Our Sunday morning message was brought by our associate pastor, Brother Ryan Crawford: "Amalek: A Type Of The Flesh." We stood for opening prayer and the reading of God's word. The opening scripture reading was taken from: Exodus 17:8-16
Verse 8, Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. 10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. 14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. 15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi: 16 For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
The Bible speaks of leprosy being a type or picture or representation of sin. Amalek is also a representation or type of the flesh. The Bible speaks of having war with Amalek from generation to generation. And so we war daily with our flesh.
"When Moses' hands were up Israel was winning but when his hands were down Amalek was winning. When you reach up to God your spirit is winning but when you tire the flesh takes over. This morning your flesh wants you to close your eyes and not listen to the message, you're tired, or you're preoccupied by what all is happening later today, or tomorrow."
"What was so special about Moses raising his hands? We know all the power came from God, not from a man, but I want to share with you a few thoughts that came to me about Moses, and how God was working through him. And how it might help you today."
"First, raising his hands signified Confidence and a Connection with God. And if you are in fellowship with God today, you can have that same confidence and connection."
Exodus 14:16, But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
"Moses as the leader and Joshua as the follower both had confidence that God would come though for them with Amalek, as He had come through for them at the Red Sea. What has God done for you in the past? There is your connection and your confidence. Raise your hands to God and say I am giving myself to you as I trust you, I have faith in you, because you came though for me before."
"Moses' raised hands also signified his Commitment to God." See verse 11 above. "You have heard it said: when you put things in your hands, you take it out of God's hands. So church, commit your all to Him, put it all in God's hand."
"By the way, God doesn't need you. God has rocks and trees that would cry out if He needed them to. But bless God, you need God."
"Before I go to the next point, I just want to add: Aaron and Hur saw when Moses was weakening they stepped up to help. We are to help each other. Pray for each other. Support each other. Bear each other's burdens."
"Final point: Moses raising his hands showed a Celebration of God."
"Then there was Paul and Silas in prison."
Acts 16:25-28. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
"But here they are after being beaten, in the dark, praising, singing, celebrating God."
"Moses had just got the victory. So he set up an altar, and started celebrating God."
"And church, when God comes though for you, you ought to be celebrating."
"But you also need to realize this, serving God is going to cost you something. Praising God is going to cost you something. Committing to God is going to cost you something. Moses put up an altar to God, that means he had to kill something, in order to sacrifice something. But the gains far outweigh our costs. There is even an investment. You are putting into something to draw out later. Here we are investing in children and in adults, to see a gain later."
"...the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation."
"But God is going to have the war, not us. God is going to fight the battle, not us. Praise be to God for what He has done, and what He is doing, and what He will do. I think this morning we have a lot of Christians who need to go back to having Confidence in God. Who need to go back to just Committing to God. And when God comes through I think we need a bunch of Christians who will take a little time to Celebrate and praise God. Keep your hands up. Get you hands out of your own stuff. And keep your hands up. Let God move, let God fight. Let go, and let God do for you."
All verses quoted above are from the KJV, the King James Bible.
We now have two morning worship services. Our first service, the early morning service, is at 8:30 a.m., with Sunday School at 9:45 a.m. After Sunday School, the second morning worship service the mid-morning service, will start at 11 a.m.
Monday evenings: 6:30 p.m. altar prayer service.
Wednesday evenings: 7 p.m. KFC for children (meal provided), and Bible study for adults.
Friday evenings: 6:30 p.m. "Though The Bible In A Year" and potluck meal.
Saturday afternoons: 3:30 p.m. Nursing Home Ministry at Golden Living, Anderson.
Be in prayer for our Church Camp(s) and VBS this week.
Please remember you can hear a rebroadcast of one of our pastors' services, on KURM radio, 100.3 on the FM dial, at 8:30 Sunday mornings. Or listen to our pastors' services on our website, www.firstbaptistchurchpineville.com/Sermons.html
If you have no church home of your own, we would love for you to join us off the northeast corner of the Pineville square, just behind U.S. Bank. No friendlier, down-home church can be found anywhere in the four-state area.
Religion on 07/23/2015