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Well, today we are in week six of our Exodus Part 2 series where we've been uh walking through chapter by chapter, verse by verse, through the second book of the Bible. If you're new here, what we would encourage you to do is not only stop by the Welcome Center after the service, uh, we do have refreshments. Some of us on staff are gonna be out in the West lobby. We'd love to connect with you. Uh, but we always challenge people to give Shepherd's Gate three weeks. Just come for three weeks in a row and see if God would maybe be leading you to call Shepherd's Gate your home church. Uh, you can see here's the rest of the schedule for October. So we're gonna be uh doing all of Exodus 16 today, and then we'll be breaking up Exodus 17 into two parts. Uh, because we just believe that people should be in church every single Sunday. Amen? And some of you might be wondering, why do you say that every single week? Because the national average, no matter what generation you're from, is two times a month, which is what?

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15%.

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Bad. Bad. So we want to live differently here at Shepherd's Gate. We want to live unconventionally, and we just think God has something for you each and every week. If you can't be here, obviously uh we would love to have you join us online or watch later on demand. Uh, there's some other ideas there as well. And the easiest way to stay uh up on everything at Shepherd's Gate is to download our app. And if you're new, there's a tap tag in front of you. Uh you can do that and you can see what we've preached in the past, but you can also uh watch and track what we're going to be doing in the future as well. And so if you weren't here last week, we ended with chapter 15. Uh, kind of the theme of last week was the children of Israel. Basically, what happened was they left the Red Sea. Moses kind of had to move them along. They got out into the desert and they didn't have water for three days, which is kind of a tough situation to be in. They grumbled, they complained. God miraculously provided water. Uh, so he told Moses what to do. Moses followed those instructions, and so they had water. And then the second half of Matthew 15, God actually led them from that place to a different place called Elam. You guys remember this? Where there was 12 springs and 70 palm trees. Basically Aruba in Egypt, okay? I mean, where do you find something like this in the middle of the desert? But because he's God, he knows where everything's at. And so he brings them there to a place of rest and to a place of abundance, because they obviously had so much water to drink from that they were all full. Now, chapter 16, if you have your Bible, if you brought your Bible, if you want to churn there, I'm gonna be going through different parts of it because you heard it read. So this is where it starts. It tells us in the beginning of chapter 16 that they're gonna move on from this really nice place and they're gonna be heading further into the desert because their final destination is not Elam, it's the promised land. And so he's got to gather all these people, all their possessions, all their animals, and get them moving once again. And wouldn't you know they get out into the desert, and what was the theme that you heard over and over again in the video? What did they do? Oh, you heard it too. Isn't it funny how many times the word grumbling or grumbled is in just one chapter of the Bible? And they're grumbling not just to Moses, but to Moses' brother Aaron. Now, last week I asked you, how long can a person survive without water? And we had some, you know, nurses in here, and I think I think we ended up at seven was the number. Someone saw somebody live seven days without water. The question today for this text is well, how long can a person survive without food?

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40 days.

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Is that it? At day 41 you die? Has anyone beaten that? I mean, I don't know. I'm asking you. I didn't look it up. I'm curious, because these human bodies that God has created and given us, it's amazing how long we can live without food. Now, the emotional side of us will tell you that we can't live a couple hours without food. It's amazing how grouch we get if we're not fed. Some of you, you get really grouchy. Uh, but that's another sermon. Anyways, verse 3. So the Israelites say to them, this is this is pattern, this is the pattern that we've seen this as well. They get so dramatic when they don't have food or water. If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt. I mean, how pathetic is that? You wish that God would have killed you while you were a slave in Egypt? Or they say this, there we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted. Forget about the fact that we were slaves, we owned nothing, we were beaten, and we were building buildings for the Egyptians. But at least at the end of the night we got to sit around and have a nice pot of stew. I mean, how ridiculous the complaining is. What did you do, Moses? You brought us into the desert to starve this entire assembly and to watch us die? Now, if I was Moses, and because I'm sarcastic, I would have turned to the people of Israel and said, that's exactly what I destined to do. In fact, you may have forgotten, I was fine. I was married, I had kids, I had a whole life outside of Egypt, and some person named God showed up at a burning bush and told me I had to come back and rescue you guys. And since I did what God told me to do and I rescued you out of Egypt and led you through the Red Sea, it was also that you could die right now in this moment in the desert with no witnesses. Like, come on! What is going on with you people? How do you go from seeing miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle, and yet you still doubt? You still don't know if God is gonna come through for you. God hears all this complaining and he says to Moses, just so you know, I know what's going on, and I'm gonna provide once again. I'm gonna rain down bread from heaven for you. And the people are to go out each day. Now, this is important, these are the instructions, and gather enough for that specific day. In this way, I'm going to test them. This is what God does. He tested them last week with the water, he's testing them this week with the food. Remember, God got them out of Egypt, but God still has to get Egypt out of their heart. Just like God has delivered us through his Son Jesus Christ, but God still every single day is working on getting the world out of our hearts. Did you know that? That God still has to get all of the corruption of this world out of our hearts, which was why we're still here, which is why we're still breathing, which is why he hasn't taken us home. He still has more people to save on this planet, and he still has more people to turn into the image of his son each and every day. So he's saying, I'm going to test them and I'm going to see if they're going to follow my instructions. And he specifically says that on the sixth day, they're to prepare what they bring in. And by the way, on the sixth day when they're out gathering the food, they're going to bring in twice as much. Here's an important thing you need to know about this passage. This doesn't mean that they're doing twice the work. It doesn't mean that they had to get up earlier or stay out twice as long. It's that God performs miracles within miracles. So he performs the miracle of providing the bread, but he also is performing the miracle as they're gathering the bread, as they're gathering it, wouldn't you know that it would magically and spiritually become double what it was any other day that they had gathered it? Does this remind you of any testimony or story in the New Testament? Exactly. When Jesus was out in the wilderness with thousands of people, and the people are hungry, and they're getting a little ornery. And then the disciples go to Jesus and say, Jesus, I don't know if you can hear. They're getting ornery and they're hungry. We should just let them go. And Jesus, not being done with teaching and not being done laying his hands on them and healing them, decides that the disciples should figure out a plan. And eventually it leads to a little boy with five loaves and two fishes, Jesus blessing, breaking that meal, and then magically, boom, all of a sudden, God multiplies it because God has the ability to do that. And so that's what you're seeing here as well. He's multiplying it even in their midst. And so Moses and Aaron, this is so fascinating to me, they say to the Israelites after they get all the information from God, in the evening, you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt. Like it's going to sink into your brain. And oh, by the way, in the morning, you're going to see it with your eyes. You're going to see the glory of the Lord because you're going to see all of this bread that he has provided. Now, what I like about this verse is that he knows they're complaining, he knows they're hungry, but he doesn't give them the answer immediately. He gives them the answer and the fact that he's working through Moses and Aaron to tell them that he's going to provide, but he's going to make them wait just a little bit longer. Don't you find that fascinating? That it's not an immediate answer to their prayer. He's promising that he's going to provide for them, but he's going to do it in his time and in his way, just as he does with us. And sometimes we plead with God or we pray to God or we want God to answer the difficulty that we're going through, and God gives us confirmation, but he might not fulfill that promise that day. It may come later. It may come the next day. Because everything that God does, he does intentionally, and it's according to his timeline, and it's actually what is actually best for us. So here's what's cool Moses also is telling them, You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you what does it say? And all the carnivores said, Thank God. And all the gluten-free people also said, Because of all you had was bread, you ain't gonna be with them much longer, are you? So they get bread and they get meat in the evening and all the bread you want. I mean, they're getting a buffet of bread, as much bread as they can possibly consume, because God has heard their grumbling. And so that evening, wouldn't you know, a quail came and covered the camp? Can you imagine just having quail everywhere? From quarreling to quail. All these birds all over the place. Any hunters in here? Anybody you you you like killing? Anybody like I know this is hunting I know we're missing some of our bow hunters because it's October. Anybody kill quail? Anybody quail? Anybody eat quail? Yeah, it's kind of a fascinating thing to eat. Uh it's a small bird. And uh last week, uh the the um instructor that's doing our adult Bible study after the nine o'clock service, she uh this is her second week. If you want to come early to this service, you can come and join in on the class uh next week. She decided to go find quail, which actually took her a little bit of research. She had to go find it at a specific grocery store, found out it's actually pretty expensive. Uh, but she cooked it and she brought it to Shepherd's Gate last Sunday because she thought that I should have an object lesson so that I could tell you all about quail. So last Sunday, after this service, uh I got to eat quail with some of our staff in the West lobby. Thanks be to God, she covered it with butter and lots of lemon and salt and pepper. And do you know what quail tastes like? How did you know? It's like no matter what you eat, you can eat a bunny, you can eat a quail, you can eat any one of those small little things, and they all, at the end of the day, all still taste like chicken. Here's what happened. The Israelites did what they were told. Some gathered much, some little. Now watch, you're gonna see this other little miracle taking place. And when they measured it by an omer, which is just a percentage, the one who gathered much did not have too much. Interesting. And the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed. That God provided for each person according to their need. And even though some of them may have been younger, some of them may have been able to gather more or fill up more baskets, it didn't matter. Miraculously, God is still taking care of his children. And I was thinking about this as it relates kind of to our lives. Sometimes we can look at what other people have. We can look at their houses, we can look at their cars, we can look at their clothes, we can look at what we perceive as their bank accounts, and we say, Well, God, why do you give them so much? And why does it seem like they have life so easy? When in reality, you have no idea what that family or that individual is dealing with on a personal level. And it kind of hit me this way this week that at the end of the day, especially for us as Americans, we do way too much grumbling and complaining. Like we are so blessed to live in the country that we live in. Amen? And here's the thing we all have to go to the same grocery store. We all have to go and get the same types of food. Now, we can decide when we go to the egg aisle if we want to buy the dozen eggs that are $22,000 because they're organic and pasture-raised, and you know, they, you know, they put them to bed by reading to them and patting to them and they're free range. If you have the ability to do that and that makes you feel good about yourself, fine, then buy the really expensive eggs. But there's also other options there. But at the end of the day, yet God provides for every single one of us, regardless of our paycheck. What I love is, you know what the great equalizer is, is we're all paying the same amount at the gas pump. And we all say when we really should be grateful that we have cars and have vehicles when you look at the rest of the world, that most of them spend all their time walking or using animals for transportation. It's getting quiet in here. Think about it. This is what Moses told them, by the way. No one is to keep any of it until morning. Fascinating, isn't it? No leftovers, no hiding it in your pillow, no putting it in the back part of your tent. Whatever you, you know, even if you did a good job and you gathered more than somebody else, it doesn't matter. You are to dispose of it. Get rid of it. Why would God want them to get rid of it each and every night? Because he knew, he was testing them. Remember, that's what the text tells us. He wants them to know that they are completely dependent on him, and not only they're dependent on him, he will ultimately fulfill everything that they need. And I was thinking about it in this regard, in our time, how many people they get so fixated on their financial portfolios. People they get so fixated on the stock market, and they instead of it being social media and instead of it being other apps, their apps are all alerts about what stocks are going up or down. And so they wake up in the morning and the first thing they look at is their portfolio. And when they go to bed at night, the first thing or the last thing that they look at is whether or not their portfolio is meeting certain criteria. And people get so upset and so completely consumed living this way. Or I'll give you another example. How many of you have ever seen the show Shark Tank? You watch the show Shark Tank? It's a good wholesome family show. Entrepreneurs come on and they make pitches because they need investors to help bring their business to the next level. And so there's a team of usually five investors that one's a billionaire, the rest of them are multimillionaires. And so they're gonna ask questions and decide if they want to partner with this entrepreneur and whatever it is that they're proposing to sell. And I love the show. It's a family-friendly show that my family we can all watch together, but there's one part of the show that I don't like. Can I tell you this morning the part of the show that I really don't like? The part that I don't like is this is that these very rich people, the sharks, as they're called, will often flash back to when they first started out. And they'll say things like this Well, when I was this age, or when I was first starting my company, I didn't sleep. I worked seven days a week, and I work 24 hours a day, and I, I, I, I, and I had to sacrifice, and I had to eat hot dogs every single day, and blah, blah, blah. And now look at me, I'm a billionaire, and I got my own private jet, and I got multiple houses, and me, me, me, me, me. And I look at my kids and I wonder, are they absorbing this? Do they think that this is the American dream? That when you're in your teens or your twenties or your thirties or your forties, that nothing else matters but the almighty American dollar. And you should pursue that at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing your marriage and sacrificing your kids and sacrificing your family and sacrificing the people that you go to church with. Because eventually you'll get to a point where you can be just like them and sit back and just enjoy the rest of your life. I mean, is that really what's supposed to happen? It seems that the Bible has laid out rhythms for us. That there's these rhythms of life that we are to pursue, and part of it is rest, which you're going to see in a moment. Now, there's a story that's kind of fascinating that came out of World War II. Where people were putting being put into these camps as their houses were being destroyed, and you know the havoc that war can cause a nation, in particular children. And there was an aid worker that was noticing something that was prevalent in one of the camps, in that the kids were having a hard time sleeping at night. Of course, they're living in fear. Of course, they don't know uh what's gonna happen to them and their family. They don't know if they're gonna have a meal the next day. And for some reason, this aid worker figured out how to help the kids sleep at night, and this was the remedy. Is they gave every single kid a small piece of bread that they could hold on to. Not to eat, just to hold on to. And because that kid held on to that piece of bread, somehow that gave them confidence and assurance that if they woke up the next day, they would still be holding on to that bread and they wouldn't be hungry. And yet in the text today, God is asking his children to do the exact opposite, to give up everything. Because what we find out is that there were some that paid no attention to Moses. Bad idea. They kept part of it until the morning, and wouldn't you know, the stuff that they kept that they didn't dispose of, maggots were all over it, and it began to smell. Which I'm wondering, did Moses know when he was walking by their tents who the smelly tents were and who the you know non-smelly tents were? Like, was it just obvious to everybody else? And look at his response as their leader. He's upset with them, he's frustrated with them, he's following the same rules that they have to follow as well. Well, again, on the sixth day they gathered twice as much, two omers for each person, and this time you find the leaders actually going to Moses and reporting to him this miracle. This it's crazy. We go out and we gather the same amount, but yet God is the one that keeps blessing it and multiplying it. And so he says to them, This is what the Lord commanded. Tomorrow is to be a day of Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Those are great instructions. All of you that love cooking, spend all day in the kitchen. Bake it all, boil it all, save whatever is left, and keep it until the morning. So now the instructions are reversed. Now he's telling them, and they would have known, this would have gotten out, that those that kept the food before, it spoiled and was full of worms, and now all of a sudden he's saying, Late, now this time you're going to keep it. And wouldn't you know that most of them did what Moses commanded them to do? And when they woke up the next day, the food that they had, it didn't stink, and there weren't maggots in it. And so, because of that, Moses is telling them, eat it. God is providing for you even on the seventh day. See, God could have told them, hey, you know what, you're just gonna take a day to fast. Many of you said it's 40 plus days you can go without food. They got water, they just don't have food. And yet God is so merciful that he's allowing them to continue to have food and nourishment for their bodies even on the Sabbath. Today is a Sabbath to the Lord. You are you are not gonna find any on the ground. By the way, here's a warning: it's pointless to go out. Six days you're to gather, and every time the seventh day comes around, there's not going to be anything for you to gather. I'm God, and I'm not gonna produce the food for you. And so I was thinking about this. Why is God so insistent on his people resting? Why does he want us to rest? Why aren't we just all workaholics? Some of you, you're married to a workaholic, and you're not a workaholic, and there's a little friction in your marriage. We're kind of conditioned this way. Our society teaches and rewards this kind of system for never knowing how to stop and take a break. I remember back three years ago, we were going through Genesis and we were in the beginning of Genesis, going through the creation account, and we were talking about God making the world in six days, and then what did God Almighty do on the seventh day? And do you know I still remember that after that service, people were upset with me and told me to stop telling people to take breaks? Because this is how much of a spiritual issue it is for you and for me. Nope, I gotta do more. Nope, I can't take a break. No, I cannot rest. Why do we resist the rest that God gives us? I'll tell you, this has been a struggle of mine for my entire life. I've always been a workaholic. I've always struggled to have the proper margins in my life. Thanks be to God, He gave me a wife who has helped slow me down to appreciate the other things that this world has to offer. I can go all the way back to 18 years ago when we first got married. And we would argue and bicker about what we should do on vacation. Because up to that point, I just figured when you go on vacation, it was to go and to do sightseeing and to learn more and to be active. And her version of a vacation was to go to a beach and to put a put a chair in the sand and then you just sit there for like eight hours. And my version of that was my interpretation. That's such a waste of time. Who would ever do that? You could be productive, you could be learning, you could be growing, you could be making more money somewhere. And I'm so thankful that over time I finally learned to appreciate sitting in a chair without a laptop or a cell phone because she takes it away on my vacations now. And all you hear are the birds and the crashing of the waves, and you can feel the breeze across your face. And literally having your body decompressed and your mind actually resting long enough to realize that your body needs rest. My body needs rest. Your body needs rest. Why do we resist the rest that God gives us? And what are we modeling for this next generation? Next generation. It's fascinating because even though He gives them this command, and even though they had food for day seven, some of them that wasn't good enough, and so some of them actually went out on that seventh day. And look at what it says. They wandered aimlessly in the wilderness, and it was completely pointless. You wonder how long they actually wandered around for? How long do you think they wandered around for? An hour? You think some of them were so stinking stubborn and they were out there for like six hours, seven hours, eight hours? I'm gonna find food. You don't need food. You already got food. God already doubled it for you on day six. We are so stubborn. We are so stubborn as human beings. We often try to do things on our own outside the will of our heavenly Father. And maybe today God's using this text to say to you what he said to me. You gotta take a deep breath. You gotta remember I'm the one that supplies all of your needs, not just some of them. I don't need your help, Tim. I provide all of your needs according to my riches and according to my glory. We are sustained on this earth, make no mistake, because we have a heavenly Father who loves us, who has given us his Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Sabbath. Amen? This is why Jesus said to the people that were gathered around him, and he says it to us today. I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. And who is that true bread from heaven? Jesus. Yes, we follow the Sabbath. Being in church, do you know being here today is rest? Singing songs of worship, praying, seeing a baptism, participating in holy communion. All of those are gifts of God, from God, through Jesus. Those are all rest because Jesus is our Sabbath rest. All of those are just the blessings that come from having Him be the center of our lives. That's why it's difficult in the day and age we live. People have activities, people have conflicts, people have all sorts of things that are vying for their attention. And sometimes it's our own fault. Sometimes it's the act of the devil, sometimes it is the world that's pulling us in these different directions. And I just believe that God today is calling us back to this lifestyle, this rhythm of how He created us and knows what is best for us. Amen. This is why we pray these words in the Lord's Prayer. Give us this day our daily bread. Not our weekly bread or a monthly bread or a yearly bread. Daily bread. And this isn't the physical bread that he gives us. This is the spiritual bread that comes down from on high for you or and to me to nourish our souls. To remind us how much we are loved by God and that he will care for us. We've got to stop stressing and stop worrying about all these things that we get ourselves so fixated on. And finally, what does he do? He wants to give them this object lesson that they're gonna carry now from this point forward. And he tells them to take some of this manna and to put it in a jar and they're to use that so that they can teach their kids, hey, God's the one that provided for us. God is the one that got us through this time in this place in history. And then finally, the last verse today it says, The Israelites ate manna for how long? Oh man. I mean, if it was sourdough bread, I get it. But 40 years. Wow. Until the land was settled, until they reached the border of Canaan. This last verse is just a prophetic verse because they're not to the promised land yet. There's still some more churns and some obstacles waiting for them. This is just, again, a reminder of what is to come. And so let me ask you this morning: what is it for you? What is holding you back? Where is God speaking to you today through his word that maybe you need to let go? And you need to trust that God is at work in your life and in your marriage and with your family and with your job and with your bank account. That whatever circumstance you are facing right now, in this moment, on this day, he sees you, he knows you, and he is already orchestrating things that you don't even need to worry about. Instead, if God has blessed you with somebody else that's telling you to slow down, would you listen to them? Maybe some of you today, this is what God is saying to you, is that you actually need to take a day off of work this week. And do nothing the entire day. I can't do that. Maybe the most holy thing that you could do this week is actually get eight hours of sleep one night. Maybe God is challenging you to stop micromanaging everybody else in your life that's resting, that gets this. And maybe God is inviting you into that rest because he knows that's what's best for you. Wherever you find yourself today, know he sees you, he forgives you, he loves you, and he wants what's best for you. Amen. Will you bow your heads and close your eyes with me this morning? Heavenly Father, I thank you for all my friends here today. God, and once again, just an ancient tax, but yet so relevant for our lives. God, even the way that it convicted me over and over again this week, and God, the opportunity to preach and present your holy word to this gathered body of believers, knowing and trusting that you're at work, and that it's all ultimately, God, for our good. So be with my friends today. God help us as we go into another week to surrender to you, to walk in trusting you are at work, and you will provide every single one of the needs that we have. So, God, now as we close our time together by singing this song, bless God. May the words of our mouth as we sing these songs be a testament of our faith and our hope and our trust in you, our one true God who is our provider. We love you, we thank you, we pray all these things in your most holy and precious name. Amen. Will we please stand and let's sing this song together?