Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20250914 - Detours Are Not Roadblocks - Exodus 13:17-22

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#20250914 - Detours Are Not Roadblocks - Exodus 13:17-22 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word recorded live at Calvary
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Church in Aurora, Co. To learn more about the many
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resources available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune
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into our live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co
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dot Church or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
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Amen. Some of you don't know my the
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history of my wife and I. We we got saved in 1969 and we
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are part of the Jesus movement. We were up in Portland, OR area
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and we are a part of the whole Christian House ministry.
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I ran the Christian House for a couple of Christian houses
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during the early 70s and were part of a youth ministry that
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was there based in Oregon until 1978.
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Then we moved down to Arizona from Oregon and then in 1981 we
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ended up starting a Bible study and that turned into Calvary
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Chapel, North Phoenix. And I was there for 29 years and
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then I turned that church over to our second son.
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The board made that decision in 2010, and that released my wife
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and I to go around and help out other pastors and wives, and
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that's our current ministry as well.
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In the process of that, we were invited to go over to the UK and
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help out. And so after helping out a
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couple of months, they said, would you pray about moving
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here? So we went, yeah, we'll pray
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about it. And, and eventually we ended up
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moving to the UKI took over this little church in the
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southwestern part of England city called Exeter.
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It's a university town, 2013. And you know, driving in England
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is an adventure. And it took a while for us to
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learn how to properly drive in in the UK.
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And the one thing that that just created angst in my life is when
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I ran into these signs called diversions.
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And here's what those signs look like.
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I just hate that sign it and I'll explain why.
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And this ties in with our text. You see, there was a brother who
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was a postman down in Plymouth about an hour S on the coast.
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And he would come up to Exeter for the Wednesday night Bible
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study and he'd come up on Sunday morning for the for the service
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in Exeter. He'd travel an hour each way.
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And he was doing that. And I'm going, bro, why don't
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we, you know, how about if we just start a Bible study in
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Plymouth during the midweek and you don't have to come up here,
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you go. Well, you know, the, the Brits
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don't open up their homes to strangers.
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And I'm going, well, you know, let's give it a go.
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Let's pray about it. And so the Lord opened the door
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for a family that opened up their house.
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And other houses are kind of small, you know, the rooms are
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small. And so we set it up and, and so
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on Thursday night, I taught on Wednesday in Exeter to, and did
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the same study on Thursday night.
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And I show up and there's like 15 people waiting to have a
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Bible study and, and everybody's excited and there's this just
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this electricity and the whole thing and it's exciting.
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And which made the one hour trip, you know, it's it, it was
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worth it. So worth it until I ran into one
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of these signs because in the middle of the night, you're
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done, you're coming home around 10 O clock and you just want to
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get home. You just want to drive home.
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You're tired. It's been great.
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And then boom, diversion. And here's the thing.
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Those signs send you into the woods and on these one lane
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roads with high hedge rows and windy because there were
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property boundaries and you don't know where you're going.
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And and the GPS, which they call SAT NAV over there all of a
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sudden doesn't work because there's you're not supposed to
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be on this kind of a road. And and then you come to a fork
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in the road and there's no sign. There's no sign like what's
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next? And you just want to get home.
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Now, I encountered these signs two or three times every month
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for two to three years. So I've got therapy issues with,
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with PTS, you know, and I see these signs and, and, and
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there's a, there's a jerk. Now, I didn't realize this until
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the other day. I was walking around the
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neighborhood and I came across the corner and I saw this sign
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detour and all the sudden there was a reaction and I'm I'm
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talking to the Lord. What's this about?
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I mean, let's just assign and and he brought me back to my
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problem, which was I didn't like to be redirected.
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Just leave me alone. And you know, part of it goes, I
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don't care. I'm going to blow through that.
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I know where I'm going. And then you get you, a lot of
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times you get stuck detours, you know, these things happen in our
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life. Life is full of detours.
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And let me define what a detour is here or a diversion as the
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the Brits called it. A diversion or a detour is a
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longer route that you take in order to avoid a problem.
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Also was defined as a deviation from a direct course or the
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usual procedure, especially a roundabout way, temporarily
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replacing part of a route. And, and the reason I'm covering
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this is because in Exodus 13, in the context, God is bringing the
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children of Israel out of Egypt, and he's doing it in an unusual
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way. This group of people had been
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under severe oppression and bondage.
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And now for the first time, God is leading them out after 10
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major judgments upon the land of Egypt, destroying the land of
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Egypt and the people just pouring their goods upon the
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Israelites to say please leave, please leave, please leave.
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And, and here they are now day, the day before they were slaves
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and now they're free with all of these goods.
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It was like lottery. We won the lottery.
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This is amazing. Thank you God.
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But God had plans to create a detour in their life.
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Follow along with me verse 17 of chapter 13 of Exodus.
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Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go,
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that God did not lead them by way of the land of the
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Philistines, although that was near.
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For God said, lest perhaps the people change their minds when
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they see war and return to Egypt.
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So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red
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Sea, and the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of
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the land of Egypt. And Moses took the bones of
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Joseph with him. For Joseph had placed the
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children of Israel under a solemn oath, a solemn oath
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saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my
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bones from here with you. So they took their journey from
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Sukkoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness.
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And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead
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the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to to give them
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light so as to go by day and night.
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He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of
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fire by night from before the people.
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And this was what was there for 40 years.
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It was just just like we are used to the sun coming up or
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seeing the moon at night during full moon time.
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Wow, how amazing is that? But it says here very clearly in
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verse 17, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the
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Philistines, although that was near this morning's message.
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I want to take this text and divide it into four parts.
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So those of you taking notes, and I would recommend that you
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take notes. It helps you retain and you can
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write down some things the Lord might speak to your heart as
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we're going through this. But the first part of the of
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this mornings message is called the best route is not
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necessarily the shortest route and that's verse 17.
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The second part is called the best route is not necessarily
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the easiest route, and that's verse 18 and Part 3.
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We're going to talk just briefly about some characters in the Old
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Testament and New Testament where they experienced detours
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in their life, which shows that God is in the detours.
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And the fourth section is called the best route is the one
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containing detours in Christ. So let's take a look at verse 17
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here. The best route is not
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necessarily the shortest route. So here they are on the edge of
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the wilderness, and it's just a wonderful day.
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It's just the best day until Pharaoh's army shows up behind
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them. And the fascinating thing is
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that the cloud that went before them lifted up and went between
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them and Pharaoh's army to block the way.
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And then we know the story of Moses putting his rod over the
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the Red Sea and the Red Sea parting and the children of
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Israel going across the the dry ground.
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It says, it says dry ground very specifically.
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Amazing. But they had no idea why the
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cloud was leading them a different way than made sense.
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Because the shortest distance between point A and point B is a
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straight line, right? So the shortest distance between
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Egypt and the promised land is this road called the Viameris,
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which went along the Mediterranean coast, which would
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have been Club Med. I mean, it would have been a
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nice route. It's only 150 miles to the land
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of the promise and it would have only taken 2 weeks to get there.
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But God did not lead them by the way of the land of the
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Philistines because they would have ended up right in
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Philistine territory and they were unprepared.
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When God created this detour for the children of Israel, He knew
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they were unprepared and He didn't tell them why.
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He just said you just keep your eyes on me.
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You just follow me. I'll lead you as a shepherd.
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Keep your eyes on me. God did not lead them by the way
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of the land of the Philistines, although that was near so many
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times. We just want to go the shortest
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route and get there because we're quite impatient.
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We want things done now. I mean, we're in this Western
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culture. That's it you know, We just get
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it done, get it done, get it done, get out of my way.
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We even blow through detour signs go I'm not doing that no
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way. And then the bridge is out and
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then you can't turn around your pickup because there's hardly
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any any road. We got sent.
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Oh my gosh, you know, with these SAT navs, you have to put in a
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post code of where you're supposed to go.
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And when we first got to the UK, we were looking at, you know
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what Facebook marketplace is, right?
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You've heard of that? Well, instead of Craigslist,
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they have something, they're called Gumtree.
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I have no idea why, but Gumtree is where you go to get your used
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furniture. So we're, we're trying to find
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furniture because we went over with nothing.
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And so we put in the post code and, and we'd end up in, in a
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farmer's cornfield and, and what you couldn't, and I'm going,
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what, where are we? What are we doing here?
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Well, well, the house was on the other side of the cornfield, but
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you couldn't get there. But it was in the same post
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code. And then you couldn't, I mean,
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you couldn't turn around because you were in this.
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I mean, you saw you had to back up carefully.
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I mean, you know, I do have issues with the the UK so but
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here God says keep your eyes on me telling the children of
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Israel and we'll get through this.
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Do you realize that it was going to take two years before Israel
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was brought to the promised land?
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That was God's plan, but he didn't tell them ahead of time.
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He didn't tell them. They just had to trust him.
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They had no idea it was going to take two years.
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But God knew, you know, in the same way the detours that happen
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in our life, God knows what's going on and he knows we're not
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ready and we have to be prepared properly.
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And sometimes when a detour happens in our life, maybe it's
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a health issue, maybe it's a financial collapse, maybe it's a
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relationship collapse, God is in the middle of detours.
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So rather than just rebuking the devil because Oh my gosh, this
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has to be Satan, Wait a minute, maybe it is Satan, but God
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allows Satan to do his work as you read in the book of Job.
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And so God is looking to do a work in the midst of crisis and,
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and he's in the detour. Detours are not roadblocks.
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They they are redirections, and that was the case here for the
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children of Israel. God loved them and He knew that
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it would be that the trial would be too difficult for them.
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And so He led them by the way of the wilderness instead of the
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nice Mediterranean route. Why?
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To accomplish His purpose and His goals in their life.
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And in the same way, detours are designed by God to accomplish
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His purposes and His goals in our life.
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And when there's a detour, it brings up issues in your own
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life, usually of control. I want to do what I want to do,
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when I want to do it how I want to do it.
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Leave me alone. Get out of my life.
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That's called pride. I'm, I have, I've, I've dealt
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with it for all these years, 56 years being a Christian and I
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still deal with it at times it comes up, surprises me and I'm
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going, I should be farther along than this, you know, but there
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it is. It would take two years.
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And here's the thing, after two years, you think they'd be
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ready, man? They built a Tabernacle and they
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used all those materials that they've gained from the
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Egyptians. And God's purpose was to take
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and use it to build the House of worship and the vestments for
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the priest. People had to give up their
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jewels because there had to be 12 jewels on the breastplate of
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the high priest, and there had to be two jewels on the shoulder
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pieces of the vestment of the high priest then.
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So you, you have to take what God puts in your hand if you're
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one of these Israelis and you have to willingly offer it to
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the Lord. And I just want to say this, if
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there happens to be a windfall that comes into your life, a
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windfall financially, and you might say, oh God, please bless
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me with a windfall financially, you know, something's up.
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And I just want to encourage you don't jump to conclusions.
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Take that windfall and put it in the bank and just sit on it and
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wait. Because I've learned over the
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years that there's a reason and something's coming.
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And I'm not sure what it is, but I'm not going to say, oh,
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finally we can take that cruise, stop, wait, put it in savings
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and wait on the Lord and just see slow down.
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The children of Israel had no idea why they had this winning
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lottery leaving Egypt, but God knew but didn't tell them until
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it was the right time. Now in verse 17, it also says
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for God said lest perhaps the people change their minds when
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they see war and return to Egypt.
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God knew what was best for his people at this time.
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And in the same way, God knows what's best for us at this time.
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And I know you've been asking God, some of you have been
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asking God, why is this happening?
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I'm in a major detour in my life.
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It wasn't what I had planned. It changed everything and you're
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not giving me any answers. I don't understand, but you just
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have to trust him in the detour. Yeah, but I want answers.
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Well, sure you want answers, but God knows that he'll give it to
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you at the right time. When I was in the UK in
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19/20/18, I had a heart attack. I thought it was acid reflux
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and, you know, my wife had encouraged me to, you know, take
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a small aspirin that, you know, you don't look so well.
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And you're going, yeah, it's just acid reflux.
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And, and he goes, you know, you need to go into a A&E, which is
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emergency room over there. And I, I want to wait five
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hours. I, I just, you know, give me
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some Gaviscon. I'll be fine.
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No, no, we're going in there. So 5 hour wait.
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So I took a shower, you know, and I got dressed and then I
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drove to the to the emergency room.
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Well, they didn't like that at all, by the way.
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And all of a sudden they're shooting me with morphine.
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I'm going What? And and you go, you're having a
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heart attack. Don't you understand?
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So I'm going, No, no, no. It's just really it's just acid
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reflux. Just all they want is Gavison.
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I want out of here. You know, they're ripping off my
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shirt, putting stuff all over me.
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I'm going, I'm going. I'm just in a, in a daze and all
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of a sudden, you know, I'm on a, I'm on this Gurney and I'm going
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down the hall. I'm going, can I teach on
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Sunday? And then no, no, you can't teach
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on Sunday. You're not having a heart
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attack. I'm going.
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I don't think so. And then I fainted.
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But my wife behind me, running to catch up with the Gurney, saw
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that I had slumped over and I had had cardiac arrest.
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You know, that changes, That's a detour.
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That's a, that's a detour. And I look back on it and I see
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that God's plan for my life. He understood that that was
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going to happen and he had another plan for me and he
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wanted us to move back to the States, but we felt like we
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weren't done. But the detour forced us, forced
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our hand, because God's in the detours.
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And then as time went on, we understood some of the reason
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why and here we are. We've been here now six years.
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The best route is not necessarily the shortest route.
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Well, let's look at verse 18 because we come to the second
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part. The best route is not
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necessarily the easiest route. Verse 18.
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So God led the people around by the way of the wilderness of the
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Red Sea. By the way, that was rough.
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When you read through Exodus there, it was hard.
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It was going to be times of no water, times of attack from
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enemies. It was a rough, rough detour.
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What is this all about? But God chose the best route for
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the long goal for their life. And you know, as a, as a nation
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of people, they weren't structured yet.
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They needed structure. They needed laws, they needed
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the 10 commandments. They needed a sanctuary to
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worship. All those things were important
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to prepare them for the promised land.
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But he didn't tell them why at the time.
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All they did is complain because it was it was hard and it was
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hard, but they had to trust him in the midst of it.
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And sometimes in our detours, we how many times we ask God, why?
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Why aren't I being victorious in this area of my life?
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I'm on this detour in my life and I wanted to stop.
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Come on God, you can do anything, change my life.
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And he says I am with you. OK, I got that.
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I'm you're with me. That's fine.
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I want things changed. Well, you know, the first change
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that has to happen is the change of your heart before He ever
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changes his circumstances. You got to change your heart
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because you're arguing with God and you're mad at God even, but
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you wouldn't tell Him that. But you're just pouting like a
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little teen, like a little toddler.
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Why am I still having these conflicts in my marriage?
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Why am I still single? Where's this person I'm supposed
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to marry? I mean, I got married when I was
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18 because I couldn't wait. I mean that.
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That's my problem and the Lord rescued it.
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You know, my wife is forgiving and patient and loving.
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Could it be if you're single here this morning that there's
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somebody else that's praying for their future spouse, that God
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would work on their heart and make them content in him?
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You're going well, why can't we just do that together?
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I mean, you know, but let God work out that purpose in your
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life. Use your singleness.
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Use your singleness while you're single because because you're,
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you're more free, you're more flexible and, and God wants to
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to use you right now in your life and he'll take care of
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things. Just as a side note, you ever
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wonder about Adam in the garden on that 6th day?
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Do you know what? God did not send Adam on a
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safari to look for his wife. God said, I want you to till the
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ground. This is my call for you.
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I want you to serve me. This is what I'm setting before
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you to do Serve me. Take care of the garden.
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And all of a sudden, Adam fell into a deep sleep.
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Nice. Well, because God was going to
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bring his spouse to him. God will bring your spouse to
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you when it's the right time. In the meantime, take care of
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your garden. Does that make sense?
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I'm not going to write a book on it, but it's, it's, it's there.
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It, it makes me think, OK, so the best route is not
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necessarily the shortest route. The best route is not
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necessarily the easiest route in our life.
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Just like it wasn't with them. And so let's take a moment and,
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and look at a few characters in the Bible that went through
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detours in their life in the Old Testament.
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We can think of Jacob who was sent up north to find a wife.
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The area of Aram is north of the area of Syria and he goes there
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to his his mom's brother, Uncle Laban, and he ends up falling in
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love with Rachel, one of the daughters.
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But Laban the trickster. I met Jacob the trickster and
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Jacob got a heart knowledge of how it feels to be on the wrong
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end of a trick. And so it was 20 years before
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Jacob came back and his mother was dead.
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He never met his mother again, never saw her again.
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Detours caused him some hardship.
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Detours caused him to have his heart purged in a big way.
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But the detour caused him to come back full and and because
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that was God's purpose. Then there was David, who had
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many, many detours in his young life.
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Chased by King Saul. He went from being a mere
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shepherd boy to being a musician before King Saul.
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That's a detour from a musician to an armor bearer to King Saul
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after his battle with Goliath. That was a major detour from
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what was normal, from being an armor bearer to heading up 1000
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warriors as a young, late teenager.
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From marriage to the King's daughter Michael, to being
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driven out as a fugitive. That's a major shift.
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Where's God? It's not fair.
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From being a fugitive to being slandered and haunted by many
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and having a SWAT team sent out by the king to find him.
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From being hunted to even hiding in the enemy's territory.
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From losing the city of Ziklag to rescuing the people from the
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Amalekites. From rescuing the people to
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hearing about the death of King Saul and his best friend
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Jonathan. Detour after detour after
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detour, probably over the course of maybe less than 15 years,
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probably more like a decade, a decade of detours, life changing
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detours. Some of you are in the middle of
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a detour and it's not stopping and there are no answers.
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And I'm just telling you, can you trust the Lord that he knows
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what's going on and he knows and he's working his plan for his
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for your life? Can you trust him even when you
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don't understand because you have to.
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What's the alternative to run around and throw a tantrum?
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How does that work? How's that end up for you?
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What's that look like? Just frustrated and you're still
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without answers and you're, you have less hope than you ever
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had. But when you trust the Lord, you
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can have a hope in the middle of hopeless circumstances on this
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detour that you're in the middle of.
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Just saying, let's take a look at the New Testament Philip the
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Deacon evangelist that you see in Acts chapter 6.
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Everything's going swimmingly well.
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Everything's great in Jerusalem, man.
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It's a revival and that they're working.
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And all the sudden persecution breaks out because of Saul of
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Tarsus, and everything explodes and everything is brought to
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nothing. Major detour in Phillips life.
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Now, what do I do? It's kind of like having a job
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at an an employer. And then all of a sudden they
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they declare bankruptcy and you're gone.
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Your pension's gone. What?
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That's not my plan. Yeah, but God knew that and so
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now he wants to show you how he can take care of you moment by
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moment in this new set of circumstances.
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On this detour. God is in the detour.
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So Philip ends up going to Samaria and a revival breaks out
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and you go on. Bonus.
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This is great. I love it.
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This is awesome. People are being filled with the
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Holy Spirit. God is working amongst the
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Samaritans and it's Philip is a head of the revival.
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And then an Angel comes to Philip and says, by the way,
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bro, here's what we need to have happen.
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You need to leave here and go to the desert.
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No explanation. But you know, when an Angel
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shows up and does that, it gives you, you know, a little push.
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So by faith, he leaves Samaria. His ministry absolutely changed
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to a desert ministry. And he had no idea where he was
30:17
going. He's just walking down the road
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and all of a sudden he, he comes across this Ethiopian eunuch
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who's leaving Jerusalem to go back to Ethiopia.
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And there's this divine appointment and the guy comes to
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Christ. And then he gets baptized.
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And then Philip gets translated like a Star Trek moment from
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from the water in the middle of the desert to the coast 15 miles
30:42
away. And then you don't hear, I mean,
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talk about God's saying, I don't want to go to Ethiopia.
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You're not going to Ethiopia. I don't care what you think
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about it, that it'd be awesome. What a great possibility, you
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know? And Philip is like, he finds
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himself on the coast at his Otis.
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And then Philip is just like, that was amazing.
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And then he makes his way up to Caesarea and he meets his wife
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and he gets married and he has a family.
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And then he runs a church in Caesarea.
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I mean, talk about detours. God is in the detours and he has
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no obligation to tell you why at the moment because it brings him
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better glory at at the end. Then there's Paul the apostle.
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He had lots of detours in his ministry.
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Second missionary journey, the Holy Spirit verbatim twice not
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to take certain routes, and it led him to the coast because God
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wanted him to go into Europe with the gospel.
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But he didn't tell Paul why until it was the right time.
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God's not going to tell you why until it's the right time.
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In the meantime, trust him, live your life in the detour and see
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what the Lord wants to do. Well, let's look at the fourth
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point. The best route is the one
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containing detours in Christ. As a Christian, God is in
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control, right? Sometimes detours which you
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think are the are the cause of my mistake or how could this
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happen to me? They're allowed by God.
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God's not punishing you, but he's allowing it for His
32:37
purpose. And it starts with changing your
32:40
heart. It starts with working on you
32:43
deep inside, because the goal of the Lord is to prepare you for
32:48
prepare you for heaven, not to prepare you for retirement, to
32:53
prepare you for heaven. And there's work that has to be
32:57
done on the inside and detours are allowed by God because this
33:02
redirection is for our good. And and that's a that's a by
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faith statement. I have to just trust him by
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faith, even when I don't understand.
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And you know this, when you see a detour sign that has an arrow
33:21
up, it's a reminder God's in charge.
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And I just want to tell you, from this point on, you're going
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to see detour signs. And every time you see it,
33:32
you're going, yeah, I remember that study.
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It's just how it is. You can't get around it.
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Detours are allowed for God's purposes, and sometimes detours
33:43
are God's protection over us. Do you know that relationship
33:49
you thought was the one, this person is the one, and all the
33:54
sudden things fall apart and you go, I thought this was it.
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Maybe God's protecting you. Maybe he's protecting you for a
34:03
train wreck in your relationship.
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We had this in a situation when we were doing some pre marriage
34:11
counseling. Every time we met with a couple,
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they argued and argued and argued in our in our front room.
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And, you know, after a while we're going.
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You know, I think you need to hold off.
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We have issues to deal with here.
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Oh, what do you mean we've got this all planned?
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Yeah, but you guys are like 2 feral cats ready to scratch each
34:36
other's eyes out. How's this going to work?
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Oh, God can do anything. Well, he's trying to do
34:42
something right now, you know, and I'm telling you, break it
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off. What?
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You can't tell me that. Oh, yeah, I can.
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I'm just telling you right now you need to stop.
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You need to break this off because don't you see what's
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going on? Well, God's got to work it out.
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After all, the Lord told me that I was supposed to marry her.
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Please stop it. Take a break.
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Call it off. Yeah, we're, we're working on
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the announcements. Please stop.
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Please at least put it off because we got some serious
35:24
issues to to deal with. Enough of that.
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OK? Detours are used by God to
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mature us, to work on the inside.
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And I just want to say this, if God is in the detour, maybe it's
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the only way to do what needs to be done inside your life.
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When I look at my life at age 18, I was headed for a road of
36:00
destruction, and God put a detour in my life by putting
36:06
Christians in front of me, living in the very house I was
36:09
living in. That was a detour, and the
36:14
detour was God trying to save me.
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The trouble in my life, the difficulties, the trying to find
36:24
meaning in life. I'd rejected Christianity.
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I grew up in the Methodist Church.
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One had nothing to do with that. And God loved me enough to have
36:34
mercy on my nonsense and to call me to himself.
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I mean, talk about nonsense. I tried to like, open up my 7
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spiritual centers of my body by going on an apple diet for three
36:47
days. I'm, I'm going to do this.
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I'm going to be aware. And then at the end of three
36:52
days, you drink a half a cup of olive oil.
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Oh, that's spiritual. Yeah.
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God, you're going to cleanse me. Well, yeah, it did cleanse me,
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but you know, and the Lord knew probably just smiled and I'm
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going. You have no idea.
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And then these believers came to me and I just had to find out
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what on earth are they up to? And I, I repented, my girlfriend
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repented, she was living at home, I was living in the house
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and we got saved because we put our trust in the Son of God,
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Jesus Christ 100% and everything started changing from the inside
37:47
out. And praise God and I, I think
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there are some of you that are listening online, listening on
37:59
Grace FM and you're fighting with God because you know that
38:06
you can't handle it. You're trying to get, you're
38:09
trying to deal with your detour your way.
38:12
And it just keeps getting worse and worse and worse because God
38:16
is trying to call you to himself.
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And some of you in here, maybe you're brought by a friend or a
38:22
family member, first time in church and God speaking to your
38:32
heart. God is trying to just draw you
38:34
to himself. Will you take and stop the fight
38:44
and accept the gospel where Jesus has been sent by the
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Father for you to bear your sin so that you can be forgiven and
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have this load taken off of your shoulders, this dead of sin on
38:58
your life that blocks you and God?
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Really. So if you're really wanting to
39:08
take a take a risk and say, well, I'm not sure.
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I don't want to be let down anymore.
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I don't want to be disappointed. I've been lied to so many times.
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I don't even know what the truth is.
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That's where Pilate was at, but he had the Son of God standing
39:23
right in front of him. And right now God wants to show
39:27
himself to you. God wants to make himself real
39:30
to you, but He's given you a free will, and you have to take
39:34
the first step. And what's the first step?
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This morning? I'm going to ask you to stand up
39:44
if you want to take that risk and surrender your life to
39:47
Christ. So when we pray, as I close
39:51
here, I'll give that opportunity to you and then we'll pray,
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We'll lead you in prayer and and we'll go forward and let God
40:02
surprise you with what he wants to do in your detour.
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All right, let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank
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you for your word today, and we're asking in the name of
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Jesus. That you would move on.
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The hearts of these that have come into this building, these
40:25
that are downstairs in the Rez, those that are listening online
40:29
on Grace FM and those that are watching online and those that
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will be seeing this later. And Father God, you know, the
40:39
hearts of every soul on the earth right now.
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That's amazing, you know, because you're God, you know
40:48
what they've been through, you know what they're going through
40:51
right now, but you also know what you would love to do in
40:56
their life. And so, Father, grant them faith
41:01
to believe, to trust you, and to make a major pivot in the midst
41:06
of their detour. And as the rest of us, as a
41:10
congregation, pray, if this is you this morning and it's your
41:16
opportunity to respond to God's message to your heart in the
41:22
midst of your detour, I'd like you simply just to stand from
41:27
where you're seated to stand up. And you're saying to the Lord, I
41:31
need to get my life right with God.
41:35
Is there any here today? And by standing, you're saying,
41:40
OK, God, I want you to do business with me.
41:45
Let's make this right. OK, back over here.
41:48
Anyone else, those of you that are standing, there'll be a
41:54
pastor or prayer partner that'll come up next to you to also
41:58
encourage you and pray with you. But please, one last time, if,
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if it's your time to get right with the Lord in the midst of
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your detour, this is your moment.
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Anyone else, those of you that are standing, just follow me in
42:26
this prayer. If you would, I'll just help you
42:29
in this prayer and just say, God, I come to you this morning
42:37
and I believe with all my heart that Jesus is the Son of God and
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that you sent him to die for my sins and he bore my punishment
42:52
that I deserve. I believe that Jesus rose again
42:59
on the third day as proof that you accepted what he did for me.
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I ask you to forgive me of all my sin.
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I turn from my sins and I turn to you.
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Fill me with the Holy Spirit of God right now and make yourself
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real to me. A simple prayer, but God knows
43:35
your heart and He's going to do more than you've ever thought He
43:40
could do. And Father God, for the rest of
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us, we are praying that you would help us to trust you in
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the midst of our detour. That this detour is not a
43:53
roadblock. It's your redirection for your
43:55
purpose and your goal. So we submit to you now this
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morning in Jesus name, Amen. We pray that you've been
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encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
44:11
sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer.
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Call us at 87730 grace that's 877-304-7223.
44:22
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44:26
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44:31
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.