1 00:00:11,120 --> 00:00:14,040 Happy Monday. I'm Pastor Matt. 2 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:16,440 Pastor Chris is here. I am. 3 00:00:17,080 --> 00:00:18,520 Angry Elmo's here. Oh. 4 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:21,200 Yeah, that's right. That's right. 5 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:22,640 I did say. That maybe, well, he's not like 6 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:26,080 here here. But we talked about angry Elmo. 7 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:31,680 I did I well, I, you know, if you go back to Genesis 252025, I 8 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:34,640 think where Jacob and Esau are born. 9 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:37,840 I just, I read that passage about you saw being born and 10 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:41,360 he's red and he's hairy and it's just like, and then I know you, 11 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:43,440 we know what he grows up to be. And it's like, dude, that's, 12 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:46,920 that's a weird angry Elmo. Like it's really strange to 13 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:49,040 think about, but that's just where my brain goes. 14 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:51,920 So you're welcome. There's like there's like no 15 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:55,640 substance in that description. Like that's not that's not 16 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:59,040 useful because it's also not like real, like what are you 17 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:01,680 talking about? It's super real. 18 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:05,560 I I mean, it's an OK description, but I don't know, 19 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,880 imagine. OK, Well, I like, I'm just 20 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:10,720 there's no like practical application of that. 21 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:15,880 Like it's not useful to know that Esau was an angry Elmo. 22 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:19,160 Well. I mean, maybe I don't know, 23 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:21,520 like. Well, because it's a fun visual. 24 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,160 Well, because back in the day we had Tickle Me Elmo, which like 25 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:28,560 sold out of stores, like people were paying thousands of dollars 26 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:30,080 for this little Tickle Me Elmo toy. 27 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:33,120 But imagine this marketing geniuses. 28 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:36,840 Here we go. Imagine that we had an angry 29 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:41,200 Elmo doll that when you tried to tickle him, he just like smacked 30 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:43,320 your hand away and said something mean. 31 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:45,200 Like that's kind of funny in my head. 32 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:48,800 And how does that help people more deeply know I saw I? 33 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:51,880 Don't know. I don't know. 34 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:53,480 That's what I'm that's all I'm asking. 35 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:57,760 Like how does that description bring out the richness of like 36 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:00,720 the story of Jacob and Esau? I don't. 37 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:02,640 You're right, it doesn't it. Doesn't. 38 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:06,800 And obviously like that, you know, comment I made yesterday 39 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:09,880 about angry Elmo that was not in my notes. 40 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:13,360 Oh, I thought. No, no, I did not think about 41 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:14,240 that. Really. 42 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:16,000 No, that just that hit me in the moment. 43 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,160 I'm like, oh angry Elmo sweet. I don't know why when you when 44 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:21,960 you said that I was like, oh, Chris has been sitting on that 45 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:26,480 for a couple days. Like I I thought that was a 46 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,200 pretty meditated connection. OK, that makes. 47 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:32,400 More sense, I I think. Yeah, that makes more sense. 48 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:37,000 OK, well, I, I should, I should probably, I don't know, for some 49 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:41,480 transparency, you know, some of the illustrations that pop into 50 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:45,480 my brain like I've been thinking about the text all week, right? 51 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:47,920 So some of the illustrations are very pointed and very on 52 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:52,840 purposeful and things like that are just, hey, in the moment I 53 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,280 just had this funny thought. And that was my funny thought in 54 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:57,520 that moment that I wanted to share with 200 people. 55 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:00,760 Is it always that way though, 'cause I, I sometimes have the 56 00:03:00,920 --> 00:03:06,320 like borderline, Should he, should he not say this? 57 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:09,880 Like some of them for me, some of those are premeditated and 58 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:11,280 I'm like, Nah, I'm going to say it. 59 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:15,080 Like I know, I know this is like right toe in the line, but like 60 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:20,200 I'm just going to do it. OK, gosh, maybe it sounds. 61 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:23,080 It sounds too safe, too generic to say maybe it's 5050. 62 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:25,280 But if I'm being really honest, it probably is. 63 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:28,160 OK. So some are premeditated, it's 64 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,560 not some of them are you also said yesterday the you admitted 65 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:33,760 to the I have no filter like it's tough. 66 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:37,040 For me, it's really difficult. For me, I, I mean, well, you 67 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:38,400 know me. I do know you. 68 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:40,640 I mean that like it's it's very difficult for me. 69 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:43,880 I'm wondering if that will get worse or better with the age. 70 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,200 I actually can't tell. I'm not sure. 71 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:50,280 I don't know. We'll we'll find out I. 72 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:53,280 Guess we'll find out. Depends on how long, yeah. 73 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:55,000 How long you're along for the ride. 74 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:57,600 Will this go up or down? Will that get rained in? 75 00:03:57,640 --> 00:04:00,040 Or will you gradually grow more crazy and senile? 76 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:00,440 We'll see. More. 77 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:05,320 I thought you got that more crazy. 78 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:06,480 More. Yeah, more. 79 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:08,920 Okay. See. 80 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:13,600 Okay, here we go. We have in a couple weeks, first 81 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:16,560 Monday in November, I think is going to be another Ask Me 82 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:20,920 Anything episode and you're welcome to submit some to the 83 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:22,680 the jar. We'll have a Facebook post this 84 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:25,400 week that you can comment your questions on there if you'd like 85 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:28,840 to be a little less anonymous about your questions. 86 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:30,720 But there's a jar at the Connection center if you want to 87 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:34,440 submit those for us. We do need them by this weekend, 88 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:38,720 like the 26th, 27th is when we're recording that episode. 89 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:42,160 So that's when they will happen. You're welcome to yeah, jump in 90 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:45,280 or even text, text back to the church thread or either of our 91 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:47,480 numbers. We can take AMA questions as 92 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:50,960 well. We had some early contributors 93 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:52,920 already. So we're going to take a new ish 94 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:56,680 one off the pile and talk about it today before we get into 95 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:00,600 business. But simply, who is this a funner 96 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:04,080 1, not a theology one. Who is your celebrity look 97 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:10,960 alike? So this is oh man, this is funny 98 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:18,680 because people see me now and have only seen me like now, 99 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:20,880 Adult Matt. Go team, Matt. 100 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:23,400 Go team Matt. It was not always go team Matt 101 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:27,680 even like early, probably first. I don't know, five years of my 102 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:30,240 marriage, probably. Yeah, probably like before I 103 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:32,640 moved to Iowa. I've been in Iowa for 7-8 years. 104 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:34,480 Didn't really do the facial hair thing. 105 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:38,960 Wasn't was it clean shaven? Matt was a thing I even had back 106 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:42,560 in high school. I had like the Bieber hair, like 107 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:45,760 I, I had the full, it was almost, almost shoulder length. 108 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:48,600 Like I did, I did the hair, I was the hair flip guy, like. 109 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:51,320 But I could see that like you could totally pull that off. 110 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:54,840 Well, maybe, I guess, I guess it you definitely did pulled it off 111 00:05:54,840 --> 00:05:59,160 enough for me to land a wife. So in high school, that was 112 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:05,120 also, so I graduated in 2008, who almost 18 years ago back 113 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:11,800 then was the High School Musical craze, those, those 3 movies and 114 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:13,760 back then. It's really hard, especially 115 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:17,120 with the facial hair now. And he's also become like mega 116 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:21,400 Jack superstar. I know you're talking about when 117 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:25,080 I was in high school and Zac Efron was still like baby 118 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:28,560 phrased kind of shy Troy Zac Efron. 119 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:31,280 I did. I did look a lot like him in 120 00:06:31,280 --> 00:06:34,160 high school and the hair was almost exactly the same as like 121 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:37,560 Troy in those movies. There was actually a time I was 122 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:42,080 at a news boys concert actually in Minneapolis once and came out 123 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:44,680 after the concert and it was I mean, it was a church thing. 124 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:46,760 People bring youth groups and stuff to that was that Excel 125 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:52,200 center in in Minneapolis, Saint Paul and this youth leader came 126 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:57,320 over to me and and he just said, I know you're not Zac Efron put 127 00:06:57,320 --> 00:06:59,520 up my youth, my group of youth group girls over here. 128 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:03,080 They think you're Zac Efron. Would you come over and like 129 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:07,720 talk with them for a little bit? And I was not like into into 130 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:09,360 high school. I'd I'd maybe seen it once. 131 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:10,880 I feel like I'm like wanted to watch. 132 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:13,480 And I was just like, yeah, so I didn't I didn't know a whole lot 133 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:16,480 of the storyline. I barely knew that, like Vanessa 134 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:20,480 Hudgens was the Co star and that, and that's where I I was 135 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:21,800 chatting with him and talking with him. 136 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:24,480 And then and then there became a couple more specific questions 137 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:27,920 about like and how was and and what was it like to work with 138 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:29,800 Vanessa or, or something like this? 139 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:31,360 And I was just like, I don't know who that is. 140 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:33,720 Like I couldn't keep up the ruse. 141 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:36,600 I couldn't keep up the ruse anymore, But the the youth 142 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:39,800 leader was wildly entertained. So I'm pretty good. 143 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:44,840 I don't know who presently I I don't even have an idea of who 144 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:48,440 presently I I maybe look like, but you all can, you all can 145 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:50,600 jump in and tell me who. You think my celebrity? 146 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:51,600 Look like is that would be great. 147 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:56,080 What about you? So before my beard was quite as 148 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:58,520 Gray as it was. So probably even oh gosh, that 149 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:02,160 what it'll tell you that even like 3 or 4 years ago, like my 150 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:05,320 beard was not primarily Gray. It was like, more like yours, 151 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:09,760 Matt, a little bit. And so I've gotten text messages 152 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:13,000 around around the time that, like, Disney started doing 153 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:16,760 these, like TV series and stuff around the Star Wars characters. 154 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:20,320 I gotten text messages from several people in my life at 155 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:23,200 various stages of my life. And they would send me a picture 156 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:25,800 of Ewan McGregor, who is young Obi Wan Kenobi. 157 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:29,280 And then they would send a picture of me, which I know what 158 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:32,039 I look like, but they did that. And they're like, come on, man. 159 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:34,120 Like this is spot. On it's like a spider man GIF. 160 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:34,679 Right. Yeah, yeah. 161 00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:38,840 The point, The point, yeah. I think in maybe a different 162 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:42,400 life, I could have been Ewan McGregor's stunt double if I was 163 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:45,480 not so scared of things. But I am, so I couldn't. 164 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:48,600 But I think I could have pulled a stunt double when my hair was 165 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:50,320 a little bit longer. I would come back and yeah, 166 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:52,200 yeah, could have, could have pulled that off. 167 00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:54,960 So did you? I can and I can see that, 168 00:08:54,960 --> 00:09:00,040 especially like Episode 3 Ewan McGregor or even the Kenobi 169 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:02,680 miniseries. And I can definitely see it. 170 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:09,400 What about, I guess what about episode 1 Ewan McGregor? 171 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:14,160 Were you ever that clean shaven? Because he's he's smooth, clean 172 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:16,200 shaven. Young Padawan Obi Wan Kenobi, 173 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:18,040 were you ever doing that? Look. 174 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:22,720 I mean with the little padawan braid, don't we call that a rat 175 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:26,320 tail? I guess some, some no I don't 176 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:27,400 think. Is it a rat too? 177 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:30,480 Oh, I suppose it's not dead center at the very bottom, so it 178 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:31,680 can't be. Right, they kind of. 179 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:37,240 Yeah, OK, well, you know, I, I guess post high school, like I 180 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:39,560 couldn't really good grow good facial hair. 181 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:42,160 So, you know, it's like the facial hair that the cat can 182 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:43,920 lick off and you don't want that. 183 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:47,640 So I I stayed mostly mostly clean shaven. 184 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:51,960 I've never heard that phrase before, really. 185 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:54,000 Because my dad. The cat could like. 186 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:56,880 Yeah, they've got rough tongues and it's so peachy like your. 187 00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:01,400 Cat lick your face too much man. Also something that I'm not 188 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:09,000 crazy excited about. Never heard that phrase before. 189 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:12,080 My dad used to say that to me. When, you know, you're young, 190 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:14,520 you're like 1516. And a lot of boys now who are 191 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:18,120 that age, they're trying the mustache, which is hilarious to 192 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:18,840 me. I love it. 193 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:22,120 But my dad used to say stuff like that to me, like, oh geez, 194 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:24,320 son, why don't you have the cat lick that off your face? 195 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:26,200 Like he would say things like that to me. 196 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:28,000 And I'm like, Dad, you're hilarious. 197 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:29,400 No, you're not, because you're my dad. 198 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:31,920 And that's not funny. Take me seriously. 199 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:33,960 I'm a man. I thought it was funny, never 200 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:35,600 heard that before. But I'm also not a cat person 201 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:38,160 and will not will not be cat person I. 202 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:40,520 Don't know that he was much of a cat person either, but he always 203 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:42,240 had him in his house because you know. 204 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:45,000 That's already too much of a cat person for me so. 205 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:49,360 That's fair. All right, I like I like that 206 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:52,400 Ewan McGregor for for you the. Kids call me Harry Potter when I 207 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:55,520 wear the round glasses. Oh, you do have the Harry Potter 208 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:57,280 glasses. Yeah, so. 209 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:00,480 We've never. That's interesting though, 210 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:03,560 because as as Daniel Radcliffe has grown up, he's tried to do 211 00:11:03,560 --> 00:11:06,480 the facial hair thing and I feel like he doesn't pull off the 212 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:08,600 facial hair thing. So you also have that, you have 213 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:10,400 that disconnect a little bit between the Harry Potter 214 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:12,800 character, but. Yeah, you know, maybe by the 215 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:14,240 time he's in his 40s. We'll see. 216 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:17,440 We'll see. No, he's not in his 40s, is he? 217 00:11:17,680 --> 00:11:20,720 No, he's definitely way younger. Well, he's probably your age. 218 00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:22,760 I don't know. He's in his mid 30s maybe. 219 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:25,000 So young now I have to know. This is why now we have to. 220 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:27,320 Producer. Yeah. 221 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:31,480 Daniel Radcliffe, 36. He's older than me. 222 00:11:31,680 --> 00:11:34,680 OK, 1989. He's only 5. 223 00:11:34,680 --> 00:11:35,720 Five. Wow. 224 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:39,280 Well, and This is why. OK, so this is really off on a 225 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:42,040 tangent. We're way off on a tangent and 226 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:43,360 it's. Pretty nerdy, but there was a 227 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:46,880 lot of people pining for him to be the next Wolverine in the 228 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:49,320 movies because, well, because here's the thing. 229 00:11:49,320 --> 00:11:52,120 In the comics, Wolverine is he's not a tall person. 230 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:55,800 Hugh Jackman's like 6 three. So when they first cast him 20 231 00:11:55,800 --> 00:11:57,600 something years ago, they're like, that guy's too tall, he's 232 00:11:57,600 --> 00:11:59,120 too skinny, that's not Wolverine, blah, blah, blah. 233 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:03,400 But like, no, Daniel Radcliffe at 55 is perfect for that. 234 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:06,400 Role I feel like that could be a secondary look alike for you 235 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:10,720 actually Hugh Jackman especially like especially like Wolverine 236 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:14,800 Hugh Jackman, not like not greatest showman Hugh Jackman. 237 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:18,000 He's far too suave. Or even what's the magician 238 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:19,320 movie? The prestige? 239 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:21,040 Prestige. Not that one either. 240 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:21,840 You're not. You're not that. 241 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:23,520 One, I got to be Wolverine. Hugh Jackman. 242 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:25,800 OK, that's fair. That's fair. 243 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:27,560 I would have preferred if you would have been like Chris 244 00:12:27,560 --> 00:12:29,400 Hemsworth and I'd be like, yes, yes, I am I. 245 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:32,320 Mean Wolverine. Hugh Jackman is pretty close to. 246 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:34,440 That's pretty cool. Or Chris Hemsworth. 247 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:35,760 Yeah. It's pretty cool I guess. 248 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:37,000 Doesn't wear a shirt a whole lot. 249 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:42,080 Oh I do because I got dad bod so it's fine. 250 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:45,680 I'm I'm cool with it at this point in my life. 251 00:12:45,680 --> 00:12:52,000 Mid 40s dad bod, I'm fine. Boy, all right, well, thanks for 252 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:55,480 rocking along with us on the ERC Leftovers podcast here. 253 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:58,040 We had a great time. Thanks for joining us. 254 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:01,080 Those of you who came out to the river for baptism Sunday, 255 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:05,240 yesterday we had about 50 of y'all and we baptized 10 people 256 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:09,400 into into the Holy Spirit in the Wapsey River this weekend. 257 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:12,520 That was just really cool day after church yesterday. 258 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:16,640 So yeah, we're doing, we had a hymn sing on Friday and 259 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:18,640 baptizing in the river. I had, I was talking with 260 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:21,200 someone who was like, man, it's just kind of feels like we're 261 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:24,000 back to basics. And I was just, yeah, it's, 262 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:26,120 it's, it's that simple. This is what we're called to. 263 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:28,880 We don't need to, we don't need to dress it up or, or make it, 264 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:32,000 make it crazier than what it is. We're going to, we're going to 265 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:33,520 preach the word. We're going to praise Jesus and 266 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:36,120 we're going to to make disciples baptizing people. 267 00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:38,240 That's that's what we're called to as church. 268 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:41,920 So thanks for being excited about that and holding us to 269 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:44,440 that and, and being a part of this community. 270 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:46,360 We're going to continue the conversation out of Pastor 271 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:51,480 Chris's message yesterday from Exodus 17. 272 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:55,040 And we, we kind of jumped past you. 273 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:58,400 You preached on verses 8 through 16, which is kind of the end, 274 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:04,720 the second-half of that chapter, but we jumped pad because we did 275 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:06,320 that. We jumped past a couple of 276 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:10,600 provision things that maybe tag on pretty well to where we were 277 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:12,320 last week with the manna and the quail. 278 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:16,600 They really do. 2 verse one in Exodus 17 and all the 279 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:19,600 congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey 280 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:21,800 from the wilderness of sin according to the commandment of 281 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:25,280 the Lord, and camped in refidim, but there was no water for the 282 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:27,280 people to drink. Therefore the people contended 283 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:29,720 with Moses and said, Give us water that we may drink. 284 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:32,200 Moses said to them, Why do you contend with me? 285 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:34,720 Why do you tempt the Lord and the people thirsted there for 286 00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:37,600 water and the people complained against Moses and said why is it 287 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:39,600 you have brought us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and 288 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:41,720 our livestock with thirst. They love this line right? 289 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:45,000 It's always it's always doom and gloom and it's always Moses 290 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:47,760 fault and you brought us out here just to kill us. 291 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:53,000 Could you imagine every this is this is a random thought, but 292 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:55,400 like every youth group trip you've ever been on, when 293 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:59,000 something, when something goes wrong, you're out on the road in 294 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:01,960 this van with the students. And their response is, why'd you 295 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:03,680 bring us out here today? We could have just stayed home. 296 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:05,320 We could have stayed home on my Xbox. 297 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:06,800 Oh my God, could have stayed at the pool. 298 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:10,560 Why'd you bring us out like man? Please don't put that into their 299 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:14,400 psyche because then we're going to get that every time we go on 300 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:15,840 a road trip. You're welcome. 301 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:18,000 Oh my gosh. That's where it is. 302 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,720 So, so God's solution, verse 5 Lord said to Moses, go before 303 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:23,680 the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel, 304 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:27,520 take in your hand your rod which you struck the river and go, 305 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:30,240 behold, I will stand before you there on the rock and horrible 306 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:32,160 and you shall strike the rock and water will come out of it 307 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:36,680 that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of 308 00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:41,400 all the elders and the people. So we've got this magical staff, 309 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:46,120 not this magical stop this, this spirit inspired Shepherd's 310 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:51,160 instrument that that God bestows to Moses to lead and use and 311 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:55,480 help the people. And God's provision pours out of 312 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:58,000 this rock, right? So what else is going on here? 313 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:02,440 Well, you know, I, I just barely introed it yesterday, but yeah, 314 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:05,520 I, we, so we. OK, So again, the movement I 315 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:08,720 think we see throughout this time period in Exodus as we see 316 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:12,440 this warrior God who fights for his people and he provides all 317 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:17,960 these real clear physical ways that I will not let anybody harm 318 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:20,600 you physically. So I'm, I'm going to carry you 319 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:23,760 through all these kinds of things via plagues, via crossing 320 00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:24,880 the Red Sea, all that kind of stuff. 321 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:29,320 But then we see the same God who is a warrior, we see him walk in 322 00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:33,120 and with great sensitivity to their daily needs. 323 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:36,480 We see him providing for daily needs, just those kind of 324 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:38,240 sustenance kinds kinds of things. 325 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:43,840 And so we get multiple angles of the character of God and how he, 326 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:48,920 yeah, how he cares for and helps his people along the way, never 327 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:53,720 allowing them to experience, you know, something that he can't 328 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,600 just fix for them an instant. Now, do they? 329 00:16:57,640 --> 00:16:59,680 Are they kind of drama Queens about it? 330 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:03,960 It would seem that way, but then again, the text doesn't tell us 331 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:07,760 how long they've gone without water or if they've totally gone 332 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:11,119 without it or if it's just the stockpiles running a little low 333 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:13,119 or something like that. And part of that, too, is 334 00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:14,599 understanding. OK. 335 00:17:14,599 --> 00:17:17,480 So we we, we say they're in the wilderness. 336 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:20,480 And when Midwesterners think of the wilderness, we think of 337 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:22,680 forest. We think of lots of trees and 338 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:24,680 stuff like that. The wilderness in this part of 339 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:27,680 the world would not be these green, leafy forests. 340 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:31,960 Often times we're talking about more kind of barren spaces a 341 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:34,720 little bit. And so I could see how this 342 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:38,760 would be troubling to them because as Moses is guiding them 343 00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:41,560 through these different geographical regions, some 344 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:44,680 regions may have more or less water than others, that is, you 345 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:48,080 know, drinkable. And so we also have to 346 00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:51,240 potentially think about like weather patterns, which is 347 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:54,480 really getting deep into the, into the stuff here, weather 348 00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:56,640 patterns in that part of the world. 349 00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:00,520 Also, there'd be incredible seasons where like there's so 350 00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:04,080 much rain at floods certain areas and for a time there's 351 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:07,680 like a river and then during the dry seasons, it's like totally 352 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:10,320 dried out and so livestock and stuff like that. 353 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:12,480 So shepherds know that the rain seasons there. 354 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:15,480 And so they'll, they'll bring their flocks to different parts 355 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:20,120 of, you know, the those spaces in order to feed them, water 356 00:18:20,120 --> 00:18:21,840 them, etcetera. And they just kind of know those 357 00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:24,640 rhythms. But Israel, you know, coming out 358 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:27,520 of Egypt, they're not super Privy to that yet. 359 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:29,600 They have not spent a lot of time there. 360 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,600 And so obviously they're kind of wondering what's going on. 361 00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:37,720 So anyway, there's there's a lot there, but that's at least 362 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:40,880 something. So this is, I mean, it's a real 363 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:43,920 and understandable threat. They're they're in a place 364 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:47,640 where, OK, there's not water, we're out or maybe out of water 365 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:51,200 or we don't and we don't have a means of getting more water. 366 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:53,000 And it's like we kind of talked about last week that the 367 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:56,320 physical needs kind of inform the spiritual when we're when 368 00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:59,360 we're depraving the body. It's really easy to lose hope in 369 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:03,680 in the spiritual things. But the reaction is still 370 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:08,920 strange to me in, in how God has miraculously worked provision 371 00:19:09,120 --> 00:19:13,720 for them in the past. They're still they're, they're 372 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:15,200 still barking up the wrong tree, right? 373 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,480 They're still coming to Moses and being like, this is your 374 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:21,960 fault that we don't have these things instead of maybe turning 375 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:25,680 to God and having and, and I'm not even saying they should, 376 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:30,320 obviously they, they were probably mad with God and OK, 377 00:19:30,360 --> 00:19:32,440 well, Moses is leading us and you're following God. 378 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:35,000 So by extension, we're mad at God and we're mad at you, Moses. 379 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:38,320 But again, where was the, where was the intermediate? 380 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:43,400 Was Moses just entirely living out faith and guidance for these 381 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:44,600 people? It seems like their faith was 382 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:47,360 more in Moses even than than in God. 383 00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:51,960 Shouldn't they have turned and, I don't know, pray to God, hey, 384 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:54,640 we're wandering out in the wilderness and we are cast out 385 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:57,000 here. God, would you, would you 386 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:00,720 provide a way? Would you provide water for us? 387 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:04,800 Because no, rationally it doesn't make sense that a loving 388 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:10,360 God who has brought us out of slavery made a way through the 389 00:20:10,360 --> 00:20:13,480 sea just to kill it like that. That that. 390 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:16,200 The thought process doesn't really play out. 391 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:18,880 Right, It's terribly illogical and I think you're right. 392 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:22,920 So what we see earlier, you know, in God's story through his 393 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,360 people, as we see Abraham, who has this really intimate 394 00:20:26,360 --> 00:20:29,440 relationship with God, he speaks to God, right? 395 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:32,880 He prays. Now we, I think you're spot on 396 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:36,680 because we don't get that sense with these these these this 397 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:38,720 group of people. We don't get the sense that they 398 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:42,680 have like this deep seated personal faith of ABBA, my 399 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:46,080 father, which Jesus just comes along and says later they don't 400 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:49,440 have that. They have this intermediary 401 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:53,200 that, you know, I don't, I don't know, but I, I think you're 402 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:56,080 right, like the lack of personal relationship with God at that 403 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:58,720 point. And we, we continue to see that 404 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,120 as we go because Moses is going to go up the mountain in a 405 00:21:01,120 --> 00:21:04,840 little bit and only Moses is allowed to go up. 406 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:07,720 Nobody else is even supposed to touch the base of the mountain. 407 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:11,360 So there's something perpetuated here about Moses and his 408 00:21:11,360 --> 00:21:14,880 relationship and his intimacy with God versus the general 409 00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:17,640 people's relationship and intimacy with God. 410 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:22,560 And it's hard to say whether like, are they reacting that way 411 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:26,920 because, you know, is like is quote UN quote, is this God's 412 00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:29,480 fault? I don't think it is. 413 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:33,720 But we also see that God is clearly speaking through a 414 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:37,280 couple individuals and not necessarily like intimately 415 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:41,080 meeting each individual. So I don't, I don't fully know I 416 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:43,720 guess how that works, but. I just think it's interesting 417 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:47,520 that Thursday because we have. I think the dynamic is 418 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:54,360 interesting because we have a, an advocate, a great high priest 419 00:21:54,360 --> 00:21:59,320 sort of dynamic here, this personified in Moses. 420 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:03,760 He's he's the on behalf of the people coming to God. 421 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:07,240 Just as I mean, look for Fast forward with Jesus is the 422 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:11,040 intermediary in that relationship between US and God. 423 00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:17,240 But there's still a, there's still a true vine sort of 424 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:22,840 connection, right on John 15, where Jesus is I, I am the true 425 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:24,760 vine. He who knows me knows the 426 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:27,640 Father. So that that would tell me to 427 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,000 some degree. A lot of these people, and 428 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:31,760 obviously he was gone for 40 years, but like a lot of these 429 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:33,680 people still don't know Moses, right? 430 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:38,160 Like they don't, they don't trust and know Moses's heart as 431 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,040 he shepherds them. So of course they don't 432 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:44,960 understand his heart after God, and thereby they don't really 433 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:47,600 know God. They not understand Him 434 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:49,560 correctly. And this is where it's really 435 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:51,440 dangerous. Let's let's consider the modern 436 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:53,320 day church. This is where it's really 437 00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:57,640 dangerous to potentially chase after a pastor. 438 00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:01,640 So you know, and I and I don't necessarily think it's the 439 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,280 individual pastor's fault. I don't think anybody goes into 440 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:06,200 ministry saying like I'm going to be the rock star 441 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,800 representative God and I'm I'm going to be so quote UN quote 442 00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:12,440 good at this thing that nobody will think they can know God 443 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:14,840 better than me. And again, throughout the Bible, 444 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:16,440 we just see that that's absolutely not true. 445 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:19,080 God wants to have an intimate, meaningful relationship with 446 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,560 individuals. And so that is the that is the 447 00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:25,280 hard thing about the modern church and some of these big 448 00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:30,200 churches that have 1020 thousand people attending because it even 449 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:33,800 if they didn't mean to, sometimes that some of those 450 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:36,160 lead pastor worship leaders, whatever they can, they can 451 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:39,000 become that for the people. And then all of a sudden the 452 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:40,840 people don't feel like they can communicate to God. 453 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:44,080 It has to be this person. And I think that comes with 454 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:47,760 idolatry on some level. I've idolized this person who 455 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:49,760 seems way closer to God than I am. 456 00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:52,840 But everybody has access to God at the same level. 457 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:55,840 He's given us that through his Son Jesus Christ, through the 458 00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:58,960 Holy Spirit, we all have equal access to God. 459 00:24:00,120 --> 00:24:03,640 Yeah, and that's not to we. We love relationship with you 460 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:05,000 all. We love knowing things and and 461 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:08,400 being in your lives. But we also it's it's not our 462 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:14,200 desire or even intent to to be that crutch either. 463 00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:16,760 We're not yes, of course we're willing. 464 00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:18,920 We're willing to help and bear burdens and be along with you in 465 00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:24,040 these things. But as pastors, we can't be that 466 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:29,640 like solution or that faith liver for for you it it has to 467 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:33,400 it has to come down to your relationship with God to working 468 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:37,160 out your salvation with fear and trembling, not working out your 469 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,760 salvation in a conversation with pastor Pastor Matt like that 470 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:42,840 that can help. That can be along with it. 471 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:46,640 But if you take us out of your relationship with God, what does 472 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:49,440 it look like? That's and and that's not I'm 473 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:51,960 not that's not an ego thing and I don't want to inflate that. 474 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:56,760 We don't, we don't want to be that either. 475 00:24:56,760 --> 00:25:00,360 We don't, we don't because, and this doesn't have anything to do 476 00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:02,200 with with any. There's nothing, there's nothing 477 00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:04,360 impending. We're we're both here. 478 00:25:04,360 --> 00:25:07,640 I don't, I don't want to scare or say there's anything that one 479 00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:10,840 of us would be out of your life. But if we, if we were, would 480 00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:14,240 would you be wildly frustrated in your faith? 481 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:16,480 What, what would that look like? What would your relationship 482 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:18,840 with God look like? I would hope it'd be affected a 483 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:21,760 little bit because I would hope that we're helpful in in 484 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:26,280 speaking into that, but not to the point of just this lack of 485 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:28,920 understanding that we see of the Israelites of like, they just, 486 00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:32,520 they don't even seem to be familiar with the heart of God 487 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:35,320 apart from Moses. And I'll and I'll tell you 488 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:37,880 something that's I'm pretty intentional about. 489 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:41,600 So if you've ever been in a Bible study with me or a life 490 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:45,840 group or anything along those lines, what you'll find is that 491 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:51,960 I don't like being the one who's praying by myself, you know what 492 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:53,520 I mean? So in other words, like in these 493 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:56,840 group settings that I've been a part of and still am, often 494 00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:00,840 times, what I'll do is I'm going to open it up to the room. 495 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:04,440 I'm going to say, hey, we want to pray together. 496 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:08,160 And it used to be like in Bible study, for example, everybody 497 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:10,480 would kind of say, Hey, Pastor Chris can pray for this and this 498 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:12,280 and this and this, and I'd be right in my list. 499 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:15,120 And then at the end of all the kind of prayer requests, I'm 500 00:26:15,120 --> 00:26:16,560 going to pray for all these things. 501 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:20,000 But I, I switched after a while because I was like, no, like 502 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:23,680 these all of us have equal access to God and all of us 503 00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:28,760 ought to be using the mouth that God gave us to speak in and 504 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:30,800 amongst our community, speaking to him. 505 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:33,960 And so like, yeah, if you're in a, if you're in a group with me 506 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:36,720 at any given point, you're going to, you're going to see that, 507 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:38,280 yeah. You're going to see the fact 508 00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:41,360 that like, no, I want you to like we talked about yesterday, 509 00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:44,320 I want you to participate in this faith that is yours because 510 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:46,440 you have equal access to God as do I. 511 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:49,960 Yeah, Yep. And that's, I think, I think 512 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:51,840 that's fair. And hopefully what we 513 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:57,120 communicate well that we are not, we're not holier than thou 514 00:26:57,120 --> 00:26:59,800 because we're in vocational ministry. 515 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:01,960 Yeah, we have, we have a point of emphasis and we have a 516 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:06,200 higher, higher calling and accountability as, as teachers 517 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:10,240 of the word. But we don't have this secret 518 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:15,160 sauce that is like a direct a Direct Line to to God like. 519 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:17,480 Yeah, yeah, I agree with that totally. 520 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:21,920 Yep, I think Joby Martin. I think he's used the phrase 521 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:24,440 professional Christian. Talking about people. 522 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:27,480 Who are in ministry like, yes, we get to be quote, UN quote, 523 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:31,880 professional Christians, but I mean, the, the access to God is 524 00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:35,400 total and complete through his Son Jesus Christ and through the 525 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:38,520 Holy Spirit. And so I would encourage all of 526 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:41,720 you, yeah, to participate in that in a, in as meaningful way 527 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:43,960 as you possibly can and stretch yourself a little bit. 528 00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:47,760 Don't be afraid to pray when you don't have words because the 529 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:52,040 Holy Spirit is with you and even your groaning. 530 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:55,360 And so I think that's an important thing to consider and 531 00:27:55,360 --> 00:27:58,360 it's an important thing for each one of us to remember as we go 532 00:27:58,360 --> 00:28:01,880 to God in prayer or in worship or any other space. 533 00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:05,560 So we get to the text that you talked about yesterday. 534 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:09,680 What are what are some things that we couldn't get to in the 535 00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:11,280 sermon from yesterday? Details. 536 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:12,960 Historical accounts What? What do? 537 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:16,240 You get so one of the things that I failed to do so I brought 538 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:21,400 up the fact early on that the Israelites were attacked from 539 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:22,760 the rear. They were attacked from their 540 00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:24,520 weakest point. In fact, that was kind of one of 541 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:28,360 the things that I used as a launching pad for making sure 542 00:28:28,360 --> 00:28:30,520 our back door is is guarded, right? 543 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:36,760 So, but I didn't tell you all where how I knew that because 544 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:39,160 the text itself, it does not pull that out. 545 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:41,760 But how do we know that they were attacked from the rear? 546 00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:43,640 How do we know that they were attacked where they were 547 00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:46,000 weakest? If you go to Deuteronomy chapter 548 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:48,640 25, starting in verse 17, it says this. 549 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:52,520 Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of 550 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,760 Egypt, how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and 551 00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:59,640 weary and cut off your tail, those who are lagging behind 552 00:28:59,920 --> 00:29:02,320 you. And he did not fear God. 553 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:05,120 So there's more there. There's a little bit more there. 554 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:08,440 But what we gain from Deuteronomy 25 is the fact that, 555 00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:13,040 yeah, like they looked at this great number of people protected 556 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:15,200 by God, and they said, you know what? 557 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:17,240 How can, how can we get in the back door? 558 00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:19,640 How can, how can we get them where they're weakest? 559 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:22,520 And that's exactly how Satan attacks. 560 00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:25,760 And that's how the Amalekites attacked. 561 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:30,040 And it's terrible and it's cowardly, but it's what they 562 00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:32,240 did. Like, like hyenas, almost. 563 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:37,280 Yeah, and that's the I, I love that the the, the weakest, the 564 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:41,320 the unsuspecting place, even even maybe the Yeah, the 565 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:43,520 innocence. Have you ever seen the 566 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:47,320 illustration where you can bring, you can bring talking 567 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:49,760 about temptation? Satan doesn't Satan doesn't 568 00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:51,480 bring you a chain. He doesn't bring, he doesn't 569 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:56,040 bring the whole thing. It's it's one link at a time, 570 00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:58,120 right? And it doesn't one link on its 571 00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:01,600 own isn't very scary. But when you when you chain them 572 00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:06,080 together and it's and it's this kind of growing weakness. 573 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:09,080 And that's and that's what kind of got brought to this point of 574 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:11,240 this. This was this was the glaring 575 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:13,320 weakness. There's that that part of it in 576 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:16,960 battle so despicable way and and a way that like they didn't 577 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:20,960 expect or anticipate, but also you're in it like, why would you 578 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:23,280 expect your enemy to fight fair? I. 579 00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:28,720 Suppose not like, yeah, yeah, as you were saying that there's 580 00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:31,760 another illustration that comes to mind, and it's a weird one, 581 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:34,000 but I've heard it. How do you boil a frog? 582 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:38,120 Well, you, you just put them in nice lukewarm water. 583 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:40,840 They're very comfortable. And then you just slowly, 584 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:43,000 slowly, slowly up the temperature over and over. 585 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:46,040 And, and I do think as silly as that illustration is, I think 586 00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:47,680 that's exactly what Satan does to us. 587 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:49,120 That's what our enemy does to us. 588 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:53,000 He's just slowly pulling us in. So, you know, that could come in 589 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,680 any number of ways. So like maybe it comes with 590 00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:58,960 financial resources. And because God, you know, one 591 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:01,960 of the things that Jesus talks about all the time in the New 592 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,160 Testament is money. In fact, he talks about that 593 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:09,120 maybe more than any other topic. So one of the things that Satan 594 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:13,520 can do to us with money is you just never quite have enough, 595 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:17,240 you know, And so like as we, as we gain more and we spend more 596 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:19,480 on ourselves and we're not thinking about the widow, the 597 00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:22,080 orphan, our neighbor, our church, whatever that looks 598 00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:24,760 like. And, and we just have to have 599 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:25,560 more. We have to have more. 600 00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:28,760 We have to have more. And I, I fully believe Satan is 601 00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:32,440 all the happy, all the happier to just continue to give us just 602 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:34,400 a little more, just a little more, just a little more so that 603 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:37,760 we can spend on ourselves so that we can become those kind of 604 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:42,200 prideful, greedy people. And the one thing that's tricky, 605 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:46,320 I think about living in America, living in the West, is that 606 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:49,120 since we're so many of us are always trying to keep up with 607 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:53,160 the Joneses or even just be the Joneses, as they would say, you 608 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:56,360 know, like what's ever enough? Because I'm only going to 609 00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:59,640 compare myself with people who have as much or more money than 610 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:01,640 me. I'm not typically willing to 611 00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:05,840 compare myself to, you know, the, the, the family in certain 612 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:08,640 parts of Africa, for example, where they have to walk 4 miles 613 00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:10,440 one way to get a bucket of water. 614 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:12,480 You know, I'm not comparing myself to them. 615 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:14,440 No, I'm going to compare to myself to somebody who has more 616 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:16,720 money. That way I feel better about 617 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:20,600 being greedy with it. Yeah, no, that's that lifestyle 618 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:25,600 creep and even the morbid as the frog and boiling water is like, 619 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:28,960 I think that that makes sense. That's an understandable thing 620 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:31,320 and that we can apply to complacency really. 621 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:33,680 And that's what that's why we're called to be alert, right? 622 00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:38,480 So because your enemy, your enemy, the devil is, is like a a 623 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:41,960 prowling lion, right. Ready, ready to ready to pounce 624 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:44,240 and and looking for that opening. 625 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:47,400 And that's what we see kind of here in the the forces of the 626 00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:50,080 Amalekites here. They, they saw the opening, they 627 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:54,040 saw the weakness and, and we're ready to jump into and, and 628 00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:56,760 fight that way. Yeah, one one of the other 629 00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:00,000 things that I didn't get to yesterday that I had big sad 630 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:05,080 feelings about was when so Moses said to Joshua, choose for US 631 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:07,800 men and go out and fight with Amalek. 632 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:11,160 Now one of the, I, I definitely, I definitely touched on our male 633 00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:14,200 population a little bit and, and, and gave the biblical, some 634 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:17,280 of the biblical reasons, like guys, like there's a reason why 635 00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:20,840 we're called out, right? Well, let me, let me share a few 636 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,400 statistics with you that I got from the Lifeway research team 637 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:27,080 on the importance of men in their faith and what that 638 00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:28,800 ultimately can mean for their family. 639 00:33:29,840 --> 00:33:33,200 If a mother does not go to church, but a father does, a 640 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:37,600 minimum of 2/3 of their children will end up attending in church. 641 00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:39,120 Here's the other side of the coin. 642 00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:43,040 In contrast, if a father does not go to church, but a mother 643 00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:48,600 does, an average of 2/3 of their children will not attend church. 644 00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:52,480 Here's another good one. Another survey found that if a 645 00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:55,360 child is the first person in a household to become a Christian, 646 00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:59,480 there's a 3.5% probability chance everyone in the house 647 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:01,360 will follow. OK, we've got that. 648 00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:03,720 If the mother is the first person to become a Christian, 649 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:06,680 there's a 17% probability everyone in the household will 650 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:08,239 follow. Now dig this. 651 00:34:09,159 --> 00:34:14,639 However, when the father is a first, there is a 93% 652 00:34:14,639 --> 00:34:18,760 probability rate that everyone else in the household will 653 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,760 follow. That is remarkable. 654 00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:24,600 And, and again, that's, that's just one of those things like 655 00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:30,520 God has called men to be leaders in their families in faith. 656 00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:35,560 Now you could be, you could be a, a leader, a male leader in 657 00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:37,960 your house and you don't even make the most money in your 658 00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:42,400 house, but God has called you to be a leader of faith amongst 659 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:44,440 your family and amongst your community. 660 00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:48,520 And again, research backs this is true. 661 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:51,199 We've been talking about this a lot recently, how research and 662 00:34:51,199 --> 00:34:53,760 science, it just eventually catches up to what the Bible has 663 00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:55,679 already been telling us for thousands of years. 664 00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:59,800 This is one of those cases where when God calls men to lead their 665 00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:03,320 households in faith, he does so for a reason, because that's how 666 00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:05,920 we're designed. And when we fail to do it, we 667 00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:10,680 see in real statistical analysis how that impacts the family in 668 00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:14,680 such a negative way. Powerful stuff in my opinion. 669 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:17,360 That is, but that's you drew that out yesterday of the of the 670 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:21,760 call to men and how it was it was them who led. 671 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:25,520 It was God who called them to lead and to fight right. 672 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:28,920 So and I loved how you drew out at the end of the sermon 673 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:31,600 yesterday, the parallels between between Jesus and Christ, the 674 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:34,400 top of the hill and the and the arms, the arms raised, the arms 675 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:37,680 spread wide. That posture of, of prayer. 676 00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:40,640 I I think is very powerful as well. 677 00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:43,880 Did you I can't remember. I wasn't in the room the whole 678 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:47,120 time. Did you talk about who her was? 679 00:35:47,240 --> 00:35:48,720 Oh. Yeah, OK. 680 00:35:48,720 --> 00:35:50,600 So I did not get into the details of her. 681 00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:54,880 Now scholars are not in total agreement on this but her some 682 00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:59,120 people think HUR by the way, not HERHUR her because. 683 00:35:59,240 --> 00:36:02,800 We have vows in Hebrew. Yes, thank. 684 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:04,800 You. I'm sorry. 685 00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:08,440 For that. OK, OK, no her. 686 00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:12,920 Some scholars believe that that is Moses's brother-in-law 687 00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:16,120 married to Miriam, who if you remember just a couple weeks 688 00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:18,640 ago, Miriam was the one who grabbed, you know, the 689 00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:22,760 instruments and started leading in the chorus of the song that 690 00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:25,520 we heard in the Prophetess 15 Yeah, she's the prophetess. 691 00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:29,000 She's a big deal. She's a leader in that community 692 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:33,280 and some scholars believe that her is married to Moses's 693 00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:35,760 sister. So it's not universally agreed 694 00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:37,720 upon. But it would make sense because 695 00:36:37,720 --> 00:36:40,600 you've got Aaron on one side who is his, you know, flesh and 696 00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:45,760 blood brother and a Co leader in the movement of God's people. 697 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:48,600 And then you've got potentially his brother-in-law who's another 698 00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:52,080 Co leader in that movement along with his wife and probably some 699 00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:53,680 others that are maybe not mentioned. 700 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:56,760 Yeah, and that would be a further conversation of who? 701 00:36:56,760 --> 00:36:59,080 It doesn't have to literally be your brother and brother-in-law, 702 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:02,640 but it makes sense that those relationships were closest to 703 00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:05,720 Moses, those in his situation, those are the ones who were 704 00:37:05,720 --> 00:37:08,120 closest to him. So reflect on that. 705 00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:11,840 And, and who are, who are your hand raisers in your life, 706 00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:14,560 right. And you, you said it at the end, 707 00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:20,200 we are the some of those closest to us. 708 00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:22,720 And, and do you have, do you have brothers that go into 709 00:37:22,720 --> 00:37:24,640 battle with you? Do you have brothers that can 710 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:26,480 hold you accountable? Do you have brothers that can 711 00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:31,280 encourage you? I can't, we can't craft those 712 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:35,360 relationships necessarily and just say, hey, like go meet this 713 00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:36,680 guy. You should be best friends now. 714 00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:38,880 Like we can't, we can't exactly facilitate that. 715 00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:42,800 But that's ultimately the goal of this faith community, right? 716 00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:45,640 We have, we have layers to this. We have we have the big church, 717 00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:48,160 the whole body Sunday morning, everybody coming trying to 718 00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:52,480 encourage interaction in in small groups, in Bible studies, 719 00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:55,600 life groups, right. And and hopefully out of that, 720 00:37:55,600 --> 00:37:57,680 out of we can, we can kind of facilitate those two things. 721 00:37:57,680 --> 00:37:59,640 We have we have the big tent we got we got the big church, the 722 00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:03,120 big gathering on Sunday. We can also train and equip and 723 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:07,920 and bring up raise up leaders to lead smaller churches by Bible 724 00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:10,720 studies, small groups in in houses and things like that. 725 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:15,280 We can't exactly like and and and even that we canmore 726 00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:19,120 facilitate. We can't intentionally craft and 727 00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:22,440 live out the relationships that are in those Bible studies. 728 00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:25,600 Even more so though. Like we're just we're trying to 729 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:30,960 create context and community for you to come together with like 730 00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:34,840 minded hand raisers, right? Well, and you know, one of the 731 00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:37,480 things that we see in the early church, we had just gone through 732 00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:40,560 the book of Acts not so long ago, but one of the things that 733 00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:43,240 we see in the early church is the church is not what you would 734 00:38:43,240 --> 00:38:47,000 necessarily consider what we see today, the Sunday gathering of 735 00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:50,200 of God's people. What we're seeing is the the 1st 736 00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:52,600 and earliest church is house church. 737 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:56,600 It's a smaller group of people who all believe that Jesus 738 00:38:56,600 --> 00:38:58,720 Christ is Lord and King has died for their sins. 739 00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:03,200 And so that's how we see the church grow from its infancy is 740 00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:06,440 in house churches because again, too many times we hear the word 741 00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:10,880 church and we think building no, we have to exit that entire idea 742 00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:13,960 out of our brains and say, no, the church is the church is 743 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:18,200 God's people in movement. And so the church moves and the 744 00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:23,240 church exists in smaller spaces in such a way that more people 745 00:39:23,240 --> 00:39:26,040 can come to meet Jesus Christ and people can form those deeper 746 00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:28,120 accountability relationships with each other. 747 00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:30,600 And they're so, so, so important. 748 00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:36,680 If if ERC has any chance of continuing to reach people with 749 00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:40,280 the gospel and and grow deeper in that, in that faith 750 00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:43,760 relationship, praying with one another, how are we seeing God's 751 00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:47,440 God moving in your life kind of things That's probably not going 752 00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:49,240 to happen on Sunday morning so much. 753 00:39:49,240 --> 00:39:51,480 It's probably going to happen in people's homes. 754 00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:55,280 And so if we're not doing that well, if we're not creating a 755 00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:58,920 system for doing that and building up leaders in their 756 00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:02,120 homes to do that really well. We're probably going to hit our 757 00:40:02,120 --> 00:40:03,680 heads on the ceiling at some point. 758 00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:06,960 And so just from, you know, as I'm speaking to whoever is 759 00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:11,000 listening right now, if, if you feel like God is calling you 760 00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:15,480 into hospitality, if God is calling you to lead a life group 761 00:40:15,480 --> 00:40:19,280 at some point, please don't Shuck that call on your life 762 00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:23,760 because that is going to be the key thing moving forward for us 763 00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:26,200 to continue to grow in community and grow in faith. 764 00:40:28,720 --> 00:40:31,480 That's good, man, It's good. It's important. 765 00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:36,200 You also brought out the importance of of prayer on the 766 00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:38,520 battlefield in our in our daily lives. 767 00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:41,960 A couple thoughts from David Guzik and the enduring word 768 00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:47,320 commentary here, as verses 12 and 13 tell us that Joshua 769 00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:51,320 defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword, so 770 00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:53,600 of course there were practical instruments involved in the 771 00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:56,240 battle here too. But from David Guzik, this 772 00:40:56,240 --> 00:40:59,440 amazing passage shows us the great importance of prayer, life 773 00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:01,720 and death. The course of history itself 774 00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:05,480 depended upon prayer. We can conclude that many times 775 00:41:05,480 --> 00:41:08,400 the people of God are defeated today because they will not pray 776 00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:11,880 or prayer does not support their work. 777 00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:18,520 Every little thing, even the things you feel like you have 778 00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:23,640 figured out, you have under control going smoothly, going 779 00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:29,920 well bathed in prayer. Ask Ascot can continue this. 780 00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:32,240 This feels like the right thing that we're on to here. 781 00:41:32,240 --> 00:41:36,760 God the the household is in order the the kids or the OR the 782 00:41:36,760 --> 00:41:39,640 family or the the jobs going well, whatever it is. 783 00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:42,600 Of course we we run to prayer when those things are falling 784 00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:46,920 apart and we probably run to prayer too late when those 785 00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:49,360 things are falling apart. We have we been praying about 786 00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:54,200 them along the way, but in the good things that you talked 787 00:41:54,200 --> 00:41:58,040 about gratitude yesterday that do do we have God. 788 00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:01,440 This is it feels like I got this life thing figured out. 789 00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:04,800 Thank you. Keep me sustained in this keep 790 00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:08,760 keep me on track for the things that matter, the things of you, 791 00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:12,040 the things I should be investing important time and attention in 792 00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:15,680 prayer. Yeah. 793 00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:21,520 It is that powerful because it's we're it's a release of control, 794 00:42:21,520 --> 00:42:24,560 right? We're we're admitting our lack 795 00:42:24,600 --> 00:42:27,760 of control and power in the situation in the situation and 796 00:42:27,760 --> 00:42:30,280 submitting to God's ultimate sovereignty in it. 797 00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:31,880 Right. You know, one of the things I 798 00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:35,320 find interesting about prayer, and I've lived this out at 799 00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:38,720 various stages of my life, sometimes we can treat prayer, 800 00:42:38,720 --> 00:42:41,360 or I would say lack of. We can kind of treat it this 801 00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:43,600 way. So let's say you have a friend 802 00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:47,520 who, you know, you, you were maybe really good friends at one 803 00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:50,680 point, right? But then because maybe people 804 00:42:50,680 --> 00:42:54,160 move or life gets busy or whatever, you haven't talked to 805 00:42:54,440 --> 00:42:56,320 them in a while, you haven't checked in in a while. 806 00:42:56,320 --> 00:43:00,560 And all of a sudden it feels awkward to text or to call them. 807 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:04,560 I've, I've had, I have friends like that and a couple people 808 00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:06,760 are coming to mind right now. They need to get a text right 809 00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:09,080 after this. But you know what? 810 00:43:09,080 --> 00:43:12,920 But sometimes, like if we haven't prayed in a while, then 811 00:43:12,920 --> 00:43:15,640 we feel really awkward about going back to God because we're 812 00:43:15,640 --> 00:43:18,240 like, we've got our heads down and all this kind of stuff. 813 00:43:18,240 --> 00:43:19,560 It's almost like the prodigal son. 814 00:43:19,560 --> 00:43:20,920 He's going to come home with his head down. 815 00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:23,480 He's got this big sob story about, I'm really sorry, here's 816 00:43:23,480 --> 00:43:26,560 why, blah, blah. And but we what we need to see 817 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:31,520 is that if we've been LAX in our prayer life, God just wants to 818 00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:34,800 hear from us. He's not angry, He's not mad, 819 00:43:34,800 --> 00:43:36,960 He's not disappointed. He just wants to hear from his 820 00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:39,520 kids. So for example, if I didn't hear 821 00:43:39,520 --> 00:43:43,400 from one of my two children for six months, I would be really 822 00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:44,640 sad. I would, I would feel 823 00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:47,520 disconnected. That would be my heart would be 824 00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:50,640 broken. But the second, the second they 825 00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:53,320 contacted me, all of that would go away. 826 00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:56,080 I, I forget the last six months, I don't care. 827 00:43:56,080 --> 00:43:59,400 I'm just so happy you're here. I'm so happy we're talking. 828 00:43:59,720 --> 00:44:04,240 I just want to hear from you. And God's posture as a loving 829 00:44:04,240 --> 00:44:07,560 father is not different. He just wants to hear from his 830 00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:11,760 kids. That's so good man, you're still 831 00:44:11,760 --> 00:44:14,760 preaching. He could have gone 40 minutes 832 00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:18,160 yesterday. But that's what the pods for, 833 00:44:18,160 --> 00:44:18,800 too. Yeah. 834 00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:22,800 And that's that posture of our Heavenly Father, too. 835 00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:25,600 Yeah. Just wants to hear from his kids 836 00:44:25,760 --> 00:44:27,840 man. It's so important. 837 00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:31,560 That preaches. You heard it right here to tag 838 00:44:31,560 --> 00:44:34,680 to tag on to that. I love this thought from Charles 839 00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:41,280 Spurgeon too, of I think I think prayer is powerful enough to to 840 00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:43,520 move mountains and and to do the things. 841 00:44:43,520 --> 00:44:47,280 But also we see it. We see it drawn out in this as 842 00:44:47,280 --> 00:44:49,800 much as Moses was praying, as much as that was affecting the 843 00:44:49,800 --> 00:44:52,800 battle, Charles Spurgeon points out. 844 00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:55,640 Nevertheless, Joshua had to fight. 845 00:44:56,840 --> 00:45:01,280 Praying Moses did not eliminate what Joshua had to do. 846 00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:03,800 The battle was won with prayer, but also through normal 847 00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:06,440 instruments, the work of the army led by Joshua. 848 00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:10,160 Prayer is a downright mockery if it does not lead us into the 849 00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:15,600 practical use of means likely to promote the ends for which we 850 00:45:15,600 --> 00:45:18,320 pray. It's that it's that it's that 851 00:45:18,320 --> 00:45:20,920 Holy Spirit magic I feel like we've talked about in the past, 852 00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:23,800 right? It's this isn't a prey and 853 00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:26,600 sprinkle the fairy dust on a situation sort of thing and 854 00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:31,120 watch the spirit work that we're we're still called to do right 855 00:45:31,120 --> 00:45:32,280 there. There's still action. 856 00:45:32,280 --> 00:45:37,040 Yes, some situations are wildly entirely out of our out of our 857 00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:39,520 control. Yes, we cannot. 858 00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:42,920 I think of medical situations and health situations, 859 00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:45,480 especially like bathe those situations in prayer. 860 00:45:45,480 --> 00:45:46,920 Absolutely. There's there's maybe not 861 00:45:47,200 --> 00:45:50,280 something for us to practically do other than maybe being 862 00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:54,080 present and and bathing that situation in prayer and and and 863 00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:56,840 doing that. But other things like, oh man, 864 00:45:57,240 --> 00:46:00,920 God, I just, I feel like I'm not, I'm not in the place of, of 865 00:46:00,920 --> 00:46:04,320 my job. I got, I got like 4 calls for 866 00:46:04,320 --> 00:46:07,360 interviews this week, but like haven't, haven't gotten the sign 867 00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:09,480 from you yet of I just, I don't know what to do. 868 00:46:10,040 --> 00:46:13,640 No, the do was was you're frustrated, your job take one of 869 00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:15,040 those interviews. Like we still got to, we still 870 00:46:15,040 --> 00:46:18,160 got to do it right. Yeah, there's a, there's a funny 871 00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:21,600 illustration that I heard years ago that I think correlates 872 00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:24,120 nicely with what you're talking about, which it kind of goes 873 00:46:24,120 --> 00:46:26,120 like this. So there's this tremendous flood 874 00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:30,600 and somebody is on the roof of their house and a boat floats by 875 00:46:30,600 --> 00:46:33,840 and they're like, hey, and and this person has been on the roof 876 00:46:33,840 --> 00:46:36,960 of their house praying for God to do a miracle so that they 877 00:46:36,960 --> 00:46:38,760 don't die on the roof of the house. 878 00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:42,440 So a boat floats by and the guy's like, Nope, Nope, I'm 879 00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:43,640 good. God's going to do something 880 00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:46,440 great here. And then a helicopter comes 881 00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:47,920 down. They're like, Hey man, like 882 00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:50,520 climb the ladder, like we're going to save you. 883 00:46:50,520 --> 00:46:52,320 And he's like, Nope, God's going to do something great. 884 00:46:52,320 --> 00:46:56,280 And the man ends up dying. He, he floods out and it's like, 885 00:46:56,360 --> 00:47:00,280 no, God works through these seemingly quote UN quote normal 886 00:47:00,280 --> 00:47:03,440 means of human activity to answer our prayers. 887 00:47:03,720 --> 00:47:06,840 And so like, let's participate, let's get involved. 888 00:47:06,840 --> 00:47:10,440 Let's jump in the boat when God provides the boat, right? 889 00:47:10,840 --> 00:47:12,720 So I, I think that's one of those things. 890 00:47:12,720 --> 00:47:14,600 But that's what you were talking about yesterday about the, about 891 00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:17,640 the being present in, in the, in the moment things too, like, 892 00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:21,400 yes, of course, the, the home moments with people that are 893 00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:27,160 close to us, but like eyes open, ears open, aware of of these, 894 00:47:28,160 --> 00:47:32,680 yes, quote UN quote, normal practical situations that are in 895 00:47:32,680 --> 00:47:35,960 fact God's provision. God, God, we've it's again. 896 00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:38,360 I, I said it last week and I didn't want to, I didn't want to 897 00:47:38,360 --> 00:47:41,560 poo poo like the miraculous nature of our God, because he of 898 00:47:41,560 --> 00:47:44,240 course he acts in that way, but I think he acts in very just 899 00:47:44,480 --> 00:47:46,960 normal. Every we, we romanticize or or 900 00:47:47,240 --> 00:47:50,240 Hollywood defy these, these things where it's going to be 901 00:47:50,240 --> 00:47:52,560 like this amazing wall. Didn't even see that coming. 902 00:47:52,880 --> 00:47:54,840 No, I think a lot of the time it's things we could have seen 903 00:47:54,840 --> 00:47:59,520 coming and just didn't step out in faith or even just regular 904 00:47:59,520 --> 00:48:00,600 reason. Didn't step into the boat, 905 00:48:00,720 --> 00:48:04,880 didn't climb the ladder like we could have, and we just didn't 906 00:48:04,880 --> 00:48:06,800 care to be present for God's provision. 907 00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:08,960 Oh my gosh, it's, it's kind of ridiculous. 908 00:48:08,960 --> 00:48:12,600 But you know, the participation in what God is doing both in 909 00:48:12,600 --> 00:48:16,920 prayer and physically speaking, that combo package is the entire 910 00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:21,120 book of James, right? So, you know, James, James does 911 00:48:21,120 --> 00:48:23,280 a great job, I think, of pulling out. 912 00:48:23,280 --> 00:48:26,280 And again, we're talking about Jesus's half brother, right? 913 00:48:26,280 --> 00:48:31,480 So James just pulls out like the nature and the importance of us 914 00:48:31,480 --> 00:48:35,080 participating in God's mission in very real ways. 915 00:48:36,840 --> 00:48:38,560 That's so good, this final thing. 916 00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:42,800 I don't think you drew this out too much. 917 00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:44,280 The the Lord is my banner. I. 918 00:48:44,320 --> 00:48:46,480 Didn't get to it at all. That could have also been a 919 00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:49,040 great closing. Well, I mean, it was, there's a 920 00:48:49,040 --> 00:48:51,280 lot you could, you could have a lot of different ways you could 921 00:48:51,280 --> 00:48:57,040 have gone with this, but this, this kind of promise that there 922 00:48:57,040 --> 00:49:02,520 will be ongoing battle, but that the Lord is the one who fights 923 00:49:02,520 --> 00:49:04,040 for me. Like that's what's contained in 924 00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:05,840 the closing verses of this chapter, right? 925 00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:07,520 Moses knew his prayer was important. 926 00:49:07,520 --> 00:49:11,560 He wasn't foolish enough to think that he himself won the 927 00:49:11,560 --> 00:49:14,160 battle. Of course it was God's working 928 00:49:14,320 --> 00:49:16,960 and also within it like this is a battle. 929 00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:21,200 This wasn't the war, right? It wasn't death wasn't done and 930 00:49:21,200 --> 00:49:25,120 defeated in in and and in that way. 931 00:49:25,120 --> 00:49:28,960 There's another Jesus parallel there too, that Jesus did 932 00:49:29,600 --> 00:49:31,800 ultimately finish the war against sin and death. 933 00:49:31,800 --> 00:49:35,000 Yes, we are in the already, not yet still afflicted in a world 934 00:49:35,440 --> 00:49:39,800 of sin, but Jesus was the ultimate victor, right? 935 00:49:39,960 --> 00:49:42,040 Absolutely. And The thing is, I, I brought 936 00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:45,400 it out just a little bit yesterday, which is Amalek is 937 00:49:45,440 --> 00:49:48,880 really a metaphor for kind of fleshly sin desires because of 938 00:49:48,880 --> 00:49:53,560 who Esau was and he really lived by his the wants and the desires 939 00:49:53,560 --> 00:49:56,160 of his flesh. Again, read Genesis 25 through 940 00:49:56,160 --> 00:49:58,960 27. You'll catch all of that, but 941 00:49:58,960 --> 00:50:01,920 like when it says the Lord will have war with Amalek from 942 00:50:01,920 --> 00:50:06,000 generation to generation, OK, take that metaphor of the Lord's 943 00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:07,760 going to the Lord is going to have war. 944 00:50:07,760 --> 00:50:11,680 He will be at war with the desires of our flesh for every 945 00:50:11,680 --> 00:50:14,000 generation to come. And he does that through the 946 00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:18,720 power of the Holy Spirit. So when we resist the temptation 947 00:50:18,720 --> 00:50:21,440 of sin inside of our flesh, whether that's pride, whether 948 00:50:21,440 --> 00:50:23,640 that's something deeply physical, whatever that looks 949 00:50:23,640 --> 00:50:28,080 like, that is the Holy Spirit of God going to war against Amalek, 950 00:50:28,320 --> 00:50:31,200 your flesh and your sin, it's true. 951 00:50:31,320 --> 00:50:34,680 So. Yeah, one last thought from 952 00:50:35,080 --> 00:50:38,360 David Guzik on the end here, and I think this answers sometimes 953 00:50:38,360 --> 00:50:40,560 the question of it can be out there of why? 954 00:50:40,600 --> 00:50:42,240 Why does God include? Does God need us? 955 00:50:42,240 --> 00:50:44,760 Why does God include us in his work when it's really Him? 956 00:50:45,040 --> 00:50:46,320 I've heard people ask that before. 957 00:50:46,680 --> 00:50:49,120 Yeah, when it when it's him doing the work. 958 00:50:49,120 --> 00:50:51,960 Why would he include imperfect people in that? 959 00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:54,880 Just a thought from commentator David Guzik here in the Enduring 960 00:50:54,880 --> 00:50:57,880 Word commentary. We sometimes are even more aware 961 00:50:57,880 --> 00:51:01,440 of the power and help of God when we work together with him 962 00:51:01,920 --> 00:51:04,800 than when we are when God does all the work by Himself. 963 00:51:05,680 --> 00:51:10,160 God Yahweh came after the battle with Amalek, not after the dead 964 00:51:10,160 --> 00:51:15,240 Egyptians at the Red Sea. He was He was still. 965 00:51:15,240 --> 00:51:21,440 He did provide a way in the Red Sea and was also not now He's 966 00:51:22,040 --> 00:51:22,760 he. He saw it. 967 00:51:22,760 --> 00:51:24,560 They witnessed it, right? They saw the faithfulness. 968 00:51:24,560 --> 00:51:27,120 They saw his power. Now he's inviting them in to 969 00:51:27,120 --> 00:51:30,400 experience it right? OK, we we power of prayer, the 970 00:51:30,400 --> 00:51:33,640 supernatural spirit working and and victor. 971 00:51:33,640 --> 00:51:36,520 But now, now you're in it. Now you're a part of it, right? 972 00:51:37,240 --> 00:51:38,560 It's super fun. I have to. 973 00:51:38,600 --> 00:51:40,960 I don't think you're probably in here for maybe this part of the 974 00:51:40,960 --> 00:51:43,160 sermon. I wonder when we're talking 975 00:51:43,160 --> 00:51:45,440 about participation. I gave this off the cuff 976 00:51:45,560 --> 00:51:47,680 illustration about, you know, parents. 977 00:51:47,680 --> 00:51:50,360 It's actually more loving to let your kids do the dishes with 978 00:51:50,440 --> 00:51:52,160 you. They're not going to be. 979 00:51:52,160 --> 00:51:55,320 But I mean, like, practically speaking, I wonder how many kids 980 00:51:55,360 --> 00:51:57,880 went home and got to help with the dishes yesterday. 981 00:51:57,920 --> 00:52:00,760 I hope a lot. I hope a lot because, yeah, just 982 00:52:00,760 --> 00:52:03,120 like a good parent does. God wants us so much to 983 00:52:03,120 --> 00:52:05,920 participate because he loves us and he wants to grow us. 984 00:52:06,320 --> 00:52:10,080 Yeah, delivered from it and then and then now included in the. 985 00:52:10,120 --> 00:52:11,280 Work. And I don't think I said this, 986 00:52:11,280 --> 00:52:14,120 but you've said it in recent weeks, like, you know, if God 987 00:52:14,120 --> 00:52:17,640 has put you in the lifeboat, hey, man, it's time to start 988 00:52:17,640 --> 00:52:19,840 helping some others who are drowning get pulled out of the 989 00:52:19,840 --> 00:52:22,400 water. And I, I love that. 990 00:52:22,400 --> 00:52:25,360 I love how you phrase that. I just think it's, it's gold. 991 00:52:25,760 --> 00:52:28,840 And so, yeah, God wants us to be in the lifeboat, but not just 992 00:52:28,840 --> 00:52:31,520 hanging out in the lifeboat. Like, oh, sweet, I'm safe now. 993 00:52:31,800 --> 00:52:34,160 No man, get on the edge of that boat and start pulling some 994 00:52:34,160 --> 00:52:36,000 people out of the. Water, If you've been rescued, 995 00:52:36,120 --> 00:52:38,440 you're on the rescue team now. That's right, yeah. 996 00:52:38,680 --> 00:52:40,680 That's right. I love that so much. 997 00:52:40,880 --> 00:52:43,480 Yeah, it's great. Cool. 998 00:52:43,680 --> 00:52:45,360 All right, we are. We are rolling along. 999 00:52:45,360 --> 00:52:46,800 We're about halfway through Exodus. 1000 00:52:46,800 --> 00:52:48,840 We got a few more weeks getting through this. 1001 00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:52,240 Christmas is coming. Christmas reminder, we've got 1002 00:52:52,800 --> 00:52:54,880 Ask Me Anything episode in a couple weeks. 1003 00:52:54,880 --> 00:52:57,120 You can use any of the electronic forms of 1004 00:52:57,120 --> 00:52:58,800 communication. Comment on the show here, 1005 00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:00,480 Facebook, text, the church thread. 1006 00:53:00,920 --> 00:53:03,400 There's also a physical jar at the connection center if you 1007 00:53:03,400 --> 00:53:05,560 want to write a question and and drop it in there. 1008 00:53:05,960 --> 00:53:08,840 We'll have an Ask Me Anything episode on November 2nd. 1009 00:53:08,960 --> 00:53:11,640 So get us those questions soon and if not, we'll keep them in 1010 00:53:11,640 --> 00:53:15,960 the hopper to kind of jump into each episode or store up for 1011 00:53:15,960 --> 00:53:18,000 some Christmas Ask Me Anything episodes as well. 1012 00:53:18,320 --> 00:53:21,080 So this is fun. Thank you, church. 1013 00:53:21,080 --> 00:53:25,120 We value you and your community. We love our church, we love our 1014 00:53:25,120 --> 00:53:27,200 people and we're going to continue reaching the one more. 1015 00:53:27,960 --> 00:53:28,560 Have a great week.