WEBVTT

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Good morning, everybody. My name is Gregg Hampton.

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I'm one of the pastors here at the house. If

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we've never met, I would love to meet you. We

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could get a coffee. I enjoy coffee, but if you

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don't like coffee, we could get a soda or water

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or whatever works for you. But I would love to

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hang out with you and get to know you and just

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hear your story, maybe even talk about Jesus.

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We are in our third week of a series that we're

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calling The Wilderness. Week one, we looked at

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the story of Hagar. She said that I have met

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The God who sees me. We were reminded that we

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are not invisible. God has not lost track of

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us. Last week we looked at the story of Moses

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in the burning bush. And remember that God invites

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us to be part of the solution. We're also reminded

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that we're never meant to lose our spiritual

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curiosity. There was something in a spiritual

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curiosity that caused Moses to go and look at

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what was happening. And we are meant to keep

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our eyes open in the same way because we never

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know when we're going to see a burning bush and

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have to decide whether we're going to ignore

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it or whether we're going to go see what God

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is doing. Today, we're going to jump forward

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a bit. in the scriptures to when the israelites

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were wandering in the wilderness so let's go

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ahead and jump in if you have a bible let's open

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it up to the book of numbers if you don't have

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a bible there's blue bibles on the tables you

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can open up uh one of those you can take one

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of those home if you really need one download

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the bible from uh bible app It goes Genesis,

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Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Numbers

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is the fourth book of the Bible or the fourth

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book of what's called the Torah or the Pentateuch.

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And this might be the first sermon we've ever

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done straight out of Numbers. I'm going to get

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a shirt that says straight out of Numbers. All

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right. And we have a tradition that during the

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sermon, when the scriptures are read in the context

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of the sermon, that we give it our full attention.

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You can do that any way that you see fit. But

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if you would like to or able to stand with me,

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you are welcome to do that as well as I read.

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Numbers 9, starting with verse 15. Numbers 9,

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verse 15. On the day the tabernacle was set up,

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the cloud covered the tabernacle. The tent of

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the covenant. And from evening until morning

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it was over the tabernacle, having the appearance

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of fire. It was always so. The cloud covered

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it by day and the appearance of fire by night.

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Whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent,

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then the Israelites would set out. And in the

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place where the cloud settled down, there the

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Israelites would camp. Verse 18, at the command

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of the Lord, the Israelites would set out. And

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at the command of the Lord, they would camp.

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As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle,

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they would remain in camp. Let us pray. God of

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every tribe, every tongue, every color, every

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nation, we thank you for the scriptures, that

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they have persisted throughout the millennia,

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that we still have them to consider, to learn

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from, and whatever you have for us today, I pray

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that it would stick, that it would become a part

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of the framework of our faith. That our faith

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would become stronger as we become more like

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your son, Jesus. Amen. Thanks, y 'all. You can

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have a seat. Okay, so the Israelites are in the

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wilderness, but why are they in the wilderness?

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I'm going to go... All the way back 400 years

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earlier, Jacob was the grandson of Father Abraham,

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and Jacob had many sons. That old song, Father

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Abraham had many sons. That's actually wrong.

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Abraham did not have many sons. It was Jacob

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that had the many sons, but Abraham is the patriarch

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of the Israelite people, and so it's credited

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to him. Jacob had 12 sons that were the beginning

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of the 12. But it says that Jacob actually favored

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one of his sons. Anybody know which son that

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was? Joseph. He favored Joseph above all the

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others. And so the older brothers actually became

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very jealous of Joseph. Have you ever heard of

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Joseph in the amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat?

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That is a reference to this story. Because his

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father gave him a very special robe that... made

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him distinct and stand out. So everyone else

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was jealous of him. And so what happened is they

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pretend that Joseph died. They tell their father,

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Jacob, that his favorite son had been killed

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by an animal. But what had actually happened

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is they had thrown him into a pit and then they

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sold him into slavery. Long story short, Joseph

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ends up in Egypt and God elevates him to second

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in command in Egypt next to the Pharaoh. And

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he's reunited with his family, bringing them

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to Egypt, saving them from famine. And they stayed

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there for the next 400 years. By the time we

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get to Moses, the scripture says that there was

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a Pharaoh that did not remember Joseph, that

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did not remember what Joseph had done for Egypt.

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And he grows intimidated and afraid. And so he

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becomes abusive and oppressive to the Israelite

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people in the Egyptian lands. Last week, we talked

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about how God called Moses to go back to Egypt

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and lead the people out. Spoiler alert, they

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got out. And now the Israelites are in the wilderness

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because that is exactly where God wants them

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to be. They're in the wilderness because it's

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exactly where God wants them to be. Not forever,

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but for now. When we feel like we are in a wilderness

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of our own, it's not always a comfortable thing

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to think that it is exactly where God wants us.

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Not because he wants us to suffer or feel spiritually

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dry or lonely. That's not at all why he had the

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Israelites in the wilderness. It was so that

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they would learn how to follow. It was so that

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they would find who they really are. For hundreds

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of years, the Israelites were enslaved in a polytheistic

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culture. Remember, last week we mentioned this

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polytheistic or polytheism. It just means that

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there are multiple gods that get worshipped.

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But the Israelites, their roots were in what's

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called monotheism, the worship of one God, that

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there is only one God. And over the centuries,

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they had had their culture stripped away, their

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identity diluted by the prevalence and power

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of their surroundings. Their worship of the one

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God of their ancestors had been displaced. If

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you actually go back and look at what God tells

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Moses to do, he said, I want you to lead my people

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out that they might worship me at this mountain.

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When Moses goes, that's what he says. We want

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you to let us go just so that we can go out and

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worship. He's calling them back to the worship

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of the one true God of their ancestors. Their

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worship had been displaced. Their worship, their

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identity, their culture had been diluted and

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erased. If you don't know what I mean by that,

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we... did the same thing here in this country

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to the people that we kidnapped and enslaved

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from other countries. We brought them here. We

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stripped them of their original culture. We told

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them to assimilate. And to this day, even though

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they are free, there is still a journey of discovery,

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finding what it looks like to be fully themselves

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in a land that stripped their ancestors of everything.

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More generally speaking. There is an ongoing,

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centuries -long desaturation of honest -to -goodness

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Christianity in America. We underestimate to

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what extent our surroundings and prevailing culture

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can dilute and strip away what God is really

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calling us to be. Who we really are. Just think

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for a second. About any number of things that

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are happening in America right now in the name

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of being a good Christian. And ask yourself,

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does that look like America or does that look

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like Jesus? So much of Christianity has been

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wrapped with an American flag instead of the

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body and blood of Jesus Christ. but if history

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teaches us anything, it's that empires can only

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stand for so long before God raises up a voice

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like Moses, like a Dr. King, and lifts up a people

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like the Israelites to break the chains. But

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even then, it isn't always a straight line from

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oppression to the promised land. I'll say that

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again. It is not always a straight line from

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oppression to the promised land. There is often

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a wilderness in between. And that wilderness

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is almost always the place that we are meant

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to meet God so that we can learn how to follow,

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how to reject our cultural conditioning, to find

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who we are really meant to be. And so in the

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wilderness, God had the Israelites all alone.

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All to himself for 40 years outside of the polytheistic

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environment that they had been in for hundreds

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of years. The place where the culture of Egypt

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could now fade away into the sand, under the

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dirt. Now that doesn't mean that there weren't

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bumps in the road for them in the wilderness.

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If you've ever heard of the Ten Commandments,

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maybe you have. You might be familiar with the

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idea that while Moses was meeting with God, getting

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the Ten Commandments, that the people of God

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were down in the valley fashioning a golden calf.

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That they might worship and say that this is

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the God that has done all of the good things

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for us. Because their Egyptian conditioning was

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not completely gone yet. It's no coincidence

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that the first commandment is, I am the Lord

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your God. You will have no other gods before

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me. It's after this that God gives them something

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new. At first, the idea was that they would see

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the pillar of cloud and the appearance of fire

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at night, and that that would be enough to believe

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that God was there. They'd already seen all the

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miracles in Egypt, the parting of the sea. What

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more? Could they ask for? But there's something

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about us humans. We like something tangible.

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Something that we can touch. It's part of the

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reason that they fashioned a golden calf. It's

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because they could touch it. It looked like something

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they could identify. But God doesn't give them

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an idol. He gives them a place to worship him.

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It gives them a tabernacle, a place to worship,

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a place to be reminded that there is only one

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God. And the presence of that God will rest on

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that place. And you will know that this is our

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place, my place, because my presence will be

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there. And every day or week or month when God

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would move, they would pack up that tabernacle,

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follow the pillar of cloud, and it rest whenever

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it. would rest. All they had to do was follow

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this one God. Why does it seem like it's so much

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easier to follow a hundred gods than just one?

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The God of money, the God of work, the God of

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popularity, the God of intelligence, the God

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of... Why does it seem so... We become so fractured,

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and it seems like, why is it easier to follow

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100 ideas instead of one? All they had to do

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was follow, but also, all they had to do was

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stay when God stayed. I wonder if we actually

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undervalue just how much of finding ourselves

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is found in learning how to stay where Jesus

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stays. and only going when Jesus goes. And I

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wonder if it, at least for the Israelites in

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this story, that maybe the staying was the harder

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part of the following. If you open Numbers back

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up to that same chapter, verse 17 that we read,

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it says they would stay when it was time to stay.

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Verse 18, it says they would stay when it was

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time to stay. And then in the next five verses

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that we did not read, in all five of them, it

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says it again in different ways. Verse 19, and

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they would not set out. Verse 20, they would

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remain in camp. 21, only when the cloud lifted

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would they set out. 22, the Israelites would

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remain in camp and would not set out. Verse 23,

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in the command of the Lord, at the command of

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the Lord is when they would set out. Every single

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verse reiterates that they only moved if God

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moved. They always stayed when God stayed. I

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feel like we should stop here for a second and

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every single one of us just listen to the Lord.

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Just for a second. Stop listening to me and just

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listen to the Lord. Ask if... Our heart needs

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convincing that even if we are in a wilderness,

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that we do not need to get moving. Even if we

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feel that we are experiencing wilderness, that

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maybe we don't need to be in a hurry. We don't

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need to get our feet moving. We don't need to

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pack up the tent yet. Because part of learning

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to follow is knowing how to stay. Part of learning

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to follow. He's learning how to stay. God will

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always lead you into the promise in his right

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time. And if we are in a hurry, we might forget

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that promises aren't always entered without a

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fight. For the Israelites, the other side of

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the wilderness was not just a promised land,

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but it was what? It was war. It was battles.

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It was fights. The Israelites didn't enter their

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promise peacefully. Some of us might be in too

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big of a hurry to get out of the wilderness because

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we don't realize there might be a battle coming

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that we're not actually ready for. And God is

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using this time to teach us who we are, to teach

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us how to follow. To show us how to only go when

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God goes. And to stay when God stays. So that

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when we meet adversity, not the passive adversity

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of a wilderness, of course the question of, oh,

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where's food going to come this morning? Oh,

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well, maybe God will just drop it on the ground

00:17:03.179 --> 00:17:06.960
just like he did yesterday. Not just the passive

00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:10.119
adversity, but the active adversity of a battle

00:17:10.119 --> 00:17:13.740
that stands between us and God's promise. We

00:17:13.740 --> 00:17:17.369
will need to know. Who God says that we are in

00:17:17.369 --> 00:17:22.410
those moments. My kids, when they're having challenges

00:17:22.410 --> 00:17:23.970
at school, one of the things that we tell them,

00:17:24.069 --> 00:17:25.809
one of the most important things you need to

00:17:25.809 --> 00:17:29.589
know is who God says you are. Because that will

00:17:29.589 --> 00:17:33.750
shape everything else that you do. We will need

00:17:33.750 --> 00:17:35.730
to know who God says that we are. We will need

00:17:35.730 --> 00:17:42.349
to trust that God is who God says he is. And

00:17:42.349 --> 00:17:46.279
we will need to follow God's lead. implicitly.

00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:51.619
Without time in the wilderness, we could reach

00:17:51.619 --> 00:17:53.940
that day and think that we can do all of it on

00:17:53.940 --> 00:18:00.599
our own. But if there are battles worth fighting

00:18:00.599 --> 00:18:05.180
for your future, a battle of faith, a battle

00:18:05.180 --> 00:18:07.960
of meaning, a battle of belief, a battle for

00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:12.200
family, it's better that we learn now. That God

00:18:12.200 --> 00:18:14.880
is actually the one that fights not only with

00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:20.420
us, but for us. So that we don't believe that

00:18:20.420 --> 00:18:27.480
we're in this all alone. So that we don't believe

00:18:27.480 --> 00:18:32.720
that we don't need God to overcome the challenges

00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:41.200
in front of us. As I close, I hope... all three

00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:44.319
weeks really, I hope that in this series that

00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:46.839
what you're hearing is that even if you're in

00:18:46.839 --> 00:18:49.920
a wilderness, it is not forever. It's for now.

00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:54.940
But there's purpose there. A wilderness is not

00:18:54.940 --> 00:18:58.660
an accident. It is a place of shaping, a place

00:18:58.660 --> 00:19:01.319
of defining, a place of learning to follow, a

00:19:01.319 --> 00:19:03.299
place of seeing that God is the one who sees,

00:19:03.500 --> 00:19:08.319
a place of curiosity, a place of finding yourself.

00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:18.700
Because you find God. And then, the last word

00:19:18.700 --> 00:19:22.619
is this. The really great news is that we don't

00:19:22.619 --> 00:19:24.880
have to look for a pillar of cloud or a pillar

00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:29.819
of fire resting over a building like this. Some

00:19:29.819 --> 00:19:31.240
of us might think that would be really great.

00:19:32.140 --> 00:19:34.000
Oh, then I would know that I'm definitely at

00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:35.539
the right church. Or I would definitely know

00:19:35.539 --> 00:19:38.180
where God is moving. Or I would... If I could

00:19:38.180 --> 00:19:40.940
just see the pillar above the building. But what

00:19:40.940 --> 00:19:45.440
the scriptures now teach us is that we, each

00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:49.200
of us, are the temple of the living God. That

00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:52.180
each of us are traveling tabernacles with the

00:19:52.180 --> 00:19:55.279
presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.

00:19:57.380 --> 00:20:01.700
And in some ways that feels harder. Because remember

00:20:01.700 --> 00:20:06.720
us humans, we like something tangible. I think

00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:11.059
the most tangible thing that I can point you

00:20:11.059 --> 00:20:17.099
to is to just look around the room. Just notice

00:20:17.099 --> 00:20:22.059
the other people. The other people that are filled

00:20:22.059 --> 00:20:25.740
with the Holy Spirit, that are just trying to

00:20:25.740 --> 00:20:31.299
follow the Lord. And if ever you wonder... Is

00:20:31.299 --> 00:20:32.980
the Lord in this place? I'm not talking about

00:20:32.980 --> 00:20:34.759
this church. I'm talking about wherever you are,

00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:37.480
is the Lord in this place? Just reach out and

00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:50.839
grab someone from this room. And stay when God

00:20:50.839 --> 00:20:57.400
stays. And then together, go where God goes.

00:20:58.680 --> 00:21:12.809
Amen? Let's pray. Jesus, for 12 years, we've

00:21:12.809 --> 00:21:14.630
been praying that we would become more like you.

00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:35.259
Jesus, my hope, my ask is that the battles that

00:21:35.259 --> 00:21:38.859
so many in this room have been fighting, that

00:21:38.859 --> 00:21:43.819
they would see victories by your hand, that they

00:21:43.819 --> 00:21:45.619
would feel more than ever that they know who

00:21:45.619 --> 00:21:50.940
they are because they know who you are, and that

00:21:50.940 --> 00:21:56.279
this year would be the year that so many of us

00:21:56.279 --> 00:22:01.589
feel... That more than ever, that we are defined

00:22:01.589 --> 00:22:05.890
by the likeness of Jesus. That we would look

00:22:05.890 --> 00:22:12.130
like you, talk like you. That our cultural conditioning

00:22:12.130 --> 00:22:19.769
would fade. And then what we would see in ourselves

00:22:19.769 --> 00:22:28.349
and what the world would see in us is you. Amen.