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Exodus 32:1-8 ,Aaron, The People And The Golden Calf, What Happened? And The Implications
Feb 20, 2025
We read this in verses 1-4 of the 32nd chapter of the book of Exodus,
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods[a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods,[b] Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
When most people read this account, our tendency is to think- why did they do that after all the miracles and deliverance they’ve experienced from the LORD. We’ll be taking a closer look at this account to find the reasons behind this rebellion and the implications for us today, see presentation above
Scripture References:
Exodus 32:1-6
Exodus 20:3-6, 23-25
Luke 22:31-34
Joshua 24: 19-20
1 Corinthians 10:11-121
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0:00
hello this is ty EBIT is calm and today
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we're gonna dive into the book of Exodus
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we're gonna go into chapter 32 and just
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read the first six verses and the title
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of the the presentation is Aaron the
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people in the Golden Calf and what
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happened so we're gonna dive into this
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story and then dissect it and understand
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what God is trying to teach us through
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this account that was recorded for our
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sake
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alright so let's go on to the next slide
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so we read this in verses 1 and 4 of the
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32nd chapter of the book of Exodus when
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the people saw that Moses was so long in
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coming down from the mountain they
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gathered around Aaron and said come make
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us God's will go before us as for his
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fellow Moses who brought us up out of
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Egypt we don't know what has happened to
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him
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Aaron answered them take off the gold
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earrings that your wives your sons and
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your daughters are wearing and bring
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them to me so all the people took off
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their earrings and brought him to Aaron
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it took what they handed him and made it
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into an idol cast in the shape of a calf
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fashioned and it will be tool then they
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said these are your guards Israel will
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brought you up out of Egypt now this is
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a very sad account that is recorded for
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us and when most people read this
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account our tendency is to think why did
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it do that after all the miracles and
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deliverance the deliverance they've
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experienced from the Lord like this is
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our tendency to think how could he do
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that so now we're gonna be taking a
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closer look at this account to find the
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reasons behind this rebellion okay you
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see rebellion so we first have to go to
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Exodus 20 let's see what God tells the
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Israelites he tells them in Exodus 20
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our starting with verse 3 you shall have
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no other gods before me you shall not
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make for yourself an image in the form
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of anything in heaven above or on the
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earth beneath or in the waters below you
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shall not bow down to them or worship
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them for
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I the Lord your God am a jealous God
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punishing the children for the sins of
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the parents to the third and fourth
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generation of those who hate me but
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showing love to a thousand generations
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of those who love me and keep my
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Commandments
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do not make any gods to be alongside me
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do not make for yourselves
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gods of silver or gods of gold but make
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an altar of Earth for me and sacrifice
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on it your burnt offerings and
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fellowship offerings your sheep and
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goats and your karo
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whatever caused my name to be honored I
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will come to you and bless you if you
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make an altar of stones for me do not
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build it with dressed stones for you you
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will defile it if you use a tool on it
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and do not go up to my altar on steps or
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your private part may be exposed so
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while God spoke all those were like when
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the people were listening they they say
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this this is their response when the
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people saw the thunder and lightning and
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heard the trumpet and solemn mountain in
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smoke they trembled with fear and they
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stayed at a distance
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keep that in mind they stayed at a
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distance and Moses and say and they say
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to Moses speak to you to us yourself and
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we will listen but do not have God speak
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to us or we will die and Moses said to
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the people do not be afraid God has come
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to test you so that the fear of God will
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be with you to keep you from sinning and
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the people remained at a distance keep
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those words in mind the people remain at
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a distance while Moses approached the
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thick darkness where God was so the
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people responded with trembling and fear
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which is a good start but they wanted
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nothing to do with God they just didn't
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want to die so their response was mainly
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due to their fear of death while Moses
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was enamored and excited about being in
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the presence of God the people himself
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were afraid of God and their actions
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were driven by an unhealthy fear of God
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scriptures say that the fear of the Lord
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is the beginning of wisdom
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or to these people they fear the exuded
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drove them away from the Lord
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you have to keep that in mind because in
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the entire exchange they stayed at a
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distance and they said to Moses speak to
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ask yourself and we will listen but do
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not half God speak to us for we will die
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and they remain at the distance so the
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thing is this they said to Moses you go
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talk to God we will be here we will
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listen whatever he tells you to tell us
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who listen and we'll talk which is a
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good way to start because you have to
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have a healthy fear of God but then
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that's when he stopped for them because
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they didn't want anything to do with God
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it was almost like did you say to Moses
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you go talk to him
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we'll be here you just tell us relay the
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message and we'll do whatever he says
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there was no excitement to be in the
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presence of God like Moses Wars didn't
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have that so let's go to the next slide
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and keep this in mind so and then we
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have the Golden Calf we see in Exodus 32
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verse 1 8 now the same people who were
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claimed that they were going to listen
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the God demanded that neither we made
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for them and we ask ourselves what
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happened and I want to ask you the
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question below like do you think you
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would have not done what the people of
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Israel did and think about the question
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carefully before you answer it so do you
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think if you were in their position
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would you do the same thing they did
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that would you be better than these
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people I want you to think about it
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process it and think about the whole
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picture here people have been saved from
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the Egyptian Copts captivity they leave
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the Egyptian gods and everything and God
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shows them all this miraculous thing you
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know he shows them so many things in it
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in the wilderness and now they he comes
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and talk to him there's this fear of God
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in them they say to Moses you talk to
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the God who listen to whatever he says
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we'll do whatever God says and then 40
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days after that Moses on a mountain for
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40 days there fall into this sins and
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and so what happened how did these these
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people fall back into sin so quickly
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it's the question what happened
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they definitely fear God and death well
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how could he betray God and not keep
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their promise so quickly all it took was
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40 days 40 days and now is it so
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and I think the answer to this question
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is in Exodus 20 verse 20 and 21 like I
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said earlier Moses said to the people do
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not be afraid God has come to test you
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so that the fear of God will be with you
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to keep you from sinning and the people
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remained at a distance while Moses
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approached the thick darkness where God
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was keep that in mind okay what was the
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difference between the people and Moses
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see Moses wanted to be in the presence
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of God yes Moses saw that the smoke he
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saw everything but guess what Moses
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wanted to be in the presence of the of
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God but the people were too afraid to
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come the difference is the presence of
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the Spirit of God in Moses Moses wanted
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to be in the presence of God because the
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Spirit of God dwelt in Moses Moses was
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set apart by God and was filled with the
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Spirit of God and wanted to be in the
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presence of God the people on the other
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hand saw the manifestations of the
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Spirit of God but they weren't filled
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with this field of God they responded
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with fear which was a good start were
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left to their own device they rejected
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the fellowship that God was offering in
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nowaday people feel the punishment of
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God but they want nothing to do with God
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himself because they are devoid of the
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Spirit of God this is why Jesus said
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apart from me you can do nothing you see
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what they exude was this we are fearful
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of God and people do that in this day
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when you talk about God's think they
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have the healthy respect of God but they
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don't want the fellowship with God they
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don't want to fellowship with God they
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just are afraid I don't want to go to
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hell well I don't want anything to do
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with God I don't love the law of God I'm
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just afraid you go talk to go out I'll
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do what he says and they tryna put on
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this this won't do things their own
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strength and sometimes girl leaves
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people to their own devices
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so I allow them to be sifted you know
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and this is what happened here
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Moses was set apart by God because Moses
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was filled with the Spirit of God the
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people saw the manifestation of the
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Spirit they were fearful
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but there was no engagement personal
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engagement they did not want to engage
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in the things of God keep that in mind
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let's keep moving now I'll give you some
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supporting verses in Luke 22 verse 31
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and 32 Jesus tells Simon Simon Simon
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Satan has asked to sift you all of you
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as wheat but I have prayed for you Simon
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that your faith may not fail and when
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you have turned back strengthen your
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brothers but he replied Lord I'm ready
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to go with you to prison and to death
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and jesus answered I tell you Peter
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before the rooster crows today you will
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deny three times that you know me see
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Peter didn't have the power to resist
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the sin of fear on his own and the Lord
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had to expose his pride by living him to
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his own device so this is kind of the
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idea here with the Israelites so Peter
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did not have the power to resist the
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fear and the scene of fear on his own he
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can do it on his own he thought he could
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and the Lord had to expose his pride by
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living him to his own device in Joshua
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24 19 to 20 this is way after Moses the
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people of Israel tell Joshua we too will
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serve the Lord because he is our God and
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Joshua said to the people you are not
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able to serve the Lord he is a holy God
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he is a jealous God he will not forgive
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your rebellion and your sins if you
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forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods
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he will turn and bring disaster on you
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and make an end of you after he has been
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good to you Joshua was reminding the
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people that they couldn't serve the Lord
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in their own strength but they didn't
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get it the same thing is happening again
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way after Moses people say we to serve
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the Lord the same way that people say
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you go talk to God Moses and whatever he
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said we will do is always a focus on
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their ability to serve God which Joshua
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is telling them you are not able to do
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this on your own you need the Spirit of
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God to do that let's keep going in 1st
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Corinthians 10 11 and 12 Paul tells us
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these things what things the things that
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are happened to them as these things
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happened to them as examples and we're
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written down as warning for us
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on whom the culmination the culmination
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of the ages has come so if you think you
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are standing firm be careful that you
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don't fall and Paul is reminding us to
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remain and abide in the Lord in the
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verses above we can serve God apart from
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God any spirit working in us and this is
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a warning and we ought to hit it like
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Paul is saying again all those things
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that have happened as an example so you
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better take care and listen and then
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operate from a place of what surrender
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surrender to the Spirit of God and in
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John 15:5 Jesus tells us I am the vine
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you are the branches if you remain in me
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and I in you you will bear much more
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fruit apart from me you can do nothing
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and our Lord Himself reminds us about
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our dependency to him for anything he
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reminds us about it
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right to leave the righteous life that
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God desires we need the Spirit of God we
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can do it on our own and in Psalm 51
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verse 10 to 11 this is David the king
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create in me a pure heart O God and
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renew a steadfast spirit within me
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do not cast me from your presence or
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take your Holy Spirit away from me see
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David understood I cannot leave the
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righteous life apart from the Spirit of
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God I need you Jesus I need you Lord and
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this is why this is important to
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understand because the righteous shall
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live by faith and without faith it's
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impossible to please God and this is the
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reminder whenever we feel like we have
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we can serve God in our own strength
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when we fill a weak we can do this on
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our own this is the danger we are called
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to be humble and to remain humble and
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this is a dependency a call to
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dependency to be dependent on the Holy
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Spirit of God himself okay let's keep
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going
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so what do we learn why did the people
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demand an idol be built for them why did
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they want that that's because they
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didn't understand that they can serve
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God apart from God himself their pride
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blinded them and they thought they were
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able to obey God in their own strength
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and we desperately need to guard against
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this type of pride and I believe the
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Lord preserves us from it by allowing
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thorns in our lives
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the
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keep us from being conceited okay the
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way God keeps us from this type of fried
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thinking we can do this on our own
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strength is to allow a lot of thorns in
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our lives to keep us from being conceded
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right so let's learn from this now I
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want to go a little bit further and the
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question is this why what led Erin to
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come up with such a lame plane like why
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would he do that why did Erin do that
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why cuz Moses told Erin and her I'm
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going up to the mountain to to speak to
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God I'm gonna be there for quite some
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time if the people have any question
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they will come to you Erin and you lead
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them in the right way now here's what I
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think happened again this is just a
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speculation Erin came up with a plane
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that was not so brilliant
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he built a golden calf in order to
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remind the people of the abuse horror
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and atrocities they were subjected to
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while serving the Egyptians and their
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guards when he sprained backfired this
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is what I'm thinking that he didn't just
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want to do this to lead people astray or
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he didn't do because he was afraid I
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don't maybe he was afraid of the people
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they came and he was under pressures he
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was scared and he just was too scared so
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but the thing is this I'm off to the
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frame of thought that he actually was
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trying to emulate what happened when the
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people asked God for meat and where God
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give them meat and they start to just
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get sick meat was coming out of their
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nostrils and they were so sick to the
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point where they understood that God was
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teaching them a lesson
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and I think somehow somewhere Erin tried
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to do the same thing because this is
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what the scripture says in verse 5 when
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Erin saw this he built an altar before
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it and Erin made a proclamation and said
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tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord so
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we realized that erin was surprised by
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the people's response to the golden calf
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he probably thought they were going to
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be so appalled by the thought of a
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molten calf after what they've suffered
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in Egypt but that wasn't the case so
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Erin tried to cover up his actions by
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building a proper altar to the Lord to
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camouflage the golden calf where he was
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too late so I don't think that
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arond built this because I don't think
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he was afraid I think he just did it
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because he thought you know what let me
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teach them a lesson maybe when I built
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this golden calf that's gonna remind him
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of everything that is suffered when
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anyway in Egypt and they're gonna be so
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appalled that they're gonna say to me we
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don't want to see this please destroy
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this why he backfired because the people
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were already back in Egypt in our own
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heart
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you see Aaron should have known better
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there were still residues of idol
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worship in the people's heart even
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though they had professed their total
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loyalty and devotion to the Lord they
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were still residues of idol worship and
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he happens to us too
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all it took was 40 days a little less
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for the people to fall back into sin and
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Stephen in acts gives us a glimpse of
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the people's heart in acts 7 verse 39
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and 41 he says our fathers refused to
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obey Him but trust in my side talking
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about Moses in their heart the turn to
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Egypt saying to Aaron may God make for
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us God will go before us as for this
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Moses will let us out from the land of
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Egypt we do not know what has become of
16:38
him and they made a calve
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in those days and offered a sacrifice to
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the idol and were rejoicing in the work
16:44
of their own hands you see what happened
16:47
all it took was 40 days for the people
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to fall back in the scene so what can we
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learn from Aaron's mistakes Aaron yes
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what I learned from this
16:56
don't try to improve on the word of the
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Lord it is sufficient to accomplish his
17:03
purpose the command was not to build any
17:05
any image or Idol and Aaron didn't
17:08
operate in accordance with the Word of
17:10
God God commands don't need humans
17:13
improvement we are called to preach the
17:16
word without twisting it or embellishing
17:18
it to make it attractive to others even
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though Aaron had good intentions he
17:23
still didn't obey the instructions of
17:25
the Lord and the consequences were dire
17:28
like he should have just stuck with what
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God said do not build any golden image
17:37
or any Idol this is the word of God this
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is why God had said Aaron trying to
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embellish and improve on the Word of God
17:45
and thus lead people astray and we can
17:48
the same thing today when we trying to
17:50
make church and the gospel attractive to
17:52
people by trying to embellish in it we
17:56
can't do that preach the word our cities
17:58
don't wanna add on to it don't try to
18:00
diminish anything from it just preach
18:02
the Word of God and let the Holy Spirit
18:04
Himself cut the people's heart it's not
18:07
your job to try to make God's Word
18:09
attractive you preach it as it is and
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you remain steadfast in their preaching
18:14
you don't try to make it attractive you
18:17
don't try to add on to it you don't try
18:18
to improve it preach the word as it is
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that's your job and that's my job to
18:25
preach it as it is we are not trying to
18:27
make friends we're trying to preach the
18:29
truth and that's the question is people
18:31
who think people are gonna get offended
18:33
when we preach the Word of God that's
18:35
not your job your job as a man of God is
18:38
to stay consistent and preach it as it
18:41
is you don't try to twist it you don't
18:44
try to embellish it you give it as it is
18:47
and let the Holy Spirit Himself work
18:50
through your spoken word as you listen
18:54
to the word the Word of God and give it
18:57
to the people as it is don't try to make
18:59
any changes to it
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Aaron try to improve on Word of God and
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the consequences were bad because a lot
19:05
of people died as a result of it and
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today we can do the same thing by
19:09
leading people astray when we trying to
19:11
embellish the Word of God when we trying
19:13
to improve on it instead of just giving
19:15
it to the people as it is which is the
19:17
pure unvarnished Word of God
19:20
so my exhortation to use this today
19:23
number one don't try to do things in
19:25
your own strength because you can't this
19:28
is why it's imperative that people
19:29
understand that the righteousness of God
19:31
is from faith and for faith so the
19:33
righteous shall live by faith
19:35
this is why Jesus said man does not live
19:38
by bread alone but by every word that
19:40
proceeds from the mouth of God that's
19:42
number one number two
19:43
don't try to improve on the Word of God
19:45
give it to the people and give it to
19:47
yourself as it is don't try to add to it
19:49
or trying to interpret it in your own
19:51
way let the Word of God be its own
19:53
interpreter interpreter
19:55
okay so that's all I have for you to the
19:58
end and I'm looking forward to talking
19:59
to you again about this kind of stuff
20:01
wonderfully and I'll see you next time
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