Morning, church. Welcome to those of you on our
online fam, Baghdad, that is you. We are so glad
that you are gathering this morning and that
you are creating community right where you are.
Pauldin, that's you. Your community is rallied
around breakfast, so hope you enjoyed and got
to partake today. There's a couple of people
I noticed. There's a lady online named Barbie.
How do you not shout out Barbie, right? And Ash
Fork. And then Frank and Loma Linda. We're just
super excited that you are with us and we get
to do this. Can we just say hi to all of our
online fam today? And then welcome to you who
are in the room. And man, I get it. I get it,
right? Like to come to a space. where you don't
even know if you're going to get a seat at this
service. By the way, we do have other services
that have seats, just so you guys know. Same
teacher, same band, like everything's the same.
So just so you guys are aware of that. But also
along with that though, like there's a factor
of showing up to a church and putting yourself
in a crowd of people and you not even knowing.
what you think about this, right? Like you're
still processing what karaoke was, right? Like
you just, we just went through, no, karaoke didn't
land. Okay, fine. We'll carry on. Thanks for
leaving me just dead up here. You guys are great.
But you're still processing, you're still processing
what just happened. And now you're processing
like, am I going to stay? Because it took an
amazing act of courage for you to just get through
the doors. Like courage is a synonym for faith.
And one of the things that we build kind of this
on is a belief that you were created by God.
That requires courage to accept. That not only
did God create you, but the same God showed up
on the planet in the form of Jesus to go to a
cross to show you how much he loves you. That
takes a level of courage to go, I'm going to
trust that God. And then on top of that, for
God to show up, pay the penalty for your sins,
create a way for you to have a relationship with
God. And then on top of that, for him to put
his Holy Spirit inside of you when you step in
by courage. Here's what it does in my world.
Is it allows me to have confidence. That right
here, right now, one, you're not here by chance.
There's a God who is in control of much more
than you think. Two, that God wants to speak
to you this morning. He wants a personal conversation
with you. That's the confidence of what this
is. If you're here and you're going, okay, wow
us, we're not going to wow you. It's not going
to happen. Because that's not what this is about.
What this is about is trusting that the Holy
Spirit is going to take whatever we talk about
and he is going to translate it to you. Because
you need a personal moment with Almighty God
today. In the midst of everyone else going, I
need that too. And so I got a question for you
kind of as we... As we start, one to let God
begin to kind of personally apply in your life.
What is God asking you to have courage with today?
What is God asking you to have courage? And if
you put courage in the category of, if I ask
the question, what is God asking you to have
faith? That's such a lofty, big, I have faith
in God. That's such a big conversation that's
not really measurable. But courage is measurable.
Courage is an action. Courage is a step I take
forward. And so for you, As the Holy Spirit is
present, as the Holy Spirit is speaking, whether
that's here in the room or it's across screens,
into a living room in Baghdad, or sorry, a school
in Baghdad and a living room in Paulding, and
wherever else there's a screen, we have the same
question. What is God calling you to live by
courage? Why courage? Because we're told to live
by faith, not by sight. You're called to live
by faith. This life is supposed to be lived by
steps of courage, steps of faith. So what is
God calling you? I'll give you an example from
my life. I got one of my babies who is a freshman
this year. Yeah, you guys get it. You guys get
it. You know the courage to take my freshman
and put her in public school? Right. There's
easier ways. Right. But to take my freshman and
go, no, you are called to be the what? Light.
You're called to be the light. You're called
into. Right. Like, I'm not throwing shade. This
is just our journey. This is what God's convinced
us of. That the place that my baby needs to be
is in amongst her peers. Right. And in amongst
her peers. I understand. I hear the stories.
I hear the conversations that surround her every
day. I understand that it's not an easy space
to be, right? But for us, it takes courage of
faith. I drop her off every Thursday and Friday,
and I'll watch these. By the way, what is the
deal with the small backpacks? We're talking
like football players with a tiny Hello Kitty
backpack. I don't know what that's about. I don't
know what that's about. So needless to say, I
have to have courage. I see the football player
with his little backpack. But that's just what
God's calling me to in this season. To not shy
away, to walk by faith and not by sight, because
sight is everything around. Right? We're not
called to that. So what is God calling you to?
Because it's a personal conversation. If you're
here and you don't have a conversation with God
about what he's calling you to by faith, then
this doesn't matter. Let's be honest. But he
wants to talk to you. And so we're in a collection.
It's in the book of Exodus, second book of the
Bible. We're in a collection called Snapshots.
And Snapshots is just this. Could we grab these
quick photos, right? Like your Polaroid. You
snap your Polaroid. And you never knew what you
were going to get. And now they've come back
around and they're cool again. And so you're
still doing it, right? But you just don't know
what you're going to get. You don't know if it's
a good picture or not, but you snapped the moment.
You captured the moment. And that's all we're
doing through Exodus, just capturing these moments.
And hopefully by the end, there's a collage,
right? And when we look at the collage of what
we have in pictures from walking through this
story, what we go is, wow, what a God. It paints
a picture of him, right? Like, what a God. That's
a God I can put my faith in. And that's the hope
of kind of as we walk through this collection.
And so last week, if you were here, we talked
about a guy named Moses. And we're going to continue
to talk about Moses and his journey as God led
this exodus. One of the things that's important
to know is what we read about physically. is
a picture of your spiritual exodus, right? So
when you read this, what it's doing is painting
a picture of what's happened to you in a very
spiritual sense through the cross and through
what Jesus has done and how you've been set free.
And so last week we ended on chapter three, verse
12. And God said, I will be with you and this
will be a sign to you that it is I who have sent
you. When you have brought... brought the people
out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.
Okay, so God's speaking to Moses. He goes, hey,
here's what's going to happen. You're going to
lead these people out. Right before this, two
verses before, he says, so go. Why? So when you
get there, you can tell Pharaoh, let my people
go, and you are going to lead my people out.
They're going to go, and they're going to worship
me. Okay, so we could call that. In Moses's world,
God has spoke to him and his step of courage
is that I'm going to go and I'm going to tell
Pharaoh. And what's going to happen is there's
a specific outcome that's coming. Right. And
that outcome is that this nation of Israel that
is under the oppression of the Egyptians, they
will be set free and they will worship God. That's
the outcome. That's the premise that he is going
to the nation of Israel with. Now, in between
there, if you were here last week, in between
there, what you get, and if not, you should go
back and catch up because it all builds on each
other. But what you get out of this is a very
real conversation between God and Moses. And
Moses is going, hey, I stutter. I don't think
I should be going and talking to the emperor.
I don't think this is my deal. And over through
those conversations, it finally gets to the point
where he's like, would you choose somebody else?
Like, please send somebody else. And God goes,
no, you're my guy. And so what you have is you
have this wrestling between this verse and where
we pick up. Now in chapter five, the end of chapter
four, right before the verses we're about to
read, Moses shows up and he tells all of the
Israelite elders, right? Like he gathers them
together and he goes, this is what God's going
to do. I'm going to go to Pharaoh. And when I
go to Pharaoh, I'm going to go, let my people
go. And we're going to walk out, right? Because
that's what God said. And we're going to go worship.
Chapter 5, verse 1. Afterward, Moses and Aaron
went to Pharaoh and said, this is what the Lord,
the God of Israel, says. Let my people go so
that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.
So Moses has done what he's supposed to, right?
Pharaoh says, who is the Lord that I should obey
him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord.
I will not let Israel go. If you were here last
week, you know one of the fears that was genuine
to Moses. is that he would show up and he would
go, hey, the Lord has told me, and he would get
the question, well, what's his name? Who is the
Lord? And so his fear that he started this with,
even though the outcome's told, his fears are
beginning to come true. Verse three says, then
they said, the God of the Hebrews, so now Moses
is telling him, the God of the Hebrews has met
with us. Now let us take a three -day journey
into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the
Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues
or with the sword. But the king of Egypt said,
Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people
away from their labor? Get back to your work.
Then Pharaoh said, look, the people of the land
are now numerous, and you are stopping them from
working. That same day, Pharaoh gave this order.
To the slave drivers and the overseers in charge
of the people, you are no longer to supply the
people with straw for making bricks. Let them
go and gather their own straw, but require them
to make the same number of bricks as before.
Don't reduce the quota. They are lazy and that
is why they are crying out. Let us go and sacrifice
to our God. Make the work harder for the people
so that they keep working and pay no attention
to the lies. So Moses, remember, Moses has an
outcome. The outcome is I go, I go to Pharaoh
and I tell Pharaoh what's going to happen. And
then Pharaoh goes, oh, Moses, that sounds so
good. Why don't you just take the whole nation?
Just take them all and go worship. Right. Like
that's the assumption of what's going to happen.
I'm going to show up and I'm going to say what
God told me to say. And then there's going to
be this outcome. The only problem is he shows
up and instantly Pharaoh goes, I don't think
so. In fact, let me double down with you. We're
going to remove the straw that is needed for
making these bricks. You're going to have to
go collect your own. But we're going to press
you a little harder. You don't have to be a businessman
to get this. This is pretty much common sense.
If you have a quota to meet and your supply is
being provided for you and you remove the supply,
but you have the same amount of people working,
you're not going to meet your quota. It's just
not going to happen. Pharaoh knows that. He's
oppressing them. He's pressing into. And so within
that then, it carries on down to verse 17. Pharaoh
said, lazy, that is what you are, lazy. That
is why you keep saying, let us go and sacrifice
to the Lord. Now get to work, you will not be
given any straw, yet you must produce your full
quota of bricks. The Israelite overseers realized
that they were in trouble when they were told
the Israelite overseers realized they were in
trouble. You are not to reduce, when they were
told you were not to reduce the number of bricks
required for you each day. When they left Pharaoh,
so when the Israelites leave Pharaoh, they found
Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them. And they
said, may the Lord look on you and judge you.
You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his
officials and have put a sword in their hands
to kill us. So what's... What's transgressed
is, hey, I got an outcome. It's going to be awesome.
I show up and speak for God. They're going to
let those people go. And Pharaoh doubles down.
And then it gets worse. Because now the people
that you came to let go, they're looking at you
and going, you made life harder, not easier.
You showed up and said you were going to make
life better, not worse. I wonder how many of
us. Have been given an outcome by God. Like God's
spoken something to you. And you've been given
this outcome by God. And he's asking you to step
into it with courage. To follow what he showed
you. But in the midst of following him, it got
harder, not easier. It became more difficult.
and took a turn that you didn't anticipate. When
I was six weeks old, my mom, because I don't
really remember, but my mom told me I was pretty
sick. And at six weeks, she started to notice
that I couldn't keep any food down. But I hadn't
lost weight. I still looked healthy. But she
knew something was wrong. So she over the next
10 days, she took me to the doctors three times
and kept saying something is wrong with him.
Something is wrong with him. To which the doctor
was kind of like, well, everything isn't showing
what you're telling us. So let's just let's just
wait and see. So she took me home. It was about
two weeks later. She's changing my diaper and
she just begins to cry because of what she's
seeing my body is is rejecting. And as she's
crying, my dad comes in and he's comforting her
and asking her or she just states to him, we're
going to lose him. He's going to die. She's like,
I know it. To which my dad tells her, I was just
praying and God has told me that he is going
to be a preacher of the word someday. And so.
God gives a clear outcome. But from that moment,
my mom decided, and this is years ago and it
was in England, you could have the emergency
doctor come to your house, right? And so she
makes a call to the doctor and says, hey, he's
not healthy. Like you've got to come and see
him. And so the doctor says, you know, it was
a Sunday. He goes, I got other visits to do and
then I'll get to you at some point. So my dad,
there's a good Baptist joke in here that we were
there whenever the doors were open, you know,
Sunday morning, Sunday evening type thing. So
he goes to Sunday evening service. And what's
beautiful is Sunday evening service, because
of what was going on, they all came to our house.
And so now there's an elder praying over me,
my dad anointing me with oil. And then the entire.
church at that time, or if you'd ever come along,
we're all in the living room on their knees praying.
And it's at that moment that the emergency doctor
shows up and has to walk through all these people
praying to get to this baby. He takes one look
and instantly after checking, he goes, we got
to get this baby to the hospital. And so The
ambulance comes, takes me to the hospital. I
end up getting put in an isolated ICU, which
what that meant is my mom could put on all the
gear, you know, the gowns and gear up, but couldn't
touch me, could only observe what was happening.
You ever see an outcome promised? What was promised?
The outcome was that he will be a what? He's
going to be a preacher of the word. But it got
worse, not better. It got more difficult, not
easier. It took a turn to where now I'm in ICU.
And sometimes I think we can get lost in the
outcome and miss the process. I think sometimes
what we do is we want the outcome and we make
the outcome what's important. And God's going,
don't miss the process. Here's what I mean. It
carries on in verse 22, chapter 5, verse 22.
Moses returned to the Lord and said, why? Why
have you brought trouble on this people? Is this
why you sent me? Wait a minute. He knows, right?
He knows the outcome. The outcome wasn't to bring
trouble. But in the process now, it's got harder
and trouble has showed up. And what is he questioning?
He's questioning the what? What God had told
him. He's questioning the outcome. And I don't
know how you live and how that works, but isn't
it easy that when it gets difficult, we can start
to question what God has told us? Isn't it interesting
that we begin to question, did God really? And
so Moses carries on verse 23. Ever since I went
to Pharaoh to speak in your name. He has brought
trouble on this people and all, and you have
not rescued your people. You have not done the
outcome. You have not rescued your people at
all. Chapter six, verse one, then the Lord said
to Moses, so now God speaks to Moses. Now you
will see what I will do to Pharaoh because of
my mighty hand, he will let them go. Because
of my mighty hand, he will drive them out of
his country. God also said to Moses, I am the
Lord. I appear to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
Catch this, catch this. As what? God Almighty.
But by my name, the Lord, I did not make myself
fully known to them. I also established my covenant
with them to give them the land of Canaan. where
they have resided as foreigners. Moreover, I
have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom
the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered
my covenant. But he goes this, he goes, here's
what's happened so far. All of the people of
the faith, Abraham. Isaac, Jacob, the heroes
of the faith, they knew God as God Almighty,
right? Like the name for that is El Shaddai.
The translation of that is powerful provider.
The way that they knew God is that God was a
powerful provider. But God goes, I'm not interested
in you knowing me as a powerful provider. What
did that mean in their day? That he was powerful
enough to make a promise. What was the promise?
That I'm going to lead you to a promised land.
Right now and in the midst of slavery, God's
going, I'm going to prove to you and show you
something else in the midst of the process. Because
the process, I believe, matters more than the
outcome. Because in the process, what God's doing
when it gets harder. God is trying to show you
something you would never seen if you hadn't
gone through what you're going through. And what
happens in this moment is God goes, hey, you
knew me as God Almighty, but now I want you to
know me as faithful. Now I want you to know me
as the God who is faithful, that what I promised.
I will bring to happen. Listen, this is so important
to your faith. You know why? Because what we
are promised is that when we die, we are absent.
As believers, absent in the body is what? Present
with who? With the Lord, right? Like we're promised
through the cross that there is life beyond the
grave with God. We're promised a new heavens
and a new earth. But if God's not faithful, you
guys, That's not happening. If all of a sudden
God's not faithful and you're like, I got a reason
to second guess. This is why it's so important
that we build our faith on the person that God
is in the story that he writes. Why? Because
God is the one that's going, you got to see me
as faithful. You got to see me as the God that
what I say I will do, I will be faithful to make
it happen. That's why this is so important that
it's only, only in the process that God can help
you see him for who he is. But you know what
we don't like? We don't like it when it gets
harder, do we? I don't. I don't like it when
it gets harder. I want God to tell me what it's
going to be and let's get there. And God goes,
but you would miss learning and growing in who
I am. Because the process matters. The process
is what will grow you into the person that God's
calling you to be. And if you short circuit the
process, you will miss the God who is faithful.
If you short circuit the process, you will never
become more like Jesus. I don't know about you
guys. Like we're told, right? Like one of the
goals of this life is that you would be more
like Jesus, that I would be more like Jesus.
The only problem is I know when I look at me,
there's a whole lot that's not like Jesus. So
this is gonna be a difficult road. He's gotta
keep chipping away. He's gotta chip away at my
sin. He's gotta chip away at where my will is
my will and not his will. He's gotta keep working
on me. Why? Because he's transforming me. He's
told me. Romans 8, he's gonna transform me into
the person of Jesus. That's what's happening.
And he's going to be faithful because he's God.
He's going to be faithful to bring that transformation
no matter how painful it is. Why? Because it
is more vital that you become the person you
were created to be instead of the person that
has the easy way and thinks you get to the outcome
that you want. God's going, no, no, no, there's
a different outcome. But to get there, you got
to go through the process. There's no shortcuts.
I love how this carries on because listen who's
doing it, by the way, listen who's doing it.
So God's proving he's faithful, right? Chapter
six, verse six. Therefore say to the Israelites,
I am the Lord. I will bring you out from under
the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from
being slaves to them. I will redeem you with
an outstretched arm and with a mighty acts of
judgment. I will take you as my own people. I
will be your God. then you will know that I am
the Lord your God who brought you out from under
the yoke of the Egyptians, and I will bring you
to the land I swore with uplifted hands to give
to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob. I will give it
to you as a possession. I am the Lord. I am the
one who is faithful. I'm going to do it. How
many times is Moses' name in there? How many
times do we see an outcome and go, I'm gonna
help God out. God's like, I don't need your help,
champ. God goes, I need you to see me for who
I am because that'll transform your life. Moses
reported to the Israelites. So Moses takes this
like, God's gonna do it. And he goes to the Israelites
and he's all pumped up because he went to church
that day. But they did not. Listen, they did
not listen to him. Because of their discouragement
and harsh labor. Wait. They did not listen. Why?
Because of the harsh labor. Remember, what have
they been told? The outcome is. You go tell Pharaoh
and we all march along singing, right? But what's
happened is the labors got harsh. And so what
the outcome is that they stop listening. I wonder
how many times we stopped listening to the Holy
Spirit. We stopped listening to God because it
just got hard along the way. And there's a word
in here, you guys. Because of their Discouragement.
Because of their discouragement. Wait, wait,
wait. They stopped listening because it was hard.
But it was a lack of courage. The original in
this word is amazing. Right? Like I'm probably
going to butcher this, but it's kotsar rua. Right?
Like that's the original. Why does it matter?
Because kotsar is shortness. And what is ruah?
If you've been around church, you've probably
heard it. It's often translated spirit. It's
often translated the breath of God. What do they
have? They have a shortness of what? The life
source they've been given. We get it. Discouragement
feels like my spirit got crushed, right? What
this is doing is putting language to what that
looks like. That there is a shortness, a shortness.
Of spirit. How does that translate? That in the
midst of whatever you're going through, whatever
happens, there is often this shortness inside
of me of what? Of spirit. Now, bring this because
the physical picture is always a picture of what?
Our spiritual journey. Go to the spiritual journey.
What's been put inside of you by the person of
Jesus, by his rescue of you? The Holy Spirit.
What does discouragement look like when you know
I should walk by faith and God's asking me to
step in by courage and I can't step in by courage?
Why is that? Because along the way there has
been a shortness of what? The Holy Spirit leading
you and you leading you. There's a shortness
of me resting in the Holy Spirit. And what happens
is I become discouraged. I lack courage to step
in. The gift that you've been given to have power
to do the things that God's called you to do.
When you have a shortness of spirit, you'll always
lack courage. Why? Because you're called to walk
by faith. What is the Holy Spirit going to do?
He's going to empower you to walk by faith, not
sight. And then listen, listen to what happens
when we become discouraged. Verse 10. Then the
Lord said to Moses, go tell Pharaoh, king of
Egypt, to let the Israelites go out of his country.
But Moses said to the Lord, if the Israelites
will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen
to me since I speak with faltering lips? If you
were here last week, what was Moses' concern?
I stutter. I can't do this. I can't. God, you
know how bad I am with words. And the discouragement
of others carries over to who? To Moses. Why?
Because we were made to be contagious to one
another. Here's what I mean. So then you have
the divisions of the people, chapter 7. Then
the Lord said to Moses, See, I have made you
like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will
be your prophet. You are to say everything I
command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell
Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country.
but I will harden Pharaoh's heart. And though
I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he
will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand
on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment, I
will bring out my divisions, my people, the Israelites
and the Egyptians catches and the Egyptians.
So God's going to do all that. Why? And the Egyptians
will know that I. You catch what happened right
there, right? What did he say the goal was before?
That Moses and the Israelites would know him
as what? The God who is faithful. What happens
in this moment is he now takes the word know,
the exact same word, and that word know now connects
to who? To all of the Egyptians, what is God
doing through Moses and Aaron? He is showing
the entire world the God who is faithful. And
so what happens, what happens in this moment
is the faith of Moses and Aaron becomes contagious
to everyone around them. Your faith is contagious
to everyone around you. That's how God designed
this, that when I see you step out by courage,
it gives me the courage to step out by courage.
But when you lack faith, guess what? It's equally
as contagious. Because what happens is when you
lack faith, it will affect everybody around you.
How do I know that? Last verse, verse six. Moses
and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them.
Moses and Aaron did what? just as the Lord commanded
them. Even though it was hard, what did they
do? Step out by courage and do what God told
them to. What's the outcome? That the entire
known world found what? The God who is faithful.
That's what this is about. It's about being faithful
in the midst of what you can't see. It's about
standing with courage in a space where you don't
know the outcome. It's about understanding the
process. Why is this gathering so important?
Why is it so important that even online in multiple
spaces, we gather together? Why is it so important?
Because your faith is contagious. We were talking
about it in our teaching prep this week. And
we're talking about how in scripture, Pastor
Ben was like, hey, you remember those stories?
where you see Peter and it's right after the
resurrection and right after the disappointment,
what do they do? They go, Peter goes, I'm going
fishing. And what happens? I'm going with you.
Why? Because it's contagious. But you also have
Paul who writes, hey, as I'm living, do likewise.
Let me be a model as I follow Christ. Pastor
Todd, being the coach that he is, In the same
meeting goes, you got to be the thermostat, not
the thermometer. You got to set the temperature
for people's faith. That's the gift that you
have. That when you step out by courage, guess
what? The people around you step out by courage,
by faith. And they step in. Why is this gathering
so important? Because you have the chance in
here every single week as we gather to let your
faith be an encouragement to those that don't
have faith. What do I mean by that? That for
some people, just the courage, the courage to
sit in the room today, we applaud you. But for
some of you, some of you, you came in and you're
in the process and it's really hard today. Like
you're barely hanging on. You're barely like
had the courage to come to church, let alone
live by faith. And then there's others of you
that you're in a time of like, man, I am my faith
high, if you like. Man, I've just seen the outcome
of God and I'm walking on this solid foundation
of his faithfulness. Here's what happens in this
room when we worship in song. Is you get a chance
to take the faith that you have and make it contagious.
The song we're about to sing, it's declarative.
You're good and I've witnessed it. Has anybody,
anybody here or online or in one of our locations,
has anybody witnessed the goodness of God? Then
what you need to do is declare it. I've witnessed
it. You're strong. Anybody seen the strength
of God show up in their life? A quarter of you
compared to last time. That's fine. But you're
strong and I've witnessed it. You're constant.
What is constant? It's faithful. You said you
would do it and you've done it. And I've witnessed
it. Anybody witness the faithfulness of God,
the consistency of God? You love, you love. And
I've witnessed it. Why is it so important? Because
for you, you get to declare what I've seen God
Almighty do. And that spreads. And the song even
catches that. Like, let's go declare it over
our cities. Let's go declare it over our homes.
Why? Because your faith is contagious. So if
you would stand, we are going to sing together
because your faith is contagious.