Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #10216 - Things Are Not Always as They Seem - Exodus 14:15-31

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#10216 - Things Are Not Always as They Seem - Exodus 14:15-31 · 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 Bible is the Exodus
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chapter 14 is where we are. Exodus chapter 14 we're going to
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finish the chapter and I've entitled the Bible study.
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Things are not always as they seem.
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Things are not always as they seem.
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A big place this is true in our lives is in the times of fear
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and anxiety. Fear and anxiety can well at
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least fear can be used in such a way where we're startled into
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action and could even be used in a good way.
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The Bible speaks of the fear of the Lord or that respect and
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honor for the glory and the holiness and the righteousness
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of God. God uses fear where there's
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danger to avoid and alerts our emotions and prepares us to flee
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to safety. But fear and anxiety will often
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cause an otherwise very rational person to do a lot of irrational
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things. Fear and anxiety have a way of
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causing normally rational and logical people to have their
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minds and lives filled with very irrational and illogical
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thoughts. You can jot it down in Proverbs
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chapter 29 and verse 25. It says the fear of man brings a
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snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.
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And I wonder how many among us? I know not everybody deals with
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deep fear and anxiety, but many do.
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And I wonder how many among us know this to be true, where
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you've just seen that things are going just fine and just moving
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along. And then, man, something
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triggered that place of fear and anxiety.
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And you're no longer walking in a faith relationship with God,
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but you're trying to control events and circumstances to try
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to deal with the fear. It's like this.
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Your eyes have been taken off of the faithfulness of God and but
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put on some circumstance, some situation, and then your
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emotions are all tied up in it and wrapped up in it.
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And before you know it, you're so far away from the OR you
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didn't even realize it. In Matthew chapter 10 and verse
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28 it says Jesus says don't fear those who kill the body but
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cannot kill the soul but rather fear him who is able to destroy
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both soul and body in hell. Emotions are powerful and
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fearful. Emotions can move us in
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directions towards safety but also sometimes toward danger.
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Back in Proverbs 29 and verse 25 the word snare is used.
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The definition of snare. The fear of man brings a snare.
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The typical definition is something by which one is
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entangled to be entangled or involved in difficulties or a
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snare is something that impedes our progress.
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And a snare is often something that's deceptively attractive.
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I mean, we think of a snare like a trap, like maybe a bear trap.
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And you know, you, you don't see it, whether you're a bear or a
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human, you don't see it. It's covered up, has some type
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of bait on it. I mean, I've never really seen a
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bear trap like personally, but I've seen a lot of other traps
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in my life, well hidden, nicely baited, and before you know it,
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boom, It gets me and I'm entangled in it and I'm stopped
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in my progress. I'm caught up in new
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difficulties, and when we deal with fears, we deal with the
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past and has a way of haunting us, and the present has a way of
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overwhelming us. The future is unknown, and so
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we're all wrapped up on what might be and what could be.
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But the Bible tells us, and we're reminded today that Jesus
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has it all worked out for us, that you can trust him with your
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life. Just in that moment when you
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were born again, when you laid your whole life on the line.
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You can live that way. You can trust him.
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God is working today all things together for the good, for those
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that love Him. You do you love Him, church, I
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love Jesus and I can trust that He's working things out.
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I can trust that he's going to put the pieces together.
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I can trust this and Psalm 119, verse 50.
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This is my comfort and my affliction, for your word has
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given me life. Knowing and experiencing and
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abiding in His love casts out all fear.
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First John chapter 4 verse 18. There is No Fear in love, but
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perfect love casts out all fear because fear involves torment.
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But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
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Fear is always an indication that I need to get back into
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that place of love and abiding, running to the Father, trusting
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Him, hiding in, covered by Christ.
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Well, here in Exodus chapter 14, we have a moment of fear.
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And it's one of those places in the Bible that I think on the
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one hand we can relate and on the other hand, it's hard to
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relate only because we know the whole story.
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So when you're reading the Bible, you have to remember
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this. Those that we're reading about
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are living out this situation in real time.
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They do not know what the next paragraph or the next verse or
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the next chapter. They, in a very real way, are
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living on the promises of God. They're trusting in their
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leadership. They're looking back and seeing
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the faithfulness of God. But they don't know the future.
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And we come to a time in the nation of Israel being delivered
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from Egypt. They are LED into a dead end,
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millions of people. So it's not just a small group
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of people. Millions of people are LED into
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a trap and there seems to be no way out.
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The Red Sea is before them. On either side of them are
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mountains or large hills on either side.
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And then coming up behind them very quickly, the dust is
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rising. Or the armies of Egypt.
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I mean, they've just been delivered.
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Certainly there are some logical men in the group.
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There are some logical people that are assessing the
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situation. They see the trap.
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The only way out is to come backwards.
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But then they're thinking, you know, the entire economic engine
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of Egypt has just left. They they recognize the strength
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and the power that they brought to this nation.
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And now they're gone. And whether they can see it with
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their own eyes or they can hear it with their own ears, or they
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can just see the dust coming up, they recognize that they're in
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trouble and it's true. They are in a difficult spot.
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That was a truth. The fast approaching Egyptian
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army is coming for them. And yet there's truth, but only
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partial truth. It is true all the circumstances
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that I just shared, except that their fear has blinded them from
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God's will for their lives. Their fear has blinded them from
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the truth, the real truth. These are all elements of what's
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happening, and they're all true elements.
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But what is the real truth? The real truth that this they're
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going to they're about to find out is that God has led the
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children in Israel to a place to trap the Egyptians.
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That's really what he's doing. He's going to make himself his
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name known among the Egyptians yet one more time, Pharaoh, and
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his pride is falling into the hands of the Lord.
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God does this. You know when you follow him, he
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leads you into places that you come up with all the
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conclusions. You assess it, you, you look at
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it and you come to the conclusions.
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And many times your conclusions are wrong because you factored
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out your faith in God and his faithfulness.
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You, you failed to take your real fear and cast it upon the
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Lord for His safety and His security that you find in Him.
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Now, I may be the only one in the room.
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I doubt that I am, but I may be the only one in the room that
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does that. But I know of which I speak, how
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easy it is to assess and to look and to see.
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And it's just to come to conclusions that aren't from the
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Lord at all. Even if you're in a trap
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tonight, God is working. He's working behind the scenes.
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He's taking care of things that you don't see, that He hasn't
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yet revealed, even as we see now notice in verse 15, we'll really
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pick up in verse 14, as it says, the Lord will fight for you and
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you shall hold your peace. And then notice the Lord said to
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Moses, why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to
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go forward. Where would they go?
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Forward into the sea? That's the word.
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Moses, tell them to go forward. Why are you crying out to me?
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Now? This is interesting because in
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verse 15, as Moses has turned to the Lord and just cried out to
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him, you can say that God is saying to Moses, stop praying,
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stop praying. This is what you need to do.
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Here's your answer. Get up and tell him to go
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forward and you go. I would God ever tell us to stop
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praying? Oh yes, jot it down.
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You remember in Joshua. Well, no turn over there.
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Turn over to Joshua Chapter 7 with me.
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Joshua's in a great crisis. It's such a difficult time.
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Later on in the children of Israel among the nation, you
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have great defeat at AI. They had great victory in
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Jericho, but there was great defeat in AI and it has troubled
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Joshua, their leader greatly. Notice in Joshua Chapter 7 it
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says in verse 10 So the Lord said to Joshua, get up.
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Why do you lie thus on your face?
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Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant,
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which I commanded them for they even taken some of the accursed
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things and have both stolen and deceived, and they have also put
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it among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel
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could not stand before their enemies, but turn their backs
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before their enemies, because they've become doomed to
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destruction. Neither will I be with you
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anymore, unless you the you destroy the accursed from among
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you. Get up, sanctify the people, and
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say sanctify yourselves for tomorrow.
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There's a time to pray and there's a time to act.
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And God tells Moses, why are you crying out to me?
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It's time to move. Verse 16 Lift up your rod and
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stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it.
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And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the
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midst of the sea, and I indeed will harden the hearts of the
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Egyptians, and they shall follow them.
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So I'll gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his
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Chariots, and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians shall know
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that I am the Lord when I have gained honor for myself over
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Pharaoh, his Chariots, and his horsemen.
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Someone once said, Only when we learn to stand still are we able
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to go forward. And it reminded me of Psalm 46,
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verse 10. Be still and know that I am God.
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I will be exalted among the nations.
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I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us.
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The God of Jacob is our refuge. And sometimes when we're
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standing, the Lord would have us to be moving.
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And sometimes when we're moving, the Lord would have us to be
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standing, which everyone asks a good question at this point.
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How do I know the difference? How do I know the difference?
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Well, you can trust the Spirit of God in your life, Believer.
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You have the Spirit of God dwelling in you, and you can
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trust that He'll have you stand when you need to stand and move
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when you need to move. And we've learned that in our
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studies. This goes really very well with
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some previous studies we've had on our weekend services.
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Through the opening and closing of doors, that's one way.
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Through the reading of His Scriptures, that's another.
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Through your intimate prayer times, that's another.
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Through your morning walks or your evening walks, that's
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another. Through a trusted brother or
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sister in the Lord, that's another.
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But here's the thing, no matter what, if you're going to stand
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or you're going to sit, if you're going to pray or you're
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going to act, you have to do it by faith.
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Because I know we want to know for sure.
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I got to know. I got to know for sure.
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And the Lord says, I want you to trust me for sure.
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I want you to trust me. And here Moses says get up.
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I mean, God tells Moses, get up. You're going to speak because
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God is ready. God's ready to act.
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Deliverance was theirs. All they needed to do now is
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follow their leader in faith. There was a way that didn't even
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cross their minds in this trap. There was a way out of this that
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they didn't even think of. Or maybe perhaps some of them
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thought one of the thoughts you can hear ring out in the
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beginning there. Maybe we can swim.
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Maybe we can swim. And then, if are you serious?
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Nobody's they're going to get us before the first, second or
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third row of millions of people go through.
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Maybe we can climb. Oh, come on, there's no way.
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There's no way. You know what?
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Maybe a few few of us will get over, but they'll get the rest
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of us. And what about the women?
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And what about the children? What about our stuff?
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I'm sure it was a chaotic scene, but there was a way that God had
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for them that they had yet to know until it was revealed in
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church. There is a way available to you
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even now that God has yet to reveal.
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And until He does, you look to him, You stay faithful to Him.
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You're caught up in the impossibility of it all and God
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says, I don't want you even thinking about the
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impossibility. I want you to think about what's
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possible. I want you to look to me.
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The impossibility is swallowed up by God giving you something
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you can do. It's amazing.
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God does this. Very often.
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When we're faced with something we can't do, God starts with
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something we can do. And so you have this
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impossibility. You're trapped.
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I don't know what's going to happen.
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It's OK. Well, I know you don't know
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what's going to happen here in this trap, but I'll tell you
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what you can pray. I'll tell you what, you can come
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to fellowship. You know, some of you might even
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be here right now. You're right.
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Because you're the the crisis got you.
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The crisis got you. You got to know what to do.
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I know what I'll do. I can go to church.
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I haven't been there in a while. Well, welcome back.
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Because you could. You haven't, but you could.
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And here God knows things that I don't know yet.
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It brings me comfort to know that God knows what he's doing
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with my life. I don't always know what He's
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doing in my life. I don't always know how things
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are going to turn out. I don't always know what's going
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to happen in the morning. I don't always know, but God
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does. Jesus would remind me.
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He would tell us. He says, take my yoke upon you
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and what learn from me. What can we have?
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What? What can we learn from Jesus?
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His utter dependence upon the Father, his complete surrender
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to the Father. What can we learn from Jesus?
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We can learn that our Father in heaven is a gracious and good
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God. That he's not ready to give us
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rocks and scorpions and snakes, but he's ready to give us of the
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Holy Spirit when we ask. We learn of Jesus that our
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Father in heaven is, well, it's like that dad that was waiting
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for his prodigal kid to come home, while at the same time he
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was living with his other prodigal kid, faithfully loving
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them and caring for them and being available to them even
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when they wanted nothing to do with him.
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Well, what do we learn from Jesus?
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We learned that obedience brings blessing.
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And what do we learn from Jesus? Every time you open up the
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gospels, you have a specific lesson we learned from Jesus.
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Look at the flowers tomorrow. Pay attention to them.
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Beautiful and wonderful they are, he says.
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Here, look at the flowers you see.
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See how beautiful they are? Man, I'm telling you, my father,
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he'll take care of all of your needs.
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You don't need to worry about what you're going to wear.
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Pay attention to the birds. Perhaps like me, you have birds
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that think they own your house and so they're all over thinking
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that they pay the rent. They don't pay the rent in my
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house, but they live there rent free.
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I've never woke up. I've never anytime.
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I've observed the birds and enjoyed them and listened to
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them in the morning. Up to this point, I have never
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seen any kind of any birds up on the sidewalk of my house, back
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and forth, all worried. I don't know what's going to
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happen today. I don't know what's happening.
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I can't believe it. I don't know where my next food
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where the worm. I've never seen a bird.
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Have you seen a bird do that? I've just seen a bird singing
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and enjoying life and avoiding predators and making nests in my
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house and thinking they're going to get away with it watching me.
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I'll come out in the morning and birds will be on all the corners
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of my neighbors houses checking me out, wanting to die by like,
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what's your problem? Come on man, Come on.
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Like what are you guys doing? They completely, completely live
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a life of trust. We have a lot to learn from
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Jesus. It's very simple.
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He's a very simple and yet very powerful teacher.
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You feel like you're trapped today.
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Jesus says come and learn from me.
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Come and learn that even through the worst torturous pain that
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I'm human being could ever endure.
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You learn from Jesus, I triumph. I rose again from the dead.
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I'm alive today. Learn from me.
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Come to me, Paul would even pick up on this in his own personal
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life in Ephesians chapter 4. You remember he said in verse
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20, But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard
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him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus that
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you put off concerning your former conduct.
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The old man, the old man worried, the old woman tried to
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control the old man loved to take things into his own hand.
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The old woman ran away from her problems.
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But you haven't learned that from Christ.
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You put off the old conduct. They're in a place of learning
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to follow, learning to follow the Lord and they're in a great.
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I have found that some of the deepest, most intimate times
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I've had with the Lord have been some of the most deepest times
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of crisis in my life where I've been brought to the very low of
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low, lowest of lows in my life. And the Lord's been so faithful
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to meet me there. Notice in verse 17 again, God is
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giving him the plan. He doesn't always do this, but
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he gives the plan. I'm going to harden the hearts
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of the Egyptians. They're going to follow as you
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guys move forward, they're going to follow you on that.
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You guys are going to be on dry ground.
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He doesn't say anything about them being on.
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Dry ground just he says in verse 17 that I'm going to gain honor.
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There's going to be honor through this.
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The Egyptians verse 18 are going to know that I'm the Lord God,
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that I've gained honor for myself over Pharaoh, their chief
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God. Little G remember, and his
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Chariots, what they were trusting in these, these weapons
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of war and his horsemen, the men that thought that they were
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chief, that they were going to take over, that they were going
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to bring these men back into slavery.
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In verse 19 it says the Angel of God who went before the camp of
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Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud
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went from before them and stood behind them.
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So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of
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Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness
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to the one, but it gave light by night to the other so that the
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one did not come here, the other all that night.
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God is going to he's reminding them you've already seen this
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nation and remember, there's millions of people here.
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So it's going to have to be handed down.
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Moses is going to give leadership and it's going to be
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handed down. Tell the person behind you, tell
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the person behind you, tell the person behind you.
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Listen, you and I, we want to be very, very careful what we're
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telling the person behind us, the person behind us We have.
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There's a lot of people look into your life, watching your
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life, listening to you, waiting for the right moment to talk to
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you. You know, they see the same
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things in the world, you see, and the things in the world,
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they trouble me from time to time, depending on what kind of
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day it is or where the condition of my mind and heart is.
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Man, I'm not always so super confident when I see, I know
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with the Lord. I'm so grateful.
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It's the second time that John 14 was brought up in my life
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today, just thinking about the promise of Jesus.
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He's going to take care of me. He's going to come back for me.
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Just trust him, isn't it? It's just so encouraging as you
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were praying over that today, you're just praying through.
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It's like God, you're coming back for me.
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You're going to sustain me until you come.
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The people that are behind you, your kids and your grandkids,
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the person that's sitting behind you right now in the row behind
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you. But you become an example to
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them, just your presence. Oh, they'll never tell you or
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never really even want to tell you.
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But your presence there, they reminded today by you, the
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person behind you, that they're not alone in this world.
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And you go, well, they haven't even met me yet.
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No, no, you don't understand. They're your brother and your
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sister, part of the family. The people behind you.
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You want to be careful. You want to be careful on what
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you say. You want to be careful on how
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you act. You want to be careful on how
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you carry yourself. The person behind you, they're
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going to have to hear it. And as the word gets out,
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they're just going to have to follow.
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I mean, that's a lot of people. God's moving really fast, so who
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knows how far it went back. Everyone else is just going to
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have to follow. And the Bible tells us that.
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Where to find examples to follow and where to find examples to
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avoid. And that always reminds me in my
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own walk from an early age, I just want to be one of the
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examples that someone can follow.
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I know I'm not going to be a perfect example, and I know I'm
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not going to hit the mark every time, but I want to hit it a
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lot. I want to walk a straight line.
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I want to be someone that hey, in the my example will help them
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along the way. It won't hurt them, it won't
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hinder them. It won't stumble them, it won't
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trouble them. But as much as a human being can
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bring encouragement, that's the mark I want to hit.
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I want to follow the Lord. And like Paul said, you know,
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imitate me is what as I imitate Christ.
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And here's the nation. They're going to have to move
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forward toward an impossibility. But then quick movement takes
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place. Quick movement.
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The cloud is going to be a darkness to the Egyptians, but
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it's going to be a light to the nation of Israel, just like the
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cross. The cross is light to one but an
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offence to another. Remember in first Corinthians
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chapter one and verse 18 it says for the message of the cross is
24:24
foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are
24:29
being saved, it's the power of God.
24:33
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
24:36
and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
24:40
Verse 21. Now notice then Moses stretched
24:43
out his hand over the sea. Now why did he stretch out his
24:47
hand? Mark it back in verse 16, but
24:50
lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and
24:53
divide it. How did Moses, how did Moses
24:59
become the man where it didn't take him six times to do this,
25:05
but he was did it right away? Well, it didn't take him five
25:12
times. It didn't take him six times, it
25:14
didn't take him 10 times because God has prepared him for this
25:17
moment. Certainly he's just as fearful
25:23
as anyone else or wrapped up in the concern for the people
25:28
because he loved them. But you can mark this in verse
25:31
21. This is another example of
25:34
immediate obedience. He stretched his hand out over
25:37
the sea and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong E
25:41
wind. Verse 21, all that night and he
25:45
made the sea into a dry land, and the waters were divided.
25:51
So many people have a problem with this miracle of God.
25:55
So much debate about these scriptures.
25:59
It's often explained away, put in a place where it couldn't
26:02
have possibly happened. One of the popular explanations
26:05
that come up in commentaries is that in the Hebrew, the word
26:08
isn't the Red Sea, but the Reed Sea.
26:12
And really what's being described here, according to
26:14
critics, is it's just a smaller body of water that was only
26:18
inches deep, and they crossed over because it was very low.
26:22
Very low. That's interesting because even
26:25
a greater miracle would have taken place in verse 23, it
26:28
says. And the Egyptians pursued and
26:30
went after them in the midst of the sea and all the Pharaoh's
26:33
horses, his Chariots and his horsemen.
26:35
And it came to pass in the morning watch that the Lord
26:38
looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar
26:41
fire, and he troubled the army of the Egyptians, took off their
26:44
chariot wheels. They drove them with difficulty.
26:47
And the Egyptian said, Let us flee from the face of the
26:49
Israel. The Lord fights for them against
26:51
the Egyptians, and then in verse 26 he told Moses, Stretch out
26:56
your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the
26:59
Egyptians, their Chariots, and their horsemen.
27:01
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the morning
27:04
appeared and the sea returned to its full depth, and the
27:06
Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the
27:10
Egyptians in the midst of the sea, and the waters returned and
27:14
covered the Chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of
27:17
Pharaoh that came into the sea. Not much, not so much as one of
27:21
them remained. I think that would be a much
27:25
greater miracle if they walked into inches of water and they
27:29
drowned in inches of water as the waters came above them.
27:33
It's look, I believe in the God of the Bible and the issue is
27:40
not so much the Red Sea or the Reed Sea.
27:42
That's a nonsensical response. This was a full body of water
27:46
that was large enough to be to stop a nation from going forward
27:51
and to swallow up a chasing army.
27:57
But truly the God of the Bible's revealed not so much having a
28:01
difficulty. Have a hard time believing this
28:04
Actually you too far into the text because the real verse you
28:08
need to come to terms with for the rest of the Bible is not
28:12
Genesis chapter 14. It's Genesis 11, Genesis 11 and
28:18
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
28:23
That verse, that verse alone. How you view Genesis 11 will how
28:30
will determine how you view the rest of the Bible.
28:32
I don't. I don't believe God would.
28:35
All right, That's probably why you doubt a lot of the Bible.
28:38
Well, you know, I'm not sure that God could.
28:40
Yeah, I know. You say that about anything that
28:43
challenges you, anything in the Bible that I don't believe that
28:46
God can heal today. Yeah.
28:47
What do you think about Genesis 11?
28:49
I don't know. I don't know.
28:51
Maybe God did this and kind of did this and he sort of did
28:54
that. And you know, what about Mars?
28:56
Well, what do we. What about Mars?
28:59
Is there any? Is there alien life on some
29:00
planet we don't know about? Let's just pause for a second.
29:04
What do you think about Genesis 11?
29:07
I don't know about Genesis 11. And you go on and on and on
29:11
because when you refuse to believe, then belief is harder.
29:15
As you continue to go forward here, we need to be careful to
29:20
give God the credit and believe him.
29:24
If you come back with me. Notice again in verse 21, Moses
29:27
stretches out his hand over the sea, and the Lord causes sea to
29:31
go back by a strong E wind, and he made the sea into dry land,
29:36
and the waters were divided. Notice verse 22.
29:38
This is very important. So the children of Israel went
29:41
into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were
29:47
a wall to them. Now if it's only inches, then
29:50
it's a wall to their ankles, like right here.
29:52
Little wall they can just walk through like the bumpers when
29:55
you're going bowling. You know, just a little little
29:57
inches of it just doesn't make any sense at all just from the
30:00
context of the text alone, let alone Genesis 11.
30:04
But notice they became a wall on the right hand and on their
30:07
left. God changed their perspective.
30:11
He got their eyes off of everything and got his God.
30:14
You can almost say he got their eyes down on his faithfulness.
30:21
They were looking at all their circumstances and God narrowed
30:24
down what they were to look at God's faithfulness.
30:29
And we read already the Egyptians pursued went after
30:32
him. They went into the midst of the
30:34
sea, all Pharaoh's horses and Chariots and some time has taken
30:37
place here. It's a lot of people crossing,
30:39
crossing along, but notice it came to pass in the morning,
30:43
verse 24, that the Lord looked down upon the army of the
30:46
Egyptians and troubled them, took off their chariot wheels,
30:50
drove them with difficulty because because the enemy just
30:52
is relentless, just continuing continue.
30:56
What did Peter say? That the devil is like a roaring
30:58
lion seeking who made whom he may devour.
31:01
Defeated and ultimately destroyed.
31:05
But the devil's determined. Defeated and ultimately
31:08
destroyed, but he's determined. Just like these.
31:11
They kept, hey man, their wheels are falling off, difficulties
31:14
coming, but they're pressing, pressing, pressing.
31:18
And he took them off. Verse 25, He said, or verse 26.
31:21
Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand, the
31:24
waters may come back upon the Egyptians.
31:26
He did it. Verse 27, the sea returned to
31:29
its full depth while the Egyptians were fleeing.
31:32
And so the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the
31:35
sea. The waters returned, covered the
31:38
Chariots, the horsemen, all the army of Pharaoh that came into
31:42
the sea after him. Not so much as one of them
31:44
remained, but the children of Israel walked on dry land in the
31:48
midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on the right
31:52
hand and on to left. This is a moment in time.
31:56
I want you to pay attention, be paid to careful attention.
32:00
The nation of Israel is gaining a new identity.
32:04
Here they have God is bringing them farther and farther away
32:09
from their past into the newness of life.
32:14
With the waters coming back, the old life in Egypt is over.
32:21
They were only able to cross through the Red Sea
32:25
miraculously. They will not be able to cross
32:29
back in their own string, just as if they were able to cross,
32:33
they weren't able to cross on their own string.
32:35
They will not be able to go backwards in their own string.
32:40
There's no turning back now. Of course, they can turn back in
32:42
their hearts and that'll cause them problems.
32:44
They can't do it physically. A new identity.
32:48
And this is important for us today in our new covenant life
32:50
because that is a picture of salvation.
32:53
God did for you, born again believer what you cannot do for
32:57
yourself. He provided for us the blood of
33:03
Jesus Christ to forgive us of our sins and give us a new
33:06
identity. You can no longer live in your
33:09
old, the old new, the oldness of life.
33:13
You are no longer who you were when you made a commitment to
33:17
Jesus Christ. It's complete, it's full, At
33:21
least it should be. Don't even talk about going
33:24
backwards. Don't even entertain it.
33:26
Egypt has nothing for us. This world has nothing for us.
33:32
I don't know what point you're going to be convinced of that.
33:36
I don't know at what point you're finally going to turn
33:38
your back on this system and on this culture.
33:41
And I don't mean for the sake of salvation, the sake of love and
33:44
care, the investment, self sacrifice.
33:47
I'm not Speaking of that, but to think still that you're going to
33:51
find fulfillment in this world. To think still that going back
33:57
to Egypt, what does Egypt represent?
33:59
The bondage of sin. It represents the world system.
34:03
To think for a moment, going back to the bondage in slavery
34:08
is going to bring you fulfillment when the fact that
34:10
you're delivered today because you cried out because you didn't
34:13
like it. What a vicious cycle.
34:14
Deliver us. Deliver us.
34:16
OK. God's delivered us is
34:17
unbelievable. God's delivers.
34:19
I want to go back. It's hard.
34:20
What do you mean you want to go back?
34:23
Yeah. I just remember.
34:24
I'm thinking back on how good it was, how good it was.
34:27
You're not thinking right. You're not thinking right.
34:31
You have forgotten you. You know, that's how we are.
34:33
We've got this this unique selective memory just because
34:38
things have gotten hard in Christ.
34:40
You forgot how hard they were in the world.
34:43
You have a new identity. You you have been bought now
34:46
with a price. And I want you to turn to this
34:48
see those of you dealing with identity and challenging with
34:51
who you are and what's God will for your life and what's the
34:55
future hold turn over to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5.
34:58
I want you to memorize this Scripture.
35:01
It's so powerful and I want you to walk in the newness of life.
35:06
It's so glorious to consider the work of Jesus in our lives.
35:10
We are literally a new creation in Christ, a new person.
35:16
And in Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17, a man who
35:20
needed this verse himself. You remember Saul of Tarsus, all
35:26
the guilt and shame and things he could have carried and
35:28
perhaps battled because of who who he was and what he did.
35:32
Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17.
35:34
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a say with me
35:40
church, new creation, old things have passed away.
35:44
Behold all things that become new.
35:47
That's the way it is church, and there's one Amen in the house,
35:51
but we'll take it on a personal level.
35:55
As a person that wrestled with alcohol for many, many years and
35:58
drugs and just that so destroyed my life.
36:02
I was forced by the courts as part of one of my sentences to
36:07
go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
36:11
And I don't want to be misunderstood here.
36:14
Whatever tool you need to use in order to stay sober, you use
36:17
that tool. But I want you to be careful
36:21
when you're using tools, you know, maybe training a kid how
36:24
to use a tool. I want you to be careful.
36:26
I want you to learn safety. Put your goggles on.
36:28
Hold it rightly. But I was forced to go to these
36:31
meetings, and one after another, a person would get up.
36:34
Hello. I'm so and so and I'm an
36:36
alcoholic. Hello.
36:37
I'm so and so and I'm an alcoholic.
36:38
Hello. I'm so and so.
36:40
I'm recovering, you know, on and on and on again.
36:43
The Bible declares born again believer who may have had great
36:48
difficulty with alcohol. The Bible declares you are a new
36:52
creation in Christ. All things have passed away.
36:58
Behold, all things have become new.
37:00
So it could be that you need that gathering for encouragement
37:03
and support, but when they ask you to stand up before the
37:06
group, you cannot declare that you are an alcoholic and be a
37:13
new creation at the same time. You are no longer.
37:17
I mean, think about it, some of you have been sober for 30
37:20
years. When are you going to call it?
37:22
When's it going to be? When are you going to finally
37:24
say alcohol has no power over me?
37:27
I'm a new creation in Christ. I'll tell you when you can call
37:30
it. The very second you're born
37:31
again and the 3rd, 2nd and the 2nd day and the month and the
37:38
year. I look at those that have
37:42
wrestled within homosexuality or lesbianism or the whole LGBTQ
37:47
community and even within the church today carrying into the
37:52
church. Well, you know, I, I'm just same
37:54
sex attract. That's what I am.
37:56
No, you're a new creation in Christ.
37:59
Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become
38:02
new. Well, you know, I'm just a sex
38:03
addict. No, no, no, no, no, no.
38:06
You're a new creation in Christ. All things have passed away.
38:10
Behold all things. You are not subject to your
38:13
emotions and to your behaviors. God has invaded your life.
38:18
You have a new identity that is replaced by the power of God in
38:25
your life to bridge the gap of your wrestling with sin and your
38:29
temptation. And your new creation is what?
38:33
Faith and this is where it's easy to be misunderstood.
38:38
This is what you need to learn to do.
38:40
You need to learn to declare your new identity, to declare
38:45
it. Oh, you're not calling something
38:47
that isn't into existence like this phrase is misused.
38:51
When you declare your identity in Christ, you're actually
38:54
speaking the truth over your life.
38:57
You have been delivered. You are a new creation in
39:01
Christ. You are not identified.
39:04
I am not identified by my previous sinful behavior.
39:10
Yeah, but you don't understand that.
39:11
I feel like I know what your feelings say.
39:14
But the Bible says you're a new creation in Christ.
39:17
Yeah, but I was tempted and I fell into this sin again, and it
39:20
feels like I'm not. I know what you've gone through.
39:22
But the Bible says who do you want to believe your emotions or
39:27
the Bible? Who do you want to believe the
39:30
way the culture is pressuring you or the Bible What's the
39:34
outcome of your life? You know the children of Israel
39:37
that we'll go through the but we're still slaves and we'll go
39:40
back to Egypt anytime we want. You are not slaves.
39:42
God has delivered you Jesus so much would say to whom you
39:47
present yourself a slave. You present yourself to sin that
39:52
you become a slave to sin. You present yourself to
39:55
righteousness. You are a slave to
40:00
righteousness. You don't believe me challenging
40:05
wrestling in your mind. I want you to just consider the
40:08
few minutes you've been listening to me.
40:10
Not arguing with me, but listening to me on this.
40:14
And how much sin has not taken root in your life, and how much
40:18
temptation has not LED you out the door.
40:21
And how much you haven't hid a alcohol bottle in your purse and
40:24
started sneaking a drink while I'm teaching the Bible.
40:27
Why? Because you've presented
40:29
yourself to righteousness and for every moment you present
40:32
yourself to righteousness, you live as the new creation you
40:35
are. It'd be very hard for you to
40:40
stand you back to the original illustration.
40:44
Those of you that have lived under the bondage of alcohol,
40:46
maybe you don't even believe you could be free from it.
40:49
But in Christ you're free. And so you can stand and say I
40:53
am a new creation in Christ and God has kept me sober.
40:57
And then you fill in the blanks, XYZ's 10 days, 10 years, for the
41:03
last 30 years, whatever it may be, so that you give God the
41:06
glory. This is the work of Jesus in
41:09
you. The work of man in you keeps you
41:13
slave. See what no program could do,
41:15
what no psychologist could do, what no self help book could do,
41:20
no guru, no false religion, no best selling book could do.
41:24
What we couldn't do in our own strength and abilities, Jesus
41:28
did by his death and resurrection, by faith.
41:31
You're a new person in Christ. You don't identify yourself by
41:34
your past sin. My one of my favorite
41:37
illustrations is Rahab, so often referred to in the Bible as
41:41
Rahab the Harlot. Brothers and sisters, today, the
41:45
moment she placed her faith in Jesus Christ, Rahab was a St.
41:49
Now of course she placed her faith in Messiah to come living
41:53
under the old covenant. But that woman believed God and
41:57
it was accounted to her for righteousness.
42:02
And you don't be calling Rahab the harlot anymore.
42:06
The same for you that might have some kind of sexual past.
42:11
We don't see you through your sin, we see you through the
42:13
righteousness of Jesus. The problem is and can be, you
42:19
don't see yourself that way. You don't believe God, trust
42:26
Him, despite your feelings, despite what the popular
42:30
statement is today, despite the popular view by faith.
42:34
You are a new person, period. That's your identity.
42:37
The old you, the Bible says, is literally dead, gone.
42:41
No more so often in discussions and with men and women just
42:46
talking about our past to some degree, I, we just come to
42:49
sometimes we'll come to that conclusion, man, I'm so I did
42:52
this recently. I forget who it was, but I just
42:53
like I said, man, I'm so glad I didn't know you before you were
42:56
saved. You were before you were saved.
42:57
I'm so glad I don't know the old you and then the responses.
43:01
Well, I'm glad you don't know the old you either.
43:03
And I'm like, I know I'm glad too.
43:06
So many of us, we get the newer version and we say Amen to that.
43:10
I don't want to know anything about how bad it was.
43:14
I get to get the I get to benefit from the newness of
43:17
life. If for those for someone that
43:21
didn't experience in your life, I can't even hold it against
43:23
you. I don't even know.
43:24
I never experienced, never saw it, can't use it.
43:26
I get to encourage the newness of life in you and that's where
43:30
the body of Christ is so good where we can just encourage one
43:32
another in the Lord. We can encourage each other.
43:37
The problem is this, so few followers of Jesus believe what
43:40
I'm saying right now, and even in the room or out on the radio
43:46
at a later date, they'll be people that argue with me, maybe
43:48
e-mail me. And you don't understand.
43:49
You don't understand, as if me understanding is going to change
43:52
what the Bible says. But what do you mean I don't
43:57
understand? Do you think I don't wrestle
43:58
with my flesh? You think I don't have regrets
44:01
from my past? You think the enemy doesn't want
44:03
to make me remember where I came from and say you never left,
44:05
that you're the same old ugly person.
44:07
You think I but what difference does it mean if I understand or
44:10
not? We don't live by understanding,
44:12
we live by faith. You see here's what happens when
44:15
you listen to someone telling you the truth and you respond we
44:19
don't understand. You're making you giving
44:21
yourself an excuse not to obey. You didn't go all the way to the
44:26
Lord with your difficulty. You stopped at some man or some
44:29
woman that read you the Bible and say, well, you know, I think
44:33
I can stand up and say I'm alcoholic, OK, But I'm telling
44:37
you, according to the Bible, you're free.
44:40
You're completely delivered. God is your strength and your
44:44
hope. You're a new creation in Christ.
44:47
All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become
44:49
new. And the other part of this is
44:52
some people when they approach Jesus, when they approach
44:54
Christianity, some among us, you think that you have to change
44:58
everything and work real hard and try real hard, and then
45:01
maybe you'll make progress. You believe all the work is on
45:04
you to stay away, and thus you work hard and maybe you end up
45:07
frustrated and upset and beat up and ultimately condemned.
45:11
And it's in condemnation that makes you more vulnerable to sin
45:15
again. And that's the cycle of your
45:16
life. You haven't broken the cycle by
45:19
faith, trusting God that He's delivered you.
45:21
And yet many of you do believe this truth.
45:26
And because of that, you behave according to what you believe.
45:29
And you live in the newness of life.
45:31
You find victory is yours. You find joy of the Spirit is
45:37
yours. Yes, we wrestle with the flesh,
45:39
but there's great victory in the Spirit.
45:42
You can claim it tonight, you know.
45:44
So we sing the final song as we end in prayer.
45:49
You can just claim the victory is yours.
45:50
The victory over alcohol, your victory over identity, the
45:54
victory over. Your singleness, victory over.
45:56
I mean, I think of how much pornography goes on in the
45:59
church today, but not during church services.
46:03
During church services, phones are usually in the pocket and
46:06
people's minds are on the Lord. Doesn't that tell you something?
46:11
If you can do it for 90 minutes, you can do it for 90 days, and
46:14
you can do it for 90 days, you can do it for the rest of your
46:16
life. Why?
46:17
By the power of God, you can't sin and seek the Lord at the
46:21
same time. I mean, that's the truth.
46:25
Church, you and I, we can't sin and seek the Lord at the same
46:29
time. So how about we seek the Lord,
46:32
live according to the belief that God is for us and not
46:35
against us, live in such a way where we yield ourselves.
46:40
Another verse that's very important when it comes to your
46:42
identity is Galatians chapter 2, verse 20.
46:45
You should memorize this one as well.
46:49
Whenever temptation knocks on your door, whenever you're
46:51
wonder if you're really delivered, whenever you feel the
46:54
urge and the heaviness of temptation, whenever you want to
46:57
go back across the Red Sea, even though it's impossible, you
47:00
still want to try. You jump in the waters you're
47:03
going to. I think slavery will be better
47:04
for me. I like the past.
47:06
I want to live the past. You remember this.
47:08
I have been crucified with Christ.
47:11
It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life
47:15
that I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of
47:18
God who loved me and gave himself for me.
47:24
How can you stay away from sin, the power in the presence of
47:28
Jesus Christ, His finished work in your life?
47:34
You can still continue to argue and debate and wrestle and live
47:40
a very difficult defeated life if you so choose.
47:44
But God presents to you today the life of victory.
47:48
God presents to us today even a reminder, the victory that is
47:53
ours in Christ. We we fight from a position of
47:55
victory, not defeat. But you don't understand that.
48:02
I probably don't. And even if you explain to me
48:07
your story and how you were raised and what you carry and
48:13
burdens, perhaps the best that I can do is not understand but
48:18
empathize. I can feel with you because I
48:21
have a story. But faith in Jesus Christ is not
48:26
conditioned on a pastor understanding.
48:29
It's conditioned upon your faith, your trust, your
48:34
obedience. Moment by moment, day by day.
48:39
The pressure is off. You don't have to perform, you
48:44
don't have to live up to some standard.
48:46
You just walk in the newness of life, believing in the finished
48:50
work. I was talking to a sister this
48:55
weekend and we're talking about the topic of forgiveness, which
48:58
is always a difficult forgiveness, bitterness,
49:01
resentment, kind of all packaged together.
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It's always a difficult thing, but the solution is to walk in
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forgiveness, to forgive and forgive and forgive.
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There you go, Ed. Where's that in the Bible?
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Will you remember when Jesus was talking with Peter and he gave
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him a math equation? 70 * 7?
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So some of you, when you go home, you got that.
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You know how you do his little marks on your wall, whatever,
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however you do it. But Jesus isn't asking us to
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count. He's asking us to live.
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You don't get off the hook on 491.
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He's going. Look, Peter, this is monumental,
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man. It's going to be a big issue in
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your life, one where you don't have enough fingers to do the
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math. This is going to be a big one.
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It's going to be something you have to learn.
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You can't count it. But even if you wanted to count,
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once you start here, go ahead and count how many times and
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you're going to lose track because this whole world is in
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need of forgiveness. Our freedom is in need of
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forgiveness. But Even so, we don't need to
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worry about the numbers of the math.
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Why? Because we're a new creation in
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Christ. Old things have passed away.
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The forgiveness that we're to give has already been given to
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us. We don't have to work it up.
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We don't have to. I'm going to do it now.
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I'm going to see them. Well, you want to see them so
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you can forgive them. I don't want to see them.
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Then you don't want to forgive them.
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You see, you could take things into your own hands, or you can
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let the Lord do the work because he's already working in you.
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Just follow your leader. There's a greater than Moses
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among us. His name is Jesus.
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He's leading you through the trap.
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It's actually not about you at all.
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Now He's going to take care of you.
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He's also going to take care of your enemies so that you can
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live in the promised land. That's chapter 14.
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So verse 30, the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hands
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of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the
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seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work
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which the Lord had done in Egypt.
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So the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord, his
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servant Moses. God accomplished what He said
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and built the faith of his people.
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Why? Because they look to Him.
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They trusted Him. Remember, church, things are not
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always as they appear. They're not always as you see
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them. Sometimes what we see, sometimes
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we see what we see and come to the conclusions that aren't
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always correct. Sometimes we don't see
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everything. But I do know this, in Psalm 37,
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verse 23, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and
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he delights in His ways. And that just tells me today in
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my own life and my own situation, as we keep our eyes
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on the Lord, He'll get us where we need to be.
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Follow Him closely by faith. Amen.
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Man, it's so good. This is such a great chapter.
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You just write your name on this Lord.
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You're doing this work in me through the cross.
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You're, you're, you're ready. You're ready.
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You're already out of Egypt. It's just another you.
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Can you imagine just taking the taking the you're, you're,
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you're working and you're, you're it's getting harder.
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They're making more demands on you.
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You're crying out to God. I can't believe this.
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I can't believe. And then God takes you all the
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way through. You watch all the plagues that
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get you out. And then he brings you to the
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what is the Red Sea compared to the deliverance of Egypt?
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And what is the circumstance that we're faced right now
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compared to the unbelievable, insurmountable problem of your
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own sin? God dealt with the hardest, most
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difficult thing in your life 1st, and everything else is
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going to follow. So Lord, we thank you.
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I thank you for the privilege of being a new creation in Christ,
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for the faith that we need to obey you and follow you, for the
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challenging words that would stir our understanding.
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It would challenge the way we were raised.
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It would challenge the way what the popular notion of the world
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is, what what the popular trend on social media might be, what
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what the experts have been saying, what the surveys have
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been saying, what the popular things have been saying.
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We want to trust your word that has outlasted every popular
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thing throughout all of history, but it's hard God, because we
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live in this world and in this carcass and our past remind
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we're reminded so much of our past.
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It's unbelievable. It's overwhelming, but we look
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to you, Lord, you've even put people in our lives like Moses
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and we just follow. OK, we're going to follow.
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We got that example. We're going to follow and then
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you miraculously work with the cloud and the and so Lord, we
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just pray right now, pray for those that are wrestling with
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their identity. They just think they're going to
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have to settle the rest of their life with a little bit of sin or
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a little bit of skewed identity or a little bit of wrestling.
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They're always going to want to whatever it may be.
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Lord, you know the hearts of your people right now and I pray
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and burn into our psyche, Lord, and into our hearts, into our
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soul, the truth that we're a new creation in Christ.
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Sometimes it's hard to believe, but we trust you Lord, and I
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just want to pray for those of you that this is the message to
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your heart. This identity thing could be
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like gender, could be the LGBTQ stuff, like just the way it's so
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hard because your emotions and your feelings and, and even
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attractions. Listen, you're a new creation in
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Christ. It's the best identity God could
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give you. You're not identified by your
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temptations. You're not identified by your
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past sin. You're not identified by your
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behavior. You're identified by what God is
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doing in your life. He's cleansed your life, changed
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your life. You're becoming Christ.
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Like God dwells in you. You have freedom.
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Freedom is yours. You've been crucified with
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Christ. All things have passed away so
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you don't need to acknowledge or stand or walk or anything.
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Lord, I just pray those that they're they're receiving this
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to their heart, but they're fighting and it's wrestling and
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it's hard to believe everything in them wants to rage and and
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strand up and and Lord I pray a peace upon their hearts right
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now a piece that passes all understand they'd be anxious for
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nothing the fears that they have about identifying as a follower.
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I pray even those that aren't connected to you yet right now
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they're not born again and this is this is heavy stuff.
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Deliver and free and cleanse and wash Lord do a work in your life
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that your church would walk in our God-given identity and
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freedom and alcohol. That one's a close unto my
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heart, Lord. Those that still feel like,
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because it feels like they're in bondage and they're recovering.
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They're recovering. Lord, we declare over them
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today. They're recovered, they're
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delivered and you are recovering and delivering them in the
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newness of life. Bless them, Lord, encourage
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them. Let them have a nugget of truth.
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Let it be sinking into their hearts and their minds today,
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Lord, that we might March forward across on dry land.
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Dry land because of the miraculous wonder working power
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found in you. Jesus.
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We pray that in Your holy and righteous name, Amen.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study,
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
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For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
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To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
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live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
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or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.