You can’t keep your hands up alone!!!

Intro:

Riding downtown Lansing looking for a venue, but refusing to go to a gas station to ask for help!!!

Asking for help says “I can’t” “I can’t” says I need someone outside of me to accomplish a task! The Root of truly independent people is pride!!

Pride is the silent killer of Humility. Pride can come of as strength, but at its root it can be an affront to God.

To be sure raising your children to keep a job, save money, and get an education is important, but to raise them to never have to depend on anyone can hinder their abilities to complete God-Sized task, because all God-Sized task require collaborative coordination within the body of Christ.

Let’s take a look at a story of what interdependence looks like in real-time!

Always-God-sized plans, obstacles, and trials can only be defeated by God’s people. They were never meant to be done alone!

Being obedient to the Great Commandment-God-sized

Staying committed to the Great Commission-God-sized

Leading the Local Church-God-Sized

Taking Dominion over your flesh-God-Sized

Maintaining a Godly Marriage till Death do you part-God-Sized

Raising Godly Children in the present world-God-sized

Walking in the specific plan and purpose God has for you to fulfill during your time on earth-God-Sized

NONE OF THESE CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED ALONE!!!

Now lets check on Moses during this rather precarious situation has caught himself in

I. The Trap

Exodus 17:1–2 CSB

1 The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the Lord’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing the Lord?”

Exodus 17:8 CSB

8 At Rephidim, Amalek came and fought against Israel.

(EXP)(1) You will notice from this verse that Moses lets us know that they were led to a location in the Sinai peninsula that had no water. The text is clear the Lord’s command is leading them, but it is Moses who they took out their frustration on. Notice Exodus 17:3

Exodus 17:3 CSB

3 But the people thirsted there for water and grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

(3) As the leader, Moses' integrity is besmirched on account of his obedience to God. This has been a pattern with the children of Israel. Let's take a look at Exodus 14:10-12

Exodus 14:10–12 CSB

10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians coming after them! The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord for help. 11 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 by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

(10-12) in their panic, the people take all their ire out on God’s man Moses. They tell Moses you should leave us back in Egypt, but like our story today, God led them to this problem again. Look at Exodus 14:1-4

Exodus 14:1–4 CSB

1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you must camp in front of Baal-zephon, facing it by the sea. 3 Pharaoh will say of the Israelites: They are wandering around the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in. 4 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this.

(1-4) The Lord purposely led them into a portion of the wilderness that was one-way in, one-way out, and the Red Sea blocked their forward movement, so they were stuck. Only in this case the Lord tells Moses why? he says Pharoah will think yall are confused and lost this will incite him believe he can overtake you, but I am doing this so that I may show my glory by destroying Pharaoh and his army. God tells Moses, “This will be epic!” Just wait.

Back in Exodus 17:8

Exodus 17:8 CSB

8 At Rephidim, Amalek came and fought against Israel.

(EXP)(8) The Lord led a group of nomadic former slaves into a desert region that lacked water. The region was occupied by the Amalekites, enemies of Israel. These are the ancestors of Esau. Just prior to this battle, God put his power on display again to give them confidence in the battle. He told Moses to take his staff and hit the rock, and then water would come out.

Now saints I don’t need to tell that water does not come out of stones. Yet our Lord gives them what they need by making water gush from a rock. Then he tells them go fight the Amalekites.

Transition Statement: God’s plans sometimes lead us into insurmountable obstacles so that we will learn to depend on him.

II. The Plan

Exodus 17:9–13 CSB

9 Moses said to Joshua, “Select some men for us and go fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with God’s staff in my hand.” 10 Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought against Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 While Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, but whenever he put his hand down, Amalek prevailed. 12 When Moses’s hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat down on it. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down. 13 So Joshua defeated Amalek and his army with the sword.

(EXP)(9) Moses tells Joshua to get some men to go and scrap against Amalek. Notice the grammar. Israel was too young to have a standing trained army. Moses tells Joshua to pick out someone who you have noticed might be able to pick up a sword and fight a well-trained group of Amalekite soldiers.

(9b) “Tomorrow, I will stand on the hilltop with God’s staff in my hand.”

Where did Moses get this idea from?

In the previous story, God told Moses to use his staff and strike the Rock. At the Red Sea, God told Moses to “lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea.” In this case, Moses did not get any word from God, but based on his previous situation, he was convinced that the power to lead this people came from God, who was using the staff as a symbol of his power. Sure, Moses was a humble and a great leader, but Moses knew where the source of his power came from. Moses says when I lift this staff up in praise to God things happen.

By using “God Staff” in this way, Moses was pointing all of Israel to God and not himself. The mark of outstanding leadership is their ability to keep their eyes fixed on the organization's power source. Moses went to a hilltop above the battlefield so the people could get a clear view of him worshipping on top of the mountain.

(10-11) Joshua obeyed the voice of Moses and, by faith, picked out a bunch of untrained soldiers to go out to battle without sufficient equipment to fight. When Moses reached the top, he raised his hand in worship and prayer. He then began to notice that when his arms stayed raised, the children of Israel prevailed, but when he grew tired, and his arms started to slip, the children of Israel would begin to lose.

What a powerful way our Lord is teaching collaborative leadership. As Moses focused on the Lord, his leadership team, made up of Aaron and Hur(Miriam's husband), kept his arms up in prayer. They recognized the most important thing they could do for Moses was strengthen him by helping carry the weight of the staff pointed to God.

As the leadership kept the staff pointed to the Lord, it benefited the people on the battlefield. God was beginning to teach Moses in a very symbolic way the job of leadership is to keep the main leader focused on Christ and the whole leadership team on one accord towards Christ.

(12) This leadership team began to think strategically: “If we have to keep his hands over his head, that means our hands will have to be over our heads as well, which means we will all tire. Let’s sit him down below us; then, we can hold him up longer.

How long were they holding him up for?

(12) Both Aaron and Hur remained steady until the sun went down. Militaries attack at daybreak or at dawn, so if they attacked at Dawn at 6 a.m., then by 6-7 p.m., the battle was over. So Moses carried the weight of the staff for 12 hours, but he could not do it alone. Without Aaron and Hur, the Israelites would surely lose. By the setting of the sun, Joshua and the Children of Israel defeated Amalek.

Now, why would God make the outcome of the battle contingent on the strength of Moses, Aaron & Hur?

God is teaching a greater lesson.

“Moses, the success of the mission to cross over into Canaan will rest on your willingness to depend on me first and then your leaders next. You will not be able to carry this out by yourself.”

The reason I have come to this conclusion is because of the subsequent chapter in Exodus:

Exodus 18:13–18 CSB

13 The next day Moses sat down to judge the people, and they stood around Moses from morning until evening. 14 When Moses’s father-in-law saw everything he was doing for them he asked, “What is this you’re doing for the people? Why are you alone sitting as judge, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?” 15 Moses replied to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. 16 Whenever they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I make a decision between one man and another. I teach them God’s statutes and laws.” 17 “What you’re doing is not good,” Moses’s father-in-law said to him. 18 “You will certainly wear out both yourself and these people who are with you, because the task is too heavy for you. You can’t do it alone.

There may have been many years between the events of chapters 17 and 18, but Moses, the compiler of this historical narrative, chose to put this story right after the chapter where he had to be dependent on his leaders to win the battle.

In Chapter 17, God gave Moses a practical example and told him, "Moses, you must put that into practice in Chapter 18."

Application

Personal Thank you to all of those who persevered before my arrival and stood in the principles of God

Thank all of those who have prayed for me, given me advice, been patient with my shortcomings, stood next to me during some of the most trying times of life, and kept my arms raised to the Lord even when sometimes I wanted to give up and get a job in the secular world without all of the spiritual warfare.

MBC, the key to our victory is to keep our hands raised to the Lord, and when someone gets tired, those who have strength are to go and help them keep their hands held high. Paul says it better than I do in Gal 6:2

Galatians 6:2 CSB

2 Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Every obstacle has a lesson, and every battle has a purpose.

III. The Purpose

Exodus 17:14–16 CSB

14 The Lord then said to Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and named it, “The Lord Is My Banner.” 16 He said, “Indeed, my hand is lifted up toward the Lord’s throne. The Lord will be at war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

(14) Our Lord returns to the narrative verbally telling Moses “write this down” Oh Saints one of the grandest ways to praise the Lord is to chronicle and testify to his goodness, mercy, grace and power in our lives. Stop holding back. Stop wondering if you sound arrogant. I refuse to go to my grave without letting people I come in contact with not know the story of my life walking with the Lord.

(14) Look at what God tells Moses to do with Joshua. Recite it to him. So he can commit to memory. Don’t you let him forget? Let him know I am going to obliterate Amalek.

Why is our Lord so fastidious and obsessive about the narrative being told?

Because folks are ultimately saved by the narrative—the story—the journey! In the meta-narrative or Big story of the Bible, the Lord Jesus is speaking. In Esther, he is the silent protector of the children of Israel, but in John, he is the Son of God. In John, he is on every page.

(15) In honor of the victory, we learn one of the OT names of God. “Jehovah Nissi” the Lord is my banner. The term banner was used to describe a pole or ship mast. In a battle or at sea, from afar, people would know who you are aligned with based on the insignia of your pole.

In Mexico we went to see the ancient Mayan Temple, that is one of the wonders of the world. There were thousands of tourist at the site. We have a tour guide who carried a pole with a flag, so that if we got lost he would raise up the pole is that we could find each other an coalesce underneath this pole

When Moses calls the Lord our Banner he is saying the Lord is our Pole, he is our flag which we all unify underneath, and follow to victory. The only way the children of Israel would ever come to know “Jehovah Nissi” is that Yahweh put them into obstacle that only he could get them out of.

The only way they knew him as “The Passover” lamb is by allowing them to live through a night where he slew every first born Egyptian boy in the kingdom. He is Unique and wants to show you every aspect of his Character.

There are leaders in this nation, but there is only one star, there is only one standout, and that is “Jehovah Nissi.” Yes, there are Pastors, Teachers, evangelists, Missionaries, and Seminary professors, but there is only one Banner!!! Saints, when a raises the pole to unify us, make sure you find your way to the pole!!!! If you have never grouped yourself with the Lord and his people, today may be your day!!!

Open the Doors of the Church