MOSES AND THE BONES OF JOSEPH
August 17, 2014 morning service
Exodus 13:17-22
Take your Bible and go to the book of Exodus chapter 13. Thank you Theresa,
orchestra, choir. Thank you, Brother Jon. Redeemed. Are you redeemed today?
Amen. I hope that you’re living and walking in redemption. We’re preaching about the
life of Moses during these days and as we say from week to week, we are beginning
with him in the Nile as he was thrust out as a little baby in that basket and we will end at
Nebo. From the Nile to Nebo with Moses. This great law giver, song writer, preacher,
general, this man who was a writer we’re finding in the life of Moses as he brings the
people of God out of exile through the wilderness toward the Promised Land.
Today we come to chapter 13 and we begin reading in verse 17 and we will read
through verse 22 and we are looking at a message that I’ve entitled, “Moses and the
Bones of Joseph.” If you are a man 13 years of age or older, I’m going to ask you to
rise and stand with the pastor as I read aloud from the word of God. All of our men 13
and up.
Don’t forget now. This Friday is our men’s conference, our Friday night kingdom
rally. We do three a year and we’ll be here Friday night, a great steak dinner, and you
can get your ticket. They’re 15 bucks right out here in the foyer today. You need to
sign up and get them right now because we’re making plans for you this Friday night.
So you come and you join me. Robby Gallaty will be here. Travis Fryman will be
speaking. There’ll be wonderful music, some great door prize giveaways and wonderful
fellowship among men so join me. We are in Exodus chapter 13, verse 17. The word
of God says:
Now when Pharaoh had let the people go [Now remember last week. We looked
at Passover. The death angel came and Pharaoh finally said after ten plagues, “Get out
of here. Leave.” And so he has told the people go. And as they left that], God did not
lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God
said, “The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to
Egypt.” Hence God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea;
and the sons of Israel went up in martial array from the land of Egypt. Moses took the
bones of Joseph with him, for he had made [that is Joseph, had made] the sons of
Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my
bones from here with you.” 1
This is 30 years before. Joseph died and before he died he said, “When you
bury me, put my bones in a bone box, in an ossuary, and when you leave – because I
know we’re going to the Promised Land. God’s promised me through Abraham, through
Isaac, through daddy Jacob. He’s told me that we’re going yonder and when you go
1
®
Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible , Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963,
1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
there, take my bones with you.” Moses said when they got up that night after the death
angel came, “Somebody, get the bone box. We’re leaving this hell hole headed to the
Promised Land. Get the bone box.” Just think with me for a moment. They’re in this
wilderness. Somebody toted these bones for 40 years. You think you’ve been on a
tough committee before. How’d you like to be on the committee of the bone box, of the
ossuary, carrying the bones of Joseph? Joseph said, “He’s going to carry you up, so
take my bones.”
Then they set out from Succoth and camped in Etham on the edge of the
wilderness. The LORD was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on
the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day
and by night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by
night, from before the people.
Joseph got the promise and he went so far as to write it in his last will and
testament. “I know we’re going. I have not seen but I know we’re going.” Friend, I’ve
not seen heaven but I know we’re going. Joseph was walking by faith, not by sight. He
said, “You’re going to carry my bones with you. I don’t know when it’s coming, 40
years, 100 years, but we’re going there. Take me with you.”
Hear me, friend. If you are redeemed today, the Exodus, the Old Testament
picture is bondage, it is struggle, it is redemption, it is journey. That’s where we are
today. Some of you sit in this room and you’re still in bondage. You’re lost. If you were
to die, you don’t know of heaven. You don’t know of the forgiveness of your sin. You’re
still in bondage. Others of you have been saved and now you’re in a struggle. You
move toward redemption but you’re struggling. Some of you God set free and you’re in
the journey and you’re wondering, when are we going to get to the end? I say this
every week when I preach on this. Canaan is not heaven. Canaan is the fulfillment of
the spirit-filled life. It’s the victorious Christian experience that you’re to walk in today.
We’re going to heaven. There were giants – friend, there are no giants in heaven. The
struggle is here. We walk by the fullness of the Holy Spirit in the struggle and yet we
live in victory if we are walking not by what we can see but resting on what God has
said is true. Even when we can’t see it, we count it as if it is so when it’s not so in order
that it can be so. We walk by faith.
“Moses, don’t forget the bones of Joseph.” What do these bones teach us?
That’s what I want to show you this morning. Three simple things I want you to see this
morning. First of all, these bones in this box speak of the promises of God. When you
go back to Genesis chapter 50 you find this in Genesis 50:24-25 where the promise is
given. Just hear the word of the Lord in Genesis 50:24 where we find these words.
Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely take care of
you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham,
to Isaac and to Jacob.” Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will
surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.”
2 Joseph said God promised an oath. What do those bones teach us? It teaches
us the promises of God. Friend, we live by the promises of God. We don’t live by the
best we can do. We live by what God’s promised us. Friend, unless you’re walking in
the promises of God, you’re walking in the foolishness of the flesh. Are you walking in
the promises? There are hundreds of promises in the scripture but I’ve just pulled five
out that I want to remind us of this morning. Let me give you these five quick promises
and I just want to remind us of them by way of application of the bones of Joseph.
Number one. God has promised us eternal life. In John’s gospel 10 and verse
27 he says: My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. “I know
them and they know Me.” He goes on to say that, “I have given them eternal life.” You
don’t get it. You have it. I’m living forever right now. I’ll cast off this earth suit one day.
I’ll have death unless the Lord comes but hear me, I have eternal life. I will live forever.
It’s the promise of God. Not only does He promise eternal life, He has promised that all
things work together for good if we love God and are called according to His purpose.
In Romans 8:28, we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those
who love God and those who are called according to his purpose. I don’t know what
you’re walking through right now but I’m telling you, all of those things, if you’re loving
Him, you’re called of God. They come together like three strands of a rope and they
work together for the good of you and the glory of God.
It’s the promise. Stop worrying. Live the promise. Number three, He will never
leave us. Amen. John 14:18, He tells us that: I will not leave you as orphans; I will
come to you. Friend, He’s not going to leave you without a father and a mother
spiritually in your life. Your daddy may die. Your mother may die. You may be in this
world without family but I’m telling you, God never leaves you. He’s never forgotten
who you are.
I wish you could have been here and would have known what I knew last
Sunday. In this very 9:30 service a preacher sat in this service. He had been fired the
Tuesday night before by his board of deacons. He had not been unethical. He had not
been unbiblical. He had not been immoral. He had tried to lead and been there eight
years. I know that scenario. I know the situation. I’m just telling you, he was done
wrong. I spent an afternoon with him and on Sunday morning he rose and he came to
church and he walked down here and hugged me. I’m just telling you, he was
wondering where God was. I had to say to him, “Dear brother, hear me. I know you’ve
lost your job, you’re embarrassed, you’re hurt.” He was a great leader across our area.
I said, “I want you to know God has not forsaken you. He knows where you are. He
knows your address and even this thing will work together for good if you love Him.”
God’ll weave it together and He will cause good to come even out of the difficulty that
you find yourself walking in right now.
You say, “Pastor, that’s easy to say. You’ve got a job.” I’m telling you, I’ve got
more than a job. I’ve got a promise. That’s where you walk. You walk on the promise.
He will never leave you. I jokingly told a pastor one time that called me – he said, “Man,
I’m having a hard time.” I said, “Well I was wondering about that. I prayed for you this
3 week and the Lord asked me if I knew where you were.” God doesn’t ever forget where
you are. He knows where you are. He knows your address. He does not leave you.
He is with you in the darkest of the valley. He never leaves us.
Number four. His grace is sufficient. Yes it will be. When you don’t have
anything else, I’m telling you, the grace of God is sufficient according to II Corinthians
12 and verse number 9. He said, “My grace is sufficient for you. My power is perfected
in weakness.” When you’re walking in weakness you can understand the sufficiency of
our Lord. His grace will uphold you and His power will dwell in you.
Number five. The fifth promise that I simply say is that He will supply your needs.
Philippians 4:19. Now He didn’t say He would supply your desires. He’s not going to
supply your wants but He’ll supply your needs. God will supply all of your needs
according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. He is the great need meeter. He is the
one who gives promises and keeps them.
I’ve broken promises, haven’t you? Every one of us have made promises but
we’ve failed to keep them. I’m telling you, God not only makes promises, He keeps
those promises and Joseph said, “God has promised us we’re going to the Promised
Land. Don’t forget me. I may be dead and gone but bring the ossuary with me. Get the
bones and bring them with you.”
So Moses says to the people, “We’re going. Somebody grab the bone box.
Grab the box. Here we go. You’ve got the sheep and the oxen.” Everybody’s packing
up and they’ve got their gold and silver they asked the Egyptians for. The Egyptians are
paying the way. It’s a marvelous story as you walk through Exodus but one thing
Moses – he assigns somebody the bone box. We don’t know who it was but somebody
is carrying for 40 years the bones of Joseph, carrying the promise, carrying the promise,
carrying the promise.
We see the promises of God. Secondly, we see the path of God. Notice in verse
18 of our text today what the Bible says. Hence God led the people. He led the people
around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea and the sons of Israel went up in
marshal array to the land of Egypt. Now watch this. When he led them, he led them the
long way, not the short way. There’s a map, if you get it, and people look at various
ways that the people came out of Egypt. You’ll find them on this map over here in
Egypt to the left and you see them coming out of Goshen. You see Goshen. The
quickest way to the Promised Land was dead East. I mean get out of there and go
straight across. Why did they not go straight across? You see that by the Great Sea up
there? Today we call that Gaza. There’s some stuff going on right there now.
The Philistines lived in Gaza and God said, “I’m afraid if I send them straight
across,” according to our text today, “they will see war with the Philistines. They’ll get
scared.” Not that any Baptist would ever live in fear, not faith. “They might get
frightened so I’m not going to send them the shortest way.” They could have been there
in a few days but God said, “I’m not going to give them the short route. We’re going to
4 take the long route.” So He sent them across the Red Sea up at the top and then down
all the way to Horeb to the wilderness and through and around. For 40 years they
marched in the wilderness because God had something – that’s the path.
I want you to hear me this morning. Hear this. Hear this. The long way is not
always the wrong way. The long way is not always the wrong way. We think we want
to do it now. Let’s get that today. Immediacy. Instant sanctification. Instant job.
Instant house. Let me tell you, the long way is not always the wrong way and
oftentimes the long way is God’s way. Not every time but just because there is delay
does not mean God is dead. What you’ve got to find is the path of God. God led the
people and He led them the long – not the wrong, the long way. How did He lead
them? In verses 21 and 22 it says that He put a pillar of cloud before them in the
daytime and a pillar of fire at night.
Here’s what God does. He puts – the pillar is just one pillar, alright? It’s a
column, coming down out of heaven. It’s a pillar of cloud by day and when the sun goes
down that thing illuminates at night. It’s like it’s got a solar lamp within it and by daytime
it’s a cloud. At nighttime it’s a fire and that is the gift of the Holy Spirit of God in your life
and in mine.
Three or four things about this pillar of cloud and pillar of fire. Number one. It
was a gift. They didn’t earn it. The Spirit of God is a gift to us. It was a guide. It told
them 24/7 what to do. I’m telling you, if you’ll shut up and listen to the Holy Ghost He’ll
tell you what to do. He’ll guide you. He’ll show you. He’ll say to you, let your left be left
and your right be right. Stop. When to go forward, when to back up.
This cloud was a covering. I’m telling you, the Spirit of God protects us. Man,
He protects me. I get myself, I get my neck out. As a matter of fact, I read the
Pensacola News Journal this morning and I’ve already penned a letter. Then I went
back and read through my sermon this morning and the Spirit of God said, “You might
want to wait until tomorrow to send that. You might want to think a little bit about that.”
Let me tell you, sometimes God just puts a cover on us and protects us from our own
stupidity. Not yours, mine. I have enough trouble with you being stupid but when I’m
stupid. You know, it’s bad to be around stupid friends but when you’re just with a stupid
self, now that’s really a bad scenario. The cover of God, it’s a gift, it’s a guide, it’s a
covering.
Psalm 99 tells us that it was a voice. He spoke out of a cloud in Psalm 99:7.
The Psalmist said that out of the cloud He spoke to His people. He’s a still, small voice.
That’s why every Sunday morning I sit on my back porch in that rocker Ben Linn made
me and I rock. I watch the sun come up. I do it many a morning but I do it almost every
Sunday morning saying, “Lord, I’m fixin’ to do a lot of talking today. Lord, would you just
talk to me awhile? Would you speak to me? Lord, please speak to me.” It’s amazing
that when I begin to ask how God begins to speak into my soul. He’s a gift. He’s a
guide. He’s a covering. He’s a voice. The Spirit of God, you can quench Him and you
can reject Him but I’m telling you, He never leaves us.
5 I want you to look in Nehemiah. They’ll come up on the board, I believe.
Nehemiah chapter 9, two verses I want you to see. So many people in the scriptures
talk about this pillar. Here’s what Nehemiah said. With a pillar of cloud you led them by
day and with a pillar of fire by night to light for them the way in which they were to go.
Then in verse 19 he goes on to say, “You and your great compassion.” You see, God
loves you so much He did not forsake you in the wilderness, the pillar of the cloud did
not leave them by day to guide them on their way nor the pillar of fire by night to light for
them the way in which they were to go. You see, friend, God’s got a path for you and
He’s going to guide that path and light that path. If you’ll listen to what God says, His
way is the best way. Your steps are established by the Lord according to Psalm 37:23.
Romans 8:14 says the people of God are led by the Spirit of God. God’ll tell you what
to do.
Let me just apply that. There are three or four areas, things that you need to
think about. Number one. When it comes time to find a church. So many people when
they leave Olive, and through the years, I’ve watched so many people as they get sent
around the world really but across the United States with jobs. They’ll come and say,
“Pastor, do you know a church in X-Y-Z city?” Oftentimes I do and I’m glad to tell them.
I’m telling you, friend, God will show you where you need to go to church. If you’ll just
listen, God’ll speak to you. Some of you are struggling with that here. You’ve come to
Pensacola and you’ve wondered, is this where I need to be?
John Montgomery, my good friend, is here this week. He’s up in Tennessee and
we had lunch together. He said he was talking to a guy the other day that used to come
to church here and that person said to John, “You know, we moved and we’ve just been
struggling for four or five years. We haven’t been able to find a church.” They said,
“You know, there’s just not an Olive in our town.” John quickly said, “Listen, Olive’s one
location. He made it for Pensacola. He didn’t make it for your city. You need to shut
up and go find a church God’s got for you.” I said, “Atta boy, John. Get after them.”
You don’t duplicate a church for somewhere else. God raises up people in every
city where they need to be and He’ll show you exactly where you need to be. When it
comes to marriage, oh my goodness, you need to be a part of finding the mind and will
of God and He will lead you in the way. Some of you that are high school seniors this
year and parents looking for a school for your kids to go off to, to go to college or a city
or a vocation. I’m telling you, God will lead you where you need to go. Isn’t that right,
Olivia? You get this offer. She’s headed off to Arkansas on a scholarship to swim for
the Razorbacks. She gets ready to go this week and her momma will start crying while
I’m talking about this and that’ll be alright. You just help her down there. She’s going to
go off. How did she know that? She had to pray to say, “God, do you want me here?
Do you want me there?” That’s not the only option I’ve got. Thank God for options. “Is
this where you want me to go? Is this what you want me to do?”
Then with jobs. I knew I was going to illustrate with this this morning so on the
way to work I picked up my cell phone and I called Robert Gilliland. Robert’s in Orlando
6 and he left our staff just a few months ago in the Minister of Education role and has
gone to Orlando with a different job and I called Robert this morning. I said, “Hey bud,
how are you doing?” He said, “I’m fine. Why are you calling me?” I said, “I was calling
to see if you were just laying up in the bed or if you were going to Sunday School this
morning. I know you’re not the paid staff anymore but you know, you still ought to be
involved.” He said, “Oh, we’re almost ready to go, pastor.” I knew he was an hour
ahead of us down there. I said, “Robert, I just had you on my mind. I knew with the
transition – transitions are not easy. Any time we have staff that come or go here, those
transitions are not easy. Not on us or them but when it’s of the Spirit of God and when
that person says it’s time for me to exit, you just relax in the power of God and say,
“Okay. I don’t have to like to agree with it.” Amen.
God makes a way. He leads His people and He will lead you. The pillar of cloud
by day and a pillar of fire by night. I’m telling you, don’t go out looking for a pillar up in
the sky. The Spirit of God is in you now. Amen. It’s like the old boy that said he went
out and prayed and he looked up in the sky and he saw “GP” and he thought God said,
“Go preach.” He preached for awhile and some of his folks came to him and said, “I
think that meant go plow, not go preach.” You’ve got to discern the mind of God. Don’t
look for a cloud. That pillar’s not coming but the Spirit of God is. That’s why you have
to learn to tune your spirit to the Spirit of God. That’s why your quiet time is so
important. That’s why the counsel of others is so important. God speaks into your soul.
There is the promise of God. There is the path of God. Then quickly, I knew – I
told the Lord when I was rocking this morning. I said, “Lord, you’ve given me way too
much material for this crowd today.” He said, “Go ahead. Just jam it down their throat
and they’ll be fine.” I said, “Alright, sir, I’ll be obedient.”
There’s a third thing I want you to see very quickly. Not only the promise of God
and the path of God, but I want you to see the provision of God. Now I’ve just got to do
this very quickly because as you begin to read in chapters 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, all of that
leads up to the receiving of The Ten Commandments but some things happen in
Moses’ life. Whenever the provision of God comes, listen to this. When you walk with
God, there will be obstacles. When you walk with God, there will be – say that word
with me – obstacles.
I want to show you four obstacles that Moses had to deal with. Now remember,
they’re coming through the wilderness and the pillar and the fire and they’re marching
and there’s hundreds of thousands of them and Moses is leading the way and some old
boy back there in the back has got a bone box. They’re thinking, this is not going to
take long. We’ll be over there. Well it’s about year 20 and he says, “I’m telling you, this
box, it’s getting heavy down here.” Moses ran into some obstacles. Number one. He
ran into the wicked. We find them in chapter 14 and verse number 9 where the Bible
says the Egyptians chased after them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and
the horsemen and his army and they overtook them, camped him by the sea. They
found them. Here came Pharaoh. He had come to his mind and said, “Oh my, we’ve
7 let all of our forced hard, free labor go. We’re going to go get them back.” And he goes
after them.
Let me tell you, friend, when you walk with God, the wicked will come after you.
We find him in verse 15 of chapter 14. And the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you
crying out to Me? Moses, this is no time to pray. Tell the sons of Israel, go. Go forward
and go now.” Moses said, “O God, help me.” He said, “I already told you where to go.
Now get up and go. Don’t forget the bone box. Go.” You know the story. Moses goes
out and he stands with that rod and God causes the waters to come up like a heap on
both sides and they go across on dry ground. Here they go. There’s some old boy
coming across there with that water toting a bone box. Here come the promises and
he’s walking through on dry ground.
The Bible says the horse and the rider, He has thrown into the sea. The greatest
verse in this chapter is verse 25. He caused their chariot wheels to swerve. He made
them drive with difficulty so the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from Israel for the Lord is
fighting for them against the Egyptians.” Friend, you don’t fight your battles. God fights
your battles when you walk in the will of God. God’ll rise up and He will defeat your
enemies that come against you. Can I get a witness from somebody? I’m telling you,
God’s on our side and He fights for His people.
I don’t know if you’ve seen it or not. You ought to go get that little video clip from
Christian broadcast. You know, they do some weird things on there but they had a lady
on there this week. I saw her and in the church of Martin Luther in Germany they had a
big concert weeks ago and a lady heard about it and what they were having, they were
having a Muslim mom come and give the call to prayer in the church of Martin Luther
during a concert. The orchestra was playing and at a certain time they stopped and the
mom came and he started with the call to prayer and this little lady had heard about it.
She sat in the balcony and she unfurled a banner that said, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” She
rebuked the Muslim mom who stood in front of the statue of Martin Luther, the father of
the Protestant Reformation saying that there was another god and she said, “He’s a liar.
He’s a false teller and you do not need to….” She began to cry out, “Jesus is Lord.
Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord.” Well they threw her out of the church. They ushered her
out. They let the mom stay. Let me tell you, friend, I’m going with that lady. She had
courage and God’s fighting her fight for her.
That doesn’t mean God doesn’t call us to stand but let me tell you, you don’t fight
alone. God stands against the wicked. There’s plenty of wicked in our land today and
we need to let God use us and not be afraid when the wicked come against us.
Number two. Not only did he have to fight the wicked, but secondly, he had to
deal with the complainers. Oh yeah. Three times. In chapter 15, verse 23, chapter 16
and verse 2, and chapter 17, verse 2. First of all, the water was bitter. It wasn’t sweet
enough. “Moses, we could have had better water than this if we’d stayed home.” Then
they got hungry and said, “We don’t have anything to eat. We could’ve stayed home in
Egypt and had better food than this.” That’s when God sent the manna. I love that
8 word “manna.” In Hebrew it means “what is it?” Chef Bob, it’s like people come to
dinner on Wednesday night and they say, “Manna.” What is it? Sometimes I eat some
of the stuff Brother Chef Bob fixes and I say, “Manna.” What is that? They took it and
it’s wafers and it’s got a little honey taste and oil taste and God fed them. The Bible
says they ate it for 40 years until they walked into the Promised Land, to a land flowing
with milk and honey.
Then they got to chapter 17 and it wasn’t bitter water but they had no water and
that’s when they had to speak and strike the rock. Complaining. You can mark this
down, friend. You live for the Spirit of God and you live by obedience to God, not only
will the wicked come against you, but the complainers in the church will come against
you. The bellyachers and the gripers, the complainers, the whiners, the copout bunch,
the easy route crowd. They’ll just whine and bellyache and say, “Oh, we’ve never had it
so hard.” Don’t you ever be one of those. Complaining has never solved anything. If
there’s an issue that needs to be dealt with, deal with it.
Can’t you just see it? Bitter water. Moses provides water. Then they’re going
out to get the manna. You see that old boy? He’s got a bone box. You just gather up
enough for daily bread. Let me tell you, it’s why you need every day to get with God.
Then they come to the water and here comes that old boy with a bone box. He’s getting
him a drink. “I’m telling you what, this thing’s getting heavy. I don’t know what they fed
Joseph back over there but I’m telling you….”
The third crowd he dealt with, not only did he deal with the wicked, he dealt with
the complainers, he dealt with jealous friends. Who said that? This is when you get to
chapter 17 and verse number 8 and the Bible says that Amalek came against him.
Who’s Amalek? The relationship goes back to Esau’s granddaddy and out of their own
tribe came the Amalekites and the Bible says that they fought with the Amalekites all the
days of every generation. The Amalekites never go away. You may kill the wicked but
the Amalekites remain forever. These are jealous friends. These are folks that see God
favor you and they can’t stand it and they come against you and they begin to complain
and bellyache and then they will take action against – they’ll lie about you. They’ll tell
half-truth about you.
The Amalekites, the greatest verse about them is found in Deuteronomy 25,
verses 17 and 18. The Bible says that the Amalekites attacked not from the front, they
attacked from the rear and they picked off the stragglers. That’s what the wicked do in
the church. They’ll come in and they won’t go against the godly people. They’ll find the
stragglers on the side and they began to nose into a church and they find the stragglers,
the half timers, and they begin to light a fire of consternation and descent within them
and the Amalekites began to divide.
God had Moses send the warriors against them but Moses went up on the
mountain and he held up the rod of God but his arms got tired and they’d fall down.
That’s when Aaron and Hur came alongside him and as long as he lifted up his hands,
9 the Israelites won the day but when the rod of God fell, the Amalekites would win the
day.
They finally defeated them in chapter 17 and there Moses raised an altar and he
said, “The Lord is my banner.” That’s not like a flag. That’s like a pole with an orb on
the top of it. That’s the banner that they would simply lift up. That was the banner. He
is the banner of victory.
Friend, you don’t worship a defeated foe. You worship a resurrected Christ.
He’s overcome death, hell, the grave, and everything else that can be thrown at him.
I’m telling you, we’re on the winning team and you need to begin to live in victory. Quit
your complaining and thumb sucking and walk forward in the power of the Holy Ghost of
God. That’s how we’re to live. We’re victorious people. In the middle of the battle, we
must deal with the wicked, with the complainers, with the jealous friends, and fourthly,
very quickly – I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to go this long but I just can’t help myself.
He also had to deal in chapter 18 of Exodus with the fear of delegation. Moses is
finally, he’s sitting there and man, they’re way off into the wilderness and they’re dealing
with this and the old boy keeps carrying the bone box and they’re walking forward. It’s
year after year and day after day. Finally he sits down and people just keep coming to
Moses, coming to Moses. His daddy-in-law shows up. Jethro comes with the wife and
the two boys. Jethro the priest of Midian says, “Moses, I’ve watched you. You’re going
to wear yourself out. If you don’t learn to delegate some of this, you’re going to die in
the midst of your own ministry.” Moses believes his father-in-law and he begins to give
lesser problems to others and raise up leaders and he would deal with the larger issues.
Church family, I want to share with you that your pastor has had days where he
really feared delegation but the only way for a church to grow and expand is to give
other leaders other issues to deal with and really let them deal with it. Every situation
cannot come – to me many do and some large, some small, but others we have to give
away. We cheat the other gifted people when we don’t do that. When Dr. Lewis came
on our staff here to be our executive pastor, John Sullivan at the Florida Baptist
Convention called me and he said, “I hear you’re having Stan come do the executive
job.” I said, “I am.” He said, “I’m going to challenge you.” I said, “Yes, sir, what?” He
said “I don’t believe you can do that.” I kind of bowed up like he knew I would. He said,
“I don’t believe you have the guts to give away ministry to somebody else.” That’s what
he said. I went and hung up the phone and I went and told my wife. I said, “I’m going to
show that old white-haired.” I find myself sometimes wanting to take stuff I don’t need
to deal with. We all do, don’t we? There are times to give away. It’s a generational
delegation as well. There comes a time when an older generation has to delegate to
another. Yes. It doesn’t mean you quit. It means you guide and you raise them up so
ministry can go on.
Moses had that fear of delegation. Oh he could deal with complaints and he’d
want to kill the wicked, but when it came to broadening the base of doing what needed
to be done in Israel – I just believe. I can’t prove this but since I’m preaching today, I
10 believe the day that Moses gave away some ministry, I believe an old boy came walking
by. He said, “Boss, you’re doing good. We’ve got to get these bones to Shechem.
Would you come on and give that away so we can get this bone box off my back?
We’ve got work to do so quit messing around and trying to do it all yourself. You gave
me a job. You’re not trying to carry the bones. You’re letting me carry – now give that
over there to Eleazar and give that over here. Moses, you’re doing good. Let’s get
these bones to Shechem.”
Moses never buried the bones because Moses never got to Shechem. We’re
going to find Moses dying on Nebo at Pisgah, looking over into the Promised Land. But
a young man came behind him that I believe he delegated to. Old Joshua took it up and
down to Shechem they went and they finally, when they got to the Promised Land, they
laid the bones of Joseph in the ground of promise over 430 years old.
You’ve got a promise. God says that, “When you die I’m going to take you to
glory.” There’ll be times you don’t feel like it. Your enemies will come against you. I’m
telling you, there is a promise and you can put your feet on that promise and you can
stand on that and you shouldn’t let all hell move you off that promise of God.
Standing on the promises of Christ my King…. Standing on the promises of God.
That’s what we do. We stand. Stand. Some of you need to come take a stand today.
You need to walk this aisle today and take a stand for Christ. Some of you need to
come home to Christ. Some of you need to be saved today. Some of you need to be
baptized. You need to come. You need to come take your stand. God has said it. You
need to count it as so even when it’s not so in order that it can be so this day.
Jon’s at the piano and he’s going to begin to sing. When my dear friend starts to
sing, the call of God’s coming. You know the promise of God. He’s blistered into your
heart today. I want to ask you to come. Pick up the bone box and let’s go to Shechem.
It’s where God is leading his children.
We’re on our feet all over this place. We’re standing. We’re singing. God’s
calling. You come. You come. You come.
11