Trust That Can Be Tested Series

LITURGICAL OPENING — PSALM 34:1-8

• I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

• My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.

• O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

• I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

• They looked unto Him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.

• This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

• The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.

• O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

(Psalm 34:1-8)

GREETING

Good Morning ... and too, God be the Glory!

I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. And there is a Word from the LORD ...

So let us turn our hearts and our Bibles to the book of Exodus ... chapter 14, beginning at verse 10 ... and then to the prophet Isaiah ... chapter 40, beginning at verse 27.

SCRIPTURE READING — EXODUS 14:10-13; ISAIAH 40:27-31 (KJV)

(Ex 14:10) And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.

(14:11) And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?

(14:12) For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

(14:13) And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.

(Isa 40:28) Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

(40:29) He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

(40:31) But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

NEIGHBOR TURN

Turn to your neighbor and say ... Neighbor — TRUST IS NOT BUILT IN THE GOOD TIMES. IT IS TESTED IN THE HARD ONES.

You may be seated ...

PRAYER

Father ... the task of teaching Your Word is once again in my keeping. I commit myself to do the very best that I can. Speak to me ... that I may speak for You. Right now, Lord ... remove self. Remove pride. Hide me behind Your cross. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight. This is my prayer. Amen.

INTRODUCTION

We have arrived at the fifth and final pillar of C3PT. And I saved this one for last on purpose. Not because it is the least important. But because it is the one that holds all the others together.

TRUST.

You can have communication, collaboration, culture, and perseverance. But if there is no trust ... none of it holds. Trust is the currency of culture. It is the thing that makes everything else sustainable.

And here is what I need you to understand about trust: it is not built in the easy seasons. It is tested in the hard ones. The easy seasons reveal your strategy. The hard seasons reveal your character.

Point 1 — What Happens to Trust When the Egyptians Come

Point 2 — The Command That Rebuilds Trust

Point 3 — Waiting as an Act of Trust

POINT 1 — WHAT HAPPENS TO TRUST WHEN THE EGYPTIANS COME

Exodus 14:10-12

The children of Israel had seen the plagues. They had been delivered from four hundred years of slavery. They had witnessed the most spectacular divine interventions in the history of Israel. And the moment they looked up and saw the Egyptians coming ...

All of that history evaporated.

Verse 11: "Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?"

That is sarcasm. Sharp, bitter, frightened sarcasm. And verse 12: "It had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness."

They were willing to go back to slavery rather than trust God through the Red Sea moment.

The Hebrew word for "sore afraid" in verse 10 is YARE MEOD — yaw-ray meh-ode — exceedingly afraid, gripped by terror.