Sermon Tone Analysis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwgNtLl0SsI

Great is the Lord, Maranatha singers

Pray

Opening Hymn

Announcements:

Nov 27-Hanging of the Greens/Harvest Dinner

Dec 4-Taste & Sounds of Christmas

Reception of New Members

Worship Set

Prayer Chorus

Prayer

Worship Through the Word:

The Power of a Testimony

Thankfulness

Now Thank We All Our God

It was the worst of times.

In the first half of the 17th century, Germany was in the midst of wars and famine and pestilence.

In the city of Eilenburg lived a pastor by the name of Martin Rinkart.

During one especially oppressive period, Rinkart conducted up to 50 funerals a day as a plague swept through the town and as the Thirty Years’ War wreaked its own terror on the people.

Among those whom Rinkart buried were members of his own family.

Yet during those years of darkness and despair, when death and destruction greeted each new day, Pastor Rinkart wrote 66 sacred songs and hymns.

Among them was the song “Now Thank We All Our God.”

As sorrow crouched all around him, Rinkart wrote:

Now thank we all our God

With hearts and hands and voice,

Who wondrous things hath done,

In whom His world rejoices;

Who, from our mothers’ arms,

Hath blessed us on our way

With countless gifts of love,

And still is ours today.

Rinkart demonstrated a valuable lesson for us all: Thankfulness does not have to wait for prosperity and peace.

It’s always a good time to praise God for the “wondrous things” He has done.

JDB, Our Daily Bread, October 12,

In good times and bad, we have testimonies to share of what God has done.

Israel had experienced some very difficult times, but what came out of them were wonderful testimonies of God’s protection and provision.

I had hoped to end this series at Mount Sinai, though I was thinking we would end after the giving of the Ten Commandments.

We did not get quite that far, though we were very close.

However, we are ending at a great place.

They have finally reached the mountain of God and Moses is so overwhelmed with gratitude for all God has done, he cannot help but share it with those he loves.

Today, we are reading Exodus 18:1-12.

Please stand.

Exodus 18:1–12NIV

1 Now Jethro, the priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moses, heard of everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. 2 After Moses had sent away his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro received her 3 and her two sons.

One son was named Gershom, for Moses said, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land”; 4 and the other was named Eliezer, for he said, “My father’s God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.” 5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ sons and wife, came to him in the wilderness, where he was camped near the mountain of God. 6 Jethro had sent word to him, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”

7 So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him.

They greeted each other and then went into the tent.

8 Moses told his father-in-law about everything the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the Lord had saved them.

9 Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the Lord had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians.

10 He said, “Praise be to the Lord, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians.

11 Now I know that the Lordis greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly.” 12 Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.

The Word of God for the people of God.

Thanks be to God!

Pray

The Power of a Personal Testimony, Exodus 18:1-12

Have you ever taken a long road trip?

It often begins with high energy as you pack with excitement in anticipation of your destination.

Then the trip begins.

You get settled in your seat.

The excitement settles and you try to position yourself for the long trip.

Eventually, (if your not the one driving), you try to get comfortable and sleep to help make the trip feel shorter.

We all know that along the way, little voices in back will ask, “Are we almost there?”

Their excitement has also waned.

However, when the time comes that you are close to your destination, say perhaps it is within a half-hour, the energy level begins to rev up again.

If you are meeting family or friends at your destination, you quickly recite any adventures you had along the way.

Johnny got sick and threw up on Susie.

Susie was excited over the wild horses we saw along the highway.

Oh, and a bus passed us along the way that contained Dolly Pardon and her band.

Well, some things do not change.

The trip was on foot.

The path dusty and long, but as the destination became visible in the distance, I can just imagine the energy level escalating, and people began to talk with a little more animation about finally reaching their destination.

For Moses, it will be the place where he will meet up with his family once again and boy does he have a lot to say about the journey.

However, his tale is not about seeing Dolly Pardon or about who got sick along the way, but it is about all that God has done for Moses and his people.

So, let us look a little closer at this meeting between Moses and his father-in-law.

The first thing we see is that...

A. Moses Gives An Account of God’s Faithfulness Exodus 18:7, 8

Moses is giving a person testimony to Jethro of all that he witnessed God do for him and his people.

Look again at Moses’s response to the news that his father-in-law is approaching.

Exodus 18:7–8NIV

7 So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him.

They greeted each other and then went into the tent.

8Moses told his father-in-law about everything the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the Lord had saved them.

We can learn a lot from Moses in this encounter about how to be a positive witness to God in an unbelieving world.

The first thing I want you to notice is that...

1. Moses treated his father-in-law with respect

When Moses last saw his father-in-law, Moses was nothing more than a shepherd who worked for his father-in-law.

He was totally dependent upon Jethro as he had nothing of his own.

Now, Moses is a leader of millions of people.

He has led these people from out of bondage.

It would be natural to want to show your father-in-law that you have accomplished something and made something of yourself.

Moses could have gone to his father-in-law all puffed up in pride and expect to stand before him as an equal.

But Moses doesn’t do that.

Moses humbles himself before his father-in-law treating him the same way he would have previously.

He honors his father-in-law by bowing before him and kissing him on the cheek as was an appropriate greeting of a loved and respected father.

If we wish people to hear our testimonies, we need to treat them with respect.

We need to be humble and not treat them like we are better and wiser.

In one of the corporate offices I worked in, we had a lady in our office that professed to be a Christian.

She made a really big deal over the corporate parties stating boldly to anyone who would listen, “I do not associate with my co-workers because they drink but I do not because I am a Christian.”

When she did so, it was like she was saying, “I am better than you because I am a Christian, so I want nothing to do with you.”

It did not open any doors for people to listen to any testimony she may give.