Recap of Sunday, June 19:
Worship Set
- Your Grace Is Enough
- Everlasting God
- Rain Down
- Lord, You’re Beautiful
- Steadfast Love / Great Is Thy Faithfulness
- Psalm 40
Special Song: Fly Like An Eagle
Special Video: Father’s Day Tribute by Johnny & Chachi
Top 10 Things Dad Would Never Say: Click HERE and listen to beginning of podcast.
Sermon Notes: THROW IT DOWN (Part 3)
(Inspired by Jud Wilhite’s book of the same title.)
1. Sometimes The Path To Freedom Gets Harder Before It Gets Better
- God has already orchestrated YOUR deliverance.
- Exodus demonstrates this.
- Pharaoh’s tactics: Demanded the Israelites make the same amount of bricks without straw.
- God saw Israel’s absence of straw as one more step toward freedom for his people.
- “When God takes your straw, it isn’t because he wants you to remain a slave. It’s because he wants you to take another step toward freedom.” ~Jud Wilhite
- Said one former addict from Jud Wilhite’s book: “I had to leave everything behind to follow God’s will and direction for my life.”
- Philippians 3:12-14 (NLT) 12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
- Say the words of freedom: “I am sorry.”
2. Let God Fight For You
- Exodus 14:11-14 (NLT) 11 and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? 12 Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’” 13 But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. 14 The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”
- Don’t panic!
- Be still so God can get the glory.
- God’s glory is connected to our deliverance.
- Exodus 14:15 (NLT) Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving!
- God loves the patient faith of the underdog.
- Exodus 14:30-31 (NLT) 30 That is how the Lord rescued (NKJV = saved) Israel from the hand of the Egyptians that day. And the Israelites saw the bodies of the Egyptians washed up on the seashore. 31 When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
- This is the first time the word save is used in the Bible. The Hebrew word is reserved almost exclusively for the work of God. Grace.
- Read Exodus 15:1-12 (NLT) (Notice Moses begins with “I” and quickly shifts attention to “God.”)
3. We Cannot Win Alone!
- Exodus 17:10-12 (NLT) 10 So Joshua did what Moses had commanded and fought the army of Amalek. Meanwhile, Moses, Aaron, and Hur climbed to the top of a nearby hill. 11 As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. 12 Moses’ arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset.
- Even with God on his side, Moses still needed others to walk with him and hold him up.
- The paralytic in Mark 2 needed four friends.
- Don’t isolate yourself from church. (See Hebrews 10:25)
- Sign up for a Focus Group in late July!
4. Keep Showing Up! (Stay on the Path)
- Galatians 5:1 (NLT) So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
- The Israelites were free. They would never stray, right? Uh-oh.
- Exodus 32 shows Israel straying (Golden Calf).
- “Apparently, Israel suffered from corporate attention deficit disorder.” ~Jud Wilhite
- “Freedom from Egypt should have meant freedom from idols for Israel.” ~Jud Wilhite
- “If you uproot the idol and fail to ‘plant’ the love of Christ in its placer, the idol will grow back.” ~Tim Keller
- God not only wants to save you, but wants to have relationship with you, through Jesus.
- John 1:14 (MSG) The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.
