Countdown To Pentecost - Part I

Hello. Good afternoon, everyone. Good to be down here again. We've had a good trip down. It doesn't need to be too much traffic. We avoided Trump. I guess he's down here in this direction somewhere. We missed that. That's good. But, yeah, we're going to be going to... Next week, we're going to be actually going down to General Kopp's Felder. So, we'll be down there next week, along with, I think, Mike...

...Mora Phelps are going to be down there, as well as the Shutties. So, there'll be a lot of us going down there the next week. Actually, you know, they had the first one. It was in 1995.

And, Evelyn and I, even though we're out in Seattle for five years, we've made every General Kopp as a Felder with the exception of one. I don't remember which one we missed, but Evelyn probably does. You can probably think about it, if you remember which one it was. I know we missed one, but that was it. One of the few that had missed... We had raised a hand once time. How many have been here? Every one. I think one person raised their hands.

And they said, how many have been here but all but just one? And I think we raised... About three of us raised our hand, so we're too many. But we always enjoy going down there. And it's good to meet other ministers, and it's a lot of fun to do. So we're going to be going down there. We are going to Lake George, and we do have a place... We're actually staying with Deborah and Chris, Judy. Chris went online.

He found a really gorgeous... I think it's a four or five-bedroom house. It's really nice. He's got a six-bedroom. Yeah. He's got six-bedroom, four-bathroom, something like that. And so he's got lots of second ties. But anyway, he's been at that. And so we're going to... There are four of them, and then the two of us. And also our son, Derek, and granddaughter Cindy, be coming up from Mississippi. They'll be staying with us as well. So it'll be eight of us. But there'll be lots of room for eight.

We've all got our own bedrooms. I'm not going to have every bedroom. I can have mine. No. Anyway, so we're looking forward to going... We've been to New York once, I think. But that's the first time they had the feast out there. So I'd be looking forward to that. That should be really nice. It's on a lake, too, as a Lake George. So I'm not familiar with that area, but it should be really nice. I'll talk a little bit about the period we're now in. It's been brought up.

We're in the countdown period to Pentecost. We're in right now. Actually, I'm going to be part one of a two-part sermon series. Actually, you're the only one that's going to have to hear part two after Pentecost. But that's just about half of the fall. But anyway, it got my mind thinking because a recent letter from the chairman, Dr. Ward, he sent a letter from the chairman dated April 9th this past year, just a few weeks ago.

And he wrote about what he calls one of the most interesting times, and often trying times, that is recorded in the Bible. He then added in that letter, he says, historically, it is a period of contrast in which some gained the victory, while on the other hand, some stumbled and failed. He was talking about this period we're now in, the 60-day countdown period to Pentecost, which we're now in. And Pentecost is unique among all of God's annual feasts and holy days. It's the only holy day that we're instructed to count down to.

It's the only one. Rather than just saying you're doing this at the time, this day of the month, you have to count down to it. We're instructed to do that. Let's read that back in Leviticus 23, here in the introduction to my sermon here this afternoon. Leviticus 23, verse 1, of course, Leviticus 23 says, you know, summarizes all of God's annual feasts and holy days. This one chapter, Leviticus 23, verse 1, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, the feasts of the eternal, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations.

These are my feasts. They're not the Jews' feasts, they're my feasts, God says. Verse 4, these are the feasts of the eternal, holy convocations, which you shall proclaim that they're appointed times. Then tells us here in the next few verses, verses 5 through 8, to observe the Passover, Days of Unleavened Bread. Let's get down out of verse 9. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land which I give you, can you reap its harvest?

Then you should bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. And ye shall wave the sheep before the Lord to be accepted on your behalf. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it. That's the day after the Sabbath that occurs during the Days of Unleavened Bread. And ye shall offer on that day when ye wave the sheaf a male lamb of the first year without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Eternal. So then tells us when to observe the Passover of Days of Unleavened Bread.

Or, I already saw that, I should say. And then the day after the weekly Sabbath, that's when the countdown to Pentecost. It tells us here, it tells us to count off from that day to count to Pentecost beginning in verse 12 of Acres 23. Excuse me. And ye shall offer on that day when ye wave the sheaf a male lamb of the first year without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord. So this wave sheaf offering represented Christ, of course, as the first of the first fruits, who gave his life and as portrayed by the Passover we just observed not long ago.

His sacrifice was then accepted for all of us before the Father, so we could then become a part of the harvest of the first fruits of God's calling. Of course, when God went to his Father to be accepted as that first of the first fruits that have occurred three days and three nights later after he was resurrected, which is also, of course, during the days of Unleavened Bread.

But then his structures are given for counting down to Pentecost here beginning in verse 15 of the Lincus 23. And ye shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, a day of the Sabbath that occurs during Unleavened Bread, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven Sabbaths shall be completed.

Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath, then ye shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. So the day after the seventh Sabbath is the first day of the week, which is why we always observe Pentecost on a Sunday, day after the seventh Sabbath, and the day after a Sabbath, of course, Sunday. Verse 21. Let's turn properly down to verse 21. And ye shall proclaim on that same day that you count down to, the day we call Pentecost, it is a holy convocation to you.

You should do no customary work on it. It should be a statue forever in all your drawings throughout your generations. And now in the Old Testament, this particular holy day that we observe as Pentecost is called the Feast of Weeks. That's recording Deuteronomy 16 verses 10 and 16. Why was it called the Feast of Weeks? Because you shall count seven weeks for yourselves and begin to count the seven weeks from the time that you began to put the sickle to the grain.

Deuteronomy 16 verse 9. We have also sometimes in the Church referred to it as the Feast of the First Roots. But officially in the Old Testament it's called the Feast of Weeks.

Of course, in the New Testament it's simply called Pentecost, or count 50 in Greek, because you count 50 days. Now, since the countdown to Pentecost begins during the days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost is thus directly linked to the Passover days of Unleavened Bread. It links Passover days of Unleavened Bread to Pentecost. They link together because of this countdown period to Pentecost. So that then makes the entire period of time we are now in, right now, this countdown period very significant, as Dr.

Ward even directed in his letter, an indicator, I should say, in his letter. So with the Passover days of Unleavened Bread being linked to Pentecost, what also would that indicate during that term of time should be focused on? What does that indicate? I think that if it's linked to Pentecost, it indicates that we should then, we could learn something by focusing on an entire period of time as a whole, since it's linked.

The Passover is linked to Pentecost. I think that tells us it'd be good to look that whole period of time as a whole to see what lesson we might be learned by looking at it that way. And that's what I'm going to do in actually my next two sermons. Today, I will look at this entire period of time from the perspective of the Old Testament, a period of time from Passover to Pentecost.

And then next time, I will look at this entire period of time from the perspective of the New Testament, because as long as it doesn't happen then, too, in the year Christ died between Passover and Pentecost. You can learn a lot by looking at the entire period of time as a whole. So today, then, in Part 1, we will look at the time between Passover, Passover, the days of only bread and Pentecost, from the perspective of the Old Testament. So my title is Countdown to Pentecost, Part 1. Countdown to Pentecost, Part 1.

I want to begin by asking this question. And he doesn't tell us exactly in God's words, so you have to kind of speculate a little bit. But why does God have us count? Why does He have us count to Pentecost? Why do you just tell us some truth on this day like all the other holy days? Why does He have us count to Pentecost? Well, you can probably come up with some reasons that I'm not going to come up with, but I just...three reasons to come up. I can think of why we should count down to it. Number one, to a verily linked Pentecost, the days of only bread. Pentecost, too, Passover, I should say, the days of only bread, to link those events together. And two, because maybe God wants us to look at that, lest we can learn to look at the entire period of time as a whole. One to link them together, two to then look at what we can learn from the whole... looking at that as a whole period of time. And maybe three, because as a spiritual first-roots of God's harvest, maybe we have a key role to play in the meaning behind the physical events that took place historically during that period of time in both the Old and New Testaments. Maybe we have a key role to play in those events, and maybe have a spiritual application to each and every one of us as well. So this question is, what events happened during the countdown to Pentecost in the Old Testament? I'm going to look at four main ones. You probably...maybe go in there and get technical and come up with one or two more, but I'm going to look at the four main events that took place. As God was leading Israel out of Egypt to receive the Ten Commandments of Mount Sinai in the day of Pentecost, as we traditionally believe it.

So what happened then during that fifty-day countdown period in the Old Testament?

Well, we know what happened on the Passover. The Passover God passed over all the houses of the Israelites who had the bloodless slain Passover lamb on their derp holes and on the rentals.

Well, the first...and then he passed over them. Well, all the first-world Egyptians on that night died. Israel then forced to leave Egypt and haste, as we know, and they were then trapped at the Red Sea and pursued by the Egyptians. As they were going down there at the Red Sea, they were pursued and trapped. And those...that had occurred during the days of Unleavened Bread.

And as we traditionally understand it anyway, Israel then crossed through the Red Sea on the last day of Unleavened Bread, and all the Egyptians died in the Red Sea.

Let's go back and just read that a little bit. Let's go back to Exodus 14 and read about that event. Very historical event that happens. God will lead you into a lot of Egypt. Exodus 14, let's begin in verse 21. Exodus 14, verse 21, Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, after Israel crossed over and gotten on the other side. Oh no, this is where they were about ready to cross over. The Egyptians were pursuing this. Before they crossed over. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night. And he made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were walled to them on the right hand and on their left hand.

And this is really the beginning of their journey out of Egypt, as that got open the Red Seas to cross over to the other side.

Well, what else was it in this event here, it's described here in Exodus, that ties this journey that Israel was taking back at that time. What ties that journey to our journey? How does that link together? How does that link with us?

I'll hold your place here. I'm just going to turn it real quick. You need to turn there. I was trying to read a couple of scriptures here in 1 Corinthians 10. Here's what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10, in the first two verses. He says, Mover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud and they all passed through the sea. He was just right about there. Moses, the waters were held back.

First too, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

So their journey then, Israel's journey in the Old Testament to flee out of Egypt, it began with a type of baptism. And of course, our journey also began with our baptism, didn't it? Our real journey, spiritually speaking.

So back to Exodus 14, pick it up in verse 27. Exodus 14 verse 27, and Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. And when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth while the Egyptians were still fleeing into it. So the eternal overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained.

But the children of Israel had walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. And the waters were walled to them on the right hand and on their left. So the eternal saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt. So the people feared the Lord and believed the eternal and His servant Moses.

So this shows that the salvation for Israel resulted then in death to all the Egyptians.

So now Israel's on the far side of the Red Sea. Think of this situation now.

Egypt has been destroyed. They drowned. Some of their borders are washed on the shore. They see that they're all gone. They're all gone. Israel's safely on the other side.

What happened next? What happened after that? Let's go on here in Exodus 15, verse 1. They had a great victory, didn't they? They celebrated, as we all would. While they escaped death from Egypt, they were delivered out of slavery. Had a cruel bondage where they were dying. Exodus 15, verse 1. Then Moses and the children of Israel, they sang this song to the eternal and spoke, saying, I will sing to the eternal for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and its rider has thrown him to the sea. The eternal is my strength and my song. And he has become my salvation. He is my God and I will praise him.

He's my Father's God and I will exalt him. The eternal is a man of war. The eternal is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army is cast into the sea. His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them. They sank to the bottom like a stone.

Your right hand, O eternal, has become glorious in power. Your right hand, O eternal, has dashed the enemy in pieces. Dropping down to verse 9.

The enemy said, I will pursue. I will overtake them. The Egyptian said, Pharaoh, leading his army.

I will divide the spoil. My desire should be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword. My hand is going to destroy them.

But then what happened? Verse 10.

You blew with your wind and the sea covered them. And they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

So who is like you, O eternal among the gods? Who is like you, glorious and holy, and fearful of praises, doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand, and the earth swallowed him.

Now, the next verse, verse 13, is a key verse when it comes to understanding an extremely important lesson we can learn from counting down to Pentecost.

It tells us what the countdown period is really all about. And prophetically, it links all of us to the countdown to Pentecost.

And it also tells us where we're going in our countdown to Pentecost.

And what our ultimate destiny is going to be when we complete our journey.

It tells us what awaits us on the end of our countdown period, the end of our journey. On verse 13, Exodus 15. Exodus 15, verse 13, You in your mercy have led forth the people whom you have redeemed.

You have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation.

The people whom you have redeemed.

That's really the meaning behind Passover, isn't it, to a large extent? We're all redeemed back to God by and through Christ's sacrifice. God now owns our lives.

We belong to God, not to ourselves.

So we no longer are our own. We are now the people of God.

God has redeemed us and purchased us for the blood of Jesus Christ.

Then it says, you have guided them in your strength.

That ties into the meaning behind the days of unleavened bread.

The resurrection and life of Christ and now receiving God's Holy Spirit, Christ can live his life in us. We have God's crash libby in us and we have his strength in us.

His Christ is now then guiding and directing our lives by and through his Holy Spirit.

Hey, that's not how I saw it. The Egyptian's right there.

But where are we headed? What is our ultimate destination? See, where exactly is our countdown to Pentecost leading us?

It says, we're leading us to your holy habitation. That's the end of this verse. Your holy habitation is leading us to where God dwells.

Leading us to the point where we're going to live with God, be with God. And God's going to live with us because that's going to take place on the earth as we know.

Continuing in verse 14 of Exodus 15, The people will hear and be afraid. Sorrow will take hold of them in heaven to Philistia. Then the chiefs of Eden will be dismayed. The mighty men of Moab, Trani will take hold of them. All that happens to Canaan will melt away.

Fear and dread will follow them. By the greatness of your arm, they shall be as still as a stone. Talk about all of God's enemies here. They can be still as a stone.

But now that's what's going to happen to the Egyptians, to the enemies of God. But what about the people of God?

See, now it's taken to us, to take it back, for two thousand years to all of us.

Do we have a role to play in all this? What is our role in our countdown, depending on cost?

Note the last half of this verse, verse 16, Exodus 15.

First, there will be a still as stone, but then it says, Until your people pass over, holy church, tell the people, the people of God, pass over, whom you have purchased, that you own, your own people.

Stop and think about that, first of all. What's that all about? What is that telling us? That's a way we can look at that, learn something.

See, to your people pass over, to the people pass over whom you have purchased. What does that mean?

See, God has passed over all of our sins, when we are appended and accepted Christ's sacrifice.

But here it says, we must pass over something. Pass over or pass through something. What do we have to pass over? What do we have to pass through?

Pass over what? Pass over where?

See, what must our part be?

What do we have to pass over and go through, so to speak, in order to reach our ultimate destination?

We might put it this way. What obstacles or hurdles are we going to have to pass over?

What obstacle or hurdles might lie in our path, in our journey, depending on the cost, to meet God, to be with God?

And what might stand in our way to try to prevent us from reaching the end of our countenance period? In our journey.

Yeah, it's very interesting to look at this period of time, from the perspective of the Old Testament, God called Israel out of Egypt. Because in Israel's Old Testament countdown to Pentecost, after they had safely and miraculously crossed the Red Sea, you know, you would think, well, they got there, on the end of the Red Sea, now, boy, they're going to go out there and take them to Mount Sinai.

That'd be an easy trip. It's desert, just wilderness, there's nothing there. It had to be pretty easy just to, it might take them a couple weeks, but we can let them, shouldn't be having a problem.

But when you read the count, it was not easy. It was not an easy journey for them to get there, to meet with God. It was a very difficult journey.

Four major obstacles awaited them and stood in their path.

Four major obstacles, any of which could have prevented them from reaching the ultimate destination.

Here's the thing. You look at these spiritually, we had to face and pass through and go over these same four obstacles they had to go through. We all face the very same challenge they did.

So let's now look at the four major obstacles Old Testament and Israel faced on their countdown to Pentecost to see what obstacles we will also have to face on our journey to be in God's kingdom.

So let's now look at four major obstacles Old Testament and Israel faced in their countdown to Pentecost. What was the very first thing they faced?

You'll hear in Genesis 15, from the beginning of verse 20. When you come to it here, the very first thing they faced, of course, you go out in the wilderness, here you have a pretty large amount of people, maybe a couple million people, you're out there in the wilderness, in the desert. What do you need? You need water, don't you?

Where's the water? Now, all of a sudden, somebody says, hey, there's an oasis. I see water! Wow! Let's pick it up in verse 20 of Exodus 15. Then Mary and the prophetess and sister of Aaron took the temple in her hand, and all the women went out after her with temples and with dances. And Mary met them saying, sing to the eternal fierce triumph gloriously. The horstest rider he has thrown into the sea. They had gained a tremendous victory. It is all of us did after we baptized by having our sins put under the blood of Christ. That was a tremendous victory. Victory over death. In the case of Old Testament Israel, their singing and song of triumph here was very short-lived.

Because only three days after their triumph of victory over Egypt and over certain death at the hands of the Egyptians, they faced a major obstacle and a major setback. Exodus 15 verse 22. So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur, and they went three days into the wilderness, and they found no water. Actually, they did find water. Let's see the next verse. When they came to Marah, there was water there, but they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Marah literally means bitter. Therefore, the name was called Marah because it means bitter. Verse 24, and the people then complained against Moses, saying, What are we going to drink? You brought us in here. We thought, wow, there's some water, but this water's no good. It's bitter. It'll make us sick. It will die if we drink this water.

So Moses cried out to the eternal, and the eternal showed him a tree, and when he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. And there he made a statute in ordinance for them, and there he tested them. After we were baptized, what happened? We got to be tested, didn't we? A lot of trials and tests. There he tested them, and he said, If you digitally heed the voice of the eternal your God, and do what is right in his sight, and give ear unto his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians, for I am the eternal who heals you. Now, stop and think about that. See, what major lessons can we learn from what we just read? See, on our journey to Pentecost, after we were baptized, did we ever have, did we ever come to bitter waters? Did we ever have something happen that may just have to battle an attitude of bitterness?

Well, let me ask you another one. Has bitterness ever been a stumbling block for any of the people of God? Have they ever been upset and bitter as they have? I'm not saying in this church, where they have a visceral way they did that.

Could bitterness potentially prevent us from completing our journey? And I'll count down to Pentecost. Notice again the last part of verse 26. I am the eternal who heals you. We knew a guy could heal. We all know that. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't know he does his own time, his own way. But here's my question comes to me. Why in this particular point right here, they've just come to the bitter waters of Mara. They're really upset because now they have no water to drink and the waters are bitter and they're complaining. Why does God tell them at this particular point, I am the eternal who heals you? Why at that particular point in this journey does he say that? I think there's a reason why God said at this particular time, at the time they came to the bitter waters of Mara.

Because an ingrained attitude of bitterness can keep a person from completing his or her journey unless they turn to God for healing. You know, a bitter attitude is there. You get bitter over something. You hover at an attitude of bitterness and let it see it grow and fester in you. It's extremely hard to get rid of it. It can destroy you unless God heals that mindset.

And something that God has to heal, sometimes it's very hard to get rid of it. Something really wrong happens to you that's not right. See, at times when only God can heal, also bitterness, it takes the mind of Christ to really heal us from bitterness. And if we don't ask God to do that, and do that and struggle with that over a period of time, God will heal it. They can remove that from us. They can replace that with a feeling of love. But it takes God's healing. Mind of Christ to do that. Because any attitude of bitterness we hold against anyone or against anything that may have happened to us must be healed before we can continue going forward on our journey. It's got to be healed. It's got to be healed.

Think also about this. God also said, I would put none of these diseases on you, which I brought on the Egyptians. What diseases, quote unquote, here, because these mean a lot of things will be very broad, but there can be a disease that's affecting our thinking in our mind.

So what disease are you covering on the Egyptians? What problem did they have that they had to deal with, that they had to try to resolve and get rid of? Pharaoh, especially.

What happened to Pharaoh? Why wouldn't he let Israel go? God continually hardened his heart, didn't he? He continually hardened his heart against Israel to where he became so bitter in his resentment against Israel that he felt he had to destroy them. And that caused Pharaoh to pursue Israel into the midst of the Red Sea to his own destruction. What does that tell us? If he can't get rid of an attitude of bitterness in a hardened heart, we end up destroying ourselves. We can destroy ourselves if we don't let God heal us of that attitude. See, bitterness is not healed. It can defile us and could lead to our destruction. Let's just go forward here for a moment in the New Testament. Let's go to Hebrews. Let's turn to Hebrews 12. The writer of Hebrews brings this out very plainly.

Hebrews 12. I'm just going to read two verses here in 14 and 15. But Hebrews 12 verses 14 and 15. Where the writer of Hebrews says this, beginning with verse 14. Pursue peace with all people. Even people don't like you. I need to have wholesome things against you. Try to pursue peace in your relationship with them if you can. Pursue peace with all people and holiness. Have a holy attitude toward them.

Without which no one will see the Lord. Wow! So we can't learn how to live peacefully with all people. Even those who may not be for us. He says we're not going to be with Christ. Looking carefully at verse 15. Let anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up, cause trouble, and by this many become defiant. So I was saying there, you better not harbor root of bitterness. You better ask God to heal it. We'll move that from you.

How can bitterness be healed? That's a good question. Actually, if possible, it tells us how it can be healed in Ephesians. Let's go to Ephesians 4.

Ephesians 4, and look at the beginning of verse 29. Ephesians 4, beginning of verse 29, when Paul wrote this, "...let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for a necessary edification to build somebody up, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." Verse 31, especially, "...let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and with any intent to harm somebody through your words or what you may say about them. And be kind instead." How do you heal bitterness? Be kind to one another. Even to those who may not like you. Be tender, hard toward everyone. You know, realize that maybe they've got a problem that you may need to see. We've all had experiences in our background that we have to overcome. We've come to recognize. Be tender, hard, forgiving one another. Doesn't matter whether the other person forgives you or not. Forgive them. It's for us. Forgiving one another. Even as God and Christ forgave you. So bitterness can be healed through applying the mind of Christ, through forgiveness, kindness, having empathy towards others, understand what they're dealing with, and by edifying and building others up. As much as possible by not saying things negative against them or trying to kill them down because they may have done something against you. Okay, that was the first obstacle. The bitter waters of Mara. What was the next obstacle in their countdown to Pentecost? The next obstacle had to do with the test. The test of their faith and God to provide for them. Let's go back to Exodus 16. We're all familiar with this story. Most of us are familiar with this story. Exodus 16 beginning in verse 1.

And they journeyed from Elam, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of sin, which is between Elam and Sinai, in the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. So now they're about one month into their journey.

Verse 2, Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained again against Moses and Aaron in their wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, O that we had died by the hand of the eternal land of Egypt. When we sat by the pots of mead, and we ate bread to the fall. Forget about that there were slaves in Egypt, and they were dying.

They kind of forgot about the negative side of it.

For you have brought us out here into this wilderness to kill a whole assembly with hunger, they said. Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will reign bread from heaven for you. Of course, we talked about manna. And the peoples would go out and gather a certain quota every day that I may test him, whether they will walk in my law or not. And it should be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it should be twice as much as they gather daily. Why twice as much on the sixth day? Coming down to verse 22.

And so it was, on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rules of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said to them, This is what the Lord has said. Tomorrow is a Sabbath of rest, a holy Sabbath of the eternal. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil. And laugh for yourselves all the remains to be kept until morning. So they laid it up until morning as Moses commanded.

And even though they held it over, this time it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it.

They tried to hold it in the other days. That's what happened.

Verse 26. Six days of gathering, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be no gathering, there will be none, there will be none to gather. Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day anyway to gather, but they didn't find any. And the Lord said to Moses, How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws and tell the people, How long do you refuse?

See, the Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore He gives you the sixth on the sixth day, bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place on the Sabbath. Let no man go out to the place trying to gather bread on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day. But here God sanctified the Sabbath, He set it apart from the other six days of the week.

You have to think about it, realize that this had to happen at this time because Israel had been in captivity for over a generation and they didn't, slaves in Egypt, they didn't have an opportunity to keep the Sabbath, most of them they were slaves. They kept the Sabbath, most of them had even forgotten about it, lost track of it. So they heard then to become the test commandment, test their faith for God to provide for them if they kept the Sabbath. That's what it's all about. Can God still provide for me if I keep the Sabbath? That was their test.

You know, every single one of us had to pass that test, didn't we? We came to understand the Sabbath. If I set that day aside and I observed that day, God still worked things out to provide for me? What if I lose my job? What if I don't get as good of a job? What if I lose income? God still take care of me because He's still providing for me. That was a test. We all had to pass that test. Everyone does in one time or another. While I was keeping the Sabbath so important, let's go forward to Exodus 31 just for a moment. Exodus 31 verse 13. Speak to children of Israel and say, Surely my Sabbath you shall keep is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you and sets you apart. Verse 16. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant because a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. For in six days, the eternal made the heavens and the earth and in the seventh day he rested and was refreshed, showing the Sabbath was ordained to be observed from the very beginning. From the time God created mankind. And here it says, a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. So it's still a sign to identify God's people today. But what does this example here tell all of us? It tells us that the test of Sabbath is a test of faith for God to provide for us. And that's a test which can stop or delay our journey. It has stopped or delayed many people's journey. It got to the Sabbath and, wow, I don't know. I had one couple one time, one many years ago, they decided to skip out and keep the Sabbath. But they were big football fans. University of Washington, this case out in Seattle, and they had season tickets. Never missed a game. They said, you know, wait a minute, Patrick. They thought about it. If we keep the Sabbath, we're going to have to give up those season tickets. We're not going to watch any more football games. They struggled for about a month and they just couldn't do it. They gave it up. Football was more important.

It's God working out some other way. Can you still be able to record it now in your DVR? Watch it later, because you had to make sure nobody does what the outcome was. But anyway, there's other ways you can get around that. But anyway, that was a test commandment for them. So, us, test of faith.

Whether God can revive for us or not. What was the third obstacle? It's just what it is. We're facing their countdown to Pentecost. The third obstacle we faced was contention at Rephidim.

We'll see here in just a moment. We turn to Exodus 17. Start reading there in verse 1 of Exodus 17 in just a minute. But contention over what? The contention was over whether God was still with them or whether God was still among them or not. That was the contention. Is God still among us? When you think about where they were at this point, you know, in all God had done, you say, why would they come to a point and realize how would they doubt that God was among them? After you've dropped them through the Red Sea, wiped out and sorted out all the Egyptian to meet, how could they doubt that God was still among them? Let's pick it up in Exodus 17, verse 1. Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the wilderness of sin according to the commandment of the Eternal. And they camped in Rephidim. But again, they all had a problem of water, didn't they? But there's no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people contended with Moses and said, give us water that we may drink. So Moses said to them, why do you contend with me? Why do you? You're tempting God. Why do you tempt God?

And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses. And why is it you have brought us here out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock were thirsted? So Moses cried out to the Eternal saying, what shall I do with this people? They're almost ready to stone me. And the Eternal said to Moses, go out before the people, take with you some of the elders of Israel, and also take in your hand your rod, which you struck the river and go. And behold, I will stand before you there on the rock and horror, and you will strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people they drank. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. So they called the name of the place Masah, which means tempted, and Maribah, which means contention, because of the contention of the children of Israel, because they tempted the Eternal saying, is the Lord among us or not?

End of verse 7. Is God still among us or not? How on the world could they say that, that all the miracles God had performed, providing water for them, healing the waters for them, all in many, many miracles, wiping out the Egyptians, opening the Red Sea, how could they doubt God was still among them? See, what spiritual lesson can we learn from this particular incident?

So what happened here? It caused the people to murmur, complain, and to contend with God, to begin to doubt whether or not God was still with them and was still leaving them. See, even if all those miracles of God had performed.

See, what happened was this when you think about it, this ought to apply to us.

Things didn't go the way they thought they were going to go. Things didn't go as expected.

They'd got things were going to get better. Instead, they didn't get better. They kept getting worse. They went from bad to worse.

And when that happened, they should begin to doubt God. Is God really among us or not? Why is he allowing all things to go this way? Why hasn't God given me these blessings? Why is he allowing me one trial after another, one difficulty after another? See, that's one of the greatest lessons all of us can learn. You have to realize things are going to go wrong at times.

And at times, things might even go from bad to worse.

There's a lot of different reasons for that, which I won't go into, but that happens to all of us.

It doesn't mean that God is no longer among us or that God is no longer leading us. In fact, it probably means just the opposite. It means that God is leading us the same way that they'd led Old Testament Israel, but to face in these different difficulties, trials, to strengthen our faith in God. It probably means that God is leading us just as he led Old Testament Israel. So never doubt God or God's leadership because of circumstances or because of how things may be going in our life or because they're not going as we might have anticipated or expected. What did Christ Himself tell us? Let's go to the New Testament. Let's go to Matthew chapter 5. Let's read a couple of scriptures here in Matthew 5 first. There's going to be a few verses here. This is from Jesus Christ Himself. Here's what He said. He said on the mount to His disciples. He warned them.

He said things are always going to go the way you expect. Things may not always go right.

Matthew 5 verse 10, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteous estate, for theirs are the kingdom of heaven. You're going to be persecuted.

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who went before you.

Let's go to the scripture we always read in the Passover, John 16.

John 16, the first four verses. These are Christ's total disciples.

These things I've spoken to you that you should not be made to stumble. Because things are going to happen, and when they happen, real life will take you ahead of time and don't cause you to stumble.

Or go back or give up. I think I'm no longer among you.

They're going to put some of you out of the synagogues. And the time that's coming, whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. So He's saying, hey, some of you are going to be killed, you're going to be murdered. Wow, I would have got a lot of that.

Would that just tell me more?

And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor me. But these things I have told you that when that time comes, you remember that I told you about these things.

And these things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you, but sometimes I'm not going to be with you, and these things are going to happen. You're going, am I still with you? Yes, don't doubt, I'm still with you.

God has a plan that we're going to work everything out. We'll be in God's kingdom. They won't.

Not at that time, anyway.

Why do we all need to remember this? Because when these things happen, they will happen to some of God's people. Will not allow these trials to cause us to stumble or doubt whether or not God is still among us. So never contend with God as to whether or not He is still among us. But what Christ Himself says is that I will never leave you nor forsake you. Sometimes we may think that, but that's not going to be the case. He's always to go through those things, to build our strength, build our faith, to prepare us for the future.

Now, let's look at one final obstacle that stood in the path of Old Testament Israel in their countdown to Pentecost.

What final obstacle did they yet have to face before they could move forward from Rif again?

The final obstacle they had to face in their countdown to Pentecost was a battle with Amalek. Let's go back to Exodus 17. They had to face a battle with Amalek.

Exodus 17, beginning in verse 8. Now Amalek came and fought with Israel and referred Him. And Moses said to Joshua, Choose us some men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses said, fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and her went up to the top of the hill. And so it was when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed, and when he let it down, Amalek prevailed. When Moses' hands became heavy, they came weary. So they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, and Aaron and her supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other.

Then Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. So the Lord said to Moses, Write this for memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I utterly brought out the reverence of Amalek from under heaven. So Moses built an altar and called to say, The Lord is my banner. For he said, Because the Lord has worn, the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. So what about the important spiritual lesson we learned from this?

Now Pharaoh and Egypt have been destroyed.

Oh, that was not behind them.

From their journey to their countdown to Pentecost, they still had to face Amalek and the Amalekites.

We are now going to do everything within their power to totally destroy Israel. That's why Adam goes, They didn't take prisoners. They totally destroyed their enemies. They were highly feared by all the prize back then.

Stop and think about it. Do we have an enemy who would like to destroy us before we get to the end of our journey? Everything within his power to try to destroy God's people.

What persistent enemy do we have?

The enemy we have is still pursuing us and wants to destroy us as Satan.

See, Satan still stands between us and our goal of completing our journey.

And he wants to prevail against us, but we have to prevail against him. Even his old-distance, we still have to prevail against Amalek. And so we have to realize that's a battle we're going to have from now until the very end of our life, or until Christ's kingdom comes, if whatever happens first.

But how can we prepare ourselves to win that battle? We have to win that battle. How do we verify to do that?

Let's turn real quickly here to the New Testament of Ephesians 6.

I'm going to give you one main major wave. I'm going to add something to it. Ephesians 6, we're all familiar with Ephesians 6.

Again, verse 10, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, the Amalek will stand against the wiles of the devil. If we don't really wrestle against flesh and blood, we think we do. We have problems with human beings, but that's not what the real battle is. We wrestle against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of likeness in heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, the Amalek will do, will stand in that evil den, having done all to stand. Then it goes on to the next version, shows what the part piece of that armor are.

But in addition to what it says here in Ephesians 6, how can we prevail against the continual attacks we face in our battle with Satan? In addition to this, see, how did Israel prevail against Amalek who was out to destroy them? Again, the Amalekites were the fiercest of all the warring nations.

They were feared by all the nations because they knew they took no enemies, they destroyed everybody, women, men, women, children, everything.

So no one wanted to face the Amalekites.

And here, Israelites are facing the Amalekites.

And who are the Israelites?

Who are they?

They were nothing more than a nation of freed slaves. They would never engage in warfare like this before. They'd just been freed.

They didn't have a trained army or any weapons of warfare to speak of.

The odds of Israel prevailing against the Amalekites were probably 10,000 to 1 or more.

But how did they prevail? How can we prevail against Satan? Let's go back to Exodus 17.

Let's go through this again. Exodus 17, verse 8. Now, Amalek came and fought with Israel and refered him.

And Moses said to Joshua, Choose us a man and go out and fight with Amalek.

Look at that. They want you to go out and fight Amalek. See there'd be an army down there, all their swords and all their battle armor.

Israel hasn't done much of anything.

See, God obviously inspired Moses to make this statement, but it would have seemed ludicrous to Israel.

The battle took place in a valley as Moses, Aaron, and her stood on the top of a hill where they could then observe the battle taking place below, which is led by Joshua.

Verse 9. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and he fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and her went up to the top of the hill to observe the battle below.

But here's why I said to have one weapon that Amalek I was not aware of.

Israel had a secret weapon, if you will.

Well, Moses here represented the people of God as long as his hands were raised up and praised towards God and prayed toward God, looking to God to win the battle for them.

And as long as his hands were raised up, Israel prevailed. Verse 11. So it was when Moses held up his hand, then Israel prevailed, and when he led his hand down, Amalek prevailed.

What does that tell us? If we let down spiritually, begin depending on ourselves, Satan begin to win the battle against us.

We can't let down spiritually.

We can't. We have to depend on, look to God to be our strength and to win our battles. Then we can prevail, because it takes the power of God to prevail against Satan. So in our battle with Satan, at times we can get weary as well. Get weary of fighting. You ever get weary?

You have to year after year, week after week, battle, battle worry.

Those times when you get battle, where we all need support, don't we? We all need encouragement.

Verse 12. But now Moses' hands became heavy, they became weary.

As they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, and Aaron and her supported his hands, one on one side, the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

So we all have to support one another.

And we especially have support, the leadership God provides, support one another, especially we all become weary sometimes. That's when you need a friend to be there, to support your husband or wife or a friend, to realize, wow, you're getting weary. Give you encouragement. Be there to give you support. Stay in the battle. Don't give up. God's going to work it out.

We all have to stay in a battle and be there for one another until Christ only gives us the victory.

So don't ever get battle worries. Stay in the battle until victory is won. Shows how important it is. We all need each other at this time, at the critical time in the history of God's Church. We all need each other in the history of the world as well.

We all need to be in support of one another. You know, what does Satan try to do? People of God, he tries to divide them. He knows that one thing they all need is to be together and be in support of one another. So what does Satan do? He tries to divide the people of God. He's pretty successful doing that.

But if we all stay in the battle and support one another, what will the result be? Verse 13. So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

Then the Lord said to Moses, write this for the memorial in the book of the count of the hearing of Joshua. Thou utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

God will also eventually blot out the remembrance of Satan from under heaven. Verse 15. And Moses built an altar and called his name. The Eternal is my banner.

My banner who's going to lead me to victory.

Verse 16. For he said, Because the Lord has sworn, the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. Of course, the Lord's going to have war, and we're going to have war with Satan from generation to generation. Until he shall be no more forever. I'm quoting now from Ezekiel 28. I'm just going to quote Ezekiel 28 verse 19, which is talking about prophecy about Satan.

All who know you among the people are astonished at you. You have become a horror before and now to Satan. And you shall be no more forever. Ezekiel 28 verse 19.

What do you mean, you should be no more forever? Well, I can put it this way.

I don't know exactly what the house is going to finalize all that, but we could say this is going to be no more a horror, no more a terror.

There's going to be no more a wager of war against God's people.

It's going to be no more relevant. You should be no more forever.

But the final obstacle I've got out of Pentecost is Satan.

So do we need to have more than anything else to defeat Satan? I think we all know the answer. 1 Corinthians 13.

To piece 8, we all need the love of God.

Now, more than just about any time in the history of God's people, we all need to have God's love for one another.

So we can continually help and encourage and pray for and support one another. We go through many trials and difficulties in this end-time game that we're in right now.

We'll need to hold each other's arms up until God gives us final victory. So that, then, is a vitally important spiritual lesson we can learn from the battle with Amalek. So in conclusion, as we continue our countdown to Pentecost, remember these four lessons. Don't ever harbor or maintain a root of bitterness toward anyone or toward anything that may have happened to us.

Number two, have faith that God will always be our provider. And don't get discouraged over trials surrounding the Sabbath or Holy Days. Remember that the Sabbath sets us apart as God's own special people. It's a sign between us and the children of Israel forever. It's a sign of our special covenant relationship we have with God that He has with us. Number three, never doubt whether or not God is still among us. Even when things don't go as expected, if they go from bad to worse, never despair or begin to doubt God. Because God is going to lead us toward a destination He's never going to leave us nor forsake us. Or even deliver us from death. Don't have to worry either about death. God will deliver us from that as well. And number four, if we can only battle our final enemy and final obstacle in our path, let's all hold up each other's hands.

Remain in the battle. Be there to give your love and support to others who might get worry at times to give them encouragement so they won't get worry let down. So that's going to then conclude part one of our countdown to Pentecost or our countdown from the perspective of the Old Testament. Next time in part two, we'll look at the four major events that occurred between Passover and Pentecost and the New Testament in the very year that Christ died. So what more four major events occurred during spiritual Israel's journey or countdown period to Pentecost. And one lesson going over most of our events, we'll cover that next time in part two. That'll actually have to be right after Pentecost because that'll be on May 26th, I think.