Helping Others Raise their Hands

Exodus 17:8-16

One of the greatest blessings we have with our brother’s and sisters, is the support from loving and caring people in times of need.

It is something that we often fail to use because so many of us are private people who do not want to let others know of our weaknesses.

But at the heart of the ministry of Jesus Christ, we find the Lord teaching us to rely on him, as he relied on 12 men to carry out the Good News.

In the passage we are about to read, we find two brothers who come alongside Moses, to help him and God’s chosen people in a fierce battle that they are fighting.

And when you see these believers at the side of Moses, great victory comes. Now this passage is a wonderful example of support that we get from other believers.

(Read Scripture)

The battle that the Israelites were facing here, is very similar to what they are facing now. A battle with the Amalekites, people who were trying to destroy the nation.

But what we see here, is that Moses is watching this battle take place, and as he has his hands held up the Israelites begin to win in the battle, but when he puts his hands down to rest them, the Amalekites begin to win.

Now Aaron and Hur take notice of this and what do they do? They come alongside of Moses and they find a stone for him to sit on and they hold his hands in the air. And what do we find happening? We find the Israelites becoming victorious in the battle.

You know, we face similar battles in our lives and as a church. We have the enemy assaulting us and it seems like he is winning.

Why is this happening? I will tell you why. It is because we have put our hands down. We have stopped giving the glory to God and when we put our hands down, we find the enemy coming in and conquering us.

This is what was happening with the Israelites. But praise the Lord, there were a couple of brothers who came alongside Moses, and helped him praise the Lord in the middle of the battle.

Now I don’t know the name of the enemy you are up against. For the Israelites it was Amalek. But for you it might be addiction, for others it might be worry, for some it might be doubt, whoever it is you are facing, let me tell you, there can be victory.

Now notice somethings about this passage that helps us see this.

The Strength that Moses Loses

· Now Moses is a man who did some mighty things in the Lord. He stood before Pharaoh and told him to let God’s people go.

· He was used by God to bring about the ten plagues on the land of Egypt.

· We find him at the waters of the Red Sea, and seeing God use him to part the waters to allow the Israelites to cross.

· So, when you think of Moses, here is a man of faith, a man of strength, a man who God was using.

· But Moses as great of a man as he was, was still just a man. He struggled with things just as you and I do.

· Yes, he was an important man, but it is like the old expression goes, he had to put his pants on one leg at a time just like everyone else.

· So, he got tired, and though it looked like he was this mighty leader, he would get worn down.

· Now Moses is at this battle, and he is holding up his hands in the air, and why is he doing this? Because he knows if he gives glory to the Lord in the middle of the battle that the Lord will have the victory.

· You see, it wasn’t the Israelites who were fighting as it was God who was fighting for them.

· But what happens to Moses? As he is there his arms become heavy. The scripture says that his hands began to tire and droop down. He just didn’t have the strength to hold up his arms in longer.

· It makes me think of some of these tough men competition. Where they will have to hold out their arms for the longest time.

· And usually they are holding something heavy. Like a car battery. Now I don’t know if you have tried holding out a car battery, but that is heavy.

· And what happens, after a little while even those strong men’s arms begin to grow tired and their arms begin to fall.

· Now when this happened with Moses, that is when the enemy started winning.

· For many of us, it isn’t that we don’t believe that God can win, it is a problem that many of us arms are growing tired in the battle. And we are letting them lay by our side instead of praising the Lord with them.

· I mean, I can understand Moses getting tired, and that may be you right now, you are tired, you have held your arms up as long as you can, but the battle has gone a lot longer than what you may have expected.

· And you are becoming tired. That is what the enemy wants to do. He wants to wear us down.

· Because if we become tired, if we stop praising the Lord. He knows that he is going to win in our lives.

· But praise the Lord, that is not the end of this story! And it doesn’t have to be for you and I either.

· So, we see the second thing in this passage.

The Support that Moses Receives

· Now here is the beautiful part of this story. Moses has grown tired. He can’t hold up his hands. The enemy is winning the battle.

· But a couple of brothers see Moses’s struggle and they come to aid him.

· What do they do, they find a rock for him to sit on. And while he is sitting they come and hold his arms up in the air.

· And what happens, the Israelites begin to win the battle.

· You know when an army or a team goes out to face the opponent, it is them working together to see victory.

· I mean, you don’t win a football game with one person. You have the whole team working together.

· The army doesn’t win a battle against the enemy with just one person. It takes the unit working together.

· And when one is struggling, you go and help that one who is in the battle.

· Moses was in a battle. Oh, he might not have been down in the affray with a sword, but the battle he was fighting was just as intense.

· But a couple of brothers saw Moses’s need and they came alongside him and helped him.

· They helped him praise the Lord in the battle. And that is what we must do with one another as well.

· Moses has been trying to hold up his hands, but he can’t do it on his own. He needs support.

· Where does he find this support. Well first, it comes from the stone.

· Someone brings a stone for him to sit on.

· Now, understand, when you are tired and weary, when you are being defeated, what you need to do is plant yourself right on the rock.

· Psalm 18:2 “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.”

· Friend if you are not supported by the rock of ages, you will not have the victory in your life.

· You see, if that rock wasn’t there, it would have been just the arms of Moses it would have been his legs as well.

· The rock of Jesus Christ is essential for victory. Without it, you will lose.

· But here is the second thing we find, that is two brothers who came beside Moses and helped him as well.

· Moses was tired, and these two men recognize the fact that Moses needs help.

· How observant are you? I know we are in a battle in this world today, but are you able to come alongside a fellow believer and help them praise the Lord?

· What we need today, is for brothers and sisters to come to the side of another and help them raise their hands for Jesus.

· To help support them and encourage them, that victory might come in their lives.

· God did not call us to do this alone. And Moses couldn’t do it alone. But praise the Lord there were two men who would come to help Moses do what he couldn’t by himself.

· You see, we need one another. We need to help strengthen and encourage one another.

· The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.”

· What that verse is implying is that we should help strengthen each other. Because there are some around us that their hands are not raised.

· And what they need is someone to come alongside them and help them raise it up in the air again.

· Brother helping brother, sister helping sister. We need to raise our hands because I’m tired of the enemy winning.

· I’m ready to see victory take place. I’m ready for these Amalekites in my life to be defeated.

· But that only can happen when we recognize each others weakness and come and help support each other, by putting our worship back toward the Lord.

· Now there is one final thing that we find in this passage.

The Success that Moses Writes

· Now what happened that day? Well, the victory came for the Israelites.

· The Amalekites were defeated and Moses is instructed to write it down in the pages of the Scriptures, as a reminder of what took place.

· Why does God want this? Because he wants us to remember, what he will do when we help one another.

· There they build an altar. I like to think that they use that same stone that Moses was sitting on. And they construct this altar, a place where they can worship God.

· And it is called Jehovah-nissi – which means the LORD my banner.

· A flag of victory was raised that day, and the flag that was raised was for the Lord.

· I grew up playing Super Mario Brothers, and at the end of the level there was a flag pole you would jump on and the enemy flag would come down and Mario’s flag would go up.

· The flag changed on that level.

· Well, we are in a battle today, and the enemy’s flag is waving right now, but what we need to see is that flag change.

· How is it going to change? It is going to change when we begin to help one another in Christ Jesus.

· When we remember, that there are those sitting right next to us, who need help raising their hands.

· That we quit looking so much at ourselves and our situations and begin to take notice that others need help too.

· Friend the only way we can have victory, is if we all just keep looking to the banner of Jesus Christ, and no matter what, we are not going to let it fall.

· You know the flag on the battle field is a reminder to the troops, that they have not been defeated.

· The flag doesn’t fall to the ground. The enemy is trying to knock the flag from among us.

· There is an iconic statue of a soldiers holding up the flag of the US. It is called the Marine Corps Memorial.

· They all are holding up the flag.

· One might say, it only takes one of us to hold up the flag, but you are wrong. It takes all of us.

· And that we are going to come together and help one another in the battle.