Summary of a published sermon by Jacob Phillips, prepared from the sermon's captions. This page carries the summary and scripture index only — no transcript is published for this record. An attributed primary source — not Acts 2:38 Life doctrine text.
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Summary
Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon's captions — published in summary form; watch the full sermon at the source.
The text in the wilderness
Phillips opens by calling the church to magnify the Lord, then reads his text. In the wilderness God answers Israel's murmuring: his glory appears in the cloud, quail cover the camp in the evening, and in the morning the dew lies round about the host, and when the dew is gone up there is a small round thing on the face of the wilderness — manna. He thanks Pastor Smith for the invitation to minister online while the church building sits empty.
Scriptures: Exodus 16:11-14
Out of Egypt, into the in-between
He carries the text back over Israel's story. In Egypt they were above ground but buried in bondage and shame, groaning under the taskmasters' whips — and, he says, under careless words spoken over them in casual conversation. God heard their groaning and brought them out, but deliverance did not take them straight to promise: it took them across the Red Sea into a wilderness, to Marah's bitter waters made sweet and to Elim's twelve wells and seventy palm trees. That wilderness is what he calls the in-between — bondage behind them, the promise not yet in hand — and it is the place where God proves whether his people will obey and trust him.
Manna in the in-between
The blessing of the in-between, Phillips preaches, is the word of God received daily and in season. God will not waste his blessing on people who will not cooperate with it; the worship and the sacrifice of the season of waiting are not wasted effort. What looks like a curse in the wilderness is often the blessing — the lesson learned in the place between the bondage and the breakthrough.
Worship in the wilderness
Worship belongs in the wilderness season: God is worthy in the lowest valley as on the highest mountain, and the devil's aim in the in-between is to make God's people waste their worship. Phillips closes in prayer — come back to God before the night comes, when he withdraws what he put on deposit; do not leave it on the table; skip a meal, skip sleep, petition heaven; and, in a reference to David worshipping after the child's death, return to the place of worship, trust God's plan, and exalt his name.
Watch the sermon
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Scripture references as spoken: Exodus 16:11-14.