Trusting the Extraordinary: An Exodus Journey and Embracing God's Guidance in Life's Big Moments

All right, good morning, good morning.

Good morning.

My name is James.

If we have had the chance to meet and it's a privilege to have you here today Are you excited to be in church this morning?

Awesome, I don't know if we're quite as excited in here as those kids are that just went out down the hall, so they might need to be praying for our kids as they go and they're our kids leaders because they got their hands full this morning.

It sounds like to me.

But what a great day, what a great time of worship together.

I just appreciate our team so much for leading us into the presence of God through music, and I'm excited about where we're going in the scriptures this morning.

If you have a Bible, go ahead and flip to Exodus 19.

We're gonna start off today by reading the entirety of that chapter as our scriptural anchor for the morning.

But we're in this series called mountain men and we're looking at moments in the scriptures when ordinary people were invited up the mountain to meet with God.

And what's incredible is that in those moments when ordinary people Come up the mountain and meet with God, god reveals himself to them, and he does so in a way that that translates not just to information, but it is information.

They learn something.

But it's not just information, it produces Transformation.

And that's what we see in this series is that ordinary people, in the presence of God, are Transformed by the revelation of Almighty God.

And I love that.

I love that because here's the thing we're all ordinary people, are we not?

We're ordinary people who serve an extraordinary God, and what's amazing is that this extraordinary God is willing to work with ordinary people Like me and like you, and that's beautiful.

And so what we see is God inviting people up the mountain into his presence so they can be transformed and then sent out into the world.

And we're gonna come to a moment today in Exodus 19 that that, for me personally, is one of my favorite stories in the Bible.

It's a massive moment in the narrative of scripture.

One Commentator that I was reading this week said that the entirety of human history Can be summarized in what happens To Israel at Mount Sinai.

Like you get a picture of the entirety of human history in God's plan for redemption Right here in Exodus 19.

It's beautiful, it's a massive, massive moment.

So a little bit of context really quickly.

Exodus 19 picks up three months to the day After Israel has been led out of Egypt.

They were enslaved to the Egyptians for 400 years and by the hand of Moses, through the power and the working of God, god leads his people Out of slavery and into freedom, and isn't that good news.

That's the God that we serve.

He leads us out from what keeps us bound and into the freedom of his promise.

And by the time we get to Exodus 19, the Passover has happened.

If you're familiar with the book of Exodus, what that means is that God Promised to pass over his people when the blood was applied to the doorposts.

This was the last plague on the Egyptians before their Exodus from Egypt.

So that's part of the context here.

I say that to say this God has already been gracious to his people.

Before we get to Exodus 19 you with me there God has already extended forgiveness and mercy.

God has already proven good and faithful and true.

And then we come to Exodus 19, three months to the day after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt.

On that day, verse 1 says they came into the wilderness of Sinai.

So real-life context.

The Sinai Peninsula connects Egypt and Africa to Asia.

Today is part of the nation, the country of Egypt.

On that day.

They're in the wilderness of Sinai.

We don't know exactly where on the peninsula they were.

We just know it's on that peninsula.

They set out from Raphidum and came into the wilderness of Sinai and they encamped there in the wilderness there, israel, encamped before the mountain.

While Moses went up to God, the Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and Tell the people of Israel you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I I bore you on Eagles wings and brought you to myself.

Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession Among all peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.

So Moses came, called the elders of the people and set before them all these words the Lord had commanded him.

All the people answered together and and said all that the Lord asked of us has spoken.

We will do so.

Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord and the Lord said to Moses Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe you forever.

So when Moses told the words of the people to the Lord, the Lord said to Moses go to the people, consecrate them, in other words, set them apart, prepare their hearts, make them useful to me, consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments.

There's a purification that has to take place, and be ready for the third day.

From the third day, the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people, and you shall set limits for all the people around, saying take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it.

Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.

No, no hands shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot.

Whether beast or man, he shall not live.

When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.

And so Moses went down from the mountain to the people, consecrated the people.

They washed their garments and he said to the people be ready for the third day, don't go near a woman.

On the morning of the third day, there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast so that all the people in the camp trembled.

And then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.

You imagine this scene Now?

Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire.

The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln and the whole mountain trembled greatly.

And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.

Then the Lord came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain.

The Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up.

The Lord said to Moses go down and warn the people lest they break through to the Lord to look and many of them perish.

So let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves lest the Lord break out against them.

And Moses said to the Lord the people can't come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying set limits around the mountain and consecrated.

The Lord said to him go down and come up, bringing Aaron with you, but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord lest he break out against them.

And so Moses went down to the people and told them.

And then, in chapter 20, god gives Moses the 10 commandments.

What a powerful, pivotal, significant moment in the history of Israel.

The people see the thunder, the flashes of light and the sound of the trumpet, the mountain spoken.

They're afraid, they tremble, they stand far off and they say to Moses in verse 19 of chapter 20, you speak to us and we will listen, but don't let God speak to us lest we die.

As Moses said to the people, don't fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of Him may be before you, that you may not sin.

Then verse 21 says the people stood far off while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

I want to title this message this morning step into the cloud, step into the cloud.

Have you ever in your life come to a moment that you thought you were prepared for?

And then the moment got there and you're like, oh, I am not nearly as prepared as I thought I was.

Like I thought I was ready, I thought I knew what the moment was going to take and then, all of a sudden, the moment's here and it's like, oh, not ready, not prepared, very underprepared, very unprepared, don't like this moment nearly as much as I thought I would.

On the front, you've been there and maybe for the parents in the room, think back to when your first child was born.

That's the first thing that came to mind for me, tara and I.

We had a plan.

How many of you know, plans don't matter on the day your first child is born.

Plans are fine, there's nothing wrong with a plan.

Just don't have one that you plan to stick to that day.

And so we had a plan.

And then it became kind of an emergency situation.

They had to rush Tara to the OR and I was like I'm going to go tell my parents and the doctor was like you're going to miss it if you go anywhere.

Put these on and come with us.

And so Noah was born via C-section and that was not in the plan.

And then they're having to like stitch Tara up and all that stuff and literally they hand me this 10 minute old human child that belongs now to us.

They led me down the hall to this waiting room area.

There was nobody else in the hospital.

I'm convinced that night at this hour.

They literally turned the lights on in the room, showed me to the back corner, into this little room, set me down and said wait here, we'll be back with and I'm holding a 10 minute old child in my arms.

I'm like, what do you do with a 10 minute old child in a room?

I don't even know where I'm at in the hospital?

And you're just like, well, wait here.

I wasn't prepared, thought I was, wasn't prepared, right.

And we've since learned, I don't know, like that there is prepared for that moment.

Like I don't care how much you are prepared for your first child, the first child arrives.

And it's like we didn't know what we were doing.

Right, we got some parents in the room that are about to have a child.

I'm like, in the next couple of days, good luck, god bless you.

We love you.

You know like it's going to be awesome.

That's not how it's going to go for you all.

It's going to go perfectly.

Your plan is perfect.

God's, he's going to, he's going to I don't know, but just good luck, right.

So that's one thing.

Sorry, that was a terrible illustration this morning for you guys.

The second thing maybe we should just start it here.

The second thing that came to mind for me was actually the first time that I had a chance to preach.

I was 16 years old, which tells you a lot.

Right there, I was 16 years old, I was interning with our pastor over the summer and he asked me if I would preach graduate recognition Sunday.

I'm like I don't think this adds up.

I haven't graduated yet.

It's like I don't know how to tell graduates to get ready for what's next.

I haven't even, like, made it to graduation yet.

Let's make sure I get there.

I didn't.

Maybe I can tell somebody else like what to do.

So anyway, I went to Proverbs three, five and six because I'm like that's pretty clear.

You know trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Don't lean on your own understanding.

Just do what God says and he'll direct your path Right.

Like that's where I went that day.

And so the problem with that day was that I was terrified of public speaking.

Like public speaking to me.

If I was in class and it was presentation day, I'm literally I'm waiting until the very last person to even consider giving my presentation.

By that point in time I'm sweating.

I'm like I might pass out If I stand up.

You know, like that's, that's me.

And I would be praying either for the teacher to forget I existed or for Jesus to return right then.

Like that was my fear level when it came to public speaking.

And then my pastor told me he said, you know, by the way, as you're preparing to teach on graduate recognition Sunday, you know what James three one says, right, and I'm like no, what's it say?

He's like it says that God's going to judge those who teach with a little more strictness than the rest of us.

And I was like thanks, man, like what's up with that?

You know, like I, I'm terrified already.

And now you're telling me not only do I have to worry about what everybody in the room thinks, god's going to judge my words with more strictness.

I'm like that's, this is, this is not going to go well, you know.

So here's what I did.

I made a manuscript, word for word outline and I preached that thing I don't know how many times that week in my bedroom.

Sam will tell you this is true story.

My mirror got saved multiple times that week.

I'm convinced that's not true, I'm just that's a joke.

But Sunday comes and I was supposed to talk for 20 minutes, 18 to 20 minutes.

Get up there, come on manuscript proverbs three, five and six, ready to go.

Man went through that thing.

Eight minutes later I'm done and I'm like what are you doing now?

There's 12 more minutes left and I've had a content.

You know, I got nothing left and so, literally true story, I started over and went back through the outline again and I finished and this guy in the church, so kind, he came up to me and he was like man, that was so, that was, that was I was, I was, I was all right, you know, a little repetitive, but all right.

And I was like you have no idea how rep I'm sure he did have every idea how repetitive it was, but that that moment, like I thought I was prepared.

Then the moment came and it was like the moment was too big and you hear that phrase sometimes in the athletics world right, the moment was too big for them.

They weren't prepared for the moment.

It was the moment of pressure, the moment when you know everything needs to come together the right way and just the moment was too big.

And that's part of the human condition, is it not the moment to moments in life where the moment is simply too big.

And yet, at the same time, I don't know that there's ever been a moment in human history like the moment in Exodus 19.

Like you want to talk about a big moment, exodus 19 is a big moment.

God has led his people out of slavery.

He's promised them a covenant, he's promised them a land, he's promised them a future.

And here they are, at the base of Mount Sinai to meet with God.

To meet with God.

And for Moses this is a big moment too, because when Moses first encountered God in the burning bush, exodus chapter three it's actually, by the way, on the same mountain.

And God says to Moses in that moment Moses, I'm going to use your life to lead my people out of slavery and when that happens, they're going to worship me on this mountain.

So it's a big moment for Moses.

He's seeing the faithfulness of God at work.

But it's a big moment for the people because they're still trying to learn how to be faithful to God.

I mean, like, think about that for a second Right.

This is three months to the day from the time Israel left Egypt.

They don't have a long history with God at this point, right.

I mean, they're still learning who God is, learning how to trust Him, learning how to walk by faith, learning what it means to be God's people.

And that's part of what's happening here at Exodus 19.

God is defining for Israel what it means to be His people, and I think that what God says to them thousands of years ago is helpful to us today as we try to trust God in our lives, try to walk with God as God's people in the world today, because, how many of you know, there are big moments ahead of you where big faith is going to be required of you.

There are moments of obstacles ahead of you, there are moments of pain ahead of you.

There are moments where you're going to need God to come through, and what we learn about God in Exodus 19 is critical for us in those moments where we've got to trust the God that we cannot always see.

And so what happens in Exodus 19,?

They're at the base of the mountain.

Moses goes up to have a conversation with God, and God, immediately he reminds Moses of his faithfulness in the past.

God says Moses, I've already been gracious to you and to my people.

I led you out, I delivered you from slavery, I brought you into freedom.

Aren't we grateful this morning that that's the God who we serve, who leads us out, who delivers us, who brings us into what Scripture calls a spacious place and plants our feet on the rock.

This is what God has done for Israel.

God says I've already moved on your behalf.

Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you'll be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine.

So God says.

Because of my graciousness to you, I now have an ask for you, god.

God says to Israel be my people, keep my commands, do what I say.

Here's the principle there.

Our response to God's grace is always to obey God's word.

When we understand that God has been gracious and good to us, our right response is always submission to God's authority and obedience to God's word.

And so God tells Moses Moses, I want my people to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, a people called out among all the peoples of the earth for my own possession.

And I love y'all.

I love the response of Israel.

Moses comes down, he calls them together and he tells them what God says.

And what does Israel say?

Oh yeah, absolutely.

We're in 100%.

All that God has said we'll.

Do you ever said that to God.

God, I'll never do that again.

God, next time I'm going to nail it.

Next I'm going to get it right.

God, the failure of today is never again.

All that you've commanded I'm going to do it.

I love their confidence, but if you know the story, what do we know?

It's the opposite of what happens, right, no matter how hard we try, no matter how sincere we are, we just don't have the capacity to do all that God says for us to do.

But we have an issue here, do we not?

We've got a problem.

We got a problem because God intends to live in relationship and communion with his people.

God desires like that's what God wants to live in relationship and communion with his people.

The theological word that describes this attribute of God is is eminence.

In other words, god is near, god wants to draw close to his people.

Can I just tell you this morning, for every one of you in the room today, god wants to draw close to you.

God wants to live in relationship with you.

He wants you to know him and he wants to know you.

He wants to talk to you.

He wants you to talk to him.

He wants there to be a real, genuine, deep, abiding, lasting relationship.

But it's not just relationship, it's also communion, and the dictionary defines communion like this Communion is sharing of intimate thoughts and feelings.

That the psalmist says.

Other words for communion are fellowship and closeness and togetherness.

In other words, god's relationship that he desires with you is not a long distance relationship.

God doesn't just want to FaceTime you occasionally.

He doesn't just want a conversation via phone and email back and forth every now and then.

He's not just looking for a Facebook messenger exchange every now and again.

This isn't one of those things we just check in on each other every couple of years.

No, god desires closeness, togetherness, connection.

God wants you to know his heart, god wants you to know his mind, god wants you to know his ways, god wants you to know his word and God wants you to know that he knows you that way as well.

Communion Isn't that beautiful?

Relationship and communion, connection, togetherness that's what God wants with you.

God says to Israel I want you to be a kingdom of priests.

What does a priest do?

A priest mediates between God and humanity.

God says to Israel at the base of Mount Sinai I want our relationship to be one of communion and relationship, so that you can be the mediators between me and the rest of the world.

That's God's invitation to Israel.

At the base of Sinai, god says I'm going to make a covenant, I'm going to establish the covenant myself.

You're going to be my people.

You've got a purpose and a mission and a calling.

And Israel's response.

What do they say?

All that you have said we're going to do.

And so the story continues right.

Three days the people consecrate themselves translation day, get ready to meet with God.

There's this period of purification that has to happen before they can meet with Almighty God, and I love that.

That's a great reminder for us not to enter casually into the presence of a holy God.

We're going to talk later.

We can come boldly and we can come with confidence, but we do not enter God's presence casually.

Why?

Because our God is holy.

The God that we serve today is the same God of Exodus 19,.

Three days past, three days of consecration, the people are warned to take care not to touch the mountain, take care not to enter too soon into the presence of a holy God.

You've got to go through some purification rights first, and then, when the trumpet blasts, then you can come up to the mountain, and so on the morning of the third day, what happens?

Thunder and lightning and smoke and fire.

And God Almighty comes down to the top of the mountain.

Can you imagine the scene Like think about the most amazing, incredible thunderstorm, feet of nature that you've ever seen.

Multiply that by who knows how much, like turn it up a thousand percent, and that doesn't even come close to this.

Exodus 19 moment the mountain shaking, thunder is flashing, thunder doesn't flash, thunder's booming, lightning's flashing, the mountain smoking, there's fire and everything is shaking because God is coming to meet with his people.

And what happens in that moment?

People are like we ain't going up there, we ain't coming close to that thing, right, and what happens A few minutes earlier?

They're like everything God says we're going to do now, in this moment, when I get anywhere near it, moses, you go up, we'll stay here.

I love that.

You, moses, that's very scary, you go, we'll stay where it seems more safe.

And so then Moses goes up and God's like no, there is, there's a gap, there's a golf, there's a divide between holy God and almighty.

Almighty God, his perfection, his moral absolute purity and the sinfulness of people.

And they, like I want you to make sure you see this this morning Like they don't understand all that there is to understand about God, like they don't have the full revelation of God's word.

They haven't seen the person and the work of Jesus.

They just know that God led them out of Egypt and delivered them, and he's done mighty signs and wonders, he's done miraculous things, but they don't have the full picture of God.

But in this moment Exodus 19, the people know enough to say God is holy and we are sinful and there is an insurmountable gap between us and God.

And it looks like a mountain that is shaking and covered in smoke and flashing fire, and it sounds like thunder.

There is a golf.

So then they get the 10 commandments Moses does.

And if we didn't understand that there was a golf, if you fast forward in the story, moses gets the 10 commandments.

God's speaking to Moses on the mountain and a little while later, when Moses comes down the mountain, what have God's people done?

The people that said all that God says we're going to do?

By the time Moses comes back down the mountain, they're worshiping a golden cow.

They've all like God.

Picture this y'all.

God is on top of the mountain Smoke, lightning fire, thunder.

God's right there and the people are like you know what Moses has taken a little while.

Let's build a cow and worship that instead, because we're so quick to turn aside, we're so quick to worship what we can see, what we can touch, what we can understand.

All that God has said we will do until we don't.

Because there's a divide between us and Almighty God.

And so we're left with this massive tension here in Exodus 19.

God invites us to dwell in His presence, and that's amazing and beautiful and powerful and incredible.

And we can't dwell in the presence of God.

And so the story of the Old Testament is one of God giving His people the law, his standard.

Say, hey, this is what it's going to take for you to dwell in my presence, this is what's required of you.

My standard is perfection, israel.

Over and over all that God says we're going to do until we don't, and we turn aside and we do our own thing.

And then there's this sacrificial system that's put into place, where the shedding of perfect blood provides a covering for the people's sin, happens one day a year, the day of atonement.

You can read about it in Leviticus 16.

And that is the pattern of the Old Testament, is it not.

God says I want you in my presence, here's the way to my presence.

And Israel's like, yes, we're in, and then we're not.

And now there's got to be a sacrifice.

And it's this cycle of God's faithfulness, israel's faithlessness, the law as God's standard and the gap between humanity and holy God.

That's the Old Testament, over and over and over and over.

So what do we do with that?

Right, like, aren't you glad that the story doesn't stop in Exodus 19?

Because here's what a lot of us do with that.

We're like, okay, there's a gap between us and God.

Well, let me do what I do best.

Let me close the gap.

Let me get to work.

Let me go find my mountain climbing gear.

Let me go get the pickaxe and the spiky shoes and the ropes and the harnesses and let me start my ascent to the top of the mountain.

Let me prove to God that I can climb the mountain and enter His presence.

Isn't that what we do, god?

Haven't you seen how many days this year I've read my Bible?

God, I was nice to that person at work.

You know that person I'm talking about.

Right, god, I kept my patience.

Today, I didn't lash out in anger.

God, I didn't say the word I said.

I never said it.

That's what we do, god.

Let me show you here's my good deeds.

Let me climb the mountain.

And then sometimes we take it a step further and we're like you know, like God.

Have you looked at their life?

Because they're not even anywhere near the mountain.

And so when you look at them, compared to me, like I'm way up the mountain compared to them.

And that's what we do.

We spend so much time and energy and effort trying to climb our way to the top of the mountain, only to find again and again and again that we don't have what it takes to climb the mountain to God.

So to help us make sense of what's happening here and what it means for us, let's flip for a second to Hebrews, chapter 12.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

And as you're flipping, let me just say this it's so much easier to adopt this attitude of earning than it is to trust the grace of God.

It's come so much more naturally for us to try to prove to God that we're worthy of His presence, for us to try to earn our way into life with Him.

It just comes so naturally.

We're so good at pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps or just getting on with life, are we not?

But it doesn't work when it comes to entering the presence of God.

Hebrews, chapter 12,.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

The author says this in verse 18, for you have not come to what may be touched a blazing fire and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.

What's the author of Hebrews 12 talking about?

He's talking about Exodus 19,.

Right, and he says you thought that was powerful and impressive.

That's not what you've come to today, for they could not endure the order that was given.

If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.

Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said.

I tremble with fear.

The author of Hebrews says hey, y'all, that that was a thing, and it was powerful, and it was all inspiring and it clearly illustrated the gap between God's holiness and our brokenness.

But the author goes on.

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable angels in festival gathering and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, into the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of able.

And then the author says this see that you do not refuse him.

Who is speaking?

Translation what happens in Exodus 19 is God invites Israel into his presence.

Israel says we'll do everything that you say for us to do.

But then they don't.

Because they can't?

Because it's only by grace, through faith and the finished work of Jesus that we can enter the presence of God.

What God is looking for from us is not us earning our way into his presence.

It's us receiving the gift of salvation by grace, through faith in Jesus.

And this is what the author of Hebrews says.

Don't refuse him who is speaking.

Don't try to earn your way up the mountain.

Don't try to win your way into God's favor.

Don't try to achieve your way into God's grace.

Just receive the shed blood of Jesus poured out on your behalf.

Be forgiven, be set free, be delivered.

The author of Hebrews says guess what?

Because of Jesus, we can enter into God's presence boldly and with confidence to find help and grace in our time of need.

I love that right.

Like in the Old Testament, everybody's like at the base of Mount Sinai.

God comes down and everybody backs up because they know that we're not worthy, we're not righteous, we're not good enough, we can't do enough, we don't belong in God's presence.

Jesus came down the mountain to us because we could not come up the mountain to God.

What we could not do for ourselves, jesus has done on our behalf.

He came down the mountain.

He shed His blood once and for all so that our sin, past, present and future, could be forgiven by God's grace, so that in our time of need we can walk boldly and confidently into the presence of God.

How beautiful is that, how amazing is that that the God of the mountain, the God who dwells in unapproachable light, full of glory, 100%, purely good, through and through, holy, different, set apart, completely unique and author, invites you by the grace of Jesus, boldly into His presence.

You don't have to earn your way in, you don't have to achieve your way in, you don't have to show God your report card at the door, you don't have to have an all-access pass to get into His presence.

Jesus is the way, he is the truth and he is the life.

He's the one that you need on Tuesday at work.

He's the one that you need on Wednesday at home.

He's the one that you need in your lowest moment.

He's the one that you need on the mountaintop.

Step into the cloud with Jesus.

Step into the unknown with Jesus.

Step into an uncertain future with Jesus.

Step into the difficulty with Jesus.

Step into the pain with Jesus, boldly and confidently going into the presence of God because of Jesus Christ.

I was thinking about how to plan the plane here today and I was at FCA, summerville High School, on Friday morning.

I shout out to JD, librarian, who's been leading FCA for a couple of years, over there and there you are, jd.

Phenomenal Well done, jd, and just doing a phenomenal job of providing a space on campus at the high school for kids to connect with God in the middle of a Friday morning.

I love that.

And Friday was over there talking to the kids at FCA about what it would look like to live with a Christ-centered, christ-fueled urgency for the gospel.

You know there's what?

3,300 kids at Summerville High School, and we talked Friday morning about what it would look like if 1% of those kids at Summerville High School called a glimpse of the glory of God and began to live out their faith in a way that was powerful and compelling and a testimony to their classmates, a light in the darkness.

And JD looks at me after I finished talking and he's like, hey, man, there were 33 kids in here today.

And I was like, well, that's pretty cool, because I didn't even plan on saying that and I didn't count either.

So that's pretty cool.

I don't do math, jd teaches math.

That's why JD and I get along so well together.

But then after that, my friend Jeff Case, who's on the front row today with his wife Lauren, stands up and says before we go, can I say something?

And so Jeff walks to the front of the room and this is Jeff on Friday morning talking to the kids at FCA and see, what I love about this picture is that Jeff Case, a year and a half ago, had no idea that that was in his future.

Jeff and Lauren were living in New Jersey.

Jeff was an assistant principal in New Jersey, but Jeff knew that God was calling he and his family out of New Jersey as they moved to Somerville.

Jeff Case changed his careers he's going to be a financial planner and he decided to start that like right at the end of COVID, when financial planning was not the industry to be at.

But that was where God led Jeff Case.

And Jeff Case moves to Somerville new place, new life to start a new career as a financial planner.

And that lasted what Like three months, maybe four, not long Lasted a little while and then Jeff became a stay-at-home dad and Lauren went to work and things changed again and they were like this isn't working for our family.

And so Jeff went to Somerville High School and applied for a teaching position and he's teaching biology, coaching football, and for me I'm like this is amazing.

This is great.

Now JD's leading FCA at Somerville High School.

Jeff's teaching biology, he's coaching football.

We're getting some you know, some some access points into the school.

This is something we've been praying for Well.

And then an assistant principal position opens up Somerville High School and Jeff Case puts his name into the hat and ends up getting the job.

Nothing at all like what he thought God was leading him towards when he and his family left New Jersey and came to South Carolina.

But but something else happened in their family along the way Jeff and Lauren were baptized together at our downtown campus a few months before we launched Pinewood, and for their family that became a moment of saying, hey, we, we don't know what the future holds, but we're stepping into the cloud with Jesus.

And a few months after that, their daughter gives her life to Jesus and was baptized in that tank on the other side of this campus.

A few months after that, their middle son, liam, was baptized in that tank after giving his life to Jesus.

And God is just at work writing a story with their family that they had no idea was going to be their story when they moved from New Jersey to South Carolina.

And on Friday morning, jeff Case gets up in front of 33 high school kids and says let me tell you about a time when God showed up in my life and gave me strength that I didn't see coming.

And then I love what Jeff said.

He was so honest.

Jeff said I'm still growing in my relationship with Jesus, but I'm following after him with everything that I have, and I love that, because that's that's what we're talking about today.

That's it like.

That's what it means to step into the cloud, to trust Jesus with your future, to believe by faith that there's access and the presence of God through the blood of Jesus, and to say God, whatever you lead me to, that's where I want to be.

So some of you you're following Jesus, but, but maybe you've been kind of trying to keep your distance a little bit because the cloud's a little bit uncertain.

The presence of God is, is a.

In some ways it's a bit of a scary place to be.

Is it not to open your hands to God and open your life to God and say God, here I am, send me, blank check, no restrictions.

No, I want, no, not, there's no God, just just send me.

And maybe you're here this morning and you say you know what I need to take my hands off the proverbial steering wheel of my life.

I've been asking God to direct my life, but every time he directs it in a way I don't like, I yank the steering wheel back.

Maybe today it's what the great theologian Kerry Underwood said just let Jesus take the wheel.

I don't know, it just came to me in the moment.

If that's for you, that's the Holy Spirit, because that's bad, I don't know, maybe that's it.

Let Jesus guide your life, let Jesus lead you on.

Maybe you're in the room this morning and it's like all I see in my life is the gap between God and myself.

Maybe today it's the moment you say Jesus, I trust you as my Lord and Savior for the very first time I believe by grace.

Through faith, I can enter into the presence of God, not because of what I've done, but because of what Jesus has done on my behalf.

If that's you this morning, I just want to invite you right now to pray this prayer dear God, I turn from my sin today and I trust my life to the grace of Jesus Christ.

I can't earn it, I can't climb my way to God, but I receive the gift that Jesus is offering me, the gift of life eternal.

In Jesus' name, amen.

As we stand and respond this morning, I want to remind us, for those of us who are following Jesus and trying our best to step into the cloud with him, there's a promise that God makes in Exodus 19,.

Right, he says to Israel I want you to be a kingdom of priests.

But Israel doesn't become a kingdom of priests, they become a kingdom with priests.

But then fast forward a few thousand years, 1 Peter, chapter 2, peter writes these words to the church.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

He says you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people set apart for the glory of God, called out of darkness and in to God's marvelous light, so that you can proclaim his beauty and his majesty and his wonder to the world.

God has been faithful to his promise.

God has gathered for himself a people through the name and the person and the work of Jesus Christ, and that's what we get a chance to be in on every single day.

So let's stand this morning and sing like a people who know that we serve a faithful God.

Let's lift up our voices in faith, believing that the one who called us is able to come through on our behalf and bless.

Sing to King Jesus this morning.