Amen. Welcome again, everyone. We're so glad you're joining us today. Welcome, Smyrna Campus. We love you guys. So glad you're connected there. And everybody that's connecting with us online, we're thankful to have that connection with you as well.
As we begin today, of course, I think everyone has seen the news on what happened with a rally for former President Trump, where there was an attempted assassination, and there was loss of life from some people in the crowd and other serious injuries. We certainly want to take a moment right now just to pray for our community. We want to pray for the country, pray for everyone that was involved in suffering, the loss that was suffered there, and let's be praying that God, as He always can do and will do, that He could take something that's so terrible and use it and bring some good from this as He calls people to Him and to His son, Jesus, through this.
Let's pray together.
Father, we're grateful that we can approach your throne of grace boldly with confidence, knowing that you hear our prayers and that you answer them in a way that's best. Father, we pray for your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, in all things. We lift up former President Trump and his family as they suffered this attack. We lift up the families of those who died and also those that were injured. Father, we know that your presence and your power, your provision is there for them. And we just pray that you would comfort them in a way that only you can.
And we pray for our nation. When we see things like this, it doesn't matter which side of the political aisle that we're on. It's not about that. It's about people treating other people the way they need to be treated. It's about honoring life and you as the author of life. Help us to learn, Father, to love others the way you love us, to do better with that. Help us to treat everyone with dignity and respect. Help us, Father, as a people, to put aside anger and division and hostilities toward each other. That you would heal those hostilities that exist in our nation today.
But, Father, we know that it's your desire that if we want to be blessed, if we want healing in our nation, you first call us to turn to you in repentance and confession, seeking you first above everything else. Because that's where unity is found, as we all come together under you and your son, Jesus.
So, Father, we thank you that even in this terrible thing that has happened, we can see you at work calling people back to you through all of this. May we hear that call and heed that call in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Well, we continue today the series that we're in, in the book of Exodus. He draws us out to draw us in. One of the things I want to remind us all of as we continue in this series is how everything we're looking at is pointing ahead. Right? It's pointing ahead to what God's big plan is, His overshadowing plan for all of creation to be brought back, to be healed from the brokenness that sin has brought into the world. And He has selected a people in the Old Testament to form a covenant with the Israelites to be the model and the foreshadowing of what He was going to do in Christ.
Nine-year-old Joey was asked by his mother what he had learned in children's church one Sunday. And he said, "Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his engineers build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely. Then he used his walkie-talkie to radio headquarters for reinforcements. And they sent bombers to blow up the bridge. And all the Israelites were saved. And all of the Egyptian army drowned in the Red Sea."
The mother said, "Now, Joey, is that really what the teacher said?" He said, "No, Mom, but if I told it the way she did, you'd never believe it."
The book of Exodus, that narrative, takes a big turn in the section we get to today. As we look at chapters 13 and 14 in the book of Exodus, if you want to be opening up your Bibles there, we're going to be looking at selective verses there. There's a significant turn that's really going to shape the time we have with the second half of the book as we continue our study here.
Up until this time, remember, God has sent Moses and Aaron back to Egypt to demand that Pharaoh let his people go. And Pharaoh asked the question, "Who is the Lord? Did I shoot? Did I do good? Obey him and serve him." And so up to this point, God's been answering that question, right? That's what we looked at with all the plagues, how God was answering that question about who He really is and how the Egyptian gods weren't really gods at all, and how Pharaoh really wasn't the ruler in control like he thought he was, and how He is the I Am God. He's been showing it, proving it over and over again.
And as we read Exodus and read that narrative, we need to remember that Exodus is one, it's really book two of five books, remember? So we're in book two, the book of Exodus. The first book, Genesis, is where we see the introduction to all that's going on in Exodus. And in Genesis, we read about, we have the account and the record of God making this covenant promise with Abraham that through Abraham, he was going to bring about the people through whom all the earth is going to be blessed through the descendants of Abraham.
So what we're seeing here, we want to put it all together. When we see what God's doing with the nation of Israel, we know that's part of that promise that He made to Abraham. It's part of that covenant that He made. But remember, that covenant also was looking forward. Because it wasn't just the nation of Israel that God says, "I'm going to form for my purposes." It was through them that He said others were going to come. And one in particular was going to come, who was going to be a blessing, not just to the Israelites, but to all tribes and tongues and nations all over the world. It was a foreshadowing of the coming of Jesus Christ, our Messiah, our Savior.
So Israel is a nation that God is using to prepare the way and guide the path to the coming of the one who would be that blessing to the whole world that we now know to be Jesus, the fulfillment of that promise.
When we pick up here in God's plan in Book 2 in Exodus, in the story that we're in, the people of God at this point have no real sense of themselves yet. Remember for over 400 years, where have they been? In Egypt. They've been in Egypt for over 400 years when we pick up here. And over a period of 400 years, the first generation that went there that did know their God and did understand their God, now you've got generation after that. Generation after that. Generation after that. And the whole time they've been living in a very pagan culture. That whole time.
Now friends, you put any group of people in a pagan culture for a long enough period of time, and if they don't really stay strong in the teaching and enforcing of the teaching of God and God's Word, what happens is, is those people transform to be a lot like the culture they're in. It's happened in America. It's happened in Europe. It's happened all over the world throughout all of history. And it happened to the Israelites in Egypt. While they were there, they were greatly influenced by the pagan culture of Egypt.
So we're picking up at a time where, starting in chapters 13 and 14, what God is doing, there's a shift here. He's now shown them that He is the I Am God, that He's the one true God. But they don't really know Him or His teachings, not this generation of Israel. So now God, in this shift that we see in the narrative, is beginning to teach them His instructions, His commands, of how they should live life. Now that He's bringing them to their freedom, now that He's bringing them to the land that He promised He would take them to, now that He's in that transition period with them, this is a time God is going to be preparing them to be the set-apart people that He had planned all along for them to be.
Now, what we're going to see here is that when He gives them these commands on how to live and how to operate, there's a purpose behind it, and so they can become this kingdom of priests that herald the good news of God and the teaching of God, and they represent God well to the world. Does that sound like maybe that's a foreshadowing of something else? Like maybe that's a foreshadowing of God's plan all along to bring Jesus, to bring people to Jesus, to be a set-apart people for Him, to proclaim God's message to the world, to represent God in the culture that we live in? Don't you think He's pointing ahead to us? And what He's calling us to do is to church today. This is exactly what God's doing in this teaching. It's not just about Israel and Israel learning the commands of God. It's about how that was a foreshadowing of the people of God that would include all ethnicities, all races, all people all over the world that God was bringing into His kingdom to represent Him in a culture that would often reject Him and turn from Him.
So I want today to look in these two chapters, and I have really four points that I want us to dive into. And I want you to think as I look at these points for what's happening with Israel, the Israelites, I want us to always connect it to God's big plan for us even today. Keep looking forward as we look back at what God is doing here.
The first thing we're going to see about how He begins to teach them and shape them and mold them is that they are called to be a consecrated people. And looking ahead, we are called to be a consecrated people. Look at Exodus 13, verses one and two. The Lord said to Moses, "Consecrate to me every firstborn male; the first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal."
Now, if you've been here through our study, you might remember that when Moses first meets with Pharaoh, he comes to him and he says, "The I Am God has sent me here to demand that you let His people go." But he refers to those people that Israel would be referred to as "my firstborn son." Let's look back to Exodus 4. I want to remind you of what he says there. Verse 21, "The Lord said to Moses, when you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I've given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. Then say to Pharaoh, this is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son. And I told you, let my son go so that he may worship me, but you refuse to let him go. So I will kill your firstborn son."
Now, if you were here last week, what did we look at? That final plague, that 10th plague, where the firstborn in Egypt and every household died as a result of that plague, even in Pharaoh's household. Now you think that seems really harsh, but you have to remember, nine plagues came before that. And even before the very first plague, God had said this to Pharaoh. He warned him in advance, "If you don't let my firstborn go, this is going to be the consequence. This is going to be the punishment that's going to happen. This is going to happen to you and to Egypt." You see, God does not execute judgment always instantaneously, though sometimes He has. Oftentimes He gives instructions, He gives warnings, He gives chances for people to turn, for people to get back to where they need to be, but there's still going to be justice. There's still going to be that execution of punishment for evil and for sin.
Now that looks ahead to the firstborn son, Jesus, who would take that punishment on our behalf, for us on the cross, where He would take the punishment that was supposed to be ours. And He would take it upon Himself so that we could be freed. Well, what He's saying here in Exodus 13 is, "All right, my firstborn, I want you to be consecrated." And what does that word mean? I want to take just a moment to talk about what it means to be consecrated. The idea of consecration for Israel is the idea that the family and the wealth of the family and the name of the family and the position of the family, it all really belongs to the Lord. It's His. For the nation of Israel, the firstborn of God, they are set apart for God. God, they're His people for His purposes, for His plan.
Consecration is the idea of taking what is ordinary. Israel was certainly just ordinary. They were flawed. They were not in any way before this set apart themselves in any way. They were just normal, ordinary people with all the flaws that everybody has. But the consecration was that they would be a people that were no longer going to be ordinary by God's design. Consecration is the idea of taking what is ordinary, whether it's a place or a utensil or a person, and you set it aside for exclusively holy purposes. That's what it means. That's what it means to be consecrated. And God is saying to Israel, "I'm setting you free, but not just for any reason. I'm doing this for a purpose. I've got a plan here. The plan is I'm giving you this freedom for the purpose of now I want you to be consecrated to me, to be set apart for me for holy purposes." That's what consecration is.
Now they would often consecrate other things for God, like for use in the temple and things like that. We're going to be reading about that. But this was the people themselves being consecrated, set apart for the Lord. It changes everything, friends, when you make that connection looking forward to how God has called us today in Christ to now be His consecrated, set apart people for His purposes, for His glory, for His honor. Doesn't that change how you view your life? Maybe even how you value your life when you recognize the high and the holy calling and purpose God has for us, the church, in the world today. He's called us to be a set apart, consecrated people who represent Him in the world.
The New Covenant uses terms like we're ambassadors for Christ, right? We represent Christ. The very word "Christian" actually literally in the original language means "little Christ." It means we represent Jesus everywhere we go in what we're doing, what we're saying, how we're acting, how we're behaving. He wanted Israel to be set apart for Him. He wants Christians, those who belong to Jesus, to be consecrated and set apart for Him too. That's what He's calling us to do. That's who He's calling us to be. And the worst thing we can do, and the thing Satan wants more than anything else for us to do, is to lose that distinctiveness by letting the pagan world around us transform us into being just like them. We lose our purpose. We lose that distinctiveness. We're no longer that consecrated people.
When we look so much like the world, they can't see any difference between us and the culture of the world around us. You see, Israel's coming out of a very pagan culture, and that's why God is going to take a lot of time and effort here to teach them how to be different than that culture. Not how to blend in, not how to fit in, not how to be popular in that culture, but how to be a set apart people for God in the midst of that pagan culture that the world was around them. God's called us people, church, all of us, He's called us to be that set apart consecrated people.
You see, the culture around us, here's the mistake we make. We often make this mistake as Christ followers. We start expecting one of two things. Either we expect the world to live like God calls us to live as set apart people without knowing Jesus, without knowing God, which they can't do. It's impossible for them to do that. We never should have even expected that. But what we do on the other hand, if we don't do that, is we start thinking that, and churches have made this mistake in America, it's a terrible mistake to make, and that is, if we could just become a little more like them, we'll be more acceptable to them, and we even use spiritual terminology like that will give us then the ability to influence them for Christ. That's the opposite of what He says we're supposed to do to influence them for Christ.
We're never called to be like that. We're called to be like them, to conform to what they conform to, to follow the pattern that they follow. In fact, my life verse, Romans 12, 1 and 2 says we're supposed to be transformed, not conformed, to the pattern of this world. We're not supposed to become like the culture around us and adopt and accept their practices as if it's okay for us to participate in those same practices. If we're consecrated, that's not okay. We're supposed to be set apart, right? Not the same. We're distinctly different people.
The thing that the early church had that was so powerful was how they were so contrasted with the culture around them, so much unlike the culture around them. Many of them were living in a Roman world, right? The Roman-controlled world, and that culture, it was one of the most pagan cultures in the history of the world. But they stood out as being so distinctly different that they couldn't believe how these people were living and how they were doing and what they were practicing. It was amazing to the Roman culture, the distinctive difference they saw in the early church. I'm not so sure the world sees that distinctiveness in the church in America today, where it stands out so dramatically that they are amazed at the difference in how we live life and how the rest of the world lives life, how we make decisions compared to how they make decisions, what we value compared to what they value in the rest of the culture.
We're called to be consecrated, set apart for God. The second thing we see here is we're also called to commemorate as He called Israel to commemorate. Look at verse 3 through 10 here. Moses said to the people, "Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. Today in the month of Aviv you are leaving. When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, probably some parasites in there too, the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you are to observe this ceremony in this month. For seven days eat bread without yeast, and on the seventh day hold a festival to the Lord. Eat unleavened bread during the week, and during those seven days nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. On that day tell your son, 'I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.' This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand. You must keep his ordinance at the appointed time year after year."
What God is doing here for Israel is He's weaving into His people the rhythms of the idea of remembering who they really are, where they've really come from, what their lives are supposed to really be all about. See, the institution of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it was meant to be celebrated every year as a marker where they get away from the normal routine that they get themselves caught up in and the normal rhythm of life. It would take them back to remind them not to forget to root themselves back in their story, God's story for them, His design for them and their lives as a consecrated, set-apart people.
You see, every year when they did the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it would root them back to this reality that God saved them. They did not save themselves. Pharaoh did not just give them their freedom. It was God who saved them. And so they need to be brought back to that. God not only saved them, but He saved them for a purpose, which was to be the consecrated, set-apart people for Him that represented Him to all the nations of the world around them.
And God today has delivered you and me. He saved us. We have not saved ourselves. There's nothing we could do to save ourselves. The work of salvation was done solely and completely by the work of Jesus, His death, burial, and resurrection. We are recipients of the gift of salvation provided through Christ. And because of that, we need to be reminded regularly of who we are, where we come from. But we also, when we remember what Jesus did for us, we need to also be reminded that He did that for a purpose for us as a people. He didn't save us so that we would go back to our sin. He didn't save us so that we would continue to walk in rebellion against God. He saved us to be that set-apart, sacred, consecrated people that honor God with our lives and our lifestyles, with our language, with our activities, with our participation in life's activities. He wants us to be that set-apart people representing Him well in the world.
As I saw what happened with the assassination attempt, it wouldn't have mattered which party the person was, I would have had the same response, the same reaction. But here's what I saw that was so sad. I saw memes and posts on social media from people that I know who claim to be Christians that were anything but God-loving, godly Christian responses to what happened. That's not being a set-apart people, friends. That's not being a distinctly holy and set-apart, indifferent people when we do those kinds of things. And as your pastor, we've got to call us out on it. It's time we stop acting like that. And some people were even joking and ridiculing what had happened, as if it was funny, what had happened. Friends, that's a worldly view. That's an ungodly response to what took place, no matter which person it was that they tried to assassinate. We are supposed to be better than that, different than that. I see people also posting, "America's better than that." Let me tell you something, without Christ, America's not better than that. It's only in Christ that we can be better than that, that we should be better than that, that we must be better than that. You can't do it without Christ, without His presence and power and provision for your life. That's part of what sets us apart and allows us to be consecrated for Him.
The third thing we see here in this encounter that we're looking at today is we're also guided by the Holy Spirit. We're not just consecrated people who practice this commemoration. Then we are guided by the Holy Spirit. Look at chapter 13, beginning with verse 17. When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. You think He might have a plan there? The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. That was something that He had promised there. And He took the bones of Joseph with Him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, "God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones with you from this place."
After leaving Succoth, they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. And then look at this. By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night was put into place in front of the people.
Look back, but then look ahead. God didn't call His people out of the bondage of slavery there and leave them without guiding them and directing them on where He wanted them to go. He provided a presence for them that was His presence with them to guide them and direct them exactly where He wanted them to go. I know some people think, "I love this. That's a great kind thing for God to do." They're in a land. They don't know the landscape well. They don't know exactly where they need to go or the best routes to take. So God is right there with them, taking them through this land that they're not familiar with, calling them to be consecrated and set apart the whole time.
While they're traveling through this place, they don't know well, trying to maneuver and handle things the way they need to. They needed to be guided through that. And God, in His kindness, is providing that guidance through that cloud in the day and that pillar of fire by night. He's providing a guide. And sometimes I know people think, "Well, I wish God would do that today for me." If He just, you know, we ask God to give us a sign, right? Tell us, show us, God, what we need to do, which way we need to go, what's the best choice to make. Is that the girl I should marry? Pow! Pillar of fire over her head. That's fire, right? That's what God wants for me. Is this the job I should take? Pillar of cloud guiding me into the office, right? I'm going to do that. We think, wouldn't that be nice to have something like that? Friends, that's not even what this was. Don't misunderstand what this was. This is just a general guide of direction of what direction to go with their lives. This is not the specific, every little question they had. He was doing this for them. He wasn't doing that. He wants to teach them to make those decisions themselves that are rooted in the guidance that He's given them.
That's why He not only gave them the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire, He gave them His word, the law, the commandments. That's what we're leading into here in this series. He's going to provide for them not just a general guide, but the specific teachings of what life is supposed to look like as a set-apart people for God. I saw this meme, maybe you saw it. Not all of them are good. This one was pretty good on social media. A guy was saying, "God, please speak to me. Please tell me what to do." And God's reaching out from heaven and hands him a Bible. He says, "Here you go. Read this." You see, God provides guidance for His people. They had the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. But then they had the word of God. And they had the word combined with that presence of God taking them in the direction they needed to go.
For the detailed decisions they were going to have to make. For the everyday life and practice of how to live life the way God wants us to live life. He's done something really special for us today, friends. When we start asking God to do these special things, remember this. God has already, when you first are freed from your sin, you're baptized into Christ, you're washed clean, you rise up to a new life. What does He give you right then? The Holy Spirit. That's God Himself. That's His presence with you. He is with us, guiding us and directing us. Don't ever forget, we have the very presence of God, the same Spirit it says that raised Jesus from the dead is now living in us also. Show me a sign, God. I gave you my presence, my Spirit, the power that raised Jesus from the dead. Here's your sign. Here's your sign. And not only that, but then He gives us what? His Word. He has preserved it for us. He inspired the writers. We have intact the Holy Scriptures that are useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and instructions that we need to live that consecrated, set-apart life that He's called us to live.
And then He tells us that the Word is the sword of the Spirit. It's the tool that the Spirit uses to guide and direct us. And then He tells us that the Word is the direct and correct our lives to keep us on track where we need to be. But we want to do it without any effort of actually getting into the Word. Without actually praying and allowing the Spirit to guide and direct our understanding of the Word. We just want Him to give us a sign. Well, I think when they asked Jesus for one more sign, He had worked all these miracles. You know what? They still ask Him, "Give us another sign, Jesus, so we'll believe in You." He said, "I'm going to give you one more sign. Like, this is going to be the last one, guys. Here's your sign. As Jonah was three days and nights in the heart of the earth, so the Son of Man will be three days in the heart of the fish, so the Son of Man will be three days in the heart of the earth."
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is your sign. It is your confirmation. It is your assurance that God has brought salvation to you through Jesus Christ. It is your confirmation. It is your assurance that you will follow Jesus. And He's calling you to know and follow Jesus. There is no greater sign. Think about it. There is no greater sign God could give you than raising His Son from the dead. It's never happened before. It's never happened since. Anything like this. He's a teacher like no other. He's a resurrected from death teacher. He's the one we need to be listening to, following, allowing to guide and direct our lives.
So God has provided for us the guidance that we need so that we can be the set apart people that we need to be. We have the Spirit of Christ in us. We have the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit available to us so that as we learn and grow, it can transform us. That's what will keep us on track to be the consecrated people that He wants us to be. But every time we let ourselves get away from the Word, it chips away at our ability to be the consecrated people He wants us to be. Every time we make the choice, "I know that's what the Word says, but I'm going to do it this way anyway," it chips away at our ability to fulfill that purpose that He has for our salvation, which is to be His set apart consecrated people.
Every time we take what He says about marriage and say, "Well, I'm not going to do it that way. I'm going to do it the way the world's doing it." Every time we see what He says about the role of a man or a woman and we decide, "No, we're going to blend the genders and do all that stuff," and get away from the Word, it chips away at our ability to be the set apart consecrated people that He's called us to be. Every time we decide to act in greed the way the world often acts in greed and we use our money that way as greedy people, that chips away at our ability to be the set apart consecrated people He's called us to be. Every time we treat people unfairly and with injustice, we are chipping away at our ability to be the set apart people God has called us to be. Anytime we get away from the Word, we're getting away from the calling and the purpose of God for our lives.
We can no longer serve the purpose Jesus said, "You are to be salt and light," but how can you be if you lose your saltiness, that distinctiveness that sets you apart from the rest of the world? You can no longer serve the purpose of being a part of our lives, but you can no longer serve the purpose of being a part of our lives, salt and light in the world today.
The fourth thing is this: we are also covered by the power of God. In chapter 14, let's pick up with verse 10. Remember they traveled out to near the Red Sea there, and then Pharaoh changed his mind once again. He decides to get his chariots all hooked up with the horses and go after these people. In fact, it's like he said, "Oh no, what have I done?" You know what's driving him, motivating him? Greed. Greed is driving him. We've lost the services of this whole nation of slaves that we used to have. Now what are we going to do? The whole economy was based on that. We can't really let them go. It will ruin us as a nation. So he decides to go after them to bring them back, and they pursue him.
Look at verse 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. They said to Moses, "Wasn't it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?" Boy, it didn't take them long to change their mind, did it? It didn't take them long to all of a sudden decide they don't like Moses anymore. He's not a good leader. I mean, he's brought them out here to die. And look at verse 12. He says they're going to say, "What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians?'" Is that really what they said? No, that's not what they said at all. They said, "Get us out of this mess! Get us out of this bitterness! Get us out of this suffering!" That's not what they said. But as soon as it got hard, they changed their memories a little bit of what it was like to be where they used to be. And then they said, "It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert."
Don't kid yourself. While they were being beaten and abused as slaves, they thought it would be better to die than be slaves in Egypt. Under the pressure, under the threat, they're ready to turn their backs on God, on Moses and Aaron. Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. And you will see the deliverance the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only do what? Be still."
Now I want to correct a misunderstanding of that verse. It's been abused and it's been pulled out of context and put on cups and banners and bumper stickers and all that. Just let go and let God is kind of the approach they started making out of this verse. "Be still" does not in any way mean don't do anything. That's not what that word means. "Be still" means stand firm where you are in God. Stand firm and strong where you are for us in Christ. Don't be moved from that no matter what threat you face, no matter what's going on around you, no matter what the circumstances are of your life at the moment. Stand firm still in your walk with God through Christ. Do not let anything take you off that path, off that course because He said when you do that, you're going to see God do what only God can do. You're going to experience what only God can bring about. You're going to witness the mighty hand of God at work in your life if you will stand firm in Christ and not compromise that.
Actually be the set apart consecrated people that He's called you to be no matter what the circumstances are at the moment. That's when you see God do what only God can do. Verse 26, I love this. The Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and their horsemen." Stop there for a minute. He's already raised up his staff, praying to God, seeking God's deliverance. What happened to the water? It's separated. It parted. If you don't know anything about the book of Exodus, you probably know a few of the things you might remember: Moses in the basket, you might remember something about the plagues, and you probably remember the Red Sea event, the crossing of the Red Sea, the parting of the waters. And even unchurched people all across America and the world today know a little bit about this story, not from the Bible, but from where? Charleston Heston. I can't even think of Moses without thinking of Charleston Heston, right? I think he played a really good Moses. But here's the thing: this wasn't just a movie. This is not a fairy tale. This is God demonstrating to His people His power, His presence, His provision, His deliverance for them if they would be willing to do what? Stand still. Stand firm in who you are as my people. You will see my deliverance for you when you do that.
So let's go on. He says, "Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and the horsemen, an entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground with a wall of water on the right and on the left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites were displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in Him and in Moses, His servant."
Now hold that for the rest of the series because they didn't stand firm there for a moment when they saw that happen and that deliverance. They loved God. They're so grateful for God, and they're going to honor God and serve God for the moment until the next challenge came. "We're thirsty! We don't have any water! God, what have you done?" "I parted the Red Sea! You don't think I could give you some water?" "We're hungry! We got nothing to eat!" "I parted the sea! I destroyed the whole Egyptian army in the Red Sea! I think I could give you some food!" Right? That's why we need to be reminded. You see, that's why the commemoration part of it is so important. We talked about it last week with the Passover pointing ahead to the communion, and we're going to talk about it next week, and we're going to talk about the communion that we have with Christ every Lord's Day. We come together as a people, and we are reminded not only who we are saved by the grace of God through the blood of Jesus, but who God is, how God has delivered us from our enslavement to sin and the wages of sin, which is death.
I want to close with this passage from 1 Peter 2 and verse 9 where Peter does this for us. He looks back and he points ahead and he makes the connection we need to make with what we just looked at today. He says to Christians, he's writing to us who follow Jesus, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into what? Into His marvelous light."
You know what God did for Israel? It was a great and powerful thing. But what He's done for all of us in Christ is far greater than the deliverance that He brought to Israel. Therefore, we need to be that royal priesthood, that holy nation. We are in Christ, God's special possession, and we have a purpose for living today as His special possession, as His holy nation. It is so that we may declare the praises of Him who's done this for us, who did what it was needed to be done to get us out of that darkness of being lost in sin and under the punishment of sin and death. He's brought us out of that through Jesus, and He's called us now to live out a life worthy of the deliverance that He's brought to us as His people.
Maybe there's someone here today who's ready to listen to God's call out of the sin and the darkness that you have found yourself enslaved by. Jesus has paid for that already, friends. He's already paid the price that will deliver you. So today He calls you to come and profess your faith in Jesus Christ. If you've not yet been baptized into Christ, today you can be buried with Him. The Bible says we're buried with Him into His death and His burial and His resurrection through baptism, and then we would rise up out of that grave. We're new people, consecrated, set apart for God, and He gives you His Spirit to go with you everywhere now and guide and direct your life through the teaching of His Word. We can begin to live out that transformed life that lifts Jesus up to a lost and dying world with that distinctiveness that we find in our relationship with God through His Son, Jesus.
Let's pray together.
Father, we thank you that today we've been reminded we can look back and then we can connect it to today and look forward from here to how in your delivering Israel as your people from slavery in Egypt, you delivered us today as your people from slavery to sin and death. Father, may we be reminded of your presence for us, of your Spirit in us, of your Word to guide us, and may we not only remember backwards but that we will remember forward that you've saved us for a high and holy purpose and calling in our lives. May we represent you well, and if there's anyone today ready to come into that relationship with you through that deliverance found in Christ, I pray that today through the prompting of your Spirit and your Word, they would take those steps to be welcomed into your family, your kingdom, your set apart people that you will use for your glory. In Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.
We're going to stand and sing right now. While we're standing and singing, if you have a decision you need to make, just walk right up front here, and I will greet you there. Let's stand and sing together.
[Music]
Everybody have a seat, please. James, come up here with me, buddy. Just step right up here. James comes today asking for prayer. We're so thankful to partner with Sober Living America and other groups here in the area that are trying to help people with battling the demons of addiction and things like that. And James comes asking for prayer for his sobriety and for his family, for his kids, because it affects every part of your life. The addiction can, and it can bring wreak havoc to a family. And he's just asking for prayer that he could stay on that path that he needs to be on. And with God's help, there can be victory even in this battle. And I know God has brought that victory to many others, and He will do this for James as well as James looks to Him for that strength and that power. Because he's got to do some things in his own strength, sure. He's got to take some steps that he needs to take. But he needs the power of God, a power greater than any power at work in the world, to really have victory in this part of his life, just like we all do for the things we struggle with.
Let's pray for James right now.
Father, I thank you for James' willingness to come up front and seek prayer from your people. He wants, Father, to honor you with his life. He wants to be a blessing to his kids. He wants to have a good relationship with his family and his friends. Father, we know that the battle that he's facing is not an easy one. So we pray for your presence and your power and your provision for him, that he would never stop looking to you, seeking your presence and that power that only you can give, that he would be in your Word and be in prayer and be with your people consistently to help him stay on that path with all the provision you have for him. Help him to know your Spirit's presence and power. Help him to know your love in a greater way than ever before. It's our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.
God bless you. Thank you, brother. Thank you.
Tammy, come on up. Tammy comes asking for prayer, and I appreciate her willingness to come up front, too, with this. It's a little bit of a confession and a prayer request, okay? Tammy, like many, many people, battles with knowing how to respond, like on social media and things like that, to things that are being said, things that are not, you know, maybe accusatory statements and things like that that are made that aren't true or aren't true. And so she's asking for prayer that I think all of us need to be asking for. That is that God would put a guard over our mouths. Now, that means keyboards, too. That means cell phones. That means all areas where we communicate, right? That's what the Bible's talking about there, where we can answer with wisdom and discernment, but we don't even always, sometimes, listen to me, please, sometimes not answering is an answer. It's a response because they're baiting you out there to do things and say things that are not godly, that are not Christian in any way. So sometimes, ask God to help us keep our mouths shut. But also, it's hard, but also to have wisdom if we do open our mouths for to represent Jesus well when we do, okay? I'm not saying don't be bold for Jesus. We should be bold for Jesus, but what we're calling boldness sometimes is anger and anger anything but what Jesus would want us to be saying or doing, okay? There's a difference in boldness and discernment. We can be bold and discerning at the same time and represent Jesus well. And that's what Tammy wants to do. She's not wanting to not be bold for Jesus. That's exactly what she wants to do, but she wants to do it in the godly way that all of us need to be doing it.
So let's pray together.
Father, I just want to lift up Tammy and I here. Her heart is for you, Father. She loves you. She wants to be with you. She wants to honor you with her life and her words and her actions and responses. I pray that you would grant her grace and an extra measure of discernment as she is feeling these anger and the need to respond. Father, just help her to make sure she brings that under the control of your Spirit and how she does that. But Father, I'm not just praying this for Tammy. This is something we all need. I'm praying it for all of us as your people. May we be bold. But may we be more like Christ than we've ever been before in how we do it. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.
God bless you. Thank you. Thank you.
All right. This time, well, again, we want to thank you for being here with us today. It's a joy to have this assembly time together. If you would like to continue worshiping through the giving of an offering, you can do so. There's offering boxes, one in the back of the auditorium, one in the hallway as your exit. You can drop your offerings in the top slot of those boxes. You can also go to our website at WWJD.org. Give online at lakeshorechristian.com. Just click on the gift tab there, and you can mail in your offerings to the church office.
Now, any way you do it, it doesn't matter which form you do it in, as long as you are honoring God, putting Him first, that's what it's supposed to be about. And then that funds the work and the ministry of the church. So we're so thankful. We were able to give away our sixth car this past week to help out someone with a need of transportation. We're very grateful for that. And that's not all. There's so many. We've helped with car repairs this past week too, with some people that needed some help with that. We've helped with some rent assistance and things like that. It's when you give your tithes and offerings to the church, we're very careful to use it in the right way, but to use it for ministry to lift up Jesus and draw people to Him. So we're so grateful for your support of the work and the ministry here at Lakeshore. Just know that we're going to be good stewards of that. The leaders here are very good stewards of that, and we want it to be used for the right things. And it's used for every part of ministry that we do here. We couldn't have children's ministry without that. We couldn't have youth ministry without that. Don't you think we need that for our kids today more than ever, right? All of that is funded and supported through the offerings that you give at Lakeshore Christian Church. So thank you for that.
We've got another group of teenagers that next week will be leaving to go to another youth conference this summer for a Youth for Christ youth conference. So we're excited about that. You're making all of those things possible as you honor God by bringing your tithes and offerings through the local church here. So thank you for your generosity with that. This time, Jeremy's going to come up. He's going to close us out with...
on Jul 14, 2024
