Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.wartracebaptist.org/sermons/60746/exodus-181-12/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Amen. Well, good evening, guys. It is good to be gathered together with you. Take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Exodus. Turn with me to the book of Exodus, Exodus 18. We've made it to chapter 18 as we're just making our way through the book of Exodus now and seeing the time in the wilderness. Really, we'll be hanging out in the wilderness for a while, but we're in Exodus 18. Tonight, I'll be in verses 1 through 12. So Exodus 18, verses 1 through 12. Before we get into it, let's just open up with a word of prayer and then we'll start. God, I thank you so much for this day. And Lord, I just praise you for every opportunity we have, Lord, every chance we get to come and to open up your word. And we pray that as we look at it, Lord, that we would grow in it. We would grow in our understanding of it, Lord. We would grow not just in our understanding of the facts, but Lord, we would grow in our understanding of the person of Christ and the person and work of the Lord. And we would know more of you so that we could be a better service for you. We just ask, Lord, that you would take this time tonight. You would be magnified. You would be lifted on high. And Lord, that we would be transformed by what we see and what we hear. And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen.

[1:26] Exodus 18, starting in verse 1. I'm going to read to verse 12. It says, Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Moses' wife, Zipporah, after he had sent her away and her two sons, of whom one was named Gershom.

[1:52] For Moses said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land. And the other was named Eleazar. For he said, The God of my father was my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.

[2:03] Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was camped at the Mount of God. He sent word to Moses, I, your father-in-law, Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her. Then Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and he bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had befallen them on the journey and how the Lord had delivered them. Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel in delivering them from the hand of the Egyptians. So Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods. Indeed, it was proven when they dealt proudly against the people. Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God. And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses' father-in-law before God. Exodus 18 verses 1 through 12. We have been looking at the wilderness wanderings of God's people of the redeemed. We have seen the Exodus event. We have seen the crossing of the Red Sea and how God is leading them to the promised land. But between the time of their deliverance to the time of their entrance, from the time they were called out of Egypt to be brought into the promised land, we have this thing commonly referred to as a wilderness wanderings.

[3:48] What should have taken, if it was just a trip from here to there, only a matter of days, takes 40 years. And we realize that God was not really concerned about getting the people to a location.

[4:01] Rather, he was concerned about the people. He was more concerned about making and shaping the people into what he desired them to be so that when they came to the place he wanted them to be, they would be fit to be the people he had called them to be. We need to understand that about God.

[4:19] Sometimes we think that God has called us and led us to do something and he may very well be doing that. He may be pointing us in a direction, but as he leads us, we need to be reminded that God is not so concerned about getting us there to that place as he is concerned about us.

[4:35] One of the things that I often remind myself of, just in my personality in dealing with things either here at the church or outside of here, is that people are more important than process.

[4:48] Some of us are very process-oriented thinkers, which means we have to get it done because we have to do this. We have to accomplish the task. But something that we need to remember is that sometimes the process may be slowed or it may even be interrupted and if we have touched the people, that's okay. I know that's a challenge and sometimes it's very challenging. Sometimes it's challenging for me. There are some things about the process I really don't care about and some things about the process I'm very particular on. I want things to work in a certain order and I have to remind myself at times, people are more important than process. And it is not because I see that in anything in the world, but rather I see that in scripture. God is more concerned about his people than he is about the process. If God just wanted to bring the people of the slaves of Egypt into the land of Canaan, then he could have moved them in an instant and dropped them in. He could have led them across the wilderness. He got them there and spotted themselves because he redeemed them and spotted themselves, brought them there. He could have told them to go anywhere else besides where the giants were wandering around, by the way. He could have led the 12 spies to any other portion of the land. They just so happened to go to where the giants are wandering. And he could have made it a lot more accessible, but he wasn't really concerned about the giants. He wasn't really concerned about them inhabiting the land because he knew that it would happen because God had promised it. And what God promises will come about. He was more concerned about shaping the people. And there are some times in our life where God is calling us to do something and it seems that it's delaying and it's not happening and we're not getting to the place as soon as we would like because God's working on the person. People are more important in the process. But one thing we see in this wilderness wandering, we call it the sanctification.

[6:42] They have been redeemed. That is their salvation. And now God is working on the people. That is their sanctification. God is doing something through them, with them, and to them. We've seen their grumblings, their complainings, their whinings, their moanings, their fighting, their bickerings. We just saw the great battle of Joshua and the Amalekites. We saw that in the end of Exodus 17 where Moses was up on the hill holding up the staff and he had Aaron and her up there with him as well. But now we're introduced to something that is not complaining. They're not in want. They're not in lack of anything.

[7:17] They're not murmuring. Everything is calm in the camp. And we're going to talk about Jethro, Moses' father-in-law. But I want you to see tonight the outreach of the redeemed.

[7:31] The outreach of the redeemed. God had called his people. We understand this. When he made the promise to Abraham, God made a very clear, distinct promise to Abraham. And one of those tenets of the Abrahamic covenant is that you will be a blessing to all the nations. That all of the nations will be blessed in you. Now we know that the end fulfillment is not that the nations find their blessing in the nation of Israel, though we need to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and pray for the peace of the Israelite nation. And we need to be concerned about the people of Israel. We do not find our blessings in the nation of Israel. We find the blessings in he who came forth from the nation of Israel.

[8:15] Israel that is the Savior who is Jesus. But we know that God promised Abraham that you will bless other people besides you. I'm calling you to myself and as my people you will be a blessing to the other people. The best way God could reach the world was to call someone out of the world and to call them to live in communion with him so that while they went back to the world they would be able to show the world what they had seen in private. That's what the gathering is. The gathering together on Sundays has always been or the first day of the week since the resurrection has been the equipping of the saints to do the work of the ministry. We come to be equipped. That's Ephesians 4 by the way. We come to be equipped to be encouraged to be renewed so that what we do here in private corporate worship will be displayed out there in public life. God had called his people to be a blessing to the nations.

[9:09] Sometimes we know that we understand that that God has called us to be a blessing to those around us. He has called us to reach out to be on mission to live our lives for his glory but we think that we have to get it all together before we can do any of it to begin with. That I will begin to bless those around me whenever I get everything within me settled. First of all that's an impossibility because by the time that day comes we will already be with the redeemed in glory singing hallelujah around the throne of Jesus and there won't be anybody to do any missions work with okay. There won't be anybody to do any outreach to because everybody there will already know. The second thing we see is that God used imperfect people to do a perfect work and he used them often in the middle of their imperfections. I'm reminded even of the story of Abraham. You remember Abraham went in and he lied about his wife Sarah and then later he lied about his wife Sarah. Same person, name changed.

[10:06] We understand that the second time he lied about her. God had brought a curse upon the people that he was there and he had closed the womb of all the ladies of that nation and as God revealed it to the king of that land and he asked Moses, not Moses, he asked Abraham, what have you done? And Abraham explained it to him and he said, would you pray for us? Think about that. He just lied to them which put the people in that predicament and then he interceded for them and God answered the prayer of Abraham and opened the womb of the ladies. Why? Because God's avenue for blessing the nation was Abraham.

[10:47] And we see the same principle followed with the Israelite nation. God was not going to use the redeemed people that he just set free from Egyptian slavery as a blessing to the world after they get to the promised land. He's going to use them as a blessing on their way to the promised land.

[11:08] And we see that in this passage. One of the things that is really encouraging to me is in the middle of their sanctification, in the middle of their grumbling, their complaining, their fighting, their arguing, their battles that they're facing, in the middle of all these times of trial really are the most fruitful days of their outreach. Because often it is the struggle in the wilderness that produces the greatest outreach rather than the comfort in the promised land. Because by the time they get to where God is leading them to, they begin to live in houses they did not build and to drink from wells they did not dig and to eat from gardens they did not plant. And life gets too easy to be an outreach and they begin to look at people outside of them more as a burden rather than a mission field. There's a reason why new church plants reach on average about 10 times more people per capita than existing church plants or existing churches. I'm not saying it has to be that way, but that's just the statistics. A new church reaches one person for Christ for every five members.

[12:12] Whereas it takes an existing church about 50 to 60 members to reach one person for Christ. Why is that? Because they haven't made it to the place of comfort yet. And they still live with that focus. That's something that we always challenge ourself with.

[12:27] But I want you to see the outreach here of the redeemed that while they were on their way, still with all these struggles, still with all these problems, on their way, in the middle of their imperfections, they began to reach out and to be an encourager to others. And Moses is the one who leads the way. And I know you're asking the same question I am. How did you get that from that scripture? Hopefully we'll open up to that because this scripture really is a very confusing scripture if we just look at it in its simplicity. But the first thing I want you to see is the initiative taken. And this is where you have to stay with me and kind of think along with me for a minute and see the initiative that is taken. It says, now Jethro. Now, one thing that is pretty unique to admit is that the Midianites, which Jethro is a priest of Midian, are very closely related to the Malekites whom Joshua just defeated in battle. Okay? I'm not saying that they're best buddies. I'm not saying they're best friends. I'm just saying they're pretty close in relation and they all live in the same region. And it would be kind of unique to see this, but Moses is married to a Midianites. We need to remember that, okay?

[13:43] Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people. How the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt, Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Moses' wife Zipporah after he had sent her away and her two sons, of whom one was named Gershom.

[14:01] For Moses said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land. And the other was named Eleazar, for he had said, The God of my father was my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. Now, I don't know if you gathered or not, but from this passage, at least in the New American Standard, I think they want us to remember that Jethro is Moses' father-in-law because it repeats it a number of times to remind us that Moses is married to a Midianite woman. But I want you to understand the initiative that was taken. And to get there, we have to think about this just for a moment. Because all of a sudden, in the middle of this wilderness wanderings, on their way, we have Jethro showing up. Now, the last time we saw Jethro, it was in Exodus 4 when Moses is leaving his father-in-law after the burning bush experience, in Exodus 3. And God is sending him back to Egypt. Then we depart from Jethro and we'll see him here in the 18th chapter. And then he leaves again. But all of a sudden, Jethro comes back onto the picture and this is Moses' father-in-law. We see the fact that he comes and we don't really know why he comes.

[15:03] That's why we want to get to this here. Why now? Why here? And I think it helps us to take the initiative. Or it helps us to understand the initiative and who took that initiative.

[15:13] Jethro is described as a priest. Now, we need to be careful and not ascribe to him more than what is his due. In Exodus 2 and 3 and 4, he is just described as a priest. He is a priest of Midian.

[15:29] The Midianites were not necessarily worshipers of Yahweh. That did not mean that they didn't acknowledge a God of heaven. Much like so many nations and tribes around the world today will acknowledge him as a God. But that does not mean they are a true follower of that God. They are not in a, what we would call a covenant or a salvation relationship with God. So we just have this man who happens to be a priest of the Midianite tribe, who is Moses' father-in-law. And he shows up.

[15:59] He's heard about it. And he's bringing somebody with him. This is what is so kind of questionable. This is where we have to think. He brings Moses' wife and Moses' two children with him. Now, the great question is, how did they get with Jethro to begin with? Because if you read Exodus 4, I'm not going to ask you to turn back there, but you can make a note of there. When you read Exodus 4, it tells us that Moses took his wife and his two children and left Pharaoh. It's Exodus 4 20, left Jethro and went back to Egypt. He took his wife and his two children and he left his father-in-law Jethro and went back to Egypt. You may remember that very difficult passage there just a little bit after that, that while they were on their way, an angel of the Lord met them and intended to kill Moses.

[16:48] It's a pretty wild picture. God had called him to Egypt. Now God's meeting him on the way. And the Bible says he intends to kill him. And then Zipporah takes a knife, a flint knife, and circumcises their son, throws it at the feet of Moses, and said, now blood for blood. He was out of covenant. He was out of the sign of being in God's protection. So we know that at least until the rest stop, if you will, she's with him. And she's traveling with him and she's going there. But somewhere in Scripture, she ends up, well, it's not recorded in Scripture, somewhere in history, she ends up back with Jethro. Now, there are two great possibilities that are thrown out there by Bible scholars. And I know you're kind of asking, why does this matter? Well, stay with me because I think it matters. It helps us to understand the initiative. The first line of thought is this. Well, after she did the circumcision or sometime after they got in Egypt, she got so disgusted, she just went back home or Moses allowed her to go back home. And she went back and hung out with Jethro with the two boys while

[17:52] Moses was doing the work of the God over here. And all the plagues were coming down. Moses didn't want his wife to be there and didn't want that thing. And so all the plagues are coming. So now that everything's safe, Moses is calling his wife back. I have to just go out on a limb there and say, I don't see that. The second thought is after the Exodus, after they crossed the Red Sea, after God has set them free, Moses sends his wife and children to go tell his father-in-law what has just happened. Now that one is the one I tend to think. Why? Well, very clear. If my wife had been gone for a long time and my two children had been gone for a long time and I had been over here, as soon as they come up, I'm going to show them some special attention. The scripture is very silent about when Jethro gets back with Zipporah and Gershom and Eleazar, doesn't even mention them.

[18:51] As a matter of fact, their names are never mentioned again, except for in genealogies of scripture. We don't see them anymore because the story is not really about Moses, by the way, the story is about God. But if I had not seen them in a long time, then surely I would welcome them differently than what it appears that Moses welcomes them. He gives all of his attention to Jethro, not to his wife and his children, which kind of tends to show us that maybe they weren't gone that long. The second reason I believe that he sent them to them after the Exodus is because of where they are at. They are at the Mount of the Lord. The last time he was at the Mount of the Lord, he was tending his father-in-law's flock and he came up on a burning bush.

[19:34] So the place where he had encountered the burning bush while tending on the west side of the wilderness or the backside of the wilderness, while tending Jethro's flock, he came upon a burning bush and he had to call, which led him to leave. So they're close to home. The way I see scripture, it appears that Moses wanted his father-in-law to know what God had done.

[20:00] He had went out on a limb and told him, I've met an angel of the Lord up there on the hill. There was a bush that was burning, yet it wasn't consumed. And God spoke to me from that bush.

[20:14] Now being a priest, he would have, okay, maybe would have accepted that. And he has called me to go redeem my people. And I'm taking your daughter. And I'm just thinking, if I'm telling my father-in-law this, I'm taking your daughter and your two grandchildren, and I'm going back and we're going to go set God's people free. God is calling me to that. The way I see scripture and your interpretation could be different is after this, then he sends them back and says, go tell him why. Because it says, now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law heard before he got to them, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, his people. How else would he have heard unless an eyewitness had went and reported? And who else would have went to Jethro in the middle of the wilderness but Jethro's daughter?

[21:04] I think the beautiful picture is Moses wanted him to know. Outreach always begins with an initiative. Moses was close to his father-in-law who was already sensitive to spiritual things because he's a priest of Midian. Though he may not be a believer in the true God, he thinks about these spiritual things and he says, you have to know what God has done. You know, it is amazing when we understand this, that so many people outside the doors of the church are interested in spiritual things.

[21:40] And really what they're waiting on is for someone to take the initiative to talk to them about those spiritual things. Someone to take the initiative to share with them what God has done. So we see the initiative that is taken in this outreach. Moses couldn't have left the multitude because he had this multitude of people that he was leading, but he could have very easily sent his wife and two children. It's my understanding that this is why when they get back, it's not a big hoopla. Now all of a sudden my wife and kids are back because they had only been gone for a short time.

[22:17] And I don't think Moses would have sent his wife away and then tried to convince other men to lead their wives to go through the things that they were going through. I think that God has always called leaders to lead by example rather than to lead by person or to lead by word. So we see the initiative taken. Second, we see the intentional witness. It says in verse 5, So he's coming back. Jethro heard about this and Moses' wife says, well, I'm going back. And he says, well, I'm going to go with you. He comes to where Moses is in the wilderness where he was camped at the Mount of God. There's the place where he saw the burning bush. And he sent word to Moses, I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her.

[23:02] So I'm just coming along. I want you to know that I'm coming. Then Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and he bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. Here we see a great sign of respect.

[23:17] Moses is a man who has seen God do wonderful things. Moses is a man who has met with the Lord, who meets with him face to face, who has seen God answer his prayers. And yet when his father-in-law, still an unbeliever comes into his presence, Moses goes out to meet his father-in-law, goes before his father-in-law, bows down, gives him the kiss of welcome, probably on each side of the cheek, introduces him into his tent, has an intimate time of fellowship. Even today in this region of the world, hospitality is the number one thing you can ever do. Hospitality of welcoming someone into your place. What was he doing? He was showing respect for the man. They may not be of like faith, at least not yet. They may not even be of like mind because we see near the end of Acts 8, I mean of Exodus 18, which is a really good principle. We'll see it maybe next week, if not after, Jethro's advice where he didn't really agree with the way Moses was doing things, but yet he respects him with the respect that is due him. One of the great things that we need to understand and one of the things that is so discouraging when believers do not understand it is that yes, we are called to live lives of missional activity and we are called to reach out to those people nearest us, but the call to reach out is also a call to reach out with all respect. That we ought to respect the people who may not be of like faith, like mind, and even like activity of us. I'm not saying that we like their activities and their choices. I'm not even saying that we agree with their habits and we agree with their, their, the things that they're doing, but we can always respect the individual.

[25:16] We cannot be surprised when sinners act like sinners, but we can be surprised when believers don't respect the people they come into contact with.

[25:28] I have a gentleman that I know and he wanted to tell me about how good his, how active the church was. It's not a church in this region. It's not even a church in the South and somebody, yeah, we were always a very active church. We're always throwing blocks through abortion clinic windows and we were always doing this and we were always picking it and as much as I despise abortion, as much as I, those things break my heart. I need to understand it on the other side of that window is another individual that we need to respect just as much as the unborn.

[25:56] The greatest way to stop what the man inside the window was doing was to reach the man with Christ. I'm not saying that, I mean, there's a way to love and there's a way to respect. Here's Jethro, an unbeliever.

[26:18] And Moses, no greater believer at this time than Moses walks out and bows down before him, gives him the kiss of fellowship, welcomes him. There's nothing wrong with welcoming those that are not like us into our presence, right?

[26:30] Into our fellowship. What a great respect. But we're looking at the intentional witness and intentional witness always starts with respect. So they ask each other about the welfare. They have these, it says, so they asked each other about the welfare and went into the tent. So this, oh, hey, how's it going with you? Yes, it's going good with me.

[26:51] And then look at this, this intentional witness in verse eight, Moses told his father-in-law, Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had befallen them on the journey and how the Lord had delivered them.

[27:07] See this. He was intentional. He told them all that the Lord had done, all of the hardship they went through and all of the ways God had delivered. He did not talk about anything about the people.

[27:19] Everything he was talking about was the Lord. I got to tell you what the Lord did in Egypt. I need to tell you how the Lord has sustained through a hardship. I need to tell you the trials we have walked through.

[27:31] He didn't paint a beautiful picture of ease and comfort. He told all about the hardship. He told all about the struggles. He told about the lack of water and the lack of food so that he could tell about the provisions of the Lord.

[27:46] That's part of the story. This is why sometimes the greatest outreach always comes in the most difficult of moments because it is then that we can tell about the struggle and we can tell about the hardship because telling about the hardship always leads to telling about the provision.

[27:59] It always leads to talking about how good God is in that, but we do not have to talk necessarily about ourselves and about our shortcomings and about our failures. Really, it is an intentional witness that, Jethro, I just want you to hear all about God.

[28:15] I want you to hear all that he's doing, the activity that's going on around us. I want you to see the way he's delivered. Moses brought him in and he told him everything because he wanted him to know.

[28:28] One thing we have found is if we're going to intentionally reach out to those around us, then we will begin to intentionally talk about the way God is working in our lives. This is a message I'm preaching to myself just as much as I'm preaching to anyone else.

[28:40] We will be intentional in our conversations. They came into the tent after saying hello outside the tent when they came inside the tent. Moses said, now let me tell you what I want to tell you.

[28:53] You may have heard about it, but I'm going to tell you all about it. It's intentional. The third thing I want you to see in the last thing is I want you to see the inclusive faith because something happens because of what Moses says.

[29:06] It says in verse 10, or actually let's go back up to verse 9. Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel in delivering them from the hand of the Egyptians.

[29:19] So now we see this rejoicing because of what he's hearing. So Jethro said, blessed be the Lord who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, from the hand of Pharaoh, and who delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.

[29:31] Why did he rejoice? This is because he understood what God had done because he knew a person. God had done it in his life. All right. Blessed be the Lord who did all this for you. I'm rejoicing in what God is doing in you.

[29:44] I'm seeing the testimony you have. Moses, I know you. I know you couldn't have done this on your own. I know you as being the defeated outcast Egyptian who came and married one of my daughters.

[29:54] And now I see you with this multitude of people. I'm going to rejoice because of what I see in you. I may not have seen this yet personally, but I'm going to bless the Lord because of what I see in you.

[30:06] This is the power of our story. The power of our testimony is it gives other people opportunity to praise and rejoice and to bless because they may not be able to experience these things in their life yet.

[30:18] But when they see God doing them in us, because they may have known us in the past or they may know us now. And when they begin to see a change in us and they begin to hear the story that we share, they say, I know you and you wouldn't be like this on your own.

[30:34] So now I'm going to have to rejoice in this God because if he can do it for you, then maybe he can do it for me. And in verse 11, we have this great shift in Jethro.

[30:45] We have this great, really this great proclamation. He says, now, now, because of everything you've shared with me, because of everything that is clearly revealed.

[30:56] I mean, I can look outside your tent, Moses, and I see all of Egypt's slaves out here. Because, you know, of what happened with the Amalekites, because it is true that you may not have had any water and you must have drank out of a rock, because I hear these stories because you're testifying.

[31:14] Now, I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods. What is this? Jesus says that he who knows God knows salvation, right? He who knows understands rightly, then he is in fellowship.

[31:30] Now, I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods. Indeed, it was proven when they dealt proudly against the people. What is he saying? God has proven himself. Because of what God has done to the Egyptians and what God has done to the world's superpower, the great gods with the lowercase g of Egypt could not withstand the power of the God you are proclaiming to me.

[31:52] Now, I know for certain God has proven himself. How did God prove himself? In the testimony of Moses and in the public display of the people, that you could not argue with the fact that God was God.

[32:04] He said, now I know that. He's greater than any other God. Many see this as Jethro's salvation. He is making this public profession of who God is.

[32:15] He is rightly describing him. He's greater than any other God. And he gets to it because of the outreach and the concern and the testimony of Moses. He says, then Jethro's father-in-law, I mean, verse 12, Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, not only did he make a proclamation, now he's going to make a display.

[32:32] He's going to show it, right? He's not only going to say it, he's going to show it. Then he took a burnt offering and sacrifices. So he makes a burnt offering so that he can signify, I am surrendering this to God.

[32:46] And then he makes sacrifices showing, I'm trusting in God to cleanse me or for the removal of my sins. So he took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God.

[32:57] And here's the inclusion. And Aaron, there's no priesthood yet in the nation of Israel. It hasn't been established. We'll get to that in Exodus 20 and following when we get to the Ten Commandments and all those other things.

[33:10] We haven't got to that yet, but we know that Aaron will be of the Arianic priesthood. It says, then Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses' father-in-law before God.

[33:25] What is this? Fellowship. Fellowship. Fellowship. One of the true signs of like-mindedness in Scripture is always fellowship around a meal.

[33:37] Fellowship meals are so important in Scripture. That's why it says in the book of Acts that they ate their meals with gladness and simplicity of heart from house to house. They would have fellowship one with another.

[33:49] And here we see Aaron and the elders of Israel. That would be the redeemed. That would be the people who have just been delivered. Who really have literally been set free from slavery.

[34:02] That are not yet what they should be, but they're on their way, right? God's working on them. These are the redeemed. And they're sitting down and having fellowship with a Midianite.

[34:12] Why? Why? Because the redemption that God offers is not just to a few. God's call is for deliverance to all people.

[34:26] When we look at the Old Testament, so many people see this as God's dealing with a Jewish nation, and it is. But it's not about the Jewish nation.

[34:37] It's about how God used the Jewish nation to reach the world. And how God used that Jewish nation to bring the Savior so that he could set us free so that we could reach the world.

[34:53] It's amazing. The outreach of the redeemed. When we begin to really understand. God's called us to be intentional.

[35:07] To take initiative. And to be an inclusive body. To reach out to the people around us that may not be like us. I think what Jethro must have been like walking into a camp of maybe two million Jews.

[35:23] You got two million Jews, two Midianites. A small group of mixed company. And two half Jew, half Midianites. Moses' boys.

[35:34] I mean, think about that. But aren't you glad that in that company of redeemed, God included more than just one race? Because God is a God of the world.

[35:48] A God of the nations. Not just a God of a certain people. And he's called us to live our lives the same way. Even in the process of their sanctification.

[35:59] God led them to reach out to other people outside of them. Let's pray. God, I thank you so much for this night. Lord, I praise you for every opportunity we have together and together.

[36:12] Lord, I thank you for your time and for the fellowship. I pray that you would help us take your word. Let it take some words. God, that you would help God in my conversation.

[36:25] For this week, I pray, God, to open up doors. For a digital outreach. Doors of opportunity. Lord, you can vote me. Lord, you can vote me for the last people who are in the living room.

[36:38] God, I thank you. Amen. Some of you are going to go home tonight, and the only thing you took home from that message is fellowship meal is important.

[36:57] If everybody wants to stand and turn to 335, standing on the promises. Standing on the promises of Christ my King, through eternal ages let his praises ring.

[37:25] Glory in the highest I will shout and sing, standing on the promises of God.

[37:37] Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior.

[37:47] Standing, standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God.

[38:00] Standing on the promises that came of him, when the hailing storms of doubt and fear ascend.

[38:11] By the living word of God I shall prevail. Standing on the promises of God.

[38:21] Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior.

[38:33] Standing, standing, standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God.

[38:44] Fourth, fourth verse. Fourth, fourth, fourth, fourth, fourth, fourth, fourth, fourth, fourth, fourth, fourth, fourth, quintess, Standing on the promises I cannot follow, listening every moment to the Spirit's call, resting in my Savior as my all in all, standing on the promises of God.

[39:09] Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God.

[39:32] Thank you guys so much. Anyone have a moment to get here? Will we? Well, remember, for Tuesday night, Tuesday o'clock, and we have a good evening.

[39:47] I'm going to send that out. We'll be a fair change in life. Do you want to get some? Yeah, everybody is included.

[39:58] Even people that, different populations that come into the area and have different cultures and not like us. It's like you don't want to interact, you don't want to touch them, you don't want to entertain.

[40:13] And, yeah. Very good. More. More. More. You have it, Father.

[40:31] Father, thank you so much for this word that you've heard tonight. Father, I pray that these words touch our hearts. And as you continue to fill us with the Holy Spirit, that we are empowered and bold to go out and take the issue.

[40:47] Be intentional and be inclusive. We advance your kingdom. Father, thank you for all you've found for us. Thank you for all your love. Thank you for reaching out to us to save us.

[41:00] Father, we pray that you continue to bless this church, to grow this church, and be with us as we go out to the world. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

[41:11] Amen. Please, prayed.

[41:28] I have one. Yeah, I mean, I was studying. I don't think I studied it.

[42:05] I don't think I studied it.

[42:35] I don't think I studied it.

[43:05] I don't think I studied it.

[43:35] I don't think I studied it.

[44:05] I don't think I studied it. I don't think I studied it. I studied it. I studied it. I studied it. I studied it. I studied it. I studied it. Thank you.

[44:45] Thank you.

[45:15] Thank you.

[45:45] Thank you.

[46:15] Thank you.