Participants: Steve Cassimy (Host), Dr. Abraham Jules
Series Code: POH
Program Code: POH000006
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00:03 Where can you find hope for the hopeless?
00:07 Opportunity for transformation? 00:11 Peace amid life's storms? 00:15 Only in God's free gift of eternal life. 00:20 From New York, join us on the Pathway of Hope. 00:30 We live in a world that is consumed 00:32 with the notion of success. 00:35 People are paying their way through seminars and classes 00:39 and programs on how to succeed. 00:43 Bookshelves at home, libraries, 00:47 and the Internet are saturated with how to be successful. 00:52 DVDs and CDs and other gadgets. 00:56 The principle is that you absorb the information, 01:00 apply it, 01:01 and in a given period, 01:02 you will begin your journey on the road to success 01:06 as a real estate agent, 01:08 a multibillionaire like Donald Trump 01:11 or a software tycoon like Bill Gates. 01:15 The Bible on the other hand, teaches us 01:18 that in God's economy 01:20 success is a direct result of faithfulness to God. 01:25 You can read the Bible from cover to cover, 01:27 and you will not find one instance 01:30 where God asks us to be successful. 01:34 Yes, we serve a faithful God. 01:37 Great is His faithfulness. 01:40 Listen now as Dr. A.J. Jewels 01:43 leads us in a study entitled 01:46 The blueprint for Success. 02:04 I hear the sound 02:08 Of a mighty rushing wind 02:19 And it's closer now 02:22 Than it's ever been 02:27 Oh, Lord, 02:29 I can almost hear the trumpet 02:36 As Gabriel sounds the chords 02:40 He sounds the chords 02:43 And at the midnight cry 02:50 we'll be going home 02:56 And when Jesus steps out 03:03 On a cloud to call his children 03:10 I know the dead in Christ 03:13 Then gonna rise 03:17 To meet Him in the air 03:24 And then those that remain 03:31 Shall be quickly changed 03:35 We shall be changed in a moment 03:38 And at the midnight cry 03:45 When Jesus comes again 04:01 I look around me 04:05 I see prophecies full filling 04:14 And all the signs of the times 04:19 They're appearing everywhere 04:24 Everywhere I can 04:27 almost hear the Father 04:32 As he said "Son, go get My children" 04:37 Get my children 04:40 And at the midnight cry 04:47 The bride of Christ will rise. 04:53 And when Jesus steps out 05:00 On a cloud to call His children 05:06 I know the dead in Christ 05:09 They're gonna rise 05:14 To meet Him in the air 05:20 And then those 05:23 that remain 05:28 We shall be changed in a moment, 05:32 in a moment 05:36 And at the midnight cry 05:42 When Jesus comes again. 05:47 And then those 05:50 that remain 05:55 Shall be quickly changed 05:59 We shall be changed in a moment 06:03 And at the midnight cry 06:09 When Jesus comes again 06:17 At the midnight cry 06:23 When Jesus comes again 06:26 He comes 06:28 Again 06:42 Let us pray. 06:45 Loving Lord, we thank You for Your word, 06:49 which guides us into the paths of righteousness and success. 06:53 We pray as we study this word tonight, 06:56 that those of us who hear it will be 06:58 in compliance with Your truce. 07:01 Thank you for being a God that loves us 07:02 and cares so much about us. 07:05 And thank You for the truce that we receive. 07:08 May we with obedience, 07:09 learn to love You and serve You better. 07:12 In the name of Jesus we pray, amen. 07:17 The blueprint for success. 07:19 Exodus 17:1-7 is our focus tonight. 07:24 First one says, 07:25 "And all the congregation of the children of Israel 07:30 journeyed from the wilderness of sin after their journeys, 07:35 according to the commandment of the Lord and pitched 07:37 in Rephidim." 07:39 Rephidim was actually in the wilderness 07:42 between Egypt and Sinai. 07:45 It translates to resting places. 07:48 It was one of those places in the wilderness, 07:51 that was enough of a departure from the arid 07:54 and acrid environment 07:55 that made traveling so difficult. 07:58 And there was no water for the people to drink. 08:02 This is not the first time that the Bible 08:04 says that the people are confronted 08:06 by thirst in the wilderness. 08:08 You remember that just three days 08:10 out of the wilderness, 08:11 they came to the bitter waters of Marah. 08:13 They grumble and complained, then God provided a miracle 08:16 by transforming its bitter waters 08:19 into sweet water. 08:21 And Moses journal in Exodus 15:25. 08:24 And the Bible says, "And he tested them there." 08:28 Verse 2 says, 08:29 "Wherefore the people did chide with Moses and said, 08:34 'Give us water that we may drink.' 08:37 And Moses said unto them, 'Why chide ye with me? 08:40 Wherefore do you tempt the Lord?' 08:43 " Israel has been brought back to a similar test, 08:46 as they were confronted with before. 08:48 The water wasn't the test. 08:51 Thirst wasn't the test. 08:53 Water and thirst were merely the means through 08:55 which God examined Israel's character. 08:59 It appears that there was no little 09:02 or no progress in their spiritual development. 09:05 That development focus specifically on faith. 09:09 Their journey was going to be difficult, 09:11 they were going to be many disappointments, 09:14 they would often have to confront discouragement. 09:16 And the only way that they can successfully accomplish 09:20 God's purposes 09:21 was through obedience which works by faith. 09:25 The third verse says, 09:27 "And the people thirsted there for water." 09:30 The impact of the sun and the arid environment, 09:33 induced a state of dehydration. 09:36 There was not just a physical need for water, 09:39 but also a physiological need. 09:42 The loss of sodium through perspiration, 09:44 the exertion of your limbs. 09:47 And the Bible continues, and it says, 09:48 "And the people murmured against Moses and said, 09:51 'Wherefore is this 09:53 that thou has brought us up out of Egypt, 09:55 to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?' 10:00 " Now this is the fourth recorded episode 10:03 of grumbling in the book of Exodus. 10:06 The first time the people grumbled 10:08 when they were trapped between the mountains, 10:10 the open wilderness, and the Red Sea. 10:14 The second time they grumbled, 10:16 they were three days journey from the Red Sea, 10:19 in the wilderness of Shure. 10:20 And can find no water. 10:22 The third time they grumbled 10:24 was when they were 45 days removed 10:27 from the Red Sea. 10:28 They hadn't camped in the last retreat of Elim, 10:31 where they had been refreshed 10:32 with springs of fresh water and the dates. 10:35 The palms of which provided shade 10:38 from the relentless rays of the desert sun. 10:41 They must have anticipated that God would provide for them 10:45 in this manner, the rest of the journey, 10:48 but as they journeyed further between Elim and Sinai 10:52 in the wilderness of sin, 10:53 hunger began to set in, and they murmured again. 10:58 So 17:4 says, 11:00 "And Moses cried unto the Lord." 11:05 Even a casual reading of the Book of Exodus 11:08 will reveal that these words are a continually 11:11 emerging theme within the book. 11:14 It speaks to Moses' perception that he is in over his head, 11:19 that there is nothing he can do adequately 11:22 to resolve the situation. 11:24 It speaks to human limitations, and the inevitability 11:28 that given the right circumstances, 11:31 in the right place at the right time, 11:34 we will succumb to our limitation 11:36 and seek if we are wise 11:38 the counsel and direction of one greater than ourselves. 11:43 It was God who chose Moses. 11:46 It was God who called him. 11:48 It was God who appointed him. 11:51 Yet Moses' life, though it bode a impress of God, 11:56 was punctuated 11:58 by this very sobering reminder 12:01 of how the believer is to meet life's challenges. 12:05 The Bible says, "He cried unto the Lord saying, 12:12 'What shall I do unto this people? 12:15 They be almost ready to stone me.' 12:19 " Moses apparently did not realize 12:22 that he was not going to die one moment before his time, 12:26 no matter how threatening the circumstances 12:28 may have appeared to be, 12:29 God's purposes need, no neither haste nor delay. 12:33 For any Christian who is seeking to live 12:35 out God's purposes in their life, 12:37 this is critical. 12:39 Job understood it well. 12:40 He said it in Job 14:16. 12:42 "You number my steps. 12:44 He asks, 12:46 'Is there not an appointed time to man upon the earth?' 12:49 " Job 7:1. 12:51 "Since his days are determined, 12:53 the number of his months is with you, 12:55 and his limits you have set so that he cannot pass," Job 14:5. 13:01 The absence of boldness in the lives of many Christians 13:04 result from a humanistic se1f-preservation, 13:08 where we convince ourselves that our personal safety 13:11 is wholly in our hands, 13:13 rather than in the hands of the God to whom we belong. 13:16 But may I remind you tonight, God orders our steps, 13:20 and our times are in His hands. 13:23 Amen. 13:25 And this was not the time to retreat. 13:29 This was not the time to assume a posture of uncertainty. 13:33 God intended for Moses to walk boldly in his divine authority, 13:38 and in his human authority before the people. 13:41 And so verse 5 says, "And the Lord said unto Moses, 13:46 'Go on before the people, 13:48 and take with thee of the elders of Israel, 13:51 and thy rod, 13:52 wherewith thou smotest the river, 13:54 take in thine hand, and go.' 13:57 " In any crisis in which one feels threatened, 14:00 the greatest consolation 14:02 can be found in the fact that God speaks to you. 14:05 Isaiah says of the faithful, "Then you will call, 14:08 and the Lord will answer. 14:10 You will cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.' 14:14 " But understand this, 14:16 it was a crisis of unexpected proportions. 14:20 Moses had never felt his life 14:23 threatened by his own people before. 14:26 There was an air of hostility that wreaked with evil. 14:30 And for the very first time Moses, God's chosen, 14:34 began to mirror the fear of the people. 14:39 It is in this type of crisis when the end seems imminent, 14:44 when disaster is impending, when it seems as if this is it, 14:48 that God reminds the faithful, "That before they call, 14:51 I will answer. 14:52 And while they yet speaking, I will hear." 14:55 God directs Moses. 14:57 He says, "Go ahead. 14:58 Go on in front of the people 15:01 and take some of the elders with you." 15:03 Now the Hebrew verb there is written with the Qal stem 15:06 in the imperative mood, 15:08 and has the limiting force of the possessive prefix off. 15:13 It reads literally, 15:14 "You must take with you 15:15 from out of or among the elders." 15:18 God understood that not all of the elders 15:21 will have sufficient strength of conviction and character 15:25 to withstand the incessant fussing of the people. 15:29 God understood 15:31 that not all of the elders would stand in faith 15:34 in the midst of crisis, 15:35 but that's some would retreat rather into fear. 15:39 God understood that except for faith in a crisis, 15:43 it is natural to surrender psychologically 15:46 to the known, 15:47 rather than to confidently engage 15:49 in the unknown. 15:52 So He instructs Moses, 15:56 "You must take with you from out of the elders. 16:00 Take your staff in your hand with which, 16:02 you struck the Nile and go." 16:04 Let me tell you something, those of us 16:06 who must depend on others to counsel us 16:08 and to pray with us, 16:09 we must be careful from whom we seek our counsel. 16:13 Not everybody is prepared to stand with you in a crisis. 16:17 Now let me suggest to you that God's response to Moses 16:19 in this crisis 16:21 involves a reiteration of at least three truths. 16:25 One, God called us, 16:28 and He will never leave us nor forsake us. 16:31 When things seems to go wrong in your life, 16:34 we are often tempted 16:35 to forget that God is sovereign, 16:38 that nothing happens in this world or in our lives 16:42 that God hasn't initiated or allowed. 16:47 Is our God a sovereign? 16:49 And has complete control? 16:51 Or He's not sovereign, 16:53 and He's at the mercy of the terrorist raids 16:55 that the devil makes on his people, 16:57 but you can't have it both ways. 17:00 It was God who tested the children of Israel, 17:02 when He brought them to the mouth of the Red Sea. 17:04 It was God who tested the children of Israel 17:08 when they came to the bitter waters of Marah 17:10 and thirsted in the wilderness. 17:11 It was God who tested the children of Israel, 17:16 when they're hungered and cried out 17:17 for the delicacies of Egypt. 17:19 And it is God again, 17:20 who has brought them back again, 17:22 with dry and parched lips, 17:23 to this moment of thirst and testing in the wilderness. 17:30 There's something else. 17:32 Moses is human authority, secondly, was divinely derived. 17:37 God instructed Moses to take your rod in your hand 17:40 with which you struck the Nile and go. 17:43 Curiously enough, ladies and gentlemen, 17:45 the rod is called both the rod of God 17:48 in Exodus 4:20, 17, and 9, 17:50 and Moses' rod in Exodus 14:16 and 17. 17:55 The rods symbolize the hand of God. 17:59 And Moses' hand symbolized the human instrument 18:03 through which divine authority was exercised. 18:06 When Moses used the rod at the Nile, 18:09 the waters were turned to blood, 18:12 the fish died, the waters became foul, 18:15 and Egyptians could not drink from the rivers, 18:17 streams, springs, pools, or reservoirs, 18:21 throughout all of Egypt for seven days. 18:24 Now I wondered 18:26 why God told Moses to take the rod 18:29 with which he struck the Nile, 18:31 as opposed to the rod 18:33 that he lifted over the Red Sea? 18:35 Why, in other words, 18:37 that God refers rod 18:38 in connection with the Nile as opposed to the Red Sea. 18:42 You see, the Nile involved direct confrontation. 18:46 The Nile involved God's first punitive act toward Egypt. 18:51 The Nile was the source of Egyptian life. 18:55 The impact of striking the Nile was temporary. 19:00 While the Egyptian sorcerers 19:01 were able to duplicate the miracle 19:03 of turning the Nile to blood, 19:05 they did not have the power 19:06 to turn the blood back into water. 19:09 Let me tell you this, friends, 19:10 the Devil can break stuff 19:12 and make you feel satisfied and gratified, 19:15 but he can't fix anything. 19:17 Amen. 19:18 He can mess your life up, 19:20 but he can never put it back together again. 19:23 Only God can do that! 19:29 But Moses references denial and not the Red Sea. 19:33 The Red Sea, on the other hand, 19:35 did not involve direct confrontation. 19:38 The parting of the Red Sea 19:39 was initially God's act of salvation 19:42 for the children of Israel. 19:44 The Red Sea was at the border of Egypt 19:46 and the wilderness. 19:48 And it was a permanent barrier 19:50 between the children of Israel and the enslavers. 19:53 I would suggest to you that the Nile became 19:55 a critical point of reference to Moses 19:58 because God needed for Moses 20:01 and the children of Israel to understand 20:03 something critical about the nature of His staff. 20:06 There was a strike as using the context of the Nile 20:09 is the Hebrew hiphil participle nakah. 20:12 It simply means to strike, smite, beat, or scourge. 20:17 But this word is a hybrid. 20:19 It's a participle. 20:20 It has both the characteristics 20:22 and functions of a verb and an adjective. 20:25 In Exodus 7:17, God said, 20:28 "I will strike the water that is in the Nile, 20:31 with the staff that is in My hand." 20:33 That is the verbal aspect of this participle. 20:37 Now the adjective modifies the noun. 20:40 It describes, specifies and clarifies the noun. 20:43 The noun under consideration here is the word staff. 20:46 The one strike, 20:48 functioning as both verb and adjective 20:51 modifies the word staff 20:53 and literally translates to striking staff. 20:57 Stay with me. 20:59 At the Red Sea, 21:00 seven chapters to this verse removed. 21:04 God commanded Moses 21:06 to lift the staff over the Red Sea and divide it. 21:11 Now it says God's staff 21:14 has both a striking function 21:16 and a lifting and raising function. 21:20 In this moment of grave crisis, 21:23 when rebellion at Rephidim seemed imminent, 21:26 and when the man of God feared for his life, 21:30 God directs Moses 21:32 to pass on before the people along with some of the elders, 21:37 and to take the striking staff with which he struck the Nile. 21:41 And God said in verse 6, "Behold, 21:44 I will stand before thee, 21:46 there upon the rock in Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, 21:51 and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." 21:56 Water, 21:58 for their thirst was only really a temporary solution 22:02 to the chronic endemic problem 22:04 characterized by the children of Israel's behavior 22:08 throughout their wilderness sojourn. 22:09 In fact, the problem 22:12 from the divine standpoint was so grave 22:15 and so far reaching its effects 22:17 and implications that God directed Moses 22:21 to initiate a countermeasure 22:23 that would not only address 22:24 the problem at the level of its symptom, 22:27 but also at its root. 22:29 If God did not act decisively, 22:32 take drastic measures now, 22:34 the children of Israel 22:35 would never be able to recover 22:37 from the momentary tastes of illicit power. 22:40 They were on the verge of sedition, 22:42 and apart from divine intervention, 22:45 they would have gained a momentum 22:47 that would have been pleasing and satisfying initially, 22:50 but ultimately, 22:52 they would have sown the wind and reap the whirlwind. 22:57 Notice if you will, that God was testing Israel, 23:01 to see if they were with Him. 23:03 And Israel was testing God to see if He were with them. 23:08 They wanted a God that they could lead, 23:11 a God they can control, 23:12 a God who would cater to the resistance 23:15 of the character shaping experiences 23:18 out of which flown humility, 23:19 dependence, trust, obedience, and faith. 23:22 Moses became the object of the resistance, 23:27 and their resistance turned into rebellion. 23:29 And at that point, Moses 23:32 realized that if he didn't humble 23:34 himself before God, if he didn't depend on God, 23:37 if he didn't trust God, if he didn't obey God, 23:40 and if his faith didn't anchor itself in God, 23:43 the people's faith never would. 23:46 There is no substitute 23:47 in the life of the believer for faith. 23:50 Faith in Christ 23:51 does not require a degree in theology. 23:54 So matter of fact, over the years, the expression, 23:57 childlike faith has come to epitomize the confidence 24:01 and abandon that is pleasing to God. 24:03 For without faith, it is impossible to please him. 24:07 Without faith, opportunities pass unseen. 24:12 Without faith, 24:13 the glass always seems half empty 24:16 and never half full. 24:18 Without faith, doubt becomes amplified, 24:21 despair becomes gratified, 24:23 discouragement becomes magnified. 24:26 Without faith, molehills looked, 24:29 molehills look like mountains. 24:31 Without faith, the probable seems impossible. 24:35 Without faith, the days look partly cloudy, 24:38 rather than partly sunny. 24:40 Without faith, apprehension widens, 24:43 uncertainty lengthens, and fear heightens. 24:46 Without faith, a drizzle seems like a storm. 24:50 Without faith, 24:51 a difficult moment seems like a lifetime of suffering. 24:54 Without faith, 24:55 a failure seems like a death sentence. 24:58 Without faith, 24:59 we become spiritually anaemic and live a pessimistic, 25:03 hopeless existence that turns inward 25:06 and makes us powerless 25:08 in the face of life's challenges. 25:10 They didn't understand 25:12 that living in God's will necessarily involves 25:15 a painstaking process of building faith, 25:20 that without faith, 25:21 you can't walk and you can't even crawl. 25:25 Years later, 25:26 when Israel had escaped the harsh 25:29 conditions of the wilderness, 25:31 long after God had extricated them 25:33 and brought them into the land of promise, 25:36 when they had failed to grasp the essential preeminence 25:39 of faith in the life of God's people, 25:41 they found themselves enslaved by the Babylonians 25:45 and questioning whether God was with them or not. 25:48 Responding with unparalleled eloquence 25:51 and directing them 25:52 to the promise of restoration and success, 25:55 Isaiah, The Prophet wrote, 25:56 "Why sayest thou, O Jacob, 25:58 speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, 26:02 and my judgment is passed over from my god? 26:06 Has thou not known, has thou not heard, 26:10 that the everlasting Lord, 26:11 the creator of the ends of the earth, 26:13 fainteth not, neither is weary? 26:16 There is no searching of His understanding. 26:19 He giveth power to the faint, and then that have no might, 26:23 he increaseth their strength. 26:24 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, 26:27 and the young men shall utterly fail. 26:30 But they that wait upon the Lord 26:33 shall renew their strength. 26:34 They shall mount up with the wings of eagles. 26:37 They shall run and not be weary. 26:39 They shall walk, and not faint." 26:44 Our God is a wonderful God. 26:47 He wants us to walk in the path of obedience, 26:51 which leads to the path of success. 26:55 Thank you for this word tonight, Lord. 26:57 Bless it as it goes forth to the ends of the world, 27:00 we pray in Jesus name. 27:03 Amen. 27:05 Thanks for watching Pathway of Hope. 27:08 If you would like to be prayed for 27:10 or would like to learn more about God's Word, 27:13 please call 1 (877) 520-Hope 27:20 or 1 (877) 520 (4673). 27:27 You may also watch more of our programs online 27:30 at www.pathwayofhope.tv. 27:37 If you would like to make a tax deductible love gift, 27:41 please send your gifts to Pathway of Hope, 27:44 at P.O. Box 280704, 27:50 Queens Village, New York 11428. 27:55 Thanks for watching Pathway of Hope. 27:57 And may God's blessings be yours today. |
Revised 2020-03-21