Reliance
Exodus: Joining God To Set Them Free • Sermon • Submitted
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Intro:
Intro:
Thank you and recap of Juneteenth Block Party.
Those who prayed
Those who communicated
Those who participated
Everyone there was focused on loving the community and serving them.
It was obvious to them that we weren’t there for ourselves
They had a blast! Notice all the smiles that are on their faces.
Thank you for fulfilling the role God has for our church in this community!
This event would not have been what it was without each person that was there
…which leads us into our passage for today.
8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.
9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”
10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.
12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”
15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner,
16 saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
Our goals this morning is to see four truths in this text and to insert them into our lives so that we cannot operate outside of them.
Our goals this morning is to see four truths in this text and to insert them into our lives so that we cannot operate outside of them.
1. When we pray, and completely rely on God, He prevails.
2. When we cease to pray, we are overcome.
3. When we become weary, we must allow others to help.
4. When we pray, obey, and rely on one another, God is glorified.
When we pray and completely rely on God, He prevails.
When we pray and completely rely on God, He prevails.
As we pursue God and follow His leading, we will, at times, find ourselves at odds with people around us.
But just like with Moses, the fight will come to us...
What I mean by that is we aren’t out just looking for something to fight against.
Amalek attacked Israel, not the other way around.
We can see attacks on two fronts in our text today so we will address those.
These are ultimately attacks from the enemy that are an attempt to devalue and discredit the work that God is doing.
These aren’t attacks on us, but on what God is doing.
Historical - there is opposition because of something that happened in the past that they had no control over.
Historical - there is opposition because of something that happened in the past that they had no control over.
Part of the reason that Amalek attacked was because he was an heir of Esau and Israel were heirs of Jacob.
remember that Jacob tricked his father, Isaac, into giving him Esau’s inheritance.
So more than +/- 500 years have passed and they are still upset about it.
You may think this sounds ridiculous, but how long has it been since you were in an argument with someone and one of the two of you drug up something from the past as a defense for their action?
We live in a world swimming with opportunities for us to make a mistake and for someone to get upset about it.
That could range from how the church has historically handled race issues to the kind of donuts we serve.
Harlow's are the best and if you disagree you are wrong.
Territorial - there is opposition because we are moving into an area that some may think the church doesn’t belong in.
Territorial - there is opposition because we are moving into an area that some may think the church doesn’t belong in.
Israel was attacked because Amalek, a nomad, claimed that territory.
Claiming 101 → shuffle your feet lose your seat.
For us this could range from where we plant the next church to us voicing a biblical truth into a social situation.
People are territorial by nature and when we follow God and move into someone’s “territory” it will ruffle their feathers.
At the end of the day though, we need to settle on this.
We, as a church, and as individuals will follow God where ever He leads.
This is not a blank pass to just jump into anything you think is important.
This is a call for us to ask God where he is leading and then following him.
I purposefully use the terms church and individual because it is important that we know that we aren’t all called to the same roles.
9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”
Introduction of Joseph. Moses appoints him to leadership and gives him his objective.
God calls us to different roles.
God calls us to different roles.
All are needed
God defines both Moses’ role and Joseph’s role. Each of them had a part to play and if they all tried do the same job the results would have been disastrous.
If you are gifted in an area... use it as God leads
If he gives you a task, come tell me or one of the elders.
Don’t assume that we will ask you, we may not know to ask you .
we all have a role to play and it is our own responsibility to make sure we are fulfilling our call to this body.
For the sake of clarity, I want to say it in this way.
God’s desire is that we all fulfill our role in this church and the only way that happens is for each of us to own our ministry.
I know that this isn’t new information.
I’m confident that most in this room have heard more than their fair share of lessons on the parts of the body.
However, what God is showing us here is that learning our part in the body isn’t a one time deal.
This is the first mention of Joseph and it is apparently his first task.
However, we know the leader that he will eventually become.
God didn’t just put him in charge overnight.
God took his time and grew him until he was ready and this very experience was a big part of why he was one of only two that weren’t afraid to go into the promised land and it was because of their experiences with God.
1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night.
2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!
3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”
4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel.
6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes
7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.
8 If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.
9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”
It’s been 40 years for Israel with God providing everything they need and they still haven’t learned.
But look at the response from Joseph...
8 If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.
9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”
Joseph ins’t afraid, because his past experiences with God have showed him that God is more than capable of handling the battle that will be required.
As we grow in our relationship with God and mature in our faith, our roles change and we need to be vigilant about asking God where we are supposed to be.
Jumping back to Exodus 17. We see in vs 10 that everyone went and played their part.
When we all play our part, there aren’t any open gaps that need filling.
the Juneteenth Block party is a great example of that.
I have participated in a lot of church events over the past 20 years. Most of the time there are a few people running around like chickens with their heads cut off while others are just sitting around.
That was not the case this week.
A couple of examples…
1. Debi taking over set up and serving food, as a result I was able to just spend time loving on people.
2. Talking to the my kids afterward about why we hosted this event and they already got it because Michelle taught on it that Sunday.
This event went so well because we asked God what to do, how to communicate it, and how to do it, and then relied on God to take care of all those things.
He did and he used all of you guys to accomplish His agenda.
It’s important to point out as well, that this wasn’t my or the elder’s idea.
Bethany has been talking to God about Juneteenth for at least a year, but in January she took the time to prayerfully plan her year of ministry.
God told her that he wanted this to happen and she followed his lead.
This is not just a brag, God has given her a passion for this community, given her ways to tangibly love it, and she followed his lead.
She prayed and then fulfilled the task that God gave her.
ok, I’m going to stop beating a dead horse.
We all have a role to play. got it?
When we cease to pray, we are overcome.
When we cease to pray, we are overcome.
11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.
12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
This posture that Moses is taking, lifting the staff, is a posture of prayer.
I cannot emphasize this point enough.
We must pray and pray continually.
The only way we will ever be successful in anything we do is through prayer.
The only way we will ever be successful in anything we do is through prayer.
Moses has learned, by experience, that what they need in order to overcome Amalek is for God to do it.
This is a different experience though.
In their past experiences of God, God did all the work.
God is growing their faith by working through them this time.
This can only happen when Joseph and those he choose to with him actually go into battle.
This is also a different experience for Moses. It is the first time that God’s work depends on his strength and will to obey.
They are learning together that their success is tied to both, God’s activity and their willingness to obey even when it is hard.
They are learning together that their success is tied to both, God’s activity and their willingness to obey even when it is hard.
Joseph, Moses, and ultimately Israel’s fate depended on all of them fulfilling their call.
Everything we have discussed today are dependent on us being persistent in prayer.
The moment we stop praying and begin just doing things our way will be the very moment that this church begins dying.
19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
Jesus could not and would not operate outside of what God was doing.
Obviously we are to follow His example.
This is going to require that we stay vigilant in praying.
This is hard.
It requires time, energy, planning, and a will to do it.
This doesn’t happen by accident.
When we become weary, we must allow and count on others to help.
When we become weary, we must allow and count on others to help.
12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.
I don’t know if y’all are aware of it, but we are doing something that is rarely done in this part of the world.
As you know, most churches in the united states employ their pastors full time.
This allows them to commit all their time to fulfilling the role of a pastor.
We aren’t doing that.
Wanna guess why?
Reason number 1 is because God told me to continue to work at Petron.
2. This allows us to plant churches in a sustainable way.
one of the biggest hindrances in planting churches is the balance of paying a pastor and having enough people to have the ability to do that.
I bring this up because what that means for you and I is that I am going to need a lot of help.
It isn’t possible for me to work full time and do all the things that a traditional pastor does.
The elders have done an amazing job of taking care of everything they possibly can so that I can focus my time on preaching and teaching.
there have already been and there will be more times where I will become weary and will need help.
Moses grew weary, but God knew he would and placed people beside him that could support him. Literally.
Moses grew weary, but God knew he would and placed people beside him that could support him. Literally.
This isn’t just true for me and Moses.
All of us will grow weary and we must learn to lean on one another.
One of the reasons that I love this model of pastoring is that it puts me in a very similar situation as the rest of the membership.
We all have jobs, families, etc that we are responsible for, but we are also called to make disciples.
That takes away both any opportunity for me to pressure you to do more because I have an assumption of what you life is like and it prevents me from being a crutch.
I can’t do all the things and therefore the church has to be the church.
It holds all of us accountable to playing our roles.
Israel was victorious because they all fulfilled their call and played their role.
Israel was victorious because they all fulfilled their call and played their role.
It took all of them being focused on their aspect of the mission, but also being aware of how others were doing around them.
Amalek was defeated because they followed the plan that God gave them.
We will be successful as a church only when we all fulfill the roles that God has given us.
This is why we are going to be talking about Deacons and Deaconesses.
God gave us directive to establish men and women who are called to serve.
He did this because that is his plan for his church.
We are going to dig deeper into this next week.
When we pray, obey, and rely on one another, God is glorified.
When we pray, obey, and rely on one another, God is glorified.
If we do this correctly, God will be glorified. His name is made great.
People get to see God for who He really is, not what someone says he is.
If we look back over church history, there has been a lot of things that people have said and done in God’s name that were not of God.
Most of us here at the gathering place had to spend considerable amounts of time detoxing because of that.
The only way we can make sure that we aren’t making the same errors is to daily ask God for his direction and do only what he says.
We avoid such mistakes if we follow the example of Moses and Joseph.
If we follow God’s direction, things will turn out in such a way that God is the only one who can get the credit.
If we follow God’s direction, things will turn out in such a way that God is the only one who can get the credit.
This give us the opportunity to tell people about what God did and who He is.
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”
15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner,
God wants to make sure they never forget what He did.
God wants to make sure they never forget what He did.
Joseph prevailed with an army that had no training
This wasn’t because Joseph was an amazing leader to tactician.
It was because God was working through his people.
It would have been normal for them to build a monument to Joseph, as the leader of the army.
I bragged on Bethany, Debi, and Michelle earlier, but they don’t get credit for the success of the Juneteenth block party.
God gets credit for it. It was his plan.
Moses builds an altar to God to make sure that He gets the glory and credit for the victory.
Moses builds an altar to God to make sure that He gets the glory and credit for the victory.
This is a spiritual marker, to remind them of God’s power and protection.
As Israel is making this journey, they are learning first hand, the character of God.
As we move forward in faith we too are learning the character of God.
as we are learning we need to also make spiritual markers in our lives that allow us to look back and remember what God has done.
you can figure out for you what that might be.
tattoo, journal entry, excell spreadsheet, a song, whatever you need to do...
but it is important that we pay attention to the fact that God is changing us and growing our understanding of who He is.
It is important that we don’t allow the enemy to lessen the experience over time.
However you need to commemorate those things, do it so that you own it and the memory cannot fade away.