This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Hi, this is Pastor Tom, and we are in week two of our look together through the
book of Exodus. In Exodus, instead of going a chapter a week, we're going a
chapter a day through this 40-chapter book, looking at what God says about how
He wants to set us free. As we see Him setting the people of Israel free, we get
to see how He sets us free.

And we began this last week to look at some of the principles of how He does
that. Principle number one, someone takes the risk to trust God. That's where it
starts.

That's where you start to be set free. Principle number two, you realize I
cannot do this on my own power. Principle number three, you realize I am in
desperate need of God's power.

And principle number four, we began a look at last week, I must come
face-to-face with my biggest obstacle. Last week we saw that when you come
face-to-face with a problem, the obstacle, you have to face some barriers. There
are some things that immediately get in the way.

And some of them might surprise you. The first barrier you face is the barrier
of intensification, the fact that often it seems like things get worse before
they get better because you're facing the problem, because it's right in front
of you. You're not living in denial any longer.

You face intensification. And we talked last week about how you and I can deal
with that. Immediately after that, there is a second barrier that you face.

We see it expressed in the life of Moses, beginning in verse 9 in chapter 6. The
second barrier that we face is the barrier of doubt. We say, "God, I believe you
want to set me free," and then we face the intensification of the problem.

And so obviously, the next thing that comes is we've got to face some doubt.
Listen to what the Bible says in verses 9 to 13 and then in verses 28 to 30.
Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of
their discouragement and cruel bondage.

And then the Lord said to Moses, "Go, tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let the
Israelites go out of this country. " But Moses said to the Lord, "If the
Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak
with faltering lips? " Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron about the
Israelites and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he commanded them to bring the
Israelites out of Egypt, down in verse 28.

Now when the Lord spoke to Moses in Egypt, he said to him, "I am the Lord. Tell
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, everything I tell you. " But Moses said to the Lord,
"Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?

" There it is, that second barrier, the barrier of doubt. You come face to face
with the problem, the habit that needs to be broken so you can be set free, the
growth step that you need to make in your life so that you can be set free, the
relationship that needs to be changed so that you can be set free. You come face
to face with it, and then it seems to get worse before it gets better, and
everything in you wants to doubt.

Everything in you wants to say, "This just isn't going to work. Why would
Pharaoh listen to me? Why would I think I could change this this time?

Why should I even try? " Back in verse 9, the Israelites don't listen to Moses
because of their discouragement, because of their cruel bondage. We doubt
sometimes because we've never seen it happen.

We've never seen change. We doubt it could happen because we've never seen it
happen. The Israelites had been in bondage for over 400 years.

None of them had ever known freedom, and so because of that, they thought, "This
is the way it's always going to be. " They doubted, and so Moses doubted, "Why
would Pharaoh listen to me? " We doubt because it never has happened.

We doubt because of our own inadequacies. We look at our own lives and think, "I
can't pull this off. I can't make this happen," which of course is the point.

God's the one who does it, not us. But the pressures of intensification, when
they come, when we're facing that barrier to change in our lives, to freedom in
our lives, those pressures of intensification, the feeling that it's getting
worse because now at least I'm facing up to it, they tempt us to want to go
backwards. And so like Moses here, we return to old habits and old patterns, and
we treat them like old friends just as when God had first spoken to Moses in the
burning bush, and Moses had said, "I don't speak with clear language.

" Here he is again saying, "I speak with a faltering lips. " What often happens
in our lives when it comes to praying for freedom is what begins with great
change-of-the-world kind of enthusiasm, quickly goes to doubt. And the question
for me isn't so much what is the feeling that you had at the beginning.

A lot of people can feel excited at the beginning, the opportunity for change.
The question is, what's going to happen at this moment of doubt? Because it's
going to come.

If you think you're going to change without having to face yourself, the
inadequacies of others around you, you're just fooling yourself. You're going to
face your doubts. So what's going to happen then?

That is the question that's at the core of whether you and I can see God work
change in our lives. What's the answer? The answer is to focus on the truth of
what God is doing.

And the truth is, God had already given to Moses the answer that he needed on
this one and the message that he told them to give to the people. If Moses only
listened closely to what he was saying to the people, he would have known God's
answer for this one. You listen to what God says to Moses and you hear the exact
things that you and I need to hear when we are face to face with doubt.

We need to know that we have three things, God's presence, God's promise, and
God's protection. We need to know that we have God's presence. In verses 1 to 3,
listen to what God had said to Moses that he was to say to the people.

Verse 1, "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Now you will see what I will do to
Pharaoh. Because of my mighty hand he will let them go. Because of my mighty
hand he will drive them out of his country.

' God also said to Moses, 'I am the Lord. ' I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and
to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to
them. I am the Lord.

'" God's name, God's character, God's power had not been changed one bit by
Pharaoh's opposition or by Moses' feelings of inadequacy or by the people's
discouragement. God is still who he is. He is still the all-powerful God of
Moses, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

We fail, but God will not fail us. Sometimes failure comes because we fail him.
Sometimes it comes because we can't see the entire picture.

But the truth of the matter is no matter how it comes, he will never fail you.
His name never changes. He is the Lord Almighty.

God says to Moses when he says, "Why would Pharaoh listen to me? I am the Lord
Almighty. " The answer is, "Why would Pharaoh listen to me?

" He wouldn't, but he would listen to God. When it's about me, I can easily get
discouraged. But when it's about the Lord, there is strength and hope and
confidence and direction.

His presence. Someone on our research team asked about this conversation that
Moses is having with God and the feeling that Moses seems to be closer to God's
presence than we would ever be. Actually, the opposite is true because Jesus has
now opened the way for God's Spirit to live in us.

We live more in the presence of God than even Moses. So you can have these kinds
of conversations with God, where you experience his presence. You need his
presence when you're faced with doubt.

You also need a second thing. You need his promise. Listen to what God says in
verses 4 to 8, "I also established my covenant with them to give them the land
of Canaan, where they lived as aliens.

Moreover I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are
enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. Therefore say to the Israelites,
'I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I
will free you from being slaves of them, and I will redeem you with an
outstretched arm and mighty acts of judgment.

I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. And then you will know
that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the
Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land, I swore with uplifted hand, to give
to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

And I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord. " This is God's
promise.

This is God's covenant. These promises are repeated in every Jewish Passover.
That's how important these promises are that are in these verses.

God is saying, "I have kept my promises before, and I will keep my promises now.
" When I have doubt, I don't rely on my inadequacies or adequacies. I rely on
God's promises.

Because if you build your life on God's promises, even though you might have to
go through failure, the stories will always end with the victorious answer to
God's promise. If I build my life on myself, I don't know how it's going to end.
It's going to end with just me.

But if I build my life on God's promises, then the story ends with the answer to
God's promise. And there's a third thing that I turn to when I face doubt. Not
just God's presence and God's promise, but also God's protection.

And you heard that back in verse 5. "Moreover," God said, "I have heard the
groaning of the Israelites. I have remembered my covenant.

" God heard their groaning. He was not unaware of the increased burdens that
they had. He cared.

Remember, God is working in the midst of these increased burdens to bring about
freedom. In your life, He is working in the midst of that feeling of, "It's
intensifying. It's getting worse.

I'm having doubts. " Now, God's care is more than just a pat on the back and a
sympathetic word. He is already working to set you free.

Here, He is already working to set the people of Israel free. He knew He was
going to do it. And in that, He offered to them His compassion, His care.

When you face the difficulty of doubt in your life, remember that God has not
stopped caring. He cares enough about you to be interested in change, in growth,
in freedom in your life. Not just leaving you where you are.

And that might be uncomfortable at times, but He's more interested in growth and
comfort in your life. But even as He's working to grow you, and that's
uncomfortable, He's still there to care for you. He's still there to protect
your heart from doubt and to give you His love.

Let's turn to Him right now. Our Father, in this moment, we rely on you. When we
rely on others, we get doubt too often, and we rely just on ourselves.

Some days we can feel full of confidence, but then we see our own inadequacies
and we're overwhelmed by doubt. But when we rely on you, on your presence, on
your promise, on your protection, that's where the faith comes. Help us to rely
on you today.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Tomorrow we're going to look together at a third
barrier that we come up against when we're facing our biggest obstacle to
freedom.