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With us. Help me. Welcome, New Jersey. Come on, atl, New Jersey. Strong. Love your family. Well, we're in a series here called Faith Moves. This our theme for this year is upgrade. And we're closing out the year, upgrading our faith. Here's what the Bible says. God has given to every person a measure of faith, the capacity to believe. God deposits it, you develop it. He determines if you have it at all, you determine how much of it you have. Does that make sense? He makes the deposits. We have to do the development. And so this series is intended to help us upgrade it by exploring the Scriptures and see how they can serve as case studies for us. So we're going to read a couple of verses found in Matthew, chapter number two, beginning at verse number 13. And I'm reading from the English Standard Version. Here's what it says. It says now, when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. And he rose, took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt. I've called my son. I want to stop the reading of scripture there and tag a title to this text. I hope this title is your testimony in advance for 2025. Here it is. I'm moving. Different. You should do better than that. In every location. I'm moving. I'm moving. Moving. Different family. We're in our annual Advent series that we've affectionately entitled Faith Moves. Let the church say Faith Moves. And in this series I'm arguing that faith should not just be a response to crisis. Listen to this. Faith should be a way of life. In other words, faith shouldn't be just an umbrella we reach for when it's raining. Faith should be the shades we wear when the sun is shining. We don't just respond to crisis in faith, we live by faith. And this is clearly what the Scriptures describe when the writer says, and the just shall live by faith. Faith, family is an often overlooked essential asset in the arsenal of the believer. Nothing works if faith does it. The Bible is clear salvation can't be experienced without faith because we are saved by grace through faith. The Bible is clear that prayer can't be answered without faith because James says, when we pray, we should pray. Not doubting, not wavering, because praying and doubting is being Double minded. And James says a double minded man is unstable in all of his ways. Let not that man expect to receive anything from the Lord. So salvation can't be experienced without it. Prayer won't be answered without it. Jesus said mountains will not be moved without it. And the writer of Hebrews says that God can't even be pleased without it. For without faith, come on, it is impossible to please God. And I know this shakes some of our theological tree because if you were to ask the average Christian above all else, what does God want from his people, Someone would say God wants to be loved. And someone else would say God wants to be obeyed. And someone else would say God wants to be served. And I would argue that's not incorrect. But you gotta put it in the right order. If not, it's incomplete. Because in order for God to be loved, in order for God to be served, in order for God to be obeyed, he must be believed. It's in the text. Because anyone who comes to him must believe that he is and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him. I'm talking about faith. It's not optional, it's essential. It's not optional, it's imperative. It's not optional. It's important. Because nothing works if faith, and maybe if something is this important to my spiritual development, I can't afford to be passive when it comes to possessing it and increasing it and upgrading it. If something is this consequential to my well being, I cannot afford to not be assertive, intentional, aggressive, strategic and resilient about moving my faith. Because if I can move my faith, I can move my life. Because nothing works if faith doesn't. And for those of us who take this responsibility seriously, this particular passage is going to offer us some insight on how to move our faith so our faith can move our life. This scripture we just read here, family, exposes us to a case study on faith moves. This part of the passage, please don't miss. This exposes us to an experience that Joseph, Mary and Jesus have. After somebody say after. Come on church. Say after. After the three wise men leave them, we know the story. They follow the star and the magi get to Jesus. After they leave them, something happens. Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus, gets a dream and God sends a message to Joseph through a dream and says something that I think is incredibly reveal, something that is something that's incredibly significant. He reveals to him. Now, Joseph, you're not going to be able to stay here. And the reason you're not going to be able to Stay here. Because there is a civil authority named Herod, and he's under the authority of the Roman Emperor, but he's responsible for ruling Judea, which is the place where the Jews are. So he's called Herod, King of the Jews. Not because he's the final authority. He's under the authority. And so he's held accountable by the Emperor in Rome and making sure that everything is cool, calm and copacetic in Judea among the Jews. So if the Jews start getting out of hand, then Herod's gonna get replaced. So Herod hears these rumors and these whispers that a king of the Jews is being born. Am I making sense? And he saw the birth of Jesus as a threat to his leadership. So he begins to scheme and come up with plans and plots to take Jesus life. And this seems extreme. It seems out of the ordinary. But if you're familiar with Herod's history, you know that this is normal. This is Herod's normal mode of operation. Herod had a history of paranoia. Herod's life shows us that elevation doesn't fix your insecurity. He had too much power to be that paranoid. Come on. He had too much influence to be that insecure. But if you're familiar with Herod's history, you'll know that Herod was so imprisoned by paranoia. Watch this. He killed his own wife, then killed her teenage brother, then killed his own two sons because he thought, somebody say, thought they didn't even get a chance. He thought they were going to betray him. Are y'all here? So if he killed his own wife, the second one, if he killed his brother in law, if he killed his his own two sons, he would have no issue killing Jesus. So this wasn't a perceived threat. This is a real threat. Am I making sense? And I want to pause here because this reality gives us some revelation. That is the first point in today's preaching presentation. Here it is. Faith moves require the heart to handle Herod. I won't make faith moves if I don't have the heart to handle Herod. Pastor, who does Herod represent? Herods. Are y'all ready for this? Y'all quiet today. I said you ready for this? Herods represent individuals that are so overcome with insecurity and paranoia that they are unable to allow logic and love to lead their behavior. They are so infected with insecurity, they use deception and manipulation to kill those that are not actually threats. Did you hear what I just said? Yeah. They are individuals that are so overcome with insecurity and paranoia that they are unable to allow logic and love to believe that to lead their behavior. See, whenever you're on the other end of the activity of a Herod, you're trying to make sense out of it, not realizing it doesn't make sense. It's not logical. Why would you hurt me? Y'all not talking to me? Yeah. Why would you do this to me? Why are you competing with me? I'm not competing with you. This. This doesn't even make sense. Why the hostility? Why the conniving? Why the manipulation? Come on. It's not even logical. You're trying to make sense out of something that doesn't make sense. Sense. Because they're not being led by common sense. They're being led by their insecurity. Come on, church, you will be led by what you're full of. Come on. Yeah, if I'm full of the spirit of God, I can be led by the spirit of God. I'm led by what I'm full of. So if I'm full of insecurity, I'm going to be led by insecurity. This is why. Watch this. You can love Herod and Herod can love you. And Herod can still hurt you. Now I know our locations. We pride ourselves on generational diversity. There is no change Church you can go to and not see multiple generations. That's intentional. The music's got a little multi generational in it, doesn't it? The teaching has a little multi generational in it. So I know everybody's not going to get every analogy. So if you're about 28 and under, you're going to miss this one. I'll come back and pick you up later. But if you 28 and over, you're about to feel me here. Because there was this movie that came out in the 90s where a famous phrase in the movie said, love should have brought you home last night. Yes, that's love should have brought you home last night. And ideally that's true, but realistically that's not true because watch this. The question is not whether or not someone has love for you. The question is whether or not their love is leading them. Some people want to love you better, but they can't love you better because their dysfunction won't give their love permission to treat you right. Let me go over to this side. I said, some people want to love you better, but can't love you better because their dysfunction won't give their love permission to love you. Right. The question isn't whether or not you got love for me. The question is, what's leading your behavior? It's not how much love you have for me, it's how much a handle your issue do you have. Cause that's what's going to determine what my experience with you is like. Not whether or not you love me, but whether or not you got issues that are a threat to my well being under control. My goodness. I'm getting ready to go preach to the overflow or somebody. Did you hear what I just said? I got to have the heart to handle Herod. Some people have Herod, but they don't have the heart to handle Herod. So you can't make faith moves. You know what? Jesus called Herod a fox. Am I in the book? He said that? Fox. Herod. Speaking of his manipulative ways, his tendency to manipulate your heart. He's a fox, isn't it? What did he tell those three wise men? When you find them, let me know. I want to go see him too. You fox. And if you don't have the heart to handle Herod, you won't make faith moves. Because handling Herod means handling your heart. Because sometimes Herod got your heart. And you're excusing that which is killing you. Oh, my. Let me go to my next point. I think I tear it here too long. Children. Come on. Because Herod will play on those emotions. Herod will play on that sympathy. Herod will leverage the goodness of your character and try to use it against you to get you to excuse dysfunctional behavior. Now I'm just going to say. I'm just going to say something. It is. Yeah, we way out here now. It is. It is. It is naive at best, narcissistic at worst to think Herod's gonna. Herod everybody but you. At some point it's gonna be your turn. Let me go over here. I said at some point the liar is gonna lie on you. At some point the gossiper is gonna gossip on you. At some point the betrayer is going to betray you. Eventually it's gonna. Your goodness doesn't change Herod's character. Your goodness reveals Herod's character. You think you can be so good to them to make them be something God couldn't make them be. I got to go. You think you better than them? Than God? If they hadn't changed and they've experienced God's grace and God's mercy and God's unmerited favor. See, here it is. I hear you arguing with me, but I'm standing. I Mean everything I said, Everything I said. I mean every letter I said. I mean every. I take nothing back. Because I'm not telling you to give up on people. I'm telling you to know when to give who up to God. Because the text doesn't say that God told Joseph, go minister to Herod. Go show Herod the baby. And then maybe when Herod sees the baby, it's going to appeal to Herod's emotions and he's finally going to get a revelation of the error of his ways and he's going to make an adjustment. He says, joseph, you gotta leave. Watch this. I'm not gonna bother this too much. But he says, I know you come from Nazareth and you came to Bethlehem and you thought you were going right back to Nazareth. You came from Nazareth, you ended up in Bethlehem. I know you think after the birth you're going back to Nazareth. I know you thought life was gonna put you in a different place in this season, but I'm telling you, if you go backwards, you're going to run into what's going to kill you. If you go back to Nazareth, Herod's going to find you there. So here's what God tells Joseph. Basically, I'm summarizing. He says, you got to put distance between you and Herod in the text. It's distance physically for us. It can be distanced emotionally. Oh, gosh. You know you can make adjustments without making announcements. That's some people problem. You make all these announcements and you never make adjustments. Let me go to this side over here. When you. Come on. When you treat people with love, you can make adjustments without making an announcement and they don't even know. I really don't trust you that much anymore, but I love you in Jesus name. Distance. Distance with what you show Herod. You can't show Herod too much. He'll use it to kill you. Distance in what you share with Herod, you can't share too much. He'll use it to kill you. Faith moves require heart to handle Herod. So I'm not giving up on you, but I have to give you up to God. I don't love you any less, but I love the Mary and Jesus I'm responsible for. So I can't put that at risk in the name of having patience for your dysfunction. I'm going to have patience while being protected at the same time. Okay, this is too. Let me. We got to go. I got nine minutes. Here it is, here it is, here it is. I want you to see what happens Here. So Joseph gets this message, and I want you to see y'all put the text back up on the screen, because I know what church I'm at. I know where I'm at. We got to have Bible here. I know where I'm at. Here it is. I know what church I'm at. Here it is. Now, when they departed, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. There's a revelation in one word. There. There it is in the text. Rise. Rise. Watch what he says here. He says, rise. It's like, wake up. You've been asleep. Awaken. This one word gives us some revelation on faith moves. Here it is. Faith moves require overcoming apathy. What's apathy, Pastor? It's indifference. It's not that you're doing a lot wrong, you're just not doing a lot right. And here's the. The Bible uses the imagery of slumber and sleep to describe people who are living with apathy. You living, but you sleepwalk. Solomon talks about it in Proverbs, Proverbs 6. He says, how long will you lie there? Oh, sluggard, I love Solomon. I don't have time to deal with this. But see, I love his candor. Sometimes we're so conscious of not offending people, we don't elevate them. Sometimes love requires risk. And calling a thing like it is so people can see their state. Sometimes you got to love them enough to be a mirror because they might have been calling themselves tired. Solomon said this, not fatigue, this laziness. Oh, gosh. Because how you call it, what you call it determines how you fight it. So if the devil can change what you call it, he'll change how you fight it. Yeah. If you say this is agitating me, you fight it one way. But if you say this is trying to annihilate my destiny, you fight it another way. And the way you've been fighting some things has been based on what you've been calling those things. And some stuff we've been calling tired is lazy. Watch what Solomon says. He said, how long? How long you gonna lie there, sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come up on you like a robber and want like an armed man. Just look at poverty financially, look at poverty as lack you can have. Emotional lack. Come on. Financial lack. He's saying, watch this. That poverty can pounce on you when you're in a position of apathy. That when you are in a position of apathy. Poverty, which functions like a robber, will pounce upon you. So apathy isn't doing something wrong. I'm not doing enough, right? Am I making sense? Sometimes people can look at an area of their life and say, I don't understand why this area is stuck and stagnant. I'm not doing anything wrong. The question isn't, am I doing anything wrong? Am I doing enough of what's right to get the results that I want? Pd I don't want to work like that. That's fine. God gives you that choice. But you also have no legitimate right to expect Abel's result with Cain's offering. Where is my church? You got to be okay not having the results that they have if you're not willing to make the sacrifice that they made. I want that relationship where you want some hard conversations. You want putting your stuff on the table. You want being checked in. Your narcissism and your ego. You want double standards being eliminated and exposed. You want to treat her like Christ, Preach the church. I don't hear anybody in this church. So watch this. He says, rise, rise. Poverty pounces because of apathy, not evil. Don't have to be shiesty. I just have to be sleep. I got to go. I'm out of time already. This parking lot about to be a mess. But somebody just say two words. It's not even for you. It's for somebody in the back. If you in the back, say it so somebody can hear you in the front. And I want you to say it like God might be using you because you don't know to speak. Speak a right now word to somebody, right? I want you to say these two words. Say wake up a yeah, yeah. I felt that down in my sanctified. So somebody said, I know it's early, but somebody say it one more time. Wake up. You too blessed to be sleep like this. You too anointed to be sleep like this. You too gifted to be sleep like this. You too educated to be sleep like this. You too strong to be sleep like this. You've been through too much to be sleep like this. Wake up weeping may I got to go. All right, we gotta go. Here it is. Tario, over here. Here it is. We got to go. Here it is. He says, wake up. Wake up. Take the mother child and go to Egypt. Somebody say Egypt. Come on, say again. Say Egypt now. Why am I going to Egypt now? I did some research this where they were. This is approximately about 400 to 430 miles from what so Egypt's like 400 to 430 miles. No car, no train, no plane. So one, it's going to take me several weeks to get there on foot. And then God tells him, I want you to stay there until I tell you. I want you to see the practical ramifications of this instruction. Joseph is a carpenter, right? His clients are in Nazareth, his network is in Nazareth. And God sends him to a place that's not where his clients are and not where his family is and not where his networks are and says, you're gonna have to stay there until I tell you. Here it is. Third thing, faith moves require properly perceiving the purpose of divine provision. Properly perceiving the purpose of divine provision. When God makes provision, am I properly perceiving the purpose of divine provision? I can't make faith moves if I don't properly perceive the purpose of divine provision. Because how am I supposed to make it several weeks to Egypt and then how am I supposed to make it in Egypt when you pull me away from my clients, my network and my contact? I got a new baby, we gotta eat. I got a wife I'm responsible for. We gotta live somewhere. So how am I supposed to keep a roof over our head? Come on here. And clothes on our back. We'd even pack this many clothes. We just thought we were going to be counted for the census. We didn't know we were going to be here this long. So we got to get more clothes, we got to have food, and we got to have a roof over our head. How am I supposed to do this? And you've taken me away from the place and the thing I do to make money. Maybe this is the reason when the Magi came to see him, that they did not come empty handed. I gotta go, y'all. When the Magi came, they brought with them gifts. And Joseph may not have known at the moment what those gifts were for, but God knew he was going to hit a season where he was going to have to use what the Magi gave him in a season when he didn't know why he got it. Because some stuff God gives you in one season because you're going to need it. Please don't eat today what you might need tomorrow. I got to go church. Please don't wear today what you might need tomorrow. See, Wisdom says, whenever I get something I didn't expect and it is more than what I need, Wisdom says to ask God a question, what you want me to do with this presumption says, oh, well, we get back To Nazareth. I'm gonna add a garage onto. That's presumption. Wisdom says, wait a minute, I didn't see this coming and I don't have a need that this needs to meet immediately. Now, if I had a need and the provision came, then this is your way of meeting my need, God. But if I don't have a need and this provision came, I need to step back and say, I wasn't expecting this. Now, God, what's this for? Is an Egypt coming that's going to require me to need this? Tario played they tired or something, I don't know. Watch what he says. We got to go. Oh, gosh. Here it is. We'll wrap up on this. Here it is. Watch what he says. It says, arise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Let me give you these because y'all be in my DMs about these points. You said it was six points and you gave three. And then I watched 11:45 and they got all six. And I wanna. All right, here it is. Let me get these. We didn't get that at 1:30. New Jersey didn't get that. Okay, I got it. Here it is. I'm gonna give everybody. Here it is. He took the mother and child. Faith moves require being clear on your company because faith moves only give you the margin to take people you're responsible for, not those you have affection for. And so now you're trying to believe for you and them. And when you don't discern this, you end up like Abraham. And you carry a lot with you. And carrying a lot when you're making a faith move is a lot. You got affection for them, but you're not responsible for them. Watch what happens. He tells them to go to Egypt. They weren't from Egypt. They have no connection, no ties to Egypt. There may have been some Jewish communities in Egypt, but they're going to an unfamiliar place. Faith moves require knowing the difference between unsafe and unfamiliar. Just because it's unfamiliar doesn't mean it's unsafe. Most of my adult life, I've been stepping into unfamiliar. I haven't been here before. I haven't done this before. I haven't done this this way. But unfamiliar doesn't mean unsafe. And many people shy away from the unfamiliar because it feels unsafe not realizing what they're familiar with. More dangerous. He says, I want you to go to Egypt until I tell you to stay, till I tell you to leave. Because faith moves require managing the tension of unclear timelines. I don't Know when we supposed to God, how long? I don't. But faith moves require holding on to the last word until you get the next one. Lord, what am I supposed to do? The last thing I told you how long until I tell you something different. And when we don't manage these timelines, we end up like Abraham and Sarah. We bring, we find a hagar, we produce a Ishmael. So we create a problem trying to solve one. How long? P.D. i don't know. What am I supposed to do? The last thing he told you. And then finally the text says all of this happened so that it could fulfill what was happened. What was said by the prophet out of Egypt, I've called my son hundreds of years before Jesus birth. Hosea prophesied this. When Israel was a child, I loved him. And out of Egypt I called my son. Because faith moves require you to understand that accepting your assignment is an agreement to suffocate your selfishness. The text is very clear. It is of no benefit to Joseph to go to Egypt. It is only to fulfill the prophecy. Because some stuff, some places God sent you aren't for you. What do I get out of this? Sometimes the answer is nothing. And is that okay? What do I get out of this? Nothing. God's like, I get something out of this. Glory, credibility, faithfulness. To show you that if I said something and it was 700, if it take me 700 years to fulfill it, I'm faithful to do what I said. When I spoke to Hosea, I watched my word to perform it. So sometimes we're like, lord, I don't understand what I get out of this. Why did I go through through this? Sometimes you don't get an explanation and you have to be able to move. You must be able to move on and get closure without getting an answer. And may God give us all the wisdom and the grace not to make moves out of fury, out of fear, or out of frustration. Not this year, not this year. But may we make moves out of faith in Jesus.