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Creed

Turn Exodus 12

Money Raised

Intro

Series Overview

And I know you’re thinking “I’m sick of the house”. We’ll hear me out. There’s something for you in the house.

Principle of the Place

And I introduced to you something I’m calling ‘The Principle of the Place”

Here it is: It doesn’t just matter who you are, and it doesn’t just matter how you are, it also matters where you are.

We see this consistently throughout scripture where God’s provision, protection, peace, and purpose is inextricably linked to a place.

Title: Passed Over

Story – Pleading the blood

I grew up in church, some of you didn’t and that’s fine, but I grew up in church. And some of the things I heard then, I didn’t understand until later.

And growing up in the church, the church people would use this language, and I heard it then but I didn’t understand it till later.

Examples:

  • Someone might be driving past a car accident and they would say “I plead the blood of Jesus.” And I’m sitting there with my little seatbelt on and I would think, “I’m sorry, what? You what now?”
  • Or we’d be praying with somebody and someone might say “We plead the blood.” And I’m thinking “Excuse me?”
  • Or maybe someone who is very advanced in their Christian language might be praying and they wouldn’t even get out the whole phrase, they’d say something like “The blood, the blood, the blood, the blood, the blood, the blood.” And I’m just thinking, “What?”

I didn’t understand what they were doing until I read this story.

Exodus 12:12-13

“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods (the false Gods) of Egypt. I am the LORD. (Exodus 12:12)

The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. (Exodus 12:13)

God is a Protector

Here’s a phrase I would like you to write down: “God is a Protector”

Psalm 105:15

“Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.” (Psalm 105:15)

This is God’s declaration to be a PROTECTOR in our lives. And I wonder if anyone today could look over their life and say ‘Amongst all else that God has been to me, he has been a protector.’ – He’s protected from from dangers seen and unseen. Meaning he’s protected me from stuff I knew about and he’s protected me from things I DIDN’T know about.

That’s why I always make a point to come to God and thank him for all the things that have happened, and I thank him for all the things that COULD HAVE happened, but didn’t.

God is a protector.

However, God’s protection is tied to God’s principles.

IOW: If I want to experience God’s protection, it means I must align myself with God’s principles.

Parenting I’m a parent. And one thing that means is that I give my child instruction. And when parents give their children instruction, it’s not restrict them. They think so. “You’re trying to keep me from my friends and having fun.” No, parents don’t provide instruction and principles to their children not to restrict them, it’s to protect them. And so we lay out principles, and as our children abide by our principles, they receive some protection.

And so, we as God’s children, if we want to receive his protection, we have to understand that God’s protection is tied to his principles.

And there are times, when God instructs his people to stay in the house.

I know we live in a culture where everybody’s talking about moving up and moving on. But I need you to understand, there’s not just a blessing in moving on, sometimes there’s a blessing in staying put. There’s a blessing in staying where God told you to be because the devil wants to move you out of position.

  • There’s power in consistency.
  • There’s power in commitment.

The word the bible uses for commitment is ‘Faithfulness’. And faithfulness is the key to more.

God says ”If you’re faithful in the little, I’ll make you ruler over much. God cannot ignore a faithful person.

There are some rooms you get in not because you’re perfect, but because you’re faithful.

And I want to speak to somebody in here today that feels like they’ve been overlooked and ignored and left out, and I want to say to you today that if you’ve been faithful, more is on the way.

Don’t Leave the House.

Exodus 12 – Explain

There’s these plagues that are sweeping the land and they’re literally taking out everything. They’re taking out humans and animals. And the 10th plague, which is the worst of them all, is the death of the first born.

And God gives a man named Moses a strategy. He says “Moses, I want you to tell my people to take a lamb, take the lambs life, and take the blood from the lamb and apply the blood on the doorpost of the house, and when the plague comes down their streets, wherever it sees the blood, it will pass over that house.”

Passover

This event lead to a jewish feast called passover.

IOW: When this happened this one night, God told Moses “I want you to get my people and every year, I want you to celebrate something called passover.” Cuz if you stop and consider, you have to admit that what God did that night, he’s been doing your whole life.

That there are some things that could and even SHOULD have hit your house, that passed over.

Only protected if in the house

But this is the part of the passage that we miss: They only got God’s protection cuz they were in the house.

He didn’t say put the blood on your forehead, he didn’t say put the blood on your clothes, he said put the blood on the house, and then you stay in the house. And as long as you do that, whatever is in the streets, has got to pass over you.

“Apply” the blood

Are you ready for this?

Once they got the instruction from God, the blood was shed. But they didn’t benefit from it until it was applied.

You see it’s one thing to understand that the blood was shed, and it’s another thing to have the faith to apply it.

And so when people I grew up with would say something like “I plead the blood.” They were saying “I understand not just the EVENT of the shed blood of Jesus, I understand the IMPLICATIONS of the shed blood of Jesus and I’m using my faith to reach back to the blood shed on the cross, and apply it to my present situation.”

Because it’s one thing to know the blood was shed, it’s another thing to apply it.

And there’s something that they did to their houses that we need to do to ours.

So God says I want you to take the blood of the lamb and apply it. They applied it physically, we apply it spiritually.

Them applying the blood was an act of faith.

See, God told Moses what to tell the people. The people had to receive the word, and then they had to obey the instruction. And their act of obedience was an act of faith.

Here’s my question: Was blood shed for you that you aren’t applying?

Meaning, it’s one thing to know the act of Jesus shedding his blood, it’s another to release faith to receive what belongs to you BECAUSE of his blood.

  • I know you know he shed the blood, but you better put it on your doorpost.
  • I know you know he shed his blood, but you better put it on your children.
  • I know he shed his blood, but you better put it your mind. And say “I will not lose my mind during this pandemic. I may lose some stuff, but I will not lose my mind.”

Faith is what makes the blood effective.

Foreshadow

It’s a foreshadowing of the blood of Jesus that is shed on the cross.

Just like the lamb gave it’s life for God’s people, an innocent lamb in the person of Jesus will give his life for God’s people.

It means I gotta understand more than the event, I have to understand the implications.

3 Things

(The Implications)

1. Purchased

What do you mean?

There’s a word the Bible uses to describe what God did for you and me. And that word is ‘Redemption’. And the word redemption means to ‘Buy Back’.

So the currency God uses to purchase us back is blood. The shed blood of Jesus. Jesus giving his life to buy us back from the bondage of the enemy.

‘Pawn Shop’

To really understand this, I want you to think of a Pawn Shop.

Where something belongs in one house, but for whatever reason they take it to the pawn shop. And you have a certain amount of time to buy it back.

And so the biblical story of redemption is that we were all sitting in Satan’s pawn shop, but we didn’t belong there.

God pays the price to buy us back. He exchanges the life of his son for our life. So because he purchased it, he owns it.

And because he owns it, he has owners rights. It means that if I own the house, I have the legal right to decide who comes in. I can stand at my door and say “You can’t come in.” And if you TRY to come in, I can call the police and the police will back me up.

So when they put the blood on the doorpost, that was God’s way of saying “I own that house. And I don’t know what you’re gonna do with every other house in this neighborhood, but THIS house belongs to me.”

Your mind has been purchased.

So you don’t have to let things come in and take residence in your mind like the world does.

Heart Infections

You know I’m sure we’ve all had it up to here when it comes to being infected. But for me as a pastor, I want you to know whether or not you get Covid, we need God’s help to stop our mind and our heart from getting infected.

You do know that some issues are infections.

Bitterness

Bitterness is a heart infection.

Whenever someone is bitter and cynical, and resentful, and can’t empathize with other people, that is a heart infection. It’s an infection called ‘Bitterness’

“Pastor where did they catch it?”

Some people catch the infection of bitterness in a battle. Sometimes you can go through so many battles that it makes you bitter.

You have to be careful to not let this virus make you bitter.

People are like “Lord, I’m tired of this house, I’m tired of these kids, I’m tired of my wife. I’m tired of everybody. I need some breathing room. It’s disrupting my life. It’s disrupting my church. It’s disrupting my job. It’s disrupting everything.”

Don’t let this “season of the virus” cause your heart to get a infection called bitterness.

You’re too blessed to be bitter.

Bitterness is the enemy of gratefulness. And gratefulness is the seed for more blessing.

God gives more to those that are grateful. That’s why even if your life isn’t perfect, please make sure your heart is grateful.

Gratitude is the only reasonable response you have to the blessings of God.

Pessimism

Pessimism is a heart infection

Where you lose your ability to perceive the world with child-like faith.

  • When you look at a house, all you see is a mortgage.
  • When you see a baby, all you see is diapers.
  • When you see a raise, all you see is a higher tax bracket.

Jesus says the only way to enter the Kingdom is as a little child.

And so when you see the pessimism creeping into your mind, you say “No, my mind has to bought with the blood of Jesus, and I refuse to let my mind be corrupted by the negativity of the world.”

Because you have been purchased. The Bible says we’ve been bought with a price. You’ve been purchased.

2. Preferred

The word the Bible uses is ‘Favor’.

Favor is God’s preferential treatment.

Now I want you to understand something: Just because you’re grateful something didn’t happen to you, doesn’t mean you’re glad it happened to somebody else.

“Pastor, I don’t want favor.”

Jesus had favor.

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. (Luke 2:52)

Favor’s always about God’s purpose. It’s not about our possessions. And favor should never make us arrogant. Favor should always make us grateful.

And your circumstances and struggles are not an indication that you are not favored. If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, you have the favor of God on your life.

And when your mind says “I’m not favored. I’m the most unlucky person on the planet. If something wrong can happen, it will happen.” You say “Shut up mind. I am blessed and highly favored of the Lord.” “I’m the head and not the tail.” “The Lord goes before me to make a way even when there seems to be no way.”

Now when you do that, what are you doing? By faith, you’re applying the blood of Jesus to your situation.

3. Preserved

Sometimes victory doesn’t come from exemptions, victory comes from overcoming.

God says one way or another, you’re coming out of this.

Now listen, some people were given the wrong idea when they came to faith in Jesus.

They were given the impression that when you followed Jesus, you wouldn’t ever have to go through anything. That’s not true.

Sometimes God stops you from going into the fire, and other times he goes in with you.

God never said you wouldn’t walk through the valley, he said you’d never walk through the valley alone.

Matthew 7 – I could take you to Matthew 7 where God compares 2 houses that go through a storm. One that was build God’s way and another that was build the world’s way.

And the story is not that one house goes through a storm and the other doesn’t. No, they both go through a storm. It was when the storm is over, one was in pieces and the other was still standing.

When this is all said and done, and these crazy times we’re living in are just a memory, you’ll still be standing. Because you’ve been preserved.

And so when you’re going through a storm, you apply the blood of Jesus through faith like this: “God, you are keeping me standing. I will not be overcome. I will not lose hope. I will not lose faith. Because God you are preserving me.

And then you look at the devil and say “One of us is gonna be the first to quit and it’s not gonna be me.” Because God is preserving and keeping me.

And even when I go through the fire, I won’t be burned.

Closing

So the key is to the keep faith.

When a storm starts to blow, when a plague starts passing through the streets.

You use your faith and say “Not me. Not my house. Because of the blood of Jesus, I have been purchased, I have been preferred, and I have been preserved.”

Salvation Invitation