Bob Hazlett- Finding Yourself in the Middle

♪ God is good, that's how I know God is good ♪ ♪ All the time, all the time, God is good ♪ ♪ Do you know about a 12-year story ♪ ♪ Of a woman who was sick ♪ ♪ She pushed through the crowd to get to Jesus ♪ ♪ And he made it whole again ♪ ♪ Do you know about when Paul and Silas ♪ ♪ Sang a midnight song of grace ♪ ♪ Suddenly the doors were unwide open ♪ ♪ Cause the gospel can be said, that's how I know God is good ♪ ♪ All the time, all the time, God is good ♪ ♪ That's how I know that God is good, yes he is, yes he is ♪ ♪ All the time, God is good, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ Everybody, clap your hands. ♪ All the time, all the time, God is good ♪ Sing it out. ♪ My faith will never run out, it will never run out ♪ ♪ All the time, all the time, God is good ♪ ♪ Your goodness never runs out, it never runs out ♪ ♪ All the time, you're good, my praise will never run out ♪ ♪ Will never run out, all the time, you're good, your goodness ♪ ♪ It never runs out, it never runs out, all the time, you're good ♪ ♪ My praise will never run out, will never run out ♪ ♪ All the time, your goodness never runs out, it never runs out ♪ ♪ All the time, you're good, my praise will never run out ♪ ♪ Will never run out, all the time, you're good, your goodness ♪ ♪ It never runs out, it never runs out, all the time, you're good ♪ ♪ All the time, you're good, my praise will never run out ♪ ♪ You're good, your goodness will never run out, your goodness ♪ ♪ It never runs out, it never runs out, all the time, you're good ♪

♪ My praise will never run out, will never run out, all the time, you're good ♪ ♪ So don't worry if you're in a trial, look around and then look up ♪ ♪ There's a God in all those Bible stories, He's writing stories out of us, yeah ♪ ♪ He's writing stories out of us, that's why we sing this song ♪ ♪ He's writing stories out of us, that's why we sing that ♪ ♪ God is good, all the time, all the time, God is good, I'm confident ♪ ♪ God is good, all the time, all the time, God is good ♪ ♪ Hands up! Sing it out! Sing it out! ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Come on, let's give God the best praise this morning, because he deserves it all, amen. Come on, God, you have it. Amen. Yeah. Come on, let's give God the best praise this morning, because he deserves it all, amen. Come on, God, you have it. Amen. Yeah. Come on, let's give God the best praise this morning, because he deserves it all, amen.

Can you do it? Come on. Come on. Yeah. Let's give God the best praise this morning, because he deserves it all, amen. Come on. Yeah. Come on. Come on. Come on. I want you to make series. Yeah. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Yeah. Let's give God the best praise this morning, because he deserves it all, amen. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Yeah. Come on. Come on. Come on. Hey, that's my man.

Amen. Come on. Come on. That's my man. Amen. Good morning, everybody. Good morning. Let's call everybody. Yes, said the holy people. Let's see the glory. Who we talking about? That's my man. We regard him. Give him all the honor. All together. Who are we talking about? That's my man. He's a wonderful. He's a wonderful. We will adore him. We will adore him. We will adore him. Who are we talking about? That's my king, Jesus. Oh, you're a king, Lord. You're the only king. And I love this part. That's it. That's my God. That's my shepherd.

My protector. That's my king. Come on, declare it. That's my rock. That's my anchor. That's my shepherd. My defender. That's my king. That's my God. That's my shepherd. My protector. That's my king. That's my rock. That's my anchor. That's my defender. My defender. Jesus. That's my king. That's my God. That's my shepherd. My protector. That's my king. That's my rock. Can we do it one more time? My protector. That's my king. That's my God. That's my shepherd. I'm standing protecting me. That's my king.

He's my rock. That's my anchor. That's my anchor. My defender. Who we talking about? That's my God. Hey, come on, say it. We declare the glory. Give Him all the honor. Give Him all the honor. All together, world. Hey, who we talking about? That's right We need that glory Give Him all the glory All together we're worthy Oh, who we talking about? There's no one before you Yes, who will adore you? Oh, there's no one Oh, who we talking about? That's right Hey, who we talking about? That's right Who we talking about? That's right Who we talking about? That's right Who we talking about? That's right

Who we singing about? That's right Who we singing about? That's right Who we singing about? That's right Who we singing about? That's right Come on shout out, You know That there's a King of Kings And the Lord, O'Lord, that You serve Hallelujah We bless Your name, Jesus Come on Yeah, we thank You, Jesus We thank You for Your blood, God Yes Oh, You're worthy Everything's changed It's getting harder to recognize The person I was Before I encountered Christ I don't walk like I used to I don't talk like I used to I've been washed from the inside I've been washed from the inside Hallelujah Hallelujah I know it was the blood Could have only been the blood

Hallelujah Hallelujah I know it was the blood Could have only been the blood Yeah Only been the blood Yeah I cannot explain But nothing's more real than this In the presence of God Oh, when my heart expands When my shame hit the wayside In my sin at the most high I've been washed from the inside I've been washed from the inside Sing it again I cannot explain But nothing's more real than this In the presence of God Oh, when my heart expands When my shame hit the wayside In my sin at the most high I've been washed from the inside I've been washed from the inside Hallelujah Hallelujah I know it was the blood Could have only been the blood Hallelujah Hallelujah

I know it was the blood Could have only been the blood Hallelujah Hallelujah I know it was the blood Only the blood Hallelujah Hallelujah I know it was the blood Could have only been the blood Could have only been the blood Hallelujah It washed me clean And set me free Yes It could have only been the blood It's never been about before Self-perfection Or striving for acceptance In the death It's only by the blood It's never been about deserving Or burning in some fears ♪ Let's freely give and pretend it's only by the blood ♪ ♪ Does anybody wanna be holy and righteous? ♪ ♪ Glorified and spotless, let me tell you it's only by the blood ♪ ♪ Does anybody wanna be worthy, forgiven, justified, redeemed? ♪ ♪ Justified, redeemed, let me tell you it's only by the blood ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, I know it was a play ♪ ♪ But it won't be big or great, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪

♪ I know it was a play, but it won't be big or great ♪ ♪ But it won't be big or great, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, I know it was a play ♪ ♪ Could've only been the play, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ I know it was the play, could've, sing it again, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, I know it was a play ♪ ♪ Could've only been the play, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ It was, it could've only been the play that washed me clean ♪ ♪ Could've only been the blood that set me free ♪ ♪ Glory, hallelujah, I have been redeemed ♪ ♪ I know it was the blood, it could've only been the blood ♪ ♪ That washed me clean, it could've only been the blood ♪ ♪ That set me free, glory hallelujah, I have been redeemed ♪ ♪ I know it was the blood, it could've only been the blood ♪ ♪ That washed me clean, it could've only been the blood ♪ ♪ That set me free, glory hallelujah, I have been redeemed ♪ ♪ I know it was the blood, it could've only been the blood ♪ ♪ That washed me clean, it could've only been the blood ♪ ♪ That set me free, glory hallelujah, I have been redeemed ♪ ♪ Has flown, it could've only been the blood that washed me clean ♪ ♪ It could've only been the blood that set me free, glory hallelujah, I have been redeemed ♪ ♪ I know it was the blood, it could've only been the blood that washed me clean ♪ ♪ It could've only been the blood that set me free, glory hallelujah, I have been redeemed ♪ ♪ I know it was the blood, does anybody wanna be holy and righteous and purified as Christ? ♪ ♪ Let me tell you, it's only by the blood, does anybody wanna be worthy, forgiven, justified, redeemed? ♪ ♪ Let me tell you, it's only by the blood, does anybody wanna be holy and righteous and purified as Christ? ♪ ♪ Let me tell you, it's only by the blood, does anybody wanna be worthy, forgiven, justified, redeemed? ♪ ♪ Let me tell you, it's only by the blood, hallelujah, hallelujah, I know it was the blood, it could've only been the blood, hallelujah, hallelujah. ♪ ♪ It could've only been the blood. ♪ Hush, it's good to worship with you guys.

Good morning. So we're gonna come before the table of the Lord this morning together as one church family coming to the communion table to remember what Jesus did for us, his broken body, his shed blood, that we might be forgiven and redeemed. And if you don't have your elements, if you came in and you didn't grab one, that's okay. Just slip up your hand and one of our ushers will whisk one of those over to you. But guys, let's not just make this a ritual, like a, here we go with communion again, just going through the motions. Let's take a moment. Let's have a sacred pause this morning and remember and reflect and receive the grace that Jesus has for us. This grace, this wonderful grace that none of us deserve, but Jesus just pours out on all of us. This grace that defines us, frankly, as born-again believers. In 1 Corinthians 10, it says that when we take of the bread and the cup, we're actually participating in the body and the blood of Christ, like participating, present tense. This is not some distant thing, something that Jesus did a long time ago. We are actually stepping into this right here, right now, in this moment.

Amen? So on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread and he broke it. His broken body, broken for us. He was broken so we wouldn't have to be broken. And it wasn't just like a show of suffering. It was so that everything in us that was broken might be healed and restored. And then he took the cup and he said those beautiful words. This is the new covenant in my blood, not of anything that we've done, not of our efforts or our striving or our perfection, but his finished work, his finished work. You know, for many years, y'all, I drank to forget, but today I drink to remember. So we have the bread. Look at me, guys. This is the body of Christ broken for you. Let's take and eat. Hey, guys, this is the blood of Christ shed for you, Life Fellowship Church, shed for you. Let's drink and remember. So Father, we just love you so much. So thankful, Lord. And we remember. We remember what you did. We remember the pain. We remember the suffering. We remember the grace.

We remember the love. And we don't choose to move past that today. We choose to build our lives on that truth, on that firm foundation. So God, I ask that you just be in the middle of everything that we do, that you would just be in the middle of everything. We invite you in right now to do what only you can do. And we give you all the praise and the glory, and we love you so much. In Jesus' name, amen. We remember the cross today, Jesus. We remember your blood that was shed for us, Jesus. The blood that heals. The blood that cleanses us, makes us whiter this morning. We remember. There was a moment when the lights went out. When death had claimed his victory. The king of love had given up his life. The darkest day in history. There on a cross they made for sinners. There on a cross they made for sinners. For every curse his blood had torn. One final breath and it was finished. But not the end we could have known. ♪ The earth began to shake ♪ ♪ And the veil was torn ♪ ♪ What sacrifice was made ♪ ♪ As the heavens roared ♪ Come on church, can we sing this together, come on.

♪ All hail ♪ Come on, lift your voice, we sing all hail. ♪ All hail Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail savior of the world ♪ Now come on, can we lift it up for the savior of the world. We worship your savior of the world. ♪ There was a moment when the sky lit up ♪ ♪ A flash of light breaking through ♪ ♪ When all was lost and crossed eternity ♪ ♪ The king of life was on the move ♪ ♪ And a joy comes through ♪ ♪ Where our love was laid ♪ ♪ One miraculous breath ♪ ♪ We will never change ♪ ♪ All hail Jesus, we love you King Jesus ♪ ♪ We sing all hail King Jesus ♪ ♪ We honor you King Jesus ♪ ♪ We sing all hail King Jesus ♪ ♪ We love you King Jesus, we honor you King Jesus ♪ ♪ We worship you King Jesus, our heavenly Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail the Savior of the world ♪ ♪ You are the Savior of the world ♪ ♪ So let every knee come down before the King of kings ♪ ♪ Let every tongue confess that he is Lord Antioch ♪ ♪ Lord Antioch, we love you Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ We're singing oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ We're singing oh-oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh ♪

♪ We're singing oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Let every tongue confess that he is Lord Antioch ♪ ♪ Let every tongue confess that he is Lord Antioch ♪ ♪ Come on shout oh lets join the joint together ♪ We're singing oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh We're singing oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh We're singing We're playing oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh We're singing oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh You're so holy You're so holy Holy are you lord Holy are you lord We join with heaven as they sing holy ♪ Along with heaven's anthem as they sing holy ♪ ♪ You are holy Jesus ♪ ♪ So holy ♪ ♪ Oh, hail, king Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, hail, the Lord of hail ♪ ♪ Oh, hail, king Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, hail, the savior of the world ♪ Jesus, you're the savior of the world. We thank you for what you did for us on Calvary. We thank you for the blood that was shed so that we may live. Jesus, we thank you and we praise you. And it's in Jesus' name, let everyone say amen. Come on, can we give it up for Jesus? Come on, yeah. We serve a holy God. We serve a worthy God. We serve a wonderful God.

We serve a beautiful God. There is no one like Jesus. Hallelujah. I am a mess up here this morning. When you think about Jesus and everything that he done so that we may live, the tears just begin to flow. My hands just go up because he didn't have to do it, but I'm so glad that he did. And I wanna say welcome to Life Fellowship. We're so glad that you joined us today. I love the presence of God. Do you love the presence of God? Hallelujah. I gotta move on, but welcome to Life Fellowship. We love you. And if this is your first time being here, please do us a favor and text new to 51010. We would love to connect with you and get to know you and just welcome you as family, amen. And as you're being seated today, let's prepare our hearts for today's worship, today's message. God bless you. You don't need another strategy, you need clarity because right now you're making decisions and leading people, growing something. But deep down you're asking, is this actually what I'm supposed to be doing? And that question doesn't go away.

It follows you home into your relationships, into your quiet moments. And you need to know God never called you to build something that costs you your own soul. He called you to lead with purpose. Legacy Leadership Dallas is not another business event. It is a moment to realign on May 20th. So make sure that you are in the room. And good morning, Life Fellowship Church. How are you this morning? This is our third service. We're having, wasn't that worship amazing? Can we give God thanks for that? And that's appropriate to thank him for the people that serve us. And next week is Mother's Day. So don't forget, bring your mother, dress nice for your mother, take your mother out to some nice place and come to church with your mom. And if you can come to the early service, I heard it's the best because there's a lot of seats at eight o'clock, right? And actually that eight o'clock service is pretty rowdy today. So you're gonna have to show up and be rowdy like them. So, but I'm so glad to be with you. Welcome to Life Fellowship. If you're watching online, we welcome you. If you're watching in the houses of incarceration,

we are in a series called In the Middle. And last week we talked about finding God in the middle. Today we're talking about finding yourself in the middle. Anybody here in the middle of a project, maybe a home renovation? Anybody have a project that's unfinished? Two hands up, leg up, all that stuff. Yeah, I got a ton of them as well. Let me give you some tips straight from my father, Robert Hazlett. One thing that will help you finish every project, duct tape. Duct tape is magical. But you got a plumbing problem, duct tape. You got an electrical problem, definitely duct tape. And one thing. For sure, my dad knew how to fix my glasses when they broke. Duct tape right in the middle, duct tape there. Anybody have that problem? Yeah, I had to go through some deliverance and healing for that, but. We're gonna have a key verse for this message today. Isaiah 43, 18 and 19, and it's a powerful verse because it's God speaking to his people in a moment where they're in the middle, in the middle of a wilderness, and he tells them how he can help them move through that middle. And so we're gonna talk about that. Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I'm doing a new thing.

Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness. God's doing anything before you see it. That's basically what he's saying. You can't even see what I'm doing right now. And one of the reasons you can't see what I'm doing right now is because you don't do the first thing. Forget the former things. You can't see the new thing until you forget the former thing, and that word forget there doesn't mean you can't remember it anymore. It's not saying, well, that didn't happen, or denying it happened, or acting like it didn't happen. It's actually the word to mark something. It's the Hebrew word zakar, which means to mark. And that means that your memories either mark you or they make you. And he's saying, don't let what happened in the past mark you so that you stay stuck and can't enter into the new thing. It's so important because the middle either marks you or it makes you. It marks you and gets you stuck, or it makes you into the person that you're called to be for the next season. And I believe that's what God's doing in many of us is actually he's using things that we're in the middle of to help us get past the past so we can get into the future, amen?

So we're gonna talk about this and how God says that he's bringing us into a new thing. And sometimes we have moments in our life that do mark us, but if we allow God to use them, they make us into a better person. They make us into the person we're called to be. One of those things that marked me, probably marked us all, was in 2020, we had a situation, a global situation, which put us all in a global freeze, right? It marked us. That moment's marked history. It's actually shifted history. And for me, it marked me because I had the great privilege of ministering in churches around the world. So I like to say in those first 80 days of 2020, I went around the world in 80 days from my basement. I was on Zoom with churches from all around the world. But in May of that year, I was on a Zoom with a group of churches on a Sunday morning. It was a great meeting, great ministry time. And then I decided to go spend time with Jesus, which means I went to ride my motorcycle, Jesus and my Harley. And so I went out to ride my motorcycle with Jesus and I woke up in the hospital. I had an accident that day that left me with a concussion and five cracked ribs, a torn shoulder. And that day marked me, that marked me, but it also taught me that I have to make something out of that dark period.

Wilderness periods are dark periods. There was a time I actually, during that time, I couldn't go out. I had to sit in the dark with sunglasses. Sounds stimulated me too much. Light stimulated me too much. And sometimes I could go out in the evening and I'd sit on my back porch. And then in the back of my house, there was just some woods there. And one night I was sitting on this porch. I felt like my head was just swimming. I was healing from that brain injury, which I think I'm fully healed of, but pray for me. And I heard a sound I hadn't heard before. I heard this waterfall. And I was like, where's that water? Is there a leak? I'm looking around. Do I have a leak in the house? And then I walked into those woods and I walked back into those woods and I found a pile of rocks with a water, I had a waterfall behind my house I didn't know. And I would have never heard it if I didn't get silent. And I would have never seen it if I hadn't been in a place that I didn't have to go searching. So I wanna tell you that you may be in a place right now where it seems like God's silent,

that's because he wants to give you sounds you've never heard before. And it may seem like God's distant or hiding, but it's because he wants you to search in places you've never searched before. That's what the wilderness is about. And God says in Isaiah 43, 19, here's a promise, I am making a way in your wilderness. There is a way out of the middle. He's making a way out of the wilderness. God loves to do it. And you know, the wilderness in the Bible, it was a place that many people. People went through, God's people had to go through a wilderness, God's prophets went through a wilderness, God's son went through a wilderness. And something happened after that wilderness. They received a promise, they received purpose, and they received power. So I believe what you're going through right now is actually giving you a greater promise, greater purpose, and a greater power because that's what God does when he leads you through the wilderness. I wanna talk about a guy that spent a lot of time in the wilderness, a guy in the Bible that I think you're gonna like this guy if you haven't heard of him, his name's Moses. And Moses is a guy who was born, he was born in Egypt. He's gonna be a great example for us,

becomes the father of a nation. But his history is really important, so I want you to hear his history. So Moses was born into the Hebrew culture that was already in Egypt, but Joseph, who was a forefather of his, had come to Egypt and then all the rest of the family came, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the whole family, Jacob brought the whole clan, and they grew really big. They started to grow in Egypt. And the king of Egypt, the pharaoh, got nervous about all these people from another clan that were getting bigger and bigger. So he decided he was gonna control the population. He was going to make an edict that the sons, that his sons born to Hebrew homes were just thrown in the Nile River, thrown into the river, put them in the water. And so Moses' parents had a different idea. They said, our son's special. In fact, his mother, if you read the story, it's kind of cool, she knew that God had his hand on his life. And so she put him in a little basket, she put him in the river, and Moses spent his formative days floating in the water in the dark. Think about it. A boy who grew up, not seeing his mother's face when he cried at night, not having his mother put into bed, not seeing his dad

when he woke up in fear. He was in the dark. So just be encouraged. If you think you have attachment issues, Moses probably had a hard time attaching to people. In fact, we see he moves around a lot. But God used his formative years to make him the person he needed to be. And God will use your early years to make you the person you're called to be. Because watch what happens to Moses. He gets pulled out of that water by Pharaoh's daughter. He gets adopted into Pharaoh's household. So now, Pharaoh becomes his father, his adoptive father. And he puts on royal robes, but he still knows, I'm a Hebrew. And he's watching his people get mistreated. So one day, he goes out and he sees a Hebrew, or Egyptian slave driver, beating a Hebrew slave. And he says, uh-uh, that's enough of that. And he beats him and he kills him. And then he hides. Pharaoh finds out, his father finds out, and then makes him a fugitive. So Moses has to run. That's why he's in the wilderness. Moses is in the wilderness because he killed someone. Now, think about this just for a moment. Moses had a purpose. His purpose was to deliver his people from slavery.

But Moses had pain inside that wasn't processed. So he tried to fulfill his purpose through his pain, and he became a deliverer that day, but he also became a fugitive. Because anytime you try to fulfill your purpose without dealing with your pain, you start to lose your destiny. Let me say it again. Anytime you try to fulfill your purpose without dealing with your pain, you won't be able to step into your destiny. You might end up in the desert. And the desert is there not to punish you, it's to teach you. So let's just be kind to Moses, because he's our hero in this story, but to realize God picks heroes that are flawed. God picks people to do great things because they're weak, and then when his strength's made perfect in their weakness. So that's how we find Moses in the wilderness. I had to give you the background because we wanna take a look at how Moses gets out of the wilderness, but you might need to understand why he's there in the first place. Okay, Exodus 3, verse 1 tells us about where Moses is here in this wilderness. Now Moses was tending the flocks of Jethro and his father-in-law, priest of Midian,

and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. So where is he now? He's in the wilderness, but he's not just in the wilderness, he's in the far side of the wilderness, which means he is in the darkest part of the wilderness. He is so obscure, he is so unseen, he is so far gone that only a burning bush can get his attention, and that's where God gets his attention. But he's on the far side of the wilderness, but look at how God gets him out. This is really powerful right here, what we're about to see, because Moses is tending the flock of Jethro. His father. So let's ask this question. How do we get out of the middle of the wilderness? We're gonna find out how Moses gets out. Let's read it again. Now Moses, everybody just say now Moses. Now Moses, that's a really important moment because he didn't just say Moses was, he said now Moses, which means if there's a now Moses, there's a then Moses, right? Like if there's a now you, there's a then you. And you know, some of you are saying, I'm glad people didn't meet the then me. If you knew the then me, you wouldn't think the now me is actually possible, right?

So there's a now Moses, but there's a then Moses. Let me tell you about the then Moses. The then Moses didn't know his parents. The then Moses couldn't hear, didn't hear their voice. Then the then Moses didn't know his identity. The then Moses tried to fulfill his purpose before dealing with his pain. You know, there's a now Bob, right? You see me, you know, I talk in front of people. I'm relatively coherent. But there was a then Bob. Even though I grew up in church, there was a then Bob. I don't have as good a story as some people who didn't grow up in the church. I don't have a real big, like, you know, I was all this, did all this stuff, and then I got free, you know? I was just a jerk and a sinner. And my parents said, if you don't get saved, you know, we're going to send you to heaven. That's pretty much it. I mean, I just grew up in church, but obviously I'm a sinner saved by grace like everyone else. And there was a then Bob. There was one of the biggest problem I had growing up was I had a lot of anger. I would get so angry, I'd punch holes in the walls in my room. My dad fixed them with duct tape, but that's another story.

And I have scars on my hands because I just had a lot of anger. And I knew it was wrong. I knew I needed to have it under control, but I would pray. I would be in my room praying, God, why don't you take away this anger from me? Take away this temper. I don't want to have a temper. I don't want to be like this. And I would pray, and it'd feel like nothing would change. But one day, I was, there was a bookstore at the church that I went to, and I had a ritual every paycheck I got from my Christian job, Chick-fil-A, closed on Sundays. My pleasure, my pleasure. I would take my paycheck, and I would get my ties out, and I would get enough money to buy a book and leave the rest in a savings account, which wasn't very much. And I went into the bookstore one day, and I saw this little black book written by a man named Kenneth Hagin, by the way. And it had red letters, and it said, what to do when the temper comes. And I was like, awesome, another pastor with a temper, yes. Like, maybe he can help me. I literally thought it said, what to do when the temper comes. I thought, this is gonna help me

to know how to deal with anger in my life. So I was only probably 15, 16 years old. I remember taking it to my room. I remember sitting against the wall, ready to read this book, opened it up, and realized I read the title wrong. What to do when the tempter comes. I threw that book across the room. I used to say, you stupid book. I stomped on it. You can't get rid of my temper. Here's what I wanna tell you. That's not the now, Bob. But the now Bob knows how to take anger, which is aimed at injustice, and put wisdom with it, and speak the truth in love. So sometimes we're trying to cast out things that just need to be grown up. Sometimes we're trying to get things out of us that actually God just wants us to mature into and bring him into it. Bring him into your pain. Bring him into your anger. Bring him into your past. And this is the first thing we see about how to get out of the middle of the wilderness. First, discover the God of your past. Discover the God of your past. Listen to how God reveals himself in Exodus 3, 6 to Moses. This is Moses' first encounter with God.

Here's what God says. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Let me read it again. I'm the God of Abraham, the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Usually when God introduces himself, he's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It's a generational God. But to Moses, he first said, I'm the God of your father. If I'm Moses, I'm going, which father? The father I never knew, the father who adopted me, then tried to condemn me, the father who gave me this job. Now I'm a shepherd with a staff. Which isn't a good job to have, by the way. You see, in the wilderness, in the middle, God doesn't just reveal himself to you, but he reveals your greatest weakness. He revealed Moses. fatal flaw, and that is that he hadn't dealt with not having a father. And it affected everything else, but guess what? Spoiler alert, Moses becomes the father of a nation. So God will take your greatest weakness and make it your greatest strength. Amen? It's true. If you don't let God be the God of your past, what does that mean? You make God the God of your pain,

and don't let your pain be your God. Because if you don't let God be the God of your past, your past will be the God that determines your future. If you don't invite God into your anger, into your pain, into your loss, into your failure, then you will make your failure your God. But God came in, and he said, I'm the God of your father. I love that about God. Because when God wanted to come to earth, he revealed himself through Jesus, and they asked Jesus how to pray, and how did he say we should pray? Our father. He revealed a radical concept that we're part of a family, that we're not just part of a religious system. We have a father, and with that father comes an inheritance, amen? Okay, next tip for how to get out of the middle of the wilderness, discover your identity before you try to fulfill your purpose. Verse 11, Exodus 3. But Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? Notice what he asks. He doesn't ask how are we gonna do this, how can I do this, what should I do? He asks, who am I? Good question. Because a lot of times what we do in order to fill our purpose is we try to do something

instead of realize that we're supposed to become something. We should always ask who I am before what do I do. Because if we put performance before relationship, we end up going into a purpose and doing things we're not called to do. And what happens is Moses says, who am I? Who am I? He didn't really know who he was. And if you don't know who you are, you will fall into the original lie. What was the original lie? The original lie was in the garden when the serpent was Satan, the adversary came to man and woman. He said, eat of this tree and you will become like God. Do this and you will be this. Do, be, do, be. Can I tell you, that is actually the original trick of the enemy, but we subtly fall into that in religion. If you do this, then you'll be this. If you do this, then you'll be this. If you do this, then you'll be this. But I want to tell you, I'm here to tell you today, you already are someone. Start living who you are. You're a daughter of God, you're a son of God. When you start to realize it, you start living like that. Be holy because I am holy. He didn't say do holy, he said be holy because I am holy.

He said be righteous because I am righteous. He didn't say be, do righteous, be righteous. So your doing comes out of your being and if you change the understanding of who you are, your actions will follow. But God didn't come to modify your behavior, he came to transform your being. And that is the gospel, that he gives me the power to do the things I could never do. He gives me the power to say things to the things I should say no to because he came to make you truly human. He came to show you how to walk with his spirit inside of you. And so Jesus made you a son and daughter and you start living who you are, you'll fulfill what you're supposed to fulfill. See a lot of us fall into the trap of believing that our job is our identity or our function is our identity. And I struggle with this, I went into the ministry at an early age, I was a pastor, a youth pastor for eight years and then a pastor to church and then I started to get calls to travel and so I was part of a denomination and because I was traveling, they said now you're an evangelist, they give you a new paper instead of saying pastor on it, said I'm an evangelist and okay cool, another title.

And then as I started to preach and prophesy, people started to say wow, you're a prophet and I'm like what even is that? And so I came to a place in life where I was preaching at a church, we had a two week revival and they asked me to come on to the staff as a senior associate and develop some things and they said you can still travel for two weeks out of the month and do evangelism or whatever you do. You're a pastor here, and I was just so confused. What am I? Am I a pastor? Am I an evangelist? Am I a prophet? And it was all confusing. I read in the Bible that God gives some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, and like, which one am I? And I know the point of that there is, actually, these are all parts of Jesus, and so these are just gifts to the church. But I was struggling with my identity because I put my function or my job as my identity. So I woke up one morning with this voice. It was like an outside voice outside of me, but I know it was probably an inner struggle. And the voice was saying, who are you? Are you a pastor?

Are you a prophet? You're an evangelist? I mean, you don't even have a job description. You're a loser. And I was like, whoa, is that somebody like actually talking to me and my family? And I went out to talk with God about that. And I was talking to him like this. I was talking to him like, God, I don't know what I am. I'm a pastor, I'm an evangelist, I'm a prophet. God didn't answer me. It's just so silent. And I'm like, why aren't you talking to me? And then the scripture comes up out of nowhere. I can't tell you exactly where it's found, but I think it's 1 John, 1 John somewhere. Here's what it says. The son of God was made manifest in the earth to destroy the works of the devil. The son of God was made manifest in the earth to destroy the works of the devil. And here's what God said to me. You can take this however you feel. Bob, your title is a son, and your job is to destroy the devil's works. Am I a pastor, am I an evangelist, am I a prophet? No, I'm a son, and I'm here to make sure the devil is out of work in McKinney, Texas, okay? What's your job? You're a teacher?

Yes, you're a teacher, but you're a daughter, and you're here to make sure the devil is unemployed in your student's life. What's your job? You may be a builder, but your job is to make sure the devil is unemployed in your family. He doesn't get to work in your family. He doesn't get to work in your city. He doesn't get to work in your school. He doesn't get to work because we're called to put him out of work, are you with me? And so I got over it. I got over asking who I was. I got an understanding of who I was, and anytime you're in between jobs, anytime you're in transition in life, the devil will first come to ask you if you know who you are. Jesus was baptized, and the day he was baptized, God said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. He went immediately to the wilderness, and what's the first thing the devil tempted him with? If you're the son of God, do this. If you're, do this to become something. Doesn't he have any new tricks? Is he that dumb that he keeps trying the same thing? Yes, he's that dumb. He's not that smart. You just need to look him in the face and say, I'm a child of God, and you can't work in my life anymore.

That's what the wilderness is about. It's about you discovering who you are, but not just that. It's about discovering how you're gonna fulfill your purpose. One final tip to get yourself out of the middle of the wilderness has to do with the next question Moses asked, Exodus 4.2, what if they don't believe me or listen to me? What if they say the Lord did not appear to you? And the Lord said to him, what's in your hand? Microphone, what's in your hand? A staff, he's holding a staff. Think about that with staff represented. Maybe it's the staff he beat the Egyptian with and he ran away to the desert with. It's the staff that he's leading sheep. By the way, Moses is 80 years old at this point in his life and he still hasn't discovered his purpose. I don't care if you're 18 or 80 today. What's in your hand? God can use it. And so maybe 80 is the new 40, I don't know, whatever. So Moses is like carrying this staff going, this is a bad job, like this is actually not, this is one of the worst jobs you can have. He said, give it to me and I'll make it the best job in the world. And he gives Moses his staff. And his staff is transformed into a miracle working tool that releases 430 years of slavery is finished because of this staff.

The Red Sea is parted because of this staff. The rock is split and water and provision comes in the wilderness because of this staff. That's why this is an important question, what's in your hand? Because whatever it is, you may think it's worthless, but God wants to do miracles through it. So yeah, my anger was. my greatest weakness, but he became my greatest strength because now I can confront in love. I can bring truth because if anger is paired with fear, all that's left is to fight or flee. But if anger is paired with wisdom, you can bring justice, you can bring truth, you can bring peace. So Moses was called to be a peacemaker, but he had to get over his past. Moses looked lost in the middle, but that's the place where he found God and found true purpose. I believe this moment in your life, God is bringing you to a place where you understand it's not about what you've done or what's been done to you. It's about the blood. The worship team's gonna come up in just a minute, we're gonna sing that song again because they didn't know my message, but when I heard that song, I'm like, so when I heard that song, I'm like, oh, we got the same father in heaven because God understands we're in the middle.

You're in the middle. And in the middle, you can lose purpose and identity. But if you know who you are, you know whose you are, he'll bring you to the next place. Pray with me for a minute. Just a minute, the worship team's gonna come and we're gonna sing and we're gonna worship God, but I wanna give you a minute just to come to grips with where you are maybe in the middle right now, maybe a dark period, maybe a wilderness, maybe a place where you try to hold things together with duct tape, maybe a place where there's something going on you can't fix. I just want you to know the God of your father is here. The God of your past is here. And when you invite him into your past, he used your past pain to bring you into your present purpose. So you do that right now, invite him in. Say, God, I'm gonna make you the God of my past. Now I want you to see God coming to you. And asking you what's in your hand. Let him show you what it is right now. What is it that you're bringing to him? Maybe it's a degree that you haven't used. Maybe it's a vocation that you thought was just a job. But maybe what he wants to do is take your vocation and make it your purpose. So what's in your hand? What I think it is, is it's a tool that God's gonna use

to set people free. I think it's a weapon that's gonna part the waters. I think it's a hammer that's gonna break hard places open and resources will flow out. What's in your hand? So father, right now in Jesus' name, I ask you to come right now into this place. I ask you to show us that you're the God of our past. You're the God of our purpose. You're the God of power. And if you're here today and you've never met that God, maybe you've been wandering in a wilderness spiritually. I wanna tell you that Jesus came, God came himself. He didn't just go through the wilderness, he went to the cross. He went to the cross and he died and he took everything you were, a sinner, he gave you everything, he was righteous so that you could be part of God's family. He died, he rose again. The Bible says, as soon as you understand that, you believe that and you confess that you're part of his family and you can do that today. You can do that by praying a prayer like this. I'm not gonna ask you to pray it out loud today, but I want you to pray it in your heart and then we're gonna do something and just worship him. Pray a prayer like this if you're watching online. Dear Jesus, I believe you're the son of God. I believe you died for me.

I believe you rose again. I ask you to come into my life, make the old things new and all the dead things alive. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. Do me a favor, stand with me to your feet because today what we're gonna do is we're gonna celebrate in the middle. We're gonna celebrate the fact that God doesn't look at us and identify us by our worst day, but he looks at the cross and identifies us as Jesus' best day. He looks at us and doesn't say, you did this wrong. He looks at us and says, this is my beloved son. This is my beloved daughter in whom I'm well pleased. He doesn't look at us and see the stain of sin. He looks at us and sees the blood of Jesus. So let's thank you for that. Let's worship him for that. Give God thanks. Let's worship, church. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

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♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ And what does that point to? ♪♪♪ It all flows from God gave first, ♪♪♪ like he went first and he's always giving first. And so it should come from our hearts. That's where our giving should come from in a response to that. And if I sit and I think about all the ministries that we have here, we have all the things, the youth on Wednesday nights, the young adults on Thursday nights, the prison ministry, the worship team, the outreach, the overcomers, the free indeed, all the life changing life giving ministries that are here.

We couldn't do any of that if it wasn't for your generosity. And I'm just so grateful for you. Just so grateful for you. We couldn't do that if you didn't have it in your hearts to respond to God and to give. And I'm gonna tell you, I was doubly blessed this morning. After the first service, I walked off the stage, this guy came running up to me. He had just done 26 years in prison and he just got out. And he's like, I watched every single week. I watched you guys. And he had all these messages that he remembered that affected his life. And then I turned around and in the lobby, there's another guy that just got out last week that we minister to every Wednesday at Buster Cole. And he is in this room right now. Last week he was incarcerated. And guys, this is just the best kind of stuff. This is just the best kind of stuff. And you're a part of it. Because we couldn't go to Bonham every Wednesday if it wasn't for you. We couldn't put these messages on the tablets if it wasn't for you. So I'm so grateful for you. Thank you. I love you. I honor you. The ways to give are on the screen.

You can text the word give to 51010 or just tap the seat back in front of you. So let me bless you before you go. The prayer teams are gonna come up. And guys, I just really want to encourage you to pray. I just feel in my heart, there's somebody in this room that has something heavy on their heart and they're thinking about coming up and getting prayer, but they're not sure. I just wanna encourage you to come down. Like there's something about mixing your faith with getting up and moving your body, getting out of your comfort zone that God somehow in the spirit uses to break chains. So don't be shy. Come down and get some prayer. Let me bless you as we go. The Lord bless you and keep you. May He make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He turn His face towards you and give you peace. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. I love you guys. Have a wonderful Sunday. We thank you for your presence. Now you promise not to leave. Come and clothe us with your power. Come and set the captives free. Your people, hear your people cry.

Your people, hear your people cry now. Holy Spirit, what You've done. Hear your people cry now. Holy Spirit, what You've done. We still believe that You are moving. You are with us here today. Come and see what You are doing. We wanna get in Your way. Hear your people cry now. Holy Spirit, what You've done. Hear your people cry now. Holy Spirit, what You've done. What You've done. What You've done. What You've done. What You've done. What You've done. We paid our prayers. We made our pleas. If You're not in it, we don't want it. Oh God, would You move. And only You can heal. Amen. ♪ Be loving, Holy Spirit come and fill us ♪ ♪ Oh God would you move ♪ ♪ We pray, our prayers, we pray, our prayers ♪ ♪ If you're not in it, we don't want it ♪ ♪ Oh God would you move ♪ ♪ Only you can be loving, Holy Spirit come and fill us ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh God would you move ♪

♪ We pray, our prayers, we pray, our prayers ♪ ♪ If you're not in it, we don't want it ♪ ♪ Oh God would you move ♪ ♪ Only you can be loving, Holy Spirit come and fill us ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh God, Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh God would you move ♪ ♪ Yes, your people crying out, Holy Spirit what you've done ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit what you've done, your people crying out ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit what you've done, we pray, our prayers, oh ♪ ♪ We pray, your prayers remain, our prayers, if you're not in it, we don't want it ♪ ♪ If you're not in it, we don't want it, oh God, would you move ♪ ♪ Only you can be loving, Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh God, would you move ♪ ♪ Only you can be loving, Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh Holy Spirit ♪ Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh ♪ We prayed our prayers, we made our plans ♪ ♪ Your light and freedom light, oh God we're true ♪ ♪ Only you can heal our land ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh God we're true ♪ ♪ We prayed our prayers, we made our plans, oh ♪ ♪ Your light and freedom light, oh God we're true ♪ ♪ Only you can heal our land, only you ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh God we're true ♪ ♪ We prayed all our prayers God, we long for a miracle ♪ ♪ Your light and freedom light, oh God we're true ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh God we're true ♪ ♪ We prayed all our prayers, we made our plans, oh God we're true ♪ ♪ We prayed all our prayers God, we long for a miracle ♪ ♪ And when he moves, and when we pray, we're still warm, now stands awake ♪ ♪ Where every promise is amen, do we believe that? ♪

♪ And when he moves, make no mistake, the bowels of hell begin to shake ♪ ♪ Oh hail the Lord, oh hail the King, that's our God, we're His ♪ ♪ And when he moves, and when we pray, we're still warm, now stands awake ♪ ♪ Where every promise is amen, do we believe that? ♪ ♪ And when he moves, make no mistake, the bowels of hell begin to shake ♪ ♪ Oh hail the Lord, oh hail the King, and when he moves, yeah ♪ ♪ And when He moves, and when we pray ♪ ♪ Western wall now stands awake ♪ ♪ Where every promise is amen ♪ ♪ And when He moves, make no mistake ♪ ♪ The bowels of hell begin to shake ♪ ♪ Oh, hail the Lord, hail the King ♪ ♪ And when He moves, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ And when He moves, and when we pray ♪ ♪ Western wall now stands awake ♪ ♪ Where every promise is amen ♪ ♪ And when He moves, make no mistake ♪ ♪ The bowels of hell begin to shake ♪ ♪ Oh, hail the Lord, oh, hail the King ♪ ♪ Hey, oh, oh, hail the King of glory and truth ♪ ♪ Hey, oh, oh, on your knees and worship ♪ ♪ Hey, oh, oh, let the praise rise on your world, yeah ♪ ♪ Sing, awake my soul, oh, awake my soul and sing ♪ ♪ Sing His praise aloud, oh, awake my soul and sing ♪ ♪ Oh, awake my soul and sing, sing His praise aloud ♪ ♪ Sing His praise aloud, and when He moves, and when He moves ♪ ♪ And when we pray, Western wall now stands awake ♪ ♪ Where every promise is amen ♪ ♪ Oh, and when He moves, there ain't no mistake ♪ ♪ Oh, He gives His shade, oh, awake my soul and sing ♪

♪ Oh, awake my soul and sing, sing His praise aloud ♪ ♪ Sing His praise aloud, sing His praise aloud ♪ ♪ Oh, awake my soul and sing, sing His praise aloud ♪ ♪ Sing His praise aloud, oh, awake my soul and sing ♪ ♪ Sing His praise aloud, sing His praise aloud ♪ ♪ Oh, awake my soul and sing, sing His praise aloud ♪ Come on! ♪ Oh, yeah ♪ ♪ This is my story, I testify ♪ ♪ The blessings on blessings You poured on my life ♪ ♪ When I start remembering, how good You've been, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Fear turns to worship, tears turn to praise ♪ ♪ Chains of depression, broken by grace ♪ ♪ When I start remembering, how good You've been, here we go! ♪ ♪ Yeah, You've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me, yeah ♪ ♪ You've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me, yeah ♪ ♪ So good, oh, so good ♪ ♪ The enemy's weapons fall to the ground ♪ ♪ Armies of heaven always surround ♪ ♪ When I start remembering, how You carried my cross ♪ ♪ You called me by name, loved me like I was, but You didn't leave me that way ♪ ♪ Wish that now I live, yeah, that's what You did ♪ ♪ You've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me, yeah ♪ You've been so, so, so, so, so, so, so good to me