1 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:04,760 Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 2 00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 3 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 4 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:12,639 Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 5 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 6 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:21,600 Speaker 1: Are you ready for the Word of God? You sounded 7 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:23,840 Speaker 1: about thirty percent as ready as I need you to be. 8 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: Let me ask, y'all, are you all ready for the 9 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 1: Word of God. Helpy Skinner is coming to preach in 10 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:37,040 Speaker 1: just a moment. Hang on before he comes. This is 11 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: an epic warrior for Jesus Christ. Larry Bride. Larry and 12 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:46,920 Speaker 1: Janet were two of the original core team members of 13 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:49,879 Speaker 1: our church. They've been with me all the way. They 14 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: believed in this church when it was nothing more than 15 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:56,160 Speaker 1: a sonogram. Janet told me, because she was my dental 16 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: hygienists at the time, I said I'm going to plant 17 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 1: a church. She said, have fun with that. I would 18 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: never go. Fifteen years later, she's on the front road, 19 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:12,399 Speaker 1: but I'll get out of the way because I want 20 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:14,520 Speaker 1: to give him the pulpit. I just wanted to say 21 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: that this ministry would not be possible without this man. 22 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 1: From the time that he almost rammed the gate with 23 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: his truck at a storage unit to get our equipment 24 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:26,480 Speaker 1: so we could have church at the Providence High School 25 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 1: at Trim in the early days, to the day that 26 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:31,039 Speaker 1: he almost broke the window out of my jeep Cherokee 27 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: so I could have a prop for a sermon illustration. 28 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 1: As you can see, he's got an anointing of violence 29 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: and I love them for it. He hails from Minnesota. 30 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: He is a former NCAA Division one National Champion wrestler 31 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:46,960 Speaker 1: or something like that. Maybe not, he wasn't that good, 32 00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 1: but he used to wrestle. And what I want you 33 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: to know about your dad, Corbyn is that he's had 34 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,320 Speaker 1: my back at every turn, no matter what I've asked 35 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:58,080 Speaker 1: him to do for the ministry Daylan, He's had my 36 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:02,000 Speaker 1: back at every turn. It's absolutely amazing that whatever we 37 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:03,680 Speaker 1: asked him to do to serve God, he did it. 38 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: There are pastors and ministry that we're burning out and 39 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: we would always send your dad and we say, if 40 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 1: we can send him lb, it'll be like a intravenous anointing. 41 00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 1: Thousands of churches around the world would say we would 42 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:21,560 Speaker 1: not be who we are without him. And I say 43 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 1: that to you today, Thank you for everything you've sown. 44 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: I want you to welcome to this pulpit today the 45 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: man who has had more job titles at Elevation Church 46 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: than I've had hair styles, the Great Larry Bride, come on, 47 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 1: help help help me. How are we doing elevation? Oh? 48 00:02:53,240 --> 00:03:01,160 Speaker 1: I said, how are we doing elevation? Woo? It's hard 49 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:05,240 Speaker 1: to come up after that, Pastor Stephen, I love you. 50 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:09,120 Speaker 1: Fifteen years ago I said to all that you have 51 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: in mind, know with you heart and soul, my answers Yes. Now, 52 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: whatever question you ask, the answer will always be yes. 53 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:17,040 Speaker 1: I wonder if you've already said yes to the question 54 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: that's waiting to be asked of you. I wonder what 55 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: would happen of your life if you predetermined the answer 56 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: before you ever asked the questions. Let's not have conditional faith. 57 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: Let's not have a faith it's based upon convenience or 58 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:33,360 Speaker 1: comfort is simply saying yes, Lord, Yes, Lord. And in 59 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: the past year and a half, all of us have 60 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 1: experienced this thing called COVID. And I think there's two 61 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: parts of every story that I get into that I 62 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: always hear, and the first one is something like this, 63 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: and then COVID happened. They could be talking about a marriage, 64 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: they could be talking about a funeral, they could be 65 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:50,840 Speaker 1: talking about school, they could be talking about alone, and 66 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 1: then COVID happened, and it's real. It happened. It did, 67 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:56,960 Speaker 1: and it's affected all of our lives. But there's always 68 00:03:56,960 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: the second part of every story that I'm a part of. 69 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:01,920 Speaker 1: Anybody who goes to elevation. First part is then COVID happened, 70 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:04,960 Speaker 1: and the second part is and then Pastor Stephen preached, 71 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:09,680 Speaker 1: it's real COVID happened, but there's a greater reality in 72 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:12,240 Speaker 1: the word of God. I'm so glad that we live 73 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:16,200 Speaker 1: in a house that there's a greater reality. And then 74 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:20,919 Speaker 1: Pastor Stephen preached, what was it for you? Because he 75 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:24,000 Speaker 1: preaches sermons every week that'll encourage you. But there's some 76 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:28,360 Speaker 1: that marked the moment. Maybe it was comfort food, same 77 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 1: Devil's new levels, built different what you call small unlearn 78 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:39,520 Speaker 1: your limitations. For me, though, it was it was lonely places. 79 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:43,880 Speaker 1: That was the sermon that marked COVID for me, because 80 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:47,440 Speaker 1: COVID affected us. But there's a greater reality, and there 81 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:49,279 Speaker 1: was thirty people in the room last July when Pastor 82 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:51,920 Speaker 1: Stephen preached this sermon, and he walked off the stage 83 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:54,480 Speaker 1: into that entire section here at Balentown, there's nobody in it. 84 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:57,680 Speaker 1: And he got in the fourth row, one two three, four, 85 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:00,360 Speaker 1: second seat over and he sat there and he talked 86 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:05,560 Speaker 1: about the lonely places. And for me, that hit me 87 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,880 Speaker 1: because that lonely place, I wanted to stay as far 88 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:12,920 Speaker 1: away from it as I could. I stay away from 89 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,240 Speaker 1: it by getting busy just saying how you doing today, 90 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:19,839 Speaker 1: blessed highly favored brother, Like, I'll do everything I can 91 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:25,840 Speaker 1: to avoid that lonely place. But Pastor Stephen does this 92 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: thing where he kind of forces you into that seat 93 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:30,040 Speaker 1: in a loving way, and he forces you to look 94 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:33,240 Speaker 1: at what you've been hiding from. And today I want 95 00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: to talk about what God showed me in that lonely place. 96 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 1: I watched the sermon eight times that week, and I 97 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:43,119 Speaker 1: cried every time because God was revealing wave after wave 98 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: after wave of his revelation of the place that I 99 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: didn't want to get to. That I found the blessing 100 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:49,760 Speaker 1: when I sat in it. And I just want to 101 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: unpack for a few moments with you. What God showed 102 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:54,480 Speaker 1: me in that lonely place. Maybe this would encourage you 103 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:57,320 Speaker 1: for anybody's in that lonely place, for anybody who feels 104 00:05:57,320 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 1: like they're outcast or overlooked, for anybody who feels like 105 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:01,920 Speaker 1: they're marginal or push to the periphery of life. This 106 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:03,839 Speaker 1: is a word for you. God's gonna meet you in 107 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:05,800 Speaker 1: this place, and it's not just gonna encourage you. It's 108 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:08,280 Speaker 1: gonna mark the moment. It's gonna mark the moment of 109 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: your life. Help me thank Pastor Stephen every week for 110 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:13,719 Speaker 1: getting in this pulpit and preach your words that we 111 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:17,360 Speaker 1: live on. I love me, Pastor Stephen, Thank you, We 112 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:20,600 Speaker 1: honor you. And the character I want to give you 113 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:23,360 Speaker 1: a couple verses and then he'll be seated. The character 114 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: that God led me to is Moses. It's in Exodus 115 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:30,400 Speaker 1: chapter three, just a few verses. This is what I 116 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 1: learned in that lonely place that maybe you to be 117 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: encouraged with Exodus three, verses one to six. It says 118 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father 119 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:40,400 Speaker 1: in law, the priest Obmitian. He led the fuck flocked 120 00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 1: to the far side of the wilderness and came to 121 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: horror of the mountain of God. They're an angel of 122 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:47,120 Speaker 1: the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from 123 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:50,400 Speaker 1: within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was 124 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: on fire, it did not burn up. So Moses thought, 125 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,839 Speaker 1: I will go over and see this strange sight. Why 126 00:06:56,839 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: does this bush not burn up? When the Lord saw 127 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:02,720 Speaker 1: that Moses had gone over to look, he called him 128 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:07,920 Speaker 1: from within the bush, Moses. Moses. Moses said, here I am. 129 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:10,280 Speaker 1: We would do well to consider the cadence of this text. 130 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 1: God is present, but his voice is absent, and it's 131 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 1: easy for us to stand at a distance saying God speak, 132 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:22,520 Speaker 1: but her feet aren't moving. And the progression of the 133 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:26,240 Speaker 1: text indicates that as Moses moved, God spoke. And I 134 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: want to celebrate your decision to move towards God today, 135 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:30,400 Speaker 1: to get out of bed and go to the Orlando campus, 136 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:32,520 Speaker 1: to get out of bed and go to the Gaston campus, 137 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:34,480 Speaker 1: to roll over in bed, and to click on the 138 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: Lincoln just to watch those small movements God sees. And 139 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:40,760 Speaker 1: when you make one small step towards God, he comes 140 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:43,640 Speaker 1: moving towards you. As some of you fell like God, 141 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: you're at a distance, And I can't hear you. Just 142 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 1: move towards him and trust that he will speak to you. Today, says, 143 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:55,400 Speaker 1: do not come any closer. God said, take off your 144 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 1: sandals for the place where you are standing his holy ground. 145 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: Then he said, I am the God of your the 146 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:02,600 Speaker 1: God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God 147 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 1: of Jacob. At this Moses hid his face because he 148 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 1: was afraid to look at God. And for a few 149 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 1: minutes we have together. I want to considered this subject. 150 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:17,280 Speaker 1: I need your help announcing the sermon title to your neighbor. 151 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:19,400 Speaker 1: If you're in a room, maybe you'd say it out 152 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:23,160 Speaker 1: loud to your cat, it's this. It's look at you. 153 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:24,840 Speaker 1: Look at your neighbor and say this to him. Say 154 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: let's face it now. Maybe there's somebody else you would 155 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: have preferred to talk to. Look at them and say 156 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 1: let's face it. Maybe in the comments you would drop 157 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,680 Speaker 1: in like some emojis, type in the title less face 158 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:37,679 Speaker 1: you guys can be seated here at balance on all 159 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:40,840 Speaker 1: of our locations. Thank you, worship team. Now. When I 160 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 1: was in third grade, I loved school. I loved it. 161 00:08:44,160 --> 00:08:46,080 Speaker 1: I would sit for hours in the living room and 162 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 1: doing my math and doing my science and doing my words. 163 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:52,160 Speaker 1: It was amazing. I would hear my mom, little Dorothy 164 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:54,319 Speaker 1: four foot eleven, on a good day. She would be 165 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:56,199 Speaker 1: yelling from the kitchen like, I'm so proud of you, 166 00:08:56,320 --> 00:09:00,480 Speaker 1: my baby, hur glees, you looked, You're so good. And 167 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:03,000 Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, my mom is proud of me. I'm smart. 168 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:07,400 Speaker 1: She's like, you're so smart, You're so smart. And then 169 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:10,160 Speaker 1: one day at school, my third grade teacher, Missus Rasmus, 170 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:12,560 Speaker 1: and she gave me a note to take home to 171 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:15,800 Speaker 1: my mom. It was stapled together, and I thought, oh, 172 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 1: my gosh, she wants to like throw a party from 173 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:19,760 Speaker 1: me or something. She's so proud of me. I bet 174 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 1: I'm gonna win like student of the Month award or 175 00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 1: something like that. So, of course I did what every 176 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 1: third grader does. I opened the note. I did staple 177 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:28,600 Speaker 1: didn't mean anything that was insignificant. I opened the note, 178 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:32,240 Speaker 1: but I tried to read it. But that was the problem. 179 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:35,440 Speaker 1: I couldn't read very good. And so I can make 180 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:37,720 Speaker 1: out a couple of words. I can make out one 181 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 1: of the words like special. I'm like, oh, Missus Rasmussen 182 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:45,720 Speaker 1: thinks I'm special. Oh, this is amazing. Yes, Missus Rasmus 183 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:48,079 Speaker 1: is thank you, and then I can make out another 184 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:52,560 Speaker 1: word like slow. I'm like, obviously she's not seen me. 185 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:55,320 Speaker 1: In pe like, I am the fastest kid in the school, 186 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 1: Missus rasmus, and I am very fast, fooking me, she 187 00:09:58,559 --> 00:10:00,960 Speaker 1: must not have seen me. And I came to this 188 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:02,880 Speaker 1: other word that I tried to read, and I like, 189 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 1: I asked my buddy Paul, I said what's this word? 190 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:10,520 Speaker 1: And he said remedial. I said, what's that meaning? He said, 191 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:15,640 Speaker 1: it means you're stupid. And I can tell you what 192 00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:18,920 Speaker 1: I was wearing. I could tell you where I was standing. 193 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:21,560 Speaker 1: And that was the first moment in my life. I 194 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:25,600 Speaker 1: felt shame. I felt it. It was like a clo, 195 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:28,000 Speaker 1: like a coat you put on me, and I wore it. 196 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:31,080 Speaker 1: And so I took the note and I folded it 197 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:32,719 Speaker 1: back up, and I'm trying to figure out in a 198 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: way to give this to my mom. But I'm not 199 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:35,720 Speaker 1: going to give it to my mom. So I took 200 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: my little Duke's of hazard lunchbox. And on one side 201 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:41,040 Speaker 1: it opened up and you had the thermis and all 202 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:42,360 Speaker 1: this stuff and it. But on the other side, if 203 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:44,440 Speaker 1: it had like a secret compartment, the other lid opened, 204 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:46,480 Speaker 1: and you would put your napkin in there and your 205 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:48,880 Speaker 1: soup spoon and all that stuff. So I thought, that's 206 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 1: where I'm going to put my note. So I hit 207 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:54,880 Speaker 1: it in that little secret compartment. So when I took 208 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:56,439 Speaker 1: it home and I gave my mom my lunchbox. The 209 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:58,079 Speaker 1: next day missus rasmus and said, did you give the 210 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:01,920 Speaker 1: note to your mom? I'm like, yes, I did. Isn't 211 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:04,120 Speaker 1: it amazing what shame will cause you to do that's 212 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:08,400 Speaker 1: inconsistent with your character? Isn't it amazing what shame will 213 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:12,439 Speaker 1: get you to do? And that day I went home, 214 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 1: my mom said, are you gonna do your math? I 215 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:19,720 Speaker 1: remember telling you no, Mom, I'm not very good at it. 216 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:23,320 Speaker 1: She's what do you mean? I just I'm kind of 217 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: done with that, mom. So I go back to school 218 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:28,640 Speaker 1: and the next week, teacher's like, will your mom hasn't 219 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 1: called me because there was no text message back in 220 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:33,000 Speaker 1: this day, And she goes, here's another note. Take it home. 221 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:34,400 Speaker 1: So I put it right with the other note in 222 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: my duke's that it has her lunchbox. A couple of 223 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 1: weeks go by, she finally feels like, I don't think 224 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:39,840 Speaker 1: your mom's getting these notes. So here's what we're gonna do. 225 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:44,280 Speaker 1: She staples the note to my shirt. True story. Of course, 226 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:45,640 Speaker 1: I took it off my shirt and I put it 227 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:48,319 Speaker 1: right in with the other ones. And a couple of 228 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 1: weeks go by, and Missus Rasmus is like, make sure 229 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: you give your mom that note so she can call me. 230 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:54,600 Speaker 1: And I can't even look at her, because you know, 231 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:56,559 Speaker 1: what shame causes you to do, doesn't even let you 232 00:11:56,559 --> 00:11:59,120 Speaker 1: look anybody in the face. Shame makes you feel so 233 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:01,679 Speaker 1: unworthy you can't look at anybody. I can't even look 234 00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:04,640 Speaker 1: at Missus Rasmussen. And that little boy who used to 235 00:12:04,679 --> 00:12:06,719 Speaker 1: do all those math things died and he would never 236 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:09,120 Speaker 1: come alive again. And I'm walking on the way out 237 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,640 Speaker 1: to the school bus and accidentally hit my lunchbox against 238 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:15,840 Speaker 1: the desk and it opens up and out floats all 239 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:21,439 Speaker 1: my notes. Missus Rasmussen sees it. She's like, Larry, and 240 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:26,240 Speaker 1: I hide my face and I just start crying. She 241 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:29,520 Speaker 1: comes in so gender gently and she says, LB, Larry. 242 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:33,680 Speaker 1: She says, you've got a learning disability. But I'm with you. 243 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: She said, let's face it. So in the text, when 244 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:40,640 Speaker 1: Moses hides his face, I identify with that situation. That's 245 00:12:40,679 --> 00:12:43,320 Speaker 1: the lonely space. That's the place where you go to 246 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:45,040 Speaker 1: where you hide your face because you don't even feel 247 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:47,440 Speaker 1: worthy to look anybody else in the face. That's that 248 00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:50,199 Speaker 1: lonely space for me. So when God comes to Moses 249 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,480 Speaker 1: in this scene in chapter three of Exodus, I get it. 250 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:55,600 Speaker 1: God's got a job for him to do, and he's like, 251 00:12:55,679 --> 00:12:58,560 Speaker 1: not me. He gives them all these excuses, not me, 252 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:01,440 Speaker 1: Send somebody else? Should I tell him? What about all 253 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:04,960 Speaker 1: these things? And finally he gives this answer. In verse 254 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,160 Speaker 1: ten of chapter four says Moses said to the Lord, 255 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:11,960 Speaker 1: pardon your servant. Lord, I've never been eloquent, neither in 256 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:14,880 Speaker 1: the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. 257 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:18,800 Speaker 1: I am slow of speech and sung. And if you've 258 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 1: grown up around the church world, you've heard that voice before. 259 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:23,520 Speaker 1: And every time you hear the character of Moses preach, 260 00:13:23,559 --> 00:13:25,640 Speaker 1: he sounds a little bit like Forrest Gump with a stutter, 261 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:30,720 Speaker 1: because I can't talk very good. And that's the story 262 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:33,000 Speaker 1: you've heard your whole life, and you've believed a lie 263 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:37,320 Speaker 1: because that's not true. This is the part about the 264 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:40,760 Speaker 1: lonely place and makes you believe lies. That are not real. 265 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:45,200 Speaker 1: They're not real. Because as I jumped into this lonely 266 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:48,080 Speaker 1: place and I started to inspect the story of Moses, 267 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:51,319 Speaker 1: I came to the Book of Acts where it's recorded. 268 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:54,439 Speaker 1: Luke records this in seven twenty two, and this busted 269 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:57,120 Speaker 1: the bubble of my perception of Moses. And maybe God 270 00:13:57,160 --> 00:13:59,880 Speaker 1: wants to bust your bubble for how you see yourself today, 271 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:03,920 Speaker 1: the stereotypes you have labeled yourself with the things you said, 272 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:07,600 Speaker 1: I'm not going to do math because I'm dumb, because 273 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:09,559 Speaker 1: in Acts seven twenty two it says this is as 274 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:13,800 Speaker 1: Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians 275 00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:20,480 Speaker 1: and was powerful is speech and what like. That's got 276 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:23,040 Speaker 1: to be a typo that doesn't really happen. That's not 277 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:25,040 Speaker 1: in the Bible. Because I always thought that Moses was 278 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: slow and he was dumb. But what you're telling me 279 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:29,680 Speaker 1: is in the text. If there's a place where it 280 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:32,640 Speaker 1: says he was powerful in speech and an action. It's 281 00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:35,240 Speaker 1: the same word the pastor referenced a couple of weeks 282 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:37,240 Speaker 1: ago when you talked about the Holy Spirit, when it 283 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 1: comes on you, it will give you power. It's the 284 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:42,600 Speaker 1: same word that te's talked of Jesus. He says, with him, 285 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:47,080 Speaker 1: all things are possible. So if the limitless potential of 286 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:50,720 Speaker 1: God is in this moment, why is Moses responding with 287 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:55,920 Speaker 1: an inferior answer? And it made me examine myself. Are 288 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:59,840 Speaker 1: my answers really just excuses rooted in insecurity or are 289 00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:06,080 Speaker 1: they responses grounded in truth? What answers have you been 290 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:09,680 Speaker 1: giving that are rooted in insecurity? Because it's the story 291 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:12,680 Speaker 1: you believed when you were in third grade? I'm stupid? 292 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:17,520 Speaker 1: Where's that at? This is the lonely place for me? 293 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:19,680 Speaker 1: This is the place when God took me to that 294 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:21,600 Speaker 1: space I didn't want to look at because I couldn't 295 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:28,040 Speaker 1: look at myself. But before we impuneis character, it's important 296 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 1: that we look at the backstory. Never judge the behavior 297 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:34,160 Speaker 1: without knowing the backstory, and then never never because how 298 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: did he get here? That would be a good question 299 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:38,120 Speaker 1: for you to type into the comments. How did you 300 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:40,280 Speaker 1: get here? How did you get to this point? How 301 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:42,000 Speaker 1: did you get to these beliefs? How did you get 302 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:44,480 Speaker 1: into the system where that defines through you are? How 303 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:47,040 Speaker 1: did you get here? And you're just saying, well, I'm 304 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:49,400 Speaker 1: just not very smart. That's a lie, shut your pie hole. 305 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 1: That's not true. But Moses believed it. But God simply 306 00:15:55,600 --> 00:15:59,040 Speaker 1: ministered to Moses in the moment. But let's look at 307 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 1: the backstory. I want to summarize. If you flip a 308 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:04,800 Speaker 1: chapter over into Exodus chapter two, you could type into 309 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:06,800 Speaker 1: the comments this would be your additional reading during the week. 310 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:09,280 Speaker 1: Verses one to ten. Let me just summarize for you. 311 00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:11,840 Speaker 1: Moses is born onto the scene. He's got a mom 312 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 1: and a dad, am Ram his dad, and Jocobed is mom. 313 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:19,440 Speaker 1: And at that time an issue, an order had been 314 00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:23,560 Speaker 1: issued among the Israelites from Pharaoh, the king of the Egyptians, 315 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:26,360 Speaker 1: who said, hey, the firstborn must be thrown into the 316 00:16:26,440 --> 00:16:29,120 Speaker 1: Nile river. The Israelites are getting too big. We can't 317 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:31,880 Speaker 1: let him overtake us, so we need to exterminate some 318 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:34,640 Speaker 1: of them. So they have a baby, and the scripture 319 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:37,200 Speaker 1: says that he was a fine child. It says that 320 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:40,280 Speaker 1: he was special in the king James. It says goodly. 321 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:44,760 Speaker 1: It's the same word that when God created he said 322 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:49,600 Speaker 1: it was very good. The mark of God was on Moses. 323 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:51,640 Speaker 1: His mom and dad saw it, and they said we 324 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:55,720 Speaker 1: have to protect it. And so this week, when somebody 325 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:58,080 Speaker 1: asks you how you doing. Don't let it be just 326 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:00,840 Speaker 1: a back end comments and I'm good. No, no no, no, 327 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 1: say say I'm good. I'm good. God made me, God 328 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:10,720 Speaker 1: formed me, God fashioned me. I'm good. I'm good. And 329 00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:12,800 Speaker 1: Moses mom and dad and they saw it. So they 330 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:18,240 Speaker 1: hid him for three months. Wait, no, as a grown man, 331 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:22,879 Speaker 1: he's hiding his face. And his life started at obscurity. 332 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:25,960 Speaker 1: Being hidden by his parents. Was his behavior something that 333 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:29,840 Speaker 1: was created by God or conditioned by man? Was the 334 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:32,159 Speaker 1: environment that you grew up in? Did it shape you 335 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:35,080 Speaker 1: to change your decisions for how you expressed yourself as 336 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:40,160 Speaker 1: an adult? How did you get here? Moses? It wasn't 337 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:42,720 Speaker 1: the story in that day. It was the story that 338 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:45,359 Speaker 1: had been unfolding his whole life, and you got to 339 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:47,359 Speaker 1: peel it back. You will not understand the scene of 340 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:49,680 Speaker 1: your life unless you rewind the movie a little bit. 341 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:54,040 Speaker 1: And Moses, he's hidden. And they said when he can 342 00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:56,119 Speaker 1: hide him no longer. They had to put him in 343 00:17:56,119 --> 00:17:58,000 Speaker 1: a basket and toss him out under the Nile River. 344 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:01,480 Speaker 1: Mama had to abandoned him because she didn't know what 345 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:04,080 Speaker 1: to do with him. Could it be that God has 346 00:18:04,119 --> 00:18:07,280 Speaker 1: hidden something in your heart and you haven't known what 347 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:09,240 Speaker 1: to do with it, and you've been staring at the 348 00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:11,440 Speaker 1: situations say it's not gonna happen, So I guess I'll 349 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:13,840 Speaker 1: just abandon it. I wonder how many abandoned dreams are 350 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:16,359 Speaker 1: left on the floor of all of our services because 351 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:18,720 Speaker 1: you have given up on it and you've less settled 352 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:21,879 Speaker 1: for the lie. I'm just not smart, I'm not good. No, 353 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: that's not true. That's not true. That's not true. So 354 00:18:26,359 --> 00:18:28,480 Speaker 1: she has to abandon this thing. Can you imagine the 355 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:32,320 Speaker 1: pain of jocobet is She just hands over her son 356 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:35,719 Speaker 1: onto the Nile River, the very thing that was created 357 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:37,879 Speaker 1: to destroy him. Now she has to lay him in. 358 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:44,160 Speaker 1: But say but, but MOS's older sister, Miriam, was watching 359 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:47,040 Speaker 1: at a distance, and she sees where the basket comes 360 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:48,760 Speaker 1: against the shore, and it just so happens that it's 361 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:51,840 Speaker 1: near Pharaoh's daughter where she's coming down. And she's seeing this, 362 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:54,479 Speaker 1: and God sees you, and you might feel like you've 363 00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:56,120 Speaker 1: been tossed out into the waves of life. But God 364 00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:59,000 Speaker 1: is controlling the current, and he controlled where she landed. 365 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:02,800 Speaker 1: And she sees Pharaoh's daughter come and get this baby, 366 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:04,639 Speaker 1: and she just happens. Oh do you want me to 367 00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:06,800 Speaker 1: go get one of the Hebrew mamas to nurse him 368 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:12,080 Speaker 1: for you. She says yes, So she takes Moses back 369 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:15,879 Speaker 1: to his mom. Imagine the joy and Jocobed and hearing like, 370 00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:18,120 Speaker 1: oh my gosh, this thing that I gave away come 371 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:20,640 Speaker 1: back to me. Oh my soul in the story gets 372 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:23,399 Speaker 1: even better. They're gonna pay me to do it. Oh, 373 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:25,639 Speaker 1: I declare over you. Whatever the devil has caused you 374 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:27,800 Speaker 1: to forfeit, God's gonna restore and He's gonna make him 375 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:30,080 Speaker 1: pay for it. God's gonna make him pay for it. 376 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:34,480 Speaker 1: And he paid for it, and it comes back to her. 377 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:37,679 Speaker 1: Oh my God, you brought this back to me. But 378 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:39,879 Speaker 1: then she hears the other part of the story. But 379 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:41,680 Speaker 1: you can only have him for a certain time because 380 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:47,840 Speaker 1: Pharaoh's daughter wants him as her son. What God, this 381 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:51,719 Speaker 1: is in faith? Or maybe it really is. So now 382 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:54,560 Speaker 1: Jocobed begins this process of training up a child in 383 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:57,120 Speaker 1: the way he should go, because she knows she's only 384 00:19:57,160 --> 00:19:59,800 Speaker 1: got a finite time with him. Some theologians it would 385 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:01,960 Speaker 1: have been only about four years up to about eight 386 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:04,480 Speaker 1: years because the child would have needed to be weaned. 387 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:06,080 Speaker 1: But in that time there wasn't a whole lot of 388 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:08,840 Speaker 1: bread on the Israelite tables, so they would nurse these 389 00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:11,199 Speaker 1: children as long as they can be could because it 390 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:13,840 Speaker 1: kept more food on the table. So it's a reasonable 391 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:16,920 Speaker 1: to assume that Jokobed was delaying the process as much 392 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:18,960 Speaker 1: as she could because she didn't want to hand this 393 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:20,880 Speaker 1: child over, but she knew she would have to one day. 394 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:23,000 Speaker 1: So she begins the process of every day looking at 395 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:26,400 Speaker 1: most and say, Moses, you're special. You're a deliverer. Your 396 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:28,960 Speaker 1: God is the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You're 397 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:30,760 Speaker 1: a creative for it to be a deliverer of Moses. 398 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:33,200 Speaker 1: And every day she's speaking over him. She'd speaking over him, 399 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:35,920 Speaker 1: she'd speaking over and she'd make him repeat it back. Moses, 400 00:20:36,119 --> 00:20:38,800 Speaker 1: you're a deliverer. You are special. God's hand is on 401 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:41,240 Speaker 1: your left. Your God is the God of Abraham, Isaac 402 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 1: and Jacob. Because she knows she's got to give him 403 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:46,119 Speaker 1: over to a household of the Egyptians, and not just 404 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 1: any household, the household of Pharaoh. Ramsey's the second, the 405 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:52,240 Speaker 1: one who wanted all the Israelite baby's dead. She's got 406 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:55,439 Speaker 1: to give her baby too. You imagine the uncertainty of 407 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:57,320 Speaker 1: the situation, and she's got to hand her son over 408 00:20:57,520 --> 00:20:59,679 Speaker 1: every day. Moses, you can do this, Moses, you can 409 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:01,600 Speaker 1: do this. Moses. Your God is the God of Abraham, 410 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:04,440 Speaker 1: Isaac and Jacob. And every day, every day, every day 411 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:07,399 Speaker 1: training up this child, because she knows he'd end up 412 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:09,879 Speaker 1: in a household where they did not believe that God 413 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:12,520 Speaker 1: is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Know they 414 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:14,600 Speaker 1: had a bunch of other gods. There were polyheistic, they 415 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:17,359 Speaker 1: worshiped everything, not the true God, not the living God. 416 00:21:18,359 --> 00:21:20,040 Speaker 1: So she's got to hide the word in his heart. 417 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:21,760 Speaker 1: That's who he can endure that environment when he gets 418 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 1: handed over. Imagine the pain of jocobt as she holds 419 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:26,919 Speaker 1: her boy's hand and she's got tears welling up, but 420 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:28,600 Speaker 1: she can't let him be expressed. He's got to say, 421 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:31,400 Speaker 1: remember who you are, Moses, Remember who you are, Remember 422 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:33,680 Speaker 1: who you are. And she's gonna walk this child over 423 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:37,160 Speaker 1: to be handed over to the Egyptians. Remember Moses, Remember Moses, 424 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:39,720 Speaker 1: Remember Moses. And I have to believe the sound of 425 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:42,960 Speaker 1: Mom's voice is ringing in Moses's ears, because now he's 426 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:45,320 Speaker 1: got to be handed over to the Egyptians, and the 427 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:50,280 Speaker 1: first thing he hears over here is forget, forget all that. 428 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:54,919 Speaker 1: Don't let anybody know you're a Hebrew. Don't let anybody know. 429 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:57,520 Speaker 1: He is trying to be conformed into the image of 430 00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:01,120 Speaker 1: an idol. In the Egyptian household, he would have had 431 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:05,320 Speaker 1: his clothes changed. Outside the palace, he would have been 432 00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:08,439 Speaker 1: given a completely new haircut, and he was given the 433 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 1: name Moses. Moses was not his first name. That was 434 00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:13,200 Speaker 1: his second name. We don't even know his first name. 435 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,480 Speaker 1: That was not his Jewish name, that was his Egyptian name. 436 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:18,760 Speaker 1: And so by the time he gets to the palace, 437 00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:20,960 Speaker 1: he's hearing from his new mom forget all that, don't 438 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:23,159 Speaker 1: let anybody know, don't let anybody know. But I have 439 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:25,560 Speaker 1: to believe. In his heart, he still hears mama's voice, 440 00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:30,520 Speaker 1: Mama speaking over my mama said. My mama said, I'm 441 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,920 Speaker 1: a deliverer. My mama said, I am special. My mama said, 442 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 1: my Goddess, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Because he's 443 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:40,919 Speaker 1: gonna have to sit in a religion class, because he 444 00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:43,159 Speaker 1: was trained by all the smartest Egyptian minds, and they 445 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:44,919 Speaker 1: were the leaders in the world at that time. And 446 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:46,639 Speaker 1: he's got to send in their science classes and their 447 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,359 Speaker 1: religion classes when they hear about the god raw, the 448 00:22:49,359 --> 00:22:50,800 Speaker 1: God of the sun, or the God of the moon, 449 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:52,640 Speaker 1: or the God of the alligators. They had all these 450 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:54,720 Speaker 1: gods they worship, And I have to believe he's sitting 451 00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:57,680 Speaker 1: in these classes going, yeah, you get your rah my God. 452 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:02,400 Speaker 1: He's the god of ava, Isaac and Jacob, and he 453 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:05,680 Speaker 1: hears Mama's voice, just encouraging him, just encouraging him. Pastor 454 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:09,120 Speaker 1: Stephen preached it last week. Spiritual growth isn't always learning 455 00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:12,600 Speaker 1: something new, it's remembering something old. I wish I could 456 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:14,320 Speaker 1: shake every single one and say, do you remember who 457 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:16,159 Speaker 1: you are? Do you remember who you are? Do you 458 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:18,200 Speaker 1: remember who you are? Do you remember who you are? 459 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:23,320 Speaker 1: So Moses gets raised in his household, and then the 460 00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:27,639 Speaker 1: story continues. In Acts chapter seven it says this. In 461 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:31,639 Speaker 1: Acts seven twenty three, it says when Moses was forty 462 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:35,440 Speaker 1: years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 463 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:39,520 Speaker 1: Interesting story. I believe that Moses knew who he was, 464 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:43,439 Speaker 1: He knew whose he was, and he knew his purpose. 465 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:46,760 Speaker 1: He weathered the storms for forty years of living in 466 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:49,000 Speaker 1: an Egyptian household, and the moment came. This is the 467 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:51,040 Speaker 1: moment God, this is what I was created for, this 468 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:52,800 Speaker 1: is what I'm called to do. I'm ready. I'm gonna 469 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:54,639 Speaker 1: jump onto the scene, and I'm gonna deliver my people. 470 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:57,440 Speaker 1: Here we go, God, Here we go God. And because 471 00:23:57,720 --> 00:23:59,800 Speaker 1: verse the next verse that tells us a verse twenty four, 472 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:04,000 Speaker 1: he saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, 473 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:06,439 Speaker 1: so he went to his defense and avenged him by 474 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:12,480 Speaker 1: killing the Egyptian Verse twenty five. Moses thought that his 475 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:15,840 Speaker 1: own people would realize God was using him to rescue them, 476 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:22,560 Speaker 1: but they did not. The whole story hinges on that 477 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:28,520 Speaker 1: verse right there, But they did not. I shuld Stephen 478 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:30,640 Speaker 1: Law preached last week. Then they gathered, there's a good 479 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:34,240 Speaker 1: day and there's a bad day. But they did not 480 00:24:34,359 --> 00:24:37,280 Speaker 1: see Moses. He was prepared to stand against the Egyptian, 481 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:39,520 Speaker 1: but he wasn't ready to battle the disbelief of his 482 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:46,760 Speaker 1: own people. He was prepared for the enemy, he wasn't 483 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:50,720 Speaker 1: prepared for the friend. We teach our kids to fight 484 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:54,119 Speaker 1: the devil, but will we teach him to endure their friends? 485 00:24:56,000 --> 00:25:00,080 Speaker 1: But they did not. There was someone who's supposed to 486 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:03,600 Speaker 1: look out for you but they did not. They said 487 00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:05,840 Speaker 1: they would be with you for good or for bad, 488 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:09,119 Speaker 1: for better or for worse, but they did not. They 489 00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:10,960 Speaker 1: said they were going to care for you, but they 490 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:13,000 Speaker 1: did not. They said they were going to protect you, 491 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:15,639 Speaker 1: but they did not. Who is they? Who were the 492 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:17,439 Speaker 1: ones that were supposed to be there for you that 493 00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:20,480 Speaker 1: they did not? And it's not always the big day. 494 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:25,520 Speaker 1: Sometimes it's you thought it was funny, but they did not. 495 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,480 Speaker 1: You thought they'd be proud of you for going to 496 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:37,959 Speaker 1: that church, but they did not. And it was the 497 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:41,080 Speaker 1: rejection of the people he was called to rescue that 498 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,480 Speaker 1: caused him to pause in this moment. The very people 499 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: he was sent to rescue rejected him. Sounds very much 500 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:52,800 Speaker 1: like Jesus, doesn't it. And the story continues. It says 501 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,840 Speaker 1: the next day, Moses came upon to Israelites who were fighting. 502 00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:59,280 Speaker 1: He tried to reconcile them, but say, men, you are brothers, 503 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:02,480 Speaker 1: and I'm brother. Why do you want to hurt each other? 504 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:05,040 Speaker 1: But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses 505 00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:11,920 Speaker 1: aside and said, who made you ruler and judge over us? 506 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:15,919 Speaker 1: And what you see in this pivot point, this is 507 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:20,159 Speaker 1: a lynch pin in the story of Moses. This is 508 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:24,000 Speaker 1: the shift in his life is up until this point, 509 00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:27,240 Speaker 1: He's like, I'm created, I'm ready, here's my moment, this 510 00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:31,159 Speaker 1: is going to happen. But they did not. And the 511 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:33,520 Speaker 1: voice of his mother saying you're creative for this and 512 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:35,560 Speaker 1: you can do this, it faded in this moment. He 513 00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:41,960 Speaker 1: could not remember it. Their disbelief caused his doubt. Wow, 514 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:49,399 Speaker 1: whose disbelief has caused your doubt? But they were supposed 515 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:52,080 Speaker 1: to be there for you. I just don't think they'd 516 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:54,280 Speaker 1: be the smartest decision with your life. But they did not. 517 00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:03,840 Speaker 1: Don't let they keep you from knowing who who? Here's 518 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:06,720 Speaker 1: the question? Who made you rule and judge over us? 519 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:09,640 Speaker 1: Moses could have appealed at two different levels. He's got 520 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:12,080 Speaker 1: two nature He's got an Egyptian nature and he's got 521 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:15,160 Speaker 1: a Jewish nature. He's a Hebrew and he's an Egyptian. 522 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:17,640 Speaker 1: He's got both of these natures. And he's so conflicted 523 00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:19,720 Speaker 1: because I'm both of these things. I'm both of these things, 524 00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:21,439 Speaker 1: and some of us are living in a world that 525 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:23,840 Speaker 1: you're so conflicted. I got one hand raised with a 526 00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:25,680 Speaker 1: red solo cup on Saturday night, but I'm raised it 527 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:27,760 Speaker 1: in a Sunday in worship, and I'm conflicted. I don't 528 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:29,919 Speaker 1: feel like I belong in either place. I won't make 529 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:32,199 Speaker 1: it real practical because some of us are straddling the 530 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:33,800 Speaker 1: fence in different worlds and we don't feel like we 531 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:36,960 Speaker 1: belong in either. And when you give equal weight to 532 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:41,440 Speaker 1: competing voices, you'll always be conflicted. You'll always be conflicted. 533 00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:44,400 Speaker 1: But I do believe in my spirit that Moses gave 534 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:46,560 Speaker 1: greater weight to the voice of his mom and saying, 535 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:49,280 Speaker 1: you're special your delivery, you're creative for this. And he 536 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:52,879 Speaker 1: could appeal to either of his natures because that an 537 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:55,400 Speaker 1: Egyptian nature. He could have said, who made me rule 538 00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:57,280 Speaker 1: and judge over you? You You might have heard of him, 539 00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:02,240 Speaker 1: here's my grandpa Ramsey's the second Pharaoh. Yo, I can 540 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:04,719 Speaker 1: do whatever I want. I'm the prince of Egypt. He 541 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:06,919 Speaker 1: had a very natural level that he could have appealed, 542 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:08,760 Speaker 1: and he would have won that argument. But he did. 543 00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:11,040 Speaker 1: Why did he forfeit his memory in that moment because 544 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:14,720 Speaker 1: of their disbelief. Their disbelief cost his doubts, and the 545 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:18,359 Speaker 1: entire direction of his life is shifted because of the doubt. 546 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:21,520 Speaker 1: Who has solen in on you? Who has busted in 547 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:25,880 Speaker 1: on you and sold your faith because of their disbelief. 548 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:29,600 Speaker 1: But he could have appealed if you had have remembered 549 00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:36,080 Speaker 1: his mama's voice, Who made you ruler and judge over us? Oh? Hey, 550 00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:41,280 Speaker 1: mama said, Mama said, mama, Mama said, Mama, Mama, Mama said, mama. 551 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:44,920 Speaker 1: Mama said, I'm a deliverer. Mama said, I'm special. Mama said, 552 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,440 Speaker 1: I'm gonna lead to Egyptians or the the Israelites out 553 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:50,080 Speaker 1: of Egyptian slavery. My God is the god of Abraham, 554 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:52,440 Speaker 1: Isaac and Jacob, So I guess my God made me 555 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:54,479 Speaker 1: ruler and judge over you. He could have appealed at 556 00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:56,600 Speaker 1: the natural level and at the supernatural level, but he 557 00:28:56,640 --> 00:29:01,480 Speaker 1: forgot both. He forfeited in where in your life? When 558 00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:04,200 Speaker 1: you tell the story, you go back to the backstory, 559 00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:07,320 Speaker 1: and you can come to this pivot point, where did 560 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:12,720 Speaker 1: your life shift because of someone else's disbelief that caused 561 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:22,680 Speaker 1: your doubt? They to forget who The story verse twenty 562 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:24,040 Speaker 1: eight says, are you thinking of killing me as you 563 00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:28,840 Speaker 1: killed the Egyptian yesterday? When Moses heard this, he didn't 564 00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:33,720 Speaker 1: even answer. He just shut it down and he fled 565 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:37,720 Speaker 1: to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner, and he 566 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:42,120 Speaker 1: had two sons. He's so intimidated by the situation that 567 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:45,040 Speaker 1: he ran from it. You'll always be defeated by something 568 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:49,480 Speaker 1: you're intimidated by. Moses was intimidated by something he did 569 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:53,160 Speaker 1: not understand, and because he didn't understand it, he was 570 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:56,400 Speaker 1: intimidated by it. This doesn't make sense. God, I thought 571 00:29:56,440 --> 00:29:58,320 Speaker 1: they were going to receive me, So rather than actually 572 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:03,600 Speaker 1: sitting in this lonely place, he hides. He was hidden 573 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:08,760 Speaker 1: for the first three months of his life in Exodus three. 574 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:11,760 Speaker 1: Read the story where he's hidden. He's hiding his face. 575 00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:14,440 Speaker 1: That's at age eighty. This is at age forty right 576 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:16,880 Speaker 1: here this scene. So what does he do? He hides 577 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:22,920 Speaker 1: himself and where does he go? Midian Midian? Can anything 578 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:27,000 Speaker 1: good happen from Nazareth? It's like Midian Midian. The Egyptians 579 00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:29,720 Speaker 1: would have referenced it as the abomination they would have 580 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:32,760 Speaker 1: called in the scripture, says those detestable shepherds of Midian. 581 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:36,320 Speaker 1: So Moses has got to go to the place that 582 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:38,840 Speaker 1: is detestable in the eyes of the family that he had. 583 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:42,840 Speaker 1: It's the only place he could go to survive and 584 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:45,040 Speaker 1: as Moses is heading towards a new place, and everything 585 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:47,000 Speaker 1: he had is washed away, and he's going to go 586 00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:48,240 Speaker 1: to a place where he's got to learn a whole 587 00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:51,040 Speaker 1: new language, a whole new culture, a whole new family, 588 00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:53,920 Speaker 1: a whole new job. Everything's going to be new. It 589 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:55,520 Speaker 1: was the second time he would have went through this 590 00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:58,080 Speaker 1: event in his life, because the first time he had 591 00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:00,320 Speaker 1: to do wo and he went to Egypt. But as 592 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:02,080 Speaker 1: he was going to Egypt, he was heading to Egypt 593 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:05,920 Speaker 1: on with purpose. But now when he's heading towards Midian, 594 00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:10,440 Speaker 1: he's only moving with pain. It's different this time, isn't 595 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:14,959 Speaker 1: it say? It's different? This time is different from Moses. 596 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:19,200 Speaker 1: It's different. So when we see his behavior of hiding 597 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:20,720 Speaker 1: his face in front of God, we got to rewind 598 00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:25,080 Speaker 1: the scene to forty years earlier when he's like, God, 599 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 1: I tried it your way. I thought I heard you 600 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:32,920 Speaker 1: in it. It didn't work. So now he's got to 601 00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:37,640 Speaker 1: go live in Midian. He's going to get a new name. 602 00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:41,440 Speaker 1: This would have been his third name. He's got to 603 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:45,120 Speaker 1: have a whole new family. All that's forgotten. And it 604 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:47,760 Speaker 1: says he lived as a foreigner in the land for 605 00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:55,600 Speaker 1: forty years whatever's unfamiliar is always foreign. Man. Talk about 606 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:59,520 Speaker 1: the last eighteen months of our life in this unfamiliar territory. 607 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:02,800 Speaker 1: But here's the thing. For Moses, even it became more familiar, 608 00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:06,680 Speaker 1: it was no less foreign because he always felt like 609 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:10,320 Speaker 1: he didn't belong there. In fact, he named his first 610 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:17,680 Speaker 1: son Grisham, which means wanderer, foreigner. And so you got Moses. 611 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:21,560 Speaker 1: He was that God. I thought, I thought, I heard 612 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:25,840 Speaker 1: you right, I heard Mama's voice, and I did what 613 00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:31,080 Speaker 1: she said and didn't work out. Didn't work out God, 614 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:35,440 Speaker 1: because we talk about Moses being Egyptian and being Hebrew. Well, 615 00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:38,880 Speaker 1: for the first seven years of his life he was Hebrew. 616 00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:42,280 Speaker 1: Next thirty three years of his life, he was Egyptian. 617 00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:44,560 Speaker 1: For the next forty he's meeting. We don't even talk 618 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:46,920 Speaker 1: about that part of his life. Isn't it funny how 619 00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:48,680 Speaker 1: you skip over big parts of your life that shaped you, 620 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,000 Speaker 1: and you'd forgot it because you want to forget the 621 00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:54,560 Speaker 1: foreign part of it, and you want to sit in 622 00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:56,800 Speaker 1: a moment, how you doing a blessed and highly favored sister, 623 00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:01,880 Speaker 1: But you're a foreigner and Moses. So when the scene 624 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:05,120 Speaker 1: in Exodus three gets picked up, it says, Moses went 625 00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:10,480 Speaker 1: to the far side of the wilderness, the far as 626 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:14,200 Speaker 1: far away from God as you could be, And he 627 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:18,480 Speaker 1: paints a picture of Moses sitting in this place, and 628 00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:22,480 Speaker 1: it's an image of contentment. There's two competing visions of 629 00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:25,480 Speaker 1: contentment in the scriptures. One of them is from the 630 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:28,680 Speaker 1: apostle Paul when he pens the book to the Philippian Church. 631 00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:31,600 Speaker 1: I know what it is to be in plenty, and 632 00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:33,920 Speaker 1: I know what it is to be in want. I 633 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:36,080 Speaker 1: know itice have everything and nothing, he says, and have 634 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:40,720 Speaker 1: learned the secret of being content. And he says, this 635 00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:44,840 Speaker 1: is all I'll ever be. And it's the highest potential 636 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:47,800 Speaker 1: possibility for contentment, because it doesn't matter where you put me, 637 00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:50,520 Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what happens to me. I know who 638 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:54,480 Speaker 1: I am. I know and I know whose I am. 639 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:58,720 Speaker 1: This is all I'll ever be. The pendulum swing of 640 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:03,320 Speaker 1: contentment now goes way over here to Moses, and he's 641 00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:07,360 Speaker 1: sitting in the desert, far away from the promises, and 642 00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:12,080 Speaker 1: all he has is pain, and he says, this is 643 00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:17,719 Speaker 1: all I'll ever be. A foreigner, a wanderer, this is 644 00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:21,480 Speaker 1: my lot in life. And it's the lowest expression that 645 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:25,719 Speaker 1: you could have for your faith. I vacillate between these 646 00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:29,120 Speaker 1: different levels of contentment. I like to be like Paul, 647 00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:34,160 Speaker 1: but some days I'm a lot like Moses, and I 648 00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:36,840 Speaker 1: get it. So when God comes to him and Exitdus three, 649 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:39,520 Speaker 1: I get it. I get it. I get it. And 650 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:41,520 Speaker 1: he hides his face. He didn't start hiding his face 651 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:43,680 Speaker 1: in that moment. He started hiding it forty years earlier. 652 00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:46,680 Speaker 1: It's been in motion for forty years, and now you 653 00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:49,400 Speaker 1: just see the expression of it. And so God comes 654 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:52,040 Speaker 1: to him in the middle of this bush and accent 655 00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:53,640 Speaker 1: it picks up the story here, and I love the 656 00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:56,760 Speaker 1: way that axe unfolds this acts thirty. It says after 657 00:34:56,880 --> 00:35:00,319 Speaker 1: forty years had passed, and the Angel he heard to 658 00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:03,160 Speaker 1: Moses in the flames of the burning bush in the 659 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:06,760 Speaker 1: desert of Mount Sina. When he saw this, he was amazed. 660 00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:08,440 Speaker 1: At the side. He went over to get a closer look, 661 00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:10,439 Speaker 1: and he heard the Lord say, I am the God 662 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:14,560 Speaker 1: of your father's, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, 663 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:17,200 Speaker 1: and the God of Jacob. Moses trembled with fear, and 664 00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:21,600 Speaker 1: he dared not look. It brought Moses to the place 665 00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:24,560 Speaker 1: where he's covering his face and I get it. I 666 00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:27,440 Speaker 1: get why he did it in that moment. So I 667 00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:31,840 Speaker 1: so resonate in that moment with Moses as he's because 668 00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:33,799 Speaker 1: in the scripture it says that he called he called 669 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:36,839 Speaker 1: his name twice, God did Moses, Moses. It's a Hebrew 670 00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:40,080 Speaker 1: term of intimacy, means that God is close, means he's 671 00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:43,200 Speaker 1: whispering because he's he's close. But I also think there's 672 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:45,040 Speaker 1: a practical reason why he had to say his name 673 00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:52,160 Speaker 1: twice Moses, and Moses like, who I heard that name 674 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:57,600 Speaker 1: a long time? Who's who's that? And he hears the 675 00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:03,399 Speaker 1: second Moses, Oh, that God died a long time ago. 676 00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:08,520 Speaker 1: I didn't even want to think about him. I just no, 677 00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:11,759 Speaker 1: I can't even go there, Like, don't kick that door 678 00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:14,839 Speaker 1: back up. And he thinks it's just his mama's voice 679 00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:18,640 Speaker 1: in his head. But he pushed that down a long 680 00:36:18,719 --> 00:36:21,359 Speaker 1: time ago. That voice died and that part of him 681 00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:24,480 Speaker 1: was over. But he thinks it's just mama's voice. And 682 00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:29,319 Speaker 1: then he realizes, like, this is mama's voice, This is 683 00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:31,759 Speaker 1: actually the God that my mama spoke about talking to me, 684 00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:38,440 Speaker 1: and he hides his face. I get it. He's given 685 00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:40,880 Speaker 1: up on everything and now the God that he had 686 00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:43,840 Speaker 1: heard about is coming to him, and he's like, I 687 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:49,120 Speaker 1: can'd no leave me alone, God. And his response to 688 00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:51,200 Speaker 1: God in this moment is amazing, and I think it 689 00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:54,040 Speaker 1: paints a picture for the struggle of the lonely place. 690 00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:57,040 Speaker 1: And Exodus three eleven, it says, but Moses said to God, 691 00:36:57,360 --> 00:37:01,319 Speaker 1: and he says, who am I? Who am I? God? 692 00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:03,600 Speaker 1: I don't know who I am? Am I an Israelite? 693 00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:07,920 Speaker 1: Am I an Egyptian? Am I a Midianite? Am I? 694 00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:10,360 Speaker 1: A slave? Am I A prince? Am I a shepherd? 695 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:13,240 Speaker 1: Am I A failure? Am I a mistake? Who am I? God? 696 00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:19,919 Speaker 1: I don't know who I am? Leave me alone? Want 697 00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:22,240 Speaker 1: nothing to do with you. I tried to eat your way. 698 00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:25,120 Speaker 1: I stepped out like my mama said, and it didn't work. 699 00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:32,560 Speaker 1: Just leave me alone. And I love the tenderness of 700 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:36,480 Speaker 1: God in this moment. I love how God just gently 701 00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:38,920 Speaker 1: pushes past of all the excuses that He's given in 702 00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:41,200 Speaker 1: this moment. And I think this is what God is 703 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:43,520 Speaker 1: speaking over you today as well. I think this is 704 00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:45,000 Speaker 1: what he's telling you because some of you know that 705 00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:49,399 Speaker 1: hiding place you go to, and Moses is saying, God, 706 00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:51,000 Speaker 1: I can't look at you because I can't even look 707 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:57,879 Speaker 1: at myself. And verse twelve, God said, and God said, 708 00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:06,760 Speaker 1: I will be with you. Because I think God's telling Moses. Moses, 709 00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:09,440 Speaker 1: up until this point, you've only heard about me from 710 00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:12,520 Speaker 1: your mama. It's sen for you to see me for yourself. 711 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:19,680 Speaker 1: It's some for you to Moses, I'll be with you 712 00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:24,319 Speaker 1: wherever you go. I'm in it with you. And I 713 00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:27,640 Speaker 1: think God is telling him, let's face it together, I'm 714 00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:29,719 Speaker 1: in this thing with you wherever you go. Because in 715 00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:32,200 Speaker 1: the past, all you took with you into Egypt was 716 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:34,799 Speaker 1: a memory from your mama. Huh no, no, no, no, 717 00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:37,000 Speaker 1: God is saying, I'm sending you back to Egypt this time, 718 00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:39,080 Speaker 1: and it's not just a memory from your mammy. It's 719 00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:41,319 Speaker 1: my presence that will go with you. I will be 720 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:43,879 Speaker 1: with you, Moses. I got you. I'm in this thing 721 00:38:43,920 --> 00:38:45,920 Speaker 1: with you. You don't have to do this on your own. 722 00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:48,360 Speaker 1: And I think some of us are coming to the 723 00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:50,560 Speaker 1: point that maybe God is saying, quit living off of 724 00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:57,200 Speaker 1: mama's faith. Quit living off of mama's faith. It's time 725 00:38:57,280 --> 00:38:59,520 Speaker 1: for you to have your own faith. It's time for 726 00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:04,080 Speaker 1: you to see God face to face. It's time for 727 00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:07,200 Speaker 1: you to embrace God rather than just reject him because 728 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:11,160 Speaker 1: somebody else rejected you. And I love the tenderness of 729 00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:15,319 Speaker 1: God in this moment, and Moses asked God, like, who 730 00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:19,520 Speaker 1: am I supposed to say? Sent me? Like if I 731 00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:24,080 Speaker 1: go to the Egyptians. In verse fourteen, God said to Moses, 732 00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:26,680 Speaker 1: I am who I am. This is who you are 733 00:39:26,719 --> 00:39:28,560 Speaker 1: to say to what you say to the Israelites. I 734 00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:32,880 Speaker 1: am has sent you. And I think what God was 735 00:39:32,920 --> 00:39:35,080 Speaker 1: speaking to Moses in this moment. He says, you will 736 00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:38,919 Speaker 1: never know who you are if you don't know who 737 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:45,760 Speaker 1: I am. You've been searching for answers. You've been searching 738 00:39:45,760 --> 00:39:50,120 Speaker 1: for answers in yourself. The real answers will only come 739 00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:55,120 Speaker 1: outside of yourself. It will only come from that space. 740 00:39:56,400 --> 00:40:02,400 Speaker 1: Who am I God? God's saying, I am, I am 741 00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:06,640 Speaker 1: your God. And for forty years up until this point, 742 00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:09,960 Speaker 1: Moses had lived as a foreigner. He had lived as 743 00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:14,320 Speaker 1: a failure, lived as a fraud, a fake, all these things. 744 00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:16,200 Speaker 1: And he's hiding his face because he can't even look 745 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:20,480 Speaker 1: at himself. And it begins this beautiful relationship that Moses 746 00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:23,879 Speaker 1: gets to have with God. And in Exodus thirty three, 747 00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:28,160 Speaker 1: Levis says the Lord would speak to Moses face to 748 00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:35,040 Speaker 1: face as one speaks with a friend. In this moment, 749 00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:38,120 Speaker 1: what I picture is is God gently grabbing Moses by 750 00:40:38,160 --> 00:40:41,520 Speaker 1: the chin and lifting it up so that he could 751 00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:47,439 Speaker 1: see God's face, and he spoke over him. Friend. You've 752 00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:50,719 Speaker 1: lived as a foreigner, but I call you friend. You 753 00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:53,600 Speaker 1: feel like a failure, but I call you friend. You 754 00:40:53,640 --> 00:40:56,000 Speaker 1: feel like you are such a fraud, but I call 755 00:40:56,080 --> 00:40:58,960 Speaker 1: you friend. God speaks over you. I call you friend, 756 00:40:59,080 --> 00:41:01,080 Speaker 1: and I will go with you. I will be with you. 757 00:41:01,160 --> 00:41:04,040 Speaker 1: I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you. I will 758 00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:09,480 Speaker 1: be with you as one speaks with a friend. And 759 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:14,520 Speaker 1: God is saying to Moses, let's face it together. He 760 00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:20,640 Speaker 1: would see God face to face. And for me sitting 761 00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:26,279 Speaker 1: in that lonely seat over there, this last year has 762 00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:29,880 Speaker 1: stripped a lot away from us. And if I'm really honest, 763 00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:33,200 Speaker 1: one of my biggest struggles in my life is always 764 00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:38,440 Speaker 1: my worth coming from my work. My identity is so 765 00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:42,480 Speaker 1: intertwined into what I do, so that as I lost 766 00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:49,120 Speaker 1: parts of job, it wasn't that I lost parts of 767 00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:54,799 Speaker 1: a job. I lost parts of me. And it made 768 00:41:54,840 --> 00:41:59,640 Speaker 1: me wonder like who am I? And I sat in 769 00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:01,880 Speaker 1: that seat, and I'm so glad Pastor preached on it 770 00:42:01,880 --> 00:42:05,840 Speaker 1: because it was for me. In that lonely place. I 771 00:42:05,880 --> 00:42:07,480 Speaker 1: had asked the question, God, who am I? Because I 772 00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:11,359 Speaker 1: don't know who I am? And if you're in that seat, 773 00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:13,440 Speaker 1: or you struggle with that seat, maybe you would take 774 00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:16,880 Speaker 1: comfort from how God comforted me. He said, it's the 775 00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:21,040 Speaker 1: right question, who am I? He said, it's just the 776 00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:25,120 Speaker 1: wrong perspective, he said. God said He's spoke into my spirit. 777 00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:27,680 Speaker 1: He said, LB, you keep asking me who you are? 778 00:42:28,840 --> 00:42:30,680 Speaker 1: How about you flip it and you hear me ask 779 00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:37,160 Speaker 1: you who am I? He's my beginning in my end. 780 00:42:38,600 --> 00:42:42,400 Speaker 1: He's my bride and morning star. He's my wonderful counselor. 781 00:42:42,600 --> 00:42:45,439 Speaker 1: He's my ever present help in trouble. He is my rock. 782 00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:49,239 Speaker 1: He's my salvation. He's my mighty refuge. He is the gate. 783 00:42:50,120 --> 00:42:54,480 Speaker 1: He is my Jesus. He is my Savior. But the 784 00:42:54,520 --> 00:43:00,440 Speaker 1: only way I saw that was in the lonely place. 785 00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:05,680 Speaker 1: And I said, and I thought about Moses, why did you? 786 00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:09,239 Speaker 1: Why did you faint in the moment? Like I do. 787 00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:15,360 Speaker 1: Pastor preached borrowed confidence. Once you put your confidence in 788 00:43:15,440 --> 00:43:19,880 Speaker 1: determines when it leaves. I think Moses put his confidence 789 00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:23,040 Speaker 1: in what his mama said. I think he put it 790 00:43:23,080 --> 00:43:26,239 Speaker 1: in what the teachers taught him. I think he put 791 00:43:26,239 --> 00:43:28,360 Speaker 1: it in the thought that they would receive him. And 792 00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:33,279 Speaker 1: when that was taken away, he had no confidence. So 793 00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:36,799 Speaker 1: if I put my confidence in what I do, when 794 00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:43,719 Speaker 1: that leaves I come to an identity crisis, you and 795 00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:46,160 Speaker 1: I can have confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ. 796 00:43:49,160 --> 00:43:52,839 Speaker 1: You and I can have confidence in the salvaffic work 797 00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:56,080 Speaker 1: of Jesus that He's died a substitutionary death for your 798 00:43:56,160 --> 00:44:00,000 Speaker 1: sin and for my sin. Because as Jesus went up 799 00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:01,879 Speaker 1: onto the cross, they didn't nail him, but he put 800 00:44:01,920 --> 00:44:04,239 Speaker 1: himself up there. They didn't take his life, he gave it. 801 00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:07,719 Speaker 1: And as he's on the cross, all the sin that 802 00:44:07,719 --> 00:44:09,600 Speaker 1: should have been laid on you and on me was 803 00:44:09,680 --> 00:44:12,959 Speaker 1: laid on him. And there was a moment that the sin, 804 00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:16,320 Speaker 1: the wrath, the penalty for all the sin, needed to 805 00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:19,120 Speaker 1: be laid on him. And as he stretched on the cross, 806 00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:23,640 Speaker 1: God had to turn his face away from his son 807 00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:27,239 Speaker 1: for a moment, and the sky grows dark and the 808 00:44:27,360 --> 00:44:29,880 Speaker 1: veil is torn in Jesus Christ out in a loud voice, 809 00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:33,480 Speaker 1: my God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Because 810 00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:37,480 Speaker 1: he didn't see his father's face, he didn't feel his presence. 811 00:44:38,080 --> 00:44:42,040 Speaker 1: And for three days it was dark and the enemy 812 00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:47,680 Speaker 1: thought they had won. But after three days God turns 813 00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:52,359 Speaker 1: his face back towards his sun, and he said, let's 814 00:44:52,360 --> 00:44:55,880 Speaker 1: face it. Here's the keys to hell and the grave 815 00:44:56,320 --> 00:44:58,719 Speaker 1: rising victory, and he broke the end out of a 816 00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:04,200 Speaker 1: borrow too when he rose in victory. You and I, 817 00:45:06,280 --> 00:45:08,920 Speaker 1: You and I can have the assurance that God sees 818 00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:13,279 Speaker 1: you face to face. Why because of the finished work 819 00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:16,640 Speaker 1: of Jesus. Because when God looks at me, he doesn't 820 00:45:16,680 --> 00:45:24,279 Speaker 1: see LB. He sees Jesus. And as Jesus ascended, he said, 821 00:45:24,320 --> 00:45:28,120 Speaker 1: I will not leave you as an orphan, but I 822 00:45:28,160 --> 00:45:32,359 Speaker 1: will send my spirit to live in you. And where 823 00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:35,719 Speaker 1: you go, he will go with you. God promises to 824 00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:39,880 Speaker 1: be with you, to never forsake you, to never leave you. 825 00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:44,360 Speaker 1: And he's saying, let's face it together. Whatever's going on 826 00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:48,040 Speaker 1: in your life, let's face it together, because I'm with you. 827 00:45:48,120 --> 00:45:49,800 Speaker 1: If you go to the mountaintops, I'm there. If you 828 00:45:49,840 --> 00:45:51,400 Speaker 1: go to the depths, I'm there. Where can you go 829 00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:55,120 Speaker 1: to escape his love? He is with you. That's the 830 00:45:55,160 --> 00:45:57,280 Speaker 1: assurance you have if you've placed your faith in Jesus. 831 00:45:58,040 --> 00:45:59,840 Speaker 1: And if you haven't placed your faith in Jesus, this 832 00:45:59,880 --> 00:46:01,680 Speaker 1: is the moment that God brought you to. This is 833 00:46:01,680 --> 00:46:03,080 Speaker 1: the moment that will mark you for the rest of 834 00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:05,520 Speaker 1: your life. If you have never placed your faith in Jesus, 835 00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:09,240 Speaker 1: he is asking you to come in, and he says, 836 00:46:09,320 --> 00:46:12,680 Speaker 1: I will be with you and all of our locations. 837 00:46:12,719 --> 00:46:16,240 Speaker 1: Would you buy your heads and close your eyes. Someone 838 00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:18,279 Speaker 1: feels the presence of God in their spirit right now, 839 00:46:18,920 --> 00:46:21,640 Speaker 1: and you feel him calling you back to yourself as 840 00:46:21,640 --> 00:46:27,400 Speaker 1: he ran after Moses, so he's running after you. Forty 841 00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:31,520 Speaker 1: in the Bible means season. The first season of Moses' 842 00:46:31,840 --> 00:46:37,520 Speaker 1: life was marked by man's rejection at age eighty. It 843 00:46:37,560 --> 00:46:41,560 Speaker 1: was marked when he saw God's acceptance. Would you accept 844 00:46:41,640 --> 00:46:45,279 Speaker 1: him today? Would you receive him today? And all of 845 00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:48,680 Speaker 1: our locations, all of our online, our epam. I need 846 00:46:48,719 --> 00:46:52,120 Speaker 1: you to pray with me out loud. Pray this with 847 00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:54,160 Speaker 1: me for the benefit of somebody who's making this decision 848 00:46:54,160 --> 00:46:57,960 Speaker 1: to place your faith in Jesus. I believe that Jesus 849 00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:02,680 Speaker 1: Christ is the son of God who died on the 850 00:47:02,680 --> 00:47:06,719 Speaker 1: cross and rose from the grave to forgive me of 851 00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:10,640 Speaker 1: my sin. I give you my life, I give you 852 00:47:10,680 --> 00:47:15,160 Speaker 1: my sin, I give you my shame. Forgive me, and 853 00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:19,279 Speaker 1: I'll spend my life following you with your head still bouting, 854 00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:21,480 Speaker 1: your eyes still close. If you displace your faith in Jesus, 855 00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:23,759 Speaker 1: I'm going to count to three. When I get there, 856 00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:26,480 Speaker 1: without hesitation, boldly shoot your hand into the air. This 857 00:47:26,520 --> 00:47:30,399 Speaker 1: is your moment. This is the time where you see God. One, two, three, 858 00:47:30,440 --> 00:47:33,239 Speaker 1: shoot your hand up. All of our locations. Come on, 859 00:47:33,520 --> 00:47:36,680 Speaker 1: all of our locations. E Sam, If you just made 860 00:47:36,719 --> 00:47:39,719 Speaker 1: that decision, let us know in the chat. Let us 861 00:47:39,760 --> 00:47:43,239 Speaker 1: know in the chat. Come on, let's celebrate that elevation. 862 00:47:43,719 --> 00:47:48,360 Speaker 1: Come on, no, let's celebrate that elevation. Thank you for 863 00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:51,000 Speaker 1: joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give 864 00:47:51,120 --> 00:47:54,000 Speaker 1: generously to this ministry. Is because of you that this 865 00:47:54,080 --> 00:47:56,920 Speaker 1: ministry is possible. You can click the link in the 866 00:47:56,960 --> 00:48:01,880 Speaker 1: description to give now, or visit Elevation Org slash podcast 867 00:48:01,960 --> 00:48:05,040 Speaker 1: for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you 868 00:48:05,080 --> 00:48:08,040 Speaker 1: can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. You 869 00:48:08,040 --> 00:48:10,520 Speaker 1: can click the share button, take a screenshot and share 870 00:48:10,520 --> 00:48:13,279 Speaker 1: it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. 871 00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:15,000 Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you,