Psalm 105, even though it's just a few of us,
the Word is still good. We left off in verse
22, Psalm 105, verse 22, so we're going to try
to read through these last few verses. We'll
start in verse 23. This is a... psalm of praise.
We've been seeing those examples that the writer
here brings us back to the fact that God had
fulfilled his promises. He had made promises
to Abraham and to his people and he had fulfilled
those promises and he had started the nation
of Israel and he had provided for them in Egypt
during the time of famine and had sent a man
ahead of them. He had sent Joseph and through
everything God has been faithful to his people.
And we see these early examples from Scripture
being brought back to our mind here in this psalm.
And we're just continuing on. The writer of the
psalm here, probably David, is continuing on
just in the natural flow of things. So we had
saw that God's people had made it to Egypt, that
he had spared them in the famine, that he had
provided for them. And then he picks up right
there that they get to Egypt and they begin to
multiply greatly. Ends up delivering them from
there as well. So let's pray for a minute and
then we'll look at the rest of the scripture.
God, we come to you. We thank you for being good
to us. We thank you that we can come even on
a rainy night, even though it's just a few of
us tonight, dear Lord. I pray that your word
would be good for us tonight. That we would just
recall your greatness. That we would recall your
mercy and your grace. That you are trustworthy
and dependable, dear Lord. That would impact
our lives, dear Lord, that we would recall these
stories, that we would recall things in our own
life that we've seen, that we've experienced,
or that others around us have experienced, dear
Lord, that just remind us that you are good.
And I pray that you be with us these next few
minutes. In Jesus' name I ask it. Amen. Verse
23 says, Then Israel went to Egypt. Jacob lived
as a foreigner in the land of Ham. Now, we're
going to see the land of Ham mentioned, I think,
a couple of times in these verses. And that's
just another way of saying Egypt. When we say
the land of Ham, that's just another way of saying
Egypt. The Lord made his people very fruitful.
He made them more numerous than their foes, whose
hearts he turned to hate his people and to deal
deceptively with his servants. Now, God had sent...
Joseph ahead of all of his brothers and his father
to prepare the way for them, to make sure that
there was food in the famine. And Joseph was
held in kind of high esteem in Egypt. He was
second in command and had certainly found favor
with Pharaoh. And things started out good. But
as the story unfolds and God's people begin to
multiply, there begins to be a lot. of those
descendants of Abraham, then all of a sudden
the Egyptians kind of have a different view of
them. And they don't really like that they're
starting to outnumber them. And they realize,
hey, wait a minute, there's a lot of these folks.
These are foreigners in our land. We better do
something about this. And so they became slaves
in Egypt. But even there, God didn't abandon
his people. The same thing that we saw last week
with Joseph. Joseph was a slave. He was in prison.
But God delivered him. Now all of God's people
were enslaved. But during this time, God used
it to multiply them greatly. He built his nation
of Israel really quickly in this time and went
from 66 people, I believe it was, that we see
counted in the Scripture to possibly millions
of people by the time that they were delivered
from Egypt. Verse 26, He sent Moses his servant
and Aaron, whom he had chosen. They performed
his miraculous signs among them and wonders in
the land of Ham. He sent darkness and it became
dark. For did they not defy his commands? He
turned their water into blood and caused their
fish to die. Their land was overrun with frogs,
even in their royal chambers. He spoke and insects
came, gnats throughout their country. He gave
them hail for rain and lightning throughout their
land. He struck their vines and fig trees and
shattered the trees of their territory. He spoke
and locusts came, young locusts without number.
They devoured all the vegetation in their land
and consumed the produce of their land. He struck
all the firstborn in their land, all their first.
Now this was a pretty rough time for the people
of Egypt. These were the plagues that God had
sent through Moses and Aaron. And it was pretty
rough. And you would have thought that the Egyptians
would have got the picture early on, but they
were so hesitant to realize and recognize that
God was trying to get their attention. And ultimately,
Pharaoh finally gave in, but his heart was so
hard, he was just reluctant to release the people.
And are there ever times maybe in our life that
God's trying to get our attention? Maybe so.
I mean, I suspect there's probably not been plagues
like this, but maybe there are things that happen
in our life and we wonder, is this God? Well,
maybe if we wonder that, maybe it is. Maybe there
are things that God is trying to get our attention
in. And are we as hard -hearted as Pharaoh or
not? How long does it take for God to get through
to us? Now, I would like to say that... Man,
every time I start feeling God working on me
in some way, that I instantly listen. But not
always. Sometimes I'm stubborn, and sometimes
I'm hard -headed, and that's not a good thing.
And it wasn't a good thing for Pharaoh, but ultimately
God, He got the message through, and He did deliver
His people. Verse 37, Then He brought Israel
out with silver and gold, and no one among his
tribes stumbled. Egypt was glad when they left,
for the dread of Israel had fallen on them. He
spread a cloud as a covering and gave a fire
to light up the night. They asked, and he brought
quail and satisfied them with bread from heaven.
He opened a rock, and water gushed out. It flowed
like a stream in the desert. Now, of course,
this is really summing up a lot of the story
in just a few verses, but it gives us all the
high points. It gives us all the details that
throughout this whole thing, God was with his
people. Even though it may have felt like they
were abandoned, they were slaves in a far land,
but again, we're being reminded by the psalmist
here that God was with his people and blessed
them abundantly so. Not only did he deliver them
from slavery, But he delivered them with gold
and silver. They had the riches of the Egyptians
when they left. And not only that, but along
their journey, which was full of a lot of disobedience
and them questioning God, he could have given
up on them. But he didn't. Moses stepped in for
them. He spoke for them. But God's people, they
weren't faithful to God during this time. They
were pretty disobedient. But nevertheless, God
was faithful to them. And he provided their needs.
He provided their food. He provided them. with
water throughout this whole ordeal. And then
it says in verse 42, For he remembered his holy
promise to Abraham his servant. He brought his
people out with rejoicing, his chosen ones with
shouts of joy. He gave them the lands of the
nations, and they inherited what other peoples
had worked for. All this happened so that they
might keep his statutes. and obey His instructions.
Hallelujah. Okay, so all this happened so that
they may keep His statutes and obey His instructions.
Now God wanted a people that was set apart from
the other people in the land. There were lots
of people that lived in that land, in that area.
But they did a lot of detestable things. They
were wicked people. And God wanted to establish
a people that were His people, that were going
to live by His ways, according to His commands.
And so God established his own nation by which
he was going to bring the Messiah, who was going
to bring Jesus Christ. And God established Israel
so that they could be set apart. So that there'd
be these nations that do all these evil things
that they're not supposed to do, but that then
there would be his people that'd be representatives
of what was right and what was pure and what
was good and what he desired. Which is why he
gave them all those commands. He's like, don't
do this and don't do that and don't have any
other gods before me. Man, be careful around
these other people because they'll lead you astray.
And we see that time and again throughout the
Scriptures. Man, they'll do good for a little
while, and then what do they do? They'll start
getting a little too close to these other tribes,
these other foreigners in the land, and all of
a sudden they'll start worshiping their gods.
They'll put up these Asherah poles, and they'll
have all these idols they'll be worshiping. And
then pretty soon God's people are doing the same
things as all the pagans in the land. And there's
no difference. You can't see a difference between
the people of God and the ungodly people. But
God's desire was that He was going to set a people
aside that would follow His ways, that would
be a representative for Him, a people He could
love and that could love Him, a people that He
could bless, and a people that could trust in
Him. And that was God's desire. And He gave them
all these things. We have all these examples
of how He continued to work and fulfill His promises
and deliver His people because He desired for
them to keep His statutes and obey His instructions.
But what did they do? Well, they didn't do it.
They didn't do it even long after they got across
the Red Sea, they didn't do it. They got across
the Red Sea and they was praising the Lord. And
you flip your Bible a few pages and next thing
you know they're burning all their jewelry to
make a golden calf. And they said, okay, here's
the God who delivered us. Now that is such foolishness.
But are we ever so foolish? Are we ever so foolish
that we have a Red Sea moment? That God has delivered
us and brought us through something in our life
that was so tough and we get through and we praise
the Lord today and then tomorrow we're back.
look into things of the world for our happiness
or for our joy. Maybe we are guilty of that.
I don't know that we're any better than these
people. And maybe there's a good lesson there
for us. Now, we, of course, weren't there back
then, but I think God's desire is still the same
for us today. For those who are His followers
today, that God wants us to be the ones who keep
His statutes and instructions. That as Christians,
we are to be... different from the rest of the
world. Yeah, we live in the world, but we're
not supposed to live like the world and live
far of the world. There's supposed to be something
different about you and I. We're supposed to
be a light. Now, this world is full of darkness.
You don't have to turn on the news for five minutes
and you hear about all the murders and all the
wars and all the just evil things that go on.
And this world is full of so much darkness and
so many people, that's all that they see. Because
they watch the news, they scroll Facebook, and
it's just bam, bam, bam, negative, negative,
negative, darkness, darkness, darkness. And they've
never seen anything that gives them hope. They're
just living in despair. And they don't know about
the gospel of Jesus Christ. They don't know the
Word of God. They don't know that there is hope
and that there is forgiveness and that there
is a God who delivers His people and takes care
of His people. A God who, yeah, we acknowledge
through Scripture that... Life's not always easy,
and God doesn't promise us that He is. But we
have a God that promises to be with us and promises
to deliver us, and there's a lot of hope in that.
And if there's a cure for the despair in our
world, it is the hope of Jesus Christ. And so
God sets us apart. If we put our faith and trust
in Jesus Christ, we are a... A holy nation, the
Scripture says in the New Testament. We're God's
people. And we're to be a light for God. And
we're to be those who follow His commands. But
the question is, do we? That was God's desire
for Israel, that they would follow His commands
and rejoice in it. And that's what God wants
of you and I, that we'd be a people that would
follow His commands. that we'd be set apart,
that we would look different from the rest of
the world, that there would be something special
and unique about His people, people who've put
their trust in Jesus Christ. And that should
be evident in the way that we treat people, in
the way that we interact, in the way that we
love. So we need to make sure that we are those
who are following His commands, that we are reminded
of the great works that God did all throughout
the Scripture, and even the things that we've
seen in our life. And maybe there was a day that
we had a Red Sea moment where God delivered us
in a mighty way and we rejoiced and we were so
on fire for the Lord. And we can ask ourselves,
has there ever been a time in my life that I
was more on fire for the Lord than I am now?
And maybe the answer is no. Maybe you are more
on fire for the Lord now than you've ever been.
But maybe you look back and you say, yeah, there
was a time where I was closer to the Lord than
I am now. What got us off track? Well, it's probably
that we didn't do the one thing that He wants
us to do, to keep His statutes and obey His instructions.
When we do that, man, there's a certain peace
and a certain joy that comes. But the moment
we stop obeying God and following His commands,
we find ourselves in a bad place, just as His
people Israel did. But if we would just seek
Him, He is faithful to be there for us. Let's
pray. God, we come to you. We thank you for the
truth of your word. And I pray, God, that you
would help us to maybe see the areas in our life
where we are not a good representative of you
and help us to just try to seek you more and
try to live in obedience to you, God. We see
plenty of examples of how your people, Israel,
praise you one minute and turn their back on
you the next minute. And God, I just wish and
I hope that we're not... Not people that do that,
but maybe if we're honest, there have been times,
or maybe even now there are times that we praise
you one day, dear Lord, and we just get in the
midst of disobedience and wanting to do things
our way, and I pray that you would just forgive
us of that and help us to seek you. I pray that
you would help us to be a light to the world.
I pray that you would help us to follow your
statutes and obey your commands, dear Lord, that
it be clear and obvious that we're your people.
And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right, I got a few names we can add to our
prayer list this week. One is Nathaniel Jackson.
I don't really know him. That's April Jackson.
It's her dad. I don't know if y 'all know April
Jackson or Nathan Jr., I guess. That's her brother.
Anyway, she was here Sunday. She came with David
Roberts. But she told me her dad had cancer and
was in bad shape. Y 'all pray for him. Ms. Peggy
Toler mentioned a young man that was a friend
of, I think, one of their grandkids. His name
was Landon Murphy, and he's in his 20s and got
a brain tumor. I think she said he was a police
officer. But a young man, and I want to pray
for him. That's a bad, bad deal. Also, Ms. Tommy
Jean from the apartments, her sister Darlene
had to go into the hospital. It was either early
this morning or late last night. I'm not sure.
She's been battling cancer, and she's really
gone down since she had that surgery and been
going through treatments. And they said that
they didn't get all the cancer, so she's in ICU
now. So that's not a good situation. And then
Mr. Sidney Cruz just called and said that Russell
was in the hospital. He had another seizure.
He has those. Pretty often, sadly. And so we
want to pray for him that he'll be okay and that
there won't be no problems with that. Is there
anybody y 'all know of? Any other prayer requests
or praise reports? Yeah, I went and saw her today,
and it don't look like there's any improvement.
I can't tell that she's got any more movement.
Of course, she's raring to go home, but she just
ain't in no shape to go home, I don't think.
So that's a bad situation for them. No, she told
me today she was going home. She didn't care.
She had plenty of people that would come get
her. And I said, well, I don't think you need
to go home until you can walk. She said, I don't
care if I've got to drag myself on the floor.
I'm going home. And I was like, well, Miss Gail,
I don't think that's a good idea. I said, you've
got to think about Ricky and Kim. I said, that's
going to be really tough on them if you're not
able to do. I said, you just need to keep doing
what they tell you to do, and maybe you're going
to get some strength back. But, nope, she was
adamant. She was going home, and that was that.
I've met him before, but I ain't seen him. I
mean, he's lived down there. It's probably two
years ago that I saw him, I bet. He's an 18 is
where he stays. I remember when he moved in and
introduced himself, nice guy, and I invited him
to come, and I ain't seen him since. Like I said,
that's probably been two years ago. His door's
always closed. I had never seen him outside,
never seen his door open. Maybe you can make
a good contact with him. Maybe if there's something
he needs, maybe we can help him in some way.
All right, anybody else? All right, well, I'll
say a quick prayer for these, and then we'll
ease out. God, we thank you for being good to
us. We thank you that even on a rainy day, we
can come and look at your word and just hang
out for just a few minutes. I pray that you help
this storm to pass. Not be too serious for anybody
that you keep everybody's power on and just help
things to be okay in that way. I pray that you
just would be with our nation. It's a lot of
bad stuff that goes on that we're just not doing
right by you, dear Lord. But I pray that you'd
have mercy on us as a people. That as a people,
dear Lord, we'd be a people that wake up and
would begin to seek you and see the error of
our ways and realize that doing things our way
is not a... Not a good way to do it, dear Lord.
And I pray that we would just be a people that
would seek you and that those in leadership would
be people that would point us in the right direction
and establish things in a way that's going to
be according to what you desire, dear Lord. And
I pray that you'd be with all of our brothers
and sisters in Christ around the world that don't
have the freedoms we have, that are still...
struggling to do your work and to preach the
word and to be a light for you. I pray that you
would encourage them and protect them and take
good care of them. I pray for Mr. Nathaniel Jackson,
that you'd be with him and his cancer. I pray
that you'd ease any pain he's got and bring healing
to him if it be your will. I pray that you'd
be with his family. I know they worry about him.
I pray for Landon Murphy with his brain tumor,
that you'd just be with that situation, that
you would help there to be healing there. Help
that to be resolved and not be something that
he has to deal with. I pray for Miss Darlene,
dear Lord, that you would be with her tonight
in the hospital, that you would bring healing
to her body, that you'd take good care of her
and just be with her family. I know Miss Tommy
Jean worries about her, and I'm sure there are
others. I pray that you just would take good
care of her. I pray for Russell as he recovers
from this seizure that you would... Help him
not to have any troubles that he would get back
on his feet. And I pray that you just free him
of this, dear Lord. I know he struggled with
these seizures for quite some time. And I pray,
dear Lord, if it be your will, that you just
would deliver him from that. I pray for Dalton
McCabe, that you'd be with him in these strokes
that he's been having, that you would just take
care of him through this and restore his strength
and be with his family and the ones that take
care of him. I pray for Ms. Gail Kirkland, that
you would just encourage her. Help her to have
patience, dear Lord. I know it's got to be tough
to be, you know, gone from home for so long and
to not be able to get around. I pray that you
would encourage her, and I pray that you'd be
with the family, whatever decisions they have
to make moving forward, that you would help them
to do what needs to be done. We thank you for
this church. I pray that you just continue to
bless us and take good care of us, help us to
see opportunities to serve. Meet those needs,
dear Lord, that we would have the ability to
do what we need to do to serve in those ways.
I pray that you'd protect all our folks, keep
everybody safe and healthy, and bring them all
back Sunday, that you'd fill this place, dear
Lord, with people that want to come and just
worship you and just love on one another. I pray
that you would help me to preach and teach in
a way that brings glory and honor to you, that
you just prepare our hearts in advance. Just
send folks here, dear Lord, to just experience
your love. I pray for all of our teachers Sunday
and our music service that you bless everybody
involved with that. Pray that you help the rain
to slack up for a minute so we can all get home
safe and help us to get through the night safe
and finish the week strong. In Jesus' name I
pray it. Amen.