Exodus 17
6 Outlines
Exodus 17:1-7
WHEN TIMES ARE TOUGH
There was no drinking water in the wilderness. Times were tough. When times are tough:
COMPLAINING IS EASY Vss. 1-3
PRAYER IS ESSENTIAL Vs. 4
GOD IS EXPRESSIVE Vss. 5-7
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Exodus 17:1-7
WATER SHORTAGE
PROBLEM - Vs. 1
The children had no
water.
PROTEST - Vss. 2-3
The Children of
PRAYER - Vs.4
Moses cried to God for
help.
PROVISION - Vss. 5-7
God answered prayer and
provided water from the rock.
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Exodus 17:8-16
MOSES THE INTERCESSOR
Joshua and the armies of
While God's children
fight Spiritual wars in this life. Prayer support is needed.
As the battle raged,
Moses had:
HIGH HANDS - Vs. 11 -
Moses held up his hands and
HEAVY HANDS - Vss 11-12
- When Moses' hands got heavy and started to drop, the enemy started to
prevail.
HELPFUL HANDS - Vs. 13 -
Moses was helped by Aaron and Hur. They held up his
hands.
The end result was
victory for
We think of the pastor
as a man of prayer. He is helped by those that hold up his hands, taking on
some of his responsibilities so he has time to pray.
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Exodus 17:9-16
INTERVENTION!
CHOICE ARMY Vs. 9
CONSECRATED APPEAL Vss. 9-11
COMMITTED ASSISTANCE Vs. 12
COMPLETED ASSIGNMENT Vss. 13-16
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Exodus 17:9-18
PRAYER LESSONS
We all need to learn
more about prayer. I feel that Moses
holding up the rod of God is symbolic for our prayer lives today. Notice these
lessons:
THE PURPOSE FOR PRAYER -
Vs. 9a - Someone is out there fighting.
In this case it was
Joshua and the children of
There are unsaved fighting
for life whether they know it of not. They need our prayers.
There are Christians who
are in difficult situations who need our prayers. Hebrews 13:3
THE PROMISE OF PRAYER -
Vs. 9b - Those fighting are encouraged when they know
others are praying for them.
The Apostle Paul was
constantly telling others that he was praying for them. Ephesians
PERSISTENCE IN PRAYER -
Vss. 10 - The results of the battle are in direct relation to the faithfulness
of prayer. Luke 11:5-10, Luke 18:1-8
THE POWER OF PRAYER -
Vss. 13-16 - Joshua experienced victory.
Others will experience
victory as we pray for them! Ephesians 6:18
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Exodus 17:11
HANDS UP!
Read Exodus
17:8-13
In the Scriptures
there were times when, if a person lifted up their hands, they were praying.
Psalm 28:W, Psalm 63:3-4, 1 Timothy 2:8
Now, you don't
need to literally stick up your hands in prayer in order to be heard, but you
need to pray in order to be heard. In the Scriptures we find a story about
Moses and the Children of
Moses instructed
Joshua to form an army and to go fight Amaleck. For his part, Moses would stand on a hill
above the battlefield and hold up the rod of God. This was the same rod that was used in the
parting of the
So Joshua chose
his army and went out to battle. Moses
and two assistants, his brother Aaron and a man named Hur,
went up to the hill. When Moses held his hands up
I would like you
to think in terms of Moses' lifted hands as a picture of prayer. And thinking this way, we can learn some
important things about intercessory prayer.
PRAYER IS
PROPER
If we think of
Moses as praying when he had his hands raised, Moses was certainly doing the right
or proper thing.
He was asking God
for help.
He was depending
on God for help.
He was interceding
in behalf of others who were fighting the Lord's battles.
·
MOSES WAS ASKING GOD FOR HELP
Makes sense
doesn't it?
If God is stronger
than we are, and He is
If God is wiser
than we are, and He is
Then we should
forget our pride of trying to solve our own problems and give the problems them
to Him! Jeremiah 33:3, Matthew 7:7-8
·
MOSES WAS DEPENDING ON GOD
Prayer is not only
the most effective thing you can do, sometimes it's about the only thing you
can do.
Psalm 121:1-2 - I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,
from whence cometh my help. [2] My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven
and earth.
The Psalmist realized that his help did not
come from the hills where there was idol worship. He realized that He was dependent on the help
of the very God who made Heaven and Earth!
·
MOSES WAS INTERCEDING IN BEHALF
OF OTHERS WHO WERE FIGHTING THE LORD'S BATTLES.
All over the world
missionaries and pastors are fighting the Lord's battles (Give examples that
your church will be familiar with.) Ephesians 6:18
PRAYER TAKES
PERSISTENCE
Moses had to keep
his hands up. That would imply that we
need to persistently pray.
As long as Moses
kept his hands up,
When he let his
hands down, the enemy would prevail.
1 Thessalonians
As you read the
letters of the Apostle Paul you will discover a man who was continually praying
for Christians everywhere. Not only was this man a great evangelist,
theologian, missionary, pastor, and writer of Scripture, but he was a man of
persistent prayer!
If you want to
know how to pray for others in the church family, look at the prayers Paul
prayed for other Christians in Ephesians
Jesus was told a
parable about a woman who was not receiving justice from an unrighteous judge.
What did the woman do? She bugged him until the judge got weary of the
continual pressure and granted her justice.
God of course is not like the unjust judge and will gladly hear and
answer His children.
Luke 18:1 tells us what the point of the parable about this persistent woman is, And he spake a parable unto them to this
end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
PRAYER IS A
PARTNERSHIP
Vs. 12 - Moses' hands got heavy. So what did Aaron and Hur
do? They held up Moses' hands. You can
say that they assisted in the prayer battle.
Are missionaries
supposed to pray? Of course they are!
Are pastors
supposed to pray? Of course they are!
Do missionaries
get weary? Of course they do!
Do pastors get
weary? Of course they do!
You can help by
getting under and helping with your own outreached prayers to Heaven.
The missionary
should not carry the whole prayer load.
The pastor should
not carry the whole prayer load.
A couple of years
ago our missionary to Papua New Guinea, Matt Hall, and his partner started
teaching the Bible with a view towards laying a groundwork so they could
present the Gospel to the tribal people with whom they were working.
Before that,
people in our church and other churches were asked to pray for specific tribe
members by name. We were holding up
Matt's hands by praying for the salvation of these people. The end result was
that many of the people that were prayed for by our church people came to a
saving knowledge of Christ.
Is it worth it to
sacrifice time and energy in prayer for the missionaries, the church people,
and the pastors you know? Is it worth it to be a prayer partner for others?
If one soul is
saved, it's worth it.
If one Christian
is protected from Satan's onslaught, it's worth it.
If one believer
grows in Christ and becomes a stronger Christian, it's worth it!
If only one person
were helped by our prayers, it's worth it.
PRAYER IS
POWERFUL
Exodus
With the help of
Aaron and Hur Moses kept his hands up.
His prayer was
proper and persistent, and a partnership.
His prayer was
also powerful. The enemy was
defeated.
Matthew 7:9-11- We
have a reasonably good idea of how to properly answer the requests of our
children. We also desire to answer the reasonable requests of our children. How
much more does God know how to answer our requests! And how much more does God
want to answer our requests!
John
He also tells us
that these great things will be accomplished in answer to prayer.
When something is
asked in Jesus' name, according to His pleasure, the prayer request will be
answered so that God will be glorified through the Lord Jesus.
Beloved, it's time
to get our hands up!
It is time to
pray.