Faith & Freedom Sunday - June 28, 2026

Special Guest Speaker Chad Williams

What is Collierville First Baptist Church?

Collierville First Baptist Church

[01:00:00;55 - 01:02:42;34]
Alright. Hey, well good morning. It's so good to be here with you all as we're bringing the pulpit out. If you guys have your Bibles, I want to open up to Exodus chapter 3. Exodus chapter 3 is the passage I'll be rooting from in just a moment here. And as you guys are turning there, just to kind of familiarize you a little bit with the last deployment my SEAL team was involved in and what we're doing. We were out in Iraq and tasked with hunting down men that make suicide vests and those roadside bombs, IEDs. And to kind of give you an idea of the type of character that makes a suicide vest, you know, oftentimes, you guys are not very motivated to actually be the one to strap it on themselves. In fact, they have such a difficult time finding somebody to raise their hand and volunteer for that position. In one instance, they couldn't find anybody. And I think this really just captures how depraved and wicked their minds operate since they couldn't find anybody. What did they resort to? Well, they went and they found two mentally handicapped women and strapped these vests onto them as they shoved them off to their crowded marketplace, watching from a distance, setting it off with the remote, killing these women and obviously so many more. So it kind of gives you a sense of the type of character that we're up against while we're overseas there in Iraq. And I remember this final operation we're going on, we're going after this Iraqi policeman. He wears that uniform by day, but at night back home, as it turns out, he's one of these bomb makers that we're looking for. And as we go pulling up to his house, this is it, the final operation, suddenly we start getting shot at from three different directions, taking effective fire, meaning their rounds are being very effective. We're in this gun battle for our lives, and truly the odds were against us. But against all the odds, I think needless to say, I'm standing alive before you on the platform this morning, but it's worth remembering that it doesn't always work out that way. We do need to remember these freedoms that we enjoy because we're coming up on celebrating 250 years of American freedom. They don't come freely. And what are they paid for in? You could say paid for in the currency of our warrior's blood, the soldier's blood out there on the battlefield. And there's also spiritual application to that as well, because not only is our earthly freedom paid for in the currency of our soldier's blood, but have you ever considered the fact that our eternal freedom, that was paid for in the currency of the Savior's blood at the cross? And so those four are earthly freedom, our Savior for our eternal freedom. And just as I heard this morning, it seems as though it's very safe to assume that those of us in the room are very proud to be Americans. Amen?

[01:02:43;44 - 01:05:26;47]
(Applause) Yeah. And when you think about it, what's so great about being an American? And there's many things that come to mind, right? Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. But at the absolute top of that list, I think what comes to mind is that topic we were just discussing. It's freedom. And then somewhere below that are things like Chick-fil-A, maybe Whataburger, In-N-Out Burger if you're from California, but freedom, freedom being at the top of that list. And what is it that's so great about freedom? I guess when you really think about it, when you dissect it, what makes it great is this realization that it did not come freely. We did not always have it this way here in America. And sort of a high view of what I want to share with you all this morning is this realization that there are those that are in captivity as we speak right now. We're going to look back in the book of Exodus, how they were those that were in captivity under Egypt. But God was able to use a man like Moses to deliver a sort of declaration of independence. Let my people go. And in a very similar way, the people that are in captivity today, oftentimes they don't even realize it. They don't know it, but all believers have had their eyes open. And just like Moses was given this duty to go deliver a "let my people go" message, every card-carrying Christian has this responsibility like Moses to deliver a "let my people go" message, which is simply the gospel message. How he could use ordinary people in extraordinary ways. And so Exodus chapter 3, just kind of bringing you up to speed to here, just this thought, freedom, it's not always been the case here in America. There once upon a time was a King George III that saw the way that people had it here in America, the freedoms they were enjoying. And so what did he want to do? Well, he has this mindset of taxation without representation. There was that infamous moment, the Boston Massacre. And finally, you have people, you have patriots that stand in the gap and say, "Hey, enough of this. Give me liberty or give me death." And through blood, sweat, tears, hard work, determination, and all too often that freedom did come. And it was penned into history as what? A declaration of independence. In a very similar way, this is what is taking place in Exodus as we go back here. So we're in Exodus chapter 3 to kind of bring you up to speed. What has happened in these first two chapters? Maybe I'll just do this. A little participation here. Quick question. I'll figure out where you guys are at Bible IQ wise, and then I'll gauge and I'll know where to jump in. So one simple question. How many animals of each kind did Moses take on the ark?

[01:05:28;58 - 01:05:37;33]
I hear a mix there. Some people caught it, some people didn't. Pastor, you got your work cut out for you, because it was Noah. It wasn't Moses, right? This is concerning.

[01:05:38;48 - 01:05:41;32]
I got caught by that the first time too.

[01:05:42;37 - 01:07:37;17]
So, Exodus chapter 3, what's going on? We were all ourselves in the land of Egypt, and they weren't just there by themselves. They were coexisting with some of the people of God, the children of Israel. And everything was going really great for a while. Why? Well, because of one of Israel's own, Joseph. We know that story, the sort of rags to riches story. I mean, here's Joseph. Talk about a guy who knows what it is like to be brought up under the hands of domestic abuse. His brothers were beating on him. They wanted to murder him. And then they realized, you know, we could actually turn a profit off of him. So what did they do? They sell him off into slavery. He gets human trafficked. And all while this is going on, though, he's not shaking his fist up at God. He's not complaining to God, saying why? He just remains steadfast and faithful to the Lord. Then he gets thrown into prison wrongfully for something he didn't do. But through all of that, the steadfastness, the endurance that he had, eventually there is that breakthrough moment. He goes from prison to Prince. He becomes second in command over all of Egypt, second in command only next to the very Pharaoh himself. And so I guess you could say for a while there, everything was really going great for the children of Israel because they got to ride along on Joseph coattails. But unfortunately, this good thing wasn't going to last forever. Eventually, Joseph would die. This Pharaoh, this king that knew Joseph, he died. And then you have this new Pharaoh that rises to power. And he is unlike that previous Pharaoh before. He did not walk in his footsteps. He was no longer a charitable king. Instead, they get a genocidal king and were informed in Exodus chapter 1 verse 8 that he knew Joseph not. You guys ready for a joke? I'll try out on you because he didn't walk in his predecessor's footsteps. They say he walked like an Egyptian. All right.

[01:07:38;40 - 01:11:01;10]
One other one because I'm from California, right? And you just heard a moment. I just heard that more people are moving to Tennessee from the state of California than anywhere else. And so they are fleeing. And you know, it wasn't it wasn't this Pharaoh that was well, Pharaoh took away the straw. But you know, in California, they've gotten rid of the plastic straws in our restaurants. I don't know if they're doing the same thing here, but our governor did that. And he's kind of following in some footsteps there because if you remember this Pharaoh that we're looking at, he looked at the children of Israel and how great they had it in this land of Egypt, how they're flourishing, how they're multiplying. And he got jealous. So he decides he's going to give them backbreaking labor to do. And so he takes away the straw so that they can't make their brick and mortar the way they're making it before. But the more he really cranked up the temperature and he tried to come down on top of them, the more God bless them, the more they flourish. And that is when he went full genocidal. He decided no more baby Hebrew boys. When they're born, I want them left out, exposed, let them die. Well, one would come to be born that we know as Moses. And interestingly, Moses didn't receive his name from his birth mother. And so this baby boy is born. Of course, the mother's heart is just pulled. I can't do this to my child. Expose him to the elements. And so she devises a plan how she'll hide her child, but she can only hide him for so long. And then she realizes that the princess would oftentimes go down to that Nile River. And perhaps if she sees my beautiful boy amongst the reeds in a basket there, her heartstrings will be tugged. And that is what happens. She sees the boy in that river in the basket. And she is actually the one, this Egyptian princess that gave Moses the name Moses. And that name has significance. It means to be drawn out of. And so now you hear this, yeah, this baby boy, Moses being drawn out of the muddy Nile River, those reeds. And what is he being drawn into? He's being drawn into royalty. I mean, he's getting to live in the palace. He's eating at the king's table. He's rubbing shoulders there. But all the while, the children, the visual, they continue to suffer. Well, Moses has a heart towards his people, just like we ought to have a heart towards our fellow man, our neighbor. And so he sees what's taking place. He decides he wants to get involved. He wants to do something. And as an Egyptian was beating on one of his fellow countrymen, what happens? He lays hands on this guy. And he winds up murdering him. Took things too far. And so he tries to cover up what he did. Oftentimes that's what happens with sin, right? Instead of just dealing with it, it gets covered up. And it probably didn't take much more than a soft wind. The blow away that sand had exposed what Moses had done. As another day goes by, he sees a couple of his countrymen in a dispute with one another. And so he wants to play mediator. He has a heart towards these people. So he's trying to get into the middle of it. Boys, what's going on? And they look at him. And they basically question him, who do you think you are? So he says, I'm Batman. No, doesn't say that. But they say, who do you think you are? Who made you Prince and judge? What? Are you going to kill us like you killed that Egyptian?

[01:11:02;19 - 01:12:14;25]
Now, could you imagine how his heart must have sunk in that moment right there? Because what did Moses do when he did that to that Egyptian? He really put his neck out there on the line for his own people. And have you ever really put yourself out there for somebody? And essentially the response that you get back is something along the lines of, well, I didn't ask you to do that for me. And so Moses is getting the ultimate. I didn't ask you to do that for me. And now Moses is doing a little mental inventory realizing here, if these guys know what I did, it's just a matter of time before Pharaoh finds out what I did. And when Pharaoh finds out what I did, he's going to put a hit out on me. I need to go. And so he goes off on the run like a fugitive. And that's where we catch up here in Exodus chapter 3. And so Exodus chapter 3, just taking this first verse, I want to read to you guys. I'm reading from the New King James Version. It goes like this. It says, "Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to Horeb the mountain of God."

[01:12:15;33 - 01:13:42;43]
This is 40 years later. And I want you to just try and imagine if you could the thoughts rolling through Moses's head, as he's just kind of rolling along, kicking rocks, performing the most mundane, repetitious job, following around a herd. Looking back in his mind, thinking about how great he used to have it, what that life of prestige was like living in the palace, eating at the king's table. But look at where it got him when he tried to do what he thought was the right thing. Look at where he's at now. He is out there in the back of the desert, and he is on hard, dry ground. And maybe many of you feel as though you are in that place as we speak right now. You look back in the rear view mirror of time, and you think about how great things used to be, maybe in the nation. You think about how wonderful it was, maybe amongst the family. But you have found yourself in this place. It's like a desert place. It's a wilderness. You're on this dry, hard ground, and all you could do is look back, thinking about the good old days. But this is just kind of how it is now. It's the mundane. It's the repetitious. And you're just rolling along like Moses. You're just rolling with the punches.

[01:13:43;44 - 01:17:26;57]
Well, I want to suggest something to you that maybe being in a desert place is exactly where we need to be before God could really prepare us to use us the way that he wants to. In fact, there's certainly biblical precedent for this. I mean, just go back. We know how this all works out for Moses. It doesn't end in the desert, Moses. You get this call. You're going to get used by the Lord. You're going to guide the people over to the land of milk and honey right all the way up to the spot. You look at so many before also, like Elijah, these prophets who are men of the wilderness, John the Baptist, this all preceded what? His opportunity to make straight the way of the Lord or even Jesus himself. Maybe you think that this wilderness is some type of discipline. Maybe, maybe not. Jesus was perfect, holy without sin, and where was he just before his itinerant preaching ministry began? Forty days and forty nights out in the wilderness. So maybe being in a desert place is exactly where we need to be before God could prepare us to use us the way that he wants to. There's an anonymous poem that I think captures this idea really brilliantly, and it goes like this. When God wants to drill a man when God wants to mold a man to play the noblest part, when he yearns with all of his heart to create so great and mold a man that all the world shall be amazed, watch his methods and watch his ways, how he ruthlessly perfects whom he royally elects, how he hammers him and hurts him and with mighty blows converts him into trial shapes of clay, which only God understands. One man's tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands, how God bends, but he never breaks when it's man's good that he undertakes. And how he uses whom he chooses and with every purpose fuses him, by every act induces him to try his splendor out, God knows what he is about. And so we might be in this place where we don't understand why, but remember Joseph who we talked about. He remained faithful, steadfast to the Lord. He didn't shake a fist up at God. We might not understand why we are going through the scourging, through the trial. God's hammer and chisel, they are out. He is shaping us. And sometimes really big chunks are coming off and we say, wow, that really hurts. But what we need to remember is that he is the master sculptor. He has an image in mind. And so when God is trying his splendor out, just remember, he knows what he is about. And so Moses is really going through it, and you might be really going through it, in this desert place. Look what happens next for Moses in verse 2, Exodus 3 verse 2. While he's out there, suddenly this happens. "And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn." Emphasize this next verse here. "So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him." Let me read that part again. "When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses."

[01:17:28;21 - 01:17:33;06]
It's almost as though it's like God has his attention now.

[01:17:34;41 - 01:18:42;14]
Sometimes the greater the need, the greater the result. You know, C.S. Lewis, he makes this point that God's voice is like a whisper to us in our pleasures. But oftentimes pain and suffering operate as God's megaphone to rouse a deaf ear. Maybe when Moses was living that easy life, the life of prestige, it would have been a little bit more difficult to get through to him. But now that he's going through this wilderness experience, really the pain of this hard ground, God's observing, "Hey, now I've got your attention." And what happens like that megaphone that rouses a deaf ear? Now that God has Moses' attention, now that he has our attention, this is when he speaks to us. Jumping ahead to verse 9, God speaking to Moses Exodus 3 verse 9. He says, "Now therefore behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me." "And I've also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them." "Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."

[01:18:43;25 - 01:19:14;35]
Wow, he's finally getting the call. That thing that he always wanted to do to get involved, this heart that he had towards his own people, just when he thought it was all done. It's like God's saying to Moses, "Hey, Moses, I'm calling you. Hey, Moses, remember that thing you wanted to do? I want you to do it too." It's just you went about it at the wrong time. You went about it in the wrong way. But Moses, I'm going to use you. You're going to be my little patriot. Moses, we're going to make Israel great again.

[01:19:16;52 - 01:19:18;43]
Look at Moses' response though.

[01:19:20;38 - 01:19:26;20]
Moses' response, Exodus 3, 11, "But Moses said to God, "Who am I?

[01:19:27;27 - 01:20:00;03]
Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" Remember at this stage of his life, it's been 40 years now. He has been on the run, a fugitive out there in the desert. He's probably thinking, "Now you want to use me? Lord, you should have come to me sooner. You should have come to me when I had some power, when I had some influence. But look at what they've done to me. I've been canceled. I've lost the blue check mark next to my name. I am a nobody. Like who am I? Now you want to use me?"

[01:20:01;42 - 01:21:20;59]
And so many of us can have this who am I mentality, which is just so off. In fact, the way that God likes to work oftentimes is he likes to take the who am I, the ordinary person. You don't need to be some extraordinary person. And this is just a truth that plays out in reality. I mean, really what it all comes down to is not the external circumstances, what it comes down to. How is God going to use you? How does God use people? It comes down to that heart and a determination, a mindset. I mean, like I said, I even see this in SEAL training. When I showed up to SEAL training, I was part of Bud's class 254. We had 173 guys that started in our class. And when we were all together on day one, I remember an instructor walking into this auditorium room and he looks at us and he says, "Bud's class 254, how many of you are willing to die before you quit?" Well, the whole class erupts. We're pounding our chests saying, "Hoo-yah!" That's our yes. And he goes, "Great. This is what I want you to do now. Why don't you take a mental picture of the person on your left and on your right?" And so I was kind of a little bit of a class clown at that time, young guys. I'm taking real mental pictures. I'm going, "Chick-a-t, chick-a-t."

[01:21:23;13 - 01:21:50;17]
And he goes, "In fact, if you have someone in front of you and behind you, do the same thing with them." So I've got these four guys in my head. And he says, "Now, chances are, by the law of averages, by graduation day, if you are still standing here, that means each of those guys you just took a little mental picture of, they didn't make it. Do you really think you're the one?" And I remember looking around the room, really feeling astonished now because I'm thinking, "Wow, where are these quitters going to come from?"

[01:21:51;31 - 01:22:36;36]
Because on the one hand, I know it's not going to be me. But here's the thing, is that these guys say the same thing I say. "I'll die before I quit." And it seems like they say it in the same way. In fact, we have already gone through some pre-seal training together where we've gotten a little taste of what we're in for, and we have suffered greatly. And not one of these guys has shown even an ounce of quit in them. So I started getting a little concerned, realizing, "Wow, how deep into the abyss of suffering are we going to have to go for some of this class to start falling off?" So I'm trying to pick out in my mind, "Well, where is some of that low hanging fruit? Where are some of these people that don't belong?" As I'm scanning the room, I'm struggling to pick anybody out, and then I log in on this one guy's name was Barth.

[01:22:37;39 - 01:25:11;44]
Now, when I looked at Barth, though, I looked at Barth not in such a way to where I thought, "There's one of the guys that isn't going to make it. There's one of the guys that's going to quit." I looked at Barth the way the rest of the class looked at Barth. There is one of the guys that will definitely be there for graduation day. Why? Because Barth was just born and bred to be a Navy SEAL. He was that guy that was cut from another piece of cloth. He was blessed with some kind of DNA that produced the muscle, the stamina, the wear. There's no question over who is getting first place when we're all competing. Whenever we're on the starting line, we're about to go do a run, the debate amongst all the guys as we're there is not who's getting first. We know who's getting first. All the talk is this, "Okay, who's getting second?" And so there's Barth, league of his own, right? He'll definitely make it. I'm thinking, "No, I'm not supposed to find the guys that are going to make it. I'm looking for the guys that are going to quit. I'm scanning and I'm struggling to pick up anybody." But then I log in on this one guy. How could I forget about him? This guy, Alex Gonye. Alex Gonye was like the runt of the litter. This guy is the complete antithesis of Barth. He's that guy that just one day, no athletic background, just unplugged the electronics, decided to put down the video games, rolled off the couch and says, "I'm going to go for it. I want to try and be a Navy SEAL." And it's just a mystery. It's a wonder. How did he even make it through the physical standard test to even get in here? He did get his toe in the door somehow, but it's almost an insult. This guy shouldn't be amongst us right now. So not only will he quit, I'm thinking like everybody else, he'll be the first guy to quit. I mean, he's the locker room talk. And so I'm thinking, "All right, at least I got that figured out. I'll know when the suffering really goes up when he falls off, when he quits." So everyone has their eye on him. Well, the irony is that by the time we get to Hell Week, which is the most difficult part of SEAL training, where they keep you up for five and a half days, you get four hours of sleep, not per night. It's four hours for the next five and a half days. You run over 200 miles during this time, carrying either a telephone log or a boat wherever you go. You're getting thrown to the Pacific Ocean in February. That water is so cold, it takes your breath away, and you're not wearing a wetsuit. You're out there in the dark hours of the morning. You look like you're hanging on to a jackhammer. That's what we call it, jackhammering cold. You're just, you're shaking so much. All of this physical exertion, sleep deprivation, hallucinations. I grew up watching Ninja Turtles. Man, by the last night of Hell Week, I'm panning along and I'm looking at like Donatello in the water right next to me. I'm like, "What's up?"

[01:25:13;10 - 01:26:14;32]
(Laughter) And so Hell Week is very difficult. Now, who was amongst the first to quit during Hell Week, where it wasn't this guy Alex Gagné, somehow, he's still around. Amongst the first to quit was that guy, Barth, the stud of the class, the guy born and bred to be a Navy SEAL. And guess who made it all the way through that pipeline and ultimately became a Navy SEAL, that Alex Gagné, that run to the litter, that locker room talk. What that demonstrates, I hope, for you all, is this principle that's in the seal creed, but it also finds its roots in biblical teaching. The seal creed says of a Navy SEAL, it's not the extraordinary one that makes it. It says this, "It is the common man, but with uncommon desire to succeed." It comes down to heart. And this is exactly what God, essentially, the point that he makes in 1 Samuel 16. If you recall 1 Samuel 16, 7, I'll just read it for you, you could take note. It says, "For the Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

[01:26:15;33 - 01:27:24;18]
And who is he saying that about or in context to? Remember, you've got Saul, the people's choice, King Saul, and then you've got little David, that run to the litter, that locker room talk. Last to be picked on a kickball team, right? I mean, when they're looking for who's going to replace this king through all of the sons in the house of Jesse, he wasn't even in real consideration. They're like, "This is it? These are all your sons?" Well, you got David out there, but surely it's not him. Oh, yeah, it's David. That's God's anointed. And what do we know about David? He had a certain type of heart. He had a heart after God's own heart. What is God able to do with the runt of the litter, the locker room talk that has the heart in the right place? Well, he used David to go on to take on the giant, to cut off his head. And so it's all throughout the Scriptures, this principle, 2 Chronicles 16, 9, a familiar one, "The eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth," to do what? "To show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal towards him."

[01:27:25;39 - 01:27:45;55]
And so God can essentially say to Moses, "I don't care about your resume. I know how much you messed up. What I'm questioning right now is, do I still have that same heart?" Because watch what God can do when you have a heart that's after God's own heart.

[01:27:47;07 - 01:29:30;46]
And so picking things up, God speaking to Moses, he makes this point that essentially you're asking the wrong question. It shouldn't be, "Who am I, Moses?" You should be asking, "Who's speaking to me right now? Who is my God?" That's where the real divine power and authority comes from. Verse 12, so God speaking, "So he said, "I will certainly be with you, and this shall be assigned to you that I've sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain." "Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you. And they say to me, "What is his name? What shall I say to them?" And verse 14, "And God said to Moses, "I am who I am. And he said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am has sent me to you." I can't overemphasize the significance of that divine name that was just provided to Moses right there. We still sing worship songs about the great I am. It's still one of the most revered names for God, even in Judaism all the way up until this day, I am. And one of the things you need to remember about the children of Israel at that time was God's name was essentially a forgotten name. That's why they would ask that question. When he says, "When I go to them and I tell them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you," and they say, "What is his name? What shall I say to them?" Because the only way that they really knew God anymore at that point was just sort of third hand. They would talk about him as, "Well, you know the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. They didn't have a divine name."

[01:29:31;49 - 01:29:45;02]
And so now he's getting this special revelation here. And I think we know somebody else that uses that name when we fast forward into the New Testament, when we know that Jesus identified as the I am. So interesting.

[01:29:46;08 - 01:30:49;13]
And as I was thinking about this text, very interesting. Now, I was in Exodus chapter 3 of my Bible pulled out, opened up to Exodus chapter 3. I thought to myself, "What a great passage to use with Jehovah Witnesses." Like, this is crazy. I'm going to share with you. I have my Bible open, Exodus 3.14. What a great passage to use with Jehovah Witnesses. And then I thought, you know, this place I live at right now, I've never had them come to my door. I've lived here many years. They've never come to this house, to this door. Previous places before they've been there, they've never come to my door. But I know that the God of Israel, the divine God of Israel, he identified himself as the I am to Moses. And Jesus later in John 858, when he's being challenged on his identity, "Who do you say you are?" He says, "Before Abraham was, I am." He took on that divine name. And I know Jehovah Witnesses don't believe that Jesus is God. And one of the things they really try and emphasize is, not only does the Bible not say that Jesus is God, but you'll never find Jesus ever claiming to be God. Well, when Jesus takes on that divine name of the God of Israel, before Abraham was, "Ago, I am."

[01:30:50;20 - 01:32:51;45]
He's taking on that divine name. As I was consciously thinking this, and my son was on the couch, and he's being a handful. My wife's away, so I gave him a bunch of candy, you know, like in a little cup, you know, like you stay busy on the couch. I'm studying right now. The door knocks as I'm in the hallway. And I mean, 99.9% of the time, what is that going to be? Of course, it's going to be some Amazon delivery, right, that my wife ordered. But something told me this could be different, and I go and I peek, and I'm not kidding you. It's the Jehovah Witnesses. I was so excited. I'm running around. I don't know. I was like almost answering it with my Bible at hand. I thought I'm going to scare them. I could just come right out with this. So I'll just kind of put it to the side. And so they answer the door, and we get into it, and I start going, "Look, I know that you guys don't believe the same thing about Jesus that I believe, and Jesus really says it comes down to that unless you believe, you know, I am. You'll be dead in your trespasses and sin." So I think I could show you, you know, where Jesus actually claimed to be God. So we start to go through it. And one of the things I explained to them too, and I think it's important for us to understand the context of what Jesus was going through in John chapter 8, is that in Jesus' day, even though we know the Old Testament is written in Hebrew, in Jesus' day, what was in circulation at that time? Well, Hebrew is practically a forgotten language. And so because of influences from Alexander the Great conquering the world, and, you know, he's adopted some of the Greek influences, he made Greek the sort of, they call it the lingua franqua, the language of the people, the language of the day. That was the common language that people knew, Greek. And so the Jews realizing that our language is becoming forgotten and it's becoming a concern, they realized we need to get our scriptures from the Hebrew and into the Greek. And this is what the translation called the Septuagint, which just simply means the 70 in Greek. And this was in such great circulation at that time that, in fact, when you read the New Testament,

[01:32:53;04 - 01:33:55;03]
the New Testament authors or even Jesus quoting from the Old Testament, just like you can identify, if somebody's quoting from like a King James version or like an N.A.I.V. version, like you can identify that, it can be identified that the vast majority of the time, you know what they quote from? They don't quote from the Hebrew, they quote from the Septuagint version of the scriptures. And so that's important to understand because then you would understand what is this divine name for the God of Israel that they revere so much, how would they have heard it at that time? Well, it's simple in the Greek I am is simply ego ami. And so what you have is if you go back to the Septuagint, the divine God of Israel, when he reveals himself to Moses, and he tells them, tell them I am has sent me to you in the Greek in Jesus' day, what they all would have been reading is the divine name for the God of Israel is ego ami. Tell them ego ami has sent me to you. So we look at that Exodus 3.14, and then we go to John chapter 8.

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And if you guys have your Bible, I want to turn to John chapter 8 just so you see it for yourselves. We'll read a little bit of the context here, John chapter 8 to kind of fill you in what's going on at this time. Well, Jesus is at it again with his detractors. And now what they're trying to do is they're trying to dig at him here and imply that he's an illegitimate child. Well, we know Joseph isn't your father.

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You're talking about your father so often. Well, let us tell you about our father and their claim in pedigree, right? They're claiming DNA, our father, Abraham. And Jesus has just about had it with them. So that's when he makes this reference to Abraham, like, oh, Abraham. You want to talk Abraham? So John 8, 57, I'll read from there. It says, "Then the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old and you have seen Abraham, because Jesus told them Abraham saw my day, he rejoiced to see it." And they're like, yeah, you're not even 50 years old. You have seen Abraham? Like this guy, he's 5150. He's crazy.

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"And Jesus said to them, most assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."

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It's as though Jesus was saying, you guys want to know who I am? Open up the scriptures. Turn to the burning bush passage. Yes, here we are, Exodus chapter 3. When God was speaking to Moses, you want to know who I am? That's me standing before you right here, right now. "It was not lost upon them what he just claimed." Why? Look at their immediate reaction in the following verse, verse 59. "Then they took up stones to throw at him." They clearly understood what he was clearly claiming to be. Clearly though, they didn't believe it. But without a doubt, he claimed it. So when it comes to Jehovah Witnesses saying, Jesus never claimed to be God, I've got this passage right there in front of them, and you know how it works, where you typically have the one that's like the seasoned, experienced mentor, and then their little protege with them. I can see it was getting through to the little protege, because little protege is going Exodus 3.14, John 8.58, going, "I never seen that before."

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And so of course, the other one's like, "Well, we got to get going now." And I'm like, "You just got here."

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I'm like, "Come on back then." And he's like, "Take my number down." And they're like, "Yeah, we'll come back." I'm like, "Seriously, please come back. I'd love to discuss this more." And I give them my number, and it didn't seem like they took it down. I'm like, "Did you get it?" And they're like, "Yeah, we got it." I'm like, "Repeat it back to me so I know." And they're like, "We got it." And they left, and they never came back. But the breaking away point is, look, we know how this all worked out for Moses in the end. Moses got the call. We know he was just a common man, but with uncommon heart, and God is able to use that heart. And he went and he delivered a sort of declaration of independence. It was a weaponized message. The power was in the message because God infused that message, "Let my people go." And what happened was, captive people, people that were in slavery, were set free. Here's the crazy thing, is that now we also know from what we read that the same God that commissioned Moses, what they let my people go, message, is the same God Jesus identified as him, and he commissioned us. What they let my people go, message, which is the gospel message. It is the Great Commission.

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But we treat it so much like what? The Great Omission, or a Great Suggestion. And it's not that. And so why is it that we have people like Jehovah Witnesses or Mormons that are so motivated to get out there and share their version of things that is distorted? It's warped. They're doing it for a lie. Can we not at least do the same thing for the truth?

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And so there was a famous atheist. He's also more famous for being a magician, a Las Vegas illusionist, a pendulette.

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He spends a lot of his time and energy speaking out against the things of God. But he went on YouTube and he made a video, it's called "Gift of a Bible," where he was really impressed by this businessman that had the guts to come up to him to try and share the gospel with him. And so he was so affected by it that he decided to make a video. And in this video I transcribe part of what he shares. You would think an atheist would just want you to privatize it, keep it to yourself, and many of them do.

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But he sees the logical outworkings of if you are a Christian, this is what you're supposed to be doing. You're not supposed to keep it to yourselves. And so he calls out Christians. He says, "I've always said I don't respect people who don't proselytize." He goes, "I don't respect you if you're not out there actually doing it. You should be doing it." He says, "I've always said I don't respect people who don't proselytize. I don't respect that at all. If you believe that there is a heaven in hell and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life and you think that it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward."

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He says, "How much do you have to hate somebody to not evangelize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?"

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And he gives a very practical example. He says, "I mean, if I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you and you didn't believe the truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I will tackle you." And he says, "And this is more important than that. This is more important than that." He says, "Look, Christian, I don't believe what you believe, but if you believe it, man, how much do you got to hate somebody to believe that this is all true and not share that with them?"

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So thank you, Pen, because we kind of needed that a little bit. And so not only do we have this great commission that comes from our Lord, the great I AM, he's called ordinary people like you and I to simply have. "And remember, the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth to do what? Show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal towards him." We're called to have a heart like Moses, a loyal heart towards the Lord and just say, "God, look, I'm available. Use me." We're just delivering the message. It's the God of visual that will do all the heavy lifting from that point forward. C.S. Lewis, he says, "Enemy occupied territory, that is what this world is." But Christianity is the story about how our rightful King has landed. You might say in disguise, and now he's calling us all to take part in his great campaign of sabotage. Hey, do you want to take part in a campaign of sabotage and do so with some divine justification? Like, yeah, what are we doing? We're taking on the enemy of our soul. Just like Navy SEALs that are going after these suicide bomb wearers, anyone that straps on a suicide vest, look, they're committed. They're going down. But they're not content with going down by themselves. What do they want? They measure success in terms of how many people could I take out with me in the process.

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But if SEALs are successful at what we do, we sabotage the plans of a terrorist, an enemy like that. Hey, church, we're up against the ultimate terrorists. This is global war on terrorism. It says in the scriptures, "The whole world lies under the sway of the evil one." And you are God's special forces like Moses to deliver a weaponized message. And if you're successful at what you do, you sabotage the plans of the ultimate suicide bomber. I mean, Satan is strapped like a suicide bomber. We've read the back of the book. He's going down. We know he is. He knows he is. But how does he measure success? He doesn't want to go down alone. He wants to take out as many people with him as he possibly can in the process. He wants your family. He wants your friends. He wants your neighbors. But God has given you and I this ability and this task to go set captive people free. And so here in America, we're coming up on celebrating 250 years of freedom. But also as a church, we could celebrate the fact that we have the opportunity to set captive people free and deliver a weaponized message so that they have eternal freedom. Amen.

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I'll close with this quote, and then we'll pray, and then I'll open up an opportunity for anyone that maybe would like to get right with God. As we pray, we'll just kind of go over the gospel message and anyone maybe that needs to come forward for some prayer. But CT Stud, he says this one life, it will soon pass. Only what's done for Christ will last. And when I'm dying, how happy I'll be if the lamp of my life is burned out for thee. We have a choice in terms of how we're going to live our lives. Once we know God, what do we do with this life? Well, we're still here. Why? To go out there and make Him known. It's no God and make Him known. So you have a choice. Are you going to live your life for self? Is it going to be about me, me, me? And that's like the decaf coffee out there. It just doesn't work.

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Are you going to flip it around and say, not for me, for thee. We are God's sled dogs. And so while we're here on earth, let's give them a good run. Amen. I'm going to call the worship team up right now and they're going to play a song in a moment as we just kind of close things out in a word of prayer. So God, we are so thankful for the many blessings that you have poured out on us individually and collectively. God, you have shown nothing but grace and mercy that is undeserved on our nation. And we're thankful for your patience and your long suffering. We're thankful for the breath that we have. We're thankful for our salvation. Thank you for sending Jesus.

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So maybe you find yourselves here this morning, everyone's head bowed and eyes closed, realizing

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that there is a broken signal between you and God. Things aren't right. Something to understand about this captivity. What is it? It's sin. We have all missed the mark. It's an archery term for not hitting a bull's eye. And the wages of sin is death. None of us has lived up to the standard. But Jesus came into this world on a holy rescue mission, the Son of God. He occupied a human body the same way a hand can fill a glove. He came to us as a human and he lived a perfect, holy, sinless life. And he goes to the cross and he took all of your sin and my sin upon himself, paid the penalty of our sin. And he was in full, not only paying for our sin, but rising again from the grave three days later, conquering sin, conquering death. And he declares from that resurrected life, because I live, you also shall live.

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And so while we cannot pay our own fine, Jesus paid it in full at the cross and he offers it as a free gift to you and I.

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It's simply received by repenting, which is a military term. It's an about face. You turn from your old life and by turning away, it implies you're turning towards something. You turn towards him and you fling yourself upon his mercy. Jesus, be my savior and be my Lord. For those that repent and put their faith and trust in the risen savior, as you saw that young man baptized earlier, the old you is buried just as he went down into that water. And as you, as he came up, you come out new, just like Jesus rose again from the grave. That is just a picture of those things. And so if you're here this morning realizing that you have not made that full commitment to the Lord, as we close in worship here, there's an opportunity for you to come forward and to pray with some of the church leaders that we have up here. Maybe this morning you've realized that you haven't been really living up to this mission that God has put you on,

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to go and share the gospel and you just need that boldness. You get scared. You get nervous. All of us too.

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If you want an open opportunity, an open door, maybe you can come and talk with some of the church leadership and ask for prayer in that sense.

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And for those that just simply need prayer because they're sick or they're hurting or they need, they just need some intercession.

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We're going to have church leaders up front. So I invite you to come forward at that time.

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So Lord, we're so thankful again for this morning. Thankful for these freedoms. Thankful for your son, Jesus. And I just pray that you would go before us in this day. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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Briefly real quick and then the band's going to play their song. Some people are asking and we've had these out before and the SEAL teams were called Frog Men. But people don't understand why we wear this bone frog, the skeleton frog on the shirt. It's to honor and remember the fallen frog men. So that's what that frog is all about on the shirt that you see out in the back. And those words greater love is known than this one that lays on his life for his friends, Jesus' words. No scripture reference on the back intentionally because if anyone sees a scripture reference and they want to ask you about that frog, they won't because they go, it's a Bible shirt, it's a God thing. I'm not going to get into that. But since there's no reference there, this is what happens. They see the frog, they're intrigued and they got to ask what's that represent? And he says, represent seals that shed their blood for your earthly freedom. They go, I like that. I like the words on the back too. They like the words. And they go, who said that? It sounds familiar. Is that like Socrates or like, no, not Socrates. That's the savior. And so just as these guys shed their blood for your earthly freedom, he shed his blood for your eternal freedom. And the light bulb goes on. They said, I never thought about it that way before. And I'm looking at the time, the clock, it's in red. That means I'm over time. But do you guys want to know what happened in that ambush I talked about a little bit? Yeah, you got to get the book because we're out of time. All right, so it'll be in the back.

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But again, I want to encourage those of you on a more serious note as we close in worship, you know, this is a time for you to come forward. If you got to get right with God, like deal with it right here, right now, whatever that burden is, you have an opportunity to get those things off of your chest. If you want to get some prayer, we've got some of the church leaders up front. God bless you guys. And thank you so much for having me out this morning.

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