The Reality of the Ministry

[0:00] All right, we'll get into another one. Let's go to Exodus chapter 11 this morning, please. Find the book of Exodus, chapter 11. And we finished chapter 10 last Sunday, studying the ninth plague, the plague of darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.

[0:21] And we took a deeper look at the judgment of darkness as it appears from Genesis 1 all the way to Revelation 22. And it was a lot of study and a lot of information, a lot of stuff we covered last week.

[0:34] What we did was categorize darkness into five categories. Number one was the global darkness from the very beginning in the judgment that was in Genesis 1 verse 2, where darkness upon a face of the deep.

[0:47] And that's a whole other study there to go into. There was global or local darkness rather in Exodus 10 and other places.

[0:57] There's individual darkness. Where God judged some people for Elimas, the sorcerer. A mist and a darkness came upon him and he couldn't see. He was blinded. There was spiritual darkness, where somebody is blinded to the gospel of Jesus Christ, blinded to their need for a savior and thinking that they're a good person or that they can live the way they want to live and it'll all be sorted out.

[1:23] And they're blind to seeing that Jesus Christ died on a cross for their sins. And then there's the last category, eternal darkness, where the Bible calls it the blackness of darkness forever, even outer darkness.

[1:37] And that's a place of eternal torment where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth and somebody who's spiritually darkened in this life and blind to Christ will end up in outer darkness and they'll never escape the judgment of God.

[1:52] And so that was a long study, a big detailed study that we went over and I wanted to get it all in one week and not have it go two weeks. But I know it was a lot last week to take in. And as one lady said afterwards, she said, I really enjoyed that, but some of it was definitely over my head.

[2:07] And I said, I understand. I'm sorry. It's just, it was a lot. But if you got it all, then praise the Lord, we could probably spend a couple of weeks on that study. But this morning, we're going to pick up in chapter 11 now where the previous chapter ended where Pharaoh was trying to negotiate with Moses and saying, okay, I'll let you go.

[2:24] I'll let you take your children and everybody, but leave your flocks and your herds. And he says, no, they have to go with us. We need to, we don't know what the Lord wants us to sacrifice and that's what we're doing.

[2:35] And so they have to go. And so he's trying to negotiate, but he doesn't have any real bargaining chip on his side anymore because he's just getting totally obliterated by these judgments one after another from the Lord.

[2:47] And so, so Pharaoh is just, he's hot, he's mad. And he tells him at the end, I'll read verse 28 of chapter 10. He said unto him, get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more.

[2:59] For in that day that thou shalt, that thou seest my face, thou shalt die. And that's how it ended. Moses said, thou hast well spoken. He's like, fine with me. I'm out of here.

[3:10] I won't come back anymore. Just like you said. And so Moses departs. And then the Lord speaks to him where we pick it up here in chapter 11. So let's read these 10 verses together. Please follow along.

[3:20] And the Lord said unto Moses, yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt afterwards? He'll let you go hence. When he shall let you go out, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether.

[3:32] Speak now in the ears of the people and let every man borrow of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor jewels of silver and jewels of gold. And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people.

[3:48] And Moses said, thus saith the Lord, about midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt. Now, you need to understand from verse 4 on, he's in Pharaoh's presence once again.

[4:00] Now, we know this because how it ends. So just understand as we're reading, he is back in front of Pharaoh, even though he said, don't come back. Verse 4 says, thus saith the Lord, about midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt.

[4:12] And all the firstborn of the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of beasts.

[4:23] And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it anymore. But against the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast, that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.

[4:39] And all these thy servants shall come down to me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all thy people, and all the people that follow thee, and after that I will go out.

[4:50] And he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger. And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, when the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

[5:09] Lord, as we've read this ten verses, I pray now that you'll help to make sense of this, help us to get something from this passage as we study and continue to study this scene unfolding.

[5:21] Lord, I pray that it would be applicable to us today in the lives that we live today, in the place that we live today. We're not in Egypt. We're not Moses. We're not experiencing these plagues.

[5:32] And we're not Pharaoh and the Egyptians. But Lord, you can take these words of life and these true, holy, pure words and speak truth into our hearts.

[5:43] And so please do that and help us this morning with this and help us to have attention and please free us from all distractions. We pray this in Jesus' wonderful name. And we pray for his sake.

[5:53] Amen. Amen. So this is right before the final plague. That's going to take place in the next chapter, the Passover lamb, the death of the firstborn.

[6:05] But as we're right on the edge of that, I want to cycle back to the man that is the primary character in the book of Exodus. That's Moses.

[6:18] We've been studying this book since December. And early on, we started in chapter 2 with this baby boy. And that baby boy that God had his hand on miraculously and had him, we studied the making of a man and saw that for 40 years he lived in Egypt and God was using that time to insert very specific things into that man because he was making him into the one that he would use as a leader to down the road lead his people out.

[6:48] But then we saw there's phases to that. We saw that this man, Moses, went to Midian for 40 years and in Midian, God inserted very specific things into him there so that after phase 1 and phase 2 he was now ready to be called.

[7:02] And then we saw the calling of the man, how God called him and spoke to him and gave him direction. And we also noticed the faults of the man, how Moses was resistant and he was afraid to go forward and obey God.

[7:14] He was scared and he gave excuse after excuse. And so after these things we've really kind of gotten our attention's been on Pharaoh and on the nine plagues but it was Moses that we were introduced to a while back and I want to cycle back and look at Moses again this morning because Moses did obey what God told him to do.

[7:35] He did leave Midian. He did come back to Egypt and he said, you know what, they're not going to listen to me, the elders of Israel but they did, they listened to him. And so Moses submitted to God and so I'd like to focus again on Moses and explore how this has been going for him because what we read at the end of verse 8 it says, he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger.

[8:02] Why is he so angry? And what is, how is it actually going for you Moses because we've studied this leading up to this and then kind of just kind of lost focus on the man as we're looking at Pharaoh and the plagues and all the devastation.

[8:17] And today, like I said, I want to come back to Moses. I want to see how it's been going as he's followed God's call and it hasn't been all that exciting for him.

[8:27] It started out with a promise and it started out with anticipation and with some rejoicing. It started out with this concept of deliverance but it's turning out to be some real headaches and it's turning out that he's in a great anger right now.

[8:46] This is not the peace and the wonder and the joy of the Lord. And so let's learn something because really if we know the story going forward there's more headaches coming for you Moses.

[8:58] Even when you get out you're going to have a lot more problems along the way. So I want to look today at Moses and I want to title this message The Reality of the Ministry. The Reality of the Ministry or to make it prior to your life the reality of just obeying Christ or of living the Christian life and of serving God.

[9:18] It may not be that you're in full-time ministry as a preacher or a missionary or some other vocation but just the reality of what it is to live for Jesus Christ.

[9:29] And I want to say three things and try to draw our attention into Moses' life again and see if you can understand and learn some things. The first thing is this the experience doesn't match the expectation.

[9:44] This is a reality of the ministry is that the experience does not match the expectation. Back in Midian now if you haven't been here and you don't know what I'm talking about I'll try to relay as much as I can without all of it but back in Midian he was told to go to Egypt and speak to the elders of Israel and tell them that I've heard the cry and the oppression is going to stop and I'm going to come and show up and deliver you and you're going to be the one and they're going to follow you Moses.

[10:15] And by the way you go tell Pharaoh to let my son go and I want Israel to sacrifice to me in the wilderness. And God also told him he said a few times I'm going to smite Egypt with my wonders and I'm going to my arm's going to be upon them with great judgments.

[10:33] And so Moses knew this going in but it doesn't appear that he had any real indication of how this would unfold. One after the other after the other then six then seven then eight then he doesn't really as far as I tell he doesn't know how this is going to go down.

[10:49] And the first time that he comes to Pharaoh it turned out to be nothing short of a disaster for him. Look back at chapter 5 Exodus chapter 5 the very first time he goes in before Pharaoh and says the Lord says let my people go that they may serve me the outcome of that wasn't good at all.

[11:12] Pharaoh's response is you're idle you got too much time on your hands and so he says then I'm going to give you more work to do and he does that in this passage he says I'll give you no more straw and you're going to have to go get your own straw and the result of this is that the people of God they said we are in an evil case and verse 20 of chapter 5 they met Moses and Aaron the people of God that are now getting beaten in verse 16 and they have more work put upon them this is not going at all the way they expected when they met Moses and Aaron who stood in the way as they came forth from Pharaoh they said unto them the Lord look upon you and judge because ye have made our savor to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh and the eyes of his servants to put a sword in their hand to slay us there's no deliverance going on it's more work more beatings it's gotten worse since you showed up Moses and so Moses says

[12:13] Lord verse 22 Moses returned to the Lord and said Lord wherefore hast thou hast thou so evil entreated this people why is it thou hast sent me what am I even doing here I was expecting to deliver these people and your hand to be big and large and mighty and that's not happening Pharaoh's hand is heavier and stronger and more oppressive and the people are turning against me in verse 23 for since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name he hath done evil to this people neither hast thou delivered thy people at all the experience didn't match the expectation at all and then to go forward from there there's multiple dealings and sessions and conversations with a lying and manipulating and arrogant king that is stubborn and will not give an inch Moses can't reason with him the plagues continued and continued and got harder and harder and he didn't give an inch he was unreasonable he even negotiated with him deceitfully and this is not how Moses thought it would go but could we back up from where Moses stands and could we if you want to call it view it from the helicopter view from above from a view from above from God's point of view is that the Lord is guiding and maneuvering and just taking Pharaoh and Egypt apart piece by piece and just dropping them lower and lower and lower and humbling them meanwhile he's got in his mind what he's going to do with his people how he's going to release and deliver them and they're they don't know it but they're on the very precipice of some marvelous act that they are going to in the future be singing songs about for generations to generations they don't even know that that's right around the corner and from God's point of view there's nothing too big to worry about here it's

[14:26] I've got it under control I'm doing this the way I wanted to do this but if we could come back down to the ground and to walk a mile in Moses' sandals things look a little bit different and Moses is fed up and he's frustrated and he's in a great anger as he leaves the presence of Pharaoh the experience is not matching the expectation at all and it's important to realize this that serving the Lord it comes at a cost and there's blessing in serving God and being obedient to him there's blessing but there's also sacrifice it's not all just roses and cotton candy and wonderful rainbows and sunsets and God never intended it to be that way in this life the rest and the reward that follows after but the ministry and the Christian life it's likened to taking up a cross and following that's what it's likened to it's likened to a fight to a boxer or to a soldier that's got a fight on his hand fighting for his life there's a concept that can be can be had and misrepresented that if I live in the world and I live in sin bad things happen to me and that's true there is you know the wages of sin and there is the fruit or the reaping of what you sow and the concept is but if I live for Jesus and do what's right then good things happen to me and that's not always true there is truth good things happen but it doesn't mean that there isn't sorrow and pain and suffering the song we sang being bound for the promised land it says when we get to that land pain and sorrow are felt and feared no more but on this side if our expectation is all wonderful things and easy the easy road well that experience is not going to be realized and so that's something that's a reality of the ministry or even living the Christian life is that the experience does not match the expectations there's a truth that we need to remember and that that God likened that life to a fight or to bearing a cross and something we can learn from Moses in this day in this story is that when we follow God's leading and we follow

[17:02] God's direction we might have an idea of how it's going to go we might have an expectation in our mind but be aware that things don't fall into place like you may have in your mind or like you may imagine people don't get saved just because you witnessed to them or because you got saved and you have understood the gospel of Jesus now you think everybody in your family is going to just be excited to embrace it and it doesn't happen and some of them just straight up reject it and say get away from me and quit talking to me about this Jesus stuff you get excited you get expectations and the experience doesn't match it sometimes the flesh and the sins and the lusts well they don't go away either and you start walking with God and feeling like this is great this is the greatest thing you find out there you are right back in sin and it doesn't change because the experience isn't always easy it's a battle and it's a fight when I

[18:03] I remember as a young man when I went away to Bible college I went away to school and I was just newly married my wife and I were probably married for two months and we packed up all of our belongings in a Penske truck and had a dolly on the back with a vehicle and we were pulling it and everything we hadn't owned we were gone we were heading to Florida driving a thousand or so miles to Pensacola Florida and I remember that there was such a joy in my heart that I was finally getting on the road to the will of God this is how I felt because I had wasted years of my life and I had lived in the world and in sin and God by His grace got me out of that mess and I was now married and I was now serving Jesus I was finally embarking on what I was supposed to be doing in this life it felt so relieving I was just thrilled and excited to be going to school and I had in my mind that for the next three years

[19:06] I will be exactly in the perfect will of God for my life I got into school got into the classes and immediately I just felt such peace and sitting with my Bible and the notebook and just sitting there absorbing the teaching and the truth and being surrounded with other young men and women that were just serving God and giving their heart to the Lord and surrendered to His will and around a church where the preaching was hard and straight and good and it was just like it was the greatest environment for me to be in I was so thrilled and I remember feeling that feeling like what a relief to be out of the world what a joy to be in the will of God and to know that for three years no matter what I am in God's will and whatever happens after that we'll see but for now I've got three years ahead of me of just perfect peace in God's perfect will and what I didn't understand was as newlyweds leaving everybody and everything we've ever known to a strange place with strangers that and a different schedule that it was going to put some major strain on our new marriage

[20:21] I had no idea that this would happen I didn't even understand it but all of a sudden Carla was just stressed out and I was working all day and at times driving two hours in the morning to Panama City working all day two hours back getting out of the truck while it was moving just to get to the car to get to the house to get to school and being there for four hours till 10 o'clock and doing it again the next day like it just there was she was alone she was lonely she was miserable at times and bored missed her family and didn't have any relationships yet built or connections and it put a strain on us I was going for God and it was hurting her and it began to hurt me and I didn't see that coming but before long I mean the Lord worked it out and he was very merciful to us and gracious and just praise the Lord but at the time there was some moments of just this is tough never expected this and then I remember hearing stories about families that had break up because they moved and went to Bible school and then it just hit the fan and the wife left or the husband tried to stick it out and he couldn't do it

[21:47] I remember that we started our first year of classes with about 80 to I think 80, 85 students a lot of them were young men sold out for God ready to serve the Lord or whatever he called them to and by the time three years went by two thirds of those people were long gone about 25 to 30 graduated having finished three full years and it made me look back and say wow they came with expectations they came thinking this is going to be great and then it got hard and then there was a fight on their hands and the experience didn't match the expectation and they never finished and they quit it's a reality of the ministry it's a reality of serving Jesus Christ is that if you have expectations of well I'm going to do what God says so it's all wonderful you're wrong you're going to face some battles and you're going to face some things you never anticipated you're going to have people turn against you and people give you problems and you're going to have to have a resolve that says well I'm going to obey Jesus Christ and I'm going to put him first the reality of the ministry is though that as I said experience doesn't match expectation there's another thing the reality of the ministry is that pressure accompanies the position pressure accompanies this position or even just in serving God there's going to be a pressure that comes with that in living the Christian life and being obedient daily to Jesus Christ it's not just hallelujah and walking on what's that song glory avenue and hallelujah square it's not always that way look in this passage we closed in chapter 10 where Pharaoh said get thee from me take heed to thyself see my face no more for in that day in that day that thou seest my face thou shalt die and Moses agreed

[23:49] I'll see thy face again no more and so the last time they met that was how it ended Pharaoh threatened his life and in just a few days probably the Lord says to Moses hey it's time for you to go back to Pharaoh I've got one more thing that you're going to say to him and if I know Moses based on the way he talked earlier to God I think he had something to say God you heard the man how about you just take care of this one now because I've been going back and forth to him an awful lot of times and this is that was the last time he told me I agreed so I don't need to go back there anymore I think Moses had it in his mind those words that Pharaoh said to him I know he did when a man threatens to take off your head you tend to kind of remember that you kind of keep your eye on that man's whereabouts or make sure that you're not in the same room as he is if that's the case

[24:52] Pharaoh is volatile he is at the lowest point he's ever been and you need to remember this man the character of this man if we go back into chapter 2 and chapter 1 the character of this man is that I'm going to murder all the baby boys of the Hebrews just to keep them you know keep them down from getting too big that's the kind of guy he is I'll just kill all their kids just no regard just completely heartless a ruthless dictator he's the kind of guy that adds that the lives of these Jews were in bitter hard bondage and then when he when he doesn't like what someone says to him he makes it even harder than that and adds more work to them beats them even harder and more this is the Pharaoh that said Moses I'm taking your head off if you come in my presence again I don't think I think he meant it and I think Moses feared it and understood that and so what's happening here

[25:56] God says Moses I need you to go back that's an uncomfortable situation just to put it mildly that God is putting Moses in this is not the king that knew Joseph and granted them the land of Goshen this is a stubborn heartless man who's hardened by his pride and God sends him back I don't picture Moses walking in before Pharaoh in anger but he sure did leave in a great anger I think he walked in there with his eyes open like peeking around the corner and you know does he know I'm here can I come in now because I think he was timid one time when I was in school you know how kids are in school I was in in school in like junior high age a little bit maybe maybe a freshman some of the people in my class it was really a girl that had an issue she spread some lies about me to some of the upperclassmen and the upperclassmen

[27:02] I knew I was innocent but they didn't know and they didn't care and so the word was that the next morning when they see me they're going to meet me in the hallway and so I had this I mean everybody knew it the word spread you know how high school can be well that that happened to me and I was going to get beat up the next morning according to the the rumor and so a lot of the school knew about this and I came into school that next morning just kind of alert and I was concerned I was cautious I wasn't like hiding in the corner in the bathroom but I was not hanging out in the hall making a ruckus either and so I was just kind of on the lookout for these guys that said they were going to do something to me and the truth is it blew over pretty quickly because it really was it was nothing it was it was a lie the only thing that happened was in between the bells I got a pretty stiff elbow walking by the one guy and that was the end of it and it was over but you know when that threat was there it was a reality of a threat to me I was kind of nervous and I was cautious that they threatened to beat me up and I can imagine that when

[28:11] Pharaoh threatened to kill Moses that he meant it that Moses had one eye on him or he understood that I need to be very aware of this person's whereabouts and so here's what I'm drawing out here is that when God called Moses when God called him he told him you're going to play the role of a deliverer and you're going to be a miracle worker and you're going to do all these signs in front of them it's going to be amazing and Moses had that as his expectation and he was going to be the leader and lead them out but the reality is more than once he found himself dealing with other aspects with the Jews mad at him with his life being threatened and with no obvious deliverance going on at all and there's a truth about the ministry and about serving Jesus Christ the reality is that God will lead you in the places that just aren't comfortable and there's going to be pressure there's going to be this uncomfortable feeling or nerves if you haven't experienced it then you're probably not doing anything at all for Jesus

[29:21] Christ but there's times I'll give you this as a quick example when we were at the funeral the other day the testimony was that Mrs. Poe would hand out gospel tracts to everybody and her grandson that she was praying for this pretty tall guy said that that grandma used to go up to the biggest baddest person and hand him a gospel tract and put and tell him you need Jesus Christ you need to read this and they would tell her to get lost or sometimes they'd tell her to get out of here and and he as a big guy would he'd say I was nervous I was afraid to you know I wouldn't approach him but she'd go right up to him and it's you know in serving Jesus Christ he will have you do something that's outside of your comfort zone he will tell you go give that person a track or go out there and and go through the neighborhoods and and hang some door hangers and and yeah maybe somebody will say what are you doing on my property and you can say tell them what you're doing on their property but inside there's this nervous pressure that I can't do that sometimes it's uncomfortable sometimes pulling out your Bible at lunch break in front of your co-workers and peers makes you uncomfortable sometimes bowing your head and praying in public makes you uncomfortable for some reason there's a pressure that comes with that there's a nervousness with with being a child of God in public it's sometimes turning the conversation to Jesus

[30:45] Christ to in your family or amongst friends and trying to get a witness in get a plug-in for the eternity in heaven and hell sometimes that makes you uncomfortable because telling others about Jesus Christ isn't easy for you but who said it was going to be easy where did that come from that it's just going to be easy for me now that I'm on my way to heaven and and I'm going to obey God you're not going to find that in the book we're people of the book read the book God didn't tell you it's going to be easy but he said my grace is sufficient for thee he said I'll comfort you I'll give you the comforter he said I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee lo I'm with you always even under the end of the world but I never promised it's going to be easy and the truth is it's a battle and that every choice you make is a small part of a war that's waging a whether who or who is it that you're going to serve and the pressure the pressure comes it comes with the position comes with the ministry because there's opposition to the work of God and there'll be pressure to keep quiet there'll be pressure to give up there'll be pressure to please people instead of Jesus

[32:13] Christ it comes with the ministry it's a reality of the ministry Moses just know that it's a reality don't set your expectations on easy roads because the reality is there's going to be pressure that comes with the position there's one more thing I want to say about the reality of the ministry or of a life that's lived for Jesus Christ and that is people will provoke you Moses left Pharaoh in a great anger in verse 8 he didn't enter early angry he left angry he was provoked Moses in this story has been been gaining power in the situation and even all the people as we read in the passage he was very great in the land of Egypt in the sight of Pharaoh's servants he even told Pharaoh that your servants are going to bow to me wonder how that made the king feel that Moses is talking that talk in front of him your people are going to bow to me and he gets provoked now he has the upper hand he announces the final plague and it's almost over but dealing with this devil day in and day out and trip there and back and there and back has put

[33:33] Moses over the edge he didn't I don't believe he ever anticipated the confrontations that he'd be in with this hardened lunatic of Pharaoh I don't think we've ever really considered this but let's let's consider we've studied the material thus far we've seen that the hand of the Lord is doing something here we've seen that that God sends Moses to Pharaoh and says you tell him let my people go that they may serve me and if you don't then this is what I'm going to do and the Lord hardens Pharaoh's heart because the Lord is is going to like I said earlier just just piece by piece take him apart but in the meantime Moses you go before Pharaoh and you tell him let my people go or I'm going to do this and so Moses goes and says this is what's going on let him go and he's not going to do it so Moses goes back and then Pharaoh says Moses come here come here and Moses comes back to Pharaoh would you pray to God and treat the Lord for me and Moses goes to God God would you and he prays to God and but in this whole thing Moses just like he's a pawn you go now you go back to him now you go to him and humanly speaking he's doing nothing he's telling him let him go they're not going to let it go because you've hardened his heart so why am I even doing this and from a human standpoint he's just being sent back and forth pointlessly it's like all of his efforts all of his personal efforts to put yourself in his shoes it's just a formality God's got this game going with Pharaoh and he's going to destroy him and I have to just go deal with this idiot and talk to him and then pray for him and then listen to him and then and tell him the way it is and and speak for the Lord to him and and we don't ever consider the position that Moses was put in having to deal with this impossible guy and that reminds me of something in regards to the ministry it reminds me of a preacher that delivers a message from

[35:34] God and it just falls on a hardened heart on deaf ears that refuses to give in refuses to listen and then he goes back to God and gets another message he comes back and delivers another message to hardened hearts I just don't want to hear don't want to listen don't want to give in and obey and goes back to God and gets another message he comes back and preaches another message from God and in the meantime when something goes wrong and and the hard heart has something bad happen in their life there's lice there's there's there's frogs there's there's nuisances there's things dying oh come here come here quick come here pray for me pray for me isn't how what Pharaoh did hard heart but I'm not happy so pray pray pray for me me me and so then Moses prays and it gets better praise the Lord he goes back to go go give him another message preaches another message and it falls on deaf ears no response week after week after week of telling what God says telling what God wants and seeing nothing happen the people will provoke you and so

[36:57] God has to give patience and God has to give grace to his minister to keep delivering the word of God and patiently pray and wait and trust in the Lord but Moses it seems like enough is enough he's provoked and he's hot and he's in a great anger because that's a reality of the ministry is that people will provoke you there's no joke that circulated among pastors for a long time and the joke is this that the worst part about the ministry is the people and it's it's meant to be in jest but there's there's a subtle truth to it at the same time because you minister and you give of your heart and your time and you're doing it for the Lord but you want to see that God is glorified with your labor and your effort and you want to see them get on fire and turn to the Lord and repent and and walk with God and when you don't see it it's frustrating it can be very frustrating to see people respond the wrong way and often people can frustrate and can let you down and people can make promises and not follow through with the promises and they don't care and so you learn not to put your trust in man and you learn to trust the Lord and and people even in churches people will lie about you or people will exaggerate a story or people will they'll relay a situation and just leave out a few parts that are you know not relevant in their mind just to kind of steer it one way because people can be provoking and what Moses is going to learn is he's going to learn more about people that he's sent to and this time it's Pharaoh and this time he's dealing with this this wicked hard king that's just wearing him out but pretty soon it's going to be the whole people that in just a short while are going to turn on him and say why did you bring us out here and so God is conditioning

[39:02] Moses even in this moment in the provocation that he's experiencing with Pharaoh it's going to come to pass among these very people that you lead out and deliver and as you know the story he loses it again down the road because the people provoke it's a reality of the ministry you'd like to imagine that everybody loves the Lord and everybody's going to do right and everybody's going to treat each other right is there a wonder why there's so many commands in Paul's epistles to love one another to an honor preferring one another to have charity amongst yourselves to forgive one another as Christ or to forbear one and do you wonder why there's so much of that in here because if you're not patient and walking with God in the new man you'll get provoked people will let you down they'll make you so mad they'll say things against you the reality of the ministry is it's really quite different than what it may appear to be and so in closing just one final example of these three points where the experience doesn't match the expectation when Jesus Christ came to this world to save sinners he came to this world to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and he offered a kingdom and preached and said the kingdom of heaven's at hand and he healed all their sick and gave sight to the blind and he did the work of God amongst these people and he ended up being offered when he offered them a kingdom and salvation and life he ended up being offered on a tree to pay for their sins the experience wasn't quite the king of the Jews after all but rather it was the lamb of God the reality is the pressure comes with the position while Jesus Christ healed and while Jesus Christ taught and crowds followed him there was also a people the entire time that were seeking his life that wanted to put him to death that tried to do it subtly and then finally openly everybody knew that they sought to kill him and you better believe there was a pressure in that he was getting mocked and rejected of his own family and when it came down to the point of the night of his crucifixion even his closest friends and fellows and disciples they all forsook him and fled and there he was to taste the bitter cup of the wrath of God for our sins all alone you better believe there was pressure the pressure was so great that he sweat as it were great drops of blood as he prayed earnestly that the father would let this cup pass and yet he he took one foot in front of the other and he walked forward to the cross the reality is there's pressure and the reality is people will provoke you there's ones that cried hosanna hosanna and then a week later crucify him those same people they you better believe they would have provoked him while he hung on that cross they stood right there in front of him and mocked him and said you said you'd save others save yourself if you're the son of God come down from the cross prove it to us just right here right now we'll believe on you you better believe inside he would have been provoked or if that was you and I and you had the ability to do something you know I know because you do react in rage when somebody says something against you you snap real quickly back at them but when he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatened not but you better believe people will provoke and in Christ

[43:02] Jesus Christ endured all of these things and he remained faithful to what he came to do and so I have to ask you that in this light if the reality of the ministry or of the Christian life is different than what you may expect and if the pressures are real and if people do get on your case and provoke and frustrate and let you down if all of that's true following our example of Jesus Christ and seeing that he endured it all and went to the end and finished what he came to do why should you get off the hook?

[43:38] why should you have it easier than he had it? why should you be able to go through life and just enjoy the blessings and not have to face the foe?

[43:51] the song says must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free? no there's a cross for everyone and there's a cross for me you don't get off the hook it wasn't easy for Christ and the reality is that the ease and the comfort are coming in the future but today is a day to stand and today is a day to fight the world and the flesh and the devil and to live for Jesus Christ no matter what it looks like here on the ground because from a higher point of view the Lord God is still in control and knows exactly what he's doing and has a timeline and just tells us just obey trust me and obey me the reality will be different than you expect and as I've shown there's more to it than it meets the eye but stay faithful let our Lord Jesus Christ example be the one that you follow stay committed stay faithful stay trusting stay obedient let's pray

[45:04] Father I believe everything I said this morning I've experienced in some ways the reality of the Christian life of serving you and I've tasted some disappointments and some frustrations and I've been provoked and I've been let down and it's true I had expectations that they didn't turn out to be reality but Lord you're not wrong and far be it that I would charge you with folly you're right and you're good and you're holy and you're just so Lord this morning it's my prayer that we could change our thinking that we could adjust our thinking to the reality of the scriptures and to what you show and the light that you shed in these stories that it's not going to be any different for us Lord help us to acknowledge this to embrace this and to submit to this and to leave it in your hands how it plays out we want to see the lost saved but we'll leave it in your hands we want to get victories in this life we want to go forward we want things to get better but Lord help us to leave it in your hands to lay it at the cross and to humbly submit ourselves to your leading and to your hand if you're here this morning and you've experienced some let down things didn't go the way you thought or hoped or figured they should maybe this morning be a good time for you to renew your focus on what it is that God's calling you to be and do and what it is that he actually is offering the crown comes after the cross the rest comes after the fight so if you're confused if you're struggling seek the Lord and come to before the throne of grace and find mercy and grace that will help you maybe commit yourself recommit yourself resurrender yourself put a blank check on the altar and say

[47:45] God you fill it in you write it out how you want it to go and I'll just be obedient understand the people the pressure understand these things and still be willing to commit because it's right and because Christ did it for you a thousand fold father please minister to hearts and work in our hearts and lives and strengthen us and please draw us to Jesus Christ our savior our help and fortify in us in the new man a drive and resolve to carry on until you call us home we pray that you'll get victory and help those that need it in Jesus name amen so you you