Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – A New Beginning--- Worth...
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: I want to read an unusual section of scripture. If
- 0:04Speaker 1: you got your bible before we pray. I want to
- 0:09Speaker 1: read Exodus chapter twelve, verse thirty down through verse thirty six,
- 0:18Speaker 1: and we'll skip to three more down in the later
- 0:21Speaker 1: part of the chapter. Got your bible open. Exodus twelve
- 0:25Speaker 1: thirty Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his
- 0:31Speaker 1: servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great
- 0:35Speaker 1: cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there
- 0:40Speaker 1: was not someone dead. Then he called for Moses and
- 0:47Speaker 1: Aaron at knight and said, rise up, get out from
- 0:51Speaker 1: among my people, both you and the sons of Israel,
- 0:54Speaker 1: and go worship the Lord as you have said. Take
- 0:59Speaker 1: both your flocks and your herds as you have said,
- 1:02Speaker 1: and go and bless me. Also, the Egyptians urged the
- 1:08Speaker 1: people to send them out of the land in haste,
- 1:11Speaker 1: for they said, we shall all be dead. So the
- 1:16Speaker 1: people took their dough before it was leavened, with their
- 1:19Speaker 1: kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders.
- 1:26Speaker 1: Now the sons of Israel had done according to the
- 1:28Speaker 1: word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians
- 1:32Speaker 1: articles of silver and articles of gold and clothing. And
- 1:38Speaker 1: the Lord had given the people favor in the sight
- 1:41Speaker 1: of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request.
- 1:46Speaker 1: Thus they plundered the Egyptians Verse forty. Now, the time
- 1:53Speaker 1: that the Sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four
- 1:57Speaker 1: hundred and thirty years. It came about at the end
- 2:01Speaker 1: of four hundred and thirty years to the very day
- 2:05Speaker 1: that all the hosts of the Lord went out from
- 2:08Speaker 1: the land of Egypt. It is a night to be
- 2:12Speaker 1: observed for the Lord for having brought them out of
- 2:16Speaker 1: the land of Egypt. This night is for the Lord
- 2:20Speaker 1: to be observed by all the Sons of Israel throughout
- 2:25Speaker 1: their generations. Beginning a new series is the Lord changes
- 2:31Speaker 1: the people from wanderers to worshippers. And we're traveling with
- 2:36Speaker 1: the Hebrews beginning today from Egypt until we finish the
- 2:41Speaker 1: series at Sinai, where they get the instructions for the
- 2:46Speaker 1: building of the Tabernacle. Let's pray for centuries, our Father,
- 2:55Speaker 1: you have used your word in the hearts of men
- 3:01Speaker 1: and women in cultures and countries around this world. You
- 3:08Speaker 1: have sent faith filled missionaries as single individuals to difficult
- 3:14Speaker 1: and obscure places, and they have tucked away the Word
- 3:18Speaker 1: of God in their hearts, and they have declared it,
- 3:23Speaker 1: and you have blessed it in places beyond our shores
- 3:28Speaker 1: and even within our boundaries. We sit in this place
- 3:33Speaker 1: as recipients of your faithfulness, many of us with godly
- 3:38Speaker 1: mothers and dads who taught us the way from birth,
- 3:43Speaker 1: some of us having learned the truth from mentors when
- 3:47Speaker 1: we became adults, some getting up in years, discovered what
- 3:53Speaker 1: they had been missing all their lives. And we have
- 3:56Speaker 1: known personally our own exodus. We have been redeemed, bought
- 4:04Speaker 1: by Christ's blood, and delivered from a life of bondage
- 4:10Speaker 1: and addiction and despair and slavery to sin. How grateful
- 4:17Speaker 1: we are, and that is why we rejoice, our Father,
- 4:21Speaker 1: when we see a new beginning, and of all things,
- 4:23Speaker 1: find ourselves a part of it, having never thought it
- 4:27Speaker 1: would be true before, and here we are experiencing it.
- 4:33Speaker 1: Thank you, Father, for leading us, leading us from start
- 4:38Speaker 1: to finish, leading us when we didn't even want to
- 4:42Speaker 1: know you, leading back in days past when we were
- 4:47Speaker 1: running from you. Thank You for deliverance from the pharaohs
- 4:53Speaker 1: of our lives, cruel task masters, all of them and
- 4:58Speaker 1: bringing us to the Shepherd of our souls, that he
- 5:03Speaker 1: might guide us, Oh Great Jehovah, pilgrims in a barren land.
- 5:13Speaker 1: And so Father, we pause at this moment in quiet worship,
- 5:17Speaker 1: to remember your leading and to give to you from
- 5:21Speaker 1: the abundance you have entrusted to us. It's all yours,
- 5:26Speaker 1: and we take great delight in giving hilariously and generously.
- 5:32Speaker 1: And we do so in the name of Christ, our
- 5:35Speaker 1: Savior and board and all the people said, Amen. Some
- 5:42Speaker 1: things are really worth waiting for. Sometimes the longer the wait,
- 5:49Speaker 1: the better the result. If you have found yourself getting
- 5:53Speaker 1: up into what some would call years, you're into your
- 5:57Speaker 1: thirties and you've not located life's mate for you, and
- 6:02Speaker 1: your mom and dad are getting unusually nervous, and your
- 6:06Speaker 1: friends are wondering, what's the matter here? You turn thirty five,
- 6:10Speaker 1: thirty six. You just haven't found the one that God
- 6:13Speaker 1: has for you, and you're thinking, and it may very
- 6:15Speaker 1: well be true that He does not have a plan
- 6:18Speaker 1: for you in the area of marriage. That's great. He
- 6:21Speaker 1: calls some to be single, that's for sure. But then
- 6:24Speaker 1: out of the blue, if you will that person shows up.
- 6:28Speaker 1: It's really worth the weight, isn't it well, you say,
- 6:32Speaker 1: depends on the person. You get the right one, It's
- 6:35Speaker 1: worth the weight. And you look back and think, I'm
- 6:37Speaker 1: so glad I didn't act on a spur of the
- 6:40Speaker 1: moment in motion. I'm so glad that we waited that,
- 6:43Speaker 1: both of us did. I know I speak for many
- 6:47Speaker 1: of you when I refer to the experience of going
- 6:50Speaker 1: through a time of sickness and the sickness only gets worse,
- 6:56Speaker 1: and a sense of discouragement sets in, and as you
- 7:00Speaker 1: wonder if the physician has done the right job of diagnosing,
- 7:05Speaker 1: and if the medication has been put together correctly, and
- 7:09Speaker 1: the sickness lingers and the fever doesn't go away, and
- 7:15Speaker 1: especially if it's one of your own children or someone
- 7:19Speaker 1: you love very much, And then there's a break. The
- 7:23Speaker 1: fever stops, and the energy begins to return, and the
- 7:28Speaker 1: pain ceases, and you get back on your feet, and
- 7:33Speaker 1: before you know it, you're healthy again. And you waited
- 7:37Speaker 1: so long for healing, and God gave it. Cynthia and
- 7:44Speaker 1: I have a dear friend we've known for now my
- 7:47Speaker 1: almost thirty years, and it really did look as though
- 7:52Speaker 1: Ray was going to die. In fact, I said to
- 7:54Speaker 1: her when we were at the Smith home and we
- 7:59Speaker 1: had just left. We got in our car and I
- 8:01Speaker 1: just sat there in tears came to my eyes, and
- 8:04Speaker 1: I said to her, that's the last time we're going
- 8:07Speaker 1: to see Ray. That's it. And she didn't say much
- 8:12Speaker 1: at all. We prayed and drove home, and wouldn't you
- 8:17Speaker 1: know it, the Lord turned the corner in his life
- 8:21Speaker 1: and gave him healing and health, and he's as robust
- 8:27Speaker 1: and enthusiastic today as we've ever known him. Every time
- 8:31Speaker 1: I look at him, I think walking miracle. Oh Ray
- 8:35Speaker 1: is back to good health. A whole different context A
- 8:40Speaker 1: number of years ago, we were watching the Summer Olympics
- 8:46Speaker 1: two thousand and we watched the parade of the Nations.
- 8:50Speaker 1: Isn't that a great experience when you see one country
- 8:53Speaker 1: after another. All of us are waiting for the USA,
- 8:56Speaker 1: I know, but we do tolerate the others as they come.
- 9:00Speaker 1: And one of them that was certainly beyond just tolerating
- 9:05Speaker 1: was when the Koreans came. In fifty years, they haven't
- 9:09Speaker 1: locked arms and joined hands, and we saw them in
- 9:13Speaker 1: that moment together, hands raised and holding to one another.
- 9:19Speaker 1: It was a great moment. We've waited for that, We've
- 9:22Speaker 1: wanted that, we've longed for that. If you have been
- 9:30Speaker 1: married for a number of years and you don't have children,
- 9:35Speaker 1: there's another experience of waiting, and the weight is worth it,
- 9:40Speaker 1: isn't it. You have prayed and you've tried, and you've
- 9:46Speaker 1: gone to the doctors, and you've talked to your friends,
- 9:50Speaker 1: and you've discussed it with people who have six kids
- 9:53Speaker 1: and wish you had two of them, and you've gone
- 9:55Speaker 1: through all of the all of the stuff there is
- 9:58Speaker 1: to go through, and then great, you know where I'm going. Honey,
- 10:04Speaker 1: I sit down. I've gotten news for you. It's a
- 10:08Speaker 1: great moment and you and you think, gosh, that's wonderful.
- 10:13Speaker 1: Here we are fifty six years old with our first baby. Oh.
- 10:20Speaker 1: I know you're not that old. But Abraham and Sarah
- 10:24Speaker 1: have you ever thought of them with a baby Buggy
- 10:26Speaker 1: ninety ninety nine? It's worth the wait, It's great. You know.
- 10:32Speaker 1: I'm thinking right now of a group of people who
- 10:35Speaker 1: waited four hundred and thirty years to be free. I mean,
- 10:39Speaker 1: can you imagine much longer than our nation has existed
- 10:47Speaker 1: as a nation four hundred thirty years living under the
- 10:56Speaker 1: domination of a cruel task master who didn't even know
- 11:00Speaker 1: their name and cared nothing of their history, and long
- 11:04Speaker 1: since had forgotten Joseph making bricks, building monuments to some
- 11:12Speaker 1: false deity, nameless slaves living in ghetto like settings, wondering
- 11:22Speaker 1: if God had forgotten his promise to Abraham when he
- 11:26Speaker 1: said in Genesis fifteen, the people will go into a
- 11:31Speaker 1: strange land, but they will come out. I will deliver them.
- 11:39Speaker 1: Will he ever remember what he said he would do?
- 11:42Speaker 1: And some must have thought it's over. Generation after generation,
- 11:48Speaker 1: and after enough of that and enough silence on God's part,
- 11:52Speaker 1: your mind does a number on you, and you think
- 11:55Speaker 1: it's over, it's done. Until there came on the scene,
- 12:03Speaker 1: an eighty year old shepherd whose resume didn't look at
- 12:12Speaker 1: all appropriate for the leader of this number of people.
- 12:18Speaker 1: And after one plague following another and yet another, finally
- 12:26Speaker 1: Pharaoh said, I surrender. Exodus twelve, verse thirty is the surrender.
- 12:37Speaker 1: And I don't know the last time you thought about it,
- 12:40Speaker 1: but mine was the last couple of weeks. I've been
- 12:42Speaker 1: thinking about that last phrase. There was no home where
- 12:46Speaker 1: there was not someone dead. Can you imagine in a
- 12:54Speaker 1: church I served a number of number of years ago
- 12:57Speaker 1: when Cynthia and I were just meeting and marrying, and
- 13:01Speaker 1: there were four in one family who died in a
- 13:05Speaker 1: horrible drowning experience in a local lake, and we had
- 13:10Speaker 1: that meaningful service where four coffins and one was a
- 13:14Speaker 1: child coffin, all lined up in the front. I remember thinking,
- 13:21Speaker 1: I'm not sure we're going to make it through this.
- 13:23Speaker 1: That was only four. If you've got a Bible, and
- 13:27Speaker 1: I hope you do. Without that, you'll be hopelessly lost.
- 13:31Speaker 1: I want you to turn to Exodus, chapter twelve, if
- 13:34Speaker 1: you're not familiar with your Bible. It's the second book
- 13:37Speaker 1: in the Old Testament. First year students at the seminary,
- 13:41Speaker 1: It's the second book in the Old Testament. Moses wrote
- 13:46Speaker 1: the book. It's from, if you will, his journal, and
- 13:50Speaker 1: in his journal he records the events that have transpired
- 13:56Speaker 1: up until this twelfth chapter. In time doesn't allow it.
- 14:00Speaker 1: But when you get to chapter twelve, verse thirty, you
- 14:04Speaker 1: know something significant has caused this to happen. Exodus twelve,
- 14:10Speaker 1: verse thirty. Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all
- 14:15Speaker 1: his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a
- 14:20Speaker 1: great cry in Egypt, For there was no home where
- 14:27Speaker 1: there was not someone did I pause? So you can
- 14:35Speaker 1: imagine it must have been horrible in the day when
- 14:44Speaker 1: there were not electric lights to light the street, where
- 14:49Speaker 1: there were no hospitals to care for the ailing, when
- 14:53Speaker 1: there were no churches in a pagan culture like Egypt.
- 14:59Speaker 1: Can you imagine in the wailing of the homes there
- 15:03Speaker 1: was not a home in which the first born was
- 15:07Speaker 1: not dead. And this was the climax of nine other plagues.
- 15:16Speaker 1: This was the last of the ten plagues where the
- 15:20Speaker 1: Death Angel had come determined to turn Pharaoh's heart from
- 15:28Speaker 1: his stubborn resistance to a willingness to let those people go.
- 15:35Speaker 1: So we're not surprised to read in verse thirty one,
- 15:38Speaker 1: this did it. The others didn't. This did it. Then
- 15:43Speaker 1: he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said,
- 15:47Speaker 1: rise up and get out, get out from among my people,
- 15:53Speaker 1: both you and the sons of Israel, and go. I've
- 15:57Speaker 1: marked in my Bible, rise up, get out, Go. No
- 16:04Speaker 1: landlord's eviction ever sounded better to a group of people.
- 16:10Speaker 1: I want you out of here, and I never want
- 16:13Speaker 1: to see you again. Get out. If that wasn't enough,
- 16:17Speaker 1: listen to the neighbors Verse thirty two. Take both your
- 16:21Speaker 1: flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go
- 16:24Speaker 1: and bless me also the Egyptians here are the neighbors.
- 16:27Speaker 1: The Egyptians urged the people to send them out of
- 16:31Speaker 1: the land in haste, for they said, we shall all
- 16:33Speaker 1: be dead. You keep those Hebrews around long enough, this
- 16:36Speaker 1: is just the beginning of something worse. Get them out
- 16:40Speaker 1: of here. So the people these are Hebrews, took their
- 16:43Speaker 1: dough before it was levened, and they're kneading bowls bound
- 16:48Speaker 1: up in the clothes on their shoulders. Imagine the scene. Now,
- 16:52Speaker 1: the sons of Israel had done according to the word
- 16:54Speaker 1: of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles
- 16:58Speaker 1: of silver and articles of gold and clothing. And the
- 17:03Speaker 1: Lord had given the people favor in the sight of
- 17:06Speaker 1: the Egyptians, so that they so that they let them
- 17:11Speaker 1: have their request. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. You know what,
- 17:15Speaker 1: that is the fulfillment of a prophecy. One of the
- 17:19Speaker 1: reasons we believe that the prophetic word of God will
- 17:22Speaker 1: yet be fulfilled is because previous prophecies have already been fulfilled.
- 17:27Speaker 1: Let me show you hold your place. Go to Genesis
- 17:30Speaker 1: chapter fifteen backed ooh, my, hundreds and hundreds of years
- 17:39Speaker 1: before the event. In Exodus twelve, Genesis fifteen, verse thirteen,
- 17:45Speaker 1: God spoke to Abram this promise fifteen thirteen. Know for
- 17:52Speaker 1: certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land
- 17:55Speaker 1: that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and
- 17:59Speaker 1: oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the
- 18:04Speaker 1: nation whom they will serve, and after the they will
- 18:08Speaker 1: come out. Put a circle around those words and write
- 18:11Speaker 1: in the margin, Exodus. Here's the prediction of the Exodus.
- 18:17Speaker 1: They will serve the Egyptians. But then they will come
- 18:21Speaker 1: out after four hundred years, and they will come out
- 18:24Speaker 1: with many possessions. Go back to Exodus twelve, verse thirty six.
- 18:30Speaker 1: They plundered the Egyptians. If you're going to run us out,
- 18:34Speaker 1: you might as well finance the trip. So we'll take clothing,
- 18:38Speaker 1: will take jewelry, will take articles of value to use,
- 18:44Speaker 1: silver and gold, and along with cattle and herds and flocks,
- 18:50Speaker 1: we will leave as you have told us to do.
- 18:53Speaker 1: You realize what Pharaoh did. He released as we're going
- 18:57Speaker 1: to see in a few moments, a working body of
- 19:02Speaker 1: men that numbered about six hundred thousand. The brickwork stopped,
- 19:10Speaker 1: the monuments were no longer going to be built. But
- 19:13Speaker 1: for Pharaoh it would mean for them relief, as he
- 19:19Speaker 1: himself even buried his first born. I've gone through a
- 19:26Speaker 1: lot of experiences in my years on this earth, but
- 19:29Speaker 1: thank the Lord, I've never buried one of my own children.
- 19:35Speaker 1: And to survive our children. Could there be any pain worse?
- 19:40Speaker 1: And it's in that context that this man says, take
- 19:43Speaker 1: your flocks verse thirty two, your herds that would refer
- 19:47Speaker 1: to the goats. Later we'll read of their cattle. Take
- 19:52Speaker 1: all of that with you, and get out in a hurry.
- 19:56Speaker 1: Verse thirty three says the Egyptian urged them to go.
- 20:01Speaker 1: Not only did the landlord want them out, the neighbors
- 20:04Speaker 1: wanted them out. Get them out of here. So the
- 20:09Speaker 1: people look at this if you've if you've read it,
- 20:12Speaker 1: I'm sure you have the grapes of wrath. Remember the
- 20:17Speaker 1: scene when they make their way. This reminds me of
- 20:20Speaker 1: that these are smart people. God knew ahead of time.
- 20:23Speaker 1: They're going to need some things when they get out
- 20:25Speaker 1: in the middle of wilderness. Why would they need gold
- 20:28Speaker 1: and silver and clothing. Well, we know why they need clothing,
- 20:31Speaker 1: but why would they need gold and silver? The Lord's
- 20:34Speaker 1: plan is way in advance of ours. He had a
- 20:38Speaker 1: place of worship in mind, and they weren't going to
- 20:42Speaker 1: be out in the middle of the wilderness earning living.
- 20:45Speaker 1: So they ripped off the Egyptians. This is a great moment.
- 20:49Speaker 1: I mean, this is four hundred and thirty years of
- 20:52Speaker 1: getting back some things that they certainly had earned. Now
- 20:56Speaker 1: look at the size of the group. The Sun of
- 21:00Speaker 1: Israel journeyed from Ramsees to Sukulf. From Ramsees, which is
- 21:06Speaker 1: in the heart of the capital where they had been living.
- 21:08Speaker 1: Their land was Goshen. But from Ramsees, the metroplex, if
- 21:14Speaker 1: you will, to Sukhoth, which was not that far southeast
- 21:18Speaker 1: of there. There's a group of some six hundred thousand
- 21:23Speaker 1: men on foot, aside from children, aside from wives. And
- 21:29Speaker 1: Ron Allen, or, one of our profits at Dallas Seminary,
- 21:34Speaker 1: whose life is committed to the Semitic languages and teaches
- 21:39Speaker 1: in a number of subjects, theology, Bible exposition, but especially
- 21:43Speaker 1: adept in the Hebrew language, has been a contributing editor
- 21:47Speaker 1: for the wonderful work called a Expositor's Bible Commentary, twelve
- 21:53Speaker 1: volume work and the second volume on the Book of Numbers.
- 21:57Speaker 1: In his introduction, doctor Allan does a little educated guessing,
- 22:03Speaker 1: if you will, on the size of the whole group.
- 22:06Speaker 1: This says six hundred thousand. Alan writes if the number
- 22:10Speaker 1: of the men who were mustered for war from the
- 22:13Speaker 1: age of twenty and up actually add up to over
- 22:17Speaker 1: six hundred thousand, then the total populace would have had
- 22:21Speaker 1: to be at least two million persons, perhaps considerably more
- 22:29Speaker 1: pause two million people. Now we think our growth has
- 22:41Speaker 1: been rather sudden. Moses, the pastor has two million people
- 22:54Speaker 1: to deal with, and to make matters a little more
- 22:58Speaker 1: complicated verse thirty eight, to a mixed multitude that was added.
- 23:04Speaker 1: So the gates of Egypt open, and the people began
- 23:10Speaker 1: to pour out with all of their belongings, and some
- 23:14Speaker 1: of the Egyptian belongings, and the herds and the flocks,
- 23:19Speaker 1: and the cattle and the babies. And you know who's
- 23:26Speaker 1: laughing right now, Our pastoral staff is laughing right now.
- 23:30Speaker 1: Imagine the responsibility. And on top of that we've got
- 23:34Speaker 1: some gentiles thrown in, maybe even some of the Egyptians
- 23:37Speaker 1: that wanted out, says one of the commentators. There were
- 23:43Speaker 1: some who wanted to go in this new beginning, and
- 23:45Speaker 1: so this mixed multitude. If you wonder if they were
- 23:48Speaker 1: a problem by the time you get to numbers eleven,
- 23:50Speaker 1: verse four, they're called the rabble. Nehemiah thirteen to three
- 23:56Speaker 1: calls them foreigners. So these are not monotheistic worshiping Hebrews
- 24:04Speaker 1: who serve Yahweh. These are a mixed group people from
- 24:10Speaker 1: around who had gotten worried about the plagues and knew
- 24:13Speaker 1: that there was talk of some exodus in the air,
- 24:16Speaker 1: and when that opportunity came out, they went. So we've
- 24:20Speaker 1: got a group of a couple million or more people.
- 24:26Speaker 1: Cynthia and I not long ago, just sat and sort
- 24:28Speaker 1: of laughed together as we tried to imagine life on
- 24:32Speaker 1: the range for these people. I mean, some of it
- 24:38Speaker 1: I won't get into. You can imagine you turn me
- 24:42Speaker 1: loose with a little bit of freedom to think. We
- 24:47Speaker 1: got babies being raised, We've got people who are dying.
- 24:51Speaker 1: We've got burials along the way. We've got we've got
- 24:55Speaker 1: older folks, younger folks, people who are disabled who can't
- 24:59Speaker 1: keep up. We've got we've got the need to deal
- 25:01Speaker 1: with all kinds of inter conflict and struggles with one another.
- 25:07Speaker 1: Just just imagine. And you, who have companies of one
- 25:10Speaker 1: hundred hundred and fifty on your staff, think of this.
- 25:13Speaker 1: These people didn't know each other. I mean, they don't
- 25:16Speaker 1: even know their leader. He came out of nowhere, like
- 25:19Speaker 1: the mask man who stepped on the scene and brought
- 25:22Speaker 1: the plagues from their perspective. And now he's leading them
- 25:26Speaker 1: and they're they're on their way to some promised land.
- 25:31Speaker 1: Look at verse five of chapter thirteen. It shall be
- 25:35Speaker 1: when the Lord brings you to the land. Look at
- 25:38Speaker 1: the names. The Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites,
- 25:42Speaker 1: and the Hivite, Thebusites, all of the Heites are over there.
- 25:46Speaker 1: You're gonna go to You're gonna go to the land
- 25:48Speaker 1: you never lived in, and you're gonna deal with people
- 25:51Speaker 1: who have been following other gods that you have not followed,
- 25:54Speaker 1: and that will be in the warp and woof of
- 25:58Speaker 1: the land. And they've never been there. And so with
- 26:02Speaker 1: promise on their hearts, they leave full of excitement about
- 26:06Speaker 1: being freed from slavery. And if you've never been enslave,
- 26:10Speaker 1: you can't imagine the freedom feelings. I mean, Patrick Henry
- 26:16Speaker 1: made the statement I'll take death if I can't have liberty.
- 26:21Speaker 1: I will not live longer, he says in seventeen seventy five.
- 26:25Speaker 1: Under England's rule, it's liberty or it's death. We who
- 26:34Speaker 1: lived in the days when World War II ended, having
- 26:37Speaker 1: been sandwiched between imperial powers from east and west, remember
- 26:43Speaker 1: when word traveled through the land that we have won,
- 26:49Speaker 1: and it made all the headlines of all the papers
- 26:52Speaker 1: in two three inch letters, and these countries were freed,
- 27:00Speaker 1: and these extermination camps, the fences were taken down, the
- 27:05Speaker 1: faces that we saw, and toward the end of the eighties,
- 27:13Speaker 1: after our president had said, mister Gorbachev, tear this wall down,
- 27:19Speaker 1: and it came down. Remember what you did. I don't
- 27:22Speaker 1: know what your family did, but just danced all over
- 27:25Speaker 1: the family room. It was the greatest moment. We weren't
- 27:28Speaker 1: even there when the Berlin Wall fell. Or how about
- 27:31Speaker 1: Romania when they took cusssque out and for the first
- 27:35Speaker 1: time the Romanians tasted the sweet savor of freedom, and
- 27:45Speaker 1: most recently Yugoslavia. You and I, who live in a
- 27:51Speaker 1: context of freedom and have all our lives sort of
- 27:54Speaker 1: check our watches. Is this about over? When? In fact,
- 27:59Speaker 1: it's when time stops as freedom dawns. So Moses stops.
- 28:12Speaker 1: He stops when they get to Sukhoth. If you look
- 28:15Speaker 1: on a map, it's just not that far from Ramses,
- 28:19Speaker 1: just down the road a piece, and he reviews what's happened,
- 28:28Speaker 1: like a good leader, before we go any further. I
- 28:32Speaker 1: can just hear Moses say before, hey, people, before we
- 28:34Speaker 1: go any further, it's time to stop and to regroup
- 28:38Speaker 1: and to learn something from all of this. See the
- 28:42Speaker 1: Lord speaking to Moses indirectly, then spoke to the people
- 28:48Speaker 1: Verse fourteen. Now, the time that the sons of Israel
- 28:50Speaker 1: lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. It
- 28:56Speaker 1: came about at the end of four hundred and thirty
- 28:58Speaker 1: years to the very day, love the way that reads
- 29:01Speaker 1: to the very day, that all of the hosts of
- 29:04Speaker 1: the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. If
- 29:07Speaker 1: you like marking your bibles, put Exodus and mark went out.
- 29:11Speaker 1: The word exodus means to exit in Hebrew, to go out.
- 29:16Speaker 1: They they exited, and after four hundred and thirty years
- 29:21Speaker 1: they left. And look at what the Lord told Moses
- 29:25Speaker 1: to tell them, men and women, it is a knight
- 29:28Speaker 1: to be observed for the Lord, for having brought them
- 29:31Speaker 1: out from the land of Egypt. This night is for
- 29:35Speaker 1: the Lord to be observed. It repeats by all the
- 29:39Speaker 1: sons of Israel throughout their generation. It's a very interesting term.
- 29:49Speaker 1: Schamer is the Hebrew word. This is an unusual stem.
- 29:53Speaker 1: Chamarem is the word shammariem, and a shammariem can even
- 29:59Speaker 1: be rendered celebrate. They were to take this night, and
- 30:04Speaker 1: they were to make this night so significant that it
- 30:07Speaker 1: was to become for them a celebration. We use the
- 30:12Speaker 1: same word, by the way, interchangeably with the lord's table.
- 30:15Speaker 1: We say we observe the Lord's table, or we celebrate
- 30:19Speaker 1: the Lord's table. And it goes back to this particular term.
- 30:23Speaker 1: This is a night that we are never to forget,
- 30:26Speaker 1: that we are always to observe. And it is the
- 30:30Speaker 1: ordinance of verse forty three the Passover. Look at it.
- 30:36Speaker 1: It is the ordinance of the Passover. You remember the meal.
- 30:42Speaker 1: You remember the details of the meal, the herbs and
- 30:47Speaker 1: the unleavened bread, and the lamb, all of this prepared
- 30:50Speaker 1: a certain way. They were to eat it on their feet,
- 30:53Speaker 1: with their staff in their hand, knowing that before the
- 30:57Speaker 1: meal was cool, that be on their way out on
- 31:00Speaker 1: to the exodus, and it was to become for them
- 31:03Speaker 1: an annual anniversary to this day. The Jews will tell
- 31:09Speaker 1: you their most significant holiday is Passover, and Orthodox Jews
- 31:14Speaker 1: observe it with intense regularity. They have placed a flag
- 31:22Speaker 1: in their minds as well as a circle on their calendar,
- 31:25Speaker 1: and it is a period of time in which they
- 31:28Speaker 1: observe the Passover, the event that led to the release
- 31:35Speaker 1: of their forefathers from Egypt. You know, I pause for
- 31:40Speaker 1: a moment and say, it is hard to make a
- 31:46Speaker 1: group of people who have never known slavery excited about freedom.
- 31:52Speaker 1: But if I were speaking these words today in another country,
- 31:56Speaker 1: one of those I mentioned earlier, there would be an
- 31:59Speaker 1: understand like we could never have, because they know what
- 32:03Speaker 1: it is like to live under a cruel task master.
- 32:08Speaker 1: They know what it is like not to be able
- 32:10Speaker 1: to live where they prefer, or to work where they
- 32:13Speaker 1: would wish, or to make what they could, or to
- 32:18Speaker 1: do with their lives as they feel led to do.
- 32:24Speaker 1: It is so significant to the Lord, and it is
- 32:27Speaker 1: to be so significant to the Hebrews that they were
- 32:30Speaker 1: to drive a stake in that day and never ever
- 32:34Speaker 1: forget it. They were to observe it, which I have considered.
- 32:40Speaker 1: I have suggested the word celebrate it. In fact, look
- 32:44Speaker 1: at verse forty seven. All the congregation of Israel are
- 32:48Speaker 1: to celebrate this. My new American standard version renders it.
- 32:52Speaker 1: It's a different verb. It's not Schamer there, but it
- 32:55Speaker 1: does convey the idea of the other term to celebrate this.
- 32:58Speaker 1: And then verse forty eight, he says the same thing,
- 33:01Speaker 1: let him come near to celebrate it. So they were
- 33:04Speaker 1: first to celebrate it. They were to celebrate this, and
- 33:09Speaker 1: verse three of chapter thirteen says they were to remember it.
- 33:15Speaker 1: Moses said to the people, remember this day. Before I
- 33:24Speaker 1: go any further, let me say there's an analogy here
- 33:27Speaker 1: that's beautiful. Most of us listening to this message today
- 33:32Speaker 1: can go back to the day when we came to Christ.
- 33:35Speaker 1: We can go back to the cross, as it cast
- 33:38Speaker 1: a shadow across our life. We can remember when we
- 33:41Speaker 1: gave the Lord Jesus Christ the controls, when we transferred
- 33:48Speaker 1: our sins and got in return his righteousness. There are
- 33:52Speaker 1: songs written about it. More songs about that in the
- 33:56Speaker 1: hymnal than any other song, one of my favorites. Redeemed.
- 34:00Speaker 1: How I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood
- 34:03Speaker 1: of the Lamb, Redeemed through his infinite mercy and his child,
- 34:08Speaker 1: and forever I am redeemed, Redeemed, redeemed by the blood
- 34:14Speaker 1: of the Lamb. It is a day to celebrate, and
- 34:18Speaker 1: it is a day to remember. Can you remember your slavery?
- 34:24Speaker 1: Can you remember the period of time in your life
- 34:27Speaker 1: before Christ came? Can you remember the addictions that you
- 34:31Speaker 1: couldn't stop. Can you remember the despair of your lifestyle
- 34:38Speaker 1: that left you hanging regularly? Can you recall waking up
- 34:45Speaker 1: with that brown taste in your mouth after nights when
- 34:49Speaker 1: you thought it would be so much fun. Can you
- 34:51Speaker 1: recall what it was like, the emptiness, the lostness, and
- 34:59Speaker 1: now but the Cross has come. What a difference it
- 35:02Speaker 1: has made for you to now celebrate and for you
- 35:06Speaker 1: to remember. I want to go further in this There's
- 35:11Speaker 1: more here. In the thirteenth chapter, Moses gets very specific
- 35:18Speaker 1: with those who were listening to him that day. He
- 35:23Speaker 1: stops long enough for them to really do some thinking.
- 35:27Speaker 1: Thirteen three. They were to remember the day that the
- 35:30Speaker 1: Lord brought him out by his powerful hand. Verse five
- 35:35Speaker 1: says that you are to observe the right in this month.
- 35:41Speaker 1: Verse eight you are to tell your son about it.
- 35:46Speaker 1: Tell him about that day what the Lord did. You
- 35:50Speaker 1: are to keep the ordinance year from year to year.
- 35:53Speaker 1: Verse ten are you following this? Observe verse five, tell,
- 35:58Speaker 1: verse eight keep. Verse ten twelve is to devote. You
- 36:03Speaker 1: are to devote to the Lord the first offspring of
- 36:08Speaker 1: every womb. That means the womb of their animals, their cattle,
- 36:11Speaker 1: the first offspring of every beast that you own. The
- 36:16Speaker 1: males belong to the Lord. They were to observe, to tell,
- 36:20Speaker 1: to keep, and to devote. These were to become significant priorities.
- 36:29Speaker 1: You know what. They knew nothing of this kind of
- 36:32Speaker 1: life before the exodus. This is a dramatic change for them.
- 36:39Speaker 1: They had known nothing but slavery. Before the exodus. They
- 36:45Speaker 1: had known no other master but Pharaoh. They had done
- 36:48Speaker 1: no other work but the monotonous work of making bricks
- 36:51Speaker 1: and serving the task master of the land. All of
- 36:56Speaker 1: their time and energy and thinking had gone into that
- 36:59Speaker 1: kind of slavish existence. They existed because of the Pharaoh.
- 37:07Speaker 1: Now their lifestyles are completely and dramatically changed. There was
- 37:12Speaker 1: now to be time for the family. Talk to your sons.
- 37:17Speaker 1: There was now to be time spent celebrating and remembering.
- 37:21Speaker 1: Every year they were to rest and find renewal at
- 37:26Speaker 1: least one day of every week, and they would learn
- 37:29Speaker 1: about that. You shall observe, you shall tell, you shall keep,
- 37:33Speaker 1: you shall devote. I used to pray with a man
- 37:37Speaker 1: when I just started in seminary, and one of his prayers,
- 37:40Speaker 1: I will never forget, Lord, help me never forget what
- 37:43Speaker 1: it was like outside of Christ. Not a great prayer.
- 37:49Speaker 1: Help me to remember and help me to celebrate. Speaking
- 37:55Speaker 1: of which, when you do those things over in Chapter thirteen,
- 38:03Speaker 1: here they are verse five, you shall observe this right
- 38:08Speaker 1: in this month, observe. I've got that in my Bible
- 38:12Speaker 1: mark number one. When you celebrate and remember, you observe
- 38:17Speaker 1: Verse eight, you tell your son. That's number two. Verse ten.
- 38:22Speaker 1: You keep the ordinance from year to year. That's verse ten.
- 38:26Speaker 1: Number three, and you devote to the Lord whatever he asked.
- 38:31Speaker 1: That's number four. I've marked them. You observe, you tell,
- 38:36Speaker 1: you keep, and you devote. Isn't that helpful? Now? Holidays
- 38:44Speaker 1: being what they are, ritual that they become, they sort
- 38:50Speaker 1: of come and go, and if we're not careful, we
- 38:52Speaker 1: forget to pass on why we celebrate what we remember.
- 38:58Speaker 1: Let's go to my favorite Thanksgiving. I know it should
- 39:03Speaker 1: be Christmas, but forgive me, Thanksgiving is a lot better.
- 39:09Speaker 1: You don't have to buy anybody anything. You don't have
- 39:13Speaker 1: to climb up on your roof and break your leg
- 39:15Speaker 1: trying to get those lights on the house, don't have
- 39:17Speaker 1: to take them down. I sound like Grinch if I
- 39:20Speaker 1: go on with this, so I'll stop there. But with
- 39:23Speaker 1: Thanksgiving the only one that makes out of the turkey farmers,
- 39:26Speaker 1: and they deserve it. They worked hard raising those dumb
- 39:30Speaker 1: little birds, and now we get to eat them. So
- 39:34Speaker 1: on Thanksgiving, you eat and you sit, and if you
- 39:42Speaker 1: get tired of doing that, then you sit and eat.
- 39:46Speaker 1: You can do that. Also, then you watch a ball
- 39:49Speaker 1: game where we usually just beat the snot out of
- 39:52Speaker 1: whatever team comes into Dallas, except this year. Make no
- 39:58Speaker 1: promises about this, And if we're not careful, as I
- 40:04Speaker 1: have a little fun with this favorite holiday of mine,
- 40:07Speaker 1: we'll miss ever explaining to our sons verse fourteen of
- 40:13Speaker 1: chapter thirteen, what is this? What are we doing this for?
- 40:19Speaker 1: In our day? We eat turkey and dressing, and we
- 40:22Speaker 1: enjoy delicious vegetables and pastry of some kind that's our favorite,
- 40:29Speaker 1: and there's usually pumpkin pie and makes my jaws just
- 40:34Speaker 1: salivate thinking about that. And we have all of those
- 40:38Speaker 1: things that are meaningful. But if we're not careful, and
- 40:40Speaker 1: if the Hebrews weren't careful, the roasted lamb and the
- 40:44Speaker 1: chirochef paste and the bitter herbs and the significance of
- 40:49Speaker 1: what they were serving would have gotten lost in the meal. Daddy,
- 40:55Speaker 1: what is this verse fourteen? I love it, you say
- 41:00Speaker 1: to him with a powerful hand. Yahweh brought us out
- 41:04Speaker 1: of Egypt from the house of slavery. It came about
- 41:08Speaker 1: when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go. That the
- 41:11Speaker 1: Lord killed every first born in the land of Egypt,
- 41:14Speaker 1: both the firstborn of man and the first born of beasts.
- 41:18Speaker 1: Therefore I sacrifice I love that son. Let me explain
- 41:24Speaker 1: this to you. Let me explain what life was like
- 41:27Speaker 1: in the days of Egypt. Four more over four centuries.
- 41:35Speaker 1: Our forefathers lived in slavery, and then that great day
- 41:39Speaker 1: came under Moses, when the gates were flung open and
- 41:42Speaker 1: the people poured out into the land to be free,
- 41:46Speaker 1: and the Lord stopped us in the process at Sukkoth,
- 41:50Speaker 1: and he established back to chapter twelve, verse forty three,
- 41:55Speaker 1: the ordinance of the passover, the thanksgiving of the Hebrews.
- 42:03Speaker 1: That's why we have lamb. That's what they serve. That
- 42:06Speaker 1: transitional night when the death Angel came and passed over
- 42:11Speaker 1: the homes that had blood across the door pieces, and
- 42:15Speaker 1: he came to the Egyptian homes, and there the first
- 42:18Speaker 1: born of every home died, and every first born of
- 42:22Speaker 1: the beasts died. And that night was the night to remember.
- 42:27Speaker 1: We had fixed lamb, and we had fixed the unleavened
- 42:31Speaker 1: bread and the bitter herbs, and we were to eat standing,
- 42:35Speaker 1: knowing even before the food was cold, we were gone.
- 42:43Speaker 1: And I sacrifice because of that. Let this sink in.
- 42:58Speaker 1: We who live our lives free and indulged and overfed
- 43:05Speaker 1: and underchallenged, let this sink in. This is about freedom.
- 43:17Speaker 1: And tragically, when our generation, our culture hears freedom, it
- 43:22Speaker 1: is the common thing to think, I am now free
- 43:24Speaker 1: to do as I please. That is never God's concept
- 43:29Speaker 1: of freedom. I am now freed from a taskmaster that
- 43:34Speaker 1: kept me from serving my God. That's freedom. I no
- 43:39Speaker 1: longer have to please the Pharaoh of my past, and
- 43:44Speaker 1: now under the Living God, am able to sacrifice to
- 43:52Speaker 1: him in my life. You know what life was like
- 43:57Speaker 1: in Egypt. It was a life that never took time
- 44:03Speaker 1: for God. It was work. There was not a day
- 44:08Speaker 1: of rest. There was no sense of freedom to serve
- 44:13Speaker 1: the Living God. There was nothing but work. Children born, children,
- 44:19Speaker 1: coming of age, children work, working, working till they died.
- 44:24Speaker 1: The next generation born, coming of age, working working till
- 44:28Speaker 1: they died. And suddenly, when they're out, away from the
- 44:32Speaker 1: bondage of Egypt, they are free. And Moses said, drive
- 44:38Speaker 1: a stake, never forget. We have been redeemed. Lifestyle changes
- 44:46Speaker 1: beginning now, and we sacrifice, you know, just as you
- 44:59Speaker 1: may not right now. I don't think the people of
- 45:02Speaker 1: the Hebrews knew what that meant. I don't think they
- 45:06Speaker 1: grasped that. I think they learned that. Do you know
- 45:12Speaker 1: something when they finally got to Sinai. I'm running ahead
- 45:17Speaker 1: of myself, but I can't wait to tell you I
- 45:20Speaker 1: found something I had never seen before. If I were
- 45:23Speaker 1: to ask you, what do you think was the first
- 45:27Speaker 1: thing God did when he brought him to Mount Sinai,
- 45:30Speaker 1: I would venture to say, you would guess he gave
- 45:32Speaker 1: him the Ten commandments. That's the most familiar reminder of SINAI.
- 45:42Speaker 1: Look at chapter twenty six. You we're going to run ahead,
- 45:46Speaker 1: going to blow a great sermon in the future about
- 45:48Speaker 1: telling you this ahead of time. But I can't wait.
- 45:53Speaker 1: It's a great place. But that's the wrong reference. Twenty five.
- 45:56Speaker 1: Exodus twenty five twenty six is a great chapter, but
- 45:59Speaker 1: it has nothing to do with what I want to
- 46:00Speaker 1: show you. Twenty five. Verse one, here it is, Look
- 46:05Speaker 1: they are Moses is now on the mountain. Is a
- 46:07Speaker 1: great scene. Verse eighteen of the previous chapter. He entered
- 46:11Speaker 1: the midst of the cloud, and as he went up
- 46:15Speaker 1: to the mountain. Moses was on the mountain forty days
- 46:18Speaker 1: and forty nights, and he's in the presence of the Lord,
- 46:21Speaker 1: and the cloud is down over the people and they
- 46:23Speaker 1: can't see, and he's with the Lord, and the Lord
- 46:25Speaker 1: speaks to Moses, God says verse two, tell the sons
- 46:30Speaker 1: of Israel to raise the contribution that'll preach. Look at that.
- 46:36Speaker 1: You knew I'd find an offering in here somewhere, didn't you?
- 46:41Speaker 1: You know why? By the way, do you know how
- 46:43Speaker 1: they could raise a contribution from what they got from
- 46:45Speaker 1: the Egyptians. That's why they brought the silver and gold out.
- 46:48Speaker 1: God had a plan all along, and they had never
- 46:51Speaker 1: up until this time, had a place to worship their God,
- 46:54Speaker 1: or God had a place to be among them to
- 46:56Speaker 1: be worshiped. And the Chakaina, Glory of God, when the
- 46:59Speaker 1: tarber Knacle was completed, came down like a laser and
- 47:03Speaker 1: filled this innermost center, called the holiest of all with
- 47:08Speaker 1: his presence. As to Cherubim reached over the altar and
- 47:12Speaker 1: the mercy seat and the Chakaina. The glory of God rested,
- 47:16Speaker 1: and the people of Israel stood sucking in their breath
- 47:20Speaker 1: outside this place of worship, knowing that God had used
- 47:24Speaker 1: their contribution to build the place where his glory would rest.
- 47:29Speaker 1: Isn't that fantastic? Moses on the mountain, the Lord says,
- 47:35Speaker 1: raise a contribution from every man whose heart moves him,
- 47:40Speaker 1: that you shall raise my contribution. And this is the reason,
- 47:43Speaker 1: he tells him a little later, here's the Tabernacle. Here's
- 47:46Speaker 1: the plan, first major building program for God's people. For
- 47:52Speaker 1: the first time, they have a building in which to
- 47:55Speaker 1: meet with their God Man. When I found out I
- 47:59Speaker 1: just about glory. This is wonderful. You know what. There
- 48:04Speaker 1: was no building committee. Wait a minute, now, there there
- 48:10Speaker 1: was no finance committee. Maybe the reason was the success.
- 48:15Speaker 1: I don't know. It just just occurs to me. There
- 48:18Speaker 1: there wasn't a lot of organization, you know what. There
- 48:21Speaker 1: was that there was a direct word from God right
- 48:26Speaker 1: through his spokesman, which in those days miraculous though it
- 48:30Speaker 1: was occurred and from Moses. He came down with verbal instructions.
- 48:34Speaker 1: There wasn't even drafting plans. He came down. He said,
- 48:39Speaker 1: we're to make the labor like this. We're to make
- 48:41Speaker 1: the candle lobbrary or the candlesticks like this. Uh, We're
- 48:44Speaker 1: to make the the curtains like this, and we're to
- 48:47Speaker 1: make the the uh, the poles that we carry. It's
- 48:50Speaker 1: all got to be portable. And and the veil will
- 48:53Speaker 1: look like this. It'll be made from that. And and
- 48:56Speaker 1: he gave all these notes down, and he's writing it
- 48:59Speaker 1: all down. But mainly it works because the people sacrificed.
- 49:08Speaker 1: That's it. In fact, they gave so much that Moses
- 49:17Speaker 1: had to say stop, we can't take anymore. I've often
- 49:24Speaker 1: thought that would be the greatest experience the pastor could
- 49:27Speaker 1: have is to say, please, please, no more. It's just
- 49:33Speaker 1: too much for us to have to count. You know.
- 49:42Speaker 1: Part of the reason it worked there was nothing else
- 49:46Speaker 1: that distracted them. Cloud by day in the fire by night.
- 49:52Speaker 1: Manned to feed them water from the rock and God
- 50:00Speaker 1: and God, well, what else do you need? Their shoes
- 50:07Speaker 1: never wore out, and their clothes never got old. That magnificent.
- 50:12Speaker 1: Remember when Donald Barnhouse, back in the great heyday of
- 50:16Speaker 1: his ministry in Philadelphia, stood in front of a microphone
- 50:19Speaker 1: and would hold forth and he was taking questions from
- 50:23Speaker 1: the audience, and kids from all over the campuses around
- 50:26Speaker 1: Philadelphia packed this building. And one of the kids in
- 50:31Speaker 1: the balcony said, doctor Barnhouse, how is it that the
- 50:36Speaker 1: people of Israel could walk forty years in the wilderness
- 50:41Speaker 1: and the clothes never wear out, and the sandals never
- 50:44Speaker 1: wear through, and they never never were hungry? How could
- 50:48Speaker 1: that be? Barnhouse said, God, It's one word God. Of course,
- 50:56Speaker 1: he spoke like the fourth member of the Trinity, So
- 50:58Speaker 1: in here and it is God. And this little kid
- 51:02Speaker 1: in the balcony goes, oh, now I understand, Doctor Barnhouse said, no,
- 51:08Speaker 1: you don't, Son, Nobody understands. Isn't that a great answer?
- 51:15Speaker 1: Nobody can explain it. If you can explain it, you
- 51:20Speaker 1: did it. You get the credit back in Exodus chapter thirteen. Therefore,
- 51:32Speaker 1: he says in verse fifteen, I sacrifice to the Lord,
- 51:40Speaker 1: and my sons I redeem. They're God's, they're his. My
- 51:48Speaker 1: cattle are his, my crops that we may ever grow
- 51:52Speaker 1: or his. Everything I own is his, And I sacrifice
- 51:56Speaker 1: to him in whatever he wishes. Because I observe, I
- 52:01Speaker 1: tell I keep, and I devote. That's it. You know what.
- 52:09Speaker 1: I hardly need to apply it. You're a very bright congregation.
- 52:14Speaker 1: You know exactly where I'm going. We are a large group.
- 52:19Speaker 1: We're a modern day mixed multitude, if you will. We
- 52:24Speaker 1: don't know each other. You would be hard pressed to
- 52:27Speaker 1: name twenty other people in this room first and last name.
- 52:33Speaker 1: Unless you came as friends. You probably haven't gotten that close.
- 52:36Speaker 1: In a large gathering like ours. It's difficult to get
- 52:39Speaker 1: that close. We're a large group like the Hebrews. We
- 52:46Speaker 1: need to remember, and we need to celebrate, and we're
- 52:51Speaker 1: going to continue to do that as long as the
- 52:53Speaker 1: Lord is the Lord of this assembly. We're going to
- 52:57Speaker 1: celebrate at times when it is appropriate that we do so.
- 53:01Speaker 1: Anniversary times, remarkable occasions where He breaks through and does
- 53:07Speaker 1: the phenomenon, and we are going to remember. We're going
- 53:13Speaker 1: to remember the simplicity of our roots, and we're going
- 53:17Speaker 1: to remember what it is the Lord brought us from
- 53:20Speaker 1: and what he's bringing us to. Some of you have
- 53:24Speaker 1: come out of churches that abused you, They manipulated and
- 53:29Speaker 1: took advantage of you. Some of you have come off
- 53:32Speaker 1: the street. Many of you couldn't even define worship, but
- 53:40Speaker 1: you long for it. Your heart cries for true, genuine,
- 53:45Speaker 1: authentic worship, and we want that for you. I want
- 53:51Speaker 1: that for myself. Like was said in the video we
- 53:57Speaker 1: just saw, I remember the words of West lost in
- 54:00Speaker 1: wonder and love and praise. There are some occasions I
- 54:07Speaker 1: will want to just sit in the new building since
- 54:11Speaker 1: we won't have to pick up the chairs and haul
- 54:14Speaker 1: everything out and put it in storage, and I will
- 54:17Speaker 1: just enjoy sitting and watching the lights go out and
- 54:22Speaker 1: the flock leave, and just remember and celebrate. Be wonderful.
- 54:31Speaker 2: Because I have seen it when it was just a
- 54:34Speaker 2: tiny little dream.
- 54:43Speaker 1: That's what we want, And at that moment, I will
- 54:50Speaker 1: tell you I am willing to sacrifice whatever, and I will.
- 54:59Speaker 1: It's that good, it's that worth it, And like the Hebrews,
- 55:06Speaker 1: we're discovering the importance of that sacrifice. You know who
- 55:15Speaker 1: I'll tell. I'll tell my grandchildren. We'll be sitting together
- 55:21Speaker 1: and Thanksgiving and I'll say, let me tell you a story,
- 55:29Speaker 1: and they'll sit on the edge of their seat and
- 55:32Speaker 1: we talk about what the Lord did and how we
- 55:35Speaker 1: did it. And there will be a time or two
- 55:38Speaker 1: I'll just say it was God, and I can't explain anymore.
- 55:45Speaker 1: Let's pray, you know, with your heads bowed right now,
- 55:56Speaker 1: I just have to tell you. I realize that you've,
- 56:01Speaker 1: maybe some of you have never had an exodus. You
- 56:05Speaker 1: still serving Pharaoh's still building monuments to yourself or to him.
- 56:13Speaker 1: He's still trapped in that despairing life that is so
- 56:16Speaker 1: empty and sometimes frightening, and full of guilt and the
- 56:25Speaker 1: grind of self effort. Come on to the cross, Just
- 56:34Speaker 1: come on to the cross. Jesus paid it all, and
- 56:41Speaker 1: he will take every one of the sins that has
- 56:45Speaker 1: dogged your steps and ruined your life, and he will
- 56:55Speaker 1: forgive you, and he will take you through to freedom,
- 57:00Speaker 1: to service and sacrifice. I'd love to talk to you
- 57:05Speaker 1: following the meeting. If that's the kind of language that connects. Lord,
- 57:17Speaker 1: deliver us from anything that would corrupt the purity of
- 57:24Speaker 1: all of these motives. Guard us from being a religious
- 57:30Speaker 1: body just another political church that puts a cross up
- 57:41Speaker 1: to help people think there's a difference. Help us love
- 57:48Speaker 1: one another and forgive one another, and look beyond each
- 57:56Speaker 1: other's differences, and embrace each other in grace and freedom.
- 58:06Speaker 1: Your word teaches us by him. Therefore, let us offer
- 58:09Speaker 1: the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the
- 58:13Speaker 1: fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. Lord.
- 58:21Speaker 1: If we only had another day to live and no further,
- 58:24Speaker 1: we would love to spend it in the sacrifice of praise,
- 58:29Speaker 1: in the giving over to you whatever it is you
- 58:31Speaker 1: have entrusted to us. Help us in the process of
- 58:36Speaker 1: the building of this building not to get caught in
- 58:38Speaker 1: the traps that often capsize ministries. May our focus stay
- 58:45Speaker 1: on Christ. May our lives be softened and nurtured at
- 58:50Speaker 1: the foot of the cross. May we learn the pleasure
- 58:57Speaker 1: while also learning the discipline of sacrifice. May we learn
- 59:02Speaker 1: to give till it hurts, and then do so until
- 59:06Speaker 1: it begins to feel great. May we know what it
- 59:10Speaker 1: means to enter into this worship of the God who
- 59:17Speaker 1: has the right to every cell of our bodies. Teach
- 59:24Speaker 1: us in the process that ministry that costs nothing accomplishes nothing.
- 59:30Speaker 1: Remind us this day that this has been your work
- 59:34Speaker 1: from the get go, and it will be your work
- 59:37Speaker 1: as long as it is in existence. And should your
- 59:41Speaker 1: son terry in your plan, it will outlive all of
- 59:44Speaker 1: us for your greater glory. And Now unto him who
- 59:50Speaker 1: is able to guard us from stumbling and to present
- 59:52Speaker 1: us fault less before the presence of His glory with
- 59:56Speaker 1: exceeding joy, to the only wise God, are safe, vior
- 1:00:01Speaker 1: be glory and majesty, dominion and power forever, and effort
- 1:00:09Speaker 1: and effort and all God's people, said a man.
- 1:00:18Speaker 3: The preceding message, A New Beginning Worth waiting for, was
- 1:00:23Speaker 3: copyrighted in two thousand, two thousand and two, and twenty eighteen,
- 1:00:27Speaker 3: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty eighteen by
- 1:00:31Speaker 3: Charles Rswindall, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of
- 1:00:36Speaker 3: copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.