Word Impact Gathering

you you you you foreign praise the lord everybody come on worship the lord right where you are give him praise bless his name our god is worthy to be praised come on worship him right now glorify him magnify him lift up the name of the lord we give god praise we give him glory and we bless his name our god is wonderful our god is great we thank god for this evening again this is the day that the lord has made we will rejoice and we will be glad in it thank you again for joining us for another midweek gathering we're back inside it's storming outside y'all stay safe we're praying for you believing god with you we also reminded that as the rain comes down from heaven it's like the word coming down to water the ground in the same way the rain waters the ground and cause it to produce the word of god does the same thing it will not return it to him boy but it will accomplish that which he set out to do god is going to reign on your life this evening we're trusting in believing that the lord is going to move in your life trusting and believing that god will move in signs wonders following them that believe we're trusting god for you and with you please do us a favor and share at this time and let somebody know we're on this evening as we worship the lord come on let's pray father i thank you for who you are we appreciate you for being god thank you for being savior for being healer for whatever we need you to be we appreciate you for being that you're a god of no limits a god and no boundaries what looks impossible for us it's possible with you and we give you thanks we worship you we praise you because you're good thank you for being with us thank you that your presence is already here we don't have to ask you to show up because you're with us right where we are but father we pray that you would manifest your presence make yourself real and known to your people show yourself strong and signs and wonders show yourself strong and great and mighty works show yourself strong holy spirit do with your words that you can do illuminate our hearts and minds help us to hear you begin to move in our moving us shift us to the place where we need to be in you so we can receive everything you have for us in this moment we thank you lord that we're off you're always on and father i pray that you would begin to move increase our faith and help our unbelief help us to throw off all the things that have gone on today and help us to trust in you in this moment we believe that you're going to move you've done it before and you can do it again and we thank you for all that you're doing save somebody tonight bring a backslider back home connect someone to this church let it be a night of transformation change and deliverance we believe it and we expect it in jesus name amen if you believe god for that praise him right where you are worship him right where you are brother chris is coming with some music be back with the word of [Music] you oh god we give you the glory yes we do [Music] see my god rains and archive rains [Music] every [Music] say my god [Music] you reign [Music] hey [Applause] [Music] i got rain [Music] [Music] hey [Music] hey [Music] [Music] i [Music] [Music] hey you giving me [Music] [Music] yes [Music] hallelujah [Music] away hallelujah with power and majesty hey dominion authority you you you reign hallelujah hallelujah the situation can't take my praise over my circumstances you've given me giving me giving [Music] i know the dreams [Music] hallelujah [Music] praise the lord amen he still reigns he still reigns yes sir thank you brother chris for everything worship team my musicians god is good i'm glad he's a god of another chance yes sir my my my yeah praise the lord how we disappoint him and how he loves us yeah yeah literally amazing yeah absolutely [Music] he still reigns yes sir that's good news and especially now yes sir especially now so glad that you can join us this evening again please share if you can um as we jump into scripture one more time um and uh you ready to rock and roll yeah man all right let's go to exodus 13 and hopefully we can finally uh move on from these two verses and uh we'll see we'll see we'll see [Applause] um okay sorry something just dropped on me so okay exodus 13 20 21 and 22 okay the lord went before them by day pill over cloud to lead them the way and by night the pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and night he took not away the pill of the cloud by day through the pillar of fire by night from before the people and the lord spake unto moses saying speak unto the children of israel that they turn and encamp before pyro hatha ralph between migdel another c against bel zephan before it shall before it shall you encamp by the sea for pharaoh will say the children of israel they are entangled in the land the wilderness has shut them in my mind and i will harden pharaoh's heart that he shall follow after them and i will be honored upon pharaoh and upon all his hosts egyptians may know that i am the lord and they did so my mind so last week we talked about testing when we outdoor bible study talked about testing yeah the reason why i brought it up was to bring people to the awareness that by the time we get to the red sea and beyond in the wilderness all god is doing is testing them with small tests yeah to build their faith to conquer the land yeah trying to show them it's not about the problem you're experiencing it's the god that's with you in what you experience i think we get caught up in this is a new problem but we forget that god is still god no matter what we face true it's the david daven goliath yes if i can if he was with me with a lion if he was with me with a bear then surely he's with me with goliath we tend to think that the difference in circumstance almost emotionally puts distance between us and god yeah you know it's just it's it's like we forget he's the same yeah and we expect that something new surprises him when all the new thing does is test our trust in him yes sir yes sir yeah yeah almost like we think the new circumstance catches him asleep yeah like he's surprised yeah he can't deal with this yeah uh new to us is ancient to him right prepared for him even though oh okay bring it down and monitor it that's all even though it's uh it's up there then even though it's a different problem same god because like you said the tests are there to prove us but also prove god to us in the adversaries okay now we need to throw this out here because some people have erroneously taught this and believed this that because jesus was tested and suffered right we won't ever be tested or never have to suffer somebody teaching that yes that because jesus suffered we'd never have to suffer when the bible clearly says we read it last week think it not strange yeah yeah jesus didn't suffer to remove suffering from us he went through suffering to show us how to manage our lives when we go through absolutely so why all the storm illustrations and all the wilderness illustrations and it's it's a hyper uh motivational message of always good times always you know when the reality is is that suffering is a part of the process testing is a part of the process it's not it's not a a suffering way yes but there's suffering in the journey yep okay yeah so i i hadn't heard that one yeah but it was people going it's almost like the same people we had the discussion before where people that teach if somebody dies of a sickness they didn't have faith that kind of thought process that's silly absolutely silly yeah uh so god takes the nation out of egypt in chapter uh 12 and 13 yeah and then he leads them into a test called the wilderness okay takes them out of egypt leads them into a test called the wilderness okay doesn't it feel crazy sometimes how god doesn't seem to give you that many breaks in between deliverance new problems yeah and i i think what we miss what we miss is okay the feedback's in past the next mic okay um what we miss is that we are surprised by the newness of every situation and it causes us to have experiential amnesia right all we're going to talk about yeah yeah you know where we we suddenly uh i hate to put it this way but fear begins with doubt yep and no matter how you know i'm thinking of the verse when jesus says how long you're going to know me how long you're going to watch me work yeah how long are you going to walk with me and we still have to go back to this fundamental understanding that i haven't changed even though your situation is changed yeah yep still the same guy so he leads them into the wilderness now let's talk about the wilderness rogue yeah the wilderness in the hebrew basically means a pasture it's a place where animals are driven and led god is god so basically god was pastoring them shepherding them in the wilderness yeah they would learn that the lord is their shepherd and they shall not want if they would pay attention that god continued to meet their needs no matter what happened in the wilderness and i think the new testament illustration is jesus there's an illustration in the new testament where the shepherd actually leads them into the wilderness because there's a fertile place there yep for them yeah yeah when you fed them yeah so there's comfort there in the wilderness but there's literally a place where in the bible where it says the shepherd led them in that the sheep literal four legs into the wilderness so they could graze so they could find a place there yep you know so it's it's no different than the whole oasis right illustration of a fertile place in the midst of a place that nobody thinks yeah would ever be there yeah yeah because who would have thought in the wilderness god would do so much work for his people but those of us they didn't know of them but we know psalm 23 the whole psalm is not about where the sheep and shepherd is the whole psalm is about no matter where you are the lord is your shepherd right you shall not want that's right the green pastor's here there he will take care of you no matter where you are okay so our job is to trust him in the wilderness as he pastors us the wilderness is not a place that we would choose no but god knows the process that we need but it is spiritually a place where you'll find yourself if you want to live a life that is known by miracles rather than provision that lack of promise mentality yeah will keep you in the wilderness forever so you can actually get distracted by the miracles that happen in the wilderness become comfortable in that context when god is simply giving you a transitional yes provision to get you through it yep okay yeah the wilderness is the wilderness is just a place of transition that's all like psalm 23 the whole book is about transitions until you hit the house of the lord that's right that's that's when he finally says i'll dwell here for the rest of my life because seasons change as we live yeah so no matter what goes on through life seasons are going to change as long as you're living and we got to trust god in the wilderness to pastor us through it so it's not our wisdom yeah to go through the wilderness but it's god's wisdom to go through the wilderness now we got to explain something god hides his plan in divine wisdom absolutely god hides his plans in divine wisdom absolutely let's go to first corinthians chapter one this may take the whole time first corinthians chapter one let's see if they can change this song no they need to bring the house down just a bit okay first corinthians one and let's look at verse number 18. okay first corinthians 1 18 so god hides his place plans in divine wisdom so paul's writing here first corinthians 1 18 says for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it's the power of god so god hides the defeat of the enemy in the suffering of jesus at the cross yes sir because the cross looks antithetical to victory winning and overcoming yeah okay so that's why some people have a hard time accepting it yeah because it seems so antithetical to our sense for someone to have to die and suffer in order to win because it looked like a loss to human beings but it was a win for god but the kingdom is like that yes die to live serve to lead yep it's always counterintuitive give to get go down and go up yeah yeah yeah it's always again because god works right and encounter that paradox so he says to us it makes sense 19 for it is written i will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent so human beings have a lane of wisdom god has a land of wisdom and god says his plan his wisdom is going to render ours ineffective meaning this we have to know if we can say it like this when to come out of our reasoning and move into faith of god's plan and that's the dilemma yeah you know the whole um because we're driven a lot by reason unt and and the reason the reason that reason is so powerful is because reason oftentimes is accompanied by strong emotion right yes matter of fact reason is often motivated by strong emotion faith however does not depend on how you feel yeah the expectation of faith will produce an emotion but faith doesn't start with emotion yes yes you know believing has very little to do initially with feeling but as the expectation is met a feeling comes from your faith being manifested yes but we find here that reason is what kind of kind of defeats us when it comes to faith because my belief system from my experience is powerful yes and now i'm being asked believe or have faith in something that contradicts my experience yes it makes me think of when jericho's surrounded by israel they have it in besiege mode they're they're waiting the city out i believe they're planning how they're going to attack it and god comes along and gives them an instruction that is totally opposite of their warfare experience they're ready with swords and shields the whole nine yards and god says no you're not gonna do it that way you're just gonna walk around and they're gonna ridicule you for six days yeah the seventh day you're gonna walk around more than you walked around the whole week and then all you're going to do is shout out watch this thing come down totally contradictory to their experience absolutely absolutely because god's process is totally against the way we would decide to do it because for us we wouldn't choose a wisdom to get the wilderness to get the promise he says i will destroy the wisdom of the wise bring to nothing the understanding of the proven because in that situation jericho in other situations you see god you see the experience of israel they were warriors they knew what to do yeah this is a big obstacle it's a doorway to the promised land yeah and joshua's like okay we're going to get ready to take this yes sir and then god says no you're not going to take it like this because if reason wins god doesn't get the glory that's right that's right because it was all us yeah so he says um 20 for where where is the wise where is the scribe where's the dispute of this world hath my god be foolish the wisdom of this world there you go for after that in the wisdom of god the world watch this by wisdom knew not god yes sir and it pleased god by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe so god because we always ask why do you why does god do it like this why am i struggling like this why am i going through this god is in his wisdom says you can't know me by the world's wisdom that's why you have to learn this book to learn his ways so when you go into a wilderness you don't panic you know it's a time of testing growth and transition to promise yeah it really grows out of what you just said about reasoning because what happens is man's wisdom will wise his way out of the reality of god yes yes we'll figure we don't need him and that's what this is implying also the world by wisdom knew not god so they thought they were smart and and there's a lot of that going on right now you know god factor and all that is uh really poo poo to you know it's not even be real and then god comes along with something that appears to be foolish yes called preaching which is probably why only another preacher that's really called understands a really called preacher yeah yeah because this but then god says power of god unto salvation yup yup how shall they hear how shall they believe unless a preacher comes and proclaims so god chooses to save people deliver people by preaching so as you're listening to being to the word of god that's god's method a foolish way of how can speaking an invisible word create a visible reality and that's foolishness to people it's foolishness to people yeah but it's the power of god to them that believe oh yeah once it hits you and it happens right then it's no longer no longer foolish yeah 22 for the jews require a sign in the greeks seek after wisdom the jews when jesus were alive was always saying show us a sign show us a sign that you're the one and jesus says you already seen the signs look at noah look at jonah and the thing is this is going to help some of us no matter how many times god showed them a sign they still didn't believe it well because they saw the sign they couldn't read the sign and that's some of us we god gave me confirmation give me a sign he gives us a sign he can't read it but we can't read it and we don't believe it no because it doesn't come the way we want it to come jesus they missed him because they wanted a political hero he came as a servant to save people could it be that we look for us in the sign rather than for him in the sign yeah yeah yeah we want it to be the way we we have a naming movement yeah let it be the way i wanted it yeah and the drinks seek after wisdom 23 when we preach christ crucified unto the jews a stumbling block or an offense doesn't make sense to him it doesn't make sense to him and unto the greeks foolishness not their wisdom not their wisdom because the greeks if it didn't appeal to their human senses they could not receive it oh boy but the cross doesn't make sense to human reasons boy like the wilderness doesn't make sense to us oh boy how does going through the fire make me a better person our human reasoning gets in the way i hope y'all getting this yo buddy because the cross the path that god used to save mankind doesn't make sense to human wisdom no because how is my savior going to save me and he gets crucified i'm looking for a a hero if you will in the traditional sense which is why they chose barabbas because barabbas was a political hero he was an insurrectionist yeah over jesus oh yeah who didn't fight back when he didn't need to fight back he had a public rep yeah but jesus had the capability but couldn't use it because his mission would not have been accomplished yeah that's right he said i could call down all these angels to help me out look but i'm not going to do it just it's just a thought it's going to mess the plan now just a thought of you here's the thing so he's the man jesus on the cross being elevated to the christ human reason would have dictated he'd call the angels let me show them what i can do but purpose didn't allow him to no no because the god in him the god in him said this is the he won by staying on that cross yeah he trusted the process that's nick yep so so watch this he says um uh 24 25 right yeah yeah because the foolishness of god is wiser 24 oh 24 but unto them which are called both jews and greeks christ the power of god and the wisdom of god so jesus represents the power of god and he's the wisdom okay of god i'm glad we we came upon this yeah because that's that wisdom of god when you trace it back is the voice that came walking in the cooler of the day yep that wisdom that showed up to come to a fallen fallen race of people yeah all right so 25 wow jesus is the power of god and if you will the voice of god and the voice of god yep okay all wisdom is found in christ 25 because the foolishness of god is wiser than men so even if we can say god's dumb side which he doesn't have is still way more intelligent than us and i think i think what they may be implying is that some things that god requires some things god asked us to do sound foolish to human reason yep but they sound they sound perfect to faith yes okay so yeah so we can we can discount some words are seeds to believers their foolishness to unbelievers so everywhere your foot has tried i've given to you is a seed of faith to a child of god yeah that sounds like total foolishness to everybody else to everybody else yep yeah because when you're walking in faith you see things differently yeah process this differently yes sir it's wisdom to us and the weakness of god is stronger than man wow amen for you see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called so the ones that we think god should call so every jesus when he chose 12 disciples he didn't pick a politician a governor he didn't pick the super wealthy he picked a fisherman he picks a tax collector he picked those that other people would look over to start a movement to do great things so how did it get started that you must be called because you look like a preacher or you must be called because you have the voice of a preacher you got the head of one that's purely connecting a call to something in the flesh yes absolutely because they look like the party and how many of us are occupying the position because somebody said we look like okay let's not go there right right right but it follows the order the bible says that jesus when you looked at him there was nothing about him that would say yo that's the savior he was sitting on the well the woman thought he was a regular guy sitting there but when he started talking and doing the power of god started being released oh yeah which tells me something when you really got it you don't have to go around and flaunt it uh-oh go ahead because if you know you have it when the opportunity presents itself it shines i don't have to tell anybody about it i just be yes sir and let it show up yes sir so he says uh uh 27 but god chose the fullest things of the world to confound the wise yeah and god has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the wise profound the things which are mighty and the base things of the world the things which are despised god has chosen yea things which are not to bring to naught things that are why that no flesh should glory in his presence my mind god uses those people and those things that can glorify him rather than things that will say it was me that got it done flesh and glory in his presence my mind so god uses wisdom his wisdom to fulfill his plan now let's go to first corinthians two okay verse six and eight now watch what he says here he says howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect are those that are mature yet not the wisdom of this world nor the princes of this world that come to know it right for we speak the wisdom of god in a mystery even the hidden mystery which got ordained before the world unto our glory here it is y'all which none of the princes of this world knew for had they known it were they had they been made aware of what god was doing they would not have crucified the lord of glory yeah so god hides his plan in wisdom in a mystery in secret so the enemy can do his part to accomplish god's plan yeah jesus could not crucify we probably find a way to crucify himself right he needed somebody else to step in and do it and had they known it they would have left him alone yeah if they would have known that the cross would have led to victory they would have left him alone and let him just live but you know they had they had i got a they had isaiah's prophecy they had signs they went back to that again they just couldn't really just couldn't read them they couldn't read them they just got to read them so god will use the enemy in our lives to progress us to another place and he hides it from adversaries yeah so that god's plan can be accomplished now let's go back to exodus 14. because while we're turning there the the the enemy thinks his wisdom is winning because the the the opposition of god is often not consistent with what the enemy thinks god should do it's amazing to me how you know he tells us to pray instead of fight yeah and people say well why would you pray that's how i feel that's how i fight yeah yeah why would you worship that's how we fight so so we went through all that to bring to this exodus 14 1 the lord speaking unto moses saying speak to the children of israel yeah that they turn now that word turn into hebrew means to turn back right so turn back set up camp at this power higher off between big deal the sea over against bel zephan before it shall before it shall encamp by the sea but pharaoh will say the children of israel they are entangled or confused in the land and the wilderness has shut them in in other words they're lost they're lost yeah so god says he's basically saying i want pharaoh to think they're trapped so let me use my people as bait just for a minute yeah let me put them in a position where they look vulnerable they look trapped they don't know what to do and now we can finally go get them so god hardened pharaoh's heart that he would not think not to follow them so he's not thinking at all about his troops i just have to go get that i got to get there so the single-minded purpose of the enemy which often can be intimidating to a believer we have to understand that single-minded purpose is in god's plan of deliverance for us absolutely okay because if he would have remembered all the plagues he would have left them alone absolutely but ego and pride and all that stuff yeah hatred gets in the way you forget all that stuff and we don't want to forget you know in the egyptian culture he's a god he's a god yep and that's why god says i'm going to get my honor on him he thinks he's god when the reality is i'm going to show him that i'm the real true god yeah so it looks crazy for god to use his people as bait to bring pharaoh in the army down now let's talk about that man sure did he really use israel as bait or did he count on the ego of the enemy i think they're one in the same okay chess talk about that i think they're one of the same okay because he knew pharaoh would respond if he thought they were trapped so maybe the word bait's not the best use of the word but yeah i understand he said i want you to turn back let them sit there i want i want pharaoh to think they're they're trapped they can't go any further and that's going to incite him to say you know what i got him there we'll turn back in the wilderness towards i gotta think it's not in the direction of escaping but back more towards egypt would give the impression that they were lost so so they started circling and he said you know when you circle when you get back this way camp so of course pharaoh hears yeah says okay they lost yeah they tried to get away we need them back because they disrupted our economy yes that's true yep yeah they're messing with our money we need to get them back here because they they built they've been building pyramids and building cities and whatnot for us so we need to get them back and that that mammon worship yes drives pharaoh into the world yeah to go get back i got to get my economy back yeah thinking they they are his people rather than god's people so this is in verse 4 i will harden pharaoh's heart shall follow after them and i will be honored upon pharaoh yeah and upon his host that the egyptians may know that i am the lord and they did so now that word honor is the same word for glory which means heaviness or weight so god says i'm going to get glory out of this situation yep i'm going to throw my weight around like you say back in the day yeah at the red sea to show god to show pharaoh that god is the heavy as they used to say absolutely god is proving who he is in the test this reminds me of lazarus okay because jesus waits on purpose until lazarus dies right and they say human reason had you been here earlier everything would have been fine yeah and jesus says i waited so that the glory of god can be revealed absolutely god will times when they can annoy you use the antithetical antithetical means things that seem to contradict his character to bring his will to pass and get glory so let's kind of run through this real quick verse uh five and it was told the king of egypt that people fled the heart of pharaoh and servants returned against people they said we have done why why have we done this they that we let israel go from service look at that later you know we're upset now yeah you're right you know messed up all right guys i messed up our money all right he made ready his chariot he took people with them took 600 chosen chariots all the chads of egypt captains over one of one of them and the lord hardened the heart of pharaoh king of egypt and he pursued up the children of israel and the children of israel went out with a high hand but the egyptians pursued after them all the horses charts of pharaoh and his horsemen and his army overtook them and camped by the sea of power heart out be before bel zephan and when pharaoh drew nigh the children of israel lifted up their eyes and bear behold the egyptians marched after them and they were so afraid and the children of israel cried out unto the lord now israel's obedience yeah led them into a test in trouble just like jesus just like jesus yeah i think sometimes we think because i obey god the immediate result should be straight goodness but obedience if you really wouldn't get down to it can get you in some trouble the actuality is there is no victory without a battle there's no deliverance without captivity you know there's no deliverance without a threat so it's just the process of being delivered yeah that was we're watching god illustrate in the bible one of the ways that you can be delivered from a pursuing enemy and at times it will look as though a you're confused be you're being caught see you should have stayed where you were yep yes so the bible says when they see pharaoh and army they start crying out yeah man they're sore afraid now let's talk about fear for a minute you've been talking about fear for the past few weeks yep one of the things i enjoy about this is they took their fears to god that was a good thing that's a good thing yeah they had enough sense to say you know what i'm scared and they cried out unto the lord when what overwhelms you take when something comes to overwhelm you take it to god yeah now fear comes when we perceive the threat as bigger than god absolutely now here's the dilemma and i get this on their thinking human reason okay i'm familiar with pharaoh i'm not that familiar with god so it's easier to believe the pharaoh that i know than the god that i'm still getting enough oh that is so true it's so true at least i know my trouble yeah i don't know my deliverance yeah fully versed in adversity yes but not delivered yes sir fully versed in being sick yes but not in my heal no and will fight to be delivered and fight the healing because we're more comfortable with the bad because that's what we know well here's the deal we'll resist the deliverer and submit to the situation that's negative in our lives yes yep familiar familiarity yeah can hurt your faith yes sir right so so their past is threatening them and they forgot about their future yeah now watch what they say in verse 11 through 12. and they said to moses because there's no graves in egypt has now taken us away in the wilderness wherefore ask thou dealt thus with us to carry us forth out of egypt isn't that is not this is the word that we did tell thee in egypt saying let us alone that we may serve the egyptians for had for it had been better for us to serve the egyptians then we should die in the wilderness now trouble as we talk you said earlier gives you selective amnesia that's right in chapter 2 of exodus they pray and ask god to deliver them in chapter 4 moses shows up tells them god's going to free you yeah they believe the answer to the prayer in chapter 4 when moses shows up that's right in chapter 6 is taking too long and they struggle to believe it in chapter 12 god deliberate 12-13 god frees them from egypt yeah and then chapter 4 14 watch this they're reshaping their past to fit their fear wow they were begging for god to get them out but as soon as they got in trouble they started repackaging their past to make it look better than what it was and how many times do we ask god to deliver us from something only to miss it and only try to remember it's like being in a bad relationship yeah you only want to go back to the crazy person because you remember all the good times and selectively ignore all the craziness yeah okay you'll be quiet in the church right now in that part yeah man but trouble watch this y'all we can change the narrative when we get in trouble the thing we ask god to deliver us from we start to miss it when we get in trouble but then there's moses talking directly to their issue at the moment fearing they're not yep stand still hold up y'all see the salvation slash deliverance of the lord which he's going to show you so you need someone to remind you yes of what god has said to you absolutely absolutely and i can hear moses because i i wanted i wanted to talk a little about the leader side of leading people through a challenge yeah like now like right right now because moses literally was telling them hey y'all be still mean shut up that's literally what it means shut up stop talking be quiet and see the salvation of the law sure it takes a strong leader to lead a group of people through tragedy and hard times and and here's the issue with the people they were talking to one another yep reminds me of when um they came back from spying out the land they were talking to one another and and they had to they had to stop that chatter say okay now let's go right now because this thing is viral yes this thing is infectious so doubt and fear spreads among god's people yes because they relay their fears to one another right so i had to take the kids to the dentist yesterday ray had gone two weeks before had to get some people so she spent the day before preparing her brother to be scared i love it i'm like i love it what did you do i just said it once no you didn't know you didn't and and her thing was he would ask a question and she would give him the response that stoked his fear yeah so by the time it was around for for me and him to go he panicked he said he was excited but he was really terrified he vocabulary wouldn't fully describe what's going on here my point is the children of god yes yeah instead of reminding each other what god is going to do yep we will feed each other's fears yes feed each other's rejections yes feed each other's doubts rather than feeding one another's faith absolutely absolutely and you're right cause it took moses to stand up and say y'all be quiet yeah man stand still yeah and you need somebody that can speak that faith into you like you said when you're afraid but we need to do that to one another another yeah yeah you know somebody's rejected yeah girl i i know how you feel right yeah don't nobody like me either let me come on now i know i know you get more attention that way yeah so he says 14. and you sound like a prophet you're right right okay the lord shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace be quiet and then god starts talking to moses in verse 15 he says why are y'all crying to me speaking to the children of israel they go forward now it's interesting we'll we can talk about this later the lord said to moses wherefore christ thou unto me ain't nowhere in this text where it says moses ever talked to god the people cried to him but obviously moses had a side conversation oh yeah yeah with the lord about this yeah that the writer didn't put in he was complaining you know you know these people out of control you know would you expect me to do you know i said what are you talking to me for yeah i told you what to do yep tell them to go forward go forward yep it's time to go forward 16 but lift your rod up stretch out your hand over the seat and dividing the children of israel what shall go on dry ground a creative miracle taking them back to genesis 1 through the midst of the sea where the dry ground came up and i behold i will harden the hearts of the egyptians they will follow after them and i will get my honor upon pharaoh upon us hosted upon his church finest horsemen in the egyptian shall know that i am the lord when i have gotten my honor upon pharaoh upon his chariots upon his horsemen now here it is in verse 19 and 20. and the angel of god yes sir which went before the camp of israel removed and went behind them yes sir and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood behind them my mind so when god is in front of us he's leading us yep when he's defending us he can go behind yes sir when we're in trouble he walks alongside us sir god knows how to change his position to meet your need when he needs to leave him absolutely all right in verse 20 and it came and it came watches between the camp of the egyptians and the camp of israel and it was a cloud of darkness to them i love this verse i know but it gave a light by night to thee my my so that no one came near the other all night so the weapon was formed yeah god moved in between his people and the weapons yes sir and it was complete darkness to egypt but israel had all the light in the world because god will be a darkness to your enemies and complete light to you yes sir so in moses 21 stretched out his hand over the sea lord caused the sea to go back and the strong wind east went all that night and made the seed dry land and the waters were divided and the children of israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left and there came a time the egyptians pursued god got out of the way to let the egyptians go forward mm-hmm because pharaoh's heart was because pharaoh's heart was hard yes sir and god let israel get far enough over that he he the egyptians thought they could catch them because they had chariots we were walking they were right they were rotting yeah but god knew when his people were at a safe distance to let the thing in god knows you're at a safe distance when he lets trouble come into your life yeah it looks like it's going to get you but it's not going to get you now so they went in after the admits of the sea even all the pharaoh's horses his chariots and his horsemen and it came to pass it had to happen that in the morning watch the lord looked unto the host of the egyptians i love how god pays attention to everything yes sir through the pill of fire in the cloud and troubled the host of the egyptians and he took off their chariot wheels that they drave them heavily so they were trying to slide they were trying to slide through so the egyptians said let us flee from the face of israel for the lord fighteth for them against wow when they get in there it's too late they have a revelation of god in the midst of the trouble midst of their trouble and by then is too slave they got to be careful messing with god's people and god basically messes their chariot wheels so it's hard for them to move on and i think here god is going to solidify once again moses leadership yeah because he could have just covered him yeah but he said moses i want you to turn around i want you to look like it's you doing this here yeah lift up your rod lift up your right hand and let it come back you lift up the symbol of your leadership yes sir and watch what happens yeah see what he says the lord says stretch out your hand over the sea the waters come together come again unto the egyptians upon their chariots upon the horsemen and moses stretched forth his hand over the sea and sea returned to his strength and the morning appeared and the egyptians fled against it and the lord overthrew the egyptians in the midst of the sea wow and the waters returning cover the chariots and the horsemen and all the hosts of pharaoh that came to the sea after them were remaineth not so much as one of them but the children of israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea and the waters will wall unto them on their right hand and on their left now here's the interesting thing yeah when judgment came the thing that god withheld from his people affected the egyptians right judgment is good or bad depending on which side you're on exactly because when judgment came those who weren't on god's side got consumed those who were on god's side were able to go through clean so it's the protective custody of god's will they were in his will walking through what was obviously a dangerous situation for the egyptians not for them they walk on dry ground and then god does something amazing by simply telling moses turn around do your thing yeah because i need i need them to know i'm with you yeah he does it i love the way god seals off the enemy from his people yep and they will never trouble them this way again again yep you may have some other difficulties but this one's not going to be a problem no more god sealed the pathway off yep you're not going through this again yep man and paul shows us this is a picture of baptism because once you cross over in the baptismal waters and the waters closed you can't you're not going back to where you came from it's the baptism of moses baptismal moses you cannot go back once you cross over yeah all right last two scriptures then we're done 30. thus said the lord thus thus the lord saved israel that day out of the hand of the egyptians yeah and watch this y'all and israel saw the egyptians dead upon the seashore and israel saw that great work that word work means god's hand it means hand not work work but they saw the hand of god which the lord did upon the egyptians and here's the purpose for the test and the people feared the lord and believed the lord and you alluded to this servant moses when god sends his people through a crisis it's meant to build their faith in him and the people in their lives that are sent to increase faith lead them through wilderness and difficult seasons and and and part of leadership's job is to lead people through situations seasons that they don't fully understand the spiritual method or the wisdom of god in a situation because it's not always it's foolishness to some people yeah you know i think in the season that we've been in with this covert thing there have been various opinions about different styles of leadership during this time and a lot of saints moses has to do what god says because moses is concerned as for the entire nation right the people are saying why can't we go back to the old way of what we were doing and moses said we can't go back to the old way yet we have to we have to go forward and this is how we're going to do it god's going to deliver us from this thing he's going to seal it off from us yeah but we've got to take this walk through yeah this transitional period yep and god's going to do exactly what he said he's going to do absolutely absolutely and we're in that season of transition like you said right now and it really matters who your leadership is and all facets now oh yeah because it does look crazy to lift your rod up and a wind blows and takes the water out of the moves the water parts of the water but god again uses the mysterious things the things that don't make sense to you reason that's right to bring his will to pass and after the red sea closes in chapter 15 the nation goes up in the praise moses songs and miriam has this song and they go through all of this worship after god brings them through people of god there's another side to your trouble you just have to walk through it yeah god didn't helicopter them over the red sea they had to walk through the red sea some tests we want to go around we want to go over them but god says no you got to go through this and when you go through it and you see after god gets done doing this thing he's gotten glory and the whole purpose of every test is to increase our faith in god and there's no loss of life for israel and and these transitional periods that are challenging ultimately are to build faith and strength and relationship with god and uh we go back to the top where we talked about that experiential amnesia we have to remember just what he's brought us from if he delivered them from egypt god had to be aggravated because they didn't believe he didn't believe they could deliver them from a wilderness you know and for them to say you know why don't we just go back you know probably was pretty um insulting to god because they had been given a word of deliverance yeah i'm going to take you through i'm going to deliver you so for them to say you should have just left us where we are where we were is that why when the scripture says that i could have taken you the short route yeah but you couldn't handle it could handle you too much stress there let me take it a long way around because i think the long way around allows us to mature and god knows what your faith is ready for he knows what he's prepared to handle he knows the strength of your faith so he doesn't put you in a situation where your faith will fail yep they forgot that he said i'm going to deliver you yeah i got you yeah if i called you out of egypt i'm gonna take care all this stuff yeah but you're right it's that selective amnesia that gets us every single time oh man and that's what we're going to see as we go through the wilderness um next week we're going to talk about the bitter bitter waters of marrow the first thing god does after he really delivers them from egypt is deal with their internal bitterness so do you think that we think because the situation is new did that signal something in us that god has changed yeah it's like how how can this be fixed if i've never experienced this before but god hasn't changed but god has not changed in any of it man i thank god for his mercy who you tell them and all of us in fear cry out to god and um we're going to talk about over the next few weeks about god managing our bitterness and working out teaching us watch this how to complain properly yeah the bible doesn't say you can't complain it's just the content of your complaint yeah and who you're complaining to is the issue yeah it's it's it's like having a complaint for a parent there's a way to complain and keep your head at the same time yeah yeah it doesn't matter how old you get yeah yeah you better not you better know the protocol for approaching boldly come correctly yes sir they were somebody said last year complaining about god is a sin rather talking complaining to god complaining to god is scriptural all the book of psalms is people complaining to god they're talking to him about their troubles but they start attacking god where are you why did you do this yeah why am i in the situation and god's like i can't deal with this y'all and he keeps testing them saying well we get the numbers 14 after all i've done for you you still don't believe me yeah god is using these small tests to build our faith to show us it's not about the problem y'all no it's about god in your problem whether is he larger than what you're going through and will you remember that he is larger greater is we quote a lot yeah greater is he yeah but we react as though he's not absolutely yep so the freshness of our situation challenged the stability of our relationship with god and we'll find ourselves actually doubting him yeah when we actually should be trusting absolutely absolutely so um with that in mind it's a great night to trust god yeah great night a great day always to trust him especially those of you who don't know the lord for yourself um you've never given the lord your heart you have never given him your life uh this story is actually a story of salvation jesus all in it it's a and baptism baptism it's all in there that a part of our salvation process is following the lord through the waters of baptism through this life transformation he's taken me from where the bondage rob came from into another place in life it's actually the 23rd psalm yet though i walk that's why they were on foot through the valley waters on both sides shadow of death yep and i'll fear no evil okay he's with me yeah that valley of transition yeah and that's what salvation is that transition salvation is a transitional phase of what's right we're constantly going through that and coming to know the lord is a journey he's taken he took them out of egypt our egypt is sin bondage took them out of that and is leading them to the promised land yeah the place that god has ultimately designated for them salvation is a journey yeah it's a great night to come and walk with him to come and be transformed to know that the old thing can be an influence rather than us being slaves to it absolutely it's not that our sin goes away it's just the bible says we're no longer slaves to that old lifestyle anymore it's an influence you're delivered from it but we're delivering we're no longer controlled by it right if we're controlled by it's by choice now it's not by control because it has power over us it's a great night for you to trust the lord with your life yeah a great night to trust god especially during this time to trust the lord with your soul if you've never given your life to the lord come on and join the journey of following jesus he is the moses in the scripture that leads us through everything he is the rod that moses had he's everything he's all in the text working things out for our benefit if you need the lord in your life jesus died for your sins rose from the dead the foolishness of preaching we talked about that how preaching that's a man that you've never met died for you trusting a god that you've never seen heard or felt and something then you draws you to that and not by human reason all of a sudden it makes sense and you say yes that's god working on us because the gospel of your salvation yep yep no man comes unless the father draws and through the gospel being preached come on and give the lord your life make that connection to him it's a great night to do it if you need to rededicate your life to the lord you walked away from god challenges of life may have gotten the best of you you stopped reading the bible you stopped praying maybe the season got too much yeah there are people that the virtual thing they kind of fell off from it it's a great night to get reconnected again we say it all the time a lot of people don't associate leaving the father's house and the father and all this extra trouble that's unnecessary connect the dots you made this choice and it just connected with downhill sense it's time to come back home the bible says that um i think it's in jeremiah that um your wickedness can chastise you yeah wow you know that that your your um disobedience can kind of reprove you or convict you yeah you know so a lot of times what we do we're in denial uh about the r the reason for the result and we don't connect it back to i started disconnecting from god and then things began to happen because i took control of my life back from him yes and then all of a sudden i've got all this stuff going on gotta connect the dots tonight think about the moment you started to step away from him and then watch those events and situations line up and you say okay that's when it happened and i love how god is he says i'll redeem the time yeah come on back reconnect with god and watch him to start work everything out for you yeah yeah come on home like the prodigal he just restored him like he said redeem the time give him his ring back party back yep start restoring his life he was always a son come on back home those of you who need a church home it really matters where you go to church just in general especially now it matters who's teaching you um who's feeding you the family that you're a part of um the assembly is important to god yes sir salvation is not an individual just me giving my heart to the lord family it's family it's community it's all all of everybody together it's an army it's an army yeah it's time to make a connection and whenever god was doing great things he did it in communities he did it with nations of people and god is continuing to do that and remind us that his church is not about one individual it's about the community and in this text we saw a community that's right come through not just one or two a community of people make it through the situation culture believers come on uh connect to this church whether you're distant or you're local we're still virtual right now uh so if you're local we have driving service on saturdays at 11 30 we'll be opened up you'll be able to come into the building if you're distant you can join our virtual connections church that's going to continue even after we open that's right um online embrace class or new members class volunteering for ministries you know a real connection everything all that stuff connect to the pastor all that good stuff yeah come on make that connection if you fit in one of those three categories put your name in the comments section someone from our team is connecting with you they're also posting links in there you can connect you can click on and make that connection god wants to move in your life in a tremendous way this evening come on get safe for the first time rededicate your life connect to this church every time we have a service we believe we trust and believe this somebody's going to make a decision absolutely because we believe that god always draws that word is always withdrawals yeah designed to draw people that's right faith comes by hearing hearing by the word of christ when this word when jesus being preached god begins to draw and we're believing god that tonight you're going to make this great decision of course we always give an offering i just it's an amazing thing that god allows us to do and that he now holds us responsible for establishing a kingdom flow on the earth you've read the scriptures before give and it shall be given that's a flow so reap that's a flow so the authority and the dominion that god has placed in our hands he says whatsoever you bind on earth we'll confirm that in heaven so so there's this this this this relationship that god has deputized us to have authority the bible calls it dominion where we are able to initiate from god so tonight what i want you to do is go to the icon get that significant seed in your hands if you have if you're any doubts uh 50 100 join me tonight i sold i think 200 tonight i want you to join me with that as we uh as we move towards what god has for us and always remember something precious is what god wants from us not something that we will throw away not something that's a leftover for us not something that's an afterthought but something that our heart and our gratitude is in so go to the icons sow your seeds god will move and don't forget not only do you have to have faith but have a purpose for every seed you sow whether it's a gratitude seed from god whether it's your tithe tonight those really get a good chance to do it early in the week sow those things that are necessary to stay in the will of god so the flow that god has for you uh that he's ordained for you will become a part of your life get in the flow that you established go to the icon give your gifts yeah just a few announcements while you're giving don't forget this sunday six o'clock we're having driving communion service we're going some fun outside uh make sure you join us come pull up uh our deacons will have the elements that can pass out to you in your cars so again this coming sunday six o'clock we're having drive it drive in communion service meet us here on the property of course if you're distant we're gonna air it live online free to watch sunday at six like normal the abundant harvest bible institute has a food classes coming up faith for the season that's on tuesdays with pastor prescott on mondays will be peter failure isn't fatal reverend cynthia jackson's doing that one i'm teaching the class on fridays about the tabernacle in the wilderness and then on thursdays pastor wendell jones is teaching the class on spirit of leadership check out the classes go to our website click on hbi register as soon as you can uh spaces do fill up um again we have classes on mondays tuesdays thursdays and fridays some are four-week courses uh i believe mine is somebody else's about eight week course can turn to more but just you know come on um come on and join us for hbi it's going to be an awesome time of learning connect with us through that of course abundant harvest catering serves food during the course of the week on wednesdays fridays saturdays and sundays you want to call the church pre-order go to our website go to beth go to bethany.com you can pre-order on our website also on those days some of these other things we can post online for everybody to see the innovations ministry is hosting a seven week zoom virtual workshop for anyone with chronic conditions asthma arthritis diabetes heart disease or caregivers starting on september 14th at 7 pm uh to register for more information call 856 782-6751 again 856 782 uh that is a virtual workshop for anyone with chronic conditions or caregivers and of course we'll pray for all those people and uh some of this other stuff we can throw out there to you guys later well we're going to pray and then we're going to let you go for the night come on let's if you did not send your prayer request in um email us at social go to bethany.com or send a message on the site where you're watching us on the platform you're you're watching us or at this present time and you know we will uh include you in our prayer schedule come on let's pray god i thank you once again for being the god for whom all things are possible thank you and help us remember that the supernatural is not simply an event it is a lifestyle we thank you that answered prayers for what you've promised us that we're fervent and righteous you said that we could satisfy the equation of the kingdom on earth if just two or three of us could come into agreement for the outcome of that which we are petitioning you for right now so god i thank you for being a god of mercy and a god of grace a god of power i thank you that you've given us jesus and that has given us authority over every evil thing i thank you lord for the oil the anointing of jesus christ on every born again man and woman and the power of that anointing to work out all things according to your will so we pray right now for leroy yeah and his heart condition i pray lord that you heal every celebrity organ every function in him those contributing to the heart condition we pray deliverance right now in jesus name yeah we're asking you lord that you would release him healed and set free from all disease we're praying for carol lord as she battles cancer and as dawn stands in the gap for her we stand in the gap also with dawn for carol we pray lord that she would bless rebecca on her job and in her life and we pray lord that you would bless flora as she battles cancer in her lymph nodes god we ask you to place your hand of mercy do your work on her also lord they discovered an aneurysm in her head so we ask you lord that you would move by your spirit heal like no one can except you i ask lord that you you pray for you bless brother george jones as he's going through surgery uh on monday god we believe in god for his total deliverance i ask you lord that you pray for my son uh brian goodrich and and that you uh son of the ministry and that you pray for the families they have suffered loss once again give them that mercy that gets us through these types of seasons and we pray now for uh for kelly's name and and the family where she's desiring 18 people are needed uh by the lord save them all change their lives radically lord we're praying for marvella and and the miracle that's needed the favor that's needed in her life as she goes through the legal things she must go through to get the inheritance that you have planned for her we also lord are asking you that you would touch these sinus conditions as they are becoming more aggravated in this season also lord that we that you would give people clear understanding of your will for their lives and how they should serve you now lord for all those requests that we did not have with us tonight i pray for general healing of the body mind and spirit ask you to move by your spirit upon those conditions and we call them healed we call them set free we call them done in jesus name amen amen all right y'all see you soon see you later you

Channel: Bishop David G. Evans

Views: 315

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: cymetfd21As

Length: 84min 6sec (5046 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 01 2021