And...We're Outta Here
Notes
Transcript
When we see, we believe
When we see, we believe
Today we’re going to start a little differently so bear with me.
Open your Bibles to the 14th chapter of Exodus - we’re going to read it all.
It’s a great story and we could spend days on it.
Kids, real quick, today we’re going to talk about what to do when you are afraid.
You’ll want to pay attention because - whether your mom and dad every let you see it
They get afraid just like you do.
And because the Lord is good, in Exodus He gives us a picture of what to do when we are afraid.
Not just words - but words that paint a picture that you can see in your mind’s eye.
The three words you are listening for today are fear, Israel and God.
Adults, for a moment, be a child.
Listen to the story and imagine yourself in it.
I don’t know how long it’s been since you’ve read a good story, but this one is one of the best.
Hear now the Word of the Lord from Exodus 14:1-31
Then the Lord said to Moses,
“Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea.
For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’
And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”
So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him,
and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.
And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly.
The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord.
They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?
Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.
The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.
Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.
And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen.
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them,
coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic,
clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.”
So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.
The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.
But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God.
And now, for something completely different:
Parting of the Red Sea Video from “The Ten Commandments” 1956 - (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3CANELyPo0)
That took a few of you back to the age of the dinosaurs, didn’t it?
It was made in 1956 - as was yours truly.
The special effects that were cutting edge in their day were somewhat childish looking.
The dialogue was stilted and delivered in, what I call, “a preacher voice.”
But how did it compare to the story?
Moses stretched his rod out over the sea and a great wind parted the waters.
As they crossed the Red Sea, there was a wall of water on both sides but they walked on dry ground.
When Pharoah chased them, some of their chariots started turning around and they ran into each other.
When Israel was fully across the Red Sea, the sea crashed down on Pharaoh’s army and wiped it out.
When Pharaoh’s army was drowned, the Israelites saw the power of God and they believed.
So really Cecil B. DeMille did a pretty good job on the movie.
There are so many fascinating things about this event to discuss that answers so many questions.
But today we are going to focus on just one part of the story: What do we do when we are afraid?
Remember the dude in the white robe with the gold cap on?
He was easy to spot in the movie - he was the only one dressed that way.
Do you remember what He said when Moses said, “After this day, you’ll see Pharaoh’s chariots no more,”
White robe guy says, “No, you’ll be dead under them.”
Listen to the text: Exodus 14:10 “When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord.”
They were afraid.
And something you might wonder is, they just saw God pour out 10 plagues on Egypt - why did they doubt?
Well, why do you?
You feel like you have Pharaoh chasing behind you and the Red Sea is blocking your way
And everyone around you is telling you that you are wrong, or that you’re going to fail, or simply, “Boy, you’re in a mess.”
Every last one of us at some point has a crisis of faith and we get afraid.
It’s not a sin - notice in the story the Lord never condemns them.
He delivers them.
So, what does the Exodus tell us about handling our fear. First,
Fear the right thing.
Fear the right thing.
Exodus 14:13–14 “And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.””
We’ve talked a lot about the fear of the Lord lately - I guess you can tell I’m struggling with this.
It’s such a counter cultural - counter modern Christianity thing.
Modern Christianity says, “Jesus wants to be my friend forever,” which is entirely true.
But He doesn’t want me to be His friend because I’m so attractive to Him.
He wants me to be His friend so He can raise me from the dead and keep me from destruction.
And I don’t think you can be saved until you understand that.
I don’t think you can be saved until you realize that you need a Savior.
That’s why the Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
It’s not until we realize two things that we can have - insight - understanding - call it what it is - peace - no fear.
Fear of the Lord is a recognition that the Lord is more - way more - than we are.
He is not like us - in theological circles you hear God described as other.
We don’t look like him.
We were created in His image - sure - but that means characteristic and trait wise.
We have no idea what God looks like physically.
All we know is - Exodus 33:20
But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
He has such power and such - honor
Such perfect morality and dominion
That in His presence we have fear.
For those of us old enough to drive, when you are driving and you look in the mirror and see a Georgia State Patrolman behind you
What do you think?
What have I done? How fast am I going? Did he see me roll through that stop sign? Is my tail light out? Is he going to stop me?
Even though you’ve done absolutely nothing wrong - there is fear.
With God, we have done something wrong.
It’s “‘Fear’ in the sense of fearing the consequence of disobedience and disloyalty to the one true God, but real fear, not just ‘respect’ or ‘awe.’”
Pastor Randy, I don’t believe that - that’s not what I’ve been taught.
Yeah, I know, and I’m sorry about that.
Over the last half century we’ve been taught the answer without being taught the question.
The question is, “How can I, as rotten as I am, escape the wrath of a just and angry God?”
Remember, the Bible itself says, Hebrews 10:31
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
So when we are afraid, the first thing to do is to remember Who is the proper object of our fear, then second
Remember that the One we fear is the One Who saves
Remember that the One we fear is the One Who saves
He does want to be our friend forever.
He wants to forgive.
He wants to deliver us from the hand of our enemies.
He wants to save us - he wants to give us a future and a hope.
I know this is a bit of a buzzkill, but the Bible does not say the words “Fear not” 365 times.
Go to a good Bible app and search and you’ll see - it doesn’t.
It’s a cute meme - but it’s not true.
But what is true is this - from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, the entire Bible is telling us to fear not.
God doesn’t want to destroy us - He wants to save us.
So don’t fear man - Psalm 56:11
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?
So the first two steps in dealing with fear is to first, fear the right person, then remember the right person wants to deliver you. Then third
Do the right thing
Do the right thing
This isn’t as big as it sounds.
Don’t look at the big picture, look one step in front of you and take it.
Then take the next one, then take the next one.
When Israel was on the shore of the Red Sea and terrified, God told them Exodus 14:15 “The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.”
“Lean in to the sea, Moses.”
“I said I would deliver you - just take the next step buddy - that’s all I want you to do.”
Where we get into difficulty is where we get so forward thinking that we map out this elaborate plan that gets so big we get overwhelmed.
And no, just take the next step.
When Elijah the greatest prophet since Moses got terrified.
He’d done this great thing that really ticked off the Queen
So she said she was going to have him killed.
He literally headed towards the hills and hid in a cave.
And when He finally remembered to fear the Lord and the Lord wanted to save him, what did the Lord tell him?
1 Kings 19:15 “And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus...”
Go.
Take the next step, then take the next step.
Because it’s not you that has the weight of the world on your shoulders.
It’s the Lord - and He promises to deliver you.
Remember to fear the right person, remember the right person wants to deliver you, do the right thing, then finally
Watch for the right thing
Watch for the right thing
Exodus 14:30–31 “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”
Listen, God does things to show us Who He is and how He operates so our faith can be increased.
Look, life is pretty clear about some things.
The only way to get faith, is to experience trials.
You want to get smart, go to school and do it wrong until you finally do it right.
Want to be the best at your profession, go to work and do it wrong until you finally do it right.
Want to have great faith?
Realize that the Lord puts you in situations that are way above your pay grade.
That will scare the bejebbers out of you.
But I’ve been around long enough to know
If you fear the right person
And you know the right person wants to save you
And you will do your best to follow Him one step at a time
If you watch, you’ll see Him deliver you - time and time again.
I was so dumb at New Providence Church.
Let me remind you one more time that while I was there, New Providence was recognized as one of the 500 fastest growing churches in the United States.
In my 4 years there, we more than doubled in size.
And there were some in the church that hated that.
They hated to see the church change and they regularly let me know how they felt about it
And how they felt about me.
One of my most schizophrenic days of ministry happened there.
I was at the back door shaking the hand of every person leaving.
One lady, with tears streaming down her face told me, thank you for that message - I really needed to hear God say that to me.
And not 10 people later a man said while he shook my hand, that was the most useless sermon I’ve ever heard, it was like I was watching a bad play.
That was kind of a regular thing.
And Ms. Karpinecz would hear about it
And that dear, sweet lady would come to my office and say, “Pastor, this too shall pass.”
I was too wrapped up in fearing the wrong person to hear what the Lord was trying to tell me.
But quickly, here is what happened.
I left New Providence but not before I baptized a little 12 year old boy named Brian Moore.
You know my story and how I ended up here.
But Brian - at 19 he answered the call to ministry.
He prepared and he returned to Monroe County.
He took New Providence even though it was about to die - they were down to about 40 people.
And today, they regularly have 400 folks and 10 people on staff.
The Lord knew exactly what where He was taking all of us.
There was no reason to be afraid.
Please brothers and sisters and friends,
Know Who to fear
Remember the One we fear is also the One who saves.
Do the right thing - take the next step and the next and the next - simply follow the best you can.
Then watch for the Lord to do things that will - well, leave you speechless.
Jesus came to make us right with God
And listen, if you’ll think it through logically, we were really on God’s bad list.
It took Jesus dying a horrendous death and then being buried in a cold stone tomb
And then in the greatest display of power we can imagine - the Father raised Jesus back to life.
He didn’t raise Him to something different
No - the man that died was the man that lived again.
And He did that so we could be saved from the wrath of God.
So that when we finally realized just how bad were were
And we realized just how lost we were
And how we had no chance in the world of getting any better
Jesus came to us and said to follow Him.
He said if we’d follow Him, all of our ugliness before God, all of our sin would be forgiven.
And God would indeed be our friend forever.
Our fear turned to gratitude.
We can’t thank the Lord enough for calling us
And putting us where we are to work for His kingdom.
It wasn’t that I was a diamond in the rough that Jesus discovered.
No, I was a lump of coal and through the pressure of the Holy Spirit, He made me into a diamond for His glory.
And as silly as the illustration gets - I want to shine brightly for Him.
Look at what my Savior has done.
We were lost, but now we’re found.
I was blind, but now I see.
And if you are lost, you can be found too - if you will turn and follow Jesus.
Let us pray:
