WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:08.320 This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:13.359 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:17.359 So, Holy Spirit, come and just illuminate the word. 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:20.079 We're not looking for something that's never been said before. 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:23.679 We're looking to bring our lives into keeping with what's always been said. 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:27.600 And so, Holy Spirit, speak to us about these realities from your word. 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:31.920 Make it clear, make it obvious, and we'll do the rest with our living. 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:35.679 We understand that we live in a day and age where just saying it's not enough. 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:38.159 We have to live in such a way that's in keeping with our word. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:42.880 So, Holy Spirit, be over this today and say something this morning that has our name on it. 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:44.000 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:45.759 And everyone say, Amen. 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:46.479 You can have a seat. 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:50.399 If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Exodus chapter 23. 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:51.840 Exodus chapter 23. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:53.600 If you don't have a Bible, there's one on your row there. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:54.799 I'm on page 64. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:58.799 I want to talk to you this morning about how God relates to his people. 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:00.960 About how God relates to his people. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:07.920 Because if you're not careful, then we can uh we we can let a lot of assumption uh get in into our relationship with God. 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:10.879 We start assuming that God's a certain way and he thinks certain things. 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:17.760 For example, when I grew up, uh my parents were separated and divorced, and my dad got divorced again, and my mom came to live with us. 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:21.120 But my dad, who left us, but he lived like 30 minutes away. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:24.079 It's not like he moved to other side of the country or anything. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:26.719 My dad lived 30 minutes away, but he never came around. 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:29.840 The only time my dad came around was when my brothers got in trouble. 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:33.680 Then my dad would come around, my mom would call him and say, I need you to come discipline the boys. 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:42.000 And so for me, being around my dad, my dad came to visit meant I was getting in trouble, I was gonna get a whipping, I was gonna get grounded, I was gonna get talked to or whatever. 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:45.359 And so, in my mind, that's all my dad was like. 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:48.959 He was this distant person, and when I got in trouble, he paid me a visit. 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:50.079 Well, guess what? 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:56.640 As I got older, you know, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, by the time I was 17, I believe that's what God was like. 00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:04.480 God was this distant person, lived way up in heaven, and the only time that he was really interested in me was when I screwed up and he was gonna come and get me. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:08.240 And so it really shaped the way I thought about God and the way I related to God. 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:15.280 Well, when I was 18, I became a Christian, started reading the Bible, nutty concept, and came to realize God's nothing like that. 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:20.800 So, what I'm gonna do today, if you're visiting, just relax, or if you're you're new, you're just exploring Christianity, just relax. 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:32.800 I'm gonna we're going through the book of Exodus, we're to this part where God's got these people out of bondage, out of slavery, and uh he gave them the Ten Commandments and says, This is how you flourish as a person in a relationship with God. 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:37.840 Uh and now he's kind of saying, This is where we're going, by the way, and this is what it's gonna be like along the way. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:40.319 God says, This is how I'm gonna relate to you. 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:43.039 This is Exodus chapter 23, verse 20. 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:48.000 He says, Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and bring you to the place that I prepared. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:50.400 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice. 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:55.280 Do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. 00:02:55.439 --> 00:03:01.759 But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I'll be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:09.840 When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Parasites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I blot them out. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:16.639 You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:21.919 You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and will take sickness away from among you. 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:24.719 None shall miscarry or be barren in your land. 00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:26.560 I will fulfill the number of your days. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:44.000 I will send my terror before you, and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you, and I will send the hornet before you, which shall drive I send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites and the Canaanites and the Hittites from before you, and I will drive them out from before you in one year. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:50.080 I I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:54.719 Little by little I will drive them out from before you until you have increased and possessed the land. 00:03:54.879 --> 00:04:04.479 And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:06.879 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:11.039 You shall not dwell in your land lest they make you sin against me. 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:15.120 For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you. 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:16.800 Now God kind of just lays it out. 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:23.360 Here's where we're going, here's some people we're going to encounter along the way, and here's how I want you to relate to them, because of how you relate to me. 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:26.480 And by the way, this is what it's going to be like when we get there. 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:27.920 Pretty simple, you would think. 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:32.160 As we continue through the book of Exodus, you'll see, not as simple as one would think. 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:33.839 So, how does God relate to his people? 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:38.000 I want to give you four words to think about and kind of frame out how God relates to his people. 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:40.399 The first word is guidance, is guidance. 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:42.240 The second word is longevity. 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:43.439 Longevity. 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:45.040 The third word I want to give you is worship. 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:47.199 And the fourth word I want to give you is just big picture. 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:48.399 You say that's two words. 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:49.600 Okay, that's two words. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:52.000 Uh well, let's go back to the first word, guidance. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:52.560 What do you mean? 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:53.360 Look at verse 20. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:58.959 He says, Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and bring you to the place that I have prepared. 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:01.199 Now, let me give you a question to think about on the way. 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:02.480 This whole guidance thing. 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:08.079 You can think about this as you're going to work or at lunch today or next time your small group meets. 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:11.839 How often do you sense God's active leadership in your life? 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:16.000 How often do you sense God's active leadership in your life? 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:20.399 I met with a couple who was dating a while back and they said, Hey, we just want to get some spiritual advice. 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:21.680 And I ask them this question. 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:25.839 I said, Hey, do you how how often do you guys, when do you guys sense God's active leadership? 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:42.399 Because not off the top, they started talking about 10 minutes in, I kind of sense these are two people that have just been together a long time and they just want to make this work because we've been together a long time, and I don't want to start over with somebody else, and he doesn't want to start over with anybody else, and we'll overlook each other's inconsistencies and sins and we'll just make this work. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:46.720 And I'm thinking, you are headed to a very hard marriage that's not gonna last long. 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:48.879 And so I thought I would help and I asked this question. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:52.240 I said, Hey, do you guys sense God's leadership in this relationship? 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:54.800 And they looked at me like I had a horn coming out of my head. 00:05:56.240 --> 00:05:58.000 And the girl said, Well, what do you mean? 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:05.600 And I said, Do you sense that this is not just your idea and his idea, but this is God's idea because what God orders, he pays for. 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:08.720 And she was like, I don't get it. 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:13.040 And I was looking at the guy, kind of like giving him his think eye, like, Ron, save yourself. 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:20.959 No, I it's not a thing about her, it's just save both of you, save yourself from a relationship where you're just two ticks and no dog. 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:23.759 There's nothing in this relationship bigger than you. 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:30.560 So if you're dating somebody right now and you're not really sure about where this thing is or how it's going, here's the question you asked to clarify. 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:33.360 And it's simply this very clear question. 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:38.800 Hey, how do you sense God leading in our relationship and where do you think God's taking this relationship? 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:42.800 If you want to see me after the service, ladies, I'll have that printed on small cards. 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:44.639 You can stick it in your purse and pull it out. 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:49.279 Because if you're dating a man and you've been dating like yesterday, I was at the med center, and the nurse walked in the room. 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:53.439 We just got to just chatting, and Sephimony probably said, You do talk to people like this. 00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:55.279 Yes, yes, yes, I do. 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:59.839 Got talking to a girl named Natalie, and Natalie's dating a guy I've been dating two years, and I said, Is he boyfriend or husband? 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:00.800 She goes, I don't know. 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:03.439 I want to go to New York and be a traveling nurse, but he doesn't want me to go. 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:05.040 I could, you're not his property. 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:09.439 Why are you thinking about your future with him in the picture if he's not even committed to the relationship? 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:14.879 If he's boyfriend, he doesn't get to determine your future until he becomes husband, even be a part of your future. 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:15.759 Is he boyfriend? 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:16.639 He's boyfriend. 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:18.160 Leave him in the boyfriend camp. 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:20.560 Go to New York and do what you want to do. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:21.680 Thank you. 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:24.959 I think this was like a divine appointment. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:30.639 I wouldn't go that far, but anyway, here's the thing that I'm I'm blown away by. 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:36.240 How many people are willing to engage in behaviors with no sense of God's leading in these behaviors? 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:40.639 It's just kind of like, I'm gonna do this because you know it's easier to get forgiveness than permission. 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:43.120 But yet the Bible says, look what God says in verse 20. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:47.680 I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and bring you to the place that I had prepared. 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:54.160 Wouldn't you love to wake up tomorrow morning to be an angel beside your bed that says, Today I'm gonna be your tour guide, so you won't screw this up. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:56.240 That's what God says. 00:07:56.399 --> 00:07:57.519 I'm gonna send an angel. 00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:01.120 By the way, when you say this word angel, that's just like whoa, bells go off. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:02.879 How many in this room believe that angels exist? 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:04.079 Can I see your hands? 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:05.279 Yes, very much. 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:06.160 Put your hands down. 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:06.639 They do. 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:08.480 The Bible says they're God's messengers. 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:11.600 You know this that more people believe in angels than believe in God? 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:14.959 There's a lot of people, so I believe in angels, but I don't believe in God. 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:20.959 If angels are God's messengers and you believe they exist, then how can you believe in them and not believe in God? 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:22.319 How do we get these angels? 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:23.439 They're like Donald Trump. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:24.720 How'd they get here? 00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:26.639 What are we doing here? 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:28.079 I mean, I mean, come on. 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:30.000 The Bible says that they're God's messengers. 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:35.519 And by the way, this is free for all you all you theological people in the room, a little Bible trivia. 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:37.519 There's a lot of debate over who this angel is. 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:39.840 A lot of people, there's four primary options. 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:46.639 A lot of people say, well, this angel is kind of God's leading, his guiding presence, the pillar of cloud by day and pillar fire by night. 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:47.519 That's one option. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:50.799 Uh but then they start thinking, no, this is more personal. 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:52.960 They talk about this like it's a real personal being. 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:54.240 And the second option is Moses. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:58.480 They say angel means messenger, and so he's been the messenger all along. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:01.279 The only problem is Moses doesn't make it into the promised land. 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:06.159 I hate to spoil the end of this, but Moses doesn't make it because he disobeys God along the way. 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:12.720 Uh and so it can't be Moses, and they say, well, it's Joshua, because Joshua, the Hebrew Yeshua, that's where we get Jesus. 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:16.960 And then the fourth option is that some people believe it's Jesus. 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:23.200 It's a pre-incarnate uh uh uh uh uh occurrence with Jesus, who's always existed, by the way. 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:24.159 Don't think about Jesus. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:29.200 Don't think Old Testaments mean no God, New Testament, sweet Jesus who loves people. 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:31.360 No, no, Jesus has always existed. 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:35.919 Back in Genesis, when God says, Come let us make man in our image, that's the plurality. 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:38.720 God is speaking about God the Father, Son, the Holy Spirit. 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:40.080 So Jesus has always existed. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:45.840 Matter of fact, the Bible tells us that by him all things were created, and for him all things were created. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:50.240 If all things are created by him, doesn't Jesus have to be there when they're created? 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:51.200 Hello? 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:52.720 Think a little bit. 00:09:52.879 --> 00:09:55.039 I know y'all are like, dude, come on, man. 00:09:55.200 --> 00:09:57.200 I had one too many tequilas last night. 00:09:57.279 --> 00:09:58.480 Slower, lower your voice. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:02.159 No, and so don't think about Jesus as kind of God's plan B. 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:03.440 The Old Testament went really bad. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:06.559 This thing came off the rails, and so plan B was Jesus. 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:09.200 No, Jesus was plan A all along. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:16.159 And and by letting people try to live up to the law all through the Old Testament, God just establishes the need for Jesus more and more. 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:22.240 So that when he comes, people are like, Oh, Hosanna, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:25.279 Translation, about time, where you been, man. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:28.000 He came in the fullness of time. 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:30.320 So you say, What do you mean, why do you mean that? 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:31.039 Three reasons. 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:35.519 Number one, the Bible, he God says he bears, he says, he bears God's very name. 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:37.759 He says, Hey, my name is in him. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:38.799 Look at verse 21. 00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:40.879 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice. 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:45.039 Do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:46.879 God says two things about him right there. 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:50.799 Number one, he says, hey, uh, for he will not pardon your transgression. 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:52.480 He will not forgive your sin. 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:56.159 In other words, this angel has the capacity to forgive or to not forgive sin. 00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:59.200 Who has the capacity to forgive sin except God alone? 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:03.519 Now don't turn there, but if you're taking notes, write down Mark chapter 2 and verse 7. 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:12.080 Because in Mark chapter 2, it begins with this telling them, hey, there's this place and Jesus was talking, and the house was full, and so much so that people couldn't get in. 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:16.960 And these guys, but they heard Jesus was there and they brought their friend who was paralyzed because they said, Jesus heals people. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:18.240 Our friend needs to be healed. 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:21.200 So they brought him to Jesus to get down there and they couldn't get in. 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:31.039 And so he goes around to the side, they climb up on the roof, they dig a hole in the roof, and they duct tape the guy to a stretcher and lower him down, dig a hole in the roof and lower him down in the midst of the room. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:34.960 Wouldn't you love to be sitting here one Sunday and all of a sudden the hole opens up in the roof? 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:39.440 And some paralyzed guy comes down going, excuse me, my friends are crazy. 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:45.919 It's like Stephen Hawking drops out of the sky, and you're just kind of like, Now it's a party. 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:48.159 Now we're gonna get it on right here. 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:54.320 This actually happens in the Bible, and everyone's freaking out, and Jesus says to the guy, Hey, take over your mat and walk. 00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:57.360 And the Pharisees are thinking to themselves, excuse me. 00:11:57.519 --> 00:11:59.600 And in verse 7, they say, Who can forgive sins? 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:01.679 They think who can forgive sins but God alone? 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:04.559 And the Bible says that Jesus knew what they were thinking. 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:08.639 By the way, Jesus read their mail, which means he can read your mail right now. 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:10.639 That's free. 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:13.200 And he says, Hey, which is harder? 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:25.120 Because he knew what they were thinking, he says, which is harder to heal this guy, to say, get up, take up your mat, or to forgive his sins, so that you'll know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins, and he and he just heals the guy to sends him home. 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:26.399 Why do I say all that? 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:33.600 Because when God speaks about this angel and says, Hey, hey, don't jerk with him because he won't forgive your sins, he's telling you something about himself. 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:40.240 Here's the third reason I think it's Jesus, a preincarnate appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament, which happens at other places. 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:41.440 Look at verse 22. 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:44.879 He says, But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:46.720 Now wait a minute. 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:48.879 Do you hear the pronouns? 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:52.399 If you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:59.600 Remember when Jesus in the New Testament, one of the things that made religious people the most angry is that Jesus professed to be God. 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:02.000 He said, If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:04.399 He said, I and the Father are one. 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:08.320 See, if you get it wrong about Jesus, you can't get it right about anything else. 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:12.879 So you see, you need to make sure you got this biblically informed Christology. 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:14.000 What am I saying? 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:18.480 I'm saying all that to say this: that God has been leading his people for a long time. 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:23.440 And as we read the book of Exodus, you need to start thinking in terms of the parallels you see in the Christian life. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:26.720 These people come out of bondage to slavery, and yet they're not. 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:31.039 It's one thing to come out of slavery, it's another thing to enter into the promised land. 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:36.480 And there's this whole sanctifying process along the way of getting to where God says, I want you to be. 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:43.360 But I want you to notice the word that God, the the the words that God uses, He uses words like guard and bring and prepared. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:50.720 He says, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way, to bring you present tense to the place that I have prepared past tense. 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:58.879 So let me ask you the question I asked my couple from a while back, and it's simply this How often do you sense God's active leadership in your life? 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:02.639 How often do you sense God's active leadership in your life? 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:05.039 Let me help us to apply this to our lives. 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:07.200 How many of you had something frustrating happen this week? 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:08.240 Because I see your hand. 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:09.440 Yes, that's what I mean. 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:10.080 Hold up your hand. 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:13.120 Most of us in this room, I had some frustrating things happen this week. 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:14.720 Now, here's the thing. 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:20.000 If you're not careful when something happens that's frustrating, that's frustrating, what we tend to do is kind of this thing. 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:22.080 I gotta take matters into my own hands here. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:27.840 And we we overwork the situation because we don't stop and ask the question, hey God, how are you at work? 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:31.840 How are you intervening in this circumstance right now to do something about this? 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:34.240 Otherwise, I'm gonna jump in there like my dad. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:42.080 What my dad used to do, they'd have friends over, they'd play dominoes and cards and just hang out, and all the kids, we were all back in one bedroom. 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:45.360 I had me, two brothers, two stepsisters, and anybody else that came. 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:48.559 Pretty soon we had a baseball or a football team, depending on who it was. 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:49.600 And we were all in one room. 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:57.440 One night there was 12 of us back there playing Twister, and somebody jumped off the bunk bed onto one of those bean bags that has those little tiny styrofoam balls in it. 00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:06.000 And they tore the the bean bag and it started shooting out of there, and so we were just covered, those things little particles come out, charged with static electricity. 00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:09.120 And so they stick all to you, and so we just thought that was hilarious. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:12.639 So we would line up, jump off the bed, and we were just getting covered in that stuff, playing twister. 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:16.480 And my dad just assumed if there was noise, it was bad. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:18.240 And so my dad always, he cut me. 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:23.759 I mean, he cut, he'd been back there a couple times and said, Hey, y'all hold it down because we were doing bad stuff, but we were just wrestling and tearing stuff up. 00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:25.120 This time we weren't doing anything wrong. 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:26.240 My dad just opened the door. 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:26.960 What are you doing? 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:28.240 Knock it off, whatever you're doing. 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:31.360 And we tried to explain, yeah, we're not doing anything, we're just having fun. 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:33.279 No one's fighting, no one's hurting anybody. 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:34.320 I gotta come back here. 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:35.519 I'm whipping all y'all. 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:37.279 So one kid said, He ain't whipping me. 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:39.279 I said, No, Leon whipped everybody. 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:41.919 My dad whipped a little leak team one time. 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:43.919 He got a degree in whipping people. 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:47.519 And he goes, Your dad like whips you with his belt? 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:48.639 Anything he can do. 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:52.799 One time my dad was siphoning gas out of a truck, and I said something uh disrespectful. 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:56.000 He yanked the siphon hose out of the truck and whipped me with that. 00:15:56.320 --> 00:16:02.080 He was like now, some of y'all are thinking you should have called CPS. 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:03.679 It did not exist back then. 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:06.080 I'd have had him on speed dial. 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:08.240 It's me again. 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:09.440 He's doing it again. 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:10.559 Get over here. 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:12.879 Here's my point, and don't miss it, okay? 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:19.600 The point is that my dad related to us like anything, if there was noise taking place, then bad stuff was happening. 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:25.360 And I was like, that's that's not at all what's going on here. 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:31.200 My dad would jump in and just overwork the situation instead of figuring out, hey, what's what's really at work here? 00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:33.200 If you're not careful, you can be the same way. 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:34.639 These frustrating situations. 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:36.480 Stop and ask yourself a couple questions. 00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:38.080 Hey, God, how are you at work? 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:39.279 No, no, excuse me. 00:16:39.440 --> 00:16:40.720 God, are you at work? 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:45.440 And secondly, God, how are you at work in in this circumstantial situation? 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:47.919 Otherwise, you're gonna work yourself to death. 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:50.080 And you know why you're gonna work yourself to death? 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:52.320 Because you're gonna get in there and try to be God. 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:54.320 And only God can be God. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:17:02.879 And that's what I was trying to say to this couple that's kind of like, eh, we like each other, we kind of, you know, hang out, we live together. 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:04.640 Uh I'm not mad at you. 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:07.599 Just I just don't sense any kind of future to this. 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:09.440 I just sense a bunch of tolerance. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:11.119 Is God at work in this? 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:16.319 You gotta learn to relate to God with a sense of, hey, he's just guiding reality in my life. 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:21.119 The second way I want us to think about and relate to God is is with longevity. 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:22.000 Longevity. 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:23.839 You say, well, what what do you mean? 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:25.039 He's talking along there. 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:43.200 Let me just pick up after he says in verse 23, when my angel goes before you and brings you into the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Jebusites, I will blot them out, and you shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. 00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:44.400 Actually, I gave you the wrong word. 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:47.279 The second word is worship, is it is worship. 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:54.240 Because what God's saying when he says, Hey, you shall not serve them, that's what he's saying, you shall not worship, you shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless. 00:17:54.400 --> 00:17:56.400 And then he starts talking about all the consequences. 00:17:56.559 --> 00:18:01.519 He will bless your bread and your water and take sickness away from among you, and none will miscarry and all this stuff. 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:04.079 But the second way God relates to us is with worship. 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:04.559 Why? 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:10.000 Because God knows that we're gonna be in the context of a bunch of other people who worship a bunch of other things. 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:17.279 And in our day and age, they do not have words like parasites and Canaanites and Hittites and Amorites and Hives and Jebusites. 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:26.559 In our day and age, they have uh uh titles like mayor and governor and senator, and they talk about things like who should use what bathroom. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:32.079 Y'all are like, hmm, the preacher's got a TV. 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:35.440 Yeah, yeah. 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:40.880 See, we're we're we're in this culture that's kind of surrounded with this all moral sense about it. 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:51.359 It's just got now the NBA is like, we're gonna take the All-Star game away from North Carolina, and our president, if they don't change the law, our president is in other countries apologizing and trying to explain to people. 00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:55.359 Everybody in North Carolina is not a bigot and hates transgendered people. 00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:57.920 Hey, folks, here's here's why God says worship. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:00.240 Now just stay with me just for a second and just think a little bit. 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:07.519 He says, Hey, my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Parasites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Jabusites. 00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:08.799 He says, I'll blot them out. 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:10.559 You shall not bow down to their gods. 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:12.400 In other words, you should not worship. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:20.480 You shall not worship what they worship, nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:24.160 You shall serve, you shall worship the Lord your God. 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:28.960 Uh if you come into my office and you walk in the door, there's a bookshelf along the wall here. 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:32.799 Right there, about waist high, is a white cowbell. 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:33.839 Uh they gave them out. 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:36.720 My old roommate Joey was a big Mississippi State fan. 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:40.079 If you've ever been to Mississippi State football game, they ring cowbells the whole game. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:42.319 So at Joey's funeral, they gave out cowbells. 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:43.279 I was like, this is great. 00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:44.240 This is all we need. 00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:46.000 Uh, what could be more redneck? 00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:48.400 And at his funeral, they rang the cowbells. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:50.160 I was like, of course they did. 00:19:50.319 --> 00:19:56.880 But also there's little pieces of paper tied on there, and printing on those pieces of paper are all these sayings that Joey would say all through life. 00:19:57.039 --> 00:19:59.279 Like one of them is deliberate tension. 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:03.440 And you're like, you shake your eye. 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:05.039 What? 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:06.480 We would be in situations. 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:07.440 Here's another one. 00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:15.680 We'd be in situations like there'd be a planning meeting or something going on for a youth camp or at a church or whatever, and it'd be crazy, and people would be talking about, hey, what about this? 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:16.160 What about this? 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:18.880 And Joey would say, Hey, let's get the top button right. 00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:23.279 And you'd be like, people just look at all the right, they'd look at me like McClendon. 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:29.519 I'm like, what he's saying is, hey, when he's a little kid, Joey could never get his shirt buttoned up the right way. 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:35.359 He'd every day he'd come out and it'd be all crooked and stuff, and his dad would be like, son, come here and he'd unbutton it and start at the top. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:38.319 And his dad said, I don't want to, I don't want to teach you how to button a shirt. 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:40.319 I want to teach you how to get the top button right. 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:45.279 Because the son, if you get the top button right, all the other buttons will naturally fall into place. 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:54.400 When God says, Hey, don't worship what they worship, you're gonna worship me in a context and in a culture where people worship everybody, anybody and everything else. 00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:58.960 What God is saying is, get the top button right, and a lot of this other stuff will take care of itself. 00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:02.400 Because a yes to God is a no to a lot of other things. 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:10.480 It's not political uh uh uh uh ill will, it's not being angry, it's not going out and shaking our fists at the culture, but here's what it is. 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:12.720 Let's think this a little bit deeper just for a second. 00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:14.160 Are you willing to do that this morning? 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:17.759 Like this whole transgender, you know, who are we to tell them what to do? 00:21:18.079 --> 00:21:20.960 The issue is not about what who gets to use what bathroom. 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:23.519 Here's what the issue is: who gets to be God? 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:25.440 You say, What do you mean? 00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:29.519 The Bible says that male and female, he created them. 00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:31.759 In his image, he created them. 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:36.640 And so the issue is not, well, do you love or these people, do you hate these people? 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:38.880 Because I don't have to agree with you to love you. 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:42.400 Matter of fact, sometimes loving you is disagreeing with you. 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:44.799 Parents, write that down and remind your kids. 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:47.440 I gotta say to my kids every once in a while, hey, I love you. 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:50.079 I just disagree with you, and that's okay. 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:54.880 And I was like, the hardest thing, this is not a sermon on parenting, this is a little sidebar. 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:58.400 The hardest thing to endure as a parent is your kids' wrath. 00:21:58.960 --> 00:21:59.759 The most necessary. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:03.119 thing to endure as a parent is your kid's wrath. 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:08.319 Because if they can get angry and change your mind, guess what you're going to get the rest of your life? 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:09.839 That's exactly right. 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:11.359 But back to what I was saying. 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:12.559 Sidebars over. 00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:17.680 This whole thing about the transgendered in the bathroom, everything, it the issue is who gets to be God. 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:20.960 Because what they're saying is, hey, I was born a woman and the media just celebrates this. 00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:22.960 Oh, here's this girl that swims for Harvard. 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:27.279 She was a girl and now she's a boy and we got Caitlin Jenner who was just named. 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:28.720 His real name is Bruce, by the way. 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:33.920 He was just named one of the most, by Time Magazine, one of the most 100 influential people in the world. 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:36.559 And my thought was, are you kidding me? 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:38.160 Do you not know anybody else? 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:40.319 And this is not a sexual transgender thing. 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:49.279 It's just, what have you done except marry into a crazy family of Kardashians, have a car wreck and kill a person and then did pull this publicity stunt? 00:22:50.160 --> 00:22:55.039 But again, at the core, don't listen to what the media says get drill down. 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:57.519 Male and female, he created them. 00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:08.160 If we can say, if we have the power to say, no, no, no, I was born a man but I'm going to be a woman and wear a dress and you got to let me do however I want then what we're really saying is I'm creator. 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:14.240 I decide my sexuality not some divine being who created me in the first place. 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:17.759 He made a mistake and so therefore I get to choose. 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:24.799 Think folks how does God relate to his people to this sense of worship. 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:42.160 One of the things by the way that kind of helps us uh worship God and under un uh understand a sense of God is a we'll just keep reading he says hey and he will bless your bread and your water and take sickness away from among you verse 26 none shall miscarry be barren in the land and I will fulfill the number of your days. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:53.200 Here verse 27 I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:56.240 That's one of those verses you read in the Bible and you just keep going. 00:23:56.400 --> 00:23:58.960 Have you ever heard a sermon about the terror of God? 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:19.839 Like if I said hey remember when they dropped the bomb on Nagasaki you would go oh yeah yeah or remember Hiroshima when they dropped you you have a frame of reference for that we do not have a frame of reference you're talking about a weapon of mass destruction the atom bombs got nothing on this did you know that all through the Bible the Bible references the terror of God? 00:24:20.079 --> 00:24:37.119 That there was a war broke out between the Philistines and the Israelites and the Israelites were losing so they went and got the Ark of the covenant which was the presence of God and they rolled it out to the battle lines and the other the Philistines the other army couldn't even see but they sensed they heard this big uproar and they said a God has entered into their camp. 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:46.559 When Nehemiah built the wall around Jerusalem in 52 days the Bible says that they realized this was done with the help of their God and they lost confidence. 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:58.720 The Bible also says this in Genesis 35 verse 5 as they journeyed a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:10.079 This is Jeremiah 32 21 talking about Exodus he says you brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders with a strong hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:17.119 Paul says in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 11 therefore knowing the terror of the Lord we try to persuade others. 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:22.000 Most people translate that word terror fear but the literal in the Greek is terror it's phobia. 00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:36.240 It's it's it's I I got this deep innate sense of I do not want now by the way hear this this is not about fear but it's about understanding do you hear the difference? 00:25:36.480 --> 00:26:01.279