Hey guys, this is the New Heights Church podcast, and we just want to welcome you and thank you for joining us today. We hope this message inspires and encourages you. Here at New Heights, we exist to love people and point them to Christ. Enjoy today's service.
So this Sunday, we're going to be having water baptisms, and I just want to share some revelation about water baptism because it's one of the most critical things that a believer should do for several reasons. One of the primary reasons is it's an act of obedience. The Lord says to be baptized. There's a lot of things that happen that we can point out very clearly, and you find in the book of Exodus, it is the Exodus or the exit of the Israelites out of Egypt.
That's the grand segment, portion, topic of the book of Exodus. And in the book of Exodus, we learn about Moses and how he ran away from Egypt after being raised in the palace. He was raised in Pharaoh's palace as a son of Pharaoh, but whenever he saw some of the Israelites being abused, he murdered a guy. He stopped him and murdered a guy.
And he was scared for his life, so he ran out into the wilderness, and he ended up getting married and was tending some sheep. And he had an encounter with God that's called the burning bush. He's tending his sheep, and he sees a bush on fire, and he decides to go check it out. And when he gets there, the bush is not being consumed by the fire, but the fire is still there.
And the Scripture says that the Lord spoke to him and said, Take your shoes off. You're on holy ground. So he took his shoes off, and he begins to tell Moses a little bit about his life, how he's actually going to go back to Egypt, and God's going to use him to help set the captive Israelites free out of Egypt. And there's some back and forth that goes on there.
God ends up convincing Moses to do it, and Moses goes back to Egypt. And through 10 different plagues, Pharaoh is convinced to let the Israelites go out of Egypt. Has anybody ever heard this story? Just wave at me.
It's a great, great, great place to read in your Bible. If you think Netflix has drama, you should absolutely read your Bible. I mean, there is sibling rivalry in the book of Genesis that will blow your mind. But the Bible says that they said that he goes back, and after the last plague, which the plague was, is God was calling for what was his.
And he said, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to come, and I'm going to send the death angel, and the death angel is going to come collect the firstborn out of every house on this night. And the way that you will get the death angel to not collect in your household is you need to get a spotless lamb, and you will take the blood of that spotless lamb, and you will put that blood on the doorpost and on the board that goes over the top of the door. And when the death angel comes by, he will look down, and he will see the blood of the lamb, and he will pass over that house.
It wasn't because of somebody's last name. It was because the blood of the lamb was made evident that death had already been to that house. So Jesus came and died for you, the sinless, spotless lamb of God. And so whenever we plead the blood of Jesus, what we're actually doing is saying, yeah, we have our death, but death has already been in our house.
Our debt has been paid. So when death comes calling, it's not looking at you based off of what you did or didn't do. It's looking at the fact that the blood of the lamb has already been applied in your household. Therefore, every person in that house, remember the Bible says, you and your whole house will be saved.
Every person in that house was saved. Now, the next thing that happened is very interesting. They walk out of the house the next day, and the Egyptians, they're all going crazy because all of their firstborn are dead. And they said, man, you guys got to get away from us.
You got to get away. And the Israelites said, we'll get away, but we want all your gold and silver. Remember, the Bible says the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous. It's called a wealth transfer.
So they were building the kingdom for Egypt unbeknownst to the fact that there was a day coming when everything they built, all that wealth was going to be put in their hands. It was more than they could carry. They were dropping it. In other words, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and still running over.
They're walking out with it. In Exodus chapter number 13, God starts teaching them how to tithe. Now, it's very interesting because it's in Exodus chapter 12 whenever the death angel comes and the blood of the lamb causes the death angel to pass over them. Exodus chapter number 13, God teaches them about tithing.
So even before they got to the Red Sea, God was teaching them how to stay prosperous. You have to understand, slaves only eat what's thrown in front of them. But free people need to figure out how to prosper. You can either be a slave and just have whatever crumbs are thrown at you, but if you want to break out, there's going to have to be an understanding that God is going to teach you how to prosper.
So in Exodus chapter number 13, he teaches them about tithing. Then Exodus chapter number 14, after God told Moses about teaching the Israelites how to tithe, they're sitting there camped out at the Red Sea, and all of a sudden they hear something coming behind them. And this is where we pick up. Verse number 7, he, this is Pharaoh, took 600 chosen chariots and all the chariots of Egypt and captains over every one of them.
The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel. And the children of Israel went out with a high hand. And the children of Israel went out with a high hand. In other words, defiantly.
But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his armies, and overtook them encamping by the sea beside, big word, before, another big word. And Pharaoh drew near the children of Israel, lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. And the children of Israel were sore afraid, and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. So here's what happened.
They were slaves for almost 400 years. They had no idea how to manage their own things because they had no things. The land that they stood on wasn't theirs. The house that they lived in wasn't theirs.
The bricks that they made were not their bricks. Whatever their task was, was to build the kingdom of darkness, at that time the Egyptian society. So they were constantly being forced into these things. Now they come out carrying all the gold, only to find out when you get in the wilderness, gold doesn't do you any good.
Does this make sense? This is whenever they began to learn that God would supply their needs. Because when you're in Egypt, you're thinking, yeah, I need some Egyptian money. Well, what happens when you get out of Egypt?
Now you don't know what your needs are. That's why you've got to trust God to supply your needs. So they're in camp around the Red Sea, and Pharaoh shows up with all of his chariots, and they can hear them. They're all around them.
They're ready to take over. And undoubtedly, Pharaoh is making a plan on how he's going to do this. And so the people, they turn on Moses. It says this.
It says, they said unto Moses, did you bring us out here because there's no graves in Egypt? Now, you can't just read the Bible. You've got to read the Bible. They're smarting off to him.
What is Egypt known for? Tombs. Long before this was written, they are known for graves. So they're saying, what did you think, there wasn't any graves in Egypt?
He said, you had to bring us out here. He said, you took us out here to die in the wilderness. He said, why have you dealt with us this way to carry us out of Egypt? Verse 12, is not this what we said to you?
You've got to know this when you serve God. And this might be worth writing down. There are people that are waiting for the one moment to tell you, I told you so. You've got to know the difference between a fan and a skeptic.
Because there's some people watching you that are celebrating your victories. There are other people that are watching you that are plotting for your demise. And they're just ready to say, I told you so. I told you it wouldn't work.
I told you, you don't have to go that hard for God. I told you it wasn't worth it. He said, isn't this what we said when we said, let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it's better for us to serve the Egyptians than we should die in the wilderness.
Here's the problem, the big problem. The big problem is they got out of Egypt, but Egypt wasn't out of them. They were out of Egypt and free, but they were not out of an Egypt mentality. Jake was telling me he's got a dog named Kai.
And he's got a fence that's electric, underground. The dog wears a collar, gets too close to the fence, it beeps. Gets a little too close to the fence and it reminds him gently. But he told me, he doesn't even have to wear the collar now.
In other words, the dog can not have the collar and be able to run As long as you didn't mind, but as soon as you started minding the things of God more than you minded the little piece of bondage that he let you live in, now all of a sudden, now he wants to stop you. Now he wants to finish you. Now he wants to take you out. Because when you were in bondage, you were not a threat to his kingdom.
But as soon as you get free, now all of a sudden, whom the son sets free is free indeed. The devil knows the Bible better than most Christians know the Bible, so he knows that God's not a respecter of persons, and he knows this whole thing goes person to person. As soon as one free person tells about how God set them free, that other person who just heard it had the opportunity for faith to come in their heart because the Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. Now all of a sudden they can be free, and the whole thing begins to spread like wildfire, so the devil puts you on his hit list and tries to surround you and tries to make you afraid of the fact that you no longer can eat his little demonic wages, but rather you're now living in faith and freedom.
So now instead of tolerating you, he wants to take you out. This is what happens. This is what the Israelites are dealing with. They got out of Egypt, Egypt just wasn't out of them because they were still afraid that Pharaoh was chasing them down.
God in one night killed the firstborn of every household of Egypt, and all of a sudden they're already within a few days doubting God. Can I say it different? Give yourself a break. They saw God do mighty, wondrous, amazing things, but doubt was still their standard.
You've got to work this stuff out of you. Salvation is immediate, but your mind getting renewed is a process. You've got to work through it and work through it and work through it and work through it and work through it and work through it, and you're gonna find some stuff next week that didn't even bother you last week, and it's gonna be because where you are next week is gonna be different than where you are last week. You couldn't even see the thing that you needed to watch out next week until you get there.
So you've got to be sensitive enough to the Spirit of God that you're saying, hey, I didn't even know the chariots were chasing me, but now that I can see them, God didn't give me a spirit of fear, but a power, love, and a sound mind. So you've got to get Egypt out of your mentality. Everybody just say this. Say, I'm not a slave.
You've got to break the slave mentality. Whether it's a slave to finances, a slave to health, a slave to a family member that keeps running you down, a slave to a friend or a co-worker that keeps running you down, you're not a slave and you're not going to live in bondage, so you've got to make sure that when you get free, even when you get out in the wilderness and you can't see all the answers, you don't go back to bondage just because you don't understand it. You weren't even a threat when you were in chains. Now all of a sudden you're walking around free and the devil wants to take you out.
So Moses says, you guys need to be ready because God's about to do something here. He's about to set you free. He's going to take you through the water. So he reaches out, I'll paraphrase for the sake of time, and he stretches out his rod over the water.
He tells them to get out of the way. The Bible says the water gets out of the way and the Israelites begin to walk across the dry ground in the middle of the Red Sea. And I'll tell you how much of a lunatic Pharaoh was, he followed them. I hate the idea of the devil being smart.
I smacked off the devil every time I think about his nasty, stupid self. Why would you? He left heaven. This is the dumbest thing ever created.
He is the dumbest thing ever created. So you've got to put him under your feet where he belongs. Some of you are mad at your neighbor. You don't need to be mad at your neighbor.
You should take that hostility and point it at the one where it belongs. Some of you are mad at a family member. You just ought to be mad at the devil about half that much and you'd never be touched again. So the Bible says that Pharaoh began to follow them.
And as soon as all the people of Israel got on the other side of the Red Sea, the Bible says, the Bible says Moses turned around and went. And the water crashed on them and killed them all. Drowned their horses, their chariots. In other words, if it was modern day, every tank and every weapon and every plane would have been neutralized instantaneously.
So the Bible says they get out there in the wilderness. So here's the deal. When you get born again, you're going to get to a place where God's going to say to you exactly what he said to Moses. Move forward.
Take another step. Do not think that getting saved was the only plan that God had for you. Getting saved is the beginning of the plan that God has for you. The next step, if you've never been water baptized, is to be water baptized.
Let me give you just a couple of things that happen when you get water baptized. Number one, the Israelites went in the water and the Egyptians went in the water. The Israelites came out of the water, but the Egyptians stayed in the water. You get water baptized, there's some stuff that stays in the water.
You go in one way, you come out another way. The Bible says that you are buried with him in death and raised to walk in newness of life. I know people that have been depressed their whole life. They get water baptized and they're never depressed another day in the world.
I know people that get water baptized with a nicotine addiction and they come up and they never touch another cigarette. I know people that get water baptized and they come up praying in other tongues and they've been believing God for the baptism of the Holy Spirit for months. I'm talking about supernatural things happen when you get yourself in obedience to the word of the living God. But you've got to take another step.
He said, Pastor Moses, tell the people to take another step. If all you're talking about is how saved you are, I think you need to take another step. You've got to get yourself in the water if you've never been water baptized. Because some things will break off your life.
Some things you can't overthink, you've just got to obey. What's the water going to do? It's going to do what the water does. It's going to drown your adversary.
I remember the demoniac at the gatherings. They said, well, at least let us go in the pigs. All us demons, 6,000 of us, put us in the pigs. God said, get in the pigs.
He said, get in the pigs. They got in the pigs and they dumped in the water and drowned. I'm talking about a change in situation when you take another step. When you get committed.
Some of you, you may have been baptized years and years ago and it really wasn't your choice. I recommend you be baptized again with your choice and your faith. Because freedom's worth the water. The Bible says they came out of there and all of a sudden there was a, even before, but while they were in the wilderness, there was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
You guys have five more minutes? A cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Anytime you see a cloud in the Bible, it's always representative of the presence of God, the Spirit of God. Mount Sinai, the cloud would descend and they knew that God was there.
The tabernacle in the wilderness, the cloud would come and stay right by the door and people would know that the presence of God, God was communing with Moses. At nighttime, it turned into a pillar of fire. Fire is always representative of the presence of God, but it's always also representative of the power of God. Elijah called down fire from heaven and the Bible says it literally consumed all of the sacrifice and lapped up the water in a ditch that he had dug.
When Moses met God on the side of the mountain, he was in fire. The cloud and the pillar of fire is always representative of the Spirit of God and the power of God or the fire of God. John the Baptist, he made a comment. He said, I'm baptizing you guys in water, but there's one coming after me and he's going to baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire.
Exodus is a type and shadow of your life. You come out of bondage by the blood of the lamb, but you've got to take another step and get in the water and as soon as you get out of the water, you've got to expect that the Spirit of God is going to baptize you the same way that the water baptized you. Being baptized in the Spirit shouldn't be thought of as an option. It should be thought of as the greatest opportunity that a believer has to get the Spirit and the power of God working in our life.
Why would you not want to activate the power of God in your life? That's insanity. Who would want to fight the devil without all the tools that God said we would need to fight the devil? So you get free by the blood of the lamb.
You walk in obedience through baptism and then you walk in obedience and you get baptized in the Holy Spirit and in fire. Somebody say fire. You get baptized in the Holy Ghost and fire, you'll never be the same. I've been a Christian my whole life.
I never did not know Jesus. Now I'm sure there's some legalities there where the first time I prayed the If necessary, a pasture filled with opportunity. I thank you, Lord God, for every person who's gonna be baptized this weekend. We pray in the name of Jesus that supernatural things would happen in their life, that addictions would break, family members would be restored, that hearts would be mended.
We pray in the name of Jesus that what has been chasing them and plaguing them will stay in the water as they rise up to new levels. I thank you, Lord God, for your Bible and most especially for your beautiful Son, Jesus, who sets each one of us free. In Jesus' name, can you say amen to that? Let's give God a hand of praise tonight.
You can stand to your feet, please. I'm done teaching. I hope you enjoyed the podcast today. If you did, there are a couple of things that I'd love for you to do.
Number one, subscribe to our show. That way, the most recent episodes will always be in your feed waiting for you right when you are. And secondly, follow us on social media. That is the best way to stay up to date on everything happening at New Heights.
We look forward to you joining us next time on the New Heights podcast. And if you are ever in the Bryan College Station area, we invite you to come out to New Heights Church for a live service. I promise we'll make you feel right at home.