Time for Battle - Exodus 17:8-16

[0:00] Good morning. Welcome to Calvary Chapel Charlotte. So we've looked at Israel journeying through the wilderness.! They're on their way to Mount Horeb, on their way to the Mount of God, as Moses has led them out of Egypt through the Red Sea, through a number of different things that we've looked at.

[0:15] They've had water provided, manna provided. And last week we saw as Moses struck that rock. Remember, that rock is still there today. You can zoom in on Google Earth and you can see over in Saudi Arabia, in the desert, is this rock, is this shadow it casts, that has been split and all the rocks around it have, what appear to be, what you find in the glacier deposit, erosion, like water's been all over it.

[0:38] That Moses struck the rock and water did literally and physically come out of it. And so they are now living in that. We talked about how Jesus said on that last day of the feast, at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles, he said, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink, for out of his innermost being will flow forth, gush forth, torrents of living water.

[0:55] We know then John gives us that parentheses. Well, this he spake concerning the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit had not yet been given. That Jesus wants us, that God's desire for us is to live in the overflow of the Spirit.

[1:07] Now, just a little bit, right? But the overflow of that. And what are the conditions of that? Well, if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God. If any man lacks, right?

[1:17] How much more will your Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask? But how much can we contain, right? If I'm the size of a shot glass, man, you can fill me up, but I'm not going to have too much.

[1:28] And I can overflow, but it's just, it's not a lot. It's the same filling. It's the same amount coming in, in a sense, but I don't have much to contain. God wants to grow us.

[1:38] He wants us to contain so much more so that he can use us in fulfilling and helping other people come to that place, where they can live in the overflow. And so as this rock is split and the water's flowing out, you picture the children running and the stream that's coming from it and playing in it, and the people that are just there in this place.

[1:55] It is a good place. If you remember, they are in Rephidim. They come across the Red Sea from the Nawabi Beach, and through Mara, Elam, through the wilderness of sin, and they are now in Rephidim.

[2:08] Rephidim means rest, secure, as in like a secure foundation, something that's settled that you can put weight upon. And they're just settled down right there. This is a good place.

[2:19] Israel has complained. Israel has grumbled. Israel has questioned God, and God has graciously met their need again and again and again. I think this is probably in this moment, as waters come out of the rock, and as manna's coming from heaven, and they're living in the moment of that, right?

[2:35] You know, we talked about that with the manna. When it first comes, that provision from God that's daily, it's like, wow, this is amazing, Lord. 20 years later, Lord, can you give me something different? And we forget God's faithfulness in those moments.

[2:46] But I think right now, with fresh manna and a fresh filling, man, they're flying high. And isn't that the case? When God gives us fresh manna, when we come to his word, it's like something new. When it's a fresh filling, we're living the overflow of that.

[2:58] You're like, God, there's nothing that could get me down. Well, then verse 8 happens in Exodus 17. Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

[3:09] Ah! Things are going so good, Lord. Couldn't we just take a little time? Amalek means valley dweller, one who dwells in the low places. He's a low dude, Amalek.

[3:20] Where does Amalek come from? In Genesis 36, we have the account of Esau's children. Esau was Jacob's older twin brother. And it was Esau's son, Eliaphaz, who had a concubine, not even his actual wife, Timnah.

[3:36] And she bare Amalek. So this is Esau's grandson, Amalek, fighting against his brethren, against Israel. And Amalek still fights. Esau's descendants still fight today with Jacob's descendants.

[3:51] The enemy seeks to move us from that place of rest, from that place of Rephidim, where we find ourself in a place that's restful, that's secure. That's when the enemy comes. God's people were living in the miraculous provision and overflow of his faithfulness.

[4:05] They're experiencing this. And then comes the thief, as Jesus tells us in John 10.10. The thief comes not but for to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

[4:17] No other reason. You're not going to negotiate with him. You're not going to compromise with him. Well, maybe he's going to steal, he's going to kill, and he's going to destroy. That's what he comes to do. Notice the first word here in verse 8.

[4:30] Then. Then. That means there's a sequence of something happened. Something happened, and then. There was great blessing, and then came great testing. You remember when Jesus was baptized at the River Jordan, as he began his ministry, he comes there, and John sees him, and he says, Lord, I need to be baptized of you, and you want to be baptized of me?

[4:51] And Jesus has suffered to be so for now, for thus we must fulfill all righteousness. And so he baptizes him, and it says, when he comes up out of the water, he sees the Holy Spirit descending like a dove, and they hear a voice saying, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.

[5:05] You think, man, Jesus is ready for ministry now. And then the next chapter in verse 4, I mean, chapter 4, verse 1, says, then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested of the devil.

[5:17] So, after great blessing came a great testing. And who led him there? Spirit. Who led Israel here? They're following God's presence, and God led them to a place of battle.

[5:31] The enemy attacked God's people after blessing and when they were at rest. You know, when Amalek comes and attacks, we don't have a lot of information right here how that happened, but Moses will give us information.

[5:45] If you remember, we talked before about Deuteronomy is kind of like Moses' last sermon, his last will and testament, where he's been now a whole generation of 40 years. The first generation dies off. He's with the second generation of Israel.

[5:57] They're about to go into the promised land. Moses can't go in. And so he gives them his last kind of, his last words. And he says this in Deuteronomy 25, beginning in verse 17. He says, Remember what Amalek did unto you by the way, when you were come forth out of Egypt.

[6:13] What we're reading right now. How he met you by the way and smote the hindmost part of you. He came and attacked the back part of you. Even all that were feeble behind you. When you were faint and weary and he feared not God.

[6:26] How did he come? I mean, he came and started picking them off. Picking off the stragglers. Picking off those that were isolated. Picking off the weary and the feeble. Now, it kind of makes sense if you think of it.

[6:37] They're in what? They're in the desert, the middle of nowhere. But what does Israel now have? They have food every day and they have water. They have a source of water. So what's Amalek going to do?

[6:47] Hey, I want the blessing. I'm going to come and take. I'm going to come and take the overflow and the extra of what God has given you. So it kind of makes sense that they're coming to take this.

[6:57] But they do it in a very dastardly way. We're told that our enemy, in the New Testament, 1 Peter 5, 8, we're told to be sober, to be vigilant. Because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may negotiate with.

[7:14] Devour. Whom he may devour. The enemy seeks to devour. And as we looked at Amalek, how does he devour? Man, the enemy devours the weak, the vulnerable, the isolated, the weary.

[7:28] And what did Amalek mean? Valley dweller. Those in a low place. Those that find themselves. That's where the enemy comes. And he comes to attack. He doesn't play fair. He's a coward.

[7:39] Who are these people that he's attacking? They're a bunch of former slaves. And the enemy comes in force. Think of when Egypt came up against Israel when they were at the Red Sea.

[7:51] What does it say? Pharaoh sent out his horsemen and all of his chariots, his whole army, to go after a bunch of former slaves. A little overkill, maybe? The enemy doesn't play fair.

[8:04] Jesus says in Matthew 26, 41, he's speaking to the disciples when they're on the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane. He says, watch and pray that you enter not into temptation.

[8:18] The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Weak. That's where the enemy attacks. The enemy attacks our weakness. The enemy attacks our vulnerabilities.

[8:30] And we will always have vulnerabilities. Always have vulnerabilities. However, we do not need to allow our vulnerabilities to isolate us. And that's the issue, right? When we get isolated, when we're away from where we should be, when we're in the back, when we're allowing our feebleness and our weakness to keep us isolated, to keep us away from where God's people are, the enemy just comes in and he picks off and he devours.

[8:54] We will always have vulnerabilities. We're always going to have weaknesses. We're always going to have the need for the body. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12, 26, and whether one member of the body suffer, all members suffer with it.

[9:09] Or one be honored, all members rejoice with it. What's that mean? Okay, if you go and catch a fly ball, woo-hoo, you know, does your left hand rejoice? Woo-hoo, and the rest of your body is like, anyway, no, your whole body, you're jumping, you're like, yes, I'm excited.

[9:24] You stub your toe? Is it just your toe that reacts? Man, your whole body reacts. If you have an injury, you care for that, you defend that, the whole body.

[9:34] God has designed our weaknesses and our vulnerabilities and our feebleness to be supported by a body. When we get alone, when we get isolated, when we allow the enemy to then pick us off, we're in a place where we begin to be devoured.

[9:50] The enemy comes to fight with Israel. He's a coward. He doesn't play fair. He doesn't show mercy, and he's not here to take prisoners. He came to battle former slaves with his army.

[10:06] As Israel here is dwelling in Rephidim, you know, they've got to be wondering as they see Amalek coming or realize this is happening, like, God, we're so ill-equipped. We're so not prepared.

[10:17] Could you have given us maybe a year of military training? You know, maybe we could have done, like, a ninja course or something for a year. We're just two months out of Egypt, and now the enemy comes.

[10:28] But they're in Rephidim. They're in a place that is secure. They're in a place of rest, and it's not because of themselves. It's because of another. And for us, we're to live in that place. We're to live in a place of continual rest and preparedness.

[10:41] Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 how to be prepared. As he begins in verse 10, he says, It's not my ability.

[10:53] It's not my strength. It's not my might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

[11:11] Whoever has woken up and thought, man, I am ready to wrestle the unseen spiritual forces that are arrayed against me. You feel equipped for that? You feel prepared for that? I don't feel equipped and prepared for that.

[11:23] No. We're never going to arrive at a place where we're going to be like, yes, let's go battle the enemy. Unless we are equipped and prepared in his strength and his might. But the point is, when the enemy comes, he must be confronted and he must be combated.

[11:40] He has to be dealt with. Amalek is attacking. He's picking off the weak and vulnerable. Time to rally the forces. Time to bring in those that are isolated. The enemy had to be combated.

[11:52] And Moses says in verse nine to Joshua, it's the first time we hear of Joshua here. Choose out men. Go out and fight with Amalek.

[12:05] Tomorrow, I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. I'm sorry, choose us out men. I knew I left out a word there. Choose us out men. Joshua, go find some men and go deal with this.

[12:16] The battle must be confronted. The enemy must be confronted. The battle must be engaged. But how do we battle? How do we fight? Remember the last time an enemy came against Israel? What was the enemy? Egypt, right?

[12:28] What did God tell them to do in that situation? He said, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which I'll show you today. Well, God, I thought, I thought like you were just going to take care of everything. I wouldn't have to battle.

[12:38] What's going on here? Well, our enemy, Egypt, has been defeated. Sin and death is defeated. It doesn't have a hold of us anymore. That battle has been fought and won and we stood still and we saw the salvation of the Lord.

[12:52] Does that mean we don't battle anymore? Oh, it's just a cakewalk to heaven? Is that how you find in your life? I find there's still battles. What is going on here? What is the difference between the battle with Egypt and the battle with Amalek?

[13:07] The difference is that person we just met. The difference is who we battle with. Joshua. It's Joshua. What does Joshua mean in the Hebrew?

[13:18] Do you know? Yeshua. Jehovah is salvation. You know what Yeshua, Joshua is in the Greek? Jesus.

[13:29] The difference is we battle. We go into battle with Joshua. The difference here between Egypt where they stood still and saw the salvation of the Lord and now Moses says, Joshua, go and battle and take some men with you.

[13:44] Jesus is likened to Joshua in Hebrews chapter four. I'm not going to read it. I'm just going to quote it. But beginning in verse eight, it talks about how Joshua was leading the people into the promised land, into their rest. And he led them to a place of rest, but it wasn't perpetual.

[13:58] It didn't last. He says, but we have a sure rest in Jesus. We have a rest that our Joshua, Jesus wants to lead us into. And that he who's entered into that rest has ceased from all work as God does from his.

[14:12] So Joshua called those who would fight with him. And who were those who fought with Joshua? Those who fought with Joshua, they were chosen. They were commanded. They were sent and they were led.

[14:24] Joshua chose them. They were commanded by Moses, go fight. And they were sent into the battle, but they didn't go alone. The difference is they went with Joshua. They were led. But not all were chosen for the battle, were they?

[14:38] Not all were chosen to engage in the battle. Who does he say? Choose us out. Choose us out, men. Matthew 22, 14 says, for many are called, but few are chosen.

[14:52] Paul would tell us in 1 Corinthians 3, he says, brethren, to the carnal Christians in Corinth, they were a hot mess of a church, but we're very thankful for that because we get a whole lot of what to do and what not to do because of the Corinthians.

[15:06] And Paul says, brethren, I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for to this point you were not able to bear it.

[15:18] Neither yet now are you able, for you are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are you not carnal and walk as men? What's he saying there?

[15:29] You should have been developed enough to be able to partake of greater things than what you can, but you can't. You know, a baby drinks milk because it is not equipped, it's not able to do, it's not developed enough to partake of solid food.

[15:44] Well, it would be kind of weird if a fully developed man was only sipping on milk. You should be beyond that. You should be more developed. So there were those who didn't get chosen.

[15:55] There were those who were not picked. Our part is to ensure we are equipped and prepared as much as we can be for the battle. Our part is to be ready. 1 Corinthians 16, 13 says to watch, to stand fast in the faith, quit you like men.

[16:11] Ladies, that's speaking to you too. Paul's writing that to the Corinthians. Quit you like men, be strong. Be strong in that place. Now, we're not going to go deep into this, but there are different roles.

[16:22] There are physical roles. Where Paul says, quit you like men, be strong, stand fast. Why? Because that's man's role. Man's role is to stand fast.

[16:32] Man's role is to defend the home his wife has made. It's God's order. Man's role, physically, is to battle and sacrifice for his home.

[16:45] That's God's order. I didn't make that up. Ephesians 5, 25 says, husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, battled on her behalf, gave his life for her life.

[16:59] It is man's role to battle and sacrifice for his home. It is woman's role to battle and sacrifice in her home. Now, that doesn't mean you don't leave your homes. I'm saying the role is, man's is to protect and keep out.

[17:12] Women's is to protect and comfort and engage with what's within. 1 Timothy 5, 14, I will therefore that the younger women marry, Paul is writing this to Timothy, that they bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.

[17:29] All right, give $10 to any person who puts down a t-shirt first and goes out in public. Not in today's world. Wear that out in public. Right? Okay, flip that. I will that young men marry, I'm not going to bear children, guide the home, take care of the children.

[17:46] And would that make sense? No. Now, does that mean women can't work? That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, God has given us a role and when we stay within that role, there's what?

[17:57] There's protection for his people. As Joshua calls these men to their role, there is protection for God's people. As man defends his home that his wife has made, that the woman that God has brought to complete him is made, and woman is battling within her home, it's a beautiful picture.

[18:13] And it creates a very stable environment to do what? Raise children and build a society. And we're not going to go too deep into that for that. It's just a deep topic, but it's right there in front of us.

[18:25] You say, well, that's not very, that's not very culturally accepted. No, but it is biblical. And that's what we're going to stick with. So we all have a role to play in the battle. In the spiritual battle, Paul would write this in Galatians 3.28, there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond or free, there's neither male nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus.

[18:44] Does that eliminate roles? Of course not, because then he talks about different roles within the church order. What he's saying is that you being a woman and me being a man doesn't in any way affect our standing before Jesus.

[18:57] We all stand equally at the cross. We all stand before him as souls. And that the role that God has for us to play is not in any way diminished by who we are or the position we hold.

[19:10] The battle will ultimately be won by the Lord. It's his battle, right? What's our part in it? What's your part in it, mom? Dad? Man, woman? Son, daughter?

[19:21] Friend? Brother, sister? What's your part? It's to engage in the battle. Remember when David, before, when he went to take the cheeses to the captain of his brothers in the army of Israel.

[19:37] His father says, hey, take these cheeses to the captain. And he got promoted from taking care of sheep to being cheese transporter. And he gets there and Goliath is just railing on these people and nobody's doing anything.

[19:50] Goliath stood head and shoulders above everybody. Beyond that, he was nine feet tall. He's like, send a champion. Well, who was the champion in Israel at the time? Who actually stood, the scripture says, head and shoulders above all Israel?

[20:02] It was Saul. Saul just had hidden his tent. David gets there. We don't have anything about him being head and shoulders above anybody. And he's like, hey, I'm going to go and I'm going to meet this, this, this blasphemer.

[20:16] He says this when he's defying Goliath in verse 41, 47 of chapter 17 in 1 Samuel. He said, all this assembly shall know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear for the battle is the Lord's.

[20:31] He will give you into our hands. And he went and he sat next to Saul and just waited then to see what would happen. No. The battle is the Lord's, but what did David have to do? He had to engage the enemy.

[20:42] He had to enter the battle. And it came to pass when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran. He hasted and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

[20:53] Goliath, you're going to be defeated and I'm going to take your head from your shoulders. God's going to do this. The battle is the Lord's, but I have to engage. I have to be in the battle and engage. No matter how ill-equipped we may feel, we cannot run from the battle.

[21:08] We must run to the battle. What happens when we run from the battle? You're going to get picked off. Man, you run away and you're singled out. You're going to get isolated. You're going to get overwhelmed and you're going to get picked off.

[21:19] There is safety in the battle. Remember when Paul was praying because he had that weakness in his flesh and he was battling it and he prayed three times that it might be delivered. And the Lord said to him, Paul, my grace is sufficient for you.

[21:32] My strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul says, okay, but then I'm going to glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Did he exit the battle? He said, well, God says he's strong and I'm weak, so I'm just going to back out.

[21:44] Mm-mm. Paul battled harder than anybody, but he did it from a place where he knew he was weak, that God could be strong. As he says in 2 Corinthians 12, 10, he comes to this conclusion, but when I am weak, man, then I am strong.

[22:00] My strength is not in my ability. We're following Jesus. We're following Joshua into battle. It's not about how equipped we are. We've seen God defeat our enemy at the Red Sea.

[22:10] We've seen death and hell defeated. What is this pesky little Amalekite that keeps coming? God's got this, but we have to be engaged. Proverbs 21, 31, the horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord.

[22:24] God is the one who equips us for the battle. It's our part to engage. But Moses has another battle, doesn't he? Joshua's fighting down below, and Moses said, tomorrow I'll stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.

[22:37] While Joshua and the people fought below, Moses engaged in a different type of battle from above, didn't he? How was Moses approaching this? How did Moses view this?

[22:47] Well, Moses overlooked the battle, didn't he? He overlooked it from above. He overlooked it from a set place. He says, I'm going to go up on that hill, a set time tomorrow when you go out to battle.

[22:59] And he did it with power and authority in his hand. He took the rod of God in his hand. But he also didn't go alone. As we read in verse 10, so Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and Moses, I mean, and Joshua, and fought with Amalek.

[23:13] And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Moses overlooked the battle from a place above, set time, a set place, with power and authority in hand, and with support.

[23:25] He didn't go alone. Who is Hur? Aaron, I know, and Moses, but who is Hur?

[23:36] I don't know. He comes up again. He's going to come up later when Moses goes up on the mountain and he says to the people, look, if you need anything, go see Aaron and Hur. Well, that's not going to exactly turn out too hot eventually.

[23:49] Aaron's going to do that whole thing with the calf. But at the time, he's like, hey, Hur holds a position of authority. Who is he? Some people speculate maybe he's Miriam's husband. Maybe this is Moses' brother-in-law.

[24:00] Moses, Aaron, and Hur. We don't know. Moses' name means to draw out, right? He was drawn out from the water, drawn out from among mankind, chosen to be God's deliverer.

[24:10] Aaron's name means light bringer. What an amazing name to name your kid. Hur means hole. It doesn't even mean a good hole. It means a deep hole like a pit, a dungeon, or a serpent's den.

[24:22] And this guy? Listen, God can equip and use anyone. God can use anyone to be a support in someone's life. Moses is up there praying and Hur is going to support him.

[24:34] Hur is going to be there. He's a man that we don't know who he is. There's nothing remarkable about him, but God says, I know who he is. I know him so well, I've named him in my book. God can use and equip anyone for the battle.

[24:46] Joshua now engages the enemy and he does so at the command of another. This is not his own initiative. It's at the command of another. It's on behalf of another, on behalf of God's people, and it's in the company of others.

[25:00] Jesus in John 10, 18 says, No man takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received from the Father, our Joshua, our Jesus, at the command of another and on behalf of another.

[25:16] Engage the enemy. And he also went in the company of others, but they all eventually fled. Where before, Israel had been told to experience God's victory over the Egyptians by standing still.

[25:28] God said, Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. They were now instructed to experience God's victory by engaging in the battle. It's still God's victory. It's still the Lord's victory.

[25:41] But in this instance, they were instructed to engage in the battle, to follow Joshua. And in verse 11, it came to pass, Joshua's down there fighting, Moses is on the hill. When Moses held up his hand, presumably the one with the staff, that Israel prevailed.

[25:57] Prevailed means to be strong or mighty. Israel was strengthened. Israel had might. But when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. You think, wow, some kind of like superpower.

[26:08] You know, when it goes up, then Israel is like, they're energized. And when it goes down, the Amalekites win. Moses, when he went up to the mountain, or up to the hill, Moses looked up, Moses went up, and Moses lifted up his hand for the sake of God's people.

[26:30] Again, this wasn't at his own initiation as Moses is up there. But what's he doing up there with his hand in the air? As Moses looks up, as Moses goes up, and as Moses lifts up, Psalm 121, verses 1 through 3, says, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills.

[26:47] From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer your foot to be moved. As Moses looks and goes to the hill, I will lift up mine eyes to the hill.

[26:57] My help comes from who? The Lord. Psalm 134, verse 2, sorry if I'm going quickly through these. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord.

[27:09] Moses lifts up his hands. We're to lift up our hands and bless the Lord. In the New Testament, Paul tells us, 1 Timothy 2, 8, he says, I will therefore that men pray everywhere doing what?

[27:22] Lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. For Moses and for Israel and throughout the history of Israel, they pray with hands raised, lifted.

[27:34] Moses was told to do what? At the Red Sea, remember? Moses, go forward and lift up your staff. What did Moses do? Moses was interceding. He was being obedient to intercede on behalf of God's people.

[27:47] Isaiah 1, 15 tells us when Israel was in a place of rebellion, God says, and when you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.

[27:57] Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. The idea is when they would pray, their hands would be raised. In this instance, God is saying, I'm not going to hear because those hands you're raising to me are not holy hands.

[28:11] Psalm 63, verse 4, thus will I bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in his name. Moses went to a place of prayer. Moses looked up, went up, and lifted up the people before God.

[28:26] He went with purpose. He went with a reason. He went with power and authority in his hand as he took that rod. He went in fellowship. He didn't go alone. He went with other people around him, with Aaron and her.

[28:38] You see, the enemy must be engaged. The battle must be joined, but the victory will be obtained through prayer. Think of who God's people were at this point.

[28:51] I mean, these are God's delivered people. They're his chosen by God to follow him. They're journeying with God. They're in God's presence, a pillar of cloud by day and a fire by night.

[29:03] They're engaged in the battle and they are following Joshua. You say, well, if that doesn't get me victory, what will? But this entire thing hinged upon another's prayers. The entire battle hinged upon one man's prayer.

[29:17] James 5, 16 says, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. You know, I already looked at that scripture where Jesus said to his disciples when they were in the garden, he said, hey, watch and pray lest you enter into temptation.

[29:33] The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Well, in Matthew 26, going back to there, Jesus, when he first comes to Gethsemane, he said to his disciples, sit here while I go and pray.

[29:45] Yonder. That's that little southern in him. Sit here while I go and pray. Yonder. While I go over there, I'm gonna pray. You stay here. I'm gonna go pray. And he went a little further.

[29:58] We jumped down to verse 39. It fell on his face and this is what he prayed and he said, oh, father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt. The battle would be engaged.

[30:11] The enemy would be defeated at the cross but the victory was secured in the garden. Jesus secured that victory. There's no doubt that the enemy would be defeated when Jesus said, I will follow you and I will obey your will.

[30:23] Not my will but yours be done. It was secure. The victory was secured in the garden. The battle still had to be fought. Jesus had to go to the cross. The enemy had to be engaged but at that point as Jesus prayed, the victory was secured.

[30:39] Our victory is secured. Moses praying, Joshua in the battle, well, they come together in one in our Joshua, in Jesus. Jesus who battles on our behalf, who engaged the enemy for us.

[30:51] Jesus who went to the cross and took my sin. what also tells me in Hebrews 7.25, wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, he being Jesus, seeing he, Jesus, ever lives to make intercession for them.

[31:08] Here we have Jesus making intercession, Jesus battling the enemy, Jesus engaging. Is the victory secure? I think so. When God comes and says, hey, I'm going to choose you.

[31:20] I want you to enter into the battle. Oh Lord, I don't know. I'm not very equipped, not very prepared. Listen, Jesus is praying for you. Jesus is engaging the enemy.

[31:30] The victory is secured. All you have to do is engage. All you have to do is enter in. The effectiveness of the enemy in the life of God's people was directly related to how effective one man prayed.

[31:45] The effectiveness of the enemy in the life of God's people. How effective was the enemy going to be in the life of God's people? Was he going to get the victory? Was he going to overcome them? It was directly related to the effectiveness of one man's prayers.

[32:01] When we pray, we prevail. We have strength. We have might, as the scripture says. That word is Joshua prevailed. And Moses' hands grew heavy.

[32:16] Heavy means to be a weight or a burden. Man, it was a heavy burden. It was a heavy weight. He grew weary in the battle. Galatians 6, 9 says, let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.

[32:29] But the idea is we will grow weary. Moses' hands were heavy and they took a stone and put it under him and he sat there on. And Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on one side and the other on the other side and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

[32:45] Now, Moses had struck a rock. Right? Moses had drank from a rock and now where does Moses sit? He sits on a rock. Psalm 18, 2 says, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength and whom I will trust, my buckler, my defense, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my strength, my power, my high tower, that place where I'm secure, that place of Rephidim, right, where I sit secure.

[33:14] Moses didn't initiate this, did he? It was the others around him who saw this. As they saw his arms going down, they realized he's weary. They're like, you know what, Moses? You can't do this alone.

[33:24] I'm gonna enter in with you. I'm gonna support you. That's what the body does. Moses, sit here on the rock, Moses. Moses prayed for God's people but he also prayed with God's people, didn't he?

[33:36] As he had Aaron and Hur there. Moses prayed from a place of strength. But he prayed in weakness. Moses was weak so he had to do what?

[33:47] He had to sit on the rock. So he prayed in weakness but he prayed from a place of strength. Moses prayed in fellowship and in support from those around him.

[33:59] And Moses prayed until the battle was won. He didn't just go, okay, I've done my prayer, I'm gonna go back to my tent, let me know when this ends. Moses was steadied in prayer by the fellowship of God's people, by the support of God's people.

[34:13] He became steady, he became firm, he became immovable when he placed himself from a place of strength on the rock and then when he was supported by God's people. We are all gonna have weaknesses and vulnerabilities but the key is not to isolate, right?

[34:27] The key is not to allow yourself to be picked off by the enemy because I can't, when they find out I have that vulnerability, when they find out I have that weakness, you're just gonna find out that everybody else has the same one and we already know you're that weak.

[34:39] We already know you're that vulnerable because you've isolated because they're watching the enemy whoop on you. It's like, man, if you would just come, we just wanna sit you down. You just want me to keep a schedule of going to church and reading my Bible two hours a day and no, no, no, no.

[34:55] We just want you to sit on the rock, man. Just sit down. Just rest. And hey, we'll help hold you up. God will get the victory. God will get the victory.

[35:09] As Moses here is praying and they took the rock and they sat him on it. Oh, what verse did we leave off on? Twelve.

[35:21] All right. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. As Moses prays, as Moses is steadied and immovable, Joshua discomfits old King James, right?

[35:34] Just means to knock down. It means to make prostrate, to fall down before them. And I think of Jesus, our Joshua, where it says in Philippians 2 that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, should go prostrate.

[35:47] In heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, right? Talked before about that. There's three locations that you can be. You can be in heaven, on earth, or under the earth, representing death and hell separated from God.

[36:00] Jesus has authority in all of those places. In all of those places, he will make prostrate before him. Joshua experienced an unquestionable victory, right? Amalek was defeated.

[36:12] This is unquestionable that there's a victory. But the victory came through prayer, though Joshua still had to engage in the battle. This is really profound, but every battle that was ever won had to be first engaged, right?

[36:27] You can't win the battle if you don't engage. Well, one of these days, I'm going to take care of that. I'm going to get victory there. Are you engaged? Well, brother, don't judge me.

[36:40] You know, one of these days, God's going to do something. Are you running towards the enemy? Are you willing to put it to the test that, hey, I'm not alone. Joshua's gone before me.

[36:51] Jesus has gone before me. He's going to get the victory, but I've got to engage. How did Joshua defeat the enemy? How many swords were there in verse 13?

[37:05] The sword. Does it say the people defeated him? Joshua gets credit here. Joshua defeated the enemy with the edge of the sword. The battle was fought with a sword and with intercession, the same weapons we have today.

[37:19] In Ephesians 6, verse 17, 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.

[37:35] We intercede. We go to war. We engage the battle following Jesus with a sword and intercession on behalf of God's people for those that are weak, those that are isolated. And the Lord sent unto Moses, Moses, write this down.

[37:49] Write this for a memorial in a book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua. One day Joshua's gonna be without Moses and one day Joshua's gonna open that book when he's fighting battles and go, I remember that first victory.

[38:01] I'm so glad I wrote that down, that Moses wrote that down for me. God's victories are memorialized through remembrance.

[38:12] This do in remembrance of me. God's victories are memorialized through remembrance as Jesus took the bread and the wine. So this is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

[38:24] Memorializing that victory that Jesus gave us. The Lord says to Moses, write this down. The written word reminds us of victory. As we read in 1 Corinthians 15, 57, but thanks be to God which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[38:38] Do you need to be reminded of that? I do. I need to be reminded that the victory is given to me. It's his. And he gives it to me. But he says, hey, be prepared, be equipped, and engage in the battle.

[38:52] But know that the victory is sure. We say this all the time as we've gone through Genesis and Exodus. Past victory equals future promise. The Lord says to Moses, write this down for Joshua.

[39:04] He needs to know I've defeated his enemies in the past, I'm going to defeat his enemies in the present, and I'm going to defeat his enemies in the future. But write down also that he engaged in the battle, that he went forward into that.

[39:15] He defeated Amalek. And the Lord says that I will utterly, utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Why? Because Amalek's shame was they were the first nation to attack Israel.

[39:28] The first nation to, without provocation, attack God's people. And they were ultimately fighting against the Lord. Zechariah 2.8 says, he that touches Israel touches the apple of God's eye.

[39:41] So you come against God's people, come against the Lord. The church does not replace Israel, but Paul tells us there is a spiritual Israel that physical Israel and the Gentiles can be part of, right?

[39:53] The spiritual kingdom, the kingdom of God. Those who attack God's people, they attack God. Those who come against us, it's not our battle. It's his.

[40:04] And Moses now does something interesting. He builds an altar and he calls the name of it Jehovah Nisi. Remember we saw that name Jehovah when he says to Moses, hey, tell them my name Jehovah.

[40:16] They have known me as El Shaddai, the Almighty, but now they'll know me as Jehovah, the All-Sufficient, the Becoming One. Whatever they need, that's what I am. Jehovah Nisi means the Lord, my banner.

[40:29] The Lord, my banner. And the Lord, Moses calls him that, he says, for because the Lord has sworn that he will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

[40:40] In other words, what he's saying is the banner would be like the standard that you'd carry and the army would march behind. He called him the Lord, my banner, saying God is from generation to generation the one who's going to battle for me.

[40:51] He's the one who's going to defeat the enemy. Isaiah 59, 19 says, when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.

[41:02] Who's going to lift it up? Spirit of the Lord. Ties right into what we were talking about last week. God wants us to live in the overflow of the Spirit. Out of our innermost being will gush forth rivers of living water.

[41:13] I don't equip myself. God has equipped me. What's my part? Man, just engage. Take the water to somebody thirsty. Engage in battle with someone. Pray.

[41:25] When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. There's another standard we read about as God goes out to battle our enemies. In Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verse 4, we read, he brought me to the banqueting house and his banner, his standard over me was love.

[41:45] The banner of the Lord led them through the battle and into victory. As we follow the Lord through the battle and into victory, he raises up a standard against our enemies, but over us, he says, man, I love you and I'm going to fight for you.

[41:59] Are you going to join in with me? Are you going to, what about that person? Do you see that guy over there? He's isolated. He's allowed his vulnerabilities to isolate him. He's removed himself from a place of safety. Will you go and battle for him?

[42:12] Will you go and stand in the gap for him? You know, I thought I had a picture of it. Don't have it.

[42:25] Didn't put it in. There is a picture. I'll have to find it. I'll bring it next week, I promise. But next to the rock, on the other side of it, there is remnants of an altar.

[42:37] Next to this rock, physically there today, you can see the way the stones are stacked. They're all stacked, horizontally. There's a remnant of an altar. As Moses builds this altar, the enemy attacked, which led to battle.

[42:52] Battle led to prayer. Prayer led to victory and victory led to worship. Led to worship. You know, each generation of God's people would need to experience Jehovah Nisi.

[43:07] As Moses writes this down in his book. He writes it for memorial for Joshua because someday Joshua is going to be alone and someday Joshua is going to stand at the edge of the Jordan and he's going to essentially say like Elisha said, as we talked about last week, where is the God of Elijah?

[43:23] Not in doubt, not in, God, I don't believe you can do this, but God, I need you to, I need to see you do this in my life. I know you've done victories in the past. I've heard about them in my friends, my fathers, my, you know, I've heard about what you did in the early days, in the 70s, in the Jesus movement.

[43:40] I've heard about that, but God, I need to see you do this in my life. Each generation of God's people would need to experience the Lord my banner in battle and in victory for themselves.

[43:53] The victory is sure but the enemy must still be engaged. The battle joined, Joshua followed, and intercession made, right?

[44:06] The victory is sure, but we must engage the enemy. We must enjoin the battle. We've got to follow Jesus forward into this and intercession must be made.

[44:18] You know, we like to say here that we are, our church growth program. I read this really good book when we first started the church and in it was this line that says they continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and breaking bread and a prayer.

[44:35] It was this book. Acts 2.42, right? That's our church growth model. Continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. Those two are linked. I find that when God's word works on our heart, man, it opens up opportunities for fellowship.

[44:48] We're so much more vulnerable to be real with one another, to allow those vulnerabilities not to isolate us, but to bring us together. We continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and breaking a bread.

[45:01] That can be communion, which we do, or it could be eating and prayer, right? We want to do the whole equation. So this morning, there's only one thing left to do, is to enter the battle, to enter the battle.

[45:14] You know, we are a people who've been delivered by God. We've been chosen by God. We are journeying with God. There's no doubt. We're in God's presence and we are following Jesus.

[45:26] We're following our Joshua. I know there's victory in my life. I know this ministry exists because there's people praying for me. Sometimes they'll tell me, sometimes I don't even know. Will we enter the battle?

[45:40] Enter the battle. Will we pray? The battle is fought with a sword and intercession. We take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

[45:50] That's our authority. Like Moses, he went to the hill with authority. We have an authority based on God's word that we can enter into battle and God will hear our prayers. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.

[46:03] Watching therein too with all perseverance. You know what it said about Moses? We didn't touch on it, but it says that Moses continued to pray and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. Moses prayed for as long as the sun was in view.

[46:17] S-O-N. And yes, I spelled that wrong this time. Moses prayed for as long as the sun was in view. How long do we pray? We intercede for as long as Joshua leads us forward.

[46:27] As long as we see Jesus going forward into battle, we go with him. Go to the Lord, our banner, who wants to raise a victory of banner or a banner of victory over who knows what the battle is today.

[46:40] When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. God wants to gain a victory. You may not see that victory, but you have a part in it.

[46:54] And someday we're going to stand with our Joshua in heaven and he's going to be like, let me open up the book that I wrote down in memorial, in remembrance.

[47:07] Remember when you fought that bad? I don't remember that battle, Lord. You fought that battle. Remember when you got that victory in that person's life? Lord, I don't remember that victory. Yeah, you prayed and you interceded. You know, Mark 11, 24 says, therefore, Jesus says, I say unto you, what things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them.

[47:26] We're not going to rip that out of context and say, well, anything I want. It's in context of saying it to his disciples. The same Lord who said, hey, if you ask anything according to my will, the same one that said, pray, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[47:42] You know, we don't, I was praying with someone that said this, that we don't name it and claim it. I name this and I claim it, but we are very bold to claim the things that God names, right? When he names it, man, we're going to go in there, we're going to claim it.

[47:56] We don't have to live isolated, vulnerable, and defeated. We can come to a place where all of those vulnerabilities are met with strength. Jesus, thank you so much, Lord, for fighting our battles for us, Lord.

[48:13] They're your battles. They're your victories. It's your war. It's your enemy. And Lord, you give us the privilege of choosing us, thinking like, if I was one of those guys and Joshua came and said, hmm, you, come with me.

[48:27] Yes, I'm terrified, but yes, he picked me. Jesus, we get to go into battle with you. You picked us. We're not equipped. We have vulnerabilities. We're not prepared. We're like a bunch of slaves just come out of slavery.

[48:40] But Joshua's gone before us and he has a sword. Moses intercedes and he is on the rock of strength. Thank you, Lord. Battle belongs to you.

[48:52] Thank you, Jesus. You have given us the victory. And Lord, we want to claim all that you have for us, Lord. We want to use that to honor and glorify you. In Jesus' name, amen.