As we navigate through the wilderness phase of our lives, our faith and patience are tested but also strengthened. Our journey of faith and trust in God's plan is as real and transformative as the biblical story of Moses leading the Israelites to the promised land.
The crux of our exploration, however, resides in the biblical narrative of Exodus. Moses' people, growing impatient with his prolonged stay on Mount Sinai, turn away from God's plan and build a golden calf to worship. God’s wrath is ignited, but his boundless love for his people prevents Him from destroying them. This chapter of Exodus serves as a mirror, reflecting our own impatience and tendencies to overlook God's grand plan during periods of transition. While our search for a new pastor continues, we're reminded that God's presence is essential.
Finally, we reflect on the most profound message of the Bible - the story of sin, redemption, and God's unconditional love. We marvel at the promise of Revelation 22:4, where we find hope in the prospect of seeing God face to face. As we contemplate Jesus' sacrifice and the presence of the Holy Spirit, we realize that living in God's presence is the ultimate gift. We end with a prayer, urging us to repent, turn to Jesus for salvation, and seek the glory of His presence in our life.
As we navigate through the wilderness phase of our lives, our faith and patience are tested but also strengthened. Our journey of faith and trust in God's plan is as real and transformative as the biblical story of Moses leading the Israelites to the promised land.
The crux of our exploration, however, resides in the biblical narrative of Exodus. Moses' people, growing impatient with his prolonged stay on Mount Sinai, turn away from God's plan and build a golden calf to worship. God’s wrath is ignited, but his boundless love for his people prevents Him from destroying them. This chapter of Exodus serves as a mirror, reflecting our own impatience and tendencies to overlook God's grand plan during periods of transition. While our search for a new pastor continues, we're reminded that God's presence is essential.
Finally, we reflect on the most profound message of the Bible - the story of sin, redemption, and God's unconditional love. We marvel at the promise of Revelation 22:4, where we find hope in the prospect of seeing God face to face. As we contemplate Jesus' sacrifice and the presence of the Holy Spirit, we realize that living in God's presence is the ultimate gift. We end with a prayer, urging us to repent, turn to Jesus for salvation, and seek the glory of His presence in our life.
Hi and welcome to the FBC Eldorado Sermon Podcast. We hope God will use this week's message to both inspire and challenge you as you seek to walk closer with the Lord. Now join me as we listen into this week's sermon.
Speaker 2:Well, good morning. It is good to be here with you this morning. I'm going to invite you, if you would be going ahead and making your way to Exodus 33. We're going to be looking there here in a few moments and thankful for the opportunity to come and to worship with you this morning. I appreciate Dustin and the worship team leading us in this time and just honored to be able to stand up here and enjoy this time with you and to look into God's Word together.
Speaker 2:Again, my name is Marcus Brown. I serve at the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. I serve in the official title. The reason he couldn't remember it is it has too many words in it and it's just too long. But I'm the director of convention administration and so I think you all are pretty familiar with Dr Rex Horn. You all know that we've fairly recently, on the state convention level, gone through an interim time. Dr Horn has served as the interim executive director. We're so thankful for him, thankful for his willingness to serve in that capacity, and I serve alongside him. I assist him in that role there at the state convention. So I'm in my 15th year at the state convention.
Speaker 2:I was born and raised in Mansfield. I have my wife with me this morning. Amy, glad to have her along. Our kids are. They're getting old on us, which means I'm getting old. Our kids are 22 and about to be 21 and then 17. So our 17 year old he's of an age where, as long as he's up in the morning on Sunday morning, we think he goes to church, we think he goes to life groups and we think he's going to be home when we get back home this afternoon. So glad to have her with me today.
Speaker 2:I know, growing up over in Mansfield if you don't know where that is, it's just south of Fort Smith, about 30 miles and as a little kid in my single digits, I remember we made one trip to El Dorado every year to deer hunt. Okay, so we would travel. We did a five hour drive for us to come and to deer hunt in the woods out east of town here, and I don't really remember much about the deer hunting, but here's what I remember. You all east of town here have a restaurant called Abe's Old Feed House. Okay, so I don't know how many of you are familiar with this, but for a little chunky kid from the hills of western Arkansas that was like an oasis in the desert. Every time we would come down for deer hunting I can recall that they would load us up and our old hunting stuff and we'd just be driving what seemed like out in the middle of nowhere and all of a sudden out came this beacon in the night and it was an all you can eat buffet and I just loved that. That was my earliest memory of El Dorado. I thought this is where I wanted to live for the rest of my life if this is how you folks live down here.
Speaker 2:But it's good to be back with you this morning and I just appreciate the ministry of First Baptist and thank you for the fact that God has you here and serving in the way that you are. And God's got some great folks in this church and doing great ministry and I really am honored to be able to stand here the first Sunday following Pastor Jonathan's transition. I know that you all love him and his family dearly, going to be praying for him and the family as they make the transition during this time. But I want us to be able to look at a passage of Scripture in a moment and it's going to have to do with this time of transition that you are entering into. Before I do that, just one more word. I want to say a word of appreciation for, of course, the emphasis you all have on global missions that we just heard about and enjoyed a prayer time about. Thank you for your partnership in the gospel and the way in which we do missions. I know that you all are very generous in your partnership and missions through the cooperative program and that is just a tremendous blessing. You're partnering with the almost 1500 other Arkansas Baptist state convention churches around the state to make sure that we're able to send missionaries, and it's encouraging to know that today, somebody today somewhere around the world is going to hear the message of Jesus and the name of Jesus for the very first time because of missionaries that have been sent through churches like First Baptist Del Dorado, and we are pooling our resources together and sending missionaries to the international mission board.
Speaker 2:I was visiting with someone just this past week, a young man I believe he's 22 years of age, and he was asking questions about how Arkansas Baptist work and work together, and I said well, you're not going to believe this, but Arkansas Baptist church is all over the state. We pool our money together and that enables us to work here in the state of Arkansas, but also in the nation and planting churches around the nation, and it also allows us to put about 3500 missionaries on the international mission field and they never have to raise their own support. They're able to go to that point of mission emphasis and they're able to share the gospel and work among those people they're trying to reach and they never have to come back and ask for more support and ask for more. He couldn't believe it. That was totally foreign to his understanding of how churches did missions and he was very encouraged by that. So thank you for the way in which you all are partnering in that and how you give so generously and the emphasis that you're placing on missions.
Speaker 2:When we think of the interim time, I don't know what thoughts go through your mind, but for many of you that have been members of First Baptist you've been through the interim on multiple occasions. I mentioned Dr Horn, having served in that capacity in the past as well, but when you think about the interim, it may do us well to think of it in terms of almost the wilderness experience and maybe that helps you think back in terms to the nation of Israel and that time that they spent in the wilderness, coming out of the 400 plus years of slavery that they had been a part of in Egypt, and God delivered them in such a miraculous way and they went on this wilderness journey. And when you hear me say the word wilderness, you may think to yourself well, that doesn't sound like a very pleasant word for us to be going through the wilderness. But from a biblical perspective, and you think, through that time that they spent in the wilderness, it was a very important time for them. It was a time in which, yes, it was challenging, but the Lord used that season to teach them some valuable lessons and to prepare them to enter into the promised land, and it caused them to be dependent upon the Lord as they moved ahead and made that transition. And so, in light of that, we want to acknowledge that the day is going to come when you're going to call a pastor of course, be back next week as you all prayerfully vote on who your search team is going to be and God's going to direct them and he's going to lead them in the direction to the man that the Lord has to serve as the pastor here In the meantime, as we look to that day when you're going to enter the promised land of calling your next pastor.
Speaker 2:This is an important season in the life of the church and I want us to be able to look at it from the perspective of. This is the beginning of that journey and with that in mind, we're going to look here in Exodus, chapter 33, at a passage of Scripture. We're also going to look back at Exodus 32 in just a moment and with that, with the idea of this interim and this wilderness journey, keep that in mind as I read verse 1 for you from Exodus, chapter 33,. It says Then the Lord said to Moses Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt to the land of which I swore to Abraham, isaac and Jacob, saying to your descendants, I will give it. So we find in this verse of Scripture. It says that the Lord comes to Moses and he says All right, the time has come. You need to go ahead and lead the people up into the promised land, the land that the Lord had promised to Abraham all these years earlier, 400 plus years earlier, god had promised to give this land. The time has come for you to move up, and seemingly, this is great news.
Speaker 2:If we were to go back and track the timeline, they've been out of Egypt for approximately four, maybe five months. It was in the third month that they came to Mount Sinai and they spent some time there. That's where they are at the moment, as the Lord shares these words, and so now is the time for them to leave and head toward the land God has promised them, and this would seem to be a great moment in the history of Israel. You would think there would be celebration at this moment, but that's not the whole picture. As a matter of fact, if we were to broaden out a little bit more, allow me to read verse two, and then verse three as well.
Speaker 2:It says I will send my angel before you. I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hivite, the Parasite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. And now verse three go up to a land flowing with milk and honey, for I will not go up in your midst. I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people. So the good news is you know that land that I've been promising your forefathers, abraham, isaac and Jacob, for all these hundreds of years. I want you to go on up and you need to take possession of that land. That seems wonderful, but the bad news is, my angel is going to lead you up. I am not going to go with you because you're a stiff-necked people.
Speaker 2:Now, what is going on here in this passage of Scripture, to cause the Lord to say those words in verse three? Well, that causes us to back up to chapter 32. And when we get to chapter 32. We're able to see the circumstances that happen, that mark this dark point in the nation of Israel. And what happens here we're able to see, beginning in verse 1.
Speaker 2:Allow me to read the first four verses of chapter 32. It says when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain that is Mount Sinai, moses had been there for forty days. The people gathered together to Aaron and said to him Come, make us gods that shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And Aaron said to them Break off the gold earrings which are in the ears of your wives and sons and daughters and bring them to me. So all the people broke off the gold earrings which were in their ears and they brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and he fashioned with it or with an engraving tool, and he made a molded calf. So we're able to see, moses has been up on top of Mount Sinai receiving the law.
Speaker 2:Earlier, a passage of Scripture says he's been there for forty days. And now the people, because they're weary of waiting on Moses, they come to Aaron and they say Listen, we don't know what happened to that guy. I know he brought us out of Egypt, but something must have happened. We need some action, aaron. And so they ask him to make this golden calf, which he's willing to do, and they begin with this calf having been crafted, they begin to worship this calf, moses.
Speaker 2:If we were to take the time to hear it, he hears them on top of Mount Sinai and he has a conversation with the Lord. And the Lord says this people has turned against me. And if you want to know how serious this was in the eyes of the Lord, skip down with me to verses 9 and 10 of chapter 32. Verse 9 says the Lord said to Moses I have seen this people, indeed, they are a stiff-necked people. Now, therefore, let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, and I will make of you a great nation. That's how serious this is. The Lord says All right, moses, step back for just a moment. I'm about to destroy this people and then I'm going to raise up a new people, and they're going to come from you. It's going to be a great nation again. I'm still going to be able to keep my promise to Abraham, but I've had it with these people. I am going to destroy them and again, if time allowed, we can read the rest of chapter 32, and the Lord intercedes on behalf of the nation of Israel. And the Lord relents at his desire to defeat the whole nation.
Speaker 2:Now let me stop for a moment. All right, I don't know how many of you have ever taken the time. Maybe as a part of a New Year's resolution or something like that. You thought to yourself All right, I'm going to read through the Bible in a whole year. You may have done that before. This is the year you may be looking at 2024. This is the year I'm going to start in Genesis. I'm going to read all the way through Revelation.
Speaker 2:I don't know how many of you have ever done that before, but if you have, probably what's happened is you've read through Genesis. It's got a lot of great stories in it and you get through it. And then you read through the first half of Exodus and it's got some great stories. Then you get to Exodus, about Exodus 21. And Exodus 21, if you will, we know this is the authoritative word of God and it's important. But Exodus 21, 22, 23, that's where a lot of Bible plans ultimately kind of fizzle out and people aren't excited about reading through the Bible anymore. All right, because it's about Old Testament law and the law that Moses was receiving on top of Mount Sinai during that time.
Speaker 2:But persevere, because when you get to Exodus 32, 33, and 34, this is such an important and rich passage of Scripture and this is why we're looking at it this morning. It's got some great lessons for us and these are lessons that I want to share with you today. Now, as we look at this passage, I understand the circumstances are not the same in so many ways, because the nation of Israel, they send a great sin against the Lord. We don't find ourselves there, but instead we want to learn from the painful lesson that they endured as a result of their sin and turning away from the Lord in this chapter 32 of Exodus, and one of the lessons that I want to be able to share with you this morning, as we look at this passage of Scripture, is that God wants to guide his people. He really does want to guide them.
Speaker 2:Do you believe God to be a good God? Do you believe him to be a loving God? Do you think he loves First Baptist Church El Dorado, arkansas? I know definitively that he does, and we're able to think about the fact that by the time we get to Exodus, chapter 32, think of how God had already guided the people. I mean, you go back a few chapters and they found themselves in Egypt and God sent this man by the name of Moses, and Moses stood toe to toe with the most powerful man on the surface of the earth, that is, pharaoh, and it was God using Moses to do some miraculous things. That culminated with Pharaoh saying, okay, you can leave. And this whole nation of people. They left the most powerful nation in the world because God had provided for them. He led them out and then they find themselves in a pretty tight spot with their backs against the wall at the Red Sea. And once again, what did God do? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob? He did what only he could do. Their backs were against the wall. He said that's the way I want you to go. And he parted the Red Sea and they walked across on dry land. Once again, the Lord was providing.
Speaker 2:Scripture tells that in the earliest chapters of Exodus that as they wandered in the wilderness, god provided a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire during the night, so that the nation of Israel could follow him exactly where he was leading them to go. God had provided for them in such gracious ways and he had directed them to Mount Sinai. And when they got to Mount Sinai, they were already able to affirm God had protected them, he had provided for them, he was promising a great future for them in this land flowing with milk and honey. And he wants the same for his people. He wants the same for this church.
Speaker 2:Here we are, 3500 years later, since the events of Exodus chapter 32 and 33, he wants good for this church. He wants you to have a great pastor and I want you to be. I think it would be good to be praying to that end. Lord, please raise up exactly who you want our church to have. He wants this church whether you have a pastor or not. He wants you to be focused on making disciples, reaching people with the message of Jesus. He wants this church to enjoy great health and great growth. We know that's what God wants for this people. The community needs this church to be strong and I'm thankful that you are and I'm thankful that God is already using you. That needs to continue as you move forward. God wants to guide his people, but during this interim time and thinking about this passage, one of the most important lessons is impatience is a great threat to God's people.
Speaker 2:Have you ever struggled with being impatient before you? Last night I went and my wife and I. We went and saw this movie at the theater after death. I don't know if you all have seen it. It's kind of a documentary about near death experiences that's been produced by Christians. It's pretty good. I'm not advertising it for you, but we were out there. You ought to go see it if you can. But after that was over, I said let's go pick up a pizza, and we tried a place that I hadn't been to in a long time and it took 45 minutes to get our pizza. All right, I knew I was going to be standing in front of you and talking about patience this morning because I wasn't exceedingly patient. I was nice, but I wasn't real patient as we waited 45 minutes for our pizza. Patience is hard to have. It's hard to. It's what we want everybody else to have, not always excited about the, about me being the one that has to be patient. Being impatient is a great threat to the people of God.
Speaker 2:Moses had been on the mountain 40 days. All right, let's put that in perspective. That's about mid-September, okay. So think about it. He's been gone mid-September all this time. What on earth happened to him? He probably, he probably died. He probably fell off a ledge. He was probably eaten by a wild animal. We don't know what happened to this man, moses.
Speaker 2:And in their impatience, all of a sudden, they went to plan B. All right, you have a God of Abraham, isaac and Jacob, the one who defeated the most powerful man on the surface of the earth and part of the Red Sea. Yeah, that was all great. But now, aaron, we want you to make for us some gods to worship, and we want to follow those gods as they lead us into the promised land. They abandoned the Lord, they abandoned his plan and they suffered needlessly. Isn't it ironic? It's tremendously ironic to me that the reason there was a delay is that God loved His people so much. He was relating to this man, moses, and giving them the plan for how they were going to relate to God as they entered the promised land. That's why Moses was gone so long. He had some very important work to do, and while this great thing is happening on top of Mount Sinai, the people are trying to figure out how to move forward without Him. It's tragic. It's a tragic irony. God was trying to give them a tremendous gift and they turned their back.
Speaker 2:And so I just want to say to you this morning be patient as you search for your next pastor. You're going to vote, I think, next week, on the search team. That's March, excuse me, november 5th. On November 12th, don't find a member of the search team and ask them what's taken so long to find your next pastor. All right, give them some time. All right, let them pray through. You know what you don't want them doing. You don't want them being in a hurry and not getting the person God wants to be the pastor of this church. You can have a pastor by the end of November, but I'm pretty sure you don't want him, okay. So y'all just give them time, be very patient, wait on the Lord.
Speaker 2:And in this season, in this interim season, when you grow frustrated at why it's taking as long as it may be and I don't know what the timing of the Lord's going to be it may happen very quickly, but it may not. And if it doesn't, in those moments when you're frustrated at why it's taking so long, remember God knows what he's doing, he loves this church, he wants what's best for this church and maybe he's doing some great work you're not aware of and that's part of the reason for the delay. And when you find yourself seeing one of the members of the search team coming down the hall and you think, okay, I'm going to get them, I'm going to ask them, let that be a prompting from the Lord to pray for the team and pray for the church and pray for the process and ask God to give you and the church family patience in the midst of this time. This is a tremendous threat to the people of God. The third lesson I want us to see here not only does God want to guide, and impatience is a great threat, but God's presence is essential for His people. It is essential.
Speaker 2:Moses was desperate for the presence of God. God had been very present in the lives of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. If you go back and read in Genesis, we see how interactive God was in their lives as he directed them, and then think about how present he was in the life of Moses. If you go back and read at the very beginning of Exodus, you're able to see Moses was this 80-year-old man living in the middle of nowhere, on the backside of the known world, if you will, in his mind. And all of a sudden the bush catches on fire and it's not burned up and God is in the bush and he appears to Moses. His presence is there, the holiness of God is there and it is God's presence that puts into motion this great plan to deliver His people from Pharaoh and the Egyptians. God was present. He was present at the showdown with Pharaoh. He was present at the Red Sea. He's present at the top of Mount Sinai.
Speaker 2:Moses was very familiar with the presence of God. And that's why when you get to chapter 33, and the Lord says in verse 1, y'all going up to the land I promised you. But then verse 3 says I'm not going with you. You can go on up. I promised it to Abraham, isaac and Jacob, but I'm not going to go. And you're able to see again if you take the time at some point to read through Exodus 32 and 33, it would encourage you.
Speaker 2:But you get to verse 12. Verse 12 and 13, we kind of see a little bit of the interaction and the relationship Moses has with the Lord. Verse 12 says then Moses said to the Lord see, you say to me, bring up this people. But you've not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you've said I know you by name, he's talking to Moses, I know you by name and you have found grace in my sight. Verse 13, now, therefore, I pray if I've found grace in your sight, show me now your way that I may know you, that I may find grace in your sight and consider that this nation is your people. And then he gets to verse 15. Moses said to the Lord If your presence does not go up with us, do not bring us up from this place. Moses is saying Lord, if you're not going, we're not going. This isn't going to work. You've been with me the whole time. You found me in the middle of nowhere, set a bush on fire, defeated Pharaoh, part of the Red Sea. Now you're telling us to go to the Promised Land. If you don't go, we're not going. We're able to see this interaction.
Speaker 2:Moses was aware of the value, the vital nature of the presence of God for this people. And you get to verse 14. Verse 14, the Lord, he says my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. It's a great image of the relationship Moses had with the Lord, wrestling over whether God was going to go with him or not. Now, god's a good God, he's not evil. You know what he knew. He knew the whole time he was going to go with him. It wasn't like God was kind of fickle in His mind and whether or not he was actually going to go with the nation of Israel on up to the Promised Land. He knew the whole time he was going to go, but he wanted Moses and he wanted the people of Israel to be desperate for His presence. And so I say to you this morning, as you enter into this time of interim, you need to be desperate for the presence of God. It is so important to the people of God.
Speaker 2:I can remember as a small child, back in those single digit days, my parents and I and a group of friends another family had children our age we all went camping at Lake Dardanelle up on Arkansas River, and I can remember this particular night, as we're getting ready for bed and we're gathered around the campfire of some of the older guys my older brother and another older brother in the other family they start telling stories, okay, and so you know, since we've dismissed a children's church but there may be a few young years in here, let me just say that these stories they involved hair and teeth, okay, so you can kind of imagine where. And then they knew I was a kid and they knew I was going to scare me and we go on and go to bed. And my parents we had a suburban, they were just going to spend the night in the Rock of Gibraltar suburban. They were going to be in with the hard sides and all that, and they relegated us to the tent, you know, just that canvas. There we had no source of defense and there I lay. There I lay I'm not sure I blinked for hours and hours. I lay there just waiting for the impending doom. I knew it was just inevitable. And finally it was in the wee hours of the morning, right after midnight. I couldn't take it anymore and I thought I know where there's, I know where there's peace, and that is it's out there in that suburban. So I mustered all the courage I could possibly get and I unzipped the tent and resigned myself to the fate that was sure to await me as I stepped out the door. But it was worth it. It was worth it.
Speaker 2:I sprinted to that vehicle and I began to frantically knock on the side and and I was my plea was going to be I need in. Okay, y'all scoot over, I need in. And the door opened and it was just a hand holding out a flashlight. And they handed me the flashlight and closed the door back. Go back and you'll be fine. This is all you need. What else could I do? I sprinted back to the tent and zipped it up just in time to be sure, but left the left the flashlight on and endured what I still think is the longest night I have ever experienced in all my days.
Speaker 2:I didn't want a flashlight, I wanted to be in the presence of my parents. Nothing was going to happen in the presence of my parents, and I think it does as well as the people of God to remember. There's a lot of things we want, there's a lot of things we need, and during this interim time there'll be a lot of things we want to. We want the search committee to be focused on the Lord. We want it to be a good committee. Certainly we want a pastor, a great pastor, perfect family. Just as soon as we can get them, lord, I mean, you know you can put in all those requests. You don't need those things more than you need the presence of God. Top's the list. Did you know, first, that El Dorado can be a great church even during a time when you don't have a pastor leading you, if you have the presence of God in your midst? And so I just want to encourage you during this time to seek Him wholeheartedly. I just just very briefly.
Speaker 2:We can't look at Exodus 33 without looking at how this ends, because they have this interaction. Remember chapter 32, lord says I'm going to wipe them out. I'll make a great nation out of you. Moses says Lord, please don't do it. Your name is great. Lord says I won't do it. And then he gets to 33, and the Lord says go on up, but I'm not going with you. Moses said, lord, please, no, if you're not going, we're not going to go as well. And the Lord says, okay, I'll go with you.
Speaker 2:And then he gets to verse 18. And now Moses has one more request Lord, please show me your glory. And so we come to verse 19. The Lord says I'll make all my goodness pass before you. He's going to, he's going to give him His request. I'll allow my goodness to pass before you. I'll proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I'll be gracious. To whom I'll be gracious? I'll have compassion. On whom I'll have compassion? Verse 20,.
Speaker 2:The Lord said you cannot see my face, for no man shall see me and live. The Lord said here is a place by me. You shall stand on the rock. So it shall be that, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and I will cover you there with my hand while I pass by, and I will take away my hand and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. What a great image, what a great thought. Lord, show me your glory, moses, because I love you, I'm so close to you. I'll let you see just a glimpse of my glory. And with that in mind, just think about the significance of that moment in Bethlehem, when, birthed is, god, come in the flesh. And there are those 1500 years later, after this event transpires, jesus comes, in, whom the fullness of God dwells. And now we have living inside of us, all these years later, the Holy Spirit of God living in us and we're enjoying the presence of God in our midst, even here in this place today. Then we get to the end of Revelation, and you know what Revelation, chapter 22, verse 4, says Of the people of God. The day is going to come when they shall see His face. We're not going to have to be hidden in the cleft of the rock, we're not going to have to get just a glimmer of the glory of God. The day is going to come when we will see Him face to face.
Speaker 2:This morning, I simply want to say to you, as you're sitting in this room and if you showed up here today and you're looking for answers, you're looking for the purpose of life. Maybe you find yourself just absolutely miserable. You don't know what the future holds and you don't know where to turn. You don't know if there's any meaning. I realize the message generally has not been for you, but I want you to hear me say today the message of the Bible, the whole reason God raised up the nation of Israel, the whole reason Jesus came to this earth is so that you can have life that lasts forever and enjoy the purpose and the plan that God has created you to enjoy.
Speaker 2:The message of the Bible is this we're sinners, we're terrible sinners. We see that in Exodus 32. The Israelites were professional sinners. We all are. We've perfected it and as a result of our sin we do not deserve a relationship with the holy God. That created us and he knows that. And the Bible tells us that I should be separated from God because of my sin. But the Bible also says God loved us so much that he did the only thing that could be done about it, and that is he sent His one and only Son, jesus, to this earth to die on the cross to pay for your sin and for my sin, because somebody's got to pay for their sin. Somebody's got to pay for my sin. Three days later, he rose from the dead, demonstrating His ability to defeat death and the grave, and today you can have all the sin you've ever committed forgiven and you can begin a relationship with God that lasts forever and ever and ever, through faith in Jesus Christ. That's the invitation for you this day.
Speaker 2:I want to invite you, if you would please, bow your head and close your eyes. With your heads bowed and your eyes closed, as the people of God, this morning, we need to affirm the desperate need we have for the presence of God. There are a lot of things we need. There's nothing we need more than the presence of God, and so let it be your prayer, as a part of this church family, that you'd ask God to be present in the midst of this time, as the church moves on into this interim period. Ultimately, what we need is we need a glimpse of the glory of God. I need it, you need it that the Lord would demonstrate His presence in our midst and fill us with boldness. Our families need to see it in us, church needs it. The community needs to see it in us. The world needs to see it.
Speaker 2:Lord, we ask today please show us your glory, and I am so thankful this morning, lord, that, as I call on your name, I am so thankful for the fact that, though I deserve to be punished for my sin, that you provided a way for us to be saved through faith in Jesus Christ, and that today may be the day someone may need to come and repent of their sin, turn from their sin, affirm faith in the Lord Jesus and the fact that he can provide a way for them to relate to you, the Holy God, who loves us and wants us to be saved.
Speaker 2:This morning, it is my prayer, lord, that You'd work in the midst of this church family, that You'd bless them, that you would give them a great spirit of unity during this time, fill them with excitement about what the future holds, because you know what the future holds. You're already there, and so we need your presence, lord. Give us your presence. Let us enjoy you completely, let us depend upon you entirely and let us watch you do what only you can do, and so we pray that You'll work in our hearts and our lives this morning. You're such a good God, and it is in Jesus' name that I pray. Amen.