>> Pastor Eric
00:00:00.140 Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Freedom Church.
00:00:04.900 What a great day to be at Freedom Church on an Independence Day weekend, and so
00:00:08.460 excited to see all of you. If you haven't — we haven't met, I'm Pastor Eric, lead
00:00:12.360 pastor here of Freedom Church, and we're excited to have the first Independence
00:00:16.340 Day Freedom Weekend at Freedom Church this weekend, and so
00:00:20.200 glad you all joined us today. How many of you are excited for freedom?
00:00:24.220 Whoo.
00:00:24.280 You give a shout to God. Right, that's what we're singing about.
00:00:27.660 Not just freedom in this nation, which I do believe the United States is still the
00:00:31.320 greatest nation ever that exists.
00:00:33.380 I know we're a little prideful in our own country, but the reality is the United
00:00:37.220 States was created as a Christian nation.
00:00:40.129 That 55 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence
00:00:44.040 were Bible-believing, church-attending Christians.
00:00:47.120 That our Founding Fathers founded the United States on Christian
00:00:51.140 principles, Christian values. The reason they left Great Britain,
00:00:55.100 England, was to be able to worship God and not
00:00:59.060 worship a king. Not worship just a man of the nation, but to worship
00:01:03.000 Jesus Christ himself. And there's a lot of negativity
00:01:06.540 about Christian nationalism and all these things, and I think if
00:01:10.480 you love Christ first, Jesus first, and you love the United
00:01:14.420 States, if that makes me a Christian nationalist, then that's what I am.
00:01:17.420 Because I love Jesus and his kingdom first, and I also love the
00:01:21.280 country that we live in, the freedoms that we have, the nation that was built
00:01:24.900 upon Christian values. And the reality is our nation was founded with
00:01:28.860 Christian values, and a government that unless it stays a Christian
00:01:32.520 nation, it doesn't work. And that's why we see so many of the
00:01:36.320 challenges, so many of the fallouts, so many of the problems that we see in our
00:01:39.880 country are because we've moved further and further away from the
00:01:43.740 Christian values that we have. So today's not about
00:01:47.440 politics. As much as many times we talk about United States, our nation, we think,
00:01:51.140 oh, we're talking politics. The reality is, talking about the United
00:01:54.920 States of America is really talking about freedom.
00:01:57.600 But I'm not here today just to talk about our nation, even though we celebrate
00:02:01.460 freedom of religion, we celebrate freedom of speech, we celebrate the freedom
00:02:05.380 that we've been able to celebrate now for 250 years of our nation's
00:02:09.100 existence. We honor the sacrifice of the people who've laid
00:02:12.960 down their lives. Countless people have sacrificed themselves, put
00:02:16.440 themselves in harm's way so that we could protect the freedom
00:02:20.460 that we have. Certainly, freedom is not free.
00:02:23.900 But as we celebrate America today, I'm more hopeful than ever.
00:02:28.200 As I see the statistics and the tide turning.
00:02:32.030 I think the country got so far away from God that now young
00:02:36.000 people especially are seeing that there is truth in the word of God.
00:02:39.860 There is truth, and there's something about being a Christian that people are more
00:02:43.329 and more looking into in high schools and college
00:02:46.600 campuses. Thousands, if not millions, of people are turning and are at
00:02:50.340 least interested. They might not be fully surrendered yet, but they're
00:02:54.020 looking into what is truth. That age-old question,
00:02:57.820 what is truth? We're seeing young people turn to Jesus.
00:03:00.500 We're seeing thousands of people being baptized in high schools and college
00:03:04.040 campuses. We're seeing a true revival, which is where dead things come
00:03:08.040 back to life, where an area of dead things now has life in
00:03:12.060 it. We're seeing that especially in the younger generation.
00:03:15.850 And that's something we're so excited and hopeful about Freedom Church, is we're
00:03:19.700 not here just to make America better.
00:03:21.840 We're here to make the kingdom of God bigger for more people.
00:03:24.780 Especially not just young people, but all people to know Jesus.
00:03:28.960 But we have the intentionality saying we're going to reach the next generation.
00:03:32.260 Because if it just stops with us and it never reaches the next
00:03:35.800 generation, then eventually we're all going to die off, the church is going to
00:03:39.380 close, and the movement that God is doing, his kingdom, stops
00:03:42.940 advancing. So we have to reach the next generation.
00:03:45.400 We have to reach the young people. We're seeing that more and more in Franklin
00:03:49.340 Regional High School, in the local youth ministry, in the community
00:03:53.220 as well. And if you're excited about that, you're in the right place to
00:03:56.980 see what God's going to do. I believe there's a floodgate of his
00:04:00.980 spirit that's going to break out in this region specifically, in these communities,
00:04:05.360 the school district, over the next year and beyond, and I want to be a
00:04:09.320 part of that.
00:04:12.620 Couple quick announcements I do want to mention is we're a church that really wants
00:04:15.540 to be outside the walls, and last Saturday, we had 24
00:04:19.360 people go outside the walls to nursing homes, to serving on the trail,
00:04:23.420 just praying for people, blessing people, doing some construction work at a
00:04:27.380 community center in Export. And this next Saturday, on
00:04:31.080 July 11th, is the next opportunity for you to sign up to
00:04:35.020 be involved with community outreach.
00:04:37.100 So if you have some construction or you're pretty handy, you can help with
00:04:40.520 construction. If you just want to love on people, pray for people, you can
00:04:44.420 stand out on the trail. Hopefully, it's a little bit cooler this week come
00:04:47.380 Saturday. But handing out water bottles, praying for people, fruit.
00:04:50.640 We're just handing things out to be in the community, blessing the community,
00:04:54.780 loving on people, and seeing so many stories that we got to hear from last week
00:04:58.940 happen again this upcoming Saturday.
00:05:01.120 If you've never done that before and you're like, "That scares me.
00:05:04.080 I'm an introvert. I would never do that," I'm encouraging you, get signed up
00:05:08.140 and just go along with the team. You don't necessarily have to do all the things,
00:05:11.520 but go along with the team and let God work through you.
00:05:14.480 I guarantee it's going to be one of the best experiences of your summer when you
00:05:17.900 sign up and show up Saturday. Also, Saturday morning is the
00:05:21.630 Embrace Grace baby shower. Now, this is more for the ladies.
00:05:24.640 We are throwing a baby shower for a young lady, a single mom, who
00:05:28.520 has gone through this whole curriculum, and we want to bless her.
00:05:30.900 She doesn't have a family, doesn't have a lot of means to throw her a baby shower.
00:05:34.320 We're going to throw her a baby shower.
00:05:35.920 So there's ladies, you can sign up for that as well.
00:05:38.660 Also, the following week, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, is our kids camp.
00:05:42.740 So three days similar to a VBS, a vacation Bible school.
00:05:46.300 I'm encouraging you to sign up for this regardless of if you have kids,
00:05:49.900 regardless of if you serve in kids ministry.
00:05:53.000 We want you to be involved because there's games, there's crafts, but what this
00:05:56.560 really is, it's just about two and a half hours on each evening, Wednesday,
00:06:00.180 Thursday, Friday, and you can sign up for two or three.
00:06:02.740 You don't have to be there all three days, although that would be better.
00:06:06.560 We're going to be able to impact not only kids in our church, but their friends,
00:06:10.300 people, kids in the community, to come and experience Jesus for three nights
00:06:14.280 in a row. I believe it's going to have an eternal impact on these kids'
00:06:17.520 lives. And not just because it's good curriculum, but because we have people who
00:06:21.490 are putting extra time, extra effort, extra prayer into reaching these
00:06:25.500 kids for the kingdom of God. So if you can be there, by
00:06:29.440 any means, sign up. Be there, be involved.
00:06:32.136 We'll communicate to you all the training, all the preparation, things that are
00:06:35.416 going to need to go into being ready.
00:06:37.416 But that's coming up soon, July 15, 16, and 17.
00:06:41.276 So with that, we're going to switch gears, jump into the message.
00:06:43.696 Before we do, let's pray.
00:06:45.576 Heavenly Father, we thank you, God, for this day.
00:06:47.396 God, we thank you for the freedom that we have to gather together in this building
00:06:51.056 to worship you. God, to read your word.
00:06:53.896 God, I pray that we would not take that for granted, but, God, we would
00:06:57.596 embrace that freedom. God, we would lean into what you have for
00:07:01.516 us today. God, your word speaks to each and every one of us.
00:07:04.716 I pray your Spirit would move in our hearts.
00:07:06.796 God, help us learn what it is that you would have for us and how we can apply it to
00:07:10.716 our lives moving forward from today.
00:07:13.125 It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
00:07:16.756 So before the American Revolution, there was a great story of freedom
00:07:20.756 that took place, and it's called the Exodus.
00:07:22.836 The Exodus is found in the Old Testament, and we're continuing our series
00:07:26.636 titled "Timeless," where we look at past lives, people from the past,
00:07:30.676 Old Testament stories, and how it applies to our present
00:07:34.256 purpose today. But the Exodus is not just the story
00:07:38.176 of Israel, it's really all of our stories.
00:07:41.036 Every one of us, especially as followers of Jesus, we all have an
00:07:44.776 Egypt. The story of Exodus is God led the people of Israel out
00:07:48.656 of Egypt, out of slavery, out of bondage, into the
00:07:52.596 wilderness, and ultimately into the Promised Land.
00:07:55.376 They had to go through the Red Sea. That picture is a picture of all of our
00:07:59.396 stories. We all have a past. We all have sin.
00:08:02.416 We all have bondage and slavery. God leads
00:08:05.876 us through stuff, through obstacles, through challenges,
00:08:10.056 through difficult circumstances, ultimately through a Red
00:08:13.616 Sea. Sometimes we go through a wilderness before we ever actually get
00:08:17.536 to the Promised Land. But this story really is a story about
00:08:21.536 all of us. Now, the main character that we're going to focus on is the guy by the
00:08:24.876 name of Moses. Some would know him as Big Mo, if you watch
00:08:28.546 "VeggieTales," Big Mo and the Israelites.
00:08:31.356 But Moses, I want to give just a little bit of a biography
00:08:35.256 here for him, just to wrap us up. And there's a lot of chapters in the Book of
00:08:39.016 Exodus that really highlights and points to this entire story,
00:08:42.557 but I'm not going to read 15 chapters of Exodus to you.
00:08:44.936 I'm going to just read and highlight and summarize some of the details.
00:08:48.656 So Moses, his name literally means to lift out.
00:08:51.836 So what happened was, Pharaoh, who's overseeing all of
00:08:55.896 Egypt, they had the Hebrews, the Israelite people, in slavery.
00:08:59.936 So for about 400 to 430 years, the Israelite people
00:09:03.856 were slaves. First in the land of Canaan, then in Egypt,
00:09:07.876 and Pharaoh, he goes, "Hey, the Hebrews, they're really
00:09:10.966 strong, and they're growing rapidly," like the population of the Hebrews.
00:09:14.726 And he said, "We've got to stop this." So he actually orders all Hebrew boys to be
00:09:18.656 killed. And they executed most of the Hebrew boys at that
00:09:22.676 time, which is horrible. But Moses's mother, she actually
00:09:26.136 puts Moses into a basket, covers it in tar and pitch so it floats,
00:09:30.216 and she puts him in the river and just trusts God's going to do something.
00:09:34.376 What happens is Pharaoh's own daughter comes down, finds Moses, and she
00:09:38.376 picks him up and she's like, "He's so cute. He's special.
00:09:41.336 I'm going to keep him." It's like a little puppy she found, and she's like, "I want
00:09:44.276 to keep him. Dad, can I keep him?" And Dad's like, "Okay, keep him." So
00:09:48.376 Pharaoh's daughter ends up finding Moses, and she lifts him out of the water.
00:09:51.706 So she names him Moses, which means to lift out of the water.
00:09:55.496 He ends up being raised in Pharaoh's palace.
00:09:58.516 Talk about being a slave boy who should be killed to now he's in the
00:10:02.196 palace of Pharaoh himself, being raised in royalty.
00:10:06.376 Adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, educated, trained,
00:10:10.956 he was on track to become a prince, and he ends up killing an
00:10:14.556 Egyptian. About 40 years old, there's an Egyptian who's beating an
00:10:18.616 Israelite man. He kills the Egyptian and he flees because he's
00:10:22.496 like, "I'm going to be in trouble. This is not good." He flees to the desert, to a
00:10:26.396 land called Midian, and he becomes a shepherd,
00:10:30.336 a husband, a father. He meets a guy, marries his daughter,
00:10:34.576 Zipporah, and this man who was trained and raised to be a
00:10:38.276 prince, a man who was on track to rule and
00:10:42.196 reign in Egypt, now is a shepherd, one of the
00:10:46.156 lowliest jobs you could have. Working a mundane
00:10:49.736 nine-to-five, just getting by, living an ordinary
00:10:53.916 life.
00:10:55.316 And this is where we see a turning point happen in Moses's life.
00:10:58.316 For 40 years in Egypt, then for another 40 years, he's in
00:11:02.256 the wilderness, living this life, just shepherding the
00:11:06.116 flock of sheep. And then we see one ordinary day,
00:11:10.856 one ordinary shepherd, but one extraordinary encounter.
00:11:14.456 It's the encounter at the burning bush.
00:11:17.136 In fact, he's walking just another day.
00:11:19.016 He's leading the sheep towards Mount Sinai, and this bush, he sees it's
00:11:22.856 on fire. And this fire is not consuming the bush.
00:11:27.096 I know many of you have heard this story, but many of you haven't heard this story,
00:11:30.416 and heard the details from the scripture.
00:11:32.776 So I want you to just put yourself back in the story.
00:11:36.336 I know some of you watch the same movie over and over and over again.
00:11:38.896 So just follow along. But he sees this bush, and it's not being burned up.
00:11:42.836 So he comes closer. He goes, "I've got to check this out." And from the burning
00:11:46.496 bush, the Lord speaks to him. Says, "Moses, Moses, take off your sandals,
00:11:50.476 for this is holy ground." And he takes off his sandals, and he's standing there,
00:11:54.216 and he's having this dialogue with God through the burning bush.
00:11:57.336 And ultimately, God tells Moses, "Now go, for I
00:12:01.276 am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people, Israel,
00:12:05.636 out of Egypt."
00:12:07.376 Now remember, for 40 years, he's been in the wilderness.
00:12:10.116 Forty years ago, the last time the Bible says he was in Egypt, he killed a
00:12:14.096 guy.
00:12:15.596 Now, God's telling him to go right back to that same place where he killed a
00:12:19.436 guy, where he fled from, and I can imagine what Moses
00:12:23.476 thought about for those 40 years. The regret, the shame,
00:12:27.696 the guilt, the thought of maybe that guy he killed had family.
00:12:31.676 Maybe that guy wondered what he could've would've been done doing in his future.
00:12:35.296 But I imagine he had these regrets.
00:12:37.916 He had this feeling of guilt, this weight upon him, and God tells
00:12:41.916 him he's going to go back to that very same place.
00:12:45.016 And not just to go back to Egypt, but now you're going to confront Pharaoh
00:12:48.576 himself. His adopted grandfather, if you will.
00:12:52.484 But notice what God says. God says, "I've seen my
00:12:56.504 people suffering." He says, "I've heard their prayers and their cries.
00:13:00.864 I know what's going on." And he says, "I have come down to lead my
00:13:04.864 people out of bondage."
00:13:07.304 God wasn't absent. For those hundreds of years, God saw,
00:13:11.204 God heard, God knew what they were experiencing.
00:13:15.524 And in our lives, sometimes it feels like, "God, where are you?" You ever been
00:13:19.124 there? Maybe a season, maybe a day, maybe a year or a decade.
00:13:23.144 It feels like, "God, where are you?" God knows, God sees, God
00:13:27.204 cares, and he has sent somebody to deliver his people.
00:13:31.184 God is sending Moses to deliver the people of Egypt.
00:13:33.924 He left heaven and sent Jesus to deliver each and every one of us.
00:13:37.604 God is always watching. But it's interesting that he picked
00:13:41.274 Moses because Moses wasn't really the most confident guy.
00:13:45.384 In fact, look at what Moses said in Exodus 3 to 4.
00:13:48.584 He says, "Who am I?"
00:13:50.744 God says, "You're going to go approach Pharaoh and you're going to lead my people."
00:13:53.324 Moses is like, "Me? There's got to be somebody else.
00:13:57.364 You mean to talk to somebody else, because the last time I was there, I killed a
00:14:00.584 guy." And then he says, "Well, what if they don't believe me, God?
00:14:03.984 Well, I'm not a very good speaker, so I shouldn't be the one.
00:14:06.984 Please send someone else." These are all the things Moses
00:14:10.944 said to God himself, which God then corrects him and is
00:14:14.864 like, "You know who creates your mouth?
00:14:16.804 You know who puts the knowledge in your mind?
00:14:18.984 You know who I am?"
00:14:20.884 God wasn't looking for someone who had confidence or
00:14:24.104 gifting or skill, but God is looking for someone who is
00:14:27.824 surrendered to his will, who simply says, "Yes,
00:14:31.684 God, I will do whatever you ask." Then God ultimately answers
00:14:35.404 Moses with this statement. He says, "I am who I am."
00:14:40.264 I am who I am. And in Hebrew, he's really saying, "I am because I've
00:14:44.324 always been." His presence has always been.
00:14:46.804 I'm the one who has always existed.
00:14:49.364 There was no question when he uses this phrase that God is not saying anything
00:14:53.384 other than he is God himself. Yahweh, Adonai, the
00:14:57.424 one who existed for all time. But God wasn't just giving him a
00:15:01.424 name, he was declaring his eternal and divine
00:15:04.984 nature. So when he told Moses, Moses is like, "What am I going to tell them?" He
00:15:08.624 says, "Tell them I Am sent you. Tell them the God of the
00:15:12.504 universe sent you." And then God says, "I will be with
00:15:16.364 you."
00:15:17.564 I will be with you. The same thing Jesus said when he ascended to heaven, "I will
00:15:21.184 be with you always." God is always with us,
00:15:25.064 whether we feel it, whether we think it, whether we see it, the truth and
00:15:29.044 the reality is God is with us. His presence is with
00:15:33.064 us. He knows what's going on.
00:15:35.724 Ultimately, Moses says he's going to go. He returns to Egypt.
00:15:39.604 He confronts Pharaoh, and Pharaoh says, "No, I'm not going to let these
00:15:43.544 people go." Now imagine Moses, he might have shown up going, "Okay, God said this
00:15:47.484 is going to happen. It's I Am, he's with me, this should be easy, right?" And he
00:15:51.024 goes, "Hey, Pharaoh, let my people, let God's people go." And Pharaoh just says,
00:15:54.864 "No, not going to do it."
00:15:57.144 Then what do you do? What happens when God tells you to do something,
00:16:01.384 you obey, and then the other person or the
00:16:04.384 circumstances just say no?
00:16:07.604 Well, you go back to God. You go back to the one who sent you.
00:16:10.554 You say, "Okay, hey God, it didn't work out like I thought it would.
00:16:13.444 Now what?" And God's going to continue to give you the next steps and the next
00:16:17.864 ways for you to simply obey. So after this, God
00:16:21.624 sends the 10 plagues. So you've probably heard of the 10 plagues.
00:16:25.084 What's interesting with these plagues is almost all of them, if not all of them,
00:16:28.464 are actually connected to one of the Egyptian gods.
00:16:31.804 So the Egyptians would worship thousands of gods. They had gods for everything.
00:16:35.344 They had a moon god, they had a sun god, they had a god that looked like a frog,
00:16:39.344 they had the fly god. There was all these different gods, and God
00:16:43.344 sent these plagues,
00:16:45.544 I believe, and the Bible actually says, to demonstrate his power, but also to show
00:16:49.564 his power and superiority over the Egyptian gods.
00:16:53.544 So the first five, water turned to blood.
00:16:56.124 He had frogs covered the whole land of Egypt, like all over the
00:16:59.704 Egyptians in their home. It says they were piling up on them.
00:17:02.884 One of the most funny statements, I believe, in the Bible is when
00:17:07.643 Pharaoh's like, "Get rid of the frogs," and Moses finally says, "Okay, when do you
00:17:11.444 want me to get rid of them?" He says, "How about tomorrow?"
00:17:14.884 You have frogs up to your neck, I'd be like, "Get them out now.
00:17:18.424 Make them go now." But he says, "Tomorrow." We do the same thing
00:17:22.444 at times, right? When do you want to get healed? When do you want to get free?
00:17:26.264 When do you really want to be done with your Egypt and your past and your
00:17:30.144 sin? We say, "Maybe someday. How about maybe next time?
00:17:33.204 Maybe next week, next year." And we delay the promises of
00:17:37.164 God. We delay the purpose that God has in our life.
00:17:40.244 We're delaying things, right? And saying, "God, I want you now.
00:17:43.524 I don't want one more hit, one more high, one more vice, one more thing.
00:17:47.284 I want to be free now." And that's the promise that God
00:17:51.184 offers to us. He sends gnats. It says Moses hits the ground of dust and
00:17:55.164 it turns to swarms of gnats that are flying all over them, just pestering
00:17:59.384 the Egyptians. Then he sends flies, then a disease that kills much
00:18:03.344 of the livestock.
00:18:05.064 Then we get to boils. He has boils all over the people and the
00:18:09.024 animals' skin. Then he sends a hailstorm that destroys much of the
00:18:12.964 crop and anybody that was not under shelter.
00:18:16.064 Then he sends a swarm of locusts to eat the crops that didn't get destroyed from
00:18:20.064 the hail. So God's really putting a number on the Egyptians here.
00:18:23.614 And every single time, God sent Moses to Pharaoh and said, "Hey,
00:18:27.884 let my people go." And every time Pharaoh said no, God would send
00:18:31.644 another plague. So Pharaoh had a chance every step of the
00:18:35.604 way to let the people go instead of
00:18:39.284 suffering the consequences. And we can see these 10 plagues
00:18:43.284 like, man, God really wanted to put a punishment on him, but he gave him an
00:18:47.284 opportunity every step of the way.
00:18:49.424 God's desire is not to punish, but for us to
00:18:53.184 simply obey and follow what's best for us.
00:18:56.484 He sends darkness, plague nine, where for three days the land of Egypt was
00:19:00.424 complete darkness, yet where the Israelites were camped still had light like
00:19:03.964 normal. Then finally, the 10th one, the death of the
00:19:07.824 firstborn, what is known as Passover, where God commands the Israelites
00:19:11.764 to put blood on the doorposts and the lintel of their homes.
00:19:15.264 This is really a picture of Jesus, the Passover lamb, the blood that
00:19:19.264 was spread that covers us so that death will pass
00:19:23.084 over us. Even the Egyptians could be spared when they
00:19:27.344 used the blood, the sacrifice,
00:19:30.284 to obey God, to follow what God had commanded them.
00:19:33.164 Finally, after the 10th plague, Pharaoh lets them go.
00:19:37.784 But freedom isn't finished yet. Just because they were told they could leave,
00:19:41.184 didn't mean they were in freedom, yet Pharaoh actually changes his
00:19:45.144 mind, and the Israelites now get to the Red Sea.
00:19:48.064 So this is where we kind of summarize all the way up to this point.
00:19:51.304 We get to Exodus 13,
00:19:53.324 verse 21. It says that the Lord went ahead of them.
00:19:57.644 So the Lord himself is leading the people of Israel.
00:20:00.544 Now, if you picture this, most scholars determine it was probably around two
00:20:04.144 million people, men, women, and children, plus livestock.
00:20:07.784 So God is leading this massive amount of
00:20:11.044 people out of Egypt towards the Red Sea.
00:20:14.194 It says he guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud.
00:20:17.864 He provided light as night with a pillar of fire.
00:20:20.844 This allowed them to travel by day or by night, and the Lord did
00:20:24.794 not remove the pillar of cloud from them.
00:20:27.244 So that God was leading them. It's very important to catch that because
00:20:31.244 it's not us that set ourselves free, but it's God who leads us
00:20:35.284 into freedom.
00:20:36.824 But sometimes God deliberately instructs us or leads us into something
00:20:40.764 that doesn't make sense. Verse 14 — Exodus 14
00:20:44.744 verse 1, he says, "The Lord gave these instructions to Moses:
00:20:49.434 'Order the Israelites to turn back and camp at Pi-Hahiroth,
00:20:53.724 between Migdol and the sea. Camp there along the
00:20:57.504 shore across from Baal-Zephon.'" So he gives very specific
00:21:01.264 instructions to Moses. They're actually leading him out of Egypt, and God says,
00:21:04.924 "No, now you're going to go back towards Egypt, back towards
00:21:08.624 Migdol, and camp at this place called Pi-Hahiroth."
00:21:13.024 Then Pharaoh will think in verse three, "The Israelites are confused.
00:21:17.284 They are trapped in the wilderness, and once again, I will harden
00:21:20.924 Pharaoh's heart. He will chase after you."
00:21:25.504 Now there are actually 20 mentions of Pharaoh's heart being hardened.
00:21:28.544 I know some people have a really hard time with this, like how could God do that?
00:21:32.864 Ten of the times that it said Pharaoh's heart was hardened, Pharaoh did
00:21:36.424 himself. It says he himself hardened his heart.
00:21:39.784 Now, the word "hardened" means he had a weight, he had a grief or some angst
00:21:43.744 about something. That doesn't mean God made it happen, but Pharaoh's heart was
00:21:47.764 hardened either way. He rebelled. He was stubborn. Ten of the times.
00:21:51.624 The other 10 times it says God hardened his heart.
00:21:54.864 So whether God did it or Pharaoh did it, the answer is yes.
00:21:58.304 Pharaoh's heart ultimately was hardened, but here it says, God says, "I will harden
00:22:01.684 Pharaoh's heart. He will chase after you." Why would God want
00:22:06.104 Pharaoh and his army to chase after him?
00:22:08.884 Well, he says in the next verse, "I have planned this in order to
00:22:12.944 display my glory through Pharaoh and his whole army.
00:22:17.464 After this, the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord." So the Israelites camped
00:22:21.364 there, as they were told. God was doing something that
00:22:25.264 didn't make sense to the Israelites. Definitely didn't make sense to Moses.
00:22:28.544 He's like, "Wait, we're going this way, now we're going this way.
00:22:31.764 Now we're trapped. This doesn't look good." And I want to show you a
00:22:35.644 map of, just so you kind of get some geography, a map of the
00:22:39.504 region where Egypt is there in the left.
00:22:41.874 There are the two gulfs, Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba.
00:22:45.364 Now most scholars say biblically, and there's the towns of
00:22:48.564 Pi-Hahiroth and Migdol are on the left side, the western side of
00:22:52.544 the Gulf of Suez. So most likely, in that strip somewhere
00:22:56.504 is where they crossed. In that strip of water.
00:22:59.464 Some people think it's the Gulf of Aqaba just because it's further and there's some
00:23:02.944 other artifacts and evidence that they could've crossed the water of the Red
00:23:06.984 Sea in one of those gulfs. But biblically, the most accurate
00:23:10.544 understanding is the Gulf of Suez.
00:23:12.724 So they're stuck here at this place where
00:23:16.644 they see water in front of them and Pharaoh and his
00:23:20.564 army approaching behind them.
00:23:23.004 There's no visible way of escape. This is an
00:23:26.964 actual picture of one of those gulfs where you can see a vast distance
00:23:30.724 across that they had to get to the other side.
00:23:33.164 This water which was hundreds to thousands of feet deep in some
00:23:37.184 places that they would've had to cross through.
00:23:39.764 This is the river where they're looking at, this could be one of the crossing spots
00:23:43.764 where they're looking at this body of water and there's an
00:23:47.364 army approaching behind them. They cry out to Moses, saying, "What are you doing?
00:23:51.484 Did you bring us out here just to die?" Because they don't see any
00:23:55.404 physical place of escape. How could they possibly get
00:23:58.884 across this body of water?
00:24:02.604 But Moses tells the people, Exodus 14 verse 13, he says,
00:24:06.444 "Don't be afraid." It's like, yeah, easy to say, right? A lot harder to do.
00:24:10.914 "Don't be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue
00:24:14.814 you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be
00:24:18.544 seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you.
00:24:22.604 Just stay calm." Now, I believe many times
00:24:26.304 Christians, we use these verses to mean I don't have to do
00:24:30.024 anything. God's going to take care of everything. God's going to do all the work.
00:24:33.444 God's going to win all the battles and I can just keep on living my life.
00:24:36.984 Now, at times that's true, but more often than not, God gives
00:24:41.084 steps of obedience, steps and commands, calls to action.
00:24:44.804 God tells us to do things which we see the very next verse.
00:24:48.794 The Lord said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me?
00:24:51.624 Tell the people to get," what? "Moving."
00:24:56.036 Now the water is still there. Moses hadn't done anything.
00:24:59.636 God hasn't parted the Red Sea, and God says, "Tell the people to get moving."
00:25:04.156 Again, the steps, if they would've just sat back and said, "God's going to win the
00:25:07.816 battle. He's going to take care of it.
00:25:09.276 I don't need to do anything," they would've been killed before the sea was parted.
00:25:12.756 But God said, "Tell them to get moving." As Christians, we're
00:25:16.676 supposed to be in motion. It's a lot easier to steer a car when it's in
00:25:20.336 motion. It's a lot easier for God to guide our lives when we're
00:25:23.976 moving, when we're taking steps, when we're actually doing
00:25:27.416 something that God has asked us to do.
00:25:31.016 Then he tells Moses, "Pick up your staff, raise your hand over the sea,
00:25:35.436 divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the
00:25:39.076 sea on..." What? "Dry ground." Very
00:25:43.036 important detail. Divide the water.
00:25:45.426 They can walk through on dry ground.
00:25:47.096 So Moses raised his hand over the sea.
00:25:50.296 The Lord opened up a path through the water with a strong east
00:25:54.016 wind. The wind blew all that night, turning the seabed into
00:25:57.896 dry land. So the people of Israel walked through the middle of the
00:26:01.736 sea on dry ground with walls
00:26:05.676 of water on each side. So if you've seen cartoons or
00:26:09.296 movies like "Ben-Hur," those things were like the water is up on both sides.
00:26:13.276 That's a pretty accurate biblical description of what took place.
00:26:17.036 They walked on dry ground, walls of water on either
00:26:20.796 side as God parted the waters. It says, then when
00:26:25.216 all the Israelites had reached the other side, the Lord said to
00:26:28.796 Moses, "Raise your hand over the sea again, then the
00:26:32.716 waters will rush back and cover the Egyptians
00:26:36.976 and their chariots and charioteers."
00:26:39.516 So as soon as the sun began to rise, Moses raised his hand over the
00:26:43.016 sea. The water rushed back into its usual place.
00:26:46.386 The Egyptians tried to escape, but the Lord swept them into the sea.
00:26:50.976 Then the waters returned and covered all the chariots and charioteers,
00:26:54.936 the entire army of Pharaoh. Of all the Egyptians who
00:26:58.926 had chased the Israelites into the sea, not a single one
00:27:02.856 survived.
00:27:04.736 Now, before we get sad for the Egyptians, many
00:27:08.636 scholars and many atheists actually talk about they don't believe
00:27:12.376 that the sea was really parted. They're like, "Oh, it was probably low
00:27:16.256 tide, really dry season. They found sections of
00:27:19.996 ground where they could've gone through where it's waist deep." And I go, okay, if
00:27:23.776 you really believe that the Egyptians crossed on a dry land
00:27:27.496 bridge or where the water was not very deep, how do we explain the
00:27:30.776 Egyptians completely being covered by water and dying?
00:27:34.756 You usually don't drown in three feet of water.
00:27:37.256 Charioteers and horses, but God completely covered them with
00:27:41.076 water, wiping them out totally. Now, the Egyptians were going
00:27:45.096 to kill the Israelites. They were going to take them and pull them back into
00:27:48.656 slavery, into bondage. Most likely would've killed many of them.
00:27:52.376 So God saved and rescued the Israelites,
00:27:55.696 defeating the enemy that was pursuing them, and just
00:27:59.596 as God promised, these Egyptians who are chasing you, you will never see
00:28:02.976 again. How does this apply to our lives?
00:28:05.816 Well, this, I believe, is a picture of baptism.
00:28:08.696 It's a picture of our deliverance, where God brings us through some stuff
00:28:12.856 and through water on the other side, and within that, He
00:28:16.436 destroys and removes the enemy that we see in our lives.
00:28:20.036 So there's an enemy of your life. His name's the devil, and he has
00:28:23.696 demons and people working for him.
00:28:25.536 There's a whole lot of enemy activity against your life.
00:28:29.456 Many people believe in evil, but they wrestle with the idea of believing in God
00:28:33.396 or believing in angels. The enemy that God wiped out here, naturally
00:28:37.496 speaking, the Egyptians, is really a shadow of the enemy that God
00:28:41.416 defeats and conquers in our lives spiritually.
00:28:45.036 God might not kill people in your life or have them wiped out physically,
00:28:49.396 but He wants to remove the spiritual enemy that's attacking you and is
00:28:53.436 chasing you. Those thoughts of anxiety, those thoughts of depression,
00:28:57.446 the enemy of fear, of suicidal thoughts, inadequacy,
00:29:01.516 not being enough, addiction, all those things from
00:29:05.376 your past, from your Egypt. Your sin, your
00:29:09.036 lifestyle, your past, things that were done to you as a child, all
00:29:12.856 those things that were done, those are the Egyptians of your life today.
00:29:17.375 God wants to wipe those things out. I believe He wants you to walk in freedom.
00:29:21.436 He wants to deliver you from your past. He wants to deliver you from your stuff.
00:29:25.616 And those things that you're facing today, you will never see again in
00:29:29.356 Jesus' name, if you
00:29:32.236 take some steps and walk with Him.
00:29:36.036 God didn't save the people because they were strong.
00:29:38.876 He saved them because He is strong. He is able.
00:29:41.956 He is capable. This event is actually repeated many times throughout
00:29:45.916 the Bible as one of the most significant events that have ever taken
00:29:49.876 place. But Moses' greatest accomplishment,
00:29:53.316 it wasn't parting the Red Sea. It was saying yes to
00:29:57.056 God.
00:29:59.296 Saying yes to God. That one yes changed history.
00:30:02.456 That one yes freed a nation. That one yes pointed
00:30:06.356 the world to Jesus.
00:30:09.236 But imagine this, if
00:30:11.176 Moses, living the good life, he's married, has kids, he's
00:30:15.136 just shepherding the sheep. He was minding his own business when God said, "Hey,
00:30:19.516 Moses, I'm sending you to Pharaoh, and I'm going to deliver my people."
00:30:23.656 What if he said no?
00:30:25.516 What if he would've just been like, "God, I'm good.
00:30:27.776 I'm 80 years old. I'm just looking to live the good
00:30:31.596 life a little bit longer." What if he would've said no?
00:30:35.376 Then the people of Israel would still be in bondage, would still be in slavery,
00:30:38.276 could've been butchered and killed totally.
00:30:40.836 But his yes led to an entire nation of people being led
00:30:44.796 into freedom, then ultimately leading into the Promised Land, ultimately
00:30:48.616 leading to Jesus himself, the one who was going to deliver and
00:30:52.396 save us all.
00:30:54.216 This story is not just a story of parting the Red Sea.
00:30:57.296 It's a story of each and every one of our lives.
00:31:00.712 In my life,
00:31:02.512 I think of Egypt, my Egypt.
00:31:05.392 I was in prison for a year. I was addicted to drugs, drinking, stealing,
00:31:09.852 gambling, all kinds of stuff in my past.
00:31:12.782 The things that I did as a young man, once God saved me,
00:31:17.112 once I encountered Jesus in a real way, I began to know God, that's where I
00:31:21.112 found freedom. I found freedom from my past, freedom from my
00:31:24.792 addictions, freedom from my selfishness.
00:31:27.932 That's what led me to actually living a life worthy of being called a
00:31:31.692 Christian. I would call myself a Christian because I lived in the United States, a
00:31:35.352 Christian nation. Isn't everybody a Christian in the US?
00:31:38.792 But I never surrendered my heart to God.
00:31:41.412 I'd never received the forgiveness from God for what
00:31:45.212 Jesus did for me for my sin. I was still living a sinful,
00:31:48.772 selfish lifestyle. I was living in Egypt, but
00:31:52.052 telling people I was a Christian, instead of realizing I need to get
00:31:56.132 out of Egypt, and I need to get the Egypt out of me.
00:31:59.712 So many times, you're in the right place.
00:32:01.232 You're maybe not living in Egypt, but is Egypt still living in you?
00:32:05.032 Is there some sin that's still living inside of you?
00:32:07.812 Selfishness living inside of you?
00:32:09.812 Something that you can get free from, not by trying harder,
00:32:14.152 not by doing more classes or more counseling or more drugs or anything else,
00:32:18.312 but truly letting God set you free.
00:32:21.352 Amen.
00:32:22.792 If we say yes to God, it's the best decision you can ever make in your entire life.
00:32:27.672 So my question for you to start is,
00:32:30.412 what's your Egypt?
00:32:32.812 What's your past? What's the sin? What's the thing that keeps coming back
00:32:36.852 up in your life that you know you would be happy to be done with this?
00:32:41.732 Maybe it's a habit. Maybe it's a lifestyle choice.
00:32:44.892 Maybe it's a mindset or a thought process.
00:32:48.012 You don't feel good enough. You don't feel valued enough.
00:32:50.852 You feel worthless at times.
00:32:53.572 Those are lies. Those are things from your past.
00:32:55.972 Maybe things that you keep thinking about yourself that are not
00:32:59.772 true, that God doesn't say that about you.
00:33:02.172 God says that you are worthy because of His blood.
00:33:05.292 You are valuable because of His sacrifice, that you
00:33:09.212 can be free, and you can walk in freedom in Jesus' name.
00:33:13.952 Jesus is ultimately our greater Moses.
00:33:16.912 He's the one who leads us not through a Red Sea, but through death into
00:33:20.952 life.
00:33:22.252 As we celebrate our freedom as a nation,
00:33:25.872 any political freedom, any government can't offer us the freedom that comes
00:33:30.172 in Christ, in Christ alone. The greatest freedom available
00:33:33.652 today is the freedom Jesus offers.
00:33:38.172 I want to have a moment of prayer. Right where you're at, I just want you to bow
00:33:41.852 your heads,
00:33:43.212 and I want to pray for you.
00:33:45.292 And as we do, I want you to think of
00:33:48.852 what is your Egypt?
00:33:51.952 What's that thing that you know keeps coming up, the thing from your
00:33:55.652 past, maybe it was something you did?
00:33:58.272 Like Moses killed a guy 40 years ago.
00:34:00.292 Maybe there's something from your past that keeps haunting your mind,
00:34:04.372 that keeps making you feel guilty, shame, worthless,
00:34:09.013 undeserving of anything good.
00:34:12.312 Maybe it's things that your parents said about you that you know deep
00:34:16.332 down are not true, but you just keep believing them.
00:34:19.292 Or an ex or somebody in your life.
00:34:22.752 Maybe it's a habit that you're doing right now
00:34:26.053 that you know you want to be free from.
00:34:29.232 Maybe it's a mindset.
00:34:31.192 You have depression, anxiety, pride.
00:34:33.852 Whatever that is,
00:34:35.772 I believe if we surrender that to God, we say, "God, this is yours.
00:34:39.792 God, I know you've brought me out of Egypt, but God, remove the Egypt from me.
00:34:44.312 Take it out of me. God, I surrender it to you.
00:34:48.013 God, I'm done doing it my way. I want to do it your way."
00:34:52.493 So whatever that is, I want you just to
00:34:55.152 give it over to God as I pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, God, that you
00:34:58.952 set the captives free. God, that you open the eyes of the
00:35:02.812 blind, you release the prisoners.
00:35:05.272 God, as those prison doors are opened wide, God, we thank you, God, for that
00:35:09.012 you are the only one who could deliver us.
00:35:11.812 You are the only one who could set us free to be free
00:35:15.672 indeed for eternity.
00:35:17.892 God, as much as we thank you for our salvation, God, I pray for freedom
00:35:22.212 each and every day.
00:35:24.352 God, I pray that we would lift up whatever that is, a mindset,
00:35:28.392 an old thing from the past, a lie that was spoken over us.
00:35:31.912 We break them now in the name of Jesus.
00:35:34.232 We surrender them to you now as we confess our sin, God, that we've been
00:35:38.192 holding onto these things. God, release us.
00:35:41.512 Help us release our sin. Help us release the wrong mindset, the
00:35:45.432 faulty mindset, and the lies that we've been believing.
00:35:48.572 God, we ask for you to set us free.
00:35:52.152 God, I pray you'd break off curses over people's lives right now.
00:35:55.352 God, I break off every curse of the enemy, every lie of the spirit of
00:35:58.932 infirmity, of sickness would be gone in Jesus' name.
00:36:02.292 That mental illness and depression would be gone in Jesus' name.
00:36:05.852 That God, I speak life and life abundantly over each and every person in
00:36:09.852 this room and those listening online.
00:36:12.212 God, that you would set us free, that God, we would then use our freedom
00:36:16.692 to help others get free as well. As Galatians
00:36:20.352 5:13 says that we use our freedom
00:36:23.272 not to get caught up back in slavery to our sinful nature, but we use our
00:36:27.172 freedom to serve one another in love.
00:36:31.092 God, we
00:36:32.292 thank you for our freedom. God, I pray that we would not hold onto that freedom as
00:36:35.972 something we keep to ourselves, but that we would give it away.
00:36:39.612 We tell others about it. We'd invite others to come know you
00:36:43.612 and find freedom for themselves. It's in Jesus' name I pray.
00:36:47.932 Amen.
00:36:49.652 If you're here today, and you don't know without a shadow of a doubt that
00:36:53.612 you have a relationship with God because of what Jesus Christ has done for you on
00:36:57.592 the cross,
00:36:59.072 begin today. Make that step.
00:37:01.692 Make that decision and take that step to begin a relationship with God
00:37:06.072 It's the best possible. That's the only way you can truly get through the Red Sea
00:37:09.512 of life. It's the only way you can move from death to life, is to give your life
00:37:13.292 over to Him, surrender to Him,
00:37:15.772 and He'll walk you into the promised land. Amen.
00:37:18.992 Well, Jared, come on up. He has a few announcements to close us out.
>> Jared
00:37:23.192 Amen. Thank you so much, Pastor Eric. Give Pastor Eric a great hand.
00:37:26.352 Thank you for sharing the Word with us this morning.
00:37:29.492 And really on this same theme and thread of getting
00:37:33.172 Egypt out of us, one thing in my own personal life that the Lord's
00:37:37.092 helped get Egypt out of me in is really actually the area of
00:37:40.552 finance. And we're going to have an opportunity to express our
00:37:44.432 faith and our surrender to Jesus with an opportunity to give this
00:37:47.972 morning. It's amazing, as we read through Exodus, as Pastor
00:37:51.552 Eric took us through, one area that God had to
00:37:54.692 deliver the Israelites and really get Egypt out of them was this area
00:37:58.752 of God being provider. And in Exodus 16,
00:38:02.452 Moses and the Israelites are walking through the wilderness, and the Israelites
00:38:06.392 actually start complaining to God, saying, "Oh, we have no food.
00:38:10.472 Why didn't you just kill us back in Egypt?" And they literally say, "Why did you
00:38:13.812 not just kill us back in Egypt?" They actually thought that they had abundant
00:38:17.732 provision in slavery, in where they had just been delivered
00:38:21.632 from, where God had just rescued them from.
00:38:23.792 The Israelites, in their mindset, still had a dependence on
00:38:27.712 Egypt, on slavery. And that was much of my own testimony and my
00:38:31.592 own story in the area of finances. Trusting God as
00:38:35.072 provider is that somehow I'm in the world
00:38:38.912 on my own, got to struggle through the world's system to get
00:38:42.292 provision. And God so graciously showed me throughout my life
00:38:46.132 that He ultimately is Jehovah Jireh, He is the Lord who
00:38:50.092 provides. And God graciously reminded the
00:38:54.212 Israelites of this as well after they were rescued from Egypt.
00:38:58.412 In Exodus 16:4 it says, "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Look,
00:39:02.572 I'm going to rain down food from heaven for you.
00:39:06.032 Each day the people will go out and pick up as much food as they
00:39:10.012 need for that day. And it's as He'll test them to see whether or
00:39:14.031 not they will follow my instructions.'" You see, one
00:39:17.652 awesome avenue of life where we get to say "yes" to God, that
00:39:21.632 our greatest "yes" to God can be in trusting Him as
00:39:25.192 provider. Because there's true freedom in surrendering to God all
00:39:29.212 the cares, anxieties, any bills or deadlines, saying, "Lord,
00:39:33.672 I trust you as my provider, and as a response of faith, God, I know my
00:39:37.612 provision ultimately comes from you.
00:39:38.912 I'm going to give to your mission, that as many people as possible
00:39:42.852 would also experience the freedom that there is in trusting you as
00:39:46.592 provider." And just like He's deliverer and Savior and
00:39:50.432 healer, He wants to show Himself strong as our
00:39:53.652 provider as well. So church, I want us to be stirred in faith in our
00:39:57.532 hearts, perhaps to give, maybe for the very first time this morning,
00:40:01.432 to reaching people outside of these walls.
00:40:03.612 As Pastor Eric mentioned, the summer of serving, your giving goes
00:40:06.892 directly to impacting people outside of these walls.
00:40:09.852 We heard great testimonies just last week.
00:40:12.452 Let's continue to give in generosity, in hearts of faith and gratitude, that more
00:40:16.332 and more people can meet this great God who's so strong to save them,
00:40:20.372 deliver them, and provide for them.
00:40:22.772 There are several ways to give cash or check.
00:40:24.492 There is a giving station at the back of the room.
00:40:26.812 You could also take out your phone, scan the tap card on the seat back in front of
00:40:30.612 you, or the QR code. More importantly than the ways that there are to give,
00:40:34.772 let us remember why we give and ultimately who we're giving to,
00:40:38.592 Jehovah Jireh, the Lord our provider. Let's pray.
00:40:41.172 God, I thank you so much that you truly are the Lord who provides, Lord.
00:40:44.912 That you could literally make manna fall from heaven and provide our daily needs in
00:40:48.852 a time of famine, in a dry season. And so, Lord, I pray that you
00:40:52.612 would comfort us where we need comforting, Lord God.
00:40:54.832 We know that on the outside, things can look scary, things can look
00:40:58.532 destitute. But Lord, you are the God who is more than enough.
00:41:01.692 Just like you showed the Israelites that you are more than enough, you're worthy of
00:41:05.612 being trusted, Lord, we trust you in this area of finance, that ultimately
00:41:09.852 the Babylonian system, Egypt is not our provider.
00:41:12.912 Lord, you are our provider. And Lord, we give today as a response of
00:41:16.532 surrender in faith to you, and we thank you that you would show yourself
00:41:20.412 strong to many more people as a result, even to us, as
00:41:24.332 provider. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
00:41:29.052 If you're new here with us this morning, thank you for spending the day after
00:41:32.492 Independence Day with us to truly experience God who is
00:41:36.332 our freedom provider and our fighter. We thank you so much.
00:41:39.532 We're so, so grateful that you're here with us this morning.
00:41:42.112 We would love to get to know you, discover a little bit more about how you got here
00:41:45.792 this morning, learn about the unique things that God's doing in your life.
00:41:49.452 I would encourage you, actually, just to leave some basic information for us to be
00:41:53.212 able to do that for you. If you take out your cell phone and scan the tap card on
00:41:57.152 the seat back, or you can scan the QR code, just leave some very basic info.
00:42:01.412 We would love to follow up with you and keep you up to date with many awesome
00:42:04.672 things that God is doing in and through Freedom Church.
00:42:07.652 Also, on your way out the door today, by the exit sign, we love to get a gift
00:42:11.612 in your hand as well, just as our way of saying thank you.
00:42:15.152 And Pastor Eric had mentioned earlier in our worship time of many awesome
00:42:18.512 opportunities coming up here throughout this summer.
00:42:21.172 We have an opportunity, actually, on a Sunday, July 19th.
00:42:24.872 After our 11:00 AM service, after the kids camp time, we're
00:42:28.872 going to have an opportunity for us all together to learn what the kids had
00:42:32.692 learned throughout kids camp. A great time for us all to come into the auditorium
00:42:36.452 and celebrate all the great things God had done in and through the kids' lives and
00:42:40.192 kids ministry. And also, a family time afterward with a cookout.
00:42:44.052 I don't know about you, but I don't need too many more incentives to come than
00:42:48.072 food. So I'm really excited just to have an opportunity to have a family cookout
00:42:51.312 service July 19th at the 11:00 AM service.
00:42:54.932 And also, speaking of that here today, as you walk out the back
00:42:58.852 exit, we actually have some popsicles that we want to put in your hand as well.
00:43:02.452 A great, cool treat. Red, white, and blue theme.
00:43:05.412 So feel free to walk on out in the hallway.
00:43:07.552 I'm sure the ushers would be happy to guide you to some ice treats.
00:43:11.132 Actually, yeah, Neil said it's right back there. So grab one on your way out.
00:43:14.992 We'd love to... And also, just hang out, have a good time.
00:43:18.252 Everybody, can we please stand to your feet?
00:43:19.352 I'm going to pray, and you'll be dismissed.
00:43:23.272 Lord, thank you so much. Just an opportunity for us to gather as family, Lord, to
00:43:26.292 worship you, Lord, to remember who you are as the Lord
00:43:30.072 Almighty, Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides, and Lord, our
00:43:33.572 deliverer. Lord, help us just to respond with a
00:43:37.352 "yes." Whatever area of our life, Lord God, that we may be struggling to
00:43:41.092 trust you in this week, Holy Spirit, we thank you that you would help us to
00:43:44.312 surrender, to trust you, knowing that you ultimately are good, and
00:43:48.352 you're the God of more than enough in all circumstances.
00:43:51.392 And so, God, let us walk out of here today with just the joy and the freedom that
00:43:54.952 comes with that reality. Let us live that out.
00:43:58.292 In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You're dismissed.
00:44:00.652 Have a great and awesome week, everyone.