Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #10218 - Your Bitterness Can Be Healed - Exodus 15:22-27

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#10218 - Your Bitterness Can Be Healed - Exodus 15:22-27 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Open your Bibles to Exodus
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chapter 15 and we'll pick up where we left off last time.
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And I've been titled our Bible study.
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Your bitterness can be healed. Your bitterness can be healed.
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And I'm so thankful that we get to sing songs to the Lord.
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Aren't you? It's such a gift that God has
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given to us. We get to express our hearts.
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All of the UPS, all of the downs, we get to cry out to the
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Lord. We get to thank Him, we get to
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sit in even sometimes we'll find ourselves in a place where we
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get to sit in, in a room like this and we may come in not even
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wanting to sing, but we get to hear other people sing and
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almost ride the wave of their faith and their encouragement.
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Just for a season. We have the privilege of putting
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on our earbuds or our headphones and listening to music that was
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written to worship God, that was inspired by various women and
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men that God has given to His church.
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I found God's gift often comes to us through a song.
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And we as a church are very blessed to have many wonderful
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and talented and gifted worship leaders, worship teams.
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And you know what our prayer is? Lord, give us more, give us
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more, give us more men and women that will step up with the gifts
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and talents that God has given to you in the realm of music and
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be used. It may not be up on the stage
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here. It may be with the junior
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highers. You may be a part of the worship
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that's taking place with the kids.
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You, you might just walk into the property with a song on your
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heart and we overhear you singing it to the Lord and you
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encourage us. But chapter 15 of Exodus, we
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were introduced to the song of Moses.
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It was a song of victory. It was a song of celebration.
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These people, this nation is rejoicing.
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Why? Because they thought they were
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dead, but now they're alive. Just even in the song is a
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picture of the coming Messiah who everyone saw that was dead.
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But in three days later, he's alive.
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And here they are singing in response to all that God has
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done. We looked at that in depth last
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time, that true worship comes from an overflowing heart in
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response to what God has done. We're not trying to bring God
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down. We're not trying to work him up.
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So, you know, maybe if we sing enough and we're loud enough and
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we're that maybe God will meet us here.
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God is already here and He's faithful.
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He is the instigator. We're the responders.
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He's the one that initiates, and we're the ones that say yes and
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Amen. This nation could see no way
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out. I'm sure among the millions
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there some of them just like this is it, it's over, we're
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done. And yet now they're miraculously
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alive. And it says in verse one of
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chapter 15, then the Moses and the children of Israel sang this
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song to the Lord and they spoke saying, but remember, the Bible
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doesn't have chapter breaks. It wasn't written that way.
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Chapter breaks verses were added much later on to help us
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remember and to see where things are.
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Remember where things are because chapter 15 verse one
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follows chapter 14, verse 30 notice with me now in seeing the
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response always comes with the initiation notice.
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So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the
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Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
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Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in
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Egypt. So the people feared the Lord,
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believed the Lord and His servant Moses.
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Then Moses and the children of Israel sing this song to the
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Lord. Can I just pause for a second
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and speak to those of you that don't like to sing or don't like
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the songs or don't like the new, you know, the new songs coming
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out or whatever it may be toward music.
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You may even be here thinking, you know, I'm OK with the Bible
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studies, pastor. I'll even rearrange my life
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where I'll come in a little late.
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I'll miss the music. I come for the Bible study and
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I'll leave after it. Can I just speak to you just for
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a moment and remind you of this? It may not be a preference for
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you and it may not be an opinion for you, and it may not be what
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you like and what you don't like.
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It just may be you haven't seen God's faithfulness in a while.
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And I don't mean that God hasn't been faithful.
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I mean that you have refused to see the faithfulness of God.
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Maybe your thankfulness has been lacking and you're just taking
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credit for things that God is constantly doing in your life.
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Maybe you're under the weight of a great burden or barrier and
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that's all you can see. You know you got all this
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goodness and the grace of God and his finished working on the
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cross for you and the forgiveness of sin and the
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remind. But then you get through these
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things and they just blind you. They're so small and compared to
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the big work of God in preparation for song.
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When you come to your church, ask God to show you his
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faithfulness. Ask God to remind you of his
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goodness. I've been listening to an audio
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book recently of a famous actor who died a sudden tragic death
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recently and his whole life was filled with drug addiction and
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alcohol addiction. I mean, and this is a guy that
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most people that are starting out in the business or most
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people, this is what every actor and actress, they aspire to the
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life that he had, to the money that he had, to the prestige
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that he had, to all that he lived.
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He finally made it. And if I mentioned his name or
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the show he was in, you would know exactly who he is.
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No doubt he had everything you would think.
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But over and over again he mentions as he reads this audio
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book over and over he mentions, but nothing would fill the
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emptiness. Nothing would fill the
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emptiness. Relationship after relationship,
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bottle after bottle, pill after pill, paycheck after paycheck,
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house after house. He even mentioned recently I was
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listening. He even mentioned, you know, I
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was feeling bad one day. So I just went down and bought a
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bought a car, a Bentley of all that.
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And he said it made me happy for about 5 days.
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And then you pick it up again. And he went through the cycle of
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sobriety and going back and sobriety and going back sobriety
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and going back. And it hit me because it wasn't
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the purpose for which I I got the book and wanted to listen to
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it, but God had a purpose that was different than anything that
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I had. And God just recently has welled
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up in me how thankful I am that He delivered me from those
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addictions in my life. I mean that just that alone, I
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can hear the testimonies and almost every page I'm like, that
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would have been my life. That would have been my life.
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If I live that long, that would have been my life.
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I would have been running over here and I've been running over
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there. And yet at the point of time,
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God revealed to me why I was created, why I was on the
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planet, and exactly what he wanted to do with my life.
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And some of you might go, well, yeah.
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He told you we're a pastor out early.
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No, no, not at all. He revealed to me in the moment
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of my salvation how much He loved me and wanted me to be in
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relationship with Him. That's my purpose in life.
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Everything else is second and third and 4th and all the
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responsibilities and all the titles and all all of that pale
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in comparison to a God that loves me and would welcome me
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into His family by the blood of Jesus Christ.
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How can you not sing when you know what God has done?
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How can you not sing? And I just want you to consider
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again, I might be speaking to a very small group today, but how
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can you, how can you come into the sanctuary of God so welled
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up with the love of God and so glad what he's doing in your
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life? So the rescuing power, the, the,
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the, the amazing faithfulness he showed.
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And then and how can, how is it possible that you come and sit
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there and go, you know, I don't like that song.
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Come on, man. No, how could you not like that
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song? How could you not see the Lord
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high and lifted up where the train of his robe fills the
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temple and the angels are crying?
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Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, where it's so amazing
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in the presence of God that you fall on your face and worship
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and you say, Lord, you've been so good to me.
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They're singing because of God and what God has done.
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God made a way where there was no way have you do you have that
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as a testimony in your life? Have you ever seen God make a
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way for you where there was no way?
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I want to, I want you to thank those of you that were born into
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a Christian family, OK, And you were raised from a very young
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age, very, very young age to love God and, and you love God
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because of your parents or your grandparents, your great
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grandparents. And eventually the love of God
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became your own love. You were raised in the right
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way. You surrender your life, you're
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born again and you think, well, you know, I don't really have a
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way. The way there is no way.
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Well, all you need to do is go back some generations because
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somewhere in your family tree God made a way where there was
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no way, where it was hopeless when all was lost.
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Well, that's where the children of Israel, we went through this
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song as they sang it, Miriam leading worship.
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God showed up as the Lord of hosts, as their defender, as
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their protector, as the leader of the army.
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Remember, he came as the leader, the God of the army.
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He fought their battles for them.
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They didn't have the resources to fight.
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They didn't have the army or the military.
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No, God brought them into a place that shocked them, stirred
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up in all these emotions and delivered them.
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He wanted them to understand something very early.
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If you're taking notes, He wanted them to understand, like
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He wants us to understand that the life that we live right now
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on earth, this is not a playground, it's a battlefield.
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Just like the promised Land, we'll learn in the book of
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Joshua. The Promised land was not a
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playground, it was a battlefield.
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And it's true. You're in a spiritual warfare,
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the world, the flesh, the devil, it's real, it's predictable at
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times. It's overwhelming, sometimes
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shocking and surprising many today, even listening to me
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right now, or living in defeat, not using the weapons that God
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has given us to fight, not wanting to, not willing to sing
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a song of victory. Some of you, we need to sing the
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song of victory, not because of what God has done, although that
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gets us there, but we're singing a song of victory by faith.
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We're like, I know you're a God of victory.
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I know you're the God of the army.
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I know that you can work. I've seen you before.
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I've seen it in my friend. I've seen it in my neighbor.
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Lord, I'm singing this because I want to see it on my own life.
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And the Lord will meet you there.
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Don't give in, don't just collapse, don't just turn
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around. Don't quit, don't compromise,
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don't run away, don't wander away, but stand and fight
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Church, fight together in the spiritual realm.
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The Bible says in first Timothy chapter 6 verse 12.
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Fight the good fight of faith and lay hold of eternal life.
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And anytime and every time you decide to take a stand for
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Jesus, just expect an all out assault upon your life.
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It goes with the territory, it goes to the place where you need
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to look to the Lord continually. Every spiritual warfare, heavy
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spiritual attacks are signs that you're on the right track.
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Now, if you were a sideline Christian dabbling in religious
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things, not really interested in making progress, then that's
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right where the devil wants you. That's right where he desires
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you. A Christian in name only, in
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Word only. But once you take a strong stand
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to obey, he'll unleash a full frontal assault upon your life
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and on each side and from behind.
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I want to show you this. We'll get to Exodus in a moment.
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Would you turn over to Isaiah 54 with me?
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Isaiah 54, I want you to mark this.
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It's one of those passages we mentioned quite frequently, but
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I want you to memorize it. I want you to see it in your
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Bible. I want you to mark it.
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If you're using your iPad or your phone, I want you to
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screenshot it, put it right on your homepage.
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Isaiah, chapter 54, verse 17. Listen, this is so valuable, so
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important. It's given.
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It's laid out for us later on in Ephesians.
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But listen, it says, No weapon formed against you shall
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prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment
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you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the
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servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from me, says
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the Lord. Isn't that just enough to sing
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from that one verse? No weapon formed against you
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will prosper. God will accomplish his work and
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finish it in your life, no matter what it looks like, no
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matter how trapped you feel, no matter how how the circumstances
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look. Listen, if you're paying
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attention to circumstances, you're only getting half the
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story, if that. You may not even be getting half
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the story. You're just getting what's in
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front of you. Well, you had.
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You don't understand. This has happened to me.
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This has happened to me. This has happened to me.
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This is happening. Yeah, but that's not the whole
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story. Here's the whole story.
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What God is starting in you, He will complete in the day of
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Jesus Christ. That's the whole story.
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That Jesus on the cross said it is finish, it's finish.
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You can trust him. No weapon formed.
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I know it doesn't feel that way. It does feel sometimes that the
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weapons are prospering. Read the psalms.
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David was like living that out all the time.
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Why are they doing this? And why are they doing this and
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what's happening? Why are you so discouraged,
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Soul, what's wrong with you? What's happening?
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Look at all my enemies but God. But God.
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It's even an area where singing helps your emotions.
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Did you know that singing can help your emotions when you just
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begin to obey God and lift up your voice in song?
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Or if you don't want to lift it up in song, you can hum it, you
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can whistle it, you can give a joyful noise to the Lord.
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But church, think of the goodness of God and respond with
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a song in your heart. That's where the children of
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Israel are here in Exodus 15. There's a song in their heart
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just like us now they too had to move on.
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Life isn't always a song. It's not always a song.
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I should say. It doesn't last forever.
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Songs come to an end and then we got to move on.
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And that's where the children of Israel are here.
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The song came to an end and then they had to move on.
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Notice with me, Exodus 15, verse 22.
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So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into
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the wilderness of sure, and they went three days in the
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wilderness and found no water. Now when they had come to Mara,
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they could not drink the waters of Mara, for they were, what
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does your Bible say, bitter? Therefore the name of it was
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called Mara four times. God wants us to understand the
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significance of this word. Mara three times and bitter
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once. He wants us to understand that
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bitterness comes to us all. And here they are three days
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later, and they come to waters and they're thirsty, hot desert.
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They went from that time of rejoicing out into the
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wilderness. The wilderness is a place of
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preparation. Did you know that the wilderness
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is often a place of preparation? It's a place of battle in the
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spiritual realm. When Jesus went out in the
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wilderness, the devil met him there.
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But the wilderness becomes a place of victory because the
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devil had to leave is that the word of God was spoken to him
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and the truth prevailed. But the wilderness is not a
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place we like to be in. It gets we gets to the place
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where we're out in the wilderness in life and we get
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thirsty and we come to water and we're expecting it to give us
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what we want. And we only come to find out
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that the waters were bitter. And here at the Waters of Mara,
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I want you to notice that three days is all it took.
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And it may not be three days for you.
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It could be three hours, it could be 3 minutes.
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But after just three days, it didn't take very long.
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Three days. They've forgotten the
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faithfulness of God. They've forgotten the goodness
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of God. They've forgotten the victory of
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God. And they've forgotten that God
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is leading them. They forgot that God is leading
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them. And one of the things they
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needed to understand with the waters here is that God LED them
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tomorrow. God LED them here.
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He led them to this place of bitterness.
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But really it's not merely a place of bitterness.
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It's a God LED them to a place of faith.
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This was a point of decision and it helps me a lot to remember
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when I do remember that the Lord allows difficulties in my life
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to bring me to a place of decision.
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Will I trust and obey and abide and rest or will I freak out and
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be all upset and get into the flesh and on and on the list
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goes. Will I be in the Spirit or will
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I be in the flesh? And one of the obstacles that
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this young nation now is facing after dealing with fear, and
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that's where they were at the Red Sea, dealing with fear.
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The very next temptation in their life was bitterness.
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Fear and bitterness. They go together and as they
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take the waters in, it says when they came tomorrow they couldn't
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drink it because the waters were bitter.
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Verse 23. So they named it bitter so
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quickly they forgot the power of God.
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And you know what I have to say, and I want to speak to some of
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you today as well, where everything seemed to be bitter
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to this former slave nation. Because of their heritage, they
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have been generationally raised the slaves.
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They've been embittered by life. I'm certain some of you have
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been embittered by life. It hasn't been an easy life thus
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far, and so things are bitter to you.
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It's just a lack of sweetness. It can be very hard to exercise
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faith when everything seems bitter, not only when the water
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is bitter. This is very clear, but even
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when the water is just a little, got a little bad taste to it, it
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tastes bitter to you because of the difficulty of your life.
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The Israelites were bitter here not only because of the water,
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but they brought it with them. The Bible says that we're new
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creations in Christ. Old things have been passed
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away. All things become new, and
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that's great. From the spiritual realm.
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There are technical, theological words to describe our salvation.
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One of them is justification, where immediately you're changed
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and born again. But then the process from
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justification until you meet Jesus face to face.
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There's a Bible word for that. It's called sanctification and
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part of the process of being conformed into the image of
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Christ. The sanctification process is
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dealing with all the baggage that you brought with you from
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your unbelieving days or your unbelieving family or the
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generations of difficulty. You know, you know, some
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churches would look at that and go, oh, you know, that's a
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generational curse. That's no, it's not a
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generational curse. Any curse that every in your
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life was broken on the cross of Jesus Christ.
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You are not powerless to deal with these generational things.
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You just need to understand them and confess them to the Lord.
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She's like, man, I'm just so bitter.
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I'm just like my mom and it's just a generational curse on me.
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No, no, no. You picked up some bad habits in
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the home that you grew up in and they became a part of how you
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responded to things. And so now God is showing you a
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new way. He's saying you're not bound by
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the generations before you. You're not bound by your old bad
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habits. You're not bound by your
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fleshly, you know the the way that you lean into things and
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you're not bound by that anger. You're not bound by that
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addiction. You are free in Christ, but God
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brings you to these places so you can choose by faith to
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follow him, that you can choose by faith to see His power.
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They had this glorious deliverance.
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Yes, they had this beautiful personally written song by
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Moses. Yes, they've been set free.
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Yes, God has provided to for them up to this day, even the
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three days it took to get to the waters of Mara.
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But now that they're at the waters of Mara and the bitter
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waters remind them of their bitter past, and it just
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swallows them up. Every Christian, every one of us
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has a Mara or two or three in our lives.
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It's part of our fallen world, A time or a season of bitterness
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and anguish that becomes a part of our story.
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Paul would say in 2nd Corinthians 4 verse eight.
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We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed.
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We're perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted but not
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forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always carrying about
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in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.
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That the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.
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New believers especially. But all believers need to
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understand that Mara comes times of testing, times of pressing,
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times of pounding, this initial excitement, but real life
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settles in. Let's sing a song and then you
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know as well as I do out those doors or even in these doors,
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real life is upon us. It's real life.
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And as a church, we need to understand that we live in a
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real world with real people, with real brokenness that
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requires a real seriousness and submission on our part to the
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Lord. It's God could have easily
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brought them to waters that were pure, but he brought them to the
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waters of Mara. He led them there.
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Why? So they could see the bitterness
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that was in them. Because if you read ahead, and
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we will in just a few minutes, God has a solution for
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bitterness and anger. God has a healing available to
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those of you holding onto emotions and things that have
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been tearing you down. God has a way where there is no
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way. That's the whole testimony of
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the rest of your life. You see, the older you and I
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get, in following Christ, we come to realize that every
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situation is a way that's outside of our power and outside
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of our strength. We sit down and we pray and we
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say, oh, God, Get Me Out of this.
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Oh, God, Get Me Out of this. Oh, God, Get Me Out of this.
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And then he does. And what is our testimony?
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Well, you know, I was praying, brother.
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OK, you were praying. Yeah, I was praying.
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And now, look, I was in a difficult spot and I prayed, and
25:38
I'm not in a difficult spot anymore.
25:41
Wouldn't it be better to say man and man, I was in such a
25:44
difficult spot, and I'm so grateful God heard my prayers
25:49
instead of, oh, you know, I prayed.
25:51
I know it's the right thing to do.
25:52
It's good. It's like, you know, how did you
25:55
make it through the day? Well, you know, I was breathing
25:57
all day. Well, yeah, man, like breathing.
26:01
Of course. Like God knew how important
26:03
breathing was for you. You don't even control it, you
26:06
know. How did you go?
26:07
How was your day at work today? Man, my day was great because my
26:09
heart was beating all day. All right, bro, I guess that's
26:12
great. You had a beating heart all day.
26:14
So did all of us. But it was the God who holds
26:18
your life in His hands and sustains your very life that got
26:23
you through Today. God brings us to these bitter
26:27
waters to reveal bitterness that's in US.
26:30
Notice turn over to Hebrews chapter 12.
26:32
It wasn't too long ago as a church that we studied these
26:35
very scriptures. But I want to remind you what
26:40
happens at the waters of Mara and the warning that comes to
26:43
us. Notice with me in chapter 12 in
26:46
Hebrews verse 14. When you get there, Hebrews 12
26:50
in verse 14, it's a truth you want to hold on to.
26:55
I believe the author to the Hebrews is Paul as he's writing
26:58
to these believers in a very embittered condition themselves.
27:05
Many thousands of years later, you have a group of God
27:08
followers still dealing with bitterness.
27:10
Fast forward from Hebrews another 2000 years.
27:13
We've got another group of Christians today on the earth
27:16
dealing with bitterness. It is a part of living in the
27:19
fallen world, a part of dealing with sin, the sin of others, and
27:23
also our own sin. And notice what he says, verse
27:26
14. Pursue peace with all men and
27:30
holiness without which no one will see the Lord, looking
27:35
diligently lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest
27:40
any root of bitterness springing up may cause trouble, and by
27:46
this many become defiled. One thing this tells us real
27:51
quick here, coming back to the embitteredness of the children
27:54
of Israel coming out of Egypt. Notice that bitterness has a
27:57
root. It goes down deep.
28:02
It's deeper than what's seen in the moment.
28:06
Bitterness has a root in our lives and be careful with it.
28:10
Pursue peace, he says. Set your life out and your
28:14
course of your life to please God.
28:17
Don't fall short of the grace of God, he says.
28:21
He says in verse, as you keep reading there, I already turned
28:25
back, but let me get back to Hebrews with you.
28:28
He, he he says one more thing there that is very important
28:31
because it brings about the significance of where you are
28:35
when you're at the point of bitterness.
28:37
He says in verse 16, lest there be any fornicator or profane
28:41
person like Esau, who for one more so of bread or food sold
28:45
his birthright. So three significant things
28:48
here. Be careful you don't fall short
28:49
of the grace of God. Be careful that a root of
28:52
bitterness doesn't spring up that the root of bitterness
28:55
doesn't spring up. And then thirdly, watch out for
28:58
sexual sin, fornication, profaneness, anything related to
29:02
misusing your body in the realm of sex.
29:06
And because the children of Israel are at Mara, I just want
29:10
to focus on the root of bitterness for this evening.
29:13
Just being careful of that. Bitterness is lot is so common
29:19
among us, but not often admitted.
29:23
As I've shared with you before, bitterness is a lot like bad
29:26
breath. Everyone around you knows you
29:28
have it, but you and you won't admit it when you're told.
29:34
Marie has a very nice way of sharing with me that I might
29:38
need a little bit improvement in my breath.
29:41
And without a word she just hands me a piece of gum with a
29:44
big smile and I say are you? And she won't even answer
29:49
because she's looking out for me.
29:52
If somebody comes to share with you that they see a temperament
29:56
about you or something, that's because they're looking out for
29:59
you. And maybe they come full front.
30:02
You know, it's like, hey, man, bro, you're just bitter.
30:06
And you just know right away by your response whether you're
30:09
open to the work of the Holy Spirit.
30:11
The more defensive you are, the possibility that that's a very
30:16
accurate statement. Bitterness, this root of
30:21
bitterness speaks of a life that is offensive to God, obnoxious
30:28
to men. The Bible says a defilement to
30:32
others, bitterness toward God, defilement toward one another.
30:37
It ruins you and everyone around you.
30:39
Be careful. And you know, bitterness does
30:42
come from a lot of pain. That's the root.
30:47
We've been so wounded, some by the homes we were raised in,
30:50
some by the circumstances, some by the communities that we live
30:55
in, some by, you know, there's so much about our life we didn't
30:58
get to choose. And that's the place that God
31:03
placed us in the world. But the way the world acts, the
31:07
way that sin corrupts, it gives, it just gives a lot of pain,
31:13
some of it's self-imposed, a lot of suffering, a lot of hurt, a
31:18
lot of woundedness, a lot of handling bitterness incorrectly,
31:24
making it worse and worse. And it takes an experience.
31:32
It takes an experience to flush it out like the children of
31:37
Israel are. It took this experience to flush
31:40
it out because look, it was in them, didn't they?
31:44
Just didn't they just sing? Didn't they just sing the song
31:48
of Moses? Then they just follow Miriam.
31:51
Didn't they just rejoice? And three days later, it says in
31:55
verse 24, back in Exodus, and the people murmured against
31:59
Moses, what shall we drink? James talked about, you know,
32:05
blessing and cursing coming from the same mouth that ought not to
32:08
be so. And here they are.
32:13
They're upset with Moses, the man that God has used in their
32:18
lives greatly. But it's actually not even about
32:22
Moses, is it? It's about the God of Moses.
32:27
Three days, 3 days. Why?
32:30
Because it was in them. So often we blame the
32:34
circumstances for all our bad behavior when it's not the
32:38
circumstances at all. It's you.
32:42
It's me. The circumstances reveal.
32:46
They don't create, they reveal. I think of the coffee cup.
32:57
I'll never forget this. This was back when I was
32:59
working. I mean, all it really does, all
33:01
it really takes is one time for this to happen, and it won't
33:03
happen again. But I left the coffee cup on my
33:06
desk for who knows how long. I have no idea.
33:11
But I would always bring a new one and another one.
33:12
I'd never take it back to the kitchen for whatever reason.
33:15
And one day on my desk, I brought another coffee cup and I
33:18
handed it down and clickity, clickity, click.
33:20
I'm working. I get distracted and I pick up
33:22
the wrong coffee cup. And I began to drink it in the
33:26
worst nasty green stuff. I mean, I don't know how long it
33:31
was there, but it was all my fault.
33:34
Spit of all the reports I was doing and on my keyboard it was
33:39
nasty, nasty. You see, there was something
33:46
already in the cup. When I went to pick it up and
33:53
turn it over to my lips and bring it in, it was already
33:57
there. My hand, my desk, my attempt to
34:03
drink, it didn't create the green things that were alive and
34:07
talking to me in there. It was already in there.
34:12
Trials are like that. You come to the waters of Mara
34:17
and you blame Mara. You blame the leaders, you
34:21
blame, and who knows? You get into the place where,
34:24
no, it can't be me. It's this person and that
34:26
person. You completely factor out the
34:29
sovereignty of God in your life. Oh, I can't believe that I lost
34:33
my job. Obviously, God did not want you
34:36
to have that job. And whether you see it now or
34:40
you see it later, you will see God's provision.
34:43
Without that job. You will see God's provision.
34:47
He obviously didn't want you there.
34:50
The circumstances were hard and difficult, and I'm sorry for
34:52
that. But life is hard and difficult,
34:55
isn't it? And God had brought us to a
34:58
place of what faith? A place of decision.
35:03
And all of our response is a revelation of God picking up
35:09
that cup and bringing it close to himself.
35:15
And he doesn't need to know what's in it.
35:18
We do. And that's the ongoing work of
35:22
faith and sanctification in our lives.
35:27
I always think of an illustration, not that it's my
35:30
own, but it fits this truth very well where you're out in the
35:34
garage with a hammer and you're pounding the nail and you slam
35:38
your thumb in every wicked, vile F word, F bomb cuss word comes
35:43
out of your mouth and see your neighbor comes.
35:46
You OK? You OK?
35:47
I never heard you cuss like that before, Pastor.
35:49
You know, it's like, it's like, oh, you don't understand.
35:53
You know, you don't understand. I would have never said those
35:56
words if I didn't hit my thumb. Oh, no, no, no, no.
36:02
The pain in your thumb just brought out what was in you,
36:09
brought your neighbor over to humble you, and he brought you
36:13
to the waters of Mara. The waters of Mara.
36:21
Now, I did use Pastor as that illustration, but that was not
36:25
me, Pastor. So, you know, anyone that knows
36:33
me knows that I would have to borrow Marie's hammer because I
36:36
don't own one. They're all hers.
36:45
The waters of my are hard. Of course we'd want to avoid
36:49
them. Clean water, living water,
36:51
right? Jesus would later say in John 7,
36:53
living water gushing out of us from the innermost being.
36:57
That's our desire. But Mara comes, it's a point of
37:02
decision. They murmur against Moses and
37:07
Moses verse 25, He cries out to the Lord.
37:13
And the Lord showed him a tree, and when he cast it into the
37:16
waters, the waters were made sweet, and he made it a statue
37:22
in an ordinance for them. And there he tested them and
37:26
said, If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God, and
37:30
do what is right in his sight, give ear to his commandments and
37:34
give all. Keep all the statutes.
37:36
I'll put none of the diseases on you for which I have brought on
37:39
the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you.
37:43
Jehovah Rapha, one of the revelations of God, his name.
37:49
And then they came to Elam, where there were 12 wells of
37:52
water, 70 palm trees, and they encamped there by the waters.
37:58
Doesn't take much. Bible students of what this tree
38:02
represents. The Bible says that Jesus
38:05
himself died on a tree. The cross.
38:10
What's the healing power of God and the difficulty you're facing
38:14
right now? You got to get back to the
38:15
cross. Get back to the cross.
38:18
Get your eyes back there. Get your body back there.
38:20
Get your life back there. Go back to the cross.
38:24
You say I've been betrayed. Ed, Have you been betrayed?
38:28
Get back to the cross. How much more was he betrayed?
38:32
You've been hurt, Pastor. I've been hurt so bad.
38:36
You've been hurt deeply. How much, how much more did
38:39
Jesus suffer and hurt for us and yet he still forgave?
38:44
But I'm disappointed, Ed, you don't understand how
38:46
disappointed I am and what my kids have done.
38:49
And you don't understand it's not.
38:50
It's so easy as you say. Well, how much more was Jesus
38:54
disappointed when his disciples and his best friends fled and he
38:58
went to the cross alone? His own beloved disciple Peter
39:03
denied him and another betrayed him.
39:05
That's the cross, church. It's the cross.
39:08
The cross will keep you safe. It's the cross.
39:11
He is my only hope at the bitter waters of Mara.
39:15
And I want to encourage you to bring your pool of bitterness to
39:18
the cross and get your perspective realigned and keep
39:21
it aligned. Humble yourself and say, Lord,
39:24
wash me and cleanse me and heal me and forgive me and set me
39:29
free. Listen, if someone has hurt you
39:31
deeply, forgive them. If someone continues to hurt you
39:35
deeply, continue to forgive them until you forgive them.
39:40
They have power over you. But when you forgive, you find
39:47
yourself in a place of being under the power of God and you
39:52
just trust him with it. Because understand this roots is
39:55
often in bitterness. Not exclusively, but often the
39:59
root is unforgiveness. Even as much as we've been
40:07
mentioning the pick of the month, the book of the month,
40:10
where you have John the Baptist there offended at his current
40:15
circumstances and just wanting confirmation that Jesus is the
40:19
Messiah. He needs to release.
40:25
He needs to release himself by trusting in Jesus, even as we
40:31
have the ability to release ourselves by forgiving one
40:34
another. Because you know the phrase, I'm
40:36
sure you've heard it. Hurting people hurt people.
40:40
Have you heard that before? Is it true?
40:43
Let me suggest something else. Healed people, bring healing to
40:48
others. Healed people.
40:53
That's the next step. I say, has anyone been hurt
40:57
today? Yes, we've all been hurt.
40:59
I'm being hurt right now, Pastor.
41:01
Yeah, but you're also being healed right now, as you look to
41:03
the cross, you're walking and healing.
41:07
Jehovah Rapha is ministering to you from the inside out.
41:11
Healed people help people to heal.
41:13
Forgiven people forgive. And forgiveness brings great
41:17
freedom. It brings total freedom.
41:19
You walk in freedom when you release people from the debt
41:23
that they owe you. Before you leave today, some of
41:26
you need to come up to the stage and pray that God would give you
41:30
strength. Some of you need to come to the
41:31
stage and on either side in the baskets are pamphlets on
41:34
forgiveness, and you need to take it and read it and pray and
41:38
obey, just like He says here. If you diligently heed the voice
41:41
of God and you do what's right in His sight and give ears to
41:45
His commandments and keep His statutes, you will be healed.
41:52
You will be healed. This is powerful.
41:53
Here you'll receive the healing of God.
41:57
Really, what you'll receive is the enjoyment of healing.
42:00
Because healing's over to yours. By faith in Christ, you'll begin
42:03
to enjoy it. You won't give power to those
42:07
that are hurting you, you'll give them to the Lord.
42:11
You're worn out and you're tired.
42:13
You can do this. You're worn out and tired.
42:17
You can walk in this you, you can move from the waters of Mara
42:21
to the waters of victory. I don't want you to miss this
42:24
and we're going to head out here.
42:26
But you've got this scenario. It's a real life scenario.
42:29
We're we're learning principles and truths from it for our own
42:31
lives here in the 21st century. But this is like, this is real
42:35
deal. This is hard, this is difficult.
42:37
They, they really are at a place where there are three days and
42:39
there's they're upset, they're parched, the waters are nasty,
42:43
they're poisoned, they're bitter.
42:44
This is real, but they don't know that verse 27 is up ahead.
42:51
They don't know see that this is what happens with us.
42:54
We don't know that Elam is up ahead.
42:57
We want Elam without the Mara. That's what we want.
43:01
We want this place where there's wells of water.
43:04
We want this place where there's 70 palm trees.
43:07
We want this place where we can camp by the waters.
43:10
But we don't want Mara. And the Bible tells us today you
43:14
want Elam. You got to go through Mara.
43:19
You want refreshment. You want these wells and the
43:25
shade of the palm trees. You've got to deal with your
43:30
Mara. You want to live in a greater
43:35
realm of victory today. You got to deal with your
43:39
bitterness, Church. You're ineffective as a bitter
43:44
woman and a bitter man. God is ready to heal you.
43:52
You just go to the cross. It's already yours.
43:56
Or as we know a few people, they live their whole life bitter,
44:01
never deal with it. They only get more bitter and
44:05
more bitter. And what happens?
44:07
You start to avoid them. You don't want to be around them
44:10
anymore. You don't want to be defiled.
44:12
You don't want to deal with the drama.
44:14
You don't want to. And people start to.
44:16
And then what happens to a bitter person when people stop
44:18
going around them? They get more bitter.
44:21
And then they go, it's your fault and it's your fault.
44:22
It's your fault, it's your fault, it's your fault.
44:24
And they die. A very bitter woman, very bitter
44:28
man. It doesn't have to be you.
44:33
You listening to me today. It doesn't have to be me.
44:36
It doesn't have to be you. I could sit and I could write,
44:40
maybe even write a book, maybe a few blog posts explaining to you
44:44
why I choose to be so bitter because this is going on.
44:48
This is going on. This happened to me.
44:50
This happened to me. But then I'd be wasting my life
44:52
as a messenger of the gospel of Jesus Christ because every time
44:57
I write that blog post and I hit post, the Lord says, but I've
45:01
provided healing for you, Ed bitter water.
45:06
I can't believe the pastor you gave me.
45:08
You know, my pastor's in heaven now.
45:09
So like pastor you gave me, if you would just give me a better
45:12
pastor, That's what they're saying here.
45:14
Just give me a better Moses. Just give me a better dad.
45:19
I'd be different. If you would have given me a
45:22
better mom, I'd be different. Give me a better upbringing, I'd
45:28
be different. And that may be true, but
45:33
there's nothing we can do about it now.
45:36
What we can do about it now is forgive and get on to Elam.
45:41
It's waiting for you. The palm trees, the shade, more
45:47
water than you can possibly ever want and use the rest of your
45:50
life. I'm sorry bitterness has come to
45:54
you. I'm sorry bitterness has come to
45:57
me. I didn't know bitterness in its
46:02
depth until after my son passed away.
46:04
Oh, and then I began to know bitterness.
46:09
I began to know bitterness by all the circumstances and all
46:12
that. I began to know it very deeply,
46:16
understand the root of it. Not to the degree like I fully
46:20
understand it, but I, I, I know of which I speak here, not even
46:26
thinking because of my emotions and my feelings that Elam 12
46:33
wells of how could 12 wells of water come from this?
46:38
How could I ever enjoy the shade?
46:40
I didn't think the sun would come up some days.
46:43
It certainly didn't come up in my heart, my mind.
46:48
But the Lord is so gracious to be patient with you, to lead you
46:53
and guide you, to send men and women into your life, to
46:57
minister to you, to provide for you the glimpses of the cross,
47:03
to remind you of his goodness, to throw a few songs in there.
47:08
You know, it was after my son passed away that God began to
47:11
give us a new song every year, kind of like an anthem.
47:15
Sometimes I felt like it was for the whole church.
47:16
So we were really, it was Pastor Ian that would introduce a song
47:20
and go, man, that's it. I don't know where he's finding
47:22
these things. Why can't I find them?
47:23
Why does only he find? No, I want to find these songs,
47:26
but God put him in my life. Put them in our line.
47:29
Now we have Pastor Sean and Heather.
47:30
They'll drop songs into you. You'll never forget them.
47:33
The rest of they'll be the anthem of your life during this
47:35
season. They will be the song that neg.
47:37
You know, maybe two years later you're hearing you go, oh, I
47:39
remember I'm not there anymore. That was such a great song.
47:42
Got me through such a dark time. It's so good.
47:45
It doesn't hit quite the same now.
47:47
Why? Because you moved on from Mara.
47:50
It's a great song, but it's not hidden so deep anymore because
47:53
the root of bitterness is not so deep, or the root of fear is not
47:56
so deep, or the root of anguish is not so deep, whatever it may
47:59
be. Listen, God, He has for you
48:02
what? Let me show you.
48:03
Turn over to John, Chapter 7. God has for you the deliverance.
48:09
Not that little drops of Mara might come.
48:11
You know, it's like I thought I left Mara a long time ago.
48:14
No, you got Mara still following you, kind of like, what's that
48:17
character in Snoopy that walked around and the cloud always
48:20
follow them all dirty Pigpen. You know how you're walking
48:23
around and he's like, man, I left that behind, but you took
48:25
it with you too, man. It's like I took a shower.
48:28
I know. And your clothes are still
48:29
dirty. Like you took it with you.
48:31
But you know, it's not the waters of Mara.
48:34
It's just the reminder of the waters of Mara.
48:40
It's not the place anymore because you moved on.
48:44
You moved on or you move forward.
48:48
You're not at the waters of Mar anymore.
48:50
You're that you have victory. But notice what Jesus says.
48:54
Here's the solution and we'll close.
48:57
I love this passage because I always envision standing on the
49:01
southern steps of the temple with the wall behind us.
49:04
And I can't wait till we go looking down the hill into the
49:08
Old City of Jerusalem. Everybody that goes to Israel
49:11
will be able to see this. It's one of my favorite stops.
49:15
It's just a wall and steps, what would often be the steps that
49:20
Jesus and his disciples would use to go up into the Temple
49:23
Mount, standing there down the pool of Siloam on the way to the
49:26
bottom. And I have everyone open the
49:28
Bible here and we read this passage.
49:32
It says on the last day and that great day of the feast, Jesus
49:36
stood and cried out, saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come to
49:42
me and drink. He who believes in me, as the
49:46
Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living
49:49
water. But this he spoke concerning the
49:52
Spirit whom those believing in Him would receive.
49:55
For the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet
50:00
glorified. Isn't that what you want and
50:04
your depths of your heart? It's interesting and I'll leave
50:09
this here. You know when you have a bitter
50:12
episode in your life for a bitter season in your life and
50:15
God heals you of it and move on. I just want you to know a lot of
50:19
people that are back in that season, they aren't healed and
50:22
haven't moved on. And because of that, you may
50:27
find yourself intersecting with them at other other times and
50:31
they still want you to be in the waters of Mara.
50:36
They still desire for you, and that's how they see you.
50:40
And that's how they treat you. Like you're still at the waters,
50:43
but you're gone. It's they that have chosen to
50:46
stay at the waters of Mara, not you.
50:49
And so by faith, you claim the work of God in your life.
50:55
You know, they may come into your life, You know, 20 years
50:57
later. Are you still bitter, bro?
50:59
I left the waters of Mara a long time ago.
51:02
Well, I just remember. Yeah.
51:03
But don't take me back 20 years because I've made progress.
51:08
The Lord has done great things. Let me tell you about what the
51:10
Lord has done. No, no, I won't tell you because
51:12
we got to go backwards. Don't let anyone take you back
51:15
to the waters of Mara when God has delivered you.
51:18
No one, no one can take you back unless you choose to go with
51:22
them. If you ever want to rehearse the
51:24
waters of Mara, rehearse it in such a way we go.
51:27
I remember bitterness. I was remembering the healing of
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bitterness, sitting in the shade and Elam drinking my little a
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glass of water with an unending well of God's freshness in my
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life. You know you have the cross
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church. Look to the Lord, He heals.
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Amen. Yeah, Lord, we thank you and so
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are grateful, God, that you have done the work in our lives, that
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you have healed us, that you are with us and among us.
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And I pray God that you would show us your will and your way
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for our lives in Jesus name, Amen.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
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prayer. Call us at 87730 Grace that's
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877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
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integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
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this week.