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Well, good evening everyone, welcome to Mountain Baptist Church. Take your song books and turn to song 314. Song 314, we'll sing More Love to Thee, and if you would stand, we'll sing song 314. More love to thee, O Christ, more love to thee. Hear thou the prayer I make on bended knee. This is my earnest plea, more love, O Christ, to thee. More love to thee, more love to thee. Once earthly joy I crave sought peace and rest. Now thee alone I seek, give what is best. This all my prayers shall be, more love, O Christ, to thee. More love to thee, more love to thee. Let sorrow do its work, send grief and pain. Sweet are thy messengers, sweet they refrain. When they can't sing with me, more love, O Christ, to thee. More love to thee, more love to thee. Then shall my latest breath whisper thy praise. This be thy parting cry, my heart shall raise. This still its prayer shall be, more love, O Christ, to thee. More love to thee, more love to thee. All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you so much for the opportunity to meet in your house and to hear your word preached. I pray, Lord, now that you'll be with our pastor, from with your power and spirit, for it's in Jesus' name we ask all of it, amen. All right, you may be seated and turn in your song books to song 228. Song 228. We'll sing I Love to Tell the Story, song 228. I love to tell the story of unseen things above, of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love. I love to tell the story because I know it is true. It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do. I love to tell the story, 12P, my theme and glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love. I love to tell the story, more wonderful it seems, than all the golden fancies of all our golden dreams. I love to tell the story, it did so much for me. And that is just the reason I tell it now to thee. I love to tell the story, 12P, my theme and glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love. I love to tell the story, tis pleasant to repeat. What seems, each time I tell it, more wonderfully sweet. I love to tell the story, for some have never heard the message of salvation from God's own holy word. I love to tell the story, 12P, my theme and glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love. I love to tell the story, for those who know it best, seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest. And when, in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new song, 12P, the old, old story that I have loved so long. I love to tell the story, 12P, my theme and glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love. Amen, well, welcome to Mount Baptist Church on this Wednesday evening. And just some announcements real quick here. Nothing's really changed since the Sunday announcements and everything, so everything should be pretty much the same on the list there. But service times are normal. We have our Sunday service times. Everything should be normal there. And then we have our sowing time at 1 PM on Sunday. And then the regional sowing times throughout the week coming up next week. And if you go to the Bible memory, we actually should be jumping into Colossians chapter 2, because we are into March now. And then Colossians 1, 28 is our memory verse for the week. Upcoming events, we have the women's prayer meeting this Saturday, so don't forget about that. And then I think we're tentatively going to be putting a chili cook-off on March 12th. So this will be a competition. We've got to find some judges. The problem is I know my dad's chilly, so I'd be a little biased. So I don't think I could probably be a judge on this. But I'll say this, if I was a judge, I'd rate off the bean ratio, just so you know. But we'll have to get a couple of judges that are in the middle there and not all the way on the bean side, because there's no way that that can win. Pinto bean soup. Bean soup is not going to win this competition. So I will take veto power in this, if that's the case. But that being said, is that March 12th, we're planning on doing, that would be not this Saturday, but next Saturday, doing a cook-off. So this is for everybody. So I know a lot of times with these chili cook-offs, it's like just men, or it's like the father-son type of chili cook-off type thing. But we're just going to do everybody. It's going to be a whole church fellowship there. And so ladies, bring your chili. Men, bring your chili. And obviously, I'd be disappointed if we didn't have any cornbread or something like that, going with that. But anyway, that'll be on the list there and coming up. And then as far as birthday's anniversaries, and we already got that, and then just be in prayer for all the ladies on the pregnancy list. And then just be in prayer for everybody when it comes to just health. I know a lot of people aren't feeling well. And so just be in prayer for them and all that throughout the weeks. So that's about all I got for announcements. Who's reading tonight? I can't remember. OK, so Brother Levi. So Brother Dave's going to sing one more song. And then Brother Levi's going to read Exodus chapter 8 for us. OK. All right, take your songbooks and turn to song 236. Song 236. We'll sing No Not One, song 236. ["NO NOT ONE"] There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. None else could heal all our souls, these Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide till the day is done. There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. No friend like him is so high and holy. No, not one. No, not one. And yet no friend is so meek and lowly. One, no, not one. Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide till the day is done. There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. There's not an ark that is not near us. No, not one. No, not one. No night so dark, but his love can cheer us. No, not one. No, not one. Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide till the day is done. There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. Did every saint find his friend, forsake him? No, not one. No, not one. Or sin or find that he would not take him? No, not one. No, not one. Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide till the day is done. There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. Was there a gift like the Savior given? No, not one. No, not one. Will he refuse us a home in heaven? No, not one. No, not one. Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide till the day is done. There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. All right, take your Bibles and turn to Exodus, chapter number eight. Exodus, chapter number eight, for Levi will read that for us. Exodus, chapter eight, and the Lord spake unto Moses, go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, thus saith the Lord, let my people go, that they may serve me. And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs. And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading troughs. And the frogs shall come up both on thee and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants. And the Lord spake unto Moses, say unto Aaron, stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, entreat the Lord that he may take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord. And Moses said unto Pharaoh, glory over me, when shall I entreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they may remain in the river only? And he said, tomorrow. And he said, be it according to thy word, that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the Lord our God. And the frogs shall depart from thee and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people, they shall remain in the river only. And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried unto the Lord because of the frogs, which he had brought against Pharaoh. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses. And the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields. And they gathered them together upon heaps, and the land stank. But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had said. And the Lord said unto Moses, say unto Aaron, stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And they did so, for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man. And in beasts, all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice upon man and upon beast. Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, this is the finger of God. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had said. And the Lord said unto Moses, rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh. Lo, he cometh forth to the water, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses, and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there. To the end, thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. And I will put division between my people and thy people. Tomorrow shall this sign be. And the Lord did so, and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servant's house, and into all the land of Egypt. The land was corrupted by the reason of the swarm of flies. And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron and said, go ye sacrificed to your God in the land. And Moses said, it is not meet so to do, for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. Shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? We will go three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he shall command us. And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness. Only ye shall not go very far away and treat for me. And Moses said, behold, I go out from thee and I will entreat the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh and from his servants and from his people tomorrow. But let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully anymore in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. And Moses went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses, and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. There remained not one. And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time. Also, neither would he let the people go. And let's pray. God, thank you for the night. God, thank you for the sermon we're about to hear. I pray that we would learn something. And I pray everything that we say and do would be glorious in your name. I pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. So you're there in Exodus chapter 8. And we are continuing our study through the book of Exodus. And we are actually getting it. We just got into the plagues last week. And we got into the first plague, which was the water into blood. And we're going to be getting into the second, third, and fourth plague. And what we'll see second coming up is a plague of frogs. So let's read. I know we just read the chapter, but let's read the first seven verses here dealing with this plague of frogs. So in verse 1 here, it says, and the Lord spake unto Moses, go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, thus saith the Lord, let my people go that they may serve me. And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite thy borders with frogs. And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up, and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading troughs. And the frog shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying to Aaron, stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt, and the magicians did so with their enchantments and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. So we see here that in the second plague, the thing that you see there kind of at the end is that, yeah, the magicians, they brought frogs too, but that doesn't really help anything, does it? It's like, oh, you added some more frogs to the frogs that were already here. And so that being said, they couldn't stop the frogs. They couldn't reverse the plague. We kind of already hit on that with the water and the blood. But that being said is that you can only imagine how bad of a plague this is, and you can kind of read over this, but at the same time, it's talking about being in the bedchamber upon thy bed, and it talks about them being in the kneading troughs. So they're in their food, right? They're in the ovens, right? So you're trying to cook food, and there's frogs in your dough. There's frogs in your, I mean, so just imagine, obviously, when you're dealing with amphibians like frogs, obviously snakes are wicked and unclean, but frogs, and you think of reptiles and stuff like that, obviously they carry a lot of diseases, a lot of stuff that you don't want in your food, but just imagine frogs being in your bed, frogs just basically being everywhere. So this is quite a plague here. And when I'm going through the plagues of Egypt, a lot of times we'll think about the fact that, I know we went through Revelation and everything, but I'm always seeing things that are in Revelation as far as things that are gonna be plagues, and the water and the blood, obviously that one's pretty key because you see that one a lot actually in Revelation because there's the sea being turned into blood, but then there's all the rivers and everything. So it's kind of like, it splits it even into salt water, fresh water when you're dealing with water and the blood, and in Revelation, in the end, when God obviously is judging the whole earth, he's hitting all bases, right? But here, obviously it's more localized on these plagues, we're dealing with Egypt itself, we're not dealing with the whole world being plagued, but there are some things that are in relation to Revelation chapter 16 and verse 12, Revelation chapter 16 and verse 12, and because obviously there's the idea of frogs, just the physical frogs being there, but there can also just be a plague of unclean spirits, if you will, that could plague a nation that would be a judgment upon a nation, right? I mean, we know that in Revelation 17, or Revelation 18, when Babylon is judged, it's kind of left with a bunch of unclean spirits and devils and then every foul creature, pretty much, that's just roaming, it's kind of like, that's the punishment, if you will, on a land, and so these frogs, obviously frogs in general, and just the aspect of frogs being put on the land be something that you want, and so, like, I can hear it, like, kind of either stopping or, I don't know if it's the batteries, I mean, it's not like blinking at me or anything, we could try that, but we'll see if it does it again, but that being said is that in Revelation 16 and verse 12, it says, and the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared, and I saw three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, for they are the spirits of devils working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief, blessed is he that watches and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame, and he gathered them together into a place called, in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. So when it comes to these frogs, it's interesting because they are at the very beginning, if you will, dealing with these plagues. Now, when it comes to this plague here, you have the sixth vial being poured out, but at the same time, it's really all a setup for the finale, if you will. And so when it comes to this, obviously I can think about a nation and the fact that, you know, devils and evil spirits kind of being a plague upon a nation, okay? And you say, well, would God send that plague, you know, would God send evil spirits on a nation? Well, think about the story of Ahab, right, where he's, you know, God is basically speaking, saying, who will go down and basically, and I'm gonna paraphrase, but basically, get Ahab to go up to battle, essentially. And remember, there was a lying spirit. Remember the one that said, I'll go and be a lying spirit in the mouth of the prophets for Ahab, right? And this is where you get that story with Micaiah, and he's like, you know, is there any other prophets? It's like, well, there's Micaiah, but I hate him, because he never preaches anything good. And the idea there is that I do believe God uses, he'll use the devil, you know, to basically fulfill a purpose, he's gonna do that by putting it into the minds of the 10 kings to do their will to basically destroy the whore, which is Babylon. And so there's definitely aspects there where God can use unclean spirits. Anna, put that paper down now. Anna Bell, put the paper down, you're making too much noise. So while you're doing that and putting that paper down, I'm gonna change the battery right here, so. All right, can you hear me? And we'll see if that does it. So that being said is that I just kind of wanted to point that out that obviously a lot of times when you see these plagues, sometimes there's spiritual things that are being applied there that happen in other places where frogs would kind of, no doubt, according to the Bible, frogs represent evil spirits, right? I mean, dealing with devils. Because it says, it literally says that, you know, out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, there's unclean spirits like frogs, right? And so it's basically likening them and it says the spirits of devils, okay, that are coming out of their mouths. So that being said, you know, obviously the physical frogs would be bad, but at the same time, God, I believe, will basically, the punishment upon a nation would be that your nation's full of unclean spirits. Which if you think about it, like when Jesus was walking upon the earth and in his ministry, there was a lot of unclean spirits, wasn't there? There was a lot of people that were like possessed with devils, but if you think about the fact that he came on his own and his own received him not, his nation wasn't exactly in a very spiritual spot. It's not like they were in the days of Hezekiah having a revival, you know, or anything like that. Actually, it's probably in a pretty low spot that he's coming in and being a light onto that dark nation of Judea. And no more of why I think that there was a lot of unclean spirits that were around there. And especially hanging out around where, you know, I believe the devil's going to be always trying to bring down the group of people that have the true gospel and all that. So when it comes to a nation, if there's gonna be a nation that's gonna have a lot of devils, I think America's gonna have a lot of devils. Because America is the hub for preaching the gospel, meaning that there's, and then there's gonna be a lot of adversaries, right? If there's gonna be open doors, there's gonna be a lot of adversaries. And so I think that those things kind of work hand in hand. And obviously, if our nation continues to go down a path of, you know, debauchery, if you will, it's just set up for it to be destroyed from within when it comes to that. Now, let's keep reading here in Exodus chapter eight with these frogs, okay? The thing that I always find interesting in this story is that Moses asks Pharaoh, when do you want me to get rid of these frogs? So Exodus chapter eight, verse eight, it says, and Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, and treat the Lord that he may take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord. And Moses said unto Pharaoh, glory over me, when shall I entreat for thee and for thy servants for thy people to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses that they may remain in the river only? And he said, tomorrow. Now, I mean, I want you to think about that, right? I mean, these frogs are in your bed, they're in your kneading trough. I mean, I would be like right now, like do it now, like what are we waiting for here? Yesterday, that's what I would have said, you know? But he says tomorrow, and it says, and he said, be it according to thy word, that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the Lord our God, and the frog shall depart from thee and from thy houses and from thy servants, and from thy people, they shall remain in the river only. Now, when I think about this, go to 2 Thessalonians 3, 2 Thessalonians 3. Now, we know at this point that Pharaoh has been hardened. That's been abundantly clear in chapter seven, that's when it happened. At the beginning of chapter seven, I will harden his heart. Then it says, Pharaoh's heart is hardened. You know, it's basically like here's the progression of like here's where it happened, right after, I believe right after he saw the miracle of the rods being turned into serpents, and that's when his heart was hardened, okay? So at this point, we know that he's in a hardened state, he's in a rejected state of being rejected of the Lord. And so I want you to think about this passage here. This is what it says in verse one. So 2 Thessalonians 3 in verse one, it says, finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified, even as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for all men have not faith. But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you and keep you from evil. Now, I actually use this verse a lot. You know, when we go out soul-winding and stuff like that, I always kind of, I'm praying in this manner as far as, I may not be quoting it exactly, but the idea is that we want his word to have free course and we want him to deliver us from any unreasonable or wicked men. You know, that's kind of what I'm always thinking about when we're going out soul-winding is that, you know, we're not getting held up by some reprobates or something like that. Now, when it's talking about this, it's interesting because it says unreasonable. There are people out there that are just unreasonable. You cannot reason with those people, okay? And those, you know, so they're not, you're not gonna be able to get through to everybody because there's certain people that are just completely shut off from reason. And when I think of Pharaoh saying tomorrow, you're dealing with an unreasonable person, right? That's not reasonable. To me, that's not reasonable. You would say right now, yesterday, right? You'd be like, as fast as you can immediately. Why would you be saying tomorrow? I'm good sleeping with frogs for one more night. I'm good having my frogs and my biscuits in the morning. But as long as it's tomorrow at some point, you know, like tomorrow in the afternoon, tomorrow in the morning, you know, it's like pizza on a bagel, you know? You know, frogs in the morning, frogs in the evening, frogs at suppertime, no one knows that jingle, no? Anyway, but he's being unreasonable. Now, when it comes to this, with this passage here, it says, for all men have not faith. Now, some Calvinists would jump in there and be like, see? God has to give you that faith, okay? But as people that believe the Bible, you know, obviously we believe it all, meaning that, notice what it says in Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12, see, everything has to fit together. In Romans chapter 12 and verse three here, it says this. It says, for I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God had dealt to every man the measure of faith. Okay, so he's given to every man a measure of faith. But then he says, not all men have faith. Why? Because, well, in Luke chapter eight and verse 18, and this is just one example, okay? This is actually mentioned in, you know, like at least Matthew, Mark, and Luke, for sure, dealing with parables, a lot of times this is brought up. But it says in verse 18 of Luke chapter eight, take heed therefore, how ye hear, for whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken, even that which he seemeth to have. Meaning this is that, you've probably heard that over and over again, to him that hath shall be taken, or shall be given, and to him that hath not shall be taken away, even that which he hath. Meaning this is that, I believe God has given to every man a measure of faith, but that can be taken away. For adventure, God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Why? Because there's a point where he can take that away. And that is something that I believe has happened to Pharaoh and that, you know what that means, is he's unreasonable and wicked, okay? And he doesn't have, and you know what the Bible says? They're ever learned and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. They're reprobate concerning the faith, okay? So that being said is I just kind of wanted to, just kind of stop there, when you see him saying, well tomorrow get rid of the frogs. That's a sign of someone just being unreasonable. That doesn't make any sense to a normal person there. Now, go to Exodus chapter eight. So obviously he's saying, you know, yeah, okay, I'll let you, I'll let you go. And this is kind of the theme throughout these plagues is like, yeah, okay, I'll let you go. Just kidding. You know, after they're gone, after the plague has been done away with, you know, he's like, no, actually not. But in verse 12 of Exodus chapter eight, it says, Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried unto the Lord because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields, and they gathered them together upon heaps, and the land stank. But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart and hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said. Now the first thing I want you to see here is that even after this plague is done, there's aftermath of this plague, right? There's these, the consequence of this plague is that now you've got all these dead frogs. They didn't just disappear, they just died. Now, no more were coming out of the ponds and rivers and coming up to them, but all the ones that were there, they just died and they had to like heap them up, and they just stank. So remember how the fish, like the first plague, where, you know, obviously the water was turned into blood, but all the fish in the river died and then it stank. Not just from the fish, but probably just the blood itself, you know? If you're in a time where it's really hot or something like that, I can imagine just this hot river of blood with all these fish that are just belly up, stinking up the place. But then you have, now you have these frogs stinking up the whole land, okay? And there's a lot of verses on this where God talks about, you know, especially these nations that think they're so high up and mighty. And they think that, you know, they have all this perfume and all this incense and, you know, all this stuff. And he's like, I'm gonna cause, I'm gonna turn that into stink. Like he's just gonna make your land stink. And think about obviously the higher ups, you know, when it comes to our country, they just live in their mighty towers. And you think of Hollywood or Hellywood and all the celebrities. And, you know, God's gonna just turn that into just, the land is gonna stink when it comes to that. And I think this kind of will help you think about things that aren't mentioned in Revelation, you know, when it comes to these plagues and things being turned into blood and just the aftermath or what that entails, right? Because usually when we're thinking things turned into blood, you can't really drink water. I mean, if you have frogs and you're needing trough, I mean, that's disgusting. But then you have like just the idea of the aftermath of all that and the plagues that are done there. Now, when it says respite, that's just a word that just means that there's like a short period of reprieve, you know, like if you think about it, like there's just this like little time of reprieve and then you're just, you know, in a refreshed state, if you will. And so as soon as like the plague is kind of done, you just, he immediately goes back to being, you know, the same guy that he was. So when it comes to this, he's kind of, I think in the moment he's saying, yeah, I'll let you go, I'll let you go. And then there's rest and he's like, oh, no, I'm not. It's like back to normal and it's not getting plagued anymore. And so it shows you that he's implacable, obviously, because as soon as that plague lets off, he's going back to what he was doing before. And so when it comes to, you know, the frogs, obviously, you know, you may look at them and be like, that's not that big of a deal, I like frogs. I don't care how much you like any animal. You've had that many animals or that many creatures, right? You're like, I like salamanders, you know? Cool, I'm glad you like salamanders, but if they were in your bed, in your kneading troughs, in your oven, you'd be like, I hate salamanders at that point. And so I don't care what kind of creature it is, it's gonna be a nuisance. But then on top of that, obviously the aftermath of them just dying and then you have to like pile them up. Now, the third plague here, go to Exodus chapter eight and verse 16, is the plague of lice. And for some reason, Esau keeps saying gnats and it just bugs me, okay? Who here uses Esau? You know, like the, no one uses Esau? Okay, one person, I see that hand. No one else uses Esau? Not one person in here uses Esau. You gotta get on the Esau wagon here, okay? This message is brought to you by Esau. No, really? I mean, you got bi-waps, right? Someone tell me you got a bi-wap on your phone or something like that. Now, Esau isn't Mac compatible, okay? Meaning that it's not gonna be on your iPhone, but you have a computer. Anyway, that being said is that Esau has this like little titles over these plagues and it keeps saying gnats and I'm like, gnats, that's not a plague. What is this talking about? I'm like, and then you're reading it and there's like a lice. I'm like, oh, thanks. But you know, obviously the Esau would give you the NIV and all these other ones if you wanted it. King James is free, by the way, so, you know. But that being said, it's lice, it's not gnats, okay? The King James is right on this. And no, I didn't go back to the Hebrew to figure it out. I just know that the King James is right on this. Now, verse 16, it says, In the Lord said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, stretch out thy rod and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And they did so, for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice and man and then beast. All the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice upon man and upon beast. And the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said. So this one is actually where the magicians finally say, you know what, we can't do it. So we had two plagues. Third one was like, they put up their hands, they're like, this is the finger of God. Now, when it comes to this plague, obviously, I can imagine that, who here has had lice? No, I'm just kidding, you don't have to tell me that. I've never had lice, okay. I just remember in school, you know, like they would like kind of check you for lice or whatever. And like, if there was a kid that came to school with lice, and they'd check everybody and like take that comb through your hair or something like that. I've never had lice, but I can imagine that it's not fun. But that being said, is that there's lice throughout all the land. And when it comes to this, the dust being lice, so obviously lice are very small to the point where, you know, it's gonna be hard to see. You can, I'm sure you can see with the naked eye or that whole test of like using the comb to look through your hair was pointless. So I guess you could see them. But I've never actually looked at lice or seen lice up close. I don't really care to. But that being said, with this plague here, what I find interesting is obviously, first of all, that the magicians can't do it. But the thing that kind of sticks out to me is that it says, this is the finger of God. Now that phrase of like, this is the finger of God or the finger of God is not mentioned near that much in the Bible, actually. But one place that I, when I think of the finger of God, I always think about the 10 commandments, right? I think about God writing the 10 commandments on the tables of stone with his own finger. And Exodus chapter 31 states this. But I kind of want to point out something as well, dealing with the Lord, the Lord Jesus, that is. And in Exodus chapter 31, verse 18, it says, and he gave unto Moses when he had, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone written with the finger of God. Okay, so when you think about those two tables of stone, obviously, he gave him those 10 commandments before, right? I mean, in Exodus 20 is where he gave him the 10 commandments. He spoke the 10 commandments. But what's special about those tables of stone, it's not like, well, what's the 10 commandments, Moses? They already knew. But he's writing them down in stone with his finger. So obviously, those two tables of stone, they put in the Ark of the Covenant, was obviously a very special thing because it was the finger of God that did it. But go to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11, because Jesus uses this phrase as well, which also shows you that another passage is kind of confirming that he's God. But in verse 15, so Luke 11, verse 15, it says, but some of them said he casted out devils with Beelzebub, the chief of the devils, and others, tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? Because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub, and if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore shall they be your judges. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God has come upon you. Now, he obviously was doing it with the finger of God, but the idea there is obviously he's showing his power here. Now, what were they accusing him of? Basically, that he was using the power of the devil. Beelzebub is just another word for the devil or Satan. And in Mark chapter three, it states what they're basically committing here is what some would term the unforgivable sin, which is blaspheming the Holy Ghost. And it says in verse 29, it says, but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation. Verse 30, because they said he hath an unclean spirit. Now, that same passage is what we're dealing with here where they're saying by Beelzebub, Jesus is casting out devils, meaning that they're saying that the Holy Ghost is the devil, is what they're stating. So when it comes to this, Jesus is casting out devils with the finger of God. They're saying it's the devil. And he's saying, you don't have forgiveness in this life, nor in the next. You know what another way of saying that? You're reprobate. You're reprobate concerning the faith. You have no hope of salvation. You cannot believe. I mean, that's what's happening to those that are saying that he's casting out devils with Beelzebub, the prince of the devils, or with the devil, and basically stating that the Holy Ghost is the devil. Now, go to 2 Timothy 3, because when it comes to this plague, they state that it's the finger of God, which is interesting because I believe that these magicians are obviously hardened and that they are reprobate concerning the faith. And I want to point out a verse here. We've read this one in verse eight many times, but it says in verse eight of 2 Timothy 3, it says, now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so that these also resist the truth, men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith. But look at verse nine. But they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was. I believe this is where their folly is manifest. Okay, I mean, at least it's beginning to be manifest, right? Is that they're basically going to Pharaoh like, we can't do it. You know what that's showing is that they're a bunch of charlatans, that they're faking it, or they're using devils and enchantments and all this stuff, and they don't have the power that they say that they have. They don't have the supreme power, that their gods are not actually gods to be reckoned with. Obviously, they're devils that they're dealing with, but they're nothing compared to God. Again, they're even recognizing here that this is the finger of God. That this is the finger of God, they can't touch it, they can't resist it, and their folly is being made manifest. Now, later on, when there's boils and everything, they can't even stand before Moses. Basically, God makes it to where they can't even stand against him physically because of the boils. But this kind of starts it off where it's like, oh, you can't even, you can't duplicate it, let alone get rid of it. You know, their folly is being made manifest. And so when it comes to those that are reprobate even today, you may look at them and be like, oh, you know, like, people are following them. You know, when you think of false prophets, you think of people following false teachers and following people that are preaching a false gospel and all this stuff. Well, obviously, I'm not saying that we should be happy about that. But at the same time, the Bible says that with these people, their folly is gonna be made manifest. Okay? And that it's gonna come out, their foolishness is gonna be made manifest, and just like Janice and Jamboree's was. And so, and again, I preach a sermon called What is the Chaff to the Wheat? Because God's response to those that preach, you know, false divinations and false dreams, He says, let them preach it. But let those that are faithful preach the word of God, and I'm paraphrasing, but He's basically saying, you know, basically let His people that are faithful preach the word of God, and then let the chaff, you know, basically preach their false divinations. He says, what is the chaff to the wheat? Meaning this is that God's word is a hammer, and it's a fire, and it'll devour that chaff. Okay? And so when it comes to, and don't get me wrong, it's not like, you know, some people will take that too far and be like, well, we just need to preach the truth and not talk about things that are negative, or talk about false doctrine. No, we need to bring up false doctrine and destroy it with the Bible. Okay? That's what you need to do. You know, He's like, well, you know, if you just preach on, you know, if you just preach on this subject of the Trinity, you know what, that'll take care of everything. No, you need to bring up false doctrines that are against the Trinity and destroy it with the Bible. You need to do the same with end times prophecy, you need to do the same with any false gospel that's out there, bring up their points. I have no problem bringing up any stupid point that they're gonna bring up if it's something that's mainstream that people are being deceived by, and taking the Bible and just taking that hammer of the word of God and breaking it in pieces. But what the Bible's saying is, what is the chapter of the week? You know what I mean? It's not like I'm going out trying to shut them down. You know what, let them preach, their folly will be made manifest, and the word of God will destroy them. And so when it comes to this, I see this in this plague when these magicians can't do it. Again, if they did, it'd be like, well, good job, you got more lice. Okay? I mean, can you imagine the people of Egypt being like, great job, magicians, you're really helping out here. You gave us more of this plague. They weren't winning before that. But now they can't even duplicate it, so they're obviously looking foolish. Now go to Exodus chapter eight, verse 20, because we're getting into the fourth plague. So the second plague, the first plague, what was the first plague? Water and the blood. Second plague, frogs. Third plague is lice, and that's where the magicians couldn't do it now. And I believe this is where Janus and Jamborees, if that's the two magicians, anyway, their folly is made manifest. But even if that passage isn't talking about these magicians, these magicians' folly was made manifest, okay? I mean, it's very clear that they're being, they're looking like fools, okay? But in verse 20 here, we see this plague of flies. So swarm of flies, or swarms of flies. In verse 20 here, it says, And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh. Lo, he cometh forth to the water, and saying to him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses, and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. Now, this may seem like it's not that big of a deal, but I hate flies. I don't know about you, but especially when you have picnics, right? And you got those flies that just won't get away from you. But flies carry diseases on top of that. So it's not like flies are necessarily biting you, unless these are horse flies. Then that, if these are horse flies, it doesn't really tell us, you know, what type of flies these are. So just putting that out there, horse flies bite, you know? And so that being said is that those ones, yeah, if it's the swarms of that, then that's a whole nother level. But let's just say it's just like the little beady-eyed flies that we have around here that are always getting on your food when you're out at a picnic, okay? That's disgusting, first of all, like to have that many flies, like flying into your house and being around you and all that stuff. I mean, that is a plague right there. So it's obviously something that's grievous, but these plagues kind of build up. So obviously water in the blood is a big deal, but they could still get water, they just had to work for it. The frogs and the lice and the flies, these are obviously very cumbersome, but I'm sure they dealt with frogs before and I'm sure they dealt with lice before and I'm sure they dealt with flies, but the idea is that it's like en masse like this. And so obviously it's being ramped up to where it would be very annoying and all that. Now, go, girl, stop talking. Look at me, Anna, don't talk again. Now, in Exodus chapter eight and verse 25 here, the thing that he's stating here when he's dealing with it, so once we got to the fourth plague here, God's gonna make a point that he's basically separating the Egyptians from his people, okay? Now, I personally don't believe that Goshen and all of Israel was getting all these other plagues before this. I think he's just making a point to make this distinction in this plague, okay? So I don't, you know what I mean? It's like, I don't think that the lice and the frogs were all entering into Israel's houses and all that stuff. The one reason that I believe that is because it doesn't say that. It just keeps saying in the Egyptians' houses and going on like that. But here I think it's basically giving us some information, right? You're kind of going down the line of, oh, by the way, God is putting a difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites. Now, in verse 25 here it says, and Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron and said, now, did I skip a verse or did I argue verse 22? No, I didn't. Verse 22, I knew I was a little further. Anyway, verse 22, sorry, skipping ahead here. Verse 22, it says, and I will sever in that day the land of Goshen in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there. To the end, thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth, and I will put a division between my people and thy people. Tomorrow shall this sign be. And the Lord did so, and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants' houses and into all the land of Egypt, and the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies. So he's making a point here that, hey, this is only happening to the Egyptians. And this isn't happening to those that are basically his people, okay, and putting a division between that. Now, there's many places you can go to with this. I mean, I think in 2 Peter where it talks about he knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment. And so it kind of talks about kind of putting that difference, and there's two examples of that. Obviously, you have Lot, where God saves Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah before he destroys it. But then there's Noah as well, where he's basically separating, he saves the one and destroys the other. So he knows how to deliver them out of that judgment. And this is an example kind of on a large scale where he's basically here, this whole part of that nation is getting completely demolished with these plagues and over here, nothing. You can kind of think about how God can cause it to rain in one spot and then not on another. And God talks about that, on how he can do that. Now, obviously, he rains on the just and the unjust alike as well, right? I mean, that's just a typical daily thing that it rains in here and it's not like there's just a cloud over the unjust or there's just a cloud over the just, you know? But he can separate that and he can cause it to rain over here and not rain over here at all and all that. So kind of putting difference between his people and the world, if you will. Now, go to Exodus chapter eight and verse 25. Exodus eight and verse 25, it says, And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. And Moses said, It is not meet so to do, for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. Lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes and will they not stone us? We will go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he shall command us. Now, the one thing I kind of want to point out here is obviously Pharaoh's gonna keep kind of compromising. He's just like, well, you can sacrifice, but you gotta do it here, you know? Or you can go, but don't go very far. Or you can go, but it's only the men. Or you can go, but, you know. And he's kind of like trying to compromise as these plagues are going on as far as like that goes. So sometimes he'll be like, you can go. And then he's just like, just kidding. But then he's kind of compromising as he goes. Now, the thing that I want to point out here is that it states the abomination of the Egyptians. Now, that term abomination, sometimes in the, you know, words I think are, you have to realize that blasphemy doesn't necessarily mean that we're talking about blaspheming against God. And abomination doesn't necessarily mean it's an abomination to God. Those are just words, okay? Meaning this is that, obviously in the Bible, a lot of times when we're talking about blaspheming, they're blaspheming God. But in some cases, they're blaspheming like their God. You know, and that's actually not a bad thing. But the idea here is that abomination is being used here and it's an abomination to Egyptians. It's actually, you know, what God wants someone to do is an abomination to someone else, okay? And I want to make this point, and there's a verse in Proverbs chapter 29, I believe that perfectly explains this, meaning that abomination can go both directions. Meaning that, you know, things that we do at this church, as far as preaching the gospel to every creature, things that we preach and believe, you know, and we'll say, you know, what they're doing is an abomination, they'll say what we're preaching is an abomination. To them it is, okay? But what you have to understand is, the only thing I really care about is what's an abomination to God, right? These six things that the Lord hates, yea, seven are an abomination. You know what, that's what I care about because I want to hate and detest what God hates and detests. And you know what, the world will hate us, but no marvel, okay? And that word abomination just means to basically hate or detest, right, something. And so Proverbs 29 verse 27 here, notice what it says, it says, an unjust man is an abomination to the just, and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked. So see how that works both ways? Meaning that the wicked person, they're saying that the just person is an abomination to them. But we're saying that, you know, basically that an unjust man is an abomination to the just, okay? So that term abomination just means something that's detested. So basically these sacrifices that the Israelites would be doing is gonna be hated and detested by the Egyptians, okay? It's not stating here that what they're doing is an abomination to the Lord. Does that make sense? Like Moses isn't stating that the sacrifices they'd be doing would be an abomination to the Lord. He's just stating that to the Egyptians is an abomination, okay? So sometimes when it comes to, you know, when I say that Taco Bell's an abomination, that's a proper use of that word, okay? Now, I am not gonna speak for God here and say that to him it is an abomination. But at the same time, I think that that's probably true. The exact place is horrible. But I call it Taco Hell, you know, Taco Smell. You know, we can go on and on about that. But that being said is that it's not like that's wrong to do, does that make sense? Like as far as that term just means to detest something. And it is true, I detest that place. But same with Burger King. Those two can go hand in hand, they are an abomination. But when it comes to blaspheme, when you're talking about blaspheming something, you're talking about speaking evil against something, right? So when we're talking about blaspheming the Holy Ghost, they're speaking evil against the Holy Ghost by calling the Holy Ghost the devil, okay? So that being said is that don't get hung up on words that are usually used, okay? In most cases, they're used for like an abomination to the Lord, you know, an abomination, you know, that we shouldn't, you know, like obviously, you know, sodomites are an abomination, right? Beastiality is an abomination, right? There's a lot of things that are an abomination that the Bible talks about. And that is an abomination to the Lord, okay? But at the same time, you know what? The righteous are an abomination to the wicked, okay? And Christians are an abomination to the world, essentially, because the world hates us. And when you think about it, when you're dealing with like Pharaoh or, you know, especially Pharaoh, for example, right? They're despisers of those that are good, okay? So they're gonna despise that which is good. So in the case where God's wanting them to do sacrifice, you know, and wanting to please the Lord with these sacrifices, then, you know what? That's an abomination to Pharaoh. That's gonna be an abomination to those that are not for good. But also when it comes to this, you know, Cain killed his brother, why? Killed his, and I know I preached on this. I just preached on this, but it says, "'Not as Cain, who is of that wicked one, "'who slew his brother, and wherefore slew him, "'cause his own works were evil "'when his brother was righteous.'" Okay? And so that idea of like Cain, you know, to Cain, Abel's an abomination to him because he was so righteous and obviously Cain was wicked and you had that dichotomy there. So that being said, I just kind of wanted to point that out. You know, when you're dealing with terms in the Bible, they don't always, they're not always used for things that are detested by God. That word is used to describe something that maybe a wicked person detests, okay? And so don't get hung up on it and be like, well, it says abomination, it must mean that God hates that then. No, it needs to have context. Just like the word repent or any other word, you know, there needs to be context about who's hating what, okay? Or who's returning from what or whatever the case may be. Now going back to Exodus chapter eight here, so I didn't want to finish up the chapter. I'm not feeling well tonight, fellows, ladies, so I'm gonna try to make this short. Just so you know, and not that I'm not in it, but I'm just, I'm really like struggling right now. So I'm at my last page here, but if tonight's sermon lacks a little bit of an edge to it, I apologize. But verse 28 here, it says, and Pharaoh said, I will let you go that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, only you shall not go very far away and treat for me. Moses said, behold, I go out from thee and I will entreat the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh and from his servants and from his people tomorrow. But let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully anymore in not letting the people go to sacrifice the Lord. And Moses went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses, and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people, there remained not one and Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go. Now I wanna point out a point here, is the fact that, do you notice that he keeps getting rid of these plagues tomorrow, right? He's like, why do you wanna get rid of these frogs tomorrow? And then all these other places, he's just like, well, tomorrow, I'll deal with that. Tomorrow, you know, that'll go away. And so he's kind of like reaping what he's sown from being unreasonable the first time. And now Moses is just like, all right, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. But the thing that I see here is obviously he's saying go, but don't go very far away. And when it comes to things of this world, we need to get it far away. And Egypt does kind of represent the world in that aspect. And the fact that, you know, getting, if you think about the children of Israel lately, they keep trying to go back to Egypt, right? And like, oh, you know, we had all this food back in Egypt and, you know, all this stuff we had back in Egypt, it was like, you were in bondage, okay? But we were in bondage under the weak and beggarly elements of the world, it says, and why desire you to go back into those same things, talks about in Galatians chapter four. And so that same idea applies spiritually in the fact that the world is basically like, oh, you can go, just don't go very far, okay? Why, because, you know, he wants to keep, the world wants to keep its clutches in you and kind of keep you to where it can kind of pull you back in. But they're supposed to go three days journey out, okay? Not just like out, just out on the outskirts of Egypt here, three days journey, so they're not gonna get sucked back in, okay? And so basically he's saying, you know, you can go, but you can't go very far. Now, another thing to note here is that Moses doesn't say, okay, I'll, you know, we'll do that. He doesn't say that, okay? Cause he's basically saying, entreat for me that you don't go very far away. And Moses said, behold, I go out from thee, I will entreat the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh. He didn't say that I'm gonna entreat for you that we're just gonna go out a little bit, okay? So I want, you know, every word is important here. He didn't say, yes, okay, we're in agreement. Cause later on, Moses is gonna be like, no, no, we're not gonna do that. And he's like, you know what, it's just the men, no? Well, not the cat, no, not a hoof shall be left behind. You know, he's gonna basically put his foot down, but I don't believe he's given in here. I think he's just making a point like, I think if you think about it, do you think Moses is like, yeah, no, he's gonna let us go, it's not gonna be very far. I think he knows that he's not gonna let him even do that. So he's just like, I'm gonna entreat for the flies. And he just kind of ignores the statement about not going very far away, okay? And sometimes, you know, in the Bible, people will do that. There'll be like this thing that's being stated and it'll just be completely ignored, right? And you think about Nicodemus coming to Jesus and saying, you know, we know that thou art come from God because, you know, no man, you know, and he goes into this aspect that you can't do it, no man can do these things except God be with him. And he says, you know, except he may be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. It's kind of like not even addressing what he just said, right, because he's basically stating that you must be of God, right? And he kind of switches gears completely and he doesn't even address that whole statement and just says you must be born again. And if you're not born again, then you can't see the kingdom of God because he kind of like just switches gears and Moses I believe is basically not consenting to that. He's just saying, all right, I'll deal with the flies, all right, and just kind of moves on from that. Now go to 2 Corinthians chapter six and when it comes to this, it's interesting because this passage, God is saying that he's putting a division between, because you say, why does he just bring it up now, right? Remember in the Bible that nothing is incidental, meaning that just coincidental, you know? Or incidental in the fact that it doesn't have a meaning, right, it's just there for no reason. Meaning this is that God is making a point with this plague that he's putting a difference between his people and the people of Egypt. But then Pharaoh's saying like, you can go out but don't go very far away. Right, do you see what's going on here? Because there's a lesson to be taught here in the fact that we need to separate, but not just separate, you need to separate far away. Okay, that's what I believe is being taught here. And 2 Corinthians chapter six and verse 14, it says, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? And what part hath he that believeth with the nymphadel and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate, said the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you. And I will be a father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters, said the Lord Almighty. So obviously that's quoting the Old Testament because even back then they were supposed to come out from among them and be separate. So God's always wanting his people to be separate from the world, but I believe what's being taught here is that we need to go far away. In our separation, we need to separate far, okay? Now, not to the point where we're gonna have a convent and we're not gonna actually go out into the world, okay? So we're supposed to be not of the world, but in the world, right? Or in the world, but not of the world. And so obviously when I'm talking about separating far, I'm not talking about like living out in like no man's land and like not being able to actually find civilization, okay? Like, you know what, all right, everybody, Mount Baptist Church, we're going to Alaska. Now that sounds awesome and it would be pretty cool, you know, to be like Dick Prenneke and build a cabin out in the middle of nowhere and we can just live out off the land and all that and just be away from all of this craziness. But that's not what I believe it's stating here. I believe it's stating that spiritually speaking, you know, we need to be separate from this world and far separate, okay? And that's why when it comes through your standards, you know, when it comes to like hair length, dress standards, all this stuff, don't just like try to tow the line because what's going to happen is you're going to end up crossing that line. The more that you're kind of separate from that line and try to get far away from that line, the better it's going to be, okay? And this isn't a sermon on standards, but it's just an idea there when it comes to being separate and coming out from among them is that spiritually speaking, you try to keep that pretty separate even though we're in this world and obviously God is sending us into this world, right? Just as much as the Father sent the Son into the world, Jesus is sending us into the world, you know, and to preach the gospel and to be in this world, but to keep us from the evil, okay? But in order to keep us from the evil, we have to guard our hearts and keep that separate from the world. Go to Luke chapter eight, last thing I'm going to show you here. Because in this world, when I think about what can happen to Christians, again, when you're dealing with the parable of the sower, you have three of these that are saved. One doesn't get saved. One, you know, basically hears it, but doesn't believe it. And then Satan takes the word away, lest they should believe and be saved. So that person's obviously not saved, but the rest I believe get saved. And the one in standing ground, that one just doesn't know deep doctrine. They're not rooted and grounded in the truth. And you know what? They get offended when tribulation comes, okay? But those that are rooted and grounded, I believe can be choked by this world. And notice what it says here in Luke chapter eight in verse 14, it says, And that which fell among thorns are they, which when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this light, and bring not fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. So what you have to do is you have to basically go far enough away to where you're in that good ground, getting away from all the thorns and the briars, okay? But if you don't go too far away, and you're close to the thorns and briars, they're just gonna come around and grab you and pull you back in, okay? And so that's why we always need to be careful on this, that we're going far away. When we separate, and we're coming out from among them and being separate, that we're taking a big stride out there, okay, to get separate from the world, and so that it doesn't pull us back in. So those are the plagues two, three, and four. So we had the first one last week, which is the water and the blood. Two is the frogs, three is the lice, and then four is the swarm of flies. So Lord willing, next week we'll be getting into some more of these plagues. And so these are fun to look at, but obviously in each one of these, I believe there's a lesson to be learned when it comes to things that apply to us, because we could just read these stories and be like, well, that would suck, you know, like the frogs, the flies and all that stuff. And I'm all for that, don't get me wrong. I like reading the Bible and be like, yeah, that's horrible. But that's fun to read, right? But obviously there's things that you can learn to use in your life. And when it comes to this, I think of, especially with the flies is the fact that, hey, we need to be separate, but we need to be far enough separate to where we don't get pulled back in. Because I can definitely, I've seen that happen to friends. I've seen that happen to good soul winners that used to be fruitful and they become unfruitful or they just get sucked back into the world. And it can happen to any single one of us. So we always have to be careful on this and just make sure that we're always trying to make that separation and keep far enough away to where we're not getting pulled back in. So let's end with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you today and thank you for your word and thank you for the book of Exodus and just pray that you'd help us to learn from it. And thank you for these stories. They're obviously awesome stories to read, but Lord, just help us to use them in our everyday lives. And Lord, we love you. And pray also in Jesus Christ's name, amen. So by the day, come and sing one more song and it'll be dismissed. All right, take your song books and turn to song 270. Song 270, if you would stand, we'll sing Just As I Am. Song 270. Just as I am without one plea But that thy blood was shed for me And that thou bidst me come To thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come Just as I am waiting not to rid my soul Of one dark blot to thee whose blood Can cleanse each sput, O Lamb of God, I come, I come Just as I am though tossed about