Bridge Church Virginia Beach

0.000000 8.000000 When you take out your Bibles, turn to Exodus, the book of Exodus.
8.000000 16.000000 That book was written by Moses traditionally, viewed as the writer of all the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus.
16.000000 23.000000 I might say, where's the book of Exodus? Go to Genesis, go one book to the right, and you'll be there.
23.000000 34.000000 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Moses wrote those books, and we're going to look at this book and see what God wants to say to us.
34.000000 43.000000 You can back that monitor down just a tad, and see what he wants to say to us today in his word.
43.000000 57.000000 We're in this series called Imagine. It's a unique word. It's a beautiful word. I believe kids understand this thing called imagination better than older people or people that have been through some stuff.
57.000000 64.000000 There's something about life that robs us of our imagination.
64.000000 73.000000 See, as you age in life, oftentimes you begin to live out of your memory and not your imagination.
73.000000 84.000000 God's given us a brain, and that brain has the capacity to remember, to live out of memories, or it has the capacity to imagine.
84.000000 93.000000 Your imagination pulls you into your future. Your memory pulls you into your past.
93.000000 106.000000 Which one are you going to choose to live out of? Are you going to live out of the sanctified imagination that God has given you or are you going to live out of the hurtful memories of your past?
106.000000 130.000000 The reason why is so important for people to be healed in their memories and from their past dysfunctions and conflicts and pain and hurt and trauma, because as long as you're living in your memory, the enemy will rob you of your present peace and your future existence.
130.000000 146.000000 So God calls us to live out of the dream that He has placed in our hearts, our DNA. He's given us something that He has placed within us, and He's given us a motivation that pushes us forward.
146.000000 167.000000 1989, I graduated from high school, that wasn't yesterday, but it was 1989. A beautiful year, I remember graduating, it was a beautiful time, but during that year a movie came out that became a significant movie, once some awards, it was called Field of Dreams.
167.000000 183.000000 The star in that movie was a young Kevin Costner. His name was Ray in the movie, and he hears this voice that says, "Build it and He will come."
183.000000 194.000000 On hearing that voice out in the middle of a small town in Iowa, he begins to build this baseball diamond in the middle of a cornfield.
194.000000 204.000000 And when he finishes the baseball diamond, one evening, baseball players begin to march out of the cornstalks and into the field.
204.000000 218.000000 The whole movie is pushing toward the restoration of his relationship with his father, and at the end of that movie, his father shows up on the field.
218.000000 237.000000 God in his sovereignty and in his providence ordains our lives. He uses the natural course of our lives to lead us into his divine will, but we have to be willing to submit to that will.
237.000000 262.000000 And we must bow our knee before him and say, "Lord, you direct the affairs of my life." Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, because he saw a need for slaves to be free in America and in angered him, he was willing to sign the emancipation proclamation that declared all slaves free.
262.000000 290.000000 But that dream that was in his heart cost him his life. So like Rosa Parks and Montgomery, Alabama, who one day gets on a bus and decides to sit down in the seat of her choice, even though it's moments of segregation in our nation, she sits down in a seat that's perceived by one ethnic group of people in our nation as for them.
290.000000 310.000000 But she is willing to take a chance to live in freedom even if it costs her her life and she does that. And we know it as the Montgomery bus boycott, and her name is etched in history because one person that's willing to step out can make a difference.
310.000000 319.000000 One person full of the spirit of God and fears no man will step out and they can make a difference in our nation.
319.000000 325.000000 So we're going to look at Exodus, how this one man named Moses stepped out to make a difference.
325.000000 339.000000 And next to this chapter three, we're going to look at verse 10, and then I'm going to talk about the context of it, and I'm going to give you three things that we need to do to really fulfill the dream of God on our lives.
339.000000 354.000000 So now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh. This is God speaking to Moses. He says, "I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people that Israelites out of Egypt."
354.000000 361.000000 That's a simple command by God to Moses.
361.000000 369.000000 You can never underestimate what God can do through, look here, one person who is fully submitted to him.
369.000000 385.000000 One person, Charles Fergen once said, "It is not how much we are willing to submit to God that counts. It's not how much we have, but how much we're willing to submit to God that really counts for our lives."
385.000000 395.000000 Henry Barclay once said, "To know God's will, you must be willing to do it. You must be fully submitted to his direction."
395.000000 407.000000 And so we see this guy, Moses. Moses is a unique character in the Bible. He is a man that the Bible says is the greatest prophet in the Old Testament.
407.000000 424.000000 He is a leader. He is very strategic. God protected his life and his providence. In chapter 2 of Exodus, we see that his mother in fear of her baby being killed takes baby Moses.
424.000000 438.000000 She is a Levi, a Hebrew. She builds this basket and she puts it in the Nile River. Pharaoh at the end of chapter 1 issues a decree that all the Hebrew boys should be put to death.
438.000000 453.000000 He was in fear of the nation of Israel multiplying. They were becoming so vast and numerous and numbers that the Egypt is fearful of them. Pharaoh says, "Hey, if they keep multiplying, they can overtake us."
453.000000 470.000000 And so he says, "Kill all the Hebrew boys." So his mother puts him in the Nile River. And Pharaoh's daughter is bathed in the Nile and discovers Moses. And she takes Moses a Hebrew as her own son.
470.000000 482.000000 And she raises him in the court of Pharaoh. Moses learns the language of the Egyptians. He learns the culture of the Egyptians.
482.000000 494.000000 He learns the in and out of the palace. He is the prince of Egypt at that moment. But one day as he grows up, he discovers something.
494.000000 508.000000 He discovers that an Egyptian is beating a Hebrew and he turns around and he kills the Egyptian. And because he kills the Egyptian, Pharaoh says, "I'm going to kill you."
508.000000 523.000000 And he runs from Egypt all the way into the land of Midian. And there in Midian, he spends a good portion of his life serving his father-in-law, Jethro.
523.000000 541.000000 You got to understand something about Moses. Moses is called by God. He's living in the land of Midian. I don't even think he knew he was called by God.
541.000000 555.000000 But from the time he was born, God protected him. God had a divine assignment for his life. God had a message that was going to be born out of his mess.
555.000000 573.000000 And he had to walk with God until God revealed at the right time for him to come into purpose and redeem the time in the lives of the Israelites who at this moment have spent nearly 400 years in captivity in Egypt.
573.000000 586.000000 Now the backdrop to them spending 400 years in captivity is this right here. Jacob had 12 sons. Joseph, we talked about Joseph's life last week.
586.000000 597.000000 Joseph was Jacob's favorite son. Joseph had two dreams. He opened his mouth too soon and told his brothers and his fathers.
597.000000 608.000000 The Bible says that his brothers hated him all the more. See, they had already hated him, but they hated him all the more. They throw him in a pit. They sell him to the Midianites.
608.000000 622.000000 And he goes into captivity in Egypt. And he serves, part of her. He's lied on. He's put in prison. Eventually he's taken out of prison. He interprets Pharaoh's dreams. And he's second in all command.
622.000000 649.000000 The reason the Israelites are in Egypt is this right here because it was in Egypt that Joseph became second in command. And because God sent him in front of his family, he saved his family. And ultimately all the Hebrews and the Israelites together, he saved them because he was able to position himself through obeying God to second in command.
649.000000 665.000000 And now, after Jacob and his family moved there, Joseph is in command. They began to multiply. There's about 70 of them. And by the time Pharaoh issues this decree, there's nearly 2 million Israelites living in Egypt.
665.000000 686.000000 And Moses is running for his life. I think when we look at chapter 3, we see three things that I believe Moses does to actually position himself to help those that are dreaming of deliverance in Egypt.
686.000000 707.000000 Number one, write this down. He embraces the ordinary. Embrace the ordinary. Say, what's the ordinary? It's the mundane thing you do every day. It's those ordinary events of your life.
707.000000 723.000000 And when you look at Moses' life, it's broken down into three segments. The first 40 years, he spends in Egypt as the Prince of Egypt, understanding its culture, learning its language. He kills the guy and he runs the median.
723.000000 747.000000 For the next 40 years, he's doing the ordinary task of watching his father-in-law sheep. Look what verse 1 says. Now, Moses was tending the flock of Jefro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to hoard the mountain of God.
747.000000 765.000000 Look what it says. Moses is tending sheep. I don't know about you. I don't know how much more ordinary you can get. He's out there walking around the wilderness tending sheep.
765.000000 777.000000 What you don't see in the Hebrew language is this right here. In the original Hebrew, it actually means this. This has become his occupation.
777.000000 799.000000 He embraced this occupation of just tending sheep and working for his father-in-law, the ordinary mundane thing of his whole life. For 40 years, he's in a wilderness tending sheep. He marries one of Jefro's daughters. He's working in another man's business.
799.000000 819.000000 He doesn't even own the sheep. Now, I can see him working that long if he own the sheep, but he doesn't own the sheep. He's managing the sheep. He's stewarding the sheep. He's overseeing somebody else's sheep. His father-in-law, I don't know if I can serve my father-in-law for 40 years.
819.000000 837.000000 I love him, but there comes a point in your life. You own your own sheep. You own your own house. You own your own field. But he was doing the ordinary. It's amazing how God looks at people that are doing ordinary things and he begins to speak to them.
837.000000 857.000000 The ordinary, for 40 years, he's doing the ordinary. Let me ask you this. How are you doing with the ordinary? How are you doing at work, managing somebody else's business?
857.000000 871.000000 Do you bless that business owner? Do you curse that business owner? Why? Because what we don't understand, God looks at the ordinary.
871.000000 883.000000 God looks at the heart of people that are doing the ordinary. Moses was doing the ordinary. Matthew 25 gives us some insight of how God looks at ordinary.
883.000000 893.000000 How God looks at management. How God looks at me handling somebody else's business, somebody else's money, somebody else's finances, somebody else's sheep, somebody else's flop.
893.000000 905.000000 In Matthew 25, we see the parable of the talents. A master is going away, so he turns around and gives one of his servants five talents, which is money. He gives another one too, and he gives another one what?
905.000000 913.000000 The Bible says the master goes away for a long length of time, but he comes back, and when he comes back, he reconciles accounts.
913.000000 927.000000 It's a picture of Jesus coming back to reconcile accounts. And he brings those slaves in, those servants in, and he says, what did you do with the talents that I gave you?
927.000000 937.000000 To the guy who had five, he came to the master. He said, master, you gave me five. I invested it, and I doubled it. Here is 10.
937.000000 951.000000 The master said, well done, thy good and faithful servant. Enter into your reward. The guy who had two, he comes before the master. He says, master, man, I had two.
951.000000 960.000000 I made an investment. Now I have four. Here they are. Here's your four talents. He says, well done, thy good and faithful servant.
960.000000 968.000000 Look what happened to the third guy who was given one. Now you got to understand something about this parable in Matthew 25.
968.000000 982.000000 The Bible says, the master gave the talents to these servants according to their ability. God never gives you what you deserve. He gives you what you can manage.
982.000000 1001.000000 Man, that right there, preach. He never, God is not in the deserving business. He's in the business of seeing, hey, can you manage what you have, and if you manage what you have, I will increase you.
1001.000000 1018.000000 As long as you can't keep that VW of Volkswagen clean, I can give you a Tesla. Come on, if you can't keep the 900 square foot condo clean, why would God give you a 3500?
1018.000000 1033.000000 Come on, if past Archie can't manage one campus, why would God give us three and more on the way? God's not stupid. God gives according to the level of your ability to manage.
1033.000000 1044.000000 So the guy would one talent comes in. He's shaking. He says, master, I know you to be a hard man. That's where he messed up. He didn't know the master.
1044.000000 1058.000000 If he knew the master, he wouldn't have did what he had done. He says, I knew you to be a hard master. So I went out and I took your talent and I dug a hole.
1058.000000 1072.000000 I put it in the bottom of that hole and I covered it. When you got back, I went and dug up that talent. I went out and got my little metal detector and I found it.
1072.000000 1084.000000 And master, I have brought you this shiny coin. Here it is. You know what the master did? He began to pet his head.
1084.000000 1098.000000 Oh, you're such a good. You're such a good servant. I appreciate you. No, he didn't. The Bible says he said, you wicked servant.
1098.000000 1110.000000 If you knew me to be a hard man, why didn't you invest my money? Look what he calls him wicked. Who do we call wicked today?
1110.000000 1126.000000 Are we going to file sex traffickers? I'm not going there. That's who we call wicked.
1126.000000 1140.000000 So God put a servant who didn't manage his talent well in the same quarter category. You think about it.
1140.000000 1154.000000 He says, you wicked servant. He takes what he has from that servant. He turns it around and gives it to the man who has now 10.
1154.000000 1164.000000 Come on. You all don't really want to know God. You think God always gives to the people who have nothing.
1164.000000 1171.000000 I'm not against the poor. I believe we should bless the poor. We should help the poor. We should help single parent mom, single parent dads.
1171.000000 1180.000000 We should help people the less fortunate of those that are needy. But in God's economy, he understands the ability of the person.
1180.000000 1190.000000 That's why if you think government giving out billions of dollars to people every year is going to help poverty, that's not true. Why?
1190.000000 1198.000000 Because you can give a million dollars to a person that doesn't know how to manage it and next week they won't have any money.
1198.000000 1210.000000 I'm preaching. So we don't just give fish away. We teach people how to fish. How to manage. What is God giving you? What is he placing your hand?
1210.000000 1217.000000 What kind of talent do you have? What kind of ability do you have? So he takes it and gives it to the one who has 10.
1217.000000 1228.000000 And he turns to that one and he tells the other servants, take this servant out, throw him in outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth.
1228.000000 1245.000000 What? That's true. You can't just read the Bible. You have to read the Bible. Read it slow enough until you understand what's being said.
1245.000000 1269.000000 Why? Because God values management. I believe that 40 years space of time where Moses is in median, he is managing somebody else's property, somebody else's money to sheep, equate it to money.
1269.000000 1284.000000 That's why a cattle farmer will never tell you how many cattle they have. Why? Because if they tell you how many cattle they have they can tell you how much they're worth.
1284.000000 1300.000000 And no good cattleman or cattle farmer wants you to know all his business. And so he's managing somebody else's property. And when he is managing somebody else's property, he's just doing the ordinary.
1300.000000 1311.000000 Ah, just doing the ordinary. I'm just doing the ordinary. I'm looking after my kids every day. I'm getting them on the bus. I'm cooking. I'm cleaning. That's just the ordinary.
1311.000000 1319.000000 I'm just going to work every day. That's just the ordinary. It's amazing how God looks at the ordinary.
1319.000000 1332.000000 You don't believe me? One more illustration. David. His father sends him to his brothers that are on the battlefield.
1332.000000 1344.000000 He's carrying food to his brothers. One preacher said he was totin' the cheese.
1344.000000 1355.000000 He's totin' the cheese to his brothers that are on the front line of battle. And when he gets there during the ordinary thing,
1355.000000 1369.000000 he discovers that there's a giant in the valley taunting the nation of Israel. And everybody's fearful of the giant.
1369.000000 1377.000000 David doing the ordinary says, "Man, is anybody going to fight this dude? Anybody going to step out and challenge him?"
1377.000000 1387.000000 He's taunting the nation of Israel. And nobody has the guts. Nobody has the courage. Nobody has the strength.
1387.000000 1392.000000 David asks this question, "What will be done for the man who kills this giant?"
1392.000000 1401.000000 See, we think David just jumped out and killed him because he wanted to know. David has some incentive. He was incentivized.
1401.000000 1409.000000 He says, "If you kill that giant, you'll never have to pay taxes. That's enough for me to run toward the giant."
1409.000000 1415.000000 I don't know about you. I'll take his head off if I don't have to pay anymore taxes.
1415.000000 1422.000000 And if you kill the giant, you can marry King Saul's daughter. I don't know if I would have ran toward the giant. I had to see the girl first.
1422.000000 1431.000000 And if I had to see the girl first before you run out there, come on somebody. I'd make sure she's a brick house and all that kind of stuff.
1431.000000 1438.000000 I'm not running out there, she's not. Hey, let's just leave it right there now. She looked like my wife. Yeah, I'll run.
1438.000000 1442.000000 I'll take his head off.
1442.000000 1456.000000 But he's doing the ordinary that positions him to encounter the extraordinary. Moses is doing the ordinary thing.
1456.000000 1462.000000 The ordinary thing. It positions him for the extraordinary. Look what it says in verse 234.
1462.000000 1474.000000 There's the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from when in, within a bush. This is weird. He's on the back side of the wilderness.
1474.000000 1482.000000 Wasn't uncommon in the desert to see bushes burning, catch on fire because it would become so hot.
1482.000000 1490.000000 But this bush was not being consumed. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up.
1490.000000 1498.000000 So Moses thought I will go over and see this strange sight.
1498.000000 1509.000000 Why the bush does not burn up when the Lord saw that he had gone over to look. God called to him from within what?
1509.000000 1525.000000 The bush. Look what he says. Moses, Moses. God didn't say Moses, Moses because Moses didn't know his name.
1525.000000 1539.000000 Seven times of the Bible, God calls somebody's name twice. For Samuel 3, Samuel, Samuel. Here, Moses, Moses.
1539.000000 1549.000000 Luke, he calls Simon, Simon, two times. Acts 9, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
1549.000000 1558.000000 It's not because these men didn't know their name and God was trying to emphasize their identity.
1558.000000 1569.000000 He was trying to let them know who they were at that moment. He was emphasizing his relational connection to them.
1569.000000 1587.000000 He was emphasizing the call of God on their lives. Moses, Moses, notices he sees a bush that will not be consumed.
1587.000000 1595.000000 The bush is not wilting, it's not decaying, it's not being destroyed. The leaves are not burning up.
1595.000000 1601.000000 And most commentators believe that it was a theophany or a Christophany.
1601.000000 1610.000000 A theophany is the image of God in a bush. A Christophacy is the image of Jesus in the bush.
1610.000000 1619.000000 Many and most commentators believe this was a pre-incarnate view of Jesus or image of Jesus in the bush.
1619.000000 1630.000000 He was a fire in the bush and the fire was not consuming the bush and it attracted Moses' curiosity.
1630.000000 1640.000000 It's amazing as we age, we lose our curiosity. We lose our curiosity of God. We think we know God.
1640.000000 1645.000000 Come on, at the moment you try to put God in the box, he jumps out of your box.
1645.000000 1651.000000 How can finite people ultimately know an infinite God?
1651.000000 1659.000000 You can't walk around saying, I know God, you know some of God. You don't know all of God.
1659.000000 1666.000000 It's the curiosity of knowing God and learning about Him that should keep us growing.
1666.000000 1675.000000 Come on somebody, don't just become a Christian and six months later say, I know God, I've read the Bible once and I quit.
1675.000000 1682.000000 Come on, you need to keep reading the Bible. Jesus said, my words are spirit and they are alive.
1682.000000 1691.000000 Meaning every time I open up the book, it comes alive to me. My pastor once said, the quickest way to get into God's presence is to open your Bible.
1691.000000 1699.000000 If you want a Word, open the Bible. Come on somebody, we've got to get away from itching ears.
1699.000000 1708.000000 And we need to read the Word of God. Why? Because when you read the Word of God, it reads you.
1708.000000 1712.000000 Maybe that's the reason we don't read it.
1712.000000 1717.000000 Because if I read it, it begins to read me and I hear things about me, I don't like.
1717.000000 1728.000000 But the Bible is a mirror not to show you not so much what you are not, it shows you what you can become.
1728.000000 1741.000000 You hear me? It's the mirror of the Word of God that shows me the perfect law of God, shows me what I can become if I keep reading, if I keep submitting, if I keep heating, if I keep following Jesus.
1741.000000 1749.000000 I might not be there right now, but one day I will. I'll keep walking with Him and ultimately I will be as He is when I get to heaven.
1749.000000 1761.000000 But until then, I'm going to be transformed into His likeness as I renew my mind as I allow the Holy Spirit to work in my life.
1761.000000 1762.000000 Yes.
1762.000000 1771.000000 Think about that. The ordinary brought Him into an encounter with the extraordinary.
1771.000000 1789.000000 He encountered God and out of that bush, God speaks to Him. He said, "I want you to go back to Egypt."
1789.000000 1807.000000 I've heard the cries of my people. They're slaves in Egypt. They're making bricks. They're building other people's homes.
1807.000000 1811.000000 I've heard that cry.
1811.000000 1822.000000 See, oftentimes, when we think God calls us to do something, we think it's about us.
1822.000000 1835.000000 God, 80 years before this moment, already had a plan of deliverance for the nation.
1835.000000 1845.000000 I don't know about you, but I believe Pharaoh's sense that there would be a deliverer, and he wanted to kill that deliverer before that deliverer ever grew up.
1845.000000 1854.000000 I don't know about you, but when we give credence to abortion in our land, what we are doing, we're killing future deliverers.
1854.000000 1862.000000 We're killing future doctors, future presidents, future House of Representatives. We're killing our future leaders.
1862.000000 1868.000000 Don't get political. That's not political. That's a Bible. That is Bible.
1868.000000 1877.000000 We cannot idly sit by and just say, "Yeah, let's just do it. It's choice."
1877.000000 1889.000000 I know some of you you've been through an abortion. I've been past for a long time. I know the pain that's in people, and we don't condemn you at all.
1889.000000 1891.000000 At all.
1891.000000 1902.000000 Because I believe God can redeem any person. God can forgive any person, and there's no one in this building perfect.
1902.000000 1915.000000 But Jesus, but we are being perfected by His grace, and His Holy Spirit is leading us into all truth.
1915.000000 1918.000000 He is the teacher.
1918.000000 1925.000000 I honestly believe bridge church is a group of misfits.
1925.000000 1929.000000 We're just misfits. We give each other grace.
1929.000000 1936.000000 There are misfits in here. Some of you vote Republican. Some of you vote Democrat. Some of you are libertarians. Some of you are independent.
1936.000000 1938.000000 Misfits.
1938.000000 1944.000000 But never let your political persuasion become your idol.
1944.000000 1947.000000 I want you to hear that.
1947.000000 1955.000000 As soon as you let your political persuasion become your idol, you are blind.
1955.000000 1966.000000 It gets quiet in this gospel church. But I'm just preaching the Bible. Because Psalm 115 says that the nations of this world and the people of this world, they make idols.
1966.000000 1977.000000 These idols that they make, they have eyes, but they cannot see. They have ears. They cannot hear. They have feet. They cannot walk. They have hands, but they cannot touch.
1977.000000 1989.000000 And those who make them will become like them. So if the idols that we create cannot see, guess what our idols do to us? They blind us.
1989.000000 2004.000000 Because we become like the idols that we create. And when you idolize a persuasion of people and you idolize an ideology, you become like that and you're blind even if they're leading you over a cliff.
2004.000000 2012.000000 And you become blind and you can't call out error because you voted for that person.
2012.000000 2032.000000 I'm preaching in here today because it's truth. It's truth. If you become that blind that you can't call out people that are over you just because you're in that certain party or that certain persuasion, then you have become blind and you don't know the truth.
2032.000000 2044.000000 We don't live by the whims of political parties. We live by the word of God. That's what we live by.
2044.000000 2050.000000 We're not held captive by any political party.
2050.000000 2069.000000 I can't get away men in this gospel church. Why? Because I'm challenging mindsets. Just because you're a conservative doesn't mean you're a Christian.
2069.000000 2087.000000 I don't care if you watch Turning Point USA halftime show. That was not a Christian halftime show for Christians. It was for patriotic conservatives. There was nothing Christian about it.
2087.000000 2104.000000 Nor was bad money. It was not Christian. But this is what we do. We push this way and we think we're Christian. No, you get into word of God.
2104.000000 2124.000000 And you discover what is it like to be a Christ follower? Let's keep going. So he encountered the extraordinary because he was doing the ordinary. God calls him.
2124.000000 2135.000000 He comes up with five excuses in chapter three and four. Just like us. We come up with five. And we say that's grace because five is the number of grace.
2135.000000 2147.000000 It comes up with these excuses. The first one is about his own identity. He questions his own identity. He says this in chapter three verse 11.
2147.000000 2162.000000 Who am I to go before Pharaoh? Who am I? Lord, who am I? I've been out here attending sheep. I'm not a leader. Why are you choosing me? I already been in Egypt. I don't want to go back there and challenge Pharaoh.
2162.000000 2172.000000 Who am I to stand before him? Chapter four, he gives another one. I'm not going to give all five. You can read the Bible. I want to make you curious. Go find those five.
2172.000000 2190.000000 The second one in chapter four, he says, you know, I'm not a man of eloquent speech. I can't talk good. You know, I got this Southern Midianite draw.
2190.000000 2201.000000 I can't go before this man called Pharaoh. And he makes all these excuses. God says I'll be with you.
2201.000000 2215.000000 He embraces the ordinary. He encounters the extraordinary to expect the miraculous from God. And if you read this story, it's one of miracles, but it's also one of Providence.
2215.000000 2234.000000 The miracle is when God transcends natural law to do something that is a miracle. Providence is when God works in natural law and everyday ordinary events of your life to bring you to a moment of destiny.
2234.000000 2260.000000 Not only was his life of one of miracles, it was one of Providence. You need to expect a miracle from God. Exodus 3, 23, 22 says, so I will stretch out my hand. This is God speaking. And strike the Egyptians. God wasn't expecting Moses to do this. He was just expecting Moses to go.
2260.000000 2278.000000 He says, I'm going to strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go. And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people.
2278.000000 2298.000000 So that when you leave, you will not go out and get to hand it. Every woman, come on, there's those women again. Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and your daughters.
2298.000000 2326.000000 And so you will plunder the Egyptians. God allows Moses to grow up for 40 years in Egypt. He runs for his life for 40 years in Midian. He stays there at 80 years old. God calls Moses.
2326.000000 2342.000000 I don't know about you. I don't even know if I can hear it at 80. God calls him at 80 years old to go back to Egypt. Some of you want to retire and sit down. God wants you to refire and keep going.
2342.000000 2358.000000 You never retire in the kingdom. You keep mentoring the next generation. You keep pouring into the next generation. You say, I just want to come and get a little sermon so I can go to the diner. No, no, no, no, that's not what the kingdom of God is about.
2358.000000 2370.000000 It's about you living life on purpose. It's about you redeeming the time. It's about you taking advantage of every opportunity. It's about you encountering God. It's about you expecting miracles from God.
2370.000000 2388.000000 It's about the call of God on your life. I don't want to die full. I want to die empty. I want to give everything away before I leave planet earth. I want to give it all away because I can't take nothing with me. I've never seen a hearse pulling you all.
2388.000000 2399.000000 I want to give it all away. Why? Because I want to die empty. The only thing I want to possess when I leave planet earth is Jesus.
2399.000000 2414.000000 I'm singing that old song, I fly away. No, I'm not ready to fly away. I'm ready to make a difference in a world that needs Jesus. I'm ready to be counted as one that is full of strength and courage.
2414.000000 2425.000000 You think about that. Look what it says at the end of that verse. He said, I want you to put the silver and the gold on your sons and your daughters.
2425.000000 2443.000000 The call of Moses was never about Moses. The call of God on Moses was about future generations. I want you to stay. While I wrap this up.
2443.000000 2459.000000 The call of bridge church. It's not about pastor and orgy. It's more than that. It's a generational call. Multigenerational. Moses went in.
2459.000000 2470.000000 The third end of his life was 40 years. He goes in at 80. He points his finger at Pharaoh and says, let my people go.
2470.000000 2486.000000 Pharaoh, him hauled around and God sent tent plegs. Eventually they let him go. But when the Israelites left Egypt, they didn't come out sick. They didn't come out broke bus and discussed it.
2486.000000 2496.000000 The Bible says they came out with the wealth of Egypt on their sons and their daughters backs.
2496.000000 2513.000000 I'm here to tell you. It's about your children. It's about your grandchildren. It's about your great grandchildren. Sometimes we become so individualized and so performance driven and so mesmerized by our own need.
2513.000000 2522.000000 We come to church and we say, well, I don't like this. I don't like that. I don't know why they have to have such a big screen and so many lights.
2522.000000 2542.000000 I don't know why the music so loud. Did you ever come to think that church is not only about you? I don't be as with you. I don't even know some of the songs we sing.
2542.000000 2560.000000 It's up to me. I would go back to Hosanna Integrity 1980s. Up your heart. Come on. That's what I long for. Just a little guitar and one microphone. But it's not about me. It's about future generations.
2560.000000 2580.000000 Men in this house. Can I tell you your life is not about you? It's not about your golf game. It's not about the pleasureing of yourself. It's about raising your kids and leading your wife and being example.
2580.000000 2600.000000 That's what it's about. When you make the gospel about you, you minimize it. You strip it of its power. The gospel is self-sacrifice. It's not how I can buffet my flesh. Paul said, I buffet my flesh.
2600.000000 2615.000000 So when I preached to men, myself, I'm not going to be lost. Can I sacrifice from my wife? Can I sacrifice from my children? Men, I'm calling you up higher.
2615.000000 2627.000000 Paul said in Ephesians 5, "Love your wives as Christ loved the church." How did he love the church? He died.
2627.000000 2654.000000 We keep giving Christians 10 ways to be better. Here's one way. Die. Die to yourself. Die to your ambition. Die to your way. And say, Lord, I die right now. Whatever you want for me, take my dreams, my aspirations, my plans, my future, my present, my past, I give it all to you. I lay down my life.
2654.000000 2669.000000 I lay down my life. That's the call. That's the call of Jesus. I don't know what call you saw in church, but that's the call that Jesus came. He said, if any man wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
2669.000000 2685.000000 He didn't say feed himself. He didn't say buffet himself. He didn't say pleasure himself. We live in a world of entertainment and it's killing us. It's killing the church. It's killing the power of the gospel.
2685.000000 2709.000000 Can I sacrifice my own life for the sake of others? Can I give? Can I keep on giving? Like Moses, can I march? Because I hear God speaking to me. Because there's a cry. And there's a dream of deliverance. I'm telling you, there's a younger generation crying.
2709.000000 2722.000000 They're crying out for God to raise up people that will lead the way. Did you know, Gen Z is attending church way more than their parents.
2722.000000 2733.000000 They're looking for leadership, no, but we want to sit home just because it rains. Just because it's too hot. Just because it's too cold. Just because it's damp.
2733.000000 2745.000000 Just because I don't feel like getting out of this bed. You don't say that on Monday, you get up and you go to work. Why? Because you've disciplined yourself to do so.
2745.000000 2760.000000 We got to be leading. Why? Because somebody's watching. Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. See, Moses saw the provision of God as he moved toward the call. God wants you to move.
2760.000000 2772.000000 Then you see the provision. I mean, I didn't see, intend you didn't see provision when we moved here, but as we moved toward the call of God, God provided every step of the way.
2772.000000 2783.000000 And He continues to provide. But you got to move. You say, I don't know how to do that past arch. I'm a man, but I don't know how to do it. Just move.
2783.000000 2793.000000 Maybe your next move is a small group. Maybe your next move is baptism. Maybe your next move is salvation. You need to come to Jesus. Let's buy our hands.
2793.000000 2802.000000 Well, I just thank you for every person in this building today. God, we're not going to shrink back from the gospel.
2802.000000 2811.000000 God, we're not going to be manipulated by the deception of our day or the flesh of people.
2811.000000 2820.000000 God, we're going to stand on your word. We're going to preach it uncompromise. And we're going to lead without compromise.
2820.000000 2827.986812 In a world that's rocking and reeling, God help us to be strong and courageous.