Power to Protect, Provide and Promise

So we have uh been doing something all year long.

I'm gonna keep saying this at the beginning of every message this year.

We're doing something called the whole story.

And if you're new, we're going through the entire story of the Bible all year long.

We started in February, we will finish in December.

We are on track, we are on schedule.

And what we've done is we've broken the whole story of Scripture down into 14 different series.

Right now, we are in the third series, which we're calling the Great I Am.

The Great I Am.

And if you're like, what does that mean?

It'll make sense here in just a minute.

The Great I Am.

This is something that if you wanted to read on your own time, you'd have a lot of reading to do for the next few weeks.

That's okay, though, if you like to read.

You just need to read Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, just most of that stuff.

And basically, this is the story of Moses and the people of Israel fleeing from Egypt, where they've been slaves for generations.

They escape Egypt and now they have to sort of figure out what to do next.

We're going to cover a lot of that stuff in the next series, but this is really the story of them escaping and ultimately, maybe for the first time ever, really beginning to understand who their God actually is.

We get to look at Moses, we get to look at some of these really important characters in the Bible, but really God is the main character.

And we just get to see him through Moses' eyes.

We get to experience God through these people.

And God reveals himself through these stories specifically in a way that he really hasn't up to this point in the story of Scripture.

I mean, honestly, up to this point, he's never even told people what his name is.

He's just been, you know, this God.

And he becomes more intimate, more personal.

But they begin to experience, and again, us through them can experience who this God that we serve actually is.

The challenge that everyone always has to face as someone who follows God is avoiding the temptation of making God into our image of what God ought to be or what we would like Him to be.

There's a lot of people who have taken the idea of God, it's really easy to do.

I'm sure I've done it too, where you sort of take the idea of God, and here's what here's how I like to think about God.

I like to think about God like this.

This makes me feel good when I think about God this way.

But God, through these stories, basically says, no, here's who I am.

This is who I am.

And then we have to adapt and adjust to Him.

And there's really three things that we're focusing on.

Last week was the first, that God is holy.

That God is He is holy.

He is He is different, He is greater, He is other.

And there's some really powerful implications there, especially when it comes to the fact that He's made us holy.

We talked about that last Sunday.

Today, we're looking at the fact that God is powerful.

He is powerful.

And that might seem cliche to say on a Sunday morning in a church where most people are going to nod their heads in agreement.

And we're like, really?

Is he though?

No, God is He's powerful, but we're going to see that we have a tendency even now to underestimate His power.

And he makes sure that it's clear in these stories.

No, no, I'm powerful.

And then after Easter, we'll wrap this series up with a look at how personal God is.

So he is holy, he is powerful, and he is personal.

Now, like I said, these stories cover a lot of ground.

There's a lot of breadth.

But every week we're going to go back to this same iconic moment where God first introduces himself to Moses and sets the tone and sets the expectation for who he is directly and in person.

And so we get there in Exodus chapter 3, verses 1 through 17.

Exodus 3:1–17

It says, One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian.

He led the flock far into the wilderness and he came to Sinai, the mountain of God.

There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush.

Moses stared in amazement.

Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it did not burn up.

This is amazing, Moses said to himself, Why isn't that bush burning up?

I must go see it.

And when the Lord God saw Moses coming, to take a closer look, God called him from the middle of the bush.

Moses, Moses, here I am, Moses replied.

Do not come any closer, the Lord warned, warned.

Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.

I'm the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.

When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.

Then the Lord told him, I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt.

I've heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers.

Yes, I'm aware of their suffering.

So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land.

It is a land flowing with milk and honey, the land where the Canaanites, the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebuzites now live.

Look, the cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abused them.

Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh.

You must lead my people, Israel, out of Egypt.

But Moses protested to God, Who am I to appear before Pharaoh?

Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?

And God answered, I will be with you.

In other words, it's really not about you.

You know, which is nice to remember.

Sometimes we might think the same thing.

Who am I?

Well, it doesn't really matter who you are, it's who he is.

Moses says, Who am I?

And God says, Look, I will be with you, and this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you.

When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.

But again, Moses protested, if I go to the people of Israel and tell them, the God of your ancestors has sent me to you, they'll ask me, What is his name?

Then what should I tell them?

God replied to Moses, I am who I am.

This is the great I am.

Say this to the people of Israel, I am, has sent me to you.

God also said to Moses, say this to the people, Yahweh, which in their language would mean the one who basically it's the one who is, who always was, and who will always be.

That's the idea of that word.

Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.

This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.

Now go and call together all the Israel, all the leaders and elders of Israel.

Tell them, Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me.

He told me, I have been watching closely, and I see how the Egyptians are treating you.

I've promised to rescue you from your oppression in Egypt.

I will lead you into a land flowing with milk and honey, the land where the Canaanites, the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebuzites now live.

So God meets Moses at this burning bush.

And they have a little argument.

They go back and forth.

If you keep reading, this back and forth happens for a little while.

Moses does not win the argument.

It's tough to argue with God and win.

It doesn't really happen.

But God is letting him know look, Moses, I've picked you.

You're the one.

You're going to lead the people out of Israel, but I will be with you.

And the whole world's going to see my power through you.

In Exodus 3, 19 and 20, God says, I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand forces him.

So I will raise my hand and strike the Egyptians, performing all kinds of miracles among them.

Then at last he will let you go.

If you go to Exodus chapter 6, verses 6 through 8, he says, Therefore say to the people of Israel, I am the Lord, I will free you from your oppression and rescue you from your slavery in Egypt.

Exodus 6:6–8

I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment.

I will claim you as my own people, I will be your God, and then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt.

I will bring you into the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

I will give it to you as your very own possession.

I am the Lord.

There's authority there.

And he's promising some big things.

He's saying, look, I'm going to do some things.

I know that Pharaoh's not just going to let his workforce go.

Just because you show up and go, hey, we'd like to leave.

Oh, okay.

That's not going to happen.

The only way that Pharaoh's going to agree to this is if I show him my power, if I if I perform some powerful miracles and acts of judgment, that will convince him finally.

So it's setting up this confrontation, it's setting up this idea of a clash.

The greatest world power on earth at that time would have been the nation of Egypt.

This ancient, powerful nation against this unknown God of this group of people that are not important, they're insignificant.

So it's an insignificant God of an insignificant people.

Seems a little bit like it seems a little bit like a David and Goliath, but on steroids type situation, but we know how those often go.

Now, the first moment that we actually have of Moses and Pharaoh interacting doesn't go particularly well.

It goes exactly how God says it will go.

Pharaoh's not gonna go along with this.

And so Moses tells Pharaoh, let my people go.

This is what the Lord has said, and he uses that name Yahweh, and here's how Pharaoh responds in Exodus 5.

Is that so?

Retorted Pharaoh.

Is that so?

Your God, the Lord, this Yahweh, has said that you have to go.

Is that so?

Well, who is the Lord?

Why should I listen to him and let Israel go?

I don't know this Lord.

I don't know this Yahweh, never heard of him.

I will not let Israel go.

That's how it all begins.

Pharaoh basically says, I've just I've I've never heard of this God, and he doesn't seem like a very powerful God, to be honest with you.

I mean, you're the only people who worship him, your slaves, you're my slaves.

So why should I listen to you?

Why should I fear or respect or respond to this Yahweh, this great I am.

Now, what you have to understand about Pharaoh and the ancient world is that they took their gods very seriously.

But when it came to their gods, they had a lot to choose from.

Like they had a ton of variety, so much variety, when it came to the gods that they worshiped.

We we have a lot of variety in our world today that ancient people didn't have.

Like you have variety of food, okay?

All of us maybe today are gonna go eat out, or sometime this week you're gonna go eat out, and if you decide to do that at some point this week, you have options.

You you could really travel the world from a culinary perspective on a daily basis.

Some of you uh maybe even today are gonna get Mexican food.

Like anyone planning on that?

In the next week, you're gonna eat Mexican.

Anybody think that's probably going to happen?

Okay, you will consume queso.

It will be wonderful, all right?

There's like a thousand Mexican restaurants.

I actually think there's a law that none of us know about that Mexican restaurants are not allowed to go out of business because they never do.

It's like the one thing that never like our great-grandchildren will go to the same Mexican restaurants that we go to because they never they never go under, right?

But you can go you can go Mexican, you can go Italian, you can go to Tuscany on Thailand Lake Parkway, you can go to Taste of Italy in Kent or Taste of Italy too.

You guys know about that restaurant?

It literally has a two at the end of it.

It's like a sequel, it's amazing.

You should go there.

Um, so you can go there, Japanese, like sushi.

I don't know if I've talked about this before.

I love sushi.

Any sushi people in the room?

Yeah, sushi, yeah, there we go.

Just my opinion.

There's a lot of good sushi restaurants, but Yoon sushi off exit 14, in my opinion, best sushi restaurant in town.

If you've never been there, go try it out.

You could go there today if you want.

And and eat that.

You have choices.

My favorite type of food, just barely above sushi though, would be Indian food.

Anybody like love Indian food?

Anyone never eat Indian food?

Anyone never interested in eating Indian food?

You're just like, no, no, thank you.

Oh my gosh, you know.

So, okay, real quick, quick plug.

Uh Indian food is a little different.

If you like spicy food, okay, here's the way I describe it.

Mexican food, like Latin food is spicy, but it's like a fire is happening in your mouth.

Okay?

Indian food, it's a different kind of spicy.

It's like a fire has been ignited in your soul.

It's like it's like so deep inside of you that water does nothing.

It it's it because it's not in your mouth.

It's just, it's, it's a part of you now.

And it just has to run its course.

Like, if you eat really spicy Indian food, it's just, this is who I am now.

And I will sweat for about six hours.

You have to sweat it out because it's a fire deep inside.

But it's, ooh, it's so good.

There's a there's an amazing Indian restaurant about 10 minutes south from here called Turmeric.

It's awesome.

And so you have options, right?

The ancient people of the world, no options when it came to food.

You just ate what grew.

You ate what grows here.

Fish plus that.

That's what you ate every day.

So even Pharaoh didn't have like a ton of variety in terms of what he was eating, but worship was a different story.

They had gods like we have restaurants.

There were 1,400 deities in the ancient Egyptian religion.

1,400.

So when it came to it, to what god are you gonna worship, what god are you gonna serve?

I mean, you had options and you could always choose a powerful, powerful God.

I mean, if there's 1,400 and you get to pick, you get to pick your favorite.

You're gonna go with one of the big guns.

And here's Pharaoh going, look, I know of about 1,400 gods.

I know about all these, but I don't I've never heard of yours.

This Yahweh, he doesn't even make the list.

Why would I listen to you?

Like, I'll give you an example of some of the Egyptian gods.

Uh, for example, there was a god, and this is literally, it's H-A-P-I, but it is pronounced Happy.

They had a god named Happy, and it was the god of the Nile River.

The Nile River was like the life source for the nation of Egypt.

And so they have a whole god dedicated to the Nile River.

You have um Haket, which was the goddess of fertility, Geb, the god of the land, literally the god of like earth, the dirt.

Uh Hathor, which is the goddess of protection, Isis, the goddess of healing, Ra, the god of the sun.

Well, he's a big one.

And then Osiris, the god of death.

Anubis is connected to Osiris if you know about those gods.

A lot of times in their statues, they're like a person with some type of animal as a head.

That's pretty much the way the Egyptian gods go.

And so here's Pharaoh going look, like I know of Happy and Haket and Geb and Hather and Isis and Ra and Osiris, but I've never heard of this Yahweh, so appreciate the request, but no.

No.

I'm gonna go ahead and move on.

And so God responds, if you know the story and the way that he responds, he says, okay, well, stuff's about to get real in Egypt.

And he begins this process where ten plagues strike the nation of Egypt.

Ten plagues.

And it isn't until the tenth and final plague happens that Pharaoh finally says, Look, okay, leave, go.

And by this time, Egypt has been devastated as a nation.

And if you read the list of the plagues, here's what they are: water in the Nile turns to blood, frogs, just frogs everywhere.

So many frogs.

Like you wake up one morning and there's you can't escape frogs.

There, they're every place you step, there's a frog.

That's awful.

Lice, like you couldn't believe, flies that just cover everything, uh, livestock dying, boils on people's flesh, hail, locusts that consume all the crops, darkness, like it's just completely dark for days and days, and then finally, all of the firstborn children in Egypt die.

That's what it takes for Pharaoh to say, okay, fine, I'll listen to Yahweh.

Now, if you read these plagues, on at first glance, it's like the most random thing in the world.

It's like God's like blood, now frogs.

You know, like what?

What's next?

Ah, lice, why not?

Like it just seems like God is rolling some dice, just some terrible, horrible dice of what horrible things could I come up with.

But actually, and this is where it's really important.

Because you gotta realize, like, a powerful God, what is a powerful God going to do for his people?

A powerful God is going to protect his people, a powerful God is going to provide for his people.

And at this point, there's no way that Pharaoh believes that the God of Israel, this Yahweh, this unknown, never seen before, unheard of God of this group of slaves has any power to protect his people against the mighty Egypt, especially this Egypt, whose gods must be so powerful, because, I mean, look at Egypt, look how blessed Egypt is.

And what God actually does with these plagues, and this is where it gets really interesting, is he's not just randomly throwing out horrible things, he's actually systematically taking down the false gods of Egypt.

Like he's basically showing all the Egyptians who would have known all these things, like your gods aren't real.

And he's showing the people of Israel their gods aren't real, but I am.

It's actually their gods that have no power to protect.

And so, for example, the very first plague is the Nile River turning to blood.

So, right off the bat, here's this God Happy, the God of the Nile.

And Happy isn't happy that day.

Like he is just, he is, he's he's unhappy because the Nile turns to blood, and and for the people of Egypt, this would have been this omen.

Like, what does this mean?

Because one of the most powerful gods that they worshipped was this god of the Nile River, and God, right off the bat says, Yeah, no more happy.

He can't do anything for you.

The next one, the one that seems the most random, is the frogs.

You're like, frogs?

Like snakes, I could see, like snakes are everywhere, frogs.

Well, frogs were actually sacred in Egypt because they had a goddess, Haket.

And Haket is always pictured.

In fact, we actually have a picture from a hieroglyphic uh image.

Haket is the one on the far right there, really cute lady.

Umet is uh always has a frog as a head.

And so Haket is the goddess of fertility, and and so you wake up one morning and frogs have always been seen as sacred in Egypt up to this point.

Like they would never have killed a frog because frogs were sacred.

Frogs were symbols of the goddess Haket, and there's just frogs everywhere.

And by the time it's over, there's literally just piles and piles of dead frogs everywhere you could go.

And it's again this takedown of the Egyptian faith, this false god Haket, and and it's like God says, happy?

No.

Haket, no.

You keep going.

You've got lice.

It actually says in Exodus chapter 8, the Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron, your brother, raise your staff and strike the ground.

Exodus 8 · chapter mention

The dust will turn into swarms of gnats throughout the land of Egypt.

So Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them.

When Aaron raised his hand and struck the ground with his staff, gnats infested the entire land, covering the Egyptians and their animals.

All the dust in the land of Egypt turned into gnats.

And some translations say life, same thing.

Well, you have this God, Geb, he's the god of the land, literally the god of like the earth, the dirt.

And so when they would plant things and do anything in the ground, Geb is who they were they were making sacrifices to, they were honoring, and God says, Hey, Geb doesn't even have control of the dirt anymore.

Because I've turned your dirt into a pestilence.

And so again, the people of Israel, who probably would have been raised to believe that their God is kind of puny compared to these gods of Egypt, are just seeing God after God get taken down.

Exodus chapter 10.

Exodus 10 · chapter mention

The Lord says to Moses, Lift your hand toward heaven, and the land of Egypt will be covered with a darkness so thick you can feel it.

This is the second to last of the ten plagues.

So Moses lifted his hand to the sky, and a deep darkness covered the land, the entire land of Egypt, for three days.

And during all that time the people could not see each other, and no one moved.

But there was light, as usual, where the people of Israel lived.

So by the time we get to the ninth plague, even Ra, who was the most worshipped God in Egypt, Ra was the god of the sun.

Ra has lost control of the sun itself.

Because there's no light in Egypt.

And finally, the tenth plague, the most severe, says that there's death that visits every home in Egypt unless the Israelites covered their doorposts with blood from a sacrificed lamb, as this picture of Jesus, years and years before Jesus.

As we sang this morning, like he's the lion, he's the lamb.

That the firstborn child in every home would be killed.

One of the gods that the Egyptians would have worshipped is the god Osiris.

This god that controlled death, and God is saying, No, no, I am the one who has control over life and death.

That's how powerful I am.

And so what you see in these in these plagues is the systematic takedown of this false religion and these false deities.

And it's like one by one they come toppling down until finally Pharaoh, who would have actually seen himself as a God, Pharaoh has to say, okay, I get it.

This God of yours is real, this God of yours is powerful, it's undeniable, you can leave.

Get out.

And he lets the people go and changes his mind and pursues them.

We'll get to that in a minute.

But God makes certain through these plagues that everyone understands that he is powerful, but it's not random.

It's him explaining to his people look, I am powerful enough to protect you.

And no other God is.

Because no other God is alive, no other God is real.

And it's the same way in our world today.

We don't tend to think about all the gods we have to worship in the same way.

Like we don't go, which kind of temple do I want to go to today?

But there's all kinds of things that we can substitute for God.

There's all kinds of things that we can look to and trust and basically say, this is what my faith is in, this is what I'm looking to for protection.

And it's just foolish to do that with anything but God, because God is powerful, and he is powerful enough to protect his people.

That's why so often we read in the scripture, Psalm 28, it says, The Lord is my strength and my shield, I trust him with all my heart, he helps me, and my heart is filled with joy.

I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.

Psalm 18, 2, the Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior.

My God is my rock in whom I find protection.

He is my shield, the power that saves me and my place of safety.

God is a protector.

And I don't know what you're going through right now that you need protection from, but God is powerful enough to protect you.

Now, sometimes we think we need protection from things we don't.

Sometimes we might even ask God, hey, rescue me from this, and God may, in his wisdom, recognize, no, you're you're strong enough to go through this.

God did not keep his people from going through hardships.

But when we actually face things that we cannot overcome, we have trust and faith that God is powerful enough to protect.

And I've seen it happen in my life, I've seen it happen in so many others that if If your faith is in the Lord, if he is your plan A and your plan B and every other plan you have, that at the end of the day, my trust is in him, you've put your trust in the right place.

And all you really have to do is look at the history of the religions of the world to see it.

I mean, there was a time when Egypt would have been seen as the preeminent empire of the world, and their gods must be supreme and know who worships Ra today.

And after that it would have been the Greeks.

And I don't know of a lot of Zeus worshippers anymore.

Like the only time you see Zeus is like in a children's cartoon.

It's like funny, it's comedy.

And the Romans had their gods, and no one worships those gods today.

And throughout all of history, basically every single, every single little G God that has risen up and been worshipped has fallen and faded into obscurity, and yet our God, our God remains, because our God's alive.

And we've got to make sure that we put our trust in Him when it comes to who do we look to for protection.

He is your shield.

We sang this morning, who can stop the Lord Almighty?

No one.

Many have tried, none have succeeded.

And the Israelites, for the first time, see that.

Oh wow, this God that we worship, He's powerful.

He's powerful enough to protect us.

But a powerful God wouldn't just be a protector, a powerful God would be a provider.

And can God actually provide what we need?

Can God be our God of provision?

Abraham had actually given God this name in the story with his son Isaac, where it was Yahweh Yere, which means basically God who provides.

My God who provides.

Is God a provider?

Well, we see right off the bat this really interesting experience after the people leave Egypt.

And they're fleeing from Egypt.

They're leaving triumphantly.

They have all this stuff.

But Pharaoh changes his mind, kind of goes, wait, what have I done?

If if the Israelites leave, I don't have a workforce anymore.

Like I'm ruining our nation.

He says, no, no, after them, pursue them.

And we get there in Exodus chapter 14.

Exodus 14 · chapter mention

The people are sort of pinned.

They're at the edge of the Red Sea.

And they're stuck because, you know, it's an ocean.

It's a sea.

What are you going to do?

And there's about 600,000 plus of them.

And so, like, they have nowhere to go.

And Pharaoh and his chariots are closely behind them.

And it says, as Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them.

They cried out to the Lord and said to Moses, Why did you bring us here to die in the wilderness?

Weren't there enough graves for us in Egypt?

What have you done to us?

Why did you make us leave Egypt?

Didn't we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt?

We said, Leave us alone.

Let us be slaves to the Egyptians.

It's better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness.

But Moses told the people, Don't be afraid.

Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today.

The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again.

The Lord himself will fight for you.

Just stay calm.

Then the Lord said to Moses, I love this.

Because Moses basically prays.

He's like, God help us.

And God just says, Why are you crying out to me?

That's the only time I can know of in scripture where God's like, Why are you praying?

Like, do something.

He's like, Why are you crying out to me?

Tell the people to get moving.

Like, come on.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've got this covered.

Just move.

Pick up your staff and raise your hand over the sea.

Divide the waters, so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground.

And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will charge in after the Israelites.

My great glory will be displayed through Pharaoh and his troops, his chariots, and his charioteers, and when my glory is displayed through them, all Egypt will see my glory and know that I am the Lord.

Then the angel of God, who had been leading the people of Israel, moved to the rear of the camp.

The pillar of cloud also moved from the front and stood behind them.

God was doing crazy stuff.

The cloud settled between the Egyptian and Israelite camps, and as darkness fell, the cloud turned to fire, lighting up the night.

But the Egyptians and Israelites did not approach each other all night.

Then Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the Lord opened up a path through the water with a strong east wind.

The wind blew all that night, turning the seabed into dry land.

So the people of Israel walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground with walls of water on each side.

So right off the bat, God has protected his people and shown that these Egyptian false gods provide no protection.

And now God is providing a way out.

God is providing a way forward.

Now, some people would read stories like this and go, this is crazy.

Like, are you actually expecting us to believe this?

Well, it's interesting.

We have archaeological evidence of the people of Israel living in Egypt at the time period that the Bible says they were.

And we have archaeological evidence, galore, of the people of Egypt of Israel becoming a powerful nation outside of Egypt.

We know that they went from Egypt to where they ended up going.

That journey happened.

We have evidence to see it.

And there's only one way they could get there.

And they had to go through that sea.

And I don't know how 600,000 people built boats, right?

They may have been amazing swimmers, but I doubt it.

But we know that they got there.

The Bible tells us this story.

And it's God actually providing a way.

And that's something that I need to remember all the time.

Like, God provides a way out, God provides a way forward.

When you feel stuck in life, when you feel like you're in a place where there's just you don't know what to do, you don't know how to get out of this, you don't know how to escape.

God will provide a way out.

Now he may ask you to do something, to take a step of faith, to take some action if you want that way out to happen, just like he does with Moses.

He's like, hey, come on, move.

But God is a provider, and one of the things God always provides is a way forward.

I don't know how many times in my life I have felt completely and totally stuck.

Either in my personal life or what's going on at work, and I'm like, I just can't see a way out.

Maybe you kind of feel like the Israelites from time to time.

You're like, I all I can see is death.

It's just the nothing's gonna work out.

There's no way forward.

But God always provides a way.

He actually promises in Scripture that if we ever deal with temptation, that He will provide a way out.

That there's no temptation that we have to be so afraid of because we can't escape from.

God will provide a way.

So if you're dealing with anything today and you feel stuck and you feel like you don't know how to go forward, look, I don't know what it is, but God does.

And so you seek him like Moses did.

You pray to him and say, God, help.

Show me the way forward.

Move the sea if you have to, but show me how to go forward, and God will do that.

Because he's a provider.

He provides a way out.

He keeps providing for the people of Israel as you keep reading their story.

One of the biggest examples, Exodus chapter 16.

Exodus 16 · chapter mention

The Israelites are complaining, which is what they do.

They complain a lot in Exodus.

And they're complaining because now they're in the wilderness and, like, okay, we've escaped Egypt.

We crossed the Red Sea.

That was cool, but now we live in a desert.

And how in the world is this giant nomadic tribe of people supposed to survive in a desert?

Because you know what deserts don't have a lot of?

Food.

Like it's just not, it's not abundant in the desert.

There's only so many, all the frogs died back in Egypt.

So now in the desert, maybe it's lizards, I don't know.

And so here's what happens: Exodus 16.

The Lord said to Moses, I've heard the Israelites' complaints.

Now tell them, in the evening you will have meat to eat, and in the morning you'll have all the bread you want.

Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.

That evening, vast numbers of quail flew in and covered the camp.

And the next morning the area around the camp was wet with dew, and when the dew evaporated, a flaky substance, as fine as frost, blanketed the ground.

The Israelites were puzzled when they saw it.

What is it?

They asked each other.

They had no idea what it was, and Moses told them, It is the food the Lord has given you to eat.

These are the Lord's instructions.

Each household should gather as much as it needs.

Pick up two quarts for each person in your tent.

So the people of Israel did as they were told.

Some gathered a lot, some only a little.

But when they measured it out, everyone had just enough.

Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over.

Those who gathered only a little had enough.

Each family had just what it needed.

God provides for them.

Now again, people would read this and go, this is crazy.

Like, come on, but we know that the Israelites were in Egypt.

We know that they escaped, that they they made it to where they ended up settling in the promised land, they became a great nation.

We know that they had a period of time in the wilderness and there's not a lot of food in the wilderness.

How did they survive all those years living in a desert?

They had to eat something.

And scripture tells us that God Himself provides for them.

I have seen moments in life where God has provided in ways that are unbelievable.

I don't know if you have.

And just out of curiosity, because I love you guys and I want to know that you're alive and awake.

Has anyone ever experienced God's undeniable provision?

Like He's provided for you in a way that did not make sense.

I'm so glad your hands are raised.

And if your hands aren't raised, I was once like you, where I would say, I haven't seen that yet.

But God is a provider.

And there's so many stories that remind me of that.

And some of these, you know, I've told before, but I think they're worth telling.

You know, I I've told the story of, and some of you are gonna be like, here we go again.

Okay.

But just when God does something awesome, you gotta you gotta retell the story.

Um, years ago, I'll make this one fast because many of you have heard this before, but years ago, we found ourselves in a really tough spot financially as a church.

Um, God has done amazing things, and now we own this building and we're not in debt, which is incredible.

That's awesome.

That's actually worth celebrating because that's hard to do.

Um many of you are a big part of why that's the case.

And the cool thing about that too is when you give here, you're not nothing that you're giving is going to pay for like an interest payment.

We're able to use all of that for ministry, which is really, really cool.

Uh, not every church is in that position, and and I hope they all can be, because it's really neat.

And for many years, uh that's that's a new thing, by the way.

For the first almost 20 years, that wasn't the way it was, and we had to work really hard, and God's God's done good things.

But this one story is so cool.

So I became the pastor here at 30 years old.

I was 30.

Anyone was anyone here when that happened?

Like you've stayed, and you know, wow, okay, five of you.

Great.

Um, I get it.

I get it.

Like, I was 30.

And so there were a lot of things that I just didn't have any experience with, you know.

Like, Megan and I, I think at the time had only lived in a house for like three years.

You know, we had an apartment, I think when I was 27, we bought a house.

So we've only been, you know, paying off mortgages for a few years, and it was a very small starter house.

And so now I'm responsible for this and all the financial stuff, and it was just way over my head.

And I'll never forget, about a year in, uh, because of some unique terms that had been negotiated with the way the mortgage would work here and all this kind of stuff that I didn't even understand, um, we found out that our mortgage payment was gonna jump uh in a month's time by$16,000 a month.

You know, just a little bit.

You know, just and we were like, ah, we've got buckets of money laying around.

We're good.

No, we did not at all.

We've actually always been a church that operates like a like as a nonprofit.

We we use what God gives us, we invest it, we s we save in a wise way, but we really use what God gives us to do to do ministry, to do work.

And so we didn't have just extra money laying around.

And so basically it made our our monthly payment exactly, and I'm not to the penny,$20,000 a month, every single month.

And I was like, what are we gonna do?

And I prayed, and I didn't tell anybody about this because I didn't I didn't know what to do.

It was just me and God, um, and you know, obviously our accountant.

And so I'm praying.

Like, Lord, I don't know what I don't know what to do.

And the very first month that the$20,000 mortgage hit, someone gave a donation for exactly$20,000.

I'm not even lying.

Not not$21,000, exactly, and no one knew this.

And just so you know, if you're like, but does that happen here?

Not really, okay?

No.

Now I'm fine if it does.

If any of you would like to give$20,000, like by all means, it's not gonna hurt.

But that was like an unprecedented thing.

That was not something I had ever experienced here before.

And so we get a$20,000 on the uh penny, like to the penny.

First month, covered.

Second month, a different person.

A$20,000 check.

And again, no one knew about this.

We had not announced this, and totally unrelated.

This guy had sold a company and wanted to give part of that, and$20,000.

So two months.

100% covered.

Month three, nothing.

But I mean, you know, were you gonna complain at that point?

Like, hey God, where are you this time?

You know, like if God gave me my exact mortgage payment for two months, I wouldn't be on the third month, like, you know, come on.

So month four, someone, again, this stuff never happened, never happened before.

Someone gave us a check for$40,000.

So it was like God going, like, my bad last month.

I'm sorry.

But here, this may like literally, it was like that.

Like, he's like, I forgot, you know.

Month five, someone different,$20,000 check.

And no one knew this.

And and month six was the last time it happened.

But month six, the person who does like our finances just says, Hey Justin, you're not gonna believe this.

And I just looked at him, I cut him off.

I was like, was there a check for$20,000?

And they're like, Yes, exactly.

So for the first six months of this crisis that happened with the way our mortgage and all that went as a church, God paid it to the penny.

That's crazy, right?

Like that's crazy.

That's crazy.

And it like I wish you I I almost wish we we would have told people about it, but then it would be because I know that me standing on a stage like this is like, in some ways, for some of us, maybe it's like really, because you know, you hear people in churches that tell these stories, but here's where you know that this is real, because that we're not tying this to a now you should give money campaign, and God will do the same for you.

Because I don't know if he will exactly.

I'm not making that promise, okay?

But I do know this.

Like, God provides.

That was from him.

None of those people knew each other, none of those people knew the situation.

Every time they give it, I would say, hey, thank you.

Um, let me tell you about what's going on, and they would all be like blown away.

It was just God being a provider.

Now that that's on a big scale, right?

But I've seen it in little ways too.

This is one of my favorite personal stories, and actually, I saw uh Ryan and Sander Tanner here.

This is connected to you guys.

So um, I don't know if you guys know this, but I have a son who plays basketball, and this is a great thing.

Okay, so yeah.

Uh when he was in the fifth grade, he's in the seventh grade now.

When he was in the fifth grade, Shaquille O'Neal was at our church.

That was cool.

Um, Shaq, big dude.

Uh, and and so it was a thing on a Saturday, this event, and Shaquille O'Neal was here for the event.

It was a really cool thing.

And we found out that Shaquille O'Neal was here, my son was like, Shaquille O'Neal.

You know, it's like, even though he played basketball a long time ago, kids know Shaquille O'Neal.

Like, he's awesome.

He's a giant, human being, amazing, and he's on TV all the time.

So they're all big Shaquille O'Neal fans.

So my son wanted to get an autograph of Shaquille O'Neal.

And so he we came, he he like just I was basically pushed him, like, you gotta go talk to that guy.

And here's a picture of my son in fifth grade, uh, here, that's that's on the walkway in our in our parking lot, getting an autograph from Shaquille O'Neal.

But uh, no, you guys got ahead of me.

Hold on, go back, go back, go back, back, back, okay, it was almost a disaster.

All right.

No, too far back.

Keep one more forward.

The Shaq and Liam, it's fine, whatever, it doesn't matter.

All right, so he has a friend named Braden, and Braden is Ryan and Sanders' son, and Braden's a huge Shaquille O'Neal fan, too, and they were on the way here, but they got stuck in traffic.

And by the time Braden showed up, Shaquille was gone.

No Shaquille.

I know.

And so we're driving home, and Liam has this card that Shaquille O'Neal had handed him, you know, had signed and given back to him, and he goes, I think I'm gonna give this to Braden.

And I tried to convince him not to do it.

I was like, look, I'm all about being a kind, generous person and all.

But I mean, it's Shaquille O'Neal.

No, I was like, I was actually deeply moved by that.

I said, wow, this okay.

And so yeah, he gave that card to Braden.

So anyway, about a month later, he was finishing up fifth grade, and I went to this card shop uh because he loves basketball cards, and I bought him um a really nice pack of cards as a as like a you're done with elementary school.

You've graduated fifth grade.

Wow, okay, here you go.

Um I just want to do something to commemorate that.

So I bought him this nice pack of basketball cards.

And he opens it up, and this is a card a month after he gave that away.

This is what he got in that pack.

Um it is an autographed Shaquille O'Neal card, okay?

And you I've got a close-up of it too.

You can see it's really cool.

Um he just he gets that in a pack a month after he gives away a Shaquille O'Neal card, and he loves, he treasures that card so much that he sold it for$400.

Okay.

He wanted, he's like, Dad, I want to sell this.

And I was like, You want it?

This is me.

God like provided this to you.

He's like, Yeah, but it's worth a good bit of money, and you know, you want a pair of shoes.

So I was like, okay, but you're take- we're taking a picture of it so that we will always remember it.

All right?

He's a little investor.

What can I say?

Okay.

But like the the I tried to explain, dude, the odds of that.

Like, what are the odds of that?

It's not, that's not like if you go, that's not something you just get.

Like, oh, there's a reason it was worth 400 bucks because they're rare.

And God gave that to him.

It's like God said, hey, I saw that.

And don't worry, you're not without, because I'm a provider.

God, he's a provider.

I don't know what you need today.

I don't know what you need.

But whatever you need, God has it.

Sometimes our needs are obvious.

Sometimes it's it's tangible, it's practical.

We need we need something that we need a job.

You know, we we need to find a job.

Maybe we don't have one, maybe we don't like the one we're in, and we feel stuck, and we need something different to happen.

God, God can get you a job.

I don't know how he's gonna do it, but I I've seen it happen so many different times.

In so many really, really cool ways.

Maybe you just need strength.

Right?

Maybe, maybe you need some strength to overcome something in your life, whether it's an addiction, whether you're just maybe you need joy.

You're depressed.

You know, life hasn't gone the way you thought it would go, and you find yourself in a place you never thought you'd be.

And if you need joy, God has joy.

In fact, Scripture says the joy of the Lord is our strength.

I just know, I've I've seen enough to know that whatever you lack, God has it.

The world will offer you a version of what you lack, but very often it is a counterfeit version that does not last and it leaves you worse for the wear.

But when God provides something, it is genuine, it is real, and no one can just take it from you.

Because it's from God.

He is a provider.

And so whatever you need today, remember, your God is powerful enough to provide it.

Go to him, ask for him, and keep asking.

Keep asking.

And if you keep asking and it's not working, ask him why.

Be like, God, this is what I need.

Why isn't this happening?

Because Scripture says that as long as that we we pray in the will of God, it will be provided.

And sometimes I found that the thing I'm praying for, the thing I think I need, is not what I actually need.

And God's changed my perspective and allowed me to say, okay, Lord, I see that now, so change my prayers so that I realize what I actually need.

I just know that whatever you really need, God has it.

He's a provider.

I want to finish with this.

And worship team, you guys can make your way out.

Um God is powerful enough to be a protector and a provider, but there's also one other thing that God can do because he's powerful, and that is make us promises.

God is a God powerful enough to promise and to follow through on that promise.

Exodus chapter 3, when Moses protests to God, who am I to appear before Pharaoh?

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

Who am I to lead the people out of Egypt?

God answered, I will be with you.

And that I will be with you is a promise.

It's not a maybe, it's not a might, it's I will be with you, I will go with you.

God promises to be with Moses.

And we actually find that the promise of God being with us is one of the most consistent and powerful promises that we see in all of Scripture.

Joshua chapter 1, Joshua is the man who succeeds Moses to lead the people of Israel after Moses passes away.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

And it says, God says to Joshua, I promise you what I promised Moses.

Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you, from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon Mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east, to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.

No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live.

Why?

For I will be with you, as I was with Moses.

I will not fail or abandon you.

Matthew chapter 28.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

This is after Jesus dies and raises to life, and he's about to leave, and he tells his disciples this before going.

I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.

Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I've given you and be sure of this.

I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

This promise, I will be with you.

It's the most powerful promise that God can ever give.

Because God is powerful, God is mighty, God is strong.

He showed that through the people of Israel, taking this group of slaves, this insignificant group of people who had no power and having them escape, the most powerful nation in the world at that time, and setting them up as a powerful nation themselves when they had no experience, no business being that.

God did that.

And God did that with his continued presence in their lives.

It's because God was with them.

He was with them.

Like it matters who you're with.

Like who you're with, it just matters so much.

Because if you have the right person with you, an impossible task all of a sudden seems possible.

And God is with us.

That's the promise that He makes.

He's with us.

The powerful God who rescued the people from slavery in Egypt is the same God who's with you.

In fact, he's with us in a way he wasn't even with them.

Sometimes we're like, oh man, it would be so amazing if I could see God's presence the way that the Israelites did.

It'd be so awesome to see like a cloud in the sky that I know that that's God.

But what they never had is what we actually have, the power of God within us, because God is so with us now, because he's made his home in our hearts.

Scripture says that anyone who gives their life to Jesus has the Holy Spirit inside of them.

You may not feel that.

That may sound strange, but many of you have experienced that.

Just like I said earlier, how many of you have experienced God's provision?

How many of you have experienced his presence, like his undeniable presence in your life, and you know?

Know, you know that that is God, that there is a peace that doesn't make sense in a situation that you should be afraid.

There's a trust, there's a strength, there's a bravery, there's a boldness that you don't really have in and of yourself, but in that moment, the presence of God within you gives you what you don't have.

God is with you.

He's with you.

Jesus promises to be with us.

And here's the thing about a promise.

A promise is only as valuable if the it's only valuable if the person who makes it is powerful enough to keep it.

Right?

Like I can make promises that I don't have the power to keep and they're worthless.

But when Jesus makes a promise, we have to ask ourselves the question: is he powerful enough to actually do that?

Because he promised the disciples, I'll be with you even till the end of the age.

And we're his disciples too.

There's a story right before Jesus gets arrested in John chapter 18.

John 18 · chapter mention

It's one of my favorite stories of Jesus because you just see so much in such a small, such a small number of sentences.

It says, Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him.

This is when the guards are coming to arrest him.

He knew exactly what was going to happen.

So he stepped forward to meet them.

Who are you looking for?

He asked.

Jesus the Nazarene, they replied, I am he.

Now, if if you actually open up your Bible and you read this and you'll notice it on the screen, the I am is capitalized.

It's tough to translate these things in English, but this is Jesus, not just saying, Oh, hey, uh, uh, that's me.

He's using that same I am language that God said to use through the burning bush.

That's the name of God.

Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.

As Jesus said, I am he, they all drew back and fell to the ground.

They fall down.

These Roman soldiers, just hearing that, I whoo, they fall down.

Once more he asked them, Who are you looking for?

And again they replied, Jesus the Nazarene.

I told you that I am He.

Jesus said, and since I am the one you want, let these others go.

And they do that.

It's actually the second time Jesus connects himself to the story of Moses and the burning bush.

Earlier in his ministry, he had said to the people of Israel, before Abraham was, I am.

Jesus is making this claim, and here's the claim.

It's crazy.

He's claiming to be God.

He's actually saying, Hey, you know that story of Moses in the burning bush, and God's talking to him through the burning bush and says, This is who I am.

That was me.

That was me talking to Moses.

Jesus is the name that I have on this earth.

Jesus is the name I was given by my parents, but that's not who I ultimately am.

I am this Yahweh.

I am the God that you've all been worshiping.

I am the powerful God, the one that's powerful enough to protect, the one that's powerful enough to provide, the one that's powerful enough to make a promise.

That's who I am.

And so Jesus goes to the cross willingly.

Like he, yeah, it's okay.

Let's all right.

Let's do that again.

No, I'm just not.

I'm just joking.

That was my fault.

You guys were clapping, but I'm like, I sort of I kept talking over you, and I don't really value the claps that much, so it's okay.

Wouldn't it?

It'd be bad if I did, if I was like, yes, clap more.

All right.

You know, like Jesus, guys, it's so easy for us.

It's so easy for us to forget how powerful Jesus is.

Like you see an image of Jesus on the cross, and we're tempted to think that Jesus on the cross is a sign of weakness because he's being killed.

No, he's not.

Like he's making sure the soldiers know I'm gonna go with you, but you're not taking me.

Like, let's be really clear.

Because just my words make you fall to the ground.

So I'm going with you.

But I am that powerful God.

So, with that in mind, we're gonna finish with Lord's Supper.

We do this every Sunday.

And if you haven't grabbed it, you can grab some at the back.

You're not missing anything if you you're not messing anything up if you if you go and do that.

So this piece of bread represents Jesus' body broken for us on the cross, and this juice represents his blood.

And as I said, it's so easy for us to think about, and how could you not, Jesus on the cross and he's broken and he's bleeding, he's dying.

And we think about it in terms of sadness because of the injustice done to him.

But in the light of what we're talking about today, it's important to remember that this is an act of power.

That what Jesus did on the cross was as powerful a miracle as has ever been performed.

It may not seem as powerful as toppling over all the gods of Egypt.

But you know what's more powerful than all the gods of Egypt?

Than all the nations that have ever existed in this earth?

The power of sin.

The power of sin.

The power of death.

And by dying on the cross for us, by taking our place, Jesus miraculously conquered the power of sin and the power of death.

And now we don't have to live in fear of that.

We don't have to live worried about what our sins are going to mean for us in terms of eternity because Jesus has already paid the price.

We don't have to worry about death the same way.

In fact, our focus next Sunday for Easter is it's the day that fear died.

Because what's to be afraid of if Jesus defeated death itself?

That's who our God is.

And so, this this little meal, this is not, this is not our memory of a weak moment or of a sad moment.

I mean, it's it's sad, and I'm not trying to act like we should just be happy every time we think about it, but we have to remember that this is a powerful God doing a powerful thing for us.

Because that's who he is.

He promised to be with us, he promised to protect us, he promises to provide for us, and this meal it reminds us of all of that.

So, with that in mind, let's pray.

Father God, we thank you so much for this piece of bread and what it represents, what it means.

What it reminds us of.

You are powerful.

There is no one who can stop you.

We sang it this morning.

Who can stop the Lord Almighty?

No one can stop you.

The cross didn't stop you.

Death didn't stop you.

In fact, Lord, you used death to conquer sin.

You used your death and the life that you you rose with to conquer death itself.

And so as we take this, Lord, remind us that you are powerful and we can put our trust in you because there's nothing that you cannot do.

Let's take the bread.

Father God, thank you for this cup of juice for what it represents and means.

Your blood shed.

Lord, your blood is powerful.

It is, your your blood is powerful, powerful enough to cleanse us from all of our unrighteousness, from all of our sin.

You are Yahweh.

The one who is, the one who was, the one who will always be.

No one will change that.

Death itself did not stop you from being who you are.

You just got back up.

So as we drink this juice, remind us of how powerful you are and help us trust in the promises.

Help us trust in your protection and your provision.

We pray this in your name.

Let's drink the juice.