The challenge of every Christian believer is to live a holy life. Ralph P. Martin has defined holy as, "That person or thing that is separated from all that is profane, common or defiling. Yahweh alone is 'the Holy One.' Those persons, places or things that belong to God are holy -- they are sanctified by God for divine use or they manifest God's presence or activity.” To be holy is to be different from the world. To be holy is to be different from the world by being like God. "Be holy, for I am holy." "Be merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful."

Stress is the gap between demands that are placed upon us and the strength we have in meeting those demands. Basically, it is the gap between our "ought to’s" and our "can't do's." When our "can do" can't keep up with our "want to," frustration, tension, and stress set in. That was exactly the problem with Moses. Because he was stretched so thin, he had been spending too much time talking to the people about God, and not enough time talking to God about the people. The solution: sharing the load with one another. This is our high and holy calling!

Are we grumbling about the provisions God has poured out upon us? Where are we failing to appreciate the daily bread and quail God is providing? The Lord’s Prayer for daily bread is instructive. Self-sufficiency vs trust in God’s provision. Our desire for autonomy, security and self-sufficiency is at its root a sign of our alienation from God. God shaped the Israelites for 40 years: forming and shaping them into his own people.

Each of us has something that is useful for God and in ministry on His behalf. Our usefulness to God is not measured by the character or the capacity of our gifts, but by our willingness to use those gifts for God’s glory. The lifting of Moses’ hands was a sign of his willingness to be used by God for God’s purposes. Lifting our hands to the throne of the Lord reminds us that our challenges are not up to us to solve, but when we put our hope and trust in God, the kingdom of God prevails.

It is often in the face of danger and risk that we cry out as the Israelites do to Moses: “was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?” Are we ready to stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will bring? Do we put our trust in God and believe he will fight for us if we will “only be still”? How might God be seeking to be glorified among us as we allow God to deliver us from scary situations? What situations can we identify where God has swept our enemy into the sea? Miriam’s Song in Ex. 15…

Nancy Minchew delivers the message at the 9am service on Emmaus Sunday at Covenant

Kristin Hampsten delivers the message at the 8am service on Emmaus Sunday at Covenant

Keith Bible delivers the message at the 11:15am service on Emmaus Sunday at Covenant

Divine Protection: Exodus 13: 17-22. It is through the blood of the paschal lamb that we escape sure and certain death. Blood is life. It is by the blood of a lamb painted on the door lintel of a Hebrew home in Egypt, marking safety -- a safe haven -- that the firstborn Israelite child is saved. The angel of death sees the red mark and passes over. The blood sacrifice of the paschal lamb is not so much about God demanding a sacrifice as it is that sacrifice is part and parcel of what it means to love. Sacrifice is integral to what it means to worship. Sacrifice is woven into the fabric of how we understand God. From the blood sacrifices of old to the "living sacrifice" that Paul calls the church to become (Romans 12:1), we travel an arc of revelation and learning. We give sacrificially of ourselves to that which we honor, that which we perceive to be greater than ourselves.

Our new associate pastor, Rosie Grattan, delivers the message on the good news of freedom in Christ.