This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is day two together of our look through, of week four of our look through
the book of Exodus. So that means we're in Exodus chapter 17 today. We're
walking with the people of Israel through the desert.

We're learning from them what it means to live a life of deliverance, a life of
freedom. Where do you go? What do you do?

How do you act after you've been set free? It was for freedom that Christ set us
free. How do I live that freedom in the daily reality, just the day-to-day grind
and routine of life?

If you look at the people of Israel, the truth is these people who first were
released from the slavery in Egypt, they were delivered. They were set free, but
they never learned to live a life of freedom. Many Christians I've found find
themselves in the same frustrating situation, set free by Jesus, but still
living under bondage.

The experiences of Israel help us to picture the possibilities of what Jesus
wants to do in your life, our lives. We actually, as we grow in Christ, we move
through different stages of growth, and these pictures of what's happening in
the people of Israel as they're going through the Red Sea and towards the
promised land are powerful pictures for you and I of how God works in our lives.
I talked yesterday about the pillars and the Red Sea and the desert.

There's some strong things to keep in mind about the life of freedom, and they
actually picture some different stages and feelings of growth in your life. The
pillars, the pillar of fire and a cloud that was before them showing exactly
where to go, that's somewhat like a springtime of growth in your life. God's
leadership is just right there, it's right in front of you.

It seems constantly clear, and you've been through times like that, possibly in
your life as a believer. Every day seems to hold some new excitement. You know
exactly what God wants you to do.

You move into it and you see his blessing, you see him working, and you think
that's the Christian life. This is the way it's supposed to be. If it's not like
this, there's something wrong with me.

But the truth is, that's just one season of the Christian life. We tend to think
that we're not quite Christian or that God doesn't quite love us if we don't
have this pillar of fire and cloud experience every moment of our lives. But
remember, this pillar of fire and cloud led them to the Red Sea, to a different
experience of growth.

Now, having said that, don't waste this opportunity to grow. When you feel like
God's right there, the leadership is so clear, the blessing is so clear, follow
it constantly, watch what God is doing. But don't expect that that's the only
experience of growth in your life.

You also have Red Sea experiences of growth. Things are going along smoothly,
everything is a blessing in your life, and then bam, there's the Red Sea. God
intervenes.

He puts a Red Sea experience right in the middle of his leadership in our lives.
We go straight from spring to winter in many ways. We think it was going so
well.

Why did this have to happen? What did I do wrong? And if there was some way for
you to actually hear the audible voice of the Lord in this moment, if only we
could hear him saying, "You didn't do anything wrong.

This is where I've led you. This is your next step of growth. It was going so
well.

This is so that it can go even better. " Because God is saying, "I'm not out
just to give you good experiences of life. I'm out to grow you, to change you.

" And part of growth and change is these Red Sea experiences. These places you
come to and you recognize only God is going to get me through this one. Without
him, I'm lost.

Without him, I'm doomed. God has a wonderful way of turning the question marks
in our lives, "How am I going to get through the Red Sea? " into the exclamation
points in our lives.

The Red Sea is then behind us. Those are experiences I need, you need, if we're
going to be growing as believers. We've got the pillar experiences, we've got
the Red Sea experiences, and then we also have the desert experiences.

To me, those are the most difficult of all to grow through. What are the
characteristics of a desert? Lack and sameness.

There's nothing there but sand and it's just the same sand over and over and
over again. And sometimes it feels that way in your Christian growth. When you
feel you have a lack of emotions in God's presence, a lack of real joy, when
you're feeling the sameness of routine in everyday life and it begins to
overwhelm you, or in a desert, we've all been there, we've all felt like that.

You're not up, you're not down, you're just blah, you're just nothing. But for
the Israelites and for you and I too, the desert is a place of growth. I just
want to remind you of yesterday and then look together today at what happens in
chapter 17 that show us that God grows us through these desert times.

The lack, the sameness, the routine, God wants to grow you there. How does he do
it? Yesterday we saw that one of the ways, pictures of how he grows us is manna
from the sky.

It's a reminder that God is my source of satisfaction even in the desert. In
fact, in those times when the routine seems to overwhelm me, my trust in him
even though I don't have the emotions of trust, that's a great strengthening of
your trust muscle. When I feel like trusting the Lord, when the emotions are
overflowing, then that's one kind of trust.

But when I don't feel like trusting him but I trust him anyway, he's
strengthening your faith in those moments. So yesterday we saw manna from the
sky. It's one of the ways that God in the desert supplied their needs.

God showed him that he is the source even when I feel a lack. Here today,
beginning in verse 1, we see water from a rock and it's a reminder that God is
my source of sustenance. He gives me that which I most deeply need.

Listen to what happens in verses 1 to 7. There's some amazing stories in chapter
17 of the book of Exodus. 17, 1 to 7.

The whole Israelite community set out from the desert of sin, traveling from
place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no
water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us
water to drink.

" Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the
test? " But the people were thirsty for water there and they grumbled against
Moses.

They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and
our livestock die of thirst? " Then Moses cried out to the Lord, "What am I to
do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.

" The Lord answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of
the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the
Nile and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb.

Strike the rock and water will come out of it for the people to drink. " So
Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel and he called the place
Massa and Mirabah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the
Lord saying, "Is the Lord among us or not? " Here God supplies the water they
need from a rock.

Now if you're a great student of the Bible, you know that when we get to the New
Testament, this rock that is to be struck once, this rock is a picture of Jesus
and his source of supply in our lives, how he supplies the need in our lives.
Jesus is the living water. So what a picture to you and I about how to live the
life of freedom.

Just as the Israelites needed water to survive day to day in the desert, you and
I need the living water of Christ to survive spiritually day to day in our lives
and he's willing to pour it out. He says, "I will pour it out and I just need to
drink. Sometimes the water may taste better than others to me.

Sometimes it may bring more emotion than others, but every day I need to drink.
" So that means every day I spend time in his word. Every day I spend some time
talking to him, connecting with him.

And days when I don't, I'm missing out on the source, the supply that I need for
the everyday realities of life, for life in the desert. A time in the desert is
an invitation to trust in the presence of God, the presence of Jesus, the living
water that you need. God's our source of satisfaction, of supply, of sustenance.

He's also in the desert our source of strength. There's some battles that happen
in the desert. There's a famous battle that happens here in the desert against
the Amalekites.

Listen to what happens in verses 8 down to verse 13. It's an amazing story. The
Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.

Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight the
Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my
hands. " So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron,
and Hur went to the top of the hill.

As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning. But whenever he
lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired,
they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it.

Aaron and Hur held his hands up, one on one side and one on the other, so that
his hands remained steady until sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army
with the sword. What a picture.

What a picture of what God did that day, but also of our lives. I hope you've
caught the key phrases as we've walked through this. God is the source.

He's the source of supply. He's the source of strength that we need. And here
they are.

Facing a battle in the desert. And there are some battles in your everyday life.
Battles with a habit that you're trying to defeat, battles with a relationship
that's not going right.

There are battles in your everyday life. Battles to pray, battles to minister,
to serve others rather than just serving yourself. And this picture about how
they defeated the Amalekites is a picture for you and I about how those battles
were won.

They're won by God. They're won by trusting God moment by moment by moment. The
fact that Moses held the staff of God up was saying, "We're trusting God in this
battle.

" When he dropped it down, they were trusting in themselves. He couldn't keep
holding it up by himself. He had to sit down because he got tired.

He had to have friends, Erin and her, come alongside of him and actually hold
his hands up so that he could keep trusting God. What a picture for me. What a
picture for you about how to trust God in the routine.

You can't do it by yourself. You can't just keep going and going and going.
Sometimes you have to sit down to focus on the Lord.

Sometimes, many times, you need friends alongside of you, lifting you up to God.
If you're trying to fight the battles alone, you're not going to make it. Even
the routine battles, especially the routine battles.

Now the question is, what kind of a desert are you in? Maybe it's a financial
desert. That job just is not coming in.

God is your source of supply, even in those days. Maybe it's an emotional
desert. Remember that God is your source of direction, not your feelings, but
God.

Maybe it's a relationship desert. Remember that God is your source of love.
Maybe it's a spiritual desert.

You just don't feel God is there anymore. God is your source of life, whether
you feel that he's there or not. God has trusted you with this desert, even as
he trusted the Israelites with that desert.

God has trusted you with this desert, and as you trust him, he is growing your
faith. He is growing your relationship with him in ways that you cannot imagine.
God can grow you in the spring, he can grow you in the winter, he can grow you
in the summer, but the truth of it is, it's always because I choose to trust him
with whatever season I'm in in my life.

So let's trust him now. Our Father, we trust you. We trust that even though life
does not work out like we want it sometimes and we end up in a desert, you're
there.

You haven't forgotten us. You'll take us through this desert. So help us to see
that even there, you're the source of strength and supply that I need.

Release me. Protect me from the temptation to trust in myself in the desert,
because all I'll find is sand. And Lord, give me the faith to trust in you.

In your name I pray. Amen. Tomorrow, we're going to see together some practical
ways to lighten the load in your life.