Between Impossible and More Impossible | Sunday Message

Hey there, thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. I'm Greg Laurie, encouraging you.

If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org. Amen. Let's pray together. And Lord, as we just sung and really as we just prayed, Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. And we know that you want to speak to us through your word. This word that we're about to open is inspired, breathed by the Holy Spirit. And we pray that you will help us to look at our challenges, our problems, our obstacles in the light of your power.

And let us see them with new eyes. So speak to us as we open your word. We pray now. In Jesus' name we ask this.

Amen. All right, you can all be seated. Good morning to everybody.

I should say good afternoon. Who wants to hear a Bible study? Raise your hand. Okay, good, good. How many of you brought your Bible?

Anything works. If it's a tablet, if you have a Bible on it, just don't play Angry Birds or something. Like we're gonna have a Bible study, and I'm gonna ask you to turn to Exodus chapter 13. You might say, but Greg, we're in the book of Joshua.

I know. And we're continuing on in that narrative, but we're gonna kind of go back to what we might call the origin story, how the Israelites got to this place where they're poised to enter the Promised Land. So Exodus 13 is what we're gonna land, and the title of this message is Between Impossible and More Impossible. Between Impossible and More Impossible.

Let me start with a question. Have you ever been in a situation where the only way out was God? In other words, if God didn't come through for you, you were dead in the water.

Maybe it was a report from a doctor. They said, I'm sorry, there's nothing more we can do for you. Maybe it was a financial catastrophe, and you were on the brink of collapse.

Maybe it was the death of a loved one, and you thought, I cannot survive this. That's the very situation we find Israel in in the story before us. Now, as we all know, God delivered the Israelites from the land of Egypt, and now He's gonna take them to that land of promise, the land flowing with milk and honey, Canaan's land. But the problem is, as they were approaching this land, they were being chased by the Egyptian army, and they found themselves backed up with a red sea behind them and a really big army coming toward them. They were literally between the devil and the deep blue sea, between a rock and a hard place.

They were basically facing an unconquerable army and an impassable sea. But God was gonna come through for them, and it looked like it was impossible, but the good news is, with God, nothing is impossible. That's what the Bible says. Have you ever looked up the phrase but God in the Bible?

Those two words together, but God. We see it in Noah's story. Remember the Lord told Noah to build an ark, and he boarded it with his family, and they bobbed around in the water for 40 days and 40 nights. And do you think Noah ever got discouraged, like, are we ever gonna get out of this thing? Like the 38th day, I am so tired of hanging out with a bunch of stinking animals.

Will we ever find dry land? And I love Genesis 8, when it says, but God remembered Noah and the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark. And the Lord sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded, but God.

God made a promise, and God keeps his promises. I think of the story of Joseph. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, forgotten. They thought they'd never see him again, but through God's providence, he was charged falsely by the wife of Potiphar, the original cougar, also known as Mrs. Robinson. She hit on Joseph. He resisted her advances.

She falsely charged him with rape. He was sent to a prison, but there in the prison, he made contact with the butler and the baker of the pharaoh, and it resulted in him being in the court of the pharaoh and interpreting a dream and becoming the second most powerful man in all of Egypt. And one day, his brothers, who had betrayed him, who had sold him into slavery, showed up because he was in charge of the food supply.

And if this was a Liam Neeson movie, they would have all been killed in slow motion. But instead, what happens is we see that Joseph looked at them and said, you intended to harm me, but God. There's those two words again, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done to save many lives. Even death does not have the final word. Death seems so permanent, so hopeless, but I read in Psalm 49, 15, but God will redeem my life from the grave. He will take me to himself.

But God, so here's my question for you today. How big is your butt? Wait, how did you take that? I didn't mean it that way. I did mean it that way.

Not B-U-T-T, B-U-T. Let me rephrase it. How big is your problem? How big is your obstacle? How big is what it is you are facing?

Here's the good news. Your God is bigger than what you're facing, right? All you're going to remember from this sermon is Craig asked us how big our butts was.

I was very offended. That's because your mind's in the gutter, okay. Moses' very life showed that God was bigger than any obstacle. I mean the story opens with the Pharaoh giving an order that all the Jewish baby boys are to be put to death. So go back to Joseph. When Joseph goes to Egypt, ends up in charge of the food supply of the Pharaoh, now the Jewish race begins to grow, and one day this new Pharaoh down the road says, where did all these Jewish people come from? I think they're a threat to us. We need to start getting rid of them. So he said to the midwives who were delivering the babies, if you see a Jewish baby boy coming, drown him in the river.

I don't want him. It was almost like a precursor to Hitler's final solution where he was trying to eradicate the Jewish people, but those Jewish ladies who had nothing to do with that and one of those little baby boys that was born was Moses. And it's interesting because the Bible says he was a beautiful baby. You know, not every baby is beautiful. I mean, now look, in a broad sense, all babies are beautiful, but let's be honest, some babies are a little more attractive than others. And some will say, look at my baby.

You go, wow. He looks very healthy. But then there are beautiful babies, right? You look, that's a beautiful baby.

That's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen. So this beautiful baby boy, Moses, is put in this little basket. You've heard of Noah's ark? It was like Moses' ark, but it was little, covered in pitch so it would stay afloat.

She taps it. It goes down the Nile River. As if on cue, the beautiful baby Moses cries, and the daughter of the Pharaoh sees him and says, I'm adopting that little guy. And now he's taken into the court of the Pharaoh. He's living in the very lap of luxury. The world was his oyster, schooled in the finest university, eating the finest food, wearing the most amazing clothes.

He had it all. In fact, some believe that he would have become the next Pharaoh had he played his cards right. But underneath those Egyptian royal robes beat the heart of a Hebrew. And he saw how horribly his people were being treated.

The Jews were slaves to the Egyptians. So one day, Moses, the prince of Egypt, sees an Egyptian beating a Jewish man, and he looks to the right, and he looks to the left, and he kills the Egyptian and then buries his body in the sand. If you're going to murder someone, don't bury them in the sand. First of all, don't murder anyone. Okay, let's just establish that. Thou shall not murder.

I've heard that. But don't hide someone in the sand because the little breeze blew and everyone knew. Pharaoh was so outraged, he put a contract out on Moses, and Moses now flees to the desert. For 40 years, he's in the desert watching over a flock of sheep. And now God was going to retool him. God was going to recall him. Moses spent 40 years in the Pharaoh's court finding out he was a somebody. He spent 40 years in the desert finding out he was a nobody. And he found out what God can do with someone who is a somebody who realizes they're a nobody. God was going to use Moses in a powerful way. So he goes in to see the Pharaoh. He demands the release of the Jews. The Pharaoh resists, but after a series of plagues came upon Egypt, finally Moses is leaving Egypt with the Jewish people, thousands and thousands of them. He could have said along with Martin Luther King, free at last, free at last.

Thank God almighty, we're free at last. So off they go. But interestingly the Lord did not direct them in a direct route to the land of promise. He led them through a much harder, longer route that in many ways made no sense. But in fact it was part of God's plan. And it's explained in Exodus 13 verse 17. When Moses, or rather when Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory. Even though that was the shortest route to the promised land, God said, if the people are faced with the battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt. So the Lord led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea.

We'll stop there. God did not lead them the shortest way or the easiest way, but it was the best way. The best way. And God always leads us in the best way. And there was an amazing GPS system the Lord set up.

I talked about this last time. It was a cloud by day, it was a fire by night. So when the cloud moved, you moved. When the cloud stopped, you stopped.

Same with the fire. I have a love-hate relationship with GPS. Like there have been times I'm driving in my car, going down the freeway, and the GPS says, turn right at the next off-ramp. I'm like, you don't turn right at the next off-ramp. You stay on the 405. Turn right at the next off-ramp. Turn, okay, finally I turn off. And now pull over to the street. Okay, go left, go right, go, now get out of your car, jump up and down three times.

Wait, what? Go in the In-N-Out Burger, order something, take the food and leave without paying. Get arrested.

Wait, who's programming this? So then recently I was driving and I programmed my destination and my GPS and I'm cruising along on the 55 freeway and the GPS says, turn right at the next off-ramp. I know you don't turn right at the next off-ramp. So I kept going straight and I hit traffic. Oh, and I thought GPS was trying to help me.

So I had to apologize to artificial intelligence. I'm sorry, GPS. But listen, God's GPS is always right.

It will never mislead you. We have something better than a cloud in the day and a fire by night. We have Christ living inside of us, guiding us through the word of God. You wanna know the will of God, study the word of God. God will never contradict His word.

And that's how we know what right and wrong are. And we have something better than a fire in the sky. We have the fire of the Holy Spirit empowering us to do His will and we have His peace that will help us to know which way to go. Isaiah 55 says, He shall go forth with joy and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

I love that. Trees clapping hands, mountains singing. But notice it says, you go forth with joy and you're led in peace. I found when I'm in the will of God, I have joy. I found when I'm in the will of God, I have peace. And there are times I might be in a situation or it could be a relationship or something else where you don't feel a peace about it. The Bible says, let the peace of God settle with finality all matters that arise in your minds. Another way it's been translated is let the peace of God be like an umpire.

Umpires are not very popular, are they? But someone has to call it and the Holy Spirit through His peace will show us things to do and things not to do. Isaiah 30 21 says, your own ears will hear Him right behind you. The voice will say, this is the way you should go whether you go to the right or the left. You know, we need God to direct us because God's way is better than our way.

We think we know what's right but many times we don't. It's like parents raising a kid. What if you let your children decide what they wanted to eat every day? For breakfast they'd have what? Captain Crunch? For lunch? Frosted flakes? For dinner the kid would say, I'm trying to cut back on the sugar so I'm going to go with Honey Nut Cheerios. This isn't good for you, kid.

This isn't even real food. I have to get the right food in your diet as well and God does the same. And so we have to go with His will and we have to go with His way. See Solomon ascended to the throne and the place of his father David. He became the king over Israel and because of that he had unlimited resources and power. And though God had given him amazing supernatural wisdom, he didn't want to live that way anymore. He decided he knew better than God so he decided to push the envelope and try everything this world had to offer.

And think how long ago this was written but how relevant it is today. Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 2, everything I wanted I took. I never said no to myself. I gave in to every impulse and I held back nothing. Wow that sounds awesome, right?

No, not so awesome. Solomon says then I took a good look at everything I'd done. I looked at all the sweat and hard work and I looked and I saw nothing but smoke, smoke and spitting into the wind.

That's a modern paraphrase. There was nothing to any of it. Nothing. Wow. So he realized it. He learned it the hard way.

Then at the end of the book of Ecclesiastes he comes to this important conclusion. Here's the final word. Fear God and do what he tells you to do. That's it.

Aha. Boy young people if you could learn from this because we always have to go out there and learn it ourselves and we can learn from the mistakes of others. Okay so here now are the Israelites and God's going to lead them through the Red Sea. Let's go to Exodus 14 verse 3.

Here's what happens. The Lord is saying the Pharaoh's going to think the Israelites are confused. They're trapped in the wilderness and once again the Lord says I'll harden Pharaoh's heart and he'll chase after you. I planned this in order to display my glory through Pharaoh and his whole army. After this the Egyptians will know I am the Lord.

So the Israelites camped there as they were told. What kind of a military strategy is this? Okay so the Pharaoh's going to think you're all going to die because you're backed up against the Red Sea. That's the plan.

So what do we do? You just stand there look like prey to a predator and he's going to go for this. He's going to go for this hook line and sinker and sure enough that's what the Pharaoh did. He heard about the Israelites.

He says let's go kill them. See the Pharaoh's heart was hard. That verse says that his heart would be hard.

You know it's interesting in the book of Exodus miracle after miracle was done to convince Pharaoh. Moses walked in threw his staff on the ground it turns into a snake probably a cobra. He picks it up by the tail. By the way never pick up a snake by its tail.

Always get them right behind the head because if you pick them up by the tail he'll strike. He picks up his stick or a snake rather it turns into a stick again. Plagues of frogs, plagues of lice, the Nile River turning to blood. All of these things happen to convince Pharaoh when we read Pharaoh hardened his heart. Pharaoh hardened his heart. Pharaoh hardened his heart. Then we read and God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Wait what? That's a contradiction.

No it isn't. Both things are true. You see Pharaoh hardened his heart repeatedly and the Lord effectively hardened his heart meaning he strengthened it. God will not force you to believe. If you put your faith in Christ and follow him he will strengthen you in that commitment. But if you go against God's will in a continual pattern of sin you'll be strengthened in that as well. And Pharaoh effectively went beyond the point of no return.

There is a point of no return. Jesus spoke of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit which is the unforgivable sin. You say oh man I might have blasphemed him sometime in my life. No it doesn't mean you insulted the Holy Spirit once.

The work of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of our sin and bring us to Christ. The blaspheme or to insult him means to reject the work he has come to do. So the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit or the unforgivable sin is the rejection of Christ. Every other sin can be forgiven if you repent of it.

But if you reject Jesus Christ the Bible says how can you escape if you neglect so great a salvation? The Pharaoh had gone beyond the point of no return. So now here are the Israelites. They're facing the Red Sea. Here comes the armies of Egypt.

What do they do? What would you have done? You would have done exactly what they did. They freaked out. Look at Exodus 14 10. As the Pharaoh approached the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. And they said weren't there enough graves for us in Egypt? Here was their problem. They always wanted to go back to Egypt.

The whole time they're in the wilderness even though the Lord's providing them this amazing food called manna and leading them with the ultimate GPS system and everything's taken care of. They're always saying oh I don't know I kind of wish I was in Egypt still. I missed the good old days back in Egypt. You know it's just a thing they kept going back to. It took one night to get Israel out of Egypt. It took 40 years to get Egypt out of Israel. And so they blamed Moses verse 11. They said to Moses why did you bring us here to die in the wilderness? Wow. That brings us to our next point.

Point number three. When facing an impossible and more impossible situation pray. When facing an impossible and more impossible situation pray.

Call out to God. Yes they freaked out but they also prayed. Look at verse 11. They cried out to the Lord and said to Moses why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Now they were complaining in their prayer.

Listen to this. Did you know it's okay to complain in a prayer? Oh that's sacrilegious. Excuse me have you ever read the Psalms? David did a lot of griping but he didn't cry out against God. He cried out to God.

Even Jesus hanging on the Christ said my God my God why have you forsaken me? So bring your complaints. Bring your questions to the Lord. But the key is bring them to the Lord. That's what they're doing. Lord help us.

We don't like this one bit. And they prayed. It reminds us of one of the stories of the disciples out in the Sea of Galilee and a great storm came and Jesus was aboard. So they prayed so they woke up Jesus and they said don't you care we're going to drown and then Jesus came out and stopped the storm but the thing is they did call out to Jesus and that's what we need to do. When panic sets in it's time to pray.

If your knees start shaking kneel on them. Faith and worry cannot coexist. One drives out the other. They're bad roommates. You have a bad roommate?

Oh I don't know if I can live with this person. You see that's the way it is with faith and worry. When faith comes in where he says I'm out of here and worry comes in faith is like I can't live here. Faith overcomes worry.

That's why it says in Philippians 3 don't worry about anything pray about everything and the peace of God that passes all human understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. I love what we see now. Here they are facing this Egyptian army and that was a scary army. That was the most powerful military on earth. Here they come in their chariots and their stallions and their swords and their spears and their shields and helmets and here are the Israelites just standing there with their kids you know their livestock Moses has a stick and not a lot more. They're like uh we're not really an army and the red sea is behind us and the Egyptian army is coming toward us and now they look like they're in the worst situation possible but I love what we read. We read that Moses says to the people stand still Exodus 14 and the Lord himself will fight for you. Stand still.

That's the hardest thing to do isn't it? We want to take things into our own hands but the Bible says wait on the Lord. Those that wait upon the Lord will mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint the Bible tells us.

When you're in a place like this it's not a bad place to be. Warren Wiersby a great Bible commentator said this and I quote when human resources are gone then defined resources can go to work on behalf of those that trust God end quote. So when you're led by the Lord make your move.

Look at verse 15 the Lord says to Moses why are you crying out to me tell the people to get moving pick up your staff raise your hand over the sea divide the water so the Israelites can walk through in the middle of the sand on dry ground or the middle of the sea on dry ground. You know there there's a point to wait and there's a point to pray a moment to pray and then you gotta move. That sounds strange no you gotta always pray well yes pray but there's a moment to move. When intercession has passed intervention has come it's time to take action. Let's illustrate let's say you're having problems in your marriage and how many of you are married raise your hand you're married okay a lot of you are married how many of you are happily married raise your hand not as many hands interesting so this will really relate to you. Let's say you're having problems in your marriage and wife you're praying for your husband Lord would you speak to my husband he needs to show me more affection he needs to do the chores I ask him to do he needs to be more patient with me just change my husband we pray and meanwhile the husband is praying Lord change this wife she's always nagging she's always complaining she doesn't appreciate me. Well look why don't you just do your part there's a point to pray but the Bible says husbands love your wife as Christ loves the church. Why don't you do that guys are you doing it I'll answer it for you no we all fall short of that don't we men right we fall short we don't love our wives as much as we should but then the wife is told by God respect your husband isn't that interesting isn't that interesting God tells a husband to love his wife and God tells a wife to respect her husband that doesn't mean that husbands should not respect their wives nor does it mean wives should not love their husbands but it is interesting to note there are distinct commands given to each see men need respect they need respect and they need a sandwich we're not all that complex ladies we just aren't just to say to your husband I respect you I admire you I love you I thank you for providing for me all these years you know that goes a long ways with a guy but hey guys girls need love you need to love them you need to show affection toward them they need to be reassured these are important things right so do your part there's a time to pray but there's a time to take action what about somebody you need to forgive someone has hurt you someone has slandered you and you say it's so hard for me to forgive I've been praying Lord help me forgive them why don't you just go do it I'm not feeling it though doesn't matter just do it the bible says be tender-hearted forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven you you know one of my favorite heroes of Christian history is a lady named Cory Tinboom have you heard of her how many of you have heard of Cory Tinboom okay she wrote an amazing book called The Hiding Place so Cory was a young lady living in Holland during World War II she was a strong Christian along with her father and her sister and the Nazis were hunting down Jews arresting them and sending them to concentration camps so Cory and her family hid Jewish people in her home hence the title of her book The Hiding Place one day the Gestapo figured it out they arrested Cory's father Casper Tinboom her sister Betsy and Cory herself the father died quickly because he was an elderly man he was very frail Betsy and Cory were ended up in a camp called Ravensbrück and Betsy was just a godly saintly woman and she died and then Cory was released on a clerical error but in reality it was the providence of God so she lived out her life traveling the world telling people there is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still she described herself as a tramp for the Lord and would speak all over the place I heard her speak once it was amazing and she was in Germany a few years after the war was over she had spoken the topic of forgiveness at the end of her sermon a line of people wanted to shake her hand and suddenly a man approaches her and he says Fraulein Tinboom I don't know if you remember me she had a flashback this man standing before her she remembered him as a Nazi in the concentration camp doing horrible things to her and her sister she filled with rage and anger and her her fist clenched and she grit her teeth and he says Fraulein Tinboom I was so moved by your message and I'm asking you to forgive me she said I couldn't do it and then she said in an act of obedience I extended my hand and I shook his hand and I said I forgive you brother she said it was like a bolt of electricity went down my arm and through my hand and I felt this burden of unforgiveness lifted off me at that very moment you see what happened there she didn't wait for the emotion she just did the motion she just did the right thing and so there's a time to pray and there's a time to move and that's what we need to do as well so they took this great step of faith and obeyed the Lord bring me to point number five to face the impossible you must walk by faith not by feelings to face the impossible you must walk by faith not by feelings look at exodus 14 21 Moses raised his hand up over the sea the Lord opened up a path through the water with a strong east wind and the wind blew all that night turning the seabed into dry land and the people of Israel walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground with walls of water on each side wow it had been easier to airlift them over but the Lord took them through imagine for a moment walls of water on each side have you ever been to one of those amazing aquariums you know big huge sea creatures they're just walking along whoa look at the way look at the dolphins keep walking and they walked and they walked and they walked it took a while to get across the red sea and that's the Christian life we walk and we walk and we walk we walk by faith not by feeling we put one foot in front of the other some days we feel it some days we don't but the Bible says the just shall live by faith being a Christian or a successful Christian has been defined as long obedience in the same direction and I wonder if you're facing a red sea right now I wonder if you're looking at what seems to be an insurmountable obstacle well there's no thing that you're facing that's bigger than God God is bigger than your problem God is bigger than your problem I want you to say this out loud I don't have you say things out loud a lot I want you to say God is bigger than my problem ready God is bigger than my problem right it's true remember that I don't know what you're facing maybe it's a physical problem you know you're sick or you have or you have a disability or old age is just kicking in and you're thinking oh man this is hard you know think of the great apostle Paul this is a man that did miracles by the hand of God Paul prayed for a person to be raised from the dead Paul prayed for people to be healed Paul wrote words down in letters that we now called the Bible Paul went to heaven and came back to tell the story this is Paul and Paul was sick so you would think man he's a super saint whatever he had asked for he'd get it just name it and claim it man Paul said Lord I'm sick I have this thorn in the flesh we don't know what this thorn in the flesh was but he says there was given unto me a thorn in the flesh a messenger of satan sent to buffet me three times I asked the Lord to take it away and the Lord said my grace is sufficient for you for my strength will come through more in your weakness I know we don't want to go through red seas I know we don't want to go through valleys I know we don't want to go through fiery trials sometimes God will airlift us over but a lot of the time he walks with us through those difficulties Isaiah 43 2 says when you go through deep water the Lord says I'll be with you when you go through rivers of difficulty you will not drown when you walk through the fire of oppression you will not be burned up and the flames will not consume you so on they walk and they're done now the last the last one's coming through come on come on come on let's go let's go let's go we're done all of a sudden the Egyptian army says ah let's go let's get up and they come through the dry ground and their chariots with all their equipment and the waters come back heaping on them and they all drowned some people would say that's not fair the poor Egyptian army interesting how they died drowning wasn't it the Pharaoh that gave the command to drown all the Jewish baby boys hmm looks like he reaped what he sowed the Bible says don't be confused about this or deceived God is not mocked you go Greg you're wrong people mock God all the time oh I know but listen to what the rest of the verse says God is not mocked for whatsoever a man shall sow he will also reap now that's all not all negative it says if he sows of the flesh shall reap corruption but if he sows of the Spirit he'll reap life everlasting you'll reap what you sow so a thought reap an act so a act reap a habit so a habit reap a character so a character reap a destiny it all starts with what you think so when you sow to the Spirit which means come to church on Sunday I mean here that's good start open your Bible up in the morning pray about things surround yourself with believers that will encourage you that's called sowing to the Spirit you'll reap life everlasting but if you sow to the flesh you'll reap corruption that's what happened to the Pharaoh he reaped what he sowed one final point and I'm done number six after overcoming the impossible give God the glory after overcoming the impossible give God the glory look at Exodus 15 verse 1 then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord I'll sing to the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously he has hurled both horse and rider into the sea the Lord is my strength and my song he has given me victory this is my God and I will praise him my father's God and I will exalt him I love that did you know that's a first recorded song in scripture no I'm sure they sang before this but this is the first time it's recorded this is called the song of Moses and by the way we will be singing the song of Moses in heaven so this is a hit song this is a big deal they're giving God the praise you know we're so quick to call on God when we're in trouble are we as quick to give praise to God when he gets us through the trouble the answer is no but we can change that now I want you to think for a moment have you come recently through a hard trial or through a red sea of sorts or through some difficulty have you you can nod your head if you have okay I can see okay good have you given God glory for that oh Lord help me oh Lord come through me great good he came through for you thanks God see you next crisis no given glory Lord thank you specifically thank you for what you just did I acknowledge that as an answer to my prayer you did that and I praise you for it remember the story of the 10 lepers that were healed by Jesus one came back to give thanks and Jesus had a question hey you're welcome man but where are the other nine that's us we're the other nine let's give God the glory when he comes through for us just as the Israelites gave glory to God when he came through for them and what appeared to be a hopeless situation came the ultimate hope the Pharaoh's plan backfired and his army was destroyed the same thing happened 2 000 years ago at the cross the worst travesty of justice in human history is when the holy sinless son of God was arrested beaten and nailed to a cross but this was the devil's plan the devil thought you know I want to stop Jesus and I know how I'll do it I'll kill him let's go back to the arc of scripture we already saw Pharaoh tried to kill all the Jewish baby boys because Jesus was Jewish and God laid it down in the book of Genesis when after the fall happened and Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit the Lord said to Satan there is coming one who's going to crush your head but you will bruise his heel came on battle lines are drawn now the devil knows he wants to stop Jesus so he works to the Pharaoh to try to kill all the Jewish baby boys fast forward to the book of Esther a wicked man named Haman devises a scheme to have all of the Jews killed and Haman ends up hanging on his own gallows because a courageous young woman named Esther who won a beauty contest causing her to become the queen of Persia used her feminine influence for the glory of God and saved a race now we go to the new testament here's king Herod hearing that there's been one who was born who is called the king of the Jews Pharaoh gives the command kill all the Jewish baby boys that'll stop them no no no you're not going to stop Messiah but Satan thought I've got it I'm going to infiltrate his ranks Jesus had 12 disciples one of them was named Judas Iscariot and he entered the heart of Judas and Judas betrayed our Lord for 30 pieces of silver and Pontius Pilate gave the command and Jesus was nailed to a cross and he died Satan thought I won ah you can't keep a good man down and you can't keep the god man down right on schedule Jesus rose again three days later because he came with the express purpose of dying on the cross for the sin of the world for your sin and for mine so it looked like the worst travesty of justice but in reality it was all part of God's plan and Jesus died on that cross for you so you could be forgiven of your sin because I might be talking to someone who's just given up you're thinking you know maybe the world would be a better place without me don't you listen to that life from the pit of hell you're loved by God God has a plan for you and there's a second chance and a third chance but Craig you said we reap what we sow I know I said that but did I remind you that God can also forgive you of your sin and did I also remind you probably didn't I'm telling you now if any man be in Christ he is an altogether different kind of person all old things that passed away and behold everything becomes fresh and new so you can ask God to forgive you and he will one person applauds let's join them there we go I know you're thinking it's lunch time Greg let's wrap her up okay we're done but I don't want to miss this opportunity to offer this relationship of God to some of you that have joined us some of you that are watching wherever you are or listening Jesus Christ who died on that cross rose again from the dead three days later he stands now at the door of your life and he knocks and says if you'll hear his voice and open the door he'll come in would you like a second chance in life would you like Christ to come into your life would you like to be forgiven of your sin that can happen for you right here right now we're going to pray and then I'm going to extend an invitation in this prayer for you to ask God to forgive you have God give you a second chance let's pray father I pray for every person here every person watching and listening wherever they are Lord I pray that your Holy Spirit will convict them of their sin and convince them of their need for Jesus and help them to come to you now we pray now while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying together if you would like Jesus Christ to come into your life if you would like him to forgive you of your sin if you would like to know that when you die you will go to heaven if you would like that second chance in life I've been talking about I'd like you to lift your hand up right now and I'd like to pray for you lift your hand up high where I can see it God bless you God bless you anybody else raise your hand up saying I need Jesus today I need his forgiveness I need a second chance I've messed up my life I need to come to him or I need to come back to him raise your hand up I want to pray for you there at harvest riverside same thing raise your hand up I can't see you guys there but the Lord sees you you raise your hand up too maybe there's somebody here that would say you know I'm I'm a prodigal son I'm a prodigal daughter I need to get right with God pray for me if you need to come back to the Lord let me pray for you raise your hand up wherever you are God bless you God bless you now I'm going to ask that every one of you that has raised your hand I want you to stand to your feet and I'm going to lead you in a prayer stand up and we're going to pray together out loud wherever you are just stand up to your feet that's right God bless you God bless you stand up even if you did not raise your hand you want to make this commitment to Jesus stand up and we're all going to pray together wherever you are if you're watching this screen here on the campus harvest riverside wherever you are you stand up to we're all going to settle this right now anybody else stand now and we're going to pray all right all of you standing I want you to pray this God bless you we were waiting for you yes so I'm going to pray a prayer and I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me again as I pray pray this out loud after me right now all of you standing let's pray pray these words Lord Jesus I know I'm a sinner but I know that you're the savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead I'm sorry for my sin Lord I turn from it now I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my savior and my Lord as my God and my friend thank you for hearing this prayer in Jesus name I pray amen God bless every one of you hey everybody thanks for listening to this podcast to learn more about harvest ministries follow this show and consider supporting it just go to harvest.org and to find out how to know God personally go to harvest.org and click on know God