Peace the Chaos
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
Have you been paying attention to what has been happening in the world?
There are some crazy things going on this year.
If you haven’t, I do not know where you have been?
Is the world at peace right now?
Like the events, countries, governments, etc.?
No, they are far from it.
I am talking about actual peace.
I know we have talked about different aspects of peace like spiritually and stuff.
But let’s talk about a more literal definition of and aspect of peace.
The world is seeking peace.
Every individual on this planet is seeking peace.
The problem is that peace looks differently to everybody.
They want their peace, and....
Something, something, selfish desire.
Even if their selfish desire is something good, it is still technically working against peace.
What is the opposite of peace?
Anyone?
The answer is chaos.
Chaos is so easy to have and is all around us.
There are so many things going on in the world that are chaotic.
This COVID-19 thing is just one tip of the iceberg that really showed the world how sensitive things really are.
It let us know how fragile the little bit of peace that we thought we had.
What about these police/race riots?
They have turned things upside down.
Everyone is divided.
There is barely any peace.
We are probably in the most divided and not peaceful time in your lives.
Even in my life.
This is a crazy thing to think about in a crazy time.
It can make it hard to try and go through life, because no peace and much chaos.
You are barely scratching the surface of your lives.
People are wanting things to go back to normal, and clinging to this hope.
Let’s look at an awesome passage of scripture .
That I am sure that we all know this passage.
But we are going to look at it from a different point of view.
The parting of the Red Sea:
The parting of the Red Sea:
Who here knows the story?
I knew about it as a heathen(un-churched) atheist kid.
If for some reason, you do not know it, that is okay and you are about to hear a pretty cool event from history.
To help give some context and a brief summary.
God created the universe, and everything was perfect.
There was peace and awesomeness.
No, but then things in God’s creation went bad when man decided to listen to Satan and brought a curse on God’s creation.
We brought death, and destruction to the universe…everything is in motion to decay, and falling apart.
We as the only creation in God’s image brought this a reality.
God had a plan to make everything right and us have a way back to Him(through Jesus sacrifice on the cross, and our faith in that).
The plan ultimately included God coming as a man and accomplishing all of this.
He chose a family line from one of the sons of Adam and Eve, to Noah, and one of His sons, to this old dude names Abraham, who God promised that his descendants would become a great nation.
Through this nation, would come the messiah(chosen one(Jesus)) and all of the world would be blessed and have that way back to them.
This nation was and is Israel and our passage is God actually making them a nation.
The thing is that Israel, at this time is being freed from slavery for over 400 years in Egypt.
This was some hard core labor.
Back breaking work.
In the middle of the Sahara Desert!
I don’t know about you, but I hate the heat, and would not have lasted long.
God is fulfilling His promise.
If God is behind it, it is smooth sailing right?
No, because if you read earlier on in Exodus, this Pharaoh dude is giving the Israelites and very hard time.
It took 10 natural disasters to get their attention.
Pandemics and other crazy things for him to finally let Moses lead God’s people to freedom.
Finally they have peace, right?
They are now free… right?
Let’s see.
1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’ 4 Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.
God let’s Moses know what is up.
I cannot imagine being the Moses, thinking that everything is finally cool, and then get news that more drama is going to happen.
I hate drama so much.
Who here has had a time when they came through the drama, and then find out more beef is being ruffled up.
I hate that.
I did what Moses and the Israelites are doing and just trying to leave them in the dust.
Keep in mind that people who are dramatic will always find a way.
Notice where God tells Moses to camp...
The sea...
The Red Sea...
Keep this in mind.
We will talk about this part later.
Let’s see what happens next.
5 Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people; and they said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” 6 So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. 7 Also, he took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them. 8 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with boldness. 9 So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon. 10 And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.
Pharaoh is gearing up.
This dude is taking all of his might.
He didn’t regret what he did,even after his nation is in ruin after the 10 plagues.
One of which just caused his first born son to day.
Not only his, but every household in Egypt.
Revenge is a very hardcore thing.
So this is very important...
They are now camped by the sea.
Enjoying their new found freedom.
They are even having a beach day.
But then you see the most powerful army in the world at the time surrounding you.
Marching and coming on horse and chariot.
This are the equivalent of being approached by tanks.
Well, why don’t they run?
Well they are at the edge of the sea .
A big body of water.
Not only that, but they are at Pi Hairoth, Before Baa; Zephon.
This is not just an open beach and they can run to the right or left to escape.
There are mountains on both sides of them.
Like imagine this...
You went down a narrow path where there are mountains on both sides.
You are finally free.
Then where God/Moses lead you there is a sea.
This makes you trapped on three sides.
Then the Egyptians, the most powerful army in the world is coming down your only way out....
11 Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? 12 Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”
Listen to their response here.
The Children of Israel are upset.
I mean I get it, this is such a crazy situation to be in.
I am pretty sure I would feel the same way
The question is, is their response good?
Is it right?
In one way, yes, the other way no.
It is not wrong to feel feeling of panic.
It is natural, especially in a situation like this.
The important thing is how do we react to chaotic situations.
As I mentioned earlier, we are responsible for controlling out thoughts and emotions.
They start to blame Moses, which is ultimately blaming God.
Moses is not the one who led them here.
God did.
Why would God lead them here?
Because He has a plan.
He is trying to accomplish His plan and will.
They say they would rather be beaten, abused, and enslaved by the Egyptians than trust is God’s plan for them.
God has already proven Himself over 10 times with His power by delivering them with the 10 plagues.
He has already revealed Himself to them in a way more personal than any other nation or people in the world.
They are more privileged, because most people want God to give a sign and show His existence, and they don’t even trust in that.
They say that life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you respond to it.
What your attitude is.
What is your perspective?
Who knows what perspective is?
It is how you see things.
Everything has a perspective and everything looks different from what perspective you look through.
Worms have one perspective.
They only see things from the ground and very limited.
Birds have a different perspective.
They can see the ground, sky, and everything in between.
They can see things in the bigger picture by flying high.
The worm might be thinking it is in trouble in a storm(chaos), and has no idea that it isn’t the end of the world.
The bird can fly up and see that the clouds are passing by.
It doesn’t need to freak out.
The worm should listen to the bird, am I right?
We should listen to God.
Part of having peace is having trust and faith.
Knowing that He is in control and even in chaos, there will be a natural peace.
13 And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”
Here we have Moses doing the same thing Paul does in Philippians 4.
He commands us to do something that is not the natural reaction.
I love it,Moses tells them that God will fight for them.
They shall hold their peace.
Moses says that this is what God is trying to do for them.
To teach them to have peace in the chaos.
God asks Moses why he is crying out to Him.
The Hebrew word for “crying out”here means: to cry out with an appeal for something or some action; often in desperation or difficulty.
It is implied that even Moses gets anxious and starts crying out to God.
He appeals to Him.
He is asking for it to not happen.
Moses loses his cool as well.
But… he was just telling everyone that they would see God fight for them.
How is he struggling here?
Evidently, there was a lapse of time between him saying this and him eventually started freaking out as they got closer.
Again, it is natural to have the panic, but what do you do with it.
Does it steal your peace?
Do you not hold your peace, like Moses said they would?
Moses let fear cripple his peace.
We need to have peace in the chaos, because God has a work for us in the battle.
That is the true peace, not absence from the chaos.
But the peace in the middle of the chaos.
God tells Moses to act.
I know we talked about praying, but prayer eventually leads to action.
God now wants Moses to demonstrate his peace from faith by leading God’s people.
Moses is used as an example and can only do this by having the peace that surpasses understanding.
God tells Moses to do an illogical thing to deliver the people.
They have to really trust in God.
We all know the rest...
We all know the rest...
Moses, through the power of the Lord, stretches out his hand and divides the sea.
What an awesome thing to behold.
I’d probably pee my pants.
God helped them with a way out.
The Egyptians end up following in their arrogance.
They get swallowed up in the waters.
point:
Even as an adult who has been following the Lord for years, sometimes times get tough.
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Conclusion:
Conclusion:
The world is in chaos.
Are you seeing the Lord’s plan for you in it?
Are you trying to escape, or have the peace in it that comes from God.
From knowing Him and trusting Him.
What perspective do you have?
The worm’s or the bird’s?