Turn back to Exodus 18. There's a lot we can glean out of this chapter. I titled the message, Moses the Faithful Servant. And Moses, as a faithful servant, is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there are some interesting things in this chapter. We know from the scriptures that Moses was a faithful servant in the house of God. It is written there in Hebrews chapter 3.

Turn over to Hebrews chapter 3 because it will have reference to the Lord Jesus Christ also. It says in, let me read verses 1 through 5, Hebrews chapter 3, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him. As also Moses was faithful in all his house, for this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath built the house hath more honor than the house. For every house is built by some man, but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant, as a steward. He's a servant, he's a steward.

FOR A TESTIMONY OF THOSE THINGS WHICH WERE TO BE SPOKEN AFTER, BUT CHRIST AS A SON OVER HIS OWN HOUSE, WHOSE HOUSE ARE WE, IF WE HOLD FAST THE CONFIDENCE AND THE REJOICING OF THE HOPE FIRM UNTO THE END."

So this is about Moses, the faithful servant, the faithful steward, but it's also about the Lord Jesus Christ. As I said to you, I believe last week, a week before last, all throughout the Old Testament WE HAVE PICTURES AND TYPES OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, ISRAEL AS THE CHURCH, AND THESE THINGS ARE WRITTEN FOR OUR EXAMPLE.

NOW IT IS WRITTEN IN 1 CORINTHIANS 4-2, MOREOVER IT IS REQUIRED IN A STEWARD, OR IN STEWARDS, THAT A MAN BE FOUND FAITHFUL. PETER WROTE IN PETER 4-10, HE SAID WE ARE STEWARDS OF THE MANIFOLD, THE GRACE OF GOD, ALL OF US. The gifts, the talents that God's given to you, you're stewards. God has made you stewards of them. We are stewards of the gifts of grace. And Paul, speaking of the preachers and the ministers, he said, we are stewards of the mysteries of God. God's made these mysteries known to us by His Spirit through His Word. And we make Him, and I, as I study, I make them known to you. as I preach the gospel. I'm not at liberty, a steward is not at liberty to change anything that the master gives them. I'm not at liberty to change it, but what I am to do is to oversee it, look after it, and take care of it. Stewards of the mysteries of God, the mysteries of His grace, the doctrines of grace, stewards of those things.

And our Lord is the perfect example of a faithful steward, for all things have been placed in His hands. All things have been delivered over to the Son, and He has faithfully executed everything. Everything in that covenant of grace, He has faithfully executed it. Faithfully. And I mean perfectly faithfully. HE FAITHFULLY DID HIS FATHER'S WILL. HE SAID, MY MEAT, MY MEAT, THE REASON I EXIST, WHEN I WAKE UP IN THE MORNING, THINK ABOUT THIS, THIS IS TRUE. CHRIST IS SAYING, WHEN I WAKE UP IN THE MORNING, MY MEAT IS TO DO THE WILL OF MY FATHER. WOULDN'T IT BE SOMETHING IF WE WOKE UP LIKE THAT EVERY MORNING? IF WE REALLY DID WAKE UP EVERY MORNING WITH THIS BURNING DESIRE TO DO GOD'S WILL, Lord what is your will for me to do today thy will be done that was the the heart the very heart of our lord he said my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and he faithfully fulfilled his offices as prophet priest and king he did them perfectly faithfully And we'll see this now as I go down through here.

Now first of all, Moses meets his father-in-law and his wife and sons. And I want to touch on several of these verses because there's just so much here. There's messages and messages on top of messages. But I'm just going to give you one this morning. But Moses here, he meets his father-in-law and his wife and his son. When Jethro the priest, and most say that in other translations that's the Prince of Median, but here it says Priest of Median. Moses' father-in-law heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, his people, and the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.

Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after his sinner back. Remember the you remember the story when God met Moses in the end he was gonna kill him Because he didn't circumcise his son And it made Zipporah mad. She said you a bloody husband. She had she had to do the circumcision She was the one had to do it and she called him a bloody husband and he sent her back home He sent her back home and and it was a year about a year gone by he hadn't seen her for a year He hadn't seen his sons for a year, hadn't seen, no, they didn't have what we have today. Wasn't no, you know that, no FaceTime, no texting. I mean, not a word for a year. But you didn't know whether he was alive or dead. You didn't know anything about them. But here's the point, here's the point. And these are things I don't wanna overlook as we go through this. The ministry comes before all else, even the family. It comes before family. It does. The Apostle Paul wrote this in 1 Corinthians 7 29, But this I say, brethren, the time is short. It remains that both they that have wives be as though they had none. What he's saying here is that the ministry comes first. The Lord Jesus Christ comes first. He's first.

And so Moses, he sent her back for a while until Jethro heard of all that had happened. And the Lord made that possible. The Lord made Jethro to hear that so that Moses could bring his wife back, his Gentile wife. And there's a whole message in this. Moses, I'm just gonna touch on this, but Moses, I think, but Moses, if you'll remember, he was rejected by Israel as a deliverer, wasn't he? He goes into the wilderness, he goes to the desert, what's he do? He marries a Gentile wife, an Ethiopian woman. And then she stays back there, and he comes back and then delivers Israel out of Egypt, and then she's brought, and here they are now together. I'm going to leave it there. But there's a whole message just in that. But you have to know where to cut it off at though.

But listen here in verse 3, And her two sons, of which the name of the one was Gershom, for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land. Names at that time meant something. It wasn't a cute name. We're not looking up a cute name here. They actually meant something. You remember the one that was named Ichabod? How would you like to have that name? The glory of the Lord has departed. That's why they named that kid Ichabod. But now listen here. In her two sons, which the name of the one was Gershom, for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land.

Brethren, this is us. God has made us aliens in a strange land. We are strangers in this world, we really are. We are pilgrims and strangers in this world. I feel so out of place in a group of unbelievers. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, I hate to say I'm telling you the truth because it sounds like I haven't been. But I'm telling you, it makes me feel so uncomfortable. I have no desire because I feel like a fish out of water. I feel like a fish out of water. I'll never forget, I got talked into going to a class reunion. I went to one. I got talked into it. I never felt so out of place in my life as I did there. I honestly didn't. And I'd never go to another one. Because they had nothing for me. I had nothing for them. I'm telling the truth. I had nothing for them. I felt so out of place. I felt like a stranger. I was a stranger to them, they were a stranger to me.

The first thing, the Lord taught me something here, the first thing happened, I don't want to get too far off the message here, but the first thing happened, a young man came up and said, do you remember when, do you remember when, and I wanted him to shut up. And there's another man there that could tell I was uncomfortable. And he just looked at him and said, I'm not going to say his name. But he looked at him and said, you just shut up. And he did. And he just turned around and left. And I thought, I deserve that. I deserve that. I have no, there's just nobody here for me no more. There's nobody here. I feel so comfortable with you. I do. I feel so comfortable. But with this word, I'm a stranger. God's made me and you a stranger in it. I'm strange, it's stranger.

Listen to this, Hebrews 11 13, These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Abraham was looking for a city whose builder and maker was God, 1 John 2.15 LOVE NOT THE WORLD, NEITHER THE THINGS THAT ARE IN THE WORLD. FOR THE LOVE OF THE FATHER IS NOT, WAIT A MINUTE, LOVE NOT THE WORLD, NEITHER THE THINGS OF THE WORLD. IF ANY MAN LOVES THE WORLD, THE LOVE OF THE FATHER IS NOT IN HIM. THE PRINCIPLES OF IT, THE WAY IT CONDUCTS ITSELF. I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT HERE.

Paul wrote this in Galatians 6.14, God forbid, but God forbid that I should glory. Yeah, remember when, remember when, I was like. You know, Paul said, forgetting those things which are behind. Forgetting those things which are behind. But God forbid that I should glory, saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. You know what he's saying? We have nothing for each other. The world has nothing for me, and I have nothing for it. And that is in companionship. I have nothing.

And the name of the other was Eliezer. For the God of my father, said he, and this is why he named him this, was my help. and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. He's my help. He's the reason I'm standing here. It's not me and Jesus, it's the Lord did it. It's not me and Him doing it together, He did it. He saved me from the sword of Pharaoh. Who am I to stand against? Like Moses said, who am I to stand against? Pharaoh, the greatest king of the earth at that time, had the greatest army and Moses here just had a staff in his hand. That's all he had. That's all he needed. That's all he needed. All I need is what God gives me. You know, all I need is God's Word. I don't need a canon. I just need God's Word.

And he said, God's my help. He's my help. He's all my salvation. This is why he named his sons this. It really meant something. We are a stranger in a strange land. We are strangers in this world and God's our help as we travel through it. all the way through it, all the way to the end. At no time do we accomplish anything in the energy of the flesh. Paul tells the Galatians that. Having begun in the Spirit, are you made perfect by the flesh? No! You begin in the Spirit and you end in the Spirit. That's it, all the way home, all the way home. I think one of these days, maybe when life is over, we'll realize the Lord has carried us all the way home.

He went out and when he went out and found that lost sheep, what did he do? He lead it home? No, he said, put it on his shoulders. And he carried it home. We're being carried home. And I realize it more and more. I realize the Lord's carrying me.

And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, he came with his sons, his wife, Moses, into the wilderness, the wife and sons of Moses, where they were encamped at the Mount of God. Moses didn't go to them, they came to Moses. But it's believed here, you know, it's believed, let me say this, it's believed that the Law was already given, that this chapter is basically a parenthesis between Chapter 17 and Chapter 19, that the Law had already been given. But this is thrown in here for some lessons here that we need to learn.

And He said to Moses, I thy father-in-law, Jethro, come to thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her. And Moses shows respect in verse 7. This is something that's just about gone and respect. He showed respect to his father-in-law. He said he did obeisance, he kissed him and he asked him of his welfare and they went into the tent.

And I want you to notice something in verse 8, And Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the Lord delivered them. NOT ONE TIME DID MOSES TAKE THE GLORY TO HIMSELF. NOT ONE TIME. HE SAID THE LORD DID THIS. I BELIEVE EVERY BELIEVER IN HERE, EVERY BELIEVER IN HERE CAN SAY THIS, HERE I RAISE MY EBENEZER, EITHER BY THY HELP I HAVE COME. It's by God's help I'm this far. It's by God's grace, God's help, I'm here this morning preaching the gospel and you're here listening, worshiping God. That's by His help. That's His help.

And He didn't take any of it. He told him about the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army drowning, the waters of Marah and that tree. The manna that came from heaven, the water that came out of the rock, He's telling him all of this and he said, the Lord did all this. I didn't do any of it, the Lord did it. He did it. It's good to tell what the Lord's done for you, isn't it? You don't have to be a theologian, just a sinner saved by grace, and just tell what the Lord's done for you. That's all. That's all.

Someone was talking to me here some time ago about witnessing. And I told him, I said, well, if the Lord opens the door, I don't open the door, the Lord opens that door. And He gives you the word to say, then say it. Tell Him what the Lord's done for you. You don't have to start, because this person said, I don't remember a lot of scripture. Young in the faith. And I said, just tell what He's done for you. That's all, just tell what He's done for you. It may just be a sentence. You know the first time, first several times I preached, when I preached, I lasted 10 minutes. That's all. 10, 15, finally got to 15 minutes. The women in the nursery loved it when I preached. Because they had about 40 kids in the nursery. And I'm telling, this is so, they loved it when I was preaching. Because they knew it would be over with pretty quick. And now I've almost completely flipped it now.

but just tell what the Lord's done for you listen what Samuel here in first Samuel 12 24 only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart for consider how great things he has done for you and I add to it and tell it and tell it what did that woman at the well do she went home and said come see a man that has told me everything I've ever done She said, come see him. He told me everything. Come see this man. And the whole city went out. Who would have thought that? And then when they went out and they heard him, they said, now we believe not because of what you said, but we've heard him ourselves. You never know when you invite somebody to come here. Go out to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in. Bring him in here. If you can get him to come, get him to come. Who knows? Who knows? God might save one. He's sure not going to save them if they don't hear the gospel. But our God delights to show mercy. And upon that foundation, we need to bring as many in here as we can. Invite as many as you can.

And then verse 9, And Jethro rejoiced for all the good which the Lord had done to Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians, You know, at this time the Midianites had not yet become real enemies yet to Israel. Remember the Lord was a thirsty? He turned Israel over to the Midianites for seven years and they just took everything from Israel, made them poor as can be. Impoverished, Israel said.

But this is a descendant from Abraham to the wife of Keturah after Sarah had died. A Gentile. A Gentile. All those nations that were not of Israel, even though they were from the loins of Abraham, they were Gentile nations. There was only one nation that was a covenant people of God, and that was Israel, the ones he had there in the wilderness. And when Moses went out there, he married a Gentile woman, just like our Lord. He's gathering in the Gentiles right now. Gentiles just means nations. That's what it means.

And he says here in verse 11, now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly, he was above them. He was not, there's, is there any compared to God? To whom will you liken me? God said, to whom will you liken me? If we'd ever sit down, take the time to sit down from time to time and think about who our God is, how great He is, how immense He is. There is no, you can measure everything about me. My IQ, my height, my weight, there's nothing about me you can't measure. There's nothing about God that you can't measure. He's infinite in everything. And He's our God. He's our God.

he has control over absolutely everything but now here he praises he he says here i know the lord is greater than all gods and i know this first of all does this mean that jethro knew god by by what he said here no no many people say things about god that are true but that's not salvation Salvation is following Him, trusting Him. And I'm going to show you here in a little bit.

He left. He left. Moses said, Stay with us. I'm going to read it to you in a minute. I'm getting ahead of it, but He left. He left. Even pagans are made to acknowledge God's goodness to His people. Look over in Psalm 126. In verse 1, When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dreamed. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue was singing. Then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them. Even they have to confess, the world has to confess, the LORD's done great things for you. He's blessed you.

He's blessed you. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrificed for God, and Aaron came, and the elders, and they all sat down and ate and caught up with one another. But here in verse 13 and 18, Moses is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. It came to pass on the morrow that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood by Moses from morning unto evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou didst to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone?

Well, first of all, Moses was not alone. Moses was not alone. The Lord was with him. Paul said this in one place, ALL HAVE FORSAKEN ME, BUT THE LORD STOOD WITH ME. You see, he had eyes of the flesh, but spiritually he couldn't see. He said, you're alone. No, you're not alone. The Lord's with me. I'm not alone up here this morning. I'm not alone. If I am, I'm in trouble and you're in trouble. The Lord's with me. He's with me.

And all the people stand by thee from morning to evening. And Moses said to his father-in-law, because the people come to me to inquire of God. When they have a matter, they come to me, and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God and His law. You know, the scripture says in Deuteronomy 18, verse 15, Moses said this, The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet in the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me, him shall ye hear.

Moses was a prophet. God spoke to Moses, and Moses spoke to the people. Christ said, as I hear, I speak. The words I speak, he said, are not mine, but his that sent me. He's a prophet. A prophet is a person chosen, he's chosen by God to speak God's words. That's what he is. He reveals the will of God and he guides his people in truth and righteousness. That is Christ to us, isn't it? You're not just listening to me, the Lord's guiding you by His Word, using me as your pastor, but He's guiding you through me and His Word, by His Spirit. He's the one doing it. The Lord's our shepherd. He leads us beside still waters and makes us to lie down in green pastures. He does that. He's that prophet. Christ is that prophet who reveals the mind and will of God to us, His church. As Moses said, and I do make them know the statutes of God and His laws. Who made you to know the gospel? The Lord Jesus Christ. He made you to know it. You didn't figure it out. I didn't figure it out. We're not more intelligent than anybody else. The Lord made it known to us. He made it known to us.

You remember when our Lord interpreted the law? He said, You have heard it said by them of old time. In other words, reading the law is what He's saying. You heard them read the law. Thou shalt not commit adultery, but let me tell you what it means. See, I don't interpret the Word of God. The Word of God interprets the Word of God. And Christ is the Word of God. He said, Let me tell you what that means. To look on a woman to lust after her is to commit adultery with her in your heart. You've heard that thou shalt not kill. He said, well, let me tell you what that really means. To hate your brother without a cause is to be guilty of murder. He's the one who came in and gave the real interpretation of the word of God. He gives us, he's the one who gives us understanding. He does, we're not trying to interpret the word of God.

Here's a gift that God gives his pastors, his preachers. He enables them, and this is one of the things I look for when I hear somebody, especially a young man. Are they able to take the Scriptures and make the Scriptures agree with the Scriptures? No Scripture stands alone, the Scripture says. No scripture is by any private interpretation. Scripture interprets scripture. But the gift that God gives His preacher, His pastors, is to be able to see that scripture that belongs to this scripture and keep it in its context. You've got to keep it in its context.

We see here Moses as a mediator. He said, Because the people come to me to inquire of God. Who do you go to to inquire of God? the Lord Jesus Christ. Do we not pray in His name? Whatsoever you ask in my name, I'll do it. A mediator is a go-between, it's an intermediary, one who intervenes and restores peace or makes a covenant, that's what a mediator is. And the Lord Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and men, not Mary, Mary's not a mediator. She's a sinner saved by grace just like me and you. She's not a mediator. There's only one mediator and that's Jesus Christ Himself. And He's always been that mediator. God has never, ever, ever spoken to this human race apart from Jesus Christ. The Word of God. Never. No one's ever heard from God apart from Jesus Christ. The Word of God.

As God, listen, as God He reveals God to His people. What did He say to His disciple? He that has seen Me has seen the Father. And as a man He represents His people before God. He stands there and intercedes for us. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. And His death paid the price for our sins and satisfied divine justice which is very, very real. Don't ever think that's not real. Thousands of people die a day and they find out it's real. I forget how many thousands of people die a day. It's a bunch. How many die a minute? I looked that all up once. How many die a second, a minute, by the hour, the week? or the day, the week, the month. It's amazing! And everyone, just right now, as I'm standing here speaking to you, people right now are just flying up in the face of God. There's a constant flow of people coming before God. Constant. That's real. That's real.

And the Lord Jesus Christ, when it comes our time, we who believe, when it comes our time, WE ARE GOING TO MEET OUR FATHER WHOSE PLEASURE IT IS TO GIVE US THE KINGDOM. HEBREWS 9.15 AND FOR THIS CAUSE HE IS THE MEDIATOR OF THE NEW TESTAMENT THAT BY MEANS OF DEATH THEY WHICH ARE CALLED BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THE POWER OF GOD, THE SPIRIT OF GOD, MIGHT RECEIVE THE PROMISE OF ETERNAL INHERITANCE." And He continually, our Lord continually, as we live out our lives here, continually intercedes for us. I prayed this morning, but that prayer is meaningless unless Jesus Christ intercedes. He makes my prayer accepted. He makes our prayer accepted. He ever liveth, it says in Hebrews 7.25, to make intercession for them.

Then we have Moses the servant. Moses was faithful, it said, I read to you earlier, and all his house, the house of God. Now, I don't know if you picked up on this, but I read this many times over, so I got to pick up on a lot of things by reading and rereading and rereading. Moses' father-in-law comes. He brings the two sons of Moses. Hasn't seen him for a year. Has not seen him for a year. Verse 13, And it came to pass on the morrow, the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people. And the people stood by Moses from morning until evening. The next day. His father-in-law has come to town. His family has come to town. He hasn't seen his wife and his kids for a year. And the next morning he gets up And he goes out and does what he does every day, the ministry, the ministry. He didn't let his family stop him from serving God. He didn't let his family keep him at home. He didn't stay home and say, well, I got to take, you know, no, he didn't do it. He didn't do it. He didn't do it. You know, I thought of when Vicki's sisters come down, she always tells them, bring your clothes to go over to the worship service. If you're going to go, because we're going, you can stay at the house if you want to, but we're not staying home. And when my family has come down, my sisters came down, they knew to bring the clothes that they want to dress and come here at the worship service. We're not staying home. We're not staying home for family.

Moses didn't. He hadn't seen him for a year. I'm telling you the truth. I'm telling you something that's important here. You see, trials come in many forms. They do. Oh, I tell you, there's been so many times we've been tried and we didn't even know it. I always remember that story that Henry told, true story, of a woman that was offended because of something that happened in the nursery to her kid, and she quit coming. Henry says she was tried, this made chills go over me when I heard it. He says she was tried of God and she didn't even know it. She didn't even know God just put her through a trial and she failed it. She left, she didn't come back. She was offended because somebody did something to little Johnny or whatever. God tried him, God tried her and she left. My, my, my, boy, I've never forgot that story.

Moses, Moses got up the next morning and he went and did his, he went to the ministry, did fulfill his ministry. Vicki, I told her I was going to tell this. She said to me a few years ago, she said, I feel like I've lost my husband. I'm always saying, I got to go to study. I can't go here. I can't do this. I got, you know, I'm always got to do this and do that. I've been about the ministry, about being in the study and got to finish just like, was that Carl's birthday thing yesterday? And one of the ladies said to Vicki on her way out, she said, you still didn't make it to the cake again, did you? Because I always end up leaving before the, I told her, I said, you got to learn to cut the cake first. Cut the cake first, put it on the table, then we'll go eat and we can do that and I can get up and leave. I had to get back to the study and finish this message. I worked on this all day yesterday. And I like to think it worked on me all day.

But that's so, you know, the ministry is a full time, all the time, Business, work, whatever you want to call it. It's work, let's call it work. It's a full-time work. It never stops, never stops. I woke up three times this morning, and I know what's going to happen. I'm going to think about this message, and it's going to start rolling, and I'm going to lay there for another hour or two, and then doze off, wake up, think about it, and I'll do this until I get here to preach. I get up at seven and I sit there until ten. It's full-time. There is no part-time. There's no part-time ministry.

His father-in-law makes a bad statement. He said to him, the thing that thou doest is not good. Really? Here's something interesting. I don't know of any time when God spoke to Moses through anybody else but God, speaking directly to him. And here his father-in-law comes into town and says, Let me tell you how to do this, Moses. Let me tell you how to do it. And how in the world can it be said that doing what one is called to do is not good? You take too much on yourself. Moses didn't take that on himself, God put it on him. God put it on him. Thou wilt surely wear away. Well, that's better than rusting away, isn't it? I'd rather wear away than rust away. I get so tired of hearing people want to talk about retirement, retirement, retirement. I know there'll come a time that I'll As one man, one old gentleman told me, he's gone now, don't be with the Lord. He said, your body will let you know when it's time, but I would rather wear away than rust away. He said, but you, that will surely wear away both thou and this people that's with thee, for this thing's too heavy for thee. Thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.

You're right. You're right. I'm not able to do this by myself. That's what Paul said. We know that no man is sufficient for these things, but God is our SUFFICIENCY. Whatever God has given YOU to do, God is your SUFFICIENCY. Our problem is not believing God, and here's where it gets dangerous when we want to make it easy on ourselves. When we start considering ourselves and try to make it easier, that's where it gets dangerous. you're going to wear away. God makes us able ministers of the gospel.

Now hearken to my voice, I'll give thee counsel. I wrote here just one little sentence, be careful of unsolicited advice. Boy, if you're not paying for the advice or if you haven't asked for it, be careful about taking it. Everybody's got an opinion. And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and you'll teach them the way they'll walk and the work that they must do. This is what the Lord does. He teaches us these things. I don't really believe that Moses' father-in-law knew the Lord. I don't. And I'm gonna give you why. In Numbers 10. Go over to Numbers chapter 10. You need to be careful, because I tell you, The Lord gives you a work to do, do it with all your might. That's what Solomon said, whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might. Whatever God gives our hands to do, do it with all our might. And I needed this, I needed this chapter. This chapter's written for me. It's written for me. It's written for us, but it's speaking to me especially.

Now, Numbers 10, look in 29. 232, And Moses said to Hobab the son of Ragul the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, this is Jethro, We are journeying into the place of which the LORD said, I will give it to you. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good. For the LORD hath spoken good concern in Israel. And he said unto him, I will not go. Jethro said, I will not go, but I will depart to mine own land and to my kindred. And he said, Leave us not. Moses said, Don't leave us. Leave us not, I pray thee. For as much as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes, and it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee.

And he wouldn't do it. He left. He went back. I can't sell out. I cannot sell out and move to where the gospel is. I can't do it. I can't leave my family. I can't leave my grandkids, my kids. I can't do it. It's not that easy, is it, Jay? It's not that easy. If Christ is first, if Christ is everything, you'll sell out. You won't do it until then, but you will when He's everything. You'll sell out. You'll kiss your family goodbye. You'll love them. You'll visit them. You'll call them. But you'll be where the gospel is. Jethro said, I'm going to go back to my kindred. I'm going to go back to Ethiopia where I feel comfortable. You are my kindred. You are my kindred.

Well, this was a blessing to me. This was a blessing to me. All right.