1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:04,280 Hello Crossing Church, how are you doing today? 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:08,200 It is so good to see you. I don't know about all the other 3 00:00:08,200 --> 00:00:10,800 locations. We got a packed house right now 4 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:12,520 and that's always so encouraging. 5 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:16,600 So many people just being able to share in the word of God and 6 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:20,120 be changed by God. So I want to welcome all of our 7 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:24,840 campuses joining from all across this region, all of our 8 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:27,720 locations. And if you're inside or online, 9 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:32,040 so thankful for each and everyone of you as well. 10 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:35,520 And I've had an interesting experience in the last week, 11 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:40,680 more than interesting, like a really formative experience. 12 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,200 My wife's had knee problems for a long time. 13 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:48,000 It's gotten a lot worse. She had a knee replacement on 14 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:55,160 Tuesday and it is absolutely amazing what God does through 15 00:00:55,160 --> 00:01:01,520 those doctors because she was started surgery at 10:00 and she 16 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:03,520 was walking on a new knee at 1:30. 17 00:01:04,879 --> 00:01:09,160 I mean, is that nuts? And they, you know, and I did a 18 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:13,600 little research and like the first knee replacement was like 19 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:15,760 1968. How many of you want to be a 20 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:20,440 candidate for that one? And before the knee replacement 21 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:24,320 surgery, what did people do? I mean, and that wasn't that 22 00:01:24,320 --> 00:01:27,920 long ago, was it, that it was just, you were just out of luck. 23 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:30,280 You were in a wheelchair on crutches or something like that 24 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:32,880 from then on and how that would affect you. 25 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:37,920 And I, I'm just so thankful that God has given us human beings 26 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,640 the opportunity to be able to learn things to such a level 27 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:47,280 that that that kind of thing can actually be accomplished. 28 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:51,520 It's just such an amazing thing. So she's watching at home today, 29 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:56,000 but I'm just thankful for a God who just does amazing things on 30 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:58,560 his own and through his people. Would you agree with that? 31 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:01,520 He is a good God. He is just a really, really good 32 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:03,960 God. And I'm praising God for that 33 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,040 today. So we're in this series called 34 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:11,960 Decisions in the Desert, Walking with God in trial and triumph. 35 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:16,200 And it's about Moses and the children of Israel from the book 36 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:19,640 of Exodus. In the first week, we talked 37 00:02:19,640 --> 00:02:24,520 about the birth of Moses and we connected that to what it means 38 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:28,360 to be a child of God. One of the things we learned in 39 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,480 that sermon was the proximity to God is more important than 40 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:36,760 production for God. And a lot of us, we struggle 41 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:41,040 figuring that out, that when we're in in close proximity to 42 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:43,000 God, he's going to do great things. 43 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:48,240 But we just need to not just try to do things for him, but to be 44 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:51,720 with him. The second week we learned how 45 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:56,480 Moses learned humility and how that reshaped his entire life. 46 00:02:56,920 --> 00:03:00,880 But things had to go all the way down to the foundation and even 47 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:04,480 below that, and God had to lay a new foundation. 48 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:10,240 In the third week, we learned about the 1st 9 plagues that God 49 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:17,120 used to predispose the Egyptians to let the Israelites go and how 50 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:19,400 God judged an empire for defying him. 51 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:23,080 And and then in the fourth week we learned that God can redeem 52 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:27,600 his people, but the cost of sacrifice is high. 53 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:30,480 We learned that through the Passover. 54 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,640 Today we're going to learn something else that even though 55 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:38,440 we can be delivered out of bondage because we're going to 56 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:42,040 see the nation of Israel delivered out of bondage and we 57 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:46,120 have our own kind of bondage. Just because we have freedom 58 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:50,520 from that bondage doesn't mean that we don't have to serve 59 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:54,240 anyone. You are designed by God to 60 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:59,480 serve. Obviously we know that from the 61 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:04,960 one we follow, and that's Jesus Christ because he said the Son 62 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:08,760 of Man didn't come to be served, but to, to serve. 63 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:16,839 And so we take that from him that that we, we, we might not 64 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:20,360 think that we have to serve, but we're going to have to serve. 65 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:25,320 Somebody just has to be the right somebody, which in my mind 66 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:30,000 took me back to the 70s and a song that I remember that was 67 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:33,240 really popular in the 70s. I want to see how many of you 68 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:34,520 remember it. They're going to play a clip 69 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:38,720 from it. You may be rich or poor, you may 70 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:44,400 be blind or little, maybe living in another country under another 71 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:46,920 name, but you're going to have to serve somebody. 72 00:04:48,840 --> 00:04:49,920 Yes, you are. You're going. 73 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:54,400 To how many of you recognize it? Yeah, four people. 74 00:04:54,840 --> 00:04:57,600 Bob Dylan. But it may be the devil. 75 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:01,400 It may be the devil. It may be the love. 76 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:04,400 But you're going to have to serve somebody. 77 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:08,880 Yeah. It's from an album that he came 78 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:13,600 out with called Slow Train Coming, and it marked Dylan's 79 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:18,040 new found faith in Jesus Christ. And Dylan's conversion is 80 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:21,160 interesting. It came after a really difficult 81 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:25,920 stretch in his career. And a fan in the front row threw 82 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:29,960 a necklace up on stage and it had a silver cross on it. 83 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:33,920 And rather than ignoring it, Dylan went over and picked it up 84 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:39,600 and put it in his pocket. Later on, he was experiencing a 85 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,000 personal crisis. And it can that the crisis 86 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:47,680 continued and he reached into the pocket of those same genes 87 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:50,200 and he pulled out that silver cross. 88 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:54,200 And what he said was it led to a profound moment where he felt 89 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:58,520 the presence of Jesus with him. And it inspired him to write 90 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:01,880 that song and a number of other songs. 91 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:08,280 The thing is, what Dylan wrote in that song is absolutely true, 92 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:12,320 and Dylan made the choice pretty clear. 93 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:17,360 But a lot of the time it's hard for us to see that that choice 94 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:19,960 is that simple, that you're going to have to serve somebody. 95 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:24,280 Might be the devil, might be the Lord, but you're going to have 96 00:06:24,280 --> 00:06:28,280 to serve somebody. When we read the story of Moses, 97 00:06:28,280 --> 00:06:33,360 it feels a lot like there's an oppressor and then there is the 98 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:36,520 oppressed, this people group that's oppressed. 99 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,120 It's really easy to just turn it into something binary. 100 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:45,200 But if you look at the situation in the historical context, it's 101 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:48,000 a lot different than that. It's a lot more complicated than 102 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,280 that. Last week, Clayton kind of gave 103 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:55,760 us a history lesson, and he began by talking about Abraham 104 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:58,960 and how God provided for Abraham. 105 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:03,440 You know, Abraham was the first one to use this term for God. 106 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:06,720 He called him Jehovah Jireh. How many of you heard that 107 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:10,760 before Jehovah Jireh? And what that means is the God 108 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:15,000 who provides in God, it will be provided. 109 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:19,080 And he said that when he was willing to offer his own son 110 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:24,800 Isaac as a sacrifice to God, and then God provided a substitute, 111 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:29,080 God provided a ram with its horns thought caught in the 112 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:32,400 thicket as the substitute sacrifice. 113 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:37,720 And then Abraham said, Jehovah Jireh, God will provide. 114 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:40,240 He didn't just provide for Abraham. 115 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:45,400 He provided for his son Isaac and Isaac's son Jacob and 116 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:48,240 Jacob's twelve sons. And one of those sons was 117 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:52,680 Joseph. And even though his brother sold 118 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:55,360 him into slavery, this is actually the Nexus. 119 00:07:55,360 --> 00:08:00,160 This is where Egypt becomes a part of this story is they sell 120 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:06,040 him into slavery but God uses that in such a profound way 121 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:10,800 because it was through Joseph that Egypt and the entire 122 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:16,360 surrounding area was saved through 7 from 7 years of 123 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:19,960 famine. It also gave Egypt incredible 124 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:25,120 wealth. During that famine, all of 125 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:31,880 Joseph's family moved from Canaan, migrated down into Egypt 126 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:34,039 because that's where the food was. 127 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:38,960 Nothing wrong with that. The thing is, and this is where 128 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:43,400 it gets complicated, they weren't meant to stay there. 129 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:46,120 That wasn't the land that God gave them. 130 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:48,200 Canaan was the land that God gave them. 131 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,000 He had set aside their own country for them, but they got 132 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:58,760 comfortable living in Egypt and then they didn't want to go back 133 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:01,000 to Canaan when the famine was over. 134 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:06,640 In Exodus one one through 7, the Bible says these are the names 135 00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:12,080 of the sons of Israel. Israel was the name that that 136 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:17,520 God changed Jacob's name into Israel, who went to Egypt with 137 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:22,680 Jacob in each of his each with his family, Reuben, Simeon, 138 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:29,960 Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin, Dan and Naftali, 139 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:37,360 Gad and Asher, the descendants of Jacob numbered listen 70 in 140 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:41,080 all. So those sons, their wives, 141 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:45,680 their kids and their wives, 70 people. 142 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:50,600 Joseph was already in Egypt. Now Joseph and all of his 143 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:53,320 brothers and all that generation died. 144 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:58,520 But the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful and they 145 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:03,880 multiplied greatly and increased in numbers and became so 146 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:08,160 numerous that the land was filled with them. 147 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:11,320 So remember what was supposed to happen? 148 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:13,520 And God had told him be fruitful and multiply. 149 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:17,600 God had given him a, a wonderful land to do that in Canaan. 150 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:21,640 But they went down to Egypt because of the famine, got 151 00:10:21,640 --> 00:10:26,200 comfortable in Egypt. Listen to me, some of you are 152 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:31,240 comfortable in Egypt. Now it's going to get real. 153 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:34,880 You get comfortable in Egypt. That's a dangerous thing to do. 154 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:40,040 You need to be where God intends for you to be, and he intended 155 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:42,600 him for to be in Canaan. But they but they got 156 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:47,680 comfortable in Egypt. And then Exodus 18 to 14 tells 157 00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:52,480 us the rest of the story. Then a new king, to whom Joseph 158 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:56,120 meant nothing came to power in Egypt. 159 00:10:56,520 --> 00:11:02,280 Look, he said to his people, the Israelites have become far too 160 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:06,040 numerous for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with 161 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:09,080 them, or they will become even more numerous. 162 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:13,440 And if war breaks out, we'll join our enemies and fight 163 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:15,360 against us and leave the country. 164 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:21,960 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced 165 00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:26,560 labor, and they built Pytham and Ramses as store cities for 166 00:11:26,560 --> 00:11:29,320 Pharaoh. But the more they were 167 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:33,760 oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread. 168 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:39,040 So the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them 169 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:45,360 ruthlessly, made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick 170 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:48,200 and mortar, with all kinds of work in the fields. 171 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:53,120 And in their harsh labor. The Egyptians worked them 172 00:11:53,800 --> 00:12:00,040 ruthlessly. When we think of slavery, we 173 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:03,480 tend to want to put it in our own American historical context. 174 00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:08,920 But this was a lot different. People that were abducted in 175 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:16,360 Africa, put on slave ships, and brought to America didn't have a 176 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:21,920 choice. But the Israelites did have a 177 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:27,360 choice. The Israelites chose to stay in 178 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:31,520 Egypt. They start didn't start out as 179 00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:34,560 slaves. They weren't a conquered people. 180 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:39,840 They were an immigrant people group, and history shows that 181 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:43,200 there was such diversity in these two cultures between 182 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:46,040 Israel and Egypt. They were so vastly different 183 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:49,440 that they found it comfortable to be a part than to be 184 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:52,160 together. That's why you see Israel living 185 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:55,800 in a separate area of Egypt called the land of Goshen, and 186 00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:58,680 you see the Egyptians living where they were living. 187 00:12:58,680 --> 00:13:01,520 They liked the space between the two. 188 00:13:01,680 --> 00:13:03,880 They didn't assimilate their cultures. 189 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:09,800 They say separate cultures and then they found work with the 190 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:14,280 Egyptians and that's what led to their comfortable lives. 191 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:16,840 And it did for sometimes, but times change. 192 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:18,600 That's another Bob Dylan song, by the way. 193 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:24,280 The times they are changing and eventually the geopolitical tide 194 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:28,720 turned against them and Israel became a permanent underclass. 195 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:34,160 Over the years, their rights were whittled away, and then 196 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:36,440 they became a service culture for Egypt. 197 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:41,400 They were no longer free. They were owned not by 198 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:47,080 individuals, but by the state of Egypt and made to work for the 199 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:50,520 betterment of the Egyptian empire. 200 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:54,440 So let's personalize that. Let's bring that into our own 201 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:58,360 lives. That's how sin works. 202 00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:01,360 Sin doesn't take you all at once. 203 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:06,440 It breaks you down a little bit at a time, but after a while you 204 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:09,640 wouldn't even recognize what you used to be. 205 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:13,200 You see, freedom means that you're able to make choices. 206 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:18,720 Choices in what you say and what you do and who you are and who 207 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:22,200 you want to be. But freedom needs a purpose. 208 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:28,360 And our purpose, as defined in the Bible, is to love and serve 209 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:31,480 God and to love and serve one another. 210 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:36,400 That's the great commandment. Jesus said it right, To love God 211 00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:38,440 with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your 212 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:43,960 neighbor as yourself. That's who we're supposed to be. 213 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:46,480 It's what makes our lives matter. 214 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:52,240 But when we choose to serve ourselves, we can end up slaves 215 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:55,640 to those choices, just like Israel did. 216 00:14:56,200 --> 00:15:02,280 And Bob Dylan had that right. I wonder how many of you feel 217 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:06,640 stuck right now, like you're in a spot that you never imagined 218 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:08,920 you would ever be in, but here you are. 219 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:12,040 And you feel like, you know, you're backed into a corner, 220 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:15,120 like there's no way out. And it, you know, it could be 221 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:17,640 anything. It could be that you're enslaved 222 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:21,200 to your addiction, or the results of your choices, or the 223 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:24,720 results of other people's choices, and you feel trapped 224 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:27,560 and you feel powerless to change anything. 225 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:33,520 Enslavement will do that to you. So you get up every day and you 226 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:36,480 endure the hardship of those choices. 227 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:44,440 You make your quota of bricks. You get enough to survive 228 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:49,360 another day. Heard it said one time. 229 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:55,040 I dig in the ditch to get the money to buy the food, to get 230 00:15:55,040 --> 00:16:01,760 the strength to dig the ditch and your life just becomes this 231 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:06,600 never ending cycle. First time I went to Haiti, it 232 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:10,040 was the first time I'd ever been in a developing country that 233 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:11,840 really never has never developed. 234 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:17,960 And I went there with a lot of predispositions in my mind. 235 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:20,800 I had heard all my life this statement. 236 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:23,840 People in America, there are people in America that have it 237 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:26,480 just as bad as people in those countries. 238 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:31,920 When I went there the first time, I figured out that's not 239 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:35,080 even close to true. There's no such thing as that. 240 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:39,760 There's no one that's so poor in America that experiences the 241 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:43,560 poverty that's in Haiti. Let me explain why that is. 242 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:46,760 The poorest person in America can still drink water that won't 243 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:51,760 kill them. The poorest person in America 244 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:53,560 can still get a public education. 245 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:58,320 The poorest person in America can still walk into a an 246 00:16:58,320 --> 00:16:59,840 emergency room and get treatment. 247 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:04,760 If you grow up in Haiti, the water will kill you. 248 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:11,640 If you get sick, you die. But that's not what I'm talking 249 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:14,240 about. Here's what true poverty is. 250 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:19,560 True poverty is when a father or a mother looks at their child 251 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:24,079 and realizes that there is absolutely nothing that they can 252 00:17:24,079 --> 00:17:26,760 do to change that child's destiny. 253 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:32,280 They can't change theirs and they can't change their child's. 254 00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:37,200 No matter how hard they try, no matter how many barriers they 255 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:39,400 want to break down, they cannot do it. 256 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:41,520 And you know what? That is hopelessness. 257 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:46,160 And that, my friend, is poverty. Poverty is when there is 258 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:51,800 absolutely no way that you can change the circumstance that 259 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:55,760 you're in. And I came back changed from 260 00:17:55,760 --> 00:18:02,840 that first trip. And it's hard then to understand 261 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:05,920 when you're in that circumstance, how God can be 262 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:09,280 your Jehovah Jireh. He can be the God who provides. 263 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:15,440 In those 430 years of enslavement, I'm sure that 264 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:20,200 Israel felt that way, but He still is a God who provides. 265 00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:26,200 He provided for His people not because of their choices, but in 266 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:30,920 spite of them and all the choices of those who went before 267 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:33,000 them. You know how He did it. 268 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:38,640 He sent an 80 year old Hebrew outcast, a former terrorist with 269 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,800 nothing but a shepherd's staff made of almond wood. 270 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:46,720 That and the power of Almighty God. 271 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:53,560 And if God can use an 80 year old broken down man with a 272 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:57,080 shepherd's staff that has the worst reputation, check this 273 00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:02,160 out. He can use you because it's all 274 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:09,520 of that and the power of God. We've already heard about the 275 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:15,000 plagues and how it brought Egypt low and the lowest came from the 276 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,200 Passover and the death of the first born. 277 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:21,760 Why did that happen? You know, some people would say, 278 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:27,440 why would God be so ruthless? Why would he be so awful as to 279 00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:31,080 do stuff like that? Clayton brought that question 280 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:38,840 up, and I've heard people say if you read that story in the 281 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:42,280 Bible, it'll actually tell you that God hardened Pharaoh's 282 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:45,520 heart. Like, it sounds like God made 283 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:51,280 Pharaoh incapable of making the decision to let the Israelites 284 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:53,880 go. But you're not doing a thorough 285 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:58,080 reading of that story. If you do a thorough reading of 286 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:01,880 that story, what you'll read is this in the early stages of the 287 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:04,560 plagues. Where it was hardship but not 288 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:08,480 dying. It doesn't say God hardened 289 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:12,520 Pharaoh's heart. It says Pharaoh hardened his own 290 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:17,880 heart. And as you move through the 291 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:22,600 plagues, it changes the language changes from Pharaoh hardened 292 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:25,520 his heart to God hardened Pharaoh's heart. 293 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:28,480 Some people are go, that's a hard one to explain, Jerry. 294 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:31,520 I goes, no, it's not really isn't. 295 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:34,600 And I like to use this illustration. 296 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:43,120 If you were to get like a lump of soft wax and you were to roll 297 00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:47,760 it up like into a ball when it's soft, OK, and it kind of 298 00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:51,720 solidifies. And then you were to take a lump 299 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:55,480 of clay and roll it up into a similar sized ball. 300 00:20:56,160 --> 00:21:00,360 And you had in one hand you had the wax and in the other hand 301 00:21:00,360 --> 00:21:03,680 you had the clay. And on a day like today, you 302 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:07,520 would take it out and you set it on your driveway in the sun. 303 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:13,360 What would happen? What would happen to the wax? 304 00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:20,560 Somebody say what would happen to the clay, But the sun is the 305 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:24,520 same. The sun hasn't changed. 306 00:21:27,120 --> 00:21:31,920 The sun's effect is the same. What determines what happens? 307 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:37,000 It's the substance that it's shining on, right? 308 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:40,560 This is what happened with Pharaoh. 309 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:43,280 He determined the substance of his heart. 310 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:47,400 He could have said he could have made the choice and said I 311 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:52,240 choose to be wax. I choose to allow the power of 312 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:59,840 God to melt my pride, my ego, my sense of power, the the fact 313 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:01,800 that I got everybody believing I'm a deity. 314 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:05,560 He could have done that, but instead he determined the 315 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:08,360 substance of his heart and he said, I'm going to have a clay 316 00:22:08,360 --> 00:22:15,800 heart, not a wax heart. And so God's effect on him was 317 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:20,920 to harden his heart. So at first he had the choice, 318 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:24,480 and then he didn't have the choice. 319 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:29,120 Listen to this. Pharaoh made choices, but after 320 00:22:29,120 --> 00:22:38,360 a while, his choices made him. You make choices, but after 321 00:22:38,360 --> 00:22:42,320 you've made some of those choices, those choices make you. 322 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:47,520 They define who you are. You don't define what they are 323 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:56,840 anymore, and that's a hard thing for us to have to learn. 324 00:22:57,160 --> 00:23:00,200 This is what happened to the Hebrew people when they moved to 325 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:02,480 Egypt. This was after that process. 326 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:08,240 Now we look at the details of the Passover. 327 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,480 We looked at those last week, but I want you to look at this 328 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:14,400 one. It's really an obscure part of 329 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:18,760 the story, but we read about it in Exodus 11, verses two and 330 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:19,840 three. It says this. 331 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,040 Tell the people. God is telling Moses tell the 332 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:27,640 people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for 333 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:33,400 articles of silver and gold. You know, that was after the 334 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:38,720 death of the first born. Do you think if your first born 335 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:41,520 was still alive and your neighbors first born, they're 336 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:44,480 getting ready to have a funeral service for that one and you go 337 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:46,680 and ask them for all their precious stuff, they're going to 338 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:51,960 say yes. Look what the verse three says. 339 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:56,120 The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the 340 00:23:56,120 --> 00:23:57,920 people. The Lord can work on a human 341 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:05,080 heart. In Exodus 12 verses 35 and 36, 342 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:09,800 it says the Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the 343 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:13,480 Egyptians for article of silver, articles of silver and gold and 344 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:16,480 for clothing. And the Lord made the Egyptians 345 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:20,800 favorably disposed toward the people and they gave them what 346 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:24,880 they asked for. So they plundered the Egyptians. 347 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:31,240 That's amazing. You can have whatever you want. 348 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:37,120 Just get out of here. You know I, God can do that in a 349 00:24:37,120 --> 00:24:39,440 bad way and God can do that in a good way. 350 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:42,000 In other words, God can do that in your heart. 351 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,720 He can. You know you, you may be 352 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:48,280 resisting God, and God is putting it on your heart. 353 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:50,520 I want you to do this. You need to do this. 354 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:55,320 God can definitely influence your heart. 355 00:24:56,360 --> 00:25:00,000 How many of you ever heard you can lead a horse to water, but 356 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:04,320 you can't make him drink, but you can feed him salt? 357 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:12,800 And God does that in bad ways or good ways. 358 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:16,240 He can. He can move a human heart 359 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:18,600 without taking away their choice. 360 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:20,760 He can definitely move it. He's doing that here. 361 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:24,840 Now I want you to understand why He said that. 362 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:29,880 Not only did God provide for the deliverance of His people out of 363 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:32,600 bondage, He provided all that they would need to serve Him. 364 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:40,320 The plunder of Egypt was not for making Israel rich. 365 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:48,400 It was for them to rediscover their identity as the people of 366 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:51,600 God. They had forgotten who they 367 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,120 were. They had forgotten their 368 00:25:54,120 --> 00:25:58,640 identity as the people of God. There was 70 that went from 369 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:05,560 Canaan into Egypt. And here we are 430 years later, 370 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:11,840 and the Bible says there were 600,000 men on foot, not 371 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:13,600 including the women or the children. 372 00:26:14,120 --> 00:26:18,040 That's how we know that by this time there were over 2,000,000 373 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:22,400 Israelites, which is really important to know when you think 374 00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:26,560 that Moses is moving over 2 million people across the 375 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:30,680 desert, where there's no water, where there's no food, where 376 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:34,960 it's blisteringly hot during the day and cold at night. 377 00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:42,560 Pretty amazing how many people. But over those years they had 378 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:46,640 forgotten their identity as the people of God. 379 00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:51,080 All the years in the generations of slavery had erased Israel's 380 00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:53,560 understanding of who they were. You know what? 381 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:59,760 If our choices have made us long enough, we can forget who we are 382 00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:05,280 and we can forget whose we are. You and I live in a world and in 383 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,680 an American culture that has no idea who they are. 384 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:14,400 They're just reaching out everywhere to figure out 385 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:18,280 identity. When their identity is clear, 386 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,200 our identity is clear. We are the people of God. 387 00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:26,000 We are the children of God and we need to act like that instead 388 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:31,600 of act any way we want to act. They didn't know who they were. 389 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:37,560 The plundering of Egypt was designed to give them all that. 390 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:41,440 They would need to rediscover that identity through 391 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:46,240 worshipping and serving God. And it's interesting that it 392 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:50,600 wasn't taken into some treasury. It was distributed to the 393 00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:53,920 people. All the people got that plunder 394 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:57,120 to hold on to that plunder. But there was a reason for it. 395 00:27:57,120 --> 00:28:01,440 It was a test. Exodus 25 verses one through 9. 396 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:05,640 The Lord said to Moses, tell the Israelites to bring me an 397 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:08,200 offering. Guess what an offering is? 398 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:16,360 It's a choice. How do I know it's a choice? 399 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:20,160 Look at the next words. You are to receive the offering 400 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:26,360 from for me, from everyone whose heart prompts them to give. 401 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:31,960 They had to make the choice. These are the offerings you are 402 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:34,840 to receive from them. Gold, silver and bronze, blue, 403 00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:37,920 purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen. 404 00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:41,880 Goat hair and ramskins dyed red and another type of durable 405 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:43,360 leather. Acacia wood. 406 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:48,680 Olive oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for 407 00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:51,880 the fragrant incense and Onyx stones and other gems to be 408 00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:55,720 mounted on the efid and the breast piece that's of the High 409 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:58,840 Priest. Then have them make a sanctuary 410 00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:01,080 for me and I will dwell among them. 411 00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:04,280 Make this Tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the 412 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:07,760 pattern. I will show you that gold would 413 00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:11,880 be beaten into sheets and it would overlay a wooden box made 414 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:15,840 of Acacia wood called the Ark of the Covenant, as would a table 415 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:18,320 for bread. And a lampstand would be 416 00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:23,040 fashioned after, with pure gold and jewels mounted on the 417 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:26,080 breastplate for the high priest. And it's all right there in 418 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:27,400 Exodus. You can read it all. 419 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:32,400 God gave them the plunder so they could return it to him. 420 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:41,680 Why? Because identity is what they 421 00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:47,760 needed the most. Who cares if you have some gold 422 00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:51,640 or silver in your house if you don't know who you are? 423 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:56,800 Why is the second highest suicide rate in America among 424 00:29:56,800 --> 00:30:04,000 the very rich? Why is the highest suicide in 425 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:12,840 America among the young? Because what we really need is 426 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:19,000 to know who we are. And what do we use riches for 427 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:21,960 today? To have the biggest house, the 428 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,960 finest clothes, the fanciest cars, the best portfolio? 429 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:29,840 Isn't that just us trying to shape our own identity? 430 00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:33,960 When are we going to realize that all we have and all that we 431 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:40,800 are comes from the hand of Jehovah Jireh, the God who 432 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:45,840 provides? We think about these riches, but 433 00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:49,360 often we miss the true riches that God gave his people. 434 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:52,240 In Exodus 13, one and two, it says this. 435 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:56,520 The Lord said to Moses, This is right as they're leaving Egypt. 436 00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:00,600 Consecrate to me every first born male. 437 00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:05,440 The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites 438 00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:08,480 belongs to me, whether human or animal. 439 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:14,000 That's powerful too, because while Egypt was consigning their 440 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:19,200 dead first born to the ground, Israel was consecrating their 441 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:23,960 first born to a sacred purpose. Think of the contrast between 442 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:26,840 the wailing in the background and the worshipping in the 443 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:29,520 foreground. And God. 444 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:34,440 He never stopped providing. He was in the cloud that gave 445 00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:36,800 him the shade on hot desert days. 446 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:40,000 He was in the pillar of fire keeping them warm at night. 447 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:43,440 He was in the manna and the quail that came daily to feed 448 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:45,320 them. He was in the rock from which 449 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:49,160 water flowed to quench the thirst of over 2 million people. 450 00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:52,120 And he was in the sea that destroyed their enemies. 451 00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:59,040 He was everywhere. And he's here right now, that 452 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:01,280 same God. And I know there's people that 453 00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:04,480 say, well, you know, there's that Old Testament God and then 454 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:07,880 there's the New Testament God. Like the Old Testament gods mean 455 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:10,480 God. New Testament gods, really nice 456 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:13,000 God. Old Testament God is a judgment 457 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,480 God. New Testament God is peace, love 458 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:19,320 God. God never changes. 459 00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:23,800 He's never changed. He's the same God the Bible says 460 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:30,000 yesterday, today and forever. And he is here to help you today 461 00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:37,560 to rediscover your identity, not as a child, but as his child in 462 00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:40,840 his family. And you know how he did it 463 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:44,200 through the death of his first born. 464 00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:51,840 Why do you think that they had to take a one year old male lamb 465 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:57,880 without any spot or defect on it at the height of its life? 466 00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:05,520 Why did they have to butcher it, catch it's blood, put the blood 467 00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:08,760 on a doorpost in the lentil of their house, the doorway of 468 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:15,080 their life, so that God would say, when I see the blood I will 469 00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:17,840 pass over you. You know some people say, and 470 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:21,600 I've heard it's repeated many times, that the Angel of death 471 00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:26,960 went over Egypt. That's not what the Bible says. 472 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:30,560 The Bible says the Lord passed over. 473 00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:43,760 The Lord passed over and when I see the blood I will pass over 474 00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:48,600 you. And he gave his first born. 475 00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:53,400 All of that is a shadowy image of what God was going to do 476 00:33:53,680 --> 00:34:00,400 14170 years later, the death of his first born Jesus Christ, and 477 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:05,600 his resurrection from the dead. And Jesus Christ is here in this 478 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:08,679 room and in every room right now. 479 00:34:08,679 --> 00:34:13,719 He's not limited by time and space, and He is here to provide 480 00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:18,360 all that you need for living every day of your life. 481 00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:25,719 But it comes with a choice. And the choice today is this. 482 00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:28,360 You're going to have to serve somebody. 483 00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:33,760 Some of you right now are saying, well, Jerry, truth is 484 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:38,560 I've made too many choices. And now, just like you said, my 485 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:42,480 choices make me. I've got good news for you 486 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:48,920 because you're right. You're exactly right. 487 00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:50,800 Your choices are made like you've blown it. 488 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:54,360 It's gone, your opportunities are gone, you're backed in the 489 00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:56,400 corner. You're a hopeless person. 490 00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:02,040 Except I know a God who sent his Son, who says, if anyone is in 491 00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:07,760 me, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. 492 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:12,640 The old has gone and the new has come, and it only comes through 493 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:15,600 him. That's an amazing thought when 494 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:18,960 you think about it, that God has the ability to take all of those 495 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:23,800 bad choices and erase them and cover them like the Egyptians 496 00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:27,240 were covered by the sea. He can cover them in the blood 497 00:35:27,240 --> 00:35:30,320 of Jesus Christ. And he says, here you are, 498 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:32,920 here's a new choice, choose my son. 499 00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:40,120 And when you choose Jesus Christ to be your Lord and your Savior, 500 00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:46,320 you can become a new creation. And I can tell you this, that's 501 00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:49,320 a good choice. We're moving to a time of 502 00:35:49,320 --> 00:36:05,300 decision. It's funny how I'm taking for 503 00:36:05,300 --> 00:36:09,380 granted this right now, but you know, being the primary 504 00:36:09,380 --> 00:36:14,540 caregiver to my wife is making it hard for me to take this for 505 00:36:14,540 --> 00:36:18,080 granted. What I'm doing right now that I 506 00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:23,800 can just walk down those stairs and walk back and forth and not 507 00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:25,080 have to give it any thought at all. 508 00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:33,080 And I'd like to tell you this. I would like to tell you that 509 00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:36,160 when you come to Jesus Christ, he's going to make everything 510 00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:40,440 great. I'd love to tell you that. 511 00:36:41,720 --> 00:36:45,760 Like it's going to be poof and it's all better. 512 00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:55,120 That isn't true. My wife is teaching me that 513 00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:59,200 right now. It doesn't get all better all at 514 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:05,320 once. Yeah, she got to walk on it, but 515 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:06,920 it didn't look pretty when she was doing it. 516 00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:10,240 She is walking on it, but she has to use a Walker. 517 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:14,440 Hopefully tomorrow she graduates to a cane. 518 00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:21,960 She really struggles lifting her leg, but she can do this, and 519 00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:25,600 she could do that a whole lot better before she had her knee 520 00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:28,280 surgery. She had a lot more mobility 521 00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:33,880 before she had her knee surgery. And they say the first couple 522 00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:38,320 weeks after knee surgery, you're asking yourself, why did I do 523 00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:43,360 this? This was the dumbest thing, but 524 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:47,480 maybe the 3rd and the 4th week you're saying something 525 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:50,360 different, which is this? Why didn't I do this a long time 526 00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:54,840 ago? I want you to hear the truth. 527 00:37:57,120 --> 00:38:00,840 When you surrender your identity to Jesus Christ, it's going to 528 00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:05,280 be uncomfortable for you. It's not going to be easy for 529 00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:08,120 you. People come out of that 530 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:10,680 baptistery and it is wonderful. It feels so good. 531 00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:14,960 It looks so good, right? But that's just the first step. 532 00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:22,120 And it's amazing to see the miracle of a person being able 533 00:38:22,120 --> 00:38:25,720 to walk right after a prosthetic joint is put in. 534 00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:30,240 But they got a long way to go before they're climbing steps 535 00:38:30,240 --> 00:38:36,120 and running. We just have to be patient as 536 00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:39,800 God teaches us to use muscles we haven't been using. 537 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:50,040 I know from other people I know personally that have had those 538 00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:53,760 knee surgeries that it gets better and it doesn't it it 539 00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:56,720 doesn't take forever and it's worth it. 540 00:38:59,880 --> 00:39:06,520 Let me tell you this, being a Christ follower isn't easy, but 541 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:12,320 it's worth it when you have a bad days and good days, painful 542 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:18,560 days and easy days. He's not a genie in a bottle, 543 00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:25,840 He's real, and every one of those steps that you take for 544 00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:34,240 him, you're going to make some progress and He is in it for the 545 00:39:34,240 --> 00:39:40,440 long haul to win it. If you don't know Jesus Christ 546 00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:42,760 personally as your Lord and Savior, there's absolutely 547 00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:47,040 nothing standing in your way from doing that today except 548 00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:50,320 you. He is holding back every dark 549 00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:55,280 force, every power, every principality, everything that 550 00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:57,600 would be against us. He's holding it back and He's 551 00:39:57,600 --> 00:39:59,640 protecting this moment for you right now. 552 00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:02,440 He is here in this place. He's here to meet you. 553 00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:05,400 If you want to meet Him, there's going to be somebody right up 554 00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:08,640 there by that baptistry would love nothing more than to just 555 00:40:08,640 --> 00:40:11,800 talk to you. Pray with you about what your 556 00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:15,920 next steps are. God will begin doing something 557 00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:18,080 amazing in your life. You think what I've been 558 00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:20,200 describing in my home is amazing. 559 00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:25,120 It's nothing like this. Because He can replace a human 560 00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:34,480 heart, an eternal thing. Many of you here today, you've 561 00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:37,240 made that decision. You've made that choice for 562 00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:41,240 Jesus Christ. But that doesn't mean that the 563 00:40:41,240 --> 00:40:43,160 things in this world don't get in the way. 564 00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:45,880 And sometimes we just need to reboot. 565 00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:49,360 I don't know how techie some of you people are. 566 00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:51,800 Some of you are as old as me, which means you're not that 567 00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:54,600 techie. Now I've got a son who's like a 568 00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:58,360 tech expert. And I mean, that's how he makes 569 00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:00,960 his living. And you know what he tells me? 570 00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:04,760 He says, dad, did you turn it off and turn it back on? 571 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:07,920 How many of you heard that from your kid before? 572 00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:09,280 And then you want to slap him in the face? 573 00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:14,680 There's a lot of times that solves the problem. 574 00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:18,320 Let me tell you what these steps are, is turning it off and 575 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:20,400 turning it back on. That's exactly what it is. 576 00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:24,360 You're just rebooting. You're just reminding yourself 577 00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:27,600 to go back all to all of your spiritual defaults. 578 00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:32,040 And I invite you to come up here and have that time with the Lord 579 00:41:32,040 --> 00:41:36,360 today. In any case, it's decision time. 580 00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:40,800 Would you stand with me, pray with me, Heavenly Father, in 581 00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:44,040 Jesus name, please take these moments that are in front of us 582 00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:47,640 and help us to realize, just like you dealt with the children 583 00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:51,320 of Israel, that you are dealing right now with the children of 584 00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:54,560 God, your children that you've provided for, that you love. 585 00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:59,000 Even when we forget you, even when we push you aside, you love 586 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:01,440 us. And I pray, Father, in Jesus 587 00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:04,840 name, that you would speak that still small voice, those 588 00:42:04,840 --> 00:42:10,080 whispers into our hearts, and help us to respond to you, the 589 00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:14,680 Father who loves us in Jesus name, Amen.