In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of discernment and doctrine in the face of deception. He uses the example of Moses' life to illustrate the three stages of the Christian journey: the palace, the desert, and leading others to the promised land. The preacher encourages the audience to learn from Moses' desert experience and develop their own "doctorate of desertology" to survive in the world. He also highlights the significance of John 12:24, which teaches that only through death can one bear much fruit. Overall, the sermon aims to strengthen the faith of believers and teach them how to remain steadfast in their walk with God.

Starting something new today, titled this the Desert Survival Series. Could say back by popular demand, but not really. My wife's been wanting me to do this again for a long time, because she knows the blessing that it was. And so I'm going to do another series on the life of Moses. Another in the sense that I did it a few years ago before I came here. Only it's going to be different this time, I'm reworking it. God has taught me so much since I did this. And I've been praying about it, and I think it's of the Lord that we do this at this time. And we'll probably be in this the rest of the year. The Book of Exodus will be the main book. We'll be into Deuteronomy some in numbers, but mostly Exodus for the first part. The Desert Survival Series, it's a study of Moses. Moses, the man of God, Deuteronomy 33.1 calls Moses the man of God. Moses, the servant of God, Deuteronomy 34.5. And what we'll have in this is probably more of a teaching series, expository study of the Word of God. And you're going to have my life, the things I've learned for the last 20 years, put in here, many lessons. And then after this series, I'll probably retire my Bible. I've got a new Bible that somebody, I think it was last year, bought for me, but I'm so partial to the old one, I can't hardly break away. But I know by the time I get done with this series, I'll have to change, because this part of my Bible, the front part, will just fall apart completely. It's held together with Elmer right now. Elmer's glue, but Elmer's getting weak again. But I've got so many notes in here, and so many things from the last eight years that I've learned. And I preached out of this Bible on this series the first time. I'm asking that God would do some things through this series. And I know that He will do things. Your life, if you pay attention to this series, will not be the same again. Your life will be changed. I'm going to tape the messages, and there'll be two messages to a tape, and I'll put them in our lending library, and I'll probably leave them there for a month or two, and then I'm going to mail them somewhere else for somebody else to listen to. But it'll do these things. If you're not saved, it'll show you very clearly how to be saved. And if you miss Jesus Christ, you miss everything in life. And it'll do this, too. It'll develop discernment. It will develop your discernment. The Bible says in Hebrews 5, I was looking at a passage this week, Hebrews 5, that one of the problems with new believers is that we do not grow in Christ the way we should. Hebrews 5 and verses 12 through 14 says, For when the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, nor become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. You need discernment. We have gone into a new age of demonic activity. Every age before God does something major is preceded by an outburst of strong demonic activity. And we have entered into almost what we could call the computer age of demonic activity in this world, in the church. So you need discernment. Some of you have been Christians long enough to where you should be teaching others, but you have not followed the pattern that God has laid out in the church, and you're still a babe. This program that goes on Sunday morning, right here during this hour from 11 to 12, is just one quarter of the program that God has led me to teach you. If you're not in on the Sunday school program, and if you're not in on the Sunday evening program, if you're not in on the Wednesday evening program, then you're missing out on a certain percentage of the program that I have not ordained, but God has seen fit. And our time schedules can change, and the days can change, but the four main ingredients of this thing are so important that God has commanded us to do these things. And you remain a babe if you do not avail yourself to that which God has made available. And then another thing, not only to develop discernment, but to discern doctrine. The Bible is under what I would call the old attack against its authority in a supersonic way. There is a movement in this world today that is so highly geared to destroying the Word and our faith in the Word that a lot of Christians are having their Christian lives wiped out. Because they're falling from this attack of Satan, this bait, this setup. We've got to be very careful. And one of the things that God has ordained, that the pastor, teachers do, and that is that we equip you so that you will not be children tossed to and fro, carried about by every wind of doctrine. We have some very subtle doctrines going around. By every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. People will lie in wait to deceive you and will lie to you and will feed you the old lie of Satan that's been going around. And so this series will develop your discernment, it will develop your doctrine, because what we're going to do as we go through here, we're going to take the heart of Romans. Romans 6, the crucified life. And Romans 8, the spirit-filled life. And we're going to put the heart of the doctrine that God has ordained for Christians, we're going to put it into shoe leather. And we're going to look at it. We've got all the illustrations with Moses leading the children of Israel out of the Promised Land. And it's going to be good. I've been sharing some of these things since Wednesday nights. It's been so good. And we've been going into such deep, vital truths that God has prompted me to give this to all of you and just make a series out of it. Now, another thing in our desert survival series. This will teach us how to be desert dwellers. This land, we will compare it to the desert. This world, we'll compare it to the desert. And it's going to teach us how to be desert dwellers. If I can share with you a few passages. This morning, I'm going to share with you quite a few passages. But Isaiah 48.1 is one of the passages I want to share with you. Or 21. And it says, And they thirsted not when He led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them. He claimed the rock also. And the waters gushed out. We're going to learn how to survive in this desert. Now, we had a man of God a few weeks ago speak from our pulpit. I wouldn't say he's a prophet, but he may be close to it. And I've known him for a long time, but Mr. Penner, when he was here, he said that we better watch out for 86. Now, I've known him for about 18 years. And he's said things like that before. He said things like that back in the 60's. Warning people of certain things. And I've watched over the period of years how many times what he said came true. Now, he's not a prophet in that he's predicting something, but he says that this year is going to hold something. And I believe it is. I believe this may be the year of revival. How far spread it will go, I don't know. But there are things happening all over the world in the era of revival. And if that's the case, then we know that there will be many adversaries. Isaiah 43 and verse 19. God said this. Isaiah 43 and 19. Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth, shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers and the desert. As we go through this desert, this world that sometimes gets pretty dry, we need the source of strength, which is the water, the water of life. But God's going to do a new thing. And with Israel he did a new thing. He made a way in the wilderness, rivers and the desert. He sustained them. And we're going to learn a lot of principles. You know one thing? I've learned that if God is going to put me in the desert, Satan somehow or another is going to slip up and going to say this, you're going to die in that desert. You better get out of there. And maybe you're in a situation that's hard and a situation at work or location or in a family thing. Whatever. And Satan slips up and says, you're going to die in this situation. You're going to be destroyed. It's a lie. When God led Israel out into the wilderness, He did not lead them out there to destroy them. He led them out there to make them into a new people. And the interesting thing about it, Mark 6, verse 31, Jesus says, Come ye apart, come ye yourselves apart, into a desert place. And you know what He said He'd do when He got them into the desert? And He said, And rest a while. We can have rest in the desert. And I found that if we will learn to bloom in the desert, we can bloom anywhere. Wherever God has you, whatever your situation. So this series is going to be vital for these three or four areas. And it's not our location but our attitude. It's not our situation but our attitude. Can we have a victorious attitude no matter how tough our situation? Whether we're facing death, right face to face, or other crisis, family crisis, economic crisis, or whatever. Isaiah 40, verses 28 through 31, are going to be some verses that I am going to saturate my soul in this year. I've already started in several key verses. This is one of them I'm going to start memorizing. But it's this. And my bird for the year is the eagle. I like the eagle. Somewhere in this country there's a tapestry around these blankets. You've seen these new blankets. They come out with tigers on them and deer and goats and stuff. I'm going to find the one that has an eagle on it. I want to put that up in my office. It's the eagle that soars on the turbulent winds. It's the eagle that gets his strength from the turbulence of life. And it's the eagle. He can soar alone. It doesn't bother him to be alone. He can soar alone. He'll fly with other eagles. That's okay. But it doesn't bother him to fly alone. And we're going to learn the strength of the eagle. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint. And to them that have no might, he increaseth strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. And we will learn the secret of the eagle that is referred to with the children of Israel in the wilderness. Did you know that the eagle is referred to in relation to the Israelites? It is. God bore them on eagles' wings. We're going to learn these things. Well, let me give you a little introduction. And then next week we're going to take off with the birth of Moses. We're going to burst right into the family life of a child of God. We just start off right in the family life. An interesting thing. But there is the strength. There's the strength of the church. It's the strength of a nation. It's the family life. And so we'll see how Satan tries to destroy and how God uses different things to bring victory. Do you know what the definition of exodus is? Put it in your Bible if you don't have it. It means the way out. The way out. And it seemed so foolish to the Egyptians that God took these Israelis right out into the desert. Where are you guys going? We're going to Canaan. We're going to the Promised Land. Why are you going that way? It's a desert down there. You know what the Scripture says? You might want to turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and 25 and 27 where it says that the foolishness of God is wiser than man. Let me read that if I can find it. 1 Corinthians 1, it says, Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see, not your calling, brethren, how there are not many wise men after the flesh, and not many mighty, and not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world. And when God took Israel out into the wilderness, that was one of the most foolish looking things you ever saw in your life. And I'm sure Satan laughed and all the Egyptians laughed and all the people around, they laughed when they see these 2 or 3 million people going out into the wilderness. And you may be laughed at if you're going to do what God wants you to do. But it says, God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And he goes on and on. Well, the way out. Many times we think it's the way of destruction. The background of this passage in Exodus is this. God has sent a man down into Egypt to get control of things. And his name was Joseph. He went down as a slave. And the Scripture says that there was a famine in the land, and Joseph's family came down. They entered into the land and they started off with 70 folks. 70 people. And about 400 years later, there are between 2 to 3 million of them. And God is making a nation. Started off with Abraham. Ended up with about 70 of them with Jacob and his clan. And he went down there and then he died there and he says, don't leave my bones here. When we go back to Canaan, you take my bones. All those years they carried his bones around in that desert. You know that? Call it an Egyptian rapture or whatever. But he says, I'm going back to the land. And what we have is an escape out of Egypt which would be the description of the unsaved life into the wilderness which would be a description of the carnal life, the new growing life. And then we go into Canaan which would be the way to the promised land. So we have the way out of Egypt, the way through the wilderness, and the way into the promised land. All of this we'll learn. Well, Moses. A little bit on the main character. What about Moses? Why is Moses so important? Moses is one of the major men in the Bible. He wrote five of the books of the Bible. The first five. Call it the Pentateuch. Moses is important because he was a type of Christ. And we could spend a whole day today just going over how he was misunderstood. But let me just mention a couple of things. He was misunderstood. Just plain misunderstood. And we'll see this. In Acts 7.25, if I can get back there. If you can get back there in time, you can read with me. But in Acts 7.25, I wanted to read this about Moses. Remember when he went out to deliver his brothers, the Hebrews? He went out and he was going to do it by force. He saw this Egyptian beating a Hebrew and ended up, had a fight there and he killed the man. And he was going to deliver them from the Egyptians. He was high up. High up. In the Pharaoh line. Matter of fact, it was either three or four times he turned down the rulership of Egypt to be the Pharaoh. Did you know that? So when it says in Hebrews that he turned away from the pleasures of Egypt, three times the kingdom of being the Pharaoh offered him three times, and maybe it was four, that he turned it down. But he knew that in his heart God wanted to use him to do something greater than that. And that was to deliver Israel to the promised land. And it says, for he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them, but they understood not. And you know the story how he had to run for his life and he went out and for 40 years Moses was buried in the desert, lived in the wilderness, tending sheep, 40 years out there. All of his degrees that he had because of the Egyptian learning, his degree in science, his degree in philosophy, his degree in religion, all of those degrees because he was given the best education that the world could give at that time. He would say, it's all gone, it's all for nothing. And in his heart, he said, what is this God? I thought you wanted to use me to deliver Israel from bondage. But God had a greater plan. But his first part, the first thing he wanted to do was to kill Moses. Now, he didn't harm him, but he just wanted the self-life out of Moses completely destroyed. And what we're going to see as we go through this is how God will do that with us. If he can get the self-life in us destroyed and just have the Christ-life to radiate, then he can do things. He can do great and mighty things. Well, he was misunderstood and who else was misunderstood? Jesus Christ was. He came into his own and his own received him not. Moses is a type of Christ and as we go through there, we'll see that. He gave up the treasures and the pleasures of Egypt for Christ. I know another king. King Jesus who gave up the glories of heaven and all that he had, he came down. He left behind and he came down to live among men, to be laughed at, to be spit upon, ultimately to be misjudged at an unfair trial, to be put on a cross and crucified for my sins and your sins. He left all of that and he was misunderstood. Moses was a type of Christ. We'll see Christ as we go through this study. We will see the Lord Jesus Christ in many ways that we've never seen them before. And I trust as you avail yourself to this, you just open yourself up to it. If you have to be gone, get the tape so you don't miss anything. Because I've found that whenever I miss a service, and I hardly ever miss one of my preaching services, Satan likes to knock me out from something that's key. And I've watched many times, I don't prepare, I never do prepare a message for a person. Never do, intentionally do that. But many times after I've got a message prepared, I may see, how hey, so and so, this is really good, they need this. This is food from God for them. I've seen it time after time after time, that's the very Sunday they're not there. It's not an accident. It's not an accident. We're in a spiritual warfare. The very thing that you need the most, Satan will really work on the hardest to keep you away from it. And many times he gets the victory because we let him. We let him. We obey him instead of obeying our Master. Well, he's a type of Christ. Here's something else. Moses was a deliverer. Who else was a deliverer? Jesus was a deliverer. Let me share something with you from Hebrews chapter 2, about our Lord. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14, For as much then as the children are protectors of flesh and blood, Christ also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Do you know that if you're afraid of dying, that you're under a bondage? It's the bondage of fear. Fear is the basis of all the religions of the world. All the religions that are outside of Christ have at the basis of their religion, fear. And their method of operation is works. If you don't work enough, you're not going to make it to heaven. And it instills fear into you. And this is why certain people do crazy things. Because they're afraid they won't get to heaven because the religious leaders or gurus have told them if they won't do this or that or that they won't get to heaven or if they won't give enough of their money. Well, Jesus is a deliverer. He delivers us from this fear that Satan instills. And another thing. Moses was a mediator. I was talking with my wife this morning. What was the greatest thing that you think that Moses did? And she mentioned something. She mentioned something on the negative. I hadn't thought about it. The greatest thing he did in the negative. And we'll get into that. You know how God wanted to use him. Moses, I want to use you. I'm going to send you. And he said, I don't want to go, Lord. Get somebody else. You know how the argument went? That was the greatest thing in the negative. But the greatest thing in the positive was how he was a mediator. And at one point when Israel was disobedient, he said, Lord, blot me out instead of them. He loved them so much. The greatest thing was when he stood in the gap and said, I will die in their place. Who else do you know did that? Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Moses was a mediator. There's one mediator between God and man, and that's Christ Jesus. And Moses was a type of the Lord Jesus. Isaiah 53, 5. A beautiful description of Christ as a mediator. It says He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. This is real beating. A real death on the cross. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes ye are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to His own way. And the Lord had laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed. And He was afflicted. Yet He opened not His mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep before His shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. He was a mediator. He went through all of that. The death on the cross to bring us to God. If we would receive Him and do it His way. His life. Moses' life is divided into three 40-year sections. 40 years in the palace. 40 years in the palace raised in royalty. 40 years in the desert tending sheep. 40 years leading Israel in the wilderness to the promised land. Moses got another degree while he was in the desert. A degree that we can get. He got his doctorate of desertology. He learned how to survive in the desert. This is why I'm calling this our Desert Survival Series. And if you go through this whole series, you'll get your doctorate degree in desertology. How to survive in this world. You'll learn a lot of things in this study. Well, some notes in closing. It doesn't mean I'm going to close. It just means I've got some notes in closing. We had a good time last week with Brian. We sure enjoyed having a short sermon. I've been wanting one for a long time. That's good. His training in the world. His training in the world in the Egyptian world. And your training in the world will do the same thing. His training in the world did not teach him victory over self. You see, Moses had a problem. He had a problem with temper. Self. Whatever area of yours comes out in. It did not teach him how to have victory over self. And it did not equip him to deliver Israel. He couldn't even control his own temper. And he couldn't even deliver Israel. After he got through and God was able to use him, he could do those two things. He had victory over self with a couple exceptions and we'll see that. We sometimes fall and slip. And then God equipped him to deliver Israel. Others. This is one of the reasons that we have so little power in our witness to others is because we have so little power of the witness of Christ in our life. This series will develop that power in your life. Galatians 2.20 and 21 will be another key passage. Galatians 2.20 is where Paul said, I am crucified with Christ and nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life that I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And then verse 21 says, I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness came by the law then Christ is dead in vain. One of the things we'll learn in this series is how not to frustrate the grace of God. In other words, let's don't get God mad at us. Let's let God do what he wants to do. Let's quit getting upset and irritated about things and just relax. Learn the rest life that Hebrews 4 talks about and especially that's in relation to Israel. They just need to learn to relax. We're going to see some beautiful truths here. Now, I want to say this. I put it in quotes and I said it. I'm quoting myself. Your desert experience is designed to kill you. You may be going through a desert experience. But God will use that desert experience to kill you. You know what I mean? He wants the self-life destroyed. It's designed to kill you but not to harm you. God wants the old man crucified. He wants him to stay crucified. And we're going to learn the crucified life. Endurance is vital to victory and maturity. If you will not endure, then you won't learn the lessons. Moses went on to maturity. The scripture teaches us. He went on to maturity because he endured. Why does he endure? He endured because he saw one that was faithful and he kept his eyes. Many that profess to follow Jesus Christ do not endure. They do not persist because their eyes are not on Christ. Their eyes are still on the world. And they do not have Jesus in their heart. And so they do not have a love in their heart for Jesus. They may pretend to love some of the things that people that know Jesus love like church and worship and prayer. But they will not endure. And this series will teach us how to be strong. How to have faith. And not be fickle. We often try to run or get rid of that very thing that God has designed for us. This desert survival series will teach us how not to panic in the desert and to run. But we'll remain calm and cool and quiet. Well, John 12, 24 is another key principle that we'll learn. And I'll share many truths from it. You know what John 12, 24 says? Verily, Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. We will be that corn of wheat. You take a corn of wheat, you stick it up here on the piano, and you leave it there for 50 years and 50 years later you come back and you know what you've got? A pile of old withered black something dust there. It's done nothing but sit there for 50 years. But you take it out here and you plant it in the ground. And then you get that that which produces out of it and plant that the next year. In 50 years, you know what? You've got enough to feed this whole country for probably several years just from that one kernel of wheat. This is what Jesus is talking about. If we will die to self and let Him live through our life, there'll be much fruit. One of the destructive things in the church has been that we as Christians will not die. And there's not been much fruit. We'll learn it. One more thing and then we'll close. And that's Moses the shepherd. Moses the shepherd. He was a type of Christ. The scripture says in Exodus 3-1 and then we'll finally get to Exodus, won't we? But not just to touch it. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert. You may think I'm leading you to the backside of the desert. But let me tell you what's at the backside of the desert, folks. And came to the mountain of God. I'm going to lead you to the mountain of God. Whether or not you get the blessings from the mountain of God will be up to your endurance and your carefulness. My responsibility is to dish it out. And I'll pray for you. And I don't offer guarantees. But I would almost guarantee this, that if you stick through this whole series, your life will be changed. It's changed mine. And it will change yours. He led them to the backside of the desert and he came to the mountain of God. He first came to God Himself. Then you know what happened? You look at verse 12 and it says, I think it was verse 12, and He said, Certainly I will be with thee and this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee. When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. You see, first Moses went to the mountain. And then Moses was able to bring others to the mountain. The mountain represented blessing. He brought others to God to serve Him. Notice that they will serve God upon this mountain. John 10, 27, Jesus said, My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me and I give unto them eternal life. If we'll follow Jesus, we'll follow Jesus, we'll find everything that we want. If we'll follow Jesus, though we must do this, we must turn our back on the world. And follow Jesus. And I say that to you for this reason. We're going to go through some trials this year. And I'm not saying that because I want trials. I don't like problems. We're going to go through them though because it's part of life. But if we'll just keep our eyes on Jesus, follow Him, turn our back to that which would destroy us or attempt to divert us or discourage us, and just say, Lord, I'm going to follow You no matter what. We will be victorious. We will be victorious. Follow Jesus. And this Desert Survival Series is designed to teach you to follow Jesus just as Israel was supposed to follow Moses. Let's bow for prayer. Father, You're present. You're always present. Sometimes we're more aware of Your presence. I'm very aware of Your presence. I'm very aware that Your enemy and our enemy is seeking to destroy Your work. I thank You that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. And we're to fear God. We're to fear You. And not anything else. And as we go through this study, I pray that each thing that I share, and as I cut back and hold back on the things and just try to limit it to a certain key things and cut out that which is not necessary, that through all of this we would see Jesus Christ. We wouldn't see a preacher. We would even go farther than seeing Moses. And we would just see Christ. And we would see that which You want us to see. And Lord, before we leave today, we can't leave again without offering salvation. Maybe there's someone here who lost and the Spirit of God has been dealing with them that they're not saved. Their eyes have been on the world and their eyes have been on themselves and everything's revolved around I. I, I, I. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I Thank you now in Jesus name. Amen. Let's turn to hymn books. For closing hymn, if you'd like to make a public decision for Christ, then you come on the first stanza. Hymn number 483. We won't have a long invitation. If you want to come, you come up here, and then we'll dismiss, and you and I will stay here, and we'll pray.