If we haven’t met, my name is Noah and it’s a a privilege to be able to bring the word today. I am super excited today to be able to do this and even more so because I’ve got some family here, good-looking gentlemen next to my son over there happens to be my dad. There’s three generations of us in one Ace. Uh my brother-in-law, my baby sisters, and fresh from the US our beautiful nieces who have travelled all this way just to see me preach. No, no, they’ve here.
They’re here for Movie World and all the other worlds and stuff. So, but so good to have them here. Hey, if you’ve got your Bibles, I’d love for you to turn with me to the book of Exodus. Book of Exodus chapter fifteen. I’m just going to dive right in.
I’m really excited about what God has given me and really believe that it could be applicable to to some of you today. So, Exodus chapter fifteen and we’re going to read from verse eighteen to twenty-seven. Exodus chapter fifteen verse eighteen to twenty-seven. The lord shall reign forever and ever. That is not a statement.
That’s a song lyric. This is spontaneous song of praise that the children of Israel are singing. For the horses of Pharaoh went with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea. And the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them. But the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.
Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the timbrel. That’s a that’s a tambourine. We don’t see too many of them around these days. But she took a ah timbrel in her hand and all the went out after her with timbrels and with dancers and I’m pretty sure that’s the first Flourish Conference right there. All the single ladies.
No. Uh and Miriam answered them. Sing to the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea. So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea.
Then they went out into the wilderness of Sure. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water that’s a long time without water. Three days in the wilderness, no water. Now, when they came to Mara, they could not drink the waters of Mara for they were bitter. Therefore, the name of it was called Mara and the people complained against Moses saying, what shall we drink? So he cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree when he casted into the waters the waters were made sweet.
There he made a statue and an ordinance for them. And there he he tested them. And said if you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight. Give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes. I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians.
For I am the Lord who heals you. Then they came to Elim where there were twelve wells of water and 70 palm trees. So they came there by the waters. I want to talk to you for the remainder of our time from this subject. Uh the sweet solution to your bitter problems.
The sweet solution to your bitter problems. And at the risk of sounding presumptuous. Maybe you’re saying you don’t even know me. Let alone what I’m going through. Can I tell you that God has you here because there is a solution for what you are going through.
You’re not here randomly or by chance and I’m not just generalising, you know, well, the solutions, Jesus. It’s kind of like that time that I was teaching the little kids, kids church and there’s always that one really eager kid to answer all the questions. Uh who lived in the Garden of Eden? Adam and oh oh Jesus? Uh technically, who built the ark and led two animals. Uh oh. Jesus.
Yes, all the answer. The the answer is Jesus to everything. Uh can I tell you the the sweetest solution really is Jesus but I want to dig a little bit deeper and from this story reveal, I believe, something that we can take and apply into the very situation that you find yourself in. This story opens up with a praise party. I love that.
Now, you’ve gotta you you’ve gotta keep in mind what’s just happened. The Israelites were in slavery in Egypt for 400 years. They are delivered out of Egyptian slavery. They leave but then they get to the Red Sea. They get there and there’s like no way through.
On top of that, they turn around, they hear the hooves of horses, the wheels of chariots, and low and behold, here comes Pharaoh and his army. And and they are, they, they are on almost on top of them and they start to cry out. Moses cries out to God and God creates this incredible wall of fire that comes and it blocks Pharaoh and his chariots from the Israelites. But then he lifts his staff and then low and behold the Red Sea parts. We’ve heard that kind of aspect of the story and it sounds quite familiar but picture this.
You are standing in front of an ocean of water and all of a sudden, you see it move. And then it splits. And then there’s one wall of water and another wall of water. And here’s a really cool miracle. The ground isn’t muddy.
It won’t bog down. It is dry ground. So they walk through and you can imagine seeing cool fish and all sorts of you know marine life going by. But they get through. They get to the other side.
But then they notice something. The wall of fire that was protecting them. It’s actually gone. And so Pharaoh and his army They come straight down into the Red Sea. And so they’re all scrambling thinking oh no.
But it’s just a part of God’s plan. God waits for all of the the Pharaoh’s army to get into the water and then he collapses the water. And they all drown. And so the Israelites are on the other side watching all of this and they break out in this spontaneous praise. You you you’ve gotta realise this isn’t this isn’t just sort of polite singing in church from the hymn book.
No, no, no. People were cut and loose. Come on. If you were oppressed, enslaved at the threat of death and then you saw that, I believe you would get a little bit of a pep in your step. I believe that maybe you take a bit of that conservatism off and you would cut loose because man, I thought I was going to die but look at what God has done and can I say that you are here because whatever has been oppressing you, whatever has that has been enslaving you.
God isn’t just going to deliver you from that but he’s going to make sure that that thing never ever comes back. Uh it’s like Pharaoh is like that ex that crazy ex-boyfriend, that psycho that comes down and says, well, if you can’t, if I can’t have you, no one’s going to have you. I’m going to take you out and and there might be something that is stalking you. It might be something that’s saying, you’re never going to be free from me and you know what I’m talking about. You love Jesus walking with God but every time you take one step forward, it’s like this thing will drag you two steps back Can I tell you that when God delivers you, he’s going to deliver you for good by bearing that thing.
Amen. It’s the reason why I dressed in all black today. Mainly because firstly, it’s slimming. Uh but also as a pastor, I’ve conducted a lot of funerals and can I say I’m here to conduct another one today and that is to bury that thing that has been tormenting you, that has been oppressing you, that is enslaving you, you think you thought you were going to have to put up with that addiction. whatever it is, gambling, porn, alcohol, drugs, it doesn’t matter to God.
That thing will get buried and it will not resurface because he who’s the son sets free is free indeed. Jesus didn’t come for you to just tolerate that thing. He’s come to deliver you from it completely. Amen. So, they have this awesome praise party but now, this is where the real work starts.
They’re sort of walking and you know, freedom’s awesome. It’s you know, don’t have to get up early and make bricks for buildings and don’t have to get flogged anymore by the slave masters. It’s how good is this? You’re out in the open and stuff but day one and they’re still walking and they notice that their water supplies are starting to get a little bit low. But it’s all good. They keep going.
Day two, Same thing. Oh. No. Still haven’t found any. Okay.
Day three. It gets really bad. Spare a thought for parents with young children. Okay. Parents with young children.
You know what I’m talking about. And you guys or take them in cars. You know and they start playing up in the back and you threaten to pull over or you do pull over and you address it. But can you imagine walking with little kids? My feet hurt. I’m hungry.
I’m thirsty. I’m thirsty. It’s a combination. All this stuff is going on. But then finally someone spots a body of water.
It’s a spring of water. Can you imagine the energy that you would pick up? Three days of no water and then all of a sudden you see it. And so you can imagine people start running. People just start because they are so thirsty. They’re in the desert.
No water for three days. They get open. They’re they’re water bags or just get down and and they go and scoop it up and take their first mouthful win. What is that? What is that? They just tested again, try again. Oh, that is disgusting.
It’s like sculling a salt shaker. I don’t know. What the, you know what, the only thing worse than no water? It’s finding water only for it to be undrinkable. Isn’t this so like our walk and can I tell you, don’t be surprised that after the triumph of the Red Sea. You come through a time of testing at Mara.
That’s all this is. It’s a time of testing. Because you see the triumph at the Red Sea. That’s for your victory. But the testing at Mara that’s for your maturity.
This is where we start to develop and grow as believers. But clearly there’s still a lot of growing up to do. Because the first thing they do is they start complaining. Can you imagine, you know, historian secrets, maybe one or two, or even up to 3 million people. Can you imagine that many people to one person.
What are we going to drink? What are we going to drink? Poor Moses. You know, we just three days ago, it was shout to the lord. Now, we’d shout at the leader. You know, and and so they they they flip over and and like there’s no sound of tambourines, no more praise party. Everyone’s just complaining.
They are complaining. So, Moses comes and he cries out to God. And watch what God does. God reveals something to him. It’s a tree.
It’s incredible because it’s such a random thing. But it ended up being the solution to their problem. Can I tell you that often God will hide your solution in plain sight? The solution to whatever issue it is in your marriage, on your job, in your relationships, in your health. Often the solution is actually hidden in close proximity. They probably walk straight past this tree on the way to the water.
And never realized that was actually the solution. The solution right there. Cuz God does this thing where it’s not necessarily you need more resource. It’s you need more revelation. So that’s our prayer is that God open my eyes.
Help me to see what is around. Because will give you the solution and he’ll make sure it’s close by. Do you know what the first problem in the Bible that the Bible records was? It’s all the way back in Genesis. And here’s the problem. It’s in chapter two.
God plants Eden, Makes it beautiful. But it says there was one problem. He says, there was not a man to tend the ground. There was not a man to tend the ground. God hadn’t made it rain yet.
He allowed water to come up to water it. And the reason being God said is there was not a man to tend the ground. So, do you know what God does. He reaches into the problem. What was the problem? The ground.
He reaches into the ground and pulls out a solution. He forms a man and breathes into his nostrils a breath of life. The man wakes up a living soul. There’s your solution. Adam starts tending the ground.
Do you know what the next problem was? It says that everything was good. God created everything that was good. Everything after God created he said that was good. The first thing that wasn’t good apart from the ground. God said it’s good that a man is alone.
It’s not good for him to be alone. So, what does God do? Does God reach back into the ground? No, no, no. That problem’s being solved. Watch what he does. He puts the man to sleep and he reaches into the problem and he pulls out the solution from Adam’s rib.
It’s Eve. She is the solution to his problem. Genesis chapter three, it all goes pear shaped. What happens the fall, the serpent, all of that. What’s the problem it is the fall of humanity.
How did it get there? The woman was deceived. Prophetically speaking, if you watch what God does, it’s amazing. He reaches into the woman and he tells the serpent, the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. The solution actually came from the problem. So, I want to tell you whatever it is that you are going through, God’s actually already hidden hidden the problem in you.
Uh for the Bible says it this way, it says, this is the mystery that was concealed from times past but is now being revealed. That is Christ in you. Yes. The hope of glory. It is Christ in you.
A lot of times we think my problem is I need more resource. I need more this. I need more that and God’s saying, just have a look close by because it’s there. David didn’t rock up to the valley of Eli with any fancy weaponry. He had a sling and he got a pocket full of rocks when he stooped down and picked it up.
Everyone else walked past that thing but there was a solution right there. This thing. Become a weapon of mass destruction. He unleashed that thing and it embedded itself into Goliath’s head and then he took his head off and that was in. And he took Goliath’s head and the solution to that problem was still embedded in his head.
It was just it looked ordinary. And that’s the thing. You know. Samson is about to be arrested by 1 000 Philistines. He’s looking around for something.
What does he find? Oh that thing. It’s a jawbone of a donkey. It doesn’t look like much. But it is the solution to the problem that I am facing. The widow in Elijah’s day.
What do you have in the house? I’ve got nothing. Just a handful of oil and and a bit of flour. That’s the miracle right there. It doesn’t look like much but it is right there in your vicinity. Whatever it is, whether it’s business, relationship, employment, the solution is close by.
So, this is the prayer that we ask. God, help me to Help me to see. God helps Moses to see and he sees this tree. And it’s amazing because he highlights a tree. That tree ends up solving their problem.
And sweetening the water. Isn’t it interesting that in the Garden of Eden the devil actually highlighted another tree. And when he highlighted that tree and they took from it it caused death. But here God is highlighting another tree that brought forth life. It brought forth life.
And he puts it in and the waters changed. Waters become sweet and then after a while that verse that we read it finishes when they move on to a place called Elim and Elim is a beautiful place. It’s 12 wells of water. They’re twelve tribes of Israel. Wells mean that someone’s been there before, prepared it, dug it, it’s awesome.
They just gotta pull up the water. 70 palm trees. That speaks of shade and protection. When when when Moses complained to God about how big a task was to judge the people. God told Moses select seventy elders and I’m going to put what’s on you on them.
It speaks to that. When Jesus sent out the disciples 2 by two, there were seventy of them. So, this picture of Elim is like Christian community where we are nourished and we are protected and covered. But here’s the thing, that’s not the place where the breakthrough came from. And for a lot of us, we’re thinking, oh man, from a distance that dude looked cute.
That dude looked awesome. Six three six pack sports car. He looked awesome. So I’m going to give myself to him. I’m going to marry him and then you wake up after the honeymoon roll over and it’s like you’ve taken a scoop of water thinking, what is this? Or or the kids that you prayed for, the kids, and all you wanted to be was a mom and and you watch all your other friends have their baby shower and you just wanted and it’s finally happens.
It finally, you get pregnant, you have a baby but then it’s sleepless nights is sleep deprivation. They grow up a little bit older and there’s there’s back Chad and there’s rebellion and there’s defiance. You love the idea. It was awesome up here but then you took a scoop and Barat is the place where our expectations collide with our experience. God sets this up all the time.
That after we come down from the mountain, we have to deal with the stuff in the valley. They come from the Red Sea and they’re hyped and there’s all this great stuff. Only to discover that they’re having to deal with that place called Mara. Godda this to all of his people. David is being celebrated.
Yeah. They make songs about him. Souls killed his thousands. David, his tens of thousands. Everyone celebrating him.
It’s awesome. He gets to the palace and then all of a sudden he’s ducking spears that the crazy king’s throwing at him. He’s on the run now for years. Well, the you know, the assassins are after him chasing him down. What what happened? He’s in that place called Mara.
He’s in that the disciples, Peter, James, and John. They go up the mountain with Jesus and it is phenomenal. They see Jesus glorified. Right there, there is Elijah and Moses. It’s so good that Peter wants to stay up there and he says, let me build something here to honor you and they come up from that experience.
They head back down and the rest of the disciples are struggling to cast out a demon from a demon-possessed boy. What happened? They went from triumph, into that place of testing. That’s the place where we develop our maturity. God had led Moses specifically here. He is not wandering around randomly.
He said, no, no, no. I know you want to get to Elim. I know, I know you want to get to the promised land but you have got to come through this place. This is the place of testing and if you wonder why God didn’t speak for 3 days, it’s because teachers don’t speak during a test. They’re there to help you get to the next level.
Yeah. And so they get there. He finds this tree. And can I tell you that tree I don’t know whether this is biblically accurate but this is the way I pictured it. The tree I think we might have an image of it.
The tree speaks to the cross. In the Old Testament there are all of these images and pictures and foreshadowing of what is to come in the New Testament. And and and two of all the things God could have told Moses you know to do. Take a handful of dirt or you know stir it up with your rod like you did Red Sea. No no no he says you see that tree over there? It doesn’t look like much.
But if you take that and throw that in it’s going to change everything. And the tree obviously it speaks to the cross at Calvary. And can I tell you that the sweet solution to your bitter problems? It is still the cross of Christ. It’s not that just wait until Easter and we roll out the cross and talk about it or we wait till that evangelical rally and we roll it. No no no.
Every single day the solution to everything you are facing. It is still the cross of Christ. It is still adding something into it. God didn’t let them get to Mara and go somewhere else first. And sometimes we think well this is bitter.
Let me find another body of water. This marriage sucks. Let me go marry someone else. I can’t stand the kids. let me go do something.
No, no, no. God says, you know, into that same place of bitterness, I’m going to bring about your greatest victory. I’m going to bring about your greatest deliverance and it’s not looking for something else where the grass is so much greener but it is dealing right where you are except adding the tree. It is adding the tree into every situation. It is adding that into whatever it is that you are facing and here’s what the cross does.
You know, the cross is basically two beams, one vertical, one horizontal, and it really speaks to the divinity vertically of Christ and but also the humanity horizontally of Christ. So, when Christ died on the cross, he didn’t get crucified like this. No, no, no, none of you are getting through. No, no, no, no. He died like that.
Whosoever. Whosoever come to me. Whosoever come to me. This speaks to his humanity. It’s speaks of the the verticality is the fact that he is the son of God.
But horizontally he is the son of man. Uh horizontally he was born of a virgin. Vertically he’s the only begotten of the father. Horizontally you know they took ah water and they gave it to him but vertically because he’s divine he turned that water into wine. The two pieces represent Christ.
His humidity, his humanity, and his divinity. And that is the thing that was added to it. And once it was it sweetened everything. It’s also the place of great revelation not just because God gives you another resource, reveals something that’s close by. But it’s because he reveals himself.
This is the first place that we discover that Jehovah, God is also Jehovah Rapha. Uh, the Lord God, my healer. It’s at that place. Where he he reveals and it’s kind of like in Psalm twenty-three where the David is the Psalmist is writing about his the good shepherd and all the great things but it’s really in the valley. He says, you know, the lord is my shepherd.
He leads me on, you know, still waters, makes me lie down in green pastures. He does all these great things but notice that when he gets to the valley, the language shifts. He’s no longer talking about God. He’s now talking to him and he says your rod, your staff, comfort me. The valley is the place of revelation who God is.
We discover him and great things about him in the mountain tops but it’s really where we discover the intimacy of fresh revelation through him. And so right now I want to do something to close. We want to offer. I I just felt like as I was preparing for this you know that this today is the last Sunday of the half of twenty twenty-three. Um we’re heading into the not just the end of the financial year but also the end of whatever you are struggling with at the beginning of the year.
And I believe that today as we cross over into the second half that there are some things that God is going to allow to be buried in your past. But it’s also the opportunity to add into your bitter situation. What God is so that you don’t leave this place and enter the second half of this year the same way as the first half. And so what we’re going to do is in a moment the team are going to come and they’re going to anoint anyone who wants to who who wants to step into the second half of this year. Just believing that God is going to give them a solution that they need.
And you know in Isaiah chapter ten it says it says this. It’s pretty powerful. It says the Egyptians they used to enslave you. And the the Midianites that used to oppress you, they’ll be no more. So will be the Assyrians who are currently harassing you right now.
And he then he says this, he says, for I will lift the burden from your shoulders and the anointing will break the yoke. Some translations it says that the anointing, the yoke, the yoke, the thing that is sort of put on and it allows cattle to do their work. It says that that yoke actually be broken by the fatness of the neck. And it speaks to how God will do the removing of the burden. But what he does in us to enlarge us will eventually break the yoke off of our lives.
And so in a moment that’s what we’re going to do when when they anoint you with oil. You know this is just symbolism. We took the the juice and the wafer earlier. That symbolism of the body of Christ. You followed made a decision to follow Jesus.
You got water baptized and that symbolism of death, burial to your old life, resurrection, into your new life. So, the oil doesn’t have any special magic powers. It’s not from Jerusalem or anything like that, I think. But what it speaks to is what it speaks to is this next season that God is going to bring you through and marking you for and also that he is bringing you out of bitterness and taking you into sweetness that you’ve been dealing with issue for far too long and he’s saying this is the day where that yoke comes off. This is the day where you receive your full deliverance and this is the day where you leave behind Mara and you head into Elim.
But before we do that, can I just ask everyone just to bow their heads and close their eyes and maybe you’re here today and you’ve never made a decision to follow Jesus. Maybe you come to church or you you go to a long to a lot of Christian things, go to a Christian school, whatever. But you know yourself you’ve never actually made a personal decision yourself to say, I’m going to follow Jesus. Right now, no one’s looking. This is just between you and God.
He loves you. He created you and he has great things ahead for you. If that’s you and you just like to make a public declaration, can I just get you to lift your hand and I’m going to come and pray with you. Anyone here who’s never made that decision yet, awesome. Once you put your hand up, you can put it back down.
That’s so good. Awesome. Why don’t you stand to your feet and I just want to ask the team to come. They’re just going to come and just for these last few remaining moments, we’re going to anoint you and I really felt God say to do this in ahead of going into the second half of this year. So, if you feel like this is for you, feel free to come through.
They’re just going to they’re just going to put a bit of it on your head and they’re going to pray for you and then we’re going to close this service. Every I have nothing else heart singing oh don’t you get shy on oh don’t you get shy lift up your soul and I know it’s not how we sing oh come on by so oh don’t you get shy on me and lift up church. We don’t have our upper room service tonight and we’ll have more information about when our next one is I believe it’s going to be after the school holidays but we will let you know. But otherwise we will see you next week. Have an incredible week.
But we’re going to continue ministering. So if you haven’t yet responded and you feel like you need to. This is the moment. And we’re just going to believe God for your breakthrough. Amen.
