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[0:00] All right, well, as I said, it's the last Sunday of this year, 2025. And I'll just say to you all that I'm grateful that Bible Baptist Church is alive and doing well through another year.

[0:16] And it's because of your faithfulness, it's because of your giving to keep this place open and going. It's a little awkward to look around and see a slim crowd this morning and feel like it's all, but probably it is, it's you.

[0:30] It's you that are here that are faithful to do what you do. And so I appreciate you, and I'm thankful to be part of this church and to be here to be your pastor and to preach and deliver the word of God.

[0:41] I'm thankful that the word of God is preached from this pulpit, and it's a big deal. It's a bigger deal than we probably recognize because you could easily take it for granted.

[0:52] It's, according to the Bible, in that sense of, in Amos that we've been studying, it's a famine of the words of God. And there's not too many people that are preaching the word of God anymore, but a lot of soft and things that the people love to hear.

[1:07] And a lot, a lot, a lot of entertainment going on in local churches these days. And that's what I would put it, what you would watch a service or be observant of one, how much of the content you could put into this side of just entertaining the crowd, of making them happy and uplifting them and these kind of things versus helping them from something that's eternal and holy.

[1:30] Because that's what you need. So, all right, that's enough of that. Let's get into the word of God and find the book of Exodus. Again, this is our last time in the book of Exodus. I do reserve the right to go back to it at some point, just so you know.

[1:44] If I ever say turn to Exodus, don't roll your eyes. But this is the last one. We've spent two full years in this book from chapter 1.

[1:54] And we got to chapter, we finished chapter 34. And so there's six chapters that remain. And just to kind of catch you back up to where we left off, when we finished chapter 34, we saw Moses for the second time spend 40 days and 40 nights in the mount with the Lord.

[2:13] And what we studied this time was the effects of spending time with God, one-on-one time with the Lord. What we learned from that time of Moses being with God was that he was sustained when he spent time with God, meaning something that was humanly impossible to survive, being with the Lord, sustained him through that time.

[2:33] And that's so true to you in your life. When tragedies hit, when tremendous burdens weigh on you, something humanly impossible to carry through, and to get up in the morning, and to put one foot, and to go to work, and all of those things, spending time with the Lord will sustain you and will give you what you need to do, the energy and the focus to continue on for him.

[2:55] Moses was sustained. Moses was changed in such a way that everybody could see it. His face shone. It was something that they were afraid of initially, and that changed him being with God.

[3:07] And I believe the same thing is true. If you spend real time with the Lord daily, it'll change you too, in a way that the people in your life will sense and see a difference and know that you spent time with God.

[3:18] Moses was also enabled to get back to the job that God called him to do. He was given the instructions, and now he went and put that to work. And it's here where we pick up the story, and it continues into chapter 35, where Moses reveals to God's people, now this is where they're hearing it for the first time, God's plan for a sanctuary, that he might dwell among them.

[3:43] And it's the last chapters of this book of Exodus that describe the people giving of a willing heart, and the people assembling all of the material and doing the work and building the tabernacle.

[3:56] It's chapter 35, 36, 37, 38, 39. Those five chapters are almost an identical replication of what God has already spoken to Moses up in the mount the first time.

[4:11] The first time in chapter 25, 26, all the way to 31, those six chapters, that was God's instructions. And now it's almost verbatim, almost identical reproduction of that, but now it's the construction.

[4:29] The instruction the first time, the construction of it, where the work is being done. So in chapter 35, the people bring the material, the workforce is assembled, and the work begins.

[4:41] In chapters 36, and 37, and 38, and 39, the curtains, the coverings, the furniture, the boards, the bars, do you remember all those things?

[4:53] We've studied them in detail one after another. Everything, including the garments for the priests to minister in, everything is fabricated, everything is prepared, and all the work is done.

[5:05] Find chapter 39, and look at verse 32 and 33. Exodus 39, 32. Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished.

[5:22] And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did they. And they brought the tabernacle, that is, piece by piece, they brought it all unto Moses, the tent, and his furniture, his tashes, his boards, his bars, his pillars, his sockets, and on it goes with the veils and the skins, the coverings, the ark, the table, the vessels.

[5:44] All of it is being brought unto Moses. And look ahead now to verse 43, the last verse of 39. And Moses did look upon all the work, and behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded.

[5:57] Even so had they done it, and Moses blessed them. And so now, perhaps, I doubt for the first time, but for the first time, perhaps, it's all assembled in one area where you can see the ark, where you can see the mercy seat, where you can see the altar of brass, the laver, the candlestick, but then all this pile of the bars and the boards.

[6:20] These are massive boards that are tall and wide with their fillets, and they're going to fit into these sockets of silver, and it's all there. All the material is there. And so now we're going to put it all together.

[6:35] In chapter 41, or chapter 40, now the final chapter of our study, chapter 40, God commands Moses to assemble it. In verse number 1, the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation, and thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony.

[6:58] And he describes bringing all of these items and the whole thing. In verse 18, it says, Moses reared up the tabernacle and fastened his sockets.

[7:09] All of these things, Moses brought in the tabernacle. Let me back up one verse. Let me one verse. 17. And it came to pass in the first month, in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up.

[7:25] And so now the thing is finally, for the first time, assembled, and then everything in the rest of the chapter is brought in and put in its perfect and designed place.

[7:37] Look ahead now toward the end of this chapter, verse 33. And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar and set up the hangings of the court gate.

[7:50] And there's the final thing. So Moses finished the work. It's completed. It's done. And now the book concludes with God's approval and God entering and inhabiting his new sanctuary.

[8:06] Let's read the last few verses of this book. Last five verses. 34. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

[8:17] And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation because the cloud abode thereon and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. When the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys.

[8:31] But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not to the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day and fire was on it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.

[8:44] And that concludes our study of the book of Exodus. God bless you all. Have a great week. Now today I want to conclude with kind of an overview of some things that we've studied and then focus in on this last portion that we just read.

[9:02] So let's rewind just for a few minutes before we get into this last passage. You know the phrase, you can't see the forest through the trees? Do you know, you've heard of that one?

[9:12] You're familiar with what it means? The idea is that the forest is so big and when you're in the forest, all you can see is just those trees surrounding you, but you can't see the entirety of the forest at all.

[9:24] So you can't see the forest through the trees that are blocking your view. And what I think this statement illustrates is our study of the book of Exodus. Because this was a big study.

[9:37] And it took us over two years to go from chapter one all the way and then just fast forward through these last few chapters as to not be repetitive. But all the way here to the end of chapter 40.

[9:49] It's a big study. And 40 chapters is a forest. And while we walked our way through from chapter one on, we observed many, many, many different scenes, different trees, different points and details of this study, of this book.

[10:09] We passed by the plagues one by one and saw God's judgments upon the land of Egypt. And while we walked through this forest of Exodus, we observed other scenes like the Passover and the Passover lamb and how they prepared that and how they were very careful and how that night the Lord passed by.

[10:31] We studied how God gave manna to his people out there in the wilderness and sustained and fed them. And if we continue walking through this forest, we met Moses' father-in-law, Jethro.

[10:43] We also witnessed an attack by the Amalekites trying to ambush the children of Israel from the rear. We studied one by one the Ten Commandments in chapter 20.

[10:55] Ten weeks in chapter 20 on those commandments. And then that followed by the judgments where we studied those next few chapters in sections of the judgments that God gave to his people.

[11:07] We studied the special feasts that God has prescribed for these people to observe and follow and obey him. We were introduced to the priesthood, a new thing with a new man, Aaron, the high priest, chosen by God and given a position.

[11:22] We also saw and will continue to see the fickle nature and rebellion of God's people throughout the book. But then we came to the tabernacle.

[11:34] We came to the tabernacle. It was a long, long journey through the tabernacle. All of its instruments, all of its furniture, all of its design. The journey that we spent much time on in detail and description.

[11:49] Learning about this sanctuary where God would dwell with his people. If we could draw back, if we could ascend above the forest, if we could view the whole thing at one time, in one moment, we'd be looking at this book from the beginning to the end as approximately one year of time.

[12:12] Now it took us two years. But it's about one year of them leaving Egypt, getting here to Mount Sinai to where God inhabits his tabernacle. Subtracting the intro, subtracting the back story to Moses, which was 40 years here and 40 years there.

[12:28] One year, the first year of the history of this new nation. Do you remember what I read in chapter 40 and verse 17? It came to pass in the first month, in the second year, on the first day.

[12:42] This is the first year from Egypt, the timing for them when God said, this will be the first month to you. And it was about the 13th, 14th day of that month when things started rolling with the Passover lamb and then the angel coming through.

[13:00] And so it's been one year on God's timetable that he's been with this people and that he's led them out. They arrived into Egypt as a family named by their father Jacob, whom God changed his name to Israel.

[13:15] It was the family of Israel that came into Egypt, but it was the nation of Israel that exited Egypt. And in the first two months of their exit, they were delivered from bondage by great and terrible acts and redeemed by the blood of the Passover lamb.

[13:35] And they traveled from Egypt and not such a straight line, but they worked their way south and came across the Red Sea and moved into the wilderness of Sinai and found themselves camped by the mount.

[13:50] It was a magnificent exodus and it's been a miraculous journey. And it's only been two months to this point. And the next 10 months, the nation is pitched at the base of that mount.

[14:05] Moses has been ascending and descending that mount several times now. And now they have been given the duty to construct a tabernacle for their God, the Lord Jehovah.

[14:17] And he's going to dwell in this tabernacle. The sanctuary is going to be set right in the midst of the congregation. The journey to this moment has taken one year.

[14:29] And I want to point out to you that it's not until chapter 40 and verse 34 and 35, what we just read, that the Lord comes and descends and inhabits, enters into the tent of the congregation.

[14:46] The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. He is not above it. He is not up on the mount and the great lightnings and thunderings, but no, he is, the glory of God has now filled his tabernacle.

[15:00] And he's dwelling among his people. He's now in their midst. He did not inhabit the people individually as he does today, but rather nationally he inhabited them.

[15:17] He dwelled in the midst of them. He dwelt within their dwelling. And this is what God has desired and this is what God has longed for, is to dwell among men, obviously in a sanctified manner, be set apart.

[15:32] He's far too holy to just dwell with them, but in this construction and with the priesthood and with the court and keeping them separate, the Levites' tents pitched around it, it's all set up.

[15:44] It is God's desire to dwell among men, to be known by them and to be worshipped by them, and as a result to set them apart from all other nations of the earth, and as a result of that make himself known among the nations of the earth, by his presence, by his blessing of this people.

[16:04] Now along the way as we've studied this book, I've expressed to you many times that the Lord desires your body, your life, to be a sanctuary set apart for him to dwell in.

[16:16] He truly desires to live in you and to fill you, much like he filled the tabernacle, to fill you by his spirit. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6, verses 19 and 20, Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price.

[16:40] Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. In Ephesians 5, the Bible says to be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit.

[16:57] It is God's desire to dwell in you and in your life. And I want to come back to this last portion that we just read here. And I want to look at the very tail end of this chapter, of the entire book, the last three verses this morning.

[17:14] Now that God is dwelling with them, and now that God is dwelling in you, there's some things that we need to note. There's some things we need to be aware of, and it's very simple, but these things are profound and they're true.

[17:30] Let's take a look back into chapter 40 in verse 36. It says, When the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys.

[17:44] The first thing I want us to learn and consider is that with God dwelling with them, they must follow the Lord's leading. They must follow the Lord's leading.

[17:57] When the cloud was taken up, well then it's onward. And then we'll follow wherever God takes us. Following God, that's not a new concept. I mean, He brought them this far.

[18:10] And it says, His intention is to take them the rest of the way, but they have to follow. They have to be willing to follow. They have to be observant to follow. This journey to the promised land is only going to be success for them.

[18:24] It's only going to be accomplished if they allow God to lead them the rest of the way. If they decide, if they ever get the idea that they know better, or that we've already been away from Egypt for a full year now, that's in the past.

[18:42] We know what we're doing. We've been setting up these tents. We've been living this life for a while now. We know how to handle it. If they ever get in their mind that they can navigate without Him, they're going to make a mistake that will end up costing them greatly.

[18:59] You say, why do you say that to us? Because when men get comfortable, and when men get some experience under their belt, when they start to think they have things figured out, they begin to forget how vulnerable and how weak they truly are.

[19:17] When Christians escape the world, the pollutions of this world, and when Pharaoh and his army is drowned out and never to deal with them again, when they've traveled a little distance in this Christian life, when a Christian wins a battle or two, he can deceive himself into thinking that, I got this thing figured out.

[19:40] I can handle this myself. I know what I'm doing and I know where I'm going. And I've got a Bible to lead the way, so off I go, whether I carry that book with me or not.

[19:53] A Christian can quickly forget how truly dependent upon the Lord we all are. The Bible says, let not him, or let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

[20:11] If you walk away from the Lord and if you don't follow his leading in your life, if you think you've got it under control and you've been saved long enough, I can do this on my own. I can do this in my sleep.

[20:23] Why, you won't travel far until that desert sun starts to wear you down. And you'll forget how helpful, and you'll forget what a blessing it was to be under the protection of God, under that cloud and under his presence allowing him to lead the way.

[20:40] You'll forget how great it was to be under his wings and covered by his presence. It won't be far until that desert sun wears you down. It won't be far until you find out that out here, not trying to lead my own way in this life, out here, there's no manna.

[20:58] There's no substance out here. God is not out here giving me anything, blessing me, sustaining me, and helping me. The manna's back there in the camp where the glory of the Lord abides in his tabernacle.

[21:15] With God dwelling with them, they must follow the Lord's leading. You won't travel far until you find out there's no substance in the wilderness. The prodigal son in Luke chapter 15, you remember his story?

[21:30] He's a perfect illustration or representation of somebody who decides to leave the father and go do it on his own because he's grown and he can handle this. And if you read the story, that mindset and that lifestyle led him to misery and filth and poverty and emptiness.

[21:49] And that's exactly where you'll be when you get in your mind that I don't need the Lord. That I can make my own way. That I'm not in Egypt anymore and I'm out here and I've gone far enough and I can take it from here.

[22:02] I'll make my decisions. I'll do it my way. You'll find out no matter how wise you are, no matter how experienced you feel, you'll find yourself empty, miserable, and probably filthy with sin that you don't even want to admit's in you.

[22:20] you've got to learn to follow the Lord's leading. So keep your place here and flip a few books ahead to Joshua chapter 3. Joshua chapter 3.

[22:34] We must follow the Lord's leading. In this passage, they're about to cross over the Jordan River. And the Lord is leading them and He's going before and they're carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.

[22:55] I just want you to notice one phrase here. I'm going to read the first four verses. Joshua rose early in the morning. They removed from Shittim and came to Jordan. He and all the children of Israel lodged there before they passed over.

[23:08] It came to pass after three days that the officers went through the host and they commanded the people saying, When you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God and the priests and the Levites bearing it, then you shall remove from your place and go after it.

[23:22] Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Come not near unto it that ye may know the way by which ye must go.

[23:33] For ye have not passed this way heretofore. You don't know where you're going. You've never been down this road. Sometimes men get the idea, Well, I'm experienced.

[23:46] Well, I've done this. Well, I've been around. And they forget that they haven't seen tomorrow yet. And there's things laying ahead of them. They haven't experienced the whole thing of the Christian life until they've passed from death unto life, literally.

[24:01] Some Christians get a little cocky about themselves until they find themselves facing a disease facing some terrible news and then they just fall apart and cave in. There's still things that God has got to take you through.

[24:16] And he says, Don't you get ahead of me at all. You let me lead the way. You follow me and you keep a good distance so that you can know which way to go is right. I'll pursue.

[24:28] I'll scan the future. I'll decide the right path for you to go. You must learn to let God lead. Come back to Exodus chapter 40.

[24:40] God is dwelling now in his tabernacle. And with God dwelling with the people, they have got to follow his leading and something else, they must wait upon the Lord's timing.

[24:54] In verse 37, But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day it was taken up. With God dwelling in their midst and his presence right there in the camp, they must wait upon the Lord's timing.

[25:11] If God doesn't go, nobody goes. If the cloud doesn't move, everybody stays put. Now I know how men are. They don't like to stay put for too long.

[25:24] And they get the idea like there's things I should be doing and there's places I should be going. And instead of looking at it through God's eyes, they start to get antsy and they start to get some ants in their pants and they just can't trust the Lord and sit still.

[25:39] But let's consider this. If God is staying put, if the cloud were not taken up, there's a reason for it. You don't have to know the reason for it.

[25:51] You just have to know that the cloud's not taken up so we're not going anywhere. We're going to stay. It'd be a good time to rest. Can you look back a year and remember what life was like for this very people?

[26:03] Just a year ago, their lives were, they were made to serve with rigor. And their lives were hard bondage. They were beaten and whipped, cruelly, oppressed as slaves.

[26:19] And now they've been hiking through the desert. Boy, it seems like a pretty good idea to take a few months off to stay put, to rest, to relax.

[26:30] The stripes have healed on their back. They're gaining their strength. You know what else they could be doing? They could be, they could be getting to know their brothers, getting to know others in the camp, getting a bond, a national bond beginning to form.

[26:45] They're all to follow the same laws. They're all learning this together. They're all submitting to the word of God together. And it's forming a bond that was not there in Egypt.

[26:56] They were just made to work together, getting beat together. But now they're serving and worshiping God together. There's a better bond forming here. Some people say, well, I can't sit still.

[27:08] I can't just sit around. I just can't wait and do nothing. Sure you can. Sure you can. When you consider what life was like without the Lord's leading, it was pretty bad.

[27:19] And if the Lord wants you to stay put, then just trust Him and stay put. Resting in place would have been a luxury were they in Egypt. And so wait on the Lord.

[27:33] It can be hard waiting on the Lord if you're impatient or if you're not satisfied with the way things are or if you're not satisfied with what you're doing.

[27:45] But some of the biggest mistakes from the children of Israel was when they got in their heads that they're going to move forward without the Lord. They got themselves into a battle and they got whipped. They got themselves into a couple messes when they decide we're going to go do this without the Lord.

[28:01] Matter of fact, there's even a time when they said we're going to return to Egypt. What are they thinking? They're not waiting on the Lord. They need to be patient.

[28:12] They need to stay satisfied with what God's provided and content. You can feel stuck sometimes. And when you feel stuck you can make a mistake. Let me show you an example. Look at Psalm 40.

[28:24] Psalm 40. With those Israelites in the wilderness they had a hard life behind them an opportunity to recover and to rest and to forge relationships but they also they don't realize it but there's some real battles up ahead and the Lord knows if they're ready or if they're not ready.

[28:54] It's a good thing for them to stay put until God moves. In Psalm 40 I mentioned that you could feel like you're stuck like you can't get out of something.

[29:04] Look at this first two verses. I waited patiently for the Lord and He inclined unto me and He heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings.

[29:21] If you're stuck in the wilderness or stuck in the miry clay it would be hard to just stay still and wait on the Lord.

[29:33] It'd be your tendency to do everything you can do to get out or to move on but it's waiting patiently for the Lord that brought deliverance and it also brought direction as He established my goings for the future.

[29:49] all of that was followed by waiting waiting waiting patiently on the Lord. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to be still and do nothing.

[30:02] Some people in their very personalities their very nature is that they've got to figure it out they've got to make a decision now and they've got to do it and they'll live with the consequences. Circumstances can press upon you from the outside your own thoughts and imaginations can cry unto you from the inside you've got to learn to reject the noise and to put down the pressure and simply be still and wait upon the Lord reminding yourself we've covered this in the study that God does not operate in haste and God does not respond to our fear and our worry and our anxiety.

[30:42] God is so high He is so above that He sees the things we don't. He knows the end from the beginning. It would be wise if we would just learn to wait on the Lord.

[30:55] They have to wait upon the Lord's timing. And then thirdly come back in Exodus 40 and I want you to see in the very last verse verse 38 this verse says for the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day and the fire was upon it by night in the sight.

[31:14] They could see it with their eyes of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. The Lord was always there always within view always present and the third thought this morning with God dwelling with them they must look to the Lord.

[31:35] He's always in the sight of all the house of Israel. They must look to the Lord in all things. While they're stationary in that place beside the mount God placed himself in the center of the camp.

[31:49] In the dead center of their camp. His presence whether it be by the cloud or by the fire by night His presence was in sight of all the people at all times they could very easily and quickly discern where God was at all times.

[32:05] He did not hide from them. Even if they ever lost sight it would be because they wandered off or it's because He up and was moving forward and they refused to follow.

[32:18] But they must learn to follow the Lord's leading and they must wait upon the Lord's timing and they must look to the Lord in all things and they'd be able to find Him.

[32:29] This journey going to this promised land this would be governed exclusively by God. He will govern the way and He will govern the timing and the places that they would journey to and pitch their tents and when they'd get up and go.

[32:47] And when you read that list of all the places they went they went here then they went there some places they stayed a few days some a few weeks or months the Lord knew what He was doing they didn't have to make this plan they didn't have to draw it out they didn't have to map quest remember that they didn't have to Google it or plug it into anything.

[33:05] This journey was governed by God He decides when to go and when to stay and what direction to take all the people have to do is continuously and daily look to Him just look to Him look to Him are we going?

[33:22] No, we're staying are we going? No, we're staying just look to Him His presence is right there every single day turn their attention upon the Lord they'd know when to go and they'd know where to go and they'd know how to proceed and navigate this mystical journey of life till we get to the promised land just keep your eyes on Him turn over to Hebrews chapter 12 this will be the final passage this morning Hebrews chapter 12 we have a journey a race to run in our Christian life headed toward the promised land and yet we have to follow the same format we have to follow His leading we have to wait patiently upon Him we have to look unto Jesus verse number 1 says wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto

[34:40] Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross despising the shame set down at the right hand of the throne of God that's why you're here this morning to be reminded to keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ to look unto Jesus for every decision to look unto Jesus for every move and every choice that's why you're here man will let you down the arm of flesh will fail you ye dare not trust your own the enemy that wicked one will he walketh about seeking whom he may devour keep your eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ the world will deceive you it will lie to you and just as you one day look to the cross of Christ for forgiveness of sins and just as you look to the cross for salvation you need to continue to look to Him for instruction to look to Him for direction to look to Him to make your life's decisions before you make them your own to look to Him when you don't know what to do to look to Him when you're hurting and when you're confused to look to Him when things are falling apart and unraveling all around you look to Him

[36:05] He's always present He's always present and He's always available you must look to the Lord in all things so in conclusion our study a long study but would you consider this what started as a story of redemption has ended as a story of a relationship a relationship God is pleased to dwell with man it's a divine relationship one of trust and obedience one of unity and harmony and blessing and provision and protection and what nation would not want that to have a God that would guide their way and defeat their enemies and provide all things for them and to heal their diseases and to allow them to flourish and be blessed what nation wouldn't want that and yet today what individual wouldn't want that you've tasted the redemption of the cross of Christ Jesus have you not the Passover lamb but have you entered into that relationship where He leads the way to where He dwells and fills you to where you just wait on Him to move and to where you look to Him in all things in your life if you're saved

[37:39] God has indwelt you it's up to you to follow His leading wait on Him and look to Him He knows what tomorrow holds and you don't not one person here has lived in the year 2026 yet but we're about to step into it together and there's only one being that knows what's going to take place in that year you better learn to look to Him surely not being a prophet here just speaking from a perspective of experience in life surely in this next year some tragedy will befall one of us some painful thing and some great thing it's not all doom and gloom here it could be a wonderful thing and it could be a hard thing it could be a tragedy you don't know what's coming ahead I truly I surely don't know what next year holds but I know who knows and I trust Him with all of my heart a hundred percent

[38:41] I trust Him with my life I'm going to live for Him by His grace until I can't do it anymore I'm going to trust Him if you're saved you can trust Him too He is prepared for what's coming you may not be the best way you can be is to wait on Him follow Him and look to Him and it's as simple as that I told you it was simple and this concludes our study in the book of Exodus thank God I've enjoyed it I hope it's helped you along the way I was tempted to go back through and pull out little lines and points and things that we've hit along the way and just read them off to you just to remind you but I felt it would be too much to absorb and to go back over two years of material but we're going to put that one to rest and God only knows where we're going from here because I surely don't but I'm sure

[39:44] I trust the Lord it'll be relevant and helpful and what we need Father as we dismiss this morning thank you for your word thank you for these last two years studying this book I know Lord that some have come and gone throughout the study and some have been faithful and been here throughout the entirety of it and I know that you've dealt with hearts and I know that you've helped your people to make decisions given them clarity given them instruction your word is so alive and so holy and so helpful to us and so Lord I'm just personally thanking you for what you've done and accomplished in this church over these last two years of studying that book moving forward God we trust you we want to be patient and exercise that patience in Christ we also want you to lead us we want your spirit to go before us and to guide our way we want you to direct our steps please give us the wisdom the discernment the courage the patience to follow you and to trust you and not get ahead of you

[40:53]  Lord it's my prayer that at the close of next year that everyone here today would be here then and more so and Lord we'll leave that into your hands and trust you for all of it thank you for saving our souls thank you for calling us into a relationship with you and for all of your goodness please bless as we go our way please grant safety please bless these that visit with their families and the time they spend may they be a light and a witness and may they show evidence of the Lord Jesus Christ dwelling in them we pray that you'll have your way in our hearts we pray in Jesus name Amen Amen well with that you are dismissed this morning God bless you have a great afternoon