Ref: Exodus 14:10-15, Philippians 3:12-14

We welcome you in our today’s service. This is the day that the Lord has made to visit each one of us and bring positive transformation in all aspects of our lives. Let us then look up to the lord and wait upon Him for He is faithful and ready to hear our prayers.

Our today’s topic is choosing to move ahead being guided by the above texts. In Exodus 14:10-15, we read about the journey of Israelites on their way from Egypt. In exodus 1, the Israelites had gone through a lot of hardships in Egypt. Because of their big number, the Egyptians feared that the Israelites might turn against them some day. The Egyptians hoped to reduce the Israelites number by exploiting them, overworking them and even killing their boy children at birth. In Exodus 3.7, The Lord tells Moses that He has indeed seen the misery of the Israelites and He has heard their cry out of their mistreatment and that He is concerned about their suffering and that He was going down to rescue them. It's important to note that the Israelites cried to God day and night asking Him to move them from Egypt because the oppression and exploitation was too much. They were at a verge of dying. So God sent Moses to lead the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan. It was not easy for pharaoh to allow Israelites to go but after a lot of signs, the last one being the death of the Egyptian last born, pharaoh released them though unwillingly.

In Exodus 14, we see pharaoh changing his mind to follow the Israelites and may be return them to Egypt. As this happened, the Israelites were about to cross the lead sea(later called red sea) the Israelites were so scared because the sea was like a big stumbling block which stood on their way. We see the Israelites murmuring and bitterly complaining to Moses asking him why he took them from Egypt to kill them in the desert. Exodus 3:15 is the great word of comfort that God offered to Israelites through Moses, tell the Israelites to move on and they will see the salvation of God. We know that God enabled the Israelites to cross the red sea by dividing the sea and that the Egyptian army that followed them were killed in the sea.

We are all in some life undertakings which are described as life journeys. As we sail through, we may encounter some barriers and stumbling blocks just like the Israelites. We are encouraged to choose to move on. There are 2 important factors that will allow us to move on. The first one is recorded in Philippians 3:12-14 where Paul advises us to focus on our goals. If we want to accomplish our journeys, we must look at our final goal. Any time, we remove our eyes from our goals, we become distracted and may become discouraged and get afraid to move on. So we must always look towards the goal where we want to be. Secondly, we will accomplish our goals when we learn to work and walk with God who always gives us the strength, wisdom and ability to move on and accomplish our goals. May God help us to move on until we achieve our life journeys.