Courageous Kingdom Advancement

Sermon Transcript

Pastor Jeff:

If you were to study the Bible from Genesis all the way through the end of the book of Revelation, there would be two major themes that you would see all the way through that run in parallel.

And the first is this, the glory of God. God wants to be glorified in every single way. And the second is like it. It's the advancement of his kingdom here on the planet so that other people will recognize his glory.

All the way back in Genesis at Creation, we see how God created the world in six literal days and rested on the seventh to show his incredible glory and show who he is, so that the world would know, if they ever wondered, how did we get here and how did all this begin? And who's in charge of this whole thing anyway? That God would be screaming from creation, "It's me. I am."

And then from the time of the fall onward, what we see is that God wants to use human beings to help advance his kingdom. That God wants to use us as part of advancing his kingdom here on the Earth. We even see it as Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray. 'Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name?'

Lord, may your glory be put on display. May everyone know how holy you are and how set apart and different that you are. Then what do we pray? 'May your kingdom come. May your will be done, on the Earth as it is in heaven.' In other words, God, as you're so glorious and as we know that your glory exists, may we help you advance the glory of your kingdom on this planet until you return?

So from creation all the way until culmination, what does God want? God wants to put his glory on display. God wants to be worshiped by every single human being and God created us, as we know, to worship him. And then as worshipers of God, what does he want us to do? He wants us to advance his kingdom. Well, a kingdom needs a king. Jesus Christ is the king. It's his realm. It's his realm of what he wants to get done in the world.

And this is what he's talking about in our text today. As we've been studying the book of Exodus, we've been taking a look at what God does in a nation through a group of people when he wants to get his work done. What we read in Chapter 1 is God saw the oppression of all the people of Israel in Egypt. So God chose a plan. He raised up a man by the name of Moses, because you remember at the end of Chapter 1, Pharaoh said, "No, we're going to kill all the baby boys."

And God said, "Oh, really? I'm going to take a Hebrew boy and I'm going to have you raise him in your palace and I'm going to use him to deliver my people." And then we saw, after Moses had grown up as a deliverer in his heart, even from a young age, by about the age of 40, he had this deliverer in his heart when he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, he looked right and left and said, "This can't go on," and he killed the Egyptian and then had to flee a Midian where he became a shepherd for 40 years.

And then God called him through a burning bush. God spoke directly to him and said, "I got a call on your life and here's what your call is. It's to go back to Pharaoh and it's to tell him, let my people go, that they may come and worship me. That's the calling on your life."

And Moses didn't want to do it, because it's one thing to know that God wants to advance his cause on this planet. It's one thing to know that God wants to advance his kingdom principles. It's another thing when he calls you to be the one that he wants to do it through. Because it takes an incredible amount of courage.

I've entitled this message Courageous Kingdom Advancement, because whether we're talking the Old Testament kingdom or whether we're talking the New Testament kingdom, through the church where Jesus said, "I will build my church in the gates of hell, will not prevail against it."

What we see about God's kingdom, it's always on the offensive. It's always moving forward. We never see the kingdom come just by people sitting back passively and hoping God does something. Yes, God is sovereign. Yes, God is the one that does the work. But he always chooses his people for which to do the work with.

As a matter of fact, he has to specifically tell us in scripture at different times, and you'll see this in Exodus 14, where he has to say, "Stand still. Let me do the work here." Let me go about doing this. Just be quiet right now. Watch me do my work. Other than that, he's always inviting us in.

Even when Jesus rose from the dead and commissioned his disciples after he said, "All authority in Heaven and Earth's been given to me," what's he say? "Go. You go do it. You let me live my life in and through you. You are my reason and way for advancing the Kingdom of God in this generation."

So if we want to know what God is up to, we need to look no further than to know that he wants to be glorified and he wants to use you to advance his kingdom so that more people will glorify him.

And this is where we get today. As we left off, we saw how going after God and doing what he wants causes challenge. We looked at the opposition last week in five different things that happen when we step out in faith that oppose the work of God and yet we're still called, courageously, to advance his kingdom.

And today I want to pick up in the book of Exodus in Chapter 6, starting in Verse 28. We're going to cover a lot of text today, but I'm going to do it a little bit differently. We're going to cover some text and then I'm going to give you the points up front, and then we'll start to uncover what God is saying as the plagues of Egypt arrive.

Here's what he says. He says, "Now it came about on the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt that the Lord spoke to Moses saying, I am the Lord. Speak to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I speak to you."

But Moses said before the Lord, "Behold I am unskilled in speech. How then will Pharaoh listen to me?" Here's what Moses is saying. I'm a shepherd and I'm not a good speaker. What am I doing speaking to the king? We think so many times, when we hear the text, Moses and Pharaoh, Moses and Pharaoh, Moses and Pharaoh. Who's Moses? He's a Hebrew that had to flee Egypt. He's been a shepherd for 40 years. He's not a great communicator, not a great public speaker by his own admission. And yet who does God choose? He chooses a shepherd to confront the king.

Why? Because God is the one who calls and God's the one who does the work. And notice what happens as we get into Chapter 7. It says, "Then the Lord said to Moses, as he's making all of his excuses, see. I make you as God to Pharaoh and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet."

In other words, Pharaoh's going to know who God is because of you. "You shall speak all that I command you and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that I may multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt."

God says he's going to harden Pharaoh's heart. Pharaoh's going to harden his heart, too. Do you realize whatever heart you bring to the Lord, determines what's going to happen? If you bring a soft, tender heart before the Lord and a heart of repentance, God will soften and draw you into himself. If you bring a hardened heart towards the Lord, your heart will only get harder. It's like we say, the same sun that can melt wax, can harden clay. What you present in your heart to the Lord will determine what God does with your heart.

Today, if you hear his voice, what? Do not harden your heart. Why? Because if you go before the Lord with a hard heart, what happens? It gets even harder. And God is saying, I'm going to harden Pharaoh's heart because he's going to bring me a hard heart that's only going to get harder and I know what's going to happen. And eventually his heart will get so hard, he'll just drive you out of the land.

He says Verse Four, "When Pharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring out my hosts, my people. That's my army." How does God see his people? How does God see his covenant people? How does God see his church? As an army. So often, and I've said this from this pulpit before, we say church is not a country club for sinners, it's a hospital for saints. And yeah, it's a place of healing for broken people, for sure, but it's neither a hospital nor a country club. What is it?

It's an army. It's an army of the living God. God said, I'm bringing my army out of Israel. I'm bringing my people out of Israel from both the land of Egypt by great judgements. And then he says this, "The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord," when? "When I stretch out my hand on Egypt and bring them out from your midst."

So Moses and Aaron did it as the Lord commanded them. Thus they did. Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83 when they spoke to Pharaoh. He says, "When are they going to know that I'm God?""When I deliver them." When people get delivered, then you'll know who God is. When you're completely set free, that's when you know who God is. Because remember the question in Chapter 5 that Pharaoh was asking? Moses told him, "The Lord said, Yahweh said, let my people go."

And what's his response? "Who is Yahweh? I don't know this Lord. Moreover, why should I listen to him?" In other words, here's what he's saying. Why should I serve your God? I don't know who he is. And so, God is saying, I'm going to reveal myself to him. I'm going to show him who I am and when he sees me and all of my glory, he'll let you go. He will deliver you.

And notice how old was Moses and how old was Aaron? Moses was how old? 80. Aaron was how old? 83. Hey y'all, your fulfillment of your calling may not have arrived just yet. I mean we live in a culture that says at 65 you should be peeling it back. At 65, you should be dialing it back. Hey, get to a place where you can retire and be financially independent so you can sit around, play golf, watch TV, and do nothing.

You will find that not anywhere in the scriptures. You're to live for the Lord and his glory and the advancement of his kingdom until you die. Amen? So keep living. Keep living for him. So, here's the first thing. I'm going to unpack all five of these as we see him get ready to go to Pharaoh, because you need to know when God calls people to be courageous in advancing his kingdom, these are things that are true of all that God calls.

And by the way, you may not be called to be a pastor. You may not be called to be a prophet. But if you've repented and trusted in Jesus Christ, he's called you to himself. He's called you to himself and he's going to give you a responsibility. Now for all of us that love the Lord and love the authority of God's word, when we hear what God wants to do in the Earth, we're all in.

I love that. I want to see God loved more. I want to see people loved more. I want to see his agenda more. I want to see all that. But when God starts laying his hand heavy upon us, then go do it. We're like, "Well, not me. I mean, who am I? What difference can I make?"

That's why you need to own these five truths as to how God advances his kingdom, and the first is this. Courageous kingdom advancement occurs through called courageous warriors. Called courageous warriors. Now let's unpack that just a little bit. What does it mean to be called? It means that you heard the voice of the Lord and you're responding to him. It means when you hear the word of the Lord, you're saying, "Yes, Lord," before you even hear the word of the Lord. It's when you know that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, and anything that he authors in this book is authoritative and he wants you to be obedient to it, and you're saying, "Yeah, I'm called to that. I'm called to everything that this book tells me that I need to do."

Now, if you are called and you're going to live that obediently, guess what you're going to need to be? Courageous. Do you know why? Because our world that we live in does not follow the authority of God's word. Let me say it again. That may come as a shock to some of you. The world we live in does not follow and submit to the authority of God's word. No generation ever has. Not since the Garden of Eden has any generation turned to Christ and said, "We all want to worship you."

Now, there's been moments in the history of the church and there's been other times in the Old Testament where we see God, through his spirit, breathe out revival in different places. We see it in the Old Testament when Jonah preaches and all of Nineveh comes to know the Lord. We see it in the New Testament. We see it in church history. We see it when Peter preaches his first sermon and 3000 people get saved.

There are times where God does some things, but for the most part, no matter what generation you live in, and if you read Christians of previous generations who are really walking with the Lord, they'll tell you this. "My generation that I live in is not walking towards Christ as a whole. They're all heading to an eternal hell, and God's called me to stand in the gap as a called courageous warrior for Christ."

You say well, why the word warrior? Why not just to serve him? Because we're in a battle for the souls of men and women. You'll see when we get to Exodus 15, the Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name. There is a fight and a battle going on for your soul and for the soul of every single person that you will ever come into contact with. And what are we called to be? We're called to be warriors. We're never called anywhere in the Old or New Testament to be passive.

People love to preach sermons on 1 Peter 1:13, saying, "Gird up the loins of your mind for action." We love to preach sermons on Ephesians 6, about putting on the full armor of God and all these things. Why do we need armor? You don't need armor for your same team. You don't need armor when you're in the battle with people. Who do you need armor for? When you are advancing a cause that people are against, you need to put on the armor of God. Why? Because he called you to be a warrior for his great name.

He called you to stand in this generation. And for some of you, you say, "Where are you getting that from?" Everywhere throughout scripture, but let me give you one. 2 Corinthians 5:20. Paul says, "Therefore we are his," what? Ambassadors, as though God is making his appeal through us. We urge you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God. What are you? You're his ambassador. You know what ambassador is? It's not one who just represents the nation. It's one who represents the one in charge of that nation.

When ambassadors are sent up from America, they don't just represent the United States, they represent the President. When you are an ambassador, you are not just an ambassador for the kingdom. Who are you an ambassador for? You are an ambassador for the Lord Jesus Christ. That means in your thoughts, words, actions, deeds, church attendance, advancement, everything you do, you are an ambassador for Christ.

Meaning, when you wake up in the morning, you may not even have a title. You may have a title student, you may have a title mom, you may have a title dad, you may have a title employee, you may have a title employer. You may have any number of titles. Your number one title is this, I'm an ambassador for the Lord Jesus Christ everywhere I go.

I'm representing him courageously, because there's a fight going on for the soul of every single person that I come into contact with. That's why you see in Colossians 1:13, 14, where God rescued you from what? The kingdom of darkness and transferred you into the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom there's redemption and forgiveness of sin.

There's two different kingdoms. There's a clash of kingdoms ever since Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve sinned, there's this clash of kingdoms going on. There's God's kingdom, there's Christ's kingdom, that's going one direction and there's the world kingdom that's going the exact opposite direction. And if you don't realize that you're already in a battle, you've lost.

Church, let me just tell you something. We all need to wake up, because we're in a battle that we're losing because we don't even realize there's a war going on. And nowhere does God call us, as a church, to sit idly passively by and just pray and hope that God makes a difference. God's called you to pray, seek his face, worship, and then get out there and make a difference with your mouth and with your deeds. Amen?

He's calling courageous kingdom warriors. You are called by God to live that way. And who does he call? Whoever he wants. If you've repented of your faith and trusted in Jesus, then he's called you. D.L. Moody once quipped that for the first 40 years of Moses' life, he grew up in the palace thinking he was somebody. And for the next 40 years in Midian he learned that he was a nobody. And then the final 40 years of his life, when he turned 80, he learned how God can use somebody who thinks they're a nobody. Right?

Who me? Yeah you. Why? Because you trusted Jesus and you're part of the family of God and you're an ambassador for Christ in this generation to see God be glorified and to see the kingdom expand. Here's the question. What is God the Lord of? Is he just the Lord of the church? Are we only supposed to talk about God in church? Or is he really the Lord of the universe? And so, we're to proclaim and live his values every single place that we go. He's the Lord of the universe.

We're called to live this out. What'd he call you to be? He called you to be a courageous warrior for his name's sake. If you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. God has more of an agenda for your life than just to get you to heaven. God wants to use you as his ambassador until you breathe your last breath on this side of heaven. That's why there's so many scriptures that talk about what difference does it matter what happens to you? I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. What do I care what people do to me? What do I care if I go to jail? What do I care if I get killed? What do I care if I lose my bank account? What do I care?

I'm already in Christ. I'm his ambassador in this generation for his name's sake. What's more important than that? That's what God's looking for. That's how the kingdom gets advanced. You study the Bible, you study church history, you study any time where you see a move of God. You will see courageous called warriors for his name. Amen?

And I think we've dumbed down the church too much. I believe the gospel is simple. I believe the gospel is clear, 'that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.' Simple, clear, not jumping through hoops, not being a good person. If you believe Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead and you'll repent and turn to Christ, you can have all of his life right now.

But we'll talk about repentance in a bit. Repentance doesn't mean yeah, that sounds good. Where do I sign the card? Are you sure I'm in? Repentance means I'm forsaking all other gods and everything else, because I want Jesus and him only, even if I get nothing else. That's repentance in faith. That's what it looks like. And that's what God's calling us to. To be called courageous warriors, not to walk around as a church saying, "Am I really saved? Am I not saved? Am I really saved? Am I not saved? Am I really saved? Am I not saved?"

We can talk about that, but if you really are saved then get to work. Serve the Lord, right? Second is this. Courageous kingdom advancement occurs through compassion for the oppressed. Compassion for the oppressed. Do you remember when Jesus got out of the boat when he told his disciples, "Let's go to the other side."

And the disciples were all excited just to spend time with him and they were going to finally get alone with Jesus. And what happens? Massive crowds. And Jesus didn't send the crowds away. What did he say? The scripture said that he had compassion on the people, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. What's compassion? Compassion is when I see a real need and I do something to take action.

That's compassion. Jesus had compassion for those people. Why? Because these were the very people he created. These were his very nation of people that were straight on their way to hell, because they didn't have a relationship with him. And it burdened then him. Do you have compassion for those who are being oppressed? When God calls you to a certain area of his kingdom, he'll give you compassion for that group of people. He'll give you compassion and show you they need help. They need encouragement. They need to be built up. We're called to that. As a church, I think we know that, and here's why.

Let you in on another little key insight. This world's a broken place because of sin. If there is no Jesus in this world, there is no hope. There's none. We could sit here all day and talk about the different types of brokenness and still not exhaust all the kinds of brokenness, because some of you have experienced all this. Divorce, death, loss of income, loss of a job, pain, hurt, brokenness in relationship, brokenness in the world. If you keep breathing you're going to experience brokenness.

And you know what the cure is? It's Jesus, and apart from him, there is no help. And even with Jesus, you're still going to experience brokenness in this world. And what do we need to be as a church, as God's people? We need have compassion for those that are being oppressed. Compassion for those who are being put down.

What does Moses have in his heart? He's got compassion for the people of Israel being slaves. They're enslaved. For 400 years, his people have been enslaved. Moses grows a greater burden for that as he spends more time with the Lord and wants to see the people freed and wants to see them delivered. The longer you serve the Lord in whatever service or ministry he has for you, the more you'll want to see the people you're pouring into be set free. And truly know the Lord. And truly love the Lord. And truly believe in the Lord. And truly would be able to say, even if all else falls apart, as long as I have the Lord, I know I'm good. You want to see that in others. And that's what God wants us to be.

We want to be a church that has compassion for the lost. We want to be a church that has compassion for those who've experienced incredible amounts of pain. We want to say, "Hey, I get it. It's a broken world. Somebody acted upon you in a way that they shouldn't have, and I get it. I'm sorry."

Or how about this? "I know you made a really stupid choice. I've made a lot of stupid choices too. And pain has come your way and I'm here for you. I'm not blaming you. I've done a lot of dumb, too." That's compassion, right? We need to have compassion for the oppressed. That's where we see brokenness that's awful, where there's no relief. And guess what? We get to play a conduit of being relief to people that are going through that very thing.

And as a church, I think that's part of the reason that we exist. To help people through their brokenness on this side of heaven until we're completely put back together because friends, I'm telling you, there's a day coming where everything's going to be made right. And Jesus is going to wipe every tear from your eye and there will be no more mourning and there will be no more weeping and there will be no more anger. And there'll just be bliss and joy in the presence of our glorious Lord and Savior. Amen?

God's kingdom advances through called courageous warriors, through compassion for the oppress. Now this is the point that I'm going to talk about where some of you are going to be offended and you may get up and leave or never come back. And my goal is not to offend you. My goal is to present truth.

But God advances his kingdom and it occurs through confronting the oppressor and confronting the oppressors. It's one thing to see people oppressed and comfort and come alongside of them. It's another thing to go after the one that's causing the oppression. It's one thing to say, "Hey, I'm praying for you. I know you're being bullied at school. I'm really sorry. That's a really awful thing."

It's another thing going after the bully and saying, "You'll never bully again." Do you understand the difference? Both are loving, both are godly, both are Christian. Most of us don't think that confronting the oppressor is a Christian thing. We think we're called to sit passively by and if God wants to do something, then he'll do it. No, we're called to speak and live the truth for the glory of God. And when people are... Amen? We can give God praise for that.

And when there are things happening to an individual or a group of people and we remain silent about it, we are agreeing with the oppression that people are under. Right? Now, this is where people are going to say, "Pastor Jeff, you're just getting political." Everything I'm about ready to tell you is not a political issue. It's a spiritual issue. But too many cowardly preachers won't preach the truth of God's word. And if you can't hear the truth of God's word in the church, then where else are you ever going to hear it? Right?

It'd be one thing if Moses went back to Israel and just had compassion for all the slaves and we're healing all their wounds and rubbing salve and ointment on their wounds and saying, "It's so bad that you got beat today and I'm so sorry. Let's pray that your oppressor gets a little better." That's not what they do. They're doing that, at the same time they're going right to the king and saying, "You're dead wrong and you need to repent."

And we sometimes think well, that's not very Christian. Yeah it is. Do you know why? Because Pharaoh was on his way to hell and there was a way to get him out. And Pharaoh was destroying God's people and God didn't want his people destroyed. And God looks for a mouthpiece to stand up to all of that and say this is wrong and you need to repent. Right? That's what's going on. And why Moses? He's a shepherd, y'all. What qualifications does he possibly have?

We think sometimes, well I know it's wrong what I'm seeing going on in the world, but we shouldn't really say anything because that's offensive. You've been duped. Okay? Separation of church and state. You've been duped. If you study separation of church and state, you'll realize that Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to the Danbury Baptists telling them that he would keep the government out of the church. The church was never to be kept out of government. Ever.

There's no document in our land that says you can't do that. None. You've been duped. And by the way, this is not church and state. This is a separation between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. That's what it's a separation of. So, let's talk about the kingdom of light. So when we have a whole world that talks about all these initials all the time, like BLM and CRT and LGTBQIA, that's nine letters, three of them used twice. And they're all satanically inspired agendas. Every single one of them.

You say, how do you know? Because, God created how many races? One. He created the human race in Genesis Chapter 1. He created how many genders? Two. He created two genders in Genesis Chapter 1. So you know that BLM is completely wrong because it's anti-biblical. Every race matters, because there's only one race. So whatever color of skin you have, praise God for it, and never apologize for it. It's who he made you.

And if he made you male or female, whatever he made you, that's what you are regardless of what you put in your body or surgeries you have. You are still who you were when you were conceived in utero. According to the Bible... You say, "Pastor Jeff, you're just being political." No, I'm being biblical. And if the church doesn't stand up and say that, who's going to say it? Who's going to say it?

Now listen, it doesn't mean we don't have compassion, because we just got done saying that was the point. We have compassion. So, there's some people here who are confused by gender identity. I get it. I get it. Because Satan is always trying to deceive and confuse. And if that's you or you have a child or a grandchild that is struggling with this, we're coming alongside of you and we love you and we'll pray for you, but we will not change the word of God to accommodate sinful behavior ever. Amen?

Or how about abortion? It's not a political issue. Who creates life? God does. Who can take it away? God. Who else? Nobody. It's called murder. So it's not a political issue, it's a spiritual issue. It's not even a choice. Now listen, I'm talking about this issue because I know there's well over hundreds of people that attend Brave Church. Some of you ladies that have had abortions, I'll just tell you. There's amazing forgiveness from our God, no matter what. He totally forgives everything. He'll walk you through things and if you've been raped or at incest and you're the 0.000001% that everybody wants to make an issue, we'll talk to you. We'll pray with you. We'll allow the Holy Spirit to come alongside you. We'll love you like you've never been loved.

But we will not change the word of God to accommodate your pain. Two wrongs do not make a right. Amen? Now I know what some of you were saying. "Pastor Jeff, now you're just being political." I'm just getting started.

Right now. There's a bill in Virginia being proposed that parents, if your kid decides to be a different gender and you don't allow their surgery, you can go to jail. That's on the floor. You say, "Well, that's never going to happen." It will if you remain quiet and don't do anything about it. Vote. Vote.

If you don't vote, you are saying that the gods of this age, I align with them and I want them to take over our nation. Your silence is agreeing. Your passivity is agreeing. If the church of Jesus Christ would rise up and vote biblically and authoritatively on the issues that aren't even up for debate, our world would change. It's just that so many of us as Christians, instead of being contagious called Christian warriors are just a bunch of cowards that sit around and say, "I hope we can do church."

You realize Germany in the 1930s was a Christian nation? They had pastors that stood at the pulpit just like me. They sang Crown Him with Many Crowns. They sang All Hail the Power of Jesus Name while Jews were being carted off in trains right behind the church. So they'd sing louder, so they wouldn't have to listen to him while six million Jews went and were exterminated. And you say what happened? How could that happen? Because people who were called by the name of God, shut up, lived passively, and didn't do what God told them to do. Stand up, use your voice, use your vote. Call people to repentance. That's what God tells us to do, amen? That's what Moses is doing.

Now, I grew up thinking hey, church is here. Just the gospel. Let them be offended by the cross, never anything else. Friends, we're living in a world where it's going to hell in a hand basket, and the reason that it is because Christians refuse to speak up. And I'm not going to sit here and come to church and sing Kumbaya every single week while our world unravels and we're doing nothing about it. And just say, "Oh, I just hope we can still do services."

No, we are called courageous warriors, both men and women. Women, listen to me. You're a warrior, too. My first born, Brooke, I wanted to give her the middle name Killian. You know what Killian means? It means mighty woman warrior of the church. I tried to convince my wife, it sounded that 'K' sound like Brooke Killian, and my wife promptly said, "We are not naming our first born after a beer."

And so, that went away. But I want men and women to be warriors for Christ. And when we talk about warriors, we're not talking about physical prowess and we're not talking about hurting other people. What are we talking about? We're talking about loving God so radically, loving people so radically, that we won't waiver on the word, but we also won't waiver in our love for you. Even if you think differently, we're going to radically love you. Even if you're hostile towards us, we're going to radically love you. Even if you take our life, we're going to radically love you, because that's exactly what our Lord and Savior did when he was being pinned to a cross in front of a group of people, naked.

What was he saying? "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing." He showed love all the way to death. That's what we're called to do. But we are called to speak the truth and we are called to live it. And I see it all throughout the Bible. We see Moses doing this with Pharaoh. We see Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego doing this with Nebuchadnezzar. We see John the Baptist doing this to Herod. We see Jesus doing it to Pilate. We see Paul doing it to Agrippa.

And yet, in our culture, we think if a pastor ever says something to a governor, "Oh he's just being political." No, our governor needs to repent 100%. We are the most pro-abortion state in the entire union. Abortion started in Colorado. We have the most liberal laws for abortion in the state of Colorado. It's wrong, it's innocent blood being shed, and our governor is responsible for making those. And all those in office have voted for it. They need to repent and trust Jesus and they're dead wrong. And I can say that, because I have the authority of the word of God backing me. Amen?

And then I will do my part and vote my part. And I'm one vote. And guess what? If things don't change politically, guess what? My Lord is still on the throne. But I will not stop and I will not stop speaking and I will not stop fighting for, what? The truth. We love our governor. We're called to pray for him. I hope you pray for him every day. Pray that he would come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior, because I believe if the Holy Spirit got hold of his life, it would change him just like the Holy Spirit changed me.

Don't hate him, love him. But what he's doing is wrong. Does that make sense? That's what it means to have compassion for the oppressed. I have compassion for people that are getting hurt but are also going to confront the oppressor. And we're not afraid of that in any way.

Number four is this. I've already kind of addressed it. Courageous kingdom advancement occurs through challenging people to repent. Challenging people to repent. Listen, sharing the glory of God and allowing him to reveal himself to others, causes people to repent. Romans 2:4 says, "It's the kindness of the Lord that leads us to repentance." Right? John the Baptist's first sermon was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus' first sermon was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Peter's first sermon, What must we do to be saved? Repent. Be baptized and you shall receive the Holy Spirit. What was Paul's message? Acts 17:30, "I now command all men everywhere to repent." What's repentance? Repentance is a turning in your life from what you have believed in and how you've been living, to go all in with Jesus. That's repentance.

Repentance is not, "Okay, I guess I'll believe. What do I have to do again? Do I have to sign a card? Do I have to... Okay. What prayer do I have to pray?" It's not that. It's like I was serving these gods, now I'm serving the Lord Jesus Christ only. That's repentance. It's a turn. I was living in this sin and now I'm living this way and I'm changing, because God's changing me. It's a gift of repentance.

We need to call people to repentance. We're not just telling people, "Hey, trust Jesus." We want you to trust Jesus, but we want you to repent so that you can trust Jesus. Right? Lip service won't cut it. Jesus said, "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?" Why do you call yourself a Christian and come to Brave every single week when you don't do anything He's telling you to do?

Your belief system is demonstrated by how you act. Now you're not saved based on your behavior, but if you are saved, your behavior will change. And where it hasn't changed, they'll be causing you to want to repent, so that your behavior will change. We've been lied to for so long. It's just grace. It's all grace. It is all grace. And grace not only has the power to save, the grace has the power to transform and make you different.

If there's never a change, it's because you're not saved. And we got churches filled with unsaved people that have been baptized and think they're saved. Call people to repentance. Lip service won't cut it. Jesus said, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you. These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." That would be the people in our generations to go to church, sing praise songs, listen to the word praise God, "I love Brave Church." But after you leave the church, until you get back into church, you live completely for yourself and your gods. Repent. Let Jesus Christ be the Lord of your life.

And then fifth is this. Courageous kingdom advancement occurs through confidence in God's timing. Confidence in God's timing. It means, as you're living courageously, as you have compassion for the oppressed, as you're confronting the oppressor, as you're challenging people to repent, just trust God's timing. Keep your composure. It's never going to be your timetable. It's never going to work on your timetable.

Moses wanted to go to Pharaoh before the plagues even started and just see him turn, and that never even happened. Never going to be your timetable. Just keep your composure. God's got his way. It's never going to happen the way you want it to happen. Be comfortable with that, right? And that's what we're talking about.

If you get these as a background, then we can go into what the plagues are. Because for every single one of us, we've either seen a cartoon, a movie with Charlton Heston, or something about the 10 plagues. And we get, "Oh, I know this. This is going to be so long and so boring." But if you understand why God is doing this, he's doing this because Pharaoh ask in Chapter 5, "Who is the Lord and why should I be obedient to him?"

And God's going to say, "Well, I'm going to tell you who I am. And I'm going to show you why you should be obedient to me. But unfortunately you're going to harden your heart, which is going to make me harden it even harder. And one day it's going to be so hard that I'm going to demonstrate my glory through you to all of the world."

Now, Israel, all the way back in Genesis 12, Verse 3, was to be a light to all the nations, so God was to bless the nation of Egypt through Israel. That didn't work, because Egypt was oppressing Israel. So God says, "Okay, then I'm going to do it this way. Either way, I'm going to get my glory. Either way, I'm going to protect my kids. Either way, I'm going to do what I want to do, because I want the world to know that I'm God."

So here's what God is doing. Through these 12... Or through these 10 plagues, rather, God is going to expose an Egyptian God and show how he's greater than that God that they're serving. That's what all the 10 plagues are about. They're going to get more severe as time goes on. So I'm going to cover a lot of ground this morning. We're closer to being done than you think, so just hang on. But here's where we go.

Let's pick it up in Exodus Chapter 7, Verse 8. "Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying when Pharaoh speaks to you saying work a miracle, then you shall say to Aaron, take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh so that it will become a serpent. So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh. Thus they did just as the Lord commanded and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. And they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their secret arts, for each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he did not listen to them as the Lord had said."

So before the plagues come, God tells him, "You're going to go unto Pharaoh. He's going to say prove to me that you are who you say you are. When he says that, have Aaron throw down his staff." So they go in. Who am I have listened to you? Aaron throws down his staff, it turns into a snake. And guess what? There's a counterfeit. How many of you know that the devil can perform a counterfeit? He has some authority and some power under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, under God, where he can form counterfeits. We saw it all through the Book of Revelation where people will be duped by believing the counterfeit.

So his two wise men, magicians, throw down their two staffs, they become a snake. However, guess what happens? Aaron's snake swallows their snake. Aaron picks up his staff. They're staff less, right? They have no staff, but Pharaoh's like well, since... "Big deal. My people can do the same thing your people can... I'm not listening."

And so what does Pharaoh do? His heart was hardened. It's going to get harder and harder. I'm telling you, some of you are here today and you're hearing this message and your heart's getting harder and harder and you're hearing the lie of the enemy. "Hey, just trust Jesus when you get old. I mean, when you get old maybe you can get older and then you can trust..."

Give your life to him now, because the longer you wait, the harder your heart will get. And there's no guarantee you'll ever trust him. Today, if you hear the Lord's voice, do not harden your heart. And because Pharaoh hardened his heart, now we get into the 10 plagues. We're going to go through four of them today.

The first is this. The Nile turns to blood. The Nile turns to blood. Notice this. "Then the Lord said to Moses, Ferrell's heart is stubborn. He refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he is going out to the water and station yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile and you shall take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent. You shall say to him the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness."

That's the whole sermon for all 10 plagues. Okay? You want to know what? What's the point? Let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness. That's it. I want my people to worship me. "But behold, you have not listened until now. Thus says the Lord, by this, you shall know that I am the Lord. You've been asking who he is. By this you will know. I will strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned to blood. The fish that are in the Nile will die and the Nile will become foul and the Egyptians will find difficulty in drinking water from the Nile."

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, over their pools, over their reservoirs, over the water, that they may become blood and there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone."

So check out what happened. Verse 20. "So Moses and Aaron did all that the Lord had commanded and he lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of all of his servants. And all the water that was in the Nile turned to blood." Check out the result. "The fish that were in the Nile died and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from Nile and the blood was through the land of Egypt."

Now, check it out. You see what's going on? Why would God go after the Nile? Because the Nile was the central source of all of their economic engine. It was their commerce. When the Nile flooded once a year, they believed in the God... His name was Hapi, H-A-P-I. And Hapi was the God of the Nile. And they worshiped Hapi because he would overflow and flood the Nile once a year and they would get that rich silt, that rich black silt where they could plant all their vegetation. So their entire economy came from their worship of this God.

And what was God saying? He's saying, with one stretch of a hand through one of my servants, I can kill your economy in a moment. Worship me. Now, what was he saying? See, this is not just for Pharaoh, this is for you. There's a lot of people that gather in the house of the Lord every single week and here's what they would say. If you were really pressed and we really opened up your heart, you would say, I love the Lord Jesus as long as my bank account is okay, as long as my job is good, as long as my 401K is intact, as long as I have the resources I need to provide for me and my kids.

As long as money's good, I'm good. Just don't touch the economy. Why? Because the economy is a God in every single culture. And here's the question for you that call yourself by the name of Christ. Who's God in your life? Is it the Lord Jesus Christ? Or is your God the economy? If you went into work tomorrow and were fired, would you still love the Lord the same way?

If you found out you were going to get paid half as much as you make right now, would you still love the Lord the same way? Or is money really your idol? And yet, God blesses and God provides, and we're going to talk about that as we go on. But I'm talking about who's your God? Many people say they're Christian, so long as their bank account looks okay. Many people say they're Christian, so long as the economy's good. And when the economy's bad, we blame God.

Maybe it's God getting the attention when the economy goes bad. Will you still worship me when it's not so good? That's what he's saying. God killed the economy with one stroke. Now, notice what happened. Can you imagine how foul will this was? We used the word foul in the New American standard. It stunk. Ever been in a place with dead fish? How about every fish being dead? All your drinking water is now totally polluted, because God killed the economy with one strike. Turned it to blood.

Now, check out the insanity of the magicians. "But the magicians of Egypt did the same with their secret arts. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened that he did not listen to them as the Lord had said." Now think about this. All your drinking water from the Niles just been totally polluted. And what's the response of the magicians? Oh, we can do that. We'll turn water to blood, too. That sounds like a fun plan. Why? Why would you take the remaining water that you have and kill that as well to prove yourself? That's just like the devil, right? Just showing he's somebody when he is a nobody."So then Pharaoh turned and went into his house with no concern even for this, because he wouldn't listen to them. So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water of the Nile. And seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile." So what happens? Pharaoh's like well, if I got people digging the trench and going on side and finding some cisterns and going under... I mean, we can still get some drinking water. We're going to be okay, and I don't really care about your God. The economy's going to be fine. We're going to bounce back. We'll be okay. That's all he was saying. Here's the question for you. How are you doing in your relationship with the Lord? Is Jesus Christ primary or is the economy primary for you?

That's what he was saying to Pharaoh. He was saying, "I'm God over the economy. I'm the one who provides. I'm the one who does it. I'm the one who delivers." Because Pharaoh didn't listen, we go to plague number two, which is frogs in the land. Now, over the next plagues, as somebody that doesn't like to be outdoors in camp, these are hard for me. "Then the Lord said to Moses, go to Pharaoh and say to him, thus says the Lord, let my people go that they may serve me." He's already told them that. "But if you refuse to let them go, behold I will smite your whole territory with frogs. The Nile will swarm with frogs which will come up and go into your house and into your bedroom and into your bed and into the houses of your servants and on your people and into your ovens and into your kneading bowls."

I mean, that'd be enough for me. There's frogs everywhere. You go to sleep at night, there's going to be one coming out of your pillowcase. You go cook, there's one coming out of your bowl. There's frogs everywhere. They're going to be at your feet while you're eating. They're going to be coming out of the toilet when you go to the bathroom. There's frogs, frogs, frogs. And why was God talking about frogs? Because there was a frog, God called Heqet that was the God of fertility.

It was a body with a frog head. It was the source of life, the giver of children. God wanted to tell he was the giver of life. He's the giver of fruitfulness. God is the giver of legacy. God was saying, "I'm greater than your God that you serve." So notice what he says in Verse 5. "Then the Lord said to Moses, say to Aaron, stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the streams, and over the pools and makes frogs come out on the land of Egypt. So Aaron stretch out his hand over the waters of Egypt and the frogs came up and covered, just covered, the land of Egypt. The magicians did the same with their secret arts, making frogs come up on the land of Egypt." I mean stupid.

It's like, don't you have enough frogs? "We can do that too. We'll make even more frogs." "Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron said, and treat the Lord that he may remove the frogs from me and my people and I will let the people go that they may sacrifice to the Lord." Even though his people could produce frogs, he's like enough frogs. I'm tired of watching college football on Sunday and watching frogs all over the field. I'm done getting bit by... I mean, watching frogs, smelling frogs. I'm done. Just pray for me.

So here's what Moses says. Moses said to Pharaoh, "The honors yours to tell me, when should I entreat the Lord for you and your servants and your people, that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses, that they may be left only in the Nile?"

Hey, you want me to do this? Just tell me when you want me to do this, because I'm going to tell the Lord when to do it and he'll do it at the exact time that you tell me. And when he does it at the exact same time, you tell me, then you'll know that he is the Lord. So you tell me when you want him to go. And Pharaoh answers and says tomorrow. So he said, "May it be according to your word that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. The frogs will depart from you and your houses and your servants and your people. They will be only left in the Nile. Then Moses and Aaron went out from the Pharaoh and Moses cried to the Lord concerning the frogs which he had inflicted upon Pharaoh."

And notice this. Moses just didn't go out and pray and say, "Dear Lord, please remove the frogs." What's Moses doing? He's crying out to the Lord. Do you know why? Because he's begging God to work on his behalf. He's saying, "God, I did what you wanted me to do. I want him to know that at the exact time that he said that it's you. I want you to get all the glory. Lord, I'm crying out for you."

Could God not have just got rid of the frogs? Why didn't he? Because God chooses to use the prayers of his people to work his will. That's why we gather for prayer. That's why we ask God to move, because God loves it when his people cry out to him. And they're crying out. And Moses is crying out saying he wants the frog's gone, God. Be compassionate to them. Deliver them from the frogs. He's going to let us go if you do that. That's what he says.

So, they cried out to the Lord. Verse 13, "The Lord did, according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out in the houses, the courts, and the fields. So they piled him up in heaps and the land became foul." Can you imagine what that looked like? I don't like camping, and yet I'm picturing piles of frogs the size of buildings just rotting. How awful is this?

But notice Pharaoh. "But when Farrow saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them as the Lord had said." There's a difference between repentance and relief. There's a difference between repentance and relenting. Relenting is, "I know I did wrong. My situation's uncomfortable, God. Have mercy on me. Take the pain away. I promise I won't do it anymore." It's the prayer you prayed in college on a Saturday morning when you prayed, "Lord, if you just get me through this, I promise I will never have a Friday night like that again." It's the prayer you prayed before a test that you didn't study where you said, "Lord, I promise you if you get me through this test, from now on, I will always do this."

You're praying for relief. You're not repentant about your actions that got you there, you're praying for relief like relent, like make this better for me. That's all Pharaoh was saying. And how do you know? Because when circumstances change, you really learn the heart of a person. That's why Jesus said you need to bear with fruits in keeping with repentance. If somebody's truly repentant now, they'll be repentant in five days, they'll be repentant in three years. They'll still be repentant. They're changing. They're allowing God to lead them.

If they're just looking for relief and they just want God to relent, they won't change once the circumstance changes. I was praying to the Lord, I may have came to Christ, but he hasn't really done anything for me anymore. And so, I'm not really following him anymore. You never followed him in the first place. You were never a Christian. You just put some mambo jambo religious dialogue into some prayer thinking that that would help you. And all you were looking for was relief. You weren't looking to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's what's going on with Pharaoh. So he hardens his heart. The water's turned to blood. He's had frogs all over his land and still nothing. Ready to go through a chapter really fast? Now he's going to get gnats. Gnats is also the Hebrew word lice. I don't know whether it was gnats or lice, but I don't know which one I'd rather not have. They're both bad. So then the Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the Earth, that it may become gnats throughout all the land of Egypt. They did so, and Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the Earth and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the Earth became gnats through all the land of Egypt."

You ever seen gnats? You can't see them. You just kind of feel them or hear them, and then they go into your eye or they go into your mouth. They're just... Can you imagine them every single place? Or if it's lice, what that would be like everywhere. It's disgusting. Now you get the idea that the magicians want to say, "We can do that too." But notice what the magicians say.

Verse 18, "The magicians tried with their secret arts to bring forth gnats," another stupid move, "But they could not." So there were gnats on man and beast. So now the magicians are like, "We can't do what's going on here. We're starting to realize this is a God-size thing because we don't have the power to do what Moses and Aaron are doing. We're starting to believe this."

But why gnats? Why lice? Well, there was a God in Egypt whose name was Set, S-E-T. He was the God of disorder, the God of the desert, the God of violence, the God of foreigners. He was the God that was in control of all nature. What was God trying to say? I'm in control of all natural things. I'm in control of all nature. I have the power of laws and order. Who's your God?

You know what some of your God is? For some of you that are here to say, "Well, I'm a Christian." Your god's the God of worry and fear, every single day. Because if I don't worry and I don't live in fear, then something may go wrong. Something may not happen my way. So I'm going to give my allegiance to the God of fear and I'm going to give my allegiance to the God of worry because something bad might happen.

And even when good things are happening, you walk around like this. "It's been pretty good. I wonder when the other shoe's going to drop." Because that's your God. And God was saying, "I'm the God who controls it all. You don't need to fear. I love you. I'm in control of all things. You don't need to fret. You don't need to worry. I'll be your God."

He was showing the men. Who's your God? Is your God the God of fear and anxiety and how you have to protect your whole life? Or is your God the Lord Jesus Christ? And then he gets to his fourth plague, as if the first four weren't bad enough. They just continue to plague us. Flies. Flies swarming.

This what he says in Verse 19. "Then the magician said to Pharaoh, this is the finger of God. After the lights. This is the finger of God. But Pharaoh's heart was hardened that he did not listen to them as the Lord said. Now, the Lord said to Moses, okay, now here's what I want you to do. Rise early in the morning, present yourself before Pharaoh as he comes to the water and say to him, thus says the Lord. Let my people go that they may serve me.'.

Fourth verse, same as the first. Sometimes the oppressors need to hear things over and over and over. "For if you do not let my people go, behold I will send swarms of flies on you and on your servants and on your people and into your houses. And the houses of Egypt will be full of swarms of flies and also the ground on which they dwell. But on the day, on that day, when I do this, I will set apart the land of Goshen where my people are living so that no swarms of flies will be there in order that you may know that I, the Lord, am in the midst of the land."

So here's what God says. I'm going to send swarms of flies. Now you talk about a fallen creature. You can talk about the fly. What does a fly eat? Garbage and feces, and then flies around and they make just buzzing sounds. And if there's only one or two in a room and they go to the light, it's just annoying. We invent things called fly swatters. Every time we see them, we want to kill them. Can you imagine a world where flies are just everywhere?

There's no relief from any of the flies, anywhere. That's what's going on. Now, why flies? Well, because of one of the gods of Israel. I'm going to spell it, I don't know if I can pronounce this word. It's U-A-T-C-H-I-T. Uatchit. Uatchit, or something like this. He had a cobra body. He was the protector of the country, protector of Pharaoh, protector of other deities. Here's the question. Who's your protector? Who's protecting you? Who's protecting your reputation? Who's protecting your influence? Who's protecting your money?

For some of us, it's the government. It's their job to protect me. No, it's not. It's God's job to protect you. God is the one who comes through. God was saying, "I'm the one who is the God who protects." So he sends all these flies, but he also makes a distinction here. With this one, here's what he says. "From now on when I do it, my people aren't going to experience any of the plagues. Your people will. I'm going to draw a line right down the center so you will know, not only am I sending it, but I'm protecting my people from this plague." How many of you know God has the ability to protect his people from plagues that he sends?

So many people worry about the end times. We talked about this when we went through the Book of Revelation. God can protect his own, even when he's pouring out wrath and punishing others. Isn't that good news? So that's what he's going to do. He's going to put a division.

So Verse 24, "Then the Lord did so and there came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants. And the land was laid waste, because of the swarms of flies in the land of Egypt." So now Pharaoh's going to call Moses and say to him, "Go sacrifice to your God within the land." Now here's how you know Pharaoh's not repenting, because people repent when they repent in the fullness of what God requires. What was the message? Let my people go that they may go into the wilderness and serve me.

What's he saying now? Okay, I'll let him go, but they're not leaving the land. That wasn't the agreed upon thing. So Moses said to him, "It's not right to do so, for we will sacrifice to the Lord our God what is an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice what's an abomination to the Egyptian before their eyes, will they not stone us?"

Here's what he was saying. We're going to animal sacrifice. That's an abomination to you. Here's what he was saying. The way we worship our God is abominable in your eyes. That's why God's taking us into the wilderness, so we can worship the God in the full way that he wants us to worship without distraction. We're not trying to distract you. We're just going to worship our God in the fullness of who he calls us to be. So, let us go. Let us into the wilderness. If we stay here, your people will stone us just for worshiping God.

Isn't it interesting what God calls true worship offends the people that don't know the true God? Always is true. It says, "We must go a three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he commands us."

Pharaoh said, "I will let you go that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, only you shall not go very far away." Makes supplication for me. I'll let you go. Just don't go too far. Just pray for me. Get these flies out of here. So, that's what he says.

Then Moses said, "Behold, I'm going out from you and I shall make supplication to the Lord that the swarms of flies made depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from the people tomorrow. Only, do not let Pharaoh deal deceitfully again in not letting the people go to sacrifice the Lord." I'll pray for you, the flies will leave, but just don't be lying to me again."And the Lord did as Moses asked and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh and from his servants and from his people. Not one fly remained, but Pharaoh hardened his heart this time and he did not let the people go."

You see what's going on here? Pharaoh's looking for relief, not repentance. Pharaoh doesn't want to serve the one true God. He's been given sign after sign after sign after sign that the God of the Bible, is the God he needs to bow his knee to and serve. And he is like, "Nah, I'm not doing that yet."

Now you may sit here this morning and be like, "What a goofball. What an idiot." There are many of you who come to Brave Church who, month after month and year after year, come who have refused to serve the living God after he's shown you over and over and over again that Jesus Christ is the Lord.

Why not make today the day that you repent and give your whole heart to him? Why not come into a relationship with him and be one of his courageous kingdom ambassadors, one of his warriors for his great name? Why not be used of him to help the oppressed? Why not be used of him to confront the oppressor? Why not be used of him to call people to repent? Why not be used of him to trust God in his timing through you to do everything he wants to do?

See, this story's not just about history. This story's not just about Pharaoh not repenting. This story is about many of us who say that we're called by the name of Jesus who still refuse to repent. Please do not go into eternity thinking that because you prayed some lame prayer that you're going to Heaven. People that go to Heaven are people who have turned their hearts to the living God.

You're not going to stand before Jesus and say, "Well, yeah, but remember that date I prayed that lame prayer? I didn't mean any of it, but I prayed those magic words. And aren't I coming in?" And you'll hear this. "Depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you. You never gave your heart to me. You never wanted me. You were offended by the full truth of who I am."

I'm asking you to come. Why not make today the day you give your life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why not make today the day that you don't harden your heart? Why don't you make today the day that the Lord can speak directly to you? Amen? That's what he wants. See, he wants you to go all in with him. And then he wants us as a family of God to go on the offensive, in radical love for him and in radical love for the world, being truth tellers that are filled with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen. Amen. The way we're going to end our service today is we're going to take communion. But before we do, I want you to hear this song sung over you. It's a very famous hymn in the history of the church, Be Thou My Vision. Why not let the Lord Jesus be the vision of your life? Why not let Jesus be the one who is ruling and reigning in your heart?

I'm going to pray for us and I want you to hold these elements in your hand. Then our campus pastors will come forward after the singing of this song, and we'll take the elements together as a family.

Father in Heaven, we give you all the glory, honor, and praise. Lord, we love you and we thank you and we praise you for who you are and for all that you're doing. And God, we just come before you in repentance, Lord, for those areas in our life that we are not submitted and surrendered to you. God, we want to turn our hearts back to you. Transform us. Make us new. Not because of anything we're going to do for you, but because of the body and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be our vision, Lord. Do a work in and through our hearts, we pray in the mighty matchless name of Christ. Amen and amen.