“It’s A New Year!  It’s Time To Move On!”

Pastor Jim Lowe III

Sunday Morning,  9:30am Stream

01/1/23 (1st Sunday Message)

 

hashtags:

#guidinglight #pastorjim

#givingthanks #promises

#willpower #promisesofGod

#love  #showinglove

#loveofGod #loveofChrist

#repentance #fear

#forgiveness #Godworks

#savedtoserve #healer

#protector #Godforgives

#worry  #NewYear

 

{All scriptures are NIV84 unless stated}

 

Happy New Year!!

 

This NYD we’re going to use the story of Moses and compare it to our lives.

 

God speaks to Moses:

 

Exodus 3:7-10

7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

 

God has told Moses to do 2 things:

 

1. Bring His People Out Of Egypt

2. Take Them To The Promised Land

 

They had been in slavery for around 400 years.

 

Moses doesn’t want to go.

 

He asks God who is HE to go before the Pharaoh and say something like that?

 

Moses responded in fear.

 

Moses was a simple man…taking care of the sheep of his father in law.

 

He wasn’t even around people…he was around sheep.

 

He didn’t speak well…

 

How could he go before royalty?

 

 How could he say something that could prob get him killed?

 

Moses was scared.

 

Exodus 3:12

12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

 

God says here’s the proof it’s going to work out:

 

 First: He Is With Moses.

 

WHEN you’ve done what I said…you’ll give thanks and worship here.

Moses, I’m doing more than asking.

 

I’m giving you a peek into your future!

 

This IS going to work out!

 

God Won’t Ask Us To Do Something He Won’t Help Us Do!

 

God has given us directives as well.

 

God has placed things on our heart to do.

 

EVERYone of us has a purpose.

 

{repeat}

“God Has Called Me! I Have A Purpose!”

 

Ephesians 2:10

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 

God prepared something for EVERY ONE of us to do.

 

Just like Moses…God will help us do it.

 

But we allow things like fear and worry stop us.

 

The thought we just don’t have time…

 

 those things stop us from fully letting God use us!

 

We have to move past fear and get going!

 

It was time for Moses to go…

 

It’s time for you to go…get started!

 

Something about the call for Moses:

 

God Calls People For The Benefit Of Others!

 

God showed it with Moses:

 

God said “go.”

 

I’m sending YOU Moses.

 

The people need to be brought out.

 

God calls us as well.

 

EACH of us!

 

What Is The Thing You’ve Been Sitting On You Know You’re Supposed To Do?

 

Just like Moses, God is saying:

 

It’s Time To Move!

 

It CAN get scary!

 

THIS is why these stories are here.

 

Many of the people God called were afraid!

 

{2 Corinthians 12:9&10} 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 10…For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

God Gives His Power To Help You! It’s Time To Move!

 

God said it multiple times.

 

Hebrews 13:20

20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

 

This is saying that God will equip you with EVERYTHING good for his will.

 

For every excuse…God has ALREADY equipped us!

 

Moses complains about his speech.

 

 God said “who gave man his mouth?”

 

Jeremiah says he’s a child…

 

 God said I’ll give you the words.

 

Gideon said I’m a nobody…

 

 God said I’ll be with you.

 

For every reason/excuse you come up with.

 

God has an answer!

 

You may not feel worthy of what God called you to do.

 

 But God is with us!

 

If We’re Walking In God’s Plan, HE Will Work Out The Details! Let’s Get Moving!

 

How do we know??

 

What did God say again??

 

Exodus 3:7

7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.

 

GOD has seen the misery of his people in Egypt.

 

GOD is concerned about their suffering.

 

Exodus 3:8

8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

 

God HAS COME DOWN.

 

 GOD has come down to rescue them!

 

Who Is Going To Rescue The Israelites?

 

God is!

 

Who is???

 

God SENT Moses…

 

 But God said HE was gonna DO IT!

 

If God is going to work through us…

 

 we have nothing to worry about.

 

All we have to do is MOVE ON!

 

Don’t Let Fear Stop You From Moving In God’s Plan In 2023!

 

So what happens when Moses actually “went.”

 

He talks to Pharaoh:

 

Exodus 5:2

2 Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”

 

{Remember that for later…}

 

 They don’t know God.

 

 But they will…

 

After the 10 plagues:

 

 Pharaoh lets the people go.

 

But Pharaoh changes his mind.

 

Exodus 14:10-12

10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 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 the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”

 

They looked up and saw the Egyptians coming for them.

 

They were camped by the sea…and Pharaoh and his army was coming.

 

They were trapped in place.

 

They Couldn’t Go Forward: The Red Sea Was A Barrier

They Couldn’t Go Backward: Pharaoh’s Army Was Coming

 

There was nowhere to go.

 

The Israelites were thinking they were going to die.

 

“It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”

 

This was an impossible situation.

 

They can’t go forward…death.

 

They can’t go backward…death.

 

Moses has an answer:

 

Exodus 14:13-14

13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

 

Moses says to wait…God’s gotta do something.

 

God didn’t do all that to let us die here.

 

The problems we’re looking at now we’ll never see again.

 

Some Of Us Need To Speak To Our Problems And Say “You Will NOT Go With Me Into 2023!”

 

“Yesterday was the last day I was dealing with you!”

 

But God speaks up and says something!

 

Exodus 14:15-16

15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 

 

God says “why are you standing still?”

 

MOVE ON.

 

God Didn’t Bring You Out Of All Those Trials For You To Just Stand Still!

 

There are MANY times we’ve seen God’s power in our lives.

 

If God kept us then, he can keep us now!

 

Keep going!

 

If You Are Following God He Will Move The Very Things Blocking Your Way! Keep Moving!!

 

If you have a sea of a problem in your way…

 

 no we can’t move it.

 

Go to the one who SPOKE it there!

 

 he put it there…can he not move it?

 

Exodus 14:17-18

17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”

 

God says he’ll gain glory through Pharaoh and his army…

 

The Egyptians will KNOW I am the Lord.

 

Remember they didn’t know him…

 

God Can Gain Glory Through Your Trials!

 

There may be people who get in the way to stop you from moving forward.

 

But God is going to make an example out of you of his goodness

 

 and a believer out of them!!

 

God Will Make It So You Win In Front Of Everyone Who Doubted You!

 

Exodus 14:19-20

19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.

 

the angel of God went between them.

 

the cloud went between them…

 

 neither went near the other all night long.

 

You might see your problems…

 

You might be afraid of your problems…

 

But God’s not going to let them touch you.

 

God Will Handle The Details, Let’s Keep Moving!

 

Exodus 14:21-22

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

 

Dry land…

 

Dry ground…

 

the LITERAL barrier is not a barrier to God.

 

the stumbling block that no one could move.

 

there are NO traces of it!

 

 

The funny thing is…

 

It wasn’t the “seas” fault.

 

It wasn’t even AFTER the Egyptians.

 

But it was in the way of God’s purpose!

 

Not Everything In Your Way Is Against You!

 

“everything isn’t the devil!”

 

The people on your job might not be “against you.”

 

 The people you deal with might not be “against you.”

 

 Some of the things holding us back may not be “against us.”

 

The purpose the sea had wasn’t AGAINST the Israelites…

 

 It wasn’t out to get them.

 

So instead of getting rid of the sea.

 

 God says “excuse me for a moment.”

 

 I need you to make space.

 

The Egyptians see this happening.

 

They SEE the sea opening up.

 

God is doing a miraculous thing in front of all of them!!

 

And they have to WATCH it!

 

{Psalm 23:5} 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

 

Maybe all this is a phenomenon…random winds…

 

 so the Egyptians give chase.

 

Exodus 14:23-25

23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” 

 

So the Egyptians think they can just go through like the Israelites did.

 

Nope!

 

Their stuff started to break down.

 

They couldn’t drive through…

 

They’ve seen the plagues…

 

They see the cloud…the fire…the walls of water.

 

They now begin to say this is real!

 

Let’s get away from them!

 

The LORD is fighting for them!!

 

God is real!

 

Your Enemies Can Only Mock God For So Long.  He Will Make An Example Out Of Them!

 

God got his glory!

 

Exodus 14:26-28

26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. 28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. 

 

Not one of them survived.

 

Everything that rose up against them…God destroyed.

 

All the Israelites did was worry.

 

How many things do we worry about?

 

What about this?

 

What about that?

 

I have a ministry call but I’m scared to step in it.

 

I’m supposed to develop this program but I’m not ready yet.

 

I’m supposed to mentor this group of people but I need more time.

 

I’m supposed to step out on faith and do this but I’m afraid.

 

I’m supposed to do this.

 

I’m supposed to do that.

 

Get Moving!  God Will Handle Everything Else!

 

Exodus 14:29-31

29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

 

God did it!

 

When the Israelites Stepped Into The Sea, They Had Problems Following Them.  When They Stepped Out, Their Problems Were Gone!

 

All because they did what God said…

 

They Kept Moving Forward!

 

Now the scary part:

 

What if they didn’t move?

 

God wanted to use the Red Sea to handle the Egyptians.

 

What if they never stepped into the sea?

 

How Many Problems Are We Keeping In Our Lives Because We Aren’t Giving God A Chance To Handle Them?

 

We have to let God handle the things blocking us!

 

We have to let God handle the things trying to stop us!

 

We Can Put Our Own Blessings On Hold Because We’re Too Slow To Move! Get Moving!

 

Some of us are letting the same fears from years ago run us today!

 

Some of our problems have been circling us for years.

 

All because we’re putting God on hold.

 

God Didn’t Bring You Through 2020 For You To Stay There!  Get Moving!

 

Remember WE don’t have to do the heavy lifting.

 

We just have to go.

 

If you are walking in God’s purpose…they aren’t YOUR problems.

 

 They are God’s problems.

 

This is a NEW year!

 

A NEW beginning!

 

WHAT are you going to do different this year?

 

Hopefully one of the FIRST things:

 

Is to stop making God wait for the things he’s called you to do.

 

“It’s A New Year!  It’s Time To Move On!”