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Exodus 17-18

Taught on | Topic: Moses | Keywords: confrontation, organization, administration, Moses, Jethro, Amalekites, delegation

The children of Israel were on a 40-year road trip, but in spite of God's gracious provision and protection, they were never satisfied! In Exodus 17-18, they encounter two road hazards: confrontation and disorganization. As we travel life's path, bumps in the road are inevitable; this passage reminds us that when there is no way, God can make a way.

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4/13/2011
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Exodus 17-18
Exodus 17-18
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
The children of Israel were on a 40-year road trip, but in spite of God's gracious provision and protection, they were never satisfied! In Exodus 17-18, they encounter two road hazards: confrontation and disorganization. As we travel life's path, bumps in the road are inevitable; this passage reminds us that when there is no way, God can make a way.
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02 Exodus - 2011

02 Exodus - 2011

Beginning in the brickyards of Egypt and ending in the tabernacle filled with God's presence, the book of Exodus chronicles the deliverance of God's people from Egypt and records the end of their oppression under Pharaoh. It also provides an account of the beginning of a prophecy fulfilled: God promised Abraham descendants beyond number, and on the pages of Exodus we see Israel become a great nation.

In this verse-by-verse study, Pastor Skip Heitzig presents an in-depth look at Moses, the ten plagues, the ten commandments, the desert wanderings, the construction of the tabernacle, and more. As we study, we'll see the grace of God, witness the glory of the Lord, and a catch a glimpse of Israel's coming Savior.

Visit expoundabq.org for more information on this series.

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Detailed Notes

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  1. Confrontation from the Inside
    1. Israel camps at Rephidim
      1. Upper part of the largest oasis in Sinai
      2. Rephidim means rest stop;
        1. They went there for refreshment
        2. There was no water
    2. The people complained
      1. The idea of Israel complaining recorded 8 times in the Old Testament (1 – Joshua 9; 1 – Psalm 59; 3 – Exodus; 3 – Numbers)
      2. Why do you tempt the Lord?
        1. נָסָה - nasah- test; to put to the test to see whether faithful or not
        2. See if God will come through; prove whether He can take care of them in the desert
      3. Why test about water?
        1. God had parted the sea; gave manna from heaven; the pillars of cloud and fire for guidance and protection; quail
        2. Self-preservation is one of humanity's strongest drives
        3. So Satan answered the Lord and said, "Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life." (Job 2:4)
    3. Moses cried out to the LORD
      1. The people are ready to kill him
      2. True sign of spiritual growth
        1. Not how we act when all is good
        2. How we act when the bottom drops out
        3. "[The children of Israel] would rather lean on a cobweb of human resources than upon the arm of an omnipotent, all wise, and infinitely gracious God."—A. W. Pink
        4. They put God to the test; now He had a test for them: Will they trust God?
      3. Moses acted wisely
        1. Prays to God
        2. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;" (James 1:5-7)
      4. Moses a type of Jesus Christ
        1. God used Moses to deliver Israel from bondage; they want to kill the instrument of their deliverance
        2. God sent Jesus Christ to deliver the world from sin; they wanted to kill Him
          1. "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." (John 1:11)
          2. " When He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;" (1 Peter 2:23)
    4. Moses struck the rock
      1. Moses' rod had been an instrument of judgment; he threw it down and it became a serpent
      2. Now it was used as an instrument of mercy; he took it up and struck the rock for water
      3. Massah means testing; Meribah means strife
    5. Christ typologically referred to as a rock; "[They] all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ." (1 Corinthians 10:3-4)
      1. Rock is stable
        1. Jesus tells the story of the wise man who built his house on the rock (See Matthew 7:24)
        2. David said: "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;" (Psalm 18:2)
        3. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." (Psalm 46:1)
        4. "On this rock I will build My church" (Matthew 16:18) (not on Peter, but on his confession who Jesus Christ is)
      2. Rock was struck
        1. Struck with a rod that at one time was a serpent
        2. Protoevangelium – "He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." (Genesis 3:15)
        3. Jesus was crucified for us
        4. Later Moses strikes the rock again in anger; misrepresented God
        5. Jesus was smitten once for all. "It is finished!"(John 19:30)
  2. Confrontation from the Outside
    1. Amalekites
      1. Tribe of predatory Bedouins
      2. Descendants of Amalek  (grandson of Esau; man of the flesh)
      3. A type of the flesh
        1. We have 2 natures at war
        2. "For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh;" (Galatians 5:17)
        3. Before we came to Christ, there was no war because the flesh dominated
        4. Now in Christ, there is conflict between the spirit and the flesh
        5. Feeding the spirit is the key to victory over the flesh
        6. Attack began as soon as Israel's journey to Canaan began; same as our spiritual journey: Soon after coming to Christ, flesh rears its head and makes demands of you
        7. Amalekites attacked from the rear and went after the weak, weary and faltering: Satan loves to attack the stragglers; they are an easy target
    2. Joshua fought with Amalek; Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up the hill
      1. Hur - the son of Caleb (not the Caleb of Joshua)
        1. Famous in Israel
        2. According to Josephus, the husband of Miriam sister of Moses
      2. Moses lifted his hands Israel prevailed; let down his hands Amalek prevailed
        1. Moses held the rod of God
        2. Rod is a symbol of God's power and personal involvement with His people
        3. In a spiritual battle, we need spiritual weapons
        4. The battle is won in prayer
        5. Raised hands; looking to God in Trust
        6. Like Asa, King of Judah, when he should have prayer, he made his own deal and Hanani rebuked him; He trusted the king of Syria rather than the LORD. (See 2 Chronicles 16)
        7. "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him." (2 Chronicles 16:9)
      3. Moses' hands got heavy
        1. Spiritually speaking, do your hands get heavy in prayer?
        2. One of the greatest tools is prayer
        3. One of the most neglected tools is prayer
        4. Because prayer is powerful, Satan tries to distract
      4. Joshua defeated Amalek; but there was trouble from generation to generation
        1. Yahweh Nissi  – the LORD is my banner
        2. You will have trouble with your old nature your whole life
      5. God dooms the Amalekites because of unprovoked attack and perpetual animosity
      6. Further relationship between Israel and the Amalekites
        1. "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt." (1 Samuel 15)
        2. Saul failed to obey God's command to annihilate them; lost the kingdom
        3. "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams." (1 Samuel 15:22)
        4. Later( in Esther) Haman an Amalekite plotted to annihilate the Jews
        5. There is no rehabilitation program for the flesh: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;" (Galatians 2:20)
        6. The best way to debilitate and disable the flesh is to cultivate the spirit
  3. Administration by the Qualified
    1. Moses and Jethro Meet (along with Moses, Zipporah, and his sons)
    2. Jethro praises the LORD for the deliverance
      1. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)
      2. Jethro is different from other Midianites, who will become enemies of Israel
      3. Seems Jethro is a convert: offering sacrifices to the LORD
        1. There's nothing like a personal testimony
        2. Others see the changes in your life and they serve as evidence of the truth
        3. Jesus said to the man he delivered of demons: "Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you." (Mark 5:19)
    3. Moses was leading on his own
      1. Relying on himself to meet all the needs
      2. Jethro is bothered by what he sees
      3. Moses needs a team
        1. One person, no matter how gifted , can't do ministry alone
        2. D. L. Moody said he'd rather have 100 men to do the work than do the work of 100 men
        3. Without a team you wear out; and you wear others out
    4. Jethro's Recommendation
      1. Get alone with God
      2. Teach people God's principles
      3. Get qualified people to share the work
        1. God's later instruction: "Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you." (Numbers 11:16)
        2. Parallel "It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables." (Acts 6:2)
        3. Jesus: "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." (Mark 6:31)
    5. Manage your life by what is important, not by what is urgent
      1. After just 3 years of public ministry Jesus said," I have finished the work which You have given Me to do." (John 17:4)
      2. Jesus lived on a schedule of God's priorities for His own life.
      3. When converted, a Christian man told Billy Sunday: "Take 15 minutes each day to listen to God talking to you; take 15 minutes each day to talk to God; take 15 minutes each day to talk to others about God."

Hebrew terms: נָסָה - nasah- test;to put to the test to see whether faithful or not
Figures referenced: Josephus; D. L. Moody; Billy Sunday
Cross references: Genesis 3:15; Numbers 11:16; 1 Samuel 15:22; 2 Chronicles 16:9; Job 2:4; Psalm 18:2; Psalm 46:1; Matthew 5:16; Matthew 7:24; Matthew 16:18, Mark 5:19; Mark 6:31; John 1:11; John 17:4; John 19:30; Acts 6:2; 1 Corinthians 10:3-4; Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:17; James 1:5-7; 1 Peter 2:23

Transcript

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Good evening.  I brought my staff.  I just felt very Moses-like tonight.  Actually, it's a cane for a very tall person.  In the bible we see that Moses had a rod and he stretched it out and did miracles with it and we see it tonight in a very different capacity in the chapters we're about to read but we'll see that in just a few moments.

Let's turn on our bibles to the book of Exodus Chapter 16.  No, 17.  I knew that.  We covered 16 last week.  What's that?  Oh, you want more manna?  Krispy Kremes.  I wonder if we wouldn't complain though if we had it every single day.  Let's pray.

Father in Heaven, we bring to you our very lives.  We present our bodies as living sacrifices.  Holy, acceptable, it's our reasonable service.  It's a privilege Lord, a joy to gather together.  To break up our week with a spiritual meal in between weekends and to tell you Lord that we need you and we depend on you every single day of the week and to worship you.  Lord this is an opportunity for us to approach the scripture in a way that very few are able to do verse by verse, line upon line, chapter by chapter and to read this incredible story of how you worked in the Old Testament, how people journeyed and marched by faith and sometimes by unbelief and to learn Lord what those lessons could mean to our own lives now spiritually speaking.

We have great principles in the New Testament and we see the practice and examples so often in the Old Testament.  So thank you Lord that you preserved us and you brought us here and once again we ask that you would speak to us.  We pray that our hearts would be tender as you do.  And for those of us especially Lord who have done this a long time and have heard many of these things are read through the bible and are familiar with it.  I pray that your word would be like fresh manna to us.  And if there are hardened hearts or fallow ground, break that up.  Unite our heart to serve you.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Well God got His people out of Egypt.  There's something else He has to do, get Egypt out of His people.  It is one thing to take His people from Egypt.  It's quite another thing to take Egypt out of the hearts of His people.  Now I think we can all relate with that.  We've been saved and we've been taken from the world.  That's one thing but it's quite another thing to have the world with its values, its love, its pleasure taken out of us.  And that's a recurring theme throughout this Old Testament wanderings and the journey with Moses and the people of Israel.

So, what we've heard in the past, their complaints, we're going to hear again tonight but about something different.  Now I wonder.  If Moses would have had a theme song, maybe it would be, "On the road again.  Aaron and I are traveling on the road again," and it's like, "There's the road again and again and again," or maybe it would have been the "Long and winding road," because for 40 years they just sort of went around and around.  Or perhaps a better song would be including the children of Israel, "I can't get no satisfaction," because it seems that for 40 long years on this incredibly long camping trip, walking trip through the wilderness that the children of Israel never stay satisfied for very long.  Not only are they not satisfied, but Moses is not satisfied with their behavior.

Now in Chapter 17 and 18, we get two road hazards if you will.  Hazard number one, confrontation.  That's Chapter 17.  Hazard number two, disorganization.  That's Chapter 18.  Now these are recurring themes in all of life, everyone's life, confrontation and disorganization.  Tonight the lessons we read about in the Old Testament scriptures have application to any and all of us.  In fact, it's sort of a study just told in human nature itself.

Now if I were to divide it up and I'll do that for you, the confrontation in Chapter 17 is divided into two sections.  There's confrontation from the inside and confrontation from the outside.  Confrontation from the inside, Moses gets confronted by his own people, the people he is shepherding, and pasturing in the desert.  They've been out of shape of God's provision or lack thereof in their opinion and they take it out on Moses.  So that's confrontation from the inside.  That's Chapter 17 Verses 1 through 7.  Second is confrontation from the outside, a Middle East conflict within ancient people.  The Amalakites takes place in Verse 18 or Verse 8 through Verse 16 of Chapter 17.  So we have confrontation from the inside, we have confrontation outside, and we have number three, administration by the qualified and that's Chapter 18.  That's how I would divide it up tonight.  For our purposes I'll do that.

The last time we saw the children of Israel they complained because they had no food, especially the kind that they remembered, the leeks, the garlics, the onions.  And they complained saying in effect God was not able to furnish for them a table in the wilderness.  Nothing could be further from the truth for David will write some years after this, "You prepare a table for me even in the midst of my enemies."  God is showing His people as He tries to show us that where there is no way, God can make a way.  If your economy is falling, if policies are passed, if your taxes go up, if your income goes down, I wonder if you're going to complain or say, "Huh, how's the Lord going to do it now?  It will be fun to watch."  But David declared this, "I have never seen the righteous forsaken or God's people begging bread."  That's a promise that we have.

Let's look at the confrontation from the inside and this is an internal complaint from the people of Israel, God's people themselves.  Verse 1, "That all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the wilderness of sin," that's what we saw last week, the S+inai area, "according to the commandment of the Lord and they camped at Rephidim but there was no water."  So last time it was food, now it's no water.  There was no water for the people to drink.  Now Rephidim can be identified today.  There is an oasis, the largest oasis in the Sinai area.  The upper of that Oasis is a little waddie or a wash with trees and water called in ancient times "Rephidim."  Rephidim means rest stop.  Rest stop.

Have you ever been out in I-40 or I-25 and there are these long periods of wilderness and then there's this rest stop?  You pull in and there's water to drink and there are rest rooms to use.  Have you ever gone to a rest stop and there's no water running or the restrooms are locked?  So it's says "Rest Stop" but you're not rested when you stop.  You go there for refreshment, for respite, for a rest.  You go to Rephidim and Rephidim is locked up and there's no water flowing.  They go to a rest stop to refreshment, that's Rephidim, but they find it without water.

Now, something I found interesting.  I was doing a little bit of digging.  We read about the children of Israel complaining here, eight times in the Old Testament.  The idea of God's people complaining is mentioned eight times.  Once in Joshua Chapter 9, once in Psalm 59, all of the rest, the other six are in the book of Exodus and the book of Numbers.  They're evenly split three and three.  So most of the time the attitude of complaining is in this wilderness wandering with Moses.  Therefore the people contended with Moses and they said, "Give us water that we may drink," and Moses said to them "Why do you contend with me?  Why do you tempt the Lord?"  Now the word "tempt" is interesting.  Test would be a better translation.  The Hebrew word "Nasa" means to put somebody to a test to see if their faithful or not, to prove a person, to see if that person is going to act a certain way.  "Let's see if God's going to provide for us.  Let's let Him prove if He can take care of us out here in the desert."  They complained against Moses.  They are doing it to test the Lord.

Now why would they test the Lord about water?  Again, think back.  Let's see, God opened the red sea, number one.  God brought Krispy Kreme doughnuts from heaven, number two.  God brought them a heavenly GPS system, a cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night, protection from the elements, and warmth from the cold.  He's brought them food, quail, manna.  And they're complaining?  "Oh yes, this is it.  We're going to die now."  Really?  Is it that short lived?  Now, you don't really have to go far to answer that question.  It is short lived.  Because here's the truth, we are humans and we have a human nature.  And one of the strongest drives that we have, one of the strongest issues in our life is self-preservation.  If we don't get what we want when we think we want it or when our bodies says you need it now, self-preservation is a strong impulse.

You recall when Satan was having a conversation with God about Job.  Remember that story in Chapter 1 of the book of Job?  And the Lord said, "Have you considered my servant Job?  There's nobody like him in all the earth."  Satan said something very interesting and I believe he was correct in assessing human nature.  He said back to the Lord, "Skin for skin, ye all that a man has will he give for his life."  He touched upon that drive of self-preservation.  Man will do almost anything to have his needs fulfilled.  Skin for skin, all that a man has will he give for his life.  So yes, God gave them food.  Yes, God opened up the red sea.  Cool, awesome, praise God.  But I'm thirsty now.   And the human body does need a high level of moisture to sustain itself, that we know.

"And the people thirsted there for water," Verse 3.  And the people complained against Moses and said, "Why is it that you have brought us out of Egypt?  To kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?"  "Yeah, that's it.  You found me out.  You found the answers all the way along to lead out here and have God do miracles and then kill you right here."  Amazing.  I love this.  So, what does Moses do?  So Moses cried out to the Lord saying, "What shall I do with these people?  They're almost ready to stone me."  These people had gotten to the level of being out in the wilderness, yes, trusting God, yes, but driven by the impulse of the human nature to the extent that they're ready to kill the leader that God used to deliver them out of bondage.  How quickly they forgot all that Moses had sacrificed and Aaron and Miriam up to this point.

A true sign of spiritual growth and it would be applied to the children of Israel but applied to us.  True sign of spiritual growth isn't how we act when we're in church or when we're in church and life is good and life is favorable.  The test of real growth is how we act when the bottom drops out of our life, when the water dries up, when the food dries up.

Arthur W. Pink who wrote a commentary on Exodus said of the children of Israel, "They would rather lean on a cobweb of human resources than upon the arm of an omnipotent, all wise and infinitely gracious God."  I read that and I went, "Ouch!"  A cobweb of human resources.  When we're thirsty, what are we going to do?  What are you going to do?  What is God going to do?  Something has to be done now.  Trusting on a cobweb of human resources rather than the omnipotent God, the all wise infinitely gracious all powerful God.  So they complained.

They're putting God to the test.  In reality they're being tested to see if they'll trust the Lord or not.  Now, here's what I like about what we just read in this verse. Moses does the wise thing.  He's confronted with the problem, the people that he's pasturing have a problem.  What does he do?  They say, "Moses you got to fix this.  We're mad at you."  Moses is wise and he goes to God.  He goes, "God, what you are going to do?"  James said, "If anyone lacks wisdom," any takers for that?  Does nybody like wisdom?  I do everyday.  "If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives freely or liberally and does not upbraid or chive.  But let him ask in faith nothing wavering, for he that wavers is like the waves of the sea tossed to and thrown."  They have a problem, they bring it to Moses, Moses does what they should have done, brings it to the Lord.  "Lord, I need help.  I need wisdom.  What do I do?"

There something interesting here I can't pass up.  Moses is considered the law giver by the Jews or the deliverer by the Jews, the one that God used to deliver them from bondage.  The very one that is the instrument of their deliverance is the one they want to kill.  Does that sound like anybody else you know?  Christ.  Here in is Moses a type of Jesus Christ.  The New Testament says He came into His own.  His own did not receive Him.  Jesus came as the deliverer, they wanted to kill Him.  We will not have this man rule over us.  So what does Jesus do?  He says, "Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit," like Moses commits himself to God.

Peter the Apostle writes in 1 Peter Chapter 2 concerning Christ who when he was reviled.  He did not revile again when He suffered.  He committed Himself to one who judges righteously.  So herein is Moses, the law giver, the deliverer, a type of Christ who would be a greater deliverer.  Verse 5, And the Lord said to Moses, "Go on before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel.  Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river and go.  Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb."  Horeb is that area some believe right next to Mount Sinai, where later on Elijah will flee from Queen Jezebel.  "And you will strike the rock and water will come out of it that the people may drink."  And Moses did so in the side of the elders of Israel.

So Moses takes his staff, his rod.  I don't know if this is directly or depicts it or not, but that which was once an instrument of judgment becomes an instrument of God's mercy.  At one time he threw down his rod and it became a serpent.  Now he takes up the rod as he has done on so many other times from miraculous situations as evidence of the power of God and God does a miracle through it.  I kind of like holding this.  I kind of feel like Moses.

Verse 7, he called the name of the place "Massah" which means testing and "Meribah" which means strife.  How do you think the people felt when he said, "I'm going to name this strife?"  I'm going to name this place testing or proof because you wanted to prove the Lord to see if He was really here and would take care of you.  Strife because you contended with me and in contending with me you contended with the Lord."  Meribah.  Because of the contention of the children of Israel and because they tempted the Lord saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"  So God tells Moses, "Go up and strike the rock at Horeb."

Fast forward to your New Testament, where in the New Testament, Christ typologically is seen as a rock.

He is called "The Rock" or "A Rock".  And there's a very interesting passage of scripture you might want to write in the margin of your bible, 1 Corinthians chapter 10.  1 Corinthians chapter 10 is where Paul says, "For they all ate of the same spiritual food and they all drank of the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the rock that follow them which is Christ."  A very, very interesting passage of scripture naming the rock "Christ."

Now, why is God, in particular Christ, depicted as a rock?  A couple of reasons, a rock is stable.  Remember Jesus is going to give a story in the New Testament about a wise man who built his house on the rock.  It's stable, it's durable.  The storms of life will come and that house will stand.  It will not fall.  It's durable.  It will stand the test of time.

David said of the Lord, "The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer."  Also in the book Psalms, David says, "God is our refuge.  It is of a strong rocky refuge, our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble."  And then Jesus to Peter will say upon, "This rock I will build my church," not Peter.  Peter is not the rock.  Peter means a little tiny pebble.  You don't want to build your church on Peter.  It will be a faulty church if you did.  He was building it upon the confession that Peter made that Christ was the son of the living God.  "I'm going to build my church upon the confession of who I am, not who you are, Peter."  So a rock is stable.  A rock is durable.  The type is the type of Christ.

Number 2, not only was the rock stable, in this case the rock was struck.  Now follow me here.  It was struck with the rod.  Interesting.  The rod that at one time became a serpent and if I can stretch it just a little bit, that which was the serpent is what struck the rock.  The rock was struck with the implement that at one time turned into a serpent.  Now go back in your minds if you remember, Genesis Chapter 3 Verse 15, what we've called and told you before as the proto-evangelium of the Old Testament that has Christ depicted way back at the beginning.

The proto-evangelium, where a promise is given that says, "The seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent but the serpent will bruise the heel of the seed or the savoir."  Christ put on the cross, crucified, Him bruised by Satan not knowing that was the very thing that would crush Satan's dominion and power ultimately.  Struck, smitten, crucified for us.  Now something else that's noteworthy before we move on.  Tuck it away in your minds for the future.

On a later occasion, Israel will once again come to a place where there is no water out in the desert, there is no well to drink from, there is no water in their little water kits.  They're out.  The Lord tells Moses to go up to the rock that was in that place and go talk to the rock, to just speak to it.  Now what does Moses do?  In anger, he strikes the rock and he paid for it.  He didn't get to enter the Promised Land because he misrepresented God.  God wasn't angry with the people like Moses was, but Mosses gave off the impression that he was revealing the character of God, the attitude of God toward those people.  God said, "I don't want you to strike the rock, just speak to the rock."  You don't have to strike the rock.  You don't have to strike Christ.  He's already been smitten once, once for all.  When Jesus hung on the cross he said, "It is finished, Father.  Into your hands I commit my spirit.  It's done."

When I grew up, I grew up in religious system that believed in the continual sacrifice of Christ, that Christ has to be crucified every time the church meets together through the implementation of certain sacraments.  They called it, "The Continual Sacrifice".  Christ must be continually crucified.  Oh no, not so.  It's once and for all, and the act 2,000 years ago on the cross, the smiting of Christ was once and for all time.  You can't add to it, you can't take anything from it, it doesn't need to be repeated, it can never be repeated.

"You just speak to the rock, Moses," but he didn't.  So that's the confrontation from the inside, his own people.  Now let's look in Verse 8 at number two, confrontation from the outside.  Now here's a Middle East conflict, not an internal complaint, an external conflict.  Now Amalek came and fought with Israel and and Moses said to Joshua, first time he's mentioned in the bible, Joshua, "Choose us some men and go out and fight with Amalek.  Tomorrow, I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand."  The Amalekites, who are they?  Who were they?  The Amalekites were a tribe of bedwins.  These traveling, roving, predatory bedwins in that time that occupied that southern region of the Land of Canaan.

The Amalekites descended from a guy named Amalek.  Do you remember him?  Amalek was the grandson of Esau.  And Esau, you remember Esau was the man of the flesh.  He sold his birthright for a bowl of soup.  He didn't care about the spiritual birthright, he cared about gratifying the flesh and could care less about spiritual things.  I'm not into that stuff.  You can I have my birthright.  I am just hungry.  So Amalek becomes a type of the flesh throughout the bible.  Here we find them the first time attacking Israel and you're going to see them attack Israel again and again.  They'll be perpetual enemies for many, many years to come.  Amalek is a type of the flesh.  When I say flesh, I mean the evil, old, sinful, Adamic, or what comes from Adam, nature that we all have.

You have two natures as a believer in Christ, the old nature, the new nature.  The nature that comes from Adam, the nature that comes to you from Christ in being born again, the second birth.  Galatians Chapter 5, the flesh wars against the spirit, the Spirit wars against the flesh.  These two are contrary to one another so that you cannot do the things that you would.  Now before you gave your life to Jesus Christ, there was no war.  You were totally under the dominion of the flesh.  It dominated you.  What will I eat?  What we'll I drink?  What we'll I put on?  Those are the things that occupied your life.  It was all about you.  It centered on you.  There was no battle with the spirit.  You didn't have a spiritual nature yet.  There was no conflict.

You were totally under the dominion of that nature that came to all of us by Adam.  As soon as you gave your life to Christ, as wonderful as it is, as wonderful as it was, as transforming as it was, after a while you began to notice something.  There's a conflict.  There's a battle going on.  I still have those impulses.  I've been renewed by the spirit and I have desires toward the things of God but those old things I still battle with now.  Oh, keyword, you battle with them.  You didn't battle with them before.  You just gave yourself over to them.  Now you battle with them.  The flesh against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh, they are contrary to one another so that you cannot do the things you would.

Now here's the key.  You are either building up one or the other.  You're feeding one or the other.  You feed the flesh, the old nature by the things of this world.  And in so doing, you weaken the new nature.  If on the other hand you feed the new nature, the spiritual nature the Word of God, prayer, fellowship, a number of things that can do it, you build it up.   If you're feeding your flesh, if you're feeding your spirit, that's the key to victory over the flesh.  Oh, I battle this area of my life constantly.  What would I do?  I'm going to face it and just start battling it.  No, if you feed the spirit and are preoccupied with the things of God, giving a little or no time at all to the things of the flesh, therein lies the key to victory.  It is sort of like weeds.  This is a good time to talk about weeds because right about now they're all over your yard.

Now, did you plant those weeds?  No.  It's a funny thing about weeds.  Not only did you not plant them, they were probably there before you get your house.  You don't have to water them.  You never have to fertilize them.  You never have to call the weed guy and say, "Could you take care of my weeds so I have something to do during the summer?  Would you just feed them and water them, tend for me?"  No.  You have to go out of your way to feed the garden, feed the lawn, take care of that because it won't grow by itself.  The weeds grow by themselves.

So the key is to feed the spirit and not the flesh.  That's something about Amalek and the Amalekites.  The attack began as soon as they start their spiritual journey toward the land of Canaan.  Very similar.  As soon as we take off in our spiritual journey, that's when we discover the battle.  Now maybe not the first week you come to Christ.  Life is good, life is grand, wow, answers, purpose, meaning, joy, love.  But a few weeks down the line, that flesh starts rearing its ugly head again and making demands on you.  Oh, not so fast.  I know you're trying to go to the Promised Land, but remember me?

Now, you're going to find something out in Deuteronomy Chapter 25, Lord willing if we ever make it that far toward the end of the Pentateuch.  We get the insight that the Amalekites when they attacked the children of Israel Moses will bring this up later.  When they attacked they didn't attack from the front but they attacked from the back and they attacked the weak and the weary and the faltering, the stragglers, the people who weren't really with the pack, they were sort of lingering and straggling behind, they have sort of lost their way a little bit.

And I have discovered that Satan loves to attack those within the church, the stragglers.  They are not always in fellowship.  They don't always maintain the disciplines.  They go every now and then and they are so open and out in the open and that's susceptible to these attacks, so they're easy pickings.  You move a little bit slower, not the same amount of purpose and commitment in their walk.  That's why it's important to maintain these spiritual disciplines that bible speaks about.

Moses said that Joshua again Verse 9, "Choose us some men and go out and find with Amalek tomorrow.  I'll stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand."  So Joshua did as Moses said to him and fought with Amalek and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.  Now, who is Hur?  Well, Hur is not him.  Hur is the son of a man named Caleb, not the Caleb of Caleb and Joshua.  But according to Chronicles, another guy named Caleb.  But Hur evidently was some famous person in Israel because it just mentions him without any qualification of who he belonged or what he did.  According to Josephus, now this isn't bible but it is history.  Josephus says that he was the husband of Miriam.  Now remember, Miriam was the sister of Moses and Aaron and according to Josephus Hur married Miriam.  So Hur was one of the relatives of Moses.  So it was.  When Moses lifted up his hand, Israel prevailed and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

So we get this picture of Moses reaching up his hands and then getting tired and these two fellows propping them backup.  But Verse 9 says, "The rod of God was in his hand," and so Jewish commentators don't have this picture but this picture that he placed it horizontally, the rod, grabbing it with both hands and lifting up his arms like a banner.  Why the rod of God?  This symbolized the relationship God had with his people.  This symbolized God's power, God's intervention, God's influence over their lives and so that would give them courage as they would fight and certainly did Joshua.  So it raised it up.  When he'd raise it up and his hands in the air stretch in worship and adoration to the Lord, that's how the Jewish scribes interpret it, they prevailed.  The children of Israel prevailed.  And when he let down his hand or his hands and his hand in particular with the rod, that Amalek prevailed.

In a spiritual battle, you need spiritual weapons and one of the great weapons too often neglected by most of us is the avenue of prayer.  The idea of the hands raised up is, "Lord, I'm looking to you.  I'm trusting you.  I'm really not doing anything, Lord.  You're doing it all.  I'm Moses.  You're doing at all.  But my hand is up because I trust that you're going to work on our behalf."

And so he fought the battle.  He cooperated with God in the battle and that he was praying before the Lord.  It was a physical battle but it was also a spiritual battle.  I was reading my devotions this last week.  I was in 2 Chronicles and I was going through Chapter 16.  In 2 Chronicles Chapter 16, one of the kings of Judah named Asa, remember Asa?  There was David, there was Solomon, there was Rehoboam, there was Evijah, there was Asa, and then Jehoshaphat.  When Asa was the king of Judah in this thirty-sixth year of his reign, the guy up in Israel, King Baasha started building up some of the border towns with Judah so the people down south couldn't go up north and people up north couldn't go down south, sort of cordoning off those that lived in Judah.

So what does King Asa do?  What should he do?  He should have prayed.  Anytime there's a problem, automatically the first thing, you talk to God about it.  He didn't do that.  He goes to the king of Syria, Ben Hadad and he makes a deal with him.  Let me give you some gold and silver and stuff from the house of God and from my house.  So I'll give it to you and I'll pay you off to fight against my buddy, Baasha in Israel.  And so he invades Israel.

Happy that he's won the victory, Asa is going to like this in his palace, "Great strategy.  We did a good thing.  This is smart.  We figured it out."  A prophet comes to him named Hanini and says, "King Asa, it was stupid what you did."  Now I'm paraphrasing just a little bit.  "It was foolish and that you have trusted the king of Syria rather than the Lord, your God.  You should have trusted God.  You trusted the Syrian king.  You are trusting in the arm of the flesh, not in the spirit."  And then Hanini said, "Asa, don't you remember when the Ethiopians and the Libyans revolted and all you did is pray and God routed them and sent them away?  You didn't do that this time."

And the prophet said, "For the eyes of the Lord moved two and fro throughout the entire earth that he might show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are committed to him."  Isn't that a great verse of scripture?  God is looking who is that will fully trust me, who is it that will call upon my name, who is it that will turn away from the stratagems of the flesh and just rely on me.  Oh, there is one.  I'm going to pour out my provision because his or her heart is totally fully committed to me.

So Moses lifted up the rod.  God has worked.  God will work again.  Lord, our hands are up to you.  We pour out our expectation before you.  But Moses' hands became heavy.  So they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it.  Good move, smart.  And Aaron and Hur supported his hands on one side and on the other side his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.  We have a question.  I'll throw it up on the screen.  It says, "Are the Amalekites and then Israelites still at war with each other?"  No, they are not physically.  Yes, they are spiritually.  The flesh will always be at war with the spirit until the going down of the sun.  But historically no, the Amalekites are an extinct race as far as we know.  There is no pure Amalekite.  When was the last time you met an Amalekite in a drug store or grocery store?  I never have.  They're not around anymore and their descendants are not with us.

But I'll explain a little more about that in just a moment if you hold on.  So, Moses' hands are getting heavy, propping up the hands on one side then the other side until the going down of the sun.  Do your hands ever get heavy?  Now, I'm speaking spiritually of course.  I'm might say, "Yeah, I get really tired when I workout."  What I mean is do your hands ever get heavy in prayer spiritually?

One of the greatest tools we have and weapons against the enemy is the avenue of prayer.  One of the most neglected is the avenue of prayer.  It's hard work.  The Bible speaks about laboring in prayer.  It gets hard to do it.  In fact, because prayer is so powerful a weapon, it's the thing Satan will attack to keep you from doing.  Let me give him distracted and get them trying to figure this out in their own mind, by their own flesh instead of trusting me.  That's a distraction.

It's funny and it's sad when you say, "Lord, I'm just going to devote this time now to you.  This Lord, this next whatever amount of time is yours."  All of a sudden the phone rings.  The phone may not have rung all day or all week.  In fact, if you want to get phone calls, sort of a sure fire thing is just pray.  Or you're going to knock on the door or your mind gets distracted.  You start remembering things you forgot.  "Oh yeah, now I remember," and you want to write it down.  Your arms get heavy.  You get weary.

Verse 13, so Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword and the Lord said to Moses, "Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua."  Why? Because Joshua will become the leader, the successor to Moses.  Here he's a general fighting the battles and in charge of the war fair.  He will continue to do that but he will also become the successor to Moses in terms of leadership.  Write this down on the hearing of Joshua, "That I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven."

So that answers the question.  It hasn't happened yet but God makes a promise that the Amalekites are a doomed race.  God is going to exterminate them all and eventually like many other races, they have fallen into extinction.  There are no Amalekites today.  Moses built an altar and called its name "The Lord is my Banner," here "Adonia Nissi" or "Yahweh Nissi", the Lord is my banner because the Lord was his banners.  He held that rod up in the form of a banner with both hands in expectation of the Lord.  The Lord showed himself strong.

For he said, "Because the Lord hath sworn the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation."  And can I just say you're going to have trouble with your old nature from generation to generation.

You say, "Well I'm young now.  I'm struggling with certain things because I'm young."  You'll find in middle age you'll still struggle.  When you get older you'll still struggle.  Maybe in different ways, maybe not the same capacity, but the flesh is the flesh and you'll struggle with it until the old nature is gone, i.e. the death of the body and you're in the presence of the Lord.

"The flesh wars against the spirit," Galatians 5, "and the spirit against the flesh.  So God dooms this race because of an unprovoked attack on his people, innocent blood, and the perpetual animosity that they will have toward Israel in the future.

Fast forward to the book of Samuel in your minds, 1 Samuel, where Saul is appointed as the king and the prophet Samuel sends him out against the Amalekites and says, "Because of what they did way back then, it's time to see that fulfilled.  The Lord is going to use you to be the instrument to utterly wipe them off the face of the earth.  Don't spare anybody, animals anything.  Go out and wipe them out."  Saul goes out and he comes back and he goes, "Praise the Lord.  I've done everything God wanted me to do," and Samuel goes, "Well if you really did do everything God wanted you to do, how is it that I hear the bleeding of sheep?  I'm hearing animals in the background.  I hear background noises and it's sounding off a lot like animals."  Saul said, "Well, I brought the best of the animals from the Amalekites to sacrifice to the Lord.  I really want to show God how much I love him so I brought him the sacrifice."

And he brought King Agag, the king of the Amalekites with him.  So Samuel says, "Saul, do you think the Lord has as much delight in bird offerings than sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  For behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed or listen to God is better than the fat of rams.  Because you have done this and not obeyed the voice of the Lord in utterly wiping out this race, God is going to tear the kingdom from you."

What's the big deal?  Okay, so he spared somebody and he spared of few people and he spared some of the animals.  What's the big deal?  What's the big deal about getting rid of all the Amalekites?  First of all you need to understand their history and how viol they were as a race in general.

Number two, you just have to look at what happened in the book of Esther.  In the book of Esther, Esther who was appointed one of the queens and her relative, some would say Uncle Mordecai were told -- at least Mordecai was, to bow down to a guy named Haman.  Remember Haman?  Haman was an Amalekite.  If Saul would have obeyed, there would be no Amalekites, there would not have been a threat to the people in Persia.  But what happened?  Haman decides, "We have to exterminate every single Jew in the empire," and it was almost successful.  But he wasn't successful because God provided a way out.  But nonetheless so close to the entire race of God's people being wiped out.  God foresaw that as a possibility so he tells them, "Get rid of them."

There's no reformation program for the flesh.  What do you do with your flesh?  Kill it.  Starve it.  Don't negotiate with it.  Well, I know I'm doing this today but tomorrow I'll do a little bit less.  Just a little bit less.  Not as much but eventually I'll quit totally.  No, you starve it.  Totally starve it now.

Paul put it this way, "I am crucified with Christ.  Nevertheless I live yet not I?  Christ lives in me and the life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God."  You take it to the cross, you crucify, you don't negotiate with it, and you starve it completely.  That's the best way to debilitate and disable the flesh while cultivating the spirit.  Don't negotiate.

The little girl you may have heard about, she fell out of bed one night.  A little girl and she was crying.  Her mom came in the room and said, "Honey, why did fall out of bed?"  The little girl said, "I don't know, but I think it's because I stayed too close to where I got in."  It makes sense?  When we fall, it's often because we stayed too close to where we got in.  We come to Christ but we stay so close to all of the things that drag us down.  We keep plop falling, plop falling, plop falling.  Move in a little bit more from the edge.

Now Chapter 18, let's see how far we can get.  Here's the third and that is administration by the qualify note.  Here's why I like Chapter 18 and it goes pretty quickly.  Moses, very aggressive, a very strong leader, but up to this point has been doing it all himself, not giving it to anybody else for the sake of administration.  He's just sort of the one man show pasturing two and a half million people on his own.  Joshua fights the battles.  He does all the spiritual work.  Fortunately, he has a father-in-law who is smart and insightful and sees what Moses is doing and it's a great, great study in not only human nature but in administration and delegation.

Verse 1, "And Jethro, the priest of Median," Median, keep that on mind, "Moses' father-in-law, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, his people and the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.  Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back with her two sons of whom the name of one was Gershom.  For he said, "I have been stranger in a foreign land," and Gershom means "stranger."  And the name of the other was Eliezer for he said, "The God of my father was my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh."  So these two kids were named after the experience of the parents in this case.

And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law came with his sons and wife to Moses in the wilderness where he had encamped at the mountain of God.  And he said to Moses, "I, your father-in-law, Jethro am coming to you with your wife and your two sons with her."  And so Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down and kissed him and they asked each other about their well-being and they went into the tent.

Now at this point you might have a question.  So what's Moses' wife doing apart for Moses with the two kids?  They're back in Median.  Because if you remember back in Chapter 7, after they were there in Median they went back toward Egypt.  Yes?  And you would infer back all the way to Egypt so that she would be part of the Exodus.  Here they come out, they come to Mount Horeb and she has been with her father and the two kids have been with grandpa.

Probably what happened is they were on their way back to Egypt from Median and then that whole weird thing with the circumcision, remember that in Chapter 7?  And she said, "You're a bloody husband to me."  Probably at that point Moses said, "Honey, this is going to be a tough journey.  I'll catch up with you on the back loop," and set her and the two kids back to grandpa for her spiritual well-being and probably for his own as well.

And Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh, how the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them on the way and how the Lord delivered them.  And Jethro rejoiced for all the good which the Lord had done for Israel, whom he delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians.  And Jethro said, "Blessed be the Lord who was delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians."

Remember Jesus will say, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."  Jethro was a Medianite.  A Medianite was related to Abraham like the Amalekites.  And the Medianites will also become enemies of Israel like the Amalekites were and will.  But this Medianite is different.  He seems to have heard of Yahweh but here he becomes a believer or a convert.

Now watch this.  Verse 11, "Now I know that the Lord is greater than all of the Gods."  Maybe before he didn't know.  Maybe he had his own suspicions that well, everybody has their own God or Goddess, they're sort of all alike, all roads lead to heaven, but not now.  Now I know that the Lord, Yahweh is greater than all the Gods.  For in the very thing in which they behave proudly he was above them.  It could be that he became a convert through hearing all that God had done.  Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law took a burnt offering and other sacrifices to offer to God and Aaron came with the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.  So it would seem that Jethro, giving evidence of this faith is now offering sacrifices to Yahweh.  He heard Moses speak about Him but now he knows this is the true God.

There's nothing like your personal testimony, your story.  You have a God story, how God saved you and when you bring that personal testimony back to your friends, back to your relatives, back to your immediate family, they know you.  They'll look at you skeptically but if they can see the changes and see the evidence, it's the greatest proof.  They see a changed life.  They see the evidence before them.

In the Gospel of Mark in Chapter 5, a man who is demon- possessed was delivered by Jesus of the demon.  Wanting to follow Jesus, so excited, "I'm going now wherever you go," Jesus said, "No, go back home and tell your relatives, your friends everything that God has done for you.  Start there, just tell them.  Let them be your mission field now with your personal testimony."  Well after the reunion, after the meal here, after the celebration, Moses returns to his "busyness," his nine to five job.

Now watch this.  And so it was on the next day that Moses sat to judge the people and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening.  If you think it was hard to holding up the staff, watch this.  So when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did for the people he said, "What is this thing that you are doing for the people?  Why do you alone sit and all the people stand before you from morning until evening?"  And Moses said to his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me to inquire of God."  That's sounds so noble.  "I'm the link to God.  They come to me because they want to hear from God.  When they have a difficulty they come to me and I judge between one and another and I make known the statutes of God and his laws."

So Moses' father-in-law said to him, "The thing that you do is not good."  I'm sure he thought, "My father-in-law is going to see how hard I work and I'm going to come home in the tent in the evening and he's going to have lamb prepared and a cup of coffee and he's going to say, "Son-in-law, I'm so proud of you.  Good going.  I saw how hard you worked today."  He said, "This is not good," and he qualifies it.

Verse 18, "Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out for this thing is too much for you.  You are not able to perform it by yourself."

Jethro, the father-in-law sees that Moses has been reduced to a cosmic problem shuffler from morning until evening trying to do everything, personal needs, family needs, and social problems all by himself.  Can you just imagine the kind of things that Moses would have to listen to?  "He stole my sheep."  "He snores every night in the tent and wakes up the neighbors."  All the things he would hear all day long.  It would get wearying.

Now notice Verse 14, the word "Alone."  "Why do you sit alone?"  And Verse 18, "You are not able to perform it by yourself.  Moses, you need a team of people to do it."  Here's the principle.  One person, no matter how gifted can do a ministry alone, a service alone, a task alone.  Dwight L. Moody was wise.  He said, "I'd rather find a hundred men to do the work than to do the work of a hundred men."  Moses is doing the work of a hundred men.  Jethro is going, "You need a hundred men to do the work.  You need some administration.  You need some delegation."

There are two reasons why.  Number one, he says you're going to wear yourself out.  By the end of the day you're going to come home and go, "Man, I'm just wiped out.  I'm beyond my limit."  Number two, you're going to wear them out.  Imagine the patience it would take to stand in line to let one guy hear all the problems.  Impossible.

"Listen now to my voice," Verse 19, "I will give you counsel and God will be with you."  In other words, you listen to your father-in-law as if God is speaking.  Stand before God for the people that you may bring the difficulties to God and you will teach them the statutes and the laws and show them the way they must walk and the work that they must do.  "Get alone with God," he says.

Number one, Verse 19, "You get alone with God."  Number two, "You get a hold of God's principles and you teach the law.  You teach the principles of God."  Get alone with God.  Get a hold of God's principles.  Number three, "Get qualified people to help you."  That's Verse 21.  "Moreover you shall select from all the people able men such as who fear of God, men of truth, hating covetousness and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens and let them judge the people at all times.  And it will be the great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves will judge so it will be easier for you.  They will bear the burden with you."

As time goes on, God assigned to Moses, "Moses, the ministry should become easier, not harder.  But you need people to help you for that to happen."

Now in Numbers Chapter 11, the Lord will say to Moses specifically, "Select 70 elders and the spirit that I have put upon you Moses I will take and put upon them.  The same spirit I put upon you I will put upon them and they will bear the burden with you."

Now there's a parallel to this just real quickly in the book of Acts Chapter 7.  The number of the disciples is multiplying, remember the story?  And there are two groups that are arguing, Hebrews and Grecians about their widows and what they're being doled out everyday and they bring it to the apostles and the apostles are wise thinking like this.  I got to get alone with God.  I got to get a hold of God's principles and I got to get a hold of other people to do the work.

So the elders, the pastors, the apostles say, "It's not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.  We'll give ourselves the word to the word of God and the ministry of prayer.  You select from among yourselves seven men, fill it with the whole spirit, full of good reputation that we may put over that stuff.  We'll get alone with God.  We'll get a hold of God's principles and teach them to you.  We'll get qualified people to spread out the load and do the work."  Moses chose able men of all of Israel and made them heads of the people, rulers of thousand, rulers of hundreds, rulers of 50s, rulers of 10s.  So they judge the people at all times, the hard cases they brought to Moses, but they judge every small case themselves, then Moses' father-and-law, then let Moses let his father-in-law depart and he went his way to its own land.

Moses was a hard worker.  There is nothing wrong with that.  Jesus worked hard.  We see that he was up early in he ministered throughout the day and he was often very tired and went without food necessarily and water even sometimes that his family thought he was crazy.  At the same time I find that Jesus kept a beautiful balance.  There were times like that.  But you remember the situation where he tells his disciples to come aside by themselves because they've been working so hard? Come alone.  Come aside buy yourselves and get some rest.  Balance out your life.

Here's the rule, here is the principle as we close.  Manage your life by what's important, not by what's urgent.  Set priorities and then do those things and don't worry about the other stuff.  Oh, but that person needs me.  No.

Remember the two sisters of Lazarus said, "My brother is sick, Jesus.  You got to come now."  Did he come?  No, he stayed two more days until Lazarus was dead.  Lord you should have been here.  I want my time.  How are you?  An incredible lesson.  Do you know that Jesus was able to say to the Father, "Everything that you've given me to do is done?"  How could he say that?  He only worked three and a half years of public ministry.  Yes, he cured people but there are a lot of people uncured, there are a lot of blind eyes still blind, deaf ears still deaf, people that were still dead, uncured and unhealthy people all around.  How could Jesus say, "I've finished the work which you gave me to do?"  Do you know what the answer was?

Because he lived on the schedule of God's priorities for his own life.  He managed his life according to the important, not according to the urgent.  "And Jesus got aside," the bible says, "early in the morning and he prayed and he listened to God," and I think he learned and we should learn from him that daily management of simply, "Lord, it's a new day.  As I give myself to you I want you to manage my time and help me to set my priorities to worship you, to love my family, et cetera, et cetera, and to live within the parameters of my gifts and my callings for me.  I'm not going to save the word.  I'm not going to cure the world.  I'm not going to heal the world.  I'm going to do what you want me to do and then go home and get a good night's sleep."

I'll close with a story.  Billy Sunday was a baseball player years ago.  He became an evangelist.  When he was converted, that young man converted to Christianity, went from baseball player to evangelist.  He is a very hard working man.  The counselor who counseled Billy Sunday on the day of his conversion said, "William, I give you counsel of three things that you should do, priorities that you should keep in your life.  If you do these things, no one will ever be able to write the word "Backslider" after your name.  William, number one, talk to God for 15 minutes everyday.  Number two, let God talk to you for 15 minutes every day, prayer in the word.  Number three, spend 15 minutes everyday talking to someone about God.  William, if you do those three things no one will be able to write the word "backslider" after your name.  You'll grow in grace and knowledge.  Fifteen minutes in the world.  Fifteen minutes in prayer.  Fifteen minutes telling somebody else about Jesus."  Priorities.

Heavenly Father as we close tonight, we thank you for these two chapters and the lessons in human nature and managing friends and enemies, loving both but dealing very differently with them and coming before you with the problems that we face.  Lord, not every lesson has been for all of us tonight but every lesson has been for someone.  You know our needs.  You know our down sittings and our uprisings.  You know our failures.  Lord I pray that when we go home tonight and when we wake up in the morning we would begin to think about what priorities you want from us specifically, individually.  What you've called us to do, us to be.  And then help us Lord with so many things to do and so many needs in the world to be able to discern what your will, what your calling for us is based upon the passions that you had given to us and based upon the gifts that you have entrusted to us.

Lord, may we be men and women of the word and men and women of prayer and men and women who make Christ known.  And Lord I pray if anyone here tonight is struggling, is backsliding, is going the other direction, and has been feeding the flesh and not the spirit as they have come tonight to get their spirit watered and fed and strengthened.  I pray Lord that they would continue in that and grow in that and become disciplers of others.  Lord we all have Amalekites.  We all have the flesh.  They're very unique to who we are and you know our weakness and you know we get attacked when we're tired and straggling and struggling.  Pick us up Lord and lift up our hands and strengthen our knees and make us dependent upon you so that the enemy will flea as our lives, our independence, as we lift the rod up. In Jesus name. Amen.

Additional Messages in this Series

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1/12/2011
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Exodus 1
Exodus 1
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
The Lord has the pages of history and the plans for our lives in His sovereign control. Through blessings and hardships, His Word is true and His promises sure. Join us as we launch the interactive expound Bible study, with a look at Exodus chapter one, where we'll examine the people, their prosperity, and the pharaoh's problem.
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1/19/2011
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Exodus 2
Exodus 2
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What legacy will you leave when you pass into eternity? How will your faith influence those who come after you? As we consider the life of Moses from his birth to his banishment, we witness the providential hand of God and the impact of his parents' wholehearted faith.
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1/26/2011
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Exodus 3-4
Exodus 3-4
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When God calls you, how do you respond? Do you make excuses--running in the opposite direction? In this study from the book of Exodus, we see the Lord present Moses' calling on a silver platter. As we examine his encounter at the burning bush, let's explore five common excuses for disobeying God's will.
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2/2/2011
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Exodus 5-6
Exodus 5-6
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After presenting his list of excuses before the Lord, Moses finally asks Pharaoh to let Israel go. But when Moses submits himself to the Lord things get harder for Israel. We'll learn some important principles about spiritual warfare and the sovereignty of God as we dive into Exodus 5-6, where "The Great Confrontation" between Moses and Pharaoh begins.
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2/9/2011
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Exodus 7
Exodus 7
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After 400 years in bondage, the LORD is about to deliver His people out of Egypt. In dramatic fashion, He targets the false gods of Egypt and reveals Who is boss. As we examine the first plague, we'll see the water of the Nile turned into blood: a sign of judgment to the Egyptians--a sign of deliverance to Israel.
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2/16/2011
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Exodus 8
Exodus 8
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Frogs, lice, and flies--Egypt endures further hardship as Pharaoh refuses to heed the Lord's command to let His people go. We'll discover how each of these plagues brings a false Egyptian deity into the scope of God's judgment, and examine the condition of our own hearts to God's Word.
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2/23/2011
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Exodus 9
Exodus 9
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Through a series of ten plagues, the LORD reveals to Egypt both His person and His power. As we examine the plagues of diseased livestock, boils, and hail, we see the LORD specifically target the lifestyle of Egypt as He again takes aim at the gods in their pantheon. Join us in our study of Exodus 9, where God hardens Pharaoh's heart for the first time--and we weigh the conditions of our own hearts as well.
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3/2/2011
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Exodus 10-11
Exodus 10-11
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As we study the ten plagues on Egypt, we see not only a preview of future judgment in the tribulation, but also a picture of the believer's standing before God. Let's examine the plagues of locusts and darkness and hear God's warning of the ultimate plague--the death of the firstborn. We'll learn how the Lord targets the false worship systems of this world, and sets His children apart from condemnation.
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3/9/2011
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Exodus 12
Exodus 12
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After nine previous plagues, the LORD ensured the deliverance of His people in the plague of the death of the firstborn. Before the Angel of the LORD visited Egypt, God provided a way of escape for His people, and the Passover was instituted. Let's take a careful look at this commemoration of Israel's deliverance and learn how Passover predicted our own deliverance as well.
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3/16/2011
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Exodus 13-14
Exodus 13-14
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Emancipation -- to free from bondage, oppression or restraint; to liberate. In Exodus 13-14, a portrait of deliverance is painted; as God's people were set free from bondage in Egypt, so we are redeemed in Jesus Christ. Let's look closely to gain a greater understanding of our freedom from sin and our new life in Him.
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3/23/2011
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Exodus 15
Exodus 15
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When the children of Israel were delivered from bondage in Egypt and their enemies were destroyed, they responded with songs of praise. As we review Exodus 15, we'll consider the songs of Moses and Miriam and learn some important characteristics of true worship.
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4/6/2011
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Exodus 16
Exodus 16
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At first, the children of Israel celebrated their deliverance--but then they looked back to Egypt. In the midst of their grumbling, the Lord showered them with grace and rained manna from heaven. As we examine Exodus 16, we learn more about God's faithfulness and discover some interesting parallels between that bread from heaven and the true Bread from heaven: Jesus Christ.
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4/27/2011
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Exodus 19:1-20:7
Exodus 19:1-20:7
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In Exodus 19-20, the children of Israel prepared themselves for a new conditional relationship with God and the Mosaic covenant was introduced. When we examine their preparations, we gain a greater understanding of the purpose of the Law and the function of the Ten Commandments in the lives of Christians.
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5/4/2011
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Exodus 20:8-21:36
Exodus 20:8-21:36
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In this study from Exodus 20, we take a look at the Ten Commandments and the precepts of the Law. We'll learn to apply these teachings to our daily living and gain a greater understanding of its role in pointing us to salvation through Jesus Christ.
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5/11/2011
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Will the Real Exodus Pharaoh Please Stand Up?
Dr. Steven Collins
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In this message, Dr. Collins explains that the Bible is trustworthy, even in matters of history. Using logic, historical analysis, and a firm belief in the historical reliability of the biblical narrative, he demonstrates why he believes Tuthmosis IV was the Pharaoh at the time of Israel's deliverance from bondage in Egypt.
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5/18/2011
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A Legal Defense of the Biblical Gospel in an Age of Secularism
Craig Parton
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In this message from Craig Parton, we consider the topic of apologetics. We'll explore the history and value of lawyers' defense of Christianity, dealing with objections to the faith, what apologetics is and is not, and why and how all believers are called to defend the faith.
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5/25/2011
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Exodus 21
Exodus 21
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As we turn our attention to the precepts of God's Law, we remember that it serves as a tutor leading us to Christ. Let's consider how God's Law applies to our lives, remembering we cannot have a relationship with the Lord based upon the Law--only upon redemption through Jesus Christ.
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6/1/2011
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Exodus 22:1-23:14
Exodus 22:1-23:14
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While God's Law can never make us righteous, it does reveal God's standard, providing a gauge of just how bad we are and pointing us to the Savior. Let's take a look at more particulars of the Law in this study of Exodus 22-23. We'll consider both God's great care for us and the choice He provides: to obey or to disobey.
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6/8/2011
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Exodus 23:14-24:18
Exodus 23:14-24:18
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In this study from Exodus 23-24, we discover some interesting parallels between Israel and the church. We'll consider three Jewish feasts, the Promised Land, and the covenant relationship between God and his people through a mediator.
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6/15/2011
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Exodus 25
Exodus 25
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The book of Hebrews calls the tabernacle "a copy and shadow of the heavenly things" (Hebrews 8:5). As we look carefully at each article included in the tabernacle and consider the detail of God's instruction, we discover a beautiful picture of Christ.
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6/22/2011
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Exodus 26-27
Exodus 26-27
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Jesus is our great High Priest, who makes a way for those who follow Him to have fellowship with the Father. As we examine the details of the tabernacle recorded in Exodus 26-27, we'll see shadows of heaven and of Christ Himself, and come to appreciate Jesus even more.
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6/29/2011
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Exodus 28-29
Exodus 28-29
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In Exodus 28-29, we learn about the calling, ordination, and consecration of the Old Testament priests. As we study the preparations and details, we consider our calling as a royal priesthood, and remember our freedom in the Lord must be balanced with submission to Him.
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7/6/2011
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Exodus 30-31
Exodus 30-31
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
It is easier for us to grasp and remember what we see and experience. For example, if you watch a chef on television prepare a cake, or better yet if you actually get out the ingredients, bake it yourself, and eat it, you have a greater appreciation for the food than if you just read a recipe. The tabernacle is God's picture of Christ, His ministry, and our home in heaven. Let's continue our careful study of Exodus, beginning in chapter 30, and uncover the significant truths revealed in the furnishings of the tabernacle.
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7/13/2011
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Exodus 32:1-29
Exodus 32:1-29
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The Lord revealed His tender care and awesome power to the children of Israel--yet in just forty days they became disconnected from Him. As Moses communed intimately with God on the mountaintop at Sinai, the people attempted to worship Him in the wrong manner on the valley floor. As we examine Exodus 32, let's consider their sin and how it was dealt with.
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7/20/2011
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Exodus 32:30-33:23
Exodus 32:30-33:23
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As Moses stood on Mt. Sinai receiving a revelation from God, the people in the valley engaged in revelry and pagan worship. In the aftermath of their sin, we peek into Moses' prayer life: his intercession for the people and his hunger for the Lord.
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7/27/2011
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Exodus 34
Exodus 34
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In Exodus 34, God's covenant with Israel is reestablished. Moses returned to the top of Mount Sinai, again received the Ten Commandments, and God's choice, presence, greatness, and power are confirmed.
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8/3/2011
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Exodus 35-37
Exodus 35-37
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In these chapters, we see God's people walking in obedience to what the Lord had commanded them--the people used their resources and talents to honor Him. A free will offering is collected, the construction of the Tabernacle begins, and the vessels, oil, and incense are made. Let's learn from their example how we too can be joyful givers and obedient followers.
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8/10/2011
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Exodus 38-40
Exodus 38-40
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In Exodus 38-40, the construction of the tabernacle is completed by the craftsmen, presented to Moses, set up, and dedicated to the LORD. Israel had been delivered from bondage in Egypt, and God had become the center of their lives.
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There are 28 additional messages in this series.
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