How not to find water in a desert

As we have said before we are looking forward to the 'lifting of restrictions' but are also mindful of the need for individual and corporate responsibility as the new variant cases are still rising.

On our first Sunday back we have a fantastic visiting speaker (in person) and we will be singing!  Everything else is subject to change but we envisage the following approach:

We will not ask you to book in.

We will have seats set out in blocks with gaps between them and a few individual seats you are free to sit with others or to sit apart, please be considerate if people want to keep apart.

We will ask you to wear a mask when moving about and singing, but you are free to remove the mask when seated, or keep it on whatever you prefer.

We will have tea and coffee after the service. This will be served to you.

We will ask you not to attend if you feel ill in any way (broken bones and known chronic conditions excluded).We hope that this measured approach will allow us to worship and fellowship safely as we progress towards even greater freedoms. On the Friday before this service we will confirm the above or advise of any changes. We are so thankful that God has brought us through this time as a church family and we are able to meet, worship, be together, serve the community and tell of His good news. We are looking forward to a short break but you will still be in our thoughts and prayers.

Moses Called

I wan to start this morning with a little game. Have a look at these pictures.

Who is it.

Recognise the events?

Other than being of Moses what is common about each of the pictures?

Moses staff was important to him and to Gods plans for him.

Reading from Exodus.

Exodus 3:1–3 CSB

1 Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush. As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed. 3 So Moses thought, “I must go over and look at this remarkable sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?”

Moses was very nonchalant i think I would have been a bit more freaked by a bush on fire that was not burning

Exodus 3:4–11 CSB

4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am,” he answered. 5 “Do not come closer,” he said. “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he continued, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. 7 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the territory of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 9 So because the Israelites’ cry for help has come to me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them, 10 therefore, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses asked God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

God has a clear plan for him but as you will now from a few weeks ago. Moses did not feel he was the man for the Job.

Exodus 4:1–3 CSB

1 Moses answered, “What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” 2 The Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. 3 “Throw it on the ground,” he said. So Moses threw it on the ground, it became a snake, and he ran from it.

Moses staff played a key role in Moses life.

Moses stirkes the water

THE FIRST PLAGUE: WATER TURNED TO BLOOD

Exodus 7:14–18 CSB

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard: He refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning. When you see him walking out to the water, stand ready to meet him by the bank of the Nile. Take in your hand the staff that turned into a snake. 16 Tell him: The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But so far you have not listened. 17 This is what the Lord says: Here is how you will know that I am the Lord. Watch. I am about to strike the water in the Nile with the staff in my hand, and it will turn to blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from it.”

Moses - Hail

Exodus 9:22–23 CSB

22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven and let there be hail throughout the land of Egypt—on people and animals and every plant of the field in the land of Egypt.” 23 So Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail. Lightning struck the land, and the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt.

Moses Locusts -

Exodus 10:13 CSB

13 So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord sent an east wind over the land all that day and through the night. By morning the east wind had brought in the locusts.

We see the staff accompany Moses through his exit from Egypt, across the red sea. He raises it to part the sea. We see Moses use the staff in the battle at Rephidim between the Israelites and the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8-15). When he holds up his arms holding the staff the Israelites "prevail", when he drops his arms, their enemies gain the upper hand.

Aaron and Hur help him to keep the staff raised until victory is achieved.

A symbol of Gods Power and anointing

It is clear that Moses Rod symbolised Gods anointing on Moses and represented Gods Power.

Moses leaned on the staff in in more ways than one.

The problem was Moses started to rely on the expression of Gods power, the staff, more than he did on God himself. A mistake that would cost him his future.

Moses strikes the rock - Blessing

there are two seemingly very similar events where we see the Moses staff put to use. In both we see that the people, the Israelites in the desert are thirsty. They are standing around Moses and they are demanding water.

Nothing had changed. The people had been fed, and they had been traveling in the wilderness, as God had commanded.

They had been slaves in Egypt, now they were free; God had performed many miracles for them from the parting of the Red Sea to feeding them with Quail and Manna, still they complained incessantly, this time about water.

This was not Moses’ first, nor last moment of frustration…

…so he did a little complaining of his own to God: “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

We are told that the people were testing the Lord saying: “Is the Lord among us or not?”

And the answer comes from a hopeless barren rock.

Exodus 17:5–7 (CSB)

5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. 6 I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Out of this hopeless barren rock God produces what the people need in order to live—cool, refreshing, life-saving water!!!

Out of the rock comes life.

Out of the rock comes proof that the Lord is, indeed, among His people.

God could bring water from a rock, and thereby, bring life out of death.

God has a plan.

There is a direct connection between Moses complaint to God, God’s Plan, Moses obedient action and Life Saving results.

When God puts a plan into action nothing will stop it. When God makes up His mind, nothing gets in His way!

Ezekiel 12:25 CSB

25 But I, the Lord, will speak whatever message I will speak, and it will be done. It will no longer be delayed. For in your days, rebellious house, I will speak a message and bring it to pass. This is the declaration of the Lord God.’ ”

Let me tell you a little story from the Swan Quarter, North Carolina, in 1876. A story that either highlights God’s unstoppable plans or is the greatest act of coincidence ever.

The Story

Picture

The Methodist Episcopal Church South needed a new building, so when someone donated a piece of land Oyster Creek Road, they accepted. It was low-lying land, so they constructed a sturdy, little, white-frame church and put it up on brick pilings. Days later a storm lashed the town, and those within sight of Oyster Creek Road witnessed something amazing. The church building - still intact - was afloat!

The flood had lifted it off its pilings and sent it down the road. They tried to moor it with ropes, but the church building moved on. At the town center, as dozens of people watched helplessly, it made a sharp, inexplicable right turn and continued on.

Finally, in the same decisive manner, it veered off the road. It headed straight for a vacant lot, and stopped dead in the center! The flood waters eventually receded, but the building is still there. In fact, 130 years have passed since the church, now called Providence Methodist Church, floated itself to the most desirable property in town. What's amazing is this: The lot where it settled had originally been the congregation's first choice for their building, but landowner Sam Sadler turned them down. The morning after the flood he presented the pastor with the deed.

The Realty

In 1874, members wanted to build on prime property in Swan Quarter, a village located along Pamlico Sound in northeastern North Carolina. The owner refused to sell, so they erected their church elsewhere. But there was something about the original site.

During September 16-17, 1876, on the eve of the buildin’s dedication, a hurricane blew through the area. Pamlico Sound engulfed Swan Quarter, sweeping the church off its foundation. A Providence United brochure tells what happened:

“A miracle was happening — the church was floating down the road. The church ‘moved by the hand of God.’ It went straight down the road to a corner and bumped into a general store owned by George V. Credle. The corner is now Oyster Creek Road and U.S. 264 Business.

“Then a curious thing happened! The building took a sharp right turn and headed down the road for about two blocks until it reached the corner of what is now Church Street. Then it moved slightly off its straight-line course, took another turn to the left, crossed the Carawan Canal directly in front of the place where people desired the church to be, and settled exactly in the center of the Sam Sadler property, the site which had been refused.”

And that’s where the building remains today. The land was subsequently sold to the congregation.

Originally designated the “Methodist Episcopal Church South,” it was later renamed “Providence United Methodist Church” — a tribute to what members considered divine intervention.

When God sets out a plan it will succeed it may take time, it may take some unexpected twists - but it will succeed

Follow the lead of God

There is a clear path though - God’s Plan, Moses obedient action - Results.

God’s Plan - our willingness to follow results.

It starts with Gods Plan and God being God knows more about things than we will ever do so it is not surprising that God’s plan sometimes changes - God asks us to do things differently

Mosts strikes the rock - Trouble

This was the case for Moses yet again Moses was surrounded by the people complain

Numbers 20:2–13 (CSB)

2 There was no water for the community, so they assembled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord. 4 Why have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? 5 Why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It’s not a place of grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates, and there is no water to drink!”

Moses did some of his own complaining to God and God gave him a plan.

6 Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting. They fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 7 The Lord spoke to Moses, 8 “Take the staff and assemble the community. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will yield its water. You will bring out water for them from the rock and provide drink for the community and their livestock.”

At this point Moses should have followed the plan. Instead he did what had worked before.

9 So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence just as he had commanded him. 10 Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels! Must we bring water out of this rock for you?” 11 Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that abundant water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me to demonstrate my holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them.” 13 These are the Waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord, and he demonstrated his holiness to them.

God did not let Moses arrogance detract from His plan for the people but it did have a cost on Moses.

God sets the plan we are to follow -

Then there are those times when God decides to do things differently:

-"Moses, strike the rock," and "Moses, speak to the rock."

Theres no box to these occurrences!

-"Sun, stand still,"

-getting tax money out of a fish’s mouth,

-spitting on the ground, making clay out it, and putting it on a blind mans eyes,

-providing what was needed at a wedding by turning water into wine,

-walking around the walls of a city for seven days and then shouting, and the walls fall down,

-enabling Samson to kill a thousand enemy soldiers with an animals jawbone,

-and three Hebrew young men walking around in a burning, fiery furnace that has been heated seven times hotter than normal, and yet they walk out of that furnace with no burns and not even the smell of smoke on them!

Gods plans do not always make sense, but obedience brings results.

We have to follow the lead of God and that can mean doing things differently.

Seek Gods plan

We need to seek God’s plan and not

Rely on God not skill - I bet Moses was a skilled - Staff wheeler. but that did not get the results.

We must not rely of doing what we always have done. Regardless of it having had results in the past. - The fisherman always dropped the nets over that side of the boat, they always caught something. But on this one occasion there success was based on God’s plan to drop them over the other side.

A good time to check we are following the plan

Now is a good time to check we are following Gods plan. As we come out of lockdown and other restrictions. As we enter into our summer period and onto September - which seems to be for the Vine a ‘starting point’ in the year.

Now is a good time to check we are not just doing what we have aways done, not just going with the flow but we are actively looking for God’s plan not ours and obediently following it.

Pray

Hear

Help

Obedince

Action.