Blended Together (Part 4)

Good morning family.

Good morning.

It is great to see you.

Tim's going to lead us in worship today.

We'll turn it over at him.

Thank you so much for being here.

I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from every fear, every tear that's looked on him, our grave.

He held.

There be ashamed, there be ashamed.

This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved me from my enemies.

The Son of God Surrounds His saints.

He will deliver them.

He will deliver them.

Magnify the Lord with me.

Come exalt His name Together.

Come exalt His name together, for I am the Lord with thee.

Come exalt His name forever.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.

Oh, blessed is he who hides in him.

Oh, fear the Lord, all of his saints who give you everything, who give you everything.

Magnify the Lord with me.

Come exalt His name together.

Glorify the Lord with me.

Come exalt His name forever.

Let us bless the.

Lord Every day and night, never ending praise.

May our incense rise.

Let us bless the Lord Every day and night, never ending praise.

May our incense rise.

All you servants praise the name of the Lord.

Let us bless the Lord.

Praise the name of the Lord.

Praise the name of the Lord.

Let us bless the Lord.

Praise the name of the Lord.

All you servants praise the Lord in His name.

Praise the Lord.

All you servants praise the Lord in His name.

Praise Him.

Praise Him.

Praise Him.

Glorify the Lord with me.

Come, exalt His name Together.

Glorify the Lord with me.

Come, exalt His name forever.

Magnify the Lord with me.

Come exalt His name together.

Glorify the Lord with me.

Come, exalt His name forever.

Father, I adore you.

Lay my life before you how I love you, jesus, I adore you.

Lay my life before you how I love you, spirit, I adore you.

Lay my life before you how I love you.

Love one another, for love is of God.

He who loves is born of God and knows God.

He who does not love does not know God.

For love is a plan.

He who does his work now shall end all scum.

He who does the love does not know plan Just what the world For God is.

Love.

God is love.

God is love, for God is love.

God is our strength.

He gives us.

His glory and God is our strength.

He put us down and put us up, for God is love.

God is love.

God is love.

God is love.

God is love, god is love.

All right.

The scripture reading today comes from Exodus, chapter 13, and it's verses 17 through 18.

Exodus 13 · chapter mention

It says when the Pharaoh finally let the people go, god did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the promised land.

God said, if the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.

So God led them a roundabout way through the wilderness and toward the Red Sea.

All right, good morning.

Good morning, let's begin with the word of prayer.

Dear God, we thank you for this day.

God, we thank you for an opportunity to get together this morning.

God, we're thankful for our church family and the way that you blend us together.

God, we're thankful for the old and the young.

We're thankful for the experienced and the unexperienced.

God, we're thankful for the new Christian and the seasoned Christian.

God, we thank you for every way that you work in our life.

God, we're thankful that you've brought us together as a family and, god, I pray that you will open up our hearts, open up our eyes and our ears to the things that you want us to hear this morning.

Thank you for Jesus.

We thank you for his example of how to live together in a community and with one another, and it's in his name we pray Amen.

All right, I did not tell him, but I am voluntolding Steeler today.

Steeler, come on up, steeler is our intern.

He's dealing with some of the youth stuff and today he just gets to play my game.

So here we are.

Steeler, you have a simple task today.

I have this yellow cup, okay, and all you need to do with this yellow cup is just hold it out like this.

Okay, you got it.

There's nothing in it.

So you can come up here, come stand right there so everybody can see you Stick your arm out.

Yep, just kind of like that.

All right.

So how this is going to work, steeler's going to hold that cup out there and for as long as Steeler's holding it, I'll continue.

If he drops it, I'm just going to start at the beginning.

So Steeler is going to determine how long until we get to go to Bob Evans this morning.

Okay, no pressure, steeler, you probably do it.

Steeler, I think he lifts, he works out a little bit, so I think he can handle it.

I think we're in good shape.

So, steeler, you just stay right there.

You're good.

All right, we're going to jump into our story this morning.

If you've been here the last few weeks we've been, I didn't grab the clicker we've been going through the life and the story of Moses and Aaron and last week we kind of emphasized the idea that God is the base, that God is at the center of all of it and in fact what God is going to do is just use Aaron and Moses as instruments, as ingredients for his plan.

And I made the joke that Moses is just the teleprompt and that Aaron is the reporter.

And so this morning we're really jumping ahead.

We were hanging out in Exodus 3 and 4, and this morning we're going all the way to Exodus 17.

So we're jumping ahead a little bit.

We jumped through the plagues.

We're not going to touch on the plagues, they've got away from the Pharaoh.

We are going to look at one part of that story in just a second, but we're jumping to Exodus 17,.

And in Exodus 17, we find out that Israel is under attack, that Moses and his people are out in the wilderness and they're being attacked.

This is why the people of Israel were still in Rephidim, the warriors of Amalek attacked.

And as you read through this story you find out that Amalek is a bad guy.

He's, in fact, he's a very unpleasant guy and the way that he works is really unpleasant.

And so we're going to say this morning that Amalek is despicable.

Now, if you're like me, you're thinking of the little yellow guys right now, the minions Okay, but the word despicable just means bad and unpleasant.

But the word despicable just means bad and unpleasant.

I'm going to tell you why Amalek is bad and unpleasant.

Amalek has a plan or a goal to attack the Israelites.

The Israelites have been living as slaves for years.

They're traveling, they're weak, they've been walking as slaves for years.

They're traveling, they're weak, they've been walking, they're tired, they're worn out, they're not really sure how this is all going to end and Amalek decides to attack.

As you read through this story, you find out that Amalek attacks from behind.

You think about this the Israelites, as they're traveling, up front would have been their warriors.

Up front would have been the people leading the charge, the people with the energy, the Mark Barrises right, the people keeping everybody motivated.

And then, as you kind of get through the middle, you start to get the families.

Then, as you get towards the end, you get the children, you get the weary, you get the tired, and so Amalek attacks the weakest position.

He targets the stragglers, the tired, the weak and the weary, and the children.

So Amalek, I think, is despicable.

Satan is also despicable In many ways.

The world is just like Amalek.

Satan plans his attackings in ways that will hurt the most.

He seeks to destroy relationships, seeks to destroy families, friendships and life in general.

That's Satan's plan, and so I think we can all agree this morning that if Amalek is despicable, then Satan is despicable too.

Steeler, how are you doing bud?

Is it getting any heavy?

I picked the wrong guy Now.

How do I insult somebody here, keith?

No, I'm just kidding, keith.

I'm just kidding.

If Amalek is despicable and he's going to start a battle with Israel and Satan is despicable, guess what he's going to do?

He's going to start a battle.

He's going to start a battle.

So nothing groundbreaking today, and actually my goal is to keep this short.

So unless Steeler blows this, we'll get to Bob Evans, okay, and I'll get to Soccer Sunday on time.

My Soccer Sunday crew over there is timing me to keep this short this morning.

So obvious point this morning is there's going to be battles.

This was the first physical battle for the Israelites leaving Egypt.

Yes, there had been hardships, yes, there had been struggles, but there hadn't quite been a battle yet.

And so this morning we're going to find out how they handled that battle.

And many of us know that in life there are lots of battles.

But I want to go back for just a second and hopefully encourage you for just a minute.

In Exodus, chapter 13, the verse that we read before we dismissed the kids, it says when the Pharaoh finally let the people go, god did not lead them along the main road that runs through the Philistine territory, even though it was the shortest route to the promised land.

Exodus 13 · chapter mention

God said if the people are faced with a battle, they might change their mind and return to Egypt.

So God led them to a roundabout way through the wilderness and towards the Red Sea.

So, yes, there are a lot of battles in this life.

Yes, you have been through a lot of battles.

But this morning I want to ask the questioner, get you to think about how many times has God led you around a battle?

How many times has God led you around a battle?

I don't know what the answer is.

I don't know if I know how many times he's led me around a battle.

But yes, there is battles in this life, but I see here in Exodus that God set it up so they didn't go to that battle.

He waited a little bit longer.

Many times we focus on those battles that we've been in, but this morning, hopefully, we can praise God for the ones that he's led us around.

Moses commanded Joshua.

As we continue through this story, they're attacked.

Amalek attacks, and so Moses commands Joshua.

He says go choose some men to go out and fight the army of Amalek for us.

And tomorrow I will stand at the top of the hill holding the staff of God in my hand.

So Joshua did what Moses had commanded and he fought the army of Amalek.

Meanwhile, moses, aaron and Hur climbed to the top of the nearby hill, and so it was Joshua's purpose to lead the physical battle.

Joshua was the one that was going to go into the battle zone and to be a part of the physical battle.

He was going to be the one that was going to struggle, that was going to take some hits.

It was going to be a struggle.

He was the one in the battle.

This morning is back to school Sunday, if you didn't know, and we're about a month into school, so we're a little late, but we're here.

It's Back to School Sunday and a few years ago we started having Back to School Sunday and basically the idea is that we just take a little bit of time to hopefully encourage, to motivate and to pray for our students and to pray for our teachers and to pray for our students and to pray for our teachers.

And so I got an activity for you to do there on your outline, just real quickly.

As I'm talking, on the left side of your outline there's no blank or anything.

This is I'm going off script.

Okay, on the left side there, I want you to write down when you were in school.

When you were in school, what struggles, challenges or obstacles did you face.

Okay, everybody got it.

So, when you were in school, go back to your days.

What challenges, obstacles or hurdles did you have to face?

Then, on the right side, I want you to write down what you think our kids today are facing.

Okay, can we all do that?

I'm going to keep talking because I'm going to try to keep this short for Steeler.

How are you doing, steeler?

You're doing great.

I'm learning.

We sent Jameson to kindergarten this year.

We sent Drew to preschool.

I'm learning that school is an adventure, that there's fun, there's learning, there's snacks, there's recess, there's math, there's science, but there's a whole other side of it.

Now my child has experienced the world and someone else is teaching him things.

Somebody taught him how to gritty, and if you know what that is, he does it all the time.

He'll come in here in a few minutes and do it for you.

I'm sure I did not teach him how to do that, but it's a dance move.

For those of you that don't know, steeler, can you just go ahead and Nah, we'll save that for next week.

We'll save it.

But my point is this our children, your children, your grandchildren are now in an environment where someone else is teaching them things as well.

They're experiencing pressures.

For many of our teenagers, their worth isn't defined by what you say about them, but, in fact, how many likes their photo gets on social media.

Their relationships aren't always as valued on true connection anymore, but it's on their Snapchat streak.

They have friends that are growing up in abusive environments.

They're learning and experiencing that life isn't fair.

They're starting to see the effects of sin on the world and their environments.

Our children are in a battle and our teachers are in a battle as well.

Our teachers are struggling with the idea of what do I say, how much do I intervene without stepping overboard?

Because if I step overboard with the world of social media, everybody's going to know I stepped overboard.

And so our teachers and our students this morning in the school year, are in a battle, and I don't mean it to be a negative thing, because I truly mean.

These students and these teachers are in a position where they can point others to Jesus.

They're in a battle each and every day to show the love of God to the world, but I do believe that God has placed them for such a time as this.

To quote the late great Uncle Mordecai, our teachers and our students are in a battle.

The battles are hard, they're tiring and they're challenging.

So how do we help?

How do we help?

Well, I'm going to give you a way that you can help this morning, but we've got to continue our story.

Steeler, how are you feeling?

You want a stool?

You want to sit down?

Would that help?

It's an awkward thing.

I don't know.

I was thinking if your legs were getting tired, use it up.

You don't have to use it.

There you go.

Moses sends Joshua out to the battle.

Moses goes up on the hill.

We read in verse 11,.

It says as long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage.

So Moses was leading the spiritual battle.

So what I'm going to ask you to do this morning is to lead the spiritual battle for our students and our teachers.

The fate of Israel in the battle depended on the intercession of prayer of Moses.

Moses held up his hands in prayer with passion, believing that life, death and even eternity perhaps depended on his intercession with God.

And so this morning, I'm going to ask you to hold up your hands and to pray for the students and the teachers this school year.

That spiritual battle that you're going to lead can take place anywhere.

You can pray for those students or those teachers as you drink your cup of coffee in the morning.

You can pray for those students and those teachers as you roll out of bed in the morning.

You can pray for those students and those teachers as you roll out of bed in the morning.

You can pray for those students and those teachers as you drive to work Just don't close your eyes.

You can pray for those students and teachers on your lunch break, at the dinner table before you go to sleep.

I truly believe in the power of prayer.

We see in this story the power of prayer, the power of intercession with God.

I truly believe that the daily prayer for Owen is going to help him point people to Jesus as he goes throughout his school year.

I truly believe the daily prayer for Mrs McConaughey is going to help her teach people about Jesus, as she teaches them about how to keep your teeth clean.

So at this time, I'm going to invite you or ask you to join the spiritual battle this year, and what we often do is we hand out a picture of one of our students or one of our teachers.

You can see them up there.

That's not all of them.

There's a big pile on the floor that you can't see.

You were in here during communion.

There's a lot of kids around.

So what I'm going to ask you to do this morning is if you would please raise your hand, if you would like to pray for a student or a teacher this school year, and we are going to hand out some of those photos.

I have some teens that are going to help me and I'm going to ask the deacons.

This is totally on the spot.

If you're a deacon, will you come up here and help me hand out all of these photos to everybody here?

So keep your hands raised if you would like a child or a teacher, and we're going to get you one of these photos here in just a second.

Steeler, you keep holding that cup, buddy.

All right, thank you all for taking those photos.

Let's pray real quick, father.

God, we thank you for the day.

God, I pray for each and every person that just took one of those photos.

God, that it's more than a photo.

That they're praying for a soul, that they're praying for someone that is in a battle in the world, that is in a position that they can share Jesus with other people in their life.

And, god, I pray for each and every person as they begin this journey this week, to pray for them each and every day.

God, and praying is hard work.

We're gonna find that out here in a minute.

Moses struggled with that as well.

And God, I pray that there are people in this room that will help encourage one another.

God, that we can build each other up in a way that we will continue to pray for those students and those teachers all school year long, god, that relationships will be built and that people will find your love through it all.

It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen, all right, so I want to remind you of a couple things as we kind of wrap up here, and then I'll explain what we're going to do here in a few minutes.

Number one prayer is hard work.

Prayer is what you just essentially said I'll be a part of is a hard job.

It's a hard task.

We read here in Colossians, chapter 4, paul writes.

Colossians 4 · chapter mention

He says Epaphras, a member of our own fellowship and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings.

He's always praised for you, earnestly for you, and asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident that you are following the whole will of God.

If you read the King James version of that, it says that he is a laborer in prayer, that he is working, that he.

It says that he is a laborer in prayer, that he is working, that he has taken this on as a task, that he is praying for you daily and that it's sincere and that it's serious hard work for Him.

He continues on in Colossians 4.

This is before that.

It says devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.

Continue to pray, continue to pray, and so praying is going to be hard work, and because it's hard work, we need each other.

We need each other.

As we read through this story, joshua is out battling.

Moses is on the top of the mountain holding up his staff, and when his hands are in the air, they have the advantage.

Steeler, you're at least getting a little tired.

You're getting tired.

Yeah, he's just so fatigued up there, guy, I might have picked the fittest guy in the room.

Steeler, would it help you?

We won't do that since you're so strong, but would it help if a couple people came up and held your arms for you?

It would take off a little of the pressure, right?

Okay, for the sake of the lesson.

Yes, he says.

Here's what happens in verse 12.

It says that Moses' arms began and became so tired that he could no longer hold them up.

And so, as his arms get tired and they start to lower, guess what happens in the battle?

They start to lose the advantage that they had, right.

And so Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on.

I found a stool, not a stone for stealing.

They find a stone and they say here, have a seat.

And then they stood on each side of Moses holding his hands up so that his hands were steady until the sunset.

And so he had two people come alongside him and literally hold up his hands in prayer so that he could continue the spiritual battle that he was in.

And so the question I have for you this morning, as we kind of wrap up who's going to hold up your hands?

Who is it in your life that is going to hold your hands when things get hard?

Who is it that's going to help you get to Jesus when you're tired?

Who is going to help you lift up your hands when I don't feel like I can lift my hands to the Savior, who is going to come along and lift my hands to the Father?

I want to challenge you this week with one other challenge, and we did this challenge about a year ago.

I think it was Woody that offered this challenge to us, and he asked us to find a couple prayer partners for four weeks, someone that you would just meet with once a week and pray with, someone that you could count on that when your hands get tired, they'll help lift you up.

And so I want to challenge you.

There's two blanks there on your outline.

I want you to write down two names of somebody that you would like to ask this week to be your prayer partner.

I don't know what would have happened if Moses didn't have Aaron and her, and so I'm going to give you three things to help you pray.

You can offer a prayer of praise each week when you get together, thanking God for something that he's done.

You can ask a prayer of intercession, asking God to help in a situation that you're in.

And then a prayer of adoration, where you thank God for who he is, that he is the God that can offer peace, and so those are three things that will help you as you find those people in your life, and I want to encourage you to do that.

Don't just write down the name this morning, but reach out to them.

It doesn't have to be in person.

We found a lot of people did it in person last year.

There was a few people that did it through text Once a week.

They met on Wednesdays.

They would text each other at 1 o'clock and say, hey, here's my prayer of praise this week.

It's just an idea of doing it together.

It's just an idea that we need to be blended together, and so I'm going to ask you to do that as well, and I want to remind you of this this morning as we kind of wrap up.

God was always in control.

I truly believe that, but he allowed Moses to play a part, he allowed Aaron to play a part.

He allows you and I to play a part.

Let's pray, god.

We thank you for this morning.

God.

We thank you for an opportunity to get together, god, hopefully to be encouraged by one another, hopefully to be encouraged by the way that you're working in our life.

God.

I pray this morning that we can find people in our life to help hold up our hands, god, that when we get so tired or so worn out or that we don't feel like we're capable of lifting our hands to you, god, I pray that we can find people in our life that will help lift our hands to you and know that you're in control, that you're a part of this.

God, we thank you for the relationships that are already built, the people that already have those connections, god, but I pray that you will bless this family with more relationships, more prayers, partners, and that we can do this together.

God, we thank you for your love, we thank you for Jesus, we thank you for his example of how to do this life together, and it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Whatever thy lot thou hast taught me to say.

It is well, it is well with my soul, it is well with my soul.

It is well.

It is well with my soul and Lord.

It's a day when the faith shall be signed, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, the trump shall resound and the boar shall descend.

Even so, it is well with my soul, it is well.

It is well with my soul.

Soul who has held the oceans in his hands, who has numbered every grain of sand.

Kings and nations tremble at his voice, all creation rises to rejoice.

Who has given counsel to the Lord?

Who can question any of His words?

Who can teach?

The one who knows all things, who can fathom all his wondrous deeds?

Behold our God seated on his throne.

Come, let us adore him.

Behold our king.

Nothing can compare.

Come, let us adore Him Through the mass of blood, nails upon His hand, bearing all the guilt of sinful man.

God eternal, humble to the grave.

Jesus Savior, risen to reign.

Behold our God Seated on His throne.

Come, let us adore Him.

Behold our King.

Nothing can compare.

Come, let us adore him.

You will reign forever.

Let your glory fill the earth.

You will reign forever.

Let your glory fill the earth.

You will reign forever.

Let your glory fill the earth.

You will reign forever.

Let your glory fill the earth.

You will reign forever.

Let your glory fill the earth.

Behold our God seated on His throne.

Come, let us adore Him.

Behold our King.

Nothing can compare.

Come, let us adore Him.

Behold our God seated on his throne.

Come, let us adore him.

Behold our king.

Nothing can compare.

Come, let us adore him.

Come, let us adore Him.