So we're standing right here with a beautiful
afternoon view of the Aqaba Gulf or the Gulf of Aqaba. We call it the Gulf of Eilat, named after the beautiful city of Eilat that Israel founded in 1949 and I have the privilege of belonging to a family
that my grandparents were of the founding fathers of this city. They survived the Holocaust. They made it to the land of Israel in 1948. And by 1949, 1950 they were sent down here. There was nothing here, and we started all this from scratch. And today this is the number one resort town of the state of Israel. And it's right across from the Jordanian resort town called Aqaba. And the Gulf that we see here is one of two gulfs, two fingers, that stretches out of the Red Sea and that one of them is the Gulf of Aqaba and Eilat and the other one is the Gulf of Suez, which eventually makes it to the Suez Canal because it connects the Gulf of Suez with the Mediterranean. So we’re talking about two fingers coming out of a long stretch known as the Red Sea that eventually gets down to Yemen, Somalia, and to the Indian Ocean. And the Red Sea, for the most part, we believe, is called the Red Sea because of the reflection of the red mountains on the waters of the sea, especially in the late afternoon. These mountains are called the Mountains of Edom. In the Hebrew language “Edom,” “Adom,” “red,” red-colored mountains. And that may be the explanation for why we call it the Red Sea also. Of course, we have also the other name of the sea, known as the Sea of Reeds. In Hebrew, we don't call it the Red Sea as much as we call it the Sea of Reeds, “Yam Suph,” the reeds that grow right by the sides of the sea itself. Now, a lot of scholars believe that it cannot be that the Red Sea or an ocean, something with saltwater, will have reeds by the two sides because normally reeds grow where there is a source of freshwater. But I always like to correct them. They may be scholars, but they must go to the Dead Sea, the saltiest lake in the world, the saltiest body of water in the world, and it's full of reeds on both sides, because of all the springs and freshwater that come from the sides into the sea. That's why it's not a problem for me not only to call it the Sea of Reeds but also to call it the Red Sea. And we're talking about a story that is mentioned in the Book of Exodus. The whole book is named after the most amazing event in the history of Israel. Just so you know, the entire calendar of Israel is set to begin with all of our holidays from the day of the Exodus, from the day of how the Jews left Egypt from the land of bondage all the way to their promised land. But we must understand, most people misunderstand the story of Israel and God because they really think that there is a great connection between the two prior to that story. You must understand that for the 400 years that the Israelites were in Egypt they literally hardly even heard of that God. In fact, this is why Moses needed some more information before he even went to them. It's a story of a God that is about to save people who hardly know who this God is and is about to use these people to bless other nations who hardly ever heard of that God as well. So there is a great mistrust and there is a great enigma in the hearts and the minds of millions of people here. What are we doing here? For hundreds of years, at least we had a house, at least we had some food, at least we knew exactly what's going on. And for us, we know that they’re our gods. We know their names. We know how they look like. Just so you know, the Egyptians had 2,000 different deities that they worshipped. Not 1, not 2, not 5—2,000 of them. And so, in the minds of the people of Israel, there's so many gods. In the minds of the people of Israel, whether you are enslaved or free, you know exactly where you belong to. You know exactly where your house is. That’s it. And our story takes us all the way back to Exodus chapter 3 when God comes to Moses and visits him right as He shows in that burning bush. Moses, bear in mind, according to what we see in Exodus 7—Moses was already 80 years old at the time. Bear in mind, Moses spent the first 40 years as a royal prince in the house of the king in Egypt. And the next 40 years he is a fugitive basically from the law, from the hands of the Egyptians. And he's married to Zipporah, and he's working for her father, Jethro. Where? In Midian. They were the Midianites. Now, of course, today I call the media the Midianites, but in those days Midian was that which is further down over there,
south of Jordan where Saudi Arabia begins today. This is where Midian was. Midian was on the other side of the Gulf of Eilat and Aqaba as you see it right now. So Moses was kind of familiar with that area. Forty years he’s been tending the sheep and the goats of his father-in-law, Jethro, over there in Midian. And the Lord appears before Moses, who by then is 80. He’s had it all. He’s comfortable. He knows what he’s doing. He knows who he's married to and all of that, he has kids. And God appears before Moses. And this is an amazing story, one of my most favorite stories in the Bible. “As Moses,” the Bible says, “was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb," So the same mountain, Mount Horeb, Mount Sinai, already in Exodus chapter 3 had to be, not in Sinai where Sinai is today, but in Sinai where Sinai was then: on the other side. And it has to be clear because we’re going to talk about the two differences or the main difference between the two opinions of where Mount Sinai is all about. The traditional Mount Sinai, Jebel Musa in Arabic, next to the Saint Catherine or Saint Catherine's Monastery is in the wrong place. It's next to a traditional mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, but from evidences that we collected and from testimonies that we have from people who travelled and from biblical encounters, such as Galatians 4 that says that Mount Sinai which is in Arabia, that's what it says. All of that together tells us that the story was not on the peninsula of Sinai of today but actually where Saudi Arabia is today. And it's very interesting because God visited Moses, and He says to him, He’s introducing himself to him, and He says, “By the way, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Make no mistake, if you want to introduce God to someone,
you cannot tell him it is only the God of Abraham. This is what the Muslims want to hear. It’s the father of Abraham. The name of our Father or the way our God introduces himself is, “I am the Father.” Or “I'm the God of your father...” Who? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And the next time someone tells you that we, the believers and the Jews, and the Muslims, we all believe in the same God, you better ask him if the Muslims call their God the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because that's when you end up the story. This is when you see that we're not even talking about the same God. And it's interesting because God is literally saying,
“Hi, nice to meet you. This is who I am.” And then it says, “Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.” Not that he would see him, but Moses, from the minute God showed up, Moses showed reverence. Moses understood who he was standing before. "And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” So I have a question for you this afternoon. Who are God’s people? He says that over a nation that, by then, did not believe in Him, did not know who He is, did not have any reverence to Him and actually, if anything, honored other gods. That explains why the golden calf was set up so quickly. They went back to that which they knew and were used to. And what I'm trying to say is that when God is choosing a nation, to work through them, to deal with them, to take them, to fulfill through them all of His plans, as the Bible says, “Even if we are faithless, He is faithful because he cannot deny himself.” And anyone that tries to cut the bond between God and Israel is actually insulting God. I always say that the disbelief of Israel in God never really caused God to leave them, it caused them to leave God. And I always say that God never changes plans, but the plans for Israel were deterred by their lack of faith. You understand? They could have had the land almost 15 days since they left Egypt. It is their disbelief that caused them to be 40 years, but God had that land promised to them already in Exodus chapter 3. And God did not try to paint it as an easy task. It's a land of the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Perizzites and the Hivites. It's a land of great people. But it's a land flowing with milk and honey and, by the way, I have it for them. People ask me, “Why is it that God kept those nations while even Israel was about to go in?” And I say because if He would've given them all, and if there was nothing to fight for, they probably would've forgotten all about Him even earlier. And I want you to understand, guys, that God is promising to Moses an amazing thing. And then comes an interesting story. "Moses said to God, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?'” Moses knows exactly who he is. And he knows exactly that probably his age, his physical condition, the way that his speeches stuttering, is not for someone of the stature of a leader. Moses understands that by all means, if I have to be chosen by men for such a task, there was no way they would've chosen me. But yet he stands before God and he's asking Him, “Who am I?” And, by the way, it’s not a bad thing. It’s not a bad thing to humble yourself before the Lord and ask him, “Who am I?” But don't forget after you ask, “Who am I?”
tell Him, “Here I am,” “Hineni” in Hebrew. And then as Isaiah said, “Shelacheni!” “Send me out!” First of all, you can ask God, “I don't think... maybe it's not me.” But once God says, “No, no, no. It’s you.” Then don't argue anymore, because He will do that which you need Him to do in order for you to succeed. And it's interesting because so many times we are always caught up with our shortcomings, and our disadvantage, and our weakness, and our problems, but God sees us in a completely different way. I'm always reminded of the story of Gideon. Gideon was the least of the family, which was the least of the clan of the least of the tribe, and yet God called him, “Shalom, you, man of valor!” And I guess Gideon was looking all around. “Who is that angel talking to?” because he knows himself. He’s just threshing the wheat in a winepress. He is so chicken afraid. He's so terrified of all those Midianites the same. So he is right there, shivering and threshing the wheat in the winepress, and God calls him, “You man of valor!” because God can see what we cannot see. And I'm not that type of preacher “Name it! Claim it! You’re big!” No! You don’t call yourself what you're not. Let God call you what you are not, and let Him determine what He needs to do with you and through you and by you and for you. And so here the Lord says to Moses... “Then Moses said to God, 'Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they say to me, “What is his name?” What shall I say to them?’” Huh! “Excuse me, what did you say your name is?” You see, Moses knows his people more than he knows his God. And he knows exactly how they are going to react. And so Moses says, “Look, you’re telling me you’re the God of my fathers. I believe you, but they? The first thing they’re going to ask me is ‘What name?’ So, what do you say?” "And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.'" By the way, in the Hebrew, it’s “I will be, who I will be.” “ehyeh asher ehyeh,” which means, “I will be.” It's not just who I am, It’s who I'm going to be. I am going to be for them so many things: a Father, a Friend, a Deliverer, a Savior, a Redeemer. I'm going to be... just watch and see. And so, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’" So, God basically says,
“I don't really have another name. You cannot call me Allah. You cannot call me Buddha. You cannot call me anything. My name is Jehovah. My name is I AM or I will be whoever I will be. That's my name forever and ever to all generations.” Now you go and ask a Muslim if he believes in Jehovah, God of Israel. And if he says, “No,” I am not sure we’re talking about the same God. And if God says He's the only God, then I'm not sure they worship a God. And if they worship someone who claims to be God, I know only one that claims to be God and is not God. And so interestingly enough, God says that And The Lord God, He says: “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; ” He says to Moses, “Tell them, ‘Hey, you may be far away, you may be oppressed, you may not even know who I am, but I have visited you. And I know your oppression.’” How many times we feel so far from God, how many times we kind of go away to do our things, but God says, “Hey, you may have forgotten me, I don't forget you. I have visited you. And though you don't know, you don't even have a clue, I was there. I am there and I will be there.” And so, and then he says to them, “Tell them, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt into the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites Jebusites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites," ...termites, I mean all of them. And then, "to a land flowing with milk and honey. Then they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.” Wow! Think about it. God says to Moses, “Okay, Moses, take your pen and start writing what’s going to happen. First of all, you are going to tell them that you just saw God. Second of all, you are going to tell them that God says that you are about to get out of this land, people whom you already know, to a land you don't know, flowing with milk and honey, yes, but full of Hittites, Jebusites, Perizzites –all of the “ites.” And then, let me just tell you, you need to know that you need to take some of the elders, go to Pharaoh, tell him to let you go for three days. And I know that he’s not going to let you.” You know what, God is giving Moses a depressing report. Because think about it, it sounds great but will the people buy it? God is literally shooting all the blessings that He’s about to do. And it's hard for human nature to understand a) that they’re loved so much, b) that God visits them even when they don't know Him, c) that He has great promises to them, d) that He knows the opposition that is coming from all around, and then, of course, that He eventually will overcome and they will be on the victorious side. It's hard for human comprehension to get all of that. All that we have, all the promises we have in Christ, in a sense, we're now promised to the people of Israel: you are going to get out of the land of bondage. I'm going to deliver you,
I'm going to be there for you. I'm going to take you. I’m going to save you. I'm going to give you... And it's not only that you are going to go, I’m going to even give you their possessions. Unbelievable! And Moses, with all of that data, right now, right here, needs to now go and in many eyes make a fool of himself. And Moses comes, and Moses stands and Moses does all that God told him to do, even though he thought he couldn't do it. And now comes a point when the children of Israel, in chapter 14 of Exodus, are now about to experience the most unbelievable deliverance any nation at any given moment in the history of planet Earth had ever experienced. First of all, jot that down, this is the first ever recorded national salvation/restoration of a nation. Israel as a nation, for the first time as a nation by the way, is leaving the land of bondage. Israel before that never ever was a nation. What is a nation? It's a group of people that have the same God, a land, a language, and faith. This is the first time they leave and walk together. This is the first time they have a God. This is the first time He is leading them. Now, how is He leading them? In the most amazing way you can ever think of. A pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And not only the children of Israel saw that. You are going to see in a few seconds that even the Egyptians saw that. The Bible says in verse five of Exodus 14, “Now it was told Pharaoh, the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people;" Because originally, he allowed them to go and now he heard that they fled and their heart was turned against the people. "and they said, 'Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?' So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. Also, he took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with boldness. So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them.
So they were very afraid, The children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?" This is such a Jewish thing. "Alright, I'll die." "Alright, that’s where probably I’m going to rest, in my grave.” You know, actually, it’s sort of like sarcasm, if you really think about it. “Oh, okay so there are no graves in Egypt so you brought us out so we can die here.” Think about it. If I was Moses I would have killed all of them. See, that's why God chose Moses. Moses had the capacity to take all of this and still move on. And it's interesting because,
“Moses said to the people, 'Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.'" And then Moses looked up. Now, I'll tell you how I know he looked up. And then he screamed. He screamed. “'The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold[c] your peace.'" Why did he say, “And you shall hold your peace?” Because they were murmuring. And he was trying to say... what? You know what I was about to say. “Stop talking!” I wanted to say something else. My point is this, Moses couldn't take it anymore and he looked at God. And he’s not really talking to God, he’s talking to the people. “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold[c] your peace.” And why am I laughing so hard when I read that? Because God tells Moses, "Why do you cry to Me? Just tell the children to go forward. What are you screaming at me? I told you, you can move forward. Just move!” That tells you the problem Moses was also in, an awkward position of, “I'm here. He told me to go. He'd better do something about it.” You know, often time we come to a point in our lives when we come and we have to do something that sounds so not reasonable. Yet here we are. And God says, “Make that step!” Can you imagine to enter into the Jordan River holding the Ark of the Covenant on your shoulder. And the River Jordan was so high, overflowing, and God said, “Just step in!” “I love you, God, but...” You know it takes more than faith. Courage, boldness. And they had boldness in the beginning.
We just read about it. But somehow they looked at the circumstances, and they were terrified. They were terrified. And then we can see that what happened is
that the sea parted, they walked on dry water. And just as the Egyptian chariots came in,
the sea started covering that dry land, slowly, slowly. The children of Israel were saved, and all the Egyptians and... By the way just so you know, when we checked the Egyptian, I would say, historical documents, we found out that the Pharaoh, the Ramesses that was then the king, was one called Neferhotep. And what we know is that he was not succeeded by his son. And what we also know about him, is that there is no surviving mummy of Neferhotep. The lack of remains is to be expected if Neferhotep was among those swept away
during the crossing of the Red Sea. And this is, by the way, from a source that is not trying to make the Bible look good at all. But we never found anything from that Pharaoh. He’s gone. He died and all of it. Have you heard of an amateur archaeologist called Ron Wyatt? Anyone heard of him? He claimed to have found the Ark of the Covenant, he claimed to have found many things, which obviously he didn't. But what he really did that was amazing. In the 1980s Ron Wyatt took an expedition of divers, and he went to the Red Sea to the place where they heard that the crossing most likely took place. And you can go, up until today, and find video clips and footage of chariot wheels that we found from the armies of Pharaoh right in that area. And then when we took a satellite image of that place, we found out that there was a land bridge, right there. A land bridge. The bottom of the ocean was very deep right there, there was a land bridge in between the two sides. What Ron Wyatt found also originally —and then, of course, the Saudi authorities removed that —were actually two pillars with some ancient Hebraic writings on it that were from the Solomonic period, that marked the two sides where the children of Israel crossed from one side to the other side. Now, take a look at the width between this side and the other side. This is more or less the route just 50 miles down south where the children of Israel crossed from Egypt to Saudi Arabia. And it's very interesting, because not only that we found those columns and not only that we found those chariot wheels, guess what? We found a gigantic rock next to a mountain, a mountain that was completely burned all over its top. It’s so burned, and it’s so majestic, yet mysterious, that the Arabian, the Saudi Arabian authorities, surrounded it with a fence, and it is declared as a no entrance closed military zone. Nobody's allowed there. Nobody's allowed there because once you go there, what is it that you understand that happened here? The most amazing event for the Hebrews, for the children of Israel, something that revives their Bible, so you cannot go. You cannot see. You cannot touch, just like they do on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. They come take over, and they say, “It's ours.” You cannot even go in. You can suppress, you can close, you can actually hold it with your foot, but the truth will always spring out of the earth. And it's interesting because all it took is for a South Korean doctor, who was a doctor of the royal family, to take a 4x4 and to travel with his family in that area. He was given permission from the king, all it took is for him to explore all of that and find out that not only that this is Mount Sinai, but next to it there is a gigantic rock and in the midst, the rock is completely cut. And, it's not the end, there were marks of water. Remember the rock that Moses had to hit and water came out? We found it. In fact, you can go online and find Split Rock Ministries, started by a family of someone who worked for the oil industry in Saudi Arabia, a Christian family that traveled and found it, right next to that same mountain. So many evidences were collected, not only on the two sides of the crossing, not only in the bottom of the ocean, but also right next to Mount Sinai, also right next to Horeb. So many evidences that you cannot refute it. And that explains, maybe, why Paul says to the Galatians in chapter 4 verse 25, “Mt. Sinai, which is in Arabia,”
making it very clear. So when we look at the picture of Moses at the age of 80, finding who this real God is all about. Not only finding who God is, but finding his life calling. How... sometimes depressing it is that we have to get to 80 to find our life calling. But he found his life calling at the age of 80. And I want to tell you that throughout this whole story, I want to encourage you, first of all, at any age you can get saved. Second, at any condition you can preach the Word. I know that some of you know that one of my best friends is pastor Jack Hibbs and if you listen carefully to his testimony, when he was young before he became a pastor, he stuttered heavily. And God healed it, like that, just when he commissioned him to be a pastor. You can never tell. But think about Moses. Moses being 80 years old and stuttering, thought to himself, “You must be joking.” And God says, “No, you're the man.” So I really don't know what your condition is. Whether your insecure, whether you think you're not educated enough, whether you think you're not sophisticated enough, whether you think you are too young or too old, or too young in the Lord, or too old in the world, there is not an age requirement, health requirement or educational requirement to preach the Word. As someone once said, “Preach every day all the time the Word, and only if necessary use words." We’re also promised that we will be able to speak before high authorities. Moses was given the chance not just to go to his people, but to go and stand before the king of the most influential and strongest empire of those days. So don't ever despise those type of things. I'm telling you, maybe one of you here or if you're listening to me, if you're watching it, maybe one of you will stand before a president or a king, or an ambassador, or a prince, or a CEO of a huge company. Don't ever think that you are not good enough to stand before any of those people. They need to hear the good word and the good news just as anyone else. And it might be you. We’re also promised that not everybody will like us. We know that. We’re promised that if we speak the truth, the master of lies and deception, the one who is the deceiver and a liar, Satan himself, he will not like it. And he will send so much opposition. In fact, one of the indications that we’re doing something good is when they don’t like you. So, ladies and gentlemen, please understand, don't think that if you preach the truth, it's going to always be something that is welcome. And if that's not enough, God will take us through and to places where the opposition is strong, yet victory is already promised. He told them, “I'm going take you to the land with giants. I’m going to take you to a land of great other nations, but it’s yours, it's yours, if you believe.” Did they believe, by the way? No. Joshua and Caleb came back with solid proof that the land is blessed, yet all that the people wanted to look at and think of is the difficulties and the obstacles that there are in the land. And for every single day, they had to spend a whole year in the desert because of disbelief. Disbelief causes us to wander longer in the desert, in the desert of our life, in the desert of our marriage, in the desert of us being parents, in the desert of us going up the ladder of our career, in the desert of our own personal life and personal spiritual life. Disbelief is by far the most dangerous thing for a human being, for human society. And it's interesting, because we may not be rich now, but we are promised never to lack. Isn’t that beautiful that God said to them, “Hey, all that that they plundered and took from you, all that, these guys enslaved you for that many years, and they made all their fortune because you were their slaves. Guess what? I will restore all of that." You know, I believe that believers should be enjoying the wealth of this world even because that belongs to us. Interesting, and I'm not a—you know me by now— I'm not a prosperity preacher, not at all, but I know one thing: my Bible says in First Corinthians 2:9, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” So, whether it's now or whether when we get there, I know one thing: we will never lack anything. And I know one thing: anything you can think of right now will not be good enough or match that which God has for you. It's not that you ever saw it or heard it. You don't even have it in your brains. Our brain cannot have the capacity of understanding that which God has prepared for us. Remember that we got to amazing places along the tour, and you thought, “It can’t get better than this.” And then we move on and it’s getting better and better. God has an amazing thing for all of us. He's the one who bore us on eagles’ wings. The children of Israel could've not made the distance from their towns and cities all the way to cross the Red Sea within that short of time unless God really truly bore them on eagle's wings. You see, Pharaoh had all of his chariots, which are ten times faster than walking people, walking men and women and children and older people. He had to go with his chariots to catch up with them. And they were borne on eagle's wings. The crossing of the Red Sea was just the beginning not the end of their journey. When God brings us from the land of bondage into the Promised Land, from the sinful world and the sinful life into salvation and redemption in Christ, it is just the beginning of a great journey, a journey of faith. And I also want to encourage you that the length of the journey throughout the desert is determined by our faith or lack of faith. So the desert part of our life can be long or short. It's up to us. I also want to tell you that our enemies might be greater and stronger than us. Look at the story of the nation of Israel. In 1948, we were attacked by five Arab armies that were much bigger, stronger than us. Circumstances would tell you we’re done. But God had something else in His mind. He did not bring us back to the land, as Ezekiel says in chapter 37, to destroy us. God says in Ezekiel 36 that He’s going to bring us back so the nations of the world will see that He is God. Everything He does with Israel and through Israel is so that the whole world will see that He is God. And I can tell you that everything He does to you, for you and through you is not only for you, it is actually so that everyone around you will know that He's God. But are you really a trumpet that people around you will see and get ready? Are you really a shining light that people can see when it's all dark? Are you really truly an ambassador of Christ or are you one of everyone else? In fact, we thrive when our enemies want to destroy us. If you really think about it. The State of Israel today is the safest place in the Middle East. We thrive when they all kill each other all around us. All those who want to destroy us, destroy each other right now. Just as in past years, when always God brought confusion and the enemy started killing each other. And I want you to be encouraged. You don't have to scream at God. Even if you whisper, you know what, even if you don't say a word but pray in your heart. As long as He is the one you turn to, He will be there. If He's there before you even turn to Him, how much more will He be when you turn to Him? How do we know that God loved us? What does the Bible say? We love Him because He loved us first. And before we knew Him, He already reached out to us. So I'm asking you this afternoon, in this amazing, beautiful place right where the Red Sea is and with a great way for us to imagine the crossing of the Red Sea, have you experienced your Exodus already? And do you understand that it’s just the beginning of a great journey? And may you understand that your age doesn't matter. Your education doesn't matter. Your marital situation doesn't matter. The only thing, the only thing that God wants from you is faith and obedience. He’s going to lead you. He’s going to open the sea for you. He’s going to take you and feed you and protect you and save you and take you through all of that, and you will make it to that Promised Land, and you will make it to the other side, as Jesus said to the disciples, as long as he's in the boat. I always say that Christianity is not the absence of troubles, Christianity is the presence of Christ. So, as long as God was there, the children of Israel did not have to worry about it. As long as you have God in your life, and as long as you're saved and as long as you made that choice that is probably the most important choice in your life, there is nothing and no one that can take you away from God. And I can tell you that the children of Israel then became the nation of Israel today. They may still walk in disbelief. But guess what: God is not done with them yet. And guess what: He still has a plan for them. And guess what: eventually all of Israel will be saved. So, the salvation of Israel will come at the end. But my question for you is what about yourself? God wants you to spend eternity with Him. He is not slacking as some count slackness but is long-suffering not willing that any would perish but all will come to the knowledge, the saving knowledge, of Jesus Christ. So from the area of the Red Sea, 50 miles away from Mount Sinai, 50 miles away from the crossing of the Red Sea, I can tell you, God is alive. We worship the living God. And He wants you to belong to Him. Don't push it and don't hold it on a hold because the rapture of His beloved bride is around the corner. The door is about to be closed. And now is the time, now it's high time to awake out of sleep for “Now,” the Bible says in Romans 13, “Now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.” Amen.
