Sing A Song Of Celebration Series

TITLE: SING A SONG OF CELEBRATION

TEXT: EXODUS 15:1-21

INTRODUCTION:

- We’re continuing our study through the book of Exodus.

- As we go through this study, we’re asking the question, “What can I learn from this passage about honoring God?”

- Last week, we looked at the folly of the wicked.

- We saw that the wicked are blinded by their anger, the wicked complain against God, and the wicked make foolish decisions.

- We read about God parting the Red Sea, making a dry path so that the Israelites could cross over to the other side.

- Pharaoh and his Army foolishly chased after them and it ended in their destruction as God caused the waters to cave in on them, thus drowning him and his Army.

- Today, we’re going to look at what the Israelites did immediately after this happened…

- They sang a song of celebration.

- It’s one of the ways we worship God, is through music.

- Music is a way for people to express themselves and their feelings in a creative way.

- For example, back in High School, my brother Steven became friends with some guys that liked to play music and write songs.

- One of the types of music he got involved in was rap music.

- He became known to others as “Balliver…” because he played basketball and he rapped.

- Kids at school were always saying, “Oh, you’re Balliver’s brother! He’s so cool. He makes great music.”

- One day, another kid, Andrew Roussel, challenged my brother to a rap battle.

- I’ll never forget that day…

- I was walking down the hall, and somebody said, “Hey, did you hear? Your brother is about to have a rap battle with Andrew!”

- I couldn’t believe it!

- I thought maybe he might be involved with a fight if it went south, so I headed over to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid.

- Well, it drew a big crowd, but as I got there, so did the School Principal, Mr. Aaronson.

- Mr. Aaronson was known to be pretty tough, so I thought, “Uh oh, Steven’s in trouble.”

- Instead, Mr. Aaronson smiled and said, “Alright, I’ll be the referee!”

- If you knew Mr. Aaronson, then you’d know how funny it was for him to say this, but he was serious.

- So, Mr. Aaronson said, “Alright, we’ll start with Andrew, and then it will be Steven’s turn. We’ll have them go back and forth a few times, and we’ll determine who the winner is by the cheers.”

- So, Andrew began, and I don’t remember what he said, but I do remember my brother had a smirk on his face.

- After Andrew was finished, the crowd cheered, and then it was my brother’s turn.

- Off he went with his rap, and I remember thinking, “Wow, he’s a lot better than I thought he was!”

- After he was finished, they went back and forth a few times, and once they were done, Mr. Aaronson said, “Okay, great job guys. Now let’s see who the winner is…if you think Andrew won, let out great cheer!”

- There were some cheers, but it wasn’t that loud.

- “If you think Balliver won, let out a great cheer!”

- The cheers for Steven were much louder, so he won the rap battle, and for the rest of his time in High School, he was remembered for his rap battle with Andrew.

- Obviously, that’s a silly little story, but I think it shows us that people sing songs to express themselves in many ways, on all sorts of different occasions.

- That’s where we find Moses and the Israelites here in Exodus 15.

- They have just been miraculously delivered from their bondage in Egypt, and they watched their enemies perish at the hands of God.

- Now, they take the time to sing a song of celebration to the Lord, a song the Jews title, “The Song at the Red Sea”.

- So let’s look at three reasons the Israelites are singing this song to the Lord.

FIRST: SING BECAUSE GOD IS VICTORIOUS- VS 1-10

- One of my favorite movies when I was a kid was “The Mighty Ducks.”

- It’s about a junior hockey team with kids that have a lot of talent, but at first, they don’t know how to play as a team.

- Their coach takes the time to teach them how to play as a team, and they start winning.

- The movie was so good that they made a 2nd one.

- In that movie, they get to play as Team USA in the World Junior Goodwill games.

- My favorite scene from the movie is the final scene when they are all around a campfire, celebrating together because they just won the world championship game.