Brother Gary Kelly Sunday Morning 4/28/13

Brother Gary Kelly Sunday Morning 4/28/13

It is part of God to be faithful.  That is how God is.  The reality is that God didn’t inherit anything; He is self existing and He is faithful.  He was faithful to the Children of Israel by making a way for Moses to escape when the children were being killed.  He made a way for them to escape from Egypt and cross the red sea.

When they ran out of water, the children of Israel began to murmur.  “Why did you do bring us out here to die?”  Moses knew what to do. 

When you are in difficulty or you know someone that is in difficulty, Moses taught us what to do.  He cried to God.  Keep it real, keep up-to-date, and keep it part of our worship and life to cry to God when difficulty comes.

God said to go forward.  There is a wonderful thing about God when we find our self in difficulty, oppressed with difficult circumstances all around us, when we wonder where the water is, God will be faithful. 

God can do whatever needs to be done at this very moment for each of our lives and situations.  He told Moses to go to the rock in Horeb, smite the rock, and He would provide the water.

Near where Mount Horeb was there was a wild tribe of people that wandered.  They decided that they wanted the water that God provided for the Children of Israel.  They began to war with them.  God told Moses to send Joshua and the men to battle with the Amalek and the Amalekites. 

Moses took two of the brethren with him.  We need each other.  He took Aaron and Hur and went to the top of the mountain. 

There will be times when we ask others to pray for us and if God gives you a scripture for me then hold up my hands and help me in this situation.

Exo 17:11  And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

Exo 17:12  But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

I think of some of the burdens that I have carried and I think of some of the burdens that you have carried.  I envision in my mind’s eye the servant of God with his hands up, “God we really need help from you and only you can intervene in this situation.  Only you can send help from above.” 

Joshua and the men were down there fighting against a very wild tribe of the Amalekites.  The dear man of God got tired.  As he got tired his hands began to get weary and to lower.  As he looked down he saw Joshua and the men with him were being overcome by the Amalekites.  That dear man of God said, “We have to win this battle” and he lift up his hands and his heart to God.  “God we have to have help from you, please come to our rescue.” 

As he cried out then he saw Joshua begin to push the Amalekites back further and further.  Then he would get tired and his arms would begin to shake and come down.  He’d look down and he would see God’s people losing ground. 

Aaron and Hur came along and set that dear man of God on a rock and said, “Let us hold up your hands.”

Aaron and Hur found a place for the weary one to rest.  The rock typifies Christ Jesus.  You can rest on Him this morning. 

The dear man of God sat on the stone and could still see the battle and the battle still raged.  Aaron and Hur lift up the arms of the dear man of God and held them there.  As Moses’ hands were up they could see Joshua and the men with him defeating, discomfiting, the Amalekites.

Exo 17:12  But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

Exo 17:13  And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

Exo 17:14  And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

Exo 17:15  And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi:

Exo 17:16  For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

Jehovahnissi means, ‘God is my banner’.

They set Moses upon a rock.  As he sat upon that rock, Aaron and Hur supported his hands.  God gave Joshua and Moses a victory and in the process of time the Amalekites were destroyed. 

Moses built an altar and worshipped God.  After God gives us a victory we need to worship God and thank Him for it.  This is two things, it is a memorial and it shows you realize that God is your victory.  Moses did this and said, “God is my banner.”

The unseen thing in this message is that as Moses held up his hands there was a banner that God himself displayed.  That is the banner that God is the true God of Israel. 

We will not win our battles through any avenues of the flesh.  Only through the True God being our God will we win.

Moses knew God.  However young or old you are, you can know God.  It may have been two or three weeks ago that I preached on the thought of, “How big is a baby’s heart.”  Our heart is about the same size as our fist.  This eternal God that Moses knew is able to be the God of the smallest heart.

Moses knew God from the time of being an infant.  His mom and dad taught him about the true God.  Children, young people, and adults will be offered many things that would crowd God out of their heart.  Moses made a choice to know God. 

We will all have to make a definite choice either for God or against God.

When you refer to God as a God of judgment many get uncomfortable.  We are blessed to serve a God of judgment that has principalities and standards that say, “This is right and this is the way.”  If He were not then He wouldn’t care.  We serve a God that does care.

Moses faced difficulty in carrying out God’s commands.  Moses had a lot of difficulties.  Some of it was self induced as when he found himself taking care of sheep after killing the Egyptian.  All of his difficulties were used of God. 

When you find yourself making choices that place you where it is difficult for you to do what God wants you to do, the issue is that God will come where you are. 

He is a God that specialized in taking difficult situations and saying to his servant, “This is what I want you to do next.”  We often want to see the end before taking the next step.  God shows us one step at a time.

You may have felt a wakeup call spiritually.  Don’t beat yourself up over that.  We all need wakeup calls. 

Brother Barry on the thought of the Holy Spirit wrote that when individuals are doing their best to serve God and feel that God led them and then something doesn’t work out, the enemy moves in like a flood to make them think that it is hopeless and to give up. 

When things don’t go right one thing that you can understand is that God is a just God and whatever is transpiring in the big scene that God has we can rest assured that God is working out his purpose.

They began to murmur and complain…, Moses was in a tough spot.  When the enemy moves in like a flood, when you are warred against from getting to the water of life, God told Moses to go forward. 

There will be times when you must walk by faith and go forth to the water of life.  When we face difficulty it is vital that we get to Mt. Zion. 

Lifting up your hands, God left this testimony of Moses for us.  When you reach a place when you realize that there is not one thing that you can do, that is one of the most difficult and wonderful places to be in.  “God there is not one thing that I can do but lift my hands and my heart to you.  I need the saints and the Word and the Spirit to support me.” 

It takes more than just our brother’s and sister’s support.  We need a promise of God and the Word of God under our arm.  God will be God until time ends.  That same God was God before time and before day one. 

Day one God spoke.  Before day one God was God just like He was God when he told Moses to go a little further and go to the rock.  When he smote the rock an artesian well sprung forth.  The children of Israel had water to drink; they enjoyed water for their needs. 

As they did Amalek was wandering around.  Maybe he could smell water or could hear it.  Maybe it shot into the air like Old Faithful or further.  The tribe that didn’t serve God and wanted what God had provided for the Children of Israel moved in.  God had a plan. 

When your arms grow weak then it is not wrong to ask for help.  Lift up the hands that hang down and confirm the feeble knees.  There are times and not just for those that are aged when we need each other.  Moses was humble before God and recognized that he wanted a victory but it would take the help of the saints and the help of God for him to win that victory. 

If you will get upon Mt Zion with your hands lifted up and the word and the Spirit supporting them and the saints there encouraging you that God has never failed then you can have the victory.  I think of Sister Darla when her husband died and she was left to raise five children.  God never failed her from that day to this.  Sis Dorothy was a widow and her house even burned down and God made a way.  He is God.

Come to Zion and lift up your hands.  Let them be supported by the Word and the Spirit and find an Aaron and a Hur to support your hands.  There is a banner that is lift up and it says, “God is my banner.” 

Some trust in chariots and horses.  Some trust in big shots and little shots.  Lift up your banner in unwavering faith.  “God is my banner.” 

To those that are serving God, everyday unbelief comes to war.  Does God really answer prayer?  Lift up that banner, “God is my banner.”

I thought of that mother whose son was so wounded during a war and came home with a head injury.  They said that he would never live and the mother, said, “He has got to live, he is not saved.  He must live so that he can know God.” 

Lift up that banner, “I cannot see that soul lost forever and the tribe of sin taking that soul out to be wasted and spent on the treasures of sin.”

Deu 33:26  There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.

Deu 33:27  The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.

That dear man of God, Moses, lifted up his hands.  There is a God that rides upon the heavens.  This is what this scripture says.  Psalms 46 is a prophecy of Christ and speaks of Jesus in the skies.  Here David is talking of the God that rides in the excellency of the skies. 

I’ve been praying for dear brother Maxwell.  God who rides in excellency and purity, the white horse rider in the sky, has never lost a battle. 

Moses had a vision of this eternal God that rides in the sky and has excellence.  I wonder if this was in memory of the day when He reached his hands to heaven to the God of heaven.  When his hands got tired and others said, “Sit on this rock, we will help you.  We don’t want to disqualify you, we will support you.  This battle is real.  We came out of Egypt and we want to make it clear to Canaan.”

There is something about God moving that is always excellent.

God is God.  The very word good comes from God.  God’s goodness is concerned about all of our personal welfare.  This doesn’t just mean food, shelter, clothing, and heat.  It means our thoughts.  It means the intricate work of God on our mind, our heart, our spirit. 

If you weren’t faced with a situation that demanded God’s intervention on your attitude last week, then you will be this week.  We have an eternal God that is full of goodness and is concerned about our spiritual life.  He is concerned about you knowing God as a child, as a young person, and as an adult.

God was before time, he was before day one.  God is God in 2013, and when time has come to an end, God will still be God. 

God is immutable and cannot lie.  God is just.  God is holy.  God has all power.  He is omnipotent, if you don’t believe it then look out your window.  Everywhere about us we see evidence of God.  That He is immutable, has all power, and is everywhere present. 

If you haven’t seen a tulip, go look at one and let it preach to you.  If you haven’t seen a baby colt, lamb or calf, then check them out.  God is God.  He has all knowledge.

Children as you grow and as I age, God knows what is good for you to know.  God has put a compass in you.  God built you with a compass.  The man that built the compass was given that knowledge through God. 

God gave each of you children a compass.  It knows when something is good and it witnesses when that is good.  It witnesses when something is evil and it goes wild when it comes in contact with it and says, don’t touch that and get away fast. 

God gave you young people a compass.  There will be those that will try to influence you away from Him.  But God gave you a compass.  God knows those that are His.

Mic 6:6  Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?

Mic 6:7  Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

If we had all the oil that is under the state of Montana, that would not be enough to pay for our sin.

Mic 6:8  He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Do right by those that are saved and those that are not saved.  Love mercy and walk humbly with God. 

When the battle is raging, may God challenge us to lift up our hands and we know that we have a banner up there that says, “God is going to win this battle.”