“Are We There Yet?” | Learning to Trust God in the Desert

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- (music) My God will do it what only He can do.

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He has power to heal, power to save,

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the power that rises when we start to pray

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that's who my God is and I believe

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He has power to move, power to change,

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bring in the beauty from all of the pain

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that's who my God is, that's who my God is

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- Hey everyone, my name is Emily and welcome to Crossroads.

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We are a church that gathers all over,

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in buildings like this one and from restaurants

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to bars, coffee shops and living rooms

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and dining rooms across the globe.

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I am personally so glad that you are here with us,

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no matter what you believe about God.

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And we believe the Bible to be true.

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It's not just a book of ancient stories and old traditions,

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but it actually matters for our lives.

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And today you are going to be hearing about

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the epic wonders of God and how stories so big

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and so bold don't just matter now,

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but they will continue to matter for centuries.

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(music)

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- Well, welcome to Crossroads. My name is Greg.

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Whether you're in one of our sites

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or you're watching online, you're here at a perfect time

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because we're kicking off a series where we're looking

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at the epic wonders of God as told through the Bible.

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You see, the Bible isn't just this collection

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of antiquated stories, it's a living legacy.

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And from the very first page of that book,

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it weaves through time where it intersects your life today.

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Now, if you're new, I gotta tell you,

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we don't make any assumptions about what you believe

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about the book called the Bible,

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or even the God that we're here to celebrate.

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But we're going to start our time in a way

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that we're going to sing to Him because He's not ancient,

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He's not old, He's alive, and He's worthy of celebrating.

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So let's get up on our feet.

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We're glad you're with us today.

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- All right.

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You sing this with me.

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- God, we give you praise because You're worthy.

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God, we give you praise because You've been faithful to us

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even in moments where we haven't been faithful to You.

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And yet you still allow us to come to You freely and openly

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because that's the kind of God You are.

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You know our faults and You know that

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we need You more than anything,

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and You don't withhold Yourself from us, You don't.

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You say, "Here, My arms are open wide. Would you come?"

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I love that line, praise him all creatures here below.

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That's what we are, we are Your creation, God

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and Your creation stands in this room

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and offers up praise to Your name.

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I thank You for who You are, for who You've always been.

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You're the reason we sing.

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You're the reason we worship.

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It's in Jesus's mighty name we pray. Amen. Amen.

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Come on. He's so good.

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Love that song, man, it's an old hymn.

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If you love it, praise Him,

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Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

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Everything that we have flows from Him.

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It's the reason that we give our money

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and we do something like that and trust Him

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with our finances is because we recognize that

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our finances and our blessings don't come from us,

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they come from Him.

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And so I give every month, I tithe

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because I know the Lord is good and I trust Him.

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So you can do that with me if you'd like

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at Crossroads.net/give.

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Hey, I love to worship in this room together. It's amazing.

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Why don't you find somebody next to you,

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give them a high five, tell them it's good to see you,

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tell them your name if you don't know them,

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then you can have a seat.

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- We have some super exciting things coming up

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that I don't want you to miss.

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First Go Trips for 2026 are open and on Crossroads.net.

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I would love for you to check them out and sign up there.

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And don't worry if you're hesitant, I was too.

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Last May my best friend encourage me

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to go on a trip to Nepal.

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Very hesitant at first.

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I expected to go and pour out until I felt empty and tired.

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But actually what happened was God filled me up

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and I felt fueled to do more with my life.

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Witnessing our group tackle real issues

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like poverty, injustice, and spiritual warfare

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is something that has literally forever changed me.

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So don't miss the opportunity.

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The second thing is Revival.

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Revival is happening October 31st to November 2nd

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out on our Base Camp land.

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And truly I went last year, it was the best experience.

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I witnessed God and experienced Him moving

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in a way that I never had before.

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This is something that I would love for you to be a part of.

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If you're a part of our Anywhere Community,

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this is for you as well.

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We want to see you and we want to see you thrive

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in community in person on our land.

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We have so many special things planned for you.

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This is taking place of our Anywhere Weekend

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that we've done in the past,

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and it's going to be ten times better.

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So we would love to do whatever we can to help you get here

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and make it feel like home.

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For more information, go to crossroads.net/anywhere.

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I'm so excited to get into our new series, Epic Wonders.

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And whether you're familiar with them or not,

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I bet you're wondering how epic can these stories actually be.

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- Hi everybody.

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Welcome to church.

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Today we're going to talk about God's Epic Wonders.

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Are you ready? Okay.

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[high voice] Daniel in the Lion's Den.

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Daniel worked very hard for the king

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but was thrown in the lion's den,

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Ohh!

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because his prayers to God

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were made a crime by jealous men.

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Everybody say jealous men. - Jealous men.

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- That was really bad. [laughter]

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Anyway,

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God sent an angel to save him.

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So, brave Daniel wasn't ripped limb from limb

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and his guts spilled everywhere,

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and his bones be smashed up.

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None of that happened.

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- Be honest, some of you didn't really notice

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the difference between the helium voice

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and my normal voice, did you? [laughter]

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"Like, I don't get it. Was there a joke there?

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I don't really understand."

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My name is Kyle if we've never met before.

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I'm our Lead Pastor here at Crossroads,

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and you're joining us for week one of a series

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I'm pumped about called Epic Wonders,

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where we're looking at these epic, crazy,

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beyond normal stories of God in the Bible.

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Now, there's lots of stuff in the Bible.

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Maybe your perceptions of what the Bible actually is

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is like a rulebook full of do's and don'ts.

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And there is some of that stuff in there,

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but it's not really what the Bible is.

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Instead, the Bible is stories about thousands of people

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over thousands of years trying to follow God.

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And sometimes these stories erupt way past the normal

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into this space of being epic and wonderful.

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And we're going to examine some of those stories

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over these next six or so weeks.

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And the reason is not just because they're crazy

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and cool to look at, it's because

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God actually commands us to look at them.

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He says this in Psalm 145:

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One generation shall commend your works to another,

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and shall declare your mighty acts

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on the glorious splendor of your majesty

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and on your wondrous works I will meditate.

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They will speak of the might of your awesome deeds,

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and I will declare your greatness.

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Now all those things, mighty acts, wondrous works,

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awesome deeds, that's what we're describing

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as epic wonders of God.

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And what God says is the reason to study these,

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the reason to look at them and examine them is because

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there's something unique you learn about Him in them.

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What is that? Well, it's the very next verse.

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It says they shall pour forth

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the fame of your abundant goodness

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and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

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In other words, when you study these stories

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what you'll see is that God is always good

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and God is always right.

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And in the craziest big stories,

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we learn this very personal truth.

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We're doing this series because no matter who you are,

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whether it's your first time in church

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or your thousandth time or whatever,

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we all need to know that more

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and not not at a head level, but at a heart level

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that God is good.

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Not abstractly for somebody else, but for us.

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And He's right.

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Not cosmically, over eons, though, that's true,

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but day by day in my life, the way He guides me.

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Hoping that all of us take a step in that direction today.

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Let's pray before we go any further.

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God, thank You for the truth of Scripture.

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Thank You for these pictures of Your epic wonders.

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Help us get exactly what You want from these stories. Amen.

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Today is one of the most epic wonders of all,

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the exodus of the people of Israel away from Egypt.

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And specifically this moment where

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this giant pillar of fire erupts out of the desert

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into the night sky by night,

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and becomes a giant pillar of cloud by day.

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Crazy, crazy story.

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Now to set the scene, it's pretty dramatic.

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I kind of want to do it in the movie trailer voice thing.

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Can I do that? - Yeah.

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- (deep voice) In a world full of pyramids and sand

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and probably other stuff,

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a bunch of crazy things happened and people left,

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and Pharaoh chased them, and God showed up,

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and it was crazy.

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This is the Exodus.

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- (normal voice) If you've never talked

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in a voice that deep, that's amazing.

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It's like it's straight power.

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There's a reason God doesn't let me have a voice like that.

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He's like, "You're going to be on the high end

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of the register because you can't.

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You can't handle that one."

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If I like -- can I say one more thing with that voice, though?

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Just one more thing?

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(deep voice) You're in good hands with Allstate. [laughter]

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(normal voice) It's awesome, you guys.

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Seriously, you need to get that effect

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and just put it on all the time.

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That's amazing. Absolutely incredible.

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Now, if you're not familiar with the Exodus,

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it is the backbone, it is the spine.

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It's the foundation of the story of God

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and the Old Testament.

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We've got two sections of the Bible,

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the Old Testament written before Jesus,

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and the New Testament written after Jesus,

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it's the lens through which the whole thing gets interpreted.

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But if you go to the Old Testament,

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the Exodus is the primary story.

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It's where we learn about who God is and what He's like

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and how to follow Him, all those sorts of things.

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Moses is one of the central characters in there,

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if you've heard of him.

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The quick backstory to get us to

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this pillar of fire, pillar of cloud

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is that for 430 years the people of God

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have been in Egypt, most of that time as slaves.

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And they've been crying out to God saying,

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"God, how long is this going to take?

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And we're tired. And do You even see us?"

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And so God sends Moses as a rescuer.

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Moses goes to Pharaoh and basically says,

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"If you don't let my people go,

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this horrible thing is going to happen. A plague."

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And nine of them happen in a row.

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And Pharaoh still says no.

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And then the 10th one comes, the hammer from God.

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God says, "If you don't let my people go, Pharaoh,

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I'm going to kill the firstborn male

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in all households in Egypt,

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not just person, animal too, all going to die."

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And Pharaoh says, "Not convinced. Go ahead and try."

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And so God does.

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And in the middle of the night, Pharaoh,

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as he's weeping over his own dead son,

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Scripture says, he demands that Israel leave.

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Not just you can go. He literally chases him out.

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Get out of here right now.

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And this massive group of people head off into the desert.

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Just how many people? We have no idea.

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The Bible doesn't say. Just kidding.

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There's a book called Numbers and it says a lot of numbers.

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If you're an accountant, you should read it.

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You're going to love it.

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If you're not an accountant, you should still read it.

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You're not going to love it. Just warning you.

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In Numbers 146 it says that there were

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603,550 men of fighting age,

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that's over the age of 20 in the nation of Israel.

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Based on what we know about household sizes at the time,

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we can extrapolate,

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and that's about 2 million people on the low side.

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So 2 million people walk into the desert at night.

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Now we're all caught up.

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Here's the specific section of the story

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we're going to spend all of our time on today,

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Exodus 13, beginning in verse 17.

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So they leave in the middle of the night,

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and they don't just walk into darkness.

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As they step out of the city, the craziest thing happens.

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A pillar of fire, a tornado of flame shoots into the sky.

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Not a small pillar, by the way.

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There's 2 million people and it says it gave them light,

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a pillar of fire so big that it could

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give light and warmth to 2 million people.

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In the morning, when the people wake up,

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it's changed into a cloud.

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Now it's a swirling tornado that gives shade

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and moisture to 2 million people.

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The size of this thing is insane.

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The scale is one word, epic.

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It's also packed with powerful truth, this story,

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not just epic, but power.

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Let's start at the beginning of the story,

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the verse I just read to begin with, Exodus 13:17. It says:

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Just so we're all tracking,

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there is a short way and there's a long way.

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Now the people of Israel,

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they live in a land called Goshen,

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and it was in the corner of Egypt.

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It was the a fertile area right up in this area.

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And there was a road.

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It was the short way to the Promised Land,

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which the Israelites knew where the Promised Land was.

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Generations ago it had been promised to Abraham.

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They knew it, right where it was, and they knew the path.

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It was the I-75 of the day.

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The Romans would later rename it the Via Maris.

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It was a road that was literally a walk on the beach

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that went right along the Mediterranean Sea,

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on the sand, all the way to the Promised Land.

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It was the short way, about 150 miles,

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which today you and I, this would take us,

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walking, approximately forever.

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Because we get all excited about 10,000 steps.

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We're like, "I got 10,000 steps in."

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If you had a time machine

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and you told people back then you walk 10,000 steps,

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they'd be like, "Did you break your ankle?

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What happened? I'm so sorry. That's not --"

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They were used to walking like 10 to 15 miles a day.

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And so this entire journey, if you're going slow

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a couple of weeks, tops.

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This is what they're thinking as they head out.

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But when they exit Egypt, what meets them

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is this giant pillar of fire

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and this giant pillar of cloud.

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And instead of going the short way,

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instead it takes the road through the desert the long way.

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And what Israel doesn't know when they walk out

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is that they'll be on this path for 40 years,

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stopping, turning around, going back, 40 straight years.

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Now, if they knew that,

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I promise none of them would have left.

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There's like, "You're telling me

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there's a two week option or a 40 year option?

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You're choosing the 40 year option, God?

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I don't really feel like I want to follow You right now."

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They didn't know it's 40 years.

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They did know they obviously were not taking the shortcut.

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That's not what they were going to take in life.

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And some of us, we feel like this is God in us.

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We feel like God's gone, like, "Hey,

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other people are going to get the shortcut.

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But you're not.

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They're going to get the fast pass,

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but you're not going to live the fast pass."

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We look at people who just seems like

00:35:17

they just sort of woke up

00:35:18

and everything happened right for them.

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They got a great job and a great house

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and met the right person

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and everything just kind of breaking their way

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suddenly and instantaneously.

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Now, before you have kids, you'll hear people say

00:35:31

this thing that you think is a cliche.

00:35:33

It's that when you go on a road trip with kids,

00:35:36

they will say, "Are we there yet?"

00:35:39

And you're like, "Surely they don't actually do that."

00:35:41

They do.

00:35:44

When you go to target and you're in your driveway,

00:35:49

they're like, "Are we there yet?" That's kids.

00:35:53

The adult version of are we there yet

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is I should have arrived by now.

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And many of us in our journey of life

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this is what we say to God,

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"It feels like I should have arrived by now."

00:36:03

Maybe you're in high school and it feels like

00:36:05

I should know what I want to do after high school by now.

00:36:07

Or you're in college and I should know

00:36:09

what I want a major in by now, or what I do after college.

00:36:11

Or I see everybody else dating somebody,

00:36:13

and I should be engaged by now.

00:36:14

I should be married by now or should have kids by now.

00:36:17

I should have the house and the two and a half kids

00:36:19

and the dog and the whole thing by now.

00:36:21

I should be promoted by now.

00:36:22

I should have found my calling by now.

00:36:23

I should have the right house by now, the right car by now.

00:36:26

The professional accolades I want by now,

00:36:28

the sense of peace that I want by now.

00:36:30

All of us have these places in these moments in life

00:36:32

where we feel like we're on the long road

00:36:36

and we just don't understand why it hasn't happened by now.

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Now, I think that's always been a basic human thing,

00:36:45

but you can make an argument, a good one,

00:36:47

that it's worse than it ever has been.

00:36:49

Read this article from Psychology Today,

00:36:51

written just this year. It says:

00:37:08

You don't have to be a young adult to feel this way,

00:37:10

but certainly if I look back on my life,

00:37:13

that's exactly how I felt, exactly.

00:37:16

When I was 22, graduating college, it felt like

00:37:19

all of my friends were engaged and getting married

00:37:21

and then inviting me to be in their wedding

00:37:23

and pay lots of money to rent a tuxedo for no reason.

00:37:25

Let's not do that to each other.

00:37:27

And I go to these weddings and I'd be like,

00:37:29

"Man, I'm falling behind.

00:37:31

I should have found the one by now.

00:37:33

I should be getting engaged by now.

00:37:34

And instead, all I've got is a string of failed relationships

00:37:37

and no prospects on the horizon."

00:37:40

At 23, I was in my first job.

00:37:42

It was a great job at a great company

00:37:43

doing exactly what you would do if you were in my major.

00:37:46

It was like, awesome, it was perfect,

00:37:48

except for the fact that I knew

00:37:50

it wasn't what I was made to do.

00:37:52

I knew it wasn't right.

00:37:55

And I would go to work every day, like,

00:37:56

"Oh my gosh, I'm falling behind.

00:37:58

I spent four years aiming at this thing

00:38:02

that's not even the right target.

00:38:03

I am four years behind," is how I felt.

00:38:07

Even when I came to Crossroads.

00:38:08

I got a job here fairly young, so at 29 or so.

00:38:11

I'd been around for about six years,

00:38:13

and I was in the same job for six straight years, same job.

00:38:18

And I felt like I should have been promoted by now.

00:38:21

Someone should have noticed I'm doing a good job

00:38:24

and asked me to do more by now.

00:38:26

I should be in leadership by now.

00:38:27

It was a call I thought in my life,

00:38:28

this should have happened by now, and it wasn't.

00:38:31

And this one really threw me for a loop

00:38:33

because as you're staring at 30,

00:38:35

this was my thought anyway.

00:38:37

I said, man, in your 20s people will say

00:38:41

"you're full of potential."

00:38:42

Which if they say that, so, you know,

00:38:44

that's both an encouragement and an insult.

00:38:46

It's like you're great

00:38:48

and you got some things to work on over here.

00:38:51

That's your 20s.

00:38:52

And then I fast forward past 30s to 40s,

00:38:54

and I went, "You know, I've never heard

00:38:56

a 49 year old described as full of potential."

00:39:00

So the 30s felt like I'm staring at the decade

00:39:03

where it's either got to happen or not.

00:39:04

Like time is short. Let's go. We got to get there.

00:39:08

And so I wasn't looking for another opportunity,

00:39:10

but one came my way anyway.

00:39:11

I was offered a job with an upside of triple my salary

00:39:14

and I left. I quit.

00:39:17

Because what I saw at Crossroads

00:39:18

was the people who got promoted oftentimes

00:39:20

had these impressive corporate resumes.

00:39:21

And so I thought, "Great, I'll take a shortcut.

00:39:23

I'll go get an impressive corporate resume,

00:39:25

and then I'll come back and I'll lead something here sometime."

00:39:28

That was my literal plan.

00:39:29

And I left, I quit, I went and talked to Brian.

00:39:33

He was very gracious. He prayed for me.

00:39:35

And then 15 minutes later he came and found me

00:39:37

and he said, "Hey, you know, you said this thing

00:39:39

about hoping you'll get to work here again someday.

00:39:42

Why don't you just never leave?

00:39:44

Like, why don't you just stay instead of come back?

00:39:47

Because I've always seen more for you

00:39:48

and I do see more for you.

00:39:50

And I felt like you're a lifer here."

00:39:52

And all these, all these great things.

00:39:54

And so I respected Brian and went away

00:39:55

and prayed about it, and I un-quit, decided to stay.

00:39:59

Which he let me do.

00:40:01

And you know what happened immediately afterwards?

00:40:05

Nothing. Nothing at all for a year and a half.

00:40:14

And I just felt like, "God, I'm trying to follow you.

00:40:20

I'm looking to You to lead me.

00:40:23

Why is it taking so long?"

00:40:25

Everything in me screamed, "I am ready to arrive,"

00:40:28

and yet God, me following Him as best I can,

00:40:32

seemed to be saying, "No, you're you're actually not.

00:40:36

You're actually not."

00:40:37

Now, when you follow God,

00:40:39

you have this choice to make, you see.

00:40:41

You can trust His timing and His direction, or your own.

00:40:49

And what determines whether you trust God

00:40:51

is how you answer two questions related to epic wonders.

00:40:55

Do I believe that God is good,

00:40:57

not abstractly for somebody else, but for me?

00:40:59

And do I believe that God is right,

00:41:01

not just cosmically, across eons,

00:41:03

but day by day in my life?

00:41:05

Do I believe these two things?

00:41:06

It's exactly what it presses on.

00:41:09

See, God would say, "I know.

00:41:11

I know the plans I have for you.

00:41:13

I know why it's taking too long.

00:41:16

I know, it's because I'm trying to protect you."

00:41:19

This is what He says in Exodus 13,

00:41:21

right after He has them not take the short way.

00:41:38

God goes, "You can't go that way. You can't.

00:41:41

You're not. You're not ready for

00:41:44

what you're going to face when you get there.

00:41:46

You're not ready for that way."

00:41:47

But notice that last, last line.

00:41:49

He says, "They went up ready for battle."

00:41:52

God goes, "You're ready for some battle,

00:41:54

but not that battle."

00:41:56

And really interestingly, this is the Philistine country.

00:41:58

Maybe you've heard of the Philistines before.

00:42:00

They'll eventually become the arch nemesis of Israel

00:42:04

about 400 years in the future,

00:42:06

most notably when David fights Goliath.

00:42:08

Goliath is the Philistine champion, and Israel will win.

00:42:13

There'll be victory, but God says at this point, no.

00:42:17

Because at this point,

00:42:18

the Philistines are also not that people.

00:42:20

The Philistines are a different people.

00:42:22

They were literally pirate Vikings.

00:42:24

They were known as the sea people,

00:42:25

if you go back and you look through ancient literature

00:42:27

And what they controlled was the Mediterranean coast,

00:42:31

that short path was guarded by them.

00:42:34

They were on the water.

00:42:35

And you can bet if they saw a column

00:42:37

of 2 million people spread across the desert,

00:42:40

they'd have been like, "Awesome, easy pickings.

00:42:42

Let's go get some stuff."

00:42:44

That's 100% what would have happened.

00:42:46

And so God says, "No, no, you're not --

00:42:47

You're not ready. You're not ready."

00:42:50

See, God's timing,

00:42:52

God's timing is always for our protection. Always.

00:42:56

Because God says, "I'm always good and I'm always right."

00:43:00

There's a section later on in Exodus

00:43:01

where the author is reflecting back

00:43:05

on how God managed timing with Israel.

00:43:09

Because Israel just goes out

00:43:10

and they just complain the whole time.

00:43:12

They're like, "God, this is taking too long.

00:43:14

God, this is crazy."

00:43:15

And I know what you and I think, right.

00:43:17

We're like, "Listen, if I had a giant cloud to follow,

00:43:21

it wouldn't really matter if I walked a long path,

00:43:25

you know, like, I would know that God was with me.

00:43:28

I would -- I would just, I would I feel a sense of peace.

00:43:30

I would be totally fine."

00:43:33

No you wouldn't.

00:43:34

Israel wasn't. They weren't.

00:43:37

And this is the land of market research

00:43:39

and consumer packaged goods

00:43:40

and so I'll just present it to you

00:43:41

as a representative sample.

00:43:42

2 million people. That's a representative sample of us.

00:43:46

We would respond the same way as they would, 100%.

00:43:51

We're just not ready.

00:43:53

Speaking the timing and protection,

00:43:54

God said this in Exodus 23, reflecting back, He says:

00:43:57

I will not drive them out from before you in one year,

00:43:59

(the enemies of Israel) lest the land become desolate

00:44:03

and the wild beasts multiply against you.

00:44:07

Little by little I will drive them out from before you,

00:44:11

until you have increased in possess the land. ***

00:44:15

God goes, "You can't go faster,

00:44:18

because the stuff you'll face, the forget the people,

00:44:21

the wild animals will run you over."

00:44:24

If you want to picture what that would look like,

00:44:26

it would be like this.

00:44:33

Oh, let's see it again. Slow it down.

00:44:36

Can we see it? Yeah.

00:44:41

Oh! Again? Can we see it again?

00:44:45

Yeah. Go. Okay. Yeah.

00:44:46

That's enough. Stop it! Oh! Woo woo!

00:44:55

Every mom in here is like, "Is he okay?"

00:44:58

He is. He's fine. That's one --

00:45:00

That's one of my son Eli's best friends Drew.

00:45:02

His dad sent me that video.

00:45:04

He was like, "One day you're going to need this for church."

00:45:10

Today's the day. Perfect picture.

00:45:15

God goes, "That's what will happen.

00:45:17

You want to go fast.

00:45:19

I need to make you strong first.

00:45:21

You can't handle what's coming your way."

00:45:24

God says you need to increase, the last line of that,

00:45:27

until you have increased.

00:45:29

Increased, by the way, the context is not

00:45:32

2 million people become 3 million people.

00:45:34

That's not what it means.

00:45:35

It is an internal individual, you will grow fruit.

00:45:38

You will grow strength.

00:45:40

Your character will solidify.

00:45:41

You'll get resilience and perseverance

00:45:43

and all of the things you need

00:45:44

to actually stay in the fight.

00:45:47

And man, God says, "My timing is always right

00:45:52

and I'm always good, you can trust it."

00:45:56

God says there's actually two two types of time.

00:45:58

According to God, there is something He calls proper time

00:46:03

and there is not proper time.

00:46:05

The right time, the time that's now and you're ready,

00:46:08

and then the wrong time.

00:46:11

And what you and I have to decide

00:46:12

is who's qualified to read the clock.

00:46:16

It says this in 1 Peter 5:6:

00:46:19

Humble yourselves, therefore,

00:46:20

under the mighty hand of God,

00:46:23

so that at the proper time He might exalt you.

00:46:27

I don't know where you are in your life,

00:46:29

and if you're standing and you're like,

00:46:31

"I mean, as far as as far as I can tell,

00:46:33

we're ready, like, let's go. It is time."

00:46:38

The choice you have to make is

00:46:40

am I most qualified to answer that question

00:46:43

about my life or God?

00:46:44

God who says he knows all of my days

00:46:46

before one of them ever came to be.

00:46:47

God who knows every hair on my head.

00:46:49

Who's more qualified to determine the timing of my life?

00:46:52

Who's more qualified to say proper, not proper?

00:46:55

Well, God would say, "I am, I am."

00:46:59

Peter knew something about this.

00:47:01

He was one of the followers of Jesus who wrote those words.

00:47:04

You might know Him as Saint Peter, right?

00:47:06

He's got kind of big famous deal, right?

00:47:09

Two books in the Bible, 1 Peter and 2 Peter.

00:47:12

Imagine he walked up to you and he said, "Hey,

00:47:16

I would like to pray over your life

00:47:19

about this proper time thing. Can I do that?"

00:47:22

Would you? You'd be like, "Yeah, right. Like sure.

00:47:25

Peter, you can pray for me. That sounds amazing."

00:47:27

If I said Peter will be down front at the end of service

00:47:30

to pray for whoever wants prayer,

00:47:32

there'd be a line out the door. That's awesome.

00:47:35

Well, let me tell you what he'd pray for you

00:47:37

because this is exactly what he says

00:47:39

right after talking about the proper time. Here's his prayer:

00:47:57

Imagine Peter prays that for you, you'd be like,

00:47:59

"Wow, Peter. Amazing words. Thank you so much.

00:48:02

I feel so blessed right now. So blessed.

00:48:05

Love the part about strengthening,

00:48:07

settling and encouraging me, establishing me.

00:48:09

Oh my gosh, that was amazing.

00:48:13

But I think my ears played tricks on me

00:48:15

because it sounded like you also prayed

00:48:17

that I would have to suffer for a while.

00:48:21

That's not what you said, right?"

00:48:22

He's like, "That's exactly, exactly what I said.

00:48:25

That is 100% what I said."

00:48:27

Why? Because Peter knows something,

00:48:29

that God's goal is not to take you on the way

00:48:33

that takes the shortest.

00:48:34

God's goal is to take you on the path

00:48:36

that makes you the strongest.

00:48:38

Those are completely different paths

00:48:40

and on one of them, God shows up and does something,

00:48:43

on the other, you take the shortcut

00:48:46

because you just can't wait.

00:48:48

You just want to get there.

00:48:51

And I know some of us are like, "You know, no,

00:48:53

I'm content to wait and I'm just,

00:48:55

I'm really I'm focused on my character

00:48:57

just like God wants me to be."

00:48:58

And and I would say that's awesome.

00:49:00

Can we talk to your friends?

00:49:02

Because they'll tell us what you complain about.

00:49:05

And if you talk to my friends

00:49:08

they'll tell you what I complain about.

00:49:09

It's not, "I just --

00:49:11

I just wish God would make me more patient faster."

00:49:17

No, no. Same with you. Same with you.

00:49:23

See, we're so focused on our accomplishments.

00:49:26

God's more focused on our character.

00:49:29

And so what would happen if we stopped asking

00:49:31

why is this taking so long and instead said,

00:49:33

"God, what do You want to build in me?

00:49:35

What do You want to strengthen in me?

00:49:37

What is it in me You want to fix and make better?"

00:49:42

What if we let go of this feeling of, like,

00:49:44

we're behind when we're following God?

00:49:46

What if we let go of that?

00:49:47

By the way, parents, if we don't, what will happen

00:49:50

is we'll pass it on to our kids. That's what happens.

00:49:53

I've found myself lately saying things in my house,

00:49:56

like, "You're 11 years old.

00:49:57

You should X, Y, and Z by now."

00:50:01

And this is what we do, we just passed it on

00:50:02

to the generation after us.

00:50:04

And so it gets worse, and it gets worse

00:50:06

because they've got their stress

00:50:07

and our stress smashed on top of each other.

00:50:10

And we all just feel like, "Ah, should have happened."

00:50:13

And please hear me clearly, I'm not talking about ambition.

00:50:16

Ambition is great. Tenacity is great. Drive is great.

00:50:19

God wants us to run. God wants us to go.

00:50:21

All those things are true.

00:50:22

I'm talking about the anxiety riddled

00:50:25

God's making a mistake. He's not good.

00:50:27

He's not right as we're trying to follow Him.

00:50:29

That's what I'm talking about.

00:50:30

Because Scripture says that God promises

00:50:32

a peace that passes understanding.

00:50:35

Like, if you were in the desert on the long path

00:50:37

and your friends are like, "Wow, you must be

00:50:39

just like just dying inside."

00:50:41

You're like, "No, I'm actually I'm pretty good.

00:50:43

I trust God, I'm following Him.

00:50:44

I'm following Him everywhere I go in my life."

00:50:46

That's the peace that passes understanding.

00:50:48

That's what God wants.

00:50:50

See, all faithful people always have been able

00:50:54

to suffer the long road because they trust that God is good

00:50:58

and they trust that God is right.

00:50:59

That's always been the case.

00:51:01

Which I think is why the Israelites

00:51:03

take the super weird thing with them on the journey.

00:51:06

Do you remember that in the middle of the story

00:51:08

it said this, Exodus 13:19:

00:51:23

Weird, right? I mean, super, super weird.

00:51:24

This by the way, they leave in the middle of the night.

00:51:27

No provisions. They don't have time to pack snacks.

00:51:29

Nothing. The Bible says they leave.

00:51:31

All they have is some unleavened dough

00:51:32

that they make unleavened bread with, and nothing else.

00:51:35

But as they're rushing out, Moses is like,

00:51:38

"Hey, somebody get Joseph's bones."

00:51:42

It's like you're going to Myrtle Beach, you know,

00:51:44

you're doing the drive through the night thing.

00:51:46

And you're like, kids, "No time for snacks.

00:51:48

Don't pack that, just -- but somebody

00:51:50

grab the urn with grandma inside. Grab that.

00:51:53

I don't know where. Just put it in the minivan.

00:51:55

Just in the cooler. I don't know, just get it."

00:51:57

It's weird.

00:51:59

Sometimes you look at people in the Bible

00:52:01

like, they're just like robots or, like, super weird people.

00:52:04

No, this is weird to them, too.

00:52:05

This is really weird.

00:52:06

There are not hundreds of stories in the Bible

00:52:08

of people carrying around their dead relatives.

00:52:10

That's not a thing. This is very strange.

00:52:12

So why? Clearly, Joseph made this request.

00:52:16

Why would Joseph make this ask?

00:52:17

Well, Joseph lived 400 years before this.

00:52:21

He's been dead a long time.

00:52:23

I don't think he made this request for himself.

00:52:27

I don't think he cared where his bones ended up at all.

00:52:31

I think he made this request because he knew,

00:52:35

he knew that his great, great, great

00:52:37

times a whole bunch grandkids one day

00:52:39

would be on a journey that seemed to be

00:52:40

taking longer than they could possibly imagine.

00:52:42

And they'd be wondering, "Is God good and is God right?

00:52:45

Can I trust His timing? Can I trust His direction?"

00:52:47

And maybe, just maybe, if they would have

00:52:49

this super weird thing that they were talking,

00:52:51

"Why do we have these bones?"

00:52:52

One day, one of them, the light bulb would go off

00:52:54

and they'd go, "Oh,

00:52:55

do you remember the story of Joseph actually?"

00:52:58

And they would remember his life

00:53:00

and it would encourage them on their journey.

00:53:02

See, Joseph, when he was 13,

00:53:04

he had this magnificent dream from God,

00:53:07

an amazing dream that he would be this big leader.

00:53:11

And it was just incredible.

00:53:12

And then from that moment, his life got worse,

00:53:16

way worse for 17 years his life just goes down.

00:53:20

He gets falsely accused of stuff, thrown in prison.

00:53:22

He's basically on death row.

00:53:24

And then at 30 years old, 17 years later,

00:53:26

he gets called to interpret a dream of Pharaoh.

00:53:30

He does. Pharaoh is blown away.

00:53:31

And immediately, immediately Pharaoh elevates him

00:53:34

to being second in command, just under Pharaoh,

00:53:37

over all of the entire nation of Egypt.

00:53:40

It's this gradually and then suddenly, life.

00:53:45

And what I think is that Joseph wanted

00:53:47

his descendants to see that picture.

00:53:50

That if you trust God's timing and direction in your life,

00:53:53

which you can expect growth to look like

00:53:55

is it's very gradual and then it's sudden.

00:53:58

There's an old quote from Ernest Hemingway,

00:54:01

a novel that he wrote called The Sun Also Rises,

00:54:04

and at one character asks, "How did you go bankrupt?"

00:54:07

And the other responds, "Two ways,

00:54:10

Gradually, then suddenly."

00:54:14

This is the sinkhole syndrome

00:54:15

that I talked about a few weeks ago.

00:54:17

We had the sinkhole on stage, and I said,

00:54:18

if you ever see somebody whose life

00:54:20

looks like it suddenly collapses.

00:54:22

"Wow, what happened? That's crazy."

00:54:24

While the collapse was sudden,

00:54:26

the erosion under the surface was gradual.

00:54:29

Now, this definitely works in the negative,

00:54:31

but it also works in the positive.

00:54:33

This is exactly how growth is.

00:54:34

Growth is gradual and then sudden,

00:54:37

slow, gradual growth will lead to sudden breakthrough

00:54:42

in your life if you follow God.

00:54:45

That's what you can expect.

00:54:46

This happened in my house just this week actually.

00:54:48

There's somebody in my household

00:54:50

who's been working tirelessly for two straight years

00:54:53

against a goal, saw no growth, saw no progress.

00:54:56

But she kept after it, I mean, day after day.

00:54:58

If you'd seen her, you would have said

00:55:00

she was obsessed with this goal.

00:55:02

And I'm very happy to report to all of you

00:55:05

that this week my dog Annie

00:55:06

finally caught her for a squirrel.

00:55:10

She did.

00:55:12

She proudly brought it to the back door to give to me.

00:55:17

And I mean, it was - it was like fresh dead,

00:55:19

like floppy dead.

00:55:21

And she was real bummed when I chucked it in the woods.

00:55:23

But this is growth. This is what it gets back with God.

00:55:30

It really is. It looks like nothing's happening.

00:55:32

It looks like, "God, I'm trying so hard.

00:55:34

I'm going, I'm trying to do the thing

00:55:35

I think you made me to do. I can't do it."

00:55:37

All of a sudden, God's going to go,

00:55:38

"Hey, you're there," and we arrive.

00:55:41

See, God is not the God of unnecessary delays.

00:55:45

That's not what He is. Some of us think that.

00:55:47

Like, "God is just the God who is like,

00:55:49

He's not paying attention to the clock

00:55:51

or doesn't really care about me.

00:55:52

He's just the god of unnecessary delays."

00:55:54

No, He's the God of,

00:55:55

"I'm willing to wait until you're ready.

00:55:59

I'm willing to wait

00:56:00

until you increase enough to win the battle.

00:56:02

That's when we're going to get there.

00:56:04

That's when we're going to arrive."

00:56:05

This is exactly what I saw in my life.

00:56:07

At 22 I was looking around going,

00:56:09

"Everybody else is getting married.

00:56:10

Why am I not getting married?"

00:56:11

Eventually, I stop asking that question.

00:56:13

Instead, I started saying,

00:56:14

"God, what is it you want to build in me?"

00:56:17

Instead of why is it taking so long?

00:56:18

"What do You want to make in me?

00:56:20

What do You want to refine in me?

00:56:23

And I'm open to whatever Your timing

00:56:24

and whatever Your direction is."

00:56:26

Then over a year and a half of following Him

00:56:28

more intensely than I ever had, a year and a half

00:56:30

of more growth than ever, suddenly I met Sarah.

00:56:33

Six months later, we were married.

00:56:35

That's a whole another story for another day.

00:56:37

But gradually, then suddenly.

00:56:42

In my career 23 years old, I'm in a job.

00:56:44

I know it's not mine. I know it's not made for me.

00:56:46

And again, I followed God out of it.

00:56:49

I quit that job when I felt like He called me to quit that job.

00:56:52

Crazy decision.

00:56:54

And for months and months and months, I was unemployed.

00:56:58

Nothing. It looked like the craziest thing.

00:57:01

And eventually I stopped asking, "God, why is it taking so long?"

00:57:04

And instead I said, "God, what do You want to form in me?"

00:57:07

And God kept picking at my integrity and my character.

00:57:10

Really specifically, I was a designer,

00:57:12

and to get a great design job, you needed a portfolio.

00:57:16

The program to make a portfolio with back then

00:57:18

was called Adobe Creative Suite. That was the whole thing.

00:57:21

The only way to buy it was one giant thing of CDs

00:57:24

that cost $1,200.

00:57:27

Now I had a student license.

00:57:29

I had this on my computer already,

00:57:31

a student license from college.

00:57:32

Was I a student anymore? No, no, I wasn't.

00:57:36

But I still had it and I was using it.

00:57:38

And I felt God said, "Hey, listen,

00:57:40

if you want to follow me, if you're serious about that,

00:57:42

I need you to be serious about integrity."

00:57:45

And so I said okay.

00:57:46

And I took my entire life savings, $1,200.

00:57:50

Like, that was the last cent I had,

00:57:52

and I bought Adobe Creative Suite.

00:57:53

I used it to make a portfolio.

00:57:55

I showed up at Crossroads, showed it to somebody.

00:57:58

Three days later, I had a job.

00:58:00

Gradually, and then suddenly.

00:58:04

In my career here, 30 years old, 30.5 something in that range,

00:58:09

seven and a half years into feeling like

00:58:11

God should have more for me.

00:58:13

Again, I stopped asking God why is this taking so long?

00:58:15

And instead I said, "God, what do You want to change in me?

00:58:18

What do You want to form in me?"

00:58:19

And I learned slowly took me so long to get it.

00:58:22

It's not about me. It's not.

00:58:26

And wouldn't you know it, all of a sudden my boss left

00:58:28

and I was promoted into leadership.

00:58:30

Years, years ago, Brian told me that one day

00:58:34

he thought I could lead Crossroads,

00:58:36

but he didn't know if it was going to happen

00:58:38

or when it was going to happen. Nothing. Years ago.

00:58:41

And I'll tell you what I've learned in my life

00:58:43

is that I've never been ready for the thing.

00:58:46

I've never been ready to arrive until the day I did.

00:58:51

This is what you can expect if you follow God.

00:58:53

Even if they were a column of fire

00:58:55

shooting up into the sky so that you knew with certainty

00:58:59

this is where God wants me to go.

00:59:00

What you can expect is it'll take longer than you want.

00:59:04

It will be gradually, but then suddenly

00:59:07

you will arrive, suddenly you will get there.

00:59:09

God is not slow to act. He's not. He's not.

00:59:14

See, if you follow God, you won't avoid problems,

00:59:17

you won't avoid te long path,

00:59:19

but you become strong enough that

00:59:21

no matter what's in your way, you will overcome all of them.

00:59:23

God's not slow with you.

00:59:25

He's patient enough to grow you.

00:59:27

It says this in 2 Peter, same guy as before. 2 Peter 3:9:

00:59:32

The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise,

00:59:36

as some (maybe you) understand slowness.

00:59:40

Instead, He's patient with you,

00:59:42

not wanting anyone to perish.

00:59:45

Not wanting anyone to lose the battle.

00:59:47

Not wanting anyone to fall off.

00:59:49

Not wanting anyone to get overwhelmed

00:59:50

by something they weren't ready for.

00:59:52

But everyone that come to repentance,

00:59:55

that means change.

00:59:57

Have the moment of saying, "God, I see it

01:00:01

and I want You to increase me."

01:00:03

See, your job, if you want to follow God,

01:00:07

is to choose to trust the most simple, basic thing about Him,

01:00:12

the one that He hides in the epic stories

01:00:14

so that we'll pay attention,

01:00:16

to choose to believe that He is both good and He's right.

01:00:22

We've been talking about where this pillar of fire

01:00:26

and cloud lead, the long path,

01:00:28

but I think it's worth asking before we run out of here why.

01:00:31

Why a pillar of fire? Why a giant cloud?

01:00:35

Why not just like an arrow, you know, in the sky "that way"?

01:00:38

Or the line from Google Maps, that blue line through the sand?

01:00:42

That would have been cool.

01:00:44

Well, it's because God says, "I'm not trying

01:00:45

to show you where to go without Me.

01:00:48

I want you to go with Me so you have

01:00:50

the blessing of My presence the entire way."

01:00:54

See, these things were blessings.

01:00:57

If you're in the desert and it's night,

01:01:00

it is very dark and it's very cold.

01:01:02

What do you need?

01:01:04

You need light and you need warmth.

01:01:06

God goes, "Yeah, that's what I'm going to provide for you."

01:01:10

And if you're in the desert and it's hot and it's dry,

01:01:14

what do you need?

01:01:15

You need shade and you need moisture,

01:01:18

like from a giant cloud, enough to give shade

01:01:21

and moisture to 2 million people.

01:01:25

Now, fascinatingly, do you know how long

01:01:28

the pillar of fire and pillar of cloud lasted

01:01:30

for the nation of Israel?

01:01:33

24/7 for 40 straight years.

01:01:37

See, there was never a moment

01:01:38

from the time they left the desert

01:01:40

to the time they arrived in the Promised Land,

01:01:42

there was never a moment they were not with

01:01:45

the exact thing they needed,

01:01:46

in the exact moment they needed it,

01:01:48

every second of every day.

01:01:50

See, if you choose to follow God, if you'll trust Him

01:01:53

with His timing and His direction

01:01:55

that what you'll receive is the blessing of His presence.

01:02:01

I can't tell you when you're going to arrive.

01:02:05

I can't tell you when the thing you're waiting for

01:02:08

is going to happen. I can't.

01:02:09

Wish I could, can't.

01:02:11

But what I can tell you is that if you choose to trust God,

01:02:14

you can count on His blessing the entire way.

01:02:18

It says this in Nehemiah 9, the author

01:02:20

reflecting back to God about this story, he says:

01:02:51

Nothing.

01:02:54

This is God's promise to you

01:02:55

and it's the one I want to end on today.

01:02:59

Before you rush out of here

01:03:00

and try to take the shortest path home,

01:03:02

which you will, it's okay.

01:03:05

I want you to take a moment with God

01:03:08

and just reflect on where you are in your journey,

01:03:12

and what picture of Him might mean the most to you this week.

01:03:17

A literal picture, by the way.

01:03:18

I want you to take out your phone

01:03:20

and turn on your camera app.

01:03:22

Take out your phone, put on your camera

01:03:24

and get ready to take a picture.

01:03:27

For some of us, we're in the spot

01:03:30

where it feels like nighttime.

01:03:33

We feel alone.

01:03:34

We don't feel the warmth of God.

01:03:35

We don't feel the presence of God.

01:03:37

What we mostly feel is scared about what's coming our way.

01:03:41

We can't see. We're full of anxiety.

01:03:43

If that's the type of place you feel in your life,

01:03:46

"I can't see where to go.

01:03:47

I feel directionless.

01:03:48

God, I need to see your path for me."

01:03:50

If you need His light and His warmth,

01:03:53

I want you to take a picture of the pillar of fire.

01:03:57

And I want you to make it your phone wallpaper this week,

01:04:03

so that every time you take your phone out of your pocket

01:04:06

to check the time, to check your calendar,

01:04:07

look at your email, check the scores, whatever it is,

01:04:10

you just have a little quick moment of going,

01:04:12

"Oh, that's right, God, you're with me right now.

01:04:15

I'm trying to follow You."

01:04:16

And just have a quick prayer with God.

01:04:18

God, I trust Your timing. I trust Your direction.

01:04:21

I believe You're always good.

01:04:22

I believe You're always right.

01:04:23

If there's anything You want me to see

01:04:25

or get or lean into, I'm open.

01:04:28

Just have that conversation this week.

01:04:31

For those of us, we're in a spot

01:04:33

where life just feels exhausting.

01:04:36

We're in the desert and it is scorching sun.

01:04:39

We are dry. We are exhausted.

01:04:41

Many of us, by the way, the thing we're waiting for,

01:04:43

it's not like this grand goal.

01:04:46

Some of us are just in the season of life.

01:04:48

Sarah and I find ourselves here.

01:04:50

We just feel like every day is the same.

01:04:52

Every day is exhausting.

01:04:54

Raising kids day after day after day.

01:04:56

And the thing we're waiting for is just something.

01:05:00

Something fun. Something exciting.

01:05:02

Just something different.

01:05:05

And when you're in that season

01:05:07

or your season of waiting, you're tired,

01:05:08

you're exhausted that I don't know if I can keep going

01:05:10

what you need is God's shade from the scorching sun.

01:05:14

You need God's moisture in your life.

01:05:17

If that's what you need,

01:05:18

I want you to take a picture of the cloud.

01:05:22

I want you to make it your phone background.

01:05:24

And I want you every time

01:05:25

you pull it out of your pocket this week

01:05:27

to have a conversation with God and to say,

01:05:29

"I believe You are who You say You are,

01:05:31

and I'm asking You to be shade in my life.

01:05:33

If there's anything You want to do in me,

01:05:34

if there's any program for me to get with, I'm in God.

01:05:37

I trust Your timing. I trust Your direction.

01:05:39

You're good and You're right."

01:05:41

Let me pray for all of us.

01:05:42

God, thank You so much for the powerful pictures

01:05:44

that we only get through the most epic wonders

01:05:47

in all of scripture.

01:05:48

I'm asking that these truths would sink into our hearts,

01:05:51

God, that we would believe them.

01:05:53

And I'll just say, Lord, I trust You with the timing in my life.

01:05:56

You have never been a day late.

01:05:59

You would never just cause of delay.

01:06:00

God, You were always right about the timing

01:06:03

and I believe You always will be.

01:06:06

Give us the faith to trust You

01:06:08

and the peace that comes from it. Amen.

01:06:13

- Hey, thanks again for joining us.

01:06:14

These experiences can be so powerful,

01:06:16

and the Holy Spirit can be very, very present.

01:06:18

And so it can often lead to

01:06:20

these intense, drawn out emotions

01:06:22

where it might be helpful

01:06:23

to have a conversation with someone.

01:06:25

So if you're online or in the app,

01:06:26

head over to our chat section and real people

01:06:29

on our team like myself and Andy

01:06:31

would love to connect with you and pray with you.

01:06:33

That's all we have for this week.

01:06:34

Thanks for watching.

“Are We There Yet?” | Learning to Trust God in the Desert

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