WEBVTT - The Way Of Escape 0:00:02.080 --> 0:00:04.640 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.120 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.479 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:12.520 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:15.240 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:21.480 Are you ready for the word? Shout Amen? One scripture 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:24.560 I want to start with, and there's a journey that 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:27.600 I want us to go on today from one Corinthians 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:31.080 ten thirteen. And I ministered this to the young people, 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:37.559 and then I've been I've been dealing with it in 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:39.040 my own life too, So I want you to listen 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:43.159 to this. It says no temptation has overtaken you. That 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:48.120 is not common to man. God is faithful. Shout about 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:50.159 the part of this verse you believe God is faithful. 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:03.840 This part gets a little bit harder to shout about 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:06.679 because it says that He will not let you be 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:13.120 tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, He will 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:20.959 also provide the way of escape that you may be 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:25.360 able to endure it. I want to speak for a 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:27.920 few moments. The Holy Spirit helping me on the subject 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:31.360 of the way of escape. Father, your word is truth. 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:34.280 Illuminate it so that we might receive it. After we 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:37.120 have received it, may we water it, and may a 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:39.720 harvest come from these moments that we have together in 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:43.480 your presence. Bless your people. Now give him a leaned 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:48.200 imposture and open heart. Do the surgery that you want 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:51.360 to do, and stitch us up. And when we finish 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:53.680 with our time together, we want to go back into 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:56.240 the world better than we came into this place today. 0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:58.360 We believe you to do it, and we thank you 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:03.040 in advance in Jesus' name. Amen, Amen, you may be seated. 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:10.239 So when I said the word temptation in that verse, 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:16.760 probably a thousand different things came to mind, depending on 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:20.639 who you are, what stage of life you're in. It's 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:25.400 a lot of temptations that teenagers probably face today that 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:29.560 I didn't have to face when I was their age. 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:31.560 And I'm always like, are you sure you want me 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:35.880 to come and speak to the teenagers because I'm afraid 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.960 of being irrelevant. I used to speak to youth groups 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:40.520 all the time. That was all I did was just 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:46.320 travel all around yelling at kids, keep your pants on. 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:50.440 You know, the basic messages abstinence, messages. I would even 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:52.960 go into public high schools and I couldn't even use 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:55.239 the Bible, but I would just have to teach them 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:58.440 and try to hold their attention. That's probably why I 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:00.760 yell so much today and move around so much, because 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:03.280 I got trained in having to keep people's attention. But 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:07.519 things have changed a lot, you know. So I'm always 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:10.600 afraid that I'm going to say stuff that the kids 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:13.919 are like rolling their eyes at, Like my kids roll 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:18.160 their eyes at me, And now I have teenagers, and 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:20.440 and so I have a little bit of a frame 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.280 of reference. But I also just don't want to be 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:25.400 I don't want to be talking on a level that 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:28.520 just makes me sound like a dinosaur or like a 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:31.360 Trannosaurus rex up here trying to preach the word of God. 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:34.320 I'm not a pterodactyl up here trying to preach the 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:38.400 word of God, Brannosaurus trying to preach the word just 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:44.440 naming all the dinosaurs, you know. And yet something in 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:48.040 the scripture that was really interesting is that Paul said, 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:54.640 there's really no new temptations. There's nothing that you're fighting 0:03:54.680 --> 0:04:00.600 against right now that somebody didn't already fight against. Now 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:02.920 that ought to take away a lot of the shame 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:05.040 for those of you who don't feel like you deserve 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:08.120 to be in church, because if what the man said 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:12.280 was true, that no temptation has overtaken you except what 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:16.080 is common to man. That means that even if you 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:19.360 struggle a little bit differently than the person three seats 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:23.159 down your row, they need the same grace that you 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:26.359 need to be saved, and you don't have to be 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:31.320 ashamed about your need for grace. And yet there is 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:34.880 this particular way in which when we are tempted, we 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:38.080 think we're the only ones that I am the only 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:42.400 one who is experiencing loneliness in this unique way. I 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:44.919 am the only one who deals with these thoughts. I 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:47.760 am the only one who cannot get over this and 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:50.279 just move past it and deal with it. Paul says, No, 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:57.000 it is common. You're not really that special. Satan didn't 0:04:57.040 --> 0:05:00.719 just make up a whole new temptation for you. You're 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:05.240 really not that special. It's the same temptations, and it's 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:08.240 the same grace that was available to me as a 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:11.640 teenager when my biggest temptation was aol instant messenger. It's 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:17.120 the same grace for Snapchat. It's grace. It's the same temptations. 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:20.760 The Reformers had a term called common grace that they 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:23.920 used to talk about how all people experience the grace 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.640 of God in some measure just by virtue of being 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:29.240 humans that were made in His image and according to 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:32.159 His likeness, and then there is that special saving grace. 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:34.320 But here Paul wants us to know that just like 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:37.440 there is a common grace, there is a common temptation. 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:42.120 And so you're really not alone, and you're really not 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:45.200 that weird, and you're really not that broken, and there 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:47.599 really were no parts or pieces missing in your box. 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:51.600 That you really do have everything everybody else does that 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:54.679 is needed to accomplish what God has purposed for your life. 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:57.680 Just like we think that the world has never been 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:00.200 worse than it is right now, Paul says, this is 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:04.919 nothing new. This is the same old crap. Can I 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:06.839 say crap in my own pulpit after being a pastor 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.080 for thirteen and a half years, a grown man with 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:10.760 gray hair in my beard, I'm sure I can say 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:14.000 crap and you wouldn't be offended by that. Right. It's 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:18.880 the same crap, same old stuff that they were dealing 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:23.760 with in Corinth. This church was wild, the church at Corinth. 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.839 They would come in for communion and get drunk on 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:32.320 the communion wine. That's why we don't even put alcohol 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:34.719 in the cups when we do communion. I don't trust y'all. 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:42.320 It's grape juice, it's prefermented. It's welchous. Some of y'all 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:46.480 be wiling in church talking anyway. It's the same temptations. 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:48.960 It's not like the church people say, oh, well, we 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:50.960 need to get back to the Church of the New Testament. 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:52.920 You mean the ones where Paul had to write them 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:55.120 a letter and say you shouldn't sleep with your stepmother 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:58.280 because that was the church. It's the same old stuff. 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:01.320 It's the same to me, like there was some pristine, 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:04.640 pure holy time when people didn't struggle. It's a different manifestation, 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:08.560 but it's the same temptation. It's the same stock. It's 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:11.920 the same stuff. Have to be really careful because we'll 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:15.239 start judging people if their temptation has a different flavor 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:21.200 than ours. Well, I just don't see how they could. Well, 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:26.160 maybe they don't see how you could. Paul wants us 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:28.960 to know that this is nothing new. It is the 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:33.400 same temptation in many ways, I've learned that the temptations 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:37.120 I'm facing now as I approach the age of forty 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:41.240 are the same temptations I was dealing with at age fourteen. 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:44.560 The reason that I was so honored to preach to 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:47.840 our youth is that I was hoping to help them 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:50.440 to see that the way that they will deal with 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:55.240 temptation today will have so much to do with what 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:58.560 they have to face in the future at a later time. 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:01.440 It was important for me to get that point across, 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:05.200 because it's really nothing new. What you struggled with then, 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:08.680 you struggle with now. It's many of the same temptations 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:11.680 that cycle through our lives, and it's the same need 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:16.440 for approval, the same need for validation, the same reach 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:19.960 for something to fill our soul. It changes clothes, but 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:23.760 it does not change nature. It's the same temptation at 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:26.800 the root of it. In our hearts. It is our 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:30.120 quest to depend on anything but God, to reach for 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:34.280 something physical and visible, to make for ourselves golden calves 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:36.640 and graven images that we can trust in and say, 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:38.920 these are your gods that brought you out of Egypt. 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:42.480 As we grow weary waiting for the real God to 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:46.400 deliver us in our situation. As patience becomes harder and 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:48.920 harder for us, as we await the fullness of the 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:52.160 presence and the promise of God in our own situations, 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:57.079 we devise for ourself escape routes, a way out. It's 0:08:57.160 --> 0:09:00.440 hard to be human, it's hard to deal with the 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:03.800 fragmented heart that is common to each of us, and 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:08.360 so early in life we begin to manage the pressure 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:13.160 to escape the pain, and we all find different ways. 0:09:13.960 --> 0:09:19.240 Some ways are innocent enough, some ways are destructive, and 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:22.960 most of the ways are somewhere in between. There's always 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:32.199 a way of escape. Everybody in here, young and old, Baptist, Pentecostal, atheist, agnostic, 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:36.160 we all have a way of escape. And I wonder 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.480 what is it that you're trying to escape? And I 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:41.880 wonder what is it that makes you feel trapped like 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:44.680 you can't get out? See, it's one thing to be 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:46.600 trapped in a situation. Have you ever been trapped in 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:50.560 a situation? I hope this is not one of those 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:56.880 right now? For you? What was that ballet that you 0:09:56.920 --> 0:10:01.280 tricked me into going to? Oh, she took me to 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:03.440 sleep in beauty, but she didn't tell me that there 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:07.960 wouldn't be any speaking parts. I was ten minutes into 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:12.360 that ballet with Holly and Abbey, and I was praying. First, 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:16.079 I was praying for the rapture, and then I was 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:18.520 looking at the fire alarm, thinking maybe I could pull that, 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:21.240 And then I was praying, God, if you have to 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:22.960 kill me, if you have to give me a brain 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:25.400 hemorrhage to get me out of this, Just come on. 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:29.800 Have you ever been trapped? It's one thing to be 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:33.440 trapped in a situation. It's another thing to feel trapped 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:38.920 inside yourself, to feel like there's habits in my heart, 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:42.320 ways that I lean and I prop up on things 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:44.920 that can't support the weight of my worry. But I 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:48.400 find myself doing it over and over again. And so 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:51.800 you devise a way of escape. You find a way 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:55.720 to not have to feel what you feel. You find 0:10:55.720 --> 0:11:01.280 a way out. The context of First Corinthians to give 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:05.720 some real insight to the meaning of verse thirteen, because 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:08.000 in order for Paul to show the Corinthian Church, hey, 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:10.599 this is nothing new what you're facing. And God is 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:13.520 greater than your situation, and he's greater than your sin, 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:15.640 and he's greater than your shame, and he's greater than 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:17.160 the thing that has a hold of you, that won't 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:19.360 let you go. God is greater than that. He takes 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:24.080 them all the way back to Egypt. The Exodus story 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:27.160 was critical to the heritage and the history of the 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:31.360 people of God. It was in Egypt that they escaped 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:35.079 from the famine. When the famine hit Canaan, God had 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:39.600 Joseph positioned in Egypt. How many know, God always has 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:42.680 someone in a position to meet the needs of his people. 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:46.839 I need y'all to shout. With an election year coming up, 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:50.320 God's going to take care of us. God is going 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:53.520 to take care of us. And that's true in every 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.720 area and season of your life. So when they started 0:11:56.760 --> 0:12:02.040 starving in Canaan, Joseph said, yet, Dad, and bring him 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:05.640 to Egypt. God has given me favor in the midst 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:09.000 of this famine. So they escaped Canaan, where there was 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:12.720 a famine, and Jacob, with his one hundred and thirty 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:17.640 year old self, had to relocate not to South Florida, 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:21.880 but to Egypt, a foreign place where he did not 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:25.080 know the pharaoh. But the pharaoh knew Joseph. And since 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.920 the pharaoh knew Joseph, Jacob and all of the patriarchs 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:31.800 and all of their wives and all of their children. 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:35.120 Not only did they get to move into Egypt, but 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:38.720 they got to go to Goshen. Goshen was the place 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:44.840 with the Kentucky fried quail. Goshen was the place where 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:47.800 you can eat off the fat of the land. Goshen 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:50.800 was the place of provision. For a little while, and 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:54.160 for years and years, while others were starving, the House 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:58.000 of Jacob was eating good in Egypt, until one day. 0:12:58.040 --> 0:13:01.360 The Bible says that a pharaoh or a ruler arose 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:05.280 in Egypt that knew not Joseph. When Joseph died and 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:09.000 pharaoh's change, all of a sudden, the place where they 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:13.720 had escaped to became the place where they were enslaved in. 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:21.600 Sometimes the place you go to to escape will become 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:27.440 the place where you are enslaved. Can I break this down? 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:33.320 It may be that you are escaping for survival. You 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:37.200 escape to a relationship that is really not good for you, 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:40.320 and you know that the relationship is not good for you, 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:44.559 but you are so lonely. Rather than live by yourself 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.800 because you feel like you're dying inside, you would rather 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:51.640 join up with someone who is bringing you down, And 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:54.480 even though you know that they're bringing you down, or 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:57.000 they are abusive, or they are not walking in the 0:13:57.000 --> 0:13:59.760 same direction as you, you would rather walk in the 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:03.959 wrong direction then walk alone in the right direction. And 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:07.400 credit to you for being a survivor, because some of 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:09.800 the things that you did in your life. You went 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:13.840 to Egypt to survive. You went to Egypt not because 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:16.960 it was a sin. It was just a matter of survival. 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:19.880 Some of the things that we learned to medicate with, 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:24.080 some of the habits that later in life become masters 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:27.800 over us. They did not start as masters. They started 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:31.400 as medication. And so we took a pill at first 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:33.400 just to deal with it, so we could deal with 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:36.160 everyday life. But then it was two, and then it 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:39.080 was three, and then it was a bunch, And now 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:43.000 all of a sudden, I find myself enslaved by something 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:47.000 that I escaped too. This is not just true of pills. 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:49.720 This can be true of sex. You can look for 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:53.680 a connection in sex and substitute it for love. It's 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:56.120 not that you wanted to be dirty, it's not that 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:58.800 you wanted to be promiscuous. It's not that you don't 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:02.120 respect yourself. It's just that you wanted to feel something, 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.440 and the feeling of loneliness can be so great that 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.560 you would rather feel a dirty connection than a clean 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:12.280 sense of confinement that comes from being quarantined in your 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:19.720 own mind. But the danger of escape is that Egypt 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:24.160 can feed you quail one day and whip you with 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:31.240 chains the next day, and the place that you escape 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:36.840 too becomes the place that you are enslaved in. Thank 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.200 you for helping me, Lord, I told the Lord I 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:42.000 wanted to preach this message with energy like it was 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:45.040 my first time preaching it. And I feel his health today, 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:50.240 a chain breaking kind of anointing that can get deep 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:59.320 down in your heart and help you to see how 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:04.000 sometimes the place that we run too can become the 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:12.320 place that we're trapped in because I just want to escape. 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:18.320 I just don't want to feel like this anymore. So 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:21.560 now that's why I'm now, That's why I'm going outside 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:26.280 of God to meet a God given me. That's why 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:29.440 I'm doing things that make me feel bad in the morning. 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:35.600 I'm doing things that leave a wake of consequences that's 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:38.920 going to affect me in a way that has no alignment. 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:41.560 But the real intention of what God has spoken over 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:44.440 my life, But I just got to get out of this. 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:47.640 I hope one day that I'll have the courage to 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:50.400 do this series called I already have the name of it. 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:52.040 I just don't have the guts to preach it yet 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:54.040 because I know how church people are and I can 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:56.160 already see the YouTube comments. But y'all pray for me. 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:58.720 One day I'm gonna preach a whole series called Sins 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:06.199 with Benefits. Y'all sound a little too excited about that, 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:12.560 kind of sketchy how much y'll clapped about that, because 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:14.639 we will hear a lot of times about the consequence 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:19.040 of sin, but if there were no benefits to it, 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:30.320 it wouldn't be so popular. There is a need that 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:35.399 Egypt meets. There is a need that has met, you know, 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:38.480 there is There is a there is a longing that 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:42.240 is fulfilled when I when I go outside of God 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:46.200 to mee to God given need. It works. See that's 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:50.119 the problem. It works. It gets you out for a 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:55.440 little while. It works until it doesn't. It works until 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:59.320 it gets old. It works until it fries the neural pathways. 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:01.879 And now it does work anymore. And now I'm doing it, 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:04.680 but it doesn't even work anymore. And now I'm chasing 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:08.000 something that doesn't deliver, and I want a way out. 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:10.800 So Paul says, now you got it back all the 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:12.959 way up to Egypt. And look at verse one. This 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:14.879 is in the Bible, y'all. He said, I want you 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:18.280 to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud. 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:23.160 It's the same stuff. It's the same stuff. They were 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:26.160 all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:30.600 Remember the Red sea that God brought his people through. 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:35.240 Come on, has God ever brought you out of anything? 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:41.040 I don't mean you had a headache and it went away. 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:45.840 That was hyperprofen but I mean something that was deep. 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:48.520 It was a pit, It was a depression, it was 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:51.560 a darkness. It was a mistake. It was a mess 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:57.360 you made. But God brought you out. Shop for fifteen seconds. 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:12.080 Matter of fact, shout If he didn't just bring you out, 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:19.320 shout if he brought you through, Oh God, that's good 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:22.600 to me. He didn't just bring me out of it. 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:26.600 He brought me through it. And since I went through it, 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:31.760 I got something from it. I'm stronger, wiser, better talk. 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:40.640 I had to go through the Valley of the Shadow 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:43.600 of Death so I could know it's just a shadow. 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:49.600 The Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want Now. 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:52.320 I got a table in the presence of my enemies. 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:55.560 But the only way to the table was through the valley. 0:19:55.840 --> 0:20:00.679 I had to go through the pain. And that's what God. Now, 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:03.040 watch this a history, lesson Tell somebody, it's nothing new. 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:05.879 It's nothing new what you're going through. God's people have 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:08.320 been standing in front of stuff that they didn't think 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:11.160 they could make it through for a long time. They 0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:19.440 came to that red sea, Pharaoh behind them, the chariots clacking. 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:23.719 These were not these were not These were not basic chariots. 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:29.080 These were Lamborghini chariots, faster than them, stronger than them. 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:33.960 But somehow, some way, they passed through the sea. God 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:36.680 brought them through it. God said, I'm not just gonna 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:38.840 lift you out of it. I'm gonna give you the 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:50.040 strength to walk through it. No temptation. He brought them 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:54.159 through it. He brought you through it. He takes you 0:20:54.240 --> 0:21:01.200 through it, not around it, but through it. Keep trying 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:04.480 to work around it. We put all these workarounds in 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:07.560 our life, all these ways that we don't really have 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:11.159 to deal with real issues, all these ways of escape 0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:14.520 that we try to make for ourselves. You know, since 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:16.560 I really can't be happy, let me just take pictures 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:27.680 like I am. They said we had overflow at Valentine. 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:29.600 I'm just trying to make some seats for next week. 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:34.280 I appreciate this till we got some empty seats. But 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:36.159 really it's the mercy of God, because he said it 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:39.080 was the same cloud, same sea, same grace, and the 0:21:39.119 --> 0:21:42.919 same grace that is available if you are facing a 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:47.440 red sea of trouble is available if you are facing 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:52.280 a temptation in your life that has overtaken you. Interesting language, 0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:55.680 because to say it has overtaken you acknowledges that it's 0:21:55.680 --> 0:22:01.960 stronger than you. So being told that there is something 0:22:01.960 --> 0:22:04.119 that is stronger than me working against me, and you 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:06.359 know exactly what that is in your life, you know 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:10.159 exactly what it is that you escape too, that you 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:14.679 have become enslaved by. And if it's not sex, and 0:22:14.720 --> 0:22:17.320 if it's not peels, Look, some people do it with pharmaceuticals, 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:21.040 some people do it with food. You can do it 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:26.800 with drugs, you can do it with donuts. That's why 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:28.920 I said temptation is a funny word. If we start 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:30.439 making a list, we'll make a list of all the 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:33.400 ones we don't struggle with, and then we'll shout about 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:37.560 how God is faithful with that. But blame can be 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:42.920 a way of escape. You hear me preaching to you today, 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:46.600 because blame will get you out of having to take responsibility. 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:49.840 The only problem is it gives the keys to your 0:22:49.880 --> 0:22:55.880 freedom to whoever you blame for the situation. And now 0:22:55.920 --> 0:22:59.520 you're enslave too the very thing that you were trying 0:22:59.560 --> 0:23:03.240 to escape from. Now you're enslaved to bitterness because you 0:23:03.359 --> 0:23:05.359 escape through blame. I could do this all day long. 0:23:05.920 --> 0:23:08.399 I could talk about how when you feel trapped in something, 0:23:08.400 --> 0:23:12.760 it's important what you trust in because whatever you trust 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:18.119 becomes your master. What are you escaping to? What are 0:23:18.119 --> 0:23:22.560 you escaping from? And have you escape to something that 0:23:22.640 --> 0:23:28.680 has now started to enslave you. Cynicism is an escape 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:32.640 because it hurts to have hope. It opens the door 0:23:32.640 --> 0:23:37.200 to disappointment. So you just beat life to the punch. 0:23:38.760 --> 0:23:41.240 You just expect the worst. That way, you're not surprised 0:23:41.240 --> 0:23:55.959 and you put your faith in reverse and call it realism. 0:23:56.040 --> 0:23:58.600 So what's really sad about coming through the Red Sea 0:23:59.440 --> 0:24:01.679 is that after all the miracles that God does for 0:24:01.800 --> 0:24:05.159 you and after the way that he saves you, and 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:08.280 after the way that He becomes personal in your life. 0:24:08.520 --> 0:24:10.919 The Bible says that even after they went through the 0:24:10.960 --> 0:24:14.359 Red Sea passed under the cloud through Moses. After he 0:24:14.440 --> 0:24:18.359 references this Exodus motif that is so prevalent in the 0:24:18.440 --> 0:24:23.720 Jewish scriptures, he says in verse five, nevertheless, God was 0:24:23.760 --> 0:24:28.960 not pleased with most of them, for they were overthrown 0:24:29.920 --> 0:24:33.720 in the wilderness. And that's where the battle is. In 0:24:33.760 --> 0:24:40.720 the wilderness. Even Jesus went through the wilderness, and what 0:24:40.760 --> 0:24:44.800 you do in the wilderness determines whether you stay enslaved 0:24:45.920 --> 0:24:51.520 or move forward into freedom. We don't just pass through 0:24:51.560 --> 0:24:54.760 the wilderness once in our lives. The wilderness is not 0:24:54.800 --> 0:24:58.520 something you did eighteen years ago. The wilderness isn't just 0:24:58.600 --> 0:25:02.040 when you lost your first job. The wilderness can happen 0:25:02.119 --> 0:25:05.520 several times any given week. I asked my friend before 0:25:05.560 --> 0:25:07.160 I came out, how was your week? And I said, 0:25:07.200 --> 0:25:10.240 I take it back. I hate that question because you 0:25:10.240 --> 0:25:12.800 could ask me that hour by hour and get a 0:25:12.800 --> 0:25:16.760 different answer. There are some weeks I have where Monday 0:25:16.800 --> 0:25:22.560 is milk and honey and Tuesday is Canaanites, Hittites, Jebuzdes parizites, termites, cellulites, 0:25:27.520 --> 0:25:31.320 and when they went to the wilderness, they were overthrown. 0:25:31.359 --> 0:25:34.040 They grumble, they wanted out, you know where they wanted 0:25:34.040 --> 0:25:39.920 to go Egypt. At least we could eat in Egypt. 0:25:41.280 --> 0:25:43.400 Never Mind, you forgot about the fact that they gave 0:25:43.440 --> 0:25:46.840 you mud without straw, trying to get you to make 0:25:46.880 --> 0:25:50.160 bricks without giving you materials. Never mind that the devil 0:25:50.160 --> 0:25:52.400 has constantly been trying to keep you all your life 0:25:52.400 --> 0:25:54.480 in a state of feeling like you're not enough. You 0:25:54.600 --> 0:25:56.520 just want to go back to the world because at 0:25:56.560 --> 0:26:02.080 least it works for a little while. We want to 0:26:02.080 --> 0:26:05.520