Well, good evening. If you'd turn and keep your Bibles to the side. We're going to turn to the Bibles. But if you'd find this book in front of you, this hymnal, lift up your voice and turn to page 113. Probably thinking, what kind of heresy are we gonna hear tonight? Trust me, we're not. We're gonna hear from God's word, but there's a song in here that's been a blessing to me ever since I came across it. I probably heard it the first time I was at college at Ambassador, and the president of our college sings this song very well. He's got a beautiful voice, but the words of this song made me think about the meaning of life, and also the end of life. What really matters every day in many things that we do? And I'm just gonna, if you found your placer, it's song 113, and the name of the song is Jesus Led Me All the Way. And just notice for, as a brief introduction, the words of this song. I'll go through the first three verses and then we'll look at the chorus, but it starts by saying, someday my journey will be over. and I shall reach that distant shore. I'll sing while entering heaven's door. Jesus led me all the way. If God should let me there review the winding paths of earth I knew, it would be proven clear and true. Jesus led me all the way. and hitherto my Lord had led, today he guides each step I tread. And soon in heaven it will be said, Jesus led me all the way. Jesus led me all the way, led me step by step each day. I will tell the saints and angels as I lay my burden down, Jesus led me all the way. It's a song of reflection, but really a song of testimony. Has Jesus led you up to this point in your life? You know, as we think about life and every day we wake up, the first thing that probably hits us is probably what we did the previous day. depending on what you did or what you didn't do, your body is the first thing that tells you how your day is going to go. Wake up with pains and aches or you wake up fresh depending on how you've slept. But as you wake up and you have a reality that faces you, you have the things that you have to do for the day, things planned out. As you spend time entering into spending time with God's Word and spending time with the Lord, You're faced with a decision the moment you wake up. And that decision is, do I follow God or do I follow my flesh, the world, and the devil today? Do you know that's a decision given to every single one of us as we wake up? And every day we're given the choice, a decision that we have. Am I going to choose God's way? Am I going to choose my way? If you're turning your Bibles to the Old Testament, the book of Exodus, chapter 13, Exodus 13, and by context, I'll just go over a few things here in this passage, but Exodus 13, we find the children of Israel are in a place where God has just brought them out from a place of bondage. A place where they for the longest time thought, we're going to stay here forever. A place of oppression, a place where they realized and in many ways cried unto the Lord and the Lord heard their prayer. And God said, I'm not only going to hear, but I'm going to come down and I'm going to help you. You know, the rest is a story. God raises up a man named Moses. A man who fled after killing another Egyptian, fled for his life and was in the back side of the desert. God finds him and says, Moses, I'm going to send you back to your people to bring them out and I'm going to fulfill the promise that I gave to their father Abraham. and take them to the Promised Land. Moses, out of much reluctance and later choosing to obey the Lord with Aaron, post all the ten plagues in Egypt, is walking out with all the people of Israel. And they're moving towards the Promised Land, but we find them on the journey as they've just crossed the Red Sea. and they're moving towards the promised land that God finds them in verse number one and tells Moses and the Lord said and the Lord spake unto Moses saying sanctify unto me all the firstborn whatsoever open at the womb among the children of Israel both of man and of beast it is mine and before God sends them into the land he tells Moses hey you're my people but because you're my people you're going to be different And that word sanctify is to set apart. And he begins a series of a lot of what we know as commandments that God gives throughout this book to tell his people, you are different because you belong to me. And because of that, you need to act and behave differently. There's certain things you can't do that the rest of the world is doing. Later on, we find that the reason for why God did that was because he wanted them to be different. For people to look at them and say, these people are different. Who's the God that they worship? And ultimately, God using the people of Israel was to reach the whole world. And to reach them and tell them who the Lord Jehovah was. We find our place in verse 3. where Moses reminds them, the Bible says, And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place, there shall no leavened bread be eaten. And then verse 4 says, this day that he came out in the month, it tells us when they did. But when Moses takes a moment and tells the people of Israel, remember this day, And he uses different things to make them remember, but notice what it says in verse 3. He says, remember this day in which he came out from Egypt. If you get nothing out of the message tonight. I love it when preachers say this. That doesn't mean you tune out the rest of what I say. Because the Lord has something for you tonight. Not because I'm up here, not that I'm anything great, but because we're opening His Word. And here's a reality. God is speaking tonight, but also every day, regardless of whether or not we choose God's way or we don't, God is leading. Regardless of whether we notice it, If we obey it, or even if we say no, we are completely oblivious to it. Can I remind you of the reality tonight? God is leading. But the question is, are you going to follow? Would you be willing to follow? And I want to describe for you, as in one sense, God telling us tonight, As I am leading, here's a few things about the way that I lead. The paths that I lead in. Because my way is very different from the way that your heart tells you to go. The way that the world tells you to go. And especially the way sin draws you to go. It's a way that is different. But God wants to encourage us tonight, and that's my only purpose tonight. We're in a missions conference. We understand that God has a great task for us to do. A wonderful task and privilege. But understanding to do God's will, He also requires for us to be in His will. And that's the focus tonight. Really, are we walking in God's way or in our way? And I want you to notice the first thing we see about God's way and how He leads is that He leads out of bondage. God's way leads out of bondage. Look at verse 3. Moses says unto the people, Remember this day in which ye came out of Egypt, or out from Egypt, and he describes to them, out of the house of bondage. The children of Israel were not just sojourners there in Egypt. They later became slaves. To the point where they could never be anything else but be a slave. They were under bondage. They were under whatever Pharaoh decided to do. They had no say in it. In fact, if they tried to say anything, it would cost them their life. They were in a place of complete bondage. And God says, when He leads, He leads out of bondage. By this passage of Scripture, we see that God used Moses, raised him up, to bring the people up, but really God let the people through from Egypt out into the wilderness and finally into the place of the promised land. And I want you to notice tonight, when God leads, He leads out of bondage. And by application in many ways, we as born sinners, we're bound by sin. Whatever sin dictates to us, we do. Before you were saved, that was who you were. You were very much obedient to sin. You did everything that your flesh and the devil wanted you to do. You had no choice in the matter, except for when Jesus stepped into your life. And when He did, that moment, He brought you out from a place of bondage that you could never set yourself free from. But He came in through the keys of salvation that He purchased with His own blood by dying on the cross for our sins, being buried and rising again. He came in and opened the door and set us free. And He said, come, be free. And we, as those who have believed in Christ, we are set free tonight. Regardless of how you feel this evening, You're free. There's nothing in this entire universe that holds you back from God. What a reality. What an awesome privilege to be God's children. And God's way as He leads, His first leading in your life is to Himself and away from sin. Tonight, you may be visiting this church for a while, or maybe you're struggling, as Brother Minion said, about your matter of salvation. You don't know. I don't know if I know Christ. I don't know if I'm saved. Can I remind you tonight, God's way for you is to be out of bondage. And tonight, if you haven't put your trust in Jesus Christ and what He did for you, remember I said, you can't try to get out of where you are. Jesus did the work for you and if you trust him tonight, he will bring you out of bondage But notice how he brought them out of bondage look at verse 3 the last part. It says for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place and Then he tells him later there shall no leavened bread be eaten when God brought them out from Egypt He didn't just say, or just open a gate and send them out. He did such a work that the Egyptians knew they couldn't mess with God. They couldn't mess with the God of the Hebrews. Because He had caused destruction and caused a lot of chaos right there in Egypt. And the purpose for that was so that all of Egypt would know who the Lord was. But notice those words, for by strength Hand can I remind you tonight? I told you I'm gonna try my best to just be an encouragement to you God not only brought you out from bondage, but the way he brought you out was by strength of hand Realize this is not strength that you lack or that you have tonight, not your own strength, not the strength of your pastor, not the strength of a great leader in this world, but the strength of God that is limitless and powerful. And by His mighty hand, He brought you out while you were yet a sinner, brought you out of bondage. You're saved and you're saved with a strong hand. So much so that the Bible tells us that we can never be lost. Think of that illustration I gave you as Jesus comes in and opens the door for you as the prisoner and sets you free. He says, go be free for I've set you free. And we walk out. We experience freedom. We experience the liberty we have in Christ. But we understand that we did nothing to get that. God gave it all to us. We see that verse 9 as well. He reminds them again. In verse number 9, it should be a sign upon thee. In the last part 4, by a strong hand hath the Lord brought you out from Egypt. He says that in verse 14 again. By strength of hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt. Verse 16 as well. Your salvation tonight was by the strength of God. It is not something simple. God worked in your life. The same God that created the world and spoke things into existence, the moment you trusted Christ, that same power was, in many ways, was exerted on you and exercised in your life. Don't diminish the work that God has done in your life. The Bible says in Romans 5 and verse 8, but God commanded His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So tonight, when God leads, He leads you out of bondage. And with the strength of hand, He leads you out. Never to return again. But realize, when we talk about being saved, you're saved from something. And as a Christian, you're saved from sin, from who you were outside of Christ. But the second thing is, we're saved unto something as well. And God's way leads to victory. He saves you from a place of bondage, but He leads you to a place of victory. Look at verse 5. And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in that month." In other words, this was the promised land. The land of milk and honey. A land that was prosperous. The land of promise. This describes for us what we know as the victorious Christian life in a believer. You see, when God brings you out from bondage, He puts you into victory. The Bible says we are in Christ. And notice for a moment, when God talks about victory, it's something that He bought with His power for us. It's not something that we need to get every day. I'll just describe that for you. When we are in Christ, we don't fight to become victorious. We are victorious because He is victorious. There was an illustration of someone who ran a race, and they came and they were standing right on the pedestal there, and they were first place. They won the game. And that's the idea of who we are in Christ, where Christ is the one that has won victory over all that we have been under, that we have been bound by, over sin, over death. And when we are in Him, we stand in that place of victory. But notice this, daily God leads us out of bondage, but daily we stand in victory. And when we go about our day, We don't fight for victory. We fight from the victory stand. You know, there's obviously, when you hear preaching like this, there's going to be application somewhere. If not, the Holy Spirit has already done it in your heart. But when God leads, His way is, I'm going to lead you out of bondage. And His way is, I'm going to lead you to victory. But also notice, His way leads through a narrow way. The way God leads is through a narrow way. Look at verse 17, And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God let them not through the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, Lest peradventure the people repent, would they see war, and they return to Egypt. The Bible says, but God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, and the children of Israel went up, harnessed out of the land of Egypt. We find the people of Israel right here in the middle, out of Egypt, in the wilderness, waiting to go into the Promised Land. And that journey going there, God chooses for them that the way He's going to lead them is not a way that's going to be easy. Again, God's not a God that wants to make life difficult for us. But He is a God who knows all, who knows us, and wants us to trust Him. You notice when God tells them that He didn't lead them through a way that was near. It's because it was a way that if they went through, they would have gotten scared and discouraged and turned back and gone back to Egypt. It was the land of the Philistines. The people of Israel up to this point were not people of war yet. They had never lifted up a sword. They had never fought. They were farmers. They were slaves. And God knew what their limitations were. He knew them. And He said, I'm not going to lead them through this easy way. I've got a way that's going to try them. I've got a way that's going to purify their hearts. I've got a way that's going to take them a peculiar way, a narrow way, that I have chosen for them. The Bible says in the book of Romans, as it describes for us the way that God has chosen for our life, He says that it's a good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. When God leads you tonight, can I encourage you You don't have to worry if it's going to work. You don't have to even worry if it's going to be the best thing for you. All you have to realize is, I need to trust God that He knows me. He knows what's best for me. And His Word tells me that everything He does for me is good. It's acceptable and it's perfect. It will complete me. It will make me what I need to be. But let's be honest, we don't like the narrow way. We don't like walking and being strict about things. Or going in a way where we are put almost like a fish in an aquarium and everyone's watching us. Or every move. And what we do. But that's God's way. He leads through that. Because at the end of that, at the end of walking through that way, it will lead unto a perfect end. It will make you what you need to be. And as God took them through this, verse 18, He took them through the way of the wilderness because He knew them. He knew what they were capable for. Can I ask you this question? Do you trust God? Oh yeah, I do. Of course I do. Who would say no? Do you really trust God with the daily steps of your life though? Well, I say I trust God, but Lord, I'm really not sure if I can trust you with this. And you really don't trust Him. A professor once said at Ambassador, if you have a plan B, then you're not trusting God. When God leads, it's going to be a hard way. But it's going to be the best way. Because you're following the One who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. You're never going to go wrong. But in fact, you're going to walk in life. You're going to abound more and more daily as you follow His will. You're going to follow and walk in His way, and that is going to be a benefit to you. Lastly, I want you to see that His will or His way must be found daily. God's way leads out of bondage. He doesn't want you to be bound. He wants you to be free tonight. And He wants you to stand in the place of victory that He has purchased for you. Because that's His plan. But as He leads you, remember, or remind yourself, it's not going to be easy. It's gonna be hard. But the hardness is not because He hates you. It's because He has a better plan for you. And you just have to trust Him. But realize, His way must be found daily. As I mentioned to you, when God leads, or as He is who He is, He is leading. Do you know this morning when you woke up, God was waiting to lead you? He had already planned for you what His will was for your day. We find that in verse 21 and 22. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and night. That's where you get the idea of daily. In verse 22, He took not away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night before the people. The children of Israel could be easily identified in the wilderness. Do you know how? They had a giant pillar of cloud over their head as they walked in the day. And at night, there was a pillar of fire. Every nation that passed by them would see and know those are the people of Israel. Because God was leading them. God Jehovah was leading them. And as they walked from day to day, I want you to realize God was going to lead them in verse 21. They had to follow Him. You realize if they stepped out of that cloud and chose to walk their own way, guess what? They're going to be scorched in the desert. If they decided at night, you know what? I'm just going to go out and make my own fire. Go ahead. They would be cold all night. Because they would have no light, neither would they have warmth. But if they walked with God, they would realize that God doesn't just lead me yesterday, He leads me today, and He's going to be there tomorrow as well. And God, in leading you, wants you to realize this. To know His way, you've got to search for it daily. His day, His will, must be found daily. You can't just dwell on yesterday's victories and hope that today you'll make it. Or yesterday's promises and say, yeah, I can be okay with that. God has something fresh for you today from His Word. He also has a specific plan for you to do today. And His way every day is different. You know, today, I had the opportunity to wake up connect with my family at home. And then at 12 or 1 o'clock, I had the privilege of going out with Pastor. We had a great time out there. And after the end of that, we had the opportunity to give a guy a tract, and Lord willing, hopefully he'll come. And as I look back, I said, Lord, I never planned that out. But you did. And every morning as we wake up and read God's Word, He gives us what we need for the day. We get what we need for the day. But also as He leads, He provides for it. Provides opportunities for us to be His witness. He provides things that we need to do. Can I just remind you, God's will might be for your life to wake up, go to the grocery store, get what you need, and on the way out, give someone a tract, and come back home. Well, I didn't do much for the Lord. But that's what God wanted you to do that day. And you had to do it. If you didn't do that, guess what? You missed out. God was still waiting to do something for you. It's very encouraging to know that our God leads. And that He leads out of a way Bondage he leads to a way of victory. He leads through a narrow way, but he leads you daily His application and in closing Are you in a place of bondage? Can I tell you by God's design? That's not where you're supposed to be You may feel like my sin is big but his grace is sufficient You don't need to stay there If it's a bondage or a certain thing that is not connected to something that is spiritual, can I still tell you God's purpose for your life is to lead you out of bondage. If you're not saved, you're in bondage. But you don't have to stay there. God is waiting to lead you out. And you can do that tonight. God's way leads to victory as well. Are there areas in your life where you feel just defeated? Could be a secret sin. Could be something that only you know, that you're struggling with every day and you just can't get strength over it. Can I tell you, by God's design, He never designed for you to fight it. He told you to claim the victory in Christ and stand in His grace to give you the strength. There should never be such a thing as a defeated Christian. Because our Lord's not defeated. And how we realize that in our mind, we'll put into practice how we live. Stand in the victory, the liberty that we have in Christ. But also, as I told you, it's a hard way. Are you resisting God's will for your life because it's hard? Because you don't understand, maybe, the whole thing? Or you've heard a horror story about those who've gone down that path, and you're like, man, I never want to do that. Can I tell you? That's God's will for you. And no one else can fill those shoes except you. Don't be afraid of that tonight. Go down His way. Because along that way you will realize His grace is sufficient. That He helps you and He leads you. And a simple question before I close. Have you fulfilled God's will for you today? He had a plan for you. He was leading. Did you miss it? Confess it tonight, but seek it tomorrow. Don't go a single day without realizing, God has a specific plan for my life, and I need to follow Him. God is leading. Are we willing to follow? Don't go by your way, because every day as we lead, or we are led by God, one day those steps will lead us to heaven. And we will stand before Him. And let that not be the first time you see Jesus and seek His face, but seek Him every day. Psalm 128 and verse 1 says, blessed are those that walk in the way of the Lord.