[Aaron Dean] She was four years old. Her little body was quivering in the water near the shore. It wasn't because she was cold, because the water was actually warm. She was about to do something she had never done before. She didn't even know if she wanted to do it. She did, and she didn't. She laid back in my arms with her little life jacket, little Snoopy skis on her feet, tips at the mild water, her legs are pulled up tight to her chest, and the rope was in her hands. She was ready to try skiing.

The other end of the rope was the boats and her mother at the wheel. She knew her brother learned to ski at age four, so she probably expected it in some ways, but little tears of fear were forming in her eyes. I held her gently, lovingly in position. She was ready. I yelled, "Hit it." The engine engaged. The rope tightened. She started up. And as soon as she started up, she let go.

She hadn't fallen. She had simply let go. She repeated this about a dozen times. Finally, in her little voice, she said, "Daddy, how many times do I have to do this?" I could see in her little mind that she had been counting. She didn't want to disappoint me, but she thought if I just did this enough times, that'd be enough, and it'll be okay. Well, I didn't let her off that easy. And so I told her, I said, "Krystal, if you hold on and actually fall, then we can quit. But if you just keep letting go, we'll be out here all day."

How many times do we put something or something that's in front of us and we let go of the rope because we think we can't do it or because of fear? We all face daunting task in our lives at different points by the time we're young until the time we die. And we don't think we can handle it. Do we simply let go of the rope, or do we have the faith that the one who's guiding us knows what we're doing, what we can and what we can't do, in our lives?

Krystal didn't trust herself. She probably didn't trust me probably. But she probably wondered in her mind why was I making her do this. Why was it important? Now before you think I'm a big ogre trying to make her do this at 4 years old, it was actually a long time in coming. It wasn't just a momentary thing. I'd been preparing her for a couple of years for this moment.

She had learned to swim before she was age two. She was an accomplished swimmer for her age. She would jump off the diving board and run, she'd slide down the slide, fall into the water, play with her brother, falling harder than she would if she actually fell skiing since, at her weight, she would be skiing probably 5 miles an hour. It wasn't much she would have to do. But I taught her all these things. I bought a trampoline for them, and she jumped and learned to balance herself and do well with that.

And when it came to skiing, I had actually speed her on my skis. I'd put her, set her on my feet on a pair of double skis, and we'd ski around the lake. I held the rope down where she could actually hang onto the handle herself, and she could see the water coming at us, at that time, probably 20, 25 miles an hour, which we needed to get on the water with about 200 pounds.

I had let go of the rope several times so we would actually fall into the water. And she'd realize it really didn't hurt. For her to ski, she'd barely be out of neutral. The boat wouldn't be going that fast with her roughly 30 pounds of weight. But she didn't think she could do it. I had actually prepared her for what she was trying to do, but she didn't know that. She didn't realize the end goal I had for was to increase your self-esteem, for her to gain confidence in herself, to know she could do something that she didn't think she could do. She was ready but didn't know it.

I believe God works with us in that same way. After all, he's building a family. He wants us to be ready for the job He has in store for us. Christ said he was going to prepare a place for his disciples and for you and for me. And so we have to realize, when he called you, he has a purpose for you, and he's going to prepare you for what that is, whether you know what it is or not.

As we read the famous characters in the Bible, we can see God do things that they never imagined, that we would never imagine. We don't always know what He is doing, or why He is doing it. But he sets those events in our lives for us to do what He wants, for the short-term sometimes, sometimes for the long-term. We don't know.

Turn with me to Genesis 15. Let's recount a little bit of the story to see how God worked with men of old. There are hundreds of examples in the Bible of God working with people, people who didn't expect to do what they did. Genesis 15:12, we read about Abram, who became Abraham. Verse 12 says, "when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell on him. And He said to Abram, 'Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in the land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they serve I will judge: and afterwards, they shall come out with great substance.'"

Here's a prophecy. Four hundred years before it would happen, God was telling Abraham what would befall his descendants. At this point, he didn't even have a child, yet he was promised that he'd have multiple descendants, and they would actually go into slavery, be delivered.

It took a lot of incredible events to make this come to pass, to have this happen. The people that he put through these risks we're doing it for God's glory, and they didn't even know what was going to happen. And we look at our lives, we don't always know what God is going to do as well. Those involved at the time would only have a glimpse of what was to come without knowing who, the what, the where. You knew the when 400 years. God doesn't always explain everything in detail. He lets us play a part of it to prepare us, to set our mindset, to learn to trust him as we go through our lives.

So Abraham and Sarah, who waited decades to have a child, were told that their descendants will be slaves. In their mind, starting with one child, how could they see this happening. How could there be that many in 400 years? How would they become slaves given that Abraham was wealthy? God had blessed him. We all face daunting tasks in our lives from time to time. Are they random, or are they planned for a purpose? How do we handle these things as they come up in our lives?

Abraham had promises that would be unfulfilled for decades. He and Sarah were going to have massive descendants that God chose to give him that one child. Now he tried to fulfill that himself through God. And we all know when we try to fulfill God's will ourselves, it really screws things up.

And so he had Ishmael. To this day, there's still disagreements and problems with what that caused when we do things ourselves. We hear or we think we hear what God wants of us, and we decide how we're going to do it, but that's not generally how God works. God set up the events. And He gives a chance to prove to him to see how it's going to happen.

Chapter 22, if you turn there, verse 11, says, "The Angel the Lord called him out of heaven and said, 'Abraham, Abraham!’ and he said, 'Here am I.'" Verse 12, he said, "Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do that or anything unto him." Again, this is the sacrifice of Isaac. Probably the hardest thing and Abraham's life., have one child, promised this, and God asked you to sacrifice your son.

And what does God say, though, in verse 12? "For now I know that you fear God, that you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me. Now I know." Abraham was an old man. He had done so many things already over the last 40 years, waiting for those promises and seeing what's happening. Can God say that of you? As He put you through these things, He's wanting to see where you are. Can he say, "Now I know of you?"

God sets up those events, and he provided the sacrifice. He still led Abraham honor God, but not with Isaac, with the ram caught in the thicket. God decides how and when to make a way of escape. In 1 Corinthians 10:11, and hold your place in Genesis, we'll go back there, God decides what to do and when to do it when we prove him.

In 1 Corinthians 10:11 he says, "Now all these things happened to them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” Know that God is in charge. “There's no temptation taken to you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you're able, but will with the temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it."

Abraham's way of escape was God saying, "Stop, offer the ram in the thicket." He didn't have to sacrifice his son, but he was willing to obey and trust. Isaac then, Abraham and Sarah's only son, had two sons, this is not a big multiplication for descendants as the sand of the sea, Esau and Jacob. Isaac favored Esau, the hunter, masculine. Rachel favored Jacob. Shouldn't have happened. God saw something in Jacob. That was the one He was going to use to continue the promises.

But God had to teach Jacob a few things for Jacob to learn to trust God, and he was being prepared as well without even knowing it. He had bought the blessing from his brother Esau for a bowl of soup, took advantage of a situation. He had lied in collusion with his mother to take the blessing. And he had to flee because his brother wanted to kill him. God often works with what we do, whether right or wrong, to bring us where He wants us to go.

With Jacob, the promise of descendants began to grow. After all, he had 12 sons, through his two wives and their two handmaids. Wasn't a good situation. God wants one wife. Then once Jacob learned the lesson I suppose by the end, you reap what you sow. Because he was deceived into marrying Leah when he loved Rachel. The wife he really loved, Rachel, gave him Joseph and died in giving him Benjamin, the second son, the two that Jacob favored. Again, favoritism is not a good thing in a family, yet it happened. It breeds contempt. It causes problems. That's why God is not a respecter of persons, because it causes problems.

Yet in some ways, it would appear this favoritism led Jacob to give Joseph opportunities to stay close to him to probably do the accounting for the sheep, as a messenger to his brothers, and other things, and not simply just a shepherd out shepherding sheep. This gave a preparation that Joseph that God would use later.

Turn to Genesis 37, a few pages over, we learn of Joseph's dreams from God. God was working with him, but Joseph didn't really know how that would work out. These dreams made his brother, and even his father, rebuke him. Verse 2 of Genesis 37, it says, "These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.” They were doing things to the sheep and the land that they shouldn't have done.

Verse 3, "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age." Again, we're about 100 years past that 400-year prophecy, "And he made him a coat of many colors.” The famous thing we read about. Verse 4 of Genesis 37, "When his brethren saw their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him." The difficult situation of the family. "And Joseph dreamed a dream," verse 5, "and told it to his brethren: and they hated him” for it.

He said to them, "Hear, I pray, the dream." He talks about the sheaves, and the sheaves bowing down to his sheaf. “And his brethren said,” verse 8, “'Shall you indeed reign over us? Shall you have a dominion over us?’ And they hated him yet more for his dreams,” in some way, with these dreams, God, actually, in some ways, was fueling the contempt between his brothers and him. If they didn't hate him would they ever have sold him into slavery?

We hear in another dream, verse 9, told it to his brethren, and said, “'I've dreamed a dream more, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.’ And they told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, ‘What is this dream you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brethren indeed come to bow down before you to the earth?’"

It says “his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.” He took note of what was said. Joseph was being prepared, but for what? He didn't know, although his father made clear what the dream was, "The dream, as you're saying, we're going to bow down to you didn't necessarily make sense." Was it random?

So Joseph, because of this hatred, was sold into slavery, got taken to Egypt. They told his father he was dead. Was it random that Joseph was sold to Potiphar, one of the wealthy men in position in Egypt, where Joseph was training. His training his father had done. Joseph began taking care of all the Potiphar's things. And Potiphar saw it was all blessed, so he let him handle, run the books and do all those things.

But this wouldn't fulfill the dreams he had had. And what purpose did God have in sending him into slavery, to servitude? Yet all the while, Joseph did remember God. He didn't know why, but he didn't let go. Certainly, God was blessing him. And then suddenly, he found himself being lied about, and he's thrown in prison. You know the story of Potiphar's wife trying to seduce him, and him running away. So he was thrown in prison.

“Why didn't God reveal the truth?” he must have thought, so he could be spared? Certainly, God is fair. Why did this happen? In prison, again, God gave him favor that he basically ran the jail, although he was still in prison. Again, his skills were honed in a most unforgiving of circumstance, trying to run a prison with all these bad people in it. Many would give up on God. Again, Joseph didn't let go. Was he discouraged? I'm sure he was. It's difficult to go through something like that, to be lied about, to find yourself in servitude, in prison, yet he remembered the dreams he had.

Through the dreams of the butler or the baker, you read the story, he predicted the one would die, the other be restored. And they promised him when it came to pass, they would help him out. And they didn't. Joseph really didn't want to be in prison, even though he was kind of running it and had some privileges there. That's not where he wanted to be. And again, they didn't fulfill the promise they had made to him. It was bearable for him, but it wasn't fun. Most of our trials aren't fun, most of the situations we come into where we learn are not fun. All of us have been through things like that, some more than others.

But then Pharaoh had a strange dream, and none of the wise men can interpret it. Why did he have this dream? Obviously planned by God, Joseph didn't know he had had that, but the one who was restored remembered Joseph telling his dream. And so he tells Pharaoh that. And God, through Joseph, reveals to Pharaoh what his dream meant.

It wasn’t until this time that he could probably see a bit more of the hand of God in the dreams and the promises in the future that God had in store for him. Yet he had been prepared, training with his father's accounts, with Potiphar's, the prison. He had a sense of everyone in Egypt. Indeed, it was God who loved Joseph. Joseph who probably wondered in all these calamities, "What in the world is God doing. Why?"

Have you ever felt that way? I have. There were times in my life when I thought my career was over. Some ways I want it to be over so I could spend time with my wife. But God knows what He has in store for you. Mr. Armstrong often would ask why the certain events in the church when they weren't going well. Just as all of us too. We don't always know. We just have to have faith that God is doing something, preparing us for something, that He is working out.

Turn to Genesis 50. It wasn't until God brought the famine on the Earth that the dreams of Joseph will begin to come true. Verse 18, this is after they've come down and gotten grain and gone back, and Joseph put their money in the bag, and then they were going to be accused of stealing, and they were set up by Joseph in a sense. Verse 18, the dream comes true, “And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, ‘Behold, we are your servants.’"

Verse 19, "Joseph said to them, 'Fear not: for I am in the place of God?’” They were afraid. They thought he was going to kill them. Hey, they knew he wouldn't like what they did to him. They never expected this. Even later on, we see they thought he was just keeping them alive until his father died, and then he was going to kill them then. They did fear, even though he said fear not. Our own foibles and our own paranoia often plague us. But he knew that wasn't what it was for.

The next verse, I probably read and said to myself more than anything, other verse in the Bible, when he says in verse 20, "But as for you, you thought evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." Some things that happened bad are to help others. Maybe it's just to be able to have empathy and relate to a story.

But what about the slavery in the 400-year prophecy Abraham had? Verse 21, Genesis 50, says, "Therefore fear not: I will nourish you, your little ones. And he comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.” We know that Pharaoh gave them the land of Goshen, the richest part the Delta, to take care of their sheep and stuff. The people of Israel had to feel good at this point. They were given the best land. Their brother was in control, all the commerce of Egypt. Life was good, very good. Yet the prophecy in Genesis 15:13 made now about 200 years before, how could it happen? Joseph, with the wealth. But then came the slavery.

They multiplied, as God had said, had promised Abraham. They become so numerous that the Egyptians were scared, with new Pharaoh that rose that didn't know Joseph. So those who were once favored are now cursed. The prophecy was coming to pass. The wealthiest and the most powerful nation in the world would dominate their lives even to the point of killing their babies. And they lived in servitude. How would they be delivered from all of this? Again, God was in charge as always, without giving anyone the details, but He was doing and preparing for what was to come.

God speaks of knowing us “from the womb.” In Isaiah, He says that, in Isaiah 49, he says it twice to Isaiah, where says, "The Lord has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother.” And “He called me from the womb to be a servant." Jeremiah 1:4, Jeremiah says the same thing. God says, "Before you, I formed you in the belly I knew you; before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, I ordained you to be a prophet to the nations."

Jeremiah responds with, "Lord God! Behold, I can't speak: I'm just a child." Most of the men of God are standing back saying, "Wait a minute." Like many, Jeremiah didn't have high aspirations for himself. He didn't want to. I suppose in an evil world, an evil generation, if you're going to stand for God, you're going to know you're going to be mocked. It's going to be difficult. But God prepares you. He helps you. He knows what you need. God doesn't do things randomly. And if God knows you and calls you, He's going to put you through training and a purpose that He has in mind, whenever that is. When did He start? It didn't start with Krystal shivering the water just in an instant ready to ski.

Let's continue with Israel’s story, Exodus 2. If you'd turn there. Do you really think Moses was some random baby? Hey, I have a bunch of babies, let's pick this one. But the timing was right for the 400-year prophecy. In verse 1 of Exodus 2, we read of the birth of Moses. "There went a man from the house of Levi, and took a wife of the daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months." He was a goodly child. He was a beautiful child. That’s the word there in Hebrew.

God even seemed to be involved in what Moses looked like. In reading about the beauty of Moses, a Ph.D. named Jared Callaway, he's in Columbia University, a writing assistant from Illinois College, he's taught at Mississippi University, Illinois, Wesleyan, Columbia University, his research focuses on the New Testament emergent Christians interaction with ancient Judaism in their Greco-Roman and ancient Near Eastern environments. So this is his credentials

He writes this. "During my pursuit of ancient quirks, I want to discuss the strange 1st-century interest in Moses' beauty. I've discussed it, as in Hebrews 11 and Act 7, in Philo of Alexandria's recounting, and now, the other prominent first-century Jewish writer, Josephus. Josephus picks up on this broader first-century promotion this fine physique of Moses, but there are some major alterations, dislocations, and expansions.”

“To briefly recap, previous traditions directly relate to Moses's beauty at birth as the reason why his parents, particularly his mother, decided to save him from infanticide. Although Acts 7:20 merely notes that Moses at birth was ‘beautiful before God.' Hebrews 11:23 reasons that ‘By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid for three months by his parents, because they saw the child was beautiful.’" Hebrews 11:23.

“Both built on the reasoning found in Exodus 2:2, seeing that Moses was beautiful, they shelter to cover him for three months." Philo readily exploits the rendering of Moses as beautiful. He uses it exegetically to explain why his parents saved him and other parents didn't do that, and why pharaoh's daughter took an instant liking to him.” It all came down to his appearance. It would appear that God made Moses a beautiful baby. And again, if you were going to be raised by Pharaoh's daughter, you'd probably want to see a beautiful baby. I mean, if a basket had a baby in it that was really ugly, would the Pharaoh's daughter want to take care of that? Probably not.

So God seemed to have a point in that, to make him beautiful. It was a time when God was working something out, kind of like the book of Esther. I'm sure Esther was beautiful, too, when the king took her to his wife. And God says, you read in Esther that “perhaps you've come to the throne for a time such as this to save the Jewish people.”

“In Exodus 2:3,” he continues, "when she could no longer hide him, she took him for an ark of bulrushes, daubed it with slime and pitch, and put the child therein; and laid it in the flags by the rivers brink." Verse 4, "His sister stood afar off to see what would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; her maidens walked along by the river’s side; when she saw the ark come on the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. When she opened it, she saw the child: behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, 'This is one of the Hebrews' children.' Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, 'Shall I find a nurse of the Hebrew woman to nurse the child?’" The Pharaoh's daughter said, "Yes." She went and got Moses mother to nursemaid for him."

Verse 10 Exodus 2, "As the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and said, 'Because I drew him out of the water.’" meaning of Moses. God not only saved Moses but he was preparing him for the largest organized population movement in the history of mankind.

What was his preparation? We read in Acts 7:22, again, keep your hand where you were probably. Acts 7:22, it says, "Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds." Wouldn't you want to have some of that training if you were asked to move 3 or 4 million people from one country to another?

A great deal of time transpires between verse 10 and 11 of Exodus 2. After Moses had become a man, it says, “he married an Ethiopian woman.” Numbers 12:1, we read about that. Miriam and Aaron complains, “spoke against [him] because of the Ethiopian woman that he married.” Now, again, he married Jethro's daughter, in Midea. Where did this one come from?

The Bible doesn't say how they met. But Josephus, again, and the antiquities of the Jews writes this, "When Moses reached his manhood, there was a great battle fought between the forces of Egypt and Ethiopia… Moses is general… in his first battle, made a surprise attack on the Ethiopians and they were defeated. They began to flee Egypt, while Moses followed them all the way back to their own country in order to engage them in battle. In the end, they retreated to Saba, the capital of Ethiopia… When Moses had punished the Ethiopians… he celebrated his marriage to Tharbis, the king of Ethiopia's daughter, who had fallen in love with Moses. She gave herself to spare the city."

“For many years modern historians laughed at the idea that Ethiopia could have been strong enough… to attack and conquer part of Egypt. But in 2003,” some 15 years ago, “an inscription was found on the tomb in Elkab detailing a massive invasion of Egypt from the combined armies of Kush along with the allies from the neighboring lands. Many cities along the Nile were indeed ransacked by the Ethiopians for their treasures.” Moses had been trained to run an army.

The next significant event in Moses' life, verse 11, is fleeing Egypt. In Acts 7, we know that Moses was 40 years old when he fled Egypt. He saw the oppression of Israel and killed the Egyptian, and he had to flee because of it. He probably thought any role that he had in government was going to be over. In Exodus 2:11, “it came to pass… and Moses was grown, he went out to his brethren, looked at their burdens; spied an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew… He looked this way and that, when he saw there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. He went out of the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting together: and he said to them that did the wrong, ‘Why are you hitting your fellow?’”

Verse 14, “he said, ‘Who made you a prince over us, to judge us? Do you intend to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?’" Did God have someone saying that? Because it says Moses looked around and saw there is no man, but yet someone saw it. And he said, "Surely this thing is known.” Moses was afraid. What moved him to do this? Why didn't he see the men who saw him?

Verse 15, "When Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.” Over the next 40 years, Moses learned humility as a shepherd and learned about God. He was being trained from his birth. He just didn't know it.

Hebrews 11:24-27, we read about Moses there as well. When his time came in his life when he was being confronted with a choice, verse 24, it says, "By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin." Sin is pleasurable but it causes all sorts of damage. “Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater than riches… than the treasures of Egypt: for a look to reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: and he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible.” Christ who was to come 1,500 years later.

He had a choice of the pleasures, the wisdom, the prestige of the pharaoh's family when he chose to identify with the people of God, even though it was going to involve self-denial and sufferings. Moses had to think his days in Egypt were over. He wouldn't need his army skills to lead a flock of sheep. He didn't know he was being trained.

Verse 16, he takes a wife, and the priest of Midian. And again, the priest of Midian, Jethro, seemed to be in contact with God. There are other people that God worked with that knew about him. It wasn't just the few we read in the Bible sometimes. He “had seven daughters: they came and drew water, and they filled their troughs… and Moses… helped them water their flocks.” And they came and told Jethro, their father.

And verse 21, we read that “Moses was content to dwell with the man: Jethro gave Moses Zipporah his daughter,” to be his wife. Moses was thoroughly trained not for war but for organizing Israel and leading them. But at this point, he did not know that. He was now prepped for the task at hand. Trained in Pharaoh's house, trained in managing an army, humbled at being a shepherd for 40 years, none of which he could have imagined at any point in his life. But God knows.

Turn to Philippians 1:6, another verse that all of us should hang our hats on. He knew what Moses needed in preparation, just as He does for you and for me. It may be a one-time job, it may be a lifelong event. Certainly, an event in the future that we all look forward to.

Verse 6 of Philippians 1, "Being confident of this very thing, He which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." If you started a journey that God is going to help you with, when did the work in you begin?

I had prepped Krystal, teaching her to swim, standing on my skis, letting go, falling, the trampoline, and now holding her in the water to finish the event. As I said to her, "Don't let go," and she didn't. I yelled, "Hit it," to Michelle. The engine roared, and Krystal quickly lifted out of the water and began to ski and skied all the way around the lake without falling.

It wasn't skill. Although, it takes some skill. It was preparation and letting go of her fear. She's been skiing ever since. She's almost not afraid of almost anything that's come in front of her, I'm thankful to say. You have to let go of fear and trust God implicitly that He has prepared you for something and He will help you. You'll make it work. Preparation isn't always easy. It wasn't for Joseph, being lied about and thrown in prison. It wasn't easy for Moses, leaving, running for his life. But you are being prepared. In some way, the choices put before you, the choice you make, what you do, you are being prepared.

We have a new class here at A.B.C. Like last night, we showed the movie Patterns of Evidence, and they could see that archaeologist digs, and the experts saying it isn't the Exodus when everything you see in that movie absolutely tells you that it was. In fact, if they found that much evidence in China of anything, they'd write a whole book about it and not deny it. But because it's God, they do.

The students were moved to apply at A.B.C. You were chosen by God and called to baptism. They're going to give up a year of their life in studying God's Word. It was a chance. They probably wouldn't say so. They don't know. None of us really know exactly what God has in store for any of us. God has plans for each of us, as He does for everyone He calls throughout human history.

We live in the same world, Satan's world, with all his problems. And we have to deal with that. Turn to John 17, if you will, the final scripture. You can jump out of Exodus, we're done there. God has plans for each of us. Our skill sets are different, but the goal is the same. We live in the same world, Satan's world, with all its problems, magnified in these end times. We're close to the finish.

John 17:14, Christ said, "I have given them Thy Word; and the world hates… has hated them, because they are not of this world, even as I am not of this world. I pray not You take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of this world. Sanctify them through thy truth: Thy Word is truth. If You have sent Me to the world, so I have sent them to the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they might also be sanctified through the truth. I pray for these alone, but also for them which shall believe on Me through their word."

That's you. That's me. Every character in the Bible is unique, with the unique preparation. Some with great jobs, some with small jobs. I think of the slave girl who led Naaman to go be healed of his leprosy. I don't even know her name. It's in the Bible. There's a lot of small characters who did small things, like Dorcas, who encouraged everybody. Each of our preparation is unique.

In a world that values winning over character, you're being taught character. In a world that values outer beauty over inner beauty, you are growing in inner beauty. In a world that values accumulating wealth over giving and service to others, you are learning service. This world's values are about to end. We're close to that time when Christ returns and God has called you for a place in that new world order. It's around the corner.

What is important now? Character, character, character. In real estate it’s always location, location, location. But for us, it's character, character, character. We don't always succeed every time, but God works it out. Hopefully, as you get older, you'll have more success in following and being like Christ, which is what we're told to do, to be like Him. And God has prepped you in ways you don't even know.

I ended up flying on an airplane and witnessing all sorts of things simply because I learned to cook as a freshman in college. I only did that because I didn't have to study because I had already gone through all the classes in Imperial schools. I didn't do it because I was going to be on an airplane meeting kings and queens later on. I did it because I wanted to eat better. Was it my choice? I suppose you could say that in some ways, but we're prepared in different ways.

And like others in the Bible, I had my highs and lows as well. Because there are always people around who want position in power, and if you stand in their way, you'll get things thrown at you. A lot of us have learned those things along the way.

One of the reasons I also did what I did was I decided I wanted to meet all the people at college. I cared about grades when I was in high school. When I went to college, I cared about grades, but actually, an event happened my first semester which told me I shouldn't really care about grades so much. Well, knowledge is important, but they actually gave a test in Bible class, and it was a take-home test. Most of the students took about 8 or 10 hours to take it. I wasn't going to spend that much time, so I sat down with my Bible. I think I opened it once but I took the whole test in about an hour and 15 minutes. I ended up having one of the highest grades in the class because I'd already had this all.

But sadly enough, one of my friends who did very poorly on the test, who spent a lot of time, went in and talked to the teacher to try to keep from getting an F. And he said, “I'm not like I'm Aaron. Aaron didn't even open the Bible. He took the whole thing in an hour. And so I got a C on that test because I didn't put enough time into it, which irritated me since I had I think was the second highest grade in the class. I didn't think that's how you're graded, so, at that point, I thought I'm not going to worry about this.

So, like I said, I cooked in the evenings, and I met all the other students. I dated, went out with all the girls and, you know, and enjoyed college not doing a lot of things wrong but just enjoying meeting people and getting to know them. I dated all these secretaries of all the administration because I figured I've ever got called in, I'd need a friend. So I've had some human wisdom, I suppose.

But it was interesting to know that God was probably preparing me for other things, short-term things I had to do. You never know where you're going to end up. And I didn't ask for any of the jobs I ever had. One of the things I've found in my career was I was always told to do something. And several times, I tried to turn it down and wasn't allowed to. But that's how it happens.

Hopefully, when I finish my life, and when you finish your life, God can say, "Now I know. Now I know." It often means doing what is hard over what is easy. It means choosing right over wrong. It means choosing truth over the lies of human reason. It means faith and trust that you are being prepared for something bigger than you know.

Moses didn't know he was being prepared for a 400-year-old prophecy that would be fulfilled through him, leading Israel out of Egypt. It was until he saw the burning bush, and God told him, "You're the man to go do this." And Moses saying, "I don't want to. I can't speak. I can't do it."

And when he said that I'm sure he was thinking of the armies of Egypt that he had led, and now 40 years later, they were probably bigger and stronger than they ever were when he led them, and he's thinking, I can't do this. But God says, "No. It's not you. It's Me." And when you go through events in your life, and you succeed, you got to do your part. But it's Him. It's not you. God gives you opportunities to prove Him as you face all the events in your life. So I say to you, don't let go.