1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:05,000 Morning crossing Church, how are you doing today? 2 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:09,920 It is good to be in the House of the Lord with the people of the 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:12,200 Lord. Look around you at 48th St. 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:15,920 We are packed out. That's always a good feeling 5 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:19,400 just to be rubbing shoulders with other believers. 6 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:23,520 Awesome to be here today and I'm sure that's happening to all of 7 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:25,760 our locations all across this region. 8 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:29,600 If you're inside or online, we're so thankful for each and 9 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:32,200 everyone of you. Are there any ladies that went 10 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:34,160 to rise? Was that any good? 11 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,680 My wife came home. She had a lot of really, really 12 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:45,680 good things to say, really applicative for her life, for 13 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:51,720 our lives together. And so thankful that that's able 14 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:56,080 to happen amongst our women, just like uncommon with our men. 15 00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:00,040 And if our, if our relationship with God is stronger and that's 16 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:02,920 incorporated in our marriages and they're stronger, we become 17 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:06,800 a pretty unstoppable force. And that's a great thing. 18 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:12,320 Well, it's been a long journey, 14 weeks. 19 00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:18,640 That's how long this series has been, 14 weeks to get to the end 20 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:21,560 of the journey, which is where we are today. 21 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:25,960 But it's no, not as long as the children of Israel. 22 00:01:25,960 --> 00:01:29,440 That was 40 years, so a lot longer for them to make the 23 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:32,280 journey that it was for us to make the journey. 24 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,840 I've heard a lot of people talk about just different parts as 25 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:41,800 we've taken this journey along with them that has really showed 26 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:44,240 up in our lives. Some things that we need to 27 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:48,760 change, move, adjust, turn over to the Lord, put under the blood 28 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:53,640 of Jesus, those sorts of things. And here we are at the end of 29 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:56,120 it. The torch of leadership has been 30 00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:02,240 passed from Moses to Joshua and it's time for the nation of 31 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,760 Israel to take possession of their ancestral home. 32 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:13,360 What I want to do to end the series is take a deep dive into 33 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:20,280 the man that Moses became and how God shaped him through his 34 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:24,480 life. There's a lot of things we can 35 00:02:24,640 --> 00:02:30,000 think back on about what he was like when he was 40, what 36 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:34,440 happened from 40 to 80 when he came to the burning Bush, and 37 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:39,360 then from there, 80 to 120 when he became this deliverer of 38 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:43,360 Israel. But this is taken this this 39 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:47,600 little snapshot is taken at the latter part of his life. 40 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:52,320 It's an Exodus chapter 33, verses 15 to 20. 41 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:54,320 It says. Then Moses said to him, that's 42 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:58,280 God. If your presence does not go 43 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:02,120 with us, do not send us up from here. 44 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:07,040 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and your 45 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:12,520 people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me 46 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:14,880 and your people from all the other people on the face of the 47 00:03:14,920 --> 00:03:20,040 earth? Then the Lord said to Moses, I 48 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:23,080 will do the very thing you've asked, because I am pleased with 49 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:29,000 you, and I know you by name. Then Moses said, Show me your 50 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,880 glory, what a bold thing to ask for. 51 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:40,360 And the Lord said, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front 52 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:45,400 of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord in your presence. 53 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:48,960 I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have 54 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:52,120 compassion on whom I will have compassion. 55 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:57,680 But he said, you cannot see my face, for no one can may see me 56 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:03,120 and live. I love this scripture because it 57 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:09,920 emphasizes the man that Moses became, the man that God shaped. 58 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:15,480 You remember when he was a young man of 40, he was a completely 59 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:19,519 different person. He wanted to be the deliverer of 60 00:04:19,519 --> 00:04:24,600 Israel on his own, on his own terms, by his own definition. 61 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:28,760 You remember he was the guy who looked this way and that and 62 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:32,440 then killed an Egyptian and hid his body in the sand, acting 63 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:36,160 more like a terrorist than any kind of a delivered. 64 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:39,960 That was not a man that God could use. 65 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:45,800 That was a man who was in charge of his own life and wrecked it, 66 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:49,800 wrecked his life. But the man you see in this 67 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:54,640 statement is a man who's holy and completely dependent on God. 68 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:56,680 If you don't go before us, I'm not. 69 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:59,960 I can't, I can't go. If you don't go before us, these 70 00:04:59,960 --> 00:05:02,560 people can't go. We have to have you. 71 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,240 If we don't have you, we don't have anything. 72 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:07,920 What will the rest of the world say? 73 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:11,280 Do you hear that? It's not about Moses's 74 00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:15,200 reputation anymore. Now it's about God's reputation. 75 00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:23,160 He is a completely changed man, and the thing he wants more than 76 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:29,840 anything isn't just God to go ahead of them into the Promised 77 00:05:29,840 --> 00:05:32,320 land. It is to see the glory of the 78 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:38,880 Lord, to experience the glory of the Lord. 79 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:47,280 He's a man that had gotten to the place where he says, if your 80 00:05:47,280 --> 00:05:51,880 presence is with me, if you don't go with me, I can't go. 81 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:55,280 I wouldn't dare. It's not about me anymore. 82 00:05:56,760 --> 00:06:03,480 It's all about you. And then and only then could God 83 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:08,440 unleash his power in Moses because Moses became a 84 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:12,200 transparent man. And this is what I mean when I 85 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:14,680 say a transparent man. When people looked at Moses, 86 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:17,880 they didn't see Moses. They looked right through him 87 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:23,360 and they saw God. What would it be like if you and 88 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:25,960 I could become transparent people? 89 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:32,680 That our relationship with God was so complete that when people 90 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:36,000 looked at us, when people considered us, they didn't 91 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:38,560 really consider us at all. It was like we're not even 92 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:40,400 there. It was like they were looking 93 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:43,880 right through us and they were seeing God himself. 94 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:52,200 That's a pretty impressive statement about Moses's life, 95 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:56,720 but there needs to be something that we kind of to 96 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:58,880 counterbalance that with. I want you to look at the 97 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:00,440 Scripture in the Book of Numbers. 98 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:03,560 Again, it's at the end of Moses's life. 99 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:08,160 There were a lot of things to deal with when Moses LED this 100 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:10,960 band of 2,000,000 slaves into the Promised Land. 101 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:16,040 Just daily things. One of those things was thirst. 102 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:18,600 I mean, they're in the wilderness. 103 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:20,560 There's not water in the wilderness. 104 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:26,240 And so it was a miraculous thing when those 2 million people plus 105 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:29,560 all their animals would have enough water to drink. 106 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:33,080 It had to be a miraculous thing. And we read about that different 107 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:37,280 times in different ways where God made bitter water sweet when 108 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:42,040 they they, they threw this wood into the, into the water that 109 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:44,320 was there. That was bad water. 110 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:49,000 And then the times when Moses struck the rock with his staff 111 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:55,360 and water came out, this time it's related in Numbers chapter 112 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:59,400 20. And what God says to Moses is 113 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:04,600 speak to the rock, and water will come from it. 114 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:10,480 Speak to the rock. Moses and Aaron gathered the 115 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:13,520 people together. But when Moses began to speak, 116 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:19,360 instead of speaking to the rock, he spoke to the people. 117 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:22,760 And this is what he said in the 10th verse. 118 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:26,280 Must we bring water out of this rock? 119 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:36,600 Stop right there. Must we bring water out of this 120 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:42,159 rock like Moses could bring water out of a rock, like Aaron 121 00:08:42,159 --> 00:08:45,280 could bring water out of the rock? 122 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:51,480 When God said don't speak to the people, speak to the rock and 123 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:54,600 the water will come out for you. And who's the one who's going to 124 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:56,680 be bringing that water out of the rock? 125 00:08:56,680 --> 00:08:59,120 It isn't going to be Moses, it isn't going to be Aaron, it's 126 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:04,160 going to be God himself. It goes on to say that he struck 127 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:09,240 the rock with his staff twice, bringing out enough water for 128 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:13,120 all. So he says this to the people. 129 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,920 Then he strikes the rock 2 times with his staff, which is 130 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:19,440 something God didn't tell him to do. 131 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:27,720 And then he took the credit away from God for himself. 132 00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:32,840 Now you know God made good on his promise. 133 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:35,360 And so the water came out, and the people had their thirst 134 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:39,720 quench quenched. But Moses had this momentary 135 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:45,920 lapse in humility. And because of that one 136 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:52,880 momentary lapse in His humility, God says this in Numbers 2012, 137 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:57,320 two verses later. Because you did not trust me 138 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:04,480 enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, You 139 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:08,720 will not bring this community into the land I give them. 140 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:16,120 He had disqualified himself from entering into the Promised Land. 141 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:20,000 It was like God was saying, you know, Moses, I'm going to let 142 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,400 you look into this promised land, but you're not going to be 143 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:27,400 able to walk in it because you took the credit away from me. 144 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:36,280 How does that hit you? I want you to think about like 145 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:40,800 the totality of Moses's life, how far God's taken him, and 146 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:49,840 then he has this one momentary lapse in his humility and does 147 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:54,680 this thing, and then God says you are now disqualified from 148 00:10:54,680 --> 00:10:57,040 going into the promised land yourself. 149 00:10:57,760 --> 00:10:59,680 How many of you would say, you know God? 150 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:04,680 I think that's pretty harsh. I think you're kind of, you 151 00:11:04,680 --> 00:11:07,840 know, coming off the top rope on this one. 152 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:10,160 Don't you think you could have a little bit of mercy? 153 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:12,280 Don't you think you can have a little bit of grace for this 154 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:16,040 guy? Just one little slip. 155 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:21,520 I mean, Moses entire life had been directed to deliver God's 156 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:25,400 people to this new land and all of a sudden all he gets to do is 157 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:27,280 stand on a mountaintop and look in. 158 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:33,280 Come on God, where's your compassion on this man that you 159 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:37,480 love so much? Now I'm going to say something 160 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:40,280 here that might startle you. I think that's the beauty of it. 161 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:47,200 I think there's something incredibly beautiful about this 162 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:51,560 moment, if you, if we can get outside of our own selfishness 163 00:11:51,560 --> 00:11:56,080 for a little bit. You see, Moses had become so 164 00:11:56,080 --> 00:12:01,800 close to God, he'd become so far beyond what he had been early on 165 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:05,680 that God held him to a much higher standard. 166 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:10,840 Can you imagine being so close to God that the slightest slip 167 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:18,280 would cause a great problem? Moses had become so pure and so 168 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:22,920 holy in his thinking, so set apart for God's purpose, that 169 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:26,720 even the slightest mistake was a huge one to God. 170 00:12:32,870 --> 00:12:36,630 OK, so if I'm looking at Moses and I'm kind of doing some 171 00:12:36,630 --> 00:12:40,070 comparative thinking here, I had a real problem. 172 00:12:40,070 --> 00:12:45,480 I had a real problem with this because gotcha. 173 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:48,760 God watches me as I do so many things outside of His will. 174 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:52,320 How about you? Does God see you doing all sorts 175 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:56,640 of things outside of His will? Let me tell you, it is a full 176 00:12:56,640 --> 00:12:59,120 time job for God just to forgive me. 177 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:05,840 And I bet it's a full time job for Him to forgive any one of us 178 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:09,840 but Moses. Humility was so focused that any 179 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:13,800 departure from God's expectations was inexcusable. 180 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:16,360 And I have a question to ask here. 181 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:21,160 Do you think that God sees that kind of a potential in US? 182 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:27,440 How is Moses any different from us? 183 00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:33,080 He's just a guy that God had a plan for that was walking in 184 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:35,560 that plan. A lot of times he was obstinate, 185 00:13:35,880 --> 00:13:39,400 like he was fighting against that plan, and yet God used him 186 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:42,720 and God shaped him and God molded him and he was so 187 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:45,600 obstinate. It took him 40 years to learn 188 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,320 humidity, humility. He didn't learn it quickly. 189 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:53,480 And I'm sure there's a lot of things in your life as I know 190 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:57,280 there are in mind where I'm, I'm not going to be able to get this 191 00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:00,520 quickly. It's going to take me some time 192 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:04,800 to be able to understand God this way and then incorporate 193 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:08,680 that in my life, even in a semi consistent way. 194 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:11,080 But what about the potential of that? 195 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:13,000 Can God see the potential of that? 196 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:15,680 Where we might become the transparent person? 197 00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:20,560 Where we might become a person who is so dedicated to God that 198 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:24,560 even something small would push yourself would be a big thing? 199 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:29,080 This is something that we should want in our lives. 200 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:39,840 Love that. And then the curtain falls on 201 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:45,440 Moses's life. God instructs him to go up to 202 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:48,800 the top of a mountain called Mount Nebo. 203 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:55,280 And Mount Nebo is in the present country of Jordan, Southern 204 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:58,320 Jordan area, anciently called Moab. 205 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:02,880 It was a high mountain range. And from the top of that 206 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:08,160 mountain he could look out and he'd be able to see the the 207 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:11,040 wilderness in front of him and then the entire Jordan River 208 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:14,080 Valley. So this land that the nation of 209 00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:17,040 Israel was going to take, I'm going to show you a picture of 210 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:20,320 it right now. That's the top of Mount Nebo 211 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:25,320 where you see that sculpture. And if you look beyond it, I 212 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:27,120 mean, this is taken, you know, aerially. 213 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:29,640 But if you look beyond that, you'll see that there's these 214 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:33,840 these hills of the wilderness. And then if you look way out 215 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:37,360 beyond that, you can see the green of the Jordan River 216 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:40,760 Valley, the Jordan River Valley coming all the way from the 217 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:45,000 north of of Israel down to the South where it dumps into the 218 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:48,400 Red Sea. Once you turn. 219 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:51,280 The reason I want to show you this picture is because the last 220 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:55,040 week, last week, you know, we had the sermon on complaining, 221 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,120 right? And, and God did this thing 222 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:02,000 totally out of character where he told Moses to put a bronze 223 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:04,800 snake, make a bronze snake and put it on a pole, break the 224 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:07,520 commandment of graven images, put this thing on. 225 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:09,640 And everybody had to look at this because these snakes were 226 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:13,240 biting them and they would still bite them, but the venom 227 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:15,760 wouldn't kill them. That is an artist rendering of 228 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:16,480 it. Do you see it? 229 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:21,600 The post with the snake coiled around it all the way to the 230 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:22,960 top. Some of you go. 231 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:25,480 You know what that looks like? That looks like the symbol of 232 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:33,280 modern medicine, doesn't it? Well, the symbol of modern 233 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:35,920 medicine, if there's any doctors or anybody in the healthcare 234 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:39,840 industry that's listening to me that you would say, now wait a 235 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:44,280 minute, that is the, that's about the God Asclepius, this 236 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:47,480 Greek God. Well, just to tell you, you 237 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:53,640 know, Asclepius, that mythology, Greek mythology was 500 BC and 238 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:58,280 this was 1000 years before that. All I'm saying is that the 239 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:03,920 Greeks copied their homework off the Hebrews, and it was from 240 00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:13,680 this point that Moses was able, at 120 years of age, to see the 241 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:20,720 land that he had never set his eyes on before, the land that 242 00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:25,839 God was going to give the nation of Israel to possess. 243 00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:29,240 Now you saw the picture of how rugged that is. 244 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:34,160 Moses is 120 years old. He's 120 years old and he 245 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:39,120 climbed that mountain. He didn't take a cable car, 246 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:42,480 didn't take a Jeep. He walked it. 247 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:46,600 And who was with him? No one. 248 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:52,240 He was alone. So that gives you an indication 249 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:58,320 of the vitality of Moses, even at 120 years of age, to climb 250 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:01,800 that range of mountains to the top of that mountain, to be able 251 00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:08,840 to see the Promised land that God was going to give that 252 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:12,840 nation of Israel. And God had told Moses that when 253 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:15,760 he got to the top of the mountain and saw the land, he 254 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:21,760 was going to die. So Moses, the friend of God, was 255 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:27,280 shown the essence of his life. This is why you were born for 256 00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:30,200 this. You were made to bring these two 257 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:34,800 million people to this point. You've done what I told you to 258 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:38,160 do. You've been the person I created 259 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:43,360 you to be. And I can almost hear the words 260 00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:49,000 of the apostle Paul 1500 years in the future echoing backward 261 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:54,200 in Second Timothy 47, where he said, I have fought the good 262 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:57,680 fight. I have finished the race. 263 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:06,800 I've kept the faith and while looking at that land, Moses fell 264 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:14,000 dead at the feet of God. And what follows is surprisingly 265 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:16,360 one of the more beautiful passages of Scripture. 266 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:23,320 In Deuteronomy chapter 34 verse 6, it says he buried him in Moab 267 00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:29,240 in the valley opposite Beth Pior, but to this day no one 268 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:35,600 knows where his grave is. The poet put it this way. 269 00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:42,440 By Nebo's lonely mountain, this side of Jordan's Wave, in the 270 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:46,520 veil of the land of Moab there lies a lonely grave. 271 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:52,080 But no one dug a sepulchre, and no man sought air, for the Angel 272 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:57,560 of God upturned the sod and laid the dead man there. 273 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:06,480 In the entire Bible, there's only one man that God buried 274 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:10,960 himself. And when we bury someone, we get 275 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:14,520 the shovels out, maybe we get a backhoe out, we dig a six foot 276 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:20,520 hole, we put a vault down into the ground that a casket fits in 277 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:23,880 before we fill the remainder of that hole back up. 278 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:28,200 And I wonder how God buried Moses. 279 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:34,960 Maybe he picked up the entire mountain and placed his body in 280 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:39,240 the midst of it and then gently set it back down on him. 281 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:45,320 Moses, this mountain will be your tombstone because it 282 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:48,920 reflects the mountain of a man that you've become. 283 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:56,400 I want to share one more passage about the man that Moses became. 284 00:20:57,160 --> 00:21:00,280 It's written in Deuteronomy 3410, and it could have been the 285 00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:04,160 epitaph that was written on his tombstone, if he had. 286 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:11,520 One says this. Since then, no prophet has risen 287 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:17,480 in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did 288 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:21,080 all those miraculous signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do 289 00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:24,840 in Egypt, to Pharaoh and all his officials, and to his whole 290 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:29,120 land. For no one has ever shown the 291 00:21:29,120 --> 00:21:33,480 mighty power performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in 292 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:41,560 the sight of all Israel. That's the kind of man that only 293 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:46,160 God can make. When a man or a woman is fully 294 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:51,040 submitted to God and humility, their potential has no earthly 295 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:55,080 limit. And humility is the only way God 296 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:58,960 can shine through US. Pride, it takes us away from 297 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:01,600 God. Pride becomes a mirror where we 298 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:06,160 look into it and we think, look at me, pride is the most ancient 299 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,080 of all sins, the sin of Satan himself. 300 00:22:10,360 --> 00:22:15,560 But then God breaks that pride down like he did in Moses, and 301 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:19,640 he says it's only through humility, the recognition of who 302 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:24,720 you are and who I am, that you can truly be who I've designed 303 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:32,640 you to be. God has a plan for your life. 304 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:36,760 And, and I know that God has a general plan for humanity. 305 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:40,480 He has an upper story plan for humanity, but he doesn't just 306 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:45,320 have a general plan. He has a specific plan for your 307 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:51,240 life, your individual life. How else could the apostle Paul 308 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,960 say under inspiration Ephesians 210 for we are his workmanship 309 00:22:55,120 --> 00:22:59,040 created in Christ Jesus under good works that God has prepared 310 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:01,480 beforehand, that we should walk in. 311 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:04,840 And that means that you live under a calendar of divine 312 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:10,880 appointments every day, every time you get up, every time God 313 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:15,160 allows you to live another day, you have a string of divine 314 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:17,880 appointments in front of you that God is designed 315 00:23:18,120 --> 00:23:26,680 specifically for you. In Hebrews chapter 12, he tells 316 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:31,120 us to lay aside every weight and all the sin that entangles us 317 00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:35,280 and run with endurance. What the race that has been 318 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:42,040 marked out for us. That's not general, that's 319 00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:45,080 specific. You see it in Moses. 320 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:48,640 He was a man who had a specific plan. 321 00:23:55,970 --> 00:24:00,290 God has this plan for our lives, but as long as our pride gets in 322 00:24:00,290 --> 00:24:04,130 between US and God, we will never be able to experience that 323 00:24:04,130 --> 00:24:08,970 potential. We have to be humble and you 324 00:24:08,970 --> 00:24:11,970 know, humility. You can pray to God for 325 00:24:11,970 --> 00:24:16,000 humility, and that's a scary prayer, by the way, because you 326 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:23,160 know he'll answer that one. You know, my mother used to say, 327 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,120 if you ever pray for patience, duck. 328 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:30,120 And I really think that's true. And if you pray for humility, 329 00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:33,120 humiliating things are going to happen to you because that's how 330 00:24:33,120 --> 00:24:39,440 you learn humility, right? But the Bible says humble 331 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:42,080 yourself in the sight of the Lord and then he will lift you 332 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:44,080 up. So are we going to give God the 333 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:47,040 responsibility of humility, or are we going to take that 334 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:49,920 responsibility on ourselves like God teaches us? 335 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:58,840 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift us 336 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:02,120 up. Every one of us has the raw 337 00:25:02,120 --> 00:25:07,920 material to become exactly what God has planned for us to be. 338 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:13,200 And then God can and will change the world through us. 339 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:18,520 Unfortunately, we're like the younger version of Moses a lot 340 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:20,600 of the time. And we try to do it in our own 341 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:22,920 power. We like setting our own agenda. 342 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:27,400 We like writing our own story. But our story is never going to 343 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:32,600 be anywhere as good as the story God has planned for us. 344 00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:38,480 And I, you know, I mean, this would be a great time to, to 345 00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:43,880 say, OK, Moses. Well, there's a, a great person 346 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:47,320 to try to live my life after. There's a great person that I 347 00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:50,920 need to use comparatively so that I can and, and, and that 348 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:53,440 that's, that's not bad. That's, that's a good idea. 349 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:55,960 But you know, there's someone better than that. 350 00:25:56,920 --> 00:25:59,840 It's interesting, isn't it, that in the Old Testament, and it was 351 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:04,840 true when it was written, that since then no one has risen up 352 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:08,840 in Israel that has done these mighty things and these 353 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:13,960 wonderful works, You know, for no one has ever shown the mighty 354 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:17,560 power and performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the 355 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:20,560 sight of all Israel. And that was true when it was 356 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:25,720 written, but it's not true anymore because someone has 357 00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:30,640 written up, risen up in Israel that is greater than Moses, far 358 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:34,400 greater than Moses. And the signs and the wonders 359 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:37,320 that he accomplished were greater than Moses. 360 00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:41,480 And the greatest of all those signs and wonders was to have 361 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:46,720 the willingness to lay down his life and to die alone on a cross 362 00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:50,640 for you and for me. For nothing that he did, but for 363 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:54,480 everything that you did and that I've done and that I will do and 364 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:58,600 that you will do. Past President, future, all that 365 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:05,440 burden of sin, taking on himself, bearing that sin alone 366 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:09,840 on that cross 2000 years ago, being buried in a borrowed tomb. 367 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:12,320 And then the greatest of all signs and wonders ever 368 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:15,760 accomplished, that ever will be accomplished in the human 369 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:21,480 experience was the Sunday morning that an Angel came down 370 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:23,880 and rolled that stone away and sat on it. 371 00:27:24,360 --> 00:27:30,360 And my Savior, who had been so brutalized and so ruined in his 372 00:27:30,360 --> 00:27:37,720 humanity, walked out of that tomb alive, and the only marks 373 00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:45,280 on him were the ones that he chose to hold on to his trophies 374 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:50,280 and proof. Thomas, don't believe me? 375 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:53,560 Put your fingers into the nail prints in my hands. 376 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:56,800 You don't believe me? Put your hand into my side. 377 00:27:56,800 --> 00:28:08,760 He kept those. That is the greatest hero of 378 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:17,480 God's word, and he's my hero, He's my Lord. 379 00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:23,000 Listen, you might be dealing with realities that have come 380 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:27,520 from setting your own agenda, maybe from making your own 381 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:29,160 decisions. Maybe other people have made 382 00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:33,160 decisions for you and you feel victimized. 383 00:28:34,120 --> 00:28:39,200 You feel broken like Moses did after that first 40 years. 384 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:42,760 You might be feeling destroyed and broken and shattered right 385 00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:45,960 now because you failed or somebody failed and you're 386 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:49,040 living in that failure. Maybe things haven't worked out 387 00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:52,880 the way that you wanted them to. Maybe you're feeling like Moses 388 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:56,000 in the wilderness when he said I have become an alien in a 389 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:00,000 strange and foreign land. Maybe right now you're feeling 390 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,720 deconstructed. Maybe you've started in on this 391 00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:06,640 journey of faith, but instead of God building you up, you feel 392 00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:09,840 like he's tearing you down. And maybe He is tearing you down 393 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:13,240 because he's getting down to that faulty foundation that you 394 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:16,280 built your life on to make sure that you're building your life 395 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:19,960 on the one and only foundation that you can build it on. 396 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:24,280 And that is Jesus Christ. And once that foundation is 397 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:28,360 laid, what God will build on that foundation is greater than 398 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:34,200 anything you can imagine. That's how He will make you in 399 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:38,120 into what He wants you to be. He removes all that has been 400 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:42,080 built on a bad foundation, and then He will build His holy 401 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:47,480 temple in your heart. Maybe you're beginning to 402 00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:50,880 experience God laying that foundation and building that 403 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:52,360 house. He's doing it out of living 404 00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:59,840 stones and precious jewels. Where are you right now with 405 00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:07,720 God? Maybe today is the day that 406 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:11,200 boldly you speak to God about humility. 407 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:16,240 There's none of us that can say, Yep, I'm here, I've arrived. 408 00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:25,040 The real question is whether or not you'd be willing to be on 409 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:28,600 your knees for it, to look inside and ask yourself the 410 00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:35,120 question, the question that we started this series with, who am 411 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:41,160 I? And realize that you are always 412 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:47,080 intended for God to set the identity of your life, not you. 413 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:51,920 I want you to think about that while we move to a time of 414 00:30:51,920 --> 00:31:09,600 decision. So, you know, I, I, I, I preach 415 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:13,400 up there, I'm elevated that that's really just so people can 416 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:18,560 see. It's not because I'm any better 417 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:23,920 and some of you know me and you'd go aim into that. 418 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,200 You know, some of you just watch me or see me, but you don't 419 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:33,200 really know me. And if you do know me, you know 420 00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:38,680 that I'm a very inconsistent person. 421 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:44,320 I struggle a lot in my walk of faith. 422 00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:50,680 Sometimes I feel pretty strong, sometimes I don't. 423 00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:54,080 As a matter of fact, the times I feel stronger, I'm probably 424 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:56,360 further than the times I feel weaker. 425 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:04,440 That make sense to you? And then we come to this point 426 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:06,480 of decision and I come down on the floor. 427 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:11,280 You know, I've done that ever since I've been here. 428 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:17,640 And the reason I'm standing on the floor is because I want, I 429 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:20,760 want there to be a visual representation of the fact that 430 00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:24,280 we're all standing on the same ground. 431 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:34,440 We're all just people who mess up a lot, but we are also the 432 00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:40,440 children of God that are loved by God beyond our ability to 433 00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:46,600 even understand it. And I would just like for you to 434 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:54,320 consider something today. I would like you to consider not 435 00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:59,880 just maybe praying a prayer that God would move in your life. 436 00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:03,000 I would like you to consider coming up here and getting down 437 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,960 on your knees. I mentioned this, I think last 438 00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:10,800 week that I had a person a long time ago when I first came to 439 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:14,720 Quincy and they saw that I was doing that, that I was inviting 440 00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:16,320 people to come up and get down on their knees. 441 00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:19,440 And we would always have kind of a, we wouldn't have like a short 442 00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:22,040 song and let's go home. It would be, we spend some time 443 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:26,080 up here and it was like a long time and people would come up. 444 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:29,000 And I remember talking to a person, it was at an event, at a 445 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:33,200 Salvation Army event. And, and that person said to me, 446 00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:37,280 that is so humiliating. Why would you bring a person up 447 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:39,880 here and make them get down on their knees in front of other 448 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:40,960 people? That's humiliating. 449 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:43,720 And I thought about that word, that word humiliating. 450 00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:49,920 What does that word mean? Humiliating. 451 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:55,880 Well, it humbles me. And then I thought, is that a 452 00:33:55,880 --> 00:34:00,760 bad thing? Is it a bad thing to be humbled 453 00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:06,840 before Almighty God? Is it a bad thing to have a 454 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:12,080 physical representation with my body that I'm getting down on my 455 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:16,280 knees because I realized there is a God and I'm not God and he 456 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:19,520 is God and, and I need to honor him as God and I need to be 457 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:25,159 dependent on him as God and, and to approach God like that, to 458 00:34:25,159 --> 00:34:29,679 approach God more as a a prodigal son who I don't really 459 00:34:29,679 --> 00:34:32,159 deserve to be part of a member of your family. 460 00:34:32,159 --> 00:34:35,000 But if you would just let me be a hired servant, you know, I'd 461 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:37,719 be happy with that. And then what happens then God 462 00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:43,040 grabs a hold of you and he puts his arm around you. 463 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:48,400 Just like in that story. That father wasn't hearing any 464 00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:52,000 of that. He, he, he was saying my son was 465 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:55,000 dead. He's alive again, was lost. 466 00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:57,640 But now he's found. Go kill the fatted calf. 467 00:34:57,640 --> 00:34:59,880 Put a ring on his finger, put a robe on him. 468 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:04,480 Right. We humble ourselves in the sight 469 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:07,640 of the Lord, and then he does what we can't do. 470 00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:11,720 He lifts us up. He exalts us. 471 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:16,640 We live in a world crammed full of people who exalt themselves. 472 00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:30,400 Why do, why do we do that? We have these huge tragedies 473 00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:32,080 that happen. They've had, there's been a lot 474 00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:33,680 of them, right? These hurricanes and stuff. 475 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:36,360 And the people get up at the mic and you know what they do for 476 00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:38,440 the 1st 15 minutes, they thank everyone. 477 00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:41,520 Have you ever heard of that? I would just like to thank these 478 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:43,560 people and I would like to thank these people and I would like to 479 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:47,640 thank these people. You know, so we're all doing 480 00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:49,200 this thing. We're all doing the whole 481 00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:52,400 exaltation thing. What if we just was, we're 482 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:54,720 humble. Maybe, maybe church is a place 483 00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:57,040 that we can be honest just for a moment. 484 00:35:57,200 --> 00:36:01,120 And instead of giving each other trophies, what we do is we just 485 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:05,160 come before an almighty God and we get down on our knees and we 486 00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:08,480 humble ourselves before him and then wait for him to exalt us. 487 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:11,400 And when he does that, then we're blessed. 488 00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:15,000 I don't know what you're dealing with. 489 00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:18,480 A lot of people in this room, a lot of people online already 490 00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:25,400 believers. Maybe today is a day that you 491 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:29,080 just lay something down and that's what this is for. 492 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:36,120 Just lay something down. Maybe this could be a burning 493 00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:44,120 Bush moment for you or your life is focused and directed by God. 494 00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:46,800 I don't want my will anymore. I want yours. 495 00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:50,680 And for many of you here today that have never made a decision 496 00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:53,360 to have an intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 497 00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:56,920 And I'm not talking about being a church person. 498 00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:59,880 I'm not talking about having your name on some roll. 499 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:04,320 I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about you and Jesus 500 00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:07,960 Christ having an intimate relationship together. 501 00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:12,320 That's what he's calling you into it. 502 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:16,400 If you've never done that, you might have done all the other 503 00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:18,400 things around it, but you've never done that. 504 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:21,400 Here's an opportunity to do that. 505 00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:22,960 There's going to be somebody right over there by that 506 00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:26,680 baptistry that loved nothing more than just talk to you about 507 00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:31,560 it and pray with you about it. But I'm telling you right now, 508 00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:36,000 we are in this singular moment right now in time and space, and 509 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:41,560 the angels of heaven are around this room, and Satan is not 510 00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:45,040 welcome here. And the Holy Spirit is in this 511 00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:47,480 room. And the Bible says that Jesus is 512 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:50,080 walking up and down these aisles because we're two or three 513 00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:53,040 gathered there. Am I in the midst of them? 514 00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:55,440 He's here. He knows you, He knows your 515 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:58,760 story. He knows all the things you say 516 00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:00,320 to yourself that aren't even true. 517 00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:09,880 And he's not here to judge you. He's here to save you because He 518 00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:13,840 loves you. Would you stand with me? 519 00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:19,520 Let's pray, Heavenly Father, in Jesus name, I pray that all of 520 00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:22,880 the defense mechanisms, all the strongholds inside of our heart 521 00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:26,520 would just come down right now. That you would bring them down. 522 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:29,160 All the places that we like to hide from you. 523 00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:38,440 And even though, Father, that sounds like being exposed, help 524 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:42,960 us to realize that you are not a God in this moment in time that 525 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:48,000 has any desire to judge us. If you did, you would not have 526 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:50,360 sent your Son Jesus to die for us. 527 00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:57,800 You are here to love us and to heal us. 528 00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:01,760 You're here to call us your children. 529 00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:09,360 You are here to bring us home. And I pray, Father, that we'll 530 00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:16,480 have the courage to trust you and seek you with our hearts 531 00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:20,160 even now, in Jesus name, Amen.