DEC 14 2025 | From the Cradle to the Cross S1E3 | The Escape to Egypt

Sea Change Church · From the Cradle to the Cross · "The Escape to Egypt" Pastor Adam Stadtmiller · December 14, 2025
Matthew 2:13-15
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

to touch the lives of your children. We ask this in your son's name. Amen. The gospel according to Matthew chapter two, verses 13 through 15. Now, when they had departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remain there until the death of Herod.

This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt. I called my son. This is the word of the Lord. Right on. Well, good morning and, uh, Merry Christmas to all of you. Uh, we are deep into the Christmas season. Great to have you all here today and to see your, uh, shiny faces. And to all of you college students and high school students that are going through finals this week, we are praying for you.

Go get it and, uh, get after it. Open your Bibles to Matthew two 13 through 14. It's a one point sermon today, but it's the only point I think that, uh, that is gonna matter. 'cause I think it's a cogent, uh, and it, it centers around this question, when is it time to stay? When is it time to fight? And when is it time to run? And we see Joseph and Mary, and even baby Jesus on the run. You would think Jesus would never need to be on the run, but he is.

And God has him on the run for a strategic purpose. God doesn't, he could have protected him. He could have done what he did, but he's chosen to allow things to happen. And he's put in place a father who is Joseph and dads hear me. Who knows how to hear from the Lord, knows when to stay, knows when to fight, and knows when to run. It's a word for men and women, but especially today, uh, men, men's discipleship, women important too.

But men, men's discipleship is on my heart. Really glad that God brought Mike, uh, over to the church about six weeks ago. I've known him for a very long time, does some powerful stuff in discipleship and says, I want to be here helping you guys with this discipleship program. We've already been doing it, but hey, more, more soldiers is amazing. Uh, the word, there's a few key words. I'm gonna add another one. The first one I want you to write on your notes if you have 'em.

The words linger. And the reason I had that word is 'cause I, I, my discipler taught me that more people, more people, men, especially women as well, will fall to the attacks of the enemy by lingering somewhere that they know they shouldn't be rather than a direct attack. Direct attacks are, you see 'em, you see 'em coming, you feel it, right? But that lingering disobedience, that lingering the hanging out around burning buildings when there's no one to be saved, is what takes people out.

Now look, if, if you run into a burning building to save someone's life, you are a hero. If you keep running into build, run burning buildings, when there's no one to be saved and nothing redeemable in that building, you're a fool. You have to ask yourself, are you lingering? And what things are you lingering? The other two words are rise and flee. We're gonna look at the Greek word. There they are in the, the verse.

It is, uh, spoken by an angel in a dream. Verse 13. Uh, it says, uh, now then when they had departed, behold an angel, the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, rise, circle, rise. Take the child and his mother and flee. Circle, flee to Egypt. We have a history with Egypt. If you're a, uh, a Jew in the first century, you understand a history with Egypt. It's the place that you were called out of, you probably didn't wanna go back to.

But there's strategic reasons because the journey of Jesus is modeling the failed journey of Israel. The inability to do, to have that perfect life, that perfect obedience that Jesus shows. So Jesus replicates in a way, he becomes in a way, a archetypal Israel that is able to do what Israel couldn't do. And so he models that journey that in the desert you see all these different scenarios and you'll see more here. We'll get to those in just a second.

Uh, it says, rise and flee. Remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. This Q2 key words besides linger or rise and f flee. And the key idea today is every follower of Jesus will face moments when obedience requires movement. Joseph didn't get clarity strategy or a five year plan. He got one word. Go. He got one word. Go. It was in the middle of the night. Now, if God was more of a gentleman, wouldn't he have given him a couple weeks notice shown up?

He could have told him before then, Hey, we're gonna, you know, send you out and here's the plan. And I got, you're gonna do this and you got some relatives, you're gonna go, you know, the Galilee iss nice. Maybe we should go up to the Galilee or something like that. But back to Egypt, he gets this word to go to a place that you wouldn't think you would go to. But he's able to hear from the Lord and he's obedient to what he hears.

I put, every follower of Jesus will face moments when obedience requires movement. Joseph didn't get clarity strategy or five year plan. He got one word, go. And some of you, God is some of us, not just me, us God is saying, go. Can you think of a place in your life right now where you are clear that God has said, go, rise and flee. Um, key point or the ex of Jesus of this point is when God says, go, don't stay, don't linger.

When I was in high school, uh, excuse me, middle school, I lived in Alpine. Oddly, I lived in Alpine. We lived in a lot of places. After the divorce, we moved a lot. And I was up there for about nine months. And I, I spit out the bus window one day not thinking anything of it. And I spit on the, the bully, the school bully. Now I was, I was, uh, eight inches, um, shorter and 95 pounds lighter at the time. It was on Friday. And he was running alongside the bus.

I'm gonna get you stat Miller, I'm gonna get you. And I was terrified, right? Because he was a bully. He was, he was really small too. I wish I would've just taken the beaten and just gone for it. Like, I'm a different, I got a different mindset then. Well, that's terrifying. So I went down to McGee's. Uh, there was a place called McGee's. You could get pie there. I had a Pacman machine on Saturday. I rode my bike down there and, um, across the street at the liquor store, I saw the, the bully go into the liquor store.

And I had my bike there. And I thought, get on my bike and go ride, ride like the wind, the seventies song. And instead I looked over and I saw him go in there and I thought, he probably won't see my bike. And so I wanted to play some Pacman. It was 1982, you're playing Pacman and the whole thing of quarters. And I lingered when I came out. He was there with his friend and I rode my bike far away and they chased me down and caught me.

And he just gave me the biggest right hook. You had to go to school, got a black eye. I started crying. Like I was, it's, it's, I looked back at that moment, I'm like, oh, you should have just taken the beaten dude. You don't have to cry. But he beat me like a dog. And I went to school and they made fun of me. And I had a giant black eye. Why did I get beaten? I might have got beaten up at school anyways. Why did I get beaten up in that moment? Because I lingered.

I lingered. 'cause Pacman was good. Patman gave some middle, middle school dopamine. I still hold the high score on the Pacman machine over there. By the way, during COVID, I was amazing. I was there every day. Five a day, five times a day. Historical insights. Uh, let's just look at Egypt real quick. Why would they go into Egypt? I said it was an archetype. Jesus was an archetype. Egypt was a, first of all, it was a standard refuge for Jews, fleeing danger.

At that time, Egypt was a place they would go to the Romans, um, Octavia and conquered it 30 years after, um, Mark Anthony and Cleopatra and 30 bc. And they took it over and they put a different perfect there, a prefect, uh, that was there. It was Gaas, uh, was was the one who had taken over it. And he didn't, they didn't really get along with like Herod, so it was a Roman area, but like Herod didn't have any jurisdiction over there.

And so you could flee to a different area of Rome and just be safe because one of the things the Rome Romans did, but they would let you keep your culture and they would take someone from your culture and raise them up and put them in charge. And so they did that with Herod, uh, and you know, in Israel and, and, and Jerusalem. But in this area, they were safe. So he was sent there. And once again, it models going into captivity that models our sin, that we are in captivity and we can be called out of captivity.

And so, um, you see that Herod had no authority there. Uh, and the thing that is really, really interesting, go to the, um, uh, verse 15 there, it says, and he remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the, the Lord had spoken to the prophet out of Egypt. I will call my son. So he was sent there. Remember God sent them there to provide for them under Joseph. Remember it was a, it was, there was a famine going on, and eventually it became captivity.

But then God called them out of captivity. And it's interesting, he called them when it says that he called Israel out of Egypt. He also says, when it says here that he will call his son out, once again, it's modeling that. And what it's supposed to model for us is he's calling you out of the captivity in your life of our lives. What are we captive to? And are we lingering in that area? I had two people backstage today tell me that they deleted Instagram again.

We'll see how long it lasts, right? I won't have you raise your hand, but if you've deleted Instagram more than five times, you know, it's just, it's a, it's a thing. It's, you know what I mean? And you know, it's a thing and it just happens. And I haven't deleted mine yet. But, uh, I'm thinking about it. It's that thing where you're lingering, where you think, I need to get rid of that thing and needs to be removed.

And then he's calling you away from that thing. And this is the journey. So you see the journey of Israel that they weren't able to do. Then you see the journey of Christ that he was able to do. And I'm not gonna tie all the, the, the ties to all the different, you can go to your favorite Google search or whatever you use and say, what are the, the, the similarities between Jesus life and the, and the, and the journey of Israel.

You can see all that. And you can do deeper research this week. But what it's meant to do is then transition from Israel to Jesus, who could do it to you, who can do it also, because Christ will provide a way. It says, there is no temptation that he won't give you an opportunity. It says in the New Testament to overcome that temptation. The reason we don't overcome temptation is not because of the temptation, is 'cause we don't want to overcome the temptation.

It's the only reason we want what we want. And that's why we keep doing what we're doing. And it says that he's calling him out and he's calling us out and he's saying, flee. And if we linger, we have a tendency to get burned. So we see that there. Uh, and then we, the, the place, I just give the verse real quick, Exodus 1235, it said the, um, oh, I'm sorry, I'll get to that in just a second. The, the next thing I think was interesting here is when he calls them, he's prepared them to leave.

Now, this is something that I think we don't look at enough. If God is calling you out of an addiction, a relationship, whatever, he's gonna either provide afterwards, like Abraham, he's gonna send you and he's gonna provide. And that's a big faith step. But oftentimes he prepares in advance for you to flee. And oftentimes we don't recognize the resources we have to flee. If you have a alcoholic addiction, there are resources, there is aa, there are relationships, there's church relationships, there's all these different resources.

But we oftentimes don't use those. And so one of the things I would say, if, if you're trying to flee from something in your life, you don't wanna linger there anymore, you know, you don't want it. And most of the things that we linger around, we don't want the majority of things that we've kept lingering around, we're like, I really don't want that in my life. I want to get away from it. How am I gonna get away from it?

We don't see that sometimes we have the resources available. Well, how did, how did Joseph have the resources available to go to Egypt? Remember last week I mentioned that they were poor and that when they dedicated Jesus, it could have been two years earlier, 18 months earlier, they gave two turtle doves, you know, the song, because that was the offering of the poor and the impoverished in their penu area. They came and gave that offering. They didn't have money.

So to get a calling in the middle of the night, show up, I need you to move, leave your job. I need you to leave your family all your resources, and I need you to bounce in the middle of the night, which he does. Get up, rise and go to Egypt and go stay there. How's he gonna pull that off? Well, if you remember, there was some wise men last week. And the verse, the night that wise men leave is the night he has this dream.

If you go to Matthew two, go to verse 12, and it'll say in somewhere in verse 12 that when he left, when they left this next event happened. Well, what did the wise men leave for? Jesus, Mary and Joseph, they left frankincense, myrrh, and gold. Gold. Let's go 4,000, $300 an ounce. Let's go Better than crypto. And maybe God's provided for you. And maybe you have the emotional resources somewhere near you. Maybe you have the, the re the spiritual resources somewhere if you only choose to use the resources that he's put around you.

You see, sometimes we need a game plan to flee and God gave them a a game plan. This was really interesting to me because I'm so used to, as a Christian thinking God is calling people like he does. Abraham go, I'm gonna send you to the place that I'll show you and I'll take care of you when you get there. And it's like, really God? Like I gotta do this. Jump off the cliff thing again, really different here. And as I started looking at my life, I started realizing, you know, as I look back at the things I've overcome in my life, there was actually resources in advance that were there for me.

God had what I needed at least to begin the journey. So the first thing I would say is the rise and flee. Are you lingering? And what resources are available that maybe you don't want to use? I was digging fence holes. We put up 40 fence posts around my house this week. I was out there digging. You know, my hands are all whatever. And sometimes you look at the shovel and I'm like, oh man, I don't, I I have that resource.

It's there. Do I really want to go dig fence holes? You don't use the resources because we don't want to use the resources sometimes. And so the question is on the thing that you're lingering around, what are the resources that God has provided that you can use to move away from that thing? There's two Greek words we're moving towards. I put Joseph wasn't running in fear, he was moving in strategic obedience. I just wanna say, especially women, you're, you're, you're not removed from this.

But men especially, especially on this day where we're talking about discipleship, and Mike's reminding me of his, and I'm reminding me of mine. Men, if you're hanging around a burning building and your family's with you, or even if you're alone, run, get away, you will be burned up and consumed. Do not linger. Leave the two words in the Greek in the study I heard you circle rise and go, rise and f flee. Excuse me. Uh, the rise is gyro is the word, and the flea is the, uh, fuo.

Fuego is the Spanish for burning. Fuo is the Greek for get out. Let's look at rise. Rise is gyro. That word there rise. It's the same root, root word used for the resurrection. When Jesus came out of the tomb, I doubt he did it leisurely. Oh, been a rough couple days. No, all of God's power and of the creation burst upon the sea. And he broke free from the chains of death. He broke free. And that is the word that is being used here with the root.

That when he is saying rise, men, women, all of us, from the thing that we are lingering around it is we are doing it with the resurrection power. It is meant to be bolting out of the gate. Like Usain Bolt, remember him if you watched him, remember how he'd leave the starting blocks and then just get faster as he went. That's what the word he ro means. It means to get up with urgency. A decisive, immediate response. A decisive, immediate response.

Man that is a lot different than the leisurely lingering that we often do around the things that will destroy us. Scripture says, can a, can a man lust and look upon or, or move into lust without taking, uh, without it be being, like taking hot coals and pouring them on your lap. That's what it's like. You'll be burned alive is what it says. Gyro. How's your gyro? You're just chilling. You're just chilling. It's easy to chill. I've done it. I get it.

I totally get it. I'm with you on this boat. Flee fuo. It's fuo it it is a president imperative to flee. It is an, it means you are in peril, imperative, imperil, present, imperative to flee. It means run now and keep running until I say stop from the word we get fugitive. You are out and you are running until I say stop. This wasn't a casual movement. This was a God initiated spirit timed immediate obedience. Immediate obedience.

This is a super simple word today. It's a short, compacted word. We, we really wanted to, to, to, to talk about discipleship and do some things today and, and, and press it in worship. And the Lord gave me a very concentrated word today. It's very concentrated. I don't think, I don't know how much more you need. I think you got it. It is to rise and flee in the same way that Joseph did. I'll have a few practical takeaways, um, that come with this.

The first is this, delayed obedience is disobedience, delayed obedience is disobedience. God, his obedience, God's direction may not come with an explanation. Sometimes God, sometimes, you know, I, I actually, I read a, I was reading a book about this topic and it said that, that God rarely screams stay. He does, but he regularly whispers go. I hear that all about, I think I need to like up the volume sometimes. But I had things that, you know, relationships when I was, you know, in high school, I'd get to the four month mark and I'd be like, dang, we're not, this ain't going where it's, I know it's not going where it's gonna go pretty soon.

You're at nine months. You're like, Nope, I was right still, right still. Whatever the thing is, we sit there and we linger when God has said, move on God's direction may not come with an insp, uh, an explanation. And God often protects your future by interrupting your present. How can I just, I'm gonna finish with this 'cause I think the point is clear. There are things that God has destined for you. Dare I use the word destiny, okay.

I know once again, second week in a row, you Presbyterians, you Calvinist, you're gonna love this. Alright? Got it. I see you. I see you. There is things that God has for you that through his divine grace, he can just keep putting pause on just like the Israelites lingered in the desert. They weren't supposed to be there 40 years. God's like, well, you're still gonna get there, but now it's gonna take 40 years. There are doorways of anointing and destiny and blessing that God loves you too much to open until you run away from the fire that's gonna burn your house down.

I remember, I, you know, I remember when I was in my twenties, oh, I wish I was a head pastor. I wish I was. Oh, I could be. I could have been amazing head pastor at 23 or whatever. Some guys are, some are. I would've burned that house down. I'm just telling you, burned it down. Pride. Whatever it is, there are things in your life. There are doors of destiny that God has for you that he's willing to wait till you get to heaven.

He'd like to release 'em now. He's gonna finish. He will complete that destiny in your life. He is not bound to completing it while you're alive on earth. Hear that you'll get to heaven. He say, Hey, we're gonna, we're going, we're gonna. This thing that I've always wanted to do in you, I'm gonna do it now and you will just have the most rich experience. I really wanted to do it when you were living in Chicago, but there was Ted and you couldn't leave Ted or whatever.

You put the thing there. God has some destiny for you. That obedience releases destiny and he is gonna accomplish his destiny in you. It just might not happen here on earth. Now that is a theological conundrum that some of you're gonna be like, whoa. And I remember when I first got that thought, I was like, I'm gonna chew on that for a while. But God wants to do that. One of the best ways to have this happen is to get discipled, to get with somebody who's an eagle, to stop hanging out with the pigeons in the park and to fly with eagles, to find someone who has gone for, I don't care how you are to find someone who has gone further, longer, deeper in Christ and to surround yourself with those type of people.

Because who you surround yourself with will greatly influence the trajectory of your life. Rise and flee. Amen. Let's stand if you would, we're gonna have the prayer team come forward. We're gonna close the service. If you need prayer, one of the things we're praying for is healing. We've had a lot of people, uh, become ill as of late. If you need healing emotionally, healing from an addiction, you need healing of relationships, come forward.

We wanna pray for healing for you. If you want to follow Jesus and give your life to him that you might know him, be saved, be baptized in his name, come forward, this prayer team will pray for you. They want to pray for you. Take them up on it. Okay? Let's bow your heads. Gimme a little music. Chris in the background would be great. And I want to extend, extend your hands if you would. Lord Jesus. God, we want to rise.

We want to flee God. We want to stop lingering around the things that will destroy us God. And especially to the men here that are leading their families, God that are playing with fire. Men and women who are in relationships. They know they shouldn't be in spending time in places they shouldn't spend. We want to, we want to set you right, not in guilt, Lord God. 'cause you did it perfectly and you call us out now. You say, follow me, run with me.

And I pray that you'd have this spirit Of movement upon this congregation that we can move in the direction. Some of you, God has been calling to certain places. It's not away, it's not away from an addiction or anything,