Today we get to begin a new sermon series called Navigating by God’s Promises, and specifically we’re gonna look at today, learning to trust God when life falls apart. You ever had a moment like that when everything just seems to unravel? You did the right thing, you prayed. You discerned, you sought other counsel, you stepped out in faith, you followed God. Maybe in your career, maybe it was something in relationship to your marriage. Maybe it was a move in a ministry. You stepped forward in faith and suddenly the wheels just came off and it can leave you wondering, did I, did I mishear God? Or is there something wrong? Did I sin that’s kind of stopping things up? Or why is this? Falling apart, and that’s where we start today. We pick up where we left off last week, Moses and Aaron, uh, finally, you know, following God’s will, doing it in God’s way. We’ve been looking at that over the last eight weeks while, hey, now they’re going down to Egypt land to confront the most powerful person in the world. In the known world, Pharaoh, to declare to him, let my people go. Alright, I’m no Levi, but you know what I’m talking about there. Right? And they respond in faith and in action. Good job guys. Awesome way to go. Finally doing God’s will in God’s way only once. They do. Ouch. Whereas I would say to me, in the old country, UTA. Once they do confront Pharaoh, things go from bad to worse. That’s our story. Today we’re gonna be reading in Exodus chapter five. Now, this is a bit lengthy, but hang in there with me. It’s definitely worth the read. It’s rich and it’s tapestry in the narrative. Pharaoh said, who is the Lord? That I should obey him and let Israel go. I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go. Then they said they, Moses and Aaron, the God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword. But the king of Egypt said Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work. Then Pharaoh said, look, the people of the land are now numerous and you are stopping them from working. That same day. Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people. You are to no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks. Let them go and gather their own straw, but require them to make the same number of bricks as before. Don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy. That’s why they are crying out. Let us go and sacrifice to our God, make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies. Then the slave drivers and the overseers went out instead of the people. This is what Pharaoh says. I will not give you any more straw. Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all. So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, complete the work required of you for each day. Just as when you had straw and pharaoh’s slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers. They had appointed demanding. Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today? As before then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh. Why have you treated your servants this way? Your servants are given no straw yet. We are told make bricks. Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people. Pharaoh said lazy. That’s what you are lazy. This is why you keep saying let us go and sacrifice to the Lord. Now get to work. You will not be given any straw yet. You must produce your full quota of bricks. The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble when they were told you are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day. When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them and they said, may the Lord look on you and judge you. You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us. Whew. What just happened? Moses and Aaron, they, they were finally doing the right thing.

They were doing God’s will in God’s way. They obeyed, they stepped forward in faith. They confronted Pharaoh. They declared the Lord’s word. And what was Pharaoh’s response? He made things worse and not just by a little brutally. So what’s going on? Good question, and I think it’s one that we ourselves might ask today, especially when we follow God’s will in God’s way. And yet when things then don’t go well, when life gets tough, and it does for all of us, doesn’t it? We can begin to question God, is God good? Is he there? Does he care? Has he abandoned me? And we see this in the story in Exodus five. So here’s my first assertion today, and I want you to consider this carefully. Listen, following God may make things worse before they get better in our text. When confronted with God’s word and his will, Pharaoh doesn’t respond with repentance. He reacts with punishment. And who gets the blame? Moses and Aaron, even the Israelite foreman saying verse 21, to Moses and Aaron, may the Lord look on you and judge you. You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh. And so Moses and Aaron, they do what any church leader would do. They begin to question God, why, Lord, have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? Now this is not disobedience. This is a question of disciples. Honestly, wrestling with God. So hear this today. Sometimes the greatest evidence that you are doing, God’s will. It’s not necessarily when everything goes right, it just might be when the enemy hits back. Have you ever been there? You step out in faith and you get knocked backward into reality. But my dear friends understand this, hardship is not always a sign of failure in the Lord. Especially, it might be the clearest sign that you are finally pushing back against the enemy. And it might be the very place that God intends to do his deepest work. That’s when we need, and this happens in our lives. The words of Isaiah that Billy just read for us. Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say Israel? My ways hidden from the Lord. My cause is disregarded by my God. That’s that same question Moses and Aaron were asking. And here’s the prophet’s response. Do you not know? Have you not heard rhetorical questions? Yes, you have. The Lord is the everlasting God. He gives strength to the weary, those who hope. When the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles. You see, God does not abandon us in our weariness. Rather that’s where he meets us. Perhaps the most deeply Jesus himself said, in this world, you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world. And in the Book of Acts, the apostle Paul teaches, we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. You know, this is what the Bible teaches. It’s certainly though not what our culture wants to hear, and it’s sometimes not what is being taught and preached in pulpits and stages these days either. And I think this is what makes victory being here at victory and catching us online, being under the God’s preached word here at Victory. It’s something special and that’s our strong commitment to preach what the Bible says, whatever it says, not necessarily what you or I want to hear. Here’s a seminary level way to put this, that here at Victory we don’t preach a theology of glory. Rather, we preach a theology of the cross. Let me explain.

Just as following, God may make things worse before they get better. So also the way of Jesus is the way of the cross. It was Martin Luther who made this distinction between the theology of glory and the Theology of the Cross. A theology of Glory says, Hey, if I follow God, then life’s gonna get easier. He’s kinda obligated to bless me. Right? That’s a theology of glory. A theology of the cross instead says, when I follow Jesus, it means I need to take up my cross daily. A theology of glory assumes that God is always seen in strength and power, success and comfort. A theology of the cross however insists that God is most clearly revealed in weakness, suffering, and the cross. In other words, according to the Bible, the smiling victorious face of God is hidden behind the suffering face of Jesus Christ. So Luther writes this, he deserves to be called a theologian. And by the way, all of us are theologians, practicing theologians, okay? It just is. What theology are you practicing? Luther Writes, he deserves to be called a theologian who comprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the cross. It’s what Jesus himself prayed the night in which he was betrayed right before is gonna be crucified. Father, reveal your glory in me. Jesus himself said following me. Doesn’t mean your life is gonna be easy. He says, rather, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. The apostle Paul knew this all too well. His ministry wasn’t marked by ease. Not at all. It was filled with hardship. He writes, I’ve worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely. I’ve been exposed to death again and again. Whew. And Paul’s not boasting from a position of strength. He’s actually boasting in a posture of weakness and why? It’s because he knew this truth, that God’s power is made perfect in weakness. I wanna share a personal experience of this. When I was going to seminary back in my twenties, I started my own business to pay for it. It was called Matheson Concessions. It was essentially a food truck or a food trailer. In fact, here actually is a picture of me in that stand back. It’s kind of blurry. It’s not a current picture. That’s that’s the actual thing right there. It was a hamburger stand. I had all kinds of other food and concessions to sell, and I stepped out in faith. I believed that God was calling me to start my own business to pay for seminary, and so I got some financing all that I could. I bought the stand on credit, a stepped van, a crew vehicle, the equipment. I hired, a crew, booked the route only on the very first day to my very first spot. Having a major road accident that totaled my trailer, I’d spent all my money except $300 that I’d saved for starting change. I remember this event. Clearly, the sun brightly shining on this big, big sky country of Montana. Um, on I 94 from Billings, heading toward Miles City is gonna be our first gas stop and a mile west of Mile City. We’re coast. We’re kind of going down this big, long, gentle left hand curve of I 94 when I look out in my rear view mirror and there’s my trailer a hundred feet behind me. It’s a single axle trailer. Some are balanced just right. Going down the hill. And so I thought, okay, I’m gonna slow my step van down and get in front of it to try to slow it down. And in all the vast stretches of the interstate in Montana, what do my wondering eyes should appear, but a car parked in the shoulder and there I could just watch it in slow motion. There’s my trailer just going down. It kisses right off the guardrail and hits the car square in the rear and buckles up. Slam on the brakes, jump out of the step van, sprint back to the scene of the accident. And there are people climbing out of this car. There’s a big sedan, six of ’em now. No one was hurt miraculously.

I mean, that’s the biggest miracle really. But what the problem was with the trailer, it was a four inch, uh, square, uh, hitch. Safety chain to the step van, but where there was a pin connecting it to the trailer, there was a hairline crack all around that hitch that had broken free. I told the person I bought it from, he had three other trailers like that. They all had that same issue and he welded them up and made ’em secure, but I had to pay the price and so did others. Now, thankfully, they weren’t hurt. The long story short, once the people were tended to. I then had the trailer towed into Mile City, spent the next two days there, round the clock, trying to rebuild the skin of the trailer, make it health code ready, and that all the equipment was working. Eventually, I made it to my first spot up in Fort Kipp, two days late, but I still had my space and we started. Making some sales, and I vividly remember that Sunday morning in my devotions reading before we opened for breakfast in James chapter four and hit right in the forehead. Listen, here’s what I read.

Now, listen, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city. Spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why do you do not even know what’s gonna happen tomorrow? What’s your life? You’re a mist that appears for a little while and vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if it’s the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. Wow. Time just stood still for me, right there in God’s word. It’s what I would call a kairos moment. When time, the Greek word, kairos, it just stood still for me. When God’s word spoke. Deeply to me in one of my lowest points in my life, and I believe I’ve kept that spirit of in the Lord with me since that time. Hey, I had been very sure this is what God called me to do, start my own business, and I did it, but that didn’t mean that the journey would not be fraught with challenge. Instead, God had his own plan and agenda for me. He’s gonna teach me to navigate my life, not by my circumstances, but by His word and his promises. And so for you today, also this day, your suffering in life, your setback, your frustration, what do you do with that? What is your functional theology? A theology of glory. That God’s supposed to be there for your comfort and ultimate blessing, or is it a theology of the cross that even when life gets difficult, that’s for God’s glory and it may be his deepest working in your life. So here at Victory, you’re gonna get a steady diet of what we preach and teach and live a theology of the cross. Where the Christian life, it’s all about knowing Jesus and following him. And as he said, to take up our cross daily as we follow him. Following God may make things worse before they get better. The way of Jesus is the way of the cross. And third and finally this morning, God speaks his strongest promises when we are weakest. We’re gonna continue on here in Exodus chapter six. Chapter five. Things have gone from bad to worse. Moses and Aaron and Israel, they were at their lowest point, and yet this is precisely. Where they needed to learn to navigate by the promises of God, not by their circumstances. So listen to the narrative and what God says to them. Then the Lord said to Moses, now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh because of my mighty hand. He will let them go because of my mighty hand. He will drive them out of his country. God also said to Moses, I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name, the Lord. I did not make myself fully known to them. I, I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan where they resided as foreigners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. Therefore say to the Israelites, I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment, I will take you as my own people and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from another yoke of the Egyptians, and I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord. Promise. After promise, after promise. Reminders of God’s promises, his covenant promises made to his people throughout their whole history. Six times in these verses, God says, I will four times. He says I am. Five times. He says I can. He doesn’t say you must. He doesn’t say you’ve gotta be strong enough, but he says, I will. Reminding them of God’s covenant, God’s power, and God’s name. 17 promises not one command. Hmm. In other words, when Moses and Aaron and Israel are rock bottom, God doesn’t say to them, Hey, come on guys. Try harder. Rather, he says, watch me work. I’ve got this. Same God today as then, and he says this to you, also, watch me work. I’ve got this. I’ve got you. This is what the aal uh, the Apostle Paul asserts in second Corinthians, where he says, speaking on behalf of God, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

I wanna take a pastoral aside here for us and talk to us about where we at Victory are at right now. Every so often, God gives a church a moment that feels like we’re standing on a threshold. The door is open, the spirit is speaking, and we can sense that God is inviting us to take that next step together. I believe victory is at one of those moments right now. We call it victory Forward, our prayerful initiative seeking God’s will and God’s way to extend his kingdom here in the East Valley and be and beyond. Two weeks ago, the victory forward vision team met together Last week, the staff got together, all prayerfully asking, Lord, where and how are you leading us? It was really kind of timed together as God’s people, uh, with the burning bush, listening to God’s voice, discerning God’s will and how to be done in God’s way. And in these meetings, we remember we reflected back 48 years here at Victory that God has used us to make a kingdom impact for the sake of Jesus here in the East Valley. And we began to see more clearly how he’s uniquely shaped us. Now for what’s ahead, and one thing that stood out is this, that God has uniquely called and equipped victory to reach people in what we call the second half of life. You know what I’m, it’s the second half of life. It’s not to the exclusion of anyone else. We will serve all that God brings to us and to whom he sends us. But this is a special mission to a group of people who are largely overlooked by other churches. No one is looking to plant a church to reach retirees, and yet here we are in one of the most. Ripe mission fields for retirees, people in the second half of life, and it’s who we’ve reached over 48 years and we’re in the Lord, thankfully, we’re still crushing it. That’s what our, our consultants tell us. We’re people in the second half of life are being disciples and making disciples. Are being transformed by the gospel and then empowered by the Holy Spirit deployed to lead others into God’s mission, frontiers. And so from these meetings and from this conviction, there are five key initiatives coming out. It’s written up in an e-blast that just went out. You’ll be hearing more about these as they continue to take shape. But teams are forming, plans are coming together around strengthening who we are here, victory in Mesa. And then asking, where are we going to plant the next victory? We wanna strengthen our disciple making Here at Victory, we want to create stronger volunteer and servant leader opportunities. We wanna nurture and foster this generous, joyful culture of stewardship. We wanna form missional communities to reach deeper in the neighborhoods that we are already connecting with. And then we were asking, God, where would you look for us to expand with another victory? Somewhere here in the East Valley, these aren’t just bullet points for a brochure. These are all invitations for each of us to pray, to serve, to give to go. Teams are just beginning to form. Plans are in the embryonic shape, but they’re starting to form and the road ahead. Hey, it’s gonna require courage and faith and joyful sacrifice. But I’m glad to let you know that the leadership here feels united together. That we believe this is God’s will for us, and we wanna do it in God’s way. But let me tell you, as your pastor and I may need to remind us of this as we go forward, it doesn’t mean it’s gonna get easier. And in fact, it may get harder before it does. But when that happens, let’s not panic. Yeah, God isn’t failing. In fact, he might be preparing to do an even greater work than we might have planned. He might just be bringing us to the place where his power will be made perfected in our weakness, where his glory and his glory alone would shine the brightest just as he did with Moses and Aaron and the people of Israel. I think a key proverb for us in this new season ahead of us is from Proverbs 16 verse nine. In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. That’s my overriding prayer. The Lord continues to guide us. I believe this is our moment to step across that threshold again. To follow God as he leads, trusting that the same God who has guided us this far will continue to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine. And together we’ll see God move victory forward. Now lemme just ask a personal question for each of us. What does all this, this whole text mean for you today personally? Well, I believe it means this, that as you follow God, as you follow after Jesus, when your plans fall apart, when the road is tough, when you step out in faith and follow God’s will and yet things go wrong, don’t panic.

Don’t quit and don’t assume that God has left you do this instead. Remember Jesus. His promises and remember his cross. When your life falls apart, that’s when God’s promises are all the more critical. And as you remember those, you’ll remember that you are not abandoned and that actually you may be on the very path. God has chosen to reveal his glory. It’s an opportunity for each of us, for you to learn to navigate your life, not by your circumstance. But according to God’s promises, and get this, you don’t have to carry the cross alone because Jesus has carried it first and he walks with you still, and he’s called you to be part of a church family here at Victory, where we can walk alongside with one another and bury each other’s burdens. Remember this prophecies from Isaiah. It’s about Jesus. Surely he took up our pain. And bore our suffering. He was pierced for our transgressions and by his wounds, we are healed. Jesus himself, following the father’s will in the father’s way, took the road of suffering, of humiliation, of rejection, and even death. And he did so, so that you and I could walk the road of redemption and of restoration, and of resurrection. That’s the good news of God and Jesus Christ, Jesus died for you. Jesus rose again for you. And now today, Jesus walks with you even when the path gets dark. And one day Jesus will return and make all things new, even so come quickly, Lord Jesus. And so today, remember God’s promises and trust them even when life seems to fall apart. Because God’s promises remain faithful and eternal. Navigate your life, not by your circumstances, but by God’s promises. Jesus Christ, our redeemer followed the father’s will straight to calvary. But through his death, we’ve received eternal life. Remember this promise from God, he who did not spare his own son. How will he not also graciously give us all things? And remember that Jesus did not just die, he rose again, and you will too. And this is the hope and the promise that we clinging to not a life of ease but a savior. Who bled and died and rose again for us, and now whose spirit, the Holy Spirit walks with us. So when you are stepping forward in faith following Jesus and things go from bad to worse, remember Jesus and his cross when the mission becomes hard, lean on God’s promises. When you feel weak, trust in God’s promise of I will. And in so doing, learn to navigate your life, not by your circumstance, but by God’s promises.

Join me in prayer. Father, when we are weak, be our strength. When we are confused, be our guide. When the way ahead is hard. Give us the courage to keep going because of Jesus. Thank you for your promises. Thank you for the cross, and thank you that even when life seems to fall apart, you hold us together. I pray this in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.