The Walk

Wow! You know, how beautiful both the offertory there and that special music.

You know, it's just such a wonderful way to worship God, isn't it? Through the gifts He gives us of music, and so I hope all those that do perform and that do bring that to the service, I hope they know the vital part that that plays and our worship to God and honoring Him. So thank you very much for those two performances. Well, God chose a people, a physical nation, the nation of Israel to then have a relationship with, and recorded in those details of that relationship then. Those things play an integral part then as we of spiritual Israel look to see what a relationship with God then looks like. And there's deep incredible symbolism as we know as He rescued them out of the clutches of their slavery, and of course He rescues us out of our slavery, out of our slavery to sin. The first festival to pass over this festival then brings our attention to the fact that we can't escape, we can be delivered from this bondage, and escape the penalties brought on by whatever way that we were walking that was in opposition to God. And now just as the Israelites were required to have their homes covered by the blood of the Lamb on their doorposts, well you and I then are required to have the evidence of the true blood of the true Lamb on the doorpost of our lives, but now is a need for us not to stay in the home, to stay in the house where the blood protected us. Just as the Israelites, we are to go forward, we are to go out in a particular way, in a particular direction, and so we begin to walk. So the title of today's message is The Walk. You can begin to turn over to Romans 8. Romans 8. What's interesting about, excuse me, Deuteronomy 8, excuse me, Deuteronomy 8 in verse 1. What's interesting about Deuteronomy 8 is that it describes the walk that we are on. Within just a few scriptures of this chapter, it is able to surmise the totality of our walk with God from the time that Jesus Christ's blood has been applied to us. And it's an interesting perspective here as Moses is now speaking to the next generation, the younger generation, and he's speaking about the fathers that went before them, describing their walk and what they are to learn from those 40 years. It gives such a precious understanding here. So we're gonna read chapter 8 here, and I want us to see and appreciate and take in the simplicity of this chapter and just truly focus in. If you're looking to make sense of your life after Jesus Christ's blood has been applied to you, well here it is. Deuteronomy 8 in verse 1.

It says, every commandment which I give you today, you must be careful to observe that you may live and multiply and that you may go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers. And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness. Why? To humble you and to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. Let's stop there for a moment. Why has God rescued us? Why has God pulled us out of this world? Why? So that he can know what is right here.

What is in our hearts? So that he can know that we have the heart needed. So that he can know that we have the character required then to enter into this promised land. Verse 3, so he humbled you and allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your father's know but that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord your garments did not wear out nor did your foot swell these 40 years in other words I was able to keep you going I did what was needed to keep you going verse 5 you know in your heart that as a man chastens his son so the Lord your God chastens you stop there for a moment this Greek word chastens here is actually yasar Y-A-W-S-A-R and its primary meaning is to instruct so verse 5 could be read you should know in your heart that as a man instructs his son so the Lord your God instructs you verse 6 therefore you should keep the commandments of the Lord to walk in his ways and to fear him why for the Lord is bringing you into the good land a land of brooks of water fountains and springs of flow out of valleys and hills a land where wheat and barley of vines and figs and pomegranates a land of olive oil and honey and land in which you will eat bread without scarcity in which you will lack nothing a land whose stones are ironed and out of those hills you can dig copper and when you have eaten and are full then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you but beware verse 11 beware in this walk we're still on this walk beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments his judgments and his statutes which I command you today lest when you have eaten and are full and I've built beautiful houses to dwell in them and when your herds and your flocks multiply and your silver and your gold are multiplied and all you have is multiplied when your heart is lifting up and then you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage who led you through the great and terrible wilderness this world in which there were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water who brought water for you out of the flinty rock and who fed you in the wilderness with manna which your fathers did not know that he might humble you and that he might test you why to do you good in the end then you say in your heart well my power in my mind my hand of gaming this wealth and you really should remember that the Lord your God for it is he who gives you the power and the wealth that he may establish his covenant which he swore with your fathers as it is in this day and it shall be if any of if any by any means you forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and serve them and worship them well I testify you against you today that you shall surely perish as the nations which the Lord destroys before you you shall also perish because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God in that incredible what a chapter it's really what it's all about this chapter captures the walk of God's chosen then it captures the walk of God's chosen today it's just so clear so simple so profound so daunting so hopeful so challenging so rewarding what is the core here of this walk what is being made clear here from the time that you've been rescued by his blood well then there is nothing in this life nothing in this life that shouldn't solely revolve around our obedience to him in this walk inspired from our Savior himself here he has instructed us now on building a relationship with him and God the Father through and by the means of our obedience nothing else in this life everything in this life is worthless compared to our sole objective of building a relationship with God through our obedience here in this chapters it surmises the totality of our walk the totality of our life after we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior this test this walk is a test to see if we will obey him during the good times during the blessings of receiving beautiful houses Fox gold silver all those times in which everything is multiplied in your life it's a test to see if you will continue to obey him and his commandments during the hard times when we're hungry and thirsty when there's fiery snakes when there's scorpions it's a test to see if you will continue to obey him and his commandments with all that we face in this life and in this walk no matter what is before us will we still obey this is the walk and so these holy days here we ask well how are we walking is our walk leading us to then the promised land you know what's interesting is that a lot of the world cannot see Jesus Christ with these words that speak of him testing us through our obedience many cannot see Jesus Christ in these words especially verse 20 where it says you shall perish because you were not obedient to the Lord your God they just can't see Jesus Christ giving this message of obedience obedience obedience would they be shocked to know that these words are coming from the same one who would later become Jesus Christ the one who would the same one here who would go on to allow himself to be tortured and killed so that everlasting death could be removed from us for our lack of obedience Christ is the God and spokesman of the Old Testament just as sure as he is the Savior in the New Testament look over to turn over to John 8 and verse 56 here John 8 and verse 56 this is Jesus Christ here speaking to the Jews of this day and he's revealing this incredible true truth here so John 8 and verse 56 and he says to them your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and it was glad and he was glad how is that possible this of course to the Jews of that day it was mind-boggling because the patriarch Abraham lived around 2,000 years before Christ's death I mean excuse me his birth and so those that heard him say this in verse 57 they said you're not even 50 years old how have you seen Abraham and to this question then Christ responds in verse 58 most assuredly I say to you before Abraham was I am so what is Christ saying here he's declaring his existence preceded that of Abraham and Christ used these words I am and the Jews of that day were very familiar with these words because these words go back to Moses's first encounter with God at the burning bush let's see that let's turn back to Exodus 3 in verse 13 Exodus 3 in verse 13 this is a incredible declaration here that he's making Exodus 3 verse 13 will break into scripture here this is where Moses was concerned how the Israelites were going to accept him now that God had given him the commission to lead the Israelites out of slavery so Exodus 3 verse 13 it says then Moses said to God indeed when I come to the children of Israel and say to them the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they say to me well what is his name what shall I say to them well look at God's reply here verse 14 and God said to Moses I am who I am and he said thus you shall say to the children of Israel I am has sent me to you so Christ responds here with the I am you tell him the I am has sent me to you the fact is Jesus Christ is the I am of the Bible he was the guiding rock who was with Moses and led the children of Israel out of the wilderness out of Egypt and he is the one speaking this command of obedience obedience obedience once they've been delivered this speaking obedience about their walk once they've been freed from their bondage he is the everlasting Word who sits at the right hand of God the Father he is the Creator he is the one who would go on to thunder the ten commandments from his own breath and they might say it directly the world but most believe that the God of the Old Testament was this angry mean type of grandfather type who dealt harshly with the Israelites after he released them from slavery surely this God here looks nothing like our Savior who they say did away with the law they say that the Old Testament God surely is not the one the loving God who in the New Testament did away with the need to obey they think somehow Christ the Son of God knew better than his father and he came to set things straight make things better bring a more loving message just believe in me there's no need to obey and that he preached just believe in me with your lips no no reason to do what is required would they be shocked to know that this is the same God the I am himself who brought this message of not only love and hope but also the message of obedience the I himself the the Savior that led the children of Israel all the way out he lead he led the people then and he leads us today and it's with a message that it's not okay to just walk however you would like to walk he leads us with a message that he says this is how you should walk obedience to my law the same law I thundered at Mount Sinai will you and I then walk in a way of obedience thereby honoring his deliverance of us from death or when the test come when the test come we begin to doubt and maybe we're not walking just completely center we begin to work our way out on the outer edges and are following him but he says straight and narrow is the path and we must be careful to not begin to question the one who has led us out of slavery the tests are here and there's more coming determination if we have the obedient character needed to be given eternal life is occurring right now right now and you're in my life and in this walk sometimes many times we will experience absolute joyous days and then the next day might bring just the opposite but both are coming to determine if we will remember the one who rescued us with his blood and remember the requirement to walk in a certain way as we heard the newness of life the way of obedience you know every day the Israelites were expected to face whatever was put in front of them in accordance then to God's law they were to come out of Egypt not carrying any of the leaven that they were instructed to leave behind and they failed we know they fell then we're going to see here that despite experiencing this incredible deliverance by God they allowed human reasoning speculation lack of faith wrong attitudes wrong priorities to creep into their lives in such a short period of time after that experiencing that incredible miracle of deliverance God was looking to see if they would have the faith in him and that faith would be shown through their obedience it was a test plain and simple look forward here to Exodus 15 and verse 23 Exodus 15 and verse 23 after three days in the wilderness no water they would have no water now Exodus 15 and verse 23 now when they came to Moray and they could not drink the waters of Moray for they were bitter therefore the name of it was called Moray and the people complained against Moses saying what shall we drink so we cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree and he cast it into the waters and the waters were made sweet and there he made a statute and an ordinance with them and there he tested them and said if you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight give ear to his commandments and keep all of his statutes I will put none of these diseases on you which I have brought on to the Egyptians for I am the Lord who heals you so he says okay I want you to learn something from this I can see that you've already forgotten your deliverance insert your name here insert my name here you've already forgotten your deliverance what I did to rescue you from the bondage in such a short period of time I delivered you I was the one who delivered you I'm not going to leave you the required all I require of you to heed my voice he says look at Exodus 16 in verse 2 first it was no water now no food Exodus 16 in verse 2 it says in the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness again and the children of Israel said to them oh that we may have died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we set by pots of meat and when we ate bread to the fool for you have brought us into the wilderness to kill us this whole assembly with hunger and the Lord said to Moses behold then I will rain bread from heaven for you and all the people should go out and gather a certain quota every day that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not their entire walk was a test of their obedience our entire walk is a test of our obedience the whole thing everything that's put in front of us to the actual walk itself if you were exiting out of if you were coming out of Egypt you would have started off in a direction and you would have been then continue to make turns in direction and you'd soon realize that where you were being led would certainly not be the direction that you would want to go because you'd quickly see that this direction that you are being led you were going to be trapped by the wilderness and by the sea you would never get to the promised land the way that Moses was leading you being led by God and you'd quickly conclude that the course you were on this wasn't reasonable all this is not the direction that we should go and there's the doubt a little bit of leavening comes in smallest bit of leavening obviously Moses and God are not really leading you in the right direction and so that's human reasoning then begins to shape how you were following and so now when you were before in the middle maybe now you've still following but maybe you've worked yourself out to the outer edges looking backwards beginning maybe to doubt a little bit beginning to question bringing a little bit of that leaven that you were instructed to leave in Egypt and we can say I feel justified with my action or reaction I feel justified with this attitude on this situation because I can see that this is not the direction that we should be going I can see that so once that doubt ends or ends once we begin to reason and question we find ourselves then on the outer edges maybe then even beginning to go the opposite direction the wrong direction we say I don't see God's hand in this look at the problems we face today I think I'll continue to follow but I think I'll might make decisions along the way look at all the problems we face I'll need to start making decisions on what I deem as being acceptable and we can certainly then find ourselves then on the fringes because the things that are put in front of us then caused us to doubt versus have the the reaction and for it to produce more obedience in us and with we don't realize it as Deuteronomy described it is Jesus Christ himself who's allowing those things to be put in front of us it's Jesus Christ himself who's causing those things to be in front of us it's a test to see if we'll obey in the end or not you know do we see the clarity in chapter 8 no water is supposed to happen no food is supposed to happen fiery snakes and scorpions are supposed to happen it's part of our test as we walk and enter into the promised land don't let these things shake you don't let these things shake you instead have these things producing you a strengthening of your obedience have these things move you closer to God not to the outer edges walking in this position on the outer edges we know allows that little bit of leavening to come in and it's truly spiritual death to us because I think sometimes myself included the magnitude of the symbolism that leaven has to our sin you know it could be lost on this journey but just a little bit of leaven just a little bit 11 can then filtrate to our whole spiritual state and God's looking he's reached out to us and he specifically delivered you out from under those things which have brought you death and now you're bringing those things with you he sees us doubting him can you imagine what he thinks after he's just released us from this bondage turn over to Ezekiel 20 and verse 5 Ezekiel 20 and verse 5 God has specific words for us when we find ourselves looking back doubting questioning his hand in the things in our life Ezekiel 20 and verse 5 and these are pretty tough words here Ezekiel 20 verse 5 he says to them thus says the Lord of God on the day that I chose Israel and raised my hand in an oath to the descendants of the house of Jacob speaking to you and I by the way and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt I raised my hand in an oath to them saying I am the Lord your God on the day I raised your hand my hand in an oath to them to bring them out of the land of Egypt to bring you out of sin into the land which I have searched out for them flowing with milk and honey the glory of all the lands his offer of eternal life to us and then he said to them each of you throw away your abominations which are before his eyes do not defy yourself with the idols of Egypt I am the Lord your God but despite all of that they rebelled against me and would not obey me they did not cast away the abominations which were before their eyes they did not forsake the idols of Egypt then I said I will pour my fury on them and fulfill my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt I reached out to you I made an oath with you and you still doubt you still make compromises your response to my incredible act of deliverance was to hold on to your abominations you chose to take with you the leaven which I instructed you to keep there in Egypt you had other idols other priorities that took more importance than your relationship with me you know these are really harsh words here that Christ is using and you know these harsh words is really where the world then finds what seems to be a disconnect from that of the loving Savior shown in the New Testament but you see that there is no disconnect if we have a particular understanding about the word the one to whom would become Jesus Christ there is a reason for his words of obedience and laying down consequences for failing to be obedient to his commandments you see you have to understand that he has seen it all before Christ has seen firsthand what a little leaven can do he has seen the walk done in a way that begins to creep out to the edges and then turns into complete opposition to following him he has seen firsthand the incredible and unimaginable damage that sin can do let's turn to John 8 verse 37 we will uncover here in John 8 verse 37 the understanding as to why Christ is putting forth such a strong warning to physical Israel and a spiritual Israel today you and I John 8 verse 37 the power of sin the damage it can do John 8 verse 37 he says I know that you are Abraham's descendants but you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you verse 38 I speak what I have seen with my father and you do and you do what you have seen with your father stop right there he's saying that my father and I have seen the originator and root cause as to why you now look to murder me first 38 again I speak what I've seen with my father and you do what you have seen with your father they answered to him and said Abraham is our father and Jesus said to them if Abraham was if you were Abraham's children you would do the works of Abraham but now you seek to kill me a man who has told you the truth which I have heard from God Abraham did not do this actually you do the deeds of your father and they said to him well we were not born of fornication we have but one father God and Jesus said to them if God were your father you would love me for I proceeded forth and came from God nor have I come by myself but he who sent me why don't you understand my speech here because you're not able to listen to my word verse 44 the reality is you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaks a lie he speaks from his own resources where he is a liar and the father of it but because I tell you the truth you do not believe me which of you convicts me of sin and if I tell you the truth why do you not believe me he who is of God hears God's words therefore you do not hear because you are not of God and here's a key verse in our study today we get a glimpse here as to why Christ is so adamant with his instruction of obedience and so absolute with his warnings here that hit to his chosen after I've rescued you from slavery the key verse here verse 38 I speak what I've seen so we remember that God of course Christ is the Word and he was with God since the beginning so what has he seen what is he seeing starting with verse 44 then within these few scriptures he begins to hearken back to the time in which sin began let's look here closely and see what this knowledge of that Christ is trying to give them here again verse 44 you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him so Christ was there at the beginning the beginning of all things and now he's speaking from the beginning of speaking about the development of this now murderer the development of a being who now has no truth left in him no no obedience left remains in him what a statement it's as if Christ is recounting back to that time in which Lucifer this incredible created being the first time in which he stepped outside of obedience to his law you can almost see Christ thinking back here thinking about the time in which Lucifer worked himself out to the outer edges in his walk with God thinking back to that first time in which that first leaven infiltrated Lucifer have we thought about the fact that Jesus Christ was there to witness this incredibly tragic and sad transformation here he was there from the beginning of being full of life and law and love and obedience and humbleness to that now of being a murderer where no truth even remains with him anymore so he says you better believe I'm going to give my chosen strict warnings you better believe I'm going to repeat this message of obedience over and over and over to them because why because I love them dearly and I know that walking in my law is the only way that's going to protect them from the same fate and from the same fall of this once beautiful being that I knew he says you don't understand my speech here my words you're not even able to comprehend because right now you're displaying attributes as if it's almost as if you were a child of Satan as if he's your father that's the attributes in which you're showing go up to verse 19 here John 8 verse 19 and they said to him well where is your father and Jesus answered you neither know me nor my father if you had known me you would have known my father also so Christ attributes then showed that he was of the family of God the true father his character what he looked like what he moved like what he spoke life he was God anyone who met his father and then heard Jesus Christ speak and watch his actions they would have said oh you must be the father's son they would know because everything about him resembled the father and then conversely then if we have wrong attitudes that get it they come in in our walk and how we're following God then we can resemble more of having attributes of that of Satan as if he's our father it's disturbing to think about they had been carrying this leaven so long with them walking on the outer edges they they couldn't even hear these words anymore so Christ is putting forth this question whose father do you belong to in this observation this is the warning he's given that some of our actions then could be actually pleasing to Satan the devil you know Satan at one time followed God just like you and I but then he had that incredible tragic transformation let's turn over to Ezekiel 28 Ezekiel 28 and see the beginnings of this sinful creature we will see the first bit 11 begin to take root in Lucifer and we'll see this symbolically through this description of the the king of Tyre here is equal 28 and verse 11 he says describing Lucifer moreover the word of the Lord came to me saying the Son of man take up lamentation for the king of Tyre and say to him thus says the Lord God you were the seal of perfection full of wisdom perfect in beauty you were in Eden the Garden of Eden every precious stone was your covering the sardius topaz diamond burrow onyx and Jasper sapphire turquoise and emerald with gold the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day that you were created you were the anointed carob who covers I established you you were in the holy mountain of God you walked back and forth in the mist of fiery stones you were perfect in all your ways and all that you were created until iniquity was found in you you had it all you were created lacking nothing and we could think of how then God looks down and describes us I pulled you out of this world as a chosen first fruit one of the few chosen first fruits I pulled you specifically out of this world I applied the blood of my son to you to specifically you I've offered you eternal life with the power now living in you with the power of my blood you have now been now made perfect lacking nothing but then as verse 15 described Lucifer you were perfect in all your ways until iniquity was found in you and so those harsh words that Christ puts forth to the Israelites the harsh words that Christ was putting forth to those in his day that you are of your father the devil we now have this perspective we know what his eyes have seen verse 16 here continuing still speaking of Satan here by the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within and you sin therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God and I destroyed you Oh covering care from the midst of the fiery stones your heart was lifted up because of your beauty you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor I cast you down to the ground I laid you before kings that they might gaze at you you defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities by the iniquity of your trading therefore I brought you fire from your mist and I devoured you and it devoured you and I turned you to ashes upon the earth and in the sight of all those who saw you all who knew you among the people's were astonished at you you became a horror and she'll be no more forever so here is a word here that's reoccurring in verse 16 and 18 and it's the word trading and this actually comes from the verb meaning to go about and trade gossip from the same Hebrew word as tell bear slander spreading division and so Satan was able to use deceitful slanderous words then to take with him and influence a third of the angels and so if that's applied to us we can see that how we are walking how we are walking can even have unintentional consequences on those who are walking with us because we know we're not moving out of Egypt alone so when our walk if we're not walking in the same manner that we should we can not only affect our salvation as to entering into the Promised Land but it can also have an effect on others we often don't think about this or talk about the third of the angels that turned from God because of this example and influence of Satan it's tragic those angels were precious to God it's tragic but you and I can have that same effect the same negative influence in how we're walking same damage and effects and God especially despises this the severity and seriousness in which God views how our walk affects others is actually shown in Moses himself it's actually shown in his walk let's turn back to numbers 20 numbers 20 you know Moses did incredible acts in God's name incredible acts representing God in his walk but we're gonna see here that through Moses is an incredible lesson for you and I after we've accepted our deliverance out of sin made possible through the sacrifice there can be no compromise in our walk not only for our own salvation but because it can have an effect on those whom we're walking with here so let's see here Romans 20 and verse 7 let me let me set the stage here the Romans 20 verse 7 the Israelites were at the end of their 40-year journey and their voice of complaint was just rising up now to these deafening degrees and in Moses's ears here and we're gonna see that Moses then allowed that to have leaven then creep into him and it affected then how he was walking following God so numbers 20 verse 7 then the Lord spoke to Moses saying take the rod you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together speak to the rock before their eyes and it will yield its water thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock and give drink to the congregation of their animals so Moses took the rod before the Lord and he command that he commanded him and here's the moment in which he disgraced God in his obedience verse 10 and most in Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock and he said to them here now you rebels must we bring water for you out of this rock and then Moses lifts up his hand and struck the rock twice boom boom with his rod and the water came out abundantly and the congregation and their animals drink then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and said because you do not believe in me to hallow me in the eyes of the children of Israel therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them here's the key words here verse 12 because you did not believe in me to what to hallow me in the eyes of the children of Israel Moses look what effect that you can have on others by your walk by your actions by your disobedience the effect that you can have by you disobeying me and they see this is incredible how you walk affects them Moses and now you've disgraced me and disobeyed me and so then God hands down this incredible punishment and decrees that he will not be allowed to go into then the promised land how can that be think of all the years that Moses followed God and walked uprightly representing God think of all the years of his walk in obedience what a steep consequence here you know I could never for the longest time get my head around this because it just seems so harsh for God not to allow Moses to get into the promised land when he was right there I couldn't understand it I saw the disobedience yes I get it but the Senate it seems so small but I finally was able to get it this punishment handed bound by Christ here really is quite clear once you realize what the eyes of Jesus Christ have seen once you realize that and have that perspective he has seen the loss of a beautiful being and a third of his angels lost by a little small amount of leavening that's how it starts so you better believe he was going to hand down an incredibly harsh consequence on Moses why because Christ loved Moses dearly and Christ knew he needed to give Moses the best opportunity now to change and turn from this hatred that had now filled his heart so he was going to do all he could to prevent Moses from going down the same path that Lucifer did that once beautiful being well and thankfully we know it worked and Moses turned from his disobedience and went on to prepare in the end of his life prepare Joshua for the leadership into the Promised Land and as his death we know the Lord himself actually buried Moses the Lord loved him dearly because he came back to obedience he remembered who was the deliverer turn over to Hebrews 11 verse 24 in conclusion Hebrews 11 and verse 24 this is a beautiful passage here verse 24 through 27 Hebrews 11 this is the described here is the totality of Moses's walk here described this is how we want our walk described by God at the end so simple so profound Hebrews 11 verse 24 it says by faith Moses when he came became of age refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin 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 let's stop there how beautiful is that this is how we want our walk described at the end of our life you know God understands that we will have sin that we won't always walk perfectly but he's looking for our true desire to be sustained by and led by his every word and as Deuteronomy 8 says he's looking for us to remember Christ sacrificed by keeping the commandments that he gave to us on that day he washed us clean with his blood and wrote those commandments on his heart on our hearts rescued us from death you know there's nothing more important than how we walk once Christ's sacrifice has been applied in our life as a group let's encourage one another as we go through times when we will thirst times when we will hunger times when there will be fiery snakes times when there will be scorpions in our path let's courage one another that God at Christ has told us that these things are to be it's how it is to be in this physical life we can expect these struggles to be put before us it's part of his instructing it's part of his preparing it's part of his test as we were on this walk entering into the promised land we can expect wonderful moments we can expect troubles but let's thank God for both and thank him for the opportunity to even be in this walk even have an opportunity to be in this walk let's rededicate ourselves to having the success of keeping this leaven out of our lives that we have now put out to show God and Christ our love for him rescuing us through our obedience and be encouraged that a good land is coming a promised land is coming let's walk to it together