Episode Transcript
So we're going to be reading, so this morning we're going to be reading about the birth
of Moses from Exodus 2.
I strongly, strongly, over the last two nights, like God has just been speaking to me and going like,
dude, this is not just a message, this is a prophetic word over my church.
And I was fighting them for some reason, I'm like, I'm pretty sure.
And he's like, no, no, no, it's a prophetic word.
So I'd love to submit this to you, Pastor David and Sonia, and just the rest of you that God is speaking
and he's empowering and he's encouraging us this morning.
And just be open to what he has to say and to journey what that looks like in your own life.
So, but before we start reading from there, what we're going to do is we'll take, I'll just set the background first,
just so that we understand where the story is coming from, then we can take lessons out of it.
So in Exodus 2, this is the story of Moses, and it's around 1450 to 120 BC,
and Egypt would have been the greatest military and cultural power in the world at that time.
That's a fact historically.
And they mainly worshipped Amun-Re, amongst other, so there are many gods, but the main god was Amun-Re.
And as Egypt's dominance grew in the world, so that the dominance of their god grow,
then Joseph was an Israelite.
At this point, he's prime minister of Egypt.
So he's at the home, he's the second in command after the pharaoh.
But then at this point, him, if you know the story, him and all his brothers in the entire generation have died.
So the descendants of the Israelites had many children and grandchildren
to the point where they were extremely powerful and filled the land.
Then there was also a new pharaoh in town, and he knew nothing about Joseph.
But then the issue was he feared that the Israelites outnumbered them, the people in Egypt,
and therefore were a threat to the kingdom.
So he was insecure.
So he decided to kill their spirits by enslaving them.
So, typically, back in that day, you would enslave people you've conquered,
but they're not conquered people.
They're already staying within Egypt.
But he decides to enslave them nonetheless.
And what they did was a really cruel tactic.
They used brutal slave drivers to make the now-Israelite slaves as miserable as possible
by making them work as fast as possible, as hard as possible, and for as long as possible.
But then yet, God continued multiplying the Israelites in spite of Egyptian oppression.
And the thing is, God was actually keeping his promise to Abraham at this point
where he told him, you would have many descendants.
These were his descendants.
So they get oppressed and they're multiplying.
Then Pharaoh goes, you know what?
Okay, I've got another thing I can do about it.
I've got something else I can do about this.
Then he orders a strategic genocide to slow down the multiplication and the strength of the Israelites at this point.
And what he does is he orders the killing of Israelite baby boys at birth.
And then instead, he would keep the girls, marry them to other slave groups,
effectively destroying the Hebrew line and just phasing them out.
So he orders that.
But then in Exodus 117, this is what the midwives have to say about that.
Because Pharaoh kind of notices, these, they're not going anywhere.
And this is what scripture says.
It says, but because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king's orders.
They allowed the boys to live too.
So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said, why have you done this?
He demanded.
Why have you allowed the boys to live?
The Hebrew, then the Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women, the midwives replied.
They are more vigorous and have babies so quickly that we cannot get there in time.
I don't even understand what that means, but we'll just take it for what it is.
So God was good to the midwives and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerfully.
And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
So it's just a side note.
Midwives typically in this culture became midwives because they actually didn't have any families of their own.
And then God goes like, oh, you've decided to side with me.
I'm going to side with you.
I'm going to give you own families.
You know, so that's just, if you want to be blessed by God, just hitch yourself to the things of God.
Hitch yourself to what God is doing in the earth to the local church.
Is that all right?
Yeah, but then Pharaoh Bain, the cunning leader he is, he goes like, you know what?
This is not working out.
I've got another strategy.
He decides that every newborn baby, a boy, should be thrown into the Nile River.
Completely disrupts the midwife's game plan.
And this is where God decides to enact his best plan.
So we're going to pick up from Exodus 2, and I'll read from verse 1 to 10.
So if you want to turn to there in your Bibles, I will do that in mine as you do that in yours.
And we can be one happy family like that.
Are we there yet?
All right, cool.
So reading from verse 2 about the birth of Moses.
About this time, a man and a woman from the tribe of Levi got married.
The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son.
She saw that he was a special baby and kept him hidden for three months.
But when she could no longer hide him, she got a basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch.
She put the baby in the basket and laid it amongst the reeds and the banks of the River Nile.
The baby's sister then stood a distance, watching to see what would happen to him.
Verse 5.
Soon, Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe in the river, and her attendants walked along the river bank.
When the princess saw the basket among the reeds, she sent a maid to get it for her.
When the princess opened it, she saw the baby.
This little boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him.
This must be one of the Hebrew children, she said.
Then the baby's sister approached the princess.
Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?
She asked.
Yes, do, the princess replied.
So the girl went and called, guess who?
The baby's mother.
Take this baby, nurse him for me, the princess told the baby's mother.
I will pay you for your help.
So the woman took her baby home and nursed him.
Later, when the boy was older, the mother brought him back to the Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted him as his own son.
The princess named him Moses, for she explained, I lifted him out of the water.
So the title of my message this morning is, Opposition Will Empower You.
And if you would know the rest of the story, Moses would go on to become a prophet who leads the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.
It receives the Ten Commandments, and he's actually credited for writing the first five books of the Bible, which is the Pentateuch.
But hey, let's pray.
Let's pray, all right?
Come on.
All right.
Lord, dear God, we thank you, Lord.
We thank you for your word.
It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
Lord, help me.
Help me to deliver your word exactly how you want it delivered.
And God, help us to receive your word exactly as you have intended us to receive it, Lord.
We pray all of this in the mighty name of Jesus.
And everybody said, amen.
Man, so the year was 2022, and I was on holiday in Western Australia.
So for some of you, some of you might not know, my parents actually stay in a country town in Western Australia.
So I was there, and I decided I had some business I needed to handle in the city.
So I decided to drive from the countryside into the city, handle business, come back one day trip.
It's like almost 300Ks one way, 300Ks back.
So 600Ks in a day.
Ridiculous, I know.
But it's me.
I'm crazy.
So anyway, I go to Perth.
I handle my business.
Then whilst I'm driving back, the route that I chose at that point, as I'm driving back, I get stopped on the highway.
There's a queue of cars.
I'm asking, what's going on?
Then they tell us, the turnoff you intended to take, there's a fire.
Yeah, it's fire season, summer.
So they blocked it off because if you drive through that route, you get trapped between two fires and shish kebab.
Yeah, so I'm like, no.
So, okay.
So then they redirected us.
I go another way.
So I continue going, going for the next turnoff.
That too is blocked off.
Why?
Fires.
I'm like, oh my gosh.
You know.
Then I continue going straight.
So I'm supposed to be heading east.
I'm going north.
And I keep heading north.
And I'm looking at everything.
I'm going like, I have not planned fuel for this trip.
You know, we're somewhat in the countryside.
Now I've got no reception.
And, you know, GPS is sort of cutting out.
So I'm really going with complete boy mats at this point.
You know.
So anyway, get to third stop again.
Can't turn there.
I'm like, no worries.
Then I go for the fourth one.
Then finally, I find a turnoff.
Then at that point, I'm just doing the mats in my head.
I'm like, look.
I've been going north.
I just need to turn, you know, east.
And I'll hit the highway that I need to hit, right?
But at the same time, there's all sorts of problems.
Like, the sun is starting to set.
And if you've done country driving before, that's when the kangaroos come out.
I've been avoiding this all day.
And next thing, I'm stuck in this spot.
Anyway, I go with it regardless.
I'm just like, look.
It is what it is.
We'll just have to just drive as quickly as possible to just get to the main highway.
So anyway, I drive.
And I find myself driving through this town called Tudye.
And so I'm driving through this town.
And I'm like, something is funky about this town, you know.
Like, in my spirit, I'm just going to, ooh.
Something's just.
Have you ever been to places where you just feel like something's off?
Felt like that.
So I'm driving.
Mind you, I need to go to the bathroom too.
So I want to stop.
Then as I'm driving through, I start to realize, I'm like, ooh, there's new ageism all over the place.
Like, you know.
There's like a Freemason Hotel here.
Freemason.
Like, literally.
Freemason Hotel.
Freemason.
This, that, and everything.
I'm just going to like, okay.
You know.
God, what are you doing?
You know.
Then it just occurred to me.
I'm like, just maybe, maybe he wants me to pray over this area.
I'm like, I mean, worst case scenario, like, even if he doesn't want to, the place is still blessed anyway.
So me, I just crank up the volume.
Crank up Bethel in the car.
And I'm like, you know what?
I start praying in tongues.
I start driving through this place and everything.
And it's good.
And then I just prayed through.
And I reconnected the main highway and made it home.
Called my mom.
Hey, mom.
Sorry, I'm going to be late.
All this happened.
She was cool with it.
Here's the thing.
What came across is opposition and a threat to my own safety became a tool in God's hands.
It became an assignment, you know.
And here's what I'm trying to communicate to us.
And what I feel the Lord wants to let us know this morning is that God often what, often uses what you feel like is an assignment against you.
To achieve his purposes in your life.
This is the truth of the gospel.
And it's complex sometimes because we don't understand it all.
And God kind of doesn't consult us on this.
All we know is that scriptures like Isaiah 55, 9 say,
Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.
So we get to surrender, trust, and obey.
Our job is faithfulness.
His job is fruitfulness.
End of story.
So the same goes for Moses in his birth story and his mother.
I actually feel like the story is more about his mother than Moses really.
So I'm just going to pick on a couple of things from the story.
They're not going to get lessons from that.
Is that right?
Cool.
So, so, from verse 3 to 6, we clearly see that Pharaoh finds Moses in the river.
It's, what's really funny about this is that, I'll put it this way.
I feel like, I feel like Pharaoh, I feel like Moses' mother employed a bit of girl mats in this,
in her decision making, because she knew that all the baby boys are supposed to get dropped in the river.
And the Pharaoh would only say, just put them in the river, right?
And so she did exactly that.
She puts her son in the river, but what she does is she builds a basket and puts Ty in it and then puts him in the river.
So, technically she found a loophole and I'm like, it's such a mother hard thing to do.
And you know what?
I was looking at that and sometimes, do you know what faith looks like sometimes?
Faith looks like a situation where you go like, you know, God has you in that situation and there's a 1% chance that this could work.
Faith says 1% is my 100%.
I'll take it because God is with me.
I think this, and this is what God is saying to us this morning prophetically.
For some of you, you're in a situation where you know it's God, but the odds seem to be against you and there's a 1% chance that things could work out.
Man, take your 1% and run with it.
Have you ever, have you ever, ever switched on a candle in a dark room?
It doesn't matter like if it's a dark room that's as big as a football field.
If it's switching on a candle, it lights up the room.
That's how, that's how faith works.
Is that all right?
Right, right, right.
Come on.
And also, it was a great example of her trust in, trust in the child's welfare and future to God alone.
Could it be that for some of us, and mind you, I'm preaching to myself in this too, and it's funny because Becky came and prayed for me.
She says, by the way, the sermon you're preaching today, you're also preaching to yourself.
I'm like, wow.
Well, I'll take that.
Thank you.
But here's the thing.
Could it be that the path you find yourself on, that God has led you on, could it be that God is just putting you in a place where you get to trust him and him alone?
I'm just going to submit that to you.
You can think about that.
Anyway, so she took care of him.
That's Moses' mother.
Now, waterproof the basket and strategically forward it down the river.
Now, the interesting thing about this passage is that the word for papyrus basket is only used in this instance and one other instance in the Bible.
And the other instance in the Bible where it's used is actually Noah's Ark.
And last time I checked, Noah's Ark was used to preserve life.
So I'm convinced that the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us something in this case.
I'm convinced that what the enemy meant as a scheme for Moses to perish, God decided not I will use this for preservation.
What the enemy had as a strategy for devastation in your life, in this season, God will use as deliverance.
I want you to just receive that.
Like, God is doing a work of deliverance in this season by literally using strategies like that.
If I could tell you the number of times where, and these are a lot of conversations I have with Pastor Dave where I look at moments where I'm like, God, what was going, what is going on?
This makes no sense in everything.
Like, spending two, three years ago, then I now look back and, oh my God, I was so protected.
So look, all this to say, I feel like the Lord wants to let a lot of you know this morning that some of you have literally written off your lives and just gone like, you know what, it's over.
It's over.
It's done.
But literally from this passage, we can see that God was actually just getting started.
So I feel like I just need to prophesy over you and just say, where you feel like it's game over, God is saying it's game starting.
He's just blowing the whistle.
He's going, let's go.
Let's go.
If you've ever received a text or encouraged from me, you'll get a lot of, let's go.
It's prophetic.
Like, then we'll continue on and we'll read from verses 6 to 10.
I'll reiterate those again.
So when the princess opened it, that's the basket, so Moses was in there.
The little boy was crying and felt sorry for him.
This must be one of the Hebrew children.
Then the baby's sister approached the princess and asked, should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?
She asked.
Yes, do, the princess replied.
So the girl went and called the baby's mother, take this baby and nurse him for me.
The princess told the baby's mother, I will pay you for your help.
So the woman took her baby home and nursed her.
Later onwards, the boy was older.
The mother took him back to Pharaoh's daughter who adopted him as her own son.
The princess named him Moses, which means he was lifted out of the water.
Here's the thing, because there's things we need to make sense of in this passage, because Pharaoh's daughter, if you really, really, really think about it, Pharaoh's daughter, like the princess, the Pharaoh is literally her dad.
So to me, it makes sense that she would be on the same side as her dad.
She would be conditioned by a culture and upbringing to reject the Hebrews, because they're going to take over.
That's the narrative that's running.
And yet, Scripture tells us that the cry of baby Moses melted her heart to the point where she couldn't even snitch.
She didn't even snitch.
If you don't know what snitching is, it's just telling on another person.
Or even finish the job yourself and go, you know what?
You're in a basket, but I'm just going to tip you over.
And it's game over.
She didn't do that.
And that is a miracle in itself.
You see, I've got a little niece.
I love this story.
I just have to share it.
I've got a little niece.
Her name is Tandi.
And end of last year, I took her out together with the parents to Museum of Play in Sandringham.
Finished all the day's activities.
We get to the shop.
So she's at that tender age where they're teaching their lessons about discipline and restrictions.
You can have everything you want, you know.
So I get to the bookshop and she gets told, dude, you can only get one toy.
She grabs one, comes to the counter, good.
But she's fighting for another one.
And they're like, no, you can't do that.
Just pick one which you like and everything.
Then she runs back, much against the parents, picks one, comes to me, comes right here, holds on to my leg, just looks at me like the cute little eyes.
And at that moment, I'm looking at the parents.
I'm like, I'm sorry, guys.
We're getting the second toy, you know.
I know it's hilarious, but I can imagine this is what happened to this princess in this situation, which is so Moses.
She's mesmerized by this kid.
But look, all this to say that, think about it.
Is this not God using the enemy to his advantage?
I feel like God wants to let us know this morning, you know, on an individual level as a church going into 2025, that God is going to take the attacks of the enemy, every assignment in the enemy, and literally use it to your advantage.
There is a reason why sometimes God does not stop certain things from happening.
I'm a strong believer of, hey, if God will not take it away, he will see me through.
If I go through any tough or difficult circumstance, I believe it will never be wasted.
My prayer, well, I had to learn the hard way, but my prayer has matured in that area to the point where I just go, Lord, if it's not going to go away, let it be for your glory, and may I get something out of this.
And I believe for us, guys, in 2025, we are coming out with something out of this.
You may not even know what you're going to get out of your situation, but you're going to get Jesus, and that's enough, because he is enough, right?
Come on, if you believe Jesus is enough, would you give him a shout of praise?
What the enemy meant for evil, God is using for your good in the season.
And if you want scripture for that, it puts it this way.
Even regarding the princess, it says, I love this passage, Proverbs 21 verse 1, it says,
The king's heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord.
He guides it wherever he pleases.
God can do anything with anyone.
Even if they're not saved, he can use it.
I don't know about you, I'd be dancing at that, because that just says, like, we're at such an advantage in life.
Joseph puts it this way in Genesis 50 verse 20, he says,
You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for my good.
You brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many.
Joseph doesn't even know he was prophesying to Moses, who was to come generations later.
So anyway, continue on.
Pharaoh's daughter then adopts Moses, you know, which is interesting.
So all of a sudden, the script has flipped, and Moses is now part of the royal family.
Things have changed over years, drastically though.
So ancient Jewish historian called Josephus, literally, so this is just Jewish history,
so actually wrote that Moses was heir to the throne of Egypt.
And while a young man, he would have led armies in Egypt in victorious peril against the Ethiopians.
I think God just hacked into his system and just going like, you know what, I'm going to teach you things that you never thought you'd learn.
So one of the first things we see now that Moses has been adopted is that Moses starts to get a free education.
He was raised in both science and learning in Egypt.
Acts 7.22 actually says this.
It says, Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deed.
And at this point, you have to realize that Egypt was one of the most academic and scientific societies amongst ancient cultures in that day.
Because I believe, there's a university of Alexandria and there's a world-famous library that actually belongs to Egypt over there.
This is the time they gain dominance.
So it is reasonable to think that Moses was instructed in geography, history, grammar, writing, literature, philosophy, and music.
He's in the enemy's camp.
Moses gets acquainted with the ways of royalty and leadership.
That's the other thing that's now happening.
He's letting royal protocol and courtesy.
Now, what we have to understand is that with the protocol and courtesy, especially on a royal level,
there is certain rooms you almost could never enter if you don't understand how that works.
Or if you enter, you never stay there because you don't understand how that works.
I'll give you an example.
So I did a bit of homework and researched royal courtesy, like with the royal family.
And there is greeting courtesies.
Like when meeting the queen, you say, your majesty.
That's actually a requirement.
You don't get to talk how you want to, you know.
Men can bow their heads.
You can shake hands.
Women do what's called a curtsy.
I don't know if I'm reading this well.
So it's sort of like a handshake bow type thing and everything.
And this is all stuff that's meant to gain you favor.
You know, in addressing the royal family, it's little things like stand when the queen enters the room.
Don't turn your back towards the queen.
Don't touch or invade their personal space.
It's all of this stuff.
God is up to something.
He's setting him up.
But then also at the same time, it's reasonable to assume that, it's not even an assumption, scripture, that Moses loved, still loved God in the process.
Because we know for a fact his mother was a believer and she raised him until he was of age, then shipped him over to the princess, right?
I strongly believe that the enemy's biggest mistake was touching Moses because he actually put Moses at an advantage.
And I believe that the word for us in the season is that, let me read it out.
It's a good thing I wrote it down.
The planes of adversity will be your training ground.
The planes of adversity will be your training ground.
Where you actually think that, oh my God, it's assault after assault after assault.
God is going, oh, it's training and preparation and training and preparation and training and preparation.
There is actually, you know, this is not even notes, but there's a word that got spoken over this location.
And it was that we were going from being a hospital to being in army barracks.
There you go.
Because army barracks, at some point, they're going to have to get rough and be trained in military tactics so that they can actually get things done.
You know?
So I believe that there's such a setup in the season for us.
Scripture puts it this way.
It says, Romans 8, 28 says,
And we know that God causes everything to work for the good of those who love God and according to His purposes.
Jeremiah 29, 11 says,
For I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord.
There are plans for good and not for disaster.
To give you a future and a hope.
Isaiah 54, 17 says,
I believe this is such a word for a lot of people in this season regarding places where you are, where you're going.
Like, this makes no sense.
God is saying it makes perfect sense.
Because the enemy, the devil, is just a pawn on God's big chess board.
Not chase board.
Chess board.
And it's getting played to advantage.
Opposition will empower you.
I'm just going to share a bit of a story that actually highlights someone went through serious opposition.
But it's turned out to be actually empowerment in their lives.
And I'm going to do this as the band actually comes up.
So you may have heard of her.
You might not have heard of her.
But her name is actually Malala.
And she's a Pakistani educational activist.
Whose life weirdly resembles a bit of Moses in how it's been structured.
So this is an autobiography.
So I'm just going to read it out as she wrote it.
I was born in Mangora, Pakistan, on July 12, 1997.
Welcoming a baby girl is not always cause of celebration in Pakistan.
But my father, Zodin, was determined to give me every opportunity a boy would have.
In 2008, my father was a teacher and ran a girls' school in our village.
I love school.
But everything changed when the Taliban took control of our town in Swat Fali.
The extremists banned many things.
Like owning a TV, playing music, enforced harsh punishments for those who defied their orders.
They said girls could no longer go to school.
All of a sudden, I feel spiritual.
I love the keys.
It's all good.
In January 2008, when I was just 11 years old, I said goodbye to my classmates, not knowing when, if ever, I would see them again.
In 2012, I spoke out publicly on behalf of girls and our right to learn.
This made me a target.
In October 2012, on my way home from school, a masked gunman boarded my school bus and asked,
Who is Malala?
He shot me on the left side of my head.
I woke up 10 days later in a hospital in Birmingham, England.
And the doctors and nurses told me about the attack and that people around the world were praying for my recovery.
2014, after months of surgeries and rehab, I joined my family in our new home in the UK.
It was then I knew I had a choice.
I could live a quiet life or I could make the most of this new life.
Just hold on to make the most of this new life that I'd been given.
And I determined to continue my fight until every girl could go to school.
My father, who has always been my ally and inspiration, with my father who has always been my ally and inspiration,
I established Malala Fund, a charity dedicated to giving every girl an opportunity to achieve a future she chooses.
In recognition of our work, I received a Nobel Peace Prize in December 2014 and became the youngest ever Nobel laureate.
For being absolutely oppressed to win a Nobel Prize for changing the issue of girls' education around the world.
I'm telling you, you may be in a season of oppression where things are happening.
Or maybe it's not even your whole life.
There may be a section in your life where you're looking at it and going like, this is not right and everything.
But I'm telling you, God is going to use it for your advancements.
It is possible.
Opposition will empower you when you submit it to God.
So quite clearly, opposition became the catalyst that surged Malala forward into a destiny.
And here's what scripture has to say about dealing with opposition.
It says, this is James 1, verse 2 to 6.
It says,
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
I'm pretty sure somebody in this service talked about joy this morning when they're hosting.
For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
So, let it grow.
For when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
I'm telling you, God is setting us up to grow.
And James goes on to say this,
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God and He will give it to you.
He will not rebuke you for asking, but when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.
Moses' mom, let's start there.
Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.
You know what?
I believe this morning that God wants to do a couple of things.
I believe that God wants to give great joy to people going through situations.
Because Scripture tells us that the joy of the Lord will be your strength.
But then at the same time, according to the book of James, I believe God also wants to give us wisdom.
So, this is what we are going to do.
We're going to reopen the altars again.
I'm going to ask the prayer teams, prayer leaders, everybody to come forward.
And if you fall in any one of these categories where you're just going like, you know what?
I'm walking through some stuff right now, but I need strength.
Come and receive strength through prayer.
Let them anoint you with oil.
Let them pray over you and watch the Lord move in your life.
Or maybe you're in a situation, but you need wisdom.
Wisdom that comes from God.
Come forward.
Let us pray with you.
And I believe as we stand in faith together, God will give you prophetic wisdom as to what He is doing with you and how to move forward.
How about we do that? (And what not)
