Trusting His Plan in Every Battle

Well, hello, crossing church. How are you doing?

Are you having a? Good day it.

Is good to be in the House of the Lord with the people of the

Lord and I want to welcome you. I want to welcome all of our

locations all across these three states.

If you're inside or online, we're so thankful for you as

well. And let me just tell you this

everything that God does he does with a purpose.

Amen. He does.

And God's purposes in many ways don't have to be mysterious.

A lot of times I think we think of God's purposes, we think so

much distance between us, but they don't have to be that

mysterious, especially if we understand a bit of the nature

of God. Reminds me of a prayer that I

learned as a child. Many of you learned as children.

We were praying for our food. It began with God is great, God

is good. You know, sometimes we need to

forget all that we've learned as adults and go back to the things

that we learned as kids, and that's one of them, the duality

of the nature of God. You know, God is awesome in

power and in control, and there is absolutely nothing that does

not fall under His powerful authority.

His rule and His authority is not something to ever be trifled

with, and He is rightfully to be obeyed.

But listen to me. God is not only all powerful,

all knowing and ever present, He is also a good God.

God is great, sure, absolutely. But God is good and his love,

the goodness of his love goes beyond our ability to even

comprehend it. I think that His love is best

described in First Corinthians chapter 13 verses 4 to 8.

1 Corinthians 13:4–8

Very familiar to many of us. It says this love is patient,

Love is kind. It does not envy.

It does not boast. It is not proud.

It does not dishonor others. It is not self seeking.

It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs.

It does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always

perseveres. Love never fails.

Just a little bit of liberty with that scripture.

And I could say this since I know that God defines himself

with this word. God is love, God is patient, God

is kind. He does not envy, He does not

boast, He is not proud, He does not dishonor others.

He is not self seeking, He is not easily angered, he keeps no

record of wrongs. He does not delight in evil, but

rejoices with the truth. He always protects, he always

trusts. He always hopes.

He always persevere, perseveres. He never fails.

If you want to see a demonstration of what that love

looks like, the apostle Paul wrote it down for you in Romans

5/8 it says, But God demonstrates his own love for us

in this why? We were still sinners.

Christ died for us. That's a perfect picture of the

love of God. Now God has an upper story plan

for each and every one of us, and that plan fits perfectly

into His sovereign will and power.

But He also gives us a choice to live in that upper story plan or

to choose to stay in the lower one.

He gives us that choice because of His nature.

And that nature is love. And when God created us, He

created us in His image. So part of that image is to have

the capacity to love and be loved.

And let me tell you something about love.

Love is always a choice. Can you think of a time?

Can you think of a relationship? Can you think of a way that love

could be love and not be a choice?

It is always a choice and God chooses love.

Jesus chose love. The question isn't about them.

The questions about us, whether or not we will choose it and

then demonstrate that choice in obedience.

Sometimes God gives us challenges to help us understand

where we are though. They're like a it's like a gauge

to see how am I doing in the love of God or that meter, how

are we doing in love and how are we doing in obedience?

And Henry Blackaby in experiencing God calls this the

crisis of belief, Chapter 7. It's a fork in the road.

And the choice that we make will define for us what we actually

believe about God. It will define where actual

actually our relationship is with God, which Rd. we take in

that crisis of belief. And I'm sure that we all have

stories of that happening personally in our lives.

I also have stories of that happening as a church, not just

in my own life, but in the story of the crossing.

I remember it when we negotiated for the John Wood building and

how those negotiations completely broke down and we got

to this place where it was over and then God stepped in and

completely reversed it, changed it all.

I remember when we needed to sell our former building on

Payson Road to have money for the down payment and everything

went against us and it continued to go against us and we got

right down to the last day or two.

And then once again, God provided And you know what I

learned about God is like, he'll take us to the edge of the Cliff

and then he puts his hand like in our waistband or belt and

then he just kind of leans us over the Cliff and he goes, how

do you like? The view and.

If it isn't for him holding on to us, we're going to fall.

But he doesn't let go. He doesn't let go of us because

he wants to build our trust in Him, take it out of the Bank of

trusting ourselves and trust Him.

Now we're going to see that play out dramatically in this part of

the series. Decisions in the desert,

trusting God in trial and in triumph.

We catch up with Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness.

Now they've just left Egypt, they've left victoriously,

they've plundered Egypt. They have all the riches of

Egypt with them. And God had brought a bought

their freedom through these 10 plagues.

The 10th being the most consequential.

When we think back historically, 70 Israelites went into Egypt

430 years earlier and now over 2,000,000 come out.

Interestingly enough, it was on the exact same day the Exodus

was on the exact same day that they arrived in Egypt. 430 years

before. They could have gone through the

Gaza Strip from Egypt into Canaan.

It would have been a short route of easy route to traverse, but

it had been occupied by the Philistines and God didn't want

them to lose their resolve by going to war.

So he led them the impossible way.

He led them to the edge of a Cliff and he leaned them out

over it. It was to a natural barrier

called the Red Sea. Now the Egyptians changed their

mind from letting the Israelites go, and instead they became

angry and pursued them. Their desire was to eliminate

him, to kill them all. And I'm sure that they

considered themselves lucky that Moses had led the nation of

Israel into a corner that they couldn't get out of the army

coming at them and the Red Sea before them.

But this was not a place where the Israelites are going to be

slaughtered. This is a place where the enemy

is going to be defeated. In Exodus 14 verses 13 to 18,

Exodus 14:13–18

Moses himself recounts this. Moses answered the people, do

not be afraid, stand firm and you will see the deliverance the

Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you

will never see again. The Lord will fight for you.

You need only to be still. Then the Lord said to Moses, Why

are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.

Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide

the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry

ground. I will harden the hearts of the

Egyptians so that they will go in after them, and I will gain

glory through Pharaoh and all of his army, through his Chariots

and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I

am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his Chariots,

and his horsemen. Here are three things I want you

to consider as we move forward in the these thoughts.

Here's the first question. What is the place in your life

that was meant to defeat you, but that has become the place

where God has fought and won your battle?

Do you have a story like that? A place where you were meant to

be defeated, but instead God has fought your battle.

Secondly, we all know what God's going to do in this story,

right? He's going to part the Red Sea.

But I want you to see something deeper in this story.

This is not just about God opening a door through the sea.

This is also about God shutting one.

You see, as far as the Israelites are concerned, once

they cross that sea and God closes it, he's shutting the

door. And there's no way back to

Egypt, at least not the way they came.

They can only move forward. So I'm asking you, what doors

has God opened in your life for you to pass through them and

then shut them behind you so that you'll go forward and not

backward? Thirdly, the slave masters had

been defeated, so the Israelites were no longer slaves, but they

sure didn't act that way. Why is that?

Because even though they're slave masters were dead and

gone, they were still enslaved in their hearts.

That identity was still inside them.

And you know what? That's a battle we fight.

That's a battle that we win sometimes and we lose sometimes,

and we fight that battle and go to that battle every single day.

And you notice when we do that, sometimes we tend to go back to

the things that enslaved us, even though we've been set free.

My third question is this. What enslaving things do you

tend to want to return to? So I want us to go deeper now.

So we've done some application of that first part.

I want us to understand a little bit more of what might seem to

be a mystery, to understand the mind of God.

Like what is God's strategy that he's going to use to defeat this

enemy? Well, we can read about it in

Exodus 14. The first move that God uses is

a defensive move. In 19 and 20 of Exodus 14, it

says then the Angel of God, who had been travelling in front of

Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them.

The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind

them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel.

Throughout the night, the cloud brought darkness to one side and

light to the other side, so neither went near the other.

All night long He defended them. And this is interesting because

we think about God being a cloud in the daytime and a pillar of

fire at night. But that's not what the

scripture says here, that at night he was a cloud to make it

even darker to the enemy. And he was a pillar of fire on

on the other side. So he had a cloud side and a

fireside and God was in both. He was both the cloud and the

fire at the same time for to defend his people.

The second part of the strategy. Strategy was the forward move.

This is where God sets the trap. Verses 21 and 22 it says Then

Moses stretched out his hand over the sea.

And all that night the Lord drove back the sea with a strong

E wind and turned it into dry land.

And the waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the

sea on dry ground with a wall of water on their right and on

their left. This is God's provision to move

the Israelites forward, but it is also to move them forward,

but it's also setting a trap for the enemies of His people.

The third strategic move that God uses is He baits the trap

and the Egyptians took the bait. We read that in the 23rd verse.

The Egyptians pursued them, and all of Pharaoh's horses and

Chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 4th Strategic

move, hindrance and entanglement.

God slowed the enemy down. We read this in verse 24 and 25.

It says during the last watch of the night, the Lord looked down

from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and

threw it into confusion. He jammed the wheels of their

Chariots so they had difficulty driving.

And the Egyptians said let's get away from the Israelites.

The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.

And finally, the 5th move in strategy was defeat and

destruction. This is where God's saying,

don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the

sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and

their Chariots and horsemen. And Moses stretched out his hand

over the sea. And at Daybreak the sea went

back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing

toward it. The Lord swept them into the

sea, the water flowed back and covered the Chariots and

horsemen. The entire army of Pharaoh that

had followed the Israelites into the sea.

Not one of them survived. Wow, what a story to see your

enemies defeated before you and you don't even lift a finger to

do it. And God fights your battle.

What would it be like if you could experience something like

that? If you could experience God do a

thing like that in your life? Well, hold on.

The story of Moses the deliverer, the Israelites called

the children of Israel, and the enslaving Egyptians.

That's a true story that happened in history, but it is

also a grand illustration of a grander story.

I want you to apply all of those strategic points to what Jesus

did. Moses was a great deliverer, but

let me tell you about my deliverer.

He puts Moses to shame. The children of Israel were a

large multitude of broken, faithless people.

But how are you and I any different from them?

Enslaved by the things of this world and the results of bad

choices either that we made or that were made for us, that make

up our lower story reality. And Pharaoh is a ruthless and

evil ruler, but nothing like the Prince of Darkness, nothing like

the Prince of the power of the air, nothing like the Deceiver,

nothing like the liar, nothing like Satan.

Satan's been a liar and a deceiver from the beginning, but

in the end, it was him who was defeated and deceived.

He had no idea the trap he was falling into.

First, the defensive move, John one, one to four.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and

the Word was God. He was with God in the

beginning. Through Him all things were

made, and without him nothing was made that has been made.

In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

We read on in John and we read that the people that have walked

in darkness has seen a great light, people that had darkness.

Come upon them are now finding their lives being lit up

interesting. Darkness on one side and light

on the other. Right now Jesus stands in the

gap between The Dark World and the glorious light of our

promised land. The next part of the strategy

was the forward move. This is where God sets the trap.

Jesus comes to earth as a human being and he proclaims the

Kingdom is at hand. In John 129 to 31.

It says the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and

said, look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

This is the one I meant when I said a man who comes after me

has surpassed me because he was before me.

I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with

water was that he might be revealed to Israel.

Notice that water is a part of it and that salvation is coming

through the water just like in the Red Sea.

Move #3 Baiting the trap because Satan was taking the bait.

John 1321 to 27. After he had said this, Jesus

was troubled in spirit and testified very truly.

I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.

His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which

one of he meant. One of them, the disciple whom

Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.

Simon Peter motioned to this disciple, that's John, and said,

Ask him which one he means. Leaning back against Jesus, he

asked him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, It is the one to

whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it into the

dish. Then dipping the piece of bread,

he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot.

As soon as Judas took the bread, listen, he said.

I said the he was baiting the trap, Satan entered him.

Soon as he took the bread, Satan entered him.

So Jesus told him what you're about to do.

Do quickly, then hindrance and entanglement.

You see, God is going to slow the enemy down.

And do you know what he does to slow the enemy down?

He allows his son to be brutalized.

His son is arrested, held a illegal trial in the middle of

the night. He's beaten, then he's taken to

Pontius Pilate, Herod, and Pontius Pilate again.

And after he finds no fault with him, and he washes his hands of

his blood, Pilate does. And they take Jesus out to be

scourged. And then they fashion a cross to

nail him to, and they nail him to that cross, and they suspend

him between heaven and earth. And when he's dead, they pry his

dead body off of that cross, put him in a borrowed tomb, and roll

a stone over the entrance of that tomb.

And in that moment, Satan felt like he had won, but all he had

done was entangle himself by his own actions.

And then the last fifth part of God's strategy, Defeat and

destruction. And do you know what that looked

like? It happened on Resurrection

Sunday. It happened at the break of

dawn. Because you see, the blood had

been shed and the price had been paid.

And on that Sunday, on the break of dawn, an Angel rolled.

The. Stone of that tomb away and

Jesus walked out alive. He walked out alive and I think

that all of you and I think that I and I think that every one of

our locations need to stand together right now and we need

to proclaim a truth an. Incredible truth that we've.

Experienced greater than the parting of the Red Sea and the

defeat of the Egyptians, we need to celebrate the fact that the

enemy has been defeated. Amen.

Amen. And Death couldn't hold you

down. We're going to lift our voice in

victory. We're going to make your

phrases. Come on now.

The enemy's been defeated. And death couldn't hold you

down. We're going to lift our voice in

victory. We're going to make you praise

as loud. The enemy's been defeated.

Dead couldn't hold you down. Come on.

Lips are voicing victory. We're going to make you razors

loud. The yummy's been defeated.

Dead couldn't hold you down. We're going to lift our voice in

victory. We're going to make you razors

loud. The yummy's been undefeated.

Oh, if dead couldn't hold you down.

We're going to lift. Stay on your feet because I've

got good news. The good news is the enemy has

been defeated. We stand on the far side of our

Red Sea, the sea of failure and of sin and of damage and of

regret and of loss. We didn't fight this battle.

There was only one who went to that battle and he went there

for us and he fought Satan and all the armies of hell, and his

name is what Jesus? The place that was meant for

your defeat has become the place of Satan's defeat.

God has opened the door for you in.

Jesus Christ and has. Slammed the door to our ancient

enemy and the devil all of his lives.

So let's quit looking back to the past and the things that

enslaved us in our past, and let's shout to the Lord Lord in

prior for what He has done. Come on now.

Shout out to God with the voice of triumph.

Shout out to God with the voice of praise.

Shout out to God with the voice of triumph.

We lift your name up. We lift your name up.

Shout out to God with the voice of triumph.

Shout out to God with the voice of praise.

Shout out to God with the voice of triumph.

We let your neighbor. We let your neighbor.

Shout out to God with the voice of triumph.

Shout out to God with the voice of praise.

Shout out to God with the voice of triumph.

We let your neighbor. We let your neighbor shut up to

God with the voice of triumph. Shout out to God with the voice

of praise. Shout out to God with the voice

of triumph. We let your neighbor.

We let your neighbor shut up to God with the voice of triumph.

Shout out to God with the voice of praise.

Shout out to God with the voice of triumph.

We let your name up. We let your name up.

Come on, shut it out. Minutes, you go ahead and have a

seat. We're moving in this time of

decision and that's what we're here for as believers in Jesus

Christ, whether you're in this room or you are watching

wherever you're watching from online, we have a reason to

praise, don't we? We have a reason to sing and to

celebrate. We are on the other side of the

sea and we can look back and we can think about all the things

that God has delivered us from. You could think about all the

ways that you're like, man, all those mistakes I made, all those

sins I've committed. He's forgiven me, but he's also

prepared me for something much greater.

And now we're not looking back and and saying, Oh, I wish I had

that life back. We're looking back and saying,

praise be to God. I'm no longer there.

He has me here and I have a reason to praise.

But as Christians, here's where the decision time comes.

Is there a person? Is there a name?

Is there a family member? Is there a Co worker?

They haven't experienced that yet.

They're on the the water's edge. They're living the lifestyle

that they want to live and they need people like us, people like

you, people like me, believers in Christ to on their behalf,

pray that their hearts and their minds are softened.

That we also pray to God that he gives us the boldness, he gives

us the words. He gives us the opportunities to

share the gospel, the good news that we just sang about and that

we can't stay quiet about. And during this time when the

music starts, in just a little bit, maybe that name that's on

your head, that's on your heart, you would just come pray for

them and you lift their name up and you'd say, Jesus, would you

do something? I know you're doing something,

but would you prompt me to join in that work?

I also know as Christians and you know this, you don't have it

figured out. I don't have it figured out.

There's probably areas in your life that you still feel like,

man, I'm entangled in this sin or I'm entrapped in this area

and I just, I don't know what to do.

But here's what I know to do is I need to lay it down to him and

say, Jesus, you can have it. Would you take this chain away

from me? Would you take this sin that I'm

struggling with and would you bring people around me?

Maybe for you as a believer, you just need to come up to the

steps and say, God, take this, I can't hold it any longer.

And for those of you in this room, you don't have an intimate

personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Think about your path. Think about where your feet are

standing. Think about where you've

traveled to and where you're going to travel to.

Think about the situations that brought you to this room.

I want you to imagine you are on the water's edge.

You can look backwards and you could say, yeah, here's all the

ways that I've done things the way that I want to do them, and

it's not working out like I thought it would.

And I want you to look forward and I want you to see what's on

the other side. And on the other side is love.

And. Goodness and Jesus eternal life

and at 1st at first dog, you're like, well, I can just I can

just work hard. I can just swim to the other

side of the sea. I can do this.

You're not a good swimmer. You'll you'll drown.

You'll never make it if you do it on your own power.

Well, hey, I can I'm good with my hands.

I'm good with work. So I can be good and I can I can

I got money. I can buy a boat.

I can. Nope, you can't.

You can't afford it and even you could.

That's not what, that's not what purchases it, what purchases

your freedom. What happens when that sea is

split? It is God who does the work and

it is through his Son, Jesus Christ.

And if you've never started that relationship, you've never

trusted in the name of Jesus, that is how you get to the other

side. That's how he splits the sea.

When you say no longer can I do this in my strength, I know I

can't save myself. I know only Jesus can.

When you say that, that is when that relationship with Jesus

starts. And we're not talking about a

religion, We're not talking about coming to church.

We're talking about you being saved by Jesus.

So I'm asking you in this moment, maybe for the first

time, I'm hoping someone in this room or someone online for the

first time says I'm not satisfied with where I am or

where I've been, but I want to walk across this land on dry

ground. God provides the path you have

to choose whether or not you accept it, and you take the

step. And so when this music starts

for you, maybe your first step is just talking to somebody

coming up to these steps and just saying I want to start that

relationship with you, Jesus. I'm going to be right by the

baptistry here at 48th St. There'll be someone online that

would love to help you take that next step in your faith.

And I'm hoping that we celebrate in the waters of baptism where

you say I believe that Jesus is the Christ Son of the living

God, and you want him as your personal Lord and Savior.

There will be joy. There will be celebration.

Shout out to God with the voice of triumph.

Shout out to God with the voice of praise.

Church, we all have a step to take.

I'm choosing to take it. I'm hoping you'll join with me

as well. Would you stand with me?

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you for

splitting the sea. Thank you for making a path.

Thank you for not making us do it on our own or trying to be

good enough or trying to earn our way.

Jesus, you are so good and I'm so thankful that it's dry

ground. And when we get to that other

side, not we're not just satisfied.

We can, we can praise you Jesus, for what you delivered us from,

what you saved us from. And God, I pray for that person

and a group of people in this room who just need to take that

step. And I pray God, you give them

the boldness to do it in this moment.

God, we love you and we are thankful for you and we give you

all honor, all praise, all glory, in Jesus name that I

pray, Amen.