FORGETING THE TOKENS OF THE PROMISE?
FINDING THAT PLACE NEAR THE HEART OF GOD?
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
I have two rods before us, can we see the difference in them?
Jill : 11/15/14
I have learned a lot in the last 20 months since Jeff has been sick...
Things that I thought mattered or material things do not mean nothing!!!
I was really bad to sweat small stuff...
For you see, in the end none of that small stuff matters...
Please keep in mind, friends, there is always a lot worse stuff going
on around you ...
My brother is dying and there ain't nothing I can do about it!!!
This is the kind of stuff that matters...
I don't wish anyone this kind of pain...
I. MOSES HAS HAD A TWISTED JOURNEY...
NOTHING HAS GONE AS PLANNED...
1. THE FIRST 40 YEARS--- I AM HOT STUFF, With family, in the palace...
2. THE SECOND 40 YEARS--- I AM NOTHING... back side of the desert..
3. THE THIRD 40 YEARS--- GOD IS EVERYTHING... leading God's plan...
Exodus 4:2 And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.
II. PEOPLE ARE THE FICKLED FINGER OF FATE AWARD:
WHAT MIRACLE? MARKED BY THE LACK OF STEADFASTNESS, CONSISTANCY,
OR STABLITY?
A. WHAT MIRACLE?
3,000,000 (3 MILLION PEOPLE?)
x 3 Meals a day?
============================
9,000,000 (9 Millions meals A DAY)
X 365 days (A YEAR)
============================
3, 285,000,000 (3 1/4 BILLION MEALS A YEAR)
X 40 YEARS
========================================
131,400,000 (13 1/2 BILLION MEALS IN FOOD YEARS)
B. All in the desert and wilderness, think of the miracle...
C. HOW BLIND CAN WE BE?
SEEMS ALL REFUSED TO SEE THE MIRACLE...
III. TROUBLE: WHEN IT WAS MOSES ROD... my rod --- trouble...
Numbers 20:8 Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy
brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and
thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation
and their beasts drink.
9 And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him.
10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and
he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?
11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water
came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.
12 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify
me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into
the land which I have given them.
13 This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and
he was sanctified in them.
IV. FACING THE SOUL'S CONFLICTS...
MOSES HAD BIG PROBLEMS AND THERE WAS NO ONE OR NOTHING THAT COULD
THE HEAVINESS UNDER WHICH HE LIVED DAILY...
HIS LOT WAS HOPELESS AND HELPLESS...
A. What can I do?
Frustration on every side?
Hope seems to fade under the pressure of little menial daily junk?
Exodus 17:12 (KJV) But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under
him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side,
and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
Exodus 17:12 (MSG) But Moses' hands got tired. So they got a stone and set it under him.
He sat on it and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side. So his hands remained
steady until the sun went down.
B. DAILY DESCISIONS?
ALL OF MOSES' PROBLEMS, HOPELESSNESS, AND EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL
BATTLES DROVE HIM TO THE PLACE NEAR THE HEART OF GOD...
C. Moses learned the SWEET SPOT: MIGHTY PRAYER...
D. Not only did Moses depend on his PRAYER LIFE, so did all His generation and
the next generation...
E. What did prayer do?
1. Calmed the storm...
2. Prayer accomplished more than JOSHUA was capable of doing...
3. They faced the enemy the best they knew how, but NEVER FORGET THE
GOD FACTOR...
F. HUR & AARON become a type of the HAND OF GOD'S SUPPORT...
V. IS IT POSSIBLE TO FORGET THE TOKENS OF GOD'S PROMISE?
WE ARE IN A FRUSTRATING CONFLICT AND WAR... I HAVE A ROD...
MY ROD BECAME THE ROD OF GOD...
WE WRESTLE THROUGH THE NIGHT... WHERE IS THE LIGHT?
A. Sure, we know we are in a battle, HOW SHALL WE FIGHT IN THIS BATTLE...???
B. THE ROD BECAME A TOKEN OF THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY, ALMIGHTY GOD...
VI. BEWARE OF THE SPIRIT OF HEAVINESS YIELD TO THE SPIRIT OF TIREDNESS,
AND GOD'S TOKEN GETS HEAVY...
IS GOD REALY WITH US??? IS GOD REALLY WITH OUR LEADER...
IS THIS A ROD? OR THE ROD...
SYNERGISM: THE POWER OF UNITY...
Exodus 4:20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he
returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
Exodus 17:9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with
Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
B. CAN WE SEE THE RED FLAGS ---
IT TOOK MORE THAN FAITH TO ASSIST THE GOD MAN!
Exodus 17:11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and
when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
12 But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat
thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on
the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
D. A STONE: The Rock of Ages
A ROD:
THE ROD:
C. VISUAL FIELD? Can we see HANGS HANGING LIMP...
Hebrews 12:12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
THERE IS NO RECORD THAT JOSHUA GREW TIRED AND WEARY IN BATTLE...
YET THE RECORD IS CLEAR IN INTERCESSION WEARINESS AND TIREDNESS
TRYIE TO HINDER THE PRAYER...
WE MUST FIGHT UNTIL THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN...
VII. GOD EMPLOYS SEVERAL AIDES TO STRENGHTEN THE FAITH OF HIS PEOPLE.
WHY DO PEOPLE PUT GOD TO THE TEST?
WHERE ARE YOU GOD?
God placed HIS MAN in full view of all the people and all the soldiers...
A ROD VS THE ROD...
THE RAISED HANDS MAYBE A LESSON...
BUT THE REAL LESSON IS IN THE ROD...
ALL VICTORIES DO NOT DEPEND ON THE SWORDS AND THE SOLDIERS
REAL VICTORIES DEPEN ON THE ROD OF GOD...
THOSE WE TOTALLY DEPEND ON OUR FAITH IN GOD...
VICTORY DOES NOT DEPEND ON US OR OUR POWER OR OUR LACK
OF POWER...
GOD, WHY ARE YOU ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN?
VIII. WE NEED A BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE...
LOOK WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE!
Do we need a visual aid ---
Can we see beyond the A ROD to THE ROD OF GOD...
Exodus 17:14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and
rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from
under heaven. 15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi:
IX. TEST AUTHORITY OF THE ROD?
CAN WE SEE THE HAND OF GOD IN OUR DAILY LIFE?
Was there a VISIABE difference in A ROD and THE ROD?
THE TESTING OF THE ROD OF AUTHORITY?
12 RODS ONE FROM EACH TRIBE..
Numbers 17:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according to the
house of their fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve rods:
write thou every man's name upon his rod.
3 And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the head
of the house of their fathers.
4 And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony,
where I will meet with you.
5 And it shall come to pass, that the man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I
will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur
against you.
6 And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a
rod apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses, even twelve rods:
and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.
7 And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness.
8 And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness;
and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds,
and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.
9 And Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD unto all the children of Israel:
and they looked, and took every man his rod.
10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Bring Aaron's rod again before the testimony, to be
kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from
me, that they die not.
CONCLUSION:
Life's lessons are greater than what the eyes can see.
Do you know the different in A ROD and THE ROD?
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
