[SPEAKER_01]: All right, turn with me to Genesis chapter 33, Genesis chapter 33.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to read verses one through two and then we're going to jump down and read verses 12 through 25, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: One through two, and verses 12 through 25, Genesis 33, it says this, it says, the Lord spoke to Moses, go.
[SPEAKER_01]: leave here you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt.
[SPEAKER_01]: To the land I promised Abraham Isaac and Jacob saying I will give it to your offspring.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will send an angel ahead of you and we'll drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Parasites, the all of the heights, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: Heavy heights, jibisites, all of them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Next slide.
[SPEAKER_01]: Moses said to the Lord, look, you have told me, lead this people up, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: You said, I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my site.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, if I have indeed found favor in your site, please teach me your ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I will know you and find favor in your site.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, consider that this nation is your people, next slide.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then he replied, we're jumping down here.
[SPEAKER_01]: My presence will go with you and I will give you rest.
[SPEAKER_01]: If your presence does not go, Moses responded to him, don't make us go up from here.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're taking notes this morning, it's a little bit more of a longer title today, but the title of today's message is, it's part of God's design.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's part of God's design.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's pray.
[SPEAKER_01]: Father, we just thank you, Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: for this time together.
[SPEAKER_01]: We thank you, Lord, for your presence.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's already been here this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: We thank you, Jesus, for moving mildly in this place.
[SPEAKER_01]: We thank you, Lord, just as we sinstering pre-service prayer that there would be freedom in this place.
[SPEAKER_01]: And a joy that's here this morning, and that's exactly what we've experienced so far is just that freedom, that supernatural freedom from you today, God, and we're so thankful for that Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so today, Father, we just want to be partakers of your word.
[SPEAKER_01]: We want to feast upon your word today, God, and Lord, we just ask, or that you teach us something new, God.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that you do a new work in our lives today, Father.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Lord, we thank you for it, God, we praise you, and we give you all of the glory, all of the honor, in Jesus' name, everybody said, come on, I said everybody said, amen, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a typo on there, and I told you wrong, it's Exodus 33, not Genesis 33, but we read the word, and we got it, all right, something you're like,
[SPEAKER_01]: Wait a second, Genesis 33, like that wasn't Genesis 33, Exodus 33, my bad.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, so here we go, there was really something special about Moses.
[SPEAKER_01]: We know that he had really a significant relationship with the Lord, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: He was, he was close with the Father.
[SPEAKER_01]: We learned that through Scripture, really Moses was a general, okay, and the Lord's Army, if you will.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a general.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he was like, we would think of like kind of an administrator of the Lord, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: So the Lord would speak and Moses would communicate that to the people or he would just kind of be an administrator of what the Lord was doing in that time and in that hour.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he really carried a responsibility of releasing the communication of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And one of the ways that he did so is when we see that the Israelites were captured by Egypt and they were in bondage and enslaved for so long and it was Moses if you remember that that was used by God to go set them free, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And you remember the story Moses went to Pharaoh and he said, let my people go, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: There's old children's church song.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you have been around church at any time of your life and instead Pharaoh, Pharaoh, let my people go.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, oh, all right, y'all remember that?
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all remember that?
[SPEAKER_01]: Anybody?
[SPEAKER_01]: Just me.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, a few of y'all.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, that's good, that's good.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he said, you know, he has that famous saying of, let my people go, right, you know, and we know that Pharaoh resisted and God sent extreme judgment.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, upon Egypt with plagues.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, we see all these plagues that, hey, I mean, can you imagine like literally walking outside or everywhere in your home or whatever and it's nothing but frogs everywhere?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, nobody would want that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, whether you like frogs or not, I mean, imagine just millions of frogs everywhere, consuming everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: Imagine being locus, a bug, consuming everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, we see some crazy plays that took place.
[SPEAKER_01]: We see blood falling from heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, literally it's raining blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like crazy stuff is taking place.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so literally there's this extreme judgment that hits Egypt and God visited Pharaoh and released judgment upon him and all of Egypt
[SPEAKER_01]: Pharaoh had what belonged to God, and that was Israel.
[SPEAKER_01]: He had what belonged to God, and the cry of God's people for years and years rose to the heavens, and God hears the cries of his people, and he begins to do something about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's when the Lord selects Moses to be the deliverer.
[SPEAKER_01]: And based on what we read in Exodus 33, and now if we look at Psalms 103, you'll begin to see this supernatural obedient connection that Moses had with the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: Look at Psalms 103, seven.
[SPEAKER_01]: It said, he revealed he God revealed his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel.
[SPEAKER_01]: So God revealed his own ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: to Moses.
[SPEAKER_01]: Moses had such a connection, such a relationship, such a trust with God that God was able to show him the way of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in the Scripture, we see that Israel knew God's deeds or knew God's works, but Moses knew God's ways, and I want us to know the ways of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know about you, but I want to know the ways of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to just know the deeds of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to know what He can just do, but I want to know His ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we never just know about God, the things that He can do, but may we forever know the ways of the Father, Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think Moses' relationship with God can look much like our relationship with God at times.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because while we don't feel Him,
[SPEAKER_01]: all the time and we seem to not know the solution or the answers and we seem to make up reasons like what we don't I'm not smart enough or I don't know enough of the word or whatever it may be what we do have is a connection with God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so if you feel like you're missing anything but you have a connection with God let me tell you that's all that you need.
[SPEAKER_01]: because Moses, while he was the communicator to God's people, literally was a bad communicator.
[SPEAKER_01]: Scripture teaches us that he was such a bad communicator, that he had a bad list, and he could not, he could not talk well enough to communicate to the people, but yet God used his voice to deliver all of Israel out of Egypt.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so if all you have is a connection with God, that's all you need.
[SPEAKER_01]: Fall you have as a connection with the Father that it doesn't matter what man says or what man thinks.
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't matter what you think you can do or think you can't do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because listen, my walk and my connection and my relationship with the Lord is all that I need.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on now.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all that I need.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you see church, Moses was not a good communicator and he had really a lot of things at odds against him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yet despite his communication flaws, despite some of the things that he made mistakes on, God called him, and his relationship with God was like so far beyond what we had ever seen up to that point.
[SPEAKER_01]: And really, there's not many that can come close, even thereafter.
[SPEAKER_01]: How many have you ever felt,
[SPEAKER_01]: In this room, you have felt unqualified for the assignment that you have.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anybody at times or in seasons of my life, I feel unqualified for the assignment that I have?
[SPEAKER_01]: You may have said to yourself, for you may have said to others, I don't know if I have what it takes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is anybody ever said that before?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if I have what it takes.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if I can kind of live up to maybe that standard or whatever it may be.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure if I can lead my family.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure if I can raise these kids.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure if I can really run this business.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure if I can really handle that job promotion.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me just tell you something.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thinking that you can't does not disqualify you.
[SPEAKER_01]: But what does disqualify you is doing it on your own strength and we're not relying on God and His power and His authority and in His own strength.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's one thing to believe that you can't, it's another thing to separate yourself from God's lead in your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to do anything unless God didn't.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to make a single decision unless I know that God's stamp of approval, if you will, is upon that thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of you know, this week, I was completely blindsided at work, me and a group of co-workers and other departments as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: We all got laid off out of nowhere, out of nowhere, and completely blindsided and not even
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was like, man, like, wow, that's like, you give all of this effort and give it your all, you know, to be kind of your legs cut out from underneath you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, man, now what am I going to do?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I'm by vocational meaning, I have to have a job outside of here because we don't receive paychecks or anything like that here.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, we work full time jobs.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, I'm thinking to myself, man, like...
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, not that I didn't do anything.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were making budget cuts, and it's like, man, this is tough because I got the short end of the stick of the budget cut, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: And, but your mind begins to go in a million different directions, and then all of a sudden you're like, man, I gotta do something, and I gotta figure out what's next, and I gotta start, you know, making all these connections and making phone calls and sending emails and trying to figure out where I can go next because, unfortunately, when they let me go, they did not give us all a severance.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so they said, today's your last day, boom, that's it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's like, man, that's tough, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: That'd be tough for anybody.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so,
[SPEAKER_01]: So for me it was like kind of one of those things where I'm like racing against time and trying to figure out What do I need to do?
[SPEAKER_01]: How do I do it?
[SPEAKER_01]: God, what door are you going to open up next?
[SPEAKER_01]: God, what are you leaning me to do?
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, it's just kind of like all of these Melissa and I both like millions of things like you know, you got to try to figure out, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: and all these thoughts come to you and then you're doing all this work to try to figure out something and it's just one thing after another, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like calling everybody that I know, you know, like, hey, you got something for me, you know, even if it's temporary, you know, all this kind of stuff, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And you can easily in those moments in those situations, you can easily step out of depending on God.
[SPEAKER_01]: where you're like, I'm just gonna figure this out on my own.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where God is saying, no, I need you to do it my way.
[SPEAKER_01]: I need you to figure out your next job assignment my way.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will give you the job, I will open the door, I will answer all of the questions that you have, I will meet your needs, don't you worry, if you do it my way.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you do it my way.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you see, it's our inability and our insufficiency that that should cause us to lean into God all the more.
[SPEAKER_01]: And not to disqualify us for what he has for us, but when we are experiencing stuff in life and we don't know what to do and we're in the midst of a decision, we're in the midst of a storm or whatever it may be.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is when you lean into God more.
[SPEAKER_01]: say, God, I don't know what to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I need to lean into you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I need to determine like, what is my next step?
[SPEAKER_01]: But I know that my next step is not gonna come from me.
[SPEAKER_01]: My next step is God to come from you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's a big difference of doing it our way versus doing it God's way, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, I'm preaching this to you, but I want you to know, I'm living this out, like live in action, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I didn't know that this was going to happen and here I am, like preaching this message, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's like, I'm learning at the same time that you're hearing me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like learning to
[SPEAKER_01]: lean into God more and more, not make rash decisions and not just jump the gun and not just go somewhere because the door is open or I've had people say hey you can start tomorrow that doesn't mean I'm going to do it you know I've had people say yeah we'll we'll figure out something or you know we'll look into what we have for you great but that doesn't mean I'm going to jump to it or I'm not going to jump to it right I got to learn in
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm trying to help you this morning and tell you that what you call your weaknesses or your inability is built into not, it's not built into what could hold you back, but it is built into what God is going to use for his glory.
[SPEAKER_01]: So many times we say, oh, I don't have it all together in this area or this thing doesn't make sense or I don't have all my ducks in a row here or there and God says, no, I can use all of that for my glory.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever you call weakness, whatever you call your inability or your insufficiency or whatever it may be, I can use for the kingdom of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wanted Moses to do it, depending and leaning on him and him alone.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you feel today that part of the assignment or all of the assignment on your life is bigger than you are, let me tell you today, it's part of God's design.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's part of God's design.
[SPEAKER_01]: The truth is church there is always something that seems impossible built into our God
[SPEAKER_01]: There's always gonna be parts of it and pieces of it that seem absolutely impossible, but yet it's built into our God assignment.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because without God, part of it, you can't do it on your own.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's gonna take you to the place in the position where all you've got is to lean on him.
[SPEAKER_01]: where you don't have the answer any longer, so you have to go to the one that provides the answer.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you have to learn how to really lean into him, more and more and add a greater and deeper level.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't like what you're experiencing in your life right now, then lean into him.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't like your job right now, lean into him.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're dealing with the family situation, lean into him, it does not matter, but you have got to do it God's way.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got to do it God's way.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the only way.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've all tried on our own and ended up failing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hello, we've all tried on our own, and we failed miserably at it, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: But God never fails.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a God that failed us, not, come on somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if we just do it his way to start out with, then we will find ourselves less likely to be ending up in a position where we're so miserable.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because we say, oh, I can do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can make this work.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can make it happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we find ourselves miserable.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, just broke as a joke and just all of the things, just miserable, living a life of blah, you know, because we didn't first depend on him and go the direction of the father, like, what is it that you want, God?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, what is it that you're speaking, what is it that you're saying in this hour?
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's something that I had a challenge myself with this week.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, boom comes out of nowhere, feels like a slap to the face and you feel all kinds of emotions attached to it, but then it's like, what are you doing, Lord?
[SPEAKER_01]: What are you doing?
[SPEAKER_01]: I saw one of my co-workers actually the next day.
[SPEAKER_01]: We ran into each other.
[SPEAKER_01]: somewhere else and he saw me and he hugged me and he didn't he didn't get like so he he said man he said the next morning I walked into work and I looked over at your at your desk and I just start crying.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, it's okay, man, like, we have a connection.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have a relationship, it's all good.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you can get hit with all kinds of emotions when you go through something where it's like, man, I don't know what to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what to feel.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what to think.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then you get into this reminder, God says, hold on, wait a second.
[SPEAKER_01]: Step out of your emotions, step out of your own understanding, step out of what you think you should do or shouldn't do, be careful whose voice you're listening to, silence the voice of the enemy, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And get into just a sync with me, like where all you hear is my voice, where you're connected to me, where you're connected to my heart, so I can begin to speak to you and show you the way.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's exactly what Moses had to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: He had to step out of all of it, get away from all the people.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Bible says, he had to go all the way up to the top of the mountain at one point.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just to hear the voice of God, because there were so many other voices, and if Moses had to do that, someone who literally God gave him his ways, wow.
[SPEAKER_01]: If Moses had to do that, then wouldn't you expect we would probably be in the same situation
[SPEAKER_01]: where we have got to remove everything and just get with the father.
[SPEAKER_01]: And get in sync with him and say, God, what is it that you're trying to show me?
[SPEAKER_01]: Teach me, reveal to me, I don't understand this right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's confusing, it's chaotic.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't like it, it doesn't make sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if I'm feeling all that God, I don't want to go based off of my feelings or emotions, I want to know your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you're taking notes this morning, there's two facts about doing it God's way that I want to teach you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Two facts about doing it, God's way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number one is this, is that God's way requires waiting.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, hold on a minute, I waited second pastor because I was so good with this message until you just said the word waiting.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everything was good up into this point, and now you're telling me that I have to wait.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the last thing I wanna do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, listen, that's the last thing I wanna do.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the Bible says those that what?
[SPEAKER_01]: Wait upon the Lord, shall what?
[SPEAKER_01]: We're new there, strength, they shall mount up like what?
[SPEAKER_01]: Weems of eagles and soar, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: We shall run and not grow weary.
[SPEAKER_01]: All of those things all come in the waiting.
[SPEAKER_01]: They all come and waiting on the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Moses is used by God to free the people from Egypt and Moses leads them, and he goes up to the mountain called Sinai.
[SPEAKER_01]: And God calls Moses up on the mountain actually starting in Exodus chapter 19.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's there in that moment that God teaches Moses about the Tabernacle.
[SPEAKER_01]: He begins to show him and teach him and reveal to him about the Levitical priesthood, about the blood and sacrifice.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's where he gains the information in the download and the revelation of the Ten Commandments.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, there are some significant powerful, like heavy-hitting things that take place when Moses goes up on Sinai.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's there on the top of the mountain that Moses is literally before God.
[SPEAKER_01]: and he's getting all these supernatural downloads.
[SPEAKER_01]: And for 13 chapters, beginning in Exodus chapter 19, for 13 chapters, Exodus 19 through Exodus 32 is all the details from God speaking to Moses and all that Moses needed to know, to move forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: 13 chapters full of information of download.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you imagine?
[SPEAKER_01]: Moses sitting upon the mountain and God is just giving him all of this information, all of this revelation, like it is coming in like heaps and bounds and in excess 32, after all this time of revelation, God tells Moses, he says, go leave here and lead your people down
[SPEAKER_01]: Now you got to imagine that Moses has caught off guard because the downloads are abruptly stopped.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know the story, Moses has discovered that the people are melting their gold jewelry and they're raising up a golden calf.
[SPEAKER_01]: Moses, all this time is up on the mountain, literally in God's presence, caught up in the glory of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: In for 13 chapters, he's getting all this revelation of stuff that would literally transform all of history.
[SPEAKER_01]: And while he has caught up in the glory of God listening to the voice of God at the same time, the people that He just helped deliver out of Egypt are down in the valley melting in their, they're all their jewelry to create an idol.
[SPEAKER_01]: When they were just saying that God was the one that delivered us out of Egypt.
[SPEAKER_01]: They declared God was the one that delivered us, but yet now, they're standing down there, creating an idol to worship an idol.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you imagine how upset Moses was?
[SPEAKER_01]: When the downloads abruptly stopped, and God said, go down, now, leave the people.
[SPEAKER_01]: Get a hold of them, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: Something's going on down there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like wait a second, what God, I really loved what was going on just now.
[SPEAKER_01]: This was real good.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you can't give me a little bit more.
[SPEAKER_01]: God says, now you gotta go take care of business.
[SPEAKER_01]: Moses goes down, he walks into this scene of these people that are literally worshiping an idol, golden calf that they're raising up.
[SPEAKER_01]: You see church, the golden calf was not due to temptation.
[SPEAKER_01]: The golden calf was a result of pressure.
[SPEAKER_01]: In other words, they pressured themselves to build something that God never asked them to build.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because they didn't know where Moses was.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they kept asking Aaron, and Aaron didn't have an answer for them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Go back and read it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll see all of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so they thought, well, if we could just build a golden calf and Moses is place, then the calf would show us the way.
[SPEAKER_01]: When it was Moses who knew the ways of God, but yet because Moses had stepped away for a time, they said, well, if Moses, if Moses is nowhere to be found, and Moses is supposed to show us the way, maybe if we burn all of our jewelry up and create an idol, maybe this golden calf that we create will somehow show us the way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Talk about completely stepping out of doing it God's way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, well, that I know that that's God's way.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know we need a way on Moses.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know he will tell us, but we don't know where he's at.
[SPEAKER_01]: So because I don't know and there's so much pressure on me right now, I'm just going to go do what I think will work.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know whose bright idea it was first.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if it was the town's crazy or who it was.
[SPEAKER_01]: That decided, hey guys, I have an idea.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody start taking off your jewelry.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, we've looked everywhere for Moses, we don't know where he's at.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, he's supposed to lead us and show us the way right now, but I have this bright idea.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that if I take all of your jewelry off of your bodies and we start to melt it down, I think if we create an idol, the idol will show us where to go.
[SPEAKER_01]: the amount of chaos and confusion, the amount of disconnect because they literally got away from God's leading.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is simple as that.
[SPEAKER_01]: They literally stepped out of God's way and they wanted to do it their way.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know why?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because they were impatient.
[SPEAKER_01]: They didn't want to wait on Moses.
[SPEAKER_01]: They didn't want to wait on the answer.
[SPEAKER_01]: They didn't want to wait on the direction that Moses would provide.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so because of their impatience, hello, because of their impatience, they said, I would rather not wait on the Lord's lead and step out of that and get into the place where I just do what I want to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so many times in our lives, we have done that very thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where we got tired of waiting on God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hello.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where we said, I don't, it's been way too much time.
[SPEAKER_01]: God still hasn't answered my prayer.
[SPEAKER_01]: God still hasn't shown me what to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: God hasn't provided the answer.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just going to do what I think is best.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we literally step into the place of the Creator.
[SPEAKER_01]: We step into the place of the Savior.
[SPEAKER_01]: We step into the place of the all-knowing God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we think that if he don't show me, I'll show myself.
[SPEAKER_01]: But God, oftentimes, his ways require waiting.
[SPEAKER_01]: Waiting.
[SPEAKER_01]: That means you're gonna have to learn how to be patient.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know we don't like it because we can't even handle 15 minutes of traffic on 820.
[SPEAKER_01]: I get it
[SPEAKER_01]: Hello, is there any real people in here?
[SPEAKER_01]: I get it, you know, it's, it's frustrating.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, not the express way because every time I saw it, oh, there's a lot of traffic, Melissa, let's jump on the express.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then there's like a wreck on the express.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, are you kidding me?
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I'm saying?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's pointless.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why did they just, all they did was put a,
[SPEAKER_01]: Separation between the lanes really essentially is all they did.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, but we live in Dallas for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't like we don't like traffic We have lots of traffic and we can so easily become impatient about all kinds of things in life But when God speaks something when God says something when God is trying to lead you to a certain path There will be a time of waiting There will be a time of waiting So hear me this morning
[SPEAKER_01]: Do not ever build golden casts as a result of people pressuring you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know what that golden calf could be in your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever you try to create and you try to mock up to try to show you the answer, maybe you just try to skip God's route and say, I'm gonna do this thing on my own.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't try to sacrifice for that.
[SPEAKER_01]: When God never instructed you to do it,
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to tell you something, sometimes God will make you wait until the inconvenience of waiting no longer affects you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe that's why he has you waiting until the inconvenience of waiting itself no longer bothers you, where you can get to the point with your relationship with the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you say, God, if I have to wait another year, I'll do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm okay with that, I'm okay with that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I'm not going to be bothered or weighed down or frustrated by the waiting season.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm going to learn to trust in you because I know that at the end of the day, you have my best interest in mind.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know at the end of the day that you know my end from my beginning.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know that at the end of the day, you know the end result.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the end result is good.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm going to learn how to be faithful, an obedient and trusting in the waiting season.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So number one, God's ways requires waiting.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number two is this, God's ways require God's heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: God's way requires God's heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Moses comes down the mountain and he corrects the people for the golden calf.
[SPEAKER_01]: When he jumped into Exodus 33 and Moses at this point hasn't really heard from the Lord at what the next steps are and he's literally wandering
[SPEAKER_01]: and walking around and asking about the sin in the camp.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he makes a similar statement of God, are you still with us?
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you even here with us?
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you even here helping us at this point?
[SPEAKER_01]: And Moses has experienced God's voice.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's experienced the plagues of Egypt.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's dealt with Pharaoh.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's led the people out of Egypt, and he says to the Lord in verse 13, please teach me your ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: Out of all of those experiences, all of that history would God, where God literally showed him the way, through all of that, he gets to the point in Exodus 33
[SPEAKER_01]: Moses has seen the acts of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has witnessed demonstrations of God's power, but yet it wasn't enough to satisfy Moses's heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: Moses was interested in a transactional relationship with God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wanted to know God more than anything, and he says, I don't want to just know you, but I want to know your ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know about you this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to just know God, but I want to know his ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to know the heart of the Father.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not interested with just knowing what he can do for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know he can do great things.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll see him do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I don't want, I don't want to just be so invested in what he can do for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to know his heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: And church, if we can get to that place where we say it God, just like the song say, and what a God.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't do nothing else for me, I don't care.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to know your ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you never show up again for me, if you never answer another prayer, if you never provide another miracle, if you never open another door for me, I don't care.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: In church, if we can get to that place, in our relationship with the Father, we're all we care in our walk with Him and in our lives, just doing it his way.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm telling you, it will radically change the decision processes.
[SPEAKER_01]: It will radically change how we feel about stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when we go through things, it will radically begin to transform and change everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: We will turn God into some mythical sugar daddy, rather than knowing his heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where we will only obey and follow God if he helps pay our bills.
[SPEAKER_01]: We will only obey and follow God if he gives us a new car or he provides us with that house or if he does this or if he does that, God, I will follow you guys.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, I will serve you if you do this for me, and if you answer that prayer, and if you come and you meet that need, God, then I'll worship you, then I'll serve you, and I'm afraid that many of us have gotten into that position in that heart posture where we where we depend on what God can do rather than knowing God's hearts.
[SPEAKER_01]: May this be a moment of conviction for us right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: But in an alert and an understanding where the Lord can get a hold of us and he can say there's grace upon you, I love you, it's okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's okay if you dependent upon me for what I can do for you, but I'm taking you out of that place.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm leading you into a place where you don't care about what I can do for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: You only care about my heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: God I want to know your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, I don't want to know your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, I just, since I pause on this message right now, just close your eyes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you got to lift your hands.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, I just want to know your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: If I don't know anything else, I'm okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm satisfied with that.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, I just want to know you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't need all the answers.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everything doesn't have to line up and make perfect sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have to feel some sort of way.
[SPEAKER_01]: And whatever it may be, God, I just want to know you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to know your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to be so connected to your ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to be just like the scripture said that Moses knew your ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, I want you to say that about me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll ask to knew the ways of the Father.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, strip away everything to all we have is you.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all we can do is call upon you and depend on you and lean on our own understanding.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, but God, but we will lean into you and every area and everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: We may not see you working on our behalf right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: We may not fully be able to witness the power of who you are at, work in our lives right now, but we're okay if we don't hear you.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're okay if we don't see you.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're okay if we don't feel you in a moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because we just want to know your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: We just want to know your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: If all I have is your heart, that's all that I need.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all that I want.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, come on I just I just sense like it it's a good conviction but I sense a conviction that's fallen upon the room right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: where the Lord is literally shifting our perspective and He's taking us out of dependence on what He can do and dependence on who He is.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you step out of just depending on God to answer that next prayer for you and can you just get into a place where you're like, God, if you don't even answer that prayer, I'm totally in so satisfied because I'm convinced that you're so good.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm convinced that you're such a loving father that I don't need to know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't need to have the answers God, I just need to have your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, we repent right now if we've only looked at you and trusted you for what you can do for us.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we've lost sight of your ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, we repent right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: We repent if we've only ever defined you for what you can do, and not who you are.
[SPEAKER_01]: We repent.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't want to be about that life, God, but we just want to know you.
[SPEAKER_01]: We just want to know your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing else, nothing more.
[SPEAKER_01]: Show us your ways Lord, show us your ways, show us your ways so we can lead our families well, show us your ways so we can make the right decisions, show us your ways so we can raise up our children the way that you would have us to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Show us your ways so we can love and treat our spouses the way that you would call us to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Show us your ways, God, so we can honor one another in respect one another, whether we disagree with them or not, show us your ways, Father.
[SPEAKER_01]: We just want to know your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lastly, Moses, he makes this statement in Exodus 33, 15.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he says, if you don't go with us into the Promised Land, then we don't want to go.
[SPEAKER_01]: Mind blowing of a statement, after all they've experienced and all that they went through and after Moses has literally had to fight to deliver them out of the hand
[SPEAKER_01]: and they've experienced all that they've experienced and Moses has caught it.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't go with me into the next season, I don't even want to go.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care if it's the Promised Land.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're not there, I don't want nothing to do with it.
[SPEAKER_01]: 420 plus years, they have waited for the Promised Land.
[SPEAKER_01]: Moses says, if you're not going with this God, I'd rather just stay in this wilderness.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd rather not die in the promised land.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd rather just die right here in this wilderness.
[SPEAKER_01]: In other words, I'd rather stay in this wilderness if I can't have your presence.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd rather stay in this wilderness if I can't have your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: rather stay in this wilderness if I can't know your ways, you need to know this today church that demonstrations of the power God are important and we believe in those here and we always will contend for it, always always.
[SPEAKER_01]: We burn for the things of God in that way when He reveals His power, but
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to see God move that way, but we have got to love the Lord enough that we could say, God, if you don't show up at another Sunday morning church service, if you're not present when I lift my hands on Sunday morning ever again, and I'm okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's more than enough.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to today's message.
[SPEAKER_00]: We pray you were inspired, challenged, and marked by the word you heard.
[SPEAKER_00]: If this message blessed you today, we encourage you to subscribe to the Church of the City podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: There you can find more faith-filled messages to uplift you and help you on your journey of faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: For more information about Church of the City, head on over to www.cotcdfw.com.
[SPEAKER_00]: And until next time, remember this, the best is yet to come.