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Hear it, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Okay, we're in Exodus chapter 17. Look down at your Bibles, excuse me, at verse number eight. It says, Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim, and Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out, men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. And we're gonna continue this morning with our series entitled Epic Wars in the Bible. Epic Wars in the Bible. And what we're doing is we're covering some of the most legendary wars in the word of God and extracting spiritual principles from them. Now, throughout the Bible, as I mentioned last week, God records numerous wars and numerous battles, and many of these battles have an underlying spiritual principle behind them. And a lot of the reasons why they're so epic is because of the supernatural element that is attached to them that really makes them stand out. And so I'm not gonna cover every single war, every single battle that's found in the word of God, because there's so many of them. I'm only gonna primarily focus on the most epic ones, the most legendary ones, the ones that really stand out because of its supernatural nature. Now, we understand, as I mentioned last week, that when studying these wars and battles, Christians can never use this, and we will never use this as a justification to get in a physical war or in a physical battle. God expects for us to view these battles with spiritual intent. Now, last week, we looked at Abraham versus the League of Kings, and this morning, we're gonna look at Moses or Israel versus Amalek, okay? So let me explain what's going on here in chapter 17, what war is taking place. One of the reasons this is a very special war is because of the fact that this is literally the first war that Israel experiences, okay? Obviously, Israel is coming out of Egypt at this time. They're going through the wilderness of sin, and we see that they're going through this, and they're in need of food. God provides for them. We see in this particular chapter, they're in need of water. God provides for them, and then Amalek shows up. Now, on Thursday, I actually briefly mentioned this battle between Israel and Amalek and how Amalek really has just been waging war with the children of Israel since this time and even thereafter, and God obviously holds them accountable and wanted Saul to destroy them utterly. Of course, he fails to do that, and we have that story there in 1 Samuel. Now, why is this an epic war, okay? Well, first of all, because of the fact that from an earthly perspective, the victory was contingent upon Moses' ability to simply hold up his hands. Now, think about that. It says in verse 11, it says, "'And it came to pass when Moses held up his hand, "'that Israel prevailed. "'And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.'" Now, notice it doesn't say when Israel fought well, when Israel had the right weaponry, when Israel didn't stand down, or when Israel did X, Y, and Z. It literally depended upon Moses simply holding up his hands, and as long as he did that, God would give the victory unto Israel over the Amalekites, okay? Now, the story doesn't necessarily revolve around the soldiers' ability to fight, what weapons they possess. It literally centralized around this seemingly trivial act, and we're gonna look at later why that is, okay? But let me point out something else in regards to this particular battle, is that this continuous war between Israel and Amalek actually symbolizes the war between the flesh and the spirit, okay? Look at chapter 17 and verse 13. It says, "'And Joshua disconfited Amalek "'and his people with the edge of the sword. "'And the Lord said unto Moses, "'Write this for a memorial and a book, "'and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, "'for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek "'from under heaven.' "'And Moses built an altar "'and called the name of a Jehovah-Nissi, "'for he said, because the Lord had sworn "'that the Lord will have war with Amalek "'from generation to generation.'" Now, go with me to Deuteronomy chapter 25. Hold your place there in chapter 17, and then we're gonna go to the New Testament in Romans chapter number eight. So go to Deuteronomy chapter 25. So what I'm saying here is that this war between Israel and Amalek, in my opinion, actually symbolizes the flesh and the spirit. And you can basically replace Amalek with the Canaanites, replace them with the Perizzites, replace them with the Ammonites. All of these inhabitants of the land that God expected for them to remove completely once they reached that point, in my opinion, that represents the flesh. You say, why is that? Well, because of the fact that when we get saved, we have this continuous battle from generation to generation with our flesh. Once we leave Egypt, once God, we experience the Passover, so to speak, and we cross over the Red Sea, we cross over the Jordan River, we have this constant battle with our flesh, and that battle never ends. Now, a lot of people think that once you become a Christian, everything is just roses and daisies, you'll never struggle again. They have what's out there called the deliverance doctrine, where people teach that once you overcome this sin, you'll never fight it again, you'll never be tempted again, you'll never do that sin again. False. The Bible says the flesh lusteth against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary to one to the other so that you cannot do the things that ye would. And it's in my strong opinion that Amalek represents the flesh. Where God says here that they will fight with them from generation to generation. And let me just give you some bad news today. You're gonna struggle with sin all the days of your life. You're gonna struggle with the sins of the flesh and your corruptible body all the days of your life until you die. And until God, listen to this, blots out the name of Amalek from under heaven forever. And think about this, there's gonna come a time where the old Bruce Mejia, the old man, will be blotted out from under heaven forever, to the point where the Bible says in the book of Revelation that he will give us a new name. Look at Deuteronomy 25 verse 17. And I mentioned this on Thursday, but God holds grudges. God holds grudges, and that's maybe sometimes why we hold grudges sometimes against the enemies of God, because God does. And God is very vengeful. And people say, well, that's God. Yeah, but we're made in the image of God. Man is made in the image of God. We have God's moral law and his justice in our hearts. And so, you know, that's probably the reason why we also hold grudges against the enemies of God. Now look what it says in verse 17. Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way. What is he saying? Don't forget. When ye were come forth out of Egypt, how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, one that was faint and weary, and he feared not God. So this is basically filling in the blanks to Exodus chapter 17. Because in Exodus 17, we see that basically Amalek met Israel in Rephidim and waged war with them. But Deuteronomy 25 is filling in the blanks for us, letting us know how that came across or how that came about. How did they do it? Well, they basically began to smite the weakest of the Israelites. So those who were just kind of falling behind, weren't walking as fast, weren't not as strong, they smote, they went after the weakest of the Israelites. It says even all that were feeble behind them, you know, those who were sick, maybe those who were handicapped, those who were not as strong. The Bible says that Amalek went after them first. It says when thou was faint and weary. So when they were at their weakest is when Amalek came after the Israelites. Well, that's kind of how the flesh works, right? You know, the flesh basically tempts us when we are at our weakest. When we haven't read the Bible, when we haven't prayed, when we're not in a spiritual mindset, that's when the flesh comes after us the hardest. And it says there, and he feared not God. Verse 19, therefore it shall be when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven, thou shall not forget it. Go to Romans chapter number eight, if you would, Romans chapter number eight. And if you study the history of Israel in the Bible, you see that Amalek is constantly coming up. The Amalekites are constantly fighting against them. Every king has to war against them. They're just a constant nuisance, just as our flesh is a constant nuisance to us. You know, our flesh is what hinders us from really serving God 100% of the time. It's that which hinders us, in a sense, from serving the Lord. Look at Romans eight, verse number six. It says, for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. So just as Amalek did not fear God, he didn't care what God thought. Well, in like manner, our flesh is the same way. Our flesh is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, it cannot be made to serve God because it's corruptible, okay? Now, how do we serve God in our corruptible flesh? Well, we have to walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, okay? You have to walk in the Spirit, you have to put on the new man and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill their lust thereof. Look at verse number one of Romans chapter eight. Let me read to you from Numbers chapter 33, verse 55. It says, but if you will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come to pass that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. Moreover, it shall come to pass that I shall do unto you as I thought to do unto them. So God is saying, when you go into the land, make sure you get rid of all these people because if you don't, they're gonna be pricks in your eyes, thorns in your sides, they're gonna be a stumbling block unto you later on in your Christian life, okay? And this is how we can apply it. When you get saved, you gotta make sure you take care of those sins, right? You gotta repent of your sins after salvation because if not, what happens? If you don't clean up your life, if you don't get rid of those bad habits, if you don't repent of those sins, they're gonna be pricks in your eyes later on. Those little small sins end up becoming big sins in your life that will hinder you from serving God. They'll hinder you and your service for God and your marriage and your child rearing, they will hinder you in every aspect, they'll be thorns in your sides, my friend. That's why God says, hey, take care of those immediately once you get saved. You know, and sorry to use this example once again, but it's just constantly on my mind. But you think of powerlifting, they often say the greatest gains that you will make when you're powerlifting is in the first couple of months. Like your body will lift a crazy amount of weight, if you're consistent, they call it newbie gains. You make the fastest gains in the first 12 months of lifting if you're consistent. Well, you know what, there's spiritual newbie gains as well. And it's very important that once you get into church, you just jump right in, you start reading the Bible, you got good spiritual momentum. You got good people around you, you have the Bible, you have church, you got preaching, and it's when you make the best decisions, spiritually speaking. You're like, you know what, I'm gonna get away from my friends. I'm not gonna do this anymore. I'm gonna clean up my life. I'm just gonna not go here on Fridays anymore. I'm not gonna be with so-and-so on Saturdays anymore. I'm gonna be in church on Sunday. I'm gonna start reading the Bible. I'm gonna start praying. Hey, I'm gonna start going soul-winning. I'm gonna start just adding to my life spiritual things, and you start making some spiritual newbie gains. Get on fire for God, and you repent, and you're cleaning up your life. But you know, sometimes Christians don't do that. They get saved, and they're kinda in and out of church. They're not necessarily serious about the things of God. And you know, they may not think it's like a big deal, but you know what, come five, 10 years, you're gonna see how big of a deal that thorn in your flesh really is. That thorn in your side, that prick in your eyes. It's gonna hinder you from discerning. It's gonna hinder you from doing God's will, and you will see how much of a hindrance it is when it starts affecting that which is very much important to you. And that's how the flesh is, okay? That's how Amalek is. That's why God said, take care of them now. Take care of them while you still can, while they haven't necessarily built chariots of iron. Because that's another example right there. If you don't take care of sins right away, you know what's gonna happen is they're just harder to take care of later on, right? If you don't take care of those sins now, if you don't take care of envy now, if you don't take care of covetous now, if you don't take care of your thought life now, if you don't take care of anger now, guess what? They're gonna have chariots of iron later on. And it's not that you can't defeat them, it's just that it's a little harder to defeat them, okay? And so it tells us there, and he says in verse 56, Moreover, it shall come to pass that I shall do unto you as I thought to do unto them. Well, look at Romans eight, verse one. It says, there is therefore no condemnation, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. In other words, if you're saved, you're never gonna receive the condemnation of hell, right? And if you're in Christ Jesus, you're not gonna receive a condemnation here on this earth if you're walking in the spirit. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. So the implication there is that there is condemnation to Christians who choose to live a fleshly life. Now the condemnation is not hell because Jesus Christ has already paid for that, but there is a condemnation on this world. And we can compare that to what we see in Numbers 33, where he says, I shall do unto you what I thought to do unto them. This is why sometimes Christians suffer the same punishment as the unsaved, right? They suffer the same consequences, the same punishments as the unsaved, why? Because they're living a carnal life, you understand? And people will often look at groups like us and accuse us of, you know, us easy believists or whatever. You know, these once saved, always saved. They'll accuse us and say, oh, you know, you guys are so easy on sin and you guys don't preach against sin. You don't tell people to repent of their sin. No, we tell people to repent of their sins after salvation. We don't muddy up the gospel by adding repenting your sins to the gospel because that's not how you get saved, you understand? But we preach hard against sin. We preach hard against fornication. We preach hard against adultery. And in fact, I don't really know that many pastors and churches who preach as hard on sodomy as we do. I don't know that many churches and pastors who preach as hard on the abominable things of this country as we do, okay? And look, they may be out there obviously, you know, they may not even have a YouTube channel or something like that, okay? There might be some 80-year-old out there who's probably still preaching hard on that stuff, you know? But here we see, or the point that I was trying to get across there is the fact that we preach hard on sin because we don't want Christians to suffer the earthly condemnation, the earthly consequences of their actions here on this earth because let me just say this is that God will do unto you as he thought to do unto them, you know? Hey, Christians are not, you know, they're not, how should I say, Christians can't avoid venereal diseases if they're committing fornication, right? They can't avoid that. Christians may get venereal diseases just like unsaved people get venereal diseases. So, you know, the same punishments that the unsaved get can come upon you. Christians are not, you know, exempt from going to prison, from being killed, from being destroyed as the unsaved if they are carnally minded, my friends. He will do unto you as he thought to do unto them. The Bible says in 1 Peter, go back to Exodus 13, if you would, 1 Peter 2, verse 11 says, "'Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, "'abstain from fleshly lust, which war against the soul.'" And just keep in mind that these battles that we face in our flesh, we will battle from generation to generation. And, you know, we could apply that to ourselves. We could also apply it to our children. You know, some of the things that we struggle with, our children will struggle with as well. You know, and parents who have older children or they're adults already, you know, I'm sure a lot of them could attest and say, I see a lot of the things that I struggle with in my son or in my daughter. A lot of the same character flaws or a lot of the same ways of thinking, you know, they will, that's just a thing, okay? And so we need to make sure that, especially if you are a first-generation Christian, if you got saved later on in life, you know, we got a lot of catching up to do, okay? And so I used to tell my father-in-law, you know, how do I get second-generation blessings? You know, how do I speed up the process? How do I streamline the process so that I'm blessed like a first-generation Christian or a second-generation Christian, should I say? Because that's what we want. And so we see here that Amalek was hated of God and he wanted to blot out the remembrance of Amalek forever just as when we get saved, God wants us to crucify the flesh with the affections and lust. And then when we die, the remembrance of our old man will no longer be there. He wants to blot out that remembrance under heaven forever. Okay? Revelation 3 12 says, He that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out. And I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God. And I will write upon him my new name. Look at Exodus 13. What are some principles that we can learn from this particular battle? Let's extrapolate a couple of principles here. Number one, one thing that we can learn from this battle between Amalek and Moses is that God will never put us in a battle that he knows we can't handle. Okay? Now, why do you say that? We'll look at Exodus 13 verse 17. It says, And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near, for God said, less peradventure, the people repent when they see war and they return to Egypt. Look at that. This is a couple of chapters before them going up against Amalek. And God says, you know what? This is a closer way to the route that we wanna take, the destination that we want them to go to. However, I'm not gonna let them go through that route because that's the land of the Philistines. And I don't want them to see war and repent because they're afraid because they can't handle it. And then they end up going back into Egypt. Okay? It says in verse 18, But God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. Now, what does the Bible say about that? Well, the Bible tells us, there is no temptation taking you, but such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted. Listen to this, above that ye are able. Okay? But will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it. Turn with me if you would, to second Corinthians chapter number one, second Corinthians chapter one. Now we obviously know that the battles of the Lord, right? God is the one who wins these victories. He's the one who sets us up for success. But let me say this is that that is not at the expense or negating the vessel that's being used to actually fight the war. Okay? We're not Calvinists here who think that, you know, God is just gonna use us like robots and just, you know, we have no choice in the matter. And we have no ability, there's no talent, there's no giftedness, there's no character involved. You know, people tend to forget that although the battles of the Lord, the vessel which he chooses must be apt to fight. And apparently when they were going against the Philistines, they weren't ready for that. He knew that if he faced them with fighting the Philistines, they would buckle. They would buckle, they'd fall apart and they would end up going back into Egypt. Okay? The Bible tells us if a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel and to honor, sanctified and meet for the master's use and prepared into every good work. Look at second Corinthians chapter one, verse number eight. It says, for we would not brethren have you ignorant of our trouble, which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure above strength in so much that we despaired even of life. And what does that mean? He's saying, I felt like I was gonna die. Think I was gonna, I thought I was gonna die. And you know what, some people can get to a point where they think to themselves, I can't handle this. This fight, this battle, this war that I'm going through, internally or with others, I can't handle another day of it. This is too much for me. I can't handle it. I can't take another day. I can't take another week. I can't take another month. But let me just say this. If you are already in the battle, that's God telling you, you can handle that battle. Because if you're fighting against the Philistines, he would have easily said, well, you know, I'm gonna take you a different way. Because I don't want you to repent when you see war and turn back into Egypt. So the mere fact that Amalek is coming to fight against you, and God is allowing it, is proof to you that you should be able to handle it. But even the Apostle Paul felt at one point, I despaired even of life. He says in verse nine, But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, and whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. So he's talking literally, but there's a spiritual even application or interpretation of this, that he was delivered from so great death, hell, he doth deliver, physically speaking here on this earth, and whom we trust that he will yet deliver us when he gets his glorified body. Understand, so those are the three parts right there. But what we see here is that even the Apostle Paul understood that even when he despaired of life, he felt he couldn't go any further, he felt he couldn't handle more. You know, God enabled him, he gave him that grace, he gave him the ability, and he was able to fight. And you know what, don't forget that principle. Because sometime this year, you will experience some battle, some fight, and you're gonna be like, well, I gotta take a break from church or something. I gotta take a break, I need to get another job, I need to make more money, I need to do this, I need to take, you compartmentalize God, and the things of God because you just need to take care of your business over here. You gotta make sure your ducks are in order here before you get back into the service of God. That's not the way it works, folks. If we want God to bless us in all areas of life, we need to include God, listen to this, in all areas of life. That's the way it works. And so, you know, if you are pressed out of measure, above strength, in so much that you're despairing of life, you're in a good position. Because growth doesn't come in comfort. Growth presents itself when you are despairing, when you are in trouble, when you are at your weakest, when you are in war. I mean, the first war that they experienced, I'm sure afterwards, you know, Joshua was like, you know what, I think we could do this. They haven't even gotten into the Promised Land yet. That's their pre-war, so to speak. And yet, they did pretty good, right? They fought valiantly, they obeyed the Lord, and they were able to overcome the Amalekites. Go back to chapter 17 of Exodus, if you would. Exodus chapter 17. Don't be a weakling of a Christian. Okay, where if the going gets tough, all of a sudden, you just wanna throw in the towel. You're like, oh man, you know, my husband's mad at me, my wife's mad at me, or things aren't going well at my job, or I just feel a little depressed, I feel a little discouraged, I feel a little disillusioned, I think I'm gonna throw in the towel. That's not acute to throw in the towel, folks. Those should be cues to you to help you to understand that's when you need to be in church more. Because at that point, you are vulnerable, my friends. You're vulnerable to the flesh, you're vulnerable to Satan, you're vulnerable to the things of this world, and you can easily give in to those things if you don't reinforce biblical teachings and biblical concepts to help you to stay in the fight, okay? And so, God will never give you more than you can handle, but another thing that I personally learned from this, and I think all of us can, is that this shows us that battles can often come in batches, okay? Now, this is important for Moses to know. Look at Exodus 17, verse one. This is prior to Amalek coming to fight with them. It says in verse one, And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin, after their journeyings, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses. What does chide mean? They're complaining, they were murmuring, and said, give us water that we may drink. Well, can you say please? And Moses said unto them, why try to eat with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us, and our children, and our cattle will thirst? You guys are exaggerating. Talk about exaggeration. You're bringing us out here to kill us, and our children, and our cattle, we have no water. And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, what shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me. So these people were getting so aggressive, so antagonistic, that even to the point where Moses felt, man, these people are gonna kill me. And Moses is not a supernatural person. He's not God, he isn't the Lord, he's simply doing what the Lord told him to do. Verse five, and the Lord said unto Moses, go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel, and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock of Horeb, and thou shall 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, and he called the name of the place Massa and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, because they tempted the Lord, saying, is the Lord among us or not? Now look, this is a battle, especially for a leader, when he has to deal with battles internally, and then the battle comes outwardly, that means that battles come in batches, okay? Now this doesn't only apply to church, but it could apply to a family, it could apply to maybe even at your job, or you personally, or you're struggling with things internally, but then there's also battles on the outside as well. Expect it. Whenever you fight something, just think about this, maybe something else might be coming down the pipeline. You're like, man, that's not very positive though, like, I wanna know that we're coming out of a battle, like everything's gonna be okay, everything is gonna be okay. Obviously, you know that. I'm here to be negative though. What you don't need to say is, is the Lord among us or not? Because you know, during battles, it's easy to sometimes fight, and expect the Lord to be there, but when they come in batches, you know what people have a tendency to do? Oh man, is the Lord among us or not? Oh, all this infighting inside our church, is the Lord among us or not? Oh, all these battles outside of our church, people, God is with this particular group of people right here. I mean, he's with them day in and day out, he's performed so many miracles for them, he's delivered them out of Egypt, he saved them, I mean, he performed amazing things for them, and yet they have the gall to say, well, is the Lord among us or not, because we don't have water. It's crazy. And so it's okay to get tired, it's okay to sometimes doubt a little bit, but it's not okay to say, well, is the Lord among us or not, yes or no? Because you know, sometimes people, and let me just say this, in the coming years, our church will experience some pretty severe battles inwardly. You know, there might be false prophets in here, I don't know, maybe some Judas Iscariot's in here or not, or some who come later on, there's gonna be doctrinal battles, you know, there's going to be fights, that's just part of life. And you know what, someone who lacks discernment and doesn't know biblical teachings and biblical doctrines would look at something like that and say, well, the Lord is not among them then, because look at all that inward fighting, look at all that drama. Folks, the Bible's filled with drama, what are you talking about? The Bible is drama. It's people being drama, it's God stirring up drama. The Bible's filled with God highlighting, listen to this, drama, right? And look, the New Testament churches were awesome, but they were not absent of drama. In fact, God spent two chapters in the book of Revelation telling us all about the drama in the seven churches of Asia. Putting out all the dirty laundry that this church is involved in fornication, this church over here got a woman preacher, right? These people are letting in the Jews, the Nicolaitans in to teach false doctrine, the doctrines of Balaam, to eat things sacrificed unto idols. These guys right over here, they're so lukewarm, they're lazy Christians, they're not getting right with God, I mean, he's calling everyone out. Telling us about all the drama in the churches, the Christian life is filled with drama, but it doesn't mean that the Lord is not among us. And look, even if you experience batch after batch after batch of battles, it still doesn't mean that the Lord is not among you. Sometimes it's pruning season. Sometimes it's a season where God is just pruning you, he's pruning the church, he's pruning us, he is helping us to become better Christians, he's helping us to be a better church, he's helping you to be better members, he's helping me to be a better pastor. Doesn't mean the Lord is not among us. And thank God that there is no water, amen? Because if there is no water, then Moses couldn't have performed the miracle of smiting the rock and water coming out. And now we have this wonderful story of the rock giving out water for smiting the rock and God providing for his people. Thank God for the problems in your life. Because it gives God the opportunity to give a solution, a supernatural solution, a biblical solution, and what does it do? It increases our faith, okay? But don't be like the children of Israel, is the Lord among us or not? Oh, pastor, is God hand with you or not? Is God with this church or not? I thought this was like the best church in the world, pastor, look at all these problems. Yeah, you know, the ministry would be great if it wasn't for people. Isn't that true? People bring problems. We all got problems. We all got problems right here. Every single one of us has problems. We all have baggage from generation to generation. Okay, this is quote. I don't typically read out quotes, but I like this quote. This is actually a quote that J. Frank Norris had on his desk. In his office. And it says, success in life comes not from holding a good hand, but in playing a poor hand well. Right? Too many people complain about the bad hand that they have. Oh, look at all, look at my bad hand. Look at, you know, the problems I got here, and it's not my fault, my parents, look at this, and look at everything I'm going through. Well, let's see how well you can play that hand though. I don't care about your hand, because everyone has a different set of cards that they're dealing with. How well are you able to execute and be successful with the hand that you do have? Now, that's impressive. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 11, if you will, 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Sometimes battles come in batches. Don't let that be a confirmation that you gotta get out of church, gotta stop reading your Bible, you gotta quit on your marriage, or you're just not a good parent. I'm gonna quit homeschooling because it's just too hard, too many battles, I'm gonna quit my job because my boss is just too mean to me. I'm just gonna quit this church because it's just too hard. Battles come in batches. You're in 2 Corinthians 11, I'm gonna read to you from chapter seven. It says, for when we were coming to you into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side without were fightings and within were fears. What is he saying? Battles come in batches. Look at verse 23 of 2 Corinthians 11. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool, I am more. And labor's more abundant and stripes above measure and prisons more frequent and deaths often. Of the Jews, five times received I 40 stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep. So if we didn't know about the Apostle Paul and we heard about these things, most churches would be like, that guy's not right with God. He's just not right with God, right? Most churches will look at someone like this and say, he's not right with God. You brought this upon yourself, Paul. That persecution you're getting, you brought it on yourself. Injournings often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, this guy's not safe anywhere. In perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in other words, he's not sleeping, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Man, I mean, where's the prosperity gospel, Paul? Prosperity preachers never touch on this. And then he says in verse 28, beside those things, oh man, there's more? Besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Now, I'm not familiar with a lot of that stuff that he mentioned. I might be familiar with a couple of those within the last couple of years, but not all of these, for sure. I've never been stoned to death, okay? I've never been shipwrecked. I've never been in the sea, you know, just kind of floating around. But you know, one thing I am for sure familiar with is the care of this church. And I'll be honest with you, pastoring can be a very stressful job. Those of you who want to be pastors just know this, it's extremely stressful. Very rewarding, but very stressful. There's a reason why the apostle Paul said that. Now, his stress level is probably exceedingly higher because he said churches, because he planted a bunch of churches. And you know, I know we think that 2,000 years ago, everyone was so dignified and everything was, they were just the best of Christians and stuff. But let me just say this. If we were to go back 2,000 years into the churches of the New Testament, we would see it was the same exact problems. There was marriage problems then, there was child rearing problems then, there was lazy people back then, there was people causing division in those churches back then. I mean, how about this? Read the book of 1st and 2nd Corinthians. It's basically two books, two letters, filled with church drama. People don't change, folks. Throughout the generations, the problems don't change, it's always gonna be the same. And so he's saying here that problems and battles come in batches. Now, you can apply this to yourself, if you're experiencing internal battles, but you're also experiencing outward battles at your job, with your family, hopefully not, but maybe in church. Battles come in batches. And don't run away from it. Don't say, is the Lord among us? Just know that this is just a part of life. Go back to Exodus, or I'm sorry, go to 1st Timothy chapter two, 1st Timothy chapter two. Battles can come in batches. They're chatting with Moses about the water, and then they get the water, and then all of a sudden what happens? Amalek comes on the scene. It kind of reminds me of last year, because prior to us being protested, I was in this huge battle with Bob Gray Jr. And Manly Perry and Bob Gray Jr. just backstabbing me and just throwing me under the bus. A great mentor of mine, whom I still love, and I admired greatly, but he joined forces with one of my enemies to criticize me on a podcast. And I remember I was in this huge battle with him, and then as soon as that was done, it was just like, then the sodomites came. And I'm sure, I promise you, there's old IFB pastors who saw that and say, see, that's what he gets for going against Bob Gray Jr. It's coming upon him because of that. No, it's called Battles Come in Batches. And we won both of them. What's up now? Principle number three. Victory is dependent upon keeping our hands lifted up. It's like Moses, right? So if you could picture this, he's like, I'm gonna go to the top of the hill. He designates Joshua to lead the war against Amalek. And the Israelites don't know this, but Moses knows this. And so does Aaron and Hur, that as long as he kept his hands up, they would win. And you know, you think to yourself, well, how hard can that be? Yeah, but if you're doing it till the sun comes down, I mean, that's hard. So his hands are like falling and they're weary, and then all of a sudden it's just like, Amalek just starts whooping everyone. And so they raise it up a little, it's like, ah. And then he kind of figured out the formula that as long as he keeps his hands up, and Aaron and Hur are basically assisting him in doing so. But it's interesting, is it not? You know, that it was based upon, it's contingent upon him keeping his hands up. Now, why is that? What is the spiritual meaning to that? What is the spiritual application to that? Well, look at 1 Timothy chapter two in verse seven. It says, Whereunto I am ordained a preacher and apostle. I speak the truth in Christ and line not a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. Now in the Bible, you often see this concept of lifting up your hands unto the Lord. It signifies praying. It signifies dependence upon God. In fact, let me read to you from Psalm 28 in verse two, it says, Hear the voice of my supplication. When I cry unto thee, I will lift up my hands toward thy holy tabernacle. He says in Psalm 88 verse nine, Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction. Lord, I have called daily upon thee. I have stretched out my hands unto thee. Psalm 141 verse one says, Lord, I cry unto thee, make haste unto me, give ear unto my voice. When I cry unto thee, let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense and the lifting up of mine hands as the evening sacrifices. So I believe what Exodus 17 is teaching us is that as long as Moses was dependent upon God, as he lifted up his hands and said, Lord, deliver us from the hand of Amalek, they would win. And you know what, that principle applies to us today. As long as we're willing to continue to depend on the Lord, God will provide for our needs, He'll work out the issues. As long as you keep lifting up holy hands without wrath, listen to this, without doubting, God can deliver you. Now, I don't believe this is a practice that necessarily is, I don't think God's telling us to literally lift up our hands, right? You guys seen that like in liberal churches and stuff. I remember years ago, when I was in Old IFE Church, we went down to the altar to pray. And I remember this guy, he was a visitor and he came and he kind of like knelt down and he was kind of like, I'm like, what is he doing? That's such a weird way to do that. And later on, I learned, they're like, yeah, he believes in this lifting up holy hands, like literally kind of thing. I'm like, well, why is he doing his wrists like that though? Like if I ever lift up my hands into the Lord, I'm just like trying to grab the Lord, I'm just like. He was just like. That guy needs to do some pushups or something. Some knuckle pushups or some wrist pushups. It's like those things were weak. It's like, I don't know if you're getting God's attention with those weak wrists, bro. It's like as if he's telling the Lord like, I don't know. But this is a practice that people will do and it's more of a visible thing. They want to be seen of men obviously, right? Whereas in the Bible, the context that we see like in Psalms, for example, is more referring to like private prayer, where you lift up your hands into the Lord and it signifies, Lord, I need you. Come to me because I need you. I need your hand, I need your deliverance, I need your provision, I need you! That's what he's signifying there. And so the picture that we're getting here with Moses is that the battle wasn't dependent upon how good the men fought and I'm sure they can fight well. It wasn't dependent upon Joshua leading well, although he led well. It was literally dependent upon if Moses just kept his hands up. And you know what, you can make it through any battle, any war, you can make it through any tribulation, any trial, as long as you just keep your hands up unto the Lord. It's not dependent upon how much money you have in the bank. It's not dependent upon how great of a Christian you are. It's not dependent upon how great of a soul winner you are. It's not dependent upon how many talents you have, how many gifts you have, how great of a person you are. It's all dependent upon you depending on the Lord. Lifting up your hands unto the Lord. And in fact, you know, this is one aspect, go to Ephesians chapter six if you would, Ephesians six, that we often neglect is prayer, the importance of prayer. Sometimes we as Christians forget to pray. We're so caught up in activity, or depending upon what we're capable of doing, we often neglect the most important aspect, which is Lord, help me. You know, praying for the rain and the latter rain. Praying for a good harvest when you've already had a good harvest. Praying before you go sowing and saying, Lord, please help me to win someone to Christ today. Please, you know, lead me to the person who's receptive towards the gospel. Please use me, please fill me with your spirit. Lord, please, when I come to church, help me to get something great out of the preaching of God's word. You know, help me to know what I need to change in my life. Lord, help me, lift up your hands unto the Lord. And I think of what Samuel said, and we went over this a couple weeks ago. He says, Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord and ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the good and right way. James four verse eight says, Draw an eye to God and he'll draw an eye unto you. Listen to this, cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. When you think about the armor of God, prayer is often the one element that isn't talked about, but it's in it. Look at verse 16, it says, Above all, take in the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. I was just to pray without ceasing. And so, you know, remember this, that when you're in your darkest of moments, you're going through a war, going through a battle, before you look into the doctors, before you look into the physicians, before you look at your bank account, before you look upon another person, look into the Lord, from which cometh my help. Lift your hands up unto the Lord. And, you know, if you see that the battle doesn't seem to be going your way, it could be that your hands are dropping. It could be that your arms are dropping. It could be that you're not praying. It could be that you have neglected the discipline of prayer. And this isn't a sermon, you know, an exhaustive sermon on prayer. But, you know, just to give you a couple principles regarding prayer, is number one, you know, you should pray in the morning as soon as you get up in the morning when you read your Bible, pray unto the Lord, ask Him to fill you with the Spirit, ask Him for His favor, you know, spend time in adoration, thanking God for who He is, praising Him for His goodness, for salvation. Just take time communing with God, right? And you say, well, how long should I pray for? I can't give you that a lot of time, because it's different. And I don't think it's wise to give you a time that you should pray, an exact time, because then people will only follow that exact time. Whereas what God wants, He just wants you to pray from the heart. It's just like, you know, if my wife wants me to take her on a date, and then I'm like, okay, you got 15 minutes, okay? We got one hour, and once this hour is done, we're leaving this restaurant, and I gotta, you know, we can't commune after that, you know? She doesn't want that. She wants me to just speak from the heart and to just lose myself in the conversation. Oh, look at the time, look, I just didn't even know how much time went by, you know? It's just, spending so much, this is wonderful, you know? Time doesn't even matter anymore. God wants us to kinda lose ourself in prayer. And then, you know, obviously not every day's gonna be that way, you understand that. But even aside from that, He wants us to have just a prayer life. In other words, throughout the day, think upon the Lord, pray unto the Lord, ask God for wisdom, ask God for a parking spot. I'm not joking, why are you laughing? I'm serious about that. You ask God for the smallest of things to the biggest of things. Ask God to help you lift that weight, amen? To not be injured, to protect you while you're driving, you know, ask God for, hey, how about this? Don't just ask God for needs, ask Him for your wants, too. I don't know about that, you know, that's so intrusive, I don't think, you know, how can we expect God, see, that's why you don't get nothing. That's why you don't get nothing. Because you gotta ask God for things, even the things that you want. Like, why? Well, because of the fact that He, the Bible says that He wants to give us good things. He's given us all things richly, listen to this, to enjoy. We're not Buddhists here, you know, we're not Hindus, where everything is just like, oh, so strict, no, sometimes God, because He's our Heavenly Father, actually wants to bless us with things to enjoy, okay? And so, have a prayer life, pray with your children, pray with your spouse. Hey, on Thursday evenings, when Maury's up here praying, pray with him. Even if he gets some of the prayers off, you know what I mean, and he doesn't pronounce some of the names right, or whatever, and, you know, pray for him. Be an intercessor for Maury. Lord, he doesn't know what he's asking for, forgive him for he know not, he knows not what he's saying. You know, make intercessions with him with groanings, which cannot be uttered, apparently. Pray, just have a prayer life, is what I'm saying. And again, I'm not saying that, you know, as you're walking, or you're driving in the car, you're just like, close your eyes, and you're just like, God will take care of me, because I'm communing with Him. You don't necessarily have to close your eyes to pray. And you don't even have to like, pray, like with a loud voice. Sometimes you can pray thus within yourself. Nehemiah did it all the time. You know, pray, because God hears the inter-recesses of our heart. What I'm saying is, make it a habit to lift up your hands unto the Lord, and recognize that when the battle doesn't seem to be going your way, check if your arms are dropping. Check if you've been praying, you know. And it's easy, let me just say this, it's real easy to forget to pray when we're already successful. Super easy. I'm telling you, just based on personal experience. When everything's going well, and you know, we're healthy, wealthy, and wise, and you know, our spouses love us, and everything's just going hunky-dory, you know, we have a tendency to forget to pray. It's when things are going bad, that's when we remember. But here's the thing is, God wants us to pray even when things are going good. And this is what I typically do. You know, when things are going well, I'm like, Lord, help it to continue to go well. And help me not to forget to pray when things are going well. Because I know by experience that things have just changed like that, okay? And so go back to Exodus 17, if you would. And so that is the spiritual application to Moses holding up his hands. But I want you to notice too is that even though Moses was holding up his hands, he needed Aaron and her, right? You know, there's no one man army here at our church. Yeah, I'm leading the church, I'm leading the congregation, but the exploits and the successes of our church is a joint effort of the entire church because I'm part of this church too. This is my church too. I'm a member of First Works. I'm the pastor, but I'm also a member of First Works Baptist Church. My family, they're members of First Works Baptist Church. So we're all in this together and we all need to work together to kind of make sure this thing succeeds, amen? To do our part. He says in verse 12, but Moses' hands were heavy. What does that tell us? The leaders get tired. His hands were heavy. Now I can apply that to myself because it's true, pastors get tired too. They get tired of preaching. They get tired of just, you know, just day in and day out doing the things of God and just centering his life around the word of God and the service. You think to yourself, I mean, shouldn't you just, yeah, it's what I love, but you know, it doesn't mean I don't get tired. But you know, and you can apply this to your husband. Wives, your husband, you know, they get tired too, okay? You know, they work, they're providing spiritual leadership. They're taking you out on dates. They're helping you raise the children. They work, they work, they work. They can become tired too. So ladies, cut your husband some slack, okay? You know, when your husband gets home, every once in a while, you know, I preached the opposite of this before, that husbands, when you come home, listen to your wives and talk to your wives, but wives, let me just say this, every once in a while, maybe they don't want to talk to you. And sometimes they actually prefer not to just say anything. Sometimes they just want to sit down and, you know, I don't know, play a video game or something or play chess or something. Yeah. Or watch a video or just kind of, just like kind of wind down a little bit. Yeah, but I haven't seen them all day though. Yeah, but you know, leaders get tired though too. And so, you know, and I'm not saying that, you know, men do your part to talk to your wives and commune with your wives, but on the other side, let me just encourage the wives to make sure that you help your husbands wind down as well, because they get tired too. You know, they get emotionally tired. They get mentally tired. Sometimes they just want to come home. Let me say this to a quiet house. Okay, they want to come home to a quiet house and do what you can to make the environment as pleasing to your husband as possible. Yeah, but I've been with the kids all day and everything. Yeah, but here's the key words. You've been at home. And who's made that possible is your husband to stay home, to provide that environment for you, okay? Now again, men don't take this to the extreme either, right? Like, it's just like, all right, cool. I'm never gonna talk to my wife ever again. Keep it quiet every single time. No, obviously there needs to be a balance, but you know, I'm advocating for the husband today, okay? Because leaders get tired, all right? And wait to tell him the bad news until tomorrow, okay? If you got some bad news for your husband, wait until tomorrow to tell him the bad news, okay? And so Moses' hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat there on, and Aaron and her stayed up his hands. And let me just say this, you know, on a personal level, I'm thankful that our church is filled with Aaron and hers that hold my hands up. When I'm tired or I'm weary or we're going through battles, I have great men in our church, men that I can depend on, men who I know are praying for me, men who, you know, just provide a refreshing environment for me, men that I can talk to who hold up my hands. But let me say this, everyone needs an Aaron and her, okay? And wives, you are the Aaron and her to your husband, because we're not polygamous here, amen? You know? You gotta be both Aaron and her, amen? You know, you're holding up your spouse, your husband's arms, helping him through difficult times, okay? And so, but I want you to notice as well is that they took a stone and put it under him. So even though they're holding up his hands, ultimately, the one who held up his entire body was the stone. And of course, we know the stone which the builders rejected is Jesus Christ himself. And so at the end of the day, Moses needed the stone as his foundation to rest upon, okay? And you know, the Bible says in Psalm 62 verse one, "'Truly my soul waiteth upon God, "'from him cometh my salvation. "'He only is my rock and my salvation, "'he is my defense, I shall not be greatly moved.'" Okay? And I appreciate the fact that he said greatly moved, because sometimes we are moved just a little bit. But if we rest upon the Lord and upon the stone of our salvation, the rock of our salvation, we shall not be greatly moved, okay? So yeah, do we need to keep our hands up? Absolutely. Do we need an Aaron and her? Yes. But more than anything else, we need the stone, our foundation, which is Jesus Christ. We need to make sure that we're building our house upon the rock, okay? So when the winds and the waves blow upon the house, it's not gonna move, it's gonna stay stable. And then of course, we're gonna defeat Amalek because of it, okay? Now, this is the first war and the first battle of the Israelites against the Amalekites, but it's not the last. There's gonna be other wars. And so the last principle is this, is that you may win the war against your flesh today, you may win the battle today, but Amalek can come back around next week as well. Don't be the Christian where it's just like, well, I've overcome this specific sin in my life, I never have to worry about it ever again. No, because if you've opened that door to that particular sin, that temptation, that sin will always be present in your life from generation to generation, okay? But as long as we keep applying these principles, then when you see Amalek, hands up. I don't mean like hands up, okay? Because most of us, we know how to do this. But can you do this? Can you raise your hands into the Lord? Depend on this more than this, okay? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. We're so thankful for this epic battle between Moses and Amalek. Help us to take these things to heart and recognize that battles are a part of the Christian life and as long as we lift up our hands unto the Lord, unto you, we remain dependent upon you to deliver us from the clutches of our enemy, from the temptations of our flesh, that we can always have victory over Amalek, Lord. And I pray that you'd help us to do so. We love you, Lord, and we thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Amen, song number 212, Oh Happy Day. Song number 212.