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[ Silence ] [MUSIC] [music] God is a good God.

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God don't ever change. God is a good God. And I'll never erase his name. I keep on telling you that God is a good God.

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♪ God won't ever change ♪ ♪ God is a good God ♪ ♪ That's why I'll ever praise his name ♪ ♪ He's captain of the ocean ♪

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♪ He's captain of the sea ♪ He rides on every windstorm. And he moves in every breeze. I keep on telling you, God is a good God.

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God won't ever change. My God is a good God. ♪ That's why my God ever praises me ♪ ♪ He's Alpha and Omega ♪

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♪ The beginning and the end ♪ ♪ He'll save your soul from a burning hell ♪ ♪ And He will wash away all of your sins ♪ I keep on telling you God is a good God.

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God won't ever change. God is a good God. That's why I'll ever praise him. Oh, my God led the children of Israel.

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He led them across the Red Sea. He led them to a promised land. And he will do the very same for you. I keep on telling you, God is a good God.

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God won't ever change. God is a good God That's why I'll ever praise His name I keep on telling you that God is a good God

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God won't ever change God is a good God That's why I'll ever change His name ♪ Oh, that's why I'll ever praise His name ♪

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♪ That's why I'll ever praise His name ♪ ♪ His name ♪ Amen. Hear this word, which is the basis for the morning message. It's found in the book of Exodus, chapter 17, verses 9

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through 16. Exodus chapter. In the wilderness journey, the Israelites face one crisis after another. Bread, water, and then a military crisis. They have to deal with hunger, thirst, and now they have the Amalekites fight. It seems that the Amalekites attacked Israel. They are the aggressors here. They

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attacked Israel from the rear. In the rear is where the baggage was kept along with the the aged, the infirm. So they smote them there to take away the spoils. For those who have enlisted in the journey

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from Egypt to Canaan, I have news for you. It's not over when we witness some miracles in the desert. have battles to fight. You must contend against a fierce and treacherous enemy, an enemy that

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attacks from the rear and seeks to rob God's people of valuable resources in the struggle. have the Amalekites to fight. What weapons do the Israelites have to fight the Amalekites? Israel might well have gathered weapons that the Egyptians left when they were drowned in the

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Red Sea. But the Amalekites are experienced warriors. The Israelites are no match for the Amalekites. Raw recruits are not ready for such a confrontation of skilled and experienced warriors. But Moses says to Joshua, "Select some strong men

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and go out to fight the Amalekites." They're not to stay in the camp. Good soldiers just don't stay in the camp all the time. They must go out and fight. So this emphasis that we have started here recently in a special way of outreach has to do with going out to fight. And in

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In this instance, the Israelites are to bring the battle to the Amalekites. "Tomorrow," says Moses, "I will stand on top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand." The rod of God is a special symbol of divine power. The people of God are to use the

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rod of God. So Moses had some experience with the rod of God. He used that rod when he started his work of liberation as he before Pharaoh when he was at the stage of the beginning of the struggle. He said to God, "Who am I that I should go before Pharaoh?" And God said to him, "What is it

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you have in your hand?" And he said, "A rod." And God told him to use it. So the rod of God conquers serpents. The rod of God controls the plagues that are visited upon the Egyptians. The rod of God is a valuable resource in the fight against the Amalekites. Moses says,

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tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand." And this was done. And when Moses' hand was raised, the prevail, but when he let his hands down the Amalekites prevail. Now when we think about raised hands they may be a symbol of prayer. We raise our hands, we solicit

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the power of heaven, that which is above. We solicit the power of heaven in the affairs of this earth, we lift holy hands in prayer. We need Heaven's intervention. The fight against the Amalekites is a difficult struggle, and we need superior spiritual resources. We

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the rod of God lifted in our favor. So when Moses lifts his hands the battle moves forward in favor of the Israelites but in the course of time Moses hands become heavy. He lets down his hands and the Amalekites prevail. You know, it takes some special effort and energy just

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to keep your hands up all the long time. Doesn't take long for you to be notified that you've become weary and you let down the hands. So this is what happens to Moses. And we have battles to fight. We're fighting battles on every hand. As a

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nation, we have battles to fight. We are all disturbed over the economy. That's a battle to fight. We look and we hear the stock market every day, and they notify us of problems in the unemployment, problems in our schools, problems with the

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nation, with immigrants coming in, affecting the employment situation. We have all kinds of problems that are affecting the that we face each day, we have these battles to fight. And we not only have battles to fight as a nation, but we have battles

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to fight in a personal way. We have our own struggles with our own well-being as far as our bodies are concerned, our mental conditions are concerned, our spiritual relationship with eternal. We all have our battles to fight. Battles to fight. We

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have the Amalekites to contend with. So Moses holds up his hands, and when he lets them down, they see that they are not prevailing and so Joshua and her come to aid him, to assist him and they hold up his hands and as they hold up his hands, the rod of God which is available in the struggle, the

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Israelites prevail. We often sing the song, "Jesus, won't you hold my hand while I run this race?" And we prayerfully ask for God's presence and for His power in the battles that we have to fight. The hands are lifted. The hands are spread

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out. Joshua on one side and her on the other. That is teamwork. Teamwork. And we can never have too much teamwork when it comes to the cause of Jesus Christ, of working together. Some some persons instead of holding up hands,

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they want to sit on their hands. But the symbol here in the struggle is that Moses holds up his hands and when they become heavy,

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he has received support here. But this support and this whole effort on the part of Moses and his team is one that is dedicated to the glory of God.

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The battle is God's, and he's to receive the glory. We sing again, what a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms. In other words, they're not just dependent upon themselves,

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they have with them in this struggle, the rod of God. They're depending upon God. Their hands become heavy when they're let down, but when Moses lifts his hands with the support

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of his comrades in the struggle, they prevail. So it takes Aaron and her to hold up the hands of Moses. But the hands are heavy when they are not held up continuously.

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They become heavy. They're let down. And I guess when we look at ourselves in the struggle, we have Aaron and Hur, the faithful ones who

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are there in the struggle, to support Moses in the effort. They're there. Then there are those who, I guess, who still are in the camp. They're the soldiers who are still in their tents.

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And I guess 40% of our members are still in their tents this morning. In their tents. Instead of being there to hold up the hands of Moses, they're still in the camp. But the battle is not fought in the tents.

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It's on the battlefield. And they're active, Ben, her and Joshua are out there in the struggle. They're holding up their hands.

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And the struggle is supported by them. And the Bible says that Israel discomforted the Amalekites with the edge of the sword. And after the battle,

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we see when the struggle is all over, God leads the Israelites to victory. They obey His Word. They participate in the struggle.

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They use His power. And they overcome because they are obedient to His Word. And when it's all over, they have gained the victory. And Moses builds an altar

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and calls it Yahweh Nissi. which means, "Yahweh is my banner. The Lord is my banner." You know, sometimes we fight struggles, we engage in battles and when it's all over, we forget who enabled us to gain

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victory. We forget. But God here tells Moses to remember, to take special efforts to remember. Various groups march behind various banners. But here Yahweh Nissi, Jehovahness is, it is, I think, in the King James, means, "The Lord is my banner. The Lord is my banner." You know, sometimes

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we are ashamed. We're ashamed to talk about God on our jobs because somebody will say that you're fanatical. But the Lord my banner." In other words, God has given a victory to his people, and God tells them to go and tell it. Don't hide it under

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a bushel, but tell it. Spread the Word of what God has done. The Lord has done great things for us. We're off, we're glad. and he says, "Rehearse it." In other words, don't be ashamed. Rehearse it in the lives of your family so that your children,

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your relatives, your friends will all know about it. Rehearse it. Tell it over and over again. The Lord is my pal. Oh, we see We see the various parades we have, Thanksgiving parades, Christmas parades, homecoming parades, and we have the various banners that they march with.

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They come after those banners, they march behind them. And they're in large letters, they have attractive displays. But there is no banner that is more significant than the Lord himself. He is the banner.

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He's the banner of hope. He's the banner of love. He's the banner of patience. The Lord is my banner.

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And so this is the banner that we march with as we go forth and we sing, "Stand up, stand up for Jesus." Soldiers of the cross lift high his royal banner. It must not suffer loss.

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From victory unto victory his army shall he lead till every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed. So let us brothers and sisters march with this banner. It is the blood stained banner.

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Let us march with this banner. It's the banner of suffering. It's the banner that is carried by all who follow in his train.

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So march, march on from victory unto victory. And then the last word there is that you'll have this fight with the Amalekites. You'll have this fight from generation to generation.

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So don't think anything is strange or peculiar to you when you engage in a struggle. When you have to fight against the Amalekites, don't think that this is something

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that God has just reserved for you. It's a way of life. From generation to generation, we have the Amalekites to fight.

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So as we go forth into the next day or so, or the next week, or whether it be the next year, We always have the Amalekites to fight. As we sing the hymn of invitation,

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let's lift up our hands. [BLANK_AUDIO] [ Silence ]