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Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Alright everybody, welcome to Shirk Foundation Baptist Church. You can find your seats and grab your song books. And turn to page number 136, we're going to be singing The Old Account Was Settled. Welcome to Shirk Foundation Baptist Church. If you can find your seats and grab your song books and turn to page 136 in your blue hymnals, we're going to be singing The Old Account Was Settled. Song 136, The Old Account Was Settled. In your blue hymn looks I'm singing on the first. There was a time on earth when in the book of heaven an old account was standing for sins yet unforgived. My name was at the top and many things below I went unto the keeper and settled long ago, long ago, long ago. Yes, the old account was settled long ago, hallelujah, and the record's clear today for he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago. Now I know you guys all know that hallelujah was pretty weak. You guys gotta step it up on this second. The old account was large and growing every day for I was always sinning and never tried to pay. But when I looked ahead and saw such pain and woe I said that I would settle, I settled long ago, long ago, long ago. Yes, the old account was settled long ago, hallelujah, and the record's clear today for he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago. Much better, keep it up on the third. When at the judgment bar I stand before my King and he the book will open, he cannot find a thing. Then will my heart be glad what tears of joys will flow because that I have settled and settled long ago, long ago, long ago. Yes, the old account was settled long ago, hallelujah, and the record's clear today for he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago. When in that happy home my Savior's home above I'll sing redemption's story and praise Him for His love. I'll not forget that book with pages wide as snow because I came and settled and settled long ago, long ago, long ago. Yes, the old account was settled long ago, hallelujah, and the record's clear today for he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago. O sinner, seek the Lord, repent, what the? He hath commanded, if you would enter in, and then if you should live a hundred years below, I will not regret yourself. Long ago, long ago, yes, the old account was settled long ago, hallelujah, and the record's clear today for he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago. Whoa, I don't know what's up with these new hymn books. Might need to mark that last line out. Good singing though. We'll make some edits. Brother Brandon, could you help us with a word of prayer? Amen. We're going to be doing favorites for our second. So if you have a favorite song in the blue hymn book, raise your hand. Miss Callie. You got to find it, brother Robert. 466. I don't think I know this one, brother Robert. You got to back up. Good night. It's a disaster up here today. We'll come back to the different one. You got a different one, Leilani? 95. Song number 95, the old rugged cross. Song number 95, let's get it together on the first. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross. Till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross. And exchange it someday for a crown. Miss Annie. 106. Lead me to Calvary. Song number 106, let's get it on the first. King of my life, I crown thee now. Thine shall the glory be. Lest I forget thy thorn, crown, brow. Lead me to Calvary. Lest I forget Gethsemane. Lest I forget thy nagony. Lest I forget thy love for me. Lead me to Calvary. 127 on the third. Glory to his name. Song 127 on the third. O precious fountain that saves from sin. I am so glad I have entered in. There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean. Glory to his name. Glory to his name. Glory to his name. There to my heart was the blood of life. Glory to his name. Brother Steven. 19. Jesus of the joy of living, song 19, let's get it on the first. I have found a wondrous savior. Jesus Christ the souls delight. Every blessing of his favor fills my heart with hope so bright. Jesus is the joy of living. He's the king of life to me. Unto him my all I'm giving is forevermore to be. I will do what he commands me. Anywhere he leads I'll go. Jesus is the joy of living. He's the dearest friend I know. Brother Brandon. 490 on the fourth. All right, let's sing it out together on the floor. Fierce may be the conflict. Strong may be the hope. But the king's own glory. None can overturn it. Round his standard raging. Victory is secure. For the truth unchanging makes the triumph sure. Joyful is the joy of living. For the truth unchanging makes the triumph sure. Joyfully enlisting by thy grace divine. We are on the Lord's side. Savior we are thine. Brother Chris. Don't pick faith of our fathers. It's still not ready. Song 359, let's sing it out on the first. I know not why God's wondrous grace to me hath made known. Nor why unworthy Christ in love he gave me for his own. But I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. Oh, CJ. 518. I'll fly away. Song 518. Song 518. Some glad morning when this life is o'er. I'll fly away to a home on God's celestial shore. I'll fly away. I'll fly away. Oh, glory. I'll fly away. When I die, hallelujah, by and by. I'll fly away. For Alex. 320. I'd rather have Jesus. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. I'd rather be his than have riches untold. I'd rather be his than have riches untold. I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands. I'd rather be led by his nail-pierced hair than to be the king of a vast domain. Or be held in sin's dread sway. I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today. Miss Sheila. 463 on the second. His eyes on the sparrow. Song 463 on the second. Let not your heart be troubled. His tender word I hear. And resting on his goodness. I lose my doubts and fears. Oh, by the path he leadeth. But one step I may see. His eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me. His eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. For his eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me. Miss Kayla. What was that? 320 on the third. And Callie, you will close it off for last. So I hope you found that song by now. 3.20 on the third. 3.20 on the third. I'd rather have Jesus. He's fairer than lilies. The rarest bloom. He's sweeter than honey from out of the comb. And all that my hungering spirit needs. I'd rather have Jesus. And let him be. Than to be the king of a vast domain. Or be held in sin's dread sway. I'd rather have Jesus than anything. His world aboard today. What's the last? 355. Trust and obey. Let's sing it out together in verse. When we walk with the Lord in the light of his word. What a glory he sheds on our way. While we do his good will. He abides with us still. And with all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey. For there's no other way. To be happy in Jesus. But to trust and obey. And upcoming events. We need a bulletin. Are we out of bulletins, guys? We got one more. All right. It goes to him. All right. On our front cover, we have our verse of the week. It says, prove all things. We'll bask that which is good. First Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 21. And our service times are 1030 a.m. For our Sunday morning service. Sunday evening service is 3.30 p.m. And we're in Exodus chapter 3. We'll finish off the chapter tonight. And then Thursday is our Bible study. And we're in, we're going to be in 2 Peter chapter 1 this coming Thursday. We had someone today. Did anybody have a salvation? Saturday. And so we got lots of time to choose from if you didn't get to go today. You can always choose a different time or place. On the Praise Report, you can see the salvation, baptisms. And speaking of baptisms, we have one to do tonight right after the service. So that's, praise God for that. And as far as the family photos go, I talked about that this morning. Please sign up in the WhatsApp group for your time slot. What is the cutoff date for the, is there a cutoff date that you have? Is it the end of November? She doesn't know. Okay. That's all right. So anyway, but please make sure that you're paying attention to what time you're supposed to be there and be there on time. And then it's not like a full-blown hour-long photo shoot. It's just a picture for your family. So, or a single person. You're a single person family. So any of you singles that want to give that beautiful face of yours to your family as a present, then, you know, it's a cheap present. So it's good. It's free. You don't have to pay anything for it. So anyway, and then we also have our field trip coming up this week. It's Wednesday at 10.15. It's in Eatonville, Washington. So it is two hours and 15 minutes north of here. And remember to pack a sack lunch for whoever you got going with you. And so, yeah, that's it. So it's this Wednesday at 10.15. The tour times are one and a half hours before lunch and one and a half hour after lunch. Obviously, you could probably leave anytime you want. So nobody's going to hold you there or anything like that. So if it becomes too much, you can just leave or whatever. It's fine. So and then November 20th, I'll be preaching in Spokane. That's next Sunday. Be visiting the new building. And so looking forward to that. And November 22nd is our midweek service. It's going to be changed to Tuesday. We're going to have a pie social. And so bring your best pie if you're coming. Bring a pie. We're not doing a competition. It just gets too ugly. So people hating on other people's pies is very ungodly. So the godly part is being able to partake of the pie and dwell in unity with this pie. So and if you're bringing pumpkin pie, bring some kind of whipped topping to put on top of it, because it's just wicked to not have pumpkin pie with whipped cream on it. Have you seen those memes where it's like there's like a little sliver of pumpkin pie, and like the whole rest of it's just like filled with whipped cream? That's the way I like it. Anyway, so that's going to be on Tuesday, the 22nd. So don't forget about that. November 27th is kids' Christmas choir practice beginning after the evening service that Sunday. So just keep that in mind. And then December 10th is the cookie exchange over at the bender's house. And that is at 1130 a.m. Please bring three dozen of your best cookies. So that will be a fun time for the ladies. And then December 25th is the, of course, Christmas day. And we're going to run an alternate schedule, 10 a.m. for the morning service. We're going to have the children singing for us, the children's choir. Then we'll have a primary dinner afterward. And then we'll have another service at 1 p.m. Kind of shortens the day up even further. There will probably be no someone even less. Somebody wants to go to the richest neighborhood and then knock those doors. I'm sure that will be very receptive that day. No, I'm just joking. Anyway, don't forget to download the Romans Road app. And remember the dates for the King James Conference and all the other stuff. I think we've already sang happy birthday to everybody. Happy birthday today to Kylie. That's my daughter-in-law. So I'll say it twice to her. But yeah, so that's all I got for announcements. Let's sing another song. We'll receive the opportunity. All right. Our next song will be Psalm 15. You can turn in your Bibles if you have a KJV one there. Or you can use the folders that are in front of you. Psalm 15. Psalm 15. Let's sing it together on the first. Who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue nor doeth evil to his neighbor nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. He that backbiteth not with his tongue in whose eyes a vile person is content but he honoreth them that fear the Lord in whose eyes a vile person is content but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that swearth to his own hurt and changeth not he that putteth not out his money to usury. He that swearth to his own hurt and changeth not he that putteth not out his money to usury. Nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved. Nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved. Lord who shall abide in thy tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy hill. Amen. Good seeing you, Brother Moan. Could you bless the offering for us? Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Go ahead and open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 3. Exodus chapter number 3. If you don't have a Bible, raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring you one. Exodus chapter 3. Exodus 3, the Bible reads, Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared on him in a flame of fire out of the mist of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the mist of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of the land unto a good land and a large unto a land flowing with milk and honey unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me. And I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, Certainly I will be with thee, and this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee. When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am, hath sent me unto you. And God said, Moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt. And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. And they shall hearken to thy voice, and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us, and now let us go. We beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders, which I will do in the midst thereof, and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it shall come to pass that when you go, you shall not go empty. But every woman shall borrow of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters, and ye shall spoil the Egyptians. Amen. All right, we're in Exodus chapter 30, and last week we didn't get very far. We only got four verses in, so we're going to start from five, and we'll finish the whole chapter here tonight. And so, yeah, that's quite a few verses, isn't it? And, yeah, just buckle up, take some herbal tea, go to sleep, whatever you need to do. So, anyway, the title of the sermon is The Great I Am, The Great I Am. So verse number five says, And he said, Draw not thy hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place wherein thou standest is holy ground. Now, I just want to talk about this real quickly. So, what makes this ground holy ground? Is it just holy by itself, and, you know, every once in a while you'll just step on a place and you just don't realize it, but the place that you're standing on is holy ground. You need to take your shoes off and, you know, put your Dixie Cup on your head or whatever. Whatever, you know, you got to take off your shoes, because that's what it says, right? God tells them to take your shoes off. So what's holy about the ground? Well, the fact that God is meeting with man in that location is what makes the ground holy. It's not the man that's on there, obviously, because he tells them to take his shoes off. And so God is what makes the ground holy. Anytime you ever see that in the Scripture, it's because God met with somebody in that place. That's what makes the ground holy. And remember that the bush was burning and yet was not consumed. God is calling Moses here to minister unto the children of Israel and to be the one that leads the children of Israel out of Egypt into the promised land. And so that's what makes it holy. But anyway, verse number six, Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people, which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. Now, so God is basically responding to what? He's responding to the affliction and the cry of the people. Remember this morning I mentioned how the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Well, when you're going through a hard time, when you're going through affliction of some kind, you're going through persecution, you're going through bad health, you're going through some kind of trial in your life, that seems to up the ante when people will pray harder to God. And so God does like it when you mean your prayer, when your prayer has meaning to it. Obviously, I'm not saying that if you just do like a regular prayer where you're not being that fervent, God's not going to listen to you. But I think that he takes those things more seriously. It seems to me that when he starts hearing their cry, that means they're, you know, and cry doesn't necessarily mean that they're weeping, although they might have been, but weeping is different than crying in the Bible. The Bible, when it talks about crying, it's like they're crying out, like they're saying something in a loud voice, like, God, would you just help us? And so it says that I've heard by the reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. Now remember, it wasn't too long after Jacob went back to Egypt. It was about 30 years when they started persecuting and treating the children of Israel roughly. And then, what, they've been there about 400 years, 430 years at this point. And so 430 years, they were bond servants in Egypt. And it just got worse and worse and worse until at one point they said, just throw the children in the river. Throw the men children in the river, and then basically it's gotten so bad that God's like, okay, I gotta do something now because things are getting a lot worse for these people. And obviously if you're having to throw your son into a river and drown them or have these people, these midwives, kill your children, well, that's gonna make people cry out a little more, isn't it? And it talks about here the reason of their taskmasters. So apparently they're treating them roughly too, so they're already being made to work basically for free. They're probably getting food and provisions and a place to sleep or whatever, but they're greatly oppressed. They're greatly afflicted. They're in slavery. And the word slavery I think is only found in the King James Bible one time. Servant is used in all the other places, but these people are under hard bondage. This is slavery. This is forced labor. They have forced them to serve them with rigor, the Bible says. And rigor is when you're working really hard and you don't have an option. And these taskmasters are probably whipping them or hitting them or beating them to get them to do the job that they want to do. But notice at the end of verse 7 how it says, For I know their sorrows. And remember God, He knows what we're going through. He has seen the affliction that we've gone through, and He understands our sorrows. I preached about this a little bit on Thursday night. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 53 verse 3. So God understands the plight of mankind because He became a man, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He was tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin. And the Bible says, To cast your cares upon Him, for He careth for you. So it's not like God, even though He's the God of heaven and earth, He always has been, He always will be, He created us, we are His creation, everything that's on this planet or in the solar system or whatever you want to call it, God made those things. Everything consists because of Him, and yet He cares for the individual person in this world. He cares for us. And it says, I know their sorrows. And Isaiah 53 verse 3, and this is of course talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, it says, He is despised and rejected of men. See, a lot of people rejected Him today, but you know what? What are we looking for when we go out there? We're looking for that diamond in the rough, that one person in that rich neighborhood that we're in that wants to get saved. We had a lot of people out today, but we did find that one pearl of great price that Alejandra found, the oyster that needed to be cracked open, and she's like, that's awesome, right? I mean, in that neighborhood, I mean seriously, there was some pretty nice neighborhood. I think it was like one of those neighborhoods where you have to cut your grass a certain way and you can't have anything else. What are they called? H-O-A. It was something like that, yeah. So anyway, but it says, He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. So He knows our sorrows. God knew the sorrows of the children of Israel, and it says, talking about Jesus Christ, He was rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised and we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs. So the grief that we carry, the hardness that we carry, the hard times that we go through, He's borne all that and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But God has big shoulders. God can carry a lot more weight and a lot more grief and a lot more sin than any of us could ever carry, and you know, as a matter of fact, if we don't, if God doesn't lighten that load for us, we're not gonna go to heaven. So if God doesn't take away our sin, which He's already paid for everybody's sin, but you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. It's not just like, well, you know, I've always been a Christian. We hear that answer at the door all the time, don't we? I've just always been a Christian. No, you haven't, because it's a choice you have to make. You might have been raised in a Christian home, but that doesn't mean you've always been a Christian. To be a Christian, you have to be saved. You have to put your faith in Christ, and then He saves you. He gives you the gift of everlasting life, a gift that you can never lose, and you become one of His children. We'll talk about that more later, but let's look back in our text in verse number 8. So we're gonna want to put a bookmark or something there in Exodus chapter 3. Look at verse number 8. I'm already, I'm on a roll here. We're already three verses in. Anyway, it says, And I am come down to deliver them, so He knows their sorrows. He's heard their cries. I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the land unto a good land and a large unto a land flowing with milk and honey unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. So all these ites, they're gonna take over their land. So they're living in that land, and God's gonna kick them out and replace them with the children of Israel. And you're like, How dare God kick these people out of this, these indigenous people out of these areas? Well, I guess God's a colonizer, isn't He? So, yeah, and they weren't really necessarily from there. They're all, everybody's from Noah's Ark on the mountains of Ararat. That's where the indigenous people, every single nation that's represented in this world, every single person that lives all scattered around the world, your original indigenous place was the mountains of Ararat when Noah and his three sons got off that ark. And then they spread all out throughout the whole world. So don't give me this indigenous people's thing. Nobody was always in South America. Nobody was always in North America. Nobody was always in, people branched out from Noah's Ark, okay? So I'm just really getting tired of this whole critical race theory and how people are trying to turn each other against each other because of the pigment of their skin. That's just stupid, folks. Quit buying into that garbage. So it says, Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come unto me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. See, God is anti-oppression. God is anti-sin. So the problem with the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, all these different tribes that it's talking about is not what color of skin they have. It's what they're doing. It's the acts that they're performing. They're literally worshiping the devil. They're sacrificing their children to devils. They are committing sodomy. They are committing adultery. They're committing fornication. They're breaking God's commandments. They're breaking the laws of God, and God says, You know what? I've had enough of them. So I'm going to take these people, which are my people, and I'm going to replace them with my children. So obviously the nation of Israel in the Old Testament is a spiritual nation, but it's also a physical nation. It's actually a group of people that are from Abraham's loins. They're from Isaac's loins. They're from Jacob's loins. So they literally are the children of Israel, the children of Abraham, but they've become mighty and increased in the land because the more that they were afflicted, the more they increased, which is of course a picture of Christians thriving when we go through persecution. So anyway, God is anti-oppression. He is not for oppressed, people being oppressed. You know, obviously sometimes we kind of reap what we sow, but as a whole, God is just not some person that's just like trying to make people have a miserable life or something. He's against slavery. People want to say, Well, God, you know, your Bible teaches slavery. Really? So why is God freeing a bunch of people that are enslaved right here? Because he's just pro-slavery? So there's a difference between an indentured servant or someone that works for somebody and a slave. A slave is someone that has been captured or in some way, shape, or form, and they are forced to work for somebody. That's enslavement, okay? And that's what's going on with the children of Israel here, and God said, You know what? I'm sick of this, and I've heard the cry of the people, and I'm going to visit them. Didn't he tell Joseph, I'm going to visit you? He told Abraham, I'm going to visit the children of Israel. He predicted everything in Genesis chapter 17 to Abraham. He told him all this stuff was going to happen. But now God is trying to take this oppression away from the children of Israel, but, you know, here's the funny thing. When you're talking about the picture of Egypt being the world, the world is what we are called out of. So when someone, this is a picture, you know, when they're being taken out of the Promised Land, I mean to the Promised Land from Egypt, Egypt is the world. Egypt represents the world in the Scriptures, and then when these children of Israel are enslaved, that represents that they're enslaved to sin. Because every single person in this world, before they're saved, they are enslaved to sin. So this is a picture of being saved. So once they leave and go, you know, they leave and go to the Promised Land, the Promised Land represents, you know, like the Christian life after that. But, you know, being saved is this picture of being freed from Egypt, being freed to go serve the Lord, right? So, you know, people act like God wants to just oppress everybody. Oh, you got all these rules. God has all these rules. He just wants, who wants to serve God because he just has all these rules. Oh, well, like, thou shalt not kill. Well, you think that's a good one to break? Is it you should just go around killing people all the time? Of course nobody believes that, unless you're some kind of a psycho. Nobody believes that it's okay to just go and steal everybody's stuff. I know the Democrats thought it was a great idea, you know, and now look at Portland. Now look at what's creeping in over in Vancouver. Now you got people just camped in people's neighborhoods just stealing everything blind from everybody and then the police doing nothing about it. Congratulations, you got what you voted for. And then there's like, oh, I mean, not that Republicans are going to help either, but I'm just saying that people just, they think that they want something and then when they get what they wanted, it's not exactly how they thought it was going to end up being. So, you know, God's holding you back. Yeah, he's holding you back. He wants to hold you back from disease, so stop fornicating. He wants to hold you back from getting AIDS and monkey pox and all these other diseases that are out there. And so, you know, doesn't it make sense to not be some kind of a whore or whoremonger? I mean, if you're going around sleeping with everything and anybody and whatever, then you're going to pick up some diseases. So God's not holding you back from something and he's trying to help you to not ruin your life or to not have to explain to somebody, oh, by the way, I got this disease that there is no cure for. Do you still want to marry me? No, I don't. So that's the problem is that God wants to, you know, he wants to keep us from ruining our lives. He doesn't want you to murder somebody. He doesn't want you to rape or kidnap or enslave anybody. So, and think about this, like, people that are addicts, aren't they enslaved to their addiction? There's a lot of things that people can be addicted to, but the addict is enslaved by that addiction and the sinner is enslaved and held back from blessings because of their rebellion to God. And so God wants to free people from their slavery and lead them out of slavery into a place where they can enjoy their lives and enjoy being saved and the blessings that God wants to put upon us, right? So how can God, if you're saved and you're still like just enslaved to all the sin, you know, God wants to break you free from that. He wants to put us in a good land. He wants to put us in a land that's flowing with milk and honey. But, you know, sometimes it's hard to bless people when they just won't stop doing wrong and doing evil. And God will punish people. Obviously, I don't want you to confuse this with work salvation, but because once you're saved, you can still be enslaved to things. Now obviously, you're saved. You're never gonna be unsaved if you're saved, but people do choose to keep themselves into bondage by just committing the same sins and those sins will get you locked up. You know, God doesn't want to be officer God. He wants to be graceful. He wants to be merciful. He wants to give you milk and honey and all these blessings, but we kind of make it hard sometimes. We make it hard sometimes for God to bless us and it's just, I mean, think of this object lesson just for a second. So say you have two different children. Some of you do have more than one or two children and which child are you most likely to be favorable with? The one that always does what they're told, that always cleans their room, that always, you know, whenever you ask them to do something, they're pretty much obeying most of the time. Or the child that throws fits, doesn't want to do anything, is lazy, refuses to do what you're told, mouths off, which one is the more blessed child? I mean, unless you're just, you like being controlled by your children for all the bad stuff that they do, I mean, you're gonna choose the child, you know, you're gonna give favor to the child that's doing the most right. Now obviously you still love both children. I'm not saying that you don't. But, you know, it's a rest to your soul when your children obey you, isn't it? And, you know, some children are different. You know, some children are more behaved than others. That's a fact. So let's look back at our text, Exodus 3, verse 10. And so God is, you know, preparing Moses here. Exodus 3, 10 says, Come now, therefore I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. So he's sending Moses. What does that remind you of? God is sending Moses into Pharaoh that he might bring forth my people out of Egypt. So obviously that's a picture of Moses picturing Christ because Christ was sent to the world, Egypt. And what was his mission to do? To stop us from being enslaved in our sin and to save our souls, right? So Moses pictures Jesus here and then he's supposed to bring them forth. Well, what happens when you bring, it says bring forth my people. So what would that represent? Well, being saved, right? Because when you're brought forth, you're a son or a daughter. Like that's, a lot of times in the scripture it'll say when they brought forth their firstborn son or whatever it is. And so that term bring forth is also a reference to salvation and they're called his children and his people, right? So it doesn't say bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. So they're called the children, they're called his people, and again, Egypt again pictures the world and the sinful life. And who would Pharaoh represent? The antichrist or the devil? Either one, take your pick. So he's the wicked person that's causing this oppression to happen. He's having his minions, you know, hit them with taskmasters and really put them into cruel bondage. Turn to Galatians chapter four, verse three. Galatians chapter four, verse number three. Galatians 4, three says, even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. So I mean, this should definitely give us a parallel here to Moses and, you know, we were his children, in bondage under the elements of the world, when the fullness of time was come, God said how long it would be for the children of Israel to be enslaved in the land, right? 400 years, or whatever, 430 years. And God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. So Moses was sent forth, Christ was sent forth. So, and then it says in verse five, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. Isn't that basically what Exodus 3, 10 was saying? Bring forth my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt. So, and because you are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father, wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son. You see that? So there's the picture right there for you. Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son. So that's why God, you know, so that's why God uses that picture there. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. So God called the children of Israel out to what? Serve him, to worship him, to be his people, to be his children, right? And that's what God calls everybody in the world to do, is to come out from the world and be saved. And then God will bless your life the way, because you are serving him, right? Because he told him, hey, I want you to go out and serve in the wilderness three days or whatever. So, now turn to 1 John 2, verse 15. 1 John 2, verse 15. See, they're called not to just, you know, break free from Egypt, but to leave them, to leave Egypt. And he didn't want them to go back there. If you remember in Jeremiah, when he said, they asked Jeremiah, hey, will you ask the Lord whether we should go to Egypt or not? And then he's like, you guys aren't gonna obey anyway, so why would I tell you? And then they're like, no, we will obey, we will. And then he's just like, okay. And then three days later, he gets his answer from God and he says, you know, don't go to Egypt, blah, blah, blah. And they're like, thou speakest falsely, Jeremiah. It's just like, okay. So he told them, though, not to go back to Egypt, though they were gonna get killed. And what did they do? They went back to Egypt and got killed. So God doesn't want us going back to the world. Once we've left the world, once we've left Egypt, he wants us to stay away from it. Look at what, and remember, the world is picturing Egypt. Look at 1 John 2, verse 15, it says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. So you're like, well, I thought God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Yeah, he loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Everybody has their chance to be saved. God does love everybody at a certain point. But what are you gonna say about the people he throws into hell? Does he still love that person? He doesn't love that person when he throws them into hell. No parent in this room ever throws their children in the oven for not cleaning their room. Do they? Hopefully not. I don't see any burn scars from anybody. But because that's just weird. You're not gonna throw your own children into a fire unless you got something seriously wrong with you. So God is not gonna do the same thing either. So God says, so the Bible says here, love not the world, neither the things that are of the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. So the things in the world, what affect us the most? Well, the lust of the flesh, the things that we want to heap upon ourselves, the lust of our eyes, everything that goes into our eye gates, and there's lots of things to lust after in this world, and the pride of life. Pride is one of those things that God just cannot stand. And so we have a real hard battle because what happened to the children of Israel later on, they wanted to go back to those things because they missed some of the things that they got in the world. So that lust of their eyes, that lust, the pride of life starts to hit people back, and it's a real hard battle that Christians have to go through. Look at verse 17, it says, the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. So God wants us to just keep the things in mind that those things are gonna go away. So quit dwelling on the things that you lust after and try to overcome that stuff. When you forsake the world, then God will bless your life. Do you want your life to be blessed or do you want your life to be cursed? Because he'll still give out cursings in this life. Obviously God's gonna punish us in this life, but he'll never throw us in hell. But you could still have a rough go at it. You could still have a rough life here as a saved person and still have kind of a miserable life when it comes to that. You could be a saved, miserable person. And we don't wanna do that. That's like why we preach so much about like not falling into sin, not going back into sin, trying to overcome your sinfulness. Turn to James chapter four, verse four. James chapter four, verse four. In James chapter four, verse four, it says, ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. So as a Christian, if you're the friend of the world, what am I talking about? I'm talking about the wicked parts of the world. And yes, that would include your friends that don't love God, that don't love Jesus, that still want you to, they're still gonna try to drag you and pull you and magnetize you back to your old life. And so it's sad when you have to give up a friend that might be a lifelong friend, but if they don't wanna get saved, if they don't wanna believe, then that person, you shouldn't try to continue to maintain some big friendship with that person when they're not saved, because what's the Bible say? It says if you are a friend of the world, you're the enemy of God. Who wants to be the enemy of God? Here, raise your hand. Anybody wanna be the enemy of God? Because we've seen what he has done to other people in the Bible, unbelievers, what he's gonna do to the people that won't believe. They're gonna get cast into hell. So that's a God that I would fear. That's a person I would fear. And you're like, well, I've never heard this stuff about Christianity that you're supposed to be afraid. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, folks. To fear the Lord, I fear a lot, there's a lot of things that I fear, but the one thing I fear the most is God. So if I do something wrong, I'm not afraid of anybody else's consequences necessarily, but the main thing I'm concerned about is if I'm offending God, that should be our main concern. Obviously, if you do some kind of criminal act, you should fear being in trouble for that, but God is probably gonna make sure more than anybody else that a Christian that does something like that, that breaks the law in some kind of bad way is gonna get punished for what they do. Turn back to Exodus 3, verse 11. Exodus 3, 11 says, And Moses said unto God, Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? So, you know, the Bible talks about Moses being the meekest man on the face of the earth. Later on, we'll see that possibly in some cross-referencing, but Moses is a very meek man, and meekness is not weakness. We know that Moses has a hot temper also. So Moses breaks the Ten Commandments when he comes down because he sees the children of Israel doing wrong. He, you know, he asks God to open, you know, to do some great thing and kill all the people that are going against him, and hell opens up and they drop into hell. Moses, you know, he gets upset, but just because you get upset about something or you get mad about something doesn't mean that you're weak, but, you know, he's still the meekest man on the face of the earth. When the people of Korah and the rebellion of Korah came at him, what's the first thing that he did? He fell to his face. You know, that's humble, that's meekness, and, you know, God showed everybody whose side he was on in that battle, and Korah, as he's screaming, falling into hell, he's not the one that God picked, right? He picked Moses. Moses is his man. So it says, let's see, verse 12, And he said, Certainly I will be with thee, and this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee, when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt. Ye shall serve God upon this mountain. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. So, and a lot of people, there's a lot of different discourses about what this means exactly, but I believe it's talking about him being the self-existing one. God has always been, God always will be. He's from before time ever existed. He just always has been, and he always will be. People are like, well, where did God come from? What do you mean he's always been here? What do you mean where did he come from? I mean, that's just a question that doesn't make sense because if he's always been here and always will be, then where did he come from? Well, he's always been. I don't know how to explain it any more than that, but that warps people's brain. They're just like, I don't know. I don't know if I can believe in something like that. Well, look, we're here. We're all existing because God made us, because God made Adam and Eve, and they brought forth their children, and the whole world was populated, then the great flood happened, then Noah and his sons repopulated the earth. So, I mean, everything that you see out here is made by God. What do you mean you don't understand how that could be? Well, obviously, things that are made proves that there's a maker. It's not rocket science, folks. It didn't just happen on accident that we just happened to be spinning around and going around the sun or whatever at this perfect speed where the sun's up for 12 hours and the sun's down for 12 hours, the 24-hour days, all these different things that have to be perfectly in place for us to even survive in space, and God just made it to all work together, and the stars in their courses, the waves, and all the way that God made the pathways and the sea and just trees and ecosystems. That didn't happen on accident. You can't make your own little ecosystem unless you're God. You can make a terrarium or whatever, but guess what? The stuff is already made by pre-existing materials that God made. You can make all that little stuff that's cool or whatever, but someone made that stuff, and it wasn't you. All the stuff, all the matter that was all made was made by God in the first six days. So God is the self-existing one. Turn to John 1.1. Now, what I'm about to teach you is, you know, obviously we believe in the Trinity at this church, the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost. These three are one, and then asking how to explain that, well, I mean, one plus one plus one equals three in my math equations, but one plus one plus one when it comes to God equals one. So how do you explain that? I don't know. I don't know how to explain that, but, you know, what I do know is that we're made up of body, soul, and spirit. Can you see inside yourself? Do you see what your soul looks like? Have you ever seen, have you ever like opened up your mouth in the mirror and just like looked to see your spirit? No, because you can't see it. People are like, I've never thought of that. You still can't see it. You can look deep down inside, but you still can't see it. It's invisible, right? But we do know that there's something inside of us that makes us who we are. We're all unique. We're all God's creation, but there's nobody like you in this world. You might have doppelgangers. I always say this. You might have a doppelganger out there that kind of looks like you, you know, and we like to make, me and Pastor Jones, we like to find pictures of people that look kind of like us, and then we'll like send them to each other. But they might look a little bit like us, but they don't look exactly like us because you're unique. God made you to be unique. Look at John 1.1. It says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. It's talking about Jesus. This is John, the Gospel of John. In the beginning was the Word. The Word is who? Jesus, right? And he was in the beginning with God, and it says, and he was God. How do you explain that? Well, you don't, but you know what? The Bible tells you what to believe, and you're either going to believe it or you're not going to believe it. You're either going to accept what God says or you're not going to. So what are you going to accept? That we just happen to explode and then we're all here? And then this earth is billions of years old? That's garbage. That's just not true. And that the dinosaurs, you know, all farted themselves to death? That's one theory. I'm not kidding. That is an actual theory. Or that monkeys surfed over here, and that's how monkeys came over to South America by surfing? Okay. I mean, when your theories are dumb, then the theories on how these things took place are dumb also. So, you know, last time I checked, you can still find lizards. Lizards were just big giant animals that lived with Adam and Eve and lived in the earlier parts of the earth before the flood happened and changed everything. Anyway, I'm not getting into that. It's too far. I've got too much to do still here. But let's look back at Exodus 3.15. It says, And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me unto you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. So, you know, God, He says that He is that I am. I am that I am. I am the self-existing one. I am the Lord God. So, you'll notice in the Bible, in the book of John, that there's a lot of I am statements. And Jesus doesn't do this by accident. Why is He saying these statements in the Scriptures about Him being I am? And then the Jews are picking up stones to throw at them. Why are they trying to pick up stones to throw at them? Well, because the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. So, the Word is Jesus. He is God manifest in the flesh. He was born of the Virgin Mary, and His Father was who? God. So, He is also God. You're like, well, what about the human part? Well, He was part human, too. He was 100 percent man, 100 percent God. He was the God-man, Jesus Christ. So, in the New Testament, we have several I am statements. Most people will say there's seven, but there are actually probably more than seven I am statements. As a matter of fact, I counted more, so I'm not even going to give the number, but there are several I am statements found in the Scriptures. And they're found in the book of John. So, John 6.35 says that Jesus is the bread of life. And John 8.12 says He's the light of the world. John 10.7 says that He's the door. John 10.11 and 14 say He's the Good Shepherd. And then the resurrection and the life in verse 11, verse 25. And then the way, the truth, and the life, that's three things. John 14.6 and the true vine, John 15, verse 1. So, all those times He says I am, and then He says whatever that thing was. So, let's look at these individually. So, number one, the first one I want to have you turn to is John 6.30. John 6.30. So, why am I doing this? Well, I want you to understand that when God appeared to Moses, it's the same God that appears to men in the flesh in the book of John. In the book, you know, Jesus Christ is I am. Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ was before existence also. And I'll show you that in the last couple of verses that I have you turn to. But John 6.30, where it says He's the bread of life, look what it says in John 6.30. It says, They said therefore unto him, What sign showest thou then that we may see and believe thee? What dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, and it was written he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he that cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. And they say unto him, Lord evermore, give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. So they're asking him these questions. They're saying, hey, our fathers, you know, got this bread from heaven. And Jesus tells them, I am that bread from heaven. I am the bread of life. I am the bread that came down from heaven, and if you have that bread of life, you shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. So, you know, when Moses goes and tells everybody that I AM has sent, anyway, brother Chris, how you doing? Sorry, man. All right, wake up. Sorry to be embarrassing you, but it's getting kind of loud. All right, so anyway, I was going to be polite, but then I decided I better be rude. But anyhow, so let's see. So Jesus says, you know, so he has these I AM statements. You know, God goes to Moses. He says, tell him I AM has sent you. And then Jesus here dealing with the Pharisees that say they believe in Moses. They say they believe the word of God. And then every time he tells them who he is, they want to try to kill him. Every time he says who he is, they get upset about it. John 8.12, John 8.12. I'm going to try to do all these in order for you, as the order that they appear in the Scriptures. But when you're talking about I AM, he's telling them I AM. He's explained to them who he is. He is the God of their fathers. He is the God of Abraham. He is the God of Isaac. He is the God of Jacob. Verse 12, John 8 says, Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. So he says, I AM the light of the world. Now, the light of the world was made. God said, let there be light in the book of Genesis chapter 1. And that wasn't the sun. Now, the sun does represent, in a way, Jesus Christ, obviously. But that wasn't made until day 4. The light of the world is Jesus. So when he said, let there be light, that's the Word of God speaking light into existence. So it says in Isaiah chapter 9, 2, I won't have you turn there. It says the people, and I think that that's what he's quoting here, or that he's alluding to in Isaiah 9, 2, it says, The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shined. So that was obviously a scripture that's foretelling the coming of the Messiah. People that walked in darkness have seen a great light. So Jesus is saying, I am the light of the world. The same light that Isaiah was talking about in Isaiah 9 is the same light. I'm that same light. Now let's look at the door. I am the door. That's number 3. John 10, 7. John 10, 7. It says in John 10, 7, Then said Jesus unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. So what does that mean? Well, that means that there's no other way for the sheep to get into heaven. So Jesus is the door. He's the only way to get in. And he mentions this kind of stuff quite often in the Bible. But he's saying he's the door. So if you only have one way to get in, who is that person? That's Jesus Christ. He is the door. I am the door of the sheep. We are the sheep of his flock. If you're saved, then Jesus is our shepherd. As a matter of fact, in verse 11, look down at verse 11, it says, I am the good shepherd. So that's the fourth I am statement made in the book of John. It says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. So how did he become that door? Well, he gave his life for the sheep. And so nobody else has ever given their life and redeemed us from sin. Only Jesus Christ has done that. And so he said there's other people that have come before him, but they are thieves and robbers. There's only one way to get to heaven. Buddha didn't have the right way. You know, all these other false gods that came before, they didn't have the right way. You know, Jesus came at a specific time for a specific reason. In the fullness of time, God sent his son. So just because there's older gods than him or whatever, gods, small g, doesn't mean that they're right gods. These are devils. That's what the Bible teaches, they're devils. So you're like, well, you're saying all Buddhists are going to hell? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Do I want them all to go to hell? Absolutely no, I don't want them to go to hell. But, you know, if they're not believing the right thing, then they're not going to go to heaven. You can't just believe whatever you want and you go to heaven. That's not how it works. You're like, well, I don't want to go to heaven. Well, I'm sorry, there's no other place, there's no other option. You know, they teach that in Buddhism that you just come back as something else. You know, if you were bad in this life, then you come back as something, you know, and you come back as something that's not as cool or whatever. You come back as an earthworm or something. You know, maybe you were mean to people and you come back as whatever. But that's not what the Bible teaches. There's no such thing as reincarnation. The Bible says it's a point of demand once to die and after this the judgment. It's not a point of demand once to die and then you turn into a snake and then you turn into a frog and then you turn into a goat or whatever it is. That's all trash. It's not true. So, look at verse 14. I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. So he knows those that are saved and people that are saved know him. Isn't that what it's saying? Number five, he is the resurrection and the life. Look at John 11, 25. So number five, he calls himself the resurrection and the life, which are basically the same thing. When you get resurrected, that means you have life, right? So you're dead, then resurrection means that you're made alive again, right? I am the resurrection and the life. Jesus said unto her, verse 25, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die, believeth thou this. He's saying he is the only way to get to heaven. I am the resurrection and the life. And if you believe in him, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, even if you die, your body dies, you shall live again one day. And whosoever shall believeth in me shall never die. And so that's what we have to believe in order to be saved. You know, God makes it easy for us to be saved. That's the nice thing about it, is that salvation is easy. It's not hard. We make it hard. People make it hard. Because people are just, when we have a chance to screw something up, we just do. You know, we make a lot of mistakes. But some people just sin away their day of grace when we walk up to their door. You know, they shut the door in our face, or they say, I'm not interested, or whatever, and what are they doing? They're just rejecting God. And that's sad. It's sad because the light of the world is appearing at their door. This great shepherd is appearing at their door, and I'm not saying you are that. I'm saying in the book we're going to show them these things. The great I AM has come to their door. You know, Moses had a burning bush appear to him or whatever, and he was sent off to the children of Israel. But you know what? Every time we go knock on someone's door, a burning bush is appearing at their door, too. They might not look at it that way, but that is what's happening. The great I AM is visiting their door through the mouth of prophets that are going to preach the word of God to somebody to try to get them saved. And they're like, I don't believe in that God. I don't want to believe in him. I want to just keep shining my boat for the 15th time this month or whatever. You know, Jesus says He's the way, the truth, and the life. Look at John 14.6. John 14.6, it says, Jesus saith unto him, I AM the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. So Jesus here is saying, I AM the way. What way? The only way. It's not like I'm a way, a truth, a life. If you do whatever you believe, it doesn't matter if you believe in me. No, that's not what it's saying. It's saying, I AM the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. You're not getting to heaven any other way than through Jesus. Isn't that what He's saying? And then in John 15.1, He says He's the true vine. John 15.1, I AM the true vine and my Father is the husbandman. So Jesus Christ is the vine that reaches out and, you know, if you take that fruit into you, you'll be saved. He's the true vine. The only one that can actually bring forth true fruit is God because, you know, obviously we can bring forth people through soul winning and things like that but how are we doing that? How are we accomplishing that? Through the true vine. See, as long as we're abiding in that vine and we're doing the will of God, then we are helping to bring forth fruit but obviously we save people but only because they believe on Christ through the word preached to them. But who's really saving them? It's Jesus Christ, of course. So people like criticize us for that kind of stuff but you all know that. And then let me show you some proof that Jesus Christ is referring to Himself as God because people say Jesus never claimed to be God. Well how about saying multiple times, I AM. Do you think that's accidentally? He's not saying that accidentally. He's saying that because why was the book of John written? Does anybody know why John was written? That we would believe. What, that Jesus is the Son of God? That Jesus Christ is God? Why does John 1-1 start off with telling us that the word was God? In verse 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. It's telling us that because that's what it wants us to believe, right? So why would we think it's weird when He's sitting there referring to Himself as the I AM? Because this is what He told Moses. This is what He's telling people in the New Testament. I AM. He's saying He's that same I AM. Look at John chapter 8 verse 56. John chapter 8 verse 56. It says in John 8 56, it says, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. How long ago did Abraham live? Anybody know? Well, Moses lived 3,500 years ago. So Abraham was, you know, way before that. I didn't write it down, sorry. But it's been, I mean, so 4,400 years ago there was a flood. Abraham was how much longer after the flood? No, it's about 4,000 years ago or maybe, I don't know, something like that. So anyway, but thousands of years old, okay, that's my point. So Jesus said that Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it and was glad. That, I mean, there's a lot to that verse there. But what he's saying is Abraham wanted to see my day. What day? The day that Jesus Christ the Messiah was walking on the face of the earth. The day that Jesus Christ was going to die for the sins of the whole world. And to see the great things that He did. And it says, and he saw it and was glad. And was glad. So obviously Abraham is still alive. Obviously Abraham can see things. He saw the day, whatever that means, the day that Jesus was born. Maybe see my day, see the times of the days of his life or whatever. And he saw it and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, thou art not yet fifty years old and thou hast seen Abraham. Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was what? What does it say? I am. Is there any doubt that that's what he's talking about? He is saying he is I am. Which was who appeared to Moses at the burning bush, right? So there's no doubt there. I mean, there's just no denying that. Then took they up stones to cast at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple going through the midst of them and so passed by. See, they're always trying to pick up stones. Why were they picking up stones? Because he's making himself equal with God. By saying that he is I am, he's making himself equal with God. Okay, that's why. And so they're saying that that's blasphemy. But the Bible does teach that Jesus Christ is God. The Bible does teach that he's the Son of God. The Bible does teach that he's the Savior. The Bible says in Isaiah that there is no Savior besides me. I am the Lord. And it also says, you know, tell them I am has set you. I am that I am. And then Jesus is like, before Abraham was I am. Abraham lived 4,000 years ago. So Jesus is before the time he was born on this earth as a human being. Okay. Turn to John chapter 18 verse 5. John chapter 18 verse 5. We're almost done here. John chapter 18 verse 5. Final, famous last words. We're almost done here. Just take it. John chapter 18 verse 5. They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. So they're in the Garden of Gethsemane. They're like, who are you looking for? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Who are you looking for? Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground. So they said, you know, this is who we're looking for, and he said, I am he, and they all fell backward. It wasn't like a Benny Hinn, you know, telephone or something where he's whipping people with coats. His word has power. When he says, I am he, they just fall backwards, right? Then ask he them again, whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he. If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way. So he says this multiple times, I am he, and then that first time, they fall to the ground. So obviously, there's something to the I am of Jesus in the book of John. There's a reason why he says all that stuff. He's not saying that stuff on accident. And he's not pretending to be somebody he's not. He is the great I am. And again, remember that John is written so that people might believe and be saved. And so all these things are added in here for our admonition and for us to understand the truth. Back to our text, Exodus 3.16, it says, Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and of Jacob appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you and seen that which is done to you in Egypt. And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt and the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and Jebusites unto a land flowing with milk and honey, and they shall hearken to thy voice. And thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt. And ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us. And now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. That's pretty interesting, three days' journey. What else happened, what took three days? Jesus Christ, you know, being three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. I don't know, maybe there's a little tie there. But verse 19, And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders, which I do in the midst thereof, and after that he will let you go. But isn't this funny how after you get saved, though, when you get saved and you're a new Christian, you know, it's like he's not gonna wanna let you go. They get that salvation, then the devil does not wanna let you go. The king of Egypt does not want to let you go. You're one of his best agents. He's like, I want you to stay doing what I want you to do. And this happens in young Christians' lives. They're like, and there's a battle that goes on for your affection, for, you know, just what are you gonna do next? Now that you're saved, what are you gonna do? Well, Egypt still wants their stranglehold on you. The pharaoh still wants to hold you and take you, and the devil wants you to still continue to serve him, even though you might be a Christian. But it says, and I will stretch out my hands, smite all of Egypt with my wonders. God will give you the victory, and he's gonna do miracles in your life. You know, it might not be, you know, miracles that people can see, but, you know, he's gonna do miracles in your life because you were dead and now you're alive. Your soul was lost, now it's found. You know, you were on your way to a devil's hell, now you're on your way to paradise everlasting. And, you know, but they still wanna claw at you. All these things are gonna happen to you to try to get you to stay in Egypt, but you know what, we gotta break free sometime. We gotta just say, you know what, I'm done with the world, I'm gonna serve God, and I'm gonna serve him with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. It says in verse 21, I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it shall come to pass. When you go, you shall not go empty. So when you obey God, he's gonna bless you, he's gonna give you, you know, the desires of your heart, and he's not gonna make you go on empty. So verse 22, but every woman shall borrow of her neighbor, and have heard that so journeth in the house, jewels and silver and jewels of gold and raiment, and he shall put them upon your sons and upon your daughters, and he shall spoil the Egyptians. You know, it's funny, the Bible says in Proverbs 13, 22, a good man leaveth an inheritance to his children, and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. So, I mean, if you apply that in a spiritual sense, you know, the great blessings that, you know, God's gonna, you know, just like he's replacing the Canaanites and all these different people with God's people, they're gonna go in and move into their castles, move into their houses, you know, take part of their fruit trees that have already been planted. You know, God's gonna make sure he takes care of us, and if he uses the sustenance of the heathen to do that, he's gonna do it. He's not gonna just make us left and forsaken, he's gonna take care of us. And so if you look at that last verse there, it says, you know, that they're gonna borrow this stuff, but just FYI, they're never gonna give it back. So, it's called borrowing, but like, they don't ever, you know, they never have the chance to give it back because, you know, they chase them and all this other stuff. So anyway, that's the end of the chapter. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for a great day in church. We thank you so much for the person that was there ready to be saved. Lord, that's why we go out. That's why we go soul winning. I just wanna thank you, Lord, especially for that person that got saved. We pray you'd bless their life, help them to follow you, Lord, and that Lord, even though Egypt might wanna hold on to them, I pray that you'd help them to break free from those things, and Lord, that they would wanna serve you with their life. I pray that you'd help us to be a blessing to our community, and Lord, help us to remember to love each other this week and to just let transgressions go. Lord, I pray that you'd help us to have zeal in our lives as Christians, and I pray that you would just help us and bless us and take care of us, keep us safe as we go our separate ways today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, remember the baptism. Sing one song, then we'll have the baptism. You want a video? Yeah. Song number 323, Be Thou My Vision. Song number 323, Be Thou My Vision. Song 323, let's sing it out together on the first. Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart, not be all else to be safe at thou art, now my best thought by day or by night, waking or sleeping, God, I present my light. Be thou my wisdom and thou my true word, I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord. Thou my great Father, I thy true Son, thou in me dwelling and I with thee one, rich as I need not for man's empty praise, thou mine inheritance now and always, thou and thou only be first in my heart, my King of Heaven, my treasure thou art, my King of Heaven, my victory won, may I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's sun, part of my own heart, whatever befall, tell me my vision, O ruler of all. Thank you.