Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Good morning. How's everybody doing this morning?
[00:00:03] That's not very good. How y' all doing this morning?
[00:00:06] Tyler, how are you doing this morning?
[00:00:08] Okay, good. I couldn't get him to respond, so I was not gonna let him go. Well, you know, in preparation for the sermon this morning, I was reminded of 20 years ago.
[00:00:17] Twenty years ago, my wife and I, Danna and I walked away from everything comfortable, everything that was safe and secure and comfortable to plant this church. And. And as we did it, you know, oftentimes we look back and talk about it. We just skim over as if it was all crystal clear. And there was this map, and we put it in gps and we knew exactly where to go. And that is not at all how it happens in real life.
[00:00:41] In real life, a lot of the twists and turns are just major, one decision after another, and you just wish God would write it out and fill in all the blanks, and then you wouldn't have to have faith, right? You could just follow the instructions.
[00:00:57] But to the best of our ability, we would say we tried to just obey one step at a time.
[00:01:04] And things were going well. We started with 10 people in our living room. We grew to about 12, and then about to 25. And then a group came, kind of as a group, and we grew to about, I'm guessing, 30, 40, 50, I don't know. But we started. By the time about a year hits, you start to understand. I started to understand who I am as a pastor. We start to understand what the model is and how we're gonna do church. A lot of the clarity starts to come of, okay, this is who we are and how we're gonna do things.
[00:01:38] And it was about that time that the church split in half.
[00:01:44] Half the church left.
[00:01:46] And I had read in books that that was gonna happen. It says usually about year one, you lose about half your church. And I arrogantly said, well, not this.
[00:01:54] You know, we are way better than average. Well, nope, it happened. And so it was that time, man, I was. My head started spinning because, you know, you walk away from everything, and I'm just like, okay, what? And it wasn't ugly. It was just, you know what? It's clear this is not what is going to be for everybody. Once you have clarity, that happens. And so I start questioning things.
[00:02:16] Jerry was my spiritual mentor. Jerry Planchok. He was in Portugal opening a Libby glass plant in Portugal. And so I felt like I had no idea. I had lots of questions. I'm starting to question things, you know, God, did we miss Something. God, are we in the right place? God, are we doing this right? God, did we make a wrong step? God, where are you?
[00:02:38] I mean, we've been obeying you one step at a time, and we've left everything to follow you and to do what you said. We followed the cloud, we followed the fire. By night, we have obeyed you. And now here we are, empty and thirsty.
[00:02:56] Maybe that's where you are today.
[00:02:58] You say, I've just been trying to obey the Lord one step at a time, and my marriage is just fractured.
[00:03:07] My kid, I tried my best, and they're just wandering.
[00:03:12] I've done everything I know to do, and my health is failing.
[00:03:18] Maybe that's where you are.
[00:03:20] And the question that's lingering, that's hovering over your life, is a lot of questions.
[00:03:28] What happened to this? What did that? But really, what's underneath the question under the questions, if we're honest, is, God, where are you?
[00:03:37] Are you with me or not?
[00:03:40] Turn in your Bibles to Exodus, chapter 17.
[00:03:44] We're going to look at verses one through seven.
[00:03:48] And that is the question that hangs over this text. God, are you with me or not?
[00:03:57] Now we're reading their three months out of Egypt, a people who have just been delivered by the blood of the lamb, the parting of the Red Sea, a people who are obeying the Lord one step at a time.
[00:04:12] And listen to the question they ask. It says in verse one, all the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness, the wilderness of sin or Sinai, by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, encamped at Rephidim.
[00:04:32] But there was no water for the people to drink.
[00:04:36] Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, give us water to drink.
[00:04:41] And Moses said to them, why you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?
[00:04:46] But the people thirsted there for water. And the people grumbled against Moses and said, why did you bring us out of Egypt? To kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?
[00:04:59] So Moses cried out to the Lord, what shall I do with this people? They're almost ready to stone me.
[00:05:06] And the Lord said to Moses, pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile and go, behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.
[00:05:33] And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And. And he called the name of the place massa and meribah because of the quarreling of the people of Israel and because they tested the Lord by saying, is the Lord among us or not?
[00:05:53] Father, we come to you and to your word this morning with thirsty souls.
[00:06:01] Speak to us. Lord, open our eyes to see what you want us to see in our spiritual ears, to hear what you want us to hear.
[00:06:11] Give us hearts to be ready to receive the nourishment from your Holy Spirit. For our souls, it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
[00:06:22] All right, just a quick word on the text. We're in a unit of scripture that goes from about midway of chapter 15 to 18. And when you read that we're in the wilderness narratives, it's a unit that's intentional to see that this is a unit that fits together because it's like Lessons in the Desert. If you were to put a chapter title over it, it's Lessons in the Wilderness Lessons in the Desert. We're seeing the lessons that God is teaching Israel as they're walking along through this wilderness experience. And it's going to actually parallel many things that we see in the next section. After the Sinai, there are 40 years of wandering until they get to the Promised Land. But the thing I want to point out is this is an intentional section that we can step back and real that Israel is on a journey to a destination.
[00:07:13] The wilderness is not the destination.
[00:07:16] The wilderness is the journey. They're on to the destination. And as we think about our own life, it is so hard to remember that.
[00:07:27] It is so hard to remember because we're fleshly earthly people that this is not the final destination.
[00:07:35] This is actually the wilderness.
[00:07:37] And the problem comes when we think that the wilderness is supposed to be like the destination.
[00:07:43] But if we'll remember that there is a God who is working in our lives through this wilderness wanderings to do great things in our life, to prepare us for the eternal destination, for our good that will benefit us eternally. It puts us in a better place of mind to think about what we're reading here. This is God doing some things to bless the people of God, to equip the people, to test the people for good during this journey towards the Promised Land, ultimately.
[00:08:20] So we need to keep that in mind as we think about ourselves.
[00:08:23] The question that lingers over our heart is God, where are you in the middle of these wilderness sufferings that we experience? Let's work through the text in four moves and let the weight of that question stay. I don't want to answer it too quick because the text builds and it starts with this idea. The first thing we see is the wilderness is by design.
[00:08:48] The wilderness is by design.
[00:08:53] Verse 1. All the congregation of the people, this massive, millions of people, like this army, language like that, this massive group of people moved from the wilderness of Sin or Sinai by stages. It's like this military staging of, okay, the troops are going here, and then you stage them out as according to design.
[00:09:15] And they're doing this by the commandment of the Lord. The Lord in the cloud and the fire has been leading them every step of the way. And then he leads them to camp at Rephidim.
[00:09:28] They set up camp, they start to rest.
[00:09:31] They reach for the jug of water and it starts to hit them.
[00:09:36] There's no water.
[00:09:38] There's no water.
[00:09:40] Wait a minute. I thought this is where God led us.
[00:09:44] I thought this is where the cloud stopped and it's hovering. It's right there.
[00:09:49] What in the world?
[00:09:52] Moses has been leading this people one step at a time. The wilderness is by design.
[00:10:02] Don't miss that.
[00:10:04] You know, I've never had to struggle with water at this level. But I will tell you, and I want us to think about it, this is real. Like, this isn't just theoretical, theological. The people of God were dying of thirst.
[00:10:18] And the closest I can relate to this is on those mini mission trips to South Sudan, Africa, in the depths of the bush of South Sudan, Africa.
[00:10:29] Let me tell you what happens if you don't get enough water. After 2, 48 hours of flying on airplane after airplane, after 12 hour flight, 8 hour flight, 4 hour flight, 3 hour flight, you will be so dehydrated, you will be suffering.
[00:10:48] And then when you get there, if you're not careful about the water you drink. One time we had a trip where some of the kids from the area had put their hands in our jug and someone got parasites from that. And I mean, they wish they were dead. They were hurting so bad.
[00:11:05] All of a sudden, real quick, your life revolves around having water and having clean water.
[00:11:13] So we need to understand this is not some. Oh, they're such a whiny people. Because we always do that, like, oh, they're always complaining. It's like they literally have their kids and their livestock and everything and they thought they were following God. They get to the camp where the cloud and the fire is hovering over and they are about to see their kids die of drought and to see their animals die. They are suffering, brother, suffering like I've never experienced.
[00:11:45] And they followed God into this place of suffering.
[00:11:52] Don't miss the reality that we see in this text, the author, Moses, is intentionally saying, they're following the commandments of the Lord here.
[00:12:02] They're not off track.
[00:12:03] They're following him.
[00:12:07] We need to understand obedience does not exempt God's people from need. In fact, obedience often leads us into places of great need.
[00:12:18] Let me say that again. Obedience does not exempt God's people from need.
[00:12:23] In fact, obedience often leads us into places of great need.
[00:12:29] By God's design, Jared's done a good job of trying to balance the ditches. You got prosperity gospel and you've got kind of this place of nihilism or nihilistic behavior that doesn't matter. It's hard because there's. We live in a fallen world. Some things are explained by that. We sin and cause suffering on ourselves. But there is a reality that we need to understand that God leads us to places of great need.
[00:13:00] Don't believe the lie that if you just believe Jesus, it's all going to go good, because I promise you, that will be terribly destructive to your life.
[00:13:10] So God does lead his people to places of great need.
[00:13:16] They obeyed. They're in need. And now Moses lets us see what's in their heart. The second movement is the test revealed their heart.
[00:13:25] The test revealed their heart. Look what we see in their heart. In verse two, therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said, give us water to drink. And Moses said to them, why do you quarrel with me?
[00:13:38] Why do you test Yahweh?
[00:13:43] But the people thirst there for water? And the people grumbled against Moses and said, why do you bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? And so Moses cried out to the Lord, what shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.
[00:14:00] And that's because there's this whole courtroom scene that's kind of being set up here, as we'll see, with the witness of the elders. Bring them. And they're charged. They're complaining. They're grumbling is language. That's basically they are. Are making an official legal charge against God.
[00:14:17] You are trying to kill us.
[00:14:21] They are trying to stone Moses.
[00:14:25] Perhaps it's because capital punishment in their day was for blasphemy. So perhaps they were saying, you've blasphemed us. You said you were hearing from God. You said that that was leading of God and you've lied. This is blasphemy, and we're going to stone you to death.
[00:14:43] So that's what's in their heart.
[00:14:45] In their heart. Is this complete accusation that not only is the man of God, the God appointed leader, leading us bad, but we can't even believe God is good.
[00:14:58] God's trying to kill us.
[00:15:00] God's abandoned us.
[00:15:03] And so they are accusing God.
[00:15:08] Moses says what they said about him was tantamount to them saying it's about the Lord. And they were testing the Lord.
[00:15:15] So notice the inversion that happens at Marah, the place before, and at Manna, the place we've been reading about before when the manna was provided and the bitter water was dealt with. We saw the text. Said God was testing them. Right, God was testing them.
[00:15:33] What was he testing them? He was testing them to see if they would keep his word, if they would. This whole section is about the importance of heeding God's word.
[00:15:40] His word brings sweet life.
[00:15:44] Heed his instructions and he will be your sustenance as manna from heaven. Heed the word of God. He's been testing them to show the importance of heeding the good, beautiful, sweet, satisfying word of God. And now they're testing him to see if he will keep his word.
[00:16:02] So they've crossed a line. Now they're like, who are you to test me? Are you going to keep your word to me? They're reverting the situation here as if they're the God and God's got to prove himself to them.
[00:16:18] So what we also see happening, and this is what happens to us when we're struggling.
[00:16:24] They also rewrite history. Talk about a revisionist history. This is them rewriting the journey. I mean, think about what they've been through. Think about the incredible miraculous work God's done to deliver them. Break the bonds of slavery, the plagues, the provision of the lamb that provided escape from death of the firstborn, the crossing of the Red Sea.
[00:16:48] Miracle after miracle after miracle. Now, as they're riddled with fear and uncertainty and doubting the goodness and the presence of God, they rewrite all of that. You've just brought us out here to kill us.
[00:17:03] Where are you, God? When we started the church plant, we literally had someone cut a check the day we were praying for provision.
[00:17:10] Literally the day we prayed provision. As a church, we needed $100,000. Someone called me, not in our church, said, come to my house. God said, give you this, gave us $100,000 check.
[00:17:23] And then just give me a little time. And I'm like, where are you, God?
[00:17:29] I thought you told us to do this. We rewrite history.
[00:17:33] We write him out of the scenes as if he hasn't been providing for us every step of the way.
[00:17:41] That's exactly what they're doing.
[00:17:43] So what we see is this, the gravity of unbelief. Unbelief does not merely doubt God's future provision.
[00:17:52] It does that. But that's not all it does. Unbelief also revises God's past faithfulness.
[00:17:59] God, are you going to provide for me? Because you sure haven't. I remember this. I remember that. I remember this.
[00:18:06] It's like, wait, we rewrote history and took God out of it.
[00:18:10] When fear takes over our heart, it doesn't just worry about tomorrow, it rewrites yesterday.
[00:18:18] That's what tests do. Tests reveal, trials, reveal to us the condition of our heart.
[00:18:27] And what I've learned over too many years, long years, 25 years of pastoring and walking alongside people in the wilderness.
[00:18:36] There's two kinds of people.
[00:18:39] There's those, if you think of someone in their senior adult old age, think of that 90 year old person has walked all of life.
[00:18:50] And there's those who the trials has made them bitter.
[00:18:55] And then there are those who the trials have made them better.
[00:18:59] And it doesn't take long to figure it out, right?
[00:19:02] Like, oh, we got a bitter one here.
[00:19:05] No matter what I say, she just mad as a hornet, right?
[00:19:11] I know who you are.
[00:19:13] It's real though. And what's the difference? The wilderness wasn't easier or harder.
[00:19:19] It wasn't the fact that one life was easier. But every one of us is going through wilderness and trials and difficulties and they're either gonna make us better or they're gonna make us bitter.
[00:19:32] And the difference is what's in our heart. If we respond with fear, it's gonna make us bitter. And we're going to gripe.
[00:19:42] If we respond with faith, it's going to make us better and we're going to glorify God.
[00:19:49] And that's what's in the heart.
[00:19:52] Fear, bitterness, griping, faith, better glory.
[00:19:59] And that's really what we see here, is what's in their heart.
[00:20:04] They're griping.
[00:20:05] Moses is at a breaking point. The people are about to stone him. And now Moses lets us see God's heart. The third movement is the rock reveals God's heart. What's in God's heart?
[00:20:21] Oftentimes I impersonate God up here and I was telling a class I was just teaching, I do it wrong. I do it from a human perspective. Like God's like mad at the people and it's like, no, that's Tracy.
[00:20:31] God is gracious I'm gonna try to get into the right mindset to imitate God here. But God, the Lord said to Moses, they're griping, they're quarreling, they're accusing me of neglecting them. They're accusing me of abandoning him. They're accusing me of all these things. But here's what I want you to do. Moses, he says calmly, with great love in his voice, he says, pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders, Israel. Those are going to be the witnesses. And take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile. Not the Red Sea, the Nile.
[00:21:09] I almost missed that this week. The staff with which you struck the Nile.
[00:21:15] And go, behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb. You're asking if I'm here? I will stand right, right there on the rock at Horeb. And you shall strike the rock with the rod that you struck the Nile, you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.
[00:21:45] And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
[00:21:49] This is incredible.
[00:21:53] So God says, take with you in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile. What was the Nile? The Nile is where he struck the Nile River. And it brought death.
[00:22:04] It brought death to the waters. Remember, it killed all the living creatures in the water. It was a strike of judgment.
[00:22:12] It's not the strike of powerful salvation at the Red Sea. It's the strike of judgment against Egypt.
[00:22:20] He says, take that judgment staff and strike the rock, the very rock on which I, myself, as God Almighty, their deliverer, will stand.
[00:22:33] Strike me instead of them, and waters of living, of life, will come flowing out.
[00:22:44] Wow.
[00:22:47] So the same rod that was the instrument of judgment on Egypt becomes the instrument of mercy on Israel.
[00:22:57] That's insane.
[00:22:59] God himself says, I will stand on the rock. If you think I don't have time. I told myself, I'm not going to go into this, and I'm going into this. Stop.
[00:23:06] If you think about this text, what in the world? What do you mean God will stand on the rock? It's not an angelic manifestation. What does that mean? What did God look like? And I concluded that I don't know. And I think the author does that on purpose. There are times in the scriptures where it says, I'm going to be intentionally vague here, because that's what it's really like in life.
[00:23:27] You know? You never really know. You always say, well, is God with me? Is he a part of this? Did he lead me and I think the text says you're just going to have to take it at my word. I'm standing on the rock. Strike the rock. Strike the rock. With the rod of judgment, where I stand, and from my place will come living waters.
[00:23:50] God places himself on the rock.
[00:23:53] Moses strikes the rock.
[00:23:57] The blow that should have fallen on the rebellious people falls on the rock where God himself positioned himself.
[00:24:05] So don't miss this point. God positioned himself between the judgment of his staff and his people.
[00:24:16] And let me point out something about this location, Horeb. All this took place at a place called Horeb.
[00:24:22] You could just trace the. What is this place?
[00:24:26] Horeb is Sinai. It's the rock where he's about to climb the mountain of God to get the law of God. What happened at that place? Well, we've had on. Oh, there it is.
[00:24:36] The burning bush happened at this place.
[00:24:39] And what happened at that burning bush? God said, moses, here's what I want you to do. He's like, what? He says, I got you. I will be with you. And here's the sign that you'll know that when you lead the people out of Egypt to this place to worship me, you'll know I'm with you.
[00:25:01] So the irony is, at the place where God has finished the deliverance on his promise to be at the place with them, just as he told them on the front end at Horeb. From Horeb to Horeb, God has been with him. He said it. He said, you'll know it when we're here together. And now they're here, and he says, let me delay the water a little bit. And what do they do? God, are you with us or not?
[00:25:27] I'm guilty.
[00:25:30] I'd been front and center, I'd have had Moses by the neck. And I'd say, bro, have you seen my cute grandson?
[00:25:39] He needs water.
[00:25:40] What is your problem?
[00:25:45] What's interesting is the scene of Horeb. The mountain is where he's going to get the law.
[00:25:54] What's your point? Well, one thing to take from that is God gives them grace.
[00:26:01] They didn't earn it. They didn't merit it. They didn't keep the law so good that God said, okay, now I'll give you water. They haven't got the law yet, so it's just pure, unmerited favor and grace. So when you're in the wilderness and you're struggling, God, are you good?
[00:26:20] Did I miss it?
[00:26:22] Are you with me or not?
[00:26:24] I think it's important to have the right view of God in mind.
[00:26:28] And I think we struggle with that.
[00:26:31] We kind of think of this mean, mad, you know, I'm on edge. I'm about to thump you. God.
[00:26:38] God is not like that. If he was, this whole story wouldn't have been written. It had ended it at Genesis 3, at the fall.
[00:26:49] But the whole story is God is gracious, he's kind. This is how he revealed himself to Moses. When Moses said, can I just get a glimpse of your glory? And he passed. He put them behind the cliff. That was. And he passed by and he said, I'm gracious, I'm slow to anger, I'm kind. Loving kindness that God has the people crying out and accusing him of not being present or good.
[00:27:12] And he says, strike me with the blow, and I'll give them waters.
[00:27:21] Grace before law.
[00:27:25] One last thing. Notice Moses ends the story in a way that kind of should stop us all.
[00:27:31] Because what he names the place the memorial names the question.
[00:27:35] The memorial names the question is our last movement. Exodus 17:7. He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah. Do not name your kids Massah and Meribah. It means quarreling and testing because the quarreling of the people of Israel and because they tested the law by saying, is the Lord among us or not? If you were going to name this place as you're drinking freely on the waters of living, oh, it's just so good. And we're celebrating. God is so good. Let's name this place Living Waters.
[00:28:11] And God says, uh, we gonna name this place the place of quarreling and testing.
[00:28:20] He says, that's the memorial name of this place. And if you look that up in your Bible, it is certainly a memorial name. It is filled. Kevin and I were having, like, worship in my office, just working through these texts, going, yeah, this is so good. And it's just like the writers just keep going back to this text and going, remember what happened there. Here's what it means. Remember what happened there. Here's what it means.
[00:28:42] Quarreling and testing. He names it this. Why? Because he wants us to remember.
[00:28:47] This is what we all tend to do.
[00:28:50] You know, they say that the scriptures talk about what foolishness is. Foolishness is living as if there is no God.
[00:28:58] And that's what we are. We act so foolish at times when we've seen God over and over and over. And then we go through a wilderness experience, and it's like, God, where are you?
[00:29:10] And he says what he's saying to us when we ask, is the Lord, Lord among us or not, he's saying, don't forget, this is your tendency to doubt his presence.
[00:29:23] And then you look at 1 Corinthians 10, verse 4. This is a beautiful typology. We were just learning this in the class, that when the New Testament writers look at something Old Testament and say, that was Jesus, it's so cool. And that's what he's doing here. In 1 Corinthians 10:4, the apostle Paul is writing about this event in Exodus 17, and he says about Israel, they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, the spiritual rock that followed them on that journey from Horeb to Horeb.
[00:29:58] And that rock was Christ.
[00:30:01] That rock was Jesus Christ.
[00:30:04] And so what the New Testament does for us, it says, when you're in the wilderness and you're suffering and you're doubting the presence of God, you need to look no further than the rock of Golgotha where Christ was crucified, where he stood on that rock, the place where he stood. And he took the wrath of judgment upon himself. And out from him came living waters. What did he do? He didn't stay dead. He rose from the grave. He gave the Holy Spirit, who is called the living water.
[00:30:35] The Holy Spirit of God lives within us and is like living waters for our soul. From God he ascended to the right hand of the Father.
[00:30:43] And he says, until I come back, you're gonna be in a journey. Go make disciples.
[00:30:48] Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Brothers and sisters, this story at Horeb is our story.
[00:30:58] And as we live in this journey and we suffer, it is by design.
[00:31:03] Some of it is God's plan to say, I want to make you better so that you are better for all of eternity.
[00:31:11] He says, I am with you. I love you. I have provided for you. Do not let fear turn you bitter so that you write me out of your history.
[00:31:23] Respond in faith. And if your faith is struggling, look at the cross. When I stood on that rock and I took the blows for you, not because you kept the law, not because you were good enough, but because that's the kind of God he is.
[00:31:41] He's gracious. He's kind.
[00:31:44] He loves you. If you put your faith in Christ, he adopts you. He brings you in, and I can't tell you how much he loves you.
[00:31:54] And that should comfort your soul as you go through the toughest season of your life.
[00:32:03] And as a church, when we think about the plans that we're making, and we're asking God, lord, would you Give us clarity, would you? Give us direction. And we're going to try to follow the cloud and the fire. And we're going to try our best to say, this is what we think God's leading us. Well, guess what? It's going to get hard.
[00:32:20] Going to think it's a replant of this church that has come out. It's going to be a plant in a school. We're going to think it's this neighborhood, it's going to turn out to be that neighborhood. We're going to think it's there, and things are going to start falling apart, and you're going to start grumbling and complaining. And I'm going to say, call Jared.
[00:32:36] And we're going to say, read Exodus.
[00:32:39] It's going to be hard. There's going to be challenges. But you know what? God does that by design to make us better.
[00:32:48] The only question is, how will we respond?
[00:32:53] Let's pray.
[00:32:55] Heavenly Father, you are gracious and good and not like I tend to think.
[00:33:01] I tend to think you're like me, which is impatient and throw off frustration that you were so kind.
[00:33:12] There is an end to your patience at the end, when you come back, where you will no longer tolerate people rebelling against you.
[00:33:21] And our only hope that day will be the blood of Jesus Christ.
[00:33:28] And so if you're here today, I'm praying, I'm imploring that you will see your need for Jesus Christ and you will cast yourself upon his mercies.
[00:33:39] You'll receive the living waters that flow from him as you acknowledge that he took the punishment for your sin.
[00:33:48] And for all of us who have done that, may our hearts be richly encouraged with hope and faith, so that through the difficulties, we're made better and that we glorify youy.
[00:34:05] Lord, your scriptures tell us in Romans 8, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
[00:34:13] And in 8:28, you say that all things, you are working all things for good, for the good of those who are called according to your purpose. And you say you are with us through all things. And if God is with us, then who can stand against us?
[00:34:31] Lord, give us faith, give us hope, give us strength, give us courage for this life.
[00:34:41] As we suffer, may we find that we are being made better and better to bring you great glory and glory all to the glory of God. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.
