I Could Not Have Done It Without You!

I Could Not Have Done It Without You.

1 Chronicles 11:10-14 Romans 16:2-13

How do you feel when someone does something and they look at you and say, “I Couldn’t Have Done It Without You.” Today as we honor our lay pastors and look back at how God has used us in the past, we say, we could not have done it without you.

For those of you who do not know, our lay pastors are a group of people whose main function is to be a support to the pastors by acting as the pastors’ extension. They preach, they teach, they counsel, they pray, they meet, they train, and they learn to be more effective leaders.

No leaders can accomplish anything by themselves. David had his big 3 warriors and then there were 30 mighty men that the bible tells us about. Solomon had a cabinet to help him rule his kingdom. Paul had Barnabus at first and then all those people in Romans 16 to help him. Jesus even had 12 disciples and a number of women in his ministry. God intended for us to do his work together with the support and encouragement of others.

Our text come from Exodus 17:8-13. It is a very important time for God’s people. They had been slaves for 430 years in Egypt. God comes and delivers them just as he said he would. When the Egyptians finally let them go, they gave them all the gold, the silver, the money, the clothes that the people asked for. You see the last plague God had sent upon the Egyptians was the death of every first born male in every house and in every barn. When the Egyptians saw this, they demanded that the slaves leave.

Two chapters earlier than out text, the Egyptians changed their minds and sent the army to bring back the people. But God came to their aid and split the Red Sea for them to escape through. When the Egyptians followed, they were completed destroyed by the waters collapsing in on them.

The people were excited at this great victory as they marched toward the promise land that God had for them.

Just when you defeat Satan coming at you from one direction he shows up in another. This time the Amalekites decided to come in and attack. They were a fierce nomadic tribe who knew how to fight. They were organized as an army.

They heard about the people of Israel coming out of Egypt loaded down with goods and money. Not only that, what would a group of slaves know about organized warfare?. They figured, this thing was going to be a push over. They started it off by playing dirty. They attacked the stragglers at the rear of the convoy of some million people. This is the first army God’s people will have to actually fight themselves.

We see two well known men at the forefront. Moses appoints his aid Joshua to be the general of the army. He tells him to choose some of our men and go out and fight the Amalekites.

Tomorrow Moses would stand on top of the hill with staff of God in his hands. Then we see Moses invites Aaron, his brother to also go up on the hill with him. Aaron is well known by the people, he was the one who had spoken for Moses to Pharaoh. There is plenty about Aaron in the bible.

But then there is another guy who is invited to go up the hill with Moses by the name of Hur. Not that many people know of Hur. As a matter of fact Hur is only going to appear one other time in the Scriptures.

Hur is going to step up to do what’s needed to be done, and then he will fade back into the crowd. The role of Hur is the same as the role of lay pastors in the congregation. They come forward when they are called and when they are needed they serve, and then they go back into the crowd.

At times, we all like to think that when God calls us, it means we are going to always be in the lime light where others will see us. After all, we are doing what we’re doing for God to be glorified. But God’s call is not the same thing as being successful in the way success is defined by the world. To be the best for God, is not the same as being the best according to the world’s standards.

Did you know that Jesus sometimes hid from the crowds. Sometimes he intentionally got away from the spot light. Sometimes he mingled back in the crowds so that they did not even know that it was him.