1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,320 First question that came to my mind was how did they even get 2 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:05,920 in slavery? Like what happened? 3 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:10,360 Like how does a people group that's so big like and so great 4 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:14,120 and do some great things? How in the world do they end up 5 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:16,880 in bondage? So that's kind of where I want 6 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:19,200 to start. So what I'm going to do is we're 7 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:22,480 going to be in Exodus chapter 2 today, but let's let's let me 8 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:29,000 like walk us to how we got to like they are in captive nature, 9 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:30,720 right? It's like, how did that happen? 10 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:35,560 All right, so you guys remember Joseph, all right, If you don't, 11 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:36,760 it's OK. Just lie and be like. 12 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:44,120 So as we ended Genesis, you know, Joseph, he becomes second 13 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:48,920 in command in Egypt and he brings his family because 14 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:51,480 there's a seven-year famine that hits and, and God is 15 00:00:51,480 --> 00:00:55,640 orchestrating all of this. They come to Egypt, they go to 16 00:00:55,640 --> 00:01:00,120 the land of Goshen, which is like a very prosperous land. 17 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:03,440 And, and the family begins to thrive. 18 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:07,120 They begin to, they, they begin to just expand. 19 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:12,360 They're they're, they're growing in numbers as well as, as well 20 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:15,040 as a name. So the family's growing, they're 21 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:17,560 doing really good. A massive famine hits the 22 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:20,120 region. Joseph saves his family in 23 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,120 Egypt. The Israelites are honored 24 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:27,200 guests and they begin to prosper and they begin to multiply and 25 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:29,400 things are going well. What happened? 26 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:33,960 So we see the transition happened in Exodus chapter one, 27 00:01:33,960 --> 00:01:37,280 verse 8. There's a passage in Exodus 1/8 28 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:42,280 that says now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know 29 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:45,680 Joseph. Now the text says he didn't know 30 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:47,680 Joseph. And it wasn't like he didn't 31 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:51,160 know Joseph. No, he didn't care to know 32 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:53,960 Joseph. He didn't feel bound for like, 33 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:57,360 past alliances. He saw the Israelites not as a 34 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:00,800 partner, but he started seeing the Israelites as a threat. 35 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,040 So why would he see him as a threat? 36 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:07,680 He started thinking like, man, this is a huge group. 37 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:11,360 Like, what if? What if their military turns on 38 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:14,080 us? They could easily take us over. 39 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:17,160 What if they join Egypt's enemies? 40 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:19,680 Like, like, they end up like pulling them in? 41 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:25,480 What if I lose control? And so he, he saw the Israelites 42 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:27,680 not as a partner, but he saw them as a threat. 43 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:33,200 And as you know, any insecure king, what they do, they try to 44 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:39,200 control the situation because insecurity breeds control. 45 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:42,640 So how does he control the situation? 46 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:46,000 Well, the first thing he does, he calls the National Guard to 47 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,640 go, I'm joking. All right, so some of y'all got 48 00:02:48,640 --> 00:02:51,080 that. Don't leave the church. 49 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:54,160 The first thing he does. So there's three things that 50 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:57,560 Pharaoh does in order to oppress the people. 51 00:02:57,560 --> 00:02:59,040 So I'm going to put this on the screen. 52 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:04,120 The first thing he does is that he he puts in forced labor. 53 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:08,080 So how does he do that? He starts putting in slave 54 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:11,520 drivers and he says you guys are going to build us 2 store 55 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:15,800 cities, right? So these store cities are called 56 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:19,440 Pitham and and Ramses. A store city is pretty much to 57 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:22,600 support the military. It's to support the economic 58 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:26,840 growth and the economic needs. Remember, they went through this 59 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:31,120 seven-year famine, which was in the history of Egypt in that 60 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:33,120 region. So this kind of made sense. 61 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:35,480 So let's build. I need the Israelites to build 62 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:38,000 me a store city. But then he used harsh 63 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:42,960 oppression because the goal of oppression is not productivity. 64 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:46,840 The goal is to break your spirit, because if I could break 65 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:50,600 your spirit, then you just function without purpose. 66 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:54,680 And if I take your purpose away, then you'll just do whatever I 67 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:56,520 tell you to do. You're just going to go through 68 00:03:56,520 --> 00:04:00,880 life doing what you do without asking questions. 69 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,040 You're now bonded. You're tied to the oppressor. 70 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:07,960 And then lastly, population control. 71 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:13,320 So what Pharaoh did was because the Israelites, even in 72 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:17,800 oppression and even in, in all of this stuff that's happening, 73 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,760 they continue to thrive. They continue to grow like their 74 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:27,360 population continued to expand because oppression cannot stop 75 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:32,360 God's promises on his people. So they continued to grow. 76 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:37,000 So what does Pharaoh do? All baby boys are going to be 77 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,440 thrown into the Nile. Sound familiar A little bit. 78 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:46,360 Remember, Jesus grew up in that era too. 79 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:50,600 Like we got to kill all the kids, the babies population 80 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:54,720 control. Just a little side note because 81 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:56,000 we see this playing out a little bit. 82 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,360 And today and I, and I want to show us this because I, I 83 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,120 believe that the enemy still uses this today. 84 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:04,680 Because if we're going to talk about abortion clinics, pay 85 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:07,360 attention to the marketing schemes and the people that 86 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:11,720 they're marketing to. That's the whole other sermon. 87 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:14,880 All right? So, so if you look at Pharaoh's 88 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:20,040 strategy, he's doing all of these things ironically, it 89 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:22,560 didn't crush them. It actually caused them to 90 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:25,960 multiply. So this is where the story 91 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:29,200 begins. But what we're going to see here 92 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:31,680 is that there's a greater story behind this. 93 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:35,120 There's a much greater story behind this because what Pharaoh 94 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:38,880 doesn't know is that God already told Abraham that his 95 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:40,920 descendants are going to be strangers in the land that 96 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:44,200 they're not, that they don't own for 400 years. 97 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:49,200 Also, Egypt's about to become the stage where God shows his 98 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:52,600 power, where God shows his faithfulness, and where God 99 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:58,520 shows his heart for liberation. And then also Exodus is going to 100 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:02,240 become the defining salvation event in the Old Testament. 101 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:05,760 And it's there's going to be all these implications to the coming 102 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:10,680 Messiah, who is Jesus. So God is setting all this up. 103 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:13,160 This isn't taking him by surprise. 104 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:17,960 And the truth is, is that God is already working. 105 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:22,120 God is doing a great work. We call this the Mizio Day, the 106 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:25,440 mission of God, and I'm going to go and put the definition. 107 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:29,280 What's the mission of God? The mission of God is to bring 108 00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:33,040 glory to His name through the redemptive work for His people 109 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:37,760 to redeem all of mankind back to Him because sin entered the 110 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:41,360 world and that redemption only happens through Jesus Christ. 111 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:45,480 So that is the mission of God. So if this is the mission of God 112 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:49,400 to bring glory to my name for the redemption of all mankind, 113 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:53,440 that is where God is going. God is going to start inviting 114 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:57,400 us in to join him in his mission. 115 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:00,920 And that's what's going to happen to Moses. 116 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:07,360 You know, growing up when I I started going to seminary, I was 117 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:09,160 getting my master's degree. I took a class called 118 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:12,960 Hermeneutics, which was the worst thing that ever happened 119 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:16,000 to me because they teach you how to read the Bible. 120 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:21,280 And as I'm reading the Bible, I started seeing things in my walk 121 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:23,320 where I started asking questions. 122 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:26,160 And I was like, man, there's got to be more to this whole 123 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:29,680 Christianity thing than me coming to church and going home. 124 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:34,080 There's got to be more to it. And I started really having this 125 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:36,960 internal struggle with like, man, is this all there is? 126 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:39,760 Is like you go to church, you sing some songs and you go home. 127 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:42,640 Like I want to, I want to experience like this stuff. 128 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:45,760 I want to experience like the stuff I see in Scripture, like 129 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:48,880 the stuff that the Holy Spirit is talking about, the making 130 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:51,840 disciples, the seeing like, like miracles. 131 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:55,040 I want to see that. And I believe that there's 132 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:59,800 people in this room today who like myself, man, I was like, 133 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:01,560 man, churches felt like Groundhog Day. 134 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:04,280 It was like the same thing over and over again. 135 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:07,000 I was like, man, it really like it bothered me. 136 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:12,920 But you see, the problem wasn't the church, the problem was me. 137 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:19,520 Because I have not accepted the invitation to join God in His 138 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:23,400 work and in His purposes. I haven't surrendered my full 139 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:28,000 calling to Him. And when I did that, it changed 140 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,400 the way that I viewed church. It changed everything, the way I 141 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:34,000 prepared, the way that I was like, man, we got to get these, 142 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:36,720 this church outside these walls, the way like I was like, man, 143 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:39,159 we're going to go to, I want to do some crazy stuff. 144 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:43,120 Got involved in serving our city and doing stuff that made no 145 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:44,680 sense. And I was like, God, I don't 146 00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:46,760 know how I'm going to do it, but we're going to do it. 147 00:08:47,560 --> 00:08:51,120 And when I, when that started happening in my life, it shifted 148 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:54,000 the way that I view church. It changed the way I prepared 149 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:55,880 for church. It changed the way that I saw 150 00:08:55,920 --> 00:09:00,480 people. And I want to invite you into 151 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:03,520 what God is inviting us into His mission. 152 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:08,600 And Moses is going to show us and teach us a lot of what that 153 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:11,760 might look like. So God is at work. 154 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:16,080 But here's the question I want to give us. 155 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:22,840 What happens when we decide to do God's things but our way 156 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:29,280 doesn't turn out too well? And that's exactly what Moses is 157 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:32,760 going to run into. So Moses had two parents and I'm 158 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,120 just going to summarize chapter 1-2. 159 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:36,600 Hebrew parents. He was born. 160 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,280 And because they were throwing all the baby boys in the Nile, 161 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:44,440 These, these, these, these servants save Moses. 162 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:48,720 The Bible says that they, they hid him for about 3 months. 163 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:54,360 But then Moses mom put him in a basket and she placed him in the 164 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:58,760 reeds by Pharaoh's palace. Now I know all of us are Prince 165 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:01,880 of Egypt where there's hippos and alligators and and all this 166 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:03,520 stuff. And Moses is the little baskets 167 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:07,080 riding waves and stuff. No, they placed them where he 168 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:10,640 could be found. And I know everything in movies 169 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:13,840 is real. So as they placed them in the 170 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:17,880 reeds, Pharaoh's daughter comes and finds him and they 171 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:20,080 immediately know that he's a Hebrew. 172 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:24,160 How do they know he's a Hebrew? Because of circumcision, 173 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:27,280 remember God told his people that's where you're going to 174 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:30,120 know you belong to me. Circumcise the males. 175 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:34,280 So the immediately that he wasn't an Egyptian, he was a 176 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:36,840 Hebrew. So they find Moses, then they 177 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:40,640 find his mother, and then they tell his mother to nurse him 178 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:45,640 until he's of age and they take care of his family as the mother 179 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:49,280 nurses Moses. And this is where we begin in 180 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:55,520 verse 11. So in verse 11 in Exodus chapter 181 00:10:55,520 --> 00:11:03,400 2, says one day after Moses had grown up, he went out to where 182 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:08,880 his people were and watched them and watched them at their hard 183 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:12,320 labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a 184 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:18,200 Hebrew, one of his own people looking this way and that and 185 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:22,760 seeing no one. He killed the Egyptian and hit 186 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:27,200 him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw 187 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:31,120 two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, 188 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:33,760 why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew? 189 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:40,040 And then in verse 14, the man said, Who made you ruler and 190 00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:43,400 judge over us? Over, Yeah, over us. 191 00:11:43,680 --> 00:11:47,200 Are you thinking of killing me as you kill the Egyptian? 192 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:50,960 Then Moses was afraid and thought, what did I, what did I 193 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:56,440 must have become known. So going back to verse 11, 194 00:11:56,720 --> 00:12:01,040 interesting here it says that one day Moses had grown up, 195 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:03,120 right? So this is a Fast forward. 196 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:06,800 So right now we know that Moses is about 40 years old. 197 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:09,320 How do we know that? Because when you cross reference 198 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:12,160 the text, you could go to Acts Chapter 7. 199 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:16,600 And in Acts Chapter 7, as Stephen is about to get stoned 200 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:21,280 by the apostles or by Saul, not the apostle yet, but by Saul and 201 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:24,440 all his cronies, right? Stephen stands up and he gives 202 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:28,720 this this story of the gospel. And he talks about Moses in 203 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:31,680 verse 20. Yeah, verse 20 through 27. 204 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:35,040 And he says he goes when, and this is verse 23, it's not going 205 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:37,640 to be on the screen. But when Moses was 40 years old, 206 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:40,840 he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 207 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:45,320 So we know that for the 1st 40 years of Moses's life, he was 208 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:48,280 growing as an Egyptian. That means that he went to 209 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:50,920 school in the same school that the Egyptians went to. 210 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:54,120 He had the best education, he had the best training man. 211 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:57,720 He was probably like skilled in Warcraft and he was probably 212 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:00,760 skilled in like fighting and weaponry. 213 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:03,600 And also, the Egyptians are known for their mathematics. 214 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:06,400 If you look at how they built pyramids and how they built 215 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:08,760 things like Moses had it going on. 216 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:13,760 He had everything possible that he needed in order to go up in 217 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:17,640 command in Egypt. The problem was that Moses 218 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:20,640 started having an internal struggle of who he was because 219 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:23,520 of what he was seeing. And he's seeing all this 220 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:25,800 oppression and he's seeing all that's happening. 221 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:29,040 He knows that he's a Hebrew. How does he know that he's a 222 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:30,920 Hebrew? Every time he uses the bathroom, 223 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:37,240 it's a reminder. I am not like the Egyptians. 224 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:42,600 So he's hiding the secret inside, but he's also seeing. 225 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:45,560 So there's a time like Moses probably thought, like I have to 226 00:13:45,560 --> 00:13:47,680 free my people. I got to liberate my people. 227 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:53,720 So what does he do? He went out where his own people 228 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:58,080 were. You see people in in that type 229 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:01,640 of capacity as being one of the rulers of Ramses. 230 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:03,440 You don't go and just hang out with normal folks. 231 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,200 You are a ruler. You have no business being out 232 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:08,600 there. But Moses knew what he was 233 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:10,800 doing. He wanted to go. 234 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:15,200 And it says that he watched them at their hard labor and he saw 235 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:20,520 an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. Now look at the words here. 236 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:24,160 It didn't say disciplining. He didn't say he was out of 237 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:26,680 line. No, he was beating them down 238 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:30,800 like he was beating to kill him. He was taking it out on this, 239 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:36,360 this Hebrew and then it says that Moses it look at look at 240 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:37,560 verse. This is crazy. 241 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:41,720 Look at verse 12, because I think like Moses, it says Moses 242 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:46,400 looked one way. He looked the other way to make 243 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:49,160 sure nobody's around. You know what that's called 244 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:54,600 premeditated pro. Moses knew what he was going to 245 00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:57,720 go do. This is premeditated murder. 246 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:00,120 He wasn't going to go break up a fight. 247 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:02,680 He was going to go kill this dude. 248 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:08,320 And he says that he made sure that there was nobody around and 249 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:09,600 he ran. He killed. 250 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:11,520 I don't know what he did. I don't know. 251 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:13,240 He took a break. I don't know if he got a real 252 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:15,080 naked chokehold. I don't know. 253 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:16,680 He broke his. I don't know what happened if he 254 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:21,000 pushed him off of I don't know. What we do know is that he 255 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:23,840 killed him. Moses had a little bit of a 256 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:26,960 temper, but also don't miss this. 257 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:31,880 There was something inside of Moses where he loved justice. 258 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:36,800 When he saw something wrong happening, it bothered him. 259 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:40,320 And Moses ran and he killed the Egyptian. 260 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:43,760 Oh, and it gets better. He hit him in the sand. 261 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:48,280 I got to dispose the evidence. And this is like an episode of 262 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:53,640 first 48. But here's 1 something that 263 00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:58,400 we're going to learn. Moses did the right thing, but 264 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:04,840 the wrong way. God never intended to take out 265 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:08,560 the Egyptians. God's purpose and plan was to 266 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:12,400 liberate the Israelites. And Moses stepped in and said, 267 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:15,200 God, I'm going to call you. I'm doing what you're calling me 268 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:17,760 to do, but I'm going to do it my way. 269 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:22,560 And because Moses decided to take matters in his own hand and 270 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:26,120 said God, I'm going to do it. He goes in there and he makes a 271 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:29,760 mess, and this mess is actually going to end up sending him the 272 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:33,160 Midian. He makes a massive mess here. 273 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:38,760 He preempts God's plan for his life and for what God was going 274 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:42,480 to use him for. He tried to take God's purposes 275 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:44,680 for his own. Remember, what's God's mission? 276 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:48,800 To bring glory to his name for the redemption of his people. 277 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:51,560 And what Moses probably thought was I'm going to bring glory to 278 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:53,680 my name for the redemption of his people. 279 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:58,120 And Moses was like man, if I could lead this way. 280 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,600 How do we know this? Because in Acts Chapter 7 verse 281 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:05,440 25 says Moses thought that his own people would realize that 282 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:09,119 God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 283 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:13,280 So the next day Moses came upon 2 Israelites that were fighting 284 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:15,960 and he tried to reconcile them by saying, man, you are 285 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:18,640 brothers, why do you want to hurt each other? 286 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:25,160 Moses thought this is my time. If I step in here, then my name 287 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:28,240 is going to spread all through this Kingdom and we're going to 288 00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:31,600 raise the people and we're going to take over the Egyptians and 289 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:33,520 I'm going to free everybody out of here. 290 00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:39,800 Didn't really work that way because when your name is too 291 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:42,680 commingled with what God is doing, it doesn't work. 292 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:50,240 God's plan, God's way for God's purposes and we get to join in, 293 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:53,680 not God's plan, my way for my purposes. 294 00:17:54,560 --> 00:18:00,080 And many of us have this mentality of I need the shine 295 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:05,400 and that's not how this is. And Moses is going to pay a 296 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:08,640 price for it and what price does he pay? 297 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:14,240 It's a mess now because after the two folks were fighting, 298 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:17,320 let's look at verse 14. He goes and he tries to step in. 299 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:19,400 He's like, man, you guys shouldn't be fighting each other 300 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:21,920 like it's US against the Egyptians and they're going at 301 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:24,760 each other. But remember, harsh oppression, 302 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:28,400 broken spirit, lost purpose, right? 303 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:29,880 So what did they say? Look at verse 14. 304 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,840 The man said, who made you a ruler and judge over us? 305 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:37,240 Are you thinking of killing us as you killed the Egyptian? 306 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:41,000 Then Moses was afraid and thought what I did must have 307 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:45,880 been known. Whoa, this isn't good because he 308 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:47,800 tried to hide it. And what was the outcome? 309 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:50,680 Look at verse 15 and when Pharaoh heard of this, wait a 310 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:51,440 second. Stop. 311 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:56,360 Pharaoh heard. Then the other verses just say 312 00:18:56,360 --> 00:18:58,160 that Moses looked this way and that way. 313 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:01,960 Make sure there's nobody around. That means that the only person 314 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:06,920 that saw and knew what happened was the was the Hebrew that he 315 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:09,920 saved. That means that his own people 316 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:14,000 ratted him out. Bro, there's no other way for 317 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,720 Pharaoh to know what happened unless the Hebrews told them. 318 00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:20,840 The people. The Hebrews did not respect 319 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:22,680 Moses. I don't know if he was dressed 320 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:24,560 in Hebrew guard, I don't know what he had on. 321 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:28,080 But Moses thought that he was going to be the guy to free them 322 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:31,320 right then and there. But no, like they told Pharaoh 323 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:35,880 now Pharaoh's thinking treason. He killed one of our people 324 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:38,280 remember? Like he he wanted to stop the 325 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:41,400 uprisings like this is the whole purpose why they oppressed him. 326 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:45,000 So his own people ratted him out. 327 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:48,880 So when Pharaoh heard of this, it says that he tried to kill 328 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:52,280 Moses. So Moses, what does Moses do? 329 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:57,920 He fled he Fred from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian where he 330 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:03,040 sat down by a well. Hmm, Moses left. 331 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:06,040 So look, look at Moses fight here. 332 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:13,240 Egypt, Pharaoh, all my people I grew up with 40 years don't want 333 00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:16,760 me dead. The Hebrews, the people that I'm 334 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:19,760 trying to free over here, don't respect me. 335 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:22,160 Forget it. I'm leaving. 336 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:27,080 I'm going to Midian. Midian is like, just to put in 337 00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:30,560 context, from where they're at, from Cairo, like Egypt. 338 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:33,080 Midian's about walking from Fort Worth to Amarillo. 339 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:39,600 It is not close and I know the movie show Moses like drinking 1 340 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:41,840 bottle of water and he's like at the well the next day. 341 00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:45,760 No like this is far guys. Like this is something Moses 342 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:50,480 thought about and I love like I was thinking about like Moses 343 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:52,560 ain't singing Brandon late gratitude. 344 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:55,440 He's singing Brandon fake attitude. 345 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:01,000 I throw up my hands and leave this room once again. 346 00:21:01,360 --> 00:21:03,400 I mean, like he's just, he's done with it. 347 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:06,560 He's like, I'm over it. I'm done with the Hebrews. 348 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:09,280 I'm not with the Egyptians. I'm done with it. 349 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:11,240 I don't, I don't want anything to do with this. 350 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:14,680 I'm leaving. I'm going to Midian. 351 00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:20,200 And it says that he ends up at a well. 352 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:24,520 I think this is an important detail in the text. 353 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:29,120 Lots of spiritual things happen around Wells when you read the 354 00:21:29,120 --> 00:21:31,080 Bible. So two things. 355 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:33,760 One is this there's there's something spiritual that happens 356 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:37,040 as an example, see Jesus and the woman of the well. 357 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:42,160 But also in those times meeting at the well that was like their 358 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:47,400 version of the dating app like what That's where you would go 359 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:51,600 and meet people. Isaac met Isaac's servant met 360 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:55,000 found his wife Rebecca there. Jacob found Rachel at a well 361 00:21:55,640 --> 00:22:01,800 Wells kind of a good thing. Maybe Moses is like, maybe it's 362 00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:05,240 time for me sell this thing down. 363 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:11,080 Can you find me a wife? He goes to a well. 364 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:18,560 So look what happens. I think this is this is just so 365 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:22,880 cool, right? So now Moses is stepping into 366 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:27,440 like God is going to start drawing him in to prepare. 367 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:30,320 Moses tried doing God's thing. His way didn't work out. 368 00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:34,680 So now God is going to start drawing Moses to him. 369 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:38,280 How does he do it? Look at verse 16. 370 00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:42,680 It says now a priest of Midian had seven daughters and they 371 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:48,120 came to draw water to fill the trouts, to water their father's 372 00:22:48,120 --> 00:22:52,120 flock. Some shepherds came along and 373 00:22:52,120 --> 00:22:57,920 drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and 374 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:02,680 watered their flock. When the girls returned to rule 375 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:06,600 their father. Another name is Jethro. 376 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:10,360 He asked them why have you returned so early? 377 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:13,840 And they answered. An Egyptian rescued us from the 378 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:17,120 shepherds. He even drew water for us and 379 00:23:17,120 --> 00:23:20,680 watered the flock. OK, so third time's a charm for 380 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:25,560 Moses because remember, he wanted to rescue his people and 381 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:31,240 he ended up killing an Egyptian, and then he tried to reconcile 382 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:34,440 to Hebrews and that didn't work. They ended up turning on him. 383 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:37,840 So now remember, there's something in Moses where he just 384 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:41,040 loves justice. He jumps in because somebody's 385 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:45,880 mistreating these ladies. And it works because God is in 386 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:49,200 it now. And just side note, I started 387 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:52,400 thinking I was like, man, Rick, you keep talking about like this 388 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:54,960 whole like doing God's thing my way. 389 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:59,840 How do we know? How do we know that it's my way, 390 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:04,040 not God's way? And real quickly, just to go 391 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:07,640 backtrack a little bit, in verse 12, we see three things that I 392 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:12,160 think are indicators of doing God things our way. 393 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:15,280 So I'm just going to throw these real quickly and then we're 394 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:19,600 going to move forward because it's said that Moses looked both 395 00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:23,800 ways and no one saw him to make sure no one was looking. 396 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,520 Listen, if you're trying to do God's things all secretive and 397 00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:34,640 sneaky, probably not his way. When you're snooping around and 398 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:39,120 you're trying to like do things without telling people and, and 399 00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:42,640 trying to keep secrets and be super quiet about it and all 400 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:48,720 strategic, listen, that's not God's way that ends up actually 401 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:53,200 being your way of doing things. That doesn't turn out well. 402 00:24:53,360 --> 00:24:55,600 How else? It says that he killed an 403 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:58,400 Egyptian. That means that it's dead. 404 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:05,040 Listen, if it's not bearing fruit, God's not in it, Ricky, 405 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:08,160 but the timing of it all, No, like there's a piece about this 406 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:12,840 stuff that God injects in what he calls you to. 407 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:15,320 And if you're doing something over and over and over and over 408 00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:18,400 and over again and, and nothing is working, maybe you need to 409 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,600 take a step back and ask the question, God, am I doing it in 410 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:24,880 my way or yours? Who am I following here? 411 00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:28,600 Is it from my name or yours? And then lastly, it says that he 412 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:31,520 hid him in the sand. What are you hiding? 413 00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:36,360 What are some things in our lives that we are hiding in the 414 00:25:36,360 --> 00:25:40,200 sand? What are some things in your 415 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:42,040 search history that you keep erasing? 416 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:46,200 Somebody sees it. What are some people that you 417 00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:48,840 keep dogging without telling anybody anything? 418 00:25:50,120 --> 00:25:53,720 Where are you sneaking off to that you're making sure nobody 419 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:57,000 tracks you? Listen, there's a lot of things 420 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:01,280 that as believers, we hide in the sand and we do it in the 421 00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:06,600 name of God when God is the one who forgives us of our sin and 422 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:10,360 and puts it to rest. So listen, if we are trying to 423 00:26:10,360 --> 00:26:13,720 do God's things in our way, there's some indicators here 424 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:17,840 that we have to pay attention to because it's not going to work 425 00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:19,720 and it's actually going to become a greater mess. 426 00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:24,760 And because it became a greater mess, it had an impact on those 427 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:28,920 that he was trying to help out and that they didn't even want 428 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:34,040 to be a part of it. So we have to be careful how we 429 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:36,640 do things. So moving forward, Sorry, I just 430 00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:41,920 just came to my mind here. So, so Moses, Fast forward to 431 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:47,560 verse 17. Moses saves, he rescues, and he 432 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:52,000 waters their flock. I want you to pay attention. 433 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:56,080 Moses did not just rescue, he served them. 434 00:26:57,360 --> 00:27:02,040 When it comes to things of justice, our goal is not just to 435 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:06,320 do what's right. Our goal is to serve and the way 436 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:08,280 you serve. The best way to serve is to lead 437 00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:11,880 people to Christ. The reason why we do things and 438 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:15,240 stand up for what is not right is not to make ourselves feel 439 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:18,560 good. It's because God has invited us 440 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:22,360 in his work in order to serve him in justice. 441 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:26,120 But justice is justice separated from the gospel. 442 00:27:26,120 --> 00:27:31,080 You're just doing good things. The gospel is what's going to 443 00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:33,280 change things and what's going to fix things. 444 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:36,640 So Moses, this is third time around. 445 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:40,080 Now we see that God is in this, It's working. 446 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:43,280 Why does it work? Because of the outcomes. 447 00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:48,560 And when you do things, God's God's things your way, you 448 00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:54,960 cannot re engineer outcomes. You can't engineer results. 449 00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:57,760 A lot of us try to like, especially like when you when 450 00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:00,560 you go deeper in missions and church planning, people try to 451 00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:04,880 engineer numbers and it's like, no, like, man, if God's working, 452 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:07,720 you're going to see it. You got to be careful. 453 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:13,000 Don't fall into that trap. So it's working and check this 454 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:16,360 out. Jethro has seven daughters. 455 00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:21,520 So when he hears like there's a man who came in, handles the 456 00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:25,600 business, served my daughters and it's strong. 457 00:28:27,360 --> 00:28:29,600 Where's he at? I got 7. 458 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:37,480 Like I need to meet this guy. Like this is good and listen. 459 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:39,600 And this is where my single people listen. 460 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:44,640 Good men are hard to find. And all the women said, see, I'm 461 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:49,520 telling you good man, a heart man like this is like this 462 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:52,440 somebody that's strong, that's going to fight, that's going to 463 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:55,720 stand up, that's not lazy, that that's going to serve like, are 464 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:57,000 you serious? Where's he at? 465 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:03,240 It's hard to find. So Jethro brings him in and he 466 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:06,880 says, man, like, I, I, I want to meet him. 467 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:09,960 Where is he? This is verse 20. 468 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:13,200 Hello. Look, verse 20 trips me out. 469 00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:15,280 He's like, where is he? Why did you leave him there? 470 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:17,760 Why didn't you like invite him to come get something to eat? 471 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:20,720 Remember back then sharing a table is a big deal. 472 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:23,480 You're inviting people into your life. 473 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:28,280 It's more than food now. It's like friendship. 474 00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:32,760 It's it's it's getting deep now. And in verse 21, Moses agreed to 475 00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:38,440 stay with the man who gave his daughter Sephora to Moses in 476 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:43,400 marriage. So now Moses is married and 477 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:47,840 Midian. And then verse 22, Zipporah gave 478 00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:51,320 birth to a son and Moses named him Gershom, saying, I have 479 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:54,160 become a foreigner in a foreign land. 480 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:57,560 During the long that long period the king of Egypt died. 481 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:02,480 The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their 482 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:06,720 cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 483 00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:11,760 God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant with 484 00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:14,640 Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 485 00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:18,960 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. 486 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:22,520 And how crazy is that? Like all of their cries? 487 00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:25,000 Just saying. God heard it all. 488 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:31,280 The first part of Moses's life, He spent 40 years in Egypt 489 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:36,320 learning and acquiring and getting all these things, which 490 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,760 makes sense why Moses would write the first five books of 491 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:40,480 the Bible because he was skilled in it. 492 00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:47,680 But now the second 40 years of his life, he's going to spend in 493 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:53,920 Midian, where God is going to begin to work on his heart, and 494 00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:58,400 he's going to begin to help Moses have empathy for his 495 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:02,720 people, not just justice. He's going to start building 496 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:06,640 Moses up. God's way is starting to happen 497 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:11,680 in Moses's life and we see some evidence of this. 498 00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:17,640 Moses killed an Egyptian. His friends didn't want no help, 499 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:22,680 but now he rescues these women. He serves them and it works. 500 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:25,760 That's what justice Moses was looking for. 501 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:30,840 Moses is raised by Pharaoh the 1st 40 years, someone who 502 00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:35,480 doesn't believe in God, actually believes in many little G gods, 503 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:40,560 trains them up, raises them up. But now the second 40 years, 504 00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:44,200 he's going to be under somebody named Jethro, who is a man of 505 00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:49,200 God, the one true God. And Jethro is going to walk with 506 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:53,400 Moses and develop him spiritually and get his heart 507 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:56,200 right and align his ways with God's ways. 508 00:31:56,480 --> 00:32:00,800 And then Sephora, Moses now is married. 509 00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:03,040 See, in Egypt, he wasn't married. 510 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:06,320 And I think because because he didn't want people to realize 511 00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:10,280 that he was a, a Hebrew in the Egyptian camp. 512 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:14,560 But now God sends somebody alongside of him in support. 513 00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:17,880 And it becomes listen, support becomes really, really important 514 00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:20,840 in the mission in the life of Moses. 515 00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:22,680 And we're going to start seeing that in the next few weeks 516 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:25,880 because listen, behind every great man is an even greater 517 00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:29,920 woman. And anybody that is serving the 518 00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:34,320 Lord and anybody in ministry, you know this like I'm nothing 519 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:37,720 without rage. Like they said, the man's the 520 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:40,760 head, but she's the neck. She turns the head. 521 00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:46,120 And what God does is that God partners, He aligns us with 522 00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:50,000 someone who's going to serve just as well and just as much. 523 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:53,600 And it's the same mindset for the mission of God. 524 00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:57,280 Listen, if you are striving for the mission of God and somebody 525 00:32:57,280 --> 00:33:00,360 comes alongside of you, and it's like, Nah, I'm not feeling it 526 00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:03,600 wrong. You went to the wrong. 527 00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:08,520 Well, the Lord is going to put you together. 528 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:11,800 So if you're walking with Jesus, he's going to send somebody 529 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:16,320 right next to you that has that same fire and desire to walk 530 00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:20,560 with Christ as well, and you're going to serve the Lord 531 00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:24,520 together, hand in hand. It's going to be amazing. 532 00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:29,120 Sapora came alongside Moses. Really important for him, his 533 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:35,000 life, because it's going to take 40 years to get Egypt out of 534 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:36,800 Moses. So that way Moses could go back 535 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:39,200 to Egypt and get his people out of Egypt. 536 00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:42,560 There were some things that had to be developed in Moses, 537 00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:46,920 Moses's life and there was some things that he had to die to. 538 00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:51,520 He had to die to self. He had to die with past traumas. 539 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:55,040 Think about it like he grew up not really knowing his parents. 540 00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:59,120 He knew of a lady that took care of him till three months and 541 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:03,440 nursed him. But his whole childhood was in 542 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:09,560 the Egyptian camp. So what God is doing is that God 543 00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:15,080 is preparing Moses because what Moses is about to do, he's about 544 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:17,639 to go. He's going to join God in his 545 00:34:17,639 --> 00:34:22,120 mission, but he's going to see and experience some things that 546 00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:26,760 if he's not spiritually prepared for, it's not going to work. 547 00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:32,040 Moses is going to walk with the Lord in a way that many people 548 00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:34,920 are not going to be able to understand or comprehend, and 549 00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:38,639 it's going to take some time to get him ready. 550 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:42,600 That means that if he's going to walk with God, he has to die to 551 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:46,360 self ambition, to pride, to ego, to past traumas. 552 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:51,480 He's going to have to die to a many things in order for him to 553 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:55,120 fully trust in working alongside with God. 554 00:34:57,160 --> 00:34:58,880 The way I want to close is with this. 555 00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:03,080 I think many of us God is giving you and I that same exact 556 00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:06,640 invitation. God is doing in a great work. 557 00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:10,880 I think like our generation is we're ready to do something. 558 00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:14,360 We want to see some change. Like we're tired of talking 559 00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:15,880 about it like we're, we're over it. 560 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:18,120 Like let's jump in. Like what, what can we do 561 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:21,400 together? And my, and my answer to you is 562 00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:25,680 God is inviting you right now. He's inviting you to join him in 563 00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:29,000 his work and to come alongside. And many of us are like, well, 564 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:31,120 Ricky, what does that look like for my life? 565 00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:34,040 What is that? What is that like, how do we, 566 00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:37,200 how does this work? And I think of an acronym called 567 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:40,280 shape, right? Like just think Ed Sheeran, I'm 568 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:42,400 in love with the shape of you, right? 569 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:47,280 Just keep that in my shape. God shapes us. 570 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:51,800 Once we give our life to Christ, he begins to shape us. 571 00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:54,680 So shape is an acronym. So we'll go and put it up there. 572 00:35:54,680 --> 00:35:57,760 So let's walk through this and I pray that this is an encouraging 573 00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:01,240 to you, an encouragement to you. The first thing God does, he 574 00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:04,600 gives you spiritual gift. So if I surrender my life to 575 00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:08,400 Christ, I'm like, OK, awesome, what's that? 576 00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:12,000 I have the Holy Spirit. And if you look at Ephesians 4, 577 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:16,000 like God, God is, there's a gifting that takes place and 578 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:19,040 he's going to give every single one of you that follow Jesus. 579 00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:21,720 He's going to give you a specific gift. 580 00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:25,880 Now take this out. The gift that he gives you is 581 00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:28,800 not for your benefit. The gift that he gives you is 582 00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:32,920 for the benefit of others. So if you're not serving people 583 00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:35,920 with this gift, if you're not doing anything with this gift, 584 00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:38,000 then it might not be a gift that God gave you. 585 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:41,880 It's just talent. But God's going to give each one 586 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:45,760 of us a gift. For Moses, whether it was his 587 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:50,200 hot temper, whether it was his thirst for justice, whatever 588 00:36:50,200 --> 00:36:52,560 that looked like, it was a gift from God. 589 00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:56,640 And Moses is going to start adding value to God's people. 590 00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:02,000 All of us have a gift, whether it's mercy, whether it's the 591 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:04,840 gift of grace, whether it's the gift of hospitality. 592 00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:07,360 Some of y'all are like great listeners. 593 00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:10,320 That's a gift. Some of you guys are patient. 594 00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:13,320 It could be musically, it could be for teaching. 595 00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:18,720 Listen, whatever gift you have, God gave it to you. 596 00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:24,600 Ingenuity, whatever it is, God has blessed you with this gift 597 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:28,480 so that way you can add value to his people. 598 00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:33,040 So God's going to give you a spiritual gift age. 599 00:37:33,240 --> 00:37:36,600 God is going to give you a heart some you're like, well, Ricky, I 600 00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:39,360 feel it. No, no, no, God is going to give 601 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:43,040 you a heart for people, a specific people. 602 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:49,640 He's going to give you a unique passion for things and your 603 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:53,120 heart is going to long for that, right? 604 00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:55,440 And how do I know that I have a unique passion for things? 605 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:56,640 How do I know I have a heart for things? 606 00:37:56,880 --> 00:38:00,200 Because action causes you to move. 607 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:04,240 Passion causes action. So if you say I have a heart for 608 00:38:04,240 --> 00:38:08,640 this, but yet you do absolutely nothing, you don't, right? 609 00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:10,480 Like you don't have a vision, you just have a Daydream. 610 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:15,200 Like you just feel nice right? Now Listen, a heart for people 611 00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:19,160 causes you to do something. So if you have a heart to serve, 612 00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:21,680 if you have a heart for a specific population, if you have 613 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:24,560 a heart for the lost, if you have a heart for the church, if 614 00:38:24,560 --> 00:38:27,280 you have a heart for church plant, whatever that is, Listen, 615 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:31,040 God is going to steward that heart inside of you and you're 616 00:38:31,040 --> 00:38:34,120 going to start feeling a strong desire inside. 617 00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:37,440 And I think that's why the local church is so important, because 618 00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:40,480 now you have a place that God has brought you to so you could 619 00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:44,640 utilize your spiritual gifts and you could activate your heart 620 00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:48,200 for people. Next, He gives you abilities. 621 00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:52,200 He gives you abilities. God gives you all these 622 00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:57,200 abilities in order to use you for his plan. 623 00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:02,040 Some of us are like, man, I don't know, I could barely read 624 00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:05,360 Rick. I can't even spell. 625 00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:10,480 I stutter. And what God is saying, no, I 626 00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:13,920 gave you an ability and you're going to use it. 627 00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:20,440 The problem is, is that what you think he needs is not what he 628 00:39:20,440 --> 00:39:25,320 needs is what other people want. Forget what other people want. 629 00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:29,400 It's what he wants. So you use what the ability that 630 00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:32,280 God's giving you for your purpose. 631 00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:34,960 And he's going to he's going to form you like he's knitting you 632 00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:38,640 together and he's giving you everything you need in order to 633 00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:42,800 fulfill his plan and his purposes for his mission. 634 00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:46,120 He doesn't send you somewhere I'll equipped. 635 00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:49,600 God is going to give you and listen, for some of us, having 636 00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:54,840 his presence is all we need. You just need to go number, 637 00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:58,040 number. Then we have P, which is God is 638 00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:00,080 going to give you all a personality. 639 00:40:01,840 --> 00:40:06,640 Some of us are laid back people. Some of us are pretty intense. 640 00:40:07,720 --> 00:40:09,760 Some of us are pretty dramatic people. 641 00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:15,280 Dang that got loud so. Some of us are silly, some of us 642 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:19,120 are introverted, some of us are extroverted, some of us are 643 00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:22,520 social, some of us have a really dry personality or sense of 644 00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:25,120 humor. Listen, that is your 645 00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:28,800 personality. And God has given you a 646 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:34,120 personality in order to help fulfill His purposes, in order 647 00:40:34,120 --> 00:40:37,000 to align with the heart He's given you because He's giving 648 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:39,440 you the abilities to do it, because He's giving you 649 00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:44,080 spiritual gifts. Your personality is who you are 650 00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:47,520 and God made you that way. So don't, don't act like you 651 00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:50,240 have to change. No, like come to the Lord, He 652 00:40:50,240 --> 00:40:52,640 will use it. And then lastly, your 653 00:40:52,640 --> 00:40:59,280 experiences, listen, every experience is used by God. 654 00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:03,920 He does not waste anything, any experience in your life. 655 00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:08,480 He will exploit them. When you surrender your life to 656 00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:10,520 God. The Bible says in Romans that 657 00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:13,560 everything happens for the good of those who love them. 658 00:41:13,880 --> 00:41:19,160 Your experiences in life are going to help you along. 659 00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:22,280 And some of you are like man, Ricky, but I used to jump 660 00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:25,120 people. Yes, you did. 661 00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:28,280 But now that you're coming into Christ, you're not jumping 662 00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:30,480 people into gangs, you're jumping people into the family 663 00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:35,440 of God. You are coming at them like 664 00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:37,520 Ricky. I used to lie all the time, but 665 00:41:37,520 --> 00:41:39,560 no, you don't lie anymore. Now you tell the truth. 666 00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:43,160 I used to steal all the time. You don't steal anymore. 667 00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:47,520 Now you give. Listen, every experience that we 668 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:52,880 have, God uses and he takes that and he redeems it and He uses it 669 00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:55,480 for His will and His way. How do I know this? 670 00:41:56,040 --> 00:41:59,640 Moses spent 40 years of his life being trained in Egypt. 671 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:02,640 How in the world do you think he was able to fight all those 672 00:42:02,640 --> 00:42:06,840 dudes off at the well, because Pharaoh taught him MMA. 673 00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:11,640 He was trained. This isn't because he was like 674 00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:13,600 super get no, he was trained in this. 675 00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:17,600 How in the world does he he write the Pentateuch like the 676 00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:19,920 five because he was trained in it. 677 00:42:20,920 --> 00:42:24,720 And listen, what we're going to look at in in Moses life is that 678 00:42:24,720 --> 00:42:28,920 all of his experiences, everything that God allowed him 679 00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:32,400 to experience, God is going to use that and he's going to bring 680 00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:37,200 it all in in order for him to fulfill the purposes of God. 681 00:42:37,480 --> 00:42:41,440 So listen, don't be ashamed because some of your experiences 682 00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:44,680 were horrible or were trashed. I'm here to tell you that God's 683 00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:47,440 going to redeem it and then he's going to exploit it for his 684 00:42:47,440 --> 00:42:52,360 glory. Let him do it, stop hiding, stop 685 00:42:52,360 --> 00:42:53,880 being ashamed. Stop. 686 00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:56,520 Stop man, stop being quiet about it. 687 00:42:57,400 --> 00:43:01,200 Let him use your experiences so you can serve others. 688 00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:06,040 You could love others so you could join him in his purposes. 689 00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:10,680 Just a quick example. Like man I was thinking about my 690 00:43:10,680 --> 00:43:16,880 life when I was in in 8th grade they invited me to a mission 691 00:43:16,880 --> 00:43:20,080 trip to Juarez this before it got crazy. 692 00:43:20,080 --> 00:43:24,560 So don't, don't. And I was so mad because my mom 693 00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:28,760 made me go with my brother. I was like, dude, I get to hang 694 00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:30,960 out all week in the summer. I'm inviting my friends over and 695 00:43:30,960 --> 00:43:33,160 my mom's like, you're going too. And I'm like, Dang it. 696 00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:37,920 And I remember going to Waters and I didn't know any. 697 00:43:37,920 --> 00:43:40,160 And they were like, hey, Ricky, you're going to help with the 698 00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:42,480 third graders. I need you to translate. 699 00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:46,560 And I'm like the Sabo Espanol type people. 700 00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:51,760 We go out there and they're like, hey, we don't have anybody 701 00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:52,760 to teach. You're going to have to teach 702 00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:55,960 these kids. I'm like, OK. 703 00:43:57,640 --> 00:44:01,960 And at that moment, right there is when I entered into God's 704 00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:05,080 work, I didn't panic. I didn't freak out. 705 00:44:05,760 --> 00:44:10,400 I was like, let's do it. God put something inside of me 706 00:44:10,520 --> 00:44:13,320 in the eighth grade where I started seeing I'm like, you 707 00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:17,720 know, Ricky, like whatever God asks you to do, you're going to 708 00:44:17,720 --> 00:44:22,120 do it. Out of high school, I actually 709 00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:27,120 did tape embedding and painting. And I look now at all the times 710 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:30,760 that I've actually used that skill set for His purposes and 711 00:44:30,760 --> 00:44:35,160 for His glory. I look back at all these times 712 00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:36,600 where I've been asked to do things. 713 00:44:36,720 --> 00:44:40,400 Well, it didn't make sense to me and I messed up all these times. 714 00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:43,400 But you know what? I look back now and God has been 715 00:44:43,400 --> 00:44:46,920 preparing and planning and He's been molding and He's been 716 00:44:47,080 --> 00:44:50,840 sculpting, and He's using all this stuff to prepare for the 717 00:44:50,840 --> 00:44:53,960 next phase of what God is inviting me into. 718 00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:57,640 And I'm telling you, He's doing the same thing for every single 719 00:44:57,640 --> 00:45:00,800 one of you guys. He's preparing you for the next 720 00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:02,760 phase of what He's inviting you to. 721 00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:07,920 The question is, are you going to say yes or are you going to 722 00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:11,840 run to Midian? But what's funny is that when 723 00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:14,040 God has a calling on your life, you can't run from him. 724 00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:19,880 He's going to chase you down and you're going to have a crazy 725 00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:21,720 experience with God. But that's next week, so let's 726 00:45:21,720 --> 00:45:22,120 pray.