Nothing Given, Everything Earned // Here & Now
“The best is yet to come!” This statement has often been a popular rallying cry, especially for the Church. It’s a declaration rooted in the belief that God has great things in store for his people just beyond the horizon. And it’s a sentiment we’ve shared and stated here at Cornerstone...but, not anymore. Of course, we still believe the future is bright. But who has time for what’s to come when we’re too busy being blessed by what is? You see, the best isn’t “yet to come”—it’s here and now! God is on the move, and he is doing a new thing NOW, in the midst of our present circumstances. Instead of focusing on the future, we’re determined to follow God’s lead, right here and right now.
We’ve looked to the future, we know it’s on us, and we have confidence that God will provide. That leaves us with just one more thing to do as we build our future in the present—move! The time for preparation is over. A fulfilling future won’t be handed to us on a silver platter. As a famous native son of Northeast Ohio once said, “Nothing is given, everything is earned.” Do we truly want the blessings that God has for us? They can be ours—and not “someday” off in the distant future—but right here and now. All we have to do is move.
Message Notes
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!”
Exodus 14:5So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him.
Exodus 14:6He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.
Exodus 14:7he Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly.
Exodus 14:8The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.
Exodus 14:9As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.
Exodus 14:10They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?
Exodus 14:11Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
Exodus 14:12Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.
Exodus 14:13The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Exodus 14:14Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.
Exodus 14:15Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.
Exodus 14:16The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord...”
Exodus 14:18
“Nothing Given, Everything Earned”
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.
Exodus 14:13The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Exodus 14:14Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.
Exodus 14:15Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.
Exodus 14:16Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
2 Corinthians 5:17
