Make Us Worshipers Series

Turn Your Bibles to Exodus 14:13-14:

Title: Make Us Worshipers

Theme: Worshipers Who Pray Through to a Completion

Series: Grasping the Foundational Truths of Prayer

Listen as I read Exodus 14:13-14: “Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." (Exodus 14:13-14) Pray!

Introduction: If you have been a Christian for very long you are very much aware of this chapter in Israel’s history. Most people even if they are not Christians have heard something of what happened at the Red Sea. The vessel the Lord chose to work through in preparing a people to be freed from bondage was Moses. God enabled Moses to do many great things before the Lord, one was being an intercessor. A Biblical intercessor gets involved by first interceding in prayer by making petition or entreaty in favor of another. (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary) A Biblical intercessor hears the voice of God and then moves forward in faith and gives others opportunity to follow.

In Deuteronomy 5 we see Moses interceding with the people of God, reminding them to “…be careful to do what the Lord [their] God directed [him] to teach [them] to observe…” (Deuteronomy 5:1-33) In Numbers chapter fourteen we read of God going to strike the Israelites down with a plague because of the their grumbling and desire to rebel against the Lord. (Numbers 14:2,9) However, Moses intercedes for them by trusting in the Lord’s great strength and loving character. (Numbers 14:17)

Moses speaks to the Lord saying, “The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished… In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.” (Numbers 14:18-19)

Moses was a worshiper who interceded for the Lord to God’s people giving them His instructions, he interceded for the Israelites urging them not to rebel, and he asking God not to strike the people with a plague, not because he had a hidden agenda, rather he had a zealous heart for the protection of God’s character among the nations. (Numbers 14:13-16) His response to Lord’s wrath against the Israelites was, “If you put these people to death all at one time, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, `The LORD was not able to bring these people into the land He promised them on oath; so He slaughtered them in the desert.’” (Number 14:15-16)

Interrogative Sentence: Just what made Moses the intercessor that enabled Him to enjoy the power of God? What is the character that enables the church of Jesus Christ to walk in step with the Holy Spirit and enjoy the power of God in her labors with the Lord?

Proposition: I would like to propose to you that Exodus chapter 14 and other Biblical records of the Lord working in and through the life of Moses present to us the foundation of making worshipers who pray through to the power of God in their lives and ministries.

Transitional Sentence: The first truth that the Holy Spirit wants you to grasp is what is in the heart of worshipers who have the ear of God. There is a heart attitude that must be present in the Body of Christ that shows all who see the Lord’s church that God listens when they pray.

There needs to be that vessel who can allow people to see the power of God working in their lives. John 9:31 says, “We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does His will.” (John 9:31) The English Standard version gives us this wonderful translation with, “We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, God listens to him.”

In John chapter 9 we read of Jesus coming across a man who had been blind from his birth. (John 9:1) His disciples asked him why the man was born blind. Jesus’ answer was, “…this happened so that the power of God might be displayed in his life.” As we continue to read through John chapter 9 we read that the man was healed (John 9:7) and this drew a great amount of attention from the people who knew him and especially from the Pharisees. The Pharisees questioned the man who was healed and his parents. They hurled insults at him and put him out of the synagogue. They told the man that they were disciples of Moses, and “we do not even know where this fellow comes from.” (John 9:7-34)