You Can Skip This!

0:15 I want you to remain standing for just a moment as I read this Scripture in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 29 and 30. Just a very short, simple Scripture today, Hebrews chapter 11, verse 29 and 30. Only two verses. We might get out early today. Yeah, that's hilarious. Get out of here and watch the Panthers win today. I'm praying for them, man. I'm praying for them. Coach Dave, the whole crew. It's going to happen. But before we get to that, let's get into this word. We've got an enemy in the camp! Okay, as I was saying, Hebrews chapter 11, the Holy Spirit has a word for you today.

1:21 Speak, Lord, your servant is listening. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 29 and 30. The Bible says, by faith, the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. But when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell after the army had marched around them for seven days.

2:03 You can skip this. Father, I know how you gave it to me. Enable me now to give it to them. In Jesus' name, amen. Tell your other neighbor on your way to your seat, you can skip this. Put it in the comments. Put it in the chat. You can skip this.

2:24 You can skip this. Don't start fast-forwarding the video, though. You don't skip it, like literally. You know what I'm saying? One of the coolest things about my life, other than being Holly's husband and Graham and Elijah and Abby's dad, is getting to meet people who share things with me that are so deep and so tender and so touching, and usually they do it in such a short amount of time. So, when I meet somebody and they go to the church or they've been blessed by the ministry of this church, I get the privilege of hearing from them, hey, I wasn't doing so good. I don't want to go into all the details right now, but I just want to say to your entire congregation, thank you. The song Gyra got me through a season of terrible loss. I actually lost my child. And people would just say this, and it's so intense and it's so quick. One day me and Holly were walking through the streets of Charleston, and it was the month of July, so it was very hot outside, and she had an ice cream cone. Somebody walked up and said, "'I know you,' and Holly was like mid-lick." The person went from excited to crying just like that. Now Holly has a dilemma on her hands. This person is crying and sobbing because obviously they're about to share something very deep and meaningful. The question is, to lick or not to lick, because the ice cream is running down her hand, but I think she just slowly put the thing behind her back.

3:59 It's a privilege. I always love to hear these things. You get positive stuff out there, not very much negative in real life. That's internet courage. People in real life are kind. When they look you in the eyes, it's really nice, and I really enjoy it. I had it happen to me this week, as a matter of fact. It was so short what the man said. I went to the movies, and this happens a lot too. It was in the bathroom. He was very respectful, though. He was very respectful. He kept it very eyes forward. It was kind of weird. I was like, this is a little bit kind of like a weird thing to say because I didn't know who he was. He goes, what a story of forgiveness, huh? It was a music documentary, so I wasn't really expecting him to say something that deep. I'm thinking, I think he goes to the church. That just sounds like something you would say if you knew I was a pastor, right? What a story of forgiveness, huh? At the bathroom, you know, standing there. So, wash our hands, walk out, and he goes, hey, didn't want to bother you there, but it's quite possible that your church saved my life many years ago. He said, and I know it saved my marriage because I wasn't a Christian. My wife was. She got me to come to your church, and it turned our marriage around. So, thanks, man. Thank you. This guy… He's got this big old grown man standing next to him. This guy points at him, and he goes, I've been coming to your church since I was five years old. Immediately, I'm like, how can this be? You're like five foot 11, and you've listened to me preach when I'm five years old. I'm only 26, so how does this work? I said, man, you look so handsome. Keep serving God, and we walked out. Think about what he said. I was a Christian, or I wasn't a Christian.

6:00 my wife was. She brought me to church. It saved my life, saved my marriage. Just a little snippet like that, and it made my day. I mean, man, I was just skipping out of the theater like, oh, that's amazing. But the danger in that is that it's just a summary. right the danger in that is even in sharing it with you i debated about whether to share it to open this message because let's say you're out there and your husband doesn't know god and your husband is deep in an addiction or your husband is maybe not even in the picture right now and you brought your husband to church and he didn't raise his hand or sign up to wear one of those shirts and get baptized or join one of those groups, but instead he looked at you after the sermon and said, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life. I don't like it.

6:57 He yells too much, and I don't understand what he was talking about with all these names that I don't get, and I'm never going back. Now you go back to your situation, and you heard a summary of someone else's situation, and you could mistakenly believe that there's something wrong with your faith that made it work for the man in the movie theater, but not your husband. We need to do away with this idea that faith in God means you never have to go through anything hard. We need to do away with this idea that faith in God and trusting him and believing him and obeying him and doing what he says means that you will always get the same result that somebody else shared with you, because a summary is not a story. I read you two verses today from Hebrews chapter 11. Both of those verses were written thousands of years after the events they occurred to you. Perhaps a background overview of the book of Hebrews would help us to put it in context. Yeah, yeah. Because the author of Hebrews is unknown. He's anonymous. We don't know who wrote the book of Hebrews, but his purpose in writing the book of Hebrews to the early church was to encourage them to persevere, to stick it out, to say you can make it, to remind them of what a treasure they have in Jesus so that they don't fall into the trap of going back to their life before him. Eleven chapters into this dissertation of all of the warnings and all of the wonderful rewards and all of the contrasts of what happens if you stick it out and what happens if you quit. He goes into an expose that we call the Hall of Faith, not the Hall of Fame, the Hall of Faith. It's not the Hall of Fame because not everybody that's mentioned in it is famous. Write this down in your notes. Not everybody great is famous, and not everybody

9:02 famous is great. A free seminar for Sunday morning for you to pontificate on the fact that as you read about all of these heroes of the faith, why you've got people like Samson, who was a real dummy, right? And then there are people that are omitted from the list. He goes through so many and doesn't mention Elijah. How are you going to write a whole list called the Hall of Faith and not put Elijah in it. You remember I preached about him two weeks ago. He prayed that it wouldn't rain, didn't rain. Prayed that it would rain, and it did rain. Prayed God would kill him. God said, get up and eat. I've got more for you to do. How did he not make the hall of faith? He's leaving a lot out. He doesn't mention Daniel. Can you believe that? You're writing about faith, and you're going, who can I talk about? Let's see. I could talk about Moses. That makes sense. Abraham. That makes sense. When it comes to Daniel, who spent the night with a lion but never saw his teeth, when it comes to Daniel, who would not bow and could not burn, when it came to Daniel, who was so distinguished among all of his colleagues that he was given a position of prominence because he had the discipline to follow God daily, so he had the courage to obey God dramatically. When it comes to Daniel, you say nothing about Daniel. It doesn't mention Jonah.

10:33 I understand that one. Jonah kind of sucks as a preacher, honestly. He has a bad attitude, and then when he does preach, his sermon is, "'Forty more days, and Nineveh will be destroyed.'" Yeah, leave him out. Leave him out. But it's not just the people that he leaves out. Let's read it again. He says in verse 29, I'm excited to show you this. By faith, the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. But when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell after the army had marched around them for seven days. So by faith, they passed through the Red Sea. That's all he says, as if they did it with a good attitude. As if they came to the Red Sea and said, O God of earth, wind, and fire, O God of waters and floods, O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come.

11:30 When they came to the Red Sea, they turned around to Moses and said, You should have let us die in Egypt. But this is a summary. It's a sentence. The sentence is not the story. If I double-clicked on the movie theater conversation and I said, let's go back in the bathroom and finish this conversation away from people, that'd be weird. But if I said, hey, let's just talk about this a little bit more. Are y'all still doing amazing? Well, actually, right? Has this 22-year-old kid that you just pointed to, has he followed God? The Bible says, train the child in the way that you're going. He's old and not depart from it. Has he departed from the way? I'm sure there was one or two times where he broke the speed limit. He's 22 years old. The summary is not the story. I'm going somewhere. Stop judging your story by other people's summary.

12:26 Because to read, by faith they passed through the Red Sea, would make you think on the surface that they just did it perfectly. When we know good and well that when they heard Pharaoh's chariots behind them. They said, take us back. When we know good and well, not only what the author of Hebrews says, that they passed through the Red Sea, but before they passed through, they panicked. But he doesn't talk about the panic. He talks about the passing. See, it is possible that when you get through this trial in your life, God is not going to even talk about the stuff that you are so stressed about right now. because when you get through this test, all that's going to be left is a testimony. That is so awesome. I said that is so awesome. I came to find somebody today who is going through, and I'm going through this Red Sea. I'm going through this difficulty. I am going through this situation. I am going through a medical diagnosis. I am going through this scheduled treatment. I am going through it, and I'm scared, and I'm nervous, and I don't know if the treatment is going to work. The first round didn't. My dad had this, so I might have it too. I don't know if I'm going to be able to show up for this the way that I need to. All the Scripture says, watch this. It's profound. By faith, the people pass through. Give me 29 again.

13:56 The Red Sea, as on dry land. Doesn't talk about how they doubted, just that the land was dry. Doesn't talk about how they were disappointed just that they did it. Doesn't talk about the fact that they thought that the Egyptians were stronger than them. Doesn't talk about the fact that God just brought you out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and you deny him, and instead of lifting your hands in worship, you worry. It simply says they pass through. Touch three people, say, get through this. Get through this. Get through this. Any way you have to get through it. Get through this, even if you have to get through it, and ugly cries some nights. Get through it even if you have to get through it and turn your phone off for a little while. Get through it even if you have to move back in with your parents for six months. Get through it even if you have to pray some things at night that you can't share it e-group. Get through it. Get through it. Because when they got through it and the test was over, all that was left was a testimony. I prophesy over your life today.

14:51 What you're going through is not bigger than the God who is bringing you through it. So if the summary is not the story, what's the story? The story is I panicked. The story is I almost fell apart. The story is we have up days, down days. The story is sometimes I don't want to go home at night. The story is we had a family vacation. Watch this. A photo dump is not a family vacation. photo dump is a carefully curated representation of all the things that you want to appear aesthetically are open about your summer but a photo dump about your summer is not your summer it's a summary it's a summary that you want others to see and now here you are sitting at home looking at somebody else's photo dump of their summer, and they went to Paris, and you didn't even make it outside of Pineville. You went to Pineville, and they went to Paris, and now you're judging your summer over their summary. The devil is a liar. I had a good summer.

16:01 I know how I know, because I'm still here. I had a good day. I know how I know, because I'm breathing in everything. All right. He summarizes, and a summary is difficult because it's just a snippet. It's just a sentence. That man said something in a sentence that was a summary, but we understand there's a story within the summary. We understand that. We understand that. We understand that when it says that Abraham, by faith, believed God and all that. We understand that his wife also laughed at God because her womb was so old, but they still had Isaac. Isaac remains, but their doubt isn't mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11. Get through this. That's what I'm saying. Get through this, even if it's painful. Talk about painful. Look at verse 30.

16:59 By faith, the walls of Jericho fell. You're like, that doesn't sound painful unless you're from Jericho. It sounded pretty good for the Israelites, right? Do y'all know this Bible story? They marched around the walls. I'm going to tell it to you in a minute today because I'm going to show you something. I'm going to show you something that's going to help you for your life.

17:22 But the walls falling was not painful, but they walked around them for seven days, which also isn't very painful because Jericho isn't very big. Jericho is about 2,000 feet in circumference. So if you walked at a normal pace, just a normal pace, it would only take you about five to seven minutes to get around the city. All they did was walk around the city once on the first day, once on the second day. This is what God told him to do. Once on the third day, once on the fourth day, once on the fifth day, once on the sixth day, seven times on the seven days, blow a trumpet and shout. Not very painful.

18:09 But what the summary doesn't tell you is that in chapter 5, the Lord looked at the people and said, we've got a problem. There is an entire generation of you that have not been circumcised. So, every grown man that has not been circumcised, we need to do a little surgery before you circle Jericho. Now that you know that, read verse 30 again. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell after the army had marched around them for six days. I'm trying to say, and I don't want to break this down too much, their march was a little bit more difficult. Maybe it took a little longer than 10 minutes because of the conditions, but this is not a time to talk about circumcision, right? So just get to it. They circled the walls. The wall fell down. They passed through the sea and it became a street. They walked around the walls and God made it like Tetris. That's amazing about Tetris, but that's the testimony. That's the summary.

19:15 That's the sentence. We're celebrating 31 years, wonderful years of marriage. Nobody had 31 wonderful years. To get 31 wonderful years, you have to be married 51. Am I right about it? To get the 31 wonderful years.

19:37 Now that I've set this idea up for you, I want to suggest that the author of Hebrews, whoever he or she was, I don't know who it was. It could have been a man. It could have been a woman. It could have been Paul. It could have been Apollos. It could have been something we don't know. Whoever wrote it was probably a man. Hebrews. Probably love coffee. Hebrews. All right, stop. Stop. Preach to skip this stuff. Get to the main part of the message. he includes the wrong people, and he skips Elijah. I've got to show you something. You won't believe this. I skipped this verse, but I want to show it to you now. Verse 31. By faith, the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. I would expect to see Ruth in the hall of faith, not Rahab. Ruth was sweet to her mother-in-law. Ruth was loyal. Rahab, the prostitute, she was running the kind of house where when the men were looking for somewhere to hide, they said, let's go to Rahab's house. She made it in the book. Don't tell me God can't use you.

20:52 Don't tell me your life can't be redeemed. Don't tell me somebody you're sitting next to needs to be labeled according to somebody that God has delivered them from. Not only does he leave out certain people and not only does he leave out certain processes, but I'm going to make this class interactive now. All of that was set up for what I want to show you here. If you read the two verses I read you together back to back, there's something he skips.

21:25 Verse 29. By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land, but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. Verse 30, by faith the walls of Jericho fell after the army had marched around them for seven days. I feel like he's skipping something. I know he's putting together a list. I'm not suggesting that there should be a Hebrews chapter 11 verse 29b. But y'all, can we talk about this? Passed through the Red Sea. They marched around the walls. They went through. They marched around. They went through. They marched around. So let me get this straight. So they're in Egyptian slavery for 400 years. They're delivered out of Egyptian slavery in one night through the Red Sea after 10 plagues. They go through the water of the Red Sea. God delivers them.

22:17 They march around the walls of Jericho for seven days, and they fall down. So that's eight days, right? He's skipping something. After reading the text over and over again in my study this week, and I looked at it, and I looked at it, and I looked at it, and I felt like he was leaving something out, I came to the question, what about the wilderness? There was that night God brought them through the Red Sea, and there was that seven-day period, that one week where they walked around the walls and they fell. But in between the waters that parted and the walls that fell was 40 years of wilderness. What about the wilderness? Why is he not telling me about the wilderness? I know he's not hiding anything because this is the word of God. But the Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit. So when the author of Hebrews, whoever he was, was carefully taking the dictates of the divine, there was something inside of him as he wrote this letter to the struggling believers who were tempted to go back when he wrote about the Red Sea and he wrote about the walls and the waters that parted and the walls that fell. And perhaps as he moved his pen across the page to talk about the 40 years of wilderness, the Holy Spirit said, you can skip this.

23:43 Don't put the wilderness in. By faith, they went through the Red Sea. By faith, the walls fell. What about the wilderness? Skip it. Don't put it in. Now, it's not that he is concealing the wilderness. He talks about it in chapter 3. but at this particular moment for what he wants to say in this moment by faith by faith by faith Abraham by faith Jacob by faith Joseph by faith Samson by faith Barak by faith by faith by faith by faith he says put it in about the waters that parted and put it in about the walls that fell but skipped the wilderness. I wonder, is the reason that the Holy Spirit had the author of Hebrews in his sovereignty skip the wilderness because they could have skipped the wilderness too? And so can you.

24:53 Some stuff you can't skip. Some stuff is unskippable. I am so sorry, ladies, but no matter how much AI we invent, you cannot have a baby and not get bigger. Not yet. Not yet. You can't skip that part. There is some stuff you cannot skip. You can't take a seed between your three anointed holy fingers and pray for it and say, oh, seed, I don't want you to experience dirt. Dirt is very uncertain, and dirt is very unsanitary. And so instead, seed, I am going to love you to life, seed. You can't even do this with your kids. You can't love them into growth. You've got to let them go into growth because some stuff they have got to go through. They can't skip it. I feel it. Holy Ghost.

26:00 Some stuff you can't skip. Holly and Abby went to the U.S. Open this week. I skipped it. She said, It'll be fun. I said, It'll be crowded. I'm skipping it. I'll finance it, but I want no part in it. So, they went to the tennis match, and they watched tennis all day. Now, Holly plays a little tennis, not professionally. but she was leaving for her match saturday and she said jokingly to me before she left you think i'll play better today but you didn't practice this week she said yeah but i watched so much tennis listen she said surely i learned something i got the text three hours later she said i have never played worse in my life i had never been be so bad, because watching isn't working.

26:55 So if you come to church and you're like, oh, that's very inspiring. You think I'll be more patient this week because I watched that guy talk for an hour? No! You're going to get beat. You're going to get killed. That's why you can't just read about Moses, read about Joshua, read about Samson, read about David, read about Samuel, read about the prophets. You've got to work this thing. You've got to work this thing. You've got to take one word from God that God gives you and work it and forgive one person. Can you forgive one person? Can you forgive one person? Can we get a two? Can we get three? Can I get four? Can I get five? Can I get 70 times seven? Whatever it takes, you've got to work this, and you can skip that. There are some things you've got to go through.

27:53 You cannot skip a stage of development, but you can skip disobedience. I'm going to work on this. I'm going to break it down. When they went through the Red Sea, listen to me, it was required. God didn't ask, do you want to go through the Red Sea? He said, either go through the Red Sea or stay here crying about it and die.

28:21 So I guess they didn't have to go through the Red Sea, but it was their only option if they wanted to survive. You've got to go through this. Hey, hey, that's what keeps me preaching, because somebody's got to be up here talking. So I don't really get to pray about… You know how you get to pray about, like, Lord, speak to me, and then if he doesn't, you can come. I can't do that. I'll be making bargains with God like, God, I'll sell it all. I'll give it all away. Give me a word. Why? Because I've got to go through the process to do this. So it is for you. There are some parts of your process you cannot skip. If you skip the Red Sea, the Egyptians will follow you to your next assignment. If you skip the uncomfortable thing, you're going to still be dealing with the dysfunctional thing when you get to the place where God has taken you.

29:19 You've got to go through this. The Red Sea is required. You can't skip that. You can't skip the practice of coming into the presence of God and saying, Lord, I need your strength today, and I really don't want to get out of this bed, but I've got to go forward. Skip that and not expect it to catch up with you. Even at this stage of my life, there's stuff I used to skip I can't skip now. Stretching.

29:53 Stretching to me used to be a nice idea. Now it is a necessary, life-saving practice. I'd rather not wear my seatbelt in my car than not stretch before I do my squats, because I'd rather take a chance. God will protect me on the road, but I know he's not going to protect these hamstrings. I've got to stretch. I didn't used to have to stretch. I've got to stretch. Now, they didn't have to go through the Red Sea when they were slaves. They had to go through it when they were free. There are some things in your life in this season that God is leading you through because he's calling you to be a leader. You can't skip this. That's why you had to come to church and one of your friends is just washing their car and getting a head start on the wings. Nah, I can't eat wings with you before church. I can eat wings after, but I got to get in the house of God because they that wait on the Lord will mount up on wings like eagle. So you eat your wings, but I got to get mine. I can't skip this.

30:56 The Red Sea was required. The Red Sea was necessary. The Red Sea is where God drowned their enemies. The waters were necessary, and so were the walls. When the walls of Jericho fell, God had to do something supernatural so that they would have the faith to fight the rest of the battles. Jericho was the first city they had to take. They had many more battles to fight. You have to face this. The walls wouldn't have fallen unless they walked around them, and the sea would not have split if they didn't walk through it. The water was necessary. The walls were not optional, but the wilderness was. The waters were God's tool to set them free.

31:57 The wilderness was what they chose because they were not willing to fight. Let me explain this to you. in Hebrews 11, verse 29. Okay. You said don't skip it? That was so polite. He said, I'd like to hear it. I mean, I can't speak for the entire congregation. It's a very diverse group and body, and I know everyone else might know this part, but fill me in if you'd like. This is the greatest church in the world, man. This is the greatest church in the world. Okay.

32:54 Well, write this down. God is in the gap. That gap where they wandered 40 years, God is in the gap, and the enemy wants to take that gap too. Now, for the Israelites, the gap was between their identity as slaves and their identity as sons and daughters of God. On their way out… I should probably just break this down generationally. Verse 29 is Moses' generation. Verse 30 is Joshua's. It's a generation gap. Forty years in the Bible represents a generation. That's how they counted generations. So it's a generation gap. The generation that saw the walls fall is not the same generation that saw the waters part. All of the men who were above the age of 20 didn't get to go into the Promised Land. Even though Joshua isn't named, he is the exception. Joshua and Caleb, they're the ones who, when they went out to spy out the land, they come through the Red Sea. They do a little recon. They say, hey, go see what's going on in there. Is it walled? Is it fortified?

34:09 What's the grapes like? Bring us back some grapes. Well, they brought back grapes, but they were talking about giants. They talked about the giants more than they talked about the grapes. So, they got stuck in something that God wanted to bring them through. That's the wilderness, the wilderness they lived in for 40 years, and they died in a desert that God could have delivered them right through. We know from Deuteronomy that the trip through the wilderness to the promised land, the edge of Canaan, Kadesh Barnea, where they sent out the spies and 10 came back with a bad report and two with a good one, Joshua and Caleb. We know from Deuteronomy that it was an 11-day journey. How do you turn 11 days into 40 years? How do you get stuck in something God wanted to take you through in a week and a half? I mean, look at the Scripture again in verse 30. Put it up there.

35:01 It says, In seven days the wall fell. Seven days was all it took. Ten minutes a day. Seven days. Okay. Hour and a half on the seventh day, because they marched seven times that day, and the walls fell. Just that quick. So, something that one generation couldn't do in 40 years… Another generation did in a week. With God, what should take years takes days. With God. So, in case you feel like it's too late for you, with God, what should take years takes days. In case you've wasted some seasons and you're feeling kind of bad because you've been in a wilderness of your own decisions.

35:56 Oh, I tried to blame others, but it's really not them to blame. You know how I found out? Because even after they left my life, I kept struggling with the same thing. I'm here in this wilderness, and I wish I had not disobeyed God. I mean, I wish I hadn't gotten in that relationship. I wish I hadn't invested in that business. I wish I hadn't dropped out. I wish I hadn't tried it at that party. I wish I wouldn't have gone where everybody else was going. I wish I would have said, I'm too drunk to drive. I wish I would have been nicer. I wish I would have been around. I wish I wouldn't have traveled so much for work. I wish I would have put more aside. In case you are wishing in a wilderness today, you need to know, with God. By faith, what should take years takes days. How do you know? In seven days, the walls fell. In seven days, what stood against them came crumbling down.

36:52 In seven days, they made it into the land. In seven days, everybody shout seven. I can do better than that. In seven days, God took darkness and made it into light. In seven days, God separated the waters in the firmament above from the waters in the firmament beneath. In seven days, God made vegetation and plants and every seed-bearing thing. In seven days, God filled the sky with birds and the water with fish. In seven days, God reached into the dust and breathed in it to the breath of life. In seven days. and you tell me what God can't do. I got a seven day God who only needs six because on the seventh day, he put his feet up and said, I'm done and I'm resting in it.

37:46 High five seven people say God can do it quick. See, if you were making the world, you'd have to get the raw materials to do it, but God doesn't have to get the raw materials. He can speak a word, and his word is the raw material. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. So when God said, let there be light, he didn't have to build a power plant. He said, I'm going to skip all that and speak what I want to speak. And I believe there are some people in this room today who need to know that God can do in one moment a favor what a lifetime of labor could never accomplish. High five seven people again and say, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick.

38:40 God can do it. Quick. Seven days. That's all it took. One night wiped out the entire Egyptian army. So, you're sitting there figuring out what you're going to have to do about this situation. You're figuring without your Father. With God, what should take years takes days, and without God, what should take days takes years. They could have been out in 11 days. They turned it into 40 years, because instead of coming to God, their source, they sent their spies, and they went by what they saw instead of what God said.

39:35 The second generation said 40 years is long enough. You know what I think is amazing about Jesus? He bridges the gap. He makes possible by faith what they can only experience through works. They could have skipped the wilderness if they had obeyed God. You can skip the wilderness if you believe. What are you saying? Are you saying I don't have to go through hard things? No, I'm not saying you don't have to go through. I am saying there is some stuff you can skip even within the hard stuff you go through. I need to use a stupid example right now. Forgive me.

40:27 Video games have changed a lot since my generation of video games. Really, they've improved so much. I wish… I mean, I don't ask God for much, but why couldn't I be 14 right now with the state of video games? It would have been so much more enjoyable, right? Because I walked in the other day, Elijah was playing Donkey Kong, the new Donkey Kong. but he was Donkey Kong. That was so trippy for me. In my generation, we were running from Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong slinging barrels at you, running up on ladders. He was Donkey Kong. He can control Donkey Kong. They make fun of me. I was trying to play one of their games a couple summers ago, and I'm sitting there watching the screen because we didn't have this on my games, but it was like the game stopped, and it played a little movie on the thing, and somebody was talking, and I'm just sitting there. Graham walks in, and he goes, What are you doing? I said, I'm watching the thing. It stopped. I'm watching it.

41:30 He goes, That's a cutscene. Why are you watching a cutscene? I said, It's a what? He said, It's a cutscene. Then he reached over, and he pushed a button on my controller that said, X. He said something. When I say it, I want you to shout. He said, you can skip this. I came here today, like Joshua, to see if I can find an X button on your controller because you're sitting through something, suffering through something, struggling through something, and you can skip it. You can skip it.

42:14 They're not ready for that. Don't put that beat on them. Don't put that beat on them. You've got to skip that, because if you start playing those drums, we'll be here all day. When I start telling the people that you don't have to die in this wilderness, that dry bones can live again, that you don't have to spend the next 40 years. Come on. Just push your neighbor like this. The X button. Say, you can skip this. You can skip this. You can skip this. For real, for real. Let me teach. You can skip this. No, I can't skip the Red Sea. No, I can't skip the six days of walking. You have to walk around the walls, but watch this. You can skip it if you step. What do you mean? You mean that if I do the right thing and if I pray the right prayer today and if I praise the right praise today and if I worship the right worship today, that the thing in my life that I'm praying about is just going to fall down like that?

43:14 No. I am saying to you that you may not be able to skip the difficulty, but you can skip the unbelief. That's what you can skip. No, no. You have to go through the waters. You have to face the wall. But you don't have to wander in the wilderness. this night. One more day. You can skip this. You can skip this. I want you to hear my annoying voice in your mind all week long when you go to have that argument. You know good and well that if you say what you're about to say, you're going to be cleaning this up for the next 20 minutes, for the next two weeks. I was sitting at a family dinner this past week, and I was just irritated. It was me. It wasn't the people at the table. They were delightful, but I found myself edgy. When you get edgy, you get petty because you're stressed. You spiral, and now you're edgy and you're petty, but now you've got an edge, so now you just cut something, and now you're cleaning up blood for the next hour because your kids are all bleeding because you didn't know how to come to the table and skip what you wanted to say so you could eat the food in peace. I tell you, It was like slow motion too.

44:33 I went to say it. I was so proud of myself because I don't always skip it. Most of the time I just say it. I went to say it. I was like, you know you are. It went out of my mouth. I envision in the future a one hour overcompensation of me now trying to be so nice because I was so mean. God will never do this at home. I'm going to go home and repent. Y'all can polish your halo. and we'll meet back here in a year when I get my life together.

45:04 But I got it right, and it was like the Holy Spirit said, you can go ahead and start this drama by just saying whatever you want to say, or you can skip it. Mid-sentence. You know, I didn't even have the presence of mind to make something up like I was going to say. I just let the batteries die on my stupid mouth. All right, I shouldn't say this. You can skip it if you'll shut your stupid mouth. Is that all right? James says, if you will control your tongue. That's what I meant to say. I didn't need to say it like that, but I said it like that. After they marched for seven days, the walls fell down, and they didn't have to live in wilderness because they marched. Do you know what the generation before them did? Murmured.

46:11 They went in and saw the giants. I got it ready for you in the King James Version. You want to see it? Look at it in Numbers 14.2. They saw the giants came back, and all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said unto them, would that God we had died in the land of Egypt, or would God we had died in this wilderness? And they did, because they murmured. Second generation came along and said, we can skip this.

46:47 If we murmur, we're going to stay here. If we march, God will make a way. I came to ask you a question. You're going to murmur or march? Last week I taught you that God can turn a mumble into a miracle when you pray, but the Enemy can turn a murmur into misery. You have to bite your tongue.

47:14 One thing that impressed me about Joshua, he learned from the lessons of Moses. He said, we can skip this. Go over to Joshua 6. That's where they walk around the walls of Jericho. One day I'm going to preach a remix of my favorite sermon from my youth. It was called Don't stop on six. I might preach it next week. I might preach… Oh, the memory of it is probably better than the sermon was, but in my head, it was awesome.

47:43 Because Joshua did something so strategic. Now, God met with Joshua. He said, you have to take the people into the land. I want you to have the priests to go ahead. I want them to have the ram's horn, not the silver horns like the priests would blow, the ram's horn, which signified jubilee, which signified freedom. I want you to blow the horns every day you march. march 10 minutes a day, and then go back. Now, Joshua knows something. He's very intuitive. Well, it's 24 hours in a day. The march is going to take 10 minutes. I guess we've got to polish our stuff and get ready, so that's an hour. What are we going to do with the other 23 hours? The last time the people of God started talking about their situation, they murmured themselves right out of their miracle.

48:30 God told Joshua, have a march, but he did not tell him to do this. This was just his instinct. God will tell you to do things by instinct that you don't even have a direct scripture for. I'll prove it to you. Verse 9. The armed guard marched ahead of the priest who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding, But Joshua had commanded the army. Do not give a war cry. Listen to this. Do not raise your voices. Matter of fact, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout. and they marched instead of murmuring. God is telling you today that you are going to have to bite your tongue and blow your trumpet so you can skip some of the stuff that you've been fighting with because you keep creating wilderness with your words.

49:35 But your tongue is getting you in trouble, but your trumpet can get you out. Because the trumpet represents what? Praise. The trumpet represents what? Victory. So I'm making a mantra for my life this week. More trumpet, less tongue. I'm going to praise God more this week and complain less this week, because I don't want to dig myself deeper into a disappointment that I'm already dealing with. I've been in this wilderness long enough. I've been depressed long enough. I've been anxious long enough. So, yeah, I have to go through the sickness, but I don't have to lay at home all day Googling different symptoms about what the sickness could be. I've got to go to my treatment, but I don't have to give the enemy my imagination. I can skip this. I can skip this because God is a healer, because God is Jehovah Rapha, because God is my banner because God is my medicine. I can skip this.

50:39 I wanted to let you know, not yet, I can skip this. I want you to hear it in your head all week. No, I can't skip the things that God has ordained me to go through, but I do not have to live in a state of prolonged pain. I can skip this. The next time you go to do the addictive behavior that you know where it leads to, you know it's going to put you in a wilderness. you know it's going to put you in shame i want you to hear the holy spirit saying to you you can skip this you can skip this you don't have to go to work tomorrow with bloodshot eyes hiding what you looked at all night you don't have to go to work tomorrow with a headache that's so bad that you want to die you don't have to go into your next situation your next season you you can skip this you don't have to play out every worst case scenario you say pastor stephen How can you say that? It's bigger than me. This sickness, this anxiety, this struggle, it's bigger than me. How can you tell me I can skip the wilderness because of Matthew 4, verse 1?

51:55 There is someone other than Joshua who went through the wilderness because the Bible says, help me, Holy Spirit. Help me help somebody today. help me help somebody who's in a wilderness. Help me help somebody who feels like there's no way out. Help me help somebody who's just circling round and round the same wilderness. Help me help somebody today, God, who's just stuck in it. Help me help somebody who keeps hating themselves. Help me help somebody who keeps reaching out for things that are hurting them. The Bible says, Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil, and after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. Jesus answered, It is written, Men shall not live on bread alone, but every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the Devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. If you are the Son of God, he said, Throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. And Jesus answered him, It is also written, Do not put the Lord your God to the test. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. All this I will give you, he said, if you will bow down and worship me. And Jesus said to him, Away from me, Satan, for it is written, Worship the Lord your God and serve him only. Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. The reason I don't have to stay in my wilderness is because Jesus went to his.

53:40 And what the generation could not do in 40 years, Jesus did in 40 days. With God, what should take years takes days. I need somebody to shout right now. If you are glad, that you have a savior who did not skip the wilderness you have a savior that did not skip the scourging you have a savior that did not skip the mocking and because he did not skip the cross i'm coming out of this i'm coming out i'm coming out of this the last thing i do i'm coming out because he's in me i'm coming out much greater is he that lives in me than he that's in the world. You can skip this. You don't have to live in fear. You can skip this. You don't have to live in shame. Your shame is nailed to the rugged cross.

54:44 You can skip this. The next time the enemy comes up in your ear, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what you did. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, don't even defend yourself. Skip it. Take him straight to the cross. Take him straight to the burial and borrow a tomb where the Savior was buried. Skip it. Skip it. Skip it. Just skip it, because you have a Savior who lives inside of you. Everyone standing, no one moving. You can skip this. Christ did not die for you to punish yourself for sins that he paid for. You can skip this. Forty years in the wilderness, and they could have made it in 11 days. A seven-day march brought the walls down.

55:42 Seven days of creation. God is trying to do something for you right now in your life, but you won't. You won't worship. You keep letting the Enemy fill in the blanks, fill in the gaps. I'm trying to tell you that between verse 29 and verse 30, there was a wilderness, but when the writer of Hebrews went to write it down, he skipped it. Why? Because they didn't have to die in the wilderness, and neither do you.

56:14 I don't know what your wilderness is today, but the Holy Spirit instructed me when I got to this part in my message to pray for you about it. Bow your head and close your eyes. I saw it in my study in this moment that the enemy, like he tempted Jesus, has been tempting you. Turn the stones into bread. Throw yourself from the temple. Bow down and work. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm skipping this. I know where this takes me, and I don't like it, and I have a Savior. Not Joshua. Jesus. Somebody say Jesus. Come on. Call his name like you know him. Say, Jesus, I need you to get me out of this wilderness. I need you. That's how you're going to do it when the pain is louder than the promise. I'm skipping this. I'm skipping this. I am not going to stay down in something that God raised me out of.

57:14 So blow your trumpet. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. one of the greatest ways that I have found to deal with my wilderness is through worship. So that I lift my hands. Why don't you do it right now? Lift your hands, especially if you have been in a wilderness. There are some things we have to go through. There are red seas. There are walls. Hey, I'm not saying problem-free. I'm just saying you don't have to die in it. I'm just saying you don't have to repeat it over and over. You can skip this. When you worship, what happened in Matthew 4, verse 11 happens to you. The Bible says the devil left him. I command you, Satan, in the name of the Lord, to drop your weapons and free. For the Lord God Almighty has given me authority in the name of Jesus.

58:13 Come on, open your mouth. You need to say, thank you, Jesus. you need to say I trust you Lord you need to say thank you Lord for bringing me through you need to say I trust you Lord I'm lifting my arms