LESSONS FROM THE JOURNEY: FROM THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRE!
EXODUS 13: 17- 14: 21
SUNDAY AM MAY 1, 2005 LADIES AT THE BEACH
INTRODUCTION: Subject: GOOD ONES
An Old Farmer’s Advice:
* Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
* Life ain’t about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how well you bounce.
* Keep skunks and bankers and lawyers at a distance.
* Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
* A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
* Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled.
* Meanness don’t jes’ happen overnight.
* Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads.
* Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
* It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge.
* You cannot unsay a cruel word.
* Every path has a few puddles.
* When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
* The best sermons are lived, not preached.
* Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t never gonna happen anyway.
* Don’t judge folks by their relatives.
* Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
* Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.
* Don’t interfere with somethin’ that ain’t botherin’ you none.
* Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
* The easiest way to eat crow is while it’s still warm, ’cause the colder it gets, the harder it is to swaller.
* If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin’.
* It don’t take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep.
* Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
* The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin’.
* Always drink upstream from the herd.
* Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.
* Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.
* If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around.
* Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.
ANOTHER WAY TO START:
McGraw Tim Song: Drugs Or Jesus Lyrics for Album: Live Like You Were Dying
In my home town For anyone who sticks around You’re either lost or you’re found There’s not much in between In my home town Everything’s still black and white It’s a long, long way from wrong to right From Sunday morning to Saturday night
Everybody just wants to get high Sit and watch a perfect world go by We’re all looking for love and meaning in our lives We follow the roads that lead us To drugs or Jesus
My whole life I’ve tried to run, I’ve tried to hide From the stained glass windows in my mind
Refusing to let God’s light shine Down on me Down on me
Everybody just wants to get high Sit and watch a perfect world go by We’re all looking for love and meaning in our lives There’s not much space between us Drugs or Jesus
Everybody wants acceptance We all just want some proof Everyone’s just looking for the truth
Everybody just wants to get high Sit and watch a perfect world go by We’re all looking for love and meaning in our lives We follow the roads that lead us To drugs or Jesus
TRANSITION THOUGHT: A couple of weeks ago we started thinking together about lessons that can be learned on the journey. I am on a journey that is moving me in different directions and so are you. Our Church is on a Journey and God is blessing us all. But why does the Lord place us on the Journey? We learned that for us even to be on the Journey, the Journey of God and of His Son Jesus Christ we must Start Right. To Start Right is to have the Blood of Jesus applied to our Lives. When Jesus is Forgiver and Guide, Savior and Lord, we are one the Right Journey, the Narrow way that leads to life. When Jesus is not our Forgiver and Guide, our Savior and Lord, we are on the Broad way that leads to destruction.
But, like the Ole Farmers advice, there are things to learn. And I believe this is the purpose of the Journey. God has lessons to teach us. Tim McGraw might say that these lessons lead to Drugs or Jesus, but these lessons will guide our lives. Where are you on the Journey?
THESIS SENTENCE: THE JOURNEY IS GOD’S OBSTICLE COURSE FOR GROWING IN FAITH, GRACE, AND TRUST!
WHAT DOES THE JOURNEY LOOK LIKE?
I. THE JOURNEY IS GOING THE LONG WAY
A. God chooses the long way
1. Exodus 13: 17 – 18, “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. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.”
2. A few observations from these two verses. After being in bondage 430 years, exactly to the day, (Exodus 12:41), do you think the Israelites were ready to fight? No! Long term Bondage takes the fight right out of you. The fight had been beaten out of them!
3. Yet, did you take note of that last phrase? “The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.” God knows that the way we appear on the outside is possible not the reality on the inside. Men are often like this! They look tough, but they have no “REAL” fight left in them!
4. The bottom line here is that God knows what we are up to and what we are not. HE CARES THAT MUCH, OR DOES HE?
5. He headed his flock straight to the sea?
B. God chooses the way of most resistance
1. How many times did Moses have to say to Pharaoh, “Let My People Go”? SEVEN TIMES!!
2. How many times did God have to PLAGUE PHARAOH? Count them, 10 times God “Plagued” Pharaoh before he would let go, and if we count the Red Sea, possible 11: Blood, Frogs, Gnats, Flies, Livestock, Boils, Hail, Locusts, Darkness, and First Born.
3. Why did God have to do that and Did God Make Pharaoh Sin, or was Pharaoh predisposed to disobey Another God?
KEY THOUGHT: Pharaoh’s considered themselves to be gods, Sun gods. After a history of 430 years of great slave labor, who would want to have to work? HOW MUCH ARE WE LIKE PHARAOH, WANTING TO DO THINGS OUR WAY REGARDLESS OF THE OPOSITION?
TRUTH: FOR US TO GROW IN FAITH, GRACE AND TRUST, OUR GOD MUST LEAD US THE LONG WAY!
QUESTIONS: DO WE ONLY WANT THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE? ARE WE WILLING TO GO THE LONG WAY IF IT IS GOD’S WAY?
II. THE JOURNEY DOESN’T MEAN EVERYTHING WILL GO SMOOTLY
A. ONE VICTORY DOESN’T MEAN THE WAR IS OVER
Just because the enemy is beaten, it doesn’t mean he’s through.
1. How many of you have seen a great scary movie where the enemy, villain, or demon is presumed to be dead, and as the hero turns to walk away, the monster attacks one final time and scares you to death.
2. Just when you think, Pharaoh has had enough, here he comes again. His own advisers had said, Hurry and leave, “for otherwise, we will all die (12:33).” And again, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt (14:25).”
B. ONE VICTORY DOESN’T EQUAL COMPLETE FAITH OR TRUST
Just because God works miracles, doesn’t mean you have to like it!
1. After all the ways God had worked for the people of Israel, wouldn’t you think they would just have so much faith that they would all completely trust GOD and Moses? NOT!
2. 14:10-15, “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, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? 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?’ It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
3. What is up with “Nay Sayers” anyway?
4. Did they not get it? Did they not know what God had done? Did they not understand that Freedom is better than Slavery? Do “Nay Sayers” like Slavery or Bondage, or just plain ole suffering?
5. God wants so much more for us than we want for our selves. We want Slavery and God wants Freedom. We want bondage and God wants Liberty. We want misery and God wants Joy! We want pain and God wants Healing. Do you get it yet?
KEY THOUGHT: In Exodus 14: 13-14 Moses tells the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” This has got to be one of the most powerful scriptures in the whole Bible. But did you notice verse 15, “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.” This also is a very powerful verse, but did Moses practice what He preached, or did he let fear get a hold on him also? Do you remember Peter walking on the Water? He stood before Jesus Himself and SUNK!
TRUTH: JUST BECAUSE WE HAVE CHOSEN JESUS AS OUR FORGIVER AND GUIDE DOESN’T MEAN WE ARE DONE WITH FAITH WALKING AND THE REAL JOURNEY!
QUESTIONS: WHEN WILL WE GET FAITH, OR WHEN WILL FAITH GET US? ARE WE WILLING TO STAND FIRM EVEN WHEN THE ENEMY KEEPS COMING?
III. THE JOURNEY IS BASED ON GOD ALONE!
A. GOD GETS INVOLVED!
1. Where does it begin? Was it a mother placing a baby in a basket and sending it down the Nile River (2:3)? Was it a conscience pricked at the treatment of his people (2:11)? Was it a kind father in law who took him in (2:21)? Was it God at the burning bush (3:2)? Was It God hearing the cries of His people (3:7)? Was it God sending Moses to Pharaoh (3:10)? Was it in the Plagues (7-11)? Was it the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night (13:21)? Was God telling the People to “Move On” (14:15)? Was it in the Red Sea (14:21)?
2. God uses a man! Could God have side stepped Moses and Aaron? Does God need us? He chose to use Moses!
3. God has fun? Verse 24 tells us that when God saw Pharaoh and the Army getting close, HE confused them! In verse 25 it tells us that God made the “Wheels fall off so that it was hard for them to drive!” Even the Enemy knows when God is against them. “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt (verse 25).”
B. GOD GETS THE GLORY!
In the Beginning, middle and End, God Gets the Glory!
1. “But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their 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 saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant (14:29-31).”
2. When God does a thing, it is usually a big thing!
3. God finishes what He sets out to do!
4. Back in Chapter 6, God says to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country (verse 1).” And again He said, “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my won people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians (6:6-8).”
5. Have I made a point yet? I sure hope so! God is all about deliverance and deliverance is all about the JOURNEY! It is all about HIM. AND IT IS ALL ABOUT US! HE knows what WE need and HE wants to supply OUR every need according to HIS GLORIOUS RICHES IN CHRIST JESUS (PHILIPPIANS 4:19)!
CONCLUSION: Life is a dance you learn as you go, sometimes you lead and sometimes you follow! Life is about the Journey and we are not on the Journey our Lord has for us if He is Not the Forgiver and Guide of our Lives. This means we must come to Jesus and surrender all that we are for all that HE IS! This is Repentance and Faith, the gift of GRACE! BUT, JUST BECAUSE WE HAVE ASKED JESUS TO SAVE US AND FORGIVE US DOESN’T MEAN HE IS DONE WITH US. WE HAVE JUST STARTED THE JOURNEY. AND IF WE EVER THOUGHT THE JOURNEY WAS GOING TO BE ALL PEACHES AND CREAM, WE WERE MISTAKEN! The Journey is about God leading us, taking us on HIS ROUTE, on the way that leads to ever lasting life. ALL ALONG THE WAY WE ARE TO LEARN, TO TRUST, AND TO OBEY! Where are you on the Journey? Has it gotten rough and you just don’t know what the Lord is up too? Is this Journey not working out the way you thought? I have a friend who really loves the Lord. BUT, he often forgets what SCRIPTURE SAYS ABOUT THE JOURNEY! Too often, we all buy into the popular mindset that if you know Jesus, everything will go our way. Scripture never teaches this. Scripture does, however, teach us that The Lord is our Guide. The Lord is our HELP! The Lord is our VICTOR! The Lord fights for us! AND WE ARE CALLED TO BE STILL! WHERE ARE YOU ON THE JOURNEY? ARE YOU LIVING BY FAITH, OR ARE YOU FRUSTRATED BY DOUBT? ARE YOU WALKING IN THE LIGHT OR ARE YOU SHAKING IN THE DARK? ARE YOU LIVING A LIFE OF VICTORY IN JESUS OR ARE YOU DEFEATED ALL DAY LONG? THE CHOICE IS OURS TO MAKE!
BENEDICTION: EPHESIANS 3: 20-21
