WHO’S GOT YOUR BACK?
-do me a favor. Name one person who did something completely on their own.
-you can’t. It’s impossible. There is no one in the history of the world that has done it. God designed us that way, that we cannot be alone.
**Gen. 2:18 -> 18God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.” (MSG)
-and of course that’s where Eve comes in. But it is not good for us to be alone. We really can’t be alone.
-that’s why the A in WATER stands for Allying, we need to be allies for each other, we need to have each other’s back.
-many of you are going on a missions trip this summer. Even back with the disciples, they never went on a missions trip alone.
**Luke 10:1 -> 1The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places He planned to visit. (NLT)
-Jesus sent people He trusted out in pairs, two people so they could help each other. And look at it, they’re going where Jesus goes next, they’re helping Jesus. Even He needs help sometimes. Even Jesus was not totally alone. Jesus speaking
**John 16:32b -> 32You will leave me alone, but I am never really alone, because the Father is with me. (NCV)
-even Jesus had help from His Dad. On the cross, we don’t read of Jesus saying anything when they nailed Him to the cross, the time He says something is when He is separated from His Father.
-no one does anything on their own, no matter how big or small it is. Even on shows like American Idol, people come in with all this talent for the world to hear them, but no one would if they ticked off the sound guy and he turned one little button a little.
-so today we’re going to go through some stories of famous people in the Bible who did great things, but see they didn’t do it alone.
-we’re not going to read all the stories completely either, just to warn you, it may take a while. You’ll have to look it up after, but important verses will go up.
1. DANIEL
-I’m sure you’ve all heard of Daniel and the lion’s den. Bad people convince the king to make it illegal to pray, Dan does anyway, gets thrown in with lions, doesn’t get eaten, king happy, bad people get thrown in, lions happy, etc.
-but the story of Daniel starts way before that. When Daniel was thrown in the lions’ den, he had been living in Babylon over 60 years! Not the young guy used in Sunday School, he was really, really old when the lions things happened. So let’s go back sixty years.
-Jerusalem was captured by Babylon and the king decides to take all the good looking, smart, fit young men to Babylon with him, one being Daniel.
-he was trained to enter the king’s service along with a few other guys, but always hung out with three others.
-one day the king has a dream and says if no one can interpret it, all the wise men of the kingdom will be killed, that includes Daniel.
**Dan. 2:14-19a -> 14When Arioch, chief of the royal guards, was making arrangements for the execution, Daniel wisely took him aside 15and quietly asked what was going on: “Why this all of a sudden?” After Arioch filled in the background, 16Daniel went to the king and asked for a little time so that he could interpret the dream. 17Daniel then went home and told his companions Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what was going on. 18He asked them to pray to the God of heaven for mercy in solving this mystery so that the four of them wouldn’t be killed along with the whole company of Babylonian wise men. 19That night the answer to the mystery was given to Daniel in a vision. (MSG)
-Daniel asked his friends to pray for him, and they did, and because of them helping, them praying, Daniel found out what the dream meant, saved his life, saved tons of people’s lives and ended up being ruler of the province of Babylon and head over all the wise men.
-Daniel didn’t think he could do it himself, he had to ask his friends to pray. Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, or by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach and Abendigo.
-do you ever pray for your friends? Do you realize what sort of thing prayer does for people? Even Jesus who was God took time to pray. We need to as well.
2. PAUL
-one of the coolest guys in the Bible.
-all you going on missions trips this summer, this is the guy who invented the missions trip. Before it was people moving to a certain area and living there, he was the first one to go in for a while, start a church, then move on. Mind you, he stayed a lot longer than we will…
-for those that don’t know, Paul was a Christian killer, that was basically his job, was to kill Jews who didn’t follow the Law as he saw fit, Christians didn’t, so he killed them. Then one day Jesus spoke to him, made him blind, and he changed his life to follow Jesus.
-then we don’t know much about him for years until he shows up in Antioch at the church there:
**Acts 13:1-3 -> 1The congregation in Antioch was blessed with a number of prophet-preachers and teachers: Barnabus, Simon, nicknamed Niger, Lucius the Cyrenian, Manean, and advisor to the ruler Herod, Saul. 2One day as they were worshiping God—they were also fasting as they waited for guidance—the Holy Spirit spoke: “Take Barnabas and Saul and commission them for the work I have called them to do.” 3So they commissioned them. In that circle of intensity and obedience, of fasting and praying, they laid hands on their heads and sent them off. (MSG)
-remember that verse at the beginning today, Jesus sent people out in pairs? All these amazing things with Paul, he did none of them alone.
-even when things didn’t work out, they always took someone else.
**Acts. 15:36-41 -> 36After a few days of this, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit all our friends in each of the towns where we preached the Word of God. Let’s see how they’re doing.” 37Barnabas wanted to take John along, the John nicknamed Mark. 38But Paul wouldn’t have him; he wasn’t about to take along a quitter who, as soon as the going got tough, had jumped ship on them in Pamphylia. 39Tempers flared, and they ended up going their separate ways: Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus; 40Paul chose Silas and, offered up by their friends to the grace of the Master, 41went to Syria and Cilicia to build up muscle and sinew in those congregations. (MSG)
-see, even the best of Christians disagree and argue. But, just because they argued, did not mean they did not support each other in their ministry. If you read Paul’s letters in II Timothy he says he admires John Mark, who wrote the Gospel of Mark. They just didn’t get along there.
-even when they disagreed, they still did not go alone, they found other people.
-if you read Acts 16, you can see where Luke, of the Gospel of Luke and wrote Acts, joined Paul and Silas in Troas. The book stops saying “they”, and starts saying “we”.
3. MOSES
-we’ve all heard about Moses. The Ten Commandments is on every Easter. “Let my people go.” Leads the people out of Israel, parts the Red Sea, gets the Ten Commandments, leads 1.5 million people for 40 years in the desert. Big man of God. No one ever like him.
-but he didn’t do it alone. Look back to where God called him.
-he was raised in Egypt, kills a guy and runs away. Far away. Ends up being a shepherd for 40 years in Midian. Then God calls him through a bush that’s on fire but never burns. Now whenever people tell this story, Moses is the big hero who goes out for God. You know that Moses was an insecure little guy? Five times he argues with God about how he can’t do it. Finally, it says this:
**Ex. 4:10-16 -> 10Moses raised another objection to GOD: “Master, please, I don’t talk well. I’ve never been good with words, neither before nor after You spoke to me. I stutter and stammer.” 11GOD said, “And who do you think made the human mouth? And who makes some mute, some deaf, some sighted, some blind? Isn’t it I, GOD? 12So, get going. I’ll be right there with you—with your mouth! I’ll be right there to teach you what to say.” 13He said, “Oh, Master, please! Send somebody else!” 14GOD got angry with Moses: “Don’t you have a brother, Aaron the Levite? He’s good with words, I know he is. He speaks very well. In fact, at this very moment he’s on his way to meet you. When he sees you he’s going to be glad. 15You’ll speak to him and tell him what to say. I’ll be right there with you as you speak and with him as he speaks, teaching you step by step. 16He will speak to the people for you. He’ll act as your mouth, but you’ll decide what comes out of it.” (MSG)
-Moses argued with God about how he wasn’t good enough so much that he ticked off God! Never do that!
-Moses was supposed to go and do all these things before Pharaoh, but he needed help, and it came in the form of his brother Aaron. When Moses speaks before Pharaoh for the first time, it’s actually Aaron who talks. The staff he throws down and it becomes a snake, it’s Aaron’s. Moses’ big brother helped him through one of the greatest events in history.
-but it doesn’t end there. Aaron helped him through the wilderness too, but Moses needed more help.
-after they stop for a bit, Moses acts as a judge and people who have problems come to him all the time, with every little thing.
-Moses’ father-in-law has to explain to Moses that he can’t doeverything himself. That he couldn’t fix every single person’s problems himself.
**Ex. 18:13-24 -> 13The next day Moses took his place to judge the people. People were standing before him all day long, from morning to night. 14When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What’s going on here? Why are you doing all this, and all by yourself, letting everybody line up before you from morning to night?” 15Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me with questions about God. 16When something comes up, they come to me. I judge between a man and his neighbor and teach them God’s laws and instructions.” 17Moses’ father-in-law said, “This is no way to go about it. 18You’ll burn out, and the people right along with you. This is way too much for you—you can’t do this alone. 19Now listen to me. Let me tell you how to do this so that God will be in this with you. Be there for the people before God, but let the matters of concern be presented to God. 20Your job is to teach them the rules and instructions, to show them how to live, what to do. 21And then you need to keep a sharp eye out for competent men—men who fear God, men of integrity, men who are incorruptible—and appoint them as leaders over groups organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. 22They’ll be responsible for the everyday work of judging among the people. They’ll bring the hard cases to you, but in the routine cases they’ll be the judges. They will share your load and that will make it easier for you. 23If you handle the work this way, you’ll have the strength to carry out whatever God commands you, and the people in their settings will flourish also.” 24Moses listened to the counsel of his father-in-law and did everything he said. (MSG)
-there’s a reason the principal has teachers for all the classrooms and he doesn’t do it himself. There’s a reason the town mayor has a town council. There’s a reason the President has a cabinet, has advisors, has help. No one can do it on their own, they need help.
-end even then, Moses wasn’t done. He had someone help him.
-remember the ten commandments?
**Ex. 24:12-13 -> 12GOD said to Moses, “Climb higher up the mountain and wait there for me; I’ll give you tablets of stone, the teachings and commandments that I’ve written to instruct them.” 13So Moses got up, accompanied by Joshua his aide. And Moses climbed up the mountain of God. (MSG)
-who was there when God spoke to Moses? Joshua. Who helped Moses whenever there was a problem? Joshua. Who sat in on the conversations God had with Moses in the Tent of Meeting when God spoke to Moses face to face? Joshua. Who was able to take over when Moses passed on? Joshua.
-Moses wasn’t in charge forever, he needed some help through life and had to let someone else lead after.
-Moses spend his whole life being helped. At first is was because he was scared. Then it was because he was too busy. By the end, it was because he had learned he just needed help.
-guess what? You’re going to need help someday. No man is an island. No one makes it through life alone, no matter how much they say no one ever helped them. I guarantee they weren’t born on the street, left on a corner as a baby and somehow they miraculously learned to crawl, cook beans, and poop without a diaper.
-we all need each other, life goes so much better if you work with others than if you’re alienated.
-John Maxwell writes books for Christian leaders all over the world and he says the most important skill as a leader is people skills. If you have a great idea, but no one will work with you, it will never happen.
-so think about it. You’re not alone. No one’s alone. We’re all supposed to have each other’s back, just like these great people in the Bible. They didn’t do it alone.
