Have you ever felt truly lost, not just in place, but in purpose? Join me as I share tales from the book of Exodus, paralleled with my own brush with wilderness during a Canadian canoe trip. In this spiritual exploration, we'll navigate the turbulent waters of trust and leadership, learning how the Israelites' epic journey from Egypt to the Promised Land offers timeless guidance on following the right path in life. It's a reflection that goes beyond biblical times, touching on the deeper resonance of faith and the trials of misdirection that can lead us astray.
Thanks for listening! Find us on Instagram or visit our Website.
Have you ever felt truly lost, not just in place, but in purpose? Join me as I share tales from the book of Exodus, paralleled with my own brush with wilderness during a Canadian canoe trip. In this spiritual exploration, we'll navigate the turbulent waters of trust and leadership, learning how the Israelites' epic journey from Egypt to the Promised Land offers timeless guidance on following the right path in life. It's a reflection that goes beyond biblical times, touching on the deeper resonance of faith and the trials of misdirection that can lead us astray.
Thanks for listening! Find us on Instagram or visit our Website.
Put your hands together if you're excited to be in church this morning. God is so good. He is with us this morning in such a powerful way. First Baptist Church, powder Springs. What an honor it is to be able to be here with you this morning. I just want you to know all that the Lord is doing. First of all, this Thursday we have National Day of Prayer. We're going to be down at the amphitheater, powder Springs Park. Down there, where the amphitheater is, churches are coming together, our community's coming together 630,. I'll be one of those pastors who will be praying Will Burke and also Mike Mendenhall from our 930 service. They're going to come and they're going to lead some worship and do some singing. So we'll have a First Baptist Powder Springs presence and we would love to have you down there with us this Thursday at 630. We're going to get into this morning why we worship.
Speaker 1:We are looking at the book of Exodus. We've already been through so much as we've looked at how God multiplied the people of Israel, how God called Moses to lead the people of Israel. We looked last week at the plagues when God judged Egypt in the Passover, when God delivered Israel, and this morning, when they are marching out of Egypt into the promised land. Let's pray together and ask the Lord to be with us. Heavenly Father, we love you. God, this is your word. God, this is your gospel. God, this is all about you. And so, father, we pray that you would speak to us this morning in a personal, in a powerful way, and, god, that you would just continue to show us, father, what you want with our lives, your purpose, your will, your way. God, we love you and we pray these things in Jesus' name. And all God's people said amen. Well, you can open up to Exodus, chapter 13 with me this morning. Exodus chapter 13.
Speaker 1:You ever followed somebody and you learned that it was a really bad decision. The person that you followed. I remember being on a canoeing trip, a hiking canoeing trip, in Canada when I was in college. It was a week-long trip where we did dozens and dozens and dozens of miles in the Algonquin National Park. We would canoe across lakes and then we'd take our canoes and we'd put them on our shoulders with our backpacks and we would portage to the next lake and we'd canoe again and we would camp out in tents at night and we'd go so that we could go and do the whole national park.
Speaker 1:And there was a day it was, I think, the next to last day that I said you know, god was just challenging me. It was a spiritual journey. He was challenging me to serve one of the guys who was on the trip. His name was Bob. And so God said, chip, I want you to serve Bob. He said, I want you to wear your backpack, I want you to wear Bob's backpack and I want you to carry the canoe all day for Bob. And I said, jesus, I'm not going to do it except it's for you. I'll only do it for you, jesus. And so that's what God called me to do that day, because he called me to serve Bob. And I remember I said, bob, me and you are in the canoe, I'm going to take your pack, my pack, the canoe, all day. Man, I got you, I'm going to serve you. And so we did that.
Speaker 1:And we got to a place where we got out of the canoe and there was just a really short portage to where it was, to the next lake. They said it would only take a few minutes. So I said, bob, I'll tell you what your backpack, my backpack, the canoe I'll put it on me and then I'll just follow. You just kind of drag a branch, because the canoe is over my head. You drag a branch and I'll follow the branch into wherever the next lake is that we go. And so, sure enough, we did that and I was walking with the canoe, both backpacks, and Bob is dragging the branch, and several minutes go by, several minutes In fact. There were even times where we were portaging, that I was having to go under trees and step over limbs and all these type things, and I'm like Bob, are you sure we're on the trail? He's like Bob, are you sure we're on the trail? He's like, yeah, this is the trail. And he keeps leading me along. And now it has been close to about 30 minutes, when it's only supposed to be a couple minutes. And so I'm like Bob, are you sure we're on the right trail? I put the canoe down. He's like, yeah, I think so, chip. And so I said I'll tell you what. I will run ahead. You stay here with the canoes, with the backpacks, I'll run ahead and I'll see where our group is. So he stays there with the canoe, with the backpacks, I'll run ahead.
Speaker 1:And it's one of those moments where you're running down a trail and you think you see something around every trail corner. But every trail corner I go around, nothing's there, it's just more trail. And so finally I've run about 15 minutes, I realize I'm about two miles deeper into this Canadian forest and nobody is around me. It's just me and my bright yellow life vest that is just screaming to wild animals eat me, eat me, eat me. Right? All by myself. So I'm thinking, okay, we, something's wrong.
Speaker 1:So I turn around and I go back, and I go back and there's the canoe and there are the backpacks and Bob's gone. I'm like, well, they ate him, but I'm mad at him. So that's fine, right. So Bob's gone, and so I grabbed the canoe, I grabbed the backpacks and I go back to the starting point. And as soon as I see the starting point, where we started, there was a little fork in the road and it was right there. It was just around the corner and there was the next lake right there. So I'm like, well, there it was. So I go back and I'm like, hey, guys, I'm back. But I lost Bob. I think he got eaten. And there was Bob, like in one of the canoes, just waving hey, chip, I found him. I found him, I'm like, well, I'm going to kill you, you're going to die.
Speaker 1:And so I learned that day be careful who you follow, because you don't know where they're taking you. In fact, they may not even know where they're going. See, in life, god created us with this need, the way that he made us, the way that he wired you in his image. He wired you to be not just a leader but to be a follower. But ultimately, we are called to follow him. Aren't you thankful that he gave you the Holy Spirit? Can I get an amen? He gave us the Holy Spirit to be able to follow him. Aren't you thankful that he gave you the Holy Spirit? Can I get an amen? He gave us the Holy Spirit to be able to follow him.
Speaker 1:And you might wonder, like Chip, do I really need the Holy Spirit in all of my life? Now I'm telling you you need the Holy Spirit just to go to Walmart. You know what I'm saying. You need the Holy Spirit just to go to the DMV, sometimes, just to go home, to go online. You need the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit every single moment of our day, because the Holy Spirit, he gives us wisdom when it comes to our daily decisions, when it comes to our temptations, our obedience, when it comes to worshiping God, when it comes to being a witness for him. In fact, did you know that Romans, chapter eight, verse 14, says for all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. In other words, if you're a child of God, then you are going to be led by the Spirit of God. So why do we worship? We worship because God leads us. In other words, why should you worship God? You should worship God because God leads you, and your response is worship to him. So I want to show you this morning three ways the Holy Spirit leads you. Three ways the Holy Spirit leads you. Number one way. Number one is this God is present with you. Everybody say present. God is present with you. Isn't it awesome that God is not just a God who tells you what to do, who tells you where to go, but rather he is a God who is with you. He's present with you and he is walking alongside you. When I'm with my little girl, brooklyn Rose, five years old, with her wheelchair, I don't lead Brooklyn and say Brooklyn, you get to me and I'm going to tell you where to go. No, what do I do? I lead her from behind, and there are times the Bible says that God is our rear guard and he leads us from behind. There are times that I'm walking with my son, cruz, and Cruz does not like his hand to be held, which is kind of a good thing. He doesn't like his hand to be held. So I hold my 18-month-old son's hand and I'm often dragging him behind me. Right, it's because he doesn't want to go. He wants to go his own direction. What a great picture of how the Lord is with us. He loves us enough to not let go of us and not just let us do our own thing, but he grabs our hand because what is best? That we walk with him. Can I get an amen? I don't walk in front of my wife when we go somewhere. Why? Because I love her. No, instead, I walk beside her with my arm, behind her, so that I can guide, so that I can lead, so that I can protect her in the same way. That is how God leads us, because he is present with you. Let me show you the scripture. We are here in Exodus 13. The people of God are now leaving Egypt. God has delivered them through the plagues and by the Passover. And here they are and, by the way, they have no idea where they're going. There's no map. Remember back in the day, if you're 40 years of age or older, do you remember Rand McNally? Thank God for Rand McNally. Back in the day you could spread that big old trucker map across your steering wheel and you could be following the roads while you're driving. You wouldn't even get pulled over. The police understood. Like we don't know where we're going. Either we don't know right or maybe you're a little bit younger, maybe you're around 30. You remember MapQuest? Can I get an amen? Where you go and print out MapQuest and just all of your turns all printed out right there before you? But for all of us today we have a GPS man, I can barely get from my house to the church without my GPS. You know what I'm saying. I desperately need my GPS. I don't go anywhere without it, not because I don't always know where I'm going, but because my GPS tells me about traffic. My GPS tells me about road closures. My GPS tells me about things that I don't know about. And that's exactly how God works in your life. We think we know where we're going. The Bible says that we are like sheep and we're led astray and we need the shepherd. And God has given us the Holy Spirit. It says and the Lord went before them by day, in a pillar of cloud and to lead them along the way, and by night, in a pillar of fire, to give them light that they might travel by day and by night. This is a picture of the Holy Spirit in their life. This is a picture of the Holy Spirit in your life. God had already judged their sin by the plagues. God has already judged our sin in the crucifixion of Jesus. God has already sacrificed the Passover lamb. With the Passover, god has already sacrificed the Passover lamb for us through Jesus. And now this is them following God through the Holy Spirit in the journey of life, just like me and you are going through. If you hear me say yeah, this is exactly what we're going through. Now check it out. He says that in the day they are following him by a pillar of cloud, what is going on? That they can visibly see their God. They can visibly see their God. Do you know what the pillar of cloud would go before them? It would go behind them the pillar of cloud. It often said that it would go over them, even on top of them. It would shade them from the hot wilderness sun. They would be able to be protected by God, empowered by God and led by God. Why? Because God was present with them. In the same way, god gave them a pillar of fire by night. Did you know that it would get cold in the desert? In those desert nights it would get cold. And what was the pillar of fire to do? It was to warm them. The pillar of fire was to light their way. The pillar of fire was to tell them when it's time to stay and when it's time to go. What was God doing? God wasn't just shouting down from heaven take a left, take a right, stop, go, get to the promised land. God was saying I'm with you, I'm gonna dwell in your midst, I am your God, you are my people. And sometimes, you know, we think about this and we think man, how cool would that have been. But did you know that if the Israelites heard what we get to experience? See, they had God beside them, but we get God inside of us. They had God beside them. You get God inside you, you get the Holy Spirit. If they had a choice whether they could have a pillar of cloud and fire leading them or if they could have the Holy Spirit inside of them they would choose God within them every single time. And that's exactly what God has given us through the person of Jesus Christ. The Bible says, when Jesus came on the scene on earth some 2,000 years ago, that he was God in the flesh. Why did he come To be present with us? Because God just loves us, he loves you, and God led his and Jesus led his disciples. And then Jesus dies and he rises from the dead and he ascends to heaven and he pours out his spirit and he says to all who have believed on his name receive the Holy Spirit. If you have believed in Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit to lead you. And you might be thinking, pastor Chip, how can I be led by the Holy Spirit? Well, here are three steps so that you can be led by the Holy Spirit. Number one you can write it down as walk, walk. What does that mean? That you just simply walk with Jesus. When you walk with Jesus, you then are following the Spirit. You're being led by the Spirit, because the Spirit comes with Jesus. We walk with Jesus. Word Word means we study the Word of God. Did you know? The more full you get on the Word of God, the more filled you get with the Spirit of God. There's a direct connection between the Word of God and the spirit of God and the more you get into God's word, the more God's spirit gets into you. Amen. And then the Bible says when you walk with Jesus and you are in his word. This is crazy. But God says do what you want. Because Psalm chapter 37, verse four, says when you delight yourself in the Lord, he will give you the desires of your heart. Meaning when Jesus becomes your greatest Meaning, when Jesus becomes your greatest delight, when Jesus becomes your greatest joy, when Jesus is your greatest worship in your life, then what he does is he gives you the desires of your heart. That doesn't mean he gives you whatever you want. That means what he wants. He gives you to you as your wants and you want what he wants and you do what he wants because it's what he wants. Can I get an amen? I hope you picked up on that. Here we go. That's three steps to be led by the Holy Spirit. But there's a couple other things I want you to see here. It said in Exodus 13 that he didn't take them the short way. It was actually only about a week or two that they could have gotten to the promised land, but it would have had to go through Philistia. Philistia was full of the Philistines and God said they're not ready. They're not ready for war, they're not ready to fight. They'll just turn, retreat, run back to Egypt. He said I'm not going to take them the short way, because the short way is not best for them. I'm going to take them the long way. There are some times in life that you might feel like that God is taking you the long way. You might be wondering why is God taking so long? If God's all powerful, he loves me so much, if God's doing all these things in my life, then why is it taking so long? I've heard it said before that God is always on time, he's never late and you better believe he's never early. Can I get an amen? He's never early and we see that God is always on time. And then in Exodus 14, in verse 1, it says that God led them to the Red Sea. Now go with me for a minute. Here they are, the Israelites. They've just seen God do all these plagues, the Passover. He's leading them out of Egypt. They get to the Red Sea, and it is a dead end. The Red Sea is, at its deepest point, is two miles deep At its furthest point. Wide is about 200 miles wide. It is a dead end. Not only is it a dead end, but now they turned around the seas to their back and here comes Pharaoh and his army. They've changed their minds and they're charging toward them. So now Israel is as good as dead. Now Israel is saying God, what are you trying to do? And God does something through the Holy Spirit. He shows them. He shows them. This is that God fights for you. He shows them that God fights for them. And it's true for them, and it's true for you. God fights for us. Here's what it says. Moses said to the people fear not, stand firm. See the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today, for the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you and you only have to be silent. So think about this. You're standing at the Red Sea. To your back, here comes Pharaoh and the most powerful army in the entire world and you're a vagabond group of people that have basically nothing on this journey that a cloud and a pillar are leading you on. And here they come and you're screaming what do we do? And God says I just want you to don't, just, don't be afraid, just stand there, just watch me and don't even say anything. You have to be silent. You know what it sounds like A really good way to die. It just sounds like a great way to die. It's like those people that tell you if you ever run into a bear, just play dead, just play dead. Why do they tell you to play dead? But God didn't say it. For that reason, god told them to fear not, which means to fear not says fear not 365 different times in the Bible. Why do we not fear? Because fear is the opposite of faith and when we have faith, we do not fear because God is gonna do a miracle. He tells them to stand firm. What does to stand firm mean? Stand firm does not mean to do nothing. It means to stand firm in your faith. It means to do what God has told you to do, so that you do what God has told you to do so that he will do what only he can do. You can only do what only you can do, but only he can do what only he can do. Amen. He says I just want you to see the salvation of the Lord. In other words, just watch me work, just watch me work, just watch me do what I do, because I'm going to save you. I've promised you that I'm gonna take you to the promised land, so just watch me work. And then he says I will fight for you. You only have to be silent. To be silent doesn't mean to not say anything. To be silent means to not complain, to not whine, to not argue, to not blame God, to not get angry at him. To be silent includes we still pray, we still worship, we still witness, we still speak of the things of God. And he's saying that you only have to be silent. Why? Because God fights for us. Here's the deal. I don't know what you're going through. I don't know everything that's happening in your life, but I know you are going through things that nobody would ever understand. How hard it is to go through what you're going through. And while nobody understands, god does Not, just because he hears about it, because you're talking to him about it, but because he's going through it with you, because he's present. And there are passages of scripture like this that we have to remember that the Holy Spirit leads us, that God is present with us, that God is fighting for us and also we see, lastly, three ways. The Spirit leads you is God receives your worship. God loves you so much. God receives your worship. God loves you so much, he loves it. Hear me, when you worship Him, it's not enough for all these other people to worship Him, but your worship matters to God. Your worship moves God. Your worship is valuable to God. He loves you and he created you to worship him. If you can imagine being one of these Israelites, and here you are, and the Bible says that God fought for them. The Bible says that they were standing there with the backs to the sea, and here comes the Egyptian army and they're wondering God, what are you gonna do? And God says I want you to just to be quiet and stand firm and don't fear and just watch me work right. And then God says that hey, moses, I'm just calling him Abraham Moses, I just want you to wave your staff. And God said overnight the east wind blew, he said, overnight the waters parted. Remember, the deepest point of the sea is two miles. These walls of water could have been upwards of two miles high. They could have traveled through the sea for miles of a journey. We don't know. But the Bible says that the same pillar of cloud and fire that he used to lead them, he put his presence in between them and Egypt and he protected them. And the east wind blew. And that's very important because it says that then the ground, the mud floor, the sea floor, was dried, a miracle so that Israel could walk through. And then God releases his pillar in Egypt and all of their cockiness and all their arrogance and all of their pride, let's go get them. And they go into the sea, because that's what sin causes us to do stupid things. They go into the sea and God does another miracle. The Bible says that he caused chaos with the Egyptians and he miraculously even caused their wheels to get clogged up in the dry ground. They get caught in the middle of the sea. Israel is out. The parted waters fall back down, destroy their enemies, and I just want you for a moment to realize and just imagine what would it be like to be standing on the other side of the sea. Just hours ahead, you were on this side of the sea and you were as good as dead. Hours later, you were on this side of the sea. It's the same sea. It's the same waters. The waters are closed, you're on the other side and there's no pursuers, there are no enemies. What do they do at this point? Do they fall down and just start kissing the ground? Do they start giving each other high fives and jump up and down? Do they lay down and just take a nap? What do they do? They do what is most natural to do for a follower of God. There's nothing else to do besides just worship. We just worship Moses and the people of Israel on the other side of the sea. This is the very first thing they do. They didn't wait, they didn't keep going, they didn't check it all out, they just responded. I think one of the greatest scenes of worship that we have in our culture, to be real honest with you, is a college football stadium. Just go with me for a second. When victory is won, what happens? The band starts playing. When a touchdown is scored, what happens? The stadium stands. When the game is over, what happens and your team wins, man, we can't help but clap, clap and we can't raise our hands. Do you know why we do that? Because it's the image of God within us. We are worshipers. No one has to tell you to worship. You are a worshiper. Worship is anything you give your time to, your money, to your life, to your money to your life, to your attention, to your affection to. So the question is not whether you worship. The question is who or what do you worship? And when we experience the salvation of God, we can't help but worship him. He says. They say to him I will sing to the Lord. Who do you sing to? What do you sing about? What music do you resonate with most? I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength, the Lord is my song. He has become my salvation. This is my God and I will praise him. They worship him for fighting for them. You have led God. You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed. You have guided them by the strength to your holy abode. I just want you to see that they worshiped him. Why do we worship? Because God is present with you. Why do you worship Because God fights for you? Why do you worship Because God loves to receive your worship? You might be thinking well, if God ever did that for me, of course I would do the same thing. Do you know that God has done something infinitely greater for you than he did for them? In that moment, you might not have ever seen waters parted, you may never have walked through a dry sea in order to the other side and seen all of your enemies defeated and destroyed, but you know what you have experienced. You have experienced the God of glory, the Lord of glory, jesus himself, defeating the powers of sin and evil in your life by loving you enough to die on the cross for your sin. You have experienced the Lord Jesus dead in a grave for three days and raising to new life and becoming your resurrection. As you believe in him. God has done something far greater for you than he ever had done for them. He sent his son to become your salvation. Sometimes, in my sin, my sin will say don't worship God until he does that next thing for you. But God's spirit tells me no, he's already done the greatest thing for you. So you worship him now and you just watch him do that next thing. Whatever that is, I wanna encourage you that if you've been saved, then your most natural response with God is worship, as their most natural response with God is worship, as their most natural response with God was worship. How is your worship? How do you worship him on a daily basis? How is your prayer life? How is your time with him, being present with him in his word, because he's present with you? How is it giving your life over to him and you do what you do, what he's called you to do, and you let him do it only he can do? How is your music to God, the way in which that you wanna glorify him and praise him from your heart and your life, maybe before others, maybe with your family? How is your personal worship? Because the more we worship him, the more he leads us, because we're more in tune with him. Because the more we worship him, the more we love him. Because the more we worship him, the more we love him. Because the more we worship him, the more we are reminded that he is worthy to be followed. I'm gonna ask every head to be bowed and every eye to be closed, with every head bowed and every eye closed. I just wanna encourage you right now, just to give you an opportunity, if you just need to tell God. God, I'm already your child, I'm already a believer, I've already given my life to you. But, god, I need to be led by your Holy Spirit. God, I'm going through such a hard time. I've got such a difficult decision. I need to bring this to prayer. Difficult decision. I need to bring this to prayer. God, I want to follow you. God, I love you. God, I want to give my future to you. God, I give it all back over to you. And maybe you're here this morning and you're thinking to yourself man, I need to give my life to God for the first time. I need to give my life to God for the first time. I need to be really saved. I need to be him for real in my life. I need to give my eternity over to him. If that's you this morning and you need to give your life to Jesus right here, right now, you can pray to him and you can say God, I love you, I need you, from your own heart and your own words, you can say, god, I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sin. I ask you to forgive me of all my sin, god, I turn from my sin and I repent and I give my life to Jesus. Tell him I believe that he rose from the dead. He's alive and I want him present in me. I want him to be my Lord, my God, my Savior, my King. The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And God, we pray these things in Jesus' name. And all God's people said would you put your hands together for anybody this morning that gave their life to Jesus? The Bible says that heaven rejoices every time a sinner repents. I want to encourage you, if God's worked in your life in any way this morning, that you can take that next step card. You can write down your greatest prayer need on the back or you can indicate in any of those steps on the front whatever God has spoken to you about. We just wanna be a good church to you. We wanna walk alongside you. We just wanna help you in your journey with Jesus. That you never have to do it alone. You can hand in those next step cards at the end of the service, at our next step station. I wanna stand and I want us to stand together. I wanna pray one more time. Let's pray one more time and let's just ask God to fill us in this last opportunity of worship. Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, god, we pray and God, we believe that, through your Holy Spirit, you are present with us. We just wanna say thank you for fighting for us and thank you for receiving our worship. God, we want to lift up our hearts, we want to lift our voices. You are here with us, you have saved us and you lead us. So may we worship you, all of you with all of us, in Jesus' name, and all God's people said amen. Let's worship the Lord together.