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00:00 sake. Amen. This morning, we're going to be talking about food in the most unlikely of
00:08 places, food in the desert, lessons from God's provision. Exodus chapter 16. If
00:14 we're talking about a miracle, this is the mother of all miracles, because you actually have something miraculously
00:21 happening every single day for 40 years. We're
00:26 talking about almost 14,000 days. um you'd be lucky to see one miracle per
00:31 day, right? Uh and this is a miracle that happens all the time. And so what
00:37 we want to do today is to look at scripture and find out what is the significance of this particular miracle.
00:42 How does it impact us? Uh we're now thousands 3,000 years later on and
00:49 what's the deal with it? Let's look in the scripture. Uh you read from verse 1
00:54 to two. They set out from Ilim and all the congregation of people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin which is
01:02 between Elilim and Si on the 15th day of the second month after they had departed
01:07 from the land of Egypt. And here we have the people fresh out after Exodus after
01:13 that miraculous salvation just one month out from salvation. They've seen the
01:20 mighty waters of the Red Sea part. they seen they come back together and drown the entire Egyptian army fresh and they
01:30 will be jubilant and they've gone into this place is where I've marked out which is basically uh down here and you
01:37 notice Canaan is there and they've taken a huge detour down
01:43 this way sometimes when God guides you you go you take detour you know and there's a detour for a particular uh uh
01:51 reason why God has done that. All right. And let's look at the next slide. This is the kind of place that you actually
01:58 go. It's a huge detour and you don't see even a blade of grass. This is a kind of rugged, horrible kind of landscape that
02:06 you come across in the wilderness. They immediately thrust right after salvation. They come into this situation
02:12 where they have faced uh nothing that can sustain them. There's not even a seven and 11. How are we going to
02:18 survive? We're not talking about one guy. We're talking about two million people walking through there. The first
02:24 thing they'll be asking, the children will be saying, "When are we getting there?"
02:29 You know, a few more miles. They're saying, "When are we getting there? Are we almost there?" And the parents will say, "Oh, almost there. A few more
02:35 miles." And and this is a difficult situation. And let's look at one to two.
02:40 And the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the people of Israel
02:46 said to them, now the whole issue here is that they have no nothing to eat, nothing to drink. The food supplies have
02:54 run out after a month. Okay, they've been gorging on it. And then they start to grumble. The whole congregation, this
03:00 is not one, you know, all of them started grumbling and it hits upon the leaders. And and they said to them, and
03:06 the people of Israel said to them, "Would that,
03:13 we had died by the hand of God at the land of Egypt when we sat by meat pots
03:19 and ate bread to the full, for he brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." I
03:27 This is funny kind of language. You're saying that we're now saved from the Egyptian army. And now they're looking
03:33 back. You know, the life is so bad that it would have been better back in Egypt.
03:38 We have got the 10 plagues. He killed by the hand of God. Which means we should have been better off if we're killed
03:44 during those plagues. When they took the firstborn son of every Egyptian, they should have taken ours because it was
03:49 better than dying out here in the desert without water, without food, and in great suffering. And then the
03:55 perspective changed. You know there were people under slavery and suddenly oh yes we uh we sat by pots of meat ate makan
04:04 unto your full but that's not the case they were slaves and slaves don't get very much to eat and so this is what we
04:09 call language of addiction we look God has saved them from the Egyptians but
04:14 they're still addicted to lifestyle in the past and addiction causes thought distro this uh distortions you think
04:21 this is the picture of them in Israel in in uh in Egypt And this is a distortion
04:27 of what reality is. And this is something they're addicted to. They they
04:33 we have taken them out of Egypt. Okay? But they've not taken Egypt out of them.
04:38 They still are addicted to their old lifestyle. It's like us, you know, you know, you you come by the mirror and you
04:45 have a thought distortion. You always think you've got abs and you've got these muscles. Uh but you actually don't. It's a distortion. in some time
04:52 ago um there was a prison built in New York. is called the Tombs Prison in New York
04:60 built by a contractor who uh towards the end of the building project was discovered to have committed fraud, you
05:06 know, quite usual. You you charge for more than you build, you know, and they actually put him in the very jail which
05:13 he actually built, you know, and he he commented, you know, wow, very nice jail. And and he never thought that when
05:19 I build this prison, in the end, the very bars which I put in would be the same bars that keep me inside this
05:24 prison. And I think the language of addiction tells us for although the Israelites were saved, they were free.
05:32 They weren't really free because they in their minds they were still in Egypt were still looking back. They didn't
05:38 want to live under God's lordship. They still wanted to go back to their old ways. And that's the problem. That's why
05:45 God couldn't bring them directly to the land of Canaan because in their minds they were still in Egypt. They have been
05:52 captured by the culture of the day. Um and it's applies to many of us too. I
05:57 mean we are affected. Look at this article that came out some time ago called the battle hymn uh you know of
06:03 the tiger mom. And this is not just in America. It's here when all even the young children are at a young age put
06:10 into the meat in the academic meat grinder. Results results results A's A's
06:15 A's. All you need to do is get that. and and and it's our addiction to success,
06:22 personal achievement, uh which is what drives people. Uh this is Nathan Hatch.
06:28 Uh this is a president of uh Wake Forest University keynote address in 2009. This
06:35 is what it says. There's a second problem with contemporary professional life. Beyond the fact that work looms
06:41 larger in our lives, it is that young people have been defining as success and
06:46 choosing careers with less attention to larger questions of meaning and purpose.
06:54 And he says, I suspect many of the career choices have been
07:01 rooted in a paycheck and craving for accolades and esteem rather than a passion for a particular kind of work.
07:07 He said the the graduates are coming out of American universities nowadays and many of our universities as well by by
07:15 following the same trend are basically rooted in paychecks. People want to go into corporate finance, specialized
07:22 medicine, corporate law. These are the ones that everybody wants their kids in that there's culture that's captur. And
07:29 you'll find that in Nathan Hatch in his inaugural address uh Keith keynote
07:34 address noted that many of these people wind up very unsatisfied with their lives. Some of the statistics he wrote
07:41 was actually that 87% of young lawyers leave their profession by the fifth year. Imagine you train all your life
07:48 and by 87% leave the profession. That's 2009. In the year 2000 there was 60%. There's a
07:55 huge jump because young people are choosing their professions based on
08:00 their addiction to self-achievement, success and forgetting that actually you
08:07 should be choosing your uh profession based on a deeper meaning on life. So you can take people out of slavery
08:14 straight away. It's an immediate process. But you can't take the slavery out of people immediately. There's a
08:20 process. You know last week we have quite quite a number of people who came out uh to pray and everyone's got
08:28 various problems right and you find that you lay hands you pray it feels
08:33 wonderful isn't it by Monday you still feel a buzz go working in your life what happens by Wednesday's
08:40 day same old same old right because it takes a long time for human nature to
08:46 change it doesn't change overnight um this is Paul he says Um, let me read to
08:52 you. For many of you, many of whom I've told you and now even tell you with tears,
08:58 walk as enemies of the cross, their end is their destruction. Their God is their belly. They glory in their shame with a
09:04 mind set on earthly things. He describes the people whom he ministers to is that their God is their belly and they glory
09:11 in their shame. They they they they work, they live just to fill their
09:17 bellies and just to gain pride and career in life. This is uh uh Christians
09:22 which he's describing. We would like Christianity to be more like the Highlander when you receive power on
09:29 high or someone lays hands on you and and and and you suddenly grow in Christ. Every time you come forward it lay hand
09:34 on you and you go three inches taller. Isn't that great? If you have a church like that, you got really powerful
09:40 pastors. They just put a hand on you and zing by you would have changed. But you and I know by Wednesday things uh are
09:47 not quite the same. Um there's a difference. The distance to the brain to
09:53 the heart is 18 in. And you know 18 in is the longest
09:59 distance in the entire world. I know I'm saved. I know my self-esteem
10:06 and my trust must be in Jesus Christ. But how I act in my heart is completely
10:12 different. And this 18 in needs to be traversed not by a touch of a hand
10:19 but by a wilderness experience. So God's provision are designed to overcome our
10:25 addiction. Just because we're saved doesn't mean we're transformed. And this 18 in is a long journey. That's why God
10:31 took them in a 40-year detour to cover this 18 in so that salvation, the gospel
10:37 just doesn't become something in your brain, but it comes down into your heart. So God provides two things. He
10:43 provides a wilderness and he also provides mana in this. So the wilderness
10:49 is also a provision of God. Why the wilderness? Wilderness is a place where God provides for you in such a way that
10:56 all distractions are taken away. How do you how do you treat drug addicts? I was just talking to some brothers uh who
11:03 join us from morning glory. um they they come from a drug rehab home and and they
11:09 tell me it's very very tough you know uh one of them have been in home for about 20 months and then they go out in the
11:16 community and then they fall again the fallout rate is very very high so they they take them out from the community
11:21 for 20 months in 20 months they stay and live all 40 of them together they have
11:27 no TV they have no outside distractions so that they can depend on the Lord and the and and the wilderness experience is
11:34 just like that We we remove ourselves from all that can distract us and then
11:39 God can slowly provide for us. Now this is what the Lord said to Moses. Behold, I'm going to rain bread from heaven for
11:46 you and the people go out and gather a day's portion every day that I may test them whether they walk in my law or not.
11:54 So the wilderness situations I bring them out. There's no 7-Eleven, there's
11:59 no water fountain. That's only what I can provide. And this will test them whether they're actually loyal to the
12:06 Lord. This Deuteronomy 82:3 and this is years later on just before
12:11 they entered the promised land. And this is what Moses said to them. This is years later on in retrospect. And you
12:18 shall remember the whole way the Lord has led you these 40 years in the wilderness that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your
12:25 heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and he let you hunger and fed you with
12:31 mana which you did not know nor did your fathers know that he might make you this
12:37 goes on but look at the ones I've underlined. He actually provided the wilderness where they actually got
12:43 hungry. Number two then he provided the mana. So
12:48 wilderness and bread are both provided by God. And this is a way which he grows
12:54 them. Man does not live by bread alone, but the man lives by every word that
12:60 comes from the mouth of the Lord. So the main lesson that God wants them to learn is that you actually got to trust God
13:06 entirely. Every word that comes from the word of mouth, Lord, the mouth of the Lord has to be trusted. Um and in the
13:14 end, uh who fed you in the wilderness with mana that your fathers did not know that he might humble you and test you to
13:20 do you good. So in the end through this process he will bring them to be the glorious people that will actually
13:27 represent him the nation of Israel. Uh this is God's design for this. Paul says
13:33 for this momentary afflections preparing us for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to
13:39 the things that are seen but the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient but things that are
13:45 unseen are eternal. All of us are saved but they were saved for a particular
13:51 purpose to share in the glory of God. And you know what the word in in Hebrew the word is kabot and in Greek it's
13:58 docsar and the meaning of of glory is what weighty
14:03 doesn't mean that you're going to be a fat person but a person of substance. Uh that's what God designed but through in
14:10 order to be a person of substance and have God's glory you actually have momentary afflictions. So they learn
14:16 that you could be in Egypt, a land of plentiful, but without God, that land
14:23 has only death. Or you could be in the wilderness where there's nothing, but as
14:28 long as there's God, there's life. The next lesson is that God's provisions
14:34 must be met by our actions. Um, let's read.
14:43 The Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I'm about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the
14:51 people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.
14:57 On the sixth day, the people, when they prepare what they bring in it, it will be twice as much as they'll gather
15:03 daily." And the Lord said to Moses, "I've heard the grumblings of the people of Israel,
15:08 say to them, at twilight you shall eat meat. The morning you shall be filled with bread. You shall know that I'm the Lord your God. In the evening the quail
15:16 came up and covered the camp, and the morning dew lay around the camp, and the dew had gone up, and there on the face
15:22 of the wilderness a fine flake like thing, fine as frost on the ground. And the people saw it. They said to one
15:27 another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "It is a bread that the Lord has
15:34 given you to eat." So here you actually have the actual miracle. uh you actually
15:39 have um like fine like mist on the morning. The Bible describes it like
15:46 coriander. Coriander is actually yellowish. Um some time ago uh some
15:51 scientists published uh in in an article which was up in the time magazine August
15:58 29th 1927 that they thought that the mana was actually taken from the tamaris tree.
16:06 This is a tamaris tree and on the tree there's actually uh lice the scientific
16:12 name is very very long so I won't say to you and these are actual lice what they do is they eat the sap of the tree
16:21 right that's the lice with the legs can you see that and then when they bear outside you get that
16:28 and this is a fine you know thing and it hangs off the tree falls to the ground and the people of Israel will gather
16:35 this up and and then make that into bread. Um but the problem is this
16:41 happens only 3 months in a year. An amount that's in the whole of Sinai desert is not more enough than to feed
16:48 600 people. How do you feed? If you calculate uh one OMR is is 2.3 liters
16:56 and you feed two million people, you will need 300 train cars of mana every
17:03 single day to feed 2 million people. You can't. It's the absolute miracle. And
17:09 how do you tell the the the the the fellow not to work on Sunday?
17:16 Sunday there's no I mean Saturday there's there's no there's no mana on the on the ground. Um and and the other
17:22 question is that if God wanted to provide mana for his people
17:27 why you have to all this trouble you know come out in the grass and you got to collect it then you got to knead it
17:33 and you fry it why can't God says I'll fill your stomach thinging and then be
17:39 it comes a bit bigger you think about it if if God really is
17:44 God right he's God right so why can't he put muscles here abs here and I don't
17:50 have to eat, you know. Uh um why why does he have to go through this process? Well, he has to go through this process
17:56 simply because God's provision always allows and desires human response.
18:03 Always is human response. This is a migration pattern for quails. And it is
18:08 thought that perhaps because the migration pattern falls right in the middle of where Canaan is, the kale
18:14 flies over there. And those of them who are too tired, they're flying third class and they fall down and huge
18:21 numbers of them fall down every day. They fall down for uh and and right in
18:28 in in Sinai desert and then you you you the people of Israel will take it and and then they will send it to the shop
18:36 and then they will make it into chu you know. Isn't that wonderful? I mean when God provides for you uh he really
18:43 provides extravagantly. They asked for bread and they got tasu you know it's it's fantastic you know um
18:50 so but the the lesson is uh when wilderness training comes to us in our
18:56 lives you will not remain the same. You have to go out and gather the mana. You
19:03 have to go out and kill the quailes. You have to go out and process that food.
19:08 Because if God just wanted to feed you and make you grow muscles, he can easily put the food in your stomach. He can
19:15 easily put the muscles on your abs. But he wants you to process that food so
19:21 that you cannot remain the same. You have to get out and step out in faith.
19:26 Uh Tim Keller describes this passage in three ways. The kind of strength that you get from the mana. One, you get uh
19:34 thoughtful strength. two, relational strength and three communal strength.
19:40 And there's a very useful way to think about how this um mystery of the mana uh can help us. First of all, thoughtful
19:47 strength. You know, mana is useless unless you go out and process the mana.
19:54 The word of God is useless if you just read it. And then some of us
19:59 have this daily reading plan and we're so obsessed. I must read the whole Bible at least once every year or once in five
20:06 years or when you and you just read it, read it, read it. After a while, you're reading this fellow was a son of this fellow was a son of this fellow this
20:13 don't really understand why he was the son of this fellow and then you just keep on reading and reading and reading and it's just like some of my patients
20:19 get upset you know I give them this tablet a big tablet called potassium citrate to melt stones you know and
20:25 every time they take it they get doctor you medicine useless one I pass bear it come out
20:31 they expect the tablet for it to be useful must be melted right and I tell them the tablet is made of wax unless
20:38 your butt is 40° it won't melt but they expect for
20:43 something to work it must come in it must dissolve it must come out changed isn't it and and then that's right
20:50 you've the thoughtful strength in the word of God to us is that it must produce we must actually think it
20:57 through we must think out its logical implications this is a BBC article just
21:03 last week talking or demanding this band is called Charlie Price in 1968 he
21:09 walked out to University College uh London. He presented
21:15 a formula and after he presented the formula they gave him the keys to his
21:20 own office and a professorship straight away. Why? Because years before Charles Darwin
21:27 had postulated that we actually have the theory of
21:32 evolution. There's no God. And so therefore while how we all survive is that we've got the survival of the
21:38 fittest. We fight each other. We climb over each other. We compete with each other and the fittest shall survive. The
21:44 weak will die. The problem people ask Darwin is that what about altruism? Are
21:49 there people in the world who do something not for something in return? You know who do things purely out of
21:56 love? Now if that's true the theory of evolution survival fittest will fall
22:01 apart and they'll be searching for the answer all along and Charlie Price actually came in and he suggested that
22:09 there is no true altruism. Altruism is only self-interest in desire in disguise
22:14 because most of us will only do something for nothing. If it's for our family, our brothers, our sisters, our
22:21 mothers, you you want a kidney transplantation, you don't come and ask pastor Rama, you go ask your brother and
22:26 your sister, you don't go ask Diana, you know, you always fast. So, so and people do good things out of self-interest
22:33 because if my if my brother survives, if my son survives, then my genes will survive and it's called survival of
22:40 fittests. And so therefore, he was made a professor. He he was very famous. But
22:46 Charlie Price started thinking if I live in a world where there's nobody who does
22:52 things out of pure love, what kind of world would it be? Where everybody is selfish. And he got depressed. He was so
22:59 depressed. Is there true altruism? In 1970, 2 years after that, he sold his
23:06 flat, took all his money and started giving away to the poor to prove himself wrong, you know, to prove himself wrong.
23:14 A and he was so so troubled by the logical implications of his theory that
23:20 by 1972, he had already committed suicide.
23:26 Because how can you live in a world where there's no love? There's no altruism. All altruism is actually
23:32 self-interest hidden inside. You see, he thought through his doctrine. And and
23:37 when we have thoughtful strength, the only way we get strength the Bible is is is actually thinking through the
23:44 implications of what the Bible uh says to us. Let me give you an example. The
23:49 other day, I had a couple of things in in my life. It's about 20 years ago. My
23:55 father-in-law convinced me to to invest in this company. They're starting out. Oh, computers, you know, software. The
24:01 company name of company is called Patimas in case you bought shares in that. And we put it about $100,000 there. And
24:09 about two weeks ago, wonderful. You know, I sold my share for 20 ringgit.
24:15 So, my god, this is my my my my uh uh uh retirement plan. And then double blow.
24:21 You go to the K KWSP and you find out
24:27 you can only take out all your money by 60. Now, last time was 55. Waiting one more year, you know, go and get and now
24:33 the government tells you it's it it's it's it's 60. And then you reflect and
24:39 you reflect on this verse which I got from 1 Peter 1:4-5. We actually have an inheritance that is
24:45 imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you. Who by
24:52 God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. You know, this is not
24:57 like KWSP. You know, you go there now instead of 55, you wait to 60. Hopefully, you live
25:03 long enough, right? If you don't live in long long enough, you don't get the money. You only get 50%.
25:10 Right? or you invest in this company, you get $20 in the end. Here you look at inheritance is imperishable. That means
25:15 it won't go away. It's undefiled. It's unfading. It doesn't get less in
25:21 value. And not only that, kept in heaven for you. Not in CIB bank
25:26 or May Bank. It's not kept there. It's kept in heaven's vaults. And not only
25:31 that, in case you die before 60, it says what? You who by God's power are being guarded
25:39 through faith which means we will get this. You are actually guarded by faith. A whole bunch of the whole army that
25:46 guards you so that you will get your pension in heaven. You see what I mean?
25:52 And you think about it that really brightens your day. That really makes a change and you start to meditate on it.
25:57 What does it mean to have a a treasure that's imperishable? It's unfading. And
26:02 this gives you strength. So this is biblical truth. Biblical truth needs to
26:08 be changed into biblical convictions. What is conviction? Something that you believe so strongly that affects the way
26:15 you live. Many of us just read, read, read, listen a little bit and then go home. You don't bother and you actually
26:20 don't get the strength. Biblical truth needs to be converted to convictions.
26:26 You know they um they tell you when you actually meet one of these what how many of you will run
26:34 and how many of you will stay? Put your hands up. Run. Okay. 1 2 3 4 5. Put your hands up. All those who will run
26:40 honestly tell me. Okay. How many of you will stay?
26:46 All right. So good. See uh I think they tell you the correct answer
26:52 is to because if you run the fellow will you attack the backside big chunk there
26:58 you will you know he run he loves to chase you and you know so the the the common logic is to stay and stare him
27:04 down but but that's theory isn't it
27:10 in real life you stand in front of you there's a difference between knowing the truth and being convicted. about the
27:17 truth. You need to work it out. In fact, I read on the internet there was another one about the the the anaconda snake.
27:24 This is better. It was supposed to be in the US Peace Corps manual when Anaconda snakes come because it's very fast. Are
27:30 you supposed to run or stay? If you run, the fellow will eat you up very quickly. If you stay, the manual said you should
27:37 stay. The snake will climb on top of you and smell you a bit and after that he'll
27:44 start to eat you. But he'll always eat you from the leg first. So you s and halfway when up to the
27:51 knees then you got a knife. Make sure it's a very sharp knife and then one
27:57 quick movement you cut off his head. I mean now there's a big difference between reading it in the internet
28:04 and in real life when you get a snake whether you actually let him eat you slowly slowly then you take your pen
28:11 knife and then all right so I mean there's a difference between biblical truth and conviction it's very very
28:19 different you the only way you change truth into conviction is actually to
28:24 meditate right and then when you think about meditate you know what you think about Oh, this guy's fold up his legs in
28:30 impossible position and then that's not what it means. Meditate is
28:35 called worry. Now, how many of you worry? Put your hands up. Ah, those who didn't put hands out lying.
28:43 We all worry. And what is worry? Worry is mental rumination. Turning over the
28:51 facts again and again and looking up this side, this side, this side is what your brain does on something very
28:56 negative. stock market is going to crash tomorrow. You're going to lose your job
29:01 tomorrow. Then you think, oh, if I lose my job, I can't pay my mate, she gets to
29:07 go. I can't pay the tuition for my kids, they get to go. Uh I can't pay for my house, I get thrown out. And you, you
29:13 know, everything is built up, isn't it? That you worry and you think about the implication and you you think left and
29:19 right. How do I get out of this difficult situation? Meditation is exactly the same. The only difference is
29:25 your focus on the positive point rather than the negative time. So how many of you sit down and worry about scripture?
29:33 If God said this that you shall query your cross or what does it mean carry my cross and you think left, think right
29:40 and all that. That's exactly see scripture is useless to you unless you turn biblical truth into conviction. The
29:47 only way is to worry about it. To sit down there and worry about what does it mean? What does it say? How does it
29:52 apply in my life? Okay. And um there's
29:57 some Psalm 1 says his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates on. See we worry about the law
30:04 day and night because it is a delight. Proverb says, "My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments
30:09 with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding. Yet if you call out for
30:15 insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it with uh like silver, search for it as as for
30:21 hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and finally the knowledge of God. So only if
30:27 you treasure scripture like silver,
30:32 you see if I offer a Bible study and I offer free money,
30:38 guess how many will be attending either seminar. Most of us will be attending the money seminar to get free money. You
30:45 don't realize that the Bible study fair seminar is actually more valuable than gold. But only if you treasure. Proverbs
30:52 say if you treasure it and you treat it like gold, then only you will understand
30:59 the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. You see, if your life doesn't change and you're not closer to God and you're still unfulfilled in your
31:05 life, it's not because you're not reading scripture. is that you're not focusing on meditating on the scripture
31:11 and making that turn into understanding and knowledge of God. So this is how you
31:16 look at the scripture. If you look at the scripture, you digest it, you meditate and you and you and you actually uh uh delight in it, then it
31:24 will have the effect. Otherwise, it'll be like my patient passed the tablet, boom, comes out exactly unchanged.
31:30 It's absolutely useless. Uh so when you're in the desert, we need mana in
31:37 the desert. You go and tell, don't tell God, oh yeah, I got this problem. Uh take the problem away. Sometimes the problem doesn't go away. What God
31:43 provides in manas provides his words and his presence to keep you there. Story uh
31:48 John told a true story of a gentleman called Phil and um and uh he loved to do
31:55 what we call spelunking, which is you go into these caves and caves are wonderful. The only caves I've been is
32:02 what uh uh uh Batu cave and you don't get the same thing in in Batu cave. You
32:07 go to Janolan caves in Sydney the other caves I've been you get something like that. You go to wide big cave and then
32:13 suddenly it goes smaller and smaller and smaller into a you know into a narrow channel and and what he did was go into
32:21 particular cave and it got smaller and smaller until he get on his hands and knees and later on onto his tummy
32:29 crawling forward and became so dark and so tight that if you took a deep breath you cannot go forward. You have to
32:36 exhale and then go forward. If you're fat, forget about it.
32:41 It's pelanking is not for fat people. All right. So, so as and he and Phil described the the horrible feeling in
32:48 the darkness when you're in the cave and you're so tight and his mind is thinking about my god what happens if I don't get
32:55 out. And at that stage, you can't go back anymore. You can't go back. You're already stuck. You have to go forward.
33:02 You're totally committed. And he was going to freak out because this is a guy Phil who loves skydiving, who was
33:08 claustrophobic, really stuck in the darkness, cannot move forward. You know what saved him? The voice of the guide.
33:15 The voice of the guide said, "It's okay. I've been here many times before. Listen
33:21 to my voice. Go forward." And the moment his focus on the voice,
33:27 his fears went away. His panic attack died down. It was just manageable. and
33:33 he managed to go forward. You see, in life, we are all going to be thrown in the wilderness. We're not
33:40 going to be in a world where we get everything our way. Bad things are going to happen. But it's the word of God when
33:46 we actually look out for that calms us, that allows us to go forward. But all
33:53 too often we're like um the people in this uh uh station. This Joshua Bell is
33:59 one of the most brilliant um violinists. I'm sure Joanne knows Joshua. At the age
34:06 of four, Joshua uh had four drawers and he puts uh rubber bands there, you know,
34:12 you know, and then he plays like violin on top, you know. And the parents know this guy is brilliant. He he once went
34:18 to a Washington DC subway station and he stood there with his violin. Now his
34:24 violin is a little bit more expensive than Joannne's one. Just a little bit.
34:29 It's about 3.5 million because it was an old one made in 1713 or something. A
34:36 strus the real struses. And he played, you know, this guy will have played to
34:41 sell out concerts. They pay $100 and our friend stands at the subway station. and he plays, you know, six pieces for 45
34:48 minutes. Six people stop by. Some give $20, some walk uh 10 cents and some walk
34:53 off. Thousands of people go past. You play the most beautiful music in the world and only six people stop by to
34:60 listen and put the coins. Why? Because they're too busy, isn't it? And
35:06 that's a problem with our life. We're addicted to our goals. We're so busy when God's words are being played out
35:12 are the most beautiful instruments in the world. We don't have time. We don't
35:17 have time. The world sucks us in. And you know, all our young people, they they work so hard day and night because
35:23 the the suck in this vortex where the vortex consists of self-achievement, pride and career. And in the end, we do
35:32 not hear God's words. So look for the mana in our lives. Join
35:40 a Bible study where we have in alpha and after there is a study on Romans in beta and gamma. Come and actually meditate in
35:48 God's word and get thoughtful strength. The next one that you actually get from mana is actually relational strength. Let's look at relational strength. And
35:55 the people of is Israel did so. They they gathered some more, some less. But
36:00 when they measured it with OMR, whichever gathered much had nothing left over. Whoever gathered had little had no
36:07 lack. Each of them gathered as much as they could. And and Moses said to them, "Let no one leave any of it till
36:13 morning." You find that this this mana is is very special. Whatever they
36:18 gather, they've gathered so that there's nothing left over. Everyone more or less enough. They shared. let don't leave it
36:26 in the morning because you leave it in the morning some left it and it bred worms and stank and Moses very angry at
36:33 them uh morning by morning they gathered as much as they could and when the sun grew hot it melted so you can only a
36:39 short time frame you can only get it every day you get it from 8:00 to like 12:00 when the sun comes out it melts
36:46 and you cannot store it has to be if you you leave it it will breed worms and it will stink so God is trying to teach
36:53 them you can't hoard or take for granted God's blessings upon your life. When God
37:01 gives you these provisions, you don't store them up so much so that you actually depend on yourself rather than
37:08 on him. This is relational strength. Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, in the evening, you shall know that it was the Lord who brought
37:14 you out of Egypt and the land in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord because he has heard your
37:19 grumbling. The issue what mana does is that mana brings you back to the
37:24 relationship with God. Mana shows you that God cares. Mana shows you that God is present with you. So therefore it's
37:32 given every day so that you will know it is the Lord because he has heard your grumbling.
37:37 Uh Exodus 16:12 at twilight you shall eat meat. In the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you will know
37:44 that I am the Lord your God. Mana leads to relationship. As you feed on the
37:49 mana, you grow in your relationship with God. And God is extravagant, isn't it? You ask for mana, he gives you quails uh
37:57 more than what you ask. Now, why does he do that? Uh mana trains against pride. This is Exodus uh this
38:03 Deuteronomy 18. Who fed you in the wilderness with mana that your fathers did not know that he might humble you
38:09 and test you to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, "My power and the might of my hand has
38:16 gotten me this wealth." See, the temptation when we receive blessings from God, the food on our table, is that
38:24 after a while, we think, "Hey, this I got it because of my own cleverness, my
38:30 brains, my strength." And that's why he gave them every day. That's why the food
38:36 doesn't last. It only lasts in the morning and just enough. Because if you gave them more, then they will start to
38:42 think it's actually me. You see what I mean? That's the difference. It trains against pride. And once you got pride,
38:48 you should remember the Lord your God. For it is he who gives you power to get wealth that he may confirm his covenant
38:53 that he swore to your fathers as this day. And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them
38:59 and worship them. Once you are self-sufficient, then you will go back and serve your old gods. You will have
39:05 idolatry. So this is why the mana is given this particular way. That's why God says to us, give us the Lord's
39:12 prayer. Give us this day our daily bread. Let me ask you, how many of us
39:19 actually pray this every single day? Anybody know? Put your hands up. How many of you pray give us this day our
39:27 daily bread? Put your hands up. Really be honest with me. Yeah, I can't even put my hands up. Only a few people put
39:32 their hands up. Why? Because we live in a society today that we've got 711
39:38 outside. It will never be that we will be without. The last time we were without
39:44 food was in 1969 when there were May 13 riots and I was in my house with my mom
39:49 and there was no food in house at all because there was riots outside and we
39:55 had to have bread smuggled in with the neighbor who passed one loaf at a time down the whole row otherwise we would
40:01 not survive. Then you get on your knees and you pray give us this day our daily
40:06 bread. And the trouble with us in our society today, you see why did Jesus asked us to
40:13 pray for our daily bread? Do you do you think we're asked to pray God can I have
40:18 one year supply tomorrow I don't have to pray? Yeah. You think about it. Why didn't God ask
40:24 you can I pray for next year's bread? It's like, you know, when you and but but when you actually get on an
40:30 airplane, you quickly pray, "Oh, Lord, please uh get us safely up there."
40:36 And then when you're on the return leg, get us safely down. Because there's uncertainty, that's why you pray. Where
40:43 there's certainty, because you got money in the bank, you don't pray. You see, mana is given to us to teach us
40:53 relational strength. So every day we should be getting up and say Lord I
40:58 don't know life is very very uncertain. Give us this day our daily bread. And
41:05 that is the attitude that we should have to God every day and not pray for tomorrow's bread or the next day's bread
41:12 or whatever day's bread. We are a people have lost our dependency on God. We
41:17 don't pray daily bread because you got 7-Eleven. And that's why pride builds into our
41:23 life. And that pride leads to idolatry. It means we have got other idol. We don't depend on God anymore. The whole
41:29 idea of mana is dependency. And here with the Sabbath and if you are not dependent on God, what's going to
41:35 happen? You're not going to celebrate the Sabbath. You see here on the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two each. And when all the leaders of
41:42 congregation came and told Moses and said to them, "This is what the Lord has commanded. Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake
41:49 what you will bake. Boil what you will boil. All that's left over lay aside and be kept into morning. This is the
41:55 special manner that cannot be stored. Yet the day before Sabbath can store.
42:00 Very funny. It's a miracle. Why? Because the Sabbath is a way you actually learn
42:07 to trust God. Just as every day you learn pray and ask God for the bread that God provides. Sabbath day you
42:14 collect for two days because the next day the banner isn't going to fall. So, but you have to devote that day to
42:20 honoring God. Sabbath is a lost art. We're not practicing the Sabbath because we've taken it for granted. So, God
42:27 provides Sabbath for his people. Now, let's look at what happened to the people of Israel.
42:33 At the Red Sea, Moses took his stick, waves it, the waters part, and they
42:39 cross. After 40 years, God doesn't treat them the same. After
42:46 40 years, he tells them to carry the tabernacle, enter the water.
42:52 And when they entered the water, the waters parted. There's a difference. In
42:58 40 years, you learn to have what? Faith. Before sea water part, then I go.
43:06 After 40 years, don't care. Walk in and the waters will part automatically. This
43:11 is what the people of Israel have learned to the mana in the desert. You
43:17 see in the desert they were given mana.
43:22 They were given a pillar of fire by night and a cloud in the daytime. It was miraculous. God showed them the ten
43:29 commandments. This is the way you got to go. You go. By the time they went into
43:35 Canaan, they no longer let there's no cloud.
43:40 There's no pillar of fire. There's no mana. There's farming. There's conquest.
43:47 And they're guided to what? Conviction. It takes you 40 years to travel the
43:53 distance from here down to here. 18 inches. You know, it takes you 40 years
43:60 to do that. And then you ask the question today, why aren't there miracles? Because you're not a baby
44:06 anymore. The Lord has provided these miracles. And today we actually see God's miracle behind normal means. He
44:14 brought them to a, you know, Canaan is described as a land of milk and honey. Well, milk and honey, but you got to go
44:19 and farm it. Got all this bad people there like Jericho. You've got to go and
44:24 attack it. You got to take the city for yourself. But God is behind it. And so God's
44:31 hidden mana now after 40 years they realize is actually behind photosynthesis, DNA, all the stuff which
44:37 God actually provides is miraculous. It's not quite as obvious as mana. But
44:42 nonetheless, normal means are the way which God leads his people. That's why
44:48 you've got some folk who actually take scripture out of context. If I'm sick, for example, I must pray for healing. I
44:54 don't see a doctor. No tablets, no penadol, nothing. And it forces God to
44:60 act and actually wrong. It's like you sitting out there and have no food and praying for mana every day. Say, "Lord,
45:06 you did it for the Israelites. Why can't you do it for me? So I have a hunger strike for 40 days and challenge God to
45:12 send mana because you did it before." And then they will say, "God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, right?"
45:18 Ah, and they say, "Oh, I must have miracle." And that's silly, isn't it? Because God doesn't work the same. The
45:25 people once they've learned to be guided by biblical convictions do not need miracles to guide them anymore.
45:32 Paul says very clearly very if anybody not willing to work let him not eat.
45:38 Right? You don't work don't eat. Don't come and ask benevolent fund for money because you don't work.
45:44 All right? Because he accepts normal processes of work and industry as part of providing for you. All right?
45:52 We need to you know have you this is a picture of anybody know this
45:59 a flea in those years they've got uh uncle Vincent here will know you know in
46:05 those days you have flea circus and did you know the fleaser can actually perform one they they they they tag him
46:13 to this and their superhuman strength they can pull this whole thing along you know they're very very strong and what
46:18 they do for fleas to control them is that fleas can jump very high six feet or so. You know what they do is they put
46:23 him in the box and when they put in the box the flea keep on hitting ting ding ding ding ding ding ding da get a flea
46:29 headache. After a while getting a flea headache
46:35 the fer doesn't like having a headache anymore and he stops jumping very high. So next time after a few months you take
46:42 out the cover the flea doesn't go away. You know why he came jumping jumping jumping but doesn't jump very high anymore because he's learned not to have
46:48 a flea headache. And I think that's something like Christians, isn't it? We grow in our
46:54 relationship with God. We grow in our relational strength, but we only jump so high and no more. We don't really want
47:01 to grow anymore. And the Bible tells us in Paul, do not be slothful, but be in
47:07 zeal, but be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Be fervent. Which means the hardest thing for Christians is to keep
47:12 the excitement in the heart, to keep the hunger in the heart, to really be fervently seek the Lord. All of us are
47:19 protecting our turf and I serve the Lord or only Monday, Tuesday can, Thursday, Friday cannot. I got this, I got that.
47:25 We all drawing boundaries. Why don't we be fervent in zeal? We we break all the
47:31 boundaries and really seek after God in a relationship that's so close, that's so passionate, that really breaks the
47:36 boundaries because you then God can achieve great things in our lives. Uh don't be like the flea, you know, jump,
47:41 jump, jump. That's about how high I go. Lastly, there's communal strength. uh
47:46 this is what the lord has commanded everyone is to gather as much as they need take an each of person in your
47:54 tent. So therefore he says you you take an om they take for so everybody so
47:59 father will take and provide for everybody in the tent. Not everybody is not supposed to get from themselves. They actually fathers get for their
48:05 family. So they share um and the people of Israel did so they gathered some more some less. But when they measure with an
48:12 whoever gathered much had nothing left over. Whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as
48:17 he couldn't eat. This is not a miracle. He's just telling you every those with big hands like James I carry a lot small
48:25 hands like Janice who call little bit but when you come in together everyone
48:30 got enough because they shared. So one more thing that that the that the
48:36 mana teaches is not only thoughtful strength not only relational strength
48:42 communal strength. God works in communities not individuals.
48:48 Robert Putnham is a professor of John F. academy school in Harvard University and
48:54 he wrote this book uh as a critique on American society called bowling alone and he found that as as time progresses
49:00 the society is getting more fragmented people don't stay together people don't
49:06 form groups he did 500,000 interviews you know and before he published this
49:11 book and he found out that joining and participating in one group and only one group cuts in half your odds of dying
49:18 next year. So if you live alone and if you don't live alone, if you actually
49:24 join a group, your chance of dying next year will be down by half. So my lesson to this life to all of you in this
49:30 church, you know, you join a life group or you die.
49:36 Very simple because you you can't exist alone. The strength God gives you, you
49:42 know, you you pray, God, help me grow closer to you. Help me feel your joy.
49:48 help me feel your power. And God says, "Join the group." But I don't want to join. I don't like
49:53 that group. They're too young. They're too old, too talkative, too this. You join a group because God gives us
50:00 strength through the community. You you you you bring and you in the tent and
50:06 you share. We are not meant to live alone. You know, the only thing was no good when God made the earth is what?
50:12 Not good for man to be alone, right? Gave him his wife and things started to happen. It's not good to be alone. We're
50:18 made to be in community. So, mana teaches us that we should be in a community. All right? So, you know, we
50:24 we are so individualistic. Some of our convictions, what is yours is mine. I wonder if some of you have this
50:30 conviction. What is yours is mine? Then you're a thief, right? Or a politician.
50:38 That's why they pass budget. Or what is mine is mine. I will keep it.
50:45 And this is the default mode of a lot of us uh even Christians uh you know
50:50 doomsday prepper you watch this all of them was mind is mine you know they gather all this food which they save up money for two years supply they put into
50:57 a warehouse then they buy a M16 gun they stand there and and when the hits the fan people come shoot shoot what is
51:04 mine is mine and a lot of these people are actually Christian you know mind you they are actually Christian it's very
51:09 odd uh what about Bruce Wilkersonson when he published this book called uh uh prayer of jabz
51:15 Jabz called the Lord of Israel saying all that you would bless me and enlarge my border and that is that your hand
51:21 might be with me. You would keep me from harm so that it is that it will not bring me pain and God granted him what
51:28 he asked. What he has done is taken this verse out of context showing what happens to one man must happen to
51:33 everybody. Imagine if you have a row of 10 shopous all 10 shop houses owned by Christians.
51:39 So, one owned by Pastor Rama, one by Mick, one by Waong. And Waong stands up
51:45 in the middle of his shop lot and says, "Oh Lord, bless me. Enlarge my border."
51:53 On one side is Mick and one side Pastor Rama, the other side is Richard
51:59 and then Richard stands out his one and say, "Oh Lord, bless me. End my border."
52:04 Halama, what's going to happen? Isn't it? This is disastrous if you have that kind of Christianity. It's that does not
52:12 that's not how God works. What is mine is God's and I will share it. That's the
52:18 biblical conviction that Mana teaches us. What is mine is not mine. What is mine is to be shared. That is what true
52:26 biblical. So the the the longest 18 uh uh inches from the head to the heart is that we have to how do you do it? It's
52:33 so easy to say what is mine is yours but so difficult to do to share to do right.
52:39 So what does God do? God gives them mana enough 2.3 liter every day cannot store
52:47 one and must take for your wife and your family and they must share among every but the act of sharing makes you change
52:53 from the mind to the heart and so therefore if you look in what 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 13 let me
53:01 read this the actually Paul quotes this passage and this is what Paul says for I do not mean that others should be ease
53:07 and you be the burden but as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need so that in
53:12 their abundance might supply your need as there may be fairness. It is written whoever gathered much had nothing left.
53:19 Whoever gathered little had nothing back lack. He's quoting Exodus. Why? He says
53:25 and here is Paul what is he doing? Collecting money for the poor. And so therefore the tithing that you actually
53:32 give all this is for what it teaches you. So that biblical
53:38 doctrine goes travels from here down to here. The only way it's going to travel
53:44 from here to here is that you put inside there. So that wherever we gather, whoever has
53:50 little, has no lack, whoever has too much, you know, can give. That is the only way. So therefore, every meeting we
53:57 have, we must pass the bag. The bag is not a tax. The bag is a way God teaches
54:02 us to make that love from here sink down to our hearts. Galatians 6:2, bear one
54:09 another burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Now, let me show you one more verse is even more frightening. Why do
54:14 you work? Why do you work? Now, let me give you Ephesians chapter 4. Let a
54:20 thief no longer steal. Let him labor doing honest work with his own hands so
54:27 that he may have something to share with anyone in need. You see why do we work? So I can build
54:34 my mansion, have enough shares to retire three lifetime over no work so they have
54:41 got something to share. You see biblical mindset com differently
54:47 different. If you're a thief, what is yours is mine. If you're a normal Christian, what is mine is mine. If
54:52 you're a godly Christian, what is mine is God so that I may share it. So we actually work so that we can share. We
55:01 did work not for ourselves. Nathan Hatch in his keynote address
55:06 said, "Can this crisis be a wakeup call for students to face the challenge posed by William James? The great use of life
55:14 is to spend it for something that outlasts it." And he's challenging the students
55:20 to look at jobs that help other people flourish instead of what job makes me flourish. We need to look at our own
55:27 calling in life for young people. What is a job that you are called to that will bless the community rather than
55:34 make you famous and you successful? Uh that's the completely mind different
55:40 mind change. Lastly, God provides in spite of our sinfulness. Uh if you look notice uh God the Lord said to Moses,
55:47 "Behold, I am about to rain uh bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion
55:53 that I may test you to see whether they walk my laws or not." Right? And Moses
55:58 said, "Let no one leave any of it until morning." But they did not listen to Moses. They left part of it and they
56:05 bred worms and stank. And Moses were upset. Tell you not to do this? And they go out and do exactly the opposite.
56:12 Sounds familiar, right? Eat today for today is a Sabbath. Today
56:18 you will not find it in the field. Sixth days you will gather. Seventh day which is the Sabbath there will be none. On
56:24 the seventh day some people went out gather and they found none. Halama. You tell them don't go out they go out.
56:31 This typical church you know this is all us. We are dysfunctional and they don't listen. Uh
56:39 but throughout the 40 years, did the mana stop?
56:44 Did the mana ever stop? Never. Just because you disobey, God doesn't
56:51 cut off your supply because God is absolutely faithful. You know, exams,
56:57 some of you, I had a colleague of mine who sent her daughter to all the way to Canada to study medicine. And so she's
57:04 in first year in a science course and get medicine and she's saying oh terrible made mistake went to University
57:10 of Toronto. The number of people who enter medicine from the course is actually 2.3%.
57:16 And studying so hard the exams are horrible. Exams are designed to cut off
57:22 908% and to take the 2%. That's what exams
57:27 are. They're quite heartless. But in the mana test is different. If you look in
57:33 Deuteronomy 8, it says, "You know that man does not live by bread alone, but God man lives by every word that comes
57:39 from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you. Your foot did not swell in 40 years. Know in
57:45 your heart that as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you." So you shall keep the commandments of
57:51 the Lord and walk in his ways and fearing him. The the reason why he tests us with difficult periods in our life
57:57 when in wilderness is so that we will grow. not to kill us. It is not the same
58:05 with the 2% exams. Uh but sometimes when when bad things happen to us in
58:10 wilderness, there only two conclusions we have and both of them are wrong. One, I didn't do something right. I didn't
58:17 have my quiet time that day and I had an accident. And so therefore, we blame ourselves. Or if something bad happens,
58:25 God was sleeping on the watch. He either cannot help me or he doesn't want to help me. Either way, I don't like him
58:32 and we struggle. But the third option we learn from mana is that the wilderness
58:37 is there to help you grow. You don't have to be hated by God. You
58:44 don't have to be a miserable failure as if you didn't please God and so therefore it send catastrophe on your life. Bad things happen in your life to
58:52 help you grow. Nice show if you want to watch this. I
58:57 caught this last week because I have to research for this sermon.
59:03 If you believe that, I'll tell you what. Richard Curtis is a great uh uh uh
59:09 producer. He a writer. He wrote uh Love Actually, Notting Hill and four weddings. Uh wonderful story about uh u
59:16 a man who has this funny gift in his family. You know, he can actually travel back in time. All the men in the family
59:23 can travel back in time. So when anything happens wrong, he goes to the cupboard, he squeezes his hand, he travels back in time, wherever he can
59:30 travel. So he meets this pretty girl and and and first thing he says to her, "Oh,
59:37 oh, you look lovely. Uh, you look like my mother." You never tell people you look like your
59:42 mother. Never, never, never. All right, you can say you can look like Queen Elizabeth or don't do that, but uh
59:48 somebody else, but you never say you look like a mother. He knew that he's finished. He cannot get this girl already. So he goes back goes back in
59:56 the cupboard, you know, squeezes his hand, comes out, has another line and he wins the girl, etc. It goes on and he
60:02 finds that what he did was as he went on, he keeps on repeating every day, you
60:08 know. So day day one he finishes then he goes back squeeze his hand and plays the
60:13 he lives double the lifel and by by living the second time he
60:20 finds out that he's very calm. You know why? He goes, "You know what's going to happen, right?" He says all the right
60:25 things and he's a lot calmer. He's a lot happier and he's more fulfilled.
60:31 But as life goes on, he doesn't travel back in time anymore. You know why?
60:37 Because he says, "It's not really the events that matter. It's how I feel and
60:43 take each day." You see what I mean? It's my attitude. If I just change my
60:49 attitude and and and and encounter each day with a kind of happiness, calmness,
60:55 it doesn't really matter, you know, sort of thing whether I change events or not because some changing events alo not necessarily the right thing to do and he
61:02 change and I think that teaches us that it's bad things will be part of the landscape of life. We we we don't we
61:08 can't go back in time to change it but we can adjust the way we live in the
61:15 attitude and trusting God for whatever comes and using that to help us basically grow. Finally the mana was a
61:22 memorial. They asked them to store this mana in the tabernacle. They store this mana for the next few years because the
61:29 mana is an anticipation of one person coming and this person is called the
61:35 bread of life Jesus. Uh Je Jesus says, "Truly, I say to you, whoever believes
61:40 has eternal life. I'm the bread of life. Your fathers ate the mana in the wilderness and they died. This is the
61:46 bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread they came down from
61:51 heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will live, I will give for the life of
61:57 the world is my flesh." And Jesus is saying that just as you learn to trust
62:03 God day by day, giving you thoughtful strength, giving relational strength,
62:09 giving communal strength, one day, no matter how hard you try, you're never going to make it. I'm going to send you
62:15 Jesus. And Jesus will live the life that you're supposed to live. And Jesus will
62:20 die the death that you're supposed to die and take your sins upon his back.
62:25 that all you need today is not mana. No, because you eat the mana, you'll still
62:30 die. Is Jesus. If you just trust in this death or for your life, you will have
62:38 eternal life. So Jesus, the story of mana is actually opening act to
62:44 introduce you to the final act which is Jesus. If you just went in the Old Testament, you read about Exodus and all
62:51 about the wonderful miracle of the mana and that's where your story ended, then you missed the final act. It's like
62:57 watching the last episode of whatever you know revenge or something. If you
63:03 don't watch the last episode, all the first 13 episodes is pointing to the last episode. The last episode is Jesus
63:09 coming and Jesus the one to really give you thoughtful strength, relational strength, community strength because
63:14 Jesus gives you eternal life. Let's pray.
63:23 Father Lord, we just thank you for mana which you have given us.
63:28 And we thank you more importantly that you've given us Jesus. That Jesus is the
63:34 bread of life. Jesus is our salvation. Jesus lived the life that we should have
63:39 lived. Jesus died the life died the death that we should have died on the
63:45 cross. So as we celebrate his death every month and meditate upon his death
63:51 in our lives, we pray that we allow Jesus to transform our lives to be the
63:58 kind of people in the community that will honor and glorify your name. We ask it for Jesus sake. Amen.
