Jan. 12, 2025

Isaiah 40: Ordinary vs Supernatural

Isaiah 40: Ordinary vs Supernatural

A discussion about Isaiah 40:9 and ordinary means vs supernatural means

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A discussion about Isaiah 40:9 and ordinary means vs supernatural means

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All right, today we go back to Isaiah chapter forty

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Isaiah chapter forty. Last week we took two hours to

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talk about artificial intelligence how it's going to impact the

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church Christianity, and we'll be utilizing artificial intelligence for some

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of this this morning. But we're in Isaiah chapter forty.

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The reason where in Isaiah chapter forty. In fact, we're

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going from Isaiah chapter forty, verse one to the end

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of Isaiah chapter fifty five. The reason we have done

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decided to do this, and you all should remember this

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is due to I am even yesterday I reviewed another

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sermon on Isaiah forty and another sermon once again. I

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don't know why it's so complicated, but they went to

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Isaiah forty and made it.

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About us us us.

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I mean, these sermons on Isaiah forty almost it's crazy.

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The preacher begins and in immediately he.

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Doesn't talk about them, he doesn't talk about they.

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It's about me, you, us, we.

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And it's like, I don't understand why it's so complicated

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to go to Isaiah forty and go, let's talk about

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what happened to these people in their situation and what

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we can learn from it. It's just we want to

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insert ourselves into it. And so at this point, I

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probably am close to one hundred sermons on is between

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Isaiah forty through fifty five, and I've yet to find

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a sermon that would even be classified as even being

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remotely close or even accurate to the text. And that's

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a staggering number. That's a staggering number. I mean, that's

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crazy because I keep expecting, like, sooner or later, I'm

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gonna find one. Now, some of them have been better

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than others. Obviously some will at least even the one yesterday, well, well,

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at least mention them, right, at least we'll talk about them.

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But it's so quick. It's just like, well for them,

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and then.

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And it's like and it'll be talking about things that

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you're like, what has that got to do with the

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text at all?

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So that's frustrating. So that's why we are here.

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And another kind of interesting development because since we've been

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talking about artificial intelligence, I started it on the podcast,

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we've done we've now looked at what we did is

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I took three sermons, and I let those sermons, you know,

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handle the text, develop the text the way they would,

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and then I let AI take the same text basically

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create its own message, and in every single case gets

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which one one. Artificial intelligence did a much better job

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and explaining the text went great better in depth and

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avoided all the stuff.

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That pastors do.

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There was no rabbit trails, there was no there was

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no misusing the text, misapplying the text. And it's like,

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that's that's a crazy situation that we're in. So we'll

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be utilizing artificial intelligence as we continue to look at

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Isaiah forty through fifty five, because it's just it's all

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of this is coming together, but it just it's kind

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of frightening to think if you're almost to one hundred

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sermons on a particular section of scripture and no human

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can handle the text correctly, but AI can handle the

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text correctly in five seconds. That's true even even last

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week at the very end of the second hour, what

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did Sarah do. She pulled up chat GPT and had

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an entire breakdown of the section we're about to cover.

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She had it and five seconds.

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So I mean, you don't even need me, Like, I mean,

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that's that is where we are. So but in spite

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you're stuck with me for now, right until we can

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have an artificial intelligence hologram here, right, but for now

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it's me. So Isaiah, chapter forty. Let's the for today.

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The section we're going to be covering is versus nine.

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Basically basically just verse nine. We want to go from

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nine to eleven. But I don't think we're gonna get well,

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we may get we'll get to the beginning. Actually the

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phrase is used twice, so so we'll we'll be using ten,

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nine and ten mainly. Maybe it will we'll read between

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nine to eleven, but just so that you know where

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we are, we'll read. We'll read Isaiah forty one through eight,

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just to remind ourselves. But let's just basically remind remember this, okay,

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the people of Judah, the people will say the people

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of Israel in a generic way, but Juda specifically.

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They are in captivity to whom the Babylon Babylonians.

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Right, they're in captivity Babylon about one hundred, depending on

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which source you look at, one hundred to one hundred

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and twenty years before the captivity. God gives this message

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of Isaiah forty to fifty five to Isaiah. Isaiah records

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this message, and when the people are in Babylon, this

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message is to come to.

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Them, because it is to serve as what.

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As they have forty through fifty five is sometimes referred

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to as the Book of Comfort or the Book of Consolation,

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because they need comfort, they need consolation because where are

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they in captivity? Right? And when they're in captivity, remember

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the reality. Some people are born in this captivity and

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die before the captivity ends. Some people come into the

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captivity and they do what they die before the captivity

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is over. So they are in a pagan nation. And

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in this pagan nation there is idols. Everywhere, there is idolatry,

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there is false gods, and in their culture, their false

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gods are very much connected to what their military success,

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they're victories, their conquest. So if you're an Israelite or

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if someone in Judah and you're living there, you would

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possibly start struggling with what concept.

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Well, maybe their god.

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Is the real god because their god did what to

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my God, destroyed his temple, right that I mean, it

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would be hard for them not to think that way.

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So there would be a lot of just discouragement, despondency, doubt,

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a worry, anxiety, fear, defeat. And so now this Book

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of Comfort comes to them and simply put, God is

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telling them right out of the gate, what basically the

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time has ended, and you're going to be basically set free.

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I know we're paraphrasing, right, and so that's what we

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looked at. So let's just remind ourselves. We'll read verses

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forty one through eight, right, and then then we'll set

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everything up with verses nine and ten.

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Here we go.

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It starts off I'm reading from the New King James.

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So here we go. It starts off with what two

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words and verse one We're going to go back to

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verse one. Comfort, yes, comfort my people, right, This is

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a call for someone to comfort his people. Right, bring

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this comfort to my people, says your God. Who is

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the comfort ultimately coming from God?

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Who is my people? Israel? Right?

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I mean or or we can just say Juda if

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we want to, But well, Israel, we can.

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Just see Israel.

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In fact, is there any confusion in who this is for?

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Look at verse two, speak tenderly or speak comfort to Jerusalem.

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There's no question who this is about, right, What was

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the capital of the Southern Kingdom, Jerusalem?

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There's no question. Like, I don't know.

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How pastors can come in here and just make this

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about comfort for you and comfort for me.

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This is comfort for.

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Them, Okay, And cry out to her that her warfare

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is ended, her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received

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from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. I'm

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not gonna go back and break all of that down.

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We spent weeks breaking all of that down. Then verse three,

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the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the

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way of the Lord may straight in the desert, a

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highway for our God. Every valley should be exalted, Every

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mountain shall be brought low, The crooked places shall be

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made straight, and the rough place is smooth. The glory

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of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall

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see it together. Now we know that in the New

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Testament this is utilized to make a reference to John

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de Baptist, But in this historical context, it's not about

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John to Baptist.

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Right, there's a call here, there's a.

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Voice of one crying in the wilderness, saying, prepare the

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way for God. And we connected this with what the

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Decree of Cyrus, which is in what Ezra right, Ezra

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chapter one, And we saw and this is and I

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want to start setting this up that whether we remember,

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AI did not necessarily like the connection.

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But we went back and forth.

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When we looked at the decree of Cyrus, we saw

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a lot of similarities. I don't think there's any way

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to get around it, right, So let's just remember this.

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No matter if we connect this.

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No matter if we don't connect this, this is a

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historical fact. Right.

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How is Jude delivered from Babylon? From a human perspective,

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the Babylonians are defeated by whom Cyrus, right, and they

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that's the Persians, right, Okay, so they defeat the babylon

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Now when to say defeated, Remember, it's kind of unique

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the way it happened because the Babylonian king had basically

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was a wall, right, and the people just kind of

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opened the doors and said, come on in.

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Okay. So it's but ultimately they come in and take over. Right.

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So Cyrus is the one that basically calls for them

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to do what gather all the supplies, prepare everything, because

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he basically says God has told me, right, he uses

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that God is basically using him for them to go

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back and rebuild everything. So we could So I just

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want you to see just I told you at the

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very beginning of Isaiah forty, write down the name Cyrus, right,

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write that name Cyrus down, and that's gonna I'm into

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play really important here today, right, So just remember Cyrus. Okay,

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So we talked about Cyrus and the decree of Cyrus

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and all of that. And then if the end of

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verse five, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken,

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look at verse six the voice said cry out, and

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he said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass,

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and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

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The grass withers, the flower fades because the breath of

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the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass.

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The grass withers, the flower phase. But the word of

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our God stands forever. And in the context here, what's significant. Hey,

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it doesn't matter which nation, doesn't matter, the circumstance doesn't matter.

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The people God is sovereign. All of that is what

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going to fade. All of that's going to disappear. What's

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going to stand the word God, the Word and the

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specifically what is it a reference to God's word about

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their deliverance. I know we want to take it and

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make it about the Bible and all of that But

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in this text, it's about what God's spoken word in

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regards to their deliverance.

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That's what it's about. And what is he saying?

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Hey, it doesn't matter what you see, doesn't matter how

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mighty the nation is, doesn't matter how numerous the people are.

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They're all going to do what fade away? Like like grass,

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there's gonna be blown away. But who's going what's gonna stand?

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God's word?

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Right? Everybody? See that? Now that brings us to where

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we are today. Verse nine. All right, you ready, o Zion.

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You who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountains,

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Oh Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, Lift up your

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voice with strength, lift it up.

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Be not afraid, say to the cities of what's again?

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Is there is it?

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How many different ways can God make it clear who

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this is a out?

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Over and over?

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It's it amazing that God can spend all of this

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time making sure any reader knows who.

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This is about.

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But preachers can stand behind the pulpit and somehow insert

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you into it. Now, any person going to church should

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raise their hand and away, why are you making this

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about us? They wanted to be about them. That that's

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the case.

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But who's it. So what is supposed to happen? They're

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supposed to.

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Bring good tidings or good news to whom to the

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cities of Judah, and what is the message? Okay, well

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look unless the NIV changes it dramatically, the King James,

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new King James.

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They all read what Behold your God. Behold your God.

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Everybody see that. Now remember what I told you to

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write down to name Cyrus. Now you may want to

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write down the phrase.

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Behold your God.

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Because this concept of Cyrus and behold your God this

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sparked all everything. So when I was reviewing a sermon yesterday,

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all of a sudden it kind of clicked, and I

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was like, huh, there's something going on here, Because as

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soon as I saw Behold your God, I started comparing

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it and contrasting it in my mind to something that

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happened in the Book of Exodus.

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So then I kept thinking about it. So then I spent.

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One hour, about an hour going back and forth with Ai.

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We were just going back and forth, back and forth,

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back and forth. AI did not necessarily like my idea

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at the beginning, but we kept going.

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Back and forth, back and forth.

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I don't know if it ever completely liked my idea,

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but I'm going with it anyway. Okay, So here when

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I see this, I was like, huh, this is kind

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of interesting.

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Let's think about this.

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The message that's supposed to be brought to the people

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in captivity is behold your God. Right now, we know historically, right,

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some facts here, So let me ask you some questions.

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When they say behold your God and their historical situation,

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everything you know about their deliverance from Babylon, everything you

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know about them going back and having to rebuild everything.

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Does God show up in some miraculous supernatural way? Does

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the red sea part? Does fire come from heaven? Are

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armies consumed? Does the earth open up and all of

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the Babylonians fall into it? Does somehow they get to

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they get back to Jerusalem and boom, all of a sudden,

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magically the temple reappears.

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None of it happens that way, does it? Right?

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Everything that happens happens, And what what would be a

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good word to describe the way everything plays out? You

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have a key who take over, takes over a normal Okay, there's.

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A word that's a good word. How about the word ordinary? Okay? Good?

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So I want you to write down these two words,

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because this is where I went yesterday.

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I want you to write down the phrase ordinary.

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Means, supernatural means ordinary means and supernatural means now because today,

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I mean, I thought we were gonna you know, if

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we had two plus hours here, I would be able

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to cover a lot more. So we're not going to

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be able to get far into this, but I want

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us to just really consider this concept. So today, for

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this hour, I want to take that phrase Behold your God.

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In fact, it's look at verse ten. Behold the Lord

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God shall come with a strong hand, and his arms

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shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him,

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and his work before him. He will feed his flock

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like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his

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and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those

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who are with young. It's all behold God, Behold what

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He's going to do. But what and our minds when

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we think about that, when we think about God showing up,

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I think we can say we our minds typically think

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of something dramatic, right, supernatural acts like the parting of

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the Red Sea, fire falling from heaven, Jesus walking on

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the water, those kinds of just miraculous things, correct, But

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in this particular case, nothing miraculous like that is going

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to have everything that happens. Look, if you don't have

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Isaiah forty and you live, then you'd be like, well, man,

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I'm sure glad Cyrus took over. I'm sure glad Cyrus

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is letting us go back. Now once we got back, Oh,

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this is gonna be a lot of hard work.

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Right, What would you have seen or I mean just

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an ordinary.

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Life, right, Powers come, powers rise, powers fall. Yeah, sometimes

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you're sometimes you have deliverance, sometimes you have captivity, You

303
00:17:13.559 --> 00:17:16.720
always have work effort. It would have been just looked

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like a very normal situation, right, So just keep that

305
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in mind because in our minds we always think of

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these other situations because those those that's supernatural captures our imagination,

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doesn't it.

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And let's be honest, we.

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Are all we all get tired and almost fatigued, which

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is normal life, right, because it's just.

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Like time, you know, get up.

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I know, a dated reference, but time to make the donuts, right,

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just get up, because life is just a kind of

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a routine, right, get up, do this, get up, You

315
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got this responsibility, you got to do this one hour

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turns into two hours, two hours turns into five hours,

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and then the day comes to an end so that

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you can get up and.

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Do it all over again.

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That's a lot, and people want something to break up that, right,

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So people get caught up with that.

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We look for escape.

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Right now, within Christianity, a lot of that escape, even

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though we would never state it this way, is the

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concept of God intervening in a powerful and supernatural way.

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Charismatics really get into that because that breaks up life,

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right if God is doing this.

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Supernatural thing and this supernatural thing.

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But over and over and over we find out that

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their stories tend to be fraudulent, made up hoaxes, and

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well that's not good, but we want something to break

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it up. But what if the reality is what if

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this is true? Much of God's work throughout history happened

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through ordinary means. I think that's true. Now, that typically

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doesn't get preached that much, right, we preach these the

336
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big stories, right, the parting of the Red Sea, Manna

337
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falling from heaven, right, the Earth opening up, right, all

338
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of these because those things are much I mean, when

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when kids go to Sunday school, what do they learn

340
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the Bible stories where the big things happen. Right, But

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I think what we and which then gives us in

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our mindset, especially if you're a young Christian.

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It may kind of get like you kind of go

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into the world going, Okay, where's it gonna happen?

345
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And then you kind of realize it doesn't really work

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that way, and maybe we're not theologically prepared for that.

347
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Oh yeah, yeah, they were ready for they were ready

348
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for it.

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They didn't know that.

350
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Well, sorry, they We're never gonna see it, right, Okay,

351
00:19:56.279 --> 00:19:57.079
never gonna see it?

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All right? I believe Isaiah Ford.

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And this is the way I'm going to approachize afforty

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at the beginning, and we'll do a typical breakdown of

355
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the section. But I'm going to approachize A forty nine

356
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through eleven as possibly offering us kind of a glimpse

357
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into the reality of ordinary means versus supernatural means.

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Because in this passage.

359
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Zion, there basically is a call to Zion to proclaim

360
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a very simple message.

361
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What is the message that is to be proclaimed? Here?

362
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Behold your God. I want you to that's the message.

363
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Here. There is a call for the message to be.

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Delivered to whom the cities of Judah, Behold your God,

365
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because guess what they could not see God?

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What did they see around them? Other gods?

367
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Pain, suffering, captivity, knowing their temple was gone, their city

368
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was gone. Behold your God, and come on. If we're

369
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being honest, if I live there, I would probably be.

370
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Like where right?

371
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Maybe they didn't, but if I live there. If I lived,

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I'm not gonna speak for them. But if I live there,

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I'd have been like, behold your God. Okay, what are

374
00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:18.759
you talking about?

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Our God died a long time ago.

376
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Okay, our God got defeated, especially in that cultural mindset,

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when one god, when one comes in and destroys your temple, that,

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00:21:32.599 --> 00:21:36.599
in every symbolic way, that was their God defeating your God.

379
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It would have been very hard.

380
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For them not to have been impacted by that way

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of thinking.

382
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But that's the message.

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Now this proclamation comes, and this is how one source

384
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puts it, as God's people are in exile.

385
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We already knew that longing for deliverance.

386
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I think we can agree to that that would have

387
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been wanting to be deliverered. Correct, But unlike the Maracus

388
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events of the Exodus, their salvation this time will come

389
00:22:05.400 --> 00:22:07.079
through the rise of.

390
00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:12.440
That's what Ai said. In this situation, though.

391
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Their deliverance is coming by the rise of a pagan

392
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king by the name of Cyrus. Even Ai understands that

393
00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:26.799
because that's a historical fact, right, AI can stay with it.

394
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This is not about us, This is about them now,

395
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this is what AI said.

396
00:22:32.599 --> 00:22:40.480
God will use ordinary political and military means to accomplish

397
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his extraordinary purpose. His purpose may be extraordinary, but what's

398
00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:47.200
going to happen.

399
00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:50.519
It's going to be done through ordinary means.

400
00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:53.839
I don't want you to forget that phrase ordinary means,

401
00:22:53.880 --> 00:22:57.559
because I believe throughout history that's how God typically works.

402
00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:01.680
So ordinary means. Which wait and guess what. It's hard

403
00:23:01.720 --> 00:23:05.200
to do when you see ordinary means. If I show

404
00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:07.559
you ordinary means and I walk up to you and say,

405
00:23:08.039 --> 00:23:10.680
behold your God, you're.

406
00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:14.480
Gonna be like, that's just my car breaking down. That's

407
00:23:14.519 --> 00:23:17.720
just a flat tire. That's just me getting laid off,

408
00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:21.160
that's just me not having enough money to cover my bills.

409
00:23:22.279 --> 00:23:24.680
That's just the air conditioner breaking down.

410
00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:27.640
That's just oh, that's a good tax return, like you

411
00:23:27.799 --> 00:23:28.680
just a's life.

412
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But no, behold if someone says behold your God. You're

413
00:23:32.440 --> 00:23:37.559
waiting for like smoke or something, you know, something to appear, right,

414
00:23:38.599 --> 00:23:43.599
lightning to come down, right, something miraculous to happen. That's

415
00:23:43.599 --> 00:23:44.759
the stories we want.

416
00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:45.880
Correct.

417
00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:51.160
When missionaries tell their stories, they always tell some miraculous story.

418
00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:51.480
Right.

419
00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:54.720
Oh, there was this tribe and they were hostile towards us,

420
00:23:54.799 --> 00:23:58.039
and they surrounded us, and we thought they were gonna

421
00:23:58.039 --> 00:23:58.440
come in and.

422
00:23:58.440 --> 00:24:00.240
Kill us in the middle of the night. They were

423
00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:02.880
so worried. But the attack never came.

424
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And so we found out talking to the chief of

425
00:24:05.880 --> 00:24:08.799
the tribe like six months later, and they said we

426
00:24:08.839 --> 00:24:12.200
could not attack because the house was surrounded by guards,

427
00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:15.359
And we're, like, what guards? And then we realized that

428
00:24:15.400 --> 00:24:18.880
the houses and the huts had been surrounded by angelic beings.

429
00:24:19.000 --> 00:24:21.359
You know how many missionaries I heard tell that story,

430
00:24:21.720 --> 00:24:27.000
the exact same story, probably at least five or six times,

431
00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:30.079
And anytime I would have been the last missionary had

432
00:24:30.119 --> 00:24:33.000
told are you telling the same story? I mean, right there,

433
00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:36.440
you start questioning the veracity if everyone's telling the exact

434
00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:38.839
same story the exact same way, right, I mean, come on,

435
00:24:39.240 --> 00:24:43.359
But because we lacked those stories, right, nobody wants to

436
00:24:43.400 --> 00:24:47.119
hear a missionary going well. For the last year, we've

437
00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:52.079
got up each morning, we've tried to preach. We've had sickness.

438
00:24:52.279 --> 00:24:55.440
Me and my wife been fighting. Kids are tired of

439
00:24:55.599 --> 00:24:56.359
sick and tired of that.

440
00:24:56.400 --> 00:24:58.720
They want to come back to America. Some of the

441
00:24:58.720 --> 00:24:59.839
people in the village.

442
00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:02.000
Hate us, just like basic every day.

443
00:25:01.960 --> 00:25:06.559
You'd be like boring boom. Bring on the good missionary

444
00:25:06.599 --> 00:25:07.880
with good stories. Right.

445
00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:13.960
We don't like the ordinary. We want the extraordinary, not

446
00:25:14.039 --> 00:25:17.000
the ordinary. I like that, Yeah, yeah, because Stephen can

447
00:25:17.039 --> 00:25:20.720
help write the sermon. Okay, right, the ordinary versus the extraordinary.

448
00:25:20.759 --> 00:25:27.200
We want the extraordinary. Behold your God. But that's what

449
00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:29.920
caught my attention when I read this, behold your God,

450
00:25:29.960 --> 00:25:34.759
I want I immediately said to the text, God's not

451
00:25:34.920 --> 00:25:37.799
showing up and behold your God moment.

452
00:25:40.200 --> 00:25:44.440
Correct, not at that time, not at that time? All right?

453
00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:49.519
So AI then said this is what AI said, This

454
00:25:49.640 --> 00:25:56.839
raises an important question. Do we recognize God's hand and

455
00:25:57.160 --> 00:26:00.559
ordinary events of life? And I was say, it's hard

456
00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:05.839
for us to say, behold God in the ordinary? Can

457
00:26:05.880 --> 00:26:11.759
we behold His glory not just in the miraculous, but

458
00:26:11.880 --> 00:26:12.680
in the every day.

459
00:26:13.799 --> 00:26:15.880
Those are good questions for even us to ask.

460
00:26:17.559 --> 00:26:21.799
So what Ai set out to do was to give

461
00:26:21.799 --> 00:26:24.720
me a long kind of list of some things about

462
00:26:24.759 --> 00:26:26.599
the ordinary, and I want to get to how it

463
00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:30.599
broke it down. But I was like, well, I'm like,

464
00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:34.039
there's something going on here, because when I read Behold

465
00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:37.119
your God, my mind immediately kept going.

466
00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:38.960
Back to Exodus Exus.

467
00:26:39.200 --> 00:26:42.160
There's a phrase here, and I'm like, there's a contrast

468
00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:45.160
here that I think we'll really kind of set this up.

469
00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:48.759
So I started, I continued, I'm like, okay, Ai, you've

470
00:26:48.799 --> 00:26:51.039
broken all of this down, but we've got to go

471
00:26:51.079 --> 00:26:51.720
a different.

472
00:26:51.480 --> 00:26:52.359
Direction here, right.

473
00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:54.960
So I said, Ai, is there a there's a kind

474
00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:59.880
of a contrast here between what happens in Isaiah forty

475
00:27:00.200 --> 00:27:02.160
and what happens in Exodus fourteen?

476
00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:03.519
Right?

477
00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:06.279
So I kind of started structuring it and then I

478
00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:09.359
handed it to Ai. So Ai then said this, You

479
00:27:09.400 --> 00:27:15.480
are absolutely correct. The contrast you're drawing between Isaiah forty

480
00:27:15.799 --> 00:27:20.000
nine through eleven, what's the key phrase, Behold your God

481
00:27:20.319 --> 00:27:24.160
and the events in the book of Exodus is striking

482
00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:26.559
and philologically significant.

483
00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:28.799
I'm like, okay, good, I was on this. I'm glad

484
00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:29.920
we're on the.

485
00:27:29.880 --> 00:27:32.640
Same page here, because my mind was like I could

486
00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:34.640
not keep I couldn't keep reading this going.

487
00:27:35.160 --> 00:27:38.440
The difference here is amazing. Behold You're good.

488
00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:44.279
And nothing really happens other than I'm my name is Cyrus,

489
00:27:44.279 --> 00:27:46.640
and I'm a pagan king, and God has told me.

490
00:27:46.559 --> 00:27:48.319
That you know what's going on here?

491
00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:51.720
Right, it had been unique, but it would have looked

492
00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:56.599
very ordinary, right versus an Exodus, where there's almost the

493
00:27:56.680 --> 00:28:01.880
same idea, behold your God, but something big happens. So

494
00:28:02.039 --> 00:28:06.119
I think I think there's something significant here. So AI

495
00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:09.279
said this in Isaiah forty nine through eleven, the call

496
00:28:09.720 --> 00:28:11.720
is to behold your God.

497
00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:13.359
Right, we can agree.

498
00:28:14.039 --> 00:28:16.880
In the context, but in this in that case and

499
00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:19.559
behold your God, it is in the context of deliverance

500
00:28:19.720 --> 00:28:23.599
through This is how Ai said it, through ordinary means.

501
00:28:23.640 --> 00:28:27.240
AI use the phrase, and I was like, okay, now

502
00:28:27.240 --> 00:28:30.160
it's even you. Okay, that's the language I'm seeing that

503
00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:33.160
behold your God. But it's going to be deliverance through

504
00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:38.119
ordinary means, such as God's juseph Cyrus to free the exiles.

505
00:28:39.079 --> 00:28:46.960
The contrast is dramatic supernatural deliverance of Israel in the Exodus,

506
00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:51.880
where people are explicitly called to witness God's direct intervention.

507
00:28:52.119 --> 00:28:55.079
So look at Exodus chapter fourteen. Look at verses thirteen

508
00:28:55.079 --> 00:29:09.240
through fourteen. Exodus chapter fourteen, let's go there.

509
00:29:17.759 --> 00:29:18.200
We'll go to.

510
00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:21.839
Exodus fourteen ten because we can kind of set up

511
00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:22.319
the story.

512
00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:24.000
Right, Exodus fourteen ten.

513
00:29:25.119 --> 00:29:28.079
Now we know that the children of Israel had been

514
00:29:28.200 --> 00:29:32.799
in bondage and captivity to the Egyptians. God basically shows

515
00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:34.480
up with these miraculous plagues.

516
00:29:34.599 --> 00:29:36.480
Right, that's the miraculous.

517
00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:40.200
That's not the ordinary, correct, because even if it's maybe

518
00:29:40.279 --> 00:29:43.759
using ordinary things, they're showing up in extraordinary ways, right,

519
00:29:44.440 --> 00:29:48.759
because they're just these plagues are just happening almost instantaneously.

520
00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:49.079
Right.

521
00:29:49.519 --> 00:29:53.559
Then ultimately you have the Angel of Death, you pass over.

522
00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:56.480
All of these things are happening. And then ultimately look

523
00:29:56.480 --> 00:30:00.039
at Exodus fourteen ten. And when Pharaoh drew near, the

524
00:30:00.200 --> 00:30:03.920
children of Israel lifted up, lifted their eyes, and behold

525
00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:06.160
the Egyptians marched after them.

526
00:30:06.880 --> 00:30:10.519
Oh that's not good. Right. If you're the Israelites and you're.

527
00:30:10.359 --> 00:30:12.640
Trying to get out of Egypt and you look up

528
00:30:12.680 --> 00:30:15.799
and Pharaoh's army is marching after you, you're gonna do

529
00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:19.839
what You're gonna be in panic. You're gonna be fearful.

530
00:30:21.279 --> 00:30:24.039
Can we agree on that all right? What happens in

531
00:30:24.119 --> 00:30:30.160
the next verse? So they were very afraid, or the

532
00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:33.319
nivs is terrified, and the children of Israel cried out

533
00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:35.960
to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, because there

534
00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:38.640
was no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away

535
00:30:38.680 --> 00:30:39.880
to die in the wilderness?

536
00:30:40.359 --> 00:30:46.559
What emotion are they experiencing? Doubt, dread, fear, maybe a

537
00:30:46.599 --> 00:30:47.359
little anger.

538
00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:51.279
Hey, Moses, we could have just died in Egypt. Why

539
00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:54.480
why we're gonna now die and be slaughtered right here?

540
00:30:54.640 --> 00:30:56.920
Thank you so very much. You've been such a great

541
00:30:56.960 --> 00:30:57.680
help to us.

542
00:30:57.799 --> 00:31:00.839
Right They're not happy, are they?

543
00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:01.880
They're very bothered?

544
00:31:02.960 --> 00:31:05.279
Why have you so dealt with us to bring us

545
00:31:05.359 --> 00:31:08.079
up out of Egypt? Is it not that the word

546
00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:10.680
that we told you in Egypt? In Egypt, saying let

547
00:31:10.759 --> 00:31:13.440
us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians, For it

548
00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:15.680
would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians

549
00:31:15.759 --> 00:31:18.079
than we should die in the wilderness. We told you

550
00:31:18.119 --> 00:31:23.960
to leave us alone. And Moses said to the people,

551
00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:25.559
here we go.

552
00:31:25.680 --> 00:31:26.119
Are you ready?

553
00:31:26.119 --> 00:31:30.759
Here's the dramatic scene. This is the dramatic scene. What

554
00:31:30.839 --> 00:31:36.160
does he say, fear not, do not be afraid.

555
00:31:36.359 --> 00:31:39.839
Now what what next? Stand still?

556
00:31:40.039 --> 00:31:43.480
It's almost like be quiet, stand still, stop, stop saying anything,

557
00:31:43.640 --> 00:31:49.960
and do what. See the salvation of the Lord which

558
00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:53.839
he will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom

559
00:31:53.880 --> 00:31:56.960
you see today, you shall see again no more. The

560
00:31:57.039 --> 00:32:00.680
Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.

561
00:32:00.839 --> 00:32:02.519
And around about Wait, what is he saying?

562
00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:09.119
Behold your God? There's a dramatic.

563
00:32:08.680 --> 00:32:15.480
Contrast, right, okay, so and another translation, fear not, stand firm,

564
00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:18.079
see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work

565
00:32:18.160 --> 00:32:21.839
for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today

566
00:32:21.880 --> 00:32:23.480
you shall never see again.

567
00:32:23.720 --> 00:32:27.079
The Lord will fight for you, and you have only

568
00:32:27.160 --> 00:32:28.519
to be silent.

569
00:32:29.599 --> 00:32:32.359
That's how one translate. In other words, be quiet, be still,

570
00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:38.400
and just do what see or behold. The Israelites are

571
00:32:38.440 --> 00:32:40.920
told to see the salvation of the Lord in the

572
00:32:40.960 --> 00:32:43.960
context of a miraculous, supernatural act.

573
00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:45.400
The parting of the Red Sea.

574
00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:51.000
This was a visible, undeniable demonstration of God's power, designed

575
00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:55.720
to reveal his glory and instill faith in and faith

576
00:32:55.799 --> 00:32:56.440
in the people.

577
00:32:56.480 --> 00:32:57.720
I think we can agree to that.

578
00:32:57.839 --> 00:33:01.599
Now we've got to see Isaiah forty behold your God,

579
00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:04.279
and they're they're to behold God. But how are they

580
00:33:04.279 --> 00:33:07.759
going to see God? And Isaiah forty? How are they

581
00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:13.920
going to see God? Right? And Isaiah forty and Isaiah forty,

582
00:33:14.079 --> 00:33:19.160
They're gonna see God in a ordinary way. Nothing dramatic

583
00:33:19.240 --> 00:33:21.680
is going to take place, right. It's they're gonna they're

584
00:33:21.680 --> 00:33:22.000
gonna be.

585
00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:23.640
There for how many years?

586
00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:28.759
Seventy years and then finally and one king is going

587
00:33:28.839 --> 00:33:31.640
to take over for the other king, and then he's

588
00:33:31.680 --> 00:33:32.519
gonna say.

589
00:33:34.119 --> 00:33:34.640
You can go.

590
00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:39.799
And you're like, oh, okay, that's kind of that's kind

591
00:33:39.799 --> 00:33:44.079
of anti climatic. I'm a fire come from heaven and

592
00:33:44.119 --> 00:33:47.559
destroy the Babylonians, or they get swallowed by the sand

593
00:33:47.599 --> 00:33:48.279
of the desert.

594
00:33:48.640 --> 00:33:52.480
Something dramatic right now over.

595
00:33:52.200 --> 00:33:57.240
Here, Hey, the entire army of Pharaoh, you're never going

596
00:33:57.279 --> 00:33:58.200
to see them again?

597
00:33:58.880 --> 00:34:01.039
And was it miraculous way they get wiped off the

598
00:34:01.039 --> 00:34:01.559
face of the heir?

599
00:34:01.799 --> 00:34:04.720
I think so the entire sea parts they go through

600
00:34:04.920 --> 00:34:12.519
and it drowns. Those are dramatically different situations. So let's

601
00:34:12.559 --> 00:34:15.639
con I'm gonna contrast them. I know it takes us

602
00:34:15.639 --> 00:34:18.199
a little bit away from Isaiah forty, but I think

603
00:34:18.239 --> 00:34:20.480
this contrast is important. All right, So are you ready

604
00:34:20.519 --> 00:34:24.280
to contrast these, right, So first we'll contrast the nature

605
00:34:24.320 --> 00:34:26.400
of God's deliverance. I've kind of already given you a

606
00:34:26.440 --> 00:34:33.639
preview the exodus. The deliverance is what supernatural dramatic. It

607
00:34:33.719 --> 00:34:37.119
involves plagues. It involves the parting of the Red Sea

608
00:34:37.960 --> 00:34:41.840
and the visible destruction.

609
00:34:41.280 --> 00:34:42.400
Of the Egyptian army.

610
00:34:42.800 --> 00:34:46.119
I mean, if they can see what's happening, even if

611
00:34:46.119 --> 00:34:47.599
they depends.

612
00:34:47.320 --> 00:34:48.000
On where they are.

613
00:34:48.960 --> 00:34:51.079
I mean, I don't know how else you can understand it,

614
00:34:51.079 --> 00:34:52.840
but seeing it as dramatic as possible.

615
00:34:52.840 --> 00:34:54.119
Because when the sea comes.

616
00:34:53.880 --> 00:34:57.239
Doing what drowns an entire army, you're gonna know that

617
00:34:57.280 --> 00:35:02.159
it took place. It can't get much more drama than that. Now,

618
00:35:02.280 --> 00:35:06.199
compare that to Isaiah forty The deliverance is what ordinary

619
00:35:07.159 --> 00:35:12.800
Cyrus is a human king conquering the Babylonians, any issues

620
00:35:12.840 --> 00:35:17.360
a decree allowing the exiles to return. Look at Isaiah

621
00:35:17.400 --> 00:35:19.239
forty four twenty eight. Tell me what you see there,

622
00:35:21.239 --> 00:35:35.320
Isaiah forty four to twenty eight. Isaiah forty four twenty eight,

623
00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:39.000
what do you read?

624
00:35:45.880 --> 00:35:48.159
Who is the shepherd Sorrus?

625
00:35:48.239 --> 00:35:51.440
Go back to Isaiah forty verse nine through I think eleven.

626
00:35:51.480 --> 00:36:04.760
Doesn't it use shepherding language, and nine through eleven. See

627
00:36:04.760 --> 00:36:15.519
if you find it. Yeah, he hears shepherding language.

628
00:36:15.599 --> 00:36:18.519
Right, there we go, Yeah, there we go.

629
00:36:18.599 --> 00:36:22.199
Okay, So who is the shepherd? Who's gonna at least

630
00:36:22.199 --> 00:36:24.239
act us? I mean, God makes it very clear who

631
00:36:24.280 --> 00:36:25.320
is his shepherd.

632
00:36:26.519 --> 00:36:33.719
Cyrus? Who is shepherd? Who is Sarrus shepherding Israel? Does people?

633
00:36:33.840 --> 00:36:36.519
Jud I mean right? You cannot miss this? Right?

634
00:36:37.079 --> 00:36:40.079
The text screams that, I don't know how pastors miss this.

635
00:36:40.519 --> 00:36:48.320
Go to Isaiah forty five to one.

636
00:36:49.079 --> 00:36:55.960
Forty five one, Thus says the Lord to his anointed,

637
00:36:56.800 --> 00:36:58.800
whoa anointed?

638
00:37:00.159 --> 00:37:01.599
That's where that's the idea.

639
00:37:01.400 --> 00:37:05.159
For a messiah like right? And well, who is it?

640
00:37:05.199 --> 00:37:10.719
Who's the anointed? Cyrus is the anointed? What is he

641
00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:11.280
going to do?

642
00:37:12.079 --> 00:37:13.199
Whose right hand?

643
00:37:13.320 --> 00:37:16.440
I have held to subdue nations before him, and loose

644
00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:20.039
the armor of kings to open before him the double doors,

645
00:37:20.239 --> 00:37:23.360
so that the gates will not be shut. I will

646
00:37:23.360 --> 00:37:26.800
go before you and make the crooked places straight. I

647
00:37:26.840 --> 00:37:29.360
will break in pieces the gates of brush. Some of

648
00:37:29.360 --> 00:37:32.840
that sounds like Isaiah forty does it not? The voice

649
00:37:32.840 --> 00:37:36.559
in the wilderness preparing away, making the crooked way straight,

650
00:37:36.639 --> 00:37:39.880
or making the way straight, very similar.

651
00:37:40.199 --> 00:37:43.280
You cannot miss Cyrus in all of this. So guess

652
00:37:43.360 --> 00:37:49.000
what the ordinary means is going to be? Whom Cyrus?

653
00:37:50.079 --> 00:37:54.599
Who's working God? It may be God working in an

654
00:37:54.639 --> 00:37:57.440
extraordinary way, but he's doing it through an ordinary means

655
00:37:57.519 --> 00:38:01.599
That is completely different an exodus.

656
00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:05.239
God's hand is behind the events, but they lack the

657
00:38:05.360 --> 00:38:08.760
overall or the overt miraculous nature of the exodus. Can

658
00:38:08.800 --> 00:38:12.320
we agree that the nature of the deliverance are dramatically different.

659
00:38:12.039 --> 00:38:15.800
In the two? Can we agree? All right?

660
00:38:15.920 --> 00:38:20.840
How about number two? The call to Behold God and Exodus?

661
00:38:21.199 --> 00:38:24.800
The people are called to stand still and witness God's

662
00:38:24.880 --> 00:38:30.920
power and action with no human agent as the focus. Right,

663
00:38:31.199 --> 00:38:34.360
there's no human agent involved. Moses is doing.

664
00:38:34.159 --> 00:38:35.320
What when this all happens?

665
00:38:37.119 --> 00:38:43.280
Behold, he's standing there with the people, right boom. God

666
00:38:43.360 --> 00:38:45.440
is the one who's going to take care of everything. Right,

667
00:38:46.119 --> 00:38:48.280
God is gonna be the one who's gonna do this.

668
00:38:48.760 --> 00:38:53.239
It's the focus is on God and Isaiah forty. Even

669
00:38:53.280 --> 00:38:56.880
though it says behold your God, the people are told

670
00:38:56.880 --> 00:38:59.480
to behold your God by recognizing and how are they

671
00:38:59.480 --> 00:39:01.960
going to behold God in this situation? How are they

672
00:39:02.039 --> 00:39:05.800
supposed to behold and and Exodus. Everyone can understand a

673
00:39:05.840 --> 00:39:07.079
standstill and see God.

674
00:39:07.239 --> 00:39:10.360
I mean, you can't miss it. An entire sea parts

675
00:39:10.639 --> 00:39:13.039
you walk through on dry ground, you get on the

676
00:39:13.079 --> 00:39:17.679
other side, and you can behold your God.

677
00:39:18.079 --> 00:39:20.480
How are the people of Judah to behold God in

678
00:39:20.519 --> 00:39:28.400
their situation? They are to see God's hand in the

679
00:39:28.719 --> 00:39:30.320
ordinary means.

680
00:39:30.840 --> 00:39:33.519
Or as Ai put it, Ai stated it this way.

681
00:39:34.800 --> 00:39:40.880
They are to recognize God's sovereignty and his power working

682
00:39:41.159 --> 00:39:50.239
through historical events and through Cyrus. When he says, behold

683
00:39:50.239 --> 00:39:54.320
your God, they are to see God even though it's

684
00:39:54.400 --> 00:39:58.079
all just ordinary. A pagan king there to see God.

685
00:39:59.639 --> 00:40:04.039
Ordinary he means. So the call to behold God are

686
00:40:04.159 --> 00:40:08.840
radically different. Can we agree on that? So the first thing.

687
00:40:08.719 --> 00:40:11.480
We have the nature of the deliverance completely opposite. Number

688
00:40:11.480 --> 00:40:14.280
two the call to behold God. Number three the temptation

689
00:40:14.480 --> 00:40:19.760
of the visible versus the invisible. The temptation of the

690
00:40:19.840 --> 00:40:24.199
visible versus the invisible. In Exodus, the Israelites, even after

691
00:40:24.280 --> 00:40:28.119
witnessing God's supernatural power, struggle with faith and later demand

692
00:40:28.199 --> 00:40:31.760
visible idols. Is that not crazy? Go to Exodus thirty two.

693
00:40:33.800 --> 00:40:37.599
Go to Exodus thirty two. This is a crazy part

694
00:40:37.599 --> 00:40:40.239
of this story. Tell me what happens in Exodus thirty

695
00:40:40.280 --> 00:40:49.840
two one through four. They want an idol, They want

696
00:40:49.840 --> 00:40:55.400
a visible what they want a visible manifestation of God.

697
00:40:55.800 --> 00:40:56.639
It is crazy.

698
00:40:56.840 --> 00:41:01.320
They got to see what behold God and they got

699
00:41:01.360 --> 00:41:02.920
to see the miraculous.

700
00:41:03.280 --> 00:41:08.119
But after seeing the miraculous that's visible, they then want what.

701
00:41:10.280 --> 00:41:17.760
More visible? Yeah, they need something visible? So is it possible?

702
00:41:18.599 --> 00:41:21.239
This is just just throwing this concept out there. Now,

703
00:41:21.280 --> 00:41:23.159
this is not Ai, this is me. I'm just throwing

704
00:41:23.159 --> 00:41:26.119
this out there. Is it possible that once we see

705
00:41:28.480 --> 00:41:32.719
the supernatural or the extraordinary, we almost now become dependent

706
00:41:32.800 --> 00:41:36.519
on needing and seeing more of the supernatural because they

707
00:41:36.559 --> 00:41:40.000
see it and they want more, but they need something.

708
00:41:40.119 --> 00:41:41.000
Isn't that crazy?

709
00:41:41.199 --> 00:41:44.599
Are we not drawn in our natural way to needing

710
00:41:44.639 --> 00:41:48.320
to see We want to see something, We want to

711
00:41:48.360 --> 00:41:53.039
behold something, right, we need a visible manifestation of something.

712
00:41:54.079 --> 00:41:56.039
I think we're very much prone to that, are we not?

713
00:41:56.480 --> 00:41:58.719
I mean, think about throughout I mean, if you think

714
00:41:58.719 --> 00:41:59.760
about it, there's.

715
00:41:59.599 --> 00:42:00.679
Nothing in the Bible.

716
00:42:00.719 --> 00:42:02.639
Now I'm not now this is gonna get I'm gonna

717
00:42:02.639 --> 00:42:05.800
be careful because I'm not throwing a condemnation upon it.

718
00:42:05.840 --> 00:42:07.360
But I just think we have to at least consider

719
00:42:07.400 --> 00:42:11.199
it in this context. Right, These people needed something visible.

720
00:42:11.719 --> 00:42:14.679
We are prone to wanting something visible. We want us

721
00:42:15.320 --> 00:42:18.119
Jesus talks to the religious leaders. They wanted to sign,

722
00:42:18.280 --> 00:42:21.800
they wanted wonders. We want signs, we want wonders, we

723
00:42:21.840 --> 00:42:25.719
want the visible. Right, Okay, Our God that we worship

724
00:42:25.840 --> 00:42:29.920
is invisible, and we have a hard time with that,

725
00:42:30.119 --> 00:42:32.239
but we like a visible representation.

726
00:42:32.559 --> 00:42:34.400
If you really go back and look.

727
00:42:34.199 --> 00:42:38.280
At the Bible, right, especially in the New Testament, is

728
00:42:38.320 --> 00:42:42.599
there any call in the New Testament to build anything

729
00:42:42.719 --> 00:42:47.760
like any The Temple's gone, right, the visible manifestation of

730
00:42:47.880 --> 00:42:50.800
God's presence is gone, and seventy eight has wopped off

731
00:42:50.800 --> 00:42:53.320
the face of the earth. Right, Okay, Now is there

732
00:42:53.320 --> 00:42:58.079
a call to build a great church, a huge building?

733
00:42:58.199 --> 00:43:03.800
But throughout church history, what did we do these beautiful buildings?

734
00:43:03.920 --> 00:43:07.760
Right now? People will talk about the you.

735
00:43:07.679 --> 00:43:13.000
Know, the the philological significance of architecture, right that in

736
00:43:13.159 --> 00:43:17.199
churches it draws your eyes up towards Heaven, and it

737
00:43:17.239 --> 00:43:19.960
gives us a sense to let us be drawn into

738
00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:22.920
the transcendence and taken away from the world. When we

739
00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:26.639
walk into one of these beautiful churches right, these beautiful

740
00:43:27.039 --> 00:43:30.800
they they are beautiful, and maybe they do accomplish that.

741
00:43:31.039 --> 00:43:34.159
But at the same time, is it is it more

742
00:43:34.239 --> 00:43:36.159
so because we need the visible.

743
00:43:39.679 --> 00:43:41.920
I'm not saying it's bad, but I think we can.

744
00:43:41.840 --> 00:43:47.079
At least challenge we need. Maybe it's our need to

745
00:43:47.119 --> 00:43:47.920
see something.

746
00:43:48.039 --> 00:43:48.239
Right.

747
00:43:48.880 --> 00:43:53.800
Charismatics may not build these beautiful, you know churches, right,

748
00:43:54.280 --> 00:43:58.800
but they need the visible manifestation of what signs and

749
00:43:58.840 --> 00:44:00.280
wonders see.

750
00:44:00.320 --> 00:44:02.039
Some people want them, maybe the big.

751
00:44:01.880 --> 00:44:07.239
Architecture in the church right, beautiful, you know, a beautiful building.

752
00:44:08.039 --> 00:44:10.920
Others may just need signs and wonders. Others may to

753
00:44:11.079 --> 00:44:14.360
need to feel or experience something through maybe you know,

754
00:44:14.440 --> 00:44:17.360
an hour of praise and worship. I think we're drawn

755
00:44:17.400 --> 00:44:22.880
to needing to feel, see and experience. They saw and

756
00:44:22.960 --> 00:44:30.840
it wasn't enough. They need to see more. That seems crazy.

757
00:44:31.079 --> 00:44:32.000
Isaiah forty.

758
00:44:32.280 --> 00:44:37.559
The exiles surrounded by Babylonian idols. I cannot stress this enough.

759
00:44:37.719 --> 00:44:43.599
If you study Babylon they're polytheistic, They've got gods for everything.

760
00:44:44.079 --> 00:44:46.679
They build these structures where in a.

761
00:44:46.679 --> 00:44:51.159
Sense God and man are supposed to kind of meet together.

762
00:44:51.800 --> 00:44:54.440
That they are surrounded by idols.

763
00:44:56.320 --> 00:44:58.159
Just keep that in mind, because that comes to play

764
00:44:58.239 --> 00:45:02.480
later on in Isaiah forty. Just keep that mind, okay,

765
00:45:02.199 --> 00:45:06.119
And they could be tempted to do what they could

766
00:45:06.159 --> 00:45:09.039
be tempted to trust in these idols because they can

767
00:45:09.079 --> 00:45:14.679
see them. Their temple is what gone. They can't see

768
00:45:14.679 --> 00:45:17.519
their God, and they're in Babylon and all around them

769
00:45:17.599 --> 00:45:20.840
are visible gods. They can be drawn to that. And

770
00:45:20.880 --> 00:45:23.039
if you look at Isaiah forty, does this not become

771
00:45:23.079 --> 00:45:25.000
an issue later on in Isaiah forty?

772
00:45:26.800 --> 00:45:28.639
Just skim through Isaiah.

773
00:45:28.280 --> 00:45:32.119
Forty and tell me when they start talking about idols,

774
00:45:32.239 --> 00:45:33.920
just skim see how quickly.

775
00:45:33.639 --> 00:45:34.599
It shows up.

776
00:45:43.280 --> 00:45:46.440
Yes, especially, I think it's already starting to be hinted

777
00:45:46.480 --> 00:45:52.719
at before that. Well and Isaiah forty, Yeah, and forty.

778
00:45:53.920 --> 00:45:57.239
But Bobby is right, and eighteen it becomes explained leading

779
00:45:57.320 --> 00:45:58.760
up to this, it's already started.

780
00:45:58.800 --> 00:46:02.480
It's already started, right. But because it says who has

781
00:46:02.559 --> 00:46:04.039
measured the waters in the hollow of.

782
00:46:04.000 --> 00:46:06.880
His hand, he's immediately saying who is like God?

783
00:46:07.320 --> 00:46:09.519
Right? But when you get to eighteen, there's no question

784
00:46:09.760 --> 00:46:11.239
to whom? Then will you.

785
00:46:13.119 --> 00:46:16.519
Liking God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?

786
00:46:16.719 --> 00:46:20.480
The working molds and image the Goldsmith overspread. He starts

787
00:46:20.480 --> 00:46:24.559
in eighteen. It's explicitly, but he's already leading up to that.

788
00:46:25.400 --> 00:46:26.719
It's probably starting in verse.

789
00:46:26.519 --> 00:46:31.280
Twelve, right, So when he says behold your God, he's

790
00:46:31.280 --> 00:46:34.920
saying behold God to those of Judah who are aware

791
00:46:36.119 --> 00:46:42.360
in captivity and is surrounded by what idols, the visible manifestation.

792
00:46:42.719 --> 00:46:45.320
Now they're said to behold God, but they are to

793
00:46:45.360 --> 00:46:48.800
be in the crazy Israel gets to behold God in

794
00:46:48.880 --> 00:46:54.199
a visible way, and they want an idol. In this case,

795
00:46:54.480 --> 00:46:59.239
they have all the idols and they're told behold your God,

796
00:46:59.480 --> 00:47:02.559
but they're not going to be given anything visible. In

797
00:47:03.119 --> 00:47:07.679
that contrast, there is crazy to me. There's something significant

798
00:47:07.719 --> 00:47:10.519
going on here, right, So AI said it this way.

799
00:47:10.679 --> 00:47:13.880
The exiles are surrounded by Babylonian idols and are tempted

800
00:47:13.920 --> 00:47:17.679
to trust in what is visible and tangible rather than

801
00:47:17.719 --> 00:47:22.360
the invisible God who works through ordinary means. So they

802
00:47:22.519 --> 00:47:26.559
have visible idols all around them, and he says, behold

803
00:47:26.599 --> 00:47:31.920
your God, say God in the ordinary over here and Exodus,

804
00:47:31.960 --> 00:47:32.920
behold your God.

805
00:47:33.239 --> 00:47:35.599
Say all of his power, say all of his glory,

806
00:47:35.840 --> 00:47:38.079
say all of his might. And then they're like, can

807
00:47:38.119 --> 00:47:44.440
we have an idol? That is nuts that kind.

808
00:47:43.679 --> 00:47:48.079
If we miss that contrast, now, what we do with that?

809
00:47:48.400 --> 00:47:50.159
We could spend all day working on that. But that

810
00:47:50.639 --> 00:47:53.360
is significant, is it not so? Number One, when we're

811
00:47:53.360 --> 00:47:55.960
looking at this contrast the nature of God the deliverances,

812
00:47:55.960 --> 00:47:58.880
they're completely different. Number two, the call to behold God.

813
00:47:59.079 --> 00:48:02.480
Number three the tempo of the visible versus the invisible.

814
00:48:02.599 --> 00:48:05.440
And all of us are drawn to what the visible.

815
00:48:05.480 --> 00:48:08.000
Let's just be honest, we're all drawn to We want

816
00:48:08.079 --> 00:48:11.480
visible something, Something's got to be visible.

817
00:48:11.599 --> 00:48:12.360
We got to see it.

818
00:48:12.880 --> 00:48:17.280
Christianity always we talk. I don't care if non charismatic

819
00:48:17.360 --> 00:48:21.119
or charismatic. It's all about power in God doing this

820
00:48:21.280 --> 00:48:24.320
and God doing that. And so we have to convince

821
00:48:24.360 --> 00:48:29.360
ourselves of something tangible. And they're being set told to

822
00:48:29.400 --> 00:48:32.079
behold God, and they're not going to see anything other

823
00:48:32.159 --> 00:48:36.079
than what looks like the most ordinary of ordinary things.

824
00:48:36.400 --> 00:48:38.400
If a historian writes about it, are they going to

825
00:48:38.440 --> 00:48:38.880
see God?

826
00:48:40.599 --> 00:48:41.440
Cyrus takes over.

827
00:48:41.599 --> 00:48:45.719
Lets these people go, big deal, It's happened before.

828
00:48:50.719 --> 00:48:55.679
But we are told see God right now.

829
00:48:56.239 --> 00:48:59.679
So one of the theological implications of these contrasts, so

830
00:48:59.760 --> 00:49:03.079
the the Three Maiden contrasts the nature of the deliverances,

831
00:49:03.360 --> 00:49:05.760
the call to behold God and the temptation of the

832
00:49:05.840 --> 00:49:08.719
visible and the invisible. So what are the theological implications?

833
00:49:08.719 --> 00:49:10.400
You're ready for? Some theological implications.

834
00:49:10.480 --> 00:49:15.440
Number One, God's sovereignty in all circumstances, whether it's a

835
00:49:15.480 --> 00:49:19.400
supernatural act or whether it's an ordinary God is sovereign

836
00:49:19.440 --> 00:49:22.360
and actively involved in the deliverance of his people. That

837
00:49:22.519 --> 00:49:26.840
is true in both cases an Exodus, who is involved

838
00:49:26.840 --> 00:49:32.880
in delivering the people? God in Isaiah forty, who is

839
00:49:33.599 --> 00:49:35.039
involved in delivering his people?

840
00:49:35.440 --> 00:49:38.480
God, God, God is sovereignly involved.

841
00:49:38.880 --> 00:49:45.199
Whether we see supernatural or don't see supernatural. That's hard

842
00:49:45.239 --> 00:49:49.760
to say, that's hard to understand, right, does anyone struggle

843
00:49:49.800 --> 00:49:54.800
with that? Like, if God doesn't show up, it's sometimes

844
00:49:54.840 --> 00:49:58.880
it makes no sense. But God is sovereign in both circumstances.

845
00:49:59.679 --> 00:50:03.679
Isa of forty emphasizes that God's power is no less

846
00:50:03.800 --> 00:50:08.800
present when he works human history rather than through great miracles.

847
00:50:08.840 --> 00:50:12.559
Can we agree to that is, behold your God. God

848
00:50:12.639 --> 00:50:16.840
is justice present, just as active, even though it's all

849
00:50:16.880 --> 00:50:24.480
gonna look ordinary. We cannot forget this. So the first

850
00:50:24.519 --> 00:50:31.679
zoological implication God's sovereignty, God's presence, God's action, and all circumstances.

851
00:50:31.760 --> 00:50:38.199
Number two, Faith beyond the visible. The Exodus demonstrates God's

852
00:50:38.199 --> 00:50:42.159
ability to work supernaturally, but Isaiah forty calls for faith

853
00:50:42.239 --> 00:50:43.559
to see God's hand.

854
00:50:43.760 --> 00:50:45.639
In the ordinary.

855
00:50:46.840 --> 00:50:53.280
And resists the temptation of visible idols. Or let's say this,

856
00:50:54.960 --> 00:50:59.440
let's state it this way, faith beyond the visible. We

857
00:50:59.760 --> 00:51:02.400
are called to have faith in trusting a God in

858
00:51:02.440 --> 00:51:05.719
whom we cannot see. We've been talking about this alive

859
00:51:06.360 --> 00:51:10.239
when all the visible calls us to question the existence

860
00:51:10.360 --> 00:51:13.360
of that God, and we have to watch ourselves that.

861
00:51:13.519 --> 00:51:16.679
Are we comfortable with faith in a God in whom

862
00:51:16.679 --> 00:51:21.480
we cannot see? Or do we constantly find ourselves being

863
00:51:21.599 --> 00:51:27.519
drawn to needing something visible, needing some kind of something?

864
00:51:27.559 --> 00:51:28.719
And I think we're drawn to that.

865
00:51:28.800 --> 00:51:33.280
I think that's why these great churches have been built.

866
00:51:33.360 --> 00:51:34.719
I know, I know people are going.

867
00:51:34.679 --> 00:51:36.679
To get mad at me for saying that, but I mean,

868
00:51:36.800 --> 00:51:39.239
just think of just think of some of these major

869
00:51:39.840 --> 00:51:44.800
churches that have been built. They I mean, the amount

870
00:51:44.840 --> 00:51:48.400
of money that has gone into building some of these.

871
00:51:48.440 --> 00:51:51.199
I mean, the entire Reformation started for white that were

872
00:51:51.239 --> 00:51:54.400
trying to build Saint Peter's Basilica, right, And what did

873
00:51:54.400 --> 00:51:56.280
they need? They needed money, and how did they try

874
00:51:56.280 --> 00:52:00.519
to get the money? Indulgences, so they they had to

875
00:52:00.599 --> 00:52:04.840
raise money to build a building. Now it's the building beautiful.

876
00:52:05.719 --> 00:52:07.679
You ever go to Rome and look at the Vatican

877
00:52:07.719 --> 00:52:10.920
and all the buildings and all the churches associated with

878
00:52:11.119 --> 00:52:16.400
those things are beautiful, powerful symbols. But they all are

879
00:52:16.519 --> 00:52:22.280
draws to the visible. Now again, even if it's not

880
00:52:22.840 --> 00:52:25.079
we can condemn that, but you can have You can

881
00:52:25.239 --> 00:52:27.960
be in a little small building without that, and you

882
00:52:28.000 --> 00:52:31.840
can still be looking for what visible. You can be

883
00:52:31.920 --> 00:52:35.280
in the hills of North Carolina or somewhere in that

884
00:52:35.360 --> 00:52:41.960
area and they're running around with snakes. Well, because people

885
00:52:42.000 --> 00:52:46.639
want a visible want better visible manifestation. Then look at

886
00:52:46.679 --> 00:52:51.480
me holding your rattlesnak. You're insane, But okay, right now,

887
00:52:51.639 --> 00:52:53.960
they do that because the people long for something visible,

888
00:52:54.440 --> 00:52:56.559
even if it's not that, Even if they're not holding

889
00:52:56.559 --> 00:53:01.360
a snake, signs and wonders, people on the floor, getting

890
00:53:01.400 --> 00:53:04.480
slain in the spirit, speaking in tongues, or having some

891
00:53:04.599 --> 00:53:10.519
emotional experience. Everyone wants something visible. We are drawn to that.

892
00:53:11.400 --> 00:53:14.079
Now in their historical case, what could these people be

893
00:53:14.159 --> 00:53:15.800
drawn to behold your God?

894
00:53:15.960 --> 00:53:19.280
Why? Hey, guys, guys, stop looking at the Babylonian gods.

895
00:53:20.639 --> 00:53:23.239
I know they're visible. You see their buildings, you see

896
00:53:23.280 --> 00:53:23.960
the idols.

897
00:53:25.039 --> 00:53:27.840
Your God is present, and they may be like but no, Oh,

898
00:53:27.880 --> 00:53:29.840
God was wiped off the face of the earth when

899
00:53:29.880 --> 00:53:32.400
the Temple was destroyed. And that's going to be important

900
00:53:32.440 --> 00:53:35.599
for Israel moving forward, right because.

901
00:53:35.400 --> 00:53:40.239
When we get to Hebrews, the message to.

902
00:53:40.519 --> 00:53:45.039
Israelites or what in a sense, behold your God. There's

903
00:53:45.079 --> 00:53:49.559
something better than this visible manifestation, because what's about to

904
00:53:49.599 --> 00:53:53.360
have let's say we date Hebrew sixty six sixty seven

905
00:53:53.440 --> 00:53:54.960
AD in just a few years.

906
00:53:55.000 --> 00:54:00.480
What's going to happen and never coming back at least.

907
00:54:00.920 --> 00:54:03.360
Unless we believe obviously for a future one being built,

908
00:54:03.440 --> 00:54:09.239
but before, for the for the now, there's God. I mean,

909
00:54:09.280 --> 00:54:11.079
if you go to if you go to Israel, there's

910
00:54:11.119 --> 00:54:13.559
no temple there. There's a big thing sitting where the

911
00:54:13.599 --> 00:54:16.199
temple is supposed to be, okay, and the Jews for

912
00:54:16.239 --> 00:54:19.079
the most part, don't even have access to the temple mouth.

913
00:54:19.119 --> 00:54:24.440
They're not allowed there because who controls it. Muslims they

914
00:54:24.440 --> 00:54:26.400
can't even get there, but they don't need it.

915
00:54:28.519 --> 00:54:37.599
Behold your God. It's hard to see that. Yes, I

916
00:54:37.599 --> 00:54:41.039
think it's important to see that. So the Exodus demonstrates

917
00:54:41.039 --> 00:54:44.400
God's ability. So this is faith beyond the visible. The

918
00:54:44.440 --> 00:54:49.320
Exodus demonstrates God's ability to work supernaturally, but Isaiah forty

919
00:54:49.360 --> 00:54:51.440
calls for faith to see God's hand in the ordinary

920
00:54:51.480 --> 00:54:54.800
and to resist the temptation of visible idols. This reflects

921
00:54:54.840 --> 00:54:58.159
a maturing of faith, trusting God even when his actions

922
00:54:58.199 --> 00:55:00.239
are not accompanied by dramatic display.

923
00:55:00.480 --> 00:55:03.320
I will say your faith.

924
00:55:03.079 --> 00:55:07.920
Your faith is more mature, and you have grown in

925
00:55:07.960 --> 00:55:12.599
your faith when you don't need all the visible manifestation.

926
00:55:13.079 --> 00:55:17.360
If you can behold God and you can't see him,

927
00:55:17.920 --> 00:55:20.880
that is a mature It does not take a mature.

928
00:55:20.639 --> 00:55:26.239
Faith to you know, someone dies and are resurrected. That

929
00:55:26.280 --> 00:55:29.000
doesn't take a mature faith to accept that. Right.

930
00:55:29.280 --> 00:55:32.079
Doesn't take a mature faith to oh, we don't have

931
00:55:32.159 --> 00:55:36.199
food and it just drops from heaven. What takes the

932
00:55:36.320 --> 00:55:39.599
mature faith is to behold God. I'll use my own

933
00:55:39.679 --> 00:55:43.840
life standing in Buffalo Gap Cemetery watching my mother be

934
00:55:43.920 --> 00:55:47.920
buried as a young person. Now, let's be honest. I

935
00:55:47.920 --> 00:55:52.519
didn't behold God because that was what October. I don't

936
00:55:52.519 --> 00:55:54.400
always forget the date October.

937
00:55:55.880 --> 00:55:59.800
I didn't behold God. I left there, drove.

938
00:55:59.639 --> 00:56:03.360
Right down this road, and I don't remember how many

939
00:56:03.440 --> 00:56:06.400
weeks later, not long after the funeral, going out that

940
00:56:06.480 --> 00:56:09.599
way in the middle of nowhere, a big ranch out there,

941
00:56:10.320 --> 00:56:14.039
walked into the parents' room, grabbed the gun, knelt down

942
00:56:14.039 --> 00:56:16.039
and said, God, forgive me, and got ready to pull

943
00:56:16.079 --> 00:56:17.679
the trigger to blow my brains.

944
00:56:17.400 --> 00:56:25.000
Out because I did not behold God. A mature faith

945
00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:28.199
would have been able to somehow behold.

946
00:56:28.280 --> 00:56:32.960
I could not behold God because my mind, if God

947
00:56:33.079 --> 00:56:34.960
was really working, what.

948
00:56:34.960 --> 00:56:40.760
Should have happened? And I let her die? That's hard

949
00:56:40.760 --> 00:56:42.400
to comes. That's see.

950
00:56:43.239 --> 00:56:46.199
Sometimes charismatics, you just don't have enough faith. No, it

951
00:56:46.239 --> 00:56:49.719
takes far more faith to believe when your mother is

952
00:56:49.840 --> 00:56:53.360
buried than it does to believe when your mother is healed.

953
00:56:54.599 --> 00:56:58.440
If you want to test someone's faith, that's faith. Who

954
00:56:58.480 --> 00:57:02.360
took more faith people being healed? Or watching what Job

955
00:57:02.480 --> 00:57:11.079
went through? That was hard? And did he have struggles?

956
00:57:12.480 --> 00:57:16.760
He's like, Okay, God, where are you? And finally when

957
00:57:16.800 --> 00:57:20.920
he beheld God, God basically told him what nothing.

958
00:57:21.039 --> 00:57:23.599
He didn't tell him anything. He just gave him questions.

959
00:57:23.760 --> 00:57:27.280
And finally Job was just like, I'm just gonna shut up.

960
00:57:27.280 --> 00:57:31.559
Now that's hard to comprehend. I don't understand how that works,

961
00:57:32.559 --> 00:57:36.320
but this is demonstrating it, right.

962
00:57:36.519 --> 00:57:38.360
So it reflects a mature.

963
00:57:38.039 --> 00:57:40.840
Faith to trust God even when actions are not accompanied

964
00:57:40.840 --> 00:57:45.000
by dramatic displays. Next, God's dual nature as shepherd and

965
00:57:45.039 --> 00:57:48.400
warrior and Exodus God is betrayed as a warrior fighting

966
00:57:48.440 --> 00:57:51.599
for his people. We can see that, right, And Isaiah forty,

967
00:57:51.639 --> 00:57:54.760
God has depicted as a shepherd gently leading his people.

968
00:57:55.079 --> 00:57:59.639
But guess what, what's crazy? And Isaiah forty God has

969
00:57:59.679 --> 00:58:02.079
kind of me? You could say, is God being depicted

970
00:58:02.119 --> 00:58:06.000
as a shepherd, because really the shepherd is whom Cyrus.

971
00:58:06.039 --> 00:58:08.199
He's even referred to as a shepherd in just a

972
00:58:08.280 --> 00:58:11.880
couple of chapters. So in one case, God's action is

973
00:58:11.920 --> 00:58:15.760
really he may be a shepherd, but he's a hidden shepherd.

974
00:58:17.519 --> 00:58:20.679
And Exodus is a warrior who is visible.

975
00:58:22.599 --> 00:58:25.119
See God can And I think it's it's important to

976
00:58:25.119 --> 00:58:27.480
say God can be a warrior. God can be a

977
00:58:27.519 --> 00:58:30.840
shepherd and can do it in an invisible way through

978
00:58:30.960 --> 00:58:34.519
ordinary means. That's hard for us to comprehend sometimes, is

979
00:58:34.559 --> 00:58:34.760
it not?

980
00:58:37.360 --> 00:58:39.239
So?

981
00:58:39.239 --> 00:58:43.119
So those are the theological implications God's sovereignty and all circumstances,

982
00:58:43.440 --> 00:58:44.360
Faith beyond.

983
00:58:44.119 --> 00:58:45.119
The visible.

984
00:58:46.239 --> 00:58:50.440
The yeah, well we can make it at number three,

985
00:58:50.559 --> 00:58:53.639
the reflection that this is about a maturing faith. But

986
00:58:53.760 --> 00:58:56.679
that's really about faith beyond the visible God's dual nature

987
00:58:56.679 --> 00:58:58.880
as shepherd and warrior. Those are kind of the three

988
00:58:58.960 --> 00:59:01.199
major points of the fill logical implications. I kind of

989
00:59:01.199 --> 00:59:04.719
gave more there, but okay, that's fine. Now some applications

990
00:59:04.760 --> 00:59:05.320
for today.

991
00:59:06.880 --> 00:59:07.360
You ready.

992
00:59:08.480 --> 00:59:11.039
We need to learn to recognize God in the ordinary.

993
00:59:12.960 --> 00:59:15.119
Just as the exiles were called to see God's hand

994
00:59:15.119 --> 00:59:18.119
in their deliverance through Cyrus, we're called to recognize God's

995
00:59:18.199 --> 00:59:20.039
work and the ordinary events of our lives.

996
00:59:20.119 --> 00:59:23.559
And let me tell you it's hard to do. It's

997
00:59:23.559 --> 00:59:26.079
hard to do, but.

998
00:59:26.079 --> 00:59:28.480
We are to try to learn to recognize God in

999
00:59:28.519 --> 00:59:32.960
the ordinary. Number two, Balancing expectation of the miraculous with

1000
00:59:33.079 --> 00:59:37.599
trust in the ordinary. God can and does work supernaturally,

1001
00:59:38.239 --> 00:59:43.119
but more than often he works in an ordinary way,

1002
00:59:43.599 --> 00:59:46.039
and it requires us to exercise faith in patience. We

1003
00:59:46.119 --> 00:59:47.280
have to we have to.

1004
00:59:47.239 --> 00:59:51.559
Make sure our expect what should our expectation be for

1005
00:59:51.639 --> 00:59:53.000
God to work in an ordinary way?

1006
00:59:53.719 --> 00:59:57.079
That should be our expectation. And if your expectation is

1007
00:59:57.119 --> 00:59:59.599
the other you're gonna you end up doing two things.

1008
01:00:00.039 --> 01:00:02.559
Your expectation is for the supernatural. Here's what you do.

1009
01:00:02.880 --> 01:00:04.360
You either start making up.

1010
01:00:04.199 --> 01:00:11.480
Stories right okay, or you lose your faith, or you

1011
01:00:11.519 --> 01:00:14.000
start trying to create situations where you can have some

1012
01:00:14.119 --> 01:00:17.199
kind of emotional experience to try to sustain you.

1013
01:00:17.239 --> 01:00:19.679
So you basically you become like you need a hit,

1014
01:00:19.840 --> 01:00:22.440
like a drug addict, you need something to boost you.

1015
01:00:22.840 --> 01:00:25.840
Or you start creating these concepts where you're just not

1016
01:00:26.039 --> 01:00:28.719
factually true, like you start questioning and a lot of

1017
01:00:28.760 --> 01:00:33.199
the stories you hear Christians say, you're just like your

1018
01:00:33.239 --> 01:00:35.920
whole story is falling completely apart. And it's sad to

1019
01:00:36.000 --> 01:00:38.199
have to do that to people. But in many cases

1020
01:00:38.199 --> 01:00:41.800
their stories just don't make sense. But we but people

1021
01:00:41.880 --> 01:00:44.519
long for it. They have to feel that it's true.

1022
01:00:44.880 --> 01:00:48.559
So we have to balance that expectation. We have to

1023
01:00:48.639 --> 01:00:53.280
avoid idolatry. Like the Israelites in both Exodus and Isaiah's time,

1024
01:00:53.280 --> 01:00:55.599
we are tempted to place our trust in visible or

1025
01:00:55.679 --> 01:00:58.920
tangible things. We cannot do that. We have to resist

1026
01:00:58.920 --> 01:01:01.880
that temptation. We've got to stop being drawn to the

1027
01:01:02.000 --> 01:01:08.639
visible and people are drawn to it. Oh, I guarantee

1028
01:01:08.719 --> 01:01:12.920
you in fact, I know it to be factual. There

1029
01:01:12.960 --> 01:01:15.079
have been times people have pulled up at this building,

1030
01:01:16.119 --> 01:01:19.000
walked in, and they didn't come back because they didn't

1031
01:01:19.079 --> 01:01:26.400
like the building. I mean, by come on, I'll never

1032
01:01:26.440 --> 01:01:28.360
forget that. I won't name any people. But there were

1033
01:01:28.360 --> 01:01:31.519
people who attended here and then they left. They decided

1034
01:01:31.559 --> 01:01:34.719
to go join a Presbyterian church in Ambling and one

1035
01:01:34.719 --> 01:01:38.119
of their first social media posts was took pictures and like, look,

1036
01:01:38.159 --> 01:01:40.599
I'm so grateful for the church I have and look

1037
01:01:40.599 --> 01:01:41.760
at how beautiful it is.

1038
01:01:42.239 --> 01:01:43.360
And it was all about what.

1039
01:01:44.960 --> 01:01:52.199
The building. They didn't take any pictures here. Now you

1040
01:01:52.239 --> 01:01:54.559
can draw your own judgment whether that's a good thing or.

1041
01:01:54.559 --> 01:01:58.639
A bad thing. But it makes you question, right, makes

1042
01:01:58.639 --> 01:01:59.519
your question.

1043
01:01:59.719 --> 01:02:06.519
Because God is present in the most beautiful building or

1044
01:02:07.400 --> 01:02:10.719
in a little small grass hut in the middle of

1045
01:02:10.800 --> 01:02:17.239
nowhere with two people and an open Bible. But if

1046
01:02:17.559 --> 01:02:19.760
if people know you go to this little broken down

1047
01:02:19.800 --> 01:02:23.239
building in the middle of nowhere, West Texas, that could

1048
01:02:23.239 --> 01:02:24.760
be kind of embarrassing, couldn't it?

1049
01:02:27.039 --> 01:02:27.639
For some people?

1050
01:02:27.679 --> 01:02:31.880
It would be for other people it wouldn't be. I mean,

1051
01:02:31.960 --> 01:02:33.840
truss me when I first was I mean, I've told

1052
01:02:33.840 --> 01:02:34.239
the story.

1053
01:02:34.280 --> 01:02:34.719
I mean I've been.

1054
01:02:34.760 --> 01:02:37.880
I've always been very honest when in my mind when

1055
01:02:37.880 --> 01:02:39.519
I was like, I'm going to go to school and

1056
01:02:39.559 --> 01:02:41.400
I'm gonna get all these degrees and I'm going to.

1057
01:02:41.400 --> 01:02:42.039
Be a pastor.

1058
01:02:42.280 --> 01:02:44.320
Do you think when the first time I walked into

1059
01:02:44.360 --> 01:02:47.599
this building, I was like, this is what I had

1060
01:02:47.719 --> 01:02:50.920
always dreamed of. When I first walked into this middle

1061
01:02:50.960 --> 01:02:53.559
there were wires hanging down, There was a couple of

1062
01:02:53.599 --> 01:02:57.519
small metal chairs there, the floor was seamen, it was cold.

1063
01:02:57.559 --> 01:03:00.159
It was like, what is this place? And that this

1064
01:03:00.280 --> 01:03:01.960
is where my ministry was going to begin. I was

1065
01:03:02.000 --> 01:03:05.719
kind of like, oh, this is this is not what

1066
01:03:05.800 --> 01:03:09.639
I expected. But you know what, God justice present here.

1067
01:03:09.639 --> 01:03:11.239
If I would have been in a church with five

1068
01:03:11.320 --> 01:03:16.920
hundred people in a beautiful building, were tempted to be.

1069
01:03:16.920 --> 01:03:17.480
Drawn to what.

1070
01:03:19.360 --> 01:03:21.920
In many cases it's because it's about us and more

1071
01:03:21.960 --> 01:03:27.320
than it is about God. We can be drawn to that. Yes,

1072
01:03:29.519 --> 01:03:32.519
I mean nobody wants to admit that, but I've seen

1073
01:03:32.559 --> 01:03:35.599
it here just enough. Not always, but there were certain

1074
01:03:35.639 --> 01:03:38.519
circumstances where you could just tell people walked in and

1075
01:03:38.559 --> 01:03:41.679
you just knew they weren't coming back because it just

1076
01:03:41.719 --> 01:03:47.239
didn't feel didn't feel a certain way people like walking

1077
01:03:47.280 --> 01:03:50.320
into that nice beautiful building. I mean, I remember I've

1078
01:03:50.400 --> 01:03:54.159
said before, if you bought books on church growth, especially

1079
01:03:54.159 --> 01:03:56.519
in the nineties into the early two thousands, what did

1080
01:03:56.559 --> 01:04:01.079
they All those books say build it and they will come.

1081
01:04:02.760 --> 01:04:05.760
If you're willing to go into debt and build a nice,

1082
01:04:05.840 --> 01:04:09.960
beautiful building, you're gonna do a good job of at

1083
01:04:10.039 --> 01:04:12.920
least filling it up halfway, just because people are gonna

1084
01:04:12.960 --> 01:04:16.679
be drawn to the nice, new shiny thing. That shows

1085
01:04:16.719 --> 01:04:20.639
you Christians are no more spiritual than the typical lost person,

1086
01:04:21.119 --> 01:04:23.880
because lost people are drawn to the new, nice shiny thing.

1087
01:04:24.239 --> 01:04:29.400
And guess what, we are no different. We are no different.

1088
01:04:30.000 --> 01:04:32.800
Now when I choose a movie theater, like, the only

1089
01:04:32.840 --> 01:04:34.719
movie theater I'll go to an Albileen is on the

1090
01:04:34.719 --> 01:04:35.360
north side.

1091
01:04:37.199 --> 01:04:38.719
That's the only one, the center mark XD.

1092
01:04:38.880 --> 01:04:40.800
I'm not gonna go to any of the others because

1093
01:04:40.800 --> 01:04:41.840
they're now old and done.

1094
01:04:41.880 --> 01:04:42.880
I'm not going into them.

1095
01:04:43.039 --> 01:04:44.639
If I go to a movie, I want the nice

1096
01:04:44.639 --> 01:04:47.039
seats and I want the biggest green with the best

1097
01:04:47.079 --> 01:04:49.480
sound and the best picture, or I'm not gonna go.

1098
01:04:50.280 --> 01:04:54.480
That's okay choosing a movie theater, but it's very easy

1099
01:04:54.480 --> 01:04:56.000
for us to think the same way when it.

1100
01:04:55.960 --> 01:04:59.679
Comes to churches, because we want the visible.

1101
01:05:00.360 --> 01:05:04.320
That desire for the visual shows up in countless ways.

1102
01:05:05.159 --> 01:05:06.039
Does that make sense?

1103
01:05:06.679 --> 01:05:08.239
Come on, we've all been there. Come on, we have

1104
01:05:08.320 --> 01:05:12.239
to be honest, right, all right? So a couple of

1105
01:05:12.239 --> 01:05:18.039
discussion questions and we'll end. How does the contrast between

1106
01:05:18.039 --> 01:05:23.000
Exodus and Isaiah forty shape our understanding of how God.

1107
01:05:22.760 --> 01:05:26.679
Works in history?

1108
01:05:26.760 --> 01:05:30.559
I think how it should shape our understanding is especially

1109
01:05:30.840 --> 01:05:32.800
in our day and age. And I know this is

1110
01:05:32.800 --> 01:05:35.519
gonna sound very dispensational, but I think we have to

1111
01:05:35.559 --> 01:05:39.639
acknowledge God worked in the supernatural and past dispensations. I

1112
01:05:39.679 --> 01:05:41.840
know that's going to drive reform people out of their minds,

1113
01:05:41.840 --> 01:05:45.480
but I don't care. Let's not use the word dispensation.

1114
01:05:45.559 --> 01:05:48.280
Dispensation just means a period of time. I don't know

1115
01:05:48.320 --> 01:05:50.039
why the word is so like. You say the word

1116
01:05:50.159 --> 01:05:53.960
like they're gonna pull out holy water and try to

1117
01:05:53.960 --> 01:05:57.039
perform an exorcism. It's just God. There's no way to

1118
01:05:57.079 --> 01:05:59.239
deny it. God worked differently in the past than he

1119
01:05:59.280 --> 01:06:02.119
does today. That doesn't mean God changed. When we say

1120
01:06:02.239 --> 01:06:04.880
God is the same yesterday and today forever, his nature

1121
01:06:04.960 --> 01:06:07.079
is the same. You can't deny that he's worked in

1122
01:06:07.119 --> 01:06:12.719
a different way. Is the Chicana glory floating around somewhere? No?

1123
01:06:13.280 --> 01:06:17.719
Is God speaking directly to us? No is he using

1124
01:06:17.840 --> 01:06:20.639
audible voices. No is he parting the red sea?

1125
01:06:20.880 --> 01:06:23.960
No is he feeding people by Manif drop he could

1126
01:06:24.039 --> 01:06:29.119
solve or he could solve world hunger instantaneously, just have

1127
01:06:29.280 --> 01:06:31.800
mana drop down every morning for all the people starving.

1128
01:06:31.960 --> 01:06:35.559
He's not doing that, right. Is he water coming from

1129
01:06:35.639 --> 01:06:38.519
a rock or birds coming down.

1130
01:06:38.480 --> 01:06:40.679
And coming into the camp where you can have some quell.

1131
01:06:41.119 --> 01:06:43.519
No, none of those things are happening that way.

1132
01:06:43.679 --> 01:06:46.960
Right, Something has changed dramatically.

1133
01:06:47.320 --> 01:06:50.000
I think what it shows me is that in Exodus,

1134
01:06:50.360 --> 01:06:54.599
you're very much in the supernatural framework, right, and those

1135
01:06:54.840 --> 01:06:57.360
and if you think in the Bible, really there's only

1136
01:06:57.559 --> 01:07:00.800
segments where their things are very supernatural, right, they kind

1137
01:07:00.800 --> 01:07:03.960
of play out in certain segments. A good portion of

1138
01:07:04.960 --> 01:07:10.039
Abraham's life was what just ordinary, doing a lot of

1139
01:07:10.039 --> 01:07:14.119
walking around. They kept waiting for the supernatural, and when

1140
01:07:14.119 --> 01:07:16.920
they didn't, they took themselves to go for an ordinary need.

1141
01:07:17.400 --> 01:07:19.760
They're like, we're gonna we're gonna do something to fix

1142
01:07:19.800 --> 01:07:22.639
this problem. Right, They and in many cases even when

1143
01:07:22.639 --> 01:07:25.480
you read in Hebrews that many of them and uh

1144
01:07:25.480 --> 01:07:27.519
in Hebrews eleven the Hall of Faith, it says at

1145
01:07:27.519 --> 01:07:29.800
the end that many of them were giving these promises,

1146
01:07:29.800 --> 01:07:31.960
but they never saw them.

1147
01:07:32.599 --> 01:07:36.000
They saw the ordinary. The order. Now the times God steps.

1148
01:07:35.599 --> 01:07:38.119
In in the Old Testament and then the New Testament,

1149
01:07:38.400 --> 01:07:40.800
you have the life of Jesus. But then after Jesus

1150
01:07:40.880 --> 01:07:44.239
is gone, everything falls into other than the Book of Acts.

1151
01:07:44.719 --> 01:07:49.800
Everything falls in into very much in ordinary. In fact,

1152
01:07:49.840 --> 01:07:52.039
by the time you get to what Timothy, When Timothy

1153
01:07:52.079 --> 01:07:54.039
is having stomach problems, what's Paul telling him to do?

1154
01:07:55.280 --> 01:07:58.000
Have a little wine? What just happened?

1155
01:07:58.880 --> 01:08:01.920
Where's the where's the supernat I think what we can

1156
01:08:01.960 --> 01:08:05.840
see is God has worked in the supernatural at different

1157
01:08:05.840 --> 01:08:06.760
times in history.

1158
01:08:07.079 --> 01:08:08.559
We do believe there will come a time.

1159
01:08:08.440 --> 01:08:11.079
Where the supernatural will become prominent again, that's the time

1160
01:08:11.079 --> 01:08:15.159
of revelation. But in our time things are working in

1161
01:08:15.199 --> 01:08:19.800
a very ordinary way. God speaks to us through what

1162
01:08:20.000 --> 01:08:26.880
now scriptures. There's nothing what happens in the life of believers.

1163
01:08:27.199 --> 01:08:32.000
We get sick, we die, there's not resurrections, there's not

1164
01:08:32.279 --> 01:08:35.279
all of these. Supposedly, we have to accept that. Now

1165
01:08:35.359 --> 01:08:37.800
we are in a very much an ordinary means time,

1166
01:08:38.279 --> 01:08:38.680
and that.

1167
01:08:38.600 --> 01:08:40.079
Doesn't mean God has changed.

1168
01:08:40.279 --> 01:08:42.760
God is just as present in the times of the

1169
01:08:42.880 --> 01:08:47.600
ordinaries he was in the supernatural. So I think the

1170
01:08:47.600 --> 01:08:51.720
contrast between Exodus and Isaiah forty shapes my understanding that

1171
01:08:51.880 --> 01:08:56.000
throughout most of history God has worked in the ordinary

1172
01:08:56.119 --> 01:08:57.359
versus the supernatural.

1173
01:08:57.640 --> 01:08:59.680
Look, it's called supernatural for a reason.

1174
01:09:01.199 --> 01:09:05.119
If it happens all the time, it would be it

1175
01:09:05.159 --> 01:09:08.600
would be ordinary. The supernatural is not the ordinary. Therefore

1176
01:09:08.680 --> 01:09:13.520
it is unique. It is, as Stephen said, extraordinary, it's

1177
01:09:13.520 --> 01:09:17.840
not the norm.

1178
01:09:18.119 --> 01:09:18.319
Right.

1179
01:09:18.399 --> 01:09:22.079
And uh, and I've got more here, here's here's I'll skip.

1180
01:09:22.439 --> 01:09:24.560
I'm skipping some of these questions. These are questions put

1181
01:09:24.600 --> 01:09:28.079
forth by AI. What are some modern idols that tempt

1182
01:09:28.199 --> 01:09:30.319
us to trust in the visible rather than in God.

1183
01:09:31.760 --> 01:09:33.960
I think we can. I think we've discussed some of it.

1184
01:09:34.119 --> 01:09:39.039
We have the buildings, the architecture, we have the signs

1185
01:09:39.039 --> 01:09:42.560
and wonders, right, we have that because a lot of

1186
01:09:42.600 --> 01:09:46.359
people are drawn to that. I think we have wanting

1187
01:09:46.399 --> 01:09:49.520
to experience something emotional, right, That's where a lot of

1188
01:09:49.560 --> 01:09:52.640
the praise and worship because we need an emotional experience.

1189
01:09:53.079 --> 01:09:54.239
So I think those are the same.

1190
01:09:54.399 --> 01:09:57.000
And I know calling those things idols, people will lose

1191
01:09:57.039 --> 01:09:59.479
their minds on me. But I think church buildings can

1192
01:09:59.520 --> 01:10:03.039
become an eye. I think signs and wonders can become

1193
01:10:03.039 --> 01:10:05.439
an idol, and I think the idea for an emotional

1194
01:10:05.520 --> 01:10:08.279
experience can become an idol, because all of that is

1195
01:10:08.319 --> 01:10:12.239
what you need to somehow you need your golden idol.

1196
01:10:13.640 --> 01:10:15.960
What did they need in Exodus thirty two? They need

1197
01:10:15.960 --> 01:10:17.680
an idol to go in front of them. They needed

1198
01:10:17.720 --> 01:10:22.800
invisible manifestation of something tangible. Well, people today are drawn

1199
01:10:22.840 --> 01:10:26.000
to these things. It's very difficult to just say, well, hey,

1200
01:10:26.359 --> 01:10:28.560
we're experiencing God right here in this little building in

1201
01:10:28.600 --> 01:10:31.079
the middle of nowhere, Texas. There's nothing fancy about this

1202
01:10:31.119 --> 01:10:33.680
little building. God is just as present as he is

1203
01:10:33.760 --> 01:10:42.880
in belt weigh this morning. But numbers and buildings were

1204
01:10:43.000 --> 01:10:45.159
drawn to that we are. And I think we have

1205
01:10:45.239 --> 01:10:49.119
to just look and see and know those idols in

1206
01:10:49.159 --> 01:10:52.960
our own selves. And then it says, how can we

1207
01:10:53.000 --> 01:10:56.520
train ourselves to recognize God's hand in the ordinary event

1208
01:10:56.640 --> 01:10:58.479
of our lives. I think the way we train ourselves

1209
01:10:58.600 --> 01:11:02.479
is just to remember God is working, God is present,

1210
01:11:03.159 --> 01:11:08.760
God is active in every situation, whether we perceive it

1211
01:11:09.079 --> 01:11:13.239
or not, whether we understand it or not.

1212
01:11:13.680 --> 01:11:21.239
Sometimes we don't understand it. I can't I can't understand

1213
01:11:21.319 --> 01:11:22.159
all the things that happened.

1214
01:11:22.199 --> 01:11:24.119
I mean, I don't know what was going on this morning.

1215
01:11:24.119 --> 01:11:26.760
But as I was driving here, there was an ambulance

1216
01:11:27.239 --> 01:11:30.159
with a sheriff's truck in front of it with his

1217
01:11:30.279 --> 01:11:33.239
lights on, a sheriff's bronco behind it. It was being

1218
01:11:33.399 --> 01:11:36.239
escorted and the ambulance was going all the lights were on.

1219
01:11:36.600 --> 01:11:39.600
Something bad it happened. I don't know who was in

1220
01:11:39.640 --> 01:11:43.199
the back of that ambulance. Someone's father, someone's mother, someone's sister,

1221
01:11:43.359 --> 01:11:44.760
someone's daughter.

1222
01:11:45.279 --> 01:11:49.119
Something bad had gone down right now.

1223
01:11:49.359 --> 01:11:52.720
Someone could be at you know, Hendrick's hospitals, probably South,

1224
01:11:53.239 --> 01:11:56.640
and maybe they just received the bad news that someone

1225
01:11:56.760 --> 01:12:03.439
just died. Now the question would be where is God?

1226
01:12:03.520 --> 01:12:07.680
And I can understand that question. But behold, God, somehow

1227
01:12:07.760 --> 01:12:12.520
is still present in the ordinary. It's hard to understand,

1228
01:12:14.720 --> 01:12:19.680
all right, So I asked AI to summarize this. AI

1229
01:12:19.760 --> 01:12:22.239
said this, By examining these two passages, we see that

1230
01:12:22.279 --> 01:12:25.680
God is always at work, whether through the supernatural or

1231
01:12:25.720 --> 01:12:29.840
the ordinary, and our faith must rest in His sovereignty.

1232
01:12:29.920 --> 01:12:34.239
And wisdom, not in the method he chooses to use.

1233
01:12:36.359 --> 01:12:39.359
We trust in God's sovereignty and wisdom, not and how

1234
01:12:39.399 --> 01:12:42.119
he manifested or uses it. And in our day and age,

1235
01:12:42.119 --> 01:12:46.880
what should we expect.

1236
01:12:46.319 --> 01:12:46.760
Ordinary?

1237
01:12:47.239 --> 01:12:49.399
We should expect it. If you're looking for anything else,

1238
01:12:49.439 --> 01:12:52.199
you're gonna have to make it up. I'm just saying

1239
01:12:52.199 --> 01:12:52.840
you're gonna.

1240
01:12:52.600 --> 01:12:55.600
Have to lie. And a lot of people do. They

1241
01:12:55.680 --> 01:12:57.319
get mad when they get called out on it. But

1242
01:12:57.399 --> 01:12:58.760
I'm sorry because.

1243
01:12:58.479 --> 01:13:00.840
As soon as you should ask for a bit of proof,

1244
01:13:01.560 --> 01:13:03.720
they never have proof. And in an age where everyone

1245
01:13:03.760 --> 01:13:06.960
has a video of a camera on their phone, come on,

1246
01:13:07.199 --> 01:13:09.600
there should be videos of the extraordinary happening all the time.

1247
01:13:09.800 --> 01:13:12.600
And typically when you see now with AI, there's gonna

1248
01:13:12.600 --> 01:13:14.439
be a lot of fake videos coming out. Trust me,

1249
01:13:14.439 --> 01:13:16.199
there will be a lot of fake videos. And you're

1250
01:13:16.199 --> 01:13:18.159
gonna have to know the difference. But we have to

1251
01:13:18.199 --> 01:13:21.920
see that. So and Isaiah forty will end here. Go

1252
01:13:21.960 --> 01:13:24.399
back to Isaiah forty. I know we went a little long,

1253
01:13:24.439 --> 01:13:26.319
but that's okay. We only had one hour this morning.

1254
01:13:26.640 --> 01:13:29.520
Isaiah forty. When you see those that word in the

1255
01:13:29.600 --> 01:13:32.880
end of verse nine, the phrase behold your God, I

1256
01:13:32.920 --> 01:13:36.520
want you to remember how they were told to behold God.

1257
01:13:37.079 --> 01:13:43.680
They were to behold God within their captivity, an army

1258
01:13:43.800 --> 01:13:46.720
of the Babylonians around them, with all of their false gods.

1259
01:13:47.800 --> 01:13:49.960
They were not to look to those idols. They were

1260
01:13:50.000 --> 01:13:52.479
to look to God. And God was going to do

1261
01:13:52.560 --> 01:13:55.560
something and deliver them, but he was going to do

1262
01:13:55.600 --> 01:14:02.960
it in the most ordinary way possible. Another country, another

1263
01:14:03.079 --> 01:14:07.199
nation is going to rise, take over this nation, and

1264
01:14:07.239 --> 01:14:09.840
then let us go. And when we get back, we're

1265
01:14:09.840 --> 01:14:12.960
going to have the same problems and the same difficulties

1266
01:14:13.359 --> 01:14:16.920
and the same hardships that we had before. God's not

1267
01:14:16.960 --> 01:14:18.840
going to show up and say, here you go, You've

1268
01:14:18.880 --> 01:14:22.840
got everything you want. Doesn't work that way. Even when

1269
01:14:22.880 --> 01:14:25.600
God brought them into the Promised Land, what did they

1270
01:14:25.640 --> 01:14:29.199
have to face. There was giants in the land, There

1271
01:14:29.239 --> 01:14:32.199
was problems, there were difficulties. So even though supernatural was

1272
01:14:32.279 --> 01:14:35.800
much more active there, the ordinary things were still present.

1273
01:14:36.920 --> 01:14:40.479
So that's what we have to begin to realize and

1274
01:14:40.560 --> 01:14:43.920
understand that Behold Your God is significant because it shows

1275
01:14:43.960 --> 01:14:47.000
for them to perceive God in the most ordinary of

1276
01:14:47.079 --> 01:14:51.279
circumstances that were not good circumstances and were difficult and

1277
01:14:51.319 --> 01:14:53.880
would cause many of us to question God, that's the

1278
01:14:53.920 --> 01:14:56.159
significance there. All right, let's pray, Lord God, we come

1279
01:14:56.159 --> 01:14:58.800
before you this afternoon. Thank you Lord, that.

1280
01:14:59.479 --> 01:15:00.039
You were pres.

1281
01:15:02.560 --> 01:15:05.600
And any situation, whether we perceive you to be there

1282
01:15:05.760 --> 01:15:11.000
or not, you're omnipresent. You're all powerful. Sometimes we don't

1283
01:15:11.079 --> 01:15:13.439
understand the way you use your power or don't use

1284
01:15:13.439 --> 01:15:16.880
your power, how you intervene or don't intervene. But a

1285
01:15:17.000 --> 01:15:20.640
mature faith learns to trust in you, whether we perceive

1286
01:15:20.720 --> 01:15:21.119
it or not.

1287
01:15:21.239 --> 01:15:23.079
And we ask this in Jesus name. And God's people

1288
01:15:23.119 --> 01:15:26.279
said