Thank you for listening to this message from
Lifehouse Church. Good morning, everyone. Man,
a good hearty good morning out there. Well, we
are just so glad that you are joining us this
morning. And you already heard Charlie say that
Pastor Kip is under the weather. We appreciate
your continued prayers for him. He is down with
pneumonia. So you don't want him here. I don't
want him here. And I know you're listening online,
honey. We do want you here once you're feeling
better and you can be part of the gathering.
Yeah, see, you're loved, Kip. But I just wanted
to take a minute. Dr. Bell is going to come and
share the word this morning, but I just wanted
to share a little bit. Some of you may not know
who Dr. Bell is. And Dr. Bell, Dr. Ken Bell,
he was actually my boss for six years, but he
was the state overseer in Pennsylvania for six
years. I worked under him. This was years ago.
This was right after Lifehouse Church had started.
We had just launched. We were this baby church.
We were a year old. We were meeting in the sports
emporium at the snack bar, like the little snack
bar area is where we were. And I was just...
contemplating this this weekend after Kip had
asked him to fill in this morning, that it was
amazing to me. They came to the state, and they
came from Tennessee, which is where our denomination
is headquartered, and they attended a very large
church in Tennessee, and they came to Pennsylvania,
and they made Lifehouse their church. This little
tiny church of 25 or 30 people meeting in a skating
rink, but Dr. Bell believed in Kip. And he believed
in Lifehouse. And they became part of Lifehouse.
Now, he traveled a lot. But his wife, Trish,
and at the time, their young daughter, Megan,
was part of Lifehouse. And they supported us.
They supported us financially. They supported
us with their attendance. And we're just eternally
grateful that Dr. Bell believed in us. Because
look where Lifehouse is today. It's amazing to
me what God has done in the last 15 years here
at Lifehouse. From a little tiny skating rink
to this beautiful sanctuary that we're worshiping
now. So I just want to say thank you. He is an
author. He is a pastor. He was a state overseer.
And bless his heart, he is now retired. What
we all want to look forward to one day. But he's
got an amazing gift of sharing God's word. And
he's going to do that just today. Kip called
him on Friday and he very graciously. answered
immediately, yes, I would be happy to fill in.
So can we just give Dr. Ken Bell a welcome from
LifeHouse today? Good morning. It's wonderful
to see you. Appreciate you being in the house
of the Lord. Those of you who are online or if
you're visiting today, I am not the pastor. He's
much better than I am, much better looking, and
you need to hear him. And Pastor Kip, I'm sure
you're watching. We do miss you here and pray
for your speedy recovery. I was preaching at
a church and had come before Sunday school was
over. So I was standing in the foyer of the church
waiting for the Sunday school to end. And an
elderly lady came in the door and she said, well,
who are you, Sonny boy? And I said, I'm your
fill -in or stand -in today. She said, what do
you mean stand -in? I said, well, you know, like
if you break a pane of one of your windows, and
you get a piece of cardboard and put it in until
you get the real pane. She said, oh, okay. So
I preached that day, and after the service, she
came up and shook my hand. She said, Sonny boy,
you're not a fill -in or sand -in. You're a real
pane. She didn't spell that pane, so I don't
know if it's P -A -I -N or P -A -N -E, but it
is a delight to be with you and to worship with
you. And I appreciate this opportunity, Pastor
Kip. My message today is detours, dead ends,
and dry places. And the scripture is found in
Exodus chapter 13. Now, I'm going to preach Exodus
13, Exodus 14, Exodus 15, and still get you out
by 11 o 'clock. If anybody believes that, raise
your hand. Hey, with no confidence at all. Next
is chapter 13, and they'll put it on the screen
for you, beginning at verse 17. Then it came
to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go,
that God did not lead them by way of the land
of the Philistines, although that was near. For
God said, lest perhaps the people change their
minds when they see war and return to Egypt.
So God led the people around. by way of the wilderness
of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went
up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.
And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him,
for he had placed the children of Israel in a
solemn oath, saying, God will surely visit you,
and you shall carry up my bones from here with
you. So they took their journey from Succoth
and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness.
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar
of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar
of fire to give them light. so as to go by day
and night. He did not take away the pillar of
cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night before
the people. The book of Exodus records not only
the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery
and bondage in Egypt, it also records their covenant
with God at Mount Sinai and also the instructions
for the construction of the tabernacle in the
wilderness and the actual dedication of that
tabernacle. And Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter
10 verse 11 says that these things, I can't see
the screen, these things happened to them as
examples and were written down as warnings for
us on whom the culmination of the age is to come.
So what he's saying is that the Exodus was recorded
for us, for our example. I read a story of a
young man who was learning to... climb rocks
and there was this hundred full hundred foot
high outcropping of a rock that he was going
to do his first climb on he had the safety harness
had a couple of friends down below to keep him
safe with the safety ropes he started up the
rock cliff made it all the way to the top after
some time and they let him rappel back down to
the ground he said i want to go up again without
all this this strap and his emergency strap is
binding me. I want to go up without any safety
harness. They warned him not, said you haven't
had enough experience, but he insisted. So he
started climbing up that rock face, got almost
to the top and his grip slipped and he began
to fall. Fortunately, about halfway down, there
was a small tree growing out of the cleft of
the rock that he was able to grab hold and break
his fall. He surveyed his surroundings. He couldn't
find a handhold, toehold to climb up or to get
a hold so he could climb back down. He looked
down to the ground. It was 50 feet down and decided
it was time to pray. So he looked up to heaven
and said, is anybody up there? Much to his surprise,
a voice came booming back, yes. To his surprise,
he said, Will you help me? The voice came booming
back. Will you trust me? He said, sure, I'll
trust you. The voice came booming back. Turn
loose. He thought about it for a moment. Looked
at 50 feet to go and looked back up at heaven
rather sheepishly and said, is anybody else up
there? it's a funny story, but it says a great
truth. There is no one else up there. And I believe
that the primary cause of much of our problems
in the church is simply a lack of faith in God.
We believe him for salvation, but then we seem
reluctant to trust him for anything else. As
a pastor, I pastored in Indiana and also in North
Carolina. Some members' faith was fine as long
as things were going well, but let things start
going bad, and their faith began to waver. I
had a member in Indiana. His name was Clarence,
and Clarence was one of these kind of people
that when he was on fire for God, I mean he was
hot, he was in church, he was ready to do anything
he was called upon to do, but when he was depressed
or going through a low spot, he'd stay out of
church, not have to encourage me to come back.
He'd get fired up and go again. Clarence was
the kind of fellow that... When they went to
the grocery store, he put the groceries on the
table, dining room table, say a blessing over
them then so he wouldn't have to pray before
meals. That's the kind of fellow Clarence was.
Don't tell me if you do that. But our relationship
with God must not be based on how we feel or
what we see. If you base it on feelings, what
are you going to do when your world caves in?
You can't base it on feelings. You can't base
it on sight, what you see either. Satan wants
to control how we think about life and how we
think about things that are going on in our life.
He wants us to look horizontally through the
eyes of man when God wants us to look vertically
through the eyes of God. And faith in God's word
is the key to living triumphantly today. Now
our problem is we prefer an event to a process.
We want things now. We want things to happen
now rather than wait. or to process. In fact,
we want God to deliver us from our trials more
than we want development through our trials.
We want an experience versus the hard work of
believing. Here's the thing. If you're worrying,
you are not trusting. It's as simple as that.
Death challenges our faith that heaven is real.
Troubles challenge our faith. that God still
delivers. Sickness challenges our faith, that
God still heals. And lack of faith in God's word
is what caused Adam and Eve to sit in the garden.
They believed the lie of the serpent rather than
the word of God. It was lack of faith in God's
word that caused the Israelites to have to wander
in the wilderness for 40 years because they believed
the majority report of the spies. Moses sent
12 spies out to spy on the land of Canaan. Joshua
and Caleb said, let us go up at once and possess
the land. But 10 of the spies said, we are not
able to go up and possess it. And they believed
the majority report. And therefore, they had
to wander for 40 years in the wilderness. It
was a lack of faith in God's word through his
prophets that caused Israel and Judah to be carried
into captivity. But it was faith in God's word
that brought Abraham to the promised land. It
was faith in God's word that gave him a son at
100 years old. It was faith in God's word that
kept Daniel safe in the lion's den. And faith
in God delivered the three Hebrew boys from the
fiery furnace. In fact, the importance of faith
is stated in Hebrews 11, verse 6. Without faith,
it is impossible to please God. Now think about
it. Without faith, it is impossible to please
God. For he who comes to God must believe that
he is and that he is a reward of those who diligently
seek him. You see, conversion can occur in just
a few moments. It doesn't take long to get saved.
But that is an event that begins a process. And
serving God is a pilgrimage. It's a journey.
If we could get saved and go right to heaven,
it would be wonderful, but God wouldn't get any
glory out of that. It is a process. and a journey.
And you will experience one or more of these
places in your spiritual journey. In the text
that I read to you, the first thing I want to
talk about is the discipline of detours. Now,
when you're traveling, nobody likes detours.
It usually adds time. To your travel. But it
usually means there's something wrong. An accident
or construction. Or some other reason that's
not safe to pass. In Exodus chapter 13 verse
17. It says that God led them around. Around
about. That God led them on a circuitous route.
Did you know it was just. They could have been
to the promised land. In two weeks time from
Egypt. If you throw up the map. God. Instead
of leading them. To the northeast. From Egypt
to the. Canaan, God led them on a security route
to the south, southeast on a divine detour. And
the Bible says why God did that. He said he did
not go to the land of Philistines although that
was near because they would have had to see war
and they would have gotten discouraged and went
back to Egypt. So God, knowing what was best
for them, led them on a divine detour. Now there's
probably some good church members there. He said
this is not the way. We know the map. We know
where the promised land. Why, Moses, are you
leading us this way when the promised land is
this way? But God knew what was best for them.
And God leads them in the opposite direction
to a dry, rocky, barren wilderness because they
were not ready to go to Canaan. Read a story
of two little boys. Jimmy told his friend Billy,
my dad has a list of men that he can whip, and
your dad's name is at the top of the list. Well,
you know, Billy couldn't wait to get home and
tell his dad. His dad came home from work. It
had been a bad day. He was in a bad mood. Billy
said, Dad, Jimmy said that his dad has a list
of men that he can whip, and your name's at the
top of the list. Billy's dad said, Well, we'll
just see about that. He stalked down the house,
crossed the street, and went up to Jimmy's house,
knocked on the door, and Jimmy's dad came to
the door, and Billy's dad said, My son said that
your son said that you have a list of men that
you can whip, and I'm at the top of the list.
Is that true? Jimmy's dad said, yes, sir, that's
true. Billy's dad said, well, I'm here to tell
you you can't do it. Jimmy's dad said, no problem,
I'll just erase your name. And I say that, sometimes
we get all fired up and energized at church,
ready to face the devil, but as soon as we get
outside the church doors, facing our problems,
we forget what we felt in the church. So God
led them out into the wilderness to train them
and get them ready for the fight that was ahead
because God knew what was best. Now here's our
problem. We don't enjoy the preparation process.
I'd rather microwave than cook anything. We don't
enjoy the process, but God knew what was best
for them. And here's the thing. You don't want
to confuse what's on your itinerary for your
destiny. You see, Israel leaving Egypt to go
to the promised land, the wilderness, was on
their itinerary, but that was not their destiny.
Hear me. Sickness might be on your itinerary,
but healing is your destiny. Sadness might be
on your itinerary, but joy is your destiny. Conflict
might be on your itinerary, but victory is your
destiny. The wilderness was on the Israelites'
itinerary, but the promised land Was there? Destiny.
And sometimes detours are the best way of God
getting us to where he wants us to be. Our problem
is we look at everybody else. Well, why are they
having such a good time? Why are they being blessed?
Why nothing bad happening to them? And that doesn't
matter. Our relationship with God is between
us and God. What matters is have you progressed
since yesterday? Are you growing in the Lord?
If you feel like your plans have been sidelined,
It's possible you're on a detour, a divine detour,
and God is getting you ready for the great things
that he has in store for you. We don't have to
understand. We just have to be concerned about
following our cloud and our pillar of fire. Delays
are not denials. They are discipline. And the
lesson to be gained from this story is that God
knows what his people need. Now. That's 13. Let's
go to chapter 14. They follow the cloud. And
where does the cloud lead them? In Exodus chapter
14, beginning at verse 9, the scripture says,
So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses
and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his
army, and overtook them, camping by the sea beside
Pihahiroth before Beelzefan. And when Pharaoh
drew near, the children of Israel lifted their
eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after
them. So they were very afraid, and the children
of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said
to Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt,
have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?
Why have you so dealt with us to bring us up
out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told
you in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may
serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better
for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should
die in the wilderness. And Moses said to the
people, Do not be afraid. Stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish
for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see
today, you shall see again no more forever. The
Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your
peace. So they were following the cloud. The
cloud leads them to the banks of the Red Sea.
They can't swim across. They don't have boats
to boat all the people in their belongings across.
Pharaoh is hot on their trail behind them. And
I call this the dilemma of a day. And God led
them to a dead end. Now, a dead end is worse
than a detour. There's three options. You can
just stop. Well, I've reached a dead end. I'm
going to stop. I'm not going to do anything else.
Or... You can turn around, retreat, go back to
where you came, or you ask God to make a way.
The Israelites were trapped, the Red Sea before
them, the Egyptians behind them, and there will
be times in your walk with God when you simply
don't know what to do. You don't know whether
to go right, you don't know whether to go left,
you don't want to go back, but you don't see
any way ahead. The Israelites began to murmur
and complain. Moses, can't you read a map? Doesn't
God know what he is doing? But God knew exactly
what he was doing. He was baiting a hook for
the Egyptians to deliver his people and destroy
their enemies. Now this happens to us and we
begin to question, well, did I miss the will
of God? Am I still in the will of God with all
this happening? But you are in the will of God
if the Spirit led you there regardless of how
many dead ends you encounter. You see, Christ
did not come to keep us out of trouble. He came
to be with us in times of trouble. Many of you
have seen that picture of footprints in the sand.
It usually has a picture of a beach or a sandy
place and then a rocky place, and there are two
sets of footprints in the sandy place and only
one set of footprints in the rocky, rough places.
And the Christian complains to Jesus, why were
you with me? During the easy times of life and
lift me during the rough times. And Jesus responds
and says, my child, I did not leave you. I was
carrying you through those rough places. What
do you do if you're at a dead end? Chapter 14,
Moses told the people, stand still and see the
salvation of the Lord. Two things you don't do,
you don't panic. Panic is not trusting God. And
you don't retreat. You don't go back. Two things
you do. Moses said, stand still. We understand
the standing part. It's the still part we don't
like. You know what it actually means? It's to
be quiet. I'm serious. You look on down. He says,
hold your peace. In other words, he said, stand.
And shut up. Just quit talking. And start looking
at what God is doing. Now, here's the thing.
We don't always see what God is doing. But I
tell you, he's always doing more behind the scenes
and under the surface than we can see with our
eyes. But if you'll stand still and wait on God,
God is an on -time God. And he always shows up
right when you need him. God turned their dead
end into a superhighway, and he can do the same
for you. There is nothing impossible with God.
That's chapter 14. Let's go to chapter 15. They're
still following the cloud, cloud by day, pillar
of fire by night. There is no question about
which way they're to go. If the cloud stops,
they stop. The cloud moves, they move. So they're
following the cloud. They get through the Red
Sea. They rejoice and praise Moses for leading
them through and thank God for leading them through.
And then in Exodus chapter 15, beginning at verse
22, the Bible says, So Moses brought Israel from
the Red Sea, and then they went out into the
wilderness of Shur, and they went three days
in the wilderness and found no water. Now when
they came to Marah, they could not drink the
waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore
the name of it was called Marah. And the people
complained against Moses, saying, What shall
we drink? So he cried out to the Lord, and the
Lord showed him a tree. And when he cast into
the waters, the waters remained sweet. There
he made a statute and an ordinance for them,
and there he tested them. Just a few days before,
their problem was too much water. And now their
problem was not enough water. And that's how
life is. We go from mountaintop to valley, from
plenty to famine. It's just a way of life. And
God just wants to see if you'll trust him. It
wasn't bad luck. God led them there. God wasn't
punishing them. He was testing them. Look at
verse 25. There he tested them. If you look at
these three chapters. God said, I led you on
a detour to see if you would follow me. I brought
you to a dead end to see if you would wait on
me. Now will you trust me at a dry place? What
did they do? They began to murmur and complain.
It's like a student came to me. I was a college
professor at East Coast Bible College for 17
years. I said, Dr. Bell, I don't think I deserve
this F. I said, well, I don't either, but it
was the lowest grade I could give you. I know
that's cruel. That's cold. That's when I was
young and foolish. But they failed again and
murmured against God and murmured against Moses.
In three days, Moses goes from a hero to a zero.
Only a pastor can understand that feeling, how
quickly people can change. But here's the thing.
You reach places in your walk with God when you
cannot sense God's presence. It's like it's a
million miles away. You pray. It seems like your
prayers get no higher than the ceiling, and you
wonder what is going on. There will be dry places
in your walk with God, and you still have to
trust him. Let me ask you, where was God while
Daniel was being led to the lion's den? God could
have showed up. He could have kept him from being
arrested. He could have kept him from leading
him to the lion's den. He could have kept him
from putting him down in the lion's den, but
God allowed all of that. but showed up when he
got in the lion's den and shut the mouths of
the lions. Where was God while the three boys?
The furnace was being heated seven times hotter
than normal. God allowed them to tie him up,
heat the furnace, and throw them into the midst
of the fire. But then that fourth man showed
up, and the bonds were burnt, but there was no
smell of smoke or no burn on them as they walked
in the midst of the fiery furnace. There are
several temptations you'll face. During this
time of a dry place, you'll be tempted to forget
past blessings. Somehow Satan, he doesn't remind
us of past blessings. He wants us to forget this.
But Psalm 103 says, Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me. Bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul. And what? Forget not
all his benefits. You'll be tempted to sin. The
Bible tells us in 1 Peter 5 and 8. Our adversary,
the devil, walks about as a roaring lion seeking
whom he may devour. He's looking for a Christian
who's disappointed or discouraged or going through
a dry place. He looks for you to try to devour
you. You'll be tempted to quit. So many people
going through a rough time. They say, I'm just
going to throw up my hands and quit. It's just
not working for me. But if I was to go outside
this church in the fall in a mud puddle, my wife
and daughter and grandchildren would probably
laugh. Some would run and try to help me out
of the mud puddle. But what would you expect
me to do? You'd expect me to get up out of the
mud puddle, clean myself up, and watch out that
I don't fall in that same mud puddle again. And
that's what God expects you to do. Don't throw
up your hands and quit. If you fail, if you stumble,
you get back up, start again. And go down the
road. You'll be tempted to doubt past experiences.
Satan will say it wasn't really real. You didn't
really feel God. It was just the emotion of the
moment. And you'll be tempted to doubt what God's
done for you. You'll be tempted to make wrong
decisions. You should never make a major decision
affecting the future of your life while you're
in a bad or dry situation. Delay it until you
hear from God or things change. And then sixthly,
You limit God to a particular place of time.
You say, oh, if I could just hear Pastor so -and
-so preach again. If I could just get back to
the old days when we had those shouting services.
If I could just hear my grandmother, my mother
praying, calling my name in prayer, everything
would be all right. But you don't limit God to
what's happened in the past. He's the same God
today as he was then. During these dry seasons,
you must walk by faith. The praise team will
come. You didn't believe I could. But you just
didn't know me, did you? If you trust God, God
will lead you through those dry areas to a place
of blessing and refreshing. In fact, if you look
at Exodus chapter 15, verse 27, it says they
came to Elam where there were 12 wells of water
and 70 palm trees. So God led them on a detour.
Through the Red Sea to a dry place, but eventually
to an oasis that had plenty of water and shade.
And God will do the same thing for you this morning.
That's an old song. In fact, I looked it up today
to see if it was actually written in 1945. And
the chorus is, have you got any rivers you think
are uncrossable? Got any mountains you cannot
tunnel through? God specializes in things thought
impossible, and he'll do for you what no other
power can do. Would you bow your heads? I read
a story of a little girl whose father and mother
had had some marital problems and had separated.
She was playing in the front yard with some friends.
After school, one of them kicked the ball out
into the middle of the road, and she darted out
after it without looking and was struck by a
school bus. They called an ambulance and rushed
her to the hospital. The mother called the father
and told him what happened. They met in the waiting
room outside the ER treatment rooms. After some
time, a doctor came out and said, I'm sorry,
but there's nothing we can do for your daughter.
She's just too broken. The parents said, well,
can we see her? He said, you can see her for
just a moment. So they took him into the emergency
room treatment area. The little girl was laid
on the bed and had the sheet pulled up all the
way to her neck. Father and mother spoke to her
and said, honey, your mom and dad are here. She
opened her eyes with a great deal of effort.
She reached out her right hand, stretched it
to her mom. who was standing on the right side
of the bed, said, Mommy, give me your hand. Then
with a great deal of effort, she pulled out her
left hand and stretched it to her father and
said, Daddy, give me your hand. With the last
bit of strength this little girl had, she pulled
their two hands to her chest and died. She wanted
Mom and Dad to get back together again. But you
know, that's exactly what Jesus did on Calvary.
As he hung on the cross, He got the hand of God,
reached down, got the hand of man, pulled him
together to him on the cross, and died. He died
for you and me and for our sins. And I don't
know what you're going through in life today.
Everybody has hard times. Everybody has difficult
times. But God sent me here today to tell you
he will be with you on the detours. He'll be
with you at the dead ends. He'll be with you
at the dry places if you will only trust him.
If you don't know Christ as your savior this
morning, I want to give you that opportunity
to make a commitment to him. He died for you.
Died to forgive you of your sins. Died to give
you life. In eternity. But it's up to you. You're
the only one that can make that decision. I can't
make it for you. If I could, I would. Your family
can't make it for you. You're the only one. And
if you don't know Christ this morning, would
you like to accept him as Lord of your life?
I'm going to ask you to slip your hand as a message
to him. I want to be saved this morning. I'm
sorry for my sins. And I want you to forgive
me. And I will serve you the very best that I
can. Just anyone that would like to accept Christ
this morning, I'm not going to embarrass you.
I want to give you an opportunity to express
your request for salvation. You may need to recommit
your life. You've served Him at one time, but
you've kind of drifted away. You know you're
not where you ought to be with God. You ought
to recommit to Him today. You can do that this
morning. And if you have a special need in your
life, I'm going to ask you to stand right now.
I want to have a prayer for you before they sing
this last song. Would you stand? Everybody stand.
We have a special prayer for you. We do have
a prayer team who stand ready to pray with you.
If you'd like somebody to pray with you, they
won't share your secrets. It's between you and
God, but they will pray for you this morning.
whatever you're going through. Father, I thank
you for this congregation this morning. It's
a beautiful congregation. And God, I don't believe
they're here by accident. We're here by your
divine plan. And Lord, I just pray that there's
anyone here who's struggling, who's tempted to
quit, throw up their hands and just give up,
who are in a difficult situation and don't know
what to do. It may be a bad job, may be a bad
relationship. maybe tough times financially or
physically or spiritually, I ask you in Jesus'
name, would you touch them this morning, do your
work in your way, and we'll give you praise for
it. In Jesus' name. Thank you for tuning in to
this message from Lifehouse Church. If you have
been personally affected by our ministry and
you would like to partner with us as we love
God, love people every day, visit our website
at www .lifehousecog .com.