WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.980 Well, good morning, church. It's good to see 00:00:03.980 --> 00:00:06.900 you guys this morning. Welcome, welcome. If you 00:00:06.900 --> 00:00:08.500 haven't been welcomed yet, I would love to welcome 00:00:08.500 --> 00:00:11.720 you. I'd love to welcome those online, out in 00:00:11.720 --> 00:00:14.539 Pauldin, Baghdad. If you're watching from wherever 00:00:14.539 --> 00:00:16.440 you are, we're so glad you're joining with us 00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:18.399 this morning, and we're glad that we get to open 00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:21.579 God's Word together today. Something I've noticed 00:00:21.579 --> 00:00:25.199 about people, all of us, is that I think we're 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:27.829 all nerds. Like, if you're honest, right, we're 00:00:27.829 --> 00:00:29.690 all nerds. There's different brands of nerds, 00:00:29.690 --> 00:00:31.629 you know what I'm saying? Like, different brands 00:00:31.629 --> 00:00:34.409 of nerds. I know for a fact when it comes to 00:00:34.409 --> 00:00:36.850 me, I'm a sports nerd, okay? I'm a sports nerd. 00:00:36.890 --> 00:00:38.909 I'm in three different fantasy football leagues. 00:00:38.990 --> 00:00:41.210 I'm in three different fantasy baseball leagues. 00:00:41.450 --> 00:00:44.789 At my house, sports is always on. I could tell 00:00:44.789 --> 00:00:47.109 you a random fact about a random team and a random 00:00:47.109 --> 00:00:49.429 player that you never wanted to know, okay? I 00:00:49.429 --> 00:00:53.140 got that. We're all different brands of nerds. 00:00:53.140 --> 00:00:55.979 And something I've learned over the last 18 years 00:00:55.979 --> 00:00:58.479 of working in youth ministry is that it doesn't 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:00.219 matter what brand of nerd you are, you have to 00:01:00.219 --> 00:01:02.460 be able to relate to all the brands of nerds. 00:01:02.899 --> 00:01:05.500 That was my job. And so a couple of years ago, 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:07.480 I had some students come up to me and they go, 00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:09.799 hey, Pastor Todd, we're going to Comic -Con. 00:01:09.799 --> 00:01:13.099 Do you want to come with us? And I'm like, sure. 00:01:14.439 --> 00:01:16.859 And so I went to Comic -Con and listen, that's 00:01:16.859 --> 00:01:19.299 not my brand of nerd. I'm just telling you. Like 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:22.120 I had no clue what was happening like 99 % of 00:01:22.120 --> 00:01:24.079 the time. I'm like, I have no idea what's happening. 00:01:24.180 --> 00:01:26.239 I have no idea what I'm seeing. I don't get these 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:28.859 stories. I don't know what's going on. And so 00:01:28.859 --> 00:01:31.200 as I was there, man, like I was there, I showed 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:34.719 up, I was around it, but I had no clue what was 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:36.260 happening. And so there was one girl who was 00:01:36.260 --> 00:01:38.980 with us who apparently there's a lot of opinions 00:01:38.980 --> 00:01:40.900 that you can have. And she had a lot of them. 00:01:41.099 --> 00:01:43.780 And so she was telling me a lot of things about 00:01:43.780 --> 00:01:46.079 everything that was happening. And she was the 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:47.459 one that was telling me the most. So I was like, 00:01:47.500 --> 00:01:49.099 okay, I guess I'll believe what you say here. 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:51.659 And here's the thing. I think when it comes to 00:01:51.659 --> 00:01:54.540 our faith, a lot of times we don't actually know 00:01:54.540 --> 00:01:58.219 who God is. And because we don't know who God 00:01:58.219 --> 00:02:00.640 is for most of us, we just like had this vague 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:03.000 idea of who God is. And we show up and we're 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:05.260 like, yeah, I'm here, but we don't actually know 00:02:05.260 --> 00:02:08.039 who he is. And because we don't know who he is, 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:10.560 we tend to listen to the loudest voice around 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:13.650 us who tells us who God is. And so you have to 00:02:13.650 --> 00:02:15.530 answer the question for yourself. Are you gonna, 00:02:15.590 --> 00:02:17.909 when it comes to knowing who God is, are you 00:02:17.909 --> 00:02:19.770 gonna listen to TikTok or are you gonna listen 00:02:19.770 --> 00:02:22.650 to the Bible? Are you gonna listen to that video 00:02:22.650 --> 00:02:25.189 that your crazy aunt sent you or are you gonna 00:02:25.189 --> 00:02:28.509 listen to the Bible? Where do you get your source 00:02:28.509 --> 00:02:30.710 of truth when it comes to who God is? Because 00:02:30.710 --> 00:02:33.750 understanding God's character, understanding 00:02:33.750 --> 00:02:38.219 who God is. is the determining factor for how 00:02:38.219 --> 00:02:40.080 you will follow God and how you will live your 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:42.039 life because his character matters. And the thing 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:44.340 we know about God's character is who he is is 00:02:44.340 --> 00:02:46.840 who he is. It doesn't change. That's who God 00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:49.599 is. And so we have to understand who God is. 00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:52.620 And as we've been walking through this idea of 00:02:52.620 --> 00:02:55.000 snapshots, we're taking a snapshot of the book 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:57.500 of Exodus and a snapshot of the book of Exodus, 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:00.280 we look closer and with any snapshot, any photo 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:03.180 that you have, the closer you look, the more 00:03:03.180 --> 00:03:05.680 things you discover. When you look at it, I found 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:08.180 this story this last week of a woman who was 00:03:08.180 --> 00:03:10.520 showing her husband a photo of her at Disneyland 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:13.259 when she was a kid. And she showed him this photo. 00:03:13.379 --> 00:03:15.439 And in the background of this photo, the husband 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:19.139 looked closely and he saw himself with his family 00:03:19.139 --> 00:03:21.039 in the background of her photo when they were 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:22.659 kids and they had no idea who each other were. 00:03:23.539 --> 00:03:25.159 Some of you weren't impressed with that. I thought 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:26.979 it was a lot cooler than that. You're like, oh. 00:03:30.180 --> 00:03:32.560 Gee, it's 930. You should be awake by now, people. 00:03:34.030 --> 00:03:36.530 But when you look at a snapshot, there's details 00:03:36.530 --> 00:03:39.650 that help you understand something more. And 00:03:39.650 --> 00:03:41.729 as we look at the snapshot today, it's going 00:03:41.729 --> 00:03:43.870 to help us understand the character of God, who 00:03:43.870 --> 00:03:48.490 God is at his core, the character of God. And 00:03:48.490 --> 00:03:50.449 so the context for today's snapshot is this, 00:03:50.449 --> 00:03:54.150 man, I feel bad for Moses because Moses is leading 00:03:54.150 --> 00:03:56.449 these Israelite people out of Egypt. And man, 00:03:56.530 --> 00:03:59.469 I just imagine him taking these people and trying 00:03:59.469 --> 00:04:01.349 to get them from point A to point B. And here's 00:04:01.349 --> 00:04:03.979 why I feel bad, because I have five kids. And 00:04:03.979 --> 00:04:05.599 I know what it's like to get them from point 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:08.259 A to point B. To get them from the house to the 00:04:08.259 --> 00:04:10.039 car and then drive and then from the car to the 00:04:10.039 --> 00:04:13.180 church is like, it's a miracle every time. It 00:04:13.180 --> 00:04:15.400 reminds me of this summer, we took a trip to 00:04:15.400 --> 00:04:17.939 the Dominican Republic and we took about 15 people, 00:04:18.040 --> 00:04:20.959 most of which were students and navigating in 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:23.600 an airport with 15 students isn't one of the 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:25.860 most favorite things I've ever done. I'm like, 00:04:25.879 --> 00:04:27.920 don't go there. Nope, we're in this terminal, 00:04:27.959 --> 00:04:29.639 not that one. Make sure your phone is on you. 00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:31.899 Don't eat that. You don't spend your, I'm like, 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:35.920 come on now. Like I feel bad for Moses navigating 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:41.000 this. Because here's what the Bible says. It's 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:43.899 an absolute logistical nightmare. It says in 00:04:43.899 --> 00:04:47.920 Exodus 12, 37 through 38, the Israelites journeyed 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:51.300 from Ramses to Succoth. There were about 600 00:04:51.300 --> 00:04:55.120 ,000 men on foot besides women and children. 00:04:55.339 --> 00:04:57.980 Many others went up with them and also large 00:04:57.980 --> 00:05:02.079 droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. All 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:04.000 right, now let's do some quick math. We don't 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:06.939 know the exact number here, but we can kind of 00:05:06.939 --> 00:05:08.800 estimate and we can do some quick math, which 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:10.600 some of you got excited because that's your brand 00:05:10.600 --> 00:05:13.920 of nerd, right? You're like, math, awesome. 600 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:17.579 ,000 men. We can assume then, we're not for certain, 00:05:17.699 --> 00:05:19.680 but we can assume there's probably 600 ,000 women 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:23.079 as well. 600 ,000 men, 600 ,000 women, and then 00:05:23.079 --> 00:05:25.180 we can kind of assume if there are couples here, 00:05:25.240 --> 00:05:26.980 I know some of them probably were unmarried, 00:05:27.019 --> 00:05:28.899 but if there are couples, we can kind of just 00:05:28.899 --> 00:05:32.180 guesstimate two children each. Now, some of them 00:05:32.180 --> 00:05:34.120 didn't limit the fun and had a lot more children. 00:05:34.180 --> 00:05:36.139 I know, I got five kids, I can say that, okay? 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:39.040 But for some of them, there's more, so we don't 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:40.939 know the exact number, but we can do some rough 00:05:40.939 --> 00:05:43.319 math here to figure out that there was probably 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:45.860 anywhere between 1 .8 million and two million 00:05:45.860 --> 00:05:49.600 people, but then it says many others went with 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:52.089 them. I don't know how many, many others is, 00:05:52.170 --> 00:05:55.589 but it sounds like a lot. And then animals and 00:05:55.589 --> 00:05:58.970 livestock as well. So there's an absolute logistical 00:05:58.970 --> 00:06:01.629 nightmare when it comes to leading these Israelite 00:06:01.629 --> 00:06:04.329 people out of Egypt. And Moses is the one that's 00:06:04.329 --> 00:06:06.589 having to lead them. In fact, it's not just a 00:06:06.589 --> 00:06:11.009 logistical nightmare. It seems impossible. It 00:06:11.009 --> 00:06:12.949 seems like an impossible situation. And I think 00:06:12.949 --> 00:06:14.629 there's probably some of you that came in today 00:06:14.629 --> 00:06:16.410 that might be facing an impossible situation. 00:06:16.990 --> 00:06:18.889 Or maybe you're going through something and you're 00:06:18.889 --> 00:06:20.569 going, I don't know how I'm actually gonna get 00:06:20.569 --> 00:06:22.149 through this. I don't know how I'm going to do 00:06:22.149 --> 00:06:24.750 this. And as Moses is facing this impossible 00:06:24.750 --> 00:06:27.529 situation, he's going, this looks impossible, 00:06:27.709 --> 00:06:34.110 but God, but God, that's when God steps in. I 00:06:34.110 --> 00:06:35.449 don't know what situation you're facing that 00:06:35.449 --> 00:06:37.509 feels impossible, but I know that we serve a 00:06:37.509 --> 00:06:42.850 God that steps in. So here's what it says. It 00:06:42.850 --> 00:06:45.550 says, after leaving, Which, by the way, some 00:06:45.550 --> 00:06:47.189 of you might feel like you're living in Succoth. 00:06:47.329 --> 00:06:49.810 All right, I'm just saying. Your life is Succoth 00:06:49.810 --> 00:06:51.350 right now, and you need to leave that place. 00:06:51.490 --> 00:06:53.410 You're like, I got to get out of here. All right, 00:06:53.430 --> 00:06:57.910 don't laugh at that. That's bad. Come on. So 00:06:57.910 --> 00:07:00.649 when they left, they camped at Etham on the edge 00:07:00.649 --> 00:07:03.730 of the desert. And it says, by day, the Lord 00:07:03.730 --> 00:07:06.689 went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide 00:07:06.689 --> 00:07:09.899 them on their way. And by night. and a pillar 00:07:09.899 --> 00:07:12.740 of fire to give them light so that they could 00:07:12.740 --> 00:07:15.980 travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of 00:07:15.980 --> 00:07:18.980 cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night 00:07:18.980 --> 00:07:22.459 left its place in front of the people. It never 00:07:22.459 --> 00:07:26.920 left. I don't know who needs to hear this today, 00:07:26.980 --> 00:07:28.519 but some of you came to church today and all 00:07:28.519 --> 00:07:31.240 you need to hear is this. God will never leave 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:34.879 you or forsake you. God will never leave you 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:37.160 or forsake you. If you don't hear anything else, 00:07:37.160 --> 00:07:38.620 then this is the word that you take home today 00:07:38.620 --> 00:07:40.660 is God will never leave you or forsake you. That 00:07:40.660 --> 00:07:43.420 is who God is. It says this pillar came and it 00:07:43.420 --> 00:07:45.860 never left the people. It stayed in front of 00:07:45.860 --> 00:07:48.699 the people. It guided the people. And because 00:07:48.699 --> 00:07:50.819 of this pillar, through this pillar, we get a 00:07:50.819 --> 00:07:54.180 peek into God's character. It's not just a pillar 00:07:54.180 --> 00:07:56.459 of fire or cloud. It's a peek into God's character. 00:07:56.540 --> 00:07:58.600 And it shows us something about him. As we look 00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:00.939 at this snapshot, we can learn things about him. 00:08:00.980 --> 00:08:03.579 If you're taking notes today, the first is this. 00:08:03.660 --> 00:08:07.740 The pillar is God's. provision. The pillar is 00:08:07.740 --> 00:08:11.240 God's provision. God provides for their practical 00:08:11.240 --> 00:08:13.899 needs. Just very practical here. He provides 00:08:13.899 --> 00:08:17.819 for their practical needs. I'm what is referred 00:08:17.819 --> 00:08:20.360 to as a weather wimp. I'm a weather wimp. I grew 00:08:20.360 --> 00:08:22.959 up in San Diego where they do not have weather. 00:08:23.060 --> 00:08:25.279 It doesn't exist. Some of you are like, is it 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:28.980 really that nice? Yes, it is. And they pay for 00:08:28.980 --> 00:08:31.540 it, a lot for it. But it's really that nice. 00:08:31.639 --> 00:08:34.379 And so when I moved here, I was like, we're moving 00:08:34.379 --> 00:08:36.799 to the desert? This is crazy. I need sunscreen. 00:08:37.419 --> 00:08:40.720 My bald head can't handle it. But not only that, 00:08:40.740 --> 00:08:42.740 I need a jacket. I didn't own a jacket until 00:08:42.740 --> 00:08:45.419 I moved here. I was like, I gotta get something. 00:08:45.639 --> 00:08:47.279 We gotta take care of these practical needs. 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:48.879 All right, we know what it's like living in the 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:51.820 desert. He's taking these Israelites through 00:08:51.820 --> 00:08:54.259 the desert. And so what does God do? He provides 00:08:54.259 --> 00:08:57.080 a pillar of cloud to provide shade during the 00:08:57.080 --> 00:08:59.340 day because it gets hot in the desert in the 00:08:59.340 --> 00:09:03.360 day. And he provides fire at night to keep them 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:07.330 warm. Practical needs. God is a God of provision. 00:09:07.429 --> 00:09:09.590 God provides, which means he provides for our 00:09:09.590 --> 00:09:11.649 practical needs. He provides you when it comes 00:09:11.649 --> 00:09:13.590 to the food that you eat, when it comes to the 00:09:13.590 --> 00:09:15.909 water that you drink, when it comes to the air 00:09:15.909 --> 00:09:18.549 that you breathe. Aren't you ever taken a good 00:09:18.549 --> 00:09:21.789 breath before? Where you're like, oh, that was 00:09:21.789 --> 00:09:26.450 a good breath. God provided that for you. We 00:09:26.450 --> 00:09:28.330 take these things for granted and we don't realize 00:09:28.330 --> 00:09:30.809 that God provides it. He provided the relationships 00:09:30.809 --> 00:09:33.279 that you have, the family that you have. The 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:36.179 guidance that you have, the wisdom that you get, 00:09:36.259 --> 00:09:39.019 all of those things is God's provision in your 00:09:39.019 --> 00:09:41.600 life. So my question is this, when was the last 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:44.879 time you thanked him for it? Because we take 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:46.539 things for granted and we go, okay, I don't need 00:09:46.539 --> 00:09:48.179 to thank God because here's how it actually works. 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:50.440 I got a job and I got money and I bought the 00:09:50.440 --> 00:09:52.019 food. So why do I thank God? Because I'm the 00:09:52.019 --> 00:09:54.960 one that did it. No, God provided it for you. 00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:58.039 When was the last time that you took a breath 00:09:58.039 --> 00:09:59.700 and you go, oh, I just want to thank God because 00:09:59.700 --> 00:10:02.480 I breathed it. Because he provided the breath 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:04.860 that I took. We take things for granted. When 00:10:04.860 --> 00:10:06.679 was the last time you got in your car and were 00:10:06.679 --> 00:10:09.139 like, God, thank you that I have a car. And some 00:10:09.139 --> 00:10:11.919 of you drive a ghetto car like me, but you ain't 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:15.700 walking. So thank God for it. God, thank you. 00:10:15.799 --> 00:10:19.519 Thank you that you provided this for me. God 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:22.059 has given us these things and he's provided for 00:10:22.059 --> 00:10:25.919 us. And here's the thing. What our response to 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:30.309 a God who provides should be is trust. should 00:10:30.309 --> 00:10:33.610 be trusting that God will provide, right? Look 00:10:33.610 --> 00:10:36.629 what God has done. God will provide. That's who 00:10:36.629 --> 00:10:39.370 he is. That's his character. But I get messed 00:10:39.370 --> 00:10:41.110 up with that because I look at my bank account 00:10:41.110 --> 00:10:43.509 and I go, oh man, it's time for a freak out now. 00:10:43.669 --> 00:10:45.950 It's time for a panic. Instead of realizing that 00:10:45.950 --> 00:10:47.909 God provided before and the same God that provided 00:10:47.909 --> 00:10:50.070 before will provide again because God provides. 00:10:51.049 --> 00:10:54.870 That's what he does. That's who he is. Next is 00:10:54.870 --> 00:10:59.090 this. The pillar is God's protection. The pillar 00:10:59.090 --> 00:11:02.490 is God's protection. I mean, come on now. There's 00:11:02.490 --> 00:11:05.830 a pillar of fire and clouds stretching to the 00:11:05.830 --> 00:11:07.909 heavens. There is nobody that's trying to roll 00:11:07.909 --> 00:11:10.190 up on that. You know what I'm saying? If you're 00:11:10.190 --> 00:11:11.710 in an army that's going, oh, look at all these 00:11:11.710 --> 00:11:14.129 people. I can attack these people. And then you 00:11:14.129 --> 00:11:15.509 see this pillar of cloud and fire. You're like, 00:11:15.570 --> 00:11:18.350 uh -uh, I ain't rolling up on that. When I was 00:11:18.350 --> 00:11:22.649 in high school, I went one night to 7 -Eleven, 00:11:22.649 --> 00:11:23.470 because that's what you do when you're in high 00:11:23.470 --> 00:11:24.929 school. You go at like 11 o 'clock at night to 00:11:24.929 --> 00:11:27.320 get a Slurpee. And I went with my friend. He's 00:11:27.320 --> 00:11:29.940 this huge dude. He played college football. His 00:11:29.940 --> 00:11:31.639 name was Kellen. And Kellen was this big dude 00:11:31.639 --> 00:11:34.120 with a big afro. And so we're in 7 -Eleven. We're 00:11:34.120 --> 00:11:35.779 filling up our Slurpees. And as we're over here, 00:11:35.879 --> 00:11:38.419 this guy walks in the door. And I look at him 00:11:38.419 --> 00:11:40.840 from across the store. And this guy was literally 00:11:40.840 --> 00:11:43.179 three times the size of my big friend, Kellen. 00:11:43.299 --> 00:11:46.980 And I was like, oh, snap. And as he walks in 00:11:46.980 --> 00:11:49.200 the door, this massive dude, he looks across 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:50.799 the store. And he looks at my friend, Kellen. 00:11:50.899 --> 00:11:54.620 And he goes, what's up, Jamal? To which my friend 00:11:54.620 --> 00:11:57.320 goes, oh, what's up, man? How's it going? And 00:11:57.320 --> 00:11:59.200 I am utterly confused at this point. I'm like, 00:11:59.220 --> 00:12:00.700 wait a sec. I've known you since fourth grade. 00:12:00.759 --> 00:12:02.259 Your name is not Jamal. You are Kellen. What 00:12:02.259 --> 00:12:04.600 is happening right now? So I was like, hey, what 00:12:04.600 --> 00:12:07.159 was that? And he goes, I have no clue who Jamal 00:12:07.159 --> 00:12:12.700 is. I'm just glad he's on his good side. He's 00:12:12.700 --> 00:12:14.519 like, I'm just glad I'm on the right side here. 00:12:14.620 --> 00:12:17.000 You know what I'm saying? Like there is a pillar 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:20.980 of cloud and fire to the heavens. And anybody 00:12:20.980 --> 00:12:22.659 looking at them is like, I just want to stay 00:12:22.659 --> 00:12:24.360 on that good side. You know what I'm saying? 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:26.019 If you're looking to attack that, you're like, 00:12:26.039 --> 00:12:28.460 uh -uh. Like, my palms are sweaty, my knees weak, 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:29.799 my arms are heavy. You know what I'm saying? 00:12:29.879 --> 00:12:33.980 Like, some of you didn't get that. You require 00:12:33.980 --> 00:12:36.059 less counseling than the rest of us, okay? That's 00:12:36.059 --> 00:12:38.700 what I'm saying. All right, some of you are over 00:12:38.700 --> 00:12:40.399 there now, and you're like, I'm spaghetti, right? 00:12:40.519 --> 00:12:44.379 Like, you're just keeping it going. But can you 00:12:44.379 --> 00:12:46.679 imagine this pillar of cloud and fire? And here's 00:12:46.679 --> 00:12:49.320 what God is doing. What God is doing in this 00:12:49.320 --> 00:12:52.279 moment is that the armies of every other nation 00:12:52.279 --> 00:12:54.500 understand how this works because they don't 00:12:54.500 --> 00:12:57.220 have the communication devices that we have. 00:12:57.820 --> 00:13:00.840 And so to identify who the commander of the army 00:13:00.840 --> 00:13:03.299 was, or the multiple commanders in the army, 00:13:03.340 --> 00:13:04.860 they would have this thing called a mishael. 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:07.360 And it was this long pole. And on the top of 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:09.980 the pole was this big bowl filled with oil. And 00:13:09.980 --> 00:13:12.039 they would light it so that it created a little 00:13:12.039 --> 00:13:15.320 pillar of fire to identify who the commander 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:17.220 of the army is. So that the rest of the army, 00:13:17.299 --> 00:13:19.220 when they looked, they could say, that's the 00:13:19.220 --> 00:13:21.159 person I'm going to listen to because he's the 00:13:21.159 --> 00:13:24.039 commander, because he's in charge. And so there 00:13:24.039 --> 00:13:26.620 is their identifying factor for all of the other 00:13:26.620 --> 00:13:28.279 armies to say, yeah, here's this little bit of 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:30.659 fire and this is where their commander is. And 00:13:30.659 --> 00:13:32.279 then all of a sudden you look at the Israelites 00:13:32.279 --> 00:13:35.039 and you see a massive pillar of fire so that 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:37.360 anybody looking at them goes, there is no doubt 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:39.080 who their commander is and I'm scared of him. 00:13:40.139 --> 00:13:43.179 God is protecting them. God is protecting them 00:13:43.179 --> 00:13:45.740 through this pillar of fire. God is the commander. 00:13:45.820 --> 00:13:47.820 And what commanders do is commanders protect. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:51.620 This is what it says in Exodus 14, 19. Then the 00:13:51.620 --> 00:13:54.250 angel of God, who had been traveling in front 00:13:54.250 --> 00:13:57.710 of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. 00:13:57.909 --> 00:14:00.690 The pillar of cloud also moved from in front 00:14:00.690 --> 00:14:03.450 and stood behind them, coming between the armies 00:14:03.450 --> 00:14:06.830 of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night, the 00:14:06.830 --> 00:14:09.649 cloud brought darkness to one side and light 00:14:09.649 --> 00:14:13.210 to the other side. So neither went near the other 00:14:13.210 --> 00:14:16.429 all night long. God said, hey, I'm going to protect 00:14:16.429 --> 00:14:19.529 you and I'm going to put darkness on your enemies 00:14:19.529 --> 00:14:22.470 and I will leave you in light. But I think there's 00:14:22.470 --> 00:14:25.210 something we need to notice here. God controlled 00:14:25.210 --> 00:14:27.029 both the darkness and the light. God is the God 00:14:27.029 --> 00:14:28.830 of the darkness. And for some of you, you walked 00:14:28.830 --> 00:14:30.570 in and you feel like you're walking in darkness 00:14:30.570 --> 00:14:32.110 right now and you need to know that God is in 00:14:32.110 --> 00:14:35.149 control. You need to know that it doesn't matter 00:14:35.149 --> 00:14:37.330 how dark it gets in your life, God is still in 00:14:37.330 --> 00:14:39.330 charge of the darkness. God still controls the 00:14:39.330 --> 00:14:41.450 darkness. And take it a step further. You need 00:14:41.450 --> 00:14:43.169 to know that the spirit inside of you, because 00:14:43.169 --> 00:14:46.169 God has given you his spirit, you have power 00:14:46.169 --> 00:14:47.929 over the darkness through the power of Jesus. 00:14:49.179 --> 00:14:53.080 And I don't know where you came in with. I don't 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:54.840 know what darkness you're facing, but I need 00:14:54.840 --> 00:14:56.399 you to know that God is in control. And what 00:14:56.399 --> 00:14:58.960 God does is God just protects. It's not just 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:02.179 an act he does, it's who he is. That is his character, 00:15:02.259 --> 00:15:06.299 God protects. God protects us physically. Aren't 00:15:06.299 --> 00:15:08.779 you ever been in a situation before and you don't 00:15:08.779 --> 00:15:10.259 take off right away at the light and then all 00:15:10.259 --> 00:15:12.080 of a sudden someone comes speeding through and 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:14.019 you're like, man, if I did, I would've got smashed. 00:15:14.899 --> 00:15:16.679 Have you ever gone through something and afterwards 00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:18.659 you look back on it and you go, man, I was just 00:15:18.659 --> 00:15:21.340 five minutes away from being in that accident. 00:15:22.440 --> 00:15:24.960 God protects us physically. God protects us emotionally. 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:27.019 You ever prayed for something that didn't happen 00:15:27.019 --> 00:15:28.440 and then you look back on it and you go, man, 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:32.600 God had my back on that. I was cruising for a 00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:34.100 burgeon and God's like, no, no, no, I'm gonna 00:15:34.100 --> 00:15:37.240 take care of that. Have you ever been in a situation 00:15:37.240 --> 00:15:39.399 where spiritually you're protected before? God 00:15:39.399 --> 00:15:41.700 protects, that's what he does. If you were here 00:15:41.700 --> 00:15:43.700 two weeks ago, Pastor John was up here talking 00:15:43.700 --> 00:15:46.100 about the plagues that happened. And when the 00:15:46.100 --> 00:15:48.159 plagues happened in Egypt, each one of those 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:51.080 was directly pointed at the little gods that 00:15:51.080 --> 00:15:54.700 Egypt worshiped. And so God, Yahweh, the God, 00:15:54.840 --> 00:15:57.120 went rounds with each one of their gods, proving 00:15:57.120 --> 00:15:59.419 that, yes, you worship this little God, but I'm 00:15:59.419 --> 00:16:02.279 so much bigger, I'm so much better. And Pastor 00:16:02.279 --> 00:16:04.080 John put up all the different characteristics 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:06.960 of who God is in that situation. God is this 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:08.860 for us, God is this for us, God is this for us. 00:16:09.710 --> 00:16:11.289 And as I was sitting in these same seats, I was 00:16:11.289 --> 00:16:13.149 sitting right over here, I felt like God was 00:16:13.149 --> 00:16:15.649 telling me as I'm looking at that, that I've 00:16:15.649 --> 00:16:17.730 been trusting in the little gods in my life instead 00:16:17.730 --> 00:16:20.529 of who God really is, specifically when it comes 00:16:20.529 --> 00:16:23.350 to social media. And I felt like God, as I was 00:16:23.350 --> 00:16:24.809 sitting in the seat just right there, I felt 00:16:24.809 --> 00:16:26.769 like God told me, hey, you need to delete your 00:16:26.769 --> 00:16:29.269 social media right now. And so right that moment, 00:16:29.330 --> 00:16:31.070 I deleted the social media. And here's the thing, 00:16:31.149 --> 00:16:34.289 I'm affected so much by the negativity that I 00:16:34.289 --> 00:16:36.960 see on social media. When somebody posts a crazy 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:40.240 video and they're talking crazy, I start internalizing 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:42.820 this. When there's all this negativity and people 00:16:42.820 --> 00:16:44.799 are fighting and going back and forth and all 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:46.179 this stuff, and I'm just scrolling and I'm seeing 00:16:46.179 --> 00:16:48.419 it over and over, it affects my life in a way 00:16:48.419 --> 00:16:50.279 that it shouldn't, where I'm mean to my family, 00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:51.960 I'm mean to my kids, and they did nothing wrong, 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:54.039 but it's because I'm stressed out and I'm bringing 00:16:54.039 --> 00:16:56.139 all this anxiety from what I watched on social 00:16:56.139 --> 00:16:58.659 media. Now, I don't know if you know this, but 00:16:58.659 --> 00:17:00.799 last week was an absolute dumpster fire on social 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:04.089 media because of Charlie Kirk's murder. And God 00:17:04.089 --> 00:17:06.269 was protecting me from that before it even happened. 00:17:06.329 --> 00:17:07.710 I didn't even know it was happening, but God 00:17:07.710 --> 00:17:09.490 said, hey, I'm gonna remove this because I know 00:17:09.490 --> 00:17:11.329 what you're gonna walk into, you're not gonna 00:17:11.329 --> 00:17:14.470 be able to handle. God protects us before we 00:17:14.470 --> 00:17:17.230 even get in the situations that we don't even 00:17:17.230 --> 00:17:19.789 know are coming. God's got our back. God's looking 00:17:19.789 --> 00:17:22.750 out for us because that's who he is. God protects. 00:17:24.089 --> 00:17:27.849 All right, next is this. The pillar is God's 00:17:27.849 --> 00:17:31.849 guidance. The pillar is God's guidance. All right, 00:17:31.869 --> 00:17:34.440 how many of you need guidance? That's awesome. 00:17:34.519 --> 00:17:36.339 Most of you are lying in church right now. That's 00:17:36.339 --> 00:17:39.940 great, right? We all need guidance. You need 00:17:39.940 --> 00:17:42.160 guidance. I remember when I first got married, 00:17:42.220 --> 00:17:45.380 I was like, oh, I got this. I got this. I read 00:17:45.380 --> 00:17:49.259 a book on it. And then I got married and I was 00:17:49.259 --> 00:17:50.660 like, I don't even know if I like her. Like, 00:17:50.680 --> 00:17:53.700 what are we doing? Why is this happening? Like, 00:17:53.700 --> 00:17:55.400 she keeps telling me to put my socks in the hamper 00:17:55.400 --> 00:17:58.980 and I'm like, that's not where they go. Some 00:17:58.980 --> 00:18:00.519 of that got too real for some of you. You like 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:01.980 nudged your wife right there. You're like, yo. 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:04.279 Why are you crazy like his wife? Yeah, I know, 00:18:04.359 --> 00:18:11.039 I know. I remember when we had kids. My wife 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:14.039 was a child development major. She's great. She 00:18:14.039 --> 00:18:15.660 knows how to do it. I was like, we got this kid 00:18:15.660 --> 00:18:18.700 thing. And then the hospital did the craziest 00:18:18.700 --> 00:18:21.559 thing. They let us take them home with us. I 00:18:21.559 --> 00:18:22.779 was like, what am I supposed to do with this 00:18:22.779 --> 00:18:26.119 thing? Like, I don't know how to do it, right? 00:18:26.259 --> 00:18:28.480 And then they become toddlers. And you're like, 00:18:28.539 --> 00:18:30.220 God, I need you because I'm living in hell right 00:18:30.220 --> 00:18:33.190 now. Those of you that aren't laughing don't 00:18:33.190 --> 00:18:38.309 have toddlers. You don't know. We need guidance 00:18:38.309 --> 00:18:41.410 in our life. We need somebody to guide us because 00:18:41.410 --> 00:18:43.289 the truth is that every day that I'm married 00:18:43.289 --> 00:18:44.910 is the longest I've been married before. I don't 00:18:44.910 --> 00:18:46.750 know how to do it. I've never done this before. 00:18:47.769 --> 00:18:50.289 Every day is the day that my kids are the oldest 00:18:50.289 --> 00:18:51.910 kids that I've ever parented before. I don't 00:18:51.910 --> 00:18:53.130 know how to do it. I've never been here before. 00:18:55.269 --> 00:18:56.869 Every day that you live is a new opportunity 00:18:56.869 --> 00:18:58.309 that you go, man, I don't know what's coming 00:18:58.309 --> 00:19:00.900 because... We don't know what's coming and God 00:19:00.900 --> 00:19:03.500 does. God is our guide. And what God does is 00:19:03.500 --> 00:19:07.480 he guides. Here's what I love about this pillar. 00:19:07.640 --> 00:19:10.140 It says this in Numbers 9, verse 17. Whenever 00:19:10.140 --> 00:19:13.400 the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelites 00:19:13.400 --> 00:19:16.400 set out. Whenever the cloud settled, the Israelites 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:19.039 encamped. At the Lord's command, the Israelites 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:22.259 set out and at his command, they encamped. As 00:19:22.259 --> 00:19:24.460 long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, 00:19:24.519 --> 00:19:27.470 they remained in camp. But when the cloud remained 00:19:27.470 --> 00:19:30.710 over the tabernacle a long time, Israelites obeyed 00:19:30.710 --> 00:19:34.210 the Lord's order and did not set out. Do you 00:19:34.210 --> 00:19:38.309 catch this? They moved when he moved. When God 00:19:38.309 --> 00:19:39.970 moved, that's when the Israelites moved. When 00:19:39.970 --> 00:19:42.809 the pillar moved, when their guide moved, that's 00:19:42.809 --> 00:19:45.690 when they moved. But we, what if we were to do 00:19:45.690 --> 00:19:47.269 that? Because what we like to do is we like to 00:19:47.269 --> 00:19:50.150 move when we want to move. Or we try to convince 00:19:50.150 --> 00:19:52.450 God to move so that we can move. And we don't 00:19:52.450 --> 00:19:56.049 move when he moves, we put it on us. We want 00:19:56.049 --> 00:19:59.109 to be the guide. By definition, if God is the 00:19:59.109 --> 00:20:01.490 guide, that means that he guides you. You don't 00:20:01.490 --> 00:20:03.869 just drag him along. Some of you are like, we're 00:20:03.869 --> 00:20:05.069 going this way, God. This is what we're doing. 00:20:06.190 --> 00:20:09.289 And God's like, that's not what I said. Like 00:20:09.289 --> 00:20:12.269 I said, stay and you wanted to move. Like I said, 00:20:12.269 --> 00:20:16.049 go and you're just stuck there. The problem is 00:20:16.049 --> 00:20:17.730 this, is that we want God to fit into our schedule. 00:20:18.890 --> 00:20:21.930 God, that's really inconvenient. I get that you 00:20:21.930 --> 00:20:23.410 want me to do that. I get that you're the guide 00:20:23.410 --> 00:20:26.210 and all, but like, that's inconvenient. I think 00:20:26.210 --> 00:20:28.069 about the Israelites, dude. It says that they 00:20:28.069 --> 00:20:31.569 camped. Listen, sometimes I say no to my kids 00:20:31.569 --> 00:20:32.849 to go in camping just because I don't want to 00:20:32.849 --> 00:20:36.369 set the tent up. They camped. That means when 00:20:36.369 --> 00:20:38.210 they woke up the next morning and the pillar's 00:20:38.210 --> 00:20:39.930 moving, they're like, we got to pick it up. Let's 00:20:39.930 --> 00:20:44.190 go. You know how inconvenient that is? But in 00:20:44.190 --> 00:20:45.710 our life, we don't like to be inconvenienced, 00:20:45.710 --> 00:20:47.190 but you need to understand that you're not the 00:20:47.190 --> 00:20:51.529 guide. God is. And when we try to guide and we 00:20:51.529 --> 00:20:53.589 don't let God do his job, we end up in a place 00:20:53.589 --> 00:20:58.009 we should never be at. What this is, is it's 00:20:58.009 --> 00:21:00.650 letting God set the pace and then it's being 00:21:00.650 --> 00:21:04.369 submissive to his pace because we like things 00:21:04.369 --> 00:21:07.109 to happen on our time schedule. And God's going, 00:21:07.170 --> 00:21:10.490 no, no, I got a better plan. Let me guide, let 00:21:10.490 --> 00:21:13.670 me do it. Okay there, control freak, come on, 00:21:13.690 --> 00:21:17.450 give me the reins. God's going, hey, I got the 00:21:17.450 --> 00:21:21.609 pace. I'm gonna set the pace. So how do we know 00:21:21.609 --> 00:21:23.170 where he's moving then? It's like, okay, well 00:21:23.170 --> 00:21:25.009 then that's great. That was easy for them. Giant 00:21:25.009 --> 00:21:29.170 pillar of fire moved, easy to know. If we're 00:21:29.170 --> 00:21:30.349 gonna know where he's moving, then we gotta know 00:21:30.349 --> 00:21:32.930 our guide. Because if he's the guide, we gotta 00:21:32.930 --> 00:21:36.369 know our guide. And you're like, okay, super 00:21:36.369 --> 00:21:38.390 easy still. They had a pillar, we don't. How 00:21:38.390 --> 00:21:40.630 do we follow that? You're right, they had a pillar 00:21:40.630 --> 00:21:42.990 to follow. But who's our guide? Our guide is 00:21:42.990 --> 00:21:45.109 Jesus. How do we know who Jesus is? How do we 00:21:45.109 --> 00:21:48.430 know who our God is? It's through his word. The 00:21:48.430 --> 00:21:51.849 Bible is our guide. I think a lot of times we 00:21:51.849 --> 00:21:53.390 just never open the word of God and we go, how 00:21:53.390 --> 00:21:54.589 come I don't know where to go? How come I don't 00:21:54.589 --> 00:21:56.990 know what to do? Well, have you consulted the 00:21:56.990 --> 00:22:00.250 guidebook? Have you consulted the instructions? 00:22:01.930 --> 00:22:06.430 We're men, we don't like instructions. I listen, 00:22:06.589 --> 00:22:08.849 God's saying, hey, if I'm the guide, then you 00:22:08.849 --> 00:22:11.210 gotta follow the guide. It's not about where 00:22:11.210 --> 00:22:13.509 you wanna go, it's following God because God 00:22:13.509 --> 00:22:18.430 is our guide. The pillar is God's guidance. Next 00:22:18.430 --> 00:22:22.329 is this. The pillar is God's faithfulness. The 00:22:22.329 --> 00:22:25.890 pillar is God's faithfulness. I said it earlier. 00:22:26.069 --> 00:22:28.970 I'm going to say it again. God never leaves you 00:22:28.970 --> 00:22:33.089 or forsakes you. God never leaves you or forsakes 00:22:33.089 --> 00:22:37.529 you. 2020 was a dark time for a lot of people. 00:22:37.750 --> 00:22:41.049 It was a dark time in my life. I had a lot of 00:22:41.049 --> 00:22:42.589 questions, a lot of things that I was going, 00:22:42.670 --> 00:22:45.069 God, I don't know where you're leading. I can't 00:22:45.069 --> 00:22:47.230 hear you. I can't feel you. I don't know where 00:22:47.230 --> 00:22:50.079 you are, God. And I was questioning a lot of 00:22:50.079 --> 00:22:52.119 things. I was questioning, God, do you even want 00:22:52.119 --> 00:22:55.440 me to stay in ministry doing this? God, should 00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:57.420 I just go somewhere else? What should I do? What 00:22:57.420 --> 00:22:59.180 do you want for me to do? And God was saying 00:22:59.180 --> 00:23:02.039 the whole time, hey, just trust me. But I'm like, 00:23:02.099 --> 00:23:04.059 God, you're silent. I don't know where you are 00:23:04.059 --> 00:23:05.920 and I don't know how to trust you and I don't 00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:08.319 know where you're going. And God was going, hey, 00:23:08.359 --> 00:23:11.559 I've been faithful. I've been faithful. And so 00:23:11.559 --> 00:23:13.299 I intentionally spent time just going, hey, I'm 00:23:13.299 --> 00:23:15.299 gonna seek God. I'm gonna intentionally do some 00:23:15.299 --> 00:23:17.299 things and not do some other things to try to 00:23:17.299 --> 00:23:18.900 hear where does God want me to go? What does 00:23:18.900 --> 00:23:21.960 he want me to do? And I didn't know, God was 00:23:21.960 --> 00:23:23.740 kind of leading me and I'm going, do I plant 00:23:23.740 --> 00:23:25.720 this church? Do I go do that? And God's like, 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:27.380 no, no, no, that's not what I want. I'm like, 00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:29.299 but then what is it? And God's going, hey, I'm 00:23:29.299 --> 00:23:33.660 faithful, just trust me. I'm faithful. And God 00:23:33.660 --> 00:23:37.140 started leading me to Prescott, Arizona. I'd 00:23:37.140 --> 00:23:39.339 never heard of Prescott before. He led me to 00:23:39.339 --> 00:23:41.140 Heights Church. I've never heard of Heights Church 00:23:41.140 --> 00:23:43.660 before. I'm going, God, why would you do this? 00:23:43.799 --> 00:23:46.839 And he's going, trust me, I'm faithful. And God 00:23:46.839 --> 00:23:51.740 led me exactly where he wanted me to be. Because 00:23:51.740 --> 00:23:53.559 what God does is God says, hey, I'm faithful. 00:23:54.099 --> 00:23:57.319 And when I'm faithful, it allows us to understand 00:23:57.319 --> 00:24:02.619 that we can trust him. A lot of times in the 00:24:02.619 --> 00:24:04.619 storm, we forget the God that controls the storm. 00:24:06.560 --> 00:24:08.200 When you're going through a storm and some of 00:24:08.200 --> 00:24:09.779 you have storms in your life that you're going 00:24:09.779 --> 00:24:11.460 through and you need to understand that you're 00:24:11.460 --> 00:24:13.140 not just going through it alone because God is 00:24:13.140 --> 00:24:15.480 controlling the storm. He's in charge of it. 00:24:15.559 --> 00:24:18.559 And when you know the guide, when you know the 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:21.779 provider, when you know the protector, when you 00:24:21.779 --> 00:24:23.740 know the God who is faithful, who controls your 00:24:23.740 --> 00:24:25.380 storm, it's a lot easier to weather the storm. 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:29.240 And it's not for God to just say, hey, God, take 00:24:29.240 --> 00:24:31.440 away the storm. It's for us to trust God through 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:37.430 the storm. Trust God through the storm. What 00:24:37.430 --> 00:24:39.029 we're doing is we're trusting his faithfulness. 00:24:39.150 --> 00:24:41.509 And it's because of God's faithfulness that it 00:24:41.509 --> 00:24:45.190 allows us to have more faith, right? Because 00:24:45.190 --> 00:24:47.990 you put your faith in something that is faithful. 00:24:49.309 --> 00:24:51.890 Because of God's faithfulness, we can have more 00:24:51.890 --> 00:24:56.150 faith. God is a constant presence through their 00:24:56.150 --> 00:24:58.150 journey as the Israelites are traveling through 00:24:58.150 --> 00:25:00.230 there. He's a constant presence in their journey 00:25:00.230 --> 00:25:02.569 and he's a constant presence in our journey. 00:25:02.630 --> 00:25:04.470 Whatever it is that you're journeying through, 00:25:04.650 --> 00:25:08.390 God is a constant presence in that. And he spoke 00:25:08.390 --> 00:25:10.369 to the Israelites through this cloud. It says 00:25:10.369 --> 00:25:14.410 this in Psalm 99, seven, he spoke to them from 00:25:14.410 --> 00:25:18.309 the pillar of cloud. So I think about this, if 00:25:18.309 --> 00:25:21.579 he's speaking through a pillar of cloud, then 00:25:21.579 --> 00:25:23.180 it would make sense that they need to be close 00:25:23.180 --> 00:25:25.440 to that pillar of cloud in order to hear what 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:28.339 God is saying. I think oftentimes in our life, 00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:32.279 we go, I don't hear God. I don't hear God. I 00:25:32.279 --> 00:25:34.559 don't know what God is saying. And it's because 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:37.299 we've moved away from God so much that we can't 00:25:37.299 --> 00:25:38.900 hear what he's saying. It's not that God isn't 00:25:38.900 --> 00:25:40.799 speaking. It's that we're not in proximity enough 00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:45.160 to hear him. When God is absent in your life 00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:47.079 or God is not speaking in your life and you're 00:25:47.079 --> 00:25:49.079 going, God, what do I do? I can tell you this. 00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:52.400 It's not God who moved. Because God is faithful. 00:25:52.519 --> 00:25:55.259 That's who he is. That's his character. Are you 00:25:55.259 --> 00:25:57.039 putting yourself in proximity? Are you reading 00:25:57.039 --> 00:25:59.240 God's word? Are you opening God's word so that 00:25:59.240 --> 00:26:01.259 he can speak to you? Are you praying to God and 00:26:01.259 --> 00:26:03.440 speaking to God so that he can speak to you? 00:26:03.539 --> 00:26:05.980 Are you in a life group? Are you surrounding 00:26:05.980 --> 00:26:07.720 yourself with community that can speak truth 00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:09.779 into you, can speak life into you, can push you 00:26:09.779 --> 00:26:12.259 in the right direction? Because if you're not 00:26:12.259 --> 00:26:13.900 doing those things and you're not putting yourself 00:26:13.900 --> 00:26:15.799 in a proximity to hear from God and then you're 00:26:15.799 --> 00:26:18.160 saying God is silent, God didn't move, you did. 00:26:21.340 --> 00:26:25.960 God is faithful. Listen, this is who God is. 00:26:26.019 --> 00:26:28.059 This is his character. And this is what I love 00:26:28.059 --> 00:26:29.720 about God's character. It's not just that he 00:26:29.720 --> 00:26:32.220 does these things. It's who he is. That means 00:26:32.220 --> 00:26:36.480 he can't not do them. That's who he is. How do 00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:38.359 we know that's who God is? This is how we know. 00:26:39.660 --> 00:26:41.680 We know that God provides. We know that God is 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:44.240 a God of provision. We know that God provides 00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:47.750 because he provided Jesus. He provided Jesus 00:26:47.750 --> 00:26:52.470 because you and I cannot do it on our own. But 00:26:52.470 --> 00:26:56.990 Jesus came, the spotless lamb that came to stand 00:26:56.990 --> 00:27:01.069 in your place. And God provided Jesus to say, 00:27:01.109 --> 00:27:03.450 I love you enough that I'm gonna send Jesus to 00:27:03.450 --> 00:27:06.769 take your place on a cross, to take the punishment 00:27:06.769 --> 00:27:09.549 that you deserve. We know that God provides. 00:27:09.569 --> 00:27:11.230 We know that God protects. How do we know that 00:27:11.230 --> 00:27:13.609 God protects? Because he protected us from sin 00:27:13.609 --> 00:27:16.660 and death. because the wages of sin is death 00:27:16.660 --> 00:27:18.579 and because what you deserve and what I deserve 00:27:18.579 --> 00:27:21.200 is separation from God forever. But he said, 00:27:21.240 --> 00:27:23.000 I'm going to protect you from that because of 00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:25.019 my provision, which is Jesus. And because of 00:27:25.019 --> 00:27:26.859 my provision that is Jesus that died on a cross 00:27:26.859 --> 00:27:29.000 for you, you are protected from sin and death 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:32.779 through him. God guides. How do we know that 00:27:32.779 --> 00:27:36.359 God is our guide? We know that God is our guide 00:27:36.359 --> 00:27:39.759 because he gave us his spirit. He gave us his 00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:42.809 guide. He gave us something that we can walk 00:27:42.809 --> 00:27:45.269 through life with knowing that this Holy Spirit 00:27:45.269 --> 00:27:47.990 is walking with us. He's prompting us. He's speaking 00:27:47.990 --> 00:27:52.269 to us. He's guiding us. He's alongside us. The 00:27:52.269 --> 00:27:56.210 God that provides provided Jesus. God that protects 00:27:56.210 --> 00:27:58.910 made a way to protect us from sin and death. 00:27:59.410 --> 00:28:02.009 The God that guides gave us his spirit to guide 00:28:02.009 --> 00:28:05.390 us. Why did he do that? Because God is always 00:28:05.390 --> 00:28:10.589 faithful. God is always faithful. That is who 00:28:10.589 --> 00:28:12.589 he is. And what that means is this. It doesn't 00:28:12.589 --> 00:28:15.829 matter how far you've walked away because he 00:28:15.829 --> 00:28:18.430 is faithful. He is still there because he is 00:28:18.430 --> 00:28:20.710 faithful. His arms are still open wide because 00:28:20.710 --> 00:28:22.170 he is faithful. It doesn't matter how broken 00:28:22.170 --> 00:28:23.569 you are. It doesn't matter how much of a mess 00:28:23.569 --> 00:28:25.210 you walked in with. It doesn't matter if you 00:28:25.210 --> 00:28:26.569 don't hear God. It doesn't matter if you are 00:28:26.569 --> 00:28:28.589 in darkness. It means that God did not change 00:28:28.589 --> 00:28:30.269 and he is still there and he is still welcoming 00:28:30.269 --> 00:28:34.130 you back to him. And for some of you today, you 00:28:34.130 --> 00:28:37.450 walked in different than you're gonna walk out. 00:28:39.140 --> 00:28:41.940 Because Jesus is calling you to him. Because 00:28:41.940 --> 00:28:43.960 of God's faithfulness, his faithfulness calls 00:28:43.960 --> 00:28:49.480 us to him. And he's waiting for you. Will you 00:28:49.480 --> 00:28:52.500 come to him? Will you say, I'm tired of doing 00:28:52.500 --> 00:28:55.440 this on my own. But because of God's character 00:28:55.440 --> 00:28:57.359 and who God's character is, I know that he's 00:28:57.359 --> 00:28:59.880 the one that needs to lead. And I need to come 00:28:59.880 --> 00:29:04.579 to him. After the service, there'll be people 00:29:04.579 --> 00:29:06.299 up front that wanna pray with you and talk with 00:29:06.299 --> 00:29:07.779 you. But if that's you today that says, hey, 00:29:07.799 --> 00:29:10.079 I need to give my life to Jesus. I need to trust 00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:13.339 him instead of trusting me. Don't let today pass. 00:29:13.539 --> 00:29:18.039 Today is the day. Let today be the day that you 00:29:18.039 --> 00:29:22.099 say, I understand who God truly is. And I want 00:29:22.099 --> 00:29:24.440 that God to be the one that walks in front of 00:29:24.440 --> 00:29:27.599 me and guides me. Because God is the God who 00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:30.539 provides. God is the God who protects. God is 00:29:30.539 --> 00:29:34.400 the God who guides. And God. is always faithful. 00:29:35.200 --> 00:29:40.500 Let's pray. God, thank you so much. God, for 00:29:40.500 --> 00:29:45.240 who you are. Above everything, God, thank you 00:29:45.240 --> 00:29:48.279 that you provided Jesus, that you protected us 00:29:48.279 --> 00:29:50.759 from sin and death. God, thank you that you guide 00:29:50.759 --> 00:29:53.299 us through your spirit. God, thank you that you 00:29:53.299 --> 00:29:55.960 are always faithful in the midst of our storm. 00:29:58.839 --> 00:30:01.680 God, I pray that you would allow us to trust 00:30:01.680 --> 00:30:04.180 you. That you would allow us to leave different 00:30:04.180 --> 00:30:06.359 because of knowing who you are and knowing your 00:30:06.359 --> 00:30:12.119 character, God. God, we thank you for who you 00:30:12.119 --> 00:30:15.420 are. We thank you for your character that does 00:30:15.420 --> 00:30:18.660 not change, that we can rest on and know for 00:30:18.660 --> 00:30:24.119 certain. We love you, Jesus. We praise you. We 00:30:24.119 --> 00:30:26.519 give you this time. We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:30:26.900 --> 00:30:27.339 Amen.