WEBVTT 00:00:00.850 --> 00:00:03.229 Welcome to those of you online this morning. 00:00:03.450 --> 00:00:06.049 We are so excited that we get to do this together. 00:00:06.209 --> 00:00:09.070 We get to gather, we get to worship together, 00:00:09.169 --> 00:00:12.210 and hopefully your time has been special where 00:00:12.210 --> 00:00:14.789 you are. Baghdad, that's you. Paulding, that's 00:00:14.789 --> 00:00:16.629 you. We're excited for what God is doing in those 00:00:16.629 --> 00:00:18.929 communities. I had a moment this week, I was 00:00:18.929 --> 00:00:22.910 at Starbucks, and no plug for Starbucks, by the 00:00:22.910 --> 00:00:26.969 way, I was just there. But in the process, I 00:00:26.969 --> 00:00:30.379 got to meet a couple, Terry and Linda, who are 00:00:30.379 --> 00:00:33.799 in People's Valley. And they were so excited 00:00:33.799 --> 00:00:36.579 to go, hey, we are there every week on the online 00:00:36.579 --> 00:00:40.140 family. So Terry and Linda, welcome to you. It 00:00:40.140 --> 00:00:41.840 was great to meet you, and we're glad you're 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:48.539 here. Well, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. 00:00:48.679 --> 00:00:53.219 We're glad you're here. I love when worship, 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:58.039 when we get to worship in song and in the... 00:00:58.439 --> 00:01:01.219 process of doing that, we get to put language 00:01:01.219 --> 00:01:04.239 to things that are real. I don't know if you 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:06.359 caught it within that What a God song, but just 00:01:06.359 --> 00:01:13.959 the idea that in the crowd, God sees you. God 00:01:13.959 --> 00:01:16.659 is present with you. And sometimes in the midst 00:01:16.659 --> 00:01:19.739 of a crowd, it can be easy to be like, you know, 00:01:19.739 --> 00:01:22.439 does God really see me? Like if we're really 00:01:22.439 --> 00:01:24.579 honest, some of you, some of you, you are like 00:01:24.579 --> 00:01:27.209 ninjas on your way in here. What do I mean by 00:01:27.209 --> 00:01:29.870 that? Like you think it's a challenge to get 00:01:29.870 --> 00:01:32.709 past the guest services team. Right. So so you're 00:01:32.709 --> 00:01:34.569 avoiding the guest service team. You're sliding 00:01:34.569 --> 00:01:37.469 in behind people. You even do a walk by on the 00:01:37.469 --> 00:01:39.790 little refreshment thing. Like you grab the cup 00:01:39.790 --> 00:01:42.129 that's there so that you don't stop. Nobody sees 00:01:42.129 --> 00:01:44.469 you. Then you you make it in here and you slide 00:01:44.469 --> 00:01:46.469 into your seat and you're like, OK, I'm in a 00:01:46.469 --> 00:01:52.430 crowd. But the beauty is God sees you. He knows 00:01:52.430 --> 00:01:55.340 you. So even in the midst of a crowd, right, 00:01:55.480 --> 00:02:00.120 like the excitement for me is that God is going 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:04.319 to speak to you. That's the anticipation. That 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:08.699 within that song, the reality of like the highest 00:02:08.699 --> 00:02:11.400 place, if the highest place I ever reach is at 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:16.960 your feet, man, it doesn't get any better. I've 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:20.530 done it all. And we can sing these lofty songs, 00:02:20.689 --> 00:02:24.669 right? Like you are my everything. And just like 00:02:24.669 --> 00:02:27.229 Miko's, I love Miko's honesty because what she's 00:02:27.229 --> 00:02:31.229 expressing is this idea of spiritual maturity, 00:02:31.590 --> 00:02:34.210 right? Like what spiritual maturity is, is when 00:02:34.210 --> 00:02:39.449 what I know is actually what I live. And that's 00:02:39.449 --> 00:02:41.270 when you know you become mature in your faith. 00:02:41.469 --> 00:02:44.469 That's the goal of this, right? Like that we 00:02:44.469 --> 00:02:47.169 would know and we would take actions to become 00:02:47.169 --> 00:02:50.250 who God says we are. And when that gap begins 00:02:50.250 --> 00:02:52.949 to close is actually when you begin to become 00:02:52.949 --> 00:02:55.990 spiritually mature. When you do what God has 00:02:55.990 --> 00:02:58.330 told you to do. When you do what you know to 00:02:58.330 --> 00:03:00.870 be true. Here's the honest truth. We don't need 00:03:00.870 --> 00:03:04.060 more information. Most of you, if you've been 00:03:04.060 --> 00:03:05.319 around church, if you haven't been around church, 00:03:05.419 --> 00:03:06.699 that might be a different story. But if you've 00:03:06.699 --> 00:03:08.219 been around church for any length of time and 00:03:08.219 --> 00:03:10.400 you've heard a few sermons along the way or messages 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:12.680 or talks or whatever you want to call them, and 00:03:12.680 --> 00:03:17.860 you go, you know what? I could dare say you have 00:03:17.860 --> 00:03:20.060 all the information you will ever need to live 00:03:20.060 --> 00:03:21.759 the Christian life. You just need to put it into 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:24.699 action. And one of the things we do when we gather 00:03:24.699 --> 00:03:26.960 in here is we're just bringing it back and going, 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:30.039 you know what? There are gaps in my life. I sing 00:03:30.039 --> 00:03:33.139 he's my everything, but then, uh. Not really. 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:36.300 And so that's a spiritual gap, right? That you've 00:03:36.300 --> 00:03:40.340 got to close up if you're going to mature. We're 00:03:40.340 --> 00:03:43.900 heading into a new collection of talks. It's 00:03:43.900 --> 00:03:47.979 called Snapshots. The word snapshot is really 00:03:47.979 --> 00:03:50.460 interesting because the word snapshot comes from 00:03:50.460 --> 00:03:54.319 in the 1800s. If you were to go hunting and you 00:03:54.319 --> 00:03:57.240 were not to aim, you were just to grab your gun 00:03:57.240 --> 00:04:00.240 and take a quick shot. That's what a snapshot 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:03.319 was. And then later in the 1800s, photography 00:04:03.319 --> 00:04:07.919 got a hold of the word. At that point, you had 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:10.419 to have an elaborate setup and exposure, and 00:04:10.419 --> 00:04:13.759 so it took time. But a snapshot was you didn't 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:15.599 take time to do any of that. You just took a 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:18.339 quick snapshot, and whatever you captured, you 00:04:18.339 --> 00:04:21.019 captured. And what we hope to do over the next 00:04:21.019 --> 00:04:24.860 weeks together is we hope to build these pictures, 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:28.519 if you like, these captured moments. of this 00:04:28.519 --> 00:04:31.939 is who God is. You realize your faith starts 00:04:31.939 --> 00:04:35.379 and ends with who God is. The size of your faith 00:04:35.379 --> 00:04:37.680 and your walk is all dependent on the view that 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:40.480 you have of God. And so over the next weeks, 00:04:40.519 --> 00:04:42.439 what we're going to kind of lean into is this 00:04:42.439 --> 00:04:46.139 idea of what a God and creating this picture 00:04:46.139 --> 00:04:48.800 of this is who this God is. And so the way we're 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:50.519 going to do it is we're going to work through 00:04:50.519 --> 00:04:53.699 some of the book of Exodus. But we're just going 00:04:53.699 --> 00:04:55.959 to take snapshots. We're just going to grab moments 00:04:55.959 --> 00:04:59.560 and capture moments and put, hopefully, color 00:04:59.560 --> 00:05:03.139 around them that we go, man, what a God. What 00:05:03.139 --> 00:05:05.519 a God. And then hopefully what happens is we 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:08.500 begin to sync up. We begin to sync up some of 00:05:08.500 --> 00:05:11.500 our actions with what we know to be true. And 00:05:11.500 --> 00:05:12.800 so whether you're here in the room or you're 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:14.959 across the screen, that's our goal over the next 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:17.360 weeks together as a family. And this week, we're 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:21.180 going to start with a topic. that is around the 00:05:21.180 --> 00:05:24.019 idea of fear. You realize there's all different 00:05:24.019 --> 00:05:27.019 kinds of fear, right? And if we were to break 00:05:27.019 --> 00:05:29.259 down this room and if you're an Enneagram person, 00:05:29.420 --> 00:05:32.399 there's Enneagram sixes. If you're here, you've 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:34.839 already figured out every what if could happen 00:05:34.839 --> 00:05:37.439 in this space and what your exit plan is. Like 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:38.839 you already have it in place because you live 00:05:38.839 --> 00:05:40.959 in the world of what if something goes wrong, 00:05:41.060 --> 00:05:43.699 right? And so there's a natural, if you're an 00:05:43.699 --> 00:05:46.160 Enneagram six, there's a natural. kind of bent 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:48.000 on your life, that you're just going to navigate 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:50.160 life, figuring out all the things that could 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:53.540 go wrong and them not happening. It's a fear 00:05:53.540 --> 00:05:57.160 perspective, right? There's physical fear. Last 00:05:57.160 --> 00:06:00.000 summer, I got to go. My wife and I were away. 00:06:00.040 --> 00:06:03.160 We were in the mountains in California. And part 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:06.579 of the day, my wife goes, there's only one thing 00:06:06.579 --> 00:06:09.959 I really would like to try to do. And she goes 00:06:09.959 --> 00:06:13.910 like this. hike, but it's not really a hike. 00:06:14.009 --> 00:06:16.110 Now, if you know me and you know her, we don't 00:06:16.110 --> 00:06:18.689 really hike, we walk, right? Like we go on walks 00:06:18.689 --> 00:06:21.250 together, not a hike together. And so when she 00:06:21.250 --> 00:06:24.089 says this, I'm like, what, for what? That's the 00:06:24.089 --> 00:06:25.689 first thing, right? Like if we're going to go 00:06:25.689 --> 00:06:29.370 walk, why are we walking? And she goes, okay, 00:06:29.410 --> 00:06:31.529 there's this heart -shaped rock that's at this 00:06:31.529 --> 00:06:34.889 waterfall and it sounds very cute and romantic, 00:06:34.930 --> 00:06:36.949 right? And she's like, it's an easy walk. Everybody 00:06:36.949 --> 00:06:40.120 says it's easy. And so Literally, we go, this 00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:42.220 is how prepared I am. I got a plastic water bottle 00:06:42.220 --> 00:06:44.920 and I got these new shoes that I was trying to 00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:46.660 break in, these tennis shoes I had. I was like, 00:06:46.699 --> 00:06:48.220 I'll just break them in on this walk, right? 00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:50.180 Like it's supposed to be around a mile there, 00:06:50.199 --> 00:06:54.040 a mile back. So we get going and it's this nice 00:06:54.040 --> 00:06:57.139 path. And then all of a sudden, it starts to 00:06:57.139 --> 00:06:59.379 turn into this narrow path. And you're kind of 00:06:59.379 --> 00:07:00.959 working your way through rocks and different 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:03.680 things. And we're seeing people along the way. 00:07:03.800 --> 00:07:05.420 And so we stopped at one point and went, hey, 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:07.480 are we on the right path? Because we thought 00:07:07.480 --> 00:07:10.100 this was a walk, not a hike. Like, is this right? 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:11.879 And they're like, oh, yeah, you just need to 00:07:11.879 --> 00:07:13.480 keep going up there, down there, over there. 00:07:13.639 --> 00:07:17.019 I'm like, that doesn't sound easy. And so we 00:07:17.019 --> 00:07:19.740 keep going because she's got her heart set on 00:07:19.740 --> 00:07:22.040 seeing this hard rock. So now it's getting a 00:07:22.040 --> 00:07:25.100 little harder. And so I'm like. I'll do the manly 00:07:25.100 --> 00:07:27.040 thing. I'll go in front of you and help you down, 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:31.300 right? And so I'm helping her through, and we're 00:07:31.300 --> 00:07:33.560 getting down. And I go to step, and all of a 00:07:33.560 --> 00:07:37.860 sudden, I just hear rattles. Now, I'm not totally 00:07:37.860 --> 00:07:41.240 sure what happened in that moment. I don't know 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:43.720 if I put this foot down and launched from this 00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:46.740 foot or if I launched from my standing leg. But 00:07:46.740 --> 00:07:49.300 what I do know is this. I don't know much about 00:07:49.300 --> 00:07:52.269 the outdoors, but I've been told. That if it 00:07:52.269 --> 00:07:54.850 is a baby rattlesnake, they are much more deadly 00:07:54.850 --> 00:07:58.769 than an adult rattlesnake. This was a baby rattlesnake, 00:07:58.810 --> 00:08:02.629 and it was coiled and ready to strike. And so 00:08:02.629 --> 00:08:06.050 I just went this direction. There was no thought. 00:08:06.129 --> 00:08:09.209 There was no, like, I'm out of here, right? Well, 00:08:09.269 --> 00:08:10.649 what I didn't know is there was a nine -foot 00:08:10.649 --> 00:08:15.430 drop. And so I launch over this edge. Thankfully, 00:08:15.569 --> 00:08:17.490 I had these new shoes. God was out in front of 00:08:17.490 --> 00:08:20.100 me protecting the stupid, right? And they were 00:08:20.100 --> 00:08:22.560 wide and stopped my ankle from rolling. And so 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:26.220 I land nine feet down with the rattlesnake up 00:08:26.220 --> 00:08:29.279 there and my wife up there. And I'm like, I'm 00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:33.940 safe. We're good. So there's physical fear, right? 00:08:34.039 --> 00:08:36.779 There are things that instantly cause fear in 00:08:36.779 --> 00:08:40.740 us. And we hit this like moment of I'm going 00:08:40.740 --> 00:08:42.779 to stay and fight or I'm going to jump off a 00:08:42.779 --> 00:08:46.600 cliff like I'm just one or the other. There's 00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:50.259 also cognitive fear. And cognitive fear happens 00:08:50.259 --> 00:08:52.860 between your ears. It happens in your mental 00:08:52.860 --> 00:08:56.539 processing. And cognitive fear is much different. 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:03.360 Cognitive fear in my 20s, we were going to be 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:05.200 missionaries, so we'd gone to this training center 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:06.960 that taught you how to learn a language that 00:09:06.960 --> 00:09:09.679 was unwritten. And I'll be honest with you, it 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:11.580 took me a year and a half to get to that school. 00:09:12.269 --> 00:09:14.450 Because in high school, I'd failed French and 00:09:14.450 --> 00:09:16.549 German. So God and I, for a year and a half, 00:09:16.629 --> 00:09:18.629 had these conversations around, I don't know 00:09:18.629 --> 00:09:20.470 why you're making me go. This is dumb. Why are 00:09:20.470 --> 00:09:22.429 you making me go? You know I'm not good at this. 00:09:22.450 --> 00:09:23.990 It's just for you to prove that I'm not good 00:09:23.990 --> 00:09:25.809 at this, and we're going to go. So I've got all 00:09:25.809 --> 00:09:28.730 this wound up, all happening between my ears 00:09:28.730 --> 00:09:31.710 fear. Well, I go to language school, and I got 00:09:31.710 --> 00:09:34.610 straight A's. God had gifted me for it, and I 00:09:34.610 --> 00:09:38.669 didn't even know it. So we get there, and partway 00:09:38.669 --> 00:09:40.389 through that year, they go, hey, you know what? 00:09:40.700 --> 00:09:45.100 Would you stay and be an instructor? No. Right. 00:09:45.220 --> 00:09:47.559 Like we got plans. We're going. And so we start 00:09:47.559 --> 00:09:49.399 to chat with God and God goes, hey, you need 00:09:49.399 --> 00:09:52.179 to stay and do this. I was like, God, I don't 00:09:52.179 --> 00:09:55.340 want to. I'm not good at this. Why would you 00:09:55.340 --> 00:09:58.559 make me? And then so so we God is God. And so 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:01.179 we stayed. And now we're in the middle of that 00:10:01.179 --> 00:10:02.580 year of teaching because I told him you only 00:10:02.580 --> 00:10:04.519 get one year. We're in the middle of that. The 00:10:04.519 --> 00:10:07.740 Canadian side, right, so now we're talking another 00:10:07.740 --> 00:10:10.700 country, contacts this school and goes, hey, 00:10:10.779 --> 00:10:13.399 we want to, right, the same mission organization, 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:16.759 we want to start a language school for our Canadian 00:10:16.759 --> 00:10:21.120 students. Would you be willing to, do you have 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:23.480 anybody who would be, who you'd recommend to 00:10:23.480 --> 00:10:26.879 do this? How my name got put in there, I still 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:30.240 don't understand. But all of a sudden I'm sitting 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:31.700 with this leadership team and they're like, hey, 00:10:31.700 --> 00:10:34.039 would you consider going to Canada and starting 00:10:34.039 --> 00:10:36.100 a language? I'm like, it's one thing to teach 00:10:36.100 --> 00:10:37.759 other people's curriculum. It's another thing 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:40.000 to show up and you're supposed to be the one 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.960 creating it. I'm like, no. And then God said, 00:10:45.139 --> 00:10:49.720 hey, you're going to go. And I can't tell you 00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:52.039 how many conversations with God were wrapped 00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:54.860 around not wanting to go. Long story short, we 00:10:54.860 --> 00:10:56.679 ended up there for five and a half years and 00:10:56.679 --> 00:11:01.039 the school is still going. But isn't it interesting, 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:05.720 the thoughts that we have around our fears? I 00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:08.700 would dare say you're sitting here, if you're 00:11:08.700 --> 00:11:13.440 human, you have some fears. You have things in 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:18.639 your world that you know God is calling you to. 00:11:19.340 --> 00:11:21.580 And it doesn't mean that those are go start a 00:11:21.580 --> 00:11:26.029 language school in Canada. It may be as simple 00:11:26.029 --> 00:11:28.409 as you're in a relationship that you know you 00:11:28.409 --> 00:11:31.590 shouldn't be in and you're scared to leave because 00:11:31.590 --> 00:11:34.529 you got every what if on the planet. You may 00:11:34.529 --> 00:11:37.009 know that you're here and you know God's calling 00:11:37.009 --> 00:11:39.870 you to shift careers and you're terrified of 00:11:39.870 --> 00:11:42.629 shifting careers. You may be here and you're 00:11:42.629 --> 00:11:45.350 just like, you know what? I don't know if God's 00:11:45.350 --> 00:11:49.350 actually going to provide. There's all these 00:11:49.350 --> 00:11:51.570 different areas of life, raising kids. You want 00:11:51.570 --> 00:11:55.460 to talk about fear? Have some kids. Right? Every 00:11:55.460 --> 00:12:00.580 fear comes in. And fear is a part of this journey. 00:12:01.299 --> 00:12:05.360 And what we see in Exodus chapter 3, the context 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:08.980 of Exodus chapter 3, what's happened before this 00:12:08.980 --> 00:12:11.600 is the nation of Israel have been enslaved. And 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:15.139 when you hear enslaved, think of the most oppressive 00:12:15.139 --> 00:12:17.820 state you can be in, right? Like the emperor 00:12:17.820 --> 00:12:20.059 at one point determines that, hey, I'm going 00:12:20.059 --> 00:12:24.210 to have all the babies. all the male babies killed 00:12:24.210 --> 00:12:27.470 that are Israelites. So any male babies that 00:12:27.470 --> 00:12:28.889 are born, you gotta put them to death right where 00:12:28.889 --> 00:12:30.669 they are. That's the kind of oppression they 00:12:30.669 --> 00:12:33.570 are under. And so in the midst of this oppression, 00:12:33.909 --> 00:12:37.070 right, they begin to get to the point they're 00:12:37.070 --> 00:12:39.509 so overwhelmed that they cry out to God. The 00:12:39.509 --> 00:12:43.350 Israelites go, hey, you gotta save us. We need 00:12:43.350 --> 00:12:47.230 some help down here. To which, to which, and 00:12:47.230 --> 00:12:49.049 this is something that's worth just noting away 00:12:49.049 --> 00:12:53.019 on who God is. God always answers the cry of 00:12:53.019 --> 00:12:56.480 the oppressed. God always hears it and always 00:12:56.480 --> 00:12:59.799 answers. How do I know there is a cross stained 00:12:59.799 --> 00:13:03.179 red? And that is out of our oppression to sin, 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:05.519 our oppression to brokenness, that God showed 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:08.080 up to rescue us. And so what you have in the 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:11.299 story of Exodus is you have these pictures of 00:13:11.299 --> 00:13:13.639 the gospel, right? They're in a physical rescue. 00:13:13.740 --> 00:13:16.460 We have a spiritual rescue. And so all the way 00:13:16.460 --> 00:13:18.159 through, you kind of get these pictures that 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:20.840 correlate to who we are and create this bigger 00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:24.639 picture of who God is. And so they cry out to 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:28.429 God and God answers them this way. Chapter 3, 00:13:28.470 --> 00:13:31.490 verse 1. Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, 00:13:31.570 --> 00:13:34.409 his father -in -law, the priest of Midian. And 00:13:34.409 --> 00:13:36.549 he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness 00:13:36.549 --> 00:13:39.590 and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. So catch 00:13:39.590 --> 00:13:41.669 everybody up, same speed. We got this character 00:13:41.669 --> 00:13:45.009 named Moses. Mo for short, if that's your thing. 00:13:45.289 --> 00:13:50.889 But what Mo does, he has got a history to his 00:13:50.889 --> 00:13:54.049 life at this point. And that history is that 00:13:54.049 --> 00:13:56.850 when he was born, he was one of those babies 00:13:56.850 --> 00:13:59.649 that should have been put to death. But his mama 00:13:59.649 --> 00:14:02.970 put him in a basket, hid him, and sent him down 00:14:02.970 --> 00:14:06.409 the river. Now, under God's guiding hand, wouldn't 00:14:06.409 --> 00:14:09.490 you know that Moe ends up at the house of the 00:14:09.490 --> 00:14:13.169 empire? He ends up at Pharaoh's house. Pharaoh, 00:14:13.190 --> 00:14:18.139 think of... Every single person you can think 00:14:18.139 --> 00:14:20.919 of on the planet, Pharaoh is the most powerful 00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:23.960 person on the entire planet who runs the largest 00:14:23.960 --> 00:14:27.299 empire on the planet. That is the house that 00:14:27.299 --> 00:14:29.679 this baby ends up at. His daughter ends up raising 00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:32.480 him. And partway through Mo's story, what you 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:36.600 get is that partway through he realizes, hey, 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:39.539 I'm an Israelite and they're my people. And then 00:14:39.539 --> 00:14:41.500 he sees them mistreated. So what does he do? 00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:43.419 He goes to protect, ends up killing one of them, 00:14:43.460 --> 00:14:46.259 buries them. But the rumor mill has already started. 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:48.559 And now he's concerned it's going to get back 00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:50.120 to Pharaoh. Pharaoh's going to want to kill me. 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:54.440 And so he runs. He's 40 years old when that happens. 00:14:55.159 --> 00:14:58.139 And so he takes off. At this point when we meet 00:14:58.139 --> 00:15:02.700 him, what we get is that now he is looking after 00:15:02.700 --> 00:15:07.250 the herds of his father -in -law. And it specifically 00:15:07.250 --> 00:15:10.029 says, listen to the phrase it gives us. He led 00:15:10.029 --> 00:15:14.330 the flock to the far side of the wilderness. 00:15:15.490 --> 00:15:17.649 One of the things I love about the Bible, you 00:15:17.649 --> 00:15:21.470 guys, is the language is so rich, right? Like 00:15:21.470 --> 00:15:24.370 the language here of the far side of the wilderness, 00:15:24.730 --> 00:15:30.120 that far side is the unseen space. Wilderness 00:15:30.120 --> 00:15:34.840 is deserted, right? Like wilderness is that it's 00:15:34.840 --> 00:15:38.100 unseen, but it's also, there's no ownership. 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:41.820 Nobody owns the land. And so when you get to 00:15:41.820 --> 00:15:44.879 the land, right, now nobody owns it, so there's 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:49.799 no identity. So he's in an unseen place where 00:15:49.799 --> 00:15:52.720 there's no identity attached to anything around 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:59.490 him. He's unseen. And it's in the midst of him 00:15:59.490 --> 00:16:03.129 being on the far side, as far away as he can 00:16:03.129 --> 00:16:08.929 get, that it says this. There the angel of the 00:16:08.929 --> 00:16:11.789 Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within 00:16:11.789 --> 00:16:15.509 a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on 00:16:15.509 --> 00:16:18.629 fire, it did not burn up. So Moses thought, I 00:16:18.629 --> 00:16:20.629 will go over and see this strange sight. Why 00:16:20.629 --> 00:16:23.049 did the bush, why the bush does not burn up? 00:16:23.809 --> 00:16:26.110 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, 00:16:26.190 --> 00:16:28.950 he called. God called to him from within the 00:16:28.950 --> 00:16:34.169 bush, Moses, Moses. And Moses said, here I am. 00:16:34.549 --> 00:16:37.850 Do not come any closer, God said. Take off your 00:16:37.850 --> 00:16:39.970 sandals for the place where you are standing 00:16:39.970 --> 00:16:44.809 is holy ground. Then he said, I am the God of 00:16:44.809 --> 00:16:47.370 your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, 00:16:47.509 --> 00:16:51.309 the God of Jacob. At this, Moses hid his face 00:16:51.309 --> 00:16:56.590 because he was afraid to look at God. So you 00:16:56.590 --> 00:17:00.570 have this moment on the far side of the wilderness 00:17:00.570 --> 00:17:04.589 where he thinks he is unseen, where he is unknown, 00:17:04.829 --> 00:17:07.069 where he is not identified by anything around 00:17:07.069 --> 00:17:10.730 him. And it's in the midst of that that it says 00:17:10.730 --> 00:17:14.269 that God shows up. And the language here is super 00:17:14.269 --> 00:17:16.529 important because the word in the original for 00:17:16.529 --> 00:17:20.910 bush has to do with it is small. It is covered 00:17:20.910 --> 00:17:24.400 in thorns and it is common. So some people want 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:26.279 to say, well, it was a tree. It wasn't a tree. 00:17:27.420 --> 00:17:29.539 It's intentional, the language that was used. 00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:33.140 It is small, covered in thorns, and it is common. 00:17:33.339 --> 00:17:36.579 Why is this important? Because remember, everything 00:17:36.579 --> 00:17:38.819 in the Bible is pointing forward to who? To the 00:17:38.819 --> 00:17:40.519 person of Jesus, pointing forward to what he's 00:17:40.519 --> 00:17:43.599 going to do. And so in the midst of this moment 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:46.839 where God shows up and it's a fire and it's not 00:17:46.839 --> 00:17:51.640 consuming, there's something that we learn about 00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:58.849 God. That he came and his presence was where? 00:17:58.970 --> 00:18:03.829 In the small, not the grand. Well, wait a minute. 00:18:04.690 --> 00:18:09.369 When Jesus came, where did Jesus come? He came 00:18:09.369 --> 00:18:13.730 as a baby. I don't know if you know this or not. 00:18:13.809 --> 00:18:16.650 We're not very big. Like humanity, we're just 00:18:16.650 --> 00:18:19.450 not very big. What do I mean by that? I don't 00:18:19.450 --> 00:18:21.049 know if you had this moment, but this week about 00:18:21.049 --> 00:18:24.490 1130 at my house, roughly. I was dead asleep 00:18:24.490 --> 00:18:28.690 and out of nowhere, there was this bang of thunder 00:18:28.690 --> 00:18:31.069 so loud. There was this bang outside my house, 00:18:31.109 --> 00:18:33.450 lightning thunder. And what happened? I literally 00:18:33.450 --> 00:18:35.549 went, okay, Jesus, we're going home. Like it 00:18:35.549 --> 00:18:39.250 was one of those moments. It was so loud. But 00:18:39.250 --> 00:18:41.069 in those moments, what do you realize? I'm really 00:18:41.069 --> 00:18:47.329 not very big. Hey, we live in Arizona. You don't 00:18:47.329 --> 00:18:49.549 have to go outside. And you go, I don't control 00:18:49.549 --> 00:18:55.359 a whole lot of stuff. When I see the sky. Right? 00:18:55.400 --> 00:18:58.059 Where is Jesus found? He comes in the smallest 00:18:58.059 --> 00:19:03.980 way. He comes to this moment, and if you continue 00:19:03.980 --> 00:19:06.359 to follow this through, right? So he comes to 00:19:06.359 --> 00:19:08.900 the small, to the human, to the fragile. And 00:19:08.900 --> 00:19:11.900 in the midst of that, what's also true of humanity 00:19:11.900 --> 00:19:14.640 is if you follow the story backwards to the beginning, 00:19:14.819 --> 00:19:17.299 what you find in the beginning is when humanity 00:19:17.299 --> 00:19:19.319 make a choice to go against God, we call that 00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:21.440 sin, right? When they went against God, what 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:24.859 was told is that God cursed. He placed a curse. 00:19:24.920 --> 00:19:28.700 And what was one of the curses? Thorns. And so 00:19:28.700 --> 00:19:31.440 what you get a picture of in this, In this small 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:34.680 bush that God essentially shows up in is that 00:19:34.680 --> 00:19:39.079 he comes where? In the midst of the curse. When 00:19:39.079 --> 00:19:42.880 God shows up on the planet and he is born of 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:44.779 a baby, where is he coming inside of? He's coming 00:19:44.779 --> 00:19:48.099 inside of a humanity that is cursed. You and 00:19:48.099 --> 00:19:50.839 me, whether we like it or not, we are born onto 00:19:50.839 --> 00:19:54.940 a broken planet, onto a cursed planet. We are 00:19:54.940 --> 00:19:57.539 born separated from God. And in the midst of 00:19:57.539 --> 00:20:01.079 that, we are under the curse. And where does 00:20:01.079 --> 00:20:04.799 God show up? In the midst of the curse. I don't 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:07.480 think it's lost, you guys, that when he goes 00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:10.940 to the cross, he has a crown of what? Thorns. 00:20:12.200 --> 00:20:14.880 That the curse was thinking it was winning and 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:17.519 it was losing. Why? Because Jesus showed up. 00:20:17.740 --> 00:20:22.200 He was present. And so there's this beautiful 00:20:22.200 --> 00:20:25.119 picture that even though we are broken, when 00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:27.539 we say yes to Jesus, the Holy Spirit indwells 00:20:27.539 --> 00:20:30.619 us, right? In our brokenness, God is present. 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:37.079 And you're not consumed by him, but he is present. 00:20:38.220 --> 00:20:40.319 And then the last thing about the bush is what? 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:44.940 That it is common. It is common. I love that 00:20:44.940 --> 00:20:47.559 the presence of God took an ordinary thing. I 00:20:47.559 --> 00:20:49.019 don't know how many were there, but if you picture 00:20:49.019 --> 00:20:50.779 like common bushes out in the wild, there's just 00:20:50.779 --> 00:20:53.700 thousands of them, right? And God chose this 00:20:53.700 --> 00:20:56.700 common bush and what happened? It became extraordinary. 00:20:56.900 --> 00:21:00.420 Why? Because God's presence showed up. You know 00:21:00.420 --> 00:21:02.960 what's amazing? We aren't very big. We aren't 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:06.000 like in comparison to everything. We're not in 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:10.099 control of nothing. And yet God chooses, God 00:21:10.099 --> 00:21:13.660 chooses the common, the common to put his presence 00:21:13.660 --> 00:21:16.200 in. And what happens? is there's a moment where 00:21:16.200 --> 00:21:20.440 it becomes extraordinary. You might put it this 00:21:20.440 --> 00:21:22.380 way. This language has been chasing me for a 00:21:22.380 --> 00:21:27.019 while. That what is natural in heaven, right? 00:21:27.079 --> 00:21:30.359 Like what is true in heaven today, when it shows 00:21:30.359 --> 00:21:35.019 up on earth, it's supernatural. And in you, in 00:21:35.019 --> 00:21:38.019 you, what shows up in the person of God, in the 00:21:38.019 --> 00:21:40.519 person of Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, 00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:43.299 is you are supernatural. Why not? Because you're 00:21:43.299 --> 00:21:46.619 something. But because he's something and his 00:21:46.619 --> 00:21:50.319 presence is in you. And so just like this moment 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:54.940 where Moses is having this moment with God, he 00:21:54.940 --> 00:21:56.900 says, remove your sandals because you're on holy 00:21:56.900 --> 00:21:59.599 ground. Why is the ground holy? Because the presence 00:21:59.599 --> 00:22:03.240 of God is now where? There. What happens to you 00:22:03.240 --> 00:22:05.559 in the New Testament when you say yes to Jesus 00:22:05.559 --> 00:22:07.579 and the Holy Spirit indwells you? What do the 00:22:07.579 --> 00:22:10.279 New Testament writers call you? They call you 00:22:10.279 --> 00:22:13.539 holy and blameless. Why? Because the presence 00:22:13.539 --> 00:22:16.819 of God is in you, which means that today, whether 00:22:16.819 --> 00:22:20.480 you feel it or not, you are holy before God. 00:22:20.519 --> 00:22:23.440 You are blameless before God. Why? Because the 00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:25.839 presence of God is in you. Just like the ground 00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:28.359 became holy, you are holy because the presence 00:22:28.359 --> 00:22:31.539 of God is in you. It's this beautiful picture. 00:22:32.740 --> 00:22:35.099 It's this beautiful picture of his people and 00:22:35.099 --> 00:22:37.359 who we're becoming, that we would be holy. And 00:22:37.359 --> 00:22:40.160 notice Moses' reaction. He ends up hiding his 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:46.799 face because he's afraid. And then down in verse 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:48.900 10, it says this. God's still speaking to Moses. 00:22:48.940 --> 00:22:52.859 He goes, so now go. I am sending you to Pharaoh. 00:22:53.319 --> 00:22:55.279 Remember the most powerful person on earth? To 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:58.880 bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:02.380 So this is what I'm doing. I'm sending you, Moses. 00:23:03.180 --> 00:23:06.900 But Moses said to God, who am I that I should 00:23:06.900 --> 00:23:09.779 go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of 00:23:09.779 --> 00:23:13.700 Egypt? You see what happened there, right? They 00:23:13.700 --> 00:23:16.700 learned something about God. But then between 00:23:16.700 --> 00:23:20.960 his ears, he got to thinking. And as he gets 00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:23.359 to thinking, his eyes go to himself and he goes, 00:23:23.400 --> 00:23:28.559 who am I? Fear begins to come in, right? Because 00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:30.859 what he does is he starts to look at his inadequacies. 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:36.420 Like, God, do you know who I am? Like his insecurities, 00:23:36.440 --> 00:23:38.400 like I'm not enough for this task that you're 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:42.509 calling me to. And so now this cognitive fear 00:23:42.509 --> 00:23:44.490 begins to go. And so in verse 12, it says, and 00:23:44.490 --> 00:23:47.150 God said, I will be with you. And this will be 00:23:47.150 --> 00:23:50.309 a sign to you that it is I who have sent you. 00:23:50.329 --> 00:23:52.670 When you have brought the people out of Egypt, 00:23:52.730 --> 00:23:54.769 you will worship God on this mountain. Verse 00:23:54.769 --> 00:23:58.490 13, Moses said to God, suppose I go to the Israelites 00:23:58.490 --> 00:24:00.269 and say to them, the God of your fathers has 00:24:00.269 --> 00:24:02.569 sent me to you. And they asked me, what is his 00:24:02.569 --> 00:24:05.670 name? Then what shall I tell them? So again, 00:24:05.910 --> 00:24:09.079 he's back where? In his head. And in his head, 00:24:09.099 --> 00:24:12.660 he's going, OK, so if I show up and I go, hey, 00:24:12.759 --> 00:24:15.539 what's that God's name? I don't even know your 00:24:15.539 --> 00:24:18.940 name. Right. Like he's just rationalizing and 00:24:18.940 --> 00:24:20.759 fear is growing inside of him. And he's going, 00:24:20.839 --> 00:24:22.839 he's going, I don't even know who you are. So 00:24:22.839 --> 00:24:25.119 what does God do? God tells him his name. That's 00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:26.539 the next part of it. And then he goes, go to 00:24:26.539 --> 00:24:29.200 the go to the elders of Israel. And when you 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:32.259 get to them, tell them this is what me, God, 00:24:32.500 --> 00:24:36.480 I am who I am. Tell them what I said. Or chapter 00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:39.440 four, verse one. Moses answered, what if, what 00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:43.839 if they do not believe me or listen to me and 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:48.539 say the Lord did not appear to you? I don't know 00:24:48.539 --> 00:24:50.160 how you feel about the Bible, but one of the 00:24:50.160 --> 00:24:55.440 things I love is God didn't edit this out. He 00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:57.000 didn't just strike it out because it's like, 00:24:57.039 --> 00:24:58.740 Moses, this is taking too long. This is out of 00:24:58.740 --> 00:25:02.359 here. But he gives us a real moment. Why? Because 00:25:02.359 --> 00:25:04.539 your faith and my faith are supposed to be real 00:25:04.539 --> 00:25:08.079 with God. And what he has here is very, very 00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:13.220 real thoughts. What if, God, what if I go and 00:25:13.220 --> 00:25:15.680 they don't believe me? You ever had what ifs 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:19.059 with God? God, what if the outcome isn't what 00:25:19.059 --> 00:25:22.859 I want it to be? God, what if I do this for you, 00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:24.779 but I get there, and when I get there, people 00:25:24.779 --> 00:25:26.279 look at me and go, you didn't hear from God. 00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:31.519 What am I going to do? Isn't it funny how tied 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:34.700 down we get by the reactions of other people? 00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:39.900 When you have Almighty God, the one leading you, 00:25:40.059 --> 00:25:43.700 and we get hung up by what this little human's 00:25:43.700 --> 00:25:49.259 going to think? Give me a break. We can be so 00:25:49.259 --> 00:25:53.319 fragile. You ever had that moment where you're 00:25:53.319 --> 00:25:56.099 kind of in a room and you get the sense inside 00:25:56.099 --> 00:25:58.779 of you and you're like, I need to go talk to 00:25:58.779 --> 00:26:02.980 that person. You ever had that? And you're like, 00:26:02.980 --> 00:26:04.940 well, God, I think it's you telling me to go 00:26:04.940 --> 00:26:09.079 talk to them, but what if I do? What if they 00:26:09.079 --> 00:26:13.220 laugh at me? What if they laugh? Your job isn't 00:26:13.220 --> 00:26:15.660 to hold the outcome. Your job is to be obedient 00:26:15.660 --> 00:26:19.930 to Almighty God. Your job is to walk by faith, 00:26:19.990 --> 00:26:23.869 not by fear. Your job is to step into that moment 00:26:23.869 --> 00:26:25.509 and go, you know what, God, I don't understand 00:26:25.509 --> 00:26:28.210 it and I have all these fears, but you're God. 00:26:30.930 --> 00:26:32.930 I mean, the what ifs, you guys, they're real, 00:26:33.029 --> 00:26:41.589 right? What if I give my life to God? Will things 00:26:41.589 --> 00:26:47.859 really change? What if I boldly stand for my 00:26:47.859 --> 00:26:56.980 faith and it costs me my job? What if, God, I 00:26:56.980 --> 00:27:00.720 feel like you're telling me to say this in this 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:03.140 relationship. And if I say that, I just am worried 00:27:03.140 --> 00:27:05.079 that the outcome is going to be not what I want. 00:27:05.180 --> 00:27:08.559 That's not your job. Your job is to be faithful. 00:27:13.059 --> 00:27:15.339 Verse 10 of chapter four, Moses said to the Lord, 00:27:15.400 --> 00:27:17.240 pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been 00:27:17.240 --> 00:27:19.519 eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have 00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:23.180 spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and 00:27:23.180 --> 00:27:27.319 tongue. Can we just like applaud Moses's honesty, 00:27:27.579 --> 00:27:29.559 right? Like what is he getting down to now, right? 00:27:29.619 --> 00:27:34.119 Like he's getting down to this moment of this 00:27:34.119 --> 00:27:36.519 is who I am and these are my real fears. My real 00:27:36.519 --> 00:27:39.740 fears and in the original language, you can come 00:27:39.740 --> 00:27:45.000 to this conclusion. Moses had a stutter. Right 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:47.680 now, couple that stutter with he hasn't been 00:27:47.680 --> 00:27:50.480 in Egypt for 40 years. And if you do not use 00:27:50.480 --> 00:27:54.000 language, you lose language. So you have some 00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:56.220 kind of impediment, some kind of stutter. And 00:27:56.220 --> 00:27:58.339 now I'm going to go speak through a different 00:27:58.339 --> 00:28:01.319 language. He's got some real reasons to have 00:28:01.319 --> 00:28:04.539 fear. I don't doubt that your reasons are real 00:28:04.539 --> 00:28:08.099 for your fear. But I love that he gets to a point 00:28:08.099 --> 00:28:12.440 where he's honest with God about it. Verse 11, 00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:15.420 then the Lord said to him, who gave human beings 00:28:15.420 --> 00:28:17.940 their mouths? Who made them deaf or mute? Who 00:28:17.940 --> 00:28:20.599 gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not 00:28:20.599 --> 00:28:24.019 I, the Lord? What does he do? He just reminds 00:28:24.019 --> 00:28:27.000 him of who God is. You see your stutter? Let 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:29.400 me take you back to a picture of what a God. 00:28:31.019 --> 00:28:34.319 And he says, now go. I will help you speak and 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:37.400 will teach you what to say. Verse 13, but Moses 00:28:37.400 --> 00:28:40.160 said, pardon your servant, Lord. Please send 00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:46.779 someone else. It's the best. It's the best. That's 00:28:46.779 --> 00:28:48.640 all good. You're the God that does all that. 00:28:48.700 --> 00:28:53.339 That's great. Send somebody else, please. You 00:28:53.339 --> 00:28:58.019 guys, he had real reasons. Chapter 7, verse 7. 00:28:58.079 --> 00:29:02.740 Listen to this. Moses was 80 years old. And Aaron, 00:29:02.779 --> 00:29:04.940 Aaron's the guy that God sends to be his sidekick, 00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:10.019 right? His Robin the Batman, if you like. Aaron, 00:29:10.019 --> 00:29:15.059 83. When they spoke to Pharaoh. Can you imagine 00:29:15.059 --> 00:29:17.259 like God's asking you to go fight the empire 00:29:17.259 --> 00:29:19.960 and he goes, I'll send in help. And an 83 year 00:29:19.960 --> 00:29:24.240 old shows up. That's like, thanks God. Appreciate 00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:27.400 that one. 20 year olds were all unavailable or 00:29:27.400 --> 00:29:29.539 what? God was like, they're on TikTok. I don't 00:29:29.539 --> 00:29:38.900 know. 80 and 83. Okay, think about it for a second. 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.619 God comes to you. And you're 80 years old. Now, 00:29:44.680 --> 00:29:48.720 what I know about 80 years old, wow, it's easy 00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:52.559 to speak. 80 -year -old people, what I know about 00:29:52.559 --> 00:29:55.839 them, there's a lot of aches and pains. Right? 00:29:56.319 --> 00:29:59.920 There's a lot of, I'm just tired. And it's all 00:29:59.920 --> 00:30:06.920 valid. Imagine being 80 and 83, and as an 80 00:30:06.920 --> 00:30:09.980 -year -old, you got a stutter. And God goes, 00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:14.339 hey. I'm sending you to China. You're going to 00:30:14.339 --> 00:30:19.980 go stand up to him. Excuse me? That's the image. 00:30:20.440 --> 00:30:26.220 The largest empire on earth. And he had real 00:30:26.220 --> 00:30:29.160 reasons for fear, but can I give you the cure 00:30:29.160 --> 00:30:33.519 for fear today? Notice what is said within this, 00:30:33.539 --> 00:30:36.839 right? Go back to chapter 4, verse 12. Now go, 00:30:37.160 --> 00:30:43.609 I, I will help you. you speak and will teach 00:30:43.609 --> 00:30:48.009 you what to say. What is God doing? What is the 00:30:48.009 --> 00:30:51.329 cure for fear? It's to remind yourselves of the 00:30:51.329 --> 00:30:54.569 presence of God. He says, I'm going to be with 00:30:54.569 --> 00:30:58.509 you. I'm going to go with you. And I will what? 00:30:58.589 --> 00:31:01.750 I will help you, Moses. I'll help you take your 00:31:01.750 --> 00:31:04.410 mouth that you think doesn't work. I will help 00:31:04.410 --> 00:31:07.700 you with it. And Moses, I will teach you. That 00:31:07.700 --> 00:31:10.380 word teach, we're chatting about it in our teaching 00:31:10.380 --> 00:31:14.619 prep this week, right? That word teach, it's 00:31:14.619 --> 00:31:17.380 the same root as you get for Torah. Now, what 00:31:17.380 --> 00:31:18.940 is the Torah? First five books of the Bible. 00:31:19.940 --> 00:31:23.140 He's essentially saying the word teach in the 00:31:23.140 --> 00:31:27.000 original is I will instruct you in what? In what 00:31:27.000 --> 00:31:30.339 in their world was everything. I'll instruct 00:31:30.339 --> 00:31:34.690 you, Moses, in everything. And the way the rabbinical, 00:31:34.789 --> 00:31:37.369 the rabbis would kind of process that is it was 00:31:37.369 --> 00:31:41.210 God was going to be a visible instruction when 00:31:41.210 --> 00:31:45.069 Moses went. What a beautiful picture. That the 00:31:45.069 --> 00:31:47.549 God. who created it all, is going to go with 00:31:47.549 --> 00:31:49.769 him. And when he goes with him, he's going to 00:31:49.769 --> 00:31:52.230 help him in his weaknesses. He's going to help 00:31:52.230 --> 00:31:54.109 him in the things that he thinks don't qualify 00:31:54.109 --> 00:31:55.869 him. He's going to help him in those things. 00:31:55.910 --> 00:31:58.230 And what's going to happen? And when he gets 00:31:58.230 --> 00:32:03.170 there, I will be a visible, visible guide into 00:32:03.170 --> 00:32:06.109 everything you need. Okay, okay, connect some 00:32:06.109 --> 00:32:09.049 dots. You ready? The Holy Spirit, when he comes 00:32:09.049 --> 00:32:12.210 to live inside of you, right, it is a seal, meaning 00:32:12.210 --> 00:32:14.569 he ain't leaving. Right. And so what does that 00:32:14.569 --> 00:32:17.549 mean? Everywhere you go, the Holy Spirit goes 00:32:17.549 --> 00:32:20.490 with you. The presence of God goes to wherever 00:32:20.490 --> 00:32:24.190 you go. So there is nowhere when God asks you 00:32:24.190 --> 00:32:26.210 to do something that you go. The presence of 00:32:26.210 --> 00:32:29.069 God doesn't go with me. There's nowhere that 00:32:29.069 --> 00:32:31.670 you can be outside of the presence of God. What 00:32:31.670 --> 00:32:33.990 it means is that when you go, then the things 00:32:33.990 --> 00:32:35.910 that Jesus said about the Holy Spirit are what 00:32:35.910 --> 00:32:38.190 are happening. What did he say about it? He says 00:32:38.190 --> 00:32:40.730 that the Holy Spirit will be your guide. He will 00:32:40.730 --> 00:32:43.759 be your advocate. What is advocate? He will be 00:32:43.759 --> 00:32:47.339 your helper. So when fear is coming, guess what? 00:32:47.400 --> 00:32:49.839 The Holy Spirit is what? Helping you in the midst 00:32:49.839 --> 00:32:52.579 of those fears. And then what's the other part 00:32:52.579 --> 00:32:54.400 that Jesus says about the Holy Spirit? That he 00:32:54.400 --> 00:32:59.759 will guide you in all truth. What you have inside 00:32:59.759 --> 00:33:03.279 of you right now is the cure for fear. That fear 00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:05.700 should never have mastery over you. That fear 00:33:05.700 --> 00:33:08.259 should never be your story. Why? Because the 00:33:08.259 --> 00:33:11.140 indwelling of God himself is in you and he wants 00:33:11.140 --> 00:33:13.779 to guide you and he wants to help you into everything 00:33:13.779 --> 00:33:16.799 he's asked you to do. You have no reason to fear. 00:33:18.160 --> 00:33:22.460 But remember, remember how we started? Spiritual 00:33:22.460 --> 00:33:28.769 maturity is what? What I know. Being moved to 00:33:28.769 --> 00:33:34.470 closing the gap to what I do. When you mature 00:33:34.470 --> 00:33:38.529 in your faith, it's not, I just got to have more 00:33:38.529 --> 00:33:41.809 faith. That's not how this works. I got to have 00:33:41.809 --> 00:33:45.049 more trust. I got to have more courage in what 00:33:45.049 --> 00:33:49.470 God says is true of me. And I got to take trusting 00:33:49.470 --> 00:33:51.309 me and put it on him. You know what helps us 00:33:51.309 --> 00:33:54.509 with that is worship. Look at what the goal was 00:33:54.509 --> 00:33:59.460 in chapter 3, verse 12. And God said, I will 00:33:59.460 --> 00:34:03.079 be with you and this will be a sign to you that 00:34:03.079 --> 00:34:07.000 it is I who have sent you. When you have brought 00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:11.159 the people out of Egypt, you will worship God 00:34:11.159 --> 00:34:17.980 on this mountain. Spoiler alert, they end up 00:34:17.980 --> 00:34:22.039 worshiping God on the mountain. It's this beautiful 00:34:22.039 --> 00:34:24.719 moment where God goes, hey, don't miss what I'm 00:34:24.719 --> 00:34:32.670 doing. I'm buying you worship. Worship is always 00:34:32.670 --> 00:34:37.110 costly. You realize that? If you think about 00:34:37.110 --> 00:34:39.289 it in the case of the physical sense of the Israelites, 00:34:39.550 --> 00:34:42.769 for God to show up, for Moses, there was a cost 00:34:42.769 --> 00:34:44.929 to Moses. There's a cost to everybody involved. 00:34:45.150 --> 00:34:48.130 Aaron, there's a cost to the faith of the Israelites. 00:34:48.389 --> 00:34:50.530 There's a cost to livestock. There's a cost to 00:34:50.530 --> 00:34:54.599 the nation of Egypt. All the Egyptians suffer, 00:34:54.780 --> 00:34:57.300 right? Like even down to the firstborn, there's 00:34:57.300 --> 00:34:59.400 a cost of setting them out. Then there's the 00:34:59.400 --> 00:35:04.519 Red Sea. There's a cost to all of it. Why? So 00:35:04.519 --> 00:35:07.940 they can get to a mountain and they can worship. 00:35:09.840 --> 00:35:14.659 Your worship came costly. What do I mean? Your 00:35:14.659 --> 00:35:17.019 worship is a weapon, right? What does worship 00:35:17.019 --> 00:35:19.739 do? It reminds us who God is. As we sing these 00:35:19.739 --> 00:35:22.079 words over, it reminds us, it puts us in perspective. 00:35:22.199 --> 00:35:25.260 It centers us, but don't miss that your worship 00:35:25.260 --> 00:35:28.639 in song was costly. What do I mean? Jesus had 00:35:28.639 --> 00:35:30.480 to go to a cross for you to be able to stand 00:35:30.480 --> 00:35:37.000 and worship. It cost him everything so that you 00:35:37.000 --> 00:35:42.710 could declare you are my everything. Church, 00:35:42.710 --> 00:35:48.369 what a God. What a God who finds us in the most 00:35:48.369 --> 00:35:53.889 desolate place. What a God who finds us when 00:35:53.889 --> 00:35:58.829 we feel unseen. What a God who in the midst of 00:35:58.829 --> 00:36:04.349 us being far away chooses us. What a God who 00:36:04.349 --> 00:36:07.789 transforms us and takes our fear and doesn't 00:36:07.789 --> 00:36:11.460 let our fear become our story. What a God who 00:36:11.460 --> 00:36:15.619 indwells us by his very own spirit. What a God 00:36:15.619 --> 00:36:18.840 who is all powerful and yet powerful enough to 00:36:18.840 --> 00:36:20.960 put inside your chest the same power that raised 00:36:20.960 --> 00:36:24.079 Jesus from the dead. What a God who gives you 00:36:24.079 --> 00:36:27.059 purpose in your life. What a God who doesn't 00:36:27.059 --> 00:36:30.360 allow you to stay status quo. What a God that 00:36:30.360 --> 00:36:33.019 will call you forward to live by faith. What 00:36:33.019 --> 00:36:36.420 a God who is asking you, will you trust me enough 00:36:36.420 --> 00:36:39.699 to take the worship I have bought for you and 00:36:39.699 --> 00:36:42.579 use your freedom to just go? I'm going to declare 00:36:42.579 --> 00:36:45.619 it back. I don't know about you, but when I see 00:36:45.619 --> 00:36:48.539 a picture of that God, how can I not go? You're 00:36:48.539 --> 00:36:53.440 my everything. You're everything. And so I take 00:36:53.440 --> 00:36:55.360 my voice and I tell you, you're my everything. 00:36:56.699 --> 00:37:00.300 And declare what a God. because there is none 00:37:00.300 --> 00:37:01.880 like you. And so if you would stand, we're going 00:37:01.880 --> 00:37:04.119 to declare together that you are my everything.