WEBVTT - I Didn’t See That Coming! (Dharius Daniels) 0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:04.600 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:07.080 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:10.399 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:12.480 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:15.280 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:21.439 Thanks for tuning in. Worship has been awesome. The presence 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:24.720 of God is here. The presence of God is there 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:27.840 wherever you are. And right now it is time for 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:31.720 the preaching of the Word. We have the honor of 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:37.000 Pastor Darius Daniels being with us this weekend. He is 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:41.120 the lead pastor of Chase Church. He's been with us 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:43.120 before and I believe God's given him a message for 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:46.640 our Elevation family. So right now, put your hands together, 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:49.199 put your praise hands up in the chat, put the 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:52.159 hearts in the chat, put the prayer hands together, the 0:00:52.200 --> 0:01:00.760 clap hands. Welcome Pastor Daniel. Well, come on better than that, 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:06.360 and let's give a great God, great praise wherever you are, 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:11.360 in your living room, in your kitchen, in your card let, 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:16.600 it everything that has breath, praise the Lord. It doesn't 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:20.360 matter what it is, It couldn't change who he is. 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:30.960 Let's give a great God, great praise. Well, let's pray together. Father, 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:36.800 we love you today. Our presence wherever we are is 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:42.679 evidence of your faithfulness. Your faithfulness is great. You've kept us. 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:50.600 We recognize it, and our response is worship. It's appreciation, 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:59.240 it's gratitude. Thank you that you love us enough not 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:05.320 to leave us without direction, and that direction comes through 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:09.800 your word. So we pray for that today. I pray 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:14.440 for the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, your annoying 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:18.920 to equip and empower me to teach not just the 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:22.440 message from the Bible, but to release a word from 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:26.720 the Lord. For you're the only one that can speak 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:28.600 to all of us and say something different to each 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:32.000 of us at the same time. So may this message 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:36.160 be your love letter to us. Let us know that 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:40.000 you see us rite where we are, and that you 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:44.640 love us enough to speak with specificity to give us 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:47.799 strength to run on to see what the end would be. 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:53.680 Thank you for this house, the spiritual weapon of mass destruction. 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:59.120 Thank you for the assignment that you've given it to 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:02.160 see people far from God raise to life in Christ. 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:06.520 Thank You for the lives that will be raised to 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:10.240 life today as a result of what you're doing through 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:15.760 this incredible spiritual family called Elevation Church. Knowing you like 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:18.280 we know you, we already have what we've asked you for. 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:20.480 So we thank you for these things in the name 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:23.440 of the one who saved our life. That name is Jesus. 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:26.400 If you agree, come on, put a man in the 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:30.320 chat wherever you are. We're excited to be in the 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:36.080 house today. Well listen, it is my extreme honor to 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:38.920 be here. First of all, I have just such great 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:44.000 respect and admiration for one of the greatest leaders on 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:49.000 the planet, one of the most incredible communicators on the planet, 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:53.640 and one of the greatest men personally off stage that 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:57.480 I know. And so the scriptures teach us that honor 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:00.800 is a kingdom ethic. It is the way we manage 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:05.480 relationships as followers of Jesus. So wherever we are in 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:07.720 the chat, in the room, we're just gonna make some 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:11.560 major noise. And thank God for my friend, my brother 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:20.920 passed the Stephen erdet so excited to be here with you, 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:25.120 and listen. If you're at home, you're probably already sitting down. 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:27.120 If you're in the room, you can have your seats. 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:30.360 What matters is the Pasha of our heart. There's something 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:32.320 on my heart I kind of want to share today, 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:35.440 and so I want you to meet me in the 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:39.680 second book of the Bible, the Book of Exodus. Y'all. 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:45.880 I'm dealing with some mixed emotions today. This morning. This morning, 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:51.559 six thirty am, had to drop off my firstborn son 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:55.120 for college. He's playing football at west Point University west 0:04:55.120 --> 0:05:00.240 Point Military Academy, and drop them off this morning. So 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:04.360 I'm young but I feel old, and I'm old but 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:07.360 I feel young. I don't know, but I got mixed 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:09.920 emotions and excited about all that God's domed in the 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:12.200 life of my family, and glad to be here with 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:19.160 this incredible spiritual family. EXETERU, Chapter thirteen, verse seventeen. I'm 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:21.840 going to read a few verses here, one verse here, 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:23.000 and then we're going to use as a launch and 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:25.440 path to leap into our lesson today. This is what 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:30.440 it says. It says when Pharaoh let the people go, 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:35.599 God did not lead them on the road through Philistine country, 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:43.000 though that was shorter. See what he says. For God 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:46.920 said if they faced war, they might change their minds 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:53.000 and return to Egypt. So God led the people verse eighteen, 0:05:54.360 --> 0:06:00.800 around by the desert road, toward the Red Sea. Israelites 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:08.599 went up out of Egypt ready for battle. I want 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:10.719 to end the reading the God's word right there, and 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:12.640 I want to tag a title to this text. I 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:14.400 want us to think around this thought and our time 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:22.000 together today. I didn't see that coming. I didn't see 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:28.000 that coming the family. There are a number of interesting 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:31.599 adjectives that can be used to describe the nature and 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:35.680 the character of God. For the purpose of our time 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:37.800 together today, I want to lift up one that I 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:42.400 think is extremely important and at the same time extremely unsettling, 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:51.640 and that is God is unpredictable. Please don't read what 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:54.279 I'm not writing. Please don't hear what I'm not saying. 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:57.360 I am not saying in any way that there is 0:06:57.560 --> 0:07:01.640 any inconsistency in God's character. That's not what I'm saying. 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:07.560 God is consistently consistent. He's reliably reliable. He is what 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:12.520 the writer of Hebrews calls it calls immutable. He is unchanging. 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:18.120 He's the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. He was a waymaker, 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:21.679 he is a waymaker. He will be a waymaker. He 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:24.480 was a door opener, he is a door opener. He 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:27.800 will be a door opener. He was a healer, he 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:30.640 is a healer, he will be a healer. As a 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.120 matter of fact, the only reason that many of us 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:36.000 are saying in the membrane in the midst of a 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:41.200 pandemic is because God's been consistent. Corona's been unpredictable, but 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:46.440 God's been consistent. The economy's been uncertain, but God's been consistent. 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:50.560 The only reason we're here is because God is consistent. 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:57.320 I'm not saying there's any inconsistency in his character, but 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:05.560 I am saying there isdictability in his activity. In other words, 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:11.760 we can predict who God will be, but we cannot 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:21.400 always accurately anticipate what God will do. We see instances 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:25.080 in scripture in the New Testament, specifically where people found 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:29.640 themselves in dilemmas and in situations and circumstances and Jesus 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:33.080 responded immediately. And then we look in the same New 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:37.400 Testament and we see examples of instances like John eleven 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:40.920 with a dude named Lazarus. Jesus gets word that Lazarus 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:45.880 is sick, and instead of going immediately, he delays himself intentionally. 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:48.840 He says no I'm a wait until about four days 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:52.160 before I get there, because the Sadducees had the teaching 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:54.520 that the spirit of a man didn't leave until after 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:57.080 three days, and so when he got there on the 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:01.319 fourth day, they knew that it was undeniably inexplain a miracle. 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:05.040 See you can predict who he'll be, but you can't 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:09.320 always predict what he'll do. See See, there are some 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:15.200 instances where he healed. Jesus healed people by touching them. 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:18.360 Then there are instances like in Mark five, where someone 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:23.920 got healed by touching the hem of him. She didn't 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:29.720 even touch him, she touched what was touching him. She said, 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:33.480 if I could touch the hem of his garment, I'll 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:36.720 be made whole. There are times where he spoke the 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:42.760 word and healed, and then there are instances where he 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:47.760 spit in dirt, made mud, put mud on a person's 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:51.720 eyes and they got healed. And then there are instances 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:54.839 where individuals like the apostle Paul said, because of the 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:57.160 abundance of revelation given to me, there was given me 0:09:57.200 --> 0:09:58.960 a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of saying to 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:01.640 buffet me this thing. I saw the Lord three times 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:03.440 that it might be removed from me. And on the 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:08.280 third time, God say, nah, my great sufficient, it's God. 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:10.560 You're not gonna change this. No, I'm not gonna change that. 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:15.800 But God the devil Sinnate say yeah, the double sentate. 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:22.760 But I like it, so I'm gonna leave it. God, 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:25.760 I've never been things have never been worse. Yeah, but 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:32.840 spiritually they'd never been better. God, I've never been in 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:35.320 this much pain. You've never been in this much prayer. 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.200 So instead of altering this, I'm gonna give you grace 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:51.120 to endure it. There's no inconsistency in his character, but 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:57.920 there is unpredictability in his activity. Life then will be 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:02.000 full of surprises. So listen to me, family. This means 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:05.720 that the course and the quality of our life is 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:10.280 going to be determined by our ability to handle what 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:18.880 you didn't see coming. Oh. And I know this is unnerving, 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:21.959 and this is unsettling for those of us who are 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:25.960 like me, who prefer the predictable. It's uncomfortable for those 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:29.520 of us who do not like disruption. But if I 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:33.320 want to be used by God, I must be willing 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:37.360 to be disrupted. If I want to be used by God, 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:42.400 I must be willing to be disrupted, because God is 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:47.199 the god of disruption. You'll be minding your business, tending 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:49.760 to sheep, and then all of a sudden he'll start 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:53.320 setting burning bushes on fire. And you thought you were 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:55.800 out of Egypt for the rest of your life, Moses. 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:58.319 And then he starts telling you to take your shoes 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:00.840 off your own holy ground, and he says, I know 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:02.120 you thought you were going to do one thing with 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:04.160 your life, but I'm getting ready to disrupt it. I 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:06.040 don send you back to the place you said you'd 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:11.120 never go back to get you in minding his business 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:17.040 threshing weed in a wine press. Disruption. So the course 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:20.800 in the quality of my life, it's going to be 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:27.600 determined by my ability to handle what I did see coming, 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:36.200 because God in life are full of surprises. This means 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:46.559 the people who live well must be willing to relinquish 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:51.640 what many in our culture are addicted to holding on to, 0:12:53.040 --> 0:13:06.240 and that is control. Control. And what's weird is we 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:12.240 need to relinquish what we really don't have. So we're 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:21.440 relinquishing the illusion of something for peace's sake, because the 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:24.960 idea that we have control is an illusion because we 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:30.199 don't we have responsibility, but not control. We have influence, 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:35.160 but not control. Control is an illusion. Control is reserved 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:40.360 for the sovereign one. And when you attempt, you and 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:44.679 I attempt to take on the responsibility and the weight 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:48.680 of control, we're taking on God weight. And then we're 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:52.160 carrying weight we're not conditioned to carry. And then our 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:56.320 mind and our body begins to respond in inappropriate ways 0:13:56.360 --> 0:13:58.880 to send you a message that you weren't designed to 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:02.320 carry this. You've been designed to focus on today. You 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:05.920 haven't been built to worry about tomorrow. Because while you're sleeping, 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:09.200 I'm the God that never sleeps a sumberus. While you're 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:11.680 trying to figure it out, I'm the God that's already 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:15.360 working it out. That's God weight. You get today, I 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:23.400 got tomorrow control. It's an illusion. It's now try to 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:30.320 take control. I'm taking God weight, and our bodies and 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:34.200 our minds respond in a way letting us know that 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:44.120 we have not been created to carry I have responsibility, now, 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:52.080 I got influence, but I do not have control. So 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:56.720 here's the question. Here's the question, especially for people who 0:14:56.720 --> 0:15:00.760 have already made the decision to become a follower of 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:03.000 the person and the principles of Jesus. Here's the question, 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:15.200 do you only trust God with your past or do 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:25.840 you trust him with your future? Because this means I 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:29.000 must be willing. If I trust him with my future, 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:32.400 I must be willing to wrap my head around and 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:40.920 experience that we see here in this text. This text 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:46.880 teaches us how to manage these surprise seasons. This text 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:50.400 here in Exodus offers us some insight on how to 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:59.320 handle seasons and situations that we didn't see coming. It's interesting, right, 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:04.080 this book of Exodus, which captures Israel's exodus out of Egypt, 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:06.960 it shows us something really interesting to me. It shows 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:12.720 us this. It shows us that we may be able 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:16.800 to ladies and gentlemen look at God's promises and get 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:20.160 a sense of where He's taking us. But the text 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:22.960 teaches that we might be surprised when it comes to 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:28.640 the way he takes us there. Right, because this text 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:32.920 is God's fulfilling of a promise that he makes to 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:37.000 Moses in private. God tells Moses in private, I'm sending 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:40.200 you back to Egypt, and you're going to tell Pharaoh 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:42.840 to let my people go, and you're going to take 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:46.600 my people to a land I promised them it's inhabited 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:49.080 by the Canaan Knites. It's called Canaan Land. It's a 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:51.800 promised land in the Old Testament. It's a New Testament 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:55.240 picture of the life that's available to us in Christ. 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:58.680 And God says to Moses, I'm gonna usual to take 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:02.240 Israel from e to the Promised Land. Those were the 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:07.080 only two destinations in the conversation, Egypt and the Promised Land. 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:12.119 Only two destinations in the conversation, Egypt and the Promised Land. 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:16.560 Only two destinations in the conversation, Egypt and the Promised Land. 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:20.359 So when Moses goes to Israel, he starts preaching God's promise, 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:24.440 and God is gonna take us from Egypt and get 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:28.840 us to the Promised Land. Somebody shout, promise, man, look 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:32.520 at your neighbor and say promised land. Smell the heron, 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:35.800 say I smell Promised Land. And he's preaching, and the 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:39.360 people are excited and they're screaming, and then finally at 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.520 God is making good on the promise. The Bible says 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:45.800 when Pharaoh lets the people go, God did not leave 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:49.560 them on the road through Philistine country, though that was shorter. 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:57.679 Wait a minute, now, Jesus, wait a minute. You said 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:05.240 I was going from Egypt to the Promised Land. You 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:11.240 ain't saying anything about this other route here. No, no, no no, 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:16.679 It's interesting. It says when Pharaoh let him go, God 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:20.639 did not leave them through the Philistine country. Listen to me, family, 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:28.320 though that was shorter. I'm gonna say that again. He 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:34.320 didn't leave them through Philistine country, though that was shorter. 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:39.840 Because the assumption is we're going to have a straight 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:46.240 path to the promise. God said, no, no, no no, no, 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:50.040 even though that's shorter, I can't lead you the short way. 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:54.120 Watch this because if they face war, they might change 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:56.520 their minds and return to Egypt. Don't miss this, family. 0:18:57.280 --> 0:19:04.160 God knows what battles, right, we are not ready to fight. 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:07.720 Did you hear what I just said? He says, Now, 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:10.320 I could take you that way, but if I take 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:12.359 you that way, you're going to be exposed to some 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:15.680 adversity that you're not quite developed for us, and it's 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:18.280 gonna set you back. It would have set them back physically, 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.760 but sometimes it set us back spiritually, and it sets 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:26.359 us back emotionally. And God knows what battles. We are 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:28.359 not ready to fight this way. Mark Batterson puts it, 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:34.119 He says, that's a backside to every blessing. Did you 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:38.080 hear what I just said? So here this They were 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:41.720 ready to get out of Egypt and get into Canaan, 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:45.760 but they were not ready to deal with the adversity 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:55.880 that a short path required. Are y'all following me here? 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:00.440 He says? He says, I know that's shorter, he says, 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:03.879 but it's a backside to that. And you're ready for 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:06.600 the front side, but you're not ready for the backside. 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:10.520 Because to whom so hother much is giving, much is required. 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:13.480 And sometimes I'm not holding you up because you're not 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:16.280 ready for the front side. I'm holding you up because 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:19.480 you're not ready for the backside. Yes, I'm holding I'm 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:21.520 not holding you up because I'm not going to give 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:23.679 it to you. I'm holding you up because when I 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:25.040 give it to you, I want you to be mature 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:26.960 enough to handle it so that you can keep it. 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:29.400 I don't know who this is far, but I want 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:31.840 I want to talk to somebody who feels like you're 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:35.240 experiencing a divine delay. I want you to know it's 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:39.639 just delay, it's not denial, because God knows how to 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:42.280 put you in the right place at the right time. 0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:45.199 Maybe you ready for it, but you're not ready for it. 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:47.880 Did you hear what I just said. Maybe you're ready 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:49.040 for it, but you're not ready for it. You know, 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:50.760 you can be ready for the promotion but not ready 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:54.320 for pressure. You can be ready for elevation but not 0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:58.040 ready for haters. You can be ready for responsibility but 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:00.800 not be ready for being liked. God's like, I got 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:02.439 to make sure that your heart is as good as 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:05.679 your gift. I've got to make sure that your soul 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:09.439 is as whole as your gift is, because if not, 0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:12.040 your gift will lead you and put you in places 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:15.199 and spaces that your heart is not mature enough to handle. 0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:17.480 And a blessing will feel like a curse if you 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:21.600 get it too early. I want somebody to just pause 0:21:21.720 --> 0:21:24.560 right now and just thank God for every time he 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:29.920 delayed something. Thank God not for every open door, but 0:21:29.960 --> 0:21:32.920 for the doors he closed that he knew I wasn't 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:39.360 ready to walk in. God says, no, no, no no, they 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:45.800 face war. They might change their mind and return to Egypt. 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:49.800 So what was the text say? It says something. In 0:21:49.920 --> 0:21:57.000 verse eighteen, it says, so God led the people around 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:05.280 by the desert road toward the Red Sea. Listen to 0:22:05.320 --> 0:22:07.399 this family. This, this is this is really interesting to me, 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:11.040 at least it's interesting to me. It's it's interesting because 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:15.920 one version of the scripture translates this as desert. Some 0:22:16.000 --> 0:22:22.880 others translate this as the wilderness. So this is a 0:22:22.920 --> 0:22:30.600 destination God left out of the conversation because if you 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:34.920 go back and you look at God's conversation with Moses 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:41.119 and Moses's conversation with Israel, there's no mention of a 0:22:41.200 --> 0:22:54.560 desert or wilderness. This means, God, are you all ready 0:22:54.560 --> 0:22:56.680 for this? If you're ready to put, I'm ready in 0:22:56.720 --> 0:22:58.800 the chat. If you're ready, put I'm ready in the chat. 0:22:59.160 --> 0:23:07.200 It means God, God intentionally withheld information from Israel until 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:12.080 they were out of Egypt. I want to make sure 0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:15.119 you heard what I just said. It means stay with me. 0:23:15.359 --> 0:23:22.639 It means that He intentionally withheld information from them until 0:23:22.680 --> 0:23:27.560 they were too far into it. They thought about going back, 0:23:28.000 --> 0:23:30.400 they talked about going back, but they were too far 0:23:30.480 --> 0:23:32.840 into it to go back. And I want to see 0:23:32.880 --> 0:23:36.280 if we can relate to Israel's experience, because I believe 0:23:36.600 --> 0:23:40.960 that sometimes God intentionally withhold's information from us. He says, 0:23:40.960 --> 0:23:43.199 because if you knew everything you were saying yes to, 0:23:43.520 --> 0:23:45.000 I don't know if you would give me a yes. 0:23:45.520 --> 0:23:49.200 So I'm gonna wait until you too far away from Egypt, 0:23:49.600 --> 0:23:53.760 until you recognize everything that you got yourself into, because 0:23:53.760 --> 0:23:56.720 if I let you know in the beginning, you would 0:23:56.720 --> 0:24:07.960 have never left your starting point. Yeah, it takes them 0:24:07.960 --> 0:24:13.320 through this this place wilderness. Now, when I first saw that, 0:24:14.480 --> 0:24:17.840 I'm saying to myself, like, Yo, that's that's negative. I 0:24:18.359 --> 0:24:24.120 don't want the wilderness. I don't want that. That's negative. 0:24:24.800 --> 0:24:31.560 Then some said to me, it's necessary, and I'm saying no. 0:24:31.800 --> 0:24:33.560 So sometimes I get in my head, I'm like, no, 0:24:33.640 --> 0:24:40.359 it's it's negative. No, it's it's necessary. It's negative. It's necessary. 0:24:40.400 --> 0:24:42.560 It's negative, it's necessary. And then this thought came to 0:24:42.640 --> 0:24:46.359 my mind. There's the wilderness is only negative when you 0:24:46.400 --> 0:24:54.800 stay there longer than you have to. Okay, it's it's 0:24:55.000 --> 0:25:01.600 it's the wilderness represents surprise seasons. It represents what you 0:25:01.640 --> 0:25:06.199 didn't see coming. It represents what you cannot predict and 0:25:06.240 --> 0:25:08.919 what you cannot prefer. And God says, this is interesting, 0:25:10.720 --> 0:25:17.719 that wilderness seasons are not necessarily negative and then necessary. 0:25:18.119 --> 0:25:22.520 Listen to this because these seasons, although we don't prefer them, 0:25:23.000 --> 0:25:32.359 are seasons of preparation. And it's weird because it is 0:25:32.760 --> 0:25:39.280 preparation that God keeps you uninformed about, because God's the 0:25:39.320 --> 0:25:43.199 only one that will take you to school, and you 0:25:43.320 --> 0:25:47.080 not even know you in class. You didn't even know 0:25:47.119 --> 0:25:49.840 you went to school until it was over. Is there 0:25:49.840 --> 0:25:52.640 anybody that can look back over your life and say, 0:25:52.720 --> 0:25:55.480 I didn't understand while I went through certain things when 0:25:55.480 --> 0:25:57.520 I was in the middle of it, But then once 0:25:57.560 --> 0:25:59.399 I got on the other side of it and I 0:25:59.480 --> 0:26:03.399 look back, I realized and recognize God was teaching me something. 0:26:03.680 --> 0:26:05.880 And if I didn't learn what I needed to learn 0:26:05.960 --> 0:26:08.679 back then, if I wasn't developed in the ways I 0:26:08.720 --> 0:26:11.359 needed to be developed back then, I wouldn't be in 0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:14.919 the position to handle where I am right now. I 0:26:14.960 --> 0:26:18.199 want to pause for the cause and tell somebody that 0:26:18.359 --> 0:26:21.639 God is not just your savior, He's your teacher and 0:26:21.680 --> 0:26:24.479 he's got you in school right now teaching you some 0:26:24.560 --> 0:26:28.040 things you need to learn. So just sit back, dig 0:26:28.119 --> 0:26:31.440 the scene with the student, lean whoop, whoop, and get 0:26:31.480 --> 0:26:34.960 the lessons so that you can receive the blessing somebody 0:26:35.000 --> 0:26:40.680 praise them on your couch praise them in your living room. 0:26:40.920 --> 0:26:48.200 It's it's it's it's it's interesting here. He sets them 0:26:48.240 --> 0:26:53.080 in this, this wilderness, this desert, says, Yeah, this is 0:26:53.119 --> 0:26:57.960 a place of preparation. And wherever listen to me, family, 0:26:58.280 --> 0:27:05.840 Wherever there's preparation, there pruning. Wherever that's preparation, that's pruning. 0:27:06.400 --> 0:27:09.399 Meaning forward movement is not just attached to what we 0:27:09.520 --> 0:27:12.080 start doing. It is attached to what we stop doing. 0:27:16.440 --> 0:27:20.639 It's pruning. Jesus puts it this way in John fifteen. 0:27:20.640 --> 0:27:27.200 He says, every branch that bears fruit, God prunes so 0:27:27.240 --> 0:27:29.919 that it can produce more fruit. And when I look 0:27:29.960 --> 0:27:31.920 at Israel's experience in the wilderness, I see there's a 0:27:31.960 --> 0:27:35.760 lot of pruning going on. Like, first of all, there's 0:27:35.800 --> 0:27:41.639 pruning of issues. The wildness becomes like an airport hub 0:27:41.680 --> 0:27:44.439 where certain things get dropped off that can't go to 0:27:44.480 --> 0:27:49.480 the final destination. Because sometimes the enemy is not the enemy, 0:27:49.520 --> 0:27:53.800 it's the enemy. And sometimes God drops us in these 0:27:53.800 --> 0:27:56.400 surprise seasons, he says, because I want to give you 0:27:56.440 --> 0:27:58.760 an opportunity to deal with some of the things that 0:27:58.800 --> 0:28:04.240 can't go with you where you're going. Because old new seasons, 0:28:04.320 --> 0:28:06.840 we keep feeling like old seasons if we don't deal 0:28:06.880 --> 0:28:10.960 with old issues. This might be one of the reasons 0:28:11.040 --> 0:28:13.320 why when David defeated Goliath, he went up to him 0:28:13.320 --> 0:28:16.040 and cut off his head. Because sometimes we knock the 0:28:16.080 --> 0:28:18.960 giant down and we think it's dead, and then we 0:28:19.000 --> 0:28:20.760 turn our back on it and try to move forward 0:28:20.760 --> 0:28:23.320 in a new season, and then an old problem rears itself, 0:28:23.480 --> 0:28:25.520 rears its head back up and follows us into a 0:28:25.560 --> 0:28:32.520 new one. Pruning issues. This is really really uncomfortable. People 0:28:32.520 --> 0:28:34.600 get uncomfortable when I talk about this one. But it's 0:28:34.640 --> 0:28:41.000 also a time where there's pruning of individuals. It is 0:28:41.120 --> 0:28:48.240 so important. See Prover thirteen and twenty says walk walk 0:28:48.280 --> 0:28:50.200 with wise men and become wise. But a companion of 0:28:50.280 --> 0:28:57.640 fool suffers harm. Listen to this family. It didn't say 0:28:57.640 --> 0:29:00.400 a fool suffers harm. It says a companion of foolslfs home, 0:29:02.760 --> 0:29:04.920 which means I don't have to be a fool to 0:29:04.960 --> 0:29:11.480 be hurt. I just got to hang out with them. 0:29:11.600 --> 0:29:15.400 The scriptures for doing this don't be deceived. Bad company corrupts, 0:29:15.400 --> 0:29:24.400 good character issues individuals. It's a time where God purgaes 0:29:24.440 --> 0:29:29.840 us of attitudes. Notice the text says they might see 0:29:29.920 --> 0:29:33.400