Understanding How God Does What God Does

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Lord, we've come to do just that to praise you.

For the believer, every day is Father's Day.

And so we've come today, we've gathered to worship you, to make much of you because the Bible makes much of you, to say of you what the Bible has said about you and will always say about you.

And to bring our lives in submission to it as your children, as the blood-bought people of God.

You didn't put us on layaway.

You paid for us.

You redeemed our past.

So we're not here living in fear of anything that might come out.

Because anything that might come out about us just liberates us from the fear of man and delivers us into the accomplishment of God.

And so, Lord, let us see in your word today and by your spirit, illuminate what's in the scripture.

It's always been there.

It's not new, it's just truth.

It's right, it's liberating, and it's freedom-inducing.

And we want to be freer men and women when we walk out today than we were when we walked in.

Not because of effort, not because of a special day on the calendar, but because of revelation and identity.

Lord, make that happen in this room for your glory, God, and yet for our goodness we pray.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

You can have a seat.

If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it, open up to Acts chapter 7.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

If you're our guest today, let me explain what we're doing.

We're preaching through the book of Acts.

It's called the Book of Acts because it is the Acts of the Apostles.

Basically, a guy named Luke, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, began to record all that God was doing uh when Christianity first started, way back in the very beginning.

And the book of Acts is kind of the birthday of the church.

It gets going.

We're in a section right now in Acts chapter 7.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

I'll start reading verse 9.

There's a man named Stephen.

He's one of the first deacons that was chosen.

Deacons are servants.

They don't run the church, they serve the church.

And so he was just a man full of the Holy Spirit and power.

And he got accused basically of sinning against the law and the temple.

The Bible, the law, the Old Testament law, and the temple.

Because last week we talked about temple thinking.

Temple thinking is where we just think, hey, I go to church on Sunday, and that's where I think about God.

And when I'm done with that hour, I get in my truck and I leave, and I don't think about God again until the next Sunday.

Temple thinking leads to temple listening.

Temple listening is this is the only time when I'm here in this room, I really listen to God.

And yet God is speaking all day, every day, 24-7.

Psalm 19 says the creation that the heavens pour forth speech.

There is no realm in which their voice is not heard.

So God is always speaking.

We have to liberate ourselves from temple thinking and temple listening.

And so this man named Stephen is on trial.

They ask him a simple question.

It's kind of like asking someone like me a question.

And 18 minutes later, you're like, is the answer over yet?

Stephen gets asked a simple question, and it's simply this Are these things true?

And that brother gets on the mic and goes berserk.

He basically starts recounting Old Testament history.

And there's a reason, okay?

Because he understood that the people that came before him did what they did.

So when his moment comes, he could do what he God is calling him to do.

That moment is now.

The speech is not going to end well because the speech is not going to end.

They're going to be so convicted, they're going to kill him.

And that we'll talk about that about that next Sunday.

We can't talk about killing on Father's Day.

Amen.

And so we'll just pick it up.

Now, let me confess my nerdiness.

I don't find TV interesting or compelling at all.

I think it's pretty banal and pretty simple and just pretty eh.

But I love a good documentary.

So if you've got a documentary you've seen, send it to me.

I like to watch documentaries.

Like, I'm such a nerd loser.

I want to, I stayed up for two hours and watched a documentary on the Panama Canal.

Yes, they built it.

Basically, it's fascinating.

You don't know this, but the Panama Canal, there's parts of it that it goes uphill.

And the way they do it, these things called locks.

It's like a big square box.

The ship comes into this, the gate in front of it is closed.

It comes in, they close the gate behind it, and they pump water in there and they float the ship up higher.

And when it gets to a certain level, ding, the next door in front of it opens and it goes into the next thing.

And I'm like, sure.

It was 11:15 at night.

I put on a pot of coffee and watch the whole thing.

I was just like, and about 12:30, I'm just like, look at me.

I've eroded into this loser.

I'm fascinated.

It was fascinating.

And you may be thinking, what's the Panama Canal got to do with this?

Because this is what I'm going to do.

I'm not going to read it.

We're going to, I'm going to cover from verse 9 of chapter 7 all the way to verse 34, but I'm going to read it in little sections.

And when we kind of get everything out of this section, we'll open the door and we'll move into the next section.

There's three sections and there's three things I want us to see.

Because I want to talk to you this morning about this topic.

Understanding how God does what God does.

Understanding how God does what God does.

Because if you don't understand how God does what God does, then you're going to miss out and you're going to misunderstand a lot of things.

And just at one point, you'll just throw your hands up and go, Ah, I don't get it.

I don't care.

Yes, you do, because you were created to care.

You were created by God for a relationship with God.

Not religion, but a relationship, okay?

So Stephen is talking, he's still giving the answer, basically recounting Old Testament history.

Now, I want to say before I jump into the text, I want to say hi.

There's a young man, he's 23 years old, names Ben, lives in Tennessee.

He watches our podcast and prays for our church.

And so, Ben, keep the prayers coming.

We need them, amen.

Especially the preacher, amen.

Don't say that so loud, people.

Uh, Acts chapter 7, let's start reading in verse 9, where we left off last week in verse 8.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him uh into Egypt.

But God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over his household.

Now there came a famine throughout all of Egypt and Canaan, uh, excuse me, Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction.

Uh, and our fathers could find no food.

But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit.

And on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family uh became known to Pharaoh.

And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his kindred, 75 persons in all.

And Jacob went down into Egypt and he died.

He and and our fathers, and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

Now, if you just read that on surface, you'll be like, okay, it's what what seventy-five people?

And so here, there if you understand, if you're gonna understand how God does what God does, there's three things you have to believe.

Number one, God orchestrates things before we get there.

God orchestrates things before we get there.

That that's what you see in this first section, like in look at verse 9.

It says, and uh, and and the patriarchs, because it left off last week we talked about Abraham, and now it's talking about the patriarchs.

Uh uh, and it said they were jealous of Joseph.

That that was his brothers were jealous of him.

And so basically they sold him into slavery in Egypt.

And the Bible says that God was with him, and he rescued him out of all his affliction and gave him favor and wisdom with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over his own household.

He lets him run the country first, and then he says, By the way, you can be ruler over my household as well.

He so trusted him.

Now, what do we extract from this section of scripture that we're where we're saying God orchestrates things before we get there?

The first thing I just want to point to uh is simply this you tell your dreams to your fathers, not your brothers.

You gotta have some spiritual fathers and ladies' mothers in your life that you can tell your dreams to.

You don't tell your dreams to your brothers or your sisters because they will turn on you, they will get jealous of you, they will burn hot with anger, and they will squash whatever God is stirring up in you.

It's the person that you say, Hey, listen, I've been kind of interning in this business and I really like it, and I want to be honest with the man I'm working for, but I don't want to work for somebody the rest of my life.

Eventually I want to start my own company.

Here's how you know you're with a brother or a sister.

They're like, dude, what are you doing?

You got insurance, just shut up and just go to work.

But your fathers, they hear that and they're like, oh man, I could see you.

They speak life into the dream, they speak life into the vision, they speak life into you.

And so uh this is Joseph's problem.

He tells his his dream to his brothers, and they're jealous, and they sell him into slavery.

However, one of the things that God uses to bring about his purposes in our lives and for our lives is this thing called favor.

Favor.

Now, when you when you hear favor, we think favoritism, that's not what it means at all.

Okay, so let me give you a definition.

Favor is described as demonstrated delight.

Demonstrated delight.

To have the Lord's favor means that the Lord has joyful trust in a person and has shown gracious kindness towards them.

Despite what Joseph went through, he had the favor of God on his life, even in a foreign country, serving a foreign political ruler and going through all that he went through, he had the favor of God on him.

Now, when you think of someone who has the favor of God, think of someone in whose life you see tangible evidence of the acceptance of God, the approval of God, and the enjoyment of God.

Ask yourself this little simple question.

Do you think of yourself as someone that God enjoys?

Do you think do you ever think of yourself as, you know what, I think God enjoys me?

Or when you hear that, you're like, oh no, man, I'm just that's pride, that's arrogance, that's whatever.

Because to have the favor of God upon your life, you experience acceptance, approval, and enjoyment all from God.

Now, by the way, when God puts his favor on somebody, he makes other people favorably favorably disposed to that person as well.

And so that person that God's favor causes other people to feel the same way, they accept this person, they approve of that person, and they enjoy that person.

Such was the case with Pharaoh and Joseph.

Just ask yourself this question: what do these two men have in common?

Pharaoh.

Remember Pharaoh?

Yes, and Joseph could not be more different.

But yet, Pharaoh puts him in charge of the affairs of his country and of his own household.

Why is that?

Because of the favor of God.

Because God causes people to feel about you the way God feels about you.

It's a tangible reminder that God basically has favor on you.

The second thing I want you to see in this section is in verse 12.

There's this pattern that happens, first of all.

Uh, it's kind of a little throwaway phrase there.

It says this, it says, and on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers.

Now, what does that mean?

On his second visit, there's this pattern in scripture that you need to see.

And it's simply this is that God's people don't recognize their deliverer when he comes.

Joseph has to make himself known to his brothers.

They they sold him into slavery, and it's been a lot of years, and then they come on their first visit and they don't recognize me.

He doesn't say anything.

He's like, Oh my gosh, those are my brothers.

These are the people that threw me down in the pit and sold me into this traveling circus, and now God's favor's been on me all these years, and I've promoted, I've been, I've been elevated to this place of power.

I'm the one that had the idea to save grain.

Now that there's a famine, they're coming looking for grain and they're coming to me.

Now, when you say, Well, what do you mean God orchestrates things before you get there?

The day his brother sold him into slavery, God knew this day would come.

Let me say that again.

The day his brother sold him into slavery, uh, he he God knew this day would come.

They don't recognize their deliverer because when their deliverer comes to them, they don't recognize him.

And so they're just, he has to basically say, Hey, by the way, it's me.

Now, by the way, does that remind you of anybody else in the Bible in the New Testament?

He comes to his own, and his own receive him not.

It's a pattern all through scripture.

And right here, the Bible's kind of this is this happened back in Genesis, but the Bible's kind of saying, Hey, look at here.

Here's what's going on.

I think there's a lot of the mental health crisis today.

Is it some of it's due to the fact we've become convinced that we are the only person at work in and working on our lives, and we lose sight of the fact that God is orchestrating events for our good and for his glory, which is why this could happen.

Uh, you say, What do you mean this could happen?

This I want to read from back in Genesis chapter 50, but starting verse 18, where it records where his brothers, he Joseph basically, it just says here in Acts, he was recounting, he said, Joseph made himself known to his brothers.

Genesis 50 · chapter mention

This is how it actually went down.

Hear this Genesis chapter 50, verse 18.

Genesis 50:18

When he told them, Hey, it's me.

His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him.

We are your slaves, they said.

Stop right there.

Who doesn't have that fantasy who has siblings?

Hello.

Can you imagine your brother and sister coming and throwing themselves at your feet and saying, We are your slaves?

And you're like, it's about time y'all came around.

Yes.

But see, here's the thing about the favor of God.

You think about the favor of God as in God likes me more than God likes you.

No, no, the favor of God causes you to treat people the way God would treat people.

It's a weighty mantle of responsibility.

His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him.

We are your slaves, they said.

Look at Joseph's response.

He said to them, Don't be afraid.

Am I in the place of God?

You intended to harm me.

See, how do you respond when people hurt you, when people talk about you, when they slander you on social media, and then you get the upper hand?

Because our true character is on display when we get the upper hand on people who've sinned against us.

That's who you really are.

He said, You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.

Look at this to accomplish what is now being done.

Why?

Because God's orchestrating things before we ever get there.

The saving of many lives.

So then don't be afraid.

I will provide for you and your children.

And he reassured them and he spoke kindly to them.

See, understanding that God orchestrates things before we get there causes us to ask different questions when things start to happen.

Instead of asking, what are you doing?

We ask this question, what are you preparing me for?

Instead of every time something goes the wrong way, wow, God, what are you doing?

They say, Oh, God, what are you preparing me for?

Because I know you're always at work, even when I can't see how you're at work.

Which one of those questions most naturally rises out of you?

See, the need to understand everything is an indication that I have to be in control.

Uh, the understanding that I'm being prepared reminds me that someone else is in control.

Now, let's move into the next section.

I want to pick up reading verse 17.

Uh, the Bible says this, but at that time, but but as the time of the promise drew near, which God had given granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph.

He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants so that they would not be kept alive.

At this time, Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God's sight, and he was brought up for three months in the in the his father's house.

And when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.

And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in word and deed.

When he was forty years old, he came into it, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.

And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.

He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.

And on the following day he appeared to them when they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, Men, you are brothers.

Why do you wrong each other?

But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, Who made you as ruler and judge over us?

Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?

At this retort, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

Again, we're now onto the second lock.

Okay, the first one filled up.

We moved into the second one.

Here's the second thing you have to understand, and it's simply this God has a plan for what happens when and why.

God has a plan for what happens when and why.

Does that mean God's responsible?

That God causes everything to happen?

No, not necessarily.

Men have a free will.

Humanity has a free will.

Sometimes they use it for good, sometimes they use it for evil.

But regardless, God has a plan for what happens when and why.

Now remember the word orchestrates.

Orchestrates.

Remember, we said God orchestrates everything before we even get there.

Orchestra, think of it like this, ladies, you'll understand this, even though it's Father's Day.

It's like cooking on a six-burner Viking range.

Okay?

You're cooking dinner, and everything has to come off the range at the same time and be hot.

And yet it all has to be cooked differently.

You got to turn this up, lift the lid, stir that, turn that down, let that simmer, and then it all comes off at the same time.

That's the picture of what God's doing.

Now, what we're doing over here is we got a little hot dog, a cold hot dog on a stick with a big lighter singing, this little light of mine.

Because that's all the capacity we have.

We, I mean, we are so far from trusting God, we can't even smell what God is cooking, much less taste and see that the Lord is good.

Now, I want you to see right here in verse 17, but all through this section, notice time.

It says, But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, you should ask yourself, what promise?

What's he talking about?

God made Abraham, He promised Abraham two things: seed and land.

Seed, not like as in agriculture, I'm gonna go out and plant grass seed, seed as in progeny, people, descendants.

Remember when he was barren and God told him, and he's like, dude, my wife's like 110.

Give me a break, bro.

And God said, No, no, you, your, your descendants are gonna be as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Now, again, but as the time of the promise drew near, you should ask yourself, who keeps that time?

Because if you're a fatalist, if you just think, oh, life's just willy-nilly, you eat, drink, and be merry because tomorrow you die and you go on the ground and it's all over.

The Bible says the exact opposite is true.

That there's timing, there's a plan and a purpose to everything.

And as the time of the promise drew near, what is the promise?

Right here, he's talking about, hey, seed and lamb.

Seed and lamb.

Now, you don't have to turn there, but but I want you to see that God made the promise a long time ago and he has been working, orchestrating to fulfill the promise.

I want to read this is from way back in Exodus chapter 23, starting in verse 27.

Exodus 23 · chapter mention

This is what God says.

He's got the people into the promised land, and look how look how good the plan of God is.

He says this.

He says, I will send my terror before you and throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come.

Because walking into the promised land was not like walking into a hotel.

The air conditioner's already on, they got the TV on low, the bed's turned back, there's a mint on the pillow.

No, there are people that occupy these cities, and God says, I'm going to give you this land.

Don't worry about these people.

This is what God is saying, because they're they're hearing with their ears, but they're seeing with their eyes and kind of going, Hey, these people are as big as grasshoppers.

I mean, they they're so big they make us look like grasshoppers.

We shouldn't mess with this.

And God says, I'll send my tarot before you, and I will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you, and I will send the hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.

I will not drive them out.

This is how detailed God is.

He doesn't just have a plan, he has a time and a timing for this plan to be executed.

He says, I will not drive them out before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you.

Little by little I will drive them out from before you until you have increased and possessed the land.

Now, sometimes the Bible says things like, I don't know what he just said right there.

Basically, he made his promise to Abraham that you're gonna get seed and a land.

Remember that?

Say amen.

You're gonna get seed, you're gonna have descendants, you're gonna have sons and daughters and granddaughters and grandsons and great-grandsons, all this kind of stuff.

The people get into the promised land, there's not enough of them, okay?

And God says, Listen, I'm gonna clear the land before you, but I'm not gonna do it in a single year.

I'm not gonna drive them out all at once because the land would become desolate.

And look right there, and the wild beasts multiply against you.

God says, I don't want you having to cut the, I don't want you having to mow the yard and hunt wild hogs from a helicopter with an AR-15.

It's fun as that would be, amen.

I think that should be a men's outing down in the valley.

We just go hunt hogs.

Uh yeah, I've got an AR-15, I'll bring mine.

Uh uh, no, not good.

It's called the Second Amendment.

Thank you very much.

But I digress.

Uh yeah, wild hogs are everywhere.

I read, I'm such an I read an article in Texas Monthly the other day that they are taking over, okay?

And I'm like, we shouldn't let this happen.

Uh but God says, hey, I don't want you doing that.

I don't want you doing this, I don't want, I'm not gonna do it all.

Look at me, look at me, don't miss this.

I'm not being funny, I'm being biblical.

He says, Hey, listen, I could do it all at once, but then you'd have to manage the wild animals and the undergrowth and all this stuff.

God says, No, no, no, I'm gonna do it little by little until you have increased enough to possess the land.

Now, basically, God is saying, Hey, you got some people, but you need more people.

How do you get more people?

Don't say it.

This is how good God's plan for your life is.

And you knucklehead 16-year-olds are kind of like, oh man, I gotta get out here and have fun while I can because I don't want to be like my parents.

God has a plan that is so exacting in detail.

He could make you go out there and hunt wild hogs and take a machete and cut back the brush, but he's like, Listen, I'm gonna do it little by little until you have increased enough.

That's way back in Exodus.

Fast forward in the New Testament, Acts chapter 7, verse 17, he says, But as the time of The promise drew near.

Acts 7:17

See, as the lock was filling up, your life was fixing a goal into the next level.

You got to ask yourself, can you be trusted with what's next?

Or are you just obsessing on what's now?

Sometimes now is the enemy of what's next.

Verse 19, uh, don't miss this.

Uh uh, he it says this well in verse 17, he says, uh, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph.

Verse 19, he dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants so that they would not be kept alive.

And at this time, Moses was born.

I mean, at its darkest, Moses, the person's God's going to use, gets born.

At this time, Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God's sight.

He was brought up for three months in his father's house, and when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.

And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in word and deed.

And then it gives you another timestamp, when he was 40 years old.

Now, by the way, the Bible divides the life of Moses in 40-year segments.

When he was 40 years old, it'll say in a minute when he was 40 years old, now when 40 years had passed.

But I just want to say this uh uh in verse 19.

Leaders have always dealt shrewdly with people that they rule over because even back in the biblical days, like today, politics is about population control.

It's not about leading and providing.

We ever wonder why so many politicians abortion is such a hot button issue?

It's because here's why.

It takes a baby 18 years to be able to vote for that politician.

So if you can just, when it says here they were exposed, you know, these kids were exposed.

Basically, this pharaoh told the midwives, hey, when a child is born, if it's a boy, throw it in the Nile River.

It's just a could it's just a different expression of abortion.

It's a politician nowadays, they get all up and think about abortion and how it's health care and this, that, and the other.

It's not, it's about population control.

We don't want to wait 18 years for this person to vote or not vote for me when I can just get rid of this person, let people in from other countries, give them everything, and then they'll vote for me.

It's it's did you feel what just happened?

Some of y'all like, oh yeah, what?

My God.

Now listen, I'm not talking about people from other countries.

Don't send me emails.

Think.

I know it's hard.

Think, think.

I'm telling you, politicians don't care about you, they care about staying in office.

And the way you say it, you cannot lead a country full of people who disagree with you.

Unless you're a certain person.

But anyway, I digress.

Do you feel that yellow kind of like, oh, really?

Look at me.

Uh-uh.

I'm not about politics.

I'm about the it's not, there's nothing new under the sun.

This guy back then looked around and said, Man, these these Israelites, these suckers are multiplying faster than I can.

Whoa, they may vote me out of all of it.

They may overrun me.

And so politics has always been about population control.

That's all I'm saying.

If that makes sense, say amen.

That's all.

Now, now look at verse 29.

We're gonna get to this next little lock here, the last verse in this little section.

After the guy, Moses, you know, he goes down and he's killed an Egyptian, buried him in the sand, and he thought nobody knew.

Some of you in this room have Egyptians buried in the sand, and you hope nobody knows, nobody ever finds out.

But your whole life is about maintaining this anonymity.

And you kind of live in fear.

And so Moses, you know, he again, their deliverer comes to him and they don't recognize him.

And so Moses has killed the guy.

He thought he got away with it, and so he goes down the next day, two guys are fighting against him between them.

Hey, gosh, come on, we're all together on this.

And the guy goes, What are you gonna do?

Kill him like kill the other guy?

Look at verse 29.

At this retort, this is a sad indictment.

At this retort, this Moses, whose birth was beautiful in God's sight, the Bible says he was mighty in words and deeds, and this is all it took for him to flee to the wilderness was this little retort.

Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian.

What am I saying?

I'm saying you'll live in fear of your past until you take the power back by asking the right question.

You will live in fear of your past until you take the power back by asking the right question when it comes to your sin.

The right question is not, what did you do?

The right question is, what need were you trying to meet by engaging in that behavior?

If you don't learn to think deeper about your sinful behavior, you'll live on the run from your past your entire life.

Let me say that again.

If you don't learn to think deeper about your behavior, people, I tell people in counseling all the time, hey, don't hurry away from your depravity.

It will teach you something about yourself.

Well, I turned the blood, brother.

I know, no, no, no.

Yes, yes, I all that is true.

But why are you such a hurry in such a hurry to get away from that?

Again, if you don't learn to think deeper about your sinful behavior, you'll live on the run from your past your entire life.

Let me give you a random, crazy sounding thing.

Sleep is a form of unconscious avoidance.

And so a lot of people, you don't think about it, but it's like they're always sleeping, they're always taking naps, they're always gonna do it because there's things that it's like I I cannot, so I gotta just shut it down and not have to think about that.

Again, learn to think deeper about your sinful behavior, not to be morose or sad, look at me, but to be free of it.

Where it doesn't have power over you, where some somebody can't bring up a topic at dinner and you're just boom, headed to the wilderness.

At this retort, boom, I gotta go.

Because I live in fear that somebody may find out.

Last little section, verse 30, says this.

Now, when 40 years had passed, there's a timestamp again.

By the way, the 40 shows up a lot in the Bible.

Uh, and and the basically the the reason it shows up a lot in the Bible is simply this it's because the number 40 symbolizes completion and accomplishment of God's purpose.

Hey, now that this has happened, this can happen.

Now, when 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in a flame of fire in a bush.

Now, when Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight.

And as he drew near to look, there came a voice of the Lord I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.

And Moses trembled and did not dare to look.

And then the Lord said to him, Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I've heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them, and now come, I will send you to Egypt.

Now you say, Well, I uh what do you mean?

Here's the third thing that we see in the text.

There are things you only learn in the wilderness.

There are things that you and I only learn in the wilderness.

God has always used the wilderness in the lives of his people.

Let me just read this.

This is from Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 2.

Deuteronomy 8:2

God says, And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what is in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

Now I say there's things that you can only learn in the wilderness.

Let me give you some wilderness wisdom.

These are five things that just the wilderness.

Now, what is the wilderness?

It's not the backside of booth out here.

It's not some, it's the wilderness.

Some of you could be in the wilderness right now.

You're just kind of wandering, kind of like, I don't, I don't know.

I'm just kind of existing.

I'm just going paycheck to paycheck.

I don't know what's next.

I don't have a plan for my life.

I don't sense that God is with me.

I don't sense the favor of God.

When you said 20 minutes ago, the favor of God, I scoffed.

Like, are you kidding me?

I think God can't stand me.

I think He's consistently disappointed with me.

And when I die, I think I'm gonna be not really surprised about where I go.

That's not the gospel, beloved.

Here's some things you only learn in the wilderness.

Number one, your real heart is most on display in the wilderness.

Who you really are, what you really think, what you really feel.

Here's another one.

God has not forgotten you.

Now it started this last little section that started off, verse 30.

Now, when 40 years had passed, remember what we said about the number 40 in the Bible?

It's an indication that, hey, something's been accomplished, something's been fulfilled, some season is coming to an end, and a new season is starting.

Now, when 40 years had passed, can you imagine what Moses' self-talk was like for 40 years in the wilderness?

Nobody knows the trouble life scene.

I mean, the dude killed the guy.

Remember how he got there?

He killed the guy, buried him in the sand, and when someone he tried to be like Mr.

Helper and hey, I'm your deliverer.

Don't you recognize me?

No, we don't.

Why are you gonna kill me like you killed the guy yesterday?

At this retort, he takes off.

You should ask yourself, what words have the power to set you to flight?

Here's another thing you want to learn in the wilderness.

God is, and secondly, God has not forgotten you.

Here's a third one.

Uh, you never deserve forgiveness, you just come to believe it.

You never deserve forgiveness.

I I couldn't tell you how many times in council people said to me, I just I just don't deserve this.

I said, You never did.

Mr.

Helpful.

You never did.

See, here's the thing.

We think when I'm really bad, we don't forgive, we don't deserve forgiveness.

And what you're really saying, here's your depravity coming out, your religious pride is that when I'm really good, I do deserve it.

No, you don't.

You don't deserve it over here, and you don't deserve it over here.

You don't deserve it.

There's never a day that I have deserved forgiveness.

Put a start by this one.

Here's the fourth one.

Sin changes the way you think about God, but not the way God thinks about you.

Sin changes.

You go to the wilderness in shame and fear.

And that that that fear about your sin changes the way you think about yourself.

Oh, excuse me.

It changes the way you think about God.

What happens is you project onto God your self-talk.

Well, God probably thinks the same thing about me that I think about me.

Sin changes the way you think about God, but not the way God thinks about you.

Now, now I don't have time to get into this.

Let me just say this.

I'm not minimizing sin.

I'm maximizing grace.

I'm not minimizing sin.

It's as terrible as you think it is.

But it does, it shouldn't have power over you.

I'm maximizing grace.

Here's the last piece of wilderness wisdom.

God uses people with a past to deliver other people with a past.

Yes.

God uses people with a past.

You shouldn't be ashamed of your past.

You should be conversationally fluent with your past and so understand the gospel that you can apply it to your past.

That if someone came up to you on the way out of church today and said, Hey, didn't you back in 1998, didn't you blah blah blah?

And you could just smile and go, Oh, you know what?

I'm so forgiven for that.

I'd kind of forgotten, but now that you brought it up, just another reason for me to thank God for forgiveness.

Instead of, oh, that retort, oh, I'm going to the wilderness.

No, you just occupy your space out of your identity with authority and just smile and go, you know what?

Guilt doesn't work on a forgiven man.

But thank you for pointing that out.

It just reminds me that God's been so good to me and I am so liberated.

Now, by the way, I had lunch with somebody this past week, so refreshing.

I said, How much wanna get to know you?

We guys are talking.

He said, Well, I'm an alcoholic and I've been sober for this many years.

And I was like, You are so refreshing.

And you know why that's refreshing?

Because the next time someone says to me, hey, I kind of struggle, I think I might have some addicted tendencies towards alcohol, I'm not gonna say, Hey, why don't you come see Pastor Oneil and I'll give you a little talk out of the Bible?

Guess who I'm gonna call?

Because the Bible says this in 2 Corinthians chapter 1.

2 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

We comfort others with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

And so I met a brother this past week who's received from God in this area and lives in victory in this area.

So if you're struggling, and I'm not kidding, if you're struggling with your relationship with alcohol, I want to introduce you to somebody in total anonymity because this person has received, and because of that, he has something to give.

Why is that?

Because God uses people with a past to deliver other people with a past.

Some of you are not as effective as you could and should be because you've not dealt with it.

You shoved it under the rug and just walked and lived faster and talked faster.

Look at verse 34, and I'll be done.

God says this, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard of their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them, and now come, I will send you to Egypt.

All of these realities, beloved, are coming to a head in this moment as Moses realizes that God has seen his affliction and heard his groaning, and he has now come down to deliver him from the wilderness by sending him to deliver his people.

Here's why this is important in leadership.

You cannot ask God to be for others what you've never let him be for you.

You cannot ask God to be for other people what you've never let him be for you.

You can't talk to people about being free and and walking in deliverance if you've never been delivered from your own sins, if you've never gotten closure and a clean conscience about your past, you're always gonna be like, oh, hey, hey, hey, oh, oh, oh.

No, God uses people with a past to deliver other people with a past.

And he comes down and he says, Hey, I've surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and I've come down to deliver them.

And hear this last part.

And now come, I will send you to Egypt.

Translation 40 years in the wilderness hating himself, thinking, I hope nobody figures out I killed the guy and buried him in the sand.

And God says, Hey Moses, you're the answer to those people's prayers.

I'm gonna send you.

Why?

Because God uses people with the past to deliver other people with a past.

Let's pray together.

If you're a guest today, just relax.

We like to teach the Bible and then give you some space to just think about it.

Someone a voice of prayer.

Red will come, he may play, he may sing over you.

Some questions come up on the screen, those are for your consideration.

Uh you can take your phone out and just take a picture.

Let me just pray right now.

Holy Spirit, just be in this room and just hover over us as your spirit hovered over the water in Genesis.

Things may feel void and formless in us right now, but your spirit is here, and that's enough for us.

God, we're tired of people saying certain words and phrases, and we get out of the conversation as quick as we can, and we head to the wilderness of our car or our home, or just away from people because we've spent our whole lives managing people's impression of us, and we've never lived as delivered, free, heard, understood, forgiven people.

I pray that even now you would just take the plow of the spirit to our to our hearts and unearth what needs to be unearthed, water what needs to be watered, and pull up what needs to be removed.

We just want to wait before you for just a moment, Lord.

So be over us, be with us, speak to us, we pray.

Look at me for a second.

Uh I can I said earlier that I don't like TV.

Uh I don't like most programming, but I like sports.

And right now I'm obsessing on the College World Series.

And I watched Wake Forest come back and win it yesterday in their last at bath.

Uh, and it was great.

And I'm pulling for Oral Roberts, my sleeper team, who came back in the night.

And it was great.

But I'm watching the game.

Remember Temple thinking, Lisa Temple listening?

I'm watching the game.

Uh, and and the guy's on second base, and a guy hits a uh a line drive up the middle, and the third base coach just starts jumping and doing this.

Right when the ball's hit, I'm just like, dude, what are you doing?

And he's just whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! And he rounds third base and he scores and they win the game.

And in that moment, the Holy Spirit said, Hey, tell your people I'm not like the umpire, I'm like the third base coach.

I'm cranking my big windmill, arms of grace, going, Come on, come on, let's come home.

Don't limit listening to God to when you're here at the temple.

Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

He lives inside of you, so wherever you are, he's talking.

So go home for Father's Day and watch golf all day and just see what the Lord may have to say.

Or there's a baseball game on at one o'clock.

Let me pray.

Lord Jesus, thank you that you're not the umpire, you're not trying to call us out on strikes with the bat on our shoulders.

You're waving your big windmill arms of grace, going, Come on, come on, let's get home.

That's who you are, that's who you've always been, that's who you always will be.

Could we just please stop living in fear and realize that you already know we're not hiding anything from you?

You have favor with our name on it.

So, Lord, I pray that you would uh take shame off of people who've allowed it to get attached to them and bring freedom and deliverance and understanding and hope.

This is our prayer.

We prayed in Christ's name, and everyone said, Amen, amen.

If you're our guest today, look at me, you're always welcome here.

We you're always welcome.

Your questions are welcome.

Your cynicism, if you have some, that's welcome too, okay?

We've always got things going on in the life of our church we want you to be aware about.

And so give your attention to our screens for our announcements today.

So these are things we want you to be aware of and involved in when they come.

So here you go.

Here's what's happening at Ground Park Way Baptist Church.

If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.

This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.

We have a new mission partner called Here to Their Movement.

Their Movement coaches, leads, launches, and networks teams of missionaries working with unreached people groups in local U.S.

cities in order to help facilitate the multiplication of disciples among every unreached people group.

For more information about Here to Their Movement, email missions at grandparkway.org.

Men's breakfast is next Tuesday, June 27th in the student building.

Come enjoy breakfast, fellowship, and a message from Pastor Neil McClendon.

Finally, Cat and Chow is this Wednesday.

Be sure to let us know you're coming by tonight.

We'll have good food, hot coffee, and great conversations.

We hope to see you there.

If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

Every Sunday we have visitors at our church, and we love that.

We want you to get plugged in and connect, stick and stay here.

Uh, and sometimes we have visitors that are just here, they're just passing through.

Today is one of those occasions.

I don't want to embarrass them, but there's a young couple in our congregation that they're visiting today that they run an orphanage in Uganda for physically uh handicapped, physically challenged uh boys and girls because they're considered outcast uh in that country.

So they take them in, they love them, and they just lavish them with the gospel.

And so, Josh and Emma, if you're still back there, would you stand up?

I'd like people to see you.

There they are, right there.

Uh uh Josh is there.

Uh I think Emma slipped out with the with, yeah.

Uh Emma, how old was Emma when she started thinking about Uganda?

Yeah, she was six years old.

We had dinner the other night.

She was six years old.

I started telling her her parents, you know, God's put Uganda on my heart.

God's put Uganda on my heart.

And now they have an incredible facility there, a master plan and everything.

And so if you want to meet some interesting people, you should meet Josh because they're doing great work uh with boys and girls that no one wants.

And they take them in and love them with the gospel, okay?

Uh and so I just want to point that out.

Hey, there's a burning bush right there.

Don't miss it.

Stand to your feet.

Let me speak a blessing over you.

Hold your hands out.

He hears you, he sees you, he sees everything you're going through, and he's come to deliver you.

Make sure you recognize him when he comes because sometimes he comes in unexpected ways to unexpected people, and all of that is for your deliverance because your native environment has never been bondage, it's always freedom, and he comes to set you free.

Live free in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.