Surviving Pharaoh

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

I want to talk to you from Exodus chapter 1, verse 22.

Exodus 1:22

Exodus chapter 1, verse 22, and I'm just gonna use this as my theme uh passage for tonight, and we're just gonna have fun learning something that really helped me in my life when I looked at this passage, and it's a simple thing that we're gonna learn tonight, but it has big time effects on you being able to move forward and experience the sovereignty of God.

Exodus 1:22

That God is no longer an ethereal spirit and never, never land, but he's actually functioning in your here and now.

It's not that he's not functioning, the question is, are we gaining his true experience?

And so I want to talk to you from Exodus chapter 1, verse 22, and the verse simply says this.

Exodus 1:22

It simply says, Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, Every son who is born, you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you ought to leave alive.

It says, Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, Every son who is born you ought to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you ought to keep alive.

Tonight I want to talk to you about surviving Pharaoh.

I want to talk to you about surviving Pharaoh because Pharaoh is evil and he's insecure.

He's evil and he's insecure, and here he is in Exodus chapter one.

He has a problem because the Hebrew people are multiplying.

And he feels like they are becoming mightier than the kingdom that he's trying to build up.

And he's not interested in multiplying the Hebrew people to where they can be a threat to his kingdom.

He's interested in multiplying his kingdom on top of the Hebrew people.

It's about the multiplication of kingdom.

That's what God's goal was from the very beginning when he said, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

It was the visible manifestation of the invisible God through his people.

It wasn't, you don't have kids so you can have look-alikes, you have kids so God can have look-alikes.

They just happen to look like you.

It's all about the manifestation of the kingdom of God, and there is another adversary that wants to replicate his own kingdom.

And so Pharaoh, wanting to replicate his own kingdom, wanted to do something to stop the Hebrew people from multiplying.

He didn't want God's people to spread out too far.

He was okay with God's people being his slaves.

He was okay with God's people working for him and building what he wanted them to build.

But he wasn't okay with God's people becoming a threat.

And so Pharaoh had to set up an edict, which is an official order from the governing official, a decree out in the land, that we need to get rid of the boys and make sure that when these Hebrew women have children, that we kill what they're giving birth to.

So I need to help you understand what one of Pharaoh's primary, the enemy's primary plans in our lives is that he'll keep you alive so that you can work for him.

But he'll keep you alive while making sure you're deprived.

Because he wants to take that which was conceived in you that you have given birth to, that you want to see develop and grow.

That thing can be your literal child.

That thing can be your dream or your purpose or your business or the things, the ideas that you get up in the morning and get excited about.

He wants to strip you of that which has been conceived inside of you by the Holy Spirit of God that God wants to do in you and through you, and he wants to kill it in its infancy.

He wants to make sure that it doesn't have the opportunity to pick up any steam.

He wants to make sure that he takes you out by taking it out.

It's all of the things around you.

The preacher last night talked about how it wasn't just Job, it was the things around him that the enemy was trying to clip him from in order to deprive him of any energy to be able to go forward and do what God is calling him to do.

So I need you to know that Pharaoh is coming for you.

It's the reality of our life because he's trying to replicate his kingdom and he wants to use God's people to do it.

Here he is in Exodus 1, 22, and he has this edict out in the land.

But the reason why he put this edict out in the land that says, then Pharaoh commanded all his people to go kill the boys and leave the girls alive.

I'll explain that in a minute.

Is because there were some other things that he tried in Exodus chapter 1 that already failed.

Exodus 1 · chapter mention

And first in Exodus chapter 1, verse 11, he tells his taskmasters to put them into hard labor.

Exodus 1:11

And it says in verse 12 of chapter 1 that after they put them in hard labor, it didn't work.

The people of God multiplied even more.

It was almost like the hard labor to his chagrin was some type of aphrodisiac to the people.

They just kept going.

We just it was something about that, they just kept multiplying, but God will often allow the alem the enemy to put you in hard situations because it seems like when the body of Christ is backed against a wall, it seems like when things get harder, we get stronger.

We keep multiplying, the gospel goes further.

People pull themselves up by their bootstraps and continue to come to church even in pandemics and continue to preach the gospel, and there are amazing things that are going on all over the world, and things are hard.

And even though things are hard, the people of God continue to multiply.

It's almost like hardship is a revival DJ to the people of God.

And we don't just need to wait on hardship.

You know, too many Christians use God like a spare tire.

They only pull them out when life goes flat.

So God will allow your life to go flat.

And then when we get rolling again, what do we do?

We put our own ideas, cultural thinking, and our own will and our own way back on the wheel and put God right back in the trunk.

And he wants to be the primary.

And he said, When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birth stool, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death.

If it is a daughter, then you shall let her live.

But the midwives fear God, verse 17, and did not do as the king of Egypt hath commanded them.

Let me tell you something.

I want you to notice what Pharaoh did.

He asked the Hebrew midwives, not the Egyptian ones.

He asked the Hebrew midwives that when the Hebrew women have sons, I want you to go kill them.

Ladies, let me tell you what the enemy will try to do.

Because I don't know if you just saw what Pharaoh just did.

He went to God's women and he told God's women to go kill God's men.

He went to God's women and he said, I'm gonna command that God's women use their experience, their talent, their history.

I'm gonna demand that they use the power that they have to take out God's men.

I'm not gonna use my people, I'm gonna use God's people.

Because Proverbs chapter 14, verse 1 says, A wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one has the power to tear it down.

Proverbs 14:1

Even Pharaoh understands the power that women really have.

They have the power to build the ministry or tear it down.

They have the power to build a house or tear it down.

They have the power to make sure things are going forward for the kingdom of God, and they also have the power to make sure things aren't going forward for the kingdom of God.

I don't want y'all to trip.

Understand, if you have been touched by the ministry of Tony Evans, it's because you have the fingerprint of Lois Evans all over you.

If you have been touched by the ministry of Pastor Robert Morris, then you have been touched by the ministry of Debbie Morris.

Because Debbie has had moments where the enemy, I'm telling you, has said things.

There's been frustrations, there's been hardships, there has been struggle, but she decided with her power that she's not going to allow the enemy to tear this ministry down.

She's gonna make sure it gets built up.

And each woman in this room and online at all of the campus needs to understand that you have that power and the enemy knows it.

And a lot of times in this culture, you're not given the credit that is due.

The enemy knows it, and throughout the Bible, there were women that changed the course of history.

Everybody wants to preach a sermon on Moses, but if it wasn't for Shifara and Puh, you wouldn't be preaching no sermons on Moses.

A lot of times we haven't even heard those names because they're in the background hidden, making sure this dude can come save Israel.

You have powerful women in the Bible like Rahab who hid those spies and didn't let those men of God die when they were trying to scout out the land of Jericho, and God saw that and established a household for her when she married Salmon, and her and Salmon had a baby named Boaz, and Boaz met Ruth, and they had a baby named Obed, and then Obed had a baby named Jesse, and then Jesse had a king named David, and through the line of David came Jesus the Christ.

Therefore, Rahab is in the lineage of Jesus Christ.

Why?

Because she chose life and not death.

God established the household for her, and these women had the power in this text to tear down a culture or build up a culture, and that is the power you have.

And if you say yes to God, I know some of you, if I'm talking to my ladies for a second, are in some tough situations.

You have some history, you've been through some things, and you have the ability to tear this man down.

You have the ability not to build him up, you have the ability to make sure that you are a cog in the wheel of his progression.

But understand that God is watching how you use your power to determine if he will set up your household.

Because here it says in Exodus 1 21, it says, Because the midwives feared God, he established households for them.

He established a heritage and a legacy.

He established a household for the midwives and blessed them because of how they used their power and not using their experience for the hindrance of God, but the fur furtherance of that kingdom.

So I want to give Debbie some props today.

Because that's why you're sitting in this room.

You didn't know I was gonna do that, did you?

You didn't know I was gonna do that.

And here we are.

Pharaoh had to think of something else.

Because the Hebrew midwives who had the power to execute Pharaoh's plan looked at Pharaoh and noticed it says, they feared God too much, which means they feared God more than they feared Pharaoh.

I fear God more than I fear the cultural nuances and things that are coming against me.

I fear God more than I fear my own emotional state.

I fear God too much, so I have to do what God is asking me to do, not what my experiences or what's whispering in my ear tells me to do.

And God established a household so the enemy had to figure out another plan.

If you gonna if the enemy is gonna work, let him work through his people, not our people.

It would be nice if the church of Jesus Christ wasn't a house divided against itself.

But the enemy tries first with our people, and then he said in Exodus 1.22, then Pharaoh commanded all his people.

He had to switch teams.

Saying, Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.

So his strategy, as you can see, was to get rid of the men because there's never been a culture in the history of mankind that has ever survived without strong men.

And men are in chaos.

It's not simply because men are just in chaos, it's because Pharaoh has a plan specifically designed for you.

So that you will not lead, you will not take your place, you will not say, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

You will not go in the right direction.

You will rather choose laziness over progression for the kingdom of God.

You would rather just sit soak and sour and make excuses, and you think it's just you and your daddy and your lack of blueprint and all.

No, it's Pharaoh who has his hands on you.

The Bible says we fight not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, the world forces of darkness, the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places, Pharaoh's lurking.

And so we need to see this the right way because my dad has always said, if all you see is what you see, you do not see all there is to be seen.

Doesn't that sound like a Tony Evans'ism?

That sounds like a Tony Evans'ism, don't it?

But you're not looking through the right glasses and framework.

And so there comes a story in Exodus chapter 2 on Pharaoh's edict, and decisions had to be made.

Exodus 2 · chapter mention

There are things that you are experiencing that Pharaoh is trying to strip from you.

His tactic is that he takes the thing that you love the most that was conceived in you, that you have given birth through to, that you want to see develop and grow and mature.

You want to be the one to nurse the baby, you want to be the one to grow it, develop it, take it to school, to launch it into its purpose.

You want to see your marriage succeed, you want to see your legacy succeed, you want to see your purpose succeed, your dream succeed, your ideas succeed.

You want to be used by the kingdom of God, and that inclination is what Pharaoh wants to kill.

It's better for you to say, I used to want to be used.

I used to, I mean, I thought I could.

I thought it was possible that and too many people in the kingdom of God have started throwing in the towel.

While Pharaoh says, perfect, now get back to work.

What do you do when it feels like that blessing is now becoming a burden?

That marriage is getting too heavy.

That wayward child, don't you wish you could just take your brain out and put it in their head?

We can skip all this teaching stuff.

Let me just do surgery.

You just need a new brain.

Some of you tonight are holding some burdens.

Because Pharaoh is tugging at your baby.

And it says in Exodus 2, now the man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi.

The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.

But when she could no longer hold him, she got a wicker basket and covered it with tar and pitch, and she put the child into it and set it among the reeds in the Nile.

Can you imagine?

Can you imagine this story?

Pharaoh has an edict out in the land, and she saw that the baby was beautiful.

The translation is healthy.

It's a healthy relationship, a healthy marriage, a healthy uh job, a healthy career.

It's healthy.

I'm excited about it.

I want to see it develop.

I want to see it be raised.

And then she got to a point where the edict was so strong, his hands were tugging at such a high level that she could no longer hold her own baby.

It got too difficult for her.

She could no longer hide him, she could no longer protect it.

She can no longer use her hands to make sure that it survives.

She could no longer be the one who's in control of the outcome.

The edict just got too heavy for her.

And for some of you in this room, the truth be told, you're figuring out that this is just getting too heavy for me.

I'm tired trying to make this marriage work.

I'm tired trying to get this kid to come back.

I'm tired trying to manipulate my circumstances.

I'm just tired.

She got to a place where she could no longer hold the baby.

You know why?

Because the edict of Pharaoh is so strong, it just makes you tired.

And there's some people in the room, the truth be told, you're just tired.

You can no longer hold it.

And the reason why you're tired is because you've been playing this tug of war so long, but your hands are burning.

You can't hold it anymore.

And you're at the brink where you just have to throw in the towel.

That's where this woman is.

Don't no mom just put her baby in the Nile.

You got to be in a situation.

You got to be at up to here, trying to hide from Pharaoh and all his goons.

That was funny, didn't you?

But I'm just making the point that I know that some of you are toe-up from the flow of tires.

Going through the same thing over and over and over again, trying with your own hands to make it work.

And what does she do?

I'm gonna make it a simple point that will change your whole life.

It's gonna change your whole life.

You know what she did when the burden got too heavy?

She put the baby in the hands of God.

I can't do it anymore.

It's too big for me.

I'm losing my mind.

Do you know why you're losing your mind?

It's because now you've stepped in God's territory trying to hold on to it.

You can't survive in God's territory.

The reason why you're losing your mind is because you ain't Him.

You're a natural being trying to handle all these things in your life.

And the problem is you have more faith in you than you have in God.

That's why you keep it in your hands.

That's why you will not give it to him.

You feel like you can do better than he can.

You feel like you're a better God than he is.

You won't say it, but why won't you give it to him?

Why won't you let go of the baby?

Well, it's my baby, it's too important.

I've been praying about this for a long time.

I've been trying to get this man for a minute.

It's my baby.

I can't I can't give up my baby.

That's crazy.

Not if you believe in God.

Not if you understand who the person and work of Jesus Christ is in your life.

I'm not telling you to give your baby to anyone.

She gave her baby.

How can you not listen to me?

Some of you are losing your minds, and you won't give God your baby.

You know the one who the disciples, when they were afraid in the water?

The one I'm telling you to give it to, he walked on the water.

You know the one who didn't only had two fish and five loaves?

But then all of a sudden he was able to feed 15,000 people, five men, not include 5,000 men, not including women and children, about 15,000 people with two fish in five loaves.

That's who I'm telling you to give it to.

You know the one who cried over the death of Lazarus, then decided, you know what, let me just go ahead and raise you from the dead.

That's who I'm telling you to give it to.

You know the one who died himself and then got up three days later?

That's who I'm telling you to give.

You act like I'm talking about some sorry joker over here on the side that can't handle your problems.

That's why the Bible says in Psalm 55, cast your cares upon me and I will sustain you.

That's why the Bible says, Come to me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

That's why the Bible says, Trust in the Lord with all of your heart.

Do not lean at all on your own understanding, but in all your ways, acknowledge me, and I will make your path straight.

God is trying to take responsibility from you for the baby that he conceived in you, but you won't give it to him.

He's gonna do much better with the baby than you're gonna do with the baby when Pharaoh's coming for you.

She took the baby, that which was the most important to her.

And when that blessing was starting to become a burden, she gave the baby to the Lord.

That means you have to let it go.

See, people think for you're you lack grace if you let something go.

No, you let that thing you let go experience God's grace if you let it go.

You're in the way.

Now you may be asking, well, how do you know that putting it in the Nile means that she put it in the hands of God?

I mean, I mean, how do you where'd you get that?

That's a nice, you know, churchy application, but I don't see that.

Well, Gateway, I'm glad you asked.

It says, but when she could no longer hide him, she put the baby in a wicker basket and covered it with tar and pitch and put the baby in the Nile.

Wicker basket is translated ark.

Pitch is translated atonement.

In Genesis 6:14, God told Noah to build an ark and seal it with tar and pitch.

Genesis 6:14

The Hebrew word for pitch is Kafer, the root word is atonement.

So she put the baby in a place where she had an expectation of salvation.

And then she sealed it with atonement because she didn't put the baby in the Nile like this.

Don't, don't, don't misunderstand what I'm telling you.

I'm not telling you to do your marriage like this.

That's not what I'm telling you to do.

Some of y'all are thinking, good, because these kids.

That's not it.

There's an expectation she had that God will save the baby.

When she put the baby in the Nile, she's putting it in the hands of God, not like this, but like this.

I want to see God make a way out of no way.

I've heard it said before.

If it's not good yet, God's not done yet.

Let me see it.

That God is able to work all things out for good for those who love God and are called according to his purposes.

I want to see it.

The way that you see God work is you put the baby in his hands.

You can't pray and not give it to him and then sit around and wait for a prayer, and then when he doesn't answer, say he ain't God.

You didn't give it to him, you just prayed about it.

She put the baby in a wicker basket and put it in the Nile.

And when she put it in the ark and sealed it with pitch, she put that baby in the place of disaster.

She didn't change locations.

Pharaoh said, Let me throw these babies in a Nile.

She said, Let me put the baby in a Now.

I'm gonna put the baby in the same place of disaster because in the hands of God, the place of disaster can become the place of deliverance.

The place of drowning can be the place where I'm surviving.

The place where everybody else is dying can be the place where I'm winning if it's in God's hands and not in mine.

You're waiting for a change.

And I've said it before at our men's conference, God is waiting on you.

And He has more time than you.

Next.

Because God is saying, You will experience me when I experience you.

When I see your faith and your willingness to put down what is the most precious to you, Abraham, offer up Isaac.

Then you'll experience me in a whole new way.

Listen to me.

Your success and survival against Pharaoh will not be contingent upon what you're willing to hold on to.

Your survival is gonna be more contingent upon what you're willing to let go of.

And when you put it in the hands of God, you get to see him work.

Okay.

Y'all think I'm up here just talking?

Okay, let me let me.

After she put the baby in the Nile, do you know what happened in this story, y'all?

Have y'all seen God work like this?

Or are this just Bible stories?

She put the baby in the Nile and just so happens that Pharaoh's daughter smelled herself and wanted to take a bath.

It just, you know what I'm saying?

It was just kind of one of those happenstance, chance and luck, that Pharaoh's daughter decided that at the moment the baby was put in the Nile amongst the reefs, she would come take a bath.

Pharaoh's daughter looks out and sees the basket and gets curious, tells one of her maids to go get that basket.

She brings the basket over, it has a baby in it.

It's a Hebrew boy named Moses.

She doesn't know that.

The baby's just cute.

The baby is crying, and Pharaoh's daughter has pity on the baby.

So she decides, you know what?

I'll keep him.

Then Moses' sister Miriam is looking on.

Moses' sister Miriam moses on over to have a conversation with Pharaoh's daughter.

Do you know what Moses' sister Miriam asked?

Pharaoh's daughter?

Hey, I see that you've taken a liking to this baby.

Um, would you like me to find a Hebrew woman to nurse him for you?

Pharaoh's daughter's clueless.

Well, that's a great idea.

Why don't you find me a Hebrew woman, some random Hebrew woman, to come nurse this baby for me because I'm that ain't my baby, so it'd be good for a Hebrew woman to come nurse the baby.

So Miriam takes her brother to her mom, who just put the baby in the Nile.

Because God was able to work all things out for good for those who love him and are called according to his purposes.

She thought she was losing something and she was gaining everything.

That's why I love the giving attitude of Gateway and Pastor Rob because you're not losing anything, you're putting it in the hands of God, and God knows how to back up the truck.

She brought that thing around, and that's not even the best part.

The time is running out.

Pharaoh's daughter went to Moses' mother unknowingly and said, Will you nurse this baby?

She said, Why, of course, I'll nurse him.

And then here's the kicker.

Pharaoh's daughter told Moses' mother, thank you for nursing him, I will pay you wages.

I'm trying to let you know that it pays to trust God.

That if you will put it in the hands of God and stop fighting with Pharaoh, that God will have Pharaoh writing checks to you.

Do you know Pharaoh was writing checks?

He had the edict and he was writing checks.

It was his edict to kill the boys, now he's writing checks to nurse them.

Because even the enemy is God's puppet when you put that thing in his hands.

Your purpose, your destiny, what God wants to do in your life, many of you are holding on to it and you want to win.

You want to see your baby thrive.

The problem is you're fighting against Pharaoh.

And when Pharaoh comes out, when Pharaoh is actually the one that you're fighting against, that blessing of slack all of a sudden will become tension.

Because Pharaoh is not interested in you experiencing destiny.

He wants you to give up.

Your hands are beginning to burn, and you feel like you're consistently losing, but you're trying as hard as you can.

You're giving it your best effort.

I ain't asked you for all that, bro.

I didn't ask you for all that.

You're trying as hard as you can.

You're giving it your best effort, and you're crying out to God, help me.

Pharaoh is killing me.

My situation is killing me.

I'm continuing to lose.

So you got two options.

You can continue to fight with Pharaoh and hang on to this thing, or you can call somebody bigger.

You can call on the name of Jesus, and somebody a little bit bigger, a lot bigger than Pharaoh is gonna come and he's gonna take it off of you.

Then all of a sudden, you can see that things are beginning to work out in your favor.

Slowly but surely, Jesus is starting to work out, and you'll notice that just with his mighty right hand, he's able to overcome both of Pharaoh's hands.

The question is, how do you know that Jesus is bringing that thing back around to you?

It's simple.

You give it to him and you let him rip it from Pharaoh.

And when he rips it from Pharaoh, he'll give it back to you.

How do you know it's from him?

Because when Jesus gives it back to you, he gives it back to you with the blessing of slack and no longer the burden of tension.

Because when God blesses, there is no sorrow with it.

You gotta be praising God right now.

I want Gateway Church, all of those who are on the line, I want you to praise God that you have somebody to give it to that won't mess it up, will bring it back around and let you know that if it's not good yet, God's not good yet, he's ready and excited about taking responsibility from those who believe in him more than they believe in themselves.

You ought to worship him.

You don't have to carry that burden.

Give it to him.

In 2022, I want to know how strong his hands are.

So if that's you, I just pray for you right now that you would have the trust, belief, and the faith in the God that you serve to give it to him.

How do you know that you've given it to him?

You're no longer burdened by it, and you're no longer trying to manipulate the outcome.

You're no longer burdened by it, and you're no longer actively trying to manipulate its outcome.

God, you do it.

It's the best thing you can do.

Heavenly Father, we love you and we honor you.

We thank you tonight that we learned a powerful lesson that all of our grandmothers have told us once before.

Let go and let God.

Lord, help us to experience you because we don't want to serve a God that is an ethereal spirit, never never land, that we just talk about, that we come together about, but we don't have the experience.

We want people to be able to ask us, will he do it?

And we want to confidently say, Yes, he will.

Because we have the experience of the one true living God.

So I pray tonight for Gateway Church, for those in the building and those online and on the campus grounds, that they would give it to you.

Your burden is light, Lord, and your yoke is easy.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you so much, Gateway Church.

It's been good to be here.

Awesome.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.