Establishing A Better People

Psalm 105, even though it's just a few of us,

the Word is still good. We left off in verse

22, Psalm 105, verse 22, so we're going to try

Psalms 105:22

to read through these last few verses. We'll

start in verse 23. This is a... psalm of praise.

We've been seeing those examples that the writer

here brings us back to the fact that God had

fulfilled his promises. He had made promises

to Abraham and to his people and he had fulfilled

those promises and he had started the nation

of Israel and he had provided for them in Egypt

during the time of famine and had sent a man

ahead of them. He had sent Joseph and through

everything God has been faithful to his people.

And we see these early examples from Scripture

being brought back to our mind here in this psalm.

And we're just continuing on. The writer of the

psalm here, probably David, is continuing on

just in the natural flow of things. So we had

saw that God's people had made it to Egypt, that

he had spared them in the famine, that he had

provided for them. And then he picks up right

there that they get to Egypt and they begin to

multiply greatly. Ends up delivering them from

there as well. So let's pray for a minute and

then we'll look at the rest of the scripture.

God, we come to you. We thank you for being good

to us. We thank you that we can come even on

a rainy night, even though it's just a few of

us tonight, dear Lord. I pray that your word

would be good for us tonight. That we would just

recall your greatness. That we would recall your

mercy and your grace. That you are trustworthy

and dependable, dear Lord. That would impact

our lives, dear Lord, that we would recall these

stories, that we would recall things in our own

life that we've seen, that we've experienced,

or that others around us have experienced, dear

Lord, that just remind us that you are good.

And I pray that you be with us these next few

minutes. In Jesus' name I ask it. Amen. Verse

23 says, Then Israel went to Egypt. Jacob lived

as a foreigner in the land of Ham. Now, we're

going to see the land of Ham mentioned, I think,

a couple of times in these verses. And that's

just another way of saying Egypt. When we say

the land of Ham, that's just another way of saying

Egypt. The Lord made his people very fruitful.

He made them more numerous than their foes, whose

hearts he turned to hate his people and to deal

deceptively with his servants. Now, God had sent...

Joseph ahead of all of his brothers and his father

to prepare the way for them, to make sure that

there was food in the famine. And Joseph was

held in kind of high esteem in Egypt. He was

second in command and had certainly found favor

with Pharaoh. And things started out good. But

as the story unfolds and God's people begin to

multiply, there begins to be a lot. of those

descendants of Abraham, then all of a sudden

the Egyptians kind of have a different view of

them. And they don't really like that they're

starting to outnumber them. And they realize,

hey, wait a minute, there's a lot of these folks.

These are foreigners in our land. We better do

something about this. And so they became slaves

in Egypt. But even there, God didn't abandon

his people. The same thing that we saw last week

with Joseph. Joseph was a slave. He was in prison.

But God delivered him. Now all of God's people

were enslaved. But during this time, God used

it to multiply them greatly. He built his nation

of Israel really quickly in this time and went

from 66 people, I believe it was, that we see

counted in the Scripture to possibly millions

of people by the time that they were delivered

from Egypt. Verse 26, He sent Moses his servant

and Aaron, whom he had chosen. They performed

his miraculous signs among them and wonders in

the land of Ham. He sent darkness and it became

dark. For did they not defy his commands? He

turned their water into blood and caused their

fish to die. Their land was overrun with frogs,

even in their royal chambers. He spoke and insects

came, gnats throughout their country. He gave

them hail for rain and lightning throughout their

land. He struck their vines and fig trees and

shattered the trees of their territory. He spoke

and locusts came, young locusts without number.

They devoured all the vegetation in their land

and consumed the produce of their land. He struck

all the firstborn in their land, all their first.

Now this was a pretty rough time for the people

of Egypt. These were the plagues that God had

sent through Moses and Aaron. And it was pretty

rough. And you would have thought that the Egyptians

would have got the picture early on, but they

were so hesitant to realize and recognize that

God was trying to get their attention. And ultimately,

Pharaoh finally gave in, but his heart was so

hard, he was just reluctant to release the people.

And are there ever times maybe in our life that

God's trying to get our attention? Maybe so.

I mean, I suspect there's probably not been plagues

like this, but maybe there are things that happen

in our life and we wonder, is this God? Well,

maybe if we wonder that, maybe it is. Maybe there

are things that God is trying to get our attention

in. And are we as hard -hearted as Pharaoh or

not? How long does it take for God to get through

to us? Now, I would like to say that... Man,

every time I start feeling God working on me

in some way, that I instantly listen. But not

always. Sometimes I'm stubborn, and sometimes

I'm hard -headed, and that's not a good thing.

And it wasn't a good thing for Pharaoh, but ultimately

God, He got the message through, and He did deliver

His people. Verse 37, Then He brought Israel

out with silver and gold, and no one among his

tribes stumbled. Egypt was glad when they left,

for the dread of Israel had fallen on them. He

spread a cloud as a covering and gave a fire

to light up the night. They asked, and he brought

quail and satisfied them with bread from heaven.

He opened a rock, and water gushed out. It flowed

like a stream in the desert. Now, of course,

this is really summing up a lot of the story

in just a few verses, but it gives us all the

high points. It gives us all the details that

throughout this whole thing, God was with his

people. Even though it may have felt like they

were abandoned, they were slaves in a far land,

but again, we're being reminded by the psalmist

here that God was with his people and blessed

them abundantly so. Not only did he deliver them

from slavery, But he delivered them with gold

and silver. They had the riches of the Egyptians

when they left. And not only that, but along

their journey, which was full of a lot of disobedience

and them questioning God, he could have given

up on them. But he didn't. Moses stepped in for

them. He spoke for them. But God's people, they

weren't faithful to God during this time. They

were pretty disobedient. But nevertheless, God

was faithful to them. And he provided their needs.

He provided their food. He provided them. with

water throughout this whole ordeal. And then

it says in verse 42, For he remembered his holy

promise to Abraham his servant. He brought his

people out with rejoicing, his chosen ones with

shouts of joy. He gave them the lands of the

nations, and they inherited what other peoples

had worked for. All this happened so that they

might keep his statutes. and obey His instructions.

Hallelujah. Okay, so all this happened so that

they may keep His statutes and obey His instructions.

Now God wanted a people that was set apart from

the other people in the land. There were lots

of people that lived in that land, in that area.

But they did a lot of detestable things. They

were wicked people. And God wanted to establish

a people that were His people, that were going

to live by His ways, according to His commands.

And so God established his own nation by which

he was going to bring the Messiah, who was going

to bring Jesus Christ. And God established Israel

so that they could be set apart. So that there'd

be these nations that do all these evil things

that they're not supposed to do, but that then

there would be his people that'd be representatives

of what was right and what was pure and what

was good and what he desired. Which is why he

gave them all those commands. He's like, don't

do this and don't do that and don't have any

other gods before me. Man, be careful around

these other people because they'll lead you astray.

And we see that time and again throughout the

Scriptures. Man, they'll do good for a little

while, and then what do they do? They'll start

getting a little too close to these other tribes,

these other foreigners in the land, and all of

a sudden they'll start worshiping their gods.

They'll put up these Asherah poles, and they'll

have all these idols they'll be worshiping. And

then pretty soon God's people are doing the same

things as all the pagans in the land. And there's

no difference. You can't see a difference between

the people of God and the ungodly people. But

God's desire was that He was going to set a people

aside that would follow His ways, that would

be a representative for Him, a people He could

love and that could love Him, a people that He

could bless, and a people that could trust in

Him. And that was God's desire. And He gave them

all these things. We have all these examples

of how He continued to work and fulfill His promises

and deliver His people because He desired for

them to keep His statutes and obey His instructions.

But what did they do? Well, they didn't do it.

They didn't do it even long after they got across

the Red Sea, they didn't do it. They got across

the Red Sea and they was praising the Lord. And

you flip your Bible a few pages and next thing

you know they're burning all their jewelry to

make a golden calf. And they said, okay, here's

the God who delivered us. Now that is such foolishness.

But are we ever so foolish? Are we ever so foolish

that we have a Red Sea moment? That God has delivered

us and brought us through something in our life

that was so tough and we get through and we praise

the Lord today and then tomorrow we're back.

look into things of the world for our happiness

or for our joy. Maybe we are guilty of that.

I don't know that we're any better than these

people. And maybe there's a good lesson there

for us. Now, we, of course, weren't there back

then, but I think God's desire is still the same

for us today. For those who are His followers

today, that God wants us to be the ones who keep

His statutes and instructions. That as Christians,

we are to be... different from the rest of the

world. Yeah, we live in the world, but we're

not supposed to live like the world and live

far of the world. There's supposed to be something

different about you and I. We're supposed to

be a light. Now, this world is full of darkness.

You don't have to turn on the news for five minutes

and you hear about all the murders and all the

wars and all the just evil things that go on.

And this world is full of so much darkness and

so many people, that's all that they see. Because

they watch the news, they scroll Facebook, and

it's just bam, bam, bam, negative, negative,

negative, darkness, darkness, darkness. And they've

never seen anything that gives them hope. They're

just living in despair. And they don't know about

the gospel of Jesus Christ. They don't know the

Word of God. They don't know that there is hope

and that there is forgiveness and that there

is a God who delivers His people and takes care

of His people. A God who, yeah, we acknowledge

through Scripture that... Life's not always easy,

and God doesn't promise us that He is. But we

have a God that promises to be with us and promises

to deliver us, and there's a lot of hope in that.

And if there's a cure for the despair in our

world, it is the hope of Jesus Christ. And so

God sets us apart. If we put our faith and trust

in Jesus Christ, we are a... A holy nation, the

Scripture says in the New Testament. We're God's

people. And we're to be a light for God. And

we're to be those who follow His commands. But

the question is, do we? That was God's desire

for Israel, that they would follow His commands

and rejoice in it. And that's what God wants

of you and I, that we'd be a people that would

follow His commands. that we'd be set apart,

that we would look different from the rest of

the world, that there would be something special

and unique about His people, people who've put

their trust in Jesus Christ. And that should

be evident in the way that we treat people, in

the way that we interact, in the way that we

love. So we need to make sure that we are those

who are following His commands, that we are reminded

of the great works that God did all throughout

the Scripture, and even the things that we've

seen in our life. And maybe there was a day that

we had a Red Sea moment where God delivered us

in a mighty way and we rejoiced and we were so

on fire for the Lord. And we can ask ourselves,

has there ever been a time in my life that I

was more on fire for the Lord than I am now?

And maybe the answer is no. Maybe you are more

on fire for the Lord now than you've ever been.

But maybe you look back and you say, yeah, there

was a time where I was closer to the Lord than

I am now. What got us off track? Well, it's probably

that we didn't do the one thing that He wants

us to do, to keep His statutes and obey His instructions.

When we do that, man, there's a certain peace

and a certain joy that comes. But the moment

we stop obeying God and following His commands,

we find ourselves in a bad place, just as His

people Israel did. But if we would just seek

Him, He is faithful to be there for us. Let's

pray. God, we come to you. We thank you for the

truth of your word. And I pray, God, that you

would help us to maybe see the areas in our life

where we are not a good representative of you

and help us to just try to seek you more and

try to live in obedience to you, God. We see

plenty of examples of how your people, Israel,

praise you one minute and turn their back on

you the next minute. And God, I just wish and

I hope that we're not... Not people that do that,

but maybe if we're honest, there have been times,

or maybe even now there are times that we praise

you one day, dear Lord, and we just get in the

midst of disobedience and wanting to do things

our way, and I pray that you would just forgive

us of that and help us to seek you. I pray that

you would help us to be a light to the world.

I pray that you would help us to follow your

statutes and obey your commands, dear Lord, that

it be clear and obvious that we're your people.

And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

All right, I got a few names we can add to our

prayer list this week. One is Nathaniel Jackson.

I don't really know him. That's April Jackson.

It's her dad. I don't know if y 'all know April

Jackson or Nathan Jr., I guess. That's her brother.

Anyway, she was here Sunday. She came with David

Roberts. But she told me her dad had cancer and

was in bad shape. Y 'all pray for him. Ms. Peggy

Toler mentioned a young man that was a friend

of, I think, one of their grandkids. His name

was Landon Murphy, and he's in his 20s and got

a brain tumor. I think she said he was a police

officer. But a young man, and I want to pray

for him. That's a bad, bad deal. Also, Ms. Tommy

Jean from the apartments, her sister Darlene

had to go into the hospital. It was either early

this morning or late last night. I'm not sure.

She's been battling cancer, and she's really

gone down since she had that surgery and been

going through treatments. And they said that

they didn't get all the cancer, so she's in ICU

now. So that's not a good situation. And then

Mr. Sidney Cruz just called and said that Russell

was in the hospital. He had another seizure.

He has those. Pretty often, sadly. And so we

want to pray for him that he'll be okay and that

there won't be no problems with that. Is there

anybody y 'all know of? Any other prayer requests

or praise reports? Yeah, I went and saw her today,

and it don't look like there's any improvement.

I can't tell that she's got any more movement.

Of course, she's raring to go home, but she just

ain't in no shape to go home, I don't think.

So that's a bad situation for them. No, she told

me today she was going home. She didn't care.

She had plenty of people that would come get

her. And I said, well, I don't think you need

to go home until you can walk. She said, I don't

care if I've got to drag myself on the floor.

I'm going home. And I was like, well, Miss Gail,

I don't think that's a good idea. I said, you've

got to think about Ricky and Kim. I said, that's

going to be really tough on them if you're not

able to do. I said, you just need to keep doing

what they tell you to do, and maybe you're going

to get some strength back. But, nope, she was

adamant. She was going home, and that was that.

I've met him before, but I ain't seen him. I

mean, he's lived down there. It's probably two

years ago that I saw him, I bet. He's an 18 is

where he stays. I remember when he moved in and

introduced himself, nice guy, and I invited him

to come, and I ain't seen him since. Like I said,

that's probably been two years ago. His door's

always closed. I had never seen him outside,

never seen his door open. Maybe you can make

a good contact with him. Maybe if there's something

he needs, maybe we can help him in some way.

All right, anybody else? All right, well, I'll

say a quick prayer for these, and then we'll

ease out. God, we thank you for being good to

us. We thank you that even on a rainy day, we

can come and look at your word and just hang

out for just a few minutes. I pray that you help

this storm to pass. Not be too serious for anybody

that you keep everybody's power on and just help

things to be okay in that way. I pray that you

just would be with our nation. It's a lot of

bad stuff that goes on that we're just not doing

right by you, dear Lord. But I pray that you'd

have mercy on us as a people. That as a people,

dear Lord, we'd be a people that wake up and

would begin to seek you and see the error of

our ways and realize that doing things our way

is not a... Not a good way to do it, dear Lord.

And I pray that we would just be a people that

would seek you and that those in leadership would

be people that would point us in the right direction

and establish things in a way that's going to

be according to what you desire, dear Lord. And

I pray that you'd be with all of our brothers

and sisters in Christ around the world that don't

have the freedoms we have, that are still...

struggling to do your work and to preach the

word and to be a light for you. I pray that you

would encourage them and protect them and take

good care of them. I pray for Mr. Nathaniel Jackson,

that you'd be with him and his cancer. I pray

that you'd ease any pain he's got and bring healing

to him if it be your will. I pray that you'd

be with his family. I know they worry about him.

I pray for Landon Murphy with his brain tumor,

that you'd just be with that situation, that

you would help there to be healing there. Help

that to be resolved and not be something that

he has to deal with. I pray for Miss Darlene,

dear Lord, that you would be with her tonight

in the hospital, that you would bring healing

to her body, that you'd take good care of her

and just be with her family. I know Miss Tommy

Jean worries about her, and I'm sure there are

others. I pray that you just would take good

care of her. I pray for Russell as he recovers

from this seizure that you would... Help him

not to have any troubles that he would get back

on his feet. And I pray that you just free him

of this, dear Lord. I know he struggled with

these seizures for quite some time. And I pray,

dear Lord, if it be your will, that you just

would deliver him from that. I pray for Dalton

McCabe, that you'd be with him in these strokes

that he's been having, that you would just take

care of him through this and restore his strength

and be with his family and the ones that take

care of him. I pray for Ms. Gail Kirkland, that

you would just encourage her. Help her to have

patience, dear Lord. I know it's got to be tough

to be, you know, gone from home for so long and

to not be able to get around. I pray that you

would encourage her, and I pray that you'd be

with the family, whatever decisions they have

to make moving forward, that you would help them

to do what needs to be done. We thank you for

this church. I pray that you just continue to

bless us and take good care of us, help us to

see opportunities to serve. Meet those needs,

dear Lord, that we would have the ability to

do what we need to do to serve in those ways.

I pray that you'd protect all our folks, keep

everybody safe and healthy, and bring them all

back Sunday, that you'd fill this place, dear

Lord, with people that want to come and just

worship you and just love on one another. I pray

that you would help me to preach and teach in

a way that brings glory and honor to you, that

you just prepare our hearts in advance. Just

send folks here, dear Lord, to just experience

your love. I pray for all of our teachers Sunday

and our music service that you bless everybody

involved with that. Pray that you help the rain

to slack up for a minute so we can all get home

safe and help us to get through the night safe

and finish the week strong. In Jesus' name I

pray it. Amen.