[0:00] This morning this message will be different. We've been going over verse by verse, line by line through revelation. It has been one of the most challenging and one of the most rewarding sermon series I've ever done. It is the continuation of the parable series that I began, seems like forever ago, and seeing how connected the parables are with revelation and how revelation is essentially connected within the canon of scripture.
[0:40] It is remarkable. It is beautiful to know that God works in such incredible ways. I want to begin by telling you a story. As I was preparing for this message, one of the things that it was on Friday evening, I was preparing this sermon and you know how sometimes you are working or you're reading, there's that last thought in your mind before you go to bed and you sleep over it and it pops again in your head.
[1:13] The message today is titled the same God and it's important for us to recognize that it is the same God that led the people of God who were in Egypt, they were in bondage, they were in the place they were not supposed to be, how God led them out of Egypt into the promised land.
[1:38] That thought, the same God that led the people of God out of Egypt is the same God that leads each and every one of us home. And so yesterday I was informed of a congregants family member who had passed away and it was something that really spoke out to me about that.
[2:06] The same God will lead each and every one of us home. That was the first thing that I woke up to was the message of a life that had someone that had passed away, but then to be filled with that message that God will lead each and every one of us home and that God is there beside us each and every step of the way is something that is truly remarkable and to share that, to comfort that not only with the family but with you this morning, that is the hand of God.
[2:48] To know that God is with each and every one of us in every season of life. Talk about God's timing. That is something that you couldn't have timed it any better. And so I wanted to share this with you as we go into this because when we look at Scripture here, I want to put this image on here.
[3:15] We see these two images and you have essentially a family here that is journeying towards the sun. How many of you know the story of Egypt, the people of God, they were in bondage, right? They were in slavery, they were oppressed and oppressed people. And how God had provided Moses and how you've seen probably the Ten Commandments or you've seen the Prince of Egypt, right, where Moses is there saying, "Let my people go."
[3:53] And what happens to the Pharaoh? Does he say, "Yes, you know what, you're right. Just let them go." It's the story of how God is sending Moses to speak to the Pharaoh, to free the people of God. And essentially, we know in this story, or if you don't, you should watch the Ten Commandments or you should watch the Prince of Egypt.
[4:19] The Pharaoh's heart was hardened. And what's fascinating about this, there's debate, "Well, did God harden the heart of the Pharaoh or did Pharaoh harden his own heart? He the Pharaoh hardened his heart first to the point where God further hardened his heart." You see, there are times where people are in such a darkness where God gives them away to their own vices, their own evil, as it were.
[4:45] That's a very heavy thing in there. But I bring all of this up because you think of the pyramids, you think of the Pharaoh and the heat and all this, the drama, the theatrics of this story and how God led the people of God out of Egypt into the Promised Land. But then you see on the other side here, this image.
[5:13] It's supposed to represent the new heaven and the new earth. And what's such so remarkable is how revelation is tied in with the story of the Exodus. Think about it. How many of us are living in a strange land? How many of us are in Babylon, as it were, that we don't belong in Babylon.
[5:40] Rather, we belong in the new heaven and the new earth. We belong in the presence of the Lord. We are essentially passing through. We are journeying individually and together where God wants us to be. And there's this fascinating connection with revelation. I want you to think for a moment.
[6:03] When you've seen these movies about the story that where Moses is trying to persuade the Pharaoh, you've seen that scene before, right, where he puts his staff into the water and what happens. There's blood that's showing. Does that change the Pharaoh's mind? No. But what's fascinating is these judgments that you see are essentially the same type of judgments that show up in revelation.
[6:29] I don't know about you. That's fascinating. To know that those kind of judgments show up in the apocalyptic language and literature of revelation. We have to think for a moment. When you're in the midst of all of these judgments that are happening for us that know the Lord and we know Jesus Christ, it's important for us to recognize we don't have to worry about the judgment.
[6:58] We have to carry on and continue through and hold fast until the end, amen church. That's important for us to recognize. And so this image is a very powerful one, right, where God pours out his judgment and he leads his people to the promised land in the case of Egypt and to the new heaven and to the new earth.
[7:21] For many of us, we will be led home where we belong in the presence of the Lord. And so I have some scripture for us to go through. We're going to go over Exodus 15 and Revelation 15 and this is some fascinating connections here. This is where you find the song of Moses.
[7:43] So church, can we turn to Exodus? We're going to take a detour from Revelation, but it's important for us to see this connection here. It's going to be on page 67 and 68 here. We're still going to read scripture, church. We're going to read that together. So it's going to be in Exodus 15 versus one through 18 and Revelation 15, two to four.
[8:13] I always find it interesting how do you realize that the New Testament is much smaller than the Old Testament? It's kind of interesting because statistically most pastors and most churches will preach over the New Testament and they should go over the gospel of John, right, the letters of Paul and how many of you have gone over Jude before, that'll be a fun one to go over some time, right?
[8:36] But will you see that there's so many references from the New Testament that references the Old Testament, right? And so in this case, when Revelation is referencing the song of Moses, we should look at what the song of Moses is. It's important for us to see that. Are we there church in Exodus 15? We're going to read this together, right?
[9:00] Then Moses and the people of Israel, they sang this song to the Lord, saying, "I will sing to the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously the horse and rider. He has thrown into the sea." You probably, some of you who grew up in church may know that children's song, right? That real fast enough beat one. The Lord is my strength and my song and He has become my salvation. This is my God.
[9:21] And I will praise Him. My Father's God. I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is His name. Pharaoh's chariots and his lost, he cast into the sea and his chosen officers were sunk into the Red Sea. So it's talking about the events that had happened, right? The floods covered them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power.
[9:45] Your right hand, O Lord, it shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrew your adversaries. You send out your fury. It consumes them like a stubble, right? It's talking about judgment that happens here. Verse 8, "And the blast of your nostrils, the water piled up, the flood stood up in a heap. The deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
[10:08] The enemy said, 'I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword.' So you can get this kind of this imagery that's happening. Verse 10, "You blew with your wind the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
[10:31] Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand and the earth swallowed them. Do you see how there is this connection with a lot of that apocalyptic language? The earth swallowing? That's fascinating, and then even the fact that the enemy right here, we have the Egyptians, right?
[10:54] I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide." Well, how many of us have had enemies that seek to do those very things in there? And so you also notice, as I've mentioned in Revelation in this series, the importance of the sea and the chaos of the sea. So that's another fascinating thing in there.
[11:16] And so in verse 13, "You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed. You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode." Verse 14, "The peoples have heard they tremble, pangs have seized the inhabitants," right? It keeps going on. In verse 17, "You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, you have made for your abode, O sanctuary."
[11:39] Verse 18, "The Lord will reign forever and ever, for when the horses of pharaohs with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea. The Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea, God providing a way for the people to go through," right? How many of us have had those moments in life where we are, well, we might be stopped by a sea.
[12:05] I don't know if you've ever had the sea parted. I haven't. But we can think of situations where God has made a way where it seemed like there was no way before. That's something for us to take to heart here. And so, then Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing, and Miriam sang to them, sing to the Lord for he has triumphe gloracy, the horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
[12:34] And it goes on about the bitter waters being made sweet. Let's go to Revelation now. This one's not as long, going to be on page 1228. And for the sake of time, I'll go ahead and begin reading it. And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire and those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its names standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.
[13:04] And they sing the what, they sing the song of Moses. So when it's referencing it, at least we need to see a bit of what's going on. The song of Moses, the servants of God and the song of the Lamb saying, "Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord, God the Almighty, just and true are your ways, O king of the nations, who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name, for you alone are holy.
[13:33] All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." Amen. Like that's some powerful verses right there. It's important for us to see this kind of connections in here. So we're going to go ahead and move on. So the Exodus and Revelation are tied together. The judgments of the Exodus are similar to that which is found in Revelation. I think that's a very fascinating and very powerful thing that should help us in our faith journey.
[14:00] In Revelation 18, 4, God provides a way, a way out despite persecution, which is very similar to what you find in the story of the Exodus, right? How God provided a way out of Egypt and found a way through the wilderness, finding a way to go across the sea. Isn't it interesting how we've talked about the chaos of the sea and how out of the sea comes the dragon, comes the beast.
[14:28] And yet in that scene there is the sea which is a barrier that needs to be crossed. Very interesting in there. And then in Revelation 16, 13 is an echo of the cosmic battle between good and evil because throughout all of Scripture it has been this constant battle between good and evil. And what's important for us to know, Church, is for us to recognize who is victorious at the end, well, by golly, that is Jesus Christ, amen, that he is the one who is worthy of our praise, that he is the one who will rule and reign, and that we will dwell in his presence, we will be with him forever.
[15:11] And so when we look at that, that's the, what we have to see in this. And so what this means, Egypt and Babylon are connected. It's fascinating when we think of these kind of things, right? We think of Pharaoh as the oppressor, right? And it's, did you know in Ezekiel they call him the great dragon? Think about that.
[15:36] You know who else is called the great dragon? It's the same picture that Revelation 12 references for Satan. Now that's interesting. That is fascinating when we think of this, this sense of evil, the Pharaoh and his heart going stone cold. And you see all these judgments that are happening and you're reading it or you're watching the movie and you're thinking, why doesn't he change his mind?
[16:03] That's part of the point of reading it. That if, look, if you have plagues going on, I'm going to change my mind. If I'm seeing the river turn to blood, I'm going to change my mind. Could you imagine being so stubborn that despite all these judgments, you're still not going to change your mind?
[16:24] No, thank you, God. I'm not going to have anything to do with it. Could you imagine that? Just think about that and think in your own life, is God talking to you in such a capacity? Maybe not turning the river into blood. But how is God speaking to you? Perhaps God is speaking to you through someone.
[16:49] Perhaps God is speaking to you by a dream or a vision. Or maybe it's just simply the word of God. God speaks to us in such powerful and great capacities. And I also mention in here that Egypt and Babylon are connected. Well, when Moses is standing saying, let my people go, he is essentially wanting the people to come out of Egypt, right? Well, what's fascinating is in Revelation 18, 4, it says, come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues.
[17:26] Wow. The same type of thing is happening. Get out of Babylon. Get out of there. Get out of Egypt. Get out of that situation and come out. Very powerful, the names, the names change and even the empires may change. But we still think of how important it is for us to see Babylon and Egypt and this sense of darkness as it were.
[17:57] We've got to get out of the darkness and we've got to go into the marvelous light of Christ. For God is light and in Him exists no darkness at all. We have to think of Christ being the way, the truth and the life as well. It's powerful, absolutely powerful. The second thing here is hardened hearts are the result of unrepentant sin.
[18:24] This is a hard one. It's a hard one for us to grasp our mind, but it is the truth. He's very hard and disheartened and he would not let go as it mentions in the Exodus. And in Revelation we see the same pattern of people who did not repent. And I hope that for any of us who do not know the Lord, whether you're online or whether you're here in person, may your mind be changed.
[18:51] What does it mean to repent is to change your mind, to change your mind of what? Your view on Christ, your view on God, your view on your very life. It is transformation of the mind, just like it says in Romans. Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. And for some of us, it's like a light bulb that goes off.
[19:15] Brothers, it's having this sense of grief, this sense of conviction as it were, to change your mind and see that there is a much better way than what the world has to offer. I cannot help but think of all of the craziness, all of the strange things that are happening within culture, within society, within technology, all of these things that are happening. It can be overwhelming, but you know what's not overwhelming is the Word of God and the calm and the peace that comes from Jesus Christ.
[19:47] Amen? It's important for us to recognize that. It doesn't matter what culture is going to show, it doesn't matter what changes, what matters is we come to Christ and we remain firmly with Him as the foundation. That's why God is the rock in which we build upon our lives. Why? Because when storms come around, we're not going to be shaken.
[20:12] We're going to remain in Him. That's the powerful thing in that. And so in the case of Pharaoh here, you know, what's interesting is when Babylon falls, the kings and the merchants, they weep when Babylon falls. Why? Well, they lost their cargo. They lost their ability to make money. Well, it's the same type of hardness that happens with the Pharaoh. May our hearts not be hardened.
[20:40] May our hearts be like a heart of stone that turns into a heart of flesh, a beating heart, such simplistic language that even a child can understand that. Go give your kid a rock sometime and say, is don't let your heart be like this. They'll understand it. Our heart should not be stone cold.
[21:02] Rather, they should be warm. They should be beating. Right? We think of how, well, medically, if your heart is not beating, what does that mean? You're dead. You think about that. Well, if your heart is a stone, are you dead or are you alive? Right? And we got to think that when our heart goes from stone into a heart of flesh, how much restoration and renewal is happening because of Jesus Christ.
[21:32] We have to think about these kinds of things, a hard heart. We pray for those who have hardened hearts. Maybe you know somebody. I know I know a few people. We have to think of those who have hardened hearts. Or maybe we continue to pray that our heart continues to be transformed to be more like Christ.
[21:55] I don't know about you. I don't want to be like Sabrina Carpenter. I don't want to be like Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks. I want to be like Jesus Christ. It's a much better example, the greatest example that history has for us. I want to live and love like him. And so the next thing here is Moses and Jesus both lead people out of bondage.
[22:23] I think that's a fascinating thing, right? Where God had called Moses to speak these words to Pharaoh, to get the people out of there. They didn't belong in Egypt. They belonged in a much greater place. And we have to think how before we know the Lord, where are we? But we are lost without the Lord and we all need Jesus Christ.
[22:53] We all need to come out of the pit as it were. We need to come out of darkness. We need to come out of Babylon and go into the light of Christ being on a journey. I always think it's so fascinating how Christ is viewed upon as the great shepherd, right? With a rod and the staff are used to comfort, to guide us. And quite frankly, if a sheep gets stuck in a crack or a crevice, he's going to get you out of there.
[23:22] And also how Christ will defend you from the wolves, right? You think of any kind of shepherd or for you farmers, you can think about, well, you can think of sheep, you can think of goats, you can think of cattle. The last thing you want is a predator to come over and ruin a cause or ruckus. Of course, you're going to protect your animals in the same way that Christ is going to protect his own and you journey with Christ out of the darkness.
[23:54] Now the journey that we go on, well, it's going to be different. There's going to be times where we're going to climb up hills and we're going to say, God, you want me to go there? You want me to go through this? What? But that way looks so much better. Listen to the Lord and follow where he leads, so important for us.
[24:19] And so the song of Moses, the song of the lamb, Moses led the people of God out of Egypt into the promised land and Jesus leads us to the new heaven and to the new earth. Essentially Christ leads us. And how powerful, how comforting it is to know that despite all the storms and the craziness and the chaos of the sea and the chaos of the world, we remain in Christ.
[24:50] Are you trusting in Christ to lead you? Only you can answer that question. And so in all of this then, what do we do with this, right? How do we live with this? When we go over the song of Moses, it's important for us to recognize that God is the God of mercy and he is also the God of justice, right? That God is the God of truth and he wants all of us to come to know him, to grow in the faith, to be transformed, to be healed, and to share the good news of the gospel.
[25:28] It's very important for us. So the first thing I've put in here is to come out of Babylon or come out of the darkness. Sure, I guess you can identify with Egypt. Come out of Egypt. Whatever it is, get out of there, get out of there and go to the Lord, right? Come to Christ. Isn't it interesting how the Apostle Paul writes that we are slaves to sin?
[25:58] Isn't that interesting how that's connected? You have the people of God who are in bondage in Egypt. Then you also have the fact that before we know the Lord we are slaves to sin. Nobody likes hearing that kind of language. Slaves? That goes to show the sense of urgency and importance as to why we come to the Lord so we can be free from sin, not free to sin, mind you.
[26:25] You don't use that freedom to just go sin, free from sin, not free to sin. Now we were once slaves to sin, that we are in bondage, we are captive to sin, but God has provided a way through Christ. And it is the same God who provided Moses to lead the people out of Egypt. It is the same God who parted the Red Sea.
[26:53] It is the same God that provided Jesus Christ to be born in the manger, the same God who sent his son to live to perform miracles, to teach parables, to heal the sick, to raise people from the dead. All of these things to provide salvation to each and every one of us who believe in Jesus Christ.
[27:20] That is why we believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, amen church, that is so important for all of us. And so this invitation is open to all of us today. To come out of the darkness and to come into the light of Christ, you have to ask yourself the question, am I willing to leave behind the darkness?
[27:43] Am I willing to leave behind what I have known? And to go on to this journey into the unknown, into I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know the future, what it will hold. When Christ tells us to not worry about tomorrow, that God will provide, we've got to trust in that. I don't want to know the future, to be quite honest.
[28:07] But it's so comforting to know that the Lord's got you, and He's going to be with you as you journey through life. The second thing then is don't harden like the Pharaoh or the wicked. Repent. I'm talking about specifically the Pharaoh that we find in the story of Moses, the story in Exodus, but also those that are wicked, the Bible does talk about times where there are people that are so, they love their sin so much that God hands them over.
[28:44] May that never be for any of us here. We certainly have got to pray for those that are in darkness, let's not be like the wicked. We have to love and pray for our enemies. Do you know how much easier it is to hate our enemies? Let's be honest here, Church. We've got to pray for our enemies. We've got to love them, pray for them, pray that God will intervene. Whatever that looks like, pray to the Lord, think of one person that you can think of who's in darkness.
[29:17] Think of one person who has a hardened heart. If I asked all of you to raise your hand, I'm pretty confident we'd all know someone who has a hardened heart. Think of the Pharaohs as it were. You can even think of those that are in authority. You can think of the, I don't want to get too political here, but you can think of politicians that may have a hardened heart.
[29:42] You can think of kings and you can think of rulers of nations who may have a hardened heart. You can think of them, maybe sometime take a list of everybody in political office and who you're going to pray for, even if they're on the other side, right? Now easier said than done, amen, but still important for us to pray for those. Pray for those in authority, pray for those who have hardened hearts.
[30:12] So Pharaoh rejected the call to repentance, and there came a point where that consequence where God hardened his heart. Let this never be your story. When we are convicted, let us change our minds. Meta Neuya repents, let us come to Christ and grow in him. Let us ask, and you know how humbling it is to ask God to search your heart, to search your mind.
[30:42] You find that in Psalms. Search me, O God, and know me. For many of us, that is a difficult prayer to ask. We know that God knows our thoughts, but to willingly ask for him to search for our thoughts. That is a humbling thing. God changes our hearts from stones to hearts of flesh, and he softens our heart.
[31:10] This is but one example of how God transforms us. And the third and final thing is to journey to the new creation with Christ and his people. It's important for us to journey with the Lord, and he will lead each and every one of us to do things or to experience things that are just remarkable. The people that you meet, the people that you interact with, sometimes it's a challenge.
[31:38] How many of you have had that moment in life where Christ says, "Hey, you've got to talk to that guy, right?" I'm not pointing at it right now. You've got to talk to that guy right there. Him, her, you meant that guy, not this guy. Many of us have had that moment to speak to somebody, or maybe it's to call somebody. A phone call, a text message.
[32:08] God told the people, "You find this in Exodus. This is actually interesting. You shall not wrong a sojourner or a press him. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt." This is from Exodus 22 and 23. In other words, the people of God who were in Egypt, they didn't belong there. They belonged in a different place.
[32:36] So this text is talking about how freed people, those that are freed from sin, are called to free others. How we do this is by sharing the gospel. We tell people stories of how God has worked in our lives. We tell people the gospel message, but we also do it by how we live our lives.
[33:04] How many of you have met someone who has done terrible things and they claim to be a Christian? Hopefully, that's not you, right? None of us here. We have to think of that. But what kind of testimony is that person saying? Don't think of someone who is a Christian and you just know they are. Sure they're not perfect, they're human.
[33:30] But you know that God has worked in them in and through their lives. How important that is for us. And so, who can you welcome? Who can you pray for? Or who can you invite by sharing the gospel message to others? It could just be showing them John 3 16.
[33:54] It could just be sharing your own story. I'm always amazed to learn how the Lord works through all of us. Recently I was visiting or I was attempting to visit a congregant in the hospital. I went through the whole process of being checked in and getting your badge, getting your photo.
[34:24] Thank God that's not on my driver's license. I don't look good in that. And in that I was led over to a room with the person who shared the same name as the person I was visiting. And in that room was a family. It wasn't the person I was trying to go and minister to, but how curious, how peculiar, how strange it was to be in that room with a family that didn't know the Lord.
[35:01] One person in that room knew the Lord and the rest did not. And to pray and to speak to these people, I was nervous. I did not know these people and they didn't know me. But I am convinced that God placed me there in that moment, in that time to speak to them. Now do I know if someone turned to Christ immediately?
[35:31] I would love for that to be the case. But even if it's not, the seed was planted and God places you in situations. Even if it's uncomfortable. Even if it's embarrassing. I was like, you're not who I thought you were supposed to, but I'm going to go with this. And I had to think, okay, God, I don't even know what to say.
[35:54] Can I pray for you? You can read a room. You can feel when you're not being welcomed. And how many times for us are we placed in situations where we don't feel comfortable? And that's okay. Maybe God has you there for a specific reason. I want to tell you one more story and then we're going to close here. When my wife and I were in Hawaii, we were in a church that was very different than typical churches.
[36:27] And we met someone who was transgendered, a secretary, and not a Christian. Now I know for a lot of us are going to be like, what? Just go with this. Okay. True story here. In all of the experience, the turnover and all the things that were going on, the people coming and going, being hired and fired, I am convinced that God wanted us there to meet this person.
[36:54] Not because they were transgendered, not because they were the secretary, but the simple fact that they didn't know the Lord. Now, of course, normally when you hire within a church, you want to hire a believer. The conversations of a, I know you work at the church, but can you tell me a little more about this, my heart sank.
[37:24] You want me to, I mean, yeah, I mean, you don't know this book. I mean, of course I was thinking that I'm not going to say that. Sure. Well, you say God is a God of love. What do you mean by that? Well, you got an hour. And both my wife and I, despite how the demeanor, the attitude had some rough edges, and that's okay.
[37:53] How many of us have had rough edges before we came to know the Lord, right? Most of us are going to say yes, right? I don't know if he ever became a Christian or not, but it was the opportunity to plant the seed and we have to think when we are thinking about Egypt and we're thinking about Babylon, God leads us out of darkness into light and how we, as long as we're here on the earth, we share in the message of hope.
[38:24] It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, black or white, straight or gay, whatever, what matters is if you know Jesus Christ. That is what's important for all of us. I get so sick and tired of you are this. No thank you Christ invites all of us into the table of plenty. He invites all of us to change our minds to repent.
[38:57] And in those conversations with this, with this individual, I could see a little bit of hope there. I still pray for this person and if he's watching, he knows exactly who. Sometimes he watches and I still pray for him. But think about how God has placed you in those situations like that. Strange, awkward, unusual situations.
[39:26] God is using you in that moment to speak to someone. And so the same God that has led people, the people of God out of Egypt is the same God that loves you. It is the same God that calls you out of darkness, no matter where you are at, the highest of heights on the mountain or the depths of the sea or no matter how much you have sinned.
[39:55] God still invites all of you to believe in the Lord and be saved. And so as we close tonight or as we close today, not tonight, that's where my mind's at, as we close for today, we are still here on the earth. We're passing through. One day we're going to be home. One day we're going to be in the presence of the Lord.
[40:18] One day we're going to be in the new heaven and the new earth. And what a great day that will be. But until that happens, we've got a mission and that's to share in the love of Jesus Christ to proclaim the gospel and to do good in the name of Christ. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for this intermission message as it were. The message of the Exodus and the message of Revelation, it's too connected to be ignored.
[40:51] The judgments being almost identical, the same call to come out of darkness into the light. Father, I pray for everyone here in this room that we all may know Jesus Christ, your son, the way, the truth in the life for in you is light and in you is truth. You are that firm foundation, you are that constant for our lives.
[41:21] You remain the same even when we change. But we pray that the change that we do experience is the change that makes us more like you. Father, I thank you for revealing the connections within Scripture. And may we all sing in the song of Moses, the song of the Lamb. May we celebrate your son that he is worthy and you God our almighty.
[41:52] We love you, we praise you, we glorify you and we honor you. And as we're going to close in this song, we could sing of your love forever. It is in the name of Jesus that we pray and we all say together, "Can I get an amen church?" Amen.
[0:40] It is remarkable. It is beautiful to know that God works in such incredible ways. I want to begin by telling you a story. As I was preparing for this message, one of the things that it was on Friday evening, I was preparing this sermon and you know how sometimes you are working or you're reading, there's that last thought in your mind before you go to bed and you sleep over it and it pops again in your head.
[1:13] The message today is titled the same God and it's important for us to recognize that it is the same God that led the people of God who were in Egypt, they were in bondage, they were in the place they were not supposed to be, how God led them out of Egypt into the promised land.
[1:38] That thought, the same God that led the people of God out of Egypt is the same God that leads each and every one of us home. And so yesterday I was informed of a congregants family member who had passed away and it was something that really spoke out to me about that.
[2:06] The same God will lead each and every one of us home. That was the first thing that I woke up to was the message of a life that had someone that had passed away, but then to be filled with that message that God will lead each and every one of us home and that God is there beside us each and every step of the way is something that is truly remarkable and to share that, to comfort that not only with the family but with you this morning, that is the hand of God.
[2:48] To know that God is with each and every one of us in every season of life. Talk about God's timing. That is something that you couldn't have timed it any better. And so I wanted to share this with you as we go into this because when we look at Scripture here, I want to put this image on here.
[3:15] We see these two images and you have essentially a family here that is journeying towards the sun. How many of you know the story of Egypt, the people of God, they were in bondage, right? They were in slavery, they were oppressed and oppressed people. And how God had provided Moses and how you've seen probably the Ten Commandments or you've seen the Prince of Egypt, right, where Moses is there saying, "Let my people go."
[3:53] And what happens to the Pharaoh? Does he say, "Yes, you know what, you're right. Just let them go." It's the story of how God is sending Moses to speak to the Pharaoh, to free the people of God. And essentially, we know in this story, or if you don't, you should watch the Ten Commandments or you should watch the Prince of Egypt.
[4:19] The Pharaoh's heart was hardened. And what's fascinating about this, there's debate, "Well, did God harden the heart of the Pharaoh or did Pharaoh harden his own heart? He the Pharaoh hardened his heart first to the point where God further hardened his heart." You see, there are times where people are in such a darkness where God gives them away to their own vices, their own evil, as it were.
[4:45] That's a very heavy thing in there. But I bring all of this up because you think of the pyramids, you think of the Pharaoh and the heat and all this, the drama, the theatrics of this story and how God led the people of God out of Egypt into the Promised Land. But then you see on the other side here, this image.
[5:13] It's supposed to represent the new heaven and the new earth. And what's such so remarkable is how revelation is tied in with the story of the Exodus. Think about it. How many of us are living in a strange land? How many of us are in Babylon, as it were, that we don't belong in Babylon.
[5:40] Rather, we belong in the new heaven and the new earth. We belong in the presence of the Lord. We are essentially passing through. We are journeying individually and together where God wants us to be. And there's this fascinating connection with revelation. I want you to think for a moment.
[6:03] When you've seen these movies about the story that where Moses is trying to persuade the Pharaoh, you've seen that scene before, right, where he puts his staff into the water and what happens. There's blood that's showing. Does that change the Pharaoh's mind? No. But what's fascinating is these judgments that you see are essentially the same type of judgments that show up in revelation.
[6:29] I don't know about you. That's fascinating. To know that those kind of judgments show up in the apocalyptic language and literature of revelation. We have to think for a moment. When you're in the midst of all of these judgments that are happening for us that know the Lord and we know Jesus Christ, it's important for us to recognize we don't have to worry about the judgment.
[6:58] We have to carry on and continue through and hold fast until the end, amen church. That's important for us to recognize. And so this image is a very powerful one, right, where God pours out his judgment and he leads his people to the promised land in the case of Egypt and to the new heaven and to the new earth.
[7:21] For many of us, we will be led home where we belong in the presence of the Lord. And so I have some scripture for us to go through. We're going to go over Exodus 15 and Revelation 15 and this is some fascinating connections here. This is where you find the song of Moses.
[7:43] So church, can we turn to Exodus? We're going to take a detour from Revelation, but it's important for us to see this connection here. It's going to be on page 67 and 68 here. We're still going to read scripture, church. We're going to read that together. So it's going to be in Exodus 15 versus one through 18 and Revelation 15, two to four.
[8:13] I always find it interesting how do you realize that the New Testament is much smaller than the Old Testament? It's kind of interesting because statistically most pastors and most churches will preach over the New Testament and they should go over the gospel of John, right, the letters of Paul and how many of you have gone over Jude before, that'll be a fun one to go over some time, right?
[8:36] But will you see that there's so many references from the New Testament that references the Old Testament, right? And so in this case, when Revelation is referencing the song of Moses, we should look at what the song of Moses is. It's important for us to see that. Are we there church in Exodus 15? We're going to read this together, right?
[9:00] Then Moses and the people of Israel, they sang this song to the Lord, saying, "I will sing to the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously the horse and rider. He has thrown into the sea." You probably, some of you who grew up in church may know that children's song, right? That real fast enough beat one. The Lord is my strength and my song and He has become my salvation. This is my God.
[9:21] And I will praise Him. My Father's God. I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is His name. Pharaoh's chariots and his lost, he cast into the sea and his chosen officers were sunk into the Red Sea. So it's talking about the events that had happened, right? The floods covered them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power.
[9:45] Your right hand, O Lord, it shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrew your adversaries. You send out your fury. It consumes them like a stubble, right? It's talking about judgment that happens here. Verse 8, "And the blast of your nostrils, the water piled up, the flood stood up in a heap. The deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
[10:08] The enemy said, 'I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword.' So you can get this kind of this imagery that's happening. Verse 10, "You blew with your wind the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
[10:31] Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand and the earth swallowed them. Do you see how there is this connection with a lot of that apocalyptic language? The earth swallowing? That's fascinating, and then even the fact that the enemy right here, we have the Egyptians, right?
[10:54] I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide." Well, how many of us have had enemies that seek to do those very things in there? And so you also notice, as I've mentioned in Revelation in this series, the importance of the sea and the chaos of the sea. So that's another fascinating thing in there.
[11:16] And so in verse 13, "You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed. You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode." Verse 14, "The peoples have heard they tremble, pangs have seized the inhabitants," right? It keeps going on. In verse 17, "You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, you have made for your abode, O sanctuary."
[11:39] Verse 18, "The Lord will reign forever and ever, for when the horses of pharaohs with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea. The Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea, God providing a way for the people to go through," right? How many of us have had those moments in life where we are, well, we might be stopped by a sea.
[12:05] I don't know if you've ever had the sea parted. I haven't. But we can think of situations where God has made a way where it seemed like there was no way before. That's something for us to take to heart here. And so, then Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing, and Miriam sang to them, sing to the Lord for he has triumphe gloracy, the horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
[12:34] And it goes on about the bitter waters being made sweet. Let's go to Revelation now. This one's not as long, going to be on page 1228. And for the sake of time, I'll go ahead and begin reading it. And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire and those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its names standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.
[13:04] And they sing the what, they sing the song of Moses. So when it's referencing it, at least we need to see a bit of what's going on. The song of Moses, the servants of God and the song of the Lamb saying, "Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord, God the Almighty, just and true are your ways, O king of the nations, who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name, for you alone are holy.
[13:33] All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." Amen. Like that's some powerful verses right there. It's important for us to see this kind of connections in here. So we're going to go ahead and move on. So the Exodus and Revelation are tied together. The judgments of the Exodus are similar to that which is found in Revelation. I think that's a very fascinating and very powerful thing that should help us in our faith journey.
[14:00] In Revelation 18, 4, God provides a way, a way out despite persecution, which is very similar to what you find in the story of the Exodus, right? How God provided a way out of Egypt and found a way through the wilderness, finding a way to go across the sea. Isn't it interesting how we've talked about the chaos of the sea and how out of the sea comes the dragon, comes the beast.
[14:28] And yet in that scene there is the sea which is a barrier that needs to be crossed. Very interesting in there. And then in Revelation 16, 13 is an echo of the cosmic battle between good and evil because throughout all of Scripture it has been this constant battle between good and evil. And what's important for us to know, Church, is for us to recognize who is victorious at the end, well, by golly, that is Jesus Christ, amen, that he is the one who is worthy of our praise, that he is the one who will rule and reign, and that we will dwell in his presence, we will be with him forever.
[15:11] And so when we look at that, that's the, what we have to see in this. And so what this means, Egypt and Babylon are connected. It's fascinating when we think of these kind of things, right? We think of Pharaoh as the oppressor, right? And it's, did you know in Ezekiel they call him the great dragon? Think about that.
[15:36] You know who else is called the great dragon? It's the same picture that Revelation 12 references for Satan. Now that's interesting. That is fascinating when we think of this, this sense of evil, the Pharaoh and his heart going stone cold. And you see all these judgments that are happening and you're reading it or you're watching the movie and you're thinking, why doesn't he change his mind?
[16:03] That's part of the point of reading it. That if, look, if you have plagues going on, I'm going to change my mind. If I'm seeing the river turn to blood, I'm going to change my mind. Could you imagine being so stubborn that despite all these judgments, you're still not going to change your mind?
[16:24] No, thank you, God. I'm not going to have anything to do with it. Could you imagine that? Just think about that and think in your own life, is God talking to you in such a capacity? Maybe not turning the river into blood. But how is God speaking to you? Perhaps God is speaking to you through someone.
[16:49] Perhaps God is speaking to you by a dream or a vision. Or maybe it's just simply the word of God. God speaks to us in such powerful and great capacities. And I also mention in here that Egypt and Babylon are connected. Well, when Moses is standing saying, let my people go, he is essentially wanting the people to come out of Egypt, right? Well, what's fascinating is in Revelation 18, 4, it says, come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues.
[17:26] Wow. The same type of thing is happening. Get out of Babylon. Get out of there. Get out of Egypt. Get out of that situation and come out. Very powerful, the names, the names change and even the empires may change. But we still think of how important it is for us to see Babylon and Egypt and this sense of darkness as it were.
[17:57] We've got to get out of the darkness and we've got to go into the marvelous light of Christ. For God is light and in Him exists no darkness at all. We have to think of Christ being the way, the truth and the life as well. It's powerful, absolutely powerful. The second thing here is hardened hearts are the result of unrepentant sin.
[18:24] This is a hard one. It's a hard one for us to grasp our mind, but it is the truth. He's very hard and disheartened and he would not let go as it mentions in the Exodus. And in Revelation we see the same pattern of people who did not repent. And I hope that for any of us who do not know the Lord, whether you're online or whether you're here in person, may your mind be changed.
[18:51] What does it mean to repent is to change your mind, to change your mind of what? Your view on Christ, your view on God, your view on your very life. It is transformation of the mind, just like it says in Romans. Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. And for some of us, it's like a light bulb that goes off.
[19:15] Brothers, it's having this sense of grief, this sense of conviction as it were, to change your mind and see that there is a much better way than what the world has to offer. I cannot help but think of all of the craziness, all of the strange things that are happening within culture, within society, within technology, all of these things that are happening. It can be overwhelming, but you know what's not overwhelming is the Word of God and the calm and the peace that comes from Jesus Christ.
[19:47] Amen? It's important for us to recognize that. It doesn't matter what culture is going to show, it doesn't matter what changes, what matters is we come to Christ and we remain firmly with Him as the foundation. That's why God is the rock in which we build upon our lives. Why? Because when storms come around, we're not going to be shaken.
[20:12] We're going to remain in Him. That's the powerful thing in that. And so in the case of Pharaoh here, you know, what's interesting is when Babylon falls, the kings and the merchants, they weep when Babylon falls. Why? Well, they lost their cargo. They lost their ability to make money. Well, it's the same type of hardness that happens with the Pharaoh. May our hearts not be hardened.
[20:40] May our hearts be like a heart of stone that turns into a heart of flesh, a beating heart, such simplistic language that even a child can understand that. Go give your kid a rock sometime and say, is don't let your heart be like this. They'll understand it. Our heart should not be stone cold.
[21:02] Rather, they should be warm. They should be beating. Right? We think of how, well, medically, if your heart is not beating, what does that mean? You're dead. You think about that. Well, if your heart is a stone, are you dead or are you alive? Right? And we got to think that when our heart goes from stone into a heart of flesh, how much restoration and renewal is happening because of Jesus Christ.
[21:32] We have to think about these kinds of things, a hard heart. We pray for those who have hardened hearts. Maybe you know somebody. I know I know a few people. We have to think of those who have hardened hearts. Or maybe we continue to pray that our heart continues to be transformed to be more like Christ.
[21:55] I don't know about you. I don't want to be like Sabrina Carpenter. I don't want to be like Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks. I want to be like Jesus Christ. It's a much better example, the greatest example that history has for us. I want to live and love like him. And so the next thing here is Moses and Jesus both lead people out of bondage.
[22:23] I think that's a fascinating thing, right? Where God had called Moses to speak these words to Pharaoh, to get the people out of there. They didn't belong in Egypt. They belonged in a much greater place. And we have to think how before we know the Lord, where are we? But we are lost without the Lord and we all need Jesus Christ.
[22:53] We all need to come out of the pit as it were. We need to come out of darkness. We need to come out of Babylon and go into the light of Christ being on a journey. I always think it's so fascinating how Christ is viewed upon as the great shepherd, right? With a rod and the staff are used to comfort, to guide us. And quite frankly, if a sheep gets stuck in a crack or a crevice, he's going to get you out of there.
[23:22] And also how Christ will defend you from the wolves, right? You think of any kind of shepherd or for you farmers, you can think about, well, you can think of sheep, you can think of goats, you can think of cattle. The last thing you want is a predator to come over and ruin a cause or ruckus. Of course, you're going to protect your animals in the same way that Christ is going to protect his own and you journey with Christ out of the darkness.
[23:54] Now the journey that we go on, well, it's going to be different. There's going to be times where we're going to climb up hills and we're going to say, God, you want me to go there? You want me to go through this? What? But that way looks so much better. Listen to the Lord and follow where he leads, so important for us.
[24:19] And so the song of Moses, the song of the lamb, Moses led the people of God out of Egypt into the promised land and Jesus leads us to the new heaven and to the new earth. Essentially Christ leads us. And how powerful, how comforting it is to know that despite all the storms and the craziness and the chaos of the sea and the chaos of the world, we remain in Christ.
[24:50] Are you trusting in Christ to lead you? Only you can answer that question. And so in all of this then, what do we do with this, right? How do we live with this? When we go over the song of Moses, it's important for us to recognize that God is the God of mercy and he is also the God of justice, right? That God is the God of truth and he wants all of us to come to know him, to grow in the faith, to be transformed, to be healed, and to share the good news of the gospel.
[25:28] It's very important for us. So the first thing I've put in here is to come out of Babylon or come out of the darkness. Sure, I guess you can identify with Egypt. Come out of Egypt. Whatever it is, get out of there, get out of there and go to the Lord, right? Come to Christ. Isn't it interesting how the Apostle Paul writes that we are slaves to sin?
[25:58] Isn't that interesting how that's connected? You have the people of God who are in bondage in Egypt. Then you also have the fact that before we know the Lord we are slaves to sin. Nobody likes hearing that kind of language. Slaves? That goes to show the sense of urgency and importance as to why we come to the Lord so we can be free from sin, not free to sin, mind you.
[26:25] You don't use that freedom to just go sin, free from sin, not free to sin. Now we were once slaves to sin, that we are in bondage, we are captive to sin, but God has provided a way through Christ. And it is the same God who provided Moses to lead the people out of Egypt. It is the same God who parted the Red Sea.
[26:53] It is the same God that provided Jesus Christ to be born in the manger, the same God who sent his son to live to perform miracles, to teach parables, to heal the sick, to raise people from the dead. All of these things to provide salvation to each and every one of us who believe in Jesus Christ.
[27:20] That is why we believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, amen church, that is so important for all of us. And so this invitation is open to all of us today. To come out of the darkness and to come into the light of Christ, you have to ask yourself the question, am I willing to leave behind the darkness?
[27:43] Am I willing to leave behind what I have known? And to go on to this journey into the unknown, into I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know the future, what it will hold. When Christ tells us to not worry about tomorrow, that God will provide, we've got to trust in that. I don't want to know the future, to be quite honest.
[28:07] But it's so comforting to know that the Lord's got you, and He's going to be with you as you journey through life. The second thing then is don't harden like the Pharaoh or the wicked. Repent. I'm talking about specifically the Pharaoh that we find in the story of Moses, the story in Exodus, but also those that are wicked, the Bible does talk about times where there are people that are so, they love their sin so much that God hands them over.
[28:44] May that never be for any of us here. We certainly have got to pray for those that are in darkness, let's not be like the wicked. We have to love and pray for our enemies. Do you know how much easier it is to hate our enemies? Let's be honest here, Church. We've got to pray for our enemies. We've got to love them, pray for them, pray that God will intervene. Whatever that looks like, pray to the Lord, think of one person that you can think of who's in darkness.
[29:17] Think of one person who has a hardened heart. If I asked all of you to raise your hand, I'm pretty confident we'd all know someone who has a hardened heart. Think of the Pharaohs as it were. You can even think of those that are in authority. You can think of the, I don't want to get too political here, but you can think of politicians that may have a hardened heart.
[29:42] You can think of kings and you can think of rulers of nations who may have a hardened heart. You can think of them, maybe sometime take a list of everybody in political office and who you're going to pray for, even if they're on the other side, right? Now easier said than done, amen, but still important for us to pray for those. Pray for those in authority, pray for those who have hardened hearts.
[30:12] So Pharaoh rejected the call to repentance, and there came a point where that consequence where God hardened his heart. Let this never be your story. When we are convicted, let us change our minds. Meta Neuya repents, let us come to Christ and grow in him. Let us ask, and you know how humbling it is to ask God to search your heart, to search your mind.
[30:42] You find that in Psalms. Search me, O God, and know me. For many of us, that is a difficult prayer to ask. We know that God knows our thoughts, but to willingly ask for him to search for our thoughts. That is a humbling thing. God changes our hearts from stones to hearts of flesh, and he softens our heart.
[31:10] This is but one example of how God transforms us. And the third and final thing is to journey to the new creation with Christ and his people. It's important for us to journey with the Lord, and he will lead each and every one of us to do things or to experience things that are just remarkable. The people that you meet, the people that you interact with, sometimes it's a challenge.
[31:38] How many of you have had that moment in life where Christ says, "Hey, you've got to talk to that guy, right?" I'm not pointing at it right now. You've got to talk to that guy right there. Him, her, you meant that guy, not this guy. Many of us have had that moment to speak to somebody, or maybe it's to call somebody. A phone call, a text message.
[32:08] God told the people, "You find this in Exodus. This is actually interesting. You shall not wrong a sojourner or a press him. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt." This is from Exodus 22 and 23. In other words, the people of God who were in Egypt, they didn't belong there. They belonged in a different place.
[32:36] So this text is talking about how freed people, those that are freed from sin, are called to free others. How we do this is by sharing the gospel. We tell people stories of how God has worked in our lives. We tell people the gospel message, but we also do it by how we live our lives.
[33:04] How many of you have met someone who has done terrible things and they claim to be a Christian? Hopefully, that's not you, right? None of us here. We have to think of that. But what kind of testimony is that person saying? Don't think of someone who is a Christian and you just know they are. Sure they're not perfect, they're human.
[33:30] But you know that God has worked in them in and through their lives. How important that is for us. And so, who can you welcome? Who can you pray for? Or who can you invite by sharing the gospel message to others? It could just be showing them John 3 16.
[33:54] It could just be sharing your own story. I'm always amazed to learn how the Lord works through all of us. Recently I was visiting or I was attempting to visit a congregant in the hospital. I went through the whole process of being checked in and getting your badge, getting your photo.
[34:24] Thank God that's not on my driver's license. I don't look good in that. And in that I was led over to a room with the person who shared the same name as the person I was visiting. And in that room was a family. It wasn't the person I was trying to go and minister to, but how curious, how peculiar, how strange it was to be in that room with a family that didn't know the Lord.
[35:01] One person in that room knew the Lord and the rest did not. And to pray and to speak to these people, I was nervous. I did not know these people and they didn't know me. But I am convinced that God placed me there in that moment, in that time to speak to them. Now do I know if someone turned to Christ immediately?
[35:31] I would love for that to be the case. But even if it's not, the seed was planted and God places you in situations. Even if it's uncomfortable. Even if it's embarrassing. I was like, you're not who I thought you were supposed to, but I'm going to go with this. And I had to think, okay, God, I don't even know what to say.
[35:54] Can I pray for you? You can read a room. You can feel when you're not being welcomed. And how many times for us are we placed in situations where we don't feel comfortable? And that's okay. Maybe God has you there for a specific reason. I want to tell you one more story and then we're going to close here. When my wife and I were in Hawaii, we were in a church that was very different than typical churches.
[36:27] And we met someone who was transgendered, a secretary, and not a Christian. Now I know for a lot of us are going to be like, what? Just go with this. Okay. True story here. In all of the experience, the turnover and all the things that were going on, the people coming and going, being hired and fired, I am convinced that God wanted us there to meet this person.
[36:54] Not because they were transgendered, not because they were the secretary, but the simple fact that they didn't know the Lord. Now, of course, normally when you hire within a church, you want to hire a believer. The conversations of a, I know you work at the church, but can you tell me a little more about this, my heart sank.
[37:24] You want me to, I mean, yeah, I mean, you don't know this book. I mean, of course I was thinking that I'm not going to say that. Sure. Well, you say God is a God of love. What do you mean by that? Well, you got an hour. And both my wife and I, despite how the demeanor, the attitude had some rough edges, and that's okay.
[37:53] How many of us have had rough edges before we came to know the Lord, right? Most of us are going to say yes, right? I don't know if he ever became a Christian or not, but it was the opportunity to plant the seed and we have to think when we are thinking about Egypt and we're thinking about Babylon, God leads us out of darkness into light and how we, as long as we're here on the earth, we share in the message of hope.
[38:24] It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, black or white, straight or gay, whatever, what matters is if you know Jesus Christ. That is what's important for all of us. I get so sick and tired of you are this. No thank you Christ invites all of us into the table of plenty. He invites all of us to change our minds to repent.
[38:57] And in those conversations with this, with this individual, I could see a little bit of hope there. I still pray for this person and if he's watching, he knows exactly who. Sometimes he watches and I still pray for him. But think about how God has placed you in those situations like that. Strange, awkward, unusual situations.
[39:26] God is using you in that moment to speak to someone. And so the same God that has led people, the people of God out of Egypt is the same God that loves you. It is the same God that calls you out of darkness, no matter where you are at, the highest of heights on the mountain or the depths of the sea or no matter how much you have sinned.
[39:55] God still invites all of you to believe in the Lord and be saved. And so as we close tonight or as we close today, not tonight, that's where my mind's at, as we close for today, we are still here on the earth. We're passing through. One day we're going to be home. One day we're going to be in the presence of the Lord.
[40:18] One day we're going to be in the new heaven and the new earth. And what a great day that will be. But until that happens, we've got a mission and that's to share in the love of Jesus Christ to proclaim the gospel and to do good in the name of Christ. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for this intermission message as it were. The message of the Exodus and the message of Revelation, it's too connected to be ignored.
[40:51] The judgments being almost identical, the same call to come out of darkness into the light. Father, I pray for everyone here in this room that we all may know Jesus Christ, your son, the way, the truth in the life for in you is light and in you is truth. You are that firm foundation, you are that constant for our lives.
[41:21] You remain the same even when we change. But we pray that the change that we do experience is the change that makes us more like you. Father, I thank you for revealing the connections within Scripture. And may we all sing in the song of Moses, the song of the Lamb. May we celebrate your son that he is worthy and you God our almighty.
[41:52] We love you, we praise you, we glorify you and we honor you. And as we're going to close in this song, we could sing of your love forever. It is in the name of Jesus that we pray and we all say together, "Can I get an amen church?" Amen.
