All of us can remember the day we learned we are going to heaven when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Only Savior and Lord. Besides that day of salvation, what other wondrous experience have you had with God??
I will never forget the day we had been praying for the next step in our lives and a number of ministry leaders prayed for us at a Conference; as Elsa and I were unpacking our suitcases at home, the phone rang…. It was Charity Wickman who represented a group of Filipino Americans praying for a new church, and she asked if I would be interested in being their Pastor!! Within hours of our prayer time, God responded in a mighty way! And here we are today, over 1 million sermon views all over the world now to date!
God is good…. All the time….
And we are to remember often those times when God did something awesome in our lives! This is what we will read today; the Hebrews of old represent us today. I asked Tim Jaenchen to read for us this morning. Open your Bibles to Exodus 15 as Tim comes forward…..
v1-18: Moses and the Israelites sang to the Lord! What did they sing and how do we apply them to our lives?
- Highly exalted…. ?? (our focus needs to be honoring God alone!)
- My strength…… (God is the Only One who can sustain us!)
- My Song…… ?? (Music in our hearts!)
- My Salvation…. (the Only One who saves)
- My God…. (humbling ourselves before Him)
- A warrior who defeats His enemies…… (God fights for me!)
- Almighty Awesome Power!
- No one else like God!
- Majestic in holiness…. ?? (be in awe of God’s Purity)
- Unfailing love to lead, redeem, and guide….. (commitment to always follow God)
- Unbelievers will tremble/Believers will be provided for?? (give thanks always)
- The Lord will reign forever!...... (wholly surrender!)
v20-21: Miriam, Moses’ sister, led worship with tambourines and dancing singing to the Lord, God is highly exalted!
God appreciates musical instruments and even dancing when…… they are for the Lord exalted!
Can people go wrong with musical instruments and dancing at church?? How??
Everything is to be focused on worshiping God at church!
And so, all was good with the Israelites after God saved them from the Egyptians! What happened after 3 days??
v22-24: In just 3 days after experiencing God’s miraculous power to save, the Hebrews were complaining!
We can be hard on the Hebrews here, but let's see if we ourselves can wait till Wednesday before complaining about something?
With all the praising and acknowledgment of how mighty God is with their songs, what should the Hebrews had done when they were in need??
After experiencing the power and love of God, the Hebrews should have prayed instead of complaining!
Does praying to God work? v25: God responded positively to Moses!
And so, God made a decree for the Hebrews – v26: God’s commands were given for their benefit! We read in Deutoronomy 6:24…… The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive…
Remember, God gives life and can take life but desires to bless people!
v27: God affirms His commitment to His Chosen People with an oasis!
Let us highlight applications for our lives from this passage. Three simple points.:
1. Our worship songs and prayers should emulate the singing of the Hebrews! As the one who chooses our worship songs week after week, please pray that we are always singing the right songs. If there is a song which seems out of line, please let me know! Some of you likely have heard the song “Come Now Is the Time To Worship” with the word “Come” repeated like a thousand times; we would never do that here.
And again, the Hebrews sang about their godly experiences with God. Many of you read the weekly emails I send regarding preparing our hearts for Sunday worship. Here’s another idea: as you drive to church on Sunday morning, think about the good things God did for you during the week; if you are with family, share with each other the good things from God you noticed during the week. So when you get to church, your hearts will be ready for worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ.
And when we do our worship, and that’s our main focus on Sundays as Scriptures tell us; we are to gather on a regular basis to worship our God!
2. Our purpose for Sunday gatherings is to worship and focus on honoring God, nothing else! Again, we are all to pray about this and keep me accountable in doing what god tells us in Scriptures!
And finally, the world is full of sinners and there are plenty of things to complain about; our own water may not taste good; it’s too cold, it’s too hot in here; our neighbors are not too friendly; the message was too long; we need to start on time; I wish I had more money; I wish people would wear deodorant; and the list goes on and on and on….
It is so easy to complain about something; and so it should be easy to be reminded to pray!
3. Turn our complaining to praying to our Loving Almighty God and take godly actions if you can!
Let’s do that right now shall we…. Quietly pray to God right where you are:
- Give thanks for life and eternal life through Jesus Christ.
- Pray for godly things for your family, this church, your friends, and community.
- Ask God how to be more Christlike and do it!
