JAN BATTLE ASSEMBLY

Why do we fail?

-Start off by asking the question:

-What are some reasons that we fail at things?

Looking through the book of Exodus

-I would love it if we had enough time just to read the whole thing,

-so I want to do my best to give you the 15 minute version of Exodus

-Setting the stage

-Exodus takes place around 1400 BC

-In Egypt

-at the time Egypt was the dominant empire in the world

-There was the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and the Egyptians were big three.

-And Egypt was the top dog at the time.

The Hebrews found themselves in Egypt

-they had good diplomatic relations with the Egyptians

-And you can read more about that in the book of Genesis

-but suffice it to say that originally they in egypt under friendly terms

-With all of that said

-who here knows the story of Exodus?

-[Seen the movie “Prince of Egypt?]

Exodus 1:8–12 NIV

Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites

-So pharaoh is thinking about preserving his empire

-and he’s looking around at these people within his borders and he’s thinking

-I need to oppress these people so that they don’t get away and make a sweetheart deal with one of my enemies

-I’ll force them into slave labor and make them build my military outposts

-That’s what a store-city is

-[MAP IN THE YOUVERSION APP]

-the capitol of Egypt is inland

-and these two cities Pithom and Ramses are port cities near the Mediterranean

-They would have held rations, supplies, chariots

-all the stuff you would need to either launch an attack to the north

-or to defend any armies that might invade from the east

-and cut them off before they could get to the capitol city of Thebes.

-and so pharaoh forces the hebrews into slavery

-and even goes so far as to order all of the hebrew children to be killed at birth

-so this is not a good guy we’re talking about, even by ancient standards, this guy is straight up evil

-Well one of those children that pharaoh tried to kill was Moses

-Moses ends up not being killed,

-he grows up in the court of pharaoh

-and he’s not perfect

-at one point he actually commits murder

-and ends up having to flee as a fugitive into the desert

-And moses has this encounter with God

-and God tells moses I am going to free my people from egypt

-and you’re going to be the one to do it.

Exodus 3:16–22 NIV

“Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’ “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go. “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.”

Does anybody know what plundering is?

-Because in that time soldiers weren't paid, they didn’t collect a salary

-they got food, and housing

-but any income that they wanted came from plundering the people they conqured

-and this was brutal

-this involved going in after you had demolished a place

-and going house to house and taking anything you wanted by force

-it was violent, it was awful

-But God said you, Hebrews

-a bunch of nomadic sheepherders

-with no army, no weapons, no soldiers

-not only are you going to plunder the world’s largest super power

-but the way you’re going to do it is you’re just going to go up and ask for stuff and they’re just gonna give it to you

-not only that but I’m gonna send the women and they’re going to do the plundering

-In 2023, that might not be controversial

-but in the 1400 BC that was unheard of, and embarassing to Pharaoh to have your people “plundered” by the women.

-the only thing worse would have been to send the children out to do the plundering.

-And so Moses and his brother aaron go to pharaoh

-and they’re like hey can we leave

-and pharaoh’s like no

-and God sends a series plagues to try and convince pharaoh

-and each time God sends a plague it gets progressivley worse and worse

-and each time pharaoh says no

-until finally God ends up taking the life of all the firstborn in Egypt

-And most of you probably know this story, maybe you don’t

-but if that is something that worries you

-if that’s something you have questions about

-I want you to know that it’s OK to have questions

-it’s OK to struggle with things

-You don’t have to have all the answers

-But nonetheless pharaoh finally concedes and agrees to let the Israelites go.

Exodus 13:17–18 NIV

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 ready for battle.

-So here’s where I really want to hit home

-why do we fail?

-After all that work God did

-with Moses and the plagues and all of that stuff

-God knew that if the Israelites took the normal path

-on the map I have that’s the black line on the north (The other three lines are where we think they might have actually gone)

-if they went that way they would eventually meet the army of some other nation

-and they wouldn’t stand and fight

-he knew they were going to turn and run the very first time they ran into trouble

-and in fact we see in the next couple of verses, that’s exactly what they would have done

Exodus 14:10–12 NIV

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!”

-That is scathing

The Hebrews had too major problems

-the first of which was the fact that they were comfortably oppressed

-and by that I mean yeah they had to do back breaking labor

-and pharaoh was literally killing their children

-but they they 3 meals a day and a place to sleep

-they were willing to go through all of that in exchange for the comfort of not having to take care of themselves

-And the reason number 1 we fail

-because we get too comfortable

-can you stay in the army if you get a 360 on your ACFT, sure

-Can you still be a Christian if you don’t read your Bible and don’t go to church, and don’t volunteer at the soup kitchen and all of those things

-sure

-Just like the Army pushes you to do uncomfortable things

-God pushes you to do uncomfortable things

-because you’ll be better for it

-share your faith with someone

-read the whole bible from cover to cover

-don’t be comfortably oppressed

-And here’s the second reason we fail

-WE fail when we rely on our own strength

-I want to read what Moses says right after the people cry out

Exodus 14:13–14 NIV

Moses answered 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.”

-The reason we fail

-whether it’s working out, or doing good works for god

-the reason we fail is that we make the mistake of thinking that we are the ones doing the thing

-when we rely on ourselves we fail every single time

-when we rely on God he will fight for us, and we only need to be still.