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When I attended Carleton college in Northfield I participated in Intervarsity. Its a

Christian fellowship group. One weekend we went on a Friday/Saturday retreat. On Friday
night we were asked to do something spiritual for 30 minutes. I went into a room by myself. I
really wasnt sure what I was going to do. I had my Bible with me, so I decided to read as much
of the book of Exodus as I could in thirty minutes. I knew the story, but when we read the Bible
(even if its a story weve read many times) we often learn something new. When I got to the
15
th
chapter I practically fell off my chair. I fell off my chair because I came across these two
verses.
SLIDE
Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you
today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for
you, and you have only to keep still. Exodus 14:13-14

I dont know where I was in my thirty minutes when I came across these verses. But for
the rest of my time I read them over and over. I memorized them. These two verses can change
our lives. They are so meaningful to me that I had them put on this prayer card to share with
you. Take this card and put it in your billfold or in your purse. If you enjoy memorizing
Scripture, spend some time memorizing them. Look at the last part, The Lord will fight for
you, and you have only to keep still.
Another way to put this is on our journey God always has our best interests at heart. Our
taskon our journeyas disciples is to trust.
Today Im continuing a sermon series called Disciples on a journey. The AIM of this
series is to look at journey stories in the Bible and see how they can help us go deeper into our
identity at Chain of Lakes.
Our congregation is on a journey to our new home on Davenport. If all goes well we will
worship here at Roosevelt Middle School for nine Sundays. Today is week three. This poster
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shares how were getting closer on our journey to being at our new home on Davenport. We
have great faith that we will start worship there on Sunday, November 2.
This time at Roosevelt is an in-between time. This space is an in-between space.
We have a choice about how we approach this in-between time.
One choice we could make is to tell ourselves that since were only going to be here for
nine weeks, well go into cruise control. Our gear will be neutral. Well rev it up when we go to
our new home on Davenport.
Another choice is to see these nine weeks as an opportunity to go deeper. This might not
be a growth season for us in new visitors. However we can grow in another way. We can go
deeper into our sense of who we are as a community called Chain of Lakes. We can develop
even more clarity about our purpose, our values, and our vision.
This is an important choice. Every one of us is making this choice. Are we go into
neutral or are we going to go deeper.
I would love it in the future when we look back at these nine weeks well say, you know
I really enjoyed that time. Not because of Roosevelt Middle School, but because we went deeper
into understanding who we are as a community called Chain of Lakes.
So far in this journey series weve looked at choicewe dont always get to choose our
journeys, but God always helps us. And weve looked at adventure. One of the qualities of God
is adventure. God calls us as individuals and communities to go on adventures.
Today the theme is trust.
To help us go deeper you have a Next Step card in your bulletin. Im going to share three
ways that we can go deeper in trust. I encourage you to have this out. You have your prayer
card. Please carry it with you.
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SLIDE The main question Im addressing is thiswhat do we do when we hit a crisis
on our journey?
I wish I could stand up here and promise that we will never hit a crisis. Well never have
a bad health diagnosis, or a partner will leave us. Well never get fired from a job. Well never
hit a point in the life of the church that causes us deep worry, or even panic.
We can do a lot of things to prevent ourselves from hitting a crisis. But at some point
well probably find ourselves there.
What do we do in a crisis? Go back to our prayer card:
SLIDE Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will
accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The
Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still. Exodus 14:13-14

Lets go deeper into what had led up to this verse.
Moses was the man who shared these words. God had asked Moses to lead a group of
people called the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.
Many of us know this story because we watched the movie the Ten Commandments.
How many of us have seen the 10 Commandments?
SLIDE Charlton Heston was Moses. Cecille B De Mille was the director. Adjusted for
inflation the box office version of the Ten Commandments grossed the 7
th
most of any move
every produced. It took the special affects directors six months to produce the parting of the Red
Sea.
The move was based on the story. Moses was called by God to release the Israelites from
Pharaoh. God performed ten plagues to influence Pharaoh. Water was turned to blood. Frogs,
gnats, and flies overtook Egypt. Livestock got sick and boils infected the people. Thunder and
hail frightened everyone then the locusts took over. Darkness hit the land. The final straw was
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when the first-born son of every Egyptian family was killed. The angel of death was sent to do
this. The Israelites put blood on their doorposts, so the angel of death passed over.
This last plague was the one that convinced Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave Egypt.
Six hundred thousand people hurriedly left. They didnt even have time to bake bread
with flour. They took unleavened bread.
However after they left, Pharaoh changed his mind. He wanted the Israelites back. He
sent 600 Egyptians chariots after them. The Israelites saw the chariots and tried to flee. All of a
sudden they found themselves in a bad place with no options. This is where they were:
SLIDE map They were facing the Red Sea (the sea that we know of as the
Mediterranean on one side) And 600 chariots on the other side. They were in a corner.
I have a counselor who is a friend of mine who invented a term that he called lizard brain.
Lizard brain is a place we can find ourselves when we are under extreme pressure. Its a place
where we dont think that we have any options. Our ability to be flexible and to try to plan our
lives is almost impossible. When we are in lizard brain our natural tendency is to lash out.
SLIDE Lizards (picture here).
The Israelites were in lizard brain. They turned on Moses.
SLIDE [The Israelites] said to Moses, Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that
you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of
Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, Let us alone and let us serve the
Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the
wilderness. Exodus 14:11-12

Crisis/Lizard Brain.
In each sermon Im sharing three next steps for going deeper. Many of the next steps are
reflection questions. This is the first next step.
SLIDE Name a time when you hit a crisisa time when you believed you had no
options.
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Its easy when we are in this place to lash out at God. We wonder what is God doing to
us? Why has God brought us to this place.
Part of going deeper in our faith is to understand that God doesnt cause our pain. Even
when we have great fear and our natural tendency is to lash out, we can still trust.
This takes time to develop.
An important step for us in going deeper is to be honest with ourselves about our own
trust of God.
The next step I would like us to take is this:
SLIDE On a scale of 1 to 5 with five being the highest, how deeply do you believe that
God has your best interest at heart?

Sometimes when we find ourselves in this place all we can do is rely on God.
Our faith community Chain of Lakes Church experienced a crisis this summer.
In the middle of June Gary Long and I received an E-mail sharing with us that Da Vinci
Academy was not going to rent space to us anymore. Its not often that a congregation finds
itself homeless. We were going to go from Da Vinci to Northpoint Elementary for Sundaes on
Wednesday. When Wednesdays were done we were going to come back to Da Vinci. But all of
a sudden we were homeless. We had hit a crisis.
We could have gone into lizard brain. We could have lashed out at God or even each
other.
Instead we pulled together.
We looked for a facility, but God has done something even greater. God has shown us
what God can do through us. Every time weve come to a place where we were unsure what we
were going to do, God has surprised us.
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We never could have imagined that somehow we would be led to our new home on
Davenport. Yay, God!
We never could have imagined that the Church Development Team of the Presbytery
would increase their funding for us. Do you know how often a Presbytery committee increases
their funding? Yay, God!
We never could have imagined that just when we needed it that Roosevelt Middle
Schoolour temporary facilitywould come available just at the right time. We didnt even
know we could use this space until the middle of August. Yay, God!
We never could have imagined that the Blaine Planning Commission would pass by our
Conditional Use Permit with hardly a question being asked. Yay, God!
Just this week we were wrestling with the landlord about a two year contract or a three
year contract. All of a sudden we worked out a compromise with the Realtor. Yay, God!
Even though weve found a facility our journey this summer has not been a facility
search. God has taken us on a faith journey.
Its so easy to be in lizard brain. This is where the Israelites were. At this point its very
easy to question whether God really has our best interests in our heart. We wonder if God is
really on our side.

This leads me back to our two verses of the day.
SLIDE Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will
accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The
Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still. Exodus 14:13-14

Part of learning to trust is realizing that often there is really nothing we can do. God is in
control.
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God was in control of this situation. An angel had been leading the leading the people. .
A pillar of cloud was in front of them. All of a sudden this pillar of cloud moved from being in
front of the Israelites to in back of the Israelites. All of a sudden there was this cloud between
the Israelites and the Egyptians.
The Egyptians stopped from going forward. They couldnt see.
Then Moses lifted his hands and the Red Seawhich we know as the Mediterranean,
was divided. A pathway for the Israelites was cleared. When the Egyptians went forward their
chariots got clogged. Moses lifted his hands and the Red Sea came upon them. The Israelites
escaped.
Some people have asked the question whether this story is historically true. I think its a
good question, but its not the right question. We can debate this storys history, but I dont
think well be satisfied because its a hard question to answer either way.
The question I have when I come across these miracle stories is, could it happen?
Could God do this? My answer is of course. Yes.
Which leads me to the final pointtrust.
Sometimes we just have to step back and trust that God is working.
Chris Audet recently joined our worship team. At our last worship meeting I asked the
group if anyone had a story they could share about trusting God. Chris said that he did. This
week Dave Nyberg filmed part of Chris story.
Take a listen.
Chris was at a crisis; the Israelites were at a crisis; we found ourselves at a crisis.
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When we find ourselves at a crisis whats important is not to turn away from God. Dont
go into lizard brain. Instead let go so that God can work. Even when we cant do anything we
have to trust that God can do anything.
Step 3 When has God done something for you that you could have never imagined?
How does that help you trust God?

One of the reason we started this church is we want to help people grow in their trust of
God. We know that many people find themselves in crisis. As a church we can help prevent
them from going into lizard brain and go deeper into God. We can share with people the story
Chris shared; we can share the story of the Israelites. This is Gods story. This is a story that we
want everyone in the community to know.
This past Thursday our Steering Committee met. We have a terrific Steering Committee.
One of the things we did was ask the Outreach team to start planning for when we start at our
new home on Davenport. Well probably have a soft launch in November when we invite our
friends. Then were looking to have a big Grand Opening on the first Sunday in December. We
are going to go all out to have a packed house with lots of new visitors. We can do that.
This past week I was over at the Davenport Facility. When I was there the Realtor asked
what I was thinking. We were trying to figure out where to put offices. I said I was thinking
about our Grand Opening with a packed house and lots of new visitors.
What Im imagining is telling the story of God. How we can trust Godeven when we
hit a (Red Sea moment). Because God can do things in our life that far surpass our
understanding.