Don't Let Go

I'm trying to make my sermon today. Don't let go. She was four years old. She sat there, her little body shivering in the water. But she was shivering not because she was cold, because the water actually was rather warm. She was shivering because she was fearful.

She was afraid. She was about to do something she had never done before in her life. And she wasn't sure that she wanted to do it. She did, and yet she didn't.

She lay back on my arms with her little life jacket on and her Snoopy skis pointing up, getting ready to ski. I pulled her legs up to her chest to get her ready to go. Her mother was driving the boat. The rope got tight, and I held her there, getting ready to lift her up.

I yelled, hit it. Michelle basically took it out of neutral because Crystal didn't wave very much.

And she started to get up out of the water perfectly, and then she'd let go.

She didn't fall. She just let go. So, Michelle brought the boat around through the rope, all the things you have to do to get ready to put her back in, and pull her legs up, and got her going, tried to encourage her, and did it again. Hit it! She let go. I know she probably knew she was going to face this day someday because her brother actually started skiing at age four, so I knew she knew it was coming.

But she wasn't sure, as her little tears of fear were in her eyes. We did this about a dozen times.

She finally looked back at me and said, Daddy, how many times do I have to do this? I could tell she was counting.

She thought she wanted to hurt my feelings, so she was doing it, but she wasn't doing it.

She thought she just did it enough times, and she could quit.

And so I said to her, I said, Crystal, you're just letting go of the rope.

I said, if you actually hang out of the rope and get up, and you fall, and let go of the rope, and that's fine. But if you keep just letting go of the rope, we'll be out here all day.

Well, that thought didn't appeal to her very much. And so we got the rope back together, put the boat on, and I got her my arms, and said, hit it, and up she went, and she held on.

She skied all the way around the lake, first time, at about five to six miles an hour.

But she had let go before.

The question I ask is, how many times do we have something in our lives that makes us fearful?

Things we think we can't do? Things that we see daunting?

Some either financially or emotionally or spiritually or whatever?

We don't think we can handle it. And how many times do we let go of the rope, so to speak?

Do we simply let go, or do we have the faith that the one who's guiding us and who called us knows what he's doing and is planning your life in a way that you don't necessarily know?

Do we quit at the first sign of difficulty for fear?

Crystal didn't trust herself.

She didn't think she could do it.

And before you think I was a big over, making her do this at four years old, it was actually a long time in planning.

She was prepared, but she didn't know it.

I'd been preparing her for over a year. She had learned to swim the time she was two.

She was a very accomplished swimmer at age four for her age.

She could jump off the diving board. If you go down the slide and fall on the water and do things, it would be much harder than what she would face skiing.

But yet, skiing was a different aspect for her.

She could jump on the trampoline. She could even do flips. She was actually a good little athlete. And along with those things, I had also put her on my skis. I'd put two skis on and stand her on mine, and we'd ski for a ways. Now, we'd ski about 20 miles an hour because I couldn't go as slow as she could. I'd be up to my waist and water. But she would stand there, and I knew she'd be afraid, so I'd let go of the rope, and we'd fall down the water and did that a dozen times or more, and she could say, hey, you live after this. And then I actually put two ropes out and let her hold onto the handle so she could actually stand on my skis and see the water coming at her and get used to it. She was really ready. I had prepared her for what she was going to do, but she didn't really know it. I did it for her because I had an end goal in mind for her. I had her to build her self-esteem. I wanted her to be able to do something that she didn't think she could do.

And she would gain a confidence by doing that, that she can accomplish things that she doesn't necessarily think she could do. I believe God works with us in the same way. After all, He's building His family. And as we treat our children and teach them things without them knowing it, I think God does things for us as well. Christ said He's going to prepare a place for His disciples and for those following, for you and for me. He has a future for you if you don't let go. As we read about the famous characters in the Bible, so many of them along the way, we see the things that God did for them. But in looking at their lives, how much did they know that He was doing? For them, for the short term, for the long term, I have to go back to Genesis and chronicle about 400 years in a short form. You can't read it all, but turn to Genesis 15 if you would as we start this sermon. Because we don't always know what God is doing or why He's doing it. We have to ask ourselves and have the faith to know that in this human life He's preparing us for something. Genesis 15, verse 12, we'll start there. It says, Abraham, when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram. And great darkness fell on him. And verse 13, he said to Abram, Know of assurity that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them 400 years. And verse 14, And so also that nation whom they serve I will judge, and afterward shall they come out with great substance. Now this was given about 30 years before Isaac was going to be sacrificed, or not sacrificed as God had spared him. But he's told that he's going to be a great nation. He was told he was going to have all these descendants, that they would go into slavery, and they would come out wealthy. 400 years before it would happen, God told Abraham what would befall his descendants. And if you read through that, you see the incredible events that God had to create to make this plan come into effect. It didn't just happen by itself. The people that he put through incredible trials for his glory and his honor. It's always for God's glory. It's not for ours. He works these things out. Yet if you look at the story, those involved would only have glimpses of what was to come. They wouldn't really know the who, the what, and the why of the events. God doesn't always explain everything that happens in their lives, or in yours, or in mine. But he lets us play a part in it, and he prepares us for what he does have in store, either now or in the future.

So Abraham and Sarah, who waited decades to have a child, were told their descendants would be slaves. And in their minds, starting with one child and two grandchildren, how many people could there be in 400 years? Of course, his descendants were to be at the sand of the seas eventually. What events could possibly move them out of the Promised Land that God has sent them to? How would they become slaves? Abraham was wealthy. And if I told you, you know, some of the richest men today, their kids would be slaves in a couple hundred years. With all the wealth they have, it would seem unusual. We all faced daunting tasks in our lives from time to time, and we had to ask ourselves, are they random, or are they planned? And how do we handle those events? Abraham had those promises, promises unfulfilled for decades. He and Sarah would have these massive descendants, yet with only one child. He tried to fill this himself with Hagar and Ishmael. And you know the story there. Sarah was barren, that's what she felt. She'd never have a child, even though God had promised it. And she said, well, you can fulfill it by going to my handmaiden. Something that seemed to be a fairly common practice at that time. And they had Ishmael. But that wasn't the seed of promise. And I find in my life, and if I look at the lives of others here, when you do it your way, you produce an Ishmael. And you have to live with that most of your life. It's not the way to do it, but it's a human thing that we all tend to do at times, trying to do it our way. We hear what God wants of us, and we decide how we are going to accomplish it. And that's not how God works. Turn to Genesis 22.11, if you would. God sets up a set of events that gives us a chance to prove Him. In this case, with Abraham, He chose to put Him through one of the greatest trials you can put a person through.

Verse 11, again the story of Isaac. Genesis 22.11 says, The angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I am. Verse 12, He said, Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do anything to him, for I know. Now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. Isaac had gone with him up to for a sacrifice. I don't know how much Isaac knew going up there, but when Abraham bound him on the altar, he knew what was coming. He didn't fight his dad. At the same time, God stopped it. But Abraham was willing to go through with it, and I'm sure he had to ask himself, Why? And God tells us that he doesn't do anything to us without providing a way of escape.

And we have to count on that. 1 Corinthians 10-11. We read that. And Paul, writing to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 10-11, turn there. Keep your hand to Genesis 22. We're going to be going back to Genesis. God decides how and when to make that way of escape. In Abraham's case, he did it right before the dagger came down. Verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 10, Now all these things happen to them, for examples. They are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, let him that thinks he stand take heed lest he fall. If you're doing it yourself, you will fall. Verse 13, There is no temptation taken you, such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able. But with that temptation, also make a way to escape, that you are able to bear it.

Abraham did not have to sacrifice his son, but he was willing to. Willing to obey God and follow. And then Isaac. Isaac comes along. Abraham and Sir his only son. He had two sons, Esau and Jacob. And we had a case of bad parenting here in the sense that Isaac favored Esau and Rachel favored Jacob. Something you shouldn't do.

And although Esau was a firstborn, God saw something in Jacob that he wanted to use. And it was Jacob who God would use to continue the promises. How did he do it? Well, they tried to do it themselves. God had to teach Jacob a few things. Jacob, of course, we know he bought the blessing, or the birthright, when his brother came from a hunting trip without any success and was hungry and sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. He showed he really didn't count on the promises and what that value was. We understand the value of what God is offering us. We have to make sure we're not willing to sell it out for anything. A bowl of soup, money, fame, whatever. Later on, in collusion with his mother, he stole the birthright. Put the sheepskins on his arms and pretend like he was Esau. When Isaac was old and couldn't see him, he ended up having the blessing as well as the birthright. God could have done it a different way. They took it on themselves, and what happened? Esau hated him. Esau wanted to kill him. Jacob had to flee. He fled to his uncle, his mother's brother's house, and worked for him. And there he had done to him exactly what he did. He was cheated. He loved Rachel. He wanted to marry her. And yet, when the wedding night was over, he woke up and found out he was with her sister. And Laban said, well, you can have the other one, too. Just work another seven years, a little longer. And his deceit, he ended up with two eyes.

God often works with what we do, right or wrong, to bring us where he wants us to be. And with Jacob, the promises began to grow. He had his twelve sons, produced by his two wives, and their two handmaids. The wife who really loved Rachel gave him Joseph and died after giving Benjamin. The two that Jacob favored.

Again, something that shouldn't have happened. But it did, because it often breeds contempt in the other children, if you favor one over the other. They're different personalities, and they have different strengths and weaknesses, but you can't favor them to the extent that it causes rancor in the family. But yet it did. But it would appear that that favoritism led Jacob to keep Joseph close to him. Joseph kind of kept the books. He was out with the sheep some, and he wasn't out there like his brothers all the time, keeping the flocks and the herds.

Turn to Genesis 37, if you would. Because God was preparing Joseph. And it seemed that the fact that Jacob was favorite, and was doing the bookkeeping and some of the various things that he did, and going out and checking on the brothers, gave him some talent that God could work with. Joseph didn't know how anything would work out. But it was interesting that he was given dreams by God.

And it made his brothers and even his father rebuke him. Genesis 37, verse 2, it says, these are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being 17 years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren. The lab was with the sons of Bila, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. So apparently they were doing something with the land of the sheep, with people, that they shouldn't have done.

Verse 3, it says, Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Here's a hundred-plus years past the 400-year promise we are at this time. And he made him a coat of many colors. He favored him and gave him this coat. Verse 4, when his brethren saw their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him. And then Joseph dreamed a dream and told it to his brothers, and they hated him yet more.

And he said to him, Listen to the dream, I pray ye, the dream which I have drained. Verse 7, Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose and stood upright, and behold, your sheaves stood round about and made obesience to my sheaf. And his brothers said to him, Shall you indeed reign over us? Shall you have indeed dominion over us? And they hated him yet more for his dreams and for his words.

And verse 9, he had another dream. He told it to his brothers and said, Behold, I have dreamed the dream more, and behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obesience to me. And he told it to his father and to his brethren, and his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to you, down to the earth? Verse 11 is interesting. His brothers envied him, but his father observed the saying.

Remember, his father actually had a dream on the pillow stone where the saw the stairway go up to heaven. He observed the saying, even though he rebuked him for it. When you look at this here, you ask yourself a question. Why did God give him these dreams? These dreams fueled the contempt that his brothers had for him. Wouldn't it have been better not to have these dreams and say these things?

Wouldn't his brothers like him more? Why did God seem to orchestrate this? Now, we can talk about the wisdom of telling the dreams, but they were so pronounced, obviously, he told them, but why did God give them? It was going to cause problems in the family, but yet that contempt seemed fair, the dreams.

God was working out something different. If it hadn't been for the contempt they had for him, would they have ever sold him? So here we see something that would seemingly be unfair, something I wouldn't want to pit one of my kids against another or do something that would cause that. Yet here, to make God's plan work out for his glory, he's created this situation, orchestrated. God often creates situations either to reveal sin to us or to orchestrate something in history that he has in mind.

So he was sold. Jacob was being prepared, but for what? He didn't know, but even his father and his brothers knew what this dream meant, and they didn't see how it would happen. Again, Jacob was fairly wealthy, just as his father and grandfather had been. And they had that 400-year promise of slavery coming out. How's this all going to happen? Joseph sold in Egypt. He was sold to Potiphar, a man of wealth, and who was blessed because Joseph was there.

Joseph's training with his father was being put to good use. He ran the household. But running a household of Potiphar would not fulfill the dreams that he had or the 400-year promise given to Abraham, his grandfather. And what purpose did God have sending him into slavery in the first place? Yet all the while, Joseph remembered his God. He didn't know why, but it's obvious he never let go. Certainly, God was blessing him in the household of Pharaoh.

And what happens? Potiphar's wife says he's a goodly man, and she wants to seduce him, and he keeps running away. He gets stuck alone in the house one day, and she tries again, and he runs off, and she grabs his coat, and she lies about him. Why did God let this happen? Things are going well, and now he's thrown in prison. What's fair about that?

What's the purpose in that? Why did his master's wife lie about him? Why did God put the situation? Why didn't God reveal the truth to Potiphar, that your wife is this problem, not Joseph? In prison, again, we find God giving him favor of the prison guards, and he's in there, and he's running the prison.

It's fascinating to me that one of our members over in the Philippines in prison is basically doing the same thing. They said ever since he's been there, he's incarcerated because his sister's husband was Chinese and actually ran a drug thing, and they're sure he was murdered by them, but they put him in prison for life, trying to help them get out, but it's been a couple decades now.

But the brothers there went and saw him when I was there, and it was fascinating. The guards told me, yeah, ever since he's been here, everything's calm. Every time anybody's upset, he just goes in, and they all calm down, and they let him go in and out and run the shops and do almost everything except be free. Fascinating how God can work. Similar situation. I'm sure he reads the story of Joseph all the time.

But he's in there, and he's stuck. Potiphar was an important person. And then we have the butler and the baker. They get thrown in prison. And how did they get thrown? It doesn't say what they did, but they displeased the pharaoh. So they got thrown in prison, and lo and behold, they have a dream, both of them.

And the one dream is the birds are coming down and taking bread off their head. The other one is the wine and grapes are lush and coming. And they have these dreams. They're upset, and they tell Joseph these dreams. Joseph said, God reveals dreams. Talk to me. They tell them to him, and he says, Well, in three days, the butler, you're going to be back serving the pharaoh again, and you'll be fine.

And the other one hears that. That's good news. I want to hear that, too. So, hey, let me tell you my dream. And they tell you your name. And, well, the fowls are going to come down and eat the bread. You're going to be hung in three days, and the birds are going to eat you. Not so good. But it happened exactly as he said. And they promised Joseph that when this happens, we'll tell the pharaoh and get you out of here.

And they forgot. And it starts the next chapter after that with, two years later, the pharaoh has a dream. So here, two years later, you've probably forgotten the fact that these guys said they're going to help you. And obviously, they've forgotten you. They're not helping you at all. And so, pharaoh has the dream. The dream with the corn and the cattle and the fat caras and the lean cows.

And he interprets it for pharaoh. And pharaoh says he's a wiser man in Egypt, and he puts him in charge of everything. Again, Joseph was put in the situations throughout his life that prepared him for what he was going to do. You're running for pharaoh. Was it all random? No. I doubt we'd even think that. Joseph didn't want to be in prison. He didn't want any of the situations.

He was never told why it was happening. You go through Potiphar, go through prison, and pretty soon I'll make you the second in charge of Egypt. He didn't know any of that, going into it. But those dreams. It wasn't until this time, after he was taken up to pharaoh, that he could begin to see a bit more, probably, of the hand of God in his life. What God had been doing throughout this whole time. I'm sure he had to ask himself all the way along the world, What in the world is going on?

You ever felt that way? What's going on? Why is this happening? I know I have, so many times. Have you ever heard Mr. Armstrong ask those questions in prayer? Sometimes, God, why? And sometimes when things would happen to the church. We don't always know. We just have to have the faith to know that he's preparing us. Preparing you and me for something beyond what we know it is. God brought the famine in Egypt, and he brought the dreams to come to pass. And then we read Genesis 50. When the dreams that he had had, back when he was 17 years old, would come to pass.

His brothers came down to get food because the famine was all through the Middle East. And Egypt was the only one that had grain and corn for people to eat. Genesis 50, he turned there. Verse 18, after God brought the famine, His brethren went before him, and they fell down on their faces, and they said, Behold, we are your servants. And Joseph said to them, Fear not, for am I in the place of God? Verse 20 is a scripture that's given me hope a number of times.

But as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. The things God does are for good. Like in the sermonette when they were in a call fired out in heaven, Christ said, I'm here to save lives. Joseph recognized that he was there to save lives and to start out.

And he understood a bit more. But what about the prophecy of the 400 years of slavery? They're wealthy. Verse 21 of Genesis 15 says, Therefore, fear you not, I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them and spoke kindly. The people of Israel had to feel really good at this point. I mean, their brother is in charge of the wealthiest country in Egypt, the wealthiest country in the whole world. Nobody else had given their gold and silver to buy food. Life was good. It was very good. And yet that prophecy in Genesis 15, about 400 years, I think close to 200 years now, and they're not in slavery. But it happened because those that were favored now, after Joseph dies, become cursed. The wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world now dominated their lives to the point that they could kill their babies when they were born. They were so afraid that they were getting too powerful, too many, too numerous. And again, another promise being fulfilled is that Israel multiplied. How would they be delivered from this slavery? Again, God was in charge, as always, but without giving anyone the details, he began the preparation for what was to come. God speaks of a few places in the Bible of knowing people from the womb. Isaiah was told that in Isaiah 49 verse 1 and verse 5. God says that about Isaiah. I'll read it to you. Listen, O isles, to me, and hawking you people from afar, The LORD has called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother, He has made mention of my name. Verse 5 of Isaiah 49, Now says, The LORD that formed me from the womb, To be his servant. Jeremiah also had that in Jeremiah 1. The LORD came to me saying, Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came out from the womb, I sanctified you, And I ordained you a prophet to the nations. Before they were born, verse 6, then I said, Jeremiah says, Lord, God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. You believe the people of God, most of them feel that way. Wait a minute, God, I'm not big enough to do this. I'm afraid. I'm going to let go. God says, no. No. No, you won't. Like many, Jeremiah didn't have high aspirations for himself. He didn't want to. I suppose in an evil generation, anyone who follows God is going to know they're going to take a lot of heat. Because you're living differently, and you'll be mocked at times.

But God doesn't do things randomly, and if he knows you, and he called you, and he gave you his spirit, he's going to train you. He's not going to tell you necessarily what that training is or how it's going to happen. And when did he start? The crystal that didn't start shivering in the water, holding the rope, it started two years before. Let's continue with Israel's story in Exodus 2.

Now there's going to be this prophecy of 400 years that's about to come to pass.

Do you really think that Moses was a random baby? The timing was right for that 400-year prophecy. Exodus 2, verse 1, the birth of Moses. Exodus 2, it says, There went a man from the house of Levi, and took a wife, a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and a bar of son. And when she saw that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

He was a goodly child. It's interesting. It seems that God was even involved in what Moses looked like. I'm going to read something to you here. Keep your place there. I'll go back to Exodus 2. Jared Callaway, his credentials, he's a Ph.D. in religion from Columbia University, a visiting assistant professor at Illinois College, a student from the University of Mississippi, Illinois Western University, Columbia University.

His research focuses on the New Testament and emergent Christian interactions with ancient Judaism in their Greco-Roman and ancient Near Eastern environment. So there, I've covered the copyright laws there. And he writes, During my pursuit of ancient quirks, I want to discuss the strange first-century interest in Moses' beauty. I have discussed it in Hebrews 11 and Acts 7, the title of Alexandria's recounting, and now that other prominent first-century Jewish writer, Josephus. Josephus picks up on the broader first-century promotion of the fine physique of Moses, but there are some alterations, disclosures, and expansions. To recap briefly, previous traditions directly relate Moses' beauty at birth as the reason why his parents, particularly his mother, decided to save him from infanticide.

Although Acts 7.20 merely notes that Moses at birth was beautiful before God, Hebrews 11.23 reasons that by faith, Moses, when he was born, was hid for three months by his parents because they saw the child was beautiful. Both building on the reasoning found in Exodus 2.2, seeing that Moses was beautiful, they covered him for three months. Philo readily exploits the rendering of Moses. That's beautiful. He uses it exegetically to explain why his parents saved him. Why Pharaoh's daughter took an instant liking to him. It all came down to his appearance. Are you beautiful?

Don't be vain, because eventually you'll lose it anyway. God does think sometimes her people often wonder about Esther. She had to be a beautiful person. No wonder God was involved in her genetics as well. Verse 3 of Exodus 2, returning back there, When she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, doped it with slime and pitch, put the child in, and laid it in the flags by the river.

His sister stood far off to watch what would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river, and her maidens walked along the riverside, and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she opened it, she saw the child. Behold, the babe wept, and she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. Now, if you're Pharaoh's daughter, would you pick up an ugly baby or a good-looking baby?

I mean, I would say there's probably something in there. God seemed to be involved in the genetics of Moses. Then the sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you? And Pharaoh's daughter said, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother.

And Pharaoh's daughter said to the mother, not knowing it was her mother, said, Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give you wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it. That was probably the first time somebody got paid for nursing their own child.

And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter. He became her son. She called his name Moses, and she said, Because I drew him out of the water. And she probably nursed him, I don't know, two, three, four years, possibly. We know that they can go that long. Often your character is made in your first four years of life. And I'm not sure what Moses knew about himself, but she was given to Pharaoh, Pharaoh's daughter.

God not only saved Moses from death, but he was preparing him for the largest organized people movement in the history of the earth. What was his preparation? We talk about the Trail of Tears for the Indians that had to march across the country, but Moses was going to have to do something bigger than that. Acts 7.22 makes a statement about Moses. It says, He knew reading and writing and arithmetic.

The man who made the movie Patterns of Evidence has made another one about Moses, because God was saying Moses couldn't have even known how to write and read and write the first five books a lot. So the film on that is coming out right now. But Moses had all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was taught those, and he wouldn't need that. Again, did he know he was being prepared to deliver Israel? No. God knew.

Between verses 10 and 11, we've got 40 years. Keep your place there in Exodus 2. We'll come back. But if you read in Numbers 12, it says, Verse 1, it says, It doesn't say he didn't marry an Ethiopian woman. He was married to one.

The Bible doesn't say how they met. It talks about his father-in-law giving his daughter to him for a wife. So he had a wife from Edea. Who is this Ethiopian woman? It's interesting. Josephus writes about Moses and this. It's not in the Bible, but it actually fills in some gaps, I think, that makes sense. It says, Which has quite often happened in history. The marriages between Egypt and Egypt were the same. They were defeated. They began to flee Egypt while Moses followed them all the way back to their own country in order to engage them in battle and defeat them.

In the end, they retreated to Sabah, the capital of Ethiopia. When Moses had punished the Ethiopians, he celebrated with his marriage to Tharbus, the king of Ethiopia's daughter, who had fallen in love with Moses and gave herself to spare the city from being destroyed. Which has quite often happened in history, the marriages between Europe and that, kings and things. But is this true? Scholars tend to discount it because they say there's no history to prove it. So for many years, modern historians laughed at the idea that Ethiopia could have been strong enough to attack and even conquer part of Egypt.

But in 2003, an inscription was found in the tomb in Eklab detailing a massive invasion of Egypt from a combined armies of Kush along with allies from the neighboring lands. And Ethiopia. Many of the cities along the Nile were indeed ransacked by Ethiopians for their treasures.

So there's supporting evidence, even, for Moses leading an army to defeat the Ethiopians and getting an Ethiopian woman. And I often wonder why did she show up in Israel? Because he'd been gone for 40 years, so it was kind of a long separation. But I can imagine if you were a daughter of the king of Ethiopia and you married this prince of Pharaoh, you had some status, and then all of a sudden he is in exile for 40 years, and your status kind of drops. And then you come back and you defeat the Egyptians, and you're the head of a country, and your status goes back up again.

I imagine she came back. Makes sense. Otherwise, Howard Miriam and Aaron even known about it, what was going on. I think it's kind of interesting to see those details. But again, the next significant event in Moses' life is fleeing Egypt. In Acts 7, 23, we find out he was 40 years old, so we know when he fled his first 40 years, that's how old he was. We know that from Stephen's speech in Acts 7. He talks about it. Moses saw the oppression of Israel. He killed the Egyptian and had to flee.

He probably thought any role he had in Egypt or anything there was done. Over. His role was being a shepherd now for another 40 years. Exodus 2, verse 11, coming back there, Moses said to Moses, Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Moses feared and said, Surely this thing is known? Again, how come he didn't see them when he was there? How did these people see him? He looked around to make sure no one was looking. But they knew. Pharaoh sought to slay Moses, but Moses fled.

To the land of Midian. He sat down by a well. Hebrews 11, verse 24-27. We'll get a little bit more about Moses there. Moses, by faith, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Choosing rather to suffer the afflictions with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. And they are pleasurable. For the time being, they bring death. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. For he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. For he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

He didn't necessarily know that much about God at this time. But when this time came in his life, he was confronted with a choice between pleasure, wisdom, prestige, and power of Egypt. He chose to identify with God and the people of God.

Even though this would mean great self-denial compared to the status he had. And again, he had to think his days in Egypt were over. What would he need his army training for now? And all the things he had done. Verse 16 of Exodus, Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water, and filled their troughs to water with their father's flock.

The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them and watered the flock. We've seen the movie with Charlton Heston. You get visual images of that that no one can ever get out of their mind. Moses will always look like Charlton Heston. You'll also see what he actually does look like eventually. And then they came back to see their father and told him what happened.

They said, what did you leave him out there for? Verse 20, He said to his daughters, Where is he? Why is it you've left him there? Call him, that he can come here with us. Moses was content to do well with the man, and he gave Moses the poor his daughter. So that was the wife that everybody knew. Moses was thoroughly trained, not for war, but for organizing Israel and leading them.

He didn't know his role until he saw the burning bush. God tells him, okay, you're going to go back to Egypt and deliver my people. He was now being prepped all that time for the task at hand. And what does he say? No, I don't want to do it. And I can understand that. If I left America and God said, hey, go back and attack America, you're right.

I saw the army. I led the army. You've got to be kidding. Aw, and now shock and awe and all that stuff. I can't do this. That's what he had to do. He had to go back. But it wasn't through war that he would do this, obviously, because God does it for his glory.

And it wasn't about Moses' training, but the training to organize the million Israelites and get them out of Egypt would be something he would have to do. He was prepared, trained in Pharaoh's house, trained in managing an army, humbled now by being a shepherd for 40 years, none of which he could have imagined at any point in his life how this would work. But God knows, and we know God does those things for us.

Flipping at 1.6 tells us that. Flipping at 1.6 tells us to be confident. See, God knew what Moses needed in preparation, just as he knows what you or I will need. Maybe a one-time job, a one-time role, or maybe a life's calling. Flipping at 1.6, being confident of this very thing, he which has begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

When you die, the next thing you'll know will be Jesus Christ. When did the work in you begin? Probably hard to say. You know when you're baptismal, as you know when you first got interested, but you don't know if God started when you were in the womb, even. When did it begin? I had prepped Crystal. Like I said, I taught her to swim, taught her to stand on my skis, taught her to hold on, and she was able to finish the event. You'll be able to as well. When I yelled, hit it, Crystal was able to ski around the lake. She never looked back. It wasn't necessarily skill, though, it takes some skill.

It was preparation and letting go of her fear, which is often what we have to do, let go of fear. It's not always easy, and you may not even know you're being prepared for something. God doesn't always tell us, but in some way, you are. The choices put before you are preparing you. Every year we get another class at ABC. A bunch of young people are moved to apply to give up a year of their life to read through the whole Bible and understand it.

God is asking, was it a chance that you're here, or did God have something in store for you to learn? God has plans for each of them. He has plans for each of you here, plans for me. God knows what they are. Our skillsets are different, but our goal is the same. The Kingdom of God. We live in the same world, Satan's world, with all of its problems and all the things that are going to happen in a few short years in the end times.

Listen to John 17, if you would. It's a scripture that we'll read a month from now at Passover. Christ talking to His disciples. John 17, verse 14. I have given them Your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of this world, even if I am not of the world.

I pray not that You should take them out of the world, but You should keep them from the evil one. And yeah, I'm sure Satan was trying to destroy Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses, just as He will you and me. They are not of the world, even if I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy word is truth. Do you know His word well enough? And You have sent me into the world, even so I sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

And neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That's You and me. That's been passed down to us.

Every character in the Bible is unique with unique preparation, with unique calling, with unique opportunities, just as we are each unique. We have to be prepared for what God has in store for us. In this world it values winning over character. You have to build character. In this world it values outer beauty over inner beauty. You have to be building that inner beauty, growing like God in Christ would have you grow. In a world that values accumulating wealth over giving and service to others, you have to learn service and value that.

This world and its values are about to end. God has called you and me to a part in the New World Order, so to speak. There is a New World Order coming. It's not the one that a lot of the people think it is. But there is one coming. And God is preparing you in ways that you probably don't even know.

What's important now is character. The three C's. Character, character, character. That's what God expects of you and of me to build that. And I say, don't let go. You don't know what in your life God is doing. My life has been a collage of so many things that I didn't want to do. I learned to cook in college because I wanted to eat better. I ended up cooking on the airplane, so I ended up on the airplane. I ended up serving people. I ended up happening to do things that I didn't want to do. I had to take French at high school, didn't want to.

I never figured I'd leave this country. Why would I use that stupid language? I used it all over the world. You don't know. There were tests given. One thing God did to me in college was funny. One of my freshman year in Bible class. I'd actually had 12 years of Imperial, and I'd had all the Bible classes in college already, because the assistance to the faculty taught in Imperial. So I'd gone through the Bible several times in grade school and high school, the time I graduated.

So I didn't have to study very much, and we had a test in first-year Bible. It was a take-home test. The students were spending eight and ten hours on it. I sat down and took it in about an hour and a half, closed Bible, even though it was an open Bible test. I got a really good grade on the test, and I felt good about it. Then I got called in by the teacher because one of my friends had failed the test and run in and said, I'm not like Aaron Dean.

He knows all this stuff. He just sat down an hour and took the test, and I had to spend hours on it, and I failed, and he got an A. I didn't get a C on that test because I got called in and said, well, you didn't really put any effort into it, so you deserve a C. I decided at that point I wasn't going to spend a lot of time studying for grades, because grades have been important. I used to chase them, but now I decided it was more fun to develop people skills and learn to cook, which I did at night in the kitchen and various things.

I didn't do that to get other jobs or do anything. I did it for all sorts of wrong reasons, but I got to wonder how many of those things God did. Now, look at my wife. She wasn't in the church. She didn't know anything about the church. She came to college planning to go home for Christmas, and she didn't know what the Sabbath was. It was actually a good balance for me because she could teach me Protestantism, which I didn't know.

How many of these things does God line up for you? Each of our lives are a little bit different and unique. The way we're called out of the things we want to do—Dr. Ward would have been a pro quarterback, I think— he got pulled out of that and gone through all sorts of things as well. Anybody who's been in the church for a long time has gone through all sorts of things. Things you wonder, why? I'm sure there's a reason. I've got a lot of questions, a lot of why's to ask God when we come up in the resurrection. We'll be busy doing other things, but I'm hoping I get my 15 minutes with him.

But when we think about what we have to do, can God say, I know, like you did to Abraham? Are you prepared? It often means you're going to have to do what is hard over what is easy. It means choosing right over wrong. It means choosing the truth over the lies of human reason. It means faith and trust that you're being prepared for something bigger than you can know. Moses didn't know he was being prepared, and he would fulfill a 400-year-old prophecy after he saw the burning bush.

80 years of preparation, 40 in Egypt and 40 leading sheep. God gives you opportunities to prove him, and God prepares you through the events in your life so that you can be able to accomplish that goal and make it. He doesn't test you beyond what you're able. One of my favorite scriptures. God let this be my trial and not my preparation for one. If you failed because you were stronger than you thought you were, and you gave up, you let go.

So I say to you as we finish our course, until Christ becomes, He gave us the Passover to reconnect, to reconfirm our commitment to Him in a few weeks. So I ask you, along with what I ask myself all the time, don't let go.