Priscilla Shirer: He Is Who He Says He Is

so glad to be here with you as always it is our privilege and our treat to be able to share God's Word this weekend with you and what we do consider to be a little bit of our family here at Gateway y'all just can't seem to get rid of us and the people in our family we just love so much being a part of what God is doing in this community of partnering with you in serving this community as you know many of you may know our church which has been my home church since I was 1 year old is about 40 minutes from here where my father happens to also be the pastor and so my parents dr.

Tony and Lois Evans they send their greeting to you and to your pastors in their absence as well and so thanks for having us it's a treat to be here I just have a couple of thoughts that I want to share with you from God's words a couple of things that have profoundly impacted my life as I have asked the Holy Spirit to sear these little simple messages to imprint them on my soul and I'm asking that he would do that for every single one of us today simple things that can transform your entire life let's pray Lord Jesus I thank you so much for your word I thank you Lord that this book is alive I thank you that it's not just black ink on a page but that what the Holy Spirit does is that he causes it's a leap up off the page and to grip us in our souls so Lord I'm praying that in these next few moments that we're going to spend together that you would do it only you can God I'm asking you you would take this one little simple message would you please divide it several thousand different ways so that every single one of us under the sound of my voice hears a direct personal word straight from the mouth of God in Jesus name everybody agreed and said Amen as was mentioned I have three boys a couple of them are in service with me right now one of them is shaking their head at me just like this because he knows where I'm going and I have another son as well that is in Sunday school or in your kids church this afternoon my boys are 12 years old Jackson is 12 years old and then I have a 10 year old his name is Jerry junior and then my little one his he's our surprise baby we still don't actually know how he got here we named him Jude on purpose because that is as close as I could get to revelation because it is finished it is over so I've got Jackson Jerry jr. and almost Revelation I've got Jude and our three boys are as you can imagine they keep us very very busy they are the highlights of our lives and one of the trademarks of my children is that they have on their daddy's size they're their dad is a big guy they are big kids my 12 year old already wears a size 12 men's shoe somebody come help me feed these people please they are big boys and one of the ways that it actually works well for them is that they love sports whatever is in season they're kind of playing it so we find ourselves at basketball courts right now basketball season even football we found find ourselves every year at baseball diamonds as my second son has found that for sure baseball is his thing and so my oldest son basketball is his thing the youngest ones still trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life but that second one Jerry junior baseball is his thing we're pretty proud of Jerry junior in baseball because he actually is pretty good at the game I think because of his size he's got a lot of power behind his swing he can already shed now but at eight nine years old he could swing a bat and get a good hit and get that ball already over the fence line and then at first base he makes a lot of stops pretty good there he's got a lot of growing to do and he knows it but he's pretty good and we're proud of him we enjoy baseball season in the fall in particular and also spring ball because well it's fall and it's spring it's not summer those evenings when we go out for practice it's fun and enjoyable because the air the breeze is blowing by as we're watching practice and then on those Saturday mornings at 8 a.m. or 9 a more I am when those games will be it's early in the morning and and the breeze is blowing at it field feels good the problem with spring ball is that it will become summer ball and y'all know what happens here in Texas in the summer the Sun ain't ain't messing around and it comes out and it scorches us and there you are sitting there watching your child a playing baseball and it's really okay when there's just one game but then at the end of the season there's going to be a tournament lord have mercy what that means is you're going to go out on Thursday and that you're going to play one game two games that may parlay into three games if your child's team has done well then it means if they did well on Thursday you are coming back on Friday and you are going to sit there underneath the umbrella or the tent that you bought from the sporting goods store still sweating bullets running down your face and down your clothes as you try to be excited for your kid that keeps on winning and then you have to come back on Saturday and then they have the nerve to want you to come back on Sunday for the ending of the series and and I don't know if it's ever okay to pray yo kids lose this so you can go home and I will neither confirm nor deny that I have ever done that but I do recall a couple of summers ago maybe it was last summer even there was this one particular day where it was scorching hot and we had sat outside and we had gone through two games already it was time for a break and so we've all gotten into our car gone to a restaurant where we could get some air conditioned and some nice cold iced water and so we just enjoyed a nice refreshing lunch came back for the next game we got all of Jerry juniors gear out of the back of the the car and we headed over towards the dugout so that we could get him and the rest of his team members all set up for the next game that they were getting ready to play and my son is a normally fairly confident young man and he was actually excited about this next game but as we got closer and closer to the dugout I watched my son's countenance begin to change just a little bit I watched as that chin that had been kind of held up high as he walked over towards the dog and I watched it kind of hang little bit I watched him start wringing his hands and I saw his shoulders kind of slumped forward he seemed a little worried about something I looked around trying to figure out what it was and then I thought I could I spotted the problem you see there was another team in fact it was the team we were about to play in this next game this team had played my son's team earlier in the season and with this team had played my boys team earlier in the season they had annihilated us I mean it had been a complete upset a complete embarrassment this team was filled with boys who are serious baseball players you know the kind that when their parents gave birth to them they put a mitt on one hand and a baseball on the other hand you know the kind the team that has the serious parents as well it was that kind of team and we were up against them again and my son was a little nervous about it as he spotted this team he knew how good they were as we walked past them he overheard two of the team members talking to each other we all overheard them they thought they were whispering but they weren't doing a great job one leaned over to the other and said there goes that kid from MIT from the other team do you remember him he was the one that hit the ball that went over the fence yeah that was the one that was at first base the one that caught all the outs during that earlier game that that's him the other kid leaned over and said you mean that's Jerry Shire my son heard his name crossed the lips of the opposing team members and all of a sudden that head that had been down all of a sudden it popped back up again all of a sudden his chest spoke back out he got his swag back as he walked over toward the baseball diamond I in fact we had to bring him down a few notches before the game started it is absolutely amazing how your countenance changes when you really understand what the enemy thinks about you the reality is that in our lives you are going to and I am going to face challenges there are going to be battles that you have to fight there are going to be difficulties that you will have to traverse and we could face them Church with insecurity and with our heads hung down unaware and unsure of how we're going to be able to get through this difficulty in our lives but everything about the way we face challenges can and should change when we really overhear and understand what the enemy thinks about us because the reality is my friends that even if we don't believe it he believes your enemy he believes every single thing that the Word of God declares to be true about you even if you aren't convinced he knows because the word says that that you and I are victorious he knows that you have already been forgiven even if you don't believe it he knows that there is therefore now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus even if you aren't convinced about it he knows that he is already under your feet even if you weren't sure you need to know that he is sure that he can form a weapon against you but that that weapon will never ever prosper he knows that you've been made competent by the Spirit of God he knows that if God is for you then no one and nothing could ever prosper against you what what a shame that would be for the enemy to believe more about our potential than we do for him to be more convinced about who we are because of our relationship with God through Christ Jesus than we are so I want to talk for just a few moments tonight to anybody who may be in the room and you are facing a circumstance right now where honestly you are a bit intimidated a bit discouraged at this particular valley year in your marriage or difficulty in your finances or trouble in your health or struggle in your singleness or problems on your job or in that ministry or that business you started you have run into trouble in your journey of life and you're wondering how you're gonna get across this one so that you can move forward and onward to all that God has for you there are some simple lessons that we can learn from a group of people in Scripture that know exactly how that feels you have your Bibles and you want to turn with me to the book of Exodus you can do that if you actually still use a Bible with paper pages like I do or you can use your iPhone your iPad any manner of eyeness just get to Exodus chapter 14 because in Exodus chapter 14 we meet the children of Israel two million piec pilgrims that were once slaves they have been freed miraculously and they are now on their journey with God headed toward the land of milk and honey they are walking with God wanting everything that he has for them just like you and I are we are on our journey with God but on the way they come across what seems to be an impossible seemingly impassable situation called the Red Sea and with the Red Sea in front of them threatening them and their ability to move forward on in their journey Moses looks at the children of Israel and says to them the exact same thing that the Holy Spirit wants to say to us today verse 13 Moses says to the people do not fear stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which he will somebody say he will he will accomplish for you today for the Egyptians whom you seen today you will never see them again forever the Lord will fight for you while you keep silent whoo that's good innit listen to that again Moses says to the people do not be afraid cuz ain't nobody got time for that stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which he will somebody say he will he will accomplish it for you today for the Egyptians whom you seen today you will never see them again forever the Lord will fight for you while you keep son Moses looks at the children of Israel as they are facing their red sea they are looking at it dead-on just like you might be as you sit here in these seats or you're on the other side of that screen participating in this time of worship and and in the word with us and you are looking dead on you are face to face with a Red Sea circumstance in your life and for the life of you you cannot figure out how you gonna get around this one or through this one or to the other side of this one Moses says to the children of Israel embedded within these instructions that you and I are going to look at for just a few moments embedded within the instructions I hope you noticed there is a promise of victory he says to them he will God will your God Yahweh will give you the victory you do not have to manipulate for it you don't have to create it you don't have to manufacture it all you have to do is go and claim the victory that you've already been given I don't know if you know are not my friends but if you read the whole book in the end we win the victory has already been given to you so Moses says when you realize that you're fighting not for victory but from victory it changes the way you look at the Red Sea when you realize that the victory has already been given to you and that you going to lay claim to everything that your God already has stored up for you it changes the way you face the difficulties and then I face the battles in my life so Moses says now knowing that the victory is already yours that your God is for you that he is paving the way on your behalf he says now you just do these four simple little things and you can lay hold of the victory that has been has been stored up for you he says number one be fearless he says be still he says be watchful see the salvation of the Lord and he says Shh be quiet I figured for just a few minutes we could talk about these four things the very first and probably possibly the very most important thing that Moses says to the children of Israel as they face their red sea is that they need to be fearless he says it this way do not fear in fact this principle is so important and I know is taught so importantly at this particular church in this church life I've heard it taught from your pastor from this platform on many occasions to different conferences and different settings so I know you have heard this before and yet it needs so much reminding in the lives of God's people it is so important that over 300 times throughout the Scriptures we find this exact same command do not fear do not be afraid be fearless over and over fear not different ways different variations of the exact same command in fact this command is so important for the people of God that by the time you get all the way to the New Testament the Apostle Paul writing to a young man named Timothy he says just in case you're unclear Tim you need to know that our God does not give a spirit of fear he does a lot of gift-giving he enjoys giving gifts but one thing you will never find coming from our God is a spirit of fear that's just not the way he rose so it made sense that sense that Moses would need to tell the children of Israel not to be afraid it made absolute complete sense I mean think about their situation they have been tortured for 400 as a people group they have just been hesitantly released by Pharaoh from captivity they are literally days into the journey and just days into the journey they they overhear that Pharaoh and the entire Egyptian army are coming up on the rear as they try to journey onward with their lives and and then to top top off the the problems that they're having the Red Sea is now in front of them so they have problems in front of them and they have problems coming behind them but scholars say that the army would have been so vast that they wouldn't have just come up on the rear y'all they would have been spread out around the sides the east side and the west side so that really the children of Israel were completely surrounded on all sides it occurs to me them to group this side there are some of you that know exactly how that feels because just when you finish fixing this problem you turn this way only to find out there's another one waiting on you over here and then you fix this one only to find out there's another here and another there everywhere you look you feel like you're completely surrounded and when we're in scenarios like that it makes sense in our natural human frailty our response emotionally would be fear it makes sense because we're just human and still Moses looks of the children of Israel and says do not fear even though your human reaction is to fear he says it's not that you won't feel it you just get to make the choice whether or not to wallow in it you get to decide whether you will make friends with the fear that you feel whether you won't allow it to you and paralyze you and keep you from moving forward if fear crippled them they would never have the opportunity to see the incredible incredible miracle that God had in store for them that they would only experience if they were still willing to put one foot in front of the other and move forward and onward even with the difficulty in their asset what the enemy knows is that fear will you so that you will not put one foot in front of the other and move forward and as long as you and I are just sitting in church saying amen to the message he doesn't have a problem with that long as you just come to the first conference once a year he doesn't have a problem with that long as you are at the conference once a year he doesn't he didn't have problem with that but he has a problem with is someone who comes on Sunday and comes to the conference and is enjoying the presence of God but then walks out of these doors and lives fearlessly puts one foot in front of the other in obedience to God and moves onward toward the destiny that God has for them he doesn't mind us hearing the word he doesn't want us hearing the word tucking it into our hearts and moving onward with our lives disregarding any intention he may have to us and paralyze us from moving forward so you've got to decide whether or not you're going to entertain the fear that you feel and so when fear knocks on your door you've got to decide whether or not you're going to invite it to come in to have coffee and and and tea and stay a while to put up its feet on your coffee table and become your friend that's your decision and so when you feel fear arising don't entertain it don't engage it exchange it for an opportunity to pray to offer your your request to God as he does does desire to hear our our requests but in the meanwhile you keep putting one foot in front of the other do not be afraid can I just tell you all to that just quickly that one of the ways that I've determined the leading of God in my life one of the ways that I start to determine the way the leading of God in my life is when I'm praying and Jerry and I are trying to consider two options that are in front of us and whether God would have us choose option A or chop option B and in some area of our life um if there is one in particular that I do not care for I just I don't want to do that don't want to go there don't want to participate in that and as I'm praying through it if I consider all of the reasons why I don't want this option and when I water it down to its base level if any of the reasoning even at its most root most based fundamental level if there is anything having to do with fear or intimidation or insecurity that is keeping me away from this option that I automatically assume that if our God does not give a spirit of fear and there is a spirit of fear attached to this option that it must mean that the enemy is going out of his way to try to steer me away from that particular option and if he's trying to keep me away from that particular option he must know that there is a busing in that option that he does not want me to have and I don't know about y'all but when I find out that the enemy is behind something it causes the holy indignation to rise up on the inside of me I want every single thing God has for me can I get one person to say Amen and so if you find that that a spirit of fear is attaching itself to some specific area of your life that you pray about that you ask the Lord is there is this a Red Sea that the enemy is trying to steer me clear of because he knows if I keep putting one foot in front of the other if I cross through this thing that on the other side is the milk and honey that you have planned for me so do not be afraid the second thing he says to the children of Israel if they're going to claim the victory he says to them to be still some translations say stand by some say stand firm stand still that's the gist of it I want you to notice the two parts of the command the standing part and the stillness part I want you to put yourself in the position of the children of Israel read see four hundred years of being brutalized as a people group the Egyptian army coming up behind them and the best most strategic battle plan that Moses can come up with is stand still you got to be kidding me Moses you do realize that there's a sword right here you don't want me to grab the sword sharpen it so that I can get ready to defeat these enemies Moses you do realize there's bow and arrows right here I can set set flame to the end of these aerial arrows we can go ahead and send them sailing in the enemy camp no you do realize that there's some wood right here I can go ahead and start carving it up and I can tie some logs together I can get us a nice nice rest for me and my family to head across this body of water Moses I do have some solutions and the solution you have doesn't seem to make any sense you mean Moses that you do not want me to my own understanding as to what to me seems like a suitable solution for this scenario you want me to do that which contradicts my flesh contradicts what you are instructing me to do Moses says yep what you need to do in this scenario is not what your mind thinks you should not what your flesh wishes you would what you need to do is plant your feet and stand still now standing and stillness both sound like the most passive of commands I mean there's so many more active engaged things that I could think of doing when I'm in troubling situations in my life standing still doesn't seem like it's gonna do any good at all it seems so passive we need something more active but I want you to think about this for just a moment Thursday after you ate your third helping of turkey after you downed a bit more of the sweet potatoes and the yams and the green beans and pumpkin pie I don't know about you but after I took in all that that sugar and all those carbs in one sitting like that when I walked into the living room in front of that football game the last thing I wanted to do was stand I wanted to sit down because standing is actually not that passive sitting is passive because it means you want something else to carry all of your weight Moses says do not relax yourself require your body to be resolved in fact think about how much energy and effort it really does take when you're especially tired and you're sitting down and someone asks you to stand up you just don't want to right but it could be because it really does require you to engage your mind for your brain to send instructions down to the bones and the joints in your body the muscles everything has to cooperate in order for your skeletal structure to be held upright over an extended period of time there's nothing passive about standing at all Moses says to the children of Israel the Holy Spirit says to us today you want win this battle then you plant your feet firmly on the promises of God and you call your mind and your brain and your joints and your muscles to be resolved to stand firmly on what God says about your circumstance no matter how deep your Red Sea looks you stand still plant your feet to be resolved believe that he is who he said he is and he can and will accomplish what he says that he will accomplish there was a young lady that interned with our ministry for a while her name was Katie she was with us for the summer she moved from Baton Rouge Louisiana to Dallas Fort Worth now Baton Rouge we Louisiana's airport is a little bit smaller than dallas-fort Worth Airport and I'm sure that the majority of you here in Dallas have flown out of DFW and you know it's just a monster Airport and she had never flown a lot period but when she had it had only been in and out of Baton Rouge and so when she moved here for the summer she was going to be traveling with my family and I we all traveled together most of the time so on our very first trip y'all know we went to terminal D to catch our flight there are five terminals over there and then if that weren't confusing enough at the airport not only are there five terminals but then there are 32 36 gates in each of those terminals and then if that weren't confusing enough they have the nerve to cause some of those gates actually have a Part A and A Part B so you might be going you know to terminal a gate 36 B well on this occasion we were at terminal D we pulled up parked to the car got all our bags out of the car and we made our way towards a security we we then began to take off all of our clothes so that we could get through security and get to the other side Katie's line was taken a long time my family and I had been in one line she was in the other there was a hiccup in her line she couldn't get through and so Jerry sent her a text from the other side of security and said hey we're just going to gate 22a it was literally right there to the left he said we'll meet you there she waved at us she got the text she'll meet us there we sat down waited for Katie still wasn't there that line was taking a long time boarding the flight we got on the flight got the kids all settled put our bags in the overhead when we were waiting for Katie I mean they were boarding the last person now still absolutely no Katie we were we were sweating now we couldn't understand what was going on and we couldn't find her we couldn't text her she wasn't responding nothing finally at the very last minute I mean the very last minute Katie comes running down the jet bridge and down that little narrow airplane aisle and she pops herself down in the seat she is sweating bullets and her hair is plastered to her face from all the sweat we're trying to figure out what what was going on security was just right there to the left of the gate finally she looks up from her seat when she got all settled to find the five of us looking back at her like this we said Katie what happened she said well I saw that Jerry texted me to come to gate 22a but I just assumed that he meant get a 22 so I got on the airport train that takes you to every other terminal in DFW Airport when I realized I was in the wrong place I tried to scramble my way back here as soon as possible I'll never forget my husband looking back at her and saying Katie if you would have just believed that exactly what I wrote was exactly what I meant I could have saved you so much time and so much energy and so much so much sweat if you would have just believed if you would have just stood confidently on the fact that exactly what he what he wrote is exactly what he meant to be true for your life and so be fearless and be still and then Moses says would you be watchful he says open up your eyes and see the salvation of the Lord remember they're still praying on this big miracle they don't know if the Red Sea is gonna divide they don't know how in the world they're gonna get across this body of water and Moses says to them don't close your eyes waiting on a big miracle you open your eyes up while you're yet waiting even while you're waiting to see how God is gonna respond in a great big way to your great big problem don't close your eyes and sleep through it open your eyes up right now to see the little miracle that miracles that God is already doing on your behalf be watchful see the salvation of the Lord Moses didn't want them to ever forget what it looked like when his rod was held up over that body of water he wanted them to never forget what the faces of their toddlers look like as they were wide-eyed in awe and wonder it all that God was doing he never wanted them to forget what it looked like what it felt like that the hands the weathered hands of their elderly as they grabbed those hands and walked across the body of water he never wanted them to forget what it looked like when their sandals he collected absolutely no mud on the bottom because they were walking across on dry ground he never wanted them to forget what it felt like when that east wind started blowing slowly at first but then began to gain more and more steam and begin to Bro so hard that it parted that body of water into two walls he wanted them to see the details of God's deliverance so he said don't call your eyes waiting on something big open your eyes up right now because God is already doing something big that you do not want to miss in your life so open up your eyes and be watchful yes keep praying that God will do it in the meanwhile keep your eyes open to see all the it's he's doing in your life today so you'd be fearless you be still you'd be watchful and finally Moses says Shh be quiet guard yourself against complaining discipline your mouth to do what my mama said growing up if you don't have anything good to say don't say anything at all the scripture says that our God watches over his word to perform it so why would we give the enemy something to work with out of our mouths instead of giving God something to work with over our lives and so you speak this word over your Red Sea you you you find confidence and the promises of God that are specific to what it is that you were facing and then you just watch God respond just like he did with the children of Israel because then a fearless watchful silent steadfast bunch of Hebrews they got to see the miracle of the lifetime a miracle that by the way when the when Hollywood did the movie The Ten Commandments it took them 18 months to figure out how to simulate what our God did in a split second he did it for them and I'm here to tell you he'll do it for you you just be fearless you'd be still you'd be watchful and Shh don't complain be silent Lord Jesus I pray for your people I pray God that you would cloak us with an assurance and a holy courage Lord that will enable us to face our Red Sea head-on without being paralyzed or crippled or handled pampered by fear lord I pray over this group of folks that's in this room today and even those on the other side of the screen I am asking in the name of Jesus that you would list fear off of us Lord that you would bring a holy courage and boldness to us in Jesus name Lord I'm praying that you would help us to be a church that will stand steadfast on your promises that we will believe that what you have said to us is what you mean for us Lord would you cause us to be watchful to to be grew so grateful for everything that we see you do in each 24-hour period of our day even while we're yet praying and waiting and and desiring to see you do something else would we never be ungrateful for all the things you were already doing and then God would you help us to be guarded against complaint would you remind us of all of the benefits that we already have in