WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:04.179 Amen. Church, you can have a seat. As you do 00:00:04.179 --> 00:00:07.000 so, welcome to those of you online. Welcome to 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:10.599 those of you in Pauldin today who are enjoying 00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:14.060 breakfast, apparently, again. Seems like a theme. 00:00:14.500 --> 00:00:17.399 But also, Baghdad, we're so happy you guys are 00:00:17.399 --> 00:00:19.820 with us and that we get to do community alongside 00:00:19.820 --> 00:00:22.539 one another, that God is building his family 00:00:22.539 --> 00:00:24.899 and his kingdom, and we're excited to see that 00:00:24.899 --> 00:00:27.600 through you. Also, the Olson family who are in 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:30.480 northern... Minnesota. I don't think any of us 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:33.439 envy northern Minnesota, but welcome to you. 00:00:33.500 --> 00:00:36.039 We're glad you're with us and the entire online 00:00:36.039 --> 00:00:38.600 family. Just good morning. Glad you're here. 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:41.579 If you're in the room, welcome to you. We're 00:00:41.579 --> 00:00:44.619 excited that you are here. If you are new to 00:00:44.619 --> 00:00:46.740 this space, whether that be online or that be 00:00:46.740 --> 00:00:50.380 here, just know that we are excited that you're 00:00:50.380 --> 00:00:53.140 here. We're thankful that we get to walk this 00:00:53.140 --> 00:00:55.039 life out. If you want to know what this is about, 00:00:55.240 --> 00:00:58.520 this is about a group of people who believe that 00:00:58.520 --> 00:01:00.880 God called their name, right? Called them by 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:04.170 name, showed them. showed up and showed off and 00:01:04.170 --> 00:01:06.469 showed them the person of Jesus Christ. And because 00:01:06.469 --> 00:01:09.230 of that, by saying yes to Jesus, he places us 00:01:09.230 --> 00:01:12.870 in family. And so in family, we get to gather 00:01:12.870 --> 00:01:15.590 together. That's his wording, not ours. He chose 00:01:15.590 --> 00:01:19.069 family, and we sit here as God's kids. And we 00:01:19.069 --> 00:01:21.790 walk through life together, and we're excited 00:01:21.790 --> 00:01:24.469 to do that. And so a lot of football jerseys, 00:01:24.469 --> 00:01:27.430 a lot of football jerseys. And so all you need 00:01:27.430 --> 00:01:31.750 to know is if you're new, that you are welcome 00:01:31.750 --> 00:01:35.189 and you are instantly a part of the family if 00:01:35.189 --> 00:01:38.310 you also enjoyed the Chiefs losing in week one. 00:01:39.810 --> 00:01:43.409 It's just a good family bonding moment, you know? 00:01:44.349 --> 00:01:49.569 And then you're also part of the family if you 00:01:49.569 --> 00:01:51.989 laugh every time Aaron Rodgers throws a pick 00:01:51.989 --> 00:01:55.430 for my Steelers. So there you go. We'll grieve 00:01:55.430 --> 00:02:01.079 that together. Okay, here's kind of where we 00:02:01.079 --> 00:02:06.760 are launching from today. Is Tuesday, I have 00:02:06.760 --> 00:02:10.479 pretty consistent rhythm. I've spent some time 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:13.000 on the message. Tuesday rolls around. Tuesday 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:14.819 afternoon, we go into something called teaching 00:02:14.819 --> 00:02:16.979 prep. It's a team of people that sit in a room. 00:02:17.620 --> 00:02:19.560 Whoever's communicating, we'll share with them 00:02:19.560 --> 00:02:21.659 kind of where they're heading. So I sat there, 00:02:21.699 --> 00:02:23.800 I shared where I was heading. Nothing kind of 00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:26.080 hit the radar different. Nothing kind of stood 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:29.060 out. And then Wednesday was day full of meetings. 00:02:29.259 --> 00:02:32.099 And so Thursday I sit down and I'm like, okay, 00:02:32.120 --> 00:02:33.939 I'm going to do my final prep and kind of get 00:02:33.939 --> 00:02:37.460 things where it needs to be. And as I sat down, 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:42.900 I just felt like God go, that's not it. And I'm 00:02:42.900 --> 00:02:45.020 like, excuse me, it's Thursday. Like Sunday's 00:02:45.020 --> 00:02:49.240 coming. And he goes, no, he goes, the message 00:02:49.240 --> 00:02:53.509 you have is fine. Which anytime God says it's 00:02:53.509 --> 00:02:57.110 fine, it's like, hmm. I was hoping for a little 00:02:57.110 --> 00:03:01.250 bit better than fine. And God goes, you can teach 00:03:01.250 --> 00:03:04.909 that message. And I felt like where he went was, 00:03:05.069 --> 00:03:10.449 that message is an awful lot about you. And by 00:03:10.449 --> 00:03:15.629 you, I mean like us -centric. And I felt like 00:03:15.629 --> 00:03:21.060 he went, the story of Exodus is about me. And 00:03:21.060 --> 00:03:23.719 in that moment, I went, I think I have the wrong 00:03:23.719 --> 00:03:28.039 message, right? And so I just started to contextualize, 00:03:28.060 --> 00:03:32.020 just started to think of the story of the Exodus, 00:03:32.219 --> 00:03:35.500 the story of the Israelites. And if you begin 00:03:35.500 --> 00:03:39.719 to look at what God was doing, he is claiming 00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:43.979 a people for himself, right? Like he is showing 00:03:43.979 --> 00:03:47.379 up and he is telling them, hey, you are my people. 00:03:47.930 --> 00:03:50.009 And then he is going to lead them out. And from 00:03:50.009 --> 00:03:52.289 the first moment he shows up, he tells them what? 00:03:52.389 --> 00:03:55.849 I am going to come and rescue you and you are 00:03:55.849 --> 00:04:02.129 going to go and worship me. Now, what happens 00:04:02.129 --> 00:04:06.370 next is as the exodus is taking place and they 00:04:06.370 --> 00:04:08.530 are leading towards worship, if they would have 00:04:08.530 --> 00:04:10.889 walked out in that moment, they did not know 00:04:10.889 --> 00:04:14.349 who God was. Think about the context of where 00:04:14.349 --> 00:04:17.410 they've been living. Okay, so the Israelites 00:04:17.410 --> 00:04:20.910 have been in Egypt and there's some debate on 00:04:20.910 --> 00:04:23.970 how long it was. We know from Exodus that there's 00:04:23.970 --> 00:04:27.550 a verse that says it was 430 years to the day 00:04:27.550 --> 00:04:31.329 when they left Egypt. Now there's debate in the 00:04:31.329 --> 00:04:34.470 theological circles. Does that mean that that 00:04:34.470 --> 00:04:37.610 goes back to Abraham? So the 430 started when 00:04:37.610 --> 00:04:40.670 God showed up to Abraham or did that start when 00:04:40.670 --> 00:04:42.850 they actually went into slavery? If you take 00:04:42.850 --> 00:04:46.149 the shortest number. They were slaves in Egypt 00:04:46.149 --> 00:04:51.509 for 215 years. That's almost as long as America, 00:04:51.629 --> 00:04:55.029 just to give you some context, like they're almost 00:04:55.029 --> 00:04:57.310 as long as America's been a nation is how long 00:04:57.310 --> 00:05:03.209 they were there. That's a long time. That's a 00:05:03.209 --> 00:05:06.310 long time to sit in the posture of a slave and 00:05:06.310 --> 00:05:09.149 what they have seen over and over in the Egyptians 00:05:09.149 --> 00:05:13.560 was abundance and influence. What they'd seen 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:16.319 is economic security. They'd seen this nation 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:19.139 grow on their back, so to speak. And what they 00:05:19.139 --> 00:05:23.240 also had seen is a whole bunch of gods that the 00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:27.319 Egyptians worshipped. And these gods were like 00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:30.319 from just looking from the outside, you go, wow, 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:32.819 their gods are really working for them. Meanwhile, 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:35.120 we're over here oppressed. Meanwhile, we're over 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:37.639 here as slaves. Meanwhile, and so they've seen 00:05:37.639 --> 00:05:41.939 these gods of Egypt. and it seems to be working. 00:05:43.379 --> 00:05:45.639 Well, then you are God, and you show up to the 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:47.399 cry of the oppressed of the Israelites, and you 00:05:47.399 --> 00:05:48.899 go, hey, I'm going to set you free, and we're 00:05:48.899 --> 00:05:53.060 going to go worship. Remember where this is going. 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:55.300 He's going to lead them into the wilderness to 00:05:55.300 --> 00:05:57.620 a mountain, and at that mountain, he's going 00:05:57.620 --> 00:05:59.240 to give them the Ten Commandments. What's the 00:05:59.240 --> 00:06:01.939 first commandment? Have no other gods before 00:06:01.939 --> 00:06:06.160 me. They've got a whole bunch of gods that seem 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:09.120 to be working, so what does God do? How is God 00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:11.139 going to allow them? Because here's something 00:06:11.139 --> 00:06:14.680 that's key to your worship. You do not worship 00:06:14.680 --> 00:06:18.120 what you do not know. You worship what you know. 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:22.639 And over and over and over and over in Exodus, 00:06:22.699 --> 00:06:25.000 what God does is he goes, hey, that you would 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:27.600 know me, that you would know me, that you would 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:31.160 know me, that you would know me. And so what 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:33.199 he's doing is he's allowing them to know him. 00:06:33.240 --> 00:06:36.000 Why? Because he wants them to what? To worship 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:42.129 him. And so if you're God and you're going to 00:06:42.129 --> 00:06:46.009 show up and you're going to let the Israelites 00:06:46.009 --> 00:06:51.730 know, what do you do? Well, this God goes boxing. 00:06:52.790 --> 00:06:56.050 He sets up a boxing match. What do I mean by 00:06:56.050 --> 00:06:59.850 that? He goes 10 rounds, 10 rounds, but it's 00:06:59.850 --> 00:07:01.870 not a boxing match like you have ever seen, right? 00:07:01.970 --> 00:07:03.970 Like depending on when you grew up and depending 00:07:03.970 --> 00:07:06.250 on like, like boxing was a big thing when I was 00:07:06.250 --> 00:07:09.560 growing up. And a fight to go 10 rounds meant 00:07:09.560 --> 00:07:11.600 it was a good fight. This is not a good fight. 00:07:11.699 --> 00:07:14.519 Here's why. In each round, he brings in a new 00:07:14.519 --> 00:07:17.819 opponent. So he goes 10 rounds, but every round 00:07:17.819 --> 00:07:21.680 is a new opponent. On top of that, he's not a 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:24.040 good boxer. You know why? Because good boxers, 00:07:24.060 --> 00:07:25.560 they don't tell you what they're going to do. 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:28.259 Right? If you got in the ring with somebody and 00:07:28.259 --> 00:07:30.259 they're going to fight you, if they came up to 00:07:30.259 --> 00:07:31.759 you and went, hey, here's my plan. I'm going 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:33.560 to hit you with a jab. Then I'm going to come 00:07:33.560 --> 00:07:35.379 with a hook. And then I'm going to swing a haymaker 00:07:35.379 --> 00:07:38.470 and see if it lands. That is not a good boxer. 00:07:39.189 --> 00:07:42.449 Yet God rolls up and in each round he goes, hey, 00:07:42.589 --> 00:07:44.430 this is what I'm going to do. Here's how I'm 00:07:44.430 --> 00:07:47.209 going to hit you. And then he does it. That's 00:07:47.209 --> 00:07:50.790 the most baller boss thing you could do. Like 00:07:50.790 --> 00:07:53.189 you show up and you go, hey, this is what I'm 00:07:53.189 --> 00:07:55.350 going to do. And they're going, well, we got 00:07:55.350 --> 00:07:58.290 a God for that. And he goes, and I'm going to 00:07:58.290 --> 00:08:02.790 do it. It's this beautiful, why is he driving 00:08:02.790 --> 00:08:05.730 it? Why does he set up these fights? Why does 00:08:05.730 --> 00:08:08.769 he invite each God into the ring with him? Because 00:08:08.769 --> 00:08:12.329 he wants the Israelites to know who he is, why? 00:08:12.470 --> 00:08:15.589 So that they will worship him, right? They will 00:08:15.589 --> 00:08:21.350 trust him. And so in Exodus chapter seven, Exodus 00:08:21.350 --> 00:08:27.230 chapter seven, and verse 17, we find round one. 00:08:27.579 --> 00:08:29.139 I wish I had one of those bells. You know what 00:08:29.139 --> 00:08:33.720 I mean? Like just round one. This is what the 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:38.000 Lord says. By this, you will know that I am the 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:40.500 Lord. Why is he doing it? So that you will know 00:08:40.500 --> 00:08:44.100 who he is. With the staff that is in my hand, 00:08:44.120 --> 00:08:46.259 I will strike the water of the Nile and it will 00:08:46.259 --> 00:08:50.860 be changed into blood. The fish in the Nile will 00:08:50.860 --> 00:08:53.580 die. The river will stink and the Egyptians will 00:08:53.580 --> 00:08:57.399 not be able to drink its water. Okay, we go, 00:08:57.539 --> 00:09:00.460 why is this significant? Well, the Nile to the 00:09:00.460 --> 00:09:04.090 Egyptians was lifeblood. It's what irrigated 00:09:04.090 --> 00:09:07.009 their fields. It's what they drank from. It's 00:09:07.009 --> 00:09:09.509 what they used for purification in their temples. 00:09:09.629 --> 00:09:13.549 This water was considered to be the very lifeblood 00:09:13.549 --> 00:09:17.049 of the nation. They needed it to exist. In fact, 00:09:17.049 --> 00:09:19.450 they had a God, and the depiction of that God 00:09:19.450 --> 00:09:23.029 was that the Nile water ran through this God's 00:09:23.029 --> 00:09:25.409 veins. That's how much they were connected to 00:09:25.409 --> 00:09:29.889 this God and the lifeblood of this water. And 00:09:29.889 --> 00:09:34.029 what does God do? God shows up and God goes, 00:09:34.129 --> 00:09:39.750 actually, I'm your lifeblood. Hey, Israel, I 00:09:39.750 --> 00:09:42.590 know you think the Nile and I know what you've 00:09:42.590 --> 00:09:44.269 been taught, but actually I'm your lifeblood. 00:09:44.289 --> 00:09:46.070 So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna create, 00:09:46.210 --> 00:09:48.710 as we go through this, we're gonna create a list 00:09:48.710 --> 00:09:52.210 of all 10 rounds. And as we go through, the list 00:09:52.210 --> 00:09:56.409 is this. This is who God is. God is the lifeblood 00:09:56.409 --> 00:10:00.450 of you. God is the lifeblood of the Israelites. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:03.480 And so round one, he's establishing, hey, this 00:10:03.480 --> 00:10:06.139 God that you thought controlled the Nile, this 00:10:06.139 --> 00:10:08.820 God that you thought had the power to keep the 00:10:08.820 --> 00:10:11.559 Nile where it is, I have greater power than that 00:10:11.559 --> 00:10:17.120 one. Knockout number one goes to God. Round two, 00:10:17.220 --> 00:10:20.340 chapter eight, verse two. If you refuse to let 00:10:20.340 --> 00:10:24.159 them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:26.679 whole country. The Nile will team with frogs. 00:10:27.789 --> 00:10:30.110 Come up into your palace and your bedroom and 00:10:30.110 --> 00:10:32.649 on your bed, into the houses of your officials 00:10:32.649 --> 00:10:36.710 and on your people and into your ovens and kneading 00:10:36.710 --> 00:10:41.070 troughs. Can we just like go gross? Like, okay, 00:10:41.190 --> 00:10:44.210 can you imagine, right? Their beds were lower. 00:10:44.330 --> 00:10:46.309 Can you imagine getting out of bed? And you know, 00:10:46.370 --> 00:10:48.370 like when, if you're Caleb, maybe that's all 00:10:48.370 --> 00:10:50.830 the time you don't see real good. But you know, 00:10:50.889 --> 00:10:53.730 you're heading to the bathroom and you put your 00:10:53.730 --> 00:10:58.340 foot down. Yeah, we'll leave it there. Verse 00:10:58.340 --> 00:11:01.799 four, the frogs will come up on you and your 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:04.220 people and all your officials. And then there's 00:11:04.220 --> 00:11:07.220 a conversation because the frogs come and then 00:11:07.220 --> 00:11:09.580 Pharaoh and Moses are like, hey, we can remove 00:11:09.580 --> 00:11:11.460 them. He's like, pray for me. If you heard Pastor 00:11:11.460 --> 00:11:13.639 Todd talk about it, like remove the frogs. And 00:11:13.639 --> 00:11:15.500 so Moses goes, well, give me the day. When do 00:11:15.500 --> 00:11:17.500 you want them removed? And so in verse 10, it 00:11:17.500 --> 00:11:19.879 says, tomorrow, Pharaoh said. Moses replied, 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:23.960 it will be as you say. Why? So that you may know 00:11:23.960 --> 00:11:27.600 there is no one like the Lord our God. God, the 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:30.580 frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials 00:11:30.580 --> 00:11:34.299 and your people. They will remain only in the 00:11:34.299 --> 00:11:36.740 Nile. Okay, so if you're here last week, you 00:11:36.740 --> 00:11:38.980 heard Pastor Todd do a whole message on this 00:11:38.980 --> 00:11:42.200 plague. And within that, he talks about the goddess 00:11:42.200 --> 00:11:47.159 Hecht. And what is interesting with this is everything 00:11:47.159 --> 00:11:49.759 he said is true. And also what they believed 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:53.059 is that this God was the one that breathed the 00:11:53.059 --> 00:11:56.370 breath of life. And so the reason they thought 00:11:56.370 --> 00:11:59.129 and connected life to this is the Nile would 00:11:59.129 --> 00:12:01.090 flood and it would go back. And when the Nile 00:12:01.090 --> 00:12:02.990 went back, there was frogs everywhere. It was 00:12:02.990 --> 00:12:06.950 teeming with new life, right? And so God goes 00:12:06.950 --> 00:12:11.230 to, invites into the ring, this frog God. And 00:12:11.230 --> 00:12:16.129 in the midst of it now, in the fight of it, he's 00:12:16.129 --> 00:12:19.629 declaring, you think you control the breath of 00:12:19.629 --> 00:12:25.450 life? You can't even control the frogs. And what 00:12:25.450 --> 00:12:29.629 he's establishing is, hey, Israel, I am the one 00:12:29.629 --> 00:12:37.009 who gave you breath of life. Breath of life is 00:12:37.009 --> 00:12:39.950 given by God. You realize that you're only breathing 00:12:39.950 --> 00:12:44.029 right now because he's put the breath of life 00:12:44.029 --> 00:12:49.570 into you. I mean, I know you think you work out. 00:12:50.009 --> 00:12:54.059 I know you think you eat healthy. I know you 00:12:54.059 --> 00:12:56.220 think you got it all dialed in that your diet's 00:12:56.220 --> 00:12:58.039 the best and everybody else has got it wrong. 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:06.539 Only drink this many cups of coffee. I appreciate 00:13:06.539 --> 00:13:12.480 that. No, do not be sorry. Laugh all the more. 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:19.139 But you realize your very breath right now is 00:13:19.139 --> 00:13:28.850 given by him. He is the giver of the breath of 00:13:28.850 --> 00:13:31.649 life. I love that you get to the New Testament 00:13:31.649 --> 00:13:34.090 and what is the Holy Spirit referred to as he 00:13:34.090 --> 00:13:37.769 indwells you? It's breath. That even in your 00:13:37.769 --> 00:13:42.990 resurrected life, it is the breath of God that 00:13:42.990 --> 00:13:46.750 is put inside of you. And so there's this moment 00:13:46.750 --> 00:13:50.330 where God declares in round two, I am the giver 00:13:50.330 --> 00:13:53.639 of the breath of life. Round three. Verse 16, 00:13:53.720 --> 00:13:55.740 chapter 8, verse 16. Then the Lord said to Moses, 00:13:55.820 --> 00:13:58.360 tell Aaron, stretch out your staff, strike the 00:13:58.360 --> 00:14:00.720 dust of the ground, and throughout the land of 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:06.580 Egypt, the dust will become gnats. Verse 18. 00:14:06.659 --> 00:14:09.539 But when the magicians tried to produce gnats 00:14:09.539 --> 00:14:13.000 by their secret arts, they could not, since the 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:15.580 gnats were on people and animals everywhere. 00:14:16.200 --> 00:14:21.259 The Egyptian magicians said to Pharaoh, this 00:14:21.259 --> 00:14:25.440 is the finger of God. But Pharaoh's heart was 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:29.039 hard and he would not listen just as the Lord 00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:32.279 had said. So now you get into round three and 00:14:32.279 --> 00:14:36.340 it's the God Geb. And Geb was considered to be 00:14:36.340 --> 00:14:41.399 the earth itself. So the earth was a God, essentially. 00:14:42.090 --> 00:14:45.529 And what the belief was around Geb is that he 00:14:45.529 --> 00:14:48.610 controlled the dirt. Because he was dirt, he 00:14:48.610 --> 00:14:52.850 was sacred. But what he also did is he formed 00:14:52.850 --> 00:14:56.250 the dirt into humans, is what they believed. 00:14:56.929 --> 00:14:59.590 Now, if you're tracking it all from a biblical 00:14:59.590 --> 00:15:01.490 perspective, you go, wait a minute. The beginning 00:15:01.490 --> 00:15:04.950 of the story, God Almighty does what? Forms humans 00:15:04.950 --> 00:15:08.139 out of dust. And so the Egyptians are ripping 00:15:08.139 --> 00:15:09.840 it off and goes, no, no, no, that was Geb that 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:12.419 was doing it. To which God shows up and he goes, 00:15:12.519 --> 00:15:14.700 hey, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to 00:15:14.700 --> 00:15:19.919 take your dust and make it gnats. What is sacred, 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:21.679 I'm going to make these little bugs that are 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:25.480 everywhere and get in everything. And you can't 00:15:25.480 --> 00:15:29.480 stop me. Because you, and if you can't stop me 00:15:29.480 --> 00:15:32.440 doing that, there's no way you are the creator 00:15:32.440 --> 00:15:35.899 of humans. What is he establishing? He's going, 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:41.740 I am the creator of humans. Maybe just personalize 00:15:41.740 --> 00:15:46.580 it. He is the creator of you. That should give 00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:50.620 you great hope. This was meant for the Israelites 00:15:50.620 --> 00:15:53.919 to bolster their trust and faith by knowing who 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:56.480 God is, by knowing that God created you, that 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:00.500 he formed you, that he knows you, that he created 00:16:00.500 --> 00:16:05.580 you personally. That's the beauty of understanding 00:16:05.580 --> 00:16:08.500 who God is. Why? Because now I can rest knowing, 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:11.639 knowing that there was intentional design to 00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:17.200 you by almighty God, that you would be a display 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:23.700 of his work. And so we go to round four. Verse 00:16:23.700 --> 00:16:26.440 21, chapter eight, verse 21. If you do not let 00:16:26.440 --> 00:16:28.940 my people go, I will send swarms of flies on 00:16:28.940 --> 00:16:30.960 you and your officials, on your people and into 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:33.559 your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will 00:16:33.559 --> 00:16:36.360 be full of flies. Even the ground will be covered 00:16:36.360 --> 00:16:39.860 with them. Anybody else hate flies? Like it's 00:16:39.860 --> 00:16:43.179 just so annoying. Okay, verse 22. But on that 00:16:43.179 --> 00:16:45.159 day, I will deal differently with the land of 00:16:45.159 --> 00:16:48.340 Goshen where my people live. No swarms of flies 00:16:48.340 --> 00:16:53.200 will be there so that you will know that I the 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:57.019 Lord am in this land. Verse 24 begins like this. 00:16:57.080 --> 00:17:00.139 And the Lord did this dense swarms of flies. 00:17:00.970 --> 00:17:03.669 poured into Pharaoh's house. I don't know how 00:17:03.669 --> 00:17:06.150 you feel, but when the Bible uses the term dense, 00:17:06.470 --> 00:17:10.309 like I can't even comprehend that. I just see 00:17:10.309 --> 00:17:13.069 clouds of flies, right? The closest I can come 00:17:13.069 --> 00:17:16.529 is I had a friend who years ago, he went to Alaska 00:17:16.529 --> 00:17:19.990 on a camping trip with a buddy. And they just 00:17:19.990 --> 00:17:21.650 happened to be there during, there's something 00:17:21.650 --> 00:17:24.160 called the seven -year fly, I guess. And they 00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:27.420 happen to be there. And he's got this video of 00:17:27.420 --> 00:17:29.640 they're in their tent and they're waiting for 00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:31.819 their food to cook. And they unzip the tent as 00:17:31.819 --> 00:17:33.759 quick as they can, come out, zip it down, go 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:36.000 over to stir the food as quick as they can to 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:37.980 get the lid back on and back in the tent. And 00:17:37.980 --> 00:17:40.059 they are covered in flies by the time they get 00:17:40.059 --> 00:17:42.839 back in the tent. He's got video of his buddy 00:17:42.839 --> 00:17:44.960 running around like trying to eat his food. So 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:48.920 the flies and they're just everywhere. Yeah. 00:17:51.230 --> 00:17:57.269 And that's the best I can do. That's not dense 00:17:57.269 --> 00:18:02.410 swarms of flies. Well, what is God doing in the 00:18:02.410 --> 00:18:06.549 midst of flies? Well, the goddess that was depicted 00:18:06.549 --> 00:18:11.950 had a fly head and a human body. And specifically, 00:18:12.089 --> 00:18:15.329 this goddess was the one that had sovereign control. 00:18:15.890 --> 00:18:21.140 So it meant that they controlled life. specific 00:18:21.140 --> 00:18:24.180 goddess also controlled the afterlife, the rebirth. 00:18:24.700 --> 00:18:28.019 And so what was believed was this goddess would 00:18:28.019 --> 00:18:31.500 not only know when you were going to die, but 00:18:31.500 --> 00:18:35.299 also could pick the next pharaoh out of this 00:18:35.299 --> 00:18:38.000 rebirth. And so they controlled the afterlife 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:41.859 and life. And what is God doing? He's making 00:18:41.859 --> 00:18:46.670 fun of their gods. Right? He's coming along and 00:18:46.670 --> 00:18:49.650 going, okay, well, I'll send flies. You control 00:18:49.650 --> 00:18:52.450 life and the afterlife. Try controlling flies. 00:18:52.710 --> 00:18:55.170 See how that goes. They'll look just like you. 00:18:58.869 --> 00:19:05.309 Only God controls life and the afterlife. I never 00:19:05.309 --> 00:19:08.250 wonder, you guys, why we get so worked up about 00:19:08.250 --> 00:19:15.299 death. We know the one beyond the grave. We get 00:19:15.299 --> 00:19:18.900 so worried about, I'm going to pick on old people 00:19:18.900 --> 00:19:22.500 for a minute. You just keep trying to stay young. 00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:26.160 It's not working. You're fighting what's going 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:30.859 to happen. Death is a part of the journey on 00:19:30.859 --> 00:19:33.700 a fallen, broken planet. Here's the good news. 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:38.200 Beyond death, he controls it. It's not out of 00:19:38.200 --> 00:19:41.829 his control. What's amazing with this, right, 00:19:41.970 --> 00:19:44.829 is he's written to us and he goes, hey, here's 00:19:44.829 --> 00:19:46.569 how the story ends. You know what we do? Ah, 00:19:46.769 --> 00:19:49.690 there's not enough details. That's just your 00:19:49.690 --> 00:19:53.829 control. What he tells you very clearly is Jesus 00:19:53.829 --> 00:19:57.349 wins, Satan loses, there's a new heaven and a 00:19:57.349 --> 00:19:59.690 new earth where there is no pain, there is no 00:19:59.690 --> 00:20:01.890 suffering, there is no war, there is no brokenness, 00:20:01.890 --> 00:20:08.140 where he sits as king. So tell me, which part 00:20:08.140 --> 00:20:10.220 of that do you go, I don't really want that? 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:13.059 Because here, all there is is pain, suffering, 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:16.900 brokenness, right? So we go on to the next round. 00:20:19.480 --> 00:20:22.819 Chapter 9, verse 2. If you refuse to let them 00:20:22.819 --> 00:20:25.900 go and continue to hold them back, the hand of 00:20:25.900 --> 00:20:27.940 the Lord will bring a terrible plague on your 00:20:27.940 --> 00:20:32.740 livestock in the field, on your horses, not the 00:20:32.740 --> 00:20:36.990 donkeys, like, come on. And camels and your cattle, 00:20:37.109 --> 00:20:40.970 sheep and goats. But the Lord will make a distinction 00:20:40.970 --> 00:20:44.210 between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt 00:20:44.210 --> 00:20:47.789 so that no animal belonging to the Israelites 00:20:47.789 --> 00:20:51.630 will die. Verse six, and the next day the Lord 00:20:51.630 --> 00:20:55.269 did it. All the livestock of the Egyptians died. 00:20:55.390 --> 00:20:57.490 All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but 00:20:57.490 --> 00:21:00.190 not one animal belonging to the Israelites died. 00:21:00.289 --> 00:21:04.240 What is happening here? Well, the God in this 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:07.440 was represented in a bull, and the bull was believed 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:12.200 to control the economic environment. The bull 00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:14.440 was the one that said these people will be wealthy 00:21:14.440 --> 00:21:16.960 and have status, and these people will not. So 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:21.019 now, 215 years, maybe 430 years, depending on 00:21:21.019 --> 00:21:23.019 which way you interpret it, the Israelites have 00:21:23.019 --> 00:21:26.109 been under this. this empire and the empire keeps 00:21:26.109 --> 00:21:28.210 getting richer and richer and status is bigger 00:21:28.210 --> 00:21:30.630 and bigger and it's growing and they are oppressed 00:21:30.630 --> 00:21:33.970 more and more. And in one moment, in one moment, 00:21:33.990 --> 00:21:36.750 they went from the oppressed to the free economically. 00:21:37.309 --> 00:21:40.650 Why? Because in this culture, in this culture, 00:21:40.710 --> 00:21:45.269 what happened is that if you had livestock, you 00:21:45.269 --> 00:21:48.670 were considered wealthy. The bigger amounts of 00:21:48.670 --> 00:21:51.210 it you had and the more you controlled it, the 00:21:51.210 --> 00:21:56.640 more status you had. And in one moment, God flips 00:21:56.640 --> 00:22:01.099 it from rich to poor. He flips that to poor to 00:22:01.099 --> 00:22:04.680 rich. The Israelites are now the ones with status 00:22:04.680 --> 00:22:08.640 and the ones with livestock. The whole economic 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:12.420 landscape changed in a moment, which tells me 00:22:12.420 --> 00:22:17.180 that God is our economic provision. Isn't it 00:22:17.180 --> 00:22:23.230 funny? We think we've got to be so smart. I just 00:22:23.230 --> 00:22:27.269 got to grind, man, figure out the system. If 00:22:27.269 --> 00:22:29.490 I get the numbers right and I just get them to 00:22:29.490 --> 00:22:31.490 work against each other and I can figure out 00:22:31.490 --> 00:22:33.329 how the best way the market's going to go. You 00:22:33.329 --> 00:22:36.690 can't figure out nothing. You know how I know? 00:22:37.150 --> 00:22:42.069 COVID. You want to go a step further back? 2008, 00:22:42.130 --> 00:22:46.869 there was a housing crash. We are not in control 00:22:46.869 --> 00:22:52.259 of the economy. We have a God who is in control 00:22:52.259 --> 00:22:55.099 of the economy. And no matter how much you think 00:22:55.099 --> 00:22:57.380 you can control it, no matter how much you think 00:22:57.380 --> 00:22:59.619 you can work the system, at the end of the day, 00:22:59.640 --> 00:23:02.099 God is in control of your economic provision. 00:23:03.460 --> 00:23:07.339 That's the bottom line. And it's funny how we 00:23:07.339 --> 00:23:09.359 think we have some kind of control. And what 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:12.380 he's teaching them is, hey, Israel, I got you. 00:23:13.400 --> 00:23:16.240 What's amazing is when they leave Israel, guess 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:18.700 what the Israelites do? Give them all their gold 00:23:18.700 --> 00:23:21.990 and silver. God makes them rich to go into the 00:23:21.990 --> 00:23:30.930 wilderness. Next round. Verse eight. Then the 00:23:30.930 --> 00:23:33.049 Lord said to Moses and Aaron, take handfuls of 00:23:33.049 --> 00:23:35.470 soup from the furnace and have Moses toss it 00:23:35.470 --> 00:23:37.130 into the air in the presence of Pharaoh. It will 00:23:37.130 --> 00:23:39.970 become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt 00:23:39.970 --> 00:23:44.470 and festering boils will break out on the people 00:23:44.470 --> 00:23:48.309 and animals throughout the land. The magicians 00:23:48.309 --> 00:23:50.910 could not stand. Verse 11, the magicians could 00:23:50.910 --> 00:23:53.630 not stand. The magicians, the one who are supposed 00:23:53.630 --> 00:23:56.869 to have power, could not stand before Moses because 00:23:56.869 --> 00:23:59.970 of all the boils that were on them and all the 00:23:59.970 --> 00:24:07.329 Egyptians. What's fascinating with this is there 00:24:07.329 --> 00:24:11.609 was another God that the magicians would invoke 00:24:11.609 --> 00:24:15.759 to bring healing. That God was also a warrior. 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:18.380 So if they needed power, they would invoke this 00:24:18.380 --> 00:24:20.960 one, this God. And if they needed healing, they 00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:24.059 would invoke the same God. The magicians are 00:24:24.059 --> 00:24:26.920 the ones that would have invoked what? Healing, 00:24:26.980 --> 00:24:29.660 but they could not even bring healing to themselves. 00:24:29.799 --> 00:24:33.420 Why? Because what God is establishing is he is 00:24:33.420 --> 00:24:38.859 the healer. God is the healer. God's the one 00:24:38.859 --> 00:24:43.440 and God alone that brings healing. And somewhere 00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:46.359 along the way, we start to trust in all these 00:24:46.359 --> 00:24:48.759 different things. Like somewhere along the way, 00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:50.859 we're like, okay, modern medicine can fix this. 00:24:50.980 --> 00:24:53.460 Okay, if not that, then we can have doctors do 00:24:53.460 --> 00:24:57.680 this. Can we just, like, that's valid that those 00:24:57.680 --> 00:25:00.500 things work, but can we just step back a layer 00:25:00.500 --> 00:25:03.980 and go the only person that brings healing is 00:25:03.980 --> 00:25:07.420 God? And if he chooses to use those things, then 00:25:07.420 --> 00:25:11.160 so be it. But only God is the one that will bring 00:25:11.160 --> 00:25:13.640 healing because he is the only one with the power 00:25:13.640 --> 00:25:18.160 to heal. It's interesting since my sabbatical, 00:25:18.220 --> 00:25:20.279 I feel like during my sabbatical, God really 00:25:20.279 --> 00:25:24.099 like convicted me of, John, your prayers are 00:25:24.099 --> 00:25:27.299 too general. And I was like, what do you mean 00:25:27.299 --> 00:25:29.160 by that? He goes, well, when you pray, you kind 00:25:29.160 --> 00:25:32.599 of give like this whole disclaimer for me versus 00:25:32.599 --> 00:25:36.680 just asking specifically what you want. And so 00:25:36.680 --> 00:25:39.380 it's been interesting being back. And I'm standing 00:25:39.380 --> 00:25:40.859 around and people come up to me and they go, 00:25:40.940 --> 00:25:44.200 hey, will you pray for this? And I go, what exactly 00:25:44.200 --> 00:25:48.859 do you want? And praying specifically. And every 00:25:48.859 --> 00:25:51.359 week since I've been back, pretty much, bar one 00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:54.740 maybe, there are stories of healing that are 00:25:54.740 --> 00:25:57.339 happening in our church. Miracles that are happening. 00:26:00.709 --> 00:26:03.230 Now, I don't tell you that to go, I figured out 00:26:03.230 --> 00:26:05.250 the way you got to pray. That's not what this 00:26:05.250 --> 00:26:07.569 is about. It's about trust and faith in a God 00:26:07.569 --> 00:26:10.730 who is the healer. And we're asking God because 00:26:10.730 --> 00:26:12.829 you're the one that's got to do it. You're the 00:26:12.829 --> 00:26:16.309 only one that can do it. And that's the reality 00:26:16.309 --> 00:26:18.309 of what he's setting down here is you've got 00:26:18.309 --> 00:26:21.789 to know that I am your healer, Israel, not this 00:26:21.789 --> 00:26:25.269 other God that's been set up. Which then he goes 00:26:25.269 --> 00:26:30.900 on to the next round. Chapter 9, verse 14. Or 00:26:30.900 --> 00:26:32.980 at this time, I will send a full force of my 00:26:32.980 --> 00:26:34.880 plagues against you and against your officials 00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:38.019 and your people so that you may know there is 00:26:38.019 --> 00:26:39.980 no one like me and all the earth. Why does he 00:26:39.980 --> 00:26:41.579 need them to know? Because he's leading them 00:26:41.579 --> 00:26:45.400 to worship. You worship what you know. For by 00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:47.859 now I could have stretched out my hand and struck 00:26:47.859 --> 00:26:50.819 you and your people with a plague that would 00:26:50.819 --> 00:26:54.319 have wiped you off the earth. But I have raised 00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:58.509 you up for this very purpose. that I might show 00:26:58.509 --> 00:27:00.930 you my power and my name might be proclaimed 00:27:00.930 --> 00:27:06.349 in all the earth. He goes, hey, I didn't have 00:27:06.349 --> 00:27:09.509 to go 10 rounds. We could have got this done 00:27:09.509 --> 00:27:11.970 in one. We could have just wiped you off the 00:27:11.970 --> 00:27:14.069 face of the earth. But what is God more interested 00:27:14.069 --> 00:27:17.490 in? That his people would know him and know what 00:27:17.490 --> 00:27:20.529 he is like and trust him and worship out of knowing 00:27:20.529 --> 00:27:26.109 who he is. And so God in his grace goes 10 rounds. 00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:31.279 Verse 23, when Moses stretched out his staff 00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:33.720 towards the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail 00:27:33.720 --> 00:27:36.799 and lightning flashed down to the ground. So 00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:39.839 the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt. Hail 00:27:39.839 --> 00:27:41.960 fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It 00:27:41.960 --> 00:27:56.160 was the worst storm. So this hail falls, this 00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:58.700 storm happens. And what's interesting is there 00:27:58.700 --> 00:28:01.920 was a... A goddess that was depicted when you 00:28:01.920 --> 00:28:04.700 see images that would cover the entire earth. 00:28:04.900 --> 00:28:07.579 And so what it meant was this goddess controlled 00:28:07.579 --> 00:28:10.559 any chaos that happened underneath. So any storm 00:28:10.559 --> 00:28:15.119 that came, this goddess was in control of. And 00:28:15.119 --> 00:28:17.140 so God shows up and go, hey, it's gonna hail 00:28:17.140 --> 00:28:19.099 and it's gonna be the worst storm you've ever 00:28:19.099 --> 00:28:26.400 seen and you can't turn it off. Why? Because 00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:34.000 your God controls. There's not a storm that happens 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:39.500 that that God can't control. I mean, you think 00:28:39.500 --> 00:28:41.799 about it, right? Your boys are in a boat with 00:28:41.799 --> 00:28:45.039 Jesus and what happens? He calms the storm because 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:48.900 he has power over nature. What does God want 00:28:48.900 --> 00:28:50.519 the Israelites to know? Hey, you're about to 00:28:50.519 --> 00:28:53.240 go out into the wilderness where you're camping 00:28:53.240 --> 00:28:57.859 for a really long time. And guess what? I control 00:28:57.859 --> 00:29:01.619 the weather you will experience, right? He's 00:29:01.619 --> 00:29:04.279 establishing this is who I am. This is what I 00:29:04.279 --> 00:29:07.779 do. This is my attributes of what I carry. And 00:29:07.779 --> 00:29:11.980 he goes, I control nature. Next round, chapter 00:29:11.980 --> 00:29:16.440 10, verse two, that you may tell your children 00:29:16.440 --> 00:29:20.130 and grandchildren how harshly. how I dealt harshly 00:29:20.130 --> 00:29:22.250 with the Egyptians and how I perform my signs 00:29:22.250 --> 00:29:25.029 among them that they may know that I am the Lord. 00:29:25.109 --> 00:29:27.329 There it is again. You need to know who I am. 00:29:27.690 --> 00:29:30.430 Verse 13, so Moses stretched out his staff over 00:29:30.430 --> 00:29:32.750 Egypt and the Lord made the east wind blow across 00:29:32.750 --> 00:29:36.410 the land all that day and all that night. By 00:29:36.410 --> 00:29:39.970 morning, the wind had brought the locusts. They 00:29:39.970 --> 00:29:43.609 invaded all Egypt. and settled down in every 00:29:43.609 --> 00:29:45.890 area of the country in great numbers. Never before 00:29:45.890 --> 00:29:48.529 had there been such a plague of locusts, nor 00:29:48.529 --> 00:29:50.410 will there ever be again. They covered all the 00:29:50.410 --> 00:29:53.109 ground until it was black. They devoured all 00:29:53.109 --> 00:29:55.930 that was left after the hail, everything growing 00:29:55.930 --> 00:30:00.049 in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing 00:30:00.049 --> 00:30:04.670 green remained on tree or plant in all the land 00:30:04.670 --> 00:30:10.160 of Egypt. It's interesting, they believe that 00:30:10.160 --> 00:30:12.059 there was a God that controlled the food source. 00:30:14.980 --> 00:30:17.740 And in one moment, God goes, I'm going to take 00:30:17.740 --> 00:30:25.640 everything green away through locusts. I think 00:30:25.640 --> 00:30:32.059 it's interesting for us that we don't live by 00:30:32.059 --> 00:30:39.769 daily bread, but God is your food source. God's 00:30:39.769 --> 00:30:45.490 the one, right? God's the one that puts food 00:30:45.490 --> 00:30:48.589 in your mouth every day. But we don't think of 00:30:48.589 --> 00:30:49.849 it that way. You know why? Because we got credit 00:30:49.849 --> 00:30:54.250 cards, right? We got stores where I don't even 00:30:54.250 --> 00:30:56.150 have to go inside. They just bring it to me, 00:30:56.210 --> 00:31:00.950 right? But the reality of what God wants you 00:31:00.950 --> 00:31:03.309 to understand of who he is for you is every time 00:31:03.309 --> 00:31:05.730 you put food into your mouth, it was a provision 00:31:05.730 --> 00:31:09.670 of the hand of God. We're just not as dependent. 00:31:10.269 --> 00:31:14.049 You see, if we lived not here, we lived in a 00:31:14.049 --> 00:31:18.049 community where we were dependent on farming 00:31:18.049 --> 00:31:21.069 to live and dependent on what the earth produced, 00:31:21.170 --> 00:31:23.529 because if it doesn't rain enough, all of a sudden 00:31:23.529 --> 00:31:25.190 you become really dependent on knowing what? 00:31:25.329 --> 00:31:27.329 That God is the one that controls. But when it 00:31:27.329 --> 00:31:29.430 comes in a bag and I open it and it's called 00:31:29.430 --> 00:31:33.519 chips that are bad for me, right? I'm not aware 00:31:33.519 --> 00:31:35.579 of where it came from. And when this moment, 00:31:35.640 --> 00:31:37.500 what God's doing, why? Because where are the 00:31:37.500 --> 00:31:39.779 Israelites going? They're going to the wilderness. 00:31:39.880 --> 00:31:41.220 And when they get there, guess what? They're 00:31:41.220 --> 00:31:43.799 going to get hungry. And what do they need to 00:31:43.799 --> 00:31:47.980 know about God? That he is their provider, that 00:31:47.980 --> 00:31:50.579 when they show up and they're hungry, that he 00:31:50.579 --> 00:31:53.039 has the ability to make frosted flakes fall from 00:31:53.039 --> 00:31:56.400 the sky that he called manna, right? Like that 00:31:56.400 --> 00:31:59.220 he's going to provide. That's what he's getting 00:31:59.220 --> 00:32:04.609 at is I am your food source. That you will eat 00:32:04.609 --> 00:32:08.170 today because of who I am. Not because of who 00:32:08.170 --> 00:32:11.970 you are. Not because of some other God. But because 00:32:11.970 --> 00:32:21.170 of who he is. It's interesting. You get down 00:32:21.170 --> 00:32:27.349 to verse 21. And this now attacks what was the 00:32:27.349 --> 00:32:30.930 most powerful God that Egypt had. It was the 00:32:30.930 --> 00:32:34.950 sun god Ra. Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch 00:32:34.950 --> 00:32:37.190 out your hand toward the sky so that darkness 00:32:37.190 --> 00:32:39.789 spreads over Egypt, darkness that can be felt. 00:32:39.849 --> 00:32:41.849 So Moses stretched out his hand towards the sky 00:32:41.849 --> 00:32:44.230 and total darkness covered all Egypt for three 00:32:44.230 --> 00:32:49.069 days. No one could see anyone else or move about 00:32:49.069 --> 00:32:51.410 for about three days, yet all the Israelites 00:32:51.410 --> 00:32:56.170 had light in the places where they lived. What's 00:32:56.170 --> 00:32:58.920 significant about this is Ra was believed to 00:32:58.920 --> 00:33:01.619 be the sun was his chariot, so to speak, that 00:33:01.619 --> 00:33:04.059 went around. And when he wasn't there, it was 00:33:04.059 --> 00:33:06.259 dark. And when he was there, it was light. And 00:33:06.259 --> 00:33:08.660 God just goes, hey, we're going to turn off the 00:33:08.660 --> 00:33:11.220 lights for three days. But only on you guys, 00:33:11.259 --> 00:33:13.519 not on you guys, because that's how powerful 00:33:13.519 --> 00:33:19.480 I am. You realize that your God controls the 00:33:19.480 --> 00:33:25.140 light and the darkness? Isn't it amazing when 00:33:25.140 --> 00:33:27.259 things get dark, we can often feel like God's 00:33:27.259 --> 00:33:31.089 not present? that God's absent, and yet he controls 00:33:31.089 --> 00:33:38.990 the darkness and the light. And he's declaring 00:33:38.990 --> 00:33:44.430 to the Israelites, this is who I am. He has one 00:33:44.430 --> 00:33:50.349 more round in which he invites Pharaoh. Chapter 00:33:50.349 --> 00:33:53.680 11, verse 4. So Moses said, this is what the 00:33:53.680 --> 00:33:55.839 Lord says. About midnight, I will go throughout 00:33:55.839 --> 00:33:59.299 Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die. 00:33:59.900 --> 00:34:03.140 From the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on 00:34:03.140 --> 00:34:05.180 the throne, to the firstborn son of the female 00:34:05.180 --> 00:34:08.820 slave, who is at her hand mill. and the firstborn 00:34:08.820 --> 00:34:11.380 of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing 00:34:11.380 --> 00:34:13.559 throughout Egypt, worse than there has ever been 00:34:13.559 --> 00:34:16.539 or ever will be again. But among the Israelites, 00:34:16.760 --> 00:34:19.579 not a dog will bark at any person or animal. 00:34:19.699 --> 00:34:23.840 Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction 00:34:23.840 --> 00:34:27.460 between Egypt and Israel. The last plague is 00:34:27.460 --> 00:34:31.559 Pharaoh's firstborn. Why Pharaoh? Because Pharaoh's 00:34:31.559 --> 00:34:34.320 firstborn was his dynasty. This was his legacy. 00:34:34.539 --> 00:34:37.949 This is what he was building in his empire. And 00:34:37.949 --> 00:34:41.050 in a moment, God shows up and goes, hey, as powerful 00:34:41.050 --> 00:34:46.630 and as rich as you are and as far as power and 00:34:46.630 --> 00:34:49.010 status throughout the world that you have, none 00:34:49.010 --> 00:34:54.889 of that can protect you from me. And he rescues 00:34:54.889 --> 00:35:01.690 his people by knockout of Pharaoh. And I think 00:35:01.690 --> 00:35:05.670 it's fascinating because your rescue that God 00:35:05.670 --> 00:35:09.320 has led for you, is that he has knocked out death 00:35:09.320 --> 00:35:13.360 once and for all. He's taken death and all of 00:35:13.360 --> 00:35:15.300 its friends and he's knocked them out. How? By 00:35:15.300 --> 00:35:20.019 going to a cross. By God showing up, this God 00:35:20.019 --> 00:35:24.599 showing up in human form. And going to a cross 00:35:24.599 --> 00:35:27.159 for you. Why? So that he could take the weight 00:35:27.159 --> 00:35:30.000 of sin and the weight of separation and death 00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:32.480 and he could pay the penalty. Why? That you could 00:35:32.480 --> 00:35:35.960 have relationship with Almighty God. He had to 00:35:35.960 --> 00:35:39.219 knock out death and eventually will knock out 00:35:39.219 --> 00:35:43.079 Satan for all time. Why? So that you and me and 00:35:43.079 --> 00:35:51.650 humanity can be free. This is where it gets good, 00:35:51.670 --> 00:35:53.170 you guys. This is where it gets good. I had a 00:35:53.170 --> 00:35:58.949 song in my head and it's kind of on repeat and 00:35:58.949 --> 00:36:00.690 it's a worship song and it kind of breaks down 00:36:00.690 --> 00:36:02.369 in the middle and I can't tell if the guy's going 00:36:02.369 --> 00:36:05.210 spontaneous or if he's just like it was planned. 00:36:05.630 --> 00:36:09.570 Doesn't really matter. But there's a moment where 00:36:09.570 --> 00:36:16.630 he goes, I see my father. My father's waiting 00:36:16.630 --> 00:36:20.820 on the porch for me. And he's speaking of his 00:36:20.820 --> 00:36:23.059 heavenly father. Isn't that a beautiful picture? 00:36:25.280 --> 00:36:29.440 That the heavenly father is sitting on the porch 00:36:29.440 --> 00:36:35.639 waiting. But what this list tells us is what 00:36:35.639 --> 00:36:41.159 he's like. That my heavenly father is my lifeblood. 00:36:42.840 --> 00:36:45.239 In the person of Jesus and through his blood, 00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:48.960 I've been given life. And his blood now runs 00:36:48.960 --> 00:36:52.860 through my veins. Right? Like this idea that 00:36:52.860 --> 00:36:56.480 that's the connection to this God who is my father, 00:36:56.559 --> 00:36:59.179 that he is my life, but that God my father is 00:36:59.179 --> 00:37:06.400 my breath of life. That my father is my creator. 00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:18.289 That God my father holds life. This life, every 00:37:18.289 --> 00:37:23.809 moment of this life and the afterlife. That my 00:37:23.809 --> 00:37:29.949 father is my economic provision. That God, my 00:37:29.949 --> 00:37:37.050 father is my healing and my protection. That 00:37:37.050 --> 00:37:40.710 God, my father, he's in control of all nature. 00:37:42.849 --> 00:37:46.239 Nothing's out of his hands. That God, my father 00:37:46.239 --> 00:37:51.199 is gonna put food in my body today. That God, 00:37:51.219 --> 00:37:54.900 my father, he controls the light and he controls 00:37:54.900 --> 00:38:00.039 the darkness. And God, my father rescued me by 00:38:00.039 --> 00:38:05.480 knockout. That's your heavenly father who is 00:38:05.480 --> 00:38:09.739 waiting on the porch for you to come home and 00:38:09.739 --> 00:38:19.400 sit down and enjoy. On your way in, you should 00:38:19.400 --> 00:38:21.480 receive one of these. I want to go a step further 00:38:21.480 --> 00:38:26.599 if you'll let me. Because what this is called 00:38:26.599 --> 00:38:34.179 is communion. And communion is to be able to 00:38:34.179 --> 00:38:38.900 sit down. It was done at a table. You sit next 00:38:38.900 --> 00:38:46.980 to somebody at a table. And this God is the God 00:38:46.980 --> 00:38:49.199 that is showing up. If you can imagine a table 00:38:49.199 --> 00:38:51.239 and you've got a seat and there's a seat next 00:38:51.239 --> 00:38:54.699 to you, this is the God that is happy, is happy, 00:38:54.840 --> 00:38:59.739 that is delighted to sit in that seat with you 00:38:59.739 --> 00:39:07.559 and share communion with you. Oh, it's the God 00:39:07.559 --> 00:39:11.320 that's lifeblood, that he's holding the very 00:39:11.320 --> 00:39:15.800 breath in your lungs right now. that he knows 00:39:15.800 --> 00:39:19.900 your needs before you even state them. The God 00:39:19.900 --> 00:39:26.119 that's your creator, your sustainer, the God 00:39:26.119 --> 00:39:30.699 that is all powerful, is lacking nothing, and 00:39:30.699 --> 00:39:39.760 he is sitting at a table with you to share a 00:39:39.760 --> 00:39:44.969 meal. So we're going to take some time to reflect. 00:39:46.889 --> 00:39:49.349 But do me a favor, don't make this moment about 00:39:49.349 --> 00:39:56.989 you. Instead, in a posture of gratitude with 00:39:56.989 --> 00:39:59.510 the picture, we're going to leave these up, with 00:39:59.510 --> 00:40:03.869 the picture of this God sitting at the table, 00:40:03.929 --> 00:40:09.969 just tell him thank you. Just see him for who 00:40:09.969 --> 00:41:25.000 he is. And then we'll take it all together. Jesus 00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.960 gathered his friends, those that he'd spent the 00:41:29.960 --> 00:41:31.860 most time with, that he was the most connected 00:41:31.860 --> 00:41:35.760 to. And he knew what was coming for them. He 00:41:35.760 --> 00:41:41.079 knew what the cross would mean. So what did he 00:41:41.079 --> 00:41:44.400 do? He took simple bread at a meal, sitting at 00:41:44.400 --> 00:41:51.059 a table with them. And he tells them, remember, 00:41:51.420 --> 00:41:56.139 remember. Why remember? Well, see, when I remember, 00:41:56.320 --> 00:41:59.119 I remember that God showed up. When I remember, 00:41:59.320 --> 00:42:02.559 I remember that he became human for me to go 00:42:02.559 --> 00:42:05.360 to a cross to take my sin and my shame and my 00:42:05.360 --> 00:42:08.179 punishment and my guilt and take the separation 00:42:08.179 --> 00:42:11.079 between God and take death and defeat it so that 00:42:11.079 --> 00:42:14.679 I can have life. That's my God. That's who he 00:42:14.679 --> 00:42:19.059 is. That's what he does. That I'm forgiven and 00:42:19.059 --> 00:42:23.500 free. And so he took bread and he goes, hey, 00:42:23.519 --> 00:42:27.199 this is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance 00:42:27.199 --> 00:42:36.880 of me. He took a cup of wine and what he connected 00:42:36.880 --> 00:42:39.000 to wine was forgiveness, that through his blood 00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:41.300 there was forgiveness for all time, for every 00:42:41.300 --> 00:42:46.940 sin, none left out. Because he alone is powerful 00:42:46.940 --> 00:42:50.750 enough to do it. And so he took a cup and he 00:42:50.750 --> 00:42:52.570 handed it to them. He said, take, drink, do this 00:42:52.570 --> 00:42:58.130 in remembrance of me. Church, would you do me 00:42:58.130 --> 00:43:02.389 a favor? Would you stand where you are? I want 00:43:02.389 --> 00:43:08.809 to make one more connection. Because the point 00:43:08.809 --> 00:43:12.309 of Exodus is that they would know him to worship 00:43:12.309 --> 00:43:15.909 him. That they would know him to worship him. 00:43:17.090 --> 00:43:22.039 I don't know how. You feel, but when I look at 00:43:22.039 --> 00:43:26.940 this, I get an overwhelming sense to say, what 00:43:26.940 --> 00:43:30.980 a God. To take the very breath that he's given 00:43:30.980 --> 00:43:34.500 and go, how could I not just give it back? How 00:43:34.500 --> 00:43:37.139 can I not just declare back to you, what a God? 00:43:38.719 --> 00:43:42.260 How can I hold it within? How can I, knowing 00:43:42.260 --> 00:43:45.039 what I know about you, how do I not go and now 00:43:45.039 --> 00:43:49.179 worship you? That was the point all along. That 00:43:49.179 --> 00:43:51.400 you would take the very breath and give it back 00:43:51.400 --> 00:43:55.960 as an act of worship. And so we're going to sing 00:43:55.960 --> 00:43:58.199 and we're going to celebrate that if the highest 00:43:58.199 --> 00:44:00.880 place you ever reach is his feet, that's okay. 00:44:02.139 --> 00:44:05.500 In fact, it's better than okay. If you only ever 00:44:05.500 --> 00:44:09.199 hear one word, it's more than enough. Because 00:44:09.199 --> 00:44:11.840 we declare, what a God. What a God. Would you 00:44:11.840 --> 00:44:12.780 join us as we worship?