This sermon emphasizes the journey of Moses from Egypt to the promised land, highlighting the importance of living in God's perfect will and not getting stuck in the wilderness or Egypt. It challenges listeners to assess where they are living spiritually and to consider the spiritual location of their family members. The message encourages moving from a place of struggle and defeat to a place of rest, victory, and constant growth in Christlikeness.

Well, it's a joy to be with you again this morning after so many years. I think it's the fifth year that I haven't been here for some time. But it's a joy to be with you. And I bring you greetings from my wife in South Africa and from my daughter, who is in New Zealand at the moment, which is a long, long way from here. She's in Bible school for the last couple of months, ever since the beginning of January. God has led her to go to Bible school of all the places, the furthest place you can fly away from South Africa is New Zealand. And that's the place that she chose to go. So I asked her if she would ever come back. She would not come back married with a Maori from New Zealand, but that she would come back home and marry somebody from South Africa. But it's a joy to be with you this morning. And I want to spend the next couple of days just sharing with something that God has put upon my heart. And I ask Brother Henry if it'll be okay this morning if I speak from a PowerPoint. It might be good for you just to get to know my accent, the way that I preach, you know, back home in South Africa. We speak the Afrikaans language. But for the first couple of times, usually when you come back to the States or Canada, and you have to preach in the English language, the accent sounds different and sounds funny. And the way the tenses is coming out, it's also very strange for the people. So I thought I will, this morning, I will show you just the PowerPoint as I speak. And you can make some notes as you go along with the message. And then from tonight onwards, probably we will start to cut down the PowerPoint. And then by Monday night, if God continues to bless us and help me with the English language as we preach, we might just leave that behind and then just share what God has put upon my heart. You know, for the last couple of years before we get to the message this morning, you know, the Lord has a way of taking you to some places to teach you some things. I remember there's a verse of scripture in the book of Deuteronomy chapter eight, where God said, I have led you now for the last 40 years for the desert to humble you, to teach you a few things. And then there's a verse, just a phrase in one of those verses in verse three and verse four, that the Bible speaks about by saying then, and God has given the people manna to eat, which they knew of not. And sometimes God takes us to places in the desert to teach us things that we did not know. And I remember a few years ago when I was preaching a revival in South Africa from a Sunday morning through to a Wednesday night. In fact, I was scheduled to do four of them following just like this trip from Sunday through Wednesday and Thursday through Sunday and just four after one or the other in South Africa. During the first one, I got sick and I ended up in hospital and there was an emergency operation that took place about three years ago. But I remember as I came from the operation table and as I was lying in the bed, God started to speak to me about a few things in my life. But because of the schedule, I wasn't able to cancel the meeting. So I had to go to the second revival, the third and the fourth and then leave with a trip to Israel. But as I was sitting in the bus just surrounded with, you know, medical people and pillows just to keep myself very comfortable and with all the stitches still inside my body, God started to speak to me about life in the desert. And that's what I want to speak to you about this morning for the next few days. Because as I was sitting in the bus, driving from a place called Cairo to the mountain of wherever God gave, the Lord to Moses, I look around me and I saw that there was only desert. There were no trees. There's only stones and sand and there's no growth there. Nothing took place there, but it's just desert. God started to speak to me about that and I started to think about the life of Moses. You see, Moses found himself twice in that desert for 40 years. But the first time God spoke to him about the things in his own life that he had to come to the place of surrender. But in the second journey, God started to teach him how to walk with him by showing him the tabernacle in the wilderness, the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire and hearing the voice of God and so many different things. So sometimes God takes you to the desert in your spiritual life that he can teach you a few things about your walk with him. And God showed me several things from the life of Moses, which I just want to call the road map into God's presence until we see revival. But I've taken a few of those messages and I've put them together and for this morning and for tonight and for the next few days that we are together. And I will just touch on some of those informations and just share five of those principles that God has given to me in the bus for the next few days and just maybe somehow to help you in your understanding and your walk with God because many times we find ourselves in the same position as Moses. Especially today that we find ourselves living in this time in America, in Canada and also in South Africa. There is a topic for the week. I will just want to simply call it going to the next level and how to deepen your walk and how to empower your service in your walk with God in your road map into God's presence that God can use you in a very special and unique kind of way. So if you have your Bible, we can turn to the book of Exodus this morning in chapter three. I want us to read a few verses of scripture together from the book of Exodus in chapter three. And I want to share a few things with you and I want us to this morning to look at God's purpose and God's plan. And then tonight, I just want to put a few messages together about God's place and God's path and take it step by step in the next few days that we are together. But I want to speak to you very practical in the next few days. But this morning we have to lay the foundation for the road map into God's presence. I want us to read a few verses of scripture together. Let's start with verse one. And now Moses was tending the flock of Yithru, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. And so he 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 where the bush does not burn. And so when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here I am. Then he said, Do not draw near to this place. Take the sandals of your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground. And moreover, he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And Moses hit his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And then verse seven through ten. I will scripture for this morning. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt. And I've heard the cry because of the taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the land, the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, a land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Pirosites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. And now, therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. And I've also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Theru, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. Let's just read those few verses of Scripture together this morning. And may God add the blessing to the reading of his word. You know, if you look at chapter two and chapter three and chapter one of the book of Exodus, you find that the chapter always starts with the word and or the word then or the word now. That means you have to look at the previous chapter in order to understand what is happening in the passage that we have just read together. It reminded me so many years ago when I was a young boy in South Africa and I grew up as a six or a seven year old in South Africa and we grew up as a poor family. We live in a place which was just poverty and poor. But I had a friend. His name was Willie. Today he's a medical doctor in London as far as I know in England, not the London in Canada. But his father was retired and he was a businessman. And his mother was a teacher, but they had some finances and some money. So every day after school, we tend to go towards the place where Willie find himself and spend some time playing with Willie because they had finances, but not just about the finances, but at the home, there were always sweets and candy. So when we get to the place of Willie to play some time with him, to have some of these candy and some of these sweets, there was always a requirement because Willie was addicted to listen to stories on the radio. So every time when we get to this place to spend some time with him, we get to his home and he was sitting in front of the radio, listen to some stories on the radio. And towards the end of that 15 or 20 odd minutes listening to the story, the broadcaster will say the following, and this story will be repeated and continue by tomorrow. So we know that if we want to come back tomorrow and play some more just to have some free candy, we have to listen to one more story on the radio because it's just a continuation of the one after the other. But you know what I'm speaking about this morning when I speak about the end of the continuation of a radio program, because many people follow these stories in America and Canada and all over the world at the same time. They're watching things on television. They're following some stories on the internet. They follow just a sequence of a story that they're reading at the moment or just watching. And by the end of that program, you have to come back tomorrow just to watch the next program or the next sequel of the story of the next part. But when you look at the book of Exodus, you find it's the same thing because in Exodus chapter three, it started with the word now. In Afrikaans Bible, it start with the word and it means you have to go back to chapter two to understand chapter three. And if you read chapter two, it start with the same thing now. And then an end in the Old Testament in Afrikaans Bible, it means you have to go back to chapter one. If you look at chapter one from the book of Exodus, you find to understand that you got to turn back to Genesis chapter 50. When you look at the beginning of chapter 50, you got to go back to 49 and 48. And then you end up with Genesis chapter one. In other words, Genesis chapter one, right through to the book of Revelations is God's story. It began with Adam and Eve. It continues with Abraham. It comes to the point of the Lord Jesus himself. And we'll end at the end of the times in the book of Revelation. That's God's story from Genesis through to Revelation. And Moses find him right in the center of God's story in that moment. You know, when you look at the life of Moses, somehow you, we have this picture in your mind when I grew up in South Africa of a movie star called Charlton Heston. If I remember that. When I look at Charlton Heston, I remember the story of the Ten Commandments, the man standing with the tablets of God in his hand like that. But when I look at his face, I saw the white hair. I saw the white beard. I saw the face just shining from the glow of the fire of the bush that was burning in that moment into his face. They always start to wonder about the life of Moses. If I would ever get to that point in my walk of God, that God can somehow use me like Moses in South Africa, or somehow I can get so close to God in my walk with him that the same face can shine with the glory of God upon my life. You know, there was something that happened in the life of Moses. He made a mistake in his life. He killed someone and he had to flee for his life. And you know the story of Moses, how we end up in the desert for 40 years. And I want to share with you this morning. You see, Moses found himself in that moment in the desert with a dream that has died because he knew that God wanted to use him to bring the people from bondage out of Egypt into the promised land from the very beginning. He knew that if you study the Scriptures in the Old Testament and even the book of Acts chapter 7, he knew that, that God has a plan and a purpose for his life in that moment. But he made a mistake and had to leave Egypt in that moment, living in the desert for 40 years with a dream that has died. Or so it seems. You see, many of us here this morning have dreams. Am I right? You know, sometimes when a young girl gets married to a young boy, they dream about just a wonderful time together and just to be happy and somehow to have some kids and somehow to become successful and to have the American dream or the Canadian dream or this South African dream to have a wonderful family life and a house and you know, a boat to go down to the lake or just have one vehicle or two vehicles. Whatever the case might be, they are dreaming about having a successful life and being happy. And sometimes many wives find themselves in a marriage which is not happy. So you live married to a husband or a spouse, but you're not happy. Your dream seems to be dead. Or your business or somehow the longing that we have for revival in South Africa, that God just would sweat down upon our nation and send us revival just like in the days of old. And Moses found himself in this desert, in the living, in the wilderness for 40 years, knowing God has a plan and a purpose for his life, but a dream that has died like many people today over the world. But then something happened. God met with Moses and Moses realized something. That God's purpose and God's plan did not change even though he find himself in a difficult spot in that moment, living in the desert. You see, sometimes we as Christian people in South Africa, and I believe in Canada as well, we sometimes think because we find ourselves in the wilderness, in your spiritual life, or maybe in your marriage or your family or maybe your business, or maybe just something that's happening in a nation at the moment, like for us in South Africa, you find yourself in a tight spot in this moment. We tend to think about that the ultimate purpose and the plan of God has changed, but it did not. I want us to look at that this morning very briefly, just as introduction for the messages for the next couple of days that we are together. God's purpose, just as introduction. You know, when you look at God's purpose, for instance, you find that God's purpose is always the same. God works from eternity to eternity. God is always working around us because God's purpose is for the rest of the world to get to know the Lord Jesus as their savior and then to worship him as the head of the church and then to represent him all over the world that everybody can get to know him just like you and I this morning. But then there's a personal purpose that God has in mind has to change us into the image of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what God is doing every day that he's busy working in us and around us and with us because that's what God wants to do. As you will see this morning as a preparation for the next couple of days. That's just God's ultimate purpose. But God made a plan and I want us to look this morning at the plan very briefly. But before we can look at that, I want us to look at some of the locations that the people of Israel find themselves on the journey before they get to the plan of God, because you will see this morning that you find yourself this morning in one of these spots, these locations. When you study the Old Testament, you find the people of Israel living in the land of Egypt, which is a place of slavery and death because Pharaoh is the king. That's what the Old Testament tells us. But then they came out of Egypt and then they find themselves for 40 years in the wilderness, which is the desert. They were not meant to be there, but they walk around there for 40 years because of sin and disobedience and unbelief. But then from the wilderness, they find themselves in the promised land, the land of rest and victory that God has intended from the very beginning. And then you find themselves in Babylon, in the Babylonian captivity. That's the four locations of the people of Israel. But some of them are linked with one another, moments, crisis of belief, things that happen in the land, in the people, in the heart of the Christian people or the Israel people in that moment. And one is called the Red Sea that you know very well. So they left Egypt and before they could enter the wilderness on the way to the promised land, they came to a crisis of belief moment called the Red Sea, standing at the Red Sea, looking at the sea, and they had to go through there before they can be away from Egypt completely inside the wilderness on the way to the promised land. So God brought them to a crisis of belief, the place of redemption. You know, when you go to Israel today and you speak to the Jewish people, they will tell you they every month of April, they look back at that day with God saved them and redempted them from the Egyptian people. Just as we look today back to Calvary in the month of April, when we look back at the Jesus that died for us on the cross in Calvary. And then there was the wilderness, but out of the wilderness into the promised land was the Jordan River, the place of surrender. You know, when I was in Israel, I think last year with a group of people from South Africa, we came to the Jordan River, the actual place where they crossed the Jordan into the promised land. And as I was standing there, I saw something for the very first time. I was standing at the river at the bottom where we had the baptism of some people. But as I look up, I saw a sign on top there. This was the place, the mark of the water that came down after the rainy season in January in 2013. That was last year. And as I look at that sign against the wall up there and when I find myself standing way down at the bottom, about 25 to 30 meters down below, and I look up at that sign, I realize this was the place of water in January after the rainy season. From the top to the bottom is 35 meters and the width is about 60 meters. And the Bible tells us the river came down in floods. Can you imagine for a moment standing at the banks of the River Jordan, walking for 40 years in the desert? And as you came to this place, and as you look up, you see the cloud is moving. And now for 40 years, you have learned to follow the cloud when the cloud is moving. And as you wake up one morning, you see the cloud is now on the other side of the river and you know you have to follow him. But in front of you is a river flowing called the Jordan River. You see, before we can follow, we have to surrender by faith and by trust. It's a place of surrender. It's a place of faith. It's a place of trust. Or you can turn around and go back into the desert. Or you can follow him into the promised land. And then there was the Babylonian captivity, as you know, for about 70 years. That's just the locations. But you need to understand something of this before we get to the message this morning that God has put upon my heart for this, for our first session together in this morning. I want us to look at God's plan from Exodus chapter three. Let's look at verse eight. So God said, so I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and a large land. God's purpose, first of all, is for people to be delivered from Egypt in that moment. God don't want them to stay in Egypt because he made a promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that he will take them out of Egypt and he will bring them to the promised land just as God has promised. And if you look at that word, that God made a promise about the promised land, you find more than 330 verses of scripture just in the book of Numbers and Deuteronomy and the book of Joshua that speaks about this land. In fact, in the book of Exodus chapter three, God speaks about this land. He said, I have come down from heaven to deliver the people out of Egypt and to bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey. One of the verses. God's intention is for all people to leave Egypt. All people, white and black. Chinese, Japanese, all over the world, they need to leave Egypt. But, you know, sometimes when you find yourself in the desert, in your own life, in your mind, in your heart and in your finances, in your marriage and your family life, and you're going through some hardships in that moment, we tend to forget about the fact that God wants every person in this world to be saved and to be born again. God said, I've heard the cry from my people. Therefore, I've come down from heaven to earth to do something about this because I want everyone to be saved. Look at those two verses of scripture from the book of Acts chapter 17, verse 30 and 2 Peter chapter 3. What one God says, everyone, everywhere needs to be saved. But you sometimes, when you're stuck in a rut, in the desert, in your life, in your mind, in your finances, in your marriage, we tend to forget about your neighbor, the people around you that doesn't know the Lord Jesus as their Savior. You know what? When I was in America in the month of March and April this year, and as I was speaking in Georgia, I listened to some people giving some statistics in America at the moment. And I know this is Canada, but you know, I think worldwide is just about the same. They said in 1918, only 10% of people that accepted the Lord Jesus as their Savior since 1980. He's still standing today. 10%. Can you imagine 10% of the Canadian people are saved and born again? 10% of the American people are 400 plus million people. 10%. We speak about 40 million people. And 360 million is on the way to hell. Because that's what the Bible says. And God said, when I look around you, you might find yourself this morning in a tight spot in your finances, in your marriage, in your family, in your business, and going through the motions of life and you struggle. But God said, my plan and my purpose did not change. Everyone needs to get to know me and come out of Egypt and walk with me just like you. That they can know me as their Savior. But we tend to forget about that, especially churches worldwide that don't have missions anymore and crusades and evangelism and different kind of things how to reach people. I told Brother Henry last night as we were sitting and after he prayed that God has been speaking to me about South Africa at the moment. And you know, in the life of Gideon one time and God sent the message to the prophets and the prophets speak to the people, but the people didn't listen. So God turned away and sat at the river next and he find a farmer called Gideon. And I want to tell you something this morning. I believe the next revival in South Africa will take place in the business world and not in the church. But who is the business world? That's you and I. Because Henry can only preach on Sunday morning so many messages. But you are the guys who leave this place today and go back to your homes. You are the ones living in the marketplace. You meet with people day by day in the businesses, in the agriculture, in the schools. This is the place of revival. If we start to understand God's plan did not change. I want you to see a few more things. Just as introduction this morning, it's not just about everybody needs to be saved and to be born again. But we need to enter the rest of God. Look at what God is saying in verse eight. So I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and a large land, the land flowing with milk and honey. Deuteronomy chapter six, verse 23. God says, I have brought the people out of Egypt that I can bring them in. Let me ask you a question. Have God brought you out of Egypt? In other words, are you saved and born again? And you would say yes. But that's not the question to answer. The answer is that God brought you in. Because he said the ultimate purpose is not to get out of Egypt, but get into the land of milk and honey, the promised land, the land of rest and victory. And how do we get there? By following the cloud. You know, we're standing at the river sometimes. We look at around us. We see the river is flowing. We see the riverbanks is high. The water is coming down. We see the flood. But we see the cloud moving to the other side. And God said, listen, I did not save you out of Egypt to let you walk around in the wilderness for 40 years. You need to get out of this place and into the promised land, the land of rest and victory. Now in the book of Joshua, chapter one, and God speaks about this life. There's three things that God showed me from that chapter. They had to conquer the land. They had to cross the river. They had to take the inheritance God has given to them already. But in order to do so, there's three things that you need to understand. And the first thing is that we are representatives where we are. So God said, I want you to represent me in the promised land, the land of rest and victory. And right where you find yourself this morning in your walk with God, that's what you represent. You see, the Bible speaks about the fruit of repentance. He speaks about the life in Egypt. So when we are living our lives in Egypt, people around us can see the fruit that we bear. But when we walk around in the desert, we know that we are saved and born again. But we bear the fruit of the life in the wilderness, a life of defeat, a life of failure, a life of prayerlessness, a life of no fruit, a life of powerlessness, a life of murmuring and complaining, just like the people of Israel, because we represent such a life. But the moment you enter into the promised land, you represent the Lord Jesus in the life of rest and victory and conquering. You see, many people today are addicted to one thing or another. And many people today testify worldwide that they are saved and born again. But they are still living their lives in the wilderness. There's no victory. There's no rest. There's constant failure. He said, I want you to go to the good and the large land. So we represent that land. And he said, you want, you need to conquer that. There's a constant growth going to take place, he said, because the ultimate goal of being to the promised land is to become like Jesus, to be Christlike. You see, we tend to think sometimes when we are saved and born again worldwide, that's it. My name is in the book of life. And when I die, I go to heaven. And God said, listen, that's only the first step. I want you to bypass the wilderness because I want you to live your life in victory and rest and conquering and growing towards Christlikeness the whole time, because that's the ultimate goal I have in mind. Let me ask you something. When your wife or your husband, your spouse look at you, what do they see this morning? Do they see a man or a woman which is saved? Or they see a man or a woman that is growing to become like Christ? You know, my daughter sent me an email the other day. She said that I've learned something in Bible school. She said, at least there's one thing that she learned in Bible school so far. Apart from all the knowledge, you know, and she said, we chat about sexual purity one day at the Bible school and about getting married. And then one of the teachers told us something amazing. She said, don't date a Christian boy. Don't date a Christian boy. You need to date a Christian boy which is growing. Because there's a difference between the two. A growing Christian. Because many Christians stop growing after they're saved and born again. And when somebody come along to court, you look at his life. Is there a constant growth in becoming like Jesus? Because that's what Jesus had in mind from the very beginning. Date someone which is growing in their faith into the image of the Lord Jesus Himself. And there's a difference between the two. Because that's God's purpose. The ultimate purpose of Christianity is to become like Jesus. And we can only become like Christ in the land which is called the land of milk and honey, the promised land. Because inside Egypt, there's no growth because we're not saved. Inside the wilderness, there's no growth because we are stuck in failure and defeat the whole time. Growth take place in the land called the land of milk and honey. And then there's something else that the Bible speaks about. He said when we come to this point of living our lives in the life in the promised land, we get to know how to walk with God and to serve Him. That's God's purpose, number three. It's because you're going to go back and you will bring the people here to this mountain and I will teach you how to serve me, how to walk with me and how to worship me. But then there's a fourth thing. And I'm closing my message this morning with that. It's on the same slide. You know what's that? What about the family? What do I mean by that? Where was the brother of Moses when God spoke to him? He was in Egypt. Where was the sister Miriam when God spoke to Moses? He was in Egypt. Where was his father and mother Amrium and Jochebed? They were in Egypt. Where was the family members of Moses? They were in Egypt. Where were his friends and colleagues from days gone by? They were in Egypt. And even as Moses was walking in the desert for 40 years and struggling and like a sitting duck in the desert out of his comfort zone knowing his dream has died, God said, listen, you are struggling around you the whole time just looking at your own life. But what about your family? They need to be safe too. What will happen in South Africa, America, Canada this morning? If every one of us here this morning just make sure that every member is safe and born again. But I want to close this morning and then I want us to start being very practical from tonight onwards. I want to ask you two questions in closing. Where do you live your Christian life at the moment? Think about that for a moment. Some of you might be in Egypt this morning and God has taken you to the desert to show you that you find yourselves in Egypt. You know, my father was a complete alcoholic and God caused a lot of things to happen in his life just to get his attention. And one of them was a car accident, a car wreck. And he ended up in hospital for almost like three to four months and all the bills that needs to be paid. And God got his attention when he came from that hospital bed. Eventually, he got to a side of church like this on a Sunday morning. And as somebody was preaching just a normal message, no salvation, but God started to convict him and he came to the front and accept the Lord as his savior. God used a life in the desert, a crisis moment to get his attention. You know, sometimes God takes you through difficult things in your life to get your attention, because he wants to get you out of Egypt. He wants to get you in the promised land that you can start to grow. So where do you find yourself this morning? Maybe you're saying to me and said, I know that I'm saved. I know that I'm born again. I know that my name is in the book of life. I know when I die today, I go to heaven. I know that. I know because I know because I know. But you know, when I look at your life, maybe you find yourself in the desert. You are out of Egypt. You went through the Red Sea. You know that you are safe, but you find yourself in the desert, a life of failure, defeat. Prayerless, bickering, murmuring, complaining, constant struggles inside because there's no rest. God said you are only in the desert. My purpose for you, even though you find yourself here, is you are living your life in the wrong place. You need to live in the promised land. That's why I came. He said, I brought you out that I can bring you in. I want you to live your life in the promised land. You see, we have characteristics. The fruit that we bear is either Egypt, wilderness, or the promised land. And people can see where we find ourselves by just looking at us. The things we say, the things we do. Let me ask you something this morning. Where are you living your Christian life in this moment? It's either Egypt, or the wilderness, or the promised land. Let me ask you a second question. Forget about yourself for a moment. What about your family members? What about the sister of Moses, Miriam? What about his nephews and his nieces? What about your family members this morning? Do you have family members living in Egypt? In the wilderness? You see, as long as we live in the wilderness, we are living outside the will of God. Because God's will is the promised land. The land of victory, and rest, and peace, and constant growth into the image and the likeness of His Son, the Lord Jesus. That's God's purpose. Out of that is out of God's will. That's what He says. So God wanted me to ask you a question this morning. Where are you living your life today? Maybe the hardships that you are going through in the moment is all because God wants to get your attention. Because He said, I'm taking you to the desert to humble you, to teach you, and then to give you manna, things to eat which thou know of not. Because I want to get you out of Egypt right through the wilderness, not get stuck there into the promised land that we can grow. But the second question is the question, what about your family? What about your father, and your mother, and your brother, and your sister which is living in Egypt? What about those family members who's living inside the wilderness? How many of they are living in the promised land that brings heaven to earth in a family? Because the husband and wife is living in the fullness of the will of God and not in the wilderness. You see, sometimes we get so stuck and so caught up with a dream that has died. And you walk around in the desert in your own life, in your walk of God, and it feels to you as if God somehow has forgotten about you. But God did not. But at the same time, God's plan, Egypt, wilderness, promised land, growth, conquering, hunger and thirst for more has not changed. But we get stuck and we forget about all the things that God has in mind. I'm closing my time this morning in this time of three, four years as I was going through the motions in learning these lessons that God wants me to learn about life in the desert. I was invited to preach at a conference in Uganda with Sammy Tippett. And as I arrived there, there was 550 people that came from East Africa. And I was completely out of my depth because most of them come from the revival from East Africa in the 70s and the 50s and the times of Roy Hessian, the Calvary Road. And many of those Christians, their homes were burned down by the Muslim people and they came there with nothing. We've got all the resources here in Canada, America and South Africa. And I had to preach to them. But in that time, God started to speak to me about life in the desert. Teach me a few principles that he wants me to learn and to understand. And I remember just before I went to Uganda to preach, I went to see a guy called Dr. Johannes van der Kolft. He was my mentor in South Africa. And I spent some time with him just before he died. And towards the end of the message, I asked him, I said, Sir, can you tell me what have I done wrong in South Africa as a young preacher? You've watched me over the years. Just tell me. And he said, Francois, maybe there was a time in your life that you put a machine into a sailboat. He did not explain that. He just said that. And I remember as I was in Kampala, Uganda and Tebi sitting there reading the story of the revival again and preaching on revival. God started to speak to me about that. And I remember as I was sitting there, I started to struggle because I had an invitation to preach that same year in the month of November in America for two and a half weeks. And somehow I have this impression upon my heart. God said, don't go. Stay at home and process the information and start to finish the book that you need to write about quiet time. But I missed that moment and I went to America. And I remember in that time, there was a tornado in America and all the flights were canceled. We flew all the way from Johannesburg instead of Washington. We flew to Frankfurt and there was a delay of almost like 10 hours in Frankfurt. And then there was a crisis up in Iceland. So the plane, American Airlines had to go via Iceland and end up in Dallas, Texas. And from there back to Atlanta. So I was traveling for two and a half days. But as I was sitting in a plane from Europe, it was only that space. Me and the lady next to me with a baby. We only had that space. The plane was overbooked and overcrowded because of the crisis of the tornadoes in America. So I was leaning against the wall like this of the window for about 10 hours as we fly all the way from Europe into Dallas. Just give her some space. And sometimes the baby lying in front of us. And then there was the feeding and the diapers and the things that are taking place. By the time we got to Dallas, I was so tired, but I couldn't move my left arm. So I ended up in a hospital in Rome, in Georgia with some infection in my breast, breastplates and different places around here. And I left the hospital with it with a bill of 4000 American dollars. And as I started to pray about that, God said, listen, I spoke to you in Uganda. You should have stayed at home. I'm just getting your attention because I want to speak to you. God provided the finances to pay the bill, but I did not learn the lesson. I went back home. I flew to Israel with a group of people the same trip that I was standing at the Jordan River. But as I was sitting in Cairo on the River Nile, my feet was in the water, my hands were in a small little sailboat called the Faluca. And as I was sitting in the sailboat, and I look at the sail of the Faluca, I realized something. What my mentor was saying in South Africa. You see, when you're sitting in a sailboat, you can feel the wind blowing in your face. You can hear the wind. You can see the wind in the sail. And you just set the course and the wind blows the direction of the ship or the boat. Once you put the machine into a sailboat, you don't hear the wind blow anymore. The sound of a machine, that's what you hear. But now you have to maintain it. And then you have to put in gas and gasoline and diesel and make sure this thing is running properly. Now you can set the course because you can change it as you want. Then I realized what he said to me. He said, so many times in our lives, we fail because we put machines into a sailboat. You see, we live our lives in the wilderness, not into the promised land. Because we find ourselves in the wilderness, we have to make a plan. We have to promote something. We have to build up something. We have to organize something instead of just resting in God's perfect world. And sometimes we make a mistake. My father did that. I remember one day when I got back home many years ago when I was still an alcoholic, he sold the TV in the house and the radio programs and all the things that we had to make some cash money to buy some alcohol. Then go buy a new television, pay the deposit and a monthly installment just to have a TV at home because that's what my mother wanted. But my father made a plan to get money for alcohol to drink. And that's what we do. If you live our lives in Egypt, in the desert, we put machines into a sailboat because we have to maintain this thing and we have to push it and to run the course and to do something to build up something that looks so spiritual. What God said, just live your life in the promised land of rest in my perfect world. So let me ask you something this morning. Where do you find yourself this morning? Just be honest. So forget about you. What about your family? Where do they find themselves this morning? It's not about church. It's about living in the location that God has intended from the very beginning. If your family is living in the wilderness this morning or in Egypt, what are you gonna do about that? How are you gonna help them to get to the promised land? And one way is for them just to watch us because they know exactly where we find ourselves. This is one thing to say something, but to be somebody is a different message. So let me close this morning. Moses knew God wanted to bless and use him, but he made a mistake. He find himself in the desert, but at the same time, God's purpose, God's plan did not change. When God came to him, he realized that for this morning, you might find yourself in a spot of bother, difficult situation, whatever, your finances, your marriage, your family. But God said, listen, I still want you to live in the promised land. I still want you to take your family with you to get there. And what are you gonna do about that? Let's pray together. Father, I just want to thank you this morning. As I think and reflect upon the life of Moses, Lord, as he was wandering in the desert for so many years, trying to fix the problem in Egypt, even though he knew that you wanted to use him, but out of his own energy and his flesh, he tried to do something and failed. He tried to put the machine into a sailboat. And then he failed. Lord, as he was wandering around in the desert, thinking that maybe God has forgotten about him. One day you came to speak to him. And Moses realized that your purpose did not change. And the promises that you've given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he's still standing. That you want the people of Israel to live in the promised land. A land flowing with milk and honey. A life of rest and victory and peace. Constant growth into the same image and the glory of the Lord Jesus. But Lord, so many times because of putting a machine into the sailboat of our own lives, we miss the ultimate place and the will that you have in mind for us. We find ourselves struggling in our finances, in our health, in our business, our families, even our friendships and relationships around us, making no impact whatsoever upon the communities. And Lord, as we find ourselves walking in Egypt or the wilderness, that's what people see. The way we speak, the way we behave. But even for us, Lord, you want us to live across the Jordan River. Lord, this morning, every one of us here this morning find ourselves either in Egypt or the wilderness or the promised land. Lord, even as we testify this morning that maybe we are living our lives in the promised land, we have family members, Lord, that is living in Egypt. We have family members that is living in the wilderness, safe but far away from God, not growing but stuck. We have not just family members, we have friends, we have colleagues, we have people around us day by day that find themselves in one of those locations. Lord, sometimes because we get so busy and caught up in our own life and struggles and problems, we tend to forget, Lord, that you saved us. You've put us in this place, in Lighthouse Gospel Church in Port Bourbon, in Ontario, in such a time as this, that you can help us to become more and more into the image of your Son and then use us for your benefit and for your glory. You bring us in contact day by day with people that can follow us into the promised land. Now, Father, I pray for every person here this morning. You know my heart and the heart of everyone. You know the life that we live. You know what we need to hear in these days, what we need to do, that we can live according to your will and to accomplish the purpose that you had in mind from the very beginning, is to get out of Egypt and to get in, into the promised land, living a life that would put a smile on your face as we grow constantly into the image of your Son, the Lord Jesus. And, Father, I pray that you would take us by the hand in this morning and free up this day as you would bring us back tonight in the next few days, not just to listen to a sermon, but to allow you to speak to our hearts. And, Lord, to remove those things which is not pleasing unto you and to bring us into the fullness of what you have in mind from the very beginning in becoming like your Son on the other side of the Jordan River. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.