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Push Past the Crisis and Lay Hold of God…
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Scripture Ex. 17: The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?” 3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” 4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” 8 The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.
– Are you prepared to hear a difficult truth? Grumbling and complaining is not only an affront to God, it is an open door for the enemy to attack.
– Time after time God intervened for Israel, delivering them, saving them, providing for them; but with each new challenge they returned to the captivity of complaining.
– They were a freed people but they lived as though they were still in bondage!
– Christ has won your freedom but you too can choose to live in bondage.
– The people of God were literally delivered out of Egypt but their heads were still stuck in that awful place! They allowed problems and trials to defeat them spiritually, then the enemy came in and attacked them mercilessly.
– Conversely, their only hope of salvation was through faith! The true servant of God, Moses stood up and raised his hands toward heaven by faith! By faith he held his hands up to God and kept them uplifted to God until the battle was won!
– Whining, complaining, and feeling sorry for yourself will erode faith, offend the Lord who is your savior, and open the door for the enemy to attack you and to take you captive! Faith in God that perseveres will push through the pain as well as the threat and hold fast to God!
Read more “Push Past the Crisis and Lay Hold of God by Faith! “
Life Lessons
We Have No Reason to Fret Over Our Momentary…
Tuesday May 24, 2022
Scripture Ex. 16: The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
– God had recently delivered the Israelites from Egypt, gone before them in a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, opened the Red Sea so that they could cross over on dry ground, and then drowned Pharaoh’s army in that same sea, but here we see the same people God has delivered grumbling and complaining about their current situation!
– How like the people of God to cry out to God for help, receive His help and then soon afterward turn back to complaining at the first sign of problems.
– Are we aware that every time we grumble and complain it is an offense to God? Why is grumbling and complaining an offense to God? When we respond in this way we are showing that we have no confidence in God to provide, no faith in God regarding the concern, no trust that God will see us through, and no hope in the God of our salvation. It is impossible to grumble and complain and yet possess the victory that faith makes possible.
– We think we are complaining about an issue or a person, but ultimately we are complaining against God and His provision for our lives.
– In our complaining we exalt the problem instead of exalting the Lord. We might say we believe that with God all things are possible and yet by our grumbling and complaining attest to our doubt and disbelief.
– The Israelites complained, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” In their grumbling they forgot the reality of the bitter bondage God had saved them from and instead began to long for the days when, although they were enslaved and mistreated in Egypt, they had what they referred to as pots of meat to eat and plenty of food.
– In their near sightedness, they could not see the value of their new found freedom because of the momentary longing of their stomachs! This issue is one we all wrestle with on an ongoing basis. Yes! God has delivered us! Yes! God has saved us from eternal death through Jesus Christ! Yet, we still struggle to believe God, even though we know what God has already done for us, will help us in our current struggle. The God who has saved us eternally can help us in our momentary struggles. If God has moved heaven and earth to save us, we can trust Him with any and every crisis we encounter!
Read more “We Have No Reason to Fret Over Our Momentary Struggles! “
Sunday Sermons
Life Lessons
We Serve the God of Unlimited Power and Might! …
Friday May 20, 2022
Scripture Ex. 14:29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
– The Israelites went through what on dry ground? It was a sea the children of God went through on dry ground! Entering a sea and walking on dry ground do not seem to belong in the same sentence, in fact that statement seems self-contradictory and unbelievable.
– Who walks into a sea without getting wet? How does a bush burn with fire and not burn up? How does a woman of 90 give birth to a healthy child after being barren all of her life? How does water come forth from a rock, or manna fall from heaven? How can a measly portion of flour and oil be made to last for years, or a few loaves and fish feed 5000? How do 3 men survive being thrown into a fiery inferno and come out without the smell of smoke on their clothing, or another man spend a night in a dungeon filled with hungry man eating lions and come out unscathed? How can the dead be raised to life, or the demon possessed set free? How can the blind be made to see, or the paralyzed made to walk?
– We ask, “How can these things possibly be?” The Word of God reveals to us that everything is possible for those who believe! That with God all things are possible! That the glorious, miraculous works that our sovereign Lord and Savior has done are possible for His followers to also do, and even greater things will we do because of His empowering, John 14:12!
– We believe in and serve the God of Unlimited power and might! That power is for all who believe!
– The Israelites walked through the sea with a wall of water on either side of them. That wall of water represents the very things that seem impossible to you right now. The wall of water congealed and rose high above the Israelites. Like a huge towering monolith it stood above them threatening to fall on their heads and crush the life from their bodies.
– That which had been impassable, God made passable! That which now threatened to crush them, God held in place until they passed safely underneath!
– O the fear and the trepidation we have over going forward into the unknown. With every step forward we wonder if our next step will be our last.
– Do not forget Christian, it is God Almighty (El-Shaddai) who has brought you to it and it is God Almighty who will lead you safely through it! Then you, like the Israelites who after seeing what the LORD had done for them, will bear witness and testify to the Majesty of God!
Read more “We Serve the God of Unlimited Power and Might! “
Life Lessons
The Seemingly Relentless Pursuit of the Enemy!
Thursday May 19, 2022
Scripture Ex. 14: 23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.”
– All of us experience those days when trouble seems to be pursuing us relentlessly.
– As odd as it might sound it was a good thing when Pharaoh’s horsemen and chariots followed Israel into the sea! It is difficult for us to appreciate the good in trouble staying hot on our heels! However, God had a plan and that plan included Pharaoh’s army pursuing Israel even through the midst of the Sea that would end in their own destruction.
– Israel wanted relief from their captors, they wanted God to intervene decisively in their plight and to save them but to their distress the threat remained even after God had opened the Sea before them.
– How are we to respond after the Lord does a mighty miracle of deliverance and then seemingly permits the source of our fears to remain? See also 1 Kings 19:1-9. Have you been delivered from a threat only to find out later that the threat remains?
– When we go through such experiences God is challenging our faith, and those are the times we need to dig in and trust the Lord as we watch and pray! God is working out his plan for our ultimate deliverance and that only comes by faith!
– The enemy may pursue you relentlessly but God is watching over you! We might exalt the threat but remember God has to look down from His lofty position above, God is above all things (Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world!) and God unhinges the enemies means of attack and throws his plan to defeat and destroy you into ultimate chaos!
– Flash forward from the Red Sea to the cross of Calvary and the borrowed tomb; Satan’s plan to defeat Christ looked pretty promising Friday morning, but Sunday morning came and the power of the Resurrection shattered the devil’s scheme into oblivion!
– You are not forsaken in your fear or in your torment! God Almighty looks upon you and He will vindicate you!
– Stand firm Christian and you will see the salvation the Lord will bring you!
– The enemy may be fighting against you but the Lord is fighting for you against him!
Read more “The Seemingly Relentless Pursuit of the Enemy! “
Life Lessons
God Has Not Left Us, He has Repositioned Himself…
Wednesday May 18, 2022
Scripture Ex. 14:9 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
– I wonder if Israel was aware of the fact that the angel of God was out in front of them as they journeyed away from Egypt. They, like us may not have fully understood the protective presence of Almighty God who went before them every step of the way.
– It was the Commander and Chief of the LORD’s Army who was out in front of Israel’s army!
– They no doubt wondered about their own capabilities as warriors, when what they really needed to do was acknowledge the capabilities of the One who went before them!
– The angel withdrew from going before Israel and moved behind them. This sudden transition might have caused some to ask, “Is the Lord abandoning us?” upon experiencing this phenomena. Sometimes we allow ourselves to think this way. Trouble comes and we get this uneasy feeling that maybe God has abandoned me. We are looking for God out in front of us when He has moved behind us, Psalm 91: 1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
– If we do not perceive His presence, we panic! “Where is He?” we cry! God is with us but He is no longer where we might expect Him to be or where we are looking for Him, He has moved.
– Why, why would God do this? He does it so that He stands between us and the terrible threat bearing down on us. Instead of crying, “God, where are you!?” We should declare, “My God is with me and He stands between me and my enemy!” “God is with me and God will deliver me!”
– God’s presence had an entirely different effect on those who were His own and those who were not! To those who were not of God, His presence brought darkness, symbolic of their lost estate and the eternal darkness awaiting all who refuse to repent and believe. To those who were His children His presence brought light – the light shines in the darkness and no amount of darkness can ever put it out, (John 1:3)!
– He is the Light of the world, whoever follows (Him) will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life, John 8:12.
– This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil, John 3:19! Is this not what we see played out in this amazing act of God as portrayed in Ex. 14:20?! Walk in the light as He is in the light!
Read more “God Has Not Left Us, He has Repositioned Himself to Protect Us! “
Life Lessons
Stand Still and You Will See the Deliverance of…
Tuesday May 17, 2022
Scripture Ex. 14: 10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Life Lesson: Only those who have walked with God will be still when God tells them to.
– What does it mean to stand firm in this context? How does a person “stand firm” when their family is being threatened, when death is literally charging toward you?
– Let me say this, you will only stand firm in such terrible times if you have made a practice of standing firm all of the time!
– If we have become accustomed to ignoring the necessity of prayer, Bible study and application, walking with Jesus daily, sharing our faith in as much as we are capable, and resisting temptation that comes our way from day to day; we are dreaming if we think we will stand firm in the day of trouble.
– In today’s lesson we need to take note of the difference between how Moses responded and how the Israelites as a nation responded to the same crisis. The different response cannot be credited to Moses being superhuman, he was not superhuman; he was a person who spent much time with God and that was his secret! In Acts 4:13 we read that the reason Peter and John made such an impression on the religious leaders was not because they were so great, they were simple, unschooled, ordinary men, the reason for their boldness and strength was because they had spent time with Jesus!
– Eph. 6:13 says, Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
– You cannot do better than to spend time with the Lord!
– Moses said, “Stand firm and you will see the deliverance of the Lord”! Now we know the people were not standing firm, but Moses most certainly was. Has God given us an insight into how we can see God’s provision?
– We are told to stand firm and then we will see God’s deliverance. Conversely if we will not stand firm by faith we may miss out on seeing the deliverance that God is providing!
– Moses also tells us that, “the LORD will fight for you”. What does it mean to you to know that the LORD is willing to fight for you?
– Again we have a contingency stipulated, “You need only to be still”. Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to be still and trust that God will fight for you?
Read more “Stand Still and You Will See the Deliverance of the Lord! “
Life Lessons
Live By Faith and Inherit the Promises of God! …
Monday May 16, 2022
Scripture Ex. 14: 10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Life Lesson: Overcome all fear as you walk by faith in the promises of God!
– Are you at times gripped by fear over what you see happening? At times it would seem that fear is an appropriate response to the situation; but is it really?
– Is there ever justification for a believer to give in to fear? Who is it that watches over our lives? Psalm 121: 5 The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; 8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
– Israel blamed Moses for bringing them out of Egypt. Was it Moses who brought the people out? Who then had brought them out? It was the Lord who brought them out of their bondage! It was through miracles that God had delivered them!
– How then could they ask, “What have you done to us?” speaking to Moses.
– Why are we looking around for someone to blame? To whom do you belong? Who is it that saved you from sin? Who is it that has promised never to leave you or forsake you!?
– Let me ask you something, “If God is for you, who can be against you?” Rom. 8:31.
– Allow me to agree with the apostle when he also says, 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” “All things” certainly includes the issue you are currently wrestling with right now.
– You are not defeated! You have nothing to fear! Faith defeats fear and fear destroys faith! So by what standard will you choose to live by?
– You cannot walk on the water with Jesus and focus on the wind and the waves; it is either one or the other! Keep your eyes on Christ and you can do the impossible! Take them off Jesus and put them on the concerns of life and you will begin to drown; it is that simple.
– No, God did not bring the people out of Egypt to let them die in the wilderness but here’s the truth of the matter; their lack of faith, their FEAR would one day do that very thing to them!
– They would miss out on the promised land of blessing because of their fear and unbelief! How much better to take God at His Word, to believe it, to live it, and thereby to inherit God’s wonderful promises for your life and for your family! Amen!
Read more “Live By Faith and Inherit the Promises of God! “