Turning a Dead End into a Defining Moment | Robby Gallaty

What I wanna talk about today is how do we turn a dead end, or how God turns a dead end into a defining moment. God loves to do this. God loves to take dead ends in life when our back is against the wall, and he loves to make it a defining moment. Now I want you to imagine for a moment, in your mind, you're driving somewhere that you've never been before. You don't have Google Maps, you don't have Waze, you don't even have a phone, no GPS, in fact, we're going back to 1980s, when you just had handwritten directions on a piece of paper with a pencil. Anybody remember those days? I mean, that's how we got around back then, right? And you follow the directions to a T. You follow them perfectly, and you trust every turn. It said go straight on Main Street, take a right at the roundabout, take a left at the light, and keep going through the intersection to the destination. And when you follow the directions, you find yourself at a dead end. And when you get there, you think to yourself, why am I facing a wall? Now I know you've never gotten lost before, but imagine you have, right? You're facing this wall, and you're thinking, what did I do wrong? How did I wind up here? Better yet, you think, is someone playing a trick on me,

trying to set me up, right? Now I want you to put a pin in that, and I want you to imagine that scenario multiplied by two million people with mountains on either side, a sea of water ahead, and an Egyptian army of Navy SEALs behind you, and that is the Red Sea Crossing, what we're gonna talk about today. And what I wanna show you today is they didn't have a navigational problem. Their problem was a faith problem. And here's what's gonna cause everyone in here to pause. So I wanna show you my cards before we go further, because I want us on the same page. I wanna show you this, because this is hard to wrap your mind around. Who gave them the directions to wind up there? God. God was the one who led them there to that situation. God knew exactly where they were. God heard Moses tell the people. God saw the pillar and led them to that place. God saw their faces when they arrived. And God says absolutely nothing when they get there, why? Because he's about to provide for them everything they need. If you have a Bible, turn with me to Exodus 14. I wanna show you how God takes this dead end, seemingly dead end, and turns it into the defining moment for the entire nation of Israel.

We like to say word at Long Hollow, and we get there. So if you're there at Exodus 14, one, you could say word. Word. Amen. Good crowd here. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, tell the Israelites. God's telling him this. Tell the Israelites to turn back. He's gonna give them directions. Turn back and camp in front of Pi-haharoth, between Migdal and the sea. You must camp in front of Baal-ziphon, or Zephon, facing it by the sea. All that means is God gave them the directions. And if you follow these directions, you'll notice something interesting on a map. I challenge you to do this. The natural route from Egypt to Israel, the promised land, is a straight line. God tells him to go out and go directly south to the bottom part, and it shows us that God is giving them these directions. Look at verse five. When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about the people. Just a sidebar here. I don't know if you know this, but Pharaoh's gonna have to get intensive counseling after this because he can't make up his mind.

The whole time, he's like, yes, no, yes, no. I mean, the guy, that's a joke, but Pharaoh changes his mind again. What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us. So he got his chariot ready and took his troops with him. He took 600 of the best chariots and the rest of the chariots of Egypt with officers in each one. The Lord then, underline this, hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the Israelites who were going out defiantly. I wanna give you two insights about how God turns a dead end into our defining moment or our defining moment in life. Number one is this. God uses dead ends to reveal he's in control. Dead ends in life, and some of you are there. You're at a dead end. You're at a place of no return. You're at a place that looks like there's no way out. Dead ends are God's way to reveal that he's in control. Let me set up what's happened up to this point. We've been reading all week about this, but God tells the nation of Israel, I'm gonna free you from the bondage of Egypt. 400 years you've been in bondage as bricklayers, and now I'm gonna free you, but before you leave, I'm gonna put 10 plagues into place. The last plague, you're gonna take. take an innocent animal with blood

and you're gonna paint the doorposts of your home and then the angel's gonna pass over, you're gonna take the unleavened bread, not leaven because you don't have time to wait, take the leavened bread in haste and you're gonna run out of Egypt into the wilderness. They did that. And so here they are about to celebrate and right when they're in the clear, the Bible says God hardened, you caught this? Hardened the heart of Pharaoh. Now, before I get into the text, let me answer a question. That at least in my mind was looming all week. And the million dollar question, if you read this week, all the plagues, the million dollar question is this. Who is responsible for what is happening to Israel? Did you ask that question? Is it Pharaoh or is it God? Because it looks like it could be both at the same time. What we see here in this text, and let me just give you a full disclosure. I don't fully understand what's going on in the text. I'm okay with that because I don't understand everything about God, I'm okay with that. Because it's hard for my finite mind to get this. But here's what's happening. It is the complex interconnection between the sovereignty of God or God's in control

and man's responsibility to respond to God. And what we see here is, think of them like this. God's in control, man's responsible. They're like two parallel tracks that run all through Scripture. We see three different progressions in Moses' life. Write them down. Number one, Moses, I mean Moses, correct myself, Pharaoh. I normally don't get it until I get home and Candy makes fun of me. You said Moses instead of Pharaoh, okay. Did you like anything else about this, sir? Yeah, I was like, but anyway, okay. Pharaoh, sorry, I called myself. Pharaoh, three progressions. Pharaoh had a hardened heart. He had a hard heart. That's just who he was. Number two, the Bible says Pharaoh hardened his heart, himself. And then we have a third progression, which is what? Who hardens Pharaoh's heart? God does. So you have three different progressions in the text. Let me just tell you what's going on. Pharaoh is responsible for hardening his own heart by making moral decisions to rebel against God. He is responsible for what he does. All of his choices, he will answer for. In fact, some of the rabbis said,

as they study this passage, if anybody had no excuse to who God was and what God could do, it was Moses. Why? The nation of Israel has no clue what's going on every day. In fact, they wake up and they say, hey, what's the weather forecast? I think it's gonna be dark with a chance of lice. Oh, wow, okay. They don't know, like Pharaoh. Pharaoh knows, because Moses is telling him, this is God and this is what he's going to do to him. So Pharaoh, if anybody, has no excuse who God is. So when Pharaoh hardens his own heart, there is something there that he's hardening. And then when God hardens Pharaoh's heart, here's what he's doing. He's giving him over to the sinful desire that is already there. God is not forcing Pharaoh to do something which is already there. In a sense, his heart was already wicked. Now, how do I know that? Because I want you to notice that in the text, there are times when God hardens his heart, but there are times when Pharaoh hardens his own heart. And here's the question. How many times, did you catch it this week, how many times did Pharaoh harden his own heart? Do you know?

10 times, that's a good, who said that? Dr. J, perfect, get him an ice cream sandwich before we leave Blake. No, 10 times, that's exactly right. You ready for this? How many times did God harden Pharaoh's heart? Give you a wild guess. 10, right? So 10 and 10, it's equal. But here's the insight that people miss. The first five plagues that we see progress, from plague one to five, guess what happens? Pharaoh hardens his own heart willfully to rebel against God. God doesn't step in until after the fifth plague. Here's what it shows us. Pharaoh is not an innocent bystander to sin. This is a man who's not a good man turned bad. This is not an innocent guy doing evil things. No, this is somebody who has a wicked heart that God is pulling out of them, which is already there. Now, if you know your Bible, you're hearing echoes of Romans one. Remember Romans one, Paul said, for the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all godlessness and wickedness of men, women who suppress the truth of their wickedness. Men exchange natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, watch this,

and received, talking about homosexuality, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion, why? Because God gave them over to their sin. Friends, you gotta understand, when it comes to sexual immorality, homosexuality, transgenderism, all these isms and issues we're dealing with, I tell people, the judgment of that sin, is that God gives you over to it. That's the judgment. God says, hey, you wanna say, I'm giving you over to, let me say it another way. On Judgment Day, you have to understand something. This is a misunderstanding. On Judgment Day, and everybody in here, by the way, if you're a human being, you're gonna stand before the creator of the universe, and you're gonna give an account for your life because he created you. And you're probably saying, well, I don't believe in God. Well, you will then, because you'll see. Faith is gonna be sight, there's gonna be no skew. I don't even believe in you. Well, wow, I probably should have. You're gonna stand before this God, every human being. And the thing you're gonna understand about God is, God is going to judge you based on your actions, your desires. God is never, or never, contrary to popular opinion, God never sends anyone to hell.

You gotta understand this. What do you mean God doesn't send anyone to hell? God allows you to go where you have asked him to let you go your whole life. Let me just frame it for you. Hell, we think of as a place of burning, and gnashing of teeth, and fire, and pain, the place where the worm never dies, all those things are right. But let's put that aside. Think of hell this way. Hell is a place where the love of God is absent. Now, it's hard to think that way. Hell is a place where the grace of God is nonexistent. Hell is a place where mercy and forgiveness are things of the past. It's hard to wrap your mind around that. And hell is a place where God says to the person their whole life, leave me alone. I don't want you. I don't want you in my life. I don't want you telling me what to do. And when you stand before God, God says to you, you have your wish. Go to hell. That's what hell is. Hell is a place where you don't want God your whole life. You said, God, I don't want you. Think about it. The worst thing for a person

who didn't live for Christ on earth is to send them to a place called heaven where everywhere they go, they see the fingerprint of Christ. After all, Jesus is everywhere. You're gonna bump into him. That would be hell for them to go to a place they rejected their whole life. Does that make sense? So that's what hell is. God says, if you choose in this world, sin over Savior, you get your wish. Now, if you go back to the Red Sea, you'll notice they feel like they're in a place maybe of hell or Hades, because they're like, man, what do we do? And you have to understand what happened here. Before our day, before Google Maps, there was something called Garmin. Anybody remember the Garmin? I know I'm dating myself, but follow me here. And before Garmin, there was MapQuest. Anybody remember? I mean, that was cutting edge. You gotta admit, that was cutting edge. And before MapQuest, for those senior saints today, there was the AAA Triptych. Anybody remember the AAA Triptych, right, where they write the directions out for you? But before that, there was a pad

with a pencil and directions. Somebody literally told you, it's crazy, they would say, go here, go there. Someone gave you these directions, and if you follow them perfectly, like many of us have, and you end up at the wrong spot, who do you blame for this mishap? Now, Candy said in the last service, we blame the driver, which is you, but that's not the case, right? You don't blame him. Who do you blame? You blame the person who gave you the directions. Come in close. The Israelites are not following God. I mean, they're not following Garmin or Google. The Israelites are following God. God told them, here's what he said. Once you go south, and then when you see the mountains, make a turn and go around Pi-Heroroth, walk past the mountain of Migdal, and then you're gonna get to the sea, make a 180, turn around, camp out, and then you're gonna have a front row seat to what's coming, and the people are like, man, this is awesome. We're finally out of bondage, and their celebration is short-lived. Why? Because when they look in the distance,

on the horizon, what do they see? You can almost see it. 600 chariots of the best army on planet Earth, along with Navy SEALs, Army Delta Force Rangers, coming at them, and who are these people that are being attacked? A bunch of bricklayers, along with men, women, and children. What is the chance that the Israelites can defeat the Egyptian army? What percentage? Zero. So naturally, they start blaming. Who do they blame right away? Well, they can't blame God. They blame Moses, but Moses says, I didn't send you here. Who sent us here? God. What? Wait a minute. Yeah, God. Friends, it was God who led them to this spot through a pillar of fire at night and a pillar of clouds by day, and God sent them to a cul-de-sac of no return, a cul-de-sac with no retreat. Why would he do that? Here's the principle. I want you to get this. Wherever you are right now,

whatever present situation you're in, if you're a Christian, look at me, God has ordained the situation for a reason. There are no accidents in God's economy. Let me just tell you how this God works that we follow. If you ever read the Bible, you realize that the God of the Bible loves a good underdog story. Can I get an amen, right? That's what God does. God loves to make a way when there seems to be no way. I like to say it this way. When you're down to nothing, God's always up to what? Something, think of it this way. What looks like a setback in your life right now is actually a setup for God to show up and show off in your life. Let me say it another way. The dead end right now you're facing may be the defining moment of your life. So what do we do? Because some of you are like, man, I'm in this dead end. I have nowhere to go. My back's against the wall. What does God expect in return? Absolute and complete trust. Let me give you a way to think of it. Write this down if you're taking notes. Fear says, write this down, God took me here by accident. Fear says, God took, what do you mean, God? What has happened?

Where are you? That's what fear says. Faith says, God brought me here for a purpose. You see the difference? Fear says, I'm here by accident. Faith says, God is about to show up and do something in a way that I need to trust him, which leads to number two. Every dead end requires complete trust. Every dead end requires complete trust. Let's go back to Exodus 14. Look at verse 10. What does God say in verse 10? As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were Egyptians coming after them. The Israelites were terrified and they cried out to the Lord for what? For help. And then they said to Moses, is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us out here to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Isn't this what we told you in Egypt? Leave us alone so that we may serve you. Listen, this is the most bizarre thing you ever heard in your life. They are now experiencing freedom, but they would rather go back to bondage because that's what they know. Bonkers, right?

I mean, it's crazy. You think we're gonna see it happens to us, but watch this. It would have been better for us to stay and serve the Egyptians and false gods than to die in the wilderness. Here's what God's showing us right here. It's pretty interesting. What do you do when you're hemmed in at all sides? Mountains on the side, a sea in front of you, and here's what I want you to see. This is what they would have seen, in a sense, behind them. The army of Egypt is pursuing them. You see who's behind them? What do you do when that happens? Can't blame them. You freak out. You're like, what are we gonna do? We're freaking out, right? And then you start blaming somebody. You always blame the leader. They couldn't blame God, so they blamed Moses, but the reason is they don't understand God brought him here. Here's the point I want you to get. Right after this nation leaves Egypt, many of the people in the nation of Israel, two million of them, let's say, don't know God. They don't know anything about it. Moses knows God, Aaron knows God,

but they don't know God. Why? Because they've been in captivity for 400 years, and the very first thing after their, quote, salvation, don't miss this, after their redemption from bondage, the very first thing God does is bring them to a place of testing. The very first thing. You could say after they got saved, God tested them. Why would God do that? What God is trying to do right out the gate with the nation of Israel, you remember going to a doctor when you were younger or for a physical, some of you, and you sit on the table and they take that little hammer, and what do they do? They hit your knee, and what does your knee do? It's supposed to, right? It's called a reflex, right? You hit it and it naturally responds. Here's what God's doing. Look at this. God is creating in them the reflex muscle of faith. Every time they're tested, they should respond in faith. Now, how does this work in your own life? How many people remember the moment you accepted Christ, or right after you surrendered your life to Christ, it seemed like all Hades fell upon you, right? It was like everything came apart.

Anybody know what I'm talking about? It's like, what in the world? I thought serving God was gonna be easy. It's actually just the opposite, and you probably even thought, I remember when I first came to Christ, I'm like, why are things so hard now? Seemed like things were easier when I was lost. Why are things so hard now that I'm serving the Lord? What's going on? Here's what's going on. God loves you so much, he's trying to fortify your faith right out the gate. God's trying to teach you that he's a good God that you can trust, because here's what you just said at church. Let's say you walked an aisle. Let's say you went to the baptistry. Let's say you got saved at camp, and you said to God without saying, God, I love you, I serve you, I believe in you, I'm gonna follow you no matter what. Jesus says, okay. Prove it, prove it. Is that what you believe? Show me you possess the faith you profess. So what do you do? You get saved and on the way home, your tire blows out, right? It's like what in the world?

Give your life to Christ, unexpected bill comes in the mail like I don't know, wait a minute, I thought I was supposed to be serving the Lord. Long-term relationship you've been in breaks up. You serve the Lord and all of a sudden a family member you love dearly passes away. You receive a medical diagnosis unexpectedly. You get fired from a job that you love. You start to get bullied at school for your faith in Jesus Christ or cut from the team you wanted to be on your entire life. You know, I see this most often with addicts, alcoholics and addiction. It's like God finally sets it or they finally get free and experience a season of sobriety from their addiction. And then the moment things get difficult or something bad happens or unexpected, the season of sobriety short-lived and they go right back to the very thing that crippled them for so many years. So they return to the sexual immorality or they return to the pornography or they return to the drugs or the alcohol because it's familiar to them. And here's what they're saying without saying anything. It's the same thing these guys are saying, coming close. They're saying, I would rather go back in the past to the bondage I had rather than trust God for the freedom in the present. I would rather go back to the bondage of the past

than walk by faith of freedom in the present. I'm gonna tell you something I wish. Young people, listen. I wish somebody would have told me this years ago. I didn't learn this till years later. I learned it through the revival. But I will tell you this. Why would you not expect to be attacked from the enemy when you switch teams? You gotta understand something. Before you gave your life to Christ, you were on team Satan whether you wanted to be or not. Whether you, the prince of the power of the air, you walk by the spirit of the world or by nature, children of wrath like the rest of mankind. Everybody is born into the wrong team. In the image of God but part of the wrong team because of sin. Satan hates when people are drafted like the NFL draft just happened. Satan hates when people are drafted off his team. He don't give away people easily. So here's the point I want you to get. When you receive the applause of heaven, you should always expect the assault of hell. When you're serving the Lord, listen, I would say if you're serving the Lord and you're not being attacked, I would question who you're serving. Because why would the enemy not wanna attack us

and come at us? So what do we do? Robbie, I'm there. I've got my back against the wall. I'm hemmed in on all sides. What do I do in this impossible situation? Well, I'm glad you asked. God gives us through Moses three steps. I want you to get this. Three steps, write them down. Write them on a post-it note, put it on your phone, pray through them. Because I don't know about you, when I get attacked or stressed, I forget, so I have to write things down. Write these down. God's gonna give three commands on what to do from verse 13. Moses says to the people, don't be afraid. Come on, did you see these, did you see that army? Calm down, God. What are you talking about, Mo? Did you see the... First thing God says, don't be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord's salvation. Don't have a lot of time. Do a word study on that word, salvation. That is the Hebrew word Yeshua, which is where we get the translation of the name of Jesus, same word.

So if we read it like that is, don't be afraid, stand firm and see the Lord's Jesus who will accomplish this for you today. I love that. For the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. Because the Lord will fight for you, you must only swing fast. Is that what it says? You must only kick them low. Is that what it says? Bonkers, it says you must only be still, be quiet. All right, here's the three commands. Write them down. Don't fear, stand firm, be still. Now, before we get into it, I don't know about you. If we were going into battle, Ryan, that is not the threefold plan I would give you for success on the battlefield, right? It's more like punch them or hit hard or pick up your weapon. No, no, stand firm, don't be scared, be still. That's not the commands I gave you. Let's take all three of them. Number one, don't fear. In the Hebrew, you're gonna love this. In the Hebrew, this is the strongest negative command in the entire language. In fact, it's the last thing you should do in a situation, God's saying. Don't freak out, chill out, calm down. Now, I have to admit to you, this is pretty overwhelming.

because you would expect in this situation Moses to coddle the people. He doesn't do that. Moses actually confronts them, calls them out. And here's what he's saying. Do you guys not remember what just happened? How many plagues did God bring down on our enemies? Now, here's another sidebar. We got time, so I'll tell you this here. Have you ever wondered why 10 plagues? Ever thought about this? Why 10 plagues? 10 times he hardens his heart. 10 numbers are important, you know that. 10 plagues, why 10 plagues? I don't know about you, but the first plague oughta been out, right? Like, you turn the lights out in the city, I'm like, all right, we're out. Y'all go, get outta here, right? Lights on my back, all right, I'm done, you know what I mean? Lights on my, I'm done, right, you know? Locusts eating, I mean, I'm done. Any one of those oughta been done. Why so many plagues? Here's why. What God is doing is God is destroying every single false god in the worship of Egypt. And think of it this way, this is a goofy illustration, but this is the best I got.

Remember that game Whack-A-Mole? Remember that Whack-A-Mole? With the little, what are those, like hedgehogs, or like, I don't know what they are, like groundhog, I don't know what they are. What are they? Mole. Mole, wha? What? Hence the name Whack-A-Mole. Yeah, thanks, Robert. Not Whack-A-Hedgehog, okay, I get it, the Whack-A. Those moles, remember? Okay, so imagine the game, all the moles' heads are sticking up. Imagine those moles are false gods of Egypt. And what God does, this is crazy to think about, and I wrote about this, I can't remember what book I wrote, but I wrote about this in a book years ago, about how all 10 gods, God is destroying every one of them. I'll give you one of them. When God sends darkness over the land, what is he destroying? He's going after the false god Ra, which is the god of the sun, and God, so literally think of every plague God sent, he just crashing and smashing. And the last plague, guess who God goes after personally? Pharaoh himself, who refers to himself as a god. God says, no, I didn't leave everybody out

because I'm going after you next. So he destroys every one of the gods, and Moses would say, do you not remember what God just did? Oh, by the way, you were in prison for 400 years. Do you not remember that bondage? Has God ever let us down yet? And the resounding answer is what? No, so don't be afraid. Same could be said for you. Don't be afraid. Number two, stand firm. Years ago, I tell you, I used to fight, train MMA years ago, can't do it now, but back then, I guess I could do it, my boys tried me for about, you know, I tell my boys, I say, listen, there's gonna come a point where you're gonna wanna try your dad. Every boy does this, I did it with my dad. Look at you shaking your head, you know. And I say, you need to understand, I'm not who I used to be, but I got 30 seconds of the old Robbie. If you, if you can outlast me for 30 seconds, you got me, I'm tapping out, but that 30 seconds could be like the old me. But anyway, okay, so back in the day, I used to do MMA, and I learned karate, and then I learned boxing, learned Muay Thai. It doesn't matter what you learned, some of you learned this.

The principle for success in combat fighting is one principle, you have to have a good base. If you're off balance, you won't win, so you have to have a good base. If you don't stand your ground, the enemy will overwhelm you. In the battle we fight against our enemy, I want you to understand this, it's very different than the world. As a Christian, we don't fight as a soldier attacking, don't miss this, we fight as a spectator watching God battle for us, big difference. You'll never find any place in the Bible, you won't find it, where God commands us to go attack Satan, to go thwart Satan. No, the Bible says specifically, stand firm, Ephesians 6, the manual on spiritual warfare. Stand firm, and after you've done everything else, Paul said, stand firm. Now watch this, that word stand is off of the gospel shoes of peace. If you study one of the pieces of the armor, which is the shoes of peace, they're not Jordans that you run in the, it's not what it is, not these shoes. Those shoes, contextually, you're gonna love this, are actually sandals with long spikes in them that penetrate the ground. Now why would you need that? Because when you go out to the battlefield to stand firm, you're gonna want shoes

that don't come up or move back. So the whole point is you're standing firm. Now you're probably saying, what does that even have to do with me? The superpower we possess in the Christian life over lost people is one thing. We have, and every other religion too, we have a God that fights our battles on our behalf. Can I get an amen? That's why you and I, listen to me, should not fight spiritual, coming close. We shouldn't fight spiritual battles with carnal weapons. You're not gonna win. You're not gonna win a spiritual battle with physical weapons. Here's what I mean. Our battle today as Christians, contrary to popular opinion, is not a battle between Republicans and Democrats. Democrats, amen? Some of you are like, oh me. The battle we fight today as Christians is not between, that's the outflow of the battle. I'm talking high level here. We're not fighting conservatives, liberals, it's not America versus Iran. The battle that's raging today is the battle it's always been. It's between God and Satan. It's against the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God.

And sadly, we live in a day and age where Satan himself will use people as pawns to carry out his personal agenda. Here's the point, and I say this with love. Stop fighting online trolls with words on a keyboard and start fighting on your knees with the word of God, amen? That's how we fight these battles. Let's stop gossiping about everything we hate and don't like about politicians and the country and government, and let's start praying on our knees before God. Friends, here's what I know. Every form of bondage in the world is broken through prayer and the word of God, amen? Notice I didn't say keyboard cowboys with courage behind monitors and screens. That's not how we win. We win through the word and prayer, which leads to the last part. So don't be afraid, stand firm, and this is the last part. And again, this is the oddest thing God could say. I love it though. Be still, be still. Now, if you've been in the Christian battle for any length of time, you know for a Christian soldier, this is probably the hardest thing to do, stand firm. Like stand down, soldier, we don't need you to fight. And it's not something I learned in seminary. You don't learn this through indoctrination. You don't learn this through the school of ministry

or an education seminar. You learn this through experience. It comes through encountering the Lord, spending time with the Lord. And here's the thing, when you and I are standing still in the midst of trials or tribulation, what we demonstrate to the world around us is a veteran spirit of trusting the Lord. Let me say it this way, and it's gonna sound odd, but hear me. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do as a Christian is nothing. Nothing. This is the principle I live by. I've told you this before, I'll tell it again because it's literally, it's a cheat code for the Christian life. Because I'm not like this. I wanna make things, I wanna take it, I wanna fix, the guy's like, no, no, no. Look what you did with it. Okay, you're right. Here's the motto, write this down. When I step in to fix a situation, whether it's somebody ripping me online, which never happens. It's a joke, not as much as you used to, but people critique me, people respond to me, people say something about a YouTube video. The natural response is, I'm gonna tell,

they don't know, I'm gonna fix. Guy's like, okay, all right, big boy, you got it. You know how you fix things, I'll step back. When I step in, guess what God does? God steps back. And every time I step in, it never works out. But when I step back, you're gonna love this, and let God step in, God always does what's right, always. That's why Jesus said in John 15, that's why Jesus said in John 15, before the cross, abide in me and I in you, for apart from me, you can do what? A few things. Is that what it says? You can do some things, not everything. No, it says you could do what? Nothing. That word abide is a great word. It's the word for remain, minnow in Greek. Remain, abide, rest, or be still. Still. Here's what God's saying. Look at me. You've trusted me in the past. Why not now? What happened? I remember years ago, I was in a situation where I really felt boxed in on all sides. Couple decisions in the past that I've made led up to this point in my life,

and there was really no good move left for me. There was no exit that I could see. I couldn't go back to the past life that I had before. That was not an option, and I didn't know really where to go to get me to where I needed to be. You've probably been there before. It's like, I'm out of options. You ever been there? I don't know what to do. I'm not smart enough to fix this. It was a season when I was going to the porch every night for an extended time with the Lord, and I remember sitting on my porch in silence, and I just said something like this. God, I don't know what to do. Huh. There's nothing else I can do to change this situation, and the Lord did not speak to me audibly, but I heard it internally, and it was like the Lord spoke from heaven and said, this is a great place to be, Robbie. It's a good thing you're here. Why? Because now we can get. It started. It's literally what the Lord said to me. And it's almost like that moment, and some of you are there, it's almost like God's saying, that is the moment I've been waiting for in your life

because now I can do something in your life. And friends, don't miss this. God doesn't lead us to this cul-de-sac of no return because he's cruel. He leads you there because he's kind. And he knows what's best for you. And here's what God knows. As long as you and me, as long as you and I think we have options or exit ramps, we're gonna keep trying to save ourself. But when God creates a situation where there's no off-ramp, then eventually we stop running away from him, we start running toward him, and we start trusting him more. And some of you are like, man, you just read my mail. Why? Because I came in today. I don't know your situation, but God does. You came in today and you're like, man, I am backed against the wall. I just received a medical diagnosis that was not what we wanted. Pastor, my marriage is unraveling and no one around me knows it. My kids don't know it. My coworkers don't know it. My spouse and I know it. I have a prodigal son or daughter who just won't come home. They won't talk to me.

I've been disconnected with my parents for years. They won't communicate with me. My business is failing and no one knows it. I'm an addict who just keeps going back like a dog to its vomit. I just keep going. I wanna, I say every night I'm never gonna do it, and every day I just go back to it. I made decisions, Robbie, that can't be undone from the past. I have a mountain of debt that is overwhelming to me. Or better yet, you may say, I have a dream that looks like it's going to die. If that's where you are, or maybe other options that I didn't mention, I want you to hear what I'm about to say. Look at me for a moment. God did not bring you to this place in your life right now to abandon you. God brought you to this place right now to prove himself to you. Write this down. God, I love this. The only reason God will box you in is to show you that he's the only way out. That's what he does. God boxes us in in a good way because he wants to show us the only way out is him. And the most important lesson you may ever learn in life right now, right here,

is you wedge between mountains on each side, a sea in front of you, and an army pursuing you. And God's saying, listen, that's the best place to be. Why? Because this dead end may be the defining moment of your whole life. But here's what I need from you. I need you to trust me. I need you to trust. I need you to surrender. I need you to believe. Corrie Ten Boom said the best quote that deals with this situation. Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. I love that. Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. Friends, God knows what's best for you. So I wanna pray right now. I feel like in a group this size, there's some who would say, Pastor Robbie, I need prayer right now. I'm in a situation where my back's against the wall. A medical doctor, a doctor, a medical diagnosis, a family member, a relationship that's broken, a health scare, a job, financial strain, relational challenges. I don't know what you're dealing with. And you've just been overwhelmed with anxiety and fear.

And I'm gonna ask right now that God would replace all of that with faith in Him. And some of you are like, man, I don't have a lot of faith. You're like the father with the son who was demonic possessed. And Jesus said, do you believe I can do all things? And the man said, I believe, but I don't have a lot of faith. Can you help me with more? Help my unbelief. I just want you to take the little bit of faith you have, and we're gonna put it in as much of Jesus as you know. And we're gonna believe today, God's gonna set you free. God's gonna work in your life today. Would you bow your head for a moment if you're online, if you're watching incarcerated, if you're in a Sumner jail or in our community, one of our prisons in the community, I just want you to bow your head. And right now, we're not gonna draw this out. Just quickly, if you're saying, Pastor Robbie, this resonated with me. I need prayer right now. Would you just slip your hand up right where you are? We're not gonna call you off for time. Just say, man, my back's against the wall. Thank you, brothers. Thank you, sister. Raise it high, hands all over.

If you're in the back, raise your hand. Praise God. If you're incarcerated, raise your hand. If you're at home, praise God. Thank you, brother. Anyone else, raise your hand. Gallatin, raise your hand. Praise God. Hands all over. Anybody else? Just, I'm not gonna call you out. Just acknowledge before God. Hey, God, I need help. Thank you, sister. Thank you. Join me. You can put your hand down. Father, I pray right now that you would take note of every hand that extends. And God, you would replace. to anxiety and worry and fear with faith and trust in you. And God, we come to you with a little bit of faith we have, and we are asking you, God, to give us a new perspective. You might not change our situation right away, but you can give us a new perspective. And you could take away all the fear, all the pain, all the shame, all the unforgiveness, God, the blame game, we remove that in Jesus' name. And God, I pray you set those free who responded today. Give them wisdom and direction on where to go.

And God, we trust you know what's best for us, so we give our life to you. We surrender everything. We follow your lead. We ask it in Jesus' name. And everyone said, amen.