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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 You are listening to Waters Church podcast. Waters Church is a multisite, multigeneration community of faith on the East Coast of America. Now for a message from our pastor.0:13 Influence part 4, shaped for the purpose and glory. And we're in Exodus chapter 15. We're talking about something that I think we need to talk a little bit more about in the church.0:25 And when we look at the story of the Exodus, we have to remember the overriding theme of this series is that this ancient story is a picture of our spiritual0:37 story. 4 4 main players. Egypt, a picture of the world. Pharaoh, a picture of the devil. Moses, a picture of Christ who takes us out of the world who0:48 defeats the power of the devil. Amen. How many are glad Jesus defeated the power of the devil? So he takes us out of the world, defeats the devil, and then Israel is a picture of our flesh, that old1:00 nature that we have to wrestle with until Jesus comes or until we're putting that flesh in the ground. And this process by which we wrestle the old1:12 nature out of us, and and really what it is is God is wrestling it out of us, is called sanctification. Somebody say sanctification. Now some people get scared by that word. It's a big theological1:23 word. It just means made holy. Sanctified. From the Latin, sanctus, meaning holy. God wants to make you holy. I've looked up this phrase in my Bible1:35 dictionaries. 1 dictionary said, it means being made holy or purified. Another said, it's the concept of being set apart as sacred. I like that 1. Another 1 said, and this is a long definition,1:47 more than a mere moral transformation of character, it is brought about by the power of truth. It is the work of the holy spirit bringing the whole nature more and more under the influence, hello, under the1:59 influence of the new gracious principles implanted in the soul in regeneration. Now that sounds complicated, so I synthesized all the definitions and whittled it down to this2:11 1 I want you to write down at the top of your notes. Ready? Sanctification is God setting me apart for himself, transforming me inside and out, empowered to live for his glory.2:23 A a story that I like to tell regularly about sanctification is a story of mine growing up. Here's what sanctification means. I grew up in a house. My parents had a very nice house. I was very privileged, and,2:35 they had a room in the house that we went into 3 days out of the year. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. And2:47 you did not step foot in that room. It actually felt you felt you felt like you were doing something wrong. It was a sanctified room. You know what I'm talking about?2:58 And And then every year, like, the Christmas tree would be in that room, and it just had a glow about it. It's just oh. It was beautiful. And and and in that room, we would have dinner on Christmas and3:10 Thanksgiving and Easter, and there was a there was a what do you call it? A moire or or or a China. A China what cabinet? There we3:22 go. I don't know why that slipped out of my mind. First service, I nailed it. China cabinet. And on the shelves were these special gold plated dishes. Friends, America3:34 is so rich. We can put plates on display. Other countries are like, what? We don't even have plates. We put plates on display. And3:46 and you you have to understand there were rules about those plates. You did not put your Cheerios in those plates. You did not use those plates for a3:57 hot dog. No. You grabbed the everyday plate, the Fred Flintstone emblazoned plastic plates. I was raised old school. Come on, somebody. But every4:09 every year, 3 days a year, we went into the sacred space and grabbed the sacred plates and ate off of them. And then you don't put those in the dishwasher. No. No. No. No. No. You4:21 hand wash and you dry air dry so that they could be replaced back onto the China cabinet. Oh. Okay.4:33 Here's the fact. Those plates were holy. They were only brought out for special occasions.4:44 Christians, I want you to get a hold of this for your own identification. If you're in Christ, you are being made holy. And God wants to bring you out4:56 for special occasions. You are not made for the Cheerios of this world. You are not made to hold hot dogs of5:08 unholy living. Who knows what's in those things anyway? You are made for God's glory and purposes. Can I get a good amen from somebody?5:20 You have to understand. You gotta you gotta understand this is a Christian. You're not second rate. You're not less than. You have been brought in and cleansed and washed, and it's a process by which can5:32 god continually washes off that muck, that mire. And then why this is why it doesn't matter how you come to church. That's right. Come on. It matters how5:44 you leave. Let us know. What are you what are you bringing in today? Guilt, fear, shame, remorse? What are you what are you bringing in today? I don't care. Because it's not about what you5:56 bring in. It's about what God washes out. God's gonna push you in his hands today. Gonna take out the soft towel. Bring out the the the6:08 the nice soap, you know, the good stuff that's not on sale. Wash you through the word so that he can put you on the shelf. And people see you6:20 and they say, why do you have joy in these crazy out of whack times? And you can tell them, because I know who holds tomorrow. I'm not I'm6:31 not upset by what's happening today. Now here's the fact about sanctification. I can talk to you about how beautiful it is all day, but we all know if you've been saved longer than 5 seconds,6:45 there's a whole lot of pain involved. Now I can talk to you about sanctification all day, but the reality is we don't learn about it from talk. We learn about it from experience. Write this down.6:56 We experience sanctification. We don't just learn about it. And that brings me to the story of Israel because they've been delivered. They've been delivered from7:09 where? Egypt. The final death knell for Pharaoh and his army, the Red Sea. Sweeps them over, wipes them out. Egypt will be never,7:20 occupying Israel again. And the people of Israel see this happen in Exodus 14, and they respond the way we would respond in Exodus 157:32 verse 1. Then Moses and the people of Israel, what did they do? They sang. What did they sing? What they sang it tells us what what they sang. They sang for 15, 20 verses.7:44 It's an amazing thing. Miriam picks up the tambourine. How many went to a church where there was a tambourine? I did. You notice that we don't have any because they're usually offbeat.7:56 Miriam, his sister, the prophetess, she takes up the tambourine, and she and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing, and they sang. So they sang this8:08 song. Moses sang, Miriam sang, everybody's singing. How great is our God. Sing with me how great name above all8:20 names, worthy he has thrown the chariot into the sea. And this amazing moment that8:31 we just shared together today turns into a different kind of moment. In the very next moment, verse 22,8:43 Moses made Israel set out from the rest. Red Sea, victory. Red Sea, singing, Red Sea, the Lord has done gloriously. And now Moses is sitting there saying, move on.8:56 Some of you understand that you come to Waters Church, you feel, wow. Touch of heaven here. I wish I could stay here. You can't. In fact, we want you to leave, particularly at the 10 AM because there's parking9:08 problems. Okay? You have you you you might well, no. You will come to places of great celebration in Jesus. I got bad news. You9:20 can't stay there. Sanctification has to go to work in your life. I wish the I wish the Lord's work was always just, wow, God. You are good. But, no, life9:32 happens. And Monday happens. Amen, somebody. Some of you are like, I work weekends. Okay. Sunday afternoon happens. And they go where? Into the wilderness. And they9:44 went 3 days, and they had no water. 3 days without water. That's tough. By the way, Moses made them do it. Moses, a picture of Christ. Christ will bring you to places where you say,9:55 okay. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. I didn't sign up for this. And when they came to Marah oh, they found water. At least there was water at Marah, but they couldn't drink the water of Marah because it was what?10:08 Bitter. Therefore, they renamed the place Morrow. It was that bad. They named the place bitter. And and and and the people do what we do. This is us. This is the flesh. This is how we10:19 act. And the people grumbled against the very man who brought them out of slavery. What shall we drink, they said. And he10:31 cried to the Lord. We're gonna look at 3 phases through which God sanctifies us, and they're all kinda painful. Here's phase number 1, disappointment in the10:43 wilderness. Okay. Picture of our salvation. We are saved from pharaoh. We are saved from the devil. We are brought out of the world, brought out of Egypt. And then we10:55 celebrate great things, got baptized. The Lord is good. Everybody's happy, and then life happens. And a few months into the Christian experience, if we're11:06 honest, we've been there, disappointment settles in. And if you haven't been disappointed as a Christian, it's because you got11:17 saved last week. Just give it time. Disappointed with what? And by the way, I've I say this is disappointed a bit disappointed season because we'll even say,11:29 oh, that time in my life was a bitter disappointment. Disappointed with what? I think sometimes we have to be honest about this. Christians, we have be honest. Let's stop being sanctimonious for a moment.11:41 Sometimes we're disappointed with God. We pray, and it doesn't happen. We struggle, and the answer is no. We have to be brought through these11:53 seasons where it's just everything pressing all in around us. And it just feels like, God, are you there? And I got good news for you. I mean, well, maybe12:05 it helps. You're not alone. If you read the Psalms, there's 150 Psalms. Theologians break the Psalms into 7 categories. Some of them12:17 are praise Psalms. Some of them are prayer Psalms. Some of them are royal Psalms. They are royal Psalms. They're thinking about king David or king Jesus, really. And and and and there's a whole group of Psalms called12:29 lament. In fact, did you know there's a book in the Bible called Lamentations Yes. Called Weepings Yes. Written by a mighty man of God named12:40 Jeremiah who did what God wanted him to do, and what did he get? Disappointed. He even said in Jeremiah 21 of my favorite passages actually, because he's doing God's work. And he says in12:52 Jeremiah 20, he says after preaching for 23 years and nobody listening, he says to God, God, you deceived me. You lied to me. You13:04 called me to do this, and nothing is happening, and I see no response. Man, that's that's bold right there. But he illustrates something that we're gonna experience,13:16 disappointment with God. Why isn't God answering? How about this 1? Disappointed with God's people. Don't look at the person next to you. Don't make a move.13:29 I don't want husbands elbowing, moms pinching. Just stay still. Disappointed with other people13:41 who claim to be Christians. And maybe you've come here and your story is I've got some church hurt. Well, we'll hurt13:52 you. We'll hurt you someday. I I I can't speak and act perfectly all the time. Neither can the person next to you, and by the way, neither can you.14:03 Yeah. I I I kinda get a little bit miffed with people who talk about how much the church has hurt them because they're never honest about the church they've the the the hurt they've caused others.14:15 Because we're all a bunch of people who mess up. We're all a bunch of thorny Christians sometimes. Have some grace, but you14:27 will be disappointed by Christians. I don't at all buy the lie, and this is a common theme amongst my14:38 generation. Well, I left the church because the church did this, and they claim their unbelief is substantiated by the bad actions of other Christians. Let me tell you something. On the14:50 day of judgment, no 1 stands before God and gets to say, my pastor wasn't a good person. You are gonna have to answer for yourself before the Lord.15:03 And if you've been disappointed by the church, welcome to the life of Jesus. No 1 could have claimed more disappointment than Jesus. When he starts his15:15 ministry, his own mother and brothers don't believe in him. Look it up in Mark chapter 3. They thought he was out of his mind. Mother Mary thought he was crazy, went to seize him, Mark chapter15:27 3. John chapter 7, his brothers mock him and insult him. And even his closest disciples on the night of his betrayal, they all abandoned him. And 1 of them was the lynchpin in his arrest15:39 and crucifixion. If anybody could acclaim disappointment, it was Jesus. Disappointment comes standard. Good news, though, is that because Jesus felt our15:50 disappointment, he can relate to other to to his children who will also experience disappointment. You're not alone. The third person you're gonna be disappointed with16:02 in the walk with Christ in your walk with Christ is you. You're gonna let yourself down. How many of you have done that? Oh, Lord. I said I wouldn't do it. I did it again. Oh, Lord. I said I wouldn't swear, and I swore16:14 again. 0, 0, 0, Lord. I lied, and I just realized that I lied to protect my reputation. And and and and you and you've you know, we've all been there. And and some of you, this is where you are right now. Can I even16:26 live this life? It's so stinking hard sometimes. And my body and my flesh, it gets the best of me sometimes. Am I talking to anybody? Then you say, oh, maybe I'm not a Christian. Don't let the16:37 devil lie to you. Christians are not perfect people. Christians are being perfected. You're walking with him. Good news. He doesn't give up on you.16:49 So look at this, and this is a picture for us. They are grumbling. By the way, they grumbled the whole stinking way to this moment. They grumbled when Moses showed up, and Pharaoh said17:01 bricks without straw, and they grumbled then. And then they grumbled after they got out of Egypt when they saw the chariots coming. We talked about that last week. And now they're on the other side of the Red Sea, and17:12 Pharaoh is gone. New problems arise, and they're grumbling again. And I love the fact that verse 25 says, and he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a what? A log. I love the fact that God does not17:24 come down on his people. He just says, I got a solution for this. Now the word log, if you got a paper bible out and it's got those, like, notes in the bottom, you'll probably see a number right here17:36 because the word for log here in Hebrew can also mean tree. God showed Moses a tree, and then he took the tree and he threw it into the water, and the water became17:48 sweet because the tree touched the water. This is a picture of Christ. The scripture says Christ was crucified on a tree. We are under the17:59 curse of sin. Guess what? Galatians 3 says, Christ became a curse for us for it is written, cursed is he that is hanged on a tree. Not only did Christ18:11 experience what you experienced in being disappointed with everyone but himself because he never failed, But he took your disappointment. He18:23 took the wounds that you have hurt or felt or caused upon himself on the tree. There's a picture while Jesus is on the tree in John 19 verse 28. It says18:35 that he said, I thirst, and they took a a a a sour wine mixture, and they put it to his tongue, and it touched his mouth. How does sour wine taste?18:48 Bitter. Jesus tasted our bitterness, and then he said it is finished. That's the theological fact about your bitterness.19:00 Whatever hurt you've caused others, it's been paid for on the cross of Jesus Christ. Whatever pain you've experienced from others, can I tell you Jesus knows and has experienced19:12 the same sort of hurt and pain? Have you ever wondered if there was another way God could work? Jesus prayed that, didn't he? At the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, Lord, if there be any other way, yet not my will, but19:24 yours be done. My friends, what I'm trying to tell you is you've got a high priest in heaven named Jesus who knows exactly where you are and how you feel, and he's a God who19:35 can heal how you feel. The disappointment is answered in Jesus. Look to the tree. Let's get again, back to Christians who say, I'm giving up at the19:47 church. It's hurt me too much. Take a look at the cross and tell me you have a right to give up. Amen. Amen, pastor. He didn't give up when he hand when he put the when they put those nails in his hand. In fact, he19:59 said, father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. Here's a practical way you need to work out your disappointment. Practical. Theological, look to the tree. Practical, here we go.20:11 Write this down. When you're disappointed, ask this question. What was I expecting and why? What was I expecting out of this season, situation,20:23 or circumstance, or even opportunity. And why? Because we gotta sometimes we gotta dig down a little bit deeper and ask ourselves the deeper questions in order to experience spiritual20:35 growth. And I think that there's just far too much surface y Christianity in the church. Everybody just wants to leave happy. Everybody just wants to leave feeling good. Just give me a20:47 motivational pep talk. No. Sometimes we need to dig deep and ask ourselves the deeper issues of our what's going on? You're disappointed maybe in your in your marriage. Okay. Here's the20:59 here's the question. What were you expecting? When you married them, were you unaware that they were human, that they were a failed sinner just21:11 like you, or were you seduced by the pop culture, rom com mantras that you will 1 day live happily ever after? Were21:23 you under the impression that marriage would solve all your problems? No. No. No. A marriage is is 2 failed people failing together regularly.21:36 That's what a marriage is. That's why I say some of you gotta drop your standards, single people, and stop looking for the perfect 1. That perfect 1 has already married you. His name is Jesus.21:49 So you have to settle for someone far less than that. Someone whose faults, as you are aware of them now, you can live with22:01 because you're gonna discover a whole bunch that you didn't know were there. We we go to the honeymoon with prince charming. We wake up 4 months later with Homer22:13 Simpson. What happened? I'll tell you what happened. Life. Reality. You were in a fog. You were22:25 in a fog, and you have been awoken. God has taught you a lesson. Stop putting people on a pedestal that they can't stand22:37 on. What are you expecting from the job? What are you expecting from your endeavors? And why? Why are you looking to someone or something22:49 for what only god can do? Your job can't be everything. A spouse can't be everything. A child can't be everything. The family can't be everything.23:01 Only God has the capacity to be everything because he is eternal. And all good and perfect things come from him. Some so write this23:12 down. God allows places of disappointment to expose when we've made following him about our gratification instead of his glory. That that23:25 that's really the the the the phase that disappointment serves. Father, where am I looking to things in this life, to bring me gratification instead23:36 of seeking everything in this life to be a megaphone for your glory in my world. I'll tell you something. If you can resolve around that quickly, woo, the growth23:48 is happening. Thank you, Lord God, that I I didn't find my ultimate fulfillment. Because I'll tell you something. The worst thing that could happen to you is to think you found ultimate24:00 fulfillment in something other than Jesus. He's the 1 that you're made for. Jesus meets the woman at the well, and he says, you drink this water, you'll be thirsty again.24:13 But the water that I give you will never let you thirst again. By the way, she was married and divorced how many times? 5. And she was shacked up with another guy. That's 6.24:24 And the man that she met at the well was named Jesus, and he's number 7. 7. Come on. Some of you gotta get to number 7. You gotta kiss dumpy and grumpy and24:36 angry and messy and jokey and all and then finally oh, there he is. Okay. Let's move on. So they cry. The Lord gives them24:48 the the Lord gives them water. He says, listen, if you just listen to me, I need you to pay attention to what I'm doing, the voice of the Lord. And and I'm gonna make sure that you've never suffered24:59 diseases as I put upon the Egyptians. Now look at the next phase, and this is not 1 that I had to write down because this 1 let's be honest. Really, sanctification doesn't happen here. It really doesn't.25:11 Verse 27, they left that place and they came to Elim where there were, what, 12 springs of water that they could drink and 70, woo, palm trees. And everybody25:23 knows that wherever palm trees are, God is there. Beautiful the palm trees25:35 and the springs, and it was just like, woah. And they encamped there by the water. Here's what I want you to see, though, is that after the season of disappointment comes a season of25:46 refreshment. And that's how God works. You will go through disappointments, but just hang on. Because God and his grace is gonna bring you to Elim, and he's gonna give you25:58 rest. Now there's 1 little qualifier you need to pay attention to in the text. This whole season of 12 springs and 70 palm trees is 1 verse,26:11 which means it's short lived. So you better drink up because it's about to get thorny again. And so they set out from Elim. Verse26:23 verse, oops, verse, 1 of chapter 16. They had to leave Elim, which again was a picture of what? I just put it on the I wrote it. Refreshment.26:35 Forget it. They they moved on from refreshment, and the people of Israel came to came to the wilderness of sin. Now this don't mistake this for the word sin that we use for26:47 bringing God's commands. It's a name in Hebrew. It could it it's pronounced seen, and they came to that place. By the way, there's a etymological root to this word for26:59 seen, and it means thorns. So just think about this. Refreshment at Elim. By the way, they it says seen is between27:11 Elim and where Sinai. So 3 places. Here's where sin is between refreshment and Sinai is a place of revelation. And you have to27:22 understand that there are gonna be seasons in which God brings you out of refreshment on the way to revelation, but there's thorns along the way. Has anybody ever been in a couple of27:34 prickly places along your Christian walk? Hard. This person is just a thorn in my side. These people, this job, this environment, I don't understand.27:46 Okay. It's alright. It's alright. God's not done. And, they came there on the, on the fifteenth day, the second month after they, departed Egypt, And the whole congregation of the people of Israel27:58 again grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the people of Israel said to them, would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt. When we sat28:11 look at this. This has to be the most ridiculous statement they make. In Egypt, they say, when we sat by meatpots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us into this28:22 wilderness to kill this whole assembly. They were slaves in Egypt. They were starving in Egypt. But nothing will make us eulogize the28:34 past faster than the pain in our present. I was better off when I was single. No. You weren't. You were praying and28:45 fasting for a spouse. Now you got the spouse, and you think going back is better. Lord, I didn't ask for these kids. Yes. You did.28:59 But I didn't want to see you know, so many times this is what happens in the Christian life. You will pray for things, God will give them to you, then you will complain about the very thing that you prayed for God to29:08 give you. Welcome to the next phase. This is called phase number 2, dissatisfaction in the desert. Disappointment, phase 1.29:20 Phase 2, dissatisfaction. And they're grumbling as if Egypt was all that, and they're thinking they've made a big mistake. Okay. By29:32 the way, repeatedly throughout the wilderness wanderings, Israel grumbles and complains. Somebody say complain. Complain. Now in Philippians, we're told, do all things without complaining or29:44 murmuring. Complaint listen to me. You gotta get a theological reference point about this. Complaint is really at heart unbelief.29:56 In fact, it's it's so good. Want you to write it down. Complaining is a fruit of unbelief. When you're complaining, what you're just all you're doing is failing to30:07 believe that God will provide. Amen. That's all you're doing. Complaining about where you are, complaining about what you have, complaining about where you should30:19 be or what other people have is just failure to believe that God is going to provide. And and so let me ask you a hard question you might need30:31 to write down in the margins of your notes. What have I been complaining about lately? Where are my complaints? Mental, physical, emotional, relational, where are they?30:44 Because what you've just done is you've just had a moment of sanctification. Painful, where you've identified an area where you need to start believing30:56 God. And what I've learned about with Christians is they everyone's different. Everyone's different. And and the people that come to Christ, sometimes there's people immediately money31:08 is no longer an issue. They can give freely. They have no problem tithing. It's yeah. But but there's other areas where they complain. They complain about, I don't know, their friends, their31:19 relationship structure, their home life. And and there's another guy, and he's 5 people down from the first guy who has no problem with money but a problem with relationship. And he's in the same church, but he has a31:30 serious problem with money and giving. And he's complaining because he's he's saying, god doesn't give me enough, but he has no problem relationally and socially. My point is everybody's got some area where they're31:41 failing to believe god. And you identify those places by under by identifying, that's where I'm complaining. So the people of Israel complain. Now I've got a pro tip. This is a life skill for you when31:53 it comes to complaining. If you want to work out and work through the areas of complaint that you will inevitably have in the in the seasons of32:04 dissatisfaction, here we go. Journal. It is a spiritual process by which you work out things with God over a32:16 long term plan. What do I mean by journal? Okay. Here's what I've done since college. I've journaled my complaints to God. You write them32:27 down. I get I get permission to do this. You say, well, that doesn't feel that doesn't feel very biblical. Oh, no? What? Moses wrote it down.32:40 Moses was sitting there saying, okay. What are you talking about? Complaint about the water? Okay. Wait. Wait. No food this time? Uh-huh. I'm gonna work that down. Journaling will do wonders for your spiritual32:52 development. And and and and funny story, in college, I journaled, and then I put that journal in a in a box with a bunch of books. And 1 day, Cheryl and I were moving, and I forgot about the journal. And she dug it out,33:04 and she flipped through the pages of my journal from college with all of my complaints, and she just was laughing. And I'm like, those are my wounds. And I ripped it out. This is my33:16 stuff. And I opened it up, and I started laughing. And I said, I can't believe that I let these things bother me. Was I ever really that stupid? The answer33:28 is yes. And and so you gotta understand something. This is a healthy thing for you to do. Don't complain to people who can't do anything about it. Complain to God.33:40 The Bible says, Lord, hear my complaint. That's in the Psalms. Lord, hear my complaint. Written down. How many are my foes? How many have risen up against me? And and and and what you will do and I do this now on33:52 an app on my phone that syncs it across all my devices and has, like, 2 level security encryption so that my nosy wife can't find it.34:04 And I complain to God still. Not every day, but when I'm in that season of disappointment, I go to the journal and I write it out. And I say, Lord, I am sick and tired of34:16 filling the bag. And I revisit those complaints years later, and I see how God has been faithful in ways that I did not recognize until later.34:28 It has healed me. And what you learn is that God is operating on the longitudinal level of your life. He's got34:40 a long term plan. You want short term answers, he's got a long term plan, and his long term plan is better than your short term pleasures. So this is what happens with the people of Israel. And check out check out how34:52 God deals with this problem. Okay. He says, look. I'm gonna send bread from heaven. Usually, you get rain from heaven. I'm gonna give you bread. And the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day. 135:03 day's portion every day that I may, what, test them whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, they're gonna bring in twice as much as they gather35:15 daily. Because why? Because God wants them to do what on the seventh day? Rest. So Moses and Aaron told the people, and and this is what happens. They go and they do it. And what God is doing is exactly what I said35:26 earlier, We experience sanctification. We don't just learn about it. You know what disappointment really is? Disappointment is a quest for control.35:40 It's a it's a quest for you to control your life. I don't like where I am. I needed to be changed. What can I do? How can I manipulate? How can I work this out so I can get to a place where I'm happy again? That's all it35:51 really is. So God does something brilliant because he tends to be brilliant. And he says, I want you to go out and gather 1 day's measure each day on the sixth day, 2 measures.36:03 So this long command comes out. And skipping ahead to verse 19, we can go this way. Verse 19, check this out. Whoever gathered much had36:14 nothing left over, whoever gathered little had no lack, each of them gathered as much as he could. And Moses said to them, let no 1 leave any of it over until morning. Eat it all for that day, 1 day's bread. Give us this36:24 day our daily bread, Jesus tells us to pray. Verse 20. Oh, my word. But they did not listen. Some left part of it till the morning, and it had worms and stank.36:36 And Moses, because he's Jewish, is like, And in verse 27, check this out. On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather when God specifically said, there's not gonna be any on the seventh36:48 day. And they went out and they found none. What what is God doing? He's trying to show them you're not in control. Right. And when you're in37:00 the phase of disappointment, that's what's God that that's what God is trying to convey to you. So I want you to write this down. The purpose of dissatisfaction sorry. I meant disappointment, dissatisfaction37:12 earlier. The purpose of dissatisfaction is to wean us off seeking control and learn content. Learn contentment. By the way, I know you have learning. Just can you scratch37:24 out I n g? Because I looked at it second thought, I thought that's bad English. And even the whole sentence as it is is not that great, but you get the idea. The purpose of dissatisfaction is to wean us off seeking37:34 control and to learn contentment. What does Paul say in the prison? He says, I have learned the secret of being content in every situation. I always love the fact that Paul admits Paul who37:46 wrote almost 1 third of the New Testament, said I had to learn this too. I had to learn that I'm not in control, God is, and I need to be content37:58 with where I am. Because this dissatisfaction bug is a sickness. By the way, Jesus38:10 is the true bread from heaven. Another picture of Jesus in the text. In John chapter 6, he feeds the 5000, and then he goes across the other side. And the next morning, they follow him to the other side of the lake. And38:21 the Bible says in John 6 25, it says they come to Jesus. They say, hey, rabbi. When did you get here? Hey. Look at you. He says, you're not seeking me. You're looking for free bread.38:33 He tells them, listen. That bread, you're gonna be hungry again. That's just a temporary satisfaction. He says, rather, look to me. I am the bread. They said, well, yeah, we got an idea. Here's the deal, Jesus. You give38:45 us free bread just like Moses gave our ancestors free bread, and then we'll listen to you. And Jesus rebukes them in verse 20, in verse 32. And he says, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the38:57 bread, but my father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. In other words, what you need in seasons of39:09 satisfaction is to feed on Jesus, to receive what he has for you. And you need to learn to curb that fleshly39:20 appetites that seek instant gratification. This is why Paul the apostle says in first Corinthians 9, he says, I beat my body. I make it my slave.Show more
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