[0:00] Go. All right, so we'll get started here and get into the Bible in a second.
[0:18] Let me give you, I got an update from a missionary, the Andersons in Papua New Guinea. That's the family. I don't know if you know them or if they've ever been around this way at all.
[0:29] They've been there for quite a while and been in the States, been on the West Coast. I know a good bit in some of their travels. But they're the family that the Drake family are headed to to connect with.
[0:43] And so what they said was we were praying just recently even that their vehicle that they purchased would get there. He said that the vehicle arrived, that it cleared the customs and all the issues, and it's in their possession.
[0:55] And so that's a big, big deal to them. It's not an easy thing. And so they're thankful for prayers on that. They also described a praise for the victory they got in court that their last letter, they didn't have anything to report.
[1:07] This fraudulent land situation where they're trying to build and work and do some ministry things, and the guy sold part of it to somebody else, and all of it got held up. And so he said, we've got the victory in court.
[1:18] It looks like they got some approval to move forward. And then they also mentioned on behalf of the Drake family that they got approved for their work permits, which is a big deal. Now they still need to get their visas and the traveling logistics and all that prepared, as I mentioned to you a few weeks ago, that they were asking about storing a container here on this church property while they prepare it and wait to have it shipped out from L.A.
[1:45] or from the port, I guess. But one thing I'll read to you, just a short paragraph from his latest letter, some hindrances. The heading here is hindrances to missions.
[1:55] He says, please pray as travel restrictions and quarantine requirements continue to hinder well-intentioned brethren from coming to Papua New Guinea. Under the most recently published government directives, all incoming international travelers must be vaccinated, and the self-funded quarantine time has increased to 21 days.
[2:13] While our missionary forefathers hazarded their lives on dangerous multi-month long voyages by boat, train, car, and foot, the current costly and timely delays are a real obstacle in the 21st century Christian.
[2:26] So please pray for God to clearly show the way and or remove obstacles for those he intends to visit Papua New Guinea. So that's the Joey and Amy Anderson family.
[2:38] They got three boys, two boys, William and Ian, and then I don't know the name of their youngest, who's probably about three now, maybe two or three.
[2:48] All right, just remember that name because in the future I'm going to mention something about them or just some thoughts I have about them and when the, of doing something for them if we can when this container is here because this container is going to go to them as well.
[3:03] So I'd like to put something in it. We'll figure that out. So all right, get into Exodus chapter 3, please. Exodus chapter 3. Robin, I hope you don't mind me talking about you.
[3:25] All right. I do it all the time. So this is brother Robin Kirora, right? That's how you say it? Yeah. So he, July 4th, he texted me that he had gone to a cookout's barbecue with his family and he was able to plainly talk with his parents and just witness, give the gospel to him.
[3:45] And he described in so many words, I guess, his dad saying that he had been saved and things like that, but his mom never really put a finger on time where she trusted Christ and never did, I guess.
[3:57] And so then it was the following Wednesday, if I'm right, after that would have been the 7th maybe, a week or two weeks ago, I think. Or was it last Wednesday?
[4:08] I don't know. Last Wednesday? He texted me at about 11 o'clock at night saying, I hope it's not too late, but I was able to go home and witness to my mom and go through the plan of salvation with her and she prayed to receive Christ as her Savior.
[4:20] And hallelujah for that. So I thought I'd just share that with the church. They've been seeing your face around here and they need to know that they've got a little victory going on there. So, all right, Exodus chapter 3.
[4:33] And you know where we're at here with Moses, the burning bush, right at the beginning of the chapter. He's out there on the backside of the desert at the mountain of God. And right here, Moses in verse 3 said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.
[4:48] And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. And he said, draw not hither.
[4:59] Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, and now God is introducing himself. I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
[5:15] And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. Now, up to this point, Moses doesn't have a fellowship, a relationship, a knowledge of God in the sense of a personal way.
[5:27] This is his Old Testament. This is God revealing himself to certain people, certain times. And here he does to Moses. He did to Abraham. He did to Isaac. He did to Jacob. But not to Moses.
[5:38] Now, Moses gets that in a natural, for sure, he's afraid. And I would be too. To meet God, to hear God speaking to him out of a burning bush.
[5:50] Now, look at chapter 6. Moses knows God now. He's been dealing with Pharaoh and trying to get this point across that God wants us to leave and to go out and worship him.
[6:04] And in chapter 6 now, I'm going to read the first couple of verses here. The first one, Then the Lord said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.
[6:18] And God spake unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty. But by my name Jehovah was I not known to them.
[6:30] And I have also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage.
[6:43] And I have remembered my covenant. Wherefore, say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will rid you out of their bondage.
[6:53] And I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments. And now notice verse 7. And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God.
[7:04] Moses did not have the Lord as a God, a personal God. He was not revealed like that. But God's going to reveal himself to the entire nation through mighty works and mighty wonders and a redeeming them and a stretched out arm, great judgments.
[7:24] They're all going to see and understand and even see the pillar of cloud and fire. They're going to know who their God is. He said, I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God.
[7:37] Now, turn to Leviticus chapter 11, and I want to just show you this little thought or phrase about him being a God or their God pops up several times in Leviticus.
[7:51] And so just by way of cross-references, I'll run you through them. Leviticus 11, come to verse number 45. 11, 45. For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God.
[8:10] I don't know why, but I can't say that I've ever noticed that little phrase, to be your God. I'd probably just run right through that. I'm the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt. Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. And I don't think I ever caught it saying, I did that to be your God.
[8:24] Look at chapter 22, verse 33 of Leviticus. Verse 22 and 33. I'll start in 32. Neither shall ye profane my holy name, but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel.
[8:40] I am the Lord which hallow you, verse 33, that brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord. Once more in this book, 25, chapter 25, and come to verse 38.
[8:59] Leviticus 25, verse 38. I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. Now there's one more, and that's in Numbers, so just turn there quickly.
[9:12] Numbers chapter 15. I don't know that this is the only times, but these are the ones I got. All the way to the end of the chapter, Numbers 15, and I'll read verses 40 and 41, that ye may remember and do all my commandments and be holy unto your God.
[9:31] I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God. Isn't that an interesting phrase?
[9:43] And it shows up so many times here that I brought you out, every time I brought you out to be your God, to be your God, to be a God to you. Now the picture here for us is of salvation, of being brought out of Egypt, the type of the world, and God redeeming us and freeing us of the bondage of sin and giving us liberty and miraculously taking us out.
[10:06] And that's a picture for us, getting us out of the world. But when God does that to us, it's not for our good. It's not so that we can rest at night and just sleep so much better, knowing that everything's okay.
[10:21] God didn't save you so that you could just have peace. And God didn't save you just so that you could have joy. And those are byproducts of salvation and we love them.
[10:32] But that's not why God saved you. God saved you so he could be your God. Just like these people here, he had to say it several times for me even to catch it after I don't know how many times through here.
[10:43] To be your God. He didn't save you so you could have a better life or be a better person. If I smile really big, well, you know who I'm trying to be? Maybe.
[10:55] This Rick Warren, Joel Osteen mentality that people love, my people love to have it so. No. That God saved me and washed, that Christ died so that I could have a better life.
[11:07] No. He saved us so that he could get us, that we'd worship him, that he would be our God. That he would be our God.
[11:17] You think about a boss, an employer that hires an employee. Does he do it for their good? Does he go out in the street and say, who wants health insurance?
[11:29] I don't mind adding you to my premiums for the company. Who wants, does a boss think that way? Does he go out and say, who wants extra money, a Christmas bonus, or maybe to be able to make your car payments?
[11:42] I'd love to help you do that. One boss. Know what a boss does? He hires a man because that man's going to accomplish something for him. Because he's going to work and fulfill a purpose and put out so much of a product or whatever, and it's going to be more money for him.
[11:58] He's going to serve him. He's going to work for him. A boss is not as interested in the well-being of the employee as he is in the bottom line, most likely.
[12:09] God saved a man, and he does it to be your God. But sadly, like Paul said, all seek their own and not the things which are Jesus Christ. And they go off living a life, taking all the benefits of salvation, and never really realizing what it's all about.
[12:28] God said, I want to be your God. I took you out to be your God. I will be a God to you. He doesn't say, I'll be your helper. He doesn't say, I'll be your friend.
[12:40] I'll be your problem solver. I'll be the drop of a hat, anything you need, anytime, call, and I'm going to be there. He's not an insurance agent that says, like a good neighbor, God is there.
[12:55] Or you're in good hands if you're saved with God. You know how Christians get that mindset, it's me, it's all how much I've gained from this, and God just is falling all over himself to take care of me.
[13:07] And they got it backwards that I'm supposed to be falling all over myself to do something for him, to show him my gratitude and pleasure.
[13:19] It's not the function of God is to be your friend, but he seeks a relationship with man. You know, he is God, regardless of your salvation.
[13:31] You can burn in hell. He is still, like we read Sunday, high and lifted up, and his train fills the temple, regardless of where you sit on this earth or whether you're going to serve him or not, whether you're going to pray to him or not, call out for salvation or not, whatever you do, if you could be sitting in a jail cell, you could be in the grave, he's still God.
[13:51] Nothing you do is going to affect him, regardless. And so he readily, in this Bible, he declares his position all over Isaiah, for one, he declares that I am the Lord.
[14:04] He says, I am God. Beside me, there is no Savior. I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me, there is no God. So, he is God.
[14:15] That is truth, and let's just understand that. But he wants to be your God. He wants to be your God. He wants you to see him as God, and to worship him as God, and to come before him, and saying, you are my God.
[14:29] I wonder if we even understand that title, and that term, and that name, and what that means. There is a big difference between somebody saying that he is my helper, and he is my God.
[14:43] And I think he has earned the right to demand, more than just the position, but rather the relationship. And so if he is your God, then there is a few things, and I will be quick here, we are already moving pretty fast in the evening.
[14:55] I will be quick with what I have to say, but let's make sure we get this first one. Come to Deuteronomy chapter 6. I will stay back here in this books of Moses, Old Testament setting, to draw the parallels here.
[15:11] But you will see and quickly understand, we are not submitting to the Old Testament law. But if he is your God, then you will love him.
[15:23] Look at Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4 and 5. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
[15:43] If he is your God, then you will love him. You'll love him. I'm not saying you'll be thankful that you're saved. That's good, but that's not it. I'm not saying that you're going to be happy that you're saved.
[15:57] Listen, if you're burning in a building, and a fireman comes in, and just breaks through the wall, and grabs a hold of you, and picks you up, and takes you out of those flames, and rescues your life, do you love him?
[16:10] You're thankful to him, right? You're happy to be alive, and you appreciate him, but that's not the relationship, or the setting here with God. He's not calling you to be thankful for what he did for you, and to appreciate it, and be glad that you're saved.
[16:26] He's calling you to love him with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might, to love him. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 8, in verse 3, if a man loved God, what's it say?
[16:44] The same is known of him. The same is known of him. People know it, when a man loves God. Not when a man's happy, I'm saved.
[16:55] I'm not trying to squash that stuff. That's good testimony. I'm glad to be saved too. I am. But I'm called to love God, love him, with all my heart.
[17:08] Let me ask you a question, while we're here. What are you known for? What are you known for? Being a funny guy? Being a wise crack? Being a miser?
[17:20] Being stingy? Being a know-it-all? Being a flirt? What are you known for? What does the world, or the people that you work with, what do they know about you? What do they say about you?
[17:31] If a man loved God, the Bible says, the same is known of him. If you're not loving God, then there's a reason. And I'm going to say, it's probably because he's not your God.
[17:46] Didn't say you're not saved. I'm being careful you understand the terminology I'm using tonight. He's calling them to, he wants them to be their God. But he's probably not your God.
[17:58] Look at 2 Timothy chapter 3. Somebody else is, or something else is your God, if in fact, it's not known of you that you love God. 2 Timothy, look at 2 Timothy chapter 3.
[18:23] Look at chapter 3, and notice this in verse number 4. Now I'll come back to verse, I'll just start at verse 1. This, know also that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves.
[18:40] Now come down to verse 4. Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God. Boy, I think, I think we're in those last days that Paul writes about.
[18:56] If a man loved God, the same is known of him. How many people can you put on a list that you know they love God? When I mention that person and we talk and just briefly say that something happened in their life, we say, that person loves the Lord.
[19:11] I know they love God. It's known of them. If he's your God, he wants to be your God. If he is, then you'll love him the way he calls you to love him with your heart, your soul, and your might.
[19:25] People today, the spirit of this age, they love themselves. They love their own selves and they love pleasures more than God. I wonder if that's hitting you tonight.
[19:35] If that thought is just, I know that's me. I do. I love pleasure more than God. Is that true? Is that you? Is that what you're known for? Look at 2 Timothy chapter 4.
[19:46] Here's another one. 2 Timothy chapter 4. Look at verse number 10. Paul writes about someone that he was in the ministry with at a time.
[19:57] He said, Verdemus hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. Isn't that something? A man walks away from the ministry and the gospel of Jesus Christ and even walking with the apostle Paul.
[20:13] Man, what a ministry that must have been. An opportunity to serve Christ, but to do it alongside the apostle Paul. And you know what got him? This present world.
[20:23] He fell in love with the world. It had too much of a drawl and a lure to his flesh that he couldn't stay by the stuff and serve Jesus Christ and be there with Paul.
[20:35] He forsook Paul. Some city just says, you know what? I'm not going. You go ahead, Paul. I'm not going anymore. I'm going to stay here. There's a crowd here that I want to hang out with.
[20:45] I want to get to know a little better. I want to do what they're doing. I want to be part of that. And Paul had to go. The gospel bids him to go. Demas stayed behind because he fell in love with something else and he didn't love God with all his heart.
[21:01] Look at 1 John chapter 2. Keep moving to the back. 1 John chapter number 2. And verse number 15.
[21:14] Boy, if John could have met Demas along that road, he would have said this to him. Love not the world.
[21:27] You have an opportunity to devote your life to Jesus Christ and to devote your love to him and to fall in love with him. Don't love the world.
[21:37] Neither the things that are in the world. And here's what he says. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. That means his love for God where he's supposed to love the Lord thy God.
[21:50] It's not in him. It's gone. Where'd it go? Well, it got placed on something else, on the world. Some people get a little distorted with this verse here and think, does that mean they're not saved if they love the world?
[22:03] The love of the Father is like God's not? No, it's their love for the Father. Look at chapter 4 just to make sure you understand this. It's clearer. 1 John chapter 4 all the way at the end here and look at verse number 20.
[22:17] If a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also.
[22:32] So we're talking about man's love for God, saying I love God or if you love God, love your brother, right? So whosoever then, chapter 5, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him.
[22:46] By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments for this is the love of God. There it is. That we keep his commandments. It's the love for the Father that John mentioned.
[23:00] The love of the Father is not in him. It's his love for God. From that context, it's very plain. The spirit of this age says I love myself.
[23:12] I love pleasures. I love the world. I love the things of the world. There's a lot of things in the world that calls for your affections. But if he's your God, he called you out of that mess of sin, of hell in your future.
[23:27] Your destiny was headed that way. He pulled you out of that and he says love me. Love me. John says that we're not to love in word but in deed and in truth.
[23:41] There should be some feet to our love, some action. It should be displayed. It should be known of us. The world should see it for sure. The Bible says if we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.
[23:56] To them that love God. Jesus Christ said if a man love me, he'll keep my commandments. I wonder this evening, is it known of you? What are you known for?
[24:07] Do you love God? He wants to be your God but for that to be true, you're going to have to love him. You're going to have to love him. Not just I love him. I love him because he saved me.
[24:19] It's got to be a real thing. Look, if you tell somebody you love them, they know by your actions whether it's true. They know by your attitude toward them, by your speech toward them, by your time you spend with them, by how you get put out of your way to do something for them or by the energy you exert to them.
[24:44] They know if you love them and the same is true with your father. He knows if you love him and you know how much you love him if you're willing to go out of your way to serve him or to put something in your life aside because he is not pleased with it.
[24:59] I'd rather him be pleased and so God, I love you. I'll forsake this. I'll let you purge me of that because I love you. Clean me up, God.
[25:11] Make me more like you. I love you. You saved me. I don't deserve you. I wonder if you've told him lately that you love him. I loved it.
[25:23] It's been a while since I've really been in a spot to do it. I guess I could do it any day. I wanted to. But I would give a testimony once in a while in church and just it was all by heart. I'd just stand up and say, I just want to say that I love the Lord Jesus Christ.
[25:37] He's by far the best thing that's ever happened to me in my life. I don't want anybody else. I'm glad I'm his. I just want to say that. Just want to get it out to let the church know that I love him.
[25:49] He's been good to me. Love him. If he's your God, you'll love him. Let's move on. Go back to Deuteronomy. Now I'm really going to run. Deuteronomy again, chapter 30. Deuteronomy 30.
[26:08] And if he's your God, then you'll obey him. Amen. You'll obey him. I don't want to read the whole passage here.
[26:19] I'll read fast if I can. Verse number 5. Let's look from 5 to 10. Deuteronomy 30, verse 5. And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it.
[26:30] And he will do thee good and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul that thou mayest live.
[26:40] And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies and upon them that hate thee which persecute thee. And thou shalt, notice, return and obey the voice of the Lord and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.
[26:53] And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every good work. And down in verse 10, he says, Thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God and keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law.
[27:05] If thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul. Come to verse number 20. He says, That thou mayest love the Lord thy God. We've covered that. And then secondly, And that thou mayest obey his voice.
[27:20] Obey his voice. What's that? He even says it in verse 10. The things written in the book. The words. His voice. The words of God. If you love God, well, if he's your God, I should say you'll love him.
[27:36] And if he's your God, the way he wants to be your God, then you'll obey him. You'll obey him. Look back at, we're going back to Exodus again and look at chapter 5 as a quick example and then we're going to hit Exodus 20.
[27:51] So maybe catch both places on your way. Exodus 20 and then we're going to be at chapter 5 first. And verse 1. If he's your God, then you ought to obey him.
[28:02] If you can't obey him, don't call him God. Don't say he's your God because that just doesn't work. If he's your God, you will obey. There's a servant who can't say that.
[28:15] Yeah, he's my master, I just don't listen to him. That doesn't work. He's not your master then. You're your own master. Don't say you love God if you won't obey him. Don't say he's your God if you won't obey him.
[28:27] Look at Exodus chapter 5. This man here, Pharaoh, he didn't have any trouble saying what he thought and he knew what he was. Look at verse 1. Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.
[28:41] And Pharaoh said, What are you talking about? Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord. Neither do I let.
[28:52] Get out of here. What are you talking about? You're talking a foreign language to me because he's not my God. I don't serve him. I don't obey him. I don't care what he wants. I do what I want, Pharaoh said.
[29:05] Well, I wonder if there's some Pharaohs inside your hearts sitting here tonight. You think you know the Lord. You say he's your God, but you don't obey him.
[29:16] You don't obey his words. Look at Exodus chapter 20. This is the Ten Commandments. I'm not going to read these. I'm not going to put them on you. But notice how God speaks in verse 1.
[29:28] God spake all these words saying, number 2, I am the Lord thy God, which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. There it is again.
[29:39] Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Why? Because I'm your God and I have to be God.
[29:50] You can't put anything before me. I get first place. If I'm God, if I'm your God, that's the only way. He won't accept a backseat to anyone.
[30:03] Not if he's God and he deserves to be God. It's a choice then if you'll obey him. But it's a choice if he'll be your God.
[30:14] He says, I am God. But I'm not your God if you won't obey me. If you want me to be your God as I want to be, he'll say, I have some standards for you that you need to live by.
[30:29] And just like these Old Testament standards, he put a lot on his people and he had good reason for it. Even today, he calls his followers to a standard and to live sanctified and to live separate unto him and to live holy and to live clean and peculiar to this world but a sweet-smelling savor to him.
[30:52] And John says, back there where we were just reading, he says, his commandments are not grievous. They're not grievous. Not if you love him. You'll obey him. You'll obey his words.
[31:05] We can also, if he's God, we'll worship him. We'll give our attention toward him and what his will is for us. We'll worship him. We'll also fear him, fully realizing what he's capable of, fully realizing his place, his position, what he can do and how insignificant and helpless we are and undeserving.
[31:30] We'll serve him come back to Deuteronomy 11 and we'll finish with one more thought. We'll serve him gladly and humbly.
[31:45] Deuteronomy 11 and it was also in chapter 30.
[31:56] I'll read that after this. Deuteronomy 11 and notice verse 22. For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you to do them, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and then notice one more, and to cleave unto him, then will the Lord drive out these nations.
[32:18] He says those same three things back in Deuteronomy 30. We read verse 20 and I stopped short. But in verse 20, that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, that thou mayest obey his voice, that thou mayest cleave unto him, for he is thy life.
[32:32] If he's your God, you'll cleave unto him. You'll cleave to him and you'll do it because there'll be times where you need him. Well, that's just not why he's there, but it sure is one, a great thing to have, a God to cleave to.
[32:48] There's going to be tough times. You'll, some unexpected things, some trials or pains and you can lean on your family. You can come in here and lean on one another, but there's nothing like cleaving to God.
[33:01] Now, if he's your God, you'll go to him first. You'll go straight to him, not to Facebook. You'll go straight to God to lean on him and to cleave to him.
[33:13] You won't quit when it gets tough. You'll cleave to him to draw strength and say, I'm not quitting on you. You're my God. I'm not going anywhere.
[33:24] Like Peter said, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. We're staying right here. Times will get tough. You won't complain. You'll call on him.
[33:35] You'll run to him for shelter if he's your God and you'll find in him everything you need. In Psalm 61, verse 2, the Bible says, from the end of the earth will I cry unto thee.
[33:46] When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. that's God. That's cleaving to God.
[33:57] As God, he identifies himself as a shelter, as a tower, as a shield, offering protection, offering provision. You'd be crazy not to cleave to him.
[34:11] We read tonight in this Bible that he brought you out to be your God. He brought you out to be your God. My question then, is he your God?
[34:23] Young person, is he your God? Do you know him? I don't mean are you saved? Do you profess salvation? Is he your God? There's a big difference.
[34:35] There will always be a big difference. There's people who grew up in church all their lives, but he's not their God because they are their God. They are lovers of their own selves or they're lovers of pleasure.
[34:47] They keep their one foot in the world over here and then one foot in church and they've just straddled that fence most of their lives. Why? Well, I can tell you one thing is true. It's not, he's not their God.
[34:59] They won't get in with two feet. They won't worship and serve him. Is he your God? Does he have first place in your heart? Would anyone else believe that that was true about you?
[35:14] Would anybody say, oh yeah, he serves God. He serves a God. He cleaves to God. He worships God. He obeys him. He loves him.
[35:27] I thought tonight, it struck me reading through numbers and went back to find it elsewhere and then was really taken back to see it that many times that little phrase that God said, I called you out of there so I could be your God and if that's going to be the case and he still wants that with you, then there could be no other gods before him.
[35:47] He'll never accept that but there's too many things and I can't put my finger on all of them for everybody in here. I could probably spit out some things that I would feel guilty of myself maybe or some things I might find conviction about but I couldn't touch everything to cover this room or believers in this age but I can tell you this, if he's your God, you're going to love him.
[36:12] If you don't love him, he's not your God. If you love yourself, if you love your pleasures, that's your God but he deserves to be your God. He wants to be your God and young people about to go to camp and teens this week and in the next week, Samoria, you're going to get challenged and the Lord might just come to you and speak to your heart and say, I want to be your God for life.
[36:39] I want you and me to have a relationship together where I lead you and you follow me and you obey me and by the way, I've got something for you.
[36:49] You won't regret it. And it's my prayer that you kids would get a hold of this that even if not right now, in the near future, in this summer, that the Lord will open your heart to him, that you'll open your heart to him, you'll fall in love with him and decide, I'm going to live my life for God.
[37:10] He's going to be my God. I'm not going to love this world. I'm not going to forsake him for this world. There's plenty that have already done it. There should be more people in these pews tonight, but they love something else right now.
[37:25] Is he your God? Let's bow our heads together. We'll be dismissed a little longer than normal on a Wednesday night, but I had to get it out. Father, thank you for tonight.
[37:36] Thank you for that book. And Lord, Lord, the thoughts, the things I try to say from the word of God, I pray that it was a view and that it would find a place.
[37:47] Lord, I pray that you deal with the oldest to the youngest about their relationship with you, their fellowship with you, where it's lacking, where they've put pleasure in front of you, where they've even leaned and looked to the world and ignored your voice and your spirit within them.
[38:10] God, please convict us of our sin. please give each one courage to deal with it, to submit to you, to bow before you, and to get things right with you.
[38:25] Lord, I pray nobody in here would stand before you one day with regret, saying, I did it for myself. I messed up. I wish I could go back and fix it.
[38:37] God, make it real to us now so that we'll fix it. Lord, I pray again that you'll call some of these young people, that you'll deal with their hearts in your time and in your own manner and by your spirit, that you'd speak to them from the inside, and that you'll draw them to you and draw them to your service and seek some commitments from them.
[39:02] And I pray it'd be something that they'd never forget, that they'd openly receive. Lord, I love you. The Bible says that we love him because he first loved us and how true that is.
[39:16] We weren't looking for you when you came and saved us and washed us from our filthiness. Lord, some of us still aren't looking for you. We're looking for pleasures.
[39:27] We're enthralled with the world. We think it's something so much fun. God, burden our hearts for reality and for spiritual things. Help us to get a taste for it.
[39:38] Help us to be diligent in praying and seeking your face. Lord, I pray you'd draw us to a deeper love of you and a deeper fellowship with you and greater obedience to your words.
[39:49] I pray these things in Jesus' wonderful and holy name. Amen. Amen.