Exodus Part 6

Good morning everyone, stand with us as we sing, as we worship the Lord and rejoice. Good morning everyone, stand with us as we sing, as we worship the Lord and rejoice the Lord and rejoice the Lord. On the mountain high, oh valley low, my soul will bless you Lord. Oh, I'll rejoice again and again, I'll sing rejoice. Rejoice always, rejoice always, rejoice always. Oh, rejoice always, always rejoice, always. Then I'll sing it again, rejoice always. When the night closes in, rejoice always. Oh, rejoice always. A song of praise I'll bring for your joy of bounds and suffering. On the mountain high, oh valley low, my soul will bless you Lord. Oh, I'll rejoice again and again, I'll sing rejoice. Again I'll sing rejoice. Rejoice always, rejoice always, rejoice always. Can we give him a shout of praise this morning? And then we can rejoice in this house today because he is who he says he is. Do you believe that today? Come on, together we worship his name. We're going to call on his name. Together would you sing this with us? Sing I'm calling. I'm calling on the God of Jacob, whose love, whose love endures through generations. Cause I know, I know that you will keep your covenant And I'm calling on the God of Moses The one who opened up the ocean I need you, I need you now to do the same thing for me Come and do it Lord, we sing, we lift it up Oh God, my God, I need you this Oh God, my God, I need you now

How I need you, we confess we need you Lord Oh Rock of Ages, I'm standing on your faithfulness Yes I am, on your faithfulness Oh we call on your name Lord I'm calling, I'm calling on the God of Mary Whose favor rests upon Him alone Oh I know, I know with you all things are possible And I'm calling on the God of David Who made a shepherd boy courageous And I may not face the Lord But I've got my own child Oh God, my God, I need you Oh God, my God, I need you now How I need you, how we need you Lord Oh Rock, oh Rock of Ages, I'm standing on your faithfulness Only on your faithfulness Oh God, my God, I need you Oh God, my God, I need you now How I need you now Oh Rock, oh Rock of Ages, I'm standing on your faithfulness On your faithfulness Oh I look back, I see that you've been faithful Lord So I'm standing, I'm standing Come on we sing you heard your children You heard your children You hear your children Now you are the same, you are the same God Yes you are You answered prayers back then And you will, oh I'm confident

That you are the same, you are the same You were providing then You are providing now You are, you are, you are the same God You moved in power then God moved in power now You are the same God, you are the same God You are a healer then, you are a healer We believe that you are, we believe that you are the same God Cause you are a saviour then, you are a saviour now You are the same, you are the same, you are the same Oh God, my God, I need you Oh God, I need you now How I need you Oh we're desperate for your love Oh rock, oh rock of ages I'm standing on your faithfulness On your faithfulness Oh God, my God, oh God, my God I need you now How I need you now Oh I need you Oh rock, oh rock of ages I'm standing on your faithfulness All your faithfulness, all your faithfulness Oh it's proof that he's faithful today Cause you are the same, you are the same You're still our God You're still our God, my God, I need you Oh God, my God, I need you now

How I need you now Oh rock, oh rock of ages I'm standing on your faithfulness On your faithfulness Oh we're standing today My back is to the sea The promise laid in front of me For every great thing that you've done There are greater things to come And if you led with cloud and fire Through the day and through the night You will guide my every step And you will keep me in your light And if you held back every drop Of the wild and untamed sea You can chart a path before me Far beyond what I can see And like the bread fell down from heaven And the water from the stone You can fill my weary soul You breathe life into these bones You make good on every promise You only heal the ones you love Not by might and not by power But by spirit and blood Your way, your way, your way You reign forever, forever and always Your way, your way, your way You reign forever and always Who else is like you?

No one beside you, no one beside you There's no other, no other And who else is like you? No one beside you, there's no one beside you Who else is like you? And who else is like you? There's no one beside you, no one beside you Oh, there's no other name, no other name like it We sing your way, your way Sing his name Your way, your way, your way Forever and always Your way, your way, your way Forever and always We give him praise And take your next steps with Jesus So I invite you to go to Abundant-Life.com Slash connect And let us know how we can come alongside of you On your spiritual journey Yeah, hey Church, we're going to kind of double down On something Pastor Carl mentioned last week But we want to invite you to join us For our next round of castles Starting in a few weeks on March 8th You can sign up right now But I've still just been thinking about that sermon From last week And just, I mean, what does our families look like? How are we pursuing discipleship within there?

So we want to invite you to win at discipleship So go to Abundant-Life.com Slash castles To register for our next class Which again will be starting March 8th Hey also, have you ever sensed a call to ministry? Maybe you're looking like, what's your next step? Should I learn what it looks like to be a minister? Maybe a pastor? Maybe you're called to plant a church We have so many ways through our residency program For you to take next steps in ministry Or in church planting Or becoming a pastor part of Abundant Life staff, potentially. The best way to do that is to go to abundant-life.com slash residency. You can learn all the different residencies we have available for you, and you can apply today. The application should open last weekend. We have people coming in from all over the country. It's really exciting. You should go apply today. Well, hey, Church, we just want to invite you into a time of prayer over these next few weeks. So on February, I almost said November, don't know why, but February 13th, we are hosting a Night to Shine, and this is going to be an incredible event. I'm going to get to serve at this event, and I was at a training with some of the other volunteers

the other week, and if you don't know what that is, that is a night where we invite special needs young adults from all over the city and the county to come and just be celebrated. They get to have like a prom night, and so we have over 200 VIPs and over 500 volunteers coming together. And so we just want to ask you, man, would you be praying for that night, for everybody coming, that volunteers, VIPs, caregivers, whoever that is that Lord's going to bring through the door, would they just experience the love of God in a very tangible way that night? Church, we're back in Exodus. Pastor Phil has a really incredible message and a special takeaway. Can't wait for you to hear it. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Faith is who I am. If I don't have faith in God, then I am not who I am. Being obedient and making sure that each day is the next step that God has asked me to take. We've had to learn since we started going to Abundant Life, trust God that he's going to provide. You can't live in the unknown, so you have to have faith that God will provide.

And it's through putting my faith in the Lord in the hardest, darkest moments of my life that changed everything. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Oh, no, he's sitting down. Yeah, church, we need to talk. I'm not going to get to all my sermon today. Holy Spirit pivot. Family talk. Maybe should have done this sooner, not sure. I want to talk about a lot of the chaos in our world right now. ICE, immigration, protests. The latest social media post by our president has caused no small stir. The truth is, God hadn't called me primarily to be a political commentator, so culture warrior, he's called me to be a preacher of the gospel, which means every single Sunday, my call is to remind you that we are not of this world. We are in this world, but we're not of this world. We have a higher kingdom. We have a different king. And honestly, I don't have time every Sunday to talk about everything going on in the world. We never get to anything else. But I know there's some things you want to talk about. So actually, I'm gonna pivot how we use the Well podcast.

And I'm gonna do some things with the Well I haven't done in the past. And let's talk about some of these current events, these cultural issues we face. So week from Monday, I'm gonna say everything on the Well that I wish I had time today about immigration and ICE and protests, and how do we discern through a biblical lens what is going on as Christians? What should we think about that? I want me to share a few thoughts right now, because it's important that I do. It is not racist that any government would control its borders. It's not racist that any presidential administration would enforce our immigration laws. In fact, Romans 13, one through five tells us. us that in God's eyes, the number one responsibility of human government is to protect its citizens from enemies without, enemies within. Which means any government not controlling its borders, enforcing its immigration laws, is derelict in its duty. ICE is not something new. Donald Trump did not invent it. It's been around since 2003. Donald Trump is not the first to actually enforce immigration laws. To his credit, Barack Obama, during his eight years administration, deported almost three million illegal immigrants. In fact, members of his own party began calling him the deporter-in-chief. To his credit. Now chances are you never heard about it. The media never reported it. Nobody ever processed it. And there's reasons for that, multiple reasons for that, that I'll share on the podcast. What we're seeing happening in Minneapolis is classic Saul Lewinsky Rules for Radicals. If you don't know of it, never heard of it, you can Google it. It's a book that came out in the 60s. It's a classic running the play, Rules for Radicals, how to take over a culture from within, including coming after the churches. Come after religion. And we'll talk more about that in the podcast if you want to know more. To be very clear, regardless of what you've heard, ICE is not

rounding up American citizens and deporting them. Mistakes have been made when you arrest thousands of people. Mistakes were dealt with, but they're not there rounding up American citizens. We need to acknowledge that we're being discipled by the algorithms. The video shorts, the sound bites. One of the video shorts that made the most vile rounds recently was of a young lady in Minneapolis crying uncontrollably because ICE had apparently arrested an elderly neighbor. What she did not know is that elderly neighbor had actually been harboring two illegal immigrants that were wanted for child rape. That's the rest of the story, but you don't hear the rest of the story. Now part of the problem though has been exasperated by an American president who recently called people from other countries garbage. Human beings, wherever they come from, are not garbage. And most recently released a social media post where the faces of Michelle and Barack Obama were superimposed on the bodies of apes or monkeys. I'm not calling the president racist. I don't know him, but the social media post is racist, and it's reprehensible, and it's indefensible. Enforcing immigration laws is not racist. And let me be clear about this. All these protesters, Americans are free to protest anything peacefully, but you're not free to hinder a federal agent in a federal investigation. That's a federal crime. And if you are protesting peacefully, don't spit on federal agents, don't kick their cars, and don't bring a gun to the protest. Let's start with that. All right, but let me be clear about something here. Our president has exasperated the matters. And the reason I chose to address this is because political idolatry will always make you defend the indefensible. We live in a time of political idolatry, meaning we idolize our political parties, we idolize our political leaders, so that we end up end up having to defend them when it's indefensible. And this social media post was reprehensible. He can claim innocence, it wasn't him who posted it. Listen, I don't run my own social media either. I seldom post anything for myself. I have to get on my own Instagram to find out what I posted. But I'll tell you what I would do if that were me. I would immediately fire the staffer, then I'd immediately apologize for it and denounce it.

I was ashamed and embarrassed. And it's time for Christian people to stop defending the indefensible. It is political idolatry, one of the great sins within the church, the modern church in America. And that idolatry is always what leads us to captivity. Aisles always do. Now to be clear, there's blame enough for everybody. The church needs to repent, not just our church, the church. We have forgotten that as Christians, we don't view the world in left and right. We view the world up and down. The Christian life, the a life that we've been running after can be summarized in Matthew 633. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Which means every decision, everything you see should be through the lens of, does it bring God glory? Does it reflect the rule of God? The kingdom of God exists first in our hearts. It means the rule of God in our hearts. And it's no wonder the pagan lost world around us is confused by what they see in us. We're the people who claim to be the righteous, yet trying to defend the indefensible. And it's everywhere. 18 months ago, Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, rolled a mobile abortion truck in front of her convention center in a very cavalier way.

And I watched Christian people who named the name of Jesus try to defend the indefensible. Abortion is one of the great sins of our nation. It's reprehensible before God to murder the unborn human inside a mother's womb. It's reprehensible. Yet we continue to defend the indefensible as Christians. Some of us continue to align ourselves with a political party that by policy thinks it ought to be legal to mutilate a child's body and call it gender-affirming care. Or defend a president who continues to make racist statements. I don't know if he's racist. If he's not, he needs to quit saying things that are racist, doing things that are racist. And it's time for Christian people to quit defending their team just because their team happens to be in office. We're Team Jesus. That's our only team. And it's a horrible look for the gospel. You say, well, Phil, where do we fit? That's just the point. As Christians, we don't fit. It's time to get used to being misfits. This is what the Bible says about us in the New Testament. We are strangers in this world. We're resident aliens. We're in this world.

We're not of this world. And it's time for us to quit looking for political solutions to spiritual problems. Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't vote. You should vote in every single election, local, state, and federal. You should look for the candidate that most closely by policy aligns himself with a biblical worldview. You should. But that's not voting left or right, it's voting up and down. Because that's how God views the world. And the truth is, the longer I live, the less and less I feel like I fit anywhere. And you don't either as a child of God. You know why? Because it says in 1 Peter 2 and verse 9, you're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that you might shine forth the praises of him who's called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. We are different. We're called to be different. And only when Christians quit being different that our message lose relevance. We're relevant because we're different. We shine the praises of him who's called us out of darkness. Quit trying to defend the darkness. And we need to repent of our idols and recognize that we're part of the problem. All eyes are on the White House. But if there's a problem in the White House, it begins in the church house. Politics in this nation are just downstream from the pulpits and the pews. Politics do not shape the moral spiritual climate of a nation. It's the church that's called to shape the moral spiritual climate of a nation. Which means the church needs to repent, and God needs to shake us loose from our idols. And political idolatry always leads you to trying to defend the indefensible.

Our culture is in crisis. I'm not trying to be sensational, but the reality is, we're witnessing the collapse of civilization. We've been here once already. It was a bloody civil war. And at the height of that awful, bloody civil war, it was Abraham Lincoln who quoted Jesus when he said these words, a house divided against itself cannot stand. We probably have never, ever been more of a house divided since that moment than we are right now. And the chasm is widening. And I would suggest the White House needs to start closing the chasm. But the real hope is in the church house. It always has been church. So if you'd join me on your knees, if you can physically, I want to pray right now for our nation, our civilization, that God would grant us the gift of repentance and grace. And dear God in heaven, it is a sobering, sobering time to be alive. But we confess that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and rulers of darkness of this age, spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. First John 5, 19, the entire world lies under the power of the wicked one. It's never become more clear that the kingdoms of this world are fallen. And while we love our country, the United States, it's a fallen, sinful kingdom under the power of the wicked one. But Jesus, you brought us for such a time as this, as a chosen generation. a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, to proclaim the praises of him who's called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Jesus, you've called us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, but our idols have caused us to lose our saltiness, and that salt that was meant to be the preservative

from decay, the moral and spiritual decay. We have failed to stand in the way of the decay of the day. Would you grant us the gift of repentance? As Christians to no longer defend the indefensible, to shine as lights in a world of darkness, Lord, it's revival or funeral. And Jesus, we long to see revival, heaven sent, Holy Spirit revival, indescribable, undeniable. And let it begin with these, your people. Please do a work in me. And shake us loose from anything we've hung on to instead of hanging on to you. We worship you alone, our savior king, and in you is our hope alone. I pray God, blessing and grace over every person under the sound of my voice. Let the spirit of God would have freedom to reign in all of our lives. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth and in our lives as it is in heaven. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Much more to say in the podcast a week from tomorrow.

We'll release that one. We're in a series on the exodus. Joshua chapter three this morning. Not gonna get through all of it. Don't need to. I'm convinced the spirit of God wanted that pivot, that moment. But if you're maybe first time among us, we're in a two-year discipleship journey called the A-Life. We're running after what Jesus called the abundant life in John 10 and verse 10. And in some way, the exodus story, this history is our story. In fact, 1 Corinthians 10 tells us it's for our learning because in some way, this journey of the ancient Hebrews is a picture of our journey today in the 21st century. 400 years, they were in slavery and Egyptian tyranny till God sent a deliverer by the name of Moses. He delivers them out of captivity and then leads them on a journey to the promised land that God promised would flow with milk and honey. And understand, God sent us one greater than Moses. His name is Jesus, who finds us under Satan's tyranny and sends captivity. And Jesus said, if the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. He redeems us from sin's penalty. He delivers us from sin's power. And then he takes us on a journey spiritually to the promised land in our life,

John 10 and verse 10, the abundant life that would flow with milk and honey, the promised land spiritually, life abundantly. But you saw that a first generation got stuck halfway. They had enough faith to get out of Egypt, but not enough faith to get into the promised land. For 40 years, they lived in a scarcity mentality with a slave mentality. Even though they'd been set free already, they lived as though they were still in captivity. And that is a picture of so many today, born again, blood-bought, children of the living God, no faith to get out of Egypt, not enough faith to get into the promised land, enough faith to get into heaven, just not enough faith to get through that trial, that tribulation, that addiction, that depression. And we get stuck halfway like that first generation. We live and die in the wilderness. Instead of entering into the promised land, the A life, the abundant life. In John three, God's raised up a, I'm sorry, in Joshua three, God has raised up a new generation. And they're about to cross over. in church today, a whole bunch of us are going to cross over. This is the year a whole bunch of us are going to cross over out of bondage into abundance. And Joshua chapter 3 tells us how. Today we're going to cross over from the wilderness of apathy and mediocrity into John 10, life abundantly. Today is the day that you cross over out of the wilderness of that worry and that anxiety and that uncertainty into the promised land that God flows with milk and honey.

I'm talking life abundantly, your true God-given destiny. And the first thing you need to know to cross over is this right here, listen carefully, is learning to surrender your life and die daily. You surrender your life and die daily. This is what is happening in Joshua chapter 3. The way you cross the Jordan and the Jordan River now is all that separated these ancient people from the promised land. And God brings us to the metaphorical Jordan River in our life over and over again. It's what separates us from the wilderness living and the wilderness wandering so that we cannot live in that land that Jesus promised would flow with milk and honey. I'm talking about a life of beauty and bounty. And here's how you cross the Jordan, listen carefully, the way you cross the Jordan is by dying to self. It's learning to die to self. Joshua 3 and verse 1, then Joshua rose early in the morning. I want you to notice there's been a leadership change. It's no longer Moses, it's Joshua. And here's the reason why. We know the story that Moses struck the rock a second time. The first time God tells them strike the rock, a miracle happens, water comes from the rock. We learn that rock is Christ. It's a picture of Jesus, the rock of ages, who was struck once for our sins. And out of him would come living water, eternal life. All of that was a picture of him. But he was struck once for sins, the just for the unjust. God told Moses, don't strike that rock again. I want you to speak to the rock. But in a fit of rage, he strikes the rock. God says, Mo, I'm sorry that's gonna cost you. You messed up my picture I was painting. Jesus isn't gonna get struck for sin again. He was struck once for sin. You messed up my picture. Understand there's a principle here. The higher level of responsibility comes a higher level of accountability. God says, Moses, I'm gonna let you see the land. I'm not gonna let you cross into the land. God raises up a new leader. The second generation leader is Joshua. Remember, he was one of the spies that went into the land 40 years earlier. He was one of the twelve spies. Ten of them came back and says, oh no, we won't go. Two of them came back, Caleb and Joshua, that said, yes, God has promised it. We can go possess it. But I want you to notice, while Caleb gets to go into the land, it's Joshua that leads them over into the land. And the reason

is not accidental, it is providential. You see, Joshua's name is the same name as Jesus' name. Jesus is Greek. Joshua is Hebrew. Same name. God's trying to teach you that you will not get to the other side of the abundant life and start making conquest of your destiny by the lawgiver. You see, Moses gave the law and you will not in any way live the abundant life by keeping a list of things to do. You will never get to the other side of the Jordan by the works that you do. Oh no, it's by grace alone, through faith alone, and Joshua, Jesua, Jesus Christ alone. He's the one that has what you need. Now he's gonna lead you to the other side. Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from the Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan. And all the children of Israel lodged there before they crossed over. Everybody say, cross over. We're gonna cross over today. I'm praying for you that you cross over from that wilderness of depression, that wilderness of anxiety, that wilderness of addiction, that you cross over now and start taking possession of the promised land. So it was after three days. Everybody say, three days. There's a picture emerging here. So it was after three days that the officers went through the camp and they commanded the people saying, when you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God and the priests and the Levites bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Listen, what we're learning is you don't get a resurrection apart from a crucifixion. It is not coincidental that they would cross over on the third day. It wasn't the second day. It wasn't the fifth day. It wasn't the tenth day. No, everything in your Bible is providential, not coincidental. It was on the third day they're crossing over. Every time you see that phrase, third day or three days, it should remind you of the greatest event ever in human history, the resurrection of somebody who'd been crucified, somebody that died, but three days later he came out alive. Jesus is alive. He's broken the curse of sin and death and hell for all who believe and are victims. Victory is always founded in the third day, on the third day. It's always founded in the victory of the resurrection.

But what are we learning? You don't get a resurrection without first a crucifixion. This is a metaphorical baptism of this generation. What we learn in 1 Corinthians 10 is the metaphorical baptism of that first generation of Hebrews, it was the Red Sea crossing. When they crossed the Red Sea and God parted the waters of the Red Sea, metaphorically, that was their baptism. Now the second generation are going to go through the waters of the Jordan. God's gonna part the waters of the Jordan. It's their metaphorical baptism. Check this out. Today, we're gonna have spontaneous baptisms. Today, God may prompt you to cross over and take your next step. And if you wanna get baptized today, we're prepared for you. We've got clothes you can change into. Last fall, we did it outside. Check it out. We won't even make you go outside to do it today. That's how much we love you. Yeah, we'll do it right here in our lobby space. Every single campus has a lobby space. We're prepared for you. We need to learn to obey without delay. Today is the day that you're gonna cross over

from death to life. Today is the day that you're gonna leave that wilderness wandering, crucified to this world. The world is crucified to me. I'm crossing over another king in another kingdom. Do it without delay. Check this out. If you get baptized, what is the picture? When you go under the water, it pictures a burial. When you come out of the water, it pictures a resurrection. See, you don't get to resurrection without a burial. What is happening here in Joshua chapter three, this ancient people, this band of liberated slaves, they are dying to what was in the wilderness. They're being resurrected on the other side in the promised land. They are dying to that wilderness wandering, that wilderness living, that scarcity mentality, that slave mentality, and they're being resurrected now as a nation of priests and kings. You understand, it's exactly what God wants to do in your life, to die to what is, to be resurrected for all it could be, and this is how you live the A life. It is the crucified life. It's the forgotten cross of modern Christianity. We sing all the time about the cross on which Jesus died for us. We preach all the time about the cross on which Jesus died for us, but did you know the New Testament

talks about another cross, almost as it talks about the first cross. I'm talking about the cross on which you die now, too. Yes, there's a cross on which Jesus died for you, and now there's a cross on which you die for Jesus, too. It's the cross the apostle Paul often wrote about. It is the key to the A life. It is the crucified life. Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live but Christ. Everybody say but Christ. It's no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The apostle Paul's recognizing his co-crucifixion with Christ. Understand, 2,000 years ago, God looked in the corridors of time, and he saw you as a child of God, born again, ransomed, and redeemed, and in that moment, he put you in Christ, which because you were in him, you were crucified with him, and Paul's recognizing now his co-crucifixion. I died with Christ, and because I died with him, I resurrected with him. You can live in resurrection power, but not apart from recognizing your crucifixion. You see, Jesus lives in you as a child of God, but he wants to live through you, but for most of us, self is in the way.

Jesus can't live through you and really begin to control you as long as you're trying to hang on to you. See, the A life is not about how gifted you are. The A life is not about how smart you are. The A life is about giving God all that you are, and when you give God all that you are, it don't matter how smart you are or how gifted you are because God can do amazing things when you give him all that you are. When you stop hanging on to your life and you fully surrender your life, and you sell out, and you give in, and you give up, it's the crucified life, what happens? Now self gets out of the way, and the Spirit of God, the Son of God who lives in you starts to take over and live through you. This is how you overcome sin's power. Listen, you have been forgiven of sin's penalty, but did you know it's the cross from which gives you power over sin, not simply what you do, but it delivers you from what you are. It's Romans six and verse six. Here it is again, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him. We all got an old man. We all need to lose that old man. Ladies, turn to your husbands right now and say. I'm losing my old man, go ahead. I am losing my old man.

I'm leaving him behind. Yeah, you need to lose your old man, because we all got an old man, or an old lady, if you know what I'm saying. Yeah, the old sinful self. The old sinful self. The old self nature. What Paul is saying, that sinful self nature was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin, no longer slaves of sin, for he who has died has been freed from sin. Dead men don't sin. Dead men can't sin. See, in the heat of temptation, is not trying to manage your sin, is not trying to fight temptation, is dying to your sin. Listen, when I'm dead, I can't sin. When I'm dead, I'm surrendered to him. And as long as I'm giving up rights to my life, I can't sin, because I'm fully surrendered to him. That's how you overcome temptation. You have the power to walk away. You don't have to stay in that captivity of pornography. You don't have to stay in that captivity of infidelity, adultery, sexual immorality. You have the power to walk away. You don't have to stay in that addiction,

the alcoholism Jesus has set you free. But the way you make that positional reality your daily reality is what Paul says. Listen carefully. I die daily. See, the way you live in resurrection power is you die daily. See, it's happened once already. That's your positional reality in Christ. But the way you walk it out and take possession of the promised land is you've got to do it over and over and over again. You surrender all rights to your life, and you give all rights to the Lord Jesus Christ. And now all of a sudden, you're living in the power of the resurrection because you've gone through the agony of the crucifixion. You've been resurrected on the other side, no longer in the wilderness of mediocrity and apathy and captivity. You're now walking in the promised land, your true God-given destiny of power, victory, authority. You're now living in Ephesians 3 and verse 20, the A-life. It goes like this. He is able to do exceedingly, here's the word, abundantly. Above all that you ask or think, according to the power that works within you. That word power is the word dunamis in the Greek, from which we get the word dynamite. You've got dynamite power living inside of you

as a child of God. Resurrection power living inside of you as a child of God. You do not have to live like the average American. You don't have to live full of anxiety and worry and fear and certainty, addiction, depression. You've got resurrection power that's trying to get out of you. But as long as self is in the way, the power lies dormant inside of you. I'm trying to tell you the way you live, the A-life, the resurrection life, is through the crucified life. I died in 1989 at 21 years of age underneath an 18-wheeler semi. I've told you that story. I died again 26 years ago. When I died in my career to answer a calling, I crossed over the Jordan. I died today, this morning, before I got up here. I died again. See, this is how you get delivered from the fear of man, the fear of public opinion, the need for comparison. You die over and over again. And when you do, you can live fearless because you've got nothing to lose. You've already given it all away. That's the A-life. And when you start to live in such a way that you die daily, now you can start to live in such a way to embrace your destiny. Today is the day, five years ago,

on a blizzard-y, snow-y, cold Sunday morning that we launched Abundant Life Independence. This is a five-year anniversary. Give it up for them, would you guys? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It almost never happens. Emanuel Baptist Church, down to just a few people, very soon gonna close their doors. Normally what happens, that little band of people hang on so tightly to what they have, they cannot receive all that could be. What they did, they didn't hang tightly to what they had. They died to what they had. They let go of what they had to receive all that could be. They called up Abundant Life and said, hey, would you guys come take over? And five years later, instead of closing the doors of that little church, there's four or 500 people. there. Baptism after baptism after baptism after baptism. Life change after life change after life change after life change. The gospel light shines bright at 23rd and Nolan Road in Independence, Missouri, because a band of people said

no, we will not hang on to what we have. We will die to what is, to receive what God sees, to receive what will be. And do you understand that is how we all live the A-life? What are you hanging on to where you ought to be letting go? What idol is it in your hand that will cost you? Jesus put it this way in Mark chapter 8, whoever seeks to save his life will lose it. Whatever will lose his life for my sake and the gospel, the same shall save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? What are you giving today in exchange for your soul? And I want you to see if indeed you'll make the great exchange and die daily, it will lead you to obeying God completely no matter how costly. No more straddling the Jordan. One foot in the wilderness, one foot in the promised land. That's how most people try to live. One foot in heaven, one foot in the things of this world. I want you to see verse 9. So Joshua said to the children of Israel, come here and hear the words of the Lord your God. Today and every time we gather, my hope is that you hear the words of the Lord your God. What will you do when you hear the words of the Lord your God? He says, come here, lean in. I'm gonna share the words of the Lord your God. He says, behold the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth. The Ark of the Covenant, very presence of God. He says, is crossing over before you into the Jordan. Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe, and it shall come to pass as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan. That the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, and the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap. God says, I'm gonna do a miracle for you. I'm gonna part the waters for you. But before I do, there's a condition. When you make your move, I'll make my move. Now we learn later, I have time to read it. I'm about out of time. The Jordan is at flood stage. This is no little trickle of water at this time, where they're gonna wade in ankle-deep. No, it's a flash flood. You know why God chooses the worst possible moment to cross the Jordan? Because He wants His people to know it is a miracle, that they could not do it. And God is

about to part the waters of a flash flood. But here's the condition. I want to see the feet of the priests bearing the Ark. When those twelve priests bearing the Ark, and both of their feet get in the waters of that flash flood, then I'm gonna part the waters. Do you understand? God does not part the waters of your life without wet feet. There's always a condition. When you put your faith in motion, God goes in motion. They could have stood on the banks of the Jordan all day long. They could have sang all the songs. They could have raised their hands. They could have clapped for the preacher. And the entire time they're waiting on God, God was going to be waiting on them. See, the condition is always that you put your faith in action. And when you put your faith in action, it puts God in action. Then He parts the waters of your life. You see, faith is acting like something is so, when it isn't so, so it'll be so, because God said it's so. He said, I want you to walk into the floodwaters acting like it is so, when it isn't so, so it'll be so, because I said it's so. God said, I'm gonna part the waters. So this is what you do. You act like the waters have already parted. Staying in the waters. God says, I'm gonna give you the promised land. It's yours by divine proclamation, but you still have to take possession. And this is how you take possession of the promised land of your marriage, the A-life in your family, the A-life in your home, the A-life with your children, the A-life with your finances, the A-life with your friendships. You put both feet in the water. Faith in action. See, faith in action is obedience in motion. That's why we talk about next steps all the time at Abundant Life. Putting your faith in motion, taking another step. Because faith in action, obedience in motion, is when God starts to part the waters of your life. I want you to understand the A-life is yours by divine proclamation. Jesus said these words in John 10 and verse 10. The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But I've come to give you life. You can have it more abundantly. Listen, the A-life, the Abundant Life, is yours already by divine proclamation. Divine proclamation, but you've got to, by faith and obedience, now take possession.

And this is what happens to this ancient band of liberated slaves that God is transforming now into a nation of priests and kings. And it was already there by divine proclamation 40 years earlier, but now finally, they're putting their faith in action, obedience in motion, to take possession of the promised land. And this is what you and I have to do today, to live in the promises and the power of the living God upon our life. And I want you to understand over and over again how stories abound. I wish I had more time to tell you the story. I don't have time, let me try. Listen, if you'll listen to the Well podcast tomorrow, I'm gonna tell you the story of this young man, Jaden Moore, and his wife, Alyssa. So, Jaden Moore actually just became our Fusion student pastor at the Blue Springs campus. Give it up for these guys, would you? When I think practically, man, I had a lot of stories I was gonna tell you today. I don't have time to tell you other stories, so let me just end with this one. So, I met Jaden about six months ago, 21 years of age. He just started pastoring a little church in Pleasant Hill, Missouri, not far from Lee Summit. Jaden, here's the story. He'd been listening to Joby Martin,

a friend that I have, personally, had here preach recently, right? He heard Joby mention this guy, Pastor Phil, that preaches out Abundant Life in Lee Summit. And shortly thereafter, Jaden meets a man from our church, Brian Rookstool, at a store in Pleasant Hill, finds out Brian goes to Abundant Life. He asks Brian, hey, can you introduce me to Pastor Phil? So, Brian brings Jaden on a Sunday morning before the first service, in time so he can go back to his little church in Pleasant Hill and preach. I meet Jaden, and I'm able to think, something's wrong with this picture, because Jaden believes the Bible is authoritative, believes the inerrant, infallible Word of God. And I happen to know this little church he was preaching at, long ago abandoned the Bible. I mean, like a lot of modern churches, a church that allowed the world to get into them instead of them getting in the world and changing the world. Like a long time ago, this little church, like so many denominations, decided the Bible's not all the Word of God. Maybe part of it is, but most of it's not. So I thought, man, that's kind of strange. I don't know what's going on, because I know he believes this, but they believe this. So, a few weeks later, Jaden's preaching through the book of Ephesians, out of Ephesians 4, preaching on licentiousness.

Do you have any idea what licentiousness is? I don't either, but it sounds awful, doesn't it? Whatever it is, it sounds really terrible. No, licentiousness, it's sexual immorality of all kinds. So he's preaching on sexual immorality. Like, did you know it's still a sin to sleep with your girlfriend if you're not married? Yeah, there might be another idol in the church. I'm just saying, dual inventory. Did you know that God still considers marriage between a man and a woman exclusively? Yeah, he hadn't changed his mind about that either. Yeah, did you know that homosexual relationships are still a sin? Yeah, this 21-year-old young, that's his message that day. And let me tell you what, he dropped a Bible bomb on that little church. I guarantee they hadn't heard preaching like that in many decades. Let's just say that week they called an all-church meeting with their new preacher, and they made him ultimatum. Stop preaching out of the Bible. Just preach the words in red, and not all the words in red. Just preach the parts about heaven and God's love, and leave out the part about God's judgment and sin. I mean, seriously, this was it, ultimatum. What Jaden didn't know is that a few weeks earlier, we'd already made a coffee appointment. Like when a young pastor asks me for an appointment, I always say yes.

We'd already had that appointment on the books. We meet on a Friday morning for coffee. He just had that meeting. And the second meeting is that day. Jaden tells me, I don't know what to do. They're gonna tell me to either stop preaching the Bible, or I'm gonna get fired. Now understand, he's just moved to Pleasant Hill, he's just bought a house, he's got a fiance on the way. I mean, his paycheck is at stake. You talk about obedience, that is costly. Yes, even scary. Let me tell you what I told him to do that day. I leaned in, I said, Jaden, don't make it easy on him. Make him fire you. And that's exactly what he did. You need to listen to the whole story on the well tomorrow. I mean, it's a great story. I mean, he shoves the Bible across the table and asks them, rip out whatever pages you don't think ought to be there. Go ahead. I thought to myself, I like this kid. I like this kid. What he didn't know then, what I didn't know then, was that he'd get in just in time to our church planning residency and our ministry residency. Four days later, he's in our residency. Now, it doesn't pay very well.

Just be clear. What he couldn't have known, I didn't know, is that we'd actually hire him now to be our student pastor in Blue Springs. He got a paycheck too. I want you to see, when you die to self, you fear nobody. When you die to self, you obey radically, even when it's scary, even when it's costly. And when you do, God begins to part the waters in a way you could not have fathomed or imagined. Today is the day, church, it's time to cross over without delay. At every campus, at every church house, I'm gonna ask you right now to bow with me. Right here in Lee's Summit, without delay, would you come today, meet me right here on your knees, at every church house, at every campus, at every space right here in Lee's Summit, if you're ready to cross over the Jordan today, die to wilderness wandering, wilderness living, that prison of addiction, the captivity of anxiety and worry, the idolatry, whatever's keeping you out of the promised land, your true God-given destiny. At Independence and Crossroads, Blue Springs and Tipton, Johnson County, come right now, let's get on our knees. We're gonna build an altar. We're gonna cross over right here, right now. We're gonna die. Jesus, today we die.

I want you to pray this with me right now. Jesus, today I die. I surrender my life. I give all I am for all that you are. I cross over. I make the great exchange. I'm letting go of my life to live the resurrected life, the A-life. Shake me loose from my idols. Help me to live the abundant life, the obedient life, in Jesus' name. Now listen very carefully before I close. Some of you need to follow this up right now and get baptized. We're ready for you. It's a symbol of what you just did. I'm dying to what was, to live something new, what God sees, and what will be. Some of you prayed for the first time. Church, listen, 59 people a week ago texted Jesus to 68618, indicating they said yes to Jesus, beginning a relationship with Jesus. Would you give them a hand right now? We are so grateful. 59 people. Today, maybe you prayed for the first time, something like that. You need to text Jesus, the name Jesus, to 68618 because this is your first step, it's not your last step.

We're gonna help you take your next steps. Beginning a relationship with Jesus is just the first step. And some of you have a next step. Maybe it's regent. Until you start walking out and taking possession of the promised land. Jesus, I pray blessing on every person under the sound of my voice. Satan, you have no authority. You will relinquish all right. These are the blood-bought children of the living God, ransomed and redeemed by the blood of the Son of God, and we give you glory today. All glory to the King of Kings, in Jesus' name, amen. Church, I love you all very, very much. Have a blessed, blessed Sunday. Church, I love taking those next steps of obedience. Obviously, with Pastor Phil, I love that takeaway. Some of you right now, your first step of obedience is to get baptized, to step into the river and actually identify with Jesus, saying, God, I trust you, even if it doesn't make sense. And if you're looking to get baptized, you're at a church house, go to your church house leader right now and say, hey, can we do it in a tub? the lake in the back, maybe a hot tub in a hotel. Like, can we go right now? Take those next steps. If you're at your home, maybe on the online campus,

or maybe you're like, hey, I want to invite people. Would you go to abundant-life.com slash baptism? Because like in the next few weeks, we have another baptism coming up that you can apply for right now. Click on the church house button or online button, and we would love to help you take that next step of getting your feet wet and walking away, leaving those footprints. Is there anything you would add? Man, I'm excited to go out through this week. I know I was challenged. And just encourage you, obedience sometimes is scary, and it's hard, but it's always well worth it. So, church, we love you. We're thankful for you. Go be living proof this week. Go be living proof this week.