WEBVTT - Forward Not Finished 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:02.720 Before we get to the message, let me know right 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:06.560 now where are you watching from, where you're joining from 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:10.040 our EPAM around the world. Welcome. I'm excited to bring 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:15.760 God's word to you today. Also April eighteenth through twenty seven, 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:20.520 Elevation Nights dot Com Our Elevation Nights Spring Tour. If 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:25.239 me Holly, Elevation Worship a word from God, the Spirit 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:29.240 of God, your favorite songs. All right, here's where we're coming. Austin, Texas, 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:37.000 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Kansas City, Missouri. I'm there, Denver, Colorado. 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:40.440 That altitude got me. Saint Louis, Missouri, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:45.320 and Toronto, Ontario. We will see you. Elevation Nights dot Com. 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:47.599 Get your tickets right now. Let me know where you're 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:49.599 joining us from. I want to see it in the comments. 0:00:49.960 --> 0:01:02.880 Let's go to the word of God. You that there's 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:09.880 the way they come through. There's so much smart until 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:17.680 the decorory shot said, tell more time. I'll pray there's 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:22.240 the way they come through. Wherever you are, whatever you 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:28.000 have the way man, could you can do exity. There's 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:45.920 so much so de sory got that do come can 0:01:46.000 --> 0:02:07.040 give me Thanks to police fay. That's flood glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory. 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:29.320 I can see you're not done. Is not done with 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:34.120 me yet, is not done with me. The Lord told 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:38.440 me to preach this today. There's so much more to 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:43.919 the story. That's my sermon. There's so much more to 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:48.679 the story. That's it. There's there's so much more to 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:54.720 the story. There's get this in your spirit. I'm gonna 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:58.720 be preaching it through Easter. There's so much more. It 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:02.200 starts today. You can't on the right day. God send 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:04.919 you here all the right say. God puts you on 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:17.200 side at the lifetime. There's so much more. Yes, yes, 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:27.320 so much. You're not done. Let's go to the word 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:32.440 of God. The word of God is powerful. The Word 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:37.680 of God is eternal. The grass withers in the flower fades, 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:41.760 but the word of the lore, it's the story that 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.120 will forever be told, and it will forever be true, 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:49.760 and it will forever be real, and it will forever 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:57.240 be powerful. The Lord gave me seven sermons this week. 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:00.160 My next seven sermons are going to come from my 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:03.800 personal time with Him. That he gave me, and I 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:06.400 asked him could I share it publicly? And he gave 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:10.920 me permission, and I could not be more excited. I 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:13.120 don't put on a card again for just any occasion. 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:18.679 I'm pumped up about it. And if you were wondering 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:23.159 if God is finished with you today, well this should 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:27.000 be more than a confirmation. I've never had a sermon 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:31.000 that the Lord confirmed more than this one ever, and 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:33.280 I've been doing this since I was sixteen, never had 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:36.200 one that God showed me so many different ways what 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:38.440 he wanted me to preach. And what I think is 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:42.200 there must be something that you've been going through or 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:44.960 needing from him, and he wants to get it to you. 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:47.760 So he just put it through my thick skull that 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:50.360 I need to preach it starting today, and I'm gonna 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:53.719 do it like he gave it to me. Deuteronomy, chapter 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:58.520 thirty four. Deuteronomy, y'all didn't shout when I said Deuteronomy. 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:07.120 Y'all wanted he Ephesians, but we got Deuteronomy today. Deuteronomy 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:11.120 thirty four, verse five. Welcome to our epham around the world. 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:14.560 I want everybody to make this affirmation real quick. Just 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:16.599 make it with your mouth or type it if you're online. 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:30.960 Say with God, there's always a way. The Lord gave 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:32.960 me that. Yesterday I was talking to somebody about what 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:35.080 they were going through, and I don't know if she 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:37.000 thought it was weird, but I was like, repeat after me. 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:41.159 I went into pastor Steve mode real quick. I said, 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:43.640 repeat after me. Now you do it too. With God, 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:48.960 there's always a way. Now finish this because this is 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:53.000 the best part of it, and by faith I will 0:05:53.080 --> 0:06:01.480 find it. You feel that it's my spine tinkle. Say 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:05.880 it again. With God, There's always a way, and by 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:10.520 faith I will find it. I hope you're putting that 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:12.560 in the chat. Let the devil know. You might not 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:14.400 be in the building, but you're in the spirit and 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:19.640 God is here and anything is possible. Who am I 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:23.080 to deny what the Lord can do. If he wants 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.200 to heal you, let him through. If he wants to 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:29.160 redeem what you've given up on, let him through. If 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:31.080 he wants to give you wisdom for stuff that you 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:33.680 think you're too stupid to know, let him through. If 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:35.480 he wants to give you a job or a position 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:38.039 that you're not qualified for on paper, let him through. 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:40.640 If he wants to make the next ten years of 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:43.240 your life better than the last ten. Let him through. 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:48.640 Who are you to tell him no? Thank you Jesus 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:55.000 read the scripture Stephen, verse thirty four, Chapter thirty four, 0:06:55.160 --> 0:07:00.680 verse five. And Moses, the servant of the Lord, there 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:05.800 in Moab, as the Lord had said, He buried him 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:11.040 in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Piure. But to 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:17.080 this day no one knows where his grave is. Moses 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:23.119 was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:27.200 I know, I said, old is the goal, but I 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:29.760 don't want to be here around. I don't care what 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:33.200 artificial legs they make. Elon Musk might put an artificial 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:35.880 knees or something like that on me, but I don't 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:39.000 want it, not that long. But watch what the Bible says. 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:43.080 And this is kind of sad. He was one hundred 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:46.720 and twenty when he died, yet his eyes were not weak, 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:52.920 nor his strength gone. And see, we kind of want 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:54.840 to shout on that, but think about it. It's really sad. 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:56.560 It's not something to shout about. It's something to cry 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:00.239 about because it means there was still more in him. 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:06.560 Somebody say, there's more in me? Tell your neighbor. They 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:08.160 don't believe it. When they hear themselves say it, maybe 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:10.800 they'll believe you. Say there's more in you. There's yeah, 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.520 there's more in you. There's more in you. There's more 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:16.080 in you. There's more in you. Now say it again, 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:22.000 there's more in me. Praise to the Lord. So Moses 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:25.440 died there and he still could see, and he was 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:28.800 still strong. But see, he stopped trusting God, so he 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:32.040 couldn't go into the Promised Land. And the Lord takes 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:35.160 him up on this high mountain called Nebo, and he says, 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:38.160 you see all that you see past the Mediterranean. You 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.280 see Jericho. Joshua was going to fight that battle, not you. 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:45.559 I could have used you, But because you broke faith 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.080 with me and didn't honor me enough, the Lord said 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:51.280 you're done. And that's a bad thing, because when God 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:54.199 says it's done, you can sing you're not done with 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:56.800 me yet. If the Lord says, oh, yes I am, 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:03.760 you're done. I was going through criticism one time in 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:07.160 ministry and Joyce Meyer told me, well, Stephen, if Lord's 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:08.360 done with it, you ain't nothing you can do about it. 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:10.000 Might as well trust him and go forward. I was 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:17.400 like yes, ma'am. Now watch this. The Israelites grieved for Moses. 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:22.360 They didn't know where his grave was, but they grieved 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:26.040 for him because God took him and hid the body somewhere. 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:28.800 I'm telling you the Bible is so much of a 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:31.240 better story than you think. The Bible is better than 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:35.120 Breaking Bad and the Walking Dead. The Bible has all 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:37.880 that stuff in it, dead people walking around and all 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:42.079 of that hiding bodies. Who needs gus fring when you 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:47.360 got God. I'm having fun. I'm fired up. This is 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:49.800 my first sermon of my eighteenth year of pastor in 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:57.000 this church. I'm ready to fru They grieved for Moses 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:01.920 in the planes of Moab thirty days month until the 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:07.920 time of weeping and mourning was over. Somebody say over 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.560 the series I'm starting today is called There's so much 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:15.640 more to the story. But the message today and the 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:20.080 word of the Lord for you is forward, not finished. 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:28.640 I gotta be careful because I'll have y'all hear past kickoff. 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:31.679 You won't be home till Rihanna's on the stage. If 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:37.720 I preach it like I'm feeling forward, somebody shot forward? 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:41.679 Where you going forward? You gotta figure it out. No 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:44.959 but I'm going Do you know what it's going to 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:48.280 be like when you get there? No, but I'm going forward, 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:56.439 not finished. In Jesus' name, Sit down, and I dedicate 0:10:56.520 --> 0:11:00.199 these next seven sermons to my oldest son Elijah. Were 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:02.240 not for him, I would not be inspired to preach this. 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:04.760 And I'll explain that to you in a few moments. 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:07.839 But I've never dedicated a series, but I dedicate this 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:15.760 to my oldest boy. Thank you. You know what, I 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:20.320 think that sad scenes sometimes are necessary for the best 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:26.760 stories to be told and unfold. And I read that chapter. 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.400 It's actually what I read last Sunday before I came 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.360 over to our anniversary. I had a note. I thought, well, 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.400 I preached Ephesians for whoever wanted to leave the church 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:38.720 because they don't want to be challenged is already gone. 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:41.199 Because I was saying stuff the last few weeks that 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:44.440 I was like, they are they going to throw something 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:46.719 at me telling you come on, man, live like you 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:50.480 know God, Stop just rolling around in your sin and 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:54.199 calling that grace, get up and do something with it 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:59.360 for the Lord. I mean, we all suck sometimes, but 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:02.920 you know, you've been in a suck season for four years. 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:09.920 Let's go for where moving into it, walking on with 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:13.440 what I've got. I have to move on as a pastor, 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:16.880 with the church that I have after a pandemic. You 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:19.080 have to move on in the season of your life 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:22.400 that you're in with the strength that you have, Gideon, 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:27.240 with the instruments that you have, Moses, Staff, with the 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:32.400 rock that you have, David, with the disciples you have, Jesus, Judas, 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:34.880 Can I get another one? Peter? Can I get another one? 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:38.280 All them might fail you, but you've got to do 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:42.000 it if the Lord called you to do it. And 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:44.959 when I read this last Sunday before I came over, 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:47.559 I had a little note that my next teachings should 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:52.839 be There's so much more to the story. You know, 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:59.520 there always is. If I could teach you anything, don't 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:03.800 believe if anything you hear and only about half of 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:09.400 what you see. Isn't it true when you when you 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:13.439 hear stuff about people, especially now, I mean, we used 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:15.679 to have to say stuff to somebody, but now we 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:18.880 can just say something about somebody instead of to somebody, 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:21.520 So it's never been harder. This is not my message 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:23.000 and this is my soapbox, so I need to be 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:26.439 very careful that I don't waste time on this, but 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:31.280 there's more to the story. Well, that little line that 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:34.400 we were singing from Ephesians three twenty you are more 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:38.480 than able and just confessing there's so much more to 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:44.000 the story is certainly true of this Bible. I think 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:47.920 it's like eleven hundred and eighty nine chapters. I'm not 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:52.440 exactly sure, but in this Bible that we read as Christians, 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:56.680 it's got the first five books called the Pentatuke. Penta 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.720 is the five so it's like pentatonic scale in music 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:03.559 is notes, so penta too. So that's that's what I 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:08.199 was reading last week when I came to church and 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:12.439 I had a preacher in. And now remember this is 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:15.439 my daily Bible reading. And let me just tell you personally, 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:16.599 I was gonna save it to the end, but I 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:18.679 think it'll be good to help you see why this 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:25.200 is important to me. Last year, Elijah, my oldest, says 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:29.680 to me that the Book of Genesis is really weird. 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:35.520 He had been reading through a chapter a day with 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:39.000 Kelsey and they were going through the Bible chapter a 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:41.440 day and he's like every day he comes to me, 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:46.080 he's like, it's getting weirder, crazy, stuff is happening. You're like, 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:48.880 that's a sacrilegious. The Bible isn't weird, it's holy. You 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:53.320 haven't read it. You just pluck little verses out. I 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:55.160 can tell what you are. You got a little verse 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:57.040 of the day app thing. You just read the ones 0:14:57.080 --> 0:15:00.880 you want to read. You really read it in sas frap. 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:04.160 The Bible's not Pg. Thirteen. I think it's always funny 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:05.360 when people are like, oh, I don't think that was 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:07.200 appropriate to put into a sermon that was very adult. 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:14.240 I need a grown up God because I'm fighting grown 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:19.240 up challenges in a hell bent world. And the devil's 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:21.560 been running stuff long enough, because the devil will talk 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:25.200 about it, but we won't. I feel people pucker up 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:28.000 every time I say weird stuff in church, like, hey, 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:31.040 you know the Lord can't accept you and can use you, 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:33.280 even if you were up till three point thirty last 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:36.240 night looking at stuff online. And I feel people go, no, 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:40.280 we can't. Don't say it, but I can feel it anyway. 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:44.400 Elijah said the Book of Genesis is getting weird, and 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:47.280 I said, well, what chapter are you on? And he 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:50.520 said the chapter? And I looked it up that night 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:54.160 and it was a very difficult chapter. And so I 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:56.120 sent a text to him and Kelsey. I said, hey, 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:58.880 so I read that chapter that y'all are on, and 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:00.680 this is just one thought out of the chapter. And 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:02.560 I sent him a little sentence and said, here's a 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:04.480 key verse from that chapter that kind of makes the 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:06.200 whole rest of it make a little bit of sense, 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:09.640 something we can practice in our life. And then I 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:11.720 did it the next day because they texted me back. 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:15.200 They made me feel like I was saying Augustine. They 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:17.520 made me feel like Billy Graham. They were like, oh 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.000 my god, there were like seven mind blow emodes he's 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:23.680 and I'm like, oh, I'm gonna do that again. I 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:26.760 feel affirmed by this. Send it back the next night 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:29.240 another one. Oh my god, this is even better, this 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:32.080 is incredible. This helps us so much. Thank you. And 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:36.120 so the next night I actually officialized it and I 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:38.960 changed the name of the group thread text thing. And 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:41.040 it took me an hour to figure out how to 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:45.960 do that, because I'm old. Old is the goal. That's 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:47.360 my whole goal in life. I want to be old 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:49.000 enough where I don't know how to work this text 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:54.320 message machine like Moses. And so I changed the name 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:57.520 and I called it. I called our text to read 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:00.760 the Bible in four years club. I did a little 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:02.800 bit of the math, and if we only read a 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:05.800 chapter a day, it'd be like four years to read 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:08.840 the whole Bible that way. And I Totalijah, I'm like, 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:11.840 we got to go faster, man, I got to get 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:16.040 to Matthew. I cannot be stuck over here in Leviticus 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:19.479 for this long. It's too long. He's like, no, Dad, 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:20.840 I really want to see what the Bible's all about. 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:22.119 That's why I started the club. I'm like, all right, 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:24.440 you're the president. I'm just a secretary treasurer. You do 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:27.359 the key Verse this week. So he did the one 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:30.640 the next night and it was good. Not as good 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:34.280 as mine. I've been doing this a long time, but 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:37.200 he did pretty good. And then Kelsey did one pretty good, 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:40.320 and then I was back to me him Kelsey boom 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:43.360 boom boom. So we're moving. We're moving through Exodus, we're 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:46.920 moving through Leviticus. About halfway through Leviticus, Elijah goes, this 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:50.800 is crazy. The Bible is so much better when you 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:56.040 actually read it as a story instead of just selections 0:17:56.960 --> 0:18:00.119 that you take like a little shot, like a be 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:04.159 twelve shot to get you through the day. I got 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:06.800 to be three shot. They gets you through the week 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:09.960 if you need it. If I preach good, that's what 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:12.439 that organ is called, the B three Show them how 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:16.840 sounds lja. Yeah, we could do it. We can do 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:19.160 it in a minute. We can do it in a minute. 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:21.440 We could do it in a minute. We could do 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:25.200 it in a minute. Stop. So he said, it's so 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:28.159 much better. And there's he said, I've got so much 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:30.800 invested in the Israelites. Now I want to see what happens. 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:35.919 And I'm like, uh, oh, this is not the winning 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:39.879 team that you want to cheer for because I know 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:43.880 they screw it up at every turn. At every turn, 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:46.080 even when they get in the Promised Land, they just 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:50.199 gotta be like the Canaanites. They just gotta Intermary. They 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:53.439 just gotta go worship these other gods. So now they 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:56.640 go go and get to captivity two different times, even 0:18:56.680 --> 0:19:00.280 when Jesus came. So I'm like, oh, oh, there's this 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:03.120 is a roller coaster, man, hang in there. But we've 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:07.040 been doing it. And guess what. This year, at the 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:10.919 beginning of the year, we accepted our first new member 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:15.199 on a trial basis to the Book of Deuteronomy. Holly 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:17.920 is now a part of the Read the Bible in 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:25.080 four Years club, and last Sunday we finished Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:28.960 chapter thirty four was the last one, and I read 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:32.640 it and I'm like, this is so sad. Dude. Moses 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:34.840 is up on a mountain. He had a horrible thing 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.480 that you can see, something that God wants to give you, 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:42.399 but you can't bring it into reality. I'd rather not 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:46.840 even know that God promised it to me than to 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:49.720 hear people talk about it and to see people walk 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:53.560 in it. And man, their marriage seems happy, and their 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.600 kids are in church with them, and I can't get 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:59.399 my kid to come to church. And there's old Pastor 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:02.000 Steve up there telling about the Bible club with his boy, 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:06.640 and that must be nice. You know, you can see things, 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:16.680 but you only see scenes. You don't know stories. You 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:21.240 don't know the story. There's so much more to the story. 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:25.280 Elijah says. Somebody told him the other day Justin Bieber 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:27.639 was at our house for the weekend. I said, it 0:20:27.640 --> 0:20:29.240 would have been nice to know. I'd have made him 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:32.439 sing on Sunday how to put him up on Gyra 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:36.640 talk to Justin Bieber. I don't know Justin Bieber, who 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:42.960 makes this stuff up? Where's this stuff come from? God 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:44.520 really say you must not eat of any tree in 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:49.000 the garden. Matter of fact, he didn't serpent devil. He 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:51.240 said we can eat any tree, just not one. But 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:55.360 you see how the spin gets you in a story, 0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:02.960 and there's so much more to the story. I always 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:05.280 listen to people these days, kind of imagining what the 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:08.680 other person might say if they were there to defend themselves. 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:14.119 I know there's more to the story now in defense 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:20.879 of Moses, come on, I did good. I led these rebellious, 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:24.520 stiff necked people for forty years. You think you would 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:28.400 have done better. You're only forty days into the new year, 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:31.680 and you've broken every New Year's resolution that you've got, 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:36.879 and three from your neighbors. There's more to the story, 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:39.880 you know, just to read it as hey. Moses died 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:42.119 because he struck the rock instead of speaking to it, 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:44.560 and he couldn't go into the Promised Land because he 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:47.000 didn't have faith. That is a summary, but it's not 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:51.920 the story. That's a summary. That's not the story. Little 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:57.399 side note, don't trust the summary. Parenting note when your 0:21:57.480 --> 0:21:59.879 kid comes home and says that teacher just told me 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:02.440 to sit down and shut up, and I didn't do anything. 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:06.200 You believe that from your kid. You believe that that's 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:09.320 my baby. Yeah, that's your baby, and your baby is 0:22:09.400 --> 0:22:21.879 full of Your baby is got some bs blanket statements. Now, 0:22:22.040 --> 0:22:26.119 So to say that Moses still died with more in 0:22:26.280 --> 0:22:28.720 him is a little bit of a blanket statement, because 0:22:28.760 --> 0:22:32.280 he did a lot. In fact, the writer of Deuteronomy, 0:22:32.480 --> 0:22:36.280 who some belief was Moses, said and nobody ever did 0:22:36.480 --> 0:22:40.320 more for God than Moses. And it also says that 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:43.919 he was the humblest man who ever lived. So if 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:49.960 he wrote that, then that's very paradoxical, ironic and funny 0:22:50.000 --> 0:22:54.119 to me. And so the Lord takes him up on 0:22:54.160 --> 0:22:57.119 a mountain and he spent the whole book of Deuteronomy 0:22:57.960 --> 0:23:01.320 giving a speech. You know, make sure that when God 0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:04.240 brings you into the land, that you are the kind 0:23:04.280 --> 0:23:06.760 of person that can sustain the blessing that He wants 0:23:06.840 --> 0:23:09.720 to give you, so that you don't receive the blessing 0:23:09.840 --> 0:23:16.120 and sabotage it because of selfishness, because of a lack 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:19.399 of focus, and because of a lack of gratitude. And 0:23:19.480 --> 0:23:22.200 the Lord takes Moses up on a mountain. We've seen 0:23:22.400 --> 0:23:26.840 Moses go on mountains before, you know, and when he 0:23:26.920 --> 0:23:32.040 went up, he always came down with something important. God 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:33.960 calls him up on a mountain. He's up there forty 0:23:34.080 --> 0:23:38.000 days and comes down with the Ten Commandments to find 0:23:38.080 --> 0:23:42.200 the children of Israel dancing around a golden calf. And 0:23:42.320 --> 0:23:45.480 when he confronted them about it, the leader said, oh, yeah, 0:23:45.880 --> 0:23:47.760 I threw some stuff in the fire and the cow 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:52.280 came out. I think there's probably more to the story. 0:23:53.480 --> 0:23:55.520 Do you know what I'm saying, Aaron, Come on, man, 0:23:55.640 --> 0:23:58.240 I was born on the day, but it wasn't yesterday. 0:23:58.359 --> 0:24:01.320 Come on, man, this is crazy. Breaks the tablets, has 0:24:01.359 --> 0:24:04.040 to go back and get him. When Moses goes on 0:24:04.160 --> 0:24:11.600 the mountain, he always comes back down. So Moses goes 0:24:11.680 --> 0:24:15.000 up on the mountain this time. He already knows that 0:24:15.119 --> 0:24:18.600 God is not going to let him go into the 0:24:18.680 --> 0:24:21.200 next level of leadership. That's going to be Joshua's job. 0:24:22.400 --> 0:24:25.280 Joshuall be In one of the twelve spies, one of 0:24:25.320 --> 0:24:27.680 the only two spies of the twelve who believed that 0:24:27.720 --> 0:24:30.840 God could do what he said he could do. So 0:24:31.000 --> 0:24:32.840 that's why he gets to go in, and that's why 0:24:32.920 --> 0:24:36.800 he gets to lead. And the people are all waiting, 0:24:36.920 --> 0:24:40.200 no doubt, for Moses to come down, even though he's 0:24:40.200 --> 0:24:42.239 told them, I'm not coming back because God's not going 0:24:42.280 --> 0:24:45.160 to let me do it. Don't you think they probably 0:24:45.200 --> 0:24:48.960 had a hard time believing that. Don't you think that 0:24:49.840 --> 0:24:53.159 when he didn't come down at first, they've experienced so 0:24:53.280 --> 0:24:58.520 much grace from God that they think, surely, if anybody 0:24:58.600 --> 0:25:02.000 can get God to change his mind, it's Moses. He 0:25:02.080 --> 0:25:04.520 did that one time. God told Moses, I'm gonna kill 0:25:04.560 --> 0:25:06.200 all of them and give you a new nation. We'll 0:25:06.240 --> 0:25:07.760 start all over me and you and do it better 0:25:07.840 --> 0:25:11.080 this time. Moses said, but then you won't get the 0:25:11.160 --> 0:25:15.639 glory if you destroy your people. What will happen to 0:25:15.760 --> 0:25:19.480 your name? Everybody will hear about that. And God said, 0:25:19.480 --> 0:25:23.679 all right, all right, I'll forgive them because you asked 0:25:24.960 --> 0:25:29.400 this time. Listen to me, He's not coming back down. 0:25:31.160 --> 0:25:32.879 How long would it take to accept that if you 0:25:32.920 --> 0:25:35.840 were one of them? How long does it take us, 0:25:35.880 --> 0:25:38.480 in seasons of transition in our own life to accept 0:25:39.520 --> 0:25:42.520 it's not going to be like it was. I can 0:25:42.640 --> 0:25:45.399 keep trying to make it like it was. I can 0:25:45.560 --> 0:25:47.640 keep wishing that it had gone different than it did. 0:25:48.560 --> 0:25:50.680 I can keep on talking about when I was in 0:25:50.840 --> 0:25:55.960 high school. You should have seen me on Friday Night. Man, 0:25:56.080 --> 0:25:58.920 I was the man back then. You can buy the 0:25:58.960 --> 0:26:04.000 same car that you had back then, but some of 0:26:04.080 --> 0:26:09.080 the stuff won't work under the hood. I'm gonna stop 0:26:09.520 --> 0:26:12.000 right there, because this is one of those pucker up 0:26:12.040 --> 0:26:15.240 moments that y'all give me. There is a moment in 0:26:15.359 --> 0:26:20.920