46,800 as peace, offerings to the Lord. Moses drained, half the blood 171 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:50,100 from these animals into basins, the other half, he splattered 172 00:09:50,100 --> 00:09:52,900 against the altar, then he took the book of the Covenant and 173 00:09:52,900 --> 00:09:56,300 read it aloud to the people. Again they all responded we will 174 00:09:56,300 --> 00:09:58,400 do everything. The Lord has commanded. 175 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:01,700 We will obey it and the worship service is about to intensify. 176 00:10:02,100 --> 00:10:05,500 Then Moses took The blood from the basins and splattered it all 177 00:10:05,500 --> 00:10:08,400 over the people declaring look this Blood confirms the 178 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:11,300 Covenant, the Lord has made with you and giving you these 179 00:10:11,300 --> 00:10:13,200 instructions. That's how you know, they were 180 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:15,900 serious about it, right? Because half of us are going 181 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:18,100 man, that's intense and half of us are going. 182 00:10:18,300 --> 00:10:20,600 That's disgusting, but we can all agree. 183 00:10:20,700 --> 00:10:25,600 They were serious about this skip down to verse 15. 184 00:10:25,900 --> 00:10:29,200 He says, then Moses climbed up the mountain and the cloud 185 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:32,500 covered it, and the glory of the Lord settle down on Mount Sinai. 186 00:10:32,900 --> 00:10:35,400 And the cloud covered it. For six days, on the seventh 187 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:38,100 day, the Lord called to Moses from inside the cloud. 188 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:40,800 To the Israelites at the foot of the mountain. 189 00:10:40,900 --> 00:10:44,000 The glory of the Lord appeared at the summit like a consuming 190 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:46,400 fire. Then Moses disappeared into the 191 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:49,300 cloud as he climbed higher up the mountain he remained on the 192 00:10:49,300 --> 00:10:54,700 mountain 40 days and 40 nights. Now you would assume we've got 193 00:10:54,700 --> 00:10:57,900 all his good. Everything's going great, Moses 194 00:10:57,900 --> 00:11:00,300 already given the instructions. The people say, we will obey 195 00:11:00,300 --> 00:11:02,600 everything you say. They have this massive worship 196 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:04,900 service, everything is good to go. 197 00:11:05,100 --> 00:11:07,500 And then like we just keep going, right? 198 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:10,900 Well, There's a problem. Here's why I want to get you do 199 00:11:10,900 --> 00:11:24,400 flash over to chapter 32, Exodus chapter 32, Verse one, it says, 200 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:27,500 when the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come down 201 00:11:27,500 --> 00:11:29,900 the mountain. Now remember, 40 days, 40 202 00:11:29,900 --> 00:11:31,500 nights, they hadn't seen from him. 203 00:11:31,500 --> 00:11:34,100 They hadn't seen him, they hadn't heard from him, nothing. 204 00:11:35,500 --> 00:11:38,300 When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come down 205 00:11:38,300 --> 00:11:40,600 the mountain? They gathered around Aaron. 206 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:42,700 Come on. They said make us some Gods who 207 00:11:42,700 --> 00:11:45,000 can lead us. We don't know what happened to 208 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:47,000 this fellow. Moses who brought us here from 209 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:51,200 the land of Egypt. So Aaron said, take the gold 210 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:53,800 rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters and 211 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:56,200 bring them to me. All the people took the gold 212 00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:58,700 rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. 213 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:02,500 Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down and mold it into the 214 00:12:02,500 --> 00:12:06,100 shape of a calf. And when the people saw it, they 215 00:12:06,100 --> 00:12:09,300 exclaimed o Israel. These are the gods who brought 216 00:12:09,300 --> 00:12:13,100 you out of the land of Egypt. Aaron saw how excited the people 217 00:12:13,100 --> 00:12:15,300 were. So he built an altar in front of 218 00:12:15,300 --> 00:12:18,300 the calf, then he announced tomorrow will be a festival to 219 00:12:18,300 --> 00:12:21,200 the Lord. And the people got up early the 220 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:24,100 next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. 221 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:27,600 After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking and they 222 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:33,200 indulged in Pagan revelry, Here's what I would say to us 223 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:35,400 whether you're in Gainesville Oakwood or online. 224 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:38,600 Listen, it would be so easy for us to sit wherever we're sitting 225 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:43,600 where we're watching. We're tuning in and 2023 and go, 226 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:48,500 what a bunch of idiots. How in the world could the 227 00:12:48,500 --> 00:12:52,200 Israelites do that? I mean, we read through the 228 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:55,900 early chapters, we've read it, they lived it, they experienced 229 00:12:55,900 --> 00:12:57,600 it. How in the world? 230 00:12:57,600 --> 00:12:59,100 Could you do that? How in the world? 231 00:12:59,100 --> 00:13:02,000 Could you turn your back on? God, how in the world can you 232 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:06,500 make a golden calf to replace the God who brought you out of 233 00:13:06,500 --> 00:13:08,900 Egypt? Who part of the Red Sea cause 234 00:13:08,900 --> 00:13:12,900 you to walk across on dry ground fed, you quail and Manna out of 235 00:13:12,900 --> 00:13:17,200 nowhere every single day and then gave you water from a rock. 236 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:20,300 And then in the in between times, defeated the attacking 237 00:13:20,300 --> 00:13:22,400 armies and Enemies. How in the world? 238 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:25,200 Could you do that? Here's what I would tell us 239 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:28,600 church. If we take that posture, I think 240 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:31,300 that we miss out on what God has for us this morning. 241 00:13:31,300 --> 00:13:33,100 What God wants to teach us this morning? 242 00:13:33,900 --> 00:13:38,800 And here's what I mean. Is an order for us to learn what 243 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:40,400 God has for us. This morning. 244 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:42,700 We can't simply be over the narrative. 245 00:13:42,700 --> 00:13:45,900 We have to put ourselves in the narrative and listen to me very 246 00:13:45,900 --> 00:13:49,000 closely. We are you me us? 247 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:52,600 We are the people of Israel in this narrative. 248 00:13:52,700 --> 00:13:56,800 You want to know why the people of Israel melted down gold and 249 00:13:56,800 --> 00:13:59,900 then made it into a golden calf and worship the golden calf 250 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:02,000 because they felt forgotten by God. 251 00:14:03,500 --> 00:14:05,300 You want to know why they built an altar? 252 00:14:05,300 --> 00:14:09,300 Most likely on the site that an altar was previously built, 40 253 00:14:09,300 --> 00:14:10,900 days prior. And they had this massive 254 00:14:10,900 --> 00:14:14,000 worship service of over 2 million people, rising up with 255 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:17,000 one voice, we will obey, we will obey everything that the Lord 256 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:20,600 has commanded us after 40 days, they built a pagan altar on the 257 00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:21,700 side of that. Why? 258 00:14:21,700 --> 00:14:23,600 Because they felt forgotten by God. 259 00:14:26,300 --> 00:14:28,700 And to serve as a launching pad for where we want to go this 260 00:14:28,700 --> 00:14:32,300 morning is I like this underscores a vital truth. 261 00:14:32,300 --> 00:14:35,000 If you're taking notes with this in your, send your note sheet 262 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:38,300 vital truth, here it is. We were all made to worship. 263 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:46,400 We were all made to worship. Whether or not you and I think 264 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:48,900 of it as worship, we're all made to worship. 265 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:52,700 Do you know what the most basic the most basic definition of 266 00:14:52,700 --> 00:14:58,000 theology is mind and your thoughts about God, most basic 267 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:00,700 definition of theology. Our thoughts about God, my 268 00:15:00,700 --> 00:15:05,200 thoughts about God, that means that everyone even an agnostic 269 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:09,800 or an atheist is a theologian. That doesn't mean that we're 270 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:13,400 accurate or correct theologians, but we're theologians 271 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:15,100 nonetheless. Why is that important? 272 00:15:15,100 --> 00:15:16,800 Because we were all made to worship. 273 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:21,600 We all will worship something. We all will worship someone. 274 00:15:22,700 --> 00:15:27,900 We will either worship God or we will worship something or 275 00:15:27,900 --> 00:15:31,100 someone else. And the place of God, but we 276 00:15:31,100 --> 00:15:35,300 will worship, nonetheless. We will worship. 277 00:15:36,100 --> 00:15:40,300 And when we feel forgotten about God, God, when we feel forgotten 278 00:15:40,300 --> 00:15:43,600 about. God, we are so susceptible to 279 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:48,900 place something or someone else in the place of worship that 280 00:15:48,900 --> 00:15:52,100 once was reserved for God, think of it this way. 281 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:55,500 You ever dug a hole in the sand at the beach? 282 00:15:56,100 --> 00:15:58,600 If you don't fill that hole in with something guesses, guess 283 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:00,800 what's going to happen? It's going to fill in with 284 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:03,200 something. If you don't intentionally play, 285 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:07,300 something in that hole. In the sand, in the beach is 286 00:16:07,300 --> 00:16:09,500 going to fill in with something. Same way. 287 00:16:09,500 --> 00:16:13,500 It goes with our worship is when you and I, when we feel 288 00:16:13,500 --> 00:16:18,500 forgotten by God, we become so prone to place something other 289 00:16:18,500 --> 00:16:22,800 than God in the place of God, as the object of our worship. 290 00:16:24,700 --> 00:16:29,200 So before we go any further and I'm packing this text, can I ask 291 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:31,500 you a really personal question? This is a question that God is 292 00:16:31,500 --> 00:16:34,700 really convicted me of recently. Here it is. 293 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:45,100 What is my go to golden calf? What's my go to golden calf? 294 00:16:45,100 --> 00:16:50,500 What is the thing or the person that I turn to instead of God 295 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:54,600 for wisdom guidance Direction. Peace Comfort, courage. 296 00:16:56,400 --> 00:17:01,200 What is my go to golden calf? It can be our spouse. 297 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:07,200 It can be our our family, our kids, it can be our work. 298 00:17:08,599 --> 00:17:13,200 It can be our friends, it can be other people's advice, it can be 299 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:15,800 our own personal experience or instincts. 300 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:24,200 What is ma go to golden calf? When I feel like God has 301 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:29,300 forgotten about me. What do I turn to to make sense 302 00:17:29,300 --> 00:17:32,500 of life? When you feel like God has 303 00:17:32,500 --> 00:17:35,600 forgotten about you or when you feel that God doesn't have 304 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:38,900 anything to say about a certain sector or element or facet of 305 00:17:38,900 --> 00:17:42,000 your life, what is your go to golden calf? 306 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:47,400 We've all got them. We've all got them now. 307 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:53,000 I do not. Want to dive into this morning, 308 00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:56,200 how to avoid making golden calves in our lives. 309 00:17:57,600 --> 00:17:59,500 Instead of golden calves, make hamburgers. 310 00:18:00,300 --> 00:18:03,100 I'm not diving into that you see. 311 00:18:03,100 --> 00:18:06,600 I think that making golden calves, I think that system is 312 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,100 symptomatic of the overall issue. 313 00:18:10,900 --> 00:18:14,300 What I want to dive into this morning is, what should we do? 314 00:18:14,300 --> 00:18:19,600 What are we called to do from scripture from the word of God? 315 00:18:19,700 --> 00:18:22,400 What are we call to do in those times? 316 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:26,200 And those seasons in those moments when we feel forgotten 317 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:31,100 by God, Because if we don't get that right then we're going to 318 00:18:31,108 --> 00:18:34,500 become so prone to making golden calves in our own lives. 319 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:38,900 So instead of instead of talking about the, the symptomatic issue 320 00:18:38,900 --> 00:18:41,700 of the golden calves, what I want to dive into this morning 321 00:18:41,700 --> 00:18:43,300 as much deeper, it's more of a route. 322 00:18:43,300 --> 00:18:47,300 More of a core question. What do we do when we feel 323 00:18:47,700 --> 00:18:52,900 forgotten by God? So glad you asked if you're 324 00:18:52,900 --> 00:18:57,200 taking notes with us. when I walk through three simple truths 325 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:01,600 this morning, When I feel forgotten by God, it's important 326 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:05,000 for me to remember what looks and feels like a consuming fire 327 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:07,300 is often used by God as a refining fire. 328 00:19:09,900 --> 00:19:16,400 When I feel forgotten by God. What often seems what looks and 329 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:20,800 feels like a consuming fire is often used by God as a refining 330 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:23,800 fire. Remember the when we were 331 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:29,600 reading in Exodus 24, remember what the fire at the summit of 332 00:19:29,608 --> 00:19:31,300 the mountain looked like to the Israelites? 333 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:34,700 Let me show you this. In verse 17, x is 2417 to the 334 00:19:34,700 --> 00:19:36,100 Israelites at the foot of the mountain. 335 00:19:36,100 --> 00:19:38,800 Remember, Moses is gone up to the mountain, right to the 336 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:40,000 Israelites at the foot of the mountain. 337 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:42,700 The glory of the Lord appeared at the summit like a what? 338 00:19:43,500 --> 00:19:45,200 Consuming fire. That's how it appeared. 339 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:48,700 That's how it looked. But just because it looks like a 340 00:19:48,708 --> 00:19:52,000 consuming fire doesn't mean that it was a consuming fire, that's 341 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,800 just how it looked. As a matter of fact, we can read 342 00:19:54,900 --> 00:19:58,600 the rest of Exodus 24. We can read, Exodus, 20:5 all 343 00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:03,000 the way up to 32 X 32 and we discover it was it a consuming 344 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:04,800 fire? It was a refining. 345 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:07,600 Fire. Now, what am I talking about 346 00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:10,800 with fires in our lives? Here's what I mean, and I think 347 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:13,900 that we can all identify, we can all track with this. 348 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:17,400 Have you ever felt like life just keeps piling up on you? 349 00:20:18,500 --> 00:20:22,500 Like it's one thing after another to where you feel like 350 00:20:22,500 --> 00:20:25,200 you're just about to crack. You feel like you're about to 351 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:27,900 like just bow under the weight. You feel like you're about to 352 00:20:27,900 --> 00:20:29,900 break. And in all honesty you feel like 353 00:20:29,900 --> 00:20:31,700 you're about to get burned up by life. 354 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:37,200 That's a fire. And even though, we feel like 355 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:40,400 they are consuming fires more often than not God's uses the 356 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:43,700 fires in our lives, those Tom's, those seasons in our lives as 357 00:20:43,700 --> 00:20:47,800 refining fires. Here's what I mean by that is 358 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:50,800 the is the worker of precious, metals will take gold, for 359 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:54,800 example. A master Goldsmith. 360 00:20:55,100 --> 00:20:58,700 What this master Goldsmith will do he or she will put a lump of 361 00:20:58,700 --> 00:21:04,000 gold into a basin and then heat that gold up to temperatures 362 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:06,900 exceeding. 12 thousand one hundred fifty degrees 363 00:21:06,900 --> 00:21:10,700 Fahrenheit, really hot like hotter than the hottest hot 364 00:21:10,700 --> 00:21:14,500 pocket that you've ever had. And that's lava. 365 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:20,200 But they'll hate that gold up that lump of gold up and they'll 366 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:23,400 keep heating it up and what ends up happening is you'll start to 367 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:25,900 see some things bubble to the surface, you'll start to see 368 00:21:25,900 --> 00:21:27,700 some flakes coming to the surface. 369 00:21:29,500 --> 00:21:32,300 And then that Master Goldsmith he or she she'll she'll take a 370 00:21:32,300 --> 00:21:36,800 skimmer and she'll skim across the top and she'll get those 371 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:41,300 Flakes and she'll like dump them off the technical term for that 372 00:21:41,300 --> 00:21:47,100 is dross, they will draw the dross off the top and then 373 00:21:47,100 --> 00:21:50,300 they'll heat that gold up some more until there's no more 374 00:21:50,300 --> 00:21:53,700 impurities that Rise Up from from up underneath. 375 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:56,700 So when there's no more impurities, they know that the 376 00:21:56,700 --> 00:22:00,700 gold is purified, our measurement of your unit of 377 00:22:00,700 --> 00:22:04,700 measurement to talk about the purity of gold is carat. 378 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:07,300 So you can go into a jewelry store and you can look at a gold 379 00:22:07,300 --> 00:22:10,000 bracelet or earrings or necklace or whatever it may be. 380 00:22:10,700 --> 00:22:15,100 And if you see something that is 24 karat gold, 24 Karat means 381 00:22:15,100 --> 00:22:19,300 that denotes that is 100% gold. There is no mixture of copper 382 00:22:19,300 --> 00:22:24,000 silver or any other alloy. However, you can go from 24 383 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,800 Karat. Down to 18, carats 10 14, carats 384 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:32,300 10, carats 9, carats, the lower. You go in the carrot count, the 385 00:22:32,300 --> 00:22:37,000 higher percentage of impurities in that gold, the lower 386 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:41,100 percentage of pure gold 24. Carats, the highest from there, 387 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:46,400 there's a incremental shift down to less purity of gold. 388 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:48,900 More presents are a higher percentage of a presence of 389 00:22:48,900 --> 00:22:51,700 another alloy. You might say, why is this 390 00:22:51,700 --> 00:22:53,400 important? This is a principle this 391 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:57,700 actually all throughout. Scripture that God uses refining 392 00:22:57,700 --> 00:23:00,500 fires. Not because he hates us but 393 00:23:00,500 --> 00:23:04,500 because he loves us not because he wants to destroy us, but 394 00:23:04,500 --> 00:23:08,400 because he wants to purify us now because he doesn't like us, 395 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:12,200 but because he wants to use us and in order to be used for in 396 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:15,500 the way that he wants to use us and that he knows that we will 397 00:23:15,500 --> 00:23:18,700 be most satisfied in him. We need to be purified of 398 00:23:18,700 --> 00:23:22,400 everything that is not of him. But so easy. 399 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:25,400 It is so often. It's easy to look at the fires 400 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,900 in our lives and go God why you allow me to go through this? 401 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:30,900 Where are you? God? 402 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:35,500 Like, don't you see, don't you care and the entire time God is 403 00:23:35,500 --> 00:23:37,500 going. Yes, I love you. 404 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:42,000 Ah see, I know I love you so much that I'm sitting here. 405 00:23:42,100 --> 00:23:47,200 I'm trying to purify you. I'm not trying to punish you but 406 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:51,400 as long as we look at every fire in our lives as A consuming 407 00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,900 fire, we will miss out on what God wants to teach us in the 408 00:23:54,900 --> 00:23:58,600 refining fires. So, the first thing that we need 409 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,100 to hold on to the first true that you and I need to hold onto 410 00:24:01,300 --> 00:24:06,000 when we feel that God has forgotten about us, is more 411 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:09,500 often than not the fires in our lives, they're not consuming 412 00:24:09,500 --> 00:24:11,500 fires. They are refining fires. 413 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,200 And if you surrendered your life to Jesus, then I can make a 414 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:19,200 strong argument that every fire that we face is the refining. 415 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:25,100 Fire not a consuming fire. But we see in scripture how the 416 00:24:25,100 --> 00:24:28,400 nation of Israel they miss this. They thought that it was a 417 00:24:28,408 --> 00:24:30,700 consuming fire. They thought they'd look at the 418 00:24:30,700 --> 00:24:33,300 base of the mountain and they go Moses went up there. 419 00:24:33,300 --> 00:24:36,000 It looks like a consuming fire. There's no way that anybody can 420 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:40,800 make it through that alive. So we skip over 40 days and 40 421 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:43,400 nights, barely not even six weeks. 422 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:48,100 Later, the nation of Israel is asking Aaron to make to melt 423 00:24:48,100 --> 00:24:51,300 down their gold and to make an idol for moi because they felt 424 00:24:51,300 --> 00:24:54,000 forgotten by God. God and they did not hold on to 425 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:57,400 the truth that maybe the fire that they saw, as a consuming 426 00:24:57,400 --> 00:24:59,500 fire, maybe that was a refining fire. 427 00:25:01,500 --> 00:25:04,800 And I got to tell you that, when we miss the point, when we miss 428 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:07,000 the truth of the fires that were going through and I'm not 429 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:10,300 minimizing anything that anybody is going through in here or an 430 00:25:10,300 --> 00:25:14,800 oak wood or online. because I know that there's so many of us 431 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:17,700 that we're going through something that is so hot, so 432 00:25:17,700 --> 00:25:23,900 heavy, so engulfing That we wish that God would pull us out of 433 00:25:23,900 --> 00:25:28,800 that fire. But he has you in the midst of 434 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:30,800 the fire. He has you where he has you, 435 00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:35,600 when he has you for the purpose that he has, you To teach you 436 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:40,200 something to purify you to purify me to purify us. 437 00:25:41,100 --> 00:25:44,100 We're going to come back to that principle at the end of our time 438 00:25:44,100 --> 00:25:46,900 together this morning, but because the nation of Israel 439 00:25:46,900 --> 00:25:49,800 missed that point. They also missed the second 440 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:52,200 truth that I want to go through this morning. 441 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:57,500 Just as God is present, just as God is present and at work in 442 00:25:57,500 --> 00:26:02,100 the in-between times. God is just as present and at 443 00:26:02,100 --> 00:26:04,700 work in the in-between times as he is, in the perceived 444 00:26:04,700 --> 00:26:11,100 highlight reels of Our Lives. God is just as present and at 445 00:26:11,100 --> 00:26:13,800 work in the in-between times as he is, in the perceived 446 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:19,400 highlight reels of Our Lives. This means that we know that God 447 00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:21,500 is working. All things for his glory and for 448 00:26:21,500 --> 00:26:24,500 our good, he's working everything to the good of those 449 00:26:24,500 --> 00:26:29,300 who are called according to his purpose that he is just as in 450 00:26:29,300 --> 00:26:33,600 control and just at work. Just as much at work as in 451 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,300 connecting the dots as he is in the dots themselves. 452 00:26:38,300 --> 00:26:43,200 It's so easy for us to kind of take this ESPN, SportsCenter 453 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:46,500 approach. To the Bible and to our 454 00:26:46,500 --> 00:26:48,000 relationship. We got, here's what I mean by 455 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:51,200 that, you can tune in to SportsCenter, you can tune in to 456 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,900 YouTube, you can go to, you can go to espn.com or download the 457 00:26:54,908 --> 00:26:57,900 app and they will show you just a barrage of highlights. 458 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:00,000 They'll show you the home run, they'll show you the diving 459 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:01,400 catch. So show you the slam dunk. 460 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:04,700 I'll show you the buzzer beater. Don't show you the amazing 461 00:27:04,700 --> 00:27:07,300 Landing in gymnastics. They'll show you. 462 00:27:07,300 --> 00:27:09,000 The highlights ain't showing you the whole game. 463 00:27:10,100 --> 00:27:12,900 They're not showing you like a 3-1 count. 464 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:15,900 Whereas you know they threw a fastball over the middle. 465 00:27:15,900 --> 00:27:19,200 They like, all right, even up the count. 32 Full Count, 466 00:27:19,500 --> 00:27:21,000 they're showing you the highlights, right? 467 00:27:21,300 --> 00:27:24,100 It's so easy for us to look at the Bible to look at scripture 468 00:27:24,100 --> 00:27:26,200 and to even look at our relationship with God. 469 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:29,200 In the same way, we can look at the Bible, we can sit there and 470 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:30,900 go. Okay, I know the highlights, I 471 00:27:30,900 --> 00:27:33,400 know the highlights. We got Adam and Eve in the 472 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:34,800 garden. We got Noah. 473 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:38,600 And the flood, we've got the Exodus and Moses parting the Red 474 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:40,900 Sea people walking across on dry land. 475 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,000 We've got David killing. Goliath. 476 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:47,000 We've got Daniel in the Lion's Den. 477 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:48,900 He wasn't devoured or attacked by the Lions. 478 00:27:48,900 --> 00:27:51,100 We've got Jonah being swallowed up by the whale. 479 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:55,500 We've got Jesus birth his miracles, his death, his burial, 480 00:27:55,500 --> 00:27:58,700 his resurrection, his Ascension. We've got the ministry and the 481 00:27:58,700 --> 00:28:01,000 Miracles of Paul throughout the New Testament. 482 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,400 Then we've got this the promise of the second coming of Jesus 483 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:07,900 and let me tell you all those things are historically 484 00:28:07,900 --> 00:28:12,500 accurate, they did happen and or they are yet to happen this 485 00:28:12,500 --> 00:28:15,700 prophecy. They're all historically, 486 00:28:15,700 --> 00:28:22,500 accurate. but every single one of those events happened in the 487 00:28:22,500 --> 00:28:28,300 context of years decades and even centuries in the making 488 00:28:29,700 --> 00:28:32,400 listen, whether you're Gainesville Oakwood online. 489 00:28:32,700 --> 00:28:35,900 I'm more and more convinced that our growth and our relationship 490 00:28:35,900 --> 00:28:40,400 with God is dependent upon our day by day Moment by moment 491 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:44,300 faithfulness and obedience to him in the seemingly mundane 492 00:28:44,300 --> 00:28:49,800 times. but can I be honest with you that's really hard because 493 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:54,500 sometimes we think that those times don't matter, God is just 494 00:28:54,500 --> 00:28:58,600 as present in the, in between times of Our Lives, as he is in 495 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:04,900 our perceived highlight reels. This means, if you are a student 496 00:29:05,500 --> 00:29:09,200 with us or watching With Us online, if your student, you 497 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:12,400 will grow close to God. If you honor Jesus. 498 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:15,300 By the way that you do, your schoolwork treat and treat your 499 00:29:15,300 --> 00:29:19,600 classmates and your teachers, if your spouse, if you're, if 500 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:23,200 you're married in here, you will grow close to God. 501 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:26,300 If you honor Jesus by unselfishly, loving your spouse. 502 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:30,200 On Mondays Tuesdays. Wednesdays, Thursdays Fridays, 503 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:37,300 Saturdays. if you're an employee, you will grow close to 504 00:29:37,300 --> 00:29:44,100 God if you honor Jesus, but doing your job, the best to the 505 00:29:44,100 --> 00:29:46,500 best of your ability without trying to cut corners. 506 00:29:47,500 --> 00:29:50,400 Because you realize you're doing it unto the Lord. 507 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:54,300 If you're an employer, you will grow close to God. 508 00:29:54,300 --> 00:29:59,800 If you treat your employees with dignity and love and grace, and 509 00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:04,000 mercy, and compassion, and you live as a businessman or 510 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:08,400 businesswoman, you live with the utmost of Integrity, it's those 511 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:13,700 day, by day in between times, you see God is just as present 512 00:30:13,700 --> 00:30:17,200 in the in between times as he is in the perceived highlight reels 513 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:20,700 of Our lives. But in those in-between times, 514 00:30:21,100 --> 00:30:24,300 it is easy to still feel forgotten about God. 515 00:30:24,500 --> 00:30:26,800 Go God, thank you so much for Sunday. 516 00:30:27,500 --> 00:30:29,900 Thank you for allowing me to gather together, and come 517 00:30:29,900 --> 00:30:34,200 together, and be able to sing praises to you, to have to have 518 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:36,400 Michael in our band lead us and praise. 519 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:39,600 Thank you so much for teaching me in your word. 520 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:43,500 Thank you for allowing me to be just surrounded by men and 521 00:30:43,500 --> 00:30:45,200 women, that I know that are for me. 522 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:49,400 They don't want just from me and Love you and and are so 523 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:53,300 encouraging. But none of this is here on 524 00:30:53,300 --> 00:30:56,100 Tuesday, right? None of this is here on a 525 00:30:56,100 --> 00:30:59,500 Thursday. So in those in-between times I 526 00:30:59,508 --> 00:31:04,000 want to give you three handles really quick to hold onto. 527 00:31:04,300 --> 00:31:07,500 When we really struggle, that God has seemingly forgotten 528 00:31:07,500 --> 00:31:10,600 about us or when we don't feel close to God, and those in 529 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:13,700 between times, going to go through them really fast. 530 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:15,700 Hold on, to God's past faithfulness. 531 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:20,400 The first handle, hold on to God's past faithfulness. 532 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:25,600 Can I tell you this? God has never let you down and 533 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:31,000 he's not going to start now? God has never let you down and 534 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:35,900 he's not going to start now. Hold on to God's past faithless. 535 00:31:35,900 --> 00:31:38,300 He has always been faithful. He is faithful. 536 00:31:38,300 --> 00:31:41,700 He always will be faithful, but we've got to hold on to that 537 00:31:41,700 --> 00:31:44,900 faith on his that track record number to hold on to God's 538 00:31:44,900 --> 00:31:48,300 personal promises. Years and years and years and 539 00:31:48,300 --> 00:31:51,000 years ago. A very wise mentor of mine told 540 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:54,300 me this when I was really like struggling with kind of one 541 00:31:54,300 --> 00:31:57,400 in-between times. He told me said Ben never 542 00:31:57,400 --> 00:31:59,400 questioned in the dark what God has revealed to you in the 543 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:03,500 light. Church. 544 00:32:03,500 --> 00:32:06,300 Got to tell you this Gainesville Oakwood online. 545 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:11,700 If you're in a mode where you don't feel close to God, and 546 00:32:11,700 --> 00:32:15,000 maybe you even feel forgotten about God, go back to God's 547 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:20,000 personal promises to you. Don't allow the darkness. 548 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:23,200 Don't allow what you're going through right now to cause you 549 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:26,800 to question what God has revealed in the light. 550 00:32:27,500 --> 00:32:31,300 Hold on to God's past promises and then third hold on to God's 551 00:32:31,300 --> 00:32:34,400 perfect timing. Can I tell you something? 552 00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:37,400 That's really frustrating to me about God, since we're being 553 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:42,000 honest about God, it's really frustrating to me that God's not 554 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:47,200 early. You ever pray through something 555 00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:49,700 really, really hard. You ever been in a time or 556 00:32:49,700 --> 00:32:52,700 season that you're like God just let it end. 557 00:32:52,700 --> 00:32:56,400 Bring some closure. Bring some finality own to next 558 00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:59,500 chapters. You just pour your heart out to 559 00:32:59,500 --> 00:33:02,400 God. Here like God, where are you? 560 00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:07,800 Listen. God's track record is perfect. 561 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:11,000 God's promises are perfect but God's timing is also perfect. 562 00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:15,600 God is never early, God is never late. 563 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:21,600 God is always right on time. God has never really got his 564 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:26,900 never like God is always right on time. now, some of us we may 565 00:33:26,900 --> 00:33:34,400 be in here, thinking The calls the Israelites lost sight. that 566 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:38,100 God was just as present and at work in and through them when he 567 00:33:38,100 --> 00:33:41,500 called them to rest and camp at the base of Mount Sinai, as he 568 00:33:41,500 --> 00:33:46,100 was when he split the Red Sea and told me to walk across They 569 00:33:46,100 --> 00:33:48,000 forgot that liar. They thought that God had 570 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:51,600 forgotten about him. So they turned to another point 571 00:33:51,700 --> 00:33:54,100 of worship, another object of worship. 572 00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:58,700 There's some of us whether you're in the room with us in 573 00:33:58,700 --> 00:34:02,300 Oakwood or online that we sit there and go. 574 00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:08,900 Then I can tell you, I feel like God's forgotten about me after 575 00:34:08,900 --> 00:34:11,500 years and years and years of faithfulness and years, and 576 00:34:11,500 --> 00:34:14,400 years, and years of, praying and years, and years and years of 577 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:16,699 serving. Been, if I'm honest, I feel like 578 00:34:16,699 --> 00:34:20,800 God's forgotten about me. So yeah, you're talking about 579 00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:22,500 Golden calves. You're talking about turning to 580 00:34:22,500 --> 00:34:26,699 other things or other people as the object, is our ultimate 581 00:34:26,699 --> 00:34:30,000 object as their ultimate source of guidance and wisdom and 582 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:33,300 Direction and peace and comfort. Yeah. 583 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:36,500 Right there with them that resonates with me. 584 00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:42,900 Can I give you some hope this morning here? 585 00:34:42,900 --> 00:34:46,600 It is third piece. This morning, Freedom can only 586 00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:50,800 come when we turn back to God. Freedom can only come. 587 00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:54,900 When we turn back to God, let me show you something in. 588 00:34:54,900 --> 00:35:00,600 Exodus 32. And this is in verse 19. 589 00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:06,000 This one Moses was made aware from the top of the mountain. 590 00:35:06,900 --> 00:35:10,200 This is when they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf and the 591 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:12,100 dancing and he burned with anger. 592 00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:16,000 He threw the stone tablets to the ground smashing them at the 593 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:20,300 foot of the mountain. He took the calf, they had made 594 00:35:20,300 --> 00:35:23,200 and burned it. And when he Grant then he 595 00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:25,700 grounded into powder. Threw it into the water and 596 00:35:25,700 --> 00:35:29,600 force the people to drink it. That's intense. 597 00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:35,100 So you've got the people of Israel. 598 00:35:35,100 --> 00:35:37,700 They think that they've been forgotten about forgotten by 599 00:35:37,700 --> 00:35:39,600 God. They think that Moses had been 600 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:41,500 burned up on the top of the mountain. 601 00:35:42,500 --> 00:35:45,000 They make this golden calf. They start sacrificing this 602 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:47,100 golden calf. They start you know worshipping 603 00:35:47,100 --> 00:35:51,200 this golden calf, this Idol. God tells Moses from the 604 00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:53,100 mountain, you need to go down your people. 605 00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:58,500 They've turned to idolatry. You go down and take care of 606 00:35:58,500 --> 00:36:02,000 business. Let me tell you what take care 607 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:07,100 of business, didn't mean. It didn't mean that God Thunders 608 00:36:07,100 --> 00:36:09,100 from the mountains. I'm done with all of you. 609 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:14,700 Let me go start back with Israel, 2.0 to where these 610 00:36:14,700 --> 00:36:17,000 people, they want like worship the golden calf. 611 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:24,600 Let me tell you what take care of business means or meant it 612 00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:28,500 meant that the golden calf had to be destroyed, but God didn't 613 00:36:28,500 --> 00:36:33,100 destroy his people. Can I tell you this church in 614 00:36:33,100 --> 00:36:37,400 order for us to experience and to live in the freedom and the 615 00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:40,500 plans, and the mission and the purpose that God has for you, 616 00:36:40,500 --> 00:36:43,200 for me for your family, for my family, for our neighborhoods, 617 00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:45,800 for our community, for our region, for our world. 618 00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:50,200 He's got to destroy the golden calves in our lives. 619 00:36:50,200 --> 00:36:54,500 Not because he hates us, but because he loves us, God knows 620 00:36:54,500 --> 00:36:56,700 that. The only thing that will satisfy 621 00:36:56,700 --> 00:36:59,500 us is him. The only thing that will provide 622 00:36:59,500 --> 00:37:04,300 true Direction and true. Hope to a lost and hurting and 623 00:37:04,300 --> 00:37:10,700 broken world is him. But we've got to destroy the 624 00:37:10,700 --> 00:37:15,400 golden calves in our lives. We've got to destroy those 625 00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:18,400 Idols. Listen, it is so amazing. 626 00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:22,300 You go from this point forward. Let me tell you what happens in. 627 00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:24,500 Let me tell you what God does in his people. 628 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:28,600 The people they were unfaithful to God. 629 00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:30,700 God was continue to be faithful to the people. 630 00:37:31,600 --> 00:37:32,900 Guess what? You can read. 631 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:36,900 Exodus, Leviticus Numbers. Deuteronomy first page of the 632 00:37:36,908 --> 00:37:39,600 Book of Joshua. God did deliver his people to 633 00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:43,100 the promised land. Out of those out of that line of 634 00:37:43,100 --> 00:37:45,900 people, he raised up a man by the name of David. 635 00:37:46,100 --> 00:37:49,900 A man took to be king over his Nation, Israel. 636 00:37:50,100 --> 00:37:53,800 And this King David went down in his known as a man, after God's 637 00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:58,200 Own Heart, and out of the line of David, God brought Jesus into 638 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:01,500 this world, to be our Messiah, to be our savior, to be our 639 00:38:01,500 --> 00:38:05,400 Lord, to be our rescuer, to be our remedy, to Be Our Redeemer. 640 00:38:05,700 --> 00:38:08,900 God did not give up on his people, but he had to destroy 641 00:38:08,900 --> 00:38:11,600 their Idol. Can I tell you this? 642 00:38:11,700 --> 00:38:13,300 God's? Not going to give up on you, but 643 00:38:13,300 --> 00:38:17,300 he has to destroy your idol. I heard a really, I too had a 644 00:38:17,308 --> 00:38:19,400 conversation with a really, really good friend of mine. 645 00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:22,300 A couple weeks ago. I was just been through a lot 646 00:38:23,300 --> 00:38:25,500 and he told me, he said Ben, let me tell you something that I 647 00:38:25,500 --> 00:38:29,000 learned a couple of years ago, God is more than willing to 648 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:32,000 allow us to hit rock bottom. If Rock Bottom is where we'll 649 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:37,800 find him. So I'm going to let, you know, 650 00:38:38,100 --> 00:38:41,300 let you in look, kind of kind of behind the scenes early in the 651 00:38:41,308 --> 00:38:44,200 morning on Sunday mornings. When we do run through, we get 652 00:38:44,200 --> 00:38:46,800 to do a service. We call it a VIP service for the 653 00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:48,700 Oakwood campus. Oakwood campus. 654 00:38:48,700 --> 00:38:52,300 Right now they have one service. That means that everybody that 655 00:38:52,300 --> 00:38:55,700 volunteers and serves like in kids ministry, they don't get to 656 00:38:55,707 --> 00:38:58,500 go to the service when the service is happening. 657 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:02,200 So we do a service for them. And in our VIP service, this is 658 00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:04,300 how we closed out our VIP service this morning. 659 00:39:04,500 --> 00:39:08,200 We prayed For every single person online, every single 660 00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:11,200 person on Gainesville Campus, Oakwood campus. 661 00:39:12,700 --> 00:39:16,100 That we know that God is more than comfortable allow, more 662 00:39:16,100 --> 00:39:17,800 than okay to allow us to hit rock bottom. 663 00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:20,900 If Rock Bottom is where we'll find him but we don't have to 664 00:39:20,908 --> 00:39:24,900 hit rock bottom. God wants to save you from that 665 00:39:24,900 --> 00:39:27,800 heartbreak. And from that heartache, if you 666 00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:31,600 just allow your heart to be tender enough to turn, back to 667 00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:35,200 him to, where you say, God, I've tried every all different types 668 00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:38,300 of golden calves in my life. All different types of Idols. 669 00:39:38,300 --> 00:39:40,200 I've turned to a lot of different advice. 670 00:39:40,300 --> 00:39:42,600 I've turned to a lot of different sources for wisdom and 671 00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:45,800 peace and calm and comfort. And none of them satisfy me. 672 00:39:46,300 --> 00:39:48,500 This is the invitation this morning. 673 00:39:48,700 --> 00:39:51,600 Freedom can be found. Hope can be found only in Jesus 674 00:39:51,600 --> 00:39:54,100 Christ. You Have to hit rock bottom to 675 00:39:54,100 --> 00:39:58,100 find him. This is the open invitation for 676 00:39:58,100 --> 00:40:02,200 you, to experience the grace, and the mercy, and the love and 677 00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:07,100 the Forgiveness of Jesus, but it starts with your surrender. 678 00:40:07,100 --> 00:40:14,300 It starts with our overall hunger and desire to be used by 679 00:40:14,300 --> 00:40:18,600 God in a way far beyond we're allowing him to use us right now 680 00:40:20,100 --> 00:40:24,400 so to help us walk through and set the stage for our time of 681 00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:27,600 response. I want to walk you through three 682 00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:29,900 key questions. And at this time, I know the 683 00:40:29,900 --> 00:40:33,000 Pastor Greg, he's going to take it from here just to kind of 684 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:37,000 navigate these three questions live in the room, with our 685 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:39,700 family down at Oakwood. So Pastor Greg, go ahead and 686 00:40:39,700 --> 00:40:44,400 take it from there but up in Gainesville and online. 687 00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:46,500 Let me kind of walk you through three questions and these 688 00:40:46,500 --> 00:40:48,000 questions are in your, in your notes. 689 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:52,000 Number one, do I feel in some way that God has forgotten about 690 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:54,100 me? And what has caused me to feel 691 00:40:54,100 --> 00:40:58,700 this way. It starts with being honest, 692 00:40:58,700 --> 00:41:02,300 with yourself about yourself and it starts with being honest, 693 00:41:02,300 --> 00:41:04,200 with God, about what you think about God. 694 00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:09,100 Do I feel in some way that God has forgotten about me and what 695 00:41:09,100 --> 00:41:13,600 has caused me to feel this way? Can I tell you this? 696 00:41:14,100 --> 00:41:20,300 God hasn't forgotten about you. He knows you, he loves you. 697 00:41:20,300 --> 00:41:23,900 He knows you by name. He has plans and purposes for 698 00:41:23,900 --> 00:41:26,500 you. He hasn't forgotten about you. 699 00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:33,300 Question number two. What can God teach me about him 700 00:41:33,300 --> 00:41:35,500 during this time or season? That would be difficult for me 701 00:41:35,500 --> 00:41:39,900 to learn. Otherwise can I lean into this 702 00:41:39,900 --> 00:41:44,700 one for just a second? There are some lessons, some 703 00:41:44,700 --> 00:41:47,000 things that God wants to teach us about him. 704 00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:51,600 That they can only happen in the fire. 705 00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:54,200 They can't happen Outside the Fire. 706 00:41:56,700 --> 00:41:59,600 There's some things that I can learn that I can only learn 707 00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:05,100 about God in my walk with him in times of deep sadness that I 708 00:42:05,100 --> 00:42:07,100 can't learn in times of happiness. 709 00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:13,000 And the same thing is true for you as well, but what do we do? 710 00:42:13,100 --> 00:42:17,200 We try everything that we can to escape the sadness to get out of 711 00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:20,900 the sadness. To get out of the storm to get 712 00:42:20,900 --> 00:42:24,600 out of the fire. Can I just encourage you for a 713 00:42:24,607 --> 00:42:28,400 moment this morning? There are some things that God 714 00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:32,600 can teach us only in this time and only in the season. 715 00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:35,000 And when I start to understand that, when we start to 716 00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:38,500 understand that will Embrace two huge words of encouragement, 717 00:42:38,500 --> 00:42:42,100 number one, is we are in the hands of the master Craftsman. 718 00:42:44,300 --> 00:42:47,300 We are in the hands of a master Craftsman, whose not trying to 719 00:42:47,300 --> 00:42:52,000 destroy us. He's trying to purify us He 720 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:54,200 doesn't hate us. He loves us. 721 00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:59,600 He's not discarding us. He wants to use us and he will 722 00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:03,800 not allow you to be crushed and consumed because you're in the 723 00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:08,700 hands of the master Craftsman. Perfect, loving heavenly father 724 00:43:08,700 --> 00:43:12,800 that knows what he's doing. And the second word of 725 00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:16,300 encouragement to do that when we start to embrace this truth 726 00:43:16,300 --> 00:43:18,300 right here that there are things that there's some things that 727 00:43:18,300 --> 00:43:20,700 God can only teach me in this time and in the season in the 728 00:43:20,700 --> 00:43:23,000 fire and a refining fire that he can't teach me. 729 00:43:23,000 --> 00:43:28,300 Otherwise is it actually causes me to Lean Into the Fire to go. 730 00:43:28,500 --> 00:43:33,300 God if you have me here for this time for this season to teach me 731 00:43:33,300 --> 00:43:37,600 what you want to teach me, squeeze every drop out of this 732 00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:41,500 lesson on to me and into me because God I don't want to go. 733 00:43:41,700 --> 00:43:44,000 Through this. I don't want to have this lesson 734 00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:47,200 re taught to me. It actually causes me to lean 735 00:43:47,200 --> 00:43:51,300 into the time and into the season, not to try to run away 736 00:43:51,600 --> 00:43:54,900 from it. But then, there's that third 737 00:43:54,900 --> 00:43:57,900 question. And what ways do I need to turn 738 00:43:57,900 --> 00:44:01,800 back to God? And what ways do I need to turn 739 00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:06,100 back to God? That is a simple matter of 740 00:44:06,200 --> 00:44:09,900 surrender to where when you start to understand and when I 741 00:44:09,900 --> 00:44:14,000 start to understand when we start to understand that God, I 742 00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:18,600 turn to this person, or I turn to this outlet for my piece, and 743 00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:21,800 for my goddess and for my direction, instead of turning to 744 00:44:21,800 --> 00:44:24,300 you, God, I don't want to do that anymore. 745 00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:28,100 God replaced that person in my life in that spot. 746 00:44:28,300 --> 00:44:33,700 Replace the joy that I'm chasing after by going hard at work. 747 00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:38,700 Replace that Joy with the joy of being, just your son or your 748 00:44:38,700 --> 00:44:42,500 daughter. In what ways do I need to turn 749 00:44:42,500 --> 00:44:45,100 back to God? God want Idols are in my life, 750 00:44:45,100 --> 00:44:48,900 what golden calves are in my life that you need to destroy, 751 00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:52,000 not to destroy me. But so that I can actually live 752 00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:56,200 in Freedom. Like I said, these are three 753 00:44:56,700 --> 00:45:00,300 reflection questions, personal questions that I don't know how 754 00:45:00,300 --> 00:45:04,600 you're answering this morning. I know how God has beat me up 755 00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:07,200 over it over the past several weeks. 756 00:45:08,700 --> 00:45:11,000 But it's driven me to him, it's driven me. 757 00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:13,300 To prayer, is driven me to community. 758 00:45:15,200 --> 00:45:19,500 His driven me to lean into the time into the season Into the 759 00:45:19,500 --> 00:45:22,300 Fire, not try to shirk away from it. 760 00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:27,700 So here's what I want to do, I want to pray over us and our 761 00:45:27,700 --> 00:45:29,000 band. They're going to come back up 762 00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:30,800 and they're going to lead us in a song. 763 00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:35,300 And if you know what you need to do, the whole is most obedient 764 00:45:35,300 --> 00:45:37,700 boldest thing that, you know, that you need to do is just to 765 00:45:37,700 --> 00:45:40,600 stand and sing with us. Then by all means you do that. 766 00:45:41,700 --> 00:45:45,000 But if you know that you need to come down at these steps at this 767 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:49,800 Altar and say, God, I need to be reminded that you haven't 768 00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:54,100 forgotten about me. I need to be reminded that you 769 00:45:54,100 --> 00:45:56,900 are just as present in these in between times as you are in the 770 00:45:56,908 --> 00:45:59,400 perceived highlight moments of my life. 771 00:46:00,600 --> 00:46:02,800 God, I need to be reminded that there's hope. 772 00:46:04,300 --> 00:46:08,100 God teach me what you want me to receive out of this time. 773 00:46:08,300 --> 00:46:11,600 And out of the Season, you respond. 774 00:46:11,600 --> 00:46:14,300 However God calls you to respond this morning. 775 00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:18,600 God, we thank you, not just for your word. 776 00:46:20,700 --> 00:46:22,600 But we thank you for your presence. 777 00:46:23,300 --> 00:46:25,800 We thank you for your promise. God. 778 00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:28,600 We thank you for your person who you are. 779 00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:36,400 God, and who you are is a perfect loving heavenly father, 780 00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:40,600 that loves us too much to leave us the way that we are there 781 00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:42,800 for. You will bring us through 782 00:46:42,800 --> 00:46:47,900 refining. Fires got even though from our 783 00:46:47,900 --> 00:46:50,700 perspective, sometimes it looks like they're consuming fires. 784 00:46:50,700 --> 00:46:54,000 What you're doing is For Your Glory and for art, for our good. 785 00:46:54,000 --> 00:46:58,800 So God, I pray that you would bring encouragement to anyone in 786 00:46:58,800 --> 00:47:01,600 here this morning, that Is that they have been forgotten by. 787 00:47:01,600 --> 00:47:06,200 You got that your presence would envelop them and engulf them in 788 00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:10,100 such a way that they know that you are not just with them, God, 789 00:47:10,100 --> 00:47:12,200 you were in them and that you are for them. 790 00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:18,800 Got anything in our lives that we need to lay it down at your 791 00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:23,500 feet. God, We Lay It Down freely and 792 00:47:23,500 --> 00:47:26,200 got any lessons that you want to teach us. 793 00:47:26,600 --> 00:47:30,600 During this time that you have us in during the season that you 794 00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:36,600 have us in God, bring it. Bring it in full measure, 795 00:47:37,600 --> 00:47:42,500 knowing that we are in the hands of a master Craftsman knowing 796 00:47:42,500 --> 00:47:45,900 that you are trying to teach us things about you and our 797 00:47:45,900 --> 00:47:49,900 relationship with you that we can learn in no other context. 798 00:47:51,100 --> 00:47:53,800 We got, we just sometimes, we just need to be reminded of Your 799 00:47:53,800 --> 00:47:56,300 Love in the midst of the process. 800 00:47:57,500 --> 00:48:01,500 So God, however you call us to respond, God, give us the 801 00:48:01,500 --> 00:48:03,600 courage and obedience to do that. 802 00:48:03,900 --> 00:48:06,600 And it's in Jesus name, we pray, amen. 803 00:48:11,300 --> 00:48:13,800 Thank you for listening to the Riverbend Church podcast. 804 00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:16,800 Learn more about who we are as a church and how to connect you 805 00:48:16,800 --> 00:48:19,700 can head over to our website Riverbend Church dot lie.