Guided Through The Desert | Lady Virginia Jones | Mother's Day

Um, we're gonna go to exodus is the second book in the Bible and it's a story that I love it's been on my heart since the beginning of the year and It's really odd because I was going totally a whole other direction But the Lord really Placed this word in my heart and I'm just gonna I'm gonna say yes to the Lord If you could please stand and I'm gonna read, you know, I forgot my reading glasses, but I think I've got it Exodus chapter 13 And it says when Pharaoh finally let the people go God did not lead them along the main Path, you know, what? Can you give me my glasses, baby? I'm so sorry. They're in a red case I Think that maybe even the nerves are messing up with my vision But I can't see glory to God for almost 60 When Pharaoh finally let the people go God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory Even though that was the shortest route to the promised land God said if the people are faced with a battle they might change their minds and return to Egypt So God let them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea Thus the Israelites left Egypt like an army ready for battle. Remember that sentence they were ready for battle We're gonna skip to verse 21. The Lord went ahead of them He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire This allowed them to travel by day or by night and the Lord did not remove the pillar of cloud Or pillar of fire from his place in front of the people Amen father this morning father. I am nothing and nobody without you You are my guide my shepherd you are my everything And so this morning I ask that you speak through me father God you do you just need my yes You have it. I want to be used for your glory. I don't want my name up in lights I want you but father God to be glorified for all that you've done to me You've taken me through the desert. You've led me through so this morning father God, just let me be a vessel Let me be able to put in the hearts of the people here where you've already laid in my heart It is in Jesus name that we pray

Amen, you may be seated The book of Exodus Has more miracles in any other Old Testament book it is also noted for having the Ten Commandments Just to give you guys a little I'm gonna read it just to give you guys a little history maybe of the book Joseph brought his family to Egypt and protected them there But after Joseph's death as they multiplied into a nation they were forced into slavery God then prepared Moses to free his people from slavery and let them out of Egypt to help Moses God unleashed ten plagues Plags if I say some things in Spanish Sometimes I'm thinking in Spanish if I don't know how to say it in English. I was gonna say in Spanish May the Holy Spirit translate for you Upon the land we've had a plague lately of flies haven't we After the tenth plague Pharaoh let the people go and the night before the great Exodus God's new nation Celebrated the Passover just as God delivered Israel from Egypt. He delivers us today from sin death and evil The desert is Really heavy terrain it gets hot in the desert. There really isn't anything pretty in the desert It's so hard to be in the desert My husband and I we tried to go hiking a few times It wasn't fun and it wasn't you know People said, you know, you go go up to the desert go up to the hill go to I don't even know what it's called anymore Telegraph Pass. Well, we almost died So we're not doing that again. We're just gonna walk around the campus here with Tesla. That's just that's just better The people had a destination the people of God they were being led out of Egypt through the desert But they were on their way to the promised land. It is so interesting to me as I was reading the scripture I was like why the Lord is like if I left my house and went all around that way to the DC Center Just to get to the church. It's so easy for me to walk across and the Bible says The Bible says that the distance was short,

but the Bible also tells us that God was afraid that the people, if faced with a battle, that they were gonna go back, even though the people left prepared. The scripture says that they left prepared, they were ready. But many times, even though we're prepared and we're ready, we second-guess ourselves, we second-guess our step. We second-guess the path that God already laid out before us. I worked for the Yuma County, and in our program, we have a program that's called Integer Burial. I have to translate sometimes, because we deal with the Mexican consulate when we're trying to find relatives or find out where the person is from if they've died in the desert, a body is found in the desert. So, I'm so sorry. I was working with the Sheriff's Office of the Mexican consulate, and the Sheriff's Office, the deputy told me an interesting story. I've never forgotten it, and it was years ago. And he said, many times, when they go find the body, when they go get the body after Puerto Rico has found it, they see that when the body is laying down, around the body, there's like steps, like that person just walked and walked around in circles.

And I'm so sorry about my cough, but they walked around and around in circles before they collapsed. And I never forgot that. So, during this time when I was preparing for this message, I asked Jacob Volpe and Cota, Caleb Cota, I asked them if they knew, if they had encountered this, if this was true, and they said, absolutely, we see that. But Caleb Cota told me something so interesting. It really wrecked me that Sunday. And I asked Jacob Volpe last Sunday, and he said, there is a beacon, which I didn't know, there's a beacon that Border Patrol sets out that calls if they're in trouble, and they need to call Border Patrol, they go push that button. And it calls Border Patrol to come get them. There's also water there that the land management has. Many times, Jacob was telling me that they, it's like they either, they're just right there at the beacon, and they don't press the button, or they pass it. And I thought about this, I thought about us, because I know why the illegals, some of them my people, some of them Venezuela people, I know why they don't wanna press the button. They don't wanna get caught, they don't wanna be taken in. But why, and so they wait till they're disoriented. They know they're dying, like, why not go to the, why not go to the beacon and press the button?

But don't we do it? Don't we walk around sometimes, desperate, confused, in all of our mess? Some of us are carrying stuff from our childhood, and we just carry it with us. We carry it to our families, we carry it to our kids. And so many, so many people, so many adults that we have talked to, they're like, well, I just had a horrible childhood. This happened to me. Well, you're an adult now, and you're married, so you need to forgive, let it go, surrender it, let the Lord carry it. The Lord's gonna deal with us as parents. He's gonna deal with whatever, because I know that some of us parents, we jacked you guys up, and I'm so sorry, so sorry. I love you. And I just, we just need to surrender that, though. But we carry it, and we walk around, and we walk around. Instead of going to the one that can, to the one that can just take care of all of it, we don't go to the beacon. The desert can kill us. If we stay there, we're gonna get killed, like physically, emotionally, I wanna say spiritually, we just get killed. It's like Lot's wife. I always feel like Lot's wife didn't turn around to see what was left behind,

or what, you know, all her friends were there. I feel like she hadn't let go of her past and all the things that she did, and she was looking back. And sometimes, as Lot's wives, as moms, we get frozen there. So we're not able to help our children through their stuff, because we're still frozen in our stuff, in the stuff we left behind that we were supposed to leave behind. So I was just thinking that, what is it that we're afraid of? Are we afraid of bringing up all that mess, of maybe people finding out what we've done, or maybe we're afraid that somebody's gonna find out if something that happened to us, maybe somebody did something to us in our childhood, and we don't wanna. Surrender that because we don't want to bring it out to light. We've had it hidden there Maybe that's why we don't want to go to the beacon. Maybe that's why we don't want to surrender it But this morning I'm telling you instead of running and going in circles like a crazy person Run to the one that can run to the one that already prepared the way for us He's already cleared the way Because why because we've got children coming behind us and we've got to lead them to the one if we're not running the race Right, how are they gonna get through desert times? Hebrews 13 3 13 5 says I will never leave you nor forsake you God does not send us into a difficult situation without provision. He doesn't send us into the desert Without the right tools his presence and his love for us his guidance. It's not seasonal He's with us all of the time He's with us when we get that new car and we drive out of the lot with a car

We've always dreamed of he's with us when we're dreaming for that Range Rover that pastor has always wanted He's with us when we're when we're in a mess. He's with us when we're happy But he's also so with us when we're in our math and we're troubled and we're desperate and we're upset He's with us all of the time earlier this year in February It took me 58 years to realize that I can't say February. I Don't know why the English language has some letters in it that you don't you don't need to you don't you have them there? And I think I was trying so hard to pronounce both R's because in Spanish we pronounce both the R's we roll your R's Rodrigo Roberto Hey, I still have something for you. Good to see you. Um, but so I was like, I can't say February Why did this happen? And then and then I did something I hardly ever do because I don't know how to use my phone But I did a Google thing to say to to pronounce it for me. And then I thought oh you don't pronounce the R February anyway the beginning of February We went through something my husband and I and I Experienced probably my first ever panic attack We were outside of our house going through this mess and I was shaking so bad like my You know when you got like a cold sweat come over you and you're just shaking shaking Like I couldn't like when you're really cold I don't know if we're never really cold in Yuma, but when you're really cold, that's how I felt and I thought oh My gosh, my heart's gonna come out of my chest, but my husband's going through something. I'm supposed to be there for support We're both going through this So I was just like Lord and I'm like walking back and forth to the house to the outside and I'm just like I'm Speaking in tongues. I'm doing everything that I know how to do and the Lord Took us through it. It's been it's been hard. I think as a mom anything that has to do with our children That's when I lose it I I think I'm a pretty strong person, but it but if it comes to any of the eight kids forget it. I'm wrecked A few Sundays ago. My husband was gonna leave to LA to the Southern Regional

Conference and he was gonna preach it's something else that happened that day and I thought okay, here we go Now I this terrain is hard. I need to go through this desert and I did it. I did it my son and my husband they were in a meeting and I went home And I just said I'm fine everything's fine he went off I didn't want to tell him that I was feeling very uneasy I just thought I'm not gonna put this in his head because then he's gonna drive over there thinking of me, whatever I it was about probably 2 a.m And I still wasn't asleep and it's not hard for me to fall asleep. I fall asleep anywhere. I Once my head hits the pillow, I'm gone and I could not sleep I was so so so unsteady. My heart was just beating out of my chest I even got up. I was walking to the kitchen. I was like, okay, I'm gonna go to Tyrone's house He lives really nearby. What am I gonna say? I don't know what I'm gonna say. I'm just gonna show up in my pajamas Can I sleep here? Maybe I'll just go to Alex's house You know, I don't know I just I needed to go somewhere and I'm walking around or that should I go? Yeah, and then I came back. I was like, you know what? I'm gonna anoint myself. I couldn't find our anointing oil So I went to the kitchen and I grabbed that oil. I will cook with I Put my finger in the in the oil put it on my head and I'm walking I'm like Lord You're gonna steady my heart. You're gonna steady my heart. I'm protected. My children are protected Ain't nothing gonna come and disturb my peace and my sleep and I'm speaking in tongues and you know what? When you're alone at home, Tessa didn't ask me to translate. So I was good. She also wasn't scared. She's a Christian, she's been baptized and all. So she was fine with me speaking in tongues. And I'm walking around speaking in tongues, finally get to the bed. I lay down on the bed and I'm like, doing even breathing techniques, you know?

I'm breathing hard and I bend over and I grab, we have a panic button at our house. And thank you, Jane Bell. It's been there, it still works. I grabbed it and just was like, okay, I'm gonna just keep it here just in case I pass out. I really did feel that I was gonna pass out. But I am one that I really, really hate anxiety and panic attacks. I believe that they're not from the Lord. And I also believe that the Lord, the Bible says that you leave your anxieties to him at the feet of the cross and he takes them. And he gives us a sound mind. And as I put my hand on my head and just praying over, over all of it, praying over the children and everything that had happened that day. And I said, Lord, just, I'm gonna go to sleep. I need to go to work tomorrow. Steady my heart, steady my heart. Because I felt like this morning before I got up here, my heart was going crazy. I fell asleep. I fell asleep, I didn't wake up till the alarm went off. And I got up and I was reciting these words of this song, you are so steady. And I got into the shower and I was like, you're leading, you ordered my steps and I know you're gonna lead me through. Just have to let you do it.

So you just, the song is so clear, he's so faithful. And you know what, he's willing and he's able. We just have to like get that in our heads. He's not just steady, he's faithful and he's willing. He's able, he's already done it. So I went to work and I just kept singing this song. I never even told my husband this story until he read the notes. And I said, yeah, that was something, but we did it. Tessa and I got through it. Let's get back to the desert. I feel like by God providing the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, he was saying, let's go. You can do this, you don't have to stop. Don't camp out in your desert. Don't take a lawn chair and don't take an ice chest. Don't take your Pepsi, don't stay there. It is not a place where you wanna stay. Even Psalms 23 says that, that he leads us to still waters. He leads us to green pastures. You're gonna get there, you're gonna go. He already prepared the way, he already knows what's coming. So don't get comfortable. I think sometimes we stop in the desert when the Lord doesn't answer our prayer. Maybe he answered it in a way that we didn't like. Maybe it wasn't what we had been asking for. Many times the Lord leads us to the desert. A lot of times we take ourselves there by bad choices,

bad decisions, by not leaving it all to the Lord, all the things we're going through. We get ourselves in the desert. We get ourselves in a situation where we just can't get out. And it's because we're not going to the one, we're not going to the beacon. God sees what we don't see. In Luke chapter five, four to six, Jesus tells Peter to cast the nets again after a night of failure. He had been fishing all night and he hadn't been able to get anything. And the Lord tells him to go back and he's like, but I've been doing this all night long. I haven't caught anything. And the Lord says, go to deeper waters and cast your net. Just go. And I don't, I'm a very visual person. I like to like, I want to think like, were the fishes already there, but Peter hadn't caught them? Or did God just create those fishes? Like, hey fish, be creative. Cause he can, right? Or did he just call them the fish and say, go? And they just went. And the word of God says in Luke that the net was so full that the boats were sinking. They had to call out another boat. And what if we were so full of the spirit of God

that pastor and little Tyrone had to call other churches. You guys better come on over here. You better come get some of this that we're experiencing because we're so full. We're so full. Don't take our people, but take some of the presents. Take some of the blessings. You know, why don't we get so full of the Lord? Why don't we just grab onto everything he's got for us so that when we walk out of here, we fill our homes with it. We fill our homes with the presence. We go to Starbucks. We go to creation coffee We go to wherever you go get coffee at and you fill them with all that you've got with just a smile Or I don't know a word a prayer. I've been doing that lately I prayed for a lady at Walgreens that didn't have money to pay for her medication And I told her something's gotta happen I don't know who you are But I'm gonna pray for you right now that the Lord gives you we can do those little things Those little things that I've learned to do and I I know that I've learned to do them because That's how pastor is. He'll he just prays anywhere sometimes without we don't even know he's about to pray He just starts praying. We're like, okay, we're praying. All right, all the kids we already know But I think that that story I'm just trying to to tell you that I feel like it's God already knows What's ahead of us he knows God's anticipation There's this I'm gonna I I forgot to say that there's three reasons why I feel that we can go by day and night One of it one of them is God's anticipation. He goes before us Exodus 13 17 tells us that God did not lead them through the shortest way because he knew they would be become discouraged God is leading us through the desert maybe so that we can learn how to praise Maybe so that we can learn what it is like to to just praise in the middle of your circumstance But we've got to go. There's a Spanish song That I love it's a hymn and it says coming down to a key

I say you got I yeah walking here until we get to there. It just means keep walking I just want to say this morning if I can say anything if you can leave with anything today is just keep walking You can walk by day and you can walk by night because he's not ready for provided for you his Anticipation of what's to be he proved it by doing these things he there's another story in the Bible that I love and that I love to just make up in my head of how it happened, but Peter was being asked that he and Jesus wasn't paying the church the temple tax and They told him hey, you know that your master isn't paying the temple tax and Peter said yeah, yes he is. Yes he is Which I don't think he wasn't because the Bible says that he he's exempt, right? So later on when he's talking to Jesus Jesus already knew that he was being questioned about the tax and he tells Peter this he tells him to go to the Red Sea and cast down cast of I tried this earlier to make sure I wasn't gonna slip and Cast down the line But I might fall cast down the line and he said when you pick up the first fish that you catch It's gonna have a coin and it's enough to pay mine and yours Can you imagine if we listen to the voice of God and he told you to do something maybe ridiculous? There's so many plans like I I hear my husband he's making plans. He's having meetings He's he has all these visuals of what's to be Next door in a new sanctuary so that when our son comes up that's already laid out He wants to leave everything laid out. We don't have the millions of dollars that is needed We don't have it and sometimes this man is like giving money away. Oh this church needs money Yeah, let's write a check and I'm like, oh my god I I'm sorry, cuz sometimes you're so generous and sometimes I'm like, dude, we've got a build We got a bill. We gotta retire But what if? Because he does these crazy things and he believes the Lord what if he does it and he picks up the first fish? Because the Lord told him to do it. He's gonna provide and you know, what's gonna be there provision Provision he's gonna give you provision. He's gonna give you provision to build baby. He's giving you provision You're gonna build we're gonna have a sanctuary and he's gonna give you new provision son your own

When you come but the Lord is wanting to tell us right now. Just listen to the word just follow me Let me lead you he's gonna take you to still waters. He's gonna take you with the provision Is that sometimes we think that it's crazy the things that the Lord has us do But can you imagine I just imagine I I love this story. I can't imagine picking up the fish What in the world There was a coin. I was praying for the fish when my husband was so worried about paying our taxes I was like Lord send a fish I'm gonna go park at the Colorado River go fishing with unc Eric it didn't work out but oh my goodness second thing is God's involvement he is with us Matthew 123 says Immanuel God with us God is not distant he's so present he doesn't say hey you know what when you get here I'm gonna tell you why you went through the desert once you get here we're gonna figure it out once you get here you're gonna know all the answers and you know you won't have to it won't even matter anymore he's with us it's not like God is up there and we're way down here he's with us he's with us he's here right now the Holy Spirit is with us when he was gonna go to be with the father he said I'm not gonna leave you alone I'm gonna leave the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit is so important it gives us power it gives us boldness it gives us the courage to go on through our desert a lot of things happen in the desert but I'm gonna tell you right now he's there in the waiting room when you're waiting for your loved one to get out he's there in the middle of all of your mess and your divorce and maybe your kids are out of the will of God and you don't know what to do he's there he's so present he's present in the bad time but he's also present in the good times I remember going to labor it seems like so many things happen at night when you go into labor it's always at nighttime right but the Lord is that where he's with you I remember my mom reciting Psalm 23 and you don't want any Psalms or any of that when you're going through labor but what she was trying to tell me is that even in this as you're having a child he's with you the cloud gave shade by day and the fire gave warmth and light God meets us exactly where we are I don't see a pillar of cloud nowadays sometimes in the Sun in the summer I wish there was cuz I'm a sweater so I wish there was the cloud

following me around wouldn't that be so cool we don't see it but you know what I believe it I believe that if it was there I believe that the people were being led can you imagine like the foreigners walking around oh there goes the people of God the the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire I just imagine like other churches oh that person you know what the way he behaves look at how their business is going look at how their business is flourishing because you're following the Word of God because the Bible says that the wicked and the man outside they're gonna know us by his presence his presence it guides us it gives us wisdom to start a new fit a new business and to finish it you know how much I love going to your shop sometimes I just go so somebody will pray for me sometimes I go to shop and pass just praying at the house that I don't find anything I like God's presence it's gone be it goes before us in our hardest time in our hardest trials the God's presence is there and it lights the way it lights us to other people so the other people can see who we are the third the third thing really quickly is God's motivation he wants us to make it he wants to guide us day and night because he wants to see us he wants us to be persistent he doesn't want us to give up he doesn't want you to slow down he doesn't want the church to stop moving forward he wants to spend eternity with us he went ahead of us to prepare a place for us he said so that where I am you will be also God wants you to reach your destination he's invested in your finish line John 14 3 says I go to prepare a place for you that where I am you may be also I remember when I had two jobs and by the time I got in my parents house we would all get together over there always eating our family loves to eat and we can eat my mom it would be so special I would show up late everybody was already there they had already finished eating they're playing being silly and my mom would go whisper in my ear and she was like I saved you some carne asada best words ever ever and I or I told Anna to save you some arroz con leche for those of you that don't know I'm so sorry Coliseum is the best she would save me some put it away because if she didn't save me some

Everybody else would it would be gone The Lord has prepared something for me in heaven. There's manna prepared for us hidden Provision and I'm gonna receive it when I go in his presence And I can't wait for that just like my my earthly mother left something for me He's prepared something for me when I get there. So the Word of God today, I Just want to say because I don't think I did all my points and I'm so sorry Maybe you come to third service. You'll hear all of them God's motivation is that he wants to see us see us spend eternity with him And so I just urge you this morning to keep going keep walking Don't stop because you're a desert and it's hard and maybe you ran out of water. There's water right there There's water right here. We this is the modern This is the modern Pillar of cloud and pillar of fire. This is it right here Just read it follow it. It guides you where you need to go. This is it right here We may not see it clearly the cloud or the fire But we've got his word and is guiding us is guiding us to where we need to go It guided me is guiding us. So church for the city. Keep going keep fighting Don't give up. Don't stay in the desert move forward in Jesus mighty name. Amen And amen Let's pray Father I Pray for every mother this morning here that you bless us that you lead her father God that you prepare father God the the way for her father God I pray that every mother here feels loved by you and father God every person that's here That this day is so hard for them Maybe because they don't have a good relationship with their mom or they don't no longer like me have their mom here on earth I pray for every individual here that they had a hard time coming to church this morning But we pushed through and we made it I pray for their hearts. I pray that you steady their heart steady their hearts Lord Steady their hearts this morning. Let them know that you're with them father guide us and lead us father God Take us home to be with you. And until then we're just gonna praise you. We're just gonna worship you

We're just gonna do what we're gonna do we're gonna practice here what we're gonna do for eternity and that's to worship and worship until the day you come to Take us home Amen, the altars are open. Thank you church