WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.000 Good afternoon, One Church. 00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:03.759 It is so great to be with you. 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:06.639 And if you're online or in Overflow, thank you very much. 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:08.640 And it's a pleasure to be here. 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:15.119 I've known Pastor Greg and Shaylin for many years, and I'm not surprised that the church is thriving and growing. 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:16.480 They're incredible leaders. 00:00:16.640 --> 00:00:19.920 I do have a Greg Ford story, though, that I want to tell you. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:20.640 All right. 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:24.480 We had Greg come and speak at CLC in Dayton a few times. 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:29.760 And we like to have a stage about like this, and we would often sort of illustrate in some way. 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:41.280 And so I talked to our prop manager, I said, okay, Greg's talking about the story of the woman in the Old Testament that the prophet said, get big clay pots, and we're going to fill them up with oil and see what your faith can handle. 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:48.079 And so I told our prop person, if you can get some clay pots to sort of have on stage as the illustration. 00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:54.159 And then what we were going to do is have people come forward at the end for prayer and then give them a takeaway. 00:00:54.479 --> 00:01:00.000 And we found online they weren't pots, but they were, think of like a test tube about that long with a cap on it. 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:01.119 They were filled with oil. 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:06.319 So we'll give them this little takeaway vial of oil as a reminder of the sermon. 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:07.920 So that was the plan. 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:11.120 We had a Saturday nice and two on Sunday. 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:14.799 And Greg gave an amazing sermon Saturday night. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:16.560 First breakdown in communication. 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:19.200 You ever have a breakdown in communication, okay? 00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:25.840 Was the prop person did not get like clay pots, I'm thinking like Old Testament style. 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:32.000 They bought glass vases like you would buy from a florist when you order flowers, okay? 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:34.879 They're like yay tall, some are straight, some are like this. 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:37.840 Again, they're clear, and they're all across the stage. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:39.200 That was breakdown number one. 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:46.000 Breakdown number two was when they left the prayer time, they were supposed to get one of those little tiny vials, okay? 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:49.200 Well, Saturday night, maybe six or eight people came forward. 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:55.120 Greg takes the glass vases and gives them to the people who came forward. 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:56.400 They're walking away with these vases. 00:01:56.560 --> 00:01:57.280 Like, what's this about? 00:01:57.439 --> 00:01:59.120 Okay, so a whole thing didn't work. 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:02.400 So next time you see Greg, ask him about vases that he gave away. 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:13.759 So as I said, it doesn't surprise me the church is growing, and now that I'm not pastoring full-time myself, I get to speak, I get to consult with pastors and church leaders, but also businesses. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:18.400 And one of the big great problems they have is growth problems that you are having here. 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:23.840 And one of the areas that feels the pinch the most is kids' ministry, okay, in next gen. 00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:28.879 And when you have three services, we did that for several years before we built our new auditorium. 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:39.599 When you have three services, there's a lot of coming and going, and by the time the team has been here for three services, they kind of want you to pick up your kids after kid after church, all right? 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:41.439 Sort of fast, okay? 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:46.560 And some of you look at it like it's kind of free babysitting, have a cup of coffee before we get the kids. 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:51.759 So I said, well, one great way to hurry parents to pick up their kids. 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:56.479 So if you see this sign the hallway next week, it's my fault, but I assure you you won't wait long. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:58.479 You'll get your kids if you see this. 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:07.759 Yeah, we're gonna give your kid a shot of espresso and a free kit and take that. 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:13.520 So, anyways, well, let's uh dive into the sermon today. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:16.159 And I don't like to be a talking head. 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:16.800 I need your help. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:19.520 I'll ask you to repeat things, I'll ask you to participate. 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:22.159 And so to kick it off, I want you to help me illustrate it. 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:25.439 If you're able, would you please stand, all right, wherever you are? 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:34.960 And imagine yourself trying out for a bit part in a movie, and you're in a movie studio, and you only have your lines, you have two words. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:37.039 Would you say now what? 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:39.039 All right, good. 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:42.560 Now, that's not gonna get you the part in the movie because now what? 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:44.960 Imagine it's kind of between a rock and a hard place. 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:48.319 There's trouble ahead, trouble behind, you're trying to figure it out now what. 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:52.800 So at the count of three, I want you to turn to two different people and say now what? 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:57.919 And I want you to do it with as much anxiety, stress, panic, whatever in your voice. 00:03:58.080 --> 00:03:58.639 All right. 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:00.879 One, two, three, go. 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:07.680 That's what I'm talking about. 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:08.719 You get the part. 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:09.919 Okay, have a seat. 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:20.079 I don't know if you had more caffeine or what, but it's gotten progressively better. 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:24.240 You by far did the best of all three services today, so give yourself a hand. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:30.560 But the title of today's message is Now What? 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:34.319 When unwanted, unexpected things happen. 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:37.439 We don't ask that or panic when great things happen. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:38.079 Now what? 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:40.800 But boy, when we're we're between a rock and a hard place. 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:43.120 It's easy to say, okay, now what? 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:51.839 And I would add to that when unexpected, unwanted things happen on the way to what God has promised. 00:04:52.319 --> 00:05:02.560 We have a God of promise, and I don't know what people told you was promised to you when you accepted Christ, but if they told you you accept Jesus, everything works, there are no problems. 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:05.199 It isn't, they they lied to you, all right? 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:15.680 And when it comes to following after Christ, the promises he has given us for sure, two that I really lean into, one is Philippians 1 6. 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:18.639 The Apostle Paul says, I'm confident of this very thing. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:23.600 He who began a good work in you will continue to perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:25.279 The promise is yours. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:30.319 He will help you become more and more like Christ until the day you die or leave this planet. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:31.920 That's promise number one. 00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:39.040 The other promise is in Revelation chapter 21, verse 1, the Apostle John said, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:40.959 If you think this world's a mess, it is. 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:42.560 God's plan is a do-over. 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:43.439 All right? 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:48.639 And in verse 4, he says, There's no longer any curse, no crying, no pain. 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:50.079 We are done with that. 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:55.360 Those two promises I hang on to, those are the promises that I'm pursuing. 00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:57.759 I invite, encourage you to pursue. 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:01.279 So as we are, and today I assume I'm preaching to the choir. 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:04.079 Most of us here have accepted Christ as our Savior. 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:06.399 If you haven't, you're gonna want to do that. 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:12.399 But if you're on that faith journey, first thought, you know, adjust your expectations. 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:16.720 There have always been problems with the promise. 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:19.759 Would you say there have always been problems with the promise? 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:21.199 There have always been problems. 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:22.079 Oh come on. 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:23.839 What happened to the group just a minute ago? 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:24.720 Now what? 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:27.279 Come on, there have always been problems with the promise. 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:29.600 There have always been problems with the promise. 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:32.639 Just for fun, turn your neighbor and say, I mean always. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:45.680 Because, see, you've got an adversary who likes to park on your shoulder and whisper words of defeat and discouragement and quit, and there's something wrong with you if you run into problems. 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:51.759 And a great example of that as a founding father of faith, his name is Abram when we meet him. 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:56.399 He is famous throughout the Old Testament as Abraham and in the New Testament as Abraham. 00:06:56.560 --> 00:06:58.800 This is one righteous guy. 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:03.199 And when he first, God first encounters him, we meet him in Genesis. 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:06.720 God says, Abram, I want I want to give you a threefold promise. 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:07.920 I want you to follow me. 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:12.240 I want you to leave your father's territory where he's from, your father's household. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:14.319 And by the way, Dad was filthy rich. 00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:14.800 All right? 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:16.480 I want you to leave all that. 00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:18.000 And I want you to follow me. 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:23.839 I want you to go to, I'm going to give you a land that you can't, that's as far as north, south, east, west you can see. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:26.319 I promised that land to you, the promised land. 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:28.800 I promised to make you a great nation. 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:31.279 And at that time, he's 75 years old. 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:33.439 They have no children. 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:37.519 And through your descendants, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:40.000 Christ comes from the family land of Abraham. 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:44.160 Abraham says, okay, that threefold promise, I will follow you, I will do it. 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:50.639 And he heads out on chasing after, pursuing the problem, the promise that God has for him. 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:52.319 Tell me if you notice the problem. 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:55.040 Let me read for you, Genesis chapter 12, verse 8. 00:07:55.360 --> 00:08:03.920 Then Abraham, Abram proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:08.319 And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:12.000 Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:13.360 Get this. 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:15.519 Now there was a what? 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:18.079 Famine in the land. 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:19.360 What? 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:23.360 I'm going to the promised land. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:26.399 I told Dad, God has spoken to me. 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:28.800 I'm going to leave you and all your stuff. 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:37.840 I'm going to the promised land, and we pack up and we travel to the promised land 100 miles or more, and we get there and there's a famine in the land. 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:41.600 That's not supposed to be in the promised land. 00:08:42.240 --> 00:08:45.039 See, there have always been problems with the promise. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:47.039 Pursue the promise anyway. 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:49.759 Tell your neighbor and say, pursue it anyway. 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:52.799 And I thought about that. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:53.679 How true is that? 00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:54.799 Is it true in my own life? 00:08:54.879 --> 00:09:00.799 And on my way here this morning, I was driving and praying for you in the service, and I just did a trip down memory lane. 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:05.759 I can say a hearty amen in my life that there's always been problems with the promise. 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:11.679 I go back to when I was in my undergrad, I had a double major in management and biblical studies. 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:14.480 Those weren't common back in those days together. 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:17.120 And it took me five years to get that degree. 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:22.879 I was at Evangelic College and I remember it was April, uh, near the end of my first senior year. 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:26.320 And I'm like, God, I have got to know one way or another. 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:29.600 Am I supposed to go into business or ministry? 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:31.360 I've got to know this summer. 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:34.639 And I and I I prayed, I got up, and I'm like, well, now what? 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:36.639 No answer right then. 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:42.720 I found myself uh fast forward on staff at Evangel Temple. 00:09:42.799 --> 00:09:44.879 So you know how that first now what got answered? 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:48.320 I was a staff guy, married my wife, we met there. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:52.399 One of her big dreads of marrying a pastor was I don't want to be moving all over the place. 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:59.039 And sure enough, uh, about a year and a half into it, a friend of mine comes to my office and says, Man, I know a church in Dayton, Ohio looking for somebody just like you. 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:00.320 Give me your resume. 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:02.720 I gave him my resume reluctantly. 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:04.240 I was like, now what? 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:10.720 Fast forward, we're now at Christian Life Center in Dayton, Ohio, a church that we would serve for 41 years. 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:18.480 And we were married six years, seven years, and I was kind of raised, plan your work and work your plan. 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:21.360 And it's all gonna work out. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:27.200 Well, I still like to plan my work and work my plan, but I found out that life always doesn't work out like I planned. 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:30.879 So we get married, and okay, well, in about two years we'll have kids. 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:33.840 Well, in about two years we'll have kids, about two years we'll have. 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:36.320 And we battled infertility. 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:38.799 If you ever battle infertility, we did for almost seven or eight years. 00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:40.000 This is horrific. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:48.399 And we had uh done all the medical interventions we were ethically comfortable with, and no child. 00:10:49.200 --> 00:10:59.200 And I remember trying to comfort my wife who was really trying not to be depressed and just feeling now what fast forward to 1990. 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:02.000 It was the first Tuesday of June. 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:02.960 I'll never forget it. 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:07.200 And the pastor's secretary called me and said, Pastor wants to see you in his office. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:08.240 It was five o'clock. 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:09.200 I was about to go home. 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:19.200 And I walked into the office of a hard-charging leader, and he sat behind his desk, a crumpled, broken man, just came from the police department and confessed a pretty twisted moral failure. 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:25.600 And that Sunday would be his last day, and I thought to myself, now what? 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:35.039 Fast forward that same summer of 1990, and uh, much to my surprise, I ended up being elected lead pastor of that church. 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:37.840 And when I started ministry, I never thought I would be a lead pastor. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:39.360 It wasn't an ambition of mine. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:46.480 I'd served that for 34 years, but but that Sunday night when I went home, I thought to myself, now what? 00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:52.960 Let's fast forward a year into it, a very tumultuous first few years, trying to sort through all the chaos. 00:11:53.120 --> 00:12:00.559 And my wife called me from the pediatrician's office and said, You've got to meet me at Children's Medical Center at the hospital at the surgeon's office. 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:01.360 And she's crying. 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:09.200 And I remember getting to the surgeon's office in the waiting room, holding little Jonathan, and my wife is quietly crying in there, and this voice hit me. 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:10.159 Now what? 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:22.240 And then if you go a little further, I I remember sitting at the Global Leadership Summit, a simulcast with hundreds of thousands of leaders across the country watching it, plus worldwide. 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:30.639 And Bono from U2 was being interviewed, and he said, poverty and AIDS are ravaging the continent of Africa like nothing since the time of Christ. 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:31.840 Where's the church? 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:33.279 This is the early 2000s. 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:38.639 And friends of mine behind me leaned forward and said, if CLC ever goes to Africa, we're in. 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:41.279 And I thought, now what? 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:48.159 Well, we ended up going to Africa, and we thought we'd plant a church and not 45 churches so far on our way to 60. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:52.799 But when we did, I took my family for a Christmas missions trip. 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:56.000 We paid for it ourselves, and we're there over Christmas, about two years in. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:02.960 And my daughter, our daughter got sick while we were there, seemed to recover, and yet on the plane home was so violently ill. 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:14.799 I heard the flight attendant ask if there's a doctor on the plane, and I realized they were doing that for our daughter as she lie almost convulsing in shock on the floor by the flight attendants covered with blankets. 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:19.120 And my wife is a nurse and the doctor trying to force IVs on her to keep her from going into shock. 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:23.120 And I found myself sitting there in the dark of that plane thinking, now what? 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:25.600 Fast forward to COVID. 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:28.000 Every pastor in the country asked, Now what? 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:33.200 And I add to that, my wife came down with a breast cancer in February. 00:13:33.279 --> 00:13:38.960 And by the 4th of July, I didn't preach that weekend because I was next to her bedside in intensive care. 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:41.440 Later the doctor said he thought we were gonna lose her. 00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:43.360 And I sat there thinking, now what? 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:49.679 I find that now what is a common question whether we say it or not. 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:57.039 And I, in prepping this message, anticipated, probably not quite as much as has been this morning. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:00.000 There's a whole lot of now what going on in these seats. 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:10.000 I don't know what your circumstance is, whether it's physical health, emotional, mental, family health, relationships, career, academics, internal. 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:13.679 I don't I don't know what it is, but some of you are at that now what moment. 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:22.799 And uh the nice thing about Abraham is that when he left the promised land, he went to Egypt under God's guidance. 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:27.919 And when he went to Egypt, it was plan B, and God often has plan B for you in your life. 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:33.360 When he went there, he messed up royally when it comes to having integrity and honesty and courage. 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:38.159 Because he gets there and he realizes, whoa, my wife Sarah is really hot. 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:40.960 And the king's gonna want her. 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:44.480 And so he says, Honey, how about if we tell him you're my sister? 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:46.399 Ladies, how would that feel? 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:52.240 All right, he lied, and that often passes those flaws generation to generation. 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:55.759 You read Isaac, he did the same thing, and Jacob was a real deceiver. 00:14:56.559 --> 00:15:04.080 But you know what's nice about that reading about Abraham, this man of faith, his failure, is that God didn't say, You messed up, I'm done with you. 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:07.279 No, you messed up, how about some amazing grace? 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:09.600 Because I still have a path for you to follow. 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:13.279 I still have a promise I want you to achieve, I still want you to follow me. 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:16.879 So you give God a hand for that one. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:29.440 But when you find yourself between a rock and a hard place, would you say, Don't panic? 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:31.360 Say it, say don't panic. 00:15:32.639 --> 00:15:36.000 Don't complain, don't blame. 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:38.799 Turn to your neighbor and say, I mean it. 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:42.320 Let me give you a perfect bad example. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:46.639 A lot of the stuff in the Bible is not there to tell us how we should do it. 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:50.559 It also shows you how they did it when they weren't supposed to do it that way. 00:15:51.039 --> 00:15:52.240 Here's the setting. 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:59.039 The people of Israel, now, hundreds of years after Abraham, have spent four centuries in Egypt as slaves. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:04.879 They cry out for a deliverer, God raises up Moses, he goes to Pharaoh, let my people go. 00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:08.080 And Pharaoh says, No, no, no, the king of Egypt. 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:13.519 And God uses ten miraculous, horrible plagues to pummel Pharaoh into submission. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:15.600 Finally, okay, go get out of here. 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:20.320 They are delivered from slavery, they're traveling to the promised land. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:26.720 And as they get to the promise, they're getting on their way there, they stop at the Red Sea. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:30.960 1.5 million people, scholars estimate. 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:32.879 That's a camping trip, all right? 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:35.440 And all of a sudden they're like, You hear something? 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:36.879 You hear something? 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:43.679 And they look back behind them and they realize this little whatever haze is a cloud of dust. 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:45.440 It is Pharaoh and his army. 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:46.559 They've changed their mind. 00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:52.159 They're coming to get us, and they freak out because there's the sea, there's the army. 00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:53.120 Now what? 00:16:53.679 --> 00:16:57.759 Let me read it for you in Exodus chapter 14, verse 8. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:07.039 Now the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel, as the sons of Israel were going out boldly. 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:18.880 Then the Egyptians chased after them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them, camping by the sea, beside that place, in front of that place. 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:21.680 I'm not gonna fake you, I don't know how to pronounce this place, right? 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:30.160 And Pharaoh, I remember I used to read it, and people go, I'm so impressed you know those names. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:32.160 I don't, I'm just sounding it. 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:40.559 So Pharaoh drew near the sons of Israel, and they looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened. 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:43.519 So the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:51.119 Then they said to Moses, Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you've taken us away to die in the wilderness? 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:52.960 Say, die in the wilderness. 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:54.640 Very important phrase. 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:55.440 We'll come back to it. 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:57.119 Why have you dealt with us in this way? 00:17:57.279 --> 00:17:58.640 Bringing us up out of Egypt. 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:06.079 Is this not the word we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:11.200 It would be better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:15.599 That is not the way to handle your now what. 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:20.240 I said, no panicking, no complaining, no blaming. 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:23.519 Let's look at six lessons from now what. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:27.039 Let's back up. 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:34.960 First lesson I want to pull out is from chapter 13, verse 17, and that is that divine detours happen. 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:43.279 Verse 17, when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near. 00:18:43.599 --> 00:18:48.640 For God said the people might change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt. 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:58.240 If you got a map of the Middle East, all right, here's Egypt, there's Israel, the promised land, going a straight line was right through the territory of the Philistines. 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:05.759 And God knew if they are not warriors yet, and they're not going to be ready for war. 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:07.920 The Philistines were horrible warriors. 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:09.279 They're not going to be ready for that. 00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:12.720 I'm going to detour them around Philistia. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:19.759 Some of you are at places in your life right now, and you're like, oh, this is taking so long. 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:24.559 Anybody else ever noticed that God's will takes longer than my will? 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:27.680 I thought the answer would be here by now. 00:19:27.839 --> 00:19:28.240 All right? 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:30.240 Oh, I didn't think I'd go through all this. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:37.200 It's like when I was coming here, uh GPS told me that there are two lanes closed, but you are still on the fastest route. 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:44.240 Well, God's positioning system, God's GPS, GPS, he doesn't take you on the fastest route. 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:47.119 He takes you on the route he knows is best for you. 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:50.079 And some of you are in detour seasons. 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:56.160 You need to stop claiming and rebuking and binding and not just stop this because God's like, no, no, no, no, no. 00:19:56.240 --> 00:19:58.160 I've got you on this detour. 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:01.440 You're not ready for the path you think you are. 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:02.640 Trust me. 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:12.240 The next thought goes right with that, and that is that worthless wanderings can be good for you. 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:15.119 You go to Exodus chapter 14. 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:21.359 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Tell the sons of Israel, turn back, camp before this place and that place. 00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:24.880 And you'll camp in front of that place, opposite by the sea. 00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:36.880 Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, they're wandering aimlessly in the land, the wilderness has shut them in, and I'll harden Pharaoh's heart, he'll chase after them, and the Egyptians will know that I am God. 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:42.720 Pharaoh had spies, and he hears from the spies, Ha! Idiots, they're by the Red Sea. 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:43.759 They're trapped. 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:45.839 They got wilderness on either side of them. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:48.559 Now we're gonna just swoop in, they will be easy pickets. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:49.440 We've got them. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:50.000 Ha! 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:57.759 And all the while, God didn't say, Moses, I want you to look like you're wandering around in the middle of nowhere. 00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:00.000 No, he had them wandering. 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:00.640 Where do we go? 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:01.200 Where do we go? 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:01.680 Where do we go? 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:03.200 He's like, I got a plan. 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:09.599 Because Pharaoh sees your wandering, and Pharaoh's laughing, thinking that he's gonna go ahead and come back and conquer you. 00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:15.920 And the reality is I'm gonna destroy Pharaoh through what seemed like worthless wandering. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:25.359 And so some of you are in a worthless wandering season and you're wondering where God is, and he's like, I'm right here. 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:27.440 I'm working a plan. 00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:32.079 You don't know what it is, but trust me, because I've got a strategy. 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:39.599 You know, when you woke up this morning, God didn't say to the host of heaven, I don't know what to do for her today. 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:43.440 He is out of luck because I'm out of ideas. 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:48.480 No, he's got a strategy that he's working and developing with your life. 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:51.839 Third lesson would you say this out loud? 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:53.920 What you say matters. 00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:54.720 Say it. 00:21:57.440 --> 00:21:59.599 You get to verse 10 of chapter 14. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:05.039 Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them. 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:06.720 They became very frightened. 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:10.559 So the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord, God help us. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:11.359 That's okay. 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:12.480 It's allowed to be afraid. 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:13.920 You're allowed to cry out to God. 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:15.920 It's a now what moment. 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:18.720 But then what you don't do is the next verse. 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:22.079 Then they said to Moses, Is it because there were no graves in Egypt? 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:22.799 You've taken us. 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:24.160 We're going to die in the wilderness. 00:22:24.319 --> 00:22:26.079 We're going to die in the wilderness. 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:28.799 What you say matters. 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:37.039 Proverbs 18 21 reminds us that life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who eat it will love its fruit. 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:43.839 Think of the most powerful, wonderful, incredible moments of your life. 00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:49.440 Think of the most damaging, devastating, depressing moments of your life. 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:56.799 In both words were said by someone, to someone. 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:02.880 And you either love to remember them or you can't get your you can't forget them though you want to. 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:04.799 Words are powerful. 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:07.119 What you say matters. 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:09.279 Reminds me of the work of Dr. 00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:13.519 Daniel Alman, who's a Christian psychiatrist and brain physiologist. 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:20.160 And he worked with Rick Warren to develop the Daniel fast, obviously, along with a guy named Daniel. 00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:23.279 But he makes a statement. 00:23:23.599 --> 00:23:29.359 He says, here's a sentence you should say first thing in the morning to help set the direction of your day in a positive way. 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:30.160 Are you ready? 00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:31.440 Repeat this after me. 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:33.519 Today is going to be a great day. 00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:42.240 And he says, physiologically, when you say that, it sounds to me a lot like Psalm 118, this is the day the Lord has made. 00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:44.160 I will rejoice and be glad in it. 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:45.119 That's a choice. 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:50.559 He says, what happens physiologically is when you say that, the Bible says, out of the heart, the mouth speaks. 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:56.079 So your soul, your internal is already in sync with, I just said it's going to be a great day. 00:23:56.240 --> 00:24:01.359 And then he says, your subconscious will look for scenes to validate what you said all day long. 00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:02.400 Oh, that's a great day. 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:03.119 That's a great day. 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:03.920 That's a great day. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:04.880 That's a great day. 00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:12.480 And well, I got 10 wake-up statements that I say, and I'm going to try to put them in my blog by tomorrow night if you want to check out my standarp.com. 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:15.519 Sometimes I don't feel like standing today's going to be a great day. 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:19.119 Sometimes, like as far as I can tell, today's not going to be a good day. 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:22.880 But I'm going to remind myself, this is the day the Lord has made. 00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:24.559 I will rejoice and be glad in it. 00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:26.400 So today's going to be a great day. 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:34.480 Another statement that we could say that I try to say daily is nothing is going to happen to me today that God and I can't handle. 00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:38.960 You've already been through every worst day of your life. 00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:45.200 Romans 8 31, Paul asks a rhetorical question. 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:48.000 What then shall we say to these things? 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:51.200 If God is for us, who can be against us? 00:24:51.839 --> 00:25:00.559 It's rhetorical, but I ask you, when you are at a now, with the sea of your life in front of you and Pharaoh closing in, it's bad. 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:02.400 What do you say to those things? 00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:05.279 Oh, we're going to die in the wilderness. 00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:06.960 I'm doomed now. 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:10.960 Because here's the power of your words that the Israelites learned. 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:14.319 What the Israelites learned is, God says, okay, fine. 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:15.759 You want to die in the wilderness? 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:17.359 Die in the wilderness. 00:25:17.839 --> 00:25:26.000 Because looking back on that generation in the wilderness, God said, they became as those who grumble in adversity. 00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:28.880 And he wasn't fond of that. 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:41.200 Because when I, as a follower of Christ, when I believe God and I grumble in adversity, I am basically saying, I don't care what all these songs that I sang about how great you are, how faithful you are, whatever, I'm going to grumble and complain. 00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:45.839 I show my lack of faith and trust in the one that I say I trust. 00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:49.599 And so they became as those who grumble in adversity. 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:52.480 He said, Fine, the power of your words, you want to die in the wilderness? 00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:53.599 Die in the wilderness. 00:25:53.680 --> 00:26:00.559 And that whole generation that was there for 40 years died in the wilderness and never made it to the promised land. 00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:02.400 What do you say? 00:26:03.119 --> 00:26:04.079 Do these things? 00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:06.160 What you say matters. 00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:07.839 Fourth lesson. 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:12.480 Look and imagine what God is working out for you. 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:15.680 You look at verse 13. 00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:19.039 Moses said to the people, Do not fear. 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:24.799 Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today. 00:26:24.960 --> 00:26:30.400 For the Egyptian whom you have seen, today you'll never see them again forever. 00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:31.759 Stand by. 00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:33.680 Watch what God's going to do. 00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:39.759 Verse 14 tells us, the Lord will fight for you while you keep silent. 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:42.880 Friends, sometimes God fights your battle for you. 00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:46.880 I can look back over my life and say, wow, I didn't lift a finger. 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:48.319 God just fought that for me. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:52.400