← ArchiveSunday, March 24, 2019DateMarch 24, 2019Speaker—Text—Passages in this sermonNumbers 221:15Numbers 22:1510:20TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00The End Alright, it's really interesting as we go through a series and a book, you always kind of wonder, at what point is it going to land on your turn to preach?0:30And so I've been watching it. And so it's really interesting, I'm preaching about most of us in the room talking donkeys.0:53So I'm very excited about this particular text. I've been really diving into this and we're going to have fun today with this text. And so let me give you a little back story. It's Numbers chapter 22 and we're going to track through most of this so we've got a lot of work to do. I promise to get us out at least before 2 o'clock this afternoon.1:23I'm just kidding for those of you that might be trying to find your exit. Let me give you a little back story here. Jesus, first of all, Jesus is Lord of all. He's Lord of everything. And so as we read the scriptures, even in the Old Testament, we find our Savior's stamp. Even in the Old Testament, we see Christ working.1:50And it's amazing to see this happen. Israel is wandering through the wilderness. They're camped on the plains just outside of this area called Moab, the kingdom of Moab. Balak is the king there. And he is a king that is a pagan king. And he can see this small country kind of developing called the Israelites. And if you're looking from his vantage point, you're thinking to yourself, these guys are dangerous.2:16They're wiping everybody out. They're on their way to the promised land. And they're not going to let anybody get in their way. And so this king is getting worried about this. He's like, man, we've got to do something about this. They're wiping everybody out. They're preparing for war. And soon they're going to be right next to him. They're going to be in Balak's kingdom. And they're going to continue to move westward into the promised land.2:45And he's worried. He's afraid. He's like, what am I going to do about this? So you don't want to mess with the Israelites. You don't want to mess with these folks because everybody they come in contact with, if you're against them, they're going to wipe you out. And so, in fact, in verse 4, the elders of Moab said the horde, they actually call Israel this horde, will now lick up all that is around us as an ox licks up the grass of the field.3:04So these guys are bad. You don't want to mess with them. So all the neighboring countries were a little fearful for this new country, this small country coming into town. And Balak sees this huge nomadic nation whose God is Yahweh. And he's heard about all the previous military victories.3:33So he starts to come up with this plan. And he knew that he could not attack them militarily. He knew that he could not take his military and go up against them because he would get wiped out. He knew that. So he starts to come up with this other plan. And so the elders, they meet. And he's, what could we possibly do? So instead of militarily, he thinks, I'm going to try to separate them from their God. So how can I possibly do that?4:04So he sends out for the messengers to send out for a prophet, a spiritual guru by the name of Balaam, to curse the people of Israel. And so it's not a military move. It's more of a supernatural move on his part. So who is this guy? Who is Balaam? We see Balak. We got the characters. We see Balak. He is the king of Moad. We see Balaam. He is this spiritual guru, kind of a prophet type of guy.4:31Who is Balaam? He's a very interesting character. He is a sorcerer, a prophet who has influence with the spirits and forces. But he's also considered a politician type of guy. Kind of a swindler. You really don't really know how to take this guy. And he knows the spirit world very, very well. And so Balak's messengers bring some cash. And they try to explain the situation to this magician, this prophet named Balaam.4:58And in verse 6, this is what they say. I know whomever you bless will be blessed. And whoever you curse will be cursed. And so in other words, they're trying to flatter him a little bit. They're trying to say, hey man, you're awesome. Whoever you bless, they're blessed. And whoever you curse, they're cursed. And whatever you say, it happens. And so we need you to come and curse this nation for us. We need you to separate them from their God because, man, they're wiping everybody out. So we need your help.5:29And of course, they have some cash with them. They throw in some cash. And so he's intrigued. So this is what he says. This is very interesting. So Balaam says to the messengers, stay the night. And he inquires of the Israel's God, Yahweh. This is very, very interesting that he inquires of Israel's God. Now, he is not an Israelite. He's not Jewish. But he knows of Yahweh's God, Israel's God.5:58Now, here's the deal about Moab. Moab, we know, was Lot's son. Moab was the incestuous children of Lot and Abraham's cousin. Later, King David's great-grandmother was from Moab. And so here's the deal. You have, Balaam has this relationship. He has this kind of geographical, distant relationship, connection with Balaam, the prophet, the magician.6:21And so he's heard about Yahweh. He's learned somewhere down the way about this Yahweh. And so he's intrigued by Yahweh. As a matter of fact, verse 9 says, And God came to Balaam and said, Who are these men with you? Who are these men with you? Now, the Lord asks questions like this oftentimes in the Old Testament, even the New Testament.6:51The Lord asks the question that he already knows. He is God. He is Lord. So he asks this question that he already knows, just like God's interaction with Adam in the garden after Adam's sin. And with Cain when he asks the location of Cain's brother. Clearly, God knows who these men are and why they seek him. It is God who came to Balaam and his question is not to gain knowledge, but to correct him.7:18To put him on the right path. And so Balaam answers the question. And God instructs Balaam to tell the men that Balaam will not go with them and must not put a curse on Israel because they are blessed. Now, this is really interesting. They go kind of back and forth here a couple of times. And the Lord says, No, don't go with them. You can't curse who I am blessed. So the next day, Balaam, he wakes up and he tells them.7:46But he leaves some things out. He leaves out that the Lord had actually said, You cannot curse who I am blessed. And so he leaves little parts out. You'll notice it as we read the scripture. He'll omit some things. And he does this on purpose. He's very clever on how he communicates with folks. So he leaves out the details of his encounter with God. But rather tells these guys, these guys from Balak, that the Lord gave him instructions not to go with them.8:15Upon returning to Balak, the men tell Balaam that he just refused to come. So these guys, they come and they camp out. They spend the night. Balak goes to sleep at night. Jewish customs, you can read through Jewish customs. And a lot of times, prophets will actually inquire of the Lord at night. And sometimes it will come to them in a dream.8:44And we're assuming that that's what happened here. And so he inquires of the Lord. The Lord says, No. Gives him some instructions. Don't go with him because you can't curse who I've blessed. He wakes up in the morning. And he just says, Hey, guys, I can't go. Sometimes Luke has friends come over. They knock on the door. And this is what Luke will say. I can't. I can't. My dad won't let me. What he don't say is, I've got homework.9:12I've got chores to do. That's what's kind of happening here. In other words, he's not telling the whole story. And there's a reason why he's not doing that. So they report. They report back to Balak. And I think it's really interesting, too, that nowhere in these chapters did the elders of Moab or Midian or Balak refer to God. You never see that. You never see them referring to Yahweh. You never see them referring to God. It is Balaam who used the name of God regularly.9:42So they report to Balak, the king of Moab. And this is what he thinks. This is a negotiation maneuver here. So he's just using this as a negotiation tactic. And we're going to up the ante a little bit. We're going to send some more cash. We're going to send the princes now. Not just leaders. We're going to send the princes and the really important leaders. And they basically go back and they beg. They go back a second time. And they make these big promises.10:11They throw in some hard cash. They say, man, you need to come with us. And this is where we pick up on the story. In Numbers chapter 22, verse 15. Verse 15 says, once again, Balak sent princes more in number and more audible with these than these. And they came with Balaam and they said to him, thus says Balak, the son of Zippor, let nothing hinder you from coming to me. For I will surely do great honor and whatever you say to me, I will do.10:40Come curse this people for me. And in verse 18, it says, but Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more. Now, here's the interesting thing here again. Balaam is not an Israelite. But did you see the last thing he said there?11:12I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more. This is quite a statement. He says, I'm not going to do what the Lord says not to. So his confidence is anchored in the word of the Lord. But he's not a Jew. He's not an Israelite. He knows enough about Yahweh to know that our confidence is not in our ability.11:38Our confidence is not in our circumstances. Our confidence should be anchored in the word of the Lord. And that goes for all of us, not just Balaam. His word does not return void. And that's what we need to understand here. We're looking at basically a prophet that is virtually a pagan. He's a sorcerer. But he's standing on the promises of the Lord.12:09He's standing on the promises of the word. So that is why it's so important that we develop habits. And I'm going through a series with our students called Habits. And we're talking about God's word. And we're really hammering that in and saying, no, you've got to stand on the promises of God's word. And some of them have come to me and asked me, what are some things that scripture says about this, about depression, about stress, about suicide? What are some scriptures that we need that we can go to battle with?12:37And ladies and gentlemen, that's the mindset that we need to have about God's word. It is sharper than a double-edged sword. And we need to take God's word and we need to apply it and use it in our life. Verse 19. It says, so you too, please stay here tonight that I may know more, the Lord will say to me.12:59So there again, he's telling them to stay the night. And by the way, this is a huge undertaking too. When they would travel, they would travel in these huge entourages. It was very expensive to do this. And so they really, they put on the dog and pony show for this guy. Okay. He probably had some meal there. They probably had a lot of food there. They probably had a lot of things going on there.13:28So they threw a big party for him. They really want him to come. And they really want him for one reason, and that is to go and curse Israel. And so the question here is, it's really interesting. Why would Balaam think the Lord might change his mind? After he's already told him no. Why would Balaam think the Lord would change his mind? Or perhaps we should ask, why would Balaam hope the Lord might change his mind?13:55The answer to the question is rather obvious. King Balak has up the ante. He's thrown more cash in to the point Balaam can't resist. So it's more of a fleshly thing that he's now encountering. He's wanting to go. He's desiring to go. And so he knows that he needs to inquire. And so in verse 20, it says,14:25And God said to Balaam at night and said to him, If the men have come to call you, rise. Go with them. But here's the catch. There's always a catch. But only do what I tell you. Only do what I tell you. So God told Balaam in the first encounter that he is not to go to the men. However, in this encounter, Balaam is permitted to go with them with one catch.14:52He's instructed to say or do only what Yahweh tells them to do. It's a very curious command. So let me put this into context. According to Jewish tradition, and this is very significant, Balaam's desire to go indicated his eagerness to curse Israel and to make some cash. That was his motive.15:21That was why he wanted to go, was to basically move up this ladder. He knew that, man, this is a big deal. This kingdom is really a big deal. And this king is inquiring me to curse an entire nation. If I can pull this one off and make a lot of cash, then my popularity would go up. I can move up this ladder. And so that is the story behind the story.15:49That's the Jewish understanding of what's going on here. But what's really interesting is Balaam's own desire for riches and Balaam's desire for power and protection to display God's sovereignty over the kings and nations. That's what the Lord is going to do here. So it's not that he is going with them.16:18It's his attitude. It's his motivation. It's his greed that he goes. And the Lord knows the hearts and the motives of all of us in this room. Every single one of us, he knows the motives in our hearts. He knows that if we are desiring greed, he knows that. He knows that if we have lust in our hearts, he knows that. He knows our motives and our desires.16:46If we're climbing up this corporate ladder, guess what? He knows that our mind is maybe set toward that goal. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be when you disobey God's commands. And so, verse 21. So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. And this is a very interesting verse here, too, because guess what?17:16It's like he's in a hurry. He doesn't do what he did before. And he doesn't do like he did in verse 13. He rose in the morning, and the only difference is that he didn't tell them what the Lord had said. This time, he's rising up in the morning, man, and he's getting out of there. He's like, I'm out. The Lord said, go. Let's go. I'm out. He didn't tell them or anything. He got on his donkey, and he's like, man, let's just go. It's almost like these guys are like, hey, what's he doing?17:46He's saddled his donkey, and he's taken off. So guess what? They're assuming everything must be okay. He's going to go curse Israel for us, and we're going to throw some cash at him, and we're going to be safe. That's the assumption here is that, hey, man, this guy, he's getting ready to go. Let's go. Instead, Balaam went with him quickly, again, without reason. Verse 22 says,18:16Now, here's the big question here. Why was God angry? He told him he could go. Why was he angry? Well, I think we've answered that question already. He knows the motives of our heart. He told Balaam, the only way you can go is you have to do what I tell you to do.18:44You have to obey my commands. Now, it's possible that in Balaam's mind, you know what? I don't have to do that, really. I'm just going to go, and I'm going to curse these people. He said I could go. I'm not sure about what he's going to tell me to do or anything. He may not say anything else. I'm just going to go. Again, he knows our motives.19:13He knows our attitude. And it's because of that the Lord changes some direction here. So the Lord was angry not because he had gone with Balaam's men, because the Lord had told him. God knows our hearts. Balaam's rebellious heart to quickly run to Moab and curse Israel, completely ignoring God's command.19:41And here's the thing. We have so much in common with Balaam. This is a story about us. We have so much in common with Balaam. Here's the question. Do we pursue our fleshly desires to pursue wealth, greed, popularity, or do we pursue the clear commands of God? So what really drives you? What really drives you? We can be great on Sunday morning. We can come in here, get cleaned up. But from Monday to Saturday, what drives you? How do you act from Monday to Saturday?20:13What do you do? Are you obeying God's commands throughout the week? Or are you just coming in here kind of getting a feel-good on and going out? Because that's exactly the attitude here that Balaam has. He's like, you know, I'm going to be okay. He's going to have some empty words. But here's the thing. Just as Balaam's empty words, our words, and actions often don't match.20:40They often don't match. You ever seen those old Kung Fu movies? And you're watching them, and they're, I'm going to kill you. And they don't match. Oftentimes, that's our life. What we say sometimes don't necessarily match what we do. Our actions.21:09Our actions. And so that's what was going on with this guy. His drive was success. His drive was the money. But the Lord has a way of getting our attention, doesn't he? And this is the fun part. Verse 23. And the donkey. I'm glad I'm not using the King James Version in this right here. And by the way, I do study the King James Version.21:40I've got a skull filled, and I read it often, so I'm not slamming that version for the sake of our children. We'll go with this one. And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand. I love this. And the donkey turned aside, out of the road, went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey. I don't know what it is about these Old Testament guys and their staffs, but it seems like they all have one, and they're hitting something.22:09Moses hit the rock. This guy's banging on his, he's hitting his donkey. And so the angel of the Lord stood in the narrow path between the vineyards with the wall on either side. In verse 25 it says, And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall. So he struck her again.22:38Then the angel of the Lord went ahead and stood in the narrow place where there were no way to turn either to the right or the left. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Now this is the first ever recorded case of road rage in the Old Testament. Now we've all been ticked off before. And if we could hit our car, we would.23:09We probably, some of you have. You probably, you're hitting that middle section right there, that horn. Get out of my way. I don't do animals well. And I can relate to this. I just don't. I don't do animals well. I've been chased by a bull. Had a red shirt on. It's stupid. I got rammed by a goat. I've been attacked and bit by a cat named Fluffy.23:36I've been chased by an ostrich. And most recently, this Friday, I was punked by a thug camel in Montgomery. We went to this. Today is my oldest son's birthday. Happy birthday, buddy. You taking notes? He's eight years old. And we have birthday weekends. And so Friday, we went to Montgomery, this thing. You guys may please do this.24:06Maybe you have the same experience I had. Well, you drive through these little areas, and they have the animals there. You roll your windows down, and they don't give you. You have to buy this feed. It's $4 a bucket. $4 plus tax. And so we bought two of them. And so we have this bucket of feed, and the animals would come up. They've got camels. They've got all kinds of different things there. Camels stuck some in my head because of the story. So out the gate, we pull up, and there's this huge camel.24:35This camel is so big, he's looking into through our moonroof. Honda Pilot, four-wheel drive, okay? He's that big. He's huge. And so I have my feed. Lane is in my lap. And this camel literally has this almost stooped down to get in. And he kind of looks at me like, hey, what's up? And he starts to eat. And I'm like, okay, this is weird. There's slobber everywhere. It's nasty.25:05It's nasty. I'm like, oh. And so I kind of push it out a little bit. And before we got the feed, the lady told us, hey, you better watch it. They'll take your bucket from you. And I'm like, ain't no animal going to take my bucket. Uh-uh. No animal is going to take my bucket. So I'm holding on to this thing. Well, all of a sudden, this camel grabs the bucket with his teeth. And he yanks. I'm like, uh-uh. I pull back. Well, then all of a sudden, he goes, uh-uh. And he yanks hard to the point to where he yanks so hard,25:34tears the bucket out of my hand. He takes it, and he's literally doing this right here with the bucket. And he throws it down with all the other buckets he's taken from everybody. And he looks at me like, what do you think about that? And, of course, Lane, my youngest son, goes, Dad, punch him in the face. And I'm thinking, I need to get out of the car to get my bucket. And I can't. You may ask the question, why did I tell you that story? Because sometimes, some things are out of our control.26:02And this was a situation here. Balaam did not know what was going on here with his donkey. He thought he had lost his mind or something. So he does what everybody else will do. He starts to beat it. But what he doesn't know is what happened next. Verse 28. Then the Lord opened the mouth of a donkey. This is great. And she said to Balaam,26:32What have you done? What have I done to you? That you have struck me these three times. Now, I can imagine, if you've ever seen the movie Shrek, the voice of the donkey, okay? Coming out of this donkey's mouth. So verse 29 says, And this is what's really crazy about this. It's almost as if Balaam, he's not surprised. And he answers this donkey. And so Balaam said to the donkey, Because you have made a fool of me, I wish I had a sword in my hand,27:01for then I would kill you. Sometimes that's our reaction. To things that get in our way. The things that we can't necessarily control. Again, there's nothing in this text that indicates that Balaam's shock over a talking donkey. Now, it could be his pride and his anger that's getting in his way of his reasoning.27:29And he responds by saying, Man, if I had a sword, I'm going to kill you. In verse 30, this conversation continues. Verse 30, And the donkey said to Balaam, Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way? And Balaam kind of goes, No. It's like he's pouting now. It's like his pride has gotten the best of him.27:59Here's the deal. Can I suggest that many of us get as ticked off as Balaam because we can't seem to get where we're wanting to go. In life, dealing with family, dealing with relationships, we get so ticked off because our motives, maybe our motives are not right. Our attitude is all wrong. We have maybe some secret sin, a habit that is harmful to us.28:28And all the while, it is God who is getting in the way because he wants to change our motives. He wants to change our attitude and that sinful habit to redirect our path. Could it be that your frustration is because God's getting in the way and we're so spiritually blind, we don't see it. And it may take a donkey to get your attention. By the way, one of the most ignorant animals in the world. The amazing theme of this story29:01is not just the talking donkey. The theme of this story is that God who gets in the way because he loves us so much to stop us. He inconveniences us. He frustrates us to the point where we have to make choices to change our direction, to repent, or to keep going down the same destructive path, which is what a lot of us do. We keep going down the same destructive path and sometimes God throws things in our way29:28and we ignore it until we get to the end of ourselves or we wonder, well, Lord, what's going on? And he uses drastic measures. So it's not about where we're going, moving up the financial ladder, our popularity, our position. It is about who we are becoming as we go.29:58It's about who we're becoming as we go. Verse 31. Then the Lord opens the eyes of Balaam and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way. with his drawn sword in his hand and he bowed down and he fell on his face. This is the aha moment right here. This is the moment where we've all, hopefully we've been there at this moment where it's like, man, the Lord has been trying to get my attention and I've been trying30:27to force this thing. I've been trying to my very best to force my agenda, my motive. I want this. And all of a sudden the Lord just gets in the way and you fall on your face. This is an act of repentance. This is an act of surrender. Verse 20 at 32. And the angel of the Lord said to him, why have you struck your donkey three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you30:57because your way is perverse before me. The donkey saw me and turned aside before these three times. If she had not turned aside, this is really interesting, if she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live. We don't really see what's going on sometimes in the spiritual realm, do we? So it's very important that we are connected to the Lord.31:27This is where we need to read our word more. Dive into the Lord's word more. Let the Holy Spirit, man, just well up inside of us. This is where we develop discernment. This is where we develop a life full of the Lord where we can avoid these circumstances. Verse 35,31:58Verse 35, and the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, go with the men. Here's the other command, same command that we've been hearing, but speak only the word that I tell you. So Balaam went with the princes of Balaam. How many of you think that Balaam, after his encounter with the angel of the Lord, that Balaam went back to Balaam's men with the same motive or attitude?32:28No way. Not after he had a conversation with a talking donkey. Okay? Not after his donkey just decided to start talking and all of a sudden the angel of the Lord came, that's going to change your direction. And for some of us, that's what we need. I know that is in my life personally. Sometimes the Lord has to do drastic things in my life. to get my attention. I'm that guy. Okay? If you're hanging with me, I'm that guy. You're not going to believe what happened to Brad. Campbell32:59Campbell stole his food. Now, I don't know if that's any spiritual indication there. Maybe it is. But I know one thing. I've had accidents before where I thought, Lord, what's going on here? Ran into the back of a truck one time. immediately I knew that still fought small voice. Tore my Honda up by the way. That's still small voice. Brad, you're not paying attention. You're not focusing on me. You're looking33:30You're looking at the other accident, which is what I was doing. And so I go back and I go, Lord, what is it? Where in my life do I need to repent? Where in my life do I need to draw close to you? When Balaam went, it wasn't about the talking donkey. It was about the change that took place in his heart. It was about what God was doing34:00inside of Balaam. So the Lord often redirects our path, not because of sin, by the way. I want to be very clear here. He doesn't always redirect our path because we have sin in our heart. Sometimes He redirects our path, and this is what the beautiful thing about being a believer is. Sometimes He redirects our path for somebody else. Sometimes He changes our direction as believers to take the Word to somebody that needs it. When we were doing the faith,34:30F-A-I-T-H, those of you that have been here for some time, you know it's kind of an evangelism tool that we all learned and we will go into teams and we would go out into the community and we would share the gospel. Sometimes we did on Monday nights, I think we changed a couple times, and this was on November night, I'll never forget it. I had my team with me. I had graduated as a leader, which was, sometimes I think, man, that's just crazy. People don't know what they're doing here. So I graduated34:59as a leader and I was driving down 174 going towards Springville. It starts raining, it's cold, we can't find this address. To save our life, we cannot find the address. And I'm like, where is this place at? Somebody's playing a joke on me. Somebody gave me the wrong address and goes, watch this. And so we're going back and forth and everything. These guys have worked all day, I've worked all day long, we're tired. It starts to rain. And so I'm like, we've done turn around twice. I'm going back towards Springville35:28towards Springville and I think, you know what, we're just going to go back to the church. I'm done here. A car gets behind me, probably a church folk, is riding my bumper and starts honking the horn. I'm like, I ain't got nowhere to turn off here. So I turned off real quick to a little clearing there off 174. I'm frustrated. And I turned back to look to see if there's traffic and I noticed the mailbox was knocked off into a ditch.35:58Oh, that's weird. And I'm like, no, surely not. I get out, brush this mailbox off that had recently been knocked off into the ditch. And guess what? It's the address where we're supposed to be. Had someone not almost run me off the road, I would have never seen that.36:27seen that. And so, I get back in the car and I start pulling forward. You'd never know, by the way, that this was a place or anything. It's just kind of this weird clearing. And we go through this thicket and there's this house there. There's dogs everywhere. Okay? The guy behind me, he's six foot five, scared of dogs. He's sitting in my back seat. He's not, you don't want to get out. I'm like, my goodness, come on now. And so, I basically coerced him out and everything and so we walk up on the front porch, knock on the door36:58and the guy that we're supposed to see, he's not there. This lady answers the door and he's moved. Sorry, he's moved. He's in college right now. And the Holy Spirit just got a hold to me right then. That's the only way I can explain this because this is out of my character. I said, ma'am, there's a reason why we're here right now. And can I ask you a question? In your personal opinion, what do you understand it takes for someone to go to heaven?37:27And she said, I have no idea. I said, ma'am, can I tell you what the Bible says about that? And I began to share with her F-A-I-T-H. Now, I probably got it all wrong. I'm dyslexic. And that's what I was thinking in my mind. You know, I'm probably not, and I'm thinking I've messed up on this already. And I asked her that last question, ma'am, tonight, would you like37:57to confess Christ as your Savior? Long crocodile tears streaming down her face and she said, yes. And I wanted to go, are you sure? Because I know I've probably messed this whole thing up. Listen to me. Sometimes the Lord directs our path. We just have to listen to Him. We have to get in our word and go, Lord, where is it that you want me to go today? Who is it that you want me to see today? So sometimes38:28So sometimes you don't just redirect our path because of sin in our life. Oftentimes, He redirects our path because He wants us vessels, those that have the word in us, those that have the bread of life to share with someone else to go and share it with other people. We see this. Bailey gets a double whammy here. He literally He has sin in His life and He confesses that and He says, I have sinned. And I want to38:59end on this thought. God is far less concerned with where we are going. He's more interested in who we are becoming as we go. It's not about getting to where God wants us to go. It's about becoming the person He wants us to be when we get there. The Lord has as an assumption as believers in Christ that we're moving. We're tracking. We're going. And for some of us,39:31He has to get our attention to pull us back on path. We try our very best to make sure that we're going to do and have the right motive to keep our right attitude in check. To keep it for His glory. Not for the cursing of Israel to get some cash for a king. But it's really about not going beyond His word. It's really about40:01being in His word and obeying His command nothing more nothing less. That is the life of a believer. And this morning, you may be here and you're like, Brad, I came in here this morning and I'm not too sure. I'm not too sure if I have confessed Christ as my Lord and my Savior. I don't know if He's really working in my life. In a moment, hopefully we're going to give you an opportunity to make that right.40:31There's no question in my mind you're here for a reason. When you got up this morning, the Lord knew exactly what He was doing. For some of you, maybe you're not supposed to be here. I don't know. Maybe it wasn't in your intention to get up and go to church this morning. Maybe you're supposed to be at the lake. It is that week. But you decided to come this morning. And hopefully the Holy Spirit has been working in your heart to direct your life.41:00When we put ourselves in the kind of place and we put ourselves in a place where God can do wonders, He does just that. He does wonders. We just have to jump. We have to put ourselves out there and go, okay, Lord, you're redirecting me. I confess. You want me to talk41:31to this person? I'm going to talk to them. If we lived a life like that, the world would be a better place, I'm sure of it. Let's pray. Lord Jesus.
