Is The Lord Among Us or Not?

Introduction

My desire to start a church that taught people to walk by faith.

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

What is a practical definition of faith: Walking in the presence and power of God.

For many christians a walk of faith is foreign because they don’t feel the presence of God on their lives.

This year we are focused on Relational Evangelism

We have filled out IMPACT Cards

We have provided invite cards

We have been praying for opportunities to witness.

The witness of a christian is not only the words you say but the life you live. What if people witnessed you walking in the presence and power of God? Would that give you opportunity to share your faith?

Moses the Evangelist

We’ve following the story of Moses as he brings the good news to Israel that the God of their forefathers has heard their cry to deliver them from slavery; to bring them unto Himself to make them a great nation.

The whole time showing them signs, wonders, and miracles of God. And yet they struggle to walk by faith.

That first generation of freed Israel never learned the lesson and never passed the test of faith. They will eventually die in the wilderness they were complaining about because the would trust God and walk by faith.

I wonder how many of you are struggling to walk by faith: to walk in God’s presence and power on a daily basis. Do we grumble and complain about the circumstances of our lives or do we trust God and draw close to him.

If you want to experience all that God has for you in this life you must learn to walk by faith: to walk in the presence and power of God.

Exposition

The Testing of Our Faith

Exodus 17:1–3 (ESV)

1 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

Is the Lord among us or not?

Mind Shift: Just because things get tough doesn’t mean God has forsaken you.

God will lead you into hard times to test your faith and produce steadfastness.

James 1:2–4 (ESV)

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

The Proper Response of Faith

Exodus 17:4 ESV

4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

Moses didn’t answer the unbelief of the people.

Listening to people’s problems is never the solution.

People don’t determine the power of God.

Moses went to the source of his faith.

Moses was the only one that cried out to God.

God had delivered this people because they originally cried out to God.

Exodus 2:23–25 ESV

23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

The Object of Our Faith

Exodus 17:5–7 (ESV)

5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

The Rock is Christ

1 Corinthians 10:1–4 ESV

1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

The Rock of Living Water

John 4:7–10 ESV

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

John 4:11–14 ESV

11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

When you find yourself in a dry and thirsty land, come to the living water.

The Obedience of Our Faith

Numbers 20:2–5 (ESV)

2 Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! 4 Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? 5 And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.”

God’s Provision of Faith

Numbers 20:6–9 (ESV)

6 Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them, 7 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” 9 And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him.

Moses’ Disobedience of Faith

Numbers 20:10–11 (ESV)

10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.

God honored his Man

God dishonored the lack of faith

Numbers 20:12–13 ESV

12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” 13 These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy.

Next Steps

Make a hard mind shift that circumstances don’t dictate God's presence and power. “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Learn to seek the face of God through prayer in times of trouble. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:5–8, ESV)

Come to the source of our faith, the Rock, Jesus Christ. He is the author and finisher of our faith.

Prayer Response

Cry out to God for the biggest need in your group.

R-Group Questions

What lesson can we learn from Moses' actions regarding seeking the face of God and making a hard mind shift about God's presence and power?

According to James 1:2–4, what is the purpose of the testing of our faith? How does it relate to producing steadfastness?

How can you apply the concept of not letting circumstances dictate God's presence and power in your daily life?