Survival Mode Series

2022-01-23: Survival Mode

What is Survival Mode?

It can be described as flight or fight. Hoarding toilet paper. Storing months of food. Maybe some words come to mind: “Batten down the hatches, Circle the wagons, get in close formation,

When covid hit and we got ejected from our school. We Battened, we circled, we got in close formation. We entered survival mode.

We had an instant exodus, and we had to decide what to do next. We lined up TV and audio equipment. We gathered key people and determined the Gate Church would preach on!

Were we ready? Did we have what we needed? Can you every be totally ready? Were the children of Israel ready to leave Egypt when Moses repeatedly told pharaoh, “Let my people Go” on behalf of the Lord.

Have you ever been on an outdoor camping trip? If so, can you remember the preparation that you went through to be ready for your trip? Every wilderness adventure requires the participants to be prepared for any eventuality.

I did some research and here are the top ten things you should take with you to a desert if get lost in one:

• 1. Take plenty of water to the desert

• 2. Take plenty of food to the desert

• 3. Take sunblock to the desert

• 4. Take a first aid kit to the desert

• 5. Take a weapon to the desert

• 6. Take some strong rope to the desert

• 7. Take a fire-starting kit to the desert

• 8. Take a signaling device to the desert

• 9. Take the right outfit

• 10. Take a tarp to the desert

We did the best we could when we didn’t have a church home. How did Moses and the children of Israel do?

• 1. Take plenty of water to the desert. The number one things other than the power of God to sustain life is water! After only a day we will become severely dehydrated and weak.

o God provided water. Exodus 15:22-25 . The Waters of Marah and Elim

o 22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. (You know why it’s called that? Well, they were walking along hot and thirsty and they all said, “I am sure this is a desert.) For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” 25 Then 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.

o This was history’s first example water softener and water filtration! When we submit our will to the Lord, he takes the bitterness out of our life!

• 2. Take plenty of food on a desert island. The second most important thing that is needed to live is FOOD!

o Manna, Quail Exodus 16:30-32 So the people rested on the seventh day.

o 31 The people of Israel called the bread manna.[a] It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.’”

o Numbers 11:32 All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the camp.

o Psalm 105:40 They asked, and he brought them quail; he fed them well with the bread of heaven.

o GOD is the source of our sustenance. He is our spiritual food

• 3. Take sunblock and a flashlight to the desert

o Cloud from Heaven, take a covering. Psalm 94.22 But the Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge. Exodus 13:21 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. The Lord is our light, our guide, a lamp to our feet! His Banner over at his love. His love covers a multitude of sin

• 4. Take a first aid kit on a desert island

o The Power of God Exodus 15:26 He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”