Latest / The Finance Pastor Show / Episode 3: Exodus 14 The Crossing At The Red Sea Sermon
Transcript
- This might be a hotel room, wherever there's two three gathered in His name, this is God's house. If you have your Bibles or your Bible apps, please open up to Exodus chapter 14. I'm going be reading from the NIV version. And I'm going to be, when you have it, please say amen. I don't know about you guys, but we're crossing the Red Sea today. I don't know if you've ever had any red C's in your life, but we're gonna cross one today, amen. If you have it say amen, Exodus chapter 14, I'm reading from verse one through four, then I'm gonna be skipping through verse 29. In the name of the Father, Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and God's holy word says, then the Lord said to Moses, tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pai Haaraf between Magdalene the Sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Beelzebub. Pharaoh will think the Israelites are wandering along the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. So the Israelites did this. Skip down to verse 29. But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground with the wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians and the Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord. and put their trust in Him and in Moses, His servant. God, may you honor and bless your holy scriptures today. Amen. Over the next few minutes, if you will allow me, I wanna brag on God. Am I in the right place? All right, this is the story that many of us have you been in the Christian dump for quite a while. It's a story that is very pivotal in the history of the Israelites. What could part of this story as being of... There's been a little point in history where we can only say that God's mighty hand can be displayed in this setting here. But how did we get to this juncture in Exodus chapter 14? I gotta give a little backstory of how we got here. Many of us can point to Genesis in the book of where God gave Abraham the call. He gave him an Abrahamic call saying that I will make you a mighty nation. I will make you more numerous than the stars in on the earth. And we see that God gave Abraham that he was going to give him a land flowing with milk and honey. We start seeing through Genesis chapter 40 to 36 in chapter 40, when God transcends and we have Isaac, Jacob, and now we have Joseph his son. We see when God gives Joseph a dream of making him a mighty person. And we see what happens when you tell people in low places big dreams. We start seeing that his brothers were jealous against him. And we wanted to see that their hand was against their brother. But sometimes what we think might be a misstep in God's equation is God sending us out for glory. Many of us can see that Joseph's brother put him in the pit. Through the pit, he was sold to the Egyptians. And now we find ourselves where Joseph finds himself as a slave in the dungeon of Pharaoh's court. And in that place we start seeing that Joseph was able to interpret the dream of Pharaoh, of telling him of the seven years of Plenty, seven years of Lack. And we start seeing how through Genesis 36 and 44, children of Israel, Jacob's family comes into Egypt as victors. But now through 400 years they find themselves as slaves. And we find ourselves in this juncture where God is raising up a servant named Moses to deliver his people. Now we start seeing in this juncture where God gives a clarion call to Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let his people go. Now we start seeing that Pharaoh was ushered into the court by divine appointment. We start seeing that Pharaoh's sister had a stillborn birth and in the water God sends Moses and she gave him the name Moses which means in Hebrew plucked out of the water. So we start seeing that Pharaoh and Moses growing up in the same court and we see in the story in early late Genesis where Moses killed someone and a soldier and now is banished into the desert and there in the desert God is putting the refiner's fire on Moses. David declared in the quarter, go to Pharaoh and said, let my people go. And we find ourselves in this juncture here that we're finding ourselves in the middle of the plot. If one can say we're at the end of the story and I wanna take five spiritual nutrients that we can glean from the scripture. Now many of you here can see I'm a little bit animated. I'm actually divided between two people. What is that, Brother Garcia? Well, half of me is Pentecostal and the other half is Baptist. So in Tennessee, we call that a Baptist. Now, if you say yourself, I'm not a Baptist, I'm non-denominational. You're a Baptist in disguise. Just letting you know. Just letting you know. So I want to take some still cheap nutrients that we can clean. from this scripture right here. So I am Pentecostal and I'm animated, but I'm also the Baptist part of me wants to get five points in the conclusion. And I want to make sure I finish before they eat up all the biscuits at Cracker Barrel. Go, go, you gotta beat the Methodist there. beat them there. So I want to take some spiritual nutrients that we can glean from this scripture here. I want to go over a couple of notes that I have here. And we see that God a background about the Red Sea. We see that God has hardened Pharaoh's heart. Consider this, Pharaoh and heir to the throne had a Jewish stepbrother. In Joseph's day, it was detestable for Jews and Egyptians to co-mingle, let alone sit at the same table. It was repulsive to them according to Genesis chapter 43 verse 32. We see that God gives him the clamor you call to tell Pharaoh about the plagues. We see that God sends the first plague, which is turning water into blood. The second, frogs, third lice, fourth flies, fifth livestock and pestilence, six boils, seven hail. Now I want to take a pause here. I wonder, and I try to put myself in scripture. I wonder and say to myself, I wonder if Pharaoh had people in his inner circle that had wisdom. Now scripture does not say this what I'm about to say. Now I've wondered what about if Pharaoh has someone in his inner court scripture doesn't say this but maybe someone from a Puerto Rican brother from the South Bronx of Egypt just saying just saying and tell him hey bro it's not working bro it's not working in Spanish culture we have a saying It says, tell me who you hang out with and I'll tell you who you are. See, so people who you surround yourself really determines your future. Someone in this inner court could have said, don't you see you're fighting against the God of the Israelites? You can't win. But we see that God's is Pharaoh's heart. Then came the locusts, then came darkness, then the killing of the first born. You see the children of Israel. were looking for a place that they call there. Have you ever longed for a place that you call there? I could tell you in my lifetime, when I was 16, I to say to myself, I can't wait till I turn 18. You know why? Because I can leave my parents' and I could be an adult. So 18 comes and I find out that mommy's not gonna pay my bills. And I got something called FICA. I got to pay federal taxes, state taxes. I find that out. Then I say to myself, you know what? I'll find myself complete if I go to school. Yeah. Then you graduate and then you start saying that the goalposts keep moving. You tell yourself, you know what? I'll find myself complete when I find my dream job. That job comes and then you say, you know what? I feel, I still feel incomplete. I'm longing for a place that I call there. I used to find myself in Bible college. Used to be in prayer meetings. And in one section, you would hear the ladies praying. And you would hear words like, I'll find myself complete if I only found a husband. Then you meet someone who's been divorced, and they tell you, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, But the goalposts keep moving. The children of Israel were longing for a place that they called there. That place was called the land of milk and honey. Consider this, we see that Pharaoh will not yield. God has heart in Pharaoh's heart. God had a promise to the children of Israel to make them a mighty nation. But along that journey to a place called there, the promise turned into despair. On the journey of the place they called there, it became burdensome. The promise that of a land filled with milk and honey must have felt like a dream. The promise that God made to Abraham must have felt like a folkloric story. 400 years of captivity, 100 years of insults and deprivation, 100 years of waiting. The Egyptians forgot how a young Jewish boy helped develop their nations. Egyptians forgot, but God never forgets a promise. His word never comes back void. If he said it, he'll do it. Amen. And I want to take point number one, and I want you to look, let's look at Exodus verse 11 through 13. Do a little Bible study up in here. Come on, come on. Exodus chapter 14, verse 11 through 13. They said to Moses, was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us up to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians. It would have been better for us to serve them, the Egyptians, than to die in the desert. Moses answered the people, to not be afraid, stand firm, and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring to you today. The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. You know what I love about scripture? I love scripture. You know what I love about it the most? That it is so raw. It gives you every angle from a rich person to a poor person to a slave to a doctor to a fisherman. It's raw. You know what I love about the story? That God shows us how secure he is in his kingship. What do you mean? Through Bible college, I've always heard this. The Israelites, they're complainants. They're stiff-necked. You heard it too. They're always complaining, wandering in the desert. But you know what I love about that? That God prefers an honest complaint than a hypocritical praise. That God's okay with how you feel. That God's okay with, God, is this happening to me? He's okay with how you feel. But I love Moses' answer. Have you ever been in a season? where God, you're telling God, why is this happening to me? I can't believe this, I've served you, I've baptized you. And you ever feel like God's answer to you in the spirit is, And? Didn't you say you wanted to go from glory to glory? Well, to go from glory to glory, you gotta go from hardship to hardship. Amen. You can't be going through the refiner's fire without getting burnt. So we start seeing here that we could glean here that God is okay with how you feel. But this is the most important part of it. Look at this. He tells them, do not be afraid. So point number one is this. Stand firm. Point number one, stand firm. Webster's dictionary describes standing firm as to refuse a change, a decision or a position. Ephesians 6, 10 says, finally my brethren, Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Put on the whole armor, God, that you may be able to against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness of this age and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Over the last 16 years, we've gone through a political climate in this country. When I mentioned that people try to test your fruit, I call it fruit test. They try to pigeonhole you. They ask me, Brother Garcia, do you lean left? No. Brother Garcia, you must lean right. No. Well, Brother Garcia, where do you lean? Well, according to scripture, I don't lean left, and I don't lean right. Well, what do you do? I stand. On what? On the promises of God. If God calls something a sin, I'ma call it a sin. If God calls something holy, best believe I'ma call it holy. If God calls something faithful, I'ma call it faithful. Don't pigeonhole you. Not one politician died on the cross for you. Not one. Not one. Don't lose focus. We're in a season where Christians gotta forgive each other. You see, they try to pigeonhole you and say, ⁓ you must be an elephant. ⁓ you must hang out with the donkey. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm about the Lamb of God. I'm about the Lamb's business. Wrong animal, wrong animal, folks. Wrong animal. It's the Lamb of God. So whenever you put, you stand on what the say of the Lord. And when you stand on God's promises, any win, any politician with their fancy talk could come and it won't slay you. Amen. Praise the Lord. Let's keep going. All right, all right. We're going. We're cooking now. Let's look at verse 15. Then the Lord said to Moses, why are you crying out to me? Tells the Israelites to move on, raise up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. Have you ever read scripture over and over and over again? And depending on what season you are in life, you've gotten a different interpretation. That's why it's a living word. I want you to know where I got this source from so you too can do your research and see if you've come to the same conclusion. There's a rabbi by the name of Daniel Lapin. And many Jewish scholars debate this scripture right here. They actually believe that the word of God is literal. Now, I'm not here to impress you. I know Life Search has a lot of big main speakers, but I want you to very precisely... Elijah Goosemian. Many of you might have heard of it. It's called Veggie Tales. Elijah Goosemian. Nothing but the best. When I read the scripture, I always saw that Moses, boom, stretched out his hand and the water started and the Israelites walked through like holy and pious people. But that's not what scripture says. with you and me. Many Jewish scholars believe, and I want to give a visual representation. Let's say right here we're in the middle of the Red Sea. Over there is the Red Sea. You cannot go left. You cannot go right. Over there is on the mountaintop is the Egyptian army ready to pounce on them. There's nowhere to go. What do you mean the scripture is different than what our interpretation is? Well, many Jewish scholars believe that the word of God was literal. What do you mean? Consider the order of the words. It didn't say Moses stretched out his hand and they moved on. The order of the word said they told them to move on. Then Moses stretched out his hand. Why is that important, Brother Garcia? I want to give you a visual representation. Imagine you, they believed it was 600,000 people. Many believe that the people at the rim, not everyone. The people at the edge, and Moses say, hey Moses, what did God say? Moses, what did God say? He said move forward. What? He said move forward. Many Jewish scholars believe that when the clammy call the people in the front of the line, like he said move forward, walk into the water and were never. deeper in water before the waters move. Why is that important? Because some of you are waiting for God to move the waters when God is waiting for you to move forward before He parts the money. I know we have a financial conference, but I'll make one mistake. I cannot take one dollar with me to heaven. Can we, we can't take money with us. But you know what I can take with us? Souls. That I can take with me. Why is that important? Some of you here, God is giving you books five years ago that's still sitting on your junk drive in your room. Some of you, God is called to be missionaries and you don't even have a passport. What do you waitings do? As a young college student, you just want to be used by God. We would sit together and pray in meetings and we would sit us, sing a simple song. And it went like this. If you can lose anything or... You can use me, if you can use anything more. You can me. Touch my hands, Lord, and in my feet. Come again, Lord, speak through me. If you can ⁓ anything more, can ⁓ me. And the only ability that God is looking from you and I is availability. Availability. I'm a product of some country bumpkin creature. Some Phillips, great Pennsylvania. They didn't have money. Wasn't no bishop. Wasn't even a pastor. All they had was a guest from God. Went to the cities and swung the New York to witness to drug addicts and gang violence. That man's name is David Wocos. I'm a product of that. And sometimes the only Bible that people read is you. Don't step over broken and hurting people to go help broken and hurting people. on. The name across the street means Jesus too. I'm all for missions. I'm all for going across the pond. But the United States is a mission for you. Yes, it is. We've become a mission for you. You are the light of this world. Some of you are in places where a person like me can't even go. And that's a great thing. That's why God gives gifts to many different people. Don't lose sight of what we're here for. I'm homesick for a place I've never been. The 80 to 100 years we have on earth is but a blip. Don't lose sight. Man, let's keep going. Good stuff. Let's go to verse 21. with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided. When I read this scripture, I had to read it again. I don't know what all that night means to you, but all that night means all that night. I don't know what it means to you, but it means all that night to me. And I look at this scripture a little different. Now, when I take a poll, and I'm gonna take a poll, know, and this will help me out. Now, My wife is the type of woman that she sleeps eight hours a sleep. If she don't get her eight hours of sleep, we all pay for it. You know, if she don't have peace, I don't have peace. You know, we are married folks talk about 90 days of jail. You know what I'm talking about, 90 days, 90 days of purgatory. How many of you would say, hey, I'm that type of person that I need my sleep. I got to, I could sleep through a tornado. Okay. I want to take that same hope. I'm not saying everyone is slept, but is there a person here that takes these with cars that can tell the class what's the job of an alternator? Can we turn your batteries? Amen. That's exactly what it is. Did you know that God designed you to be an alternator? Yeah. Do you guys know that? do you mean? God designed you to be an alternator. How is that, brother? What do you do at night? Well, what do you do? Sleep. Sleep. Point number three. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do when life's bad and they hate you and all hell is breaking loose is rest. Why? Okay, let me help you even better. How do you pronounce God's name in Hebrew? Yahweh, right? How do you pronounce it without the salute? Okay, if you don't know, this is how you pronounce God's name without the syllables. You ready? Sometimes the most spiritual thing you could do is rest. Why? Because God is rejuvenating you. See, the atheist has got it wrong. The most they scream about how God's on his six existing, the more they're yelling that he does. Yeah. You know what saying? That's why from the first breath to the last. We breathe his name. Why is that important? Let's give scripture context to this. Let's look at Matthew 11 28. Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Genesis chapter one, and on the seventh day that God finished his work that he had done, he rested on the seventh day. Psalm 4 six, in peace I will lie down and sleep for you alone Lord make me dwell in safety. Matthew 8 24, suddenly a furious storm came upon the lake so that the waves swept over the boat, but Jesus was sleeping. Cyprus went and woke him saying, Lord save us. We're going to drown. Some of you are just a rest away from God rejuvenating. You don't need no stem cell. You don't need no hyperbaric chamber. You don't need gluten free. You don't need all that. Some of you need just rest. Good old sleep. God wants to recharge your battery. Your spirit is getting filled by God's name. Amen. That's a good word. Amen. Let's look at verse 25, number four. Point number four is even your enemies will know that God has sealed you. Number 25, I want to give a point before I go into verse 25. Past students asked me, I know I'm called by the Lord, but how do I know what I'm called to? I will ask yourself these four questions. Number one, whose tears affect you? Number two, whose enemies are you willing to confront? Number three, Whose story causes you pain? Number four is the God-given message to the younger version of you. Amen? And if you didn't get it, just come see me after. I'll tell you that. Number 25, he jammed the wheels of the chariot so they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, let us get away from the Israelites. The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt. For many of you here, this is for about three or four. years ago, I went through a time in my history where I didn't talk to several family members. Some of you here, your family members have accused you, you're innocent, been falsely accused, you've been talked about. Some of it is getting in your place of work and you're wondering, God, why is this happening to me? I'm here to tell you that sometimes the greatest way to get victory over an enemy is to pray over them. Simple work. Some of you, you're healing. You don't receive because you have ought against your brother or your sister. And this morning, God wants to heal your broken heart. During that season, I had to learn how to speak scripture over family members. I spoke Psalm 91 over them. I spoke Psalm 23, Psalm 3, many of the increase that follow me, but thou will load our shields for me, the glory and the lifter of my head. Brother Garcia, you're telling us that you felt the glory of God when you say all the things that God said to you? No, not at all. Not one bit. I feel glory. I feel glory. But you know what God was doing? Like a sculptor, he was chopping away all that bitterness. And God wants to take that away from you. For some of you, that's what causes you sleepless nights. it in God's hands. How many of you can say after you've gone through a trial, like years later, I've said to myself, God, I'm sorry. I didn't know what you were doing five years ago. I thought you were removing me because you didn't like me, but I didn't know that over here, my children got saved at this church because you moved me. God, didn't know that you were trying to move me because you were trying to get me to a better job. God, I didn't know what you were doing. I'm so sorry. I didn't know what you were doing. And I thank them for that hard times because it's where you go from glory to glory. Not everything set up is against you, is against you. It's God trying to move you. In many seasons when I was in, God had to move me. I had many seasons where if only God didn't move me, I would have never moved. I was too comfortable. And many of us have seen that throughout our history, different seasons. And as you get older, God moves you through different seas. And I'm here to tell you that your enemies will know that God has sealed you. Amen? Amen. Last point, point number five. Very simple. We see that the children of Israel walk through the sea on dry ground. What I love about this story is how God ushered Moses through the Nile River to the palace, but ushered him out through the Red Sea to the... has a promised land for you, the land that you call man. And sometimes those things is the point number five is being thankful. In chapter 15, you see that Miriam and all the ladies get around and give God glory and sing songs of attribute the Savior. And they say to him, God wants us to be thankful in every season. And for seriousness, it's hard for me to be thankful in every season. I don't feel the glory when challenges are coming to me, but it says be thankful. How many of you can say, God, thank you because I went through that, because if I didn't go through that, I wouldn't be where I'm at right now. I mean, you can honestly say that. So as you go through this next few weeks, examine the things that God has spoken to you. Many of you, God has given you private messages that He's downloaded in your spirit to speak to His people. And I'll take you to time that... Take time to pray a little bit up, but I want to pray. If you have a calling, I've got it. And you want me to just pray for you. Just lift up a hand. I see those hands. You got a calling. Let's lift those up. Let's bow our heads. Lord, I thank you for those that received the clarion call that have a calling on their life, Lord. I just pray that you magnify the call that you have on the life. Lord, give them the words. Bring them the people. Give them the provision, Lord. Lord, if there's anyone here, the Book of Isaiah talks about all we like sheep, each of us have all gone astray. Lord, if there's anyone here that maybe has not made the call to accept you as their personal savior, and if you're here today and you want to say, I want to accept the Lord as my personal savior, that's you, your hand. Just lift up a hand so I can lift, pray for you. If you're also in this room and you're saying, Felix, I haven't gone astray. But if I'm honest with myself, I'm not living where I should be. And I need to rededicate my life to Christ. If that's you in this room, just lift up the hair so I can pray with you. See that hand? See those hands? See that hand? See that hand? Let us all to the Lord with prayer. Father God, I thank you for every man, woman, and child represented in this room. I thank you for every family represented. Lord, I pray that you are the author and the finisher of our faith. Lord, may you give us faith. May you give us strength. May you give us wisdom to govern our households. May you be in everything we do. Lord, may we honor you with the lips of our mouth, with the food of our lips, Lord. May we worship you and praise you. We accept you and we honor you in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. All right, it is 10 o'clock on the dot. minute break. Be back in your seats at 10.