[0:00] One more time. Good morning. Good morning. Alright. Well, let's see what the Lord's got for us today. There's one set.
[0:16] There's a second set. This is the one we hope I don't use too much because that means I've gotten too nervous and I'm reading it instead of just delivering it.
[0:27] The message, that is. Alright. I think, wait. We're on page first.
[0:38] You guys try this sometime. You see how nervous you get up here. It's so important for me as it is for anybody who gets up here to truly preach the word of God, to deliver it accurately to where it's understandable and so that brings an extra added of nervousness to it because there's an extra weight that's put on you to do this.
[1:09] So I appreciate the prayers this week from so many different people and just helping me with this. here we go.
[1:20] The title of the message is The World is Leading Me to Bitterness. The world is leading me to bitterness. And let's see.
[1:31] We're going to find out what that means. Is that really what's happening or what's going on with it? Why is it happening? If it is happening. Okay.
[1:42] Have you ever how many of you guys have ever heard of Acquire the Fire? I knew the crowd would there we go younger crowds I like it. Me you haven't even heard of it.
[1:53] Oh my goodness a couple of you. Huh? Yeah the younger crowd. Anyway so we'll go with Acquire the Fire was a a getaway for youth at one time and they got together in this big group it's almost like a conference type thing but it was fun for all the youth and everything and they acquired the fire while they were gone and then when they came back because it was a weekend ordeal when they came back they were on fire for the Lord and everything and they were on the mountaintop and they were going to change the world and they were all excited and if you had kids that went to that then you know what I'm talking about we did and within a week it's like what happened?
[2:36] wait a minute last week you were so on fire and today you're not doing so good you're yelling at mom and dad you're not being obedient all this stuff so how about instead of Acquire the Fire how many of you have ever gone to a conference a Christian conference to learn I don't care about anything anything fill in the blank and then when you were there it motivated you were all on fire and everything and you came back and you're ready to change the world and you're saying yes yes Monday morning comes you go to work all hell's breaking loose and you're going ah and you immediately have lost it it's like what what happened I just had that I was so excited and everything or here's a good one you've listened to a good Sunday sermon like today you've listened to a good Sunday sermon it's motivated you the Lord has refreshed you he's done something in your heart and you're going yeah I'm going to take this through the week and I'm on the mountaintop experience and then again as the week goes on you find yourself right back in the valley again that happens a lot doesn't it well if you're able please stand we're going to read God's word and we're going to see a story here in your pew bible if you have that
[4:07] I mean if you need that it's page 57 we're going to be looking at Exodus 15 you're not going to be standing for long because we don't have a lot to read in this one it says on your outline or on your bulletin that it's 22 through 27 we're going to stop actually at 25 so it's only 22 through 25 here we go then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went out into the wilderness of Shur and they went there three days in the wilderness and they found no water when they came to Marah they could not drink the waters of Marah for they were bitter therefore it was named Marah so the people grumbled at Moses saying what shall we drink then he cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree and he threw it into the waters and the waters became sweet there he made for them a statute and regulation and there he tested them so reads the word of God let us pray one more time father we ask for that our eyes would be opened our ears would hear that we what you have to say for us like it was mentioned about that we're all in different places and you will meet us where we are at so I ask father that we would just be receptive to that that we came this morning expecting to hear from you and we're here to do that now in Jesus name we pray amen so good old
[5:55] Israelites we like to dog on them a lot from time to time when we read about the things that they did what happened here what transpired before this going into the wilderness just before this time when Moses led them from the Red Sea into the wilderness that's right they were just at the Red Sea they had just come through a huge deliverance the Red Sea had the Red Sea had parted the Pharaoh's army was chasing them they got through safely on dry ground then the enemy was slaughtered or not slaughtered but drowned and oh they were having themselves a worship time afterwards we had songs and jamborees and tambourines no tambourines and all kinds of musical instruments anyway and they were just having a good old time singing praises to the Lord singing victory songs singing praises about Moses and just on and on oh just what a fantastic time could you imagine that time that conference could you imagine that acquire the fire oh my goodness golly if you were there and all that happened and that would blow my mind
[7:15] I'd be going huh but no I mean and so I'm sure it did these guys too and they're just they can't help but exude their thrill and their excitement and their appreciation and the praise for this God their God who calls them his own that he would do this for them finally they got freed from slavery the oppression finally gone so then what happens they get led into the wilderness three short days later what happens after being in the wilderness all of a sudden they're bitter they're grumbling how did that happen so quickly how did they go from being so on top of the mountain the highest mountain you can get into man this way up there you saw a real miracle happen man you can't deny that they're way up here three days later they're down in the valley again grumbling what are we both to drink and of course throughout the rest of their writing or the writings about them and everything they're grumbling all the time things are always happening what is happening to them why are they grumbling and I find it interesting it says
[8:39] Moses led them from the Red Sea into the wilderness but really we know it was God who led them he just simply used Moses as his vehicle I guess his agent whatever you want to call it led him as his instrument here let's do that so question is why does this happen here's the spoiler alert I'm going to give the end of my sermon at the beginning here I never do that I always wait make everybody wait but spoiler alert why did it happen God did it and he did it to verse 25 at the end there and there he tested them he did it as a test what do you mean a test we're going to that part we're going to save till later but he did do it to test them it was to well again
[9:41] I won't get ahead of myself I want to but I won't let's go over the story here and we're going to insert a couple of symbolisms for words that are here and see we can't put it into our everyday stuff okay alright so when we come across the word wilderness okay that is talking about the world okay that's a symbol for the world and we must just like the Israelites they had to walk through the wilderness in order to get to the promised land so do we as Christians God doesn't just simply he can he could if he wanted to he could have saved them from Egypt had them cross the Red Sea and they could have appeared all of a sudden right into the promised land he could have done it like that but he didn't he chose to take them through the wilderness why he was going to test them alright so just like us that when we get saved we don't immediately get to go up to heaven nope we have to walk through this world our wilderness and the reason why because
[10:51] God is going to test us okay so don't find it strange or anything like that that this happens to us just understand that it does I mean it's part of our the process that we need to become sanctified so the world it's a dry parched and full of empty promises it's got trappings of fun pleasure riches on and on you guys know what I'm talking about let's I've already read that done the rest of that okay we're okay with the wilderness we know that it's the world okay and then we come across another word here sure it's the wilderness of sure and symbolically that for me because you can't find this in commentary or anything but I like to play with words so it's the wilderness of sure I'm sure I can take care of things I've got it under control no problem
[11:53] I know right from wrong I know fake from real like all the news that's out there I can discern between that I can muddle through that no problem so I may be in the wilderness of sure but I got this one no problem all right so all right and then Mara when we get to that part we already know what that means right bitter yeah bitter it tells us a few different times that it's bitter let's see what do I have written down for Mara it is any type of bitterness difficulty pain unpleasantness anything that you're like that that you're going through unfortunately the world doesn't satisfy it only makes you dry and thirsty you try to get a drink from the world to get refreshed and it ultimately only tastes bitter okay so keep that in mind and let's see what's the next thing grumbled where they in verse 24 the people grumbled no we're going to wait for that one no should
[13:00] I do that now I don't know I forget let's wait so if we're looking at the story here going back to it back and forth back and forth verse 22 then Moses really God led Israel from the Red Sea and they went out into the wilderness of shore they were sent into the world well for them it was a wilderness of shore and they went three days in the wilderness and they found no water how do you think it would be for you if you were going through a real wilderness and you would hope there would be water because I'm sure whatever you brought with you is already wiped out you'll see I'm unconventional this is just me you get who I am this is the way God created me I have different weird things but that's me and the
[14:03] Lord told me to be me like okay I'll be me and they can judge me later or you can start now already judge me on the way home while you're driving home and going oh my gosh what's this guy saying anyway let's see so they found no water if you were going through a desert you would be very thirsty yourself and when they came to Mara hey all right water we found water water yay everybody goes two million people let's go towards the water yay probably diving in it whatever they're doing and everything to go to take a sip yuck this stuff is bitter well I'm thirsty what am I going to do Moses I can't believe that you did this to me grumble grumble grumble I can't believe that you would do that to me so grumbling here's a big thing now we'll get into that here the grumbling maybe there it is understand this that circumstances or things do not make me grumble okay it's what's in my heart that comes out when things don't go as I think they should the wilderness or the world did not make me bitter it leads you to bitterness but it doesn't make you bitter big distinction there okay so things in the world it's our choice on how we're going to react to things okay circumstances different things that come in our way we'll get into a few examples here in a little bit but so bitterness then leads to grumbling so again it's not the circumstances it's not what's going on it's our heart that makes us grumble
[16:15] Moses even Moses put it like this as far as in Exodus 16 8 and I'll just read it he basically because they were grumbling again a little bit later and he said to them the Israelites he said what are we talking about him and Aaron he goes what are we your grumblings are not against us but against the Lord that's a huge clue right there what's going on they're grumbling but they're not they're grumbling to Moses but in reality they're really grumbling to about the Lord not to the Lord but about the Lord and that's what happens with us when we come under circumstances that are not favorable or how we thought they were going to go something like that and we start grumbling about them and it's like wow did we really do that yes we do that so we got to be careful about that because when we're grumbling we're saying that
[17:34] God's not taking care of us we're saying we don't trust you God and that's why this stuff is turning out the way that it is I can't trust you in this situation and examples would be bad bosses how many people complain about their bosses grumble about them yeah grumble grumble well who put him in authority over you God did okay what about our president grumble grumble grumble hmm how about just simply leadership styles oh I could do it better you know these guys this group of people they don't know how to do it I could do it better if I were in charge I could do grumble grumble grumble okay but we're there for a reason okay hey here's a good one how about gas prices grumble grumble grumble yeah I'm with you on that one but there's a reason for it okay it shows us our heart did
[18:41] God bring us some place to where gas prices are the way they are to show us our heart maybe again let's see if all this makes sense as we unfold this a little bit more how about my favorite one it's too hot it's too cold have a I have a temperature range of two degrees maybe one 70 to 71 is perfect anything below or above that hey now come on grumble grumble grumble so hot today there it's 73 yeah it's hot man it's cold today it's 69 yeah winter's almost here that's me ask Sherry she'll tell you just plain old hard times that are happening in our life grumble grumble grumble sickness grumble grumble grumble why am I so sick all the time why is this happening to me again maybe we'll figure this out we'll see we'll see it more clearly
[19:46] I hope loneliness there's a big one all these seem on the surface to be legitimate things to grumble about and again I'm with you the Lord's working on me you know again it's it's funny how we can these things can take us out so quickly these things that we grumble about we can be on that mountaintop and sometimes not even a few days later a few hours later an hour later 15 minutes later we could be right back in there okay so graciously what does the Lord do oh first of all backing up so what happens they grumbled and where am I verse 24 now going into verse 25 then he Moses cried out to the Lord this is what the Israelites should have done from the beginning is cried out cried out to the
[20:49] Lord in other words prayed should have prayed to the Lord Lord the waters are bitter we need something to drink you don't think that God knows what your needs are he knows what they are he knows that it's costs a ton of money to fill up your tank with gas he knows all these things okay he knows that if you truly are sensitive to the hot and the cold he knows all this stuff on and on again he knows your boss is a tyrant he knows that okay it's no surprise to him cry out to him don't grumble about it cry out to him that should be our first response are you listening it's hard to do our go to is grumble our go to should be go to the Lord then he cried out to the Lord you know what the Lord do your translation may say log may say wood mine says tree which is more mine is the accurate translation okay so whatever you guys got
[22:03] I don't know anyway you know I'm kidding it can all be translated any one of those things I like it because it says tree and the Lord what did he do he showed him a tree what what a weird thing what do you mean he showed him a tree first of all I want you to think about this that the tree must have been there the whole time right it didn't just all sudden there's a tree nope tree was there the whole time but the Lord showed it to him opened up his eyes to a tree there's a tree that's symbolic of what the cross symbolic of the cross showed them the cross now did they understand what all this was about hi dear there's a deer out there hi dear there's a deer out the window I'm saying here to listen to the word of God while he's chomping on some goodies all right squirrel all right back to being shown the tree okay so he gets shown the huh what a deer showed him a deer no
[23:20] I know I shouldn't have done that I threw everything way off okay just cut this out there Roger I know you can't it's there for all eternity now I gotta remember that anyway so the Lord showed him a tree and what was he supposed to do with this tree hey throw it in the water oh that makes sense sure there's a tree I'll throw it in the water again the Moses the Israelites they didn't understand the connection between what Moses was doing and pointing to the cross pointing what the cross does for us because what happened when he threw the tree in the water it became sweet oh wow the water became sweet didn't make sense yeah let's throw a tree into the water it'll make it sweet how did that happen only
[24:22] God can do it so the waters became sweet there he made them a statute regulation and there he tested them yeah that was a quick sermon how'd you like it no right we got a little bit more so the cross if we bring our bitterness to the cross he will make it sweet our sorrow into joy you know what also I find interesting Jesus was the example as he is with everything Jesus was on the cross talk about somebody who had the right to be bitter angry whatever I mean he called down the angels they'll rescue me right now you got you're toast you know could do that of course he could he could have sworn grumbled no what's he do instead father forgive them they don't know what they're doing what a savior we have that he would do that and give us the example don't grumble he made it sweet the water was made sweet how do we get to this next point that
[26:00] I want to make I don't know where's my segue segue you know I was struggling with this about how it's easy to just throw out Christianese platitudes whatever just take take it to the cross just take it there it's simple to say what does that mean my wife loves to ask that question what's that look like you know on everything what does look like what does look like what do we do good questions and so I struggled with this praying about it asking God what does this look like and the simple answer was it looks different to everybody there's some mystery about the cross about Jesus dying on the cross and being laid in the tomb and risen again but the cross there's some mystery about that it has some power not got to be careful with that that it has a power to change to transform us when we take our cares to the cross and again what does that mean maybe we reflect on what
[27:24] Jesus did for us and when we start reflecting on that our cares start to fall away our grumblings start to fall away because maybe our grumblings are about I can't believe this person did this to me I'm so mad at them they didn't have a right grumble grumble grumble and then the supreme example of father forgive them for they know not what they do well just like you've been forgiven forgive others we're told put it into practice anyway take it to the cross there's just just understand there's something that happens and again for each individual uniquely that you just all you have to do is be obedient take it to the cross apply the cross to whatever your circumstances whatever you're grumbling about just apply the cross I can't give you how does that look I can't do it
[28:25] I tried I just know that there's something soothing about it though that much I do know give you an example at my work that we have been short like many places short workers and so because of that extra work is put on the people that are working there and so the tasks become harder and harder you know more and more burdensome burden yeah you got it and so finally so there you know I'm walking in the wilderness at work let's just let's see how this plays out here walking in the wilderness at work and praying to the Lord you know hey we need somebody yes I know finally we get somebody he started last week and all excited about it and everything woo there's the water yay and let's go dive in it yay let's take a drink because let's use let's now start training him and teaching him and stuff bitter not that he's a bad employee however his mouth is something less favorable shall I say where I work it is the language that is spoken there is not profitable to hear it's encouraging it's not encouraging at all and we get a lot anyway so kind of a neat thing that because
[30:05] I've been there a couple of years and the Lord just really wanted me to you know do not go down that path with these guys because it was like that when I first got there and I've since not challenged per se but I've brought a few people around you know maybe you don't need to do it as much as you are and not show your ignorance but anyway so this guy comes on the scene and all sudden it's starting right back up again it's like he's just poisoned he's bitter to the group of people now we'll get that straightened out the Lord he's got a plan and I'm confident of it and I'm being available to however he wants to use me and to speak whatever he wants me to speak but so pray for me in that area as we should for everybody because I'm sure everybody faces those things but anyway so mountaintop hey we got an employee yay yay fantastic yeah the water bitter grumble grumble okay but fortunately
[31:14] I didn't grumble it was rare for me that I didn't grumble I can't believe we got such a lousy guy you're just going to take down the whole group no I took it because I was studying so try to put it into application take it to the Lord in prayer okay Lord you've brought this person here for a reason and you know what it's going to be pretty cool what you're going to do with this guy that's all I know you're going to touch him at some point and he's going to become a disciple of yours yes he will just like another guy that worked there used to be just like this other guy and now he is born again it's cool anyway so just an example and you guys can come up with your I mean we all walk through life we walk through the willners every single day what are what are our morrows what things did we expect that while we're going through this world we expected it to be sweet or we expected it to be refreshing we expected it to whatever something good and it turned out to be bitter that didn't fulfill me as much as
[32:34] I thought it would in fact not at all okay what do you do with it what happens do you grumble now we're going to look at I think that's a good time here let's go look at where do I have it let's if it's in your pew bible page 152 we're going to be going to Deuteronomy!
[32:53] 8 2 through 5 Deuteronomy 8 2 through 5 we're going to get a little bit more into this testing thing why does God test it okay and so you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these 40 years this is 40 years you know what you can put in there how long have you been a Christian how long ago was it you accepted Christ two years ago ten years ago twenty years ago fifty years ago whatever put your time frame in there the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these years okay that he might humble!
[33:39] you that's why he did it that he might humble you we're often way too proud testing you to know what was in your heart whether you would keep his commandments or not he humbled you and he let you be hungry he fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know that he might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord that's why he does it he's sanctifying you he gives you these wilderness!
[34:22] he sends you into the world and then he brings you to these maras the wilderness leads you to a mara to bitterness because it has nothing to offer you it's all empty okay but then the key is what do you do with it do you grumble and basically speak bad to the Lord or do you pray to the Lord because he's humbling you he's showing you what's in your heart have you ever let's see have you ever grabbed a sponge off the counter and you squeeze it and it's like that's nasty what was in that you know what did I last sop up in but you didn't know what was it until you squeezed it until you put it under pressure we don't know what's inside of us until we're put under pressure until we are faced!
[35:19] something that we didn't expect now what are we going to do with that are we going to grubble but it that's the humbling part that it does because now it's like wow I'm not as good as I thought I was I'm not as prayed up I'm not as I don't know I don't need to give examples of that you guys know what I'm talking about But it shows you what's in your heart David says show me the hidden things in my heart I don't want to sin against you you know and even show me those things that I don't even know that are there James 3 11 puts it like this as soon as I find it does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water we pretend on the outside that we've got it all together and everything but as soon as those trials come see they're also called trials testing those are what come our way okay same thing the
[36:29] Lord tests Satan tempts the Lord tests us by giving us trials but he does it because he loves us he wants his stuff rooted out of us and again it's part of our sanctification and so can it there's the question can both fresh water and bitter water come out of the same opening of!
[36:53] It's not not possible so I think I want to start being more or be tapped into that fresh water because I can't do it on my own I have to be tapped into it it's not me that's doing it it's him but who am I staying tapped into over here over here cross being tapped into what the Lord has done that's what I'm being tapped into the power of the Holy Spirit not by might by power but by my spirit says the Lord my spirit that gives us our strength um all right uh let's see the two that I asked to come forward I got a little uh we got a test for you pop quiz that's right thank you I know you don't need a fraction of what I gave you but there they are I didn't give these to you earlier because you guys would have been focused on this and uh because I know me
[38:00] I would have done it hand me something I'm going to have to read it so the message would be coming pardon me um all right so obviously walking through a desert why were they looking for the water because they were thirsty they were dry and thirsty well if they were dry and thirsty after just walking through it for three days and you guys when I don't know when's the last time you've gone to get a good drink of water spiritually speaking I'm talking about but um because we get busy with the world we get busy with fun things to do we get we get busy okay we have our excuses and that's all they are excuses um they never hold up um but when's the last time that you took a drink um when's the last time that you realized that you are thirsty okay so if they were gone for three days and you've been in the desert for how long how thirsty are you dare I say maybe you're so thirsty that you're even dehydrated okay that's where this thing comes in okay get find mine
[39:27] I gave them all away I got the master copy the big one so I can see it up here so let's define dehydration okay it's a serious and potentially life-threatening condition in which the body contains an insufficient volume of water for normal functioning that would be the physical side of it right but we also have our spiritual side of being dehydrated so I've made a list of things that show stages of being dehydrated and so as we're going through this list I'm going to ask you guys to maybe ponder pray about while you're looking at yeah we can do both I can walk and chew gum at the same time maybe anyway so while we're doing this as we're going through it that you guys look at this and see if something resonates with you say that's me
[40:31] I'm at this point okay because we are all to some one degree or another are there before I even choose a sermon topic because that's what I do topics whereas Bill is going through books as it should now and then it's good to go on to topics anyway because I will only normally teach one Sunday at a time that or not in a row you know that I can't do a book so I have to do topics but before I do choose a topic I am in deep desperate prayer asking the Lord what does he have for the people the church the body here this congregation what is it that we need at this time what is it that you are trying to speak to us what is it that you are trying to help us with okay and I just felt very strongly he said the people are dry if this part isn't for you ignore it you're lucky but the dry times will come but he told me the people are dry that includes anybody where is the camera around here
[42:01] I don't know up there okay hi this is for anybody out there in yeah it used to be what TV land but now it's out in cyber land anyway that you're not listening by mistake this is for you okay so take it to heart spiritually dehydrated and it's not just for the Christian but it's for all of mankind we're all there all dry just one degree or another all the more reason to pray for our fellow human beings you know it's it's funny you see on these different forms and everything you fill out your race you know what race are you well I would love to see once it says human or from the human race all the same doesn't matter why have all that other stuff for the human race pray for one another so symptoms and they get more and more severe the longer you go without water obviously it makes sense but I try to put these in a progressive way that dehydration occurs so would start out with having a dry mouth no I'm not dehydrated right now
[43:18] I'm just talking too much anyway so physically you have a dry mouth but spiritually you find it hard to talk about God you just find yourself keeping your mouth shut a little longer than you should a little more often than you should maybe you don't speak about him at all because you have a dry mouth you see maybe you are dehydrated okay but that's okay make up my excuses and everything but all of a sudden now I've been starting to get headaches because I haven't been drinking enough hmm how does that look spiritually you want to be in seclusion away from others you're sensitive to the light to the sun okay you want to hide away from the light it or him have you ever felt that hmm that's how you know you're staying in that dehydration and you're getting further into it then you move on to being tired oh I'm tired all the time well lethargic and wanting to do anything for the
[44:31] Lord when's the last time you did something at church when's the last time you volunteered for something when's the last time you stepped up to do something when's the last time and this isn't a guilt trip at all this is a barometer to give yourself a gauge where am I you have to be real with yourself you can't just play church oh I came to church on Sunday I did my job no you have to be real who am I growing in my walk is the Lord using me or wants to use me and I'm just saying no I'm tired dizziness you're off balancing your walk a little back and forth okay I just feel off balance something doesn't feel right well a warning sign when you start feeling that know what's going on you may be being tested grumble grumble something's going on and the Lord is doing it because he wants to show you what's in your heart so he can get rid of that in your life and make you more like his son okay fainting you find it hard to stand for your faith something comes up and you just again keep quiet about it no and you just let it pass or whatever knowing that you should have said something because the
[46:01] Holy Spirit was prompting you no but you find it hard to stand for your faith how about decreased blood pressure you start finding it hard to love others no you're just bitter towards everybody grumbling about everybody okay are you going down that that far down that list how about a loss of appetite that's not good you don't even want to consume God's word anymore put it on the shelf I'm mad at God he didn't heal me I'm mad at God I'm lonely I'm mad at God because I didn't get that new car I'm mad at God because I didn't get that job I'm mad at God because fill in the blank I'm mad at God grumble grumble grumble and so I don't even want to get into his word anymore then we move into the severe cases going into seizures sudden uncontrolled body movements and if you find yourself in some of these over here it's like there's a real gut check that needs to be done that you have uncontrolled fits of anger and rages you find yourself doing that and all of a sudden you're just blowing up at things you're just uncontrolling the Holy Spirit inside of you saying whoa whoa there cowboy slow down and you're just nope
[47:26] I'm going to let it loose and it's just uncontrolled you if you find yourself doing that you've reached some dangerous places of being dehydrated dehydrated hallucinations you experience an experience involving the apparent perception of something not present opposite of faith obviously but so you start having a vein of imaginations about fellow believers or even just people and that God's not good and he doesn't have things under control if you really really really deep down aside feel that you've slipped into bad part of dehydration of hallucinating because it's not true okay here comes the big one in this this word I wondered why the Lord gave me confusion confusion because he gave me that word and I'm going okay confusion what is that about and this is a dangerous one
[48:30] I didn't think it was in the beginning when I was first looking at it and researching it and stuff but so I had to ask him about it what does that mean why is this such a big word because he really pronounced that word confusion confusion and I think it's because there's a big danger of the God's people that they're slipping into this part of being confused inability to think or reason in a focused clear manner you have altered you have an altered mental state you are really tossed to and fro from thing to thing you can't stand on anything and you're believing it's gotten so bad that now you are even believing doctrines of demons I don't know who that's for I have no idea out there
[49:31] I have no idea but the Lord is warning this you're right at that doorstep if you don't pull yourself back if you don't apply the tree to your life to your circumstance to the situation stop your grumbling sorry I get emotional I don't I'm not really sorry this is the way God made me it's okay so 91 times that confusion is mentioned in the Bible I strongly urge you to do a study on that do a word search pull it up we've all got computers most of us I shouldn't say all if you don't let me know and I'll pull up everything and I'll print it out for you and I'll give it to you so that you have it because the word search is very very interesting what's going on with confusion and at the different times that it applies and is used and the circumstances of things that are happening anyway
[50:41] I encourage you to do that that's why I gave you this sheet of paper too is not just to have something to go home and throw away no use it do something with it you got all week what else you doing turn on the TV working who needs to work no just kidding all right I wish I didn't have to too but anyway in 1st Timothy 4 1 through 2 again a warning in the last days some will fall away believing doctrines of demons in the last days are we in the last days yes again that's I think why the warning is so strong and I'm sure you've seen the news the little clips here and there our president is confused he's got dementia he's confused I think that that is indicative of and it shows the heart of the nation because he is representative of us as a nation obviously that placed him in his position and he's confused you can see it our nation is confused our world is confused yes so instead of criticizing poking fun at showing everybody oh did you see that look what
[52:17] Biden did today I'm not supposed to say that out loud because it's not supposed to be political but anyway that look at this and but instead of doing that don't we pray for him like we're commanded to do so that things will go well I mean the other nations they're looking at us and they're saying wow this may be a right time to get in there and go do something to those people you never know pray for the nation don't you want to live in peace and safety I know I do I don't want the hard times to come not like that should move me into praying what else see now this is an interesting thing that I read that in Deuteronomy 28 28 it says that if you don't obey my statutes and my commands because of that disobedience I will cause confusion in you and yet we're told that God is not the author of confusion how do you bring those two together wait a minute you're not the author of confusion and yet you're going to cause confusion had to stop on that for a while take a few days to ponder that one what do you mean by this and basically it gets back to that thing of what's in your heart the heart is desperately evil and he's just showing you what's in your heart so when he it's like when he made
[53:52] Pharaoh harden his heart God made him do it no Pharaoh's heart was already hardened he just helped it along he didn't stop it from happening same thing with the confusion here I believe that the confusion is already within us it has that potential to get out of control but he's been holding it back well if you are going into disobedience and not obeying his commands that you're in danger of him just moving his hand to protection and so your mind can go into confusion I found it interesting word the word confusion can be translated as wilderness imagine that dry imagine that even vanity we've been studying about somebody talking all about the things under the sun being vanity confusion of course the opposite is contentment peace and understanding so the question comes up do you show any of these symptoms and one of the in studying this stuff one of the insidious things about being dehydrated you know what it is you don't even recognize it you don't even know it that's why you take inventory you take you look at the list and you say do I represent any one of these things and if
[55:36] I do bells are going off okay just don't forget the longer you go without water the worse it gets one of the things also that was interesting about getting rehydrated because now if we're dehydrated how do we get rehydrated obviously we get back into God's word there's so many different things that we can do apply the cross just start there but Sherry looked this up last night she was wondering how do you get rehydrated what does that look like I don't know honey so she looked it up and interesting it said the best way to get rehydrated is to start with milk start with milk
[56:46] I don't know what does that speak to you immediately what comes to mind milk it's not good for the body make the bones grow strong not that it's the milk of God's word start back at the beginning if you need to take little sips somebody who's dehydrated you don't give them a big bucket and say drink this they don't feel so good afterwards no little sips of milk start with the basics again if you need to again your salvation you're a sinner your need of a savior okay you're already saved but remind yourself of that I'm there oh yeah I'm a child of God oh yeah and what about and just go through the different things of like Paul says it's sad that you I long to feed you meat but I still have to go re go back over the things the milk things and it's like I wish that you would be meat but that's right in this case go back to the milk it's okay you'll be strong and healthy before you know and the other surprising thing was how quickly you can recover from dehydration as long as you haven't let it get too severe it can come out of it pretty quick how long was it
[58:09] I don't even remember a few hours that's pretty quick wow that quick you can come out of this stuff isn't that amazing that goes along with the story that they grumbled we have no water and Moses cried out prayed and the Lord answered immediately there's the answer right there so how many different things how many Maras have you come across how many things are you grumbling about okay starts with going into the desert which we all are we're already there we're walking through it we become dry what do we do about it when we come to those pools of Mara of bitter water things don't satisfy instead of grumbling take it to the cross plain and simple we're done father thank you for this word and
[59:09] I just ask that whatever is from you you will be retained whatever is from me that it would be forgotten father that your word would just seep deep into our soul and become real for us that we would be real with you about our walk about our condition and we thank you father that you love us so much that you take us through the wilderness it may lead to bitterness but you've got the solution you love us you want us to see what's in our heart so that it can be taken out of our walk out of our life that we can become more like Jesus that we are sanctified more and more every day sometimes in leaps and bounds father let us just
[60:13] I just ask that when we're going through these tests these trials that we see them for what they are just simply a test and that you love us and you're just simply trying to correct us or whatever the reason because of a parent who loves their child corrects them and it shows that you love us so thank you for that in Jesus name I pray amen Amen.