Our Rock & Our Banner

All right, good morning, everybody. Oh, boy. Happy New Year to you all.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to give your first sermon of 2026, so get used to writing the 26. I know now our wallets are a little bit thinner after Christmas, our clothes fit a little bit tighter after Christmas, but we're looking forward to this next year.

We are going to look at Exodus this morning, Exodus chapter 17. I invite you to turn there now, Exodus chapter 17. There are two really great stories in this passage this morning.

Exodus 17 · chapter mention Exodus 17 · chapter mention

We're going to look at them both separately. So we're going to start first with Exodus 17, 1 through 7, and then we'll move on to that second passage, that second story a little bit later on this morning.

So follow along as I read the first section, which we're going to call Water from the Rock, and that is Exodus 17, 1 through 7.

All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim.

But there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said, Give us water to drink. Moses said to them, Why do you quarrel with me?

Why do you test the Lord? But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?

So Moses cried to the Lord, What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said to Moses, Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and taking your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile and go.

And behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.

And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massa and Meribah because of the quarreling of the people of Israel and because they tested the Lord by saying, Is the Lord among us or not?

Would you pray with me once again this morning? Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We pray that your word would go forth now, that you would use it to stir our hearts, that you would give us faith in Christ, that you would convict us of sin, that you would lead us in repentance.

And God, that you would make us thankful for who you are and what you've done for us in Jesus. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, well, this section began.

The people of God, they were traveling from slavery in Egypt to a new home. They didn't really know where they were going, not just yet, but they knew that God was leading them.

He was going before them in a supernatural pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And God's pillar led them here to a place called Rephidim.

There's a map behind me now. You can kind of see, maybe you can see, it might be a little small, but you can see where scholars think their best guess of where Rephidim might have been.

You can see they don't know the exact place, but it is in this kind of rocky desert that's in the Sinai Peninsula. What we do know about Rephidim is that when the Israelites arrived there, there was no water for them to drink.

Now, that might sound like a crisis to us, but it should have sounded really familiar to the Israelites. Just a couple of chapters before this, in Exodus 15, God led them to a place called Marah.

And Marah had water, but it was bitter and it was undrinkable. We were told that God led his people to Marah to test them, to see if they would trust and obey him, even when times were tough.

But you might remember that the Israelites failed God's test. They didn't trust him. Instead, they grumbled against him. Even after their failure, though, God miraculously made the water at Marah sweet.

The Israelites were able to drink. God had no intention of leading his people to die of thirst. So as God led his people and they arrived at Rephidim, it should have been clear that this was still true.

It should have been clear, moreover, that what God was doing by leading them to this place without water is that he was providing his people a kind of a do-over.

You know, students, it was kind of like a makeup test when you failed the first one. They were given another opportunity to trust God. But it doesn't seem like the Israelites got the hint.

They did not pass God's makeup test. In fact, they failed it even worse than they did the first time. They started by grumbling against Moses just like they did the first time around.

But then they added to grumbling something new, quarreling. Quarreling was more intense than grumbling. It meant to strive against, to accuse of doing wrong, even to bring a legal case against.

So the people quarreled with Moses. They were convinced they were going to die of thirst in Rephidim, and they were convinced that it was Moses' fault.

They accused him of bringing them to a place without water so he could kill them and their children and their livestock with thirst. It might sound to us like these people are behaving like a dramatic bunch of teenagers who just lost their phone privileges.

You know, it's going to kill me! But they weren't—sorry, teenagers. But they weren't messing around. You know, they were serious. In verse 4, it tells us that these people were ready to stone Moses.

Quarreling, grumbling. But the Israelites weren't done. For good measure, they added testing. Verse 2 and verse 7 tells us that they tested God.

Now, testing God, that's demanding or expecting God to do something in order to prove his power or his goodness. And apparently, the Israelites weren't just worried that they didn't have water.

They were worried that they didn't have God. That's what verse 7 tells us. They asked, is the Lord among us or not? And because of that worry, they tested God.

They demanded that God prove to them that he really was with them and that he really was good. You know, all the things that God had done up to this point—the freeing from Egypt, parting the Red Sea,

leading them in a pillar of cloud and fire, making bitter water sweet, sending manna from heaven— that wasn't enough for the people of God. They wanted more.

They demanded more. They demanded water at Rephidim, and they demanded it right then. If God wanted them to trust him, God would have to prove to them that he really was with them and that he really was trustworthy.

They tested God. And that's interesting because God had been testing his people in the wilderness. That's what we were told several times previously in Exodus.

But here now, at Rephidim, God's people had the audacity to test God. That was complete foolishness. And God had every right to judge them for this foolishness.

They deserved to be destroyed for daring to test God. But God didn't give his people what they deserved. Instead, he showed forbearance. He showed mercy.

Though his people tested them, he would still give them water. That's because God really is a good father who gives good gifts. So God instructed Moses to lead the people to Horeb.

Now, Horeb, that can refer to Mount Sinai. Or it can refer to the rocky region around Mount Sinai. You should be able to see another map there.

You can kind of see our best guess to where Horeb would be. And I think when God tells Moses to take them to Horeb, he means the kind of rocky region around Mount Sinai.

So Moses goes, Moses went to Horeb, and he took his staff with him. The staff that he held up as God parted the Red Sea. The staff that he struck the Nile with before God turned it to blood.

The staff that became a snake in Pharaoh's court. This staff had become a symbol of God's miraculous work. A symbol of God himself. So Moses took that staff in hand.

And he also took with him a group of Israelite elders. They were going to be witnesses of what God was going to do. And Moses didn't go to Horeb alone, though.

God went before Moses to Horeb. Probably in that pillar of cloud that he had been traveling as this whole time. God went before Moses and he stood on a particular rock at Horeb.

And that's a really interesting phrase. It means more than God kind of pointed out the correct rock to Moses. It meant that God was on this rock.

And that means that he kind of associated himself in a special way with this rock. God told Moses then to strike that rock that God stood on.

And he was supposed to strike it with that staff. Alistair Roberts helpfully points out the significance of this act. He says, God stands upon the rock, associates with the rock, and then the rock is struck in a way that associates the striking of the rock,

perhaps with the striking of God himself. Well, when Moses struck the rock that God stood upon, water miraculously flowed from the rock. Some scholars think that water from rocks, that was actually kind of common in Moses' day.

Apparently there were these limestone formations. And so, you know, people would often kind of crack these rocks and you would see this kind of flow of groundwater that would start to come out.

But I don't think that really fits the bill here. You know, if it was so common, then why didn't Moses think of it before this? Why would the people have panicked with so many limestone rocks around?

And furthermore, even after Moses struck this rock and found this kind of ground water, how would there be enough to feed all of, to quench the thirst, rather, of all these people and of all their livestock and their cattle?

No, I don't think this was a natural occurrence. I think God supernaturally provided water for his people. Though God's people tested him, he mercifully provided for them.

And then in verse 7, in order to commemorate this miracle, Moses named the place Massa and Meribah. Massa meant testing, and Meribah meant quarreling.

Moses, by naming this place Massa and Meribah, he wants to emphasize two things. One, he wants to emphasize that God provided his people with water.

But he also wants to emphasize that God's people failed God's test. They quarreled. They tested. It was important for God's people to remember their failures so they could properly appreciate God's merciful provision.

And with that, it's time for us to move to our second section. This is found in verses 8 through 16. We'll call this Banner in Battle.

Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, choose for us men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.

So Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed.

Whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary. So they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other.

So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua that I will utterly blot out from the memory of Amalek,

I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, the Lord is my banner, saying, a hand upon the throne of the Lord.

The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. Well, in this section, the Israelites, they're still at Rephidim. They're living on the water that God provided for them from Horeb.

And they encounter their first battle that they've come across while they've been traveling in the wilderness. Amalek came and he fought with Israel.

Genesis 36 tells us that Amalek was a grandson of Esau, that he, his descendants, were called the Amalekites. Amalekites, they were this kind of nomadic people.

They would kind of slink around through the wilderness, attacking and plundering anyone that they could kind of trap, they could sneak up on.

Some of you may have seen the New David movie and the Amalekites, they were bad guys in that story too. That's who we meet in this story. Amalek and the Amalekites, they attacked the Israelites.

And it's interesting, this passage doesn't really tell us much about what happened, but we can find more detail over in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 25, 17 through 18.

It says, Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you.

And he did not fear God. From this passage, we see a couple things. First, we see the method of attack that Amalek used. He didn't take Israel head on.

He and the Amalekites, they attacked the rear. They attacked from the rear. This was a kind of a cowardly preying upon the weak and the weary who had been lagging behind as the people of God traveled.

You know, who did they attack? It was likely women, children, even the infirmed, people who were moving slowly. The second thing we see is the motivation behind this attack.

It said they did not fear God. This attack was an act of defiance against God, to resist God's plan, to attack God's people. That shows us that this attack was really satanic.

Now, we don't know if Amalek was knowingly serving Satan or if his desires were just being shaped by sin. But either way, he and his army were serving a satanic purpose.

The Amalekites prowled about like a lion. They devoured some unsuspecting victims. And then they apparently retreated. They were looking possibly for another opportunity to strike.

And it was during that break that Moses seems to have received some special instructions from God on how best to fight back against the Amalekites.

And these instructions was kind of for a counterattack, and it included two different initiatives, okay? So the first initiative, that would be led by Joshua.

This is the first time we meet Joshua in the Bible. Even at this really early point in his life, he was identified by Moses as a leader among God's people.

So Moses instructed Joshua, he was supposed to muster all the Israelite men he could find. He was supposed to basically, you know, get an army.

And on the next day, Joshua would lead those men out to fight against the Amalekites. It was kind of open warfare. That's the first initiative, Joshua leading the charge.

But then on the next day, Moses would also be involved in a second initiative, but he wasn't going to go directly into battle. Instead, he was supposed to take the staff of God in his hand, and he was supposed to go to a high place, overlooking, very close,

overlooking the battle. And then once he was there, Moses would raise the staff of God high for everyone to see. And with that staff raised in the air, God would grant Israel the strength to prevail against the Amalekites.

And that might seem really strange to us, you know, like a stick raised up high and then people can fight harder or something like that. But this kind of practice was actually pretty common in Moses' day.

At least that's what scholars tell us. Military forces, they often used these things called banners in battle. And these banners weren't like cloth signs, but they were really decorated poles.

And they would be held high in a battle. And they were used to provide signals to troops like prepare for battle, you know, regroup, reassemble, give them instructions on how to fight.

And these banners would also be kind of a source of courage and hope as people fought. And so the staff of God, that was going to be Israel's banner as they battled with Amalek.

Now, that isn't because the staff had magical qualities. It was because the staff had become synonymous with the miraculous power of God. You know, as the staff worked, God worked through the staff.

God himself would be the banner of his people. He would be their source of strength during this battle. So that was phase two or initiative two.

So the next day, Joshua carries out initiative one. He leads his army out to fight against the Amalekites. But you'll notice that as we read the passage, we don't really learn much about this fight.

We don't, you know, the author doesn't cover this action of the battle. Instead, it focuses on Moses. You know, we read that Moses took the staff of God and he took his brother Aaron and he took another Israelite leader.

His name was Hur. He was probably or possibly Moses's brother-in-law. Either way, all three of these guys, they go up on top of the hill, again, a high place overlooking the battle.

And once Moses is up there, he lifts up the staff of God, the banner of God. And as he does that, God granted Israel strength. They prevailed against the Amalekites.

But as time went on, we see that Moses grew weary. His arms grew tired under the weight of the staff. So his arms started to lower. And as they did, the staff of God was lowered.

The symbol of God's strength that was hidden from view. And that meant the Israelites had to fight in their own strength. And when that happened, the Amalekites prevailed against Israel.

But thankfully, Aaron and Hur, they were there to help. They provided Moses supports to steady him in his weariness. The first support, they brought a stone to Moses so that Moses could take a seat.

They could rest his legs. But even still, Moses was still wearied. I mean, if you've held your arm up for very long with anything, it's heavy, it's hard.

So Moses has a seat, but his arms are still working. He still gets tired. He could not keep that staff raised. And so Aaron and Hur, they jump in.

They provide even more support to steady Moses. They go one on either side of him. They hold up his arms for him. Then with a stone underneath him and people on either side of him, Moses is finally steadied.

He's weary, but he's steady. And even in his weariness, he's able to keep the staff of God raised high until nightfall. And with the banner of God raised high, Joshua and his men, they fight, they fought in the strength of the Lord.

And once again, they were able to overcome Amalek. The Amalekites were overwhelmed. Their satanic scheme was thwarted. And then what remained of the Amalekite army, they retreated in defeat.

They fled. They escaped. But although they escaped, God was not done with the Amalekites. I mean, they did something pretty terrible. They attacked God's vulnerable people.

They tried to stop God's plan. They served a satanic purpose. They refused to fear God. So God made a promise that he would completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.

From generation to generation, God would be at war with the Amalekites until they were completely destroyed. Moses was told to write down that promise in a book as a record for generations to come.

And he was told to recite that promise in the ear of Joshua. God's future leader would need to be reminded of God's promise. Moses also built an altar to God after this miraculous victory as a way to praise God for the victory that he had given his people.

Moses named the altar that he built, The Lord is My Banner. That's a reminder that they were only able to prevail because they fought under the banner of the Lord, because they fought in the strength of the Lord with his banner held high.

Moses emphasized this again in verse 16 with the phrase, A hand upon the throne of the Lord. Scholar Douglas Stewart helpfully explains what Moses meant when he said, A hand upon the throne of the Lord.

Moses is saying basically, When I held up that staff, I was symbolizing the presence of Yahweh right with us, sitting on his throne, ruling over this battle and helping us to win.

With a banner raised for his people, God provided victory. They fought in the strength of the Lord and they overcame Amalek.

Well, this morning, we should pause. We should consider both of these stories, both of these accounts this morning. And as we do that, it's really important for us to ask, you know, what does God want to teach us from these accounts?

You know, how should this ancient passage, how should this shape how I live today in 2026? Well, I think this passage has a lot to hold out to us, but I think it's especially relevant when we find ourselves in seasons of difficulty.

Maybe that's because it's easy for us to think of difficulties in the middle of winter in the Midwest. So difficulties are on the mind. But this passage is really relevant in seasons of difficulty, in times of trial, in times of need, in times of weariness, and in times of battle.

So that's where I want us to focus our attention for the time that we have left. So our first point is this. In need, receive God's merciful provision.

In need, receive God's merciful provision. As God's people arrived in Rephidim, they had a pretty foundational, you know, kind of fundamental need.

They needed water. They needed water to live, to provide for their children, to feed their livestock. Now, because of the way that they behaved, the Israelites didn't deserve to have this need met.

In fact, they deserved God's judgment. But God did not give them what they deserved. God showed them mercy. He stood on the rock. He commanded Moses to strike it and miraculously produced water.

God mercifully provided for his people in their need, even when they didn't deserve it. But the New Testament tells us that there's something even deeper going on here than water from a stricken rock.

You know, that's what the Apostle Paul told us in 1 Corinthians 10. In 1 Corinthians 10, 4, he said that the rock was Christ. The rock, the rock that God associated with himself, the rock that God commanded to be stricken,

the rock that was the source of God's merciful provision for his people's need, that rock was Christ. Jesus was the rock. Jesus was not just associated with God.

He was God. He is God. God the Son, the radiance of the Father's glory in the exact imprint of his nature. And Jesus was stricken. He was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities. In the rock that is Christ, God mercifully provides for humanity's greatest need, something greater than our need for water.

That's our need for peace with a holy God. That peace is something that all of us need, and it's a peace that none of us deserve. And still it's a peace that Jesus came, and he bled, and he died to make available to you.

And in God's mercy, it's a peace that God wants to provide for you this morning. You have only to receive this peace by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, acknowledging that you really do have a need, that you need that peace, and that you would believe that that need

can only be satisfied in Jesus. God really is merciful. He wants to give you what you do not deserve. He wants to mercifully provide for you in Jesus.

The rock was Christ. The rock is Christ. In need, receive God's merciful provision in Jesus. That's our first point this morning. Our second point is this.

In trial, it's a little bit different than need. In trial, resist the temptation to test God. In trial, resist the temptation to test God. The Israelites tested God in their time of trial at Rephidim.

They refused to acknowledge the miracles that God had already worked. They demanded that God provide more for them and on their terms and in their timeline.

Satan tried to tempt Jesus to test God in his time of trial in the wilderness. When Satan told Jesus to throw himself down, to make God send angels, to prove that Jesus really was the Messiah before his time had come.

You know, make God prove himself on your terms, Jesus, on your timeline. But Jesus resisted. Quoting from Deuteronomy 16, which says, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test as you tested him at Massa, at Massa and Meribah.

Jesus refused to test God. And later on, we see that Jesus warned us about the dangers of testing God. In Luke 16, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, you know, the rich man, he is pleading with Abraham in this parable.

He wants Abraham to warn his brothers to avoid his mistakes. But Abraham responds and says, They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them.

And the rich man said, No, Father Abraham. But if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. And he said to him, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.

Refusing to acknowledge the works and the words of God, demanding more and more proof, Jesus said that's going to harden your heart. That's going to make you so cynical that you are incapable of belief.

In times of trial, in suffering and doubt and crisis, we are still tempted to test God. Tempted to refuse to consider all the ways that God has cared for us.

Tempted to make new demands on God. Tempted to require more proof from him before we put our trust in him. Let me give you some examples. You know, it is not testing God.

To searchingly ask God to help you know that he really is there in times of doubt. That's not testing God. You know, that's something that we see in the Bible.

We see that with the boy, with the father of the boy who had an unclean spirit in Mark 9. You know, he says, I believe, help my unbelief. That's not testing God.

However, it would be testing God to intentionally ignore all that God has done for you in the past and say, I need to see something else before I believe.

You see the difference? The humility of the first, the pride of the second. Let me give you another example. It's not testing God to beg for a reprieve in times of crisis.

Jesus did that in the garden in Matthew 26. That's not testing God. But it would be testing God to tell God that he better you're in this crisis or you're walking.

You know, that's testing God. People do that. Let me give you another example. It's not testing God to humbly ask God why in times of suffering.

That's not testing God. That's something that the psalmist does over and over again in the Psalms. But it would be testing God to stubbornly dictate what you think is good and what you think a good God can or cannot do.

That's testing God. Testing God in these proud, stubborn ways, that's the height of foolishness. That's like the Israelites demanding new water at Rephidim.

Let this passage be a warning to you. In times of trial, we must guard our hearts against testing God. Let's move on to our third point this morning.

At this point, we want to talk about times of weariness. In weariness, be steadied by God-given supports. In weariness, be steadied by God-given supports.

Moses was supposed to keep the staff of God lifted high for all to see, but he grew weary. He couldn't keep his hands up. But Aaron and Hur provided supports.

They gave him a stone to sit on. They held up his arms. They steadied him, the passage says. They helped him persevere, even in his weariness.

We still grow weary today. The struggles we face become too heavy for us. Spiritual forces we face can become too oppressive. The callings that God has placed upon us can become too weighty for us.

There are things we can do when we're weary. You know, one option is to quit, to just let our arms fall, to give up on God's calling, to give in to spiritual attack, to give way to our struggles.

Moses could have quit. Amalek would have prevailed. But there's another option from quitting. You know, there's the grit your teeth and push through the weariness option.

You know, it's kind of like, look to muster all the strength from within that you can get. Moses could have tried that. I think Moses probably did try that.

And it worked for a while. You know, he was able to keep the staff up for a while, but eventually it would fall. You know, his strength would fail.

He would have only prolonged the defeat, but it still would have come. But the third option that we can take when we are weary is to find steadiness in God-given supports.

And that's what Moses did. He sat on the stone. He leaned his arms against his friends. He was steadied enough to keep hold of the staff. He was still weary, but he was steadied.

Maybe this morning you're weary. Maybe you've grown weary under the weight of your own thoughts. That happens sometimes. Maybe your thoughts are wearying.

Maybe you are constantly unsettled about the future. Maybe you're constantly confused over the state of the world. Maybe you're constantly worried if God really is merciful.

Maybe you're constantly worried if God really is there at all. If that's you this morning, I want to encourage you in your weariness to choose to be steadied by God-given supports, and particularly the God-given support of the Bible.

Choose to put your trust in the fact that God's ways really are higher than your ways, and that God's thoughts are higher, truer, than your thoughts.

choose to rely on the scriptures even when your mind is restless. Let God's word hold you up when you can't stand anymore. Choose to put your confidence in the God-given support of God's word.

Or maybe it's not your mind. You know, maybe you're buckling under the weight of your current circumstances. You feel your strength is gone.

It's impossible to keep your hands up. If that's you, I want to encourage you to be steadied by another God-given support, and that's the support of this church, your local church.

You know, find support in your church. Tell someone what's going on. You know, ask them to pray for you. Let them help you. Let a sermon remind you of what's true.

Let a song that we sing encourage you. Let a mentor you have here challenge you. Let the church hold up your arms when you can't. These God-given supports, God's word, God's church, these won't necessarily make your weariness go away,

but they will steady you. They will make your weariness easier to bear. When you're weary, I want to encourage you, find steadiness in God-given means of support.

In our last point this morning, this point has to deal with battle. In battle, remember that God is a banner for his people. In battle, remember that God is a banner for his people.

God was a banner for his people as they fought the Amalekites. He was their source of hope. He was their source of strength. He was their source of victory.

Moses took care to ensure that God's people remembered that God was their banner. He created that altar. He wrote it in a book. He spoke it in Joshua's ear.

Remember, the Lord is our banner. And that's important for us to remember because the Bible often talks about the Christian life in terms of a battle.

It says we wrestle against dark powers. We're called to put to death sin. We wage war and destroy strongholds with weapons that have divine power.

We're called to take up the armor of God. The Christian life is a battle. And as we fight the battle that is the Christian life, we must take care to remember that the Lord is our banner.

And that's what this passage holds out to us. And it holds out to us a kind of double-edged remembering. A double-edged remembering. The first edge is to remember God's strength.

You know, taking care to rejoice and be thankful for God's many victories, both great and small. You know, rejoice over the water from the rock.

Rejoice over the defeat of the Amalekites. Rejoice over the defeat of sin and death in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Rejoice as we are transferred out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son.

Rejoice as God overcomes long-term patterns of sin. Rejoice as God uncovers evil schemes of the enemy before they take effect. When we remember what God has done, what God has accomplished, we can take courage.

With the Lord as our banner, we can rest assured that we will prevail because He will prevail. We must remember. We must remember God's strength.

But there's a second edge of remembering in our passage and that's remembering our weaknesses. We remember God's strength and we remember our weaknesses.

Moses did this when in the place where God brought water from the rock. He named the place Massa and Meribah. testing and quarreling as a way to remember Israel's failures, to remember their weaknesses.

Now, we don't want to remember weaknesses in a way that fosters guilt or inappropriate shame. That's not good. But we do want to remember weaknesses in a way that guards our heart from relying on our own strength.

We need to remember that we really are unreliable sources of strength, unreliable banners in battle. Remembering our weakness can help us depend all the more on God's strength.

In battle, remember that God and God alone is a reliable banner for His people. With that, I want to invite the worship team to come. They're going to lead us in a final song this morning.

And as they do, I want to ask you, would you pray with me once again?

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a merciful God, that you're slow to anger, that you're abounding in steadfast love. We thank you for all the ways that you've provided for us, all the ways that you have shown your strength, all the good gifts you've given, all the miraculous works you've accomplished.

We thank you especially for the mercy you've shown us in your Son, the Lord Jesus. He is the rock stricken for us, who died for us to atone for our sins so that we could have peace with you.

Remind us this morning of our weakness, Father. Remind us of our need. Help us to turn to Jesus in faith for strength that only you can provide.

And Lord, we also pray for our members, for our members of our body that are in seasons of trial, in seasons of trouble. Father, in their weariness, we ask you to steady them.

Help us all to lean on the supports that you have provided for us. Protect us, even in trials, from testing you. Give us humility, Father. Help us to remember that you and you alone are a banner, our banner, our only source of strength and hope.

We pray that you would be glorified in us now as we sing. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen.