etting free is half the battle, staying free is the other half. One of the first steps of staying free is to "mark the date" of when we got free. Then we can regularly remind ourselves and others of the victory God has already brought us, which then helps us to trust Him again and again to keep us free, too. (Message: Eric Elder; Music: "Come, Now Is The Time To Worship" written by Brian Doerksen and led by Eric Elder; Running time: 24:49)

Lesson 11 - Mark The Date

Watch The Video

Read The Transcript

ERIC: Hi, this is Eric Elder; welcome to The Ranch.

Tonight we're going to take a look at how to stay free.

We've spent a good amount of time looking at how people get free and some of the lessons that the Israelites and Moses learned. But this next section, this next part that we're going to look at, the next ten lessons or so, are going to be focused on how to stay free. Because we'll find, as you probably already know in life, that getting free is just part of that. Staying free is another big part of it as well. But God gives us some great clues on how to stay free, and we're going to look at those tonight and some lessons from Exodus.

Before we do that, I want to spend just a little time just worshipping God and just singing, Come, Now is the Time to Worship. So if you want to sing along with us wherever you're watching this, just spend some time with the Lord, close your eyes, and just sing out in your heart or sing out loud if you can and join us in singing, Come, Now is the Time to Worship.

(Worship song.)

All right. Let's take a look at Exodus Chapter 13, if you want to open your Bibles and we'll read it in the room and we're going to read Verses 1 through 16. Chapter 13, Verses 1 through 16. If you want to read two or three verses and we'll go around the room here.

PAUL: 1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal." 3 Then Moses said to the people, "Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the LORD brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast.

ERIC: Someone else?

ROB: 4 Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving. 5 When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites-the land he swore to your forefathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey-you are to observe this ceremony in this month: 6 For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the LORD . 7 Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. 8 On that day tell your son, 'I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.' 9 This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For the LORD brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand. 10 You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year.

ERIC: Someone else?

DALE: 11 "After the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your forefathers, 12 you are to give over to the LORD the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the LORD . 13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.

ERIC: Someone else?

PAUL: 14 "In days to come, when your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' say to him, 'With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in Egypt, both man and animal. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.' 16 And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the LORD brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand."

ERIC: So here we have the Israelites and they've just come out of Egypt. They've come with all the stuff of the Egyptians in their hands and they're leaving. And the Lord tells Moses this and he tells the people to consecrate all the firstborn, and He says to do this year after year.

The lesson for me out of this, is that God wants us to remember the great things that He's done. And not only does He want us to remember, but this is a key part of staying free. Because we'll find over the next few chapters that the Israelites are going to face a lot of trouble. They're going to face trouble from Pharaoh; he's going to come after them again. They're going to face trouble from each other. They're going to be grumbling against Moses and against each other. They're going to face trouble from the Amalekites and have to go into battle against them. And God I believe wants to institute something among them to help them to remember that He delivered them once and He will continue to deliver them. He will continue to keep them free.

But our part in it is to remember what He's done already. There's a saying that the pastor told us at our wedding, and he said "Rebellion against God doesn't start with a clenched fist, it starts with a heart that refuses to give thanks." Rebellion against God doesn't start with a clenched fist. It's not somebody just out there pounding their fist against God. It starts when your heart refuses to give thanks. As long as your heart can continue to give thanks for the things that God has done and continue to remember what God has done, that will go a long way in helping us to stay free.

If you look back in here, there are at least three occasions that He says that He wants them to do this. He wants them to consecrate their firstborn. He wants them to make this sacrifice of their animals, the firstborn of all their flocks and even the firstborn of all the people. God says I want you to make a sacrifice of that first one to me and then don't kill them, you can sacrifice a lamb in its place of the firstborn.

But why does He say we should do this? Why were the Israelites to do this year after year? Why were they to make this sacrifice?

DALE: Verse 3 it says "Remember this day."

ERIC: To remember this day. And what happened on that day?

DALE: When she came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage whereby the strength of the hand of the Lord brought you out.

ERIC: Right. And again in Verse 9, it says this observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead. God wants them to remember something that would be so visible. Like the ring on your finger reminds you that you're married and you don't do things against your wife when you got that ring on your finger, you're married. And a sign on your forehead that says God has delivered me, you are set free.

And again it says in Verse 16 and it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with His mighty hand. We're to tell our children this. We're to tell our friends about this. We're to talk about and remember what God has done in our lives. I think for us as Christians sometimes we just forget to talk about it. We forget to tell our kids and those around us, the exact things, the specific things that God has done for us. And then we wonder why we go back into bondage. We wonder why we start losing our freedom. And it's because we're not reminding ourselves often times that God has set us free.

Do you guys have any reminders or special days of the year that come to your mind when God has done something for you and every year at that same time it comes back to your mind and you remember it?

DALE: March 8th.

ERIC: March 8th?

DALE: That was the day I was saved, March 8th.

ERIC: When March 8th comes around –

DALE: It's like a birthday; it is a birthday.

ERIC: It's a new birth, isn't it? Do you other guys have a –

ROB: June 5th would be the day that I was saved. Just turned 10.

ERIC: Just turned 10; you're looking good for 10, very mature 10 year old. Do you guys do anything to celebrate those days?

ROB: Pretty much like my other birthday. I make sure I tell my kids today's daddy's birthday. It's not your birthday until November. No, this is my re-birthday. I don't get cake and ice cream or anything.

ERIC: No cake or ice cream, but it's a good chance to tell the people around you what God has done. Some people don't remember an exact date that they were saved but they know other dates that are significant for them, dates when God has come through. I know the day that God called me into the ministry, February 14th. Every year that comes around and it's like a reminder to me about what God has done for me already.

I think it's a good thing for us to remember these days that God does something for us. It's probably a good idea to even consciously set aside a day to remember God and what He's done. Maybe He's brought you through a miraculous healing, or maybe it was the day you were married and that was an answer to prayer, or the day that God did something for you or your family or came through.

Well, the Israelites were asked to sacrifice the firstborn, to remember the firstborn that died in Egypt. I think it's worth our while to remember those things that God has already done for us, and that will make a huge difference helping to set us free. I know another date for me is the day that I was saved, February 9th. And it seems like every year around that time God does some miraculous thing. I mentioned that He had called me into ministry on February 14th. He's done other things throughout the years and it seems like every year around that time I will see God do something incredible. And I don't know if it's more because I'm aware of His presence because I am so remembering what He's done in the past, or if there is really something happening on those days. Either way, I'm glad for it.

ROB: You're learning to expect it.

ERIC: That's true.

ROB: February 9, 1999 my second child was born and he didn't breathe for a few minutes. And I was just praying that he came out and it was the quickest answer to prayer I've ever had because within three minutes he was breathing and he's fine today.

ERIC: That's a day to remember.

ROB: Longest three minutes of my life.

ERIC: I know when I pray for my son and I will sometimes just put my hand on his heart, he'll be laying in bed and laying on his back, I'll just put my hand on his heart and feel his heart beat. Because the doctors said that he was dead in the womb when he was -- shortly after he was conceived. And so tests indicated that the child had died or the test was wrong, and we continued to pray and really fought in our faith for what God was going to do. And they did an internal ultrasound and I remember walking in with my wife. She went into ultrasound and I was sitting out in the lobby, and the nurse came up to the door and called me in and said, Eric, would you come in here. And I walked in, I looked over at Lana there on the hospital table, and she was just crying and crying, just tears going down her face. I just thought oh, no, the baby's dead. And then the nurse pointed to the screen and she said do you see that little dot there, you see how it's beating? That's your baby's heartbeat. And I realized Lana was crying for joy because the baby was alive.

And so now when I pray for my son, and he's 12 now, I'll put my hand on his heart and I'll just hear that heart beat going, and I just praise God for what He's able to do. But God's able to give any of us life. Of course, we've also had tragedies happen and miscarriages and we lost some children that way. And just recently a good friend of mine died, passed away, 36 years old, had a heart attack. And to go through that experience with his wife and his children for her sake as well as for mine, and the good friendship that we shared, I know that that day will come around again every year, too. And it will be a day that we have to remember a tragedy that's happened, like September 11th is a day that we remember and every year it comes around.

So there are going to be those days when tragedies happen. But there are also those days when we've seen God move so miraculously, so spectacularly, that we want to celebrate those days and remember what He's done.

So I guess my encouragement to you and to myself is to remember what God has done and set some time aside each year to remember God and think about what He's done. And that will be a huge, a huge step towards staying free as it will be for the Israelites as we see them go through year after year and now the Israelites celebrate and remember the Passover many thousands years later. It's a good time for us to remember what God has done.

I know there's some people that aren't that thrilled with Christmas. I personally love Christmas, but there are people that are -- and I understand they don't feel that that's the exact day of Christ's birth. They're not sure exactly whether it is or not, there is some question about it. But for me, I think it's great to just set aside a day of the year to honor the Lord who came into our lives. He came and set us free. And even Christmas can be a great reminder for us of God's goodness and a good day for us to remember that God really is there and really has come to set us free.

I'd like to take a little time to pray tonight, maybe a little more than usual, and just ask that God would be with us in this next phase of this study. Because getting free is really the exciting part. It's exciting to watch what God can do and how He can set us free, and how He can move in our lives. And people can get really excited about that, but that staying free part and maintaining freedom requires a lot of patience, a lot of diligence, and a lot of standing firm.

And so I want to take some time to pray tonight for us in the room as well as for those watching, that God would give us some extra power to stay free. Because it won't do us any good to get free and go right back into bondage. Staying free is just as critical.

So why don't we pray tonight and just ask God to help us to stay free.

Father, we just praise you for setting us free. We praise you for setting the Israelites free. God, I pray that you would help us in our coming days and weeks and months to keep our freedom, to stand firm with the things you're calling us to stand firm in. to do the hard work that it takes to stay free.

Lord, just as you spoke through Paul and Timothy, where Paul said to fight the good fight of faith, Lord, I pray that we would fight the good fight of faith. I pray we would stand firm in our beliefs, stand firm in what you've called us to do, stand firm even when the Pharaohs come back to us, when the Amalekites come in front of us, when the sea is before us, and we don't see any way out. God, help us to stand firm. Help us to remember you and what you've done for us.

Lord, I pray, too, for this time together and this study of the word of Exodus. Lord, this is a long haul, the life that we're living, and it's a long haul through this study. But, God, we want to be diligent to learn everything you teach us and everything you want us to know. Lord, we look forward to incredible things that you're going to do in our lives just like you did for the Israelites year after year, day after day, miraculous things, tremendous things.

I pray that we would look forward to those as we look back and remember the things you've done for us already. And, Lord, as we continue to pursue our own freedom, I pray you encourage us to reach and help set others free, too. Lord, help us look around and see the people around us who need you, who need your help, who need your hope, and help us to reach out to them to set them free.

Lord, we love you. We just thank you for the mighty works you've done. I pray that you would be with us tonight and tomorrow and the rest of week, the rest of year. Let us see you clearly. In Jesus' name, Amen.

All right, guys. We're not going to sing since we already sang, but we are going to have a time just to talk and pray. If there are some things that you're struggling with that you need to be set free from, this would be a good night to be set free and a good night to stay free. And so we're going to go off camera here and just share a few prayer requests; and if you're watching, and you have a few things that you're interested in sharing with someone or want someone to talk to, you can e-mail us or visit us in the chat room or discussion boards. And we're going to encourage you, too, and help you in staying free.

Thanks again for coming. Hope you'll join us again here at The Ranch.