We owe Him our very best.
Hi there, this is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, and coming to you from Riverside, California,
podcasting since 2004, I'm your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb.
This is the daily podcast where we're reading through the entire Bible in a year.
This episode is pre-recorded because the lovely Lady Leanne and I are in Florida right now.
The plan is that we should be back around January 13th, but please do comment on the show notes page at lifespringmedia.com slash S12E126 and also send in your prayer requests and praises at prayer.lifespringmedia.com.
I am checking my email and praying with you and for you.
When I'm back behind the mic, I'll try to get caught up with your comments and prayer requests here on the show.
And if you're in the Orlando area and you'd like to get together with me,
send an email to steve at lifespringmedia.com and maybe we can get something set up.
Today our reading is Exodus 17 through 20 and I'm calling the episode Respect.
Let's get started.
Exodus chapter 17.
All the people of Israel left the desert of Zin,
traveling from one place to another as the Lord told them.
They set up their tents at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.
So the people argued with Moses, saying, Give us water to drink.
And Moses said to them, Why do you argue with me?
Why do you test the Lord?
But the people were thirsty there for water.
They complained against Moses, saying, Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us and
our children and animals with thirst?
So Moses called to the Lord, saying, What should I do with these people?
They are almost ready to throw stones at me.
The Lord said to Moses, Pass in front of the people and take some of the leaders of Israel
with you.
Take the special stick in your hand with which you hit the Nile and go.
See, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb.
When you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.
And Moses did so with the leaders of Israel watching.
He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the arguing of the people
of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?
Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim.
So Moses said to Joshua, Choose men for us, and go out and fight against Amalek.
Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the special stick of God in my hand.
Joshua did as Moses told him.
He fought against Amalek, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
When Moses held up his hand, Israel would be winning.
But when he let his hand down, Amalek would win.
Moses' hands became tired.
So they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it.
Then Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side.
His hands did not move until the sun went down.
So Joshua destroyed Amalek and his people with the sword.
Then the Lord said to Moses,
Write this in a book to be remembered,
and tell Joshua that I will take away everything under the sun that would help you remember Amalek.
Moses built an altar and gave it the name, The Lord is My Banner.
And he said, Because the Lord has promised to have war against Amalek through all time.
Exodus chapter 18
Moses' father-in-law Jethro, the religious leader of Midian,
heard about all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, his people.
he heard about how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.
Moses' father-in-law Jethro had taken Moses' wife Zipporah after Moses had sent her away,
and he had taken her two sons.
One was given the name Gershom, for he said,
I have been a stranger in a strange land.
The other was given the name Eliezer, for he said,
The God of my father was my help, and he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.
Then Moses' father-in-law Jethro came to Moses with his sons and his wife to the desert
by the mountain of God where he was staying.
He sent the news to Moses, I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and
her two sons with her.
Then Moses went to meet his father-in-law.
He bowed down and kissed him.
They asked each other if all was well and went into the tent.
Moses told his father-in-law all the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians because of Israel.
He told him about how they had suffered on the way, and how the Lord had saved them.
Jethro was glad because of all the good things the Lord had done for Israel in saving them from the hand of the Egyptians.
So Jethro said,
Honor and thanks be to the Lord, who saved you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of Pharaoh, and who made you free from the power of Egypt.
Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods.
It was proven when they acted in their pride against the people.
Then Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, gave a burnt gift in worship to God.
And Aaron came with all the leaders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.
The next day Moses sat to judge the people,
and the people stood around Moses from morning until evening.
When Moses' father-in-law saw all he was doing for the people, he said,
What is this that you do for the people?
Why do you sit alone and judge, and all the people stand around you from morning until evening?
Moses said to his father-in-law,
Because the people come to me to learn God's will.
When they argue, they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor.
I teach them the laws of God.
Moses' father-in-law said to him,
What you are doing is not good.
You and the people with you will become tired and weak,
for the work is too much for you.
You cannot do it alone.
Now listen to me.
I will tell you what you should do, and God be with you.
You speak for the people before God.
Bring the troubles to God.
Then teach them the laws.
Make them know the way they must walk and the work they must do.
Also, you should choose from the people able men who fear God,
men of truth who hate to get things by doing wrong.
Have these men rule over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
Let them judge the people at all times.
Have all the big troubles brought to you, but have them judge the small troubles,
so it will be easier for you.
They will share the work with you.
If you do this and God tells you to do it, then you will be able to keep your strength,
and all these people will go to their place in peace.
Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said.
Moses chose able men out of all Israel,
and he made them leaders over the people,
leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
They judged the people at all times.
They would bring the big troubles to Moses,
but they would judge every small trouble themselves.
Then Moses let his father-in-law return to his own land.
Exodus chapter 19. In the third month after the people of Israel left Egypt, they came to the
Sinai desert on the same day. They had left Rephidim and had come to the Sinai desert.
There Israel set up their tents in front of the mountain, and Moses went up to God.
The Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, Say this to the house of Jacob,
and tell the people of Israel. You have seen what I did to the Egyptians,
and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.
Now then, if you will obey my voice and keep my agreement,
you will belong to me from among all nations, for the earth is mine.
You will be to me a nation of religious leaders, a holy nation.
These are the words he will speak to the people of Israel.
So Moses came and called the leaders of the people.
He told them all these words which the Lord had told him.
And all the people answered together and said,
We will do all that the Lord has said. Then Moses went to tell the Lord what the people had said.
The Lord said to Moses, See, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so the people may hear when I
speak with you, and may believe you forever. Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.
The Lord said to Moses, Go to the people. Today and tomorrow set them apart to be holy.
Have them wash their clothes, and let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day
people will see the Lord come down on Mount Sinai. Let the people know the place is all around that
they must not pass. Tell them, Be careful that you do not go up on the mountain or touch any
place around it. Whoever touches the mountain will be put to death. No hand will touch him,
but he will be killed with stones or arrows. If he be animal or man, he will not live.
When a long sound from a horn is heard, they may come up to the mountain.
So Moses went down from the mountain to the people. He set the people apart to be holy,
and they washed their clothes. He said to the people, Be ready for the third day. Do not go
near a woman. On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning. A cloud covered the
mountain, and a very loud horn sounded. All the people among the tents shook with fear. Then Moses
brought the people from among the tents to meet God. They stood at the base of the mountain.
Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord came down upon it in fire. Its smoke went up like the
smoke of a stove, and the whole mountain shook. The sound of the horn became louder and louder.
Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder. Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai to the
top of the mountain. The Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and he went up. Then the Lord
said to Moses, Go down and tell the people not to break through to look at the Lord, for then many
of them would be destroyed. Have the religious leaders who come near to the Lord set themselves
apart to be holy, or the Lord will go against them. Moses said to the Lord, The people cannot
come up to Mount Sinai, for you told us, Set places around the mountain that must not be passed,
and set it apart as holy. Then the Lord said to him, Go down and then come up with Aaron.
But do not let the religious leaders and the people break through to come up to the Lord,
or he will go against them. So Moses went down to the people and told them.
Exodus chapter 20. Then God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol,
or any likeness of what is in heaven above,
or on the earth beneath,
or in the water under the earth.
You shall not worship them or serve them,
for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children,
on the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,
but showing loving kindness to thousands,
to those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him
unpunished who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you
shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it
you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant,
or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth,
the sea and all that is in them,
and rested on the seventh day.
Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Honor your father and your mother,
that your days may be prolonged in the land
which the Lord your God gives you.
You shall not commit murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor's house.
You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant,
or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes, and the sound of the trumpet
and the mountain smoking.
And when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance.
Then they said to Moses, Speak to us yourself, and we will listen, but let not God speak to us,
or we will die. Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid, for God has come in order to test you,
and in order that the fear of him may remain with you, so that you may not sin. So the people stood
at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was. Then the Lord said to Moses,
Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you
from heaven. You shall not make other gods besides me. Gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not
make for yourselves. You shall make an altar of earth for me, and you shall sacrifice on it your
burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause
my name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you. If you make an altar of stone for me,
you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it.
And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness will not be exposed on it.
Let's focus on verse 2 of chapter 20, which we just read. It says,
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
God spoke those words and the entire Ten Commandments to Moses, who was to take them to the people.
And God Himself wrote these ten laws on two stone tablets.
It was not Moses who wrote on the tablets.
It was God.
Now, let's break this sentence down, shall we?
There's a tremendous amount of information that we can glean from these words.
So it begins, I am the Lord your God.
Here, God is asserting His authority.
his right to establish the law to which the people of Israel must be bound.
The reason they must be obedient to this law is that, number one, God is the Lord, Jehovah,
self-existent, independent, eternal, and the source of everything that is. Therefore,
he has the absolute right to rule. And number two, he was their God, in covenant or agreement
with them. They agreed to this arrangement. And then he continued, who brought you out of the
land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. So therefore, they were bound to obey him out of
gratitude, because he delivered them out of terrible slavery into a liberty that they had
never known. He redeemed them, and in doing so, he had an even greater right to rule them.
They owed Him their service, their very lives. Now, Jesus redeemed us, and we owe Him our lives
and our service as well. He freed us from the bondage of sin and death. Out of gratitude and
out of love, we owe Him our very best in all we do. The relationship we have with God through Christ
is not the same as the one established on Mount Sinai. Remember from our reading today,
the people were terrified when they heard the thunder and saw the smoke. They told Moses that
they did not want to face God. But Jesus said in John 15, 15, I no longer call you servants because
a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends. For everything
that I learned from my Father, I have made known to you. And then in Mark chapter 3, Jesus said,
we are his brothers if we do God's will. Beloved, if we follow Jesus, God is not a God to be
terrified of like the children of Israel were when they heard the thunder and saw the smoke
at Mount Sinai. Yes, we should have a healthy respect and awe, but not the kind of terror that
comes from the uncertainty of an irrational, unreasonable, unpredictable force. God can be
surprising, but He has revealed Himself to us through His Word, and we know, above all, that
according to 1 John 4, 8, God is love. What do you think? Comment on the show notes page at
lifespringmedia.com slash s12e126. Our reading tomorrow is 2 Samuel 5-9. Boost!
On this date in church history, January 3, 1816, Anne Ayers was born. She was the founder of the
Sisterhood of the Holy Communion, the first U.S. Episcopal Sisterhood. In doing so, she was the
first woman in the United States to become a Protestant sister. And on this date, January 3,
1956. The colored Methodist Episcopal Church officially changed its name to the Christian
Methodist Episcopal Church. The denomination originated in 1870 when the Methodist Episcopal
Church South approved the request of its black membership for the formation of a separate
ecclesiastical body. Headquartered today in Memphis, the CME Church has a membership of about a half a million.
Let's pray.
Our Heavenly Father, we worship You and we praise You.
Thank You that we no longer need to fear You as they did before the New Covenant.
We do respect You and hold You in awe, Lord, but we understand You better now, I think,
than they did before the tremendous sacrifice of Your Son.
It is so good to know you as our Abba, our Father, in addition to being the lawgiver.
I pray for the Lifespring family, Lord, that you would bless each one today.
Where there are needs, I ask that you would be our provider.
Where healing is needed, I pray that you would be our healer.
Where there is division, I pray that you would unite.
Where there are questions, I pray that you would give wisdom.
I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Send your prayer requests and praises in at prayer.lifespringmedia.com.
You can comment on the show at lifespringmedia.com slash S12E126,
and I'll read some of your comments on the show when I get back.
Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly.
Thank you for being here.
I'm Steve Webb.
Bye.