What do you do when there's no way out? (Exodus 14) | Ps. Keith Pittman

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If you have your Bibles, I'm going to invite you to join me in Exodus chapter 14.

Exodus 14 · chapter mention

Exodus chapter 14.

Exodus 14 · chapter mention

While you're turning there, I do want to take a moment to go ahead and dismiss our middle and high school students.

For all of our middle and high schoolers, we have an amazing service that is tailor-made.

Just for you, our leaders are in the back, they would love to welcome you.

But for us, I want us to turn to Exodus chapter 14.

Exodus 14 · chapter mention

If you don't have your Bibles, okay, it's going to come up on the screens in just a moment.

I'm going to be reading this from the ESV translation.

So if you do have a paper Bible, it may not match up exactly, but the truth remains.

Starting at verse number 10, the word of the Lord says this.

When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them.

And they feared greatly.

And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord.

They said to Moses, Is it not that we have taken us away to die in the wilderness?

What have you done by bringing us out of Egypt?

Is it not this what we said to you while we're in Egypt?

Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians.

For it will be better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.

And Moses said to the people, Fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord.

Fear not, stand firm.

Somebody say, Fear not.

Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord.

Which he will work for you today.

For the Egyptians that you see today, you shall never see again.

You'll never see him again.

The Lord will fight for you, but you only have to be silent.

Then the Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry to me?

Tell the people of Israel to go forward.

Turn to somebody and say, Go forward.

Turn to the person you ignored and tell them to go forward.

He tells them to go forward and lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.

On dry ground.

I believe that there's many of us that's in this room right now that if we really take inventory of where we are right now, we may be in the middle of what we would consider to be an existential crisis.

Where it seems as if the very thing that I'm leaving is still pursuing me.

But I don't seem to have a path forward.

Going backwards, it shouldn't be an option.

But I'm wondering where God is at when I feel like I have no way out.

If that's you, I believe you're in the right place right now.

Whether you're invited here, whether this is your church home, whether you're just coming back, joining us online, stumbling upon this, maybe you were dragged here with with the gift of food afterwards.

Whatever was the thing that brought you into this room, I want to let you know it is God that ordered your steps.

And I believe there's something that He wants to speak to us today because many of us are having our own Red Sea moment, but He wants to show us who He is in this moment.

So I believe that God has declared and assigned me to speak on the topic that I've called No Way Out.

Will you pray with me as we engage God's word?

Lord, we thank you so much for your faithfulness.

We thank you for your truth, that transformational truth, God, that we know that sustains our very being.

Lord, I just ask over the next few moments that I decrease so that you can increase, not just in me, but in our body.

So, Lord, I pray that you give us open eyes to see you amongst the fear and the panic of the Egyptians chasing after us.

I pray that you give us open ears to hear your voice, your voice that's whispering in our ears, to stand firm in spite of the lies of the enemy that is yelling so loudly.

But God, I pray for open hearts that we can receive the truth that you are a way maker, even in the midst of seasons where it feels like there's no way out.

Lord, we trust you and we give you this time in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Turn on somebody around you and say no way out.

Turn to the three people you ignore to say no way out.

You can go ahead and have your seat in the presence of the Lord.

Amen.

Thank you, Zoe.

Amen.

I want to frame up the reality of what it is that we are that we're dealing with as we engage in this particular passage.

Follow me for a moment as I give you the context.

We know that the Israelites have been in bondage for roughly 430 years.

They've been dealing with extreme biblical oppression.

And sometimes when we use words or we pull from vocabulary, we can often lose the biblical definition of a word because of the modern interpretation.

So let me bring you into the mind of the biblical writers when they speak about the oppression of the people of God.

Oppression is defined as being unjustly weighed down, exploited, restrained, or harmed by people or systems that are designed to keep you exactly where you are.

Oppression is systemic.

It is designed to keep you exactly where you are.

And make no mistake, the Bible frames such systems as evil.

It names such systems as demonic.

He judges it because God's desire is to move his people forward.

After 430 years of the people of God being in this oppressive system, God chooses Moses to be their liberator.

Moses is a very interesting choice because what scripture tells us is that Moses was raised benefiting from the very system that oppressed his brothers and sisters.

That Moses rose was raised on the other side of that oppressive line.

He was literally raised in the Pharaoh's house.

He had so much favor in his life, but he got to a point where he began to witness the oppressions of others, and even at the expense of his own comfort, he decided to get involved.

That is what biblical justice looks like.

Now, spoiler alert, Moses probably took things a little too far because he killed a man.

I'm not saying we do that, but we do see that Moses counted that his privilege wasn't worth the oppression of other people.

He gets involved, he he kills a man, and then he goes off on the run.

And so for the next 40 years, Moses spends his time in the wilderness, literally shepherding sheep and moving on with his life.

But then God confronts him through the form of a burning bush in Exodus 3 and says, That I've heard the cries of my people, I see their oppression, and I'm personally going to get involved with it, and you are going to be the conduit that brings justice.

Moses reluctantly agrees to do this because for him it required him to confront the very thing that he had been running from, to confront the very space that he was trying to escape from.

But nonetheless, he does it after God shows that he is with them.

And so now Moses begins this journey of battling back and forth with Pharaoh.

Maybe you've seen this in movies, maybe you've heard this narrative over time, but it's the story of the ten plagues, and ultimately it's it's God's judgment on the false gods of the Egyptians, showing that Yahweh truly is the true and living God.

So after all of this discussion, after all of this back and forth, God brings us to this crescendo where the final plague is the death of every firstborn living being in Egypt, unless you were in a home that was covered by the blood of the Lamb.

If y'all don't calm down, I'm gonna start preaching the end before we even get there.

The blood of the Lamb, being under the covering of the blood of the Lamb, is what protected the people from the wrath and judgment.

Pharaoh releases the Israelites finally, and so for the Israelites, they believing that finally our time is here.

After 430 years, after all of the back and forth negotiations with Pharaoh, we're finally going to go to the place and inhabit the promises of Abraham, that the land of milk and honey.

This is what Moses had continuously been reminding them about.

So they were dismissed from Egypt.

They literally packed up all their stuff, they had tons of resources, and the journey begins.

But just as the journey is beginning, it starts off very rough.

It's almost like if you have a stick shifter in your first gear and you stall out.

It starts off very, very rough.

And I'm not sure if you've been in a space where you've had such strong vision, you had strong ideas, you believe that this is going to be the best year ever, but it seems to get rocky from the very beginning.

For me, that was this past Wednesday.

Because what I've been doing as we recalibrate in the beginning of the new year, we're all fasting and praying.

So I've created some new rhythms.

I've fine-tuned some things.

And so Wednesday morning was like the morning where everything began to kind of click.

I got up early, I spent time with God, I did some journaling, and now I was prepared to go and crush today, as I call it.

I had some meetings and some things I needed to work out.

So I'm like, man, I've got tons of margin.

I'm able to move forward without any burden or stress.

And it was beautiful.

And so for me, as I was preparing to leave my home, there's a couple of ingredients that you have to have if you're going to survive a season of fasting and praying.

For me, that meant, of course, I need to have my trusty water because you need to make sure that you have the hydration to survive the day.

Also, that included my fast-friendly juices that I'd be making.

Yo, your boy makes some amazing juices.

I made some cold-pressed juices, and I was like, okay, I'm going to take my juice with me.

And then, of course, because I am saved, spirit-filled, and led by the Spirit, I needed to bring that nectar from the God, and that is my cup of coffee.

It's a fruit after all.

So when I go to my machine to make my coffee, it's the last thing that I need to do.

I go up to my machine and I turn it on, and as I'm preparing to make my coffee, I'm I'm shocked, I'm mortified, I'm hit with this existential moment where my machine didn't have any water.

I know that may seem like a small thing to you, but when you have rhythms in which you are prepared to launch off, my machine didn't have water, and I was like, okay, not a big deal.

I'll I'll just go and fill the machine with water.

I know first world problems, but this is the problems I got.

So I go and fill my machine up with water, and as I begin to the process of getting things all in place, I put my cup under the machine, I hit the button and I make a mistake.

Because the machine that I have is one of those machines where you have to select what kind of drink you want to make.

And the Spirit of the Lord told me that today was an Americano day.

But my instincts told me it was a latte day.

So when I hit the button for the latte, the machine began the process of making a latte.

The Lord didn't tell me to make a latte, he told me to make an Americano, so I had to cancel that order, start all over again.

And now we get to the point where finally everything's lined up.

I hit the right button, hit the button now, and I'm out of coffee beans.

So now I'm beginning to kind of get frustrated because I know that when I put new beans into my machine, that I have to dial the machine in.

Like your boy is a part-time barista.

Like I gotta dial the machine in, so I have to like work through it because every bean is a little bit different.

So I finally get that all locked, and like eight minutes later, after configuring it perfectly, I hit the button, it's amazing.

God is pleased with the progress I've made in my life.

And as I go out to the garage and I'm preparing to leave, still meditating on the goodness of the Lord, still thinking of the worship song that was in my spirit, I reached to open my door, and that perfect cup of coffee fell onto the ground.

It spilled all over my brand new white knikes.

It splashed up on my car, which I had just washed the night before.

And as I stood there for a moment, I genuinely said out loud, throw the whole day away.

Like, let's just start all over again.

I was about to cancel every meeting I had because I was like, Lord, is that you?

Like I couldn't find my keys, is that you?

Everything was becoming an issue.

So I was like, maybe I just need to cancel the whole day and start all over again.

And as ridiculous as that is, it got messy, it got uncomfortable, I was annoyed, I was frustrated.

But here's the truth of the matter.

For for many of us, while it may not be a cup of coffee for us, it could certainly be our finances.

Because we began to start the year off believing that everything is gonna line itself up until we get that random bill that shows up that we weren't quite anticipating.

For some of us, it could be the job that we were believing God for.

And as we began to pursue it, and we thought the doors were open and we were declaring it, we were celebrating it, and now the door closed and it leaves us at a space of like, I thought that we were gonna go off, I thought this year was gonna be different.

I thought that this fast was gonna be different.

It seems as if I'm getting off to a rough start when my ambitions don't match my reality.

For the children of Israel, this is where they found themselves.

Because as they were pursuing their journey towards freedom, the Bible tells us that it doesn't start off good.

In fact, the first thing that they have to experience is a detour.

Because the scriptures tell us that was a direct route that God could have taken the children of Israel.

When we rewind time and look at what Moses was saying to Pharaoh and what he was saying to the Israelites, is he was saying, Let my people go so that they can go three days' journey into the wilderness and worship me.

The idea was that they were within three days going to be away from Egypt and be in the space where they were safe to worship.

But here they are, not even 24 hours out, and it seems as if God was changing the direction.

Exodus chapter 13, verses 17 and 18 gives us a glimpse into the mind of God why he shifts their direction.

Exodus 13:17

It says this that when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistine, although that was near.

Somebody say, although it was near.

For God said, Lest the people change their mind when they see war and return to Egypt.

So God led the people around the way of the wilderness towards the Red Sea.

And the people of Israel went out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.

It's interesting here because the text tells us that they left out of Egypt equipped for battle, but also it says that they were not ready for war.

Equipped for battle, but they were not ready for war.

What that means is that they were equipped for the battle that was ahead of them, but they were not equipped for the battle that they didn't see.

God prophetically recognized that you guys have been in bondage for 430 years.

You don't know how to fight battles with shields and with swords.

You have not been conditioned for that.

So if you go the most direct route, it's actually going to lead you into having some opposition that you don't have the strength to sustain.

Many of us begin to look at the detours in our lives and begin to wonder if we've heard from God in the first place.

But what we actually see is that these divine detours are evidence of God's providence in our life.

See, providence is one of those words that sounds super churchy and religious until it begins to intersect with our reality.

Providence is the steady, often unseen hand of God working through ordinary means and decisions and processes so that we can ultimately accomplish his good.

If miracles are God's invisible interruptions, providence is God's invisible management of it.

Sometimes God's providence in our life is not giving us what we want because he knows if we give it to us too soon, it can lead to our destruction.

There's a reason why there's certain limitations and maturity in order for us to meet certain thresholds.

You can be 13 years old and very mature, but there's a reason why they want to make sure that you have the maturity to handle driving a car.

What if I were to tell you that sometimes our ambition can outpace our discipline?

What if I were to tell you that our things in our lives that we genuinely believe are good things, but God is shifting some things because he's saying you're not ready for what comes with that.

You're not ready for the opposition that comes with that.

I'm afraid if I give that to you, that very thing could actually lead to your destruction.

What God often says in these moments when he's redirecting us is he's saying, While you may be free externally, internally, you're not ready for what's ahead.

You're not ready for the battles.

You're not ready for the opposition, you're not ready for the pressure, you're not ready for the time commitment.

So God redirected them in a space so that they can handle the battle that they truly were equipped for.

Providence is God loving us so much that he doesn't want to rush our souls into something that we can't sustain.

So maybe you're dealing with a detour.

But I want to encourage you that maybe in God's providence, his detour is actually protection.

That maybe he's preparing you for something greater, that maybe he wants to develop something in you.

Because I truly believe that not only was God bringing them out of Egypt, but he was wringing Egypt out of them.

And it requires us to go into certain spaces, which you're calling a setback could actually be a divine setup.

The text tells us in verse 10 of Exodus 4, 14, it says that Pharaoh drew near.

That means that once Pharaoh came to his senses after he was, after he was grieving the loss of his son, and all the Egyptians were grieving their loss, that he changed his mind, his heart was hardened, and he began to pursue the Israelites.

And the Bible tells us that the Israelites lifted up their eyes and they saw the very thing that they were being delivered from, the very thing that God was was breaking the chains off of, he saw that closing in on them.

And the text tells us they were filled with great fear, not just worry, but genuinely consumed by what they were witnessing, immovable to what they were witnessing, terrified by what they were witnessing.

So the text tells us that they cried out to God and then they turned on Moses.

See the sequence of events.

They cried out to God, God, we need your help.

God, like we're we're at a place where we don't seem as if there's any way forward.

Moses, this is all your fault.

What is it about the human condition that when we find ourselves in an uncomfortable space, we're looking for someone or something to blame?

Instantly, whenever we find ourselves dealing with a struggle, a setback, that fear begins to activate our fight or flight.

All logic goes out of the room.

We lose context of our reality, and we're trying to minimize who's to blame for this.

Because when you don't see the path that's in front of you, all you can do is vilify those around you and romanticize the very thing that God delivered you from.

Because what the text tells us is that immediately they said, it would have been better if we would have stayed in Egypt.

It would have been better for us to stay in Egypt.

In other words, the very Egyptian environment that we had been in bondage to, generations after generations, the very environment that we had spent decades of crying out to God to deliver us from, the moment that things got uncomfortable, they began to say it would have been better for us just to have never left in the first place.

Because something about our human condition reminds us and makes us feel that when something is familiar, it is safe.

But sadly, there are times when our fear speaks loud enough that bondage actually starts to sound like wisdom.

Bondage begins to shape our reflexes, and oppression shapes how we interpret the pressure that we're experiencing.

And some of us right now, as we look and see that God has put a burden on our heart, that as God has been ordering our steps, that as we've been moving forward, that now we're at a place where it seems as if we're at a standstill and we're beginning to wonder: should I just go back to the very thing that I knew that God told me it was time for me to leave?

Go back to those old patterns.

Go back to those old coping mechanisms, go back to those old relationships, even though I know that they shrunk me and they weren't God's best in my life, because at least it was something that I'm comfortable with.

Because I've learned that you can be in an uncomfortable position, but something about that lets me know I'd rather be safe in my interpretation of something that's uncomfortable than trust God with the unknown.

Because when I have to trust God, that means that I have to not lean on my own understanding.

When I have to trust God, it requires me to step outside of my own strength and my own ability.

When I have to trust God, that means that I literally walk by faith and not by sight.

The Israelites were at a space where they were looking at their opposition, they were blaming Moses, and they began to say, it would have been better for us never to have left.

Let's just stay in chains, let us stay in bondage, let me stay in this addiction, let me stay in this struggle, at least I knew how to work with this.

In other words, they were so comfortable at being bound that they were uncertain of what it meant to be free.

The enemy loves that for us.

Because if he can't keep you bound, he'll have you nostalgic about the thing that you were delivered from.

So Moses, in this moment, he recognized that he's losing the locker room.

He's losing the crowd as people are beginning to murmur and complain, which is a theme for the people of God.

And Moses speaks to them, he cuts right through it, and he says to them, Fear not.

Stand still and see the salvation of God.

I believe that the Bible is written in a very specific way for a very deliberate purpose.

I want you to see the sequence in which Moses speaks to them.

The first thing he says is, Fear not.

He doesn't start with strategy, he starts with stability.

He starts with how do we find a way to stabilize ourselves even in the midst of the crisis that we're currently facing.

He says, fear not.

In other words, I need you to calm down.

I know that your central nervous system is freaking out because of everything that's in front of you.

I know that it seems as if that death is in front of you, but I need you to first calm down, stabilize yourself before you make any next move.

Because when we take steps out of fear, we begin to make decisions that can ultimately lead to our destruction.

There's something to be said about when we can calm down and anchor ourselves and who God is.

But it's not always easy.

And because sometimes that anxiety and that stress can creep upon us out of nowhere.

I know for me that whenever I'm going through seasons of stress, I don't like to use the word overwhelm, but when I'm just dealing and juggling with a lot of things, there's ways in which I choose to cope with it.

And for me, that is just to kind of go into isolation a little bit and just I call it lock in, just get in the zone.

I don't want to talk a whole lot, I'll just stay busy.

So so whenever I feel that way, and it just happened earlier this week.

Whenever I feel that way, just kind of like a lot of things being thrown at you, a lot of a lot of twists and turns.

And so for me, I'm like, okay, I'm just gonna lock in.

So I'm at home and I'm just doing things around the house, I'm cooking, I'm not talking a whole lot, I'm just locked in.

And it's amazing how God will put people around you that can sense what's happening on the inside of you.

I didn't say a word to Megan, but one of our patterns is that Megan will sense and see when something's a little off with me.

And she's looking at me, and I can see that she comes out and she tests the water a little bit, and I'm giving her direct answers, not being rude, not being sharp, but just being a little bit shorter.

And so there's a moment when I can see that she's kind of had this like enough is enough moment.

She would never say those words, but you can see it in her eyes because where our house is set up, our kitchen is here, and I can see off in the distance when Megan walks out of the room.

And so I can see when Megan's just walking out of the room or when she's walking out of the room on a mission.

So I'm standing at the kitchen sink and I see she locks eyes with me and she's on a mission, making a beeline straight to me.

I know what that walk is.

It's her coming close to me.

And I can't tell you how many times I'm gonna admit it and confess it in front of the church.

There are times that I've tried to stiff arm her coming close to me.

There are times that I've tried to juke my way out of it, I've tried to spin my way out of it, but she closes in like a middle linebacker.

It's like no matter where I go, she's just locked in on me.

And then she'll stand in front of me, she won't say a word, and she'll just wrap her arms around me.

Just hug me.

And initially I'm like, I don't want no.

Turns into a little bit of a slow dance.

And here's what here's what happens.

It always happens this way.

Before long, after we're standing in proximity to one another, our breathing gets on the same pattern.

And I can't tell you that.

Sometimes that will go on for two minutes, not rushing a moment, but literally just bringing calm to my soul.

The circumstance around me hasn't changed, but it silenced the voice of the enemy and making me feel like I need to shift into strategy instead of looking at what stability looks like.

God speaks through Moses and He tells the people to just calm down, take a deep breath, calm yourself down, come back to yourself and let's see what God is going to do.

Because when we let panic take the wheels of our destiny, it can lead us to drive directly off of a cliff.

Moses says to the children of Israel that God is going to fight for you.

Do you honestly believe that he's defeated the enemy, that he's defeated the ten gods of Egypt, that he's brought you to this point to leave you?

I know that the Bible has all of these sayings, and one of my favorite is that I have been young and now that I am old, but I have never seen the righteous forsaken.

I remember hearing my mom say these songs and sing these hymns when I was coming up, that God didn't bring me this far just to leave me.

Sometimes we need to pull from our traditions and get our context back and recognize that God is faithful, that He didn't deliver me from the Egyptian, He didn't deliver me from the oppression, He didn't deliver me from this sickness, He didn't bring me to this point so that I can experience utter destruction.

Moses reminds him and says that God will fight for us.

Because if we're not reminded by that, we can begin to go into prophesying our own demise or worse, questioning God's intent in the first place.

John the Baptist is one of my favorite characters in the Bible, but he's a perfect example of this.

Because for John the Baptist, this is a man who literally got the Holy Spirit, or in my culture, got the Holy Ghost while he was yet in his mother's womb when he heard about the Messiah coming.

And then, as John is being raised in culture and tradition, he finally has a moment where he locks eyes with Jesus as an adult and says, Behold the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sins of the world.

John had a profound revelation of who Jesus is, who Jesus was.

John was even given the gift of being able to baptize Jesus and witnessing the Holy Spirit descend upon him.

John had a front row seat to the sovereignty and power of God.

But then when you skip over a few chapters, John is now in jail and he says, Jesus, are you the one or should I find another?

What can bring a person who at one point had such deep conviction and revelation about the goodness of God, only to come to a place where you're wondering if he is who he says he is?

It was it was John having his very own Red Sea crisis.

Lord, I'm in the middle of a space where I don't know what my next steps are.

So instead of me being still, instead of me seeing what you're doing amongst us, it only leads me to a place where I begin to question if you really are a way maker.

I begin to question if you really are a deliverer.

I begin to question if you really are a healer.

John says, Are you the one or should I find another?

And many of us have a theology in the same way.

Lord, are you are you the one or should or should I find another?

Is this my marriage or should I find another?

Let's talk about it.

Because things are uncomfortable.

Because things run clear.

We're dealing with conflict.

And so naturally, instead of me standing still and allowing God to speak into the very thing that He led me to, it's easier for me to try to escape it.

Are you is this the one or should I find another?

Is this the job or should I find another?

Is this is this the church or should I find another?

Our discomfort always leads us to a place where we begin to question our reality.

This speaks wisdom as to why Moses tells the children of Israel, be silent.

Just I know there's a lot going on, but just be silent in this moment.

Because if we're not careful, we'll be feeding our fear with our mouth.

In one moment we're praying, and the next moment we're cursing.

We pray God make a way and then we turn to someone and say, It's never going to work.

We say that God is more than able, but we also say that I'm also done trying.

We worship on Sunday, but we're cursing by Monday.

What God is saying is, when you cry out to me, are you willing to be silent so I can respond to you?

Because contrary to popular belief, that when we pray, it is not a monologue.

It is meant to be a space where I offer up honor and worship and supplication and then I stand still and see what it is that God wants to speak to us.

And so God begins to speak.

And interestingly enough, the Bible tells us that when God speaks, He says to Moses, Why are you crying out to me?

Tell the people of Israel to move forward.

Move forward.

That seems like such a contradiction from the very thing that Moses first instructed them.

Be still.

Why are you crying out to me?

Go forward.

There's a tension that I believe that God wants us to manage and a harmony that he wants to resolve.

Because stillness is a posture, but forward is an action.

He's letting us know be still in your spirit, but move forward with your obedience.

So God tells Moses, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand, and divide the Red Sea.

Lift up your staff.

This this instrument that you were using while you were in the wilderness shepherding sheep.

This instrument that you had been using when I was working my miracles through you to defeat the enemy.

This very thing that seems very common and very ordinary, but when you lift it up to me, I could do something supernatural through it.

What is in your hand?

I remember when I was first invited to preach for the first time.

And we didn't have Planning Center and all these extra things that we have got the privilege of now.

I was notified on a Saturday night at 11.28 p.m.

that I was going to be preaching Sunday morning.

When I talk to our staff sometimes and they're like, hey, can you give me our preaching schedule in advance?

I'm like, you guys have no idea how good you got it.

You are lucky to have me.

Because I didn't get that heads up.

My first sermon, I was told that you're going to be preaching tomorrow morning.

I'm not feeling good.

And I'm like, well, I'm not feeling good too.

So now what are we going to do?

But I guess your sickness overrides my sickness, so I'm up.

So as I was preparing, I began to question God.

I think you got the wrong person.

Similar to Moses, when God came to him and said that he was meant to be a vehicle of leading the people free.

So I'm negotiating with God, and as I tried to rest, he wouldn't let me rest because God literally woke me from my sleep.

And he said, Use what's in your hands.

And he walked me through the timeline of events.

He said, Keith, you've always been an introvert.

You've always been uncomfortable in certain settings.

However, when you used to rap, you were not an introvert then.

You would stand in front of people and you would spit bars because you were you were very spit bars.

You would, you would I don't know about your God.

Maybe your God speaks to you in the King James language.

My God is very urban.

Very, very tan.

So he said to me, Yo, you were spitting bars when you were living in the world.

You would stand in front of people and you would declare how good you are and you had no issue with it.

Fast forward, I also remember when you were training people when you worked for the school system, because you were so knowledgeable of the content, you had no issue with giving instructions on what you're supposed to be doing.

Now I'm asking you to declare my word.

You're not focusing on you, but you're focusing on me.

Use what's in your hand.

You're used to standing in front of people, you're used to articulating your words, you're used to being confident and bold, but now you don't have to do it in your own strength.

You're talking about the one who is willing to fight your battles.

What is in your hands?

Stop making excuses for what you don't have and what you also need when you recognize that God has given you everything you need for your next miracle.

They were crying out to God and they've completely lost sight of what God was already doing through them.

He says, Lift up your hands and watch what I do through you.

Because I found that God will often use what's in our hand to put the enemy under our feet.

It is time to go forward.

Somebody shout, go forward.

Turn to somebody else and say it's time to go forward.

Because I want you to know that just because you reached the end of your road, you have not reached the end of God's power.

Let me say that again.

Just because you reached the end of your road, it does not mean that you've reached the end of God's power.

Just because you reached the end of your road, it does not mean that you reach the end of God's power.

Just because you reached the end of your road, it does not mean that you've reached the end of God's power.

In other words, God is just getting started, He is just getting activated.

And sometimes it requires us to get to a space where we can't take the credit.

My logic didn't do this, my wisdom didn't do this, my experience didn't do this.

But I took what God put in my hand and I lifted it up unto him, and I seen seas open, I seen deliverance, I seen chains break off, not because of what's in me, but because of what God wants to do through me.

So my question is what is in your hands?

Use what's in your hands.

Because I believe that God wants to use what's in your hands to put the enemy under your feet.

So here's the question: What is your Red Sea?

What is that obstacle?

What is that thing that seems to keep you at a standstill?

What is that burden that makes you feel as if you can't move forward?

My encouragement for you is this don't go back.

Don't go back to the very thing that God delivered you from.

Don't begin to ruminate and convince yourself that that going back is the best thing that you can just go forward.

But take what God has placed in your hand, lift it unto Him and watch what He does through it.

And as beautiful as this text is, to encourage us as we begin this new year, to encourage us as we're on this fast, it's something so much deeper that's at play here.

Because while this is meant to help us to walk in freedom of our situation, let's not get it twisted.

This is a story about salvation.

Because if I can be real with you, when we look at this, many of us know what it feels like to feel like I've been in bondage.

My very soul has been in bondage, and in the idea that we can't make our own way, we can't cross this barrier on our own.

So we're in an environment that is saturated in sin and addiction and brokenness.

There's no path forward, and we never would have been able to cross that channel.

But thanks be to God for Christ Jesus, because Jesus came down, lived the life that we could never live, died the death that we deserve, so that He can make a way for us to get to the other side and spend eternity with our Heavenly Father.

Jesus is the ultimate way maker.

And what I know is that in a room like this, there are many of us right now that yes, we need a breakthrough with our finances, yes, we need a breakthrough in our relationships, yes, we need a breakthrough with the next open door that God has for us.

We're gonna pray for that in a moment, but there's also some of us that need a breakthrough in our soul.

So with every head bowed and every eye closed, I want to ask this question if you know, Keith, I I feel the oppression of the enemy, and I'm coming to a space where I recognize that there's no step forward until I surrender my life to Christ because He is the way maker.

So if you're ready to take your life and lift it unto the Lord, surrendering your life for Christ, that means committing or maybe recommitting your life to Christ.

Now is your moment.

Now is the reason why you were here.

So on account of three, so we can include you in a prayer and celebrate with you.

I want you to lift your hands with boldness that yes, I'm gonna receive Jesus as my way maker.

One, two, three.

Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen.

God bless you guys.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

I see those hands there.

Amen.

Amen.

Church, can we celebrate?

Because the Bible says that there's a celebration that is breaking out in heaven right now with people that have come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Let's stand to our feet because we're gonna go back into a moment of worship.

But I want to pray for those who are just saying yes to Jesus, and I want to encourage you and challenge you that while our walk with God is personal, it is not private.

So if you're one of the ones that said yes to Jesus with lifting your hands, I want you to stop at our connect tent.

We want to put some resources in your hand.

We're not gonna take you to a secret back room and interrogate you, but we do want to give you the tools that you need to walk out successfully what this walk with Christ looks like.

Everybody repeat this with me, helping along those who are praying it maybe for the first time.

Say this with me say, Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins, I believe you died on the cross and that you rose from the dead.

And today I am saved.

I see the salvation of God.

Thank you for being a wavemaker.

Fill me with your spirit and order my steps in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Can we put our hands together for the goodness of God one more time?

So here's what I want us to do.

We don't have a lot of time, but we're gonna make time, and this is what I want us to do.

I want us to go into a time of response of worship.

And here's why this is so significant because for the children of Israel, when they came through on dry ground, the Bible says when they got on the other side of the Red Sea, that they literally broke out into worship.

And what's important to know is that that worship that we see catalog there, that's the first time we see human beings worshiping God in scripture.

So it seems to me, according to the law of first mention with biblical interpretation, the first time you see something in the Bible is its purest reflection of it.

So that means that they were worshiping God because they recognized their deliverance, not because of what their wilderness was ahead of them, not because of their insecurities and fears, but they worship God because they were no longer slaves.

They worship God because the enemy had been defeated.

They worship God because their best days were ahead of them.

And I'm prophesying that over every single one of us that your best days are yet ahead, that the enemy has been defeated.

You are no longer a slave and bound to the works of the enemy.

He has no dominion on your life.

You are free in the name of Jesus.

So as we go into this time of worship, let us declare and worship as a reaction to what God has already done in the name of Jesus.

Let's worship one more time.

Thank you for joining us to learn more about Celebration Orlando, a church devoted to reaching the lost, equipping the found, and helping the hurting.

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