Speak To The Rock 7-26-2026

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Life Family Church Sermon Podcast. If this is your first time listening, you can check us out on our website at lifefamily.church or on Facebook at LFTearch. Now let's get right to the message.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Well, if you brought your Bibles this morning, turn to Exodus 17, verse 1 through 7. We're going to start there, and then I've got a few things I want to bring up to your attention that I I do believe the Lord has spoken to my heart about, and that is we are to enter into his rest. Because that is his very best for your life. Entering into his rest is your is the very best for your life. God wants to speak to you this morning, but before we go there, I've got a short uh story to tell. Uh this week my wife took off and left me and uh went to Oklahoma to camp meeting, her and all the kids, and left me with four dogs. Here in a little bit, I'll tell you a little bit more about that. But while they were gone, I decided great idea. Let's just tear the bathroom apart. Let's remodel the bathroom. So I did. I took all the sheetrock off the hall bathroom. I mean, I had it all the way to the studs. Electrical plumbing and wall, I mean, I'm I'm none of those things. But um, I'm just um by myself remodeling our house while my wife and family are out just enjoying themselves, camp meeting, having a great time. Um, a few things happen, I'll bring it up here in just a moment, but that's just a precursor to the end of the story. But Exodus 17, verse 1, it talks about this. This is a story about the children of Israel and how God provided through a rock water that they would need. Now, but it wasn't because the children of Israel deserved it, they didn't deserve it. We don't deserve anything that God provides for us. But thank God He's a good God and He loves His people. Verse 1, then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the wilderness of sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephrodim. That word Referedom in the Hebrew means rest. But there was no water for the people to drink. Isn't that amazing how he led them to a place called rest, and there was no water. Therefore, the people contended with Moses and said, Give us water. I'm like, hold on, I'm just gonna pause right there for a second. I mean, what were they thinking? Looking at Moses and saying, give us water, what's he gonna do? He's just looking at like we're looking at a man saying, if you don't mind, sir, uh can you give me something to eat? Like, there's over two million of these people. We all need something to eat. How and how is it how in the world is Moses gonna provide that? He can't do it, but they're looking to what? They're looking at a man. Now, he said, Give us, they said, give us water that we may drink. So Moses said to them, Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for the water, and the people complained against Moses and said, Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, What shall I do with this people? They're almost ready to stone me, God. And the Lord said to Moses, Go on before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod. Now, if you're writing notes, right beside that word rod, authority. Take your authority with which you struck the river and go. Behold, I will stand before you on the rock. God said, I will stand before you on the rock. So imagine this: God is standing on the rock in Horeb. That place in the Greek or in the Hebrew, sorry, means a dry and desolate place. A desert land with no source of water and life. It says God was standing on that place that was dry and dead and desolate, and there was no life there. God himself stood on that rock. I want you to hear that. And he gives Moses the instruction, and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it. Now, John 19, 34 says this that blood and water flowed from the side of Jesus when the Roman soldiers pierced him with the spear. So remember that. Jesus became a curse for us. Jesus stood upon the dry and desolate areas of your life, those areas in your life where you had no hope, no future, no health, no healing, no blessing, no goodness in your life. He stood in that place for you. And he stood on that rock for you. He took your place. And it says that he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And it goes on to say, and with his stripes or by his stripes, we are healed. So he became the substitute. God stood upon that rock in Horeb. And he became the substitute. And as Moses took the authority that he had from God and he struck that rock, immediately water began to flow. And they had the source that they needed to sustain life. They had water. And of course, I'm sure everybody there was like, wow, look what Moses did. Come on, somebody. How many times have you seen something like that happen today? Where a pastor gets a word from the Lord or something God puts in his heart, and they go home and they say, Wow, did you see what Pastor did? It's not what Pastor did. Pastor took the authority that God gave him and the words that God put on his heart, and he stepped out in faith because it very well could have been that nobody walked up here. But it very well could have been that if Moses struck that rock, that water might not have poured out. But Moses trusted God and he put his faith in God. So never look to a man as your source. This is something I just want to emphasize over and over and over. Too many religions, too many churches out there, they put their confidence in man. So when man fails, guess what? The church fails. That is not how God intended the church to be. The Bible says the gates of hell shall not prevail over the church. The church is victorious, the church is triumphant, the church is Christ's body. We are always going to win no matter what a man does. Amen. Because we're not concerned about man as much as we are concerned about following the voice of our Father. That is our goal is not to worry about a man or not to put your trust in a man, but to focus on God and His presence. Hallelujah. Verse 7, it says this. So he called the name of that place Masah. That word Masa means testing or temptation. Meaning they tried God, they put him on trial. They tested him. Do you really care about us or not? So Moses called that place Masah. And the next word he called it as Meribah, which means quarreling or strife. Because of the contention of the children of Israel and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not? That's a question we need to ask ourselves every day. When you're going through a trial, ask yourself this is the Lord among us or not? Do I believe God's word or do I not? Do I trust in Him or do I not? That's a question we have to ask ourselves right now is do I trust that God's in this place right now? Because if we really believe God's presence was in this place, the true, holy God in this place right now, I believe we would think differently, perceive differently, and experience things differently because his presence always changes us from glory to glory. Now, that word Maribah also means quarreling, which means they wrestled with God, they fought God. Their inability to see that God was their source of supply caused them to fight with God. God, you don't even care about us. You don't love us. You don't like, you must not care about me because I'm going through this trial right now. Let me tell you something. Just because you're going through something in your life doesn't mean God is absent. God is present always, and He always loves you, and He'll never fail you. He'll never let you down. He's closer to you than a friend. He's closer to you than a brother. He'll never leave you and He'll never forsake you. So don't ever think for a moment God is not present. God is present in your life. When you're doing good, God is there. When you're doing evil, God is there. He doesn't get offended when you make a mistake and walk away from you. He's not the God who's ashamed of you. He loves you because he always separates the who from the do. Who you are is a covenant partner with God. Who you are is loved by God. Who you are is sealed by the Holy Ghost. Who you are is a new creature in Christ Jesus. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things become new. What you're doing is dumb. But God doesn't walk away because you're dumb. He's not running from you. You ran from him. You're resisting him, you're fighting with God. You're you're constricting God from entering every area of your life. We've got to lay down our guards and allow the Holy Spirit to just do whatever the Holy Spirit wants to do in our life. Amen. Because God is a good God and He loves you. Now, a little bit more of that story of the dogs and my wife leaving. So I have four wonderful, wonderful, glorious blessings, dogs, three Aussie Doodles, and a little Yorkie. And they're all very dependent upon me, they're Moses. And as my family went and on a beautiful oasis of the presence of God at camp meeting and having the time of their life, I was reconstructing our home and dealing with these needy dogs. These dogs, oh man. Every time I was doing something, one of them was right by my side the whole time. They would not leave me alone. I had to sit them outside just so I can get something done because the whole time I was there, they were right by my side. They would not leave me alone. I would be sitting there resting, watching something on YouTube, just enjoying myself, and they're all four just sitting in a half circle right there at me, like, and I'm literally talking to these dogs. I know it's pretty pathetic, but I'm sitting there, I'm like, what do you want? What are you just sitting there staring at me? Stop it. Like they're just staring at me. It's it's very unnerving. Like, stop. What do you want? So I'm sitting there looking at these dogs and and Ruger, which is who I call Alvin. Y'all know Alvin and the chipmunks? Okay, then there's Theodore and there's Simon and then there's Alvin. Alvin is the troublemaker, right? Now Ivy knows this. Ruger is our troublemaker. Ruger is a small dog, but he thinks he's he's the alpha. He just is.

unknown 13:27

Simon's the nerd.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

He is the nerd. You're you're right about that. Yeah. I don't have the nerd dog. I would love to have the nerd dog. I've got Theodore, the lazy dog, the dumb one. Well, they are. But these dogs, they they were looking to me as their source. When I got up and walked out of the room, guess what? They walked with me. They did. They wouldn't leave me alone. I'd go outside, they'll be all sitting at the window with her, looking up as high as they could to see what I was doing. They couldn't leave me alone. You know, it's one thing dogs do this, but I mean, dogs have enough sense to look at their master and keep their eyes on their master because they know the master is the source. We should at least be like these dogs, where we recognize God as our source, and wherever he goes, we go. Whatever he does, we're right there. We're just sitting in a half moon, just like, What are you doing, God? What are you doing? And no, don't hear me calling you a dog. You dirty dogs. Exodus 13, 21 says, And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them the way, and by night a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people. So imagine God leading and guiding his people, and the way that he led the children of Israel was a cloud by day and fire at night. So imagine if we had something that could lead us and guide us every day and every night of our life. Hmm. Let's see, do we have anything that leads us and guides us? That's glorious. That's a spirit, a cloud on the inside of us, a fire on the inside of us. Do you know what I'm talking about when I say there's something on the inside of you leading and guiding you? That is the power of the Holy Spirit. We do have someone leading and guiding us into all truth that will take us through trials, that will take us through temptation, that will take us anywhere we need to go. The Spirit of God will lead us and guide us. Don't ever think for a moment you're without help. You have the helper. He's on the inside of you. The Holy Ghost is there. He is like a fire that's shut up in your bones. You have the Holy Ghost. You have him. He's there. Hallelujah. Now, verse uh Numbers 29, verse 22 through 23. Numbers 9, 22, and 23. Whether it was two days a month or a month, sorry, whether it was two days or a month or a year, that the cloud remained above the tabernacle. The children of Israel would remain encamped and not journey, but when it was taken up, they would journey. So here's what I want to bring up to your attention: that the children of Israel would not move until the presence of God moved. The children of Israel would not make a decision until the cloud lifted and moved. Meaning, it's the same way with us. We don't make decisions without the Holy Spirit leading and guiding us. Because that's where we get ourselves in trouble. Is when we make decisions based on emotions, based on fear, based on lack. We don't make decisions based on lack. Say this with me. I do not lack. And when we make decisions, we're not looking to money for information. Thank God money is there, but money is not a good leader. Amen. We don't look to emotions to take us where we need to go. Emotions are great. You can have a lot of fun with emotions. You can watch a sappy, sad Hallmark movie, Ava, and you can cry your eyeballs out. And the story's the same every time. The prince shows up in New York City in the projects. And he falls in love with a girl who's a painter. They fall in love. She's invited on a date. They go on a date. Her friend comes by and she's like, wow, he's so gorgeous. He's amazing. And then she finds out he's a prince. So what does she do? She dumps him. I'm like, that's not reality. She's a gold digger. If I found out that somebody was a queen, I'm like, okay, now we're making some good choices here. But Hallmark, they break up, right? And then he swoops her off her feet again and they fall back in love and they live happily ever after. That's, I mean, is that not every Hallmark story out there? All right, you can go ahead and stop watching Hallmark this Christmas. Save you guys some trouble. But that's the absolute truth, and I don't even know what I'm talking about right now. But we're to be not led by emotions, but we're to be led by the Spirit of God. Led by the Spirit of God. Do you know the Spirit of God wants to lead you and guide you? And how does He do it? He does it through the Word of God. I said this on Wednesday, and I'll say it again. That if the Holy Spirit or you think the Spirit of God is leading you anywhere contrary to the Word of God, I'm going to go ahead and tell you that is not the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God will never lead you and guide you in a direction that's contrary to the Word. They are one in nature. They can never be separated. So if somebody gives you a word or says something and giving you direction and it can contradicts the word of God, you say, no, thank you. No, thank you. I'm not interested in anybody's opinion on where I should go in life. All I'm interested in is I'm going to follow after God. And that's exactly what the children of Israel was instructed to do is everywhere God was in his presence, that's where they should be. So it's amazing to me that the fire and the glory hovered over the tabernacle. The Bible calls you a holy tabernacle unto God. That you are now the temple of the Most High God, that His presence, the glory of God, dwells on the inside of you. The fire of God is on the inside of you. And anytime that fire moves, anytime it gives you a prompting to step out, to do something, you do it. You do it. Why? Because someone might need healing in their body, someone might need deliverance, someone might need help, and you have the help they need in the Holy Spirit. You have that. Now, verse 18 of Numbers 9. At the command of the Lord, the children of Israel would journey. And at the command of the Lord, they would camp. As long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle, they remained encamped. Now, Numbers 20. Let's go there. Numbers 20. I'm going fast. Number one, or verse one. Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zen in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh, and Miriam died there and was buried there. Now there was no water for the congregation, so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. So this time they're looking not just to Moses, they're looking to Aaron as well, and they're saying there's no more water. And the people contended with Moses and said and spoke, saying, If only we had died when our brethren died before the Lord, why have you brought us up the assembly of the Lord into the wilderness that we and our animals should die here? And why have you made us come out up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? Is it not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there any water to drink? So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Thank God they went to church. They went to the house of God. And meeting there they fell on their face, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, This, take the rod. Now remember what that name rod also represents authority. Take your authority and your brother Aaron. Gather to the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes. Speak to the rock before their eyes. I'm going to say it again. Speak to the rock before their eyes. And it will yield its water. Thus you shall bring water from them out of the rock and give drink to the congregation and their animals. So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him. So so far, so good. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, Hear now, you rebels. Uh-oh. Wait a minute. What's up, Moses? What's going on here? Are you getting angry, Moses? Are you getting mad? Are you now reflecting your anger on the people? Are you looking at the people? Is your emotions getting out of control? Don't judge Moses and Aaron. Like, I'm in the same boat. I've done the same thing. Must we bring water out for you out of this rock? So Moses and Aaron are like, okay, we're ticked. This is getting me mad. Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation of their and their animals drank. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, because you did not believe me to hallow me in the eyes of the children of Israel. Therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and he was hallowed, he was hallowed among them. Now Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom. Thus saith your brother Israel, you know all the hardship that has befallen us. Now we're gonna wind this up, but I want you to see something here. Striking the rock the first time was a command that God gave him. That represents in the New Testament that Jesus Christ stood on that rock before us. He took the sin, the guilt, the shame for us, and he was struck. That's what that represented. And then water flowed from his side. Blood and water flowed. The second time, what did God instruct him to do? Speak to it. Jesus will not go back to the cross for you. Jesus will never have to take another stripe for you. He'll never have to be punished again for you. Never again will blood and water flow from his side. Never again will there be stripes on his back. Why? Because the work was finished. Never again do you have to ask God to do something that he's already done. If he's healed your body, when the stripes was laid on his back, if he healed your body then, you're healed right now. If he delivered you when he went to the cross, died, and rose again, and gave you eternal life, if he did it once, it's done forever. He doesn't have to do it again. What Moses and Aaron did when Moses struck that rock twice was they put man's effort into trying to earn something from God. Doing it their own way. The word of the Lord today for you is this stop doing it your own way. Put your trust in the Lord. Yield to Him. Follow the Spirit's leading. Do what He's called you to do. Don't do what you want to do. Don't operate by emotions. Don't operate by fear. Don't operate by lack. Follow the Spirit's leading. Follow the Spirit's leading. And he'll take you to that place of abundant flow, a place of rest, a place of his best. God's taken you there. He's already given you all things that pertain to life and godliness. He's once and for all taken the sin and he's nailed it to the cross, defeating Satan, defeating the kingdom of darkness. He doesn't have to do it again. There is no more fighting from his standpoint. He's already defeated Satan. It's a done deal. You don't have to fight the devil anymore. You just take your rod of authority and say in the name of Jesus, I am free. You don't have to take and work to try to earn anything from God from here on. You just speak the word and your servant shall be healed. You just speak the word and allow the word of God to do what it's always designed to do is that's bring results in your life. And it brings rest. The rest of God would equal the promise of God. They were headed towards where? The promised land. They were on a journey towards the promised land, but what they failed to realize that they already had the promised man. They already had him. They could have been in the wilderness celebrating and worshiping God if they would have put their trust in him. He was developing something on the inside of them, and that was trust me for everything. Look to me as your source. Don't look to man, look to me. I want to be your king. I want to be your Lord. I want to be your savior. I want to be everything to you. I want to be your water. I want to be your food. I want to be your source. God wants to be everything to your life, everything for you. But you have to learn that He will not accept your works as a token of anything that will gain His love. You can't do anything to get God to love you any more than He does right now. He promised you that He would love you and never forsake you. You don't have to earn it. You don't, and I'm going to say this, but this does not mean you don't read the Word of God. But I'm going to tell you, you don't have to read 5,000 chapters a day to get God to love you any more than He does right now. You don't read to get it. You read because you've already got it. You read because God is good. You study because He is love. You do all these things because the grace of God is more than enough. Hallelujah. Now, 1 Corinthians 10 4 says, And all and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Hebrews 9 28 says this. So Christ was offered once to bear the sin of many to those who eagerly wait for him. Amen. You don't have to do it again and again. When you believe God, you rest on his promise. Galatians 2 21. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. Meaning, if you have to work to earn it, then what Jesus did was not enough. Come on, somebody. If you have to pray hard enough or fast hard enough or read the word long enough to try to earn God's favor, then what Jesus did wasn't enough. We're not reading and praying and studying to try to get God to do something for us. He's not the great genie in the sky that we're pulling a lever every once in a while to see if God will do something for us. He's already done all he's gonna do about the devil. He's done everything he's gonna do about your healing, he's done everything he's gonna do to be your source of supply. Your job is to find out what the will of the Lord is in the Word of God and yield to it and walk in the words, promises. Hebrews 4, 3. For we who have believed, everybody say have believed, do enter that rest. How do you enter the rest? You believe. How do you enter the rest of God? You believe. Everybody say this with me, say I'm a believer. It goes on to say, so I swear my wrath they shall not enter my rest, although the works were finished. The works were finished. God's works have already been finished. Do you believe it? Now rest is not from work in that someone's tired because I'm I'm just exhausted. That's not the rest he's talking about. Think about it. Do you really think God, when he created the heavens and the earth, and on the sixth day, he finished up everything, and then on the seventh day, he's like, whoo, boys, that was rough. Man, that was tough. He looks over at Jesus and says, Boy, I tell you, if it went another day, I don't think I could have done it. Do you really think that was God's way? No. He if he wanted to create for a hundred days, he could have done it. He wouldn't have not lost any strength at all. We look at a God who's limited. Our God is not limited. Our God is not limited by time, space, or matter. If he's limited by time, space, or matter, guess what? He's not God. Because if time could stop him, then time's at an equal scale with God. There's nothing that's impossible with God. And when he created everything that man would ever need in those six days, or on those five days, he created everything that man would ever need. On the sixth day, he created man, meaning this. He already created everything you'll ever need to sustain your life. Before you ever were born, he created everything you'll ever need, and that's called His grace. His grace has supplied everything you'll ever need. Why is faith so important? Why do we emphasize faith? Faith takes hold of what grace has supplied. Without grace, you don't have the supply to believe God for something. But without faith, you can't take hold of what He has supplied. So we need both grace and faith to enter the promise of the Lord. If there's anything in your life that you need from God, stop saying, Lord, I need this. Lord, I need this. Lord, I need this. I'm a needer. I'm a needer. And start saying this, Lord, I thank you that you have provided for me all things that contain to life and godliness. Lord, I thank you that by your stripes I'm already healed. I take hold of what you've provided through your grace and I apply it to my life right now. And I thank you that I am healed. Amen. I thank you that I have it now in the name of Jesus. I'm not waiting to get healed. Healing is mine through Jesus Christ. Some would say, Well, I just haven't seen it manifested. That doesn't mean it's not done. The works were finished. It's all done already. We step into the promise and we can rest, knowing the works were finished. Amen. Let's all stand up today. Hallelujah. One of the biggest things that I want to bring up to your attention is that salvation is a done deal. Jesus has already done everything He's going to do about salvation. He's provided salvation for everyone. Even the lost that are out there in the world right now, salvation is for them. It's already been applied, it's already a done deal. But they have to apply and they have to take hold of what God has provided. And if you're out there and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you haven't made him Lord of your life, I'm going to say this because it's the absolute truth. That without Jesus being the Lord of your life, you're on your way to a place called hell. That is not great news. That is not a good place to go. It's a place of torment, but most importantly, it's a place separated from God. And I don't want to be in a place separated from God. I don't want to be living my life today, even as a believer, trying to do things separated from God. We need his presence. We need him as our source. We need to be like those four dogs lined up saying, What are you going to do for me now? I'm just ready to receive. And if you're out there and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, today is your day. Today is the day. If you will make that commitment and come up here to the front, I will pray with you and we'll make sure that you're on your way to eternal life with Jesus Christ. That you don't have to die and go to hell separated from God, but you can know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. If that's you and you're in here, this church will celebrate with you. If you're in here and that's you, come on up here. I want to pray with you and lead you to Jesus. Anybody? Anybody, please don't leave here without knowing Jesus as your Lord and Savior. The most important decision you'll ever make in your life. Amen. Amen. Well, praise God. Well, I just happen to believe everybody in here must be born again. Everybody in here must love Jesus. Guys, God wants us to be at rest. He doesn't want you worried. He doesn't want you looking around, looking to others for help. He wants you to look to him and make him Lord of your life and the source of supply for everything you'll need. And we're not looking to him and saying, God, can you please give me this, give me this? He'll look back at you, saying, Read the word, I already did it. He'll say to you in your spirit, be led by the Spirit. Take hold of what I've already given you by faith. Amen. Amen. Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord, we thank you so much. Thank you so much for your word, your presence, your glory that leads us and guides us. Lord, we thank you for leading us. Lord, I thank you that I'm a believer. And Lord, we're trusting in you, the finished work, the work that's done. We trust you. And we thank you, Father. Jesus' name. Jesus' name. Amen. Look to somebody and say, I'm at rest.

SPEAKER_00 39:47

Thanks for listening. We hope that this message helps you draw closer to God as you walk out your faith. We'll see you next week.