This is a reading from God's word, the book of Exodus.
Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the
Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the
Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord
and they believed in the Lord. And in his servant Moses, Then
Moses and the people of Israel sang.
This song to the Lord sing saying I will sing to the Lord.
For he has, triumphed gloriously the horse and his rider.
He has thrown into the sea, the Lord is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will
praise him. My father's God, and I will
exalt him. The Lord is a man of war.
The Lord is his name Pharaoh's chariots and his hosts.
He cast into the sea and his chosen officers were sunk in the
Red Sea. The floods covered them.
They went down Into the Depths Like a Stone.
Your right hand, O Lord, glorious and power.
Your right hand O Lord, shatters the enemy in the greatness of
your majesty, you overthrow your adversaries, you send out your
Fury, it consumes them like stubble.
At the blast of your nostrils, the waters piled up the flood
stood up in a heap. The deeps congealed in the heart
of the sea. The enemy said I will pursue.
I will overtake. I will divide the spoil.
My desire shall have its fill of them.
I will draw my sword. My hand shall destroy them.
You blew with your wind, the sea covered them.
They sank like lead in The Mighty Waters.
Who is Like You O Lord among the gods.
Who is like, you Majestic in Holiness.
Awesome in glorious. Deeds doing wonders.
You stretched out your right hand.
The Earth swallowed them. You have led in your steadfast.
Love the people whom you have redeemed.
You have guided them by your strength to your holy Abode.
The peoples have heard they tremble.
Pangs have seized the inhabitants of philistia now are
the Chiefs of Edom dismayed, trembling seizes the leaders of
Moab all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
Terror and Dread fall upon them. Because of the greatness of your
arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord passed
by till the people pass by whom you have purchased, you will
bring them in and plant them on your your own Mountain, the
place O Lord, which you have made for your abode. the
sanctuary of Lourdes, what your hands have established, the Lord
will reign forever and ever for when the horses of pharaoh with
his chariots and his Horsemen went into the sea, the Lord
brought back the Waters of the sea upon them, but the people of
Israel Walked on the dry ground in the midst of the sea.
Then Miriam. The prophetess is sister of
Aaron took a tambourine in her hand.
In all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing
and Miriam sang to them, sing to the Lord for he has, triumphed
gloriously the horse and his rider.
He is thrown into the sea. This is the word of the Lord.
Please be seated. Thank you.
Corey very much. Last Sunday, I asked you and
urged you to take time this week to hit replay.
And hear the song of Moses and the Israelites and Miriam over
and over again, not a day, went by this week, when I was up here
that somebody didn't say to me, I've been reading over and over
again, this portion of scripture, Exodus 15.
And I want you to do that. I encourage you to do that it
informs so much about who God is and the way in which we worship
Him. It's easy on a Sunday like this
when we focus a bit on missions and pray for those who are going
out to think, these are the ones who are being sent.
Truth is, we're all being sent wherever you leave today and go.
You're a missionary wherever you get up in the morning and go to
work. You're a missionary wherever you
play. And have Recreation, you're a
missionary you called to make known the name of Jesus.
Sometimes it's easy to think, even with our mission statement,
we exist to extend the transforming presence of the
kingdom of God, of Christ of our Lord and Savior Jesus to Dallas
in the world that we think about that only in the terms of
missions. And that's absolutely not true.
It actually really dangerous. Every Time We Gather in this
Sanctuary to worship and those who gather with the some who
live all over the world online, we are extending, the
Transforming presence of God. That is what worship is worship
is about the presence of our holy God With Us and us being
overwhelmed by who he is, just like the Israelites were
recognizing. His Transcendence is glory and
experiencing his intimacy. The word extend.
We've used it for many years. It means three things that means
to cause to grow wider, Deeper. It means to hold something out
to someone and it means to exert oneself to the utmost.
That's true. Not just of world missions.
That's true of our worship. What would worship look like if
every Sunday, you left this place, knowing by God's power.
I exerted myself to the utmost. I wasn't thinking about the
lunch that's coming next or the baseball game, that's coming
next or whatever. Else is coming next.
And there's a lot coming next but in that moment I was
prepared and I was present and I really did exert myself in
worship to the utmost. You made a vow to do that, by
the way. If you remember, you promised to
support the church and its worship and work to the best of
your ability. That's not just writing a check,
It is the way you worship. In fact, I would say this way.
What did the people who don't yet, know Christ need most from
us? They need our abiding
relationship with Jesus apart from me, you can do nothing.
He said and then that abiding relationship.
It's so obvious that we are blown away by the glory of God,
that when people come into this place, even if they don't know
him, they would, at least know they are in love with Jesus
Christ. That's the joy of this calling.
The people of Israel had their backs against the water.
They were overwhelmed. That word.
Remember means this. It means to be buried underneath
a huge mass. It means to receive too much of
something. It means to be defeated soundly,
and they had experienced that for 430 years, except for the
defeated soundly. They have been under the mass of
pharaohs oppression. They have been under the
constant onslaught of receiving too much of that oppression but
they weren't ultimately Now they have been set free to go and
their backs are against the water and is they stand there.
Seeing the enemy coming, they're overwhelmed there is nowhere to
go. If God doesn't show up, they
will die. And so they begin thinking from
the flesh Moses. Why did you lead us here?
We were better off in the promised land.
Now, by the way, they're going to say that again even after
they cross. The Red Sea but shows us, why we
need his word and his promises. I want you to continue to read
this section of scripture this summer and has the Lord to show
you more and more things about who he is and who you are in
him. This morning, I want to focus on
one verse It's verse 11. Look with me at verse.
Who is Like You? O Lord.
Among the gods who is like, you Majestic in Holiness.
Awesome and glorious Deeds doing wonders.
I believe. Every Sunday in every part of
our worship service, that's how we should be thinking.
When you leave this place and you have a conversation about
what your experience was like today.
We know we will be pleasing God, if quick off of our tongues and
from our heart, we say, who is like our Lord, who is like my
savior, who is like my song, If we think of ourselves as just an
audience and we hear something like the choir just sang and we
yeah it's need. That's beautiful and that's it.
We are so far away from where he wants us to be.
We need to leave this place. In the name of Jesus is
powerful. The Triumph in Christ is real,
it's dark. And decaying is this world is,
and it's going to get darker, and it's going to have more
Decay. We're living in the Triumph of
our Mighty Fortress, who has a past, which we can look to and a
future, which has been promised, but here in this worship
service, he's present That. That's what brings them Glory.
That's what gives us such Joy. I want you to look at verse 11
again. Who is Like You O?
Lord, as Moses pain, this him that they would sing over and
over again and recite over and over again, as they're walking
with their children, with their parents with one another He
highlights two things from this one verse.
He highlights the attributes of God.
And the Deeds of God, he highlights the person of God and
the work of god. Let's just look at a few.
Let's start with his attributes, with his character, who is like,
you God in Holiness verse 11, he sings it, who is like, you know,
Majestic in Holiness he alone is Holy friends.
He is set apart. There is none like him.
Who is like you in power look with me at verse 3.
In the ESV says, the Lord is a man of war.
The Lord is his name. That means warrior, we need him
to be a warrior. He is a warrior and he has an
enemy. The enemy in this text is
Pharaoh verse 9. The enemy says this These are
pharaohs words. I will pursue.
I will overtake. I will divide the spoil.
My desire shall have. Its fill of them.
I will draw my sword. My hand shall destroy them.
Well, don't you want a warrior to defend you?
But who is like our God and defending us all powerful?
Now I'm saying something that's true.
All powerful. In other words, he's lacking no
power. I can measure so many types of
power, so can you You could have me go to a gym and lift weights,
you would see my power or lack of power.
We can measure the power of an engine, the power of a storm.
But God's power is immeasurable. It's all powerful.
He's a warrior. Who controls all things,
governs, all things. Spoken of again in verse 6, your
right hand, O Lord glorious and power.
Your right hand O Lord shatters the enemy.
Our enemies, not fair. Oh it's worse, it's Satan.
It's his demons. His word tells us, he roams
around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
You are someone your children are someone.
I am someone he wants to take us out.
He's real. when we find ourselves with our back against
the water, when we experience the weariness of the world, the
the wars of the world, the wounds of this world and we all
every Sunday come into this place with all those things
being real sticking to us. Living in us, we have a warrior
who is Holy who is omnipotent but he is also full of love it
with me. At verse 13, speaking of his
Leading, the People Moses writes, you have Vlad and your
steadfast love, that means unfailing love.
Like his power, his love can't be measured when Paul and his
epistle speaks of how wide and deep and long and high as the
love of Christ in the Greek that's language is says it's
immeasurable. It goes on and on and on my love
I'm sorry even to my wife and children has limits.
That's why I have to confess all the time.
I have fallen short but not God. If he could love you more, he
would, but he can't because his love is perfect.
You think about that? And from that posture of Love,
he's leading us. Who is like him?
Listen to his reputation, verses 14 through 16.
Those who have heard about God, the real God, the one God, they
said, Moses sings the peoples of heard they tremble.
Pangs of sees the Evidence of philistia now are the Chiefs of
Edom dismayed, trembling seizes the leaders of Moab, all the
inhabitants of Canaan and have melted away Terror and Dread
fall upon them because of the greatness of your arm, they are
still as Stone. They are paralyzed.
This is true of this God. And it's true of the same God
that's living in us the same. God whose presence, we know Who
is like him? Who is like him?
In his raining, look with me at Verse 18, the Lord will reign
forever and ever. Think about that.
That can be said of any other Earthly.
King God is eternal. No one is like him.
That's his attributes. What about his deeds?
They're all connected to his attributes.
Who is like, you God, and loving us, who is like you and leading
us who is like, you in redeeming us, who is like you and
defending us. There is no other.
So, how can we? Sustained.
A religious affection. A zeal.
I'm not saying just an emotion or emotions are part of it.
How can we sustain something as the people of Christ called to
this particular expression of his church sustained that
posture where we come into this place expecting to see more and
more of his glory exiting. This place not with quick
conversations about sports. Or food and I love both of
those. but with something far greater, Our own identity.
Worship of the Living, God is not so much about things that we
do. It is about being.
I want to read something to you. That was recorded in the summer.
Of 1990, June 21. A minister was asked the
question what constitutes worship.
Most importantly, this pastor wrote, I think that the presence
of God constitutes worship, it is not a human endeavor, but one
that is inspired by the presence of the Lord himself.
Did you think about that coming in today?
Now, I want to be very sensitive.
Some of you are like, Mark, we barely made it here.
I know. But even in that statement,
recognize you did. And for those who had an easier
time, they needed the same God to get them here as you did.
But Mark my husband, I fought the whole way here.
I know that's not my experience, my wife and I never fight on the
way to church because we never come together and I'll tell you
on the Sundays we do It's pretty rough because of me.
Oh, Every time, we enter this place, we need to come as humble
people desperate for God, just like the Israelites prepared to
worship Him. I'm struck by the fact that
Miriam. How to trim Berean.
And the other women too, of all the things they had to gather
quickly, they knew they needed those instruments.
And what did it sound? Like, in the midst of this song
being saying to suddenly hear the tambourine and then more
tambourines. I doubt anybody was saying
you're playing a little bit loud.
All right, think that one sounds a little pitchy.
This isn't actually my favorite song.
I Wish Moses would have. We actually call those in the
church. Bors.
That is so sick. It's not a war.
Satan, is bringing a war against us, and if that's what we're
going to fight about, God have mercy, God have mercy, and he
has, and he's patient with us. But worship has become so many
things. And these are good things.
But not the ultimate purpose of worship.
This same Pastor said, in answer to this question, there's some
inadequate models of worship, what are they immediately, your
mind might run to something, but I think you're going to be
wrong. His answer is different.
He says, first worship is not simply instruction how often we
make worship about the sermon or about the intellectual
stimulation that we get worship is not simply instruction.
It is that for sure. We should not see worship
service. Only in terms of the sermon
which is accompanied by a few Frills like the offering in some
hymns. Second worship is not a training
center, training happens because God's word is god-breathed, and
is useful for teaching, rebuking and training in righteousness,
but it's not primary the place where we give you just tools for
evangelism or tools, even for discipleship.
It's more than that. It's the presence of God and
says, people are being transformed.
Third worship is not simply for Fellowship but Fellowship is a
means of Grace. It's an important part of it,
but if we walk out of here, saying the Highlight was my
fellowship with other people is important as it is.
That's not the ultimate goal. The purpose of worship is also
not evangelism. We definitely hold Christ out
and give an invitation every time for people to hear the good
news of Christ. But during a worship service
primarily to the unchurched is not worship.
Worship is about the people of God being overwhelmed by his
presence. And that's the most Evangelistic
thing we can do at Clowney calls it, doxological evangelism.
It's where people look at us and say, I don't know what it is,
they have, but I want that. And that really works. one of my
first mission trips with this church to a large nation in East
Asia that we no longer able to go to The daughter.
Of the Secretary of this region of the Communist party, went to
her mom on that mission trip. And said, I want what they have
and her mother's. What is that?
She said, I don't know, but may I have permission to find out
and when she asks, one of our students and our students said
it's Jesus, she went back to her mother and at, Great risk.
Her mother said, You may trust in Jesus, doxological
evangelism. They saw the radiance of Christ
in us when we were not even able to share the gospel.
We were just teaching them how to speak English.
The worship service is not primarily a vision, building
time for the church. It's so much more.
This question was asked, lastly in this interview.
What do you think is the biggest failure in worship today?
That might be a great question for you to ask yourself.
My guess is that you're going to look at other people and what
they're doing wrong. So in the power of the Holy
Spirit, ask it to yourself. What do you think?
Is the biggest failure in your worship of God today?
This pastor wrote. I think we have too many
addicted. Jind has.
We're trying to can cram into one hour of worship and by the
way, we go over an hour, most Sundays now, which is okay.
He rides were trying to instruct train Fellowship, evangelize
Bill vision and give out all the announcements to keep the church
running for a week all in one hour.
I wish you knew how many ideas are given to me in a given week
about what people think should come from this pulpit.
And many of them are really good.
But so many of them are not about the great.
Worship. Must be protected.
We cannot allow many things to formulate our objectives for
worship rather than Focus. We must on the main goal of
leading one. Another into the presence of
God. Skip Ryan.
That Pastor around the age of 42.
A year before he knew much about this church.
He was the first senior pastor of this church and many of you
have joined and don't even know who he is.
This him. that the people of Israel seen saying, informs what
we should be singing. But also how we should be
singing it informs. What we should be preaching.
And how we should be listening to the preached word.
It actually informs how we prepare and we should be
preparing if you're only preparation for worship.
Happens at the beginning of the service, you're not very
prepared. You need to prepare the night
before you need to think about how late you stay up.
You need to think about how early you rise.
You need to think about what's coming and that you are going to
enter into a place where it's our goal is, the leaders of this
church along with you, to have us experience.
The transforming presence of Christ, every Sunday.
Seen and his attributes. And seen in his deeds.
Seen in what has happened in the past and seeing, and what is
Promised in the future. But in this time together, not
rushed, not hurried, we experience him here, who he is.
And what he's doing. This is not something that we
can just check a box on and move on.
And say remember that sermon in June of 2023 it's something that
we in the power of the spirit must truly fight for We need to
be overwhelmed. You've entered this place, most
Sunday's overwhelmed by weariness, and wounds.
Fear of the world. we need to be overwhelmed in this place by
something, greater The word overwhelmed means three things.
I'm going to say it again to be buried under a huge mass.
To receive too much of something to be defeated soundly.
With his back against the cross. Jesus Christ was overwhelmed.
He received too much of something.
His father's wrath, the Wrath that you and I deserved that
poured out on us. He was buried underneath the
mass of your sin and mine all of them.
He was defeated soundly. He said it is finished.
He breathed his last and he died his heart.
Literally burst his heart was overwhelmed.
Three days later and you've heard it from the beginning of
this worship, service, to the end, three days later.
Jesus Christ, the father and the Holy Spirit, overwhelmed, our
greatest enemy death death received too much of Jesus.
Death. Was dismissed.
Defeated soundly. Death was buried forever.
Under the glory of the Risen King.
That story is the story of our Exodus spoken of from the past
the promise to the Future and the present reality of it.
Now, so that when we sing in just a moment of this Mighty
Fortress We're singing of the god, the true God, who is
absolutely present with us. His people that he has rescued
right now and what is our response, what can it be other
than praise Father in heaven. We are not trying just to lather
ourselves up our to have some emotional experience.
We're trying a lord to see that apart from you, we could never
bring you glory in the way we worship you.
So we pray that you would end this moment overwhelm us
individually and corporately that we would be free because of
the victory that is ours already in Christ.
And we would sing and freedom. But also with this fear and all
of your Transcendent character, while all the while being more
present to us than anything else.
That is tempting to overwhelm us.
Give us voice to bring you glory.
I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Please stand.