Moses: Are you smarter than an Israelite?

[00:00:00] Speaker A: And as worthy is he and as worthy of all of the Praise Give him praise Give him praise in the highest Praise Give him praise Give him praise in the highest. He is worthy yes, he is worthy. Your balls on the floor. Praise. Faithful all my life Blessings day and night Countless reasons why I'll praise you anywhere Every promise kept Goodness, every step, each and every bre. I'll praise you, you anywhere Faithful my life Blessings day and night Countless reasons why I'll praise you anywhere Every promise kept Goodness, every step, each and every breath I'll praise you anyway Give him praise, Give him praise in my praise Give him praise, Give him. [00:01:27] Speaker B: Well, good morning. Thank you so much for being here this morning. Let's stand just as we open up. We're going to pray and jump into worship. Jesus is so good to us. He's been so faithful and we come together. It's just an opportunity to. To be reminded when we sing these songs to remind our souls, to remind our hearts of just the truth of who our God is. That he is a great God, that he is a mighty God. That he is a loving father. And so let's just pray and let's praise him this morning. Jesus, we love you. Jesus, we come before you expectant that you are going to speak to us today. Holy Spirit, would you speak to every need in this place, every heart? God, I just pray that we would be our ears would be open to hear your voice, to receive you. Whatever it is you want to say to us, God, we want to know it. We want to know you more and more. And so, Jesus, have your way in this place. Have your way in our lives. And would you be glorified through our offering of worship today, through our song, through our heart's posture today as we come to just pour out our praise and adore you, Jesus. May your name be lifted high above all else, above all others. We turn our eyes to you, Jesus. We pray all this in his mighty name. Amen. [00:03:19] Speaker C: I believe there is one salvation, one doorway that leads to life, one redemption, one confession. [00:03:29] Speaker A: I believe in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe. I believe in the crucifixion is. But I have been set free. I believe in the resurrection. Hallelujah. All praise to God the Father. All praise to Christ the Son. All praise to the Holy Spirit. Our God has overcome the King who was endless ever more will be in Jesus mighty name. I believe, I believe, I believe in the hope of heaven. He's preparing a place for me far beyond what hearts and mind magic. Here's the Fertilizer. I believe that he's coming he's returning to claim his rock like the altar keep it burning See the lamb rose a roaring light. All praise to God the Father all praise to Christ the Son all praise to holy the Spirit Our God has overcome the king who rising. Jesus mighty name. You will never be ashamed of the [00:05:52] Speaker C: gospel of Jesus Christ. [00:05:55] Speaker A: How could I ever walk away from the one you saved my life no I'll never be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ how could I ever walk away from the one who saved my life? I'll never no I'll never be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing I ever walk away from the one who saved my life. We sing all praise all praise to God the Father all praise to Christ the Son all praise to the Holy Spirit Cuz our God has overcome the king who was in ever more will be in Jesus mighty name I pray all praise you are the Father all praise to Christ and Son all praise to Holy Spirit Our God is overcome. The king who was in earth never more will be in Jesus mighty name. I believe name in Jesus mighty name. All right, let's give the Lord. [00:07:52] Speaker D: Amen. Amen. Amen. Anybody in the room believe. Amen. What a great way to start. Thank you, Megan, go ahead and have a seat. God bless you for being here. We're glad that you have made Salem First Church of Nazarene your Sunday stop to spiritually encourage you. So we're glad to have you. My name is Tim English, I'm the lead pastor here. Thank you for being here this morning in person, but maybe some that are joining us online as a church, we hope this is a place where you can grow, get to know God because we want you to connect with God so you can know him deeply. We want you to connect with each other oftentimes in groups so that we can study God's word together and learn to live in the freedom that Jesus provides to us. And then we want to help as a people connect with the world because there's people that still need to know that Jesus is real and he wants to use us to make a difference. Amen. So thank you for being here this morning and letting us be part of your spiritual journey. If you're new or newer ish, we'd love to know that you're with us. In the seat back in front of you is a connection card. You can reach out, take that, fill it out during the service. Maybe you would be so kind as to drop it off and pick up a free gift we have for you. It's an unshakable book. How to face the world and remain unshakable when difficulty comes. That'll be our gift to you for being here today. But if you rather use your phone, you can text SFN new to 94,000 and that same connection card will come to your phone and you can do it as well. A couple things I want to mention to you about what's happening in the life of our church and how you can plug in Everybody say with me. Two. Say it again. Two. We have two days. Two days and 200 plus people are going to be converging on our church parking lot to celebrate our annual National Night out mess Tival. It's a messy festival where we've invited the 900 plus homes in just a 10 block radius of our church to a family friendly barbecue as part of National Night Out. It's going to be right outside the gym parking lot and we would invite you to help us host this. There are a couple needed roles that we have need to be filled. One more is a cotton candy attendant. We need at least one more cotton candy assistant to help with our cotton candy. Who doesn't love cotton candy? It's great. Kids are going to love it. Families are going to love it. We need one more person to help us with that. We could use about eight or nine. That's eight or nine more messy festival game attendance. So we need a few people who will help us man those games where kids will be making a mess and having a good time. And so we need your help with that. And then on that next this coming Tuesday morning at 10 o' clock, we need to set up a 10 foot by 40 foot circus tent. Okay, well maybe not that big, but it's pretty big and we need some extra hands. If you can be here at 10 o' clock on Tuesday, we'd love to know that we can count on you. Please sign up out in the welcome center and let us know that you can participate in one of those ways. If you cannot serve or you're not inclined to serve, please do come out because it's a wonderful opportunity to meet so many of our neighbors. Many of them don't have a church and we want to at least be a light in their community for them to know when they have a need and God is pulling on them that they can come to us. And so would you come and just meet our neighbors, let you be the face of who God is in their life. And so we'd love to have you here on Tuesday helping us with that. The other thing I'll mention is 21 days of prayer starts today. For 21 days, we're going to have an emphasis on prayer because you need prayer. Your spiritual life craves prayer. An opportunity to hear from God, to speak to God, and then to share our prayer requests. And so during these three weeks, twice a year, we set aside time to make it an emphasis in the life of our church family. And so we're gonna. We're gonna do our summit Sunday morning services. We're gonna have some prayer forces, but during the week, we're gonna gather back here at 6:30. Man, I would encourage you come out one hour each week, two hours each week, and join us for a little bit of devotional and worship and then praying together. And one of those things we'll do is pray for churches in our community. Normally we pray for churches within two miles of our church. This year, we've asked our staff team and our leadership team, our board, what are some of the churches that you drive by each week? And so during our 21 days of prayer during the week, we're going to pray for 18 of those churches that our leadership team drives by in the course of a week, but on Sunday mornings. And so he's asking for prayer for that new children's pastor that God would move within our children's department and their families. Amen. I pray that for Pastor Aaron here in our church as well. Different Pastor Aaron. Aaron with an E versus Pastor Aaron with an A. Sorry, second prayer request or second prayer point is continuing to move forward in discipling our new Christians, that they would realize what God is doing in their lives and continue to strive to be like him. Man, that's a pastor's prayer that I would love for our own church, for those who are coming and visiting and growing. That God would continue to use us, but for God to continue to do his work through Pastor Aaron and their church in South Salem. So let me pray for us and for them. Father God, I say thank you. Thank you for the privilege it is to be part of the kingdom's work. Sometimes we don't always get to see the benefits of that. But God, you're always at work, you're always calling people. You're whispering, you're calling out. And so I thank you, God, first, for the calling you put on the children's pastor that'll be joining South Salem Nazarene Church and Pastor Aaron and their team there. God, that you continue to give them a heart and love for young families and their kids and how to encourage and speak to them, how to structure and organize and program to care for them. So God, I pray your blessing on that new children's pastor God for them that they are finding new people are being saved and coming into the church. And I pray, God, you continue to give them a heart, to raise them up to be the kind of people who love you deeply, who want to belong, who truly will believe God and that want to go into the world and make a difference. So I pray that you would help South Salem Naz raise up young, growing followers of Jesus to be truly devoted to you. And I pray all this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Hey, thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for worshiping. Thank you for giving because it allows us to do the things that we do, like what's coming on Tuesday evening for National Night Out. If you would go ahead and stand and greet somebody right around you. Let them know that you're glad they're here, and we'll get right back into worship. [00:17:16] Speaker B: All right, let's continue in our time of worship. Sing. I won't forget [00:17:31] Speaker A: the wonder of how you brought deliverance. The exodus this in my heart. [00:17:41] Speaker C: You found me. [00:17:43] Speaker A: You freed me. Held back the waters for my oh Yahweh. [00:17:51] Speaker C: Sing it out. [00:17:51] Speaker A: You're the God who fights. You're the God who fights for me. Lord of every victory. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You have torn apart the sea. You have. The power by day is a sign that you are with me. The fire by night is the God. He come to my feet. You found me. You found me. You free me. Held back the waters for my release. O yah. You're the God, you're the God who finds glory. Lord of every victory. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You have torn apart the sea. I'm led me through the deep. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We the God, you're the God who fights for me. Lord of every victory. Hallelujah. Always sing his praise. Hallelujah. You have torn apart the sea. You have led me through the deep. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Who else feels the joy that God goes before you. He fights for you. You slipped into my you took mighty hand. You march me out in freedom into the promised land. And I will not forget you. I'll see you done this. Swallowed out forever the fury of your love. As you stepped into my Egypt. You took me by the hand. You marched me out of freedom into the promise. Now I against God, I'm seeing all you done let this one alive forever of you, Lord. You're the God who fights for me, Lord. Of every victory. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. You have upon the sea. You have led me through the deep. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. You're the God. You're the God who fights for me, Lord. Of every victory. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You have torn apart the sea. You have led me through the deep. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Put our hands together. We're victorious. Because God fights for us. You stepped and you stepped into my head. And you took me by the head. And you marched me out in freedom into the promised land. And now I will not forget you. I'll sing of all you've done. This wall around forever. I love you who you stepped into. You stepped into my Egypt and put me by the head. You must be out in freedom into the promised land now. I will not forget you, God. I'll sing of all you've done. We glorify your name, Jesus. How you sa. He's so good. He's been so faithful. [00:23:53] Speaker B: Thank you, Lord, that you go before us. That you fight for us. You won the battle, [00:24:07] Speaker D: Lord. [00:24:07] Speaker B: We just praise you. We praise you. We give you our worship. We give you all the praise that is due your name, Lord. Thank you, Lord Jesus. [00:24:26] Speaker C: Thought I'd find you at the lowest place. Who thought you'd feel me in the crowd? Who knew you'd make good of my mistakes? You're nothing like I thought you were. You're better. What a God, what a God, [00:24:53] Speaker A: What [00:24:53] Speaker C: a God, what a God, what a God, what a God, what a God, what a God. I thought you chose for perfection. Cause what kind of God looks for the loss? They say it's over for a sinner. But you say, no, it's not. No, it's not. [00:25:37] Speaker A: You say, no, it's not. No, it's not. What a God, what a God, [00:25:48] Speaker C: What [00:25:48] Speaker A: a God, what a God, a God, what a God, what a God, what a God, what a God. [00:26:15] Speaker C: Lord, If the highest place I reach is at your feet, then I've done it all. [00:26:26] Speaker A: If the best thing that I've seen [00:26:28] Speaker C: is your glory, then I've seen it all. [00:26:33] Speaker A: No love has saved my life forever. Satisfied? You are my air. [00:26:42] Speaker C: The highest place is the highest place. [00:26:45] Speaker A: I reaches at your feet. Then I've done it all. If the best thing that I've seen [00:26:52] Speaker C: is your glory, then I'll see it all. [00:26:57] Speaker A: Your love will see my life forever satisfied. You are my even one word. Even one word is the only thing is faith. Then I'll burn it all. If I'll feel your heart and never see your name. I still have it all. No treasure of this life could ever satisfy. You are my everything. You are my everything. God, you are my everything. You are God, you are my. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God, What a God, what a God. Every voice in this place receive the highest place. If the highest place I reach is at your feet, then I've done it all. It's a blessing that that I've seen is your glory. Then I've seen it all. No touch my life forever. Satisfied? You are my word. If one word is the only thing you speak, then I've heard it all. If I feel your heart and never see your head, I still have it all. No treasure of this I could ever satisfy. You are my everything. You are God. You are my everything. You are God, you are my everything. [00:29:10] Speaker C: Highest place I reaches at your. Then I've done it all. If the best thing that I've seen is your glory, then I've seen it all. Your love has saved my life forever. Satisfied? You are my everything. And if one word is the only thing you speak, then I've heard it all. I feel your heart. Heart never see your hand. I still have it all. No treasure of this life could ever satisfy. You are my everything. [00:30:00] Speaker A: You are my everything. You are by. [00:30:43] Speaker C: How great the chasm that lay between us. How high the mountain I could not climb. In desperation I turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night. Then through the darkness your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul. The work is finished, the end is written. Jesus Christ, my living room. Who could imagine so great a mercy? What heart could fathom such boundless grace? The God of ages step down from glory to wear my sin and bear my shame. The cross has spoken, I've been forgiven. The King of kings calls me his own beautiful savior. I'm yours forever. Jesus Christ, my living. [00:32:32] Speaker A: Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living. [00:33:03] Speaker C: Then came the morning that sealed the promise. Your buried body began to breathe. Out of the silence the roaring lion declared. The grave has no claim on me. [00:33:34] Speaker A: Came the morning that sealed the promise. Your buried body began to breathe. Out of the silence the roaring lion declared. The grave has no claim on me. Jesus, yours is the victory. Pray. Hallelujah. There's the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living. Jesus Christ, my living. Oh, God, you are my living. Amen. Amen. [00:35:22] Speaker B: Jesus, thank you so much for this time of worship. Thank you for your presence that is so near, that is with us. You are always with us. You are for us, God. You go before us and in this moment, Jesus, I pray that your spirit would continue to do the work that you started. Whatever it is that you're speaking, that's speaking to people's hearts, Lord, I pray that you can continue to just speak that call us to you. Jesus, you are so loving. You are full of love, full of hope. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Jesus, we worship you in this place. Continue to move in this service. Would our hearts be open to receive whatever it is you want to say to us? Turn to you. We love you. It's in your name we pray. Amen. [00:36:10] Speaker E: Amen. Go ahead and take a seat. Wow. Good morning, church. Isn't it so great to be here this morning and just singing those praises together to our King Jesus? Amen, man. So there's something about that moment of worship when our hearts are just realigned right with. I mean, the thing about those. Those songs that we choose is we don't just, like, have a hat with a bunch of names in it and then, like, pick them out, you know, and kind of go with whatever one pops up or like the. The Caleb. Caleb top 10 mix, you know. But, I mean, when Megan chooses the set, she really prays about it. That God would anoint it and speak through it and that it would be in line with what he's going to share for us today. So. So when we sing those songs, it realigns our hearts to God's will for our lives. [00:37:05] Speaker B: And. [00:37:06] Speaker E: And then we get to turn to scripture after that and through the sermon. It's just amazing what God does every Sunday morning and what he can do every moment that we connect with with him throughout our daily lives. Right. You know, scripture is a wonderful, beautiful gift that it's. It's a miracle that we have it today in the form that we do. And, you know, when I was in my late teens, I came to a point in my life where I really had to fire Harden my faith. And I had to put it, put it all up at risk and ask myself, is this faith that I'm living, is this Bible that I'm reading really the right path? Out of all the thousands upon thousands of different philosophies and religions and the ways that people think. And you know, we've been doing that as the body of Christ, as a church, since we had the first written scripture, Scriptures where we've been putting it to the test. Generation after generation, really smart people rise up. We call them scholars, those, those weirdos who are addicted to academics. And they, they generation after generation, through earnest seeking, studying, prayer, looking at the earliest manuscripts have said, is this what we have here, worthy of being called the inspired word of God? And it's been amazing. Some of the things we've been able to do by looking at the earliest manuscripts and studying language and new discoveries every year that just confirm that we have a perfectly good, to not have a better way to put it, version of the Bible that is sufficient for, to use a big word, salvific, understanding, meaning we can read this thing and understand what it means to be Jesus follower and how to follow him and how to receive salvation through him. You know, the thing that we also say as a church all the time is that it's important to be in the Word on your own. You know, like we have these big moments together as a church and it's powerful and the Holy Spirit's here, but the act of studying Scripture is an act of worship in itself. And when you're at home on your own or whatever you're doing and you're reading the Bible, then you, you are doing what I believe we're going to be doing for all of eternity. I don't think we'll ever have all of God. God. And so for, for all of eternity, we get to study and learn more and more about God because He's infinite, right? He's never ending. We'll never have all of Him. And so in this life, this is a wonderful, beautiful gift that we get to have as individuals. And you know, there, there are some confusing things though, like as a, as a new believer, a new Bible reader, sometimes we get confused, especially when we're reading the first part, right? Because it makes sense. When you start reading a book, what do you do? You open it up to the first few pages and you start reading, don't you? And you start reading in like Genesis chapter one and you're like, okay, okay, I, I can, I can read this. This is cool. Okay, God created the earth. All right? And then. And then you start learning about the people of God. And then before you know it, you're reading these long lists of names, names that you can't even pronounce, and you have no idea who these people are. And then you keep going through Exodus and through, and you're in Leviticus and you're like, what are all these laws? What are these rules? Am I. Wait a minute. It says I can't wear clothing that's made out of fabric of mixed materials. Do I need to throw out my polyester cotton blend? It was. Am I doing something wrong here? I've been eating bacon for breakfast my entire life. No one told me me that that's a sin. And so you start reading through it and, and it can get a little confusing, right? Especially when. When we don't really understand the intention of why the Bible's laid out that way. You know, when Jesus talked about the Bible, he called it the Law and the prophets. Now, you have to remember, when Jesus walked this earth, the New Testament didn't exist yet, right? It was being being written when Jesus walked on this earth. But so whenever Jesus talks about scripture, what's he talking about? The Old Testament. And Jesus called it the Law and the prophets. If you ever see Jesus say the Law and the prophets, he's talking about Scripture. And the reason why is because the first five books of the Old Testament, we call the. The Pentateuch. Big word. I like throwing big words out there, right? That's, that's the Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and numbers and Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is Moses's greatest hits. But then you go through the rest of the Old Testament is the prophets. And now the Law is the part that I think it's the most confusing. You know, like we can read everything after that. And it's like, okay, they were prophets. They were writing like psalms and proverbs. I'll take that. Oh, heck, yeah. That's some good stuff. But then, you know, you're read in the first five books of the Old Testament, and that's where that stuff is super confusing. Now, as much as many, many great God thinkers, theologians, scholars and people have risen up throughout the generations, there's no better interpreter of scripture than Scripture itself, right? And Jesus interpreted scripture when he said, I came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. And Paul in his writings, especially in Romans, talks a lot about the law. And what are we supposed to do with this law and what does it mean? And you know, my biggest tip I can give and honestly, the biggest lesson that we can learn from, from those writings in the New Testament is that the law isn't meant to be a list of rules to follow in order to earn some salvation, but the law is a mirror. The law shows us the parts of ourselves that are not in alignment with God's plan for us. The law is a mirror where when we look into it, we can see our sin. We've been going through Moses as a, as a church for the summer now. Moses is in the book of the Bible, the story of Moses. And we've gotten a lot of feedback from people who are just been so encouraged to be able to just simply go through a story of the Bible and see all the things. But hasn't it been amazing to just see Jesus through the story of Moses over and over again and to be able to realize how much of, of the, the story of Scripture isn't just sections of old and new, but that truly like it's all one work working together. And when we're reading the, the story of Moses in here, it has a lot to do with the law. So because Moses is the mouthpiece by which God brought the law, as we've been learning, one of the questions that we begin to ask ourselves when we're looking around the world around us and the story of God's people in Scripture. One of the questions that I ask myself sometimes is why are we so, so fickle? Why, why do we falter so quickly? Jeremiah 17, 9 into a scripture that I wanted to share. It says, the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it now? The story of God's people through Exodus is a great reflection of that sentiment. And we are so blessed that we live in a time now where we've seen the culmination of strength scripture, we've seen how it ends. We look at the Old Testament through the lens of the cross and we understand that the human heart is beyond cure, but that Jesus made a way and that the only cure for this messed up world is Jesus. Amen. You know, the law isn't a list of rules to follow in order to, to become saved. There is no magical list of rules to follow. There is nothing you can do to earn your salvation. The only thing that we can do is yield to the way. Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And we know that Jesus lived the perfect righteous life that we were supposed to live. And then he died on the cross in our place. Place. And that's why we know that. That it's not our own righteousness that makes us right with God, but it's Jesus's righteousness afforded for us on the cross. Amen. And so the. [00:46:37] Speaker C: The. [00:46:38] Speaker E: What was that. That scripture in Jeremiah that the heart is deceitful and beyond cure, but there is a cure. And it's only by the power of God. God that the heart can be cured. So when you. When you understand that, when you come to a redeemed relationship with Jesus and you have that redeemed relationship with your Creator, isn't it amazing the way that God uses us? He uses us in ways that we can never predict. When you're following Jesus, it's never boring, truly. He opens doors of opportunity that you could never imagine were possible, and you end up getting to participate in amazing kingdom work. And I wanted to share a really cool thing that we had two weekends this month, and there's these giant archery events in the Pacific Northwest called the Northwest Mountain Challenge. And what they do is they take over these ski resorts. Resorts. You know, there's no snow. It's the summertime, so no one really cares. And of course, there's a deal there anyway. They. You ride the ski lift up the mountain, and there's a bunch of 3D targets is what we call them. So basically, like, imagine a foam elk and a foam deer, and like, some of them are crazy. They have dinosaurs, they have skunks, they have a cobra. But so you're not, you know, but you. You ride the ski lift up and you shoot your way down the mountain on the. These courses. And it's just a really good opportunity for a guy like me who loves to hunt, you know, to sharpen my skills and practice before season. And because of that, it attracts a lot of people. At Hoodoo, we just had the one at hoodoo, they had 1500 shooters. Anyone know Crystal Mountain in Washington? They had another 1500 shooters up there. And so one of the things that. That I do kind of on the side is a ministry podcast where I get to talk about hunting and fishing, the things that I like, absolutely love. And then I share the gospel through it. And it's a. It's a ministry effort. But I really just love that God lets me do some outdoor ministry stuff. And because we have that podcast, last year, the Northwest Mountain Challenge invited me and my crew out to have a booth, which is kind of funny because I'm not trying to sell anything. So I basically have like a fold up table with some gospel tracks and like a pop up tent and I'm like right next to these people who are making a living selling hunting gear and they've got these crazy elaborate things. It's pretty. Has anyone ever been to like a sportsman show or a swap meet and you've seen what I'm talking about. And so anyway, I was there last year and thinking like, man, this would be an awesome opportunity, opportunity to do a church service. Not because I'm legalistic and I feel like, oh, Christians need to, can't miss a Sunday, right? We try not to miss Sundays, but because there's this huge opportunity there where 1500 people are gathered who know that God exists because of their time on the water or their time in the mountains. Like anyone I've talked to who lives the life in the outcome doors. They believe in a creator. They believe that God exists. That's not the hurdle to get over. They just need to connect the dots between who Jesus is and that the only true way Jesus said I'm the way, the truth and the life, the only true way to connect with that Creator is through a relationship with Jesus Christ. And so that's the intention that I was thinking with Mountain Church is this opportunity that we ended up putting, putting together. And so I told my buddy Garrett who was at the Northwest Mountain Challenge and I said, hey, we should do Mountain Church. And he was all excited about that. He's a sold out Jesus follower. And we started asking the leadership, attacking them from both sides and they were like, yes, go ahead and do it. They're the leadership of the Northwest Mountain Challenge all happens to be Jesus followers as well. So they were, they were fine with that. They're like, go ahead, have this time, have this location. You just have to be done by 8am because we can't have people missing their shoot. And so very early 7am church service, 45 degrees sitting there all bundled up. But it was, it was really good and it all came together. The gospel was shared between the two different locations. We had 150 people that attended the mountain church and we got to pray with so many people and it was awesome. But I wanted to share, share one really cool story that just happened at Crystal Mountain where Garrett, the guy who I was talking about, he owns a mobile bow shop and it's like a utility trailer that he kitted out as a bow shop with like a press and all this stuff that you need for working on bows. And he was working on this man's bow and he kept feeling the Holy Spirit tell him like, you got to pray for this guy. You got to pray for this guy. And, and Garrett is one of those people who says yes to God every time. So he's like, absolutely. But then he, the guy told Garrett that he had come off the mountain early because he had a years long knee injury. And it finally got so bad that he actually had to call the emergency number for the Northwest Mountain Challenge and get a courtesy ride down because he couldn't even hike down the mountain. And so Garrett's working on his bow, he's trying to get it done as fast as he can because this guy just wants to go, go home. And he finally gets it done, puts it in his hand, and the guy starts walking away. And Garrett's like, I'm forgetting something. There was. Did I not put this part back on his bow? He goes, oh, I need to pray for the guy. So then that's why that video played a second ago where Garrett just runs up and grabs the guy's hand and starts praying and he's walking away, just trying to get home. And Garrett's praying with him and then gives a hug, says thank you, and that's that. Well, we got a message, message a couple days after that where the guy said that. He said, I was raised right and I grew up knowing the Lord, so meaning at least a cultural Christian at most, a Bible believing Jesus follower. But he said that no one had ever prayed for him that way before and that he had never seen God move that way. And that as he was walking, he felt his knee get better. And then we get this message two days later that the knee is completely healed and he doesn't even and have remember what the pain was like. And so we're talking about an injury that was years bad enough that he had to be trucked down the mountain. And he's now telling us, thank you for praying for me because my knee is all better. Yeah, praise God. Right? And now that man, he's got to be a champion for, for Christ now, right? God doesn't just do things like that on a whim because it's for fun, to be a spectacle, to put on a show. Show. He doesn't perform for us, but he does ministry and he changes hearts. And so, you know, to whatever led to that moment in that man's life where that's the, the time when God chose to heal him. Like, I just know that God's gonna use him as a mouthpiece to share that testimony and the amazing things that God can do. And I you. I know the Prince. Too small to read. Oh, you can kind of read it. But anyway, it's really small for me back there. I should have turned around last service. I could have read it from there. But anyway, it's just a story of when we are following Jesus and we just say yes to him and we let him use us. You know, it's not any kind of like, thing that Garrett did that was extra special or. Or me doing the mountain church. Like all that we did was say yes to God. The true things that are happening in people's hearts when you get to share the gospel with someone, when you get to pray with someone. It all started long before that, because we know that the Holy Spirit is who goes before and opens up someone's heart to receive the gospel, to receive Jesus, to allow that transformation to occur is. It's God going before it and working. And we can have faith in that. When we're doing ministry, even in two nights, when we're interacting with people at the. The mestival, as it's been now coined, right at the Mestival, we don't know what God's doing in people's hearts right now that we're going to get to talk with them that night, and something amazing can happen. Another opportunity coming up is Night Strike. And I wanted to share that. You know, we went to Night Strike the last few years as a church, used to just be the young adults, but now it's open to anybody, and we've got some room if you want to join us. What we do is we go up to Portland to ground zero in Oregon of the homelessness drug epidemic, where people are living on the streets and their body parts are literally falling off. And we just go up there to try to bring dignity to people. So we clothe them, we wash their feet, we feed them, we give them gifts of blankets, books, we fix their bikes, whatever we need to do to meet their needs in the moment, in the hopes that God is going before and opening their hearts so that we can feel called when the opportunity presents itself to pray for them or to talk to them about the gospel. So it's not like there's some sort of upfront church service and the gospel is shared, but it's. But it's just purely giving dignity to people and then trusting the Holy Spirit will guide us as individuals to talk and pray with them. And it's. It's been a really shock. It's a big shock to the system to go up there and Be a part of that. Because truly where we are serving under the Burnside Bridge in that part of town, it's like a third world country. It is, it is a mission trip. It is totally different up there than where we live, live now. And another thing that's cool is we're taking the bus this time. So shout out to Jose, who's our in house bus driver now. He's, he's behind the computer right now. But if you, if you want to come, be a part of that and serve and continue the work that God has already started in those people's hearts and have the opportunity to pray with people and to, to share the gospel with them and just to serve people, then we'd love for you to be a part of that. You can sign up at the welcome center and that's going to be August 20th when we're doing it. But you know, revival is what we're working for and it's what we're fighting towards and it's what we're, it's what happens when the Holy Spirit is poured out, when God transforms a community and a culture and a church and it starts inside of each one of us. You know, we're always praying for the big revival, we're always praying for the big transformation and we're expecting that and believe in it. But it begins in your, in your heart as an individual, as you're pursuing Christ, as you're getting his transformation. And you know, the story of God's people in Exodus is a revival in a way, but a very messy one at that. So this, this part of my message, I wanted to title the Stupid Israelites, but that's probably not church churchy enough. So I called it the Fickle People of God. So now you know what I mean? We're talking about the Golden Calf. Now is anyone here familiar with the story of the Golden Calf? If you're not, you're going to learn it today. But it's a pretty shocking one. We got to remember where we're at though. So we've been going through the story of Moses and the story of the existence Exodus, right? And last week Pastor Josh talked about the Ten Commandments and getting those through Moses. We so just taking a step back to realize where we are in the timeline. It says in, in chapter 19, verse 1, on the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt, they came to the desert of Sinai. So you know, it says the first day of the third month. That means we're only two months after leaving Egypt, two months after God attacked the Egyptian gods through the plagues. We learned that through Pastor Diane a few weeks ago when she taught about the plagues and how each one of the plagues attacked one of the Egyptian idols and showed that God was supreme. Splitting the sea, freeing his people from slavery, plundering the Egyptians, killing the pharaoh and his army. Army. These amazing crazy things. Leading his people by a pillar of fire and a pillar of smoke. Right? We've been. We've been learning about this. We've been reading about it. Like, how could you witness these things and not believe for life and not realize for life that we serve the true and all powerful God, Right. I'm. Sometimes I'm a little jealous that I didn't live at that time to see these things. [00:59:45] Speaker B: Things. [00:59:45] Speaker E: But ultimately I'm so happy that I live now after the cross, right. And I didn't have to go through those things with them. So it's just an encouraging thing to read now, the history of God's people. But we're talking about a time right now only two weeks after two months, sorry, After Egypt experienced. After Israel experienced freedom from Egypt. So we went through the ten Commandments last week. Now, what was up there at the top of the. The list? No other gods. Verse 22 to 3. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not. The verses 4 through 6. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above, on earth, beneath the waters, all that stuff. You shall not bow down to them or worship them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealousy God. Now, I think part of the reason God focused so much on these is for one, it's just a. A straight truth. We can't have any other gods before him. So it's definitely applicable to us today. But for them, they had come out of a culture where for hundreds of years their people lived in slavery to the Egyptians, who were a polytheistic pagan culture. Right? And so. So that's that. I think God knew that they were going to struggle with this. I think God knew that this was going to be a challenge and a trial for them. So right after this is a moment in chapter 20 where the people were. They had so much reverence for God after these commands that they. They didn't even want to be in his presence for fear of death. They said, speak to us yourself and we will listen. Speaking to Moses, speaking like Moses. You tell us what God says. And we'll listen. We want to listen. But if God speaks to us, we're going to die. Because they understood his holiness, right? There was a reverence there and a fear of God where they realized, like, this is the God. He destroyed Egypt and all of the Egyptian gods. And they showed this willingness to learn by saying, speak to us, Moses. Tell us what God says. We want to hear from God, but through you, not directly from God. Keep in mind he had freed them only two months before this moment. So it says that Moses approached what it calls the thick darkness where the presence of God was. And then God spoke to Moses again and gave him about three chapters of. Of law, three chapters of guidelines for the Israelites. And the people respond after that. Well, in verse 23 says, do not make any gods alongside me. Do not make for yourself gods of silver or gods of gold, man. He's really nailing down that point. Right then in 24 3, this is after the other three chapters of law. It says the people respond and say, everything the Lord says we will do. Have you ever made a promise you can't keep? I know I have, even to God. But then verse 7 says, Then he took the book of the covenant and read it to the people. And they responded, we will do everything the Lord has said. We will obey. Like, that's their. Their hearts to this point seem to be at the right place. They have this reverence for God. He is holy. They want to learn from him, they want to follow him. And they're saying, we will obey. We will obey God. So after he reads these chapters of the book of the covenant, then they ratify this covenant in blood. So Moses builds an altar, and the people are sprinkled with blood, truly making like a blood oath, a blood covenant covenant. Like, if we trespass on this covenant, we deserve death. That's what they mean by that. That's why they're doing it. Like, this is a. A covenantal contractual deal where if one person does not hold up their end of the covenant, they deserve death. So after that happens there, they say, we'll obey. We'll do it. They ratify the covenant in blood. They're. They're all in two months after being freed from. From Egypt. Then Joshua and Moses go back up the mountain because God says he's going to give Moses tablets of stone that contain the law written by the finger of God, is what it says. And so we notice there that Moses went up and he took Joshua, his second in command, and they leave behind Aaron. Then through that time, he gets many instructions from the Israelites. Verse 18 says that he was up there for 40 days and 40 nights. Then he gave the covenant law to Moses there in verse 18. So we see this history with God, right? This deep history with God, the redemption, the revelation, the transformation, the power displayed. They were rescued. He gave them a purpose, and they gave their commitment through the blood covenant to honor God's ways. But then chapter 32, the people shot fall short. When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses, we don't know what happened to him. Kind of a strange thing, right? You got to remember this is 40 days after they made that blood commitment and said, we will obey. If we don't obey, we deserve death, right? It only 40 days later, they're saying, well, I don't know what happened to Moses. He said he was going up the mountain to be in the presence with God. But I guess we better. What's the response here? Make our own gods. So Aaron says, take off the gold that your wives and your sons and your daughters are wearing. Now remember, when they left Egypt, the Egyptians freely gave all their gold to the Israelites. They were. They were essentially pillaged because they wanted to send the Israelites off so they wouldn't come back. And so they had all these riches and spoils that God had blessed them with all this gold. And that's what Aaron, Aaron melted down to turn into the golden calf. Now there's another lesson in that, about taking the blessings God has given us and turning it into an idol. But we don't need to go down that path. So they melt, they create the. The golden calf, and say, these are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt. And then I ask again, why is the human heart so fickle, so quick to abandon their God? Like, I see this, and I'm just disgusted. What kind of evil people are these? I feel like a righteous anger, like I deserve to be disgusted by these people. What fools, right? In verses five and eight, in chapter 32, they arose the next day and they wanted to make burnt offerings. And then it says that they partook in what is called rest revelry. And now I'll admit, embarrassingly, I had to look up the definition of that. But it's essentially obnoxious partying and drinking. So they take the blessings God has given them. They create an idol, a God. And they say, this is the God that freed us from Egypt. I don't know what happened to that Moses guy and his God. They're gone, but let's party and get drunk. Interesting line of thinking there, right? I mean, like, when I read it, I'm. I'm nothing but appalled by these people. These fools, these children. What are they doing? Later we learn. I mean, you can't hide sin from God. Later we learned that God intended to destroy these people. He. He was said he's going to let his anger burn against them. And the only reason why they didn't was because Moses begged and pleaded for God, please don't kill these people. So God withholds his judgment. And when Moses comes back down the mountain, he smashes the tablets. What does that symbolize? The covenant was broken. The blood covenant that they had made. For breaking it, you deserve death. It was broken and destroyed, and then they destroy the idol. The only ones who were faithful to God were the Levites, the priests, and ultimately 3,000 men were put to death for this. Moses went back to God after that and pleaded, please, even if you have to blot my name out of the book of life, do not pass your judgment on these people. So Moses is literally putting himself up as a sacrifice between them and God's wrath. Then God forgave them. He let them go, but not without a consequence. And a plague went through the camp. You know, as I read that, as I was reading this account, I passed judgment, and I was feeling so high and mighty. I was feeling so proud of myself. I would never do what they did. I would never, never create an idol and worship it and say, that's the God that redeemed me. That's the God that. That. That freed me. But then the realization hit me that I have sin just the same. My sin might look different and take a different form, and it's often more hidden, but it creates just as much of a trespass to go God as creating an idol. I began to think, like, maybe if I was raised in a. A culture that had a multitude of gods, maybe I would struggle more with idol worship. I struggle with the things that I struggle with because of the culture that I live in and the sin that's ingrained in my heart. And I realize it's true what scripture says. The law is a mirror. And when I read this story of the Israelites and I become so frustrated and I think they're so foolish, I'm looking in a mirror at myself in my own life, in the sin that I have allowed to creep in and be a part of My life. You know, we have all fallen short of the glory of God, and we've all committed acts of evil that deserve us the same punishment as the Israelites who built the gold calf. Their covenant was. Was ratified in the blood of a sacrifice. Our covenant is ratified in the blood of the ultimate sacrifice, and that is Jesus Christ. Amen. So how dare we trespass on that covenant? And yet we do. It took the Israelites 40 days. How many of us have made a commitment to God and then faltered in one day? Man, I'm worse than the Israelites. I need Jesus just as much, maybe even more than they did. They have an excuse of being raised up in a polytheistic country for hundreds of years. I'm just a guy who makes stupid decisions. Oftentimes we read the law and we become confused because it seems like a list of rules, and the band can go ahead and come up here and get ready. It seems like a list of rules to follow. But what really. When we read the New Testament, we realize, because Jesus revealed the full intent. He said, I'm not here to abolish a lot, but to fulfill it. And in Matthew chapter five, he says, you have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. What Jesus is telling us there is so profound, profound that it's not the letter of the law. It's not your actions that will save you. You could follow the law to a T and you still wouldn't be saved. Because it is. It is the inward reality, the evil that's in your heart that God is after. That's what Jesus wants to crush. And now God is after our actions. He wants to change our actions. But that happens after what's inside has been healed. Now, the sin inside of you, it's just as evil as the sin that you commit. And the way to be freed from that, the way to be healed from that, is only through the power of Jesus. I said earlier how it's not our own righteousness. It's Christ's righteousness afforded for us on the cross. Amen. Praise God. Thank you for that. But how do I tap into that forgiveness? How do I tap into that righteousness? All you need to do is repent and make Jesus the Lord of your life. And that's what I did when I read this. And I was feeling so proud and so high and mighty that I would never do what the Israelites did. And then I realized, oh, wait, A minute. I'm sick too. I repented in that moment. And I said, lord, forgive me in my pride, I want to turn away from my sin and turn to you. And that is the way to eternal life. Because sin is the thing that stops you from that perfect connection with your creator. And Jesus is the way. Jesus created a way. So as we finish up with this last song, I want to give the opportunity to respond to that. We're going to have prayer, a prayer team up here who'd love to pray with you. Or maybe it's something that you just need to do between you and God in your seats, or as we're singing out this song, just repent from the sin that's inside of you, because that is more important than the sin that we enact that we commit. And when the Holy Spirit fills us, when you become a Jesus follower and you have the Holy Spirit, he'll guide you. That's why we say over and over and over again, you don't need to clean up your act before you come to church, before you become a part of the body of Christ. Come as you are, let Jesus do the transformation, and then you will be changed. And so I'm going to pray and we're going to finish up with one more song. Lord, thank you for your glory. Thank you for your transformative power. And I speak it right now over our. Our church and over our people and over myself and over each one of us, Lord, I pray that we would see a testimony of your transformative power as we repent from the sin that has affected our very identity. And I reject that identity, Lord. And I take on my identity in Christ. That is forgiven by your power, by what you have done for us, Lord. And so I pray, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, you've been going before. You know who in this room needs to respond to that. You've been going before and leading them to this moment where they have an opportunity to have that redeemed relationship with you or to come into a fuller understanding of who you are. God. And so I just pray for you to lead us and soften our hearts, to follow your leading of the Holy Spirit, God, those of us who need to, to repent, let it be now. And let us go out of this place, starting our weeks, Lord, just pursuing you in a more perfect way. And it's in your name that I pray, Jesus. Amen. [01:16:15] Speaker C: Give us clean hands, give us pure heart. [01:16:22] Speaker A: Let us not lift our souls to another. [01:16:30] Speaker C: Give us cleanness, give us pure hearts. [01:16:38] Speaker A: Let us not lift our souls to another O God, let us be a generation that sees your face face oh God, a shaker oh God, let us [01:17:01] Speaker C: be a generation that seeks your face [01:17:10] Speaker A: oh God of Jesus. [01:17:36] Speaker C: We bow our hearts we bend our knees oh spirit come in make us humble. We turn our eyes oh from evil things oh Lord, we cast down our [01:18:01] Speaker A: idols this is our prayer to give us clean hands and give us pure heart Let us not lift our souls to another [01:18:18] Speaker C: Give us clean hands Give [01:18:22] Speaker A: us pure hearts Let us not lift our souls to another oh God, let us be a generation that sees that seeks your faith O God of Jacob O God, let us be a generation that sees and seeks your face O God of Jacob. [01:19:02] Speaker C: So give us clean Just sing it out. Give us pure Give us pure heart [01:19:11] Speaker A: Let us not lift our souls to [01:19:15] Speaker C: another God, give us clean hands Give [01:19:21] Speaker A: us pure heart Let us not lift [01:19:28] Speaker C: our souls to another Let us not [01:19:35] Speaker A: lift our souls to another [01:19:40] Speaker C: Let us [01:19:41] Speaker A: know Lift our souls to another. [01:19:47] Speaker C: Give us clean hands Give us pure [01:19:53] Speaker A: hearts Let us not lift our souls to another. Give us clean hands Give us pure hearts God, let us not lift our souls to another. [01:20:20] Speaker B: Jesus, thank you so much for this time to reflect, to turn back, to make right. I just pray for every person in this room, Lord. If you are speaking and you're revealing things to us, Lord, that we would not ignore that feeling, we would not ignore that call back to you. But we put our priorities in place. We put you at the center of our hearts, of our lives once again. Again, Jesus, we turn to you. We love you. We know that you are good. You save and you redeem us. And Lord, I just pray that every day we would never lose sight of all that you've done for us, for how you've saved us, for how far we've come because of you. We love you so much and we're thankful for this time to worship you. May we leave this place changed, transformed by the power of your spirit. Spirit, it's in your name that we pray. Amen. You are more than welcome to still come down for prayer if you need it. But we'll continue to play a little bit, but you are dismissed. [01:24:26] Speaker A: Rating it. It's. It.