Move Before Miracle
Move Before Your Miracle
The story of Moses and the Israelites at the Red Sea reveals a powerful truth about faith and action. Trapped between pursuing Egyptian armies and an impassable body of water, the people panicked and complained that slavery would have been better than death in the wilderness. But God's response to Moses was unexpected: stop crying out and tell the people to get moving. This wasn't a dismissal of prayer but a call to action when the season for waiting had ended. True faith means moving when nothing seems to be happening, when the path isn't clear, and when circumstances look impossible. God didn't part the Red Sea until Moses raised his staff - the miracle came after the movement, not before. This challenges us to position ourselves to receive God's miracles rather than waiting passively for them to appear. Three essential keys enable this forward movement in faith. First, we must ignore the noise of fear, doubt, and complaint that surrounds us. These voices can come from family, our own fears, or past failures, but focusing on them stops us from trusting God's power. Second, we need to use what's already in our hand rather than waiting for better resources. Moses used an ordinary shepherd's staff, and God specializes in using ordinary things for extraordinary purposes. Third, we must declare our faith through visible actions, making our trust in God evident through our words, decisions, and behavior. God leads us through challenges, not around them, requiring us to walk by faith through uncomfortable places rather than taking shortcuts.
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Move Before the Miracle: Taking Action When You Can't See the Way Forward
Have you ever felt trapped between what's behind you and what seems impossible ahead? That's exactly where Moses and the Israelites found themselves at the Red Sea - with Egyptian armies pursuing them and an impassable body of water blocking their path. But in this moment of crisis, God gave Moses a surprising command that reveals a powerful truth about faith.
When God Says "Stop Praying and Start Moving"
In Exodus 14:15, God tells Moses something unexpected: "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving." This wasn't a dismissal of prayer, but rather a call to action. There's a season for prayer and reflection, but there's also a season to move forward in faith.
The Israelites were panicking, complaining that it would have been better to remain slaves in Egypt than die in the wilderness. But God's response wasn't to remove the obstacle immediately - He required Moses and the people to take action first.
What Does It Mean to Move Before the Miracle?
True faith isn't waiting until you see the blessing before you act. It's moving when nothing seems to be happening, when the path isn't clear, and when circumstances look impossible. God didn't part the Red Sea until Moses raised his staff. The miracle came after the movement, not before.
This principle challenges us to position ourselves to receive God's miracles rather than waiting passively for them to appear. Miracles are God's work, but positioning ourselves to receive them is ours.
Three Keys to Moving Forward in Faith
1. Ignore the Noise
The Israelites were surrounded by voices of fear, doubt, and complaint. They had forgotten the God who had already delivered them from Egypt. Similarly, we face constant noise - voices telling us we're not good enough, skilled enough, or qualified enough.
These voices can come from family members, our own fears, or past failures. When we focus on the noise instead of God's voice, we stop trusting His power and promises. We stop moving forward and start telling ourselves to give up.
The key is learning to distinguish God's voice from the noise and choosing to focus on His truth about who you are and what He's called you to do.
2. Use What's in Your Hand
God told Moses to pick up his staff - not a magical weapon or impressive tool, but an ordinary shepherd's staff he'd carried for years. When surrendered to God, this simple tool carried extraordinary power.
What do you have right now that you've overlooked or dismissed as insignificant? Maybe it's a skill, a relationship, a passion, or an opportunity you've written off as "not enough." God specializes in using ordinary things for extraordinary purposes.
Remember the boy with five loaves and two fish? The disciples asked, "What good is that?" But when placed in Jesus' hands, it fed 5,000 people. Stop waiting for what you don't have and start using what God has already given you.
3. Declare Your Faith
When God told Moses to raise his hand over the sea, it was a visible, public act of faith. This wasn't a quiet, private moment - it was faith made visible for everyone to see.
Declaring your faith means making your trust in God visible through your actions, words, and decisions. It's raising your hand before the sea parts, not after. Faith must be elevated before it's rewarded.
Walking Through the Middle, Not Around
Notice that God didn't lead the Israelites around the Red Sea - He led them straight through the middle. There are no shortcuts in the faithful walk. Sometimes the path that feels most uncomfortable, challenging, or requiring God's intervention is exactly the way through.
Jesus modeled this when He chose to go through Samaria instead of around it like other Jews did. Faith doesn't always take the easy path, and sometimes obedience leads straight through uncomfortable places.
When Life Feels Like a Red Sea Moment
We all face Red Sea moments - times when we feel trapped between our past and what seems like an impossible future. Maybe it's a difficult relationship, a career challenge, a health issue, or a financial struggle.
In these moments, remember that God's command is the same: get moving. Pick up what's in your hand, ignore the noise of fear and doubt, and declare your faith through your actions.
Life Application
This week, identify one area where you've been waiting for God to move before you take action. Instead of waiting for perfect conditions or clear signs, take one step of faith using what's already in your hand.
Ask yourself these questions:
What noise in my life is keeping me from seeing God move?
What do I have in my hand right now that I've overlooked or dismissed?
How can I make my faith more visible through my actions this week?
What Red Sea am I facing that requires me to walk through, not around?
Remember, faith reveals the strength already within you and empowers you to rise and walk through every challenge you face. Sometimes you won't have much to give, but you'll always have your hallelujah - your declaration of trust in God's goodness and power. Pick up your staff, raise your hand, and watch what God does when you move before the miracle.
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A discussion guide for the sermon can be found here.
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I've been stirred church. I've been fired up lately, last couple weeks. And this word, actually it didn't come to me in a prayer setting. I wasn't praying. I wasn't in a service, I wasn't in worship.
I was with 20 odd volunteers throwing stuff into a skip, breaking down pieces of wood and plaster out there, sweating all these types of. See, that's when this word came to me. The word for this season church is to get moving, keep going, keep going. And watching the volunteers throw stuff into, skipping and taking the rubbish away. And the brother Dave who blessed us with the excavator came in, man, and just took it all.
I saw their faith in action, their faith in action. They weren't just talking about it, they weren't preaching about it, they weren't putting up social posts about it. They were actioning their faith.
My heart for you this morning, church is this year we move. Amen. We move. And we're going to look at the story of Moses in the red Sea.
Exodus 14, 10, 16. And this passage is the moment where they're trapped, where the Egyptians are behind them and the Red Sea is in front of them. And what happens in this situation, the worst is this is fairer approach. The people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord and they said to Moses, why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness?
Weren't there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? What did you make us? Why did you make us leave Egypt. Didn't we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt?
We say, leave us alone. Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It's better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness. But Moses told the people, don't be afraid. Stand still, Watch.
The Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. Then the Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm. Then the Lord said to Moses, why are you crying out to me?
Tell the people to get moving. Pick up your staff, raise your hand over the sea, divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground. Why are you crying out to me? Me? There is a season for prayer.
There is a season to be reflective. There is a season to sit and dwell in that dwelling place. But there is a season to move, right? And for Moses right now, he is like, if Egyptians are here, the Red Sea here, what do I do? The Lord says to move.
The thing about the story is many of you know the story as Moses, God, part of the Red Sea, everyone's home, safe, well done, right? He's more tortured. The Lord God didn't do everything for his people, but he purposely placed them in a position where they had to work for it. They had to do stuff Moses had to do. He had to act, he had to move.
He had to encourage. He had to have faith to keep on going, even though he didn't know what to do. I've titled my church, my church.
You can tell it's the third time preaching, titled my message. Move before the miracle.
When you move, move before the blessing, before the miracles, before you see any change, you want to know what true faith is? It's moving. When you. You don't see any of that, it's easy to go, well, he's blessed me. The miracles, the blessings, he's given it to me.
Oh, I'm so fired up. I'm going to move now. That's not moving. Move is when nothing happens, right? That's moving.
Here's the thing. I had to keep on moving. I learned this the hard way. In my culture, my Samoan culture, we have a dish or a food we call keke pua, right? And I thought to myself, you know what?
Been a chef for many years. How hard is it? I'm going to make it. And it's basically sweet hollow bun, sweet bunch of inside. It's filled with pork.
Braised pork, braised lamb, garlic, ginger, onion. Hours just ticking away, right? Yeah. I can See all you guys going on lunchtime. Hurry up for lunch.
Hurry up. Right? And I thought, you know what? I'll give it. I'll give it a crack.
I'll try it. First time, fail. Oh, what is that? Pancake fail. Second time, it was like glue and a little bit of burnt pork on there.
And I was like. And through the space of a week, I failed five times. Each and every time, my wife and her encouragement. There you go again, hun. Another two kilos of flour.
Yeah, there you go again. Oh, more milk. Well done. Good on you. Well done.
Right? Massive support I got at home. And my daughters come through and they're like, dad, it's okay. Just keep going. Just keep going.
Right? You can do this. I'll translate what that means. Hey, listen, brother, you've just stuffed us up. Fix it.
We're hungry, right? You got kids? You got kids. You know what I mean, right?
Try the sixth time. Nailed it. It nailed it. Got it. That's right.
Nice and sweet. Fresh. Hey, Faith. Yep, yep, yep. My sister there, too, going, yeah, I think it's church.
It wasn't because I had a better recipe. It wasn't because I had better ingredients or better kitchen tools. It was because I didn't give up. Failed once, twice, five times I failed. I didn't give up.
And that's what God is trying to say here to Moses. Keep moving.
Why are you complaining? Why are you whingering? Keep moving.
God didn't move the sea until Moses moved his feet.
Miracles are God's work. By positioning ourselves to receive them is ours.
This morning, Church, what do we need to do to position ourselves, to place ourselves, to receive a miracle, to move before it comes? I'm going to give you three things, Church. The first thing is this. Ignore the noise. Ignore the noise.
You know what the noise is? Raise your hands if you know what I mean by ignore the noise. All the way up. Yeah, yeah, we know. Yeah, we know.
There are always voices around you that will tell you that you're not good enough. That will tell you that you're not skilled enough, that you're not gifted enough, that you don't look the part. You're not dressed like that, right? And the thing about these voices, these voices sometimes come from our own families.
Sometimes they come from our own fear, our own doubt. Right? The voices, the noise. But the thing is, Church, if you want to see a miracle in your life, you have to find a way to ignore the noise and move forward. You have to find a way to keep going.
The Thing is about the noise and these voices and that you keep staying in that position and in that place, you know what happens? You start to believe that for yourself. You are no longer declaring the name of Jesus. You are now declaring that you have now anxiety, depression, doubt, fear.
Moses faced the same noise. The same noise.
The Israelites, complaining voices complained around them and they forgot the God who delivered them. Verse 11. Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren't there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us?
Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn't we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We say, leave us alone. Let us be slaves to the Egyptians.
It's better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness. This is what Moses is facing. This is what he's facing. The noises. And they believe in it.
They're believing these voices in their head. And when our focus shifts from God to the voices and the noise, we stop trusting God's power and promise. We stop moving forward. We stop moving forward. We start telling ourselves to give up.
Which I found out on Friday. Laying the kappa tongs. Tell you what, actually, he knows how to lay kapitals. Put up your hand. Yep.
Raise a high. First thing I say is, we need you. Second thing I'll say is, man, I got so much respect for you fellas, man. So I laid. It took me close to five hours laying it down.
I don't know why I left the last two pieces, the hardest ones, it wasn't a square, wasn't a rectangle. It was like four shapes in one. It was one of those cutouts you have to go around like that. And I needed two identical that fit in the door. Did it once, did it twice, sat on the ground and threw the tile at the door.
I had enough. That's it. Not doing this anymore. And then my 9 year old daughter Walter's in. Ayla.
Dad, what's going on? Nah, that's it. Just pack it up, we're going home. We'll fix it up next week. Week.
She goes, no, we can do it, dad, we can do it. She grabs the tile, she places it down and she bends or whatever she does and then she goes, just cut it here. And I said, well, what could go wrong? We're already stuffed up anyway. To be a third time, I cut it and it started to fit and she goes, and she folds another part.
She goes, just cut here. And I cut it. The whole thing fit, whole thing fit. And she finished it all. We finished it all.
So well done, Ayla. Well done, Ayla. We did it together. Teamwork. Teamwork.
That's the thing about kids, man. And some of you families say you're here because of your kids, right? Some of you, let's be real. Some of you families here, some of your parents, you've lost your faith, but you're something you see in your kids and that your kids are grabbing hold of it and running with it. That's the experience there of the Charles and Elah, right?
The encouragement, the encouragement. She came reminding me. Come on, dad. Keep going. We're nearly there.
Keep going. Don't give up. For you in this season, what does that look like for you to keep going in your workplace and your families?
Moses. Moses responds, responds to the noises and he says, just don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you. Today.
The Egyptians you see, you will never see again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm. Just stay calm.
What noise in your life is keeping you from seeing God move? What voice are you listening to? Or voices? Can you hear the Lord's voice within the noise? Or is the noise overwhelming you?
Are the areas where you are listening to the wrong voices more than listening to God?
Ignore the noise, Church. Focus on his voice. Keep moving forward. All right? Amen.
That's the first one. Second thing is, use what's in your hand. Use what's in your hand. Verse 15. Then the Lord said to Moses, why are you crying out to me?
Tell the people to get moving. And then what he says after that, pick up your staff. Pick up your staff.
The word doesn't say. And pick up your Harry Potter wand or your Star wars lightsaber and all that stuff, right? No. Pick up your staff. A staff that's used to tend to the flock.
A staff that's used to direct the flock, to support them, to guide them, held them up on the steep hills in the valleys. Just your ordinary staff. When God places something in your hand, it may seem ordinary to you and powerless, may mean nothing. But when surrendered to him, it carries extraordinary power. You with me, Church?
Moses didn't have a weapon or an army. He had a shepherd's staff, something he carried for many years. Chapter 4, Exodus 4. It says this. The Lord asked him, ask Moses, what is that in your hand?
Moses replies, a shepherd's staff. Throw it down on the ground. The Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff and turned into a snake. Moses jumped back.
Then the Lord told Him reach out and grab its tail. So Moses reached out and grabbed it and it turned back into a shepherd's staff in his hand, just an ordinary shepherd's staff.
What is in your hand? What do you have right now in your life in your hand that you've overlooked? Maybe you've looked at it and you go, you know what? This is useless. What's the point?
Can't do anything with it. What are those things? What are the things that you've forgotten about that you haven't surrendered to God, you haven't given to God and seen it in true power?
What is that in your hand, Moses staff? It wasn't a weapon. It wasn't impressive, it wasn't shiny, it wasn't made of gold. It was a shepherd staff, ordinary, worn and familiar. To guide, to protect, to support him.
In Moses hands, it was just the staff in God's presence, surrendered to him. It worked miracles. And God says, pick it up, pick it up, pick it up. And reminded of the story of the boy and the five loaves and the two fish. He knows that story.
Yeah. Five loaves and two fish.
This boy turns up with just that, 5,000 people. You know how they responded when he turned up?
What good is that with this huge crowd and verse 9 John 6, 9. What good is that as to say, what is the point of that, young man, I'm trying to feed 5,000. You just turn up with a couple of loaves and some fish.
What did Jesus say?
Jesus, verse 11. Jesus took the loaves. He took the loaves, gave thanks and he fed the 5,000. I want to tell you, Church, you're going to have some things, you're going to have some things in your life that you think that were worth nothing. What good is that?
Even the voices in your head will tell you, what is that? That's no good. But place in the hand of the Father is such a powerful tool impacting lives. But what good is that? Jesus took the loaves.
When it was placed in Jesus hands, it fed thousands. Fed thousands. Interesting thing about what's in your hands for the very first time and what that looks like. I remember a time my dad took me to a garage sale for the first time. I was six years old.
Not one garage sale, four in one morning. It's a six year old. Went to the first one, had a look, left of nothing. Okay. Yeah, cool, fair enough.
Went to the second one, left of nothing. Started to worry a bit, went to the third one, left of nothing. I said, this guy must really love Carousels. Went to the fourth one and we found it. The small keyboard, piano, Yay.
Big keys all banged up, looked rough. The power behind that, you had to move the wire in there so it could work in that. And that was my first ever instrument. At six years old, that's where my music started for me. At six years old, this banged up keyboard in my hands, that's where my passion and my love for music started.
Right? Fast forward many years, many years, and all my challenges and all the things that have happened in my life in there. I'm always drawn to that story and being reminded, being reminded what's already in my hands, the passion and the love and all those things, it's already there. And then I fast forward many years and the opportunity to use that very thing to glorify and honor God.
Something that was in my hands that whole time.
What is in your hand, Church? What is in your hand right now? A gift, a calling, a relationship, a seed, a step of obedience. You've delayed, so I encourage you, Church, this season, we got to move. Ignore the noise.
Pick up what you already have. Surrender it to God. Watch them do amazing things in your life, things you've never seen before, and you keep on moving. You keep on moving. Stop waiting for what you don't have and start using what God already gave you.
Amen. So those are the first two things. Ignore the noise. Second thing, use what's in your hands. And my third and final point, Declare your faith.
Declare your faith in verse 16. Raise your hand over the sea. Divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground.
New King James Version says, stretch out your hand. Stretch out your hand.
Raise your hand over the sea. Can I tell you, Church, to declare your faith is to make your trust in God visible. To raise your hand. It's a visible act. It's a public act.
You can see it. You can see it. Can I ask you this morning, Church, what does your faith look like?
Can people see it? Is it visible when you look at people? Sometimes you can see it, man. You don't have to talk to them, anything. If you watch them and you look at them, they're just glowing.
They're just glowing. You can see. You can see their faith on him.
Raising his hands was a visible act of faith, and Moses lifted it before the sea. Part is showing us that faith must be raised before it is rewarded, before the miracle, before the blessing. In that it's picked up, it's raised before the miracle.
The Hebrew word for raise or lift. It means to lift up, to exalt, to make something visible so you can see it.
This isn't a quiet, private moment. When Moses raises his staff, he's not just obeying a command, he's elevating his faith in full view of everyone. What's the point of having faith when you're just like this? Oh, how are you going forward? Yeah, good.
I'm just a full. I'm faith filled right now. I may look like this, but I'm faith filled. Trust me. If Moses was like that to the people, how do you think that would have played out?
Nah, but the Lord was like, come on, come on, get moving. Move, move now. Why are you crying out to me? Get moving. Pick up what you already have and raise your hand.
Pick up what you have and raise your hand. Make it visible so everyone can see.
I saw the same idea play out about looking at people and it's visible. You can see it. The other week when Alex took my daughters to a salon for the first time. Oh, those girls are funny, right? Took them to salon.
They left home feeling, yeah, they were alright when they walked in. Here come the divas. Where's the red carpet? Where's the red carpet? And all three of them walking in like that, right?
All of this jazz and the waving and the flicking and stuff. And I'm standing there, I'm just watching them. They didn't say anything. I didn't say anything. We didn't need to.
I could see it. I could see the change on these, these lead, you know, these people, these people. I love my family, I do. You could see the change, the curls. That's all I got.
What are the other terms? Highlights or whatever. Cutting. Anyways, you could see the change, right? You can see the change in him.
And the thing is, when the Lord changes you, your outward appearance also when you declare your faith, something changes, something changes. You're like, I'm going through something tough at home. But you know what? This morning I'm going to declare my faith. I'm going through something tough right now with my kids.
But I'm going right there, I'm going right there. I'm going to say, no more complaining. I'm going to keep on going and keep on going, declare my faith and pick up my stuff.
Haven't even got to that part down here somewhere.
If you want to see 2 change in your life, life, true change, not a Sunday morning change, true change from the inside out, then keep going. You're going to fail once, twice, maybe five Times like my pork buns.
But at least you'll keep. You'll keep going. Keep going. Don't give up, church. Don't give up.
Jesus puts it this way. In Matthew 5:14, he puts it this way. You are the light of the world, like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.
Oh, but I follow Christ. I follow God. I have faith, but I'm just hiding underneath this right now. No, you shall shine. You shine in your workplaces, you shine in your families.
Shine in your sport. Teams be the difference. Declare your faith. Don't be shy. You can find Jesus anywhere, not just in these church walls.
This message came to me while lifting timber into a skip bin.
Here's the thing, Church. For Moses, lifting the staff wasn't the finish line. You have to do probably the most important thing, and that is to walk through the middle. Walk through the middle. Verse 16, divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea and on dry ground.
God didn't lead them around. He led them through the middle. Kamatai Church, in your faithful walk, there is no way around. And there is no shortcuts. There is no GPS to give you the fastest way there, right?
There's none of that. There is only one way, and that is straight through the middle. Straight through. The Lord doesn't say, hey, listen, Moses, pick up your staff, raise your hand, and then just take a left and we'll go around it. You'll be all good.
Now walk through the middle. There's something powerful by walking through the middle. Many of us here, we struggle to do that, right? It's too hard, it's too difficult, it's too overwhelming. It's too this, it's too that.
It's heavy. I can't. And you'll take another way. Have you ever thought, church, that maybe, maybe it hurts that much? It's because that is the way through.
It's never always going to be an easy way. But what I've learned in my life is genuinely, when it feels a bit uncomfortable, when it feels like it's a bit of a challenge and it's going to require God to move through, there's not a mashet that is the way through.
Jesus models the same kind of faith. Church. The Samaritan woman. You know the story, the Samaritan woman. Historically, Jews avoided Samaria.
Others avoided the tension, the history, the brokenness. So what the others do, they went around safer. It was safer that way. It was socially acceptable that way. What did Jesus do?
He had to go through Samaria through Samaria, not because it was convenient, but because it was necessary.
Because it was necessary. Faith doesn't always take the easy path. And sometimes obedience leads straight through uncomfortable places. To see lives changed, to see cities changed, to see cities impacted.
Raising your hand and walking through the middle is how you declare your faith this morning, Church. Not just with your mouth, but with your obedience to say, lord, I've fallen. I've struggled. Not once or twice, but many times over. But give me the strength to keep going, keep moving forward.
What are you declaring over your life for this year? Your family's life, your children, your workplaces. Are you living that out? What does it look like? Is your faith visible?
When others look at you, what do they see?
Do they see people surrounded and overwhelmed by all the noise? Or do they see someone picking up their staff, raising their hand, and walking right through what Red Sea are you facing? Church that requires you to move through and not around.
What's one step you can take today that requires courage and trust, even if the path looks impossible?
You know, I learned this the hard way.
2020, the year of lockdown. Shared this message before and losing my old man, losing dad. And during lockdown, he lived in New Zealand. Passed away, and it was that lockdown time where you can't see anyone. You couldn't.
You know, you can't even see your neighbors. I think it was around about the. The tightest restrictions and, And.
And we had to watch it on Zoom. We watched it on Zoom. The funeral, the family service, everything was on Zoom. All my siblings here in Melbourne, they all jumped up on Zoom and watched Zoom and stuff.
I'll tell you what, it's. It's. Many of you know this, right? It's. It's.
It's a tough, tough one, man, to lose someone in normal circumstances, you know? But what I've learned, man, loses someone and lockdown down on top of all of that, It's a different ball game, that one.
And the thing I learned there was like, I was the Israelite. I was the Israelite as soon as it happened. Why don't you open the borders up, men? Why don't you just let, you know, visitors visit people, you know, why. Now.
That was me, man.
And I was reminded. I was reminded. I was reminded not long after that. And spending time in worship with Alex on keys. That's what I did.
Jumped on the keys.
Jumped on the keys. And I worshiped and I worshiped.
And it's interesting, man, because during that time of worship, I started to ignore the Noise.
Gotta move. That's what I heard. You gotta move for you gotta move. Keep moving.
Use what's in your hands.
And I believe jumping on the keys was a reminder that God gave me. Remember the time when your old man took you to the garrison, he took you to four garage sale, and you came out with one thing. Remember that time?
I remember I already had that in my hands. Same thing that I've loved as a kid, six years old, is the thing I surrendered to God. And then now, years later, I have the honor and privilege of using that very thing to give glory to God.
Huh?
And then moving forward, out of that, you start to declare. You start to declare. Start to declare your faith. You start to declare your the name of Jesus over your life, over your family's life. You learn new things.
You learn quickly what it means to stand strong on the word of God. You learn very quickly. It hurts. And it will hurt and for many of you here, will hurt. This year.
You're going to face issues. You're going to face challenges and hardships. That's all part and parcel of life. But can I tell you, church, the Lord's saying, pick it up. Pick up your staff, Raise your hand.
Walk through the middle. Walk through the middle. Let this be the truth for you today, Church, Let this be the truth for you. Faith in God reveals the strength already within you and empowers you to rise and walk through every challenge you face.
So here's what we're going to do, Church. We're going to do exactly this. We're going to declare our faith this morning. We're going to declare our faith. Hands raised, Hands raised high.
Hands raised no more. Why are you crying at me now we're moving. Word of God says get moving, get moving. Don't cry out to me. Get moving.
Right, that's what the word says. Pick up your staff and verse 16. Raise your hands over the sea Walk through the middle. Tell the people, get moving. Tell the people, keep moving.
This is you and I, Church this is you and I. So can I invite you to stand, Church? Can I invite you to stand? Invite you to stand.
So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again all that I have is a hallelujah Hallelujah and I know it's not much but I'm nothing outfit for a king except for a heart singing hallelujah Hallelujah.
Declare it this morning, church Raise your hands, raise your hands up high Pick up what you have.
Praise you again and again.
Just the voices.
Except for heart singing Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Cry it out. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. Church hallelujah.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Sometimes you're not going to have much to give, but what you will have is your hallelujah. And can I encourage you? Church Grab that. You may not have much, but everyone has a hallelujah. Everyone has a hallelujah.
You run with that, you don't look back to the Egyptians of your life. Life. You don't look ahead at the Red Sea of your life. You go, lord, where do you want me, man? I'm going to keep going.
Pick up what you have, pick up your staff, raise your hands, walk through the middle and watch what he does.
Father. We thank you, Lord, for this moment.
We thank you, Lord, that you go before us.
You go before us, Father.
We thank you, Lord, for your people. Thank you for this word, Lord, that you reminded us that this church is called to move. That your word says move. We move, Father. And I pray, Lord God, that your presence becomes louder than the voices that we go through and the voices that we hear.
That your voice is only voice. Voice is the only voice that we have. Heavenly Father, I pray, Lord God, that you would use what's in our hands. You will use us. You remind us of how faithful you were before.
You are faithful today. And this morning, Church, we declare our faith. We publicly declare our faith that we are faithful followers of Christ. We love you, God. Heavenly Father, we sing praises to your name.
You are the truth, the way and the life we met. Give him glory. Give him glory. Church.
This team's gonna sing this song from the beginning before we finish up, and then we'll finish up out there. If you want prayer, I'm gonna be up here. I'm going to be up here. If you want prayer, if you want to talk to someone, you want to connect with me when we've got pastors around. But I can encourage you.
Sit in this. Sit in this just a few more minutes before we finish up and you declare it. Amen. Church Amen.
I've got nothing new how could I express all my gratitude? I could sing these songs as I often do but every song almost dead and you never do so I throw up my hands. I praise you again and again all that I have is a hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah and I know it's not much Nothing else fit for a king except for a heart singing hallelujah, Hallelujah I've got one response I've got just one move with my arms stretch high I will worship you So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again all that I have is a hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Yeah. Come on, let's sing it out today. Come on, Stir your song Stir your heart as we sing this together.
Come on my song oh, come on my throne oh, don't you get shy on me Lift up your song Cause you've got a lion inside of those songs get up and praise the Lord oh, come on, my soul oh, don't you get shy on me Lift up your song Cause you've got a life and inside of those l. Get up and praise the Lord.
Come on my soul oh, don't you get shy on me Lift up your song. You got a lion inside of get up and praise the.
Oh, come on my soul oh, don't you get shy on me Lift up your song Inside of all songs get up and praise the Lord So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again all that I have is a hallelujah.
One more time chance before we finish.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. Amen. Church. Why don't we give him a hand? Thank you for coming out this morning.
Bless your heart. Have a great week. Join us for morning tea and we'll see you out there. Amen. Thanks, guys.
Related Bible Verses
Exodus 14:10–16 (NLT)
As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the LORD, and they said to Moses, "Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren't there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn't we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, 'Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It's better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!'"
But Moses told the people, "Don't be afraid. Just stand still and watch the LORD rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The LORD himself will fight for you. Just stay calm."
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving! Pick up your staff and raise your hand over the sea. Divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground.
Click here to read Exodus 14:10–16 on Bible.com
Matthew 5:14 (NLT)
"You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.