Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #10240 - Impatience Leads to Compromise - Exodus 32:1-10

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#10240 - Impatience Leads to Compromise - Exodus 32:1-10 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Open your Bibles.
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Exodus chapter 32 is where we are.
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Exodus 32, another turning point in our study.
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Through Exodus I've entitled our Bible study.
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It's a very important thing to know.
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Impatience leads to compromise. Impatience leads to compromise.
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Now remember how chapter 31 ended?
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You can look back with me chapter 31 in verse 18.
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This is how the chapter ended. And when he made an end of
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speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses 2 tablets
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of testimony, tablets of stone written with the finger of God.
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Moses has given 2 tablets of testimony written with the
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finger of God. That must have been some sight
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and and some privilege to carry them. 40 days and nights
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communing with the Father at the top of Mount Sinai has come to
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an end. And while we've been focused on
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the description of the Tabernacle and all of the ways
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to build and all the details, we haven't heard much about the
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people. We've seen them and heard from
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them a little bit along the way, but not much.
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What we do know is that in their heart of hearts they committed.
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They made commitments outwardly to obey the Lord.
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They made deep commitments. For example, in Exodus chapter
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19 in verse 8, it says all the people answered together and
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said all that the Lord has spoken we will do.
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In Exodus 24, verse 3, Moses came and told the people all the
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words of the Lord in all the judgments, and all the people
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answered with one voice and said all the words which the Lord has
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said we will do. Exodus chapter 24 and verse 7.
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Then he took the book of the covenant read in the hearing of
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the people, and they said, all that the Lord has said we will
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do and be obedient. We have to ask the question, was
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it really true? Were they really making a
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commitment to keep all the words of the covenant?
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Were they really expressing a desire to obey God, to commit to
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Him, to follow Him? And I would say, yes, I believe
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this is a legitimate commitment. I believe their hearts were in
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tune with the desire to obey God, to agree with God.
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Coming out of Egypt, being delivered miraculously, being
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given a leader and a deliverer, hearing the words of the Lord,
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the order of God, hearing how his relationship is to be
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defined and how they relate to God.
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They go, we're in, we're in. It's not unlike you and me when
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we make a commitment, it may be even a constant commitment.
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When we come in and out of Bible study or we sit at our DeVos and
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we say yes and Amen, commitment, we'll do it.
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Lord, we want to do it. It is a true desire on our
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hearts to obey God. But they made mistakes, which we
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make sometimes as well. If you're taking notes, we won't
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develop this. But if you like to develop Bible
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studies on your own, these are great points to look at.
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They made the commitment, but they also underestimated a few
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things about themselves. And today I want you not to
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leave here without understanding that we underestimate things
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about ourselves. We have the commitment and the
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desire, but we also need to consider the reality of this
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situation. Here's a few things from them #1
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they underestimated their own weaknesses, their own
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weaknesses. Oh, we'll do it, We'll do it.
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And we know today that their weakness was quickly exposed #2
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they underestimated their own personal need for the power of
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God. They needed God's strength.
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They had a heart, not only that they would do it, but that they
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could do it in their own strength.
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And then thirdly, I believe they underestimated the powerful
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enemy that they face spiritually, the spiritual
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enemy, their own flesh that we would call today, the weakness
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of their humanity. As we move forward in our
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commitments, we need to take into account these three things,
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our own weaknesses, the need for God's strength and power, and
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the enemy, the threefold enemy. The Bible describes A threefold
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enemy, the flesh, the world, and the devil and the devil
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orchestrating through the world to tempt us into the flesh,
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because once he gets us into the flesh, it's over.
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And how important it is that we realize compromise is easy to
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do. Now it's easier to say I will,
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but it's even easier to compromise, to say something
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outwardly but inwardly be far from God.
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I want you to consider as we jump into the chapter today,
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just the first few verses, that within a span of 30 days or so,
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even if we gave them all 40 days, but in the span of a 30
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days or so, they have this desire to worship God
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wholeheartedly, undermined by impatience.
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So quickly up on the mountain there's been this great
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revelation with Moses, but down in the valley the people are
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caught up with wild imagination. Notice with me verse 1 of
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chapter 32. Now when the people saw that
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Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people
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gathered together to Aaron and said to him, Come, make us gods
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that shall go before us. And As for this Moses, the man
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who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know
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what has become of him. First, notice that the problem
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begins with a delay, at least a perceived delay, because from
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the perspective of God, there was no delay at all.
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This was the perfect timing of God for them to be up on the
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mountain, for him to be up on the mountain, the exact timing
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of God. But for those around him, the
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conclusion was there is a delay. There was some time that passed,
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and how we interpret that time that passes is very important.
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Everything begins with the delay.
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It didn't happen right away. Moses didn't go up and come
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right back down, but time that tells me that in their minds
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they had already their mind made-up of how long this would
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take. They had their mind made-up a
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limited time frame and Moses somehow went beyond it.
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You could say today that they had unrealistic expectations of
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exactly what God was going to do with Moses and they had it.
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They had him figured out. He's going to go up and he's
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going to come back down. And yet at the same time, they
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didn't know what God knew. Did this begin on day 2 or day
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three or day 5 or day 30? We aren't told.
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And this is a classic example of impatience and the sin that can
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be caused by a man or a woman impatiently making decisions.
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It seems as if it's always hard. It seems as if it's always hard
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for God's people to wait for God.
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It just seems to be a challenge in our lives.
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I would take away the word seem, and it is a challenge in our
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lives, this waiting on God. And if God doesn't come through
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the way that we want in the time that we want, then we think we
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must jump in and help God out a little bit and we can make it
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happen and we can fix this problem and we can end the
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delay. You remember Jesus and Luke's
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gospel is describing the end of the age.
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And he's highlighting for the disciples the persecution
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they'll face. And he says in Luke 2116, you'll
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be betrayed by parents and brothers, relatives and friends,
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and they'll put some of you to death, and you will be hated by
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all for my name's sake, but not a hair of your head shall be
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lost by your patience. Possess your souls.
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In other words, at the end of the age, it's going to get
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harder and harder for you. And the way that you face the
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complexities of difficulties of living in the last days and
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living in the progressively difficult last days is patience.
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I wonder how many? That is the word of the Lord to
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you right now. Patience.
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Or put a different way. Keep waiting or put a different
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way. Do not take things into your own
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hands. Or put a different way, repent
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and give it back to the Lord before it's too late.
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But when you see or perceive a delay, a delay from God is not
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necessarily a denial. And not now doesn't mean not
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forever, it just means not now. And for those of us that are
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learning to live in the moment we can, we can more readily
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accept the nows and the not nows as God gives them.
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The children of Israel do become impatient and this leads to
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their desire for immediate gratification, a big problem the
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people gathered to Aaron notice in verse 2, or excuse me, in
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verse one, they come to Aaron and say we need to make gods, we
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need something tangible. We don't know if Moses is coming
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back, if he's ever coming back. We need God's little G And Aaron
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said to them, verse 2, are you guys out of your minds?
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No, actually he doesn't say that.
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He says, break off your earrings, your golden earrings
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that are in the years of your wives, your sons, your
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daughters, and bring them to me. Idolatry is mentioned some 111
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times in the Old Testament. This is a big deal for the
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children of Israel. And then we go, oh, yeah, it's a
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big deal for the children of Israel.
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No, no, no. It is a big deal for the
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children of Israel, but it's also a big deal for you and for
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me. How careful we need to be of
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idolatry. What is an idol?
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Simple definition. Anything or anyone that takes
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place, that takes the place of God in your life, Anything that
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you run to, anyone that you lean into, anyone that comes between
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you and God, is idolatry. This revelation was given to me
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when we were putting together our book on letting go of the
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past, and I was trying to draw out in our teaching, actually,
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the significance of your unwillingness, some of you, to
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forgive yourself. There is a lot of unforgiveness
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in the room. It's not just unforgiveness with
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family, but it's an unforgiveness with self.
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And it goes a little bit like this.
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What I've done is so bad and the people that I've hurt, it's just
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too much that if I was God, I wouldn't forgive myself.
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And so rather than receiving the forgiveness of God through his
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Son Jesus for those sins or for that sin, you choose a pathway
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of beating yourself up, putting yourself down, living under the
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shadow of condemnation, shame, an unhealthy guilt trip that you
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put on yourself, let alone those that might be around you.
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Even though the Bible says there is therefore now no condemnation
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for those that are in Christ, you refuse it.
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And even though the Bible speaks of the forgiveness that comes
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from Jesus Christ covering all of your sins, you won't receive
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it. And even though the Bible
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doesn't declare you bad, you know, because shame and guilt
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are two different things, you got to watch out for this
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because guilt can be good and in proper places.
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If guilt takes you to the Lord where you feel bad for
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something, you did something wrong and you have a feeling and
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you come to the conclusion, and this was what guilt says, this
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is healthy. I have done wrong, that's guilt.
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I have done wrong, I need to make it right, That's guilt.
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But shame is unhealthy because shame goes one step beyond.
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I have done something wrong and shame says this.
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I am wrong. I'm the problem, I'm
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undeserving, I'm unlovable. I'm and all these unhealthy ways
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of twisting some of these things that actually are true.
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We are undeserving, but God loves us still.
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We are unworthy, but God has placed his worth upon us, as the
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kids are going to learn. But it becomes unhealthy where
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you've gone from I've done wrong to I am wrong or I, I am a
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mistake of God or I should have never been born.
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I shouldn't have never. All of those things are simply
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because you don't receive the forgiveness of God.
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And you go, what? What does that have to do with
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idolatry? Let's go back to the
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illustration. When you come to the conclusion
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we may not voice this, but I've voiced it for you.
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Now you'll never think of it differently.
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You'll never think of it the same way again when you refuse
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to forgive yourself or receive the forgiveness of Jesus.
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You're saying, hey, what I've done is so bad, if I was God, I
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would never forgive me. And there's a Bible word for
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that. It's called idolatry.
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And by the way, we're very thankful you're not God because
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there's a lot of unforgiveness that would flow from that
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attitude. And we're grateful you have to
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process through. You're not God, and you may have
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sinned beyond your own limit or the limit of what you expected,
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or you never saw it coming in your life.
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And I'm sorry, it brings a lot of pain, a lot of sorrow, a lot
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of consequence. You're right.
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But there is still forgiveness through the blood of Jesus
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Christ for even that. And you and I, we are wise to
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receive the cleansing if we confess our sins.
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He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse
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us from all unrighteousness where we're constantly coming
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for a new and fresh cleansing each time we add sin upon sin
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and sin upon sin. Idolatry is really sneaky here
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because we think of idolatry just a little statue on our
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dashboard, little statue, little picture on the wall.
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But idolatry is much deeper than that.
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The question could even say, where do you run?
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When times get tough is wherever you run, it's your idol.
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Where do you hide when things get tough?
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So wherever you hide represents a place of idolatry for you.
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Oh, you don't need to be bowing down and, you know, saying
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mantras. You just need to be running and
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hiding and depending anywhere but the God of the universe.
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Of course, the children of Israel here, they don't know it
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yet. They really don't understand.
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And I don't know that they could at this stage.
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I mean, perhaps they're getting hints of it, but they don't know
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yet that Moses is going to be one of the giants of the faith.
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He is going to be the kind of man that's worth waiting on.
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He is going to be the kind of man with all his faults and
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failures, a kind of man to emulate your life upon.
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They don't know it yet because if they did, they wouldn't make
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unwise decisions. Moses wasn't up on the mountain
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messing around. He wasn't goofing off.
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He wasn't running circles, you know, around the mountain going
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ha ha, ha, I'll come down when I want.
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He was doing business with the Lord.
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He was where he needed to be as long as he needed to be there in
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obedience. His focus was on God and not on
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the people. Any healthy leader will know
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that your time first starts with God, knowing Him and communing
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with Him and obeying Him, not living at the whims of men and
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women. The service to men and women
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come only after the communing with God.
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And if you have to be there 40 days, you have to be there 40
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days. They become impatient while
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Moses. Here's the scene here.
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While Moses is perfect in obedience, the people are
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imperfect and impatience. Moses, perhaps the greatest
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leader on the face of the earth, other than the perfect leader.
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Jesus Christ was shaped and seasoned and separated by God
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for almost an impossible task leading these 3 million people.
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You recall Moses is a man of faith, a weak man, but a man of
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faith nonetheless. And he suffers through the
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wilderness wanderings. He he suffers not because of his
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own lack of faith, but he suffers along with the people
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similar to Joshua. And he deals with the crying and
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the complaining on the 40 year death March of sin.
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Where's Moses right now? He's where he's supposed to be.
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That's a characteristic to be admired.
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It's a characteristic that's designed to inspire in you to be
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where you're supposed to be and to do what you're supposed to do
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and to do it the way you're supposed to do it.
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But you see, the people did what we often do.
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We put our own thoughts and desires above God's.
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Moses went up on day one. Everybody agreed go up, go up.
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We don't want to go up. There's lightning and thundering
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up. There you go, Moses, you go.
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That's how it started. This is the will of God for you,
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Moses, not for us. And yet somewhere along the way
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something changed. And it's an area in our lives
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where we need to be a pay attention to something along the
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way changes and we need to get back to the Lord, come back to
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Him. They turn to Aaron, Moses
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assistant and say, Hey, let's sin against the Lord.
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We, we, when we start using biblical language, when we start
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using biblical language, then we begin to see the situation for
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what it is. So here's the biblical language.
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If you wanted to translate what they just asked Aaron, Hey,
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Aaron, we're impatient. We can't wait anymore.
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So would you help us break the first, second and 7th
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commandments? The one we just got, like can
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we, can we break these three commandments?
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Will you help us? We know you're Moses assistant.
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And Aaron says no way. No.
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He caves under the fear of man. For whatever reason, he doesn't
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tell him no. Let's keep waiting.
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I know Moses. I trust him.
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I maybe I thought he'd be back sooner, but he's not.
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I can trust him. No.
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Instead he says, go, let's do it, let's do it.
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Notice. So verse 3 says all the people
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broke off the golden earrings that were in their ears and
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brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from
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their hand and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made a
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molded calf. Can I just ask you a question in
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light of our study last time? Because we're building on
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studies, you know, as we go verse by verse.
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Do you remember Bezel, Bezel DL, how he was made?
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He was born to build the Tabernacle.
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You remember him, He, he was gifted.
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This is what God made him. That's why God put him on the
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planet. We spent a lot of time looking
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at that in our study last time. So let's step back for a second.
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I just asked the question, was Aaron's hands made to build an
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idol? No, his hands were not made.
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And you might just want to write in your Bibles.
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This is not from the Lord. I, I know idolatry is not, but
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before you ever jump into idolatry, before you ever go
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full headlong into sin, God warns you.
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Can I get an Amen on that? God warns us.
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And one of the warning signs would be watching his hand take
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a tool, even going back, watching it, hearing his mouth
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saying, oh, bring your stuff and then collecting the stuff and
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then taking a tool and setting it up.
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However you do and begin to work on the the melting of the of the
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gold and all everything that had this didn't just poof.
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It was a process. It's very similar in sin.
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I sent a note to our pastoral team, just to the men this week
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of a situation I'm involved in. That's just a real bad, sorry,
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sad situation with a friend who made some really, really bad
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decisions. And because of those bad
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decisions, this brother has literally lost it all.
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I mean, an instant, he's lost it all.
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He's lost his integrity, he's lost his ministry.
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He's lost so much, even though today he's a repentant man, even
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though today he is a son of the Most High King.
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But because of past decisions that have caught up with him, I
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reminded the men in our study in our pastors meeting today, the
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Bible says this. You be sure your sin will find
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you out, but you don't ever want to get to that place.
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You don't want to be found out. You don't want to be in a
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position to be found out. As we've learned through Exodus,
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we want to be men and women of integrity, of honesty, of
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fidelity. Well, you don't need to examine
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your life to find out is there sin here?
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Is sin here? Is sin here?
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That's not how you do what? What you do is you, you, you
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give yourself to the Lord and you pray.
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Lord, search me and know me and reveal to me if there's any
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unclean thing because there's warnings.
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I'm telling you right now, there are warnings on the path of
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disobedience all along the way. There are people God sends into
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your life. There are convictions of the
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Holy Spirit that God sends into your life.
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There are obvious things where you start to see your hands that
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once held the Bible, but now what's in your hands?
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Maybe you use your phone or your tablet when you're doing your
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DeVos, and then you're used to be open to your DeVos.
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But what's it open to now? There's warnings said no,
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daughter, that's the wrong way. No, son, don't.
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It doesn't end well. It doesn't end well.
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And in our study today, we're reminded that impatience is
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often the key, often the key in our lives.
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Being impatient with God and being impatient with
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circumstances, being impatient to the point of discontentment.
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And God warns, no, you may be on the other side of a similar
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decision where you've lost it all, or your whole life is taken
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in a new direction. And here's the word of the Lord
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to you. Though a man falls 7 times,
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he'll rise again. There's mercy and grace even for
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great failure. There's also great pain and
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consequences that don't necessarily go away very
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quickly. But OK, we now take them with
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us, and we now deal with the situation, with all the
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decisions. We start making wise decisions
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again. Right now Aaron is making a very
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unwise decision, which tells me that probably he's caving into
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the pressure of the people. But he was probably impatient
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too, and just caught up in the emotion of it all.
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Notice with me as he made this molded Kafirs 4 They said to
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him, This is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of the land
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of Egypt. So when Aaron saw it, he built
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an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation
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and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.
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And then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt
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offerings and brought peace offerings.
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And the people sat down to eat, to drink, and rose up to play as
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Aaron caves in and asked for the earrings.
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There is a there, there is a historian that that wrote that
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it was not an Egyptian custom for men to wear earrings, which
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leads us to the next ingredient to their fall, which is
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infection. So you have impatience and
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infection. Now remember, the Bible tells us
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there's there's a mixed multitude that came out of Egypt
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back in he Exodus 1238. Remember, the mixed multitude
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went up with them also. And the flocks and the herds, a
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great deal of livestock. They influenced them earlier in
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Numbers 11. Well, they influenced them in
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Numbers 11. The mixed multitude who were
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among them yielded to intense craving.
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So the children of Israel also wept.
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And who will give us meat to eat later on?
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And so it's true that Aaron should have said no, but he
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didn't. But isn't that the issue with
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all of our lives, this sense of earrings?
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Where did the earrings? How did the men begin to wear
27:19
earrings? What?
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Why is it that now a custom? Why is that among the people?
27:27
Because there is a mixed multitude and when we hang out
27:32
with the wrong people, we're going to end up doing the wrong
27:35
things. Let me go back.
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If we hanging around with the wrong people, we're going to
27:39
begin to think the wrong things. And when we think the wrong
27:43
things, we're going to begin to do the wrong things.
27:47
Evil company, the Bible says, corrupts good habits.
27:51
That's why being in fellowship is so important.
27:53
Just just getting away from the world.
27:55
We're in the world all day, every day and just coming
27:59
together. God created the church, the
28:02
systematic teaching, I believe, of the Word of God, the songs
28:06
that are sung, the music that's in the room so that we might
28:09
remember we're a different people.
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We are not of this world, even though we're in this world.
28:18
And here Aaron should have said no, but he chose sin anyway.
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I believe a piece of the pressure that Aaron felt has to
28:30
do with the people and the impatience.
28:33
It's it's reading it in a silent room.
28:35
You know, there's not a lot of noise going on.
28:37
It's just really my voice happening.
28:39
But you can hear within the within the environment, there's
28:45
a lot of people clamoring, a lot of people complaining, a lot of
28:49
people. It's a loud.
28:50
This is a loud says. This isn't like a office visit
28:53
where you're just talking in the quietness of an office.
28:55
The people are impatient and they're voicing it and more and
28:59
more voicing it. You know how it is.
29:00
Once, once person says something negative, another person says
29:04
before you know it, it just spreads like wildfire and
29:07
they're upset. There's pressure on Aaron.
29:11
And it wasn't too long ago on our weekend studies that we in
29:16
Galatians were reminded, Would you turn over to Galatians of
29:20
this importance of standing against the pressure?
29:23
Turn over to the Galatians with me and notice in Galatians he
29:32
Paul begins to talk about the significance of pleasing God.
29:38
And in chapter 1 and verse 10, he says this important statement
29:43
that should hang on, be on all of our desks and and be written
29:47
in the beginning of our Bible so we could find it easy and be
29:50
memorized. Where he says, for do now I
29:53
persuade men or God and that's the choice.
29:58
Do I persuade? Am I wanting to please God or am
30:02
I wanting to please men? And he says, do I seek to please
30:08
men? For if I still pleased men, I
30:12
would not be a servant of Christ.
30:18
We learned in Proverbs 29 verse 25 the fear of man brings a
30:23
snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord will be safe.
30:27
And this is what gets Aaron in trouble here.
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Aaron was a mighty man of God too.
30:33
He too is a giant of the faith, making a grave mistake here.
30:39
This is a deep mistake, sinful mistake.
30:41
He had his flaws, and Moses, being God's choice, was given
30:48
Aaron as a partner to learn. And Aaron calls for the jewelry
30:51
fashions, the golden calf. You remember in Egypt, APIs was
30:56
the bull God that God judged in the plagues.
30:59
This was a compromise. In reality, he's helping to
31:03
condemn the people. What power spiritual leaders
31:06
have to lead. It's God's will.
31:12
All of us to some degree are spiritual leaders and we're all
31:15
leading in one way or another. Your influence and my influence
31:18
may be different, maybe less, maybe more, but we're all
31:22
leaders as believers. When I feel as a leader, and I
31:28
often do, this happens to me far more often than I would prefer.
31:32
Where people want to put pressure on me when they're,
31:36
they want to pressure me toward their side or toward their
31:40
viewpoint or toward their their desire for my life, their desire
31:48
somehow gets projected onto me. Whenever I feel tremendous
31:53
pressure in the ministry, or when I feel pressure at home, or
31:57
I feel pressure as a dad or as a husband, I've made it a point.
32:02
I wish I was always good at this, but I made it a point not
32:05
to make a decision, but to wait. This would be counterintuitive
32:10
even to this situation, wouldn't it?
32:12
Everybody's complaining about delaying, delaying, delaying.
32:15
It would be very counterintuitive for Aaron says,
32:17
you know what? We need to wait some more.
32:19
That's the answer. We need to wait more.
32:23
We don't need to wait less. We need to wait more.
32:26
Well, how long? How long?
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I don't know, but I know this. We'll know when Moses comes
32:31
back. But what if it's another 40
32:34
years? What if it's another, Hey, I
32:35
don't know, but the word that would have given the people the
32:40
answer from God was continue to wait.
32:44
And it is a difficult thing, but waiting is the only course.
32:48
I don't want pressure to cloud my judgement.
32:52
I don't want impatience to cause me to make a big mistake.
32:56
I don't want to throw the Word of God aside because of the
33:00
pressure of people or the pressure of situations.
33:06
The Bible says that those who wait on the Lord shall renew
33:11
their strength. It's a place of strength, not
33:14
weakness. Now, maybe this calf would help
33:18
them visualize God. Do I believe they're completely
33:21
abandoning the God of Israel? I don't believe that.
33:24
I don't believe they're completely abandoning the God of
33:26
Israel. But they're compromising enough.
33:30
They they want to follow the Lord.
33:31
We know later they're going to throw a party in worship of one
33:35
true God of Yahweh, but they're doing it the wrong way and
33:39
they're impatient. You know, we'll just use the
33:43
idols of Egypt. That's what we're used to.
33:45
That's what we know. That's what we've seen.
33:48
It's just a calf. What's the big deal?
33:52
How many lives have been ruined by that phrase?
33:54
It's just day. What do you mean it's just day?
33:58
We want God's perfect wolf for our lives.
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Amen. We want God to work.
34:03
We want to be usable and available so God will do a
34:06
perfect work in us so that we will enjoy Him.
34:12
Christians and preachers and teachers still do that today,
34:15
caving into the pressure of their peers or of society.
34:20
Some big bad decisions I've made in my life have been because of
34:23
pressure. I can look back now with 2020
34:28
hindsight and I can see it clear as day, even though in the
34:30
moment I didn't. In the moment I was too
34:35
interested in getting the pressure off.
34:37
Who likes extra pressure? Who likes to be put on the spot?
34:42
Who likes to have a finger pointed and demand that you
34:46
agree? Like no one wants that pressure.
34:48
And I can see times in my life where I've allowed the pressure
34:51
of peers or society, people in my life, just like, hey, you
34:56
were, you were wrong and you need to do this.
34:58
And I'm like, OK, we don't want to bring the idols of the world.
35:03
We don't want to bring the the idol idolatry in our own hearts
35:07
of the world and display them in a way to replace the one true
35:12
God. I was thinking about it today
35:16
and now I know why. I was just thinking about how
35:18
important it is to be in a church family that teaches the
35:23
Bible. And I made a clear distinction
35:27
in being a church family that teaches the Bible, not just from
35:31
the Bible, which you're like, well, wait a minute, Ed, Aren't
35:35
they both using the Bible? Isn't it good?
35:36
At least they use the Bible. And then again, what have you
35:39
done? You've lowered your standards.
35:41
What do you mean at least? At least?
35:43
What do you mean at least we don't want.
35:46
At least we want the whole council of God.
35:49
Yeah, but I don't like the whole council of God.
35:51
Too bad, because it's all for us.
35:56
And so you don't need. You don't need.
36:01
It wouldn't be good for you. It wouldn't be helpful for you.
36:05
It wouldn't lead to your spiritual health for me to
36:08
abandon the teaching of God's Word because of pressure.
36:12
And you know, maybe do what's popular today.
36:14
The big popular thing today, and it's been popular for a while,
36:16
actually is OK. It's summertime and I know a lot
36:19
of people are not. So why don't we do a summertime
36:21
series and we'll just have, you know, this series on.
36:24
We'll have movies, popular movies, and we'll just find the
36:27
morals in the movies. I mean, is that is that why is
36:32
that what church is to you? We'll just have some little bit
36:34
of entertainment, watch some movie clips and say, OK, that
36:38
movie tells you don't steal. Well, so does Exodus 20 and
36:43
Exodus 20 kind of puts you into the whole thing of what God's
36:46
doing and showing all these. And then, you know, we'll watch
36:49
this movie and this little clip here, this little clip with
36:52
that. I'll show you a don't lie.
36:55
And then you're watching a little clip in church and what
36:57
do you do? You go watch the movie and you
36:58
find out it's the most vile, wicked, evil thing that you
37:02
could watch. And where did you learn that in
37:06
your church? Isn't there some kind of
37:10
distinction left for the Church of Jesus Christ?
37:13
Isn't there some need for holiness and righteousness?
37:18
Silly questions, aren't they? Of course, of course we don't
37:24
want to be showing the videos of Egypt to teach you moral
37:27
lessons. We have God's word.
37:30
We don't want to be using the idols of the world to teach you
37:33
moral lessons. We have the word of God.
37:36
We don't need to teach you the language of Egypt.
37:38
You get that every single day when you come here in the
37:42
teaching and environment that God has had in his church.
37:45
Remember, they continue steadfastly how in the apostles
37:49
doctrine, that's first on the list.
37:52
They needed to come out of the world and into the Spirit
37:56
together. And what did they do first?
37:59
Apostles doctrine. They were in the Word and in
38:03
prayer and in fellowship and the breaking of bread.
38:08
Why? Because moments after you leave
38:11
here, it doesn't. You won't even have to get to
38:13
your car, the enemy, your flesh. This world will try to RIP off
38:18
everything you just learned. Your mind might even be spending
38:22
right now trying to unduce how God got so close to you like
38:26
he's undo. You're undone right now.
38:28
And you know, I don't want to be undone.
38:30
So you do everything to get back done, get back done.
38:33
But you're really already undone because sin is wrecking your
38:35
life and it's just this vicious cycle.
38:41
And so when you come and say, Ed, Ed, God is delaying, can you
38:47
make me a calf? I will not call for the earrings
38:52
and the necklaces of the church. I could tell you that.
38:57
I'll say, hey, if you think God's delaying, just know this.
39:01
Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.
39:05
You can trust God with your life.
39:09
When I travel and I'm teaching, I've got a message I've been
39:12
sharing. I shared it with you first, but
39:15
I'm sharing a message. And the very first point that I
39:18
share with the church, I say today, you're going to learn two
39:22
things and #1 you're going to learn that God knows what He's
39:25
doing with your life. God knows what He's doing.
39:31
And so whatever delay, whatever issue, whatever pain, whatever
39:34
problem, God knows what He's doing.
39:37
You're on the Potter's wheel. You're the clay in the Potter's
39:41
hands and that even today if you see like Jeremiah, did the clay
39:46
become marred. That word in Jeremiah, that word
39:49
marred in the Hebrew you could say today ruined when you just
39:54
see everything, it seems like it's ruined.
39:57
The Bible says that God the Potter took that clay that was
40:01
ruined because the IT was marred where in the Potter's hand, and
40:06
he took that same clay and he made it into something else.
40:11
Please, the father, there's always second chances with the
40:15
Lord. There's always that chance.
40:19
So all the pressures that we might have today of friends, of
40:22
family, of the world, even, you know, YouTube videos and TikTok,
40:27
whatever's going on, don't integrate Egypt into your life.
40:33
Expel it. It will influence you toward
40:37
evil. Don't allow the world into your
40:40
life trying to be culturally relevant.
40:42
The Bible is culturally relevant.
40:45
It does speak to our lives today.
40:47
Imagine we're studying a book of the Bible right now that was
40:51
written, you know, 4000 years ago.
40:55
And some of the truths in it today are just as real as when
40:57
they were written right now for my life and for yours.
41:02
The more you think on Egypt, the more Egypt takes over.
41:05
The more you adapt to Egypt. Egypt takes over and Egypt
41:09
doesn't need to be adapted, it needs to be forsaken and Egypt,
41:15
what in the Bible becomes a type and a picture of this world and
41:22
even our flesh at times. This calf caused more problems
41:26
bringing more Egypt out of people.
41:31
It says in verse 7, the Lord said to Moses, go get down.
41:36
Your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have
41:39
corrupted themselves. They turned aside quickly out of
41:42
the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a
41:46
molded calf and worshipped it and sacrificed to it and said,
41:50
this is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of this land of
41:53
Egypt. And the Lord said to Moses, I
41:56
have seen this people and indeed it is a stiff necked people.
42:02
Now therefore let me alone that I may, my wrath may burn hot
42:06
against them and I'll consume them and look at this offer at
42:10
the end, I'll make you, I'll make of you a great nation.
42:16
Now this is if you were Moses for a split second, you might
42:20
think, OK, because a part of the leadership too, is there's just
42:27
a part of us who just don't want to deal with problems.
42:31
The whole point of our lives is God has given to the church, in
42:35
particular leaders, pastors, elders, leaders, is to to help
42:39
with problems. It does wear on you.
42:43
I don't really know anyone that goes, oh, I hope there's double
42:45
the problems today or triple the problems.
42:47
It's it's yeah, but you want to make do you want to make a new
42:51
nation out of me? I really like me.
42:53
Let's do it, Lord. But you really don't want a new
42:58
nation made out of you because you're messed up.
43:02
I'm just as messed up. So I might have sidestepped one
43:06
thing, but the warning is, hey, Ed, you stay abiding in Christ
43:12
or you'll be next. You stay close to me, Ed, or
43:16
you'll be next. I hear the Holy Spirit speaking
43:20
today say you're standing in the pulpit, You've got 25 years of
43:23
ministry, but if you don't guard your walk with the Lord, you'll
43:26
be next and you'll lose everything.
43:31
And I say, yes, Lord, I don't want to be next.
43:35
Search me and know me, reveal to me, show me any unclean thing
43:41
and lead me in the way of righteousness.
43:45
I want to finish well. I want you to finish well.
43:49
I want you to know how much God loves you and cares for you, how
43:53
much He's given to you that you wouldn't be in a place where
43:57
you're dancing before a calf. Imagine that if you come back,
44:03
if you come back to verse 6, it says that the people said at the
44:08
end there, they sat down to eat and drink, rose up to play.
44:12
There's an inference in that Hebrew word play that has an
44:16
idea of sexual sin, that they're committing fornication in
44:21
adultery like they would in Egypt before this calf.
44:24
There's full blown Egypt right in the middle of Israel.
44:27
There's full blown Egypt right in the giving of the law and the
44:32
righteous commandments of God. There's full blown Egypt as
44:36
they're all come out. We're going to do it, Laura.
44:38
We obey you. We're going to obey you.
44:39
We receive it all. May our homes be pure church in
44:45
our cubicles and our churches and our bedrooms and our cars
44:50
and our minds. Listen.
44:52
Purge out Egypt as fast as you can.
45:00
You often hear pastors try to try to explain that, you know,
45:05
be careful what you're reading. Be careful what you're watching.
45:09
Be careful what you're listening to.
45:10
Be careful you might receive it as well.
45:15
You know, the church can't tell me what to do.
45:16
But what does the Spirit tell you?
45:19
That's the question. What's the Spirit saying well,
45:23
you know, and I can build just a little calf really.
45:27
You really think the Lord said build a little calf?
45:30
You really think the Lord said little compromise?
45:33
You really think God said it's OK to be impatient Don't worry
45:35
about it. It's no big deal.
45:37
It's taken down the strongest of men, but it won't take you down.
45:40
You're strong, you're strong. Go ahead, compromise, dabble and
45:46
sin. Do you think that God says that
45:48
never in a million years. And so as we read of as we close
45:53
today and we read of this, it's just like, hey, stay close to
45:57
the Lord Church, stay close to the Lord or we'll be next.
46:03
And I know that's not your heart's desire, and I'm sure
46:05
that's not this group's heart's desire, but it doesn't really
46:08
matter what your heart's desire is, because your heart can
46:13
betray you and circumstances can pressure you and people can push
46:20
you. And given the right time at the
46:25
right place with the right temptation, any one of us is
46:30
toast. Did you hear that?
46:33
Right time, right place, right temptation.
46:36
And you add to that the circumstances of life.
46:38
You add to that your mental, you know, your mental thoughts, your
46:41
spiritual life, right place, right time, right temptation.
46:48
We could all find ourselves in great trouble.
46:52
And so, Lord, we just learned tonight from the impatience of
46:55
the children of Israel. We can see in our own hearts
46:59
impatience or discontentment that may lead us astray
47:02
ourselves. And we pray for your spiritual
47:05
strength. It's not by might and it's not
47:07
by power, but by your spirit. Say it, the Lord, where victory
47:12
comes, where strength comes, where vision comes, where growth
47:19
comes. It's not our way, God, that
47:23
matters, it's your way. It's not our desires for our
47:27
lives, but it's your desire for our life.
47:30
It is your will that we want to walk in that way.
47:32
And if you have us waiting for 40 days, then we are wise to
47:37
wait. And if you have us waiting for
47:39
40 years, like you did with Moses, 40 years, he waited in
47:44
the wilderness until the appointed time, then we would do
47:47
well to embrace what you're doing in our lives in the moment
47:51
and wait on the Lord. And as leaders, help us, God,
47:56
not to cave into the pressure, but also not to resist the
48:02
moment, not to cave to the peer pressure, but not resist the
48:06
moment, the opportunity to minister, to help, to get eyes
48:12
back on the Lord. The safest place is to get our
48:15
eyes back on the Lord and I pray that over your church tonight
48:19
that just the things some of the things that have been in our
48:21
lives. We just God help us to get our
48:24
eyes back on you. It's not about our mom and it's
48:27
not about our dad and it's not about our job and it's not about
48:32
the difficulties. All things are working together
48:36
for good in your hands and even some.
48:40
It's not about our failure. When I think of Rahab, she will
48:48
not be known for her failure, but for her faith.
48:53
And so God, we walk in faith that we will not be defined by
48:57
our failure, but by your faithfulness as we leave here
49:02
today in Jesus name, Amen. We pray that you've been
49:07
encouraged by this Bible study, delivered live from the
49:09
sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 87730
49:15
Grace that's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
49:22
integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
49:27
online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
49:32
Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
49:34
this week.