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For many years, I have started off in January reading through the Bible,
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and maybe some of you do the same thing. You start off reading through the Bible
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because you want to read through the Bible in a year.
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And for many years, I did that, and,
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I grew to appreciate the story of God freeing his people from bondage when they were trapped.
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They were enslaved in Egypt and God freed them in this whole journey of,
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It simply reminds me of my journey with God, how he has freed me from bondage,
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and there are things that we can learn along the way.
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And so I want to share just a few of these things with you this morning that
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we can learn from our journey with God through the Exodus.
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Let me read to you from Exodus 3. By the way, this is found the story of the
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Exodus, the freeing from bondage.
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I'm not going to read it all to you this morning. It's found in Exodus,
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Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
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And in Joshua, finally, they get to the promised land. So if you have a moment, read those five books.
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Then the Lord said, Exodus chapter 3, verse 7. And then the Lord said,
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I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt.
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I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters.
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Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the
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Egyptians and bring them out,
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of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
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This begins the process of God freeing his people who were enslaved by Egypt.
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Now, Moses and God get into this discussion about how capable Moses might be
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to be the leader of these people, and God says this, Go and gather the elders together,
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and say to them, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham,
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of Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, I have observed you and what
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has been done to you in Egypt.
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Listen to this, verse 17.
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And I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction.
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And in chapter 4, verse 31, and the people believed.
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And when they heard the Lord had visited the people
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of Israel and that he had
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sent their affliction, they bowed their heads and they worshiped.
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The Israelites were going to be set free. God will deliver them because he promised.
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Now, this is the beginning of this process.
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It's going to take a little while before they actually reach the promised land.
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It's going to take a little time before they are actually released from bondage from the Egyptians.
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But God has come and promised to free them.
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Now there is hope, and hope changes how people live.
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How many of you are Brewers fans? Okay, there's a few.
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So about a month ago, you probably we're catching a little glimmer of hope, right?
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Maybe you started going out and buying some brewers apparel and maybe you scheduled
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watch nights at your home so you could watch the games.
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Or maybe you bought tickets and went to the playoff games. Maybe not.
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But hope changes the way we live. Now, just to let you know, I'm a Cubs fan.
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And I'm filled with hope.
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The Israelites are going to be freed from bondage and hard labor,
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and they begin this historic journey from slavery to freedom to a land flowing with milk and honey.
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And their journey is quite interesting.
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Along the way, they encounter God in different ways, and.
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They learn. Now, every time I say they, and I'm talking about the Israelites,
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it's things that I hope we can learn also.
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So when I say they or them, just consider maybe this is something me or I should learn.
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Let me make an observation about the wilderness first before we get into the wilderness.
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The wilderness is a place of testing or transformation or preparation.
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Testing or transformation or preparation or all three.
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We see this in the lives of Abraham, in the life of Moses, Elijah,
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Hagar, John the Baptist, Jesus himself.
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The wilderness was a place that God took them to prepare them, to teach them.
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And God is going to do the same for his people here.
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So when Israel was brought out of Egypt, let me just read this to you from 1317.
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When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them
by the way of the land
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of the Philistines, although that was near.
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In other words, it would have been shorter to go from Egypt to the promised
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land through the land of the Philistines,
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but God led them a different way through the wilderness because he said,
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lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.
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So God was going to lead his people into a wilderness where he could prepare,
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and transform and test them.
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God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea.
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Now we, we have to learn to trust that God will meet all our needs.
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We have to learn return.
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Trust that God is going to provide for everything that we need.
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They, the Israelites, may have felt abandoned for all these centuries that they were in bondage.
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And so now God is going to lead his people into the wilderness where he can,
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teach them to trust face to face.
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This is the first lesson.
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Be ready. Be prepared. Now, when you go on a trip, you want to prepare, right?
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What do you pack for the trip? Let's say you're going on a vacation. What do you pack?
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Adults, you get into the car, you want to make sure you have your phone and
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your charger, maybe an e-book, maybe a regular paper book, earplugs, maybe.
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If you have children, maybe a wooden spoon. Wait, parents still take wooden spoons?
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If you're a child, you're going to have headphones, maybe, Maybe Game Boy,
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Nintendo Switch, toys, coloring books, snacks, charger, phone maybe, water bottle.
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And then you have to decide what things do I want right next to me when we travel
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and what things can go in the trunk or in the way back.
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I want the snacks right here.
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Clothes and blankets can be back there. You get prepared. You ready yourself.
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From the time that God called Moses to free his people, and he gave Moses words
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to speak through Aaron to Aaron.
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The Pharaoh, the people were on this rollercoaster ride of Pharaoh saying, okay, you can leave.
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No, wait, you can't. Okay, now you can leave. No, wait, you can't.
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Okay, now you can leave. No, wait, you can't.
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You're going to be enslaved. And they're on this rollercoaster ride of emotions.
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And with each plague that God throws at the Egyptians, the blood and the frogs
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and the flies and the hail and the locusts, Pharaoh gets closer and closer to
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releasing the Israelites.
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Finally, the very worst plague comes, and that is the life of the firstborn son.
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And every family and animal is in danger of death.
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But the Israelites listened to what God had told them so they would not be in
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danger. They were preparing correctly for what was going to happen.
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They killed the Passover lamb. They sprinkled blood on their door.
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They ate quickly. They didn't save anything till the next day.
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They followed God's instructions and they were ready so that when it was time
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to leave, they could pick up their things and go.
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They were prepared.
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God's words are life.
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His preparations are vital to follow.
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So at midnight, Exodus chapter 12, verse 29, at midnight, the Lord killed all
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the firstborn in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh,
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who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive who was in his dungeon,
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and all the firstborn of the cattle.
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And Pharaoh rose up in the night. Oh, this is interesting.
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Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians,
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and there was a great cry in Egypt.
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They weren't ready. They hadn't prepared.
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There was not a house where there was not one dead.
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And so Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, Rise up and go,
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both you and the people of Israel, and go and serve the Lord as you have said.
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Take your flocks and your herds as you have said, and be gone and listen to this.
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And then he says, and bless me also.
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Have you ever read that in there? Pharaoh says to Moses and Aaron,
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go and bless me also. Is Pharaoh starting to understand maybe God is real?
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That maybe he was wrong?
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It doesn't
last long. He recognizes God.
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It doesn't last long.
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God's words are life, and God's people were ready.
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What does Jesus have to say about being ready? Let me read you this from Luke chapter 12, verse 36.
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And be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage
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feast so that they may open to him at once when he comes in and knocks.
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Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.
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Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake, awake,
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prepared, when he comes.
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Truly, I say to you, he will gird himself and have them sit at the table,
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and he will come and serve them. Hmm.
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What does it mean to be ready? To follow God's instructions? To be obedient?
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Don't let a day pass by when you let down your guard, but be prepared at every moment.
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Be ready, be prepared when it's time. That's the first lesson. Here's another lesson.
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Take the necessary resources. You're going to go on a trip. You need to have something with you.
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Normally. I, the very first time I drove to Alaska, I drove there a couple times.
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I got to the Canadian border after driving all night long.
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It was about midnight. I get to the Canadian border, and this was 40 years ago,
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so it was way before many of you were born, but it was before,
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you know, border security was so strong.
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I get to the border, and then they asked me why I was going,
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and I said, I'm going to Alaska. I'm going to Fairbanks. I have a job up there
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waiting for me. Excuse me.
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So I need to get going, and I need to be there, and it's a long drive.
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And they said well we're not sure you could make it they had me get out of my
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vehicle go into their office,
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and I'm assuming they were searching my car while I was in their office and,
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the border guard said to me show me how much money you have I emptied all my
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pockets I had a credit card.
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My dad gave me his credit card so I could pay for gas all along the way but
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you know Gas stations between the Canadian border and the Alaskan border may
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or may not even be open anymore.
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I mean, I had a book that was published that year that said which ones were
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open, but who knows when they open and close. And so the border guard, and I had $200.
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She said, you don't have enough money to make it. You can't come in. Yeah.
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So I went back, not all the way home. I went back to the last city that I was at.
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I had my mom wire me some more money because they told me I would need at least $200 more.
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So I had $200 more wired to me.
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Then they let me in. By the way, I didn't need that extra $200.
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And I made it there fine. And my car was thoroughly searched again when I got to the Alaskan border.
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When God was giving Moses instructions, he said,
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When you go, you will not go empty, but each woman shall ask of her neighbor,
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and of the one who lives in her house of jewelry, of silver and gold and clothing.
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Before they left, when it was time to go, the Passover angel had gone by and
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people had been killed and,
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the Pharaoh calls Moses and says, you can leave, go.
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God had all the Israelite women go to their neighbors and collect from them
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gold and silver and clothing.
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They didn't know what they would need it for, but they would definitely use it later on.
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What were they going to do with all that gold? They could use it for good.
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They could use it for what God had purposed it for, or they could use it for not so good.
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In other words, there was one time that I can recall where they used it for a bad purpose.
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And that was when Moses went up on the mountain.
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Do you remember that? And all the people were afraid because they could see
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all the lightning going on at the top of the mountain.
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And he was up there for a long time and they didn't know what was going on.
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And they said, Aaron, we need to serve God.
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And he said, bring me your gold. And he crafted a gold calf.
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It wasn't exactly the way God wanted them to use what he had provided for them.
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But they did use the gold and the silver and that cloth to create a tabernacle.
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And God gave them very specific instructions on how to use the gold,
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how to use the silver, how to use the cloth, how to make this tabernacle where
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they could all worship God.
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When you go on a journey, and we're on this journey of faith,
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make sure you have the resources you need. Hmm.
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Jesus said, when I sent you out
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with no money bag and no knapsack and no sandals, did you lack anything?
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And they said nothing. And he said to them, but now the one who has a money
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bag, take it in the knapsack likewise. And if you don't have a sword,
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sell what you have and go and buy one. Times are different now.
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This is when Jesus was getting ready to leave. He was preparing his disciples
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for the way the world was turning now.
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So what do you need? What do you need? I mean, Peter thought he was ready,
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but God knew better. What do you need?
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And will you trust that God will provide to meet your needs?
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I mean, I think he proved that along this journey. God met the needs of the
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Israelites over and over and over again.
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God provides. Take the right resources. God provides. Let me give you one more lesson.
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Follow directions. You ever hear that? Just do what I ask you to do. You ever hear that?
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There was, when I was working at Sky Lodge Christian Camp, there was a group
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of women from inner city Milwaukee who came to the camp.
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And one of the things that I was going to do is, if you're familiar with the
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camp at all, I was going to meet with them and take them across the road to where it's more,
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rugged, more woodsy, and we were going to do some team building exercises.
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So these 20 women gathered with me around the lodge and they were all ready.
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They had long sleeves on, they wore their hats, they had water bottles and backpacks
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because they knew we were going to be gone for a couple hours.
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And the first thing I said to them as we gathered is, now we're going to the wilderness.
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And they were all kind of a little panicky.
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Does anyone have a compass so we can make sure we get our way back?
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And three women right away held up their cell phones with their GPS on it, ready to go.
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And I chuckled because if you've been to Sky Lodge, you know it's not likely you will get lost.
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So we started on our journey. And even then, I overheard a couple women talking
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Saying, are you sure he's going to get us back here okay?
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But of course, we did. When Moses ordered Israel to set out from the Red Sea,
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and they went into the wilderness, they went three days into the wilderness and found no water.
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When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water because it was bitter.
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That is why it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses saying,
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what shall we drink? And he cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a
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piece of wood and he threw it into the water and the water became sweet.
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There the Lord made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he put them to the test.
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Listen, he said, if you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God,
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and do what is right in his sight and give heed to his commandments and keep all his statutes,
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I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians.
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For I am the Lord who heals you.
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God saying, just follow what I ask you to do.
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They could probably still hear in their ears the cries of all those families
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who had lost their firstborn.
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It is still fresh in their minds what God had done before they were freed from bondage.
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And so they were probably inclined to obey.
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God told them there would be manna for them along their journey.
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And this is what he said, gather of it, every man of you, as much as he can eat.
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You shall take a certain amount, every person, according to the number of people in your tent.
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And the people did so. They gathered some more, some less, because some people eat more than others.
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Gather as much as you can eat. But when they measured it, nobody had anything
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left over and nobody had any lack.
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Each gathered according to what he could eat. And Moses said to them,
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let no one leave any of it till morning. It's a simple instruction,
right?
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But they did not listen to Moses.
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And you can imagine maybe being out in the wilderness, you have finally food
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given to you every day and thinking,
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I'm just going to eat what I can eat now. And I'm going to trust.
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This is why they're out in the wilderness. God wants to teach them to trust in him again.
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They have to trust that every day, every day God is going to provide for them what they need.
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So you can imagine why somebody would say, you know, I'm just going to put some
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of this in the back of the tent, just in case.
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Some did, leave it till morning, and it bred worms and became foul,
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and Moses was angry with them.
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God wants them to learn to trust.
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And what does Jesus say about this? He said, when he was setting on a journey,
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a man ran up to him and knelt before him and asked him, good teacher,
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what must I do to inherit eternal life.
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And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
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And then he said, you know the commandments. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery.
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Do not steal. Do not bear false witness.
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Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother. And he said to him,
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teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.
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And Jesus looked at him and loved him and said to him, one thing you lack.
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Go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven.
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And come, follow me. Disheartened, disheartened by this saying,
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he went away, for he had great possessions.
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I'm guessing that caused Jesus great sorrow to watch this one whom Jesus loved,
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turn his back on him and just walk away because he had a lot of things here
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on this earth that he didn't want to give up.
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He was willing to sacrifice the treasures in heaven for the things that he had here on earth.
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I mean, we look at that and think, what was he thinking? And then we look at
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our own lives and wonder, is there anything like that in my life?
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Follow directions. Follow directions.
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Hmm. One more, one more lesson. Let the journey be educational.
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Now, for all of you who are teachers or parents or people who have trained other people or,
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when we talk about education, you want people to learn and you also want them
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to be able to recall, right?
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You don't want them to just put things down on a test because they learned it
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and then completely forget about it the rest of their lives.
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You want them to be able to learn it and apply it and recall it over and over again.
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God tells the Israelites, there will come a time when you remember this journey.
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One week every year is set aside for you to observe this quick exodus.
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Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, that is bread that doesn't have any
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yeast or any rising agent in it, because when they left, they had to leave in
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a hurry. They didn't have time to let their bread rise.
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So in order to commemorate, to remember this event, God is telling them for
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seven days, there will be no leavening.
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Your territory. And you shall tell your sons that day, it is because of what
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the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.
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So this can be passed along, this memory.
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It's what we learned. We learned to follow God. We learned to obey his instructions.
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We learned to take the necessary resources.
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And now we're going to remember and pass this information along so our ancestors, so our,
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those that come after us will know why we do what we do.
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Set apart to the Lord all the the firsts that open the womb,
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all the firstborn of your cattle and your families will be set aside to the Lord.
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And when in time you come and your son asks you, what does this mean?
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You shall say to him, by strength of the hand, the Lord brought us out of Egypt
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from the house of bondage.
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You need to remember.
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Now, take a moment. Remember what God has brought you through or what God is
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perhaps right now leading you through.
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The wilderness that God is leading you into so that you can learn to trust,
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so that you can be transformed, so that you can be prepared.
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Remember what God is doing in your life.
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They traveled from Egypt to Mount Sinai, the Israelites faced tests.
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They lacked water. They lacked food.
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They lacked water again. Each time, God provided what they needed.
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In different ways, did they forget?
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Because they complained every time they came upon a difficult time.
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They complained to God. Did they forget that He had just provided this miraculously water or food?
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And that's why it's important to remember what we've learned.
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Think about your journey of faith. Be ready.
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Be ready to move. Be ready to travel. Be ready to do something different than
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maybe what your routine is like if God calls you to move.
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Take the necessary resources, and God will provide.
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Follow directions. Follow directions.
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Remember. Remember. Talk about your journey.
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Remember what God has brought you through, what he is now leading you through,
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how he has provided. Remember.
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Let's pray. Would you stand with me? Let's close in prayer.
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Father in heaven, we have so much to be thankful for.
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Our lives, your provision,
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your promises, our learned lessons, our memories, our blessing as we see your
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work over and over again.
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Thank you, Almighty God.
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Remind us today and every day of your faithfulness and your forgiveness,
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the life everlasting that you
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have prepared for us, that you sacrificed so greatly to provide for us.
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Teach us to remember, all for Jesus' sake. Amen.