WEBVTT 00:00:01.760 --> 00:00:05.519 So I'll read read some of that as we go, as we work our way through it. 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:10.000 That helps me kind of organize my thoughts as we go, and I don't think any of you is going to complain. 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:12.560 Man, that guy just read too much Bible, right? 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:14.080 Like I don't know if anybody's ever left. 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:15.359 He just read too much Bible. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:16.079 It was too much. 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:17.440 It was just way too much. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:22.160 And so this chapter 13, verses 17, 18 starts us off. 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:28.800 And what we see is we see that there was this way of the land, and then there was this way of the wilderness. 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:35.280 And the quickest, easiest route out of Egypt to move them toward Canaan was the way of the land. 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:38.399 And the people are going, well, of course this is our way. 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:40.079 Like it's the quickest, easiest route. 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:41.439 This is the way we should take. 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:43.359 This is obviously the way for us. 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:44.320 This is the way for me. 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:45.200 It's the way for us. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:47.679 I mean, the way of the land is the way to go. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:56.719 And then the Lord takes them south near the Red Sea and eventually into the wilderness and through what's known as the way of the wilderness. 00:00:57.679 --> 00:00:59.600 Because he sees what we can't see. 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:16.480 And what they didn't know is that if they went the way of the land, the way they thought should be the way, there was a group called the Philistines, and that battle would have been so severe they would have turned around and they would have headed straight back to Egypt and straight back into slavery. 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:19.519 And so the way of the wilderness was not easy. 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:25.920 But it wasn't the way of the land, which was going to be impossible, and turned them around. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:30.000 And the way of the wilderness is hard, right? 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:32.560 I mean, it's hard. 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:36.400 But it's something we can handle. 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:43.359 And it can be confusing and it can be difficult, but it's still often our way. 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:54.480 Maybe you're here and you know exactly what I'm talking about because at age 20 or 40 or 60 or wherever you're at along the way, you you would say, I mean, I never thought I'd be here. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:57.599 I never thought it would be like this. 00:01:57.840 --> 00:01:59.920 I never thought child rearing would be like this. 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:02.239 I never thought singleness would be like this. 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:05.519 I never thought I would get sick. 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:12.479 We got a phone call Wednesday night that a really good friend of ours died this week. 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:28.240 And thinking about her husband this morning, my friend Tommy, waking up, their five kids, and going, yeah, I never thought we'd be here. 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:36.319 And we know this feeling, and you just go, why are we here? 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:40.319 But we also don't know what that other path would have been. 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:41.840 We don't know that. 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:46.639 And see, for the Israelites, the way of the wilderness, it was difficult. 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:48.560 It was really hard. 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:49.280 Right? 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:50.800 I mean, nobody's saying it's easy. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:53.680 God would never say, oh yeah, that's easy. 00:02:53.840 --> 00:02:58.560 He's just saying the other way would have returned them to slavery. 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:05.039 Sometimes we just can't see that there's Philistines ahead on the path we think we should be taking. 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:10.080 We just prefer to complain and be confused on the path we're on. 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:12.000 And that's just humanity. 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:13.280 That's just us. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:18.960 Unfortunately, God is gracious and listens to us in our limited sight. 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:21.360 We just don't understand the wilderness, right? 00:03:21.439 --> 00:03:22.400 We just don't understand it. 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:24.000 You don't understand what happens to you. 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:26.560 I don't understand it for my friend Tommy this week. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:28.240 I don't understand it for those five kids. 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:29.360 I don't understand this. 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:36.400 I don't know if we ever will, but understanding this story, this Exodus story, it will help. 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:39.039 It actually does help. 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:49.680 I don't know if understanding this story is going to help you understand your story, but I think understanding this story will help while you're in your story. 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:59.360 I mean, Margaret, our friend who died this week, I mean, she was, she was to Christy, she was uh she taught Christy how to grocery shop for her family. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:02.319 I mean, she was like she was a really good mom. 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:10.080 And when we moved to Atlanta, she was one of the moms that Christy met and just connected with. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:13.680 You're going, I don't, I don't know if I'm gonna understand this one. 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:16.959 But but I can understand this story. 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:19.839 And understanding this story does help. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:22.399 It doesn't make it all perfect. 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:43.920 But what I what I get out of this story is that God's doing something beyond what I can see, and I get the fact that even when it's really difficult and it's really hard, like he's still there, that the story's not over, that there is another chapter, that the sun comes up again eventually. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:48.240 Uh I've I've talked about my my love for ways. 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:49.439 I think I've talked about it. 00:04:49.839 --> 00:04:52.480 Y'all hear when I talked about love of ways about a year ago. 00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:54.959 I mean, I love love ways. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:56.720 We call her Wanda, Wanda Ways. 00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:58.639 I don't know if you have a name for the voice that comes out of it. 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:00.480 It's an app, by the way, when you're driving. 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:01.360 Are we familiar? 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:02.240 Are we together? 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:02.720 Okay. 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:10.160 So last week I had a meeting for with our with our architect down at his office in Enman Park, and for the architect for our new church building. 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:13.920 And so Inman Park, late meeting, it was like 3, 3.30. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:20.000 And so, you know, me, my spoiled life of like my 30-second walking commute from my garage to my house. 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:25.519 I'm going like 4:30 in Atlanta, and I got to drive back to Marietta, and I'm like, oh, this is gonna be horrible. 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:42.319 And so I get out of the meeting and I turn a Wanda on, and she takes me through some roads I do know for a while because I used to live down there, and we take Boulevard to Freedom Parkway, and we get on the connector, we get on 75 North, and then she gets takes me off at Cumberland Parkway, and that's where that's our movie theater. 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:46.160 We still go to the movies there, and we cut by and then we cut by the new stadium, the Brave Stadium. 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:47.040 I hadn't been by there before. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:54.959 I'd seen the cranes, but I didn't even know where that was over there, and there, and then I'm on Franklin Road for a little bit, and and she's taking me all over on these back roads. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:59.040 And at some point along the way, I'm thinking to myself, I'm loving this so much. 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:01.839 I would do this if this was longer. 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:04.079 Like, I love this. 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:06.959 This is fun, like this is like enjoyable. 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:10.959 Maybe you're the opposite, like you're the person, like, just put me in a straight line. 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:14.079 Like, I'll put on a podcast, give me a straight line. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:18.800 I don't care if it's 20 miles an hour up the expressway, just straight line, I don't have to think. 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:20.160 But I'm loving it, man. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:24.959 I'm like weaving and cutting, and we're turn making turns, and it's exciting, it's fun, you know. 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:34.879 And I just started to think about it, and I was thinking about this story, of course, and I started to think about like, what if the only factor that Wanda took into play was not just time? 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:38.399 Because as far as I know, the only factor she takes into account is time. 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:42.959 Like how quick you can, but what if she could take it into like our personality? 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:46.720 Like, oh yeah, that guy, he loves curvy roads. 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:49.839 So I'm gonna send him on a few curvy roads on the way home. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:53.600 It might be five minutes longer, but I know him and he loves the curvy roads. 00:06:53.680 --> 00:07:00.800 Or that, you know, oh that guy, he hates curvy roads, or or she's she's not good on curvy roads, let's not do her on curvy roads. 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:04.319 Or he he can't handle the expressway no matter what. 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:08.879 He has so many rear-end accidents, so let's not send him. 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:13.040 Like, what if she could take into account all the aspects of us, right? 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:18.480 What and here's what if she knew what you could handle? 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:21.759 She'd send you all different ways. 00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:25.120 The time wasn't the only factor. 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:28.800 That's what this Exodus story is, is God's considering not just time. 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:31.199 He's not going, oh, the quickest route is the way of the land. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:33.759 You know, and all the way of the wilderness would take a lot longer. 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:40.639 He's he's considering so many different factors of these people, who these people are. 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:43.279 And I love this. 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:50.959 We get into this in Exodus 13, 21 and 22, just in case they had any doubt who was leading them, right? 00:07:51.279 --> 00:08:06.879 And the Lord went before them by day and a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, and they might travel by day and by night, the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people, right? 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:08.560 God's just making sure. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:11.040 Like making sure like this is gonna be hard. 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:23.279 It's the long way around, there's gonna be a lot of suffering, there's gonna be sorrow, you're not gonna like it, and I'm gonna put a cloud and a fire to make sure you know I'm with you. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:27.600 That it's certain so they would know this. 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:35.039 And see, we can be closed off to God in a circumstance, in that moment where you go, How did I get here? 00:08:35.360 --> 00:09:04.639 Like, like in that circumstance, we can be closed off to God, we we can become hardened and we can let the circumstance define us, or we can dare to do a very crazy thing, and that is trust, and the fact that he can see the way of the land and the way of the wilderness, and dare to trust and ask God, how is this place, how is this way, how could this be my teacher? 00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:18.320 And so in that way, it can be an obstacle for love and joy and peace, or or it can be an invitation. 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:27.120 Doesn't mean it's not hard, doesn't mean it's not heart-wrenching, doesn't mean it's not absolutely painful in the waiting. 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:31.440 But maybe there's something in there for you. 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:36.000 Maybe there's some knowledge of God you didn't know about, maybe there's some comfort you you never knew possible. 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:48.480 Maybe you, maybe you just never knew that you could be in a situation and a circumstance that was so horrible and that you can doubt it and be confused and be frustrated and be angry and still be accepted by God. 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:52.080 That and of itself could be revolutionary. 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:55.759 That could be life-changing. 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:02.799 Maybe it's a deeper relationship with your spouse that you would have never had anyway. 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:10.480 Maybe it's the fact that you would have been a lover of so much stuff that just wouldn't have mattered unless you're on the way of the wilderness and it stripped you down. 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:11.120 We don't know. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:12.080 That's what I'm saying. 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:16.480 We don't know what God might do through something. 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:24.559 This story goes on in Exodus 14, and this fickle Pharaoh, this guy, he regrets his decision to let these people go. 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:36.000 And so he comes after them and he mounts his army up and he loads all the chariots, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, I think 600 or so chariots and more, and all the army comes after these Israelites and the Israelites. 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:37.679 They're freaking out. 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:40.799 They're complaining, they're afraid. 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:42.240 They're afraid. 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:47.840 And they're just saying to Moses, you should have left us alone. 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:52.879 Like we were making bricks and it was horrible, but you know what? 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:54.480 We're gonna die out here. 00:10:54.639 --> 00:10:57.120 Like they're gonna slay us out here. 00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:08.000 And the fact that they're having this conversation, that they want to return to an old life that was so horrible, it sort of reveals something. 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:14.960 Because if you remember many sermons ago at the beginning of Exodus, at the very first sermon, we talked about their lives in Egypt. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:16.000 What they were doing. 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:21.200 They were making bricks all day, every day in the hot sun, and when they didn't meet their quota, they got beat. 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:22.960 This is what they did. 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:28.960 It's what they did on Monday, it's what they did on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, it's what they did all week, it's what they did every day. 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:32.720 We can comprehend this for an hour, making bricks in the hot sun. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:35.039 If you don't live up to your quota, you're gonna get beat. 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:36.559 We can comprehend it for a little bit. 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:44.639 Comprehending it for a week becomes a little more difficult, a month, very hard, a year, decades, your entire life. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:49.120 And they're saying, we want to go back to that. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:56.480 That feeling like this will never get any better. 00:11:56.639 --> 00:12:02.080 Yeah, I want to go back to that rather than be afraid out here. 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:13.200 And then we get chapter 14, verses 13 and 14, and I just love these two verses. 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:20.799 And Moses said to the people, fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work. 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:22.720 He will work for you today. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:24.240 Love that, that he's gonna do it. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:28.799 For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:35.200 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:36.799 So two points. 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:38.399 I have two points coming out of those two forces. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:39.120 Two points. 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:42.879 Uh the first is the battle is the Lord's. 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:46.240 And number two is that He is with us in the battle. 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:48.240 So, number one, the battle is the Lord's. 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:49.360 So be silent. 00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:53.759 Another word maybe in your version of your Bible, your translation might say still. 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:55.679 Be still. 00:12:57.120 --> 00:12:58.639 What does this mean? 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:02.399 Well, it means you don't have to work to justify yourself. 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:06.000 It means that you don't have to work to free yourself. 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:13.039 To overcome that sin debt to God, that guilt, that condemnation, that feeling of inadequacy, all that. 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:15.519 You don't have to work to overcome that. 00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:22.960 Be still, and you can be still because Jesus was not still, because he did work for you. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:25.440 That's what the cross is about. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:27.039 It's the work we could not do. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:34.320 It's the payment we'll never be able to pay, no amount of religious activity, spiritual disciplines, worldly achievement. 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:42.639 There is no amount you could accumulate to work yourself out of a debt with God, to make yourself feel relieved of your sin or feel valued as a person. 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:49.039 And so God's saying, hey, no, no, no, just stop all that guilt-driven motivations, like stop all of that. 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:53.759 Be silent, be still. 00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:56.080 Receive it. 00:13:56.799 --> 00:13:58.879 The battle's the Lord's. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:02.240 Second point is he is with us in the battle. 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:06.799 And I just, you know, I added this one just because the fact that the battle's the Lord's is almost so cliche. 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:07.679 Like we've just heard it. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:09.679 If you've been around church, you've heard it so many times. 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:12.960 And I just wanted a second point just to remind us that he's with us. 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:15.600 It's pretty much the same point. 00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:20.080 But just for us to remember, he will never let you go. 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:28.960 If you're his child, you have given up faith in yourself to put faith in what Christ has done for you, to have the right relationship with God. 00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:30.639 You are forever his. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:35.360 Two different times. 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:37.600 Love never fails, he'll never let you go. 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:40.000 Like that's why we're singing about it. 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:45.679 So I was this week trying to think this through. 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:47.440 You know, I love drawings. 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:55.440 Came up with one of my just wonderful drawings here, and actually just straight out of the maps, out of the back of my Bible, to be honest. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:15:01.279 Um, and so what we have here is we have lovely Egypt, Sinai, Canaan. 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:05.919 And so let's get our bearings a little bit around this story, is just all I wanted to do. 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:12.000 So uh, do you remember like at the beginning of Exodus story, Moses kills the guy and he flees? 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:16.720 So this Moses would have been here and he would have fled and he would have gone all the way down to Midian, remember? 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:22.720 And he hangs out down here for a long time as a shepherd, and he's watching another guy's sheep, and then he comes back and he frees the people. 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:27.519 Now, this is what would have like the people, when they got free, they thought they were going the way of the land. 00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:33.840 It would have been up here, it would have been the easiest way, it would have been the quickest way, like this is the obvious way up to their land. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:35.200 Right? 00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:37.200 And that's not what happened. 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:48.240 Instead, they come down this way, they're led this way, they're boxed in at the Red Sea, their backs are against the wall. 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:54.559 And they're saying, down here, they're saying, Moses, just why didn't you leave us alone? 00:15:55.440 --> 00:15:57.919 Like, just why can't we go back here? 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:04.399 And remember, they're just making bricks, this is all they're doing, their whole lives, making brick after brick after brick over brick. 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:06.879 And they're saying, I want to go back to that. 00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:17.279 And what we see just by them making that comment, what we see is they need a lot more than a deliverance, a physical deliverance. 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:25.120 Because they're not just making bricks, they're not just having enslavement physically. 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:38.639 Like the fact that they're so afraid they want to return to a physical enslavement shows you that they have an enslavement inside of themselves and they need deliverance, not just from a land, but they need deliverance from an inside. 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:42.480 They need an internal deliverance of their heart. 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:48.399 And what we see is they need an exodus after their exodus. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:54.639 That's what verse 13 and 14 tell us. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:17:06.559 See, it tells us that fighting your fear with your work, your just your self-justifying methods, fighting your fear with your work will only create more fear. 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:21.359 But stopping all of it, being still, being still in your imperfection, and yet being completely perfect in Christ's work for you, there you have victory. 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:23.839 There you can have peace. 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:34.240 So the story goes on in chapter 14, as the people are down there, they're boxed into the Red Sea, and the Lord says to Moses, you know, tell the people to go forward, they're trapped in. 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:40.160 And Moses lifts up his staff, stretched out his hand, and the sea splits, and the people go into it. 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:52.240 We jump back into the story in Exodus 14, verse 17, and I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts, his chariots and his horsemen. 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:55.039 So God's very clearly doing something here. 00:17:55.279 --> 00:18:02.400 And it's for his glory for him to be known, not just in Israel, but in all tribes, all languages. 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:04.400 And the Egyptians shall know. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:12.319 See, they shall know, the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, whom I have gotten glory over Pharaoh and his chariots and his horsemen. 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:14.240 See, this is important to God. 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:16.480 That he's not a tribal God. 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:18.000 We keep seeing this over and over again. 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:21.200 I've mentioned the last three or four weeks, he's not a tribal God. 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:29.519 He's a God for any person, no matter what they look like, or where they come from, or what they've done, or what language they speak. 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:33.680 The God we serve, he's not an American God, not a Republican God. 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:36.720 He is a God of any tribe. 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:45.920 And the text says Moses stretched out his hand, and the Lord drives the sea back by a large wind. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:50.079 The Israelites cross through on dry land, and the Egyptians pursue them. 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:52.000 And what is all of this for? 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:54.400 This story that gets a little crazy, right? 00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:58.319 Because the Egyptians go in, their cherries get stuck, the water comes back, they die. 00:18:58.480 --> 00:18:59.440 It's quite brutal. 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:01.119 What is all this for? 00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:02.880 Verse 31. 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:06.160 Israel saw, Israel saw, they needed to see it. 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:10.960 These people saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians. 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:17.440 So the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in servant Moses. 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:25.519 See, these people, the Israelites, God's people, they they walked out of the Red Sea with a new identity. 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:36.640 That enemy, that enemy, the Egyptians, had so much power over them for so long, that enemy no longer had that power. 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:41.519 Here's what the story means: it means that voice. 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:51.599 That voice of condemnation, that voice of oppression, that voice that keeps on you, that you aren't ever quite enough. 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:56.480 You know, make another brick, make another brick, make another brick. 00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:03.200 You know, another person's approval, you know, one dress size down, one more, one more, one more. 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:06.000 One more moment of escape. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:07.279 Oh, that one wasn't enough. 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:09.680 Let's get another moment of escape. 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:16.559 That voice no longer has defining power over you. 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:18.720 We'll still hear it. 00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:22.000 You still hear it, I still hear it, we'll still hear it the rest of our lives. 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:24.880 It has, it just, that voice is drowned. 00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:29.359 It does not have defining power over you. 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:32.720 We don't have to be slaves to fear anymore. 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:34.160 You will get afraid. 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:35.440 I will get afraid. 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:37.039 That's what's going on with the Israelites. 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:37.519 They're afraid. 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:39.200 That's why they want to return back to it. 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:41.759 Enslavement, they're afraid. 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:47.359 But that fear should not have defining power over us. 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:51.200 Now, that fear, you know what fear should do? 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:53.440 Fear should tell you not to touch the fire. 00:20:53.920 --> 00:20:56.960 It should tell you, don't walk out on I-75. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:20:58.799 It should tell you these things. 00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:00.799 And you should say, Thank you, fear. 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:01.680 I appreciate that. 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:02.720 I will listen to you. 00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:13.519 But when fear says to you something about your worth or your acceptance or about your position before God, that's when you say, fear, it's not your area. 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:15.279 Not your area. 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:18.079 We can stick with like physical harm. 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:25.680 Like that's where I'm gonna allow you to speak to me, but I'm not gonna allow for you to speak into my worth or my position before God. 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:27.599 That's not an area that you have a voice. 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:31.119 You have no defining voice there. 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:44.799 That's the freedom of living and the fruit of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit that lives in you as a child of God is speaking over you the story of Jesus, that Jesus' death and resurrection is your work. 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:46.559 It's your work. 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:52.000 So you can be still, you can be silent, you can be at peace. 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:58.559 And that work can transform those fears because you're already accepted. 00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:00.960 It's already done. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:05.759 So, brothers and sisters, may you be okay in the way of the wilderness. 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:08.640 May you know his guidance and nearness. 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:24.240 May you trust and know freedom rather than seek control and be bound in fear, and may you know the riches of Christ's love and have exodus after exodus after exodus, not just physically, but internally in your heart. 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:25.839 Let's pray together. 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:51.759 God thank you that you will put up with all of our doubts, our confusion, our limited sight when we so when we're so confident the way of the land is the way to go, and you, you know. 00:22:52.960 --> 00:23:02.720 That the way of the wilderness, though it be filled with sorrow, the other way would be filled with sorrow, and even worse. 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:09.599 May we dare to trust in you while we can't see all things, humble us. 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:35.839 May we dare to take our fear and let you drown it in your work for us on the cross, that we might not let it drive us to self-justifying work and methods and escape, but that we might know freedom. 00:23:36.400 --> 00:23:44.160 The freedom that's known in the work of Jesus on the cross, your sufficient work for us. 00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:52.960 Would you help us on a day to day basis as your Holy Spirit is speaking into our hearts and minds, your story and your work? 00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:57.440 Help us to appropriate your grace into our lives. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:23:59.359 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:00.319 Amen.