1 00:00:01,960 --> 00:00:04,760 Wow, how you doing crossing church? 2 00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:08,360 Isn't that like an incredible song? 3 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:10,960 Absolutely incredible song. And I don't know if you know 4 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:13,920 this or not, but that's like that's a crossing song. 5 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:18,560 And I had some friends, I've had some friends here this weekend 6 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:21,400 and we were up in Macomb, shout out to Macomb. 7 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:26,320 And, and we were, of course, when Allison goes to Macomb, she 8 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:30,280 has to go to thrift store. So, so we went to the thrift 9 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:34,960 store and Hunter Escobar was in line buying something at the 10 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:38,880 thrift store. And he's the guy that wrote that 11 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:41,320 song. And I said, Hunter man, that, 12 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:45,960 that that song just gets me. And I can tell by the way you're 13 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,960 singing, it gets you too. That's a great, great song. 14 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:53,280 And I want to welcome all of the locations of the crossing all 15 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:58,000 across this region, 12 of them this weekend because they're 16 00:00:58,000 --> 00:00:59,760 having service in Weaver, Arkansas. 17 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:03,720 Weaver, Arkansas. Yeah, no, Weaver, Iowa as well. 18 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:08,000 So that's awesome too. And if you're inside or online, 19 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,480 so thankful for you. We pray for you, those of you 20 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:15,080 that are inside and praying that God lets you be that light that 21 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:18,760 shines in that place for him. And if you're online, we're 22 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:22,040 really thankful for you. And if there's ever a time 23 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:27,400 you're in this space of the world, it's we're like 3 hours 24 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:31,720 wide. Come and share with us at one of 25 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:33,960 our locations. Give us an opportunity to get to 26 00:01:33,960 --> 00:01:38,000 know you. We would absolutely love that. 27 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:41,600 So last week we started this new sermon series, and it's called 28 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:47,400 Decisions in the Desert, Walking with God in Trial and in 29 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:49,040 Triumph. And it's about the life and 30 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:52,920 experiences of Moses, particularly as he's leading the 31 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:57,960 nation of Israel. Moses is a person who has 32 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:00,960 extreme conflicts in understanding his identity. 33 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:06,960 I think there's a lot of us that have similar crises and 34 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:10,919 problems, understanding that they happen in the various 35 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:14,640 stages of his life. And then we get to see as we 36 00:02:14,640 --> 00:02:18,280 read about him, how those conflicts affect his walk with 37 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:21,360 God. You see, what we learned last 38 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:25,200 week is that God had already provided everything that Moses 39 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:28,680 need, needed to be the person that God called him to be. 40 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:32,400 All that raw material was inside of Moses. 41 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:37,440 And by the way, all of the material that God needs for you 42 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:39,880 to be what He's called you to be is already inside of you. 43 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:44,120 You see, God would never call you to something that He hasn't 44 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:47,240 prepared you for. And God wasn't going to call 45 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:51,560 Moses to something that he hadn't already prepared him for 46 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:55,560 yet. Moses needed to submit to God 47 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:59,880 and walk in that identity, even though we had that calling from 48 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:06,120 birth and what we find out as we kind of go through life with 49 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:11,000 Moses, which is divided up into 340 year periods in this first 50 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:16,440 40 years, he was not looking for God to instruct him and counsel 51 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:21,240 him as to how to walk in that identity. 52 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:26,120 And there are like specific things that happened that divide 53 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:31,240 these 40 year periods. Moses from birth to 4040 to 8080 54 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:35,680 to 120. And last week we learned that 55 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:41,640 that first 40 years was marked by his mother and father putting 56 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:47,360 him in a basket made of reeds and putting him out on the Nile 57 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:50,880 River where he floats down and the daughter of Pharaoh finds 58 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:54,560 him and adopts him into the family. 59 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:58,440 And then we're going to see where that 40 year period ends 60 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:01,360 shortly. We actually read about it in 61 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:05,840 verse 11 of Exodus 2. So where it begins, it says one 62 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:10,200 day after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people 63 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:14,480 were and watched them at their hard labor. 64 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:19,760 I want to stop right there. Moses wasn't doing hard labor. 65 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:23,160 He was a Hebrew, but he wasn't doing hard labor. 66 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:29,200 He just went out from the palace and all the palatial area and 67 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:33,120 saw that the Hebrews were doing this hard labor. 68 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:38,920 So he went out and saw that he saw an Egyptian beating a 69 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:44,280 Hebrew, one of his own people. So he obviously knew he was and 70 00:04:44,280 --> 00:04:48,520 where he came from. But of course he was living a 71 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:54,240 very privileged, privileged life, glancing this way and that 72 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:59,880 and seeing no one. He killed the Egyptian and hit 73 00:04:59,880 --> 00:05:03,840 him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw 74 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:08,080 two Hebrews fighting and asked the one in the wrong. 75 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:10,240 Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew? 76 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:15,640 The man said, Who made you a ruler and judge over us? 77 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:19,080 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian? 78 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:24,560 Then Moses was afraid and thought what I did must have 79 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:27,920 become known. When Pharaoh heard this, he 80 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:32,520 tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to 81 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:37,360 live in Midian. So let's just start 82 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:42,440 understanding this is that is the moment that defines the end 83 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:46,320 of this first forty year period in Moses's life. 84 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:49,400 And it's tragic. It's a horrible story. 85 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:54,120 What was Moses thinking? What was why was he doing that? 86 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:58,560 Well, the raw material of his heart that God had placed in his 87 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:03,880 heart was speaking to him. God designed him, built him, 88 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:09,480 gifted him to deliver his people, but he was not seeking 89 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:13,520 the counsel of God. He was trying to do that in his 90 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:17,560 own power. I know that a lot of people like 91 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:22,600 in Hollywood, like on film or TV, they want to depict Moses as 92 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:24,680 this great man when he was a young man. 93 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:27,760 I really don't think the Bible reflects that. 94 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:31,840 I think the Bible reflects a very different Moses, a prideful 95 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:36,360 Moses, an egotistical Moses, a self-centered Moses, a Moses 96 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:42,160 that was all about Moses. So here he is trying to 97 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:46,520 determine his own path, his own identity without the counsel of 98 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:48,920 God. And what does it make Moses into 99 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:52,040 a deliverer? No, it makes him into a 100 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:55,520 murderer, a premeditated murderer. 101 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:59,440 The Moses that we see in this biblical picture is not the 102 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:02,560 deliverer who stands in front of Pharaoh and says let my people 103 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:06,000 go. He's a man who looks this way 104 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,840 and that to make sure no one is looking, sneaks up on an 105 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:13,480 Egyptian from behind and murders him. 106 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:20,120 That sounds a lot more like a modern day terrorist than a 107 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:24,200 deliverer. Murders this man, buries his 108 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:31,600 body in the sand, doesn't think anybody sees him until the next 109 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:34,520 day. Does that sound like the kind of 110 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:37,760 delivered that God wants? Does that sound like the kind of 111 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:41,120 person that God designed Moses to be? 112 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:45,480 No, it was his pride that got the best of him. 113 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:49,080 And you know what? Pride is the thing that tends to 114 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:54,840 get the best of a lot of us, our personal pride and the ego that 115 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:58,320 comes from that pride. He wants to be a deliverer, but 116 00:07:58,320 --> 00:07:59,920 he wanted to do it in his own strength. 117 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:02,680 He wanted to do it outside the power and the wisdom, in the 118 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:05,400 direction of God. And he ends up being a murderer. 119 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:10,400 His violence and his ambition is instantly recognized by his 120 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:14,240 fellow Hebrews as we listen to their response. 121 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:17,320 You going to kill me like he killed the other guy? 122 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:21,800 So Moses runs for his life now He's a coward. 123 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:27,280 This is a defining moment for Moses because he realized that 124 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:31,640 the identity that he was built, that was that was built for him 125 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:35,080 wasn't what he was walking in. He was, he was walking in an 126 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:39,480 identity he built for himself. And it was completely wrong. 127 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:45,640 And he lost everything except his life. 128 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:52,280 How about you? Are you here just to hear a 129 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:55,960 lesson about Moses? Or are you here to apply this to 130 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:58,760 your life? Am I here to apply it to my 131 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:02,640 life? Even though you have all the raw 132 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:06,960 material that God has already placed inside of you to fulfill 133 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:09,760 His plan for your life? Do you get in the way? 134 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:12,360 Some of you are questioning that, Maybe you weren't here 135 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:15,800 last week, but the Bible's very clear about the truth of that, 136 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:19,640 that God doesn't just have a general will for the world, He 137 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:22,200 has a very specific will for your life. 138 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:25,920 Ephesians 210 says that you're his workmanship created in 139 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:30,080 Christ Jesus unto good works. Listen that God prepared 140 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:33,600 beforehand that we should walk in them. 141 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:37,600 King David in the Old Testament said all of my days were written 142 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:41,160 in your book before one of them came to be. 143 00:09:41,560 --> 00:09:47,480 Hebrews chapter 12 tells us that we are to run a race that has 144 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:53,440 been marked out for us. That doesn't sound like a a 145 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:56,440 general will. It sounds like a very specific 146 00:09:56,440 --> 00:09:59,560 will. But the problem isn't the plan. 147 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:01,920 The problem isn't the raw material. 148 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:08,960 The problem is us. We're the ones who get in the 149 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:12,280 way. We try to do it ourselves. 150 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:16,160 Have you ever noticed that the most important prayers you can 151 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:19,240 ever pray aren't hard ones, at least to say? 152 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:25,400 They're pretty easy ones to say. But the simple prayers that are 153 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:28,760 easy to say and easy to understand, they're the hardest 154 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:32,120 ones to actually live out. Maybe if we put a lot more three 155 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:34,720 and four syllable words in them, then we won't understand them 156 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:36,080 very well. We won't live them out. 157 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:39,640 Here's a simple prayer for us to pray. 158 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:44,560 Ready. God, Get Me Out of the way. 159 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:55,400 Get Me Out of my own way. Now you may think, oh, OK, I 160 00:10:55,400 --> 00:11:00,720 could pray that before you do. Understand that simple prayers 161 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:05,520 are dangerous prayers and you need to understand the 162 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:07,880 implications of a prayer like that. 163 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:17,760 Doesn't it seem that things in our lives get messed up when we 164 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:20,280 start stepping in and trying to control them? 165 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:25,840 As long as we keep our hands outside of the manipulation of 166 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:29,000 ourselves and others in the circumstances, things go pretty 167 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:30,760 good. But when we try to serve 168 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:34,400 ourselves and manipulate those things, things get worse. 169 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:38,840 That's what happened to Moses. He got in his own way and we do 170 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:43,880 the same thing. I would imagine there's a number 171 00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:48,440 of people that are listening to me right now that are feeling a 172 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:51,760 lot like Moses at the beginning of this second period of his 173 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:53,600 life. You had this great idea, this 174 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:56,520 great plan. You were walking in this plan 175 00:11:56,680 --> 00:11:59,320 and you were thinking, man, this is going to be great. 176 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:03,040 It's going to work out. Check out how I've got this hall 177 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:05,240 envisioned how this is going to work out. 178 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:08,760 And you were just so right and you were just so with it right 179 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:11,760 up until the wheels came off. And now you're sitting in the 180 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:14,280 the wreckage of what used to be your life. 181 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:18,040 And you're saying, what in the world has happened? 182 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:23,800 What have I done? What have how do I make this 183 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:30,440 mess? Now I'm going to tell you why 184 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:34,280 that prayer, God Get Me Out of the way is such a bold prayer. 185 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:41,960 And there's a lot of prayers that you pray and, and God hears 186 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:46,000 all of our prayers. God hears all of our prayers. 187 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:49,880 And when we say these words, God answers prayer. 188 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:54,200 That's true. What's false is God doesn't 189 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:57,520 answer all prayer the way you want him to answer prayer, 190 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:02,920 right. I think, I think that there's a 191 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:05,640 lot of prayers we pray to God and we're praying our own 192 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:07,520 agenda. And God's hearing that prayer 193 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:09,400 and he's going, yeah, that's not happening. 194 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:16,080 I think there's a lot of prayers that we pray and and God, you 195 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:19,280 know, says those immortal Southern words, bless your 196 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:23,120 heart. And you know what that really 197 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:28,360 means, right? And He's not going to answer in 198 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:32,240 the affirmative to a prayer that you're praying, that's going to 199 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:37,480 hurt you, that's going to keep you from realizing this 200 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:41,240 wonderful eternal identity that God has created for you in the 201 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:44,800 upper story. He's not going to do that. 202 00:13:47,680 --> 00:13:51,040 And then you know what God will do when we have gotten in the 203 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:55,880 way, what He does with Moses and he'll do with us, He will 204 00:13:55,880 --> 00:14:00,320 deconstruct your life. So you built this life. 205 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:03,280 He's going to deconstruct that life and He's going to 206 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:06,640 reconstruct your life according to his plan. 207 00:14:08,680 --> 00:14:13,360 Moses has completely failed. He's become prideful and 208 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:15,640 arrogant. The deliverer has become a 209 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:19,680 coward and all that is left to do is run away and escape and 210 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:25,320 he's a complete failure. The 2nd 40 years of Moses's 211 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:31,400 life, he begins to learn from God and what is happening is 212 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:37,280 he's being deconstructed. He's living in in the mountains 213 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:41,160 of Midian. We would call it the wilderness. 214 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:44,960 And he has adopted this very humble form of life. 215 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:50,400 He's become a a shepherd. He gets married there and we 216 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:54,160 catch up with him as he's naming his son. 217 00:14:54,920 --> 00:15:00,840 It says in Exodus 221, Moses agreed to stay with the man who 218 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:04,320 gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 219 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:10,400 Zipper gave birth to a son and Moses named him Gershom, saying 220 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:12,840 I have become an alien in a foreign land. 221 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:17,720 The word Gershom in Hebrew means alien. 222 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:23,480 Moses named his son Alien. That sounds like something Elon 223 00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:29,280 Musk would name one of his kids. I want you to meet my son Alien. 224 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:36,040 This is my daughter Alien. Really, I think just him naming 225 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:40,120 his child is helping you to see a little bit of Moses's 226 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:42,480 personality, a little bit of his character. 227 00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:46,240 I mean, if you're a kid and you get named Alien and you go to 228 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:50,360 school, one of the kids are going to beat you up, right? 229 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:55,200 I mean, yeah. So this isn't about that child. 230 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:57,920 I mean, I mean, we name a child and we go, I'm going to name 231 00:15:57,920 --> 00:15:59,840 this child Joy. Or I'm going to name this child 232 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:01,680 June. Or I'm going to make the, you 233 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:03,600 know what I mean, like this because it's June and it's 234 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:05,560 beautiful. Or, or I'm going to name you 235 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:07,520 after my mother because I love my mother so much. 236 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:09,680 Or I'm going to name you, you know, like that, right? 237 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:12,720 Something beautiful, something to live up to. 238 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:17,640 Not Alien. Because Alien wasn't about 239 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:22,120 little Gershom the boy. Alien was all about Moses 240 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:28,960 feeling sorry for himself. What a selfish thing to do. 241 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:34,880 Again, it tells you a little bit more about the personality of 242 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:38,200 Moses that God is deconstructing. 243 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:42,800 Moses is realizing that he's a failure. 244 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:45,240 He lost his status as an Egyptian. 245 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:47,600 He was part of the House of the king of Egypt. 246 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:50,320 He now he's even lost his status as a Hebrew. 247 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:52,200 He's living in a foreign country. 248 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:55,120 God is bringing him low. He's bringing him down. 249 00:16:55,200 --> 00:17:01,000 He's deconstructing old Moses so that he can build a new one 250 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:05,400 through repentance and in humility. 251 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:11,920 And you hear the pain and the regret along with the pollution 252 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:18,920 in him naming his son. Maybe some of you are dealing 253 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:22,720 with the reality of decisions you've made in your past life. 254 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:27,200 And the words of Moses as he's naming his son reflects your 255 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:28,880 feeling. That's what you feel like. 256 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:32,200 I have become an alien in a foreign land. 257 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:36,640 I just don't feel like I fit in anymore. 258 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:39,560 I'm ashamed of myself. There are people sitting around 259 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:42,960 me in church today that don't know who I am, but if they did 260 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:45,600 know who I am, they would move to another section. 261 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:54,360 Everything that was important or valuable to me is all gone. 262 00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:02,040 You see, sometimes God has to get down all the way to the 263 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:05,360 faulty foundations we have built our lives on. 264 00:18:05,360 --> 00:18:10,080 And I'm going to give you a personal story that illustrates 265 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:12,920 this. Allison and I have lived in two 266 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:16,920 locations in Quincy for the 26 years we've lived here. 267 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:21,360 Eleven of those years we lived on S 23rd St. kind of in the 268 00:18:21,360 --> 00:18:25,320 more historic district. And you can take beautiful walks 269 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:31,000 in that neighborhood. And then we've lived 15 years on 270 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:33,560 the edge of town. But when we were living in that 271 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:38,080 11 years, there was a lot about our house that really needed 272 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:42,520 some love. First of all, I'd had the siding 273 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:45,440 on the side of the house that is that, that asphalt shingle type 274 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:47,720 siding. You know what I'm talking about. 275 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:50,840 It's like really gross. And you really can't paint it 276 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:54,280 because it's like granular. Just there's really nothing you 277 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:56,880 can do except just look at it and wish it was something else. 278 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:03,680 And so I got the idea of can I put vinyl siding on it? 279 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:06,920 So me and a friend put vinyl siding on the House. 280 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:11,120 It looks so much better now. I also had a garage. 281 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:16,600 It was A2 car garage detached but it was a very small two car 282 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:21,000 garage. It was so small that trying to 283 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:24,000 put, you would have to grease the size of the car to put two 284 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:28,160 cars in that garage. And on top of that was a very 285 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:33,400 old garage and someone, I mean it was built on a concrete slab, 286 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:38,160 but someone had cut expansion joints up close to the outside 287 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:43,480 walls of this garage. And the garage was low in the on 288 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:46,520 the topography, so water kind of would pool in there. 289 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:51,680 And over the years, there'd been some erosion and those, those 290 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:56,080 expansion joints had cracked and it had kind of twisted what, 291 00:19:56,080 --> 00:20:00,400 what there was of a foundation. And the fact that matter is, is 292 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:06,880 my garage was sinking kind of slowly and, and it just looked 293 00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:09,560 terrible. So now I have this house, it's 294 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:12,040 got an ice siding on it. And I got this ugly garage. 295 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:14,160 So I, this is how big of an idiot I am. 296 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:17,960 OK, So just going to be honest, I thought, you know what, I'm 297 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:19,880 just going to buy some more siding and I'm going to put it 298 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:24,080 on my garage. And so that's what I did. 299 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:26,800 I sided the garage. I got to tell you, I was so 300 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:30,000 proud of how it looked because but you know, the house, the 301 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:32,600 outside of the house just looks so bad and all of a sudden it's 302 00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:35,440 just completely transformed and it looks so good. 303 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:42,320 Except for I I just didn't even consider that that garage was 304 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:46,520 sinking because it had no proper foundation on A year later, all 305 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:50,120 of the siding all the way around at the bottom was buckling. 306 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:55,680 The doors wouldn't open. I brought somebody in. 307 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:57,280 What can I do? Well, there's really nothing you 308 00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:02,400 can do except tear it down. So I had to bring in one of 309 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:08,000 those big rollback dumpsters, tear that entire garage down. 310 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:12,960 And you know how dumb I felt while I was tearing brand new 311 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:19,080 siding off of this old garage. And I had to tear it all the way 312 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:22,920 down until there was nothing left but a broken slab. 313 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:27,640 And then bring in a backhoe and break that up and haul it away 314 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:29,560 as well till there was nothing but the earth. 315 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:33,000 And you're going. Well, Jerry, you know, you said 316 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:34,760 you're kind of an idiot. I'm agreeing with you. 317 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:37,960 Praise the Lord. Yeah, you are kind of dumb. 318 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:42,840 That was pretty dumb. Oh yeah, I agree, but not as 319 00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:51,800 dumb as some of you. I may do it with a garage, but 320 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:59,600 you've done it with your life. You know what I'm talking about? 321 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:06,160 Your life's a mess, falling apart, sinking down, and you go. 322 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:08,320 You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to put lipstick on 323 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:12,040 this pig. You know what I'm going to do? 324 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:15,040 I'm going to side this baby. It's going to look good and 325 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:19,200 maybe it does for a little bit, but it your sins find you out, 326 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:21,240 man. It just keeps going down and I 327 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:23,560 would a whole lot rather put a garage in a dumpster than my 328 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:27,440 life. Maybe I should have the 329 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:29,360 invitation. Let's just start singing just as 330 00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:31,960 I am right now, without one plea. 331 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:34,520 But that dumpster was prepared for me anyway. 332 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:48,880 You and I have very similar experiences here. 333 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:55,400 We try to build, but we build on a faulty foundation. 334 00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:01,240 A foundation that we build ourselves is not a sure 335 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:04,840 foundation. In First Corinthians chapter 3, 336 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:09,440 the apostle Paul says for no one can lay any foundation other 337 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:12,800 than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 338 00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:16,720 If you're building your life on anything other than Jesus 339 00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:20,400 Christ, you're building on a faulty foundation. 340 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:26,200 And if you build your life on a faulty foundation, you're going 341 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:31,560 to have to either you're going down with the ship or you're 342 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:36,400 going to have to deconstruct that life all the way down to 343 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:39,720 and through that foundation so that the foundation that Jesus 344 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:52,040 has for you can be laid. Some of us, well, all of us, 345 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:55,080 just a little while ago, we watched, you know, we were 346 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:57,560 singing that great song and there's that baptism video. 347 00:23:57,800 --> 00:23:59,760 How awesome is that? Watching all these people come 348 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:02,000 to Jesus? And I've told you so many times, 349 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:06,240 do you ever see a person who comes to Jesus and regrets it on 350 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:08,000 their face? You never see that. 351 00:24:08,120 --> 00:24:10,360 You just see this incredible joy, euphoria. 352 00:24:10,360 --> 00:24:12,040 You know, my sins are gone. It's great. 353 00:24:12,040 --> 00:24:15,640 But let me tell you, all those people that think that the 354 00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:18,600 crossing's an inch deep and a mile wide and all we do is feel 355 00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:20,720 good sermons, you listen to me now. 356 00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:28,280 It may start out feeling good, but if you give him a chance, 357 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:34,240 God will wreck your life because he's going to look at your life 358 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:35,880 and he's going to go. That isn't going to work. 359 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,080 That isn't going to work, and that isn't going to work. 360 00:24:40,120 --> 00:24:44,400 And piece by piece, part by part, room by room, stick by 361 00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:51,000 stick, he will deconstruct you. And some of you are going to 362 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:53,800 say, wow, I thought this Christianity thing was going to 363 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,000 be great, but my life is terrible. 364 00:24:56,120 --> 00:24:59,160 I hate this Christianity thing. Why? 365 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:02,720 Because God's taking everything in your identity that you've 366 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:10,240 constructed for yourself apart so that he can achieve his 367 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:16,720 potential for your life. All that hard work can be built 368 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:21,960 on a bad foundation, and he has to get below it and start over. 369 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:26,840 And that's exactly what he was doing with Moses from the time 370 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:30,880 he was in the wilderness, from 40 years old to 80 years old. 371 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:34,880 And I guess Moses was a pretty egotistical, proud man, because 372 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:44,560 it took 40 years to get down to the earth, piece by painful 373 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:48,240 piece. Now I want to show you a 374 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:51,240 different Moses, and this is Moses at 80. 375 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:56,160 And when Moses was eighty, he had another one of these 376 00:25:56,160 --> 00:26:00,240 Seminole moments, kind of like killing the Egyptian and running 377 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:03,920 for his life, kind of like being in the basket in the Nile River 378 00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:06,280 when he's 80. Has this other moment sees in 379 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:08,960 the mountains of Midian and he's tending sheep. 380 00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:12,360 And he sees something off in the distance. 381 00:26:12,360 --> 00:26:15,320 He doesn't know what it is, but it's in the daytime. 382 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:17,640 And yet there's something glowing on the mountain, like 383 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:22,360 something like, what is that? And he's too far away to really 384 00:26:22,360 --> 00:26:24,000 get a beat on. And he gets closer. 385 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:28,280 When he gets closer, he sees that it's a it's, it's like a 386 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,360 tree or something growing out of the wilderness. 387 00:26:32,120 --> 00:26:36,800 And it's burning, which is, I mean, he seen things burn 388 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:38,600 before. Like that's nothing new. 389 00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:43,320 Maybe he was worried about maybe that would, you know, catch fire 390 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:45,840 and maybe it would spread. I don't know. 391 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:49,400 But he gets closer. As he gets closer, he realizes 392 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:53,200 this is a Bush and it's burning, but it's not being consumed. 393 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:59,120 Now that isn't possible. Well, when you see something 394 00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:02,880 that doesn't make any sense to you, you have to get closer, 395 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:05,400 investigate it. You wonder about it. 396 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:12,480 He gets all the way up to this burning Bush and he hears a 397 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:16,480 voice. And I want you to know he's 80 398 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:18,400 years old when he hears this voice. 399 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:28,200 And he has never recorded in the Bible ever heard God, never seen 400 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:31,840 anything as intimate as communication with God till he's 401 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:34,880 80 years old. And what he hears God say is 402 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:40,080 this, take your sandals off Moses, because the place where 403 00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:46,080 you're standing is holy ground. And Moses immediately complies. 404 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:52,680 And God begins with that statement to tell Moses what 405 00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:56,600 he's going to do, what he's going to be. 406 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:03,000 And this is what Moses was made for, He was designed for, he was 407 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:07,160 gifted for. But Moses has been completely 408 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:11,160 deconstructed. You're going to lead a nation of 409 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:15,760 2 million people out of slavery into the Promised land. 410 00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:22,680 And Moses reveals just how deconstructed he is. 411 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:28,000 In verse 11, Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to 412 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:31,880 Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? 413 00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:36,000 What's he saying to God? In case you haven't noticed, 414 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,360 God, I'm a nobody. I'm worse than a nobody. 415 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:46,960 If I go there, they'll kill me. The Egyptians wanted to kill me 416 00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:52,640 before. I'm not the right person to do 417 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:57,280 this. In verse 13 he says, suppose I 418 00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:00,160 go to the Israelites and say to them the God of your father's 419 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:02,800 has sent me to you. And they asked me what is his 420 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:04,440 name? What do I tell him? 421 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:08,320 What that tells me is, you know, Moses didn't even know who God 422 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:11,720 was. He had no idea who God was. 423 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:18,120 And course God says you tell them I am that I am has sent you 424 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:24,520 the self existent one, the ancient of days translated in 425 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:29,840 English Jehovah or in Hebrew Yahweh. 426 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:38,680 It's called the Tetragrammaton. But he's not done. 427 00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:40,200 What? What? 428 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:43,840 What if they don't believe me or listen to me and say, the Lord 429 00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:49,840 did not appear to you? God gives him the sign. 430 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:58,120 Throw down your staff, Moses. In verse 10, Moses says to the 431 00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:01,600 Lord, I've never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since 432 00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:04,800 you've spoken to your servant. I'm slow of speech and slow of 433 00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:08,000 tongue. I'm not a good public speaker. 434 00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:16,560 God says Who made your mouth? And then in verse 13, the 435 00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:25,040 ultimate answer for the ultimate denial, Moses said in my 436 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:27,200 vernacular, just please send somebody else. 437 00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:32,240 Go, go burn a Bush someplace else in front of somebody else, 438 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:36,040 because I just don't have what it takes. 439 00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:40,400 This is a man who has absolutely no confidence in himself. 440 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:44,160 And that might sound bad, but it's actually good because when 441 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:47,320 a person has no confidence in himself, where are they going to 442 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:50,720 find it? If you don't have any confidence 443 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:52,920 in yourself, where are you going to find it? 444 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:55,760 Some of you don't. Some of you right now you're 445 00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:57,640 pretty broken. You're pretty torn up. 446 00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:01,080 You've got a past that you've got a present and you're going, 447 00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:06,960 you know, send somebody else because I just don't have what 448 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:08,920 it takes. When you don't have that 449 00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:12,360 confidence in yourself, you can start looking around and find 450 00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:14,440 your confidence in the right place. 451 00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:21,880 I mean, look at me, how can God use somebody like me? 452 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:25,800 Look at Clayton, how in the world is God going to use 453 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:30,160 somebody like that? If we put our confidence in our 454 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:32,480 self, we try to do things in our own power. 455 00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:36,000 What are you going to get from that? 456 00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:42,400 But if we put our confidence in God, God will release the power 457 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:47,120 that he put inside of you when He created you, and He will make 458 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:50,360 you into the person that you want to be, not for your glory, 459 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:55,320 but for His glory. And because you you don't have 460 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:57,880 that confidence in yourself, you've replaced it with 461 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:00,480 confidence in Him. And when you have confidence in 462 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:05,280 Him and then what he does comes about, you get more confidence 463 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:09,080 in him and then more confidence and then more confidence in him. 464 00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:17,240 And when people look at you, they don't see you, they see 465 00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:27,000 him. I see Moses at 80 who is a clean 466 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:35,000 slate, who is a fresh canvas. He's a new beginning for God to 467 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:38,840 work with. And it only comes through two 468 00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:48,400 things, repentance and humility. Some people have a really wrong 469 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:51,840 idea about repentance. You know, repent, the word 470 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:55,560 repent means to turn. I mean, that's the that's the 471 00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:57,400 literal translation of the word to turn. 472 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:01,320 And of course, we attach a lot of things to it in context, like 473 00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:05,200 to be sorry for what you did, you know, and to change my 474 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:07,640 direction. But it actually means the 475 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:12,320 process of turning. And the only thing that keeps 476 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:16,720 you where you are is your pride, right? 477 00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:21,680 And I've said this many times about pride. 478 00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:25,360 Pride can't learn anything. It already has all the answers, 479 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:33,520 but when you turn from yourself and you turn from your pride and 480 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:37,680 you repent, it creates humility. And those two things actually go 481 00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:40,360 together. You can't have humility unless 482 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:43,680 you have a repentant heart, and you can't have a repentant heart 483 00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:46,240 unless your heart is a humble heart. 484 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:52,160 And a lot of times our heart has to be humbled, and that's what 485 00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:59,880 Moses teaches us today. I don't know where you are in 486 00:33:59,880 --> 00:34:07,320 your life, but no matter where you are, God has put that raw 487 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:11,000 material in your life. And God has an identity prepared 488 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:12,800 for you. And it's going to give him 489 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:16,679 incredible glory, and it is going to fulfill your life and 490 00:34:16,679 --> 00:34:19,639 make you feel a purpose that you never felt before. 491 00:34:22,159 --> 00:34:28,280 But you have to be willing to pray scary prayers like Lord 492 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:33,199 God, Get Me Out of the way. And when you do, that's a 493 00:34:33,199 --> 00:34:36,880 prayer. I guarantee he will answer in 494 00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:39,080 the affirmative. We're moving to a time of 495 00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:48,719 decision. Some of you are here and and I'm 496 00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:50,880 going to and I'm going to give an invitation. 497 00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:54,800 This is called a time of invitation, right? 498 00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:57,440 So you you'll be able to come forward, you'll be able to make 499 00:34:57,440 --> 00:34:59,160 a decision. It's time inviting you. 500 00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:07,000 Well, actually the person that we're inviting is Jesus. 501 00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:10,000 The truth is he's already in the room. 502 00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:12,640 He said we're two or three are gathered there. 503 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:17,280 I am in the midst of them. So he's already here and he's 504 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:20,960 got business to do with you. And I don't care if you're like 505 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:24,640 me and you've been a preacher for 45 years or if you're just 506 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:26,600 brand new. This is like your first weekend. 507 00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:28,280 You're like, I don't even know what to make of this. 508 00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:34,560 He's got a plan for your life and he's got an agenda with you 509 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:37,040 today. And it's a good one because 510 00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:38,960 God's plan is an upper story plan. 511 00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:41,880 It's not one to hurt you. It's not one to defeat you. 512 00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:46,640 It's one to help you to experience all of the potential 513 00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:49,880 that he placed in your life from before you were born, when he 514 00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:52,040 knit you together in your mother's womb. 515 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:55,960 That's what he's about. And you're saying, well, you 516 00:35:55,960 --> 00:35:57,600 don't understand. You just don't understand what 517 00:35:57,600 --> 00:35:59,240 I've done, what I've been through. 518 00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:00,960 No, I don't, I haven't got a clue. 519 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:02,280 You don't have that clue about me. 520 00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:05,720 But God knows and and you know what? 521 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:10,600 He doesn't back off one bit. It doesn't scare him one little 522 00:36:10,600 --> 00:36:15,040 bit. There's going to be somebody 523 00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:18,000 over there by that baptistery in a little bit and you can make a 524 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:21,560 decision. You can make a decision to 525 00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:24,000 follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. 526 00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:27,760 You can come into an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus 527 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:29,400 Christ. You can actually do that today. 528 00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:32,560 And I don't think some of us have any idea what that actually 529 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:35,200 means. Not only does that change your 530 00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:39,040 eternal destiny, but there are people that aren't even born yet 531 00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:42,080 that are going to be eternally changed because you made that 532 00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:45,720 decision. You don't know that. 533 00:36:45,720 --> 00:36:47,120 You're not that smart. Neither am I. 534 00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:50,000 But God does. He knows the names of those 535 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:58,200 people. And no matter how obstinate, God 536 00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:03,280 has removed all the obstacles keeping you from doing that. 537 00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:08,880 This is like basin freeze tag. Nobody's chasing you. 538 00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:14,960 You have a moment right now, a peaceful moment. 539 00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:19,320 God stationed his angels around this building. 540 00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:23,120 Nobody can get to you. And there is absolutely no 541 00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:28,640 created thing in the universe that can stop you from claiming 542 00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:31,440 an intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ 543 00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:34,320 except one thing. There's only one thing then this 544 00:37:34,320 --> 00:37:36,880 whole universe that can stop you from doing it. 545 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:47,840 You know what it is you, Unless you can get out of your own way, 546 00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:55,680 and I know it's hard, Get up out of a seat, walk over there. 547 00:37:57,720 --> 00:38:00,200 But take a look at the distance. Is it really that far? 548 00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:06,840 And how far did he come for you? What did he give up for you? 549 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:14,360 What price did he pay for you? And the person that'll meet you 550 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:16,600 over there isn't any better than you are. 551 00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:21,120 They're just a person that it's just a person that there was a 552 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:25,480 day and there was a time when they went, I need to get up and 553 00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:32,880 I need to walk over there. You need living water and 554 00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:35,040 they're just a person who found living water and nowhere to 555 00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:37,280 drink it. That's it. 556 00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:43,200 We need to give up all of the pretense. 557 00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:51,120 You know, I should become a Christian because I know 558 00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:54,640 Christian people. I should be able to be a 559 00:38:54,640 --> 00:38:56,560 Christian because my parents were Christian. 560 00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:01,080 I should be a Christian person because I'm affiliated with the 561 00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:06,160 church. No, there's only one person. 562 00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:10,720 You know, Christianity. It's all about a person. 563 00:39:11,760 --> 00:39:14,400 It's not about a process, it's about a person. 564 00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:24,160 Salvation is found in Jesus, and I invite you in a moment to go 565 00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:26,800 over there and talk to someone about your next steps. 566 00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:31,480 If you're here and you're a believer, you are. 567 00:39:31,560 --> 00:39:33,640 You're here and you're in a relationship with Jesus. 568 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:39,960 That doesn't mean that you aren't getting often times 569 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:46,920 distracted with stuff, that you're losing the fire that's 570 00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:51,240 inside you, that God put in you, that you're trying to manipulate 571 00:39:51,240 --> 00:39:54,960 circumstances and and it's a humbling thing to come up and 572 00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:57,840 get down on your knees, but you're not getting down on your 573 00:39:57,840 --> 00:40:00,760 knees in front of the worship team. 574 00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:05,200 There's only one people you're about, one person that you're 575 00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:07,840 bowing to, and it's the only one that can help you. 576 00:40:09,520 --> 00:40:14,240 To let the burden fall off, to turn it over to him, to cry out 577 00:40:14,240 --> 00:40:18,640 to him, to have the expectation that he'll build humility in you 578 00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:24,480 because you're you're repenting. Maybe you're carrying somebody 579 00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:28,920 else's burden. That's what these steps are for. 580 00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:36,760 And I invite you to meet Jesus today, either over there, up 581 00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:40,560 here. Would you stand with me? 582 00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:45,760 And I want to pray a bold prayer, Father, we have high 583 00:40:45,760 --> 00:40:53,720 walls, we have fortresses, we have iron gates that protect our 584 00:40:53,720 --> 00:40:57,800 hearts. But ultimately, Father, we're 585 00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:01,200 just kids. We're just your children that 586 00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:07,120 need their Father and I pray that you will just blow apart 587 00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:15,800 all of those fortresses that we hide in just so that we can 588 00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:21,800 encounter you. I pray in Jesus name, Amen.