WEBVTT 00:01.516 --> 00:04.156 Welcome to the Valley Baptist Church sermon podcast. 00:04.836 --> 00:08.256 We're so glad you're here, and we hope this message inspires you, 00:08.456 --> 00:12.036 builds your faith, and moves you toward a deep relationship with God. 00:12.576 --> 00:15.176 Today, you'll find great insight into the Bible 00:15.176 --> 00:17.856 and learn how you can apply it straight to your life. 00:18.256 --> 00:20.396 So welcome and enjoy the message. 00:21.156 --> 00:23.031 Good morning. 00:23.032 --> 00:24.392 Great to be here with this morning. 00:24.392 --> 00:28.152 I was telling any other two service that really it's like being with family. 00:28.192 --> 00:29.652 You guys are like family to me. 00:29.912 --> 00:33.152 You even have the same name for your county as my name, Kern County. 00:33.792 --> 00:34.912 So you can remember that. 00:35.112 --> 00:39.112 I always tell people, a lot of people will say to me, um, they'll call me Steve 00:39.112 --> 00:42.412 Kerns and I say, no, it's current, like the county, just, just one current. 00:42.893 --> 00:49.733 And so we feel knitted to your church because, like Matt was saying, we have a lot of things that are similar. 00:50.133 --> 00:52.673 The church was started in 1985, I know, in December. 00:53.113 --> 00:55.313 We went to the mission field in September of 85. 00:55.673 --> 00:59.153 And we have two co-senior pastors, like Matt was saying. 00:59.473 --> 01:02.933 And we're going into succession just like you did a few years ago. 01:02.933 --> 01:06.893 And so Julio and I are going to be passing the baton on to someone else. 01:06.890 --> 01:08.530 on July 26th. 01:08.530 --> 01:10.390 But our hearts are knit together on everything 01:10.390 --> 01:14.390 as far as evangelism, discipleship, and starting churches. 01:14.390 --> 01:15.630 And that's the exciting thing for me. 01:15.630 --> 01:17.470 Matt's been telling me a lot about that. 01:17.470 --> 01:20.830 And I am so excited about the vision you guys have 01:20.830 --> 01:21.669 for starting churches. 01:21.670 --> 01:24.410 There is such a need here, not only in California, 01:24.410 --> 01:27.050 but other parts of the world to start new works. 01:27.038 --> 01:30.398 And I'm praying that God will continue to use you guys to do that. 01:30.818 --> 01:32.278 And we've done so much together. 01:32.378 --> 01:33.658 I'm so thankful for you guys. 01:34.018 --> 01:36.138 You guys bring down mission teams all the time. 01:36.178 --> 01:38.858 And I just ask you to pray to come on one of our mission trips. 01:38.938 --> 01:42.518 We have a great time sharing the gospel in schools and different neighborhoods. 01:42.998 --> 01:44.758 And people are wide open in our part of the world. 01:44.838 --> 01:46.078 So pray about coming on a trip. 01:46.218 --> 01:50.118 And thank you for supporting us financially also, for praying for us. 01:50.558 --> 01:52.358 Pam and I were just this week with DBS. 01:52.621 --> 01:53.721 And we love that. 01:53.721 --> 01:55.981 That's one of the highlights every two years. 01:55.981 --> 01:58.761 Pam was on this side with the little ones 01:58.761 --> 02:00.201 up to fifth grade. 02:00.201 --> 02:02.861 And then I was in the junior high, sixth to eighth grade. 02:02.861 --> 02:05.201 And you should be proud of your young people. 02:05.201 --> 02:07.621 Those sixth to eighth graders were paying attention. 02:07.623 --> 02:08.863 like you wouldn't believe. 02:08.863 --> 02:12.023 And we were talking about David and his faith and everything 02:12.023 --> 02:14.923 and had, I think we had over 80 of them 02:14.923 --> 02:16.063 make Professions of Faith. 02:16.063 --> 02:18.063 So it was just a great time this week. 02:18.063 --> 02:19.203 We love being with you. 02:19.203 --> 02:20.663 We feel like, I always tell people, 02:20.663 --> 02:21.803 I lived in the States, 02:21.803 --> 02:23.203 this is where I would go to church for sure. 02:23.203 --> 02:26.943 I love the three pastors and believe in them. 02:26.943 --> 02:28.403 And Pam and I just love coming. 02:28.403 --> 02:30.543 So thank you so much for having us here. 02:30.543 --> 02:33.943 You know, and I was thinking when Matt was talking about the 02:33.948 --> 02:38.428 Our time in El Salvador, number one, it's hard to believe we've been there 41 years in September. 02:39.048 --> 02:41.448 And they're saying 41 VBSs, we're coming up on 41. 02:42.048 --> 02:48.588 And the other thing is, if you knew me before I went, you would say, you know, if they had a yearbook, 02:48.968 --> 02:51.888 you know, the yearbook sometimes I'll have most likely, least likely. 02:52.108 --> 02:55.688 If they had least likely to ever be a preacher, I would have won. 02:56.240 --> 02:57.340 Hands down. 02:57.340 --> 03:00.180 I am the most unlikely person to be a missionary. 03:00.180 --> 03:02.940 But when I was growing up, 03:02.940 --> 03:05.080 first of all, I grew up in an atheist home. 03:05.080 --> 03:07.220 And a lot of times people will ask me, 03:07.220 --> 03:08.760 especially on the mission field, 03:08.760 --> 03:10.980 what about people who have never heard the gospel? 03:10.980 --> 03:12.160 What about them? 03:12.153 --> 03:14.053 And I say, well, if you want to interview one, 03:14.053 --> 03:14.892 I'm one of them. 03:14.893 --> 03:18.333 I never heard the gospel before I was 14 years old. 03:18.333 --> 03:22.333 I didn't even know anything about God, Moses, David. 03:22.333 --> 03:24.433 The only time I'd ever heard of Jesus 03:24.433 --> 03:26.893 is my mom was a hippie and she took me to the play 03:26.893 --> 03:28.173 Jesus Christ Superstar. 03:28.173 --> 03:29.333 That was it. 03:29.333 --> 03:31.573 And that doesn't say a lot about Jesus, you know? 03:31.573 --> 03:33.573 So that's all I knew. 03:33.567 --> 03:36.707 But when I was 14, my dad was in Vietnam, 03:36.707 --> 03:40.507 and my mother died suddenly of a heart attack. 03:40.507 --> 03:42.647 And what it caused to happen in my life 03:42.647 --> 03:44.887 when she passed away was I realized 03:44.887 --> 03:47.047 that she not only left a void of love, 03:47.047 --> 03:48.747 but purpose and direction. 03:48.747 --> 03:51.527 And I remember after she passed away, 03:51.527 --> 03:52.747 this answers the question, 03:52.747 --> 03:54.927 what happens to people that are in the middle of nowhere, 03:54.927 --> 03:56.287 never heard the gospel? 03:56.287 --> 03:59.567 I remember that as I looked at creation, 03:59.572 --> 04:02.072 in nature, I said, somebody must have made this. 04:02.072 --> 04:03.252 That's what Romans 1.20 says. 04:03.252 --> 04:07.172 Romans 1.20 says that the invisible things of God, 04:07.172 --> 04:09.812 his deity and his power, are revealed by the things 04:09.812 --> 04:11.972 that he's made so that we are without excuse. 04:11.972 --> 04:15.512 And so I started looking, seeking after whoever made it all. 04:15.512 --> 04:16.932 I didn't even have a name for it. 04:16.919 --> 04:20.579 And three years later, I was going to high school in the Sacramento area, 04:20.779 --> 04:25.059 and I heard the gospel from a friend of mine, and I asked Christ to save me. 04:25.419 --> 04:30.579 After that, I went off to college where I met my wife, Pam, in University of California. 04:30.719 --> 04:33.759 Many of you have heard of Davis. That's up between San Francisco and Sacramento. 04:34.317 --> 04:35.857 And that's where I met my wife. 04:35.857 --> 04:37.357 She was studying to be a dentist, 04:37.357 --> 04:39.817 and I was studying to be a chemical engineer. 04:39.817 --> 04:43.557 And we met, got right out of college and got married. 04:43.557 --> 04:45.277 And of course, if you're a chemical engineer, 04:45.277 --> 04:48.517 you don't get to work in nice places usually. 04:48.517 --> 04:52.117 You work in places like the Mississippi River. 04:52.117 --> 04:53.817 That's where we moved to Louisiana. 04:53.808 --> 04:55.348 And I remember we moved down there, 04:55.348 --> 04:58.328 we became members of a church that's by the airport. 04:58.328 --> 04:59.908 If you've ever landed in New Orleans, 04:59.908 --> 05:02.368 the airport's actually in Kenner, which is a suburb, 05:02.368 --> 05:04.568 and our church is right by the runway. 05:04.568 --> 05:06.988 And First Baptist Kenner's where we're at. 05:06.988 --> 05:11.248 And I remember one time, the pastor preaching on faith, 05:11.248 --> 05:13.468 and he was going through the book of Hebrews, 05:13.468 --> 05:16.948 chapter 11, and said, if you have faith, 05:16.943 --> 05:20.983 Do you believe that God could use you to share the gospel with everyone in your workplace? 05:21.703 --> 05:26.303 And that just cut to my heart because I was a shy person and I didn't want to share my faith. 05:26.543 --> 05:30.743 I was scared to do it. I was scared people would laugh at me. I was scared I didn't know what to say. 05:31.263 --> 05:37.723 But I wanted to grow in faith. And my favorite verse in the Bible is Hebrews 11, 6, which says, 05:37.723 --> 05:40.743 without faith, it's sort of hard to please God. 05:42.070 --> 05:43.450 It doesn't say that, does it? 05:43.450 --> 05:46.870 Without faith, it's impossible to please God. 05:46.870 --> 05:48.710 And when I think of what God did for me, 05:48.710 --> 05:49.609 I want to please Him. 05:49.610 --> 05:51.810 So the only way I can please Him is with faith. 05:51.959 --> 05:57.179 And so the preacher says, if you have a lot of faith, proving it of course from the Bible, 05:57.179 --> 06:00.819 you'll share with the people around you. 06:00.819 --> 06:05.099 So I started doing that, and nervous as could be. 06:05.099 --> 06:08.699 We would go into the projects that are in downtown New Orleans and share. 06:08.699 --> 06:12.179 And one day this guy who ended up in ministry that now I'm the director of Good News in 06:12.179 --> 06:15.999 Action, he's a Southern Baptist evangelist, invited me to El Salvador. 06:16.006 --> 06:18.446 And we went there in 1983, I went there, 06:18.446 --> 06:20.126 in the middle of a civil war. 06:20.126 --> 06:22.366 And I remember how receptive people were to the gospel. 06:22.366 --> 06:24.746 You couldn't believe it, everybody wanted to hear. 06:24.746 --> 06:27.946 And as a matter of fact, when Pam and I moved to El Salvador, 06:27.946 --> 06:30.886 it was 10% evangelical, which means you were either 06:30.886 --> 06:33.266 a Pentecostal church, a Baptist church, or a Bible church. 06:33.266 --> 06:34.806 Now it's 40%. 06:34.806 --> 06:36.406 So people just wide open. 06:36.406 --> 06:38.246 And when I first went to El Salvador, 06:38.246 --> 06:39.546 I didn't know any Spanish. 06:39.546 --> 06:42.166 I just thought you put an O on the end of a word in English. 06:43.073 --> 06:44.633 That works for about three or four words. 06:44.633 --> 06:46.513 You know, car, carro, that works. 06:46.513 --> 06:47.653 So there's one of them. 06:47.653 --> 06:50.973 But, and it's not even problemo, it's problema. 06:50.973 --> 06:54.893 So anyway, so I moved down there and I mean, 06:54.893 --> 06:56.193 I went down there just go on the trip, 06:56.193 --> 06:58.073 but never was gonna move there. 06:58.075 --> 07:00.775 I'm an engineer. There's no way I'm ever going to be a pastor. 07:00.775 --> 07:04.015 So I went back in March of 1984, 07:04.015 --> 07:06.715 and I'll never forget I was in the eastern part of the country, 07:06.715 --> 07:09.515 in a big city called Santa Ana, 07:09.515 --> 07:14.055 and I was sharing the gospel, and I heard in my mind... 07:14.055 --> 07:16.395 Now, does this ever happen to you? 07:16.395 --> 07:20.535 That when you're praying and you hear someone talking to you in your mind, 07:20.535 --> 07:23.135 you're not sure if it's God or you? 07:23.135 --> 07:25.435 Okay, I'm not the only crazy person. Good. 07:25.430 --> 07:26.889 No, I'm just kidding. 07:26.890 --> 07:32.030 And so I was wrestling with that, but I heard this right in my heart. 07:32.110 --> 07:33.230 My voice, never heard an audible voice. 07:33.650 --> 07:34.970 I want you to move to El Salvador. 07:35.510 --> 07:37.550 So I responded to this voice, and I said, 07:37.810 --> 07:41.170 I know that's not you, God, because you would never call an engineer. 07:41.410 --> 07:42.650 You would never call a shy guy. 07:42.950 --> 07:44.630 I always admired preachers. 07:44.710 --> 07:48.470 I said, man, you know, they probably were insurance salesmen or something. 07:48.464 --> 07:51.964 work with Toastmasters and they're so glib and I'm just, 07:51.964 --> 07:53.784 there's no way I could do that, you know? 07:53.784 --> 07:55.744 So I said, I know you're not calling me. 07:55.744 --> 07:57.044 I know that's me talking to myself. 07:57.044 --> 07:59.424 Then I would hear that voice again, 07:59.424 --> 08:00.403 I want you to move down there. 08:00.404 --> 08:03.464 And I'd say, well, I didn't grow up in church. 08:03.464 --> 08:04.704 I come from an atheist family. 08:04.704 --> 08:06.764 I don't know anything about RAs and a one 08:06.764 --> 08:08.404 and all the mission stuff. 08:08.393 --> 08:10.393 And then I would say, I know you're not calling me 08:10.393 --> 08:13.233 because my wife would never go to El Salvador. 08:13.233 --> 08:15.073 And I just said, this is crazy. 08:15.073 --> 08:17.553 But it just got more and more intense. 08:17.553 --> 08:20.013 And I did this thing after I became a Christian, 08:20.013 --> 08:21.633 is I would read through the Bible. 08:21.633 --> 08:23.853 I thought the Bible was just a really hard book 08:23.853 --> 08:26.153 to understand, like a calculus book. 08:26.153 --> 08:27.733 And I remember the first time I read through it, 08:27.733 --> 08:28.913 I didn't understand anything. 08:29.639 --> 08:32.019 I just said, I must have brain damage for the Bible. 08:32.019 --> 08:33.539 I couldn't understand anything. 08:33.539 --> 08:35.199 And you know where I would get in trouble 08:35.199 --> 08:37.899 is in Exodus and Numbers. 08:37.899 --> 08:38.979 And I just couldn't get through it. 08:38.979 --> 08:40.319 But I says, I've got to learn this thing 08:40.319 --> 08:42.559 because I see all these kids knew the Bible. 08:42.559 --> 08:44.559 And so I just kept reading it and reading it. 08:44.559 --> 08:47.359 And I do this deal, if I got to a passage in the Bible 08:47.359 --> 08:48.679 I couldn't understand, 08:48.679 --> 08:50.999 and I didn't know commentaries existed, 08:50.999 --> 08:54.019 I would just sit there for months trying to figure it out. 08:54.023 --> 08:56.863 And so I was reading through 2 Samuel 24, 08:56.863 --> 09:00.043 where God punished David for numbering his men. 09:00.043 --> 09:01.583 I don't know if you remember the story, 09:01.583 --> 09:04.263 but it was a horrible plague where a lot of people died. 09:04.263 --> 09:08.443 And I thought to myself, why is God punishing David 09:08.443 --> 09:11.583 for taking a census of his men for fighting? 09:11.583 --> 09:13.683 At the same time, remember what's going on in my mind 09:13.683 --> 09:14.703 as I'm praying. 09:14.703 --> 09:17.023 Every time I pray, Steve, I want you to move to El Salvador. 09:17.023 --> 09:19.763 Well, I can't do that because of this. 09:19.763 --> 09:21.683 And then one day I realized, 09:21.817 --> 09:24.877 He punished David because he had told David, 09:24.877 --> 09:26.017 I'll win every victory. 09:26.017 --> 09:27.977 It doesn't matter how many men you have. 09:27.977 --> 09:29.857 And when he numbered his men, what was he doing? 09:29.857 --> 09:31.197 It was a lack of faith. 09:31.197 --> 09:32.657 And what was I doing? 09:32.657 --> 09:34.817 And I'll never forget when I says, I'm going. 09:34.817 --> 09:35.496 I'll do it, God. 09:35.497 --> 09:36.336 I'll do it. 09:36.337 --> 09:38.237 And I went out and I told Pam. 09:38.237 --> 09:42.157 And she wasn't excited about it, as you can imagine. 09:42.168 --> 09:43.508 That's another story. 09:43.508 --> 09:45.408 And then, of course, God worked on her. 09:45.408 --> 09:48.208 I always say I think my wife has more faith than me 09:48.208 --> 09:50.208 because she was willing to follow me 09:50.208 --> 09:53.208 when we were 26 years old to go down to El Salvador. 09:53.208 --> 09:54.908 And she'd married an engineer. 09:54.908 --> 09:57.688 And so we sold everything. 09:57.688 --> 10:01.228 We moved down to El Salvador in 1985, 10:01.228 --> 10:03.488 and God's taken care of us since then. 10:03.488 --> 10:05.768 And, you know, I thought about that. 10:06.704 --> 10:11.844 When I was in college, I remember that there was a big debate between psychology, 10:11.844 --> 10:13.064 two fields of psychology. 10:13.504 --> 10:16.504 Class of psychology was you are the way you are. 10:17.572 --> 10:21.732 You're where you're at because of your upbringing, your nurture. 10:21.732 --> 10:24.452 And you remember that if you're older like me, you remember when we were young, 10:24.452 --> 10:25.572 it was always the nurture. 10:25.572 --> 10:27.812 Well, that kid's messed up because of his parents or whatever. 10:27.812 --> 10:29.652 It was nurture, nurture, nurture. 10:29.652 --> 10:34.212 But they started to discover that some people would grow up in a difficult family and do great. 10:34.212 --> 10:37.732 And some people would grow up in a great family, in a great environment and do bad. 10:37.732 --> 10:39.492 And they said, there's got to be something else. 10:39.492 --> 10:43.412 So you probably remember they started this thing that's called psychobiology. 10:43.407 --> 10:47.787 That was where they started to say, no, the reason you're mad isn't the way you were raised. 10:47.907 --> 10:48.927 It's you're the mad gene. 10:49.187 --> 10:50.546 You've got the genes. 10:50.547 --> 10:51.807 It's nature, right? 10:52.167 --> 10:54.367 So the two camps are battling, nurture and nature. 10:54.487 --> 10:55.727 This is what I believe personally. 10:56.187 --> 10:57.487 I don't think it's either one. 10:58.187 --> 11:00.887 I do believe your nurture and your nature contribute. 11:00.987 --> 11:02.546 Don't misunderstand me. 11:02.547 --> 11:06.007 But I know of a man that didn't have a good dad. 11:06.107 --> 11:06.986 He had a perfect dad. 11:06.987 --> 11:07.959 Right? 11:07.960 --> 11:09.400 And this man not only had a perfect diet, 11:09.400 --> 11:10.860 he had perfect genes. 11:10.860 --> 11:11.759 He didn't have the mad gene, 11:11.760 --> 11:13.720 which they've never discovered, by the way. 11:13.720 --> 11:15.900 But he didn't have any of these genes. 11:15.900 --> 11:16.799 And you know what? 11:16.800 --> 11:19.840 He was placed in a perfect environment, and he messed up. 11:20.880 --> 11:23.160 Did Adam mess up because of his nurture? 11:23.485 --> 11:25.445 Did Adam mess up because of his nature? 11:25.445 --> 11:28.325 No, Adam messed up because he made a bad choice. 11:28.325 --> 11:30.625 And as I study the Bible, that's what I see. 11:30.625 --> 11:32.285 I see that what gets us where we're at 11:32.285 --> 11:34.105 are the choices that we make. 11:34.105 --> 11:35.585 And that's why throughout the Bible, 11:35.585 --> 11:38.085 God encourages us to make a choice. 11:38.085 --> 11:39.725 In Deuteronomy 30, 19, he says, 11:39.725 --> 11:42.885 "'I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, 11:42.892 --> 11:45.372 that I've set before you life and death, 11:45.952 --> 11:48.152 blessing and cursing, therefore, what does it say? 11:48.752 --> 11:51.652 Choose life, that both you and your descendants may live. 11:51.892 --> 11:53.732 The Bible's very clear, it's your choice. 11:54.192 --> 11:55.691 You have free will. 11:55.692 --> 11:57.552 And I say this to encourage you 11:57.552 --> 11:59.612 because you might not like where you're at right now. 11:59.932 --> 12:00.931 And now you realize, 12:00.932 --> 12:02.652 if I make the right decisions in the future, 12:03.172 --> 12:04.432 I will come out of this good. 12:04.913 --> 12:06.393 You know, we should choose life, obviously, 12:06.613 --> 12:08.013 that both you and your descendants may live. 12:08.213 --> 12:09.813 Many of you already know this passage 12:09.813 --> 12:12.393 because the last part's on a lot of plaques and houses. 12:12.973 --> 12:13.932 And Joshua says, 12:13.933 --> 12:15.953 and if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, 12:16.473 --> 12:19.093 choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, 12:19.453 --> 12:21.053 whether the gods which your father served 12:21.053 --> 12:22.273 that were on the other side of the river 12:22.273 --> 12:24.993 or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell, 12:25.313 --> 12:26.373 but it's for me and my house. 12:27.408 --> 12:28.848 We will serve the Lord. 12:28.848 --> 12:31.208 And so what we see in the Bible and what we see in life 12:31.208 --> 12:36.048 is that our life is a chain of decisions. 12:36.048 --> 12:38.968 And the key to making the right decision, I believe, 12:38.968 --> 12:41.688 is making decisions based on faith. 12:41.688 --> 12:43.208 And I don't think there's a person 12:43.208 --> 12:46.008 that models this better than Moses. 12:46.008 --> 12:49.348 And so I want you to open your Bible to Hebrews 11. 12:49.531 --> 12:51.971 And we're just gonna look at six verses 12:51.971 --> 12:54.091 and see what it says about Moses. 12:54.091 --> 12:57.271 So I'm in Hebrews 11, verse 23. 12:57.271 --> 12:58.691 Hebrews, and you know about this, 12:58.691 --> 13:01.411 this is the hall of faith, right? 13:01.411 --> 13:03.071 And not the hall of fame, but the hall of faith. 13:03.071 --> 13:04.711 All the people had great faith. 13:04.711 --> 13:08.231 And it says in verse 23 in Hebrews 11, 13:08.231 --> 13:10.291 "'By faith Moses, when he was born, 13:10.291 --> 13:12.411 "'was hid three months of his parents, 13:12.411 --> 13:14.271 "'because they saw he was a proper child 13:14.271 --> 13:16.911 "'and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. 13:16.902 --> 13:18.742 By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, 13:18.742 --> 13:21.402 refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 13:21.402 --> 13:24.082 choosing, there's that word, rather to suffer affliction 13:24.082 --> 13:27.202 with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin 13:27.202 --> 13:30.082 for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ's 13:30.082 --> 13:32.382 greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, 13:32.382 --> 13:35.662 for he had respect under the recompense of the reward. 13:35.667 --> 13:39.447 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, 13:39.447 --> 13:41.947 for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 13:41.947 --> 13:44.907 Through faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, 13:44.907 --> 13:47.807 lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. 13:47.807 --> 13:52.047 And finally, by faith they passed to the Red Sea as by dry land, 13:52.047 --> 13:54.627 which the Egyptians are saying to do, were drowned." 13:54.627 --> 13:57.367 I believe that when we make choices, 13:57.605 --> 14:02.225 Based on faith, we change our world for something positive, 14:02.225 --> 14:03.805 and we change the world of other people. 14:03.805 --> 14:04.925 And so I want to answer, 14:04.925 --> 14:07.025 this is the question I want to answer today. 14:07.025 --> 14:09.325 What kind of faith changes the world? 14:09.325 --> 14:11.365 And I think that the application of this 14:11.365 --> 14:14.005 is for any kind of a thing that we're facing right now. 14:14.005 --> 14:15.945 I think there's three clear principles. 14:15.945 --> 14:17.525 How do we know what faith looks like? 14:17.525 --> 14:19.005 Sometimes when we talk about faith, 14:19.005 --> 14:21.585 it seems like something very vague and general. 14:21.585 --> 14:23.645 This passage lays out clearly 14:23.645 --> 14:25.965 how you know if you're living according to faith. 14:25.955 --> 14:27.575 So first principle, first principle. 14:28.175 --> 14:32.295 World-changing faith chooses God's plan despite the peril. 14:32.555 --> 14:35.055 I don't know if you saw something interesting in verse 23, 14:35.635 --> 14:39.515 but he is accentuating not the faith of Moses, but of his parents. 14:40.515 --> 14:42.755 And it's interesting because usually when we think about that faith, 14:42.815 --> 14:44.515 we think of the parent of his mom and his sister. 14:44.575 --> 14:47.355 You remember the story where they were hid, but his dad's in there too. 14:47.475 --> 14:49.415 It says in verse 23, one more time. 14:50.155 --> 14:52.295 It says, by faith... 14:52.482 --> 14:57.482 Moses, when he was born, was in three months of his parents 14:57.642 --> 15:01.062 because they saw he was a proper child, and I love this, 15:01.062 --> 15:04.402 and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. 15:05.242 --> 15:08.102 You know what the most common commandment is in the Bible? 15:08.429 --> 15:12.009 In this commandment, you can find with every major character in the Bible, 15:12.549 --> 15:19.329 you can hear God saying it to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses, to Joshua, to Ruth, 15:19.329 --> 15:22.369 to Mary when she was with child, to Joseph. 15:23.009 --> 15:24.309 What's the most common commandment? 15:24.769 --> 15:26.408 Fear not. 15:26.409 --> 15:27.868 Fear not. 15:27.869 --> 15:29.369 Look at what he said to Joshua. 15:29.549 --> 15:32.209 You know, I counted 85 times. 15:32.309 --> 15:33.489 It says I'm just going to put one. 15:33.909 --> 15:36.509 He says to Joshua before he's going to conquer the promised land, 15:36.809 --> 15:39.369 Have I not commanded you, be strong and of good courage? 15:40.129 --> 15:41.028 Fear not. 15:41.029 --> 15:45.149 Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. 15:45.429 --> 15:49.289 You see, what you learn in the Bible is that the opposite of faith is fear. 15:50.229 --> 15:52.649 And the way that the devil manipulates us is through fear. 15:53.772 --> 15:55.432 You see, there's two roads you can go by. 15:55.432 --> 15:57.612 Anytime you're gonna make a choice, you can say, 15:57.612 --> 16:00.912 I'm gonna go that road because people are gonna laugh at me 16:00.912 --> 16:03.492 or I'm gonna be rejected by other people 16:03.492 --> 16:04.912 or I won't be cool with my friends. 16:04.912 --> 16:06.212 That's the fear road. 16:06.212 --> 16:07.632 That's where the devil manipulates you. 16:07.632 --> 16:10.752 Or you take the faith road, which is God's road. 16:10.752 --> 16:14.772 You know, Pam and I were born here in California 16:14.772 --> 16:18.432 and it just amazes me how this state's changed so much. 16:18.427 --> 16:20.587 When we were growing up, it was the faith state. 16:20.587 --> 16:21.827 This was the entrepreneur state. 16:21.827 --> 16:24.507 This was the state that you went to be daring. 16:24.807 --> 16:28.027 And now what I see is a lot of fear, so much fear. 16:28.427 --> 16:31.507 And of course, it's a problem that we have in the whole United States. 16:31.967 --> 16:35.707 The number one mental health things that are growing are anxiety, are fear. 16:36.087 --> 16:38.487 People are just fear and fear will paralyze you. 16:39.419 --> 16:42.359 Fear will make you make bad decisions. 16:42.359 --> 16:43.959 Faith will change your life. 16:43.959 --> 16:47.379 And so if we've made decisions in the past based on fear, 16:47.379 --> 16:48.679 we need to change that up. 16:48.679 --> 16:52.199 Do you realize that part of the reason Jesus died for you 16:52.199 --> 16:54.979 was not just to redeem you and save you, 16:54.979 --> 16:57.279 it was to deliver you from the bondage from fear? 16:57.279 --> 16:58.319 Let me prove it. 16:58.319 --> 16:59.859 Hebrews 2, 14 and 15. 16:59.859 --> 17:02.599 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh 17:02.599 --> 17:06.179 and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same. 17:06.166 --> 17:10.706 that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil. 17:11.106 --> 17:16.526 And look at this, and release those who through fear of death were all their life subject to bondage. 17:17.186 --> 17:20.846 Do you realize that when we make decisions based on fear, it's a bondage? 17:21.286 --> 17:25.266 And Jesus came to die on the cross for your sins, took your place on the cross, 17:25.266 --> 17:29.066 so you could be free to make decisions based on faith. 17:29.234 --> 17:31.474 It's a sad thing when a person is paralyzed, 17:31.474 --> 17:33.474 but, and I understand that. 17:33.474 --> 17:35.414 I get it, when Pam and I moved to El Salvador, 17:35.414 --> 17:37.974 it was the middle of a civil war. 17:37.974 --> 17:40.014 We took our oldest was two years old, 17:40.014 --> 17:41.874 our second was four months, 17:41.874 --> 17:43.654 took them down to El Salvador 17:43.654 --> 17:45.354 and went through the civil war. 17:45.354 --> 17:48.314 And in 1989, right after the Berlin Wall fell, 17:48.314 --> 17:49.514 the writing was on the wall 17:49.514 --> 17:51.454 and the communist guerrillas knew 17:51.454 --> 17:53.094 they were gonna have to do something radical. 17:53.094 --> 17:55.414 So they had what was called the final offensive. 17:55.407 --> 17:58.347 Well, by coincidence, it was November of 1989, 17:58.347 --> 18:01.287 I was just talking to a lady that was there in San Miguel 18:01.287 --> 18:02.947 during that time where I was at. 18:02.947 --> 18:04.947 During that time of the final offensive, 18:04.947 --> 18:06.027 I was in San Miguel, 18:06.027 --> 18:08.347 which is in the eastern part of El Salvador, 18:08.347 --> 18:11.567 and where the guerrillas had taken the city. 18:11.573 --> 18:14.153 And then my wife was in the capital, San Salvador, 18:14.293 --> 18:15.192 and we were separated. 18:15.193 --> 18:16.192 There was no cell phones. 18:16.193 --> 18:17.213 There was no way to communicate. 18:17.933 --> 18:20.213 And she was outside playing with the kids, 18:20.413 --> 18:23.213 who at that time were six and four and three years old. 18:23.273 --> 18:24.813 And then we had another child afterwards. 18:25.233 --> 18:28.133 And she's outside playing, and somebody comes running and says, 18:28.373 --> 18:29.593 everybody go inside. 18:29.593 --> 18:30.051 And she said, I'm going to play. 18:30.052 --> 18:33.772 Ya viene los muchachos, and muchachos or boys is what they called the guerrillas. 18:34.192 --> 18:35.512 And they went running into the house. 18:35.912 --> 18:40.912 And Pam says they fought all night, and she had to take the kids and go under the stairs 18:40.912 --> 18:42.392 because the stairs are made of cement. 18:43.032 --> 18:46.352 And when you're in fighting, stray bullets will pierce your roof. 18:46.412 --> 18:47.972 You have to find a place where there's cement. 18:48.432 --> 18:52.972 So she just told the kids, hey, kids, we're going to camp out tonight under the stairs and all that. 18:53.192 --> 18:54.332 Of course, I didn't know this was going on. 18:54.332 --> 18:56.412 I was in San Miguel with a youth group. 18:56.410 --> 18:58.570 And so we were trapped there for 10 days. 18:58.570 --> 18:59.950 We were separated from each other. 18:59.950 --> 19:02.390 We couldn't communicate, no phone lines. 19:02.390 --> 19:05.690 And it was an incredible time where you just trusted in God. 19:05.690 --> 19:09.090 And during that whole time, as we were going through that, 19:09.090 --> 19:10.690 I couldn't wait to get back home. 19:10.690 --> 19:11.950 So finally I got back home. 19:11.950 --> 19:13.370 And when I got back home, 19:13.370 --> 19:15.670 I remember Pam and I talking and saying, 19:15.670 --> 19:17.970 well, that's over, isn't that great? 19:18.078 --> 19:20.578 But then that night we were asleep 19:20.578 --> 19:23.418 and we started hearing the fight right outside our house. 19:23.418 --> 19:25.938 And we got up on the second floor where our bed was 19:25.938 --> 19:28.998 and we looked out and it was like a laser light show. 19:28.998 --> 19:31.258 You could see the helicopters shooting 19:31.258 --> 19:32.798 and they have tracers so you can see 19:32.798 --> 19:34.218 where the bullets are going. 19:34.218 --> 19:36.458 They had urban tanks that were shooting. 19:36.458 --> 19:39.778 The guerrillas had placed dynamite on the electrical post 19:39.778 --> 19:43.318 and we could see those flashes coming and blowing up. 19:43.306 --> 19:46.846 And I'm sitting on their bed, and it's a surreal moment because I'm sitting on the bed, 19:47.266 --> 19:51.946 and all of a sudden I see my 6-year-old girl, my 4-year-old girl, my 3-year-old boy, and my wife, 19:52.326 --> 19:53.466 and we're looking out there. 19:54.346 --> 19:56.786 And I know it was the devil just whispered to me, 19:57.446 --> 19:59.966 "'Everybody was right. You're an idiot. 20:00.626 --> 20:02.746 "'You brought your family down here to die. 20:03.086 --> 20:05.506 "'Your whole family was right. You wasted your life. 20:05.506 --> 20:07.426 "'You could have been something. You could have been an engineer, 20:07.766 --> 20:09.886 "'but you're down here just to die.'" 20:10.036 --> 20:11.796 And I felt really guilty. 20:11.796 --> 20:15.296 But then I heard God speak to me in my heart 20:15.296 --> 20:17.916 and say, no, you're never dumb 20:17.916 --> 20:19.936 if you're where I want you to be. 20:19.936 --> 20:22.116 You made the right decision to be here. 20:22.116 --> 20:23.816 And right at that moment, I saw my daughter 20:23.816 --> 20:26.296 who was four crying, she was really crying. 20:26.296 --> 20:28.376 And I hugged her and I said, honey, don't worry, 20:28.376 --> 20:29.896 everything's gonna be all right. 20:29.896 --> 20:31.596 And here's the crazy thing. 20:31.855 --> 20:34.075 They didn't quit fighting, but she quit crying. 20:34.155 --> 20:35.194 You know why? 20:35.195 --> 20:37.655 Because her father said everything's going to be all right. 20:38.655 --> 20:41.715 And it doesn't matter what you're facing when you hear your heavenly father say, 20:41.935 --> 20:43.675 everything's going to be all right. 20:43.755 --> 20:45.494 You can face anything. 20:45.495 --> 20:48.335 That's why it says be anxious for nothing, but let God know all your petitions. 20:48.755 --> 20:51.535 And the peace that passes all understanding will guard your heart. 20:51.818 --> 20:52.898 When you let him know. 20:53.398 --> 20:55.898 And so I understand it's tough when you do that. 20:56.138 --> 20:59.338 But I would encourage you to have faith in what he does. 20:59.618 --> 21:02.678 One little quick thing here before I go, because I think it's important to mention it. 21:03.058 --> 21:04.618 Isn't it interesting that it says, 21:05.198 --> 21:08.458 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, 21:08.518 --> 21:10.918 because they saw he was a beautiful child. 21:12.058 --> 21:14.398 That's a weird verse for me. 21:14.819 --> 21:20.259 Because I think one of the unsung heroes of the Bible are the midwives, the Hebrew midwives that saved all those children. 21:20.999 --> 21:23.239 And the most powerful man on the face of the earth said, I'll kill you. 21:23.259 --> 21:24.758 And they said, I don't care. 21:24.759 --> 21:27.399 Now, you might say to yourself, why did he save Moses? 21:27.459 --> 21:30.399 Because he thought that she thought that her baby was beautiful. 21:30.899 --> 21:40.019 How many moms have you heard of in history that when they delivered a baby and the nurse brought the baby, they said, ooh, that's ugly. 21:40.019 --> 21:42.611 Right? 21:42.612 --> 21:44.652 Now someone's gonna say it's happened probably, 21:44.652 --> 21:47.072 but I don't think it happens very often. 21:47.072 --> 21:49.132 Because it doesn't matter what that kid looks like. 21:49.132 --> 21:52.732 All of my kids, because they were a normal birth, 21:52.732 --> 21:55.752 they weren't cesarean, they look like WC Fields 21:55.752 --> 21:58.112 in a UFC fight, and they're just, 21:58.103 --> 21:59.522 All smashed up. 21:59.523 --> 22:02.983 But when I saw those kids, they were the most beautiful thing on the face of the earth. 22:03.283 --> 22:08.303 I don't think that what she said is, because Moses is beautiful, I'll save him and the other ones aren't beautiful. 22:08.863 --> 22:11.963 I think what it means is she was saying that kids are beautiful. 22:12.663 --> 22:13.743 We saw that in VBS. 22:14.603 --> 22:18.223 You see, to me, sometimes the Bible is so clear. 22:18.543 --> 22:19.563 There's just clear principles. 22:19.883 --> 22:26.183 The first thing God said to man was, fructify, bear fruit, and multiply. 22:27.061 --> 22:28.181 And I've thought about that. 22:28.301 --> 22:30.621 The only reason we're here is to reproduce physically. 22:30.841 --> 22:33.061 And if you can't reproduce physically, spiritually. 22:33.321 --> 22:34.421 Or you adopt or whatever. 22:34.601 --> 22:38.461 You don't have to have kids, but you should be reproducing into other people. 22:39.161 --> 22:41.561 So if that's what God wants, what does the devil want? 22:41.861 --> 22:42.298 What? 22:42.299 --> 22:45.759 kill the kids, abort the kids, sterilize the kids. 22:45.759 --> 22:47.299 That's the new thing happening. 22:47.299 --> 22:48.539 We don't want kids. 22:48.539 --> 22:49.338 That's the devil. 22:49.339 --> 22:50.339 He's against it. 22:50.339 --> 22:53.039 So there's daring people that say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. 22:53.239 --> 22:56.579 I'm going to believe God by faith that that's what it's about. 22:56.779 --> 22:58.039 That's why we're on this planet. 22:58.039 --> 23:00.419 Here is my father glorified that you bear much fruit. 23:00.419 --> 23:01.779 John 15, eight. 23:01.779 --> 23:03.859 And so that's what these ladies were doing. 23:04.079 --> 23:08.459 They were risking their lives because they said children are beautiful. 23:08.459 --> 23:09.799 Children are heritage of the Lord. 23:09.799 --> 23:12.159 Okay, second principle, second principle. 23:12.961 --> 23:18.141 World-changing faith chooses God's prize, with a Z, despite the price. 23:18.521 --> 23:21.321 Look at what it says one more time in verse 26. 23:22.261 --> 23:26.141 Esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, 23:26.261 --> 23:29.881 for he had respect under the recompense of the reward. 23:30.921 --> 23:32.261 You see how Moses went through that? 23:32.261 --> 23:36.261 He was focused on the prize, so he paid the price. 23:36.535 --> 23:38.035 And that's the way life works anyway. 23:38.535 --> 23:39.835 It's not rocket science. 23:39.995 --> 23:45.335 I mean, if you like football like I do, you know that starting in August or late July, 23:46.155 --> 23:49.755 I like the Cowboys, and they practice in Oxnard, California. 23:50.255 --> 23:54.255 And they start going through that process where they're preparing 23:54.490 --> 23:56.130 for going to the Super Bowl. 23:56.130 --> 23:57.790 They hope to go to the Super Bowl. 23:57.790 --> 23:59.750 Not the Cowboys, they haven't gone for 30 years. 23:59.750 --> 24:03.750 But anyway, and so if you root for a college team, 24:03.750 --> 24:05.390 you know that they start doing that. 24:05.390 --> 24:07.850 We know that, this is what it's about. 24:07.850 --> 24:10.210 Because every one of those players are saying, 24:10.210 --> 24:13.570 I want the prize, I have to pay the price. 24:13.570 --> 24:14.790 Do we agree with that? 24:14.790 --> 24:17.490 Or you see it with moms. 24:17.490 --> 24:21.530 It's unbelievable the process of having a baby. 24:22.267 --> 24:24.147 You know, I was there for four births. 24:24.147 --> 24:27.267 And when I was a young guy, the cool thing was, 24:27.267 --> 24:28.987 I can remember some of my friends saying, 24:28.987 --> 24:31.147 Steve, are you gonna be in there for the birth? 24:31.147 --> 24:31.986 That was the cool thing. 24:31.987 --> 24:33.887 Remember, my dad's generation, 24:33.887 --> 24:35.347 you were never in there for the birth. 24:35.347 --> 24:37.687 The men were just outside pacing back and forth. 24:37.687 --> 24:39.787 And so my generation was, if you're anybody, Steve, 24:39.787 --> 24:40.987 you're gonna be in there. 24:40.987 --> 24:43.247 I didn't wanna be in there, but you know, peer pressure. 24:43.247 --> 24:48.207 So they said, you gotta take these Lamaze classes, Lamaze. 24:48.203 --> 24:53.323 And in these Lamaze classes, I'll never forget the first day I was in the class with Pam. 24:53.703 --> 24:56.823 Pam's pregnant like that lady, you know, pregnant right there. 24:57.163 --> 24:58.663 And we're sitting there and everything. 24:59.283 --> 25:02.643 And the lady comes out and says she was a Lamaze coach. 25:02.643 --> 25:08.263 And she said, okay, men, you know, husbands, you're going to be really important, really important in this. 25:08.470 --> 25:11.110 because you're gonna have to keep your wife 25:11.110 --> 25:13.070 focused on breathing. 25:13.070 --> 25:13.949 And I didn't say this, 25:13.950 --> 25:15.350 because I try not to be a smart aleck, 25:15.350 --> 25:16.510 but I thought to myself, 25:16.510 --> 25:19.130 if Pam doesn't know how to breathe by now, tough luck. 25:19.130 --> 25:21.870 I mean, there's no way this is gonna work. 25:21.870 --> 25:23.590 How am I gonna teach her to breathe? 25:23.590 --> 25:25.610 And so they said that when they're going 25:25.610 --> 25:28.590 through these horrible pains, birth pains, 25:29.210 --> 25:33.490 They say that the key is that you focus the mom on the prize. 25:34.590 --> 25:35.909 Think about that. 25:35.910 --> 25:38.190 As they push, the baby's coming. 25:38.610 --> 25:42.450 And a woman can take this huge, you know, women have a higher threshold of pain than men. 25:42.650 --> 25:46.830 They can take this huge amount of pain because the prize is coming. 25:47.350 --> 25:50.170 Can you imagine if you told a pregnant mom, 25:50.168 --> 25:55.168 and said, you're an OBGYN and they're 38 weeks and said, 25:55.168 --> 25:56.468 I got good news and bad news. 25:56.468 --> 26:00.108 I said, the good news is your pregnancy's going really great, 26:00.108 --> 26:02.008 but the bad news is there's a 50% chance 26:02.008 --> 26:04.108 that it's a watermelon, it's not a baby. 26:05.248 --> 26:07.068 You think any woman would go through that? 26:07.600 --> 26:10.000 Why do you go through it? 26:10.000 --> 26:11.900 The prize, the baby. 26:11.900 --> 26:14.760 And so what you learn is that I can go through 26:14.760 --> 26:16.980 a huge amount of pain in the present 26:16.980 --> 26:18.400 if I have a great future. 26:18.400 --> 26:19.960 That's why I like prophecy so much. 26:19.960 --> 26:21.920 You see, the Bible gives us hope, 26:21.920 --> 26:23.860 focuses to a great future 26:23.860 --> 26:25.700 so we can go through the tough present. 26:25.707 --> 26:27.767 And that's what Moses did. 26:27.767 --> 26:30.167 Moses was able to, number one, 26:30.167 --> 26:32.487 he was able to renounce the position of a prince 26:32.487 --> 26:33.927 because he was focused on the future. 26:33.927 --> 26:36.007 It says in verse 24, it says, 26:36.007 --> 26:37.927 "'By faith Moses, when he was come to you, 26:37.927 --> 26:41.147 "'has refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.'" 26:41.147 --> 26:42.407 Think about that. 26:42.407 --> 26:45.107 Now we know that Moses' uncle died. 26:45.107 --> 26:46.327 Remember, he was a firstborn. 26:46.327 --> 26:47.907 He died, that was Pharaoh's son. 26:47.907 --> 26:50.087 History says there were no other uncles. 26:50.087 --> 26:51.467 Who would have been the next Pharaoh? 26:52.083 --> 26:55.123 Moses, Moses, the king of the world. 26:55.123 --> 26:56.403 And you know what he said? 26:56.403 --> 26:59.483 No thank, no thank you, I'm a child of God. 26:59.483 --> 27:00.382 I'm a child of God. 27:00.383 --> 27:01.963 It says, speaking of Moses, 27:01.963 --> 27:04.483 and Moses was learning all the wisdom of the Egyptians 27:04.483 --> 27:05.483 and was mighty in words and deeds. 27:05.483 --> 27:07.803 He was prepared to be the next Pharaoh. 27:07.803 --> 27:09.063 And he said no. 27:09.063 --> 27:12.803 He reminds me of one of the Moravian missionaries. 27:12.803 --> 27:15.223 The Moravians had these incredible missionaries 27:15.218 --> 27:16.398 And one of them was a baron. 27:16.478 --> 27:17.658 He had the titles of a baron. 27:17.718 --> 27:20.418 He renounced his baronship, that's what it's called, 27:20.698 --> 27:22.258 gave away all of his money, went as a missionary, 27:22.318 --> 27:23.358 and he said these famous words. 27:23.758 --> 27:25.578 What is it to me to bear a title well-born 27:25.578 --> 27:26.758 when I am born again in Christ? 27:27.398 --> 27:28.958 What is it to me to have the title Lord 27:28.958 --> 27:30.598 when I desire to be the servant of Christ? 27:31.018 --> 27:32.758 What is it to be called your grace 27:32.758 --> 27:34.098 when I am in need of God's grace? 27:34.938 --> 27:37.678 All these vanities will I away with, 27:37.678 --> 27:40.198 and all else I will lay at the feet of my dear Lord Jesus. 27:41.189 --> 27:42.408 And he made the decision. 27:42.409 --> 27:43.508 He was smart. 27:43.509 --> 27:44.448 The baron was smart. 27:44.449 --> 27:47.149 Moses was smart because of the focus on the prize. 27:47.689 --> 27:50.509 But he also renounced the pleasures of a prince. 27:50.989 --> 27:52.769 I don't know if you saw that when we read it through the first time. 27:52.769 --> 28:02.689 But verse 25 says, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. 28:03.953 --> 28:07.453 Can you imagine, and I'm humanly speaking here, 28:07.453 --> 28:10.153 the pleasures that he had access to? 28:10.153 --> 28:11.733 He had it all. 28:11.733 --> 28:13.453 He had it all. 28:13.453 --> 28:16.473 And he said no, because he knew that there was joy 28:16.473 --> 28:18.433 in the presence of the Lord. 28:18.433 --> 28:21.613 And I always tell people, you know, sin is fun, 28:21.613 --> 28:23.573 that's why we do it. 28:23.573 --> 28:26.073 You know, you can't tell kids, don't sin, it's not fun, 28:26.073 --> 28:27.413 it's fun, that's why we do it. 28:27.413 --> 28:30.773 But sin has two problems, two horrible problems. 28:30.773 --> 28:32.973 Number one, sin's bad and it offends God. 28:33.653 --> 28:39.233 But number two, and it's good to teach your kids this, sin is temporal. 28:39.773 --> 28:40.973 The pleasures are temporal. 28:41.453 --> 28:43.113 Somebody said sin's like Chinese food. 28:43.113 --> 28:45.413 It doesn't matter how much you eat, you're always hungry afterwards. 28:46.850 --> 28:50.630 And if you engage in any kind of sin, you're never satisfied. 28:50.890 --> 28:52.250 Never, never, never. 28:52.890 --> 28:54.290 The only thing that satisfies you is God. 28:54.750 --> 28:57.030 And so I always think, man, Moses was smart. 28:57.230 --> 28:59.190 You know, he keyed in on this at this time. 28:59.410 --> 29:02.010 He realized, I don't need those temporary pleasures. 29:02.490 --> 29:05.210 And then he rejected the prosperity of a prince. 29:05.250 --> 29:06.727 This is unbelievable. 29:06.728 --> 29:12.808 is steaming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. 29:13.328 --> 29:17.308 And I don't know how many of you have ever seen an exhibit of one of the pharaoh kings. 29:18.008 --> 29:20.828 Remember when King Tut exhibit was being taken around the United States? 29:20.908 --> 29:22.368 I never saw it, but I saw pictures. 29:22.948 --> 29:27.028 Or have you ever seen a movie where they're looking for mummies or whatever with pharaohs? 29:27.388 --> 29:29.368 What's there a whole bunch of whenever they open the tomb? 29:30.368 --> 29:31.427 Gold. 29:31.428 --> 29:32.307 That was all his. 29:32.308 --> 29:33.812 Gold. 29:33.813 --> 29:37.353 You see, nobody could have lived the American dream more than Moses. 29:38.053 --> 29:39.453 And he said, it's all hype. 29:40.593 --> 29:41.973 I'm going to live for Jesus. 29:42.253 --> 29:44.493 I'm going to focus on the real prize. 29:44.853 --> 29:46.533 You know, the way that Paul said, it's incredible. 29:46.533 --> 29:48.513 Paul said, yea doubtless. 29:48.513 --> 29:52.313 And I count all things, but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ. 29:52.313 --> 29:56.213 Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and you count them, but. 29:57.472 --> 29:58.851 Dung. 29:58.852 --> 29:59.351 Dung. 29:59.352 --> 29:59.971 You know what dung is? 29:59.972 --> 30:01.051 That's manure. 30:01.052 --> 30:02.092 That I may win Christ. 30:02.612 --> 30:04.552 Both of them understood what it was about. 30:05.072 --> 30:06.272 And I always think about this. 30:07.052 --> 30:10.032 This last part says, and I don't know how your version says this, 30:10.032 --> 30:13.512 but it says, for he had respect under the recompense of the Lord. 30:13.972 --> 30:19.192 That word he had respect is apoplepo in Greek. 30:20.354 --> 30:26.594 And what it means is that he had taken his gaze away from something else, and he was actually staring. 30:26.594 --> 30:33.794 He had a gaze. He not only was focused on the prize, he was totally staring at the prize. 30:33.794 --> 30:36.014 I always thought about how was he staring? 30:36.014 --> 30:40.934 The best thing I can think about is sometimes when my wife has to tell me something important, she says, 30:40.934 --> 30:42.774 sometimes I don't hear very good. 30:43.321 --> 30:47.741 Now, I've never confirmed this, but this is what she says that I can't hear very good. 30:48.181 --> 30:52.641 And especially if I'm watching something real important, like a football game. 30:52.961 --> 30:54.181 We all know those are really important. 30:54.641 --> 30:56.561 She always says to me, why are you watching the game? 30:56.581 --> 30:57.961 Just look at the box score tomorrow. 30:57.961 --> 30:58.440 Why? 30:58.441 --> 30:59.781 I said, she doesn't get it, man. 30:59.781 --> 31:00.941 She just doesn't get it. 31:00.941 --> 31:05.741 So, so, you know, she says that if I'm watching something, I really like it. 31:05.741 --> 31:08.161 She says, I could say, Steve, the house is burning down. 31:08.161 --> 31:10.821 I say, OK, OK, later on. OK, OK. No, no sweat. 31:11.241 --> 31:15.001 So so she stands in front of me sometimes to get my attention. 31:15.001 --> 31:16.701 I know this is really important stuff. 31:16.701 --> 31:20.121 So I thought, how how was Moses looking at the prize? 31:20.801 --> 31:23.761 This is the best picture I could find. 31:23.761 --> 31:26.241 I think Moses was like this. 31:26.555 --> 31:27.555 on the prize. 31:27.555 --> 31:31.895 And they say, Moses, Moses, you can be a prince. 31:31.895 --> 31:35.715 I'm too focused on being a child of God and a child of the king. 31:35.715 --> 31:36.935 I don't hear you. 31:36.935 --> 31:40.055 Moses, you can have pleasures, any carnal pleasures. 31:40.055 --> 31:41.595 I don't want that temporal stuff. 31:41.595 --> 31:43.715 I'm focused on the eternal pleasure. 31:43.715 --> 31:46.475 But Moses, Moses, you can be rich. 31:46.475 --> 31:47.475 I'm already rich. 31:47.475 --> 31:49.595 I'm a joint heir with Jesus Christ. 31:50.872 --> 31:53.272 Why are you coming with all this junk that's going to burn up? 31:53.812 --> 31:58.792 I am a joint heir with the firstborn who gets everything. 31:59.212 --> 32:00.292 That's what we have. 32:00.692 --> 32:03.732 I always tell people, hopefully I'm Musk is the first trillionaire 32:03.732 --> 32:05.252 because I get all that during eternity. 32:06.672 --> 32:09.132 Thanks for making all this money, Fortune 500. 32:09.292 --> 32:09.931 It's all ours. 32:09.932 --> 32:11.212 And, of course, it will be useless anyway. 32:12.132 --> 32:13.492 We have eternal riches. 32:13.872 --> 32:14.972 We have eternal glory. 32:14.972 --> 32:18.212 And the devil wants to focus you on the hype. 32:19.188 --> 32:21.228 You know, my daughter, when she used to live at home, 32:21.228 --> 32:23.248 our last daughter, we waited five years 32:23.248 --> 32:26.188 to have the fourth one, she loved to watch reality shows. 32:26.188 --> 32:31.208 And she used to watch this show called Hoarders, H-O-A-R-D-E-R-S. 32:31.208 --> 32:33.128 And I always remember that, you know, 32:33.128 --> 32:34.548 always trying to connect with your kids. 32:34.548 --> 32:36.628 So, you know, I'm watching this show. 32:36.628 --> 32:38.148 And at first, I would laugh. 32:38.148 --> 32:40.368 And then afterwards, I was sad. 32:40.368 --> 32:42.908 Because it's funny when you see a person can't walk through a 32:42.908 --> 32:45.268 house because of the newspapers, but then you realize 32:45.268 --> 32:46.508 there's some serious issues. 32:47.639 --> 32:50.739 People that hoard stuff have issues. 32:50.739 --> 32:53.539 And I think the angels have a show in heaven, 32:53.539 --> 32:56.079 and it's called American Christian Hoarders. 32:57.419 --> 33:00.259 I just read this morning that the average American 33:00.259 --> 33:03.119 has 4.9 pounds of garbage per day. 33:04.079 --> 33:06.359 And last year we had 292 million tons. 33:06.359 --> 33:08.159 One of the biggest problems is we're running out of room 33:08.159 --> 33:09.899 for all the garbage. 33:09.899 --> 33:11.999 Bigger problem, storage space. 33:11.999 --> 33:14.459 You wanna make a lot of money, build storage units. 33:14.459 --> 33:16.539 Because Americans have so much stuff 33:17.896 --> 33:19.616 They got to accumulate and accumulate. 33:19.896 --> 33:20.936 And I can just picture the angels going, 33:21.656 --> 33:23.036 people are dying and going to hell, 33:23.116 --> 33:24.236 and you're accumulating all that junk? 33:24.716 --> 33:26.855 I don't get it. 33:26.856 --> 33:28.036 Excuse me for saying this, 33:28.076 --> 33:29.116 and I don't want anyone to feel bad, 33:29.136 --> 33:29.995 because this is a great church, 33:29.996 --> 33:31.396 and I don't think it's a problem with anybody here. 33:31.936 --> 33:33.136 I don't get it, man. 33:34.756 --> 33:36.776 What does it profit a man to gain the whole world 33:36.776 --> 33:37.455 and lose his soul? 33:37.456 --> 33:39.546 I don't get it. 33:39.547 --> 33:41.327 I don't get a focus if it isn't on souls. 33:41.447 --> 33:42.166 I don't get it. 33:42.167 --> 33:43.907 Honestly, please explain it to me. 33:44.227 --> 33:45.467 Please explain the American dream. 33:45.747 --> 33:48.847 Please explain just getting more and more and more stuff that's going to burn up. 33:48.907 --> 33:49.906 I don't get it. 33:49.907 --> 33:51.987 If you have a lot of money, nothing wrong with that. 33:52.067 --> 33:53.547 If you have a nice house, nothing wrong with that. 33:53.747 --> 33:54.907 This is not a guilt trip. 33:55.327 --> 33:57.467 But there's something going on wrong in our country. 33:57.907 --> 34:03.087 I remember when Larry Burkett said back in the 1980s, he was a mentor for Dave Ramsey, the... 34:03.087 --> 34:21.667 Guru on finances. He says, I fear the day that American Christians are so in debt they can't give to missions. We're there. All missions groups are cutting back. Because most people can't give. Because they have sacrificed their soul for Visa and MasterCard. 34:23.101 --> 34:25.721 And they're so, they gotta pay so much money. 34:25.721 --> 34:27.321 And it's a tragedy, 34:27.321 --> 34:30.081 because how can we do great thing for God 34:30.081 --> 34:32.521 when we're focused on other things? 34:32.521 --> 34:34.101 You know what destroyed the nation of Israel? 34:34.101 --> 34:35.341 Idolatry. 34:35.341 --> 34:37.981 The Bible says that materialism is idolatry. 34:37.981 --> 34:39.101 We need to check our heart. 34:39.101 --> 34:40.761 Probably nobody here, right? 34:40.761 --> 34:42.261 This is a great church. 34:42.261 --> 34:43.481 But we need to check our heart 34:43.481 --> 34:45.861 about where it's important for us. 34:45.861 --> 34:48.001 Moses gives us an example of a person 34:48.001 --> 34:52.081 who did great things for God because he looked at reality. 34:52.835 --> 34:54.234 Not fantasy. 34:54.235 --> 34:55.375 Not stuff that's going to burn up. 34:55.435 --> 34:56.994 We've got to finish. 34:56.995 --> 34:59.634 Last principle. 34:59.635 --> 35:03.555 World-changing faith chooses God's precepts despite the persecution. 35:04.655 --> 35:05.855 Now look at the way this thing ends up. 35:06.571 --> 35:08.691 Do you realize that what God said 35:08.691 --> 35:10.951 must have sounded crazy to a lot of people? 35:10.951 --> 35:12.711 He said, now Moses, here's the deal. 35:12.711 --> 35:15.731 I've done nine miracles and I'm gonna do the 10th one. 35:15.731 --> 35:18.551 And what you gotta do is you gotta sacrifice a lamb, 35:18.551 --> 35:20.971 you gotta put blood over the posts of the door, 35:20.971 --> 35:23.371 and this invisible death angel is gonna come over 35:23.371 --> 35:24.711 and kill every firstborn. 35:25.571 --> 35:28.351 Now, a lot of people that really think they're intelligent 35:28.351 --> 35:30.791 would say, oh, that's ridiculous. 35:30.791 --> 35:32.331 That could never happen. 35:32.331 --> 35:34.951 But I always tell people when we don't believe the Bible, 35:35.107 --> 35:37.347 When we don't have faith, we think we're smarter than God 35:37.347 --> 35:40.327 because God sees the death angel and he sees what's happening. 35:40.367 --> 35:41.847 Then he says another crazy thing. 35:42.287 --> 35:44.567 You're going to cross the Red Sea and I'm going to open it up. 35:45.468 --> 35:47.308 But see, he believed God's word. 35:47.308 --> 35:49.108 He believed God's precepts. 35:49.108 --> 35:50.988 Now the problem when you believe God's word 35:50.988 --> 35:52.228 is you will be persecuted. 35:52.228 --> 35:54.868 A lot of people say, well, he's being persecuted 35:54.868 --> 35:56.748 because he's a Christian or she is. 35:56.748 --> 35:58.708 The Bible never says you're persecuted 35:58.708 --> 35:59.848 just for being a Christian. 35:59.848 --> 36:02.128 That's why most Christians don't let people know 36:02.128 --> 36:04.368 who they are or don't share their faith. 36:04.368 --> 36:07.308 You're only persecuted if you obey the word of God. 36:07.308 --> 36:08.808 Look at this example here. 36:08.808 --> 36:11.168 These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground 36:11.168 --> 36:12.768 who when they hear the word, 36:12.768 --> 36:14.928 immediately receive it with gladness. 36:14.915 --> 36:16.235 and they have no root in themselves. 36:16.755 --> 36:17.995 And so endure only for a time. 36:18.135 --> 36:20.375 After when tribulation or persecution arises 36:20.375 --> 36:22.275 for the world's sake, the word's sake, 36:23.215 --> 36:24.274 why is there persecution? 36:24.275 --> 36:26.075 The word, immediately they stumble. 36:26.495 --> 36:29.295 You see, Moses being Jewish didn't affect him. 36:29.595 --> 36:31.775 But when he says, I'm going to believe God's word, 36:32.195 --> 36:33.215 there comes the persecution. 36:33.215 --> 36:34.414 The same with us. 36:34.415 --> 36:37.335 And that's why I think the devil puts fear in you. 36:37.775 --> 36:39.715 He doesn't want you to believe the word of God 36:39.715 --> 36:41.115 or to follow the word of God. 36:41.455 --> 36:43.315 And that's why there's persecution. 36:43.315 --> 36:45.775 And it's unbelievable what it says here. 36:46.595 --> 36:48.715 And I'll just say this before I read the first verse. 36:49.135 --> 36:51.055 The kind of faith that doesn't risk anything 36:51.055 --> 36:53.395 doesn't accomplish anything. 36:54.155 --> 36:55.114 And you're probably thinking, 36:55.115 --> 36:56.154 oh, he's talking about missions. 36:56.155 --> 36:58.355 No, I'm talking about decisions you need to make in your work, 36:59.135 --> 37:01.095 in your school, at your home. 37:01.695 --> 37:03.695 People that make decisions based on faith 37:03.695 --> 37:05.495 are willing to risk something. 37:05.815 --> 37:07.335 Look at what it says here to finish up. 37:07.395 --> 37:08.854 It says in verse 27, 37:08.855 --> 37:11.095 by faith he forsook Egypt... 37:12.121 --> 37:15.021 not fearing the wrath of the king. 37:15.021 --> 37:17.541 For he endured, and how did he endure? 37:17.541 --> 37:19.181 As seeing him who was invisible. 37:20.356 --> 37:23.336 And I could just hear my family, the atheists, saying, 37:23.336 --> 37:25.716 yeah, those dumb Christians, 37:25.716 --> 37:28.416 they think they see invisible things. 37:28.416 --> 37:31.776 I don't believe in the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and Jesus. 37:31.776 --> 37:34.056 I don't believe in fairies and all this silly kind of stuff. 37:34.056 --> 37:36.436 I only believe in what I can see. 37:36.436 --> 37:37.656 You know, I had to hear that for years. 37:37.656 --> 37:38.876 I can only believe in what I see. 37:38.876 --> 37:40.876 And one day I was thinking about it. 37:40.876 --> 37:42.976 Almost everything I believe in, I've never seen. 37:44.183 --> 37:45.783 I mean, we're gonna celebrate July 4th, 37:45.783 --> 37:48.643 the 250th anniversary of independence. 37:48.643 --> 37:51.943 How many here saw them sign the Declaration of Independence? 37:53.103 --> 37:54.963 Thomas Jefferson? 37:54.963 --> 37:57.183 I mean, please don't tell me like everyone says, 37:57.183 --> 37:58.843 I only believe in what I can see. 37:58.843 --> 38:01.243 Almost everything you believe you've never seen. 38:01.243 --> 38:04.343 I could ask you to draw an atom right now, an atom. 38:04.343 --> 38:06.523 No one's ever seen an atom, but I say, draw an atom, 38:06.523 --> 38:07.963 you'll come right up here and draw protons, 38:07.963 --> 38:09.283 neutrons, and electrons. 38:09.283 --> 38:10.523 How do you know that? 38:10.523 --> 38:11.683 It's invisible. 38:11.892 --> 38:15.832 The same scientists that criticize on Discovery Channel, 38:15.832 --> 38:18.472 Christians will say, well, yes, it's a multiverse, 38:18.472 --> 38:21.012 it's dark matter, it's dark energy. 38:21.012 --> 38:22.092 You ever seen dark matter? 38:22.092 --> 38:23.772 No, that's why it's called dark. 38:23.772 --> 38:25.452 I'm not questioning it exists. 38:25.452 --> 38:27.692 What I'm saying is faith is the evidence 38:27.692 --> 38:31.292 of things not seen, and faith comes by 38:32.362 --> 38:34.422 Yeah, so everything you believe isn't because 38:34.422 --> 38:35.962 someone proved it in the lab, 38:35.962 --> 38:37.582 it's because someone told you. 38:37.582 --> 38:39.022 Now a smart person says, 38:39.022 --> 38:41.662 I'm gonna listen to what he says. 38:41.662 --> 38:44.582 I'm not gonna listen to my professor if he contradicts. 38:44.582 --> 38:46.522 I mean, when I got saved, 38:46.522 --> 38:49.902 atheist family, chemical engineering, UC Davis, 38:49.902 --> 38:51.842 I had professors that made fun of God, 38:51.842 --> 38:54.442 made fun of Christians, and I was intimidated. 38:54.442 --> 38:56.722 And then I realized, wait a second, 38:56.722 --> 38:59.362 all the fathers of science believed in God. 38:59.362 --> 39:02.142 Good science is believing that God exists. 39:02.315 --> 39:08.315 And what we believe is based on what we've heard and we make intelligent decisions. 39:08.735 --> 39:10.235 So what does it say about Moses? 39:11.055 --> 39:12.195 He saw the invisible one. 39:12.875 --> 39:14.355 Let me give you one more illustration. 39:14.755 --> 39:17.015 Two people are standing on the deck of a ship. 39:17.855 --> 39:19.195 They're looking to the horizon. 39:19.995 --> 39:21.555 One sees a ship coming. 39:21.555 --> 39:23.135 The other does not see a ship coming. 39:23.415 --> 39:25.517 What's the difference? 39:25.518 --> 39:27.438 They have the same eyesight. 39:27.438 --> 39:29.278 They're looking in the same direction. 39:29.278 --> 39:31.098 One sees the ship, one doesn't. 39:31.098 --> 39:32.718 What's the difference? 39:32.718 --> 39:35.098 You're not gonna like the answer. 39:35.098 --> 39:36.658 One has a telescope. 39:36.658 --> 39:39.698 Ah, nobody likes that. 39:39.698 --> 39:40.878 What's faith? 39:42.158 --> 39:44.598 The telescope, it's a microscope. 39:44.598 --> 39:46.658 You see the invisible world's real. 39:46.658 --> 39:47.718 Atoms are real. 39:47.718 --> 39:48.818 I think quarks are real. 39:48.818 --> 39:49.998 I think dark matter's real. 39:49.998 --> 39:52.138 I think black holes are real, but no one's seen it. 39:53.007 --> 39:58.207 But it's real. I believe God's real. And I believe that when we face something, 39:58.207 --> 40:02.487 you have to see the invisible one by faith. That's why you do great things. 40:02.487 --> 40:06.347 And so they could see the invisible one. And look at what's the last thing it says. 40:06.347 --> 40:09.487 Through faith, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling blood, lest he that 40:09.487 --> 40:13.067 destroyed the firstborn should have touched him. And then look at what it says in verse 29. 40:13.067 --> 40:17.567 By faith, it does not say by faith he passed through the Red Sea. 40:17.645 --> 40:20.565 by faith they passed through the Red Sea, 40:20.565 --> 40:22.385 as by dry land which the Egyptians, 40:22.385 --> 40:24.585 a saying to do, were drowned. 40:24.585 --> 40:26.225 That blows my mind. 40:26.225 --> 40:28.825 That blows my mind, I'll tell you why. 40:28.825 --> 40:31.225 Moses, when he got to the Red Sea, 40:31.225 --> 40:33.185 somebody says it's like being chased 40:33.185 --> 40:35.225 by a busload of terrorists, 40:35.225 --> 40:37.525 and you turn into a dead end road. 40:37.525 --> 40:38.625 That's them. 40:38.625 --> 40:40.265 Do you guys remember what the Israelites were doing 40:40.265 --> 40:41.705 when they got to the Red Sea? 40:43.265 --> 40:45.066 Whining. 40:45.067 --> 40:47.667 I always tell people when I preach the book of Exodus, 40:48.307 --> 40:49.607 I feel so sorry for Moses. 40:50.407 --> 40:53.047 He had to take two to three million whiny Americans. 40:53.387 --> 40:55.146 Oh, God. 40:55.147 --> 40:56.847 Oh, I can't stand whiners. 40:57.527 --> 40:59.107 Because whining is a lack of faith. 40:59.587 --> 41:01.186 Whining is no faith. 41:01.187 --> 41:02.267 That's a carnal Christian. 41:02.367 --> 41:03.206 He's a whiner all the time. 41:03.207 --> 41:04.606 Everything's bad. 41:04.607 --> 41:06.267 And he's taking these whiners everywhere. 41:06.827 --> 41:09.107 And the whiners get to this big Red Sea and they said, 41:09.107 --> 41:10.727 it was better in Egypt. 41:11.427 --> 41:12.627 God brought us here to die. 41:12.807 --> 41:13.927 Yet what does the verse say? 41:15.827 --> 41:16.119 by faith. 41:16.120 --> 41:19.759 They passed. 41:19.760 --> 41:21.200 So can you imagine walking through the Red Sea, 41:22.460 --> 41:24.839 looking on both sides? 41:24.840 --> 41:25.559 How were they able to go through the Red Sea? 41:25.560 --> 41:26.860 How? 41:29.600 --> 41:33.262 Because faith is contagious. 41:36.622 --> 41:38.681 All we need is one dad or one mom 41:38.682 --> 41:39.901 to infect the family with faith. 41:39.902 --> 41:41.701 And you guys are doing it anyway. 41:41.702 --> 41:45.101 I know I'm preaching to the choir. 41:45.102 --> 41:47.981 But we just need people to say, I'm gonna live for God. 41:47.982 --> 41:49.441 And when people see your faith, it's contagious. 41:49.442 --> 41:50.821 That's why two to three million people 41:50.822 --> 41:53.861 can come up to the Red Sea, 41:53.862 --> 41:57.121 and one guy raises the rod and they all go past. 41:57.122 --> 42:01.441 I believe God's looking for revival of holy faith. 42:01.442 --> 42:02.441 I believe it's as simple as this, just believe what God says and do it, and He can change 42:02.442 --> 42:03.601 this world. 42:03.602 --> 42:08.201 And I'm excited. 42:08.202 --> 42:10.061 The faith of one person can be so authentic that it can elevate an entire nation and ensure 42:10.062 --> 42:12.681 its liberation. 42:12.682 --> 42:16.134 What does our country need as we face the future? 42:16.135 --> 42:18.294 What it started with, faith people. 42:18.295 --> 42:19.814 I mean, you've studied the history of the United States. 42:19.815 --> 42:21.114 They all believe they could leave Europe 42:21.115 --> 42:22.834 and have a better world. 42:22.835 --> 42:23.974 That's how California started. 42:23.975 --> 42:25.774 It was the belief. 42:25.775 --> 42:28.214 But if we're paralyzed by fear now, 42:28.215 --> 42:30.634 what's the worst thing that can happen to you? 42:30.635 --> 42:32.654 Die and have eternal vacation, 42:32.655 --> 42:35.694 if you're a believer in Jesus. 42:35.695 --> 42:37.034 I mean, we need to focus on him. 42:37.035 --> 42:38.834 I told the kids this week 42:38.835 --> 42:40.188 when we talked about David and Goliath. 42:44.368 --> 42:47.187 When the troops were there, they were focused on Goliath. 42:47.188 --> 42:48.967 The little shepherd boy, who nobody gave five cents for, 42:48.968 --> 42:50.268 was focused on God. 42:51.548 --> 42:54.747 You remember what he said? 42:54.748 --> 42:56.647 Who's this giant compared to our great God? 42:56.648 --> 42:58.807 And it's the same with you. 42:58.808 --> 43:00.027 We will face things in the coming days, 43:00.028 --> 43:03.207 and you'll have two choices, 43:03.208 --> 43:06.267 fear road, manipulation by the devil, 43:06.268 --> 43:08.227 or faith road, and do great things for God. 43:08.228 --> 43:09.347 God has a plan incredible for your life, 43:09.348 --> 43:14.714 that's why you're still here. 43:14.715 --> 43:19.374 Solomon said it this way, it's better to be a live dog than a dead lion, because you have hope. 43:19.375 --> 43:21.295 God wants to do something great in your life, but believe him for it. Believe him for it. 43:27.775 --> 43:32.874 for your word and like you thank you for examples like Moses who made decisions 43:32.875 --> 43:36.294 based on faith and not based on fear and they think that you used him to take the 43:36.295 --> 43:41.514 nation out of there and what it was a picture of the picture of our Lord Jesus 43:41.515 --> 43:44.514 Christ taking us out from slavery also and I pray for every person here present 43:44.515 --> 43:48.250 Lord that might be enslaved by some kind of fear 43:48.251 --> 43:50.910 Maybe their problem is they need to trust Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. 43:50.911 --> 43:54.070 Maybe their problem is they've already trusted Christ, 43:54.071 --> 43:59.010 but they need to trust in you for the big decisions they're going to make. 43:59.011 --> 44:00.590 Lord, continue to raise up in this church men and women filled with faith 44:00.591 --> 44:03.710 so that you can change this world. 44:03.711 --> 44:07.690 I pray for this vision of 100 new church plants. 44:07.691 --> 44:09.870 God, that you will do it through us, Lord, and you'll be glorified as you do it. 44:09.871 --> 44:12.055 In Jesus' name I pray, amen. 44:13.495 --> 44:15.154 Thanks for listening today. 44:15.155 --> 44:17.254 We hope you enjoyed this message. 44:17.255 --> 44:18.934 And if you did, we would be so grateful 44:18.935 --> 44:21.374 if you left us a review. 44:21.375 --> 44:22.674 Also, go ahead and subscribe to the podcast 44:22.675 --> 44:24.574 if you would like to be notified 44:24.575 --> 44:26.214 when a new sermon is released. 44:26.215 --> 44:27.834 If you feel the Lord calling you 44:27.835 --> 44:32.154 to take the next step in faith 44:32.155 --> 44:35.252 through salvation, service, or giving, don't wait. 44:35.253 --> 44:37.892 reach out to us by texting podcast to 88988. 44:37.893 --> 44:40.832 That's podcast to 88988 44:40.833 --> 44:44.592 or connect with us on one of our social media platforms. 44:44.593 --> 44:46.592 You can also visit our website, valleybaptist.org 44:46.593 --> 44:48.932 to find even more great resources. 44:48.933 --> 44:50.472 No matter where you are in your journey, 44:50.473 --> 44:51.892 know that we love you. 44:51.893 --> 44:54.912 We're praying for you 44:54.913 --> 45:04.913 and we can't wait to see what God will do in your life.