You Are Just Like They Were.
Memory Verse: 'Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. '
James 3:13
Sermon Sentence: Remain vigilant and trust that God has provided what you need to make it through where you are.
James 3:13
Sermon Sentence: Remain vigilant and trust that God has provided what you need to make it through where you are.
Day 1
Read Exodus 14
The story of the people of Israel crossing over the Red Sea, has all of the elements needed to be a great salvation analogy. You will remember that they have started out from a place of slavery to the Egyptians for 400 years. Slavery is the analogy for sin that is used by Paul in Romans 6. Jesus also stated this in places like John 8:34. Other places include Hebrews 2 and 2 Peter 2. The point being, it is a pretty well known idea that is common biblical language. In this story, a man like them, born an Israelite but royal by way of being raised in Pharoah’s home, rescues the people and promises to deliver them to a land flowing with milk and honey. The root of the promise is in the idea that they would be in a relationship with God.
The beginning of that journey starts when they find themselves stuck between the Red Sea and the Egyptians army, looking to destroy them. Their only escape is through the water. So God parts the Red Sea and they walk through on dry land. You surely get the images of baptism that are meant to be considered? The text that we read on Sunday in 1 Corinthians 10, helped to draw those conclusions as well. In fact, it would probably be beneficial to take a few moments and think through all of the major stories in the Old Testament that use the story of water to share their message.
This week and next week, we will take the time to walk through each of the stories and ideas referenced in that passage in 1 Corinthians 10. Paul’s overall point includes his goal to highlight the value and the teaching that are found in the stories that are clearly more than just for the telling of good stories.
How does this become part of your prayer today?
What are the stories that you can think of from the Old Testament that have water as a theme in them?
Explain how you can see the salvation story being reflected in this story.
What are some applications that you could consider from this story today?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
The story of the people of Israel crossing over the Red Sea, has all of the elements needed to be a great salvation analogy. You will remember that they have started out from a place of slavery to the Egyptians for 400 years. Slavery is the analogy for sin that is used by Paul in Romans 6. Jesus also stated this in places like John 8:34. Other places include Hebrews 2 and 2 Peter 2. The point being, it is a pretty well known idea that is common biblical language. In this story, a man like them, born an Israelite but royal by way of being raised in Pharoah’s home, rescues the people and promises to deliver them to a land flowing with milk and honey. The root of the promise is in the idea that they would be in a relationship with God.
The beginning of that journey starts when they find themselves stuck between the Red Sea and the Egyptians army, looking to destroy them. Their only escape is through the water. So God parts the Red Sea and they walk through on dry land. You surely get the images of baptism that are meant to be considered? The text that we read on Sunday in 1 Corinthians 10, helped to draw those conclusions as well. In fact, it would probably be beneficial to take a few moments and think through all of the major stories in the Old Testament that use the story of water to share their message.
This week and next week, we will take the time to walk through each of the stories and ideas referenced in that passage in 1 Corinthians 10. Paul’s overall point includes his goal to highlight the value and the teaching that are found in the stories that are clearly more than just for the telling of good stories.
How does this become part of your prayer today?
What are the stories that you can think of from the Old Testament that have water as a theme in them?
Explain how you can see the salvation story being reflected in this story.
What are some applications that you could consider from this story today?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 2
Read Exodus 16
Much like the story of the Red Sea, this story is packed full of images that are meant to illustrate an idea more than tell a set of historical facts. The reader has to only spend some time imagining what these events would have been like to witness to draw from its teachings. No more going to the grocery store or even the ultra convenient way that we do it now of ordering online and picking up the groceries. These ways of gathering food seem closer to our reality than they would have been to the person living in these very moments. Food whenever we need it? We got a way to process that. Access for everyone with a source that is but a few miles away? We can understand that. Now, take away the idea of having to have the money to bring it all home and we are starting to get close to amazement. But these people were used to food being even harder than that. Now consider that they were living in the wilderness, or the desert, and you see why this became more and more amazing.
The story is a great highlight of a key way God is towards us. He is the Provider. Not just sometimes, but at the very heart of every ounce and sliver of provision is God’s hand somewhere, doing the work of propping it all up. I get a paycheck because I work and there is a system that makes that possible. Sure. But in the background of that is the ability and events that God planned from the spark of a beginning to make that system happen. And God’s provision does not stop on that first layer. Then I go back to the realization that I exist in a country that God has allowed to be a world power and we start to see the layers of provision that we take for granted unfold before our eyes. In fact, I feel we are probably less aware of provisions in our life because of the sheer number that they show up at. We can read the story of manna bread from heaven and wonder how these jokers even got close to forgetting what it was that was happening. But here we are…forgetting our own favored situations.
Spend some time writing a list of things that God has provided for you in the last 6 months that you have not paid attention to.
How have you seen “manna like” provisions in your life before?
What does reflecting on these things make you think about God and his love for you?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Much like the story of the Red Sea, this story is packed full of images that are meant to illustrate an idea more than tell a set of historical facts. The reader has to only spend some time imagining what these events would have been like to witness to draw from its teachings. No more going to the grocery store or even the ultra convenient way that we do it now of ordering online and picking up the groceries. These ways of gathering food seem closer to our reality than they would have been to the person living in these very moments. Food whenever we need it? We got a way to process that. Access for everyone with a source that is but a few miles away? We can understand that. Now, take away the idea of having to have the money to bring it all home and we are starting to get close to amazement. But these people were used to food being even harder than that. Now consider that they were living in the wilderness, or the desert, and you see why this became more and more amazing.
The story is a great highlight of a key way God is towards us. He is the Provider. Not just sometimes, but at the very heart of every ounce and sliver of provision is God’s hand somewhere, doing the work of propping it all up. I get a paycheck because I work and there is a system that makes that possible. Sure. But in the background of that is the ability and events that God planned from the spark of a beginning to make that system happen. And God’s provision does not stop on that first layer. Then I go back to the realization that I exist in a country that God has allowed to be a world power and we start to see the layers of provision that we take for granted unfold before our eyes. In fact, I feel we are probably less aware of provisions in our life because of the sheer number that they show up at. We can read the story of manna bread from heaven and wonder how these jokers even got close to forgetting what it was that was happening. But here we are…forgetting our own favored situations.
Spend some time writing a list of things that God has provided for you in the last 6 months that you have not paid attention to.
How have you seen “manna like” provisions in your life before?
What does reflecting on these things make you think about God and his love for you?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 3
Read Exodus 17
Right when manna seems like it is the most amazing provision you could imagine, these Hebrew people get water from the most unlikely of sources. I guess the reality of the whole story is that bread doesn’t make sense coming from heaven and water doesn’t make sense coming from a rock. Imagine seeing that! You line up with your container to see about getting the water that your family needs and as you get closer, your mind is blown away more and more. Where is it coming into the rock from, let alone that it is coming out of a rock?! This is, need I to remind you, the desert of all places.
Personally, I have seen many resources and places provide sustenance in what was not supposed to be able to provide what it gave. As we came to the Pittsburgh area to plant a church, we were armed with nothing more than a couple hundred cards marked with a check in a box that promised they would send money each month. They could easily forget. They could easily need it themselves after unexpected moments. They could have easily lost interest in a place they never would go themselves. But somehow, with all of those factors in place and also very genuine, water constantly flowed from what seemed like nothing more than the rocks. Each month, I went to the place where sustenance wasn’t supposed to be from, and there it was. Flowing with no end. That is a humbling way to live. To be fair, I was my own fair share of naive in those moments to. Even to believe that such a thing was possible to start a family. Months turned into years. Years and years. And the flow never stopped. You would think I would never even have the chance or the opportunity to grumble or complain. But as much as the provision flowed from the proverbial rock, my complaints flowed just as freely.
This whole reflection thing reminds you of the goodness of God. Of the overwhelming endless pursuit of God, despite my own ways of being. That is reason enough to start this day with worship. The water is still flowing.
Where is the most memorable time in your life that you found what was needed where it shouldn’t have been able to be found?
What's the best way you can worship God today with the realization that He is the endless pursuer of you?
How does this become your prayer today?
Right when manna seems like it is the most amazing provision you could imagine, these Hebrew people get water from the most unlikely of sources. I guess the reality of the whole story is that bread doesn’t make sense coming from heaven and water doesn’t make sense coming from a rock. Imagine seeing that! You line up with your container to see about getting the water that your family needs and as you get closer, your mind is blown away more and more. Where is it coming into the rock from, let alone that it is coming out of a rock?! This is, need I to remind you, the desert of all places.
Personally, I have seen many resources and places provide sustenance in what was not supposed to be able to provide what it gave. As we came to the Pittsburgh area to plant a church, we were armed with nothing more than a couple hundred cards marked with a check in a box that promised they would send money each month. They could easily forget. They could easily need it themselves after unexpected moments. They could have easily lost interest in a place they never would go themselves. But somehow, with all of those factors in place and also very genuine, water constantly flowed from what seemed like nothing more than the rocks. Each month, I went to the place where sustenance wasn’t supposed to be from, and there it was. Flowing with no end. That is a humbling way to live. To be fair, I was my own fair share of naive in those moments to. Even to believe that such a thing was possible to start a family. Months turned into years. Years and years. And the flow never stopped. You would think I would never even have the chance or the opportunity to grumble or complain. But as much as the provision flowed from the proverbial rock, my complaints flowed just as freely.
This whole reflection thing reminds you of the goodness of God. Of the overwhelming endless pursuit of God, despite my own ways of being. That is reason enough to start this day with worship. The water is still flowing.
Where is the most memorable time in your life that you found what was needed where it shouldn’t have been able to be found?
What's the best way you can worship God today with the realization that He is the endless pursuer of you?
How does this become your prayer today?
Day 4
Read Numbers 25:1-9
What is enough for God to convince us humans? I found myself struggling through that last week. There I was again. The same old place of compromise and foolishness. It was where I said I was not going back, because I saw in God far more than I could accomplish where I don’t belong. It is not like I got there by myself. You know, after staring long and hard at a great spreadsheet that made the fact that I knew what God wanted obvious. That would give me way too much credit, and even though I tend to always have an inclination to believe that about my accomplishments, it's so foolish in light of the manna and rock water I have lived off.
I am sure you read this story and it seems really cruel. I don’t think I can fully explain it, but God knew something that clearly Israel did not know. For God to be considered out of line here would leave us assuming we know the danger He was protecting them from when He told them not to fall into the relationship trap with the Midianites. So there is this element of God trying to protect His people from something really dangerous and that is the very thing that they find themselves in. I don’t think it was the marriage that God was against. That is why each time He sprinkles in the language of “if you marry them, you will end up in idolatry.” You can’t get that close. But how do you get heaven bread eating and rock water drinking people to even consider the idea of worshipping another god? You have to capture their hearts and move them really close first. Idolatry, for Israel is no “first move” fall. It was a slow fade. It started when a boy met a girl and the two started focusing on themselves and their love. That was the way to bridge the two worlds. Otherwise these two cultures would have never worked together. Then families meet and cultures mingle and everything starts to make you put down your guard. Eventually you find yourself trying to merge together two very different cultures and the only way that two cultures can merge is to compromise. I know that Numbers 25 does not really say any of this, I am just speculating, looking for the lesson.
I have to understand. It matters to me. That is why the Old Testament stories are valuable and why we should still be reading them. It is an odd story that doesn’t seem really relevant. But on the other hand, it feels so normal…like it is reflecting something back at me that is valuable.
The story seems to change in tone dramatically in verse 6. While they were weeping for their sin…right in plain sight of Moses, this guy just keeps going. Why do you think it matters that the details of this story are shared like this?
Where do you see blatant sin that seems to be out in the open and nothing is said?
What are the parts of this story that you struggle with or make you uncomfortable? When you read something in the Bible and feel like that, what should you do from there?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
What is enough for God to convince us humans? I found myself struggling through that last week. There I was again. The same old place of compromise and foolishness. It was where I said I was not going back, because I saw in God far more than I could accomplish where I don’t belong. It is not like I got there by myself. You know, after staring long and hard at a great spreadsheet that made the fact that I knew what God wanted obvious. That would give me way too much credit, and even though I tend to always have an inclination to believe that about my accomplishments, it's so foolish in light of the manna and rock water I have lived off.
I am sure you read this story and it seems really cruel. I don’t think I can fully explain it, but God knew something that clearly Israel did not know. For God to be considered out of line here would leave us assuming we know the danger He was protecting them from when He told them not to fall into the relationship trap with the Midianites. So there is this element of God trying to protect His people from something really dangerous and that is the very thing that they find themselves in. I don’t think it was the marriage that God was against. That is why each time He sprinkles in the language of “if you marry them, you will end up in idolatry.” You can’t get that close. But how do you get heaven bread eating and rock water drinking people to even consider the idea of worshipping another god? You have to capture their hearts and move them really close first. Idolatry, for Israel is no “first move” fall. It was a slow fade. It started when a boy met a girl and the two started focusing on themselves and their love. That was the way to bridge the two worlds. Otherwise these two cultures would have never worked together. Then families meet and cultures mingle and everything starts to make you put down your guard. Eventually you find yourself trying to merge together two very different cultures and the only way that two cultures can merge is to compromise. I know that Numbers 25 does not really say any of this, I am just speculating, looking for the lesson.
I have to understand. It matters to me. That is why the Old Testament stories are valuable and why we should still be reading them. It is an odd story that doesn’t seem really relevant. But on the other hand, it feels so normal…like it is reflecting something back at me that is valuable.
The story seems to change in tone dramatically in verse 6. While they were weeping for their sin…right in plain sight of Moses, this guy just keeps going. Why do you think it matters that the details of this story are shared like this?
Where do you see blatant sin that seems to be out in the open and nothing is said?
What are the parts of this story that you struggle with or make you uncomfortable? When you read something in the Bible and feel like that, what should you do from there?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 5
Read Numbers 14:1-19
We are on the part from 1 Corinthians where we explore the “grumble as some of them did” idea Paul wanted to communicate. Which seems really like an odd placement in the grand scheme of things. Here is what I mean: rate the two sins on a scale of 1 to 10- Sexual immorality and grumbling. One is the rating for the lightweightness of sin and 10 is the harshest rating for a sin. I would bet you anything “grumbling” scored a lower number. Some of you may have struggled to put it on the scale because this is the first you are thinking about it even being a sin!
You know how I was always taught the main idea of this story? “You don’t rise up against the man of God or God will get you quicker than He will get you for anything else!” Truly. That is what the take away that was given to me, in more than one instance, as this story was explained. Is that element present in this story? Yes, but only in this sense, the people are rising up against God’s word and questioning God’s promises, not just the character of Moses. The lie is first, not the hatred for the leader. The lie was that this whole Promise Land idea is a pipe dream and they have been duped! This is the moment in the wilderness and the struggle that the grumblings start against what God has already put before them all. “Is it really true that God said…” It sounds like the Garden of Eden language, doesn’t it? Now when that happens, you need to be reminded of the promises that God said before you started to feel this way. I am sure it was refreshing that day to see Aaron on his knees in prayer beside Moses. Then to hear the assurance from the voice of another leader that is carrying the torch now, Joshua.
This is where the story starts to fall apart. “Let’s find a leader that will take us back!” Here is how I see the problem: it is one thing to question the leadership, struggle with the promises, not believe the good that is ahead of you, and give up in the fight. It is a whole next level thing to start to look for a leader that can lead you back to the lie. The biggest problem with that is that you will find them. That’s the problem with grumbling. It leaves room for the lie to grow. When the lie takes root, it spreads like a poison. When the poison gets too many people, they will come up with the idea to go back. The next piece is to just find the name they want to chant while they follow them back.
'For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. '
2 Timothy 4:3-4
How have you seen another version of this story played out in your life?
Why do you think that God puts a story against grumbling in the Bible for us to consider?
Where is the grumbling in your life and how do you see that as a problem that needs to be addressed?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
We are on the part from 1 Corinthians where we explore the “grumble as some of them did” idea Paul wanted to communicate. Which seems really like an odd placement in the grand scheme of things. Here is what I mean: rate the two sins on a scale of 1 to 10- Sexual immorality and grumbling. One is the rating for the lightweightness of sin and 10 is the harshest rating for a sin. I would bet you anything “grumbling” scored a lower number. Some of you may have struggled to put it on the scale because this is the first you are thinking about it even being a sin!
You know how I was always taught the main idea of this story? “You don’t rise up against the man of God or God will get you quicker than He will get you for anything else!” Truly. That is what the take away that was given to me, in more than one instance, as this story was explained. Is that element present in this story? Yes, but only in this sense, the people are rising up against God’s word and questioning God’s promises, not just the character of Moses. The lie is first, not the hatred for the leader. The lie was that this whole Promise Land idea is a pipe dream and they have been duped! This is the moment in the wilderness and the struggle that the grumblings start against what God has already put before them all. “Is it really true that God said…” It sounds like the Garden of Eden language, doesn’t it? Now when that happens, you need to be reminded of the promises that God said before you started to feel this way. I am sure it was refreshing that day to see Aaron on his knees in prayer beside Moses. Then to hear the assurance from the voice of another leader that is carrying the torch now, Joshua.
This is where the story starts to fall apart. “Let’s find a leader that will take us back!” Here is how I see the problem: it is one thing to question the leadership, struggle with the promises, not believe the good that is ahead of you, and give up in the fight. It is a whole next level thing to start to look for a leader that can lead you back to the lie. The biggest problem with that is that you will find them. That’s the problem with grumbling. It leaves room for the lie to grow. When the lie takes root, it spreads like a poison. When the poison gets too many people, they will come up with the idea to go back. The next piece is to just find the name they want to chant while they follow them back.
'For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. '
2 Timothy 4:3-4
How have you seen another version of this story played out in your life?
Why do you think that God puts a story against grumbling in the Bible for us to consider?
Where is the grumbling in your life and how do you see that as a problem that needs to be addressed?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
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