Dream Destiny Thingy

All right, let's pray Lord keep us steadfast in your word curb those who bite a cedar sword would rob the kingdom from your son and bring to naught

All that he has done we ask this in Jesus name Amen All right, we're working our way through the book of Exodus still we just got started actually just got started last week we took a look a

Beginning look at the book Exodus chapter 3 and we drilled in hard on The name of God.

Did you all remember God's name revealed to Moses in the burning bush? I Am I am now a little bit of a note here the implications that this has

Regarding who Christ is are quite important But this also has very strong implications regarding some of the false teachings running around the visible church today

Let me give you an example. Have any of you heard of Joel Osteen? Mike is he's indignant that he's heard of Joel Osteen Okay, Joel Osteen has a book and the name of the book is the power of I am

With a Christian book named the power of I am what would you assume?

The book is about Jesus it's not Joel Osteen's book is about and I'm not making this up is literally about you making declarative statements

It's the power of I am and you're talking about you. So he teaches you how to Basically look in the mirror and I'm not making this up look in the mirror and say

I am the head I am NOT the tail. I Am strong.

I am powerful. I am wise. I want to look in the mirror and say I am skinny

So yeah, it's it's in a sense be your own God and it's important to note that Joel Osteen teaches a

Brand of a variety of a doctrine known as the word of faith heresy The word of faith heresy teaches that your words create reality.

So are you? struggling financially Let me let me pick on a real -world scenario.

How Roger how was the farming? Season this year for Terrific, right, right

So let's just say maybe you didn't have the outcome you were hoping. They're probably not new. Okay Yeah, it was a little bit tough weather wise

I do remember the the storm that came through that caused our basement to flood that was loads of fun But here's the deal in the word of faith heresy

What they would literally say is and I'm not making this up the reason why you didn't have a good harvest this year is because you

Didn't decree and declare the positive outcome by waking up every morning and saying

I Decree and declare that the harvest this year is going to be 200 fold it's going to be off the chain and Continue to decree and declare these things

All right So you're at fault because you did not exercise your faith or use your faith to get a positive outcome

Are you sick? Well, the reason you're sick is because well You didn't do decree and declare and whatever you do in the word of faith heresy if you start getting sick

Don't ever say I'm feeling sick because if you say

I'm feeling sick. Oh Your words create reality now, you're gonna have a rough go of it.

Yeah exactly It yeah, well, here's their thinking

God created the universe and the world and everything in it in six days And how did he do it?

By his word let there be light there was light let the earth produce vegetation There was vegetation and since we're made in the image of God.

Well, we can do the same thing whoo

Cat you hold on one second the cat has been trying to form a question The self -fulfilling prophecy it's all based upon your words.

And so here's the problem You'll notice that Joel Osteen's concepts regarding the power of I am don't point us to Jesus They point us to me.

In fact, y 'all familiar with Kenneth Copeland? Have you ever seen him on the television? Kenneth Copeland has a very famous statement where he says when

I read in the Bible where Jesus says I am I Say I am too.

Oh Yeah, that's a direct quote Yes, it's the power of positive thinking on steroids and it's a false doctrine now

I want you to think about the implications of this teaching We've buried a few people here at Kongsvinger since I've arrived

I fully expect that if the Lord tarries and if I Continue to breathe and stay at Kongsvinger for years to come there, but there'll be more funerals

I can tell you this having been there While people are dying

That it's not a pretty thing Oftentimes a person who is on their deathbed is fearful and Long before I came to Kongsvinger I was serving as a

Sunday school teacher at a church in San Juan Capistrano, California One of the guys in our class

He was on his deathbed and I went to visit him and I went to visit him and he literally said to me

Chris I don't want to die and then he said to me

I must be getting what I deserve and At that point

I spent quite a bit of time saying to him Yes, well scripture does say that the wages of sin is death, but you are in Christ Christ has bled and died for your sin salvation is not a work

So the person who believes that their words create reality a power of positive thinking on I got to do all this kind When the inevitable happens,

I don't know if you've noticed this the death rate is still 100 % Anyone notice that that when the inevitable happens and you start slouching towards your grave if You believe that your words are can create reality

What does that end up doing to your faith? I? Must not have enough faith.

You remember Tammy Faye Baker What pink hair head, um, okay

Tammy Faye Baker she was the wife of Jim Baker the whole praise the

Lord scandal and all that kind of stuff. He went to prison and You know Yeah, praise the

Lord. He went to prison, right? He went he's back on the air now, by the way selling prepper supplies big buckets of You know survival food, which

I'm sure you know There's nothing like spending the last few years of the planet with constipation, but Did I say that out loud?

Yes, I did But anyway, do y 'all remember what

Tammy Faye died of cancer She believed in the word of faith heresy herself.

She wouldn't call it a hair She believed this with the scriptures taught so she got terminal cancer and her body and Cancer is a terrible disease.

It literally eats you from the inside She went from being a normal human being to looking like a survivor of Auschwitz I mean she was down to skin and bones and Literally in the days just before she died

She was still claiming and decreeing and declaring her miracle I'm not sure if she did or not that that part

I don't know but I do know with certainty because I heard one of her very last interviews before she died and She did that kind of like via like Skype or something like that and you can see just I mean she was absolutely skeletal

She was still believing for her miracle Jan Crouch recently died too.

Yeah. So here's the thing this word of faith heresy is bad bad news and So the idea is is that we need to focus on the

I am of Scripture is God and Jesus like we pointed out last week is the

I am When we talk about the I am in relation to Scripture as Christians and doctrine.

You're not the I am Jesus is and I am is not something that you decree and declare about yourself

I am is something you believe about who Jesus is because that reveals his divinity. Does that make sense?

So it's important that we make that note now Today as we look at Exodus 3, there's another bad doctrine that sounds well so innocent

Harmless, but isn't it is the doctrine. I call the dream destiny thingy doctrine the dream destiny thingy doctrine or you may have heard of it as the purpose -driven life or You also may have heard of it is remember the the four spiritual laws

That little pamphlet Bill Bright God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life

I want you to think about the implications of this and here's how the the teaching generally goes

The reason you need to become a Christian is because well, you're suffering from purposelessness

Well Steve you've been suffering even after you've been in baptized you're still suffering from purposelessness, but that's a different story and so the idea here is is that The way the evangelistic call goes is something like this if you want to find out why

God puts you here on the earth Well, God has a unique and specific Purpose for you that he has to reveal to you

But the step first step is you need to make Jesus your Lord and Savior and then after that you need to learn how to hear the voice of God and That doesn't involve actually reading anything

Okay, hearing the voice of God is likened to God is out there Broadcasting on some kind of spiritual radio station and you need to learn how to tune your heart so that you can pick up the signals and Once you once yeah, so you're doing this with the spiritual rabbit ears, right, you know

And once you can finally start to hear the signals, you know God is going to then speak to you and reveal to you what your purpose is.

I Wish I was making this up Yes, I I like demotivational posters

It well, yeah, and they're

Christians too so here here's kind of the gist of it then and This then frames this belief that somehow

God is going to supernaturally reveal to you your specific an

Individual unique destiny or purpose and believe me It's huge.

It's huge I mean if you knew what God wanted to do with you, oh you'd be blown away and the way you know that it has to be from God is because when you

First begin to realize what you were really called to do. It's so big

So ginormous that there's no way you can pull it off in the flesh It would take only the help of Jesus and that's the proof that you know that you're actually discovering what your purpose is

I wish I was making this up But this is really a Lot of what makes up a lot of preaching today and a lot of radio ministry on Christian radio.

Yeah, right

Now, let me the reason I'm talking about this is because here in this passage in Exodus 3

Would be well the place you would go to and let me explain how this

Idea about what the purpose of Christianity is how it impacts how you read the scripture

So if you have to discover your unique purpose well what we find in the

Bible are a bunch of people who discovered their unique purpose and the trials and the tribulations they went through in order to fulfill their dream destiny and So what happens is is that you read the scriptures in such a way where?

Well the difficulties that Abraham had in fulfilling his dream destiny Well, you look for those same kind of difficulties in your life and fulfilling your dream destiny

And then what happens is you end up reading yourself into the scripture and make yourself the hero of all the stories

It's a weird thing that goes on there Now this is not to say that scripture doesn't teach that God has prepared good works in advance for us to do and I have to make this distinction there's a huge distinction between the good works that were called to as Christians and This dream destiny thingy doctrine the dream destiny thingy doctrine really strokes your ego makes you feel like well

Finally you have stepped on to the scene of history The world will never be the same and the dream destiny thingy doctrine literally teaches that the job of the church is to make a difference rather than make disciples

That's a very important distinction But what are the good works that were called to as Christians?

And now I want you to think about you know the course of your lifetime I'll pick on myself for a second here now.

I'm older than some people in this church now. Thanks. Thankfully. We have some new new We have some new faces here right all right, but in the course of my lifetime

Well, I went to preschool kindergarten grade school junior high awful terrible thing junior high should be outlawed

Then I survived high school. That's the best way I can put it and then went to college

So I was a son. I was a student and then I became a husband.

I became a father I Became a Sunday school teacher. I worked in the corporate world.

I was an employer Employee I was a manager. I was a

Supervisor I became an employer and now I'm a pastor oh That's right the most important one two summers in a row

Jungle Cruise captain at Disneyland That's right Okay You have not lived

You have not lived until you have an entire boat full of people get in and you're saying things like welcome aboard the world famous Jungle Cruise my name is

Chris I'll be your captain skipper for the next five exciting days and six romantic nights now everyone turn around and wave to the people on The dock that's the last time you'll ever see them again, so you haven't lived until you've done that I've tried to burn them all so there will be no blackmail available

No, no, no Jungle Cruise captains were like, you know a jungly kind of I've I Look like dr.

Livingston, you know anyway So here's the thing in the course of my lifetime.

I've been in a lot of vocations some longer than others Which of these things can

I point to and say aha, that was the one thing I was really made for None of them the reality is is that all of the good works

I did in each and every one of these vocations are exactly the good works that Christ prepared in advance for me to do and This is where we got to start thinking about good works on the level that scripture reveals them over and again

Christianity goes off the rails when you think the good work that you've got to do is something ginormous well

Good works. That's like going on the mission field now going on the mission field is a good work.

Not a lot of call to do that Doing a good work Oh that means being a pastor and learning how to pray really good prayers

Now being a pastor and learning how to pray that's those are good works But the thing is is that our good works are always done in vocation

So when we read the book of Ephesians and we get to the good works section of it after Paul So clearly explains that we are saved by grace through faith.

It is not of ourselves It is the gift of God not by works so that no one may boast and we are

God's workmanship Created in Christ Jesus for good works. What are the good works that were to do?

Are you ready? Husbands love your wives as Christ is love the church

Wives submit to your husband. I understand that's an s -word. Okay, I get it Wives submit to your husbands children obey your parents slaves obey your masters in other words

Here's what a good work looks like. I've used this before and I'll keep using it if you have infant children

They need to be fed burped and have their diapers changed Every single one of those actions is a good work precious in the eyes of Christ Vacuuming up vomit off your carpet at two in the morning.

We've all done this Buckets Janet, that's not true Never you've never you're lucky

All right, okay Yeah Yeah, I am so happy for that company named

Bissell so Just saying So the idea is our good works are done in our different vocations so When somebody as a christian

Works for well the grand forks trash collection company And they drive the truck and they go by your house and they stick that little claw out it goes up You know and dumps it out right is that person doing a good work you bet your bippy they are

That's right. Have you seen what new york city looks like during a trash strike? Right Okay These are our good works

In fact, I want you to think about this. I actually mentioned this at the klcw women's bible study this this past weekend

Have you ever stopped to think how many people it takes Who are working really hard in order for bananas to be on sale?

over at hugos Think about the number of people involved

Okay from the guy who has the plantation and the workers who harvest the bananas who bring them to a distribution center

Put them on container ships or put them You put them on an airplane and fly them over here think of all the work and logistics involved just in that all right from the from the pilot the hours of Training required to become a pilot the people who built the airplane the people who built the ship

Then you think of the construction workers who put together the distribution facility where all these things go and all the employees involved in that And then the guy who drives the semi truck who they loaded it on his truck

And he then delivered it to your grocery store And then the people at the grocery store had to go and take it

Off the pallets or whatever and bring it out onto the floor They had to figure out the pricing and then you got the people who are

Cleaning the floors at hugos who are managing the employees paying the payroll

And then all the way to the lady who's checking you out and the guy who's putting everything in the bags

Can you number the number of people responsible for just bringing you bananas? right

And they sell it to you at 89 cents a pound. Don't give me the exact price. I'm just this that's a guesstimate

Okay and you take it for granted because you just go to hugos and voila bananas

And now multiply that By how many different products are available in the grocery store?

And all of the work that goes involved in that and ask yourself Are all of these people doing good works so that my bodily needs are met so that I can eat and not die?

Answer Yes Now imagine if all of the people responsible in the banana supply chain decided that this is just below them

God's promised them some dream destiny thing He said that they can go and make a difference in the world and the whole banana supply chain goes off finding their purpose

We'd have no bananas Huh? no bananas

Go bananas Yeah. Yes. We have no bananas Look it up Yeah Galatians 6 9

Yeah, galatians 6 9 out of context says let us not grow weary in doing good for in due season We will reap if we do not give up Well galatians is the book to go to that teaches us.

We're not saved by our works We're saved totally by grace through faith. This is the path. This is the epistle that says that if if you know if Salvation was by works then christ died for no reason

So taking it out of context. Yeah, you're gonna you're gonna create a real problem there And here's the thing you got to remember we all have the law written on our hearts

This is what we call the doctrine of the opinio legis This is the law the opinion of the law written our hearts we

Proclivitate towards the law and we basically think that well, that's how things are made right with god. I'm a sinner

I got to make things right with god So I got to sin less or do good things to get on god's good side and then he'll give me salvation

Doesn't work that way So the the understanding then is is that true christian sanctification does not deny that That we reap eternal life or that there's a sense in which god rewards good works

But it's not in the sense that we've earned salvation through them or that somehow blessings and curses

Kind of hang on all of that stuff good things happen to bad people and Have you heard the question?

Why do bad things happen to to uh, why do bad things happen to good people? There's no such thing as a good person Let's kind of get that worked out here

Okay, and so the idea here is is that when you're specific specifically when you read the psalms over and over again

You hear these psalms where the writer says, why are the wicked prospering?

Why are the wicked prospering and it's you know, what we'll get this in next week's old testament text

But why is it that the wicked prosper and it seems like the righteous there's no benefit in being righteous

The reason why the wicked are prospering is because the wicked live for me myself and I Everything they do is designed to make their lives better Christians not so much.

We look at serving our neighbors That was all preface kind of concept here

So we're going to look now at at exodus chapter three and its implications regarding the dream destiny thingy

And here's the thing Moses is not another one of these really major pillar patriarchs in the old testament joseph was abraham was

Isaac and jacob were now we're in moses and we've noted that moses in the early part of his career

Is a lot there's a lot of typology pointing to christ. He's a savior figure if you're if you would watch what happens

Here's so we're going to start at verse one for our context Moses was keeping the flock of his father -in -law.

Jethro the priest of midian He led his flock to the west side of the wilderness came to horeb the mountain of god

And the angel of the lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush He looked and behold the bush was burning yet It was not consumed and moses said

I will turn aside to see this great sight why the bush is not burned and when yahweh Again, the name of god the tetragrammaton l -o -r -d

That's yahweh when yahweh saw that he turned aside to see god called to him out of the bush We now know who's talking moses

Moses he said here I am Then he said do not come near take your sandals off your feet for the place in which you are standing as holy ground

And he said I am the god of your father the god of abraham the god of isaac the god of jacob

Moses hit his face. He was afraid to look at god. That's wisdom right there, right?

So then yahweh said I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in egypt

I've heard their cry because of their task masters I know their sufferings and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the egyptians

I think this is typologically pointing to the incarnation of christ notice the come down language

And ultimately who has come down from heaven to save us from our task master the devil himself

Christ has born of the virgin mary suffered under pontius pilate So i've come down to deliver them out of the hand of the egyptians

To bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land a land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the canaanites the hittites the amorites the perizzites the haivites and the jebusites and everybody said the

Uptights and the ballet tights as well You always have I get a lot of mileage out of that joke, okay

Now behold the cry of the people of israel has come to me I have also seen the oppression with which the egyptians oppress them come

I will send you To pharaoh that you may bring my people the children of israel out of egypt, but moses said to god

Who am I that I should go to pharaoh and bring the children of israel out of egypt?

Doesn't moses understand this is the moment He is hearing the actual voice of god

Clearly he's done. Whatever is necessary to tune into the god channel on the spiritual frequency

God is now speaking to him and saying moses I'm now going to reveal your dream destiny and moses is sitting there with bated breath.

Okay What is it god and god reveals and he says? Do you have a plan b

Who am I that I should go to pharaoh and bringing the children of israel out of egypt, I love this response

But I will be with you Well, that's assuring. Thanks god I mean, that's kind of his attitude.

Is it not? I will be with you This shall be the sign for you that I have sent you when you brought the people out of egypt

You shall serve god on this mountain then moses said to god Okay, god if I come to the people of israel and say to them

The god of your fathers has sent me to you and they ask me what is his name? What shall I say to them god said to moses

I am who I am He said to moses say to the people of israel. I am sent me to you

God also said to moses say to this people of israel The lord the god of your fathers the god of abraham god of isaac the god of jacob has sent me to you

This is my name forever. Thus. I am to be remembered throughout all generations And this is where we spent all of last week looking at the new testament where jesus refers to himself as the

I am And then god says go and gather the elders of israel together and say to them

The lord yahweh the god of your fathers the god of abraham the god of isaac the god of jacob has appeared to me saying

I have observed you And what has been done to you in egypt? And I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of egypt

To the land of the canaanites the hittites the amorites the perizzites the hivites and the jebusites a land flowing with milk and honey

Who's doing the delivering by the way? God is God's doing the delivering

Who cares about them and their oppression and their slavery and their burdens and their toil?

God does Then he says they will listen to your voice And you and the elders of israel shall go to the king of egypt and say to him

And this is going to be an important thing I will not use in this context just lord.

We have to use yahweh's name It comes into play very specifically as we get into the plagues.

They're not to say the lord said the text says Yahweh the god of the hebrews has met with us and now

Please Let us go a three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to yahweh our god

That's how pharaoh would have heard it not the lord adonai in hebrew

He would have heard it yahweh the name yahweh Then god says this

I know that the king of egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand So I will stretch out my hand and strike egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it

And after that he will let you go And I will give this people favor in the sight of the egyptians

And when you go they shall not go empty But each woman shall ask of her neighbor and any woman who lives in her house for silver and gold and jewelry

And for clothing you shall put them on your sons and your daughters. So shall you plunder the egyptians?

God's got this all figured out how it's going to go down now another important bad doctrine.

I have to mention there is within charismatic circles this Doctrine that keeps kind of cycling around and the doctrine goes like this and you'll hear

So -called prophets or prophetess to say thus declares the lord the time

Of the transfer of wealth of the nations is now upon us God is going to give you favor and you're going to plunder

The pagans and god's going to transfer their wealth into your bank account and everyone said amen

And they actually base it on this Here we've got an example. God said god's going to give you favor and you're going to you're going to leave

Egypt and having plundered all of egypt. So if you ever hear any preacher teacher

Anybody's talking about the forthcoming transfer of wealth from the wicked to the righteous

Here's the problem I've talked about this before worth reiterating. This is a descriptive text.

This is not a prescriptive text Just because the children of israel plundered egypt on their way out

Does not mean that there's some forthcoming transfer of wealth and you should expect big checks arriving in your bank account tomorrow

It's not saying that This is talking about what happened back then There's no promise from god that your bank account is going to get really big

Because the pagans he's going to transfer their wealth from them to you In fact, you should think of it this way if you keep looking in the mailbox

Every day for that check from donald trump You're going to be very disappointed for many days to come but mark when you see those trump checks arriving.

Let us know. Okay? Yeah Okay. Yes No, that's it.

That's word of faith heresy your words create reality Now I want you to think about the tyranny that this puts you under so there you are

You're sick. You're not feeling well. Maybe you have a cold or a flu and your words apparently create reality.

So you can't say Humbly pray this prayer lord jesus.

I am not feeling well. I am sick. Would you please have mercy on me and heal me? Notice The word of faith heresy forbids you from praying that prayer because your words create reality

If you affirm that you have this and this is real then it becomes real They will say the symptoms are alive from the devil

You have to believe god that you're healed And so you got to decree and declare that and so it prevents you from actually doing the thing that we're supposed to do

Pray to god and say lord have mercy on me. Please heal me It creates a tyranny of Of the happy a tyranny of the positive you all remember the that television program the stepford wives

Where everything was perfect? There was the white picket fences all of the lawns were manicured and the children always said yes, sir

And no, sir, and yes, ma 'am and no ma 'am and everybody just looked cute as a button

And that's the outside facade and then when you learn what's behind the facade it's just That creates a tyranny of the nonsensical

We're not called to deny reality I'm sick lord. I need help.

Would you heal me? That's a good prayer or another one like the psalmist.

How long oh lord will you forget me? All right, read psalm 13 read the psalms.

They're pretty blunt David was not a word of faith guy. He kind of called it like it was yeah

Yes Yeah Right another kind of silly

Way of talking is lord. I decree a hedge of protection around somebody Okay, i'm not sure what the security value is of a hedge

You know, okay, apparently these hedges can stop just about anything right

Exactly, right. And so here's the thing the word of faith heresy ultimately cuts you off from real christian prayer

Real christian prayer you see a neighbor in need or you're in need and you come to god and you humbly ask for mercy

A good prayer is curiae laison lord. Have mercy

We've got to i've got to find a way to reintroduce this church to the curiae the curiae

It's actually part of the ancient liturgy You know in peace Let us pray to the lord lord have mercy for the peace of the whole world for the well -being of the church of god

And for the unity of all let us pray to the lord lord Have mercy for this holy house and for all who offer here their worship and praise.

Let us pray to the lord lord Have mercy Yeah, we need to reintroduce the curiae here we need to bring that back that is a great prayer

And the church has been praying that we I mean we have instances of the curiae going all the way back to like the second century

This thing is old This is how the church prays All right, so we're a little off topic here.

Let's try to try to what what yes Yeah Yep I just read of george washington's crossing of the river and I too am going to cross the river and i'm going to destroy the

Hessians in my life, you know It doesn't work that way. Yeah Yes, sir

Yeah Hair, uh, yeah flip it flip it.

Yeah Yeah, that's right and i'm pretty convinced you're gonna have more hair when you're resurrected

Yeah, i'm i'm hoping I am so hoping for like that 28 inch waist again and this the six -pack abs thing oh

I just don't want to have to take a nap every afternoon. Never i'm just joking The word of god Well, let me ask you

I mean just a straight up question i'll ask it to everybody here the sermon today all of it discourse

Did jesus lead us to expect the things are going to be a rose garden between his ascension and his return for us christians

What did he make it sound like? It's gonna get awful Yeah, we're gonna go through hell

In case you haven't figured it out We are currently traveling through the valley of the shadow of death and christ rod and staff comforts us

God's word is a lamp to our feet and we get it Literally just literally gives us the next step period we're on the narrow trail.

It's a treacherous thing Does it did jesus make it sound like being a christian is really easy really?

Awesome and the way the people that would know that you're truly a follower of christ Is by how big your bank account is how much the world loves you and gives us his accolades?

No Yeah And and salvation is a gift

Yep. Yeah Yeah, it turns jesus into a fertility deity

That's what it does it turns jesus into a fertility deity, but i'll just kind of leave that one hanging out there

Let's continue with our text So moses has been given the blueprint for what god's assignment is for him

And no, we are nowhere told that we're going to receive a moses -like assignment in our lives

Sure, there may be some christians who have assignments from god good works that will make well

Make the headlines in the news more than the guy who's picking up trash, but they're they're all good works none the same or the same exodus 4 moses answered

Sign me up. I'm ready god. Finally. I've learned learned my destiny now watch what he says

But behold, they will not believe me or they will not listen to my voice for they will say the lord did not appear to you Does that sound like faith?

Yeah The lord said to him what is that in your hand? He said a staff He said throw it on the ground.

So he threw it on the ground It became a serpent and moses ran from it smart move. You don't generally want to touch those things

So then the lord said yahweh said to moses put your hand and catch it by the tail So he put out his hand caught it by the tail and became a staff in his hand

That they may believe that yahweh the god of their father The god of abraham the god of isaac the god of jacob has appeared to you.

So notice god gives him a miracle And this is an important little thing. We got to get this in our minds miracles always support a message

Miracles are never the message in and of themselves And jesus warns us in the last day that false

Christ false prophets would be able to perform great signs and wonders Just because somebody can perform a miracle does not mean it comes from god and we'll see this as the story develops this particular miracle

Is going to be reproduced by janice and john breeze You're thinking who are those guys?

They are the magicians of pharaoh. We know their names from the new testament That's how we know their names not from this text but from a new testament text they are able to reproduce this miracle

And they didn't do so by the hand of god. They did so by the hand of the devil keep that in mind So He caught it

And this was so that they may believe that the lord their god the fathers of abraham the god of isaac the god of jacob Has appeared to you again.

The lord said to him put your hand inside your cloak He put his hand inside his cloak and when he took it out behold his hand was leprous like snow

Then god said put your hand back inside your cloaks He put his hand back inside of his cloak And when he took it out behold it was restored like the rest of his flesh

If they will not believe you god said or listen to the first sign They may believe the latter sign if they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice

You shall take some of the water from the nile Pour it on the dry ground and the water that you shall take from the nile will become blood on the dry ground

But moses said to yahweh Oh Yahweh, I am not eloquent either

In the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and tongue

And you always said to him who has made man's mouth Who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind?

Is it not? I yahweh now therefore Go, I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall

Speak a little bit of a note here Remember our gospel text jesus promises this to us if we have the opportunity to bear witness while in prison, right?

You have to worry about what it is You need to say jesus is going to give you a mouth And wisdom that cannot be refuted

Good to know So now therefore go I will be with your mouth, but he said oh lord, please send someone else

So much for the dream destiny thingy doctrine does he not understand that this is the whole point of learning his purpose

Send someone else, please Oh, yeah, he did.

Yeah, he was slow of speech now, here's here's another piece of this Oftentimes what goes with the purpose driven or dream destiny thingy teaching is this teaching kind of a subtext of it in order to learn your purpose your destiny

You need to make yourself worthy and you have to be willing to do whatever it is that god tells you to do

So when you finally hear from god on the god channel, he speaks to you Robin this is god.

I've got a dream destiny for you, right? And when he finally speaks to you In order to really make yourself worthy of this thing and see god can kind of give you a big one

Or a small one or he's going to give you a big one But you're only going to fulfill a small part of it based upon your willingness and your obedience

Moses had probably in human history the largest dream destiny

Of any of the old testament guys, I mean how many millions of people were set free from slavery

By god through him Does he sound willing ready obedient regarding the call?

far from it So how can your willingness or your obedience be a factor in your dream destiny thingy?

It isn't You pay attention to the text And you look for examples of well this doctrine that they're saying

And then do the comparative work is what they're saying squaring with what god's word says This doesn't make any sense

If I if god has this big thing that he wants me to make a difference in the world So that when i'm done,

I have a legacy and people will be saying about roseboro. Wow Boy, did he wow he made a difference and they'll say that for decades.

They'll write about me in the history books I was the best jungle cruise captain ever There are comedians who've modeled their whole comedic career off of my jokes

Do I sound like Yeah, right, that's right no stinking badges we don't need no stinking badges

So the idea here is is that In the call of moses, we do not see an obedient willing ready to go

Jumping at his dream. Not at all the exact opposite of it

Please god Send someone else God's gonna get a little short with him, by the way, you know, keep in mind you're talking to god here

This is how you end up becoming a crispy critter. So I Mean if this is so unexpected

I who talks this way to god So lord, please send someone else verse 14 the anger of yahweh was kindled against moses

You can see like the flames maybe getting up a little higher in the bush, right? Jesus going

Right And he said is there not aaron your brother the levite

I know he can speak well Behold, he's coming out to meet you. And when he sees you he'll be glad in his heart

Oh fascinating god already kind of anticipated this, right? You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth

I will be your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do he shall speak

For you to the people and he shall be your mouth and you shall be as god to him

And take in your hand his staff with which you shall do the signs Yeah.

Yeah Moses here you you are doing this because i've chosen you to do this end of story

Okay, not exactly Oh, oh this is true

But you know what i'm saying, yeah, but the the story of jonah is a is different in this quality

There's a very specific reason why jonah did not want to go to nineveh And the reason why is because he knew god was merciful.

He didn't want those ninevites those murderous

War criminals who were known for their cruelty I mean they would take people and literally run a spear through them and stick their bodies up in the air

That was the first precursor to crucifixion. These were terrible people He didn't want them to be forgiven.

And so when they repent and god relents Jonah gets angry and he says is this not what

I said? I knew you're slow to anger. I knew you're abounding in steadfast love and forgiving sin and inequity

Yeah, I need to be a little more norwegian I apologize

Right, you get the point though, so there is technically a difference

Yeah Yeah Yeah Yep.

Yep Yeah Yeah, now let's let's talk about this in there is there is a parallel that is right in this sense

God calls you to love and serve your neighbor. Have any of you ever been in the situation where you know, that person needs help

Not him If I get involved And then what what ends up happening

You try to sleep on it and now your conscience is going. Oh, you are such a sinner And then you open up your bible just trying to make it go away and then you read the

You read something in the scriptures that just just nails you even farther to the walls like No, no, no, no, no.

No. No. So what do you do? I'm gonna go help him and see this is the struggle between The new person that you are in christ and your old sinful nature

Your new nature wants to help and do these things because you're just because your neighbor needs help

Your sinful nature goes. Oh if you get involved, oh my goodness That person's going to call you every night and talk to you for 45 minutes for the next two weeks

And you don't want to do that I hit a nerve there, right?

Yeah, you get the idea And so you can say in a similar way We each resist the calls from god to love and serve our neighbor.

It doesn't need to be huge Some dream we don't need to go set the egypt the israelites free Sometimes what we just need to do is help a person in need and boy are we reluctant to do so and here's the thing

You don't need god showing up to you in a burning bush to tell you to do it because his word says already

The written word says go and love your neighbor as yourself Love your neighbor as christ has loved you

So let me leave off on this note That christ has bled and died even for your stubborn

Refusal to do the right thing and help your neighbor So see it for what it is selfish sinfulness repent

And be forgiven And then bear fruit in keeping with repentance This is what the gospel teaches us to do.