Their Journey Did Not End in Marah

HOOK

I have a couple of housekeeping items to address before we continue with our series for this Anniversary Month entitled: ON OUR JOURNEY TO BEING FORTY

Our Grand celebration for our 40th Year Anniversary will be on September 27th— it will be an outdoor evening service that starts at 5:25pm, followed by glamorous dinner for everybody— a team of volunteers will take care of the food preparation and handling to comply with Covid-19 safety protocols— We also want to spare everybody from the stress of cooking recipes for potluck so you could enjoy the evening without having to worry about anything— the church appeals to everyone to give their love gifts towards our anniversary expenses on top of your tithes.

Our attire for this evening of thanksgiving will be Hawaiian— and you are all encouraged to bring your family, friends, co-workers and neighbors— the final venue will be announced shortly

Invitations with request for RSVP will be out in the next couple of days or so— we prayerfully look forward to seeing you all on the 27th— there will be no morning service on that last Sunday of September

Welcome to our monthly-long study of Exodus and Deuteronomy

Last week, we begun to look closer at the story of the Israelites— how they were enslaved by the Egyptian— we saw the obvious reason why their journey that could have been completed in two 2 weeks, lasted 40 years— Why is that?— Because they are not ready! Their hearts aren’t ready!

Our church is just two weeks shy from being forty— are we ready for the land promised by God?— are we ready for the victory?— for the glory upon glory and upon glory!

One of the tools God uses to test us, is through the faithful giving of our tithes & offerings— Exodus and Deuteronomy are books of laws, decrees and instructions [Moses’ Fair Well Letter]

During their journey, one of the first things Moses taught us in order for us to be ready is the very important subject concerning “Tithes & Offerings”— a lot of believers, specially those that are younger in the Christian faith has the most difficulty in overcoming whatever hinders them from being faithful in giving [remember the father and son with french fries at McDo?]

You have to realize that we came into this world naked, and naked we shall go!— Everything belongs to God— you would hardly give what is due to God [according to Malachi 3:10] unless your mind and heart settles with the fact— that everything belongs to God— and He’s the one that gave us the ability to produce wealth

Quickly— The Three Things We Need to Know About Tithing are as follows:

MY TITHES IS TEN PERCENT OF MY INCOME

I SHALL GIVE MY TITHES TO MY PLACE OF WORSHIP

I TITHE TO ALWAYS REVERE GOD

The Israelites are very good in grumbling and complaining— they just witnessed the mighty power of God to change the heart of the Pharoah, king of Egypt— they saw how the ten plagues God sent to Egypt led the Pharoah to release the people of God be on their way

But not long after that, when the Pharoah changed his mind and decided to went after the Israelites, they started grumbling in fear saying, “was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?”

Moses replied, “Do not be afraid, stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today!”

After victoriously crossing the Red Sea, they started singing, and dancing and rejoicing— But their joy is short lived— in fact just 3 days after, they traveled through the desert of Shur and when they arrived at Marah, they grumbled again it their thirst because the water in Marah was bitter— that’s why the place is called Marah because its water is bitter and it’s not fir for drinking

After Moses cried out to the Lord, God showed him a piece of wood— he threw it into the water and the water suddenly become potable [drinkable]

There the Lord issued ruling and instruction that puts them to the test— Our church family was put into so much test— but God’s unconditional love for us, and our faithfulness to Him brought us to where we are now— and we are now “On Our Journey to Being Forty”

There could be a lot questions brewing in hearts and minds— questions such as, “after all these long years, why is it that we’re not able to acquire a permanent place of worship that we can call home?”— “Why is the church hasn’t grown to become a ‘mega church’?”— “why are we scattered into small gatherings in our home churches?”

Because it is a journey and our destination is unknown— when Abraham was told to leave his home country, he had no idea where he was going— after Joseph was thrown into the pit and and sold to a merchant, put behind bars because he was falsely accused, he didn’t realize that he will be the ruler of Egypt until he was!

The beauty of our journey lies in mystery— we keep on even though we don’t completely understand where the Lord is taking us— we keep on event though we don’t see what is ahead of us!

But God gives vision to His people— we must LISTEN CAREFULLY, DO WHAT IS RIGHT IN HIS EYES, PAY ATTENTION and KEEP ALL HIS DECREES. Otherwise, we will missed that vision, and if we did, we will missed our destination

In our case, the vision I was talking about was the vision that God gave to Agape five years ago— it is written!

How many of you have carefully read and and understood our vision?

Did you know that our journey could go beyond forty and yet we missed our destination?— yes! It could happen if we don’t listen carefully, if we don’t do what is right in His eyes, if we don’t pay attention and if we don’t keep all His decrees

But even though it took days to get Israel out of Egypt— it would take years to get Egypt out of Israel

They were already out of Egypt, but Egypt is still with them— WE all have our own Egypt [symbolized slavery to many things, addiction, failures, abuse, pains, regrets, excuses, personal desires, selfishness, arrogance, ignorance]— but we can all experience Exodus if we first leave our Egypt

We can all experience Exodus if we listen carefully, if we do what is right in God’s eyes, if we pay attention and keep all his commands—

Marah is not the end of their journey— bitterness is not the end of our journey!

When you reached a seemingly dead end in your personal journey, you could either end up bitter or better

In the same way as a church, after forty years of failures, regrets and excuses we could either be bitter or better

ILLUSTRATION: BITTER OR BETTER

Dr. Jim Moore, pastor of St. Luke’s UMC in Houston wrote a book entitled "You Can Grow Bitter or You Can Grow Better".

He writes that he got the idea for the title from a young woman who once came to him in a most tragic moment in her life.

She had tears in her eyes and her knuckles were white as she twisted a handkerchief.

She had just received word that her twenty-six year old husband had been killed in a farming accident, leaving her alone with three pre-school age children.

One moment he was alive and vibrant, the next moment gone. "I don’t know how I am going to be able to get along without him," she sobbed.

"But I do know one thing. I can either get bitter or I can get better."

One way that we can get better rather than bitter is to develop a thankful heart. We must learn to be grateful to the Lord with whom we shall spend eternity.

To be able to do that, we must listen carefully to the Lord, do what is right in His eyes, pay attention to His commands, and keep all His decrees

God can turn our failures into fruitfulness, our regrets into restoration, and excuses into promises— we can promise to listen carefully, we can promise to do what is right in His eyes, to pay attention to His commands and keep all His decrees

MARAH IS NOT THE END OF THEIR JOURNEY— bitterness is not the end of our journey!

Let me take you to EXODUS 15:22-27— listen and learn

BOOK

Exodus 15:22–27 NLT

22 Then Moses led the people of Israel away from the Red Sea, and they moved out into the desert of Shur. They traveled in this desert for three days without finding any water. 23 When they came to the oasis of Marah, the water was too bitter to drink. So they called the place Marah (which means “bitter”). 24 Then the people complained and turned against Moses. “What are we going to drink?” they demanded. 25 So Moses cried out to the Lord for help, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. Moses threw it into the water, and this made the water good to drink. It was there at Marah that the Lord set before them the following decree as a standard to test their faithfulness to him. 26 He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.” 27 After leaving Marah, the Israelites traveled on to the oasis of Elim, where they found twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there beside the water.

LOOK

FOR THREE DAYS THEY TRAVELED IN THE DESERT WITHOUT FINDING WATER

Take notice of that— just three days and they were already complaining!— they were complaining because…

WHEN THEY CAME TO MARAH, THEY COULD NOT DRINK ITS WATER BECAUSE IT WAS BITTER

Marah [Hebrew word for Bitter] is a spring of bitter water— the first camping place of the Israelites after crossing the Red Sea— 44 miles southeast of the coastal plain of the gulf of Suez

SO THE PEOPLE GRUMBLED AGAINST MOSES, SAYING, WHAT ARE WE TO DRINK?

We know that A human can go without food for about three weeks but would typically only last three to four days without water—

But they just saw God’s greatness when He [just 3 days ago], parted the Read Sea that gave them safe passage eluding possible death in the hands of the Egyptians that ensued them

Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood....

HE THREW IT INTO THE WATER, AND THE WATER BECAME FIT TO DRINK

The purpose of the piece of wood was not explained— it may have served as a filter that improved the taste.

Since the water was not poisonous— merely bitter in taste— it could have been made sweet if something was added to it

There are four things to learn from this passage..

FOUR THINGS THAT COULD MAKE US BETTER NOT BITTER

TOOK

LISTEN CAREFULLY TO THE LORD YOUR GOD

Deuteronomy 7:12 NLT

12 “If you listen to these regulations and faithfully obey them, the Lord your God will keep his covenant of unfailing love with you, as he promised with an oath to your ancestors.

Listening in one thing, obeying is another

DO WHAT IS RIGHT IN HIS EYES

2 Corinthians 8:21 GNB

21 Our purpose is to do what is right, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of others.

When Titus was sent to receive the collection from the church in Corinth

PAY ATTENTION TO HIS COMMANDS

Hebrews 2:1 NIV

1 We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

The consequence of not paying careful attention is to drift away from God

KEEP ALL HIS DECREES

Deuteronomy 4:40 NLT

40 If you obey all the decrees and commands I am giving you today, all will be well with you and your children. I am giving you these instructions so you will enjoy a long life in the land the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

APPEAL

We saw through out their journey that it was God who fought all the battles for them

God is fighting our battles for us— Battle Belongs to God

Let’s make this song our declaration for today— Battle Belongs