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Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. When you find your seat, grab a hymnal and turn to song number 351. Song number 351, Tell it to Jesus. Song number 351, Are you weary? Are you heavy hearted? Tell it to Jesus. Are you weary? Are you heavy hearted? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Are you weary? Are you heavy hearted? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. He is a friend that's well known. You know others, such a friend or brother. Tell it to Jesus alone. Do the tears slow down your cheeks? I'm hidden. Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Have you sinned that you might die? I'm hidden. Tell it to Jesus alone. Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. He is a friend that's well known. You know others, such a friend or brother. Tell it to Jesus alone. Do you fear the gathering clouds of sorrow? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Are you anxious? What shall be tomorrow? Tell it to Jesus alone. Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. He is a friend that's well known. You know others, such a friend or brother. Tell it to Jesus alone. Are you troubled at the thought of dying? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. For Christ's coming in the morning sighing. Tell it to Jesus alone. Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. He is a friend that's well known. You know others, such a friend or brother. Tell it to Jesus alone. Amen, everybody. Great singing. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for the opportunity to be here at church this evening. Please feel past to wrestle with your Holy Spirit and help him to preach boldly into us and open our hearts to hear the message this evening. And it's in Jesus' name that I pray. Amen. All right. Next, turn in your hymnals to song number three hundred and fifty six. Song number three hundred and fifty six. I must tell Jesus. Song number three, five, six. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens, O Lord. I must tell Jesus. Jesus, help me. I must tell Jesus all of my troubles. He is a kind, compassionate friend. If I don't ask Him, He will deliver. Make all my troubles clear clear. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens, O Lord. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus can't help me. Jesus alone. Tempted and tried, I need a great Savior. One who can help my burdens to bear. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Be all my cares and sorrows will share. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens, O Lord. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus can't help me. Jesus alone. Know how the world to evil utters me. Know how my heart is tempted to sin. I must tell Jesus and He will help me. Over the world of victory to win. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens, O Lord. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus can't help me. Jesus alone. Amen, everybody. Great singing. All right. At this time, we're going to go to the bulletin. So if you need a bulletin, please raise your hand. And the ushers will bring one to you. If you have a bulletin, please open it up. And on the left-hand side, we have our service times, our soul-winning times, and below is our salvations and baptism for the year. On the right-hand corner, thank you to everybody who participated at the Phoenix First Friday soul-winning event. It was a huge success. Five soul winners, 13 salvations. Thank you to all those who participated. And in case you don't know, Pastor Colvin Russell will be preaching for us because our pastor is on a missions field in the Bahamas. So pray for him as he travels and as he's winning souls. Amen. And please pray for the expectant. Ladies, please turn to bulletins. On the back of the bulletins, ladies, please mark your calendars now for our annual Mother Daughter Tea Party at the Spicery in Glendale. Schedule for the following date, Sunday, April 27th, Sunday, May 4th, from 2-34-30 p.m. Registration now open. Please RSVP on the event date of your choice in the church Facebook group or by email to the church at faithfulwar1atgvo.com. Due to other scheduling commitments, there will be two Sundays offered this year, so please consider signing up early to make sure you don't miss out because seating is limited. Priority will be given to seat church members over extended family. And our upcoming events are right there. You take a look at them when you get a chance. Let's go over to the soul winning. So if you got somebody saved on Monday the 10th, starting on my left-hand side, go ahead and raise your hand. Let me know if you got somebody saved. Going around, going around. One, three. Anybody else for Monday? Tuesday? One right here. Five, seven. Any other salvations? And today. Anyone else? Is that a one? Anyone else? Going once, going twice. All right. Lead us in the next song. All right. Next you should find an insert in the front of your hymnal with Psalm 67. Psalm 67. If you need one, raise your hand and one of the ushers will get you one. Psalm 67. Sing it out on the verse. God be merciful unto us and bless us. And cause your space to shine upon us. That thy way may be known upon earth. By saving of among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God. Let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy. For thou shalt judge the people. Righteously and on earth. The nations of the earth. The nations of on earth see love. Let the people praise thee, O God. Let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy. When shall the earth yield her increase? And God in her home, God shall bless us. God shall bless us in all the ends. While the earth shall fear him. Let the people praise thee, O God. Let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy. Amen. Next, turn in your hymnals now to song number 248. Song number 248. Now I Belong to Jesus, song number 248. Sing it out. Jesus, my Lord, will love me forever. From there he'll bow from the open sea. He gave his life to ransom my soul. Now I belong to him. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. Not for the years of time alone. But for eternity. Once I was lost in sin's degradation. Jesus came down to bring me salvation. Lifted me on from sorrow and shame. Now I belong to him. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. Not for the years of time alone. But for eternity. Joy floods my soul for Jesus has saved me. Free me from sin that long had enslaved me. His precious blood he gave to me. Now I belong to him. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. Not for the years of time alone. But for eternity. All right. At this time we're going to pass the offering place. And as we're passing out the offering place, please turn your Bibles to Exodus chapter number two. Exodus chapter number two. Exodus chapter two the Bible reads, And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived and bare a son, and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein. And she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river, and her maidens walked along by the river's side. And when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrew's children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew woman, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and she said, Because I drew him out of the water. And it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens. And he cried an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrew strove together, and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Intendest thou to kill me as thou kilts the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock. And when they came to rule their father, he said, How is it that year come so soon today? And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us and watered the flock. And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? Why is it that ye have left the man? Call him that he may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land. And it came to pass in the process of time that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage. And they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them. Thank you, Father, for 5th Ward Baptist Church and the souls who were won this week. As you fill Pastor Russell with your Holy Spirit, open our hearts and our ears to receive your word. I pray this in Jesus' holy name, Amen. All right, Amen. Well, it's great to be back here tonight, here at 5th Ward Baptist Church. The first time behind this pulpit as Pastor Russell. I know many of you know me. It's great to see a lot of familiar faces and a lot of faces I don't recognize. But for those of you that perhaps forgot that Pastor warned you I was going to be here many times leading up to this evening, you really only have yourself to blame, right? But I apologize. I'll make this as quick and painless as possible. Sorry for the disappointment. But I do appreciate the opportunity to get up here and preach to you folks. It's great to be back here, like I said. And just coming up here, I thought a lot about where we've been as a family, as a Christian, and just how we got to where we are today, pastoring a church down in Tucson, Arizona. If somebody had told me that back in 2013, 2012, when I first found Pastor Anderson online, I would have not believed it, that this is where I would have eventually ended up. And I'm very grateful for that, grateful for this church, grateful for the influence that Pastor Anderson and others have been in my life over the years through this church, through this ministry. And of course, most thankful of all to our Lord Jesus Christ who saved me all those years ago and has allowed me to have any part in any ministry whatsoever. But so much more so to be a part of a ministry like this. It's such a great ministry. It's a very powerful ministry, very effectual, and it's had a very powerful influence in the world. I believe that. And only heaven will tell, I believe, the effects that this church has had in time. But I was kind of thinking about that this evening, my way up, just about where it kind of all started for me. And I'm going to have you back there in Exodus chapter 2. But if you would, go over to 1 Timothy chapter number 3, 1 Timothy chapter number 3. I remember back in northern Michigan, sitting in my home and finding Pastor Anderson online and starting listening to the sermons. And one of the many sermons that I listened to, he preached about men going into the ministry. And it had such a profound effect on me. And one thing that really took me off guard was how he interpreted 1 Timothy chapter 3 because this isn't really something that we're taught in the old IFB. I spent 11 years. I make it sound like I did time or something. I did 11 years in the old IFB. And I'm grateful for everything that the old IFB taught me. My pastor back then taught me many things, just about life and all of that. But they don't really have the same take on 1 Timothy 3, or necessarily maybe not the same take on 1 Timothy 3, but more so they don't have the same approach to putting men into the ministry. I'll say that. I'm sure there's exceptions. But by and large, if you know anything about the way they do things, they're very big on the Bible colleges. And they send people there. And if you don't have some kind of a mystical experience or some kind of profound something or other happened to you, then you probably weren't called into the ministry. And I remember sitting there after having all that been taught to me all those years in the old IFB and hearing Pastor Anderson, I don't remember what the sermon was, him preaching here on 1 Timothy 3. And it says there in verse 1, this is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. And he went on to preach something along the lines of it's not about having certain pedigree or certain credentials or anything like that. Obviously, we have to meet the qualifications and all that. But that really the ministry is something that's open to any man that wants to meet those qualifications and wants to go in and do that work. If you can meet the qualifications that are there in 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, if he has that desire, that's something that it's open. And God, throughout scripture we'll see, is looking for men to get involved in the ministry, to get involved in their local church, be it through soul winning, and men and women in that instance, to get involved in their local church, to do the soul winning that needs to be done, to do the work that needs to be done. But also, he's looking for men to step up and go out and start churches. I believe that. And there's a great need today for men to start churches all across this country. And I'm not saying just any old church. You say, well, there's lots of churches that are out there, and there's Bible colleges that are churning out. And look, I'm not against any of that. I'm glad they're doing what they're doing. And I'm sure they're churning out great preachers and great pastors, and they're doing a work for God. But we need more churches like Faithful Word Baptist Church. I didn't move down to Tucson just for the scenery and the tacos. I certainly didn't move down there for the highway system or lack thereof. Right? And I did move down there to be a little bit cooler. Just kidding. Temperature wise, that's a joke. But I didn't move down. I moved down there so we could start another church like this church. Not a cookie cutter version. Not one that's just patterned exactly after Pastor Anderson, what he's done here. But one that follows the example of what we've been taught of going out and reaching a loss. There's a great need. Tucson's just one city of many cities across this country that need a man to step up, to go out there, and to start a soul winning church. Now I don't know if Pastor Anderson's going to appreciate me preaching the sermon, trying to run all his guys off to go start his churches somewhere. But I know that's his burden too. After all, it was his preaching that led me there to go do what I'm doing now. 13 whatever years ago it was. It's been so long now I can't even remember accurately how long it's been. But I know he has the same burden. This is because this is a biblical calling. This is something the Bible wants done. This is something the Lord wants done. We all know Ezekiel chapter 22. If you would go to Titus chapter 1. The Bible says in Ezekiel 22 verse 30 it says, And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it. This is the Lord speaking. What's he saying? He's saying I was looking for a man. I was looking for a man. Just a man. Was it the son of a pastor? Or was it a certain kind of guy that grew up a certain way or went to a certain Bible college or had a certain look or had a certain past that was just squeaky clean? No, he just said I sought for a man. Just a man to go and make up the hedge and to stand in the gap. And you know what? The sad thing is he said, but I found none. And the result is, you know, the part that I want to focus in on says he's looking for this man. Why? That I should not destroy it. You know, there's people that are, you know, obviously in Ezekiel's day he's talking about the literal destruction of that land. But you know, there's people whose lives are being destroyed, whose souls are on their way to hell. There's whole, you know, the Bible says that whole nations get turned into hell often. That a whole nation of people can go into hell when they forget God. And unless there's a man somewhere preaching to these people, you know, whole cities, whole counties, whole blocks, whole area codes, thousands and thousands of people without a good soul-winning church and without a man there to stand in that hedge and to make up that hedge and stand in that gap, you know, they're going to go to hell. You know, their souls saved in Tucson today and not because of who I am, but just because a man went. Maybe just because one man decided, hey, you know, there's a need here. And you know, obviously the workers there pitching in, the faithful people we have down at Straight Path Baptist Church who have been doing the work, you know, week in and week out for six weeks, you know, obviously, or six weeks, you know, six years, you know, obviously we couldn't do it without them, okay? And this is the case all across this country today. I mean, we could just start going through the cities, San Diego, you know, other parts of Texas, you know, just go east of the Mississippi and it just, it just, there's so many places where the Lord is saying this tonight. I'm looking for a man. I'm just looking for someone to step up to the plate and to serve God and to take on this work of being a bishop or an elder. Look there in First Titus chapter one, verse five. He said, for this cause I left thee in Crete. Paul writing to Titus. For this cause I left thee in Crete that thou should have set in order the things that are wanting, the things that are lacking, the things that are needing. That's how the Bible's using that word, wanting. And what are the things that are wanting? And ordain elders in every city. He's saying, you know, Titus, I'm gonna leave you there so you can go throughout Crete and make up that hedge that you can go throughout Crete and help find guys to stand in that gap. You know, and this is before there was a Bible college. You know, and everybody that's getting saved, you know, Christianity's the new thing. There's a bunch of heathens getting saved with who knows what kind of a past. And I keep, you know, mentioning that because I think there's three reasons. There's probably a myriad of reasons. I'm not gonna try and cover them all day, but I think there's three reasons that I want to point out tonight why people don't serve God like they could and perhaps why they should. And one of those reasons is comfort. I think that's a big part of it is comfort. And if you would, go back to Exodus chapter two. And, you know, this is something I believe Moses struggled with. A couple of these things tonight, I want to preach a sermon called Comfort, Concern, and Covetousness. And I believe these are three things that keep people from serving God like they could or even should. Now, I can't, I'm not gonna get up and, I might already get it from Moses when I get to heaven for suggesting that he had, you know, these flaws that I'm gonna suggest tonight. And I'm not gonna go so far as to say he was a covetous person. I believe he was. But I believe he was a man of like passions. I believe he was, you know, flesh and blood like me and you, that he had struggles and that, you know, the ministry was something that maybe he was reluctant to go into later on in life. But there, nonetheless, he did. And I think one of the reasons why he was reluctant is because of the fact that he had grown comfortable, okay? Now, I know we know all, we all know the story of Moses here, but let's just look at this here, first of all, where we see that Moses, you know, leaves a life of ease in Egypt, ultimately. Early on in the story of Moses, what you see him do is he leaves a life of ease in Egypt, right? It says here in Exodus chapter 2, verse 10, and the child grew and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. Now, that's a big detail right there, right? You're becoming the son of Pharaoh's daughter. You're somebody now, right? And your life is not gonna be the typical life. Your life is gonna be one of privilege. Your life is gonna be one of education. You're, you know, you're gonna be groomed for something and people are gonna have intentions for you. There's, you know, politics involved. I mean, this is a big deal to become the son of Pharaoh, a very powerful man. And she called his name Moses and said, because I drew him out of the water. And it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown that he went out unto his brethren and looked on their burdens and spied an Egyptian smiting in Hebrew, one of his brethren. So we fast forward pretty quick in the story here, right? He's born. He's put in the ark of bulrushes. He's found miraculously and given unto Pharaoh's daughter, you know, and then all of a sudden he grows up as the son of Pharaoh and boom, now here he is, 40 years of age, and he's going out and he's looking on the burdens of the Hebrews and he sees an Egyptian smiting in Hebrew, one of his brethren. So now he's beginning to identify as a young man, and yes, 40 is young, okay, as a young man, he's going out there and he's identifying as a Hebrew, right? He's seeing them and he's saying, I'm one of them, right? So obviously, you know, he's grown up with a great privilege as being Pharaoh's son and I have to believe that Pharaoh probably had a lot of intentions for him, that there's a lot of responsibilities they're putting put upon him, and that he was going to live a life, yes, of responsibility, but also of ease. He's probably not going to have to worry about a lot of the things that the typical Egyptian or Hebrew would have worried back then, but nonetheless, he sees this taking place and he starts to, somewhere along the line, say, you know what, I want to be one of these guys. I want to be like the Hebrews. That's who I really am, right? Notice verse 12, and it says, and he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptians and hid them in the sand. And we so often forget about that in Moses, don't we? Right, and again, maybe I'll have some crudy when I get to heaven. Maybe he'll grab me by the ear and give me what for, but you know, it does say this, right, that he literally went and murdered somebody. And you say, well, it was justified. I don't know that you can really say that. It's just kind of telling you that's what he did. And he goes out there and he kills this guy and he hides him in the sand. It goes on and says in verse 13, and when he went out on the second day, behold, the two men of the Hebrews strove together, and he said unto him that did the wrong, wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Intendest thou to kill me as thou killest the Egyptian? Now notice this detail, and Moses feared and said, surely this thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses, but Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well. Now what's interesting, I mean, if you would, keep something there in Exodus. Go to Hebrews chapter 11. What's interesting here is that, you know, you have to kind of wonder where Pharaoh's coming from here. Is he just mad that some random Hebrew went out and slew an Egyptian? Probably not. What he's really upset about is that this is, this is a guy that was known, the Bible was calling him, the son of Pharaoh. That's how he grew up. Pharaoh's investing in him. Pharaoh's working on him. Pharaoh's letting him eat at his table. Pharaoh's clothing him. You know, Pharaoh's putting a roof over his head. Pharaoh's giving all his instruct. Pharaoh has plans, probably. And now, at 40 years old, Moses is turning on Pharaoh and slays one of his servants and hides him in the sand. And Pharaoh finds out about it, enough so to make Moses afraid. Now notice Hebrews chapter 11, verse 24. By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. This is the story we're reading right now. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He's rejecting that title. He's turning on that life of comfort, that life of ease, that life of privilege, and saying, no, I'm not going to be just another Egyptian. I'm not just going to grow up as an Egyptian. I'm not going to just be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. I am in Hebrew. I'm going to serve God Almighty. And it says in verse 25, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. I mean, think about all the things that were opened unto him as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, all the sin that he could have enjoyed. And look, there is pleasure in sin for a season, isn't there? And why do you think people do the things that they do? Why do you think people get hooked on the things that they get hooked on? Because there's pleasure in it. No one's so stupid to us to deny that. But people are stupid enough to believe that there's no consequences for that. But even then, if they understand there's consequences, often people keep doing it anyway. My point is, is that he's choosing to suffer affliction rather to enjoy the typical life of comfort and ease and of privilege as an Egyptian. And I would say today, whatever comforts and privileges they have, they pale in comparison to the ones you and I enjoy every day. I mean, we're going to read about them going to a well, and it's like, well, what? What's a well, right? Water came out of a well? You had to lower a bucket or something, roll stones? You didn't have to do this? I mean, we're enjoying so many things today that our life is a life of ease. Our life is a life of comfort. Hopefully it's not a one of sin, right? But we are enjoying many pleasures in this world. We have all the pleasures that the Egypt of this world has to offer. And you know what? It can make us all very comfortable, can't it? And we can start to forget that there's a gap. We can start to forget that there is a hedge. We can start to forget that there's people that are going to be destroyed and go to hell. If we get too comfortable and too laid back and too easy and too focused on the things of this world. Moses, he chose affliction. He said no to a life of ease. Why? Because he says in verse 26, esteeming the approach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect in the recompense of the reward. Notice verse 27, by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. Notice that he's forsook Egypt. I don't believe it's talking about, you know, when he was fleeing from Egypt after having committed murder, right? Because we just read that after he slew the Egyptian, the thing was found out, right? The other Hebrews say, you're going to kill us like you did the Egyptian? And Moses said, surely this thing is known? What was he experiencing at that point? Fear, right? So you got to kind of take Exodus 2 and look at Hebrews 11 and kind of, well, if the Bible is saying in the account that he feared, and then we get over here, it says he's not fearing the wrath of the king. What's going on here? Is this a contradiction? And it's not. What I believe the Bible is saying here is that, you know, when he forsook Egypt is the time when he said, hey, I'm going to go, you know, be with the people of God. I'm going to reject the comforts of being called son of Pharaoh's daughter. I'm going to choose rather to suffer affliction with the children of God than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season. That's him forsaking Egypt. That's when he forsook Egypt, when he said no to being the son of Pharaoh's daughter and chose to be in Hebrew, right, and to try to stand up and deliver his brother. And that's what I believe. And when he did that at that time, when he made that choice, he did not fear the wrath of the king, meaning he knew that the wrath of the king was a real thing and it was going to come. Let me just say this, is that if you choose to serve God the way you should, the way that you could in this life, the God of this world, the Egypt of this world, he's not going to like it. He's going to try and stop you. And obviously, you know, in the story, Pharaoh was trying to literally kill him and destroy him and catch him physically. You know, we have an even greater adversary who's going to try and stop us from serving God through spiritual means. And maybe we would like to all think it would take a lot to stop us from serving God, but I think, honestly, comfort really is something that stops a lot of us a little too easily. So it says he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king. He starts out very bold, right? I'm not even afraid of the king. I'm going to go out there and then the things found out and all of a sudden he's afraid and now he's fleeing for his life. I've got a lot of notes here, so I've got to move on quick, okay? Go to Exodus chapter 2, Exodus chapter number 2. Exodus chapter number 2. So Moses, he leaves a life of ease in Egypt, right? He's bold, he's zealous, he's saying, hey, I'm going to go do this thing. I'm going to start out. And, you know, he starts out with one Egyptian, kills him, and then the things found out and then the wrath of Pharaoh is going to come upon him and he's like, well, maybe this isn't what I'm supposed to be doing. After all, and he flees. And it says there Moses, excuse me, well, let me just say Moses flees at this point in fear of getting, and ends up getting comfortable not in Egypt but now in Horeb. So he flees and he goes into Horeb and notice in verse 16, now the priest of Midian had seven daughters and they came and drew water and filled troughs to water their flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock. And when they came to Ruel, their father, he said, how is it that you are come so soon today? And they said, an Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and also drew water enough for us and watered the flock. And he said unto his daughters, where is he? You know, when you have seven daughters, that's what you say. When you find, you know, the strapping young guy shows up and starts helping out with the chores, you're like, where is he? You know, we dads like to act like we can't, you know, we're going to hold on to them until they're 30. The older they get, we're like, we start looking around, eh, you know, where's that Egyptian at? We start looking at those bills, start piling up, it's like, this is getting expensive, man. And they get into their teenage years and it's like, this is really getting expensive. I can kind of feel Ruel's, you know, Jethro is what he's later called. I can kind of see where he's coming from here. Where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, then he may eat bread. You know it's a secret, right? You know, a way into a man's heart, through his stomach, right? He's like, get this guy in here, feed him, let's, you know, get this thing going. And Moses was content to dwell with the man and he gave Moses support of his daughter and she buried him a son and called his name Gershom for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land. And I think, and look, I'm not, obviously I'm not knocking marriage or having kids or anything like that. But, you know, this is just the way of life, but life and the way it is can kind of make us comfortable, right? I don't know if he went so far as to get a dad bod here or anything like that, you know, he's a shepherd. But obviously, you know, he's, you know, starting to take it easy just to enjoy what God has given to him and joy. And look, God has given us families and spouses and children and work and just life to just enjoy. There's nothing wrong with that. That's a good thing. But what happens with Moses, I think, is that now he's kind of kicking back and kind of saying, hey, this isn't so bad over here in Midian. You know, maybe it beats being dead, you know, it beats going to an early grave in Egypt. You know, we get out of the world, we get saved, it's better than, oh, this is better than living a life of sin. You know, this is kind of nice just, you know, being in church and having a family. And look, it is, believe me, it's great. We're all for it, you know, we're all about that. It's great to come up here and, you know, find out how many babies have been born in just a few months since I've been here. Right? We're all about that. Bring them in and breed them in. Do your God-given duty and fill up a pew already, right? But what I'm saying is that life, with all its, you know, can kind of lull us into a state of ease. Whether, you know, it's in Egypt and the sin, you know, that the devil offers and the world offers, or maybe we get out of that and now just, you know, the Christian life and all the peace and everything that comes with it, you know, that can kind of lull us into a sense of ease. Look at Exodus chapter three, verse one. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Orib. So he's, you know, here keeping a flock, he's having this nice life and he's having a nice life of ease. And we can do the same thing, but let me just make this statement here and it's nothing profound. The Christian life and ministry is not supposed to be a life of ease and comfort. It's not what God intended, okay? I should have had you keep something in 1 Timothy. Go back there. 1 Timothy chapter number one. Yeah, we want to live a quiet and peaceable life, but not at the expense of not serving God. You know, and I feel like I'm kind of preaching to the choir tonight, you know, you're preaching the Wednesday night crowd, the midweek crowd, you know, probably everyone in here is serving God to some degree or another. You know, but if you're sitting in a church like this surrounded by the type of people that serve God the way they do in a church like this and you're not serving God, you know, why? You know, you need to check that out, right? Figure that out. Well, you know, I just want to take it easy. I just want to be comfortable. That's not what we signed up for. The Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter number one verse 18, This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare. That's like the complete opposite of peace. That's the complete opposite of ease. War, warfare, that's battling, that's fighting, that's struggling. I mean, I think everyone in this church has a pretty good sense of that's what ministry is. You know, in the, you know, 13 or whatever years I've been a part of this church, you know, up until a few months ago, there's just been battle after battle. And yeah, there's been times of peace and ease and, you know, all of that. But, you know, I've just seen battle after battle after battle after battle come to this church. You know, and you wonder why is that? Because this church, it's actually doing something. You know, it always boggles my mind like when the church, this church and other churches like this go through something and all of a sudden it's like a bunch of people just forget. It's like all of a sudden Satan doesn't exist. You know, and they start hurling accusations at leadership and stuff like that. And you're saying it's this reason and that reason. It's like, oh, did you forget a big reason called Satan? The devil? Because, you know, the devil doesn't have to worry about unsaved people. They're on their way to hell. The devil doesn't have to worry about a bunch of lukewarm, do-nothing Christians because they're no threat to him at all. There's no war. There's no fight in them. You know, the devil can't be every once in a while. So all he's got to do is go around every once in a while and just wind people up. Like those stupid little toys he has as a kid. Maybe he got some at home from parents. And, you know, it's like a duck and you go, you know, like that, right? That's how a lot of, you know, the devil works on some Christians. He knows if I just get this guy wound up a little bit, I can just set him down and he'll, you know, for a little while. And I just come back later, pick him back up, wind him up again, you know, and they'll just go off into sin and go off over there. But, you know, then he can, why does he do that? So he can spend the time, his time, you know, going after real targets. People that are actually trying to do something. Ministries that are actually accomplishing something. Pastors are actually taking a stand and preaching the word of God boldly. You know, he can take his time to focus in on them. You know, the Christian life is a warfare. But it's a good warfare. It's a good fight to be in. It's worth it. There's real stakes. Souls are at stake. Lives are at stake. You know, our church isn't the biggest church down there in Tucson. But let me tell you something. The people that do go there, the people that have been coming, I've seen such incredible changes in some of those people. You say, is it worth it to not be running a church of 100 or 200 people? Yeah. Because the people that do come, man, their life has changed directions. Their life is, who knows where they would have been, you know, if we hadn't shown up down there six years ago. Who knows? So that's what I'm saying is that, you know, it matters. We need to fight. We need people to step up to the challenge and go out and fight. That's the Christian life that we're called to. Well, it's not easy. It's not supposed to be. You know, if it was supposed to be easy, I'm sure, you know, a lot of us would have hung it up a long time ago. But it's not supposed to be easy. Go to 1 Timothy chapter number 4. 1 Timothy chapter number 4. Look at verse 10. For therefore we both labor and what? Suffer reproach. You know, the Christian life is work and suffering. Put that on a coffee mug. You know, life is work and suffering. It's closing a word of prayer. I'm glad I could be an encouragement to you tonight. Right? But that's what Paul wrote. Hey, we labor and suffer reproach. Why? Because we trust the living God. There's a reason for it. There's purpose behind it. It matters. Who is the savior of all men, especially of those that believe? He's saying we're going to go out and labor. We're going to fight. We're going to work. We're going to have a warfare. Why? Because there's people in this world for whom Christ died. He's the savior of all men, especially those that will believe. You know, and if people don't believe, they don't believe. You know, and if people would stop being so comfortable and step out of their comfort zone and actually take on a work for God, who knows what God would do with them? You know, you come here, you know, you're not really into the soul winning program in here, get involved in it. I don't know if you've noticed, it's kind of the name of the game around here. Right? It's great to walk in and be like, I'm sure I'm missing some maps. Like, that map is like almost all orange. That's amazing. It didn't look like that when I got here 13 years ago. You know, these maps over here are getting filled out. Reservations being knocked. I mean, that's what it's about here. You know, get involved. Labor. Well, I might have to suffer. It's worth it. Labor, suffer, approach. I've got to move on to my next point, but let's go to 2 Timothy chapter number 2. I want to close on this first point. On this point. You know, Moses, he started out with some zeal, right? It was misplaced. It was kind of premature. Right? He was kind of trying to do it in the power of his own flesh. I mean, his heart was in the right place. He wants to help the people of God, aid the people of God. He wants to, you know, redeem them or, you know, just help them stop being oppressed. Right? He maybe goes a little too far with it at first. You know, takes things into his own hands, kills a guy. But at least he's willing to say no to a life of comfort and ease, a life of sin. Right? He rejects a life of sin, sins that, like the Bible says that, you know, they that will be rich, you know, are drowned into destruction and perdition, that they, you know, they'll have more opportunity sin than the average person. They pierced themselves through with many sorrows, the Bible says. You know, just the wealth that he had, the privilege and the position that he had would have opened up so many more opportunities for sin. You know, he had the character, the integrity to say no to that temptation and to go and suffer approach with the people of God. That's great. But when things didn't go the way he thought they would go, when his ministry didn't take the turn that he thought it would, when, you know, when everybody just didn't get on board right away with the program, you know, he flees. When things don't work out the way he was hoping they would work out, he's running from Pharaoh. You know, he's going out to deliver the Hebrews, and now they're like, well, are you going to kill us? They kind of turn on him, and so he's fleeing. So it's great, you know, that he got away from a life of sin, but then we find him in Orib, you know, married, having kids, working a job, getting comfortable. That's what he's doing. And God had a purpose for him, and God's not going to let him off that easy. And what we need to understand is that, you know, the Christian life is not supposed to be a life of comfort and of ease. It's just not. Look at 2 Timothy 2, verse 1. Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, that the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, excuse me, and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men also, who shall be able to teach others also. He wants the ministry to be perpetuated. You know, if men don't rise up and come out of churches like this and others, then this thing is going to peter out. This thing is going to die, eventually, because all the men that are willing to take a stand and give up a life of comfort and of ease are going to get old and die. And if young people don't rise up, if young men don't rise up and take on the mantle of ministries like this, it's only a matter of time. Until, you know, another, until all we have, again, are just, you know, good churches that, quite frankly, aren't doing the work that they could be doing. And I'm not trying to say that to be mean. That's just a fact, okay? That's just the way it is. So we need people to rise up, young men to rise up and serve God. The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who should be able to teach others also. Thou, therefore, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Wait a minute, I thought the Christian life was supposed to be easy. No, it's laboring, suffering approach, enduring hardness, being a soldier, so you can fight the good fight of faith, so that you can war a good warfare. That's the Christian life. That's the ministry. And yet, comfort, you know, keeps people from taking all of that on. The next thing I think people, is a hindrance to people serving God the way they could and the way they should, specifically, and I know I'm kind of narrowing in on men going in the ministry, it's not just comfort that, you know, prevents them, but it's also concern. And by concern, I mean care or worry, okay? And I think you see this in Moses' life, and I'll read quickly here, if you want to go back to Exodus chapter 3, Exodus chapter number 3. It says there in verse 2, And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush. Right, so he's keeping the flock of Jethro. This is many years later, after he fled Egypt. And he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire. And the bush was not consumed, and Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight. Why, the bush is not burned. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see God, he called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses, and he said, here am I. And he said, draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. You know, we just read over this, you know, and I know I got to get through this sermon. I know it's a midweek, and everyone's tired and wants to go. This is such a cool story. I mean, I love the story of Moses. I love the book of Exodus, and so it's amazing, right? I mean, imagine being Moses. Put yourself there, right? And you see this bush burning, and it's not consumed, and you just think, oh, it's still in the wildfire. Then you get close to it, and this voice calls out. You've never heard before, and it says, calls you by name, right? Moses. You're like, whoa, this bush knows my name. I didn't know, one, I didn't know bushes could talk. Two, I didn't know bushes knew who I was, right? I mean, it's amazing, right? And God's speaking to him, and who knows what that, you know, it just says, and the Lord appeared unto him. Like, who knows what exactly that means? Like, when he gets close, and God sees Moses coming, and it's an amazing story, but I've got to move on. And I put myself in these stories, and it's just, that stuff just jumps out at you when you do that. And he says he's the God of his forefathers, verse 7, and the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of the land unto a good and large, and unto a land that flowing with milk and honey, and the land of the Canaanites, and so on and so forth. Look at verse 9. Now, therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come unto me, and I have seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. Now, the first time you read this story, you might think, all right, it's on. I mean, this is what Moses has been waiting for, right? Because, remember, we just read in chapter 2 how Moses is so bold and so zealous for the Hebrews that he literally kills an Egyptian and hides his body in the sand. I mean, this, he's, you know, then we read Hebrews 11, how he's, you know, forsaking a life of pleasure and of sin, and he's choosing rather to suffer approach with the people of God. And now you're reading this story, and you're thinking, okay, now Moses is just going to get on fire, he's going to get zealous, he's going to say, let's go. But is that what happens? No, Moses, God's ready to move. God's ready to do something, but all Moses has got is a bunch of excuses. And we'll see, I think, ultimately what his real concern was. But Moses starts to make a bunch of excuses. Notice verse 11, and Moses said unto God, who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh? Now, it's true that Moses is called by the Bible the meekest man upon all the face of the earth, and he was. Now, I don't know if that's the case all the way through, right, but maybe this is an example of his humility, or maybe this is, I'm not saying this is the case, but it could be for some of us, we could have this feigned humility, and we just think, well, who am I, you know, to go and serve God? Who am I to take on the role of pastor? Who am I to take on the role of deacon? Who am I to go and preach the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to us? Who am I to do that? You know, I'm just so humble and so meek, I could never do anything like that. You know, get over yourself. You know, who are any of us? That's why he said, I sought for a man, right? I sought for a person, not a particular type or a particular person with a particular pedigree, right? So we need to just not use this excuse, well, who am I that I should go into Pharaoh? And that I should bring forth the children of Israel that I need to serve. Well, Moses, correct me if I'm wrong, but in chapter two, you thought you were that guy, right? You know, now here he is, all comfortable, fat and sassy, in the backside of the desert, just enjoying the milk of the flock, enjoying his wife, his children, all fine and good, nothing wrong with that. You know, you can do both. It's like, sorry, honey, I'm in the pastorate now. We can't have a relationship. You kids, you're never gonna know your father. You think that's how that went? No. We're enjoying each other more than we ever have, right? I mean, but Moses is here. You know, he's all comfortable, and he's got this excuse, well, you know, who am I to do any of this? Well, you know what? Who are any of us? And he said, verse 12, and he said, certainly I will be with thee. And so God's like, OK, Moses, I hear you, but just understand this. It's not about you anyway, buddy. I will be with thee, and this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee, that thou has brought forth the people out of Egypt, and ye shall serve God upon this mountain. And Moses said unto God, all right, I'm convinced. I'm sorry about that. Nope. Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, they shall say unto them that the God of my father has sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? I don't even know what to tell these people. I mean, you really want to send me? You know, who am I? And I don't even know what to say or what to tell these people. It's just he's making excuses. And again, we'll see why I think he's, what his real excuse is, what his real concern is here in a minute. And maybe these are all legit concerns that he's having, or maybe it's just Moses, again, just making excuses. And of course, we know God says in verse 14, God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, thus shall thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. He's saying, don't worry about that. They'll figure it out real quick, who it is that sent you. Exodus chapter 4, jump down there and look at verse 1, because, you know, the Lord goes on there, and I've got to move along. And Moses answered and said, right? Third time, Moses is replying. I forgot, just taking away this excuse, taking away this excuse, taking away this. You think he's going to run out of excuses? No, he's got a list of excuses along his arm. And Moses answered and said, but behold, they will not believe me, and nor hearken unto my voice, for they will say, the Lord hath not appeared unto thee. They're going to say, you're not legitimate. You don't count. You're nobody. Who are you? You know, he's saying, this is another excuse that he's coming up with. And the Lord said unto him, what is that in thine hand? I love this response. What is this? And I thought about just preaching just on this verse, because this is such a profound thing that the Lord does here. What is that in thine hand? And he said, a rod, right? And you say, well, he's a shepherd. What's he got with a rod for? He's a shepherd. You know, he's hiking. He's using this rod. He's got this staff. You know, he's, you know, herding sheep with it. And, you know, it's something a shepherd has. It's a shepherd's tool, right? There's probably lots of guys walking around with the rod. Lots of shepherds, probably. Every one of them probably had this. And the Lord says, what is that in thine hand? And he says, a rod. And we know the story, right? Verse 3, and he said, cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground. It became a serpent. Moses fled from before it. Again, you've got to really put yourself in the story. When you start doing that, you find these little humorous nuggets, right? Moses is afraid of snakes, apparently. And I can't blame him. I mean, I'm not a big fan. I wouldn't say that I'm terrified of him, but I don't know that I would flee from it. Maybe it was the fact that his rod became a snake that really frightened him. I don't know. Or maybe he's just got a fear of snakes, you know? But, you know, you kind of see Moses, ah, you know, running away, okay? And I love what the Lord says next. Oh, it's okay, Moses. Don't worry about it. You know, he turns it back. Oh, it's okay. It's all right. No, and the Lord said to Moses, put forth thine hand and take it by the tail. It's like, well, could you turn it back into a rod first? I don't have any, you know, I was fine carrying the rod. You know, that wasn't a problem. It's like, I just saw you turn into a snake. I know you could do it. Would you, you could really make touch to this thing? And I always imagine Moses like, you know, you know, like how did he do it, right? Because he's like, ah, you know. I mean, imagine having to pick up, you know, some kind of something you're afraid of, right? God's making him face his fear here. And he said, and he caught it, of course, and it became a rod. And what we see here is that, you know, what God is doing is he's just taking away all of Moses' excuses for why he doesn't want to go serve him. And what, you know, and he has all these concerns, right? Well, who am I? And what should I tell them? And they're not going to believe me. And, you know, they're not, so on and so forth. Like, he's got all these excuses, because that's really all these concerns are. They're just excuses. Well, I can't do it. I don't, you know, I don't have the ability. That's just an excuse. Because God said, what's that in thine hand? Meaning this, that Moses had everything he needed to go and deliver the children of Egypt, right there in his hand. Because God was with him, right? It's not about our ability. It's not about, you know, obviously, if you're going to go to the pastor, you have to have some level of aptitude to be able to preach and teach the word of God. I get that. But what I'm saying is that there's people who have that aptitude, who have that ability, in this church and other churches, that won't do it. And they have, you know, they have excuses and they have concerns. And one of them might be, well, you know, I don't have the ability. Well, do you have the Holy Spirit? Do you have the King James Bible in your hand? You've got everything you need. You've got a pulpit. I mean, here you've got a pastor who will invest in you. You've got a pulpit that's open. You're preaching classes. You can go out and go soul winning. I mean, throw the rod down. Throw it down. Watch God work. God will do something. You know, that rod is representative of the Holy Spirit, the Bible, the pastor, your church. You've got everything behind you to go and serve God. Everything you need, you've already got to go and serve God. And yet people, you know, they make excuses. And, you know, this still isn't enough for Moses. And we know the story. Then he has him put his hand in his breast. He pulls it out, leprous, white as snow. He puts it back in again. Comes out clean. Tells him that, you know, when you pour water on the ground in Egypt, it's going to become blood. He's like, he's saying, I've got you. I'm with you. Don't worry about your ability. Don't worry about whether people are going to think you're valid or not. I'm going to be with you. We're going to take care of that when we get there. It's all about God anyway and his power. But notice verse 10. And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent. Neither heretofore nor since that was spoken unto thy servant. But I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue. Now, a lot of people, you know, probably correctly assume that this is talking about having some kind of a speech impediment, like a stutter. Or maybe just saying, you know, he doesn't really know how to put his thoughts together. You know, that I can kind of relate with. And deliver a very eloquent, moving speech. I don't know. But, you know, whether it's true or not, I'm not really sure. Maybe it is true. Maybe Moses did have some kind of thing. Because God does kind of seem to, you know, give him this one by sending Aaron and saying, well, he'll be your mouthpiece. Or maybe it's just him taking away an excuse again. But I love the Lord's reaction. Oh, and the Lord said unto him, who hath made man's mouth? Who hath maketh the dumb, or the deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord? Therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth. And teach thee what thou shalt say. Well, you know, I don't know what I'm going to get up and preach. How about this? How about you do like Timothy was instructed to do and just preach the word? You preach this, you can't go wrong. Well, I don't know what I'd preach. Really? It's a big book. There's a lot of it. Look at verse 13. And he said, oh my Lord, I send, I pray thee by the hand of whom. It's like, is this the same Moses from chapter 2? Is this the same guy that 40 years earlier was killing an Egyptian and ready to just take on the world and just burn Egypt to the ground? Where did that guy go? What happened to him? And notice verse 14. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. He's like, finally God has had enough. You know, we all understand God's long suffering and merciful and patient and kind and loving. But you know, God has a limit. You know, God will, you know, we keep giving him excuses and giving him excuses of why we can't and why we won't and why we shouldn't. You know, it might just make God mad. That's one person you don't want mad at you. He was kindled against Moses and he says, you know, is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he could speak well and also behold he cometh forth to meet thee. And when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart and I shall speak in him and I put words in his mouth. And he, jump down to verse 16 at the end there, and thou shall be to him instead of God. He shall be to thee instead of a mouth and thou shall be to him instead of God, right? He's saying, Aaron's going to be your spokesperson. Let me take that excuse away too. And finally in verse 18 we see something. And Moses finally agrees. We don't see him verbally going along with it saying, okay, Lord, you got me. All right, I'll do it. You convinced me. What we see is that Moses, it says in verse 18, goes and starts the process, right? Verse 18, and Moses went and returned to Jethro's father-in-law and said unto him, let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, go in peace. So by verse 18, after all those excuses and the Lord taking them all away, eventually the point where he's getting mad and maybe Moses recognizing, okay, I've upset God now. I should probably just go do this. He finally goes along with the plan. He's finally getting on board with the program, albeit after much excuse-making. But notice verse 19. This just is so interesting to me. And the Lord said unto Moses and Midian, go, return into Egypt for all the men that are dead which sought thy life. Where does that go? It's just like out of the blue. You know, this happened in chapter 2 40 years ago with Moses, right? This is something that's happened decades ago. And we don't read anything about it in chapter 3. It's like, it's just ancient history by this point. It's not, Moses doesn't bring it up in his conversation at the bush. And it's not until he actually gets on the program and goes and sees Jethro and asks to be excused so he can go and do God's will that God finally just on his own, of his own volition, comes to Moses and says, oh, by the way, don't worry about everyone that sought your life. They're all dead. And you know, and I think this is probably what Moses was really concerned about the entire time. He's got, he's saying, oh, well, it's this and it's this and I'm slow of speech and they're not gonna believe me and this and I've got this. And what's really bothering him is his past. What's really bothering him is something that happened decades ago. Well, you know, if they find out I'm a preacher, you know, some skeleton's gonna come out of the closet. Right? And look, obviously, there's certain things, you know, the Bible says we have to have a good report of them which are without. But don't let that become yet another excuse to not serve God. You know, don't let some boogeyman from the past that doesn't even exist anymore keep you from doing God's will. You know, you go soul winning and it's like, you know, what if I end up knocking on my coworker's door? Well, don't they already know you're a Christian? Don't they already know that you believe the Bible? I mean, you haven't preached the gospel to him yet? Right? I've actually seen that happen. I was out soloing one of my church members and they knocked on the door and there was a guy that he worked with and he was like, hey, you know. Preached him the gospel, right? And it wasn't like the guy was shocked, like what are you doing out here with the Bible? Well, you're a Christian? That's crazy, right? But, you know, this is the kind of thing that I think goes on with people. They're worried about something and they have all these excuses but the whole time God knows exactly what the real problem is. And notice, it's when Moses decides, okay, I'm just gonna step out of my faith, I know I have this concern that I haven't even voiced to God. I'm just gonna go ahead and do God's will anyway. That's when God shows up and says, you don't even have to worry about it because they're all dead. Right? It's all taken care of. It's nothing to even worry about. I mean, imagine the peace that Moses had. Like, oh, you know, I don't have a warrant out for my arrest right now from Egypt? I don't have to worry about getting, you know, thrown in the clink when I show up over there? I mean, he's probably been living with that for decades in the back, you know, seeing somebody coming. Does it look like an Egyptian? I don't know. Is he wearing a badge? Does he have a nightstick? You know, he's probably been living with that this whole time and the whole time the guy's been dead. The people are all dead. But he doesn't find out about that. He doesn't get any peace about that until he gets on God's program. You know, Moses' excuses, it seems like to me, were really just a cover for his actual concern, which was his past. And God ends up reassuring Moses after Moses begins to comply. Did I tell you to keep something at 1 Timothy? Because I really should have, all right? Go back there again. You're probably really used to finding it by now. All right? Hopefully you didn't get a paper cut. I promise I won't come pour a lemon juice on it if you did. Look at 1 Timothy 1, verse 12. You know, there's another guy that had a pretty checkered past that served God probably greater than any other man that's ever served God outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul. And notice verse 12, and he says, And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before, get this, a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, worthy of all exceptions, that Christ Jesus came to the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. He's saying, I am the chiefest of sinners. And yet God counted me faithful and put me into the ministry, who was what, before a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious. You know, he doesn't just have some shameful sin that, you know, he hasn't learned to live down yet from his past. He literally was killing Christians, hauling them off, persecuting the church that he's now serving. He's preaching the faith which he once sought to destroy. I mean, if anyone has an excuse for something coming out about his past, it's Paul. But God's like, well, that's not a problem. And he's saying, well, why did God use Paul like that? Well, he tells us. He looks at verse 16, he says, howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereon believe on him to life everlasting. I mean, the reason why God chose me, the chiefest of sinners, despite all my persecution and all my injury and all the things that I did, my blaspheming that I did, and me destroying the church despite my past, God used me so that I could actually be an example to other people and do what? Take away their excuse. Take away their concern about their past. You know, we need to not let our past become an excuse to keep us from serving God the way that we can. There's one last thing, and this is something I think that, you know, this is a topic that I bring up often, and I've even preached this from behind this pulpit in years past, and the last excuse that people have for not serving God, the last reason, really, is covetousness. Now, I can't turn to a part, you know, we got to, hopefully this doesn't turn into two sermons here, okay? We've got to abandon Moses and Moses is not a man given to covetousness, right? Moses was content to just be a shepherd. It's not exactly, I mean, he's forsaking Egypt and all the sins thereof. I mean, he could have had all the wealth and all that. That's not him, but there is another example, and that's Gehazi, all right? Now, we all probably know the story of Gehazi, but let's go to 2 Kings 5. 2 Kings 5, we're going to pick up verse 19, and this is after, you know, Naaman has come to Elisha with leprosy, and, you know, Elisha kind of automatically heals him. I mean, it's still pretty amazing to be healed from a life-threatening disease, however he does it, but you have to remember Naaman wanted to come out and clap his hands and, you know, put on a big show that he was saving. He just told him, hey, just go. He sent a messenger, right, Elisha did, and said, just go jump in the river seven times. Just go throw yourself in the water, right? And if you remember, Naaman gets all upset, but then he eventually ends up doing it. His servants, you know, talk him into doing it, and he does, and then he starts, you know, he goes back and offers Elisha a reward, right? He's trying to give him money, silver and garments and things. And Elisha responds and said, you know, refuses, and then Naaman, you know, asks to be excused when he worships in the house of Rimmon, and, you know, Elisha gives him a pass, and he said unto him, go in peace. So he departed from a little way, but Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, behold, my master has spared name in the Syrian, and not receiving in his hands that which he brought. As the Lord liveth, I will run after him and take somewhat of him. So he's saying, I'm going to go get some of that reward. Look, Elisha don't want it, I'm going to go get mine, right? He's going to go get his cut. He's going to go get his share of the wealth. He thinks he's entitled to something, although he really hasn't done anything up to this point. Now, think about who Gehazi is. He's the servant of Elisha, who is the servant of Elijah. Powerful man of God. I mean, Elijah's just one of the great, powerful preacher, great prophet, calling down fire from heaven. I mean, what a story, right? Elisha, his servant, is another one who goes on and does many, many miracles, more so even than Elisha, if you count them all out. And Gehazi, you know, for all intents and purposes, very well may have been the next in line, right? I mean, he could have been the next guy up if his heart had been right. He could have been the next great prophet. He could have been the next great preacher. We could be reading, you know, whole chapters about Gehazi and all the great things that he did, but you know what? He had a problem. It's called covetousness. And it kept him from serving God the way that he could, the way that he should. So he goes after him, and we know all the story. So Gehazi followed after Naaman, verse 21, and when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and he said, is all well? And he said, all is well. All is well. Right? My master has sent me, behold, like saying, behold, even now there are being come to unto me from Mount Ephraim, two young men of the sons of the prophets, give them, I pray, the Italian silver and two changes of garment, and Naaman said, be content, take two talents. And he urged him and brought him two talents and two of silver and two bags with two chains of ramen, and laid upon him two of his servants, and they bare it before him. And he's got so much, he's got servants carrying it for him. Right? He's like, ha ha ha. Right? He's cashing in. And he came to the tower, and he took them from their hand and bestowed them in the house, and then let the men go and they departed, but he went in and stood before his master. Right? Because he's serving him. And Elisha sent him, whence comest thou, Elisha, or excuse me, Gehazi? And he said, thy servant went no whither. Oh, I didn't go anywhere. Really? Because you were gone. You know, I'm pretty sure you were gone for like, you know, however long it was. Where'd you go? Oh, I didn't go anywhere. And he said to them, went not my heart with thee? When the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Notice what he asked him. Is it a time to receive money and to receive garments and olive yards and vineyards and sheep and oxen and men servants and maid servants? He said, is this what we're about? Is this what your life is about? Is this what you're here to do, Gehazi? Is this why you joined my ministry? Is this why you've been following me around? Is this why you've been serving me? Is this why you've been involved in this? And so you could just go get gain? Is that what you're really concerned about? Just olive yards and vineyards and sheep and cattle and money? Is that all you're really concerned about? And you know, the sad answer for Gehazi is, yeah, that is all his life was really about. He's just covetous. That's all he really wanted out of life. Just gain, stuff, things. Now, and then notice this, verse 27. The leprosy, therefore, of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed forever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow. I mean, how far that apple has fallen from the tree when it comes to Gehazi? I mean, you think about who Elisha was and how he got started. You know, Elisha just shows up one day, throws his mantle onto him, and walks away, and Elisha catches up, and Elijah kind of has an attitude. He says, you know, what have I done unto thee? And he's like, well, let me go bid everyone goodbye. And he's like, whatever. You know, I think Elijah might have been kind of a grumpy guy. That's the impression I get, that he might have been kind of cantankerous, kind of one of those, kind of hard, maybe just kind of blunt, just kind of hard to be around sometimes. Good guy, you know, but just, I don't know, maybe you know somebody like that. But, you know, Elisha, you know, he just goes and literally, if you remember the story, kills the oxen that he's been plowing with. He's found, you know, plowing with the oxen. You know, he's in there with the oxen in the oak. He kills the oxen. He burns all the instruments. He burns everything. He destroys it and goes and follows the men of God. And then he really don't hear anything about them, other, you know, and all we find out later is that what he did all those years was pour hands on the water of Elijah. I mean, I mean, I mean, that's kind of demeaning almost in a way. Not, I wouldn't say it was maybe back then, but I mean, for a grown man to pour water on the hands of another grown man. I mean, whenever I came to the service, and I was like, can you follow me to the bathroom? Turn that sink on. Turn it off. You know, dob me. Do you have a mint? He was like the, what do they call the guy that waits in the lavatories, you know, what is it? Bathroom valet. Bathroom valet. Like that's, oh, you want to go in the ministry? You're going to be my bathroom valet for about a decade. Look, I get it's more practical back then because it was, I can't imagine if you try to pour a pitcher of water on this hand and the next one, you know, you get it clean, but this, now the handle's dirty, so you grab it with your clean head, now it's dirty, and it's like, you know, how do you do it, right? You got to get the other guy to just pour it on there for you. But still, that's got to be the guy that's going to be in the bathroom. But still, that's got to be kind of like, what do you do for a living? I pour water on a dude's hands. And look, I get he did other things, right? I get that that wasn't, you know, all that he did, but he did do that. And that, you know, I would never even dream of asking anyone, any man or anyone really in this room to pour water upon my hands, right? But that's the difference between a guy like Elisha and Gehazi. Elisha's just like, what can I do to surf? How can I surf? I'll do anything. You want me to clean a toilet? You want me to mop a floor? You want me to vacuum? You want me to straighten up chairs? You want me to put hymnals away? You want me to put stuff out? You want me to, you know, help brother Segura? You want to help? I'll do anything. Just give me a chance to surf. He doesn't care, you know, what it is. And he goes on and becomes one of the greatest prophets that ever lived, just mighty works for God. Because, you know, his heart was not about covetous. He didn't have a bunch of excuses. And then you got a guy like Gehazi comes along and it's just about money. It's just, and that's, I mean, he gets called out for it. Is it a time to receive? Is that what our life's about? Look, if it is, you know, that's covetousness and, you know, if it's stopping us from serving God, I mean, it's a sin in and of itself, but how much worse is it if it's stopping somebody who could do a great work for God, how much worse is that? You know, I'd hate to be that guy and get to heaven and God go, you know, you could have done a lot for me. I could have used you in such a powerful way, but you were all about gain. Your life just came all about money. And Jesus warns us about covetous repeatedly. Look, I bring this up a lot, you know. That's why no one from Tucson came up here because, like, we know what you're going to preach about. I actually did warn them. I said, hey, I'm preaching Exodus 3 again. You know, if you want to come up and say hi, great, but, you know, you already heard it. But I do preach about covetous a lot, and the reason why is because, you know, we're living in a time where it's so easy to let this creep into our lives. I'm not exempt from that. Nobody. It's so easy to just, you know, get into a hobby and get things and start collecting and just have all this stuff. Look, I'm not saying we can't ever have stuff that we enjoy and do things and have hobbies and stuff like that, but when that's all our life becomes, when that actually hinders us from serving God, something's not right. Something's wrong somewhere. And Jesus warns us about this repeatedly, and I'll close, I promise, if you would. Just go over to Mark chapter 4. And I know we all know this, and I've preached this exact passage and this exact interpretation from this pulpit. I'm going to preach it again because that was a while ago. Look at Matthew, or excuse me, Mark 4, verse 18, where you have the parable of the sower, right, and the seed that's sowed on the wayside and, you know, the ravens come and snatch it up and it has no time to even take root, right, representing people that hear the word of God but their hearts are just so hardened, so compacted that it can't even take root, and the devil just snatches away that which is sown. And then you have the stony ground where, again, it can't take root. But notice these last two types of ground, right, and I'm just giving Jesus' interpretation of the parable in verse 18. And these are they which are sown among thorns, right, so the last two are thorns and the good ground, right, such as hear the word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. Notice this next type of ground. And these are they which are sown on the ground, on good ground, such as hear the word and receive it and bring forth fruits some 30-fold, some 60-fold, and some 100. Now, is there a problem with the thorny ground? I mean the soil. Think about this. Is there a problem with the soil itself? No, because it's not the stony ground, right, because rocks, you know, as far as I know, I'm no botanist, but, you know, plants can't grow on a rock, right, they have to have soil, right. That's the problem with the stony ground. You know, the wayside, the hard-packed ground, it can't penetrate the earth. It can't get down to the soil. But here in the second to last one, when you have the thorny ground, that ground is supporting life. Things are blossoming. You know, thorns are a plant, right. They just don't bear, you know, that plant isn't bearing fruit, it's bearing thorns. It's useless. It's prickly, right. It just doesn't like to be touched, right. So stay away. Don't bother me. We know a thing or two about thorns around here. But, you know, the ground there, there's nothing wrong with it. The problem is what it's producing. You know, the good ground is the one that doesn't have the thorns in it. And what is the Bible saying that the thorns are? The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in. Covetousness. Covetousness creeps on into good ground and it literally chokes out anything good from coming from it. We need to, as Jesus said, take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consists not of the abundance of his possessions. You know, that's the message that Gehazi needed to hear. It's not about silver, it's not about garment, it's not about your things and your stuff. That's not what the Christian life is about. You know, we need people to serve God. And look, serve God in whatever capacity you can, right? But we need tonight. And look, maybe there's guys here that, you know, would like to serve God but are limited somehow or just can't do it. You know, I understand sometimes there's legitimate excuses of why people can't do even something. Maybe they desire to do. Maybe they are disqualified. But you know, maybe there's some guys here that would serve God, that could serve God, if they would just stop being so comfortable. If they would stop just being so concerned about things that don't even really matter. Stop making excuses. And I hope this isn't the case. I hope it's not covetousness that's keeping people from serving God the way that they should and the way that they could. Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for this great opportunity to come and preach to your people tonight and to preach your word. Lord, I pray that something that was said was edifying, encouraging, convicting to the power of your Holy Spirit, Lord. And I pray, Lord, that you would help all of us to root out covetousness and to root out the concerns and the cares of this life from our hearts to keep those thorns far away from us. And, Lord, so that we could be that good ground that you called us to be, Lord, and to step up and serve God, to serve you, Lord, in any way that we can. And, Lord, if there's men that can take on that role of pastor, Lord, I pray you'd lay it upon their heart. And, Lord, that you would give them that desire. And, Lord, you'd help us all to put away any excuses we might have that prevent us from serving you as we should. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen. All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we are dismissed. Amen. Lastly, turning your hymnals, if you would, to song number 355. Song number 355. What a friend we have in Jesus. Song 355. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. We love you first. What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless strength we bear, All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer. Happy trials and temptations, Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged, Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful, Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness, Take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden? Power with a load of care, Precious Savior, still our refuge, Take it to the Lord in prayer. Do thy friends despise for safely, Take it to the Lord in prayer. In his arms we'll take and shield thee, Now we'll find a solace there. Come here, come on. Come here, come on.