Mumbling in Miracles - Dr. Cynthia James
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00:00:00 [MUSIC]
00:00:10 Exodus chapters 15 and 16.
00:00:13 We're just going to fly through hopefully the two of these,
00:00:18 but we'll see how far we go.
00:00:20 Exodus 15, beginning with verse 22.
00:00:25 And you're already familiar generally with this set of scriptures.
00:00:31 This is talking, I'll read just a little bit and then you can be seated,
00:00:34 because there's a lot more for us to refer to in terms of reference.
00:00:38 Exodus chapter 15, verse 22.
00:00:43 So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and
00:00:46 they went out into the wilderness of Shur.
00:00:49 And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
00:00:54 I'm going to invite you to just be seated at that point,
00:00:58 because we're gonna have to go back over it again anyway.
00:01:01 This Exodus passage is a study,
00:01:08 you're ready to just walk through this with me, right?
00:01:10 Okay, be patient with me.
00:01:12 Moses is leading Hebrew children, referred to as the Israelites.
00:01:19 He's leading them out of bondage.
00:01:22 They've already crossed through the Red Sea, or Reed Sea, as some would say.
00:01:26 They've already seen Pharaoh's army, the Egyptians drowned.
00:01:31 And they've come to a place where they've only walked three days.
00:01:35 And they walked three days and they come to their first site,
00:01:39 which is a place called Mara.
00:01:41 And you won't be surprised as we go through the text and
00:01:44 the story, why we chose tonight's title,
00:01:49 which is Mumbling in Miracles.
00:01:52 Mumbling, you can either say mumbling in miracles or mumbling and miracles.
00:01:58 I thought about grumbling in grace, it's the same idea.
00:02:01 But it's the mumbling, it's the murmuring.
00:02:04 It's crying and having two loaves of bread under one's arm.
00:02:08 It's the contradiction of what is said and what is really happening.
00:02:14 It's a need to redefine radically one's reality.
00:02:18 And so in this passage about the exile of the Israelites,
00:02:23 they are on a journey.
00:02:26 There's the passage of time.
00:02:28 They're going from slavery, trying to be prepared for freedom and
00:02:32 liberation in Canaan.
00:02:34 And it's more than a physical journey.
00:02:37 I believe the Lord is trying to use his leader,
00:02:40 in this case, to get the people to think differently.
00:02:44 You and I have both heard of people who had a windfall of money.
00:02:47 That's why I say heard of them.
00:02:50 They had lots of money, but in just a short amount of time,
00:02:53 most of it was what?
00:02:55 It was gone.
00:02:56 Or people who lost an unusual amount of weight, but
00:03:00 they had difficult, we've heard, adjusting to their new body.
00:03:05 It didn't, they weren't comfortable in it.
00:03:07 And so just because one moves to another place does not mean that there's been
00:03:12 a mental progression or the work that needs to happen to live and
00:03:18 think in that new space.
00:03:19 Bishop is constantly reminding us of when we go into a new room,
00:03:23 that we need to understand what are the rules in that room.
00:03:26 What do we do?
00:03:27 What do we say?
00:03:27 What are the customs?
00:03:28 What are the traditions there?
00:03:30 And that's what's happening, I believe, to the Israelites.
00:03:34 Yes, they were in bondage.
00:03:35 They cried and the Lord heard their cry.
00:03:38 He delivered them out of bondage.
00:03:40 There was affliction.
00:03:41 There was oppression.
00:03:42 And so now they're going to bondage, to a new place,
00:03:47 a place allegedly of freedom and liberation.
00:03:50 But their mind is still in the old place.
00:03:54 Their thinking is still under that oppressive system.
00:03:58 They have so adopted Pharaoh's way of working with them, the bondage,
00:04:02 the affliction, the hard life, the labor, until they do not
00:04:07 understand the free gift that God has for them as they move through the wilderness.
00:04:13 And so in this passage, they've only gone three days.
00:04:17 They've only walked a short distance.
00:04:19 They are in the wilderness.
00:04:21 In the wilderness, you're not surprised that things that go with the wilderness are there.
00:04:26 They've gone three days and there is no water.
00:04:29 They've come to a place called Marah, M-A-R-A-H, which means bitter,
00:04:34 which is already instructive for us because the scripture says the place was called bitter.
00:04:40 Their experience was bitter, so they named it bitter.
00:04:44 Have you ever had a child that acted up one day and you start calling them bad,
00:04:49 you're so bad, you're always bad, until that's the name that's stuck?
00:04:53 And we see that happens more than once.
00:04:55 The experience becomes the name.
00:04:58 That's why we remember the patriarchy said, "Don't name my child,
00:05:01 son of my sorrow," because there's a future and there's a hope and God has a promise.
00:05:07 And I can't help but keep remembering the sermon that we heard from Pastor Tudman,
00:05:12 and it had so much in it about word cure and reminding us not to cast away our confidence
00:05:18 because we just need to have patience so that we can wait and receive the promise.
00:05:25 But when we name something by what the initial experience is,
00:05:29 it's a challenge to ever see it differently.
00:05:32 Have you ever had a co-worker or a marriage or a child or a relative or a neighbor
00:05:39 that the conduct has changed, but it's difficult to see them or the experience in another light?
00:05:46 So they come and there's bitter water and they name it bitter,
00:05:51 and that's the name that sticks.
00:05:52 And we'll see in the text that this happens more than once.
00:05:56 And so the people are murmuring and complaining and they're complaining to Moses,
00:06:00 and Moses takes this complaint to God, which is the right place to take it.
00:06:04 He takes it to Yahweh, to the Lord.
00:06:06 And the Lord speaks to Moses.
00:06:08 I'll give you the verse for that.
00:06:10 The Lord speaks to Moses, and I like the King James particularly in verse 25.
00:06:16 He says, "The Lord showed him a tree."
00:06:18 I think the NIV will say, "The Lord showed him a stick."
00:06:22 But there was a problem because the water could not--
00:06:25 they couldn't drink it because it was bitter.
00:06:27 Now, you don't expect a wilderness to have a lot of water.
00:06:30 So this was ordinary for the situation of the circumstance they were in.
00:06:35 But a wilderness is a place that doesn't have order to it.
00:06:39 It's not a place of good life support.
00:06:42 It's not a place of sustaining.
00:06:45 It's not a place that's predictable in terms of how one can thrive and do well.
00:06:51 And so the Lord speaks to Moses, shows him a tree in the King James,
00:06:57 which when he had cast into the waters, the tree were made--
00:07:02 the waters were made sweet there.
00:07:04 And he made for them a statue and an ordinance.
00:07:07 Let me say that again.
00:07:08 What happened was they came to a place and the waters were bitter.
00:07:11 The Lord showed him-- you can put the scripture up again,
00:07:14 if you would, please.
00:07:15 The Lord showed him a tree or a stick--
00:07:18 tree here.
00:07:18 Glad you got King James.
00:07:20 Which when he took the tree, probably a portion of it,
00:07:23 and threw it in the water, the waters did what?
00:07:27 Were made sweet.
00:07:28 And then the Lord gave them a statue.
00:07:30 He gave them a rule there.
00:07:32 Now, we can't help being Bible students not just
00:07:36 to lock in on Exodus 15 and verse 25.
00:07:42 We can't help but remember that this idea of a tree
00:07:45 that later on there were prophets.
00:07:47 And one of them, they were failing trees.
00:07:49 And the axe head, which was borrowed, fell into the water.
00:07:52 And he said, alas, the axe head, something that was borrowed,
00:07:56 I've lost it.
00:07:57 And it was then that they also took wood or a tree or a stick
00:08:01 at the order of the command of the Lord
00:08:03 and threw it in the water.
00:08:05 He said, show me where you lost it.
00:08:06 And they threw it in.
00:08:08 And the iron began to float.
00:08:10 And we know better.
00:08:11 And we don't just stop there.
00:08:13 But we understand that Jesus-- that's
00:08:15 why the Old Testament is still talking to us
00:08:17 about New Testament.
00:08:19 You see, as the Lord was taking them from the wilderness
00:08:24 to a new territory, to a new place,
00:08:27 they were on their way to Sinai.
00:08:29 He was trying to get them ready to hear
00:08:31 and to obey the commandments of God,
00:08:34 but not just the word from Sinai.
00:08:36 But as we read this, we're not looking
00:08:38 at coming through that wilderness.
00:08:40 But the scriptures are trying to get
00:08:42 us ready to receive the word of the Gospel of John 1 and 1.
00:08:46 In the beginning was the word, to get
00:08:48 ready to hear and to obey God's command.
00:08:51 So we think immediately when we read this
00:08:54 of a Savior who was crucified where?
00:08:57 On a tree.
00:08:58 And it was that same crucified Savior
00:09:01 who shed his blood for you and I that
00:09:04 was cast into the waters of the Jordan,
00:09:07 the dirty, muddy waters of the Jordan, that
00:09:10 represent our sins, that represent our failures,
00:09:14 our failure to listen and obey God,
00:09:16 that he was cast, ascended all the way from heaven down,
00:09:19 came into this murky, miry place,
00:09:23 the condition of humankind, and what was bitter,
00:09:26 what would have been a curse in my life,
00:09:28 would have been a binding in my life,
00:09:30 what would have been bondage, what
00:09:32 would have been something I could never live down
00:09:34 or overcome, what would have been habits or addictions that
00:09:38 would have helped me, things that
00:09:39 would have been unforgivable and unforgettable,
00:09:42 that because he was cast into the waters of humanity's
00:09:46 condition, what was bitter has become sweet.
00:09:50 Isn't it wonderful how nothing in the scripture
00:09:54 happens by coincidence?
00:09:56 But as we look, people say, well,
00:09:57 why are you in the Old Testament?
00:09:59 We're in the Old Testament and we're in the New Testament.
00:10:01 We're in what Moses did and we're in what Jesus did.
00:10:04 And when we hear the command and the word of God,
00:10:07 we know that that's the same word that
00:10:09 is spoken and given to us in the New Testament.
00:10:12 So Israel is making this journey,
00:10:14 and they're making this journey from bondage
00:10:18 to hopefully a place of higher functioning.
00:10:21 And the wilderness that they're going through
00:10:23 is just a way for us to cipher.
00:10:26 That means, in other words, it's just to give us a way
00:10:28 to talk about the work that God does.
00:10:32 There are sub-themes here, sub-themes of deliverance,
00:10:36 sub-themes about Sabbath and rest,
00:10:39 sub-themes about the goodness and the gift of God,
00:10:42 what God has planned and inherited,
00:10:45 and we inherit from Him, sub-themes about the future
00:10:48 we have from Him.
00:10:50 And so the wilderness is a sojourn.
00:10:53 But the wilderness is a risky place.
00:10:56 And it may not sit well with you,
00:10:58 but I would suggest that living today is a risky venture.
00:11:02 I'm not talking about just driving down freeways
00:11:05 or in bad weather and when there's ice or sleet.
00:11:08 But we never know when someone's gonna go off.
00:11:11 We never know when there's going to be a crisis
00:11:13 at a large store or there's going to be an action
00:11:17 at a school or at a, I don't wanna call
00:11:20 any particular chain, but we never know
00:11:22 when there's someone that gets off track
00:11:25 and becomes a threat.
00:11:26 And so we're concerned about our children,
00:11:28 we're concerned about our hospitals,
00:11:31 where there was an event in our local hospital
00:11:33 and some lives were lost, even a physician
00:11:36 and other nursing attendants.
00:11:37 So living is a risky venture.
00:11:40 And that makes life a wilderness.
00:11:43 It makes it not order.
00:11:44 That's why we have to ask God to order our steps.
00:11:47 It makes life unpredictable.
00:11:50 People that you thought would be there are not there.
00:11:52 People that you never thought would be there are there.
00:11:55 Things that you thought would never happen to you
00:11:58 begin to happen.
00:11:59 Job said the very thing that he didn't want,
00:12:01 the very thing he feared,
00:12:03 that's the thing he had to deal with.
00:12:05 So I wanna surprise you.
00:12:07 And even though it's 2024, we are living in a risky place
00:12:12 and we can learn from the wilderness journey
00:12:15 of the Israelites.
00:12:17 And so it is, here they were making this travel
00:12:20 and they still had a mentality as if they were under Pharaoh.
00:12:25 They were still living as though they were in bondage
00:12:28 and being asked to make bricks without straw.
00:12:32 And when they saw that the water was bitter,
00:12:34 they said to Moses, "What are we gonna drink?
00:12:37 Oh, what are we gonna do out here?"
00:12:40 And you'll see in the next chapter,
00:12:41 they keep having what questions.
00:12:43 But we're reminded as we hear echoes and innuendos
00:12:46 from the New Testament again,
00:12:48 in Matthew where the scripture said,
00:12:49 "Don't worry about what you're going to eat
00:12:52 or what you're going to drink."
00:12:54 And the reason is because the Father knows
00:12:56 what we have need of.
00:12:58 And so in this text, we're constantly looking
00:13:01 at Israel's need, but we're looking at an able God
00:13:05 who's able to provide.
00:13:07 The problem is sometimes we forget that the provider
00:13:11 is more important than the provision.
00:13:14 And they were reaching for the provision,
00:13:17 but forgetting about the provider.
00:13:19 And the scripture doesn't give us any reason to think
00:13:23 that God does not punish them.
00:13:26 At one point, Moses, it says, gets a bit angry,
00:13:29 but there's no punishment or retaliation
00:13:33 because it's something they have to learn.
00:13:35 When you go to a new job and a new office
00:13:38 and a new position and a new title,
00:13:41 you may make some mistakes.
00:13:42 You have to learn the terrain and the territory.
00:13:45 So this is a teaching lesson, but we would be remiss
00:13:50 and really missing out on our opportunity
00:13:53 if we don't see beyond really just bitter waters,
00:13:58 if we stay at the water cooler level,
00:14:00 if we stay at the level of,
00:14:02 oh, what are people whispering over the back fence?
00:14:05 But instead, what we need to see
00:14:07 is that there are systems in place.
00:14:10 Bishop has called them cycles,
00:14:13 but there are systems in place that remind us
00:14:17 of Pharaoh's system that are exploitive.
00:14:20 Are you with me?
00:14:21 There are systems of oppression.
00:14:24 There are systems that will keep us always as consumers,
00:14:28 just buying and spending and buying and spending.
00:14:31 Are you with me?
00:14:32 Just buying and spending another credit card,
00:14:35 another credit card, and I'm not knocking having credit.
00:14:38 It's good if you have good credit.
00:14:40 But we don't want to be caught up in a system
00:14:43 that becomes a barrier to our moving ahead
00:14:47 and fulfilling God's purposes in our life.
00:14:50 So we are an audience that are not going to look
00:14:54 at the scripture in its smallest application.
00:14:57 We're not just looking at, oh, those fussy Israelites.
00:15:00 Oh, that's the nature of bitter waters.
00:15:03 We want to begin to look at how they're thinking
00:15:06 and what are the questions that they are asking,
00:15:09 and are they asking the right questions?
00:15:12 And so they're saying to Moses, what are we going to drink?
00:15:15 And Moses says something back to them a couple of times.
00:15:18 He says, who are we?
00:15:19 In other words, the water can't be manufactured.
00:15:22 Water's not something that you create,
00:15:24 that we can create or devise.
00:15:26 We can find it and locate it,
00:15:28 and we can have something to do with its uses
00:15:31 and its application.
00:15:33 But they were asking questions way above Moses' head.
00:15:37 But when we live by what we see right in front of us,
00:15:42 it creates a crisis.
00:15:44 And in this situation, it's not the only time,
00:15:47 it created a leadership crisis.
00:15:50 They were upset with Moses and Aaron
00:15:53 because the water was bitter in Myra.
00:15:56 Misplaced aggression, right?
00:15:58 But they left Myra after the waters were sweet,
00:16:02 and they went on to a place called Elam.
00:16:05 And when they got to Elam, there were 12 springs
00:16:08 and I think 70 palm trees.
00:16:10 And that let us know that here were
00:16:12 two different watering holes,
00:16:14 two different water experiences,
00:16:16 one bitter and one sweet,
00:16:18 but they were all in the same wilderness.
00:16:21 And if we just judge the whole wilderness journey
00:16:23 by the first watering hole,
00:16:25 you begin to get depressed and rejected
00:16:28 and feel like everything is bitter, everything is negative.
00:16:32 But that's why we say I'm gonna run on
00:16:33 and see what the end's gonna be.
00:16:35 Because after the bitter,
00:16:38 that was by the word of the Lord, that became sweet,
00:16:41 they came to a place that was really an oasis
00:16:44 that was plush, that was lush, that had shade,
00:16:47 and had all of these things.
00:16:50 And so I just wanna look quickly through
00:16:52 and see if there's anything else in this 15th chapter.
00:16:55 And it was at this point that the Lord
00:16:57 gave them two statues.
00:16:59 He began to tell them, I want you to honor
00:17:02 your mother and your father.
00:17:03 He gave them some rules because he was marking that place.
00:17:07 When God shows up in unusual places,
00:17:09 he often gives what we call a magisterial statute,
00:17:14 a magisterial statement.
00:17:16 That means that he exercises his authority.
00:17:19 He flexes God's sovereign muscle.
00:17:22 And that happens several times in the scripture.
00:17:25 In other words, he lets you know who's who,
00:17:27 that the wilderness is not bigger than I am,
00:17:31 that bitterness is not something I can't overcome,
00:17:34 that there's no experience in your life
00:17:36 that I can't sweeten.
00:17:38 I can take heartbreak and make it a learning lesson for you.
00:17:42 I can take sickness and illness,
00:17:44 and you'll begin to testify and say it was good for me
00:17:47 that I've been afflicted.
00:17:49 I can take aging, and you can thank God
00:17:51 for the years of learning.
00:17:53 I can take abandonment and loneliness
00:17:56 and turn it into a sweet solitude
00:17:58 and a walk with the Lord.
00:17:59 There's nothing that God cannot change
00:18:02 because in his essence, God is good.
00:18:05 God is still a creator.
00:18:07 And when you have bitterness, you have bitter water,
00:18:10 and it turns to sweet, it's an act of creation
00:18:14 because it's what we call, you know this word, ex nihilo.
00:18:17 You heard that?
00:18:18 That's what God stepped out, so Weldon Johnson said,
00:18:21 in the way the imagery's given.
00:18:25 But God created everything out of nothing, right?
00:18:28 It was a void, it was empty, but out of that, he created.
00:18:33 The earth, the sky, the sun, the stars.
00:18:35 So God can take absolutely nothing.
00:18:38 You know, we have a phrase that says,
00:18:40 show me what you're working with.
00:18:41 When you ask God, he doesn't have anything to work with.
00:18:45 It's out of himself he brings forth.
00:18:47 It was his own right arm that he brought forth salvation.
00:18:51 So you can look at your circumstance
00:18:53 and you can name it Myra, or you can give it a name
00:18:56 that sticks by the experience of one event or one action.
00:19:01 But we're cutting off our vision.
00:19:03 We're putting blinders on because in the same place
00:19:07 where trouble comes, blessings come.
00:19:09 In the same place where sickness comes, healing comes.
00:19:13 In the same place where poverty comes and displacement comes
00:19:17 God can bring provision.
00:19:19 That's why we walk in the house of God and said,
00:19:21 I'm praising him not because I had a good Monday
00:19:24 or a good Wednesday, but I'm praising him
00:19:26 because the essential essence and the attribute
00:19:29 and the trait of God that does not change
00:19:31 is that God is just good.
00:19:33 If I'm tasting something bitter,
00:19:35 it doesn't mean he's not good.
00:19:37 If I'm tasting something dry, it doesn't mean he's not good.
00:19:41 I don't have to see the symptoms.
00:19:43 I don't have to see the indicators
00:19:45 of what God is going to do.
00:19:46 But suddenly, and without provocation,
00:19:50 God is able to just change things
00:19:54 so that locked gates begin to open
00:19:56 and prison chains just fall off.
00:19:59 They didn't have to come unglued.
00:20:01 No one had to sneak a saw into the prison.
00:20:04 And I'm trying to remind myself and you
00:20:07 that this is the God that out of nothing
00:20:10 can create anything that God wants to create.
00:20:14 He's just that sovereign.
00:20:16 He's just that independent.
00:20:19 He's not depending on substances that he made.
00:20:22 He's not depending on tools or vessels.
00:20:25 He's not depending on iron or steel.
00:20:28 He's not depending on Pharaoh to come and change his mind
00:20:32 and deliver his people in the wilderness.
00:20:34 But if God led them there, he can take them through.
00:20:38 If he brought them there, he can bring them out of there.
00:20:42 If he sent you in there, he can keep you
00:20:44 until you come out of there.
00:20:46 So if your head is hanging down
00:20:48 and your shoulders are drooping a bit
00:20:51 and the situation feels overwhelming,
00:20:53 begin to talk to yourself and say, I'm in a risky place.
00:20:58 And I've come across some bitter waters.
00:21:02 But I have a Jesus who represents a tree of life to me.
00:21:07 And because it was the Father's will
00:21:09 that he would be thrown into the waters of my situation
00:21:13 and the waters of my circumstance,
00:21:16 I can still endure and live through it.
00:21:19 I can still make it through and not just subsist,
00:21:23 but I can be sustained.
00:21:24 Thank you, Jesus.
00:21:26 Not just survive, but I can thrive.
00:21:29 I can grow and bring forth fruit.
00:21:32 That's why he said that he ordained.
00:21:34 He decreed it.
00:21:38 It was a magisterial decree and statute.
00:21:42 It's decreed that you would bring forth fruit.
00:21:46 It's decreed that you would be productive.
00:21:49 It's decreed that you would be entrepreneurial.
00:21:52 It's decreed that you could raise those children.
00:21:55 It's decreed that you'd have success
00:21:58 in that venture and on that job.
00:21:59 It's decreed that you're not gonna lose your mind.
00:22:02 It's decreed you're not gonna throw your hands up.
00:22:05 It's decreed that your past that may be hurtful or harmful
00:22:09 is not going to overtake you.
00:22:11 It is decreed that you would bring forth, talk to me,
00:22:16 fruit and that your fruit, what?
00:22:19 Is not gonna fall from the vine prematurely,
00:22:22 but it's gonna remain.
00:22:23 It's gonna remain because we have to have a legacy.
00:22:26 It's gonna remain because we've got
00:22:28 some generations following.
00:22:30 It's gonna remain because you have some nieces and nephews
00:22:33 and children and neighbors and grandchildren and cousins
00:22:36 that need to see that God works.
00:22:38 They need to see a testimony that it's worth serving God.
00:22:43 They need to see something and hear something
00:22:46 that doesn't necessarily come from your lips,
00:22:48 but they need to see a witness, thank you, Jesus,
00:22:52 that no matter how bitter it was, being a single parent,
00:22:55 no matter how bitter it was,
00:22:58 maybe having to deal with the diagnosis,
00:23:00 no matter how bitter it was, being overlooked
00:23:03 or maybe forgotten or not the preferred person,
00:23:06 that God still made it sweet.
00:23:08 I hear down in the recesses of my mind,
00:23:12 they say he's sweet, I know.
00:23:15 It's not that this situation is so sweet, brother Justin,
00:23:19 but is that when God is in it, is he sweet?
00:23:22 And wherever he is, it sweetens up.
00:23:25 It's like wherever you put a light,
00:23:27 the darkness has the light.
00:23:29 So if Jesus is in it, I said it's sweet.
00:23:32 Oh, you don't hear me.
00:23:33 I said if he's in it, Pastor Dobbins,
00:23:36 it has a different taste.
00:23:38 Oh, taste and see.
00:23:40 That the Lord is good.
00:23:45 Why is he good?
00:23:46 He's good because his mercy endures forever.
00:23:48 He's good because he's a kind God.
00:23:51 He's good because he's mercy,
00:23:53 and goodness and mercy is following you.
00:23:56 Now you can sit and just look at the bitter waters
00:23:59 or you can apply what God has provided to your situation.
00:24:03 You can cast the word of God
00:24:05 into the waters of your humanity,
00:24:08 even in the place of your errors and mistakes
00:24:10 and poor decisions and see if God
00:24:13 won't change the circumstance.
00:24:15 This is the God that we serve.
00:24:18 And so God gave them a statue.
00:24:20 Now there's something particularly interesting.
00:24:23 I wanna make sure that I'm reading it right.
00:24:25 Will you bear with me if we read verse 26?
00:24:28 I will, if, I wanna underscore that word if.
00:24:34 If thou, I'm in the King James,
00:24:37 this is Exodus 15 and 26.
00:24:40 If thou wilt diligently, watch every word,
00:24:46 hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God,
00:24:50 I will do that which is right in his sight,
00:24:53 and will give ear to his commandments,
00:24:55 and keep all of his statues.
00:24:58 I will put none of these diseases upon thee,
00:25:02 which I have, next verse, brought unto the Egyptians.
00:25:07 Here's that declaration, for I am the Lord that healeth thee.
00:25:11 We can't skip this.
00:25:13 You would think that this passage would say,
00:25:16 if you would hear, if you would do,
00:25:20 if you would keep, then I will do this.
00:25:25 Let me say it again.
00:25:26 You would assume that this would be a conditional passage,
00:25:29 if then statement that says,
00:25:31 if the Israelites will hear, if they will do this,
00:25:35 and if they will hearken and seek and keep all these statues
00:25:39 then I'm going to keep the diseases off of you
00:25:44 that were on the Egyptians.
00:25:46 And what else did he say?
00:25:47 And I am the Lord that healeth thee.
00:25:50 There's no then in this.
00:25:53 There's no conditional statement.
00:25:56 It's implied.
00:25:57 So it's reasonable to assume that the scripture is saying
00:26:00 that if you do this, we can expect the Lord to do that.
00:26:04 But because God does not lock God's self in.
00:26:08 He says, you need to hear.
00:26:11 You do need to do.
00:26:13 And you do need to keep.
00:26:16 And then it stops right there.
00:26:18 And he says, I'm the Lord that brought you.
00:26:23 I'm the Lord.
00:26:27 I'm Jehovah Rapha.
00:26:30 I'm the Lord that healeth thee.
00:26:32 God being our healer and our physician
00:26:35 is not conditional upon our obedience.
00:26:40 Let me say it again.
00:26:41 He does not say if you hear, if you do, if you keep,
00:26:45 then I won't let these diseases come upon you.
00:26:48 It is implied and we can reasonably expect
00:26:51 that we won't suffer some things
00:26:54 because we have been obedient
00:26:56 and obedience is better than sacrifice.
00:26:59 And all disobedience, just so I can get it in here, is sin.
00:27:03 You know, my generation got to talk about sin.
00:27:05 It's gonna come in there some kind of way.
00:27:07 So all disobedience is sin, right?
00:27:10 But it's not an if then clause.
00:27:13 We say to our children, if you don't sit down,
00:27:15 this is what's gonna happen to you.
00:27:17 Then I'm coming over there.
00:27:19 If you don't eat this, then I'm gonna do this.
00:27:21 But God's not saying that.
00:27:23 He's just saying, these are the things you have a choice.
00:27:28 If you do them, it's a choice.
00:27:32 So if you do this, you can reasonably expect,
00:27:36 because Egyptians didn't do it, so diseases came on them.
00:27:39 But nevertheless, he said, I'm the Lord.
00:27:43 I'm the healer.
00:27:43 It's a boasting statement.
00:27:47 It's a God that's saying,
00:27:48 I take your wilderness of no order and unpredictableness,
00:27:55 which is not a place for life to be sustained,
00:27:59 and I step into it and I change it
00:28:02 because I'm not just talking about physical healing.
00:28:04 I heal your finances.
00:28:06 I heal your relationships.
00:28:08 I can heal your career, your future.
00:28:10 I can heal the pain of your past.
00:28:12 He said, this is a I am that I am statement.
00:28:16 You have to read the letter.
00:28:18 I shouldn't say you have to,
00:28:19 but I invite you to read the letter,
00:28:21 but then I invite you to feel the letter.
00:28:24 And this is a statement that says, I am Yahweh.
00:28:28 I am the healer.
00:28:30 It's not conditional.
00:28:31 He heals who he wants to heal.
00:28:33 He reigns on the just and the unjust.
00:28:36 So we're not locking God in to say,
00:28:38 you're not gonna heal, you're not gonna bless these folks
00:28:40 'cause they just got in church
00:28:42 and they're not doing this the way it's supposed to be.
00:28:44 He said, I'm God.
00:28:46 He said, I am the healer.
00:28:48 And so the beauty is that he's saying,
00:28:51 this is the wilderness,
00:28:52 but not only can I change bitter to sweet,
00:28:55 and not only do I give you a statue and a commandment
00:28:58 and a word of what you should do,
00:29:00 but let me let you know that who I am
00:29:04 is not conditioned on how you see me.
00:29:06 Who I am is not conditioned on what you anticipate.
00:29:10 Who I am is not conditioned on what you read
00:29:13 or who you heard, because God,
00:29:15 that's why we say in theology, God is God and very God.
00:29:19 God is independently God.
00:29:21 God is self-sufficiently God.
00:29:23 And we think we're self-sufficient,
00:29:25 that's when we get in trouble.
00:29:26 So I wanted you to notice that
00:29:28 'cause that's extremely important.
00:29:30 Then that's for church 27,
00:29:32 is they went on their journey to the next place,
00:29:34 which was totally different
00:29:36 and where there were 12 palm trees and,
00:29:38 let's see, no, 12 wells of water.
00:29:42 So there was different water there,
00:29:44 12 wells of water and 70 palm trees.
00:29:46 Let's go to,
00:29:47 I should be wrapping it up.
00:29:50 Let's go to Exodus 16.
00:29:52 Somebody said okay?
00:29:56 I heard a okay.
00:29:57 All right.
00:29:58 Now, just because they're being delivered from bondage,
00:30:02 it's not a deliverance to autonomy.
00:30:05 It's not a deliverance that you can do anything
00:30:08 you wanna do 'cause I brought you out,
00:30:10 so now you're free.
00:30:12 We're not paying for that freedom,
00:30:15 but it's not a cheap freedom.
00:30:16 So we've been delivered from our past, some of us.
00:30:19 We've accepted the Lord as our savior.
00:30:21 We say I'm free, I'm free.
00:30:23 Praise God, I'm free, yes.
00:30:25 But that's not free to be autonomous.
00:30:29 That's not free not to have discipline.
00:30:32 That's not free to live a disorderly life.
00:30:36 That's not free to break rules of health
00:30:39 and those kinds of things.
00:30:40 It's not free to run rampant.
00:30:43 And so Israel, I believe God is trying to get them
00:30:46 to think and respond to his word coming out of Pharaoh
00:30:51 where they were beaten, lashed and afflicted.
00:30:54 And there's a kind of mental recidivism.
00:30:58 It's a kind of I wanna go back to being incarcerated.
00:31:02 I'd rather go back to my abusive relationship
00:31:06 because at least I know what's happening there.
00:31:09 They leave Elam and they come to this place
00:31:13 in what's called the wilderness of sin.
00:31:15 And here is mumbling, mumbling in the face of a miracle
00:31:19 that they've just seen.
00:31:21 The miracle of Pharaoh's army drowned.
00:31:23 The miracle of God separating the sea
00:31:26 and they walked through on dry ground.
00:31:28 The miracle of seeing the waters of Myra
00:31:33 that they continue to call bitter
00:31:34 even after they were sweetened.
00:31:36 The miracle of seeing the Lord give instructions
00:31:40 to change that.
00:31:41 They're coming here now and they're sitting
00:31:43 and they're talking to one another.
00:31:46 And they remember they said, we'll find the verse in a minute
00:31:49 they said, we used to sit by the flesh pots,
00:31:52 which P-O-T, pots, which is representative of both bread
00:31:58 and meat.
00:31:59 And they said, you know what?
00:32:00 It would have been better if,
00:32:02 this is how crazy mumbling is.
00:32:04 It would have been better if we died by the hand
00:32:07 of the Lord, where?
00:32:09 In Egypt.
00:32:10 Now, first of all, God's hand is the delivering hand.
00:32:13 God's hand is a saving hand.
00:32:15 God's hand is a sustaining rescuing hand.
00:32:18 So they could have just said, it would have been better
00:32:20 if you had left us to die in Egypt.
00:32:22 But why are you gonna put it on the Lord?
00:32:24 It would have been better if you had left us
00:32:27 and we had died by God's hand in Egypt.
00:32:30 No, that's Pharaoh's hand.
00:32:32 That's not God's hand.
00:32:34 Pharaoh's hand was a destructive hand.
00:32:37 Pharaoh's hand was the hand they had lived under
00:32:40 of bondage and affliction and abuse and misuse.
00:32:44 Pharaoh's hand was the hand of accusation
00:32:47 and creating unnecessary obstacles,
00:32:50 but they were familiar with it.
00:32:52 And so what happens is when we look too much
00:32:56 and give too much credence to our present situation
00:33:00 and what is in front of us,
00:33:01 we succumb to the seductiveness of a past.
00:33:06 There is a distorted seductiveness
00:33:10 where they are preferring a painful, abusive past
00:33:15 rather than the promise of liberation and a hopeful future.
00:33:20 Are you following?
00:33:21 I want you to not just get locked into this
00:33:23 'cause then you'll just say, that's a good Bible story.
00:33:26 I want you to see this on a larger scale,
00:33:28 your own life, my own life,
00:33:30 but even larger than your life and my life.
00:33:33 See it on the scale of communities.
00:33:35 See it on the scale of organizations and systems
00:33:39 and educational systems and healthcare systems.
00:33:42 See it on the scale of communities
00:33:44 and organizations and dimensions.
00:33:46 See it on the scale of nations,
00:33:47 and we'll hint about that in a little bit.
00:33:51 They're saying, it was better there.
00:33:54 How could memory be so erased?
00:33:58 What was because when they got to this place,
00:34:01 they were, some say 30 days,
00:34:03 some say 31 days into their walk,
00:34:05 the food was scarce or ran out.
00:34:08 And scarcity, I'm proposing,
00:34:11 can change our view of reality.
00:34:14 Scarcity, I'm proposing, can change our view of reality.
00:34:20 Some say there was no food.
00:34:22 At least we can surmise that there wasn't enough food,
00:34:25 and that they were hungry.
00:34:27 That's why before we try to read all the 66 books
00:34:30 of the Bible to people,
00:34:32 we ought to meet their needs of food and clothing
00:34:35 and a place to stay, right?
00:34:36 So that, because we expect people to function
00:34:40 by a reality that does not exist for them
00:34:43 when there are regular needs,
00:34:44 ordinary daily surviving needs that need to be met.
00:34:49 So their hunger caused them to forget and to mumble
00:34:54 and to distort and paint a picture
00:34:57 that was not a realistic picture.
00:35:00 They had cried under oppression.
00:35:02 They had cried to the Lord
00:35:04 because things got more and more difficult
00:35:06 when they had been under Pharaoh.
00:35:09 And so now it's verse three of chapter 16.
00:35:14 They said, oh, we did eat the bread,
00:35:16 then we were just full and we had all of this.
00:35:18 And now the whole assembly is mumbling
00:35:21 because of their hunger.
00:35:23 And the Lord spoke to Moses.
00:35:25 He didn't wait for Moses to bring it to him.
00:35:27 The Lord answered with action.
00:35:29 And he told Moses, he said, I will rain,
00:35:32 isn't this wonderful?
00:35:34 I will rain bread from heaven.
00:35:36 This is the creator God.
00:35:38 This is another form of the power that we see in Genesis.
00:35:42 God just creating, what are you making bread out of?
00:35:45 Something raining from heaven.
00:35:47 This is not the weather, water rain.
00:35:49 He says, I will rain.
00:35:50 This is God overruling and overcoming
00:35:53 every predictable system and creating a new routine
00:35:56 and a new order and a new discipline.
00:35:58 He said, I will rain from heaven for you.
00:36:02 And the people shall go out and gather a certain rate.
00:36:05 One Bible says a certain quota every day
00:36:09 that I may prove them.
00:36:10 That word prove them means that there's a test in this.
00:36:13 It is there, but it comes with some stipulations
00:36:16 that I may prove them whether they will walk.
00:36:20 Now we've had two sermons about walking.
00:36:22 We have Bishop taking those big steps
00:36:24 and we have Pastor Ture telling us about
00:36:26 how to push up off the ball, the toes,
00:36:29 the balls of our feet and putting power into the earth.
00:36:32 Remember that?
00:36:33 And so here's another passage that says,
00:36:36 I'm gonna test them and see if they will walk.
00:36:39 Well, walking is not just one step.
00:36:42 Walking is consistency and repeatedly.
00:36:46 And it's a balance movement.
00:36:48 And the Lord is saying, I'm expecting some regularity.
00:36:51 I'm gonna give them a routine, not the routine of Pharaoh,
00:36:55 but I wanna try to work with them to give them a routine
00:36:58 that will fit when they get to the promised land.
00:37:02 They have to learn how to think and how to behave
00:37:05 and get a discipline that will take them in that place.
00:37:08 You and I, bless the Lord, are coming out of 2023,
00:37:12 sometimes felt like a wilderness, going into another place.
00:37:16 We don't know what's gonna happen.
00:37:17 The Lord lets us live in 2024.
00:37:20 It's risky business, trying to continue to do things.
00:37:23 Weather's not what we anticipate.
00:37:25 Things are happening totally contradictory
00:37:28 to our historic experience.
00:37:30 But yet, there's a requirement
00:37:32 that as we move into this new year,
00:37:35 we are wondering what will the Lord hold for us?
00:37:38 What will he provide for us?
00:37:40 What does it mean?
00:37:42 And so the Lord said, I'll rain down bread.
00:37:45 And they were asking for bread and meat.
00:37:48 And so what happened was, another scripture will tell you
00:37:51 that the wind blew in the quail,
00:37:53 blew in the wheat in the evening.
00:37:55 One text says in the twilight, I like that better
00:37:58 because twilight is in the changing, in the transition
00:38:01 from light to another phase,
00:38:04 in a transition from wilderness and bondage
00:38:07 to well-being and wholeness.
00:38:08 He'll wind of God blew in the quail
00:38:11 and they had plenty meat to eat.
00:38:13 So they didn't go to sleep hungry,
00:38:15 they didn't go to sleep with their stomachs growling.
00:38:17 You know that expression.
00:38:18 They didn't, it's hard to sleep hungry.
00:38:20 Nobody here has ever missed too many meals
00:38:24 and went to sleep hungry.
00:38:25 It's hard to sleep hungry.
00:38:27 But in evening, they had meat, quail.
00:38:30 But in the morning, when the dew came down on the earth,
00:38:33 after the dew dried or evaporated,
00:38:36 there was a hoary frost there.
00:38:38 And it was what was in the,
00:38:41 we believe it has an Aramaic root, manu,
00:38:45 which we call manna.
00:38:47 And the word is, what is it?
00:38:50 And I can't help but make faces,
00:38:52 I'm putting it in my context.
00:38:54 The folks I know, we've been going, what's this?
00:38:56 What is this?
00:38:58 This is what the Lord provided.
00:39:00 It don't look like what he down, what is this?
00:39:02 It's a what question.
00:39:04 Now they asked each other, what is it?
00:39:09 It's a question, manna, what is it?
00:39:12 But they also named the provision of God, manna.
00:39:17 They take the question and make the question the answer.
00:39:21 It's the same as calling bitter waters made sweet
00:39:25 and still call them bitter.
00:39:27 We can name our situation by our bewilderment.
00:39:31 Or we can hear what the Lord said,
00:39:33 and it's in two or three passages
00:39:35 where Moses explains to them that this is bread.
00:39:39 The Lord said he would rain bread.
00:39:40 He didn't say he'd rain what?
00:39:42 He said he would rain bread from heaven.
00:39:45 Another passage refers to it as angels' food,
00:39:48 letting us know that it was a supernatural work of God.
00:39:52 It was God's nourishment.
00:39:53 Do you know that God can nourish us off of things
00:39:56 that we would never think would build us up?
00:39:59 He can nourish us from jobs that are lost.
00:40:02 He can nourish us from jobs that you have too many
00:40:05 that you can't work.
00:40:06 He can use whatever he chooses to use
00:40:11 to be nourishment for us.
00:40:14 And so the Lord sends this bread down, this manna.
00:40:19 They continue to call what is it?
00:40:23 They're eating it, using it, storing it up,
00:40:25 still saying what is it?
00:40:26 There's something so human about that.
00:40:30 It's so like us sometimes to have the provision of God
00:40:35 and we're still looking for it.
00:40:38 He has sent a solution.
00:40:41 He's put a resolution in our hands
00:40:44 and we're still saying, God, when you gonna answer?
00:40:47 Well, what is this you gave?
00:40:48 Who is this?
00:40:50 Where'd this child come from?
00:40:51 How did I marry this person?
00:40:53 What is this job?
00:40:54 This is not the career I wanted.
00:40:56 The manna is there.
00:40:58 It's rain from heaven.
00:41:00 And they boil it, they sieve it, they make flour out of it.
00:41:04 Scripture says they make cakes out of it.
00:41:06 And they still, to this day, we're still calling it manna.
00:41:10 Still saying what?
00:41:13 And as God has provided this,
00:41:15 let's see what verse I wanna go.
00:41:18 Moses explains to him, this is the bread.
00:41:21 It's all kind of New Testament scriptures
00:41:23 'cause of time I won't go to them,
00:41:24 where Jesus even says,
00:41:28 Moses gave you bread in the wilderness,
00:41:30 but I'm the true bread.
00:41:32 He says in the New Testament, he says,
00:41:33 I'm the bread of life.
00:41:35 See, this Old Testament is just foreshadowing
00:41:39 and pushing us and establishing us in the New Testament.
00:41:43 He says, I'm the bread of life.
00:41:44 And then when the crowds need to come aside
00:41:48 and they were weary, and one text describes it
00:41:50 by saying they were just coming and going,
00:41:52 Jesus feeds the 5,000.
00:41:54 Then he feeds the 4,000.
00:41:57 And then he brings us in the text
00:42:01 and he says, this is my body, which was broken for you.
00:42:05 And so here we come to the table of the Lord
00:42:07 or what some would call communion or the Eucharist table.
00:42:11 And we, excuse me, we are still being reminded
00:42:13 that God is providing us bread.
00:42:16 And that's why we even hear phrases
00:42:18 like the bread of affliction or the bread of adversity.
00:42:20 It means something you'd never call bread,
00:42:23 God can still nourish you from it.
00:42:25 He can nourish us and we can grow
00:42:28 through seasons of grief and pain.
00:42:31 He feeds us.
00:42:33 He says, I'm Jehovah Rapha, I'm a healer,
00:42:36 but I'm also a nourisher.
00:42:39 I'll give you that so that you don't just subsist,
00:42:41 but whatever comes into your life,
00:42:44 I can work it out for good
00:42:46 because you love me and you're called to my purpose.
00:42:48 I can take whatever it is because he's able
00:42:52 and make a way of escape out of it.
00:42:54 So he's trying to teach them,
00:42:55 stop looking for Pharaoh's flesh pots.
00:42:59 Stop distorting the situation.
00:43:02 Let me, there's a screen, so I don't forget it.
00:43:07 That has four points on it.
00:43:08 It talks about when we're mumbling
00:43:11 in the middle of miracles,
00:43:13 how we can recognize what God is doing
00:43:15 and what we have to do.
00:43:17 It says what we need, there it is.
00:43:19 Now, if I can just read it, thank you.
00:43:20 I think it's big enough.
00:43:22 What we're, and I'm jumping to the end
00:43:23 so that I don't fail to give you these points.
00:43:26 We need a radical reconstruction of reality.
00:43:31 I really wanted to say a reconstruct,
00:43:36 but the instatype wouldn't take that word.
00:43:39 So we need to radically rethink what reality is.
00:43:42 Reality is it's not always better.
00:43:46 Reality is what Pharaoh gave us was not better.
00:43:50 Learn a new routine.
00:43:52 God provided, but they had to have the discipline
00:43:55 to get up every day and go gather it
00:43:59 because mercies come how?
00:44:00 Morning, talk to me by morning.
00:44:04 Matthew six and Psalm tells us that we pray
00:44:07 when the Lord was teaching his disciples how to pray,
00:44:09 he said, ask them for your daily bread.
00:44:13 But he does more than gives us our daily bread.
00:44:16 He will allow us not always to be hand to mouth,
00:44:19 but he will show us so we can put away
00:44:21 for that college education.
00:44:23 He'll show us so we can have enough to do mission work,
00:44:27 so we have enough to share and make an impact on the world.
00:44:30 So we can, oh, so we can be the person who builds lives,
00:44:35 be the group that builds people and that builds communities
00:44:41 and that exercises influence and builds nations.
00:44:46 It'll put a target on your back.
00:44:49 But when you begin to build nations,
00:44:51 we're saying that we need to see whole communities
00:44:55 have affordable housing.
00:44:56 We need to see whole communities have educational benefits.
00:45:00 We need to see whole communities
00:45:02 have access to scholarship.
00:45:04 We need to close and get rid of the digital divide.
00:45:07 We need to make sure that people have healthcare
00:45:10 and access, are you with me?
00:45:13 And access the basics.
00:45:14 So don't just see it in terms of that wilderness journey.
00:45:17 See it that God is trying to carry all of us
00:45:20 to a place of well-being and that we ought to think
00:45:23 not more highly of ourselves than we ought,
00:45:26 but we ought to think of the dignity
00:45:28 and the worth that he has given to you
00:45:31 that doesn't have to be proven,
00:45:33 that is established from the very beginning
00:45:35 because we're made in his image and made in his likeness.
00:45:38 So we want to ask God, will you work with my thinking
00:45:42 and help me to radically reconstruct my reality?
00:45:46 When my reality says that being under Pharaoh's abusive,
00:45:50 hard, heavy hand of oppression is better
00:45:54 than being able to explore and move into the future
00:45:57 God has for me, my reality needs to change.
00:46:01 When I think it's better not to be involved in voting,
00:46:05 when I think it's better not to look at the needs
00:46:08 of addressing those that are homeless,
00:46:10 when I think it's better not to see to it
00:46:13 there's clean water in states
00:46:15 than we call other places third world.
00:46:18 I need to reconstruct my reality.
00:46:21 I need not just to take what's fed to me automatically
00:46:25 from the media and thank the Lord that we have media,
00:46:28 thank the Lord we have mass communication,
00:46:31 but I need to weigh it and say what has God said?
00:46:34 What does he desire?
00:46:35 What does wholeness look like?
00:46:37 What does well-being look like?
00:46:39 I don't just not teach my children
00:46:41 'cause it's not in the textbook,
00:46:43 I want them to know my history.
00:46:45 So if I have to have a Saturday class,
00:46:47 if I, oh, I don't mind getting in trouble,
00:46:50 what they gonna do to me?
00:46:51 At this age, come on.
00:46:53 If I need to have a community school,
00:46:55 then we have a community school.
00:46:56 But I need to know what truth is
00:46:59 and not have someone tell me what truth is,
00:47:02 not present to me a false reality.
00:47:05 I want you to feel this thing.
00:47:07 I need to understand that there has to be a systems change,
00:47:11 that I need a radical,
00:47:13 not just a little bit of thinking different,
00:47:15 but I need to radically reconstruct
00:47:17 and reconstruct what is reality.
00:47:19 Reality is not longing for the flesh pots.
00:47:23 Reality is not preferring to be unemployed.
00:47:26 Reality is not saying that's okay
00:47:28 if I can't get affordable housing.
00:47:30 Reality is it's all right
00:47:32 if my child doesn't have decent books.
00:47:35 Reality is saying I can't help it
00:47:37 if there's going to be neighbor to neighbor
00:47:39 or police brutality.
00:47:40 That's not the reality that God has for us.
00:47:43 He wants to take us from bondage to well-being,
00:47:48 to well-being, to wholeness, to health.
00:47:51 What else do we have to do?
00:47:53 I have to recharacterize,
00:47:55 have a recharacterization of myself.
00:47:58 Pastor Sarah preached that thing so powerful,
00:48:00 I tell you, I was ready to hop on one leg.
00:48:03 I have to see myself the way God sees me.
00:48:06 I have to know not just a physical image,
00:48:09 but I have to know what is it God has put in me.
00:48:12 What are the character,
00:48:14 the scripture says in Jeremiah
00:48:15 that man is desperately wicked.
00:48:18 I think it says above all things,
00:48:19 it's similar to that in the King James.
00:48:22 But I have to know that he has overcome that wickedness.
00:48:25 He's made a way, Hebrews tells us by a living,
00:48:29 by a living way, a new and a living way,
00:48:32 he has given us access through what?
00:48:35 The renting of the veil of his flesh
00:48:37 because he was crucified,
00:48:39 because he was on that tree and cast into the water.
00:48:43 There is an avenue, there is a way out.
00:48:46 Don't say no one gave me an opportunity.
00:48:48 I'm not laying by the pool and waiting for somebody put me
00:48:51 and God has made a new and a living way.
00:48:54 You can do it, you will do it.
00:48:57 It is possible because God is able.
00:49:00 Recharacterize, no, my uncle was mean,
00:49:05 my daddy was mean, my mama was mean and I'm mean.
00:49:08 No, my neighbors were mean,
00:49:11 that's why I never saw anybody that wasn't mean.
00:49:13 So I never saw it, so I can't be it, no.
00:49:16 Recharacterize, take who God says we are
00:49:21 from the word of God.
00:49:23 I need a deep revision, here's where he get in trouble,
00:49:27 of power arrangements in the world.
00:49:29 I said a deep revision of power arrangements in the world.
00:49:36 Who holds the power?
00:49:38 Why?
00:49:41 Have I been a full participant and accessed the
00:49:45 opportunities that are available to me?
00:49:47 Or have I just complained about no one really sees
00:49:51 to the issues in my community or we don't have this,
00:49:55 or has power been hoarded?
00:49:58 When the Lord sent the quail and the sheep,
00:50:05 and the bread, which they call manna,
00:50:09 he gave them instructions.
00:50:11 He said, everyone, get up and go out every morning
00:50:16 and collect what you need.
00:50:18 And Omer, get a Omer, that was the measure.
00:50:22 He said, and get what you need for the persons
00:50:25 in your household.
00:50:26 And some people, they gathered much.
00:50:30 And some people gathered a little.
00:50:32 But whether they gathered much or little,
00:50:34 it turned out to be exactly enough.
00:50:37 Those that gathered much and following the prescription
00:50:40 had none left over.
00:50:42 And those that gathered little had exactly enough.
00:50:45 Because that's what God does.
00:50:47 That's the operation of the little boy's lunch,
00:50:51 being able to feed it all.
00:50:52 That's the ingredient, the mystical ingredient
00:50:56 of the hand of God that multiplies and makes it happen
00:50:59 and creates out of nothing.
00:51:01 But there were a few greedy people.
00:51:04 They were told, do this,
00:51:06 but don't try to get any for tomorrow.
00:51:08 Just get that for today.
00:51:10 And then watch God multiply it.
00:51:12 And so there were a few that didn't believe.
00:51:15 It was a test to prove them.
00:51:17 And they went out five days a week.
00:51:19 They were supposed to just gather a regular amount.
00:51:21 And they were told not to gather on the Sabbath,
00:51:24 but to rest.
00:51:25 But on the sixth day, they could gather twice as much.
00:51:28 But some people went out on the Sabbath
00:51:30 and figured, I think I'm gonna take advantage of this break.
00:51:33 Everybody else at home, I'm gonna get a little more.
00:51:34 You know, you wanna get ahead.
00:51:36 They figured, I'm gonna get ahead.
00:51:37 I'm gonna get the jump on this situation.
00:51:40 And they tried to gather more than they,
00:51:42 they didn't follow the routine that God set.
00:51:44 They were still following that hoarding,
00:51:47 competitive mentality, unequal distribution of resources
00:51:52 that was from Pharaoh's camp.
00:51:54 And so when they did that and they got the extra,
00:51:56 what happened?
00:51:57 It spoiled.
00:51:58 It was wormy.
00:52:01 And to be explicit, the scripture said,
00:52:02 it stank, it smelt bad.
00:52:05 Because just hoarding when others don't have
00:52:09 does not mean that one is satisfied.
00:52:11 And so Israel had to learn what we're still trying to learn,
00:52:17 that being vulnerable and seeing to everyone having
00:52:21 is a preferred state than having 1% have almost everything.
00:52:26 All right, it's quiet, it's okay.
00:52:31 And the rest of the folks, scrappling to have anything.
00:52:35 I don't have time to find what scripture is,
00:52:37 but there's one scripture that says in the New Testament
00:52:39 about, I want your abundance to satisfy their want,
00:52:43 and their abundance to satisfy your want.
00:52:47 That's why the New Testament churches said
00:52:49 they had all things in common.
00:52:51 Are you following me?
00:52:53 And so when they tried to court and be greedy, it spoiled.
00:52:59 And so finally, they had a need, the Lord provided it.
00:53:03 I'm just gonna cut to the end.
00:53:05 They received it.
00:53:06 The Lord spoke to Moses and said,
00:53:08 now, that's going hand in mouth, that's your daily bread.
00:53:12 But I really want you to go from subsistence,
00:53:15 barely making it, to sustainability.
00:53:18 I really want you to go from surviving to thriving.
00:53:20 He said, now, on the sixth day,
00:53:24 when it's coming to the Sabbath,
00:53:26 get twice as much, get double.
00:53:28 And when they got two jars,
00:53:30 contrary to when they were just being greedy,
00:53:33 it did not spoil.
00:53:35 It did not become wormy.
00:53:37 It was not odorous, because that was the plan of God
00:53:41 to provide that they might have a rest.
00:53:44 Pharaoh didn't plan a time of rest.
00:53:46 Rest is an expression saying, I have faith
00:53:51 that the Lord that provided when I worked
00:53:53 will provide in this season, because it's not the job,
00:53:57 it's the hand of God.
00:53:59 It is not just my effort, it's what God has made possible
00:54:03 and available to me.
00:54:04 So he was saying that I want them to learn rest.
00:54:08 I want them to learn that they're not all sufficient.
00:54:11 They are utterly dependent on God.
00:54:14 And so they go from a need to God meeting the need,
00:54:18 and they receive it, and they eventually learn
00:54:22 that there's a place that says,
00:54:25 on the seventh day, they rested.
00:54:28 The language there, and I'm skipping it because of time,
00:54:31 the language there is worship language.
00:54:34 We recognize the pattern of worship language.
00:54:36 When Moses said to them, come near,
00:54:39 one Bible says, draw nigh.
00:54:41 And they turned and looked toward the wilderness,
00:54:44 which meant they had to turn their back on Pharaoh's house
00:54:47 and their past experience.
00:54:49 And when they looked toward the wilderness,
00:54:51 they saw the glory of God in a cloud.
00:54:54 Now they had church.
00:54:55 If you read it too fast, you'll miss it.
00:54:57 But the worship language there is that when we turn our back
00:55:01 on a distorted past and say it was better
00:55:04 when I was by the flesh parts of Egypt,
00:55:07 and we look at what should be a dry place,
00:55:10 but we see the presence of God being manifested
00:55:13 in a situation that you wouldn't anticipate him,
00:55:16 and glory, which speaks of the splendor and the authority
00:55:19 and the power of God, showing up in a cloud,
00:55:23 they went off at that point.
00:55:24 It was over.
00:55:26 They just had church.
00:55:27 But then finally, it moves to--
00:55:30 I'm going to come back to that chart-- to sacramentalism.
00:55:33 They move from subsistence to sustaining.
00:55:36 He says, the Lord tells Moses to tell Aaron, go get a jar
00:55:41 and put an omer of the manna in there and put it in the ark.
00:55:49 And there's another text that tells us that in the ark,
00:55:53 there was a golden pot that contained manna.
00:55:57 And not only was that, there was Aaron's rod.
00:56:00 That's why you got to be Bible students.
00:56:02 Aaron's rod was to show that the Lord was choosing
00:56:06 Aaron to be the priest.
00:56:07 And they all laid out their rods in the temple
00:56:11 or the place of testimony overnight.
00:56:13 But only overnight did Aaron's rod--
00:56:17 what did it do?
00:56:17 It budded.
00:56:18 It sprouted.
00:56:19 It blossomed.
00:56:20 In other words, it went from being a plain stick cut off
00:56:24 from the tree in its source, and it bloomed, disconnected,
00:56:29 skipped all the reasonable seasons,
00:56:31 and overnight, it became a blossoming, blooming rod.
00:56:36 That was in the ark.
00:56:38 And also in there was the table of covenant, God's word.
00:56:43 So these three things are in the ark.
00:56:46 What am I saying?
00:56:47 I'm saying that when we are competitive,
00:56:50 when we are greedy, when we are parochial,
00:56:53 when it's me against you and you against me,
00:56:56 when we have a little small chit-chat over the back fence
00:56:59 and at the water cooler, and we fail
00:57:01 to see that there are organized systems that want us to stay
00:57:05 and keep our mind and our heart on Egypt,
00:57:08 when God has provided a way out of no way for us,
00:57:12 that we miss the fact that God is saying,
00:57:15 I want you to now, not hoard, but store up,
00:57:20 store up some manna in the ark
00:57:25 so that the generations following
00:57:28 will know how God has provided.
00:57:31 One writer said it wasn't just in the ark
00:57:33 because they would never see it if it was in the ark
00:57:35 'cause only the priest went in the Holy of Holies
00:57:38 once a year to see it.
00:57:39 So they believe that when they calculate the time,
00:57:43 the manna lasted until they got to Canaan
00:57:45 and began to eat off the land,
00:57:47 that that day before they began to eat off the land
00:57:51 in Canaan was the day, the weekend,
00:57:54 where they, we call it weekend,
00:57:55 where they would gather two jars
00:57:57 so that every household had enough set aside
00:58:01 to remember the goodness of God.
00:58:04 There ought to be enough, thank you, Jesus,
00:58:06 where you can point to a witness and a testimony
00:58:10 that God has made a way so your children see it
00:58:13 and your children's children see it
00:58:15 and your neighbors see it and your family members
00:58:18 that said you think you better than us,
00:58:20 that you ought to let them know it pays to serve Jesus,
00:58:23 that you are really, truly blessed.
00:58:26 And so what God has done became sacramentalized.
00:58:30 That means it became a way to see and touch
00:58:34 and experience the goodness of God
00:58:36 through another means by seeing what he had done.
00:58:40 Let me get back to this chart very quickly.
00:58:43 We wanna see a revision of the arrangements
00:58:46 of power in the world.
00:58:49 And it's happening.
00:58:50 For better or worse, agree with it or not agree with it,
00:58:54 it's being rearranged.
00:58:55 Countries that we hardly knew about are toppling over.
00:58:59 Some people call it a coup, some people call it a revolution,
00:59:02 some people say it's good, some people say it's not good,
00:59:05 but small countries are standing up and saying
00:59:08 we wanna be paid for the minerals
00:59:10 and the wealth in our land.
00:59:12 We have our principles of faith
00:59:14 and we don't want someone telling us what we have to believe
00:59:17 when we are deeply Christian and this is what we approve of
00:59:20 and what we don't approve of.
00:59:21 It's causing ripples, no doubt,
00:59:23 but there's a rearrangement in the world.
00:59:26 We wanna embrace, these last two are related,
00:59:29 the creator's good purposes for self and the world.
00:59:33 That's similar to a recharacterization.
00:59:35 What kind of world did God create?
00:59:37 When he says that the earth is travailing and groaning,
00:59:41 what does well-being look like for our environment?
00:59:45 What does well-being look like
00:59:46 when I walk in the supermarket?
00:59:48 Should I be able to find leafy green vegetables
00:59:51 or will I only find canned things full of sodium?
00:59:55 Now that sounds a little remote and like I'm off track,
00:59:57 but what is God's picture?
00:59:59 What is his purpose for us if we are to prosper
01:00:02 and be in health?
01:00:04 And then the work of healing, this one I added,
01:00:08 the work of healing and restoring to health
01:00:11 has been entrusted to human agents.
01:00:14 That means it's your job.
01:00:16 God didn't just use Jesus, but Jesus entrusted
01:00:19 and passed the mantle to his disciples and his followers
01:00:23 and his followers of his, we are charged
01:00:27 to help people redefine the reality
01:00:31 till it's the reality that God has for them.
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