This week we are headed back into our journey through Exodus. This week we are diving back into the book that has the roots of key Biblical concepts like: Lamb of God, the Passover, unleavened bread, wilderness wanderings, the Ten Commandments, manna from heaven, the Law, the sacrificial system, ark, tabernacle, priesthood, and I AM or YHWH. Whenever we step out of a series for an extended period of time, in this case our Together series, I like to give a brief recap of where we are at in the story.

Our current mini-series is called The God Who Provides, and it is a remarkable section that brings us up to the foot of Mt. Sinai where God will give His people the Law. Chapters 13-18 will show us the way in which God is able to deliver his people and provide for their needs. Remember that when they left Egypt, they left in haste and with only what they could carry. They plundered the Egyptians as they departed, but they did not have the necessary provisions in order to survive in the wilderness. This is by divine design. God aims to teach his people something very important throughout his season: a God who delivers is a God who will provide.

Exodus 14 - Fear Not | Stand Firm
In this captor we covered the infamous ‘Crossing of the Red Sea’ in which Israel just witnessed the greatest deliverance in human history (up to this point), they soon struggled with fear, panic, and a shaky faith.

Pharaoh has just let the Israelites go after the Tenth Plague, The Death of the Firstborn. God then leads His people out of Egypt and was the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar for fire by night and He did not depart from His people (Exodus 13:22).

God then fore-warns his people, through Moses, that he is going to harden Pharoah’s heart and God will get glory over Pharaoh and his host - for good (Exodus 14:1-4). Pharaoh and his 600 chosen chariots then begin to come after the Israelites. Fear and panic soon overcome the people of Israel and jump into an unhelpful sinful mentality. The saw what was happening, they feared what would happen, and then cried out to the Lord.

The Israelites soon start to play the blame game on Moses saying, “It is because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?…For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians that to die in the wilderness” (Exodus 14:12). I am sure that we all have had a similar response at some point in time in our walk with the Lord. We quickly forget that God is in control, or we don’t “feel it”, and quickly try and take control over for God.

This very way of thinking is why we need to be in community with one another. We need people in our life, like Moses, to stand up to us in these tough times, to say, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today.” (Exodus 14:13). This is huge for the Israelites at this point. For this verse re-orients their fear to faith in God that He is going to be faithful to his promises and deliverance. Exodus 14:26-29 records how God dried up the ground so that over 1 million Israelites could walk across and how He would also close it up, at the appropriate time, and wash out Pharaoh’s army and reveal His glory over Pharaoh.

Exodus 15 - The Song of Moses | A Song to the Lord

Moses then, after leading God’s people through the Red Sea and watching Pharaoh’s army get washed away in the Red Sea, leads the Israelites in a song of praise. We learned during this section of Scripture what the word “awful” means. The word awful means just that, awe-filled. This was a speechless reverent response, demonstrated in song, unto the Lord.

This song was sung by everyone who crossed the Red Sea. Can you imagine how loud this must have been? We should observe that these who were redeemed were not confused concerning who should get the credit, for they sang “to the Lord. yahweh had done a mighty work and they were sure to give Him the praise for it.

We too need to regularly contemplate the truth that salvation is of the Lord and as we do so, we must be sure and translate his truth into praise. Head knowledge and doctrinal correctness is not enough; it must affect our vocal chords as well.

Believer, take heart: You have been delivered from the domain of Satan to the kingdom of God’s dear Son. You have experienced the miraculous and gracious deliverance from the penalty of sin. Let this be your assurance that you will be delivered from the power and pleasure and yes, one day, from the presence of sin! Go forth with confidence that your reigning Lord will give you victory in the land that lies before you!

Exodus 16 - Learning to Trust God Every Day

“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name, Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as eel also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:9-213) That line, give us this day, our daily bread, has its roots in Exodus. It was during this section of Scripture that we looked at what this meant for the people of Israel.

The challenge for us in this last sermon was, “Can you trust God, not just in the big things, but also every single day?” or “Is God worthy to be trusted beyond the crisis moments? Is God powerful and personal?” For Israel, God used thrust and hunger to show them the important truth that God indeed can be trusted every day.

Early on in their wanderings in the wilderness, the people were complaining about not having anything to drink. They were unable to find the basic necessity of water. So they began to grumble - against Moses and against God. The Lord used this as an opportunity as a way to prove that He is a God who provides. Since there was no drinkable water, God told Moses to throw a log into the water and it became drinkable (Exodus 15:25). The Lord then instructed the people, “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 of his statutes, I will put none of these diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.” (Exodus 15:25-26).

Not long after God provides water for the the people of Israel, they begin grumbling about not having food. “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘behold I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people show go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” (Exodus 16:4-5). God was preparing the people of Israel to trust Him by providing only a daily portion of manna. The idea of temptation is not a testing to push a person to failure; rather, the idea is for the experiences of life to prove or validate God’s worthiness to be trusted.

Manna was the starting point of the lesson that human beings should never make the daily pursuit of their needs the single passion of their life. Manna was given to feed their stomachs and their souls. Manna reminds us that God can be trusted every single day.

I am looking forward to gathering with everyone at 9:30am Sunday morning as we dive back into Exodus 17:1-16 in a sermon titled "The Rock We Struck | The Banner We Trust".