Israel at Mount Sinai

                                                                  Exodus 19:1-15

 

September 15, 2024

 

Israel at Mount Sinai

On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.  They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There, Israel encamped before the mountain, while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel:  ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.  Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

So, Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him.  All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.  And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.”

When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord, the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day, the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.  And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.  No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.”  So, Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments.  And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.”

 

 Has God brought you to Himself?  John 3:16 is often quoted; most children who have gone to a Vacation Bible School have learned it and can quote it.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  And it would not be wrong to replace the world and put your name in its place. I was not taught John 3:17, that only in Jesus will I find life in the full. Shall we look at the 17^th verse?  ^:” For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  Jesus took your place, your sins, and mine. He took the full wrath of God His Father to buy you out of eternal punishment, by shedding His blood for you and me.  It is often referred to as His finished Work on the Cross.  They also did not teach me verse 18,  ^“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”  Many will try to earn what is a gift, but God the Father has stated, Your good act is like filthy rags to me.  That is the bad news, one way, one door, to receive eternal life.

 

But to those who receive Jesus by faith and the grace given by God, they do not become sinless, I can testify to that fact in my own life. I am still a mess, but my heart desires to allow Jesus to be my Master.  The apostle Paul, who God used to write a lot of the New Testament, had this to say in Romans 7:15-20. “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do.  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”  Paul is referring to a defeated follower of Christ, a person who is allowing their feeling and not the Spirit to control their thoughts and actions.  Many a person who goes by the title of Christian has an identity problem; they have no understanding of who they are in Christ, so they go about doing religious stuff, but do not seek the Holy Spirit to guide them into fellowship with Jesus.  So let me share your truth Identity.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.  Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority,  or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.  For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 1 Peter 2:11-15)

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice

 

Counsel from a father-in-law

 

Exodus 18:13-27

 

September 14, 2024

 

Counsel from a father-in-law

The next day, Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening.  When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?”  And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God; when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.”  Moses' father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good.  You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.  Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do.  Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.  And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So, it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.  If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”

So, Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.  Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.  And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves.  Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country.

We all need a Jethro in our lives, someone who observes what we are doing and gives us counsel on how to do it better.  As followers of Jesus, we must have people who are wise in the ways of God to give us counsel.  I have shared that one of the greatest blessings one can have is a mentor; I have been blessed to have many.  And we have this counsel in 2 Timothy 2:2, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”

You and I need that person who tells you, “What you are doing is not good.”  My pastor is that kind of man, and he has addressed that with me when I allow my personal feelings about COVID-19 to be part of a document, From the Back Porch.  Larry York was my pastor and friend, and I look to his wise counsel.  I also look to my prayer partner of many years, John Davis, and Forrest Lowry.  

Yes, I am a mess, and I need men who love me and will shoot straight with me.  Guess what, you need them also, both men and women, who will give you wise counsel.  Note: Men need men as mentors, and Ladies need ladies.  

Soon, we do not know how long, Jethro went back home, but what he did for Moses has changed the way our system of governing people all over the world.  Can you imagine doing what Moses was doing before his father-in-law came to him?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice 

 

 

Jethro's Advice

 

Exodus 18:1-12

 

September 13, 2024

 

Jethro's Advice

Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.  Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her home, along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land”),  and the name of the other, Eliezer (for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”).  Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God.  And when he sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her,”  Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent.  Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them.  And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.  Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.” And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.

Have you wondered why Jethro said her two sons with her and not your two sons?  Me too, and the Scripture does not shed light on this subject.  Moses's first encounter with his father-in-law since leaving for Egypt was very warm, and yet Scripture tells us not one thing about how he reacted toward his wife and sons.  One must understand that Moses was following the customs of the time he lived.  It had nothing to do with the joy of having his wife and sons back.  He showed great respect for his father-in-law, and he listened to his counsel.

 

But let us look for applications for our walk with the Lord.  Scripture tells us to honor our elders; in Leviticus 19:32, "You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.”  We have this command in 1 Peter 5:5, “ Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."  If you do not do this, you will find it very hard, maybe impossible to show honor to God.  1 Chronicles 29:11, “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.”

 

Moses gave an account of what God had done for him and the people of Israel, making Jethro understand that the God of Israel was the only God worthy of worship.  Once more, an area where many of us do not proclaim what God has done for us.  But that also is a commandment from our Lord, as you go tell what God has done for you.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Israel Defeats Amalek

 

 

 

Exodus 17:8-16

September 10, 2024

Israel Defeats Amalek

Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.  So, Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”  So, Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.  Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.  But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So, his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.  And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”  And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, ^“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil.  For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!  Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?  And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

 

AI Overview

The Bible verse "a cord of three strands is not quickly broken" appears in Ecclesiastes 4:12. The verse can be interpreted in a few ways: 

 

·      Strength in numbers: Three people are stronger together than an individuals. 

 

·      Defense: Two people can stand back-to-back to defend each other. 

 

·      Unity: God's people are stronger together than they are as individuals. 

 

·      Need for each other: People need each other.

As I read this account of Moses, the verses from Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 came into my mind, God could have given Moses Victory by holding his hands up, but instead, God wants to show us how much better we are when we work together.  “Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!  Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?  And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

But as I began to look there was a lot of Bible instruction on coming alongside another person to help or encourage.  “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,  not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”(Hebrews 10:24-25)

I was sure glad that God did this, I do not want to think about my life without Jan; Genesis 2:18, “The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”  So many verses, what if the follower of Christ obeys this verse in Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

         From the Back Porch,

         Bob Rice

From the Rock Water

 

 

Exodus 17:1-7

September 9, 2024

 

From the Rock Water

All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.  Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”  But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”  So, Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”  And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.  Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.  And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?

Several Scriptures tell us 600,000 plus Israelite men crossed the Red Sea out of Egypt, and this is what “Got Questions” had to say on the subject.  “This phrasing is traditionally interpreted to mean just over 600,000 adult men, implying a total population about four times that size, or 2.4 million.”  And you have a small group of 1200 that shows up on Sunday, and they grumble, and by doing so, you wonder why God has put this burden on you?  I bet they have not planned a stoning party for you.

Clearly, they had a trust problem, and its focus was Moses, but it was God they refused to trust.  Moses is just like a pastor who knows he is not a hired hand and his only Master is God, not a bunch of adults acting more like two-year-olds who have ears that cannot hear and eyes that cannot see what the Spirit is doing.  That was the problem for Moses and Aaron, and not one thing has changed.  The culture of today is very different than then, but the hearts of people have not changed. As I stated in an earlier paper, I fight my desire to grumble; it is clear that we do not want God or man to mess with our plans.  

Now here is the problem, God loves you too much, not to mess with your plans, His plan for your life is not about you but Him.  He, the Truth, He is Love, and He is the one who saw you before you were and numbered your day.  Why then would you want to follow the folly of a culture that is built on lies and deception?  Jesus had this to say to us in John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Any other claim is a lie, for Truth has spoken.  

Note: From Bob, Following Jesus is not easy, you will find that often those you love, reject you, and often they call you names like a religious person, and that is one of the nice ones.  I have found that the enemy of my soul brings up even from childhood my many sins.  He loves me to confess things about my person that are not true, like I am dumb, and when that does not work, he tells me I’m too smart to buy into the Truth in the Scriptures.  His favorite is you deserve, and when that does not work, he talks about your little worth, but he is a liar and the Father of lies.  So, I’ve learned when I heard those messages, to run to Jesus, for it is not from Him, and I am redeemed and God has stated that He does not remember the sins of His saints that or confessed.  So that only leaves one source, the devil, and his demons.

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Jesus Calms a Storm

  

Matthew 8:23-27

 

September 16, 2025

 

Jesus Calms a Storm

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.  And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.  And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.”  And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

 

Storms, are you experiencing one at this time in your life?  We live in a time that seems to produce storms. Have you paid attention to culture in our world, anger, hate, fear, and the desire for more?  A culture for calling good evil and evil good.  And what has it produced? Broken families, unfaithful marriages, children left to raise themselves, and let the internet and social media set the values for your child.  Yes, storms, with destruction and death to your hope and dream.

 

I do not believe that, as a society, we have a good understanding of how to fix the problem. Why have we allowed children to raise themselves?  Our desire for more is that we now believe a mother investing in her child is of less value than being in the workplace, making a name for herself.  What about dad, who begins to look at some of the young gals, and enjoys the mind game of what if I had that and not the older model, with those kids that do not value all that I’ve done for them. That a storm on the horizon. 

 

One verse in the Bible gives us a clear understanding of who is behind all the storms in our culture.  Give thought to this verse; it gives both the problem and the solution.  John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”   The thief is that old serpent, the devil.  Jesus is the only one who can calm the storm in your life.  Look at the verses above and below verse 10.  John 10:9, 11, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”  And 11,  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

 

Jesus is the only way out of the storm, and let me warn you, just because a man has a title of pastor or priest, it does not mean He is a follower of Christ.  The only way to know is to see​k, Jesus, study His word, but the first and only important thing is to begin with inviting Jesus into your life, He knows all about you and He loves you anyhow.

 

From our Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

God will always Provide

 

 

Exodus 16:13-36

September 8, 2024

 

In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning, dew lay around the camp.  And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground.  When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.  This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’”  And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less.  But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.  And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.”  But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.  Morning by morning, they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,  he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’”  So, they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.  Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field.  Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.  And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?  See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore, on the sixth day, he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”  So, the people rested on the seventh day.

Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.  Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.”  As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept.  The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.  (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)

I had no understanding of Omer, but the Lord commanded them to gather as much as each person needed to eat.  I read two sources that say it would be about two quarts per individual.  When I was young, we had, I believe, what was called the blue law, that stores were not open, and those that were could not open till 1:00 pm.  No adult beverages were sold on Sunday, and many other things.  

It was designed to get people to attend Church, to have a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord.  One big problem, it is not their present God, it is their heart.  Today, Sunday, is not even a day of rest; it is just one more day of the week.  For many years, Sunday was the day we attended our local church, but after Church services, I came home and did whatever was needed, mowed the lawn, washed the car, and I was acting like my neighbors who never attended Church but for weddings and funerals.   The bad thing about sharing a conviction is that God convicted me that I was not having a day of solemn rest, and that it was a bad testimony to my neighbors.  If He has not told you to do so, then go about your Sunday as you have been doing.  

Many of the things God gave Israel as commands were to help them. God, being all-knowing, knew we needed a day to rest; many of the problems in our health are that people are not getting the rest they need.  When it comes to your Spirit, it needs to be able to sit in a quiet room and seek the Lord for counsel on many things that have us all worried and unsettled.

For forty years, the people of Israel wandered around in the wilderness, because of unbelieve.  Your life may seem as if you can’t get to a place of contentment and peace. Could it be that you are not ready to trust God with your life? You do not have to stay there; just ask Jesus to take over. He is waiting for you to seek Him, listen, and do as He guides you out of the wilderness.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Bread from Heaven

 

 

Exodus 16:1-12

 

September 7, 2024

 

Bread from Heaven

They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.  And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness,  and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.  On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”  So, Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt,  and in the morning, you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us? “And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”

Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’”  And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.  And the Lord said to Moses,  “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight, you shall eat meat, and in the morning, you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

 

This was very convicting and easy for the writer to find application for his life, and be honest, you also are a grumbler.  I’m going to list some of the things I’ve grumbled about when traffic seems to be going 20 miles under the speed limit, when people run red lights, do not seem to know how to turn, and sit waiting for the light to change.  Are sit at a red light when it changes because they are on a cell phone.  You may do some of that also, we as a people want things to go according to our plan.  We grumble at church when the lights are so low you cannot see the print on your Bible, or the lights are so low, but the stage is fully lit, more like a concert than worship.  What about when one of you has a memory issue, and things get hard for you, spending a lot of time looking for things put in the worry place?  And I’m sure you never gripe about those public servants, who are a lot like us, who forget that they were sent to represent us, the people, and whose focus is on more power and wealth.  

It was easy for me to hear God speaking to me in this, my wilderness is very different than the people of Israel, they were three days without water, and then it was bitter, and it had been a good while and they wanted meat to eat, and bread, do they cry out to God who they worshiping after seeing what He did to the army of Egypt, no they grumbled against Moses and Aaron.   But Moses made it clear, and the same is true today, it is God we are grumbling against, not the men who lead us.  

 

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Bitter Water Made Sweet

                                                                   Exodus 15;22-27

September 6, 2024

 

Bitter Water Made Sweet

Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur.  They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.  When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore, it was named Marah.  And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”  And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord^] made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them,  saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”

 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

Three days and found no water, can you put yourself in their shoe? They had just seen God destroy the army of Egypt, and let them walk across the Red Sea on dry ground, and after three days without finding water, they had forgotten how big their God is.  And they come to Marah, and it water is bitter, and they are really upset with Moses.  You ask any pastor who has been given a task by God, and it so to speak hits that bitter water point, and you are going to have a lot of backseat quarterbacks.  

I was going to ask God has changed, but you know He changes not.  And the more I read, we humans are not any different than our Jewish friends; we have short memories.  This was the requirement for them, and it is my belief it is still for those who are followers of Jesus. “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”  IF that is a two-letter word, and it is repeated in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “ If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”  IF, and that applies to you and me, until we learn to listen to the voice of our Lord and do what is right in His eyes and keep His commandments and all of His statutes, this nation we care about will not be healed.  Let me quote a man I had great respect for: “You can’t, He never said you could, He can and He promised He would.”  It's all about whether you are willing to ask the Holy Spirit to give you ears to hear and eyes to see, and follow Jesus, not the culture or anything else.  

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

 

The Song of Moses

                                                                            Exodus 15:1-21

 September 5, 2024

 The Song of Moses

Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.  The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.  The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name. 

One has to wonder if the person who goes by the title of Christian believes that.

 “Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.  Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.   In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrow your adversaries;  you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.  At the blast of your nostrils, the waters piled up;  the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.  The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.  I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’ You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?  Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?  You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.  “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.  The peoples have heard; they tremble;  pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.   Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.  Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.  You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.  The Lord will reign forever and ever.”

 For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.  Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.  And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”

They were witnesses of God's power. It took a little faith to step into to Sea with the walls of Water on each side, but they were now out of the sea on dry ground, and they witnessed God letting the  Egyptian army come into the middle of the Sea and the waters to cover them.  And they did not look to Moses to give him praise; they looked to the Lord, for He alone had done a great thing.  This is what I witnessed: God begins to move in a Church, and the next thing you see is many churches copying what they believe will give them the same results.  I witnessed and was part of the Law Renewal, a method using Lay people to go to the Methodist Church and share what Jesus was doing in their lives.  Soon, other denominations were asking Ben Campbell Johnson, who heads up the program for the Methodist, to send a team to their Church.  But as always, it was the Baptists who came up with a copycat version, and soon, if a Church had great success, and we witnessed God doing that in the lives of many, including the team members, a year later, they as for another team to come in hope of it bringing renewal, and it just did not work.

Many of us who were leading teams believed God had withdrawn His hand, and it became apparent that the Lay Witness Mission had become like the church that had the same Evangelist come back the next year, in that two years ago God had shown up, and they believed it was the Evangelist, and not God who spoke through him. 

As we keep reading the account, we will find they had short memories of their God; are we that much different?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice 

 

They Crossed the Red Sea

 

Exodus 14:26-31

 

September 4, 2024

 

They Crossed the Red Sea

 

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.”  So, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.  The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.  But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

Thus, the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.  Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

 

Have you noticed the drastic change in your culture? Well, we have in the USA, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,  without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”  (2 Timothy 3:1-5)  We are witnesses to this, and it is like God is drawing this nation into the Red Sea.   We have a prophecy going back to Isaiah 5:20, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

 

When I was just a small child, it was clear that those Yankees were different from us Southerners.  But as I grew up and was taught by my parents, that yes, how and where a person was raised had a lot to do with their actions.  But they made sure that we showed respect for anyone older than us.  I never heard my dad use a bad word, then one day, and I’m not sure what happened, but to our shock, he said those damn Yankees,  and he was not referring to a baseball team.  As I got older, I studied the  American Civil War (April 12, 1861- May 26, 1865).  My dad was born in 1919, 58 years after the war that divided a nation. His grandparents were very much involved in that war, and the way they were treated by the North after the war.  It is easy to see how people would not trust them, but as a nation, we put that in the rearview mirror. 

 

 Today, September 4, 2024, our nation is divided once again, but this time it is over values, morals, respect, and integrity. So let me address those items: Values are defined as “the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something Your support is of great Value."  Please allow me to share mine, and in that, we are so divided; they may not be yours, but I would die for these, that is the value I place on them.  Freedom, that all men are created equal, and that God has never made a mistake.  My right to Worship God, my right to share my thoughts about His love for all people, and that Jesus is the answer to our division.  The value I put on the family, and that they are my responsibility, not yours or the government's.  Moral: “A person’s idea of morals tends to be shaped by their surrounding environment (and their belief system). Moral values shape a person’s ideas about right and wrong.” Let me once more share that these are my morals, I was taught these by my parents, and by studying the Scriptures.  Not stealing, lying, being lazy in my work, and having a sexual relationship with a man is morally wrong for a man, as is having a sexual relationship with a woman other than your wife.  Respect is defined by the Apostle Paul in Romans 12:10, “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”  As I have stated, I was taught to show respect for anyone 10 years older than myself; they were to be addressed as yes, sir or yes, ma'am.  Anyone in authority was to be given respect, and that for sure meant the police.  When I went into the Army, I had officers who, as men, did not earn respect, but the uniform and rank did.  When it comes to politicians, the same holds, and I must say they do not make that easy.  That brings us to one that I value very highly; integrity: “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. "He is known to be a man of integrity."  From the Scriptures: Proverbs 19:1, “Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity  than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.”  Proverbs 12:22, “The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.”  Psalm 41:11:12 is very good counsel; ”I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me. Because of my integrity, you uphold me and set me in your presence forever.”

 

In this life, we are all going to experience our Red Sea. Now, the question is, are you going to cross on dry ground, or have the water come over you?

 

I’m 82, and have been blessed by God in so many ways, it took a while to live the values that I now employ in my life, but they have given me something that many are not getting, peace, love, not hate for those who hate me for being a person with values, who has no doubt that God has open the Red Sea of my life to place my feet on sound footing.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

 

 

 

Pharaoh Regrets

  

Exodus 14:10-25

 

September 3, 2024

Pharaoh Regrets 

When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord.  They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?  Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”  And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.  The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

 

Some may say, What is wrong with them? Did they not believe in God? The answer is no, they believed it was going to be a slaughter, and guess what, 98 % of church members, and I'm not sure about the 2 % would be blaming your Moses and begging God to fight for them.

 

Now, Bob, that is so harsh, and you are right, but how many of you and this writer have asked why me, God?  Yes, we are not that different than them.

The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.  Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.  And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen.  And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

 

Often, God allows you to have your Red Sea out front and your enemy closing in; it comes in many forms, divorce, loss of job, kids in trouble at school, and often being told you have cancer or something worse.  And the only path is the Red Sea, and that is going to take more faith than you have; you need a miracle, you need Jesus.

 

Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them,  coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.

Do you believe in demons? Scripture tells us they are fallen angels, but Israel's Arc Angel is Michal, their Prince.  He was under orders to protect and fight for the Chosen People.

 

 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.  And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.  And in the morning, the Lord, in the pillar of fire and of cloud, looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic,  clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”

 

Maybe doing as Morses did is the application you and I need.   Just do what God has told us to do, by the faith He has given us, and know He is God.  The Egyptians got it, but it was too late; the waters were coming over them.

 

From ​our Back Porch,

Bob Rice