Good morning, CHURCH!

Welcome to FFM where we love God, and we love people.

This is the last Sunday before the church Anniversary.

Are you ready to be equipped today?

Let me see your Bibles.

Let’s pray.

Let’s go to the book of Psalm 34:19 NKJV for this week’s wisdom Vaccination.

This Week’s Wisdom Vaccination Psalm 34:19 NKJV

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.

We surely love to focus our eyes on the second part about the Lord delivering us out of them all.

And sometimes we act like it doesn’t have the beginning part.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous.

We see this same thing in one of the most famous of the Psalm writings.

Psalm 23:4 NKJV

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Again we don’t like to pay too much attention to that valley of the shadow of death part.

By the time we get to verse 4 we are still seeing verse 2.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

1st Picture: (Pretty green pastures)

This is the image we have in our heads when we read Psalm 23:2.

But the writer of the Psalm would have had a different setting in front of them when they put their faith our for the green pastures and still waters.

They would have been in the midst of something like this:

2nd Picture:(The real rough pasture.)

The Question for you:

When you don’t see the green pastures or still waters in your current situation, can you like the Psalmist picture God changing your situation to something more pleasant and fruitful?

Today’s message title is:

God our Rescuer and Redeemer

When we hear God is our rescuer and redeemer what goes off inside of you?

We probably think about the victories in our life where we’ve attributed the success to God.

Or maybe we think about passages of scripture where we’ve read about God coming through.

But there is probably a great chance that we don’t think of His rescuing in the same sense as the Bible usually depicts it.

Why do I say that?

Because we usually think of rescuing in the sense of Fairytales and Superheroes.

The damsel in distress is crying out for help and in fly’s Superman to save the day.

A 90-minute movie or a 30-minute episode and the rescue has taken place.

God always rescues His children!

It’s just not always as glamorous as we wish.

And it usually takes longer than 90 minutes.

The Old Testament is all about God rescuing and redeeming His children.

But if we don’t understand some things about it, when we don’t feel rescued we can tend to lose faith or hope in God.

I want us to understand something about the way God operates.

If you were to sum up the Old Testament in a brief description you could say something like this:

- Gen. 1:26 (God made mankind.)

- Gen. 3:6 (Mankind fell.)

- Gen. 3:15 (God said I will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman.)

And this is one of the most important scriptures in all of scripture.

Genesis 3:15 NKJV

And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

The rest of the Bible unfolds this verse of scripture and how God planned to rescue mankind after their fall and redeem mankind back unto Himself.

Now before I get to some specific examples of God’s rescue methods in scripture, let me give some context to Gen. 3:15.

Genesis 3:15 is considered the first prophecy of the coming Messiah (Jesus the Christ), who would ultimately defeat sin and Satan.

* Gen. 3:15 marks the beginning of God's redemptive plan for humanity, even in the midst of judgment for their sin of disobedience.

* Despite the curse pronounced because of sin, God immediately introduces a promise of hope and redemption.

* This verse reassures us that the power of evil will ultimately be overcome.

* This verse also highlights the ongoing spiritual battle between good and evil, between the followers of God and the followers of Satan. This battle that will continue throughout human history.

*This verse is also part of the curse God pronounces on the serpent (Satan) for his part in the fall of Adam and Eve.

The serpent was responsible for deceiving Eve into eating the forbidden fruit.

And that along with her husband who ate also, led to sin entering the world.

* Then we have the statement, ”I will put enmity between you and the woman.”

God declares that there will be ongoing hostility between the serpent (representing Satan) and the woman.

And this enmity extends beyond the serpent and Eve to their descendants.

* Then we have the statement, ”Between your seed and her Seed.” The seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.

- The "seed of the woman" refers not only to humanity in general but ultimately to a specific descendant.

- The "seed of the serpent" refers to the followers of Satan, those who oppose God’s plans.

This verse foreshadows the coming of a Redeemer from the woman’s lineage.

This is traditionally understood as Jesus the Christ, who will ultimately defeat Satan.

This is where it states, ”He shall bruise your head.”

This refers to the ultimate defeat of Satan by the "Seed of the woman."

A head wound represents a fatal blow, symbolizing total victory.

* And finally, ”You shall bruise His heel.”

This indicates that the serpent (Satan) will inflict harm on Eve’s seed the Redeemer, but it will not be a fatal blow.

This is often seen as a reference to the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus.

While Satan caused Jesus to suffer, the resurrection ultimately led to Satan's defeat.

And as I said the rest of the Bible unfolds this plan for redemption.

and we will see that in His plan God uses flawed humans, miracles signs and wonders, evil in which He works it for His good plan and for the good of His children and much more.

Next week I’m going to dive into a familiar passage that we all see as a rescue story, but most people don’t see it the way that the scripture intends for us to see it.

Should be eye opening!

With the time I left today, I want us to look at another rescue story that we’re familiar with but don’t pay too much attention to a certain part of it.

God rescues Israel from Egypt

God our rescuer and redeemer.

Most of you know the story.

God sent Moses to Egypt to deliver the Israelites from the hand of Pharaoh.

They had been on a journey that led them to Egypt for almost 430 years at this point.

(Gen. 12:1-2; Exod. 12:40; Gal. 3:17)

During a period of the 430 years they were in slavery.

During that time Israel cried out to God for help and God heard their cries.

(Here comes Moses armed with his staff, and Aaron his brother the Levite had to be his spokesperson.)

Moses and Aaron show up and tell Pharaoh what the Lord says, “Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.”

Pharaoh was like, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?

I don’t know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go.”

And now let’s look at God’s marvelous plan to rescue Israel and the effect it has on His chosen people.

Exodus 5:6-14 NKJV

So, the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 And you shall lay on them the quota of bricks which they made before. You shall not reduce it. For they are idle; therefore, they cry out, saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let more work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard false words.”

10 And the taskmasters of the people and their officers went out and spoke to the people, saying, “Thus says Pharaoh: ‘I will not give you straw. 11 Go, get yourselves straw where you can find it; yet none of your work will be reduced.’”

12 So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. 13 And the taskmasters forced them to hurry, saying, “Fulfill your work, your daily quota, as when there was straw.” 14 Also the officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and today, as before?”

Here comes God to rescue us.

*We have to now gather our own straw.

*More work will be laid on us.

*The Israelite officers are beaten with whips.

And for some reason when we call on the LORD our God for help, we assume that the trouble is over.

God is going to swoop in and destroy those who are getting on our nerves.

Okay God, I’ve been praying for three days and I’m still in the same situation.

The ten plagues that took place in Egypt before Pharaoh let them go lasted somewhere between 6 months to a year according to different historical sources.

Now we know that eventually they were rescued from the hands of Pharaoh and most of Pharaoh’s soldiers were drowned in the Red Sea.

So, what can we learn from this.

1. God was first and foremost working out His plan for redemption of fallen man.

2. In His plan for redemption, He does still rescue.

3. His plan from Gen. 3:15 is to bruise the serpent’s head.

4. Don’t let delay cause you to think that God has denied rescuing you.

5. God’s plan for humanity supersedes my plan for comfort.

In closing, don’t let your level of comfort or lack thereof be the determination of how you view God at work in your life.

Don’t let your level of comfort influence how you love God.

Don’t let your level of comfort influence how you praise God.

God is worthy to be our everything because He is God and He is perfectly Holy and perfectly Love.

If you’re watching online or here in the room, I have a very important question to ask you.

What is Holy Spirit saying to you right now?