Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Exodus

Exodus 17:8-16 Part 1 03/14/04

Message Title: ‘Imagine What God Could Do!’pt.1                                                                                                    Message Text: Ex. 17:8-16

Introduction: During the summer of 1904 an unlikely partnership was formed at the World’s Fair St. Louis. The summer was unusually hot and people were searching the fair for something to help cool them off and Arnold Fornachou had just what they were looking for, ice cream. People lined up for what seemed like miles to get some of his cool and satisfying ice cream but there was one problem. Arnold was not prepared for the demand and ran out of paper bowls and was forced to wash a few porcelain bowls over and over again. The result was too few bowls and people were getting tired of waiting. Next to Arnold’s ice cream booth was the booth of a pastry chef named, Ernest Hamwi and he was making a Persian wafer desert called zalabia. Ernest also had a problem, his pastry was not selling. He noticed the problem Arnold was having and took some warm zalabia and rolled it into a cone shape. He then went over to show Arnold how the zalabia could hold a scoop of the ice cream. On that hot day during the World’s Fair, the ice cream cone was born because a partnership was formed. By David DeWitt

Question: What is a partnership?

Partnership is the ability to work together toward a goal vision.
Partnership is the ability to direct individual accomplishment toward communal objectives.
Partnership is “Less of me and more of we.”

Rev. David DeWitt reminds us that partnership on a job won’t work with just

    -A Jawbone: People who merely want to talk about getting the job done done.
    -A Wishbone: People who merely wish someone would do the job.
    -A Funnybone: People who never get serious about getting the job done done

    Partnerships must have a backbone: People who work to get the job done.

Transition: For two weeks we are going to look at what it means to partner in ministry. Turn in your Bibles to Ex. 17

Read: Ex. 17:8-16   

Background: The Amalekites were a ruthless people. They were descendents of Esau. Don’t think they didn’t know who these 2 million people were. Don’t think Esau’s children didn’t know what Jacob had done. You remember, Jacob cheated his brother Esau out of his birthright and blessing from their father Isaac.  Although Jacob and Esau had made up, Esau’s children passed down their resentment of the children of Jacob. And who are the children of Jacob? The Israelites. The Amalekites would be one of Israel’s fiercest enemies.

According to Deut. 25, the Amalekites, not following the Geneva Convention’s rules on proper battle ethics, attacked Israel from the rear. Who were in the rear? The stragglers and the weak. These were the ones who were picked off by the enemy. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that there is a warning here for Christians who think they can live faithfully to God without being actively connected to a local community of Christians.  Many say, at least by their choices; ‘I can worship God anywhere, even in the woods while I am hunting, I don’t need to go to church all the time.’  But guess what? I guarantee someone is hunting you and the further you are from the rest of the flock the easier prey you will be to the Christians enemy, Satan.

Don’t think the Christian church doesn’t have an enemy.

    -The identity and definition of family and marriage is under attack by the gay and lesbian agenda.
    -The belief in the absolute truth of the Bible, God’s Word is under attack by liberals outside and inside the church.
    -The belief that God is relevant to our everyday lives is under attack by atheists, agnostics and everyone else who doesn’t want to be held accountable for their sinful acts.
    -The belief that all life is precious to God is under attack by those who promote a woman’s right to choose over an unborn baby’s right to live.

We have a common enemy and we need a common vision to be victorious. But we also need a common commitment to partner together. Imagine what God could do…if his people partnered together for the cause of Jesus Christ! Imagine what God could do!

Transition: This is a text I could spend a month of Sunday’s speaking on. But, I will try to be brief by taking just two. But please understand, my brevity in no way speaks to the seriousness of the topic.

    To be successful as a church in raising up disciples of Jesus Christ,
    To be victorious as Christians over the temptations that come our way, 
    To stand strong for the truth of God’s Word and how it applies to all of life,

    We need to actively and intentionally partner together. What kind of partnership am I talking about? Let’s get back to Ex. 17:8-16.

First, notice there were...
Partners in Leadership

Moses prepared and organized the people for battle two ways: Practically by organizing an army and spiritually by praying.

    It was Joshua who was called to fight the Amalekites and he was to use the sword to defeat the enemy.
    It was Moses who would go to the top of the mountain and pray for God’s people as they entered battle. He had to pray to defeat the enemy.

Moses and Joshua partnered together to defeat a common enemy..and together they were victorious. But both were necessary for victory. They were partners in leadership.

If you are the chairperson of a committee or a ministry coordinator here at CBC, don’t try to do it alone. You have your committee to help and you have all other committees and ministries here to come alongside you to do what you are not able to do alone. Partner in ministry with them and together we will be successful in building the kingdom of God here in Oceanport and around the world.

Next, notice there were…
Partners in Battle

While little is mentioned here about the battle, you need to remember that Israel didn’t have a trained army, they didn’t have an army at all. Joshua had to go throughout the camp and ask men to fight. These men had to be willing to go to battle, even though they never had done that before…and there would be no basic training. Joshua was asking a lot of these men. But they had a common enemy and believed in a common God. So they partnered together for a common cause, to defeat their common enemy. They were partners in battle.

In reality, many believers don’t see the Christian life as a battle. For many things are and have always gone pretty well for them. Sure there are problems and bumps along the way, but nothing they haven’t been able to handle. Christian, if this is you, you need to open you eyes to what is going on all around you. Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones said 

ILL: A man who does not understand the nature of the problem he is confronting is a man who is already doomed to failure. Christian people are like first-year college students—they think at first that every subject is quite simple, there is no difficulty. Well, we know what is likely to happen to such when they face an examination! The first thing you have to do is to understand the nature and character of your problem. So we have to realize that we are called, in the Christian life, to a battle, not to a life of ease; to a battle, to a warfare, to a wrestle, to a struggle.

I know it’s easy to keep your problems to your self. To keep silent about the battles you are fighting in your life. You don’t want to bother anyone, you don’t want others to know your business…your weaknesses…your sin, perhaps. But this text reminds us that we can not go to battle alone. We need to partner with others, who while they may not be fighting your particular battle, they have a common enemy and they are fighting their own battles. Partner with other Christians, trust them as the Israelites trusted Joshua.

Could Joshua have fought the battle alone? No he needed others to get the job done. We are called to partnership in battle.

Conclusion
Independence, personal freedom, personal space, the “me” generation lives on…even in the church. But I am here with a warning: the Church won’t survive, this church won’t survive, unless we becomes more important than me. Unless partnership in ministry becomes a reality, we are doomed to fail.

For those of you who are sitting on the ministry fence, I want you to think this week, how you can become an active and intentional partner in ministry here at CBC. If you have any questions about how you might actively and intentionally partner with us in ministry, come see me. If CBC is your home church, God, your Heavenly Father, has chores for you to do. But be assured, you are part of a big family and won’t be partnering alone, the chores will be shared.

If we all partner together in ministry, Imagine what God could do…