I want to start off by talking about notice, name, and nurture. If you've been here every day for an extended period of time, you've probably heard that phrase. And what exactly does that mean? It's the process by we intentionally take time to slow down and notice what is the Lord trying to do in each one of our lives so that we can put a specific name to it, to be able then to partner with the Lord and through the Word and through prayer, grow fruit in that area of our life.
It's something that our leadership team practices, it's something that we implement on Sundays, it's something that we teach of how to hear from the Lord for the prophetic. It's an individual act as well as a corporate one. And I think one of the most powerful examples of notice, name, and nurture that I can think of over the past few months is back in October, if you remember during the first service, Pastor Josh and Pastor Katie were sitting up front and they started to notice the Lord saying something. They noticed the Lord saying, I want to pay off the debt of people that are in this room.
So they're like, all right, Lord, kind of put it back when I'm with the service, but the Lord kept bringing it up over and over and over and over and they noticed this was something that the Lord really wanted to do. So they asked the Lord and the Lord put a name to it. What is it that you're wanting to do in our community? And he said, I'm wanting to grow your community in generosity through the act of paying off credit card debt of people in the room.
Now why? Because generosity is the expression of mature love. Because John 3 16, for God so loved the world that what did he do? He gave.
And so he started to sprinkle these thoughts in our pastor's minds. They put a name to it, then came up front and asked us to partner with the Lord's heart. And what was the result of it? All the credit card debt of everyone in the room was paid off.
That's the power of a corporate notice, name and nurture. But how many of you know that that didn't stop that Sunday? In the following days and weeks after that, people in our community, as well as people that don't even go to every day, started sharing stories of how during their own conversations with other people, coming into small groups with people, they started to notice the Lord bringing up, hey, I want you to be generous. I want you to be generous and give your resources to these people so that you can express my love to them and let them know that the Lord loves them.
And so there's so many testimonies that came back. Those lives being changed, people's financial futures being changed, all the credit card debt being taken away. It was an amazing time. But the Lord had another reason why he started sprinkling those thoughts in Pastor Katie and Josh's mind.
You see, the Lord knew that in June of this year, there's going to be a big give Sunday. And the Lord knew that he's going to bring a building that would be very hard for us to achieve financially, unless our community started to grow and mature in the area of generosity. So eight months ago, he started speaking to our leadership that then came down into our community of grow and generosity. And so he had eight months of growing that in all of our lives, being stretched in it, being pushed in it.
So in June of this year, big give Sunday, it was the time for the harvest. Would it be a 30 fold, a 60 fold, or a 100 fold harvest? It ended up being a 100 fold harvest of what the Lord grew in our community, that the amount of money that was given blew away what even experts thought that our community would be able to do. And as a result of that, we're able to move into our promised land building that the Lord spoke to Pastor Josh and Katie about 15 years ago of building a base that we've been having all these prophetic words.
We've been in this prophetic season of listening to the Lord, Lord, what in the world's going on pushing through different things. He then parted the sea for us to walk through and now we're entering into a season of transition. I want to call our community to attention of, I believe we're entering into another season that it's very important for us to take time to slow down, to notice what the Lord is doing, to put a name to that, and then partner with the Lord in that area. Because during seasons of change of going from one place to another, especially when it's revolving around very high prophetic seasons, how many of you know that the enemy pops up and wants to stand against what the Lord is wanting to do.
You see, there's a lie that a lot of times we believe that if the Lord has spoken something to us, we see it get confirmed, we see dreams or visions backing up, we have people that we don't even know come up and kind of read our mail and we go, wow, that's exactly what the Lord called me to do. And then we see the Lord do many mighty signs and wonders for us to start to move in that direction that now that the wheels are rolling, a lot of times we think that the road is going to be easy and there's not going to be much resistance. But the scriptures say otherwise. Yeah, exactly.
We see all throughout scripture, during seasons where the Lord is calling people and anointing them with power, giving them prophetic words to go from one place to another, Satan stands up to oppose them, starting all the way back in the garden. God made Adam and Eve in his image, then gave them a call, said, be fruitful, multiply, leave the garden, go out into the world, subdue it, bring the garden out there, bring my governmental authority out there. What happened a chapter later? Satan is there standing opposing.
We see it with Elijah. The Israelites started to worship Baal and the Lord anointed Elijah with unprecedented signs and wonders and power to call the people out of the world back to the Lord. And so he started moving in power, confirming what the Lord is wanting to say. But what did Satan do?
He rose up a wicked woman named Jezebel who opposed Elijah, who opposed all the prophets of God, who wanted to keep the people of God instant rather than walking in freedom from it. And she was so wicked that Jesus even mentions her in Revelation 220 when he's talking to the Church of Thyatira, he says, even to this day, there's some among you who still tolerate that woman, Jezebel, who teaches and seduces my servants to eat things, sacrifice to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. So the Lord anoints a prophet, has people call them out of sin, Satan raises up someone, tell, pose. Daniel 10, one of maybe the most active prophetic parts in all of scripture.
The Lord is speaking concerning just huge things. And it says that Daniel went into a time of prayer and fasting for 21 days. And after 21 days, Gabriel shows up and says, Daniel greatly beloved from the very first day that you set your heart to have understanding I was sent to you. But what happened?
A demonic principality of Persia opposed me for 21 days. And Michael, one of the chief princes, actually had to come fight so that I could come through and I could give you this message concerning the people and the season the Lord is wanting to bring his people into. And he says, now that I gave you this message, you have to understand this that when I go, I'm going to have to fight that Prince of Persia again. And after he's gone, another Prince of Greece is going to come.
So during times of a lot of prophetic conformations and talking from the Lord, the Lord is wanting to speak about what happens. Satan stands up and tries to interfere so that we don't hear from the Lord, that we get distracted, that we get confused, that we back away that we don't press into the Lord. We then see Jesus, all of scripture prophesied about that God was going to come in human flesh, come onto the earth, so many prophetic words talking about that time. Astrological signs about his coming appeared in the sky to say that a change has come.
He was going to come to the earth and call both Jew and Gentile out of the world into his kingdom. Did Satan just lay down and go, hey, looks like it's already been done. He's been birthed. So many signs, there's all these prophetic words.
It's written in scripture. Can't really do anything anymore. No. He stood up and opposed and partnered with a wicked man Herod to kill all the children in the efforts of trying to kill off what the Lord is wanting to do.
Why do I go through all this? Because during seasons of change, especially during seasons of a lot of prophetic activity, and when we're on the move from one place to another, it is the time where the enemy comes up and starts to oppose what the Lord is wanting to do. And the Lord has worked many mighty wonders in our community for our move and we're on the process right now. And I want to bring awareness to the attacks of the enemy that he's trying to bring into our congregation so that we are aware of it, can resist it, have it fall off so that we can go pursue what the Lord actually wants us to do.
So tonight I want to share what I've been noticing, put an actual name to it, and then what does the Bible say about how we oppose that? So there are a couple of things that I've been noticing starting to creep in these attacks. The first big one is isolation and loneliness. This takes place in a lot of forms.
Some of it is just physically where you just feel physically isolated from people. Those are spiritually where it's just like I feel isolated from the Lord, isolated from other people there's no one that I can run with, there are things going on in life and I just want to kind of back away and do my own thing. And I don't feel like anyone really cares about me. The second big attack that I've been seeing come in is people that are running after the Lord but the enemy pops up and starts to remind them about their past and try to disqualify them from walking in the calling of the Lord and say turn around and look at where you've come, go back there because you're disqualified yourself from moving into the Promised Land.
Another big attack is one around comparison. And this takes place in a lot of different forms, one just in the natural but also spiritual. The enemy loves to have you look at other people and say wow they're really holy. Wow they got everything together.
I'm sitting here struggling. I will never be able to be like them. So I'm going to again isolate myself, go away, walk away because I feel like I'm a lesser than Christian and through comparison tries to beat us down. The fourth main attack that I see is around the areas of promises and scripture as well as prophetic words that the Lord has spoken to people that you haven't seen fulfilled yet that the enemy comes in in the midst of that tension and wants to bring this accusation and lie against you that the Lord doesn't care.
And then he wants to take it in that area and spread it to other areas of your life. But here's the good news that this isn't a unique attack that is coming to us now. It's one that the enemy has done before. It's an attack that he did on the Israelites as they were going out of Egypt on their journey to the Promised Land.
And it's the attack of the Amalekites on Israel. And thankfully there's clarity and scripture around what he's trying to do and how to combat it. And that's what we're going to take a look at tonight of how do we attack these resistance so that we can start to move into what the Lord is wanting to do. Turn with me to Deuteronomy 25.
Deuteronomy 25. I want to address a couple of things before we jump in. We'll be in Deuteronomy 25 starting verse 17. A question that oftentimes gets asked is, okay, if the enemy is attacking me or I can see that he's trying to attack me, why don't I just run to the Lord and abide in the shelter of the Almighty.
Why do we need to understand the schemes of the enemy? And yes, a big portion is running to the Lord. He is our shelter. He is our protector.
But a lot of times people will quote James 4a where it says, draw near to God and what? He'll draw near to you. But what does it say in the verse before and verse 7? Therefore, submit to God, resist the devil until flee from you.
Draw near to God and he'll draw near to you. So a portion of the equation is actually resisting the devil. But we need to know what it is that we need to resist. First Peter 5a, it says, be sober and vigilant.
Why? Because your adversary, the devil, is roaming around like a lion seeking who he can devour. And then what does it say in verse 9? Resist him.
Resist him. Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 2. He's brought into the Corinth church and sees that there's quarrels among the church of Corinth. And he walks in and discerns that the attack of the enemy is actually coming in.
And so he notices that something's going on, puts a name to it and says that forgiveness is what is needed. So he says, you need to forgive this person that has been hurting people in the congregation. I have forgiven him. I'll forgive him before the Lord.
And then what does it say in verse 11? It says, lest Satan take advantage of us for what? We are not ignorant of his devices. So Paul was able to clearly look at a situation, understand what was going on, know the devices of the enemy, and move in what the Lord wanted so that the devices of the enemy wouldn't take hold.
So what does this mean? If we don't know the devices of the enemy, we can be susceptible to walking and falling in the trap of the enemy. So that's why we're taking a look at these are the specific attacks that he's bringing on us. We shouldn't be surprised by it when we're on our journey as a community coming out of Egypt, going to our promised land, coming up against opposition.
It's nothing that we should be afraid of because again, why? And all those stories in the Bible where I talk about Satan opposing. Yeah, Satan at times seemed to get his punches in, but at the end of all that God prevailed in all of them. So we don't have to be scared of the enemy's attacks because he who's in us is greater than he who's in the world.
The other thing I want to talk about before we jump into scripture is how can we take physical attacks and stories that happen to Israelites and have a spiritual application to them? You'll see that this happens a lot of times by New Testament writers. Jesus did it as I quoted with Jezebel. There's an actual woman, Jezebel, that was attacking the people of God, but that same physical attack manifests itself spiritually and he calls it Jezebel.
Paul in Galatians 4 looks back to Abraham and says, did you know that Abraham has two sons, the one born of a free woman, the one born of a bond woman? And he goes, you need to understand something. These things are symbolic. You see, we read them and he's going, oh, you know, that seems like a good story, but the Lord is wanting to apply a deeper truth to it.
He goes, these things are symbolic. The one born of a free woman is supposed to remind us of our new covenant in Christ where freedom comes about. The one born of a bond woman out of trying to do your own works corresponds to Mount Sinai where the law was given to bring you into bondage. So New Testament writers go back and look at these things to apply spiritual truth and that's what we're going to do tonight.
We're going to be looking at the attack of the Malekites on the people of God because it's the exact same attacks that I believe he's trying to bring into our congregation right now. This is the exact same attack that he's going to try to bring as we go from where we are now to our promised land building that has been coming up over the past five years. Deuteronomy 25 starting verse 17. Remember a Malek, what a Malek did to you on the way as you're coming out of Egypt.
So first of all, who is a Malek? A Malek was a descendant of Esau and he led a people who were in the wilderness that attacked the people of God. His one of the name, or meanings of his name is one without King. And so you'll see one of the taxi tries to do is make you believe that the Lord doesn't care about you, that you have no King over your life.
But it starts off, remember what a Malek did as you're coming out of Egypt. Verse 18. How he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear when you were tired and weary and he did not fear God. So we see the Lord exposing the attack of the Malekites, especially on the people of God during seasons of transition where they're coming out of one place, going to a place that had been promised.
It says that a Malek didn't attack had on. Why is that? Because there's so much momentum in the Lord that it'd be foolish to attack had on. So he attacked the rear.
He attacked those who were struggling, those who were behind. Again, one of the big attacks where we all go through our ups and downs in our walk with the Lord. Can we all agree to that? And how many of you, when you're in a downtime, start to walk back again by comparing yourself to others and just being like, yeah, never going to measure up.
So it's not even worth trying. It's why he attacks people at the rear during your times of being down to get you separated from everyone else into a place of isolation where that he can take you out a lot more easy. It's in a period of a journey where weariness and tiredness can start to come about. But then notice it doesn't just say he attacks at the back, it says he attacks your rear.
Again, meaning that he's attacking where he wants you to turn around. He wants you to look at your past during seasons of transition in the Lord. Because the Lord has given callings to you, he's given callings to our church body, and he wants us to move forward into that promised land. And he knows that the wheels are moving, people are marching, but how can he stop them?
I'm going to attack the back, those who are weak, those who are tired. I'm going to make people turn around, remember their past, not walk towards what the Lord is wanting to do. It's why Jesus said anyone who puts his hand to the plow and looks backwards isn't fit for the kingdom. Why?
Because what did Jesus do? He erased your past, gave you a new identity, your new creation in the Lord. It's time to get up, start moving on and throwing off the tax of the enemy. And then what does it say?
It's said that the Malekites did not fear God. Why is that in there? It's like, OK, they're the enemies of God. Of course they didn't fear him.
But there's a specific reason why this is in here. You see, not all of Israel's enemies, they didn't know all not fear God. Some of them did fear God. In Joshua 5, 1, it says that Amorites and the Canaanites, all the kings of those tribes, came up to attack Israel.
And then it says that when they heard what the Lord did by splitting the Red Sea, fear came on them and their spirit left them and they didn't want to attack. So we see that there are strategies of the enemy that he won't attempt after we go through a prophetic season. We're starting to move. We see the Lord come in, open up different things by miracle signs and wonders, getting into a building that we shouldn't be able to get into, providing connections with people that we shouldn't be able to get connected to.
We see the Lord moving in miracle signs and wonders. The enemy goes, I know I can't attack them head on, so I'm going to attack them through a different strategy. And I don't care that there have been these words given to you. It doesn't fear me.
He's still going to come and attack. So the Malekites didn't fear God and they attacked during these seasons of transitions to poke at weaknesses going on. Therefore, it shall be verse 19, when the Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of a malek from under heaven. You shall not forget.
I just want to make a statement right now. If you're feeling attacked by the enemy, you're feeling isolated, you feel lower by comparing yourself to other people, you feel like there's attacks on prophetic words being given to you, the Lord hates that. He hates that it's going on. He's our great comforter and he wants to come in and fight the Malekites on your behalf because there's a promise land that he's given you, there's a promise land that he's given our church and he wants to blot out the Malekites and he's a tax of the enemy one time forever.
Turn with me to 1 Samuel 15. There's a call from the Lord. It's time to rise up and it's time to start attacking the enemy who's trying to attack our rear ranks and the Lord says we need to blot all of it out. So what we're going to see is a story of where that doesn't happen.
1 Samuel 15, we're going to start in verse 1. So Samuel also said to Saul, the Lord sent me to know you, king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord, thus say the Lord of hosts, I will punish a malek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack a malek and utterly destroy all that they have and do not spare them.
So in verse 4, it says that Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in to lame 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah. So the Lord made Saul king and gave him the direction to go kill all the Malekites and take nothing from anything in their community. So Saul listened, got his army together and went out to attack. But what does it say in verse 20?
And Saul said to Samuel, but I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and gone on the mission of which the Lord sent me and brought back a gag, king of a malek. I have utterly destroyed the Malekites. But the people took the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice the Lord your God and Gilgal. So Saul didn't do what the Lord commanded him to do.
The Lord said, go face this attack head on, wipe it all out, have nothing to do with anything that the Malekites are trying to bring to you and to your people. Saul goes out and attacks and from an earthly perspective seems to have gotten a big victory. But Samuel goes, no, no, no, you disobeyed the Lord. Then the king, a gag, is still alive and all the people in your community took all the best things from the Malekites which I said not to do.
So what is the result of this? Where do we see a gag come up later in scripture? Esther, Esther 3. It says that the king of Persia promoted Haman and who is Haman.
Haman was the one that gave voice to the king of Persia to kill all the Jewish people. It says that the king of Persia promoted Haman, the Egegite. So we see the direct connection that what Saul failed to do in killing the king of the Malekites let it fester around later on down the road. The fruit of that started to pop up to destroy what the Lord wanted to do in his people.
And then he says, Saul says, you know what? I didn't take anything but the people around me, they took the things of the Malekites and started to put blame on other people. Now what is this getting up? How many of you know that the enemy loves to try to entice us with the things of the world?
From a natural perspective, we might look at it and be like, wow, that looks good. But the Lord says that if you love the Lord you have to have hatred of the world and you can't have anything of it. We can't let the attacks of the enemy sit and fester in us and then light ourselves up being like it's not going to produce fruit in any other area. It's time for us to stand up and start fighting back against the attacks of the enemy.
Here's the other thing too. Saul was king over his people and he just went and let them do it. It's time for us as the body of Christ to also stand up and if we see other people eating the delicacies of the enemy to step in and be like, hey, I'm going to partner with you to free you up from this because you have a calling on your life. There's something that the Lord is wanting to do in you and I don't want to Haman growing up in your body to destroy what the Lord is wanting to do in your midst.
So there's a call in our congregation. It's time for us to step up, take responsibility, enter in on behalf of other and fight these attacks so that the Malachi will all be gone and we can again enter into the Promised Land. Turn with me to Exodus 17, Exodus 17 and we're going to start in 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 they camped at Raphodim.
I'm going to bring attention to one thing here. It says that they came out of the wilderness. If you listen to a lot of sermons you've probably heard people reference the wilderness and in the church especially the Charismatic church, oftentimes the wilderness is seen as this really bad place. How many of you know that the wilderness actually has a God-ordained purpose?
The wilderness, the Lord brings his people into the wilderness to remove things that they're attaching themselves to so that when they go into the Promised Land their trust is in the Lord. So when he called the people out of Egypt it was God's purpose to go into the wilderness. How do we know that? Because Moses when he was talking with Pharaoh he said, I need to go out into the wilderness to worship my God.
The Lord's purpose for the Israelites going through the wilderness season was to have them understand that yes they were coming from a place that they didn't have enough. They were going to a Promised Land where they were going to have abundance but he wanted to nail home the point that he was going to be their provider in seasons of little and seasons of much and to take off their connection with the world that it's the world that's going to provide, it's other people, it's the Lord that is going to provide. So it says that they came out of the wilderness of sin. Also one other interesting thing.
It should have been 11 days that they were in the wilderness and it ended up being 40 years. The Lord I believe is taking our congregation into a wilderness season. That does not mean that it's going to be this dry season but I believe the Lord is going to start removing things from our congregation that we're maybe having a crutch on things that aren't the Lord and he's going to take it away so that our trust is in him so that when we get to this next building through our journey we're going to understand that he is the provider, he's the one that is banners over us, he's the one that loves us, we don't get our identity from the world, we get it from him. And I just want us to be aware of that so that we can embrace the wilderness season but not stay in there too long and understand that the enemy wants to keep us and make us go back in there in camp to refitim but there's no water for the people to drink.
Therefore the people contended with Moses and said, give us water that we may drink. So Moses said to them, why do you contend with me and why do you tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water and the people complained against Moses and said, why is it that you've brought us up out in 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 these people?
They're almost ready to stone me and the Lord said to Moses, go on behalf of the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel, also taking your hand to your rod with which you struck the river and go. Behold, I will stand before you, they're on the rock of Horob and shall strike the rock and water will come out of it that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. So he called the name of the place Massa and Maraba because of the contention of the children of Israel and because they tempted the Lord saying, is the Lord not among us?
Is the Lord not among us? Think about that. If you go back to the end of 16, it was when the Lord provided manna for them to eat, that they always had their fill. Again pointing to, we don't live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
We then see him provide water which is a cleansing as well as a place of refreshing, the points to when Jesus was at the well and said that you're going to drink of my water and you'll never thirst again. But even the midst of those provisions coming out of the wilderness, they didn't get to the Promised Land yet and they started to question, Lord are you actually with us? Are you actually with us? And then what does it say in verse 8?
Now a malach came and fought with Israel and Raphideen. So notice this, the Lord is taking the people out of Egypt. They're being attacked by the malachites. He's taking them out of the wilderness, out of the wilderness of sin, calling people out of sin into walking and holiness.
They start to complain and they say, Lord, are you actually there with us? Boom, enemy stands up and attacks the Lord, the Lord's people. This is again another attack that I see coming into our congregation that there are promises that the Lord has given people, whether through scripture or through prophetic promises, that you've been contending for but haven't seen. And there's a cry, Lord, are you not with me?
Boom, enemy stands up to oppose you. Enemy stands up to oppose you. Make you tired, make you weary some, make you go to the back, make you turn around to your past, try to separate you from the rest of the people. Verse 8, we're going to read verse 8 to the end of the chapter and then we're going to go through kind of chunk by chunk.
Now malach came and fought with Israel and Raphideen and Moses said to Joshua, choose us some men to go out and fight with the malach. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses said to him and fought with the malach and Moses, Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill. And so it was when Moses held his hand up that Israel prevailed and when he let his hand down, a malach prevailed.
But Moses's hands became heavy. So they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it and Aaron and her supported his hands one on one side and the other on the other side and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. So Joshua defeated them, a malach and his people with the edge of the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of a malach from under heaven.
And Moses built an altar and called its name, the Lord is my banner. For he said, because the Lord has sworn, the Lord will have war with a malach from generation to generation. I want to first start at that last verse. The Lord has sworn that he will have war with a malach from generation to generation.
How many of you know that the malachites aren't around today? So what in the world is the Lord talking about? He's again talking about that just because the malachites are gone, the spiritual attacks that they brought into the physical are coming against the people of God right now. This is why Paul says, we don't any longer wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, rulers, powers, and spiritual host of wickedness in heavenly places.
So what the enemy was trying to bring to the malachites to attack the people of God physically are the same things that he's trying to bring against the people of God today. Isolation, loneliness, comparison, turning around. It's the exact same thing on seasons of journey in the Lord, looking to your rear, getting weary, getting tiresome. But the Lord has sworn I'm going to make war on them.
And that is a beautiful hope because I want hope to start to be restored tonight. There are people in the room here that have been through very long battles. And there have been questions coming up like, is the Lord good? Can I trust the Lord?
Is he actually going to fight on my behalf? And we have scripture here saying the Lord is going to war on your behalf and there is going to be victory. So how do we start to have victory over these attacks of the malachites on us? The passage that we just read, I believe, breaks it down.
How we're supposed to have victory? Go back to verse 10. So Joshua did as Moses said to him and fought with the malach and Moses and Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill. And so it was when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed and when he let down his hand, a malach prevailed.
But Moses's hands became heavy. So they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it and Aaron and her supported his hands one on one side and the other on the other side and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. Notice a couple of things here. One that in order to defeat these attacks of the malachites, you have to get into community.
Moses didn't even know that he's going to need their support, but he went up with Aaron and her to the top of the mountain. And it says that as Moses was battling on his own, his hands became heavy. Their people in here that have been battling on your own and your hands are starting to become tiresome. And it's time for us as the body of Christ to step up and be Aaron's and be hers to go alongside.
It doesn't say that Moses called them to do it, but they saw him in need that his hands were starting to go down and they said, you know what, I'm going to come support him. And so what did they do? What was the first thing that they did? They took a stone and had him sit down on it.
This is important. When we're going through seasons of battling the enemy, when we're feeling isolated, we're feeling lonely, whatever the attack is, we have to get around friends. And friends who have a sit on the truth of the Word of God. Christ is our chief cornerstone.
It says that anyone who hears these words of mind and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who builds his house upon a rock. We need to start coming alongside our brothers and sisters and whatever it is that's going on and say, it's time for you to rest and it's time for you to rest on the truth of the Word of God. And it doesn't matter what battle is going down in the valley below, you're going to sit on the truth because that's going to sustain you. And notice how Moses didn't move at that point.
He was fixed to the truth of the Word and didn't shake from that. We have to start diving into the Word, understanding the truths of Scripture, understanding what the Lord says about us because when the enemy starts to attack, we sit down. But then we need other people because we can't just go fighting on our own. Notice that the Lord didn't rebuke Moses for his hands going down and for starting to lose the battle.
He didn't at all. If you've been fighting, the Lord sees you and is so proud of you for fighting. But if you're weary, if you're tired, if you feel like you're at the back of the rain, it's time for us to start coming around you and we don't even need permission. But if you want to ask people to invite you as well, but it's time for us to reject passivity, enter into other people's lives that are struggling and say, you sit down and rest on the Word of the Lord.
I'm going to hold your hands up in a posture of worship and we're not going to move from here until the victory is won. Because what does it say? It said that the victory was won at sundown. That means that for the whole day, Moses sat there and they held their arms up.
I bet that was tiresome as well. But I want to challenge us as a community that well, there's a place for when we hear about something going up and say, yeah, let me pray for you right now. The Lord loves that. But what if we actually came into seasons of people's lives and more than just a quick one time prayer say, you know what, I'm going to plant myself next to you until we see victory and what the enemy is trying to do in your life.
It could be tiresome, it could take a period of time. But here's the thing, if we come to that place, the Lord promises victory, which is why after the malchites were defeated, what did it say? It said that Moses made something that said that it was the Lord, our banner, Jehovah Nisi. What exactly is Jehovah Nisi?
What does that mean? So when you go into battle, armies carry their banners and there's two primary purposes for it. One of them is the people whose banner you're under, you can look up at it and know that there's an authority figure above you that has your covering. And how many of you know that the Lord, our banner, our God, our general has never lost the battle?
Never. He's the Almighty. And he's swearing that I'm going to make war against these attacks, sit under my banner, look up at it, know that I'm the God that will fight on your behalf and victory will come. So it reassures and starts to bring hope back to his people.
But the other thing banners do is they bring fear to the enemy because rather than a disorganized approach at the enemy, they start to see that there's an organization behind this and they see banners starting to come and they see that the enemy's attacks start to fade away because they're supported by other people and authority power. So we need to understand that the Lord is going to fight on our behalf and it's time for us to partner with other people because here's the other thing going back to drawing near to God but resisting the devil. Look at this entire story. It says that Moses went up to the mountain and was in a place of worship but there was also fighting happening at the same time.
Both have to happen. Don't be deceived that just worshiping is going to solve the problems. It's time to actually fight back as well, take ground, attack these attacks of the enemy, in partnership with worship and in partnership with the word and settling down on it and that's where victory is going to start to happen. So as I close out, I can just want to trumpet this to our community that I want to call us into a season as we're coming out of Egypt to our promised land.
They're these attacks that are coming into our church. They're going to continue coming to our church. We don't need to be afraid of it. Victory has been assured.
But it's time for us to stand up and come under people and support them and see victory in all these different areas of their life. I don't want this message to be something where it's like a hurrah of, yeah, we'll do it. I want this to actually be a change of culture at our church where even after we're in the promised land, once we're at the base because enemy will have different attacks there at that point too. They will come under other people and even if it takes a long time and you start to grow weary and support in other people knowing that there's refreshing water you can go back to get refreshed by the Lord to enter back into the battle on behalf of other people.
Because the Lord hates these attacks that are coming on you. He sees you. He sees your tears. It says that he collects all of your tears in a bottle and pours them out like rain.
The Lord sees all the struggles of everyone here and his heart is broken, which is why he rises up as a general and says, I will make war and it's time for us to partner in this because the Lord has something that he's bringing our congregation into. We see some of it, but there's so much that the Lord is wanting us to go into. And I don't want us to be bogged down by these attacks of the enemy that we say, stage of spiritually wandering around. There's a place of community that the Lord is calling us to.
There's a place of unity. There's a word that Josh and Katie got from the Lord where during the season rather than scattering, we're going to gather. And that's what I want to charge us with, especially over the summer. It's easy in Minnesota to just go away, live the American dream, enjoy the nice weather and there's nothing wrong with going and enjoying stuff like that.
But there are hurting people here that is far more valuable. And if it means missing out on something fun, if it means missing out on a twins game, if it means missing out going to the lake, if it means that you're at something and you're not paying attention because you're having a conversation, it's all worth it. And we're partnering with the heart of the Lord and it's time to start taking ground. It's time to go forward and there's just going to be so many glorious things that the Lord has for us.
And with that I'm just close this in prayer. Lord, just thank you that you are the Lord, our banner. You are a great general. You are the one that says, I'm going to wipe out these attacks of the enemy.
And we just welcome you right now to start making war against the attacks of the Malachites. I thank you Lord God for hoping restored to people. I thank you Lord God that even people here who don't feel seen and even don't feel seen by you Lord that you're going to remind them that you have doves eyes for them. And that one look from their eye towards you, you're overcome with emotion.
Lord, I thank you that there's a promise to drink the restoring water that you give us and you say drink freely that will learn to drink freely that you're going to teach us how to come up under other people and support them. I thank you Lord God that you're going to teach us how to battle and not lose heart. I thank you Lord God that it's an honor to be able to take arrows from the enemy so that other people behind us can start moving freely. I thank you Lord God that you are a general and there will be victory in the paralles in Christ's name.
Amen.