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Music Music Music Music If you could find your seat and grab your blue song book and turn to page 82. We're going to be singing Look to the Lamb of God. Song 82, Look to the Lamb of God In your blue hymn box, let's sing it out together on the first. If you from sin are longing to be free, Look to the Lamb of God. He to redeem you died on Calvary. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For he alone is able to save you. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. When Satan tempts and doubts and fears assail, Look to the Lamb of God. You in his strength shall over all prevail. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For he alone is able to save you. Look to the Lamb of God. Are you a weary? Does the way seem long? Look to the Lamb of God. His love will cheer and fill your heart with song. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For he alone is able to save you. Look to the Lamb of God. Fear not with shadows on your pathway pond. Look to the Lamb of God. Enjoy your sorrow, Christ is all in all. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For he alone is able to save you. Look to the Lamb of God. Amen. Good singing. Brother Eli, could you open up for the water prayer? Please raise your hand. In the blue handbook, only you can raise your hand and you might just get called on. What do you want? Yep, number 19. Jesus is the joy of living. Song number 19 in the blue. I have found a wondrous Savior Jesus Christ the souls delight Every blessing of his favor fills my heart with hope so bright Jesus is the joy of living Jesus is the joy of living He's the King of life to me Unto him my all I'm giving is forevermore to be I will do what he commands me Anywhere he leads I'll go Jesus is the joy of living He's the dearest friend I know 526 When we all get to heaven Song 526, sing it on the first. Sing the wondrous love of Jesus Sing his mercy and his grace In the mansions bright and blessed He'll prepare for us a place When we all get to heaven What a day of rejoicing that will be When we all see Jesus we'll sing and shout the victory Brother Chris, no faith of our fathers, don't look at that. 122, are you washing the blood? 122. That's a Brandon only. Are you washing the blood? Song 122. Let's sing it on the first. Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power Are you washed in the blood of the lamb Are you fully trusting in his grace This hour are you washed in the blood of the lamb Are you washed in the blood In the soul cleansing blood of the lamb Are your garments spotless Are they white as snow Are you washed in the blood of the lamb 68, his name is wonderful. Song number 68, play those first couple notes real quick. We got it, we got it, I think. You guys might have to carry me. Song number 68, let's fail together on the first. His name is wonderful His name is wonderful His name is wonderful Jesus my Lord He is the mighty king Master of everything His name is wonderful Jesus my Lord He is the great shepherd Rock of all ages Almighty God is he Bow down For him, love and adore him His name is wonderful Jesus my Lord Miss Annie, 24? This is the day Let's sing it together on the first. This is the day This is the day That the Lord hath made We will rejoice We will rejoice and be glad We will rejoice and be glad in it And be glad in it This is the day that the Lord hath made We will rejoice and be glad in it This is the day This is the day that the Lord hath made I wanted to do the repeating, but it sounds weird to do it by yourself. Brother Eli 272 Are you setting me up, Brother Eli? That's not cool. Let's We three kings of Orient are Let's sing it together on the first. We three kings of Orient are Bearing gifts we traverse afar Field and fountain, moor and Mountain following yonder star Oh Star of wonder, star of night Star with royal beauty bright Westward leading Still proceeding, guide us to Thy perfect light Brother Brandon? 21 Since Jesus came into my heart Song 21 What a wonderful change in my life Has been wrought since Jesus came into My heart. I've aligned my soul For which long I had sought since Jesus came Into my heart. Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart Thumbs of joy o'er my soul like the sea Bellows roll since Jesus Came into my heart I don't know which Harrington kid I picked the most. Brother Gabe 273. I'm just going to try to rotate you guys. I'm going to do my best. 273 song 273 I heard the bells on Christmas day I heard the bells On Christmas day Their old familiar carols play And wild and sweet the words repeat Of peace on earth The bell to men Brother CJ 291 What child is this? We can't do this one right now because we're having a little technical issues. You got another one? Or you want to come back to you? I'll come back to you if you've got another one. Miss Callie 512 sweet bye and bye Song 502 512 good night I was homeschooling, forgive me. Let's sing it out together on the first. There's a land that is fairer than day And by faith we can see it afar For the Father waits over the way To prepare us a dwelling place there In the sweet bye and bye We shall meet on that beautiful shore By and by We shall meet on that beautiful shore Brother CJ, 270 Song number 270 On the fourth Joy to the world, song 270 on the fourth He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love and wonders of his love and wonders, wonders of his love 434 Jesus Saves 434 Jesus Saves on the first We have heard the joyful sound Jesus saves, Jesus saves Spread the tidings all around Jesus saves, Jesus saves He moves to every land Climb the steeps and cross the waves Onward to this our Lord's command Jesus saves, Jesus saves Oh, Zoe Away in a manger, you know the song? It's gotta be 270's-ish, huh? 279 A little bit more after this Song 279 Away in a manger, let's sing it together on the first Away in a manger, no crib for a bed The little Lord Jesus laid down He had the stars in the sky Look down where he lay The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay For the last It's a hard choice. There's a bunch of kids asking, which one do you pick? Brother Jack 277 You guys are ripping my heart out of here, man. You're like the puppy dog, look, please make me I'll try to get you guys all next week For the week after Song 277, yeah, Silent Night, let's sing it together on the first Silent night Holy night All is calm, all is bright Round yon virgin Mother and Child Holy infant So tender and mild Sleep in heavenly peace Sleep in heavenly peace Sleep in heavenly peace Good singing Take our bulletins and go through some announcements this evening. And if you need a bulletin, would you just slip up your hand where the ushers will bring you a bulletin. On our front cover we have our verse of the week. It says, A good man showeth favor and lendeth. And we'll guide his affairs with discretion. Psalm 112 verse 5, great scripture there. And our service times are 1030 a.m. Sunday mornings for our preaching service. And our Sunday evening service is 3.30 p.m. Tonight we're back in Exodus. We're going to be in chapter number 4. And then Thursday evening our Bible studies in 2 Peter will be in chapter number 2 this Thursday night. And our soul winning times are listed below. We had soul winning this afternoon. Did we have any salvations out there? Nobody? Okay. Well, it was an ugly and cold, dreary day. But thank you for being faithful to soul winning. And our times for the rest of the week are listed below there. And our praise report, you can see the salvations, baptisms, attendance totals from last week. And our upcoming events. Of course, family photos are still going on. So if you want to get a photo with your family or even just a singles picture where it's just you by yourself because you're single, that's fine. You can do that, too. It's not weird at all. Some people want to see pictures of you, okay? And I don't know who that is. No, I'm just joking. No, but people I'm sure would love to have a picture of you. So it's not that weird if it's just you, the father, and the Holy Ghost. Jesus is inside. You still got friends with you. Anyway, I'm kidding. But there's sign ups in the WhatsApp group. Miss Annie is available also to just take your sign up by in person, okay? November 27th, we have our kids' Christmas choir practice. That's today. That's after the service, the evening service. The practice will start pretty much right after. Where are you guys meeting at? Here? Okay. So everybody else, just go away, all right? Normally, fellowshipping in here, maybe we can just go over there and just let the kids practice. If you wanted to sit and watch them practice, that's fine, but you're just going to ruin the surprise, okay? No, I'm sure we'll be able to still hear them in other rooms, but anyway, maybe just a little bit less pressure for them to perform. So anyway, that's this afternoon, right after the service, we're going to start the kids' choir practice, and then December 10th, we're going to have a cookie exchange at the Bender residence. It's going to be at 1130 a.m. Please bring three dozen of your best cookies, and see Miss Julene or is there a sign up in the group for that? Okay, there is. Or sign up in the WhatsApp group. And before I forget, I just wanted to say it was a real success when we went to the assisted living home. We haven't been there in three years because of COVID, and it was a real blessing. I mean, first we only had one person. We were knocking all these doors there, trying to get them to come, and we had one person there. I was like, well, maybe, you know, nobody just wants to hear about God anymore. And then as everything moved forward, I think we ended up having like 28 people all together, so a lot of people were really excited that we were back. Of course, it's sad that some of the people that used to be there aren't there anymore, but we definitely want to continue that. Robert, do you have any info on that? No? Okay. Christmas will be the next one around there? All right. Well, we're trying to get to where we can go back there at least on a weekly or biweekly basis, but we definitely want to go back for Christmas and just love all those people. And they love seeing the kids and spending time with people and having people that just stick around and talk with them. We all stuck around and talked for a long time. So it was a nice time, and they were very appreciative of it. And even if they did just come for the pie, that's okay, because sometimes pie can just warm people's heart and win them over, right? So crazier things have happened. Anyway, so December 25th, of course, is Christmas day. We're not changing our schedule besides the times. The altered schedule will be 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. The children's choir will be singing on Christmas morning. We're going to have a prime rib dinner in between services. There will be no soul winning that day, but we're all just going to have a good time hanging out and fellowshiping. I'm sure we're going to sing lots of Christmas music. Speaking of that, we seem to be pretty popular with the request tonight now that you all have been turned loose on the Christmas songs. So the kids were definitely very excited about that. It's exciting to have a couple of our families that have been out for a while back and make sure that you welcome them. They're free of the plague and then also feeling better. So we appreciate having you all back in church. And I don't want to call out any names because I don't want to embarrass you. I'm just kidding. Anyway. His initials are E.L. so no. Just kidding. All right. So I am teasing. But anyway, January 1st is our New Testament challenge and we're going to try to read the Bible in 30 days. So that's the challenge. There will be a good prize for whoever completes the challenge. No cheating but you have to read it. You know, all the whole New Testament, Matthew through Revelation in 30 days and you'll get a good prize. So all the other stuff down there is kind of stuff off in the distance and things that I've already mentioned. So I'm going to move past all that. We're a family integrated church. That means the children and infants are welcome during the church services. And we do have available for your family, mother, baby rooms and a dad baby room. And then please, no dads in the mom room and no moms in the dad room, vice versa, whatever. And you know, we want to protect the children at this church. That's why we're family integrated. That's one of the reasons why we're family integrated. We also think that children can get a lot of the services. So our security has been a little bit tighter today just because we've had a lot of threats. So I just wanted to let you know, you know, normally we're not, you know, we're obviously always secure and trying to be as secure as possible but we definitely have ramped things up a little bit just because you know, I mean, you know, someone says that I hate people or whatever and then, you know, that's just saying something. I kind of mentioned that in the sermon. But to actually carry out a hateful act where you're actually murdering somebody or wishing death upon people or condoning someone murdering somebody, that's not okay. And so it's not okay from their side either though. I'll just tell you this, that my email has been flooded with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of death threats against me and against my family. They're wishing evil and, I mean, look at all these children in here. Who in their right mind would want a bunch of children to just be killed because they're coming to this church? That's just really weird. And most of these people are cowards anyway but you know, I just wanted to let you know that we are, we have a mind towards security here and we're doing our best to make sure that our church is protected. So it's okay for, it's not okay for me to hate somebody but it's okay for them to hate all of us and wish us dead and whatever else they want to. They've said some pretty vile stuff, stuff I'll never repeat to anybody else. It's so bad that even Google will like block out what they're saying. I mean if it's that bad that Google's like putting little asterisks next to it so that you don't know what word they said, it's pretty bad. And it's just filled with stuff like that. And you know, I mean they're really in the Christmas spirit this year so anyway. Anyway all the rest of this stuff you all know but if you're a first time visitor we're very thankful that you're here and happy that you're here. We do have gift bags that we like to give out to people for being a first time guest. And so if you're on your way out there's a little table on the left hand side around the barrier there and if you can, I think there's one bag left over there. And grab that as you're on your way out as a token of our appreciation for you being a first time guest at our church. If you need an escort to your vehicle because it's getting dark earlier please don't hesitate to ask one of the ushers to walk you out, especially right now. That would be something that I would just really greatly encourage you to do. So obviously everybody just needs to have their head on a swivel right now and just be paying attention to your surroundings. So anyway our donations are available online on our website and our text giving number is there below and then the offering number of course is wrong and that is my fault. So just minus the one at the beginning of it and that's the real number. So I looked at I thought it was like a dollar sign or something. I was looking at it and I didn't have my glasses with me and it was obviously not that. So that's not real. Just wanted to let you know. Well I'm done giving if we're getting that much coming in. Anyway so also if you're not 100% sure that you're saved or you need to be baptized please see me or one of the ushers after the service. We'd be happy to help you show you from the Bible what the Bible says it takes to be saved or scripturally baptize you. And on the back page we have all the birthdays and anniversaries are fulfilled so I'm just going to move the service along and we'll sing another song and we'll receive the offering. Our next song will be Psalm 81 go in your Bible or you can use the Psalm folder right in front of you. Psalm 81 let's sing it together in that first verse. This day for this was a statue for Israel and the law of the God of Jacob. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony when he went out. Through the land of Egypt where I heard a language that I understood not. I removed his shoulder from the burden his hands were delivered from the pot now cost in trouble and I delivered thee. I answered thee in the secret place of thunder. I proved thee out the waters of Meribah. Here O my people and Israel, tell Tesla unto thee O Israel, thou would hearken unto me. There shall no strange God be in thee neither shalt thou worship any strange God. I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open wide thy mouth wide and I will fill it. But my people would not open thy mouth. Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it. But my people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts lust and they walked in their own councils. O that my people had hearkened unto me and Israel had walked in my ways I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted, should have submitted themselves unto him but their time should have endured forever. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat and with honey. Out of the rock should I have satisfied thee out of the rock should I have satisfied thee. One of these days I'll get it down. Brother Stephen Bauman, do you want to pray for the offering? Do you want God's gift for another wonderful day Lord and I pray that you would bless this offering both the gift and the giver just for the offering. Amen. Amen. Amen. Go ahead and open your Bibles to Exodus chapter number 4. Exodus chapter 4 if you don't have a Bible raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring you one. Exodus 4. Exodus 4 the Bible reads And Moses answered and said, But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice. For they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hands? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent. And Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it. And it became a rod in his hand, that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom. And when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again, and put his hand into his bosom again, and put his hand into his bosom again, and plucked it out of his bosom. And behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land. And the water which thou takest out of the river, shall become blood upon the dry land. And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth, or maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. And he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee, and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth, and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people, and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs. And Moses went, and returned to Jethro, his 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. And the Lord said unto Moses and Midian, Go return into Egypt, for all the men are dead which sought thy life. And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt, and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in thine hand, but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn. And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me, and if thou refuse to let him go, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. And it came to pass by the way, in the end, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go. Then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision. And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him. And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. And Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped. Brother Tim, will you pray for us? Okay, well it's been a couple weeks since we've been in Exodus, but just to kind of recap a little bit of what's happened in the last chapter. Moses had that experience where after he's been married to Jethro's daughter, and then he became a shepherd in the desert, you know, basically working for Jethro for 40 years, and kind of learning the trade of pasturing, and then God calls him from the burning bush. Obviously the miracle of that bush was that it was not consumed, and yet it was on fire. And Moses looked over at it and wanted to see what was going on, and then God basically spoke to him out of this burning bush. And so the last sermon I preached was called The Burning Bush Experience, where basically Moses just realized, you know, he'd been kind of being trained for something, and he learned all the wisdom of Egypt of course, and he was raised as a prince of Egypt in the land of Egypt, and probably had a really cushy, easy life ahead of him if he would have chosen that, but instead he decided to forsake Egypt and forsake all the things that he had learned in Egypt, and to go to his true people, which were the nation of Israel, and he is called to leadership. And so we're kind of picking up where the last chapter left off, where God is calling him to go back to Egypt, and to show Pharaoh, to go speak to Pharaoh and have him let the people go, but he obviously explains, because God knows everything, he knows everything in advance, that Pharaoh is not going to just easily let the people go, and he kind of predicts a few things that Moses, and kind of pre-tells Moses kind of what's going to happen, so like, I guess so while Moses is going through all this, he knows deep down inside that God told him what was actually going to happen in the end, and so it even kind of continues on into this chapter, but I don't have a lot of cross-referencing to do tonight, but the fact that it's just kind of a longer, it's not a really long chapter, but it's 31 verses, so I do want to get it done tonight, so and basically from verse 1 it says, So the first thing I want to show you is the three signs that God gives to Moses to show the people so that they will believe. Now we know that God kicks off great movements and big things happen in the Bible when miracles are seen, and that miracles are done to the people, and with the Jews specifically, they require a sign, don't they? And so the best way for God to get a hold of those people that will believe is to show them signs. Now Moses is like one of the greatest prophets in the whole Bible, and he did miracles and signs and wonders and did those things before the people, before the actual people of Egypt, as we'll see as we get deeper into the books, but God gives Moses three signs that he's supposed to show these people when he goes back to speak to the children of Israel, and he also gives them signs of what they're supposed to show Pharaoh and his servants too. So all these things are for the people, but it's also as a detriment to show God's judgment against these wicked people that are in charge right now. And remember, they were just telling people to throw their children into the river, the male children that were born, and so at least the Pharaoh, the previous Pharaoh was doing that. So I'm not sure exactly to what extent they're doing things, but literally the children of Israel are in hard bondage. They are in literal slavery. So they're in slavery, they're enslaved which is obviously a picture of the sin that we're enslaved to in our lives, but they literally were slaves and God is calling them out from being slaves to being servants of Him. And so people say, see God just freed them so He can enslave them Himself. Well, it doesn't say enslave. It says servant. And servants can serve willfully and because they want to do that. When it comes to God, when He wants someone to serve Him, He wants them to do it because they want to do it. Not because they have to. So what are the three signs? Well number one, the first sign is God shows He shows Moses, He's basically showing him these miracles as He gives them to him. So the first one is a little freaky to him but it's a rod that turns into a living serpent or a snake, right? So Exodus chapter 4 verse 1 again says, And so a rod is obviously a stick, probably like a walking type stick and it's probably a very useful thing in the desert to have one of these things when you're going up hills or going around mountains or, you know, a snake jumps out at you, you can kind of fend things off with it. You could fend off, you know, wild beasts and things like that but that's, you know, something that shepherds would no doubt have had in their hands. And he says, a rod. And then verse 3 says, So obviously this thing's real. He didn't make the rod look like a snake. The rod was a snake. So, you know, obviously trees are alive or bushes are alive in the sense that they, you know, are growing or green or whatever they are, they're alive in a sense. They don't have spirits and souls necessarily, okay? They don't, trees don't go to heaven or have to have a savior save them or whatever, the tree savior. But it is something that's alive but the rod in his hand is probably not alive. It's probably been taken off of some tree of some sort and it's non-living material at that point. So when he fled from it, he's fleeing from something that actually is alive. So God took that rod, he threw it on the ground and then it turns into a snake. Okay, I don't know if anybody's ever seen that happen before, but I never have. And so if I saw that, even if it wasn't a rod that turned into a snake, if I saw a big snake or something like that, it was scary, obviously this snake was probably something that could do some kind of damage. I'm guessing it's probably some kind of poisonous snake of some sort that is frightening or a big snake. One of the two, either one would freak me out. So if you just see a snake out of the corner of your eye, sometimes you kind of just like get freaked out, right? So he sees this, he runs from it, but just know this, that only God can create life out of nothing. So the miracle here is that God takes something that's no longer alive, that's a stick, and he turns that into a snake that obviously Moses feels like he has to run from. So this is a miracle, this is a sign, this is a wonder, this isn't just something that we would see every day. Now we probably read through this story many times, but if you really think about how crazy that would be for someone to see that happen, you know, if you just put yourself in Moses' flip flops, you're going to probably be running also from this snake, right? So miracles that are replicated by false prophets now, now the false prophets are able to replicate these, and we'll go into that when we get into that chapter, but they're able to replicate a few of the miracles that Moses is able to do. And so, but think about this, God only, God is allowing them to have that power. So if a false prophet has the ability to bring forth miracles and show signs and wonders, it's only because God allows them to do that. Because if you think about when the prophets of Baal were all killed, and Elijah says, call out to your gods, and they're cutting themselves and slicing them and bleeding all over the place, and they're jumping up and down on the altar trying to get Baal to listen to them, notice that Baal doesn't come out and do anything, nothing happens, and because God is the true God, God is the only real God that there is. Now if you want to say that they're gods with a small g, there's all kinds of devils and demons in this world, there's Satan himself who's an angel that was a fallen angel, and he is able to do certain things, but only when God allows him to do so. It's just like he was only able to attack Job when God allowed him to attack him, and he was only allowed to do it within the confines of what God said he could do. He wasn't able to kill Job because God said, you know, spare his life, but his health was turned upside down, other people in his life were killed, but when you think about miracles like even in the New Testament in the book of Revelation, you know, you have these false prophets able to, the false prophet, the one part of the evil trinity there in the end, is able to call fire down from heaven. Now, the Baal worshipers weren't able to do that. Why? Because God didn't allow them to do that because he was showing them that he was God and there was none else, right? But these false prophets that will arise up and be able to do these false miracles, you know, there's false prophets now that do false miracles, isn't there? They do false miracles, you know, trying to make someone's leg longer than the other or you know, all of a sudden someone gets up at a Pentecostal service and lo and behold they can walk, but a lot of these things are just fake, you know, I'd probably say they're all fake, but at some point God will allow the devils and the demons to allow people to see things that aren't fake anymore, that they are real, like the Antichrist coming back to life after he receives the mortal wound, he's actually able to come back to life, which is something that is not usually able to be done by anybody else besides God, so this is a big miracle here, this is a big deal, but also again, later on you'll see that the false prophets are able to do these things, but they have a limit, and so at some point God's just like, okay, you know, God's people alone are able to do these types of miracle unless it's otherwise pronounced, so life coming from non-living material is also something that in science they have no answer for, they'll say, well, you know, this little dot exploded and became all the solar systems and all the things that you see today and everything just works perfectly and balanced, and you know, there could be life on Mars, we could, you know, there could be other solar systems where there's other people and all this other stuff, but there's no evidence for that, there's no evidence that mankind, or that just things spontaneously just become alive with no help from anybody else. God, the Bible says God created the heaven and the earth, so God spoke this world into existence, the Bible says that Jesus, all things consist from Jesus, so the molecules, the atoms, the things unseen, the things seen, those things were all created by God and like anybody with a brain in their head that's not crippled by their education can see that this world is a beautiful place and there's seasons, there's times, there's beautiful things in this world and this is a destroyed world, you know, God still made it beautiful even though He destroyed it with a great flood, so, you know, there's just a lot of evidence that this world isn't as old as people say it is, but yet, what does science teach, that the world is billions of years old and, you know, we were just monkeys swinging from trees and all of a sudden we became humans, but yet there's still monkeys, I don't really understand that, but the monkeys surfed over to South America on surfboards and, you know, I mean, they just, to come up with their ridiculous arguments for things, they just come up with, I mean, even surfing monkeys and to them, that's more believable than God because professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. See, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God but were vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. See, people don't want to be accountable to God because they don't want the accountability that's coming to them in the end. That's why everybody's sending me emails, leaving voicemails saying that I'm going to hell, but it's like, I'm saved, I'm not going to hell. Like, no matter how much you imagine, you know, just imagine, no matter how much you want to imagine SpongeBob, the truth is the truth, okay? The truth is the truth and the Bible says if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved. I'm saved, I'm eternally secure, I can't go to hell. No matter how hateful I become. You know, if I become as hateful as the Emperor, I'm still going to heaven, I'm just kidding. But, you know, that's basically what the world believes nowadays, isn't it? That if you're hateful, then you're part of the dark side. But I don't hate everything. My life doesn't revolve around hate. The people in this room's life doesn't revolve around hate. Hate is something, though, that is taught in the Bible that God does hate things. And so we have to take the good with the bad and whatever God says is the truth. So it doesn't matter what people say. So the first miracle is them, is God showing him, Moses, that he can take something that's not alive and make it alive. Right? So number two, actually let's look at verse number four. So verse number four says, And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and he caught it, and it became a rod in his hand. Smart way. God told him to grab it by the tail, didn't he? Isn't that how people that wrangle snakes do it? Because they don't want to get bit. If you walk up and just try to grab a snake by the head, it's going to strike you at you. You have to get it by the tail and use some kind of stick to hold its head down normally. Now I've stepped on snakes and then I get to where I can pinch their head, you know, behind the neck where they can't bite me and just hold them like that. That was when I was much younger and much braver. I've caught a snake that's as long as me. It wasn't poisonous, but it was a bull snake. Anybody ever seen a bull snake before? Well, bull snakes look like rattlesnakes, but they're not poisonous. But they can get big like rattlesnakes. And I saw it swimming across an irrigation ditch and I went, and how do you think I got it? I grabbed him by the tail. I drug him across this little board, this bridge, and put it in this oil barrel that was like this tall. And by the time I came back, it was already escaped. It was a big snake. It was probably this big around. It looked like a boa constrictor or something, but it was very aggressive. They eat rattlesnakes. And they're so interesting because they also will pretend to be rattlesnakes. And I've seen them do this because when we lived out in the high desert again later on, I saw some pretty big bull snakes out there too. One time I saw one just as I was leaving for work and it was just in the middle of our dirt driveway or whatever, our road that led to our house. And I got out and I started coming up to it and it kind of cocked its head back like a rattlesnake would and then it started moving its tail. And I was like, is that a rattlesnake? And I looked at it and it was just a regular bull snake. So, pretty interesting. Anyway, I don't know what that has to do with the sermon, but the kids like to hear stuff like that. So, but don't just grab any old snake, kids. But there's not a lot of poison, there's no poison snakes here that I know of. Now, if you go out east or places that are a little more warm in climate, you'll find rattlesnakes and then you have to really be aware of that. So, anyway, so it says, so he said, grab this snake by the tail. He put forth his hand, he caught it, it became a rod in his hand. And that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob hath appeared unto thee. So, this is specifically the God of Genesis. This is the God that, you know, that was told that the story was told about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Those are his sons, Isaac, his grandson, Jacob, and then hath appeared unto thee. So, number two, the leprous hand cured. That's the second powerful sign that he's allowed to give, that God gives him to convince the people. Look at verse six, it says, And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. So, what leprosy is, and at this time it was an incurable disease. There's not a lot of leprosy out in the world nowadays, but there is some. And I know that like Hawaii had a whole leper colony and things like that, but leprosy was not able to be cured for a long, long time, and like basically when you got it, it, you know, leprosy pictures sin and that it divides you away from your people, it divides you away from you know, being part of the group, part of the pack, and it is basically like, you know, people had to wrap up, they had to put something, they had to put a mask on, okay. They had to put a mask on in case the, you know, spit particles came and got somebody else and gave leprosy to somebody else. So, but anyway, he, verse number seven it says, and he said, put thine hand into thine bosom again. And he put his hand in his bosom again, and plucked it out of his bosom, and behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. So God, so with both miracles so far, he has Moses cast the rod down, it becomes a snake, he has him grab it by the tail, he puts it back in his hands, and it becomes the rod again. So not only can he make that dead thing into a living object, but then he can also make the living object become a dead stick again. Same thing with his, this miracle of leprosy. You know, he puts his hand, like here he comes out, it's, his hand is white and leprous. He's got leprosy, it's an incurable disease. Then he says put it back again, puts it back again, you know, slight of hand, no. But he just, you know, he has, his leprosy is cured at that point. So you know, God is showing here that he can give people a plague that's incurable, but then he is able to cure an incurable disease. So it's just something that people aren't used to seeing. So it is a big miracle, you know, sometimes the big fantastic miracles that you see or talk about in the Bible seem like a bigger deal, but this is a big deal. These are big miracles, these are big, a big thing for people to actually see. Any of us that saw anything like that would also be in awe of that thing. So look at verse 8. It says, and it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. Now number 3, the third miracle that he allows Moses to perform is the dry land turned to blood. The dry land turned to blood. Look at verse 9, it says, and it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land. And the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. So here's the third miracle that he's able to do, and all three and I think that yeah, all three of these things or at least two of these things are things that the other false prophets can do, but to take water and what he did is threw it on the dry land and it becomes blood. So also the miracle that he does later on is that he just turns the whole Nile River into blood. So that's a lot bigger, but he's just showing him, here's another miracle that you can do. But this also shows that God can take a blessing like water and turn it into a curse. So isn't water a blessing? If you live in a desert place and you have a giant water source, that's a blessing. But if that is taken away from you, that what becomes a curse? If your well runs dry, that's cursed. And if it becomes blood, that's even worse. Because who wants to drink blood? Not me. That's gross. But in the end times, God's going to turn things into blood and people are going to drink it because they're worthy. He's going to say, give them that blood and let them drink it. But that's what's going to happen. So God is able to judge, is what he's basically showing. He's able to take blessings, make them a curse. He's also able to take a curse and make it into a blessing. So he's showing him two different things here. Now he doesn't show it, you know, obviously with this miracle, he doesn't say, well take the blood and throw it in the water and it becomes just clear water or whatever. But these miracles are also done in a way like Jesus did miracles. So I was thinking about this and I was like, well what do these things represent if you're looking at them from an even more, you know, in a more spiritual light? Obviously they're spiritual in themselves, but because there's a lot of people that don't even believe that miracles can happen. Even though they've probably seen or had or heard of miracles happening in other people's lives, answers to prayer that were impossible, things like that. But didn't Jesus make dead people come back to life? Multiple times in the New Testament. So just like that dead stick, God was able to, through the power of Moses, turn that dead stick into a live snake and then back again. But Jesus, you know when he, if you think about it, because Moses pictures Jesus in a lot of different ways so Moses comes on the scene doing miracles, doesn't he? And so you have, you know, Jesus doing miracles, Moses doing miracles, it launches both of their public ministries. And there was a waiting period for Moses' public ministry, a waiting period for Jesus' ministry of 30 years. Moses was 40. But and then he also specifically cured lepers multiple times. So what Moses did a little bit, Jesus did on a massive scale. At one point he cured 10 lepers at the same time, didn't he? And one came back and gave God glory, right? So he specifically cured multiple lepers multiple times in the New Testament. So you know, you have him performing basically the same miracle but this is on people that are really suffering with it. It's not just like, hey, I can give myself leprosy and then cure that. Jesus is like, I'm going to cure and help people and give people a blessing. So again, in the end times he will turn water into blood again. But think about this. He also poured, Jesus also poured out his blood upon the earth, didn't he? And he turned it into what? Living waters that if a man drinks he shall never thirst. Didn't he say that, you know, if you drink of this water you'll thirst again but if you drink of the waters that I'm going to give to you then you'll have living waters that'll bubble up unto everlasting life basically. So in the New Testament the curse is reversed. Think about that. I thought that was pretty cool. Pretty interesting. So Jesus obviously, you know, the law came through Moses but grace and truth came through the Lord Jesus Christ. So pretty cool stuff but obviously Moses does picture Jesus but Jesus does all things well. Jesus does all things better because Jesus isn't just a prophet. He is the God-man. He's the man Christ Jesus but he's also God manifest in the flesh. Now let's look at verse number 10 and number 4 tonight. I want to point you out that Moses is a reluctant speaker. So God calls him but he's a reluctant speaker. Look at verse number 10. It says, And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou has spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue. So Moses says, you know, I'm just, I don't know if I'm really the guy that you're looking for. I don't really want to talk because I'm not a very good speaker. I'm slow of speech. I'm slow of tongue. You know, because there's some people out there that are talented speakers, aren't there? There's people out there that like for a living they call sports calls. And they get people really excited. They're listening to their calls and they're like, dah, dah, dah, dah, go! You know, and all the people go wild or whatever and that's just football or soccer or whatever you want to call it. But real football, American football. You know, you have announcers that do that too. You have play-by-play people on the radio. You have people that do commercials. You have actors that are really good at remembering their lines and saying things in a way that, you know, makes you want to listen to them or hear them or see them act or whatever. So there are people that are talented in the areas of speech. And, you know, some people have to work really hard at it. Some people aren't talented in speech. So but Moses says that he's not talented in speaking. He says that he's slow of tongue. Now look at verse 11. It says, What's the answer to that question? God, right? He designed it. He understands it intricately. God made man's mouth. And who maketh the dumb or deaf or the seen or the blind? Have not I the Lord? And if you think about the miracles the other miracles that Jesus did, He cured people that are having these issues themselves. He cured the dumb, deaf, and the blind, right? So He says, Have not I the Lord? Now therefore, I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. So, you know, here's God. He's like, you know, I know you're not, you're having some confidence issues, Moses, but, you know, I made your mouth. I made the, you know, all these people that can't speak really. They can't hear really. They can't see really. And He's so, so I think God's kind of tongue-in-cheek in here a little bit. He's kind of, you know, being like, okay, well, I'll be with you anyway and teach you what you shall say. But He's, why does He, why do you think He asked that last question the way He did? Because Moses isn't dumb. Moses isn't deaf. Moses can see. And he also knows something else about Moses, and I'm going to tell you that here in just a second, but, you know, it goes to show though that if someone theoretically is not a good speaker or not a natural speaker or not naturally talented in speaking or a little slow tongued, maybe even they stutter, God can still use that person to preach. God can still use that person to speak because who made the tongue? God did. Who made the mouth to form words? God did. And so if God says, I'll teach you what to say, I'll be with your mouth, He means that for anybody, doesn't He? And so, you know, you're like, well, maybe only talented people should be pastors. Maybe only talented people should preach at the door. I'm an introvert pastor. I'm not very good at talking to people. My English, English is my second language or whatever it is that your excuse is, but didn't God make the mouth? Didn't God make the tongue? Well, He can help you too. But you know what, you just have to have a little bit of faith, and you have to have a little bit of courage, and you have to stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about other people. Start thinking about well, maybe I should just try to overcome this. And I feel Moses' pain because I don't feel like I'm a naturally good speaker either. And I've actually been afraid and terrified to speak in public for a long time. I've gotten more used to it, but I still don't think I'm an eloquent speaker, and you're like, yeah, you're a professor. You're not. I mean, we know. And I'm not trying to beat myself up. I'm just simply saying that I took drama classes when I was a kid for a reason so I could learn to talk in front of people. And I was still, every time I would get up and publicly say anything or be in any kind of speech or any kind of drama class playing any part I was in, I felt like as soon as I came out that my face turned beat red your ears were hot you know, you just feel like everybody's staring at you and then everything comes off robotic the way you say things. And like even though people laughed at my jokes and some of the drama things that I was in, I wasn't telling them like you know, I was just telling them in a very robotic, they're laughing at the line they're not really necessarily laughing at my delivery. I noticed a couple times when I got lucky or whatever, but I'm just saying that naturally gifted speakers aren't always pastors. Naturally gifted speakers you know, people that are not natural speakers, excuse me, or gifted speakers sometimes you have to work to get better. There's people that are talented and they can do great things in whatever area they're talented in with little effort, but there's some people that want to do things that have to work way harder than somebody. So somebody that's talented that doesn't try and someone that's not talented and really tries hard can maybe get to the same level, but sometimes that's not even true like in athletics. There's some people that are never going to run a four, two, forty yard dash or whatever you know, I'm one of those people there's some people that can just book it and they're fast. If anybody ever watched where Pastor Anderson was doing that Ironman competition with the people in Spokane, if you saw that video on our YouTube page Jason Graber, one of our preachers there he smoked everybody like they even put the three hours later like mocking little thing on the video where everybody else came in, but Jason just like took off like you know, like he was shot out of a rocket or something and just blew everybody away. His long jump was way better than everybody else's. Some people are just more talented than others. That happens in speaking too, but God you know he's asking Moses he's calling Moses, he's saying Moses I got a job for you and Moses is like yeah I'm not really that good at speaking God. And so here's what happens next, so in verse 13 it says, and he said, O my Lord, send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. And he said is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well and also behold he cometh forth to meet thee and when he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart. So why does God get angry at Moses here? Why is he upset? Well let's turn to Acts, keep your finger here and turn to Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter number 7, I kind of covered this maybe a few weeks ago or whatever, but he's still giving excuses. And here's, you know, here's the thing when God calls you he understands your shortcomings. When God wants you to do, like any soul winner in here, he understands whatever you're weak at in that area. As a speaker that God calls, he understands that that person might not be the greatest speaker. But he's still saying do it anyway because I'm going to help you. Right? And God will help us in our deficiencies. I've talked a lot about this lately about how if we have a blind spot or if we have a spot in our Christian life that needs work you should focus on shoring that up. If you're already good at three of the things, you know, that you should be really good at and you're lacking in a fourth area, then just shore that part up. Because God can help you do it. You might not be the best in the church at that, but you're still, you know, going to be sufficient enough to do whatever that task is or just as a spiritual build up. I talked about, you know, building yourself up in the faith and how we got to add to our faith. We have to add to our faith other virtues in our life and, you know, we need to do that. We need to build ourselves up so that we can be the complete package. We can be a complete Christian. Now you're in Acts chapter 7 verse 22. Look what it says. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds. So what does this tell you about Moses when he's talking to God? That he's not really being truthful, is he? He actually is mighty in words and he's mighty in deeds. And maybe he's mighty in words but just not, you know, very eloquent in the mighty words but, you know, the Bible talks about Moses was a learned man. When you say someone's a learned person that means that someone has gone through some schooling they, you know, they've learned a lot of things. You know, in this case he's learned the wisdom of the Egyptians. Which worldly wisdom isn't always wrong? Worldly wisdom can be helpful to you, you know, it doesn't tell you how to be an engineer in the Bible, does it? You know, so those are things that you would learn in the world. But, you know, it says he's mighty in words and in deeds. So why did God get mad at Moses? Well, he's making excuses and he's not really being that honest about it. Because the Bible says in Acts 7, which is Scripture, that he was mighty in words and deeds. Okay? And God, you know, doesn't like it when we, you know, lie obviously and when we make excuses. Now look at verse 15 back in our text. It says, Thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth, and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. So he's saying, hey, your brother Aaron, he's a good talker, I'll let him, you know, be the spokesman or whatever. Look at what it says in verse 16. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people, and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth. So he's going to have Aaron say all the things that God is telling Moses and so Moses is going to relay that stuff to Aaron, his brother, who is a good speaker. And it says, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. So he's not, it's not like he's saying that Moses is his God, but he's going to be the leader as if he was. So he's basically saying that Moses is the leader but most of the time the person that's speaking is going to be the leader also. But in this case God allowed Moses to kind of get by with what he was saying and maybe Aaron was a better speaker than him, maybe he was more eloquent, less slow of speech and a better speaker, but Moses still had to tell Aaron what God was saying because it's like God was speaking to Moses and Moses is speaking to Aaron. And thou shalt take the rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs. It's not saying Aaron was going to do the signs, it's Moses that's going to do the signs. So now turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 26. 1 Corinthians 1, 26. I think this verse is really important kind of to what's going on here. Because Moses was the weakest man in the whole face of the earth, there's no doubt about that, he had some advantages. According to him he wasn't a great speaker, but according to Acts chapter 7 he was a good speaker or at least he was a powerful speaker. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 26 it says, So God isn't just out there calling these mighty men to do these great things because a lot of times the people that are ultra talented, ultra beautiful, ultra handsome, ultra talented in speaking, ultra talented physically kind of reject God outright. And so it says not many, it doesn't say not any, it says not many. So there are people that might be good looking or whatever or talented in one way or another that will be called. But Moses was a reluctant, he was reluctant to do what God said. So I know that a lot of people say well you have to want to be a pastor or you have to want to be the leader. Did Moses really actually seem like he wanted to be the leader? It doesn't seem like he did, but Moses did do it. So even if you're reluctant and you do do it, you're still doing it. So there are people that would say well if you don't feel like you're called to do it. Look God didn't come to me in a dream and tell me I had to be the pastor. God didn't call me in the middle of the night and I was like I think God called me. Look if God's speaking to you audibly, you need to go seek professional help. Because yeah he did that stuff in the Bible to the prophets, but you know the word is complete. He doesn't speak new revelation to people anymore. All the stuff that's in the Bible is going to be all the stuff that's in the Bible until the end of time. So we have his word and so we have no need for someone to you know for God to give someone a new revelation because the revelation is written folks. So if someone starts telling you hey God told me to tell you this, they're a false prophet, they're lying through their teeth. So just take that to the bank. But God does call people and he does call and you know sometimes you don't realize that that's what it is, but he does call people. He calls everyone to do something for him though. It's not just about being the leader or being the pastor, but he calls he says you see how you know you're calling brethren not many wise, not many after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble or called. He calls just average people to do great things. So if you're here today and you're like I'm kind of average, well you know what that's good because God calls average people to do stuff. He calls below average people to do stuff. He calls you know people that maybe would think people would say well that person's ugly, that person's you know not attractive or whatever. But you know what, what's inside that person's heart is what matters. Whether they have the new man or not, that's what matters. And anybody no matter what you look like, no matter what you sound like, no matter how you hear, no matter how you see or any of that stuff does not matter. You know what matters? It's what you do with what God's given you. And he's given all of us, anybody in this room that's saved, he's given you a piece of eternity already in your heart. He's already given you the Holy Spirit and so he says hey I didn't, you know I'm not necessarily calling, you know who answers the call when we go out soloing? Is it you know the best looking women, the best looking men, the richest, most powerful with all the drag wires and the roundabout you know driveway in their house or are they the ones the least likely to get saved? They already have everything that they need. Why would they need God? So the most talented and all that stuff, they're likely to not accept or heed the callings of God. So but if you notice here, God puts this tandem together. It's Moses and Aaron and it's a two-profit combo, okay. And this is rarely seen in the Bible, okay. It's not, he doesn't you know, obviously it's seen but it's rarely seen. So obviously you have you know Eli and Samuel, Eli was the judge, Samuel was the prophet that became the judge also. There's other, there's like Elijah and Elisha and you have here Aaron and Moses and John and Jesus, they were simultaneously here at the same time for a while but they didn't really work necessarily together at the same time. So but what it made me think of was that not only does Moses picture Christ but Aaron might possibly picture John the Baptist. And why do I say that? Well John the Baptist was one crying in the wilderness. You know it gave, you know John was a man mighty in words also but and of course Jesus was too. Nobody ever spake like Jesus, I get that. But it makes very specific claims about John that he did no miracle. John the Baptist was a great orator, a great preacher, hellfire and damnation preacher, he was a Baptist of course. So those are the best preachers usually, okay, fact. But he was one crying in the wilderness. And so I believe that it kind of pictures that in a way because Moses is not the main speaker but he's the one doing the miracles. What's Jesus do right when he comes on the scene? Well he gets baptized and then you know obviously he goes into the wilderness but then he starts doing miracles in front of the people and preaching, okay. So but Moses also starts preaching too. It's not you know a lot of times you'll hear Moses is speaking, it's not necessarily Moses speaking through Aaron. So I think he probably got better at speaking because he's always having to talk, right. So the more you do something the better you're going to get at it. The more you preach the better you're going to get hopefully. I mean if you actually work on those things and you do it on a regular basis you're going to just get better no matter what you try or no matter what happens. So but who else would these two prophets, what do you think else would they picture? Maybe the two witnesses? Yeah. And I know that people think that Moses is one of the two witnesses and if you think that so God bless you you're wrong but you know it's okay. You know I would agree with you but then we'd both be wrong. So but anyway I'm just kidding. If you believe that I'm totally fine with that but I think he definitely pictures one of the two witnesses but I don't think he actually is. So anyway the two witnesses come on the scene during the time of the Antichrist. What does Pharaoh picture? Does he picture the Antichrist? Yes he does. And you know they're there during the plagues of God's wrath just like Moses and Aaron are there in the plagues of God's wrath right? So just you know just little pictures there for you. So let's look at verse 18 back in our text. So number 5 Moses returns to Egypt. So after all this stuff he's ready to go. He's got the miracles. He's got his speaker. He's got his brother. That's his actual brother Aaron and it says Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law and said unto him let me go. I pray thee and return to my brethren which are in Egypt and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses go in peace. So he's actually asking to be let go of his job to please let me just resign or whatever. And the Lord said unto Moses and Midian go return into Egypt for all the men are dead that sought thy life. So this kind of reminded me also of how Jesus was sent into Egypt. So it's kind of like the opposite right? Joseph was told by an angel to go into Egypt with baby Jesus because the wise men you know had warned well actually no it's because Herod was seeking to kill him and he killed all the children in Bethlehem right? Trying to kill Jesus so and then what did he say? It's okay to go back to Israel because the people that sought the you know his life are dead. Herod is dead. So he was able to go back but he didn't go all the way to Jerusalem. He went to Nazareth right? So it's just another kind of a little interesting picture there. But in verse 20 it says and Moses took his wife and his sons and set them upon an ass and returned to the land of Egypt and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. So here you see and I believe Moses does picture also the New Testament pastor and obviously he was the pastor of a humongous congregation of people. He had the first mega church for sure. So that church was millions of people. One man leading millions of people obviously he had help later on down the line but he also notice how it says he has a wife and he has sons. He has two children and a wife. Now their life wasn't necessarily perfect you know when you go back and tell your wife hey guess what you know I'm the one that God called to go back to Egypt and let everybody go and she's like I don't think so you know I don't think so Moses you know but I mean there's a fight right there waiting to happen but you know how do you know God really called you? You know but you know she followed him and went but look at verse 21. So you know Moses does you know he meets the qualifications of a New Testament pastors and but it says and the Lord said unto Moses when thou goest to return into Egypt see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in thine hand but I will harden his heart and he shall not let the people go and thou shalt say unto Pharaoh thus saith the Lord Israel is my son even my firstborn. So one thing that if you're going to preach you better be preaching the word of God. As a pastor my job is to preach the word of God whether it harelips everybody in the county or in the country or in the world or not whether it's popular or whether it's not popular my job as a pastor is to preach what God says. Everything in this book is what God says. Yes even the Old Testament. And so what did Moses get told to do? He said to tell Pharaoh thus saith the Lord. And so if you're a pastor out there and you're not saying thus saith the Lord and you're just preaching your own little cutesy poems and telling your little stories and you have one verse for your whole text and all that kind of stuff and you're just preaching the same old stories that everybody's heard a million times it's okay to do that but you better put some Bible into your sermons. And you better say hey this is God's authority this is the word of God and I don't care what anybody says I'm going to preach what the Bible says. And so you know I'm thankful to go to a church where even the men that are not even pastors they're just laymen and they get up here and you know what they do? They don't preach their opinion they don't preach some cutesy little sermon with a bunch of little antidotes and stuff like that and worldly stuff or you know they're not basing the whole thing off of some movie they watched even though I brought the don't judge me about the karate kid thing. Alright but anyway that doesn't happen very often. It was just a point to help you understand. But anyway what I'm just saying like some people some pastors will preach a whole series of sermons off of some stupid movie that they saw in Hollywood. It's like come on man you've got to preach the word of God. You know and people are mad at me right now for what I preach or whatever but you know what I'm not necessarily I didn't know that millions of people were going to see that. Do you think that I thought that when I said it? I didn't think that. I preached that to our church and anybody that was home sick or whatever and if people you know obviously it was picked up by my enemies and they wanted to broadcast it and that's fine. I don't care. I'm not scared. I never will be. I know God's got my back. I know God's got the back of everybody in this church. And even if hard times happen and bad things happen so what? You know what we only have one life to live and you know what either to walk into heaven and God says well done thou good and faithful servant because I wasn't afraid to get up and preach what God said instead of some little snot nosed whiner that's afraid to get up and speak they won't even put their sermons online. They put their hot sermons and don't even upload them to anything. You know when they have all this power to preach from the house tops they preach it in the basement. And so look I'm not ashamed of what I said. If you're mad at me for what I said then I'm sorry that you're mad but you know what I really don't care if you are. I don't care. I'm serious. I don't care. I care about what God thinks about what I preach. You know and again if it hair lifts every dog in the county I don't care. If it makes it into every newspaper in the country I don't care. If it gets on the news I don't care. You know what I care about? I care about pleasing God. I care about having a church that cares about people and you know if you just want to mark us as some hate group or whatever then you can just mark us as however you want. But I don't care what they think about us. You know what I care about? What the Bible says and I care about what the Bible says to preach and I care about thus saith the Lord. That's what I care about. And I'm not going to shy away from the controversial things in the Bible and I'm not going to shy away from controversial things that are happening in our society. You're like well why do you have to preach about that? Why do they have to shove all that stuff down our throat all the time? That's what I want to know. Why? But we're just supposed to roll over and take it? I don't think so. Someone's got to say something. Someone's got to stand up for something. You know what? I'm not the only person that's sick of this stuff. I know you all are sick of this stuff too. I know there's other pastors that are afraid and cowering and scared to say what they really feel like. You know and if you get on there and you're like you know I'm sorry that that pastor said that. You know I'm so sorry. They're just going to mock and ridicule you. That's what they do. I looked at the comments. I saw people going but I love you guys. They're like you're just like him. You just don't want to say it. And that's true. Quit trying to get up on your high horse and act all you know oh I'm just so I'm so loving. You know if you're loving you get up and tell the truth about things. And quit hiding everything. Quit trying to hide under the bushel. Quit trying to put your candle out on the top of the hill all the time. And just get up and just say what you think. Say what you you know not what you think but what God thinks. Because that's what's important. And that's why God said that Pharaoh had you know he said tell Pharaoh thus saith the Lord. So Moses shouldn't be scared because that's God's message. Right? What did Moses speak? The things that God told him to say. He said I will teach you Moses. You'll learn by the numbers. I will teach you. You're gonna do it the way I say. And Moses did. And when Moses screwed up he got in trouble for it. But you know what Moses screwed up doing? He just got too mad sometimes. You know the people made him do it right? They forced him. But anyway I'm sorry. I went off on that for a little while there. Look at verse 23. I'm almost done here. It says, And I say unto thee, Let my son go that he may serve me, and if thou refuse to let him go, behold I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. So again you have to you know how you have this opposite comparison of God killing the firstborn. That's what he did when they left. That was the last plague that he does and again we'll get into that during those chapters. But in the New Testament God allows his firstborn to be killed, his only begotten son to die for all of mankind. See the God, he can be a God of judgment or he can be a God of blessing. And he's showing his judgment against Egypt when he takes them out with a high hand and that God takes care of his people and brings them out and spoils the Egyptians. But it says, And it came to pass by the way in the inn that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. You're like, what's going on here? Okay, well there's obviously a jump in the story but Moses on his way back, apparently he's at the inn. The Holiday Inn, you know the Best Western Plus, I don't know where he's at, but he's in an inn. And it says the Lord met him and sought to kill him. Wait a second, I thought you were sending him to take care of all this stuff. Well, yeah but there's something that's not right in their family and God wants them to take care of it. It says, And Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at his feet and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So you know Moses is being called to be the leader of the biggest church congregation, the church out in the wilderness that there ever has been. And they're having themselves a little tiff, aren't they? So what's the problem? Well, you know, she comes from a different people. She's not necessarily an Israelite but Moses marries her and obviously she probably does believe but she probably just doesn't agree with the circumcision. And so she's upset and she knows that God's going to kill Moses unless he gets this right. And so you know, you can't just go in and be above reproach in everything you do and then your own son isn't circumcised. So Moses wanted to make sure that he got circumcised and I don't know how this all took place or how she even knew that that's what it was. Maybe she already knew. A lot of people are confused about this story but here's what we know for sure. They're at a hotel and God's trying to kill him. You know, and obviously God could kill him but he's probably just making the point like, look, this is do or die, man. You've got to get this done. And so his wife cuts off the foreskin of her son and throws it at Moses' feet. My wife's never done that so I'm not sure how this fight, you know, whatever, but she's calling him a bloody husband. So, you know, does this make Moses disqualified in your opinion? Well, obviously not because even pastors have tiffs with their wives. All spouses have issues sometimes. All spouses. So I'm not that pastor that's going to get up and go, my marriage has always been and always will be perfect and you should just look unto me for the shining example of how to be the greatest couple in the church. I've gone to churches where pastors act like that and I would be like, man, why am I such a failure? You know, why do we fight sometimes? I've told you this story before and I'll tell it again real quickly because I just saw Pastor White just recently and he came and stopped by and we talked for a little bit, but he was my former pastor before we started the church here and he said he was in Bible college at Hiles Anderson and he said, you know, this professor is saying, you know, you guys, you know, you better just, if you fight with your wife, there's something wrong. You might not even be saved or whatever. Giving him the business, right, and he's saying I never fight with my wife. And then like a couple weeks later he's in the parking lot and he sees homie and the wife yelling at each other in the parking lot by the car and he looked over and he was like, hmm, okay. But of course he didn't walk right over to him, you know, it's a battle zone, you don't want to jump in those battles. And then like he saw him a little bit later and he was like, so, saw you and your wife fighting in the parking lot the other day, he's like, I thought you said you never got into fights. He's like, oh, that wasn't a fight, that was just a tip. So, yeah, moving the goalposts. So, I'm just saying that there are pastors out there that kind of project that kind of stuff and act like they're everything's perfect, but look, nobody has a perfect marriage. And the rare people that rarely fight, that is rare. And I'm not saying it's good to fight or whatever, I'm just saying that sometimes people fight. Sometimes it gets ugly. And how much more uglier than throwing a bloody foreskin at your husband's feet and calling him a bloody husband? I mean, that's a pretty bad fight, isn't it? But yet God still uses Moses to do great things for God, right? So, it says in verse 26, so he let her go, or he let him go and she said, a bloody husband, thou art because of the circumcision. So, that's why. That's what we know the Bible says, okay? And the Lord said unto Moses, Go into the wilderness and meet Moses. And he went and met him in the mount and kissed him. Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him and all the signs which he had commanded him. And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders and of the children of Israel. And Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. So, again, John the Baptist preached. Jesus Christ showed miracles. John did know miracles. Jesus did more miracles than any prophet, didn't he? But it's funny how it says in verse 27, it says, the Lord said unto Aaron, Go into the wilderness. What did John do? He went into the wilderness until his time was to come. Anyway, so verse 31, and the people believed and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads in worship. So, it sounds like these elders believed, sounds like, you know, what happens when you believe? You get saved, right? So, and it's talking about the elders. He's not meeting with the whole nation of Israel at this point. He's meeting with the elders. So, and I'm not even saying every single elder got saved, but as a whole this is how they responded, okay? So, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 22 says the Jews require a sign. The Greeks seek after wisdom. So, God knew what was going to get them on that page. And just like in the book of Acts or when Jesus started his ministry, what was the big thing that kicked it all off? His miracles and his preaching. What was the big thing that kicked off in the book of Acts? The preaching and the miracles, right? The miracles actually happened first, then the preaching, then more miracles. God uses those things to jump start his big movements. So, and if you're expecting me to start turning things into snakes and stuff like that, it's not going to happen. Because God wants us to believe by faith. Even the New Testament, like I said, was kicked off by 12 men and 70 apostles that did the miracles, right? Let's pray. Exodus chapter 4 is done. Alright, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you Lord so much for this great church for the great works that we do. We pray that we continue to have eternity in our heart when we think about other people. Lord, we want to help other people. We want to get people saved. And Lord, that preaching the truth is always going to be something that is important and thus saith the Lord. I pray Lord that you'd help us as we go our separate ways and take care of us. Keep us safe. Keep a hedge of protection about us this week. And Lord, whatever comes, I pray Lord that we'd have the strength to stand up to it and Lord just to ride the storm, ride it out, and batten down the hatches. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, the last song will be song number 271, O Come All Ye Faithful. Song number 271 in your blue hymn books, O Come All Ye Faithful. Song 271, let's sing it out together on the first. O come, let us hold him, born the King of Angels, O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord. Sing choirs of angels, sing in exultation, O sing all ye pride, host of heaven above. Glory to God all glory in the highest, O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord. Yea, Lord, we greet thee, for this happy morning, Jesus to thee be all glory in the word of the Father, now in flesh appearing, O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord. Amen. Amen. Amen.