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Deliverance- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Wondering if you're acquainted with the story of Hank and
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: the mop Bucket.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Maybe you are and just don't know it.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Hank is a eighty year old retired professional who supplements
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: his fixed income with night shift custodial work. His health
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: isn't what it used to be. Gout keeps him awake
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: at night. Arthritis makes him limp. His glasses are so
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: thick that his eyeballs look twice their size. His shoulder stoop,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: but still he does his work, slopping soapy waters on linoleum,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: scrubbing the heel marks left by the well heeled lawyers.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: He'll be finished an hour before quitting time. He always is,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: has been for years, always finishes early, but he never
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: leaves early. He'll put away his bucket and take a
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: seat outside the office of the senior partner, and he'll wait.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: He could leave early, no one would know, but he doesn't.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: He broke the rules once, never again. Sometimes, if the
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: door is open, he'll wander into the office of the
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: senior partner and just take a look. The office is
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: twice the size of his apartment. Run his finger over
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: the desk, and he'll stroke the leather couch he'll stand
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: at the window and watch the gray sky turn gold,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: and he'll remember he once had such an office, back
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: when he was Henry, back when the custodian was an executive,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: long ago, before the night shift, before the mop bucket,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: before the maintenance uniform, before the scandal. Hank made a
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: mistake he could never forget. It was a grave mistake.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Hank killed someone, came upon a thug beating up an
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: innocent man, and he lost control. And when word got out,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Hank got out. He'd rather hide than go to jail,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: so he ran, and the executive became a fugitive. That
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: was years ago. It's a true story, true story made
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: even more dramatic by the incident with the mop bucket.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: At first, he thought it was just a joke.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Some of the fellows on the third floor played these
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: kind of tricks. He heard a voice coming out of
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: the mop bucket, Henry Henry. Hank turned. No one called
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: him Henry anymore, Henry Henry, and he stepped toward the pail.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: It was glowing bright red, hot red. He could feel
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: the heat ten feet away. He stepped forward and looked
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: in the water wasn't boiling, but the pot was hot.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: How could it be?
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: This is strange, he mumbled to himself as he as
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: he took another step closer to get a closer look.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: This time the voice stomped him. Don't come any closer,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: take off your shoes. Where you stand is holy ground.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: And suddenly Hank knew who was speaking. You think I'm
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: making this up, don't you? Sounds crazy, almost irreverent? God
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: speaking from a mop bucket to a chanitor named Hank. Well,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: would it be more believable if I told you it
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: was God speaking through a burning bush to a shepherd.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Named Moses.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Just because we're familiar with the story doesn't make it
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: any more spectacular, less spectacular than it was the day
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: it first happened in the wilderness with the eighty year
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: old shepherd. By now, however, we're starting to grow accustomed
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: to spectacular stories, aren't we? As a congregation, all all
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: of our campuses are working through the story. It's a
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: chronological Bible in which each week we read another major
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: section as God leads us down his divine timeline.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: We began just a few weeks ago looking at the.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Creation and then the ensuing fall of Adam and Eve,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: and then the flood of Noah and the creation of
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: the Tower of Babel. The next chapter introduced us to
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Abram and Sarah, or as they came to be known
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: as Abraham and Sarah. Who would have thought that they
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: would receive a baby about the same time they were
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: receiving social security, but they did, and consequently the nation
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: of Israel was born when Isaac was born. And then
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: came last week's chapter, the story of Joseph. Joseph, the
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: great grandson of Abraham, sold down the river by his brothers,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: sent into Egyptian slavery himself. But then God turned that
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: prisoner into a prince, and in doing so actually saved
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: not just the Jewish people, but the lineage of Jesus Christ.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: And we're beginning to catch a hint of how what
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: God is doing up there and what we're seeing down
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: here don't seem like they match up. But God is
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: always up to something good, even if it might be
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: difficult for us. Well, four hundred years pass and the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: children of Israel, the Hebrew nation, is still in Egypt,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: but the favor, the favor of Pharaoh, that was upon
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Joseph is long since passed, and there is no favor
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: upon the Hebrew people. Just the opposite. The Egyptians resent
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: the presence of the Hebrews and are concerned because the
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: nation just continues to grow. So they inaugurate the first genocide,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: and the firstborn of every Hebrew family is to be killed.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: It was this world.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: That welcomed the baby Moses.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: It was into this world that Moses was born, and
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: it was in the chaos of this world that Moses
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: received the call. You might remember his story. He was
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: adopted nobility. He was an Israelite reared in an Egyptian palace.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: His countrymen were slaves, but Moses was privileged.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: He ate at the royal table.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: He was educated in the finest schools, but his most
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: influential teacher had no degree.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: It was his mother.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Remember how when he was plucked out of the Nile River,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: there appeared a young lady and the Egyptians asked her
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: to be the nanny for the baby, not knowing that
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: she was the biological mother. And so she raised Moses,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: and don't you know she prayed for Moses, and don't
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: you know there were times in when she looked into
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: the face of her young son and said, now, don't
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: forget who you are. God is going to use you
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: for something special. Don't forget who you are. And he
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: didn't forget. The flame of justice grew within his heart
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: brighter and brighter, until that one day, when he was
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: forty years old, he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: and Moses intervened and killed the Egyptian. Knowing that spelled
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: the end for him, Moses fled and ended up in
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: the wilderness, and that's where he spent the next forty years.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: He assumed, I would imagine that he would never come
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: back to Egypt. We can call that a serious career shift.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: He went from sitting with heads of state to counting
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: the heads of sheep, and by the time he was
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: eighty years old, it's been four decades in the wilderness,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: never thinking he would ever.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Go back to Egypt. And we knew that.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: We know that because when God came to him, not
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: through a mop bucket, but through a burning bush and
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: spoke to him, Moses was resistant. Moses said to him,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Now I know how
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: I would answer that question.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Who are you?
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Well, you're You're the young man who grew up the
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Hebrew who was trained by the Egyptians. You're the one
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: who speaks perfect Egyptian. You're the one who understands the
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: science and the language. You're the one who has set
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: in on the cabinet decisions. You're the one who has
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: instant access to Pharaoh. You are the perfect one to
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: go back. And then I would have said, and you're
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: the one that has been trained for the last forty
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: years in the very wilderness through which you are going
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: to lead the Hebrew people. You know every cave and
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: every lizard and every snake. You've had forty years of
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: training in Egypt. You've had forty years of training in
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: the wilderness. You're the perfect one for this job. I
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: would have made a big deal out of Moses. But
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: God doesn't mention Moses. All he does is tell Moses
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: his name. You want to know how you're going to
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: get through this, Moses, here's the way God answers that question.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: God said to Moses, I am who I am. This
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: is what you are to say to the Israelites. Just
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: I Am has sent me to you. And we know
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: many titles of God, but this is the name of God.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: The self assigned name of God Jahweh Yahweh. It comes
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: from a confluence of two Hebrew verbs I am and
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: I caused to be.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: Yahweh.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Just tell them I am sent you. If you come
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: up to me today and say Max, how are you doing,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: and I say I am, You're going to say finish
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: the sentence because we don't get by with saying I am,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: because we change. We change from year to year, from
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: month to month, from day to day, even from minute
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: to minute. How are you I I'm hungry, I'm sleepy,
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: I'm cranky, I'm fine. We have to finish the sentence
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: because we're always changing. The point God never changes. He's
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: the only one who ever said I am who I
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: am and got by with it. The reason you're going
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: to do this, Moses, the reason you're going to succeed
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: in this, Moses, is because I am.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: I am strong, I am faithful, I am good.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Everything God has ever been is everything he will ever be.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: And the power Moses does not rely upon you, Moses,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: but the power relies upon me. What matters, Moses is
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: not your ability, but your availability. Some of you need
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: to hear that you're saying, I'm not up to being
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: a parent. I don't think I can save my marriage.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure I can hang it in, hang in
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: it with these employees or employers. I'm not sure I
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: have the patience. I'm not sure I have the wisdom.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: I'm afraid. I'm too old. I'm afraid, I'm too young.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: I'm afraid. And then we begin to fill in the blanks.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: And God's response to us is the same response he
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: gave to Moses. It really doesn't matter about you. What
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: matters is that you lean into me and I am
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: Lloyd Douglas was the author of the novel The Robe
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: and several other classics, and he relates how when he
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: was in college, he stayed in a boarding house of
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: sorts and was on the second floor, and the first
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: floor there was a retired music professor who was wheelchair bound,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: and the two struck up a friendship. And every day
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Lloyd Douglas would stop and poke his head in the
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: doorway of the apartment of the retired music professor, and
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: he would say, what's.
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  Speaker 2: The good word, prof.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: And every day the professor would pull from his shirt
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: pocket a tuning fork. Now you've got to be pretty
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: old to know what a tuning fork is so a
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: tuning fork predates the pitch pipe. And he would take
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: that tuning fork and he would hit it against the
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: metal part of his wheelchair and he would put it
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: up to his ear and let it vibrate, and he
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: would say to young Lloyd that my friend is a
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: middle c. The tenor upstairs sings flat. The piano across
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: the hallway is out of tune, but that's still a
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: middle c. That's the good news. What's the point. It's
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: good that there's a middle sea in the world. It's
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: good that there's something that doesn't change. Listen, you and
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: I live in a changing world. It's changing so fast
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: we can scarcely keep up with it. I'm still trying
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: to figure out how to operate a fax machine and
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: it's already out of date. It's moving. The economy is changing,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: The political landscape is changing. The geopolitical world is changing.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Even churches change. Add to that, you're changing. Here's growing
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: where it didn't used to. Things you're getting bigger, things
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: are getting smaller. You're forgetting and remembering that you're changing.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: And you're married to someone who's changing. You're raising kids
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: that are changing. You have parents who are changed. It's
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: a changing world.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: Listen.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Change will freak us out unless we lock into the
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: unchanging hand of the Mighty I am. It seems to
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: me God was saying to Moses, You're about to lead
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: a nation through change, and what you need to know
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: is that I don't.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: I don't.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: And the same God who was yesterday as a god,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: who is tomorrow as a God who is always. You
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: need an unchanging God in a changing world. Well, after
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: some more talk, Moses said, yes, we got to move
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: quickly through this dramatic back and forth between Moses and Pharaoh.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Moses would say, let my people go. Pharaoh would say no,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: but then would come a plague, and then Moses and
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: then Pharaoh would weaken and he would say yes. And
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: then Moses would begin to say I'm going to get
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: the people, and Pharaoh would resist. And it was just
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: back and forth and back and forth. There were one
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: plague after the other. I listed them here, maybe you've
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: read about them. The river became blood, then frogs, gnats, flies,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: disease in the livestock, boil, storms, locusts, darkness. Every time
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: there was a display of God's power, the people began
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: to understand the mighty power of God. But Pharaoh would
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: resist until finally the sign, the moment that changed everything.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: And it was through this final plague, through this final sign,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: that God revealed his plan of redemption.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: Redemption.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: God told Moses to instruct every family to take an
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: unblemished lamb, to kill it, and apply some of the
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: blood to the doorposts of the home. Let me just
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: read it to you. I'm in Exodus chapter twelve. On
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: that same night, I will pass through Egypt and strike
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: down every firstborn of both people and animals. I will
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: I am Lord.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: The blood will be a sign for you on the
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: houses where you are. And when I see the blood,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: I will pass over you, and no destructive plague will
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: touch you when I strike Egypt. What a strange command,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: What an eerie night. Hebrews who dwelt that part of
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: the city where the road was muddy and the huts
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: were small. The Hebrews slaughtered the lambs, and the leader
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: of each house, with a bowl full of blood and
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: a brush, took that blood and took that brush and
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: dipped the second into the first, and he streaked across
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: his doorway across the entry way to his house, a
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: slash of crimson. And then at midnight, at midnight, first
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: borns where there was no slash of blood in the homes,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: where there had been no mark over the doorway. That's
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: when the first borns took their final breath. Fathers heard
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: their sons gasp, wives heard their husbands gasp. What an
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: eerie bone shilling night of eben sorrow. Only the blood
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: covered homes were spared. Now, why were the Hebrew people spared?
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Why those over whom the Angel of death passed?
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: Why were they spared?
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Was it because they were Hebrews? Was it because they
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: knew Moses? No, it had nothing to do with who
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: they were. It had nothing to know with who they knew.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: It had everything to do with where they were. They
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: were beneath the blood of the lamb. They had positioned
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: themselves in a place where they were beneath the blood
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: of the lamb. Question, had you been there, had you
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: been one of those Hebrew families, would you have obeyed
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: that command?
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: Would you.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Had you been told to take a lamb, a spotless lamb,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: and sacrifice the lamb, and then take the blood and
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: put it over the entry weight Would you have done it?
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Or would you have said? That's the craziest thing I
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: think I've ever heard. You see, no one had ever
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: done anything like that before. As far as I can tell,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: that was the first and final time back command was
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: ever given in scripture. Would you have done it? It's
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: more than a rhetorical question, because you see, you and
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: I have the same problem that the Hebrews had in Egypt,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: and that is we are enslaved. We are enslaved not
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: to Pharaoh, but to sin. We do the very thing
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: we say we'll never do. We try to run the
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: world ourselves. We keep climbing up in the throne, telling
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: God to get lost. Maybe not with our words, but
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: certainly with our actions and our thoughts. We're enslaved to sin,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: and we don't need somebody just to help us. We
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: need someone to deliver us. We need someone to walk
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: us out. We need somebody to redeem us. And so
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: as far back as even in the story of Moses,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: we begin to see God's plan of redemption.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: It involves the shedding of blood and the arrival of
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: a lamb.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: You remember what John the Baptist said when he saw
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. He said, look, the Lamb of God who
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: takes away the sin.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Of the world.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Do you remember how the apostle Paul described the role
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ. He called Jesus Christ, our passover lamb
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: who has been sacrificed. You see you and I need
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: exactly what the Hebrew people needed. We need somebody to
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: rescue us. And so God gives us a perfect lamb,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. And we position ourselves not beneath the blood
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: stained doorway of a house in Egypt, but we position
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: ourselves beneath the blood covered cross of Jerusalem.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: And we stand there.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: And we trust in the ability of God to save us,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: to lead us out. Isn't it amazing how the story
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: of the Gospel is appearing all the way back in
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: the days of Abraham and Joseph and Moses, and that
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: crimson thread which begins in the garden of Eden, is
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: running all the way through the story of the Bible
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: into the.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: Book of Revelation.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Every story works together to tell us that we need
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: somebody to deliver us.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: And we don't need a.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Moses, but we needed Jesus Christ. So the question is
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: more than rhetorical.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: And I'll ask you again.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Invited to position yourself beneath the covering of the lamb
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: designated by God?
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Would you do so? Have you done so?
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: Vast majority the people in the world right now say,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: that's the most foolish thing I've ever heard of. The
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: vast majority the people in the world say, I don't
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: even need someone to die for my sin, because I
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: ain't half bad. I'm a pretty good person. But when
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ came onto the planet as the only perfect
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: person who has ever lived, we realize that compared to him,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: we all fall short. Have I told you about how
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: my mother used to tell me to clean up my room,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: and I would always point to my brother's bedroom that
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: was messier than mine because it was I'm a recovering slab,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: he's a slob addict. And I'd say, Mom, look at
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: my brother's room, and she'd say, it's not his room.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: You come and look at my room.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: Boy.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: She put neat on neat. She would lead me into
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: her room, where every wrinkle was removed from every part
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: of the bed, no shoe was out of place, and
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: every piece of clothing was hung up. She said, this
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: is what I call neat. When the King of Kings
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: sent his son to live the perfect life on this earth,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: gone forever. Was the excuse that says, well, compared to
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: him or compared to them, I'm pretty decent. And God
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: points at Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb, and says, now
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: that's what I call perfection. And wise is the person
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: who says, then I need help, I need deliverance. You know,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: as far as we know, every Hebrew family accepted God
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: on his offer.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: As far as we know.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: And they allowed God to lead them out, lead them
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: through the Red Sea out of Egypt. But somewhere between
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: the Red Sea and the Jordan River.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: They got coal feet. You see.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: It was God's plan to lead them straight out of
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Egypt into the Promised Land, but somewhere between the Red
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: Sea and the Jordan River they forgot. That's a story
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: for next week. We can't go that far today, but
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: we can walk away with a couple of takeaway messages
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: from Moses's story thus far. First of all, would you
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: receive again the call of God? Would you? Maybe you
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: are where Moses was. Maybe you feel like you're too old,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: or maybe you feel like you did the wrong thing.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Maybe you've been off the grid, Maybe you've been out
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: of the loop. Maybe you've been out in the sticks.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Maybe you feel like you're too weak, or too sinful
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: or whatever. To you, God says what God said to Moses.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: What matters not is who you are. What matters is
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: who I am. What matters is not your ability, but
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: your availability. Never has the old saying been more true
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: than it is with Moses. God doesn't call the qualified,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: He qualifies the called.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: He qualifies us.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: Now we know this is true for you because it
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: promises that we have Like this one in the Book
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: of Philippians, God began doing a good work in you,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: and I am sure he will continue it until it
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: is finished when Jesus Christ comes again. I ask you,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: has Jesus Christ come again?
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: Has he?
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: You can say no if you want. At least we
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: hope he hasn't. Right, we're left behind. He has not
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: come back. So Jesus Christ has begun a work in you,
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: and he will continue it until Christ comes back. So
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: the fact that he has yet to come back means
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: that he is or is not still working in you.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Is he he is Behold the work of God, he
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: is at work in you right now. In other words,
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: he ain't finished with you. Yet that's not good English.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: But that's good news. He ain't finished with you yet.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: So you stand strong against the devil when he tries
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: to tell you that you're too old, or you're from
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: the wrong side of the tracks, you're you're the wrong gender,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: the wrong colt, or the wrong economic level, whatever it is,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: you stand strong against him, and you remind him of
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: the story of that eighty year old shepherd in the
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: wilderness who was forty years removed he thought from his prime,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: only to hear God say no, the best is yet
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: to be. Receive again the call of God on your heart.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: He ain't finished with you yet, and receive anew the
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: redemption of God. Receive the redemption of God. Let Him
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: redeem you, let Him forgive you. Stand beneath the blood
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: stained cross of Christ.
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: It's some time ago.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: My wife, Dinelon and I went out to dinner and
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: had a delightful time. And at the end of the dinner,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: here comes the attendants. She was supposed to with the check,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: and she put the check and said, you know, I'll
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: come back in just a minute and get your credit card.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: And we were talking, and right behind her comes an
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: old Kills member. Somebody who had been across seating across
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: the restaurant, who saw me and came over to say hello,
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: and we had a nice visit. And after we visited
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: for a while, this person said, well, enjoy your dinner.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: And then he reached down and you know what he did.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: You want to guess.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: He grabbed the check and he stuck it in his
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: pocket and.
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: He said, I'll take that.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Oh, he's such a godly man, the wonderful man of God,
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: an inspiration.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: To all of us.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: So you know what I did when he took my
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: check and said I'll take that.
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: You know what I did? I ordered more dessert. I
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: let him. I let him take it. He wanted to
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: who was I to argue? I let him take it.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: And so when the attendant came by a few minutes
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: later to pick up the check with the credit card,
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: you know what I said. I pointed at him and
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: I said, he took it. He took it, and she
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: looked over at him, and the guy kind of way.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: Do you know?
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: The Bible says that someday we're going to all stand
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: before the judgment seat of Christ, and we're going to
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: give an account to the way we used our lives,
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: every thought, every deed, every word.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: We're going to give an account for it. Now. Were
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: it not.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: For Jesus Christ, that thought would terrify me. If you
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: knew my thoughts, my deeds in every word I've spoken,
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: you'd never let me preach. You wouldn't and I wouldn't
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: blame you. I'm crooked from head to toe. But because
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ, I have absolutely, absolutely no fear of
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: that moment.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: In fact, that cannot wait for that.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: Moment because whenever they produce a list of all my sins,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: you know what I'm gonna do.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna point at Jesus, and you know what I'm gonna.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: Say, He took it, because he is the Lamb of God,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: who takes away, who takes away the sin of the world.
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: Have you let him take yours.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: Here's the thing about the Gospel. While the Gospel is free,
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: it's never forced. While it's free, it's never forced. And
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: what the Gospel requires from you is the same thing
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: that really the invitation required from the Hebrew people. They
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: could have said no, they could have said, I'm not
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: positioning myself beneath the blood of the lamp. They could
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: have they could have, but they didn't, and consequently they
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: were delivered. May you make the same decision they did.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: For while it's free, it's never forced receive anew the
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: redemption of God. So Lord, this is our prayer that
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: even now with these words are still in our ears.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: But we could be thankful for the redemption we received,
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: or could we could be quick to receive the redemption
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: we did not help us Father to receive the message.
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: Of the Gospel.
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: Today to Christ we pray, and all the church said.
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: At mm hmm.
• 37:19
  Speaker 4: Everything I used to live for Fad is slowly out
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: of sight. Now my days just circle around you like
• 37:29
  Speaker 4: I'm lost without a life.
• 37:33
  Speaker 5: All the noise just turns to silence when your memory
• 37:37
  Speaker 5: comes through. And the world I want was chasing and
• 37:42
  Speaker 5: now feel small.
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: And shape like you.
• 37:49
  Speaker 5: My whole world is only you.
• 37:52
  Speaker 6: Every doot he's breaking through. You're so close inside my mind.
• 37:59
  Speaker 6: You're so far and relive.
• 38:02
  Speaker 4: I can feel you everywhere else, and the things we
• 38:06
  Speaker 4: live sh.
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: All.
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: This love I'm going.
• 38:11
  Speaker 6: Through never reaches you.
• 38:19
  Speaker 5: Every image feels so real now, like you're standing next
• 38:24
  Speaker 5: to me.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: But the truth is in the silence.
• 38:29
  Speaker 5: You are never.
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: Then to see.
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: My world is only.
• 38:39
  Speaker 4: Every dark he.
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: Is breaking through.
• 38:42
  Speaker 6: You're so close inside in my mind, so far and
• 38:47
  Speaker 6: real life. I can feel you everywhere in the things
• 38:53
  Speaker 6: we live.
• 38:56
  Speaker 4: All this love I'm going through never reach you.
• 39:03
  Speaker 6: If you failed for a moment, it would have changed
• 39:07
  Speaker 6: the waves.
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: Stay would still be shadows at you say.
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: M hm, My world is.
• 39:30
  Speaker 6: Only only only if your world a different you. I'm
• 39:36
  Speaker 6: just someone passed by in your open sky. Still hold
• 39:43
  Speaker 6: on to every hearty costs.
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: For you, all this love.
• 39:50
  Speaker 6: I always know who'll never reach you.
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: Hog ha