APOSTOLIC ACTING OUT
SOMETIMES THERE IS A DANGER IN BEING DELIVERED
Exodus 14:21-31
Exodus means to exit out of bondage. Whole theme is how to get out. Somebody’s getting out today.
The book of exodus is themed about deliverance and escape. Tell your neighbor, “escape”. It’s about God’s mission to cause the children of Israel to escape. It’s about freedom and liberty. Liberty is a very important thing to enjoy.
If you ever go or know someone who has gone on a safari to Africa, you will understand that there are about 200 acres or so of land reserved for safaris. Safaris are one of the things that you can do that will teach you a lot about nature. Nature is a key in teaching us about God and the things and creation of God. Paul said in the book of Romans that we should be able to look at creation and see the creator. The more we see all of the strategic specifics and elements of every living thing is exact and perfect for survival in such a specific way, we realize that this cannot happen by accident of a random explosion or evolution but that it was strategically planned and hand crafted by God almighty.
A safari is a perfect example of how this happens. On safaris you can track elephants, lions, and rhinos, etc. You will find that the guide that gives you the tour is very intelligent and intellectual. They are studied up on the books and materials and they have a degree in zoology, biology, archaeology, botany-ology, and all the other ology degrees. So he knows so much about the animals and how they evolved and how different animals come to live without their tails or their teeth are shaped a certain way so that they would cut the branch at a certain angle so that the branch would not wither and die. Fascinating things that you can read about before going in an encyclopedia or today’s version, Google, about how monkeys lost their tails b/c when they lived in cold areas, their tails would freeze off and now they have adapted b/c of those conditions and physically to fit the environment in which they were in. So the guide would be able to tell you all these things about the different animals.
But when you go out into the actual safari in the middle of the night, the guide will take of the men who are indigenous to Africa, or they are actually from there, and they have lived around the animals, and know their behaviors in real life now. While the guide is giving all the information, the local guy will say, ‘Shh, the elephant is that way.’ so the local guy will know by instincts things that the guide will not know by intelligence.
Isn’t it amazing how there is some truth that you have to know instinctively and not intellectually? So the combination of them both will give you a very unique understanding of the elephant or whatever animals you may come across in a safari. The local guy will understand the attributes and the current behaviors of the animals, but the guide understands that when you take the animals in this environment it is unlike a zoo. A zoo the animals are in captivity, on a safari, you are the ones that cannot get out of the vehicle for your own safety. The animals are the ones that are free and can move around. The animals are free as long as they stay within the limits of the few hundred acres of land that are sectioned off for them.
The guide will every so often have to set fires to the reserve. Why would they set fires to a reserve, you ask? They have to set fires b/c it is not natural to have a reserve. It is not natural to control those big animals in those boundaries and they throw off nature when they put them in a specific geographical location and it affects the vegetation. It grows too much. The vegetation is designed that it should be trodden up under the feet of big animals that move in a nomadic way. So b/c they enclose the animals in a small location the vegetation grows too tall and they have to burn and get rid of it.
Isn’t it amazing that one species captivity affects the other species connected to it? If you are in captivity it affects everything around you. When you are in bondage or bound, a husband affects a wife, bound wife affects the husband, bound children affect the couple. When anything is bound it affects everything. If there’s something wrong with the dog it affects the house. It throws off the elements until everything around you is affected by something that is in bondage.
That’s why when God begins to focus on your deliverance; it is not just you that needs deliverance. It is everything that is affected by the bondage that circles you. And as you begin to get the breakthrough, it sets nature in balance.
The book of Romans says that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain until now. And not only they, but we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit, the manifestation of the sons of God. All of creation is affected. When anything’s out of balance, it affects everything around it, and you must have freedom.
Say, ‘freedom’. Freedom is an important thing. More battles have been fought over freedom than anything else. People die proudly on the battlefields every day to protect freedom, b/c freedom is important.
You’re here in this church sitting comfortably with fans blowing to help keep you cool and pews to sit on so you don’t have to stand and to help you feel comfortable, and hopefully you are comfortably dressed. You are comfortable not only b/c of the environment or what you are wearing or sitting on, but you are comfortable b/c in the back of your mind you know you can leave whenever you get ready to leave. I can move all of you into an air conditioned environment with padded pews and beautiful scenery all around and padlock all the doors and all the windows and tell you that you are locked up, and then all of a sudden all comfort would leave. B/c there is something about being free that is so important.
You cannot be comfortable being bound. Say ‘freedom’. Freedom is so important. I would rather have freedom than comfort. I would give up the comfort of the pews to sit on, and the fans to keep me cool, and the comfortable clothes, and the environment just to know i can leave whenever i get ready to leave. Think what you may, but freedom is very important.
Our ancestors understood it. Regardless of your ancestry or background, if you go far enough back all of us have been threatened in reference to freedom. We have to realize that freedom is so important that sometimes you have to compromise comfort for freedom.
Sometimes you have to compromise comfort for freedom. I would rather be jobless than lose my freedom. I may lose 70 percent of my income, but I’d rather live off of 30 percent of my income and be free than be in a horrible situation and be bound. I would rather be free and live in a old shack with a leaking roof and shut the door and know that it’s mine than to stay in a million dollar 30 bedroom 1,000 acre mansion in the mountains and be bound.
Say ‘freedom’. Freedom is important. To know that you’re liberated and to know that you are free. And every now and then while other people are praising God for their nice houses and their nice cars and their nice clothes, and maybe you don’t have all that they have, you ought to just take a moment and praise God for freedom. The shoes came from Wal-Mart, the pants came from K-Mart, the coat came from Goodwill, but it’s mine. Freedom is a great thing to know that he whom the son has set free is free indeed. Every now and then you ought to thank God for freedom even if it’s not comfortable. The car doesn’t have this or the a/c is not working, but it’s paid for. The paint is kind of rusted, but it’s paid for. Freedom! It’s a powerful thing. Before I’d be a slave, I’d be dead in my grave. That’s what our ancestors said b/c freedom is an important thing.
In the scripture text in exodus we are seeing the fulfillment of an answer to a prayer and a covenant between God and Abraham. God told Abraham, ‘I’m going to cause your descendants to sojourn in Egypt. For 400 years they will be enslaved. But after 400 years, I’m going to bring them out with great substance.’ and Abraham closed his eyes and died and went to the land of his fathers knowing that his children would go through something, but they would come out and be free. They would be incarcerated, but then they would be liberated. You may not understand the people in this room who have been incarcerated by different situations and circumstances. Some of them may have been incarcerated by debt, or abuse. Some may have been literally incarcerated. But you cannot tell it right now b/c they are dressed up, smelling good, got on a nice suit, got their hair done, but they used to be in cell block b, number 23723. Every now and then you’ll see people like that praising in a way that you don’t understand. And you may think they are being emotional, but every now and then you ought to have a flashback and remember how you were bound and how God liberated you and set you … is there anybody in here that is free in your spirit and in your soul?
You don’t have to be dressed up when you’re free. Dressed up is optional. You can be in a t-shirt, blue jeans, and a baseball cap. But if you’re free, you can walk down the park whistling by yourself, b/c you’re free. Other people are all upset about how I’m going to pay this and what I’m going to do about that? You’re not worried about anything. You’re just so glad to be free. Free from crack and free from drugs and free from alcohol and free from cigarettes and free from porn and free from problems and free from prison and free from abuse and free from him and free from her. I don’t know what your testimony is. But i do know that if God sets you free… you are free.
Free. I can leave when i wanna leave. I’ll come if i wanna come in. I’ll clean up if i wanna clean up. It may be out of order but it’s my house. Those are my dirty dishes in the sink. I’ll wash them when i get to them. Is there anybody in here enjoying the blessing of being free?
God said, ‘after 400 years, I’m going to bring you out of captivity.’ Now Moses has the assignment of going down to Egypt and announcing to pharaoh that the time for the liberation of God’s people is at hand. He also has the dubious task of liberating people who have been bound, not only physically, but mentally. And the hardest people to lead in the world are oppressed people. Oppressed people are sensitive, insecure, and fall out over anything and everything. ‘They didn’t put me in that seat. They got special seats.’ oppressed people are just sensitive about everything b/c they have been abused before, they see everything as abuse. You can’t even get anything out of your eye. ‘what you looking at me funny for?’ they’re oppressed people.
Moses is leading people who are coming out physically faster than they are coming out mentally. Could it be possible that you are better physically than you are mentally? That’s what makes marriage dangerous, b/c it is possible to meet somebody and date somebody who is better physically. Sometimes your life can be progressing externally better than your mentality is developing internally. And you find yourself in a precarious predicament, b/c outwardly you look like you’re better off than you are, and nobody knows that inside you’re still wrestling with stuff from a long time ago. And that’s why i thank God for patience, b/c he will work with you and work with you and work with you until you are renewed in the spirit of your mind. Everybody doesn’t have to get delivered from alcohol, drugs, and porn. Sometimes you come in here to have your mind renewed. If i can get a new mind, I can say, ‘free at last!’
The children of Israel are finding themselves in this predicament where God is bringing them out. Say, ‘he’s bringing me out.’ and he brought them down to the red sea, and they are uncomfortable because deliverance is difficult b/c it requires that you give up normal. Like the animals that adapt to their environment, Israel has adapted to being enslaved. And even though they prayed for liberation, sometimes we pray for things in our minds that we are not prepared to actually experience. So now they prayed for liberation and now they resent the liberator. Because deliverance requires that you give up what you have adapted to, to step into the unfamiliar area of the unknown.
And so they’re coming out murmuring and they’re coming out complaining and they’re coming out fussing, b/c God has ordered change. There’s been a lot of talk in our country about change. Everything is about change now. They have ads now that are selling toothpaste that will ‘change’ your teeth.’ the audacity of clean teeth. Everything is change and everybody is hooked into it, but change is not easy. Some things take a lifetime to change. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to grow up. Sometimes it takes years to change a small detail of your life. Change does not come easy.
And they’re coming into it, but they’re murmuring and complaining and frustrated. And Moses himself is leading a people and still feeling the pressure of the people he’s leading. He has now come down to the Red Sea. If it were not enough to have them doubting his leadership and speaking all manner of evil against him, he also has the problem of leading God’s people through troubles and hearing the hoof beats of pharaoh and his 600 chosen chariots pursuing them.
Now if you’ve always been free, you won’t get this. But if you’ve ever been bound by anything and you’re trying to get delivered and all of a sudden… it hadn’t got you back, but you can hear it coming, you can’t tell anybody you hear it coming b/c you already announced, ‘I’m free.’ it’s midnight. I’m passing over. I’m coming out. And just as sure as you start bragging about how free you are, all of a sudden you hear it coming after you again. I know you’re not going to hold your hand up b/c your reputation is at stake, but somebody here knows what it’s like to hear that thing coming after you again. Here it comes…again. Here it comes again. Oh, God, here it comes. Whenever you’ve been bound by something, you know the warning signs.
They could hear it coming again. And God is standing there, and Moses is standing there, and the children of Israel are standing there, and the enemy is moving. Since there is nobody here but me and you, let me ask you a question. Have you ever felt, at a moment that you were standing still, that something was after you? Now you have to be spiritual to discern this. Sometimes you can’t even see it. You can’t even name it, but there is an apprehensive feeling of danger.
The hoof stomps of pharaoh are coming. Hadn’t done anything to me yet. Hadn’t attacked me. Hadn’t beaten me. Hadn’t enslaved me. Hadn’t neutered me. Hadn’t done anything to me. But the very sound of it strikes terror in your heart. Do you know how many people die over the sound of trouble? Not death. The shadow. Yea, thought i walk through the valley of the shadow of death. It’s not death, but the shadow. It’s close enough. O God, i see the shadow. I haven’t lost it but any day now, i could lose it. Sometimes you feel like something is chasing you and you don’t even know what it is.
They’ve come down to the Red Sea. They are not in a good mood, b/c it is hard to be polite when you are being pursued. They are murmuring and complaining. Moses is on edge. And he stands there looking at God and god says, ‘Moses, stretch forth your hand.’ and as Moses stretched forth his hand, the bible said god sent a wind.
(Make wind noises.)
Not a bridge, not a boat, not an airplane, not an angel, not a soldier, not a guard. God sent a wind. That’s why i get happy so easily, and I don’t take god’s anointing or power lightly. B/c when i come in a service and I feel the glory move like it moved today, i say, ‘look out, devil. God is sending a wind.” And whenever god sends a wind… just ask Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones. Just ask Peter and the other 119 in the upper room. When god sends a wind, something good is about to happen. Touch 3 people and say, ‘something good is about to happen.’ something good is about to happen x3. I haven’t seen it happen yet, but i hear the wind. I haven’t seen it move yet, but I hear the wind. I haven’t got the healing yet, but i hear the wind. The check hasn’t come yet, but I hear the wind. My son isn’t saved yet, but i hear the wind. Something good is about to happen. I got light in my spirit. I got upbeat in my soul. My soul got happy. Have you ever had your soul get happy? While your mind was worried, your soul…
And he blew back the red sea. He blew back the waters. And then he blew it for so long, sister, that it became a hair dryer and dried the ground so that the children of Israel could walk across without getting mud… your God is so good that sometimes he’ll give you things that you didn’t think to ask him for, but b/c he is… you’re not hearing me. B/c he is your heavenly father; sometimes he’ll just add something extra. Is there anybody in here that’s got an extra blessing? You didn’t even ask for that, but God just knew you needed it and gave you something extra.
And over a million people started walking down through the rocks and down the path, down into a dry seabed with pharaoh chasing them. ‘get the kids, honey. Get the kids. Hand Jr. To me, come on, Jr.’ let me tell you why pharaoh was chasing them. He was not chasing them b/c he wanted the slaves back. It was easy to get more slaves. The problem was the slaves had taken the money. Read your bible. They had borrowed the gold and the silver from the children of Egypt. It had gone from the hands of the egyptians to the hands of the slaves. There was a transfer of wealth that the devil was so angry about that he had done everything he could to stop it. The last had become first, and the first had become last. The head had become the tail. The tail had become the head. ‘get the kids out!’
The bible says that the children of Israel came out with so much gold and so much silver that they had heaped it on the backs of their children. If you got a child here, touch them and say, ‘you’re gonna be blessed. Strengthen your back. Before i die, I’m gonna leave you loaded. You’re gonna come out of this with more than you ever had in your life. When i get through giving you what God gives me, you’re gonna grow up saddled down with blessings, houses you didn’t build, vineyards you didn’t grow.’ the children of Israel were so wealthy that later when Moses gets ready to build the tabernacle, he had to stop them from giving. Those jokers were loaded.
So pharaoh gets his best horses and his best chariots and said, ‘you have broken the gross national product of Egypt through your suffering’. God had already told Abraham after they come out they’re gonna come out with great substance. I don’t know who I’m preaching to. You’re going through right now, but when you come out, your back is gonna be bent over carrying the blessings and the glory and the anointing and the peace and the power!
So, you know pharaoh hadn’t got any 600 chariots just to catch some slaves. His best soldiers to catch some farmers? They’re after that money. There’d been a transfer. You’re not hearing me. Touch your neighbor and say ‘shift.’ there’s gonna be a shift. I got news for you. I’m not CNN, FOX, or MSNBC. But i got a news flash. A shift is coming………….. I don’t know what you’ve been going through. I don’t know how long you’ve been going through it. But a shift is coming. Tell your neighbor, ‘a shift is coming!’
They’re bringing their kids. Moses has got his sister, cousins, and everybody. And over a million people have gone down into the dry bed. And pharaoh is chasing them. And it’s hard to run with a million folks. Have you ever been in line? The further back you are, the slower it is, especially in traffic if you’re on the road driving. So you got to walk it out. So the enemy is running. The children of Israel are walking. They’re walking by faith, not by sight. They stepped down into deliverance. Watch this. When we read about their deliverance, we shout, but they didn’t. When we read about God blowing back the red sea, we get happy, but they didn’t. When we read about dry ground at the bottom of the seabed, we rejoice, but they didn’t. B/c when God delivers you, it does not feel like deliverance. It feels like danger.
Somebody emailed me on Facebook telling me about how they thought I was so blessed and must be so happy and full of joy b/c of my family, my church, my job and how I was so successful and blessed. The more I read it, the more depressed I got b/c of what they were explaining. I said to the Lord, ‘Lord, I wish I felt like he thinks I feel.’ B/C I really felt stressed and worried b/c I knew at anytime, if I wasn’t careful and fully relying on God, it would all fall apart.
See, he was talking to me about the dry ground. But he doesn’t have the knowledge or sight to perceive the fear of walking through the wet walls. He’s looking at the way God made for me, but I’m looking at what he’s taking me through. The water to the left and to the right is standing up taller than this building, and it’s hard to be happy. It’s hard to feel good about it. Ok. I’m still here, but Pharaoh is still coming. And Lord, i thank you for the dry ground. But would you look at… ‘Don’t look up, Jr. Don’t look up, just keep walking.’ Have you ever seen God make a way for you, but you couldn’t enjoy the way b/c you kept thinking about, ‘any minute?’ These walls of water could come down and kill me at any minute.
God said to tell this message b/c He is delivering you in danger. You are delivered in a dangerous situation. It would’ve been better if He would’ve killed Pharaoh before i got to this, so at least i wouldn’t have to worry about him running, me walking, and what about this water up in here? So if i can just make it through this. All the while God is in it, but it doesn’t feel good. This is dangerous deliverance b/c in the back of your mind your thinking, ‘could’ve, would’ve, should’ve’. But I’m still here. Having received help of God i continued on step by step, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. You’re clutching yourself, you got your kids, and you got your stuff. You’re trying to hold on to what God gave you. And God’s blessing you, but you don’t feel good about it. It’s deliverance, but it’s dangerous deliverance. And isn’t it funny how the danger always screams louder than the deliverance?
You can hardly enjoy the dry ground for looking at the walls of water. But they kept on walking. I don’t know what your walls of water are. I don’t know what your Pharaoh is that’s chasing you, but the Lord said to just take another step and keep walking.
15 second praise break for people that are just glad you’re still here.
See the devil don’t understand how somebody like you could praise God when Pharaoh is still chasing you. You still haven’t got to your destination. The waters are still on every side. But you’re saying, ‘if it had not been for the Lord that was on my side, i would have been swallowed up!’
What i want you to get out of this message of a deliverance that is dangerous is the discomfort of deliverance, so that you don’t think that just b/c you’re uncomfortable, God is not there. B/c God is with you in the discomfort and the danger of your deliverance, even though you don’t feel the joy that you expected to feel.
They went from servitude to sonship by going through this. But it didn’t feel good. They’re coming through it, and here comes Pharaoh. He’s gaining on them b/c he’s running and they’re walking. Have you ever felt like trouble was gaining on you? It wasn’t that you weren’t making progress, but you’re not making it fast enough for the level of trouble that’s coming against you. Don’t worry about it. That’s why God sent you to church today b/c he’s gonna tell you how to deal with that. He means for the enemy to gain on you. He’s using you for bait anyways, b/c this is nothing but a setup to lure the enemy into a position of destruction so that you won’t have to spend your next 400 years worrying about your past 400 years. God’s gonna to so deliver you so that when you come out, you’re gonna be out, completely out.
So just as they’re starting to come out of it, Pharaoh gains on them. They’re coming out and here comes Pharaoh coming in. Isn’t it always true that just when you’re on the verge of finally getting it all together, all hell breaks loose? The bible doesn’t just tell you that God dealt with the enemy. It said that he looked through the pillar of fire like he just stuck his face through the fire and saw them about to be destroyed. God said, don’t worry, I’m looking at you.
So when Pharaoh started coming through the way that God had only made for His people, all of a sudden the wheels of the chariots start falling off. Now the bible has told us that these are his best chariots. He shouldn’t be having any trouble with these chariots. That’s what your enemies don’t know about fooling with you. When they start fooling with you, God will make things break down that should’ve been working right. Your enemies are cursed with a curse. God said i will bless them that bless you. I will curse them that curse you. And no weapon formed against you shall…
All of a sudden Pharaoh said, ‘what’s wrong, man?’ they said, ‘the chariot’s not working.’ ‘What do you mean, the chariot’s not working?’ ‘The wheel’s not working.’ ‘What do you mean it’s not working?’ ‘They’re coming off.’ That’s what your enemies will go through trying to kill you. Right in the middle of their attack when they’re coming in for the kill, things are gonna start breaking down in their own life b/c God’s gonna break off the wheels to get you out.
When they came out of the Red Sea and Pharaoh is trying to catch them, but his stuff is falling apart, they’re getting confused, and they’re starting to become discouraged in the pursuit. Your enemies are starting to become discouraged in the pursuit. B/c after they’ve done everything they could to destroy you, God just keeps on blessing you anyway.
You’re not hearing me.
They’ve invested all of this time and effort and money in forming these weapons to bring you down and the wheels keep falling off.
So when they got out, God says to Moses, ‘Moses, don’t just walk out.’ he says, ‘the same hand that you raised to open the way, raise it again to shut it down.’ God said as soon as you come through this, he’s gonna shut it down. All you gotta do is give Him the sign. And when you give Him the sign, all of a sudden the walls that you were worried about falling on you are going to fall on them. That’s why the very one who was talking about you or your family when this happened or that happened…
So here they come up. Here they come up out of the red sea and Moses just turns back and stretches forth his hand. And when he stretched forth his hand, everything that was opened up shut down. For the same God that opens doors, shuts doors. Don’t worry about the people who are trying to imitate you or step into your blessing or get your position. B/c God said the same God that opened the door for you…. Shut, shut, shut, shut.
When they got across the Red Sea and all of a sudden the waters came down, the waters that they were worried about coming down on them came down on the enemy. And all of a sudden Pharaoh and his army got drowned in the sea. Miriam grabbed up a tambourine and began to praise God. So what this is, this praise is a delayed reaction. Sometimes it takes you a few minutes to thank God for what He’s already done. But when you look back over your shoulder and you see where the Lord has brought you from, you ought to give him praise!!!
Touch your neighbor and say, ‘neighbor, excuse me a minute. I owe God some praise.’ Past due praise. Praise him for yesterday. Praise him for last week. Praise him for what he’s brought you through. Thought you couldn’t make it. Thought you couldn’t take it. But God.
I can’t believe some people still won’t pay God. After all the things he kept off you, all the things that he didn’t let happen, as bad as it is, it could be worse, and you still won’t praise him. I said you owe God a praise.
Look at your neighbor and say, ‘i almost didn’t make it, but God.’ i almost lost my mind, but God. I almost gave up, but God. I almost got depressed, but God. When i think of the goodness of Jesus and all that he’s done…
Now i know everybody is not a dancer and that’s ok. I don’t wanna push you out of your comfort zone, but i need 10 dancers to jump out in the aisle and praise God for his deliverance in your life.
Miriam was dancing and praising God when the Lord spoke from heaven and said, ‘These enemies that you see today, you shall see them no more!’ Slap somebody and say, ‘no more!’
Exodus means to exit out of bondage. Whole theme is how to get out. Somebody’s getting out today.
The book of exodus is themed about deliverance and escape. Tell your neighbor, “escape”. It’s about God’s mission to cause the children of Israel to escape. It’s about freedom and liberty. Liberty is a very important thing to enjoy.
If you ever go or know someone who has gone on a safari to Africa, you will understand that there are about 200 acres or so of land reserved for safaris. Safaris are one of the things that you can do that will teach you a lot about nature. Nature is a key in teaching us about God and the things and creation of God. Paul said in the book of Romans that we should be able to look at creation and see the creator. The more we see all of the strategic specifics and elements of every living thing is exact and perfect for survival in such a specific way, we realize that this cannot happen by accident of a random explosion or evolution but that it was strategically planned and hand crafted by God almighty.
A safari is a perfect example of how this happens. On safaris you can track elephants, lions, and rhinos, etc. You will find that the guide that gives you the tour is very intelligent and intellectual. They are studied up on the books and materials and they have a degree in zoology, biology, archaeology, botany-ology, and all the other ology degrees. So he knows so much about the animals and how they evolved and how different animals come to live without their tails or their teeth are shaped a certain way so that they would cut the branch at a certain angle so that the branch would not wither and die. Fascinating things that you can read about before going in an encyclopedia or today’s version, Google, about how monkeys lost their tails b/c when they lived in cold areas, their tails would freeze off and now they have adapted b/c of those conditions and physically to fit the environment in which they were in. So the guide would be able to tell you all these things about the different animals.
But when you go out into the actual safari in the middle of the night, the guide will take of the men who are indigenous to Africa, or they are actually from there, and they have lived around the animals, and know their behaviors in real life now. While the guide is giving all the information, the local guy will say, ‘Shh, the elephant is that way.’ so the local guy will know by instincts things that the guide will not know by intelligence.
Isn’t it amazing how there is some truth that you have to know instinctively and not intellectually? So the combination of them both will give you a very unique understanding of the elephant or whatever animals you may come across in a safari. The local guy will understand the attributes and the current behaviors of the animals, but the guide understands that when you take the animals in this environment it is unlike a zoo. A zoo the animals are in captivity, on a safari, you are the ones that cannot get out of the vehicle for your own safety. The animals are the ones that are free and can move around. The animals are free as long as they stay within the limits of the few hundred acres of land that are sectioned off for them.
The guide will every so often have to set fires to the reserve. Why would they set fires to a reserve, you ask? They have to set fires b/c it is not natural to have a reserve. It is not natural to control those big animals in those boundaries and they throw off nature when they put them in a specific geographical location and it affects the vegetation. It grows too much. The vegetation is designed that it should be trodden up under the feet of big animals that move in a nomadic way. So b/c they enclose the animals in a small location the vegetation grows too tall and they have to burn and get rid of it.
Isn’t it amazing that one species captivity affects the other species connected to it? If you are in captivity it affects everything around you. When you are in bondage or bound, a husband affects a wife, bound wife affects the husband, bound children affect the couple. When anything is bound it affects everything. If there’s something wrong with the dog it affects the house. It throws off the elements until everything around you is affected by something that is in bondage.
That’s why when God begins to focus on your deliverance; it is not just you that needs deliverance. It is everything that is affected by the bondage that circles you. And as you begin to get the breakthrough, it sets nature in balance.
The book of Romans says that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain until now. And not only they, but we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit, the manifestation of the sons of God. All of creation is affected. When anything’s out of balance, it affects everything around it, and you must have freedom.
Say, ‘freedom’. Freedom is an important thing. More battles have been fought over freedom than anything else. People die proudly on the battlefields every day to protect freedom, b/c freedom is important.
You’re here in this church sitting comfortably with fans blowing to help keep you cool and pews to sit on so you don’t have to stand and to help you feel comfortable, and hopefully you are comfortably dressed. You are comfortable not only b/c of the environment or what you are wearing or sitting on, but you are comfortable b/c in the back of your mind you know you can leave whenever you get ready to leave. I can move all of you into an air conditioned environment with padded pews and beautiful scenery all around and padlock all the doors and all the windows and tell you that you are locked up, and then all of a sudden all comfort would leave. B/c there is something about being free that is so important.
You cannot be comfortable being bound. Say ‘freedom’. Freedom is so important. I would rather have freedom than comfort. I would give up the comfort of the pews to sit on, and the fans to keep me cool, and the comfortable clothes, and the environment just to know i can leave whenever i get ready to leave. Think what you may, but freedom is very important.
Our ancestors understood it. Regardless of your ancestry or background, if you go far enough back all of us have been threatened in reference to freedom. We have to realize that freedom is so important that sometimes you have to compromise comfort for freedom.
Sometimes you have to compromise comfort for freedom. I would rather be jobless than lose my freedom. I may lose 70 percent of my income, but I’d rather live off of 30 percent of my income and be free than be in a horrible situation and be bound. I would rather be free and live in a old shack with a leaking roof and shut the door and know that it’s mine than to stay in a million dollar 30 bedroom 1,000 acre mansion in the mountains and be bound.
Say ‘freedom’. Freedom is important. To know that you’re liberated and to know that you are free. And every now and then while other people are praising God for their nice houses and their nice cars and their nice clothes, and maybe you don’t have all that they have, you ought to just take a moment and praise God for freedom. The shoes came from Wal-Mart, the pants came from K-Mart, the coat came from Goodwill, but it’s mine. Freedom is a great thing to know that he whom the son has set free is free indeed. Every now and then you ought to thank God for freedom even if it’s not comfortable. The car doesn’t have this or the a/c is not working, but it’s paid for. The paint is kind of rusted, but it’s paid for. Freedom! It’s a powerful thing. Before I’d be a slave, I’d be dead in my grave. That’s what our ancestors said b/c freedom is an important thing.
In the scripture text in exodus we are seeing the fulfillment of an answer to a prayer and a covenant between God and Abraham. God told Abraham, ‘I’m going to cause your descendants to sojourn in Egypt. For 400 years they will be enslaved. But after 400 years, I’m going to bring them out with great substance.’ and Abraham closed his eyes and died and went to the land of his fathers knowing that his children would go through something, but they would come out and be free. They would be incarcerated, but then they would be liberated. You may not understand the people in this room who have been incarcerated by different situations and circumstances. Some of them may have been incarcerated by debt, or abuse. Some may have been literally incarcerated. But you cannot tell it right now b/c they are dressed up, smelling good, got on a nice suit, got their hair done, but they used to be in cell block b, number 23723. Every now and then you’ll see people like that praising in a way that you don’t understand. And you may think they are being emotional, but every now and then you ought to have a flashback and remember how you were bound and how God liberated you and set you … is there anybody in here that is free in your spirit and in your soul?
You don’t have to be dressed up when you’re free. Dressed up is optional. You can be in a t-shirt, blue jeans, and a baseball cap. But if you’re free, you can walk down the park whistling by yourself, b/c you’re free. Other people are all upset about how I’m going to pay this and what I’m going to do about that? You’re not worried about anything. You’re just so glad to be free. Free from crack and free from drugs and free from alcohol and free from cigarettes and free from porn and free from problems and free from prison and free from abuse and free from him and free from her. I don’t know what your testimony is. But i do know that if God sets you free… you are free.
Free. I can leave when i wanna leave. I’ll come if i wanna come in. I’ll clean up if i wanna clean up. It may be out of order but it’s my house. Those are my dirty dishes in the sink. I’ll wash them when i get to them. Is there anybody in here enjoying the blessing of being free?
God said, ‘after 400 years, I’m going to bring you out of captivity.’ Now Moses has the assignment of going down to Egypt and announcing to pharaoh that the time for the liberation of God’s people is at hand. He also has the dubious task of liberating people who have been bound, not only physically, but mentally. And the hardest people to lead in the world are oppressed people. Oppressed people are sensitive, insecure, and fall out over anything and everything. ‘They didn’t put me in that seat. They got special seats.’ oppressed people are just sensitive about everything b/c they have been abused before, they see everything as abuse. You can’t even get anything out of your eye. ‘what you looking at me funny for?’ they’re oppressed people.
Moses is leading people who are coming out physically faster than they are coming out mentally. Could it be possible that you are better physically than you are mentally? That’s what makes marriage dangerous, b/c it is possible to meet somebody and date somebody who is better physically. Sometimes your life can be progressing externally better than your mentality is developing internally. And you find yourself in a precarious predicament, b/c outwardly you look like you’re better off than you are, and nobody knows that inside you’re still wrestling with stuff from a long time ago. And that’s why i thank God for patience, b/c he will work with you and work with you and work with you until you are renewed in the spirit of your mind. Everybody doesn’t have to get delivered from alcohol, drugs, and porn. Sometimes you come in here to have your mind renewed. If i can get a new mind, I can say, ‘free at last!’
The children of Israel are finding themselves in this predicament where God is bringing them out. Say, ‘he’s bringing me out.’ and he brought them down to the red sea, and they are uncomfortable because deliverance is difficult b/c it requires that you give up normal. Like the animals that adapt to their environment, Israel has adapted to being enslaved. And even though they prayed for liberation, sometimes we pray for things in our minds that we are not prepared to actually experience. So now they prayed for liberation and now they resent the liberator. Because deliverance requires that you give up what you have adapted to, to step into the unfamiliar area of the unknown.
And so they’re coming out murmuring and they’re coming out complaining and they’re coming out fussing, b/c God has ordered change. There’s been a lot of talk in our country about change. Everything is about change now. They have ads now that are selling toothpaste that will ‘change’ your teeth.’ the audacity of clean teeth. Everything is change and everybody is hooked into it, but change is not easy. Some things take a lifetime to change. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to grow up. Sometimes it takes years to change a small detail of your life. Change does not come easy.
And they’re coming into it, but they’re murmuring and complaining and frustrated. And Moses himself is leading a people and still feeling the pressure of the people he’s leading. He has now come down to the Red Sea. If it were not enough to have them doubting his leadership and speaking all manner of evil against him, he also has the problem of leading God’s people through troubles and hearing the hoof beats of pharaoh and his 600 chosen chariots pursuing them.
Now if you’ve always been free, you won’t get this. But if you’ve ever been bound by anything and you’re trying to get delivered and all of a sudden… it hadn’t got you back, but you can hear it coming, you can’t tell anybody you hear it coming b/c you already announced, ‘I’m free.’ it’s midnight. I’m passing over. I’m coming out. And just as sure as you start bragging about how free you are, all of a sudden you hear it coming after you again. I know you’re not going to hold your hand up b/c your reputation is at stake, but somebody here knows what it’s like to hear that thing coming after you again. Here it comes…again. Here it comes again. Oh, God, here it comes. Whenever you’ve been bound by something, you know the warning signs.
They could hear it coming again. And God is standing there, and Moses is standing there, and the children of Israel are standing there, and the enemy is moving. Since there is nobody here but me and you, let me ask you a question. Have you ever felt, at a moment that you were standing still, that something was after you? Now you have to be spiritual to discern this. Sometimes you can’t even see it. You can’t even name it, but there is an apprehensive feeling of danger.
The hoof stomps of pharaoh are coming. Hadn’t done anything to me yet. Hadn’t attacked me. Hadn’t beaten me. Hadn’t enslaved me. Hadn’t neutered me. Hadn’t done anything to me. But the very sound of it strikes terror in your heart. Do you know how many people die over the sound of trouble? Not death. The shadow. Yea, thought i walk through the valley of the shadow of death. It’s not death, but the shadow. It’s close enough. O God, i see the shadow. I haven’t lost it but any day now, i could lose it. Sometimes you feel like something is chasing you and you don’t even know what it is.
They’ve come down to the Red Sea. They are not in a good mood, b/c it is hard to be polite when you are being pursued. They are murmuring and complaining. Moses is on edge. And he stands there looking at God and god says, ‘Moses, stretch forth your hand.’ and as Moses stretched forth his hand, the bible said god sent a wind.
(Make wind noises.)
Not a bridge, not a boat, not an airplane, not an angel, not a soldier, not a guard. God sent a wind. That’s why i get happy so easily, and I don’t take god’s anointing or power lightly. B/c when i come in a service and I feel the glory move like it moved today, i say, ‘look out, devil. God is sending a wind.” And whenever god sends a wind… just ask Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones. Just ask Peter and the other 119 in the upper room. When god sends a wind, something good is about to happen. Touch 3 people and say, ‘something good is about to happen.’ something good is about to happen x3. I haven’t seen it happen yet, but i hear the wind. I haven’t seen it move yet, but I hear the wind. I haven’t got the healing yet, but i hear the wind. The check hasn’t come yet, but I hear the wind. My son isn’t saved yet, but i hear the wind. Something good is about to happen. I got light in my spirit. I got upbeat in my soul. My soul got happy. Have you ever had your soul get happy? While your mind was worried, your soul…
And he blew back the red sea. He blew back the waters. And then he blew it for so long, sister, that it became a hair dryer and dried the ground so that the children of Israel could walk across without getting mud… your God is so good that sometimes he’ll give you things that you didn’t think to ask him for, but b/c he is… you’re not hearing me. B/c he is your heavenly father; sometimes he’ll just add something extra. Is there anybody in here that’s got an extra blessing? You didn’t even ask for that, but God just knew you needed it and gave you something extra.
And over a million people started walking down through the rocks and down the path, down into a dry seabed with pharaoh chasing them. ‘get the kids, honey. Get the kids. Hand Jr. To me, come on, Jr.’ let me tell you why pharaoh was chasing them. He was not chasing them b/c he wanted the slaves back. It was easy to get more slaves. The problem was the slaves had taken the money. Read your bible. They had borrowed the gold and the silver from the children of Egypt. It had gone from the hands of the egyptians to the hands of the slaves. There was a transfer of wealth that the devil was so angry about that he had done everything he could to stop it. The last had become first, and the first had become last. The head had become the tail. The tail had become the head. ‘get the kids out!’
The bible says that the children of Israel came out with so much gold and so much silver that they had heaped it on the backs of their children. If you got a child here, touch them and say, ‘you’re gonna be blessed. Strengthen your back. Before i die, I’m gonna leave you loaded. You’re gonna come out of this with more than you ever had in your life. When i get through giving you what God gives me, you’re gonna grow up saddled down with blessings, houses you didn’t build, vineyards you didn’t grow.’ the children of Israel were so wealthy that later when Moses gets ready to build the tabernacle, he had to stop them from giving. Those jokers were loaded.
So pharaoh gets his best horses and his best chariots and said, ‘you have broken the gross national product of Egypt through your suffering’. God had already told Abraham after they come out they’re gonna come out with great substance. I don’t know who I’m preaching to. You’re going through right now, but when you come out, your back is gonna be bent over carrying the blessings and the glory and the anointing and the peace and the power!
So, you know pharaoh hadn’t got any 600 chariots just to catch some slaves. His best soldiers to catch some farmers? They’re after that money. There’d been a transfer. You’re not hearing me. Touch your neighbor and say ‘shift.’ there’s gonna be a shift. I got news for you. I’m not CNN, FOX, or MSNBC. But i got a news flash. A shift is coming………….. I don’t know what you’ve been going through. I don’t know how long you’ve been going through it. But a shift is coming. Tell your neighbor, ‘a shift is coming!’
They’re bringing their kids. Moses has got his sister, cousins, and everybody. And over a million people have gone down into the dry bed. And pharaoh is chasing them. And it’s hard to run with a million folks. Have you ever been in line? The further back you are, the slower it is, especially in traffic if you’re on the road driving. So you got to walk it out. So the enemy is running. The children of Israel are walking. They’re walking by faith, not by sight. They stepped down into deliverance. Watch this. When we read about their deliverance, we shout, but they didn’t. When we read about God blowing back the red sea, we get happy, but they didn’t. When we read about dry ground at the bottom of the seabed, we rejoice, but they didn’t. B/c when God delivers you, it does not feel like deliverance. It feels like danger.
Somebody emailed me on Facebook telling me about how they thought I was so blessed and must be so happy and full of joy b/c of my family, my church, my job and how I was so successful and blessed. The more I read it, the more depressed I got b/c of what they were explaining. I said to the Lord, ‘Lord, I wish I felt like he thinks I feel.’ B/C I really felt stressed and worried b/c I knew at anytime, if I wasn’t careful and fully relying on God, it would all fall apart.
See, he was talking to me about the dry ground. But he doesn’t have the knowledge or sight to perceive the fear of walking through the wet walls. He’s looking at the way God made for me, but I’m looking at what he’s taking me through. The water to the left and to the right is standing up taller than this building, and it’s hard to be happy. It’s hard to feel good about it. Ok. I’m still here, but Pharaoh is still coming. And Lord, i thank you for the dry ground. But would you look at… ‘Don’t look up, Jr. Don’t look up, just keep walking.’ Have you ever seen God make a way for you, but you couldn’t enjoy the way b/c you kept thinking about, ‘any minute?’ These walls of water could come down and kill me at any minute.
God said to tell this message b/c He is delivering you in danger. You are delivered in a dangerous situation. It would’ve been better if He would’ve killed Pharaoh before i got to this, so at least i wouldn’t have to worry about him running, me walking, and what about this water up in here? So if i can just make it through this. All the while God is in it, but it doesn’t feel good. This is dangerous deliverance b/c in the back of your mind your thinking, ‘could’ve, would’ve, should’ve’. But I’m still here. Having received help of God i continued on step by step, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. You’re clutching yourself, you got your kids, and you got your stuff. You’re trying to hold on to what God gave you. And God’s blessing you, but you don’t feel good about it. It’s deliverance, but it’s dangerous deliverance. And isn’t it funny how the danger always screams louder than the deliverance?
You can hardly enjoy the dry ground for looking at the walls of water. But they kept on walking. I don’t know what your walls of water are. I don’t know what your Pharaoh is that’s chasing you, but the Lord said to just take another step and keep walking.
15 second praise break for people that are just glad you’re still here.
See the devil don’t understand how somebody like you could praise God when Pharaoh is still chasing you. You still haven’t got to your destination. The waters are still on every side. But you’re saying, ‘if it had not been for the Lord that was on my side, i would have been swallowed up!’
What i want you to get out of this message of a deliverance that is dangerous is the discomfort of deliverance, so that you don’t think that just b/c you’re uncomfortable, God is not there. B/c God is with you in the discomfort and the danger of your deliverance, even though you don’t feel the joy that you expected to feel.
They went from servitude to sonship by going through this. But it didn’t feel good. They’re coming through it, and here comes Pharaoh. He’s gaining on them b/c he’s running and they’re walking. Have you ever felt like trouble was gaining on you? It wasn’t that you weren’t making progress, but you’re not making it fast enough for the level of trouble that’s coming against you. Don’t worry about it. That’s why God sent you to church today b/c he’s gonna tell you how to deal with that. He means for the enemy to gain on you. He’s using you for bait anyways, b/c this is nothing but a setup to lure the enemy into a position of destruction so that you won’t have to spend your next 400 years worrying about your past 400 years. God’s gonna to so deliver you so that when you come out, you’re gonna be out, completely out.
So just as they’re starting to come out of it, Pharaoh gains on them. They’re coming out and here comes Pharaoh coming in. Isn’t it always true that just when you’re on the verge of finally getting it all together, all hell breaks loose? The bible doesn’t just tell you that God dealt with the enemy. It said that he looked through the pillar of fire like he just stuck his face through the fire and saw them about to be destroyed. God said, don’t worry, I’m looking at you.
So when Pharaoh started coming through the way that God had only made for His people, all of a sudden the wheels of the chariots start falling off. Now the bible has told us that these are his best chariots. He shouldn’t be having any trouble with these chariots. That’s what your enemies don’t know about fooling with you. When they start fooling with you, God will make things break down that should’ve been working right. Your enemies are cursed with a curse. God said i will bless them that bless you. I will curse them that curse you. And no weapon formed against you shall…
All of a sudden Pharaoh said, ‘what’s wrong, man?’ they said, ‘the chariot’s not working.’ ‘What do you mean, the chariot’s not working?’ ‘The wheel’s not working.’ ‘What do you mean it’s not working?’ ‘They’re coming off.’ That’s what your enemies will go through trying to kill you. Right in the middle of their attack when they’re coming in for the kill, things are gonna start breaking down in their own life b/c God’s gonna break off the wheels to get you out.
When they came out of the Red Sea and Pharaoh is trying to catch them, but his stuff is falling apart, they’re getting confused, and they’re starting to become discouraged in the pursuit. Your enemies are starting to become discouraged in the pursuit. B/c after they’ve done everything they could to destroy you, God just keeps on blessing you anyway.
You’re not hearing me.
They’ve invested all of this time and effort and money in forming these weapons to bring you down and the wheels keep falling off.
So when they got out, God says to Moses, ‘Moses, don’t just walk out.’ he says, ‘the same hand that you raised to open the way, raise it again to shut it down.’ God said as soon as you come through this, he’s gonna shut it down. All you gotta do is give Him the sign. And when you give Him the sign, all of a sudden the walls that you were worried about falling on you are going to fall on them. That’s why the very one who was talking about you or your family when this happened or that happened…
So here they come up. Here they come up out of the red sea and Moses just turns back and stretches forth his hand. And when he stretched forth his hand, everything that was opened up shut down. For the same God that opens doors, shuts doors. Don’t worry about the people who are trying to imitate you or step into your blessing or get your position. B/c God said the same God that opened the door for you…. Shut, shut, shut, shut.
When they got across the Red Sea and all of a sudden the waters came down, the waters that they were worried about coming down on them came down on the enemy. And all of a sudden Pharaoh and his army got drowned in the sea. Miriam grabbed up a tambourine and began to praise God. So what this is, this praise is a delayed reaction. Sometimes it takes you a few minutes to thank God for what He’s already done. But when you look back over your shoulder and you see where the Lord has brought you from, you ought to give him praise!!!
Touch your neighbor and say, ‘neighbor, excuse me a minute. I owe God some praise.’ Past due praise. Praise him for yesterday. Praise him for last week. Praise him for what he’s brought you through. Thought you couldn’t make it. Thought you couldn’t take it. But God.
I can’t believe some people still won’t pay God. After all the things he kept off you, all the things that he didn’t let happen, as bad as it is, it could be worse, and you still won’t praise him. I said you owe God a praise.
Look at your neighbor and say, ‘i almost didn’t make it, but God.’ i almost lost my mind, but God. I almost gave up, but God. I almost got depressed, but God. When i think of the goodness of Jesus and all that he’s done…
Now i know everybody is not a dancer and that’s ok. I don’t wanna push you out of your comfort zone, but i need 10 dancers to jump out in the aisle and praise God for his deliverance in your life.
Miriam was dancing and praising God when the Lord spoke from heaven and said, ‘These enemies that you see today, you shall see them no more!’ Slap somebody and say, ‘no more!’
