When God Hides You

Student pastor here at Church of the Grove.

Russ is out on vacation with his family.

He's actually now with, I guess, his daughter's in-laws.

I think that's how it works.

So definitely be praying, praying for him.

I'm sure they're having a blast.

Man, I'm excited about this morning.

We're starting a new series called Moses throughout the entire summer.

I think it's 10 weeks long.

We'll be walking through the life of Moses, just kind of one season of life after the other.

Before we get to Moses, I do want to say if you if you missed any of the sermons from the last series, or or maybe you were out for a good bit of them, go back and watch those.

The last series that we did, the The Resurrected Life, it was by far not just like my favorite, but by far probably the most transformational series that we've done in my own personal life.

And just walking through the power that's now made available that Christ has risen from the dead, that he's alive, that he is still Lord and Savior, and really learning to see what it looks like to live the life that he has called each one of us to live.

So I do want to say if you miss any of those, go back and watch them online.

They all should be on there on our website, on the app, kind of whatever works best for you.

But again, this morning we're we're starting a series of Moses.

Before we get there, I want to share about probably one of the biggest transitions that that has ever happened in my personal life.

And it happened when I was 12 years old.

So I I grew up, me and my family grew up in Dalton, Georgia.

It's up north, right below the Tennessee line, about two hours from here.

I grew up there for most of my childhood.

That's where all of my family is from.

Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, all of my family pretty much lives in that city.

I actually lived on the same property with three of my cousins and their families, and we had the privilege of just growing up together.

And we grew up obviously really close, and I built a couple really close friendships throughout my elementary schools with a couple guys that I feel like I did everything with.

From my perspective, at that time, you know, when I was 12 years old, just finished sixth grade, life was um life was great.

I had a great family, I had great friends.

I was getting to play um all kinds of sports.

We lived on a lot of property, so I got to ride my dirt bike every day when I got home from school.

I mean, life, life was incredible.

Life was incredible.

Um, but then there there came a day where where all that changed, and I'll never forget the day my parents came in and told me that that we were moving.

Um not just moving houses, but but moving cities and not just like the next town over, but all the way down here to good old Loganville, um, two hours away.

And uh man, I'll I'll never forget that day.

I was devastated.

I didn't um agree.

Um my my dad had gotten this this new job offer in Covington, um, working over there at the airport, and and they thought that was the best decision for our family.

And at that time, I just I didn't agree.

Um, I wasn't happy about it.

And and believe it or not, my parents, they they had the audacity to think that they they knew more than I did as a as a 12-year-old and knew what was best for our family.

Um but again in that moment I was I was extremely angry, I was sad, I I didn't want to leave my family, I didn't want to leave my friends, I didn't want to have to just start life over from from pretty much scratch and and make new friends, kind of uh get used to the the schools and the sports, all the different things.

Um, up to that point, that the day we moved was by far just the probably the worst day of my life.

And I genuinely thought that um, you know, looking back, it seems a bit drastic, but I I thought my life was was ruined.

That that it was just never gonna get better from that day on.

But little did I know how much God had in store, um, not just for me, but for my my entire family.

Um, it was impossible to see in that moment, but God had incredible, incredible plans for us.

Um, he knew what he was doing.

Um, even when we I I didn't know what I was doing, but but probably even in the midst of that, my parents, you know, they they were new to all of it as well.

So even when we probably didn't know what we were doing, God did.

He had a plan in the midst of everything.

And now looking back, I could not be more thankful that my dad got that new job, that we moved um everything pretty much down to this um this area.

I've been married to my wife Reese for three years that I certainly never would have met if I still lived in Dalton, Georgia.

I've built so many incredible friendships over the past um 14 years, whether it's through middle, high school, college, um, even now, just some of the new friendships I've been able to build with guys in this area.

But more important than any of that, I came to know the person of Jesus after we moved um from Dalton.

We uh shortly after we moved here, I started and I started school.

One of my friends and um their family invited us to to Church of the Grove.

And when we started coming to Church of the Grove, I heard the gospel just in a way that I had never really heard it before.

A gospel that was um was centered around the truth of scripture, a gospel that was full of grace and forgiveness, a gospel that displayed the glory and love of God in a way that I had just never heard before.

Again, I was I was young, so I was just now starting to comprehend all this.

But but through Church of the Grove, God has changed, again, not just my life, but I really think He's changed my entire family's life, which, long story short, is kind of how I ended up here in this spot this morning, which is crazy to think about.

But I tell this story to say that it's obvious my life would look incredibly different if me and my family had never went through, again, one of the most difficult seasons of my life, and I'm sure it's it was the same for my parents, and um I know it was the same for for my sister, but um we our lives would have looked so different if we didn't go through that and we didn't move to to old little old Walnut Grove, Georgia.

Um, and again, as a 12-year-old, I was I was devastated, I was hopeless, but just little did I know, um, little did I know what God had in store.

Um, that he had some incredible things in store for me and my family, and I couldn't see it at the time, but God's plan for for my life, looking back, was was just beginning to unfold when we went through that very difficult season of life.

And I would imagine that we have all had seasons of life where God's plan, it just seemed to be hidden, um, non-existent.

It seemed as if everything were falling apart.

Um, it seemed as if there was no hope that life would never be the same.

Certainly life would never get better.

But then in the midst of all of that, God was somehow working and moving, and his sovereignty was in control.

He was working on something far better than anything we ever could have imagined.

And what we see throughout scripture and and the lives of people in scripture is that God's plan often begins in these in these unseen places.

Um, it always begins in a place where we really don't see God's plan.

It doesn't seem like there's anything there.

Um, it doesn't, God's plan for our life doesn't really always seem like a plan, especially typically at the at the beginning of it, when his plan's just starting to unfold, it's really hard to see past or kind of what the future has in store.

But God is always working behind the scenes, and this is especially true for the life of one of the most well-known characters in all scripture, Moses.

Um, so again, we'll be taking the entire summer to deep dive into the life of Moses and understanding that that characters like Moses and their stories and and kind of how we see their life unfold, it gives us this ability just to almost see kind of in the hindsight, but understand the character of God and how he works, how he moves, how his plans kind of develop throughout our lives, but um but also just just understanding that everything in the Old Testament, and especially in the life of Moses, it points us forwards to the person of Jesus and what God has done through the person of Jesus and how we can now live the life that he has called us to live.

So this morning uh we will be beginning our series at the very beginning of Moses' life, and um we're gonna talk about the story of his birth.

So our big idea for this morning is that God's plan often begins in unseen places.

God's plan often begins in unseen places.

So Moses' birth, um, which by the way, it's really hard to say Moses Moses's, so I'm probably gonna mess that up a good bit, but Moses' birth takes place in Exodus 2, which is um we'll be there most of the morning, verses 1 through 10.

But uh to understand how some of the things happen in in Exodus 2, we've got to understand Exodus 1 just a little bit.

So I'm not gonna read all of it, but but I'm gonna kind of cover a lot of the main details.

So so Genesis ends with with the person of Joseph, and we we went through a series um not too long ago through through all of his story, which is also just as crazy as as Moses, but Genesis ends with the story of Joseph and his family, ultimately bringing um his father, all of his brothers into the the country of Egypt.

And at the time, that was a really good thing because there was there's famine everywhere else, and and God kind of used that opportunity as a way to save the life of Joseph and his family.

Um, God showed incredible favor on Joseph throughout that time.

They were thriving, and they had favor with the Pharaoh of Egypt at the time.

But as time went on and um Joseph and his family passed away, the people of Israel, meaning the people that came from Jacob and Jacob's family and Joseph and his brothers, the people of Israel began to multiply and increase rapidly.

That's obviously how generations work.

As you continue to have babies and expand the family, that's kind of how it works.

So the people of Israel, really just kind of signifying the beginning of God's people, um, began to multiply and increase rapidly.

And then eventually a new pharaoh came along that no longer remembered Joseph.

It said that it was probably close to 400 years, so you can imagine after 400 years, a new pharaoh comes into town.

He probably doesn't remember much about Joseph and and his family.

So this new pharaoh came in and he became intimidated by the number and power of Israelites or God's people that were living in Egypt, again, all tying back to Joseph and his family.

So as a result, he came up with a plan to, the Bible says to deal shrewdly with them, to deal shrewdly with the Israelites and God's people, to enslave them, to make life miserable for them.

But in Exodus 1, it says that the more God's people were oppressed, the more they seemed to multiply.

So Pharaoh was trying to crack down on them, but it but they seemed to just keep growing and multiplying and becoming more and more powerful.

So since oppression and slavery didn't work, the new Pharaoh came up with a new plan.

So he told all the Hebrew midwives to throw every Hebrew boy that is born into the Nile as soon as they're born.

So in other words, genocide was the Pharaoh's plan to get rid of the Israelites, to get to kind of handle that problem, to get rid of God's people.

And it's in this time in history that Moses was born.

This is when Moses' birth takes place.

Moses was born during a time where his people were living enslaved, newborn babies were being killed.

Um so from the surface, it doesn't really seem like the greatest time or timing for one of the most influential people in all of Scripture to be born.

Um so now we're gonna look at Exodus 2 and look at the story of the birth of Moses.

So starting in verse 1, it says, Exodus 2, verse 1.

Exodus 2:1

Now a man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman.

The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.

So we see here that when Moses was born, it seems as if his parents knew there was something special about him.

It says that when his mother saw him, she saw that that he was beautiful.

And and I would imagine that that every mom in the in the room when your kid was born, you probably said the the same thing that your your kid was beautiful, you probably thought that, and I don't really know if there's a thing, uh such a thing as a an a not beautiful baby.

Um if there is, no one's ever gonna say anything about it.

Uh so so for the most part, I would say we we call every child we see beautiful and would say that, but um, even if we don't mean it, but I think the Bible is is kind of hinting at something more here than just a physical beauty.

Um it's almost as if his parents could could could even just see all the way down to to his soul.

Um maybe there's even a chance you see the the stories of different births throughout scripture of of influential people for God's kingdom, and um see that that God even sometimes will give them a little insight into how incredible they will be.

So there's a possibility, even though we don't see it in scripture, that that his parents, that God could have revealed some things to his parents.

But um again, I think the the Bible's hinting at something.

His parents knew there was there was something a little different about this little baby, Moses.

But regardless, Moses' um mother saw something in him when he was born that caused her to start taking drastic and and then extremely faithful um actions.

Rather than letting Moses be thrown into the Nile with all the other Hebrew boys that were being born, we see that she actually hid him for three months.

And again, I'm I'm I'm not a parent.

Um I can't imagine what what that looked like.

Hiding a newborn baby for for three months, again, in a I I I would imagine their way of living is much different from ours.

They they probably didn't have houses with separate rooms and and all these different things, but trying to hide a newborn baby for three months, knowing that if that if the baby is found by the Egyptians, um his his life is is most likely over, along with with yours, because you're you're disobeying the Pharaoh's commands.

So this this was incredible faith by Moses' parents, but eventually it became a little too much.

We see in verses start in verse three, it says, But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with asphalt and pitch.

She placed the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

Then his sister stood at a distance in order to see what would happen to him.

So while on the surface, you know, in this part of the story, it seems like Moses' mother is is is kind of giving up and giving in.

I I that could not be further from the truth.

Um rather, what we see here is is really kind of this beautiful uh connection between between works and faith.

Between us doing something and and doing what God is we feel like God is calling us to do, but then also understanding that he's in control of everything.

And there there sometimes will come a point in our life where where we kind of have to take our hands off of things and trust that God is going to do something that only he can do.

So we kind of see that that Moses' mom, she did everything she could, and then with incredible faith, she she left the life of Moses and his future literally into the hands of God.

Um rather than tossing him into the Nile like they were commanded to, we see her start taking, you know, doing some different things to obviously try to preserve his life as much as possible.

She crafts together this basket to keep Moses afloat and alive for as long as as possible.

And um this is a bit of a fun fact, but but the Hebrew word that's used for basket here is only used one other time in in all the Old Testament, and it's the word used to describe the ark that God commanded Moses to build.

And it could be coincidence, I don't know, but it could also just be another very, very small detail that we see in scripture that that reminds us that that scripture is God breathed, but that he's that he's God is big, he's mighty, he's incredible, he's wise, his thoughts are above ours.

And I think it's it's pointing us to God's never failing protection, provision, redemption, restoration, whatever you want to call it.

The same way that God delivered Noah and his family from the most devastating natural disaster in history, God has also delivered baby Moses from corruption and oppression that he was born into, preserving and redeeming his life so that he could go on to redeem the lives of God's people.

So we see the faith of Moses' mother doing everything she can to save her little baby boy, again, putting her own life at risk to do all this, but ultimately it comes to a point where she simply has to trust that God will do what only he can do, that God will provide, he'll come through.

If if Moses is a part of God's plan, then his life will continue.

So from here on out in the story, I believe as a result of her faith, we see nothing but God's sovereignty.

We see nothing but but explanations of um of things that happened.

The only explanation is that God was the one behind everything.

So continuing the story in verse 5, it says, Pharaoh's daughter, so she puts Moses into the Nile, kind of in the reeds, um, off to the side.

It says, Pharaoh's daughter went down to bathe at the Nile while her servant girls walked along the riverbank.

She saw the basket among the reeds, sent her slave girl, took it, opened it, and saw him, the Moses, the child, and there he was, a little boy crying, and she felt sorry for him and said, This is one of the Hebrew boys.

Then his sister, talking about Moses' sister that's just watching all this stuff go down, most likely told by her mother, Hey, like, just just watch what happens, be there in case anything happens.

And like this was on purpose that his sister was there.

So Moses' sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call a Hebrew woman who is nursing to nurse the boy for you?

Go, Pharaoh's daughter told her.

So the girl went and called the boy's mother, Moses' mother.

Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.

So the woman took the boy and nursed him.

So you look at the story, and it's when you look at it and read it as much as I have over the past couple weeks, uh, this is a crazy story.

Crazy enough that the only explanation is that God is the one in the midst of all this.

He's working in the midst of all this.

Moses' mother leaves her child in a basket in the weeds of a riverbank, trusting the Lord to provide, and and he does.

He does in an incredible way.

Out of all people, the Pharaoh's daughter discovers the basket, only to find this baby Hebrew boy that's crying.

And rather than, I mean, legitimately, rather than just dumping him out into the river, like everyone else was told to do, God softens her heart.

I believe that's a a work of God that she felt sorry.

Some some of your translations will probably say she had compassion.

Um that's a that's God working.

God softening the heart of Pharaoh's daughter to have compassion on this crying baby, so much so that she sends Moses' sister, who just so happened to be at the scene, um, watching all of this go down, to find Moses' mom.

And then once Moses' mom comes to the Pharaoh's daughter, she gets asked to do something I'm sure she never imagined she was she thought she would get asked to do.

Pharaoh's daughter essentially says, take your son, nurse him for me, take care of him for me, because obviously I can't, and I'll pay you for it.

I'll pay you for it.

Has anybody ever offered to pay you to take care of your own children?

That would that sounds like the best gig ever.

Um so not only does she get her child back, essentially from the grave, from the dead, God comes through an incredible way, but she also gets paid to raise her kid.

Um, God is good.

God saw the faith of his mother, and he did something once again that only he can do.

And and I'm sure this this kind of season of life was was sweet and incredible, but um eventually the time came for for her to give him back um to Pharaoh's daughter, and that's kind of how we see this whole story close out in verse 10.

It says, When the child grew older, talking about Moses, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son.

She named him Moses because she said, I drew him out of the water.

So I can't I can't imagine, um, I doubt, I doubt none of us can really imagine the emotions that we're probably experienced in this in this one verse.

Moses' mother had to essentially give away her son that that obviously she so desperately loved.

But also, probably at this point, Moses was was probably old enough to understand what was happening, that he was now leaving the the woman who who raised him.

I'm sure he knew that it was his mom, and um, he probably had come to know based on kind of what happens in the rest of his life.

He was probably taught a lot of Hebrew traditions throughout this time and and raised as a Hebrew boy, and now the time was coming for him to go with the Pharaoh's daughter.

Um, whatever scene we can come up with in our minds, probably can't capture just how sad and and devastating this moment had to have been for both Moses and his mother.

Um, Moses was now a stranger and a foreigner, and once again it seems as if there is no hope for him.

Um, and it probably seems that way to his mother as well.

But what we'll see, we're not going to get to it this morning, but what we'll see over the summer is that even in the in the midst of this story, in this new transition of life, God still had a plan in the midst of everything.

Pharaoh essentially welcomed in a boy who would go on to be the instrument of judgment in the very place he grew up and be the one to lead God's people out of the land of Egypt.

So that's kind of the story of Moses' birth.

But the question I've really been wrestling with while I've been preparing this sermon is just simply like, what's the point?

Um, they told me to preach on this, and I read I read the verses, and I was like, what how am I gonna where's the sermon?

Like, where's the message?

Where's the point to get across?

And I I feel like I've told y'all a lot of information, and I I think it's good for us to just um be knowledgeable of of what God's word says and and what happens, but um we there there's a message in in the midst of this.

I think there's a message for for each one of us.

So to kind of answer that question, what's the point of of the story and and why why am I teaching on it?

I want to look at this story through three different lenses.

What does this story teach us about Moses?

How does the story point us forward to the person of Jesus?

And then what what is God maybe trying to say to us through everything else we've kind of heard?

So Starting with the first question, what does this story teach us about Moses?

It kind of goes back to our big idea that God's plan for Moses began in an unseen place.

In other words, Moses and his parents, they had no idea, no idea what God had in store for their little baby boy.

Hope and expectation for his future, I would imagine, was almost non-existent in the midst of this story in his early childhood years, especially when they had to give him right back to the Pharaoh's daughter.

I would imagine hope was really difficult to kind of hold on to during this season.

But despite the difficulties, Moses and his mother stayed faithful.

They stay faithful to the Lord.

Moses was born at probably one of the worst times and places in history for a Hebrew boy to be born, and yet by faith his mother stayed obedient to God.

So much so that she actually made it.

We have this chapter in Hebrews, Hebrews 11, known as kind of the hall of faith.

And there's there's different characters throughout scripture that are listed, and their faith is talked about and kind of celebrated.

And Moses' mother made the cut for the hall of faith.

Hebrews 11 23, it says, By faith, Moses, after he was born, was hidden by his parents for three months because they saw that the child was beautiful and they didn't fear the king's edict.

Moses' parents might have had this inkling that there was something special about Moses, but no way they possibly could have imagined just how special and how much God would use him to ultimately be this redeemer for God's people.

But because of their small act of faith, again, that we we see here in the story in Hebrews 11, God's plan was able to unfold.

If faith wasn't there, and they allowed the circumstances to change and affect their hope or expectation or get rid of their faith altogether, there's a chance Moses never never lived past his birth.

There's a chance that, again, God is sovereign.

I don't think this would actually happen, but God's God's plan in the course of history would be incredibly different if Moses wasn't a part of it.

But because of their small act of faith, God's plan was able to unfold.

And it began in this bit of an unseen place.

The beginning of Moses' life is surrounded by darkness and corruption, but God was working and he had a good, good plan for him.

God was hiding Moses in unseen places so that one day he could use Moses to display his power and his glory.

So the second question, how does the story point us to Jesus?

One thing, again, like I said at the beginning, one thing that's that's important to understand about the Old Testament, and I think sometimes where where we might go wrong when we read it and teach it, is that everything is meant to point us forward to the person of Jesus, to the good news of the gospel, how that is God's ultimate plan for redemption and restoration for his people.

So Moses, as we'll go on to see throughout the summer, was a bit of a savior and redeemer for God's people.

Moses led them out of slavery and oppression and ultimately to the promised land that had been promised to Abraham all the way back in Genesis.

And it's interesting how many parallels there are between the story of Moses and the story of Jesus.

Understanding that Moses did this for God's people and kind of led them to the promised land, but we know through the person of Jesus, that's where God's ultimate plan kind of comes into place.

His this ultimate plan for redemption, restoration, freedom, this new identity, citizenship that we have been given for the kingdom of heaven.

So it's interesting how many parallels there are.

So since we learned about the birth of Moses, I want to read the passage from Jesus' birth, and I want you to see the similarities just in the story of how they're born.

So Matthew 2, 13 through 18, after they were gone, um, that's talking about the wise man, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Get up, take the child, talking about Jesus and his mother, and flee to Egypt.

Don't think that's a coincidence, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child to kill him.

So he got up, he took the child and his mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt.

He stayed there until Herod's death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled.

Out of Egypt I called my son.

Moses was called out of Egypt, Jesus was called out of Egypt.

Then Herod, when he realized that he had been outwitted by the wise men, he flew into a rage, and he gave orders to massacre all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, in keeping with the time he learned from the wise man.

Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled, a voice was heard in Ramah, weeping in great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be consoled because they were there no more.

So I don't think it's a coincidence that the birth of Moses and the birth of Jesus have have all these kind of different connections and parallels.

Instead, I think it's God continuing to give us reason after reason to believe that Jesus is who he says he is, that he is the Messiah, the Savior, the one who was sent to redeem and restore and save God's people, to set us free from slavery and oppression from the enemy.

I think this is God's way of pointing us forward to Jesus.

Moses' life was in danger from the start, and I'm sure it seemed the same way to Joseph and Mary when Jesus was born.

But very similar to Moses, they could not possibly comprehend the plans that God had in store for Jesus.

Joseph and Mary never could have dreamed.

The same way Moses would escape the evil schemes of the Pharaoh and go on to set God's people free, Jesus escaped the evil schemes of Herod and would go on to create a way for all people to be saved.

So this story points so clearly to the story and the good news of Jesus that God's plan, it will not be spoiled, it will not be changed, it will not be corrupted by the enemy or whatever evil may get in its way.

God's plan is set and stone and it will come to fruition.

Which kind of leads us to the third question.

What is God saying to us?

What is God saying to us through the story, even through the birth of Jesus, whatever it may be?

What is God trying to teach us?

God's plan for Moses' life began in an unseen place.

It seemed as if there was no hope, but again, we see that God was working the whole time.

And I think we can take that and and run with confidence, knowing that the same is true for our lives.

God's hand is on your life whether you can see it or not.

God has a plan for your life, whether you can see it or not.

Whether it's crystal clear and you can look back and see how God brought you to a certain place, or you're at a point in life where you genuinely don't feel like God sees you or has a plan for you or loves you, whatever it may be, God's hand is on your life, whether you can see it or not.

Similar to Moses, God's plan for our lives can begin in unseen places, meaning it might be hard or even impossible to see at times.

It may seem as if God is nonexistent in your life, and you may be up against something where it just simply feels like there's no way out, that there's no hope, there's no victory in sight.

But let me remind you, again, that God still has a plan for you.

Um, and it's a plan that the enemy cannot spoil, cannot change, cannot um throw God off of his path.

God, God has his hand on your life.

All we have to do is very similar to Moses' mother, is just take one step of faith at a time.

Even when it doesn't make sense, and and we don't maybe even know where we're going, it's just one small step of faith, one small step of obedience after another.

Eventually, God will do the things that only he can do and bring clarity, direction, um, blessings into our life.

I would imagine it it felt again every like everything was crashing down to Moses and his mother, but in the midst of the crashing, in the midst of the oppression, the oppression, slavery, murder, she had faith that God would work all things out for her good and for Moses' good.

And the same's got to be true for us.

When everything feels like it's crashing down, our faith has to be the thing that holds us up, keeps us pressing on, keeps us going, because you never know what God has in store.

You never know what God has in store just right around the corner.

It might seem real dark right now, might seem hopeless, but but you never know what God has around the corner.

Psalm 139, I want to read a few verses from there.

You have placed your hand on me, for it was you who created my inward parts.

You knit me together in my mother's womb.

I will praise you, because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made.

Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well.

My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw me when I was formless, and all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.

God, how precious your thoughts are to me, how vast their sum is.

We see from this passage that God has encircled your life.

That's a beautiful picture to think about.

That God has encircled your life.

God has placed his hand on you, he has created you exactly the way he wanted to, and is wonderful.

It's wonderful.

Nothing about you is hidden from God, which is terrifying to think about, but it's also comforting to know nothing about you is hidden from God, and he still loves you.

He still has a plan for you, he still wants a relationship with you.

All of your days were planned before a single one began, and you never know what God has planned for tomorrow.

But I can promise you one thing that whatever it is that he has planned, it's good.

It's good.

Even if it seems impossible right now, let your faith be strengthened and trust that God is working in an unseen place.

Faithfully wait for him to use you in his great plan and just watch his plan unfold for your life.

God was sovereign over the life of Moses.

God was sovereign over the life of Jesus.

And I believe that God is sovereign over every single life that is in this room.

God is in control and he has his hand on you.

So our team's going to come up in just a little bit and lead us in a time of response.

And just want to give you all a few things to think about, pray about, um, just kind of meditate on as as we respond.

Um the first thing is understanding the first step of living in God's plan for your life is surrendering to Jesus.

Um, if you have yet to place your faith in Jesus, um, believe that he is the Lord and Savior, repent of your sins and and follow him, then you cannot be living in God's plan.

Because God's plan is good, it's sovereign, it's righteous, it's holy.

And if we're not living in Christ, then we can't be we can't be living in in God's will or his the the good plan that he has for our life.

God doesn't want something from you, he wants something for you, and it begins with life in Christ.

God doesn't tell us to believe in him because he needs something from us.

That's not that's not why God says that.

He doesn't command us to do things because he needs something from us.

He doesn't tell us to be obedient because he needs our obedience.

That's not the reason.

He tells us to do these things because he knows that's what is best for us.

And that when we're walking in obedience, we're walking in faith to Jesus, we're walking in his will, then he knows that's when our w that's when we'll be living life abundantly.

Our joy will be filled, peace will be the the the main factor in our life rather than than fear.

So so the invitation is just to repent and believe.

If you're not sure what God's plan is for your life and you don't know where to start, start with start with faith in Christ.

Saying yes to God, saying yes, whatever it is, I'll I'll follow you.

Just lead me somewhere and I'll follow you.

I repent of my sin and I believe that Jesus is my Lord and Savior.

For those of you who have who have um said yes to following Jesus, maybe the action step is just reflecting on a time when when God was working behind the scenes in the unseen places, and then just thank him for his care and his sovereignty, similar to how easy it is to look back on a on the difficult season and in transition and moving down here, but but looking back, you can always see God just doing little things that you never saw in the moment, but looking back, you can see it.

So maybe it's just taking a minute to remember what God has done and then just thanking him for it.

It's this idea that um we so quickly forget the ways that God has been good to us when darkness starts creeping in.

When life gets tough, it's so easy to forget that God has been good all the way up to this point.

Why would why would he stop now?

Why would something change?

So it's the idea of letting God's faithfulness in the past be what sustains your faith for today and tomorrow.

And then lastly, what step of obedience can you take today so that God can use you for something in the future?

Um, again, Moses' mother is that one with just that one step of faith, saying, I know there's something special about this child, and I'm gonna do everything I can to hide him, to preserve his life, and really just entrust his life to God.

And then God's plan was able to unfold.

Similar to us, it's just one, it could be one small step of obedience that causes God's plan just to start to unfold in our life and fall into place.

You never know what God has in store for you.

You just have to stay faithful until God makes it clear.

Um of the practical ways that that we can stay faithful to the Lord even now, today, even though Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father, is through communion.

Um, communion is is a way that we can do exactly what I just talked about to remember the Lord's faithfulness, but it but it's also proclaiming um that we believe that Jesus is coming back one day, that regardless of how good or bad our life is here on earth, we we know that there's something more for us in the future, that Jesus will return and restore all things perfectly.

Um 1 Corinthians 11, 23 says, Um, I this is Paul, for I have received from the Lord what I also pass on to you.

On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it and said, This is my body which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same way also he took the cup after supper and said, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

So this morning we we have the opportunity to partake in communion.

And um here at Church of the Road, we don't we don't practice close communion, meaning you have to be a member or a covenant family member of our church or anything.

That we just the Bible makes it clear the only requirement is that you're a believer, that you've placed your faith in Jesus, um, that that you've surrendered and repented and um devoted your life to him.

So anyone who is who's placed their faith in Jesus is invited to partake in communion this morning.

But the way we do it here is we we take um a wafer a piece of bread and we dip it in the juice.

Um, again, the bread representing the broken body of Christ, the juice representing his spilled blood.

And um, as we do this, it's it's us remembering.

It's remembering um how faithful God is, how faithful Jesus was to take our sin, um our shame, and nail it to the cross and and then raise from the dead three days later to declare his victory over it.

So this is our way, even if life is is dark and it seems like there's no direction or or no hope.

This is a way to remember the faithfulness of God and even proclaim the Lord's death until he comes back.

So I believe this is a way for us to literally partake and share in the gospel with the person of Jesus.

So I just want to invite you um to the table as you feel led.

Um our band will kind of kind of lead us in worship and just challenge you to remember God's faithfulness through his son Jesus so that you may have have faith and your faith would be strengthened until he comes again.

So I'm gonna pray, um, and then y'all can y'all can partake in communion as you feel led.

Father, we thank you for stories like Moses and um even little stories like his birth, that even in the midst of it, um, everything is just pointing to you.

Everything's pointing to your sovereignty and your goodness.

Um and I just pray that you would strengthen our faith, God, knowing that even in the unseen places, even when hope is scarce and um darkness seems um just so evident, God, that you're still working.

God, that you have encircled our lives, you have surrounded us.

Um you know what you know what every single day of our lives holds, and you knew it before a single one of them began.

God, would you give us faith to trust that your plan is good?

And then out of that faith, would we walk in obedience and just say yes to you, say yes to Jesus, whatever it is that you're calling us to do, God, we we make ourselves available to that.

As we take communion, um, God, would you just bless it?

As we partake um in this, would would we would we share in the suffering and would we share in the victory that's found in Christ?

God, would our remembrance of Christ, would it honor you and glorify you?

And through this this this sacrament, would you just sanctify us and make us more like Jesus?

We'll be strengthened by your grace.

Would you strengthen our faith so that we can continue to live and do all that you have planned for us?

We love you, we praise you and pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.