Untitled Sermon (2)

SCRIPTURE ANNOUNCEMENT

Exodus 23:20—33.

SCRIPTURE INTRODUCTION

We have been going through the book of Exodus…

Israel suffered as slaves…

God delivered them…

Reshaped their values…

Now, God reminds them of His promise to be with them.

RE-ANNOUNCE SCRIPTURE

Exodus 23:20—33.

SCRIPTURE READING

Exodus 23:20–33 ESV

20 “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. 22 “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. 23 “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, 24 you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. 25 You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. 26 None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. 27 I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. 31 And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

INTRODUCTION

It was the championship game… it was tied 2-2… and there was only eight seconds left on the clock.

10 years old… called up… they needed a defenseman… got to play with best friend

Played well… made it to championship… because of our leader/captain Quincey

He was bigger than everyone else… faster than everyone else… and could shoot harder than anyone else.

This guy was terrifying!

The championship game was a really good game, and at the end of the 3rd period, with 8 seconds left, it was tied 2-2..

Faceoff our end… after timeout sent out best players… including our leader… Quincey.

All other d-man tired, cuz I got sent out… In between faceoff circle and goalie…

I looked at the scoreboard and saw the score 2-2 … 8 seconds left.

I can’t explain the feeling I had as I waited for the puck to drop, but I just knew Quincey was going to win the game.

I didn’t know how, I just knew he would.

Sure enough, at the drop of the puck he pushed it forward past the other teams centerman, blew past their defenseman, and barreling in on the goalie buried the game-winning shot.

It felt like a dream! As my brain came to, I realized I hadn’t even moved. I had just stood there and watched him.

Our captain, our leader had won the game and the championship for us!

TRANSITION

When it comes down to the wire in our lives… who do we trust? Where do we turn? Who do we follow?

We want to believe God can help us… but if we were honest, we don’t think that God can, or will redeem our broken situation.

It’s in these moments that we turn to other “gods” in our lives to get help and answers.

Rather than putting God first and bringing our needs to Him, we elevate other idols in our lives, looking to them for our fulfilment.

But as we are going to see in Exodus 23 this morning, God alone deserves to be first in our lives because of His great promises to those who trust and follow Him.