morning, as Phil said, we are beginning a new
series called Called Together and Sent Out. Emphasis
on called and sent. It's my hope and my prayer
that through this series we will better understand
what it means to be called by God, what it means
to be shaped by Him, to be strengthened by our
community and sent into the world with boldness
and, emphasis on this word, grace. Because as
we've discussed the last few weeks, we've all
been called by God into his family. Regardless
of where we come from, what we've done, where
we've been, we're called to be a part of God's
family. And that call comes with a natural response.
And that natural response should be to live in
service and worship to God. So we now have to
allow God to shape us, equip us, strengthen us,
and send us. And we begin by looking in the Old
Testament, what we just read in Exodus chapter
17, verses 8 through 13. So we're going to read
it again, and as I try to do most every Sunday,
we're going to pray about it, okay? So let's
read Exodus 17, 8 through 13. Then Amalek came
and fought with Israel at Rephidim. So Moses
said to Joshua, choose for us men and go out
and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand
on the top of the hill with the staff of God
in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses told him,
and he fought with Amalek while Moses, Aaron,
and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever
Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. And
whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.
But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone
and put it under him, and he sat on it. While
Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side
and the other on the other side. So his hands
were steady until the going down of the sun.
And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people
with the sword. Let's pray really quick. Father
God, we thank you for this morning, this beautiful
day that we get to be together, to sing songs
of praise, to pray to you, to ask you, to invite
you to fight in this fight of life with us, to
beg you to walk alongside us, to ask you to lead
us. And God, I pray this morning as we begin
this series, looking at the story where Moses
needed people. Not just people, but people that
he was close with. People that would see his
need and choose to offer him a helping hand.
God, I pray that we see this story and that we
read in Scripture exactly what you need us to
see. That our hearts hear what it is that we
need to hear. And God, if there's anything standing
in our way of growing closer to you, that's something
that we hear this morning. would help us to remove
that obstacle. God, I pray for everyone in this
room, including myself, that something said will
change our lives. God, I pray that you speak
in this time through your word and through me.
And I pray that we would all be receptive of
what it is that you need us to hear. God, we
love you. We praise you. It's in Jesus' name
we pray. Amen. So I want to give you a little
bit of context in this story. So what you see
in that first verse is that Amalek came and they
fought with Israel. So Israel didn't pick this
fight. In fact, what happened was the people
of Amalek, they surprise attacked the Israelites.
According to Deuteronomy 25, they actually attacked
them from the rear, which is the equivalent of
what we would call today a low blow. The Israelites
would have been, well, first of all, you attack
somebody from behind, but this is right after
they escaped from Egypt. So they're probably
a little bit tired, maybe hungry, maybe scared,
anxious, on edge. You can think of all of the
things that they may be feeling after just having
escaped from Egypt. But also, in the rear, historically
speaking, you would have placed your women. your
children, your disabled, basically your vulnerable
would have been in the back. So when the Amalekites
attack Israel from the rear, they're attacking
them at their weakest spot. So you've got a surprise
attack against your most vulnerable. So Moses
is justified in this. And his response is that
we're going to send our own people to fight back.
And so he responds by sending Joshua with some
men to go and fight on behalf of Israel. He then
takes his brother Aaron, and who many believe
to be his brother -in -law, her, up on a hill
to get good seats for the fight. I'm glad y 'all
laughed at that because I wasn't sure if you'd
get it. No. Moses goes up on the mountain with
his right -hand men. There's another joke, I'm
done, I promise. So he goes with his guys, his
close brothers, and he raises his hand over Israel.
And so right now I'm going to call a volunteer,
and I've got Cole. He's already been prepped
on what he's got to do. So Cole, come on up here,
brother. Cole is going to... be our illustration
for the morning. So Cole, if you will, grab these
stacks of paper right here and join me up here
on the stage, wherever you'd like to stand, up
on the hill, if you will. All right. So Cole
is going to hold these stacks of paper out right.
Oh, he wants to give you all a side profile.
All right. I love it. Okay. So he's going to
keep the, however you want to do it. So he's
going to keep these. Stacks of this, well, there's
two pieces or reams of paper. He's going to keep
this held out front. So imagine Moses here holding
his staff out. Now that's significant because
many scholars believe that Moses raising his
hand with this staff of God was a posture of
prayer. So Moses is possibly praying over Israel.
Or if nothing else, he's inviting God to take
over in this battle. But Moses is human. And
he gets tired like the rest of us. So his hands
may start to lower. But when his hands lower,
Israel starts to lose. When it stays raised,
Israel prevails. And so like the good friends
that they are, Aaron. And her support Moses.
And they support his hands so that he can continue
keeping them raised. So that Israel can continue
to prevail. Whether he's praying or not, Moses
is letting God work in this battle. And his friends
help him invite God to keep bringing victory.
So now, Cole, who are you going to choose to
come help support you? Your closest supporters.
Also people with a little bit of strength. He's
calling somebody. Who's he calling? Here's one.
All right, we've got one friend. We need one
more. Who are you going to bring? Who's he bringing?
Chad, all right. Okay. Not Moses. So Cole, tell
us who you've chosen. Wyatt and Chad. All right,
so why did you choose Wyatt and Chad? You thought
of them quick. Okay, so he has no reason he thought
of them. Maybe that's why Moses chose Aaron and
her. But I'm going to go out on a limb because
I've watched you guys. You and Wyatt are pretty
good friends, right? And so you would say you
trust Wyatt. And Chad is one of your shepherds,
and you've probably known him most of your life,
right? And so you pick two people, yeah, because
they were right there, but there were other people
that were right there. There's something special
that your brain said, I'm going to choose Wyatt
and Chad. Can we give it up for Wyatt, Chad,
and Moses here? Thank you, guys. See, in this
very first battle ever for the Israelites, their
first ever war, they learned quickly how much
they needed God and how much they needed each
other. How much they needed the people closest
to them. Talk about an object lesson. We see
a similar story in the New Testament in Acts
4, verses 23 -31. When they were released, they
went to their friends and they reported what
the chief priests and the elders had said to
them. And when they heard it, they lifted their
voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord
who made the heaven and the earth and the sea
and everything in them, who through the mouth
of our father David, your servant, said by the
Holy Spirit, Why did the Gentiles rage and the
peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth
set themselves and the rulers were gathered together
against the Lord and against his anointed. For
truly in this city there were gathered together
against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the
Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever
Your hand and Your plan had predestined to take
place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats
and grant to Your servants to continue to speak
Your Word with all boldness while You stretch
out Your hand to heal. And signs and wonders
are performed through the name of your holy servant
Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place in
which they were gathered together was shaken.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
To give you some back story here, in verses 1
-22, Peter and John had just been arrested for
proclaiming the word of God. Then they stand
trial before the Sanhedrin. And then they're
released. But they're not released without threat.
Basically, they're told, chill out on the proclaiming
Jesus stuff. We don't want people hearing that
message. We don't want people thinking some other
scriptural foundation. We don't want any other
religion trying to take place over what we've
got going on. So they're threatened. with some
serious punishment. And so they leave there.
They return to their friends not to complain,
not to talk about how awful this is, not to say
we're scared, not to say we need to pray that
God will take action upon them. What they go
and do is they pray for boldness to keep proclaiming
the Word of God. They pray for boldness and for
God to keep healing people, for God to keep changing
people's lives. for power, and for God to work
through them. They don't say, God, strike down
our oppressors. They don't say, God, make us
above them. They don't ask for this might. They
don't even ask for power over these people. They
ask for power to proclaim the Gospel. Once again,
we have this theme. of a hard battle in front
of God's people, of something standing in their
way. And the response of God's people is not
to run away from it. It's not even to complain
about it. It's to face it head on and invite
God in to provide the victory. And see, this
time it's not a physical victory that they're
asking for. It's not a war that they're asking
that God give them victory in. What they're praying
for is for God to be glorified through them.
For God to be glorified through their struggle.
For God to take action in this fight. And that's
the point of this series. We are called to give
glory to God before men so that they may too
glorify Him. That's our call. Our call is to
glorify God, to do things, to say things, to
be a people that when the world sees it, they
say, I want to know something about that God.
I want to receive that transformation. I too
want my life to be changed by this gospel. We're
called to do that regardless of the circumstances.
And maybe you know this, that the circumstances
aren't always ideal. In fact, they usually aren't.
So the questions we have to ask ourselves are,
what do we do when the battle before us is too
big for us to handle on our own? What do we do
when the circumstances aren't ideal? Who do we
face these challenges with? Who holds up our
hands when they grow weary? And how do we fight?
I've got a few answers that I want to offer to
you. First is the who. Second is the why. And
third is the how. So the who. Just like Moses
had Aaron, her, and Joshua, and the Israelite
army. Or just like Peter and John had their friends
who were likely the church and the apostles.
Just like Cole had Wyatt and Chad. And both groups,
all groups, had God. We too need a community
of faithful servants and God. We most importantly
need God. That's the key to all this. But unfortunately,
Satan likes to tell us this lie. And the lie
is that you can do this on your own. You can
fight the battle on your own. You can hold up...
What it is that you need to hold up on your own.
And you can make it through life by yourself.
You don't need community. You don't need the
church. You don't need supporters. He lies. From
the beginning, he's been lying. And from the
beginning, we've seen that we need community.
God makes Adam. He looks at Adam and says, oh
my goodness, this ain't going to work. He needs
a woman in his life. And men, you know that's
true, right? That we need, whether it's your
mama, your grandmama, your aunt, your wife, or
your sister, you need a woman in your life to
help you. And so God looks at Adam. He says he
can't do this alone. Or we read this wisdom literature
in Ecclesiastes that says two are better than
one because they have a good reward for their
toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his
fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls.
and has not another to lift him up. Again, if
two lie together, they keep warm. But how can
one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail
against one who is alone, two will withstand
him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Maybe you've been by yourself in some of your
darkest times. Or maybe your biggest battles
that you've had to face You've tried to face
them on your own. And I don't know about you,
but I've never been successful in that effort.
Every time I try to do things by myself, I fail.
But when I lean on community, I get a little
bit better. When I lean on community and God,
I start to see victory. Now, it doesn't always
look how I want it to, but I can see where...
it's a lot better than what I had. We even see
the way that Christ sent the disciples in groups,
and ultimately he established the church. All
throughout the narrative of Scripture, we see
the need for community, for togetherness. Satan
wants you to believe the lie that you can handle
things on your own. He wants you to believe the
lie that you're strong by yourself. There's this
passage in Scripture that talks about Satan going
around like a roaring lion. Maybe you've heard
that before. Do any of you know how lions hunt?
So when a lion targets this group of, we'll say
gazelles, the lion will look at them and he'll
pick out maybe the weakest one or the smallest
one or the slowest one. Because what he knows,
is that whenever he starts running to attack,
they're all going to run too, right? But he also
knows if he can pick just one out, he gets dinner.
And Satan knows that if he can pick you off,
if he can get you by yourself, if he can get
you alone, if he can get you doubting your community,
if he can get you believing that you can handle
it on your own, or you're faster by yourself,
or you're stronger when you get to do things
your way, if he can convince you of that, he
gets to win. He needs you alone to devour you.
Moses was by himself up on that hill. And his
arms did grow weary and they fell. Would the
Israelites have had victory? No. What happens
if Peter and John don't go back to their friends
and say, we need to pray for boldness. We need
to pray for God to work through us. Does the
gospel ever advance? What happens when you try
to fulfill your calling by yourself and things
get hard? And maybe anxiety sets in or depression
sets in or you face these obstacles and life
gets difficult. Do you ever fulfill your calling?
And that's the why behind the need for community
with people. If we ever feel like we can fully
honor God and live abundant lives on our own,
we leave ourselves subject to destruction. And
now we talk about how we win the battle. Because
the truth is, some of these battles are just
too big for our communities. of people to win.
If I come to you and I say, hey, I love y 'all,
but the city of Blairsville told me I'm not allowed
to talk about Jesus anymore. And we just all
decide, well, we're going to go up to the town
hall and we're going to raise a fuss. Maybe they'll
listen. Maybe they won't. But if we go raise
a fuss and... We pray that God will give us the
boldness to not just raise a fuss, but to tell
people about Jesus. And we start changing this
community and people's lives start to be transformed
and good things start to happen because people
are coming to know Christ. Maybe the government
will look at it and say, hey, we kind of like
this Jesus thing. In fact. What we see in history
in the first century is the Christians weren't
just complaining about the Roman government oppressing
them. They weren't just complaining about the
Jewish government oppressing them. What they
were doing was they were just telling people
about Jesus. And they were changing people's
lives. And God was transforming people. And the
Roman government saw something happening. And
they said, you know, maybe there's something
to this Jesus thing. Imagine if Christians would
invite God into this battle and say, God, we
see the things going on in our country. We see
the things going on in our world. And what we
want to do is not complain about them. We don't
want to try to take it by force. We don't want
to make it happen. We want you to transform people.
And if people are transformed, our country, our
world will be too. Imagine if we responded to
difficulties. By relying on the power of community
and even more on the power of God. We need that.
Moses doesn't go into battle with Joshua to handle
things via combat. He sends Joshua with an army
to do that part. But he also goes up on the hill.
Whether again, whether his holding up the hand
was a posture of prayer or if it was just a symbol
to say, God, work here. What Moses did was go
up on that hill to utilize God's power and God's
might in this fight. Peter and John don't go
tell everybody at church what awful persecution
they face so that the church can pick up their
pitchforks and torches and storm the Sanhedrin.
They go to receive the support and the prayers
of the church and that's what they get. And in
both instances and all throughout Scripture,
God responds accordingly because it is only by
the strength of God that we can have victory.
It wasn't Moses' hand. that won the battle for
the Israelites. It wasn't the words of Peter
and John and their friends that made the gathering
place shake and the Holy Spirit move and fill
them. It was God showing, putting on full display
for all to see His power and His might. We win
the battles necessary to bring God's people home
and to bring His message to the world through
the support and the prayers of our community,
which is the church, and the power and the might
of our Savior, who is God. We cannot do it alone
because if we try to, we will grow weary and
our arms will lower and we will lose the battle.
We'll face persecution. We'll face... Threats
that threaten to slow down the advancing of God's
kingdom. We'll have moments where the evil one
tries to get us on our own. Where he tries to
destroy us. And when we do, we have to remember
who's on our team. Who's in the fight with us.
And we have to remember how we receive victory.
So as we wrap up this morning, I want to give
you some points of application. The first one
is to lean on your people. Lean on your Aaron
and your Hur. Or lean on your friends. Lean on
your brothers and sisters here in this body.
Ask yourself the question, who's holding your
arms up right now when they grow weary? Who are
you letting in? Who are you inviting into the
battle with you? Who are you praying with? Who
are you confessing to? Who are you standing alongside?
God designed us for community. And over the next
20 years or however long I'm here, you're going
to hear me say God designed us for community
over and over and over and over again because
that's true. We're designed to be with people.
And so some practical ways that we can try to
not fight alone. Get involved in a small group.
Join a prayer group. Be a part of a men's or
a women's ministry or a youth ministry. Be surrounded
by people. I've got to tell you, on some of my
toughest weeks, the thing that holds my arms
up is the Wednesday night gathering. Just being
together with people in the middle of the week
because the truth is, is Sunday is not enough
sometimes. It's kind of like my youth minister,
and you'll hear me talk about him a lot because
he's such an interesting guy, but also just a
great man. He'd show up on Wednesday nights to
church and it'd be 7 o 'clock at night and he's
still drinking coffee. And I'm not decaf. Like
he's still drinking just straight up coffee.
And I make coffee in the morning and that's it.
Like two cups in the morning and I'm good. But
for some people, and maybe some of you are this
way, you need it all throughout the day. Some
people are, they need a cup in the morning and
then a cup at the middle of the day and they're
good for the rest of it. And that's kind of how
I am with church. Like I need my cup on Sunday
morning and then I need it again on Wednesday
because by Wednesday I'm just barely making it
through and then I'm crawling in on Sunday morning.
We need to be with people that love Jesus, that
are fighting the same fight as us, that are in
the same race as us to make it to the finish
line. Be together. As often as you can. We say
this all the time. Maybe some of you grew up
as the every time the doors were open type people
with the church. Sunday morning, Sunday night.
Maybe you had a Tuesday night men's group and
your dad drug you along to it. Or you had a Tuesday
morning women's Bible study and your mom made
you go. And then you had Wednesday night. And
maybe there was a Saturday night prayer gathering
over the Sunday morning. And you were there for
everything. And if you were in the youth group,
you went to every single thing. And we complain
about that sometimes, but I've got to tell you,
I think I need more and more of that as the days
go on. Because I cannot make it without community.
And the truth is, neither can you. We need people.
And the second thing is to be a person that people
can lean on. You're going to lean on people,
and they need somebody they can lean on. That
sounds like a song. Somebody should write it.
We need to be people. That people can lean on.
You may not be the one on the hill today holding
up your arm, but you sure as well, you can be
one of those people that's holding up somebody's
arms. Ask yourself, who do I know that needs
encouragement? Who do I know that needs prayer?
Who do I know that needs me to just step in and
help them with their ministry or with what it
is that they're trying to accomplish? Who can
I stand beside this week? Who can I text and
say, hey man, I forgot you've got that thing
going on this week. How can I help? Or how can
I pray for you? Or hey, I know the loss of your
loved one was difficult. Is there anything I
can do? Or hey, I know you just had a new baby.
Is there anything I can do to step in? I was
really encouraged a few weeks ago when they talked
about the meal train for Georgia and Elijah,
and it was said that every day was filled. That's
awesome. We need more of that. We need more people
saying, hey, I need prayers. And everybody just
steps in and says, I'll pray with you. I'll pray
for you. We need more people saying, hey, I've
got this thing going on downtown. And I'm inviting
people. And we're just trying to help the community.
And we need everybody to show up. And everybody
shows up. In a few months, really excited about
it, I'm going to go ahead and plug this. We're
going to have a friends and family day. Who do
you know? That needs you to invite them to know
Jesus. We were at Meeks Park for the fireworks
on Friday night. And we met this random guy who
was sitting next to us. And before we left, Easton
goes, hey, I'll see you at church on Sunday.
And the guy was like, yeah. But we need more
people. Inviting people to come find the community
that we have here. Be a person that people can
lean on. Be looking to make sure that your people
aren't growing weary as they run the race, but
make sure that you're there to lift them up when
they start to get tired. And third, pray your
way through the fight. The power never came from
Moses' arms. It came from God's. The church in
Acts, they weren't able to transform all of Rome
by themselves. It was by God's power working
through them. There's a reason that Jesus leaves
and He says, I'm going to send something better.
And He sends the Holy Spirit. And there's a reason
that in all of these instances where you see
people doing amazing things, you see the Holy
Spirit working in it. In Acts 2, when you see
Peter preach this amazing sermon and all of these
people's lives start to change, who's involved?
The Holy Spirit. You see the Holy Spirit show
up over and over and over again in these crazy
moments because that is God working. And so I
don't know about you, but I want to invite the
Holy Spirit to work alongside us. Because I know
that no words that I say can change this city.
No words that I say can change this area. But
you know who can? God. And so I'm going to pray
every day that God works through me. That God
works through this church. That in my darkest
moments, in my toughest battles, when I'm growing
weary, that God be the one that pushes me on.
That God is the one. that lifts me up so that
we can keep working for His good. Pray your way
through the fight. If I can leave you with a
quote on that, it's lift your hands and surrender
before you lift your hands and work. Because
your hands, no matter how strong or tough you
think you are, are not tough enough. But God's
are. And if you'll let Him, He'll bring victory
in the fight. For the believers in the room,
maybe you are growing tired. Maybe you've been
at this for a long time. Maybe you're in a ministry
that you just feel like you have been working
in forever. Maybe you're trying to get something
accomplished whether it be in this church or
in this community. Maybe you're trying to bring
a message to people abroad. Whatever it is, maybe
you're growing tired. Your arms are weary and
you have been fighting alone. You do not have
to. And I would say you should not. We're here
to hold you up. We as a church want to be here
to fight alongside you, to pray with you, to
pray for you. Don't leave today without letting
somebody in the fight with you. Let somebody
that you trust. Let somebody that you can lean
on. Hold your arms up as you continue inviting
God in to bring victory. And if you've never
joined the family of God, if you've never trusted
Jesus with your life, with your battles, with
your future, you need to know this. You were
never meant to stand alone either. Just because
you're not currently a part of the family of
God doesn't mean you can't be. And we want to
let you know that you have an opportunity to
accept the victory that Jesus has already won
for you. Because He has already won the greatest
battle of all, and that is the battle over your
sin. And the battle for your life. And He won
it. The victory's already been won. Jesus wants
you to be a part of His family. And we want you
to be a part of this family. And so if you're
ready to say yes to Jesus, if you're ready to
step out in faith and keep fighting the battle,
or maybe you feel like there's a mission that
you're supposed to be on, or a ministry that
you're supposed to be in, or you want more information
about a prayer group or a small group, if you
want to know how you can get more involved on
Wednesday nights, we want you to respond so that
we can best help you along in the fight. Because
we have been called together. And this right
here is training grounds. This is where you get
your encouragement. This is where you get your
marching orders. This is where you find strength
to keep fighting another day. And so if you need
anything, whether it's to accept the call or
to get in the fight, we offer you an invitation
to come forward, to let us hold up your arms,
to walk with you. as we stand and as we sing.