1 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:10,360 This is ERC Sundays, the messages at Emmaus Rd. 2 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:14,280 Church in DeWitt, Iowa. ERC is a Church of people 3 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:17,320 striving to grow in Jesus and make him known to others through 4 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:21,560 our faith, words and actions. Find out more about our church 5 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:25,400 at emmausrdonline.org. Here's this week's message. 6 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:32,400 So today we've been, we've been obviously hanging out with Moses 7 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:36,000 for several weeks now. I think this is week 7 and over 8 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,360 the last couple weeks I just want to run us back a little bit 9 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:41,680 so that way we have a clear sense of where we are right now. 10 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:45,800 A couple weeks ago we talked about our warrior God, and we 11 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:49,080 talked about why we need a warrior God, how he fights for 12 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:52,360 us, and so on and so forth. And then last week, Pastor Matt, 13 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:56,360 he got into the fact that the same warrior God, not only does 14 00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:59,840 he fight for us and on our behalf, but he's also a God of 15 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:03,200 love and great provision. So Pastor Matt talked about 16 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:06,480 manna in the wilderness and talked about quail. 17 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:10,120 And then I'll also let you know that in chapter 17 of Exodus, 18 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:13,560 which is where we're going to be today at the front half of that 19 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:17,840 chapter, what happens is the people are grumbling once again, 20 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:21,480 big surprise. And and so they're, they're a 21 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:23,520 little parched, they're a little thirsty. 22 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:27,320 And so they tell Moses like, hey, they, they get, they give 23 00:01:27,320 --> 00:01:29,520 their kind of classic line. Did you bring us out here to 24 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:31,160 kill us? What was the point of all of 25 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:33,560 this if you're just going to let us die of thirst? 26 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:39,880 OK, So Moses goes and intercedes for the people and God tells 27 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:43,640 Moses, hey, take your staff, the staff that you used to part the 28 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:47,080 sea with and strike the rock and water will come out and the 29 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:50,240 people will be their thirst will be quenched. 30 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:54,440 And so Moses does that and it seems all good for the moment 31 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:59,240 until there's an attack. There's an attack, but we'll get 32 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:01,840 into that in just a second. The point I'm trying to get to 33 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:05,560 here with this introduction is the fact that all along the way, 34 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:09,639 whether it was through the 10 plagues in Egypt or it was 35 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:13,560 parting of the sea so the people could walk right through it, or 36 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:17,320 even providing food and water in the wilderness, God has been 37 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:20,680 doing all of the heavy lifting. Now we should be used to that 38 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,000 because He still does all of the heavy lifting today. 39 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:25,160 But there's something that's about to change. 40 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:29,000 God is going to ask His people to buy in. 41 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:32,440 He's going to ask his people to start participating in the 42 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:34,200 fight. In other words, he's telling 43 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:38,800 them, I need you to grow up. I've walked you like little 44 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:40,560 kids. I've carried you, I've done all 45 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:42,280 these things. I need you to grow up a little 46 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:45,560 bit. And so as he's asking them to do 47 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:48,960 that, he's asking them to grow up and participate physically, 48 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:52,120 right? He's asking them to participate 49 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:54,160 with their resources and with their heart and their mind and 50 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:56,840 their soul first commandment that he's going to give soon. 51 00:02:57,080 --> 00:02:58,760 Love the Lord of God with all your heart, soul, mind and 52 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:02,200 strength, right? So that's that's kind of where 53 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:06,480 we're showing up today and we see that it's pretty clear that 54 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:10,320 God always gives the means. He always gives grace. 55 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:13,400 He always makes the way. But what are we doing in the 56 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:16,720 midst of that? You know, as often times we 57 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:20,360 don't like to talk about the doing part on on our end because 58 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:23,520 then it feels like, oh, I've got a checklist and Christianity is 59 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:25,480 this checklist of things that I have to do. 60 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:29,480 However, that's not true. God calls us to participate 61 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,760 because he loves us, right? So think about it. 62 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:35,440 If you love your kid, parents, please hear this. 63 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:38,400 Kids, please hear this. If you love your kids, you know, 64 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:41,520 you know what you're going to go home and do instead of doing the 65 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:45,160 dishes for them and without them, you're going to say, hey, 66 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,880 come do the dishes with me. I want you to participate. 67 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:52,160 Oh, I just signed you guys up for some dishes. 68 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:53,520 Mm. Hmm. 69 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:59,560 I did that. Yeah. 70 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:01,400 You wait. You're going to have soapy 71 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:02,640 hands. It's going to be awesome. 72 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:06,800 No, but, but I mean that I, I really do mean that like God 73 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:10,360 wants us to participate, just like a parent should want their 74 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,200 child to participate in what what's going on. 75 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:16,600 So in that illustration of the dishes, like, you know, as 76 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,720 parents, you're going to make sure it's clean because they 77 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:23,760 probably won't, but you'll make sure it's clean and it's good. 78 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:25,880 But you want them involved in that process. 79 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,960 In the same way, God makes sure that we are clean and that we 80 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:30,800 are good through his Son Jesus Christ. 81 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:32,520 Amen. Yeah. 82 00:04:32,840 --> 00:04:35,880 But he wants us to participate. So we're going to get into that 83 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:37,200 today. We're going to see what that 84 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:40,160 looks like a little bit. I forgot my clicker. 85 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:42,440 Mr. Carter, would you send me to the next slide? 86 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:44,680 So thank you. Appreciate that. 87 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:47,040 The people in the back, like, I don't know what I'd do without 88 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:49,240 you. I don't know anyway, But here's 89 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:50,680 here's what this is going to look like today. 90 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:52,640 We're going to view the text through this kind of lens. 91 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:55,000 God wanting us to join the fight. 92 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:57,960 Looks like who and what we're called to fight against, how 93 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:00,280 we're called to fight because there is some pretty specific 94 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:02,000 ways. And then we're going to see the 95 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:06,360 king who won the battle. So if you would join with me, 96 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:10,440 we'll be in Exodus chapter 17. We're going to read just verses 97 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:13,080 8 through 16. It's a really kind of short 98 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,280 little bit here, but it's powerful in its full. 99 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:23,600 So Exodus 17, eight through 16. And we read this in Jesus name. 100 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:28,720 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Refadim. 101 00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:33,200 So Moses said to Joshua, choose for US men and go out and fight 102 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:37,160 with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top 103 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:40,080 of the hill with the staff of God in my hand. 104 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:44,680 So Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek while 105 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:48,720 Moses, Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill. 106 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:53,640 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. 107 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,280 Whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 108 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:01,960 But Moses's hands grew weary. So they took a stone, and they 109 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:05,920 put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and her held up 110 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:08,960 his hands, one-on-one side, 1 on the other side. 111 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:13,960 So his hands were steady until the going down to the sun, and 112 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:18,000 Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. 113 00:06:19,280 --> 00:06:23,320 Then the Lord said to Moses, write this as a memorial in a 114 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:27,840 book, and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly 115 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:32,720 block, blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. 116 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:35,640 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it. 117 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:40,480 The Lord is my banner, saying, a hand upon the throne of the 118 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:42,800 Lord. The Lord will have war with 119 00:06:42,840 --> 00:06:45,600 Amalek from generation to generation. 120 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:49,760 Here ends reading of God's word. Let me pray for a second. 121 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:55,360 Our Father in heaven, this is your word, This is your story, 122 00:06:55,440 --> 00:07:00,560 This is your history. Lord, I pray that true words and 123 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:04,760 true thoughts would be spoken around this history, that you 124 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,680 would light up our hearts with your Holy Spirit, and that you 125 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:11,720 would teach us today. Teach us by your word, teach us 126 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:16,040 by your Spirit, that we might grow to love you and grow to 127 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:19,080 participate in what you're doing in this world. 128 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:23,760 Father, we pray all these things in the name of King Jesus, Amen. 129 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:28,200 So I need to give you just a kind of a quick background here 130 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:32,320 on Amalek. OK, It says Amalek, and that 131 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:35,920 sounds like not a plural word, but that's that's the 132 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:37,440 Amalekites. That's who they are. 133 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:39,920 They're the Amalekites. Well, where did the Amalekites 134 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:43,560 come from and why are they attacking the people of Israel? 135 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:49,200 Well, short version, if you go back to Genesis 25 through 27, 136 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:51,760 what you're going to see is you're going to see the story of 137 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:55,000 Isaac. Now, Isaac and his wife, they 138 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:58,520 had two sons, they had twins, they had Esau and Jacob. 139 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:01,200 Now, if you know this story, it gets really interesting, but 140 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:02,880 I'll give you the briefest version of it. 141 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:10,400 So Esau comes out first and he's kind of like Elmo on steroids. 142 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:15,480 Like he's the Bible describes him as as kind of hairy and red. 143 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:19,560 So, you know, like think a really angry little Elmo, not 144 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:22,040 great, right? But then right on his heel, 145 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:24,680 literally holding onto his heel is Jacob. 146 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:28,840 And Jacob comes out. And what happens over time is 147 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:34,360 that Esau becomes like the real man's man and, and his father 148 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:36,760 loves him for it. So he's a, he's a hunter and 149 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:39,760 he's always outside. And like later the Bible reports 150 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:44,200 that he just smells like the outdoors and like, so some of us 151 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:47,440 are like, man, that's my guy, that's my guy. 152 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:49,160 And that's what his dad thought too. 153 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:53,400 Jacob, on the other hand, a little bit more of a sensitive 154 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:58,040 soul, you might say, and so he is not out in the fields, he's 155 00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:00,520 not hunting game all day, he doesn't smell like the outside. 156 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:05,560 He tends to stay more at home. And because of that, his mother 157 00:09:05,560 --> 00:09:08,240 favors him. Do you see where this is going 158 00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:11,720 to go sideways? If you have parents, if you have 159 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:14,880 favourites amongst your children, don't ever let them 160 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:18,200 know. You can never tell them because 161 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:21,720 it turns them into monsters. It really does. 162 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:23,280 And so please don't ever let them know. 163 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:26,440 My mom is so funny. She with, with with her 164 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:28,360 grandkids. So one of the grandkids will 165 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:30,440 come up to her and say, Grandma, am I am your favorite? 166 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:32,600 And she's like, yes, yes, you are. 167 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:35,240 And then 2 seconds later the other one will come up, Grandma, 168 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:37,040 am I your favorite? Yes, you are. 169 00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:41,720 All four of them right through. And so they debate about that 170 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:44,400 amongst themselves. But my mom has never given up 171 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:50,680 the goods on that anyway. So over a period of time, Isaac, 172 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:54,680 their father is dying and he wants to bless his son, Esau. 173 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:59,880 Well, Esau, he tells Esau, OK, go out, My, my son who hunts, go 174 00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:02,720 out and, and get some game and make me this awesome Stew that I 175 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:04,360 know you're really, really great at making. 176 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:08,840 And, and he goes out. And in the meantime, Jacob, 177 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:11,920 Jacob's mom is like, hey, I got an idea. 178 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:13,960 We're going to get that blessing from your father. 179 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:15,840 You're going to be #1 in this family. 180 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:20,760 And that's exactly what happens. Jacob kind of tricks his daddy, 181 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:23,800 puts on all Esau's kind of hunting clothes and he puts on 182 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:25,760 fur. So when his dad touches him, he 183 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:29,800 feels kind of furry, like Elmo. And and it goes just that way. 184 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:33,920 And so Jacob is blessed and Esau is angry. 185 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:36,680 And here's the thing about Esau. You may think that Esau has 186 00:10:36,680 --> 00:10:40,560 gotten a a raw deal in all this, but the problem with Esau is 187 00:10:40,560 --> 00:10:43,440 that he only cares about his body. 188 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:46,880 And the story that we know that makes that true is at some point 189 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:51,440 he's out hunting and he comes home and Jacob has made some 190 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:53,560 Stew and he's just kind of hanging out, you know, doing 191 00:10:53,560 --> 00:10:56,120 what he does. And Esau comes in and he's like, 192 00:10:56,520 --> 00:11:00,680 I am exhausted. If I don't get some of that 193 00:11:00,680 --> 00:11:02,960 Stew, I'm going to die. Right now. 194 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:05,640 He's a bit of a drama queen. I know he's a big man's man, but 195 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:08,400 he's clearly a drama queen, too. It happens. 196 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:11,320 But anyway, so he comes in and I'm going to die if you don't 197 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:15,640 give me this Stew. And so Jacob being kind of the 198 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:19,720 scoundrel that he is, he's like, hey, I'll give you the Stew if 199 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:24,080 you give me your birthright, if you make me first, in other 200 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:26,400 words, I get the best and 1st inheritance. 201 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:28,760 I will be the leader of this family. 202 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:33,520 And so Esau, loving his flesh more than he loves anything 203 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:36,000 else, says, yeah, sure, give me the Stew. 204 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:37,840 I'm good, we're good. I don't care. 205 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:42,920 And here we are. Esau and his people eventually 206 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:48,000 become the Amalekites, and Jacob and his people eventually get 207 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:51,280 down to Moses, right? So now we're seeing a family 208 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:54,480 tree happening here. And so when the Amalekites come 209 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:57,960 and attack Moses and the Israelites, we have a sense of 210 00:11:57,960 --> 00:11:59,800 background. Now we understand why there 211 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:04,240 might be some salty feelings. And, you know, families are 212 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:07,320 messy, right? Well, anyway, the, the 213 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:10,600 interesting thing about the fact that they are getting attacked 214 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:13,480 by the Amalekites is also the fact that the Amalekites, you 215 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:16,760 know what they do, they attack from the rear. 216 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:20,280 So you're dealing with a couple million people kind of spread 217 00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:22,720 out a little bit, but they attack from the rear. 218 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:27,120 They attack from the position of Israel's greatest weakness. 219 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:30,560 So that's where the kids and the animals and the older folks are. 220 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:34,920 And they attack them first like a really scoundrel move. 221 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:38,080 They don't come and hit the warriors at the front, they 222 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:42,520 attack from the rear. Now, why does that matter? 223 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:49,880 Well, the fact is we all have a back door that's open, right? 224 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:52,920 And metaphorically, what I mean by that is we all have blind 225 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:58,000 spots where we can be attacked by the enemy and we will never 226 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,160 see it coming. Now here's here's what we can 227 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:03,400 notice from this text about that attack. 228 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:07,240 You are in the most danger in in three different times when 229 00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:10,280 you're isolated, when you're isolated. 230 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:15,520 So some of you are not like super, you know, like I need 231 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:18,800 people to to give me energy. I am one of those people, which 232 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:21,560 is why I like when I'm kind of home by myself, I'm really 233 00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:23,400 mostly subdued. And when I'm here, I'm like, 234 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:27,920 because it's all of you. Like you guys bring me energy. 235 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:30,680 That's who I am. But some people aren't like 236 00:13:30,680 --> 00:13:33,520 that. You prefer to be alone and you 237 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:35,320 prefer to spend more time by yourself. 238 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:39,200 The only problem with that is you're isolated. 239 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:43,720 Then if you don't break out of that and in isolation, your 240 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:47,600 enemy can get to you far, far easier because you don't have a 241 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:50,320 community of people holding you accountable and you don't have 242 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:53,600 that strong community of people around you necessarily bringing 243 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:56,760 you the grace of God when you need it most. 244 00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:00,840 Friends, we need community. We, if we become isolated, we 245 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:03,560 are, we are playing right into the enemy's hands. 246 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:07,120 And so I would encourage you, if you're a person who tends to 247 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:10,760 isolate yourself a little bit, please go outside of your 248 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:15,120 comfort zone and come into community as often as possible 249 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:18,320 because quite frankly, you are less susceptible to attacks from 250 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:21,360 our enemy when you're in a community like this. 251 00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:26,280 And a short plug, this is a good sized community right now, right 252 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:29,960 here on a Sunday. But what do, what do we do the 253 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:32,560 other six days of the week? Do we just stay home? 254 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:35,920 You're just like, well, I got my Jesus fixed time to move on with 255 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:37,920 my life and I'll just go be a hermit at home. 256 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:41,320 Not great for you. That's a lot of hours. 257 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:43,680 That's a lot of days where the enemy gets to attack you. 258 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:47,920 So I, I, I would just encourage you join women's ministries, 259 00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:51,600 join into men's ministries, get in a get in a group, like allow 260 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:56,040 people to know you to, to hold you accountable when you need it 261 00:14:56,040 --> 00:14:59,000 and to give you grace when you need it, which I suspect is 262 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:01,720 often for all of us. So don't get isolated. 263 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:04,800 The second thing that makes you vulnerable to attack is pride. 264 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:10,400 It's pride. I, I, I think like one of my 265 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:13,720 favorite and worst phrases that I've heard over the past decade 266 00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:17,000 or better is I got this. I got this. 267 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:19,600 Oh, man, aren't we guilty of that? 268 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:20,840 No, I got it. I got it. 269 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:23,400 Even when somebody wants to come along and help, you're like, no, 270 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:24,240 I got it. I'm good. 271 00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:26,800 Give that dishes example a little bit earlier. 272 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:30,280 The kids are like, I want to help and you're like, no, I got 273 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:31,760 it. Because you're going to actually 274 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:34,960 make it worse. Like, no, no, let's let's again 275 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,800 join into a place where our pride doesn't win the day, but 276 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:41,360 rather it's a it's a sense of like, we're going to do this 277 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:45,920 together because pride says, I got it and humility says, let's 278 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:49,160 do it together, right. And then finally, the third way 279 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:52,920 that this text clearly tells us that we can be attacked by the 280 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:57,400 enemy, our blind spots is when we get weighed down by the 281 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:01,680 things of this life. Notice that in the back of the 282 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:04,080 pack, again, it's where all the enemies are. 283 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:06,720 It's probably all where the heaviest baggage is and all that 284 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:09,000 kind of stuff. It's where older folks go and, 285 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:11,000 and, and young kids, maybe they're back there. 286 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:17,000 Gosh, but all these things that we hold on to as as the means by 287 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:20,640 which we live, if those things become more important than our 288 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:24,920 relationship with God, all of a sudden, man, how can Satan 289 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:27,520 attack me when my things are more important than God? 290 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:31,640 He can actually attack me by feeling like I'm being blessed. 291 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:33,760 Hey, let me give you some more stuff. 292 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:36,840 Let me make sure you get that raise at your job so you can 293 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:38,920 have a bigger house, so you have more rooms to clean. 294 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:41,280 That feels like that feels like a good thing. 295 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:44,040 But man, it might be an attack. Be careful. 296 00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:47,560 Because when we start to rely on those things and we get weighed 297 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:51,280 down by those things, we are so susceptible and vulnerable to 298 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:53,800 how we might, how we might get hit. 299 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:55,480 And we never saw it coming, right? 300 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:57,880 So that's kind of the background. 301 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:00,480 That's the the way that we can understand what's happening in 302 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:03,360 this text and where the Amalekites are attacking from. 303 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:07,079 But let's move forward. How are we called to fight? 304 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:13,520 OK, well, Moses calls on Joshua. This is the first time we hear 305 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:15,599 of Joshua. And actually fun little fact, 306 00:17:15,599 --> 00:17:19,599 his name in Hebrew is Hoshea. And then if you translate to, to 307 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:23,520 Greek, it's Yeshua, which is actually the same way you would 308 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:26,599 say Jesus in Greek. So this guy Joshua, who's coming 309 00:17:26,599 --> 00:17:29,560 along, who's going to be the warrior for his people, the 310 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:33,640 leader of the fight, man, there's something really special 311 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:35,360 about him. And if you continue through the 312 00:17:35,360 --> 00:17:38,200 1st 5 books of the Bible, you're going to see that play out. 313 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:42,240 But anyway, what does Moses call him to do? 314 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:45,000 He's like, hey, go ahead. We're going to, we're going to 315 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:47,720 make sure like you need to go get some men and you need to 316 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:50,440 start fighting. We need to be physically 317 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:53,000 engaged. So this is different than what's 318 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,040 been happening with the Israelites thus far. 319 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:58,560 They need to get physically engaged in the fight. 320 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:05,720 Now, I would say in our modern world, apart from apart from a 321 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:08,880 certain segment of people, maybe it's soldiers, most of us 322 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:11,400 probably aren't getting into a lot of physical fights. 323 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:13,800 And if you are, we should probably have a conversation 324 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:16,360 about that. We might have some temper 325 00:18:16,360 --> 00:18:19,760 issues, some anger issues that we can start to work through. 326 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:22,640 But yeah, most of us don't have to physically fight. 327 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:27,160 But there are times, there are absolutely times where God calls 328 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:30,920 us to get physically involved in the battles of our life. 329 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:34,720 Now, the other way I'm going to tell you that, that this fight 330 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:39,000 looks like inside your home and inside my home is that 331 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:41,960 physicality. It's that being present 332 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:44,840 physically and emotionally and mentally. 333 00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:49,160 So you, you know, I, I need to in my home, I need to be 334 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:53,640 physically and mentally and emotionally present for my kids. 335 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:57,240 Think about this. If they're coming home from 336 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:00,640 school and you know, they get home and oh, hey, how's your 337 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:02,360 day, how's school? And they're going to give you 338 00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:04,200 the routine answer, which is school's fine. 339 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:07,920 And maybe even I follow up with the second question, which will 340 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:09,880 still get the same stupid answer. 341 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:13,200 What'd you learn today? Nothing. 342 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:16,320 You knew it. All of you knew it. 343 00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:17,720 We could have said that in unison. 344 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:19,560 What'd you learn today? Nothing. 345 00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:22,520 Yeah. Well, here's the thing. 346 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:26,440 If I'm actually physically and mentally present, I'm not going 347 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:29,800 to stop there. I'm not going to because I want 348 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,280 to engage this person, right? I want to. 349 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:35,680 I want to be present with them. Same thing with my spouse. 350 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:39,080 You know, I, I have to work very hard at this because I'm an 351 00:19:39,120 --> 00:19:42,080 idiot. So what happens is my wife and 352 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:43,720 I, and I actually talked about this a little bit in Bible 353 00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:45,640 study. My wife and I will be sitting 354 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:49,320 together on the couch and we'll just be chatting and she'll be 355 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:50,400 telling me about her day or something. 356 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:53,120 And I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, that's, that's cool. 357 00:19:53,120 --> 00:19:55,280 No, that's that. Actually, that sounds sucky. 358 00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:57,800 I'm sorry about that. And like, what am I doing? 359 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:02,560 What am I doing? God has given me the gift of 360 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:05,680 this beautiful human being. And what am I doing instead? 361 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:07,880 I'm looking at some stupid phone. 362 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:15,560 How dumb am I? I need to be physically and 363 00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:19,480 mentally present for my wife. And then I need to do the same 364 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:24,720 thing with my with my community. My goodness, guys, if we come 365 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:28,600 here and, and, and, and we're already thinking about, oh gosh, 366 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:29,760 now I'm going to make you think about it. 367 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:31,400 We're already thinking about lunch. 368 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:32,360 We're thinking about the football game. 369 00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:34,640 We're thinking about whatever I might be physically here, but 370 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:38,480 I'm not really here, am I? Friends, we come here to 371 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:42,600 worship. We come here to give God all of 372 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:45,320 the praise and all the glory that he deserves. 373 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:49,320 That's why we're here. And we do that best when we are 374 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:52,000 physically and mentally present with other people. 375 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:55,720 Because Christianity was never a faith that was meant to be lived 376 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:58,400 on an island. That is not the point of it. 377 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:02,600 That is not how it works. So when I come here, I want to 378 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:05,920 be physically and mentally and emotionally present with you. 379 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:08,120 And I hope you want the same thing. 380 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:14,080 Now, another detail within this, and I need to pick on about half 381 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:18,160 the room. It says that Moses told Joshua, 382 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:29,360 go find the men. OK, we're going to get into this 383 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:33,800 1st, 1st Corinthians 1613 and 14 says this. 384 00:21:34,120 --> 00:21:37,840 Be watchful. Stand firm in the faith, act 385 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:39,920 like men. Be strong. 386 00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:44,840 Let all you do be done in love, men. 387 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:49,720 God has called us to be leaders in our households and in our 388 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:53,160 church. Now, that doesn't mean 389 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:56,400 dominating everything. That doesn't mean that nobody 390 00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:59,280 else gets a word, and that doesn't mean I pound my chest 391 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,000 and look at me. That's not what that means at 392 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,280 all. It means that we lead in love 393 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:08,160 and we lead an example. Now, maybe in your household, 394 00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:11,240 maybe you're not the most eloquent speaker. 395 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:17,600 Maybe your spouse is OK, maybe, maybe, maybe if you're going to 396 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:20,080 do a family devotional, that person is leading or maybe you 397 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:22,960 have just a spirit filled kid who's going to lead that. 398 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:25,120 Awesome. How are you encouraging that 399 00:22:25,120 --> 00:22:28,440 behavior, men? How are you encouraging that in 400 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:30,040 your family? How are you encouraging that in 401 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:33,360 your home? I did watch and this is this is 402 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:36,920 amazing. I watched from a distance 403 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:42,440 because, you know, soft hands. I watched from a distance, men 404 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:47,600 pour cement and do real work for God's Kingdom, and you're like, 405 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:49,040 how is porn cement God's Kingdom? 406 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:52,360 It's because we're always trying to get room for one more. 407 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:57,280 That's how men are to lead to make sure that we have room for 408 00:22:57,280 --> 00:22:59,680 one more, whether it's through a parking lot, whether it's 409 00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:03,240 whatever man can. Can I? 410 00:23:03,360 --> 00:23:05,000 I saw a guy and I can't remember who it was. 411 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:08,320 He was serving doughnuts. Good job. 412 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:13,400 Doughnut serving guy. Seriously, dude, that's awesome. 413 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:16,160 That's what leadership looks like sometimes. 414 00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:19,720 But men, God, God has called you out. 415 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:22,440 Stand firm in the faith, Act like men. 416 00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:25,720 Be strong. Let all you do be done in love. 417 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:27,400 And you know what, men, I'll tell you one more thing and then 418 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:33,680 I'll move on. There's a couple of things we 419 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,840 can do inside of our home and inside of our workspaces that 420 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:41,640 will really make us men. First and foremost, it's 421 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:45,200 gratitude. That whole I got this thing 422 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:48,320 baloney. The only reason why you breathe 423 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:53,240 is because of the Lord. So when I show gratitude to the 424 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:56,320 one who gave me my body, who gave me my ability to speak and 425 00:23:56,320 --> 00:24:01,040 work, man that is infectious, especially when you do it. 426 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:05,800 Second thing you can do real quick, man, admit when you're 427 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:12,120 wrong. I will tell you that one of the 428 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:16,000 some of the most powerful moments in my life with my wife 429 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:22,640 and my kids is moments of complete humility because I was 430 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:27,680 finally able to look at myself, look at them and say that's 431 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:32,920 that's on me, that's my fault. Then that's how we lead. 432 00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:40,880 Then Moses, he goes and fights, but he fights a little bit 433 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:42,960 differently. He doesn't fight with a sword. 434 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:45,720 He doesn't go down with Joshua. He goes and fights a little bit 435 00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:48,400 differently. He goes up on the hill where he 436 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:52,440 can oversee the battlefield and he brings his brothers with him 437 00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,320 and he raises his hands and he prays. 438 00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:00,240 This is a fun fact for you. Jewish people pray with hands 439 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:03,160 raised. This is how how they pray. 440 00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:06,240 So Moses prays from the top of the hill. 441 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,680 And what you'll notice about this text is, well, if you've 442 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,680 ever tried this, this gets difficult after a little while. 443 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:16,520 It really does. And so his friends are there to 444 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:19,160 support him. His friends are there to hold up 445 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:23,680 his hands and pray with him. Do you see that prayer is by far 446 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:26,920 the most important part of the battlefield that we can stand 447 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:30,000 on? Yes, Joshua, in the in the army 448 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:32,400 of Israel, they were down there. They were doing the physical 449 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:35,440 hard labor of fighting. But there is Moses and his two 450 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:39,480 friends and they are praying to the God who gives victory. 451 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:43,600 That is how they win. They pray through that. 452 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:50,080 I don't know what your prayer life looks like, but I can tell 453 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:55,160 you unequivocally, if you don't have a meaningful full prayer 454 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:59,160 life, you are going to lose the fight every single time. 455 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:03,640 You will not win. You cannot win because you are 456 00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:06,600 trying to use resources that you see that you've created. 457 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:10,680 But man, if you want to talk about a resource, if you want to 458 00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:14,000 talk a way to about a way of fighting, prayer is your atom 459 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:18,120 bomb because it's God who has all the power. 460 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,720 It is God who puts the enemies down where they belong. 461 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:24,920 And if you're not praying, you have no way to fight that 462 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:28,600 besides your own means, which you will grow weary and you will 463 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:32,520 fail eventually. So this prayer is the greatest 464 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:35,360 battlefield that we can be a part of. 465 00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:41,920 Now the king. There's so many things in this 466 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:44,000 text and I want you to see it. I'm going to get into teacher 467 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,920 mode for a second because I want you to see how Jesus is involved 468 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:49,760 in every single book of the Bible. 469 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:54,280 I want you to see how Jesus is the, is the the forerunner of 470 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:57,360 all of these things. So it says that, for example, 471 00:26:57,520 --> 00:26:59,240 Moses went up on the hill to pray. 472 00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:06,160 Jesus was taken to the hill called Golgotha, the hill of the 473 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:10,000 skull. They took him up to a hill. 474 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:13,840 You want to know why? So everybody could look at him. 475 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:17,280 So all the walkers by they could, they could spit on him, 476 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:19,000 they could make fun of him, they could mock him. 477 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:30,840 They put him on a hill and then he fought in darkness from noon 478 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:33,000 until 3:00 in the afternoon and became dark. 479 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:42,400 That darkness as Jesus is on the cross fighting and praying, That 480 00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:46,240 darkness is God separating himself from His Son. 481 00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:51,880 That darkness is Jesus Christ going through hell itself. 482 00:27:55,360 --> 00:27:59,560 That is a darkness that none of us have to see because He went 483 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:04,120 through it for us. Then Jesus. 484 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:07,560 Jesus is posture. There's only one posture. 485 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:10,680 If you're on a cross, it's arms spread wide. 486 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:19,000 Just like Moses prayed as he's postured in prayer, which is a 487 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:24,840 mocking position at this point. As he's postured in prayer, he 488 00:28:25,360 --> 00:28:27,920 he recites psalms. Do you see that? 489 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:33,120 I want you to notice that in the crucifixion, the seven words of 490 00:28:33,120 --> 00:28:35,760 Jesus, they call it, three of them are the Psalms. 491 00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:37,840 He's praying his own prayer book. 492 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:41,080 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 493 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:50,280 Friends, we can pray through the battles and we have to. 494 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:54,520 And again, I, I, I respect people who have to get 495 00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:56,440 physically involved in some of those things. 496 00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,400 But man, the biggest battle we will ever face, it is not 497 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:04,240 against flesh and blood, is it? It is against spirit in the evil 498 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:07,280 principalities of this world that Satan rains down on us that 499 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:11,920 are silent and deadly. Friends, we have to pray through 500 00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:15,280 this, just like Jesus prayed on the cross with his arms wide 501 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:17,640 open. We get to pray too. 502 00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:22,560 And So what I'm asking you to do, if there's any take away 503 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:27,480 that I want you to go home with, please do battle in prayer. 504 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:32,880 Do that hard work and guess what, when you can't do the hard 505 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:35,000 work, I hope you have some friends who will hold up your 506 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:36,840 hands for you because you need them. 507 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:40,760 You absolutely need them because this gets tiring. 508 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:45,680 Jesus is the only one who did it on His own, and He did it 509 00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:48,440 because of the nails that were for you. 510 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:54,400 Friends. Jesus prayed in battle, and I 511 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:56,480 want you to go and do likewise. Amen. 512 00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:04,480 All right, let's pray. Our Father in heaven, it is more 513 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:07,000 than enough that you hear our prayers. 514 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,080 It is more than enough that you respond. 515 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:14,040 Lord, it's more than we deserve. It's more than we could even ask 516 00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:15,720 for. So, Father, I pray that you 517 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:19,480 would stir in the hearts of your people to seek you first. 518 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:29,840 Lord, I confess too many times I I seek to do it my way and I 519 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:32,520 tell you I've got this and I take the screen will Lord, I'm 520 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:36,440 sorry. Forgive me, Father, when I've 521 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:39,600 taken the power out of your hands and tried to put them in 522 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:44,600 my feeble hands. Lord, I pray for each one of us 523 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:49,600 that we would call on you not only in the moments that are 524 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:52,280 difficult, but in the in the great moments and everything in 525 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:54,280 between. Help us to call on You, Lord, 526 00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:58,120 because you are our Savior. You are the one who sets us 527 00:30:58,120 --> 00:30:59,920 free. You are the one who gives us 528 00:30:59,920 --> 00:31:04,880 life. May you be glorified because of 529 00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:09,720 your great grace towards us. Father, we pray all these things 530 00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:12,800 in the name of Jesus Christ, who is our Lord and our King. 531 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:20,640 Amen. Thanks for listening to ERC 532 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:23,120 Sundays. To support the work God is doing 533 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:27,680 an Emmaus Rd. church, visit emmausrdonline.org/giving.