What if the uncertainty of life could be one of the best things to happen in our lives?
Sermon #4: UNCERTAINTY: AN INVITATION TO LEAN ON A STEADY GOD
Sermon Series: SOUL SHIFTS
Scripture Text: Exodus 13, 16
Sermon Notes:
EXODUS 13:17-22 NIV
17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”
18 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.
19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.”
20 After leaving Succoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert.
21 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.
22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
- What if the uncertainty of life could be one of the best things to happen in our lives?
OBSERVATION #1. GOD’S GUIDANCE
EXODUS 13:17-22 NIV
18 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.
19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.”
“God does not always take us through the efficient route.”
“The assignment of God is not a task to be accomplished more than a life to be aligned with him.”
EXODUS 13:17-22 NIV
20 After leaving Succoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert.
21 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.
22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
“In our journey of life, God does not give us a map or a schedule, but himself as a guide.”
“Living by faith means stepping out for God and leaving the results to him.
OBSERVATION #2. GOD’S PROVISION
EXODUS 16:1-5 NIV
1 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.
2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.
5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”
EXODUS 16:8-15 NIV
8 Moses also said, “You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD.”
9 Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.’”
10 While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in the cloud.
11 The LORD said to Moses,
12 “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.’”
13 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.
14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.
15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.”
- “rain bread from heaven” (verse 4)
- “all the bread they want” (verse 8)
- “filled with bread” (verse 12)
- “each household should gather as much as it needs” (verse 16)
- “each family had just what it needed” (verse 18)
- “each family according to its need” (verse 21)
“God’s path will never lack his provision.”
THREE INVITATIONS
- -Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero
- “CONFUSING IN-BETWEEN”
“It is in the confusing in-between that God does his best work, if we let him.”
I. THE INVITATION TO BE GUIDED BY GOD
“Love is based on trust, not certainty.”
II. THE INVITATION TO LIVE GRATEFULLY ONE DAY AT A TIME
“Gratitude does not come from what we have, but from a heightened awareness of God’s presence and goodness.”
III. THE INVITATION TO BE GROUNDED
“Our responsibility is simply to say yes and yield to God.”
2 SHIFTS
SHIFT #1. EXERCISE GRATITUDE.
“Gratitude always involves a posture of humility before God.”
1 THESSALONIANS 5:18 NIV
18 Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
SHIFT #2. LISTEN ACTIVELY.
JOHN 10:27 NIV
27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
“Listening to God is the first step to following him.”
TWO SHIFTS:
1. Exercise Gratitude.
2. Listen Actively.