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A Community Centered on the Word (Exodus 18) · Prodigal Hope

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SPEAKER_00: Hopefully you're in Exodus 18.
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SPEAKER_00: We've been going through,
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SPEAKER_00: and I hate to always just say this,
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SPEAKER_00: but I love saying this because I love this.
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I've been just falling more and more in love with seeing how
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God is sort of giving
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SPEAKER_00: us little breadcrumbs in the midst of this history of God's people.
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SPEAKER_00: As they've been called out of Egypt,
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SPEAKER_00: they've been called out of bondage,
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SPEAKER_00: and he's forming them into his people.
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SPEAKER_00: We are also getting little breadcrumbs about how God forms us.
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SPEAKER_00: Into his church.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what this whole sort of series is about.
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SPEAKER_00: And in the midst of all of this,
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SPEAKER_00: as you might have noticed,
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SPEAKER_00: we've been sort of building a little bit of momentum.
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SPEAKER_00: We've gotten out of Egypt.
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We've seen the people of Israel sort of go through this tragedy
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and crisis after another.
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SPEAKER_00: And now suddenly, though, we come to chapter number 18.
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SPEAKER_00: Which,
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SPEAKER_00: if you read it all the way through,
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SPEAKER_00: it's 27 verses,
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SPEAKER_00: and it kind of feels like an interruption.
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SPEAKER_00: It kind of breaks up the narrative of these very amazing stories.
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You know,
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I keep joking,
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and I'm going to keep this joke alive because I think it's
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funny.
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SPEAKER_00: But the flannel graph lessons that you had in Sunday school,
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SPEAKER_00: we've been through a lot of those already.
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SPEAKER_00: From, you know, the Red Sea onwards.
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There's no flannel graph lesson,
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at least I don't remember it,
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about Jethro visiting Moses.
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SPEAKER_00: It's not a very eventful story.
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In fact,
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if you read the story,
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there's really no earth-shattering miracles.
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SPEAKER_00: At least not the kind that we've seen,
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SPEAKER_00: like water coming out of a rock,
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SPEAKER_00: a sea splitting into two,
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SPEAKER_00: and manna just falling down from the sky so that people can eat.
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SPEAKER_00: And in the evening times,
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SPEAKER_00: we always kind of gloss over this,
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SPEAKER_00: but the evenings just quail everywhere so that people can eat meat.
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Miracles upon miracles,
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except for here where we get sort of a practical chapter,
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so to speak.
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SPEAKER_00: It's a chapter that doesn't get a lot of attention.
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SPEAKER_00: And that's mainly because perhaps it feels out of place,
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SPEAKER_00: which may or may not be true,
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SPEAKER_00: actually.
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SPEAKER_00: If you look at the end of chapter number 17,
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SPEAKER_00: which we covered last time,
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SPEAKER_00: remember the people of Israel are in this location called Rephidim.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at chapter 17, verse 8.
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SPEAKER_00: It says, then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.
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SPEAKER_00: And if you notice,
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SPEAKER_00: flip ahead,
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jump ahead one page maybe to chapter number 19 and look at
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verse number 2.
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It says,
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they set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of
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Sinai.
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So you have this notion that the people of God are being led to
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this region known
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SPEAKER_00: as Sinai,
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SPEAKER_00: specifically to Mount Sinai,
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SPEAKER_00: which we'll get to very shortly.
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SPEAKER_00: And chapter 19 begins with them arriving there.
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SPEAKER_00: But you may have picked this up during Pastor Eric's scripture reading,
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that the events of chapter number 18 seem to happen after
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they've already gotten
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SPEAKER_00: there.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at verse number 5 of our text, chapter 18.
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SPEAKER_00: It says,
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SPEAKER_00: Jethro,
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SPEAKER_00: Moses' father-in-law,
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SPEAKER_00: came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where,
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SPEAKER_00: notice,
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SPEAKER_00: he was encamped at the mountain of God.
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SPEAKER_00: Also known as Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai.
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SPEAKER_00: So we get this picture,
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we get this notion that this chapter is sort of put here not in
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chronological
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SPEAKER_00: order.
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Because if you go even further down in the narrative,
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look at verse number 16.
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SPEAKER_00: When Moses is sort of explaining his role,
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SPEAKER_00: which we'll get to,
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SPEAKER_00: we'll explain this moment in a minute.
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But when Moses is explaining his role to his father-in-law,
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look at what he says.
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SPEAKER_00: Verse 16,
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SPEAKER_00: when they have a dispute,
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they come to me and I decide between one person and another and
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I make them know
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SPEAKER_00: the statutes of God and his laws.
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SPEAKER_00: It would seem then that not only are they at the mountain of God,
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this seems then that they've already received some of the laws
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that God gave to
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SPEAKER_00: God's people,
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specifically to Moses when he went up onto the mountain to
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receive them from God
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SPEAKER_00: himself.
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SPEAKER_00: So once again,
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SPEAKER_00: we are noting here that for a brief moment,
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SPEAKER_00: the author of Exodus,
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SPEAKER_00: which is Moses,
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SPEAKER_00: isn't being specifically chronological.
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He's not following sort of a sequence of events in the order in
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which they
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SPEAKER_00: occurred,
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SPEAKER_00: which begs the question,
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SPEAKER_00: why?
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Why does he sort of insert this narrative that may have
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occurred later on?
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SPEAKER_00: Why is he inserted here?
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SPEAKER_00: What's the point?
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SPEAKER_00: Why would he do that?
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SPEAKER_00: Why would you just sort of interrupt the flow?
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We have seemed to be chronological up till now,
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and now suddenly we're not.
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SPEAKER_00: Well,
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SPEAKER_00: I think it's because Moses is telling us something deeply important,
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SPEAKER_00: serious,
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SPEAKER_00: and crucial about what it means to be the church in the wilderness.
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SPEAKER_00: I think he's stopping to make a very theological point.
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SPEAKER_00: As we are seeing,
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SPEAKER_00: as we've been noting all throughout this series so far,
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SPEAKER_00: that God is calling Israel and he's building them into a spiritual house,
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SPEAKER_00: we could say.
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SPEAKER_00: That's using the words of Peter in 1 Peter chapter number 2.
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SPEAKER_00: We're also made to see how God is doing the same thing to us.
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SPEAKER_00: That's sort of the whole point of this series.
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SPEAKER_00: He's forming.
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SPEAKER_00: This is what God's doing.
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SPEAKER_00: He's forming and fashioning a people for himself.
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SPEAKER_00: After his own likeness.
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SPEAKER_00: Who worship him and live for him alone.
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SPEAKER_00: They worship him in spirit and truth.
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SPEAKER_00: And they live for him as the only one whom they want to glorify.
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SPEAKER_00: And with both Israel and the church, which includes us.
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We could say along with Peter in that same passage that God is
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taking dead stones
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and turning them into living stones and turning them into a
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holy priesthood.
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And the goal of which,
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just to conclude that little section,
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this is 1 Peter 2,
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verse 5.
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SPEAKER_00: The goal of all of this is to what?
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SPEAKER_00: To offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what God is doing.
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SPEAKER_00: He's forming a congregation of worshipers.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what he's doing with Israel.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what he's doing with us.
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SPEAKER_00: This is what God has always been keen on.
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SPEAKER_00: He's been keen on taking former slaves and forging them into an assembly,
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SPEAKER_00: a gathering,
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SPEAKER_00: a church,
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SPEAKER_00: if you will,
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SPEAKER_00: a congregation that subsists,
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SPEAKER_00: that survives,
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SPEAKER_00: that is nourished on his words alone,
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SPEAKER_00: what his words tell them,
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SPEAKER_00: what his words give them.
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SPEAKER_00: And as Paul tells us,
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this beautiful window that we find in Romans chapter 6 is sort
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of how we can
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SPEAKER_00: understand how all of this is unfolding.
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SPEAKER_00: Paul, Romans 6 verse 17, he says this, Thanks be to God.
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That you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from
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the heart to the
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SPEAKER_00: standard of teaching to which you were committed.
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SPEAKER_00: And having been set free from sin have become slaves of righteousness.
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SPEAKER_00: This is what's unfolding for us in the foothills of Sinai.
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Especially because as we get closer to those moments where we
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are made to hear and
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SPEAKER_00: understand the law that was given to Moses.
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SPEAKER_00: We're going to understand to become clearer.
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SPEAKER_00: What it means to be slaves of righteousness, so to speak.
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SPEAKER_00: But even right here,
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SPEAKER_00: in this moment with Jethro and he comes to Moses,
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SPEAKER_00: God is showing us something supremely important.
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SPEAKER_00: Namely,
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SPEAKER_00: that not only is he forming a people that he saves,
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SPEAKER_00: but he's organizing them around his words and his words alone.
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You'll notice again,
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chapter 18 opens on this arrival of this unexpected guest,
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so to speak.
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A guest that we haven't heard from since all the way back in
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chapter number 2.
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SPEAKER_00: When Moses was on the run for his life.
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SPEAKER_00: You know, remember Exodus chapter 2?
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SPEAKER_00: He's murdered that Egyptian and he's tried to sort of bury his tracks.
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SPEAKER_00: And then people call him out.
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SPEAKER_00: And so he runs for his life out of Egypt.
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SPEAKER_00: And Rule, a.k.a.
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SPEAKER_00: Jethro, takes him in.
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SPEAKER_00: And here now he's reappearing in the narrative.
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SPEAKER_00: And Jethro's arrival means that Moses is finally reunited,
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SPEAKER_00: not just with his father-in-law,
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SPEAKER_00: but with his wife and sons.
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SPEAKER_00: Look again at the beginning of the text.
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SPEAKER_00: Jethro,
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SPEAKER_00: the priest of Midian,
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SPEAKER_00: Moses' father-in-law,
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SPEAKER_00: heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel,
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SPEAKER_00: his people.
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SPEAKER_00: How?
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SPEAKER_00: This is a detail that we haven't been told till just now.
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SPEAKER_00: That somewhere along the way,
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Moses sent Zipporah and his two sons to live with his
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father-in-law or Zipporah's
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SPEAKER_00: dad for a while.
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SPEAKER_00: We can imagine as Moses is here writing this story.
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SPEAKER_00: He's recording these events.
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SPEAKER_00: He's recalling this moment.
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SPEAKER_00: He's recalling it in vivid detail.
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SPEAKER_00: Whenever he had sent them away.
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SPEAKER_00: I wonder if he had the thought that he wouldn't see them again.
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SPEAKER_00: I wonder if he knew whether or not he would see them again.
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SPEAKER_00: I don't want to read too much into the text this morning,
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but I think there has to be a reason why Moses is retelling us
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not just that this
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SPEAKER_00: little detail,
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SPEAKER_00: but he's also retelling us the names of his sons.
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SPEAKER_00: He's giving them the meanings, even the meanings behind them.
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SPEAKER_00: Look again at verse three, along with her two sons.
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SPEAKER_00: The name of the one son was Gershom.
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For he said,
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I have been a sojourner in a foreign land and the name of the
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other Eliezer.
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For he said,
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the God of my father was my help and delivered me from the
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sword of Pharaoh.
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SPEAKER_00: And of course we've heard the name Gershom before.
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SPEAKER_00: Again that's chapter 2.
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SPEAKER_00: Moses is a sojourner in a foreign land.
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SPEAKER_00: He's run away from Egypt.
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SPEAKER_00: And now he's in this land of Midian and he feels like a stranger.
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SPEAKER_00: An exile.
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So it makes sense that this son is sort of bearing the weight
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of all of his
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SPEAKER_00: feelings in that moment.
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SPEAKER_00: So that's why Gershom is named that.
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SPEAKER_00: And of course,
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SPEAKER_00: we aren't told when Eliezer was born,
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SPEAKER_00: but we know he's born sometime in the midst of his sojourn in Midian.
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SPEAKER_00: And on the way back, we know that he had two sons with him.
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SPEAKER_00: And here's Eliezer,
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SPEAKER_00: a reminder of what God had done exactly for Moses,
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SPEAKER_00: because the stranger was not without help,
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SPEAKER_00: which is exactly what Eliezer means.
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SPEAKER_00: God is my help.
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SPEAKER_00: His sons, in other words, are sort of bookending Moses' story.
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SPEAKER_00: Where God is authoring Moses' story.
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This one who has been a stranger is now found help in nothing
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but the Lord alone.
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SPEAKER_00: And this truly constitutes this emotional reunion as he sees his family.
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SPEAKER_00: His sons, his wife, his father-in-law.
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SPEAKER_00: You can imagine that.
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SPEAKER_00: The motion that is coursing through Moses.
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But despite all of that,
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this reunion soon turns evangelical,
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if you will.
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SPEAKER_00: It turns into sort of an evangelistic witness.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 5.
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SPEAKER_00: Jethro,
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SPEAKER_00: Moses' father-in-law,
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came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness
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where he was encamped at
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SPEAKER_00: the mountain of God.
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SPEAKER_00: And when he sent word to Moses,
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SPEAKER_00: I,
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SPEAKER_00: your father-in-law Jethro,
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SPEAKER_00: am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her.
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SPEAKER_00: Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him.
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SPEAKER_00: And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent.
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SPEAKER_00: So they have this great meeting,
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SPEAKER_00: Moses seeing his father-in-law for the first time in years perhaps.
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SPEAKER_00: And he sees them, they embrace, they ask each other, is it well with you?
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SPEAKER_00: Is it well with you?
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SPEAKER_00: Actually the word there is, Salome, is there peace with you?
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SPEAKER_00: And they have this great meeting.
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SPEAKER_00: And they have much to catch up on.
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And they are eager to relay to one another all that they have
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seen and heard.
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SPEAKER_00: And Moses especially.
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SPEAKER_00: Because this is why Jethro is there.
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SPEAKER_00: Jethro is curious.
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SPEAKER_00: He's interested in all of these things that he's heard about.
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SPEAKER_00: And Moses is eager to tell him.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 8.
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SPEAKER_00: Then Moses told his father-in-law.
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SPEAKER_00: Notice all that the Lord had done.
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SPEAKER_00: To Pharaoh and to the Egyptians.
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SPEAKER_00: For Israel's sake.
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SPEAKER_00: All the hardship that had come upon them in the way.
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SPEAKER_00: And how the Lord had delivered them.
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SPEAKER_00: News,
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SPEAKER_00: as we've said before,
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news of what was going on with these people that had been sort
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of brought out of
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SPEAKER_00: Egypt.
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SPEAKER_00: And there was some sort of divine presence among them.
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SPEAKER_00: News about that had certainly circulated.
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SPEAKER_00: And it circulated, spread to surrounding areas.
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Rumors were spreading far and wide about plagues crushing the
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might of Pharaoh.
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SPEAKER_00: About the sea being split into two.
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SPEAKER_00: And of how these former slaves are being led by a very personal deity.
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SPEAKER_00: And so here is Jethro, this priest from Midian.
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SPEAKER_00: Here he is, perhaps to see if all these rumors were true.
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Perhaps to see,
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is there any merit to these stories I keep hearing about?
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SPEAKER_00: And whatever his rank,
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SPEAKER_00: however high in the order he was back in his hometown of Midian,
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SPEAKER_00: however authoritative,
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SPEAKER_00: however respectable he was,
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SPEAKER_00: yet here he is coming to hear about what Israel's God had done for them.
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SPEAKER_00: This is not a detail that we can just gloss over or skip over.
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SPEAKER_00: This ought to be surprising to us,
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SPEAKER_00: especially when you can recall how the nation of Midian,
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SPEAKER_00: the Midianites,
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SPEAKER_00: became such a thorn in Israel's side in the later years.
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SPEAKER_00: He would eventually lead them into idolatry,
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SPEAKER_00: a story that occurs in numbers,
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SPEAKER_00: and eventually they would oppress the people of Israel for seven years.
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SPEAKER_00: That's how the story of Gideon starts in Judges chapter 6.
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And yet here,
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there's a priest from there,
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and he's curious about who this Lord is.
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SPEAKER_00: I love how Moses is what he's emphasizing here.
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SPEAKER_00: Again, verse 8.
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SPEAKER_00: Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done.
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SPEAKER_00: And then notice all the hardship that had come upon them in the way.
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SPEAKER_00: I love this detail.
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Moses is not one to sort of paint a very sort of whitewashed
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story,
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so to speak.
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SPEAKER_00: He's not one that is trying to just give him all of the good details.
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SPEAKER_00: All of the good things.
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SPEAKER_00: He includes the hardship too.
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SPEAKER_00: He includes the rough stuff of life.
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SPEAKER_00: He includes,
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maybe he concludes all of the complaining and the griping and
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the unbelief and the
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SPEAKER_00: times in which Israel was put at their wits end.
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SPEAKER_00: He includes all of that.
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Because it's through that lens of hardship and heartache and
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grief that all that
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SPEAKER_00: the Lord had done becomes so crystal clear.
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SPEAKER_00: And isn't that the same with our own life stories?
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SPEAKER_00: We don't need to gloss over the hardship.
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SPEAKER_00: We don't need to skip over the rough stuff of life.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what makes what God has done for us so much more vivid.
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SPEAKER_00: When we put it in contrast to what we've been through.
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SPEAKER_00: This is exactly what Moses is doing for his father-in-law.
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SPEAKER_00: You'll notice it's what the Lord had done.
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SPEAKER_00: No mention of the wonders.
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SPEAKER_00: No.
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SPEAKER_00: That Aaron and he had performed in front of Pharaoh.
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SPEAKER_00: Oh, I got to perform this miracle in front of Pharaoh.
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Let me tell you about how I turned the Nile into blood by
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hitting it with my stick.
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SPEAKER_00: He doesn't tell him that.
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He doesn't tell them of his patience or we could say Moses'
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stubbornness or
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fortitude in the face of his own people's reluctance to go
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along with what God is
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SPEAKER_00: saying.
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Because remember how many times we've already read up to this
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point of God's people
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SPEAKER_00: griping and complaining to Moses.
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SPEAKER_00: Moses, why have you brought us here?
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SPEAKER_00: He doesn't seem to include all the times that he was patient yet.
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SPEAKER_00: He doesn't include anything that draws attention to himself.
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SPEAKER_00: Actually, Moses' message focuses on what the Lord did.
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SPEAKER_00: Because that's what matters.
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SPEAKER_00: That's all that matters.
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SPEAKER_00: And he tells them this story.
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SPEAKER_00: This is what occurred to us.
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SPEAKER_00: This is where we were brought.
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SPEAKER_00: We were brought to this hardship and this.
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SPEAKER_00: And yet through it all, let me tell you what my God did.
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SPEAKER_00: That's exactly our life story, by the way.
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SPEAKER_00: That's exactly our testimony.
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SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you what my God has done.
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And it's this message that prompts the most surprising response
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from Moses' father-in-law.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at verse number nine.
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SPEAKER_00: And Jethro rejoiced.
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SPEAKER_00: He rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what he's rejoicing over.
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SPEAKER_00: All that God had done.
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SPEAKER_00: In that he delivered.
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SPEAKER_00: He rescued them.
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SPEAKER_00: He snatched Israel out of the hand of the Egyptians.
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SPEAKER_00: And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord.
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SPEAKER_00: Blessed be Yahweh,
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who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out
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of the hand of
18:06
Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the
18:09
Egyptians.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods.
18:16
SPEAKER_00: Because in this affair, they dealt arrogantly with the people.
18:21
SPEAKER_00: This, for all intents and purposes, is Jethro's confession of faith.
18:26
SPEAKER_00: He's confessing belief, not just in Israel's God.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: He's confessing belief, faith in Yahweh.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: Blessed be the Lord.
18:36
SPEAKER_00: And he's acknowledging God's supremacy, the might of who Yahweh is.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: Who he is for his people above any other spiritual power.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: And we ought to see this for what it is.
18:49
SPEAKER_00: Again, take a moment.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: It's a Gentile priest.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: Rejoicing and professing belief in the covenant-making God of Israel.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: That's what's happening.
19:03
And lest you think that this is just some sort of emotional
19:07
response from Jethro,
19:10
SPEAKER_00: he doubles down.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: He doubles down on this confession with an offering.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 12.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: And sacrifices to God.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: To eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: It's sort of like a confirmation ceremony.
19:29
SPEAKER_00: He's made this confession.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: And now let's seal it with this meal.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: With this offering.
19:35
SPEAKER_00: This sacrifice.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: Let's seal it right here.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: In the presence of all of these foremost leaders.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: Of this new Israelite nation.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: With God at its very center.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: We have a pagan priest.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: Shedding all of that paganism and embracing the one true God.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: The one who is greater than any other God.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: You see, what this is, is one of the earliest reminders, I think, to us.
20:08
That the congregation of Israel,
20:10
God's people,
20:11
that he's forming,
20:12
he's calling to himself.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: They didn't exist for themselves anymore.
20:18
They weren't supposed to just isolate themselves and just be in
20:21
this echo chamber.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: No,
20:23
SPEAKER_00: God's people,
20:24
SPEAKER_00: they carry with them the promise that in them and through them,
20:29
SPEAKER_00: what does it say in Genesis 12?
20:31
SPEAKER_00: All the families of the earth shall be blessed.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: God's promise to Abraham is that.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: That the conduit of God's blessing to the world would be through them.
20:43
SPEAKER_00: That's who they are from the very beginning.
20:48
There were hints that the community that God was forming would
20:53
be much more
20:54
SPEAKER_00: inclusive than what anyone could have imagined.
20:57
SPEAKER_00: It would include all of the peoples, the families of the earth.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: You see,
21:04
SPEAKER_00: what Jesus eventually will make so crystal clear,
21:09
make so apparent when he comes onto the scene in the Gospels
21:12
and through his
21:13
SPEAKER_00: ministry on earth,
21:14
SPEAKER_00: what is so clear through there,
21:16
SPEAKER_00: but also what is eventually shown to Peter in Acts chapter 10.
21:20
Remember that vision that he gives that now all these things
21:23
are clean that you can eat?
21:25
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 10.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: All of that is what?
21:29
SPEAKER_00: It's a reminder that God's saving acts.
21:34
His acts of deliverance weren't just meant to be echoed and
21:38
broadcast to one
21:40
SPEAKER_00: specific people group.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: No, they are meant to be echoed and broadcast to the nations.
21:47
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what God's kingdom is.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: That's what God's church is.
21:53
It's comprised of people whom God has ransomed and rescued for
21:59
his own glory.
22:00
As it says throughout Revelation,
22:02
people from every tribe and language and nation and tongue.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: And it's happening right here.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: One of the reasons,
22:12
SPEAKER_00: by the way,
22:12
one of the reasons why Jesus gets so flustered with the
22:16
religious elite in his
22:17
SPEAKER_00: day...
22:19
SPEAKER_00: It was not only because of their staunch pietism.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: It was because of their exclusivity.
22:24
They thought that they had some sort of superior corner on who
22:27
God is and who God was for them.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: But one of Jesus' curveballs,
22:32
SPEAKER_00: of course,
22:33
that he throws throughout his ministry was to show all of those
22:36
stuck-up Pharisees
22:37
SPEAKER_00: that the kingdom of heaven is not just for Jews.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: It was a kingdom for Gentiles.
22:44
And Samaritans and tax collectors and lepers and prostitutes
22:50
and sinners.
22:51
SPEAKER_00: The riffraff that you thought couldn't make it.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: Jesus comes up and tells them that this is who God brings in.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: This is who Jesus has come to welcome.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: This is who he's welcoming through his work.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: He's about to work.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: I love what Warren Ryder says.
23:09
SPEAKER_00: This is a retired Old Testament preacher.
23:11
SPEAKER_00: I think he lives in Columbia, South Carolina.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: His name is Dale Ralph Davis.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: I love his commentaries.
23:17
SPEAKER_00: And he says this.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: I love this note.
23:19
He says,
23:20
quote,
23:20
the climax of the deliverance section,
23:23
which is the section that we're reading.
23:25
These sections where we read about the deliverance of Israel
23:28
out of Egypt.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: The climax of all of that.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: What does it consist of?
23:31
He says it consists of a Gentile confessing his faith in Yahweh
23:35
as the supreme saving God.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: We need not wait for those stories of Rahab and Ruth and Naaman.
23:45
And already in and with Israel's salvation,
23:49
Yahweh is at work bringing light to the nations.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's doing right here.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: He's doing it through this priest of Midian.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: And the beauty of all this is really for us as well.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: Because the beauty of this emerges,
24:05
SPEAKER_00: the power of this emerges once you realize that we are all converts.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: Just like Jethro.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: We're all converts.
24:15
We have all,
24:15
as Paul says in Romans chapter 11,
24:17
we have all been grafted in.
24:20
We've been brought in to the spiritual house of Israel as the
24:24
true sons of Abraham.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: That's Paul's words in Galatians.
24:29
SPEAKER_00: It's what Jesus has done for all of us.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: He's brought us in.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: Or as he says in Ephesians chapter 2,
24:36
SPEAKER_00: Paul says the same thing,
24:37
SPEAKER_00: that we were all alienated,
24:39
SPEAKER_00: he says.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: We were all strangers.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: We were all far away, he says, from the commonwealth of Israel.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: Strangers to God.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: Strangers to the covenant promise.
24:50
But we,
24:50
he says,
24:51
we have been brought near by the blood of the Lamb who is
24:55
Christ.
24:55
SPEAKER_00: That's what he says.
24:59
SPEAKER_00: We're seeing the tremors of that right here.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: Why?
25:04
SPEAKER_00: Because God is fashioning for himself one body.
25:09
SPEAKER_00: Paul says this,
25:10
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 2.16,
25:11
one body through the cross to make us into fellow citizens and
25:18
members of the
25:19
SPEAKER_00: household of God.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's doing.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: And it's starting right here.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: It's starting right here.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: You see the whispers of that right here in the foothills of Mount Sinai.
25:33
Through this Gentile priest being called and he's curious and
25:37
he's told what God has done.
25:40
SPEAKER_00: He rejoices over it.
25:43
But then the scene shifts in sort of a dramatic way to
25:48
something quite different.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: Quite different is the concern of the rest of this chapter.
25:54
SPEAKER_00: But you'll see there is a connection.
25:56
Because after this reunion with Jethro,
25:58
Moses wakes up the next day in his business as usual.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 13.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: The next day,
26:05
SPEAKER_00: so the morning after this beautiful reunion with his father-in-law,
26:09
SPEAKER_00: the meal that confirms his faith,
26:12
SPEAKER_00: the next day Moses sat to judge the people.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: And the people stood around Moses from morning till evening.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: Moses, of course, is this luminary, the leader of God's people.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: And he's the one who receives God's laws and words on the mountain.
26:29
And he understood that his role was to govern God's people by
26:34
hearing from them and
26:35
SPEAKER_00: interpreting God's words for them.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: This is how he's understanding his role for God's people.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: And this is an arduous task, an exhausting, exacting task.
26:45
That's what's being emphasized by the repeated phrase there in
26:48
verses 13 and 14.
26:50
SPEAKER_00: That he's doing this from morning till evening.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: All day.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: Hearing disputes.
26:57
SPEAKER_00: Giving God's words to them.
26:58
SPEAKER_00: And he's at this all day long.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: And as Jethro notices, he's doing this alone.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 14.
27:06
SPEAKER_00: When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people,
27:09
SPEAKER_00: he said,
27:10
SPEAKER_00: What is this that you are doing for the people?
27:13
Why do you sit alone and all the people stand around you from
27:18
morning till evening?
27:22
Moses was shouldering the burden of shepherding God's people on
27:28
his own shoulders.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: He's doing it by himself.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: And this is what Jethro notices.
27:34
SPEAKER_00: And he wants to know why.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: Why are you doing this way?
27:37
SPEAKER_00: Why is it set up this way?
27:39
SPEAKER_00: Look at Moses' reply.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: Because Moses' reply doesn't really answer Jethro's question.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: He says, why are you doing this?
27:48
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15.
27:49
And Moses said to his father-in-law,
27:51
because the people come to me to inquire of God.
27:54
SPEAKER_00: And when they have a dispute, they come to me.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: And I decide between one person and another.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: And I make them know the statutes of God and his laws correctly.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: You get what Moses said?
28:06
SPEAKER_00: He basically is saying, this is, why are you doing this, Moses?
28:10
Moses just says,
28:11
because the people that,
28:13
this is how we've always done it.
28:16
SPEAKER_00: He explains what occurs.
28:18
And I can imagine Jethro saying,
28:20
well,
28:20
I know that that's what's happening,
28:21
but why?
28:23
SPEAKER_00: Why is it like this?
28:25
SPEAKER_00: You're here all day, 14 hour day, let's say.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: You're hearing all of these matters that you have to decide between.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: Why are you doing it?
28:34
SPEAKER_00: Because the people have just come to me and this is what we do now.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: You see, Moses' sense of responsibility and obligation is honorable.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: He understands the momentous task that God has given him.
28:47
SPEAKER_00: He was God's mouthpiece.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: Exodus chapter 4,
28:51
Yahweh is telling Moses that he would be the channel by which
28:55
and through which God
28:56
SPEAKER_00: would make his words known to God's people.
28:59
SPEAKER_00: He understands that.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: And Jethro perceives that.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: But he also perceives that whatever this system is, it's not working.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: The system is not good.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: Verse 17.
29:14
SPEAKER_00: Moses' father-in-law said to him, what you are doing is not good.
29:20
SPEAKER_00: Why?
29:20
SPEAKER_00: Because it's not sustainable.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: Look what he says.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: You're going to fade out.
29:33
SPEAKER_00: You're going to burn out, Moses.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: For the thing is too heavy for you.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: You are not able to do it alone.
29:40
SPEAKER_00: One man settling all of these disputes from morning till evening.
29:45
SPEAKER_00: This cannot endure, Moses.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: Again, he can't be the voice of God for two million people.
29:57
SPEAKER_00: Settling all their squabbles.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: Settling all of their arguments.
30:02
SPEAKER_00: Or trying to decide for them this way or that.
30:05
SPEAKER_00: This is a task that cannot last.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: Moses.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: My neighbor's goat ate all my manna.
30:12
SPEAKER_00: What are we going to do about it?
30:13
SPEAKER_00: Moses.
30:14
SPEAKER_00: My brother's donkey kicked my donkey.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: Is there a law about that Moses?
30:17
SPEAKER_00: Moses.
30:19
SPEAKER_00: What are we going to do about all the leftover quail?
30:22
SPEAKER_00: Do we have a backup plan?
30:23
SPEAKER_00: Moses.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: Constant.
30:26
SPEAKER_00: Constant.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: Constant.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: This is the burden that Moses is carrying.
30:34
SPEAKER_00: And Jethro sees, this is too big, Moses.
30:37
SPEAKER_00: This is too heavy for you to lift on your own shoulders.
30:41
And the longer he attempted to try and lift it by himself,
30:46
the sooner he would be crushed by it.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: You're going to wear yourself out.
30:51
SPEAKER_00: This cannot survive.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: And again, just pause for a second.
30:56
Pause for a moment and ponder what was going through Moses'
31:02
mind when Jethro was
31:04
SPEAKER_00: giving him this advice.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: Think about this.
31:08
SPEAKER_00: No one likes to be told that they can't do something.
31:12
SPEAKER_00: No one likes to be told that something is too heavy.
31:15
SPEAKER_00: I'll lift that.
31:17
All Natalie needs to get me to do to lift something is say,
31:21
I don't know if you can lift it.
31:21
SPEAKER_00: I'll lift it.
31:23
SPEAKER_00: I'll move it.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: I can get all of those groceries in one trip.
31:28
SPEAKER_00: You better believe it.
31:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm not taking two trips.
31:33
SPEAKER_00: Imagine now.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: You're the George Washington, Abraham Lincoln of your people.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: That's sort of what Moses is.
31:41
SPEAKER_00: All rolled into one.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: And your father-in-law is telling you that this thing is too heavy.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: Man, I was standing up against Pharaoh.
31:49
SPEAKER_00: You think this is too heavy for me?
31:50
SPEAKER_00: He might at first.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: Moses might have first.
31:56
I have been inclined to resist any of this advice to dismiss
32:03
what Jethro is saying.
32:07
SPEAKER_00: But listen to Jethro's counsel because he knows.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: Jethro knows.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: He's not diminishing Moses' task.
32:14
SPEAKER_00: He's actually trying to elevate it.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: He's actually trying to tell Moses,
32:17
SPEAKER_00: Moses,
32:17
SPEAKER_00: your role,
32:18
SPEAKER_00: yes,
32:19
SPEAKER_00: it's worthy and it's significant,
32:21
SPEAKER_00: but actually you're getting caught up in things that are too petty.
32:25
SPEAKER_00: You need to hear and hear this advice, Moses.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: Look at what he says.
32:33
You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out
32:36
for this thing is
32:37
SPEAKER_00: too heavy for you.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: You are not able to do it alone.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: Now obey my voice.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: I will give you advice and God be with you.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: You,
32:46
you shall represent the people before God and bring their
32:49
occasions to God and you
32:50
shall warn them about the statutes and the laws and make them
32:53
know the way in which
32:54
SPEAKER_00: they must walk and what they must do.
32:56
SPEAKER_00: Moreover, look for able men.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: From all the people,
33:02
SPEAKER_00: men who fear God,
33:04
SPEAKER_00: who are trustworthy and hate a bribe,
33:06
SPEAKER_00: and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands,
33:09
SPEAKER_00: of hundreds,
33:10
SPEAKER_00: of fifties,
33:11
SPEAKER_00: and of tens,
33:12
SPEAKER_00: and let them judge the people at all times.
33:14
Every great matter they shall bring to you,
33:16
but any small matter they shall decide themselves.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.
33:22
If you do this,
33:23
God will direct you,
33:24
and you will be able to endure,
33:26
and all this people also.
33:29
SPEAKER_00: will go to their place in peace, in shalom.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: Even though the official priesthood hasn't been sort of established yet,
33:39
SPEAKER_00: Moses,
33:40
SPEAKER_00: even at this time,
33:41
SPEAKER_00: is sort of acting as Israel's priest.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: He's their representative, as Jethro says.
33:45
SPEAKER_00: I can clearly tell, you are representing the people in front of God.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: And we're not trying to dismiss that at all, Moses.
33:54
SPEAKER_00: I'm not trying to take that away from you.
33:56
SPEAKER_00: Actually, that's your most important function, Moses.
34:00
SPEAKER_00: Is to represent the people before the Lord.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: To bring their cases to God.
34:06
SPEAKER_00: You're their go-between.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: And he admonishes him.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: Jethro does.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: That Moses was getting caught in all of this minutia of daily disputes.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: All of these little squabbles,
34:22
SPEAKER_00: the petty squabbles of the congregation,
34:25
SPEAKER_00: it's drowning out what Moses is meant to do,
34:30
SPEAKER_00: to heed and hear the words of God and tell them to the people,
34:35
SPEAKER_00: to be their representative.
34:36
You see,
34:39
in other words,
34:39
Jethro's counsel to Moses doesn't stem from Moses's inability
34:45
to
34:47
SPEAKER_00: As much as it does from the importance of Moses' responsibility.
34:53
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Moses, eventually you can't really do this because you are human.
34:56
SPEAKER_00: But that's nothing to do with your skill level, Moses.
35:00
SPEAKER_00: This has nothing to do with your gifts or your talents.
35:02
This has everything to do that your role as representative of
35:05
God's people by order
35:08
SPEAKER_00: of God is that important.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: This is a responsibility that you alone can bear, Moses.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: And so to alleviate this burden, this is how we should do it.
35:18
Look for able-bodied men,
35:20
deputize them,
35:21
so to speak,
35:21
and help them to govern the people.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: Set them over tens, set them over fifties, hundreds, thousands.
35:28
SPEAKER_00: And in this way, they will lighten your load with Moses.
35:33
Moses' burden would be lifted,
35:36
wouldn't be too heavy for him at all anymore.
35:39
SPEAKER_00: And the community of God's people, they would be preserved.
35:43
Because there wouldn't be this bottleneck where everyone,
35:45
we just have to get to Moses.
35:47
SPEAKER_00: We just have to get to Moses.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: We just have to hear from him.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: The community would flourish.
35:54
SPEAKER_00: It would be preserved from burnout.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: And most importantly, the ministry of God's words would flourish.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jethro is after.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: And to his credit, notice verse 24, Moses listens.
36:08
So verse 24,
36:09
so Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all
36:12
that he said.
36:13
And Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads
36:17
over the people,
36:18
SPEAKER_00: chiefs of thousands,
36:19
SPEAKER_00: of hundreds,
36:19
SPEAKER_00: of fifties and tens.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: And they judged the people at all times.
36:23
Any hard case they brought to Moses,
36:25
but any small matter they decided themselves.
36:28
And then Moses let his father-in-law depart and he went away to
36:32
his own country.
36:34
SPEAKER_00: And so ends this involvement of Jethro in the Exodus story.
36:41
SPEAKER_00: A fascinating little interruption.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: And what are we to make of it?
36:47
SPEAKER_00: Again, we have to emphasize this.
36:51
At the heart of the people that God is forming is the ministry
36:57
of God's words to God's people.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what he's doing through Israel.
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SPEAKER_00: But this is also, of course, true for us.
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SPEAKER_00: No matter how,
37:06
no matter all of the other things that Moses could get himself
37:09
involved in,
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SPEAKER_00: representing the people by making God's words known to them,
37:14
SPEAKER_00: that was primary.
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SPEAKER_00: That was chief.
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SPEAKER_00: That was ultimate.
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SPEAKER_00: And leave it to the Lord.
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SPEAKER_00: Leave it to God.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: To have this Gentile priest from Midian to help Moses see that.
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SPEAKER_00: That the ministry of the word is what matters.
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SPEAKER_00: And the point of course, yes, this is true for the church right now.
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SPEAKER_00: Let's go to this place in Acts.
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SPEAKER_00: Go with me to Acts chapter 6.
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SPEAKER_00: We're going to try and connect to this.
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SPEAKER_00: We're going to see if it works.
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SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 6.
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SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're familiar with this story,
37:50
SPEAKER_00: but I can't help but see the parallels between what we've just read,
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SPEAKER_00: where Jethro is noticing this,
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SPEAKER_00: the ministry of the word.
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SPEAKER_00: By the way,
37:57
SPEAKER_00: the word that makes dead hearts alive,
38:00
SPEAKER_00: that makes converts,
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SPEAKER_00: that ministry is of supreme importance.
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SPEAKER_00: And notice this crisis that occurs in the early church.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at Acts chapter 6, look at verse 1.
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SPEAKER_00: Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number,
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a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because
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their widows were
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SPEAKER_00: being neglected in the daily distribution.
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SPEAKER_00: In the twelve, the apostles summoned the full number of the disciples.
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SPEAKER_00: They had a church meeting and said,
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It is not right that we should give up the preaching of the
38:35
word of God to serve
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SPEAKER_00: tables regularly.
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SPEAKER_00: Therefore,
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SPEAKER_00: brothers,
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SPEAKER_00: pick out from among you seven men of good repute,
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SPEAKER_00: full of the spirit and of wisdom,
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SPEAKER_00: whom we will appoint to this duty.
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SPEAKER_00: But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.
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SPEAKER_00: And what they said pleased the whole gathering.
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SPEAKER_00: And they chose Stephen,
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SPEAKER_00: a man full of faith,
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SPEAKER_00: and of the Holy Spirit,
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SPEAKER_00: and Philip,
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SPEAKER_00: and Prochorus,
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SPEAKER_00: and Nicanor,
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SPEAKER_00: and Timon,
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SPEAKER_00: and Parmenas,
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SPEAKER_00: and Nicholas,
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SPEAKER_00: and a proselyte of Antioch.
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And they sat before the apostles,
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and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
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SPEAKER_00: There is this crisis that is occurring in the early church.
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SPEAKER_00: The gospel is spreading like wildfire.
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SPEAKER_00: As it says, the number of disciples is increasing on the regular.
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SPEAKER_00: It's leaving the apostles overwhelmed.
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SPEAKER_00: It's a good problem, but it's overwhelming.
39:22
SPEAKER_00: It's an overwhelming problem, all full of logistical nightmares.
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SPEAKER_00: How are we going to meet all of these needs?
39:29
SPEAKER_00: And there are practical matters now that are not being met.
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SPEAKER_00: Issues that they can't see, that are being overlooked.
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SPEAKER_00: And the body is suffering.
39:41
SPEAKER_00: The congregation is suffering.
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SPEAKER_00: No church can survive when God's words are sort of pushed to the margins.
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No matter how sort of practical and good we might think this
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other thing is.
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SPEAKER_00: God's words are what is important.
39:57
SPEAKER_00: And this is what the twelve, the apostles, notice.
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SPEAKER_00: And so they called this congregational meeting.
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SPEAKER_00: Let's get everyone together.
40:06
SPEAKER_00: We got to make an adjustment.
40:07
SPEAKER_00: We got to make a change on the fly.
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We got to be able to meet everyone's needs without neglecting
40:14
what is of chief
40:15
SPEAKER_00: importance,
40:16
SPEAKER_00: they say.
40:17
SPEAKER_00: prayer and the ministry of the word.
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SPEAKER_00: And so their solution,
40:20
SPEAKER_00: as we have just read,
40:21
SPEAKER_00: is to identify and appoint men of good repute,
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SPEAKER_00: full of the spirits and of wisdom,
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SPEAKER_00: or to use the phrase in Exodus,
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SPEAKER_00: able men who fear God and are trustworthy.
40:38
SPEAKER_00: And in this way, the apostles could manage the load of
40:45
Their burden would be made lighter and the growing community of
40:48
the church would be preserved.
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SPEAKER_00: It would be sustained.
40:51
SPEAKER_00: And most importantly, the ministry of the word would be able to go forth.
40:56
SPEAKER_00: And the whole church agrees to this plan.
40:59
SPEAKER_00: And the church thrives as a result.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 7.
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And the word of God continued to increase and the number of the
41:05
disciples multiplied.
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Greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests became
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obedient to the faith.
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SPEAKER_00: And the word of God continued to increase, it says.
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SPEAKER_00: Even in the earliest of days,
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SPEAKER_00: God had it in mind with the community of faith,
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SPEAKER_00: his people that he's forming,
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SPEAKER_00: what it would look like.
41:31
They would be a congregation centered around his words with
41:35
everyone sharing the
41:37
SPEAKER_00: responsibility for telling all that God has done.
41:42
SPEAKER_00: This is what Israel is being shaped into in Exodus 18.
41:45
SPEAKER_00: And this is what we are still right now in this moment being shaped into.
41:52
SPEAKER_00: The word is what matters.
41:53
SPEAKER_00: This word.
41:54
SPEAKER_00: This word that contains the words of life.
41:57
SPEAKER_00: That come from the one who is life.
41:59
SPEAKER_00: That can turn dead souls into living saints.
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SPEAKER_00: This is what's contained in these words in front of us.
42:06
SPEAKER_00: And the ministry of that is what is most important.
42:09
SPEAKER_00: No matter what facet we get ourselves into.
42:11
SPEAKER_00: No matter what other thing that we get involved in.
42:14
SPEAKER_00: This is what will carry on when everything else gives way.
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SPEAKER_00: The thread,
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SPEAKER_00: the only thread that ties us to this congregation all the way back in the
42:25
SPEAKER_00: wilderness is faith and submission to the words of God.
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If you were to hop into DeLorean and take a trip back in time
42:37
to some sort of
42:37
SPEAKER_00: congregation,
42:39
SPEAKER_00: some church back in the 1600s or the 1700s,
42:43
SPEAKER_00: it would look and feel a lot different.
42:46
SPEAKER_00: It would feel different.
42:47
SPEAKER_00: It would look different.
42:48
SPEAKER_00: It would sound different.
42:48
SPEAKER_00: It would probably smell different.
42:50
SPEAKER_00: But you know what would be the same?
42:54
SPEAKER_00: This would be the same.
42:56
SPEAKER_00: And you could do the same thing going back in time and back in time.
42:59
SPEAKER_00: It's the word.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: That's what matters.
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And while there are many things in the life of the church that
43:08
are traditions that
43:09
SPEAKER_00: we should hold with open hands,
43:11
SPEAKER_00: God's word is not one of them.
43:14
SPEAKER_00: This is not a tradition.
43:16
SPEAKER_00: That we hold with open hands.
43:18
SPEAKER_00: That we are willing to compromise on.
43:21
SPEAKER_00: That we are willing to make sort of allowances for.
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No,
43:24
it's always been the case that God has ordained his church to
43:28
be set up in the same way.
43:29
SPEAKER_00: That this is what matters.
43:31
SPEAKER_00: This is what builds us up into living stones.
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SPEAKER_00: Ephesians, I've hinted at Ephesians.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at Ephesians chapter 4 and look at verse 11.
43:45
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 4.11,
43:46
SPEAKER_00: Paul says this,
43:47
SPEAKER_00: And he that is Christ gave the apostles,
43:53
SPEAKER_00: the prophets,
43:54
SPEAKER_00: the evangelists,
43:55
the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of
44:01
the ministry,
44:01
SPEAKER_00: for building up the body of Christ.
44:08
SPEAKER_00: This is what he's done.
44:09
SPEAKER_00: He's shaping us in similar fashion.
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Forming us into a people that are equipped with the words of
44:19
God so that we might
44:20
go out in our spheres of life and we might minister to the Lord
44:24
to our tens,
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SPEAKER_00: to our fifties,
44:26
SPEAKER_00: to our hundreds or what have you.
44:31
The church's leaders,
44:33
whatever that church might look like,
44:34
whatever that church is.
44:37
SPEAKER_00: Comprised of.
44:37
SPEAKER_00: They aren't responsible for doing all of the ministry all by themselves.
44:42
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, they're going to wear themselves out.
44:44
SPEAKER_00: That is a short road to burnout.
44:47
SPEAKER_00: Just as Moses was aware of because of Jethro's advice.
44:53
SPEAKER_00: Rather, what?
44:55
They're called to equip the saints for the work of the ministry
44:59
by furnishing them
45:01
SPEAKER_00: with the very words of God.
45:03
This is what we all have been given right here in this book
45:07
called the Bible and
45:08
the community that God has been forming since the days of
45:10
Israel till right now.
45:12
This time right now where we are here right now has been a
45:16
community that has been
45:17
SPEAKER_00: held together by these words.
45:20
SPEAKER_00: We're not held together by my brilliance because I don't have a lot.
45:26
We're not held together by my leadership,
45:28
my charisma,
45:30
my preaching ability,
45:31
my efficiency.
45:32
SPEAKER_00: I am entirely and utterly replaceable.
45:38
SPEAKER_00: I'm very replaceable.
45:41
I cannot sort of vault myself up onto some sort of platform
45:45
where everything has to
45:46
SPEAKER_00: come through me.
45:47
SPEAKER_00: Everything has to be me and me.
45:50
SPEAKER_00: No,
45:50
SPEAKER_00: that's a very short road for everything crumbling,
45:53
SPEAKER_00: everything bottlenecking,
45:55
SPEAKER_00: everything getting like Jethro saw with Moses.
45:58
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm replaceable.
45:59
SPEAKER_00: The only thing that matters is this, the word of God.
46:03
SPEAKER_00: That's what matters.
46:07
SPEAKER_00: And always and forever, that's what's going to matter.
46:12
SPEAKER_00: Because again, this is the word that makes converts out of all of us.
46:17
SPEAKER_00: It changes hearts.
46:19
SPEAKER_00: It's the living word that makes dead people alive.
46:22
SPEAKER_00: It's the word that goes out from God and is heard among the nations.
46:27
The same word that Jethro came to hear is the word that Moses
46:32
was called to make known.
46:34
SPEAKER_00: It's the same word that the apostles refused to surrender.
46:39
SPEAKER_00: It's the word that we are all gathered around right now.
46:43
SPEAKER_00: It's the word that God holds his people together by.
46:46
SPEAKER_00: And I think the awesome story is,
46:50
SPEAKER_00: is that just like Jethro,
46:52
SPEAKER_00: we can rejoice over what God has done.
46:57
SPEAKER_00: And we rejoice over something greater.
47:01
SPEAKER_00: Because we don't think about just what God has done here and there.
47:04
SPEAKER_00: We rejoice over what God is continuing to do.
47:09
SPEAKER_00: We rejoice over, we can say this, over what God has finished.
47:15
SPEAKER_00: You see, the awesome part is that this word, what is it all about?
47:23
SPEAKER_00: It's about the cross.
47:26
This event that we're soon going to get to celebrate in this
47:29
moment of church life
47:30
SPEAKER_00: called Easter.
47:32
SPEAKER_00: Everything is leading up to it.
47:33
Eric did such an excellent job showing that this morning in
47:36
Sunday school.
47:39
SPEAKER_00: It's all leading up to that.
47:42
SPEAKER_00: The cross where Jesus was pegged to with nails by Roman centurions.
47:48
SPEAKER_00: And as he was there, what's happening?
47:51
SPEAKER_00: It's affecting, it's accomplishing the true exodus for all of us.
47:57
SPEAKER_00: The true deliverance of slavery from sin.
48:00
SPEAKER_00: That's what's happening where we are freed.
48:06
SPEAKER_00: See, what changed Jethro...
48:09
SPEAKER_00: Was hearing about what God has done.
48:11
SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what changes us.
48:14
SPEAKER_00: It's not.
48:15
SPEAKER_00: Some manual of spiritual wisdom.
48:18
SPEAKER_00: It's not some moral code.
48:20
SPEAKER_00: The message.
48:21
SPEAKER_00: That changes us.
48:23
SPEAKER_00: Is the word of God.
48:25
SPEAKER_00: And about what he has done.
48:27
SPEAKER_00: And this is awesome.
48:28
SPEAKER_00: The word that God.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: Of what God has done.
48:31
SPEAKER_00: Has a face.
48:33
SPEAKER_00: And fingers.
48:34
SPEAKER_00: And hair.
48:35
SPEAKER_00: And that word of God.
48:36
SPEAKER_00: Has a forehead.
48:38
SPEAKER_00: That bleeds.
48:38
SPEAKER_00: And.
48:41
SPEAKER_00: Because the word of God has taken on flesh and tabernacled where we are.
48:48
And he's done all of that to bring us to himself so that he can
48:52
show us that I am
48:53
SPEAKER_00: the way,
48:54
SPEAKER_00: the truth,
48:55
SPEAKER_00: and the life,
48:56
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says.
49:00
SPEAKER_00: We may be the church in the wilderness right now.
49:03
SPEAKER_00: Sojourning through a season of who knows what.
49:07
SPEAKER_00: But we aren't without a shepherd.
49:12
SPEAKER_00: It's not me.
49:14
SPEAKER_00: The shepherd is the Lord.
49:16
SPEAKER_00: He's the true shepherd of all of our souls.
49:18
SPEAKER_00: He's the true one who leads us through weary seasons,
49:22
SPEAKER_00: who leads us through wastelands,
49:23
SPEAKER_00: who leads us through the wilderness.
49:26
SPEAKER_00: And having that, we will endure.
49:29
SPEAKER_00: My friend, we have a word.
49:33
SPEAKER_00: And so long as we have that, we can rejoice forever.
49:37
SPEAKER_00: And may we always rejoice over these words.
49:40
SPEAKER_00: Ancient though they be, they are ever true.