Well, once again, glad you're here this Labor Day weekend. We always want to welcome those, that live stream community that joins us every week. Probably have a little bit more this week, a lot of people traveling. I always want to thank those that join us by radio. And of course, you in this third service this morning, thank you so much for being here. Labor Day weekend, which means a lot of people are traveling, which means a lot of people are using GPS. Isn't it amazing? I mean, GPS has changed traveling forever, forever. We've all grown accustomed to that female voice telling us how to drive. Some of you stop thinking that about your wife. Ladies, elbow him right now, okay? That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about GPS telling us how to drive. Typically, GPS works well. I mean, it's pretty amazing. Most of the time, it's going to get you from A to B. There are those stories where GPS failed. Geico recently had a bunch of stories of GPS failures. One was like a guy in New York City was wanting to return his car to the a car rental return area, and it ended up in a cemetery. I mean, I've been to some car rental places. That's not a stretch, maybe. My favorite was a family, again, from New York City. They wanted to go to Mount Rushmore, but they ended up at some random historical marker about Custer's last stand. I use GPS on my phone, but full disclosure here, I'm a little old school. I typically have a printed copy that I take with me for backup. because your battery can die, you can lose your signal, you can spill something all over your phone. Now this may surprise you, it really did me. You remember the maps that you could unfold and could never figure out how to fold them, but you could do a Rubik's Cube faster than fold the map back up? Those maps are actually worldwide sales. Paper maps are holding steady and have even ticked up these last few years. It appears that the paper map is not going away, so there are still a few in my camp who, You know, I mean, again, I use my GPS, but I always want a backup. The reason why I'm talking about that is because you and I continually in our lives are thinking about direction. You came this morning. There was a destination where you wanted to get to, which was this place, and you had to have the right directions to get to this destination. Now, you didn't even think about it. You probably have driven this so many times. Maybe you're a first-time guest today, and you needed to really say, okay, where's this place located? How do I get there? Every day we're continually going the right direction, wanting to go the right direction to get to the right destination. To school, to work, we know the way, we could drive with our eyes closed, but let there be some construction or some detours and it throws us off our game and we're thinking, man, my point is that it's important in life to be going the right direction. Now that's true more than just going from point A to point B. It's also true for our church. It's true for our life. Let me ask you, what is the direction if you're married of your marriage? What is the direction of how you relate to your family or to your children? What's the direction of your life if you're single in the path that God has you on? What's your life direction concerning if you're in business? Right now today, and even as a church, What's that destination we got in mind and how in the world are we planning on getting there? What's your life's direction? You see, I am totally convinced that there's only really two directions in the world and all of us in this room, livestream gang joining us, all of us right now are going one of two directions. It's real simple. I'm either going God's way or I'm going my way. God has an overall basic direction for your life and for my life. Wherever you're at in the most important relationships of your life, God has an overall basic direction for that. And I know as a church, in every ministry, every class represented here in the life of our church, for our church staff, God has a direction for all of us. And what we want to do is try to figure out what that is, and more than just know what his direction is, would we have the courage today to say, God, let me know. in life, in family, in business, in church, in spiritual, in all those areas, am I going your direction? Because I'm really excited, today could be a day where some people start going a new direction in their life. You know, the old GPS thing, I tend to miss a lot of turns because I'm gawking around at something else. And she loves to tell me, recalculating, recalculating, recalculating. Well, maybe today is a good time for us to recalculate our lives. Maybe today is the day for you to go a new direction. Man, I'm excited about God's word today. I really believe it's gonna save some marriages. I really believe some of you, maybe job, career, an important decision, you really have been confused. about a decision to make. I'm not saying you're gonna get the answer to that today, but I am saying that I believe God's word today is going to help. And I know, as our church looks to the future, today's message is really, really important. See, we're into the September already. This year's screened by. We're getting ready to take off into the fall, and let's just stop and check. I want you to know, hey, I don't take Labor Day off, okay? I don't take Labor Day off as your pastor. Man, this is an important message. This is an important Sunday in the life of our church. the life of our homes, our families. Watch God's direction. Today's message is called My Life's Direction, and we're looking in Exodus chapter 14. Exodus chapter 14 is what you just saw. It's one of the most well-known stories in all the Bible. In Exodus chapter 14, you can open your Bibles there, open your Bible app. If you're joining us live stream, you actually can pull up on the computer screen these verses next to where you're watching. It's an important time in the Bible. God's people, Israel, have been in slavery in Egypt for hundreds of years. But God, in his grace and mercy, heard their cries. He sent a great leader by the name of Moses. Moses goes to old Pharaoh and says, let my people go. And God does, only God can do an incredible miracle through a series of plagues to Pharaoh, finally lets them go. If you come to Exodus chapter 14, it is one of the watershed places in the Bible. It's one of the most pivotal moments in the entire word of God. They are at a crossroad. And let me ask you today, what is the moment you're facing right now? Are you in a crossroad? Are you in a pivotal moment in your spiritual life, in your home life, in your emotional life? Are you at one of those pivotal moments? Are you at a crossroad? See, here's what's taking place in Exodus 14. The children of Israel delivered out of slavery and bondage have the Red Sea in front of them. A desert on both sides of them. And Pharaoh changed his mind and the world's most powerful army is coming up behind them. Talk about being in a rock and a hard place. And at the crossroads they're at, at a pivotal moment in their life, they are faced with what we all are faced with. It's a direction question. What direction are we going to go? And we're gonna see in Exodus 14, verses 10 through 20, we're gonna go through these verses, verse by verse, as we go through this sermon, verse by verse. Three directions are listed, but only one is God's direction. Let's check it out, let's take the journey together. Never stop asking yourself the question, I wanna ask myself the question, what's my life's direction at this very moment? And is it time for a change, is it time for a new direction. The first direction listed in Exodus 14 is in verses 10 through 12. Again, we're gonna look at all these verses, 10 through 20, verses 10 through 12. It's the direction of reverse. It's going in reverse. This is the direction that the people want to go at this crossroad, Red Sea in front of them, desert around them, Egyptian army behind them. The people want to go in reverse. Let's read our scriptures. In verse 10, it says, and when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. Very important in verse 10, it says, so they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Verse 11, they said to Moses, because there was no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us to bring us out of Egypt? And finally, verse 12, is this not the word we told you in Egypt saying, let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? Here it is, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians. They're saying it would have been better to stay there. They're saying, man, we wanna go back to the past. We wanna go back to the good old days. We wanna go back in reverse. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than we should die in this wilderness. They're in a tough spot. The enemy is breathing down their neck. They are faced with a major direction decision in their life, and in verse 10, they have fear, they're greatly afraid, and their fear becomes stronger than their faith, and they want to kick it in reverse. They want to go backwards. Now, it's really important to understand this pivotal moment in the Bible. Keep your Bible or your Bible app right there at Exodus 14, but would you scan your eyes back with me one more chapter to Exodus chapter 13. Because Exodus chapter 13 really emphasizes why this is not God's direction to go in reverse. If you look at Exodus 13, which is setting the table for this moment at the Red Sea, first of all in verse five, realize the people of Israel had the promise of God. See, they had God's roadmap. Our roadmap for our life is the Bible. It is the word of God. And in verse five of Exodus 13, it says, and it shall be when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites. God is promising to bring them to the promised land. If you look down further in verse five, it says that he swore, God is swearing to give them this land. He's promising them in his word, this is gonna happen. Now go down in Exodus 13 to verses 21 and 22. Not only has God promised them in his word to do this, his power was guiding them. They knew this was God's plan to go to the promised land. Regardless of the army, regardless of the Red Sea, the circumstances hasn't changed the fact that God's promised them and by his power, he's revealing his plan. It says in verse 21 of Exodus 13, and the Lord went before them by day, And a pillar of cloud to lead them the way and by night and a pillar of fire to give them light So as to go by day and night He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people God's plan was clearly to take them to the promised land. He promised to get them there by His word. His power was personally guiding them. How cool would it be if you're trying to find a job, if a pillar of God said, hey, follow me and I'm gonna take you right to where you need to work. It's almost, we think, man, it's almost like they got it easy. God in His power has revealed His plan, He's promised it to them, yet they get in a tough spot, and their fear becomes greater than their faith, and they say, man, we wanna go backwards, we wanna go in reverse. I already emphasized it once, but verse 12 is, we want, it was better, that word better, we want the good old days. We wanna go back to the good old days. Do you know the Bible tells us we're not to long for the good old days? In Ecclesiastes chapter seven, verse 10, it says, do not say, why were the old days better than these? For it is not wise to ask such questions. See, the good old days are not really that good. We just kind of remember them that way. Some people would say, oh man, the 1950s. Fonzie and poodle skirts. Man, you know, and the good guys wore white hats, and the bad guys wore black hats, and there was Leave it to Beaver, and moms wore pearls while they baked chicken. Yeah, and there was also the threat of nuclear war, and there was also riots, and there was also cancer and disease. All the good old days. Oh man, if we could go back in time when life was simpler. Yeah, it was simpler, and they didn't have Novocaine, and they pulled your tooth with a pair of pliers. We think of the good old days because we choose to remember them that way. But the Bible tells us it's not God's plan for us to live our lives always longing for the good old days. Here's what's going on in Exodus 14 in verses 10 through 12. Anytime we take our focus off the person of Jesus, the power of God, and the promises of scripture, and we put our focus on the problems we face, our faith will decrease, our fear will increase, and when our fear is greater than our faith, we're gonna wanna put our life in reverse and go back to the past. See, when you're at a crossroads, a known past is much more comfortable than an unknown future. Man, we know the past. But can we right now today just in concrete and never have to revisit it again, can we realize that there's nothing wrong with learning from the past and it's really cool to love things about the past? Man, I know Jesus arose from the grave by looking to the past. But can we for once and for all just Nail it down today, it is impossible to live in the past. Can't do it. Now there are times, as believers, we should return to the past. We say, oh, we should return to the word of God, or we should return to the gospel, and we should have never left in the first place. That's not what we're talking about in Exodus chapter 14. So what we're talking about in Exodus chapter 14 is longing for the past, wanting to live in the past. Jesus told us that he said no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God in Those days when they would plow either by hand or by a mule farmers prided themselves in having straight rows And the only way you could have a straight row is you had to fix your eyes on a post or a tree And you had to stare at that the entire time you were plowing if you kept looking over your shoulder I mean, it's gonna look like this And Jesus is saying, if you spend all your time looking over your shoulder, looking back to the past, instead of focusing on me, he says, man, you're not even fit for my kingdom. This is so important, because I'm here to tell you, some of you, you may not think about it or thought about it first this way, but your life consists of you always dwelling on your past failures. You live your life in reverse. If you only had a do-over, if you only had a second shot, your ministry you're involved in or life or family, it's always looking over your shoulder, always longing for the good old days. Longing for the good old days. Well, here's the thing in verses 10 through 12, backslidden thinking always leads to backslidden living. It breaks my heart when the greatest memory of God for a church or a Christian is in the past. Oh, let me tell you about that youth camp we had in 1988 when 17 kids got saved. Or our old home church, oh, I remember the late 70s. It's four times the size it is now and people loved each other and we were doing missions all over the world. Man, it is sad when the greatest movement of God in our lives is something that happened in the past. I'm here to tell you Jesus is alive and he is fresh each and every day. We don't live in the past. The most important, or some would say the most thrilling form of motor racing is by the Dutch. It's not F1, it's not IndyCar, it's not NASCAR, it's racing in reverse. Imagine being at a racetrack and 30 to 40 cars lined up, race cars, and the entire race they go as fast as they can in reverse. They never look out the windshield, they're always looking over their shoulder or looking out the mirror, on a twist and turn curvy track, and you're going as fast as you can in reverse, it's hard to hold a straight line, so every driver that races in reverse knows dents are going to come, it's typically not going to end well, and crashes are a given. Life is so fast, and life has so many twists and turns, but if you are bent on running the race of life in reverse, I'm here to tell you in your home, in your family, in your marriage, in your class, in this church, in the ministry, it is not going to end well. A crash is a given. Let's focus on churches for just a moment. Let's focus on churches that want to try to live in the past. Dr. Tom Rainer, I believe, is one of the, God's blessed him, he's one of the great experts of the American church, and he has studied why 200 American churches every week close their doors. He wrote an article in his study called The Autopsy of a Deceased Church. He did an autopsy on dead, dying churches, and one of the things, one of the common threads, they have an obsession with memorials and with the past. They're always looking in the rear view mirror. Join us next Saturday at 12 when we have a memorial plaque put up for Sister June. Join us next Sunday night. We're gonna have a special service of pie and punch, and we wanna remember Brother Fred. Hey, I love Sister June and Brother Fred, okay? But there's this obsession with the past. There's this, I long for the old days and the old ways. At First Baptist Arnold, what we do will never change. We are called to make disciples. We're called to spread the good news of Jesus locally and globally. What we do will never change. At First Baptist Arnold, why we do what we do will never change. It's all for the glory of God. But at First Baptist Arnold, how we do what we do must always be changing. If you don't like change, you're really not gonna like being irrelevant. No church chooses to die. No church says, hey, I've thought about it. The next five years, let's just die. Churches never choose to die. Churches choose not to live when they choose to stop changing because they wanna live in the past. John Mark Clifton at the North American Mission Board is a buddy of mine, and he studies the dying church and revitalizing churches. Again, 200 a week will close their doors, it's growing. Listen to what he said. He says, quote, the number one problem faced by churches in need of a revitalization is that they've embraced a false god. Satan has conducted a scheming and devious transaction with these saints. He has led them to exchange their worship, love, affection, faith, and joy, and hope in Jesus for a false sense of purpose and meaning that is found in nostalgia and control. Among other things, an idol is something we run to for purpose and meaning. Many people in the church find their purpose and meaning in buildings, pews, the structure of a worship service, an actual classroom they meet in all the time, or simply the fact in this fast-changing world there's one place they can go to every week that never changes and stays the same. Even the silk flowers in the front of the church never change. It's a false idol. You know it's a false idol if you're afraid of losing it. The greatest need in revitalization is for the people who wants to once again love Jesus above all else and ask the right question. The wrong question is what do I want to do with this church? The right question is what does Jesus want me to do with his church? For over two years, I served As the Associate Executive Director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, we have roughly 2,000 churches, something like that, 1950, 2,000 churches. And I traveled around kind of being a pastor to pastors, kind of helping churches of all size, shapes. If you ask me, what did I discover about those 2,000 churches in Missouri? There's some really good things, man. There's some churches on fire, reaching people for Jesus, God's people united doing great things. But I really would say this, one of the things that broke my heart, I discovered in two years of really serving and working in churches all across Missouri, is this, there are a bunch of people, this is the passion of their life, this is the theme of their Christian walk in 2018, it's this, man, I want my old church back. If I could just have my old church back. What's really bad is when someone joins this church wanting their old church back. I always remind them, hey listen, we didn't join you, you joined us. And we never ever will be your old church. You need to check out what we're about and see if that fits. And I'm here to tell you, that's my classroom, that's my pew I sit in, that's my parking spot. That's the way the buildings always look. That's the way we've always had our worship services. I'm here to tell you Jesus Christ did not die for property, he died for people. And with all that being said, if you're a guest here today, I want you to hear this. First Baptist Arnold, thank you. Not perfect. For 60 years, you have been willing to pay the high price of change. 11 times you've purchased more property so we could reach more people. The 13 years I've been here, we have made so many changes, it makes my head spin. I wanna thank you, church family. I'm talking to our church family. Now, if you're a guest, but we love you, let me say a word to our church family. I want you to know I love you and thank you for being willing to pay the high price of change. Thank you for loving Jesus more than you love the past and more than you love yourself. And I'm also telling you as pastor, I know in the future, there's gonna be more changes. You know what those changes are? I have no idea. But God does. And he's gonna lead us. It's sad, in Exodus 14, they really thought the best direction for their life is to go in reverse. And maybe you're here today. Again, your whole life is dominated by your past. You don't know what it's like to look out the windshield, because you always stare in the rear view mirror about your failures, your faults, your pains, your scars, and I'm not belittling that, those are real. But isn't it time in love, can I just say this, to stop, I'm going to anyway, I guess, to stop looking at your past and start looking at Jesus? Isn't it time to get over it and get on with your life? Reverse is not God's direction. Well, there's a second direction. The people wanted to go in reverse. Well, look what leadership wanted to do. Leadership wanted to go in neutral. They wanted to go in neutral, they just wanted to stand still. We're going verse by verse, okay? Now we're verses 13 and 14. And it was in verses 10 through 12, the people said, but now Moses said to the people, do not be afraid, stand still. Go in neutral. We're not going backwards. Just stay where you're at. And see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you will never see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and he says it in verse 14. Hold your peace. Stand still. Again, there are times that we need to stand still. Hear me. There are times when we must wait on the Lord. No doubt about it. Psalm 46, 10 says, be still and know that I am God. Yes. Psalm 130 verse 5 says I wait for the Lord my soul waits. Yes. Yes. There are times we must wait on the Lord It's always better to wait on the Lord than be in a position where you wished you had waited on the Lord But that's not what we're talking about in this text Leadership, Moses says, stand still. Leadership, Moses says, just hold right where you're at. You know, we can start up our automobiles, get the engine running, and we can put our transmissions in neutral. And if your car's running in neutral, if my car's running in neutral, man, we can flash the lights, we can honk the horn, we can have the radio blaring, and we can rev up that motor so it's so loud it spits out so much smoke it kills every mesquite on the Mississippi River. But here's what we all know, you're not going anywhere. And it's a scary thought in the life of a Christian or a church to come to the end of the year and have a lot of smoke, noise, and lights, but you realize we really haven't gone anywhere. Made no difference for the glory of God in reaching people for Jesus and living for His glory. Neutral, stand still. There's never a shortage of excuses to do nothing. A bazillion reasons to do nothing, to not join that class, to not be a part of this ministry, to not do serve our city on the 23rd. Never short of excuses to do nothing. Procrastination and hesitation and let's just kind of hang out where we're at typically shows a complacent heart that's lost its passion for Jesus. This scares me. This direction is what scares me. because Moses is the leader and as a pastor, and it should scare if you're a business leader, if you're a leader of a class, if you're a leader wherever, this should scare you. See, there is no way Moses would go back to the past. There's no way he would ever go back to the past. But he says, let's just stay where we're at. And as pastor, I would never try to lead us back to the past. What scares me is, oh God, it scares me to death. Would I not have enough faith to take us to where God wants us to be? Could I become comfortable? Because things are going good now. Things are going great now in our church. So let's just stay where we're at. Let's just stay comfy and cozy and be right where we're at. You see, here's for your business, for ministry, for class, for this church, for your marriage, for your life, the missional drift of every organization is always inward. It's let's take care of what we got. It's hard intentional work and effort to intentionally go outward. Let's get more people in the class, more people in the ministry, more people in the church. It's easier to say after we've been married for X amount of years, let's just kind of stay where we're at. It takes a lot of effort to say I want my marriage to go stronger. Where we work or a student in school, let's just kind of do our deal to say no man I really it's hard and this scares me this missional drift of always going inward scares me But Tom Ellef from Oklahoma said it best God has not called us to be settlers. He's called us to be pioneers Man the Christian life is not I'm gonna put up my little log cabin on this little piece of property and sit here till Jesus comes back. He's called us to the wild adventure of being pioneers. In 2016, in the United Kingdom, Beals Department Store, really high-end store, had a robbery that totally baffled law enforcement. A bunch of really expensive designer clothes got stolen, and they could not figure out why. There was no sign of break-in. There was no broken windows, no doors, and no alarms went off. The only alarm that went off is when this group of thieves, that's it, there was a bunch of them too, when this group of thieves went down the fire escape stealing all these clothes, and they could not figure how did they do this, and then they figured it out. Not only were these thieves very innovative, they also had the ability to stand really still. What they did when the store was open, these thieves went into some dressing rooms, put on clothes, and then they stood by mannequins like mannequins. One sneeze would have blown it for all of them. And they stood like mannequins until the store closed, the employees went home, then they went out and stole everything. So one of the strategy of thieves is just to stand perfectly still and don't move. And Satan is a thief who's come to kill, steal, and destroy. And I'm here to tell you that one of his strategies, not for him, but for us, is for us to be the frozen chosen and the Messiah's mannequins, okay? He wants us just to be complacent and stand still right where we're at. so he can kill our witness and can destroy the gospel impact of this church and of our lives. But we know something different. We are not the church of the status quo. We are the church of the living God. So reverse is not God's direction. Standing still is not God's direction. And just the bottom line, we all know this. In a marriage, in a family, in our lives, walking with Christ, in our church, It's impossible to stand still anyway. We never can. No one ever stands still. No one's ever in neutral. As soon as we think we're in neutral, we're starting to go backwards at that moment. Well, there's one more listed. The people said go in reverse. Leadership said just hang out where we're at. But look what God said beginning in verse 15. God's divine direction is forward. The direction, the overall basic direction of God is forward. We're at verse 15. And the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry out to me? This is one of the places in the Bible where God says, would you stop praying? Would you do what I've already told you to do? You don't have to pray about it anymore. Why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to, to do what? What are those two words? What does it say? Go forward. One more time, there's no risk of becoming Pentecostal. What does it say? Go forward. But lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide, and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. God's overall basic direction for your life, for my life, for our families, for every ministry, every class, and for this church is forward because our God is a go forward God. In Genesis 1 and 2, God, in His own choice, decided to go forward and create everything out of nothing. In Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve decided to disobey God and do their own way and do their own thing in their life and sin entered the human race, God still decided to go forward by clothing them and promising them a Savior. In the Old Testament, we see our go-forward God, from Israel to the law to the sacrifice to the prophets, everything is moving forward, pointing to a coming Messiah, a coming Savior named Jesus, who fulfilled all those prophecies. You get to the New Testament, what's God doing? Reverse, neutral, no, God's still going forward. He went forward in the birth of Jesus, forward in the life of Jesus, forward in the death of Jesus, forward in the resurrection of Jesus, and forward in the ascension of Jesus. In the book of Acts, the church, the birth of the church, what's God doing with the church? He's going forward, forward from Jerusalem, forward to Judea, forward to Samaria, forward to today in 2018 to the ends of the earth. And then you go to the book of Revelation, God is still moving forward because He is moving everything forward. He's in total control to the end of the ages. He's moving forward to the return of Jesus Christ. We're moving forward to when sin and evil is totally wiped out. and we're moving forward to a real place called heaven. The Great Commission, which is our mission, is a go-forward mission. We're to go forward. We're to keep growing as disciples. I wanna go forward. I wanna be more like Jesus today than yesterday. I wanna go forward more like Jesus tomorrow than today. Making disciples is going forward. We wanna go locally and globally and make disciples of all nations and all people. Paul wanted to go forward. He didn't want neutral or reverse. Look what he said, brethren. I do not count myself as apprehended, but one thing I do. He said, I haven't arrived, but let me tell you, there's one thing that I've nailed down in my life. Forgetting those things which are behind. I'm not gonna try to live in the past. I'm not gonna go in reverse. And reaching forward. to those things which are ahead. Not only am I just gonna reach forward, I press like an athlete straining every muscle in their body to cross the finish line. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. He says, man, I'm not gonna do neutral. I'm not gonna go reverse. I'm gonna go forward because forward is God's direction. How in the world do we go forward? The Bible tells us. Hebrews 11 speaks of Exodus 14 and the parting of the Red Sea, by faith. That's how we go forward. By faith, they pass through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians attempting to do so were drowned. See, there's no faith required to go in reverse. We already know what happened in the past. It's comfortable. I don't need faith to go into the past. I know what happened in the past. If I long to go to the past, today, I know what's around me to a degree, but as soon as you start thinking about five minutes from now, the future, It takes faith to go forward into the future. Without faith, we can't please God. God told him in verse 15, stop asking me and act because faith always acts. Then in verse 16, he said, hey, I've got this great plan. This old guy's gonna hold up a stick and the water's gonna part and you're gonna cross on dry land, uh-huh. God's plan don't have to make sense to us. We just gotta obey by faith. And I love that moment. I love that moment at the Red Sea. I love the video. I thought it was kind of cool, you know, how it was presented there, but think it actually happened. Here are the people of Israel, slaves set free by God, Red Sea desert army breathing down their neck. And what do they do? Moses raises his staff. Can you just join me for a moment and let's hear the roar as those waters parted and stood up in these massive walls and little fishtails are coming out of the water? Can you feel the mist hitting your face? Can you smell the water? Do you know here's this dry path that should be a muddy mess, here's this dry path to cross. You don't know, you could get three-fourths of the way and it closes on your head. But what I love about that story, what I love about that story, it's so important to life and eternity and important to, Being a Christ follower, what I love about the story of the Red Sea, I don't know who it was, but one man or one woman did this. Watch it, don't miss it. One of the most important things you could ever see in your life, in your ministry and life of this church, one person did this. Here it is, ready? They took a forward step of faith. Because all you can do is take one step at a time anyway. And they took another, and another, and another. Why does God want us going forward? Let's keep looking, it tells us. Verses 17 and 18, and indeed I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. Look what he says, and I will gain honor. When you go forward in faith, I'm gonna gain honor over Pharaoh and his army, his chariots and his horsemen. Why go forward? Because the Egyptians will know that I'm the Lord. And the second time, you know what? I'm gonna get honor. The two reasons why God wants us to go forward in faith, number one, is because he's glorified. When we live a life going forward by faith, God is glorified. He says twice, I will be honored. We know the prophet Isaiah told us that we were created for God's glory, 1 Corinthians 10, 31. Everything we do is for the glory of God. God's glory is the indescribable total sum of his character, person, and activity. And it's amazing through the Holy Spirit's power when Jesus is our Savior, we can live a certain way, love a certain way, and say certain words that's gonna let everyone around us know this is who my God is, my God is glorious. Everything we do is for the sake of his name. He's not gloried when we wanna keep things status quo. He's not glorified when our hearts long to go back to the good old days. He's glorified when we go forward by faith. And not only going forward by faith, also the second reason he wants us going forward by faith, not only is he glorified, but the gospel expands. It's our mission. He said, they shall know that I am the Lord. They don't know that he's the Lord, but they're gonna know that he's the Lord, because every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. But God wants them to know that he's the Lord in this life. Many people do not know that Jesus is Lord. They don't know God because they don't know God's Son. They don't have God's Son. Many people in the world that we're on, Missions with partners with our unreached people groups. That's never even heard his name But yet Jesus said look he says they shall know that I am the Lord Jesus said in John 17 3 This is eternal life that you may know that they may know you the only true God in Jesus Christ Whom you have since what John said about Jesus, so they went forward by faith. They took that first step of faith And God did a miracle They all crossed on dry land, and the enemy was toast. You know how pivotal this very specific moment is? You and I would not be going to heaven if this hadn't happened. Follow me. Because they went forward in faith, a nation was born. And because that nation was born in a city called Bethlehem, a savior was born. And the reason I am born again is because my Jesus was born and fulfilled prophecy in a nation that was born because some people went forward in faith. Forward, forward in praying. forward in giving in the generous life, forward in trusting, forward in our commitment to be in a small group, forward in our desire to be part of a ministry team, forward in seeking people to know Jesus. You wanna move forward? We've got a practical, tangible way to move forward. How about September 23rd? Maybe it's prayer team, maybe it's a month, maybe you've never done anything like this in your life. How about forward? forward in our mission passion to see people that don't know Jesus come to know him. Forward, forward, forward, till Jesus comes back where he calls us home, forward. Why go forward in faith? Why do that? Because God wants to move forward into the hearts of men and women, boys and girls, and deliver them from their sins. We got two more verses to go. It says the angel of the lord or the angel of god anytime in the old testament. You see not a angel, but the angel of god That's the old testament. Jesus. That's the pre-incarnate christ the angel of god who went before the camp of israel moved and went behind them and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them and So it came between the camp of the Egyptians in the camp of Israel thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one But it was light by night to the other so the one did not come near the other all that night Here's what's happens if just so we're on the same page here you had Red Sea God's cloud, pre-incarnate Christ, God's cloud, Israel, Egyptian army. But God did something only God can do. His cloud went up in the air, went over the top of Israel, and now came between Egypt and Israel. So now you don't have Red Sea, cloud, Israel, Egypt. Now you've got Red Sea, Israel, cloud in Egypt. It's not original with me. Others have said it and said it a lot better than I'll say it. But that day by the Red Sea, there were only two groups of people. One group facing destruction, the Egyptians, and a second group facing deliverance, Israel. And the only thing that separated them that day was God's cloud. In 2018, we make it so complicated. There's only two groups of people on the planet. As much as our country screams at us, it's not Republicans or Democrats. There's only two groups of people on the planet. Those who are bound for destruction because they've rejected Jesus Christ. And those who are bound for deliverance because they've said yes to Jesus. And what separates them today is not God's cloud, it's God's cross. Watch the direction of your spiritual life. Watch your eternal destination. Which group are you in today? Which side of the cross are you on? See, God loves us so much, and God loves you so much, and in His grace, Jesus came to the cross to pay the price for your sins and my sins, and He arose in victory. The book of Romans just sums it up really quickly. In chapter three, we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. In chapter five, God demonstrates His love and why we were sinners. Christ died, and in chapter 10, if you call on His name, He'll save you. And Jesus even said in Luke's gospel, Mark's gospel, to repent or perish. That word repentance is this, it's a direction. It means you've been going the direction of self and sin, but now you've heard the good news of Jesus. In faith, follow Christ. In faith, come to Jesus and call upon his name. This could be the single greatest day of your life. You could have an eternal life direction forever. Not because you commit to start going to church or not because you stop spitting Copenhagen or whatever else, okay? It's by saying yes to Jesus as your Savior and Lord. Voice of the Martyrs tells the story a few years back from Peru. Terrorists were going into villages in Peru, burning down churches, persecuting Christians, murdering pastors. In one village in Peru where the terrorists entered in, they set off a bomb. And 28-year-olds, Alejandro Gomez, the bomb went off near him and he lost both his legs below his knees. He survived the bombing and now he makes a living repairing shoes. So this man who had both feet blown off his body because he loved Jesus makes a living repairing shoes for those who have feet. He also walks around the dirt floor of his shoe repair place in Peru with these old, creaky, unstable, poor-fitting, really old, old-school plastic legs. He's such an inspiration for believers today. You see, at least twice a week, 28-year-old Alejandro on those poor-fitting, creaky, unstable plastic legs, twice a week, he climbs up a mountain. and he goes for miles deep into the jungle of Peru to go to villages of people who've never heard about Jesus. Now, hey, he has every reason in the world to kick life in reverse. Woe is me, God, I loved you, why did this happen? I can't get over the past of all that's happened to me, but he refused reverse. Who would blame him for being in neutral? I mean, for taking the easy path. Listen, Alejandro, just stay on the level ground, man. You've got plastic legs that don't fit. I mean, people are gonna come into your shop. Let's make it easy. They're gonna come into your shop and you can tell them about Jesus. Who would blame him for being in neutral? But no, he decides I'm going to go up a mountain Miles deep into the jungle and get this voice of the martyr said he did it so much. He wore out those plastic legs Voice of the martyrs bought him two new prosthetic legs who knows how many places he's going now, you know why? Because the guy went forward Forward What is our life direction. Come on. Is it reverse? God hit your heart today saying, man, all you do is live in the past. Is it, I'm just cool where I'm at, pretty convenient, pretty comfortable? Put her in cruise control. Are you willing to take a risk? and step out in faith. And who knows what God's gonna ask you to do and go forward. Is it God's way or is it our way? Jesus is the way. And let God lead the way. And if you say, I'm a follower of Jesus, and I wanna follow Jesus, and if our church says that, let me tell you what that direction's gonna be. It's gonna be forward. We ever move forward, but one of these days, there's a different direction coming. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we love you, and we're grateful that you're a go-forward God in creating us and saving us and leading us. And God, hey, man, we are frail jars of clay. You know us well. It can be so tempting, God, to just try to go backwards, to get comfortable and same old, same old, but what an adventure awaits when we just hear your voice and the power of your Holy Spirit go forward in faith. God, I pray for us as a congregation in the coming weeks, months, and years. God, I know there's some, they won't come along for the ride. They're gonna bail, and Lord, that's heartbreaking, but God, we commit to you by your grace and for your glory and for the advancement of the gospel, we are a people who wanna go forward. Till you come back or you call us home. Lord, maybe that first forward step needs to take place in the hearts of believers who are gonna make a deeper commitment to you today, a commitment to join that small group, to be a part of Serve Our City, to be a part of a ministry team, to stop thinking about themselves and start thinking about you, and I don't know, Lord, and families, to say I'm gonna make commitments to strengthen my marriage, I wanna do more, and I wanna become a better parent. God, I wanna go forward with you. I wanna grow and become more like you. I wanna tell more people about you. So God, in our hearts, thank you today that we can make a forward step of commitment, saying God, I just want a deeper commitment of going forward for you. Your pace to your place. but forward. Maybe, Lord, there are some here who they need to come forward to you in their hearts to come to you and call upon your name. You've called them to yourself, and they need to respond with a yes by faith and come to know you as Savior and Lord. Lord, maybe that means coming forward to sit on a pew and to have people in this church on our ministry team talk with them about knowing you as Savior. God, maybe our decisions to go forward means filling out that card Maybe that decision to go forward means going out into the lobby at the membership matters display and talking to those who love you about a decision in their heart. Maybe that forward means sending us a text, giving us a call, visiting with a pastor. Lord, again, maybe it's forward to come and grab a spot on one of these front pews. Lord Jesus, we come to you saying you're worthy. And I thank you for this moment in the book of Exodus. And I thank you for loving us enough to give us moments of evaluation. And God, thank you that by your grace, man, we can all be a part of that forward train. Till you call us home or you come back, thank you we're ever moving forward because we're forever gonna be upward with you. We ask all this in Jesus' name, amen. Would you stand, please?