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Apr 11, 2010

Taking It On the Road-1

Passage: Exodus 12:43-14:31

Preacher: John Repsold

Series: Taking It On the Road

Keywords: consecration, passover lamb, price of freedom, growing up, working faith

Summary:

God never wants us to forget the foundation of our faith--our Passover Lamb of God who has set us free from slavery to sin. Like the Hebrews, we must now learn to follow God's leadership through challengng and sometimes seemingly impossible life-situations He wants to use to grow us up.

Detail:

Taking It On the Road

Exodus 13-14—April 11, 2010

 

Today we start a new “mini-series” we’re entitling “Taking It On the Road.”  It’s a 4-week focus on what God had to do to prepare the recently-liberated Hebrew captives for life in the Promised Land…and how that parallels our experience as followers of Jesus, people recently liberated from slavery to sin.  The Israelites were taking their faith “on the road”…the road to Canaan.  In the process, God wanted them to learn some really important truths so that once they arrived at the desired destination of Canaan, they wouldn’t fail or fall flat on their faces in that place God wanted to be a place of great blessing.  There were some life-stewardship issues they needed to deal with first. 

      The same is probably true with each of us. God knows there are some things we need to learn “on the road” of life in Christ that will prepare us for the challenges and battles ahead in some place of blessing he knows is out there waiting for us. 

 

Exodus 12:43-13:16

REVIEW:  Last week we saw how God not only got his people free of slavery in Egypt but that he did so while “plundering Egypt” and sending the Hebrews on their way with gifts and goods that enriched them beyond their wildest dreams the day before as slaves.  And we saw how Jesus’ resurrection, on a much deeper level, not only freed every believer in Jesus from slavery to sin and death but also gave to us a bunch of amazing “gifts”, everything from that spiritual reality called “justification” to the amazing gifts and strengths of God’s church all over the world today. 

 

Today I’ve chosen to divide passage into 2 parts.  The 1st part is to prepare us for sharing Communion together.  The 2nd part is to prepare us for “life on the road” this week. 

 

But let me start by asking you, how much would you be willing to sacrifice in order to be free from sins control over your life?

Let me put it in a litter different frame of reference. 

  • How much were our parents or grandparents’ generation willing to pay for freedom from Fascism, the Nazis or Imperial Japanese domination?  418,000 Americans gave their lives so we could live in freedom.  That was about 1 in every 300 Americans at the time (1/3rd of 1% of our total population.)  We were the “fortunate” ones.  Britain lost 1% of their population.  Russia lost nearly 15% (24 million people, 1 in 6), Poland nearly 17% (1 in 5 people).  So, how do we remember that sacrifice?  MEMORIAL DAY.
  • How much did America pay for emancipation of African slaves during the Civil War?  3.5% of Americans were killed in the Civil War.  Slaves comprised 12% of the entire US population.  620,000 soldiers died, 30,000 as POWs.  Was it worth it?  It certainly was if you were a slave. 
  • How much would you be willing to sacrifice to end war, say, in this generation?  To keep America free as you know it—free to worship God, to educate our children, to live where and how we like?  Your neighbor’s 20 year-old son or daughter?  Their arm or eyesight?  Your own? 

The old saying is true:  Freedom is never free. 

      It wasn’t for the Hebrews either.  Their freedom cost the first-born of every Egyptian home.  That’s a horrific price.  But it pales in comparison to what Egypt was demanding of every Hebrew family—the death of every Jewish baby boy.  (Our sense of justice is more “personal” than God’s. His is absolute.)

 

God never wanted his people to forget the price of their deliverance.  He never wanted them to get very far from the roots of their redemption.  Our redemption is always the anchor God wants us to never forget or our faith-journey.  It’s the foundation upon which any further and future relationship with God must be built, the cornerstone of our growth we must always go back to.

      So God gave the Hebrews a ceremony…a sober-celebration… actually a “memorial week” every year in which they were to remember the price the comes with freedom.  He gave them what we know of as Passover and the 7-day Feast of Unleavened Bread that was to follow every annual Passover. 

      And tied to Passover was something they had to do all year long whenever the need arose.  They had to “give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb,” (Ex. 13:12).  The only exceptions to that was a 1st-born donkey (vs. 13) OR your 1st-born son (vs. 2, 13, 15).  (I don’t know what donkey’s and sons have in common but… J)  First-born donkeys and sons could be “redeemed” or bought-back with the sacrifice of a lamb (13:13).  All other first-born livestock belonged to God and were sacrificed to him. 

 

If you had been part of the generation liberated from Egypt, was the Passover worth the price of a lamb that you had to kill but got to eat?  (I’m thinking the vote would be unanimous on this one!)

      If you were part of the 2nd or 3rd or 300th generation, was the price of a lamb in place of your 1st-born son “worth it”?  Were other lambs “worth it” for your first-born family donkey?  Was giving the firstborn of every other reproducing livestock “worth it” to remind you that you would still be in slavery if it were not for God’s redeeming work?

  • How much is spiritual freedom worth to us…the ability to say “no” to sin and “yes” to God’s righteous will for our life?
  • How much is being free from spending eternity forever separated from God in hell worth to you?
  • How much is remembering the price God himself paid for your freedom worth to you? 

Freedom is never free.  It always costs someone something. 

 

The Passover that we’re going to read about right now (before we celebrate Communion—our freedom through Christ’s death and resurrection)—had both a backward and forward FOCUS. 

  • It looked backward to the grace of God in sparing the Hebrews from death that horrible Passover night.
  • It looked forward to the grace of God in continuing to spare his people from God’s just judgment on every sinner who has violated God’s law.  In that sense, I believe “unknowingly”, the Passover looked forward to Jesus Christ and God’s grace that would be shed on us through the death & resurrection of Jesus.

Why do I say that?  Just look at the premonitions of Jesus as the Lamb of God who would take away the whole world’s sins that are etched in this first and every other Passover. 

Exodus 12:43-45

  • No “foreigner” could eat it.  Why?  Not because God was racists.  It was because “foreigners” could become part of the chosen people of God, but not for just 1 meal.  If you didn’t want to make Jehovah your God, you didn’t want the Passover.  The Egyptians didn’t want to be part of God’s people.  They wanted to enslave God’s people, not serve God along with them.  (Not much has changed.  The godless world would always rather do what they want and make God-fearing people do what they want us to do than to submit their wills and lives and hearts to God and become brothers and sisters of the divine family.)
  • BUT, if you were a non-Jew, there was a way to become part of God’s chosen people.  It was the same way Jews remained God’s chosen.  It was the same way Jews affirmed their acceptance of God’s Covenant with them.  It was painful (circumcision).  It was permanent.  But it brought you into relationship with the Living God and it made you part of God’s people.  Read  Ex. 12:48-48.

APP: 

  • The Lord’s Supper/Communion that we celebrate every Sunday is something that is meant for God’s children, not everyone in the world.  Lots of the world doesn’t want to serve the Living God.  They want life on their terms.  They want to tell God and his people what is right and wrong.  And they certainly aren’t willing to undergo “circumcision”.  I’m not talking about the physical kind.  I’m talking about the same kind Paul talked about in Col. 2:11-12 when he said, “In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.” 
  • But if you belong to Christ, that is precisely what you WANT to happen in your life:  you want the Spirit of Christ to replace your sinful nature with His divine nature.  You want the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19ff--immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, envy…etc.) to be replaced by the fruit/works of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22ff--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness….).  When we share in Communion, we are affirming that our lives now belong to God, not ourselves.  We’re affirming that we’ve got a new Master, and it isn’t sin or self.  We’re reminding ourselves and everyone who wants to watch that we are now and forever part of God’s family—chosen by Him…and chosen by us. 
  • Have you embraced God’s New Covenant…His “New Agreement” with you?  Have you accepted His Son Jesus as your Savior and Lord?  Have you agreed to bear the marks of this new life—not circumcision that is done to the body BUT the putting off of the sinful nature that is done by Jesus Christ whenever we submit our lives to him?

The Passover was for people who served the God of the Passover, just as the Lord’s Supper is for people who serve The Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. 

 

Look at 12:46, 47—“It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. 47 The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.”

      See the parallels?  The church of Jesus Christ is one household of faith.  The Lord’s Supper is not something we take as a picnic to the park to eat with our friends and neighbors who are not part of God’s family.  It is something we are to eat “inside” the house of God—among the people of God. 

      Vs. 46b—God gave the instruction to “not break any of the bones” of that Passover Lamb.  Sort of a funny instruction, don’t you think.  Why would it matter whether you broke its bones or not.  It’s already dead. 

      But God said it was to be cooked and eaten in its entirety in one night, no broken bones. 

      It isn’t until we get to the book of John, chapter 19, verse 33, that we find out why.  John writes, “31Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken,"[b] 37and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced."

 

Exodus 13 goes on to explain that the Passover was to be accompanied by 7 days of the “Feast of Unleavened Bread.”  There were to be 7 continuous days right after Passover in which all yeast/leaven was taken out of the homes and no bread/food was prepared with yeast. 

      It’s not that God had a thing against yeast.  In fact, he created it and the laws of biology and chemistry upon which it thrives.  But God chose yeast/leaven as a symbol of sin—something that would be a very hands-on illustration and reminder that they were called to a different kind of life than everyone else around them.  Thankfully God didn’t say, “NO YEAST FOR ANYTHING… EVER!”  That would have put a serious dent in kosher cooking! 

      Instead, he just asked them to take 2% of their year and be reminded that they were to be a people who were to get rid of sin and instead were to embrace the pure, righteous “law of the Lord” (vs. 9).  Read Exodus 13:7-9.

Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. 8 On that day tell your son, 'I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.' 9 This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For the LORD brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand.

.

Why do we eat this bread and drink this juice?  Because of “what the Lord did for us when we came out of sin.”  These elements of food are, to the redeemed believer in Jesus Christ, like a “sign” in our hands or a “reminder” tattooed across our foreheads that tells everyone around us, “I belong to Jesus.  I’ve been saved from eternal death and hell by him.  I’ve been rescued from slavery to my past and sin.  God’s will and word is now on my lips just as this food is on my lips.  Jesus has done this by his might hand…his mighty death on the cross…his mighty resurrection from the dead.  I’ve been “bought at a price” (I Cor. 6:20)—the price of the life and death of Jesus—and I will honor God with my life—body, soul and spirit.”

 

INVITE:

  • For anyone who has become part of God’s family by personal faith in Jesus Christ.  You’ve acknowledged before God that your sin deserves to be punished.  You’ve agreed with God that you can never pay for your own sin, only Jesus could.  You’ve embraced Jesus as your Savior and Lord and have submitted yourself to the Holy Spirit’s work of “circumcising your heart”—the leaving behind life lived for self and the taking up of life being lived for the glory of God. 
  • I encourage you to…
    • Reflect on what it cost God to buy you out of slavery to sin.
    • Ask him to reveal sin you still are clinging to.
    • Ask him to “circumcise” your heart—cut away at that sin and get rid of it—so that He can replace that with His new resurrection life and fruit of His Spirit.

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PART 2:  Gary Smalley, in his video series “Hidden Keys to Loving Relationships,” tells about a survey that was done of families asking them what were there favorite, most memorable experiences together as a family. Do you know what the #1 favorite shared experience was as a family?  CAMPING.  Makes me glad I live in the Northwest…and like to camp. 

      That response apparently puzzled Dr. Smalley.  So he began to examine a little more closely WHY it was that camping was such a big hit.  What he found was a bit surprising. 

      Anyone who has gone camping as a family knows that camping is not the easiest way to take a family vacation.  It’s easier to just pack a suitcase with the clothes you need.  It’s easier to eat out at restaurants along the way.  It’s easier to stay in nice hotels with clean sheets instead of dirt inside your tent.  It’s easier to have a nice warm shower in the hotel than no shower…or cold rain shower all night at the campsite.  It’s easier to lounge at the hotel pool than hike to a cold lake. 

      In fact, camping isn’t easy at all. You have to take all your clothing, all your bedding…and even your bed… all your food and snacks and seasoning, all your pots and pans, your stove, your cooking utensils, practically your entire kitchen (and then some).  If you want to do anything but stand around leaning against trees or lying in your tent all day long, you need to take chairs to sit on, tarps (or a parachute IF you have one) to cover you if it rains.  You have to take books and games to entertain you.  You have to bring flashlights and lanterns to find your way to your sleeping bag at bedtime or to the outhouse in the middle of the cold (and often rainy) night. 

      And unexpected things always happen when you’re camping, don’t they? 

  • It’s always fun to realize half-way though the night that the play where you pitched your tent in the dark when you arrived late was on top of an ants’ nest, right? 
  • Or…your tent blows over in the middle of a rainstorm about 2am, right? 
  • It’s always fun trying to get the fire started in pouring rain, the pancakes not to stick…or burn…or fall on the ground…over your camp stove. 
  • It’s always relaxing when you’re camping in bear territory hear something snorting around just outside your tent in the pitch black night. 
  • …or tip over that canoe, getting soaked to the bone…in the middle of a thunderstorm. 

 

So WHY on earth would any family go camping?  Well, Gary Smalley made this observation. When all that stuff is happening to you, is anybody losing their temper? Sure.  Is anyone ever blaming someone for their great judgment in choosing the tent site…or weekend weather?  You bet!  Is anyone ever mad at the makers of their air mattress…or ticked at the timing of the rain…or a little frustrated with the person who forgot the can opener for dinners’ Dinty-Moore stew? 

      But you know what happens about 2 weeks later?  There is a magical transformation that takes place.  When you’re sitting around telling stories, what is everyone talking about?  Who are they laughing at?  It’s not the uneventful, perfect weekend with no mishaps.  It’s the shenanigans you had to go through to get the can open with nothing but a knife and rock? 

Are they recounting the warm, uneventful night’s sleep or the way they had to hold onto the tent poles all night long to keep from blowing away?  Are they talking about the smooth river water they floated down all day uneventfully or the rapids they capsized in and the way they found their equipment scattered all along the banks for the rest of the trip? 

      And best of all, everyone is now laughing about it.  The person who was responsible for the biggest goof is telling the story like he was George Washington crossing the Delaware.  He’s gone from villain to hero in 14 days time.  

      Smalley encourages everyone to handle many of life’s “crises” with the perspective and statement at the time of crisis, “In two weeks, we’ll be laughing about this!”  J

 

Well, in Exodus 13-14, God took his kids camping.  And it didn’t even take two weeks before they were laughing and celebrataing.  But it got plenty ugly immediately during the crisis we’ll read about in just a moment.  Let’s pick it up in 13:17-19.

17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. In God’s economy, the way of growth is not the shortest distance between 2 points. 

      As Americans, we’re all about efficiency, right?  How can we get from here to there in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of effort and expense? 

  • It’s almost considered a sin if you miss the right exit off the freeway and have to backtrack ¼ mile.
  • Your looked at as somehow wasting your life if you take 5 or 6 to finish college instead of being halfway done when you graduate from high school because you took Running Start.

God often doesn’t take us on the most “efficient” route.  He often doesn’t take us the easy way, the short way or the fast way. 

      So when you are chafing at the way life is unfolding before you, anxious that it isn’t happening “fast enough,” maybe God is in that.  Just maybe he IS the one leading you when the journey looks most confusing. 

 

God always has his reasons…and sometimes he even tells us.  We’re not told if he let the Hebrews in on his reasons right away for the rather inefficient route he took them.  But we are told in the next verse WHY he didn’t take them straight to the Promised Land from their captivity in Egypt.  Vs.17 continues…“For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." 18 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.”

      “Might change their minds and return to Egypt…???”  That was a kind, divine understatement.  The fact is, a few days later when they did face the army of their already-defeated foe, the Egyptians, they did plead with Moses to just let them go back to their old, comfortable ways of slavery.  Fact of the matter was, they weren’t used to freedom.  They hadn’t tasted enough of it to know that it was worth fighting for.  They preferred to go back to “comfortable, familiar” slavery than to go forward into challenging, trying, maturing battle. 

 

APP:  Anyone who knows Jesus here who hasn’t had those same thoughts sometime…maybe many times…in your Christian experience?  Don’t you sometimes just get so tired of the battle, so weary of what it is costing, that you say, “I don’t know if this is worthy it.  If God is with my, why is this taking SO long?  Why am I facing such opposition?  Why is it so darn hard?”

      Notice in the last part of vs. 18 that they were all “armed for battle.”  They had all the hardware.  They just didn’t have the “heart-ware” needed.  They didn’t have the strength of character needed to really make it in the Promised Land. 

      Life-trials and difficulties are God’s way of preparing us for life’s more important battles and victories. 

      We are no different than the Israelites, are we?  God saves us from sin and death.  He brings us into His family, gives us His Holy Spirit and we get the first tastes of this amazing thing called “the Christian life.”  And then we start hitting all kinds of challenges and detours and supposed dead-ends.  What on earth is God thinking?  Doesn’t he know our life is short and this route is a royal waste of time? 

      God is more interested in the people in the car than the kind of car we drive. 

      God is more concerned with the character development of the passengers than the number on the freeway…or even the speed of the traffic.

 

The really important thing is where is God in the journey?  Look at vss. 21-22:  21 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. 

      God works just as well in the desert as in the jungle.  He’s just as happy to work the night shift as the day job. And while we’d like for him to give us a detailed map of the next 60 years, he prefers to cultivate a life of faith and love with us day by day. 

      The Hebrews could…and did…travel as well by night as by day.  They could travel as well in the heat of noonday as in the cold of midnight.  WHY?  Because God was there!  That’s what made all the difference in the world. 

      They didn’t always recognize that.  They didn’t even always believe that.  They got used to having that cloud there by day and that pillar of fire by night.  Don’t ask me how.  Maybe the same way too many of us get used to having the Spirit of God with us day after day so much that we forget what life without Him is like.  We doubt and complain and moan and groan just like the Israelites did even though the presence of God is evident if we would just stand still long enough to recognize it. 

 

Chapter 14 is pretty much “the rest of the story” when it comes to this one night’s crisis there on the Red Sea.  God leads the people, through Moses, to retrace their steps, to turn around and go back a ways on the very same route where they had just come.  And, in the process, He tells them to put themselves in a much more dangerous place—right next to the sea, with mountains on their south and west, and only 1 way of escape…a route God was going to incite Pharaoh to close off very shortly. 

      But, hey, they’re ready for war, right?  They’ve got an army of 600,000 men, right?  They’ve got what it takes, right?  14:10-12:  10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. 11 They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!"

 

Really?  Was that the only alternative:  die in the desert…or be slaves in Egypt?  Wasn’t there at least a 3rd alternative God had offered—walk by faith with Me and I will lead you to a land flowing with abundance.  What happened to that option? 

      The same thing that often happens to us when life brings us some unexpected, horrify, fear-driving development we didn’t plan on.  We opt for the familiar, even if it means going back to slavery.  We opt for the old habits when God is seeking to develop new character.  We opt for the old pain we’re familiar with…the pain of addictions and patterns and immaturity…rather than face the new pain of growth and truth and righteousness. 

 

God needed to teach his children that when life seems impossible, he is the God of the impossible.

God needed to teach his people that when life seems hopeless, he is the God of all hope.

That when life seems cut off, he is the God who opens a new way.

When life seems overwhelming, He is the God who sustains and guides and leads through the middle of what is overwhelming. 

 

At times like that, we need to memorize and recite and cling to Moses’ words to the Israelites in vs. 13-- "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." 

 

God didn’t whisk them up in a whirlwind and set them on the other side of the Red Sea, did he?  He didn’t give them each power to walk on water to get across, did he.  No, Moses…and the whole nation…had to exercise faith in God and step out into the way God had opened up for them, put one foot in front of the other, and walk the entire distance to the other side of the Sea that night.  It took work and effort on their part…but it was made completely possible because of God’s part. 

 

Here’s where Disney’s Prince of Egypt has it half-right.  It shows a pillar of fire interposing itself between the Egyptian army and the Hebrew refugees so that Pharaoh had to stop and wait because of the fire.  But God’s word says, (vs. 19)-- 19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.

 

God can…and WILL…interpose himself between that which threatens to destroy and overwhelm us IF we will wait when he says “Wait” and move when he says “Step out in faith and get moving.”  He’ll do that for two reasons, I believe.

1.)     To gain glory through his victory over evil and darkness (vss. 4 & 17).  To put the proper focus upon who God is what people need to do to respond to God.

2.)    To build the character of His people so that we’re actually ready for the battles yet to come and the blessings yet in store for us in Christ. 

 

ILL:  I’ve been experiencing this truth for many years.  For the past couple of years, one of the ways God is working it out in my life has been with Mosaic.  Mosaic is very near and dear to my heart.  We began a couple of years ago as a group of people excited about the possibilities God had for us in ministry downtown.  We saw God provide a place to meet for worship (Interplayers).  We saw Him provide an office.  We had dreams of a coffee shop…so he put one in next door that we don’t have to run. J  We had dreams of using the arts to reach the younger generation…so he gave us an art gallery…and evening concert venue.  We had visions of impacting families and marriages…so he let us partner with Teen-Aid/MarriageFriendlyCommunities to put on marriage and relationship conferences every year.  We longed to worship with people who are willing to stick their necks out into unfamiliar territory, to reach out to the needy of our city through resourcing and working alongside our brothers and sisters already doing wonderful things down here. And God gave us a bunch of talented, very diverse musicians and actors and artists and preachers.   

      Most of us still nurture a lot more dreams when it comes to Mosaic.  Some of us dream of larger venues for worship, a place where we can hold multiple worship services each week and multiple music, theater and art productions every month.  Some of us envision a community center where hundreds of youth have a healthy environment in which to learn, exercise, play, meet Jesus and grow body, soul and spirit.  We envision dozens of Life Communities all over town that are living expressions of the life of Christ every day of the week.  We see dozens of businesses right downtown holding Bible studies and prayer groups that impact the very fiber of our social and business community. 

      And, yes, there have been disappointing surprises along the way…”detours” and “wanderings in the desert” and “backtracks” that have made it seem we are sometimes recovering the same dry, dusty ground we just walked over earlier.  “Why aren’t we in our Promised Land yet, Lord!” has been the cry of many of our hearts. 

      And little by little I’ve realized again his answer, “John... Mosaic…my people…if I blessed you with all I have for you and all you envision and dream about right now, you wouldn’t know what to do with it.  You aren’t ready for some of those battles.  Your character needs growth in Jesus.  Your faith needs strengthening in different battles.  If you keep growing with Me, I’ll keep blessing and taking you from one manifestation of my grace and power to another.  But I will do it for My own glory, not yours.  I’ll do it to show my Son Jesus magnificent before a lost world.  I’ll do it to lift up Jesus in the hearts and homes of people. 

 

APP:

  • We’ve got some growing to do both individually and together at Mosaic.  Over this next week we will be rolling out an all-church survey that we hope will help us keep growing and developing as a church.  Please pray over it when you get it.  Please ask God to speak to you about His presence here at Mosaic in downtown Spokane.  Please share what God nudges you to share from his heart and yours.
  • God been taking you camping lately?  What situation(s) is God asking you to rely in faith upon him to change, grow or improve?  What seems impossible?  What has you ready to go back to your pre-Christ days of slavery to sin?  What has you complaining against God or the people around you saying, “I didn’t sign up for this.  I’m going back…not forward”???  Will you take Moses’ command in 14:13 to heart?  Will you do the hard work, take the long journey it may require, to DO what God will eventually ask you to do…and keep going even when you are surrounded by what appear to be impossibilities? 

God is asking all of us to take our life with Christ “on the road”… in our families, our marriages, our finances, our health, our jobs, our schools, our neighborhoods, our friendships…everywhere.  Are you willing?  Because I’m totally convinced God has some amazing blessings ahead for every one of us who is willing to walk the route God has for us…even when it may seem like we just walked into a dead end.