Scripture referenced
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
-
Psalm 78:1-16 read aloud by congregation members as the main text for the sermon
1 Hear my teaching, my people. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old,
3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, his strength, and his wondrous deeds that he has done.
5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a teaching in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children;
6 that the generation to come might know, even the children who should be born; who should arise and tell their children,
7 that they might set their hope in God, and not forget God’s deeds, but keep his commandments,
8 and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
9 The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
10 They didn’t keep God’s covenant, and refused to walk in his law.
11 They forgot his doings, his wondrous deeds that he had shown them.
12 He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He split the sea, and caused them to pass through. He made the waters stand as a heap.
14 In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire.
15 He split rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.
16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse
1 Corinthians 10:4
congregation member read it to identify the rock in the wilderness as Christ
4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
John 11:25
displayed on screen to connect the resurrection theme to God bringing life from dead things
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message was built around Psalm 78 and the story of God bringing water from the rock in the wilderness. Brian used Tribe's annual Pecky Day tradition as the frame: remembering what God has done in the past is not just a sentimental exercise, it is a weapon for the battles you are facing right now. The sermon moved from an ancient desert to a small apartment in Tulsa and back again.
What was said
Brian opened in Psalm 78, drawing attention to verse nine, where the warriors of Ephraim turned back in battle despite being fully armed with bows. The reason appears two verses later: they forgot. The connection Brian made was direct. When you are equipped but you forget what God has done, you still retreat. Remembering is not nostalgia, it is armament.
Before getting to the main message, Brian walked the room through an exercise. He asked everyone to pretend they were part of God's divine council and had just received the problem: a nation of people in the desert with no water. The answers came back practical and reasonable, moving camp, digging a well, causing rain, filling every flask, making a spring bubble up. Every option had some kind of biblical precedent somewhere.
The point of the exercise was to make the congregation feel, rather than simply know, how unlikely God's actual solution was. Water from a rock is not one of the creative options most people would land on. Brian argued that was exactly the point. Ella put it plainly from the room: it had to be God because no other explanation was available. The miracle was designed to be undeniable, not just to Israel but to the surrounding nations watching.
Brian also noted that the faith behind the miracle was not Israel's. The people had no framework to believe water could come from rock. It was Moses who acted in faith by striking the stone, and Israel received the blessing. A parallel from the New Testament came up in the room: the paralyzed man whose friends carried him to Jesus. Their faith, not his, opened the door. Someone in the congregation then read from 1 Corinthians 10, where Paul identifies that rock as Christ.
From there Brian moved into the origin of Pecky Day. In 2007 he and Lissa moved with their two young children from Alpine to Tulsa so he could attend school. Cash was tight, and one month they were $750 short with no apparent way to close the gap. A tropical bird landed on their apartment balcony, eventually sat on Brian's shoulder, was named Pecky by the kids, and was reunited the next day with its owner three miles away. The owner handed them an envelope. The reward she had posted for the bird was exactly $750, the amount they needed, nothing more and nothing less.
That was the year the Hunter family started a Pecky Board, a physical record of specific moments where God came through, kept as a weapon against forgetting. When Tribe was planted in 2016 they brought the practice with them, and the church's board, held up during the service, includes baptisms, marriages, healings, the first gathering at the TMC, and a donation receipt from 2020 when the congregation raised just over $19,000 to wipe out the outstanding electric bills of families in Teton County during COVID.
Brian closed by connecting the rock in the wilderness to John 11:25, where Jesus says he is the resurrection and the life. God, he said, specializes in making life come from things that look dead. The invitation was not to wait passively for a bird to appear at the window, but to stay open to the creative and sometimes indirect ways God tends to provide, and to let the memory of past faithfulness be the thing that steadies you when the current situation looks dry.
Touch points
Things you could actually do this week.
- Start a pecky board this week, even if it is just the visor of your car, and put one thing on it that reminds you of a time God came through for you.
- Write down a current situation where you feel like you are in a dry place, then write next to it at least one past moment when God provided in an unexpected way.
- Fill out a connect card and drop a prayer request in the wooden box by the door, or bring one next Sunday so the staff can pray over it at their Monday meeting.
- If you have been carrying worry about a need this week, take a few minutes to recall a specific past moment God met that same kind of need, and let that memory be the weapon Brian talked about.
- Download the Church Center app and check out the Tribe pecky board or connect with the young adults group on Tuesdays if that is your season of life.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Brian spent time asking the congregation to think of other ways God could have solved Israel's water problem before landing on water from the rock. What does the sheer improbability of that solution tell you about why God chose it, and how does that change the way you read familiar Bible stories you think you already know well?
- Brian said that when the Ephramites forgot what God had done, they turned back from battle even though they were armed with bows, and then he said 'when you remember, it is a weapon.' Where in your own life right now are you most tempted to forget what God has already done, and what does forgetting actually cost you in that situation?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Resumen en español
El mensaje resumido, en español.
Pastor Brian comenzó leyendo el Salmo 78, que habla de la importancia de recordar lo que Dios ha hecho en el pasado y contárselo a las generaciones que vienen. El punto central fue este: cuando recordamos lo que Dios hizo ayer, eso nos da fuerzas para las batallas de hoy. Igual que los guerreros de Efraín que tenían sus arcos pero huyeron en el momento de la batalla porque habían olvidado las obras de Dios, nosotros también perdemos valor cuando dejamos de recordar la fidelidad de Dios.
La conversación se centró en el milagro del agua que brotó de la roca en el desierto. Pastor Brian invitó a la congregación a imaginar otras formas en que Dios pudo haber resuelto la sed de Israel, como mover el campamento, abrir un manantial, o llenar las vasijas de agua. Pero Dios eligió hacer brotar agua de una roca, el lugar menos probable imaginable, precisamente para que nadie pudiera atribuírselo a sí mismo. Esa roca, según el texto de Primera Corintios que alguien leyó durante la discusión, era Cristo.
Para ilustrar todo esto, Pastor Brian compartió la historia del "Día Pecky", una tradición que comenzó con él y Lissa en 2007, cuando vivían en Tulsa con muy poco dinero mientras él estudiaba. Un pájaro tropical azul llegó volando a su apartamento, sus hijos lo llamaron Pecky, y al devolverlo a su dueña recibieron exactamente 750 dólares de recompensa, la cantidad exacta que les faltaba ese mes. Desde entonces, la familia Hunter guarda un tablero con recordatorios de momentos en que Dios proveyó, y esa práctica se extendió a toda la comunidad de Tribe. El mensaje fue que Dios se especializa en traer vida de donde parece no haber ninguna.
---
Pasajes bíblicos usados:
- Salmos 78:1-16
- Primera de Corintios 10:4
- Juan 11:25
Read the full transcript 10,135 words
Good morning.
Who's ready to worship? You ready to worship?
Who's ready to worship? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Correction's ready to worship.
Ryan's ready to worship. Oh, everybody's ready to worship. All you gotta do is use people's names. They don't wanna be shamed on the live stream. Oh, yeah.
Always like springtime with you, making all things new. Your love is breaking through the dawn. This love is sweeter than wine, bringing joy your hope is rising light but some yet big come on let's worship this morning all Your light is breaking through the dark. This love is sweeter than wine, bringing joy, bringing life. This is what you do.
This is what you do. You made me come alive. You made me come alive. Finally living for the first time. It's like I'm living for the first time.
Finally living for the first time, finally living for the first time. It's always like springtime with you, making all things new. Your light is breaking through the dark. Make come alive. Make me come alive.
You make me come alive. It's like I'm living. It's like I'm living for the first time. Finally living for the first time. Like I'm living for the first time.
Finally living for the first time. Sing that. It's like I'm living for the first time. Finally living for the first time. It's like I'm living for the first time.
Finally living for the first time. Oh, yes, Lord. Because of you. Lord, we just tell
you this morning, we're so thankful. We're so thankful that even death has lost its state. May you make us come alive and even when our earth suit wears out, Lord, we get to see you face to face. That there's a hope of eternity that death, hell, and the grave couldn't hold you down and now that we are in you in Christ Jesus, that death, hell, and the grave can no longer hold us down. There is no fear.
Death, you have lost your sting. That's right. So we just proclaim the life that we have this morning in you, Jesus. We just thank you and we praise you. Anything that would hold us back this morning, we just release it.
We release it because that is not of you. You have set us free. Whom the son sets free is free indeed. Amen.
Because shame is a prison as cruel as a grave shame is
a robber I'll come to take my name oh
love is my redeemer lifting me up from the is the power where my freedom song is found. They look great. Gonna hold my body down.
Just let go of anything that would hold you down today.
Gonna hold my body down.
Let's think about this when
I hear that trumpet sound. When I hear that trumpet sound, gonna rise up out of the ground. Hey, you're great.
Hey,
Like a battle cry. Think about this. That could hold his body down sing that again there ain't no grave yes lord there ain't no that could hold his body down.
We declare that. Lord, we thank you that you said that we would do these things in greater all that we'd seen you do. Let us just take a minute this morning and really think about that. Are we walking in the fullness of what you what you paid for for us?
Because if you walked out of the grave, I'm walking to. If you walked out of the grave, I'm walking
welcome.
You're
welcome.
Could hold his body down Sing that line one more time. Ain't no great. Ain't no great. Could hold his body down
Lord, we just declare this morning. We believe that to be true. That that is part of the resurrection power that you are not like any other God. You actually came. You lived this human experience.
You came. You died, and it didn't stop there. You rose again. And so we just thank you this morning that death could not even hold you.
Because death could not hold you. Sing
it out.
For you are to live again come on you have no against what a powerful name it is the name of Jesus what about the name of Jesus oh we praise you god
Just name take a minute right where you are and just thank him that these wouldn't just be words to songs, that they would be truth, that we would grab a hold of them today.
Yes.
We tell you we love you this morning. Just think about who he is. Think about who it is you're worshiping this morning.
Just tell him thank you this morning. Great is your faithfulness to me. In the storms, though the storms may to me me. Sing that again. Great is.
To me from the rising sun from the rising sun to the city say my great your faithfulness to me great is great is your faithfulness to me.
Lord, we acknowledge your presence in this place today. We just ask that you come and speak to us today. You are so faithful. You are so faithful. And before we move to digging into your word and honoring your word this morning, we just take a minute and we just say search us this morning, God.
What a bummer it would be to come and sing songs, but to continually feel distant from him when we don't have to. We don't have to. We can repent of our sin again this morning. Ask for forgiveness and ask him. Lord, I wanna feel your presence.
It's my sin that separates me from you, and you've already made a way. So just be quick to repent this morning. Allow him to search your heart. No matter where you've been or how far away, he's here, and he longs to meet with you. You're his child.
He's so faithful.
Even when I'm not faithful to you, you are faithful to me. The Jesus. You for the freedom to come and worship together like this today. We ask that you would be in our conversation this morning, that we would leave here changed because we met with you. And everybody said, in Jesus' name, amen.
Turn around and say good morning to someone. If you're new, the person that you're greeting is probably also new and won't even know. I just just kept going down.
You could've seen it anyway. We haven't done that one in a long time. And it does have a different on the piano.
Alright. Good morning. So... Yeah. Yeah.
Today is somebody's opportunity to skip around the room
Yeah. Because
it's their birthday. Nancy, happy birthday.
Alright.
That was the exact response that we need. And so do us. And it's great because today we are... We're celebrating not only Nancy and the day of her birth, but also today is day. And if you're like, what in the world is pecky day?
Well, I'm so glad that you're here. For how many of you, you have no idea what pecky day is and this is your first pecky... This is this is no way this is your first pecky day.
No, it's not.
You can't lie in church, man. You just missed it? Oh. That's wild. Okay.
Alright. Let's do a quick show of hands. How many people in here have been here for more than one pecky day, more than two pecky days, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and then we don't go past that. Okay 10, more than 10. Okay.
Janet You win getting to give Nancy her birthday spankings. So we're going to... We'll talk about this we'll talk about this more and you don't need to necessarily write this down yet cause we're gonna we're gonna come back to it. But pecky day is when we remember all that God has done for us yesterday to arm us with strength and confidence for the battles that we faced today. Yeah?
Okay. So if you have your bible with you this morning, would you turn to Psalm 78? And I'm gonna turn there as well. Psalm 78. While you're turning there, when you came in this morning, there's a connect card on your seat.
We would love to have a record of your visit. If you're a young adult, there's a place that you can mark, like, tell me about young adult stuff on Tuesdays. Young adults meet, that's essentially like like out of high school and up into your... Pushing your 20, I don't know, out of high school. There's also opportunity on the back.
If you have a prayer request at the end of service today, you can either leave it in your seat and or there's a little wooden box right by the door there. You can put it in the box there, and we'll make sure to, on Mondays when we meet for staff meeting, we go all over all of our prayer requests and, pray those and lift... Pray for those and lift them up. So please make sure that you put that... Fill that out if you'd like.
Psalms 78, we're gonna look at verses one through sixteen, and one of the things that we like to do here at Tribe is engage with each other as we engage with the word. And so what that means is I don't want this to be a monologue. I want it to be a dialogue. I want us to have a conversation about the things that we are talking about. And so you...
If you have questions or comments or connections, just let us know. All you have to do is raise your hand and we'll hand you the mic. The reason why we have the mic is so that all of our families that are traveling or away or watching the livestream, they still get to hear your wonderful, amazing, unique contribution, and then we all get to do this together. So Psalm 78 verses one through 16, and would somebody please volunteer, take the mic, read a few verses, and then hand it off to somebody else, and let's go from verse one through 16. Psalm 78.
Oh, people, listen to my instructions. Open your ears to what I am saying, for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past, stories you have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us. We will not hide these truths from our children. We will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the lord, about his power and his mighty wonders.
For he issued his laws to Jacob. He gave his instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children.
Great. Thank you. And then somebody can pick it up from there.
So the next generation might know them, even the children not yet born, and they in turn will teach their own children. So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands. Then they will not be like their ancestors, stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to god. The warriors of Ephesians, though armed with bows, turned their backs and fled on the day of battle. They did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by his instructions.
They forgot what he had done, the great wonders he had shown them, the miracles he did for their ancestors on the Plain Of Zoan in the land Egypt. For he divided the sea and led them through, making the water stand up like walls. In the daytime, led them by a cloud and all night by a pillar of fire. He split open the rocks in the wilderness to give them water as from a gushing spring. He made streams pour from the rock, making the water flow down like a river.
Oh. Wow. So good. Yeah. That's good.
That's good response. I know that we've touched on this, and we've touched on this Psalms many times before whenever we come around to pecky day, but I'll give you a quick free sermon before the one that you paid for today with your entrance ticket. So look at this. Verse nine, the warriors of Ephesians, though armed with bows... So there is a...
An equivalent. They were armed with bows for battle, but they didn't use them. How do we bring that into our situation today? I mean, how many of you brought your bow with you to church? Okay.
So only one. Only one. Huxley brought his bow with him to church. So what is the connection between being armed with bows and then turning back in the day of battle? What's that connection?
Don't look at me. Look at your text. What are your thoughts? Look at look at verse nine. And then 11.
So it says in verse nine that they were armed with bows, but they turned back. And then verse 11 gives us the reason why they turned back. They were scared. Why? You got bows.
You're equipped for battle. Go ahead. You got the mic.
Well, I was just thinking we all have bows in our smartphones or sitting on our laps right now.
Yes. Yeah. So so we have the word of god. Yes. You're exactly right.
And, Gretchen, they forgot. Oh, you'd be surprised. Yeah. Yeah. When's the last time you worried?
Was it this morning? Was it last night? Last night. Well, yes. Remember, we don't lie in church.
So so look at the connection between being armed with battle, but then being turned back from battle. Why? Because they forgot. When you remember, it is a weapon.
Say it again.
When you remember it is a weapon. And how quick do we get into a little bit of turbulent waters, and we're like chicken little running around the sky is falling. The sky is falling. That's it. The world is ending, and how am I gonna make my bills this month?
How many months has he been faithful to help you make your bills? So remembering is a weapon, but that's not really what we're gonna talk about today. Remember that was the free sermon.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Alright? So now for the paid sermon. If you're taking notes... Yeah. Me too.
If you're taking notes this morning, at the top of your notes... And, Adam, they were over there, but we still have a few, like, little notebooks left. Yeah. Are they are they... Or are they on our little bookshelf?
Oh, yeah. There they are. There they are. Alright. Who wants to take notes?
This is a good one to take notes on, not because it comes from me, but it's just such good valuable good stuff. So send it send it around. Everybody who passes one up either has an incredible memory or has their own or or taking notes in their phone or they're a loser. So the title for today's conversation is water from the rock. That's the title of this morning's conversation, water from the rock, and it'll be based on the text that we just read.
If you remember, I just came back... Lissa and I just came back from Saudi Arabia where we went scampering around out in the desert. We climbed Mount Sinai, and we went to a few other historical places that are believed to be the fit with the narrative, the story of the exodus and Israel. And I showed you a couple of these pictures before, but it's just really apropos considering the topic that we're gonna discuss today. So I've got a a couple of pictures.
There's Lissa, and this is believed to be the rock at Horeb. This is in Saudi Arabia within just a few days walking journey of Mount Sinai itself. And while the surrounding terrain is barren and rocky and big rock outcroppings, this stands out as very unique, very different, very striking. And god says to Moses, go to the rock at Horeb. The whole place is rock, but this rock stands out very, very different than all of the surrounding topography.
And I have one more picture of the rock at Horeb to give you a little bit better scale. Mhmm. I just wanted to show a picture of my pretty bride.
Happy birthday.
So we rumble around out in the desert in these Toyota Land Cruisers, which... Lisa was like, wow. Look at that mountainside. Look at that scenery. And then we would pass like a cool, like, Lando.
And I was like, yeah. But look at that Lando going by. I was into the vehicles as much as I was into, like, the history. Sorry. So this is believed to be the rock at Horeb.
And if you remember the story in the book of Exodus, in a barren dry place. They got really thirsty, and they started complaining. And then God told Moses, strike the rock. And out of the rock came pouring water that would slake the thirst of maybe up to potentially a million people. Now we did not find any water coming out of this rock.
We did not find a placard that Moses left that says, this is the rock that I whacked and water poured out. However, it fits the narrative really, really well. And if nothing else, it gives us a visual to help us connect the truth of the narrative that we read in the book of Exodus and is mentioned here in Psalms. In Psalms 78 with what we just read, look back through what we just read and and find for me and read where god talks about the rock. And then you can...
When you find it, just read those verse or two out loud. From Psalm 78, what we just read. Where does he talk about that? Okay. Go ahead.
Okay. And then do it one more time with the mic. That was a good practice run. Verse 15, he split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. Yes.
Wow. And then verse 16, he made streams pour from the rock, making the waters flow down like a river. So if you want to to write this down, when we remember what God has done for us yesterday, it arms us with strength for today's battles. When we remember what god has done for us yesterday, it arms us with strength for today's battle. Now let's use our sanctified imagination, and let's pretend that we were a part of god's divine council.
And, we hear the email prayer come into headquarters. The people down there in the Sinai Desert are really thirsty. Help, please. And god prints off that email, and he hands it to us as part of the divine council. And he's like, guys, alright.
We got a problem down there. How do we solve it? What solutions might you offer? We know what actually played out in the narrative, but let's pretend for a moment that that option wasn't quite yet on the table. How would you help solve that problem?
What might you do? What options could be available to you as a member of god's divine council? His leadership... Executive leadership team. We'll see if my question is landing.
Make them dig a well. That would be great. Dig a well. Oh, move camp and go find open water. Oh, that's another great option.
Get a a spanking, stop complaining.
Water issue. Now
their now their biscuits are sore and they're thirsty. Get a spanking. Stop complaining. Almost rolled off of her tongue a little too easy. It's like she's raised boys.
Yeah. What else? What what are some other solutions that could be available? Move camp, I love it. Dig a well, I love it.
What else? Yes. Pray. Oh, pray. Okay.
So so tell... The answer going back down is tell all the Israelites to pray. Okay? And then maybe dig a well or move camp. But pray.
Yes. That's good. What else? What else? We need to we need to...
The reason why we're doing this is because we are stuck in the rut of what God actually did. And when we get stuck in the rut of what God actually did, it loses potency. And so we have to for a moment suspend what we know so well in the narrative and think about what if what if that option was unknown to us and we were a part of the divine council. Like, what if the solution came to you? Now we don't...
At Tribe, we never say like pretend you're a god, but pretend pretend the email came through across your desk and you have to provide a solution and you happen to be able to do miraculous things. Okay. So move camp, dig a well. So those things are really practical, but now let's be a little more creative. Remember, there you go.
You could cause it to rain in the desert. Now now we're getting a little more creative that requires a little bit of extra special sauce. What else could you do? We have to think. And if you've already answered, let somebody else give an answer.
I have made it... I have make it rain. Yep. He could do that. There's there's a few more that I'm...
That that came to my mind, but I want to hear what comes to your mind. Yeah, just hold on to that. Here you go.
Yeah, for me, what I realized is you'd be looking for, constantly like when I was in, not get totally off subject but like when I was, for example, in junior high, I wasn't going be happy till I got to high school. When I was in high school, I wasn't going to be happy until I graduated and became 21, etcetera.
Yeah.
You know mean? So, like, in these moments, even though it's really, really hard, you know I mean? It's you have to say, what did god provide me? You know What did god already provide me? Do I need to drink right now?
You know mean? Do I do I need water? You know mean? And that... That's something that I'm working on myself, but, probably pray and say, what do I honestly need?
Because, you know, I think god can make me not thirsty.
Okay. Okay. How about this? How about this? God could be like, oh, not thirsty anymore.
Yeah. Take away the thirst. Body doesn't need water for 40... Okay. Yes.
Now we're thinking a little more like divine counsel. You got a lot of resources. What else could you do? I know. I'm looking for you to get out of your rut of thinking just water from the rock.
Okay.
There's like a lot of sand, like the water could come up out of the sand like a hot spring, like from the ground.
Okay. A spring. I have that one. Ding. Ding.
Ding.
He could make a spring. You could make a spring
bubble up or instead of just one spring, how how many? One outside of every single tent. Why not? Come on. Okay.
He could do that. What else?
Like at the wedding at Cana, he could just fill their flask.
Hello. Now we're thinking divine counsel. Go jiggle your goat gourd. What? It's full?
The more I drink, the more it fills up. God's like, I got you. That's a good one. Now we're thinking jiggle your goat. Okay.
What else could he have done?
You're stuck. Don't get hung up
on the goat gourd. What about what about this? Your divine counsel. What have you diverted a river? Made a river rip next to the camp.
He... If you did nothing else, Yes.. Okay. So here's here's the idea. If the problem were given to us and we had infinite and creative resources in order to solve the problem, we may think of something like a spring that gushes forth from the ground.
We could have given the nation of Israel instructions, dig a well, which is different than dig a tunnel, dig dig dig a tunnel. We could have told Israel, it's there's no water here. Let's move to where there is water. We could have gone poof and made all of their water reservoirs just perpetually topped off. Now as we go and think of all of those other, I think that we could probably find a scriptural precedent for just about all of those, which means we've seen God do that in some shape, form, or fashion before.
We're not, like, just wildly making it up. I don't think I heard a single option that was... That we couldn't find a biblical precedent for. So here's the question. Why did God use this particular method?
Would you go back to that picture of the rock in the the little tent camp thing? That one. Why did he do that? Ella?
Because if it were the Israelites building a well, or if it was the Israelites moving, it would be them that found the water. It wouldn't be God. This is the... Like, one of the only ways that it had to be God. Yes.
Now when we read the text in Exodus or when we read this in Psalms, our brains are so accustomed and familiar with his miraculous provision, we we make that connection almost subconsciously. The reason why we spent five minutes pretending that we were on the divine council, what would you do? What would you do? All of those options are great and viable and reasonable and even miraculous. But god's like, okay.
Those are some great ideas, but hear me out. What if we just had Moses touch the rock with his staff, and we had a fountain of fresh water come pouring out of the rock? Rock. And all of us on the divine council go, out of what? Not out of the ground, not out of spring, not out of their water jugs, not from a river, out of what?
A rock. Is that not the most unlikely source for water? How often have you been able to extract water from a rock? Never not once. And so we as a divine council, god's like, hey.
I got an idea. And then we hear it and we're like, that's that's that's the wildest thing I've ever heard. And then we ask him, what would we ask him? Why why that? And then he gives the answer that Ella gave, that we so often just quickly, we roll through it.
But if we stop to think about the beautiful improbability. It's ludicrous, and it's just like God that he would cause water to come from the least likely likely place imaginable. Why? Yes. Yes.
There's a lot of people to demonstrate that he is their and our ultimate source of provision.
Regardless of which direction they chose to go, regardless of whether they followed directions and did it correctly, Matthew seventeen twenty talks about having the faith of a mustard seed. So they would have had to have great faith to perform and have God answer what they were after, would they not?
I think that they were such baby believers in Yahweh that they had no context and, dare I say, capacity to believe that God could make water come out of a rock. I think that this is pre mustard seed. Pre mustard. This is pre mustard seed, god's sovereignty. God just saying, like, you're never you're never gonna get this.
Let me show you who I am. I have... I I I whipped the butt of your old boyfriend by drowning him in the Red Sea. I'm strong, and I'm tender and will provide for you by providing for you in the most inhospitable place on the face of the planet. Adam and then Colin.
It's good. The water sprung up. Do you think everyone recognized that it was from God at that point?
What do y'all think? Right. Moses was like, you think this came from me? I just whacked the rock with a stick. This has to be of the lord.
Look at what the lord has done for you. That's... I like it. Yeah. Colin.
I like that we are considering the text beyond just a superficial layer. And god made water pour from the rock, and then we just move on.
I'm guessing it intimidated and scared surrounding nations as well, knowing it was clearly a miracle. Like, they thought everybody was just gonna probably, you know, not have water and probably die off, but the miracle that god provided was, like, intimidating to the other nations.
Yeah. Well, we know that when they camp just East of the Jordan right here, before they ever crossed the Jordan into the promised land, the surrounding nations, Jericho, AI, the Canaanites, they were quaking in their boots. Here comes Israel, and really here comes the god of Israel. God himself said, I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive out the other nations. The hornet, what a cool name for the pre incarnate Jesus.
Is
that what hornet sounds like?
Yeah. He does. Yeah. With machine guns on it.
Coincidentally, going back to the pre sermon, it also provides lasting reminder that God did this. Yeah. I'm sitting here looking at the pecky board,
which is our version of the lasting rock. Yes. Yes. Yes. So when you talk to when you talk to the Bedouin Arabs in the area, they are migratory herdsmen.
As far back as you can take their oral history, they all have said, oh, yeah. This is this is Moses' rock. This is the rock at Horeb where waters come out. And here we are twenty five hundred years later, thirty three thousand years later, still coming back to visit this to look at this?
I would just say kinda to Adam's question, I think that that's why he used the rock kinda like we were saying earlier was because nothing... No one else could do that. No. There was no other possible way except god. So I think they did give god the glory in that.
It even says they praised him. Yes. As far as faith goes, I think they didn't have the faith, and that was the point is god told Moses Moses the first time to strike the rock. So this happened a couple times.
Mhmm.
God told him the first time to strike the rock, and he did it. They all gave praise to God, and God was happy with it. And he gave them water. The second time, he struck... God told him to speak to the rock, and he struck the rock like he did the first time.
And I think that shows a lack of faith in what god was telling him to do, and then god was angry with him for that. Even though he still gave them water, he was angry about them... Him striking the rock instead of speaking to it like he told them to do.
Okay. Yes. I wanna modify my answer. Faith was God used faith to make water come from the rock, but whose faith? Moses.
Moses' faith. It was not Israel's faith. Moses' faith. And how do we see his faith demonstrated? He did it.
Can you imagine the pressure? Yeah. You want me to what?
Sneak up there or anything?
Yeah. Was he like, or was he like, you know, Charlton Heston over his head Braveheart wag? Now we have a biblical... So that establishes a biblical precedent. Where do we see that in the New Testament?
I'm making a big hyperlink in my brain. And we haven't even got to talk about pecky day. It's coming. It's coming. It's coming.
Bob tried to... He lobbed me a softball by mentioning pecky day, and it it went right across the plate because... But we're gonna get there. We're gonna get there, but I... We have to talk about this.
So the miracle happened for Israel, but was it Israel's faith? No. They had they had none. Whose faith was it? Moses' faith, but the miracle was done for Israel.
Do we have a biblical precedent for that? Think New Testament and Jesus healing. Well, I'm I'm hoping I'm not
jumping in.
I'm I'm hoping I'm not jumping in the gun, but, like, right as you're saying that, of course, I've read more down and it it was talking about how it was a rock, and I had just been studying this. Right? It's kind of a trip that's hitting right on the head. It's the angel the of the lord that was in the bush, right? I don't, is that the same sort?
Was in the bush. Later on, the great I am which it means in Hebrew, I am and will become, right? And he identifies himself as the I am and and I was just reading if if right here in, first Corinthians. Is this going too far? Is it jumping on your message?
Well, read it. Okay. And then I'll put the train back right on the track. Okay. This is good.
First Corinthians, 10 forces, and they did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and the rock... That rock was Christ.
Okay. So so... Okay. Okay. Okay.
Sorry if that joke is there. I apologize. It was really good.
This is good for Brian.
This is good for me. So there's a store... No. No. There's a story that happens in the New Testament connected to faith, and it's the story of the paralyzed guys on the map.
Whose faith opened the door for the miracle if you look at the text?
The friends.
The friends had the faith and the paralyzed dude got healed. In a similar way, it wasn't Israel's faith. They had they had no context or framework or idea. It was Moses' faith and Israel gets the blessing. And now watch this.
And who ultimately is that blessing? Who's the rock? It's Jesus. Now let's talk about pecky day. So in 2007, this will be the abbreviated version because we've been doing really other great stuff.
2007, the Lord invites Lissa and I and our two little kids, Selah and Kai, to move from Alpine where we had just built a house down to Tulsa, Oklahoma for me to go to school. And the house in Alpine was under contract, but all of our cache was locked up in the sale of this house. And so we moved down to Tulsa with, like, just some change rattling around in our pocket. I started as a 35 year old freshman in college. I was the weird guy on on campus, like, sitting there in, like, English, like, one zero one, and...
Oh, I loved it. I loved it. Yeah. And while we were there as we were getting established in Oklahoma, times were really tough. Maybe somebody in here could relate that there was way more month left at the end of each paycheck.
That never... Like, it was never the opposite, but we always had a lot of month left at the end of the paycheck. And we were living frugally and trusting the Lord, and here I was, freshman ORU. And, one month, we were getting towards the end of the month, and the piggy bank was just about empty, but we still had $750 worth of financial obligations that we had to meet for that month. And we were like, what are we gonna do?
I was taking, I don't know, eighteen, nineteen, or twenty hours at at school. I was also, like, working at a bike shop. I was hanging Christmas lights. Like, I I was doing whatever I could, and Lissa was working at athletic club. Lisa was working at the athletic club just right around the...
And it had great childcare so she could, like, be with our babies, and we still just weren't making it. And the end of the month was coming up. We're $750 short, and we're like, what are we gonna do? We were in a dry place with no apparent water, and we were thirsty. So one day, we're sitting in in our little apartment, like, the four of us in, like, about this size of a room.
And we are... We're sitting there, and all of a sudden, we hear this that occurs on the... Our little, like, patio, like like... Just like this, like a little deck on the 2nd Story. And we're like, what is that?
Somebody threw a tennis ball against the window. And Salem and Kai were like, they got up. I think Kai was maybe still in diapers. Remember the sound of your little baby in their crunchy diapers? Mhmm.
And he looks he looks... Pull pulls out the curtain, looks outside, and he, like, screams. Ah. And he runs away. I'm like, what is that?
I go to the sliding glass door, and there, sitting on the porch, is a bird about this tall, the brightest tropical blue you have ever seen. He missed a turn, and we're like, what is that? We'll look at it, and he's looking at us, and screen door is is closed. And so I'm like, okay. I'll go outside, and I open up the porch door, and I go out to the bird.
I'm looking down at the bird. The bird's looking up at me and I don't know what to do with this bird or like like, you know, I'm used to like dogs. Like, I don't know what you do with or to a bird. Like, sit. I I don't know.
So I just think like like I just like hold out my finger like this. What do think the bird did? Hopped on my finger. I'm holding the bird up. I'm I'm outside, like like, on the boards, I'm literally an animal whisperer.
Look at this. I'm showing the kids, like, the kids' eyes were as big as baseball. I'm holding it up here, and then what'd the bird do? Yes. The bird goes hopped up on my shoulder.
He's got this big, you know, like, tropical bird beak, and it's, like, right by my face. The bird is now perched on my shoulder, and I have now fulfilled my childhood fantasy of being a a pirate. Pirate. I'm now a pirate. I have a tropical bird on my shoulder.
The kids lost their minds. And the kids... Both Selah and Kai were screaming, what question? Can keep it? Can we keep...
This is like, uh-uh. The kids are screaming.
Yeah. The
kids are screaming. Can we keep it? Can we keep it? I'm like, well, I'm a pirate now so like, this is who I am. I have to get a boat.
I'm gonna be going to school. I'm the old guy and going to school with a bird on my shoulder. I'm gonna get an eye patch. And so so I walk into the house, into our little apartment with this, like, tall, bright, tropical blue bird on my shoulder. I think I am so cool.
This is, like, get it out of here. Get it. The kids are hopping up and down and screaming, and they're, can we keep it? Can we keep it? Can we keep it?
And I was, like, well, I think this is somebody's bird. I mean, I'm not too up to date on, like, all of my wildlife identification for birds in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but I'm pretty sure this is a non native species. But the kids are like, can we keep it? And, like, Kai's running, like, into his room to, like, try to find toys to give it. And, you know, if you have a pet, the first thing you do with the pet is to name it.
And so they're like, what are we gonna name it? What are they? They're, like, jumping up and down, screaming. And right about that time, the bird just decides to like go right on my ear and just... I mean, it wasn't like painful, but it was like frightening.
Right on my ear and they start screaming pecky. Let's name him pecky. And so I'm like, well, we have a bird. He's on my shoulder. I've pretty much trained him.
He now has a name. I don't see why we don't keep this bird. Like, this is now a member of our family. But we didn't know what to do with the bird, and so, like, we got a milk crate that was probably some of our furniture at the time, dumped it out, like like, push the bird put the bird in the crate, cover it with a towel cause that's what you're supposed to do to a bird cage, and we're like, this is great. We now have a bird, and he's sitting in a milk crate on our linoleum floor.
And we go to bed that night, like, just so excited. There's this weird interruption in our family and life. Lissa was telling me all night, tomorrow, that bird, and I'm like, he has no place to go.
I said, we don't have money to buy a cage and then...
We'll figure it out. So you know, like, money talks with your spouse when you're in bed at night. Those go great. Right? And so the next day, I was like, we we...
You know, like, I don't know what to do with the bird. I take Selah to school, And on the on the way to school, the normal route was, like, busy with traffic, and so I'm like, oh, we can take this, like, Jason Bourne detour through the neighborhood. And it was about three miles from where we were living. And through... As we're driving through the neighborhood, Selah, like, screams like, oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh. It's pecky. It's pecky. I thought he had escaped from our, like like, perfect aviary enclosure. But I look over on a telephone pole, and it is a missing bird sign with a picture of Pecky and a phone number on it.
Like, have you seen our missing bird? And I'm like, that's it. That's it. That's it. And so so we copy the number down.
We call the place, and the the lady's like, oh my gosh. You've you've found our bird. I'm like, I think I found your bird. We found a bird. It's big and blue and...
Does he sit on your shoulder? And I'm like, I trained him to do that.
And did you know his name
is Pecky? You you found our Diego and I'm like, well his name is Pecky. So like that afternoon we set up to reunite the bird with his owner and the the... We we bring Pecky in the crate and the town. The kids are, like, you know, still, like, lobbying trying to get us to keep the bird.
Well, the bird's not ours. It belongs to this other family. We drop... We we bring the bird out and, you know, set it right inside the door, and they're so happy that they got their beloved bird back. She takes a towel off, holds out her finger, and the bird hops on her finger and then right up her shoulder, kinda like I trained him.
And she's like, wow. Thank you so much for returning, Diego. And we're like, glad we could help. Like like, enjoy your bird. Can I get some more, please?
And so we walk we walk back down the driveway. We climb in the truck. We start the truck up, and we're like, well, that was a a really exciting, like like, you know, twenty hours or so. And then we start to pull up down the driveway, and she comes running down the drive... Thank you, ma'am.
Thank you. She comes running down the driveway and says, I almost forgot. I almost forgot. Here. And she...
We rolled down the window, and she thrusts an envelope into our hands, and then we're like, thank you. Was it like like a gift certificate to Red Lobster or something? I don't know. Fuddruckers down in Tulsa. And so we drive off, and Lissa opens up the envelope, and she bursts into tears.
Why? Because there was a reward offered for Diego that I didn't see or know about. The reward was for 750.
The exact amount.
The exact amount that we were short that month. We took that cash. We were able to fulfill all of our financial obligations, it was just what we needed. Not more, not less, and time goes on, about a year rolls by, we had sold our house in Alpine. We were able to buy a comfortable house in Tulsa, pay for it with cash, pay for all of my school with cash, we're in a very very different position one year later.
But it was at that one year mark that we were like just think of where we were this time last year. You know what? We should never ever ever ever forget as a hunter family what God has done for us in the past so that as we bump up against new challenges, new difficulties, and new obstacles, we can be armed with strength as we remember what he did in the past for us to win the battles that we fight and face today. And that was the very first year that the Hunter family celebrated what we call Heckey Day. And as we planted tribe in 2016, we thought, well, we're all a family here.
Why not invite our tribe family to celebrate this pecky day? And so what we did as a family is we started a pecky board. And on that pecky board, we would take memorable events where God came through for us, and we would put something to trigger our memory up on that board to remind us, to arm us with strength. And here at the TMC we have a pecky board you can... If you want to take it off or people can visit it later.
Oh yeah. Here I'll hold it up. Oh yeah. So we have baptisms, we have marriages, we have reports of healing, We have... There's a great picture, a little small picture here of the very first time that we met in the TMC.
Do you all remember that? We just absolutely destroyed some other team at kickball evangelism through domination, and we had just taken possession of the TMC and we had taped out like where we might want to put furniture and things and so we met there. Pictures of us at the Virginian, pictures of us at Shepherd of the Mountains of Lutheran Church and so... Oh this is a donation receipt one year during... In the middle of COVID twenty twenty.
Our team felt led by the Lord to call up Lower Valley and ask, like, hey. What what are some needs that Lower Valley, like, people might have? And it was during COVID, and he said, we've got a number of people that are past due on their electric bill and are within days away of having their power cut off, and this is like Christmas season 2020, and we said, oh, well we'd love to like give towards that and help people to pay their bills so that they don't get the power cut off, and we brought it to our tribe family, and our tribe... You guys, you gave towards that, and then we said, hey. What if we wiped out the outstanding bill of every single person in Teton County?
And Lower Valley, you know, lost their minds, and they said, well, that's gonna be close to $19,000. You guys gave so generously, and we wiped out the outstanding bill of families in need for Teton County so that they could keep the power on and keep the heat on. There's so there's so many moments here. Our family has a pecky board. For how many of you that have celebrated pecky day before you have a board and are building it and working on it?
Yes. Look at look at all that. I wanna land the I wanna land the plane with this. Is that, would you put up John eleven twenty five up here on the screen? The first one.
There we go. God specializes in making life come from things that we think no life can come from. The precedent was established in the wilderness when God made water pour from the rock. Water is life. Rocks are dead.
God said, this this is the perfect way for me to display my power, my glory, incredibly brilliant and creative way for me to take care of Israel and by extension us by making something alive come out of something that's dead. Now in the... This is the New Living Translation. But when you look at this in the King James version, it comes out in even more vibrant colors. In the King James version, Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. So today, is there an area of your life or heart, and maybe it's specifically your finances, where it seems as though the situation is toast. We're doomed as c three p o would say. We're doomed. And perhaps you find yourself in a desert feeling very thirsty.
Well, did you know you happen to serve a god who specializes in bringing life out of things that would appear as though they are dead. He can make water gush forth from a rock. If he wants to, he can cause a bird to fly into your window that takes care of your financial needs. That that brain of yours that is like the gears are rusty, and you're like, like I'm at the end of myself. He can drop a creative idea into your brain that you then get to convert into finances that would take care of you.
I don't wanna paint just a picture of, like, Lord, help me, and then you run to your mailbox and there's a check there. He did that for us at pecky day. Most often, what he'll do is give you creativity so that you can work your your butt off and have your needs met.
It'd be great if he sent another bird, but
It would be great. Yeah. But I don't want to paint an entirely inaccurate picture of how the Lord most often chooses to work. Oh, I have this need, a financial need this month, and then somebody comes to you and is like, oh my gosh. I'm...
Like, I've got happy news. I'm being called away to my sister's, you know, delivery of her baby. Will you cover for me? No. I'm waiting for my pecky to fly into a window.
So just be open to how he would provide for you. Okay? What he did for Israel, he will do it again for us. So Lord, we invite you to just whisper to our hearts. Maybe there is right now a in some shape, form, or fashion, holy spirit, I know you're faithful to translate this, but maybe with somebody's circumstance that they find themselves in, there is a pecky bird on the porch of their life.
God, I ask that you would show us what that is. Your miraculous supernatural provision so that your word would be fulfilled according to your riches and glory that all of our needs are taken care of in the rock, Jesus. Help us, Lord. Show us. Show us.
Maybe even right now, the Lord would bring up, past battles that you have fought, where God has been good and faithful, demonstrated his goodness towards you, that he's saying, I've given you this bow, pick it up, and use it to fight today's battle. Remember what I did for you last week. Remember what I did for you last doctor's report. Remember what I did for you. Now just come and let the holy spirit minister to you and whisper to your heart.
Lives.
And
Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your creativity and brilliance. Thank you. You demonstrate your loving care and compassion in incredible ways. Here we were thinking, oh, you know, it go well.
Make a spring come up, but you're like, oh, I got something better. So that as Ella said, it will be unmistakable, undeniable. God moved in this situation. There are members of our tribe fam here that need you to move in their situation. Lord, we remember what you have done for us in the past.
The really old churchy word is in Ebenezer. We set up an Ebenezer, a memorial to what you have done for us in the past, and that arms us with strength and with hope and with joyfulness. Oh, I can't wait to see what and how he gonna do it this time. Thank you for being so faithful to us. We pray these things in Jesus name and everybody said.
So let's talk about money real quick. It's a very real in our face reality for each and every one of us in this room. And it is often for many of us a point where we are confronted with the need for faith. Right? So when we remember how he's provided for us financially in the past, it arms us with strength and hope and confidence that he will continue to provide for us.
But part of remembering is in this time stepping out in faith. Well, what is more faithful than surrendering to God a portion of the finances that you so desperately need to hold on to. Lord, I trust you. We say this every week or when Amanda's doing offering and announcements. Lord, I trust you.
That's that simple act of faith. Now if you think that tithing or tithes and offerings, financial giving is only for the grown ups, well, then you must not have any needs of the Lord. Tithing is for anyone that has needs from the Lord. By faith, I am giving. And watch how he gives back.
Number one, we also say, number two, that when we tithe, it's an expression of I love you. You have provided for me faithfully all these weeks and months. I trust you and I love you. And so out of love and gratitude, we also surrender a portion of our finances. That's the tithe.
And then above and beyond our tithe would be what's called an offering. Just as a cherry on top to say I love you, three kisses. I give... I surrender an additional part of my finances as an offering. Look at the look at the demographics around this room here.
We're mostly a young adult church, and I'm so very, very proud of all of the young adults that have grabbed ahold of this principle. Your tithes and your offerings enable tribe to continue to walk out its mission of making the name of Jesus famous here in Teton County, the surrounding region, and where? To the uttermost bounds of the earth. I say thank you for your giving, not because you are paying my paycheck. You don't pay my pay check.
You are not my source or Lissa's source. The Lord is my source, and he takes care of me and our family. When you give, you're giving to the local church and surrendering it the Lord. So let me pray over the offering. Now share a couple of quick ways of you know how we give here at Tribe, then, we'll we'll get out of here.
So, Lord Jesus, thank you for being so good to us. Thank you for your faithfulness demonstrated towards us, especially, specifically in the area of our finances. Thank you. Thank you. Lord, we surrender a portion of our finances back to you to tell you that we love you and we trust you.
Thank you for providing for all of our needs. Thank you for giving the gift of faith to people in this room that they would then give as a result of that faith. You're so good. Thank you. We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Everybody said... So you can you can give with cash or check-in that little brown box as you leave and or there's a lockbox on the outside of the building so that if you're giving cash or check at another time other than service, you can just go zoop, put that right in there. You can give through our website, tribejh.com. That's how a lot of people are are generous. And what I like about that is, through the church center app, you can, like, you can, like, download this app, and then you can give that way.
You can also get your giving statements that way. We have several dedicated funds that you can give towards specifically and or just general tides. A lot of people are generous with their smartphones, and if you send a text to this number, (833) 369-7847, and then type give in the dollar amount, that's a great way to be generous just with your smart phone. So whether you're giving right now or at another time, the Lord bless your giving.
There's four
of you downstairs. Okay. A present for you, but for only four of you. And consider that we have one more service this morning, which is, like, gonna be coming in the doors as we wind down. But, we have four peccy boards, left.
And so if you haven't started a pecky board, I remember old Chris Bates with hair down to his belly button. Yes. And and and his little Jesus sandals comes in the door when we're meeting at Shepherd of the Mountains. I mean, broke as a joke and living in his land yacht, this big gas guzzling suburban thing. Jesus was wooing him.
Jesus grabs a hold of his heart, and he's like, pecky day. This is great. I'm gonna start a pecky board, but he didn't even have a wall to his name that he could hang stuff, so he just made a pecky visor in his little Suburban, and he would jam little mementos and things like that in there.
And look at him now.
And look at him now. Three kids? Three
kids, a fourth on the way, or no. Three. Two, four.
Don't know. One is still one is still cooking.
Up to his eyeballs and kids and a home, a beautiful wife, and a great job. So thank you, Lord, for being good to, start your pecky board even if it's in the visor of your truck. Alright? Well, can I pray for you before you get out of here? Stand up.
And then when we dismiss, I'm gonna invite Jacob and Gretchen to just hang out up here. If there's anything that you specifically need prayer for related to pecky day or something else, just come find Jacob and Gretchen, wave your hands, and they would love to agree with you in prayer. Alright? So, Lord Jesus, thank you for being good to us. Thank you for one more successful rotation around the son of Nancy.
Lord I command a blessing over each and every person here today. Lord thank you for your goodness to us, and we with faith filled hearts look for how you might creatively meet all of our needs according to your riches and glory which are found in Jesus of Nazareth. I command a blessing over each and every person here. We pray these things in Jesus name, the strong son of God, and everybody said, amen. I love you so very much.
Have a great week. Enjoy the last of this little window of fall weather and let it snow. You got this.
Share this message
Every word on these came out of the message. Download one and post it anywhere.
