 All right, good morning, good to be here with you guys. If you guys have your Bibles, wouldn't mind opening up to Exodus chapter three. Exodus three, passage we'll be reading from. Just a little bit here. Now, as you guys are turning there to kind of familiarize you just a little bit with what it is that we do in the SEAL teams, the last deployment I was involved in were out in Iraq and given the task of hunting down men that make suicide vests and those roadside bombs, IEDs. And while we're out there, we're working with this group called the ISOF. It's the Iraqi Special Operations Forces. And one of our goals with these guys is to simply teach them how to fight their own fights. And so the best way to do that is not only train them on base, but actually go outside that wire and fight side by side with them. And so if you could imagine a whole deployment going by and say pretty good, cause we've bagged and gagged some pretty bad dudes we're making the world a better place. And we're coming up on what looked like just enough time on the calendar to do maybe one more operation. And we weren't really sure if the ISOF was ready for us to pass that baton off to them. So we decided, hey, with the time that we have left this final operation, let's try and make it a sort of graduation operation. We'll let them plan the whole thing from the ground up and we'll be there with them just in case things go bad. So they're starting from scratch. What's the first thing they need? They need some intel to operate on. So they're hitting the streets and they find this guy out there, this source, tells them about this man that's an Iraqi policeman. So now we're looking into this guy as a policeman by day, but at night back home, as it turns out, he's one of these bomb makers that we're looking for. And so the ISOF comes up with this whole plan. Here's how we wanna approach the house, get in, grab this guy, extract it, all checks out, looks pretty good. But they had one complaint they wanted to air out with us. They said, hey, listen, we, the ISOF, we feel we get shot at more than you seals do on operations and we think we've figured out why. So we're like, okay, curious, what is it? And they say it's the color of your uniforms. We're like, what really? The color of our uniform? You don't think it has anything to do with the way we shoot, move, communicate, tactics. You think it comes down to the mere color of a uniform? And these guys are just convinced of this. And so they had this request. They're saying, would you be willing for this final lot to maybe take off your American color uniforms? And we got a pile of ISOF uniforms for you guys to put on. So like, all right, let's get this straight. You want us to put your uniforms on to blend in with you to get shot at more with you. And they're like, yeah, it's like fine. It's the final operation. Who really cares? We'll take the souvenirs home. So we get the uniforms on. You know, the funny thing is here I am walking around with this Iraqi special operation force uniform on my dark complexion and growing that little facial hair. The guys on my team are staring at me now kind of pointing their finger at me going, hey Williams, you know, you're starting to blend in with these guys around here. So I was embracing it. As I'm standing up in the Humby, that section called the tour, you see it in the movie. Sometimes guy kind of standing partially out of the vehicle behind a weapon. Well, I've got a weapon in front of me and it is the 50 caliber machine gun. And for those of you that don't know, let's just say that's a weapon that could really reach out and touch somebody. I've got these night vision goggles on, looking through this green little world as I'm just kind of going over this mental inventory, thinking about all the things I know about this night that are just firing off in my mind. Starting off with the weapon. I know my weapon is headspace and time, that means it's ready to go. I know where this guy lives, how we're gonna approach, get in, grab him, extract. But then I'm thinking about this. One other unique thing I know is that this is it. This is the final operation, which also means I know just a matter of days from now I'm gonna be back in my hometown in Southern California surfing in the ocean. Here's what none of us really knew about that night was that we were actually being set up the entire time to get through in the absolute worst circumstances we've been in on this entire deployment as we find ourselves getting set up on this ambush and suddenly now we're engaging in this gun battle for our lives. And it truly was the team's ability to shoot, move, communicate and do what we do best as COs that led to the obvious conclusion. I stand alive before you this morning, but I think it's worth remembering that it doesn't always work out that way. And what we need to recall is that our freedoms are not free and what are they paid for him? The currency of our soldier's blood on the battlefield. So that's something worth appreciating. And when you think about it, yes. Have you ever taken into consideration that our spiritual freedoms in a very similar way are paid for in the currency, not of soldiers, but our savior's blood up there at the cross. And so these guys are really a reflection in a manifestation of that greatest act of love, has no one than this one that lays on his life for his trends. Perhaps more on how that night played out, but I do kind of want to get into God's word here in Exodus chapter three. And if I could maybe set things up like this, you know, Mark Twain, he's got this quote where he says, and we say this a lot, right? History always repeats itself. He makes the point, history doesn't always repeat itself, but sometimes it rhymes. And I think that what we're going to see here is this sort of dichotomy between good and evil. And it just seems to rhyme throughout history. It always exists. As though there's some type of tyrannical ruler, a king, and then you've got the common people. And now he wants them in bondage, captivity and slavery. Going back to the origin of our nation, the very earliest Americans, the Patriots, before that constitution was penned into history. If you recall a little American history, what was going on here? Well, the people that were living in the Americas had it pretty good. But there was a king, a ruler, he's a little tyrannical, King George III. And he looked upon what was happening in the Americas and he thought to himself, they've got it a little bit too good. So he decided that he was going to rule with some physical domination, intimidation, and then financially as well. And that all led to something that we learned a little bit about in school at one point, taxation without representation. The people are getting a little bit upset. So they send word back to him. And rather than extend the olive branch, the hand of approval or fellowship, he sends soldiers overseas. And so now this intimidation is happening. Infamous moment, the Boston massacre where some innocent civilians were taken out and the people living in the Americas are sending word back to the king like, hey, enough is enough, stop this. He decides to press in a little bit more. And so then that leads to that infamous moment that shot hurt around the world, this battle of Lexington and Concord, because what did he want to do? He wanted to disarm the people. They had weapons caches that they were hiding to protect themselves. And now they're in this situation where they're like, you're going to take our weapons away so that I can't defend myself and my family. That's it. So this battle of Lexington and Concord shot hurt around the world and through blood, sweat, tears, hard work, determination, brave men stood in the gap and said, give me liberty or give me death. All too often that's what it costs them but freedom would come. And so we have to tend into history as what? The declaration of independence. We are independent. We don't want anything to do with your reign and rule your tyranny. We are free. You go back to biblical history, that's what we see here in Exodus. We have a tyrannical ruler, a king, a pharaoh. We got some people that it just seems to him have it a little bit too good. And so what does he want to do? He wants to oppress them and take away the freedoms that they enjoy and make their lives miserable. But God would use one by the name of Moses to deliver a sort of declaration of independence. We're not going to be a part of this anymore. Let my people go. And if I could just give you a little snapshot of what we're in for, God has called you and I to play the part like that Patriot Moses to deliver a weaponized message, a let my people go message that we're living in a day and age right now where as the scriptures say, there is such a thing as the God of this age, the enemy of our soul. And he rules and reigns and he is like this tyrannical pharaoh and so many are in captivity and bondage slavery. They are shackled up, under sin and they have no idea. But you and I have a message I could really reach out and touch somebody and set them free. And so Exodus chapter three to kind of bring you up to speed here contextually, like what is going on up into this point because we're jumping into the third chapter here. Let me maybe just ask you guys a real quick trivia question. And based off of how you answer this, I think I know how to kind of gauge where you're at on your biblical understanding. I'll know where to jump in. So all I need from you is just real quick, a little bit of participation. I'm going to ask you a question and you guys as quick as you can shout out the answer. All right, need to hear it from you. Are you guys ready? Simple question. How many animals of each kind did Moses take on the ark? Ah, you see what happened? It wasn't Moses, it was Noah. I see I got my hands full. Noah, right? All right, that was not nice. But you guys could use that one now at the family. Gets everybody the first time. All right, so it wasn't Moses, it was Noah. But Exodus, what's going on up to this point? Well, we find ourselves where? In the land of Egypt. And the land of Egypt is the land of the Egyptians but they didn't live there alone, did they? They coexisted. Some of the people they coexisted with were the children of Israel, God's children. And everything was going good for a while. Why? Well, because of one of Israel's own, Joseph. Guys remember the story of Joseph? He's the ultimate rags to riches story. This poor guy had a very rough start. He knew exactly what it was to grow up first hand under the hands of domestic abuse. His brothers actually wanted to kill him and leave him for dead. And then they realized, you know what? We could sell him out. We could sell this guy into slavery. And so he goes from domestic abuse to first hand, he knows what it is like to be human trafficked now. And all the while, he remains steadfast in his faith for the Lord. And just try and put yourself in his shoes for a little bit there. Imagine just everything going wrong like this and maybe doubting, maybe questioning, God, are you involved? Am I off? Am I doing something wrong here? But he remains steadfast in that faith through all the trials and tribulations. Then he gets wrongfully thrown into prison for something he didn't even do. But then what happens? Then the breakthrough happens. He goes from prison to prince. He literally becomes second in command over all of Egypt, second in command, only next to the very Pharaoh king himself. And everything was going good for a while. Because of this relationship that he had with the king, they, the people of Israel, inherited this sort of charitable king. But like so many good things in life, unfortunately this one in particular was not going to last. Eventually, Joseph died. The scriptures inform us that the king that knew Joseph, he died. And what do they get? They get a new king. And they say that he did not walk. This Egyptian Pharaoh king did not walk in his predecessor's footsteps. In fact, they said that he walked like an Egyptian. Thought I'd try it out. Didn't do that in first service. Maybe scratch that one. Okay, got it. But instead of having a charitable king now, what do they inherit? A genocidal king. This guy turns on him. He goes sick. In fact, I'll try one more on you guys. He's the first one to take away straw. Here in California, we don't have straws in the restaurants anymore so much, right? This guy took away straw, but it was for a different purpose. He literally took away the straw so that it'd be more difficult for the children of Israel to make their brick and mortar. And so he's giving them this backbreaking labor, all the while God's favor was upon the children of Israel in this sort of enemy-occupied territory. Everything was going good. And so this guy doesn't like how they're continuing to flourish and multiply. So that's when he goes full genocide. He decides I'm gonna wipe out all the baby Hebrew boys. And so he wants the mothers to leave them out there to be exposed to the elements of the world so that they would die. And one was born that we would come to know as Moses. And interestingly, as I was studying this, it's just like an interesting little point is that Moses didn't get his name from his own birth mother. Moses got his name from who? An Egyptian princess. Because Moses' mother, she decides, Mala Bear comes out, I'm not killing my baby. And so she comes up, she devises this master plan, very clever, hides him for as long as she could. But then she realizes this Egyptian princess often goes down to the Nile Reeds, the water there. And perhaps if my boy is there in a basket, her heartstrings would be tugged and she would take him out, pull him in as one of her own. And it worked out. And this Egyptian princess is the one that saw him there amongst the Nile Reeds and she is the one that named him Moses and Moses, the name has significance. It means to be drawn out of. Because she drew him there out of the water. And now look at this. Moses goes from the muddy Nile Reeds to royalty. He's brought into the palace. He's getting raised at the king's table. He's rubbing shoulders in the VIP meet and greets. He's living the life of prestige. Everything's going so good for Moses. But meanwhile, the children of Israel that are occupied in that land, miserable. They're being destroyed, backbreaking labor, oppression. They're trying out to God for help. And so Moses, being one of them, realizes the position that he's in and we're informed in the book of Acts, chapter seven, Stephen, the martyr, the first Christian martyr that was stoned to death. He gives this testimony of Moses and he gives us a little extra insight. He shares with us, Moses is motive for what took place here that we're gonna see in a little bit. He says that Moses thought that his people would understand that God was gonna use him to deliver them. And so one day he sees this dispute going on between an Egyptian that's beating on one of his countrymen and he decides to step in. God's gonna use me to deliver my people. And so he steps in, lays hands on the guy but takes things too far and winds up killing him. And so what did he do with this thing that he did? That was wrong, that was sinful. Well, so often it is human nature when we commit some type of sin to try and cover it up. And so he literally covered this guy up. He buried him in the desert but it didn't take much more probably than a soft wind to expose and blow over like what he had done. Another day goes by, he sees a couple of his countrymen in a dispute with one another and he decides to try and play rescuer. He wants to be mediator. So he's jumping in there and getting in between them and saying, boy, he's like, what's going on here? And they're looking at him challenging his identity. Who do you think you are? He's a guy in Batman. He didn't say that. But they're challenging him on his identity. They're saying, who do you think you are? Who made you prince and judge over us? What, are you going to kill us? Like you killed that Egyptian? Could you just try and imagine how he felt at that moment right there? He literally went all in. He put it all on the line for his own people. Have you ever really stuck your neck out there for somebody? And basically the comeback what they share with you is, well, I never asked you to do that for me. And so he's all in with these guys and they're turning on him. And he realizes, oh no, the king's going to find out about this and the king did find out about this. And the king puts a hit out on Moses and now he becomes a fugitive and he is on the run. Another 40 years goes by and that's where we find ourselves in Exodus chapter three starting in verse one. It says, now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Median. And he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to whore up the mountain of God. Could you just try and imagine the feeling of a waste in life? I mean, here he is in the back of the desert. And many of us can feel like we're out there in that desert place, especially nowadays. Looking back on how good things used to be. Moses I'm sure reflecting back on living that life of prestige and how good it was there in the palace and being a royal and now look at him. He has a nobody going through these valleys and dry places. And so perhaps you and I find ourselves going through this dry season. Relationships aren't the same. Will our country ever go back to the way that it was? Will things ever be the same at work? Will is everything just the better years in the rear view mirror talk about how it used to be? Well, I want you to take into consideration here this morning as maybe being in this sort of dry desert season is exactly where we need to be before God can cross us over to where he wants us to be. I think there's biblical precedent for this. Look, we could tell Moses because, you know, we know the whole story. Moses this all works out for you in the end, man. We know you're in this bad place but I've seen the end of the parade. You're going through a rough spot right here but God is ultimately going to use you. And so he comes out of this desert experience on top or look at the children of Israel who would be delivered through Moses with God as the power behind it all, 40 years they spent out there in the wilderness. There was a shortcut, you know, they could have gotten there a lot quicker but God informs us in Deuteronomy chapter eight that God took them through the desert to test them, to see what they're made of, to humble them and to check their heart. And after he had them in the place where he wanted them to be after they went through this training time, that's when they crossed over the Jordan River into the land of milk and honey, the land of promise. Or you think of so many prophets of God before like Elijah, a man of the desert or even John the Baptist, this man of the wilderness before what? That's what preceded the great honor and opportunity to make straight the kingdom of the Lord. He got an usher in the Messiah. Even think about Jesus himself. Sometimes you might be thinking, how did I get myself here? How did I wind up in the desert? God, everything is, our relationship is so dried up do you even hear me anymore? Remember how Joseph must have felt there in the prison? The breakthrough did come. But maybe you're thinking this is a consequence or something I did wrong? And maybe, maybe not. God will show you I think within the conscience but consider this, Jesus blameless, sinless. Not for one split second was he ever a sinner. He who the father made him Jesus who knew no sin he ultimately became sin for us. But this perfect Jesus, where did he find himself before his preaching ministry began in the desert? 40 days, 40 nights out there in the wilderness before the itinerant preaching ministry began. So maybe being in this desert place that you sense or feel that you're in is exactly where you need to be. Where God's gonna work on you to cross you over and take you to where he wants you to be. There's an anonymous quote I think that captures this sort of condition brilliantly. It says that when God wants to drill a man and thrill a man and skill a man, when God wants to mold a man to play the noblest part, when he yearns with all of his heart to create so great and bold a man that all the world shall be amazed, watch his methods and watch his ways, how he ruthlessly perfects whom he royally elects, how he hammers him and hurts him and with mighty blows converts him into trial shapes of clay which only God understands. While man's tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands, how God bends but he never breaks when it's man's good that he undertakes. Now he uses whom he chooses and with every purpose fuses him by every act induces him to try his splendor out, God knows what he is about. And so when God decides he's gonna try out some splendor, he knows what he is up to and sometimes we might look to heaven and think, Lord, I don't understand what is going on here right now but here's what we need to trust is that you are in his grip, he is the master sculptor, he has a hammer, he has a chisel and he's making something and sometimes he's chipping away, sometimes full blown chunks are falling off and we're like, wow, that really hurts, what are you doing? But just trust that this master sculptor has an image in mind, he's trying his splendor out, God knows what he is about. And so God speaking to Moses here in verse two. Verse two, it says, and the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So we looked and behold, the bush was burning with fire but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight why the bush does not burn. So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses, verse four, one more time, look at this, God is observing something about Moses, got your attention now. Now that I have your attention, what does he do? That's when he calls him. Verse four, so when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called him. Have you ever considered the possibility that maybe God would not have been able to get Moses' attention the way that he has it now if he tried to call him when things were going so good in life? I mean, isn't that if we're being honest, kind of how it operates in our own lives? When everything's going really good, are we tuned in? Are we thankful? We ought to be. God said to the children of Israel and Deuteronomy eight that they ought to always remember, basically, don't forget where you come from. Don't forget how it used to be. When everything's great and you're eating from that land of milk and honey, when you're rich and you're full and you have a full household and everything's good, don't be forgetful. Don't forget to thank the Lord. But it is easy for us to have that sort of spiritual abnesia. When everything's going good, it's kind of hard for God to get our attention, but when things aren't going so good, suddenly now, we're praying. Louis has this quote. He says that God's voice is like a whisper to us in our pleasures. It's hard to hear from him when things are going good, but pain and suffering operate as God's megaphone to rouse a deaf ear. And so maybe when things were just so first class in the life of Moses, God couldn't have really gotten his ear and gotten his attention, the way that he does now, way out here in the back of the desert, but now he has his attention. Verse nine, he is about to get the call that he always wanted. Verse nine, God speaking to Moses says, now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now therefore and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt. God is essentially saying to Moses, remember that thing that you wanted to do? Remember how you thought that I was going to use you to send you to the people to deliver them from the hand of Pharaoh? Well, you were right. The thing was you went about it in the wrong time. You did Moses timing, not God timing and you went about it the wrong way, but that thing you wanted to do, I'm gonna use you now. You are going to get to do it. You are going to deliver a declaration of independence, a weaponized message. Let my people go and look at Moses' response. Moses' response, verse 11, why not get to do what you wanted to do, man? But Moses says to God, who am I? Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? We can't forget where Moses was at at the stage of his life, 40 years as a fugitive out there in the back of the desert. 40 years has gone by. What was the last question that he was ever asked by his own countrymen? It was a challenge on his identity. Who do you think you are? And now I feel for him 40 years later, he's still circling around this same question. Who am I? He's thinking, God, you should have come to me sooner. Back then I had some influence. I had power. I was rubbing shoulders with the king. I was part of the VIP meet and greets. I was eating at the king's table. I had the blue check mark next to my name on social media, but they took it away, canceled, not even on there anymore. Who am I? And this whole who am I mentality, it's toxic and it's prevalent, especially today. A lot of people kind of have this mentality of who am I? That great things are meant for other people. Extraordinary people go and accomplish extraordinary things. Couldn't be further from the truth. Some people feel like, you know, this is just the deck of cards I've been dealt in life and I'm just playing my hand. Victim of my circumstances. I don't have the same privileges as that person over there in that household. I didn't come from the same pedigree. I didn't have the same family. I didn't get the same education. I didn't get this, this, this. And they think that they're just a victim that has to roll over and play dead and play their part. When that couldn't be further from the truth. On a lot of different levels, especially in the land of America, where you can find yourself here starting at the top, if you will. And if you don't know how to keep it, you can find yourself at the bottom. But this is a place where you can start at the bottom and literally find yourself at the top. Your DNA does not determine destiny. What is the most important stuff? I gotta let you know that there are certain uncontrollables in life. Yeah, you can't determine your DNA. You can't determine the household you get brought up in. But that's not the most important determining factor. The most important stuff is stuff that everybody has access to. And what is it? It's your mindset, your desire, your heart. Where are you gonna put that? Because that's really the stuff that counts. And that can, a great example. Go back to my first ASL training. You know, part of our ASL creed, it literally says this, speaking of the identity of a seal, it says that, here's the characteristic. Common man, uncommon desire to succeed. Not extraordinary man, extraordinary desire. It's just common man, but uncommon desire to succeed. That's accessible to everybody. Your desire, where you put that. So first day of training, 173 of us in this class. And the instructor comes into the room. He says, gentlemen, how many of you are willing to die before you quit? We're all pounding our chest saying, ooh, yaw, that's our yes. And he goes, great, this is what I want you to do right now. Take a mental picture of the person on your left and on your right, and the guy in front of you if you've got him, and the guy behind you. So I'm looking around the room, taking weird mental pictures of people. Chug it, chug it, chug it. And he goes, chances are, if you're still standing here for graduation day, that means each of these guys, you just took a mental picture of, the probability is they didn't make it. So do you really think you're the one in that little group? And I remember looking around the room, kind of thinking to myself, where are these quitters going to come from? You know, because I'm thinking, hey, it's not gonna be me, but at the same time, these guys around me, I've gotten to know them. Because this is day one official of SEAL training, but we've already gone through some pre-SEAL trainings called INDOC Together, where we have gotten beat down and suffered under the hands of these instructors. And so far, I haven't seen any quit in any of these guys. And what we already had gone through, that was rough. Something in how far down this hole do we gotta go before guys start to fall off? So looking around the room, realizing the majority of the room has got to go, I'm trying to find some of these guys that I think will quit in my head. Where's that low hanging fruit? I can just pick them off. I'm looking around the room and this guy totally captures my attention. Captures it in a different way though. I'm looking at Barth, Barth. Well, Barth isn't one of the guys that's going to quit. There's one of the guys that's definitely gonna make it through SEAL training because something about Barth, this guy, he was the stud of the class. I mean, you wanna talk about a person born and bred to be a Navy SEAL, he was cut from another piece of cloth. There's never a question over who's gonna get first place on what we did. Everybody knew it was Barth. The question amongst ourselves, here's the conversation, who's getting second? We know he's getting first. And so there's one of the guys that's definitely gonna make it through SEAL training. And then I'm thinking, what am I doing? So it's to find guys that are gonna quit and not make it. So I'm looking around. I'm struggling to find anyone that I think will quit. But then how could I forget about Alex Gagne. Alex Gagne, complete antithesis of Barth. I mean, this guy, Barth in the front, this guy always in the back. We called it the goon squad. He's the ugly duckling of the class, the runt of the litter. It is an insult that he's even here among us. He doesn't belong here with us. How did this guy make it through the bare minimum requirement? He didn't get his foot in the door. So not only is this guy gonna quit, he's the locker room talk. Like he's the first guy that's gonna quit out of anybody. So I'm thinking, well, at least I got that subtle. I know who the first guy is is gonna quit. Well, the irony of it all is that by the time we get to the most difficult part of SEAL training, which is called Hell Week, where they keep you up for five and a half days, you get four hours of sleep. Not per night. That's it, four hours for the next five and a half days. You run over 200 miles. You're out in the Pacific Ocean without a wetsuit on. I went through in February this Hell Week. When that water temperature is the coldest out of the year, you're out there two, three o'clock in the morning. It takes your breath away. And then you start going through just levels of hypothermia. You look like you're hanging on to a jackhammer. We call it jackhammering cold. And then on top of all this physical exertion and sleep deprivation, you're hallucinating. I mean, I'm paddling along and I grew up watching Ninja Turtles. I'm seeing Donatello down there in the water. You know, Leonardo. Other guys are throwing salutes out into the dark thinking they see the Statue of Liberty in San Diego. Another guy waving at somebody. Like, what are you waving at? It's like the guy on the bicycle riding across water. No. So looking back on it, it's pretty funny. But going through it, not so fun. Those instructors were more than right. 173 of us, left, left, right. By graduation day out of that 173, there's only 13 of that original class number still standing there. But during that Hell Week, who was amongst the first to quit? Well, not this guy Alex Ganya. Somehow he's still there. Amongst the first to quit was this guy, Barth. The start of the class, the guy that everybody thought was gonna make it. And who made it through that pipeline and became a Navy SEAL, Alex Ganya. The runt of the litter, the ugly duckling of the class. What does that demonstrate for you right there? That demonstrates the truth of that principle being this common man or common woman, but with uncommon desire to succeed. You can't choose your DNA, but your DNA doesn't determine destiny. The most important stuff is this stuff, the desire, the heart, the mindset. So what God's gonna get around to saying here to Moses is basically pointing out to him, yeah, Moses, I know about the whole who am I thing. Dude, trust me, I know about your resume. I don't care about that past stuff. What I'm checking is, do you still have what you started with? Because you thought you understood that I was going to use you to deliver your people, do you still have that heart? Do you still want to deliver your people? It's the heart, the desire, the mindset that really counts. And God says that much in terms of how he thinks. He compares the way we think with how he thinks in 1 Samuel 16-7. The Lord says, I don't see has man sees, why? Man looks at the outward appearance. What does the Lord look at? The heart. And who is he saying that in comparison to? The people's choice, a guy like King Saul. He had the look, the touch. In comparison to David. Who is David? David was literally the rut of the litter, the locker room talk. When they're looking for the king, that's who's going to be king? And they go to the house of Jesse, they go through all of the sons. David wasn't even consideration for the kickball team. They're like, this is it, this is all your sons? We got David out there. That was the one that God chose. Why? What do we know about David? He had a heart after God's own heart. And what did God do with that little rut of the litter David, that locker room talk? He uses the little guy with the right heart to take on the giant and literally chop off Goliath's head. And so the scriptures are very clear how God function operates and how he uses people. It says in second chronicles, the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth to do what? Show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal towards him. Your resume doesn't matter here, Moses. Moses, where is your heart? And the whole who am I question is the wrong question. It's not who am I, who is my God? And he's gonna get around to asking that right question. And so speaking to God after he gets this call, verse 12, God, first of all, he's saying what he's gonna send me to go do, verse 12. So he, God said, I will certainly be with you. That's where the authority is, that's where the power is. Do not fear, do not be dismayed. It's the Lord your God that is with you. So he says, I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. And then Moses says to God, indeed when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, what shall I say? And they say to me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am has sent me to you. What is the divine name that he revealed, the self-revelation? His name is I am. Tell them I am has sent me to you. This name for God, I am is one of the most revered names for God and Christianity and even Judaism all the way up into this day. And that is so important to understand. Now fast forward to the New Testament just for a little bit. We know how this all played out for Moses. This I am, the self-revelation of God, the name of this God commissioned Moses. He gave him a commission, a duty and a task to go take this message, this weaponized message, you deliver it, let my people go and the people will be set free. It's a declaration of independence. Remember this name for God, I am. And you have to understand this in the New Testament, in that first century, the Hebrew people, what would they typically, the Old Testament we know is originally written in what? Hebrew, what you might not know is this. Hebrew during that time was practically a forgotten language of the people. It was lost, they didn't use it anymore. And so they couldn't even open up these Hebrew scrolls and understand what they were reading. And that was because, a lot of, because of Alexander the Great and now he had conquered the entire empire and one of the things when he had conquered Greece is he adopted some of their influences and one of those things was he liked their language. And so Greek became the lingua franca, the language of the day. So that was the common language. And so these Jewish people couldn't even read their scriptures in Hebrew because of forgotten language. And so what did the Jewish scholars decide to do? Realizing that Hebrew's forgotten here but Greek is accessible, they realized we need to make our scriptures accessible to the people in the Greek language. And so they created a translation called the Septuagint. They took it directly from the Hebrew, it was a little Aramaic and directly into Greek. Septuagint is Greek and it means the 70. They took 70 of their top premier scholars and came up with a very sharp translation. Now to add to that, whenever you read Jesus in the New Testament, quoting something from the Old Testament, guess what version he's quoting? Is he quoting it from Hebrew? Or is he quoting it from Greek? He's using the Septuagint. The Septuagint was the translation of the day. And so that shows the sort of approval, if you will, that God has on that translation. And so now what's important about that? Well, how would this name for God I am read in the Greek? It's not complicated, it's just two words in the Greek. It would read, ego, ami. And so this divine name for God, the I am, the great I am, the most revered name for God in Christianity and Judaism, to them it would be ego, ami. That's what opens up people's ears. When you say that, they know what you're referring to. The I am. Well, in the New Testament, Jesus finds himself in a dispute in John chapter eight. And it's the Jews and they're constantly trying to get him on something, aren't they? But they can't just stone him for any reason, even though they would like to, because they follow the letter of the law. They are rule followers. And so they're trying to catch him on something. They need to get him on something they can just get rid of him for. And what they really wanna get him on is blasphemy, potentially, right? And so there's only certain reasons why you could stone somebody during that time, according to the rules. They would have to be a murderer, or a adulterer, or a rapist, or blasphemy. In their book, yeah, you can get stone for that right there. They can't just stone somebody because they disagree with their religion or their politics, right? So they need a good reason. I remember reading this exit as chapter three, kind of going over like, what can I pull out of this? And realizing this name I am is the same name that Jesus would use to ascribe to himself what a great passage of use of Jehovah witnesses, because they don't believe that Jesus is God. And so you could go to places like John chapter one and talk to J.W. and go look at pretty clearly here, John chapter one, it says in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. And then John 1.14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. So that word that became flesh, that is the word that was with God that was God. It's calling that word that became flesh, God, he's God. And they go, well, actually in our translation here, and what they do is they play linguistic gymnastics and they literally add a letter to the word of God that is not there in the Greek. They add the letter A. It's not there, it's just flat out at the blink spot and they add it there. So they say in our translation, it reads like this, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was a little G, God. And you're like, what? And so now where are we gonna go with this? Are they Greek scholars or are you a Greek scholar? No. And so now you're kind of at this impasse and you guys are just gonna have to, at the end of the day, like just disagree with each other. If you really wanna get through to them, sometimes context is the best way to go because they could play linguistic gymnastics for a little bit with you here on this, but what they can't play around with is context, context so often is inescapable. And so remember the fact that there's only certain reasons you can stone somebody during that time. You can't just stone them because you think that there are little loony tunes out of their mind, right? So as I'm consciously thinking about this, I'm also thinking about this. I've never had Jehovah's Witnesses come to my door where I live. How crazy is that? All the other places I've lived over the years, they've come to the door, but they've never been here to this place that I'm living at now. And as I'm thinking about that, I kid you not. Sounds like something I'm making up, the doorknocks. That's not uncommon at all. My wife is getting Amazon packages delivered like hand over fist all the time, right? Us husbands out there were like, what is this, what are you getting? What is this all the time? Oh, it's just a little something. Something told me that's not some Amazon package. That could be the JWs. And I go to the door and I'm looking through the little people and sure enough, it is the JWs. Now at this point, I got my son with me, my wife, friend, and Aaron's daughter in school. I gave him all this candy to keep him off my hands because I was real busy working on this message. And so now he's eating all the candy. And you know how it is, those kids, they just get into the fourth dimension, right? He's on candy. And now he really wants to know who's at the door. And so he's running to the door and I can't even crack this door because he's like trying to get his head through. I'm like trying to keep him back and he's screwing right back in there like a little pit bulldog. And my son had this thing going for a little while there where he would do this thing that was really embarrassing sometimes. But then I began to realize, you know what? He might have a gift. And so this is what he would do. Certain people, not all people, but certain people at church, he would hiss at them. And he would just pick them and just like, I'm so sorry. But I'd be holding them sometimes and someone would come up to me that I'd think's like a little off, right? Like I get a weird feeling about this person right here. And he would hiss at them and I start thinking the gift of discernment. He knows some things here, right? Yeah, I think so son. So I'm trying to open the door. I give up on trying to keep him back. I just pull it open. He sticks his head through. I hear them go, what a cute little boy. What does he do? They're like, ah, so I swing the door open. He goes running on the front lawn and we start getting around to finally, I just point out, let's get to who Jesus is. I know who you guys think Jesus is. I believe that he is God. No, I do. I believe the scriptures say he is God. I believe he explicitly claimed to be God. They're like, yeah, we would like to see that. Let's go. And so we talk about the stoning and the context. There's only certain reasons. We go to Exodus 314, we both agree. What is the name for God? Well, clearly he self-revealed as the I am, the ego on me. That is the name for God. Now let's go to John chapter eight. If you're taking note, just jot down John 856 so you can start around there. Jesus did a dispute with the Jews of this time. And guess what they're doing? A lot like they did with Moses, they're challenging him on who are you? Who do you say you are, right? His identity. And they're messing around and they're claiming pedigree. What's their pedigree? They're talking about, oh, our father Abraham, right? And so they could go through the genealogy and claim pedigree. And in a way it's almost like a little stab in the side because they're like, who's your father? Because they're thinking Joseph feel legitimate child. They don't realize his father is the father above. And so they're like, who's your father? And Jesus decides he's finally just gonna go ahead and stab him in the chest with it. And so he goes, you guys wanna know who I am? And so there you're talking about Abraham, right? All right, verse 56. Jesus says, yeah, Abraham, Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. And now they're thinking like Abraham, like this guy is crazy, he is Looney Tunes. He's 5150 because how could he possibly see Abraham? And so they're saying in verse 57, then the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old and you have seen Abraham? And then Jesus says to them, most assuredly I say to you before Abraham was, ego, I me, I am. It was not lost upon them what he was claiming right there. He opened up the Septuagint of the day. He turned to Exodus 314. He found God, the divine name for God, the ego on me, I am a sent you to me. And he says, you wanna know who I am? Right here. That's me right here. Not lost upon them because look at the response. Immediately what did they do? They picked up stones to stone him. Why? The only possibility is because they understood very well what he was claiming right there. He's claiming to be God and they don't believe he is God. They're thinking blasphemy. And so I was telling the Jehovah Witnesses, here's the thing, you guys don't believe he's God. The Pharisees don't believe he is God and that's the company that you're in. I don't know if that's the company that you wanna be sharing. And so typically they have some older JW, the more mature whatever been in the business for awhile and then they got the little protege they bring along with a little trainee. Those are the ones that are kind of, you can get through to, right? The other ones, no one's inaccessible to God. God could reach them all. But this one was literally going back and forth holding the spot in the Exodus 3, 14, John 8, 58. Exodus 3, 14, John 8, 58. I never saw that before. And so it was really cool to see their eyes being open. And so the other ones like, well, you got your hands full. We better get going. You can obviously see your kid here. I'm like, no, stick around. I got all that time in the world. Let's talk and all right, well, we gotta get on, we gotta go. And so I said, well, come on back. That'd be great. And so they said, yeah, we will. I'm not always home. Why don't you take my number down? They're like, yeah, okay. And I start sharing it. And I looked, they're not doing anything. I'm like, are you gonna take it down? They're like, oh, right. Yeah, go ahead. So I start sharing the number with them. And then I say, repeat it back to me. So I know you got it. And they're like, we got it. And they left. I'd never seen them again, right? Bringing everything to a close here. And maybe if you're only gonna pay attention for five minutes is the best five minutes, the most important five minutes I'd say to pay attention to. Is that what you and I have to understand is the same I am that commissioned Moses, which is a great commission. Now we know who it is. Who is it? It is Jesus, the angel of the Lord, as revealed in the Old Testament. Jesus in the new, the same I am, just like Moses has commissioned you and I. God calls you and I to be as little patriots to go and deliver a declaration of independence. And what is the declaration of independence? Independent from who? The scriptures say that there was a God of this age, a ruler of this age. The world in a sense is the devil's playground and is a global war on terrorism. This is the whole world as under the sway of the evil one. And he's prowling about like a rowing line, seeking whom he may devour. And he's a suicide bomber. Just like suicide bombers, they're strapped, they're going down. They know that, what's their goal? Take out as many people with them as they possibly can. That's their measure of success. They know they're going down. They wanna take out as many people with them as they can in the process. We saw that in Afghanistan. 13 of our service members and so many others, that was their goal. Take out as many as they can. Have we not read the back of the book? Is Satan not that suicide bomber that is strapped? He is going down into the pit of fire, but he's not content with just that, is he? What does he want? He wants to take out as many people with him as he possibly can in the process. Second Timothy chapter two describes you and I as soldiers for Christ. We are God's special forces. We are his Navy SEALs while here on earth. Navy SEALs, if we're successful at what we do, we sabotage the plans of evil men that wanna bomb other people. We destroy, we foil their plans. Sirius Lewis says, enemy occupied territory, that is what this world is. But Christianity is the story about how our rightful king has landed. That's Jesus. You might say in disguise. And now he's calling us all to take part in his great campaign of sabotage. You wanna be a part of an uprising? You wanna be a saboteur with some real divine justification? Then take part in putting a dent in the kingdom of darkness and acting upon the commission, the duty, the task that our Savior has given us to do. He gave it to Moses. He gave it to you and I. Maybe one last final motivation. Don't take it from me. Take it from an atheist. You would think atheists just want you to keep it to yourself. Pendulet, famous atheist, Las Vegas magician, illusionist. He put a video out online called Gift of a Bible. And in this video, he talks about how, he basically says, look, I don't believe what Christians believe, but if you believe it, why aren't you out there sharing it? You would think you just want you to keep it to yourself. In this video, transcribe some of it, he says, I've always said that I don't respect people who don't proselytize. He's talking about evangelize. He says, I don't respect that at all. If you believe that there's a heaven and a hell and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life and you think it's not really worth telling them this because it would make things socially awkward. He says, how much do you have to hate somebody to not evangelize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them about it? He says, I mean, if I believe you on the shot of a doubt that a truck was coming at you and you didn't believe that the truck was coming at you, there's a certain point where I will tackle you. And he says, and this, speaking of the gospel message and this is more important than that. He is some atheist. He doesn't believe what we believe but he's calling us out saying, but if you believe it how much do you have to hate somebody to believe it's true and not share it with them? We're coming up on holidays where you're going to see family over Thanksgiving and Christmas and they're some of the hardest ones to share with. It's hard. And sometimes it all backfires. You try and share it and somehow it turns around this thing where they're like, who do you think you are? Oh, holier than now. Look at you Christian up on your pedestal and we're all just sinners here. You think you're so much better than all of us. Like that's not the message we're trying to communicate but somehow it turns into this. And so maybe you could diffuse that bomb. Thank you, Penn Gillette for this gift that you have given us. And so common ground, you could say, look, you've heard of Penn Gillette before that famous Las Vegas magician, illusionist. Most know who he is. He was on that program, The Apprentice, back when Donald Trump was on the program. Oh yeah, I know that guy. You might not know. He actually has some convictions about God. He doesn't believe God exists. He's an atheist and he spends a lot of his energy devoting his life towards speaking out against the existence of God. But he put this video out online called Gift of a Bible, very interesting. And basically he calls out people like me and he says, how much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not share that with them? Pause. They will almost, every time, I can't think of a time this hasn't happened like this. I've used this a lot. They see the logic in it, they go, yeah, I guess that's right. And then your follow up and because I don't hate you and because I love you, if you would please allow me to share some things with you. That's not gonna guarantee success but that is going to set up the atmosphere right there. I mean, how could they not just at least be a little bit open then to hearing what you have to say. Now it's very clear what your motive is. You don't think you're holier than now or better than them. You're one beggar just trying to show some other beggars who are to find some food. That is the point. And so, thank you, Pendulet, for that gift right there, that one he calls gift of a Bible. But don't forget while we're here, we have this duty and this task. God has given us this weapon. It's not a 50 cow but it is a weapon that could really reach out and touch somebody. And so how do we charge the kingdom of darkness? We charge it with the greatest weapon we have, the gospel message. Amen.