His Harvest is Ready

One More Night With The Frogs

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Pr. C.A. Murray

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Series Code: HHR

Program Code: HHR000012


00:24 Are you ready for the Word? Yes.
00:27 The title of our lesson today - our subject -
00:30 is: One More Night With The Frogs.
00:34 One More Night With The Frogs.
00:39 Going to ask you to turn with me if you will
00:41 to the book of Exodus
00:45 and we'll consider a verse in chapter 4.
00:49 Exodus chapter 4 and the verse will be 21.
00:54 And we'll read that after we have talked to the Lord
00:58 in prayer. Exodus chapter 4 verse 21.
01:02 Shall we pray.
01:03 Heavenly Father, again we are so thankful for
01:06 the power of Your Word.
01:08 We are thankful for Jesus.
01:10 We are thankful for what that Word does for our lives.
01:15 Father, we want to serve You.
01:18 We don't want to be caught unawares and unprepared
01:22 when Jesus comes.
01:25 And so we beg you, Lord, please... hear us.
01:31 Teach us.
01:34 Fill us with Your Spirit.
01:37 And we thank you for Your promise
01:41 to answer the prayer of faith. In Jesus' name, Amen.
01:46 One More Night With The Frogs.
01:53 I'm in the book of Exodus. What book did I say?
01:55 Exodus chapter 4 and we want to read
02:01 verse 21. Exodus the 4th chapter
02:05 21st verse. The Word of God says:
02:35 This statement about God hardening Pharaoh's heart
02:40 appears 18 times in the Word of God.
02:46 At first glance, God's actions may seem
02:52 a little unfair or arbitrary
02:56 and maybe even a little mean-spirited.
03:01 When you read the Bible on the surface
03:05 these passages might drive us to think
03:11 or have the impression that God is sometimes
03:16 less than fair when dealing with humanity.
03:22 It seems as though
03:24 God is a little biased sometimes...
03:29 and Satan would have us think that way.
03:32 I mean, you give a guy
03:38 a hard heart and then you punish him
03:43 for having a hard heart.
03:46 It just seems a little unfair.
03:50 Why would you punish Pharaoh for having a hard heart
03:55 when it was God who gave him the hard heart?
04:01 Does that seem fair?
04:04 As a young Christian, I used to wrestle with this.
04:08 It bothered me. It irritated and confused me.
04:11 I didn't like the idea that God would harden a person's heart
04:15 and then punish him for having a hard heart.
04:18 And I said to myself as a young child:
04:20 "Why would I want to be serving a God
04:24 who may just wake up one day and decide that He doesn't like me
04:27 and give me a hard heart and then punish me
04:31 for having a hard heart? "
04:34 Didn't seem fair to me. Didn't seem just or right.
04:39 Seemed just a little biased to me.
04:43 And I said as a child... I remember saying:
04:46 "Hey God... not cool! "
04:51 I heard someone make a similar statement about Judas.
04:54 The statement was: "Somebody had to betray Christ.
05:00 It just happened to be Judas. "
05:03 If it wasn't Judas, it would have been somebody else...
05:07 so why are we so hard on Judas? "
05:12 And I would like to answer that question. In fact, I've
05:15 got a sermon that answers that question.
05:17 Can't blame the Lord... can't blame Judas...
05:20 but you really can.
05:23 We don't have time to go into that today,
05:25 but God has an answer for all of these questions I assure you.
05:30 In Exodus chapter 7 verse 3
05:33 we see this statement again.
05:36 I'm in Exodus chapter 7 and verse 3.
05:39 Same statement:
05:52 So how do you harmonize this hardening of Pharaoh's heart
05:58 with the God of love that we know He is?
06:05 First off, ladies and gentlemen,
06:07 when you are dealing with someone who has an
06:10 extraordinarily high opinion of themselves,
06:14 when their senses are so overcrowded
06:17 with their own sense of self-worth,
06:20 many times you have to resort to spectacular measures
06:25 and methodologies in order to get their attention.
06:30 When you are dealing with people who think a lot of themselves -
06:35 who are in love with themselves -
06:37 who spend a lot of time thinking about themselves
06:41 and doing favors for themselves
06:43 and who really love themselves -
06:46 in order to get their minds off of themselves and onto God
06:51 you have to resort sometimes to really drastic measures
06:56 to get them to hear you. Are you listening to me?
07:00 When a person is stuck on themselves,
07:03 it is difficult to get them free.
07:07 The ancient kings... the Pharaohs included...
07:11 thought of themselves as gods.
07:13 They held in their hands the fates, the fortunes,
07:17 the futures of entire empires.
07:19 It was interesting that these ancient kings
07:21 could control vast portions of the then-known world
07:25 but many times could not control their own passions.
07:29 There are so many people like that today.
07:32 They have control of million dollar corporations and empires
07:36 but cannot control their own lives,
07:38 their own loves, their own passions.
07:40 They stand as much in need of a word from the Lord
07:44 as did the ancient kings.
07:45 So let's peek at some of the personal correspondence
07:49 at one of these ancient kings to get the mindset
07:53 of how these guys thought.
07:55 I'm in the book of II Kings. What book did I say?
07:57 II Kings chapter 18. We begin at verse 32.
08:02 I'm going to pick it up mid-way through the verse.
08:10 This is a letter that a certain king
08:13 wrote to king Hezekiah.
08:20 In fact, not only did he write this to Hezekiah,
08:23 he published it throughout the nation.
09:00 And so this particular king is writing to Hezekiah
09:05 and all of God's people
09:08 and he is saying simply this:
09:10 "I go where I want to go.
09:12 I do what I want to do.
09:15 I take what I want to take.
09:17 No god has ever stopped me from doing whatever I please
09:23 or purposed in my mind to do,
09:25 and your God will not stop me either.
09:29 And don't believe anybody including your king
09:33 who tells you that your God can stop me
09:36 because no god ever has. "
09:39 "Now I don't know who your God is, " he says,
09:42 "but if He's like all of the other gods,
09:45 He's not going to stop me either. "
09:47 Now what he didn't know is that the God of Israel
09:50 was not like all of the other gods.
09:52 You see, when you wave and wag your finger in God's face
09:57 like that, you are forcing God to respond.
10:01 You understand that?
10:02 When you make a bold statement like that,
10:05 you are forcing God to respond to you.
10:07 And so Hezekiah opened that letter and he laid it out
10:10 before the Lord and Hezekiah prayed.
10:12 And the priests prayed.
10:14 And they called on God to protect them.
10:17 And God sent one angel... how many angels?
10:21 One angel!
10:22 God sent one angel
10:24 and slew 185,000 of Sennacherib's troops
10:29 in one night.
10:31 So he came in with a big army
10:33 and he left by himself.
10:36 Are you listening to me?
10:37 When you shake your finger in the face of God,
10:42 you are forcing God to respond...
10:45 and you are forcing God to respond in a way
10:49 that gets your attention.
10:51 And so he came in with an army of 185,000
10:55 and he left alone.
10:58 Sennacherib returned to his house,
11:00 and while he was praying in the temple of his heathen god
11:05 his own sons came in and slew him... took his life.
11:09 Now God didn't make those boys kill their father...
11:13 but He didn't stop it either.
11:16 You see, when you ask for God to introduce Himself to you,
11:21 be prepared for the introduction.
11:26 Well, Pharaoh was cut from the same cloth
11:31 as Sennacherib.
11:33 Willful, belligerent, impudent,
11:37 proud, self-centered.
11:41 And James and Peter - both in the New Testament - say
11:44 "God resisteth the proud. "
11:47 So when Moses said: "Let my people go, "
11:51 we find Pharaoh's response in Exodus chapter 5
11:56 and verse 2. What book did I say?
11:58 Exodus chapter 5 and verse 2.
12:00 Let's look at Pharaoh's response.
12:08 Um-hmm...
12:22 That, ladies and gentlemen, is tough talk.
12:26 Amen?
12:28 Pharaoh sat on his throne and said:
12:31 "Who is He? "
12:33 "Who is this God that I should do what He says? "
12:37 "I don't know this God,
12:38 and I'm not going to let the people go. "
12:40 Now you see, when you stand in opposition to God,
12:43 when you put your hand on your hip and say
12:46 "Who is God? "
12:47 God, then, has to introduce Himself to you.
12:51 Are you listening to me?
12:53 He's got to insert Himself into your life.
12:57 Pharaoh asked: "Who is God? "
13:00 And God at that moment said: "You know,
13:02 I think I'd better go down and introduce Myself to him. "
13:06 So you kind of put God on notice.
13:09 You're kind of, as the young people say, calling God out
13:13 when you say "Who is God? "
13:16 "Well, Pharaoh, I want you to know who I am. "
13:20 The Bible says: "I AM that I AM. "
13:24 That's who God is.
13:25 He is the almighty, all powerful, everlasting,
13:28 eternal God who sets up kings and takes them down.
13:35 Don't ask God for an introduction, I say again,
13:37 unless you are ready for the handshake.
13:40 And so, to really understand what the hardening of
13:45 Pharaoh's heart is, we've got to look at the nature of God
13:49 and the nature of Pharaoh.
13:51 Now I want you to stick with me on this.
13:52 What is God like?
13:55 I John chapter 4 verse 8.
13:57 We've used that text from night to night.
13:59 It's a good, strong text. What is God like?
14:02 I John chapter 4 verse 8: let's read it from the Word of God.
14:05 The Bible says:
14:12 Now it doesn't say God HAS love,
14:15 God SHOWS love, God GIVES love,
14:17 God DISPENSES love.
14:19 The Bible says "God IS love. "
14:25 Not God HAS love... "God IS love. "
14:28 The only weapon that God has in His arsenal for you and me
14:33 is love. That's all He has.
14:35 He has no other weapon to fight with.
14:37 He has no other tricks up His sleeve.
14:40 He has nothing else in His bag.
14:42 The only thing God has is love.
14:44 Malachi says: "He cannot lie. "
14:47 Titus says: "He does not change. "
14:51 So God - when He says He loves you -
14:54 He is telling the truth, ladies and gentlemen.
14:56 When He says He loves you, He cannot change.
14:59 It means He's always loved you.
15:01 He loves you now and He always will love you.
15:04 God does not change.
15:06 I mean, being able to lie
15:11 is a pretty handy trick
15:14 if you want to deceive somebody.
15:17 Isn't it?
15:19 If I want to lead you down the wrong path
15:21 and lead you astray,
15:23 the ability to lie is a very useful weapon.
15:28 You know, look like a dove when you're really a hawk.
15:33 Look like a sheep when you're really a wolf.
15:36 Look like a goldfish when you're really a piranha.
15:40 Pretty handy when you want to suck somebody in...
15:43 being able to lie.
15:45 Satan has all of those weapons.
15:47 Satan can lie, cheat, steal, embezzle,
15:50 coerce, subvert, pervert,
15:52 ridicule. Use hate, malice, jealousy,
15:55 envy, revenge, selfishness, racism, sexism.
15:58 Peer pressure, classism, nationalism,
16:01 coercion, embezzlement, and even death.
16:04 Satan has all of those, and he uses all of them.
16:08 But all the Lord has is love.
16:13 He always has loved.
16:14 He loves us now; He always will love.
16:18 The Bible says: "I have loved you with an everlasting love
16:22 and with lovingkindness I have drawn you. "
16:26 So in this corner we've got someone like David.
16:31 Born in sin, shaped in iniquity...
16:34 and yet God loved him.
16:37 Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9 says:
16:49 "Who can know it? "
16:52 So then when we come to God we find that we're dealing with
16:55 a God of love. Regardless of how we are, God still loves us.
17:01 Jehovah God, in dealing with man
17:04 has a tough time many times.
17:07 It's hard dealing with us.
17:09 But it's worse when you're dealing with a king
17:13 who thinks he is your equal.
17:16 As Pharaoh sat on that throne,
17:20 in his mind Pharaoh was equal to God.
17:27 Before God said: "I will harden his heart, "
17:30 let's look at the kind of heart Pharaoh already possessed.
17:35 When we read Exodus chapter 3 and verse 19
17:41 we find out something very, very interesting.
17:56 Now before God sent Moses to Pharaoh
18:00 He told Moses this:
18:03 "I am sure that regardless of what I do
18:07 and regardless of what you say
18:10 Pharaoh is not going to let the people go
18:14 even by a mighty hand.
18:17 Even if I do great and mighty wonders,
18:20 he's not going to let them go. "
18:21 And here's why God knew that.
18:23 The first time we meet Pharaoh
18:27 in Exodus chapter 1 verse 22...
18:29 you can just write that down, we won't take time to read it...
18:31 the first time we meet him he is sending an order
18:37 to kill all of the male Hebrew children.
18:40 That's how we are introduced to Pharaoh.
18:42 Pharaoh is writing an edict
18:44 and the edict says: "Drown all of the male Hebrew babies
18:48 in the sea. "
18:50 Followed by an order that says:
18:52 "they're not going to get the Sabbath off from work. "
18:55 So really what God is saying is that Pharaoh's heart
19:01 is already hard.
19:03 For a person to pass an order
19:05 to take every male child and drown them in the sea,
19:07 his heart is already hardened. God had nothing to do with that.
19:10 That's the condition of Pharaoh's heart.
19:12 God says: "I know this guy...
19:15 He's not going to do it because his heart is hardened. "
19:19 And remember I said all God has is love.
19:22 All God has is love.
19:24 And if love makes you hard,
19:28 then you're going to be hard
19:31 because all God has is love.
19:35 God can't deal with us any other way than to love us.
19:39 And if loving us makes us mad,
19:42 makes you hard, well then God's going to harden your heart
19:45 because God can't change who He is.
19:47 Do you understand that?
19:48 If you don't like being loved,
19:50 then God's love is going to harden you
19:53 because God can't do anything but love.
19:57 Amen? That's all He can do!
19:59 That's all He can do is love you.
20:01 It's determined by the condition of your heart.
20:05 One sun in the sky.
20:07 You put a piece of ice out in that sun
20:10 the ice melts.
20:11 You put a piece of mud out in that sun
20:13 the mud hardens.
20:15 Is the sun the same?
20:17 Yes, the sun doesn't change. What's the difference?
20:19 The material!
20:22 The same sun hardens mud... melts ice.
20:26 Same sun.
20:28 It's that way with God and Pharaoh.
20:31 All God did is love him.
20:33 But he didn't want to be loved; he didn't want God...
20:36 so he hardened his own heart.
20:38 And God couldn't stop loving him because all God can do is...
20:42 love. So to resist the love of God
20:45 you've got to harden yourself. Do you understand that?
20:48 And so every time God came to him
20:50 closer to him with an arm of love
20:52 all he did was harden his heart.
20:55 And God could only love him.
20:58 God can only love us.
20:59 And if love makes you hard, then God is guilty
21:03 because all God can do is love you.
21:05 So the problem is not love... the problem is the heart.
21:11 And the text says: "The heart is deceitful
21:13 and desperately wicked. Who can know it? "
21:16 So depending on how entrenched you are
21:18 on the throne of your own life,
21:20 that determines the volume God has to use
21:23 to get your attention.
21:24 And in the life of Pharaoh God had to speak very loud
21:30 to get his attention.
21:31 And so He began to send the ten plagues. You know the story.
21:35 These ten plagues were targeted to the gods of the Egyptians.
21:39 These weren't just random acts that came from heaven.
21:42 God looked at the...
21:43 the God of heaven looked at the gods - small g -
21:46 of the Egyptians, and He targeted the plagues
21:50 toward those gods of the Egyptians.
21:52 God not only wanted to dismantle the Egyptian economy
21:57 He wanted them to understand ten important lessons
22:01 that we need to understand today.
22:02 First lesson: there is only one God.
22:07 How many? One God.
22:09 That's a lesson we need to know.
22:11 You can't make a god of your car, your wife,
22:14 your husband, your job or anything else.
22:17 There's only one God, and He deserves your worship.
22:21 Amen? And Amen.
22:22 Lesson number 2: that one God has no equal
22:27 and certainly no superior.
22:29 Can you say Amen?
22:30 There is nothing like the God we serve.
22:32 Amen? We serve a good God.
22:35 A great God, a glorious God, a loving God.
22:38 And God has no equal and no superior.
22:41 Number 3: that one God who has no equal
22:46 demands and deserves our worship.
22:51 Amen.
22:53 God demands and God deserves our worship.
22:58 "It is a good thing, " the Bible says, "to praise the Lord. "
23:03 "Blessed is he who praises the Lord. "
23:06 Let me give you a secret for healthy living.
23:08 When you get depressed,
23:11 you can praise your way out of depression.
23:14 Amen? We are told by inspired counsel
23:18 when you're feeling down and sad
23:20 and you think nobody knows the trouble I've seen
23:22 and nobody loves me and nobody cares
23:25 and I think I'm just going to die,
23:30 that comes from Satan.
23:34 Ellen White, my favorite author, says this:
23:37 "God never sends depression. "
23:41 Did you hear me?
23:43 "God never sends depression. "
23:48 Depression is not in God's arsenal.
23:52 Depression is Satan's ultimate weapon
23:56 to get you to turn your back on God.
23:59 It is his atomic bomb.
24:02 If he can't wear you out, if he can't rust you out,
24:06 if he can't gossip you out,
24:08 he will just depress you out.
24:11 Um-hmm. So on Sabbath morning instead of getting up
24:14 and going to church you lay there in bed
24:17 and you say: "You know what?
24:19 I don't feel like going to church. "
24:23 And then you get a little urging from the Holy Spirit
24:26 "you need to get up and get dressed. "
24:28 And then depression will say: "Nah. I'm going back to bed. "
24:32 And you stay depressed till about 1 o'clock.
24:40 And at 1 o'clock the depression leaves...
24:42 now you're up and ready to run!
24:44 But guess what? Church is over
24:48 and your blessing is gone.
24:52 Huh? So now what do you do?
24:55 You've got a whole Sabbath day.
24:56 You've got all this energy 'cause you've been in bed
24:58 missing your blessing, so you say: "Well,
25:00 maybe I'll go to a restaurant and eat. "
25:05 Depression is Satan's ultimate weapon
25:10 and it never comes from God. Never!
25:12 So the moment you say: "Nobody knows the trouble
25:14 I've seen, I'm the only one left in Israel,
25:18 nobody's serving the Lord but me, "
25:20 that is the devil speaking... not the voice of God.
25:24 Amen? So you've got to fight it.
25:26 And she says: "Fight depression like the plague. "
25:29 And one good way to do it is to sing a hymn.
25:32 Find a hymn and sing your way out of depression.
25:36 And if you can't sing,
25:38 go in the car where nobody can hear you
25:41 or go in the shower and close the bathroom door
25:44 and sing to Jesus.
25:45 And the Holy Spirit will take your bad voice
25:47 and turn it into Nadia.
25:53 Amen?
25:55 Sing your way out of depression.
25:57 Lift up the name of Jesus
26:00 because God deserves to be worshiped.
26:02 And listen, when you worship God
26:04 as you send it up, God turns around and
26:07 sends it right back down to you
26:09 in the form of a blessing.
26:12 Number 4: this God has all power.
26:17 This is something that they needed to know, we need to know.
26:19 This God has all power. Now that's important
26:22 because when you get in a fix
26:24 it's good to remember
26:25 God has all power.
26:27 His arm is not short
26:28 nor His ear heavy.
26:30 Any problem you have
26:31 God can handle it. Amen? Any problem
26:34 and every problem you have God can handle it.
26:37 Now, He is not necessarily an instant-cocoa God.
26:41 You don't just mix it up and have instant cocoa.
26:43 Sometimes you've got to pray through and press through
26:46 and stay on it. You may not get the answer
26:48 the first time you pray or the second time you pray.
26:50 'Cause we're so accustomed to instant... you know,
26:53 fast food.
26:57 Can I have fries with that?
27:00 No.
27:02 Sometimes you've got to wait on God. Amen?
27:04 And persevere with God and abide with Him.
27:07 But God has an answer to every question that you ask!
27:11 So if you don't get it the first time,
27:14 keep on asking - Amen? -
27:16 'cause the answer is coming.
27:18 Now, God has... this God has all power.
27:21 Number 5: He was trying to tell Pharaoh
27:24 "Your gods are not gods.
27:26 Those snakes and reptile and things that you're praying to...
27:27 those are not God... those are just creatures.
27:33 So, God has all power. Your gods are not gods.
27:37 Number 6: your gods have no power.
27:40 Praying to that snake or praying to that alligator
27:44 or praying to that fly is not going to save you.
27:48 You need to get your eyes off the creatures
27:51 and on the Creator.
27:54 Number 7: when God speaks
27:58 we must obey.
28:01 Amen.
28:03 When God speaks, His creatures must obey.
28:07 Ten things He wanted them to know.
28:10 Number 8: when you obey things go good.
28:15 Amen. Very simple: when you obey, stuff goes good.
28:21 Praise the Lord.
28:23 When you do what God says do things go well.
28:27 Amen.
28:29 Now they don't always go easy but they do go well.
28:32 That's why God said: "Prove me now herewith
28:34 saith the Lord of Hosts. " When you obey things go well.
28:37 Number 9: when you disobey things go bad.
28:41 Make sense? Yeah.
28:44 Obey and live... disobey and die.
28:48 When you obey God things go good.
28:52 When you disobey God things go bad.
28:56 And number 10: God takes care of His own.
29:03 Come on say Amen.
29:05 God takes care of His own.
29:07 You know, it's not in my notes.
29:08 Let me tell you a quick story.
29:09 I've got two but I'll tell you one. Which one should I say?
29:11 I'll tell you this one. I had a lady... her name
29:14 was Sister Miriam Inch.
29:15 Sr. Inch was in her 70s. She's from Jamaica.
29:19 Sweet little lady... a member of my church.
29:21 She said: "When I lived in Jamaica, I always slept
29:24 with my windows open because I like a lot of fresh air
29:26 in my house. So when I came to New York,
29:29 I like to have my windows open so I asked for an apartment
29:32 on the top floor of my building so I could sleep every night
29:34 with my windows open. "
29:36 She said: "When I go to sleep at night, I'm the kind of person
29:38 that doesn't wake up to go to the restroom or anything.
29:40 When I go to sleep I stay asleep until that alarm clock
29:43 wakes me up in the morning and I sleep very sound. "
29:45 She said: "One night I got up in the middle of the night
29:50 and something said 'close the window. ' "
29:55 She said: "I was asleep and you know how you get up and
29:57 you're half asleep. Your eyes are kind of closed
29:59 and you're walking through the room. You're kind of,
30:00 you know, you know where the room is so you're not really
30:02 looking... you're just kind of walking through the room. "
30:03 She said: "I went to the windowsill
30:05 and the voice said 'close the window now. ' "
30:08 "So, " she said, "I put my hands and I brought the window
30:12 down. " She said, "as I brought the window down
30:15 I heard someone go AAH! "
30:20 She said: "A man was climbing in my window. "
30:25 He had climbed up the fire escape and was getting ready
30:28 to come into my bedroom. "
30:29 "And, " she said, "when I heard him scream
30:31 I really just jammed the window down. "
30:34 She said: "And he pulled his hands out and he fell down
30:36 the fire escape and he ran down the alley. "
30:38 And she told that story in prayer meeting.
30:41 And people said: "Boy, you sure were lucky! "
30:47 And I'm saying luck had nothing to do with that.
30:52 That, ladies and gentlemen, was a gift from God
30:57 because God takes care of His own.
31:01 Amen?
31:03 Now let me tell you this story. This is the last one.
31:05 I can tell it really fast.
31:07 I had a lady in my church Sister Ina Richard.
31:12 She was 105 years old
31:13 and so she couldn't come out to church so we
31:15 went to her house and had a 105-year-old birthday party
31:18 for her. We had a cake with 105 candles on it.
31:21 Almost set the place on fire!
31:25 And she told me this story. She said: "Pastor,
31:27 55 years ago we were poor and broke and we had no
31:30 money. None. Apartment broke. No food, nothing. "
31:33 She said: "I had just joined the Adventist church.
31:36 I lost my job; husband lost his job
31:38 and we had no food and we were worried
31:41 because nothing to eat. And so she said: "I opened up
31:43 the window and I sat myself in my rocking chair
31:46 and I just rocked and I said 'Lord, you're going to have to
31:49 do something because we have no money
31:50 and we have no resources. "
31:52 Said: "I just rocked and prayed. Just in the rocking chair.
31:55 Just rocking and praying. "
31:56 She said: "Pastor, this is the truth.
31:58 There floated through my window just as pretty as you please
32:01 a one dollar bill
32:04 that came down and floated, landed right on the floor
32:06 in front of me. " That's what she told me.
32:09 She said: "Now my husband went upstairs on the roof
32:11 to find out who lost a dollar. "
32:14 She said: "While my husband was on the roof
32:16 trying to find out who lost a dollar,
32:17 I was heading to the grocery store. "
32:20 She said: "Back in the 1940s,
32:23 1930s, a dollar could buy you a lot. "
32:25 She said: "You could get milk and bread
32:27 and some other things. " And she said: "I came home
32:29 with an armful of stuff. My husband was still up on the roof
32:31 trying to find out who lost a dollar. " I said:
32:32 "That dollar came from Jesus. "
32:38 She said: "Don't look, because it came from the Lord. "
32:43 My point is: God takes care of His own.
32:47 Amen? Yes He does!
32:50 He does take care of His own. Now those two stories
32:51 are not in my sermon, so I've got to go a lot faster.
32:54 So these are the same lessons that God is trying to teach us.
32:57 Ten very important lessons God was trying to show Pharaoh.
33:00 There is one God. God has no equal.
33:02 God has no superior. God demands worship.
33:04 God has all power. Your gods are not gods.
33:06 Your gods have no power.
33:08 When God speaks we must obey.
33:09 To obey means things will go good.
33:11 To disobey means things will go bad.
33:13 And God will take care of His own. Can you say Amen?
33:18 These are the same lessons that God would have us learn
33:21 3,300 years later... things have not changed.
33:24 I Samuel chapter 15 verse 22.
33:26 Let's go to the Word of God.
33:28 I Samuel 15 is the book I said and verse 22.
33:46 God wants us to know that we have to listen,
33:49 we have to obey. It is crucial to our walk
33:53 on this road to glory. And so Pharaoh said:
33:56 "No! I don't care who your God is.
34:01 I don't care what He said.
34:03 I, Pharaoh, a living god...
34:06 I'm saying no.
34:07 You're not going to get any days off.
34:10 You're not going to be allowed to go into the desert
34:12 and worship on Sabbath.
34:14 You're not going to get three days of vacation.
34:17 You are not leaving the country.
34:19 Moreover, you are not going to be allowed
34:22 to stop making bricks. In fact,
34:24 you're going to make your bricks from now on without straw
34:28 and you'd better not come short one brick. "
34:31 And God said: "I have heard the cry of My people. "
34:37 And so God - through Moses and Aaron -
34:41 began to dismantle the Egyptian economy
34:44 and also to tear down their idolatrous religion.
34:50 The plagues, I say again, were aimed at
34:52 the things they prized and worshiped.
34:56 They worshiped the Nile river,
34:58 and so God turned the Nile to blood
35:00 and choked it with fish.
35:02 They worshiped lice, interestingly enough,
35:05 and most scholars really think that these were a kind of
35:09 stinging gnat or tick
35:12 that crept into the eyes and ears.
35:14 Sometimes, you know, you get ticks on you or gnats on you.
35:17 They had billions of these things.
35:19 They worshiped those, oddly enough.
35:21 There are some scholars who say that this was really
35:24 the Egyptian dog fly. They had this plague of flies.
35:30 And I did some study on the Egyptian dog fly.
35:32 The Egyptian dog fly, they say, is the most aggressive
35:36 and evil fly in the world.
35:37 You know, you have flies and just kind of swat them
35:39 they run away. Not the Egyptian dog fly.
35:41 The Egyptian dog fly when you disturb it
35:44 acts like a bee... it tries to bite you.
35:47 And interestingly enough it goes for the eye.
35:49 This kind of fly... it always aims for the eyes.
35:53 If you've ever seen Egyptian art,
35:55 you'll notice that Egyptian art
35:58 there is a large mascara line on the bottom and the top lid.
36:02 It's characteristic of Egyptian art.
36:04 Those who are Egyptian scholars notice that.
36:06 If you're looking at a painting on a wall,
36:08 if it's Egyptian there's going to be a heavy black outline
36:11 on the top of the eye and the bottom of the eye.
36:13 That's characteristic of Egyptian art.
36:14 Well most scholars think that that was not decorative.
36:18 It was a protection of tar and some other
36:23 sort of thing they put there to keep the Egyptian dog fly away
36:27 because the Egyptian dog fly always attacked the eyelid.
36:31 And so we see this in Egyptian art.
36:34 Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 1 says this:
36:37 "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, "
36:39 it says. "Therefore, that you turn and live. "
36:44 And so God is attacking the Egyptian economy.
36:48 He is also attacking the Egyptian gods
36:50 trying to let them know that God is a God
36:54 who needs to be obeyed and followed.
36:56 And so Egypt absorbed this unprecedented series
37:00 of catastrophes that we call the ten plagues
37:03 because of their cosmic insubordination.
37:07 And so it seems rather strange
37:09 in view of all of this
37:12 that the response we find in Exodus chapter 8
37:16 verse 8 is given. I want you to turn with me
37:19 because this is where the title of the message comes from.
37:21 Exodus chapter 8 and verse 8.
37:26 The book is Exodus chapter 8 verse 8.
37:30 We'll read down to verse 10.
37:52 Now Rodney come back to me and we'll hold on that one.
37:54 Come back to me if you will. Thank you.
37:57 This plague of frogs was unprecedented and unknown.
38:02 We're not talking about a couple of frogs.
38:06 Ladies and gentlemen, we are talking about frogs.
38:10 Frogs in your bed.
38:13 Frogs in your cabinet.
38:15 Frogs in your closet.
38:18 Frogs in your bathroom.
38:20 Frogs in your kitchen.
38:23 Frogs in your shoes.
38:26 Frogs in your clothes.
38:28 You turn down the covers at night to get in bed
38:31 the bed is crawling with frogs.
38:32 Open up your pantry to get a little flour to make
38:35 bread... flour crawling with frogs.
38:38 Everywhere you turn... frogs, frogs, frogs.
38:44 Put your shoes on in the morning... frogs.
38:49 Put your jacket on... frogs.
38:52 Big frogs, little frogs, slimy frogs.
38:56 Croaking frogs... frogs everywhere.
39:00 Sticky, gooey, ooey, slimy frogs.
39:08 You go to sit down in a chair to read the word...
39:11 chair crawling with frogs.
39:13 Nowhere you can go, nowhere you can move
39:17 but that there are frogs everywhere.
39:20 And even if you like frogs,
39:22 if you think one little frog is cute,
39:25 one billion are not!
39:30 And this is the plague: frogs in the dining room.
39:34 Frogs in your sugar.
39:36 Frogs in your french fries.
39:43 Frogs in the shower.
39:47 Surrounded by frogs.
39:50 Croaking frogs, hopping frogs, big frogs, little frogs,
39:55 stinging frogs, deadly dangerous frogs.
39:59 Everywhere you turn... frogs in your vegemeat.
40:11 So Pharaoh's answer... he's not interested.
40:15 Let's go back to the Word of God.
40:16 Rodney let's pick it back up. Thank you.
40:34 Now let's stop right there. Bring it back, Rodney,
40:36 if you will. Thank you.
40:39 Moses said to Pharaoh: "God wants to show you
40:44 His love. He's going to give you a little break.
40:49 You name the hour that the frogs leave.
40:55 God is going to show you His power and His love.
41:00 You pick the time. "
41:02 Sound fair?
41:04 "God loves you. Pick the time that you want the frogs to go,
41:08 and the moment you say so they'll go. "
41:12 "If you say 'I want them gone now, '
41:17 they'll be gone now. "
41:18 Now if your house was crawling with frogs,
41:21 what would you say?
41:22 "I want them gone yesterday. "
41:26 So let's look at Pharaoh's answer.
41:28 Let's look at it again.
41:36 Pharaoh said: "Tomorrow. "
41:46 So you want them tomorrow? They'll be gone tomorrow.
41:51 But saying tomorrow means you've got to spend
41:56 one more night with the frogs.
42:02 Huh? That's where the title comes from.
42:05 One More Night With The Frogs.
42:08 Why would you say tomorrow?
42:11 Why not right now?
42:15 Well, there's a lot of... there are many reasons
42:18 why he said tomorrow...
42:19 none the least of was he was hoping that his magicians
42:23 could get rid of them today.
42:24 But they couldn't and God saw that they couldn't.
42:29 So Pharaoh had to spend one more night with the frogs.
42:36 I don't know what was going on in his heart
42:40 but even to the very end he refused
42:45 to acknowledge God.
42:47 He'd rather spend one more night with the frogs
42:51 than accept God as God
42:55 and bow down to God.
42:58 Back in the spring of 1974
43:02 a 19-year-old heiress by the name of Patty Hearst -
43:08 you may remember that name -
43:10 a self-styled millionairess
43:15 kind of a dilettante,
43:18 she was kidnapped by field marshal Cinque Mtume
43:24 and members of what was then called
43:27 the Symbionese Liberation Army.
43:31 She was taken from the campus of the University of California
43:34 at Berkeley and a series of famous
43:39 negotiations ensued.
43:43 Her family said that they would pay $4,000,000
43:47 for her return.
43:50 And the Symbionese Liberation Army said
43:54 if this money was not paid she would be killed.
43:58 And for two months nothing was heard
44:03 from or about Patty Hearst.
44:08 They money was not paid; communication was cut off.
44:13 In April of that same year
44:17 the Symbionese Liberation Army struck again.
44:21 They robbed a bank called the Hibernia Bank
44:26 in San Francisco, California.
44:29 They shot two of the customers
44:34 and injured several others.
44:36 Caught on the bank's video surveillance tape
44:41 was the image of a young woman
44:45 holding a rifle, and she was part of the stick-up.
44:50 That young lady holding the gun
44:55 turned out to be the same Patty Hearst
45:00 who had after two months allegedly stopped being
45:06 a captive or a victim
45:08 and who actually had joined
45:11 the Symbionese Liberation Army
45:14 and was now calling herself not Patty but Tania.
45:19 At her subsequent trial,
45:22 psychologists said that she was suffering from a classic case
45:28 of what was being called Stockholm syndrome.
45:32 Stockholm syndrome.
45:36 Stockholm syndrome is a phenomenon that takes place
45:40 when a hostage spends a lot of time
45:44 in close contact with the person who has kidnapped her.
45:50 Through manipulation and surrender of the will
45:54 this hostage so identifies with the goals, aims,
46:01 and aspirations of her captors
46:04 that she adopts them and becomes one with them.
46:09 In other words, Stockholm syndrome is that thing
46:13 that when a person gets kidnapped
46:16 and stays with the kidnapper long enough
46:19 they become one with the kidnapper.
46:23 Are you following me?
46:24 That's what Stockholm syndrome is.
46:26 The captive convinces him or herself
46:30 that the captor's cause is right
46:34 and should be joined.
46:36 So they embrace and align themselves
46:40 with their captor. In other words, they change ranks.
46:45 They become one with the captor.
46:47 My point is that we can live
46:53 in sin so long
46:56 that sin begins to lose
47:00 its sinful nature.
47:02 And we can suffer a sort of spiritual
47:08 Stockholm syndrome
47:10 to the point that we become so comfortable in sin,
47:15 so accustomed to sin,
47:18 so at peace with sin
47:20 that not only do we not hate sin
47:24 sin actually loses its sinfulness.
47:28 Not only do we desire it,
47:31 it actually becomes something that we cannot live without.
47:36 That's how dangerous saying no to Jesus is
47:42 because we become so at home with sin
47:46 that we develop a taste for it
47:49 and we cannot see ourselves living without it.
47:53 When I first... my wife and I first got married
47:56 she used to watch me put in my contact lenses.
47:58 And she would say: "Ooh, how can you do that?
48:01 How can you take your hand and put your finger right
48:03 in your eye and do that? "
48:05 And it seems very natural to me.
48:07 When I first did it, it seemed very odd
48:10 taking a little piece of plastic or gel
48:12 and putting it in your eye.
48:14 Now after having done it - oh, my goodness -
48:16 thirty years, no problem... you just do it.
48:20 Natural.
48:21 That's the way sin is.
48:23 You do it enough you develop Stockholm syndrome.
48:27 You get to where you like it
48:29 and then you get to the point
48:31 where you cannot live without it.
48:33 I... I've never smoked.
48:36 The smell of cigarette smoke just turns me off.
48:40 But I've had people that I've wanted to baptize
48:44 who just couldn't see giving up the cigarette.
48:47 And cigarette smoking is an awful, ugly, evil habit to me.
48:51 But to those who are addicted to it
48:54 it's part of their life.
48:56 It's tough giving up cigarette smoking.
49:00 I've baptized drunks who said one of the hardest things
49:04 for me was to put down the wine bottle
49:07 and grab a hold of Jesus.
49:09 Now I've never had an alcohol problem.
49:11 Only tasted liquor once in my life as a child.
49:14 As a child snuck into my father's closet and saw a little
49:16 vial of something and took a big swig and...
49:18 threw up and said: "not for me! "
49:20 Never did it again.
49:23 But there are those who have problems with alcohol.
49:26 And it didn't start out that way.
49:28 They started out with a little sip or a little smoke.
49:30 They began to like it, they began to love it,
49:33 they became addicted to it.
49:35 In my book - those of you who read my book
49:37 I Will Fear No Evil - young lady
49:40 went to a party. Fellow gave her a little rock.
49:45 He said "smoke this. "
49:48 She had never smoked crack before.
49:50 One time... she was addicted.
49:53 One time.
49:55 And so one night - it's Friday night,
49:58 she's going to church - and she's out in an alley
50:02 trying to find drugs. And she said: "I'm looking
50:04 into my life... I'm going to church in about 3-4 hours
50:06 and here I am in an alley trying to find drugs
50:10 to take care of a crack habit that I shouldn't have
50:12 because I took one little chance. "
50:15 You see how dangerous it is to turn your back on Jesus
50:20 and to say "no" when Christ is calling you?
50:23 You develop Stockholm syndrome with sin.
50:26 You become accustomed to sin.
50:28 You get to like sin. You get to love sin.
50:31 And sometimes even as you are praying for the Lord to
50:33 deliver you you're not even sure He can.
50:38 We become that accustomed to sin.
50:43 People like Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Mussolini:
50:47 these people who slaughtered millions of people...
50:50 these were somebody's child at one time.
50:54 Hitler didn't start out being a murderer of 6,000,000 Jews.
50:57 He started out as somebody's child.
50:59 Mussolini started out as somebody's child.
51:03 Idi Amin... somebody's little boy.
51:05 Pol Pot... somebody's little boy.
51:08 But when the call for sin came, they didn't say "no. "
51:12 They turned their back on Jesus
51:14 and opened their heart to sin.
51:16 And sin, ladies and gentlemen, will take you further
51:18 than you want to go and keep you longer
51:20 than you are prepared to stay.
51:22 It will destroy your life
51:24 if you make a habit of saying "no" to Jesus.
51:27 Sin is not cute; sin is not hip;
51:30 sin is not sexy; sin is not chic;
51:32 sin is not cool; sin is not something to be desired.
51:38 Sin is a destroyer.
51:39 Sin, the Bible says, is death.
51:42 Why would anyone want to spend even one more night
51:47 in sin when God is saying you can be free
51:50 right now?
51:53 Why wait till tomorrow when you can freedom right now?
51:59 When you can have love right now?
52:02 When you can have joy right now?
52:05 Why would anybody want to spend one more night
52:08 with the frogs when you can be frog-free,
52:10 sin-free, right here and right now?
52:14 All you've got to do is ask Him.
52:17 All you've got to do is want it.
52:19 All you've got to do is open your arms
52:22 and accept the love of Christ
52:24 and the frogs of sin can be out of your life this very second.
52:32 Ask God for deliverance... deliverance is yours.
52:36 Ask God for victory... victory is yours.
52:40 Ask God for joy... joy is yours.
52:44 Ask God for peace... peace is yours.
52:48 Ask God for deliverance from your past...
52:51 deliverance is yours.
52:53 You know, I am so strong on the Lord.
52:58 I've seen the Lord do so much
53:00 with so little for so long
53:03 that I am convinced that God can do anything with nothing
53:06 if you give your life to Him.
53:09 If you give Him what He needs, what He wants.
53:12 And all He wants is you.
53:15 I had a fellow come to my church
53:18 wanting to serve the Lord, hooked on smoke,
53:22 smoking three packs of cigarettes a day.
53:25 I don't even know how many cigarettes are in a pack.
53:27 Twenty? Twenty-one? How many?
53:29 He's smoking 60 cigarettes a day.
53:31 Through the power of God he put the cigarette pack down.
53:35 Took a hold of Jesus; became a deacon in the church.
53:40 Became an elder; preached a meeting.
53:43 Baptized 20 people.
53:45 Led 20 people to the Lord.
53:46 Put down the smoke... picked up Jesus.
53:51 I had a young lady come to my church.
53:56 She was a prostitute,
54:01 a crack smoker,
54:04 and a heroin addict.
54:06 She was down to about 100 pounds.
54:11 She looked like walking death.
54:17 When she got a hold of Jesus...
54:19 or better yet, Jesus got a hold of her...
54:22 she stood up in prayer meeting and she said:
54:28 "I'm 24 years of age
54:32 and I've slept with 5,000 men. "
54:35 And my church did just what you're doing.
54:41 She said: "But I'm new in Christ. "
54:46 She gave up crack, she gave up heroin.
54:51 She did!
54:53 Tell you what Jesus did for her.
54:56 She began studying with a fellow that she knew.
55:03 She led him to the Lord.
55:05 I baptized him.
55:08 I baptized them both.
55:11 She went from 100 pounds...
55:16 she put on a lot of weight
55:20 eating vegetarian food.
55:22 Went up to about 140.
55:25 Got pregnant. I blessed their first child.
55:29 Um-hmm. Blessed their second child.
55:33 Blessed their third child.
55:36 I blessed their fourth child,
55:38 and she was pregnant when I left New York.
55:43 Five.
55:46 She put on weight, she got a husband,
55:49 she got five children, and she got Jesus.
55:52 Huh. Doesn't matter what your past is.
55:56 Doesn't matter what you've done.
55:58 Doesn't matter how long you did it.
56:00 When you come to the Lord, sin has no hold over you
56:04 any more. Your past gets washed in the blood of Christ
56:08 and all you've got is a bright and glorious future.
56:12 And you can have it right now!
56:14 Why would anyone spend even one more night with the frogs
56:19 when you can have Jesus now?
56:22 John 3:19. Let's go to John 3:19. The book is John
56:26 chapter 3 verse 19:
56:38 Some people like living with the frogs.
56:41 They like living in sin.
56:43 But that's not us, brothers and sisters.
56:46 Our call is to be children of light.
56:50 I want to ask you a question.
56:52 How many love Jesus?
56:56 You know, there's one thing I've found about Satan.
56:59 Unless you keep your home real tight,
57:04 sealed, he'll get in the cracks.
57:07 Have you noticed that?
57:08 Unless you try to keep him out
57:10 and make sure that you are armored with Christ
57:13 Satan will get in the cracks.
57:14 And even those of us who have walked with the Lord
57:16 for a long period of time sometimes get a little lazy.
57:19 Huh?
57:21 So I want to talk to you first.
57:23 I want to talk to those of us who are in the church...
57:26 who are members of the church.
57:27 Maybe you see areas of your life where you need to
57:30 as they say in the Army tidy up a little bit.
57:33 Police those areas.
57:35 Maybe you see areas where you need to really stand strong
57:39 for the Lord, where you need to make sure that everything
57:42 is as it should be so that when Christ comes
57:44 you're ready for Him.
57:46 And if you want to stand with me and say: "Lord,
57:48 please take care of those areas of my life that sometimes
57:51 get a little dusty. I want to sweep in the corners
57:53 of my life. I want to make sure that everything is perfect
57:55 for the Lord. " If that's your call,
57:58 then I want you to stand with me.
57:59 Because I've got a second call.
58:01 I've got a second call because there may be those of us here
58:04 today who have never really given their heart to Jesus.
58:07 Who never really have.
58:09 And if you haven't, if you are not a member of the church
58:13 and you want to give your life to Jesus,
58:16 I'm going to ask you to do something very special.
58:18 I'm going to ask you to come down here and take my hand.
58:20 I'm going to step down on the floor in just a minute.
58:22 I want you to do that. Now, I want those who are standing
58:24 I want you to pray with me. Just bow your heads and pray.
58:26 Want you just to pray.
58:28 And I want you to ask God if there's somebody here
58:30 who needs to give their life to the Lord
58:32 I want you to ask God to give that person the courage
58:35 to come down here and take my hand.
58:36 You're praying; you're closing your eyes.
58:38 You're bowing your heads and you're talking to Jesus.
58:40 Lord, please. It's quiet. There's no music.
58:44 There's nothing being said. It's God's call to you,
58:47 and if you feel God calling you to give your life to Him,
58:51 just come on down here and take my hand.
58:52 God bless you.


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Revised 2014-12-17