(soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - Good morning, church family.

Happy Lord's Day. We will now begin our service. (soft piano music) Let us sing "As the Deer." ♪ As the deer panted for the water ♪ ♪ So my soul longeth after thee ♪ ♪ You alone are my heart's desire ♪ ♪ And I long to worship you ♪ ♪ You alone are my strength, my shield ♪ ♪ To you alone may my life be filled ♪ ♪ To you alone may my spirit lead ♪ ♪ You alone are my heart's desire ♪ ♪ And I long to worship you ♪ (soft piano music) (soft piano music) ♪ You're my friend ♪ ♪ You're my friend and you are my brother ♪ ♪ Even though you are a king ♪ ♪ I love you more than anything ♪ ♪ More than any other ♪ ♪ So much more than anything ♪ ♪ You alone are my strength, my shield ♪ ♪ To you alone may my spirit lead ♪ ♪ You alone are my heart's desire ♪ ♪ And I long to worship you ♪ (soft piano music) I want you.

♪ I want you more than gold or silver ♪ ♪ Only you can satisfy ♪ ♪ You alone are the river ♪ ♪ Your river and the apple of my eye ♪ ♪ Of my eye ♪ ♪ You alone are my strength, my shield ♪ ♪ To you alone may my spirit lead ♪ ♪ You alone are my heart's desire ♪ ♪ And I long to worship you ♪ ♪ You alone are my heart's desire ♪ ♪ And I long to worship you ♪ - Okay, good morning, everybody.

I wanna welcome you to this morning's service. Particularly if you are new, joining us for the first time, I wanna extend a warm welcome to you. Please visit our welcome booth, which is right at the tip of the parking lot, and you'll see our welcome team members in the blue jerseys.

We'd love to meet you, get to know you, and then if you have any questions, they'll provide answers there. I would like to highlight some important announcements for some of the major events in the near future. First is our singles ministry. The BAM Christmas party is taking place on Saturday, December 14th.

It's at 5.30 p.m. in the Main Sanctuary, okay? Here in the Main Sanctuary. Our planning team has requested, please show up in festive attire, okay? Be in the red, the green, and just come ready to do fellowship, have a great meal, and have a great time together. Likewise, our family ministry will be having their Christmas party on December 7th, which is Saturday at 5 p.m., also here in the Main Sanctuary.

Please know there is gonna be a table booth outside where you can sign up, but today is the last day to sign up for that, so please make sure you take care of it. We've been mentioning that a lot of the family teams, there are teams who are presenting.

Please know that even though you're presenting, doesn't mean you're automatically signed up. We need a head count for food, also to know if we need babysitting, so please make sure to register for that. So then tied with that, we do need help helping hands to do child care for that event on December 7th, so if you're available, please sign up, and we really appreciate the help there.

The final announcement for today is that for fellowship and just building camaraderie and getting to know people within the church, we're gonna be starting our basketball season, which will start January 5th at the Great Park. We do have both men's and women's league, and all kind of people of different skill level are welcome to participate.

It is for fellowship within the church, and therefore, because it's scheduled teams and a scheduled season, it is open for members only. There will be a table outside for sign-ups for that event. Okay, at this time, we'll go into time of offering. If you do have a physical check, we have a drop box right there by the main entrance.

Otherwise, you can go ahead and give that online. Let's take a moment to pray together. Lord God, as we look forward to this whole week of Thanksgiving, and we have today this service before you, with our joined voices, with our hearts, we want to thank you, God. You are so tremendously good to us, generous beyond anything we deserve and far more than we could ask for.

In all these ways, Father, you lavish us with your love, and truly, Lord, we thank you. We ask, God, that you would continue to build within us such a faith where we can see you not just simply working in the past, but today. And therefore, God, we would continue, then, to have such a growing sentiment of gratitude in our lives.

We offer you, Lord God, this morning just simple time, our attention, our ears, but also, Lord, our finances with a heart of gratitude, acknowledging, Lord, that you have been so good. We thank you in Christ's name, amen. (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) - Let us all rise and let's spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us.

(audience chattering) (gentle piano music) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (gentle piano music) (audience chattering) (upbeat music) ♪ There is an endless ♪ ♪ There is an endless song ♪ ♪ That grows in my soul ♪ ♪ I hear the music bloom ♪ ♪ And though the storms may come ♪ ♪ I am holding on ♪ ♪ To the rock I cling ♪ ♪ How can I keep ♪ ♪ How can I keep ♪ ♪ From singing your praise ♪ ♪ How can I ever say enough ♪ ♪ How amazing is your love ♪ ♪ How can I keep ♪ ♪ From shouting your name ♪ ♪ I know I am loved by the King ♪ ♪ And it makes my heart want to sing ♪ ♪ I will lift ♪ ♪ I will lift my eyes ♪ ♪ In the darkest night ♪ ♪ For I know my Savior lives ♪ ♪ And I will walk with you ♪ ♪ Knowing you'll see me through ♪ ♪ And sing the songs you praise ♪ ♪ How can I keep ♪ ♪ From singing your praise ♪ ♪ How can I ever say enough ♪ ♪ How amazing is your love ♪ ♪ How can I keep ♪ ♪ From shouting your name ♪ ♪ I know I am loved by the King ♪ ♪ And it makes my heart want to sing ♪ ♪ I can sing ♪ ♪ I can sing ♪ ♪ In the troubled times ♪ ♪ Sing when I win ♪ ♪ I can sing when I lose my step ♪ ♪ And fall down again ♪ ♪ I can sing 'cause you pick me up ♪ ♪ Sing 'cause you're there ♪ ♪ I can sing 'cause you hear me, Lord ♪ ♪ When I call to you with prayer ♪ ♪ I can sing with my last breath ♪ ♪ Sing for I know ♪ ♪ That I'll sing with the angels ♪ ♪ And the saints around the throne ♪ ♪ How can I keep ♪ ♪ From singing your praise ♪ ♪ How can I ever say enough ♪ ♪ How amazing is your love ♪ ♪ How can I keep ♪ ♪ From shouting your name ♪ ♪ I know I am loved by the King ♪ ♪ And it makes my heart ♪ ♪ I am loved by the King ♪ ♪ And it makes my heart ♪ ♪ Want to sing with you ♪ ♪ He who was ♪ ♪ He who was before there was life ♪ ♪ Walked across the pages of time ♪ ♪ He who made every living thing ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ He who heard humanity's cry ♪ ♪ Left His throne to wake as a child ♪ ♪ He became like the least of us ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ Jesus, Son of God, Messiah ♪ ♪ The Lamb, the Roaring Lion ♪ ♪ Oh, be still ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ He who died for sinners and sins ♪ ♪ He who died for us from the dead ♪ ♪ Even now He is in the midst ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ He who chose to live ♪ ♪ He who wants to serve our God ♪ ♪ As He wants to live ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ Jesus, Son of God, Messiah ♪ ♪ The Lamb, the Roaring Lion ♪ ♪ Oh, be still ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ Jesus, Alpha and Omega ♪ ♪ Our God, the Risen Savior ♪ ♪ Oh, be still and behold Him ♪ Sing holy.

♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Is the Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Worthy, worthy, worthy ♪ ♪ To receive all praise ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Is the Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Worthy, worthy, worthy ♪ ♪ To receive all praise ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Is the Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Worthy, worthy, worthy ♪ ♪ To receive all praise ♪ ♪ Jesus, Son of God, Messiah ♪ ♪ The Lamb, the Roaring Lion ♪ ♪ Oh, be still and behold Him ♪ ♪ Jesus, Alpha and Omega ♪ ♪ Our God, the Risen Savior ♪ ♪ Oh, be still and behold Him ♪ ♪♪ Amen.

You may be seated. All right. Amen. That's a great song. Please take your Bible and turn over to Book of Exodus, chapter 15. Today, as we are looking forward to our Thanksgiving week, our various, you know, family meals and special occasions, we want to take time to give thanks to the Lord and meditate on what it means to have a thankful heart in every single circumstance.

Here, jumping down into immediately after coming out of Egypt and being delivered from the chariots of Pharaoh, Moses writes a song. And in verse 1 of chapter 15, it says, "Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord and said, 'I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted.

The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. This is my God. I will praise Him. My Father's God, I will extol Him. The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is His name.'" Let's pray.

Father, we pray, God, that You would grant to us a growing understanding and depth of faith where we can just continue to see more details, continue to see greater aspects of Your goodness, love, and glory throughout the history and throughout our lives. And in so doing, God, cause us to be so worshipful and so thankful to You.

This we pray in Christ's name. Amen. So as we think about, you know, again, Thanksgiving, etc., I really do appreciate having these set times and seasons, basically holidays. It sets up for good tradition. And I see it as a good thing, not like a burden or nothing but tradition.

I see it as a really, really great thing. And in our family, we try to hold the tradition, we try to get together as a family, and we make sure not to bypass Thanksgiving. So no premature Christmas celebration, right? We still sing Christmas songs, etc. We're actually prepping for, you know, the next season, etc., but we try to make sure that doesn't become a quick bypass as we honor our way to Christmas, so to speak, because it is really a special time to thank the Lord.

Now, in so doing, you know, please, just as a request, there's a lot of people that call it Harvest Festival, and we're going to have a Harvest Festival, etc. I get it, but every religion has a Harvest Festival, you know. Did you know the Greeks have one, the Romans have one, Koreans have one, the Chinese have one, and it's basically a generic thank you for, as long as they've had, you know, agriculture, farming, there was a thank you to the lords, the gods of the universe, for providing a great, great time of harvest, you know, abundant in the crops.

But for us, we're American. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. We have this privilege to celebrate a holiday that was based off those individuals who came to this land, a lot of it by faith. And doing a quick review of history, it is an American tradition, and in that way, it is just that, but to us, it can be something so much more.

We can take this opportunity to encourage and rejuvenate our hearts of thanksgiving and faith unto God. Thinking back, you recall, yes, like what we learned in a snippet during our elementary days and during our high school days, etc., individuals on the Mayflower came to the U.S. with hopes of liberty, to have religious freedom, yes?

And maybe that's all that we can think about or that's all we remember, and we also know that they had a meal with a local tribe because this tribe actually helped them survive. And so in thanksgiving to God, they had a feast together. That is too short of a summary to really appreciate what had happened, right?

Because back in 1620, yes, they embarked on this great journey, but on this great journey, many people died before they ever got to the land. And what's more, they were set out for Virginia, but they landed in Massachusetts, and the winter was harsh. And so by the time they survived through the winter, and it was the spring of 1621, more than half the people on the boat that came over, there was 102 individuals, more than half died, okay?

If you were a leader in this group, you would think you were an incredible failure. The stories are tragic, and the stories are actually incredibly saddening because pretty much every family had somebody within their family die, and a lot of them, because it was the harsh winter, were kids.

They buried their children. So if you were a leader in this group, I want you to take a moment to think about this. You would see this as a miserable failure. You wouldn't see this as an occasion to be like, "Bless the Lord. Let's have a feast." My personal just sentiment about this is it took Christian faith to give thanks in that kind of circumstance, right?

And you guys know because probably you were forced to read the Mayflower Compact, etc., that embedded into this endeavor was the ideas, the principles of God, more than just simply escaping religious oppression. For example, if you take the very first portion of that Mayflower Compact, it reads, "In the name of God, amen.

We whose names are underwritten," so forth, "have undertaken for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith this honor." That's very different from just saying like, "Oh, there was a bunch of separatists. They just escaped," right? And the reason why I'm saying this is because if we take time to meditate and just to imagine, can you imagine coming to an unknown territory, seeing just unknown individuals, all that kind of stuff, and then seeing half of the people you love die in front of you, you burying them?

You would have just given up. I would have given up. I would have thought, "This wasn't blessed by God. Maybe we should go back." I would have thought, like, "I regret the fact that I asked you guys to come with me," so to speak. But instead, for those who survived, William Bradford, who was the first governor of that Plymouth colony, he starts to write and say, "Bless the Lord.

He's provided for us. Bless the Lord. He sustained us who remain." And so that Thanksgiving was an incredible act of faith to say in the midst of what I see, and what I see is we could still die, right? There are no guarantees. What I see is actually the graves of the people I love.

But what I see is God. And so they're giving thanks to the Lord. This, to me, is incredibly encouraging. To be able to say good and perfect gifts come from the hand of God in a time when you're suffering, in a time when your agenda, like your vision, your great project, looks like it's like a two-thirds failure, it takes an incredible amount of faith to give thanks in that kind of scenario.

And so the challenge to us is can we exercise that kind of foundational faith to thank the Lord in every instance, every circumstance? And in answering that question, I immediately thought about the people in the Exodus generation, right? You have people who were enslaved for 400 years. They saw their family members pass.

They saw their grandpa, their dads, their uncles get buried in the buildings and the structures and the statues. It would have been logical. It would have been the kind of, you know, just makes-sense conclusion to think we're all gone. There's no hope for us. But in crying out to the Lord, they receive mercy, and they give thanks for deliverance.

For us, we have a foundation that is not just positive thinking. It's not just, "Hey, guys, count your blessings." It's not a facade of just, like, trying to say the good stuff. For Christians, we have such a foundation of hope where we can give thanks in every circumstance. Amen?

So in thinking about this, how can we have such a deep-seated gratitude in our heart? Point one, you remember how much you personally have been forgiven, okay? You think about where you've come from. You recall the depths and the pit and the darkness from which God has rescued you.

You remember the B.C. days, okay? And you take time to see and not necessarily appreciate but value the weight of sacrifice of the Lord. And this should come natural to us, but sometimes we're just so forgetful. And I would say perhaps sometimes the greatest threat to us having an ongoing thankful heart is just getting so fixated on all the stuff that's going around us and all the stuff that's before us, we completely lose sight of the things before.

And God knows this. God knew it. Turn your Bible over to Exodus 12:25. In ministering to these individuals, the promised people of God, God prepared them before He delivered them, right? Before that He actually pulled them out of Egypt, He did His works of miracles, and then He spoke to them.

And He prepared their mind and their reactions for the time that they'll come out. So think about that, okay? The way He prepared them was to challenge them not to forget. First, in Exodus 12, He gave the instructions for the Passover. And in verse 25, He says, "So when you enter that land which the Lord will give you, as He promised, you shall observe this rite." So this is tradition.

This is ongoing ritual. And everybody was supposed to do it. There was not supposed to be a man or child missing this dinner. And it was the Passover. "And when your children say to you, 'What does this rite mean to you?' You shall say, 'It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians, but spared your homes.' And the people bowed low and worshipped." Whenever we do Passover meal here at church, I always remind everybody every year, remember the greatest mistake we make in not remembering history correctly is to think, "Yeah, those Egyptians, God really got them." No, no, no, no.

You were this close. You weren't so much spared from the wrath of the Egyptians. You were spared from the wrath of God. And you were this close. If you did not have the blood of the Lamb over you, if God did not tell you to quickly go, you too would have perished, right?

And what's more, embedded into that Passover dinner, did you know that there was another feast on top of the already feast? And my point is God knew we were going to forget. So if you just look down in chapter 12, actually look up verse 14. As I'm looking at Exodus 12, 14, there is another feast laid upon an already feast.

It says in verse 14, "Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast of the Lord throughout your generations." You're to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. "Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your house.

For whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh, that person shall be cut off." So even to this day, the Jewish community practiced this, the feast of unleavened bread. Do you know what that was supposed to remind you? What he said was, "Remember, you're not supposed to wait for the leaven to rise, the bread, because judgment is coming and you need to escape." And what's more, removing the leaven from your own house represented a second fact, which is that dirtiness, the thing that permeates.

Where is it? Is it on the Egyptian soldiers? Is it on the slave masters? It's in your house. Do you understand and remember what you've been saved from? And it goes on. Did you know that there was another feast or a kind of ceremony embedded on top of that?

In Exodus chapter 13, please take a moment to look there. Exodus 13, verse 2, there is something called the redemption of the firstborn. And the Jewish people practice this even today. It says, "Sanctify to me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb, among the sons of Israel, both man and beast." Why?

Because it belongs to me. "And Moses said to the people, 'Remember this day in which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery, by a powerful hand the Lord brought you out from this place.'" What was that supposed to remind us of? That the judgment of God took the life of the most -- in that culture, as you know, the firstborn had the first rights and represent the family.

Sin required death. God owned that life. It's God's, okay? And you're thinking, "Whoa, I didn't know this, that God, from the moment that he was delivering those people from Egypt, that he stacked on one another these various religious rights and ordinances to never forget." And just in case you did, do you know what he said?

Take a look at verse 16. Exodus 13, verse 16. "So it shall serve as a sign on your hand and as phylacteries on your forehead, for with a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt." If you look up Teflon on the Google, what you'll see is the Jewish community, they have a band with scripture inscribed, and they wrap it around their hand with a box at the top, right on their bicep, so that just in case they forgot, they could be like, okay.

It would be to them like the watch. And what's more, they have a decorative box right here with a band around their head. They do this at this time of the Passover. They do this whenever they go to the wall. They do this all the time just in case, forget, they have inscriptions of the scriptures put into a box on their forehead.

Okay, let's take a moment and meditate on this. Doesn't that just strike you as so odd? Doesn't it? You have to meditate and imagine you're a normal person who used to be a slave in Egypt, and you're standing there hearing Moses talk, and you just saw water turn into blood.

You just saw gnats come out of everywhere and people's mouths and all that stuff. You saw a frog. You saw the straight sun turn black. You heard the wailings go through the entire land. You heard people crying like it says like never before. It was a devastating scene. And then God's telling you, "Don't forget this.

And just in case you forget, here's a box for you. And just in case you forget, you have to eat this stale bread. And just in case you forget, everybody has to sit, and you have to gird your loins. And just in case," and you're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Trust me, I'm never going to forget." Isn't that what you would say? That's what I would have said. I would have gotten incredibly annoyed. Like, what is this? Seven days? Seven days of festivities? On top of that, we have to sacrifice a precious lamb? On top of that, we have to bring this and bring that?

God, God, God. Moses, knock it off. We're not going to forget. That's crazy what we just saw. But you and I know the history. Literally, they come out and they forget. Literally, they come out and they forget. And so I pray that as we go into the Thanksgiving season, may we never forget the depths of our own sin.

I pray that we would not be so busy that we look up at God and say, "Oh, the season has passed. I forgot to stop and thank the Lord." Right? I pray that we would not be so consumed with, "This is the time to buy everybody their Christmas gifts." And if you do that, great.

You're thinking ahead. Get that deal. But I pray we would never forget because for these individuals, not even a year, not even six months, not even three months, the first month they come out and they start walking and all they see is the desert sand. All they see is the marauders and the bandits and the other nations and all they see is like, "Wait a minute.

Where's the water?" They forget. May we keep praying that we don't forget. Amen? Because for us, God knew that we would forget too. And so in every book of the New Testament, it typically starts off with, "Do you understand the depth and the riches of the mercies of God and how you were once dead in your trespasses and you're walking with everybody and the sons of disobedience and you're just children of wrath with the mercies of God?" And if you turn your eyes to Ephesians 2, verse 11, Ephesians 2, 11, it says, "So therefore remember that you formerly, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision, which is performed by the flesh by the human hands, remember." It told you, "Remember who you were formerly." And then he says again, "Remember," verse 12, "that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly far, far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ." It was a problem in the New Testament. Bunch of Gentiles who had no common grace saying, "Of course I'm a child of God." And getting all snooty and looking down on the Jewish people.

May we never become so forgetful that we just assume the graces of God. Amen? Here in the New Testament, I confess that this is a problem too. Confess that now that I've been Christian for, you know, actually just the other day I was in youth group and I saw some old photos of myself.

And what I was trying to show them was that the style, it just recycles. And I said, "Dude, I see a bunch of you guys wearing big baggy clothes." I used to do the same, so I showed them a photo. And I showed them a photo, they were like, "Whoa, why are you wearing that?" You know, I had like double X large T-shirts, baggy pants, et cetera, you know.

And it just started to like well up in me like, "Oh my gosh." At that time, I was just basically a juvenile delinquent, right? I was just deserving of nothing, living my life with nothing but lust for money, girls, and popularity, and nice clothes, you know. As a little old me.

But even then, I realized I don't know if my thankfulness goes deep enough. Because as you recall, Jesus told the generation this principle, "Much forgiven, you will love much." Pastor Peter has been walking through the Gospel of Luke, and you recall in Luke chapter 7, there was the woman who came.

Everybody saw her as defiled. But she came with the oil that was so precious to her. She broke it, she anointed him, she tried to take her hair and wash his feet with her tears, and then she ended up kissing his feet, and a bunch of the people around him were looking at Jesus and saying, "This guy's not a prophet because if he was, he would know how dirty this woman is." Do you remember that?

And then Jesus looked at his disciples and said, "Simon, I got a question for you. Who do you think will be more thankful, the man who was forgiven a hundred or thousands?" And Simon was like, "Easy, the thousands." This woman loves much because she's been forgiven much. And I'm so challenged during this season.

God has forgiven us so much. I think about just this fact, the whole question of if our God, and I knew that even with 15 festivals, but more, 20 religious acts, but more, all of this ritualistic thing you do, but more, even text that you're supposed to tell your kids, "Hey, ask me.

Ask me why I do this." And they forget. I pray that my thankfulness would be so deep. I pray that my gratitude from my Lord would be so deep, that during this time when I get together a family and I try to teach my kids, I don't just teach them good etiquette.

Remember to say thank you. You say, "Thank you, Noma," for a piece of turkey, you know. I pray I would sit them down, and I would sit them and just be welling up with, "Do you have any idea how good God has been to our family, to my church?

Do you have any idea how God has been so patient with such a forgetful people, who just run off and go take care of their homes, take care of their lives, take care of everything about them, but forget the God who gave them life? Do you have any idea how good God is?

Amen?" Point two, in having this heart of gratitude, God must truly be your all in all. God must truly be your all in all. Many good pastors, both from like Pastor John Piper and Pastor MacArthur, when I read some of their commentaries, they say things like this, "We are a people who are way too easily satisfied.

You're a people who are satisfied with having nice clothes, nice house, nice friends, but you don't realize that when you do that to yourself, you ruin yourself. You set yourself up for destruction. You set yourself up for disappointment because everything in life does not last, including even good things.

Your wife, amazing gift of God, does not last forever. There is no marriage in heaven. Your children, amazing gift from God, children are a gift from the Lord, does not last forever. At 1822, they leave the house. But when God is your all in all, you set yourself up for true satisfaction.

Amen? And Scripture tells us that this is what we need to hear. This is what we need to know and feel so that we would have a thankfulness that overflows in any circumstance. And Moses, the leader of the people, he sings this when deliverance happens. So chapter 12, he prepared them.

Chapter 13, chapter 14, the deliverance is happening, and all the drama of the chariots chasing, they hit the wall of the water, et cetera. And then here in chapter 15 is his praise. The passage I read earlier was chapter 15, verse 1 through 3, "Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord and said, 'I will sing to the Lord, for he has highly exalted the horse and its rider.

He has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation.'" Moses doesn't just see the water that split. Moses doesn't just see the chariots that died. He sees that, so we should thank God for everything that has happened. But he sees God and says, "He is it.

He is my salvation." And so he says, "This is my God, I will praise him. My Father's God, I will extol him. The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name." And throughout that, the people are singing and praising. His sister is worshiping. To say that God is my salvation is to say he is my everything.

He surely is my life. He surely is my security. He surely is my provision. He surely is the warrior who's going to protect me. To say, "This is my God," then he is my everything. And what he sings is in verse 11, just taking a snidbit. He says, "Who is like you among the gods, O Lord?

Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises and working wonders? You stretched out your hand and the earth swallowed them. And in your loving kindness, you have led the people whom you have redeemed. In your strength, you have guided them to your holy habitation." So, the truth that I want to highlight is this.

It is a both/and. Sometimes you will hear kind of cliche-ish advice that in a season like this, especially when you have so much to do and your life is busy, maybe things aren't going for you well this day. Maybe you have family troubles. Maybe you have business troubles. Maybe you have all kinds of health issues.

And some people will say to you, "Mark, count your blessings." Is that good advice? Yes, it is. As Christians, you should recount. You should consider. You should be able to see the various things God has done in your life. However, the point is that is not enough, right? Because from the blessings, you're supposed to see the giver of all the blessings.

And you have heard it said multiple times. If you've been Christian for any length of time, you have heard this said, "Do not love just the gifts. Love the giver." Yes? And we're reminded of that today. Do not love God in such a way where you see God as the cosmic vending machine, that you see God as the cosmic Amazon Prime.

Next day delivery, you have your stuff. Yay! Right? But rather, give attention to God himself and know that you have not stuff but him. Okay. But because you and I have heard that so many times, I want us to challenge us in a different way. That that simple truth, "Do we love the giver more than the gifts?" It will be tested.

Amen? It's going to go through testing and fire, and God will sometimes do it intentionally. And here, what I'd like to point to is that God did just that with these people in the Exodus generation. What's really interesting is the whole story of the manna. For that, jump down to Exodus 16.

So we're just walking through Exodus, and we're at Exodus 16, and it's crazy because, like I said before, it hasn't been that long since they just miraculously walked through dry land with water on their sides. Take a look. Exodus 16, verses 1 and on. "So they set out from Ilium, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Ilium and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt." So it's been a month and a half.

Okay? A month and a half. Verse 2, "The whole congregation of the sons of Israel"--picture the scene. It's not just a select few. It's not, "Ah, you always get those bad apples in the group." "The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

And the sons of Israel said to them, 'Would that we have died by the Lord's hand in the land of Egypt when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate the bread to the full. For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill us, the whole assembly, with hunger.'" Wow.

The straight audacity to say, "Maybe God should have just killed us." What? We had meat and food over there. No, you didn't, you liar. You're a bunch of slaves. We're going to die of hunger. Dude, we're at a juncture in our journey where you could have died every day.

What are you talking about? You know, that's what I would have said, okay? Now let's keep reading on. Verse 4, "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Behold, I'll rain down thunder.'" Just kidding. He says, "I'll rain down bread from heaven for you." But he could have, right? I would have rained down burning sulfur.

He says, "No, he rained down sweet bread from heaven, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day. Now listen to this, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in my instruction." Whoa, pause there. Remember my point? That our true faith that says, "I love God the Giver more than the gifts," will be tested.

But sometimes it will be tested by your daily bread. Huh? And then he says, it goes on here. Verse 5, "On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily. So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, 'At evening you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, for He hears your grumbling against the Lord.

And what are we that you grumble against us?'" So I want you to think and imagine yourself as one of the people, okay? In my head, when I did that, I was like, "What's wrong with these people?" That was it. What's wrong with these people? In my self-righteousness, I saw myself as much more mature than them.

I wouldn't have complained. You know why? I love sweet bread. Did you know that in another passage, it says that this manna, they cut an omur and they saved it for the generations. This manna was like honey bread. Did you know that? Just imagine the best piece of bread from '85 or something like that, and it has goo over it.

It has something like honey, and when the sun got warm, it melted like honey. Soft, sweet, fluffy bread. And I'm one of those people that can eat the same thing over and over again. I have no complaints. So I'm sitting here like, "What's wrong with you people?" God could have been like, "As you go, here's this miracle bean.

You plant it and then it grows," right? But they're nomads. They couldn't do that. They didn't sit there and wait for stuff to grow. So God literally allowed them to move and pick up bread they didn't have to work for. Why are you complaining? Seriously, as I was meditating, my voice did the, "Eh," because I was so upset.

Like you have magical miracle bread, true miracle bread. Did you know that later in Deuteronomy, it describes that if the people were incapable of collecting enough, the miracle bread would feed the whole family and they would have plenty. Did you know that if they accidentally gathered too much, it would go away by the next day?

Did you know that on the sixth day, they would gather double portion and it would last? But on the other days, it wouldn't last. But do you know what the people did? Do you remember? What did they do? They started getting smart. And then I realized, "Oh, that's right.

You and I are way too mature to complain about bread." What they complained about was, "Moses, this is not efficient. I have a better idea. Give us bigger baskets and we'll collect for the whole week, then I don't have to go out every day." I could totally hear myself saying that.

I could hear some of you saying that. Or maybe somebody, a bunch of you guys, your parents in here is like, "Do you have any idea how much my boys eat?" I don't know. I could imagine that. Once I started sitting there and imagining, dude, they could start complaining nonstop.

Do you know how long they were supposed to eat this bread? The whole time they were journeying. So by not being able to plan for the future, what happens? You can't feel secure. "Wait a minute, Moses. I want a big crop of land. Why are we just eating bread daily?

Why can't we store this up so that we--you know that there's going to be days when we have to run. You know that there's going to be days maybe people will attack us. You know that there--" God took away their security and said, "You get only what you can for the day, and I'm teaching you to ask and pray.

Give us this day our daily bread." I began with the question, "How does our faith get tested? How do we know that God is truly my all in all?" God then says, "If I am your all in all, let me take away some of the stuff in your life, because some of you guys long for friendships.

Some of you guys long for security and just control freaks. Some of you guys long for ambition. I want it to mean something. I want it to be useful." To be a servant of God, God frequently tests you. First and foremost, "Am I your all in all?" I pray that we don't have to force it.

This is my prayer. "God, you are my all in all. I don't have to force that out of myself." Why? Look at what you've done. You've given me hope. You've given me comfort. You've given me companionship. You've given me every single thing I need--loving instruction. Some of you guys don't have father figures.

Guess what? God Almighty is perfect Father. He'll love you. He'll discipline you. He'll instruct you. He'll give a strong hand, encourage you, and be like, "You can do it, son." He's everything to you. Amen? But in order for us to know that, God will sometimes remove it. Sometimes I sing these songs.

There are these songs from a long time ago. Third Day was really big. The songs were like, "Forsake the world. Take my life and everything, even if all I have is you." And I realize, like, I can't flippantly say that. Right? And then God will test me to see if that's true.

And my prayer for you is to have that thought in your mind. "Lord, I can be thankful, even when so many things have been taken from me, because I have you, and I have made you my all in all." Amen? And so finally, the way that we have a thanksgiving heart and a gratitude that lasts and transcends circumstance is we have eyes of trust.

You have to have eyes of trust that see not according to the flesh. Why? Because I'll tell you what. If we operate by pragmatics, reason, sensibility, logic, stuff that comes to us naturally, I just see X and Y, I see A and B, and my conclusion is C, there's too much stuff to complain about.

Let me say this. It is difficult to be thankful when you have no food. So I'm going to be honest. After meditating, I repented and said, "You know what? Israelite generation from the Exodus time 3,000 years ago, I'm sorry. I'm no better than you." Right? Because I've got to be honest, how many of us are so thankful when we're thirsty and we feel like we're going to die?

How many of us can be so thankful when everything you have is what's on your back and nothing more? How many of you can be so thankful? You know what I'm saying? And then I think about the pilgrims then. How could they be so thankful? Because logically speaking, you should be destitute.

I want you to turn your Bibles to Romans 1, and I believe that this classic section talking about the sin of man is talking about something actually quite sensible, and it's actually also talking about the wilderness generation, the Exodus people. Because the whole summary of the Exodus people, a snapshot, is even though God has given them deliverance, the law, they have been thankless.

Let me read it to you. It says in Romans 1:21, "For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened." They knew God, but they didn't really know him. Romans 1:25, "For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever." What did the wilderness generation do?

They literally saw the hand of God, and then they put up a statue of a cow and said, "This is your God." Romans 1:28, "And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, then God gave them over to a depraved mind." As soon as they started to lose trust, what did they do?

They started to complain. This is very indicative of the heart of man. This is very indicative of somebody who's seized by their flesh. This is very indicative of somebody who is not really giving trust to the person and character of God, the individual, but all they're doing is making practical decisions.

"I'm hungry. He's not for us. Why do I need to acknowledge this God?" "You know what's more convenient is to have this God. I can carry Him wherever I go." Literally, the vast majority of the sins of the Israelite people were sins of convenience. "I don't want to go all the way to Jerusalem.

Let me just worship on this high mountain." "I don't want to go to a scary God where I have to sacrifice a lamb when I can just take a God I can manipulate, control, and take Him in my tent." The vast majority of their thanklessness came from grumbling. And in that way, we're no better.

My prayer is that we would mature far past what I just see with my eyes, far past what I feel as my discomforts, and to say, "No, no, God, I trust Your character." And that's what the nation of Israel did at times when they were sober and at times when they were delivered and they praised God and said, "You, You, God, You're powerful, and You're the God of my forefathers, and You're my God.

Amen? You're everything to me." That's what we want this season. Sometimes we being so sophisticated, sometimes we being so efficient, sometimes we having thoughts of like, "What may be better for my own life?" It just gets in the way. Our Lord is a God who cares for us deeply.

And even when we may question, "Is this the best?" You know He is working. You know He is sovereign. I want to give to you a passage in Philippians 2, verse 13. It says, "For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." Do you believe it?

If I sometimes ask people about like, "What is your life's complaint?" Yeah, some people complain about like, "Oh, my job. It just seems so dead end." Or maybe some of the biggest complaints are members of our family. It's like, "Oh, they're so stubborn." You know? And then I hear a lot these days when I counsel people, a lot of people are most frustrated with themselves.

"How come I'm not mature enough? And it's scary to think that I'm so weak. And how come I can't be better?" And they compare themselves with other people. If you see with your eyes, it's like, embrace it. That's you, man. You're a fallen being who is still in the flesh.

Like, it's only logical, right? But then if we see with eyes with trust, God is at work in you to will and to do His good pleasure. Do you believe it? Do you trust it? And when we do, verse 14, "Then we can do all things without grumbling or disputing, so that we will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God, above reproach, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world." So, as we think about this season, honestly speaking, you guys, we're so incredibly blessed, we should count our blessings.

I mean, I've been on this pulpit before, and I've said, "I'm probably one of the most blessed pastors that I know of." And I'm not--that's not like a, "I'm one of the best." What I mean is, I have people who love me and walk with me here at this church for 24 years.

I have elders who have given me guidance over all the biggest decisions of my life, like when I dated or when I messed up, when I was going to school, when I got married, when I had children, when I got into this position. I've had an incredibly guarded life.

And then I have you guys. You guys sit through the sermons, you guys want more teaching, you guys want counsel, you guys want to grow together. And sometimes I'm even afraid, because you're so supportive, of saying things here on the pulpit. One time I said I love camping. Next thing I know, all I get is, like, rewards cards to REI.

I'm just being really honest with you. I'm so grateful, you know what I'm saying? And then my prayer now is, I pray that my gratefulness would be strong here and now, but be strong every season, when the Lord tests me. When the circumstances I can't see with my eyes, like, "How are we going to do this?" "How is the Lord going to provide?" Come on, Mark, as if.

The Lord provided when our church was small. The Lord provided when we had many pastors. The Lord provided when our congregation was struggling. The Lord provided when we hadn't had buildings. Any circumstance, the Lord has been faithful. Amen? Let's pray. Father, help us to be a mindful people that do not forget you.

Help us, Father God, to not follow in the pattern of our flesh, of our forefathers, where we can go to a retreat, come back the next day, and forget your name. I ask, God, that you would help us to remember your goodness, remember the depth from which you have drawn us out, the great sin that you have overcome, and help us to know how good you are.

We thank you today as a congregation joining our voices. We want to lift you up and exalt you. It's in Christ's name. Amen. Let's all rise for the closing praise. There's no one like you, my Lord. No one could take your place. My heart beats to worship you. I live just to see your face.

There's no one like you, my Lord. No one could take your place. There's no one like you, my Lord. No one like you. You are. You are my God. You're everything to me. There's no one like you, my Lord. No one like you. You are my God. You're everything to me.

There's no one like you, my Lord. No one like you. There's no one like you, my Lord. No one could take your place. I long for your presence, Lord. To serve you is my reward. There's no one like you, my Lord. No one could take your place. There's no one like you, my Lord.

No one like you. You are my God. You're everything to me. There's no one like you, my Lord. No one like you. You are my God. You're everything to me. There's no one like you, my Lord. No one like you. Sing, you are my God. You are my God.

You're everything to me. There's no one like you, my Lord. No one like you. You are my God. You're everything to me. There's no one like you, my Lord. No one like you. All right, God, we do thank you again from our hearts, Lord. We bless you for the mercies anew every single day.

We bless you, God, for granting to us life, our breath, and our daily bread. And then most of all, Father, thank you that we are known by you and that we can know you. I ask, God, that you would continue to grow our faith, grow our hearts, so that truly as we walk through this life, even if the people threaten us, even if we lose here and there, even if everything we treasure and value get taken away, we have full security with you, God.

We have everything in you, Lord. So we thank you this day. It's in Christ's name. Amen. God sent his Son. They called him Jesus. He came to earth. He lived and died. He lived and died to abide by Father. An empty grave is there to hold my Savior in.

Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future. And life is worth the living just because he lives. Alleluia.