Posture Before Purpose

[0:00] Amen. We serve a good God. Hallelujah. We serve such a good God. I just ask that for this presence.

[0:10] ! Can we pray? God, we love you, Lord Jesus. God, you're touching our lives.

[0:26] Would you help us? Would you help us? Would you help us? Would you help us turn aside, Lord?

[0:44] Hallelujah, Jesus. Would you help us, O Lord, today? Hallelujah, Jesus.

[1:06] So many great things can happen. I mean, in God's presence, great things can happen. Of course, all the time. Amen. But I guess the thing is, you know, are we ready for it? Are we ready for those moments?

[1:36] Are we in the right posture? Are our hearts in the right posture? Our lives, are our minds in the right direction for those moments?

[1:55] So you have to excuse me for just a few moments while I kind of gather myself here. I just feel so overwhelmed by God's presence right now. Praise God.

[2:09] You know, we've been in this, so we started a series last week. And, you know, I didn't give the title for our series, but it's Before We Move.

[2:25] Before We Move. And last week we talked about our direction. We talked about two tales, tale of two tents. It's Abraham's tent that was pointed towards covenant, promise, blessing.

[2:38] And there was Lot's tent that was pointed towards Sodom and Gomorrah and pointed towards worldliness. It's not the things of God.

[2:51] I mean, a lot of bad things happen to Lot and his family. And so he said that, you know, direction of our lives matter. Where are we pointing to? Where are we facing?

[3:03] Where is our tent of our lives facing? So that's what we talked about last week. And Before We Move, which is, again, the title of this series.

[3:14] It's called that because before we move into this new season of our lives, and before we move the direction God has wanted us to move into, we've got to make sure that the direction of our lives is right.

[3:34] We orient ourselves. And today we're going to talk about posture. And that the posture of our hearts are right. And we're not talking about perfection.

[3:46] We're not talking about perfection, but we're talking about position, posture, direction. God called a lot of people who weren't perfect to accomplish his will.

[3:58] And who can raise their hand and say that they are, they're perfect? My wife could probably do that. My daughter could probably do that. I just want to be right with God.

[4:13] Amen. Praise the Lord. We have your Bible.

[4:23] Let's go ahead and turn to Exodus. Exodus chapter 3. Exodus chapter 3.

[4:43] And beginning at verse 1. Grace, if you can give me a bottle of water or something, or a glass of water, please. Thanks.

[4:55] Exodus 3 verse 1. And the Word of God says, Now Moses kept the flock of Chetra, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb or Sinai.

[5:15] And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire.

[5:28] Which was a common occurrence in that area. Those bushes were dry, and they caught fire constantly.

[5:38] But there was something unique about this fire that was burning, thanks to them. The bush was not consumed.

[5:50] Verse 3. And Moses said, I will now turn aside. Let everybody say, turn aside. I will now turn aside and see this great sight.

[6:07] Why the bush is not burnt. 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.

[6:23] And he said, Here am I. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So I want to just, for the next few moments, I want to talk to us on this subject.

[6:37] Posture before purpose. Posture before purpose. Can we pray? Father, we love you today. We thank you again for your presence, and your word, God.

[6:50] We thank you, Lord, for what you've already done in this place. God, we thank you, Lord. God, help me to preach the word. Do a good job, Lord.

[7:00] Bring thoughts and word to remembrance. We love you. We praise you in Jesus' name. And everybody said, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[7:12] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. It's been said many times about this generation, for a lot of generations, that we live in a microwave generation.

[7:30] Amen. We like things to happen now. If we're in line for fast food, we're a little frustrated if things are happening quite long enough.

[7:42] if the person in front of us is ordering the whole menu. And I'm sure many of us have done that ourselves or looked out the window and said, hey, let's go. We've all been there.

[7:58] Waiting for DoorDash. The guy's still there at the place. Lots of frustration because things are taking too long.

[8:08] Two minutes feels too long. If our browser buffers or if our phone's not going to the website or the app's not opening correctly, we get frustrated.

[8:20] If it takes time, we assume something's wrong. If someone doesn't text us back right away, oh, no. Come on, what's wrong? We get frustrated.

[8:33] So now when I text somebody, I just close it and I put it aside and I walk away. I said, they'll get to it when they get to it. But that's the thing about our generation.

[8:46] The thing about our lives is that for some of us, and I can say all of us, but for some of us, at least I know for me, we want fast answers. We want things to happen just like that. Fast breakthroughs.

[8:58] Fast results. We want prayers answered fast. But not everything God is doing can be microwaved.

[9:09] Amen? Not everything that God wants to do in your life can be microwaved. Not everything, you know, that God wants to do through you or in us or in your children, hey, kids, that God wants to do in their lives can't be microwaved.

[9:28] Because there is a purpose and there is a plan behind the time that it's taking to develop and to shape and to form our lives.

[9:41] And where we might say, God, can we just hurry this up a minute, please? God, I set my prayer to two minutes for it to be done. God, can't you hurry it up and just answer my prayers already?

[9:54] Can't you, Lord, make them feel sorry for what they did to me? Can't you make them feel bad already and want to apologize to me because they offended me? God, can't you already tell my kids and get them right with you and say, you need to change your haircut or change their clothing?

[10:11] And I'm not preaching to my children right now, praise God. But I'm just saying, we want things to happen right away. Amen? Some things just take time.

[10:24] And some things require time. And some things require us waiting. We just got to wait. And the worst thing that we can do is get ahead of God.

[10:38] Move ahead of God. Do something that isn't quite ready with what God wants to do in our lives. Amen? Amen, amen.

[10:50] We try to force it. We try to get that square peg in a round hole. Or like the old little toys they had at the doctor's office where you would put the shapes.

[11:02] I'm old enough to remember when they had those. Now they don't, for hygiene reasons, they don't put those things there. Maybe they still have, I don't know, but I haven't seen them around. But you try to fit those, you know, those shapes and try to match them up with the different shapes around the toy.

[11:17] And just for fun, I would always try and fit, you know, whatever. Just try to fit the square shape in a round. I don't know why I just did that. I was trying to force it. I remember I broke one.

[11:28] It's because I forced it so hard. Because that's what can happen, amen, is when we try and force things ahead of their time. When we try and force the will of God into our lives, we can end up breaking things.

[11:44] Come on, somebody. We can end up breaking things before the right time, break things before the right reason, and break things in our lives.

[11:54] Otherwise, God was ready to prepare, ready to heal, and ready to make right. Amen. Praise God. That's good preaching. Hallelujah. And when I talk about the church, when I talk about South Bay Church, I know the church loves God.

[12:12] And the church feels a burden and a purpose. And we know there's a purpose for our lives and for this congregation. We're not confused.

[12:24] We're not cold. And we're not drifting. But while I talk about the church, I want you to think about your life. Do you know you're committed? Do you know you're in this to win this?

[12:35] Do you know you're in this for the long haul? But I just want to say this. That God is not finished with you yet. God is not finished with me yet.

[12:47] God's not finished with South Bay Church yet. God's not finished with your life yet. Amen. He's not finished with your family, your children. Amen. He's not done with your voice yet.

[12:58] Amen. Praise God. He's got a purpose and a plan for our lives. And I feel so passionate this morning. I'm so moved this morning to let somebody know.

[13:10] You've got to lock in, as the teenagers would say today. You've got to lock in and say, I'm not going to move. I'm committed to God's house, to God's calling, to God's purpose.

[13:22] I'm committed to the will of God in my life. Come hell or high water, I'm going to show up to the house of God. I'm going to show up every morning. I'm going to pray even if it's one minute.

[13:34] Praise God. Because I'm committed to God's will in my life. He's not done with me yet, devil. He's not done with me yet, Satan. He's not done with me yet, power of darkness.

[13:46] God is working something out of my life. He's shaping something inside of me. Hallelujah. Praise be to God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And somebody here today has been facing opposition.

[14:00] Somebody here today is facing forces that you can't see. Because we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against darkness and principalities and powers.

[14:11] Things that we cannot see. But thanks be to God that the weapons of warfare, they are not carnal. Hallelujah. Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.

[14:25] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Woo. Hallelujah. Amen, amen, amen. Hallelujah. So this morning, this afternoon, it's not about slowing down your calling or slowing down what you feel in your heart or feeling in what our church should be doing.

[14:46] What this afternoon is about posture before God. Because it is true that we could get ahead of God. That we could get ahead of what God's timeline in our lives.

[15:01] Amen. But this morning is about our posture before God. And posture before the assignment. Posture before the purpose.

[15:12] Because God is not in a hurry. Amen. And if we're going to move together, move forward together. We have got to be able together to get in a posture long enough for God to shape our lives.

[15:26] Amen. We got to get in a posture for God to shape our lives. But you know how that doesn't happen? It's when I don't pray. You know how that doesn't happen? It's when I don't get into the Word.

[15:38] You know how that doesn't happen? It's when I don't surrender to God. You want to know how often that doesn't happen? It's when I don't show up to the house of God. And hear the preaching of the Word. You know how that doesn't happen?

[15:49] It's when I don't give unto the Lord. Amen. Hallelujah. This message is not about being mean. It's not about any of that stuff. This is about God loving us.

[16:02] Because He's got something for you and I. He's got something greater that we can even see right now. And I felt this when I was praying with Sister Olga. God remembers her prayers.

[16:13] I felt this when I was praying with her. I said, Sister, God remembers your prayers. And He has respect unto those prayers. Praise God. He remembers.

[16:23] And He remembers you. And He remembers me. Hallelujah. So if this morning you're feeling left alone. Or you're feeling like you're left behind. I want to remind someone God knows exactly where we are today.

[16:38] Praise God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Now let's look at a life that we just read about.

[16:52] About a man named Moses. Anybody know who Moses is? I'm not talking about Charlton Heston. For years. For years.

[17:02] And even still today. When anyone talks about Moses, that's the first image that comes to mind. I know the kids will not understand what I'm talking about. I'm sorry. You can ask your parents later. But there was the movie about Moses and the children of Israel.

[17:18] And I remember just seeing. I remember my grandfather. He would always play those old movies. About just like, you know, the Gospels, Jesus, and the disciples. And then the one that I remember the most is the one about Moses.

[17:31] And I just remember seeing Charlton Heston. And so I thought for the longest time that that was actually, you know, it was all in the Bible. But for Hollywood's sake, they made some tweaks in the movie.

[17:44] So when I read the Bible for real, I thought this is all wrong. That's not what the movie showed. There's something wrong here. Come on. But Moses, he's not a cartoon character.

[18:00] He's not a children's story. Although we love talking about those stories in Sunday school and children's church and all those things. But he is a real man where there was real tension.

[18:12] Real tension. I mean, he was born under a death sentence. Pharaoh, you know, because the midwives would not kill the male. Because, you know, the children of Israel had been in bondage for 400 years.

[18:24] Okay? They had been in bondage for four. See, that's a long time. See, that's a long time. Just making sure you're with me, church. Hey, we'll be out of here soon.

[18:37] They were in bondage a long time. And Pharaoh was frustrated. He was a Pharaoh that did not know Joseph. And not, you know, there's a lot more.

[18:48] I'll just, I won't talk about it. We got to move. But Pharaoh was frustrated and fearful. And he told the midwives, called two midwives. And he said, hey, I want to, I want to get rid of these male Hebrews.

[19:01] And so he instructed them. They, they didn't do it. They feared God. And so Pharaoh decided to put an edict down. Say, hey, you know, I want you to throw all the male born Hebrews into the river.

[19:13] If it's a girl, you can keep it. But not Moses' parents. Not Moses' parents.

[19:24] Scripture tells us that when they looked upon the child, they saw that he was goodly. It's a beautiful child. Some writers say that they, there was a distinction about him.

[19:36] Or some other writers would say, hey, there was like, they, the parents could tell there was a divine purpose for his life. And parents, I want to tell us about our children real fast. That when we look at our children, what is it that we see about their lives?

[19:52] What is it that we look at them and we, because we're all going to say, oh, our kids are beautiful. I know I heard that when I was a child. I still hear that from my mom. But when we look at our children, what do we see?

[20:07] But then also, what do we tell our children about them? Because you've got purpose on your life, child. You've got purpose on your life, kid. God's got a calling on your life.

[20:18] There was a reason you were born. There was a reason you were put on this earth. There was a reason God allowed me to be your mom or to be your dad. But Moses was born under this death sentence.

[20:31] And he was hidden as a child. But by faith, he was preserved. His mom made a little ark. Put him in the river.

[20:43] Pharaoh's daughter found him. Miriam was walking along the river. When she noticed that Pharaoh's daughter found the child, found Moses, saying, you want me to go take him to a midwife of the Hebrews?

[21:00] Sure, let's go do it. I'll pay you two pieces of silver a day. He goes and stays with his mom. His mom raises him until he's about three to five years old. And it was in those moments, those times together, that he had received his Hebrew identity.

[21:17] He knew about one God. Hero Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Him only shall you serve. It was put inside of him. But Moses, Moses was a man with purpose, but without posture.

[21:36] Purpose was there early, but the posture wasn't quite there yet. Now we fast forward. After all this, and we hear that he was raised in Pharaoh's house.

[21:49] He was educated in Egyptian schools. He was trained in leadership, power, geography, warfare. Highly educated. But now, as you read in the scriptures, he's walking sheep.

[22:07] To the backside of the mountain, he's walking and taking care of these sheep. Forty years. He's, 40 years.

[22:20] It's a long time. No microphones, no affirmation, no movement. Just routine. Just responsibility. Just being shaped.

[22:33] And that's where Exodus 3 opens up. Now watch, now watch what changes. Not because Moses moves, but because Moses stops.

[22:46] We read this a little earlier. Verse 2. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush. And he looked, and behold, a bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

[23:01] Verse 3. And Moses said, I will now turn aside. I will now turn aside. And see this great sight. Why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside, God called him.

[23:16] God called him. You see, God will speak once we turn aside. God will speak when we turn aside. And when we turn aside, that means that we are, our attention is now on what's at hand.

[23:29] Our attention is now turned from everything else. And now it's focused on something specific. When's the last time you've turned aside? When's the last time we've turned aside to hear the voice of God?

[23:44] To hear the word of the Lord speaking to us? The Bible says Moses was keeping the flock. And that matters. Because God didn't meet Moses in Egypt.

[23:56] He didn't meet Moses in a palace. He met Moses in obscurity. In the routine. In the mundane things of life. That's where he met Moses.

[24:08] And Moses notices something that's burning. Not exploding. Not consuming. But just on fire. Something that's burning. And Moses says, I will now turn aside. And it's that sentence that decides his future.

[24:25] Come on somebody. It's that sentence. I will now turn aside. It's that phrase. It's that sentence that Moses uses that determines the future of his life and of Israel.

[24:39] God does not interrupt Moses, but God waits. And when the Lord saw that Moses had turned aside, then God spoke. Hallelujah.

[24:51] I'm preaching to somebody here today. That you felt the pull of God in your heart. You felt the pull of God and the turn of God on your heart. Hallelujah. You noticed it.

[25:02] You felt it. You felt conviction. You felt God pulling at you. You felt God moving on you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. But maybe you were just too busy. And maybe you were too busy scrolling.

[25:15] And too busy checking TikTok. And too busy and all those things. Maybe you were just tired. And you were worried. And you said, maybe later I'm going to turn aside. But I want to tell us today that God speaks after our posture changes.

[25:31] Not before. I'm preaching to someone who keeps waiting for God to speak, but is waiting. But God is waiting for you to stop.

[25:42] Amen. Come on, somebody. God is waiting for us to stop. Now listen carefully to what God says next. He says, God tells Moses, Put off thy shoes of thy feet.

[25:55] Put off thy sandals off thy feet. It's not about dirt. It's not about, you know, fungus.

[26:10] It made her laugh. It's not about toe jam. Okay. It's not about, oh, okay. I got another reaction. It's not about any of those things.

[26:21] Okay. But this is about delay for Moses. God is saying to Moses, Moses, I want you to stay a while. I want you to stay right here.

[26:34] Because right here, this is holy ground. You're not going to be moving anywhere quite yet. You're not going to be moving forward quite yet.

[26:45] You're going to stay right here in my presence. Because I have some things that I got to tell you. There's some shaping I got to do in your life. You're not going to be speaking yet.

[26:56] And you're not acting yet. Hallelujah. And here's the thing. Here's the key. Here's the thing I want to really land on. I really felt this in the Holy Ghost.

[27:08] You have tried to get ahead before. You've tried to move without my assignment. You've tried to move ahead of schedule.

[27:20] You've tried to do things without my will. You've tried to do things that weren't the right timing quite yet. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. But I'm here to tell somebody today that God loves you.

[27:33] And I know you love God. And you mean well. And you have good intentions. But you've tried to get ahead before.

[27:44] You've tried to move ahead of God's will. You've tried to move ahead in relationships ahead of God's will. You've tried to move ahead in moving churches ahead of God's will.

[27:56] You've tried to do things for God's will. You've tried to do things for God ahead of his will.

[28:07] But God is saying, I need to shape you. And I need to form you. I need to put some things in you. So God is saying to all of us here this morning. We need to sit a while in his presence.

[28:21] We need to sit a while in the presence of the Lord. Because God is not done shaping us quite yet. But I want to remind us why God is slowing down Moses.

[28:38] I want to remind us why God is telling Moses, oh, oh, oh, buckaroo. I need to pull those reins back a little bit.

[28:49] The Bible says that Moses in Exodus chapter 2, that Moses went out unto his brethren and saw their burdens.

[29:00] He saw their troubles. And he was wrong all about that timing. And you know what he did?

[29:10] He killed an Egyptian. That was not rebellion. That was rushed purpose. But the phrase, the phrase that we got to come back to, the phrase that we got to look at before he takes things into his own hands, the Bible says that he looked this way and he looked that way.

[29:39] He looked this way and he looked that way. The only thing wrong with that is he didn't look this way.

[29:52] Which is what he should have done. But he took matters into his own hands. He took matters on his own fruition.

[30:02] He says, they're going to recognize me as their deliverer. They're going to recognize me as the one that's going to get them out of this mess. So here I go.

[30:13] But wait a minute. Have you ever done that when you were a kid? Maybe when you were an adult? When you go up for a cookie in the cookie jar and mom said, no cookies before dinner.

[30:26] No, Thomas, thank you. No fruit roll-ups before dinner. You're like looking this way and you're looking that way. I want to tell somebody, good intentions don't override God's timing.

[30:43] Good intentions don't override God's timing. And they're all wrong. Amen. Hallelujah. Moses looked this way and that way because he knew it wasn't the right time.

[30:54] He knew he wasn't doing right. He knew it. He knew it. And he thought for sure they're going to understand that they're going to see me as their deliverer.

[31:07] And those Hebrews tells us, who made the, so they, so he kills them, right? He thought he did right. He comes out the next day. He sees two Hebrews arguing one with the other.

[31:20] And he looks to one. He just shows up on the scene. And he looks to one and he says, hey, you've done wrong. You've done wrong about this. And you know what they tell him?

[31:31] Who made the oppressed and judge over us? Who are you to tell us? Who are you to tell me that I did wrong? You're going to kill me like he did that Egyptian? That's crazy.

[31:46] He understood. The scripture tells us in Acts 7 that he understood that they would recognize him as their deliverer. But it wasn't the right timing. He wasn't ready yet. But listen to this carefully. It was not just that they were not ready.

[32:00] Moses was not ready. It wasn't that the Hebrews weren't ready quite yet. It was the fact that Moses wasn't ready. Because God has not spoken to him.

[32:11] God hadn't commissioned him. God hadn't given him that assignment quite yet. Amen. Praise God. Hallelujah. God said, I haven't given you the clarity or the vision for it yet.

[32:24] Amen. Amen. Church, we got to stay in the will of God. Church, we got to stay in the timing of God. So which means we need to pray. We need to read the word.

[32:34] We need to show up to the house of God. We need to be faithful and consistent. And show up. Amen. Amen. Amen. Stephen tells us in Acts 7 that Moses was learning all wisdom of the Egyptians.

[32:51] He was educated. He was capable. He was trained. And at 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren. So the Egyptian killed him. Wasn't the right timing.

[33:04] But now we transition. We transition to Moses being out in the wilderness. At 40, he was 40 at that time.

[33:16] I'm 42. Wasn't that long. At 40, Moses was confident. Everyone say confident. At 40, Moses was confident.

[33:28] But at 80, he was dependent. At 40, he was confident. Looking this way and looking that way.

[33:38] But at 80, God was shaping him to be dependent and looking this way. No longer looking this way and that way.

[33:50] Looking over his shoulder. But now God was shaping him and developing him to say, Moses, you were wrong. You were ahead of schedule. But now you're taking out your sandals, boy.

[34:02] And I want to shape you to no longer look this way or that way. I'm shaping you to look up and to see me. And to behold the salvation of the Lord.

[34:13] Amen. Praise God. God did not cancel his purpose. But he formed his posture. Amen. Church, we may have purpose on our lives.

[34:25] But posture must be shaped in us before the assignment. Praise God. Hallelujah. We may have purpose on our lives. And I believe you do.

[34:37] I believe everyone does have purpose on our lives. But the posture of our hearts and the posture of our lives must be shaped. Must be developed to where we're no longer looking this way.

[34:49] Looking that way. Looking inward. Looking at what's in our hands. But to where God gets and shapes us to where now we're looking this way. And we're saying, God, I'm dependent upon you.

[35:01] I'm dependent on your word. I'm dependent, God, on your plan. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise God.

[35:13] I'm coming to preach that God is not saying no to you. He's not saying no to us. He's not saying no to what's in your heart. But he's saying not yet.

[35:24] Not yet. He's shaping you. He's forming us. He's making us into his image. Hallelujah. And the beautiful thing. Oh. And that as he shapes us.

[35:36] And we're conformed to his image. What we have in our hearts. Our burdens. Our desires. Our wants. And our needs. Begin to be shaped to his will.

[35:48] To his desires. To what he wants for us. God. And those may be totally different. From what we originally had. In here. God shaped me.

[36:00] God formed me. God do a work in me. Don't stop Lord. Doing the work inside of me. And so now God uses a formed man to lead a delivered people.

[36:13] After the burning bush. God sends Moses back into Egypt. Not as a prince or a warrior. But a man who knows how to stand until God speaks.

[36:24] Who's shaped and formed for the hour. Amen. Moses walks into Pharaoh's core. He doesn't assume. He doesn't look this way.

[36:35] He doesn't look that way. But he's looking to God. And telling. Delivering the message. Just let my people go. Thus saith the Lord. And he sent.

[36:46] He sent. Plague after plague. Sign after sign. 400 years of bondage is broken. The same man who once ran for his life. Who took thin matters into his own hands.

[36:59] And for some of us we can relate to that. We've run. We've been on the run. Maybe you're still on the run. All because we've taken matters into our own hands. But I've come to bring a message of hope today.

[37:11] God knows where you are. God knows what you've done. God knows where you've been. He sees the matters that you've taken into your own hands. Hallelujah. He's calling from the burning bush.

[37:22] And all you need to do. Church. Hey hear me. All we need to do is turn aside. Turn aside. Turn aside. Hallelujah. Praise God.

[37:34] Hallelujah. If we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I don't care what you've done.

[37:44] What you've been through. What you've acted upon. God is able to forgive you. And he's able to forgive me. Hallelujah. Praise God.

[37:59] Oh Jesus. Praise God. Can we pray for a moment. God we love you today. God we praise you today. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We love you today Lord.

[38:10] We love you today Jesus. Hallelujah. Let's all stand. Let's all stand. Let's all stand. Musicians. Please can you give me a hand with us please. Oh we love you Lord Jesus.

[38:23] Hallelujah. Tonight. Today. It's not about doing more. But it's about standing. Or having a different posture. Church. Before movement.

[38:35] Posture. Before assignment. Attention. Before purpose. Reverence. Hallelujah. My question.

[38:48] Will you turn aside? Will you turn aside? Because you know what that's about? It's about submission.

[39:00] It's about surrender. It's about letting go of all your. What you've known. What you think is practical.

[39:11] What you think would be right. You know when he told Moses to take off his sandals. You could also say. He was saying.

[39:21] You know what? I know you've had the best education. Money could buy. You've been trained in philosophy. You've been trained in geography. You've been trained in strategy. In warfare.

[39:32] In poetry. In song. In all of these things. But I want you to take that off. Before coming into my presence.

[39:45] I want you to remove. What you might think you know. What you might think you have under control. Remove what you might. What. Come on somebody. That's what God's saying to us this morning.

[39:59] Is that when we turn aside. We need to remove what we think we know. We need to remove what we think have under control. We have under control.

[40:10] We need to remove some preconceived notions. We need to remove. Some mindsets that we're holding on to. Said before you come into my presence.

[40:23] You need to remove that carnality. Because that's what got you in trouble in the first place Moses. Is when you took it into hands. We're going to pray but.

[40:43] Before we pray. I want to speak. I want to speak to us. Just a minute.

[40:54] Different generations before us. Right now. I want to speak to the children. Isabella.

[41:09] Pretty girl. I want to speak to the kids. Kids. Kids. You have purpose now.

[41:24] You have purpose now. That's why. Listening matters. That's why the word of God matters.

[41:35] And that's why prayer matters. I'm going to use a big word right now to you. Listening. That's why obedience matters. That's why obedience matters.

[41:50] To our young people. To our young people. You have purpose.

[42:01] grace. To our parents and our families, your posture today is shaping the lives beyond your own.

[42:40] This is why faithfulness matters. What you model matters. To our seasoned saints, your purpose has not passed.

[43:00] I'm going to say that again. Someone here may be feeling their purpose is long gone. But I want to tell to our seasoned saints, 15 up, you matter to this church.

[43:21] You matter to these lives that are around you. Your voice matters. Amen. Your faithfulness matters. Your purpose is not passed.

[43:33] Amen. Your posture teaches this church how to walk with God, how to be faithful, how to show up. You know, I don't have to worry.

[43:44] Every Sunday morning, I don't have to worry. I know Brother Zeke shows up with a bad shoulder and hand and all. And he's there putting the signs out, putting out donuts. You know what?

[43:57] That's teaching my children faithfulness, brother. That's teaching my children and other kids here. Oh, Brother Zeke's here. Oh, of course he is. They see it.

[44:09] Your posture still teaches us. Different ages, different seasons, but the same truth. We may have purpose in our lives, but I'm telling us, church, our posture matters now.

[44:28] I know we already prayed and had altar calls, so I want, lift our, lift our hands. Hallelujah. Jesus. Jesus. Let's pray.

[44:42] Oh, God. Lord Jesus, would you help us, Lord? Be in the right posture, Oh, God. Have the right posture in our lives, Oh, God.

[44:55] Have the right posture in our minds, Lord Jesus. That we would turn aside and be in your presence. That we would take off our shoes, Oh, God.

[45:08] Take off our mindsets. Take off carnality. And God, stay in your presence for a while and allow you to shape our lives, Oh, God.

[45:20] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. In the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. I feel the Holy Ghost right now. Oh, Jesus.

[45:35] Come on, church. We got to make up in our minds. God, I'm going to show up. God, I'm going to show up to the house of God. God, I'm going to give up to the Lord. God, I'm going to be faithful to you, Lord.

[45:48] I'm going to read your word, God. I'm going to pray, Oh, God, unto you. God, I'm going to turn aside. Hallelujah. I'm not going to get ahead of you.

[46:00] I'm not going to rush ahead of you. But God, I'm going to be dependent upon you, Lord. Lord. Yes, God. Oh, yes.

[46:17] Come on, that's it. Lift your hands. Come on, let's worship him. He's not done yet with us. He's not done with us. He's not done with us. God, we love you today.

[46:29] We love you today, Lord. Hallelujah. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. God, we worship you today, Lord.

[46:43] Hallelujah. Come on, let's sing this song together. Hallelujah, Jesus. Oh, Jesus.

[46:55] In his wonderful And the Seas of Will rise The life Of his holy Hallelujah Yes, let's come on God, I want to turn aside God, I want to turn aside Oh Lord Hallelujah Jesus Oh Jesus Hallelujah Hallelujah Jesus God, I worship you Lord

[47:56] Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Jesus Come on, I feel God's reaching for some of us this morning.

[48:15] I really feel God reaching for some of us today. Let's turn aside. Let's turn aside. Hallelujah Oh Lord, we love you today, God.

[48:28] The things of earth will grow strength within the light of his holy grace.

[48:46] Turn your eyes upon me Turn your eyes upon me Oh, it is wonderful day And the things of earth will grow strength in the light of his holy grace.

[49:15] Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. In the light of his holy grace.

[49:26] Oh, how are you today? And the things of earth will grow strangely thin In the light of His glory and strength.

[49:54] Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Praise God.

[50:10] I don't know who I was preaching to this morning. But I still feel God is reaching for somebody in this house.

[50:24] And you might know who you are today. You might know. You might feel that tug. That pull. You know what you got to do. Turn aside.

[50:36] Take off your sandals and stay a while in God's presence. Hallelujah. Amen. We love you. Thank you for being here this morning. And I just want to mention, you know, February 22nd.

[50:51] We're going to end this series with a special moment. And so we want to encourage everyone to be here.

[51:02] Be here next Sunday, of course. But the 22nd. Something special is going to happen that day. So I want you to, everyone to show up and be a part of that.

[51:13] We're going to have a great time. Amen. Amen. Everybody have a great rest of your Sunday. Go to wing one. Go to wing one.

[51:25] Okay. All right. Go for now. God bless everybody. Have a great day. Amen. I'll see you then.