StrengthintheMidstoftheStorm4

            Strength in the Midst of the Storm
                                    Part 1

We know from the previous chapter’s lessons Weapons of “Words Past and Present” that God has
always been an intended part, the whole thrust; of the peoples coming here. To be established in this
new land so that they could worship their God in the way to which they believed (this without controls of
Government). Therefore they made God the essential part of the plan. One that government could not
dissolve the covenant they had struck with their God. Examples of this all over our walls and our
Constitution and Bills of Rights.

Covenant, what is that? A mutual undertaking between two parties or more each binding himself to
fulfill obligations.-(Vines dictionary)

A covenant went on forever as an oath. It was not taken lightly. It was not a transient or fluid resolution,
but one that stood firm like a rock for generations.

Let’s look again at our oath to God as a Nation.

Our Pledge to our Flag reads:

                                      I pledge allegiance to the Flag
                                     Of the United States of America,
                              And to the Republic for which it stands:
                                   One Nation under God, indivisible,
                                     With Liberty and Justice for all.

This is a covenant agreement between The American People and God.

Examples - God to Man

Gen 9:9-16

9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you.
10 And with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the
earth with you. Of all that go out of the ark, even every beast of the earth.
11 And I will establish my covenant with you. Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the
waters of the flood. Neither shall there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth.
12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every
living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations.
13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the
earth.
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in
the cloud,
15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of
all flesh. And the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 And the bow shall be in the cloud. And I will look upon it, that I may remember the
everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
ASV

Gen 17:2-7 God and Abraham

2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
3 And Abram fell on his face. And God talked with him, saying;
4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be the father of a multitude of
nations.
5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but they name shall be Abraham. For the
father of a multitude of nations have I made thee.
6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come
out of thee.
7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee, throughout
their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee.
ASV

Rom 1:16-2:1

Is this our peoples right now?

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that
believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

17 For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the
righteous shall live by faith.

Example of those who turn from their God- Peoples who break covenant with Him.

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of
men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness;

19 because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them.

20 For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
perceived through the things that are made, (even) his everlasting power and divinity; that they
may be without excuse:

21 because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became
vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened.

22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible
man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things
.
24 Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness, that their bodies
should be dishonored among themselves:

25 for that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature
rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions: for their women changed the natural
use into that which is against nature:

27 and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one
toward another, men with men working unseemliness, and receiving in themselves that
recompense of their error which was due.

28 And even as they refused to have God in (their) knowledge, God gave them up unto a
reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;

29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy,
murder, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

30 backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient
to parents,

31 without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful:

32 who, knowing the ordinance of God, that they that practise such things are worthy of death,
not only do the same, but also consent with them that practise them.

So where does that live us? We still have our vow to God. We still stand Pledge our allegiance to God.
Our vow to him is binding.

Think about a cement foundation of a house. If you did not like parts of that foundation yet the whole
house was meant to have that ingredient, still you don’t like in it. So then you decide to take it out,
taking a jack hammer you start removing the parts even though they are many. Then the whole
foundation crumbles into a broken bunch of rocks that do not support the house. The House falls.
Just as our Nation will without God.

Our strength of our Nation comes from God.

As long as we know our strength is God then we will adjust our thinking. We will put our faith in God not
man.

There are two ways to handle the things going on right now.

Man’s way and God’s way.

In next lesson we will view Moses, he tried both ways.

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The American Christian

Strength in the Midst of the Storm

Part 4

In the past lessons we have looked at our covenant with God as a Christian and a Nation. We have seen the result
of a knee jerk reaction on Moses part resulting in where he ended up. We have looked at examples of a tyrant and
acts of tyranny. We have looked at Moses inner fears. We have looked at patriots who stood up despite their fears.
Our Bible tells quite a lot about Moses human side. This is where we start our visit again today because it is the
stepping stone to triumph over those fears.

Many of us today are feeling like the underdog in the worlds arena of battles. How can WE make a difference? We
may not have anything to our own eyes that could even remotely help to change the moral fiber of this nation. We
don’t see anything that could free people from the sinful society that is enveloping this nation. When we look at
Moses, we will see that God has placed an example for US now to live by today.
Moses has his orders from the Commander and Chief (God). Now what will he do?

Exodus 4:1-17

Then Moses answered and said, "But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they
say, 'The LORD has not appeared to you.'" 2 So the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said,
"A rod."

Let’s look at the Rod in terms to us- God has equipped Moses with a Rod ( in Hebrew root, this is a branch; this
branch can do many things. It is powerful). What did Jesus say?

John 15:1-8

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes
away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean
because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the
branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If
anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw
them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what
you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will
be My disciples. NKJV

So God has equipped US as the branch to use as HE wills
Back to Moses and the Rod, branch in hand.

3 And He said, "Cast it on the ground." So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled
from it. 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail" (and he reached out his
hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand),5 "that they may believe that the LORD God of their
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you."

You may say. Oh, I sure don’t want to be a serpent branch. Look closer/deeper. I know I don’t like snakes at all. But
Snakes are powerfully potent. This is God’s teachings to us-

Matthew 10:16-20

"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as
doves. 17 But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. 18
You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19
But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in
that hour what you should speak;20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in
you. NKJV

God is giving us instructions right here how to handle our difficult storm. Using HIM. His word in us and threw us. His
character in us and threw us. His LIGHT in us and threw us. And seeking wisdom in all things
(like a snake). God said “ Don’t worry about it, I’ve got you covered. You are covered in the blood, my blood. You are
part of me and I’ll give you the words, Just stand up and step out.

Back to Moses-

6 Furthermore the LORD said to him, "Now put your hand in your bosom." And he put his hand in his bosom,
and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow. 7 And He said, "Put your hand in your
bosom again." So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was
restored like his other flesh. *

*There is another place where the snake was used by Moses to look upon for God’s potency. Its symbol used by
Gods direction that Healed many.

God goes on-

8 "Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, that they may believe the
message of the latter sign. 9 And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your
voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the
river will become blood on the dry land."

Jesus is the water that has everlasting Life. Just He told the woman at the well.

John 4:13-14

13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,14 but whoever drinks of
the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a
fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."

This as it is with Jesus, He (the water) was poured out onto this dry dead Land (this world)and transformed into blood
to do the will of the Father. The Blood is truth. Truth exposes sinfulness. It dies a stinky death sometimes. In Gods
view death of sin exchanged for Gods blood comes before eternal life.
Moses and maybe us, still persist-

10 Then Moses said to the LORD, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to
Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."

It’s like Moses is saying “You must be wrong God, You can’t pick ME." Just as we may hear a call prompting us from
the Lord and think, “You can’t mean that Lord. How did that lame idea ever get into my head?". "How would I ever do
that?". You see, God nudges us and backs it up with his word as he guides. Not that God cannot do his guiding in
other ways, but nudges and confirmation through the scriptures of that nudge, we should really look into more
closely. Because if we don’t, we are insulting God, saying we know better than Him.

11 So the LORD said to him,"Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or
the blind? Have not I, the LORD?12 Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you
shall say." 13 But he said, "O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send."

If you want to know one of the enemies main weapons today this is it. APATHY.

Lord, send someone else, not me. Surely someone else can stand up for God at the work place. Someone else at
school, Someone else in traffic, Someone else at the grocery store. Someone else in government. Someone else
among my friends. Someone else among my enemies, not me.

How does God view this, when we are called to be the light of the world? The Salt of the earth?
Just as he did here-

14 So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses,

God will even allow for our flaws as we see them, or he will work despite of them

and He said: "Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also
coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 Now you shall speak to him and
put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you
shall do. 16 So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and
you shall be to him as God. 17 And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs."

Sometimes we need to know who God’s mouths are. In government these can be are elected officials. We can write
and call and petition them to speak. There are Christian organizations fighting for our rights right now that we can
support money wise. Like the ACLJ (American Center for Law and Justice) there are others also. Be wise in looking
into them.
http://www.aclj.org

On Oct. 26th, 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the Nation speaking of the Hitler’s plans to “abolish all
existing Religions”

“We stand in the defense of our Nation and the faith of our fathers to do what God has given us the
power to see as our full duty”

Let us dwell on that before our next lesson. What can we do Lord? Talk to God and He will give you nudges and
thoughts and words from the Bible.

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