This sermon emphasizes the importance of getting right with God, addressing areas of sin and disobedience in our lives. It highlights the need to surrender to God, seek forgiveness, and live a righteous life in the power of the Holy Spirit. The message encourages immediate action to align with God's will and promises a transformation by the cleansing power of Jesus' blood.

I started last week with the word for 2009 and the word for 2009 was go forward and for those who didn't hear that I would encourage you perhaps if this is your home church to get a copy of that so you understand exactly where it is that we're going. Today I'd like you to turn to Exodus chapter 15 please in the Old Testament. Message title is I am the Lord that healeth thee. Thank you Father. God I praise you for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I thank you that you will overshadow the frailty of this vessel and God you will give me the ability to convey your heart to your people in this church at this hour. I thank you Lord that the desires of your heart will be satisfied. I thank you God that you will quicken your word, give me the ability to say it simply and that it may be understood by every hearer. Father I thank you God that you have a word for your people in these days. We give you praise and glory for it in Jesus name. Exodus chapter 15 beginning at verse 21. Now remember this is just after they had come through the Red Sea. And Miriam answered them, sing ye to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea and they went out into the wilderness ashore. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. And when they came to Marah, that's verse 23 of Exodus 15, they could not drink of the waters of Marah for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses saying what shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree which when he had cast into the waters the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance and there he proved them. And he said if thou will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God and will do that which is right in his sight and will give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I brought upon the Egyptians. For I am the Lord that healeth thee. And they came to Elam where were twelve walls of water and three score and ten palm trees and they encamped there by the waters. Now beginning in verse 21 after the children of Israel had come through a place of impossibility and seemingly passed through death itself into life. This is where the song of Miriam she said sing to the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously the horse and the rider he's thrown into the sea. Do you remember that first love song when you came to Christ and you first realized and I first realized that my sins are washed away not by any work of my own goodness but because of God's mercy. When he poured his wrath out on his own son in Calvary I had entered into everlasting life. I had passed through an impossible place where no amount of human effort could ever take me and I had come in and you had come into the life of God. And you came into a sanctuary like this and you began to sing these incredible songs of Zion of victory and deliverance and you wonder in your heart can it get any better than this. Can you imagine now that after having seen the waters divided on both sides going through this place looking at all of their enemies drowned by the hand of God in the sea behind them they begin to worship God they begin to sing and it just looked like this is never ending glory is ahead of them. Well it is but there's a journey involved in it. And only three days later they find themselves in a wilderness place. It's the new Christian who starts to walk out. I remember when I got saved I thought everybody's going to be so excited about what I had found. Three days later I found out they're not as excited about what I had found as I was. I thought my family would be happy they weren't very happy at all. I thought my friends at work would be happy. They weren't very happy. It comes to a point where you're looking around wondering if anybody but yourself is actually happy about what's happened to you. First time in your life you feel like telling the truth and you don't feel like beating people up when they get in your way. And all of everything around you has changed and you've got this incredible song but then you come into this place and begin to realize that there's a journey between earth and heaven. There's a pathway that you and I have to walk and for some people it's a wilderness. Remember that the call of God was to come out of Egypt and to go and sacrifice to God in the wilderness. A lot of people miss that part of the story. Just focus as it is on coming out of Egypt, going to the Red Sea and worshipping forever. Not realizing that the worship is in a wilderness. And I know that many of you here today you're living in that wilderness right now. And it was to the point where they didn't know what to drink and they came to Moses and said, look there's nothing here that seems to satisfy. I thought this was supposed to be all happiness and cheesecake and it was going to be just incredibly wonderful this whole journey. Some people do come to Christ under that kind of a message only to face reality very shortly after the moment they've had their sins washed away. And Moses showed them, or the Lord showed Moses a tree and when that tree was thrown into the water, these bitter places, these difficult scriptures, these things that are hard for the natural mind to understand, let alone do, were made sweet. And that tree is a type of the cross of Jesus Christ. It's a type of when you and I come to the understanding that God, I've been called to be an extension of your goodness to this world that you came and gave your life for. You did it as one man in one place. But remember Jesus said, I'm going to do, there's going to be a season of greater works. Now he wasn't talking about more astounding miracles. What more can you do but raise the dead and stop the wind in the sea? No, he was talking about the fact that he was going to have a body and he no longer be limited by one human vessel, the man Jesus Christ. But God was going to have a body and this body would be in all the world, all nations, all tongues, all cultures. And this message of the gospel would be preached in all the world in every generation as much as people are obedient to the call of Christ upon their lives. And when the cross becomes a central focus of why we live on this earth as Christians, that all the bitter places are made sweet. When I begin to understand and you begin to understand that the Christian life is not a picnic, the Christian life can be a hard life. Many places of the world when people come to Christ, I think of Vietnam just several years ago and men would come to Christ, they'd begin to preach the gospel and their families would be taken away. The children would be put into a forced school system where those who had authority would try to teach them that what their father believed or their mother believed was a fallacy and there was no true, real or living God. They were forced into the jungles in many cases and had to live daily on the provision of God. There's been hardship all over the world. Now we've been blessed as a nation. We've known seasons where Christianity has had relatively good acceptance among the populace. But folks, there can be times that are hard. There can be seasons that are bitter. There can be a time where it's not favorable anymore to live for Christ or to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. But if you and I understand that as Christ was given for the sin of this world, we ought to be given as well by the power of God within us that men and women may come to know that there's a Savior who loves them and died for them, then even the bitter places will become sweet. It's that if the central focus of our being as it is as Christians is to live for others and not for ourselves, to live to see people come to the knowledge of Christ, to live to see the naked clothed and the unsound with a sound mind and the captive set free and the wounded and bruised in heart healed by the power of God, if you and I begin to move in that direction and we're abandoned to that purpose, then every bitter thing in this Bible and every bitter thing we'll ever face as Christians can become sweet because we know we are living for a higher purpose than ourselves. We're living that Christ might be glorified in us and He might be understood by the ignorant masses who are without God in every generation. In verse 26, He says these incredible words, and He said, If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, and will do that which is right in His sight, and will give ear to His commandments, and keep all of His statutes, I'll put none of these diseases upon you which I brought upon the Egyptians. For I am the Lord that healeth thee. If you diligently hearken, if you do what is right, if you give ear to what God has spoken and you keep on doing what God is speaking. Not enough just to live in the past. Not enough to say, I'll beg God 25 years ago. This is an every day, all day, every week, all week, every month, all month walk with God. It's a walk of obedience. It's a walk where our instructions come from the Word of God and from the Holy Spirit within us. And you and I begin to live, as Paul said, and move and have our being in Jesus Christ. He says, I'll put none of these diseases upon you. Now this has been so misused. I've heard messages on this and people have taken this into extremes where they say that all sickness is of the devil and nobody's to be sick anymore. I've seen it to the point where people with cancer have had to put a sign on their door, no Christians allowed. These are Christian people in the hospital because of misguided people and just simply a lack of study, a lack of understanding. What is the scripture really saying? None of these diseases. Now this is also translated in various other translations of the Bible these ways. I'll put upon you none of these sufferings. I'll put upon you none of these plagues. I'll put upon you none of the evils that your eyes have seen. In the Knox translation it says it this way, never shall they fall on thee the many woes. And so folks, this verse is not just speaking about physical affliction. It's the accumulation of woe that comes into any society, any people who arrogantly and stubbornly resist the word and the will of God. What God was saying through Moses to the people, you have seen what happened to Egypt. You have seen all that came upon this society. We're not talking just physical affliction here. All the woes, all the sufferings, all the ills that they endured. The Lord says if you will listen to me, if you will follow me, I will not put these things on you. For example, in Exodus chapter 5 and verse 2, Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? That's a stubbornness. There was an inherent stubbornness in that society from the top to the bottom. They had cast away all folks, if ever there's a people that should have been living in the fear of God, it was that moment in time and history. It was that society, but they had cast away the fear of the Lord. And they said, who is, who is the Lord? That's that's very statement comes right from Eden itself. When Satan came down into Adam and says, listen, you don't have to obey everything God says. You can take things into your own hands. You can chart your own course and you can do things that God doesn't want you to do. And you will become as God. You can, you can decide yourself what is right and what is wrong and what is good and what is evil. And you can make your own standards of, of righteousness and things that are good and things that are not. That's the very spirit that was upon Pharaoh and subsequently on many of the people, not all thank God, but many in his nation. Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? God help us. If we get to that point in this country, God help us. If we get to the point of saying these words, who is the Lord that we should obey his voice. Peter the apostle in second Peter chapter three, verses five to seven speaks of an incredible scoffing and spiritual ignorance that will grip mankind just before the final judgment of the world. As you and I know it today, there'll be a scoffing. They said, all this talk about the Lord's coming, all this talk about God and God's will and God's ways, and they will scoff his coming and put far away the day of the Lord. Peter says for this, they are willingly ignorant of that by the word of God, the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water whereby the world then was being overflowed with water perished. But the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved them to fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Peter said in the day in those days, they looked, they saw dry land, they saw the boundaries of the water and in their natural mind, they said, well, surely the water can't come any higher than this point. But they were ignorant of one thing, that the world that then was overflowed with water and everyone in it in the day of Noah perished. And Peter says, but the heavens and the earth, which are now are kept by the same word of God reserved for a day of fire against the judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Now, Paul says in first Corinthians chapter six, you might want to turn there in your Bibles first Corinthians chapter six. Now remember at the beginning of this message, the Lord said, if you diligently hearken, if you do that which is right, if you give ear to my sayings and my statutes and keep on doing them, then none of these woes, sufferings, plagues, diseases, evils, none of them shall come upon you. Look at the Bible in first Corinthians chapter six, verses nine to 11. Here's what Paul says, know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, that's people who are given to immorality, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. Paul says now listen, no matter what anybody tells you in this last generation, let me set the record straight. If anyone in any pulpit anywhere tells you, you can continue on living these kind of lifestyles and somehow inherit the kingdom of God, you have been deceived. For those who come to Christ must put away iniquity. Those who come to Christ make a decision. I'm going with God. What God says, that's what I'm going to allow God to do in my life. I know I can't do it in my own strength, that's why the Holy Spirit has been given to me. That as I read this word, the Holy Spirit of God will make it a living reality within my life. Praise be to God. I'm not going to walk among those who are scoffing the justice of God, scoffing this incredible mercy that has allowed us to season, to come into his presence and to begin to walk with his very life being lived out within us. And Paul goes on and says, and such were some of you. But you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Paul is speaking to the Corinthian church as you were this. And that's the testimony of the true church of Jesus Christ. Everyone in the true body of Christ was something that they are not today. Praise be to God. I'm being continuously changed from image to image and glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord. Now folks, we're not perfect in ourselves and all of us have struggles. But there is change as we diligently listen, as we hearken to the things that God has spoken to us, as we allow the life of Christ to be lived out within us and through us. Our hearts begin to change as God said through Ezekiel, we are given a new mind, we're given a new spirit, we are born again by the power of God. We become a new creation on the earth. The sole and exclusive purpose is to show forth the praises of him who's called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. We stand as lights in the darkened generation. We're among those that Isaiah said in chapter 60, when gross darkness rolls over the earth, he said, arise, shine for your light has come. For darkness will be on the earth and gross darkness on the people, but the Lord shall be seen upon you and his light shall be within you. Praise be to God. Remember if we do these things, if we walk with God, if we allow God to be God within us, if we allow him to lead us into a life of being given for other people, folks, that's where the church went astray. In every generation is when the focus turned from what is in the heart of God, the mission of God through Jesus Christ, when the focus turned inward, that is always the formula for deception and turning astray from what we're called to be in Jesus Christ. Now look at the plagues that came upon, I just want to go through them very, very quickly with you. In Exodus chapter 7 and verse 17, the first woe, let me just call them woes, is that water was turned to blood. There was a thirst came into the land. The first woe, a thirst comes and nobody can find anything to satisfy that thirst. Contrast this to John 6, 35, where Jesus said, he that believes on me shall never thirst. There's a thirst when men have done despite to the blood of Jesus Christ. There's a thirst in our land today. There's a thirst in our churches. There's a thirst in many Christians' hearts in spite of the fact that Jesus said, if you believe on me, you will never thirst. But if we're not doing righteousness to the blood of Jesus Christ, if we're doing despite to the blood of Christ, if we're not walking in a way that is pleasing to God, there is an unquenchable thirst comes into the heart, just like those who are unsatisfied in the nation all around us. Exodus chapter 8, verses 1 to 4, a plague of frogs came into the nation. Now these frogs, I can see them in my mind, hopping up the steps to every house, climbing up the walls, going, Moses said, they're going to be in your bed. They're going to be in your living room. They're going to be in your oven. The frogs are going to be everywhere. And what it speaks about is unrestrained access by demonic powers. Revelation 16, let me read it to you, verses 13 and 14. This is what John said, I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are the spirits of devils, working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. These are demonic spirits who have unrestrained access, gathering the people to fight against God, gathering the people to fight against what is holy, what is true, what is righteous, what is proven, what God has said, and the way He has pronounced that things are to be. The third wall is lice, lice just being released, fleas really, being released throughout the whole nation. And I see it being an unsurrendered and unfulfilled ambition. In other words, a niche that you can't scratch. How many people today are running all over society now with a niche that can't be scratched? An unfulfilled dream, an unfulfilled ambition, an unfulfilled vision. And it doesn't matter what they do, doesn't matter what kind of promotion they get, doesn't matter how many relationships they have, doesn't matter what kind of substance they put into their body, it doesn't matter what they listen to or what kind of a positive message they try to build their lives on. There's an unsurrendered ambition in them and a niche that cannot be scratched. Contrast this to the life of a Christian, a dedicated Christian. The Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 7, he said, I've fought a good fight, I've finished my course, and I've kept the faith. There was no unsurrendered itch in that man. He knew that he had lived a life pleasing to God, to the natural eye. He had few friends left at the end, and he was himself imprisoned. And the natural man would look at this and say, what a waste of a life. But who are those natural men that said these things? Do you know who they are? Have you ever heard their names? But the Apostle Paul for over 2,000 years, we've been reading the words that God penned through his hand under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The man that says, no, I found what I was looking for in Christ. I counted everything in this world that I had achieved and could achieve but done, offscouring, refuse, worthless, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. Paul said, I'm being changed from image to image and glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Paul said, if God be for us, who can be against us? Paul said, I'm persuaded neither angels nor principalities nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul knew something that you and I would be wise to know today. Paul was a given man for the good of other people. Paul was willing to walk into an arena and climb out from under a pile of stones and walk into the next town and tell the next group of people what Christ had done, what Christ was in him and what Christ could do for them. Praise be to God. Paul had an abundant life. Paul had the life that you and I long for. Paul was not a man with unsurrendered ambition. Paul could say at the end of his days, though perhaps confined in a room, maybe even chained to a centurion or two, I have fought a good fight. I have finished what I was called to do. I have kept the faith that God entrusted unto me. Praise be to God. Paul could write unto Timothy, Timothy, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power, love and a sound mind. Therefore be not ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Timothy, I've found what life is all about. Timothy, it's being given for the good of other people. It's walking through this world, not expecting it to be easy, not expecting to be loved by every man, not expecting that everybody's going to clap their hands that hears you preach. Some are going to grind their teeth and others are going to pick up stones and some are going to chain you and chain you and put you in the jail. Others are going to mock the very testimony of Christ's life within you, but I know what I've been called to be. I know what I've been called to do. Exodus 8, 21, there was a plague of flies that came into all of Egypt. Now if you know anything about flies, the very first evidence you have that they're there, there's a noise they make around your head and for whatever reason they seem to like to dominate the airspace around people's heads. It's what makes them so annoying. That's why you're always swatting at them, but you can't get rid of them. And it speaks to me about whisperings, a plague of whisperings, a plague of voices, a plague of opinions, a plague of directions, a plague of accusations, whisperings, whisperings, whisperings, whisperings. The inability to put these voices away in the morning, the inability to escape them in the daytime, the inability to drown them out with alcohol at night, going to bed with these whisperings still around your head. Contrast this to the children of Israel. God said, I will sever in that day, the land of Goshen in which my people dwell and there no swarms of flies shall be there. And I will put a division between my people and thy people. He said, tomorrow, this sign will be, praise be to God. I don't go to bed with whisperings in my head. If there is a whispering, it's simply this voice saying, I love you. I'm going to keep you. I'll be with you through the night. I'll be there when you get up in the morning. I will be that voice that says, this is the way, walk in it. I will be the one bringing back to your remembrance all things that you've learned. I'll whisper promises to you throughout the day. You'll be strengthened with might by my spirit in your inner man. You will have a sure word. Your steps will be ordered of the Lord. You will know which way to go. You will know what to say, what not to say. You'll know what to do, what not to do. I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Praise be to God. Exodus 9, 16, next sign is dead cattle all over Egypt. The loss of security and provision. And folks, I think we're living at a moment like this. The loss of security, a loss of provision, a loss of what people felt was going to give them a sure tomorrow. Suddenly in a moment, it's gone. Everything, you mentioned the people of Egypt rising up in the morning and the cattle are all dead. Now, this is their beef in the kitchen. These are the animals that pulled the plow and gave them the ability to make a living. It was a status symbol to own cattle in that generation. And we're speaking about a loss of security and provision. But the children of Israel, the scripture says, not one of their cattle died. All of their cattle, God says, I will provide. I, you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Now, either that's true or that's not true, but you seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. Exodus chapter 9, boils broke out upon all of the Egyptians. And it speaks of unprecedented weakness and hardship. The inability to find a resolution. The scripture says the magicians couldn't stand. There was nobody found in the nation who had a solution. The hardship had come and there were people who had influence and sway because they were influential speakers. And some of them even claimed to speak for God. But now the hardship and the weakness was so severe that they couldn't stand. And I pray not, but it's possible that we're moving into a season like this. Where there'd be no natural solutions anymore. Where everything just keeps spinning out more and more and more. And more and more society is losing control of its own direction. But contrast this to Colossians 1 11, where Paul says, I'm strengthened with all might according to his glorious power. Praise be to God. You don't have to live among those who have no solution for tomorrow. You have the God who created the universe by the word of his mouth living inside of you. You have the one who's already in tomorrow living in you. You have the one who already won the victory. You are more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ. Exodus 9 verses 20 and 21. Hail came onto the land. And this particular judgment speaks of a loss of any fear of God. The people were warned in Egypt, get your cattle, whatever's remaining, get it inside your house, get your servants inside the house, whatever kind of livestock you have remaining, get it away because there's going to be hail and thunderstorms like you've never seen. But there was a loss of the fear of God in that society. And even when his judgments are so clearly evident, people left their servants in the field and they left whatever they had left in the field. But just as God had said, the hail came and there was fire lightning as it was on the ground. And everyone who was who had lost the fear of God lost their lives that day. Proverbs 22 3 says a prudent man foresees the evil and hides himself. If ever there was a time to get right with God. It's now folks, not tomorrow, not next week, not next month. Now is the time to get right with God. If you're in that living right for God, now is the time to get right. If you are doing things you shouldn't do. Now is the time to ask God for the strength to turn away from your sin and turn to him. If you're in relationships that you shouldn't be in. Now is the time to get out. If you are doing things financially, you shouldn't be doing. Now is the time to set the record straight. Folks, I'm telling you, don't play with this truth that you're hearing today. Don't play with the mercy of God. Don't play with these things. Exodus chapter 10. Now you see the judgments really increasing the last three. A plague of locusts. Exodus 10 5 came into the land and the scripture says the locust was so thick that they covered all of the earth and it speaks of about a loss of all hope. Everything that was or is good is now hidden from the eyes. And folks, it's happened throughout history. It could be happening again in our generation. It will happen at one time in the future. According to the scriptures that apart from Christ, there will be a loss of all hope. Everything that seems to be good is now hidden from the eyes. Exodus chapter 10 verses 21 to 23. A darkness came on the land for three days. The Bible says it was so thick it could be felt. I believe with all my heart it was a foretaste of hell. A darkness so thick you could touch it. A sense of what it's going to be like for many for eternity to live in the absence of God. It's amazing. Whether or not you are living for God today, you are living in the presence of God because he is omnipresent in this world. That means he's everywhere. You have testimony of God every day when the sun comes up and every night when it goes down. When you look and see the stars that have been set in the heavens as signs of the majesty and power of God. Paul said in the book of Romans that everyone stands before God one day without excuse because the testimony of his presence in life was everywhere. And all a reasonable person had to do was ask and say Lord are you there? Will you reveal yourself to me? And he would have done so. A felt darkness. And lastly in Exodus chapter 11 verses 5 and 6. God passed over the nation and all the firstborn in every house died. And in that society it meant a loss of all sense of strength and future because the firstborn was your retirement plan folks. The firstborn was quite often given the charge of looking after you and I when we would get old. The firstborn was the continuation of your name. The firstborn was where many men would focus their strength because that was the man as it is in the case of a man that would carry your name and your strength into the future. The firstborn. God passed over the nation. And all hope of the future. All sense of strength. All sense of the future was gone. And that is the end of any person who lives apart from Jesus Christ. No matter what anybody tries to tell you. If you are not living a life that is surrendered to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior that is your future. That is where you're going to go. That is where every nation goes that is not living according to the word of God and has not surrendered their hearts to Christ. But contrast this now to the children of Israel. They had light in their dwellings. Exodus 10 23 says and all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Exodus chapter 12 verses 2 and 3. The Bible tells us that they had a lamb for every house. There was provision. And I want to tell you something today. There is still a lamb for every house. John the Baptist saw this provision of God when he said behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. There is a lamb for your house. There is provision for whatever situation you and I find ourselves in today or tomorrow. There is a provision. Exodus 12 verses 2 and 3. He said this month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel saying in the tenth day of this month they shall take to every man a lamb according to the house of their fathers a lamb for a house. There shall be protection. Exodus 12 7 and 12 13. In chapter 12 verse 7 it says they shall take the blood and strike it on the two side posts in the upper door posts of the houses wherein they shall eat it. And in verse 13 and the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are and when I see the blood I will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. God said there is provision for your house. There is blood that was shed on Calvary 2,000 years ago to cover all sin and to cancel the power of hell and death. And when I pass over the nation when the judgments begin to increase and you begin to see and terror starts to strike the heart of every man woman and child that's living apart from the glorious covering and grace of God Almighty through Jesus Christ. When I see the blood I will pass over you. You will not lose your strength. You will not have your provision taken away. You will not have your future gone. You will not be plagued with itches that you cannot scratch and boils that cannot give you that cause you not to be able to rise again. When I see the blood I will pass over you. If ever there was a time to come to Christ folks it's now in this generation. If ever there was a time to live a surrendered life to the will of God it's now. Exodus 12 2 he said this month shall be unto you the beginning of months it shall be the first month of the year unto you. In Christ no matter how dark it is every day is a new beginning. Every day is another place where impossibility becomes possible. Every door is a new door that if God opens it I can go through it and I can do what God calls me to do and I can be what God calls me to be. Every day in Christ is a new beginning. Every day when I get out of bed I am not governed by what's on CNN or MSNBC or in the New York Times or any other news source. I'm not governed by these reports. I have another report that God speaks into my heart every day. I have another voice that is guiding my life. I have another set of values that is governing my heart. Praise be to God. There is light in my house. There's provision in my house. And there's an extended family in my house. It was spoken. It said listen if the household verse 4 is too little for the lamb let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of souls. Every man according to his eating you shall make your account for the lamb. I have an extended family. In this house alone my family comes from over 104 nations. I have an extended family. They are invited into my life and I'm invited into theirs. We share the lamb together. Praise God. And when death is passing over this world as we know it we are sitting at a table. We are feasting in the provision of God. We are glorying in the fact that we're not going down with whoever is without God. We're going forward in God. We're moving into a place of promise. We have a hope. We have a future. Praise be to God. Exodus 12 11 he says and thus shall you eat it with your loins girded. Your shoes on your feet. Your staff in your hand. You shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. You shall eat this feast with your loins girded. That means you shall inwardly embrace the truth you are hearing. Gird up your loins the apostle Paul says. Put truth in your heart. Read this book and let it get into you. Let the Holy Spirit quicken these words and let them be a reality. Gird up your loins with truth. Get in the Bible like you've never been in it before. Claim every promise in the New Testament as a promise of God for your own heart. Read Psalms. Read Proverbs. Pray God let this word live in me. Let this word flow through me. Let this word guide me. Let this word move me. Let this word mold me. Let this word take me. Let this word make me. Let this word be my life and my heart. And he says eat it with shoes on your feet. Because it's not idleness in the house of God. God says everyone else around you is just going to be howling their losses. But that's not where you and I are going to live. I've got a journey I'm taking you on. You're going to leave where you are. You're going to walk through a wilderness. And in that place I'm going to guide you to a place of eternal life and eternal promise. Praise God. God says I'll not fail you. I'll rain bread on you from heaven. I'll provide for you. I'll be your glory. I'll be the lifter of your head. I'll be your supply and your source. Everything you need will be found in me. And put your staff in your hand. Because all of this is going to be accomplished because of the cross of Jesus Christ. Because a victory was won for you. Only one firstborn son will have died in your house. And that's the Son of God. And through his death you've been brought to life. And he says make haste and do it now. Eat it in haste. In other words, don't delay. There's a season. And we're living I believe in one like it right now. Don't put off till tomorrow what you know you should be doing today. Get ready. You don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. But I know you can know this. If God is in it and if God is in you, no matter what tomorrow brings, you are secure in it. You're not going to lose your life. You're not going to lose your heart. You're not going to lose your direction. You're not going to lose your strength. You're not going to lose your substance. You're not going to lose your hope. You're not going to lose your vision. You're not going to lose a purpose for living. You're not going to lose your family. You are going home to be with God. You're going to live for God. On this side of eternity. The scripture says make haste and do it now. Praise God. This is so burned within me this week. Make haste. Eat it in haste. Do it now. If you need to get right with God, get right with God now. If the devil's got his foot in the door of your life, slam that door on his foot and get him out. Get right with God. Walk with God. Turn from what you know is wrong and turn to what you know is right. The promises of God are incredible, but not given to those who live in willful sin. Not given to those who live in known disobedience to God when they understand and clearly have a revelation that there is a way out. Praise God. Do it in haste now. No matter what the future brings, you and I have a hope. And if this society gets to the point where there seems to be a loss of light and a loss of hope, it is the church's greatest opportunity to be the testimony of a God who loves every man and every woman so much that he became a man, walked this earth for 33 years and died for them. You and I are called to be, I suppose, the only Bible that this generation will ever read. If we will let God be God in us, if we will let our hands reach out in the power of God to a very needy generation, if we will be given for other people, even though they may not give anything back, if we would be satisfied, as the Psalmist David said, I'll be satisfied when I awake with your likeness, O God. I'll be satisfied to know that the Christ that I love is living in me and through me. Make haste to get right with God. I'm going to give an altar call this morning here in the main sanctuary and in the education annex too as well. The annex you could rise and stand between the screens in the sanctuary in a moment. Those who want to respond can make your way to this altar. Balcony, good either exit, make your way downstairs. It's very simple. Get right with God. You can't go forward if you're not living right. You can't go forward if you have undealt with sin in your life. Get right with God. Now, I don't have to go down the line into every row and explain it to every heart. You've heard, you already know, you've sat in the presence of God and you know if you're not living right. If there are areas in your heart that need to be dealt with, areas of practice in your life that you need to put away, don't find yourself locked out of what God is about to do in this generation. Get right with God. I plead with you. Get right with God. Put away sin. If you're hooked on pornography, for example, make your way to this altar. Let the Lord break that chain. We'll pray. You have to have in your heart the desire and God will set you free. If you are in relationships you shouldn't be in, if you are stealing from your company or your government, you steal from the government when you don't pay your taxes. Or you fraudulently write out a report saying, I've earned this much when you know that's not true. That's theft. You call it whatever you want. The Bible calls it theft. And the scripture says, no thief will dwell in that eternal city. You have to live a righteous life. And as much as is possible, you have to obey all authority according to the scriptures. And I'm just throwing out these illustrations as God's speaking them into my heart. Live as a righteous citizen. Live as much as you wanted. You think that every person around you should live. You live that way. And you do it by the power of God with an honest heart. And we're going to stand and as we do, if the Holy Spirit is speaking to your heart, and you want to start this year by getting right with God, some area in your life that you know has got to change. I invite you to come and worship with us for the next few minutes. Let's stand, please. Now, the Bible says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, not only does, when we come before God with an honest heart, not only does he cleanse us or forgive us rather, but he cleanses us of the very roots that caused this unholiness to be made manifest in our life. All he ever required was an honest heart. Praise God. There are honest people at this altar today. I know that. You want to live a life that's going to bring glory to God. The Lord says to you today, I'm going to bring my own name to glory through you. I'm going to give you power that you don't have. I'm going to make you what you can't be. I'm going to take you where you could never go. And when you get there, you're going to turn back and just shout, only God could do this. Only God could do this. Praise be to God. Lord, we pray today and break the chains of sin. God, thank you that you are preparing the people for this hour and this time. I thank you, Lord, that you did found this house on a gospel of truth, of correction and of mercy. Lord, lift up your voice. Would you please pray with me? Lord Jesus. Forgive me. For the way I have lived and the things that I have done. I have no desire to continue this course in my life any longer. I give to you the rights to my life and the rights to these areas of struggle in my heart. You have promised that you would cleanse me and give me power in the Holy Spirit to be a living testimony of what the blood of Jesus did for me 2,000 years ago. God, help me now to live a clean life and a righteous life and to be given in the power of the Holy Spirit to other people that they too might know that we have a God who is willing to heal us and to forgive us and to give us hope in a darkened time. I yield my life to this purpose. I do it willfully today. I do it joyfully because of Jesus. Amen and amen. Praise God.