Podcasts about in exodus

Packinghouse's Wednesday night worship service from July 151, 2026. In Exodus 8–10, Pastor Greg explains how each plague was a direct judgment against the false gods of Egypt, revealing that the Lord alone has power over creation while exposing the emptiness of idols and Pharaoh's supposed divinity. He highlights Moses' remarkable transformation from a fearful, reluctant servant into a confident leader who simply obeys God's commands and leaves the outcome in God's hands. The study also contrasts Pharaoh's repeated hardening of his own heart with God's eventual confirmation of Pharaoh's chosen rebellion, demonstrating the danger of continually resisting the Lord. Throughout the message, Pastor Greg reminds believers that God always provides a way of escape for those who trust His word, faithfully blesses those who walk with Him, and desires that people from every nation come to know Him through faith. - Greg Opean - Wednesday, July 15, 2026

This past Sunday, we continued our SHEMA series by exploring God's personal name, Yahweh, and what it reveals about His character.In Exodus 34, God describes Himself as compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Jesus is the clearest picture of that same God. As we come to know Him more, we grow to love Him more—and we begin to look more like Him.

In Exodus 20:20-33, we see a victory guaranteed by God for His people Israel. Can you imagine a guaranteed victory? God does guarantee victories and even guarantees yours and my greatest victory. Come on Sunday morning to our 10:30 AM service to find out more what God guarantees as our great victory.

It's Friday, July 17th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Adam McManus Scottish man arrested for hate speech about pro-life politician's murder A 50-year-old man, pretending to be a woman, who works at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, publicly celebrated the murder of former British Member of Parliament Ann Widdecombe, reports LifeSiteNews.com. Herbert, an Aberdeen web developer, who prefers to be called “Heather,” wrote, “Some good news for once. I hope it was an extremely painful death” and “I hope she was handcuffed to the bed as she screamed in agony.” Widdecombe, a pro-life advocate, served in the Parliament from 1987 to 2010. She endeared herself to Britons with her surprisingly popular appearances on the television shows Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Big Brother.  Herbert has now been charged for his bizarre hate speech as the investigation into her murder continues. Some have raised speculation that the arrest might be due less to Herbert's hate speech and more to do with what, if any, inside knowledge he might have about her murder. Widdecombe is the second murder of a high-profile pro-life politician in England this decade. Sir David Amess, who was a Member of Parliament for 38 years and Widdecombe's friend, was murdered at a local event in 2021 by Islamist Ali Harbi Ali. Arizona Senator admits to two extra-marital affairs U.S. Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona, a married man and a potential 2028 presidential candidate, engaged in sexual relationships with at least two House staffers, reports the New York Post. The 46-year-old lawmaker admitted to the two extramarital affairs. In Exodus 20:14, God gave Moses the seventh of the Ten Commandments: “You shall not commit adultery.” Man, who spewed racial epithet, charged black NBC Today co-host Andrew Truelove allegedly stormed NBC's "Today" show at 9:00am Eastern on July 16th, lunged at anchor Craig Melvin, a black man, and called him the N-word, reports NBC News. He is now facing a slew of hate crime charges. Truelove, who is white and was unarmed, had entered a stairwell and made his way backstage near the dressing room. The staff and security rushed in -- and the intruder was ultimately detained and arrested. The incident was not captured during the broadcast. Nobody was hurt. Roughly 15 minutes afterwards, both Craig Melvin and Al Roker were on air. Neither hinted at the drama. AG nominee open to roll back Biden's mail-order Abortion Kill Pill During his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on July 15th, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faced a range of questions from Republicans regarding the Abortion Kill Pill mifepristone, reports The Washington Stand. Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri asked about the Trump administration's perspective. HAWLEY: “Joe Biden took away President Trump's safety restrictions on this chemical abortion drug. He instituted a mail order abortion policy. So, my state went to court to try to defend our state's laws. A number of other states, Republican states, did this. And of course, in the meantime, the president changed, thank goodness. And now we have President Trump. “But that means that that now we have the state of Missouri, a Republican state, along with a number of other conservative Republican states, are in court against a Republican administration, fighting over Joe Biden's abortion policy.” BLANCHE: “I share your concerns, as does this entire administration. We have the most pro-life president in history, and you are one of the most pro-life senators in this body. “We are not defending what Biden did, and will not. The FDA has a process that takes a year. They've committed to do it in significantly less time than a year. President Trump's administration, in its entirety, will protect the life of the unborn.” HAWLEY: “Presumably, you have no issue with President Trump's earlier rule, which had common sense safety restrictions. You had to see a doctor, get a prescription. There had to be a follow-up visit to see if there was any hemorrhaging. Those were in place before Biden gutted them. “Presumably, there's no issue with any of those.” BLANCHE: “I anticipate the Department [of Justice] would defend those rules.” HAWLEY: “Why not, while the FDA is doing its review, why not put President Trump's rules in place? They're good rules. Why not do that rather than leave in place these rules?” BLANCHE: “We want to get to a good result, consistent with President Trump's administrative directive and priorities. And we very much believe that the Biden rules were wrong.” Psalm 127:3 says, “Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him.” Senator Cruz: Comstock Act should prohibit Abortion Pill by mail And Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas also addressed the Abortion Kill Pill with Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche. CRUZ: “The Comstock Act provides that every article or thing designed or adapted or intended for producing abortion is declared to be non-mailable. I have to admit that statutory text to me looks quite straightforward. It is not subtle. It is not difficult. It is straightforward. “As you know, during the Biden administration, the Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion concluding that those provisions generally do not prohibit mailing abortion drugs unless the sender intends them to be used unlawfully. Is that right?” BLANCHE: “Yes, that's correct.” CRUZ: “Now, [the] Office of Legal Counsel's opinions may be reconsidered when the Attorney General concludes they are inconsistent with the law. Is that right?” BLANCHE: “That is right.” CRUZ: “Will you commit to carefully reviewing that opinion to ensure that it faithfully reflects the actual statutory text that Congress enacted?” BLANCHE: “Yes.” CRUZ: “Will you commit that the Department [of Justice] will carefully evaluate every lawful action available to ensure the faithful enforcement of the Comstock Act and other federal pro-life acts?” BLANCHE: “Yes.” CRUZ: “I want to point out the real consequences of the Biden administration's lawless authorization of mail-order abortions. According to FDA reporting, the abortion pill has taken more than 3.7 million unborn lives, caused 24 maternal deaths -- moms are being killed -- and resulted in at least 4,195 adverse maternal reactions, including hemorrhage, excruciating abdominal pain, and severe, life-threatening infections. “The position of the Democrats now seems to be that women and teenage girls should be able to get mail-order abortions without a doctor being involved at all. And I will tell you, the death toll from that is horrific, and it needs to stop.” Once Blanche is voted out of the Judiciary Committee, he will need 51 votes of the 100 senators to be confirmed as President Trump's next U.S. Attorney General. Focus on the Family president Jim Daly to step down Nearly two decades after taking the helm of Focus on the Family following the departure of its founder, Jim Daly is preparing to hand the ministry to a new generation, reports The Christian Post. The president of one of America's most influential Evangelical groups announced this week that Focus has officially launched a nationwide search for its next leader, marking the beginning of what is expected to be an 18-month succession process ahead of the ministry's 50th anniversary in 2027. Unlike many recent leadership transitions in prominent Christian groups, this one is not being driven by scandal or internal upheaval. Rather, Focus on the Family is intentionally choosing to transition while it's healthy. Jim Daly said, "My core belief was it's good to get new faces, new energy, younger leadership in to speak to the 30-, 40-somethings about what they're facing with marriage and parenting. I'm going to be turning 65. It's time to start looking for the next-gen leadership. That's really the goal, and to do it well is the other goal." The search, being conducted with executive search firm FaithSearch Partners, will culminate in a vote by Focus' board of directors. Founded in 1977 by Christian psychologist and author Dr. James Dobson, Focus on the Family grew from a fledgling radio ministry into one of the most recognizable voices in American evangelicalism. Through its daily radio broadcasts, magazines, books, counseling services, and public policy advocacy, the Colorado Springs-based nonprofit became a defining force in conversations about marriage, parenting, religious liberty, and the sanctity of life. Today, the ministry reaches millions through radio, podcasts and digital media, employing roughly 750 people and overseeing an annual budget of $150 million. Worldview listeners weigh in from Texas and Alaska Liz Walker in Lubbock, Texas, wrote me and said, “I learned about your newscast from a Homeschool Mom blog. I love listening to it every weekday morning. I definitely get news that I would not get otherwise, including updates of the persecuted church and calls to action.  As a homeschool mom, I often want to do things, but feel like I am powerless.” And Thomas Williams in Wasilla, Alaska, wrote, “I just wanted to drop you a little note and say how much we value what you and your team are doing at The Worldview. My wife and I are raising eight kids -- six boys and two girls. We homeschool and use many items from Generations in our daily life. I pray that God continues to bless the work that you have begun.” 8 Worldview listeners gave $3,220 And finally, on Thursday night by 9:30pm Central, 8 Worldview listeners stepped up to the plate and invested their treasure to fund the six-member team behind The Worldview for another year. Our thanks to Karen in Hillsborough, North Carolina who gave $20 and Cathy in Fate, Texas who gave $50. We were touched by the generosity of Denise in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania who gave $200, Lin in Katy, Texas who gave $300, and Audrey in Otisville, New York who pledged $25/month for 12 months for a gift of $300. And we're grateful to God for Kristin and Josh in Ball Ground, Georgia who pledged $50/month for 12 months for a gift of $600, Jeremy and Meggan in Register, Georgia who gave $750, and Heather in Eagle, Idaho who gave $1,000. Those 8 gifts add up to $3,220. Ready for our new grand total? Drum roll please. (drum roll sound effect) $29,840 (sound effect of people cheering) That means we need to raise a whopping $26,725 to hit our $56,565 goal by tonight, Friday, July 17th, at 12 midnight! We need to find 8 Worldview listeners who will pledge $100/month for 12 months or give a one-time gift of $1,200, 14 folks who will pledge $50/month or give a one-time gift of $600, and 28 listeners who will pledge $25/month or give a one-time gift of $300. Please, go to TheWorldview.com, click on Give, select the dollar amount, and make sure to click on the “recurring” button if that's your wish.  Remember, if you want to continue your monthly pledge to The Worldview that you started in a previous year, please let me know so we can count your generous ongoing gift toward our total With God, all things are possible.  Ask Him what He would have you give toward funding this critical newscast for another year. Close And that's The Worldview on this Friday, July 17th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

In Exodus 16–17, the Israelites go from the victory of the Red Sea into the wilderness. Though they had been delivered from Egypt, they struggled to wait well. Yet the wilderness was not a prison but a classroom where God wanted to teach them, shape them, and prove His faithfulness. God provided bread from heaven, water from the rock, and people to help carry the burden. A wilderness reveals what's in us and who's around us. When it seems like there's no way, God will provide in a way that makes no sense. God has entrusted each of us with a "staff" to lift up for His glory. Even when we grow weary, God uses His people to help us keep holding it high. God is not finished with you. Praise Him in the wilderness.Check out our video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/8KsWU_L-ePQSubscribe to our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/8wmeCwBf_zkLearn more about us at chestnutmountain.orgFollow us on Facebook & Instagram @chestnutmtn_

Packinghouse's Wednesday night worship service from July 13, 2026. In Exodus 7, Pastor Greg explores Moses' first confrontation with Pharaoh and the beginning of God's judgments against Egypt. The message highlights how God prepared Moses to faithfully obey even when success was not immediate, reminding believers that our responsibility is obedience while the results belong to the Lord. As Pharaoh repeatedly hardens his heart and the first plague exposes the emptiness of Egypt's false gods, the study emphasizes the danger of resisting God's truth, pursuing counterfeit spirituality, and placing our trust in idols rather than the living God. Ultimately, this passage encourages us to anchor our faith in God's Word, pursue Christ above signs and wonders, and trust His purposes even when the path ahead is marked by resistance. - Greg Opean - Wednesday, July 8, 2026

How to Bless the Lord Jonathan Parnell Download Psalm 103,Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 6 The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. 14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. 17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, 18 to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. 19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. 20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! 21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! 22 Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!Notice, right away, that this psalm opens and closes the exact same way:Verse 1 opens with “Bless the Lord, O my soul!”Verse 22 closes with “Bless the Lord, O my soul!”The exact same words are at the beginning and the end, and this tells us the purpose of this psalm … the purpose of Psalm 103 is that we would bless the Lord …That's what we're gonna talk about this morning, but first things first, I need to explain what it means to “bless the Lord.” It might feel a little odd to talk about us blessing God because we want God to bless us! What's the difference?Well, when we ask God to bless us, we're asking God to give us something good. We have a need, and we want him to provide — spiritually, physically, whatever it is — we want to receive something good from God. That's what it means for God to bless us.Now it's not like that when we bless God … because God does not need anything. We cannot give God anything good because he already possesses every good. All we can do is acknowledge that. So, when we bless God it means we speak of his goodness. We don't give him something good he doesn't already have, but we testify to how good he is. To bless God basically means the same thingas to praise God. We are speaking well of God.And this morning, my goal is to tell you howto do that. This is a how-to sermon. I wanna tell you how to bless the Lord, and it's fairly simple — you have to do two things:Learn who God is.Remember what you learn.That's it. Learn who God is and remember what you learn.That's how you bless God, and now let's see this in Psalm 103 …1. Learn who God isThis is the heart of the psalm. It's verses 6–19 where David, the psalmist, plainly tells us who God is. That's what David's doing. He saying: This is who Yahweh is! This is what he's like! This is his character! And David's description is glorious. We just heard it read. Many of us know this psalm well. It's one we've come back to time and time again. In my Bible, I've highlighted it and re-highlighted and marked it up. I've read from Psalm 103 for our call to worship on Sundays countless times over the years. It's just so good — Charles Spurgeon, our favorite British preacher from the 1800s — he says that Psalm 103 is “one of those all-comprehending Scriptures which is a Bible in itself.” … That's true.And as “a Bible in itself” Psalm 103 tells us three truths about God that are especially important. And if we would learn who God is, we gotta know these three truths.First: Learn that God is merciful and gracious. This is verse 8:“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”And that's a quote from the Book of Exodus, Chapter 34, in one of the most famous episodes in the Bible's storyline … Israel has rebelled against God, and God is ready to wipe 'em out and start over with Moses, but Moses intercedes for the people, and God hears him. Then God directs the people to leave Sinai, but Moses needs some assurance that God will be with them. So he prays, “Please show me your ways” (Exodus 33:13). And God answers that prayer — and we know this is what David is thinking about because he says in verse 7 that God “made known his ways to Moses…”Well, what did God do?In Exodus 34, God passed before Moses and proclaimed to him:Yahweh, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love… (v. 6). And this sentence about God is repeated all throughout the Old Testament. The prophet Jonah quotes it (Jonah 4:2); the builder Nehemiah quotes it (Nehemiah 9:17); the psalmists quotes it over and over again.If you had to capture who God is with one summary statement — like if you could only say one sentence about what God is like in relation to creation — this is it … He's merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. And some of us have heard this so many times before we're not really moved by it. This is where we might need to slow down and understand that for God to be this it means the converse cannot also be true … think about this … if God is merciful and gracious, he is notharsh and stingy. If he's slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, he is notquick-tempered and tight-fisted — He doesn't sit in heaven and ration out his grace with little pinches: “Here's a little for you, no more today.” … or “Already give enough here, come back next year.” No! None of that! That's not how God is. He tells us in his word that he is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Learn that.Second: Learn that God always acts according to his character. Verses 9–10 comes after verse 8 to tell us what this kind of God looks like in action … And in this case, David is talking about God's actions toward his people.He's not talking about every human to ever live, but this is about “those who fear [God]” (we see in verses 11, 13, 17). David is talking about those who “keep [God's] covenant” (v. 18). In New Testament language, he's talking about believers — these are men and women, and boys and girls, who are united to Jesus by faith. Understand, that God's people — Christians, us — we're sinners. There is no sugarcoating sin in this psalm. David mentions sin, iniquities, transgressions — all these words are used. The people of God, Christians, are sinners, but get this: God does not deal with Christians according to their sins. That's not what defines the relationship. When God thinks about his people, their sin is not what's on his mind … neither is their success! Some Christians might think that God is lucky to have 'em, but God has never thought that. Whatever a person's assessment of themselves might be, learn that when God acts, when he moves toward his people, it's because of his character and he always act consistent with his character. This means that God always acts like God! He never acts “out of character.” He is never arbitrary, never capricious, never random. And this is why he can be trusted! What a God! He always acts according to his character. Learn that. Third: Learn God's heart for his people.We see this in verses 11–14, and what's amazing about it is that David doesn't just give us statements here, but he gives us pictures. We're supposed to use our imagination, and not just ‘know' this, but get a real sense of it. So he starts with the heavens in verse 11. The heavens are high. We can all see that. We can have our feet grounded here, and we can look up in the sky, above the clouds, and it's just blue, and we don't know where it ends. There's no ceiling. It's endlessly high. And as high as that sky is, that's how strong God's love is toward his people. In verse 12, the east and west are a long ways apart. From where we see the sun rise to where the sun sets, that's a wide expanse that stretches across the heavens. East keeps going one way and west keeps going another. And as far as that vastness is, that's how far God has removed our transgressions from us. And notice, in these first two images, David is calling us to look into the bigness of creation — into the height of the sky above, and the width of the sky east to west. But then, in verse 13, he takes from vastness to nearness … He directs our eyes from looking up high to looking at home … Verse 13: “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.”I've said this before, there are no perfect dads, but I can promise you, for every father in this room, if their kids asked them for bread, they wouldn't give them a stone … if their kids asked for a fish, they wound't give them a snake (see Luke 11:11–13). We know how to give good gifts to our children, and dads, we love giving to them … we love putting our arms around our kids when they need us … we love looking them in the eyes when they seek our attention … we love defending them from every danger … we love making them laugh with our jokes … we love cheering on their growth … we love being dads — And to think that God is like that toward us! God is a good Father to us. That is his heart toward his people. Learn that.Learn who he is.That's the first thing if we wanna know how to bless the Lord.Learn that he is merciful and gracious, learn that he always acts according to his character, and learn his heart for his people. Learn who he is. But secondly …2. Remember what you learn.Learn who God is, and remember what you learn.And for this, we're gonna go back to verse 1, but before we do that, I want to carefully introduce this next part, because I think this topic is a really big deal in the Christian life. And I would even say, in terms of useful skills in the daily Christian life, this might be the most important. And I'm calling this a “skill” because I don't think it's a natural ability. You have to learn this, and practice it and develop it. And listen, I wanna be really honest with you about it … life is hard enough, but if you don't know how to do this, life will be even harder.Here it is: The skill istelling yourself the truth. It's being able to tell yourself the truth. Because, look: you can know who God is! You can have a great theology and tons of knowledge. You can learn a lot of truth, but when it comes to remembering what you've learned and putting your knowledge to actual work in your life that means you gotta tell yourself the truth.That's what David says. Verse 1. He says: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!”You see who he's talking to here? He's talking to himself. David addresses himself, he speaks to his own soul, and he tells himself to bless the Lord, and then he says, verse 2:“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits …”To “forget not” is another way to say remember. So David is directing his soul to remember the benefits God has given him. He's saying: Remember, soul, all the ways God has been good to you. Have you ever talked to yourself like this?We've heard the saying before, “Count your blessings” — but you ever actually counted your blessings? David starts naming them … verse 3:God forgives all your iniquity, soul. God heals all your diseases. God redeems your life from the pit. God crowns you with steadfast love and mercy! God satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles!David is taking the truth of who God is — that he explains in verses 6–19 — and he applies it to himself and speaks it to himself.What is true for the people of God in verses 6–19, is true for David personally, and he says it. He remembers what he's learned by telling it to himself.Now, here's the question: why doesn't every Christian do this all the time? Because it's not easy. What's easy is passively listening to the voices around you. Consider how this works.When David counts his blessings in verses 3–5, he's not exhaustive — he could say thousands and thousands of things — but I do think David is comprehensive. He counts five benefits that are the five categories that encompass human existence.These five categories, in order, are:sinsufferingdeatheternityjoyWe all live within these five categories, and so, what happens if we passively listen to the voices around us?First, for sin … If we passively listen, we're gonna hear that our sin is our story. We're gonna think that we are our failures and that we are most truly who we are when we're at our worst. I know some of you hear that all that time. You've repented, you've trusted in the cross of Christ, but you still struggle with constant guilt and shame. You can't be passive here.Tell yourself the truth, that God forgives all your iniquity — he has removed your sin as far as the east is from the west.Second, for suffering … The “diseases” in verse 3 have in view the diseases Israel experienced as judgment in the Old Testament. These diseases were curses the people brought upon themselves because of their sin, and they knew it. They knew when their suffering was judgment in the old covenant. But it's not that way anymore in Christ. But sometimes we can think it is! It's so easy for us to think, when we suffer: “This must be God repaying me for my iniquities! God does deal with me according to my sin! I'm cursed!” Christian: no, you're not. You might still get sick. Bad things will happen. But Christian, you are not condemned. You are healed from every curse. No sickness has the final say. Tell yourself that.Third, for death … If you passively listen, it's all despair — we're all just headed toward this dark abyss and everything is stupid, and we are worthless little dots good for nothing.I was driving the other day, through a neighborhood, and I thought: Everybody around here is gonna die … one day I'm just gonna die. And I got kinda sad about it. See I was passively listening. But hey, soul, God redeems your life from the pit!One day you will be raised from the dead. You will live forever. Tell yourself the truth.Fourth, for eternity … Because we will live forever, what we do now, in this life, matters. None of this is pointless. We do things now that have eternal consequence. And look, the worst of social media makes you forget that. It is used by the enemy to devour your attention and time, and the subtext is that you have nothing better to do. But yes you do! One day, in the new creation, you will receive a crown. You ever think about that? Jesus is gonna put a crown on your head. How many of us live like we're wearing crowns? Tell yourself the truth and go touch grass.Fifth, is joy …Verse 5: God will satisfy you with good, now and forever. God will do this, not the things we chase in this world. We are bombarded by empty promises. And how many times do we buy the lie that if “we just had this” or “tried that” then we'd finally make it. Then we'd be happy. No! … Tell yourself the truth: God is your satisfaction. God alone can fulfill the longings of your soul.Do you see how this goes? Tell yourself the truth. That is how we remember what we've learned. We take the truth of God that we've learned and we tell it to our souls like David is doing here.I mean this very practically. If this has not been a habit for you, you can start doing this today. If you don't know where to start, just memorize Psalm 103, verses 1–5.What David says to himself, you, as a Christian can say to yourself — and you can say it with even more certainty because of Jesus. We have learned more of who God is today than David knew when he wrote this. David says that God knows our frame, that he remembers that we are dust … but we know that God actually became dust like us. The eternal God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus took on our frame, our weakness, our humanity, and he went to the cross.That's why God doesn't deal with us according to our sin — he dealt with Jesus according to our sin. Jesus was crowned with thorns so that we could be crowned with mercy. Jesus was raised from the dead to redeem our lives from the pit. Look, every blessing we receive from God comes to us in Jesus. He is how we bless the Lord. He is the goodness of God given to us. And so here's the sermon in summary: How do we bless the Lord? Learn Jesus, and remember him. Truly.And that's actually the mission of our church. We are here to make joyful disciples of Jesus who remember his realness in all of life. That's what brings us to the Table. The TableJesus has given us this Table to help us remember him together. The bread represents his body, and the cup represent his blood, and when we eat and drink, we are saying to our souls, and to one another, that Jesus is our hope. That is why this Table is for Christians. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let's receive him again this morning and give him thanks.

Send me a Text Message!In Exodus 33, God tells Moses He is saying "yes" to Moses' prayer. Why? "Because you have found favor with me and you are my friend." Every time I read those  words, it brings tears to my eyes. In part because I'm reminded how often I seek his favor over his friendship. In part because of the memories that flood my mind. Times when I've gone on long drives, just because I wanted uninterrupted time with God.  Times when I've opened the Bible and it's like having coffee with Jesus.  And I find myself praying, "God, whether you breakthrough out there or not, would you please breakthrough in my heart. In the last chapters of my life I just want to be known as a friend of God. What if nothing matters more than this? Are you a friend of God?

In today's teaching from Exodus 12, guest speaker Josh Gardner walks us through how Passover is not only about Israel's rescue from Egypt, but points us to Jesus and the greater Passover.. In Exodus the blood of the spotless lamb was the sign of God's mercy, foreshadowing Jesus, the true Lamb of God, whose sacrifice delivers us from sin and death. The invitation of the gospel isn't to trust in our own strength, but to trust in sufficiency of Christ. Josh closed the sermon by invited us to examine in our hearts if our lives are marked it's marked by gratitude and worship. One of the ways we can practice cultivating this is by being a community of believers who encourage one another to practice daily gospel rhythms that keep our hearts anchored in Christ, who has rescued us. Come and Seek the Lord with Us www.flourishinggrace.org/plan-your-visit

In Exodus chapter 30, we read where Moses was given a recipe for the holy anointing oil, to be used initially for anointing the tabernacle, the various instruments used in it and Aaron and his sons as priests. The anointing is more than a feeling and each ingredient has a spiritual significance that directs us to different aspects of the anointing. The anointing in the tabernacle evidences the consecration of those things that are chosen and set apart for the purpose of worship. In this way they become holy. The outworking of this, once Moses had completed the anointing, was that the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. We then see how this applied to the life of Jesus, as we follow the story of his baptism and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, prior to the launching of his ministry. The same principles that we read concerning the tabernacle are applied to the church and the individual believers who comprise it. The bible tells us that each individual and the church as a whole is a temple of the Holy Spirit, so the anointing, which evidences the consecration that makes us holy applies to each of us and also to the church corporately. The challenge for us is to walk in the anointing that we have received and to see the glory of God fill the house.

God often speaks in the middle of ordinary moments. In Exodus 3, God called Moses from an ordinary day into an extraordinary calling. Through Moses' encounter with the burning bush, we're reminded that God has a purpose for every believer. He meets us where we are, reveals himself, and equips us to walk in the calling he has prepared for us.

Introduction: 1 Corinthians 10:6 - Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 1 Corinthians 10:11 - Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. My Idolatry... (Exodus 32:1-35) Disgraces ME and Dishonors the LORD. (Ex 32:1-6) Exodus 20:3 - “You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:4 - “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath.” Exodus 20:7 - “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” Exodus 20:14 - “You shall not commit adultery.” Will Not Go UNNOTICED . (Ex 32:7-14) Cannot Be EXPLAINED AWAY or BLAMED ON OTHERS. (Ex 32:15-24) Leads to SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES . (Ex 32:25-29) Can Be FORGIVEN . (Ex 32:30-35) 1 Timothy 1:15 - The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. Titus 2:11-12 - For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age... Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! For Our Example: Ancient Warnings for the Church Today - Do Not Be Idolaters Taylor Brown Download Audio Transcript 00:48So please turn your Bibles to Exodus chapter 32.00:52Exodus chapter 32.00:57Have you ever been warned against doing something, but you did it anyway?01:02Have you ever been given the option between learning the easy way or the hard way and chosen the hard way?01:11Every single one of us would say yes to both those questions.01:16Do you want to hear about a time when I had to learn the hard way? When I was warned against doing something, but I did it anyway. Well, in 2018, my side of the family planned a vacation to Hilton Head, South Carolina. But there was one problem. The trip went from Saturday to Saturday, and my wife Kate and I were booked to photograph a wedding on that first Saturday. So we were already going to miss a big chunk of the vacation.01:44And I thought to myself, I have a great idea. That ended up not being so great. My idea was after working a 12-hour day in the hot sun, let's drive 12 straight hours through the night to Hilton Head, South Carolina. I'll be fine. Every single person I shared that plan with said that's a really bad idea and you shouldn't do it. I heeded none of those warnings and I took a risk.02:13And again, I was totally fine until about 5 a.m. At that point, Kate had been asleep for hours, and I was trying to keep myself awake with caffeine and true crime podcasts, but my eyes were heavy. I was trying, I was opening my eyelids, I was slapping myself, I was trying everything. And I kept thinking to myself, this isn't good, this is going to be bad, but then I kept telling myself, just a few more minutes, just a few more miles.02:43Everything will be fine.02:46As it turns out, everything would not be fine.02:48One moment, I was conscious and kind of alert.02:53And then one minute, I was awakened by the sound of slamming into multiple traffic barrels on the highway.03:01Worst wake-up call in the history of my entire sleeping career.03:06Thankfully, I was able to steer away from the traffic barrels and get over to the shoulder.03:10I checked on my wife who had woken up and was not very happy with me. And I went out to inspect the damage. Our entire hood was destroyed. There was a traffic barrel shoved under the front of the car. I was able to get it out and put it back where I found it. It wasn't as good as new. It looked pretty bad. But the car was drivable. So Kate said, I'm driving. So I get in the passenger seat while mentally beating myself up while Kate drove the rest of the way.03:40And no, I was not able to fall asleep during the rest of the trip. Learning the hard way isn't a fun road to drive on. But many of us willingly drive down it anyway, don't we? Learning the easy way is a far simpler path, but for some reason, it doesn't appeal to us in the moment. It doesn't seem like the best route to take on the journey of life. Thankfully, the Lord knows.04:10our destructive tendencies.04:13And he fills his words with warnings of what we shouldn't do.04:17He fills his word with warnings of where we shouldn't go.04:23And many of these warnings take place in the Old Testament.04:27As we see the Israelites make the same mistakes over and over and over again.04:34A few months ago, Pastor Jeff preached on 1 Corinthians 10, verses 1-13, in which Paul makes it clear that Israel's shady past of disobedience should cause us to be obedient today. We should look to their negative examples and avoid what they did. Listen to what Paul says in verse 6 of chapter 10. He says, these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. And he goes on to say, now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instructions. The Israelites learned the hard way so that you could learn the easy way. This morning we are starting a brand new series called For Our Example, Ancient Warnings for the Church Today. We will study the books of Exodus and Numbers that we can receive four specific warnings from God Himself. Do not be idolaters.05:39Do not be doubters. Do not be fake repenters. Do not be complainers. And this morning we're going to focus on the first warning from God. Do not be idolaters. Do not give other people and other things the worship and love that God alone deserves. Do not put anything or anyone else on the throne of your heart. Do not take God off the top of your priority list.06:10I know what some of you are thinking at this point. Pastor Taylor, I don't want to obnoxiously call you out, but Pastor Jeff did preach a sermon on idolatry pretty recently. I guess you weren't paying attention. You know what? Pastor Jeff, you did preach a sermon on idolatry, didn't you? That was a good sermon. Let me ask you, have you committed idolatry since you heard that sermon? You have?06:39Me too. Have you committed idolatry many times since hearing that sermon? Yeah, me too. It sounds like we need to hear it again. It sounds like we need to receive this warning from the Lord again. So let's go to the Lord and ask for His help. Please pray for me that I will faithfully proclaim God's Word while I pray for you that you will faithfully receive it.07:10Father, we come before you as your people to acknowledge we so often forget what you say.07:17We do not live in light of what you say.07:20We've heard this kind of sermon many times, but we often fail to keep it.07:26Lord, give us eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart to receive, and hands and feet that are willing to do what your word says this morning.07:35May your word do your work.07:37May you bring transformation and change because I cannot. We ask all these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen. So before we dig into Exodus chapter 32, we have to rewind to the beginning of the books that we can understand the backstory. The Israelites were slaves in Egypt. For years they were mistreated, abused, and sentenced to back-breaking labor.08:07Pharaoh even commands the Egyptians, yeah, get the Hebrew boys and throw them into the Nile River whenever they are born. They are suffering. The worst fate imaginable. But God did not forget them. God heard their cries for help. He saw their suffering and he raised up Moses to deliver them out of Egypt. He told Moses, tell Pharaoh to let my people go. And Pharaoh repeatedly refused.08:38that command. So God sent ten plagues upon the nation of Egypt. And eventually Pharaoh said, fine, get out of here. The people of God pack up and head out. And they are led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And at one point Pharaoh's sitting there thinking, what have I done? My entire workforce is gone. I've made a huge mistake. So he stalled up his army and they went after the people of God.09:07Did that go well for Pharaoh? Was that a great plan? No. The people of God pass through the Red Sea by a miracle and then the Egyptians are swallowed up by that same water. And after this divine intervention, the Israelites are brought to Mount Sinai. They're commanded, stay at the base of the mountain while Moses goes up for 40 days and 40 nights to receive the Ten Commandments and other instructions from God.09:37Backstory leads us to one of the most depressing stories in the entire Bible. In Exodus chapter 32. After experiencing God's goodness and provision over and over and over again, the Israelites quickly lose sight of God and they turn to idolatry. And as we move forward, I want to encourage you to resist the temptation to look down upon the Israelites. To feel superior to them.10:07Instead of thinking, yeah, they did this horrible thing way back then, I want you to instead think, yeah, I do this horrible thing all the time. I want you to honestly evaluate yourself and make this admission, my idolatry is no better than their idolatry. Actually, in a lot of ways, my idolatry is worse than their idolatry.10:37So on your outline, let's get personal, let's get specific by focusing on my idolatry. My idolatry. First up, my idolatry disgraces me and dishonors the Lord. My idolatry disgraces me and dishonors the Lord. Let's pick up the story in verse 1, chapter 32. When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. Have you ever noticed that when you are impatient, you forget a lot of basic facts? You make a lot of dumb decisions. You believe a lot of untrue things. You come home from a long day of work.11:37Your family's too excited to see you. You get impatient with them because they seem rude, so you act rude in response. You get the rumbly in your tumbly. You get impatient. You get hangry. You start getting snippy with people. That's what happens in this passage. Dad is away on a business trip with God, and the Israelites get restless. They get impatient. They forget that God is the one who who rescued them from slavery and will go before them into the promised land. They believe the ridiculous lie that they have no idea how long Moses will be gone and when he's going to come back because he told them exactly what the plan was in Exodus chapter 24 verse 14. And they make an extremely dumb decision. And they corner Aaron and tell him, make us gods who will lead us from now on.12:36We don't want God anymore. We want new gods. And sadly, Aaron goes along with their really dumb decision in verses 2 through 4. So Aaron said to them, take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, these are your As I said before, this is one of the saddest passages in the entire Bible. Aaron collects the earrings of the people, and with that gold, he makes a golden calf. I have to ask you, how are the people able to have these earrings in the first place? Who gave it to them?13:35God allowed them to plunder the Egyptians as they left. They twist, abuse, misuse God's good gifts for their evil purposes. When you commit idolatry, you use God's gifts to worship what is not God. You use the gifts of waking up and being above ground to worship at the altar of greed. Money.14:08You abuse the gifts of breath in your lungs and active vocal cords to mistreat others with your words. To lie and deceive because your idol is the praise and opinion of others. You use the gift of a mind that God has given to you and instead of using it to trust in Him, you use it to be anxious, to be worried, to stress out about versions of the future that God is not in control of.14:40You misuse the precious gift of time by giving next to none of it back to the Lord.14:47You act like a rebellious teenager who takes advantage of his or her parents' kindness by using his or her allowance money to buy alcohol to party with underage friends.14:59You take advantage of God's kindness to you, and in the process you disgrace yourself.15:06and you dishonor God.15:09You disgrace yourself and dishonor God by abusing His good gifts.15:12You also disgrace and dishonor God by believing that idols can provide you something that He cannot.15:20Look again at the end of verse 4.15:22And they said, these are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.15:28Isn't that a devastatingly wicked thing to say and think?15:34The Israelites actually believe that these false gods, this idol, can do something for them that God cannot. That this idol that can't move is capable of things that God is not capable of. You and I convince ourselves the same exact lie all the time.16:04or a married guy in this room and you are facing extreme sexual temptation right now. Instead of turning to the Lord for help and fleeing from sexual immorality, you are turning to pornography and fleeing from the Lord's help. You think to yourself, this will fulfill me, this will satisfy me, this will meet my needs. But the more you give yourself over to it, the deeper and deeper deeper into the hole of addiction you find yourself. It gets worse and worse and worse. You believe that the idol of lust will provide you with something that God cannot. Maybe some of you have a spending disorder. Your idol is the idol of more. You think more and more money will make you happy. More and more stuff will solve your problems. A bigger and better trip.17:04will scratch that itch for adventure and rest. A new car, a new upgrade to your house, that will do it. You think the idol of more will give you what God cannot. Maybe you are amusing yourself to death. You're living for the weekend. Your primary passion is your hobbies. And this idolatry is negatively affecting you and your entire family. You neglect your duties at home, or even worse, You draw your kids into this idol. The most important thing in their lives becomes their travel team, their sport, their activities, and not the Lord. You think the idol of fun will give you and your family what God cannot. But no matter the idol, no matter the addiction, the result is always the same. You lose out on joy, and God is shortchanged of the glory.18:04he deserves every single time.18:10You not only disgrace yourself and dishonor the Lord by abusing his good gifts and believing that I can provide something he cannot, you also disgrace yourself and dishonor the Lord by allowing sin to take you further than you ever expected.18:27Look at verses 5-6.18:30When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, before the calf. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast day to the Lord. And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. So while the Ten Commandments are being written onto stone by God Himself at the top of the mountain, the Israelites are breaking at least four of the Ten Commandments.19:00At the base of the mountain.19:02The first commandment is broken.19:04You shall have no other gods before me.19:09Strike one.19:10The second commandment is broken.19:13You should not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath.19:20Strike two.19:22The third commandment is broken.19:24You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.19:29Aaron tries to make the best of a bad situation. He tries to salvage this whole thing by rolling the worship of this idol into the worship of God. But by doing so, he broke the third commandment and took the Lord's name in vain. Strike three. I know in baseball you'd be out by now, but they have one more strike. The seventh commandment is broken. You shall not commit adultery. And you may be thinking, wait a minute.19:58They break that commandment.20:01Look again at verse 6.20:02And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings.20:06And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.20:11The original Hebrew, sat down to eat and drink, doesn't bring to mind a peaceful and innocent meal with family and friends.20:18It brings to mind a drunken party.20:21And the rose up to play phrase doesn't bring to mind a game with your friends on a Friday night.20:28It's detailing sexual sin.20:34That escalated quickly, didn't it?20:36One minute, Israel is impatiently waiting for Moses at the base of the mountain, and the next minute, they're worshiping false gods and committing gross acts of sexual immorality with one another.20:50That's how sin works.20:52It escalates. It jumps to the next level.20:55It gets worse, worse, worse.20:57You drift further and further away. You break more and more commandments. Until one day you look in the mirror and you don't even recognize yourself anymore. You look at your sin. You look at what you've done and you think to yourself, how did I get this bad? I never thought this would happen. Brothers and sisters, you have to snap out of it and calculate the costs of your idolatry. Consider what you are doing.21:27to yourself. Consider what you are doing to your God.21:35My idolatry disgraces me and dishonors the Lord. Secondly, my idolatry will not go unnoticed.21:45My idolatry will not go unnoticed.21:51Let's read verses 7-10.21:55And the Lord said to Moses, go down your people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.22:01They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them.22:05They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it and said, these are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.22:15And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.22:21Now therefore, let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them in order that I may make a great nation out of you. Does this blasphemous and immoral party escape the attention of God? No, it does not. Is he pleased with what he sees and hears? Not one bit. The first hint that God is upset comes in verse 7 when he says, go down for your people whom you brought to the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. Throughout Exodus, God He constantly refers to Israel as my people. Now what is He calling them? Your people. You know what this reminds me of? When the kids are over the top obnoxious and bad, and your spouse calls or texts you to say, you wouldn't believe what your kids have been up to today. Your kids have been a real treat. Exactly what's happening here in this passage. The Lord instructs Moses to back away because he's about to clear the board of these stubborn idolaters and start over with a new nation for Moses. Put yourself in Moses' feet. How would you respond to that? What would you say back to God? Moses' reaction in verses 11 through 13 may surprise you. Look at what he says. But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people?23:57whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand. Why should the Egyptians say with evil intent that he bring them out to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self and said to them, I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the heaven. In all this land I have promised, I will give to your offspring.24:26and they shall inherit it forever.24:31Moses could respond in a much different way than he does.24:36He could say, you know what, God, I'm going to take you up on your offer.24:40These people stink.24:41All they do is nag and complain.24:43I could really use some new recruits.24:47Is that what Moses says?24:50Is that how he responds?24:52No, he asks the Lord for mercy.24:55He points the Lord back to His past investment in Israel, His promises to Israel, His reputation among the nations pleads for mercy. Let's see how God responds in verse 14. And the Lord relented from the disaster that He had spoken of bringing on His people. God hears this passionate plea and He chooses to show mercy.25:26upon his idolatrous people.25:30I really don't want you to learn the wrong lesson from this passage.25:35I don't want you to read this and say, well, I guess idolatry is not that big of a deal.25:39God let them off scot-free, so whatever.25:42I can do it and have no consequences.25:48Sure, Israel is not wiped off the map instantly, but there will be consequences.25:54They will have to answer for what they have done. God has noticed their idolatry. It's the same today. Your idolatry is noticed by God, even if no one else notices. You may be able to fool your friends. You may be able to fool your wife, your husband, your kids. You may even be able to fool Pastor Jeff, myself, and the other elders.26:24You cannot fool God.26:28Do you realize He hears every thought that you think?26:34He hears every word that you speak.26:38He sees every action and reaction that you carry out.26:43You can hide nothing from Him.26:46Don't try.26:48My idolatry disgraces me and dishonors the Lord.26:52My idolatry cannot be explained away or blamed on others. My idolatry cannot be explained away or blamed on others. So Moses has heard about the people's idolatry, but now he's about to come face to face with the people's idolatry. We all know that hearing about something and seeing something horrible bring about very different reactions, right? Hearing that your house has been vandalized is much different than seeing the results of the vandalism. Hearing that your dog has made a massive mess on the carpet is much different than stooping down and cleaning up the mess yourself. Check out Moses' response to seeing their idolatry in verses 15 through 20.27:52and the two tablets of the testimony in his hand. Tablets that were written on both sides, in the front and on the back they were written. The tablets were the work of God and the writing was the writing of God engraved on tablets. When Moses heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, there is a noise of war in the camp. But he said, it is not the sound of shouting for victory or the sound of the cry of defeat, of singing that I hear.28:24And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot.28:30And he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.28:34He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.28:47Moses gets why God is so angry.28:49In verse 11, God was burning hot. And in verse 19, Moses is burning hot. You may think that Moses overreacts here by breaking the Ten Commandments and making an idle smoothie for the people to gulp down. That may seem harsh, but I have to tell you this is not an overreaction. This is the guy who just got on his knees and begged for these people not to be turned to a massive crater.29:20He cares for these people. There has to be a response. And what He does is not senseless. It has great purpose. By physically breaking the Ten Commandments, He is showing the Israelites, you have spiritually broken the law of God. By force-feeding them this idol smoothie, Moses is showing the people how disgusting and bitter idolatry is to God.29:53And after these public demonstrations, Moses turns to his brother Aaron, who he put in charge while he was gone, to see how this could have happened.30:04Sadly, Aaron does not respond in the right way.30:07In verses 21 through 24.30:10And Moses said to Aaron, What did these people do to you, that you have brought such a great sin upon them?30:16And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my Lord burn hot.30:19You know the people. They are set on evil. For they said to me, Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. So I said to them, Let any who have gold take it off. So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf. Aaron acts like a victim and shifts the blame. And he makes the worst excuse in the history of excuses.30:49This is worse than the generic, my dog ate my homework. This is worse than an excuse I heard as a library collector, library debt collector years ago in seminary. I told this woman on the phone, you return your book, your fine will go away. And she said, well, I can't return the book. I said, why? She said, well, it, It burned up in my boyfriend's meth lab. Bad excuse. Not an acceptable excuse. But here's the doozy that Aaron gives to Moses. I took the earrings from the people and I threw it into the fire and the melted gold formed in the image of a cow and just hopped out of the fire. Isn't it crazy when those things happen? When was the last time you threw some leftover food and garbage in to a fire and an idol jumped out against your wishes. It's never happened and it will never happen. Again, it's easy to come down on Aaron for the things that we do all the time. You and I give Academy Award winning performances in playing the victim. You and I are expert blame shifters. You and I are professional excuse makers.32:19Instead of accepting responsibility for your bad decisions, you blame your past. Oh, it's not my fault. It's how I was raised. Well, it's not my fault that I lie. I had to lie growing up to survive in my family. My overdrinking isn't an active choice that I make. It's just a family disease that I cannot get away from. Listen, past hurts can explain present behavior. But past hurts can never explain.32:49Excuse present behavior. Past hurts cannot excuse your present behavior. You also cannot blame your present behavior on current challenges. Work is just so overwhelming right now. I'm so stressed out. My spouse never encourages me. My spouse never supports me. I feel so alone. I need something to get me through the day. Well, my health and the health of people I care about is really bad right now.33:19I have a lot of bad influences around me and they keep pressuring me to do the wrong thing. Hey, hey, the excuses end today. Sin can never be justified. Sin can never be explained away. Avoid Aaron's negative example and refuse to say my idolatry is everyone else's fault. Instead, own your sin.33:49and say, my idolatry is my fault and no one else's. Mine alone. My idolatry disgraces me and dishonors the Lord. My idolatry will not go unnoticed. My idolatry cannot be explained away or blamed on others. My idolatry leads to serious consequences. My idolatry leads to serious consequences.34:23The idle smoothie is not the only consequence. The people of Israel will suffer. A much worse penalty falls upon them in verses 25-29. And when Moses saw it, the people had broken loose, for Aaron had let them break loose, the derision of their enemies. Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, Who is on the Lord's side? Come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. And he said to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, put your sword on each side of you and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor and the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses and that day about three thousand men of the people fell and Moses said today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord each one of you at the cost of the son of his brother so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day 3,000 are put to death by the sword. Most likely, these were the ringleaders of the idolatry. These are the men who pressed upon Aaron and led this immoral rager. But once again, you may be thinking to yourself, 3,000 people dead? That seems so harsh. The judgment of God always seems harsh to those who do not fully appreciate the character of God. God is holy. God is pure. God cannot stand the sight of sin. God must punish sin or he would not be God. 3,000 seems like such a big number on its own, doesn't it? But compare it to how many Israelites there were. Two to three million. I'm not a math guy, but I crunch the numbers.36:19is.1 or.15% of the population. Does that seem harsh now? Does that number seem too big now? Imagine during service someone hacks all of your various accounts and takes away.1 or.15% of all your money. Would that be hard? Would that be difficult? Would that be a concern? Sure.36:49Would you be destitute financially? No, because it's such a small amount in comparison to what you could have lost. And these 3,000 dead are such a small number in comparison to what God could have done because 100% of them deserve to be dead. 100% of the Israelites deserve to be wiped out, but God shows mercy.37:19as they deserve.37:22But God still needs to demonstrate that sin leads to serious consequences.37:26He needs to prove that idolatry invites injury.37:32I have to ask, what consequences are you experiencing right now for your idolatry?37:41What injuries have you invited into your life?37:46Maybe you've convinced yourself that your anxiety is not that big of a deal. Being stressed out and worried all the time, not a big deal. It gives you some semblance of control, but all it's doing is hollowing you out and making your life miserable. Maybe your sexual sin has isolated you, created distance in your marriage and devastated your spouse. Maybe no one really wants to be around you right now because you constantly blow your top and the idol of your wants and your preferences is not met. Maybe you're dealing with the physical consequences of a lifetime of bad decisions. Are you going to learn the lesson that God is teaching you through these consequences? Or will you continue in your rebellion? Will you open your eyes to the warnings of the Lord that are all over your life and all over His Word?38:46to what He wants you to see.38:50Will you pay attention to the consequences?38:54My idolatry disgraces me and dishonors the Lord.38:57My idolatry will not go unnoticed.39:00My idolatry cannot be explained away or blamed on others.39:05My idolatry leads to serious consequences.39:08Finally, and most importantly, my idolatry can be forgiven.39:15My idolatry can be forgiven. Moses gathers the people for a quick meeting in verse 30. The next day Moses said to the people, you have sinned a great sin. And now I'll go up to the Lord. Perhaps I can make atonement. I can make payment for your sin. The people have messed up big time. And Moses isn't sure if he can atone or pay for their sin on himself. He's not sure if God's going to rubber stamp this plan that he has. Let's see what God has to say in verses 31 to 35. So Moses returned to the Lord and said, alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now if you will forgive their sin, but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written. But the Lord said to Moses, whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book.40:16But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you.40:20Behold, my angels shall go before you.40:23Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.40:28Then the Lord sent a plague on the people because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.40:35As it turns out, Moses himself cannot pay for the sins of the people.40:40The people do experience God's merciful forgiveness to a certain extent, but they will continue to suffer the consequences for what they have done. God sends a plague upon the people, and we're not told how bad this plague was or how devastating the results were. And that is the end of the chapter. And you may be thinking, that's it? That's the end? Where's the hope in this passage?41:10is the hope. Well, I can tell you this. Moses is not the hope in this passage. He's a great leader. He tries to clean up Israel's mess, but he can't. Moses was used as a savior during the exodus out of Egypt, but he is not the Israelites' ultimate savior. He cannot pay for their imperfection before a perfect God. The only hope in this passage is the only hope in your life.41:42The only hope in this story is the only hope in your story.41:47This hope is a leader far greater than Moses.41:50This hope is a savior far greater than Moses.41:53Moses could not go up the mountain to pay for Israel's sin.41:57But there is one who came out of heaven to pay for your sin.42:04To take the penalty for your idolatry.42:08Who is this hope?42:09Who is this savior?42:10Jesus Christ, God Himself. Paul cruelly spells out the mission of Jesus and shows how this mission personally affects Him. In 1 Timothy 1.15, the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost. You see the personal language there?42:40I am the worst of sinners. Christ came to save me. Can you say that this morning? Jesus Christ came to save me. Jesus came to live the idol-free life that you never could. Unlike you and me, He always put His Father first in everything. Jesus came to pay the penalty for your idolatry upon the cross so that you would not have to pay the penalty Penalty in hell. Jesus came to rise again so that the idols in your life could be smashed to pieces and have no power over you. You know, this passage, this sermon has been very personal. It's focused on my idolatry. But as we end this morning, I want you to answer a very important question. Has my idolatry been forgiven?43:43It's the most important question you're going to answer today. Has my idolatry been forgiven? If your answer is no, I want you to understand that it can be. Your idolatry can be forgiven by Jesus Christ if you ask Him to. Reject your sin and receive Jesus as Savior. Smash your idols and submit to Jesus as Lord. He alone can give you what you are looking for. He alone can give you peace with God. He alone can secure your position in heaven. Has my idolatry been forgiven? If your answer is yes, live in the awareness of your forgiveness. Remember what Jesus has done for you. Rejoice in what Jesus has done for you. Be empowered by what Jesus has done for you.44:40Listen to what Paul says about this in Titus 2, 11-12. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age. Christian, walk upon the conquered ground that Jesus secured on your behalf. In Christ, you are not helpless. In Christ, you are not hopeless. In Christ, you can't be can learn the easy way instead of learning the hard way. In Christ, you can avoid the negative examples of the Israelites in your past self. In Christ, you can say no to idolatry and yes to godliness. Let's pray. Father God, we come before you and we acknowledge our sin. We acknowledge our idolatry.45:40We acknowledge that we deserve nothing from You except Your judgment. We deserve nothing from You except eternal punishment. But we thank You that You sent Your Son to take that punishment upon Himself. To take Your wrath as rightly ours. In exchange, we receive His perfection. We receive His holiness. We receive all that He has.46:10doesn't make sense, but we thank you that it's true.46:15We thank you that there is more mercy in you than sin in us.46:20Father, if there's anyone in this room who has not truly accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, may today be the day.46:29May today be the day when the idols are set aside, the idols are cast down, and Jesus Christ is worshipped.46:38Jesus Christ is loved and served. And for the rest of us, Lord, help us to not put anyone or anything in your rightful position in our lives. May you be most important because you are the most important. We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Let us stand and worship the Lord together. Small Group DiscussionRead Exodus 32:1-35What was your big take-away from this passage / message?What is idolatry and why is it so serious?How are you using your God-given talents and resources to worship false gods?What excuses do you make for your sin? How have you blamed others for your sin? BreakoutPray for one another.

SCRIPTURE: Exodus 32-33 & Deuteronomy 34 7.5.26 - The Mercy That Defines Us (Kenny Camacho) Revolution Church YOU CAN ALSO READ KENNY'S MANUSCRIPT FOR THIS MESSAGE HERE!REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:In this series, we have defined spiritual formation as a journey from being 'self-centered' to being 'other-centered.' What does that shift actually look like in everyday life, and what tends to get in the way of making that move?Where would you honestly place yourself on that spectrum right now—more self-centered or more other-centered—and what is one specific thing that keeps pulling you back toward self-centeredness?In Exodus 32:30-32, Moses pleads with God on behalf of the Israelites and says, 'Please forgive their sin — but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.' What does it mean to truly intercede for someone, and why is that kind of selfless 'standing in the gap' so rare?Can you think of a time when you absorbed a consequence or a cost that wasn't really yours to carry? Looking back, do you see God's hand in that moment?Moses's life ends in an anonymous grave, his resting place unknown to anyone. Kenny said this reveals that 'the fruit of it all is rarely something we get to see.' How do you personally wrestle with serving faithfully when you may never see the results of what you've given?'Mercy defines us': not power, not success, and not even ‘just being good people.' What do you think it actually means for mercy to be the thing that defines your life, and how is that different from how most people think about what makes a life meaningful?

Packinghouse's Wednesday night worship service from *date*. Exodus 5 — Trusting God When Obedience Gets Hard Following God's will does not always make life easier right away. In Exodus 5, Pastor Greg explains how Moses faithfully obeys God's command to confront Pharaoh, only to face greater opposition, discouragement, and criticism from both Pharaoh and the Israelites. The message explores why God sometimes allows trials to intensify before bringing deliverance, teaching that faith is built by trusting His promises even when circumstances seem to contradict them. Rather than abandoning the mission when life becomes difficult, believers are encouraged to remember God's character, stand firm in His Word, and trust that He is working according to His perfect timing. Ultimately, the study reminds us that God's presence—not immediate success—is the foundation of our confidence as we follow Him. - Greg Opean - Wednesday, July 1, 2026

When Moses asked God, "Show me Your glory," God's answer wasn't a display of power—it was a revelation of His character.In Exodus 34, God proclaims Himself as "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness." This passage becomes one of the most important descriptions of God's nature in all of Scripture and ultimately points us to Jesus Christ, where God's holiness and grace meet perfectly at the cross.In this message we explore:• How God's glory is revealed through His character• Why God's grace never cancels His holiness• How Jesus perfectly reveals the Father• Why the cross is the greatest display of God's glory• How beholding Christ transforms us into His likenessThe more clearly we see God for who He is, the more deeply we are changed by His grace.

The Lord is not looking for cold religion, empty profession, or outward performance from people whose hearts are far from Him. He is looking for a believer with a willing heart, a heart that says, “Lord, here am I, use me.” In Exodus 35, the Tabernacle was not built by pressure tactics or forced giving, but by men and women whose hearts were stirred and made willing before the LORD. That is still the pattern today. The believer who has been saved by the shed blood of Jesus Christ ought to have a heart that is ready to serve, ready to give, ready to labour, ready to pray, ready to witness, and ready to stand in the gap while there is still time. A willing heart does not wait to be begged, bribed, or entertained into obedience. It hears the voice of God through the word of God and responds, “What wilt thou have me to do?”“Take ye from among you an offering unto the LORD: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the LORD; gold, and silver, and brass,” Exodus 35:5 (KJB)But a willing heart must become a burdened heart and a surrendered heart, or it will never go the distance. A burdened heart looks at the lost and sees souls on their way to Hell without the gospel, and it refuses to be comfortable while sinners perish. A surrendered heart looks inward and says, “Lord, deal with my sin, my pride, my flesh, my worldliness, and anything that keeps me from being meet for the Master's use.” This is where real Bible Christianity lives — not in slogans, not in sentiment, not in Sunday-morning religion, but in a heart yielded to God, burdened for souls, and willing to fight against the world, the flesh, and the Devil until the Lord gives the victory. The harvest is still white, the gospel is still powerful, the King James Bible is still the preserved word of God, and Jesus Christ is still saving sinners. What God is looking for now is a vessel with a willing heart to serve, a burdened heart to seek the lost, and a surrendered heart to yield completely to Him. This is my message on today's Sunday Service.

The Fruitless Will Fall Away (1) (audio) David Eellls, 6/28/26 What is the fruit of the life of Jesus? It is the same as His name, which means nature, character, and authority. We are baptized into His name. Non-Spirit filled Christianity has not touched the authority part. The "these signs will accompany those who believe" part. These were supernatural signs they, in large part, refuse so according to this verse, they are not believers as the scripture hath said. And as far as coming into His nature, they consider impossible. The falling away has already started with them, so pray that they come into the full gospel in the latter rain.  Although the apostates will deny it, God's plan for mankind and the earth is clear and simple. He planned to perfect a Son through Whose spiritual seed of His Word He would have many offspring like Himself. (Heb.2:10) For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. (11) For both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. God knew these sons before the physical creation and spoke them into existence. He planned that they would be born and fashioned through the seed of His eldest Son, coming into His image. (Rom.8:29) For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Those who accept flesh-appeasing doctrines do not bear the image or fruit of this Son and prove themselves to be called but not chosen. Clearly, when God inspects His crop, He only chooses the fruit that is born of the Word, 30-, 60-, and 100-fold as Jesus said. Those who accept this fleshly life instead of the life of Christ are as “Esau, who for one mess of meat sold his own birthright” (Heb.12:16). Multitudes have been sons of Abraham through faith, but will prove themselves to be the seed of Esau and be cut off. (Isa.63:1) Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?…. “Bozrah” here means “sheepfold” and was the capital of Edom, Esau's seed. These apostate sheep will be cut off and trodden under foot in the great winepress of the wrath of God. (2) Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winevat? (3) I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the peoples there was no man with me: yea, I trod them in mine anger, and trampled them in my wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment. (4) For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. Now we see a more inclusive meaning of “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Rom.9:13). The scenario is repeated in a parable Jesus gave concerning the end of the Jews' covenant, when the fruitful escaped but the apostates went into the wrath in 70 A.D. This is also a type about to be fulfilled in the end of the Church's covenant. (Luk.13:6) And he spake this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit thereon, and found none. (7) And he said unto the vinedresser, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why doth it also cumber the ground? (8) And he answering saith unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: (9) and if it bear fruit thenceforth, [well]; but if not, thou shalt cut it down. The husbandman, the Father, had given three years to the fig tree of His people to bear fruit. According to the Law of First Mention, the number three by itself is first found in the Bible in Genesis 6:10, “And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” The seed of the saved of all mankind was in these three. They were in the ark of grace, (Gen.6:8) But Noah found favor (grace) in the eyes of the Lord. The next three verses in Genesis 6:11-13 speak of the total corruption of mankind and God warning, “I will destroy them with the earth.” God said almost the same thing in Jesus' parable after the three years, “cut it down.” However, the Son's intercession gained a fourth year of grace. There is also a First Mention in the New Testament for “three.” (Mat.12:40) For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Notice that God's grace through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus for all mankind, symbolized by the number three, is spoken of four times, possibly symbolizing God going the extra mile here.  The Father was disappointed in the lack of fruit on the tree that represents His apostate people and gave command to “cut it down.” The vinedresser, His Son, interceded for one more year's grace, until he could “dig about it,” breaking up its fallow ground through tribulation, “and dung it” through persecution to see “if it bear fruit… but if not, thou shall cut it down.” We should not be deceived; those who do not bear fruit before the end of the Tribulation will be cut off and fall away. Notice that the Lord ultimately is only coming for the “fruit” of the spiritual man, not the “fig tree” of the natural man. Our natural life is only the earth in which God has planted the seed of His Son, the Word, so that He bears fruit in us (Mat.13:19-23). Only He that came out of heaven will go back. (Joh.3:13) And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, [even] the Son of man. (Note: “who is in heaven” is usually added here but is not in the ancient manuscripts and has no numeric pattern.) Bearing fruit is normal for those who walk by faith, but for those who profess Christ while they do not believe His Word to bear fruit, there is destruction. (Jud.1:5) Now I desire to put you in remembrance…that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. Moses also interceded and delayed the cutting down of the fig tree in his day, but some continued in unbelief and murmured, and God overthrew them in their wilderness tribulation (Psa.106:21-26). Some of you would say that God can't break His promise to bring us into His kingdom. Haven't you read that God disinherits His people who do not believe? (Num.14:11) And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them? (12) I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they.  God “sware” He would bring them to the Promised Land and then changed His mind because they did not keep their side of the covenant through walking by faith. (30) Surely ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. God revoked His promise and then promised they would fall in the wilderness tribulation. (34)…Ye shall know my alienation (which in Hebrew means the “revoking of my promise”). (35) I, the Lord, have spoken, surely this will I do unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. The wilderness trials are to prove who the chosen believers are among the called, “for many are called, but few chosen” (Mat.22:14). Because of faith and obedience, God can promise evil or good to a people and yet change His mind. (Jer.18:7) At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; (8) if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. (9) And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; (10) if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. Micah prophesied the destruction of Zion, but the people repented, and God changed His mind, as Jeremiah 26:18-19 says. In Exodus 32:10-14, Moses interceded for Israel on the grounds that God promised the fathers to save their seed, and so God repented. However, when the people continued to turn the grace of God into a license to go their own way, Ezekiel prophesied that even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were there interceding, they would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness (Eze.14:14). We must move quickly now to redeem the time for the race is to bear fruit before our individual or corporate allotted time is up. Paul said that “they that run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize” (1Cor.9:24). That One is Christ – those in whom Christ lives, and those who live in Him. Paul called this “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col.1:27). This principle of the race was given to my wife, Mary, many years ago in a dream. She saw us running on a treadmill and up ahead of us was a door that was closing. Then she noticed that the treadmill was deceitfully picking up speed to carry us away from the door. We had to run faster and faster to make progress. This is the way of the world, friend. It is picking up speed, departing from God. Mary said that I made it through the door just as it was about to close, and then I jerked her through. Paul went on to say that the only way to win in this race against the clock is to “exerciseth self-control in all things” (1Cor.9:25). He then enforced this by saying, “I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected” (27). “Rejected” here is from the Greek word for reprobated, meaning “not standing the test.” Paul was saying that even after all his preaching, if he didn't make his body serve the Lord, he would not finish the race and would be reprobated. If it was true of him, then it is certainly true of us. It's not those who call Jesus Lord and do mighty works, but those who bear the fruit of obedience, who shall enter the kingdom. (Mat.7:21) Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. (22) Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? (23) And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Gifts and powers are wonderful and necessary, but they will not gain for us the kingdom; only 30-, 60-, or 100-fold fruit can do that. They who build their house on the Rock that stands the test of the tribulations of life, hear the Word and obey it (Mat.7:24-27). The “works of the flesh” are listed in Galatians 5:19-21 and Christians are warned that “they who practise such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” The works of the Spirit are also listed there, but they are called “the fruit of the Spirit.” God's works in us through our faith are His fruit in us. Joel prophesied that when the “day of the Lord” comes, God's remnant, who abide in spiritual New Testament Mount Zion and Jerusalem, will escape the wrath. (Joel 2:31) The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord cometh. (32) And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that escape, as the Lord hath said, and among the remnant those whom the Lord doth call. David asked, “Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?” His answer was, “He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, And speaketh truth in his heart” (Psa.15:1-2). At that time, all nations are gathered together against the righteous in “the valley of Jehoshaphat” where, as a type, God divided and destroyed the nations that came against Israel in the time of Jehoshaphat. (Joel 3:2) I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment upon them there for my people and for my heritage Israel…. At that time, the holy ones will be in the ark of God's safety, as Jehoshaphat's people who went forth in 2 Chronicles 20:21 to “give praise in holy array.” It is here that the one world order is divided into three as the nations destroy each other. (2Chr.20:22) And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set liers-in-wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, that were come against Judah; and they were smitten. (23)…every one helped to destroy another. The Lord, with His newly glorified saints, will fight against those nations in the Day of the Lord; they will face the winepress of the wrath of God. (Joel 3:11) Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. (12) Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. (13) Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great.  This scenario is clearly set forth in Revelation. First, there is the harvest of the righteous. (Rev.14:13) And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them. (14) And I saw, and behold, a white cloud; and on the cloud [I saw] one sitting like unto a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. (15) And another angel came out from the temple, crying with a great voice to him that sat on the cloud, Send forth thy sickle, and reap: for the hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. (16) And he that sat on the cloud cast his sickle upon the earth; and the earth was reaped. This harvest of the fruitful includes the physically “dead in Christ” and also the dead-to-self in Christ “that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord.” All will receive their earth-transcending bodies at this time. Then, in the Day of the Lord, the harvest of the wicked will come, which includes the many who are called but not chosen for lack of fruit. (Rev.14:17) And another angel came out from the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. (19) And the angel cast his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and cast it into the winepress, the great [winepress], of the wrath of God. (20) And the winepress was trodden without the city, and there came out blood from the winepress, even unto the bridles of the horses, as far as a thousand and six hundred furlongs. This harvest includes those “without the city,” that is, the true spiritual city of God, whereas the natural city of Jerusalem will be half-taken and plundered (Zec.14:1-2) because it is mostly wicked. “The great [winepress], of the wrath of God” is the Day of the Lord and is detailed in much more depth in chapters 15 and 16 of our Hidden Manna book. The Lord with His saints executes this slaughter of the wicked with the sword of the spoken Word. (Rev.19:11) And I saw the heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and he that sat thereon called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. (14) And the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white [and] pure. (15) And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty. As we can see, the same story of the Tribulation leading to wrath is told many times in Revelation, but in different parables. For instance, the sixth and seventh seal judgments and the seventh trumpet judgment bring the Day of the Lord's wrath, and the bowls, or vials of wrath, are the Day of the Lord's wrath. (Rev.6:12) And I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood; (This is after the Tribulation when the great nuclear war darkens the sun and moon and the Lord comes for His saints.) (13) and the stars of the heaven fell unto the earth, as a fig tree casteth her unripe figs when she is shaken of a great wind. The fig tree represents God's New Covenant people – Jews and Gentiles. The unripe figs are the people of God who have not borne fruit 30-, 60, and 100-fold and are therefore not picked but fall to the earth to incur the Day of the Lord's wrath. (14) And the heaven was removed as a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. (15) And the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the chief captains, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman and freeman, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains; (16) and they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: (17) for the great day of their wrath is come; and who is able to stand? The unfruitful are destroyed in the wrath, just as the Jews who bore no fruit of the Gospel were destroyed in 70 A.D. In a clear type of the coming of the Lord with His saints, Jesus was on the Mount of Olives with His disciples. As He was about to return to Jerusalem through the eastern gate at the time of the Passover, He saw a fig tree that had not born fruit and cursed it “for ever.” (Mat.21:18) Now in the morning as he returned to the city, he hungered. (19) And seeing a fig tree by the way side, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only; and he saith unto it, Let there be no fruit from thee henceforward for ever. And immediately the fig tree withered away. According to the Jews, the eastern gate is sealed until the coming of the Messiah. The Mount of Olives represents apostate Christianity, and the cursed fig tree represents those fruitless “Christians” who are rooted in it being reprobated. The timing of the judgment of the fig tree is seen in Zechariah 14:4-5 when the Mount of Olives is split in half, and then Jesus returns with His saints. As we have studied before, Passover is the time when the saints are being passed over by the flood, or winepress, of war because they are in the ark. There is no Passover for those who do not eat all of the Lamb and do not have the blood on their doorposts. Then the Lord picks His fruit as the ark lifts off without the fruitless, and they go to defend Jerusalem from the nations. In a type of this, in Matthew 21:9, Jesus rides triumphantly as King through the eastern gate as the multitudes cry, “Blessed [is] he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” This was clearly a type of the Lord's coming through the sealed eastern gate in the very end, because Jesus quoted them in Matthew 23:39 when standing at the eastern gate, saying, “Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed [is] he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” So we see that shortly before the Messiah comes as King to defend Israel, He reprobates the unripe figs, which fall to the earth to incur the wrath of God. I would like to explain yet another parable that is found throughout the Scriptures concerning the falling away of the fruitless. The whole Church is identified by God as the sun, moon and stars. (Gen.37:9) And he (Joseph) dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed yet a dream; and, behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars made obeisance to me. (10) And he told it to his father (Jacob or Israel), and to his brethren (the patriarchs); and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? (11) And his brethren envied him; but his father kept the saying in mind. All of the body of Israel is identified here according to relationship as the sun, moon, or stars. The father, who is the head and a type of those who are capable of sowing the seed of Israel, is identified as the sun. The mother, who is a type of those who receive the seed and bring forth the fruit, is called the moon. The children, who are the most immature in mind and actions, are called the stars. These represent the three stages of Christian growth, of which Jesus told us in the parable of the sower. (Mat.13:23) And he that was sown upon the good ground, this is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; who verily beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. The more fruit of the Word or righteousness a person has, the greater the glory. As we walk in the faith, “it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal.2:20) and we grow into the image of Christ from glory to glory. (2Cor.3:18) But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.  We are to grow into the last “glory,” which is described as the image of Christ, the Sun, in us. Paul spoke of the three different glories of the saints, which will be rewarded with three different spiritual bodies that they will receive. (1Cor.15:35) But some one will say, How are the dead raised? and with what manner of body do they come? (40) There are also celestial (heavenly) bodies, and bodies terrestrial (earthly): but the glory of the celestial is one, and the [glory] of the terrestrial is another. (41) There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. (42) So also is the resurrection of the dead…. According to Paul and the Holy Spirit, we will all have a sun, moon, or star glory new body in heaven. This is according to what stage we are in when it comes to manifesting the resurrection life of Christ. Everyone wants to know what determines which new body they will have. The short answer is that the glory that we walk in before death or rapture determines the glory of our eternal house or body. God “will render unto every man according to his works” (Rom.2:6). It literally says in 2 Corinthians 5:10 in the Greek and in the numeric pattern, “For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each receive through the body, according to what he hath done, whether good or bad.” Notice that the reward is given “through the body” and what we do “good or bad” determines whether the glory of the new body will be a star, a moon, or a sun glory body. The Greek word for “judgment-seat” here means “footprint tribunal.” This means that we are going to be judged by how closely we walked in Christ's steps. (1Jn.2:6) He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked. Remember that abiding in Christ is to abide in heavenly places. By the works of Jesus through us, we are growing in these progressive glories and putting on the clothing of our new spiritual body while still living in the old body. This is so that, when this body is gone, we do not become naked. (2Cor.5:1) For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. (2) For verily in this we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from heaven: (3) if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. (4) For indeed we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but that we would be clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life. Our mortal life is to be swallowed by the life of Christ. Paul taught that by faith we are to spiritually put to death the members of the old man, which are his works. (Col.3:5) Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry; (6) for which things' sake cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience. Notice that those who fail to put off the old man will go into the “wrath of God,” just as the fallen stars or unripe figs. (8) But now do ye also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking out of your mouth: (9) lie not one to another; seeing that ye have put off the old man with his doings, (10) and have put on the new man, that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him.  We grow up in the image of Christ from star glory to moon glory to sun glory, or from 30- to 60- to 100-fold fruit, as we put off the old man's works and put on the new man's works. (Rom.13:12) The night is far spent, and the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light (that is star, moon and then sun light). (13) Let us walk becomingly, as in the day; not in revelling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy. (14) But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to [fulfil] the lusts [thereof]. We must cast off the works of darkness and put on Christ by putting on His works. Christ's works are “the garments of salvation” (Isa.61:10). However, the garment spotted by acts of flesh send many to fiery trials to burn up these evil works. (Jud.1:23) And some save, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. 1Co.3:11-15 For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 But if any man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 each man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove each man's work of what sort it is. 14 If any man's work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as through fire. The true Bride is making herself ready by putting on the works of the bright garment of the glory of God. (Rev.19:7) Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. (8) And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright (Greek: Lampros) [and] pure: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Notice that our “righteous acts” are the glorious garment.  Friends, don't believe the apostate gospel. God said, “I will give unto each one of you according to your works” (Rev.2:23). Those who say that they have faith but don't need works will not be saved. (Jas.2:14) What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but have not works? can that faith save him? (17) Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. (18) Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith apart from [thy] works, and I by my works will show thee [my] faith. (26) For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead. Salvation is not by our works but by faith because it empowers us to do Christ's works. Every place the judgment is mentioned, God judges works because that is how He judges faith.             Let's look closer at the first stage of Christian growth, which is star glory. (Dan.12:3) And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. God told Abraham that his seed would be “as the stars of the heavens” (Gen.22:17). Paul said to the New Covenant Church: “They that are of faith, the same are sons of Abraham” (Gal.3:7). As the stars sit in the heavens with the sun, so He “raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him (that is the Sun) in the heavenly [places], in Christ Jesus” (Eph.2:6). Notice that to be in “heavenly places” is to abide “in Christ.” Those who do not continue to abide in Christ do not bear fruit. (Joh.15:4) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me. (5)…He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing. (6) If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. As we see, those who do not bear fruit do not continue to abide in heaven. (Rev.6:13) And the stars of the heaven fell unto the earth, as a fig tree casteth her unripe figs when she is shaken of a great wind. Like the fallen figs, the fallen stars represent the falling away of a portion of the spiritual seed of Abraham. According to 1 John 5:11, “God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” and that is the only place we can claim this gift.  (Joh.15:2) Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he (that is, the Father) taketh it away…. One of the most common ways God takes away these unfruitful “Christians” is to permit the wolves to carry them away. (Deu.13:1) If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he give thee a sign or a wonder, (2) and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods (meaning false Jesuses), which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; (3) thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.  The false prophets come with deception to weed out the Church of those who do not love truth and purity. (2Thes.2:11) And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: (12) that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. It is the corporate False Prophet that “the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. For they that lead this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed” (Isa.9:15-16). The false prophet is the tail of the corporate dragon of which we are told that “his tail draweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth” (Rev.12:4). Obviously, if even one literal star falls to the earth, there would be no earth, so this has to be spiritual stars falling away. Notice that a third of the Christians, who are stars that are living at the time of the end, will be cast down from their heavenly position in Christ. This does not include merely the religious who are not born again. We have been told that the stars here are angels, but the false prophets certainly do not cast down angels, rather the apostates who believe their lies. These lukewarm, unfruitful “Christians” are rejected from the righteous harvest and fall to the earth to be part of the wicked harvest, “the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God.” In all the verses we have looked at, where the stars fall, there is not one where the sun or moon falls. Only stars are in danger of falling, for they have the least glory or the least fruit. According to Jesus' parable of the sower, the least that would make it into the kingdom is 30-fold fruit. Star glory saints do not all have the same glory, and those who do not have at least the 30-fold fruit will fall. (1Cor.15:41) …One star differeth from another star in glory. I believe a newborn Christian has been given 30-fold fruit, but many leave their “first love” and do not maintain their “first works” so that their lampstand is removed (Rev.2:4-5). They have the 30-fold glory with a new born-again spirit, but that glory becomes diminished by the “garment spotted by the flesh” and its works. They are born again and die again, which is what is meant by “twice dead, plucked up by the roots” (Jud.1:12). We must overcome through faith, or we lose our position in Christ. (Rev.3:5) He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white garments; and I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life…. From the rebirth of our spirit (30-fold), we are meant to continue taking the Promised Land of our soul (60-fold) and body (100-fold) until nothing of the old life remains. (Mat.13:33)…The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal (spirit, soul, and body), till it was all leavened. Instead, many live after the flesh so that even their spirits are not preserved. This is like the servant who was given one talent but brought forth no fruit because he hid it in the earth, and for this was cast forth into outer darkness. (1Thes.5:23) And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly (completely); and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Moon glory saints will not fall at the end, for they are 60-fold. Sun glory saints are 100- fold for they have come to maturity and manifested the Son to walk as Christ walked. We are all sons by faith, but those who truly walk in the faith of the Gospel will manifest their Sonship (2Cor.3:18). Besides the differences seen in Jacob's family between the star, moon, and sun glories, there are more. The Lord impressed in my spirit some of these differences. The stars are separate from one another because they have their own glory. We saw that glory is the righteousness of Christ manifested in us. Those who are immature in the Lord are self-righteous and it keeps them separated from one another. This is where the foolishness of denominationalism comes from. Those who are sectarian are star glory or, worse, just religious. However, the second stage of our maturity is the moon glory. We are told that the moon will be turned into blood before the Day of the Lord (Act.2:20). This is death to self, caused by the persecution through tribulation. The moon is united because it is dead, not having its own glory or self-righteousness to separate it as a body. It only reflects the light of the sun, as those who are dead to self only reflect the light of the Son. (Rom.6:5) For if we have become united with [him] in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of his resurrection. Notice that those who fully manifest moon glory will have sun glory. The third stage is the resurrection life of the Son because we once again have our own glory, but this time it is the glory of the sun. Of course, this is the manifestation of Sonship or “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col.1:27). We seek for this place in Him when the sun is straight up and we are fully walking in its light. (Pro.4:18) But the path of the righteous is as the dawning light, That shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The perfect day is when there are no shadows of darkness and Christ, the Sun, is manifested in our life. (Mat.13:43) Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father…. It is God's desire that we outgrow star glory to fill up the ranks of the moon and sun glory before Jesus comes. (Isa.30:26) Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the hurt of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.  At the end of the Tribulation, “the light of the sun shall be sevenfold” because a portion of the seven churches will have repented, and become sun glory. At this time, it will be “as the light of seven days” because they will manifest Sonship at the end of the tribulation on the seventh millennial day. Those who refuse to manifest the light in these three stages will degenerate and be spit out of the body of Christ in order to purify it. (Rev.3:16) So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth. After these stars fall, the sun, moon, and remaining stars are darkened because they no longer share their light with the world. The time of evangelization is over and all of the elect are hidden in the ark or martyred and resurrected. (Isa.13:10) For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine. God attributes character to the heavenly bodies because these are His saints, who will no longer share the light of the Gospel with an unrepentant world or its reprobate “Christians.” (Rev.9:20) And the rest of mankind…repented not of the works of their hands….  Let me share a few revelations with you that go along with this teaching.   Death to Self Leads to Resurrection Life G. M. - 1/16/23 (David's notes in red) It was a bright sunny day, and I was walking with someone on the sidewalk. (representing that the sun/Son shines upon us when we walk the narrow road.) It seemed to be on a college campus somewhere. (A college campus represents a place of higher learning.) There were quite a few other people gathered in small groups here and there along the way. It was a beautiful day, and everyone was happy and joyful. At the end of the sidewalk, there were a couple of glass doors going into what I thought was a building, but once inside, I felt that I was in a cave, as it was so dark. (I do not know who was walking with me, but I felt it was someone I knew.) (Jesus is walking with us as we walk the straight and narrow unto the death of our flesh nature represented by the cave. Jesus was buried in a cave after His death by the cross and so must we. There is a parallel between what happened to Jesus in His death, burial and resurrection and what is happening with the Man-child/Bride bodies.) This was not a large cave but seemed to be 30-40 feet long. (The Number 30 is considered the number of maturity and the number 40 represents a period of testing or trial.) The darkness was so dense and overwhelming. The idea of it being a cave never entered my mind before we entered through the glass doors. (We must all lose our fleshly life, which is against God, so that our spiritual life will rule. (Mic.7:7-9) But as for me, I will look unto Jehovah; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. 8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, Jehovah will be a light unto me. 9 I will bear the indignation of Jehovah, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.) Once inside the doors (Jesus is the transparent Door. We enter the Kingdom only through Him and His resurrection life.) I got separated from the person who had been walking with me. (This reminds me of what Jesus cried out on His cross in (Mat.27:45-46) Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Jesus felt separated, too, during His death experience.) It was very dark, so it was hard to recognize people as they just looked like shadows moving about. (When we are going through our death to self process, we become hard to recognize because we are shadows of our former selves.) I didn't want to stand in the path, so I moved up to the highest row of seating available, which was the third row.) (Jesus said after 3 days I will rise again. The three rows could also represent bearing the 30, 60-, and 100-fold fruit of Christ.) There were planks set into the steep bank of a hill that was very hard dirt. The ceiling of this area was barely above the highest seating space. I sat quietly waiting to hear the voice of the person who walked in with me so I could locate them and sit with them. When I awoke, I did not know what had happened to the person who walked in with me. (He is still there in spirit with us, even in our darkest moments. He promised He will never leave or forsake us.) … There were people scattered about sitting on the rows of planks, but the area was far from full. (The first fruits harvest is small. Few are taught the crucified life or Jesus' message of death to self.) I received by faith at random Jeremiah 4:6 for this dream. My finger was on the words, “flee for safety”. This chapter is very fitting for these days. (Jer.4:6) Set up a standard toward Zion (the Bride):    flee for safety, stay not; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction. (Those who are dead to self, like the first fruits Bride, are safe from judgment.) The Lord brought to my attention the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. Thank you, Father, for the seed sown upon good ground, for those who hear the word and understand it; that they may bear much fruit and bring glory and honor to Your Name. In Jesus Name, Amen.   30-, 60- & 100-Fold Paths Anonymous. - 10/25/2007 (David's notes in red) I saw three different groups of believers (star glory: 30-fold; moon: 60-fold; sun: 100-fold) and we had to decide which pathway we all wanted to take. There was an extremely huge boulder or rock, like what you see in a mountain. (Representing Jesus and the Kingdom of God.) There were three pathways to choose from to go to the other side. The first was to take a pathway around the rock, which looked fairly flat, and on level sandy ground. This pathway looked off-white, exactly like the sand you see on a beach. (The easy way on the flesh is not the crucified life and may not bear fruit much beyond 30-fold or star glory. It is from this place that many will fall away. This may represent the born-again in spirit, but not completely crucified in the soul, life. Many avoid the fiery trials that burn up the flesh by not walking in the steps of Jesus. The garment for such an individual, if they did not fall away, would be off-white, reflecting their works. To many, the rock is too great to hope to walk on, reflecting their immature understanding of the Gospel and God's plan of recreating Christ in us. These choose the unstable, impure, off-white sand of man's traditions on which to stand.) The second path was to climb up that rock. The steps were carved out of the rock, and it was a steep and high climb. (This represents walking in the steps already set in stone by the Word, which is also standing on the rock of Christ's Word. This will bear more fruit even to 60-fold, or moon glory, but something important is not emphasized on this path.) The third path was to enter into a very narrow opening going into that rock and walk down steep steps, also carved out of the rock. (This is also standing on the rock in the steps of the Word. It suggests more the abiding in the cleft of the rock of safety by entering into Christ's suffering through death to self, spiritually beneath the earth. Through this method, we can transverse the fullness of moon glory and enter 100-fold or Sun glory, Christlikeness.) We were all outside that rock, looking at these 3 paths and deciding which pathway to take. This place was flourishing with grass and trees and was not barren. The pathway into the rock was directly in front of us. The pathway climbing up the rock was to my left (from the rock's perspective, it would have been right [those who walk more as sheep on Jesus' right]) and the pathway going around the rock was to my right (from the rock's perspective, it would have been left [those who walk more as goats on Jesus' left]). Both these were detours to the straight pathway into the rock. (This is God's perfect will -- His chosen path, which few will find.) We could view all the believers taking the different pathways. The vast majority turned to my right (the rock's left) because that way seemed bright, flat, and sure, which could be easily negotiated. (“There is a way that seemeth right unto man” but is really left unto God. Many are comfortable with the worldly “Christian” life where discipleship is considered unattainable and something that has passed away.) There were some turning to my left to climb the rock. Again, it was bright, and the steps seemed visibly carved out from the rock, though the ascent was very steep and the height was frightening. (This is the life of faith without the emphasis of the crucified life.) However, the pathway into the rock was not as visible as the pathway outside; it seemed the scariest. (Because it represents the self being swallowed up by the life of Christ through death to the old man and walking by faith.) I saw one believer from my church wearing white, calling me to follow her. Most took the pathway around the rock, whilst there were very few people who climbed on top of the rock or went into the rock. (It is always a few who take the best paths.) The believer from my church started climbing the rock. I did not follow her but went into the rock. (We cannot follow others' individual path or that of churches and religion, or denominations. God has a scriptural plan for each of us.) One could not see the steps before you -- you had to descend by faith, but as you descended it got easier, and I remember thinking that from the outside it looked like a difficult, narrow, dark, and unknown pathway, but when you walk by faith, God's grace is sufficient to hold your footing in the steep descent. I felt tremendous confidence and joy whilst going on my journey; it was not scary at all. (The more we die, the easier life becomes because we have more of Christ and less of us.) This path was not taken by most people, and the dream ended here. The two paths: the one to the right of the rock mountain and the one into the rock mountain. Both point out scriptural needs in our life and paths in which the most glorious will major. The easy path of star glory is the one from which the greatest falling away will come. (Rev.6:13) and the stars of the heaven fell unto the earth, as a fig tree casteth her unripe figs when she is shaken of a great wind. When I shared this interpretation with [“Anonymous”] she had just received this confirmation from the Lord: “I too was told that this is the 30-fold pathway where a lot of people will fall”.   Climbing and Entering the Rock Mountain P. O. – 2015 (David's notes in red) P.O.'s introduction: I am typing this dream from memory, but that's not a problem because it was a very memorable experience. When I originally gave this dream and testimony in the assembly, I remember some of the verses the Father gave me at that time, but not all of them. At the time when I shared it with the brethren, I emphasized the part of the dream about 'being above it all', that (Eph.2:6) He raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus... and that we are (1:21) far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come... I emphasized that part for two reasons: First, because we were heavily coming against the chemtrails threat. Secondly, the part about entering the rock was very difficult to describe, so I gave it less emphasis than it merited. Here's the dream: I was climbing a rock that was also a mountain. (Jesus is the Rock and the mountain or Kingdom of God. Jesus is Mt. Zion into which the Bride will enter and be one with Him. On Mt. Zion is the presence of God, the Man-child David and the Bride. Climbing here, represents coming closer and closer to this goal by overcoming obstacles and hindrances to the Word in us. Climbing a mountain is, in many cases considered a place of safety and so it is in this case.) The ledge was narrow and close. (Mat.7:14) For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it. (The way is as narrow as the obedience to the Word restrains our actions. Those whose actions are not conformed to the Word are not climbing this mountain.) There was one place on the ledge that I had just come from that had lots of pebbles, like loose debris. I could hear pebbles skittering off the edge, echoing, like they were going down, almost forever. I felt my heart kind of skip a beat. (I have known people who were climbing this mountain through faith but stumbled at the rock, being disobedient, and fell away. (Rom.9:30) What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who followed not after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith: (31) but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. (32) Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled at the stone of stumbling; (33) even as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence: And he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame. (Joh.6:28) They said therefore unto him, What must we do, that we may work the works of God? (29) Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. (Eph.2:8) for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; (9) not of works, that no man should glory. Condemnation is generally the devil's way of bringing us under law to our own works, which brings no faith or fruit. God's way is to repent and believe, and He will give you grace to climb the mountain.) I thought briefly about turning back, but it seemed like a bad idea. (Heb.10:38) But my righteous one shall live by faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. (39) But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul. When I arrived at what seemed to be nearly the peak, I rested my back against the mountain, while my face looked skyward. I was so high that I was above the clouds. (Climbing Zion represents the height of obedience, which is also the height of sanctification and safety. (Psa.125:1) A Song of Ascents. They that trust in Jehovah Are as mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abideth for ever. (2) As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, So Jehovah is round about his people From this time forth and for evermore. (3) For the sceptre of wickedness shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; That the righteous put not forth their hands unto iniquity. (4) Do good, O Jehovah, unto those that are good, And to them that are upright in their hearts. (5) But as for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, Jehovah will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity. Peace be upon Israel. (Psa.15:1) A Psalm of David. Jehovah, who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? (2) He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, And speaketh truth in his heart; (3) He that slandereth not with his tongue, Nor doeth evil to his friend, Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor; (4) In whose eyes a reprobate is despised, But who honoreth them that fear Jehovah; He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not; (5) He that putteth not out his money to interest, Nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved. (24:3) Who shall ascend into the hill of Jehovah? And who shall stand in his holy place? (4) He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; Who hath not lifted up his soul unto falsehood, And hath not sworn deceitfully. (5) He shall receive a blessing from Jehovah, And righteousness from the God of his salvation. (6) This is the generation of them that seek after him, That seek thy face, even Jacob. [Selah] Considering the many threats, temptations and obstacles that are ahead, we need to abide in Christ, the secret place of the Most High. (1Jn.2:24) As for you, let that abide in you which ye heard from the beginning. If that which ye heard from the beginning abide in you, ye also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father. (2Jn.9) Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God: he that abideth in the teaching, the same hath both the Father and the Son. Judgment is at the door; repent of sin against the Word and believe.) I never even saw any ground. It was all rock and sky. (This represents that worldly temptations are left behind. I am crucified with Christ.) I remember thinking, “Nothing can affect me here”. (Gal.2:20) I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. (Gal.5:24) And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof. (Again, this was the part that I tried most to communicate to the brethren that night.) I was “in heavenly places” and “far above all rule, and authority, and power”, as the Word says. But then the 'twilight zone' part happened. I felt the urge to turn and sort of 'fall into' or embrace the rock face. (Mat.21:43) Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God ... shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. (44) And he that falleth on this stone shall be broken to pieces... I extended my arms out as I turned 180 degrees, as if I were going to hug something really huge. This was when it was as if the rock absorbed me. (The ultimate end of the climb of sanctification by the Word is to be one with God and to be one with our brethren in Him.) It was something like one of those old movies where a wall somehow opens up to reveal a secret door. Then, in the blink of an eye, the door and person disappear. In the movies, they've gone somewhere mysterious. This is like what happened. When this occurred, I thought, “Why do I want to go into this rock?” My natural mind wanted to tell me that it would be dark and uncomfortable. But that is what I wanted, and that is what happened. I embraced the rock and it was as if a secret chasm or door cracked open to take me in. (Joh.10:9) I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pasture. (Mat.10:39) He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. (Joh.12:25) He that loveth his life loseth it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. End of dream. Final thought and prayer: The night that I shared this dream/testimony, I tried to demonstrate the last part to our group, failing miserably at the attempt to demonstrate a rock mountain absorbing a person. In our natural minds, this seems like a nightmare or a B-rated movie. But in the dream, it felt perfect and right. (Because this path brings us to the joy and peace of a cleansed conscience. It brings us to serve God because of the love of Him, rather than just fear of Him, which is “the beginning of wisdom” but not the end of it.) Father, thank You for giving this dream to us and helping us to understand what You are saying. Your Son is perfect and right. And we thank You for our being in Him. From Isaiah, I am reminded of a favorite 'rock' passage: (Isa.50:7) For the Lord Jehovah will help me; therefore have I not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. (8) He is near that justifieth me; who will content with me? let us stand up together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. (9) Behold, the Lord Jehovah will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up. (10) Who is among you that feareth Jehovah, that obeyeth the voice of his servant? he that walketh in darkness, and hath no light, let him trust in the name of Jehovah, and rely upon his God. Thank You that Jesus is our Rock and that we will never be put to shame. Because we are in Him, we can turn our faces like flint and never look back. And, lastly, (Job.13:15) Behold, he will slay me; I have no hope: Nevertheless I will maintain my ways before him. Thank You, Father. We no longer live, but Christ the Rock lives in us. Amen.

SCRIPTURE: Exodus 15-18 6.28.26 - The Trust That Frees Us (Kenny Camacho) Revolution Church DON'T LIKE LISTENING? YOU CAN ALSO READ KENNY'S MANUSCRIPT FOR THIS SERMON HERE!REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:Providence is “the beneficent care of God”... not just rescuing us from bad situations, but leading us into good ones. Is this different from the way you typically think about God's “providence” in your life?In Exodus 16:4, God tells Moses He will rain bread from heaven… but the people are only supposed to gather enough for each day. What do you think God was trying to teach them through this? Why can this kind of trust be so difficult for us?In what area of your life do you find yourself “gathering more than the day requires,” worrying about (or trying to control) something that God may be asking you to simply trust Him with, one day at a time?Kenny suggests that Moses's self-doubt is actually tied to his doubts about other people… and Jethro's challenge to share his work was really an invitation to trust God's providence. Do you think self-doubt and distrust of others are connected? Why or why not?Is there a situation in your life (at work, at home, or in your community) where you are carrying something alone that you may need to trust others with? What is holding you back from sharing that burden?What is one specific thing you could let go of this week (a worry, a responsibility, a need for control) that might free you to be more present and useful to the people around you?

Most of us are wired for action. One of the mantras of our modern, frantic culture is, “Don't just stand there. Do something.” But what if our addiction to action actually feeds our fear and weakens our faith? In Exodus 14, Israel finds themselves trapped between Pharaoh's army and the Red Sea. Their instinct is panic, complaint, and retreat. But God's word through Moses is clear: “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Sometimes when we feel trapped, our first impulse is to fix, force, or flee. But God invites us to be still, wait, and trust. Because when we learn to wait on Him, fear can become faith.

Moses was afraid – like some evangelists and pastors! In Exodus 4:1 Moses answered God, ‘They won't believe me, they won't listen to my voice, they will say, ‘You don't know God, how do we know that you have met with Him?' No, I will not go!' God's answer to Moses was, ‘What have you got in your hand?' ‘Oh, that's just my wooden stick which I broke from a tree, I cut it and shaped it myself and I use it to defend the sheep from the wild animals.' Then God said to Moses, ‘Throw your stick on the ground.' Immediately that stick was changed into a poisonous snake, coming straight for him, and he ran away as fast as he could! This snake was a reality, not a picture. God understands the reality in your life. Moses was afraid and ran away from it. If there were a snake in front of me, I would run away too. But God said to Moses, ‘Don't be afraid of the snake, go and pick it up by its tail!' If you know anything about snakes, that's dangerous, because if you pick it up by its tail, it will swing round and bite you. If you're going to get it, take its head. But God said take its tail. Why? Because God was dealing with this thing, not Moses. So Moses picked up the snake by its tail and the moment that he touched it, it was no longer a snake, it was his stick again! Now Moses began to understand.  Don't be afraid, you who want to work for God, He is with you! He is going to demonstrate His presence and work miracles together in co-operation with you. That is exactly what God said to Moses. 

So many people do not understand who God is. He is not just a great Being in Heaven. If unbelieving people try to draw pictures of God, often they liken Him to an old man with a beard. But God is not an old man, nor does He look like you, He can only be recognised by His actions! And God is not just in Heaven, He is everywhere Now, how did Moses know that he was talking with God? He saw a burning tree. When I preach the Gospel, you will not see a burning tree, but you WILL see the power of God! God said to Moses, ‘I have heard your prayers, I've heard your cry.'  But you say, I don't know how to pray. God not only hears but sees the cries of your heart! God knows your pain; God knows your weakness. God hears the person who is crippled with arthritis, the murderer in prison, the drug addict. God does not condemn; He hears their cry. He WANTS to answer with a fiery demonstration. So God said to Moses, ‘Go and find this old devil Pharaoh and tell him, let these people go!' Today He calls us to say the same to the devil about the drug addicts, the alcoholics, the sinners, the criminals, the people that are hurting, the people that are in need, ‘Let them go!' But Moses was afraid – like some evangelists and pastors! In Exodus 4:1 Moses answered God, ‘They won't believe me, they won't listen to my voice, they will say, ‘You don't know God, how do we know that you have met with Him?' 

After Israel's rebellion with the golden calf, the question remains: Will God abandon His people?In Exodus 33, God offers Israel the Promised Land, victory, and blessing—but with one devastating difference: His presence will not go with them. Moses' response reveals one of the most important truths in all of Scripture:God Himself is the treasure.In this message we discover:• Why God's presence is better than God's gifts• What truly distinguishes the people of God• Why spiritual maturity produces a deeper hunger for God Himself• How the Holy Spirit fulfills God's desire to dwell among His people• Why the ultimate goal of following God is not merely blessing, but communion with God"The greatest gift God gives is not what comes from His hand—it is His presence."Follow: The Story of the Exodus XXIVExodus 33Mercy Hill Church#Exodus #Exodus33 #PresenceOfGod #Moses #HolySpirit #ChristianSermon #BibleTeaching #MercyHillChurch

God wants to fill you with fire, because He changes men. God wants to use you personally and I want to challenge you with this thought. When God seeks men to use today, He does not look for the ones we would look for. In Exodus 3:2 the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire in the middle of a bush. Moses was not expecting to meet with God, and he did not see Him, he simply saw a BUSH ON FIRE. If you were walking along the street, and you saw a tree on fire, you would go and look. But when Moses looked, it was not normal, the fire was in the tree, but the tree was not burnt! It was the evidence of the presence of God like burning fire! People today say, I cannot see God. Where is He? But whenever I preach the Gospel I say, ‘I will PROVE to you that God is here, because God will work MIRACLES,' unusual things like this burning bush! God spoke to Moses out of that fire, ‘I have seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, I've heard their cry. I know their sorrows.' So many people do not understand who God is. He is not just a great Being in Heaven. If unbelieving people try to draw pictures of God, often they liken Him to an old man with a beard. But God is not an old man, nor does He look like you, He can only be recognised by His actions!  For more information on the Ministry of David Hathaway https://www.eurovision.org.uk

Packinghouse's Wednesday night worship service from June 17, 2026. In Exodus 3, Moses encounters God in the burning bush and discovers that the Lord has not forgotten His people or their suffering in Egypt. After forty years in the wilderness, Moses feels unqualified and incapable, yet God reminds him that success does not depend on his strength but on God's presence: “I will certainly be with you.” The message highlights how God often uses broken, humbled people rather than those who trust in themselves, and reveals the powerful meaning of God's name, “I AM,” showing Him to be the eternal, self-existent One who is everything His people need. The study also connects this revelation to Jesus, who identified Himself as the great “I AM,” emphasizing that the same God who called Moses still sees, hears, and delivers His people today. - Greg Opean - Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Packinghouse's Wednesday night worship service from June 17, 2026. In Exodus 3, Moses encounters God in the burning bush and discovers that the Lord has not forgotten His people or their suffering in Egypt. After forty years in the wilderness, Moses feels unqualified and incapable, yet God reminds him that success does not depend on his strength but on God's presence: “I will certainly be with you.” The message highlights how God often uses broken, humbled people rather than those who trust in themselves, and reveals the powerful meaning of God's name, “I AM,” showing Him to be the eternal, self-existent One who is everything His people need. The study also connects this revelation to Jesus, who identified Himself as the great “I AM,” emphasizing that the same God who called Moses still sees, hears, and delivers His people today. - Greg Opean - Wednesday, June 17, 2026

SCRIPTURE: Exodus 5-14 6.21.26 - The Struggles That Deliver Us (Kenny Camacho) Revolution Church YOU CAN ALSO READ KENNY'S MANUSCRIPT FOR THIS SERMON HERE!REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:The sermon describes three places people can feel 'stuck' in their faith journey: doubtful like Moses, exhausted like the Israelites, or disinterested like Pharaoh. Which of these three do you most relate to right now? Why do you think that is?What would it look like in your daily life to take one small step toward getting 'unstuck' from whichever of these three places you identified with?In Exodus 14:13-14, Moses confidently tells the Israelites, 'Do not be afraid! Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.' But then God immediately tells Moses to stop crying out and to move forward instead. Can you think of a time when you felt confident you knew what God wanted, but things unfolded differently than you expected? What did you learn from that experience?At the end of the sermon, Kenny suggests that one of the most important roles a church community can play is helping each other notice where God is at work—especially when we're too stuck to see it ourselves. How does this idea change the way you think about your relationships with other people here at Revolution?Is there someone in your life right now who might need you to gently point out where God could be moving for them? Or is there someone you trust enough to ask that same question of yourself?

Have you ever been in a place where you felt alone, helpless, or forgotten? Have you ever wondered if God had stepped away just when life was coming apart? In Exodus 1–2, Moses' mother places him in the Nile — the very river that had become a symbol of death and danger for Hebrew children. But what looked like desperation became the beginning of deliverance. Even when chaos seems to have the final word, God is still working, protecting, and preparing what we cannot yet see. Sometimes when it feels like we've been sidelined, God is actually setting things in motion.

When life feels overwhelming and suffering seems arbitrary, it becomes easy to question God's heart toward us. In Exodus 17:1–7, Israel stands in the wilderness thirsty, afraid, and accusing God: “Is the LORD among us or not?” Their struggle is one we know well. If God is sovereign, is he really still good in the midst of our suffering? Yet instead of abandoning his grumbling people, God responds with astonishing mercy. This wilderness story points us to Jesus Christ, the true Rock who was struck for sinners so that living water might flow to all who trust in him. Whether you are walking through suffering, disappointment, confusion, or spiritual dryness, this passage invites you to stop interpreting God through your circumstances and look to the cross, the true measure of God's love to sinners.  

In Exodus 1–4, we follow the life of Moses and discover that God does not call the qualified. He qualifies the called. From the burning bush to God's call to deliver Israel, Moses learns that God can use ordinary people for extraordinary purposes. No matter your past or limitations, this message encourages you to trust God and step into His calling for your life.

In Exodus 1-12, God reveals Himself as The One True God through the ten plagues, demonstrating His power over Egypt's false gods and delivering His people from slavery. This message explores God's supremacy, the significance of the Passover, and how these events ultimately point to Jesus Christ, our perfect Passover Lamb and Deliverer.  

In the 1870s, Charles Taze Russell began leading Bible classes in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a small group that came to be known as Bible Students. In 1879, he began publishing a Bible journal later known asThe Watch Tower.Then, in 1884, he incorporated what became the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Through Russells publishing work, the movement spread beyond Pennsylvania and eventually laid the foundation for what later became Jehovahs Witnesses under Joseph Rutherford. Russell rejected several historic Christian doctrines, including eternal conscious punishment in hell and, most seriously, the doctrine of the Trinity. After Russell died in 1916, Rutherford became president of the Watch Tower Society in 1917. Under his leadership, the movement became more centralized and aggressive in its evangelism, and in 1931 the name Jehovahs Witnesses was adopted. The Watch Tower Society is not merely another Christian denomination. It is a cult that rejects essential doctrines of the Christian faith, including the Trinity and the full deity of Jesus Christ. To be clear, misunderstanding Revelation 7 or using poor hermeneutical principles does not automatically mean someone will develop a cult or reject the core tenets of the Christian faith as Russell, Rutherford, and the Jehovahs Witnesses have done. Many faithful Christians have differed over the meaning of the 144,000. But the Watch Tower Society shows us why careful interpretation matters. When Scripture is mishandled repeatedly and forced into a system, the results can be spiritually dangerous. Revelation 7 is one of the passages central to their teaching. Jehovahs Witnesses teach that the 144,000 in Revelation 7 and 14 are a literal number of anointed Christians who will be resurrected to heavenly life to reign with Christ as kings and priests. They also teach that the great multitude in Revelation 7:912 is a separate group with an earthly hopethose who survive Armageddon and live on a restored earth. I mention this because Revelation 7 shows us why context matters. When this chapter is separated from the question at the end of Revelation 6, it can be made to say things John is not saying. John is not trying to create two separate classes of Gods people. He is answering the question,Who can stand?So as we come to this passage, we need to pay careful attention to what John hears and sees, allowing Scripture itself to serve as our primary commentary before we look to any system to determine the meaning of the text. The People of the Lamb are Sealed by God (vv. 1-8) At the end of Revelation 6, with the opening of the sixth seal and the first description of the Day of the Lord, we are left with one of the books most haunting questions:for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?(Rev. 6:17). The kings of the earth cannot stand. The powerful cannot stand. The wealthy cannot stand. The strong cannot stand. Neither slave nor free can stand, as all hide among the rocks and mountains, begging creation to conceal them from the face of Him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. So who can stand? Revelation 7 gives the answer. Before the seventh seal is opened, John is shown another vision, but do not think of this vision as occurring strictly after the sixth seal and before the opening of the seventh. Instead, if the seals were acts in a theatrical production, what happens in Revelation 7 shows us what is happening behind the curtain sometime during the sixth seal and before the seventh. Throughout Revelation, the visions often pause, circle back, or open a new window to help us understand more clearly what God is doing. In this case, Revelation 7 functions as an interlude between the sixth and seventh seals, answering the question raised at the end of chapter 6. John then sees four angels who arestanding at the four corners of the earth,each holdingback the four winds of the earth(v. 1). We are told they do this so that no wind blows on the earth, sea, or any tree. What John sees is not four angels manipulating the weather. Likewise, the four corners of the earth is not a description of the earths shape or design. As you are aware, the number four often points to the created order in Scripture. What you may not be aware of is that the four winds frequently symbolize judgment. Because Revelation is a picture book rather than a puzzle book, the image John sees is one of restraint. The message conveyed is that judgment is being held back. Listen, every day before the final Day is a day of mercy, a day of restraint, and a day for the Lamb to gather His people. What is being shown and communicated to us in these verses is that we are living in a time of divine restraint as we move closer to the Day of the Lord. The world is not free from judgment, but the final winds of judgment have not yet been unleashed. What judgment is being held back? The judgment described in the sixth seal. As to why it is being held back, we do not have to wait long for an answer, because in the very next verse we are told that a fifth angel, ascending from the rising of the sun, declares with a loud voice:Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads(v. 3). Do you now see why context is so important? The angels declaration answers the question,Who can stand?Those who can stand are those who belong to God. Before judgment is unleashed, God marks His people as His own. The earth, sea, and trees are not harmed until the servants of God are sealed. This does not mean Gods people will avoid all suffering, for we have already seen in the fifth seal the souls under the altar crying out in a loud voice,O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long...(Rev. 6:10). What it does mean is that the coming judgment will not sweep Gods people away under His wrath, for He knows who belongs to Him. The four winds of Gods judgment do not descend upon the earth in blind rage. When God executes justice, His wrath is holy, measured, and righteous. He does not fly off the handle. Before the wrath of the Lamb is poured out, the people of the Lamb are sealed by the God who embraces them as His children. This distinction is not new in Scripture. In Exodus 12, God distinguished His people from Egypt by the blood of the lamb. A stronger parallel appears in Ezekiel 9, where God marked those who grieved over Jerusalems sin before judgment fell on the nation. In both cases, God identified those who belonged to Him before judgment fell on the wicked. This is what is happening in Revelation 7. The seal on the foreheads of Gods servants is not a literal, physical mark. It signifies that they belong to the living God. This language appears throughout the New Testament. Paul wrote in Ephesians 1 that those who believe in Christ aresealed with the promised Holy Spirit(Eph. 1:13). This sealing is possible because of the blood Jesus shed on the cross as the Lamb of God, and it is received by faith (Eph. 2:19). The seal is Gods mark of ownership, assurance, and future inheritance. It is not first a statement about the strength of our faith in Him, but about the certainty of Gods possession. He promises never to let His redeemed go (John 10:2730). Those who belong to the Lamb are not hidden from God, forgotten by God, or abandoned in the day of trouble. They belong to God. This all seems clear enough, but the passage can become confusing when it says that those who are sealed are also numbered. Verse 4 says,And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel(v. 4). Here, we must not only pay careful attention to the context of Revelation 7 but also do what Revelation has already taught us to do: pay attention to what John hears and what John sees. What John hears isthe number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel(v. 4). Many have understood this as a literal number of ethnic Israelites, primarily because John goes on to name the tribes in a specific order. Some believe the 144,000 are a specific group of ethnic Jewish Christians who come to faith in Jesus during a future seven-year tribulation and serve as evangelists after the rapture. I understand why many read it that way, but there are some problems with that interpretation. First, Revelation 7 functions as an interludea symbolic pause within the visionrather than a chronological sequence following the great Day of the Lord described in 6:1217. Second, Revelation often follows a pattern in which what John sees clarifies what he first hears. So before we assume the 144,000 is a literal headcount, we need to pay attention to how numbers and images function in this book. Listen, the number twelve is associated with the people of Godthe twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The number one thousand signifies immensity, fullness, and completeness. This is why the psalmist describes Gods ownership by saying,For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills(Ps. 50:10). It is not that God only owns the cattle on one thousand hills and not hill number one thousand and one. The point is fullness. Everything belongs to Him. Likewise, when Moses speaks of Gods covenant faithfulness, he says,Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations... (Deut. 7:9). So, what do you get when you take the twelve tribes of Israel, multiply them by the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and then multiply that by the fullness of the covenant-keeping faithfulness of God (12x12x1000)? You get144,000. In other words, this is not about limiting the people of God. It is about showing us that every one of Gods people is known by God, sealed by God, and secure in God through the blood of the Lamb. This is also why the tribes John lists begin with Judah. Reuben was the firstborn, but Judah is listed first because the Lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered. The people of God are numbered, sealed, and secure because they belong to the Lamb who came from Judah. Even the list itself urges us to read carefully. John is not simply giving us a standard tribal roll call; he is showing us the complete people of God through the imagery of Israels tribes. The People of the Lamb are Gathered by God (vv. 9-12) Now, if you miss what I am about to say next, you will miss the point of Revelation. John hears the number of the sealed people of God described as 144,000 from the tribes of Israel, but when he looks, he seesa great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages(v. 9). John hears of 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel, but when he looks, he sees a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language. What John sees is not a different people from the 144,000; it is the reality of Gods promise to Adam and Eve, to Noah, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to David, and to Mary. What John sees is the promise of God to every generation of His people coming into full bloom. The Lamb who was slain has purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, just as Revelation 5 declared. This should not surprise us, because the salvation of the nations was never Gods contingency plan. It was His purpose from the beginning. When God called Abraham, He promised thatall the families of the earthwould be blessed through him (Gen. 12:13). That blessing comes through Abrahams Seed, who is Christ (Gal. 3:2629). So Revelation 7 does not show us Israels replacement but the fulfillment of Gods promise through Israels Messiah, gathering Jews and Gentiles into one redeemed people before the throne. This is also where Revelation 5 helps us understand Revelation 7. In Revelation 5, the elders sing that the Lamb purchased people for God by His bloodfrom every tribe and language and people and nationand made thema kingdom and priests to our God(Rev. 5:910). In Revelation 7, John sees that kingdom of priests standingbefore the throne and the Lamb. What was promised in Genesis is now seen in glory:a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages(Rev. 7:9). So when John sees the nations gathered before the Lamb, he sees Israels hope fulfilled and expanded through Israels Messiah. The Lamb has gathered a people from the nations, and now they stand where no one in Revelation 6 could: before the throne and before the Lamb. Conclusion I want to leave you with the three As of Revelation 7, and here is why: eschatology does little good in the Christian life unless it affects your ethics. We are called to live each day in light of the Day that is coming. So, here are the three As: Assurance If you believe in Jesus Christ, confess Him as Lord, and desire to follow and obey Him, then you are sealed by God. Here is what the Bible says:if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved(Rom. 10:910). If this is true of you, then you are sealed by God, and if you are sealed by God, then 1 John 3:1 is for you:Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are!(1 John 3:1, BSB). If you belong to the Lamb, then you are known by God, sealed by God, and secure in God. Allegiance If you call yourself a Christian, does your life show that you belong to the Lamb? If you are a Christian, your identity is now in and with the Lamb of God. To belong to Jesus means that you are not an acquaintance of Jesus, but an apprentice of Jesus. Jesus said to all who would seek to follow Him:If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple(Luke 14:2627). The seal is not merely about future security; it is about present identity. If you belong to the Lamb, your loyalty cannot ultimately belong to Babylon, comfort, approval, politics, money, or self-preservation. Action We have been saved and sealed, and now we are sent to join the mission of the Lamb as He gathers peoplefrom every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages(Rev. 7:9). The question is: Are we living on mission with the Lamb? We were purchased by the blood of the Lamb not to be passive about the nations, our neighbors, or the lost. Jesus did not suggest that we engage His mission; He commanded us to do so:Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age(Matt. 28:1920). Today is a day of mercy. Today is a day of restraint. Today is a day for the Lamb to gather His people. Today is the day of salvation! We are living in a time of divine restraint as we move closer to the Day of the Lord. So live in the confidence of your salvation, make sure your allegiance to the Lamb is clear, and commit your heart to action by dedicating your life to His mission.

God's goal was never simply to bring Israel out of Egypt—it was to bring them into His presence.In Exodus 30, God gives instructions for the altar of incense, the bronze basin, and the holy anointing oil. While these may seem like details about ancient worship, they reveal a powerful picture of what life with God looks like today.In this message from our series Follow: The Story of the Exodus, Pastor Tommy Orlando explores three essential marks of a life lived in God's presence:• A people who draw near to God• A people who are continually cleansed• A people who are set apart for GodThe altar reminds us to pursue communion with God. The basin reminds us of our ongoing need for repentance and cleansing. The anointing oil reminds us that we belong to God and have been marked by His Spirit.If Exodus 26 was about access to God's presence, Exodus 30 is about abiding in God's presence.

Three stories are being written about you right now — the story others write about you, the story you write about yourself, and the story God is writing. In Exodus 3–4, Moses had every excuse not to answer God's call. He carried the weight of what others thought of him, his own deep insecurities, and the memory of his worst failures. But God didn't deny any of those stories. He denied their power. This message is an invitation to lay down every story that isn't God's — and step into the only one that matters.

In Exodus 8:1–9:12, God reveals more of Himself through the plagues. His precision in the timing and progression of the plagues demonstrates His sovereignty and reassures His people that He keeps His promises down to the smallest detail. His power is displayed as Pharaoh's magicians fail to replicate God's works and are forced to acknowledge that they are outmatched by the living God. Through it all, God is setting apart His people by grace, reminding them, and us, that we have been freed to worship Him and live as a holy people.

Would you turn down everything you ever wanted to keep the presence of God? In Exodus 33, God offers Israel the Promised Land but says, “I will not go with you.” Moses refuses: “If your presence will not go with us, do not bring us up from here.” This message unpacks what it means to be presence-driven, living for and from communion with the Father.

What do curtains, coverings, and the tabernacle have to do with your life today?In Exodus 26, God gives detailed instructions for the construction of the tabernacle. At first glance, it may seem like an ancient blueprint filled with measurements and materials. But beneath the surface is a powerful message that runs throughout the entire Bible: God covers what sin has exposed.In this message from our series Follow: The Story of the Exodus, Pastor Tommy Orlando explores how the coverings of the tabernacle point to God's provision, His holiness, and ultimately to Jesus Christ—the true covering God provides for His people.In this sermon:• Why God covered the tabernacle with multiple layers• What the veil reveals about God's holiness• How the story of Adam and Eve connects to Exodus 26• Why human efforts can never cover sin• How Jesus fulfills the purpose of the tabernacle• What it means to be clothed in Christ and welcomed into God's presenceKey Scriptures:Exodus 26Genesis 3:21Psalm 32:1Romans 3:23-25Galatians 3:22-29The story of Exodus is not only about deliverance from bondage. It is about a God who desires to dwell with His people and provides everything necessary for them to draw near.Subscribe for more sermons, biblical teaching, and resources from Mercy Hill Church.#Exodus26 #Exodus #Tabernacle #JesusInTheOldTestament #ChristianSermon #BibleTeaching #MercyHillChurch #GodsPresence #Grace #FollowSeries

In Exodus 19, God meets His people in the wilderness and reminds them of what He has done, who they are, and how they are called to live. Before God gives Israel the commandments, He first declares their identity: treasured possession, kingdom of priests, and holy nation. This message reminds us that our identity is not rooted in fear, performance, success, or our circumstances, but in belonging to God.

In Exodus 12, we find one of the greatest Old Testament pictures of Calvary.

In Exodus 18, Moses receives wisdom for navigating the wilderness. This message reminds us that desert seasons reveal what is wounded, weak, or wrong in us, but they can also become places of formation. As we remember God's faithfulness, respond in worship, depend on Him, receive wise counsel, and root our lives in His truth, we learn to trust God through the desert.

In Exodus 32:1-14, we examine how God's people can fight sin.

Topical Sermons / Speaker:Berry Kercheville The Marriage of the Lamb (God's Marriage Covenant Parallels) Introduction: In our studies in Jeremiah, what has stood out to you about God? There is a major contrast between God's relationship with Israel in previous years compared to Jeremiah's time. What stands out is God's anger to the point of lacking any mercy or willingness to relent on the judgment about to come. We might think that God is finally fed up. True. But there is more to it than that. In our Bible studies it is preeminently important that we understand God.  In this lesson we will go back to the beginning of God's purpose for his creation as illustrated in his relationship with Israel. Most Christians recognize that Israel's relationship with God is described as a marriage. But what is often missed is that God is not just using marriage as a comparison to our marriages. The parallels to our marriages go much deeper than that. We begin with how God brought Israel into a marital relationship with him. All Things Leading to Marriage: Courtship There are many characteristics a woman seeks in a husband. The most important of these is a man who will lay down his life for her, love her, and nourish, cherish, and provide for her. And especially, she wants a husband who sees her value above all else. These are all the traits God presents to Israel as he prepares to propose a covenant marriage. Thus, in this courtship stage Yahweh introduces himself to Israel so they can “know him,” a term repeatedly used throughout Exodus and Deuteronomy. Exodus 5:1-2; 9:16 When Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh, his reply was, “Who is Yahweh that I should let Israel go?”  Up to the 8th plague God's miracles were used so that Pharaoh, the Egyptians, and the whole world would know Yahweh. However, beginning with the 8th plague Yahweh uses the plagues so that Israel “may know that I am Yahweh” (10:2). You will remember that “Yahweh” is God's covenantal name, which indicates his faithfulness and also his eternal nature. Yahweh demonstrates his uniqueness above anything else or any being that claims to be a god. Just before the 10th plague, Yahweh again makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel just as he did with the plagues of hail and darkness. Thus God proclaims, “…that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel” (11:7). God is announcing to Israel the special place they have with him over all the other nations. Exodus 15:25-27 The Lord begins to tell Israel more of what he will do for them if they will enter a covenant with him: “…for I am Yahweh, your healer.”  In Exodus 16:6 in preparation for the manna, Moses said, “At evening you shall know that it was Yahweh who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”  In Exodus 16:12, God proclaims, “At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am Yahweh your God.” Thus God shows the people he will provide for them. All Things Leading to Marriage: The Proposal  Marriage offer: “…will you marry me?”  Covenant offer: Exodus 19:5, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”  All Things Leading to Marriage: Proposal Accepted  An excited bride today responds, “Yes!”  Israel responds, “All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.” (Exodus 19:8) All Things Leading to Marriage: Preparation  The bride prepares: hair, makeup, dress, jewelry. Exodus 19:14, “So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments.”  All Things Leading to Marriage: Presentation  The bride walks down the aisle toward the groom Exodus 19:4, “‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.'”  All Things Leading to Marriage: Vows  Present day: “…I take you to be my husband…promise to love, honor, and obey you”  “…love Yahweh your God with all your heart, soul, and might” (Deut. 6:5) “…what does Yahweh your God require…but to fear Yahweh…” (Deut. 10:32) “…obey my commandments that I command you today” (Deut. 11:13) All Things Leading to Marriage: Accepting Vows  Present day: “I do!” Exodus 24:3, “Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.”  All Things Leading to Marriage: Pronouncement  Present day: “I now pronounce you husband and wife…” Deut. 26:17-19, “You have declared today that the LORD is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice. And the LORD has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations that he has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.”  All Things Leading to Marriage: Reception  Present day: A time to enjoy the bounty of life together “You shall eat there before Yahweh your God and rejoice.” (Deut. 14:26) The Marriage of Christ to His People  Ephesians 5:22-33 Submission to our Head The love Christ has for his bride Christ, our head, sanctifying and cleansing us (preparing us for the wedding day) Christ presenting his bride to himself “in splendor, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, holy and without blemish.”  Therefore, groom (Christ) and his bride leave all others and then cling to one another and become one. What is the key to clinging (holding fast)? Love and loyalty to Yahweh our Lord. Warning! It is easy to say we love God, but the challenge is to prove it. James 4:4, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” This is a description of disloyalty, a lack of loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. 1 John 5:1-3 “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”  Ezekiel 16:1-15 Summation of God's courtship and marriage proposal.  Conclusion: Now we can understand the anger of the Lord in the days of Jeremiah. It would be no different for us if the same things happened in any of our marriages. Most importantly, we see that God is not giving us a marriage “picture” when he describes our relationship with him. This is a real marriage, much greater than what we experience in our marriages. In fact, it is our marriages that are the “picture.” Our marriage to our Savior is the reality.  The post The Marriage of the Lamb appeared first on Woodland Hills Church of Christ.

In Exodus 32, the people were hit with a "pause" during transition. Instead of waiting on the Lord, their need for understanding led them to shape something of their own design. In our own times of transition, we can be tempted - in our desire to know "what it looks like"- to rush back to the familiar and lean on what we understand, instead of waiting on the Lord to bring the new. God, in what ways are we leaning on something familiar where you want us to wait on the new You have for us?

We hear a lot about the prophets, but what about prophetesses? Women worked alongside men in the Old Testament, even as prophetesses of the Lord. Although the Old Testament text has a lot less to say about these women, we read that they were respected and sought after for their specific wisdom. The history in the Bible would surely not be the same without unity between these women and the men they served with and for. Why don't we see these stories as powerful movements for the kingdom of God? We have examined the unity God created men and women in and the unity of work he created us for. And we also examined how sin broke this sacred unity. This is the underlying why. Culture and sin both play an unintentional and sometimes intentional role in us not hearing more about these female prophets. You could probably tell me a lot about Moses and Aaron, but what about their sister? Her name was Miriam, and she was also a prophet of the Lord. If I think about this trio more, I wish I could have heard more about their unity and the dynamics of their work together! Miriam is one of the earliest leaders of worship! In Exodus 15:20-21 we see her leading other women in song and dance after they crossed the Red Sea. The timing of the text suggests she may have been the first to lead a victory celebration of the exodus from Egypt! Miriam was noted as one of God's chosen leaders of the exodus in Micah 6:4. I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam (Micah 6:4). She was “joined as a whole” in unity with her brothers in this work. Deborah, too, was a powerful prophetess. She is described in Scripture as a judge, military strategist, warrior, and mother in Israel. No, she was not an actual mom, but rather she was a leader of Israel. In Judges, we see Deborah working, first as a judge and then as the one who leads Israel to war. Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided (Judges 4:4-5). Men and women sought her counsel. In the next verse we see Deborah sends for and summons Barak. Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go” (Judges 4:8). You can read more about this in Judges chapters 4 and 5, but again we see God using men and women—in unity— to complete work. How do you see examples of Miriam and Deborah and their unity with the men around them in your work today?

In Exodus 6, Moses returns to God weary and questioning after the trust between him and the people of Israel begins to erode, yet God responds by reminding Moses of His covenant faithfulness. The same God who made promises to Abraham proves throughout Scripture that His character is steadfast, redeeming a people for Himself through covenants that ultimately find their fulfillment in Christ. Though our doubt and self-centeredness can tempt us to believe we will be the generation where God stops being faithful, Scripture continually reminds us that God always keeps His promises. From Exodus to Revelation, we see that there is no safer ground than standing on the trustworthy and true promises of God, who moves toward His people, redeems them, and fulfills every word He has spoken.

Daily Dose of Hope May 19, 2026   Name of God:  Jehovah Nissi – The Lord Is My Banner Scripture:  Exodus 17:8-16, Isaiah 11:10-12, Psalm 20:5-7, John 12:32   Prayer:  Holy God, I come before You today acknowledging You as Jehovah Nissi, the Lord my Banner. When the battles of life surround me and the enemy's tactics seem overwhelming, I do not have to fight in my own strength. I look to You as my defender and my source of strength.  In Jesus' Name, Amen.   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan.  We are currently in a study on the names of God in the Old Testament.  As we have mentioned, in the ancient world, names held a great deal of significance, indicating aspects of someone's character and purpose.  Certainly, it is the same with God.  God has many different names, all of which demonstrate one aspect of His character.  Today, we are focusing on Jehovah Nissi.   Jehovah Nissi (or more accurately YHWH Nissi) means the Lord is my Banner.  Nissi comes from the Hebrew word Nes (nês), meaning something lifted up as a standard or banner.  A standard is a flag or rallying point during battle, while a banner was usually set on top of a mountain to show people where to assemble and it flew over the warriors as they fought.   In Exodus 17:8-16, we find an excellent portrayal of Jehovah Nissi fighting for His people; it's also the only place in Scripture specifically referencing the name Jehovah Nissi. The Amalekites, an enemy of Israel, came to fight at Rephidim. Joshua gathered some men while Moses stood on top of the hill with the Lord's staff along with his brother, Aaron, and friend, Hur. Moses held the staff over the men fighting below. "While Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, but whenever he put his hand down, Amalek prevailed."  So Aaron and Hur helped by supporting Moses' arms so the staff wouldn't lower, and Joshua and his men defeated the Amalekites.   In Exodus 17:15-16, Scripture reads, "And Moses built an altar and named it, The Lord Is My Banner." He said, "Indeed, my hand is lifted up toward the Lord's throne." Moses knew that God was the one who ensured their victory and he wanted to make sure everyone else did too. Jehovah Nissi was the source of this victory, while using Moses, Joshua, Aaron, Hur and the staff. Elsewhere in the Bible His "banner" is an illustration of His protection and salvation.  Just as banners and flags today identify nations and groups and those who belong to them, God's banner identifies those who belong to Him.  Here are a few illustrations: Psalm 60:4, "You have raised a banner to . . . save us and help us with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered." Psalm 20:5 "We will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners!" Isaiah 11:10,12, Speaking of the Messiah who was to come, Isaiah prophesied, "In that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people...He will set up a banner for the nations."   What significance does this divine name, Jehovah Nissi, have for Christ-followers?  First, it points to how God does not leave us to fight our battles in our own strength.  I'm often praying to God to fight my battles for me, because so often, we simply have no control.  But God does.  Second, I think we learn to remember and celebrate the way God has led us and the victories He has provided. Moses built an altar.  I don't think we need to build something physical but we do need to remember what God has done for us.  Remembering God's faithfulness in the past builds our own faith and trust in the present. Take a moment and pray to Jehovah Nissi.  What battles do you need God to fight for you right now?  What battles has He fought for you the past?  Have you celebrated those victories? Blessings, Pastor Vicki      

In Exodus 17, Moses, Joshua, Aaron, and Hur show us that God's people were never meant to face the battle alone. When Moses' hands grew tired, others came alongside him, and God brought victory. This message reminds us that God often holds His people up through His people, and ultimately calls us to look to Jesus, our true banner and source of strength.

Revelation 15 is one of the clearest places in the Bible where the Holy Spirit deliberately connects Israel's first great national deliverance with her final deliverance in the time of Jacob's trouble. In Exodus 15, Moses and the children of Israel sang after the LORD overthrew Pharaoh and his armies in the Red sea; in Revelation 15, those who got the victory over the Beast, his image, his mark, and the number of his name sing “the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.” That is not Church Age language, and it is not vague devotional poetry. It is Jewish, prophetic, dispensational truth.“And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.” Revelation 15:3 (KJB)On this episode of Rightly Dividing, Pharaoh was a type of Antichrist, Egypt was a type of the world system, and the Red sea deliverance was a picture of God bringing His people through judgment while destroying the enemy that sought to enslave them. What began with Moses in Exodus will be brought to its full prophetic conclusion under Jesus Christ, the Lamb, in Revelation. The victory in Revelation 15 is not measured by earthly survival, but by faithfulness to God in the face of the Beast's global worship system. These Tribulation saints refuse the mark, refuse the image, refuse the Beast's name and number, and though many of them are killed, heaven records them as victorious. That is Bible victory. The world says victory is keeping your place in the system, protecting your buying and selling, and bowing just enough to survive. God says victory is refusing the Antichrist and standing true to the Lamb. Just as Israel stood on the other side of the Red sea and sang after Pharaoh's defeat, these overcomers stand on the sea of glass mingled with fire and sing before the final vials of wrath are poured out. The same LORD who judged Egypt will judge the kingdom of the Beast, and the same God who gave Moses a song of deliverance will give Israel's final remnant a song of triumph before the coming Kingdom.

As we near the end of our journey through Exodus, we arrive at a heartbreaking chapter: the Golden Calf. In Exodus 32, we see the Israelites—freshly rescued from 400 years of slavery—abandoning their vows to God. They break the covenant mere days after making it. But before we judge them too harshly, we must recognize that we, too, are prone to wander. As John Calvin noted, the human heart is a "perpetual factory of idols." This sermon explores why we create idols, what they cost us, and how we can find freedom through the Greater Moses, Jesus Christ.Key Points1. The Context of the Crime The sin of the Golden Calf wasn't just about breaking a rule; it was spiritual adultery. The Israelites had just entered into a marriage covenant with Yahweh (Exodus 20), promising to have no other gods. Yet, while on their "honeymoon," they turn to an Egyptian idol. Taking something created and placing it in the position of the Creator always leads to destruction.2. Why Do We Make Idols?We want something NOW: Moses was delayed on the mountain, and the people grew impatient. Delay either deepens our faith or detours it. Often, when we feel God isn't moving fast enough, we turn to idols for immediate relief.We want something we can HOLD: Yahweh is invisible; the gods of Egypt were tangible. We crave physical things to put our trust in.We want a Genie, not a God: An idol like a golden calf cannot speak, correct, or demand holiness. The Israelites wanted a god they could control so they could indulge in whatever behavior they pleased without conviction.3. The Cost of Idolatry Idols demand sacrifice. They over-promise and under-deliver. While following Jesus requires sacrifice, He promises life and rest. Idols only demand more of you. Furthermore, you become like what you behold. Just as the golden calf was rigid and stiff-necked, God calls the Israelites stiff-necked. Whatever you worship will shape your character.4. The Greater Moses When God threatens to destroy the Israelites, Moses steps in as a mediator. He even asks God to blot his name out of the book to save the people. God says no to Moses, but centuries later, He says yes to Jesus. Jesus is the Greater Moses who took our sins upon Himself, granting us positional holiness before God so we can pursue progressive holiness in our lives.ConclusionEvery person is wired for worship; the question is not if you will worship, but what. Idols are sneaky, often masquerading as good things (family, politics, comfort) that we have made ultimate things. When we bring our idols into the presence of God, they will eventually shatter. God is a gracious Father who welcomes us back every time we choose to cast our idols down.Calls to ActionRecognize Your Idols: Look closely at what you crave (comfort, control, power, approval) and identify what has taken the center seat in your life.Repent and Confess: Do not justify or minimize your idolatry. Call it sin, confess it aloud, and ask Jesus to cover it.Renounce and Replace: You cannot just remove an idol; you must replace it with the true God. Bow your knee and consciously return the throne of your life to Jesus. Support the show*Summaries and transcripts are generated using AI. Please notify us if you find any errors.

The third stop in our names of God study brings us to Elohim, and it's actually where it all begins. Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The Hebrew word used here for God is “Elohim”. This is how we meet God, and before he asks absolutely anything of us, he reveals who he is. Who is he? He is Elohim, meaning he is the Supreme One, the Mighty One, the Creator. The name Elohim tells us our God is all power and absolutely zero limitation. Nothing and no one is above him and everything begins with him. Nothing exists without the Creator. To understand our Elohim, look at his creation. Look at the magnificent universe and its perfect balance to sustain life. Look at the intricate details of life. Nothing is by accident, everything is the intentional thought and spoken word of Elohim, the Creator. But you know that, right? You know he created all of this and holds all of this, but do you realize, Elohim doesn't stop there. A creator doesn't create once and never create again. He continues to create. He continues to make things new … for you! Not only for you, but IN YOU. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a NEW person. The old life is gone; a NEW LIFE has begun!” This is the work of Elohim, the Creator who is still creating new things in you. As long as you're alive, he's still creating in you. New things are growing and developing because of his continued work of creation in you. Question – Where do you need Elohim to create something new in you? God is working in you, and he's working all around you. Elohim can work in anything and everything because it was all his original work anyway. The one who created it can change it or redesign it in any way he wishes. He alone holds that power. Maybe what you need doesn't even exist right now. Do you honestly think that's a problem for Elohim, the Supreme One, the Mighty One, the Creator? Girl, he can create the solution for your problem. He can design the pathway through your impossible. He can make a brand new, never been seen before creation to meet your need. He is not limited to what has been before. He is not limited to what makes sense. He's not limited to what you know or what you understand. He can make a new cure. He can make a new way. He can make a new solution. Our God is a CREATOR. He creates things that have never existed before. Did you know you can call on him to create for you now? Think about this – when Moses and the Israelites stood before an impassable Red Sea with their enemies closing in from behind, there was no way. There were no solutions. This was hopeless. So Elohim, our God the Creator, created a new way that had never been seen or imagined before. He created a dry path through the Red Sea by splitting the waters and making them stand on their ends. And let me tell you something you need to know – If God can do that then for them, God can do something radically new for you now! Call on your Elohim. God, create a way for me. Maybe what you need is a new opportunity. You're at a dead end with no viable options and you feel desperate. You've looked for a different opportunity and found absolutely none. Well – LOOK AGAIN, Sis. For real, God can create a new opportunity for you that simply wasn't there before … but it can be now. In my journey of faith I've found this simple truth – God loves to show up for the one who is looking for him. Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:7, “Seek and you will find.” I believe Jesus really meant that and I believe Elohim can really back it up. If you look for him, you will find him … and you'll find him doing new things for you all the time! Creating ways where there were no ways before. Creating new opportunities where old opportunities spoiled. Creating new solutions to impossible problems and letting you stumble right into them as you seek his hand. Question – Where do you need Elohim to create something new for you? You can trust God's unlimited hand over your limitations. You can trust God's power over your problems. He can speak into existence absolutely ANYTHING NEEDED HERE. Elohim is the creator of all things, including YOU. Nothing in your life is beyond his power. He can create in you what you cannot create on your own. He can align for you in one day what you couldn't possibly make come together in a hundred lifetimes. Get a glimpse of how big your God, Elohim, really is … now know that anything you can dare to imagine is the tiniest proportion of who he really is and what he can really do. Elohim doesn't just create worlds with mountains and valleys, rivers and oceans, the sun and moon and stars – he creates moments – he creates solutions – he creates connections – he creates paths that lead to eternal destinations. Elohim creates abundance where there was lack, order where there was chaos, and life where there was death. In Exodus, we see God create manna out of absolutely nothing and make this dewy food substance just appear on the wilderness ground every morning for his people. It had never been there before and likely has never been there again since – but he made it new for the Israelites just when they needed it. This shows us Elohim doesn't need resources – HE CREATES THEM. Maybe you're standing here today empty handed feeling like you have nothing to even start with. Okay, that's not a problem for our God. He can create the resources you need. He can create the job. He can create the opportunity. He can create the connection. He can create the need and then allow YOU to be the one to meet the need in a perfect way. How many times in scripture do we see God create new life in a womb that was declared barren and broken? That's not a limitation for the Creator. He can create in impossible places and grow miracles. I'm literally watching him do that right now in one of my friend's lives. Elohim is still working! In 2 Chronicles 20, God gives a new battle plan for Jehoshaphat against a mighty army he didn't have a chance winning against. The new battle plan God gave was to go out and sing praises the next morning and this would send the enemy armies into a frenzy and fight against one another. As Jehoshaphat and his tiny army of men sang praises to the Lord, this massive army slaughtered each other until not a single enemy remained. I need a battle plan like that for some battles I'm facing. A new plan straight from Elohim! How about you? He creates solutions we would never think of, and even when they sound crazy, God's solutions will NOT FAIL! Elohim spoke a new identity over Gideon. In Judges 6 Gideon felt like the smallest nobody of a whole tribe of nobodies. But Elohim speaks a new identity into Gideon as a mighty warrior. That mighty warrior went on and did mighty things with his new identity. Question – Do you need Elohim to speak a new identity over you? Remember, he's already doing the work in you! Going back to 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a NEW person. The old life is gone; a NEW LIFE has begun!” Let him create a new identity in you and do a new work through you leading you to a radically new life! Elohim – our God the Creator is all power and zero limitation … and he's still creating today! Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

“Why did God call the Hebrews to slaughter the Canaanites?” This question opens a discussion on divine judgment and love, addressing complex themes in Scripture. Other topics include God’s love for all people, the Israelites’ understanding of judgment and purgatory, and the significance of wave offerings in Exodus and Leviticus. Join the Catholic Answers Live Club Newsletter Invite our apologists to speak at your parish! Visit Catholicanswersspeakers.com Questions Covered: 01:45 – Why did God call the Hebrews to slaughter the Canaanites? 18:11 – Is there anywhere in the bible that can lead us to believe that God loves all people in hell? 29:21 – Since the Israelites did not have a clear sense of what the afterlife was like, Do they have any written documentation of their understanding of the particular judgement, final judgement and purgatory? 40:51 – In Exodus and Leviticus they talk about doing a wave offering but don’t explain what that is. What is it? 48:16 – How do we show in the OT that the 3 days of Jesus were meant to be figurative not literal 3 days apart from the story of Jonah? 51:24 – Jesus Said I am the way, truth and life. Why do we have to believe that?