And I'm thankful we can experience that tonight. Exodus chapter four, let's stand together please and we'll look at the end of the chapter. Exodus chapter number four at the end. Verse number 29. Exodus chapter four, verse 29. God's people, they've been in bondage in Egypt. They've cried out for a deliverer or deliverance and God has began to work in Moses' life and has commissioned Moses to step in and represent God in this matter of delivering his people. So chapter 4 verse 29 the Bible reads, And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. And Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed. And when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that He looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped." That sounds like a great revival meeting right there. I mean, think about what has happened. They've been in bondage. In chapter number one, if you were to go through there, you'd be reminded of what God's people were reminded, and that is, you don't have to live this way. God never designed His people to live in bondage. If you're a child of God, He never designed for you to be in bondage. That's the realization they have come to. And so here, Moses has been placed and put into place, and the message of God was delivered. The message was, you were not created to live this way. The message was, God said, I've heard your cry. And God says, and I will deliver. I will enable you to victory. And then they find in verse number 30, and the word of God was spoken, signs were done in the sight of the people. In other words, God displayed His mighty power. We like to see that within a meeting. We like to see lives touched. We like to see, like on Sunday, people saved. We like to see the mighty works of God displayed. And then it says in verse 31, the people heard, they believed. In other words, they accepted God's Word, they accepted God's plan. Remember, Hebrews tells us that the Word of God preached, it's not going to profit you. There is profitless preaching if it's not mixed with faith. But God's people, they mixed it with faith, and as a result, they ended the meeting with worshiping God. Great revival meeting. And a lot of times, I would conclude a meeting looking at that criteria and said, that's exactly what we just had. But it wasn't over. Chapter 5, verse 1, and afterward. And afterward, Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel. In other words, I want to tell you what God did in the revival meeting. God said to us, and I'm here to tell you, let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, sure thing. No, that's not what it said there. Verse number two, Pharaoh said, who is the Lord? that I should obey His voice to let Israel go, I know not the Lord. Neither will I let Israel go. Tonight, I want to preach a message that I wished I would have gotten a hold of a lot sooner in revival meetings because I think so often we would end a meeting like in chapter number four. The Word of God goes forth, God does the work, we receive it by faith and we thank Him for it. But many times that which God did in the meeting, it becomes flat, it becomes null and void in people's lives because they forget about chapter 5 and verse 1 afterward. I'm going to preach a message, here's the title. Sometimes people ask, do you ever preach encouraging messages? I've heard you preach a lot. Do you ever preach anything encouraging? And I say, No. I've always said I leave it to the pastor. Well, that's going to somehow have to change in my life. I'm not quite sure how that's going to happen. Either that will have to change or God's going to let me have to let me out on good behavior because I'm somehow going to have to preach. Now, I tried to preach an encouraging message one time. I thought I'd preach on heaven. Oh, that'd be encouraging. The street of gold, the gates of pearl. And I started to preach on heaven. And then five minutes into it, I started preaching on who wasn't going. So it always goes back to the negative. But here's one for the encouraging, the positive. Cheer up. And that's about as encouraging as it's going to get. Cheer up. It's going to get worse. Cheer up. It's going to get worse. I'm preaching on how to overcome opposition. Thank you. May be seated. The first land battle of the Civil War was fought on July 21st, 1861, just 30 miles from Washington. The Southerners called it the Battle of Manassas, while the Northerners called it the Battle of Bull Run. So on that morning, the Battle of Manassas took place. Civilians from Washington rode out to Virginia to watch a Union army who had signed up for a, listen, 90-day war. And they watched the Union Army march boldly into combat. Men and women, even children, came to witness the predicted Union Army. They even brought along picnic baskets and opera glasses. And soon the Battle of Manassas became known as the Picnic Battle. Although the Union Army performed well that morning, By around 4 p.m., however, they had become frightened and fled for their lives. Near the battlefield were a group of senators who were eating and distributing sandwiches when their picnic was interrupted by a retreating stampede of soldiers, horses, and wagons. After the battle, these distraught senators returned to Washington to deliver to President Lincoln their eyewitness account, which stunned President Lincoln. See, the Union Army's defeat at Bull Run shocked and sobered members of Congress, making it painfully clear to them as well as to others that this particular war, known as the Civil War, why, it's going to last more than just three months. The Northern Army's great mistake. was that they failed to account for or they underestimated the resistance of their opponent. See, resistance has been defined as the refusal to accept or comply with something. The attempt to prevent something by either action or argument. And that is exactly what Pharaoh had become. He had become the resistance, the opposition, the obstacle that was between God's people and true freedom. See, Pharaoh refused to except he refused to comply with God's plan or God's man. And he made every attempt to prevent them by either argument or action. See, God's people were to travel three days journey into the wilderness in order to worship God. And if you would find going through here, going through here, you would find that Pharaoh was the obstacle and what he was trying to disturb was their worship. After this meeting, what Satan's agenda and the world's attempt will be within our life is to disrupt our worship, our communion with God. And Pharaoh was that obstacle. Pharaoh was that resistance. He was that opposition. Listen, if you and I are ever going to experience freedom, from bondage on a daily basis. If we're ever going to live in the freedom of the victory that God designed for you, then not only must we never overlook the fact that there is a Pharaoh designed for you, but you must also prepare to battle and expect a full-fledged war with your Pharaoh. Stephen Pressfield writes on a completely different subject, a secular subject, It's the subject of writing. He says in his book, The War of Art, he said there's a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don't. And the secret is this. It's not the writing part that's hard. He said what's hard is sitting down to write. And what is keeping us from sitting down is resistance. See, resistance is in every area. But if we fail to recognize resistance when it comes to our spiritual battles, we're going to fall prey and we're going to stay in bondage, as did the people of God for such a long period of time. If we're going to overcome our resistance, listen, if God's spoken to you, and you've made decisions, and you ought to be making decisions, this is just part, this is just part of the pilgrimage, this revival meeting. But you have your time with God, and you ought to be walking and talking with Him throughout the day. And you have services, and throughout this pilgrimage of the Christian life, There ought to be decisions being made. But the fact is, we're going to have resistance, we're going to have opposition, and we are going to have a Pharaoh that is trying to disrupt your worship and your relationship with God. So tonight, let's look at how to overcome that resistance. You ought to cheer up. You ought to be excited, thrilled, rejoicing in the Lord because of who He is and what He's done. We have reasons to be cheerful. We have reasons to rejoice. But we have to also be prepared that this is going to get worse. We're on the victory side. We don't have to be doom and gloom. We don't have to be depressed about anything. We don't have to be discouraged. Discouragement is sin. But we have to understand how to overcome that resistance. Let me give you six quick things. Number one, know, if you want to overcome resistance, number one, know that your resistance and opposition awaits you. You have to know that you have a specially designed Pharaoh within your life. You have to know that. Look at chapter 5 and verse 1. It wasn't a figment of their imagination. There was an actual resistor. There was an actual opposition. And they told Pharaoh. Pharaoh was not a figure. He was not an idea. He wasn't just some type of understanding. He was actual, literal opposition. See, you have to know that resistance, opposition, a Pharaoh awaits you. And you have to know that it is going to be definite. Job 14, verse 1, man that is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble. Jesus said it this way. He dealt with the same concept. Cheer up, it's going to get worse. He told his disciples in John 16, 33, be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. But he says, in this world, you shall have tribulation. Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. He says, you're going to have tribulation, but cheer up. However, it's going to get worse. And it did get worse after he said those words, but they learned and was learning the secrets as to how to overcome tribulation. 1 Peter 5, 8, be sober, be vigilant. Why? Because you have an adversary, a resistor, an opposition within your life. Listen, don't think you're the only one struggling with some great, terrible opposition. You're not the only one. You're not a lone ranger when it comes to spiritual opposition or resistance. We all have a Pharaoh that is lurking, longing, and will destroy you if allowed. Know that your resistance and opposition awaits you. It is definite, but also understand, in knowing this, it is by God's design. God allowed Pharaoh God's message was, you should not be in bondage. You should be free. And when they cooperated with the message of God, we wanna be free, they cried out, free us. God said, all right, here we go. God allowed for there to be opposition and resistance in their life. God allows resistance. God allows resistance to continue to develop you. Resistance in your life is designed by God, but your response to that resistance will determine whether or not you will be free or paralyzed in greater defeat. See, God designs that resistance to develop you. Satan's design is to destroy you. Satan was behind Pharaoh to destroy the people of God. God was behind Pharaoh to help develop his people to continue to be overcomers. No, you have to know that your resistance and opposition awaits you. Number two, if we're going to overcome this resistance, you make decisions for the Lord. You want to grow. You want freedom. You want to get out of bondage. You don't want to be defeated. Number one, you have to be prepared. You have to know that this is a definite, real scenario. It's all through the Bible, and you have to know that it is designed by God. But number two, take leadership. Take some leadership and identify your Pharaoh. Take leadership. If you're a man, isn't that your job to take leadership? Take leadership and identify what Pharaoh might be in each of our lives. Bible says they went in and told Pharaoh. They went to their Pharaoh. You take the leadership and you go to that which is destroying your momentum. Identify what is it that disrupts my worship and communion with God. What is it that messes up my momentum in serving God? What is it that gets me off track and causes me just to back away from making decisions? Well, we have several fronts. The world, the flesh, and the devil. The devil, very powerful. The world, very influential. Probably no greater resistance do we face than our own flesh Identified in the world you have immorality Pornography Inappropriate media and by the way, I'm not talking about those out there. I'm talking about our struggles within this place Alcohol Concept that it's okay socially drink drugs, cigarettes, flirtation, cursing, dirty jokes, homosexual tendencies, wrong kinds of friends, improper activities of any kind. I'm simply saying whatever it might be within your life that is causing you to lose momentum in serving God, identify it. They didn't wait for Pharaoh to come to them. They went to that Pharaoh. They approached. Moses and Aaron took leadership and they went to that opposition. Identify within your flesh. Pride. Jealousy. Envy. Lack of forgiveness. Bitterness. Fear. Laziness. Anger. Golf. Oh, that's not in there. I don't know where that one came from there. Discouragement. That's what I got golf out of. Discouragement. Procrastination. Worry. Resentment. Loneliness. Lying. Stubbornness. Identify what is it that you tend to struggle with that disrupts when you make a decision and you get stirred in your heart. When you hear the Word of God preached and God moves, you make a decision. I want it. I want to worship. I want to serve you. But then there's something that is lurking and longing and trying to destroy you. Identify it. Take leadership. Take control of the situation again. They went in and told Pharaoh. Moses went into Pharaoh. Now, remember, Pharaoh was greater than Moses. But while Moses is right with God, he has access to all of God's power, which allows him to take control, take leadership. Number three, not only do we need to know that resistance and opposition is waiting for us, Number two, take leadership by identifying what that resistance and opposition might be. Identify your Pharaoh. Number three, expect your resistance to seem unbearable. Just mark it down. That opposition, that resistance, it might seem as though it's more than you can handle. Why? Well, because of its intensity. In chapter number five, we find that Moses went to Pharaoh that first time. And Pharaoh, what did he do? Not only did he not comply with Moses, but he made it harder on the people. I mean, Moses is coming out of the revival meeting saying, here is what the God of this world has to say. He has all power, Pharaoh. And God said, we're to get out of here and worship God. That's what matters more than anything is our relationship with God. And Pharaoh said, I don't know who he is and I'm not letting you go. And so we are told then in chapter 5 and verse 7, Pharaoh made it so that they had no straw to make bricks, but they had to gather their own. In chapter 5 and verse 9, he gave them more work. What did he do? He made it harder. Chapter 5 and verse 14, the Israelite foremen were beaten. because of the failure to meet the brick quota. So they appealed in chapter 5 and verse 15. The appeal was denied. So look at what Moses says. Look at it. Chapter 5, verse 22 and 23. Moses returned to the Lord and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil and treated this people? Why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people, look at it, neither hast thou delivered thy people," notice the last two words, "...at all." Moses said, I got right and I made some decisions. I said, I'll trust you, I'll obey, I'll follow you. We've done what you said. I have confronted my areas of defeat. I have dealt with, I've unloaded the truck, but it hasn't worked at all. Well, you can't be too hard on Moses. He's saying, God, why? I did what I was supposed to and it didn't work at all. But actually, he says it got worse. There's a lot of times people have said, you know, it wasn't nearly as hard on me before the revival meeting as it was after the revival meeting. And the wrong conclusion that people make is maybe we shouldn't have revival. That's the conclusion that they've come to because it became so intense. And they just said, maybe, we heard it the other night, maybe we gotta go back into Egypt. They're just starting to get right here. But the thought was, we didn't have as much trouble until we joined the church. Why do they think that? Because they failed to keep in mind that resistance and opposition is designed by God to develop them. their response to that will determine whether or not they are truly overcomers. And if we don't trust Him, Satan will use it to destroy you. Moses I love this, he gets a reminder from God. Look at chapter six and verse nine. We're gonna stay between chapters five and 10, but we're gonna turn a little bit between the pages here. In chapter six and verse nine, Moses has said, this is getting worse, it's not working at all. Why God, why did you do this? Chapter six and verse nine, Moses gets a reminder from God to trust God. But the people don't even hear the good news from the Lord because of their oppression. In other words, it's so tough, the people are not even hearing, hey, hey, be encouraged. They don't even hear the cheer up part. They don't even hear that. And again, you can imagine the genuine difficulty Moses is facing. He had no influence over his own people. He can't persuade them to do what God says. So how is he going to persuade Pharaoh? Pharaoh doesn't even believe in God. Pharaoh doesn't even care what God thinks in chapter 6 and verse number 12. Moses spake before the Lord, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me. How then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips? See, you might be struggling tonight with your insecurities. You might be struggling with your past. You might be struggling with your present. Perhaps you've looked at your spiritual track record and you have failed more times than you'd like to ever admit. You have such a losing record spiritually when it comes to spiritual battles and maybe even physical battles. Maybe you begin to feel like the Cincinnati Bengals of Christianity. You just have a losing record constantly. How are you going to be able to turn things around? How are you going to do your part to influence the places within your life? How are you going to influence co-workers for God? How are you going to find victory over that ruthless Pharaoh that is designed to destroy? How are you going to find victory? So chapter 7 in verse 4 God is honest with Moses. I'm thankful God's honest with us. He's not trying to dangle a carrot before us. He wants us to know the reason why many times we like camp meeting kind of atmospheres is because we feel good. It's like cotton candy Christianity, but we're not prepared to face the opposition. So in chapter seven in verse four, God's honest and God tells Moses, but Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you. that I may lay my hand upon Egypt and bring forth mine armies and my people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments." God is honest with Moses. He said it's not going to work right away. A man came to me after a men's meeting and he said, I came to a men's conference one time, and they told me I'm supposed to love my wife as Christ loved the church, and if I love her the way Christ loved the church, then she's going to respond. And I went back home, and I did what I was told to do, and it didn't work. I said, well, how long did you try doing what God said to do? He said three days. Yeah, it may not work in three days. God's Word always works. And God is simply telling Moses, it's not going to work right away. Chapter 7 and verse 9, God reminds, or God responds with a miracle. Chapter 7 and verse 9, a miracle is displayed. It's like finally, perhaps Moses is saying, finally, God does something. Chapter 7 and verse 14, doesn't work. Resistance gets harder. Chapter 7 and verse 19, the first plague. the water turning to blood. You know what those plagues are? Plagues are a reminder. These plagues that God performs, it's a reminder. God is saying, I'm still here. And perhaps it did something to Moses and the people's heart when they said, ah, God's working. It's always good to see God work. But what happens after that first plague, chapter seven and verse 22, it seemingly backfires. Doesn't work. Resistance gets harder. In chapter 8, verse 5, a second plague, the frogs. That's more of God working, hallelujah. Chapter 8, verse 15, however, more resistance. Doesn't seem to be working, God. Chapter 8, verse 16, more of God, the third plague. Chapter 8, verse 19, greater resistance. Didn't seem like that one worked either. Chapter 8, verse 20, the fourth plague, flies. And God reminds him in chapter eight, verse 27, this is really not about you, this is really about God. This is my plan, God is reminding him. Chapter eight, verse 32, fourth plague doesn't seem to work. Looks like resistance gets harder. We go to chapter nine, verse six, God works some more. Fifth plague, the death of the livestock. Chapter nine, verse 10, sixth plague. Chapter nine, verse 23, seventh plague. Chapter 10, God says, not Moses, but God says, hey, it's really bad still. God's not surprised. Chapter 10, verse 12, God works some more. The eighth plague, the locusts. Chapter 10, verse 20, no surprise, failure again. Chapter 10, verse 21, ninth plague, darkness. So what happens? Chapter 10, verse 27, even more resistance. I'm reminded with London's bombed out buildings in the backdrop of his mine I'm reminded of Winston Churchill who stirred the wavering faith of a nation with these words. Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never. In nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. England was on the brink of disaster. The people had endured months of daily air raids and bombings. Many of the city's children had been sent to live with families in the countryside. Children had even been sent to live with families that were strangers, that they did not even know, who were willing to take these children in and protect them. Fear had filled the hearts of the people and would have overcome them except for two things, their will and their faith. In 1942, Winston Churchill said, now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. See, each plague comes along and it looks like it gets worse and it's as though God is saying this is not the end, it's not even the beginning. The British people, along with their allies, went on to win the Second World War, but not without serious loss and intense suffering. At any point, they could have caved into fear and given up the freedom that was so precious to them. See, you're going to have to expect resistance to seem unbearable. One, because of its intensity. You have an addiction, it can be quite intense. I stopped it. But boy, I craved it the next day. You can expect it to be intense. You have to expect there's going to be opposition. You have family ruptures. Sometimes people say, I don't want to talk to you about my family. It's a dysfunctional family. I don't know what family is not dysfunctional. And there can be quite a bit of resistance, opposition. And it can be very intense. But I want you to understand that this resistance may seem unbearable also because of its duration. In other words, it may take some time. Not because God can't do it. God can do it, but he's doing what he's doing to develop you. He created the world in less time than he's helped some. through certain oppositions and resistance and pharaohs within your life because he's trying to develop you. But it's interesting on the duration part of this, some commentators have suggested, for some reason, I thought in my mind, these plagues that took place probably took place in a week's time. But many commentators suggest that these plagues took place anywhere from six months to a year. How many plagues were there? You remember? Moses had no idea how many there were going to be. Perhaps when God did the first plague, Moses is thinking, this is it. And seemingly, humanly, it backfired. Perhaps, like a wife said, I learned that I can submit to my unsaved husband, as Peter teaches, and by my life of trusting God and submitting to God's plan, I can bring my husband to know the Lord through the changed life that I exhibit in the whole. She said, I thought it was gonna maybe happen within a few weeks. Didn't know it was gonna be maybe a few years. The men, Moses and Aaron, they encountered hard hearts. They even experienced failure, but failure is never final with God. You cannot give up as the next plague may be that which breaks the opposition. In other words, the next miracle of God within your life may be that which breaks that addiction, that miracle being performed in your life may be that very opportunity that God uses to break through and put you on victory ground where you have freedom from that opposition. You don't know how many plagues, you don't know how many oppositions are going to be, you don't know how many opportunities there will be for God to keep showing you He can handle it. Frances Chadwick was one of the great open water swimmers of all time. She was the first woman to cross the English Channel in both directions. She also broke the time records for making the long and difficult swim. She sent out to cover a 26-mile swim from the Catalina Island to the coast of California. But after she had been swimming for about 15 hours, she was surrounded by a thick fog, and she began to struggle. She told her mother, who was riding in one of the boats nearby, who was accompanying that swim, she told her mother, I don't think I can make it. I just don't think I can make it. After struggling a little bit longer with encouragement from those roundabouters, she finally gave up. And it wasn't until after she had gotten in the boat that she learned she was only one mile from the shore. The next day she told an interviewer, she said, I'm not making excuses. I am not excusing myself. But I truly believe that if I could have seen the land, I might have made it. Do you know how Moses made it? Hebrews 11, 27, Moses endured as seeing Him who is invisible. You don't know how many more opportunities that God will create by way of oppositions. Be steadfast, steadfast. May our model always be perseverance without exception. Perseverance without exception. Now's not the time to drop out. Now's not the time to take it easy when it comes to your commitment to this local church. Now's not the time. You should never hear as parents, you should never hear these words ever come from your children's mouths. Are we going to church? I wonder how many people come to revival meeting or come to church or come to Sunday night, come to Wednesday night service. I wonder how many people darken the doors of Cleveland Baptist Church and ask, is pastor gonna be here tonight? But I do wonder how many times he's come and wonder if you're gonna be here. If you're a member, you need to remember it's time to persevere without exception. You want to overcome the opposition because it's real. It's definite. It's by God's design. Then you're going to have to know that resistance and opposition awaits you. You're going to have to take leadership and identify your Pharaoh. Identify your resistance. Number three, you're going to have to expect your resistance at times to seem unbearable because it's intense, because of its duration. But number four, remember, I love this. Remember what Moses had to remember and that is God is always stronger than Pharaoh. God is always stronger than your addiction. God is always stronger than your anger problem. God is always stronger than your moodiness. God is always stronger than your irritability. God is always stronger than your plagued mind with immoral thoughts. God is always stronger. Remember that God is always stronger than Pharaoh. After all, it's only the world. After all, it's only the flesh. After all, it's only the devil. And while the world and the flesh and the devil were no match for it, they are no match for God. And we must remember God is always stronger. Look at chapter 6 in verse 1. Chapter 6, a tremendous truth here in these few verses. Chapter 6, the Lord said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. And God spake unto Moses and said unto him, God's speaking here, I am the Lord. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty. But by my name Jehovah was I not known to them. See, God reminded Moses of something that ought to encourage us even today. God reminded Moses of his character as revealed in his name, Yahweh. He says in verse two, I am the Lord. And that appears four times in verses two through eight. He says four times, I am the Lord. I am the Lord. I am the Lord. I am the Lord. Meaning, God says, I am with you. I will always be faithful to you. Listen. Face your Pharaoh, face your resistance, face your opposition, but focus on the unchanging, all-powerful God. That's how you overcome the resistance. Face the Pharaoh, face the addiction, face the discouragement, face the defeat, but focus upon your God. He said, my name is, I am. If you live in the past, it will be very hard, for I am not there. My name is not, I was. If you live in the future, it will be hard, for my name is not I will be. But if you live in the present, it is not hard, for God says my name is, I am. He's faithful. He's one who keeps his promise in verse three. And then in chapter six, verse six through eight, God tells Moses, oh, look at what he says. Verse six, wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage. I will redeem you. You hear all the things God is saying, I will do, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this, verse seven. And I will take you to me for a people and I will be to you a God. He's saying, I'm gonna do these things, verse number eight. And I will bring you in unto the land concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac. So he's saying, here's what I'm gonna do, here's what I'm gonna do, here's what I'm gonna do. So God is telling Moses in that sense, Suck it up, Moses, and put your feelings of inadequacy aside and return to your leadership role of being my child and rely upon me. Watch me work. And we find three times in those verses, or excuse me, in those three verses, we find seven times God says, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, emphasizing he's a keeper. His promises listen Spurgeon said we ought to treat the promises of God like a checkbook signed by God You ought to arise with a promise a signed check by God. It's not going to bounce It'll never go bankrupt and you can use it over and over and over and over and over again. God says, I will. Take it to the bank, brother. God will be and will do what He said He will do and who He said He will be. Bob Jones Sr. said, You and God always make a majority in any situation. Listen, these ten plagues, they represent an opportunity for God to display His power. And God will use opposition within your life. You may look and say, these things in my life, they're here because of some of the decisions I made. God's people, they're in bondage because of the decisions they've made. Suck it up! Stop using that as an excuse to stay in bondage and recognize God's going to allow some of those things to be there. And God's going to allow the intensity of the resistance to be there to develop you. But face it while focusing upon your almighty, unchangeable God. Last, you want to overcome resistance? Trust God fully. Obey God completely. Trust God fully. Obey Him completely. I just think I might write a song, Trust and Obey. Wouldn't that be great? It truly is the essence of the Christian life. Trust God fully. Obey Him completely. Pharaoh attempted in chapter number 10 to get Moses. to compromise. Meet them in the middle. Prepare for that. Prepare for your flesh to try to make compromises. Prepare for the devil to make a compromise. Prepare for the world to make a compromise. What was the compromise? Well, one of the things Pharaoh said to Moses was, I'll let you go worship, but don't go too far. See, Pharaoh will urge you to remain in the land. Be neighborly with the world. In other words, don't live in the past. Don't take the convictions of old and try to preach those today. Understand that things are relative today. Understand that most people are not for marriage and homosexuality. That should be accepted among everybody. Don't go too far with this. Moses' response is, no, we're gonna go all the way. See, James 4 says friendship with the world is enmity with God. You make a deal with the world, you're an enemy of God. He's not talking about the unsaved in James 4, he's talking about his people. Another thing that Moses faced with Pharaoh is Pharaoh said, you can go. Dads, you can go, but leave your children. You're gonna find pressure as you strive to do right. Your Pharaoh may suggest that you can be radical about serving God if you want to, but don't impose it upon your children. Let them make up their own minds. Joshua had an answer for that one, you remember? I don't know about you, but as for me and my house, it's not even up for grabs. We will. Moses' response was in chapter 10, verse 11, we and our children. We and our children. Look at this one last portion there in chapter number 10. I want you to see the significance tonight. Look at chapter 10, verse one and two. God was reminding the people of the significance of the battle. You're in a battle. You really are. I want you to see the significance of it. Chapter 10, verse one. And the Lord said unto Moses, go in unto Pharaoh. For I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs before him. And listen, verse two, and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son. and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them, that ye may know how that I am the Lord. Do you see the significance? God is telling Moses, listen Moses, the decisions you make here today, the decisions you make here tonight, even if you're not married, the decisions you make regarding the battle and the plan of God, it will affect not just your life, but it will affect your children's lives and it will affect your grandchildren's lives. If Moses is being reminded by God, get on the right side of this so that you can turn to your children someday and say, I faced opposition and Jehovah God was faithful. I'd like to give you my testimony. A testimony is a declaration of what God has done. I'd like to declare to my son, I'd like to declare to my children what God did in my life, and he says, I want you to go on record, Moses, so that you can, I want to go on record so that you can understand that you someday need to turn to your son's son, to your grandchildren, and tell them of the goodness of Almighty God. Listen, the battle we're in in this meeting, this is a business meeting. It's not so much about your finances as much as it is about your faith. Can you trust God fully and obey Him completely? And will you trust Him fully? And will you obey Him completely? You have to expect the compromise. Pharaoh said, leave your cattle. Moses' response in chapter 10 and verse 24, Not a hoof shall be left behind. See, there's a Pharaoh that will say to you, you need to conduct your business. Not the way the preacher preaches it. You need to conduct your business. You work in the world, he works in the church, he doesn't understand. You need to conduct your business like the world. Moses says, not a hoof shall be left behind. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. This book is still relevant. You don't have to compromise the convictions. Sometimes people say convictions. That's something you're willing to die for. I say to that, no, it's not. A conviction is something you're convinced of. We can get cute about what a conviction might be. Somebody puts a gun to your head and says, if you do this, and if not, I'll pull the trigger. We get cute about the hypotheticals. A conviction is something I'm simply convinced is true. I don't know what would happen if somebody put a gun to my head. It doesn't mean that it changes what God says and what I'm convinced of about truth. We need to get back to not letting our convictions be for sale by the truth. Sell it not. Your children should not be for sale. You should not sell out your children so you can be more comfortable, so you can make more money, so you can have a little bit more time off to enjoy the pleasures of this world. Your children shouldn't be for sale. Sometimes God's way may never appear to be the easiest, but it is the only way, a fullest blessing, and in the end, It's the only way that works. Trust and obey. There's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. Let's stand together, please. Oh, Lord, I'm so thankful. I can read through this and I get weary just reading through these chapters because of the hard, physical, duress, difficulties. Oh Lord, I'm so thankful that I see them come through this by your mighty hand. Lord, there is not one of us in here that is exempt from opposition. And there's not one in here this evening that is exempt from experiencing freedom, true victory, and power. Lord, would you help us to recognize we can have revival, we can have it right now. But the point of revival is to get us back to you. so that we can walk day by day trusting and obeying, watching you work, watching you deal with the favor. This is not about us. This is not about our life. This is about your life. This is your design. And Lord, it is absolutely true. I don't understand. I don't understand. All that's happening. I don't understand all that's taking place. And I don't understand how it's going to work, but I'm thankful. I don't have to understand, but I do understand that you know about all of it and you're able to handle every bit of it. That I do understand. And I thank you for that reality, that fact. Help us tonight to face our Pharaoh, but focus on you.