Cornerstone Church With Dustin Bates

Lost | God Always Makes A Way

Choose Your Hard

• In your health
• In your relationships
• With your kids
• With your career

Same with Following God

• Without God = HARD
• With God = HARD
• Choose your heard

 

Just because all things are difficult doesn’t mean all OUTCOMES are the same value

• Some things, while difficult, are worth more than others
• We’re talking about this because of the new series…

>>LOST: A WAY IN THE WILDERNESS

 

Being in a wilderness season is when things are abnormally…

• Difficult
• Confusing
• Disorienting
• Uphill
• Just plane HARD

 

But wilderness seasons have purpose…

A WILDERNESS SEASON IS WHERE WE LEARN WHO GOD IS, HOW HE LOVES US, AND HOW WE SHOULD INTERACT WITH HIM

We are looking at the story of the EXODUS

• The escape of the Israelite people from Egypt to the PROMISED LAND

Last week was about the 10 plagues in Egypt

God’s purpose for many wilderness seasons is to teach us about Himself

Today, we continue that story…
Egypt finally has enough of God and his people

• They let Israel Go
• They send them with riches

Pharaoh has a change of heart…

Exodus 14

5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about the people and said, “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.”

So he gathers part of his army and pursues the people of Israel

• Israel is gathered on the banks of the Red Sea

 

Exodus 14

10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians coming after them! The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord for help. 11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

Moses responds…

13 But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you must be quiet.”

 

Moses prays…

• Stretches out his arms
• God parts the waters
• Israel walks through unharmed
• Pharaoh follows them in
• God releases the waters and drowns the Egyptian army

 

Through this, Israel and the world learn that…

God always makes a way for His People

• God parted the waters
• God gave water from a rock
• God fed them in the desert
• God ALWAYS makes a way

 

What does this mean for us?

God is the one who makes a way in your circumstances

• In your pain
• In your struggle

 

First, God introduced Himself to the people

Next, God was teaching the people to TRUST HIM

• That is what wilderness seasons do
• They point you back to God and teach you to trust

 

There are two important things to know about GOD MAKING A WAY

1: Following God doesn’t always mean it will be easy or make sense.

 

That is what following God can be like

• You won’t always understand why

Israel didn’t know why God had brought them to the sea

“Have you brought us here to die!”

 

But God had a bigger purpose in bringing them there

• We’re still talking about it today

 

When you don’t know the WHY, Focus on the WHAT

What should I be doing now?

• Praying
• Serving
• Grow where you are planted

 

In most wilderness seasons of your life, you will not know the WHY until you are out of it

• But you can know the WHAT
• Back to the story…
• Israel has crossed the Red Sea
• Phorah’s army is gone
• For the first time, they experience real freedom

In celebration, they sing one of the first recorded songs in the Bible.

Exodus 15

2 The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

3 The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.

11 Lord, who is like you among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?

12 You stretched out your right hand, and the earth swallowed them.

13 With your faithful love, you will lead the people you have redeemed; you will guide them to your holy dwelling with your strength.

 

2: Worship While You Wait

 

If you haven’t ever been desperate for God, then worship doesn’t make sense
People in the desert

God had not told them what was next

• they were only just beginning their wilderness season
• But they worshiped

Worship does a few things…

Worship reminds us of God’s Goodness

• His faithfulness
• His love and purpose for us
• Our salvation

 

When we sing songs of God’s goodness, it helps our spirit rest assured that

If He was faithful then, He will be faithful now

 

Next

Worship Tell us is not all about us

• This is God’s story
• This is His plan

 

Worship realigns our hearts to Worship GOD and not OURSELVES.
God ALWAYS makes a way

• When the way seems blocked, WORSHIP
• When you don’t know why, focus on WHAT

Isaiah 43

1 Now this is what the Lord says— the one who created you, Jacob, and the one who formed you, Israel— “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine.

2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and the rivers will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, and the flame will not burn you.

3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior.

 

You are not Forgotten in your wilderness

• God will make a way!
• TRUST HIM!

Lost | The Great Rescue

Key Question:

What Is A Wilderness Season?

A season of life where things are:

• Difficult
• Confusing
• Disorienting
• Uphill
• Out of the ordinary

Wilderness Seasons are a MAJOR PART of the Christian Walk

• We anticipate them

A WILDERNESS SEASON IS WHERE WE LEARN WHO GOD IS, HOW HE LOVES US, AND HOW WE SHOULD INTERACT WITH HIM

 

1 Peter 1:6-7

6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
This series is about MAKING THE MOST out of these seasons

• Don’t waste pain
• Learn what God is teaching

 

We will be looking at the TRUE story of the EXODUS

The freeing of the people of God (Israel) from captivity in Egypt

One of the most powerful stories in human history

The story up to this point:

• Joseph
• 400 years in Egypt

 

Exodus 1:13-14

13 They worked the Israelites ruthlessly 14 and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar and in all kinds of fieldwork. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them.

 

The Exodus story is also Moses’ story

• Placed into a basket on the Nile
• Rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter
• Raised in Pharaoh’s Household
• Kills an Egyptian taskmaster
• Flees to the “WILDERNESS” for 40 years
• Burning Bush
• God sends him BACK to Egypt

The Great Rescue
We have a people who are:

• Oppressed
• Broken
• Tired
• Under Pressure
• Stuck
• LOST

Step 1 of God’s Rescue is:

1: God Promises Freedom

 

Exodus 6

2 Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I was not known to them by my name ‘the Lord.’ 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land they lived in as aliens. 5 Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are forcing to work as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.

6 “Therefore tell the Israelites: I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians and rescue you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you to the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.” 9 Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their broken spirit and hard labor.
Israel’s freedom is found in God (Yahweh) ALONE

 

God is REINTRODUCING himself to his people

• He reminds them of His promise to their ancestors

But the people DO NOT believe

• They are so broken
• So LOST

How will God free them from the most powerful kingdom in the known world?

 

Step 2 of God’s Rescue is:

2: God Confronts Egypt

 

Exodus 7

1 The Lord answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. 2 You must say whatever I command you; then Aaron your brother must declare it to Pharaoh so that he will let the Israelites go from his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you, but I will put my hand into Egypt and bring the military divisions of my people the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the Israelites from among them.”

 

Egypt was the SUPERPOWER of its day

Superpowers think they are untouchable

They can do WHATEVER THEY WANT to WHOMEVER THEY WANT

 

God confronts the “gods” of Egypt through the plagues

Examples:

• Turn Nile River to blood – Hapi, the bull god, god of the Nile; Isis, goddess of the Nile; Khnum, ram god, guardian of the Nile
• Death of livestock – Hathor, goddess with a cow head; Apis, the bull god, symbol of fertility
• Darkness – Ra, the sun god; Horus, a sun god; Nut, a sky goddess; Hathor, a sky goddess

The “gods” of the Egyptians were POWERLESS against the God of Israel

At first, they tried to COPY God’s power, but they could not and were powerless to stop it
Step 3 of God’s Rescue is:

3: Israel Chooses to walk out free

 

Exodus 12

33 Now the Egyptians pressured the people in order to send them quickly out of the country, for they said, “We’re all going to die!” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped up in their clothes on their shoulders.

35 The Israelites acted on Moses’s word and asked the Egyptians for silver and gold items and for clothing. 36 And the Lord gave the people such favor with the Egyptians that they gave them what they requested. In this way they plundered the Egyptians.
God had MADE A WAY

 

Israel still had to choose to LEAVE

• All they had known
• All the gods they had known

Application:

WHAT DOES THIS STORY MEAN FOR US?

 

1: God Promises Freedom – We Need Freedom

 

Like how Egypt made slaves out of Israel – Sin makes slaves out of us.
Romans 6:16

16 Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?

 

Sin…

• Oppresses us
• Harms us
• Kills us

 

The “WILDERNESS OF HUMANITY” is because of sin
Some of you are LOST IN THE WILDERNESS because of your sin

• Your choices
• Way of thinking
• Lifestyles
• Beliefs

There are HOLDING YOU CAPTIVE

 

<<NOTE>>

Every wilderness season is NOT because of some hidden sin, but many times it is…

 

<Your Prayer>

Father, please reveal to me any hidden sin, thought pattern or way of living that is not in alignment with your ways

 

2: God Confronted Egypt – God Confronts lies and breaks strongholds

John 14:6

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

• Jesus came to show us the way through the TRUTH of His life

 

Sin is based on lies… It says…

• I know what’s best for me…
• This isn’t hurting anyone…
• No one will ever know…
• Did God really say?

In order to free us, God must directly challenge the idols, false assumptions, and lies—whether they originate from within ourselves or from our adversary

 

What does this look like for us?

1. Reading and understanding the Bible (Learning Truth)
2. Sermons and Bible study with others (Hearing Truth)
3. Relationships that can speak TRUTH into your life (Hard Truths)
4. Holy Spirit Conviction

3: Israel Chose to walk out Free – We must choose to walk in God’s Freedom

Galatians 5:1

For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Staying in Egypt meant staying a slave — Staying in our sin means staying its slave

• When God frees us, we must CHOOSE to walk in that freedom
• Don’t return
• Don’t stay put
• MOVE!

 

The reason you may be in the wilderness is for God to DEMONSTRATE his POWER and TRUTH to you

• Can’t see it when things are good

Our God is a God RESCUES HIS PEOPLE

• Then and NOW
• Don’t be a slave to LESSER THINGS

The START of making it through the wilderness is BREAKING THE HOLD of SIN, LIES, and STRONGHOLDS

 

It is only the POWER, TRUTH, and FREEDOM of God that can give us hope and purpose for our lives and our world

Stop The Anxiety Cycle

The Anxiety Cycle

• Anxiety
• Avoidance/Obsession
• Short-Term Relief
• Long-term Anxiety Growth
• Over and Over….

 

This happens whether you are a Christian or Not

• But we should think of anxiety differently than the rest of the world

 

The Bible Has a lot to say about Anxiety and how we should face it

 

Some people struggle more than others

• We have patience and sympathy for those who do struggle
• Make sure you see a professional if your anxiety goes to far

 

Let’s start by looking at anxiety as an ACTION

• It’s something we do
• But the answer isn’t “JUST STOP WORRYING ALL THE TIME”

 

To STOP the action of anxiety, we must START another action

---

3 Counter actions to stop the Cycle of Anxiety

 

Counteraction #1

1: Throwing When You Want To Hold

 

 

Some of us are “ANXIETY HOARDERS”

• We stockpile things to worry about

 

This is an effort to CONTROL

• They are YOUR anxieties
• They are YOUR worries

 

What does Scripture say

1 Peter 5

6 Humble yourselves….

 

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you.

 

Casting means throwing

• For how much we hate our anxieties, we love to hold on to them…
• We love to HOARD them

 

You can’t throw if you…

• Want to keep it
• Want to hold onto it
• Want to fix it
• Want to manipulate it
• Want to control it

 

Where did Peter get that idea…

• It’s been around for a LONG time
• From David…

 

Psalms 55:22

Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

• Who are the righteous?
• Those who live under God’s right rule

 

The lie we believe is that controlling our anxieties equals freedom. However, true freedom lies in entrusting them to God.

 

Practical Application:

When having a worried/anxious thought, we CHOOSE to take it to GOD because it belongs on His shoulders and not in our mind

• Healthy, Active Prayer life
• Cast your care immediately to Him

 

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Counteraction #2

2: Thanking When You Want To Worry

 

For years, I did not value the practice of thankfulness

• Did it out of obligations (was supposed to)
• Not I do it because I see its true value

 

“During active appreciation, the threatening messages from your amygdala [fear center of the brain] and the anxious instincts of your brainstem are cut off, suddenly and surely, from access to your brain’s neocortex, where they can fester, replicate themselves, and turn your stream of thoughts into a cold river of dread. It is a fact of neurology that the brain cannot be in a state of appreciation and a state of fear at the same time. The two states may alternate but are mutually exclusive.” ~ Dan Baker, What Happy People Know

 

The Bible has said this long before modern phycology

Philippians 4:6

6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

 

Thankfulness is the secret ingredient in prayer

• It shifts your…
  • Outlook
  • Your faith
  • Your determination
  • View of God

 

Gratitude is the practice that can change your life like no other

• Why do you think atheists and others keep gratitude journals?
• Because God made us to be grateful, not worrisome

 

Being thankful is a LEARNED SKILL

• You get better the more you do it

 

Learn to be thankful for MORE THAN just the OBVIOUS things

• The seasons
• The lessons
• The people
• The small miracles

 

Practical Application:

Turn to thankfulness and watch anxiety disappear

• Keep a list of things you are really thankful for and return to them when worry creeps in
• Practice Thankfulness everyday

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3: Taking When You Are Being Taken By

 

Worry/anxiety holds us captive

• To a past event
• In a future possibility

 

It’s a prison that we lock ourselves into

• We are trapped but hold the key
• The key is our own mind and what we allow in there

 

2 Corinthians 10:5

We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.

 

Arguments:

Anxiety/worry/fear are “ARGUMENTS” raised up against the knowledge of God

• Only HE knows the Future
• Only HE can bring out what he desires

 

Proud Things:

Trying to take ownership of what we can NEVER OWN

• Only God has ownership over us, not our fears, sin, or ourselves

 

Take Every Thought Captive:

We are not PASSIVE, but ACTIVE in forming our minds around the things of God

• We make our minds SUBMIT to GOD’S TRUTH
• Not Anxieties VERSION of the truth
• Don’t play around with Anxiety
• Take it out!

 

What you are worried about is HOPELESS unless you have some help

• And We DO!
• The Holy Spirit

 

We ask for the strength/discernment of the Holy Spirit to guide our thoughts

 

We believe that it is possible to take control of our thoughts, not our thoughts controlling us

• We never believe the lie that we are captive to our thoughts

 

Underneath everything is a belief in the goodness of God

• This changes the cycle of worry and anxiety

 

Practical Application:

Fight with Prayer and Scripture

• Memorize scripture that can bring you hope and clarity

 

Psalm 121

The Lord Our Protector

1 I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from?

2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber.

4 Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep.

5 The Lord protects you; the Lord is a shelter right by your side.

6 The sun will not strike you by day or the moon by night.

7 The Lord will protect you from all harm; he will protect your life.

8 The Lord will protect your coming and going both now and forever.

 

 

Stop the Cycle of Anxiety in your life

 

Instead, be full of:

• Faith
• Hope
• Wonder
• Excitement

 

Anxiety robs us of all those things

Living As Disciples Of Jesus

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Heaven, Hell, and the End of the World | Hell? No!

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Easter 2024 | From Chaos to Good Life

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On Earth As In Heaven | Hurt Debt

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