Red Sea Rule #3 - Sermon Notes

Red Sea Rule #1 - August 23
Red Sea Rule #2 - August 30

Red Sea Rule #3 - Acknowledge your enemy, but keep your eyes on the Lord - Sermon Notes for 9/18

Bro Mike was gone. Charles Koenig continued the series on Red Sea Rules. And he did a great job!

Random notes:

Exodus 14 sets the stage.

The Israelites left Egypt, not fearful, but victorious. They also left loaded with spoils, too, gifts
of the Egyptian people.

God orchestrated another step in His redemption plan for His people. "I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for Myself through Pharaoh and his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD."

(It's always about God's glory!)

"So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him....and he pursued the Israelites who were marching out boldly..."

Pharaoh came upon the Israelites where they were encamped -- in the exact place God told them to
make their camp.

The  Israelites were terrified and cried out to God and challenged Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us out here on the desert to die?" (I really love that line!)

Moses answered them, telling them to stand firm, to not be afraid, and to "see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again." (And that sure came true!)

After all the miracles the people had witnessed in their last days in Egypt, they even now, already, doubted God's power and goodness.

Satan is always ready to step up and stir up trouble and try to defeat us and destroy God's plan.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

                                      I Peter 5:6-8

Satan wants us to be defeated, not victorious.

Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you ..." I Peter 5:9-10

         Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  James 4:67



Words from Charles Haddon Spurgeon: The great tyrant has not forgotten you and he desires your recapture and enslavement.

Then God told Moses to tell the Israelites to move on and shared His divine plan with Moses, step by step, and what would be the outcome.

(I think this is the best part -- God willingly shared His plans with Moses. He could have told Moses to just tell the people to 'relax and everything will be okay'--- but He did so much more. He told him what would actually happen -- step by step -- and why (for God's glory) -- and God arranged His main characters on the set (the angel and the pillar of cloud) moved from in front of the Israelites to the rear -- and the stage was then set for the next act of the drama. There's a verse in Psalm 25 (verse 14) that
says "The LORD confides in those who fear Him..." What a wonderful promise -- He will let us in,
as He did Moses, on His plans...) Like we are in the "in crowd" -- part of His inner circle-- like being
able to go in and out of the Oval Office and have the President show us his heart and share with us his plans. What an amazing God we have!)