Don't Let Go

She was four years old, shivering, next to the water, but not because the water was cold, because she was fearful. She was about to do something she'd never done before in her life. She was going to try to water ski. We lived on a lake in Texas. She didn't know if she wanted to do this, being so young. She knew that her brother had done it before, three years before, because they were both born the same day, three years apart. So if he did it, she wanted to do it. One way she did, and another way she didn't. Her fear was real. She lay back in my arms in the water, waiting with her little Snoopy skis on that we had that were barely two and a half feet long. And she, shivering and thinking and sitting there, and her mother driving the boat out there, and basically all you had to do was put it out of gear as light as she was, and she'd be able to ski. But she laid there in my arms, and finally I said, hit it! So Michelle hit the boat, and the rope tightened, and she started up, and she let go.

Then, of course, she had to turn the boat around and let the rope and throw it back in and do the whole thing again. And so I put her back in there, and we did it again. Hit it!

She let go. She did this about a dozen times. And I could tell what her little mind was thinking, because she said, Daddy, how many times do I have to do this?

She wanted to please me, and if she could just do it enough times, that would count.

And I told her, I said, Crystal, I said, you can do this, but you're letting go of the rope. You're not falling down. And I said, I know you're scared, but I said, but I said, if you're going to just keep letting go of the rope, we will be out here all day.

She was fearful. She was very fearful. How many times do we have things happen in our life that scare us? Things that we're fearful of? Daunting tasks in our lives.

All of us have them at different points in different places. And we don't think we can handle it. Do we simply let go of the rope?

Do we have the faith that the one guiding us who called us knows what we can and cannot do, and that he'll help? And he's actually prepared us before we face these things. Crystal didn't trust herself. She probably didn't completely trust me.

Why was I making her do this? Probably was going through her head.

Before you'd think I was a big ogre, a lousy parent.

It was actually a long time in coming, even though she was only four. I began preparing her soon after she was born. She had learned to swim before she was two years old.

She was a very accomplished swimmer, actually, for her age. She could run and jump and dive off the diving board. She would slide down the slide, and it hit much harder than she would going skiing at five miles an hour.

We had a trampoline, and she'd been jumping on that since she could walk, so her legs and arms were strong.

I had actually put her on my skis and carried her around the lakes, standing on my skis, and letting her actually hold the rope at times with me.

So she wouldn't be afraid of going down. We actually let go. We'd go down the water. We did that over and over a number of times.

She was used to what it would be like to fall, and that was done to alleviate her fear of falling. Of course, we were skiing at probably around 20 miles per hour, 30 kilometers, whatever, for the people on the kilometer scale. But she'd be going five miles an hour and maybe seven to eight kilometers at most, because she was only 30 pounds, and that we needed a lot more than that for us.

I had truly prepared her for what she was going to do, but she didn't know it. Often, that's where we are.

She didn't realize the end goal I had for her, to build her self-esteem, to give her confidence, to know that she could do something she didn't think she could.

She was ready.

I believe God works with us in that exact same way. When He calls us, He gives us opportunities, opportunities, sometimes called trials, that we have to go through.

And He does prepare us for those things.

He has a future for you, if you don't let go.

As we read of famous characters in the Bible, we can see how God does things beyond what we ever imagined. Even being in the church, and the traveling, the fees, seeing so many people, the things we can do and the friendships we make are very special.

We don't always allow for what He is doing, or why He is doing it.

But He sets events in our lives that make us what He wants for His purpose.

And those are for short-term goals. I am convinced in my life that the short-term things I have gone through have helped me with the other jobs I have had. But more importantly, the long-term goals that He has for us when we are spirit beings, for the Millennium and beyond, in the Kingdom.

We turn to Genesis 15. We see the story of Abraham.

In Abram, he didn't know what God had in store for him. When he started out, he just told him to leave his country and go someplace else.

In Genesis 15, verse 12, we'll begin.

When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram.

And lo, great darkness fell upon him.

Verse 13, And he said to Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in the land that is not theirs, and shall serve them. And they shall afflict them four hundred years.

Verse 14, And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge, and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

He was told this thirty years before Isaac was born.

He had no children.

God was telling him, you're not only going to have children, but lots of grandchildren, great-grandchildren. He didn't get to see that.

But he believed it. But God was testing him to make sure that he could say, now I know.

That he would teach his children and do the things that God wanted to do.

Four hundred years before it would happen, God told him what would happen to his descendants.

And look at the incredible events that God had to do to make all of this happen.

The trials he put through.

And this was all done for God's glory.

All the things we go through and survive are because of God's glory.

That glory is his.

Yet those involved would only have a glimpse of what would be to come, without knowing who, the what, or the why. God doesn't owe us that explanation when he's putting us through a trial.

And when God came down and said, hey, I'm going to give you this trial, you can probably handle it pretty well because God told you it's when we don't know if he gave it to us. And we wonder, and we question, he doesn't explain everything in detail.

He lets us play our part in it to prepare us and to test us.

So Abraham and Sarah waited decades after this to even have a child.

In their minds, they started with one child, two grandchildren.

Jacob and Esau.

How many could there be in 400 years?

If you're only going, you have one, they have two, and that doesn't seem like it'd be many. And what events could possibly move them out of the Promised Land that they were in?

Because Abraham was wealthy. Wealthy people usually don't get moved around so much. How would they become slaves?

We all face daunting tasks in our lives.

Are they random? Are they for a purpose?

How do we handle them? Do we consider them a blessing or a curse?

Always think of Ruth with her mother, La Naomi. Don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara. Naomi means pleasant. Mara means bitter. She thought God had taken her two sons and her husband, and she was just cursed by God when actually he was blessing her.

Abraham had promises, promises unfulfilled for decades.

They were going to have Matthew descendants, and yeah, they tried to do it their own way.

She gave her her handmade Hagar, and they had Ishmael. And every time we do it our way, we get an Ishmael too, and things don't turn out right.

So I encourage you to try to do it God's way if you want to keep all things lined up in the right order.

Genesis 22. Go over a few verses.

This is about the story of Isaac's sacrifice, where Abraham was told to take your son and offer him to me. Your only son. You know, you're going to promise me all the descendants, and he gave me one son, then you ask me to take him up and sacrifice him. That's an offering.

We'll break into verse 11. Genesis 22. The angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham.

He answered, Here I am. He said, Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.

How old was Abraham at this point? Probably around 117 to 120.

And God says, Now I know. He'd already left his country. He'd already waited for a son. He had a son. He believed, Father of the faithful. We tend to want God to see our fruit, so I gave up smoking. Now you know God. I gave up swearing. Now you know God.

It's a lifetime. I've asked myself, How many times, God? The answer is every time. Every time. You're going to have lots of things happen. God decides how and when to make that way of escape for you, if it's a difficult trial.

These things are for us. Turn to 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11.

Because, even though we don't understand, everything we go through teaches us something.

You learn what to do or what not to do. You learn what God has in store for you.

1 Corinthians 10, verse 11.

Talks about all the history from the scriptures they had back then.

Now all these things happen to them, for examples. And they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Verse 12, Wherefore let him that thinks he stand take heed lest he fall.

And be careful. Think about it.

But he says, verse 13, There is no temptation taken, but to you, but such as is common to man.

But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able.

But will with the temptation make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. If there hasn't been a trial you weren't able to bear, if you didn't, you let go.

God didn't.

I always think if I fail at something, I think, well, you know, I was stronger than I thought I was.

If I let go, God knew I shouldn't have. He trained me to do it. If I let go, it's my fault. Not his.

He says, you can pat yourself knowing that you could have done it. And you can correct yourself knowing you didn't.

But he knows Abraham did not have to sacrifice his son, but he was willing to obey.

And God saw that.

Their only son had two sons, Esau and Jacob.

Isaac favored Esau.

Rebecca favored Jacob.

God saw something in Jacob. Jacob had a lot of problems.

It was Jacob to whom God was going to continue those promises.

But God had to teach this man a few things as well.

He had bought the blessing from Esau for a bowl of soup, showing that Jacob didn't understand the value of things. That's Micah's sermonette. Esau didn't.

Not in the same way.

In collusion with his mom, he stole the birthright. God would have given him to him a different way. I don't think that was it. But he uses our foibles sometimes to bring things.

And God often works with us, with what we do, right or wrong, to bring us where he wants us to be.

When Jacob, with the promise of descendants, began to grow through deceit, he obtained...

He ended up with two wives, and they had two handmaids. Of course, they ended up with 12 sons because of that.

The wife he loved was Rachel.

Of course, Leah had been substituted to start with. I'm getting in to be really drunk to not know who she was, I think. I don't know if I've ever been even close to something like that to know who's in bed with me. But...

But it happened. We just know it happened.

But he loved Rachel. And he showed some favoritism, which is not what families should do, but there are different personalities and things that we have. And so he kept him close to him. He taught him accounting. He wasn't out just with the sheep doing sheep herding, which I'm sure he did too, but he did the books, he did other things.

Turn to Genesis 37, if you will.

Because Joseph was a favorite son, kind of had a favorite position. And he didn't... Jacob probably didn't want him out in the field where he might get hurt as much, although he had 11 other sons out there to protect him. But he gave him the job of accounting and bookkeeping, and then delivering messages and things.

God, in preparation, he prepared Joseph for what he would use later.

Joseph had dreams from God, and God was working with him. Though Joseph didn't know what and how that was going to work, he made his brothers, and even his father, rebuke him. In Genesis 37, let's go to verse 4. Verse 3, it says, Now Israel loved Joseph more than other children, because he was the son of his old age. Again, over 100 years old, and 100 years past the 400-year promise, that he made in this coat of many colors. Verse 4, When his brethren saw their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him. And Joseph dreamed a dream. He told it to his brethren, and they hated him yet more.

Because Joseph said to them, Here are this dream. Verse 7, We were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose and stood upright, and your sheaf stood around and made obeisance to my sheaf. They bent over and bowed to it. His brethren said, Shall you and rain over us? Shall you have dominion over us? And they hated him more for his dreams.

And he had another dream. Verse 9, Told his brethren, I have a dream. Behold, the sun and the moon, and the 11 stars made obeisance. They bowed down to me.

He told it to his father, and to his brethren, his father rebuked him.

What is this dream you dream? Shall I and your mother and your brethren bow down ourselves to you?

It didn't make sense to him.

His brother emptied him. But his father observed the saying. His father probably, by that time, had learned there might be something God's doing.

He still didn't see it. His son doesn't what he would consider disrespect his father.

Joseph was being prepared, but for what?

You know, when you read this Skepture, you have to dream.

I started thinking about this.

If God hadn't given him the dreams, he wouldn't have told the dream to his brethren.

God helped his brothers hate him.

We don't tend to think of that, but God was working something out, and these dreams actually made his brothers hate him.

Now, did they hate him enough to sell him before these dreams? I don't know, but they certainly did not like what he was saying here.

He didn't know.

His father made it clear what the dream meant, that your mother and I are going to bow down. He knew that's what it was saying.

And so, the story goes on. Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery.

How could this be good?

He has to wonder, what is God doing?

Was it random that he was sold to Potiphar? Potiphar in Egypt was a fairly wealthy man, and Joseph's training with his father in the accounting, obviously, was put to use by Potiphar.

And we read that Potiphar was blessed. He ran the household.

But running a household in Potiphar wouldn't fulfill the dreams of your siblings bowing down to you.

What purpose did God have sending him into slavery and selling him to this man?

Yet all the while, Joseph remembered God.

He had to question some things, though, but he didn't know why.

But he didn't let go.

Certainly, God was blessing him, and suddenly, he found himself being accused by Potiphar's wife of something he didn't do.

And he was thrown into jail.

Wow! Why didn't God reveal the truth so that he wouldn't go to jail?

That's what I would think. Some of the things God does aren't the way we would treat people we like.

In prison, God gave him favor again. He basically ran the jail. The skills were honed in the most unforgiving of circumstances.

Many people would give up. God, God's not blessing me. These dreams must have been some pigment of my imagination.

Joseph didn't let go.

I'm sure he was discouraged. No question there. The dreams of the butler and the baker.

And with the butler being restored and promising him he'd tell Pharaoh, he did it for two years.

Joseph didn't want to be in prison. That's why he told the butler to tell him what happened with these dreams when you get out of here so I can get out of here. I'm sure it was difficult, parable but not fun.

Some of our trials are not so much fun. They're difficult.

But two years later, chapter 4, we know that Pharaoh had a dream and none of his wise men or priests could tell him the dream.

And the butler said, oh yeah, there was this young man in prison who told me my dream and the baker's dream and yeah, he was hanged in three days and I was restored in three days. And he knew that. So Pharaoh calls him in.

God, at this point, when Joseph was placed over all of Egypt under Pharaoh, could Joseph at that point probably see what God was doing and what the dreams probably meant? Although there still wasn't a famine, but he knew with the dream there was going to be a famine.

And he probably at that point realized the famine, people would become into Egypt.

And his brethren might come.

He began to see some of the picture and the preparation.

It was indeed God who loved Joseph, who during all these calamities wondered what is going on.

Have you ever felt that way?

I have. Many times.

Many times I wonder what God was doing in my life.

And I'm sure you have as well. And he is preparing something that he is working out, not you and me.

So God brings the famine, and the dreams begin to come true.

Joseph, who I'm sure was discouraged and upset at his brothers in Genesis 50, we'll read three verses there.

Because Joseph's attitude, when you realize God is doing something, it's a lot easier to forgive.

Chapter 50, verse 18.

You know, Joseph or Jacob sent his sons down there to get grain and buy things. Story's a large story and fun to read.

But this is when they finally found out that Joseph, who I'm sure had an Egyptian name at that time, and all the decorations and clothing, and they didn't recognize him had been some time.

Verse 18, his brethren also went and fell down before his faith, and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.

And Joseph said to them, Fear not.

Am I in the place of God?

But ask for you.

Yes, you did think evil against me.

But God meant it for good, to bring to pass as it is this day to save many people alive, to fulfill the promises given to our Father, my Grandfather, my Great Grandfather.

Special.

How many times have I read this verse in dark periods of my life?

It's one of the ones I go to. Joseph is a hero for me when I'm going to some kind of trial that I didn't create, didn't cause.

What about that slavery, that 400-year prophecy?

How was that going to happen? Joseph was second in Egypt. They got given Goshen. They were rich. They had all this wealth.

Slaves?

That doesn't make sense.

Because Joseph even told them, verse 21 of 50, that I'll nourish you, your little ones, and you'll be comforted. He spoke kindly to all of them.

Wonderful situation to be in. Your brother is the second man in the most powerful country in the world. Hey, that's pretty good.

Yet that prophecy in Genesis 15, 13, now close to 200 years before, had yet to come to pass. How was that going to happen?

Well, next came the slavery. Those favored were not cursed.

Wow! The wealthiest, most powerful nation in the world dominated their lives to the point of killing their babies.

They decreed to kill the sons, telling them midwives, if you see a boy, kill him.

How would they be delivered from this?

Again, God was in charge, as always. Without giving anyone details, began the preparation for what was to come.

God speaks of knowing us from the womb.

Even before we're born. I'll read a couple scriptures here you can write down. I'll read them before you get there. Isaiah 49, verse 1 and 5, and Jeremiah 1.4, where it says, The Lord called me from the womb, in Isaiah. From the bowels of my mother, he has made mention of my name.

Verse 5, he says, Jeremiah 1, it says, verse 5, Jeremiah, Before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations.

Of course, Jeremiah's answering, verse 6, is, But Lord, I can't speak, I'm just a child. That's the way most people that God uses are humble. Not me. Last thing on earth you want is to want the things, the places that God doesn't want you.

I've never applied for a job at the church. Well, I guess I did in high school, and I wanted to mix a little bit of money. But from my college days on, I was always told what to do.

I was given a job with Mr. Armstrong two days before we took off on a trip.

I was made his aid, and I turned him down three weeks in a row before he said, I'm not asking you, I'm telling you.

I was smart enough to say no. But the last time, I couldn't. He wouldn't let me.

But you don't want anything that God doesn't want for you. But you also don't want to give up at the things God puts you through to get you where He wants you.

Like many, Jeremiah didn't have aspirations for himself. He didn't want the job. I suppose with the people of his time, just like in our time, we get mocked. People don't believe. They think we're crazy. He had to face that as well.

If God doesn't do things randomly, in their lives or in ours, He knows what's going on. He's going to call you for His purpose and He'll prepare you for that. When did it start?

It was a little crystal in the water. It didn't start when she was at the lake in her steeple. It started years before the training.

Israel's story continued on, too. Exodus 2.

It's fascinating to read about Moses. Do you really think he was a random baby? Here's a baby that had lots of kids. Here's one. Let's just pick this one.

I don't think so. Exodus 2 in verse 1, There was a man of the house of Levi who took a wife of the daughters of Levi, and the woman conceived an embarrassed son, and when she saw him, he was a goodly child, and she hid it for three months.

Keep your place there, if you would.

He was a goodly child.

God seemed to be involved in what Moses looked like and how he acted, what he did.

We'll go back to Exodus 2, but I want to read here. According to Josephus, this is written up by Jared Callaway, a Ph.D. in religion at Columbia University, a professor at Illinois College, taught at half a dozen universities. I won't list them.

His research focused on the New Testament, emergence of Christian interactions with ancient Judaism in their Near Eastern environment. He writes this, During my pursuit of ancient quirks, I want to discuss this strange first-century interest in Moses' beauty.

I have discussed it in Hebrews 11 and Acts 7, in Philo of and Alexandria's recounting of it, and now other prominent first-century Jewish writer, Josephus.

Josephus picks up on the broader first-century promotion of this fine physique of Moses, but there are some major alterations, dislocations, and expansions with the various writers to briefly recap previous traditions directly relate to Moses' beauty at birth, as a reason why his parents, particularly his mother, decided to save him.

Although Acts 7, 20 merely notes that Moses at birth, quote, was beautiful before God, unquote, Hebrews 11, 23 reasons that, quote, by Moses, or by faith Moses, when he was born, was hit for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful. Both built upon the reasoning found in Exodus 2.2, saying that he, Moses, was beautiful, they sheltered him for three months.

Philo readily exploits the rendering of Moses. He uses it exegetically to explain why his parents saved him, and other parents didn't know such thing, and why Pharaoh's daughter took an instant liking to him. It all came down to his appearance. Moses was a beautiful baby. Was that by random chance? Did God put the genes there for that? You know, most of the time, you know, it had been an ugly baby, would Pharaoh's daughter have wanted it? I mean, there's things that God makes happen to make things work the way they are.

Exodus 2, verse 3. When she could no longer hide him, she took him in archival rushes. Dad did with slime and pitch, put the child in it, laid it in the flanks by the river. His sister stood afar off. See what would happen to him. The daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river, and her maidens walked by the riverside. And when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. When she opened it, she saw the child. Behold, the babe wept. She had compassion on him, and said, this is one of the Hebrews' children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Well, shall I go call a nurse of the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you? Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go! And the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter's mother's mother. And she said, Take this child away and nurse it for me, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She called his name Moses, because she said, I drew him out of the water. Tyler Klassen and Chaw Grove in development, and they were talked a lot in there about the character. But they said that mostly your character is pretty well developed by the time you're four years old. It's interesting, back in those days, they would tend to ween children until they were three, four years old. It wasn't uncommon at all. But God not only saved Moses, He led him to be weaned by his mother, an Israelite, a Levite. And God was preparing him, going and getting ready to prepare him for the largest organized movement of people in the history of the world. What was his preparation? Well, in Acts 7.22, I can write that down. I'm going to read one verse. It said, Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the earth, it said, Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds. Egypt was the most prosperous, most wealthy, most educated nation on earth at the time. And Moses was learned in all their wisdom. How to read, how to write. After Moses had become a man, we learned that there were other things in his life. A great deal of time happened between Moses' birth, his rise to Pharaoh, his believing after killing the Egyptian, fleeing for 40 years. I like to turn the numbers 12, something that puzzled me as a child. I went through 12 years of Imperial school, and I've read the whole Bible several times during those years and memorized a large portion of it. There were things I questioned that is a child even, in 5th, 6th, 7th grade, whatever. Numbers 12, 2. After Moses became a man, Numbers 12, 1 says that he married an Ethiopian woman. It says Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. Now, I knew that he had married Jethro's daughter, in Midia. So, where did this Ethiopian woman come in? The Bible doesn't say how it fits in. Josephus does talk about this in the Antiquities of the Jews, written around 70 AD. And I think it fills in a spot there. It's not scripture, per se, but it certainly fills in a gap to make you understand why and part of the training. Josephus writes, When Moses reached his manhood, there was a great battle fought between the forces of Egypt and Ethiopia.

Moses, in his first battle, made a surprise attack on the Ethiopians, and they were defeated. They began to flee Egypt, and Moses followed them all the way back to their own country to engage them again in battle. In the end, the Ethiopians retreated to Sabah, the capital of Ethiopia.

When Moses had punished the Ethiopians, he celebrated his marriage to Tharbus, the king of Ethiopia's daughter, who had fallen in love with Moses and gave herself to him to spare the city. Is this true? The modern historians didn't think. They never thought Ethiopia was strong enough to do that. But for many years, they laughed at the idea that Ethiopia could have been strong enough to attack and conquer part of Egypt. In 2003, an inscription was found on a tomb in Eclab detailing a massive invasion of Egypt and combined armies of Kush, along with its allies in the neighboring lands in Ethiopia.

Many cities along the Nile were indeed ransacked by the Ethiopians for their treasures. Moses led the army that defeated them. And the daughter of the king, when they realized their city was going to be destroyed, offered herself to Moses.

Now, you've got a prince of Egypt, a prince of Ethiopia. I mean, how many times has that happened in your marriage? You know, Henry VIII to the daughter of Spain and this. I mean, these things are just done. Again, you've got a lot of status when you marry a prince. And if you think about it, it was a very significant event. Because this lady, when he fled Egypt, it didn't seem like he was married because he married Jethro's daughter. And if you were an Ethiopian princess and you're married a prince and you're all happy about that, until all of a sudden your prince is a criminal and he flees away, what happens to your status?

It goes down to nothing. I mean, most of the money wants to be married to a criminal. And she may have gone back to, I don't know, where she went, stayed in Egypt, back to Ethiopia, what she did. We don't read any of that. We don't know what happened. But we know that Moses was 40 years old when he fled Egypt. So he'd done these wars sometime in his 30s, probably. And he fled Egypt. And we know that from Acts 7, 23-29, talks about him being 40 years old. But it's interesting that what happens to you if you have status and like it, and then you lose status for 40 years, and what happens when your husband comes back as the head of a country?

I can see you're showing up again. That's my husband. It's been 40 years, but that's my husband. So she shows up. Because the Bible says he had married... Now he had two wives, which is unfortunate again, but life works sometimes. But I thought it was fascinating to fill in the gap of Moses' life, how God had put him in his position, trained him, and obviously he was the head of the army. Marries his Ethiopian. And now God tells him to go and rescue his children. And again, you know the story Exodus 2, 11.

He kills the Egyptians and flees because God wants to do this. Again, what motivated Moses to do this thing? He saw injustice, and he did that. He buried him. He didn't think anybody saw him. And God probably made it so. But he thought that. But he was seen. And when it was told in Exodus 2, 15, he says, Pharaoh is mad and wants to kill Moses. So Moses fled and dwelt the Midian. And of course, you know the story then. He helps with the well, etc., etc. We don't need to go through that whole story.

But it's interesting that in Hebrews 11, verses 20 through 40, 27, talks about Moses and his faith. I'm not sure how much he understood what God was doing at this point. Obviously not very much. But in reading verse 24 of Hebrews 11, By faith Moses, when he became of age, Refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God Than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

And there are pleasures of sin. It's temporary ones. The state made the reproach of Christ greater riches Than the treasures of Egypt. Christ hadn't come yet, but He still valued what God was going to do. 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. That's faith, but He's unseen. And He had a lot to give up. When the time came in Moses' life He was confronted with the choice between pleasure, The wisdom of Egypt, the prestige, the power of Egypt, Being over the army, potentially becoming Pharaoh.

He chose to identify with the slaves, the people of God, Even though it was going to bring self-denial and suffering. Moses had to think his days in Egypt were over. A new life. If you wouldn't need any of this army training now, You don't train a bunch of sheep to go attack other sheep. It doesn't work that way. Exodus 2.16. Exodus 2 again. The priest of Midian had seven daughters. The priest of Midian, obviously there were other people who knew about God, different people.

And they came and drew water until their cross, The shepherd drove them away and Moses stood by and bought them off. And they came to their father and said, How did you come so soon? She said, Well, this Egyptian helped us at the well. God put him there. And the father said, Why don't you bring him? He helped you. You just leave him out there? So they said, Where is he? And he called them that they may eat.

Moses was content to dwell with the man. Verse 21. And he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. She was not an Ethiopian. Moses had been thoroughly trained, not for war, but for organizing Israel to lead them. He didn't know his role until he saw the burning bush. And God told him at age 80, 40 years after fleeing Egypt, That I want you to free my people. He was prepared for this task, trained in Pharaoh's house, trained in managing an army, humbled at being a shepherd for 40 years, none of which he could have imagined at any point in his life before that.

But God knows, God knows, because he says in Philippians 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. For you and for me, that's just as true as it was for Moses, the apostles, or anyone else.

God knew Moses needed preparation. He couldn't just take a slave in Egypt and just say, He stand up and tell her where to flee. He always prepares us for a job. He gives us what we need to begin that work. It may be a one-time job.

Joshua and Caleb. Joshua had to lead Israel for his lifetime. Caleb gave a good report. God does not have the problems. It comes times a lifelong event, like for Moses, or a one-time job. When did the work in you begin? You know when you heard a broadcast, or you saw a magazine, or when you were baptized, but did it begin before that? I think it probably did. I had prepared crystal, teaching her to swim, standing on my skis, and go fall down, holding her in the water to finish the event.

And I said to her, Don't let go. She didn't. I yelled, Hit it to Michelle. Engine roared and crystal popped up out of the water. She skied all the way around the lake on her first drive. Five miles an hour took a little while. And she never looked back. She did it. She was so happy, so proud of herself. She never looked back. It wasn't necessarily skill, although it takes some skill. It was preparation. It was letting go of fear. And just knowing that God, she could trust herself, and she could trust me. And when we let go of fear, we can trust God implicitly. That He has prepared you for what you will have you do.

Preparation is not always easy. You may not know you're being prepared, but you are in some way. Those choices put before you are choices that God places for you to be prepared.

Each year we get another class at ABC. They're moved to apply. I don't think it's by chance they give up a year of their life. Michael, and you're right down there, two of our graduates there, was a chance? I don't think so. They both do important work for us now. Do a good job. Micah did a great sermon at Better New Speeches. A little fast, though. More pauses, Micah. But all of us, God puts us in place in opportunities because there's things to go on.

God has a plan for each of us, each of you. Our skill sets are all different. Our goal is the same, being God's kingdom, to serve with Him and with Jesus Christ. Turn to John 17, if you would. Satan's world, with all its problems, magnified in these times, COVID to me, with the mandates and things, and the requirements show us how the beast power is going to rise and control our lives as much as possible.

John 17, in talking to his disciples, verse 14, I have given them your word. The world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as 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. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy word is truth. We have one book that we can truly believe.

You have sent me into the world. Even so, I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes, I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. That's the sermon that showed Christ's blood paid for us, so we can have that truth and be sanctified. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word. Every character in the Bible is unique, with unique preparation for the assignment they have them from the future. In a world that values winning over character, you are asked to build character.

In a world that values outer beauty over inner beauty, you are growing in that inner spiritual beauty of truth. In a world that values accumulating wealth over giving and service to others, you are told by Christ to be a servant. This world and its values is about to end. God has called you and me to be part of a new world order. God has prepped you in ways you don't even know. Things that we will find out over spirit banks will probably surprise us. I know with me, my dad died. I went to Imperial for 12 years.

I knew the Scripture as well. I knew all the players when I became Mr. Armstrong's aide. Every time he'd ask for something somewhere, I knew who to call. All the little pieces of things are not necessarily random acts. At the time, I thought they were. And you usually do. But God knows what He has for you to do at different times to help out with certain purposes. But the campus would never expect to be doing what He's doing now when He was part of Mozambique and South Africa and here in the Portuguese language.

I mean, no kid thinks of something like that. A whole different life ahead. And each of us, each of you, could tell a story the same way. Something God has. Can God say of you, now I know that you're still alive? So not yet. Not yet. Getting close for some of us. It often means that we have to do the hard things over what seems easy. It means choosing right over wrong. It means choosing truth over the lives of human reason. It means faith and trust that you're being prepared for something much bigger than you can know. Moses didn't know what he was being prepared for. For a 400-year-old prophecy given to his ancestor Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

His 80 years of preparation. He didn't know. Just as Joseph didn't know. But what they went through prepared them for God's use. At that time, and certainly in the future, God gives you opportunities to prove Him. And as you face these life events in your life, I would say to you, don't let go.

Thank you for letting me join you today. It's always a pleasure to speak to God's people. And I hope Michelle is able to keep up with me. And it's been a good day, good evening to all of you online. We will talk in the Q&A.