Lesson’s from Israel
Exodus 14: 10-12
(This is a message I preached upon returning from a Misison’s trip to San Loius Potosi Mexico).
This past week had to be among the most incredible weeks of my life. I preached a couple of weeks “What’s in your House?” And I stated that everything we need to receive our miracle is already in our house. We don’t need to run to and fro looking here and looking there. God has provided us more than enough to meet out every need.
This week past I saw the lame walk, blind eyes opened, deaf ears unstopped, tumors disappear, pain removed and on and on. Each night the intensity grew as people came expecting to receive. Many of these people walked for miles, rode in overcrowded buses or came in taxis. They sat in the rain and on hard seats hanging on every word that was being said. When time came for the altar call, they responded by the hundreds and hundreds. When it came time to receive prayer for miracles, they lined up by the thousands and waited to have hands laid on them for them to receive their miracle and they received. I literally sat intimidated at the simple child like faith in which these men and women, boys and girls came to God.
I asked God “what’s the difference between here and there? What is the difference in my praying for people here in Mexico and my praying for people in Cleburne? How come we are seeing many miracles every night here in Mexico and we only see a few over an extended period of time?”
Friend, when you ask God a question, be prepared for His answer. God began to give me a history lesson. God took me back to the children of Israel and walked me through our similarities. If ever a people saw the mighty power of God, it was the children of Israel. Think about it, for 430 years they had been held captive against their will. They were in bondage by Egyptian taskmasters. No matter how hard they might have tried to free themselves, it was of no avail. God said, “Mike, this is how I found you; this is how I found everyone who names my son’s name. You were lost, you were dead in your trespasses and sin and nothing you did could set you free.”
The children of Israel were in a hopeless situation. They desperately wanted to be set free; as I said a couple of weeks ago, when you don’t know what to do, at least know where to turn. They began to cry out to God. They had been told all their lives how good it was going to be one day. They long for that one day to be today. When they turned to God and began to cry out to Him, He heard their prayer. He raised up a man named Moses. He wasn’t just a man, He was a man of God, God’s chosen deliverer.
Moses presents his case before Pharaoh and tells him that God wants His people free. Friend, God is till in the freeing business. He is still breaking chains, undoing heavy burdens and releasing the captives. If you walked in here this morning bound and under a heavy load, you don’t; have to leave the way you came in Jesus name.
For the children of Israel, their long awaited time had arrived. God rolled up His sleeves and began to bring plague after plague to show Egypt and Israel that there is only one true God.
After the 10th plague, Pharaoh relents and tells the people to get out. Imagine how they must have felt. It was probably how we felt when we first got saved. How many can remember that day? Think about it, here they were slaves for 430 years. They were bound and as good as dead. The only future they had to look forward too was serving Egypt all the days of their lives and then dying.
This is the way it was for us, before we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, we were in bondage to sin and the world. Egypt represents the world. When we were in sin, we served the world; out future was one of servitude and bondage. All we had to look forward to was death and hell. Friend that is what happens to people who don’t know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. I know we don’t like to think about it, but it is the truth. But when we heard and responded to the old story of how a savior came and brought deliverance, Egypt had to let us go. Now, remember how you felt. It was as if chains fell off you. Something broke over you and that cloudy sky that followed you around now became rays of sunshine.
When they left Egypt, they were free, the world could no longer hold them and they began their journey to their long awaited promised land. The promise land represents the abundant life Jesus said we could have. We too are journeying to our land of promise. It is the land of blessing, the land of abundant living.
But here is the point of the lesson God was showing me; they watched God roll up his sleeves and bring them out. Deuteronomy tells us that God brought them out so that He might bring them in. In was God’s plan to take them into their inheritance. Likewise, God wants us to enjoy the full benefits of our salvation but I want you to notice what happened.
They barely get out of the country and trouble hits. The enemy decides that they don’t want to let go without a fight. They pursue the Children of Israel. Now remember, they watched with their own eyes, they witnessed for themselves God rolling up His sleeves and working mighty miracles on their behalf. But what did they do? They began to gripe and complain. How quickly they forgot that God saved them from death as slaves. They were finding out that this walk of faith is not a stroll in the park. Friend, it is not always easy to live a holy life. It is not always easy to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus; but it is the only way to the promised-land.
What does God do? He tells Moses to calm the people and Moses told them not to fear but to stand and watch. Once again God rolled up His sleeves and parted the Red Sea making a way in the wilderness. They get across and watch as God decimates their enemies and drowned them all. God brought them total victory that day. As they sit there contemplating the events, Moses begins to remind them of God’s faithfulness. You see, one of the problems is they could get excited about where they had been, but they needed to get excited about where they were going. In Isaiah 43, they are reminded of God’s faithfulness in the past and then God says, “Remember not the former things neither consider the things of old, behold I do a new thing.” God was saying, get excited about where you are going. I’m not stuck in the past. I’m doing new things and if you only get excited about yesterday, the old days, you’re going to miss me completely today.
As Moses reminds them of Gods workings, Miriam couldn’t sit still. She didn’t wait for someone else to do it; she got her tambourine and began to dance before the lord. The other women joined right in and what a worship time they had. Oh what singing, oh what shouting, oh what dancing, all across the desert floor because of God’s faithfulness.
You would think that nothing could go wrong now. They had seen God’s faithfulness in Egypt and now He was fighting their battles for them.
But, not too many days after this they get thirsty and they start griping and complaining. They began to accuse God of abuse. This happens over and over and over again on their journey to the promised-land. They would have a need, God would come through and a few days later they are right back where they started griping and complaining. They stand on the border of their inheritance at Kadesh Barnea and retreat in fear because they failed to believe God.
This is what God said to me, “the American church is just like this. I brought them out of the world, I saved them, I set them free. I rolled up my sleeves and worked mightily on their behalf. But, no sooner than I brought them out they began to gripe and complain about something. I come through for them, I supply their needs and let something not go their way, rather than trusting in me they too accuse me of abuse.”
God said it has wearied him. We have quenched the spirit with ungodly lives. 2 Chronicles 7:14 tells us, “If my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land,” This message is a call to repentance. The American church needs to repent, we have dishonored God. We come in to service and think ill of others. We gripe and complain because the carpet is the wrong color, the temperature is not right. We gripe and complain because we sing too many choruses and not enough hymns or we sing too many hymns and not enough choruses. We gripe and complain because the preacher is too long or too short, too friendly or not friendly enough. God said, “I am sick of the griping and complaining.”
You can read for yourself what happened to the children of Israel. They did this so much that God finally said “that’s it.” They all died in the wilderness except Joshua and Caleb because they refused to get excited about where they were going. They couldn’t get the comforts of the world out of their system.
In the western church we have people today on the verge of dying spiritually simply because they can’t get past the comforts of the world. For the children of Israel it was melons, leeks, garlic and onions. For us, it is all sorts of things. The world tells us to have it our way, so we expect out every desire to be met. The world caters to our selfishness so we come to church and expect the same. Never mind that people are being saved, lives are being changed and God is moving. If it’s not what I like then I’m not going to participate. Get a life, this service is not about you, it is about him. We are here for His pleasure and His glory.
We get busy on the weekends and work or play ourselves out and on Sunday rather than gathering in God’s house to worship Him with His people per His instructions, we lounge around and said another time.
Friend, this has to stop. I believe that everyone in here would love to see God do what he said he would do. If we truly want to see God rend the heavens and come down, we can’t play this religious game with Him any more. We need to repent of not being who he called us to be. We need to repent of the griping and complaining. We need to repent of holding grudges. We need to repent of the ill we have in our hearts towards others. We need to repent of our unfaithfulness. We need to repent of quenching the spirit and not allowing him to operate in and through us as he desires. We need to repent of misrepresenting him to the world. We need to repent of our selfishness.
Friend, if we can grab hold of this and get past ourselves; we can experience an outpouring so powerful that miracles become the norm of every service. I believe it is coming. He said in the last days I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Friend, we are candidates for this outpouring this morning.
This is a hard message to preach as it is a hard message to hear. You will either allow the Holy Spirit to bring correction or you will get angry. My part is done because I did what I was told to do.
Now, will you allow the Holy Spirit to do what he needs to do? Church, we have a great future. I have never been in a place that has been as blessed as we have over the past 9 years. But these blessings are only the beginning of what God wants to do. Don’t become like the children of Israel and weary God, get excited about where God is taking us. It is new, it is fresh and it will change us forever.
