Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – Unusual Leading, Remarka...

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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – Unusual Leading, Remarka... · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: I've learned through the years of studying the Bible that
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Speaker 1: when we find a repeated phrase in the scriptures, we
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Speaker 1: know that God is teaching us something important and were
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Speaker 1: wise to pay close attention. In the thirteenth chapter of Exodus,
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Speaker 1: the phrase with a powerful hand appears again and again.
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Speaker 1: With a powerful hand, the Lord brought plagues that destroyed
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Speaker 1: the pride of Egypt. With a powerful hand, he took
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Speaker 1: the lives of merciless Egypts first born. With a powerful hand.
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Speaker 1: He spared his people from their Egyptian oppressors. And finally,
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Speaker 1: with a powerful hand, God led his people out of slavery,
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Speaker 1: starting them toward a new life of freedom. Incredibly, even
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Speaker 1: after all these miracles, the Lord had only begun to
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Speaker 1: show his might. The Lord's powerful hand would free the
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Speaker 1: Hebrews from Egypt's defiant grasp once and for all. In
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Speaker 1: preparation for today's message, I'll be reading highlights from the
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Speaker 1: account of God's deliverance of his people from the Egyptians.
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Speaker 1: Turned with me to Exodus chapter fourteen. I'll begin at
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Speaker 1: verse five, and I'll read random verses from this chapter
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Speaker 1: out of the New Living Translation. When word reached the
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Speaker 1: King of Egypt that the Israelites had fled. Pharaoh and
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Speaker 1: his officials changed their minds. What have we done letting
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Speaker 1: all those Israelites slaves get away? They asked. Now verse nine,
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Speaker 1: the Egyptians chase after them with all the forces in
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Speaker 1: Pharaoh's army, all his horses and chariots, his charioteers, and
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Speaker 1: his troops. As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked
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Speaker 1: up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them
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Speaker 1: verse thirteen. But Moses told the people, don't be afraid,
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Speaker 1: just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today.
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Speaker 1: The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again.
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Speaker 1: The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm
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Speaker 1: verse twenty one. Then Moses raised his hand over the sea,
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Speaker 1: and the Lord opened up a path through the water
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Speaker 1: with a strong east wind. The wind blew all that night,
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Speaker 1: turning the sea bed into dry land. So the people
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Speaker 1: of Israel will walked through the middle of the sea
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Speaker 1: on dry ground with walls of water on each side.
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Speaker 1: Now dropping down to verse twenty six. After the Egyptians
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Speaker 1: chased the Hebrews into the middle of the sea, we
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Speaker 1: read the Lord said to Moses raise your hand over
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Speaker 1: the sea again. Then the waters will rush back and
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Speaker 1: cover the Egyptians and their chariots and charioteers. So as
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Speaker 1: the sun began to rise, Moses raised his hand over
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Speaker 1: the sea, and the water rushed back into its usual place.
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Speaker 1: The Egyptians tried to escape, but the Lord swept them
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Speaker 1: into the sea. And now, finally, verse thirty one concludes
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Speaker 1: with a lesson about how God's people respond to his
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Speaker 1: powerful hand. When the people of Israel saw the mighty
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Speaker 1: power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they
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Speaker 1: were filled with all before him. They put their faith
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Speaker 1: in the Lord and in his servant, Moses. Lord God,
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Speaker 1: remind us again that you do your best work in
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Speaker 1: impossible situations. Remind us, Father, that you're the specialist when
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Speaker 1: it comes to guiding us into unpredictable destinations. It excites
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Speaker 1: us to walk through this now empty building over there,
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Speaker 1: a couple of miles away, and to realize that this
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Speaker 1: all began below. Scratch in your heart first, and then
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Speaker 1: you placed in the minds of a few of us,
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Speaker 1: and we just watched you work in remarkable ways, really
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Speaker 1: remarkable ways, and we all sort of stand back with
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Speaker 1: our mouths open, and we're thankful that the credit for
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Speaker 1: this does not rest with one person or a handful
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Speaker 1: of people, or even a few who give more than
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Speaker 1: others are able to give. But the credit for this
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Speaker 1: is with you, and it goes to you. Speak Lord
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Speaker 1: in the silence, as we wait on you, and as
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Speaker 1: we wait expectantly. Speak to couples who are married and
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Speaker 1: have time this evening to talk about this. Speak this
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Speaker 1: evening to them, Guide them in the way you would
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Speaker 1: have them. Go talk to singles, single parents, even, talk
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Speaker 1: to individuals who have gotten into their seventies and eighties,
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Speaker 1: and encourage them with the thought of an investment in
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Speaker 1: the work of ministry. And free us from the cynicism
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Speaker 1: and the negativism of our times, in which so much
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Speaker 1: because of suspicion results in disappointment and disillusionment. Give us
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Speaker 1: true hope, like the Hebrews who looked up and saw
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Speaker 1: the cloud, and looked into the night and saw the fire,
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Speaker 1: who witnessed a sea opening which only you could have done,
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Speaker 1: and your protective hand to get them through it. And
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Speaker 1: we pause, Father, on the eve of these great days
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Speaker 1: of celebration. As we move in and as we occupy
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Speaker 1: this building. We pause today looking ahead in faith, and
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Speaker 1: we're trusting you help us, and you lead, help us
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Speaker 1: to say yes, Lord, Yes. And we asked this our Father,
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Speaker 1: trusting you to use even this offering right now, that
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Speaker 1: we will get to further your work and to honor
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Speaker 1: your name. We ask it in the name of Jesus,
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Speaker 1: in whom we believe with all our hearts and all
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Speaker 1: God's people agreed. Amen. Well, I'm holding in my hand
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Speaker 1: right now a map of the United States United States
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Speaker 1: of America. Now, if you were schooled as I was
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Speaker 1: in the good old USA, you are familiar with this map. Right.
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Speaker 1: If I were to say, could you locate Chicago, Illinois,
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Speaker 1: you could probably do it without somebody leaning over and
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Speaker 1: telling you it's up there in the north Midwest. If
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Speaker 1: I were to say Los Angeles, California, you'd know immediately
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Speaker 1: to look to the west and you'd go over there
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Speaker 1: and you'd find Los Angeles. If I were to say,
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Speaker 1: how about Boston, Massachusetts, you'd know up in the northeast
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Speaker 1: is Boston, Massachusetts. If I were to say, can you
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Speaker 1: locate Florida, you could definitely locate Florida from the map
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Speaker 1: right now. That's a funny thing about maps. We all
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Speaker 1: pretty well know our way around the big cities of America.
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Speaker 1: We could locate them with our eyes closed. We can
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Speaker 1: see the map. We know down here is this, and
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Speaker 1: over there is that, and up here is this. But
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Speaker 1: it's funny when we're gonna go somewhere, we still want
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Speaker 1: a map to get us from where we live to
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Speaker 1: where we're going. Right, And this is true even if
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Speaker 1: we've been there before. This past week, I went to
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Speaker 1: a place I had been to before and still traveling
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Speaker 1: with our younger son, Chuck. He and I were to
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Speaker 1: gather in my pickup at a great time, but we
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Speaker 1: had a map, and we've both been there, he more
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Speaker 1: often than I have, and yet we looked at the
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Speaker 1: map to know exactly what journey to take. So you
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Speaker 1: still use a map even though you know generally where
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Speaker 1: you're going. Let's play. Let's pretend. Okay, let's pretend that
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Speaker 1: we who live in the Dallas Fort Worth area are
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Speaker 1: going to go to Kansas City, Missouri. Okay, right away,
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Speaker 1: you know it's north. You're not going to go south.
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Speaker 1: You know you won't get there if you go south.
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Speaker 1: You go north. In fact, you know generally you're gonna
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Speaker 1: get on Highway thirty five, going to go through Denton, Ardmore,
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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City, and you get to Wichita and then you
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Speaker 1: shoot a little bit to the northeast memory service correctly,
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Speaker 1: and you get to Kansas City right right. But you
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Speaker 1: don't have a map, but good news. You're gonna travel
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Speaker 1: with three or four other families. And the guy who's
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Speaker 1: in the lead car, you don't know him, but he said,
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Speaker 1: I don't know how to get there. You guys follow me.
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Speaker 1: So you get your car. You're the last in a
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Speaker 1: row of several cars, and you take off and he
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Speaker 1: goes Highway thirty toward Little Rock. Now you know the
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Speaker 1: map well enough to know this isn't gonna be getting
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Speaker 1: us to Kansas City unless he knows a short cut.
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Speaker 1: Looks like a long cut right now from the way
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Speaker 1: we're going. And then you get very close to Little
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Speaker 1: Rock and he starts leaning toward the east. He's gonna
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Speaker 1: pick up forty and he's gonna go to Memphis. You
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Speaker 1: see signs that start saying map. Now, wait a minute,
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Speaker 1: you say, before we ever got that far, we stopped
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Speaker 1: for gas or a bite to eat. We're going to
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Speaker 1: have a conversation and even though I don't know this fellow,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to say, you know, last time I checked,
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Speaker 1: you got to go up through Oklahoma to get right
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Speaker 1: on up into into Kansas and then over toward Kansas
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Speaker 1: City where exactly trust me, he says, And then as
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Speaker 1: you get nearer Memphis, he shoots down toward Birmingham. Problem. Uh,
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Speaker 1: of course there is especially since you don't know him,
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Speaker 1: you know better. Even though you don't have the map,
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Speaker 1: you know in your in your heart, in your mind.
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Speaker 1: You know this is not the direction that's going to
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Speaker 1: get us from Dallas to Kansas City. Now right now,
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Speaker 1: some of you are thinking, does swind All know where
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Speaker 1: he's going in this in this time? Is this a
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Speaker 1: geography lesson or is this theology? Well? Both both. I
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Speaker 1: want you to turn to the maps of your Bible. Okay,
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Speaker 1: it's in the back for the seminary students here today,
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Speaker 1: we make sure you know where you're going. Here. Go
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Speaker 1: to the back. Find the root of the Exodus map. Okay,
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Speaker 1: how's this for a new way to start a talk.
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Speaker 1: Look at the map on the root of the Exodus
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Speaker 1: or route, if that's your preference. You will see the
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Speaker 1: Mediterranean seat of the North you will see Egypt and
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Speaker 1: the delta of the Nile at the base of the Mediterranean.
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Speaker 1: There you will see in the midst of that area
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Speaker 1: the land of Goshen gosh e n that's where the
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Speaker 1: Hebrews lived for over four hundred years. You will see
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Speaker 1: the capital area called ram Seaes, which is named after
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Speaker 1: one of the pharaohs, ram Seaes. Got it. You're right
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Speaker 1: on target. Now when you leave Egypt and you're going
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Speaker 1: to go to the Promised Land, which was the plan,
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Speaker 1: you go out of Ramseas, you go due east and
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Speaker 1: you get to Canaan. Now look all the way to
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Speaker 1: the right. Some of you are geographically challenged, so I
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Speaker 1: will tell you east is to the right. You will
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Speaker 1: see Bearsheba, you will see kaydsh Barnea. You'll even go
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Speaker 1: up and see the Dead Sea. You're tracking with me.
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Speaker 1: That's due east of Ramseas. Right in your mind, you
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Speaker 1: know that's the land of Canaan. All that area over
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Speaker 1: there on the right, swarming around the Dead Sea north
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Speaker 1: of its, south of it, and especially kaydish Barnea, which
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Speaker 1: is sort of on the edge before you're going to
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Speaker 1: go into the land. In the ancient days of Canaan,
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Speaker 1: that's where you'd go. And if I were to take
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Speaker 1: a ruler and draw a straight line, it'd be just
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Speaker 1: about due east to quetish Barnea. Now keep looking at
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Speaker 1: the map and notice the root of the exodus. It's
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Speaker 1: probably marked in red, maybe blue or green. You leave
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Speaker 1: ramseas you go down through Soukhov Pethom, you go over
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Speaker 1: toward that body of water known as the Red Sea.
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Speaker 1: It may be called a great bitter lake. There's a
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Speaker 1: large river that swings through there. Some call it the
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Speaker 1: Sea of Reeds, and they think that should be the name.
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Speaker 1: But the point is you're going south east, really south southeast,
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Speaker 1: and what in the world are we doing going south
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Speaker 1: southeast if we're trying to get to the land of Promise.
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Speaker 1: I'm sure that's what some people in the caravan thought
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Speaker 1: when they took off. I mean, they didn't even know
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Speaker 1: the guy in the lead, not that well. We know
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Speaker 1: Moses better than a lot of them. He shows up
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Speaker 1: at age eighty having seen a vision at a bush,
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Speaker 1: and he's gonna he's gonna tell him how to get
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Speaker 1: out of Egypt. And then all hell breaks loose and
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Speaker 1: they have to make more bricks, and the slavery increases
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Speaker 1: and the whip of the lash is even stronger than ten.
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Speaker 1: Plagues create this incredible misery, and before you know it,
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Speaker 1: you got all kinds of feelings about this strange leader
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Speaker 1: who tells him he knows where to take them. And
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Speaker 1: the exodus happens. They get out of Ramses and they're
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Speaker 1: on their way, and he says, everybody south, So what
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Speaker 1: are you gonna do? Isn't this interesting? We have lived
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Speaker 1: all our lives and we've never put it in terms
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Speaker 1: of Dallas to Kansas City or Miami or LA. You
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Speaker 1: need to do that to make it live. There were
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Speaker 1: people just like us. They were raising families and differences.
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Speaker 1: They didn't drive cars. They were walking. They were hoofing it,
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Speaker 1: and they don't want to walk any further than they
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Speaker 1: have to. Plus, they're not travelers. They're not Bedouins. They're brickmakers.
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Speaker 1: They just make bricks. They're sleeves, and they're not going
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Speaker 1: toward Canaan. Welcome to God's world. You who have imbibed
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Speaker 1: Egyptian culture, You who are reading Egyptian newspapers, stay with me.
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Speaker 1: You who have been schooled in Egyptian places, You who
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Speaker 1: know Egyptian commerce, You who understand the stock market better
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Speaker 1: than the book of Exodus. You who have shape your
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Speaker 1: life according to the culture of our times, find yourself
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Speaker 1: woefully at a loss to understand the life of faith,
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Speaker 1: because it at times takes a strange turn away from
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Speaker 1: what looks to you like the most objective and intelligent
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Speaker 1: destination you could possibly travel toward. Welcome to God's world.
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Speaker 1: What unusual leading Look at Exodus Chapter thirteen. Exodus thirteen,
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Speaker 1: verse seventeen. So let's leave the map you've got it
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Speaker 1: in your mind, and let's look at what God said
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Speaker 1: and what God did in light of our own circumstances today.
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Speaker 1: Exodus thirteen seventeen. Now it came about when Pharaoh had
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Speaker 1: let the people go. That's the Exodus. If you'd want
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Speaker 1: to remember it, put in the margin of your Bible Exodus.
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Speaker 1: That's when they exited Egypt, when he let the people go.
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Speaker 1: That God did not lead them by way of the
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Speaker 1: land of the Philistines. Stop, you know what that is.
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Speaker 1: That's due east. The Philistines lived in the northern part
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Speaker 1: of the Sinai Wilderness. God knew that they didn't. They've
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Speaker 1: never been out of Goshen, they've never read the book
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Speaker 1: of Exodus. Here they are striking out with this strange
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Speaker 1: eighty year old man in the lead, snow white hair
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Speaker 1: by now no doubt full beard, marching them away from
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Speaker 1: the most direct route, which would have been right through
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Speaker 1: the Filistine area. What's wrong with Flictine? They hated Jews.
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Speaker 1: I mean, they've never warred against the Philistines. They've just
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Speaker 1: been making bricks. Their whole life life is spent enslaved
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Speaker 1: to Pharaoh and his task masters. And now they're out
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Speaker 1: on their own, following a leader whom they hardly know
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Speaker 1: under a god some of them really have not seriously worshiped.
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Speaker 1: They're wonderers. They want comfort, they want ease, they want
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Speaker 1: their needs met, They want things to happen fast. After all,
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Speaker 1: they've been enslaved all these years. How about a little relief.
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Speaker 1: And you're taking us down the stretch of the Sinai Peninsula. Well, listen,
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Speaker 1: here's the reason he did not lead them by the
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Speaker 1: land of the Philistines, even though it was near, For
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Speaker 1: God said the people might change their minds when they
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Speaker 1: see war and return to Egypt. God knew what he
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Speaker 1: was doing, didn't he. If they had continued east, the
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Speaker 1: Philistines would have wiped him off the map. It's a
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Speaker 1: protective maneuver on God's part. But you see, he doesn't
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Speaker 1: ask permission. He doesn't feel the need to play may
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Speaker 1: I when he leads us in strange and unusual places.
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Speaker 1: Who would have ever guessed three years ago you'd have
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Speaker 1: been where you are now, make it five years ago.
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Speaker 1: Who would have ever guessed the journey would have taken
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Speaker 1: you where it's taken you. But if you've gotten out
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Speaker 1: of Egyptian newspapers long enough to begin to read God's book,
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Speaker 1: you found that he knew what he was doing. He
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Speaker 1: was protecting you, He was saving you from an attack
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Speaker 1: from the Philistines. They hated the Jews. My friend Ron Allen,
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Speaker 1: when he comes to the Book of Psalm, says, only
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Speaker 1: a Philistine could despise the Psalms. I love that lie.
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Speaker 1: Everybody else loves them, but not the Philistines. They don't
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Speaker 1: sing the Lord's Psalm. They don't worship Zion. Hence we
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Speaker 1: read God led the people around by the way of
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Speaker 1: the wilderness to the Red Sea. How can I be
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Speaker 1: sure that the Lord is in this? I mean, if
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Speaker 1: I'm going to walk and if I'm going to spend
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Speaker 1: time in this hot wilderness. If I'm going to have
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Speaker 1: to drink water from a rock and eat manna day
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Speaker 1: after day, I got to know that God's in this well.
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Speaker 1: Verse twenty one assures us the Lord was going before
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Speaker 1: them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead
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Speaker 1: them on the way, and in a pillar of fire
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Speaker 1: by night, to give them light, that they might travel
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Speaker 1: by day and by night. You see, it would be
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Speaker 1: just like God to wake them up at one in
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Speaker 1: the morning and cause the fire to move on, and
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Speaker 1: they strike camp and go. See. He doesn't bother to
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Speaker 1: adjust his plan to our clock. He doesn't wake up
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Speaker 1: to our alarm. He doesn't go to bed when we're tired.
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Speaker 1: He is God, immortal, invisible, God only wise and light, inaccessible,
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Speaker 1: hid from our eyes, most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient
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Speaker 1: of days, Almighty, Victorious, Thy great name, we praise. He
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Speaker 1: is God. So he put a column of cloud by
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Speaker 1: day and a column of fire by night, and the
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Speaker 1: cloud would guide them. And when it stopped, they stopped,
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Speaker 1: and when it moved, they moved. And at night, to
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Speaker 1: take the chill of the desert away, he warmed them,
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Speaker 1: and to take the darkness away He gave them a
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Speaker 1: constant night light, and he led them unerringly, exactly as
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Speaker 1: he would lead them. Now, if your life has been
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Speaker 1: marked by Egyptian lifestyle, then you get worried about clouds.
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Speaker 1: I mean, what if it drifts off? And what if
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Speaker 1: the fire goes out? Egyptians are loaded with what ifs,
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Speaker 1: And when you live among them long enough, you began
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Speaker 1: to think and talk like that, what if? What if?
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Speaker 1: And to calm that Verse twenty two. He did not
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Speaker 1: take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the
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Speaker 1: pillar of fire by night from before the peace. God
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Speaker 1: the same yesterday, today and forever watched over his own
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Speaker 1: never has stopped doing that, never will, even though he
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Speaker 1: doesn't scream, but sometimes speaks in silence and in pressure,
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Speaker 1: as we're going to see you see, they didn't know
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Speaker 1: that they had a divine appointment at Mount Sinai. God
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Speaker 1: didn't ask permission to take him down to Sinai. He
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Speaker 1: doesn't have to, but it would be on that mountain
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Speaker 1: they would receive the moral code of the law, the
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Speaker 1: social code, the directives for their future on how they
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Speaker 1: would survive in a land that was otherwise shot through
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Speaker 1: with social diseases. They would learn how to live beyond
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Speaker 1: the pornography of Canaan. They would learn how to be
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Speaker 1: a unique, distinctive people unto the Lord God. Even though
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Speaker 1: they occupy the land that had been owned by the
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Speaker 1: money theistic and often a theistic people's the idolagers of
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Speaker 1: the land of Kings, they've got to go by way
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Speaker 1: of Sinai to get these directives. Furthermore, it would be
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Speaker 1: at Sinai they would get the plans for the tabernacle,
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Speaker 1: and they needed that to become worshippers instead of wanderers.
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Speaker 1: Remember that's the theme of the series, changing wanderers into worshippers.
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Speaker 1: God knew what he was doing, so they moved toward
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Speaker 1: the south. Somebody back in the caravan, just as you
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Speaker 1: would on your way to Little Rock, began to wonder,
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Speaker 1: isn't that a big body of water on the left,
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Speaker 1: and isn't it getting wider? And isn't this wilderness country? Duh?
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Speaker 1: Looked down you can see and this is becoming a trap.
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Speaker 1: I mean, what if the Egyptians changed their mind. I mean,
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Speaker 1: we're going to be stuck. We've got wilderness here and
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Speaker 1: we can't hide, and we've got water there, and we
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Speaker 1: can't swim. We got a little children, we got cattle.
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Speaker 1: We'll be We're like cheese and a rat trap. We'll
26:22
Speaker 1: never get out of this. This is a cauld de
26:24
Speaker 1: sac of terror. As a matter of fact, that's what
26:31
Speaker 1: it appeared to be. Verse five, chapter fourteen. When the
26:35
Speaker 1: king of Egypt was told the people had fled, Pharaoh
26:38
Speaker 1: and his servants had a change of heart toward the people,
26:42
Speaker 1: and they said, what is this we have done? For
26:44
Speaker 1: we have let Israel go from serving us. It's the
26:49
Speaker 1: matter with us. We yielded under pressure, and we let
26:55
Speaker 1: our servants go. How are we going to keep building
26:57
Speaker 1: this kingdom? Let's go get them next verse So he
27:02
Speaker 1: made his chariot ready and took his people with him,
27:05
Speaker 1: and he took six hundred select chariots and all the
27:08
Speaker 1: other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.
27:13
Speaker 1: The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
27:16
Speaker 1: and he chased after the sons of Israel. As the
27:18
Speaker 1: sons of Israel were going out boldly, then the Egyptians
27:22
Speaker 1: chased after them with all the horses. You get the picture,
27:25
Speaker 1: all the horses and the chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen
27:28
Speaker 1: his army. They overtook them camping by the sea beside
27:32
Speaker 1: two names I can't pronounce. There they were camp by
27:35
Speaker 1: the sea. They're stuck. They got water over here, they
27:39
Speaker 1: got wilderness over there, and they got Egyptians coming on
27:42
Speaker 1: their rear. What in the world are we going to do? Well?
27:47
Speaker 1: They did just what many would do who have gotten
27:49
Speaker 1: their whole lifestyle from Egypt. They panicked, that's what you
27:53
Speaker 1: do when you get in a trap like that. How
27:56
Speaker 1: could we ever let this happen? The Egyptum's comment, They
28:01
Speaker 1: got these spears flashing, got swords. Remember that old rascal,
28:06
Speaker 1: I remember what he used to beat us into making
28:08
Speaker 1: bring I know that bunch. They're gonna wipe us out.
28:12
Speaker 1: They're gonna slice us up. So they cried out to
28:18
Speaker 1: the Lord. The end of verse ten says, of course,
28:23
Speaker 1: they cried out to the Lord. I wish it'd stop
28:25
Speaker 1: right there. And they said, Lord, we trust you, We
28:29
Speaker 1: wait upon you. It's an impossible situation, and we lean
28:32
Speaker 1: hard upon you. You are great at impossibilities, and we will
28:37
Speaker 1: wait and watch you work. Next verse then they said
28:43
Speaker 1: to Moses, you see, when you get tired of talking
28:45
Speaker 1: to God, you go after the preacher. They said to Moses,
28:48
Speaker 1: is it because there were no Look at, listen to
28:50
Speaker 1: the sarcasm, because there were no graves in Egypt, that
28:53
Speaker 1: you have taken us away to die in the wilderness.
28:55
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I'm that cute. You took us to dine. Well,
28:59
Speaker 1: there weren't graves. You get the sarcasm. Why have you
29:03
Speaker 1: dealt with us in this way? Bringing us out of Egypt?
29:06
Speaker 1: You know what Moots is thinking right about now? I
29:08
Speaker 1: didn't ask for this job. I mean, good night. Is
29:17
Speaker 1: this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt,
29:20
Speaker 1: saying leave us alone? That's another way of saying we
29:24
Speaker 1: told you so. Don't you love it when people do that,
29:28
Speaker 1: They warn you and then it happens. They go, I
29:30
Speaker 1: told you so. I told you that's the way it
29:32
Speaker 1: was going to happen. For it would it would have
29:34
Speaker 1: been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to
29:36
Speaker 1: die in the wilderness. Stop, you're not a stupid statement.
29:43
Speaker 1: I thought you wanted out of the slavery. And who
29:47
Speaker 1: says you're going to die in the wilderness? God take
29:50
Speaker 1: delight in corpses of his people. What kind of exaggerated thinking.
29:56
Speaker 1: It's Egyptian thinking. It's the way you think when your
30:01
Speaker 1: whole life is horizontal and your focus is based on
30:05
Speaker 1: today's media, today's counsel, the wisdom of the world, the
30:11
Speaker 1: guidance of people who are sharp and educated and learned
30:15
Speaker 1: in the lifestyle of our land. Stop. Our God is
30:24
Speaker 1: in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases. You forget that.
30:28
Speaker 1: You will panic, and you have years of panic ahead
30:32
Speaker 1: of you, because the Lord is going to shape you
30:35
Speaker 1: into one of his own worshipers, if it takes breaking
30:38
Speaker 1: your will to do it. Some of you are along
30:44
Speaker 1: the way, somewhere along the way. I love Moses answer. See,
30:50
Speaker 1: Moses has been forty years ahead of him in the wilderness.
30:53
Speaker 1: He's watched God preserve his life. He's watched the Lord
30:56
Speaker 1: speak to him from the bush. He's heard the Lord's statement,
30:59
Speaker 1: He's listened to the lords promises, you're going to get
31:01
Speaker 1: to Canaan. I'm going to give you the land. And
31:03
Speaker 1: so Moses, without any quivering voice, says to the people,
31:10
Speaker 1: do not fear stand by. There's a military expression called
31:15
Speaker 1: stand down, standing down, stand down, meaning stand still, don't
31:24
Speaker 1: fear stand still. See the salvation of the Lord, which
31:34
Speaker 1: he will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom
31:39
Speaker 1: you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.
31:45
Speaker 1: They turned around and go, yeah right, we're not going
31:50
Speaker 1: to ever see them again, huh. Because we're going to
31:53
Speaker 1: be dead. That's why we're never going to see them again.
31:58
Speaker 1: This is called a predicament. A predicament. Now, I decided
32:04
Speaker 1: I would check Webster's Dictionary to determine the best definition,
32:08
Speaker 1: and it was so antiseptic. Webster says a predicament is
32:14
Speaker 1: a difficult, perplexing, or trying situation, so antiseptic. I read
32:23
Speaker 1: several years ago a better definition of a predicament. It's
32:27
Speaker 1: when an attorney who specializes in medical malpractice needs major surgery.
32:36
Speaker 1: That is a predicament. That's where they are. They were
32:43
Speaker 1: tracked horizontally, they were sunk. There is no way they're
32:49
Speaker 1: gonna make it unless God is God and keeps his promises.
33:01
Speaker 1: You want to know something, If I may pause, I
33:03
Speaker 1: don't mean to call attention to me, but I just
33:05
Speaker 1: have to use me because I'm the only one I
33:07
Speaker 1: know this truth about. For almost forty years, I've been
33:10
Speaker 1: preaching like this, and for almost forty years I've watched
33:13
Speaker 1: people doubt God. I would to God that this congregation
33:20
Speaker 1: would be the first to believe him. I wish you
33:25
Speaker 1: would believe Him, no matter what you read anywhere else,
33:31
Speaker 1: or feel, or hear or see. Believe God. He says,
33:45
Speaker 1: The Lord will accomplish this for you today. In fact,
33:56
Speaker 1: verse fourteen says, the Lord will fight for you while
33:59
Speaker 1: you keep silent. And I got to tell you, that's
34:02
Speaker 1: the hardest thing in the world for Egyptian trained people
34:04
Speaker 1: to do. Just keep your mouth shut. He's going to
34:15
Speaker 1: deliver you. Doctor Ron Allen, in his fine work in
34:20
Speaker 1: the Nelson Study Bible, says the Hebrew word for salvation
34:25
Speaker 1: comes from a term that has to do with room
34:28
Speaker 1: or space. Attract this room or space, He adds, the
34:34
Speaker 1: people were under great pressure, squeezed between the waters before
34:38
Speaker 1: them and the armies of Pharaoh behind them. Salvation would
34:42
Speaker 1: relieve the pressure in a most dramatic way. You will
34:48
Speaker 1: watch as the Lord builds distance between you and your
34:52
Speaker 1: enemies Hebrews. You know, Moses is an a pretty close
35:01
Speaker 1: to eighty one year old shepherd. He didn't ask for
35:06
Speaker 1: this job. He had been drafted at the Burning Bush,
35:15
Speaker 1: and he had learned that the Lord God who could
35:19
Speaker 1: use an eighty year old to turn Pharaoh's heart around,
35:23
Speaker 1: has no problem dealing with a handful of Egyptian warriors
35:26
Speaker 1: who think those chariots are so powerful. There's no enemy
35:30
Speaker 1: that can stand against the Living Lord. Everything within you
35:37
Speaker 1: denies that. When you put your circumstance or your predicament
35:42
Speaker 1: on this page, the Lord will fight for you, and
35:48
Speaker 1: you will keep silent. Now, you know why you're yawning
35:51
Speaker 1: through part of this because you know how the story ends.
35:55
Speaker 1: If you had been there then and you didn't know
35:58
Speaker 1: what the end of the book was gonna say, you'd
36:04
Speaker 1: be more than a little bit interested and exactly what
36:08
Speaker 1: Moses might have in mind. Today, you're gonna be delivered.
36:16
Speaker 1: Just be quiet, stand still, trust him, and do not panic.
36:23
Speaker 1: Now the Lord does four things that are just magnificent.
36:29
Speaker 1: I want you to see all four of them. First
36:32
Speaker 1: verse fifteen. First, the Lord said to Moses, why are
36:36
Speaker 1: you crying out to me? Tell the sons of Israel
36:39
Speaker 1: to go forward? Wait? What's forward? Water? It's like my
36:50
Speaker 1: standing with you in San Francisco and saying let's go West,
36:54
Speaker 1: Let's go, you go, Chush. He's really starting to lose everything.
37:02
Speaker 1: West is wet and it gets deep. Quick, tell him
37:08
Speaker 1: to go forward. The Lord loves to have us go
37:12
Speaker 1: in directions that seem to us impossible. That's when it
37:17
Speaker 1: really gets exciting. That's the first amazing thing. The second
37:23
Speaker 1: he moved the cloud from above them to behind them.
37:26
Speaker 1: Look at nineteen. The Angel of God, who had been
37:31
Speaker 1: going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them.
37:35
Speaker 1: And the pillar of cloud moved from before them and
37:38
Speaker 1: stood behind them. Genius plan. That's terrific. It's like a fog.
37:46
Speaker 1: If you're driving a chariot and you hit dense fog,
37:48
Speaker 1: you go wait, wait, Holy Holy back here you got
37:51
Speaker 1: hold on. We got a little fog problem here I
37:55
Speaker 1: gotta deal with. Horses are snorting all around and the
38:00
Speaker 1: people are looking at each other like, okay, what do
38:01
Speaker 1: we do now? Well, I'm not sure. Let's just think
38:03
Speaker 1: about it. You know how Egyptians are. We got to
38:05
Speaker 1: think things through. Not sure, so the Israelites can relax.
38:09
Speaker 1: Oh wow, God to charge the cloud. Yeah, so it
38:15
Speaker 1: moves from above them to behind them, blocks them, gives
38:17
Speaker 1: them the distance. That's part of deliverance. Gives them the distance.
38:24
Speaker 1: The third thing he opened the sea. Don't see that
38:31
Speaker 1: very often. Look at verse twenty one, Moses stretched out
38:34
Speaker 1: his hand over the sea. I'm always glad when it's
38:37
Speaker 1: somebody else stretching out their hand over the sea. In
38:41
Speaker 1: this case it's Moses. And the Lord swept the sea
38:44
Speaker 1: back by a strong east wind all night and turned
38:48
Speaker 1: the sea into dry. That's why there was a wind.
38:51
Speaker 1: A river bed is a bug if it's just recently
38:55
Speaker 1: had water pulled from it, and so the wind blows
38:59
Speaker 1: all night like a hair dryer. It's drying out the bed,
39:04
Speaker 1: and so it's getting it ready for him. Why don't
39:07
Speaker 1: they panic cause the fog, the cloud has held those
39:10
Speaker 1: guys back. They're back here having supper, wondering what they're
39:14
Speaker 1: gonna do. So the fog gets time for the river
39:18
Speaker 1: bed to dry out. The waters are pulled back. Remember
39:21
Speaker 1: when you were a kid and you saw the Ten Commandments,
39:25
Speaker 1: they were Charlton Heston hair blowing standing there. Eyah, it's
39:34
Speaker 1: supposed to be eighty. But he's standing there, and the
39:39
Speaker 1: wind blows this wall of water back and wall of
39:42
Speaker 1: water back in the path. I remember sitting there going
39:46
Speaker 1: it's better than any Sunday school teacher ever. Pictured from
39:51
Speaker 1: me Cecil B de Mill put it together. It was
39:56
Speaker 1: so much better than he could even imagine. It was
40:01
Speaker 1: a miracle. Why was anybody surprised? This isn't Pharaoh working,
40:11
Speaker 1: This isn't even Moses. This is the immortal, invisible God,
40:17
Speaker 1: only wise in light, inaccessible, hid from our eyes, most blessed,
40:23
Speaker 1: most glorious, the ancient of days, Almighty, Victorious, that great
40:27
Speaker 1: name we praise. This is God. They're becoming worshipers. They've
40:38
Speaker 1: been wanderers. Now they're learning. Look at what he's able
40:43
Speaker 1: to do. See I deliberately left out that little part
40:47
Speaker 1: where verse eighteen. Then the Egyptians will know that I
40:51
Speaker 1: am the Lord. They'll learn that it'll be too late.
41:00
Speaker 1: They'll go to their death with MY name on their lips.
41:04
Speaker 1: And the implication is, you'll see reflected in this work
41:08
Speaker 1: the same message, and you'll learn I be candid with you.
41:13
Speaker 1: Some of you don't have the foggiest idea of the
41:18
Speaker 1: living God. I want you to know him more than
41:26
Speaker 1: anything in your life. And you've been going to church
41:32
Speaker 1: most of your days. It's passages like this that instruct
41:38
Speaker 1: us and turn us into awe inspiring, mouth opened worshipers
41:46
Speaker 1: that don't have to explain it. There's no explanation if
41:51
Speaker 1: you can explain it. It's not a miracle. And I'm
41:57
Speaker 1: not talking about televised miracles showmanship. This is true, pure
42:08
Speaker 1: unadralt rated miracle, swept back dried path, and they go
42:16
Speaker 1: through the sea verse twenty two. They went through the
42:19
Speaker 1: midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the
42:21
Speaker 1: waters were like a wall to them on their right
42:23
Speaker 1: hand and on their left. Can't you picture the mamas
42:26
Speaker 1: and the daddies. Son, don't ever forget this, son, Look
42:30
Speaker 1: come here, sweetie, come here, get up and hear in
42:32
Speaker 1: my arms. Look at that. This is God, This is God,
42:38
Speaker 1: this is Jahweh, this is the one we worship. Remember this.
42:44
Speaker 1: And they go across this river bed and onto the
42:47
Speaker 1: other side. And you know, the guys in the back
42:49
Speaker 1: are thinking, well, the Egyptians are gonna be all over you.
42:52
Speaker 1: Some people you can't convince, no matter how great the miracle.
42:59
Speaker 1: So the fourth great thing God does verse twenty six.
43:02
Speaker 1: He destroys the enemy with the very means he used
43:05
Speaker 1: to save the people. Then the Lord said to Moses,
43:09
Speaker 1: stretched out your hand over the sea, so that the
43:11
Speaker 1: waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots
43:14
Speaker 1: and their horsemen, and Moses stretched out his hand over
43:17
Speaker 1: the sea. It was great, and he must have had
43:21
Speaker 1: his mouth wide open. What is he going to do now?
43:26
Speaker 1: And the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak,
43:30
Speaker 1: while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it. Then the
43:33
Speaker 1: Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
43:39
Speaker 1: Thirty Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the
43:42
Speaker 1: hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead
43:46
Speaker 1: on the seashore. Every carcass was another reminder of the
43:54
Speaker 1: power of God that seashore. I'm sure dads and moms
44:02
Speaker 1: said to their children, never forget the sight, never ever
44:05
Speaker 1: forget it, never ever forget what He's going to do,
44:14
Speaker 1: what he can do as expected verse thirty one. They
44:27
Speaker 1: had a whole new perspective of the Living God, and
44:29
Speaker 1: they had a whole new respect for Moses. Thirty one.
44:33
Speaker 1: When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had
44:35
Speaker 1: used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord. Man,
44:40
Speaker 1: It'd be wonderful to have that revived among us. This
44:51
Speaker 1: is God Ah. We'd imagine living like that, living on tiptoe.
45:05
Speaker 1: They had a great respect and awesome respect for God
45:10
Speaker 1: and a hatred for sin. That's the fear of God. Boy.
45:16
Speaker 1: Their theology was straight if at that moment, like no
45:19
Speaker 1: other in their lives. And the next line says they
45:24
Speaker 1: believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. The'd
45:28
Speaker 1: forget that later, but for this moment, it was a
45:30
Speaker 1: great time, the ground swell of respect. He knew what
45:37
Speaker 1: he was doing when he was taken us south. No
45:40
Speaker 1: wonder we didn't go directly toward Kansas City, makes all
45:44
Speaker 1: sense in the world that we take this other round.
45:49
Speaker 1: Not only did he save us from the assaults of
45:51
Speaker 1: the Philistines, he slew the Egyptians, who, if my history
45:55
Speaker 1: is correct, never even came back to the area for
45:58
Speaker 1: twenty seven years. They were so afraid of it. And
46:04
Speaker 1: they walked on towards Sinai with this enormous respect for
46:12
Speaker 1: the living God. They were becoming worshipers. The lessons to
46:25
Speaker 1: be learned are many. I select four of them, which
46:30
Speaker 1: I would like to begin, each one with the same words.
46:34
Speaker 1: You begin to be a worshiper when you realize, let's
46:37
Speaker 1: start there. You begin to be a worshiper when you
46:41
Speaker 1: realize Number one, it takes tight places to break long
46:50
Speaker 1: standing habits. It takes tight places to break lifetime habits.
47:04
Speaker 1: Egyptian surroundings, Egyptian patterns of thinking, Egyptian attitude and reactions
47:09
Speaker 1: and agendas. We work alongside Egyptians, we read Egyptian literature,
47:14
Speaker 1: we read their business reports, we learn their ways, we
47:17
Speaker 1: think their thoughts totally humanistic. But it becomes so powerful because,
47:24
Speaker 1: after all, NBC says it, all right, it's on CNN
47:33
Speaker 1: or whatever. Long standing habits, some of you have had
47:39
Speaker 1: them for a lifetime, and the Lord has not yet
47:43
Speaker 1: broken through in a way that could grab your attention
47:46
Speaker 1: with whole fresh new thinking. You're going to come to
47:52
Speaker 1: a tight place where it'll happen. Second, we begin to
48:03
Speaker 1: be worshipers when we realize being hemmed in on all
48:07
Speaker 1: sides forces us to look up. When we begin to
48:16
Speaker 1: realize being hemmed in on all sides forces us to
48:19
Speaker 1: look up. God doesn't torture us and then chuckle in
48:22
Speaker 1: the background, seeing how long we can squirm before we
48:26
Speaker 1: say I give up. He's not like that, but he
48:31
Speaker 1: is determined to break through and to bring us to
48:34
Speaker 1: the place where he alone can deliver us. And when
48:37
Speaker 1: he does we look up. Remember that's when they cried
48:42
Speaker 1: out to the Lord. The Egyptians are coming. The sea
48:46
Speaker 1: is in front of us, the wilderness were stuck. Look up.
48:57
Speaker 1: Here's the third. We begin to be worshippers when we
49:01
Speaker 1: realize if he is to get the glory, then he
49:07
Speaker 1: must fight the battles. I've been candid with you before.
49:17
Speaker 1: I won't quit. Some of you have fought your way
49:21
Speaker 1: through life. You've gotten to where you are by fighting
49:23
Speaker 1: your own way through, and you've gotten exactly what you planned.
49:28
Speaker 1: But you haven't gotten what he planned. You will come
49:33
Speaker 1: to the place where you cannot defend yourself, where you're
49:35
Speaker 1: no longer able to deliver yourself, and when you are there,
49:39
Speaker 1: he will fight the battle for you. I added these
49:47
Speaker 1: words in my journal a number of years ago, and
49:50
Speaker 1: last Thursday night, while working on this message, I read
49:53
Speaker 1: them again. I wrote this. When I panic, I run.
49:58
Speaker 1: When I run, I lose. When I lose. God waits
50:06
Speaker 1: when I trust, He fights. When he fights, he wins.
50:13
Speaker 1: When he wins, I win when I win. I learn.
50:23
Speaker 1: It's in that process, and it turns on his fighting
50:27
Speaker 1: the battles for us. For some of you, it's time
50:31
Speaker 1: to lay down your arms and to quit fighting your
50:33
Speaker 1: own battle. Let it be. Take it from a man
50:43
Speaker 1: who had a close brush in recent weeks. You're only
50:47
Speaker 1: adding stress to your world. It'll kill you. Let it be.
50:58
Speaker 1: Let him do his work. He will accomplish it for you.
51:05
Speaker 1: Here's the fourth. We begin to be worshipers when we
51:10
Speaker 1: realize the Red seas open and close at the Lord's commands,
51:17
Speaker 1: and not until, but the Red seas open and close
51:24
Speaker 1: at his command, and not until. Isn't it interesting that
51:28
Speaker 1: as soon as they saw the Egyptian coming, he didn't
51:31
Speaker 1: go and open the river. Oh man, this is cool. Man,
51:35
Speaker 1: that's great. He didn't do that. He let them get
51:38
Speaker 1: closer and closer and closer and closer, un till they
51:41
Speaker 1: were about to wet their pants. I mean they were
51:43
Speaker 1: this is it, this is curtains, this is We're done for.
51:48
Speaker 1: And then the fog drops in, and then they're waiting
51:51
Speaker 1: on the Lord and the opens the Red Sea and
51:54
Speaker 1: they walk through with their mouth open, and they get
51:56
Speaker 1: to the other side and he closes. It's all part
51:58
Speaker 1: of his commands. He's in charge. I hope forever Stonebrough
52:05
Speaker 1: Community Church will remember he's in charge. He's calling the shots.
52:13
Speaker 1: He's the glory getter, the one who deserves it, and
52:20
Speaker 1: in the process you may feel terribly laid aside and insignificant.
52:26
Speaker 1: That's good. Raymond Edmund refers to the discipline of delay
52:35
Speaker 1: in his excellent book The Disciplines of Life. Remember Delay, Delay,
52:43
Speaker 1: He writes, we live in a restless, impatient day. We
52:48
Speaker 1: have little time for preparation, unless for meditation or worship.
52:53
Speaker 1: We feel we must be active and energetic, humanly effective.
52:58
Speaker 1: We cannot understand why inactivity, weakness, weariness, and seeming uselessness
53:05
Speaker 1: should be our lot. It all appears so foolish and futile,
53:09
Speaker 1: without plan or purpose. He then makes the profound statement,
53:13
Speaker 1: the delay that instructs and prepares us saves time never
53:17
Speaker 1: loses it. The delay that instructs and prepares us saves
53:23
Speaker 1: time never loses it. And then he uses a wonderful illustration.
53:30
Speaker 1: Hudson Taylor knew the testing that tempers the steel of
53:33
Speaker 1: the soul. He was an invalid home at the age
53:38
Speaker 1: of twenty nine. After six years of intensive service in China,
53:43
Speaker 1: he settled in with his little family on the East
53:46
Speaker 1: side of London. Outside interests, lessened friends began to forget him,
53:54
Speaker 1: and five long hidden years were spent in the dreary
53:59
Speaker 1: street of a poor part of London, where the tailors
54:03
Speaker 1: were quote shut up to prayer and patience as the
54:09
Speaker 1: years of obscurity progressed. When the discipline was complete, there
54:14
Speaker 1: emerged the China Inland Mission, at first only a tiny route,
54:21
Speaker 1: but destined of God to fill the land of China
54:24
Speaker 1: with gospel fruit. No one ever remembers the hidden years
54:32
Speaker 1: of Hudson Taylor. But that's when he didn't fear, stood still, waited,
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Speaker 1: and stayed silent, all the things that don't come natural
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Speaker 1: to people who were schooled in Egypt, like a stibow
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Speaker 1: our heads and close our eyes, just where you're sitting there,
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Speaker 1: just for a few moments, Just close your eyes. There
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Speaker 1: are some things in this for us to teach our young,
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Speaker 1: and I hope you will. But even more importantly, there
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Speaker 1: are things in this for us to learn before we
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Speaker 1: teach it. The Lord has you right where he wants you.
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Speaker 1: He knows you're not comfortable. He knows the direction isn't
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Speaker 1: where you expected. He knows it's moving toward a wilderness
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Speaker 1: and not toward a promise. He knows that he hasn't
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Speaker 1: lost his way. He hasn't removed the cloud or the fire.
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Speaker 1: But you're going to trust. If you learn nothing else,
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Speaker 1: You're going to trust because increasingly you'll be able to
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Speaker 1: do less and less about your situation, because he's going
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Speaker 1: to prove himself more and more that he is God.
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Speaker 1: And in this seeming obscurity and insignificance, he's going to
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Speaker 1: do his great work, just as he will in this
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Speaker 1: little flock. He's going to provide us a building, and
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Speaker 1: when we fell it, we're going to look up and
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Speaker 1: we're going to say, only by his grace was this
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Speaker 1: made possible. The Lord never wastes tests. Perhaps he brought
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Speaker 1: you to this place in your life for you to say, yes, Lord, Yes,
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Speaker 1: I'll give you my life. I surrender. The fight is over.
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Speaker 1: It's done. And I come today to Jesus Christ, to
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Speaker 1: him who went to the cross and died for me,
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Speaker 1: and who rose from the dead and lives for me.
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Speaker 1: I come to him by faith alone, and I come
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Speaker 1: to him alone for relief and deliverance and hope. And
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Speaker 1: I come today. I come now. Do that make that
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Speaker 1: determination in your heart right now that you've shaped your
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Speaker 1: life for the last time according to the rules of
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Speaker 1: the Egyptians. You begin to build a biblical culture that
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Speaker 1: will take the place of all this nonsense over which
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Speaker 1: we worry far too much. And now, our Father, I
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Speaker 1: pause at the close of this very moving time in
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Speaker 1: your word to ask you to drill and rivet this
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Speaker 1: truth home to our hearts. Some need to hear it desperately.
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Speaker 1: Having played with religion long enough, I pray that you
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Speaker 1: will do a masterful work of deliverance and cleansing and
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Speaker 1: renewal in the hearts of your people. Begin here, Begin
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Speaker 1: today again with us, Father, as we acknowledge your right
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Speaker 1: to rule in every part of our lives. Deliver us
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Speaker 1: from panic and fear and worry those thieves that steal
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Speaker 1: faith and run and hide the promises of your word. God,
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Speaker 1: show us yourself afresh and a new as you meet
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Speaker 1: our deep needs. Individually, as families and as a congregation,
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Speaker 1: we willingly and voluntarily bow before you, while we choose
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Speaker 1: deliberately not to fear, but to stand still and to
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Speaker 1: wait and to be silent. I asked this in the
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Speaker 1: name of Christ, our Savior. Amen. The preceding message, Unusual
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Speaker 1: Leading Remarkable Results, was copyrighted in two thousand two thousand
1:00:14
Speaker 1: and two and twenty eighteen, and the sound recording was
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Speaker 1: copyrighted in twenty eighteen by Charles Arsland All inc. All
1:00:23
Speaker 1: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
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Speaker 1: use is strictly prohibited