Power In Partnering

Slide #1

Video –(welcome to our church)

Welcome-guests

Introduction:

During the summer of 1904 an unlikely partnership was formed at the World’s Fair in St. Louis.

The summer was unusually hot and people were searching the fair for something to help cool them off…

A vendor named Arnold had just what they were looking for… ice cream.

People lined up for what seemed like miles to get some of his cool and satisfying ice cream but there was one problem.

Arnold was not prepared for the demand and ran out of paper bowls.

Next to Arnold’s ice cream booth was a man named Ernest… a pastry chef … who was making a Persian wafer desert.

Ernest also had a problem, his pastry was not selling.

He noticed the problem Arnold was having and took some warm pastry and rolled it into a cone shape.

He then went over and showed Arnold how the cone could hold a scoop of the ice cream.

On that hot day during the World’s Fair in St Louis… the wafer ice cream cone was born because a partnership was formed.

How important are Partnerships in life?

How important are partnerships to you?

How important are partnerships to God?

Open your bibles to Exodus 17:8-13.

It’s in these 5 verses where we find 4 partnerships that hold great value that need to be identified.

Partnerships have the ability to change not only the lives of the people involved in them…but also the lives of all those around them.

Follow along as I read this morning …READ Exodus 17:8-13

Prayer

The first partnership I want you to notice this morning is the partnership between…

Slide #2 Moses & God

Verse 9.b “Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”

God and Moses had been in a partnership for many years before this battle took place.

Many times in the past Moses had personally witnessed God fighting right alongside him in the battles of life.

Moses had witnessed God do many incredible things through his Sheppard’s staff that he carried with him everywhere.

The staff that Moses was preparing to led Joshua and the Israelites into battle with…was not your typical piece of wood.

Before the Exodus began… Moses had approached Pharaoh to ask him to set the captives free.

This was the staff that God turned into a serpent to try to prove to Pharaoh who the one true God was.

It also was the same staff that Moses used to part the Red Sea when Pharaohs army was attacking them during the Exodus…

This staff was also used to tap on a rock to provide water for the complaining children of Israel while wandering around the desert…

This staff had God written all over it…it held great power…and Moses knew as long as he held it out front…God would prevail.

So when Moses made the statement in verse 9…He was expecting nothing less than…God to show his power just like He had in the past.

So the next morning just as he said “Tomorrow I will Stand…”…Moses heads up the hill with the staff of God leading him and the Israelite army into battle against Amalek and the Amalekites.

Moses knew that in order for the Israelites to be victorious in this battle God must be seen as the spiritual leader.

Everything was going just as Moses had planned… Joshua and the Israelites were winning the battle until one little issue came up.

We read about this issue in verse 11… “Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.

Simply…Moses was getting tired…can you imagine trying to hold up just your arms for the whole day…let alone adding in the weight of the staff.

I believe that Moses had total confidence in His partner…(God).

The problem was…Moses was just a man.

Moses knew that if the Israelites were to win this battle… God would have to lead them to victory.

Wouldn’t it be nice if today we had the staff available to help us fight the battles in our lives..(WE DO…BIBLE)

The Second partnership I want you to notice from our reading this morning is the partnership between…

Slide #3 Moses and Joshua

Vs9….So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek… Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek,

Moses knew that not only could he count on God to stand by him in the battle…but he also knew that he could count on Joshua as well.

Moses knew Joshua was a natural born leader…Joshua had proven his loyalty by being a General in the Israelite army under Moses command.