The Fear Of The Lord - Get Ready For Revival

Thank you for tuning in to the latest message from Island Church, Don Dock.

Good morning or actually good afternoon everyone.

It's always a pleasure to be with you guys and I would start with a prayer.

Thank you Father.

We are here for you.

Thank you Jesus.

We are here for you.

Thank you, Holy Spirit.

We just need us, everything we are going to say, everything we are going to do.

We just want to love you, honor you and love your people.

Please keep giving us your heart of servitude and we would like to rejoice in this great opportunity

that you give us every Sunday and every day to hear your voice.

We thank you and we bless you in Jesus' mighty name, Amen.

So for who was here, the 1st of February, we had the opportunity to share the word and

the topic was the fear of the Lord.

But we are going on with these but is connected as we said that time to the incoming revival.

We have been speaking this morning and hearing very much about these.

So this is the word that God gave us.

And personally, I had prepared something different but I think the Holy Spirit told me

keep it for another time.

It might be maybe in one year, I don't know when, it doesn't matter but I just want to

be obedient.

So there is going to be a bit of reposition today summarizing what I said and shared last

time and something new.

So and this is always in connection with revival.

The Holy Spirit wants us to understand that the fear of the Lord is required to get ready

for revival.

And that's why we are here to understand what the fear of the Lord is.

So I'm sure you will forgive me if you will hear for the 2nd time something is not to be

exactly the same but there might be some repetition but we know the repetitions are good.

I think I'm almost sure that there is even a passage in the word where one of the apostles

says or maybe even Jesus said that we need to be repeated certain things, maybe in a different

way.

So I hope we will be blessed and it is for us as well, for Claire and myself as well.

So we started last time with a biblical perspective.

What is the fear of the Lord?

And we had a look on the Hebrew word that is yirah, which means fear, reverence, awesome

fear.

But then I switched a little bit on a more profound definition that we can find in a great

resource that is called Bible Hub and especially the section Topical lexicon.

And it says that the fear of the Lord is a no-field reverence.

Let's keep this in mind.

So sometimes in the presence of the Lord it might even be a kind of fear because we realize

how big, how huge he is but at the same time how close to us he is and therefore that

brings joy.

So it's a kind of a trembling with joy and fear in a bit of reverence.

This is a first definition of the word.

But again, going on we found a definition in the Bible.

There is actually, there is probably more than one, but I think this is one of the clearest.

And we can find it in Proverbs chapter 8 verse 13.

It says, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance and the evil way and

the perverse mouth I hate.

So you see that here is not just Solomon sharing but is also God through Solomon saying

I hate and pride, arrogance, evil way, perverse mouth.

They are all some of the strongest expression of evilness.

And then we pointed our attention on the connection that there is between evil and sin.

I couldn't find any verse or passage that says explicitly that God hates sin but it

is so evident.

Why?

Because the word of God in Romans chapter 5 12 says that because Adam and Eve ate from

the tree of the knowledge of the good and the evil they were exposed to the knowledge

of the evil.

And therefore because of that lack of trust towards God, because of that heart that changed,

they started to have the same desire of Satan.

They were seduced.

They were deceived and seduced.

What is that?

It is still here today is the spirit of the Antichrist, Antichrist and is a danger also

for us Christian.

What is it to replace God?

To become the Lord of our lives, to say what exactly has been said so many in so many

different ways from everyone spoke before me before us this morning.

For example, I remember what Pastor Jason said, we are not supposed to say to Jesus, follow

us, follow me.

I'm not the Lord of Jesus.

We have the decision to do whatever we want in our life.

Any time there is this kind of freedom but let's use this properly.

So in freedom the site to follow, in freedom the site, let's decide to get to know him.

And so they actually exposing themselves to these knowledge of evilness had their spiritual

nature changed, their spirit died, what it means.

It became actually disconnected from the source of life that is God, from the source of love

and righteousness.

And so these also tells us something that is useful today and is connected with the fear

of the Lord.

We don't have to know evilness.

We don't have to evil, thank you.

We don't have to know and to expose ourselves to things that are not good for ourselves.

Watching, hearing, listening and being interested with something.

Just get from the world the information we need but don't go over and on with something

that is not good for us.

And God is love, we know, therefore He loves good things, He loves everything that is

good for us and He hates evilness and evil and therefore He hates sin as well.

So that's why it is very important always to know what He hates and what He loves.

If we want to have Him as our Lord, we need to know what He hates and we need to know

what He loves and therefore following, imitating and getting this knowledge.

Where can we get this knowledge in the Word of God?

And the Holy Spirit is there to give us revelation, revelation and experience.

I think today I might repeat these more than once and I'm just giving a little example

about this because we can spend time with the Lord on the Word of God and asking for revelation,

receiving revelation.

Do we all remember what revelation means?

It means to take away a veil.

So I can't understand literally what that passage or what that verse says in English or

in Italian, whatever, in Italian, your language.

But then what does it mean spiritually?

What does the Lord want to tell me, want to tell you today with that passage?

That's the revelation, the realm of revelation, personal.

And if you spend time on the Word and you wait and you ask, He's faithful and good to answer.

It might take time.

I got to understand some verses and some passages after years.

But let's be patient.

Let's be faithful.

Never give up and trust the Lord because He is good.

He knows when we are ready to understand that verse or that passage.

Never think, oh, I don't like this.

Let us not be selective readers of the Bible.

All the Word is inspired by God.

All the Word is good.

I don't want now to go, but I just try to follow what I think the Holy Spirit is telling me.

But so, the things that God hates we were saying, there is also verse, Proverbs, chapter

6, verse 3, verses, from 16 to 19.

If we can't have a look, Proverbs quickly, 6 to from 16 to 19, if you want to turn the

Bible on that, I have it here in, I know it is a bit small, Proverbs, chapter 6, verses

16, projected, very good.

These six things, the Lord hates.

Yes, seven are an abomination to Him.

On, please, until 19, a proud Luke, a lion tongue, hands the shed innocent blood, a heart

that advises wicked plans, feed there a swift and running to evil, a false witness who speaks

lies and one who soes discord among brethren.

So, everybody might think, well, very bad things, I am not like that.

Well, I just encourage you and myself to be honest in front of God when we are in these

things.

Don't take for granted that this is not me, you know, I am a born again Christian, you

know, I am a mature Christian, whatever you think you are, whatever I think I am.

Let's take time with the Holy Spirit and say, is there some of these habits or behaviors?

Maybe I am not conscious, I am not realizing, but I tend to do.

Maybe when I am stressed out, maybe I don't know, in certain situations, because we heard

it this morning, Jesus is looking for a pure bride.

And it doesn't matter the perfection, you know, of actions.

Yes, He wants a perfect bride, a holy bride, but it matters the heart.

So if we know, if we realize, or if we just ignore, and they say, I don't want even to

know if I am like that, I just, we deciding, I am not like that, I am a good one.

And then maybe we think to somebody else, oh, they are like this, oh, remember that

time.

Yeah, it's very easy to point the finger, you know, but no, let's be every day to have

these time with the Word of God, is this about me Lord, show me, and the Holy Spirit will

show us.

And He is gracefully, He just wants to help us to go on, to change, to remove that habit.

And there is always a root in our heart for certain habits.

And the Holy Spirit is the only one that can let that root immerse to the surface.

And sometimes we might need the help of somebody else because we are a body.

In John 15, 5, Jesus said, I am the van, the vine, you are the branch, branches was a

little trick.

Why?

Because it's easy to say, oh, me and God, my intimacy with the Lord at a wonderful time.

Yes, absolutely.

Jesus woke up in the morning very early to spend time with the Father alone.

That's required, that's wonderful.

But we are also a body, as Pastor Jesus and I think we need each other.

We need help.

And sometimes there are areas of our life where we cannot see that we have a change to

make.

But it might be a bit of a fight, but let's rely upon the body and the help that our

brothers and sisters can give us.

Going on, we were also pointing our attention on Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 12 to 13.

I just want to be a bit quick here, but just focusing on the first, the most important

things.

Here, fear in the Lord is presented here as a commandment, is not an option.

Of course, we are free all the time.

Jesus doesn't want us to do things because we must do them, you know what I mean?

He wants our heart, which means the core of our mind where we take that decision.

But yes, it's a commandment, it's not an option to fear the Lord.

And what does it mean?

In that verse, it says, walking in his ways, loving him, serving him with all our heart

and with all our soul, and keeping his commandments and his statutes.

So what Jesus was that Jesus say in John 1421, he who has my commandments and keeps them,

he, it is who loves me.

So to get to know his commandments, his word, his precious instructions for us, his vital

for us, Christian, it's exactly the way to imitate him, to follow him.

To get to know him.

So if we care about Jesus, if we care about God, we need to know his word, we need to know

and be led.

And then I spoke about a personal experience, personal revelation, but today I'm going

to repeat in a quite schematic way, the same concepts, focusing especially on some of

them, proposing you that this is not, wasn't just my experience and my revelation, it's

something that each one of you, each one of us here in this church with the teaching

we are receiving can get.

And especially I focused on the salvation that comes through the cross, the perfect sacrifice

of Jesus and incredible, wonderful forgiveness that we can receive because of that.

I spoke about my experience, but what about you?

Really, I feel in the spirit that the Lord wants, we are not going to do it today because

we want to keep you, but please remember this, take a time at home wherever you can

to be in the secret place with the Lord and ask Holy Spirit, remember, remind me, remind

me that very time when I decided for the very first time to follow you.

When I really experienced that burden being taken away from my shoulders, when I really

had that supernatural explanation that you gave me, that you died for me, you loved me

so much.

I saw on the newspaper some weeks ago that a young man in order to protect his fiancee,

there was a car driving too fast and he put his body in front of the car and he died

and the fiancee survived.

So Jesus, this is heroic, but we can just save maybe one person like this, but Jesus,

what did He do?

He paid for each one of us, He took my place, I can tell you, in all honesty, I have no

doubt that I deserve the cross or even something like that kind of, but is that the same

experience that we all have?

And I think He didn't die in vain and this is connected to the fear of the Lord because

when you get that revelation, so I was saying take a time in your secret place to let the

Holy Spirit remember that time and if you haven't had that time yet, I really pray that

you will have that experience because salvation is this.

He went to the cross instead of me, instead of each one of you.

And so when you have this experience, when you remember this, then eventually you can

feel in your heart burning that incredible, huge immense gratitude for the Lord, that

respect and you start to value what He did for you, what He did for me, so much.

And we have to keep it alive.

That's the fear of the Lord, another part of the fear of the Lord, wanting to keep

it alive in our heart, abiding in that love, never, never forgetting, should be daily.

I think that's why Jesus established Communion, the Holy Communion, it is holy, it is immaculate

and pure, is the physical and spiritual place where we can really keep, remember, do these

in my remembrance, in remembrance of the greatest love ever that I show to you.

He was longing to show us that love, taste and see how it is good, my love.

I give it all, I want to abide in you, this is how His words and passages in last time

when we took Communion, I think you read from John 6 where He says, if you take my body

and you eat my flesh and you drink my blood, I come and be in you and you and me.

It's not a physical thing, through the physical gesture in the Spirit, something changes.

And so we can keep alive, we can abide in these huge love for us, in these huge mercy

for us.

I think give us strength, give us joy, acceptance.

And also, from then on, once we receive the Holy Spirit, the fear of the Lord will work,

so to speak as a warning.

Any time we want to go off track and mess up, there will be a warning.

And again, other aspects of the fear of the Lord that we sow is the desire for holiness.

We have been speaking this morning all the time of this, a pure bride and a macular bride,

and ready, because He's going to go on that horse.

And He's longing for, I think Toyan said, He wants to save everybody, it is written, it

is written.

He wants to save everybody, He didn't create us, I really appreciate that, to go to hell.

But yes, and I'm jumping to the end of my message, something a bit new that I didn't say

last time.

Thank you, Holy Spirit, is what that Jesus said, you should not fear those who can kill

your body.

You should fear the one that can kill your soul and cast it into hell, terror, yeah, terror.

We should be terrified by this.

It's a real danger, but we have the wonderful opportunity.

And Jesus is so good, He says, but, and He spoke about the copper coin, like Pastor Nadine,

she was mentioning the widow, and Jesus is mentioning the sparrows that are sold for two

copper coins.

How much more is your value, says Jesus to you, to me, to each one of us, that, yeah,

it is a terrifying danger, the one to go to hell, but I'm going to die so that you won't

go.

But still we are free.

And I want to emphasize this freedom, guys, because every second of our life, we have

the opportunity to follow Jesus, not just once in a while.

And every second of our life, we have the opportunity to mess up and leave.

And everyone does that, I know, but yes, we are called for perfection because of the fear

of the Lord, because we don't want to lose what He has for us.

We don't want to lose His company.

We don't want to lose His righteousness.

We don't want to lose the love that He has for us.

We don't want to lose to be part of this wonderful body where He placed us.

But it's a choice.

It's a choice.

Because if there was no freedom, we would be puppets without freedom.

That is why there is freedom, because he's the righteous God.

It might be not easy to understand, but this is, I think, is the real reason why we all

have freedom until the end.

And He will be there till the very last moment to save us until the very last end.

There is not just the salvation.

The salvation is just the beginning.

I found a very nice statement of a certain Henry Drummond.

It was a Scottish evangelist of the previous century.

And he said, the entrance in the kingdom of heaven, the fee is nothing.

But the annual subscription will cost everything.

So yes, nobody could ever earn with their own efforts and good deeds and will ever salvation.

That's a free gift, but it's just the start.

Even if it takes place at the very last moment of our life, like for the thief on the cross,

he just had a few minutes to live.

But he got saved.

Thank you, Jesus.

He's so good.

Till the very last second of your last breath.

But he then obeyed.

He then testified about Jesus.

He did the good works that proved that his faith was true.

Because Jesus said, I proclaim, you worship me with your lips and with your mouth.

But you don't do what you say.

Your heart is far from me.

There is a passage in Matthew 15 that says that.

So let's be ready.

Let's have fear of the Lord.

Don't just worship and speak with our mouth.

If our faith is true, out of the abundance of our heart, the mouth will speak.

These means that we can speak and saying things that we don't really believe.

But are important anyway, otherwise we can speak out of the abundance of our heart.

And this is what Jesus wants.

This is what we can keep if we have the fear of the Lord.

That kind of attention about what we think and about what we say.

Let him be the Lord of our mind.

I have the mind of Christ.

Yes, but is he the Lord of my mind?

Again, it's a choice every day.

So it is important to remember all these things, because these are some of the characteristics

of the fear of the Lord that I needed I required to be ready for the Income and Revival.

Because we could miss it.

Is a visitation.

Is a special time.

And it might take, let me say one more thing, it might take effort, I keep repeating these,

because it is good to say it is not about our efforts.

I get it.

It is true.

With our efforts alone, we can do anything good.

You can do anything without me, says Jesus, but I can't all things that are in His will

in Christ that strengthens me.

And so what, the efforts, again, the commandment, what does the commandment say?

Love your God with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, and with all

our strength.

So commitment will, that termination, are required.

We have to have that fire.

And it is not just something that comes from above.

Yes, it is.

We need it.

Maybe it is a small part for God, our part, but it is over us.

Yes, our heart is, yes, I care for that.

When you care for something, you fight, the good fight.

That is why we are not to be lukewarm.

So is the revival, is this coming, we are going to give, to value, to valorize this coming

of Jesus, because He wants to use us to go outside and be, and be courageous against

tribulations, against the world system, against, you know, everything, every kind of obstacle,

we need to become holy as He is holy.

It takes commitment.

It is not so easy to say no to distractions, to any kind of temptations.

It requires commitment, determination, decision of the heart.

And then, even if you are not perfect, you will be perfected, because He does the rest.

So we trust Him for this.

Amen.

I thought I got all out, I was going to whistle, I just used the mic.

My mum, she is 82, she says, God bless technology, when it works, and she is so right.

Bless you.

The title was The Fear of the Lord, to get ready for revival.

And as luke has been speaking about The Fear of the Lord, and just this whole morning has

been extraordinary, with what God has been sharing.

But the Lord has asked me to step in with His heart.

It is individual, yes, but it is for this nation, what God wants to do.

The specific word that God gave to us last time was that there is a revival coming to Ireland

and to the UK, and from here it will spread to the rest of Europe.

And we are to get ready, and developing the fear of the Lord in our hearts and minds is

this preparation.

It will flow out from that.

But you know, whether you have been born in this country, or not, whether you are here,

or whatever nationality might be, I hope you know that we are united.

And we are united by being citizens of heaven.

That is what Philippians 320 says.

It says, for our citizenship is in heaven.

Once you give your heart to Christ, as luke was talking about, and it is his spirit that

comes and dwells on the inside of you, that is your connection.

That is why you enter into heaven.

You follow Jesus, your spirit takes you in there.

That is what the key is.

And so what unites us all in our faith in Christ is that ultimately that is where our

home is.

But we are here on this island, in this place, in this church, in this body, as we were

talking about, and for a purpose.

You might think you are just here for an education, or a spouse, or whatever it might be a job.

But please know that if you follow Christ, and he has brought you here, you are here for

a purpose.

Let's not have our mind, just on these earthly things, which are very, very temporary

in this side of eternity.

That actually God has us here for a purpose.

So please consider this no matter what you are going through, because you can have challenges

in a different country.

You can have challenges here for so many different reasons.

But if we keep our ears and listening to Lord, why am I here?

What is my purpose?

What could be something that you have been holding back on?

You know, Sharon was talking about that.

It is time to move out and step out.

If we keep asking God, where are you in this, and what are you saying?

And wait for his answer.

And his personal could be, his answer could be different for each of us on a personal

level.

We have our personal direction and our personal call, or as a family, as a couple.

But there is also the corporate direction and purpose.

And I think if you've been just here today, even if it's your first day, you're understanding

that there's a corporate direction that God is taking this church body in.

And it's into the fire.

It's into His refiners fire.

It's with the fear of the Lord to allow Him be more present, to make space for Him in

our hearts, in our minds, in our lives.

And this nation has a specific purpose.

You have an individual call, as a family, as a church body, and then as a nation.

And I don't know if you've ever asked these questions to the Lord.

And if you have, and you've got different answers, that's OK.

We're still part of the same family.

But I just want to share from my heart, because it's just something that God's been doing.

As you know, it's my lovely talent husband, isn't he lovely?

And we met and married over there, but then we moved back here in 2022, after 20 years

over there.

I was over there for 20 years.

And, you know, the island that I left is very different from the island that I returned

to.

And lots of things have been, something was removed, it was like the backbone, the heart

of this nation was very strategically removed.

And what was replaced, they called it the Celtic Tiger, but it was pouring money into the

country.

And once you've got money, do you really need God?

It's mamona or God, it's mam and the God of finances or God, or that's the choice in many,

many ways.

So I had to begin to ask, Lord, what happened?

And with that came lots of legislation that breaks the heart of God, and I've been just

as I pray here, Lord, you know, what's our part in this?

What do we, what are you asking us to do?

And I was reading the Word and I was like, Lord, there are so many nations mentioned in

the Bible, but I want to see Ireland, I want to see this island, where is Ireland in the

Word of God?

Because you're the God of all nations, you're not just the God of Israel or, you know,

Syria or whatever, they're Egypt that are mentioned in there, you're the God of all nations.

He brought to me my favorite sound, the first sound I ever read that spoke to me, and

it's sound 23.

He says, the Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

There we are with the Emerald Isle, ladies and gentlemen.

Ireland has been called the Lands of Saints and Scholars for its history of devoted Christians

who left this land to bring their passion for God and his Word throughout Europe and

further afield.

But it's interesting to note that in Gaelic, this country is known as ERA, okay, E-I-R-E,

you might have seen it.

But it's actually named after a goddess called Aero, the matron goddess of the island and

sovereignty.

And that happened under the 1937 Constitution.

The image of a female Ireland and her goddess name was printed on money, stamps and adopted.

But I dare to say that that was actually a case of mistaken identity.

Having spent time with the Lord in prayer over this, I was reflecting, I love language

as well, by the way, on the name in English, which is Ireland, I-R-E, and whatever your

sentiments towards England may be, we can reach many more nations speaking English

than Irish.

And we have to recognize that because that's part of our call.

I-R-E in Latin is the verb to go, E-R-E, it's to go.

And I believe it has a significance and a purpose because Latin was the language of the

scriptures for many, many, many centuries.

So I'm going to boldly make that association and pray that we adopt it as our own, that

Ireland has the purpose and call to go.

And you might say, why?

Why can't we just stay here?

Because Ireland's one and only true God, I declare, our Lord Jesus Christ, have given

this nation its purpose above every false god or goddess, every government or education

system or media influencer.

And in the midst of the current chaos, which we are recognizing, the Spirit is hovering.

And just at the beginning of creation, there was chaos and things were without form, but

the Spirit was hovering.

And God's Word is declared to give form and shape and purpose and direction.

So we will go wherever he sends us, whether it's here or abroad.

And so we will declare this Word over this nation, that this nation shall go.

Last week, we had the verb to rise up if you remember, and now it is to go.

Jesus says in Matthew 28, verse 19, go there for and make disciples of all the nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them

to observe all things that I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

And if you are not sensing goddess with you, start going.

Start going.

Start going to your neighbor.

Start going to your friends and bring the Word of God, be obedient to Jesus.

Go there for, teach them, tell them about the love of God, that salvation that you've

experienced.

Tell them about the healing power of God and pray with them.

Don't just let it be your experience, invite them in because Jesus is always inviting,

inviting people to the table.

And to go one step further, I believe Ireland was never intended to be a denderville as female,

either, especially not with the false goddess.

And our society under God was never meant to be matriarchal.

That would be popular, because God gave husbands as the head of the households in Ephesians

5 of 23, as Christ is head of the church.

Because anybody not want a Christ like husband, I think not.

Christ as head of the church, our husbands are supposed to be the head of the family.

There's a spiritual root in the dismissal of the role and abilities of men and in the

systematic drive in society to financially pressure families so that women compete with

men in the workforce outside the home while raising their children and running a home.

If that's not a recipe for disaster, I don't know what is.

Children are not an inconvenience to your career.

They are God's greatest gift.

And if we trust in God, He will make a way for you to keep your child and He will provide.

And there's one more thing that Lord did on my heart, which is, again, just quite specific.

We used to be known as a country for 100,000 welcomes.

I don't know if you've ever heard that expression.

But many people in this land are people do not know God as their Lord and Savior or

shepherd.

They don't know their shepherd is seeking after them, one by one, to follow Jesus in love

and kindness and mercy and grace.

People here don't know how precious they are.

The God's blood was poured out even in their hardness of heart.

And just if you're listening to this message and if you've experienced harshness over here,

rejection, complicated bureaucracy, unjust laws, unfair treatment, verbal or even physical

harm here, can I just apologize on behalf of the people of this land?

Because that's not what we're meant to be.

That's not what we're designed to be.

And just please forgive those people.

Because I believe everybody in this room, if you're here for this purpose, we're called

to pray for this nation, we're called to love the people around us.

And if you've experienced that, it's very hard to love, it's very hard to pray.

It's easy to get bitter, to withdraw, to isolate, but that's not what God wants.

He's given us the commandment to go.

And I truly believe that if we follow what Scripture says by praying for our authorities,

we guard our hearts and tongues against defense, even in the midst of these difficult circumstances.

And we remain thankful to God, He will open doors that no man can shut.

He will open those doors and He can give us favor if we're faithful and obedient to Him.

So let's fix our eyes on Jesus so we can love the people He's called us to and pray for

the nation where He's placed us, for however long that may be.

Is that okay?

Amen.

Amen.

I'm only getting started.

Okay.

Now we're going to Scripture.

So we're going to open up an Exodus chapter 15.

And I'm going to keep this very brief because it's been mentioned already.

Exodus chapter 15 is the people of Israel having left Egypt as slaves, 400 years under foreign

government.

That's an interesting comparison.

But they haven't left the slavery behind in their mindsets.

And after God has literally parted the Red Sea, they have a praise and worship session.

They're singing of their victory.

They're singing of the goodness of God and how powerful He is.

But just three days passed by and they come to the waters of the desert and they're dried

up and they're bitter.

And so you think, well, they've just had a praise and worship session.

So they're going to be full of the Holy Spirit.

They're now going to seek God and ask direction.

They're going to meditate and waste and see what He would say.

Is that what the people of Israel did?

No.

They complained.

They complained.

And they cried out to Moses, their leader, God bless them.

Let's pray for our leaders.

And let's go to just verse 22 of chapter 15.

It says, so Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea and then they went out into the wilderness

of sure.

Interestingly enough, sure means a wall, okay?

So you're all doing well and then it come across a challenge, a difficulty, some kind

of wall.

And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.

Now when they came to Mara, they could not drink the waters of Mara for they were bitter.

Therefore the name of it was called Mara.

And the people complained against Moses saying, what shall we drink?

So he cried out to the Lord, good example.

And the Lord showed him a tree.

When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.

When we have challenges, what is our response?

We cry out to God and God will point us to the cross, as Luke was saying.

And if we can let the cross become the center of our circumstances, then we will see those

circumstances change.

But that pattern continues.

It's not enough for it happened to once that that's the pattern of their journey through

the desert, okay?

They come to a circumstance, they moan, they complain, they cry out to their leader,

they complain against God.

And just the most heartbreaking of this is in Exodus 32, so we're going to jump there.

It's only three months after the Red Sea was parted.

His whole journey with them, the Lord's journey with the people of Israel was constant

provision, protection, guidance, direction.

And he spends chapters describing the way for him to become present amongst them.

His desire was to dwell amongst the people of Israel.

That's what the tabernacle and the ark, and I'm sorry, there just isn't time to go into

it all.

That can be your homework, okay?

You know, and study these chapters and let God speak to you individually.

His desire was to dwell amongst his people.

But just a couple of verses we're going to read and then we'll end because Moses, to

give the instructions, excuse me, God, to give the instructions to Moses, their leader.

He calls him up onto the mountain, okay?

Do you know how long he spent there?

30 minutes, a couple of days?

No, 40 days, okay?

Moses spent up.

I'm God with his finger, wrote on the tablets.

And you know that's what he wants to do in our hearts, don't you?

He wants to take his finger and inscribe his word into our heart.

And those were powerful, powerful tablets.

Tablets of stone with the word of God written with God's own hand.

That's what we have in Scripture.

We need to recognize how precious it is.

So Moses is up on the mountain receiving the instructions that our loving God wants

to give his people.

That's what he's doing there.

It's very precious.

We need to honor that when we see our leader spending time with God.

Even if it's your parents, honor that, be reverential towards it.

Because we can see what happens instead in the people down below.

This 32 verses 1 says, now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the

mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron and said, come make us gods that shall

go before us.

For us for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't know

what's become of him.

And you probably all know the story of the golden calf.

They give their own earrings, which had symbols of the Egyptian gods on them most likely.

So they were still attached, but they gave them over to make a golden calf that then became

their God.

But just slowly, if we can look at this verse 1, when the people saw that's what they

were watching, they weren't remembering all the good things that God had done for them.

His faithfulness, his miracles, his power, but they were just seeing that Moses was delaying.

But again, I dare to say that that was their concept of delaying, Pastor Jason mentioned

it in the offering, that God's timing is not always our timing.

We need to watch what we watch and watch how we perceive things.

And then watch who you talk to and watch who you hang out with.

Because these people gather together against their leader and took another person who was

not supposed to be the head and said to them, come, make us gods that shall go before us.

They have discarded God here because they now talk about the man who brought us up out

of Egypt instead of God, who brought us up out of Egypt.

We don't know what's become of him.

But knowing is okay.

We need to trust.

We need to trust.

And the last thing I'm going to say is when they say, make us gods, we might be thinking

of the different idols that they could be creating.

But I actually want to tie it into what Luca said, which is, it make us gods.

We want to be the gods.

We want to be the leaders.

We want to be the boss.

We want to do what we want, oh, the number of times I've heard it, it's my life.

I can do what I want.

For how long, how many young people do we see taken out from one day to the next?

They think, oh, yeah, life is short, live fast, have fun.

That's just so dangerous, so dangerous, be sober.

Recognize the very God who gave you breath in your lungs.

Recognize that every day is a gift from him and give it back to him and wake up in the

morning and say, Lord, what do you want me to do today?

What have you got me to say today?

And then let's walk in humble obedience and I'm going to stop there.

Father God, we just desire this so much.

We have all created altars in our lives.

We have all walked as our gods as if we were the ones to make the decisions without consulting

you.

We've all put up God and statues and others, Lord, but I know you're doing a work in

your bride.

I know that the humble hearts that are open to receive are listening and yielding and

saying, yes, Lord, show me.

Father God, that's what we pray today.

We just ask you to show us so that we can say, yes, so that we can yield.

When Moses came down from the mountain, he threw down the tablets and they smashed and

the golden calf was chucked into the fire that came from the tablets because where your

finger has written, there is fire.

The father, our prayer today is that what the word that you have written on our hearts

will consume the very idols that we've created, that we allow the scriptures to burn so strong

on the inside of us that every other is totally and utterly consumed and that you would have

our full whole heart that nothing else will do.

And Father, this is not a quick prayer, as Pastor Jason said, this is a lifelong journey

of euderness and surrender.

And if it's the very first time that you're saying yes to this, Father, we just pray for

every person here who has saved Holy Spirit, move on their hearts today, that they would

come to you, that we would come to you in asking forgiveness, asking your Spirit to fill

our hearts, thanking you, Jesus, for the cross, where our sins were forgiven.

We receive your forgiveness today and with you, we will enter eternal life in Jesus mighty

name.

Amen.

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