This Week’s Prayer Guide Goshen Rotary Club to sponsor Freedom Walk Wednesday – For clarity as we seek ’s will regarding The Rotary Club is holding a 24-hour walk for “Destiny Rescue,” our continued association with the denomination. a non-profit mission that rescues children Thursday – For the Lord’s perfect provision for a new from trafficking. They hope to raise $40,000. pastor at just the right time. You can walk a 5k, 10k, or half marathon or Friday – For those in our congregation facing sponsor someone walking. This ministry can be uncertainty and battling discouragement. found at destinyrescue.org on the web. If you Saturday – For open hearts and willing spirits as we hear are interested, have further questions or want God’s Word preached tomorrow. more information, feel free to talk with Dave Sunday – For the to move upon us during our Daugherty or go to this website:

worship service today. https://go.destinyrescue.org/event/freedom-walk/e338021 Monday – For protection for our teachers, bus drivers, cooks, custodians, and students returning to school. Tuesday – For God to give us His strength, patience, and For the believer, a setback is a setup for a comeback. endurance as we seek to live pleasing lives. God is faithful and will see you through!

Wednesday Night Ministries to Resume Annual Fish Fry Masks are Optional We anticipate re-starting our Wed night We are planning our annual fish fry to Based on information from the suppers and ministries on September 22 be held in October with proceeds to go Elkhart County Board of Health, with some exciting new learning to “Starfish Project” and “Adult & Teen we are suggesting that each opportunities. Be watching for more Challenge.” If you are willing to person use his/her own details. volunteer please add your name to the judgment on whether to wear a sign-up list in the West Wing. mask at church or not.

Ladies Ministry Serves at “Starfish Project” You will remember that “Starfish Project” is a Goshen-based ministry that reaches out to trafficked women in the Far East, rescuing them from prostitution and training them in skills to help them escape their abusers. Ten of our WG ladies put stickers on 1,800 jewelry boxes recently during the 2½ hours they volunteered. Thanks to each of these women for taking from their time and serving the Kingdom in this way! They are hoping to continue helping out in the weeks ahead.

……………………………… Photos that will warm your heart

I live in a hi-rise apartment building in Brooklyn, NY. Last year during COVID I was practicing my violin with my windows open when this note was slipped under my door. I figured it was someone complaining about the noise.

Instead, it was a simple request. After locating the music, the next afternoon I began to play this lovely tune. As I finished, I could hear clapping from a balcony several floors above me. It made my day. It just thrilled my heart to feel appreciated.

The woman on the right lost her son in a car accident. The gentleman on the left was waiting for a heart transplant and received her son’s heart. They were total strangers. This is a photo of their first meeting.

Our 8-year old son, Carl, is autistic and attends our local I live in a neighborhood in Nebraska. When I got home elementary school where he is in third grade. Math is hard from work I found this taped to our front door. Bless her for him. He brought this assignment home showing a note heart. This note was so dear. It gave me a big lump in my he wrote to his teacher and her precious response. throat. I replied as indicated and put it back in her I immediately was in tears. I so appreciate the fact that mailbox as instructed. Miss Moretti is a Christian and that Carl is in her class this year. God bless this wonderful woman.

Blowing the dust off an old story from scripture By Pastor Joel DeSelm

Exodus 4:1-4 1 answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?" 2 Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he replied. 3 The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground." Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the LORD said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

One of the most famous objects seen in the Old Testament is the staff of Moses. If first appears in the Biblical record in Exodus 4:2 as Moses was in , watching his father-in-law’s (Jethro) sheep on the back side of the desert for the past forty years.

In biblical times shepherds carved their own staffs so they were just the right size, shape, and balance for each individual shepherd. Moses had undoubtedly done the same thing. A shepherd’s staff (also called a crook or rod) was used to protect sheep from predators and was suitable for guiding and separating sheep (cf. Psalm 23:4). The curved crook on one end could be utilized to recover and rescue lost or entangled sheep. The staff was also beneficial as a walking stick and helpful for keeping one’s balance in rough terrain.

Shepherd with his flocks in the Negev, a similar area not far from where Moses likely was tending the flocks of Jethro.

The staff of Moses would have been made from a native hardwood, either almond or acacia. There is debate as to whether ’s rod and Moses’ rod were the same staff (Exodus 7:9-20). However, we do know for a fact that when Aaron’s rod budded it produced almond blooms and was eventually stored inside the (cf. Numbers 17:8; Hebrews 9:4).

Throughout Judaism and Islam, all kinds of legends and lore have sprung up regarding Moses’ staff. According to the , an ancient commentary on the Hebrew scriptures, Jethro tested his daughter’s suitors by challenging them to pull the staff from the ground, and only Moses was successful. This further cements Moses’ first encounter with the staff as a story about his chosenness. Notice the unmistakable parallel between this story and the legend of Excalibur, in which the future King Arthur is alone able to pull a sword from a stone.

According to the Mishnah, a written collection of the Jewish oral traditions , Moses’ staff was originally taken from the tree of knowledge by as he was leaving the Garden of Eden. The staff was then passed down from patriarch to patriarch until the destruction of the temple, as understood by Jewish legend. Islamic tradition holds that Moses’ staff is currently on display at the Topkapi Palace in , , along with the turban of and ’s sword. Others believe Moses’ staff was transported to France after the fall of Constantinople and is housed in a cathedral run by the Archdiocese of Paris. The truth is nobody knows its whereabouts today nor the authenticity of some of these fabled beliefs.

However, what we do know is that Moses owned his staff and had probably used this same staff for perhaps forty years, as was the customs of shepherds in those days. Interestingly, after answering God’s call to deliver his people, Moses would continue using that staff for another forty years in a much different way!

In the initial encounter at the , God tells Moses to throw his staff on the ground. Moses does so and it becomes a snake. God subsequently tells Moses to pick the snake up by the tail (a step of faith) and it miraculously returned to being the original staff. The snake was H. Krisp Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Krisp H. - BY probably a venomous viper that is indigenous to the Middle East. Such - “fiery serpents” (indicating the painful burn from a bite) attacked God’s people in the wilderness causing Moses to famously raise up a bronze © Photo CC ©Photo in the wilderness to provide healing to anyone who looked at it The Israeli viper, a likely candidate for the type of (Numbers 21:6-9). snake God produced from the staff of Moses. Perhaps the reason God turned Moses’ staff into a serpent was because the serpent was a symbol of Wadjet, an Egyptian goddess who was said to control and protect the land of . The image of a serpent symbolized Pharaoh’s sovereignty, royalty, deity, and divine authority in ancient Egypt. In fact, a carved serpent was used in the headdress of the king of Egypt. ………………………………………….Some scholars believe that God’s turning Moses’ staff into a serpent was the Lord showing Moses ………………………………………….that He alone is God in control over Egypt – not Pharaoh. He is the one true God Who is sovereign ………………………………………….over the land of Egypt and a higher authority than Pharaoh himself!

But why would God ask Moses to throw down his staff in the first place? We need to remember that Moses’ staff represented more than just a walking stick; it represented his identity at that time. Just as a paintbrush represents an artist or an axe represents a lumberjack, Moses’ staff was the most recognizable symbol of his occupation as a shepherd. It virtually stood for who Moses was.

The death mask of King Tut. Notice the image of the serpent on the head dress, symbolizing the

goddess Wadjet and the power of Egypt. Photo courtesy Cairo Museum. As valuable as that staff was to Moses, we need to realize how hard that decision must have been for Moses to throw it to the ground. He had used that staff for decades. It had formed to his hand. He was used to it and it was the most valuable tool he had. To release it was taking a huge risk. Moses had to wonder, “Will I get it back? Will God destroy it?” But God knew all of that. In essence, God was asking Moses, “Are you willing to let go of who you are and lay down your identity before Me? If you do, I’ll take something that seems dead to you and I will make it come alive. I will make a miracle out of it. Though it may seem like just a stick to you, if you surrender your staff into my hands, I’ll do things you could never imagine possible.” God was instructing Moses to lay down that which represented his life and calling, so that He could transform it and raise it up for His purposes.

The question God asked Moses still resonates just as strongly today: “What is in your hand? What do you have – your talent, personality, giftedness, education, background, passions, mind, opportunities, creativity, time – what is in your possession? You see, before we can “go,” God wants us to “let go.” To totally, willingly, completely, and absolutely surrender to Him every single day all that we are and all that we have.

When Moses decided to release his staff and offer it to the Lord, notice what happened:  The staff of Moses (and Aaron) was instrumental in the  The staff of Moses was used to part the  The staff of Moses was used to bring water from the rock  The staff of Moses, as it was being held up at , caused the to prevail against the Amalekites.

Was that staff magical? Was it endued with enchanted powers? Was it somehow an amulet or sorcerer’s stick, enabling Moses to produce miracles? The answer to those questions is “no.” So how was the staff of Moses able to do such amazing feats? The answer is given in Exodus 4:20 where Moses writes in third person that “he took the staff of God in his hands.” Notice, the staff of Moses had become the staff of God. Once Moses laid his staff down and then took it back up, a significant change took place. It was no longer his shepherd's staff; it was the "staff of God."

God never took the staff from Moses’ hands; it was required for Moses himself to surrender it to the Lord. But when Moses willingly cast his staff on the ground before God, he was yielding and presenting his whole life to God. From that point on, Moses ceased seeing his staff as belonging to him or as an ordinary shepherd’s staff used for ordinary purposes. Moses began seeing his staff and his entire life as holy, supernatural, and capable of great things.

What do you have in your hands? What is your “staff?” Today, have you released it to Him? Have you thrown it onto the ground saying, “Lord, this is no longer mine; it is now Yours?” When we do that, God is able to take what we offer to Him and transform it into that which can be used to produce miracle and deliverance in our lives and in the lives of others.

Moses is living proof. © Copyright Joel DeSelm 2021 © Shepherd photo by Todd Bolen. Used by permission, BiblePlaces.com

Sunday School Lesson #33 (based on Pastor Joel’s Sunday sermon from August 15)

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the door-frames of your houses and on your gates.

Question #1: This passage is the most important passage in the entire Old Testament for a Jew. The Old Testament is referred to as “The ” and this passage is called the “shema” (shay-MAH). The passage is repeated by orthodox every morning and every evening. When most people refer to this passage they begin in vs. 5. However, the shema actually begins in vs. 4. Notice in vs. 4 it states “The LORD our God, the Lord is one.” The word “God” in vs. 4 is plural (Heb: Elohim) referring to the Godhead (Father/Son/Holy Spirit). Why would God begin the shema declaring the unity of the Godhead?

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Question #2: Consider this passage: "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. 22 I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as We are one: 23 I in them and You in Me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me” (John 17:20-23). This is the high priestly prayer of that He prayed in the Upper Room on the night He was betrayed. Why does Jesus place such a high priority on the church being united?

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Question #3: Consider this passage: 1 A song of ascents. Of David. How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! 2 It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down upon the collar of his robes. 3 It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore (Psalm 133:1-3). What are some of the reasons why unity in a church is “good?”

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Question #4: In Psalm 133:3 it says, “For there the LORD bestows His blessing.” In other words, where there is unity in a church, God is able to bless that church. What forms of blessing might these “blessings” be?

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