Welcome to the Love and Context Podcast, an unscripted conversation with Ben and Spencer.
We're so glad that you could join us today, whether that's from your car, office, home,
church or wherever you're at.
If you want to contact us, you can email us at lovingcontext at gmail.com.
Also follow us on Instagram at lovingcontext.
Welcome once again to the Love and Context Podcast, a unscripted conversation with Spencer
and Ben.
I'm Ben.
And I'm Spencer.
I was wondering if you're going to say that.
You're like just sitting there waiting.
I was trying to add some suspense into the conversation.
Right.
Suspense.
Get it?
I get it.
Okay, cool.
Listeners are going to be like, wow, wow, these guys must be dads.
Actually, one of the things that was best about becoming a dad was I finally felt justification
for my dad jokes.
Oh, it's so great, right?
It's so great.
So today we are jumping into the life of Moses.
We're going to be talking about Moses all up until he comes to back to Egypt again and
confronts Pharaoh.
So we're going to be chapter two through most of four.
Great chance for you to pause the podcast.
There's a little button that's got like those two lines on it.
It's a pause button.
And then he can come back.
The other day, somebody I was on the phone with them and they're like, oh yeah, there's
a little button there that looks like a floppy disk.
I'm like, yeah, the save icon.
And they're like, yeah, the save icon.
I just didn't know because I was like, listen, I used floppy disks back in the day.
They were the three and a half inch ones, right?
But I was like, I use them.
And you know, there's Instagram reels that are going around where it's like the one sound
that forever separates the old generation from the new generation.
Right.
And it's dial up.
Yeah, it's dial up.
And it's like, oh, so good.
So good.
Well, sorry, we're just going to go and fill this on here because I love you guys getting
to know us a little bit.
We were working with the youth group probably eight years ago and there's a website called
homestarrunner.com, which has like videos that millennials who got onto that were really
familiar with.
There's some videos called like the Strong Red emails with it has a song like Trogdor.
Some of you are like, I have no idea what he's talking about.
And some of you are like, yeah, he's talking about Trogdor.
I'm going to link that video.
But regardless, we're working with the youth and I'm talking to them about it and they're
like, oh, well, where's the app for Homestar Runner?
And I was like, yeah, it came out before there were apps.
And they're like, well, then how did you get to the videos?
And I was like, you went and you typed in the address and you actually went to their
homepage and they're like, people have those.
And I was just, I was now granted this is the year like 12, 13, but it was just, it
was very funny.
Like it was very funny.
So I was like, I was feeling, I was feeling like my parents when I was growing up and
be like, what is this?
That's so great.
Yeah.
Which actually segues well into the last episode.
We talked about not remembering where you come from.
Yeah.
Right.
We talked about Pharaoh operating out of fear instead of knowing where he comes from.
We also talked about the midwives who were told that they needed to start killing the
Hebrew boys and are like, no, we're not going to do that.
And then we're left off with this instruction from Pharaoh where it said that they had to,
they're going to have to chuck the boys into the Nile.
And so I bring this where we are today.
So at this point in the story, a man and a woman from the tribe of Levi have a baby.
They have a baby.
Actually, it doesn't say that they have a baby.
It says that they get married and she got pregnant.
I feel like you can probably read between the lines.
Yeah.
If you have children, you probably know how that happens.
So they have this baby and his name is Moses.
Yeah.
And apparently he's a good looking child because it says she saw that he was a fine child.
Now I'm not sure how fine is pronounced.
Fine.
So here's the other thing about that.
It's presumed that Moses wrote Genesis and Exodus, right?
So is Moses just like inserting it here that I was like, I was a good looking baby.
Yeah.
Mama saw me and she was like, I had someone tell me that a few years ago and I was like,
oh, that's so good.
So good.
So interesting thing here is they don't actually disobey Pharaoh.
They actually just, they put the baby in the water in the Nile like they're supposed to
and they just put him in a basket.
Yeah.
Right.
And Pharaoh didn't say anything about like, Hey, you can't send the baby's older sister
along to make sure he does fine.
Huh?
Right?
Yeah.
Like you said, these are your people.
Yeah.
These are like, these are my people where they're like, okay, I hear the instructions and I'm
going to follow the instructions, but I'm going to do it in the most outside the box
way I can think of just to mess with you.
No other reason.
Right.
So then the baby's going down the water and Pharaoh's daughter's there.
Yeah.
So she sends one of her attendants out to go get the basket.
And she goes, Oh, it's a Hebrew baby.
I'm sorry.
I'm going to take a second here and probably poop on some people's perspective on the Prince
of Egypt.
Yeah.
Moses knew his heritage.
You remember there's this thing that happens on the eighth day with boys that makes them
very distinctive from Egypt.
And apparently it's still a thing because Pharaoh's daughter sees this boy, this baby
boy and she goes, Oh, it's a Hebrew boy.
Well, what about the Hebrew boy is so distinctive that she immediately knows he circumcised.
Yep.
Like turns out it makes everything look a lot different.
Right.
Moses actually knows that he's Hebrew.
Yeah.
And that's going to be confirmed in the text repeatedly, but that's just important to know
moving forward.
So you have this shift from Exodus one where people are forgetting where they're from,
right?
So you have Egypt forgetting about Joseph or the King of Egypt forgetting about Joseph
to you have Moses knowing where he's from.
Right.
And he's going to struggle with it too.
Like that.
In fact, actually let's just point out.
So Pharaoh's daughter brings him in and she raises him in Pharaoh's court, which means
that Moses would have had excellent education.
Yeah.
Right.
The best education of the day.
And so not only does he know Hebrew, Hebrew background, he also is very familiar with
Egyptian culture as well.
Yeah.
Which by the way should send off some flags in our brain.
Of course, God would use Moses.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Because he's taking somebody who's uniquely qualified to deal with both cultures.
Talking about like you were talking about, he's like, does he remember where he comes
from?
So later it just jumps.
It just jumps.
I love this.
He's a baby.
And then in verse 11 says one day after Moses had grown up, he went out where his own people
were.
Okay.
And he's like, Hey, by the way, we're just jumping 14 years in the future and 17 years
in the future.
I mean, he's quite a bit older at this point and he sees an Egyptian abusing his people
and so he kills him.
Maybe an overreaction.
Also, they have been in slavery, so I kind of get it.
And that doesn't end very well for him because the next day he sees a couple of Israelites
fighting again, brothers fighting in a field, by the way.
Seems like that stuff happens a lot.
And he's like, guys, you shouldn't be fighting each other.
You're brothers.
And in fact, he actually says, why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?
We pointed this out last week, but there's a lot of connection back to Genesis.
These stories happen a lot.
It's almost like the first 11 chapters of Genesis, like put us in this world and really
tell us about human nature.
Yeah.
So he's talking to these guys and then they're like, what are you going to do?
You're going to kill us?
Like kill the Egyptian?
And he's like, Oh boy, that's not good.
So he got afraid and he's like, I better get out of here because Pharaoh hears about it
and he decides to try to kill Moses.
Yeah.
Right.
So Moses fleets from Pharaoh and now he's in Midian and you guys are like, man, you
just jumped through that so fast.
Yeah, we did because we really want to talk about who is this Moses character.
Yeah.
And there's some very key things we want to pull out in this time in Midian.
And so that's why we're jumping through this part pretty quick.
Right.
So he goes to Median.
Median.
It's in the middle of things.
This is so great because at church, Ben makes fun of us all the time for mispronouncing
things.
And so here he is like, Mediob in Jenefis or whatever you just said.
This is just priceless.
Oh, it's so good.
So good.
So they're in Midian and so there's a priest of Midian.
He has seven daughters and they go to the water and they're filling up the trousers.
So then for the father's flock and the shepherd, the shepherds come and they're trying to drive
him off and Moses steps up and defends them.
Right.
So they go back to their father and he says, you know, talking about the situation, they
say an Egyptian helped him.
Okay.
What was the last thing?
So an Egyptian daughter, a Pharaoh, right?
And Pharaoh is considered what?
He's considered a god in Egypt.
Right.
So his daughter saw him as a baby and is like, oh, this is a Hebrew boy.
Now these children of the priest in Midian see Moses and go talk about them and they're
like, oh, it's an Egyptian.
Like these aren't accidents in the text.
There is a clear identity crisis that's going on for Moses through this area.
Yeah.
This is far more than just confusion from one person to another being like, oh, well,
he looks like a Hebrew.
Oh, he looks like an Egyptian.
All right.
This is far more from that.
You back up in chapter two a little bit where it talks about in verse 11 where Moses goes
out.
Why did he go out?
Like he was clearly from his earliest memories Egyptian.
Right.
I mean, he knew his heritage, but there's something about knowing where you come from
that makes you want to go there and see that and experience that.
I mean, a few years ago, like I was born in middle of nowhere Kansas and I was like, okay,
I want to go see the town I was born in.
Right.
Because I was born there.
We lived there a year.
I don't remember it.
I was completely underwhelmed and no offense if anybody from Kansas is listening specifically
if you're from nowhere Kansas.
Yeah, I was completely underwhelmed, but at the same time I was like, okay, I was fun
to see.
I'm also like my heritage goes back to Scottish and Irish roots.
And so someday I want to go over to Scotland and Ireland and see that landscape, see that
culture.
I know it's changed from when my ancestors were there, but there's something about knowing
where you're from that makes you want to go there and see that and experience that.
Well even genetically there are markers in our DNA that carry characteristics of where
we come from.
Yeah.
There is a test that you can have done on your dietary things that says because you
come from this area, these types of foods are going to be more beneficial for you and
these types of foods you're going to have more difficulty with.
Like that's crazy.
Right?
That's in your DNA.
I've always loved potatoes.
Yeah.
I'm Scotch Irish.
Yeah.
Always love potatoes.
Right?
That's just the best all I got for that one.
Yeah, that's it.
He doesn't actually have anything else to go with that.
Right?
I was just trying to compliment your point.
Well, speaking of potatoes though, the the Minion priest is my kind of guy because look
what he says right away.
He's like, why did you leave him there?
Invite him to have something to eat.
My man.
Right?
Right.
Why did you leave him there?
Let's go feed him.
I love that.
By the way, I really wish more of us just did this.
Just fed people.
Never underestimate the power of hospitality.
Or a meal.
Just be like, hey, come on over.
I'll feed you dinner tonight.
You know, I don't want you to have to worry about lunch today.
I'll take you out, get you some food.
Yeah.
There's something as simple as that can change someone's day.
Like in an instant.
One of my favorite things in my office is sometimes I'll be like stressed or something
and my assistant will come in and be like, did you go to lunch yet?
You seem like you're grouchy not eating lunch.
And it's like, I was like, no, I haven't.
And she's like, well, you need to go.
Like now.
Eat lunch.
So that just lets you know how my hangries go.
Ben might think he's the boss at his office.
He's not.
I'm not.
No, no, he's not.
Moses goes and agrees to stay with them and then he marries the daughter is a Zipporah,
which is a fantastic name.
It's where we get zipper from.
That's not true.
That's a good, and now this week of heretics and and then he has a son and he names him
Gershom because he is a foreigner.
He is now like a foreigner in a foreign land.
Okay.
And during that period of time, the king of Egypt dies.
So I think it's actually important to note this that the king of Egypt dies.
So whoever comes up after him is bad news bears because the Israelites groaned in their
slavery and cried out.
Okay.
So apparently this has been happening for a while.
And what hasn't been ideal, they haven't been really freaking out about it because now when
this new Pharaoh comes, it really ups the ante.
Yeah.
Right.
To the point that they're cry for help.
There is a right rises up to God.
That's Hebrew, by the way.
And God heard their groanings and he remembered his covenant.
Okay.
Once again, we've been talking about Genesis.
What does that remind you of?
God remembered his covenant.
Like what story?
The story this reminds me of is when God made his covenant with Abraham because he said,
Hey, I'm going to take this on.
I'm going to take on both sides of the covenant and I'm going to be the one who's responsible
for holding up both ends of the deal.
And you see that happen later on in Exodus and you can rewind this even further.
If you go over back to Noah, it says that God remembered.
And so you have this echo of God remembered here in Exodus to, to God remembered back
in the story of Noah.
Because once again, whose responsibility is it to uphold or to remind of the covenant?
It'd be ours.
It'd be our job.
Except they don't actually cry out to God.
They actually just cry out and God hears them, which by the way, I feel like there is an
implication in the text that when somebody cries out in oppression, God hears that and
he's on his way.
And it may not feel like it, but God's on his way.
And we should definitely partner with him when it's bringing wholeness to brokenness.
So doesn't that just speak to like the crazy, awesome nature of God?
Where you have these people just crying out, not even talking to God and God's like, you
know, I'm going to show up.
I'm going to be there ready to take care of this issue.
I'm going to be there for you, even though you didn't even ask me to.
Yeah.
In American history, we have this blot on our history called slavery.
Right?
One of the depressing things when you study the church during that time is that there
were people from the pulpit who were using scripture to justify slavery, justifying the
subrogation of another group of people.
That's not good.
But at the same time, people who were strongly moved of God, we're going to call them abolitionists,
were motivated by the grace and mercy and goodness of God that they actually created
entire systems that eventually brought down slavery.
Yeah.
Right?
That just as there are people who are misusing scripture, there were people who lived it
out and actually brought about change in culture.
Yeah.
Right?
And that's a big deal.
Yeah.
Right?
Because they looked at this and they said, this is not who God is and we refuse to be
a part of it.
Yeah.
That's so good.
Yeah.
There's so much that could be said on that.
And so like God hears the cry of the oppressed.
Like we know it from our history in the nasty nastiness.
God will hear the cry of the oppressed and he sends out people to address it.
Often people who are very qualified to address exactly what's going on.
It's almost like he rose them up just for that day.
Yeah.
Right?
So let's jump into chapter three where we get into the burning bush.
Yeah.
Now we're not going to spend a ton of time on the burning bush, but there are a few things
that we want to pull out.
You want to take that?
So Moses now run out of town as a murderer, identity crisis, am I Hebrew?
Am I Egyptian?
Now he's learning to be a shepherd, right?
Living near his father-in-law who's a priest, right?
Then he's leading the flock around and then he sees like this crazy thing, this bush that's
on fire that won't burn.
Now a burning bush in the desert is not like something like super stunning because I mean,
it's literally a hot desert.
You're talking hot desert.
You're talking dry.
Actually something that happens in deserts are like thunderstorms actually happen in
deserts.
So it would not be completely unexpected for like lightning to strike a bush and it to
catch on fire.
But there's this bush, it's not getting burnt.
Yeah.
Like that's crazy.
That's weird.
Yeah.
It's weird.
And so then God calls, it says Moses and then Moses says, here I am.
What does that remind you of?
Wow.
They're on a mountain again.
Yeah.
There is a bush, right?
Thistles.
God calls out the name of the person and they say, here I am.
Isaac.
So they're on a mountain again.
I'm looking at Abraham on the mountain, right?
Wow.
This is happening on a mountain again, right?
It's almost like God is repeating stories that Moses would have been familiar with,
right?
Okay.
And God says, don't come any closer, take off your sandals because where you're standing
is holy.
Right?
And then he makes a statement.
He says, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God
of Jacob, and at this Moses hit his face because he was afraid to look at God.
Yeah.
And so one of the interesting things that happens here is you have this guy, this guy,
identity crisis.
Am I Egyptian?
Am I Hebrew?
Am I Midian?
Now I'm living with Midianites, like who am I?
And then God comes and says, I am the God of your ancestors.
He comes and confirms who Moses is and says, this is who you are, a descendant of Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob.
And why I wish I could say that that just clears it up for Moses.
And he's like from that does not, he's like, Hey, I know who I am now.
No, it's not.
There's going to be tons of stuff where Moses struggles with it.
But God is very clear to Moses right here.
This is who you are.
And now I want to read this because I think it's really important for us to hear because
I'm going to make a point on this.
It says, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.
I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers and I am concerned about their
suffering.
So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them out
of that land into a good and spacious land.
Okay.
So we just talked about our blot in American history and we've got more than just that.
Like there's tons of like every culture, every state, every nation that exists has a blot
in their history.
When we as a church today see injustice, right?
Or we see misery or we see brokenness or we see darkness.
We need to hear God's voice.
I have seen this and I'm ready to take care of this.
But here's the thing.
God is not going to do it without partners.
And so when there is a darkness, when there is a tragedy, when there is a brokenness,
he's looking for a Moses who's ready and willing to step into the role of being the conduit
of God's grace and mercy in that moment.
You get to be the tangible presence of God in that moment.
Why God wants to work that way?
I don't know, but it is what he wants to do.
Yeah, it is.
And that can feel overwhelming.
That can feel like, okay, why is this infinite, all powerful God, all loving God choosing
me?
I'll tell you why.
Because you're a son or a daughter and he has great plans for you.
Great plans for you not to build a tower to yourself, but to subdue the earth and fill
it till all the world looks like Eden.
And when you start casting your identity onto him, you start to pull your identity away
from sin.
You start to pull your identity away from the things of this world, from the confusion
of who you thought you might be to who you actually are.
Right.
Well, and that's actually a good point because what's the next thing Moses says?
He says, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?
Now on a broad level, you're the exact dude.
You're it.
You were raised in Pharaoh's court.
You are a natural born Hebrew.
Like if there was somebody who was going to bridge the gap and be able to have this conversation,
Moses, you're it.
But he doesn't feel that yet.
Yeah.
And Moses runs through a list of excuses here.
So many excuses.
He runs through a list of excuses that if we're just being honest, are all too relatable.
Too relatable.
Like there are some of these I think have shown up in my prayers.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
But who am I to do this?
Oh, I don't talk well.
I'm bad with words.
Right.
To like in his final excuse was like, I just don't want to.
And but God works with him throughout all these excuses.
So real story here.
Yeah.
Right.
So God moved to where we are now from where we were six years ago.
I know that's really vague, but just deal with it.
God came to me and spoke a very clear thing.
And people are like, oh, did he actually talk out loud?
I don't know.
The reality is that he didn't need to talk a lot.
I knew that was talking.
Okay.
But God told me that we needed to move to this place.
He said he needed somebody like me here.
Now my question for God was like, I don't know what that means.
What do you mean you need somebody like me?
And he's like, I need somebody like you here.
And I just stopped arguing because that's not going to end well for me.
But then I had a prophetic word spoken over me one time.
And it was interesting the word that they gave them because had they used any other
word, I probably would have just dismissed it.
They asked God what God wanted, wish that I knew about how he feels about me.
And what they said was God says that he appreciates your bigness.
That's big-ness.
Now one of the things you don't necessarily know about me, because you listen to my voice
and you have never seen me is I'm 6'6".
I weigh just shy of 400 pounds.
I'm a big dude.
Okay.
And I struggle with the thought of being big all the time.
You know, like I'm getting my health in order and all those different things and like it's
progressing in a right way.
But it's been an issue all my life because I've been huge.
Right?
And I've never thought the bigness being a good thing.
So when they said that initially I was like, oh great, just because I'm big.
And then they followed it up and they said, not because of your physical stature, but
because you will plant yourself firm in what God calls you to be and you will not move.
When I came here, I was forced to plant myself in a situation where I knew what God was doing
and I just refused to move.
Yeah.
God knew what he was doing.
And I don't want to try to claim like I was some like hyper spiritual, no, I screwed it
up all along the way.
But looking back, there was moment after moment after moment, I could talk to you about 30
50 times that God showed up in a very specific way that had there been somebody else here
that wouldn't have happened.
We have to trust God when he calls us into dark places that he's going to work through
us.
And in Moses's case, he has like just a ton of excuses.
And I think that we do too.
And it's probably time for us to just let him go.
Yeah.
So Moses has five main excuses here and tell me if these sound relatable at all.
Okay.
All right.
Who am I to do this?
That's the first one.
All right.
Okay.
Who am I?
The second one is who like who do I say you are?
Like how do I talk about you?
How do I talk about you?
God.
God gives him answer to that one.
Third one, the guy is he's like, okay, well, what if they don't believe me?
God answers that fourth one.
He's like, I'm just not very good with words.
I just don't know how to articulate it.
Well, God works with that.
And then the fifth one, he's like, I just don't want to do it, which is probably the
true one.
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
Right.
Mm hmm.
All the other ones are excuses.
Right.
But you look at those five things and you're like, when I look at those, I remember preaching
a sermon on this a while back and I was like, this is and as I was prepping, I was like,
this is painfully relatable.
Like who am I?
Who am I to proclaim God's word?
Okay.
God, who are you?
Like show me who you are so I can do it right.
Oh man.
What if they don't believe what I'm going to say?
It was it was they don't believe.
Okay.
What if I just don't articulate it?
Well, okay.
Then I'm like, okay, well, I don't want to do it.
And then God's like, all right, finally got to the real reason.
We got to the reason and he's like, I can work with this.
Yeah.
So I think the story of Moses is actually extremely relatable.
And I really want to take note of a lot of the things that happens with Moses because
at some point we're going to do a series where we go through the gospels and very frequently
the gospel writers are helping us understand that Jesus is the second Moses.
Yeah.
Right.
He's leading a second Exodus.
And so a lot of the places where Moses struggles, Jesus is just going to walk it out.
Jesus is going to show us what it looks like to walk out the will of God perfectly to be
Torah made flesh.
So before we get onto anything else, can we go back and talk about when God talks about
his name?
Yeah.
Because this is so cool.
Yeah.
So if you've seen our logo, you see the podcast love and context.
It says YHVH, right?
So it's a English equivalent of Yahweh or Yahweh is the name that is actually given.
It is God's name that he gives the Hebrews to call him by, but it doesn't translate well
to English, right?
God sent to Moses, I am who I am.
This is what you say to the Israelites.
I am has sent me to you.
Now the interesting thing about this and one of the things that Rabbi David Forman is going
to cover in his book, the Exodus He Almost Passed Over, which once again, want to recommend
that book again, is that this name is actually an overlaying of three different tenses and
it could just as easily be, I always was, I always am, and I always will be.
Now we've talked about the compassion and the goodness of God.
The Israelites have been crying out in agony.
What does God's name actually tell them?
I have always been here and I'm with you now and I will always be with you and I will always
be with you.
It's not going to change.
And I think the invitation is to trust that.
Because we see it and we're like, oh, but I'm in slavery.
Yeah, but Exodus is coming.
Oh, but you know, we talk about the plagues that are coming.
These plagues are coming.
Yeah, but Exodus is coming.
Ah, but slavery, but Exodus is coming.
And I am with you now and I always have been.
And what an encouragement.
I mean, relate that to today a little bit.
What an encouragement in this fast changing world to know that God is always going to
be there.
He's always going to be who he says he is going to be.
All right.
He is the great I am.
And to have that in our lives to be like, okay, no matter what is going on around us,
no matter the good, the bad, the crazy, right?
God is always the same.
He's consistent.
I think it's very likely that somebody listening to this at some point in their life has had
a situation where they're like, I don't know where God was in this.
And I don't understand how it works when God looks from eternity and he knows the right
time that things should happen.
And you go, well, what about this?
What about that?
We also live in a broken world, right?
What I will tell you is that in every moment of brokenness, God was with you.
And in every moment of brokenness that's coming, God is going to be with you because his very
identity, the thing that defines him is he is with you.
Amen.
And he always was and he always will be.
And that is very comforting.
That is an astounding, astounding truth.
So then when we are called to go and be like God, that means we got to be people.
People who are with people in their chaos and in the jubilation, in their brokenness
and in their parties.
That we know how to sit with people in chaos and we also know how to bring Exodus.
Absolutely.
There's one thing I want to kind of talk about a little bit.
So you jump over to chapter four, verse 14, it says right after Moses lays out his last
excuse.
And it says, and then the Lord became angry with Moses.
So we haven't really seen this.
No, this is the first time we've seen God get angry.
This is the first time I see God get angry because even when he in the flood, he's remorseful.
He's remorseful, right?
Right.
So you actually have God getting angry.
Now we've talked about this in the past, but anger isn't a sin.
It's what you do with that, right?
So if that's the lens we're taking this from, you got to look and see what God does in his
anger.
He sends a helper to Moses, right?
Right.
He's angry with Moses.
He's like, all right, I'll send you Aaron.
A matter of fact, he's already on his way.
Right.
I am mad at you, but I'm going to step back and I'm going to actually see what's going
to help you fulfill this call I've put on your life.
Aaron's good with words, Moses.
Okay.
He can speak on your behalf.
How frustrating do you think that is for God because he knows the power that Moses is going
to have when he speaks?
Yeah.
Right.
He knows how he wants to use Moses and Moses is just like, I don't want to do this.
And so this is the hard part about that, right?
Okay.
So like we're like, okay, well, why is God mad?
Because it's not just about Moses, right?
It's about all the people Moses is supposed to bless.
This is the frustrating thing when we don't take up the mantle that we've been entrusted
with.
Kingdom life, like there are people who are desperate for what we've got for the real
thing.
Not the jerk thing that we bring out when we try to evangelize, quote unquote.
Not the beat downs, not the harassment, not the pious justification and pontification
that we use.
Like the real authentic Jesus where we actually show love and compassion and goodness and
mercy to people where we see miracles poured out, like the lame actually walking, the blind
seeing, and people who are broken made whole.
People passing from death to life and finding faith in Christ Jesus and actually being part
of a renewed life.
And then they get that same Holy Spirit and they go do the same thing.
Like this is the ministry.
This is the kingdom and it's not happening because you don't want to be a conduit.
Let that sit for a moment guys.
It's not if you're saying it's not happening because you don't want to be a conduit, that's
on you.
Right?
That's that's 100% on you and don't put that blame on somebody else.
God has infinite patience when you are going to struggle following him.
Yeah.
People are going to screw up a lot.
Yeah.
Spoiler alert, it happens a lot in Moses and Aaron's life.
There's this little thing called the golden calf.
I don't know if you're familiar with it.
Yeah.
Kind of a big mess up, right?
Just a little bit.
A little bit.
You're going to mess up, but God has patience with you and works through those things.
You know what he doesn't have patience for?
Bailing on people.
Because Moses knows the oppression.
He was there.
And we're going to jump way forward to right now.
If we actually stepped into the call that Christ has put on our lives and loved our
community like he calls us to love our community, people would just naturally question what
we're doing.
That's my firm belief, at least they would just naturally be like, why are they sitting
on the street corner with that homeless person?
Why are they associating with those people in that community?
Why are they fill in the blank?
People will look at you and be like, are you sure that's a safe thing to do?
They would look at you and be like, are you sure you should be talking to that person?
Well, can we just say it's not safe, but it is not transformative.
It's not we want it to be safe, but it's not.
We talked about that last episode, right?
It is redemptive.
It is transformative.
Yeah.
It is what forgiveness looks like.
It is what restoration looks like.
And this ties into the story of Moses in the sense that as we move forward, he's going
to go about things in a way that Israel probably doesn't expect.
But that's another episode.
Does it concern you that in America we want the government to solve problems that Christians
weren't able to do?
Yeah, it does concern me.
And I'm not like, so don't hear me mishear me.
I'm not saying that the government programs are bad, like, because I think you could easily
mishear that.
I have an issue when we abdicate responsibility and we throw money at a problem that we don't
want to deal with.
Yeah.
My wife is a wonderful cook.
And if she asked me, she's like, hey, I would really like it if you could come home and
cook.
And instead I just send somebody.
I hire a chef to come home and cook so that I don't have to cook and do dishes.
I've thrown money at a problem that my wife isn't really looking to solve.
She's looking for a partner.
And I just brought in a chef who, by the way, probably makes a huge mess.
Yeah.
And that's also how Ben ended up sleeping on my couch.
Yes.
But my wife is looking for a partner.
And by the way, guys, can you know, let's just, we're going to go and talk about it.
You need to help your wives.
They are your partner.
They are not your mother.
Okay.
They are not walking behind you, picking you up, changing your diapers.
That's what mothers do.
Hopefully not forever because you should have grown up.
And now that you're a grown up, you should respect your mother and treat her well.
Get her flowers on Mother's Day.
You were a big kid.
It's very difficult to birth.
But your wife is not your servant.
Your wife is your partner.
And however you just split that up, whether you both work, one of you works, I don't care
what it is.
You are their partner and your responsibility is to come and meet them 100% of the way.
No, I didn't say 50% 100% of the way.
Each person gives 100% into the relationship.
Oh, the like, oh, it's a 50 50 split and married biggest lie you will ever hear.
If anybody tells you that as you're getting ready to get married, go talk to somebody
else.
Like, no, you are supposed to give 100% into your marriage.
Do you know what happens when two people take a test and they both get a 50%?
They both fail.
And so you're supposed to give 100% into your marriage.
And that doesn't matter if you're the husband, if you're the wife, you're supposed to give
100% into the marriage.
Okay.
So we're talking about husbands and wives, but we're talking about partnering with God.
And frequently throughout scripture, there's going to be this tongue in cheek comparison
between marriage and partnering with God, because we're meant to be partners, right?
Where in fact, the church is called the bride of Christ.
Yeah.
So one of the things I always want to want to reiterate too is the church is the is the
bride of Christ, which also means when you don't like her, it's still God's bride.
When she's annoying, still God's bride.
When she says things that you don't like and you're like, Oh, I wish she would shut up.
That is still God's bride and he loves her fiercely.
So be really careful.
There's a reason we don't talk about people on this podcast because one, we recognize
they're a part of the bride, just like we are.
And let's take this as a whole body analogy here.
If the church is God's bride, which the church is God's bride.
If we're one entity like that, we put on multiple personalities.
We put on inner turmoil, inner conflict, right?
When we're arguing about these things, we don't actually put ourselves in a place where
we're actually acting like a bride of Christ.
We put ourselves in a place where we are trying to, where we were just fighting conflict within
ourselves and God's coming alongside of us being like, no, I have so much more for you.
So our takeaways on this, right?
Moses is uniquely qualified, but he has an identity crisis.
He doesn't know who he is.
In fact, it even comes up one more time after this when they're actually on their way there
and he hasn't circumcised his kids.
It's a really weird story.
Go check it out.
There's some great material on the Baymau podcast.
Go check it out.
He's living between two worlds and ultimately the call on his life, the thing that he's
been made for, this Exodus, this leading of the people of Israel, he's flopping between
two identities and he can't settle that this is exactly what he was made for.
Stepping into who he's supposed to be.
So much someone got to this go.
He's like, you know, I really don't want to.
And you know what ends up happening at the end of the day?
He ends up going, he ends up being like, yeah, I'm going to step into this.
Right.
And so we need to take note of that.
We need to take note of like, God might be calling you to something that you're like,
man, I don't really want to do this.
And you know what you need to do?
Step into it because it's not necessarily about you, right?
You are uniquely qualified.
You're uniquely gifted for what the Lord's called you to.
But sometimes he's going to call us to things that were like, man, I don't want to do this.
I actually guarantee you it's not about you.
Yeah.
Because God says to Abraham, Abraham in chapter 12 of Genesis, I'm going to bless you so that
all the nations around you are going to be blessed.
Yes.
This is the tree we've been grafted into.
The church is meant to be blessed so that all nations would be blessed.
Yeah.
That's so good.
God comes and he, and he, and he touches your life and he gives you an anointing.
He gives you a call.
He gives you an identity.
It's not for you.
Like you get to live in it.
It's great.
You know, God made you a great musician.
You get to live in that, but it's not for you.
It's for those around you.
Yeah.
God made you good at making money.
That's great, but it's not for you.
It's for those around you.
God made you good at cooking.
That's great.
It's not for you.
It's for those around you.
So that the kingdom of God would move forward and his rule and reign would be instituted
throughout the entire earth because God is looking for sons and daughters who will partner
with him to restore a lost world back to him.
And he made you exactly who you need to be.
And remember what his name is.
I always was, I always am, and I always will be with you every single step of the way.
This is the beginning of Exodus.
God is always with us.
He works through us.
He blesses us so that all nations can be blessed in your life right now.
There may be someone in your, in your circle that needs an Exodus.
Listen to the voice of God, know he's with you and go bring the kingdom.
Yes.
So good.
Thank you all for listening.
Email, love and context at gmail.com.
Also follow us on Instagram at love and context.
I said context.
Love and context.
Yeah.
Not contact.
Oh man.
So yeah.
So those are two ways to get ahold of us right now if you want.
We are on Apple and Spotify.
There might be more options coming soon, but that's where you can find us.
If you like what you're hearing and you know somebody who you think needs to hear this,
please share this with them.
We're not, we're not doing this to gain fame.
We don't really like if, if 10 people are blessed from this, wonderful.
Yeah.
If a thousand people are blessed from this, wonderful.
We want you guys to help us draw people in who you think would be blessed by this conversation.
We're going to speak the kingdom and let God do with it what he's going to do.
Yeah.
And so if you think people can benefit from this conversation, we want to invite him into
it.
We're, we're called to be faithful.
God's in charge of the outcome.
Exactly.
So thanks for listening guys until next time.
Thank you so much for listening today.
We hope you enjoyed this podcast and we hope that you got something out of it.
If you have any questions, please contact us at love and context at gmail.com.
You can also follow us on Instagram and message us through their Instagram is love and context.
Again, love and context at gmail.com or Instagram are the two ways to get ahold of us.
If you would like, thank you once again.
We really appreciate you being here.
God bless.
Now I'm a guy and I still do that.
Thanks.
Right.
You do that again.
I, I was trying to guess, but all I ended up doing was making a really loud like inhale.
Yeah.
She wrote a book called the hiding place based on her experiences in, in world war two, specifically
living in crap.
Where'd she from?
I think it's, I think it's, and this is part of the podcast where you get to cast your
votes.
Where was Corey Tim boom from?
Love and context.
It's podcast with Ben and Spencer and you're here.
So at this point you're stuck with us, I guess.
Oh man.
Sure.
I think I can use that as the intro.