James Merritt - Mountain Top Meetings
Well, thank you for being here this morning thanks for watching us online, appreciate all of you who come and listen to God's word today. In February of 1945, a meeting took place in the Lavatia palace in the Black Sea in Crimea and in order to make sure the meeting was kept top secret and I mean, nobody knew about it, it had a code name it was called Argonaut. Now we know it now today, if you know your history as the Yalta Conference if you don't know much about your history, let me just kind of fit you in. There were three main attendees at this meeting and they were the three towering giants of the allied forces during the Second World War.
There was United States President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. This was the second of only three occasions that these men would ever meet together. And the reason for their meeting could not have been more significant. The allied forces had Hitler on the run they knew they were going to win the war. They knew the war was coming to a close, but they had a big, big job. They had to occupy what used to be Nazi Germany, they had to liberate the countries they had previously taken over, they had to literally rebuild most of Europe and they had to decide how all of this was going to be done.
And now historians say this meeting may have been the most important meeting of the 20th century. Now most of us will never be in a room like that, most of us will never be in a meeting like that, most of us will never sit in a room with two other men or three other men or whoever we might be and say, here's how we're going to carve up one-fourth of the world. Here's how we're going to decide who gets to live where, this is what we're going to do. We will never be in a meeting anywhere near that important in earthly terms. But I had a meeting this morning, in fact, I have one every single day of my life with the most important being in the universe, God.
This morning before I came here, I had a meeting with God. I want you to think about something. You're doing something right now that you do every day of your life, and it's the biggest thing you do, it's the most important thing you do, and we do it every day and never even think about it. Every day of your life, you invest the most important part of your life and that is your time. Life's not money life is time. Because when your time is up your life is over. So really what life is all about it's all about time. Now that being true, that means on a daily basis, the question we ought to be asking ourselves every day is, if this were my last day on planet Earth, what is the single greatest way I could invest my time today? If this is my last day on earth and I knew I could only do one thing, what would that one thing be?
If you're a guest of ours today, or this is the first time you've joined us, we are in a series of messages we've been calling Red Sea Moments. And we've been studying the life of this giant of the Old Testament, his name was Moses. And I'll kinda wanna to let you, you know, kinda what's going on today before we get into this topic. God's led the nation of Israel out of bondage, out of Egypt, they've been gone for three months they've traveled 190 miles, they've now come full circle back to the same place where Moses first met God in that burning bush, a place called Sinai. And now for the first time in 400 years, they're going to meet God. They hadn't heard from God in four centuries they had long ago forgotten God, they had long ago turned their back on God, they had long ago forsaken God. But now for the first time in 400 years, they're going to be in the presence of God. They're going to receive the word of God, they're going to hear the voice of God.
And I'll tell you how big a deal this meeting was. This meeting is so important, they're not gonna leave here for 11 months. They're gonna stay right where they are for 11 months. Now, before the people met with God, God wanted to meet with Moses. And every meeting that Moses had with God was a mountaintop meeting. Now when you read the Book of Exodus you get the idea, he only went up to the mountain one time, no he didn't. He actually went up seven times, seven times, climb the mountain, meet with God, come back, climb the mountain, meet with God, come back, climb the mountain, meet with God, come back. He did that seven times, why? Because God wanted to show Moses, God wanted to show Israel, and God wanted to show us today, there is nothing more important in your life than meeting God.
Now that said, this is that one statement that if you don't remember anything else about it, this message and you don't believe anything else I tell you, remember this and believe this. The same God that met with Moses wants to meet with you, the same God that met with Moses wants to meet with you, the same God that spoke to Moses wants to speak with you, the same God that connected with Moses wants to connect with you. And this mountaintop meeting can teach us how we can meet with the God of the universe every single day. And let me tell you the great news, you're ready for this? You don't have to make an appointment, you don't need a Peach Pass, you don't need a recommendation, you don't even have to pay by the hour. He wants to meet with us every single day. Well, how do you do that? And why should you do that?
That leads us to find three things this morning we're in Exodus 19, three things I wanna share with you this morning. Number one, we must prioritize meeting with God. We must prioritize meeting with God now let me just let you a little secret. When you meet with God, you don't dictate the terms, he dictates the terms. You don't tell God, all right, this is how we're gonna meet no, God says, no this is how we're going to meet. So, he tell Moses to give the people some instructions so they just won't just be ready for the meeting he says I want them to want to meet.
So here's what he says. "On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt on that very day, they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim they entered the Desert of Sinai and Israel camped there in the desert, in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God and the Lord called him from the mountain and said, this is what you're to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you're to tell the people of Israel, you yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagle's wings and I brought you to myself".
Now, the very first thing that God says to Moses is I want you to remind the people how they even got here to begin with. I want you to remind them how I led them out of Egypt. And then he does something interesting, he compares himself to an eagle. He says, I want you to tell them I carried you up on eagles wings, now, what does that mean? Why did God say to them, hey, tell them I'm just like an eagle. Why would he do that? Well, I did my homework found something interesting. A mama eagle makes a nest, so listen to this. A typical average eagle's nest is eight feet wide and eight feet deep. In St. Petersburg, Florida the largest recorded bald eagle nest ever found nine and a half feet in diameter, 20 feet deep and it weighed almost three tons.
Folks that ain't a nest that's a mole. Huge, big nest and that nest is so cozy and that nest is so comfortable. Well when the mama eagle has the eaglets, they get in the nest, they've got plenty of room in the nest, they can play in the nest, they sleep in the nest, they eat in the nest, but the problem is, they weren't made for the nest they were made to fly, they were supposed to fly. So here's what that mama eagle will do not too long after they're born. One at a time, she'll pick up that little eaglet and she'll take off. And that eaglet's never been out of the nest. And that eagle will soar to unbelievable heights and guess what she does to that little eaglet, drops him.
Some of you mamas are saying, boy, I've thought about doing that from time to time. She takes that little eaglet and she drops that eaglet and you know what she does then? She just hovers and she watches that eaglet fall. She hears that little eaglet screaming, crying out to that mama eagle. What have you done to me? And she lets that eaglet fall, and he's falling and falling and falling and right at the last minute she takes off, she sweeps down, she gets under that eaglet she picks that eaglet up and what do you think she does? She takes him right back up to the top and here we go again. And she drops him again and she does it again and again and again and again until finally that eaglet, that eaglet and you saw how quickly they decide what those wings are for.
If they go to UGA, once, Florida, 20, but they finally figure out, oh, that's what these things are for? And that little eaglet all of a sudden begins to fly. And you know what that mama eagle says to that little eaglet? Now you know why I did what I did. Number one, to show you why you were born and number two to show you how much I love you. And so what God wants Moses to remind the people of, is this you're not meeting with just a run of the mere God, you're meeting with a God that loves you, a God that looks after you, a God that lifts you up, a God that takes care of you, a God that picks you up when you fall, a God that will always be with you, a God that will never turn his back on you, a God that always wants what is best for you, Who wouldn't wanna meet a God like that? Who wouldn't wanna spend time with a God like that?
That's why I tell you the number one priority of your life every single day of every single week of every single month of every single year the one thing that will determine more than anything else, the kind of person that you are and the kind of life that you live the one thing above everything else is having that meeting with God. Because if you don't, I promise you this, if you don't take time every day to meet with God, you're gonna live a lot more in defeat than you are in victory. You're gonna live a lot more in frustration rather than celebration, you know why? Because the greatest battles you're gonna fight in your life are not financial. The greatest battles you're gonna fight in your life are not physical. The greatest battles you're gonna fight in your life are not emotional. The greatest battles in life you're going to fight are spiritual. And you cannot win those battles unless you got the power and the presence of God, and you won't have the power and the presence of God unless every day you meet with God on a daily basis.
I was reading the other day if you've ever played the piano, you'll appreciate this. One of the reasons I took piano lessons for about two weeks and quit. One of the greatest pianists who ever lived was the Polish pianist Jan Petroski. If you know piano, you know, you've heard of him. He lived in the first half of the 20th century. Well, the Polish government World War II, they're trying to raise money for the war effort. So they came to Jan Petroski and they ask him, would you do concerts in order to help raise money for the war effort in World War II? We can't pay you much we'll pay you what we can where's the patriot?
So Jan Petroski said, I will absolutely do that, I wanna help my government, wanna help my country I'll be more than happy to help you under one condition. They said, what's that? They said you're gonna pay me every day for eight hours of work. But three hours of every eight hours, all I'm gonna do is play scales. And you're gonna pay me to play scales. You're gonna pay me for eight hours, but I'm gonna play scales three hours a day. They didn't even hesitate to accept his offer. Well, why was he so insistent? That he played three scales every day, play scales for three hours every single day. Why is that such a big deal? Listen to what he said. If I skip one day of scales when I plan a concert, I will notice it. If I skip two days of scales, my coach will notice it. If I skip three days, the world will notice.
See, when a pianist regularly plays scales every day and the good pianists do, you know why? 'Cause they gotta keep those fingers limber. They gotta have the dexterity and the flexibility so they can play the most difficult, difficult pieces with speed and with accuracy. Because if they don't they know at a critical moment in that performance, they will fall flat on their face, they'll miss a key and they will fail and everybody will know it. What's the point? You need to play your scales every single day. You need to take time out of your schedule every single day and have that meeting with God.
And let me just say this, if you are sitting there right now saying you don't know my schedule, you don't know the load I've got, you don't know the burdens I carry, you don't know the deadlines I meet, I don't have time to meet with God every day let me tell you, you are too busy. And you're doing things you should not be doing, 'cause there is nothing more important. Your number one priority every day, make time and take time to be with the Lord. 'Cause you'll never go where you need to go in life, you'll never do what you need to do in life, you'll never be what you need to be in life if you don't meet with God.
We've got to prioritize our meeting with God. Number two, we must prepare for meeting with God. We gotta prepare for meeting with God. You know at that Yalta Conference, every one of those men came prepared. Roosevelt came prepared, Churchill came prepared, Stalin came prepared. They both are advisors, they both are heads of state, they both are ambassadors, they brought a list of plans and priorities and agendas. So when Roosevelt came, you know what he said? He said, I want one thing. He looked at Stalin he said, when we invade Japan, I want you to join us. Stalin came prepared, he said I want one thing. When we form the United Nations, we wanna be a part of the Security Council. Churchill came with one thing he said, I want free and democratic elections all throughout Europe, they came prepared, listen.
There's one thing worse than missing the most important meeting in your life, there's one thing worse than that and that's going unprepared. I'd rather miss an important meeting than to walk in unprepared. We need to be prepared for our meeting with God and guess what? God tells Moses, Moses here's how the people need to be prepared, now watch this. "And the Lord said to Moses, 'go to the people, consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day because on that day, the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death. They are to be stoned or shot with arrows. Not a hand is to be laid on them, no person or animal shall be permitted to live, only when the rams horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.'"
After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them and they washed their clothes. Then he said to the people, prepare yourselves for the third day, abstain from sexual relations. All that for a meeting, why? Because one of the most important things that you will ever do, one of the cardinal rules. If you told me today, hey pastor, I want you to pray for me in the morning, I'm going into the most important meeting I've ever had in my job. You know what I'd say to you? I'd say I got one question for you. Do you really know who your meeting with? 'Cause if you don't really know who you're meeting with, you're not ready for that meeting. You better know exactly who you're meeting with because if you don't, you will not make the best impression that you can make.
Well, God will seize people to understand two things. Before you meet with me, you better realize how sinful you are, and you better remember how holy I am 'Cause we're not gonna meet. If you think you just walk in in your terms, that's not the way we work. You need to remember how sinful you are, you need to remember how holy I am. Don't get too close and then he says something kinda weird abstain from sexual relations. Then you may say, well, why in the world would he say that? Well, let me tell how unusual that was. Back in the near ancient world, the character of the god that you worshiped. determined the character of the worshiper. So, you wanna know why pagans would have sex with temple prostitutes? Because the gods they worshiped had sex.
Do you know why they would sacrifice their children literally sacrifice their kids to the gods? Because the gods sacrificed their kids, that's the way they were. But then this God comes along and he says, I'm a holy God, I'm a perfect God, I'm a righteous God, I'm an upright God. And if you're gonna worship me, you're gonna be morally straight, you're gonna be ethically true, you're gonna be spiritually pure. That was totally unique in the ancient world. As a matter of fact, that's what set Judaism and Christianity apart from every other religion in the world. God said, you wanna meet with me? You put clean bodies and clean clothes 'cause that represents a clean heart. And if you wanna meet with me, I wanna see a pure heart. Because God is always ready to speak, and you're always ready to hear when you remember who you are and you remember who he is.
Now I wanna show you something. Do you know why most people never really connect with God? They don't, they really don't. There are so many people in this world, they believe in God they believe in the God of the Bible, but really connect with God. Do they really have a vibrant walk with God? No they really don't. Can I tell you why? If we forget how sinful we are, we will be deceived in how we see ourselves. But if we forget how Holy God is, we'll be deficient in how we see him, yes. So you better know who you are and you better remember who he is. Because the God that we're talking about here, this God, he's a lot different God than the God you see in the movies. He's lot different God than the God you see in the culture.
James 4:8 says this, draw near to God and God will draw near to you. That's true, if you draw near to God, God will draw near to you. However, we can draw near to God because we are all near to God, but it should always be in the fear of God, always in the fear of God. When you go into the presence of God, you go with reverence, you go with a Holy fear, you go with respect. You go remembering who you are and who he is. And oh, by the way, can I tell you how you'll know when you've met with God? When you've really met with God, you cannot be the same. When you've met with God, you will not be the same, you will be different.
If Moses were here today, you know what Moses would say to all of us in this room? You want Moses to say, to those of you watching me right now, he would say, if the God that you've met with has not radically changed your life, you have met with the wrong God, exactly. If the God you've met with, has not radically changed your life, you have met with the wrong God. I've learned in my whole life when you really meet with God, you are almost driven to your knees 'cause you remember how sinful you are, how Holy he is.
So, how do you meet with God? First of all, we gotta prioritize meeting with God. But then we gotta prepare meeting with God, yes. Now here's the last thing, get real practical. We must practice meeting with God practice makes perfect. We gotta practice meeting with God. Now keep in mind the Book of Exodus. Let me tell you why we're in chapter 19, you can divide Exodus up into two parts. You wouldn't know this, but I'll tell you, the first part of Exodus is chapters one through 18 that deals with God taking the people out of Egypt. It's where we get the name of the book, Exodus that's the first 18 chapters. But then beginning in chapter 19 where we are right now and for the next 22 chapters, it's about one thing. God gives the law God gives commandments. God says, okay, this is how I want you to live.
You say, okay, why is it divided up that way? It's really easy. Moses led the people to liberty, now Moses is going to lay down the law there's a principle here. Show you how, this will show you relevant the Bible is. With freedom, comes responsibility. And lemme tell you the number one thing wrong with America today in my opinion aside that we just have forgotten God, I mean, that's always number one to me, but you know what's really wrong with America? Yes we live in the land of the freedom and the home of the brave and thank God that we live in a land of freedom and liberty. But the number one thing, that comes with freedom is not rights, the number one thing is responsibility. And we're living in a country today everybody demands their rights, but nobody talks about their responsibility, right?
Freedom brings responsibility, we're responsible, we're accountable with the freedom that we've been given. So Moses has led them, now he lays down the law, why? You know what God's about to tell Israel? I didn't lead you out of Egypt so you could live for you, I led you out of Egypt so you could live for me. God did not give America freedom so we could do what we wanted to do. God gave America freedom so we could do what he wants us to do. Big difference, I want my rights, God says, what about your responsibilities? So God tells Moses to spell out very clearly why he's done everything he's done. So he said Moses, let the people know why I've done what I've done.
Now watch this, "Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, my commandments then out of all the nations, you'll be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priest and a Holy Nation. These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites", see? Nobody knows how life works better than God. Nobody, nobody's got life figured out any better than God. And God is about to give the Nation of Israel, but ultimately the world 10 what? 10 commandments, now watch this. So you're going, yeah, I know. I've heard, yeah, do this, don't do this, do this, don't do that, do this, don't do that, yeah. Heard it all before, no you haven't, you haven't heard it at all. That's not what the 10 commandments are about.
You know what the 10 commandments are, you ready for this? It's God's recipe on how to live the best life possible, yes. That's what it is. God says you wanna be happy in your life, I do, you wanna be satisfied with your life, I do, you wanna fulfilled in your life. I do, you wanna have peace in your life, I do, you wanna have joy in your life, I do, God says, okay, don't do this and do that. Don't do that, It'll keep you from being miserable Do that, It'll make you happy. That's what the purpose of the Lord. You wanna avoid a lot of headache and a lot of heartache, keep my commandments. Let me tell you this you'll love this. This will be worth coming to church for today.
How many of you are golfers? How many golfers in here? How many of you ever heard of a golfer named "Chi-Chi" Rodríguez? How many ever heard of "Chi-Chi"? Some of you have, this will be worth coming for, true story. "Chi-Chi" Rodríguez grew up in Puerto Rico. And so he had a friend of his that came down to visit with him one day and they were driving down the streets of Puerto Rico and he's going really, really fast. And they come into a traffic light and the traffic light changed from yellow to red. "Chi Chi" just sits down on his horn, just blows the horn, blows the horn, blows and blows right through that red light, didn't even stop. And I mean, his friend likely to have a heart attack, he said, what in the world are you doing? You almost ran a red light, don't you stop for red lights? And "Chi-chi" said, well, no, my brother taught me to drive and he never saw some red lights, so I don't stop at red lights.
Well, sure enough a little further down the road, they come another intersection and the light turns red. Chi-chi does the same thing, blows his horn runs right through that red light, his friend's shaking like leaf, he said, man, you're going to get us killed Chi-chi, what are you doing? He said, well, I told you, my brother taught me how to drive, my brother runs red light, so I run red lights. They go about a mile down the road and they come to intersection, and this time the light turns green. "Chi-Chi" slams on his brakes, comes to a screeching halt. He's looking both ways very nervously and the man said, why are you stopping now? This is a green light, he said, yeah, I know my brother might be coming, now You know what God knows about us? We tend to stop at green lights and run red lights.
God says, do that, and we say, no, I'm not gonna do that. And God says, don't do that, and we say, yeah, we're gonna do that. So for the first time in all of history, God does something, he writes down his word. You' ll understand that until you get to Exodus 20, there was no written word. There's not one verse or scripture, until you get to Exodus 20. And then God takes two tablets, and with his own finger, he writes down his word. Because what God is saying is, hey, if you wanna speak with me and you want me to speak with you, here's how it works, right there. That's what you gotta have. You wanna hear from me? You wanna know what I think, read my word. You know what I've got to say, read my word. You wanna hear my thoughts? You wanna hear what I think about a certain name? You wanna know my advice, read my word.
Now we're gonna wrap this up, make this real practical. We make this so complicated, I'm gonna make it so simple. You only need two things to meet with God. Two things, all you need and you meet with God just like I do. Number one, you gotta have a place, gotta have a place. Exodus 19 makes it very plain, it says the people came to a place. It was actually at the foot of a mountain that place was a mountain. That's where Moses met with God at the mountain, that's where the people of Israel met with God they met at a mountain, all right? So here's the big question for you today? Where's your mountain?
Every one of you ought have a mountain. Where is your mountain? Maybe your mountain is a closet in your house, maybe your mountain is your back porch, maybe your mountain is in your recliner in your living room, maybe you're old client, maybe your mountain is in your bed in your bedroom. I have to have my mountain is in my study. But the first thing is you need a place, gotta have a place. Now God doesn't care about the place. Let me just tell you this, God's not even overly concerned how much time you spend he's not legalistic. God wants you but if he's gonna get you, you got to have a place, I mean, think about this.
So somebody you call my office and you say, I'd like to meet with a pastor with one thing we gotta have we'll never meet. We gotta have a place that's gotta be the same place or we not ever gonna meet, gotta a place, first thing. Second thing, you gotta have a plan. You you've gotta have a systematic approach to going to God's word, opening God's word and listen to God word. You know why you do that? You know what I always do when I meet with God? You know what I did this morning? I open up my Bible and you know what I say? You go first, I'm all ears. What do you have to say to me today? Just speak, I'm listening, you've got my full attention you've got what I know you want.
Now I'm gonna wrap this up, this is mind boggling. When I read what I'm about to share with you today I wish I'd read this 45 years ago when I started as a pastor, would have saved me a lot of heartache. It would've saved me a lot of wondering why, I am I making a difference? Why is it people come here and they preach week after week after week after week and I preach truth after truth, after truth, after truth, but nothing seems to change? So lemme tell you, this is so mind-boggling to me, but it illustrates why you've got to get into this book. Austin Cole and Pamela Ovwigho was working with a center of Bible engagement. They researched listen to this, they researched 45,000 Christians, from age eight to 80. 8 to 80 they researched 45,000 people. They still they were studying one thing.
How were people engaging with the Bible? How were people studying the Bible? They made a profound discovery that absolutely shocked them and they weren't even looking for it. I want you to just please watch this this is mind-boggling to me. When people read the Bible one time a week, which would include just going to church and listening to the pastor preach that's what you guys are doing right now. When they just did that, that's all. There was no effect on any key area in their life. So in other words, for some of you, the only Bible you see is what we throw up on that screen you won't open it you didn't open up your Bible one time last week. It wasn't even on your radar screen, you don't even know some of you may not even know where your Bible is.
You come here, me preach so I thank God that you do it, and I want you to keep coming, but there's no effect on any key area in your life. Well, if they read the Bible twice a week, so you say, okay, I'll open it up tomorrow, same result, no effect. If they read it three times a week, there was what they called a faint heartbeat. We know there's life there, but not real strong. Now watch this, something slightly began to move but, the eye-opener happened when they read the Bible, the fourth time in a week. All of a sudden there was an explosive spike on the effect it had on the lives of these people. Feeling spiritually stagnant, it might feel spiritually stagnant, it drops 60%. Watching pornography, yep, could understand somebody in here is hooked on it, drops 61%. Sharing their faith, this blew me away, jumped 200%.
In other words, I can scream to the top of my lungs every day. Who's your one? Who are you witnessing to? Who are you talking to about Jesus? Who are you having a spiritual conversation with? And you know what? The needle is not gonna move for most of you one inch, but, you really get into the word 200% and discipling other people jumped 230%. I cannot overemphasize to all of you listening to me right now, having a mountaintop meeting with God is the most important you'll do every single day of your life. And here's what I mean by that. It means you shut your door, you turn off your cell phone, you shut down your computer. you open this book and you let God do the talking.
So I'm challenging you four days start tomorrow. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, you say, well pastor and please don't do that, don't do that, don't. 'Cause you'll read one verse that says Eve was naked and then you'll read a verse that says go down do likewise don't do that. If you say, I don't know where to start, I'll tell you a good place start in the book of Romans. Just take the book of Romans four days, read one chapter. Because you cannot, you cannot go where you need to go. You cannot be what you need to be, you cannot do what you need to do, if you don't meet with God. Now here, I'm gonna wrap this up, we're done.
I've told you many times I'm gonna keep saying until you get it, all of the Bible is about Jesus and by say that all the Bible's about Jesus, watch this. So we've already said you gotta have a mountain to meet with God, right? But you can go to the mountain and still not meet with God if you don't have a mediator. You just can't walk sin on your own, you gotta have a mediator, you gotta have a go between, even Moses was not able to meet with God directly and that's why God sent Jesus. 'Cause guess what? Because of Jesus, every day of my life, every day, I go into the presence of God every day of my life, I meet with God face to face. Every day of my life I talk to God heart to heart because I have a mediator.
So I've got this for you and I'm done. We're in a battle I've told you this I won't keep telling you, you're in a battle. If you're a parent, you're in a battle for your kids if you're married, you're in a battle for your spouse if you're in a job, you're in a battle with your work, we're all in a battle. And if you're tired of living in defeat and you'd rather live in victory, if you're tired of being in front of the train and you'd like to start driving the train, you meet with God every day. You get into this book every day, you read this book every day.
You let the one that created you that knows more about how to live your life and your little finger than you know in your whole body. You get into that book every day 'cause what you'll find is this, either sin will keep you from that book or that book will keep you from sin. Either not reading that book will lead you to a dead end row to defeat and discouragement and disillusion and disappointment or walking down the super highway of that word will lead you to victory after victory, after victory, after victory. So the good news is, you don't have to have a seminary degree, you don't have to be ordained, you don't have to be a pastor, you don't have to be anything to anybody. Every day the God that met with Moses wants to meet with you.
Would you pray with me right now with heads bowed and eyes closed. With heads bowed and eyes closed. Let me just say this to all of you in this room and all of you watching right now, did you when I said a moment ago, you know why Jesus came? So you could know God, so you could meet with God, so you could have fellowship with God, so you could walk with God, but you can't do that without Jesus. You got to have that mediator, you gotta have a go between. If you're in this room today or you're watching me right now and you know, deep down, you've never trusted your life to Jesus, you have never given your heart to Christ, you've never surrendered him as the Lord of your life, would you do it right now? Would you let this be your first mountaintop meeting with God right here right now? Or right there in that living room right there on that iPad. Would you let this be your first mountaintop meeting with God? And would you just simply say this:
Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner, I need a savior, I can't save myself, but I believe you died for my sins. I believe God raised you from the dead, I believe you're alive right now. So Lord Jesus come into my heart, save me, forgive me of all of my sins, I repent and turn away from my sins. I give all that I am Lord Jesus to all that you are.