Greater Than Your Fears | John Challinor

Welcome to those of you online this morning.

We are so excited that we get to do this together.

We get to gather, we get to worship together,

and hopefully your time has been special where

you are. Baghdad, that's you. Paulding, that's

you. We're excited for what God is doing in those

communities. I had a moment this week, I was

at Starbucks, and no plug for Starbucks, by the

way, I was just there. But in the process, I

got to meet a couple, Terry and Linda, who are

in People's Valley. And they were so excited

to go, hey, we are there every week on the online

family. So Terry and Linda, welcome to you. It

was great to meet you, and we're glad you're

here. Well, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome.

We're glad you're here. I love when worship,

when we get to worship in song and in the...

process of doing that, we get to put language

to things that are real. I don't know if you

caught it within that What a God song, but just

the idea that in the crowd, God sees you. God

is present with you. And sometimes in the midst

of a crowd, it can be easy to be like, you know,

does God really see me? Like if we're really

honest, some of you, some of you, you are like

ninjas on your way in here. What do I mean by

that? Like you think it's a challenge to get

past the guest services team. Right. So so you're

avoiding the guest service team. You're sliding

in behind people. You even do a walk by on the

little refreshment thing. Like you grab the cup

that's there so that you don't stop. Nobody sees

you. Then you you make it in here and you slide

into your seat and you're like, OK, I'm in a

crowd. But the beauty is God sees you. He knows

you. So even in the midst of a crowd, right,

like the excitement for me is that God is going

to speak to you. That's the anticipation. That

within that song, the reality of like the highest

place, if the highest place I ever reach is at

your feet, man, it doesn't get any better. I've

done it all. And we can sing these lofty songs,

right? Like you are my everything. And just like

Miko's, I love Miko's honesty because what she's

expressing is this idea of spiritual maturity,

right? Like what spiritual maturity is, is when

what I know is actually what I live. And that's

when you know you become mature in your faith.

That's the goal of this, right? Like that we

would know and we would take actions to become

who God says we are. And when that gap begins

to close is actually when you begin to become

spiritually mature. When you do what God has

told you to do. When you do what you know to

be true. Here's the honest truth. We don't need

more information. Most of you, if you've been

around church, if you haven't been around church,

that might be a different story. But if you've

been around church for any length of time and

you've heard a few sermons along the way or messages

or talks or whatever you want to call them, and

you go, you know what? I could dare say you have

all the information you will ever need to live

the Christian life. You just need to put it into

action. And one of the things we do when we gather

in here is we're just bringing it back and going,

you know what? There are gaps in my life. I sing

he's my everything, but then, uh. Not really.

And so that's a spiritual gap, right? That you've

got to close up if you're going to mature. We're

heading into a new collection of talks. It's

called Snapshots. The word snapshot is really

interesting because the word snapshot comes from

in the 1800s. If you were to go hunting and you

were not to aim, you were just to grab your gun

and take a quick shot. That's what a snapshot

was. And then later in the 1800s, photography

got a hold of the word. At that point, you had

to have an elaborate setup and exposure, and

so it took time. But a snapshot was you didn't

take time to do any of that. You just took a

quick snapshot, and whatever you captured, you

captured. And what we hope to do over the next

weeks together is we hope to build these pictures,

if you like, these captured moments. of this

is who God is. You realize your faith starts

and ends with who God is. The size of your faith

and your walk is all dependent on the view that

you have of God. And so over the next weeks,

what we're going to kind of lean into is this

idea of what a God and creating this picture

of this is who this God is. And so the way we're

going to do it is we're going to work through

some of the book of Exodus. But we're just going

to take snapshots. We're just going to grab moments

and capture moments and put, hopefully, color

around them that we go, man, what a God. What

a God. And then hopefully what happens is we

begin to sync up. We begin to sync up some of

our actions with what we know to be true. And

so whether you're here in the room or you're

across the screen, that's our goal over the next

weeks together as a family. And this week, we're

going to start with a topic. that is around the

idea of fear. You realize there's all different

kinds of fear, right? And if we were to break

down this room and if you're an Enneagram person,

there's Enneagram sixes. If you're here, you've

already figured out every what if could happen

in this space and what your exit plan is. Like

you already have it in place because you live

in the world of what if something goes wrong,

right? And so there's a natural, if you're an

Enneagram six, there's a natural. kind of bent

on your life, that you're just going to navigate

life, figuring out all the things that could

go wrong and them not happening. It's a fear

perspective, right? There's physical fear. Last

summer, I got to go. My wife and I were away.

We were in the mountains in California. And part

of the day, my wife goes, there's only one thing

I really would like to try to do. And she goes

like this. hike, but it's not really a hike.

Now, if you know me and you know her, we don't

really hike, we walk, right? Like we go on walks

together, not a hike together. And so when she

says this, I'm like, what, for what? That's the

first thing, right? Like if we're going to go

walk, why are we walking? And she goes, okay,

there's this heart -shaped rock that's at this

waterfall and it sounds very cute and romantic,

right? And she's like, it's an easy walk. Everybody

says it's easy. And so Literally, we go, this

is how prepared I am. I got a plastic water bottle

and I got these new shoes that I was trying to

break in, these tennis shoes I had. I was like,

I'll just break them in on this walk, right?

Like it's supposed to be around a mile there,

a mile back. So we get going and it's this nice

path. And then all of a sudden, it starts to

turn into this narrow path. And you're kind of

working your way through rocks and different

things. And we're seeing people along the way.

And so we stopped at one point and went, hey,

are we on the right path? Because we thought

this was a walk, not a hike. Like, is this right?

And they're like, oh, yeah, you just need to

keep going up there, down there, over there.

I'm like, that doesn't sound easy. And so we

keep going because she's got her heart set on

seeing this hard rock. So now it's getting a

little harder. And so I'm like. I'll do the manly

thing. I'll go in front of you and help you down,

right? And so I'm helping her through, and we're

getting down. And I go to step, and all of a

sudden, I just hear rattles. Now, I'm not totally

sure what happened in that moment. I don't know

if I put this foot down and launched from this

foot or if I launched from my standing leg. But

what I do know is this. I don't know much about

the outdoors, but I've been told. That if it

is a baby rattlesnake, they are much more deadly

than an adult rattlesnake. This was a baby rattlesnake,

and it was coiled and ready to strike. And so

I just went this direction. There was no thought.

There was no, like, I'm out of here, right? Well,

what I didn't know is there was a nine -foot

drop. And so I launch over this edge. Thankfully,

I had these new shoes. God was out in front of

me protecting the stupid, right? And they were

wide and stopped my ankle from rolling. And so

I land nine feet down with the rattlesnake up

there and my wife up there. And I'm like, I'm

safe. We're good. So there's physical fear, right?

There are things that instantly cause fear in

us. And we hit this like moment of I'm going

to stay and fight or I'm going to jump off a

cliff like I'm just one or the other. There's

also cognitive fear. And cognitive fear happens

between your ears. It happens in your mental

processing. And cognitive fear is much different.

Cognitive fear in my 20s, we were going to be

missionaries, so we'd gone to this training center

that taught you how to learn a language that

was unwritten. And I'll be honest with you, it

took me a year and a half to get to that school.

Because in high school, I'd failed French and

German. So God and I, for a year and a half,

had these conversations around, I don't know

why you're making me go. This is dumb. Why are

you making me go? You know I'm not good at this.

It's just for you to prove that I'm not good

at this, and we're going to go. So I've got all

this wound up, all happening between my ears

fear. Well, I go to language school, and I got

straight A's. God had gifted me for it, and I

didn't even know it. So we get there, and partway

through that year, they go, hey, you know what?

Would you stay and be an instructor? No. Right.

Like we got plans. We're going. And so we start

to chat with God and God goes, hey, you need

to stay and do this. I was like, God, I don't

want to. I'm not good at this. Why would you

make me? And then so so we God is God. And so

we stayed. And now we're in the middle of that

year of teaching because I told him you only

get one year. We're in the middle of that. The

Canadian side, right, so now we're talking another

country, contacts this school and goes, hey,

we want to, right, the same mission organization,

we want to start a language school for our Canadian

students. Would you be willing to, do you have

anybody who would be, who you'd recommend to

do this? How my name got put in there, I still

don't understand. But all of a sudden I'm sitting

with this leadership team and they're like, hey,

would you consider going to Canada and starting

a language? I'm like, it's one thing to teach

other people's curriculum. It's another thing

to show up and you're supposed to be the one

creating it. I'm like, no. And then God said,

hey, you're going to go. And I can't tell you

how many conversations with God were wrapped

around not wanting to go. Long story short, we

ended up there for five and a half years and

the school is still going. But isn't it interesting,

the thoughts that we have around our fears? I

would dare say you're sitting here, if you're

human, you have some fears. You have things in

your world that you know God is calling you to.

And it doesn't mean that those are go start a

language school in Canada. It may be as simple

as you're in a relationship that you know you

shouldn't be in and you're scared to leave because

you got every what if on the planet. You may

know that you're here and you know God's calling

you to shift careers and you're terrified of

shifting careers. You may be here and you're

just like, you know what? I don't know if God's

actually going to provide. There's all these

different areas of life, raising kids. You want

to talk about fear? Have some kids. Right? Every

fear comes in. And fear is a part of this journey.

And what we see in Exodus chapter 3, the context

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

of Exodus chapter 3, what's happened before this

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

is the nation of Israel have been enslaved. And

when you hear enslaved, think of the most oppressive

state you can be in, right? Like the emperor

at one point determines that, hey, I'm going

to have all the babies. all the male babies killed

that are Israelites. So any male babies that

are born, you gotta put them to death right where

they are. That's the kind of oppression they

are under. And so in the midst of this oppression,

right, they begin to get to the point they're

so overwhelmed that they cry out to God. The

Israelites go, hey, you gotta save us. We need

some help down here. To which, to which, and

this is something that's worth just noting away

on who God is. God always answers the cry of

the oppressed. God always hears it and always

answers. How do I know there is a cross stained

red? And that is out of our oppression to sin,

our oppression to brokenness, that God showed

up to rescue us. And so what you have in the

story of Exodus is you have these pictures of

the gospel, right? They're in a physical rescue.

We have a spiritual rescue. And so all the way

through, you kind of get these pictures that

correlate to who we are and create this bigger

picture of who God is. And so they cry out to

God and God answers them this way. Chapter 3,

verse 1. Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro,

his father -in -law, the priest of Midian. And

he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness

and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. So catch

everybody up, same speed. We got this character

named Moses. Mo for short, if that's your thing.

But what Mo does, he has got a history to his

life at this point. And that history is that

when he was born, he was one of those babies

that should have been put to death. But his mama

put him in a basket, hid him, and sent him down

the river. Now, under God's guiding hand, wouldn't

you know that Moe ends up at the house of the

empire? He ends up at Pharaoh's house. Pharaoh,

think of... Every single person you can think

of on the planet, Pharaoh is the most powerful

person on the entire planet who runs the largest

empire on the planet. That is the house that

this baby ends up at. His daughter ends up raising

him. And partway through Mo's story, what you

get is that partway through he realizes, hey,

I'm an Israelite and they're my people. And then

he sees them mistreated. So what does he do?

He goes to protect, ends up killing one of them,

buries them. But the rumor mill has already started.

And now he's concerned it's going to get back

to Pharaoh. Pharaoh's going to want to kill me.

And so he runs. He's 40 years old when that happens.

And so he takes off. At this point when we meet

him, what we get is that now he is looking after

the herds of his father -in -law. And it specifically

says, listen to the phrase it gives us. He led

the flock to the far side of the wilderness.

One of the things I love about the Bible, you

guys, is the language is so rich, right? Like

the language here of the far side of the wilderness,

that far side is the unseen space. Wilderness

is deserted, right? Like wilderness is that it's

unseen, but it's also, there's no ownership.

Nobody owns the land. And so when you get to

the land, right, now nobody owns it, so there's

no identity. So he's in an unseen place where

there's no identity attached to anything around

him. He's unseen. And it's in the midst of him

being on the far side, as far away as he can

get, that it says this. There the angel of the

Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within

a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on

fire, it did not burn up. So Moses thought, I

will go over and see this strange sight. Why

did the bush, why the bush does not burn up?

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look,

he called. God called to him from within the

bush, Moses, Moses. And Moses said, here I am.

Do not come any closer, God said. Take off your

sandals for the place where you are standing

is holy ground. Then he said, I am the God of

your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,

the God of Jacob. At this, Moses hid his face

because he was afraid to look at God. So you

have this moment on the far side of the wilderness

where he thinks he is unseen, where he is unknown,

where he is not identified by anything around

him. And it's in the midst of that that it says

that God shows up. And the language here is super

important because the word in the original for

bush has to do with it is small. It is covered

in thorns and it is common. So some people want

to say, well, it was a tree. It wasn't a tree.

It's intentional, the language that was used.

It is small, covered in thorns, and it is common.

Why is this important? Because remember, everything

in the Bible is pointing forward to who? To the

person of Jesus, pointing forward to what he's

going to do. And so in the midst of this moment

where God shows up and it's a fire and it's not

consuming, there's something that we learn about

God. That he came and his presence was where?

In the small, not the grand. Well, wait a minute.

When Jesus came, where did Jesus come? He came

as a baby. I don't know if you know this or not.

We're not very big. Like humanity, we're just

not very big. What do I mean by that? I don't

know if you had this moment, but this week about

1130 at my house, roughly. I was dead asleep

and out of nowhere, there was this bang of thunder

so loud. There was this bang outside my house,

lightning thunder. And what happened? I literally

went, okay, Jesus, we're going home. Like it

was one of those moments. It was so loud. But

in those moments, what do you realize? I'm really

not very big. Hey, we live in Arizona. You don't

have to go outside. And you go, I don't control

a whole lot of stuff. When I see the sky. Right?

Where is Jesus found? He comes in the smallest

way. He comes to this moment, and if you continue

to follow this through, right? So he comes to

the small, to the human, to the fragile. And

in the midst of that, what's also true of humanity

is if you follow the story backwards to the beginning,

what you find in the beginning is when humanity

make a choice to go against God, we call that

sin, right? When they went against God, what

was told is that God cursed. He placed a curse.

And what was one of the curses? Thorns. And so

what you get a picture of in this, In this small

bush that God essentially shows up in is that

he comes where? In the midst of the curse. When

God shows up on the planet and he is born of

a baby, where is he coming inside of? He's coming

inside of a humanity that is cursed. You and

me, whether we like it or not, we are born onto

a broken planet, onto a cursed planet. We are

born separated from God. And in the midst of

that, we are under the curse. And where does

God show up? In the midst of the curse. I don't

think it's lost, you guys, that when he goes

to the cross, he has a crown of what? Thorns.

That the curse was thinking it was winning and

it was losing. Why? Because Jesus showed up.

He was present. And so there's this beautiful

picture that even though we are broken, when

we say yes to Jesus, the Holy Spirit indwells

us, right? In our brokenness, God is present.

And you're not consumed by him, but he is present.

And then the last thing about the bush is what?

That it is common. It is common. I love that

the presence of God took an ordinary thing. I

don't know how many were there, but if you picture

like common bushes out in the wild, there's just

thousands of them, right? And God chose this

common bush and what happened? It became extraordinary.

Why? Because God's presence showed up. You know

what's amazing? We aren't very big. We aren't

like in comparison to everything. We're not in

control of nothing. And yet God chooses, God

chooses the common, the common to put his presence

in. And what happens? is there's a moment where

it becomes extraordinary. You might put it this

way. This language has been chasing me for a

while. That what is natural in heaven, right?

Like what is true in heaven today, when it shows

up on earth, it's supernatural. And in you, in

you, what shows up in the person of God, in the

person of Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit,

is you are supernatural. Why not? Because you're

something. But because he's something and his

presence is in you. And so just like this moment

where Moses is having this moment with God, he

says, remove your sandals because you're on holy

ground. Why is the ground holy? Because the presence

of God is now where? There. What happens to you

in the New Testament when you say yes to Jesus

and the Holy Spirit indwells you? What do the

New Testament writers call you? They call you

holy and blameless. Why? Because the presence

of God is in you, which means that today, whether

you feel it or not, you are holy before God.

You are blameless before God. Why? Because the

presence of God is in you. Just like the ground

became holy, you are holy because the presence

of God is in you. It's this beautiful picture.

It's this beautiful picture of his people and

who we're becoming, that we would be holy. And

notice Moses' reaction. He ends up hiding his

face because he's afraid. And then down in verse

10, it says this. God's still speaking to Moses.

He goes, so now go. I am sending you to Pharaoh.

Remember the most powerful person on earth? To

bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.

So this is what I'm doing. I'm sending you, Moses.

But Moses said to God, who am I that I should

go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of

Egypt? You see what happened there, right? They

learned something about God. But then between

his ears, he got to thinking. And as he gets

to thinking, his eyes go to himself and he goes,

who am I? Fear begins to come in, right? Because

what he does is he starts to look at his inadequacies.

Like, God, do you know who I am? Like his insecurities,

like I'm not enough for this task that you're

calling me to. And so now this cognitive fear

begins to go. And so in verse 12, it says, and

God said, I will be with you. And this will be

a sign to you that it is I who have sent you.

When you have brought the people out of Egypt,

you will worship God on this mountain. Verse

13, Moses said to God, suppose I go to the Israelites

and say to them, the God of your fathers has

sent me to you. And they asked me, what is his

name? Then what shall I tell them? So again,

he's back where? In his head. And in his head,

he's going, OK, so if I show up and I go, hey,

what's that God's name? I don't even know your

name. Right. Like he's just rationalizing and

fear is growing inside of him. And he's going,

he's going, I don't even know who you are. So

what does God do? God tells him his name. That's

the next part of it. And then he goes, go to

the go to the elders of Israel. And when you

get to them, tell them this is what me, God,

I am who I am. Tell them what I said. Or chapter

four, verse one. Moses answered, what if, what

if they do not believe me or listen to me and

say the Lord did not appear to you? I don't know

how you feel about the Bible, but one of the

things I love is God didn't edit this out. He

didn't just strike it out because it's like,

Moses, this is taking too long. This is out of

here. But he gives us a real moment. Why? Because

your faith and my faith are supposed to be real

with God. And what he has here is very, very

real thoughts. What if, God, what if I go and

they don't believe me? You ever had what ifs

with God? God, what if the outcome isn't what

I want it to be? God, what if I do this for you,

but I get there, and when I get there, people

look at me and go, you didn't hear from God.

What am I going to do? Isn't it funny how tied

down we get by the reactions of other people?

When you have Almighty God, the one leading you,

and we get hung up by what this little human's

going to think? Give me a break. We can be so

fragile. You ever had that moment where you're

kind of in a room and you get the sense inside

of you and you're like, I need to go talk to

that person. You ever had that? And you're like,

well, God, I think it's you telling me to go

talk to them, but what if I do? What if they

laugh at me? What if they laugh? Your job isn't

to hold the outcome. Your job is to be obedient

to Almighty God. Your job is to walk by faith,

not by fear. Your job is to step into that moment

and go, you know what, God, I don't understand

it and I have all these fears, but you're God.

I mean, the what ifs, you guys, they're real,

right? What if I give my life to God? Will things

really change? What if I boldly stand for my

faith and it costs me my job? What if, God, I

feel like you're telling me to say this in this

relationship. And if I say that, I just am worried

that the outcome is going to be not what I want.

That's not your job. Your job is to be faithful.

Verse 10 of chapter four, Moses said to the Lord,

pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been

eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have

spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and

tongue. Can we just like applaud Moses's honesty,

right? Like what is he getting down to now, right?

Like he's getting down to this moment of this

is who I am and these are my real fears. My real

fears and in the original language, you can come

to this conclusion. Moses had a stutter. Right

now, couple that stutter with he hasn't been

in Egypt for 40 years. And if you do not use

language, you lose language. So you have some

kind of impediment, some kind of stutter. And

now I'm going to go speak through a different

language. He's got some real reasons to have

fear. I don't doubt that your reasons are real

for your fear. But I love that he gets to a point

where he's honest with God about it. Verse 11,

then the Lord said to him, who gave human beings

their mouths? Who made them deaf or mute? Who

gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not

I, the Lord? What does he do? He just reminds

him of who God is. You see your stutter? Let

me take you back to a picture of what a God.

And he says, now go. I will help you speak and

will teach you what to say. Verse 13, but Moses

said, pardon your servant, Lord. Please send

someone else. It's the best. It's the best. That's

all good. You're the God that does all that.

That's great. Send somebody else, please. You

guys, he had real reasons. Chapter 7, verse 7.

Listen to this. Moses was 80 years old. And Aaron,

Aaron's the guy that God sends to be his sidekick,

right? His Robin the Batman, if you like. Aaron,

83. When they spoke to Pharaoh. Can you imagine

like God's asking you to go fight the empire

and he goes, I'll send in help. And an 83 year

old shows up. That's like, thanks God. Appreciate

that one. 20 year olds were all unavailable or

what? God was like, they're on TikTok. I don't

know. 80 and 83. Okay, think about it for a second.

God comes to you. And you're 80 years old. Now,

what I know about 80 years old, wow, it's easy

to speak. 80 -year -old people, what I know about

them, there's a lot of aches and pains. Right?

There's a lot of, I'm just tired. And it's all

valid. Imagine being 80 and 83, and as an 80

-year -old, you got a stutter. And God goes,

hey. I'm sending you to China. You're going to

go stand up to him. Excuse me? That's the image.

The largest empire on earth. And he had real

reasons for fear, but can I give you the cure

for fear today? Notice what is said within this,

right? Go back to chapter 4, verse 12. Now go,

I, I will help you. you speak and will teach

you what to say. What is God doing? What is the

cure for fear? It's to remind yourselves of the

presence of God. He says, I'm going to be with

you. I'm going to go with you. And I will what?

I will help you, Moses. I'll help you take your

mouth that you think doesn't work. I will help

you with it. And Moses, I will teach you. That

word teach, we're chatting about it in our teaching

prep this week, right? That word teach, it's

the same root as you get for Torah. Now, what

is the Torah? First five books of the Bible.

He's essentially saying the word teach in the

original is I will instruct you in what? In what

in their world was everything. I'll instruct

you, Moses, in everything. And the way the rabbinical,

the rabbis would kind of process that is it was

God was going to be a visible instruction when

Moses went. What a beautiful picture. That the

God. who created it all, is going to go with

him. And when he goes with him, he's going to

help him in his weaknesses. He's going to help

him in the things that he thinks don't qualify

him. He's going to help him in those things.

And what's going to happen? And when he gets

there, I will be a visible, visible guide into

everything you need. Okay, okay, connect some

dots. You ready? The Holy Spirit, when he comes

to live inside of you, right, it is a seal, meaning

he ain't leaving. Right. And so what does that

mean? Everywhere you go, the Holy Spirit goes

with you. The presence of God goes to wherever

you go. So there is nowhere when God asks you

to do something that you go. The presence of

God doesn't go with me. There's nowhere that

you can be outside of the presence of God. What

it means is that when you go, then the things

that Jesus said about the Holy Spirit are what

are happening. What did he say about it? He says

that the Holy Spirit will be your guide. He will

be your advocate. What is advocate? He will be

your helper. So when fear is coming, guess what?

The Holy Spirit is what? Helping you in the midst

of those fears. And then what's the other part

that Jesus says about the Holy Spirit? That he

will guide you in all truth. What you have inside

of you right now is the cure for fear. That fear

should never have mastery over you. That fear

should never be your story. Why? Because the

indwelling of God himself is in you and he wants

to guide you and he wants to help you into everything

he's asked you to do. You have no reason to fear.

But remember, remember how we started? Spiritual

maturity is what? What I know. Being moved to

closing the gap to what I do. When you mature

in your faith, it's not, I just got to have more

faith. That's not how this works. I got to have

more trust. I got to have more courage in what

God says is true of me. And I got to take trusting

me and put it on him. You know what helps us

with that is worship. Look at what the goal was

in chapter 3, verse 12. And God said, I will

be with you and this will be a sign to you that

it is I who have sent you. When you have brought

the people out of Egypt, you will worship God

on this mountain. Spoiler alert, they end up

worshiping God on the mountain. It's this beautiful

moment where God goes, hey, don't miss what I'm

doing. I'm buying you worship. Worship is always

costly. You realize that? If you think about

it in the case of the physical sense of the Israelites,

for God to show up, for Moses, there was a cost

to Moses. There's a cost to everybody involved.

Aaron, there's a cost to the faith of the Israelites.

There's a cost to livestock. There's a cost to

the nation of Egypt. All the Egyptians suffer,

right? Like even down to the firstborn, there's

a cost of setting them out. Then there's the

Red Sea. There's a cost to all of it. Why? So

they can get to a mountain and they can worship.

Your worship came costly. What do I mean? Your

worship is a weapon, right? What does worship

do? It reminds us who God is. As we sing these

words over, it reminds us, it puts us in perspective.

It centers us, but don't miss that your worship

in song was costly. What do I mean? Jesus had

to go to a cross for you to be able to stand

and worship. It cost him everything so that you

could declare you are my everything. Church,

what a God. What a God who finds us in the most

desolate place. What a God who finds us when

we feel unseen. What a God who in the midst of

us being far away chooses us. What a God who

transforms us and takes our fear and doesn't

let our fear become our story. What a God who

indwells us by his very own spirit. What a God

who is all powerful and yet powerful enough to

put inside your chest the same power that raised

Jesus from the dead. What a God who gives you

purpose in your life. What a God who doesn't

allow you to stay status quo. What a God that

will call you forward to live by faith. What

a God who is asking you, will you trust me enough

to take the worship I have bought for you and

use your freedom to just go? I'm going to declare

it back. I don't know about you, but when I see

a picture of that God, how can I not go? You're

my everything. You're everything. And so I take

my voice and I tell you, you're my everything.

And declare what a God. because there is none

like you. And so if you would stand, we're going

to declare together that you are my everything.