Detours, Dead Ends, and Dry Places - Dr. Ken Bell

Thank you for listening to this message from

Lifehouse Church. Good morning, everyone. Man,

a good hearty good morning out there. Well, we

are just so glad that you are joining us this

morning. And you already heard Charlie say that

Pastor Kip is under the weather. We appreciate

your continued prayers for him. He is down with

pneumonia. So you don't want him here. I don't

want him here. And I know you're listening online,

honey. We do want you here once you're feeling

better and you can be part of the gathering.

Yeah, see, you're loved, Kip. But I just wanted

to take a minute. Dr. Bell is going to come and

share the word this morning, but I just wanted

to share a little bit. Some of you may not know

who Dr. Bell is. And Dr. Bell, Dr. Ken Bell,

he was actually my boss for six years, but he

was the state overseer in Pennsylvania for six

years. I worked under him. This was years ago.

This was right after Lifehouse Church had started.

We had just launched. We were this baby church.

We were a year old. We were meeting in the sports

emporium at the snack bar, like the little snack

bar area is where we were. And I was just...

contemplating this this weekend after Kip had

asked him to fill in this morning, that it was

amazing to me. They came to the state, and they

came from Tennessee, which is where our denomination

is headquartered, and they attended a very large

church in Tennessee, and they came to Pennsylvania,

and they made Lifehouse their church. This little

tiny church of 25 or 30 people meeting in a skating

rink, but Dr. Bell believed in Kip. And he believed

in Lifehouse. And they became part of Lifehouse.

Now, he traveled a lot. But his wife, Trish,

and at the time, their young daughter, Megan,

was part of Lifehouse. And they supported us.

They supported us financially. They supported

us with their attendance. And we're just eternally

grateful that Dr. Bell believed in us. Because

look where Lifehouse is today. It's amazing to

me what God has done in the last 15 years here

at Lifehouse. From a little tiny skating rink

to this beautiful sanctuary that we're worshiping

now. So I just want to say thank you. He is an

author. He is a pastor. He was a state overseer.

And bless his heart, he is now retired. What

we all want to look forward to one day. But he's

got an amazing gift of sharing God's word. And

he's going to do that just today. Kip called

him on Friday and he very graciously. answered

immediately, yes, I would be happy to fill in.

So can we just give Dr. Ken Bell a welcome from

LifeHouse today? Good morning. It's wonderful

to see you. Appreciate you being in the house

of the Lord. Those of you who are online or if

you're visiting today, I am not the pastor. He's

much better than I am, much better looking, and

you need to hear him. And Pastor Kip, I'm sure

you're watching. We do miss you here and pray

for your speedy recovery. I was preaching at

a church and had come before Sunday school was

over. So I was standing in the foyer of the church

waiting for the Sunday school to end. And an

elderly lady came in the door and she said, well,

who are you, Sonny boy? And I said, I'm your

fill -in or stand -in today. She said, what do

you mean stand -in? I said, well, you know, like

if you break a pane of one of your windows, and

you get a piece of cardboard and put it in until

you get the real pane. She said, oh, okay. So

I preached that day, and after the service, she

came up and shook my hand. She said, Sonny boy,

you're not a fill -in or sand -in. You're a real

pane. She didn't spell that pane, so I don't

know if it's P -A -I -N or P -A -N -E, but it

is a delight to be with you and to worship with

you. And I appreciate this opportunity, Pastor

Kip. My message today is detours, dead ends,

and dry places. And the scripture is found in

Exodus chapter 13. Now, I'm going to preach Exodus

Exodus 13 · chapter mention

13, Exodus 14, Exodus 15, and still get you out

by 11 o 'clock. If anybody believes that, raise

your hand. Hey, with no confidence at all. Next

is chapter 13, and they'll put it on the screen

Isaiah 13 · chapter mention

for you, beginning at verse 17. Then it came

to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go,

that God did not lead them by way of the land

of the Philistines, although that was near. For

God said, lest perhaps the people change their

minds when they see war and return to Egypt.

So God led the people around. by way of the wilderness

of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went

up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.

And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him,

for he had placed the children of Israel in a

solemn oath, saying, God will surely visit you,

and you shall carry up my bones from here with

you. So they took their journey from Succoth

and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness.

And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar

of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar

of fire to give them light. so as to go by day

and night. He did not take away the pillar of

cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night before

the people. The book of Exodus records not only

the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery

and bondage in Egypt, it also records their covenant

with God at Mount Sinai and also the instructions

for the construction of the tabernacle in the

wilderness and the actual dedication of that

tabernacle. And Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter

1 Corinthians 10:11

10 verse 11 says that these things, I can't see

the screen, these things happened to them as

examples and were written down as warnings for

us on whom the culmination of the age is to come.

So what he's saying is that the Exodus was recorded

for us, for our example. I read a story of a

young man who was learning to... climb rocks

and there was this hundred full hundred foot

high outcropping of a rock that he was going

to do his first climb on he had the safety harness

had a couple of friends down below to keep him

safe with the safety ropes he started up the

rock cliff made it all the way to the top after

some time and they let him rappel back down to

the ground he said i want to go up again without

all this this strap and his emergency strap is

binding me. I want to go up without any safety

harness. They warned him not, said you haven't

had enough experience, but he insisted. So he

started climbing up that rock face, got almost

to the top and his grip slipped and he began

to fall. Fortunately, about halfway down, there

was a small tree growing out of the cleft of

the rock that he was able to grab hold and break

his fall. He surveyed his surroundings. He couldn't

find a handhold, toehold to climb up or to get

a hold so he could climb back down. He looked

down to the ground. It was 50 feet down and decided

it was time to pray. So he looked up to heaven

and said, is anybody up there? Much to his surprise,

a voice came booming back, yes. To his surprise,

he said, Will you help me? The voice came booming

back. Will you trust me? He said, sure, I'll

trust you. The voice came booming back. Turn

loose. He thought about it for a moment. Looked

at 50 feet to go and looked back up at heaven

rather sheepishly and said, is anybody else up

there? it's a funny story, but it says a great

truth. There is no one else up there. And I believe

that the primary cause of much of our problems

in the church is simply a lack of faith in God.

We believe him for salvation, but then we seem

reluctant to trust him for anything else. As

a pastor, I pastored in Indiana and also in North

Carolina. Some members' faith was fine as long

as things were going well, but let things start

going bad, and their faith began to waver. I

had a member in Indiana. His name was Clarence,

and Clarence was one of these kind of people

that when he was on fire for God, I mean he was

hot, he was in church, he was ready to do anything

he was called upon to do, but when he was depressed

or going through a low spot, he'd stay out of

church, not have to encourage me to come back.

He'd get fired up and go again. Clarence was

the kind of fellow that... When they went to

the grocery store, he put the groceries on the

table, dining room table, say a blessing over

them then so he wouldn't have to pray before

meals. That's the kind of fellow Clarence was.

Don't tell me if you do that. But our relationship

with God must not be based on how we feel or

what we see. If you base it on feelings, what

are you going to do when your world caves in?

You can't base it on feelings. You can't base

it on sight, what you see either. Satan wants

to control how we think about life and how we

think about things that are going on in our life.

He wants us to look horizontally through the

eyes of man when God wants us to look vertically

through the eyes of God. And faith in God's word

is the key to living triumphantly today. Now

our problem is we prefer an event to a process.

We want things now. We want things to happen

now rather than wait. or to process. In fact,

we want God to deliver us from our trials more

than we want development through our trials.

We want an experience versus the hard work of

believing. Here's the thing. If you're worrying,

you are not trusting. It's as simple as that.

Death challenges our faith that heaven is real.

Troubles challenge our faith. that God still

delivers. Sickness challenges our faith, that

God still heals. And lack of faith in God's word

is what caused Adam and Eve to sit in the garden.

They believed the lie of the serpent rather than

the word of God. It was lack of faith in God's

word that caused the Israelites to have to wander

in the wilderness for 40 years because they believed

the majority report of the spies. Moses sent

12 spies out to spy on the land of Canaan. Joshua

and Caleb said, let us go up at once and possess

the land. But 10 of the spies said, we are not

able to go up and possess it. And they believed

the majority report. And therefore, they had

to wander for 40 years in the wilderness. It

was a lack of faith in God's word through his

prophets that caused Israel and Judah to be carried

into captivity. But it was faith in God's word

that brought Abraham to the promised land. It

was faith in God's word that gave him a son at

100 years old. It was faith in God's word that

kept Daniel safe in the lion's den. And faith

in God delivered the three Hebrew boys from the

fiery furnace. In fact, the importance of faith

is stated in Hebrews 11, verse 6. Without faith,

Hebrews 11:6

it is impossible to please God. Now think about

it. Without faith, it is impossible to please

God. For he who comes to God must believe that

he is and that he is a reward of those who diligently

seek him. You see, conversion can occur in just

a few moments. It doesn't take long to get saved.

But that is an event that begins a process. And

serving God is a pilgrimage. It's a journey.

If we could get saved and go right to heaven,

it would be wonderful, but God wouldn't get any

glory out of that. It is a process. and a journey.

And you will experience one or more of these

places in your spiritual journey. In the text

that I read to you, the first thing I want to

talk about is the discipline of detours. Now,

when you're traveling, nobody likes detours.

It usually adds time. To your travel. But it

usually means there's something wrong. An accident

or construction. Or some other reason that's

not safe to pass. In Exodus chapter 13 verse

Exodus 13:17

17. It says that God led them around. Around

about. That God led them on a circuitous route.

Did you know it was just. They could have been

to the promised land. In two weeks time from

Egypt. If you throw up the map. God. Instead

of leading them. To the northeast. From Egypt

to the. Canaan, God led them on a security route

to the south, southeast on a divine detour. And

the Bible says why God did that. He said he did

not go to the land of Philistines although that

was near because they would have had to see war

and they would have gotten discouraged and went

back to Egypt. So God, knowing what was best

for them, led them on a divine detour. Now there's

probably some good church members there. He said

this is not the way. We know the map. We know

where the promised land. Why, Moses, are you

leading us this way when the promised land is

this way? But God knew what was best for them.

And God leads them in the opposite direction

to a dry, rocky, barren wilderness because they

were not ready to go to Canaan. Read a story

of two little boys. Jimmy told his friend Billy,

my dad has a list of men that he can whip, and

your dad's name is at the top of the list. Well,

you know, Billy couldn't wait to get home and

tell his dad. His dad came home from work. It

had been a bad day. He was in a bad mood. Billy

said, Dad, Jimmy said that his dad has a list

of men that he can whip, and your name's at the

top of the list. Billy's dad said, Well, we'll

just see about that. He stalked down the house,

crossed the street, and went up to Jimmy's house,

knocked on the door, and Jimmy's dad came to

the door, and Billy's dad said, My son said that

your son said that you have a list of men that

you can whip, and I'm at the top of the list.

Is that true? Jimmy's dad said, yes, sir, that's

true. Billy's dad said, well, I'm here to tell

you you can't do it. Jimmy's dad said, no problem,

I'll just erase your name. And I say that, sometimes

we get all fired up and energized at church,

ready to face the devil, but as soon as we get

outside the church doors, facing our problems,

we forget what we felt in the church. So God

led them out into the wilderness to train them

and get them ready for the fight that was ahead

because God knew what was best. Now here's our

problem. We don't enjoy the preparation process.

I'd rather microwave than cook anything. We don't

enjoy the process, but God knew what was best

for them. And here's the thing. You don't want

to confuse what's on your itinerary for your

destiny. You see, Israel leaving Egypt to go

to the promised land, the wilderness, was on

their itinerary, but that was not their destiny.

Hear me. Sickness might be on your itinerary,

but healing is your destiny. Sadness might be

on your itinerary, but joy is your destiny. Conflict

might be on your itinerary, but victory is your

destiny. The wilderness was on the Israelites'

itinerary, but the promised land Was there? Destiny.

And sometimes detours are the best way of God

getting us to where he wants us to be. Our problem

is we look at everybody else. Well, why are they

having such a good time? Why are they being blessed?

Why nothing bad happening to them? And that doesn't

matter. Our relationship with God is between

us and God. What matters is have you progressed

since yesterday? Are you growing in the Lord?

If you feel like your plans have been sidelined,

It's possible you're on a detour, a divine detour,

and God is getting you ready for the great things

that he has in store for you. We don't have to

understand. We just have to be concerned about

following our cloud and our pillar of fire. Delays

are not denials. They are discipline. And the

lesson to be gained from this story is that God

knows what his people need. Now. That's 13. Let's

go to chapter 14. They follow the cloud. And

where does the cloud lead them? In Exodus chapter

Exodus 14 · chapter mention

14, beginning at verse 9, the scripture says,

So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses

and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his

army, and overtook them, camping by the sea beside

Pihahiroth before Beelzefan. And when Pharaoh

drew near, the children of Israel lifted their

eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after

them. So they were very afraid, and the children

of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said

to Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt,

have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?

Why have you so dealt with us to bring us up

out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told

you in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may

serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better

for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should

die in the wilderness. And Moses said to the

people, Do not be afraid. Stand still and see

the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish

for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see

today, you shall see again no more forever. The

Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your

peace. So they were following the cloud. The

cloud leads them to the banks of the Red Sea.

They can't swim across. They don't have boats

to boat all the people in their belongings across.

Pharaoh is hot on their trail behind them. And

I call this the dilemma of a day. And God led

them to a dead end. Now, a dead end is worse

than a detour. There's three options. You can

just stop. Well, I've reached a dead end. I'm

going to stop. I'm not going to do anything else.

Or... You can turn around, retreat, go back to

where you came, or you ask God to make a way.

The Israelites were trapped, the Red Sea before

them, the Egyptians behind them, and there will

be times in your walk with God when you simply

don't know what to do. You don't know whether

to go right, you don't know whether to go left,

you don't want to go back, but you don't see

any way ahead. The Israelites began to murmur

and complain. Moses, can't you read a map? Doesn't

God know what he is doing? But God knew exactly

what he was doing. He was baiting a hook for

the Egyptians to deliver his people and destroy

their enemies. Now this happens to us and we

begin to question, well, did I miss the will

of God? Am I still in the will of God with all

this happening? But you are in the will of God

if the Spirit led you there regardless of how

many dead ends you encounter. You see, Christ

did not come to keep us out of trouble. He came

to be with us in times of trouble. Many of you

have seen that picture of footprints in the sand.

It usually has a picture of a beach or a sandy

place and then a rocky place, and there are two

sets of footprints in the sandy place and only

one set of footprints in the rocky, rough places.

And the Christian complains to Jesus, why were

you with me? During the easy times of life and

lift me during the rough times. And Jesus responds

and says, my child, I did not leave you. I was

carrying you through those rough places. What

do you do if you're at a dead end? Chapter 14,

Moses told the people, stand still and see the

salvation of the Lord. Two things you don't do,

you don't panic. Panic is not trusting God. And

you don't retreat. You don't go back. Two things

you do. Moses said, stand still. We understand

the standing part. It's the still part we don't

like. You know what it actually means? It's to

be quiet. I'm serious. You look on down. He says,

hold your peace. In other words, he said, stand.

And shut up. Just quit talking. And start looking

at what God is doing. Now, here's the thing.

We don't always see what God is doing. But I

tell you, he's always doing more behind the scenes

and under the surface than we can see with our

eyes. But if you'll stand still and wait on God,

God is an on -time God. And he always shows up

right when you need him. God turned their dead

end into a superhighway, and he can do the same

for you. There is nothing impossible with God.

That's chapter 14. Let's go to chapter 15. They're

still following the cloud, cloud by day, pillar

of fire by night. There is no question about

which way they're to go. If the cloud stops,

they stop. The cloud moves, they move. So they're

following the cloud. They get through the Red

Sea. They rejoice and praise Moses for leading

them through and thank God for leading them through.

And then in Exodus chapter 15, beginning at verse

Exodus 15 · chapter mention

22, the Bible says, So Moses brought Israel from

the Red Sea, and then they went out into the

wilderness of Shur, and they went three days

in the wilderness and found no water. Now when

they came to Marah, they could not drink the

waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore

the name of it was called Marah. And the people

complained against Moses, saying, What shall

we drink? So he cried out to the Lord, and the

Lord showed him a tree. And when he cast into

the waters, the waters remained sweet. There

he made a statute and an ordinance for them,

and there he tested them. Just a few days before,

their problem was too much water. And now their

problem was not enough water. And that's how

life is. We go from mountaintop to valley, from

plenty to famine. It's just a way of life. And

God just wants to see if you'll trust him. It

wasn't bad luck. God led them there. God wasn't

punishing them. He was testing them. Look at

verse 25. There he tested them. If you look at

these three chapters. God said, I led you on

a detour to see if you would follow me. I brought

you to a dead end to see if you would wait on

me. Now will you trust me at a dry place? What

did they do? They began to murmur and complain.

It's like a student came to me. I was a college

professor at East Coast Bible College for 17

years. I said, Dr. Bell, I don't think I deserve

this F. I said, well, I don't either, but it

was the lowest grade I could give you. I know

that's cruel. That's cold. That's when I was

young and foolish. But they failed again and

murmured against God and murmured against Moses.

In three days, Moses goes from a hero to a zero.

Only a pastor can understand that feeling, how

quickly people can change. But here's the thing.

You reach places in your walk with God when you

cannot sense God's presence. It's like it's a

million miles away. You pray. It seems like your

prayers get no higher than the ceiling, and you

wonder what is going on. There will be dry places

in your walk with God, and you still have to

trust him. Let me ask you, where was God while

Daniel was being led to the lion's den? God could

have showed up. He could have kept him from being

arrested. He could have kept him from leading

him to the lion's den. He could have kept him

from putting him down in the lion's den, but

God allowed all of that. but showed up when he

got in the lion's den and shut the mouths of

the lions. Where was God while the three boys?

The furnace was being heated seven times hotter

than normal. God allowed them to tie him up,

heat the furnace, and throw them into the midst

of the fire. But then that fourth man showed

up, and the bonds were burnt, but there was no

smell of smoke or no burn on them as they walked

in the midst of the fiery furnace. There are

several temptations you'll face. During this

time of a dry place, you'll be tempted to forget

past blessings. Somehow Satan, he doesn't remind

us of past blessings. He wants us to forget this.

But Psalm 103 says, Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me. Bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul. And what? Forget not

all his benefits. You'll be tempted to sin. The

Bible tells us in 1 Peter 5 and 8. Our adversary,

the devil, walks about as a roaring lion seeking

whom he may devour. He's looking for a Christian

who's disappointed or discouraged or going through

a dry place. He looks for you to try to devour

you. You'll be tempted to quit. So many people

going through a rough time. They say, I'm just

going to throw up my hands and quit. It's just

not working for me. But if I was to go outside

this church in the fall in a mud puddle, my wife

and daughter and grandchildren would probably

laugh. Some would run and try to help me out

of the mud puddle. But what would you expect

me to do? You'd expect me to get up out of the

mud puddle, clean myself up, and watch out that

I don't fall in that same mud puddle again. And

that's what God expects you to do. Don't throw

up your hands and quit. If you fail, if you stumble,

you get back up, start again. And go down the

road. You'll be tempted to doubt past experiences.

Satan will say it wasn't really real. You didn't

really feel God. It was just the emotion of the

moment. And you'll be tempted to doubt what God's

done for you. You'll be tempted to make wrong

decisions. You should never make a major decision

affecting the future of your life while you're

in a bad or dry situation. Delay it until you

hear from God or things change. And then sixthly,

You limit God to a particular place of time.

You say, oh, if I could just hear Pastor so -and

-so preach again. If I could just get back to

the old days when we had those shouting services.

If I could just hear my grandmother, my mother

praying, calling my name in prayer, everything

would be all right. But you don't limit God to

what's happened in the past. He's the same God

today as he was then. During these dry seasons,

you must walk by faith. The praise team will

come. You didn't believe I could. But you just

didn't know me, did you? If you trust God, God

will lead you through those dry areas to a place

of blessing and refreshing. In fact, if you look

at Exodus chapter 15, verse 27, it says they

Exodus 15:27

came to Elam where there were 12 wells of water

and 70 palm trees. So God led them on a detour.

Through the Red Sea to a dry place, but eventually

to an oasis that had plenty of water and shade.

And God will do the same thing for you this morning.

That's an old song. In fact, I looked it up today

to see if it was actually written in 1945. And

the chorus is, have you got any rivers you think

are uncrossable? Got any mountains you cannot

tunnel through? God specializes in things thought

impossible, and he'll do for you what no other

power can do. Would you bow your heads? I read

a story of a little girl whose father and mother

had had some marital problems and had separated.

She was playing in the front yard with some friends.

After school, one of them kicked the ball out

into the middle of the road, and she darted out

after it without looking and was struck by a

school bus. They called an ambulance and rushed

her to the hospital. The mother called the father

and told him what happened. They met in the waiting

room outside the ER treatment rooms. After some

time, a doctor came out and said, I'm sorry,

but there's nothing we can do for your daughter.

She's just too broken. The parents said, well,

can we see her? He said, you can see her for

just a moment. So they took him into the emergency

room treatment area. The little girl was laid

on the bed and had the sheet pulled up all the

way to her neck. Father and mother spoke to her

and said, honey, your mom and dad are here. She

opened her eyes with a great deal of effort.

She reached out her right hand, stretched it

to her mom. who was standing on the right side

of the bed, said, Mommy, give me your hand. Then

with a great deal of effort, she pulled out her

left hand and stretched it to her father and

said, Daddy, give me your hand. With the last

bit of strength this little girl had, she pulled

their two hands to her chest and died. She wanted

Mom and Dad to get back together again. But you

know, that's exactly what Jesus did on Calvary.

As he hung on the cross, He got the hand of God,

reached down, got the hand of man, pulled him

together to him on the cross, and died. He died

for you and me and for our sins. And I don't

know what you're going through in life today.

Everybody has hard times. Everybody has difficult

times. But God sent me here today to tell you

he will be with you on the detours. He'll be

with you at the dead ends. He'll be with you

at the dry places if you will only trust him.

If you don't know Christ as your savior this

morning, I want to give you that opportunity

to make a commitment to him. He died for you.

Died to forgive you of your sins. Died to give

you life. In eternity. But it's up to you. You're

the only one that can make that decision. I can't

make it for you. If I could, I would. Your family

can't make it for you. You're the only one. And

if you don't know Christ this morning, would

you like to accept him as Lord of your life?

I'm going to ask you to slip your hand as a message

to him. I want to be saved this morning. I'm

sorry for my sins. And I want you to forgive

me. And I will serve you the very best that I

can. Just anyone that would like to accept Christ

this morning, I'm not going to embarrass you.

I want to give you an opportunity to express

your request for salvation. You may need to recommit

your life. You've served Him at one time, but

you've kind of drifted away. You know you're

not where you ought to be with God. You ought

to recommit to Him today. You can do that this

morning. And if you have a special need in your

life, I'm going to ask you to stand right now.

I want to have a prayer for you before they sing

this last song. Would you stand? Everybody stand.

We have a special prayer for you. We do have

a prayer team who stand ready to pray with you.

If you'd like somebody to pray with you, they

won't share your secrets. It's between you and

God, but they will pray for you this morning.

whatever you're going through. Father, I thank

you for this congregation this morning. It's

a beautiful congregation. And God, I don't believe

they're here by accident. We're here by your

divine plan. And Lord, I just pray that there's

anyone here who's struggling, who's tempted to

quit, throw up their hands and just give up,

who are in a difficult situation and don't know

what to do. It may be a bad job, may be a bad

relationship. maybe tough times financially or

physically or spiritually, I ask you in Jesus'

name, would you touch them this morning, do your

work in your way, and we'll give you praise for

it. In Jesus' name. Thank you for tuning in to

this message from Lifehouse Church. If you have

been personally affected by our ministry and

you would like to partner with us as we love

God, love people every day, visit our website

at www .lifehousecog .com.