Responding In Faith wk2
Exodus: Joining God To Set Them Free • Sermon • Submitted
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22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.
24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
25 And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them,
26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.
Worship helps us process, remember, and share who God is and what He has done.
Worship helps us process, remember, and share who God is and what He has done.
Worship allows us to not only uplift God, it is also allows us to communicate with Him and understand what we are experiencing.
Worship matters because it gives us a more complete understanding of God.
I want to expand a bit more on worship this week to help us understand even more, what is happening in our text.
God made us to worship. That is why we were created. Everything has its reason for being here. We have this reason: that we might worship the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And we sinned and lost the glory and fell, and the light went out in our hearts, and we stopped worshiping God. And set our affections on things below.”
As we worship, our hearts, souls, and bodies long and remember what they were created to for.
When we worship we are closer to the way were created to be in relationship with God than at any other moment.
Not because of the music, the song, the worship leader, etc…
But because we are taking on the posture and role we were created for.
Our worship shares the gospel by revealing to unbelieving people, the truth about who God is as they see Him working in our lives.
When we are worshiping in “spirit and truth” and are not just amateur actors putting on a talent show, the very nature and glory of God is revealed.
If you have truly worshiped before you know what I am talking about.
There is almost a thickness in the air. You can feel the Spirit. You can feel the peace and joy that only God can provide.
“I wish that we might get back to worship again. Then when people come into the church, they will instantly sense that they have come among holy people, God’s people. They can testify, ‘Of a truth, God is in the place’”.
When we worship it allows us to zero in on exactly what it is God wants for us to do.
As we worship, our souls are laid bare before the Lord.
We find ourselves like Isaiah.
We hear the call and out of love, reverence, gratitude we answer the call without hesitation.
Because of our closeness to God our sin is revealed to us and be are able to bow before Him and let Christ deal with it.
I know that there are some in this room that have never had such an experience.
I don’t know about you, but for most of my life worship was never talked about in this way.
I grew up in church and my idea of worship was singing songs from a hymnal and trying not to fall asleep during the sermon.
It wasn’t until I was in Highschool and had a pastor come into my life and showed me what it meant to worship.
All of the sudden when I read passages in scripture about people standing before God and the scene that is always involved, that it clicked for me.
They were worshiping.
“We will be making a mistake if we just stand back and say, ‘But if we give ourselves to worship, no one will do anything.’ On the contrary, if we give ourselves to God’s call to worship, everyone will do more than he or she is doing now. Only, what he or she does will have significance and meaning to it. It will have the quality of eternity in it-it will be gold, silver, and precious stones, not wood, hay, and stubble.”
I have heard older generations say so many times that Millennials don’t want to do anything.
I know that isn’t true. I think, for the most part, that what Millennials won’t do is something that doesn’t have significance.
Simply doing something because someone else does it isn’t enough for them.
For that reason, they will be the generation that will forever change the church.
There isn’t anything that can be more significant that something with eternal quality.
Think about that. What we do in response to worship will last an eternity...
Please don’t leave here seeking to have some kind of “experience”.
Isaiah didn’t just decide one day that he was going to enter the throne room.
As Isaiah is pursing God, God reveals himself.
As we have already talked about, we were made for worship.
When a moment of worship comes, take it captive and make it your priority.
Just worship and let God do what he does.
Also, don’t think back to a time when you had an experience with God and try to recreate that.
Seek God and allow him to reveal himself to you.
It will be new and exactly what you need every time.
All of this is because God wants us to know Him.
He wants us to know Him in such away that we realize that we don’t need any thing else.
God wants us to rely on Him.
God wants us to rely on Him.
In chapter 12 God tells Moses what he is about to do and that Pharaoh is going to release them. - God is instructing...
17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.”
18 But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.
God is the one leading...
1 Then the Lord said to Moses,
2 “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea.
God is doing the leading…
15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.
16 Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.
God is doing the leading...
22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
Moses did the leading...
Remember that we talked about earlier in this study that the route that Moses took when he left his family to go to Egypt was a very similar route to the one he would led Israel on as they left Egypt.
How often do we get a word from God and instead of asking how he wants to accomplish the work, we just dig in using our own abilities?
It has taken me a long time to realize that just because I can do something, doesn’t mean that I should.
Joining God means that at no time are we to strike out on our own and just do something.
We cannot “join” God in setting people free if we are the ones doing the leading.
That isn’t joining...The result of Moses leading, instead of God, was that they found bitter water.
“Never forge ahead with your religious common sense and say, “Oh, yes, with just a little more Bible reading, devotional time, and prayer, I see how it can be done.”
It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we see the activity and mistake panic for inspiration. That is why we see so few fellow workers with God, yet so many people working for God. We would much rather work for God than believe in Him.” - Utmost
It is vital that we allow the Lord to work in us in such a way that we are no longer just reactionary to the things that happen in life.
God wants us to be abiding in such a way that every decisions we make aren’t our common sense, but rather, the direction of the Holy Spirit.
Can you say with confidence that as you go through a normal day, that your abiding in God is the basis for your decision making?
Our lack of reliance on God exposes the absence of worship in our lives.
A man was asked if he was well educated and he replied, “I should thing so! I spent 5 years in the 4th grade.
How many people do you know that have spent their entire lives attending church, yet show no fruit?
Are you one of those people? Have you spent years, simply sitting and not growing?
If you don’t yet know what God’s call is for you, it’s because you don’t really want to know.
It is God’s desire for us to know Him, to have the relationship that he intended for us to have with Him.
When we aren’t regularly digging and spending time with God, we aren’t on the same page as him and as a result, his work isn’t being done.
If you find yourself in this place today, its okay, because God doesn’t give up on us and when we realize that we have strayed away and ask Him to show us what we need to do to correct the situation, He does.
God redeems Moses...
25 And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them,
26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”
After God redeems Moses he sets forth a rule...
Just listen to Him and he will take care of you.
By making a statute, God is defining for Moses and Israel the kind of relationship he wants to have with them.
He doesn’t want to have punish them constantly because they aren’t listening to him.
This is the same kind of relationship that God wants with us. He doesn’t want us to do things because we have too, but because we love Him.
But it also says that he tested them. He gave them a command and then gave them an opportunity to obey.
We are given opportunities to respond in faith to what God tells us.
We are given opportunities to respond in faith to what God tells us.
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.
Whether life is going well or is really hard, God uses our circumstances to test and grow our faith.
He gives us opportunities, just like He did for Israel, to respond in obedience. They didn’t know it, but they were less than 5 miles from this place.
If we will just obey God, He will provide for us exactly what we need.
God provides for Israel because they choose to respond in faith.
When have you responded in faith and experienced God’s provision?
They needed water and he gives them twelve springs and shade!
God defines the relationship, gives them instruction, and when they obeyed God did exactly what he said he would do.
Throughout biblical history, God tells Israel over and over again this same message and it hasn’t changed today.
God is again defining for us the kind of relationship He wants.
I love the testimonies that Steven, Miki, and Debi shared last week.
In each situation, there was a need, and in each God provided exactly what was need.
This is the beauty of Joining God. He does it.
I can tell you, based on the conversations I’ve had with them, that they were blown away with God’s attention to them.
This the kind of relationship God wants with all of us.
God doesn’t want us striking out on our own.
Some of you know Bethany and I’s history in why we moved to Rockwall, TX back in 2008. We went there to help plant a church. We prayed for nearly a year about whether we were supposed to go and be a part of the church plant. I felt, without a doubt that we were supposed to go. I was confident that God had told us to go and that the guy that was going to pastor the church was supposed be leading.
We moved there and to make a long story short, the “church” only lasted about 8 months and then it died. There were several reasons for this, but the main one is that the pastor moved there and because money got tight, he began to try and take control of everything. He tried to make things happen. He tried to manipulate people into doing and giving what he thought would be best for him and the church.
You may think that a pastor trying to do what he thinks is best is a good idea. Let me tell you as your pastor that it is a TERRIBLE idea.
I, just like him and just like Moses, need to be completely reliant on God to lead and provide.
God wants us to rely on Him by seeking his direction and responding in faith.
Just like Isreal...Our stories help us to process, they help us uplift, and they help us share.
Our stories are our songs.
As we spend time in worship to God, He is moving and directing us, we respond in faith, people around us see God for who he is, and they to are driven to worship.
All that is required in order for us to experience God in this way is for us to listen, respond, and share.