WEBVTT - Let’s Face It (Larry Brey) 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:04.760 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:07.240 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:10.600 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:12.639 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:15.440 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:21.600 Are you ready for the Word of God? You sounded 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:23.840 about thirty percent as ready as I need you to be. 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:27.200 Let me ask, y'all, are you all ready for the 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:31.600 Word of God. Helpy Skinner is coming to preach in 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:37.040 just a moment. Hang on before he comes. This is 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:43.120 an epic warrior for Jesus Christ. Larry Bride. Larry and 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:46.920 Janet were two of the original core team members of 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:49.879 our church. They've been with me all the way. They 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:52.400 believed in this church when it was nothing more than 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:56.160 a sonogram. Janet told me, because she was my dental 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:58.800 hygienists at the time, I said I'm going to plant 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:00.720 a church. She said, have fun with that. I would 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:04.120 never go. Fifteen years later, she's on the front road, 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:12.399 but I'll get out of the way because I want 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:14.520 to give him the pulpit. I just wanted to say 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.800 that this ministry would not be possible without this man. 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.080 From the time that he almost rammed the gate with 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:24.640 his truck at a storage unit to get our equipment 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:26.480 so we could have church at the Providence High School 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:28.880 at Trim in the early days, to the day that 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:31.039 he almost broke the window out of my jeep Cherokee 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:32.920 so I could have a prop for a sermon illustration. 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:36.040 As you can see, he's got an anointing of violence 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:40.160 and I love them for it. He hails from Minnesota. 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:45.000 He is a former NCAA Division one National Champion wrestler 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:46.960 or something like that. Maybe not, he wasn't that good, 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:49.800 but he used to wrestle. And what I want you 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:51.880 to know about your dad, Corbyn is that he's had 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.320 my back at every turn, no matter what I've asked 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:58.080 him to do for the ministry Daylan, He's had my 0:01:58.120 --> 0:02:02.000 back at every turn. It's absolutely amazing that whatever we 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:03.680 asked him to do to serve God, he did it. 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:07.360 There are pastors and ministry that we're burning out and 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:10.440 we would always send your dad and we say, if 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:15.360 we can send him lb, it'll be like a intravenous anointing. 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:18.880 Thousands of churches around the world would say we would 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:21.560 not be who we are without him. And I say 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:24.680 that to you today, Thank you for everything you've sown. 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:29.600 I want you to welcome to this pulpit today the 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:32.480 man who has had more job titles at Elevation Church 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:38.000 than I've had hair styles, the Great Larry Bride, come on, 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:53.200 help help help me. How are we doing elevation? Oh? 0:02:53.240 --> 0:03:01.160 I said, how are we doing elevation? Woo? It's hard 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:05.240 to come up after that, Pastor Stephen, I love you. 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:09.120 Fifteen years ago I said to all that you have 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:11.960 in mind, know with you heart and soul, my answers Yes. Now, 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:15.040 whatever question you ask, the answer will always be yes. 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:17.040 I wonder if you've already said yes to the question 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:19.120 that's waiting to be asked of you. I wonder what 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:21.560 would happen of your life if you predetermined the answer 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:24.840 before you ever asked the questions. Let's not have conditional faith. 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.320 Let's not have a faith it's based upon convenience or 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:33.360 comfort is simply saying yes, Lord, Yes, Lord. And in 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:34.880 the past year and a half, all of us have 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:38.200 experienced this thing called COVID. And I think there's two 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:40.880 parts of every story that I get into that I 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:42.520 always hear, and the first one is something like this, 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:46.840 and then COVID happened. They could be talking about a marriage, 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:48.560 they could be talking about a funeral, they could be 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:50.840 talking about school, they could be talking about alone, and 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:54.360 then COVID happened, and it's real. It happened. It did, 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:56.960 and it's affected all of our lives. But there's always 0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:58.800 the second part of every story that I'm a part of. 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:01.920 Anybody who goes to elevation. First part is then COVID happened, 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:04.960 and the second part is and then Pastor Stephen preached, 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.680 it's real COVID happened, but there's a greater reality in 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:12.240 the word of God. I'm so glad that we live 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:16.200 in a house that there's a greater reality. And then 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:20.919 Pastor Stephen preached, what was it for you? Because he 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:24.000 preaches sermons every week that'll encourage you. But there's some 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:28.360 that marked the moment. Maybe it was comfort food, same 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:33.640 Devil's new levels, built different what you call small unlearn 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:39.520 your limitations. For me, though, it was it was lonely places. 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:43.880 That was the sermon that marked COVID for me, because 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:47.440 COVID affected us. But there's a greater reality, and there 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:49.279 was thirty people in the room last July when Pastor 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:51.920 Stephen preached this sermon, and he walked off the stage 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.480 into that entire section here at Balentown, there's nobody in it. 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.680 And he got in the fourth row, one two three, four, 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.360 second seat over and he sat there and he talked 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:05.560 about the lonely places. And for me, that hit me 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:09.880 because that lonely place, I wanted to stay as far 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:12.920 away from it as I could. I stay away from 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:16.240 it by getting busy just saying how you doing today, 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:19.839 blessed highly favored brother, Like, I'll do everything I can 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:25.840 to avoid that lonely place. But Pastor Stephen does this 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:27.560 thing where he kind of forces you into that seat 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:30.040 in a loving way, and he forces you to look 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:33.240 at what you've been hiding from. And today I want 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:35.400 to talk about what God showed me in that lonely place. 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:39.520 I watched the sermon eight times that week, and I 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:43.119 cried every time because God was revealing wave after wave 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:45.760 after wave of his revelation of the place that I 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:47.520 didn't want to get to. That I found the blessing 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:49.760 when I sat in it. And I just want to 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:51.640 unpack for a few moments with you. What God showed 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:54.480 me in that lonely place. Maybe this would encourage you 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:57.320 for anybody's in that lonely place, for anybody who feels 0:05:57.320 --> 0:05:59.440 like they're outcast or overlooked, for anybody who feels like 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:01.920 they're marginal or push to the periphery of life. This 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:03.839 is a word for you. God's gonna meet you in 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:05.800 this place, and it's not just gonna encourage you. It's 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.280 gonna mark the moment. It's gonna mark the moment of 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:11.000 your life. Help me thank Pastor Stephen every week for 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:13.719 getting in this pulpit and preach your words that we 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:17.360 live on. I love me, Pastor Stephen, Thank you, We 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:20.600 honor you. And the character I want to give you 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:23.360 a couple verses and then he'll be seated. The character 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:26.120 that God led me to is Moses. It's in Exodus 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:30.400 chapter three, just a few verses. This is what I 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:32.120 learned in that lonely place that maybe you to be 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:35.200 encouraged with Exodus three, verses one to six. It says 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:38.080 now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:40.400 in law, the priest Obmitian. He led the fuck flocked 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:43.000 to the far side of the wilderness and came to 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:45.240 horror of the mountain of God. They're an angel of 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:47.120 the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:50.400 within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:53.960 on fire, it did not burn up. So Moses thought, 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:56.839 I will go over and see this strange sight. Why 0:06:56.839 --> 0:06:59.880 does this bush not burn up? When the Lord saw 0:06:59.880 --> 0:07:02.720 that Moses had gone over to look, he called him 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:07.920 from within the bush, Moses. Moses. Moses said, here I am. 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:10.280 We would do well to consider the cadence of this text. 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:15.160 God is present, but his voice is absent, and it's 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:17.680 easy for us to stand at a distance saying God speak, 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:22.520 but her feet aren't moving. And the progression of the 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:26.240 text indicates that as Moses moved, God spoke. And I 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:28.480 want to celebrate your decision to move towards God today, 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:30.400 to get out of bed and go to the Orlando campus, 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:32.520 to get out of bed and go to the Gaston campus, 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:34.480 to roll over in bed, and to click on the 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:38.280 Lincoln just to watch those small movements God sees. And 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:40.760 when you make one small step towards God, he comes 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:43.640 moving towards you. As some of you fell like God, 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:47.680 you're at a distance, And I can't hear you. Just 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:52.880 move towards him and trust that he will speak to you. Today, says, 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:55.400 do not come any closer. God said, take off your 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:57.880 sandals for the place where you are standing his holy ground. 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:00.400 Then he said, I am the God of your the 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:02.600 God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:08.480 of Jacob. At this Moses hid his face because he 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.960 was afraid to look at God. And for a few 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:14.640 minutes we have together. I want to considered this subject. 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:17.280 I need your help announcing the sermon title to your neighbor. 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:19.400 If you're in a room, maybe you'd say it out 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:23.160 loud to your cat, it's this. It's look at you. 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:24.840 Look at your neighbor and say this to him. Say 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:28.360 let's face it now. Maybe there's somebody else you would 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:30.120 have preferred to talk to. Look at them and say 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:32.360 let's face it. Maybe in the comments you would drop 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:35.680 in like some emojis, type in the title less face 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:37.679 you guys can be seated here at balance on all 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:40.840 of our locations. Thank you, worship team. Now. When I 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:43.800 was in third grade, I loved school. I loved it. 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:46.080 I would sit for hours in the living room and 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.120 doing my math and doing my science and doing my words. 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:52.160 It was amazing. I would hear my mom, little Dorothy 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:54.319 four foot eleven, on a good day. She would be 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:56.199 yelling from the kitchen like, I'm so proud of you, 0:08:56.320 --> 0:09:00.480 my baby, hur glees, you looked, You're so good. And 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:03.000 I'm like, yeah, my mom is proud of me. I'm smart. 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:07.400 She's like, you're so smart, You're so smart. And then 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:10.160 one day at school, my third grade teacher, Missus Rasmus, 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:12.560 and she gave me a note to take home to 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:15.800 my mom. It was stapled together, and I thought, oh, 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:17.280 my gosh, she wants to like throw a party from 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:19.760 me or something. She's so proud of me. I bet 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:21.640 I'm gonna win like student of the Month award or 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:23.760 something like that. So, of course I did what every 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.160 third grader does. I opened the note. I did staple 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:28.600 didn't mean anything that was insignificant. I opened the note, 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:32.240 but I tried to read it. But that was the problem. 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:35.440 I couldn't read very good. And so I can make 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:37.720 out a couple of words. I can make out one 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:41.520 of the words like special. I'm like, oh, Missus Rasmussen 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:45.720 thinks I'm special. Oh, this is amazing. Yes, Missus Rasmus 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.079 is thank you, and then I can make out another 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:52.560 word like slow. I'm like, obviously she's not seen me. 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:55.320 In pe like, I am the fastest kid in the school, 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:58.280 Missus rasmus, and I am very fast, fooking me, she 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:00.960 must not have seen me. And I came to this 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:02.880 other word that I tried to read, and I like, 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:07.120 I asked my buddy Paul, I said what's this word? 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.520 And he said remedial. I said, what's that meaning? He said, 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:15.640 it means you're stupid. And I can tell you what 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:18.920 I was wearing. I could tell you where I was standing. 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:21.560 And that was the first moment in my life. I 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:25.600 felt shame. I felt it. It was like a clo, 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:28.000 like a coat you put on me, and I wore it. 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:31.080 And so I took the note and I folded it 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:32.719 back up, and I'm trying to figure out in a 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:33.880 way to give this to my mom. But I'm not 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:35.720 going to give it to my mom. So I took 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:39.520 my little Duke's of hazard lunchbox. And on one side 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:41.040 it opened up and you had the thermis and all 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:42.360 this stuff and it. But on the other side, if 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:44.440 it had like a secret compartment, the other lid opened, 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:46.480 and you would put your napkin in there and your 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:48.880 soup spoon and all that stuff. So I thought, that's 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:52.240 where I'm going to put my note. So I hit 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:54.880 it in that little secret compartment. So when I took 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:56.439 it home and I gave my mom my lunchbox. The 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:58.079 next day missus rasmus and said, did you give the 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:01.920 note to your mom? I'm like, yes, I did. Isn't 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:04.120 it amazing what shame will cause you to do that's 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:08.400 inconsistent with your character? Isn't it amazing what shame will 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:12.439 get you to do? And that day I went home, 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:15.600 my mom said, are you gonna do your math? I 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:19.720 remember telling you no, Mom, I'm not very good at it. 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:23.320 She's what do you mean? I just I'm kind of 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:25.880 done with that, mom. So I go back to school 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:28.640 and the next week, teacher's like, will your mom hasn't 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:30.360 called me because there was no text message back in 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:33.000 this day, And she goes, here's another note. Take it home. 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:34.400 So I put it right with the other note in 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:36.040 my duke's that it has her lunchbox. A couple of 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:38.040 weeks go by, she finally feels like, I don't think 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:39.840 your mom's getting these notes. So here's what we're gonna do. 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:44.280 She staples the note to my shirt. True story. Of course, 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:45.640 I took it off my shirt and I put it 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:48.319 right in with the other ones. And a couple of 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:51.040 weeks go by, and Missus Rasmus is like, make sure 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:53.240 you give your mom that note so she can call me. 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:54.600 And I can't even look at her, because you know, 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:56.559 what shame causes you to do, doesn't even let you 0:11:56.559 --> 0:11:59.120 look anybody in the face. Shame makes you feel so 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:01.679 unworthy you can't look at anybody. I can't even look 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:04.640 at Missus Rasmussen. And that little boy who used to 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:06.719 do all those math things died and he would never 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.120 come alive again. And I'm walking on the way out 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:12.640 to the school bus and accidentally hit my lunchbox against 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:15.840 the desk and it opens up and out floats all 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:21.439 my notes. Missus Rasmussen sees it. She's like, Larry, and 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:26.240 I hide my face and I just start crying. She 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:29.520 comes in so gender gently and she says, LB, Larry. 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:33.680 She says, you've got a learning disability. But I'm with you. 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:37.480 She said, let's face it. So in the text, when 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.640 Moses hides his face, I identify with that situation. That's 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:43.320 the lonely space. That's the place where you go to 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:45.040 where you hide your face because you don't even feel 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:47.440 worthy to look anybody else in the face. That's that 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:50.199 lonely space for me. So when God comes to Moses 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:53.480 in this scene in chapter three of Exodus, I get it. 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:55.600 God's got a job for him to do, and he's like, 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:58.560 not me. He gives them all these excuses, not me, 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:01.440 Send somebody else? Should I tell him? What about all 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.960 these things? And finally he gives this answer. In verse 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:08.160 ten of chapter four says Moses said to the Lord, 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:11.960 pardon your servant. Lord, I've never been eloquent, neither in 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:14.880 the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:18.800 I am slow of speech and sung. And if you've 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:21.080 grown up around the church world, you've heard that voice before. 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:23.520 And every time you hear the character of Moses preach, 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:25.640 he sounds a little bit like Forrest Gump with a stutter, 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:30.720 because I can't talk very good. And that's the story 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.000 you've heard your whole life, and you've believed a lie 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:37.320 because that's not true. This is the part about the 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:40.760 lonely place and makes you believe lies. That are not real. 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:45.200 They're not real. Because as I jumped into this lonely 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:48.080 place and I started to inspect the story of Moses, 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:51.319 I came to the Book of Acts where it's recorded. 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:54.439 Luke records this in seven twenty two, and this busted 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:57.120 the bubble of my perception of Moses. And maybe God 0:13:57.160 --> 0:13:59.880 wants to bust your bubble for how you see yourself today, 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:03.920 the stereotypes you have labeled yourself with the things you said, 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:07.600 I'm not going to do math because I'm dumb, because 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:09.559 in Acts seven twenty two it says this is as 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:13.800 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:20.480 and was powerful is speech and what like. That's got 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:23.040 to be a typo that doesn't really happen. That's not 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:25.040 in the Bible. Because I always thought that Moses was 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.040 slow and he was dumb. But what you're telling me 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:29.680 is in the text. If there's a place where it 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:32.640 says he was powerful in speech and an action. It's 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.240 the same word the pastor referenced a couple of weeks 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:37.240 ago when you talked about the Holy Spirit, when it 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:39.880 comes on you, it will give you power. It's the 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:42.600 same word that te's talked of Jesus. He says, with him, 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:47.080 all things are possible. So if the limitless potential of 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:50.720 God is in this moment, why is Moses responding with 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:55.920 an inferior answer? And it made me examine myself. Are 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.840 my answers really just excuses rooted in insecurity or are 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:06.080 they responses grounded in truth? What answers have you been 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:09.680 giving that are rooted in insecurity? Because it's the story 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:12.680 you believed when you were in third grade? I'm stupid? 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.520 Where's that at? This is the lonely place for me? 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:19.680 This is the place when God took me to that 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:21.600 space I didn't want to look at because I couldn't 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:28.040 look at myself. But before we impuneis character, it's important 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:30.840 that we look at the backstory. Never judge the behavior 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:34.160 without knowing the backstory, and then never never because how 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:36.440 did he get here? That would be a good question 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:38.120 for you to type into the comments. How did you 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:40.280 get here? How did you get to this point? How 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:42.000 did you get to these beliefs? How did you get 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:44.480 into the system where that defines through you are? How 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:47.040 did you get here? And you're just saying, well, I'm 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:49.400 just not very smart. That's a lie, shut your pie hole. 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:55.280 That's not true. But Moses believed it. But God simply 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:59.040 ministered to Moses in the moment. But let's look at 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:01.920 the backstory. I want to summarize. If you flip a 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:04.800 chapter over into Exodus chapter two, you could type into 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:06.800 the comments this would be your additional reading during the week. 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:09.280 Verses one to ten. Let me just summarize for you. 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:11.840 Moses is born onto the scene. He's got a mom 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:15.440 and a dad, am Ram his dad, and Jocobed is mom. 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:19.440 And at that time an issue, an order had been 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:23.560 issued among the Israelites from Pharaoh, the king of the Egyptians, 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.360 who said, hey, the firstborn must be thrown into the 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:29.120 Nile river. The Israelites are getting too big. We can't 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:31.880 let him overtake us, so we need to exterminate some 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:34.640 of them. So they have a baby, and the scripture 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:37.200 says that he was a fine child. It says that 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:40.280 he was special in the king James. It says goodly. 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:44.760 It's the same word that when God created he said 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:49.600 it was very good. The mark of God was on Moses. 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:51.640 His mom and dad saw it, and they said we 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:55.720 have to protect it. And so this week, when somebody 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:58.080 asks you how you doing. Don't let it be just 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:00.840 a back end comments and I'm good. No, no no, no, 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:04.840 say say I'm good. I'm good. God made me, God 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:10.720 formed me, God fashioned me. I'm good. I'm good. And 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:12.800 Moses mom and dad and they saw it. So they 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:18.240 hid him for three months. Wait, no, as a grown man, 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:22.879 he's hiding his face. And his life started at obscurity. 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:25.960 Being hidden by his parents. Was his behavior something that 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:29.840 was created by God or conditioned by man? Was the 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:32.159 environment that you grew up in? Did it shape you 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.080 to change your decisions for how you expressed yourself as 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:40.160 an adult? How did you get here? Moses? It wasn't 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:42.720 the story in that day. It was the story that 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:45.359 had been unfolding his whole life, and you got to 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:47.359 peel it back. You will not understand the scene of 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:49.680 your life unless you rewind the movie a little bit. 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:54.040 And Moses, he's hidden. And they said when he can 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:56.119 hide him no longer. They had to put him in 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:58.000 a basket and toss him out under the Nile River. 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:01.480 Mama had to abandoned him because she didn't know what 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:04.080 to do with him. Could it be that God has 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:07.280 hidden something in your heart and you haven't known what 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:09.240 to do with it, and you've been staring at the 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:11.440 situations say it's not gonna happen, So I guess I'll 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:13.840 just abandon it. I wonder how many abandoned dreams are 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:16.359 left on the floor of all of our services because 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:18.720 you have given up on it and you've less settled 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:21.879 for the lie. I'm just not smart, I'm not good. No, 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:26.320 that's not true. That's not true. That's not true. So 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:28.480 she has to abandon this thing. Can you imagine the 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:32.320 pain of jocobet is She just hands over her son 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:35.719 onto the Nile River, the very thing that was created 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:37.879 to destroy him. Now she has to lay him in. 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:44.160 But say but, but MOS's older sister, Miriam, was watching 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:47.040 at a distance, and she sees where the basket comes 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:48.760 against the shore, and it just so happens that it's 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:51.840 near Pharaoh's daughter where she's coming down. And she's seeing this, 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:54.479 and God sees you, and you might feel like you've 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:56.120 been tossed out into the waves of life. But God 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:59.000 is controlling the current, and he controlled where she landed. 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:02.800 And she sees Pharaoh's daughter come and get this baby, 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:04.639 and she just happens. Oh do you want me to 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:06.800 go get one of the Hebrew mamas to nurse him 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:12.080 for you. She says yes, So she takes Moses back 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.879 to his mom. Imagine the joy and Jocobed and hearing like, 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:18.120 oh my gosh, this thing that I gave away come 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:20.640 back to me. Oh my soul in the story gets 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:23.399 even better. They're gonna pay me to do it. Oh, 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:25.639 I declare over you. Whatever the devil has caused you 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:27.800 to forfeit, God's gonna restore and He's gonna make him 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:30.080 pay for it. God's gonna make him pay for it. 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:34.480 And he paid for it, and it comes back to her. 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:37.679 Oh my God, you brought this back to me. But 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:39.879 then she hears the other part of the story. But 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:41.680 you can only have him for a certain time because 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:47.840 Pharaoh's daughter wants him as her son. What God, this 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:51.719 is in faith? Or maybe it really is. So now 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:54.560 Jocobed begins this process of training up a child in 0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:57.120 the way he should go, because she knows she's only 0:19:57.160 --> 0:19:59.800 got a finite time with him. Some theologians it would 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:01.960 have been only about four years up to about eight 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:04.480 years because the child would have needed to be weaned. 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:06.080 But in that time there wasn't a whole lot of 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:08.840 bread on the Israelite tables, so they would nurse these 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:11.199 children as long as they can be could because it 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:13.840 kept more food on the table. So it's a reasonable 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:16.920 to assume that Jokobed was delaying the process as much 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:18.960 as she could because she didn't want to hand this 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:20.880 child over, but she knew she would have to one day. 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:23.000 So she begins the process of every day looking at 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:26.400 most and say, Moses, you're special. You're a deliverer. Your 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:28.960 God is the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You're 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:30.760 a creative for it to be a deliverer of Moses. 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:33.200 And every day she's speaking over him. She'd speaking over him, 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:35.920 she'd speaking over and she'd make him repeat it back. Moses, 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:38.800 you're a deliverer. You are special. God's hand is on 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:41.240