WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.179
Day 29, or January the 29th. There's no substitute

00:00:05.179 --> 00:00:09.960
for the living God. Our thoughts today are rooted

00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:16.519
in Exodus chapter 32, verses 23 and 24. They

00:00:16.519 --> 00:00:20.140
said to me, Make us gods who will go before us.

00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:23.500
As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out

00:00:23.500 --> 00:00:26.359
of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to

00:00:26.359 --> 00:00:30.859
him. So I told them, Whoever has any gold jewellery,

00:00:30.859 --> 00:00:33.960
take it off. Then they gave me the gold, and

00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:37.399
I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.

00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:41.119
Now the big picture surrounding these verses.

00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:45.100
Moses had been away at Sinai for a long time,

00:00:45.159 --> 00:00:47.439
and the people were beginning to wonder if he

00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:50.700
was ever coming back. They get Aaron, his brother,

00:00:50.820 --> 00:00:53.600
to make a golden calf for them, so that they

00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:56.719
had a god to worship, even if it was just an

00:00:56.719 --> 00:01:00.640
idol. As Moses descended Mount Sinai, he could

00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:04.120
hear a loud noise that made him suspicious. He

00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:08.019
got closer and then saw the golden calf. In a

00:01:08.019 --> 00:01:11.079
blinding fury, he threw the Ten Commandments

00:01:11.079 --> 00:01:14.280
to the ground, breaking both of the stone tablets.

00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:18.420
Thoughts of anger, disappointment, murder, and

00:01:18.420 --> 00:01:22.019
much more must have run through his mind as he

00:01:22.019 --> 00:01:26.000
sought out his brother. God reassuringly tells

00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:28.780
Moses that he can write the Ten Commandments

00:01:28.780 --> 00:01:31.939
again if Moses prepares two tablets of stone

00:01:31.939 --> 00:01:35.719
and takes them up the mountain. We can only imagine

00:01:35.719 --> 00:01:38.599
the thoughts going through Moses' mind as he

00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:41.019
struggled to the top of the mountain carrying

00:01:41.019 --> 00:01:45.359
two freshly prepared stone tablets, and all because

00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:48.579
of his brother's poor leadership rather than

00:01:48.579 --> 00:01:52.140
any fault that could be laid at his own feet.

00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:56.579
And now today's action step. Have you noticed

00:01:56.579 --> 00:02:00.060
we don't have road accidents now, we have incidents

00:02:00.060 --> 00:02:04.400
instead? No one's to blame for an accident, but

00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:08.340
an incident is invariably someone else's fault,

00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:12.639
and usually the other person's. Nothing's changed

00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:16.000
since Aaron's time. It wasn't his fault either.

00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:20.500
The golden calf just jumped out. Until we are

00:02:20.500 --> 00:02:23.960
ready to accept that our sin is our fault and

00:02:23.960 --> 00:02:27.300
confess it before our Father in heaven, we can

00:02:27.300 --> 00:02:31.159
never be purified and cleansed from all unrighteousness,

00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:36.080
as John reminds us in 1 John chapter 1 verse

00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:36.500
9.