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The Doors Are Open: Week 4 | Oct. 11, 2020
Moses' Most Famous Excuse | Pastor David Hughes
Welcome and thank you for joining us for the Church by the Glades Podcast. If you would like more information about church by the Glades, including service, times and directions, visit CB glades dot com Way. Hope you enjoyed today's message. What is up? Ch urch by the Glades Good to see you in the house. The doors were opened the way we wait. You got people around. You got nice neighbors about 6 ft away. So when I say three, give up your nice neighborhood a 123 go, go on. Our campuses were back open this the third week. Most are folks you're still watching online. Very valid Thank you for logging on today. And that little clip, that little clip that was from one of the many Moses movies. The Life of Moses is so iconic, is not just defined in the Scripture has been demonstrated dramatically. A number of movies that's probably the most famous. That's the 10 Commandments, with Charlton Heston back from 1956. I don't know. They still show that every Easter Sunday evening they does that for decades, and it's kind o f a great thing because, you know, Easter and passed over kind of loosely coincide during the year, and Moses story is precious and sacred to Jews and Christians alike. We share that in common, and it's a great story, a great story. So I want to go back to the call of Moses. If you missed the last couple of weeks, we're in the syriza about God opening doors. I believe God had a door for Moses. He presents the door in Exodus Chapter three and four. But I think God has a door for you. I think you are a person of purpose. I think God has a wonderful, customized plan for your life. You must have the faith and courage and confidence toe walk through that door. So he's navigating that decision and Exodus Chapter three and we'll be in Chapter four, and it kinda fas t forward the conversation. I got a question for you actually have to. Let's talk about miracles, miracles. If you would say humbly that you think you have been on the receiving end of ah, miracle if you're in the recipient of a miracle, Uh, put put yes, i n the chat or here in the room. If you feel like you've had a miracle in your life. God has touched in some special way. Maybe he healed you when you were sick. Uh, now that he used doctors and medicine. But God is the ultimate healer. He came to your help in some desperate situation. Maybe he rescued you financially. Uh, you know what have you had? Miracle. Who's been through a miracle? I feel like God's touch. If you've been clean and sober for 10 years, that is a miracle If if you were sent to prison. Bu t in prison you found freedom through Christ. That's a miracle. So a lot of us raise your hands a lot in the chat I know would say yes. I have been on the receiving in the recipient of a miracle. I would say yes to that. How about the second question? And don't put this in the chat. Don't raise your hand here because people will think you're strange. I'm not doubting it did happen. But just honestly, now, who has ever performed a miracle who's ever performed a miracle? Who is it? I mean, like you walked out in front of people. And you, you look towards heaven and you prayed out loud when you said Amen. God gave you the power to walk on water or raise the dead or feed 5000. Anybody, anybody, Just look at me. Anybody not a personal weekend long, right? I've ne ver performed a miracle. And maybe that's why the story of Moses inspires us. At the same time, there's a bit of a personal disconnect using Moses. Any kind of life example is easy to push back and say, Hey, yes, God used Moses in a powerful way of amazing way. But I'm not Moses. Moses was Moses. Yeah, I mean, he's iconic. He's world famous. He if you had the biblical Mount Rushmore. I mean, he's on it right now. Marshal in the Bible. Be like, you know, Jesus number one and probably Moses number two. And yo u could fight over who's three and four after that. Right? Elijah King. David Pierre, Paul. I mean, Moses is Moses, and you're right. He did miracles. He performed miracles. In fact, if you look at his his miracle resume the extraordinary miracles of Moses . You find a list like you know, he
calls the Nile to turn the blood frogs cover the entire land. God used Moses to bring Nats the same way a supernatural storm. Hail and fire. It decimated the Egyptian Empire at the same time God protected Go ocean where the Hebrews lived. Locus were blown in by an east wind. Gosh provided water in the desert of sin by way of Moses. Defeat of the malachite from Maliki's is evil people group ambushed the Israel lights and the way the promised land. I mean miracle after mira cle after miracle pillar of protective fire between the people got an Egyptian army then lastly and most famously divided the Red Sea and the people of God by way, this this miracle that Moses performs. They walk with these massive, watery walls on either side, and I love biblical details, says it was such a pervasive miracle that their feet did not even get wet for the sneaker heads. Your sneakers were not even get muddy miracles, miracles. And so yeah, the extraordinary Moses traffics in the extraordinary . He's an extraordinary man, an extraordinary ministry, extraordinary miracles. But in excess Chapter four, he's about as ordinary as they come. There's nothing in excess Chapter four that would strike you as something extraordinary about Moses he's He's a shepherd. He's an old shepherd. He's an octogenarian, You know. AARP, like 25 years little beat down by life in his life's not bad. He has a wife, has a couple nice kids. He's in the family business, but he doesn't see himself as a person of purpose. Ah, person with the divine destiny, a door of opportunity. In fact, when God does call his name in Chapter three in Chapter four, he lacks the confidence to step through the door. See, every time in the Bible. You see, God used powerfully a man or woman to do something amazing to step into their destiny. They have what I call spirituals. Swag is not cockiness. He's have this this confidence. When that moment comes, man, they just they just step through. Fact. Let me revisit that. I'll put back on the screen wha t I call the swag ometer, the swag ometer. Here's the church by giving up the swag on it because I think it really helps clarify, because we think through what I would call a continuum of confidence, right, because we're all in different places. It comes t o how much confidence or insecurity we have in life like over here on this side is arrogance. Now we live in a society where being cocky is in vogue, Right to look at the camera, beat your chest, trash talks how great you are. But God, God hates pride. Hes pride. And and so maybe back when his 40 area, he had a little arrogant. So he's Assumpta if he tries to bump off Egyptian to free. The people didn't work. You can't do God's work using the devil's methods. Where God wants you to be is not arrogant, right ? He hates pride. He wants to be confident. When God gives you that moment, you seize that moment. In fact, a better word. A colleague of mine came up the word God evidence because confidence is based on me and my abilities and my attitudes. But God, Fidan is not best on me. It's not, you know, I'm the man gone finances. I am God's man. You are God's man or you are God's woman. For this moment he has called you, and he will empower you to accomplish everything he calls you to do. That's what God wants most to be, but he's not there he was there 40 years before that. But now, at age 80 he's bless his heart. He's insecure, he's insecure, He's full of anxiety and fear, and this is his dream. He want to help set the people free. But now, when God says in Chapter three, you're my man, let's go get him. What he dio Excuses, excuses. So examining these excuses that Moses comes up with because the same excuses Sometimes we'll flood your heart when God presents the moment. So let's be in chapter for extras. Chapter fo ur Little verse by verse today and you'll see him unpacked The second excuse. The first one happened last week in Chapter three when he said, God, what if they ask me your name? God, what's your name? And God says, my name is I am right. So we explore that last week. I hope you
watched last week or you're better. You were here last week. Speaking of being here, did you feel safe today? Thank you. I think the protocols have been great and as the restrictions change will adjust. But thank you so much for your patients and being here. And, you know, other church by the great people who are out and about You're out in about If you're at the mall at the beach, went to Disney. Get back to church. Get back to the house. The doors were open. Alright, verse ones on t he screen right now highlighted one word. So so God's calling. Moses Moses is insecure, and here's what happens. But Moses protested, Yeah, you read the highlighted one more time, but Moses protested again. What if they won't believe me or listen to me? Wh at if they say the Lord never appeared to you? Moses protested. Highlight That were because, as an American, uh, sometimes protest is powerful. Peaceful protest can accomplish a lot as Americans that we think there's an issue we believe in strongly. Or the re's an injustice. We will peacefully protest. But Moses here protests not over an issue and injustice. He's pro testing when God says you're my guy. Now listen. Protests when you feel strongly about something. But don't protest when God calls your name. S ee if you protest when God opens the door. What you do is actually protest against your own potential. You're demonstrating against your own destiny. So what? This whole back and forth with God is these excuses. You know him hemming and hauling this. This is it seems like it's Moses pushing against God. It seems like it's Moses resisting God or Moses argued against God or Moses fighting against God. No excuses. Are Moses fighting against Moses? He's going toe war with his own potential. When God calls your name when God calls your name, you're my guy. You're my girl. Moved the door, have got evidence and go. Alright, So verse one verse one What they say The Lord never appeared You Verse two says this. Then the Lord said to him, What is that in your hand? Ah, staff, he replied. Then the Lord said, Throw it on the ground. Moses through it on the ground and it became a snake. Get ready! And he ran from it. Just quickly underlined that because this has become Moses coping mechanism when there's pressure, anxiety or fear, just like he did 40 years ago. He ran from Pharaoh, ran from Egypt. He runs now he's insecure. So when his pressure he runs. But look at this. This is brilliant right here. Then the Lord said to him, Reach out your hand and take it by the. And so Moses reached out and took hold of the snake, and it turned back into a staff. Okay, just highlight the word tail because I don't know much about snakes. Anybody here in the room? You got a pet snake or your good snakes? Or have we won't judge. Okay? Yes, it's Oh, my God, That's cool. Okay, I I don't I don't Anybody like no stakes. Only good snake is a snake on the way to heaven, right? Anybody. Okay, So? So if you're watching because people are watching right now, this is cool all over the world has mentio ned Zimbabwe watching last week. Um, maybe in Zimbabwe, you guys have snakes like Cobra's and and and Mambas and stuff. So maybe you get snakes. So if I have to move from Coral Springs Well, I don't see a lot of snakes in Zimbabwe, and they're snakes. I'm asking for some local knowledge. Like, how do I handle, like, a poisonous snake roles? And what What do I do then? I guarantee if you know how to handle snakes and I don't And I say, how do I handle a poisonous snake? a bit of a steak. No one's gonna say, Oh, just grab it by the tail. That's not what you do with the poisonous snake. You don't grab it by the tail, but God tells Moses to grab it by the tail. Now, listen, this is kind of interesting. Most of the things you do to the word of God that God will c all you to in Scripture are so evidently wise. There's so wonderfully powerful and practical the moment you start to read this, then put it through the filter of your life. You're like that. That would just work. That makes sense. That is wonderfully, divi nely logical Example. So so
husbands. When it says in Ephesians, Chapter five Hey, guys, love, be attentive to your wife the way you love and tend to your own body needs. Every dude gets that. All right. Our body. We take care of our bodies. Brothers. Righ t. Your body's tired. You give it rest was hungry. You feed it, man. If it itches, you scratch. Now go ahead. If I would be that attentive to my wife's needs, her emotional needs relational needs while we probably a great marriage. That makes sense when th e Bible says When comes to your money, be careful about dead and be a materialistic. You know it. But you Wow, if I would do that, I'd have more financial freedom. It makes sense, But there are a few rare times God asked you to do things that makes no sens e at all. Illogical. Wanna be great? Be the servant. Jesus also said would be first go last. You want mawr give more blessed to give Grab it by the tail. Now, listen, Listen. I want to concede the fact that features like to make fun of Moses and the famous conversation because his excuses are kind of lame. His excuses or rather superficial and silly. So we beat up on Moses. But guess what? In response, this whole grab the snake thing by the tail. Brilliant. What Moses does here is amazing. It is superlative what he does here. Listen, it's important. So what happened was he was running. Okay, So what happens is God speaks three things. He listens to God. He stops running and he obeys. I'll say it again cause y'all didn't get it. Brilliant. Right here. He list ens to God. He stops running and he obeys three marvelous action steps. Say it with me. He listens to God. Come on, he stops running And he yes, do that in any arena of your life. What God begin to change everything. The trajectory of a man who has spent f our decades in desert obscurity is going to change radically because he listens to God. He stops his running. He'll base do that with your finances, do that with your attitudes. Do that with your relationships. You listen to God. You stop running and you o bey and watch God begin to change everything. Such a rich text. So second excuses. Well, they don't believe me. And God says, Well, do this whole thing with the snake, the snake. But again, I like, he says in verse to Verse two is a little phrase I wanna d rill down because it's a great phrase. So before the miracle of the snake transformation happens, what does God asking me? Asking a question asked. Hey, Moses, what's in your hand? What's in your hand? Moses. What's in your hand? Reading with you? Ready? W hat's in your hand one more time. What's in your hand? Put in the chat. What what's what's in your hand. So God wants to do a miracle. He's gonna start with this. What you already have, what you already have. What do you bring into the equation? Because we always think we need something else. Now if you're Moses, what's in your hand? This was his hand. A stick. Do you read a passage? He had it had a stick or a staff. So I asked the production team this week to find me a staff. I think this is like Gandalf's staff from Lord of the Rings. Okay, so it's not what we have. You get the idea, so they're having this will dialogue back and forth. You know what's in your hand? What's in your hand. And Moses like, Well, all I got to stick. It's my shepherding staff. I' ve had this for many, many years. All I got to stick. And so God called Moses do this back in Chapter three, and Moses offered up the first excuse. What is your name? He says. My name is I am, And then God spends the rest of that chapter saying Smart God, stuff like God's carrying the dialogue for half a chapter. Why because Moses has checked out because most of the moment he heard that God's gonna send it back to Pharaoh. In Egypt, most is the thing about all the things he lacks. He's like, Oh my gosh, I w ant Pharaoh in Egypt, I need things I don't have what I need. I need an army. I need army, Be nice and chariots and maybe a navy. I know it's the desert would be great if bazookas have been invented. I'll take some of those right, because there's all these things as a shepherd I lack and God says, don't know, What do you have?
What's what's in your hand? A stick? What God is saying is, what you have is more than enough. What you have is more than enough. Let's start with what you have. Let me apply because none of this is any value unless we find personal application. You know, when God starts the process in your heart, this thing that God has called you do that his purpose for your life, that divine door you'll be overwhelmed like his God traffics in the Bi g God's work is God's sight. He's great with small stuff to write numbers, the hairs on your head. Divinity is in the detail. He's magnificent. With minutia. I get, I get it. He knows every detail, but big he speaks in a vast cosmos, comes to exist big. He 's great. So you begin to sense this thing that God wants you to do his purpose, always about his kingdom and other people. First and foremost, it will overwhelm you and you start thinking about all the things that you lack. What you have is mawr than enou gh. You'll start thinking about the things that I'm missing, like God. I can't do that because my education is not sufficient. God, if I had more experience that I don't have, maybe then I could do it. It's just it's just overwhelming. I'm ill equipped. I' m I'm ill prepared under resourced God, if I lived in a better neighborhood, if I went to better schools back in the day, if I had more ability, if I had, my parents were more understanding if my spouse was more supportive if I had a spouse, I'm single. I can't do it as a single person. So God, you blessed me with a man you blessed me with Ah, husband, Right. A good man with a good job with abs. Then then then maybe I could do it. And God says, Yeah. Yeah. Great. Wonderful. It's for human. Most of you think you need an army and everything. What's in your hand? Right? What you have is more than enough. What you have is more than enough. It's the way you know, if you're watching online like that. I love those like that. Mediocre, unconvinced, golf applause lik e, Yeah, I need mawr. I need more. What I have is is not a thank you a little late, but thank you. Anyway, I appreciate it. Um, you know Moses thinking Hey, Mr God, I am You never been to Egypt. Evidently because Farrah is really powerful and he has a mass ive army, has an m buyer. And so I need to think they don't have. But when God traffics in the supernatural, he always starts while you already have. Not just this miracle. Every miracle almost had was was a stick, had a staff, but think New Testament. Jes us. I mean the story. When when they're always hungry people, Jesus was preaching too long. He preached too long. Sometimes And so the crowds been there a long time. The disciples come to Jesus. Hey, Jesus. I gotta send them away because they're gonna pass out of hunger because you've been preaching so long. And Jesus give him something to eat. And Judas was the treasure. But evidently Philip was a mathematician. He said, Jesus, I run. Run all the number crunching numbers. It would take 200 days ways. Just give everybody here, in this massive crowd of 5000 men plus women and Children just to taste Got to send them away. And Jesus said you feed him. What? What do you have? What do you have, like way? Don't have enough. What do you have? Well, we have this lit tle Hebrew happy meal. We wrestled away with the kid like buy biscuits, couple fish sticks. That's all we have. And Jesus took what they had and he fed the multitude. What do you have? What do you have? You think? Not enough, man. My present ability is not enough. My president influence not enough. What do you have? Give God what's in your hand? What's in your hand? All right, Let me Let me help me. Help everybody apply this because again, this has no value unless you find a way to take it home with you. Uh , what's in your hand physically right now, Right, Heather? I say your bible in your hand right there. Is that your your journal? Right there. Okay, I say so online. What's in your hand? What's literally in your hand right now? So if you're watching online once in your hand right now, Bagel, cream cheese. Uh, Cuban
coffee. Good for you. Some of you guys watch church with Cuban cigar. I don't judge. That's fine. Whatever you wanna dio, uh, TV remote in your hand. Maybe your child's hand is in your hands. You 're worshiping together. That's beautiful. Uh, put in the chat. Put in the chat. What's in your hand? Are you watching this? Why you drive? Maybe the steering wheel is in your hand. Okay. Don't chat it that you don't don't text and drive what's in your han d. In fact, for most of us, if someone would ask you you put this up back. These guys didn't just find me a staff. They family like a staff holder. Look at this. That cool production team that's the world most times. If God would come to you like like Gene sis Chapter should be extras Chapter four and say What's in your hand like you did to Moses. What's your hand? Throw it down. You would have to spike your iPhone, wouldn't you? So if you were seeing your screen time at the end of week, you're like, Uh huh. I have spent so many hours of my phone in my hand not judging. I'm not judging. Let's make this relevant. Let's let's talk about the iPhone so that God can be you and said What's in your hand? Because the iPhone is both extraordinary and ordinary at the s ame time. It's extraordinary technology for you. Young guns. Man, This is like science fiction 20 years ago, man, you the things with the access we have to each other into information that connectivity. It is a marvel. The supercomputer that you have in th e palm of your hand. It is extraordinary. At the same time, this extraordinary thing is incredibly ordinary. Very ordinary Moses staff, Very ordinary, very mundane, very run of the mill. Every shepherd had a stick, right? So I mean this. So when you see a smartphone. You never go. Oh, my gosh. You have a cell phone. You have a mobile. You never it. Now, if you're my age, you remember the first time you saw one? Come on. Remember, you were impressed when the first time you first one you saw was this thing ri ght here? Who saw the brick phone the first time that Theo £18 brick foam for me. It was at World Gym in Hollywood. I was working out and my buddy from church, Todd Shambhu, rolled in and hit his gym bag and he reached his gym bag. He pulled out the first time I saw someone I knew not on TV with a brick fun. And he was like, the coolest guy I'd ever seen. Like, I didn't know you were a millionaire or a spy or something. You have a You have a brick bone. That zone I'm in all. In fact, he had the ability to e ven take messages on hiss. Not that it had voice memos or anything. We had, like a pad of paper and rubber band and a pin true story. And I was still so impressed. It was so extraordinary. But Now everybody has one. It's your shepherd. Shepherd staff, like the staff for Moses, was functional, right? A shepherd would use this thio to redirect a wayward sheep or defend off a predator. In fact, probably Moses had this so long. It was probably a bit of a security blanket for him. Always, you know, felt right ha ving his hand. But where if he wasn't out, you know, he just just In fact, here's another use that people the Old Testament used their staff for. It says in Hebrews. Chapter 11, Verse 21 Hebrews 11, Verse 21. You look it up. It talks about the Old Testamen t heroes as you got older, like Moses older, leaning on his staff, leaning. He was using his staff as a crutch. Do you use your cell phone as your crutch? Are you so engaged? Obsessed with your cell phone has become your crutch? I know we're all digitally dependent these days, but you know, you as a Christian person, has this kind of become like your staff. It's become your crutch. Can we be really for a moment? Are you obsessing over social media? Do you fixate on negativity on Instagram do you overspendin g? Going debt Using online shopping Do you use your phone toe Access Pornography? Do you use your phone at 2 a.m. On a Saturday when you're lonely and you text your toxic ex to? Really? It's your crutch. It's your listen when Moses looking his staff, I won der if you look at his staff. He ever thought, You know, it's It's it's functional. It's my security. It ZMA crutch. I lean on it. It also
reminds me of my failure. Oh, because back 40 years ago in Egypt, man, I didn't hold stick. I have had a spear. I had a sword. Me to the finest Egyptian steel. I had a scepter. I was a ruler was made of golden. This reminds me how I failed. I missed my moment. I don't walk through the door Ever, ever looked at social media and feel like a failure? Ever go on Facebook and see all those other families and people that you, you know you follow and their friends like Oh, my gosh, their families always beautiful Their hair is done and oh, they're having another picnic there Having game night We never have game night, right? jus t try. Hey, Moses! Throw it down. Throw it down! Hey, hey, hey, Christian! Throw it down! Throw it down! Throw it down! They're not. Not for real. Unless you have Apple Apple care. I mean, really physically throw it down. I mean, surrender to God. Give it to God. Give your crutch to God. Give your failure to God. Give your social media to God. Give your Facebook to God! Give your YouTube channel to God. Give it to God. Give it to God! Because Because Moses listen to get great screen. He's messed up a lot in his life. A lot of failure, A lot of regret. You know, His life's not terribly. He knew he missed his moment. But what happens to this key moment in Chapter four? Like he listens to God, he stops running and he obeys and God says, Throw it down. He's like , Okay, it's a stick. He throws it down and it supernaturally transformed and the ordinary becomes extraordinary. It becomes the means of a miracle. In fact, the Bible calls the stick the staff later on by unique turn. It calls it the rod of God, the rod o f God. The Bible calls the staff in Moses Hand as he takes on Pharaoh the Rod of God. Stay with me. The Rod of God. Pastor Abe at Lake Worth. Help with my research some time and, he told me, Has a military background. He's a combat vet, he says. You know, David, I found out that a lot of nations use this term the rod of God, to describe their most dangerous and deadly weapon. Whatever their super weapon, iss. How appropriate is that that were Moses threw it down when he surrendered to God. God took his ordi nary mundane stick and made this stick the rod of God. And that staff became a spiritual weapon of mass destruction. He took down an empire. Your phone. Your phone could be your crutch or your phone could be a spiritual weapon in the hands of a mighty god. Can I get all of your stuff? Can I get in your stuff? Can I get in your stuff? Please get in your stuff cause he's gonna hit close to home. You need to surrender your phone to God completely. No longer a crutch, an instrument. I mean, there's so much in t his. This phone the technology that is extraordinary. You have access to the Bible 24 7. If you have not downloaded you version on your smartphone, you're not smart enough to own a smartphone because that's the Bible in multiple translations, multiple lang uages for free you version downloaded to If you're not a Christian, its all time best selling book was impactful. Book in human history need to download that right away. And then the church by the Glades app Inspiration for you there. Ministry for you ther e. Download that. But how about this? We've been talking about for six months during the whole pandemic and quarantine a connect and share connect and share connect and share is we give continent church by the glaze. Don't just consume it yourself. That's great. Share it reposted You guys have done that? I had no idea the impact it could have. Okay, if you just one example If we surrender, our phones really are phone becomes something God would use in our life. So a couple weeks ago, they did a kind of a re boot remix on M. C. Hammer's can't touch this Quincy and the dance team and the video team put the same together. It's just so fun. We put it up on our Facebook. Ah, few days after the service and you guys began to share. I'm not a Facebook guy more, but, uh, instagram person began to share and share and share. This is like two weeks ago. Sometime you guys have shared this 18,000 times, which is impressive. That's
translated toe 1.5 million views. Now that that's a massive number. Now the video is fun and i t's funny and it's cute stuff, but no one's gonna give their heart to Jesus watching this video. But there's an action step for people who watched the video and they want Mawr. We tell them to click on our Web site 165,000 people going to the church by the gauge website, where you can hear about Christ or you can be inspired where you can learn the planet salvation. Great. This has become a weapon of spiritual mass destruction. Will you surrender your phone? Will you give God your phone? I wanna ask you to do this. Will you repost or share everything the church puts out there? We don't vomit content it's not gonna bombard you just but, you know, every couple days without something like good, like that video. You know, that's so fun. We'll put that out in a c ouple days. Will you just simply share that? That translated for every single share? 83 people watched it. I invite people to church religiously, half for 21 years. I've never invited 83 people in one week. You do it by flicking your thumb. Will you throw it down? Will you surrender your phone? Will you be an ambassador? You heard a brand ambassador. Okay, Your brand now is Jesus and secondary in chapter five. You're going to be an ambassador for Christ. You're now an influencer. Well, David only have six f ollowers. Great influence. All six people. Will you do this religiously, please? This is something. And by the way, there's someone right now going, David, it would mess up my feet, or I I might. I did that. I might lose some followers. It's a miracle tech nology. There's a verse in the Bible says to whom much is given much is required, will be held accountable for how we use or fail to use certain things God's blessed us with now. E wanna get yourself okay? You're pushing back. I might lose followers. My fe et has a certain artistic flow of my all right. This week after church, you go the mall because you're out and about. And you you get hit by a truck. Truck backs over you. Why? Because you're on your phone, your checking out Ticktock not paying attention. And you're dead. And we're sad cause we love you and your family. Sadly, you're not sad because you wake up in heaven. Your next breath is in heaven, and your face, you see, is Jesus. So you're in paradise and you see Jesus and you're overwhelmed. And you' re glad you died early and didn't pay attention. And and then you see other heroes like Moses Moses, your We were talking about you in church on Sunday. Oh, there's the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul and you say, and how you have coffee with Paul and P aul's, like, really nice and gregarious. And he's like, Hey, what's that in your phone? Oh, yeah. I forgot I died with myself in my hand. This is this Is this something called a smart phone show? it to me and you show him the access to information on your phone. Right? We connected. He's like, how many thousands? No tens of thousands of people. Did you bring to Jesus by way of your phone? Listen, Paul would say, because Paul was ruthless and he was crazy in love with Jesus. Remember? He met Jesus on the Dam ascus Road and I messed him all up forever, right? He became this passionate Jesus guy. He would travel. In fact, he took advantage of everything ruthless and the information innovation of his day. The communication ovation was the highways, the Roman road ways. It was the information superhighway. So he traveled those roads, you know, different towns. And he preached and plant churches and witness. And every once I got thrown in prison because he was persecuted for it, it was illegal. So get thrown in priso n. And for a guy like Paul who's proactive and fast moving, that would be so frustrating. Toe, how do I reach people here in prison? He's an innovator. So he befriended guard. He'd be nice and charming. Roman Gardens. Hey, Mr Guard, can you give me some pa pers and parchment and quill and he just now write letters because for the first time in human history, you could say the letter with confidence. It
would arrive because the Roman roads ruthless, do anything. He could have been one more person to Christ. S o, how many people do you win with your phone on Earth? Well, I didn't want to jeopardize the integrity of the flow of my feed. I was afraid I'd I'd lose some followers, lose them all, lose them all. Losing mo you value. Your follower is just twitching the ir thumb. Jesus had real followers. They, like, got up and left things to follow him and had thousands. But the end he had 11. And with only 11 followers he changed the world forever. Throw it down, Throw it down. You're you're now a brand ambassador for c hurch By the glaze and importantly, for our King King. Jesus, use your phone's share it all. You may get some hate. You probably won't. People laugh and you might just create followers of Christ. 165,000 people in two weeks went to the website because of a flipping video you shared. Do it. Do it! God loves to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. So Moses was he that unlike us, I don't I don't know. He did some amazing miracles, those miracles again. He turned, you know, the Nile into blood. But th ere's a common denominator in all these miracles. Detail in the Bible. Here's how he did it. Excess seven. Verse 20 said Moses raised his staff. Frogs covered the land. God said to Moses, Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams. Nats the sam e thing. Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground. The hellfire, the supernatural Storm and Moses stretched out his staff locus coming land. Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt. The wind brought the locus numbers. Chapter 20 the battle the malachite uh, Moses raised his hand with this staff, that supernatural flame that protect the people of God for the Egyptian army and the subdivision of the Red Sea. The Bible says Moses raised his staff. All those extraordinary miracles happen with o rdinary stick that he gave to God. Give it to God. Last question. This is the part of the sermon for smart people. Smart people have just two minutes for smart people don't have any smart people in house on the smart people in line. You could brag you. I'm smart. Okay, So I was thinking about this idea of this stick, this stick that God took and transform first into a serpent. And by the way, when you have a stick like this, that God has touched a certain something just ordinary thing. God's made extraordin ary. Oh, you got swag E guarantee in chapter seven when he walked finally back into Egypt. First time in the palace for 40 years. He's thinking himself. Oh, I hope. I hope Farrow does not believe. I hope Farrow does not let the slaves go up first because I 'm gonna throw down my stick is gonna turn into a serpent. Let me under the story. You know, then his magicians, Pharaoh's magicians, they mimic the miracle. But Moses snake ate their snake because the authentic devour the inauthentic every single time in life. But here's my question. I close with the Bible. Ever read Who gave Moses the staff? Where do you get this weapon from? Where do you get this thing that God touched and used? Okay. The old movie pharaoh gave it to him. his enemy. His adversary gave hi m the weapon. Now, that's probably not the way it really went down in the Bible. But our God is so powerful. He he rules and overrules. He can cause your enemy to give you the weapon to secure your victory and his defeat. That is the power of our god. List en, he'll turn all upside. Damn! He'll take the pain they lay on you and make that pain your purpose. Oh, he divorced. You know he delivered you. God will deliver you through that pain. That disappointment God. We used to find the difference and the divini ty in your life. Let God work in your life. Do these things. It is not about revenge is not revenge on Pharaoh. It's not. Payback is to play book that God will give you to secure your success. Just give it to him. Throw it down. So who gave Moses the staff ? E don't know if Pharaoh really put in his hand and just drove in the desert with desert where the staff was required. But when he got that stick and he threw it down, that simple stick became the rod of God on instrument of massive, spiritually warfare a nd destruction and with God used to said, Two million people free. Throw it down, Throw it down. What's in your hand? Throw it down. Give it to God. Let me pray for your father God, The Christian life is about victory and surrender at the same time. Wait n ormally in life If I surrender, I lose. If I surrender, have been defeated. No, no. The one time surrender is sweet is when God says Give that to me. Surrender that to me. Take that thing in your hand, your crutch and throw it down and I'll make it into a miracle. I'll do something supreme and supernatural. I'll take that and make it a weapon. Throw it down by the any area of our life are resisting. We throw it down. We give it to God. Use us in Jesus name. Amen.