Exodus chapter 17, pretty easy to follow I think.
The scenario is, first thing you're going to notice here, let me just turn back there.
I'm just going to go verse by verse and just break some things down.
I really believe this chapter is about prayer.
Many times in the Old Testament you're going to read some chapters, especially chapters
that are a little bit weird, right?
It's kind of weird to read about Moses having to lift the rod up and as long as he held
it up, the armies of Israel were winning the war, but when he got tired and he put his
hand down then the armies of the Amalekites would be winning the war.
That's a bit awkward for us, we don't really know how that makes sense.
It's kind of weird, are we trusting the Lord or are we trusting the strength of Moses to
hold up that rod?
Many times in the Old Testament you've got pictures of things that apply to us today.
Yes, the first type of interpretation, yes, does apply in the Old Testament, does apply
to the physical nation of Israel in the Old Testament, but we can take many applications
and many truths from these things and apply that to the New Testament church.
The first thing I want you to notice there, in verse 17, it says that all the congregation
of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin.
It's kind of interesting that this wilderness that they were in was called the wilderness
of sin.
The story we're at right now is God had led Moses obviously to deliver the nation of Israel,
the children of Israel, out of Egypt, had defeated the armies of the Egyptians, had
passed through the Red Sea, but the sea had been, obviously you guys know the story, miracle
took place, the sea was split so they could pass by on dry ground.
Then the Egyptians came trying to attack them and what happened as they were crossing the
Red Sea?
God closed the waters upon them and many of them drowned and died and defeated the armies
of Egypt.
So now we have Israel following that, coming through the wilderness of sin, again it's
interesting that it's referring to sin there.
I think we can take applications about living a life of sin at this point, but I'm not going
to go there right now.
But they came to Rephidim and there was no water for the people to drink.
So the Lord leads them to a place where they just have no water.
I guess there's no rivers, there's no lakes, it's just barren, a barren place and the Lord
has led them to this place where they have no water.
The first thing I want to raise your attention here is God sometimes will put us through
difficulties, will put us in situations where we have a need for water, we have a need for
something but it seems like the Lord has not provided for us, right?
It seems like the Lord has not provided for us.
The people here need something from the Lord.
They have a need.
Now when you guys have a need for the Lord, I would hope and trust the first thing you
do is seek the Lord for his provision.
I would hope and seek that the first thing you do is take your request to pray to the
Lord.
But here we're going to find out what these people of Israel did.
In verse number two, it says, Wherefore the people did chide.
That word chide means to blame Moses, to harass Moses, to have a go at Moses, why did you
bring us here?
Wasn't Moses that brought him there?
No, it was God that brought them there, but they have a go at Moses, they chide with Moses
and say, hey, give us water that we may drink and Moses said, why chide with me?
Why are you blaming me for bringing you out here?
Wherefore do you tempt the Lord?
You're not just blaming me, but you're actually blaming the Lord.
You're tempting the Lord with evil.
He's saying here.
Hey, why?
Do you see what they've done wrong?
Instead of going to the Lord for their provision, the first thing they do is blame the pastor,
right?
If you want to have a good study on the word of God in the Old Testament, want to know
what a pastor is like, what a good pastor is like, Moses is a great example.
The Bible talks about the children, Israel in the wilderness as the church in the wilderness.
That makes Moses the first pastor, the first bishop of God's people, and there's a lot
to learn from Moses because he was a very humble person, very patient, there's a lot
to learn from for anyone that's a pastor or anyone that desires to have the office of
a bishop.
So I really encourage you to look at the life of Moses.
But Moses is drawing the point, hey, why are you arguing with me?
It's God that brought us here.
And then it says there in verse number three, it said, you know, the people thirsted there
for water and the people murmured against Moses and said, wherefore is it that thou
has brought us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
I mean, it just blows my mind that God has taken them from being oppressed by the Egyptians.
They've seen the miracles of God, they've passed through the Red Sea on dry ground,
and yet they think that Moses has sent them here to die, to die in the wilderness.
I mean, they've seen the amazing miracles of God, and yet they don't, they think God's
not going to provide for them, they think God's not going to provide water for them.
I mean, obviously, if God's brought them to this area, he's going to provide for them,
right?
Obviously, they should have learned the lesson by now.
But we see, no they haven't.
They still blame Moses, they blame God, they don't go to God for the provision, but they
go and blame men of God for their problems.
And I've seen this time and time again, where people, you know, in church might be going
through some difficulty, instead of going to the Lord for help, who do they go to?
To the pastor.
And they might not like that pastor's, you know, opinion, they might go to another pastor,
ring around, talk to people here, talk to people there, get the answer they want, you
know, do what they want, and then when it doesn't work out, who do they blame?
Oh, this person told me to do that.
It's their fault.
Right?
And we see this happening here in Israel in the Old Testament.
But what does Moses do, right?
Moses, a righteous man, a humble man, a man of God, in verse number four, and Moses cried
unto the Lord, right?
So what Israel should have done, crying to the Lord for help, Moses has to do that.
Moses has to lead by example.
Here's the one that goes to prayer to the Lord.
Here's the one that goes, Moses cries unto the Lord, saying, what shall I do unto these
people?
They'd be almost ready to stone me.
Wow, these people wanted to kill Moses, and Moses goes to the Lord.
And number five, you know, the thing that I want to point out to you in verse number
five is that God always answers prayer.
Okay, look at verse number five, and the Lord said unto Moses, go on before the people,
and take with thee the elders of Israel, and thy rod, wherewith thou smoteest the river.
Take in thine hand and go, behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in
Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the
people may drink.
And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
So Moses seeks the Lord, the Lord answers his prayers, says, hey, go do this.
Now, I just want you to think about this for a minute again, just put your position, put
your, you know, your shoes in Moses, your feet in Moses' shoes for a little while.
You know, you have the people complaining to the point they want to stone him, right?
And God says, all right, take the rod and go and smite the rock.
Now, out of all places to go get water, you know, God could have said, hey, you know,
travel this way, travel this distance where you'll find, you know, a place of water.
God could have said, hey, you know, I'll show you areas where you can dig a well and bring
water out of it.
Now, God says, no, go to the rock, out of all places, I mean, is that where you're going
to get water from?
You're going to go get water from a rock?
You know, maybe a tree, because there's water in a tree, maybe some sort of vegetation,
but God says, no, go to the rock, and that's where you're going to get the water to.
And by the way, there was like, at this stage, most people think there was probably about
2 million or over 2 million Israelites.
So the water that's got to come out of this rock, I mean, it's got to be pretty, probably
a huge rock.
But there's got to be enough water coming out of that to give, you know, drink to every
Israelite.
But, you know, so what do we see?
I mean, it sounds almost ridiculous.
I mean, we know the story, we know God provides, but it almost sounds ridiculous when you've
not seen water come out of a rock before, right?
But yet, what do we see from Moses?
What do we learn from Moses?
He not only hears from the Lord, he receives an answer to his prayer, but he's obedient
even though it seems awkward, even though it seems unusual, even though, hey, these
people might make fun of me even more going to this rock.
But the Lord told me, I'm going to go do it anyway.
And that's a lesson that we need to learn is that, hey, when God answers prayers, hey,
just take that step of faith, even though it might look weird, but just do it.
If the Lord has provided for you, has answered your prayers, take that step of faith and
do it.
And sometimes you're going to look like a fool at the beginning, all right, until the
Lord delivers for you.
So yeah, Moses' heart, I just want to point out to you that Moses' heart is full of faith
and obedience.
And obviously this rock is another picture of Jesus Christ.
We read about Jesus Christ being the rock which flows, you know, living water, or the
Holy Spirit sometimes referred to this as the Holy Spirit dwelling in you and out of
you will come streams of living water.
So we see a type of Christ.
So you see, this has a practical application to the Old Testament Israelites, and that
was to drink water.
But it has a New Testament application, which is, hey, we get our water, we get our source
of life from the rock, and that rock is Jesus Christ, you know.
Now we take a turn, all right.
We take a turn in verse number eight.
So they've received their water, they've received their drink.
The Israelites, I assume, are happy, they're content, they've seen another miracle.
You would think so.
I believe at this point they're content, because we don't see them complaining yet.
But then what happens in verse number eight?
And then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
You know, sometimes in life it's going to seem like, you know, you get one spiritual
victory, you get one answer to prayer, and then comes another problem, right.
They didn't have their water, they've got their water now, they've got their answer
to prayer, but now comes an army from Amalek, the Amalekites, to fight against Israel out
of all things, right.
Verse number nine, and Moses said unto Joshua, and by the way, this is the first mention
of Joshua in the Old Testament, okay.
First mention of Joshua, I'll cover him in a little minute, but it's just amazing that
they've gone from, you know, defeating the Egyptian army, and actually it wasn't them
that defeated the Egyptian army, it was God, but now going to another battle.
This is their first real battle, this is their first real war, that they had to fight themselves.
And just one thing very quickly I want to point out to you, salvation.
Do we work for salvation, or is that given to us?
Do we rely upon the work of Jesus Christ?
Is it the work of God, or is it our work?
It's the work of God, right, we receive salvation by faith.
We don't have to lift a finger, we just have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the Bible talks about, you know, Israel coming out of Egypt, that's like, you know,
that pictures us being saved, that pictures us being delivered out of our sin, being delivered
out of the wages of sin, which is death.
And then what's the next thing they did?
The Lord destroyed, the Lord destroyed the Egyptians.
The Lord did all the work, he did the miracles, right?
He destroyed the Egyptians.
The Israelites didn't have to fight against the Egyptians, it was all done by the Lord.
And that's a picture of our salvation.
Our salvation is completely done by the Lord, all he asks us is to trust in him.
All he asks from us is to have faith.
And that's all he was asking from Moses and the Israelites, hey, just trust me, believe
in me, I'm going to lead you out of Egypt.
Then they go through the Red Sea.
That pictures baptism, we'll read about that in the New Testament, okay?
But now that they're saved, and they, because baptism should follow your salvation, right,
but not baptism for salvation, but it should follow up after your salvation.
But now the Israelites have their first battle, now is God going to fight it for them?
Of course he will, but they have to lift a finger now.
They've got to take up the weapons and fight.
And that's the same thing with your Christian life.
Salvation, God's done the battle, God's done the work, all right?
It's by faith alone, but after you become saved, after you become a Christian, now you've
got to go into the battle, right?
You've got to endure hardness like the good soldier of Jesus Christ.
You've got to fight, you've got to try to live a life that's holy and pleasing to him.
Not to be saved, but just to have that right relationship with him, to grow in your maturity
with Jesus Christ, and we see that here as well in Israel.
Now hey, it's time for you to fight, okay?
It's time for you to show yourself serving the Lord.
And so verse number nine is the first mention of Joshua.
So Joshua gets appointed the task to choose men and go and fight against the Amalekites
in verse number nine.
And what does Moses do?
He says, I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
So Moses doesn't actually go and fight.
Now I don't believe it's because he was afraid to fight.
It's just by now, if you know the story, Moses is over 80 years old, right?
He was 40 when he came out of Egypt.
He was 40 years later when he delivered Israel out of Egypt.
So now he's 80 years old, right?
So you don't expect an 80 year old, when you've got able man, 20, 30, 40 year old man going
out.
He says, hey, I'm going to go up to the hill with the rod of God in my hand.
And so Joshua did, as Moses had said to him in verse number 10, and fought with Amalek.
And this is what I love about Joshua.
It's the first battle, their first battle, Moses said, hey, Joshua, you need to go and
get men and fight.
And what does he do?
He goes and gets the men and goes and fights.
And then it says he and Moses, Aaron, her, went up to the top of the hill.
Now here's the thing that I want you to think about, and we're talking about prayer, right?
Because sometimes you can't go soul winning.
Sometimes you're not someone that can go and knock doors and fight that battle.
Because going soul winning is fighting a battle.
You're delivering people, you're delivering souls from hell, you're delivering them out
of the hands of Satan, okay, where they want to be.
But sometimes some of you may not be able to.
You might have an illness, you may have a disability.
You may just, for some reason, not be able to go out soul winning that time.
But here's what you can do.
You can go out on that hill and pray for the soul winners.
You can go on the hill and go and pray for that battle.
And that's what we see in Moses.
He takes with him, not just himself, he takes up Aaron and her.
And I'm not, you know, we know who Aaron is, right?
That was his brother.
Her, I'm not sure, I was trying to find out who he was.
He might be the husband of Miriam.
I'm not 100% sure.
If you guys know, let me know.
But he takes two others with him to the hill, alright?
And then it says in verse number 11,
And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed,
and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
Verse number 12, But Moses' hands were heavy.
Now I believe this is about prayer.
I believe the application we can take to the New Testament church about this story is about prayer.
We have a battle going on.
There is a spiritual battle.
We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities.
We wrestle against Satan and his powers, okay?
It's a spiritual battle we're in.
And what do we see?
We see that Moses lifted up that rod of God, and he, you know, that's a picture of prayer.
He's bringing that request before God, hey, you know, that we could defeat these Amalekites.
He brings it up.
But what happens as he's praying on his own, as he's lifting up that rod on his own,
it came to pass when he held up his, sorry, it says here, in verse 12,
that Moses' hands were heavy.
I mean, if you're going to be lifting up a rod, and we find out later on that it happened,
it was all day long.
You know, Moses was there holding up this rod all day long, but his hands got heavy.
You know, if you just lifted up your hands and left them there for a while, your hands
will get heavy, let alone lifting up a rod, right?
But his hands got heavy.
And this is a picture of us going to prayer on our own.
You know, it's good to pray on our own.
It's good to bring our request before God.
But if you're like me, and I know you're like me, because we're made of the same flesh
and blood, it's difficult to pray on your own sometimes.
It's easy to get distracted.
It's easy to think, oh, but I've got this to do, I'll pray later.
Okay, it's difficult.
It's a spiritual work that your flesh doesn't like.
And that's why prayer is difficult.
I don't know, have you ever gone to bed, and you know, you've done your night prayer,
but then you wake up and you're not sure if you finished that prayer or not?
That's happened to me, where I've just fallen asleep during prayer.
Prayer is not easy.
And we see that Moses, though he was doing right, though when he was lifting up his hand,
the Israelites were winning, but he got tired, he got weary.
And then when he got weary, the Amalekites were winning, right?
And that's a picture of when we stop praying, when we stop praying, we're allowing the forces
of Satan, we're allowing things to get out of control, because we're not taking those
requests before God.
But what happened?
When he got tired, in verse number 12, and they, sorry, but Moses' hands were heavy,
and they, that's Aaron and Hur, took a stone and put it under him.
So they get this stone, so Moses can sit down, remember he's an old man, he sits down, and
he sat there on, and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on one side.
So we have Aaron taking up, you know, Moses' hand, he lifts, he helps him, hey, lift up
your hand, I'll help you.
And then we have Hur going on the other side, yeah, I'll lift up this hand, and he helps
him.
And Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, one on one side and the other on the other side,
and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
And so this is a picture, and this is why I believe a prayer meeting is so important,
a weekly prayer meeting, a weekly Bible study and prayer meeting is so important, because
when we gather together, when we pray together, we encourage one another.
I don't know if you've had much time where you pray with one another, you can focus a
lot more, you're encouraged a lot more.
Hey, you don't want to let down your brother as well, right?
You turn up because, hey, otherwise they're going to be praying on their own, I want to
go and help encourage them.
When you're doing it as a team, it's possible.
When you're doing it as a team, you'll be able to pray or lift up as it is in this story,
all day long, okay?
And of course, because, you know, his hands were steady until the going down of the sun,
verse number 13, and Joshua discomforted Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
So Joshua wins that battle, okay?
With the edge of the sword, they defeat the Amalekites because of the prayers that were
being put forward by Moses, Aaron, and her.
And look at verse number 14.
Well, before I get there, let me just give you a few reasons why we should pray as a
group instead of only individually.
Why we should pray as a group and not only individually.
Number one, because we see those examples in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
And one of the Old Testament passages that you guys, I'm sure you're familiar with, is
2 Chronicles 7, verse 14 to 15.
You don't need to turn there, I'll just read it quickly.
It says, if my people, if my people, so that's more than one, that's plural, that's everyone,
if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek
my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive
their sin and heal their land.
And then it says this in verse 15, this is, when you read verse 14, 15 doesn't really
follow all the time, but verse 15 says, now mine eyes shall be open and my ears attend
to the prayer that is made in this place.
And so there's something about God's people coming together, praying in unison for things
where God's ears will be open even more.
His eyes will be open and He will attend to those prayers that are being made.
There's something powerful about prayer, something that will make God move for you.
And even more so when we're united as a church and we're praying for those same things.
Now turn with me to Acts chapter 12, Acts chapter 12, great Bibles, Acts chapter 12.
And I just want to give you very quickly a New Testament example of a church praying
together.
Let me tell you a funny story, Acts chapter 12, verse number 5, Acts chapter 12, from
verse number 5, I'll just give you a minute, Acts chapter 12, verses 5 to 16.
Peter therefore was kept in prison, so this is a time when Peter's in prison, but prayer
was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
So who's praying for Peter?
Is it just one person?
Is it just two people?
No, it's an entire church that's praying for Peter.
Verse 6, And when Herod would have brought him forth, that same night Peter was sleeping
between two soldiers, bound with two chains.
And the keepers before the door kept the prison.
And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison.
And he smote Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly!
And his chains fell off from his hands.
So this angel visits Peter, smotes him, hey, wake up, hey, get up!
You know, Peter's not realising what's going on.
And then he says, verse 8, And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals,
so get your clothes.
And so he did.
And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.
And he went out, and followed him.
And wish not that it was true which was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision.
So Peter didn't even realise that this was even true, this was a reality, that he had
just literally walked out of prison with this angel.
He thought it was a vision, he thought it was dreaming.
Verse number 10, And when they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto
the iron gate that leadeth unto the city, which opened to them of his own accord.
So the gates just opened up by themselves.
And they went out, and passed on through one street, and forthwith the angel departed from him.
And when Peter was come to himself, so when Peter realises, hey, this is real, he said,
Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out
of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.
And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John,
whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.
So this church, where were they meeting?
In a house, right?
In a shed?
In a house?
It doesn't matter.
Where God's people are gathered together, that's a church.
And many were people, yeah, so where many were gathered together praying, so they were
still praying.
You know, Peter had left the prison, they were still praying for his release.
You know, it's a good thing.
Sometimes you're going to pray for things that God's already answered.
So be it.
You know, God wants us to do that.
Verse 13.
And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to Harken, named Rhoda.
And she knew Peter's voice, sorry, and when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the
gate for gladness, but ran in.
So Peter comes, says, hey, I'm Peter, I've come out of prison.
You know, open up.
But instead she's so glad she doesn't open the door, she just runs.
She runs inside to tell the others.
But ran in and told how Peter stood before the gate.
Verse 15.
And they said unto her, so those that were praying, thou art mad, but she constantly
affirmed that it was even so.
She says, hey, while they're praying for Peter to be released, hey, Peter's at the door,
his release is here.
They're saying, you're mad, you're crazy.
You know, they wouldn't even believe that their prayers would be answered so quickly.
Okay, so we see this prayer by this church.
Verse 16.
But Peter continued knocking, so Peter's still knocking, he's released out of prison, they
won't lead him into the church.
And when they had opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.
And sometimes you're going to be astonished by God's answered prayer.
You're going to be astonished.
Same way.
But I just want to show you the example.
We see that in the Old Testament, we see the command to pray together, for God's people
to pray together.
We see in the New Testament, when there's a time of difficulty, a time of trial for
Peter, they had gathered together and prayed for him, and God had answered their prayer,
to the point that they didn't even believe the prayer was answered.
But another good reason to pray as a group is that it works as a really good icebreaker
between individual people.
Now, for many years, in my previous church, before the church in Punchville Victory Baptist
Church, my wife and I, we would only go on Sundays, we'd go Sunday mornings and Sunday
nights.
We really didn't attend Wednesday for many years.
And I just, I sort of felt like there was no value to it, you know, but it became my
favourite service.
But here's the thing.
What I noticed, the first time I went to pray on, I don't know if it was the first time
I went, it probably wasn't, but the first time I started to consistently go on a Wednesday
night prayer and Bible study was when I was invited to preach.
And so I was invited, I had to prepare a sermon, and then I felt like a hypocrite.
Oh, you only come when you've got to, you know, when you've got to do something, right?
And so I was like, if I'm going to be asked to preach, and around that time, I started
to really think about potentially, you know, starting a church, being a pastor, all these
kind of things.
But I better be there.
I better not be a hypocrite, I better be there.
And maybe I'll get other opportunities to preach as well.
But one thing I noticed is that I thought I had developed good friendships on Sunday.
I thought I had developed, you know, we would say hello, we'd have, you know, brief conversations.
But it wasn't until we actually got together with other men in the church and the ladies
got together with other ladies, where I started to really build that friendship, or people
that I wouldn't really talk to.
And I don't know if you've been to churches where literally the people at the back of
the church don't know the people at the front of the church.
You're in this little building, but you just don't seem to cross paths.
You don't know each other's names, you haven't said a word to each other.
But getting together for that Wednesday prayer meeting, and obviously changing groups all
the time, is a great icebreaker, and you get to know each other better.
And by getting to know the third reason why it's a good idea to pray together, you know,
the reason, once you get to know each other better, you grow in love toward one another.
You grow in love because you start to realise, hey, so and so has this problem.
So and so has this difficulty.
And you start to care for that person because you know they're going through struggles.
And not only do you pray for those things during the midweek service, but then you pray
about that person during the week.
Because you remember, you remember that person's struggling, you remember that person needs
help.
And maybe you've shared some of your difficulties with that person, and so you grow in love
toward another.
That's the third reason, because you grow in love and you remember them in prayer more
often.
The fourth reason to pray as a church and pray as a group is the interaction between
adults and children.
Adults and children, obviously I've got a number of children, and I couldn't always
have my children with me in my prayer group, otherwise the group's huge.
So what we started to do was break off the children, hey, you two, you go join that group,
you two go join that group, you two go join that group.
And what that helped to do, and again, if you've been to your regular church, the children
and adults don't really interact all that much.
And it's a sad thing, because we're all members of the same church.
And as adults we often talk about the need and the importance of the next generation
to love God and to serve God.
And quite often it's just, if they've got Sunday school or something like that, kids
club, it's often the Sunday school teacher that has a good relationship with the children.
But one thing I noticed is that once my children started to join other groups, other men in
the church, other ladies in the church, that they started to form a friendship, they started
to form a relationship.
And the children enjoyed it even more, because they weren't just friends with the children,
but they were friends with the adults, they were friends with the teenagers, and it became
a more united church.
And so that's another advantage, is that the children can interact with the adults and
pray for one another.
And listen, let me just put this out there.
The reason why it's important for us adults that we interact with the children in the
church is that they become familiar with what it's like to have a relationship with
another adult.
I'll tell you why, because you're going to have men, you're going to have reprobates
creep into a church, you're going to have paedophiles creep into the church, and if
you don't make friends with the children, guess who's going to make friends with the
children?
It's those paedophiles, it's those reprobates.
And guess what?
They're going to be like, hey, so and so, he's my friend, hey, so and so, he's kind
to me, he looks out for me, because no one else is doing it, right?
And they're going to trust that reprobate, and you don't know what kind of damage that
person's going to do to your child.
And so it's important for you to teach your children how to develop good relationships
with good, mature Christians in church.
And so they know when that reprobate does creep in, they're like, hey, this guy's
weird.
This guy's different to the other adults that we interact with at church, and so they
can warn you.
Otherwise, you know, they won't know.
They won't know the difference between someone that's that way, you know, or someone
that's mature, that loves them in the Lord and wants them to grow.
That's another reason.
And finally, the other reason that it's important to pray together as a church is
that it will push you to pray for longer and with greater focus.
Okay, it'll push you to pray longer and with greater focus.
Okay, as seen in this story.
Moses could lift up that rod much longer and had much more focus and had much more strength
and energy to lift that rod up when he had the help of her and Aaron with him.
Okay, now back to Exodus chapter 17.
Sorry, again, I should have told you to keep a finger there.
I'll start learning these things.
Go back to Exodus 17, verse 13, Exodus 17, 13.
And Joshua discomforted Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
Again, I want to show you, God answers prayers, okay.
He answered the prayer for the water.
Now he's answering the prayer for the defeat of the enemies of the Amalekites.
He answers prayer.
But then verse 14 and 15, look at this.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the
ears of Joshua, for I will utterly put out the remembrance from Amalek from under heaven.
So God says, hey, remember this battle.
Remember that I've come through for you.
Remember that you've defeated the Amalekites.
And what that means for prayer is to remember answered prayer.
Be thankful to God for answered prayer.
How many times do we pray, and God answers our prayers, and we forget to thank him?
You know, the prayer gets answered, and we just take it for granted.
Maybe we think it just happened by coincidence, and we forget to thank the Lord.
But no, God says, hey, remember, write this in a book.
I'm not saying you literally have to write this in a book, but I'm saying, hey, when
prayers are answered, and that's another thing I want to do with our prayer meetings, is
not just ask for things, but thank God for prayers that have been answered.
I thank God that God has me here.
That's an answered prayer.
I thank God for this church.
That's an answered prayer.
So be thankful to God, and remember the prayers that have been answered.
And then he says this in verse number 14, for I will utterly put out the remembrance
of Amalek from under heaven.
So he's saying, you guys aren't even going to remember the Amalekites.
Now here's what's interesting about that.
This was fulfilled, but it was fulfilled in the times of David.
King David is the one that actually destroyed the Amalekites once and for all as enemies
of Israel.
But here's what I want to point out to you in verse 16.
And you might say, Kevin, this verse is not really about prayer, but look at verse 16.
For he said, because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation
to generation.
So the Lord says, hey, we're going to wipe out the Amalekites.
And that was done in the time of King David.
But then there's also a truth here in verse 16, that we will have war with Amalek from
generation to generation.
So the war with Amalek will continue and continue and continue on.
And this is why verse 16 can be taken as a spiritual application to today.
We have war with Amalek.
We have the Amalekites that we war with.
We have the Amalekites that trouble us.
We have the Amalekites that put us to the sword and require times that we require to
go to the Lord in prayer.
It's something that happens from generation to generation.
There's never going to be a perfect Christianity.
There's never going to be a perfect Christian life.
You're always going to have needs.
You're always going to have battles.
You're always going to have a need to go to the Lord for prayer.
And that's why I believe it has to do with prayer, because it's something that's applicable
to us today.
As much as it was applicable to the Old Testament, Israelites, yes, first application, but a
secondary application is to us today, we have the Amalekites that we need to defeat.
We have the Amalekites that we need to take the Lord to prayer with.
And that's what I want Thursday night prayer meeting to be about, guys.
I want us to bring our requests and for us to pray for one another, for the men to be
gathered together, pray together, for the ladies to be gathered together.
Hey, split the children up, become familiar with the children, get to know the children
as well.
And let's pray for one another.
Let's pray.