Moses' Faith, Part 1

Hebrews chapter 11 is our text today, beginning with verse number 24. We're going to look at the life of Moses.

Last week we looked at his parents. This week we're going to look at the man himself. Last week we saw how Jochebed had Moses. She had him at a most difficult time in Israel's history. A time when every boy that was born was to be thrown into the Nile and to be killed simply because the Israelites were growing at such a rapid pace. And so when Jochebed was pregnant with Moses, they had to wait until the birth to know whether it was a boy or whether it was a girl. And when the boy came out, they had to make a choice, right?

They chose not to throw him in the Nile. They chose by faith to follow the Lord. So Jochebed, she had Moses and then she hid Moses. She hid him for three months. Three months as she changed him, as she nursed him, as he would cry, she would watch over him. And so as she hid him, she also hid him by faith. Because by faith, the parents of Moses hid him for three months. So not only did Jochebed have Moses, and not only did she hide Moses, but Jochebed was one who truly, who truly held Moses. She was able to hold him for a period of years, somewhere, last week I told you between three and five or six years, as she hid him and then placed him in the Nile River in a basket.

And Pharaoh's daughter saw him, had compassion on him, took him in. Miriam knew that her mother could nurse him, and God honored Jochebed. She honored him, because by faith, she had him, she hid him, therefore God allowed her to hold him for those brief months. And as she held him, she helped him understand divine intervention. She helped him understand divine intervention. In other words, she helped him understand the words of Joseph to the sons of Israel, surely God will visit you. Twice he says that before he dies.

We told you at that time it was a phrase of divine intervention, when God would intervene and visit his people Israel. And he was coming down to bless them. And so she would talk to him and help him understand the divine intervention, the time in which God will surely visit his people. And they knew the time, because they had been passed down from God to Abraham. God told Abraham in Genesis 15 how long it was going to be. And so they passed it down, and she talked to Moses, because this was a beautiful child.

This was a lovely child, not because of what he looked like, but because he was divinely approved by God. He was a divinely chosen one by God. And so Jochebed and Ammon, the parents of Moses, would know this, and they would help him understand divine intervention. And so for those few short years that they had him, they invested into their son. They taught him the truth. They lived the truth. They truly practiced their faith on a regular basis. And then he's given back to Pharaoh's daughter. And for the next 35 plus years, he is educated in the world's finest educational system, the Egyptian creed.

He was in the finest of schools, taught by the best teachers in the world. He was a man of prosperity and wealth. The Bible tells us he was a man of eloquent words. The Bible tells us he was a man of mighty deeds. He was, by all the world's standards, the perfectly formed leader, except in the eyes of God. God would have to take him to the backside of a desert for 40 years to teach him how to be God's kind of leader. For 35 plus years, he learned to be man's leader. That's not good enough in God's kingdom.

You've got to be God's kind of leader. And God knows that all the education that Moses received did not qualify him to be God's leader. No matter how eloquent he was with his words, it did not qualify him to be God's leader. But a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, God will not despise. And God put him on the backside of the desert for 40 years and broke him so that when he comes out and he speaks to him through the burning bush, Moses is a completely different man than you find in the book of Exodus, the second chapter.

God had to change him, had to break him, so that he would be God's kind of leader. But all the while, now Moses is going to make choices. And the choices he makes determines his future. So get this principle. The decision you make today will determine your destiny tomorrow. Make wise choices today. The decision you make today, and you're going to make them. You've made them already this morning when you got up. You've made a plethora of decisions before the service ever began. And you're going to make them all throughout the day.

Don't think that the decisions you make are minimal. They don't matter. No, every decision you make matters. Because it's going to affect something that happens later in the day or something tomorrow or later down the road. Every decision that you make today determines your destiny tomorrow. Make wise choices today. Moses did. Look what it says. Hebrews 11, verse 24. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is unseen. By faith, he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them. By faith, they passed through the Red Sea, as though they were passing through dry land, and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned. A summation of the life of Moses and how God used him in a mighty way. Now think about this. When Moses is growing up, and at the age in which he turns 40, that's what Acts chapter 7, verse 22 tells us, at the age of 40, he made a choice.

Right in the midst of what we would call midlife crisis, he makes the wisest of choices. He wasn't looking for the next fancy chariot coming down the pike that he might be able to obtain that. He wasn't looking to add to his education at the age of 40 so he could become a smarter individual. No, he made the proper choices. But they did it all by faith, believing in what God had already said. So he didn't just make choices on a whim. He made them based on a knowledge of truth, a knowledge of God. And he made them wisely.

Think about this. Moses would say in the book of Deuteronomy, these words in chapter 30, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying his voice, and by holding fast to him. For this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.

Choose today who you will serve. Make a choice. Life, death. Blessing, cursing. Because as you go through life and as you enter into the land of Canaan, every day is a series of decisions that you will make. Choose wisely. Joshua, at the end of his life, having brought them into the promised land, says those very familiar words there in Shechem, Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth. And put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Make a choice. Decide. Who will you serve? Will you serve the God of the Amorites? Or will you serve the true and living God? Who will you serve? Will you put the idols away? Or will you keep them with you? What will you do?

Life is a series of choices. Moses provides for us the example on how to make wise choices. And remember, he had somewhere between three and six years of training from Jacobit. And that was it. And amidst all the idolatry, and all the immorality, and all the sin, and all the pleasure of that sin that surrounded him, and being able to engage in that sin with no consequences to come upon him for that sin, he chose wisely. What would you choose? This is just amazing to me. Because train up a child in the way he should go.

And when he was old, he will not depart from it. You know that verse. Book of Proverbs, 22nd chapter, sixth verse. Train up a child in the way he should go. Now you can read a hundred different commentaries on that and get a hundred different answers. What is the way that he should go? Well, to understand that, you need to understand the Book of Proverbs. And the Book of Proverbs contrasts two ways. The way of wickedness and the way of righteousness. And the way he should go is the way of righteousness, it's not the way of wickedness.

So train up a child in the way he should go. What's the way your children should go? In the way of righteousness. That he might understand the truth of the living God. You need to train your children because your children are going to make choices, right? You've got to train your children on how to make wise choices. They're going to choose one day who they will date, right? Right? Will they make a wise choice or a poor choice? They will choose where they will live. They will choose what job they will take.

They will choose many, many different things in their lives. But will they make wise choices? Will they lean not on their own understanding? Will they in all their ways acknowledge the Lord God of Israel? Will they trust in the Lord with all their heart? How will they make those decisions? What will govern their decision-making process? Why does the Bible say, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly? Why? So that the word of God will be the umpire in your heart. Let it be at home in your heart.

So much so that when you make a decision, the word of God is such a welcomed part of your life that every decision runs through the grid of the Scriptures. That is just so incredibly important. Moses does that. He does. Why do you think, I was reminded by one of our members last week, why do you think that everybody in Florida and around the country is so upset about this law that Governor DeSantis has passed in Florida about what you cannot teach grades one through three? Why are they so upset about not being able to teach their sexual ideologies to those children in kindergarten and in first grade and second grade and third grade?

Why? Because they know, they know Moses. They know Jacobet. They know that the formative years, years one through seven. That's why they're so upset. They know if they get them early and they get them quick, they can ingrain in them all the sinful ideology that will govern their lives down the future. So give them to us early. And when you say you can't do that, they are infuriated at you because they know the best way to educate your children begins as soon as they enter the door of that school.

And they're going to begin to take them down a path that's against the doctrine of truth that you and I hold dear. And so we understand through the life of Moses that a man who was trained at the feet of his mother for a few short years, when he now turns 40, he makes the right choice. He says no to position. He says no to position. It says, by faith Moses when he had grown up, Acts 7 tells us he's 40, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Why not? Don't you understand that you're in the line of royalty?

You're in the line of kingship. You're in the line of pharaohship. You are an important person. You have a position that gives you influence over all of Egypt. Why would you turn away from that position of influence and choose to suffer affliction with the people of God? That just seems so ridiculous. But when you live by faith, which Moses did, by faith he made the right choice. You see, position wasn't important to him. But the person who grants people position is important to him. And he knows that's the God of the universe.

See? And so the recognition, the notoriety that comes from the position was not important to Moses. See, we make decisions based on an opportunity to rise higher in the workplace. We make decisions based on how it is people will see me and recognize me as someone of great importance. But Moses doesn't. He chooses not to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. That had to hurt her tremendously. Think about it. She cherished him. She loved him. She, in her mind, saved him. And now he turns his back on her.

He says, no, that's not what I'm going to do. Most people will think that Moses was absolutely crazy. But whenever you make decisions for the Lord, you're going to be perceived as crazy. What should a prophet of man do if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul? He who seeks to keep his life will lose it. But if you're willing to lose your life for my sake, you'll keep it. When it comes to making the decision, what governs your decision? Moses said no to position. Moses said no to pleasure.

And this is even harder. He says no to pleasure because pleasure was at his fingertips. So the Bible says these words.

It says, In other words, the Bible makes it very clear that sin is extremely pleasurable. First of all, if it wasn't pleasurable, you wouldn't engage in it.

You wouldn't be tempted to engage. Nobody in the room is tempted to eat green beans or peas or liver, right? No one's tempted to eat that stuff. Why? Because no one likes that stuff. But boy, you put something out there you really like, you're tempted, right? Sin is very pleasurable. But he would choose to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin for a season. It tells us that sin is only for a season, that pleasure is seasonable. It's not eternal. The comfort that sin brings you is for a moment.

It's not forever. So the Bible makes that very clear as well. Yes, sin is pleasurable, but it never lasts. So every day, every day, we all make the same decision. Do I choose the path of temporary pleasure or do I choose the path of temporary pain? Do I choose the path of disobedience or do I choose the path of obedience? Do I choose the path of satisfaction or do I choose the path of affliction? You make those choices every single day. Because when you come to the crossroads of life, when you come to the crossroads of a temptation, you have to make a choice.

Remember, 1 Corinthians 10.13 says there's always a route of escape, right? There's always an escape route in the realm of temptation. God provides it for you. Now, whether or not you take the escape route is your choice, and you want to make the right choice. So you either choose satisfaction or affliction, pleasure, pain, disobedience, obedience, but you make a choice. But it's only temporary pain and temporary pleasure. It's only temporary satisfaction and only temporary affliction. Because at thy right hand are pleasures forevermore.

And the wages of sin is not life. It's death. It's passing. And you got to make a choice. Listen to what God says.

Book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is prophesying to Israel on the cusp of their Babylonian captivity. And God has called Jeremiah to preach the truth, to confront the nation, to call them to repentance. And so the Bible tells us in verse number 16 of Jeremiah chapter 1, I will pronounce my judgments on them concerning all their wickedness, whereby they have forsaken me and have offered sacrifices to other gods and worshiped the works of their hands. This is what they've done. So in verse 8 of chapter 2, it says this.

The priest did not say, Where is the Lord? And those who handle the law did not know me. The rulers also transgressed against me and the prophets prophesied by bail and walked after things that did not profit. That's it. In other words, the leaders of Israel walked after those things that truly would have no value. Things that didn't profit. So, in verse 11, God says, Has a nation changed gods when they were not gods?

He says, Look, ask the Canaanites. Did the Canaanites ever change their god when they were not gods? Did they ever stop worshiping Baal? Did they ever stop worshiping Ashtoreth? No, they're not gods. But they never stopped worshiping their gods. But he says this, But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. My people abandoned me, the only true and living God. So, the unbelievers, listen, the unbelievers are more committed to their pagan god than the believers are committed to their true and living God.

What an indictment against Israel. Pagan people are consecrated and committed and dedicated to their gods even though their gods do nothing for them, they're not going to turn their backs on them. But my people serve me and they exchanged their glory and the opportunity to understand me and follow me for gods of the Canaanites and the Amorites in the land of Canaan. So, he says, very simply, be appalled, oh heavens, at this and shudder, be very desolate, declares the Lord. In other words, if this doesn't cause you to shudder, you're in big trouble.

But you need to understand that this is a major issue with God. He says, For my people have committed two evils. Two evils, okay? Now, when you think of something evil, what do you think of? Adultery, bestiality, homosexuality. You think of those things as evil, right? Any kind of immorality we think is evil. That's not what he says. He says this, They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed for themselves or dug for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Know what God calls evil?

God calls evil anything you do to seek and fulfill your desires outside of God. That's evil. God says, this is evil.

This is wrong. This is the height of sin. You have committed two evils. You have forsaken me, the true and living God. You have forsaken me, the living water. And you have dug for yourselves broken cisterns that hold no water. They're dry. They're dusty. And you just keep digging broken cisterns thinking, ah, this will satisfy. Ah, this will satisfy. But they don't. They just don't. But you keep doing it. And you've done it for years. And you've forsaken me. What an indictment. They chose poorly.

They chose sinfully. They loved pleasure and would do all they could to obtain their pleasure only realizing that when it's all said and done it is a broken cistern that holds no water. It's just a dust-filled cistern. But there was no remorse. There was no repentance. There was no turning from that. Now we read that and we think, those people are foolish. But think of how many times we do the same thing. We dig for ourselves broken cisterns that hold no water simply because we have forsaken the true and living God to find the fulfillment of life's desires someplace outside of God.

Whenever you seek something more intimately more with intensity than you do God you have dug for yourself a broken cistern that holds no water. And you'll never be satisfied. But here's Moses. Has it all at his fingertips. All the pleasure. All the sinful opportunities. All the immorality. All the idolatry. Whatever he wants, it's his. He's got the position. All he has to do is ask. He says, no, I don't want that. By faith he does all this, remember.

What is faith? Believing absolutely in what God has already said and behaving accordingly to all that God has said. Trusting obedience. That's what Moses does. So the Bible tells us very simply in Hebrews 11 by faith Moses when he had grown up refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. By faith Moses choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. By faith he does this. By faith he does this. Because there was this passing down of the fact that God will surely visit his people.

The whole writer of Hebrews is talking to Hebrew people. About what? The sufficiency and the supremacy of the Messiah. He is supreme above everything else. And he is sufficient to do what nothing else can do. So let me give you an illustration of the guy that you say the Jewish people say is the greatest leader in the history of Israel.

Moses! And let me show you what he did. Because what he did paves the way for how you need to follow the true living God who is all sufficient and all supreme. And Moses did that. And so he says no to position. He says no to pleasure. He says no to possessions. He says no to possessions. It says considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Whoa! He says no to all the possessions available to him in Egypt. All the treasures. All the gold. All the jewels. All the money.

All that's there. Not interested. Don't want it. Doesn't appeal to me. How? By faith. By believing what God says.

I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you this the day I die. In fact, you put it on my tombstone. Okay? The clearer you see the future the cleaner you stand in the present. The clearer you see the future the more courageous you stand in the present. The more confident you stand in the present. He saw the future. It says these words. He endured a seeing him who is unseen for he was looking to the reward. What did he see? He saw what no one else saw. He saw Christ's greater riches. He saw the promise passed down from Abraham to Isaac, to Jacob, to Joseph.

He saw that his parents gleaned onto that. Held it dear. Followed it a hundred percent. So now he does. Because he understands the truth of living by faith. Because he was able to see not with a physical eye but with a spiritual eye Christ's greater riches than all the possessions in Egypt. What an incredible individual as he made this choice. He said no to position, pleasure, possessions. He said no to protection. By faith he forsook Egypt. Egypt was his place of protection. His place of safety.

His place of comfort. While he was in Egypt he was surrounded by the armies of Egypt. While he was in Egypt he was surrounded by all the wealth of Egypt. He had everything that would protect him from all the evils on the outside of Egypt. But he forsook protection. Because he knew there was a greater protection in the God who oversees Egypt. The God who rules Egypt. The God who rules Israel. See? He knew the protector. He didn't want protection because he knew the protector. And if you know the protector you know he's going to watch over you.

He's going to care for you. He is going to secure you. Shield you. He knew what was told to Abraham in Genesis chapter 15 verse number 1. I am your shield and I am your very great reward Abraham. That's what God tells Abraham. Well that's passed down from Isaac. Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Joseph. And it's just being passed down from generation to generation. Remember they couldn't read the Pentateuch. Moses hadn't written it yet. Right? Moses writes the Pentateuch. Moses writes the first five books of the Old Testament.

Moses writes the history of his upbringing. He writes about his parents. He writes about the history of Israel under the divine inspiration of the Spirit of God. He writes it all. But at this point there's nothing to read. It's passed down by word of mouth. He had to hold on to it dearly, tightly. Had to remember what was said. But he didn't forget it. So he says no to protection. He says no to panic. He says no to panic. It says not fearing the wrath of the king. Who's going to panic if the king was seeking to murder him and to kill him?

Always baffles me as to how Pharaoh was unable to capture him and kill him. But that's because of the protection that God gave to him. God preserved him, watched over him. But he said no to panic. He wasn't going to panic. What am I going to do? Parents didn't panic. Did the parents panic when they said, male child born, into the Nile they go? Did they panic when Moses came out? Nope. Because they lived by faith. Did they panic when they made the basket for him and placed him in the water and put him out there where Pharaoh's daughter was bathing?

No. Did they panic about his future? No. Why? They lived by faith. They lived by faith. They believed what God had said. That's it. Christianity is not rocket science, folks. It's just so basic. So simple. God made it that way. Just trust me. Just believe in me. Just follow me. Just serve me. That's it. That's all I'm asking. That's all I'm going to command you to do. Nothing else. So he says no. In saying no, you always say yes to something. Right? If you say no to one thing, you're saying yes to something else.

Right? If I say no, I'm not going to date you. I'm saying yes, I am going to date you. Right? So when you say no to someone, you're saying yes to someone else. If you say no to something, you're saying yes to something else. And what did he say yes to? He said yes to a personal relationship with the people of God. He said yes to the continual reproach for the name of the Messiah. He said yes to the eternal reward from God. He said yes to the spiritual reality of God himself. He said yes, yes, yes, yes.

I want what God wants for me. Do you? When you come to the crossroads in life, do you want what God wants for you, or do you want what you want for you? Notice the text says, in verse 27, By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is unseen.

It's a word of strength. It's a word of fortitude. It's a word that speaks of resolute courage, right? He was able to bear up under the pressure. No matter how strong peer pressure was, no matter how strong the pressure around him from others were above him or below him, he was able to endure, stand strong with a resilient spirit without backing down. Confidence, courage, courageousness. It marked his life. It marked his life. You see, he did this because he preferred the imperishable. When you prefer the imperishable, you do that because you perceive the invisible.

So if you perceive the invisible, you will always prefer the imperishable. But if you only perceive that which is visible, right? Then you're going to prefer that which is visible and perishable. But because he perceived that which was invisible, he preferred that which was imperishable, which allowed him to perform that which was impossible. The exodus out of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the death of Pharaoh and his army. Moses. We're not done yet. Some more things we want to share with you.

But listen to what the Bible says in the book of Acts. It was at this time that Moses was born and he was lovely in the sight of God, verse 20, verse 7. Chapter 7, verse 20. He was nurtured for three months in his father's home. And after he had been set outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son. Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians. He was a man of power in words and deeds. But when he was approaching the age of 40, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel.

And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. He really believed on the day he went to visit his brethren that when one of his brethren were being mistreated in an unjust way, he slayed the Egyptian, thinking that now they will rise up under me and they will follow me because they will know about my physical proudness.

They will know about how strong I am. I will convince them I am their deliverer. He did not. Later on, it says these words. The following day, he appeared to them as they were fighting together and tried to reconcile them in peace saying, men, you are brethren. Why do you injure one another? But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away saying, who made you a ruler and judge over us? You do not mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you? At this remark, Moses fled and became an alien in the land of Midian where he became the father of two sons.

At 40, he knew he was Israel's deliverer, but Israel did not believe he was their deliverer. He wasn't the guy. Even though he was educated in the world's finest academic arena, even though he was the man of wise words and mighty deeds that did not qualify him to be God's leader, God had to break him. So for the next 40 years, living in absolute obscurity, God trained his man so that when he comes out of the desert at age 80 and confronts Pharaoh, he is a completely different man. This past week, I had the opportunity to witness my son's graduation from Southern Seminary.

He received his doctorate in philosophy. And so I sat there in the audience with, I don't know, I don't know how many thousands of people were in the audience, outside in the hot sun, humid, not like Southern California sun where it's crisp and clean. And I sat there next to my wife and watched our son walk across the stage, being greeted by Dr. Al Mohler, giving his diploma. Yesterday, I had the chance to drive to the airport with Drew. So I said to him very clearly, I said, I want to let you know something and please understand how I say this.

What happened on Friday when you walked across the stage and received your diploma, having spent the last seven years working on your doctorate, and now you're at the end of the tunnel, it's all come to fruition, you're done. And the world of academia will applaud you up the wazoo. This will, but I don't. Because I was more proud of you when you were six than at 36. I was more proud of you when you went out on November the 1st, after October 31st, when all the trick-or-treaters came to our door and we gave them tracks instead of candy.

And you went out the next day and saw all the tracks thrown all over our yard. And you began to weep and cry and ask, why don't they want to know about Jesus? Why don't they want to understand the Lord? And you picked them all up on that day. I was proud of you. When you turned seven and you brought the little neighbor boy down to our home, you say, Dad, this is Hashish. He just gave his life to Jesus. He needs to be baptized. On that day, I was proud to be called your father. I said, son, don't get me wrong.

It's not that I'm not proud and rejoice with you over this accomplishment, but it is so far down the list, it pales in comparison to the boy that grew up in our home and showed a distinct commitment never to compromise the truth. Because many of those men who walked across that stage are going to compromise the truth in years to come, unfortunately. And I said, what made me and your mother most excited was when our son realized that truth was the priority and that truth needed to be proclaimed and never compromised.

And you did that when you were six, when you were seven, when you were eight. You could sit in a church that we would visit and lean over to your mother and say, this man's not preaching the truth, is he, Mom? It's those days that we look back on and say, that's when we realized that God was going to use you in a great way. This is just the end product of God taking you where he's taking you. And I said, so don't hear me minimize the things that you've accomplished, son. I'm not minimizing that at all.

What I'm doing is comparing and maximizing the things that develop character. Because character will always outweigh credentials in the ministry of the Lord, in the mind of the Lord. And that's what matters to me most and to your mom most. He thanked me. He said, Dad, thanks for the perspective. I need to be reminded of that. And I reminded him of Moses because I was preaching on him today. I said, Moses was an educated man, smarter than you, Drew, smarter than me. But that education did not make him a man of God.

Accomplishing mighty deeds did not make him a man of God. Being able to be eloquent with his words didn't make him a man of God. God broke him and made him a man. God can take a broken vessel and use it for his glory and for his purposes in ways you can't even begin to imagine. That's what we did with Moses. By faith, Moses chose wisely. My prayer for you and me, God, we choose wisely today and tomorrow and for this day forward. Let's pray. Father, thank you, Lord, for today. The opportunity you give us to spend time in the word.

Truly, Lord, you are a great God. We thank you for the truth that you've given to us. There's so much for us to learn. We can never accomplish it in one sermon, in one month, in one year or in one lifetime because your word is infinite as you are infinite. And we thank you, Lord, that you are our God and we are your people. May we honor you today by making the right decision today to determine our destiny tomorrow. In Jesus' name, amen.