Exodus Part 7

Well, good morning and welcome to church, everybody. Hey, we're glad you're here. Across the world, lifting up Jesus. He's been faithful. We're gonna sing about that this morning. I want you to recall when he's been faithful to you and lift it up as a responsive praise this morning, okay? All right, let's sing together. ♪ You can do what you've done before ♪ ♪ But I hear you say a new thing can happen ♪ ♪ When we fix our eyes on you ♪ ♪ A new thing can happen when we see your spirit move ♪ Come on, sing that faithfulness. ♪ You are faithful, yes you are ♪ ♪ There's nothing my God can't do, more than able ♪ ♪ And he'll make a way for you to walk by faith, not by sight ♪ ♪ There's a fourth man in the vine, proven faithful ♪ ♪ Proven faithful, there's nothing my God, nothing my God can't do ♪ ♪ I can see it happening now, faith and faith ♪ ♪ It's moving the mountain, sure as I'm hoping for now ♪ ♪ When I can't see, I still believe that we will fix our eyes on you ♪ ♪ I still believe that we will see your spirit move ♪ ♪ You're faithful, you are faithful, you're faithful ♪ ♪ There's nothing my God can't do, more than able ♪ ♪ And he'll make a way for you to walk by faith, not by sight ♪ ♪ There's a fourth man in the vine, proven faithful ♪ ♪ Proven faithful, there's nothing my God, nothing my God can't do ♪ ♪ We believe it's faithful God, there's safety to you ♪ Come on, let's sing by faith. ♪ Oh, by faith you shut the lion's mouth ♪

By faith come on, church. ♪ You made, yes you did, by faith a valley of bones cried out ♪ ♪ There's nothing my God can't do, by faith the sea turned into dry land ♪ By faith, yeah. ♪ Today you're coming, by faith, I still believe you came ♪ ♪ There's nothing my God can't do, oh, by faith ♪ ♪ You pour your spirit out, by faith, here it comes raging out by faith ♪ ♪ Here it is, yeah, there's nothing my God can't do, oh, by faith ♪ ♪ You pour your hope, by faith, every tribe is on my faith ♪ ♪ Here it is, yeah, there's nothing my God can't do, you are faithful ♪ ♪ There's nothing my God can't do, nothing like our God is faithful ♪ ♪ You are faithful, oh, you make the way for you, walk by faith, not by sight ♪ ♪ There's a forefront in the heart, proving faithful ♪ ♪ There's nothing my God, nothing my God can't do, oh, there's nothing my God can't do, oh, by faith ♪ ♪ There's nothing my God, nothing my God can't do, oh, by faith ♪ Father, we lift up your goodness in this place, you're so faithful, remind us once again this morning of your faithfulness and your goodness to us, come on, sing this with me, all my life, and all my life you have been faithful, come on, if you believe that, sing it this way, all my life, and all my life you have been so, so good, yes you have, every breath, every breath that I breathe, oh I will sing of the goodness, you've been good all my life, sing it, all my life you have been faithful, and all my life you have been so, so good, every breath that I am able, oh I will sing of the goodness of God, and I love you Lord, oh your mercy never fails me, now all my days I've been held in your hands, from the moment we're born, from the moment that we're born, until I lay my head, oh I will sing of the goodness of God, we lift it up Jesus, oh, and all my life you have been faithful, and all my life you have been so, so good, with every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God, I love your voice, oh, and you have led me through the fire, in darkest nights, you are close like no other, yes you are, I've known you as a father, I've known you as a friend, and I have lived in the goodness, oh, and all my life you have been faithful, yes you have Jesus, and all my life you have been so, so good, with every breath that I am able, oh I will sing of the goodness of God, and all my life Jesus, oh, and all my life you have been faithful,

and all my life you have been so, so good, with every breath that I am able, oh I will sing of the goodness of God, come on, you've never walked alone, you've never walked alone, I promise you, he's right there running after you, so let's declare this this morning, that his goodness that we see in his word, he continues to chase after us, and sing it to him and be thankful this morning for that goodness, sing it with me, your goodness, your goodness is running after, it's running after me, your goodness is running after, it's running after me, with my life laid down for you, your goodness is running after, it's running after me, your goodness is running after, it's running after me, ♪ It's running after me ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ With my life laid down, surrender now ♪ ♪ I give you everything ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ With my life laid down, surrender now ♪ ♪ I give you everything ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ All my life you have been faithful ♪ ♪ All my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am in ♪ ♪ Oh I will sing of the goodness of your love ♪ ♪ All my life you have been faithful ♪ ♪ All my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am in ♪ ♪ Oh I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ I will sing, I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ Oh I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ Jesus, you save us from so much. Jesus, you save us from so much. We just stir our hearts up this morning with gratitude and response to your goodness in our lives, pursuing us.

We are so unworthy. And you saved the wretch like, come on, let's remember, let's reflect, let's sing. ♪ That I was a wretch, I remember who I was ♪ ♪ I was lost, I was blind, I was running out of time ♪ ♪ And sin separated, the breach was far too wide ♪ ♪ From the far side of the chasm, you held me in your sight ♪ ♪ And you made a way across the great divide ♪ ♪ Left behind heaven's throne to build it here inside ♪ ♪ And there at the cross, you paid the debt of sin ♪ ♪ You broke my chains, you freed my soul ♪ ♪ For the first time I sing thank you ♪ ♪ And thank you Jesus, the blood applied ♪ ♪ Thank you Jesus, the blood applied ♪ ♪ Thank you Jesus, that's what you are ♪ ♪ And thank you Jesus, you have saved my life ♪ ♪ You brought me from the darkness into glorious light ♪ ♪ You brought me from the darkness into glorious light ♪ ♪ And you took my place, laid inside my tomb of sin ♪ ♪ You were buried for three days ♪ ♪ But then you walked right out again ♪ ♪ And life has no end, for I have been transformed ♪ ♪ By the blood of the Lamb ♪ ♪ And thank you Jesus, the blood applied ♪ ♪ Thank you Jesus ♪ Thank you, Jesus, it has washed me white Thank you, Jesus, I've stayed in my light You brought me from the darkness into glorious light And there is nothing stronger Than the wonder-working power of the blade The blade

It calls us on into dawning We are raised up by our Father through the blade The blade There is nothing stronger There is nothing stronger Than the wonder-working power of the blade It's only by the blade The blade Oh, it calls us on into dawning We are raised up by our Father through the blade The blade Thank you, Jesus Thank you, Jesus For the blood For the blood Thank you, Jesus It has washed me white Thank you, Jesus I've stayed in my light Oh, you brought me from the darkness Into glorious light Thank you, Jesus Come on, let's erupt with thanksgiving this morning We thank you, Jesus You saved our lives Come on, if you saved your lives this morning You got a reason to celebrate A reason to give Him thanks A reason to give Him praise He's changed everything, amen

We've been in a celebrate all weekend long Something really special, we want you to take a look at us You can take your seat right now Thank you, Jesus Come on, let's erupt with thanksgiving this morning We thank you, Jesus You saved our lives Come on, if you saved your lives this morning You got a reason to celebrate A reason to give Him thanks A reason to give Him praise He's changed everything, amen We've been in a celebrate all weekend long Something really special, we want you to take a look at us You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now

You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right right You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take yourseat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now You can take your seat right now So, man, just what a celebration. Well, hey, if you're new here, my name's Kylie Conniff. I'm the online ministries leader at Abundant Life,

and we are so glad you decided to join us for worship today. If you're new, we would love to invite you to connect with us by going to abundant-life.com slash connect and fill out a connect card. Maybe you just want to update some information. Maybe you've got questions about how do I get involved or what do you guys do for community or just really anything. We would love to connect with you and answer those questions. And along that line, I would love to invite you to join us next month in March for our Next Steps class. If you've been with us for a while and you're ready to take some next steps in your faith, maybe that's serving or in discipleship, or you just want to learn more about Abundant Life, about our mission, vision, and core values, the Next Steps class is a great place for you to get plugged into. So we meet online for the first three Sundays of the month at 8 a.m. You can register at abundant-life.com slash connect, or if you're at one of our physical campuses, you can join them as well. Well, church, we want to enter into a time of worship through our generosity. Generosity is one of our core values that we really believe in giving away what God has given us. And when you give, it's not giving to a church,

it's giving through a church. And your generosity allows us to advance the kingdom of God to all corners of the earth. Like that's how we were able to host a night to shine the other night. That's how we're able to support our global partners and launch church houses and disciple people and serve nonprofits in our areas, right? Because of your generosity. And so if you call Abundant Life home, would you go to abundant-life.com slash give to worship God through your treasures and through your giving. Well, church, we're gonna be back with Pastor Phil today. We're continuing our Exodus series. He's got a great word for us. And we are gonna be doing communion together this morning. So take a minute, grab your juice, your bread, whatever you need to, to prepare for that time. And we will continue on in our morning of worship. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ 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 gonna 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. ♪♪♪ Give Jesus the biggest shout of glory you got right now. He's worthy, isn't he? He's so worthy. Hey, I want you to celebrate this with me. So last week we had spontaneous baptisms, 59 people didn't know they were gonna get baptized when they went to church last week, but 59 people did just that across all campuses, saying yes to Jesus, putting their faith on display in a public, tangible way. It's a great next step. I had a conversation just this morning, one of the first conversations I had this morning. I want you to celebrate this with me because this is why we're doing the A Life, the Abundant Life, this two-year discipleship journey pursuing John 10, 10, the A Life. So a gentleman out here is serving this morning. He pulls me aside, says, Pastor Phil, we've been coming to Abundant Life now 18 months. My wife and I were separated. I went through Regen. She's going through Discipleship One, and we've been back together now for two months. Isn't that awesome?

That's what Jesus does. This is what the A Life is about, taking our next step, taking back ground from the adversary. The enemy has stolen, and that's why we're in this series on the exodus. What we're learning is this ancient story, this journey is a picture of our journey spiritually. As God delivered the ancient Hebrews out of Egyptian tyranny and slavery, led them on a journey to the promised land he promised would flow with milk and honey in some way, it's a metaphor of our journey spiritually. Jesus finds us in sin and slavery under Satan's tyranny, but Jesus says, I've come to set you free. If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. Now he leads us on a journey spiritually to the promised land of our life. John 10, 10, life abundantly. And last week, we crossed over the Jordan. We're on the other side. We're in the promised land now. And I want you to open your Bible now to Joshua chapter five. What we learned is that first generation that came out of Egypt, they had no faith to get out of Egypt, not enough faith to get in the promised land. A lot like so many of us, so many beliefs. today, they get stuck halfway. Enough faith to get into heaven, not enough faith to get through that trial, that temptation,

that tribulation. And it's about taking back ground the enemy has stolen. That first generation stayed in the wilderness for 40 years out of fear, insecurity, anxiety, and worry. But that second generation has crossed over the Jordan. They're getting ready to make conquests now of the promised land. We're gonna pick it up right here in Joshua five and verse one. It says this, so it was when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, that their heart melted and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel. Now I want to remind you of something here. The Bible is real history about real events and real people and real places that really happen. I want to remind you of that because often the way people try to discredit the Bible is discredit the historicity of the Bible because if they can discredit the historicity, then they can discredit the theology. In other words, if it's not real history, then why believe what it teaches about theology, about God? And so here's what I want you to see as we get rolling really quickly here. What you have in Joshua, the book of Joshua,

is the biblical account of the ancient Hebrews making conquest of the promised land, the ancient land of Canaan. And did you know in 1887, archaeologists found something in Egypt called the Armana Tablets. The Armana Tablets was like the official library of the pharaohs where official documents were kept. And the Armana Tablets has hundreds and hundreds of letters written from the Canaanite kings during the conquest. And what you have in the Armana Tablets is the Canaanite account of the ancient Hebrews making conquest of the land of Canaan. When you lay it over Joshua's account, it's amazing how similar and striking they are. I just want to give you a few of these, okay? So you have this one right here. It is from a king known as Abdiheba. And Abdiheba was king of Jerusalem. Now, this is in CUNY form. I know you can't read CUNY form, so let me translate this for you, okay? Okay, I can't read CUNY form either. Somebody smarter than me has done the hard work, all right? So here's what it says. Message from Abdiheba. He's the king of Jerusalem. Remember, Jerusalem was a Canaanite city. It was a stronghold of the Canaanites and would not actually be taken 400 years after Joshua

by a shepherd king by the name of David. And he took the Jebusite stronghold of Jerusalem. What you have here is a letter from Abdiheba, and it says this. To the land of the king is lost. The king as in pharaoh. I am at war. I am situated like a ship in the midst of the sea, meaning all the land around me has been conquered. Now the Habiru have taken the very cities of the king. Who are the Habiru? If the Habiru, if that word sounds a lot like Hebrew, it's because they're the same people. He says the Habiru have taken the very cities of the king. Not a single mayor remains. When the Canaanite kings referred to themselves, they called themselves kings. When they write to the pharaoh of Egypt, they called themselves mayors. He says not a mayor remains to the king, my lord. All are lost. The king does nothing. Why do you suppose pharaoh the king does nothing? Because he remembered what happened 40 years earlier. He's like, uh-uh, I ain't going after the Habiru. I mean, I remember what happened to my daddy. His daddy was Amenhotep II. This letter is to Amenhotep III. The Amarna letters are written to a pharaoh known as Amenhotep III and his son and successor

to the pharaoh known as Akhenaten. It says the king does nothing. May the king provide archers. If there are no archers this year, all the lands of the king, my lord, are lost. You have this over and over again in the Amarna tablets. You have the Canaanite kings writing to pharaoh, pleading for military help to come fight the Habiru, the Hebrews. Here's another example. The king of Hazor in the Hebrew, also known as Hazor in the English, to the king, my lord, since the Habiru are stronger than we, my lord, give me his help and may the king, my lord, get me away from the Habiru, lest the Habiru destroy us. There are literally hundreds of letters like this in the Amarna tablets. Now, the king does nothing because he remembers, yeah, I'm not going after the Habiru, them boys that got God on their side. Like, you know, he parted the Red Sea, now he parted the Jordan, like, I'm out, okay? Now, what you have later is the king of Hazor pleading with military help. Pharaoh, please send the military, he won't come. So, eventually, Hazor, this large Canaanite city, is taken by the Habiru, the Hebrew, and you no longer have the king of Hazor writing the letter,

now you have the king. of the Phoenicians, the king of Tyre, writing the letter. Tyre was on the Mediterranean, not far from Hathor. Here's what it says, the Habiru have taken over Hathor. Basically saying, Pharaoh, don't bother to come. It's too late. Don't bother. It's over. I want you to see, you have Joshua's account, the biblical account, of the Hebrews' conquest of the promised land. Now you have the Canaanite account of the Hebrews' conquest for the promised land. It's real history, it really happened. And I want you to notice something. This has been confirmed by the modern science of archeology. We can trust the historicity. And I want you to more than anything now see what God is teaching theologically. Listen carefully, the Israelites were finally possessing by faith what fear had stolen. God had promised them a land when they left Egypt, no longer in Egyptian tyranny, a land he promised would flow with milk and honey. For 40 years, they stayed in the wilderness, living like they were still in slavery, like they were still in captivity. When God had set them free and promised them a land that would flow with milk and honey.

Like so many of us, we don't know the abundant life, though Jesus has set us free to live in power and victory consistently. Yet fear and anxiety and worry keeps us in the wilderness of mediocrity. It is time to cross over and possess by faith what the enemy has stolen. Now they're on the other side, they've just crossed over the Jordan. And he knows, Joshua knows, listen carefully, you must prepare yourself for combat if you're gonna make conquest. And that's what we're doing now, we're making conquest of the promised land of our life, the abundant life, the a life. And Joshua understands that if you're gonna make conquest of the promised land, you gotta prepare yourself for combat, check this out. The Hebrews would fight far more battles in the promised land than they ever did in the wilderness. See, you're no threat to the enemy in the wilderness. You're not a danger to the enemy. We're in the wilderness of mediocrity, choosing what is easy. No, you become a threat to the enemy when you choose to go all in with Jesus and you get all in and all of a sudden you become a danger to the adversary. That's when the real battles begin. And the Hebrews are going into mortal combat

with a race of giants. And Joshua knows, I need to prepare them. Listen very carefully. Before you can win the war without, you got to win the war within. Before you can win the war outwardly, you gotta win the war inwardly. The old saying says, we have seen the enemy and he is we. I have seen my enemy and he is me. Like I am my own worst enemy, how about you? See, what Joshua knows is you can't win outwardly until you win the war inwardly. You can't conquer your sin until you conquer yourself. And so here suddenly Joshua does something that makes no sense militarily. This is a military strategist. Joshua is a military general. And he does something here that makes no sense militarily. They are now in sight of the enemy. I have been in this very spot where the Hebrews are now. I've crossed the Jordan in the very place where they crossed 1,400 years B.C. And they're just four miles now from Jericho, the fortified city of the Canaanites. And it's the Jericho plain, it's flat as a table. What I mean is the enemy could have seen the Hebrews from atop those walls, and the Hebrews could have seen the enemy. And in sight of the enemy, I want you to see what Joshua does.

He decides to completely incapacitate his army. He does something here to completely incapacitate all his fighting men. It made no sense. I want you to see what Joshua does first after crossing over the Jordan. Look at this, verse two. At that time, the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives for yourself and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time. So Joshua made flint knives for himself and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of four skins. Wait a minute, what? Wait, what? This just got weird. All right, skipping the middle skew humor here, okay? Skip the middle skew humor. I know all the fellows are wincing right here, right? Just, let me just say, we're leaving the kiddie pool. We're jumping into the deep end of the pool. All right, now we're in the deep end. Turn to somebody right now and say, we're in the deep end. Yeah, go ahead, we're in the deep end. I want you to see right now one of the deepest teachings anywhere in Scripture. God's about to teach you some very deep theology from the Hebrew rite of circumcision. And what we're gonna learn is what the sign was outwardly, it was actually a symbol of what God wants to do

in our hearts inwardly. And I want you to recognize what Joshua knew. Joshua knew the battle for the promised land was not just physical, it is spiritual. Listen, the battle for your life, the battle for the promised. land of your life, the A life, the abundant life, is not physical, it is spiritual. 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 3 puts it this way, though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal or physical, but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds. What is a stronghold? It's an enemy fortified place in your life. It's more than a handhold. It's more than a toehold. It is a stronghold, an area of your life that Satan has control of now. In the same way Jericho was a stronghold of the adversary, a stronghold of the Canaanites, there's places in our lives that the enemy has gotten a stronghold in our life. And what we learn is that we focus on the physical. That's merely a symptom. The heart of the problem is the problem of the human heart. I want you to see it's spiritual, not physical. And this is the sign of Hebrew circumcision we're about to learn. It goes back to Genesis 17. It begins in Genesis 17. Go back with me in Genesis 17. God makes a covenant with Abraham. Abraham, the father of the Hebrews, the father of the Jews. He says this, I am Almighty God. Walk before me and be blameless and I will make my covenant between me and you and I will multiply you exceedingly. Theologians call this the Abrahamic covenant. And that covenant God makes with Abraham is ratified in Genesis 15 verse 6. It says Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And now this covenant God makes with Abraham, he makes with Abraham's descendants through Isaac and Jacob. Israel. Now he goes on, he says this, also I give to you and your descendants after you the land which you are a stranger in, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession and I will be their God. Now I do not know why today this is so confusing for modern Christians and modern theologians. You know people say

well the church is now the spiritual Israel. The church has replaced Israel. No listen carefully. It's a time two things can both be true at the same time. The church is the spiritual Israel but we have not replaced Israel. See the covenant God made with Abraham had both spiritual promises and physical promises. We are the spiritual recipients of the spiritual promises God made to Abraham. Galatians 3 says we're the spiritual sons of Abraham. We are spiritually one family, Jew and Gentile. But the fact there are spiritual promises God made to Abraham and we are the spiritual recipients does not mean we're the recipients of the physical promises God made to Abraham. And to say physical promise God made to Abraham and his seed, I'm talking his physical seed, not his spiritual seed. I'm talking about the Jews. He says I'm giving you this land as an everlasting possession. A church, how can something God calls everlasting ever end? Just saying. This shouldn't be that hard of a one. Yeah God says it's an everlasting possession. I'm making an everlasting covenant. And this land is their everlasting possession. This is the only reason we can even begin to understand how the Jews are back in the ancestral land of their forefathers today when they'd been scattered abroad among other nations for almost 2,000 years. Yet against all odds they've come back into the land and the reason they're back in the land is because God made a promise and when God makes a promise he intends to keep that promise. It's an everlasting possession. I'm a spiritual recipient but not a physical recipient. Now you have no literal piece of real estate in the Middle East as a Gentile, as a follower, as a spiritual son of Abraham, but you do have your real estate as a child of God. It's the abundant life. It is the a life. Now he makes this covenant with Abraham and he gives him a sign. This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. So this covenant, the sign, the symbol was that every Hebrew male baby boy would be circumcised and incidentally they would do it on the eighth day. Now the number seven in Scripture is the number of completion. The number eight in Scripture

is the number of new beginning because this is telling us something that God would eventually do in me and you. He gives us a new beginning. It's what Jesus called a new birth. The need to be born again and the symbol of that is the Hebrew rite of circumcision. I want you to notice Joshua knew that to live freely and abundantly they had to live completely obediently. He calls a time out before they go any farther. Boys, this is gonna hurt and sometimes obedience is painful. In this case, obedience was going to be painful. Guys, before we go any farther. we need to get right with God. We need to be completely obedient. They had not been completely obedient. The first thing he wants to do is make sure all his men of war have been circumcised. And I want you to see this is the reason why, verse 4, and this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them. All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war had died in the wilderness on the way after they'd come out of Egypt. For all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness on the way as they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. For 40 years they'd been out of the will of God. They disobeyed the Word of God. That first generation had been circumcised as they came out of Egypt, but they had not followed the will of God and the Word of God with the second generation, meaning every Hebrew baby boy born in the wilderness had not been circumcised. And here's the moral of the story. You cannot live abundantly if you're not living obediently. You want to live freely, abundantly, you've got to live obediently completely. There's no such thing as partial obedience. If you want to be blessed by God, that's the A-life. Put yourself in a place of blessing, aligned with God. The A-life is aligning my life with Him, not trying to line up God behind me. I'm lining up behind Him. And that's what you have Joshua now doing, guys. We're not completely obedient. We're not going any farther until we completely obey what God has said. See, God had delivered them out of Egypt, but now they need to get Egypt delivered out of them. Egypt in the Bible is a picture of the world. Understand, as a child of God, you've been bought and ransomed and

redeemed by the blood of the Son of God. He has delivered you out of the world, but now He's got to deliver the world out of you. We've been delivered out of the world, but He needs to deliver the world out of us. And I'm going to say this is the number one problem in modern American churchianity. God has put the church in the world to change the world, but the world has gotten into the church and changed the church. He's put you and I as the redeemed of God in the world to change the world, but the world's gotten in us and changed us. Let me ask you, are you more influenced by the culture around you or Christ in you? Because for many of us, we're not influenced by Christ in us. We've been deeply influenced by the world around us. Listen, He's delivered us out of Egypt, but He's got to get Egypt delivered now out of us. And that's what's now at stake. In Christ, you can conquer the promised land of your life. In Christ, you can conquer the a-life. It's yours by divine declaration, but you still got to take possession. Now I want you to understand what is at stake. You're a conqueror. This is your identity. This is who you are in Christ, Romans 8, 37. And all these things, we're more than conquerors through Him who loved us. What is Paul teaching in Romans 8, 37? In all of these things, the headaches and the heartaches and the heartbreaks, the problems, the pressures, the trials, the tears, the tribulations, and all these things, we're more than conquerors through Him who loved us. But listen carefully. You cannot be a conqueror in Christ until your heart has been conquered by Christ. You can be a conqueror in Christ, but not until your heart has been fully conquered by Christ. And this is what is really being pictured by the outward sign of circumcision. What God was doing outwardly is a picture of something far deeper that He wants to do inwardly. Deuteronomy 13, verse 6, and the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, that you may live. Satan is a thief that comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He does not want you to live. He wants you to die. He has one plan for your life, destruction. Jesus comes to give life. But listen carefully. He wants to do something in your heart. The problem of the human being is always a problem of the

human heart. And this is the real reason what God was teaching through this outward sign of circumcision, Hebrew circumcision, was a picture outwardly of the surgery God would perform in our hearts inwardly. And the Apostle Paul, who was a Pharisee, who knew deeply the Torah, the Levitical law, he knew all about the outward sign of circumcision. This is how Paul would apply it in the New Testament, Colossians 2.11. In Him, Jesus, you're also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Now watch this. What they would do is cut the flesh from the part of the male body that carries the seed that was meant to give eternal life. Adam sinned. That seed could no longer give eternal life, it could only give physical life. This is why Jesus said twice, you must be born again. John 3 and verse 3, you must be born again. John 3 and verse 7, you must be born again. 1 Peter 1.23, being born again not of corrupted seed, but incorruptible seed by the Word of God which lives and abides forever. It's the new birth. And I want you to see what happens at the moment of salvation when Jesus says you're born again, at that very moment when you by faith receive Him, what happens? The Spirit of God takes the Word of God like a scapel and does a surgery inwardly on your heart. He gives you a new heart, no longer a divided heart. Hebrews 4.12, the Word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, able to pierce even to the vision of soul and spirit. In that moment of the new birth when you say yes to Jesus, you let Him forgive your sin, and you're instantly born again, what happens? The Spirit of God takes the Word of God like a scapel and cuts your flesh free from your spirit so your spirit can live. It's a circumcision made without hands, the circumcision of Christ. What happens? He cuts you free, putting off the body of the sins of the flesh. That's when the Bible refers to flesh, your flesh. It's not simply referring to your skin, it's speaking of your sin nature, why we sin. And at the moment of salvation, that spiritual surgery takes place, He gives you the new birth, He puts a new heart inside of you. And that was always the sign, what God would do inwardly through this outward sign of Hebrew circumcision. Listen carefully, Romans 12, verse 2, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good

and accepted and perfect will of God. Here's what Paul is teaching, you have been delivered from the world, now it's time to get the world delivered out of you. You've been delivered out of Egypt, it's time to get Egypt delivered out of you. Stop being conformed to the world. There's the world's way, there's God's way. Too many of us have been deeply changed and influenced by the world around us instead of the word in us. So let me ask you, when you hear the word of God, what do you do? Some people try to change the word of God. No, it doesn't say that. They try to ignore the word of God. Or they get mad at the word of God. Jesus said, the truth will set you free. I watch it make people angry. I ain't going back to that church. I'd rather take a chance on making you mad and you never coming back here again in your life. Hebrews 13 says, as your pastor, I will watch for your soul as one who must give an account. I will stand before God someday and give an account for how I watched for your soul. I care about your soul. So how do you respond when you hear the word of God and you're out of alignment with the word of God? Do you say yes to God or do you get angry? Hey, let me put handles on this story for you. Let me put handles on this principle for you. So I want you to meet Lindsey and Jackson. Lindsey and Jackson got baptized right here in the Lee Summit campus just last month. Fairly new to town. He would never tell you this, but Jackson's a stud. He's a professional hockey player. He plays for the Kansas City Mavericks. So they got baptized just a few weeks ago. They're going through the Next Steps class. Next Steps class at Abundant Life is the beginning of the discipleship process at Abundant Life. Now I've heard it said that big churches won't shepherd you. No, we try to. So the part of Next Steps class, you're going to meet with a pastor or church leader and talk about next steps. And it's not always membership. It's not your next step. Sometimes it's not your next step. In this case, their next step wasn't church membership. They had a conversation with Tashaun Avery. I had permission to share their story. So Tashaun discovers that they're living together. They're not married. They're sleeping together. They're not married. I don't know if anybody's told you this lately. For a lot of people, they just don't know. They've never been told. Marriage is still sacred to God. Sex is still sacred to God, which means you're not supposed to sleep with someone you're not married to. Now honestly, nobody ever told them that, really. And what do they do? Let me tell you what happens over and over again at Abundant Life. We have this

conversation hundreds of times in a year. People are living together. They're not married. It's the world's way. Why not? Everybody else is doing it. It's the world's way. Here's what happens a lot of times. Get angry. Get mad. Never come back to church again. Happens all the time. Not with Lindsay and Jackson. Wait, what? Yeah, we need to get right with God. Tishon asked him, do you want God to bless your marriage? Well, yes, of course. Do you want God to give you the A-life in your family? Yes, of course. Then your next step is get married. Get your relationship right with God. Let's do it. Now, their wedding ceremony was months and months away. They did not wait for that thing months and months away. They wanted to get right with God today. They got married immediately. Obey without delay. Honestly, and they were kind of derided by friends and family. Guys, seriously? Come on, what is the big deal? Yeah, the world will say, what's the big deal? Seriously? I want you to see there's God's way, there is the world's way. Do you want the abundant life or not? You cannot live abundantly if you refuse to live obediently.

And this is God's offer. This is what he says. 2 Corinthians 6, 17. Therefore, come out from among them, the world, and be separate. We're called to be separated. We're in the world, but not of the world. We've come out of Egypt, now get Egypt out of us. Be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I'll be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. He wants you to be a daughter to him. He wants to be a father to you. Passengers, please sit down. We are about to hit turbulent airspace. It's not lost on me, guys, I'm not naive. The church, including our church, is full of people living in sin, of all kinds. Let me be clear about something. We all struggle with sin. I struggle with sin. The Bible calls that sanctification, but that's something different altogether than embracing your sin, reveling in your sin. I don't worry about people who say they're a Christian and when they sin, there's a struggle. I worry about people who say they're a Christian and they sin and there is no struggle.

The church is full of sexual immorality. Some of you right now, you're married, you're having an affair. You're in adultery. You're in adultery. And you need to recognize something. You're not under the grace of God when you're rebelling against God. You're under the judgment of God. Only as you embrace the truth of God do you receive the grace of God. Sin is rebellion against God. You need to repent. I have no data to support this, but I've been a pastor a long time. I'm gonna say three out of four singles under the sound of my voice, singles of any age, young adults, older singles, married, now you're not married, people my age, look, you're sleeping around. It's the world's way. It's not God's way. Jumping in bed over and over again, one person after another. Do you want God to bless your life? You gotta put yourself in a place of blessing. God cannot bless sin. Let me be clear, I'm not trying to shame anybody here. I'm not. The voice of the Savior is never shame.

Shame is the voice of the enemy. Shame drives you to secrecy, and the strength of sin is in secrecy. Shame drives you to secrecy, and the strength of sin is in secrecy. The way you break the stronghold of the enemy is when you break the secrecy. You bring it out of the darkness into the light through confession. I'm not trying to shame you. We all struggle in some way, but there's a difference between struggling with sin and embracing it. 70% of us, statistically, are looking at pornography. Habitually. The lie of the enemy is what creates idolatry, and the idolatry is what brings us into captivity. Gentlemen, I don't look at pornography. Ladies, there used to be a guy saying. I don't look at pornography not because I wouldn't like it, but because I know I would. I don't want to be taken captive. Flee from idolatry. Don't fight it. Flee from it. Run from it. This is war. And you win when you run. Run from sin. Run to Him. Young ladies, you put a Bible verse on your Instagram page and then every picture you

post is of your body with barely anything on. You're not promoting the Bible, you're promoting your body. I want you to ask yourself why. It's about self-idolatry, the worship of self. All sin begins with the worship of self. Look at me. Now, boys, it ain't just the girls. All those Jimbro pictures of your shirtless chest, your flex, ask yourself why. This is the age of self-idolatry. It's all about self. Glorify self. Gratify self instead of glorify God. Do you understand this is captivity? It's self-idolatry and it always leads to slavery. It puts you back under Satan's tyranny. I got an email this week from a young lady in our church, wonderful email. She's going through regen. She said, Pastor Phil, remind them that the idol is not always obvious. Pornography is obvious, sexual immorality obvious, addiction, alcoholism. Sometimes she says it's much more subtle than that. My idol was control. Control. Do you understand if you're a control freak, it'll ruin your relationships, it'll ruin your marriage. You'll always have to be right. You'll always have to prove you're right. You'll always fight to be right. Fighting for control. You understand that's a tool of the enemy. Control comes from fear.

Ask yourself what do you fear? The reason you have to fight for control is you're not sure God's in control. What I'm asking every person here to do is take some inventory of your heart. We have divided hearts. God wants to do a surgery on your heart, a circumcision made without hands so that you can live abundantly and freely. I want you to see what it says in verse 8. So it was, when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in camp till they were healed. Then the Lord said to Joshua, this day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day. Look at the picture God is painting, Gilgal in the Hebrew, it means rolled away. Jesus you see is our Gilgal, Christ is our Gilgal. He's rolled away the reproach of our sin, taking it all upon him. Do you understand on the cross what he did? Second Corinthians 5.21, he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. He has rolled away the reproach of our sin. Your identity is not pornography, it's not infidelity, your identity is not that abortion you had 20 years ago. Your identity is not gluttony because you overeat. No I'm trying to tell you, you have an identity as a child of God, you're a priest and a king. You're made to be free. Not freedom to sin, but freedom from sin. You have the power to walk away, you don't have to stay. Because he took upon himself our sin, our stain, our shame, our blame. Right now I want to pray with you. Fifty-nine people last week got baptized spontaneously, yes to Jesus. We're not going to baptize today, we're doing that next week. But I want you to bow with me, I want you to pray.

If today you're not sure of your home and heaven. whether or not you've ever truly said yes to Jesus. Maybe historically gone through the motions of religion. God wants to give you redemption. He wants to roll away your reproach and give you a new heart, a new beginning. I want you to pray right now with me. Pray this quietly where you are, whatever campus, whatever church house across North America or Germany, right here in Lee's Summit. It's a day of new beginning. Pray quietly with me. Jesus, say, Jesus, I know that I've sinned, that I cannot get to heaven apart from you. But I believe you died for my sin, that you rose again, that you have rolled away my reproach. You took my shame, you took my blame. Now give me a new heart, a new beginning. In Jesus' name, amen. Look up at me now. If you just prayed with me, I want you to do something. Text Jesus to 68618. That's the first step, it's not the last step. I told you, if you'll let us, we'll help you, we'll shepherd you. What's next? How do you walk this out? Jesus, J-E-S-U-S, 68618.

Now we're gonna take the Lord's Supper. I hope you have one of these. Communion cup, bread. We're gonna do this different than we've ever done before at Abundant Life. So listen carefully to what's about to happen. At every campus, there's gonna be a song that's gonna be sung. I want you to listen to the words. I want you to join in the worship. And only when you're ready do I want you to take the bread and the cup. I want you to remember what this means. It's a symbol, another sign. The bread represents the body of Jesus, broken for our sin. He was flogged, he was bruised, he was bloodied. He took our punishment, he took our penalty. The wine, or the fruit of the vine, that represents his blood. He shed his blood, apart from which there's no forgiveness of sin. We don't do this to receive him. Jesus said do this to remember him. It's a declaration of faith. But Paul was very clear in 1 Corinthians 11, we are not to eat of this bread or drink of this cup while we are harboring sin. In our life. He says to do it is to eat and drink unworthy.

It's to trample the blood and body of Jesus underfoot. It's to trivialize his sacrifice. So this is your personal moment with Jesus, just you and him, for personal confession, personal worship. When you're ready and only when you're ready, I want you to do this. Eat of this, drink of this. Now listen. If you're not serious about turning from your sin, the worst thing you can do is eat and drink of this. You have a choice, walk out of here with Jesus or walk out of here with your sin. So if you're choosing to walk out of here with your sin, go ahead and just throw this in the trash can on your way out. Just throw Jesus away. Because you'll either throw away your sin or you'll throw away Jesus. For some of you, maybe you should take this with you and do this later this week. When you're ready. Because this really means something. Jesus, I pray for revival in the bride of Christ. For a Holy Spirit move of God that can't be described, can't be planned, can't be humanly engineered. A Holy Spirit move of God, indescribable but undeniable. I pray God in heaven, a chaste virgin bride at abundant life. Jesus, we've been betrothed to one husband.

Help us to turn from the idols in our life, all the counterfeit lovers, that promises to love our soul but will one day bring death to our soul. Help us God, I pray, to turn to the one true lover of our soul, the Lord Jesus Christ that died in our place. And Jesus, you are worthy of our lives. Forgive us of our divided hearts. Give us clean hands and a pure heart. Help us to long to be more like you as your sons and daughters. You can join me at this altar right here in this platform. If you're at another campus, on your knees right there, build an altar. You can stay in your seat. In whatever way you want to worship, this is your moment. ♪ Grace, what have you done ♪ ♪ Murdered for me on that cross ♪ ♪ Accused in absence of wrong ♪ ♪ My sin washed away in your blood ♪ ♪ Too much to live for, too much to live for ♪ ♪ My sin washed away in your blood ♪ ♪ Too much to make sense of it all ♪ ♪ I know that your love breaks my fall ♪ ♪ A scandal of grace, you died in my place ♪ ♪ So willing, oh, to be like you ♪ ♪ I give all I have just to know you ♪ ♪ Jesus, there's no one beside you ♪ ♪ Forever the hope in my heart ♪

♪ In death, where is your sting ♪ ♪ Your power is this, my sin ♪ ♪ The cross has taught me to live ♪ ♪ The mercy my heart now receives ♪ ♪ The day of its trouble shall come ♪ ♪ I know that your strength is enough ♪ ♪ A scandal of grace, you died in my place ♪ ♪ So willing, oh, to be like you ♪ ♪ I give all I have just to know you ♪ ♪ Jesus, there's no one beside you ♪ ♪ Forever the hope in my heart ♪ ♪ Oh, to be like you ♪ ♪ I give all I have just to know you ♪ ♪ Jesus, there's no one beside you ♪ ♪ Forever the hope in my heart ♪ ♪ And it's all because of you, Jesus ♪ ♪ It's all because of you, Jesus ♪ ♪ It's all because of your love that my soul will listen to ♪ ♪ And it's all because of you, Jesus ♪ ♪ It's all because of you, Jesus ♪ ♪ It's all because of your love that my soul will remember you ♪ ♪ Oh, to be like you ♪ ♪ I give all I have just to know you ♪ ♪ Jesus, there's no one beside you ♪ ♪ Forever the hope in my heart ♪ Lift it up one more time. ♪ Sing, oh, to be like you ♪ ♪ I give all I have just to know you ♪ ♪ Jesus, there's no one beside you ♪ ♪ Forever the hope in my heart ♪

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