WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.919 Alright, if you have your Bibles, you can go ahead and open them up to Exodus. 00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:05.839 That's what everybody wants to hear. 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:07.120 No, just kidding. 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:11.039 Exodus chapter one is where we're going to start out. 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:14.640 We are starting a new sermon series that's going to be the next seven weeks. 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:16.320 It's called Experiencing God. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:19.920 And really what we're looking at is the seven realities of experiencing God. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:34.320 And so the book that we're all studying as a church, if you signed up, is going to be this book, which has a bookmark in the back that has the seven realities of exploring God, which that was in a certain spot, but that's okay. 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:36.479 It has that bookmark for you. 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:41.759 And it's going to be great for you to recognize those seven realities of experiencing God. 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:48.240 As we look at this together, there's also a couple other books that you should know about. 00:00:48.399 --> 00:00:54.159 One is their large book that has all the things of experiencing God in here. 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:55.359 It's great. 00:00:56.159 --> 00:01:03.359 It has a lot of the same material as what this book has, but if you're more of like a straight book person or an audiobook person, this one's great. 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:10.480 And then there's also the Seven Realities for Experiencing God, which was the book that our uh we took a small group through in the spring. 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:13.280 Uh, and we really, really like this book as well. 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:19.439 Uh, this is basically breaking down those seven realities for experiencing God, and that's what we're gonna be looking at over the next seven weeks, sir. 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:20.959 What are these seven realities? 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:41.200 And the idea with this sermon series is that uh God has this pattern with which he spoke to people uh throughout Scripture that we can see and we can see this pattern in Scripture of Here's how uh God has spoken to his people in the past, and we can look at that and say, This is how God spoke to his people in the past. 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:45.519 It's the same God, he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:47.840 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:50.560 God is going to work in similar ways in our lives. 00:01:50.640 --> 00:02:01.359 So if we want to discern what is the will of God for our lives, or if we want to discern what is the will of God, period, uh, looking at how he's spoken throughout scripture will help us with that. 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:14.960 And so the hope in the prayer is that we would grow in our ability to experience God, to know him, to love him, to live for him, to tell more people about him as we study how he has always spoken to his people. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:24.400 And uh as you look at this book, uh they they don't say we've cracked the code, this is some secret code uh that not everybody can see, but we've just unveiled it. 00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:29.360 No, they say this is just a pattern that we see repeated in scripture, and we want to just make it plain. 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:39.120 Uh a good book doesn't necessarily teach you something new, it kind of gives you words to that thing that you kind of understood, but you couldn't quite understand enough to explain to somebody else. 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:48.639 And so uh what this does is it gives us the ability to talk about how we can experience God, how we can recognize when he's working around us, because he is always at work. 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:54.960 Uh we know that he's at work in Taylor, we know that he's at work in Greater Austin in this church planting movement that we were just talking about. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:58.719 We know that he's at work when we see uh people profess Jesus. 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:06.240 We know that he's at work when we see people uh break the bondage, the slavery to sin that they've been experiencing time and time again. 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:11.599 We see the captives set free, we see people trust Jesus alone for their salvation. 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:14.400 We see people grow in who they're called to be. 00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:19.520 And experiencing God gives us this helpful framework for us to discern the will of God. 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:27.439 Um obviously, and what I love about this this book is that it says, we are not the authority, Scripture is the authority, right? 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:28.639 God is the authority. 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:33.280 Let's go to his word to recognize uh we want you to test everything. 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:36.639 We want you to look at God's word, and that will be the guide. 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:46.479 And so, as we look at this, uh one of the key verses is in this uh opening section is John 12, 26, where Jesus says, If anyone serves me, he must follow me. 00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:49.039 And where I am, there will my servant be also. 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:52.000 If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. 00:03:52.479 --> 00:04:00.000 Experiencing God will help us to learn the ways uh to recognize God's activity around us and then join him there in his work. 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:04.400 So we need to find out where the master is, and that's where we want to be. 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:06.159 We want to be where he's working. 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:15.199 It's not a step-by-step approach like uh here's the formula I plug and play, and then I work that out, and then I'm just gonna follow it as a formula. 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:20.800 No, it's hey, there's a love relationship with our God that we need to cultivate, that we need to grow in. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:25.439 It's not uh, let me just work really hard and then be accepted by God. 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:27.120 No, you're already accepted by God. 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:30.160 You're already loved by God by grace through faith. 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:48.160 If you trusted Jesus, who's already lived the perfect life that you could never live, who already died the death on the cross that we deserve, who rose from the dead, who gives us his righteousness freely, fully, forever, you're not going to be any more loved by God based on you performing really well. 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:50.959 And that's contrary to the way that the world works. 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:55.360 That's contrary to what many of us have seen in our lives growing up. 00:04:55.519 --> 00:05:01.439 That's contrary to what many of us have seen and experienced in the real world around us day to day. 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:06.079 And it's gonna help us to say, God, you're on the throne. 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:25.600 How do I move to you being the center of my life and living a God-centered life rather than a James-centered life, a man-centered life, where I say, you're on the throne, I'm gonna live for you, you're gonna lead my life, rather than uh, I just do whatever I want to do, and then I pray, God, would you bless that thing that I didn't consult you about until now? 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:31.120 How do we shift to God being on the throne, uh, living God-centered lives? 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:39.680 And a big difference for us is we're gonna see as we look at these seven realities, and we've got a slide that shows a picture of those seven realities. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:47.360 So God is always at work around you, God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal. 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:50.240 He invites you to become involved with him in his work. 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:58.480 He speaks to us through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal himself, his purposes, and his ways. 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:05.360 After he invites you into that work, that always leads to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:09.839 You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what he's doing. 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:14.720 You come to know God by experience as you obey him and he accomplishes his work through you. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:26.000 So if you're like, I need to see that in a picture, well, if you open your orange book, it's gonna be the very back book, the very back section there, it's gonna have this picture, uh, which then has the explanations underneath it. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:31.759 So this is gonna be a great way for you to recognize these are the patterns that we're looking for. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:36.959 And this isn't like the Black Abbeys and Claude King came up with this stuff. 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:41.040 Uh it's they looked at scripture and said, what is the pattern we see? 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:43.439 God speaking to people throughout scripture. 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:54.959 And over the next seven weeks, what we'll do is we'll take one of these realities and then we'll unpack what that means and we'll hopefully put it together so that we can recognize God is at work around us. 00:06:55.199 --> 00:07:00.240 Uh the way that the seven realities kind of walks through this is it looks at the life of Moses. 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:15.759 And when we did kind of an introduction week, we looked at the life of Moses to say, this is how God spoke to Moses, that he was always at work around Moses, and then uh taking it and looking at Moses' life and throughout Moses' life, how this was the pattern. 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:23.279 But it's not just the pattern with Moses, it's also a pattern that we'll see with other uh people in Scripture, and so we're gonna look at that and look into that together. 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:29.360 But before we get there, we need to kind of talk about a prerequisite uh of what does it mean to experience God? 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:34.720 Because if we're gonna experience God together, we have to first have a relationship with Jesus. 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:36.160 And so what does that mean? 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:51.439 Uh none of this will make any sense if you haven't trusted Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, which means uh if you haven't recognized that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, like I have a sin problem, I have an issue where my sin separates me from a holy and perfect God. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:08:01.360 If we haven't recognized that the wages of sin is death, what we deserve because of our sin is death, eternal separation from God, then we this won't make any sense. 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:04.240 But eternal life is a free gift from God. 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:13.519 Romans 5.8, because of his great love with us, love for us, God demonstrates his own love for us in this that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:20.879 So even though we were his enemies, Jesus made a way for even his enemies to be brought near by his blood. 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:30.000 Then Romans 10 9 and 10 says, Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:35.679 For with a heart one believes and is justified, and with a mouth one confesses and is saved. 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:40.480 And then Romans 10 13, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:44.399 First, if we're going to experience this, we need the Holy Spirit to be our teacher. 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:50.399 We need the Holy Spirit to guide us, to lead us, and we can't have the Holy Spirit if we haven't trusted in Jesus alone for our salvation. 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:51.279 Amen. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:57.279 If you have any questions about that, we'd love to talk with you more about what it means to trust and follow Jesus. 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:10.000 Uh, if you've been here for any time, you've heard the gospel presented uh like this or similarly many weeks, and so our hope is that you would take steps towards understanding that, take steps towards trusting Jesus alone for your salvation. 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:15.919 Uh there are seven other key assumptions that uh they give as they kind of are walking us through this framework. 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:22.480 Before we can jump into those seven realities of experiencing God, we need to understand these uh other key assumptions. 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:25.120 One, the Bible is your guide for faith and practice. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:33.360 So I was just saying this a second ago that uh it's not the Blackabes crack the code, let's all go and worship the Blackbees. 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:43.039 No, the Blackabbees say go to the Bible, search, test, look at scripture, test everything that you read, everything that you hear. 00:09:43.279 --> 00:10:00.639 Because especially in our day and age, like everybody can have a podcast, everybody can have really good cameras and really good lighting and really good sound, and all of a sudden these people that have no business giving anybody any advice are giving advice that seems really sage and really wise and really amazing. 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:04.240 Well, we need to test God's word. 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:07.919 We need to test it and say, Spirit, will you guide me into truth? 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:09.519 Your word is truth. 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:11.919 The Bible is God's word to you. 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:13.919 The Bible is your source of authority. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:18.000 As you listen, you need to identify where God is at work. 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:22.799 Every time you sense God working in a certain area, it always has to line up with Scripture. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:25.440 God never works in a way that's contrary to his word. 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:36.159 So one of the one of my uh challenges to all of us as we go through this experiencing God material is don't try to use this as some sort of weird way to justify doing whatever you want. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:37.039 That's backwards. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:40.399 It's actually the opposite of what we're hoping that everybody would experience here. 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:44.639 We want to actually say, we're gonna become more and more like Jesus. 00:10:44.799 --> 00:11:02.879 We're gonna grow more and more into Christ who is the head because we recognize that we're made for more, as we look at his word, as we trust him, as we lean into the Holy Spirit being our personal teacher, that he's the one who guides us to hear the voice of God through the word and to apply it to our lives. 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:05.759 Number two, that Jesus is your way. 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:08.320 Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:10.159 No one comes to the Father except through him. 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:11.759 He should be guiding us. 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:22.960 Uh, in the book, it talked about uh a guy, uh one of the Blackabies was going to a farm and he took some farmer directions that were like, turn right at the red barn, and then you'll see a stump in the road. 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:24.559 Uh go the left on that part. 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:31.360 And then he could go that one way following his written instruction map, but he couldn't go on his own. 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:38.159 But later, when the farmer went with him to that property, he could just listen to the instruction that the farmer gave him. 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:44.720 And in the same way, sometimes when we want to follow Jesus, we want all of the questions answered right away. 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:46.559 We say, Lord, what do you want me to do? 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:47.759 When do you want me to do it? 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:48.639 How should I do it? 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:49.679 Where will I do it? 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:51.759 Who do you want me to involve in doing it? 00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:53.919 And uh, can you tell me how it's gonna go? 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:56.000 Is it gonna go well for me or is it gonna go poorly? 00:11:56.080 --> 00:11:57.519 We want all the answers up front. 00:11:57.679 --> 00:12:01.279 And the truth is you can't handle all the answers up front. 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:06.879 God gives us enough for today, and he wants us to worry about just today, not tomorrow. 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:08.320 He says, do not worry about tomorrow. 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:10.480 Tomorrow has enough trouble for itself. 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:13.200 Trust Jesus each step along the way. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:21.919 Even when you don't know how well it's gonna go, even when it's really more difficult than you thought it would be, will you trust him along the way? 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:27.039 And rather, maybe we would say, Lord, just tell me what to do one step at a time and I'll do it. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:28.080 I'll listen to you. 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:33.279 That's kind of a lot what it looked like when we were planting Taylor Bible Church of we don't have all the answers. 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:41.519 We don't have like even now in the building stuff, we don't know exactly how everything will look as we move over into a new space that we have all this access to. 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:43.759 But Lord, would you guide us today? 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:46.559 Would you guide us to where you want us to be today? 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:50.159 And can we just be faithful with what you have for us today? 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:59.759 Uh one of my friends and mentors would say, uh, just pray and ask Jesus, will you help me be obedient to what you place me before me today, Jesus? 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:03.039 Jesus, would you help me be obedient for what you have for me today? 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:16.960 Because if we look beyond today, we tend to get angst, we tend to get uh kind of stressed, and we we our wheels start turning, we're not going anywhere because we get really stressed about things that aren't meant to be worried about that day. 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:18.720 Jesus said, I'm the way. 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:29.279 He wants us to learn to hear him speak, he wants us to know where he's working and become involved there, rather than saying, I'm gonna do what I want, and then let me invite Jesus into it later. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:29.679 No. 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:31.279 Jesus, where are you already working? 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:32.879 How can I join you there? 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:39.679 Three, to be a servant of God, you must be moldable and remain in the hand of the master. 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:48.399 If we're gonna be servants of God, it's the imagery that we're looking at here isn't just like a servant that gets to do whatever you want. 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:52.000 No, it's like you are the clay and God is the potter. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:54.399 And we remain in his hand. 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:59.360 If we're gonna be useful to him, uh, that means we might have thought that we were made for one thing. 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:05.360 He can mush us down, reshape us into something completely different, and use us for those purposes. 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:10.240 And my usefulness will be only as much as I'm in his hand. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:16.240 Only as much as I'm submitted to the Father, and I'm saying, use me where you would like to use me, Lord. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:18.159 Use me where you want me to go. 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:19.840 Send me where you want me to go. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:21.919 I'm remaining connected to you. 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:29.600 The clay has to be molded, it has to be responsive to the potter so it can make, he can make it into his instrument of his choosing. 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:32.000 And then the clay has to remain in the potter's hand. 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:36.879 When the potter is finished making the instrument, it has no ability to do what it wants. 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:40.240 It must remain in the potter's hand to be effective. 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:49.360 Suppose the potter molds the clay into a cup, the cup has to remain in the potter's hand, so he can use the cup to fulfill his purpose, to fulfill its purpose. 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:52.720 Jesus said in John 15, I am the vine, you are the branches. 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:56.639 Whoever abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. 00:14:56.720 --> 00:14:59.360 For apart from me, you can do nothing. 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:04.559 If we want to do anything useful for God, we have to be submitted to what he has for us. 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:08.559 If we want to do anything on our own, what can we do on our own according to that verse? 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:09.519 Nothing. 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:12.080 When we're working with God, though, what can we do? 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:13.840 Anything that God can do. 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:19.600 We have unlimited potential as long as we're in the master's hands, as long as we're connected to him. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:21.759 Servants do what they're instructed to do. 00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:24.720 They acknowledge it's ultimately God doing the work. 00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:28.639 The servant is always under construction, being molded by the master. 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:34.879 A servant remains tuned into the master on a daily basis, so God can use him or her any way he chooses. 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:41.360 Since God made the servant, God knows how to use that servant best. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:44.879 Number four, to know God you must experience him. 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:51.279 In John 17, 3, we got another set of these to know God, you must experience him. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:59.840 In John 17, 3, Jesus says, This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent, Jesus Christ. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:04.639 In order to have eternal life, we must know God and Jesus Christ, whom God sent. 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:08.879 Knowing God doesn't happen through a program, it doesn't happen through a method. 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:12.960 Knowing God happens through having a relationship with God. 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:17.919 We know the Father, we know the Son, we know his Spirit who lives in us. 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:25.039 It happens when we have a relationship, an intimate love relationship with God, to where he speaks to us. 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:33.840 And as he shares what is on his heart, that becomes our concerns, our passions, our desires become to live lives pleasing to him. 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:39.679 As we study this, uh it helps us to move into that kind of intimate relationship with God. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.159 Jesus said in John 10, 10, I've come that you may have life and have it abundantly. 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:45.600 Do you want abundant life? 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:50.960 You want life that leads to this deep sense of fulfillment of like, this is what you were made for. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:53.039 This is what God has made you for. 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:55.759 He's made you for more than what you've been doing. 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:00.720 He came that we might have abundant life according to his ways. 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:06.400 Number five, God is love and his will is always best. 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:14.960 Like when we don't submit to what God wants for us, it's ultimately because we're probably believing that we know better than God. 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:17.839 Because we're not believing that God is love. 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:19.839 We say, I can do this better. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:27.599 Let me play God for a minute, let me climb my little way onto the throne and direct my own life, and then it's all becomes chaos, and we're like, what happened? 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:28.240 I don't know. 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:31.440 But you stopped doing it God's way and you started doing it your way. 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:34.880 God is love and his way is always best. 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:43.200 In Psalm 37, 23, and 24 it says, The steps of a man are established by the Lord when he delights in his way. 00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:48.640 Though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:51.519 Even when we fall, God holds us up. 00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:53.839 Somehow we remain with him. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:57.440 Psalm 139, O Lord, you have searched me and known me. 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:01.519 You know when I sit down, when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar. 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:06.160 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all of my ways. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:10.400 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:15.680 You hem me in behind and before me, and you're you lay your hand upon me. 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:19.920 There's this picture of this intimacy with God holding us up. 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:23.839 With like you cannot escape the love of God. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:26.000 You can't run far enough from him. 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:32.720 He knows your way, he knows your tendency, he knows all of those weird idiosyncrasies that make you uniquely you. 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:36.559 He knows them, he's acquainted with them, and he's still called you to himself. 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:39.759 He loves you. 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:47.680 Even like the weird awkwardness that makes you you and makes you go, like, ah, that's my least favorite part of me. 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:49.920 He's like, no, that's that's my boy. 00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:51.440 That's my girl. 00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:01.279 We must remember that God desires to build our character and to make us more like Jesus. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:08.319 That everything in our lives happens because God loves us and wants to use each situation to mold us in his image. 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:10.400 Even the hardest things we go through. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:13.759 He doesn't make a mistake. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:17.680 He can't make a mistake because, number six, he's all-knowing. 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:20.480 His directions are always right. 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:31.599 God knows everything, he understands things we could never understand, he sees things we could never see, and God always directs our steps in the right way because of his all-knowing nature. 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:35.119 He's not just all-knowing, he's also all-powerful. 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:38.799 And he can enable even you to do his will. 00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:48.480 So when we come to believe that God's will is always best, when we come to believe that God's will is always right, he demonstrates his power and he can enable us to do his will. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:55.839 Philippians 2 13 says it this way it is God who is working in you, both to will and to work according to his good purpose. 00:19:56.079 --> 00:20:01.599 We need to recognize that what God has worked in us is his will for us. 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:04.880 It is something different for each of us, but it is perfect. 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:07.920 God is love and his will is always best. 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:11.839 God has been in the process of molding us for his use. 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:24.240 And so with these assumptions, which I know that's a lot for us to process together, but with these seven assumptions, now we can look at the first reality and we can dig into God is always at work around you. 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:31.920 And so it's easy for us to join God in the work that he's doing because God is always at work around you. 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:41.279 Uh we see, we're gonna look at the life of Moses a bit today, and we see that Moses was a hero in the Old Testament, not because Moses was awesome, but because God is awesome. 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:50.960 Moses experienced God, and God allowed him, he allowed the Israelites to escape from the captivity with treasure from Egypt. 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:56.799 God would use Moses to be the deliverer and the lawgiver. 00:20:57.279 --> 00:21:08.319 And then the people in the Old Testament, the uh all of the Jews would look back to this moment of God delivering them at this Red Sea moment at just the right moment. 00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:24.000 And that would be uh the like the Old Testament highlight, where they would always point back and say, Remember when God delivered us from that Red Sea moment where all the army and all the troops were rushing in on us, and at just the right moment, he split the sea so we could walk right through it. 00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:34.400 He split the sea so we could walk through on dry land, and then the water would crush in, cave cave in and crush the Egyptian army. 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:42.720 They would continually look back and remember God's faithfulness there and say, if he did it then, let's cry out for him to do it again. 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:48.319 Let's cry out again for him to rescue us from this unthinkably ridiculously hard situation. 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:59.759 And just before Moses came on its scene, like four hundred years before, you remember that Joseph had uh saved his brothers who had betrayed him, that uh he had saved a whole slew of people. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.400 Through this wisdom that God had given him. 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:08.400 This wisdom that there were great seasons of plenty, and then there were going to be years and years of drought. 00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:14.880 And so he needed to set aside in the storehouses crops so that they could survive through the seasons of drought. 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:18.640 And so Joseph rescued God's people through that. 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:21.839 And then he also rescued many Egyptians through that. 00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:28.400 But then what happened that there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph? 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:30.240 Exodus 1, verse 8. 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:32.079 We've got a slide for it. 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:37.920 And he said to his people, Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:45.599 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape the land. 00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:47.920 God was at work before Moses. 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:52.319 He was at work delivering God's people through Joseph. 00:22:52.559 --> 00:23:01.039 He was at work multiplying the Israelites so that they became a threat to Egypt, where they said, let's make them slaves. 00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:03.440 Let's make them have it miserable here. 00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:15.519 And then they didn't just start to deal shrewdly with them, but they also started to uh try to uh take out all of the males that were born because they were afraid of being overtaken by the Israelites. 00:23:15.759 --> 00:23:17.519 So God was at work before Moses. 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:18.799 How was he at work? 00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:26.319 Uh He multiplied them in Egypt at such a rapid rate that Pharaoh thought he needed to stop it. 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:32.640 And so he ordered the midwives to try to kill uh the firstborn or all of the male babies. 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:37.680 He wanted to kill a generation, but then the midwives they say, we're not going to do evil. 00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:49.759 They had this idea of the sanctity of life where they said, We're going to protect unborn children, we're going to protect uh babies that are born, we're going to protect uh these lives because we see them as precious. 00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:52.799 They didn't want to kill these babies. 00:23:53.039 --> 00:24:11.680 So we see also that God was at work before Moses was born in verse 15, where it says, Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shifrah, the other Puah, When you serve as a midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live. 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:18.640 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but they let the male children live. 00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:28.000 God was at working, he was at work before Moses was born, through these midwives, who feared God rather than the king who could kill them. 00:24:28.240 --> 00:24:31.680 They said, We're not going to do evil just because our king tells us to. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:40.079 Pharaoh realizes he's going to have to send in soldiers to actually enforce this if he wants it to happen, but we see that God was at work before Moses was born. 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:44.400 God was at work when Moses was born, in Moses' birth. 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:46.640 Exodus 2, verse 1. 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:51.200 A man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. 00:24:51.359 --> 00:24:53.039 The woman conceived and bore a son. 00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:57.599 And when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him there three months. 00:24:57.839 --> 00:25:04.880 When she could no longer hide him there, she took for him a basket of bull rushes and dowbbed it with bitumen and pitch. 00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:08.799 He put the child and placed it along the reeds in the riverbank. 00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:22.720 God was at work in Moses' birth, where they had a plan, let's put the baby in the basket, send it down the river, and then Miriam, his sister, goes running down, following the basket just to see how it will go. 00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:27.920 And then who pulls the child out of the water but Pharaoh's daughter herself. 00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:31.599 She shows up, she hears the baby crying, she has compassion. 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:35.039 She decides to adopt this baby and she names him Moses. 00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:37.839 God was at work in Moses' adoption. 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:41.599 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:42.640 Verse 10. 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:47.279 And he became her son. 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:51.519 She named him Moses because she said, I drew him out of the water. 00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:55.039 Like I love that Miriam came and she said, Hey, do you need a midwife? 00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:57.599 I think I know a lady who gave birth recently. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:25:59.680 I'll bring the baby to her. 00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:06.319 And so Moses' mom gets to raise him a little longer, and then when he grows older, she brings her back to Pharaoh's daughter. 00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:09.119 Brings Moses back to Pharaoh's daughter. 00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:17.119 So now Moses will be a Hebrew by nationality, but it'll be raised in Pharaoh's household, which would create some issues for Moses. 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:22.880 And this is, if we want to see the opposite of this reality, we see it in verses 11 through 15. 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:30.000 When Moses takes things into his own hands, we see that Moses gets into trouble by taking God's work into his own hands. 00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:32.160 He says, Okay, this is bad. 00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:34.720 Mistreating my people is bad. 00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:37.119 Let me take it into my own hands, let me murder. 00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:42.640 So he goes outside of the bounds of what God gave him to do, and then he turns into a fugitive. 00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:44.000 He has to be on the run. 00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:46.400 Verses eleven through fifteen. 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:54.799 One day when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and he looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. 00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:57.039 He looked this way and that. 00:26:57.359 --> 00:26:58.880 He knew it was wrong. 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:02.960 And seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:12.640 When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together, and he said to the man who was in the wrong, Why do you strike your companion? 00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:15.440 He answered, Who made you a prince and a judge over us? 00:27:15.599 --> 00:27:17.839 Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? 00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:21.839 Then Moses was afraid, and thought, Surely the thing is known. 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:29.200 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well. 00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:33.920 Moses had to go on the run because he got into trouble, taking God's work into his own hands. 00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:37.599 When we don't pause and say, God, would you direct me? 00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:38.640 God, would you guide me? 00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:40.640 And we say, Let me make this thing happen. 00:27:40.799 --> 00:27:42.160 Surely this is your will, God. 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:43.200 You'll protect me. 00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:46.720 We get in into all sorts of trouble that we don't need to get into. 00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:51.200 We shouldn't try to take God's will and force it to happen. 00:27:51.359 --> 00:27:53.440 That's not experiencing God. 00:27:53.839 --> 00:27:56.880 That's how you have been operating up to this point. 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:00.240 Making it happen however you need to. 00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:02.400 That's not what God calls us into. 00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:08.000 Moses got into trouble by taking God's work into his own hands. 00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:14.240 Even though he was a Hebrew raised in the palace, essentially nobility, Egyptian nobility. 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:17.119 But the origin of his nationality haunted him. 00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:22.799 So he went out to see what was going on out there, struck down an Egyptian, didn't bury him deep enough in the sand. 00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:24.000 Everybody saw it. 00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:26.880 He looked each way, but maybe he didn't look up and down. 00:28:27.119 --> 00:28:30.559 He didn't recognize that other people would hear about what had happened. 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:33.519 In that scuffle, he ends up killing the slave master. 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:36.880 He goes from royalty to a murderer and a criminal on the run. 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:40.160 So he has to lay aside all the good things in the palace and just flee. 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:42.160 He goes into the Midian desert. 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:46.400 And then that's where he's going to meet a man and marry one of his daughters. 00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:47.119 They have kids. 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:50.240 He's living this nomadic life for 40 years raising sheep. 00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:53.279 And then something incredible is about to happen. 00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:55.359 But we pause and we look at this reality. 00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:57.279 What can we learn from this first reality? 00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:00.160 One, that God is always at work around you. 00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:02.480 God is always at work around you. 00:29:02.799 --> 00:29:05.599 God is always at work around Moses. 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:09.279 God was always at work, already at work around Moses. 00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:14.640 During those many days, we see this in verse 23 through 25. 00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:24.880 During those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. 00:29:25.119 --> 00:29:34.240 Their cry for rescue from slavery came up from up to God, and God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, with Jacob. 00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:37.359 God saw the people of Israel, and God knew. 00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:39.920 God was already at work around Moses. 00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:44.720 Like for the 400 years between Joseph and Moses, God was at work. 00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:52.559 Between that 400 years of slavery, that 400 years of captivity, where they were multiplying rapidly, God was at work. 00:29:52.799 --> 00:29:58.400 Like they were being wronged, and God heard, and God saw, and he would not be mocked. 00:29:58.960 --> 00:30:00.480 God would act. 00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:03.119 And it wasn't according to their timeline. 00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:07.200 It wasn't according to their timetable where they said, God, make it happen faster. 00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:08.319 Make it happen faster. 00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:08.799 Let's go. 00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:10.240 We need to get out of here. 00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:12.960 But God was already at work. 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:20.079 Like we can be comforted when we groan, when we cry for rescue. 00:30:20.640 --> 00:30:23.200 That God sees and God knows. 00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:25.920 Some of us are groaning right now. 00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:30.319 Like we're in a season of groaning, of crying out, of saying, God, will you help me? 00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:32.880 Because this season is really hard. 00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:35.599 And I don't know how to do it on my own. 00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:40.400 I don't have all the answers. 00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:41.440 But you do. 00:30:41.759 --> 00:30:44.240 Like you're all knowing, you're all powerful, you're all loving. 00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:47.680 You're perfect in wisdom, perfect in might, perfect in power. 00:30:48.079 --> 00:30:48.799 Let's go. 00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:58.559 Like what some of us need in the moment to even make it is just to recognize like God sees you. 00:30:59.440 --> 00:31:00.720 And God knows you. 00:31:01.279 --> 00:31:02.400 And God loves you. 00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:09.039 And he's with you at your lowest point just as much as he's with you on the mountaintop. 00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:13.680 Like in a valley and the mountaintop, he's with you just the same. 00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:16.000 You're not alone in that struggle. 00:31:16.160 --> 00:31:24.400 And like he's given you the body of Christ around you that want to lock arms and want to walk through life with you, but you have to invite us into that. 00:31:24.880 --> 00:31:31.200 Like we don't we can't just read your mind and say, Hey, tell me, tell me all your deepest struggles. 00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:32.640 Can we get into it? 00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:35.200 Like, you're not gonna respond well to that. 00:31:36.240 --> 00:31:40.240 And we'll step on your toes and then you'll leave and you'll be mad. 00:31:40.960 --> 00:31:46.079 But like what if he designed us to bear one another's burdens? 00:31:46.400 --> 00:31:54.720 Like, what if he actually wants us to care for one another in love through the hardest things that we'll walk through and through the best things? 00:31:54.960 --> 00:31:58.640 Like we should share the joys and the sorrows with one another. 00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:03.519 We should make time we should leave margin in our lives for that. 00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:05.759 We need to be interruptible. 00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:23.440 At the time that God was about to deliver the children of Israel, the important factor for Moses wasn't, what is God, what is your will for my life? 00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:26.799 But no, God, what is your will for all of your people? 00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:28.480 And how can I be a part of that? 00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:32.640 Because if it was just about what's best for Moses, he's he's saying, peace out. 00:32:32.799 --> 00:32:38.240 I got Zipporah, I got some donkeys, I got uh this nomadic life that we're gonna keep living. 00:32:38.400 --> 00:32:45.920 It's gonna be awkward if I roll back in and uh go see my old brother, who's the Pharaoh now, or whoever's the pharaoh now. 00:32:46.079 --> 00:32:49.359 It's gonna be awkward for me to go in and say, Let my people go. 00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:51.200 Like, I don't want to do that. 00:32:51.279 --> 00:32:52.799 Let's I don't want to do it that way. 00:32:52.960 --> 00:32:55.119 Things are pretty comfortable out here, God. 00:32:56.559 --> 00:33:01.200 But what was important was for Moses to say, God, what do you want me to do? 00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:04.000 Because God was already at work with Israel. 00:33:04.079 --> 00:33:07.200 He was already preparing to bring Moses into his plan. 00:33:07.359 --> 00:33:20.319 Like after giving him all the training in the house of Pharaoh to then deliver the people from Egypt, after giving him burdens of being a Hebrew raised in that palace. 00:33:20.799 --> 00:33:23.680 Like we too should seek God's plan for his kingdom. 00:33:23.839 --> 00:33:33.119 And even say, God, like with the most painful, difficult part of my life that I don't ever want to talk about, is there something related to that that you want me to go and serve in? 00:33:33.359 --> 00:33:35.839