Master Reset, Pt. 2
Tim Ross | November 8, 2020
“Do you see the level of appreciation that’s happening here? They’re not thanking God for getting them out of Egypt and getting them to the promised land, they’re thanking God for every single step along the way. I don’t know who I’m talking to but you need to be reminded not of He took you from before and after but He took you through the middle of that thing.”
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Transcription
What's up Embassy City Church. I am so grateful that we have the opportunity to be with each other today. Whether you are watching us from near or far, thanks for being part of the Embassy City family. I cannot wait to get into God's word and continue in this series that He's given us called Master Reset. I introduced it last week and I hope that you are preparing your hearts now for everything that God wants to speak into you as it relates to this topic.
If you have your Bibles, I want you to open them up to the book of Isaiah 43. The book of Isaiah 43. It's actually in the book of Isaiah 43, that God gave me the verse and then gave me the word about Master Reset. Before I get to that verse, just some scriptures that I need to read that proceed it that give us some context to why this is such an important subject for us to delve into.
If you're taking notes on this message, I'm introducing a word to you. Many of you all have never heard this word before, but I'll give you the spelling of it. I want you to write it down and you're going to hear it a lot throughout this message. The title of this message is Dayenu. All right? I want you to write that down the word, Dayenu D-A-Y-E-N-U. It's the Hebrew word, D-A-Y-E-N-U. Now, Isaiah chapter 43:14, here is what it says. This is what the Lord says. "our Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. "For your sakes, I will send an army against Babylon, forcing the Babylonians to flee in those ships they are so proud of."
Can I just pause real quick and just say, I love when God talks gangster. I just love when He reminds you that He is sovereign, that He is almighty, that He is omnipotent and there was no situation that you are going through in your life that is outside of the realm of Him to control. He makes this statement. He says, those Babylonians that you've been under captivity with, I just want you to know I'm going to make them flee in those ships they're so proud of. That's just a boss move. I just love it.
Verse 15, "I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel's creator and King. I am the Lord who opened a way through the waters." Now, He starts talking about the Exodus. "I am the one," He reminds them again. I'm talking thousands of years later. He reminds them again, "I'm the one that brought you out of Egypt, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea. I caught forth the mighty army of Egypt with all its chariots and horses, I drew them beneath the waves and they drowned, their lives snuffed out like a smoldering candlewick." Their lives snuffed out like a smoldering candlewick.
We have this scene that God is reminding His covenant people that even though they have been in Babylonian exile for 70 years, God is proving Himself faithful once again and letting them know, you are going to be delivered by my mighty hand. In order for them to understand that He's going to do it and the significance of what He's going to do, He reminds them of what He's already done. That's just something that somebody needs to take note of right there. Anytime God's going to do something for you in this next season, He's going remind you of what He's already done for you in a previous season. The same God that will bring you out of this as the same God that brought you out of that.
The reminder that He's giving you is that I've already done this for you before, don't sweat it. Don't think that you're going to be left in this season. I've already delivered you before, I can do it again. This is light work for me. I got this. You can go to sleep tonight because I got this all under my control. You don't have to cry about this tonight. I got this all under my control. You don't have to have anxiety and stress about this. I got this all under my control. You don't have to argue about this. I got it all under my control. You don't have to beg me for this. I got this all under my control.
He has it all under His control. I was introduced to this word last week when I was on a staff call that gave me some context to how God reminds His people and how His people stay reminded of God's faithfulness. The word is Dayenu, which is the title of this message. Dayenu, by definition, first of all, by its origin, it's a song that is part of the Jewish holiday Passover. When they have their Seder meal, they actually have this song that they sing called Dayenu. The word Dayenu means approximately, it would have been enough, it would have been sufficient or it would have sufficed. I just want you to think about that before we go any further.
The word Dayenu used in this song means, it would have been enough or it would have been sufficient. Whatever God has done, it would have been enough. If He does nothing else, it would have been enough. Dayenu. Now, listen, when I heard about this, tears welled up in my eyes. I thought to myself, "That's the best sermon I've ever heard. Outside of the gospel message, this is probably the best sermon I've ever heard. I got to hear more about it." I called my friend who is a messianic Jewish rabbi and I said, "Hey man, you got to talk to me about Dayenu," and he chuckled. [laughter] He's like, "Oh, yes. Great song, isn't it?" I was like, "Yes, man." I'm like, "This is messing me up. I'm emotional behind it."
He was like, "Oh, yes. You want to hear some cool stuff about it?" This is if there's any source of jealousy I have with my Jewish brothers and sisters is that when they receive Jesus as Lord, it's like they automatically get a PhD in theology because the Bible was already written to their people and then they receive their Messiah and then they go, "Oh, yes. I know what that means." I just go, "Mmh." I get so mad because I'm like, "Oh, no." He wasn't rubbing it in. It's just that it's commonplace for them. He's like, "I sing a song every year. What are you talking about?"
He starts talking to me about the song and he said, "I actually have a video that I did." He sent me the link to it and the song got a bop to it. Right now. Now, I can't sing it in Hebrew. I'm not going to try, but the melody of it is like, Dayenu. Everybody, now.
[singing]
Da, Dayenu,
Da, Dayenu,
Da, Dayenu,
Dayenu,
Dayenu,
Dayenu,
Dayenu.
Da, Dayenu,
Da, Dayenu,
Da, Dayenu,
Dayenu,
Dayenu,
Dayenu.
And everybody just bopping. It's just a little dope little, you know what I'm saying?
I think we put a little trap beats in the back of that thing. I think you're probably knocking the car, Da, Dayenu, Da, Dayenu, Da, Dayenu, Dayenu, Dayenu, Dayenu. I just knew it would be dope, but they sing this song and at the end of every verse they sing, then they have this Dayenu refrain at the end of it.
Now, when they speak out the verses of the song at the end of every verse, they all say Dayenu. It's demonstrative. It's not like they say the verse and then it's like, Dayenu, like it would have been enough. It is like, "It would have been enough." After every-- and I'm going to walk you through this thing. Ooh. It's so emotional for me. After every refrain, they shout, Dayenu.
I'm going to read because there's 15 stanzas to the song. The first five stanzas deal with slavery and how God brought them out of slavery. I'm telling you, when I read this and we go through this, you are just going to be blown away. The first five deal with them coming out of slavery, the second five deal with the miracles God did for them and the last five deal with the proximity that God brought them in closeness to Him with. As they begin to talk about it in these verses, at the end of every verse, they say, "Dayenu." All right?
I'm going to read the verses and I need y'all to say, "Dayenu." All right? Let's practice. I just read a verse.
Dayenu
My God. That's-- see? When you all come with energy like that the first time, I already got to do the second time. This is what I'm talking about y'all. Y'all came through for me. Y'all ready? Now keep that same energy. 15 times. Okay? Listen to the words because it is powerful. They're starting this song from their miraculous rescue. from Egypt. Same thing God reminds them of in Isaiah 43. You guys ready?
If He had brought us out of Egypt and had not carried out judgment against them.
Dayenu.
If He had carried out judgments against them and not against their idols.
Dayenu.
If He had destroyed their idols and had not smitten their firstborn.
Dayenu.
If He had smitten their firstborn and had not given us their wealth.
Dayenu.
Can we just pause? It would have been enough. If you would have just moved us 10 feet away from where we were, it would have been enough. Can you imagine the type of appreciation you have to have to write that lyric? If He had given us their wealth and had not split the sea for us.
Dayenu.
The splitting of the red sea is the most miraculous thing in Israel's history and you're saying, if you would have just gave us the wealth and not split the red sea, it would have been enough but it goes on verse number six. If He had split the sea for us and had not taken us through it on dry ground.
Dayenu.
If He had taken us through the sea on dry land and had not drowned our oppressors in it.
Dayenu.
If He had drowned our oppressors in it and had not supplied our needs in the desert for 40 years.
Dayenu.
Can we just pause real quick? Do you see the level of appreciation that's happening here? They're not thanking God for getting them out of Egypt and getting them to the promised land, they're thanking God for every single step along the way. I don't know who I'm talking to but you need to be reminded not of He took you from before and after but He took you through the middle of that thing.
Verse nine, if He had supplied our needs in the desert for 40 years and had not fed us with the manna, Dayenu.
Dayenu.
If He had fed us with the manna and had not given us the Sabbath, the Shabbat, Dayenu.
Dayenu.
What? If He had given us the Shabbat and had not brought us before Mount Sinai, Dayenu.
Dayenu.
If He had brought us before Mount Sinai and had not given us the Torah.
Dayenu.
If He had given us the Torah and had not brought us into the land of Israel.
Dayenu.
Can I just pause? Can you imagine this level of appreciation? If you would have got us out to the desert and did nothing else except give us your commandments and we died, it would have been enough. If He had brought us into the land of Israel and had not built for us the holy temple, Dayenu.
Dayenu.
This is the last one. If He had only given us the temple and had not given us Yeshua.
Dayenu.
The leader of the chant goes on to say, but God provided all of these blessings to our ancestors and not only these, but so many more. So many more. Goes on to say, "Blessed are you oh, God, for you have in mercy supplied all of our needs. You have given us Messiah, forgiveness of sins, life abundant and life everlasting." Halleluyah.
Dayenu. You're going through a master reset. Had He just brought you through COVID and didn't give you another job.
Dayenu.
If He would have just brought us through this ugly Summer of racism and injustice that was splitting the church apart but you kept us together. Dayenu. If our last service was in March and we never meet again.
Dayenu.
When you slow it down, it leaves no room for complaining. There's no part of your life that you can really complain about when you see what He just did for you last time. It takes you from being an entitled spoilt kid to an appreciative humble kid. What I want to give you today is an exercise so that you can write your own Dayenu.
I want everybody at the end of this message to be able to take this song and be able to write your own about the things that He brought you through because we love to sing the reminder of what has happened for our brothers and sisters in Israel but what has he done for you? What would a Dayenu song do for your family? What would a Dayenu song do for you that your playlist could never do?
You've never had a worship song that can fully encapsulate everything that God has brought you through because you didn't write the song. I want to take you through an exercise so that you can write your own Dayenu song and be able to offer up to God what He's done in your life. Three questions that you need to answer in order to write your own Dayenu song.
Here's the first question you need to ask yourself, what did He bring me out of? What did He bring me out of? Here's what it says in Psalms 107:2, has the Lord redeemed you, then speak out. Y'all don't know that NLT translation. Let me give you New King James. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Tell others, He has redeemed you from your enemies. The very first thing that you have to do in order to write your own Dayenu song is just be reminded of what He brought you out of [chuckles]. What did He bring me out of? What did He save me from? What did He bring me through? What did He make me miss?
What did He not allow to stick? What weapon did He not allow to prosper? If you can answer that first question, you can have at least one verse to the song. You may not get to 15 verses but you'll get more than one.
For number two, the second question you have to ask yourself, what did He do to amaze you? [chuckles] What did He do to amaze you? What has God done for you that has literally blown your mind? Remember the first five stanzas deal with bringing you out of something. God brought them out of slavery.
The second five stanzas have to do with miraculous things. What has God done for you that has been absolutely miraculous, you can't give nobody else credit for? You know for a fact that if it had not been for the Lord that was on your side, you would have been swallowed up. There's no way you could have got yourself out of that situation. There's no way you could have got yourself into this situation. It had to be God.
I would attribute it to my education except I know my education had nothing to do with this. I would attribute it to my streets smart but I know that I'm not that good of a hustler. I would attribute it to my wealth but I know my money couldn't have paid for that because money can't buy me peace. It can't buy me happiness. It can't buy me joy. It cannot buy me health so the trust fund didn't do it. What did He do to amaze you?
If you need a little reminder, John 3:16. For this is how God loved the world, He gave His one and only son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. Listen, if you need to know what He did that was amazing, the fact that He died for you.
Dayenu.
Had He just died for me and didn't do anything else for me, Dayenu.
Dayenu.
He's done that and so much more. [laughs] So good, I feel like jumping out of my skin, but I need my skin.
Here's the third question you need to ask yourself, how close has He come to you?
Come closer to me
closer to me
I want to feel you
I want to know you.
How close has He come to you? In that intimate space, how close has He been to you?
I was talking to my friend Matt, I don't think I've had a phone conversation with Matt that has lasted less than 30 minutes ever. If I call him, I make time because we just start yapping. He starts talking and giving me context to the Bible that I don't have as a Gentile. I’m a nerd, I just take it all in until he says he got to go or his throat got dry or his wife said, “Get off the phone with that dude,” we'll just stay on the phone. He said, “You want to hear something cool?” I’m like, “Yes.”
He's like, “All right, second Corinthians chapter number 12 when Paul starts talking about whether I was in the spirit or out of the spirit, I knoweth was not, but God sent me up into the third heaven and I had these revelations that were so profound that I couldn't share them with nobody, and so that I wouldn't boast about it, there was a messenger of Satan that was sent to buffet my flesh and I have this thorn in the side of my flesh." He's like, “Remember that part?” I’m like, “Yes.”
He asked three times for the thorn to be taken away and then scripture says in verse number nine, each time, He said, "My grace is all you need, my power works best in weakness.” Now, if you read that in your bible or you have an app, it should show up in red. The person who answered the question was Jesus. Paul asked three times for this weakness to be taken away from him, for this thorn in his flesh to be removed and each time he asked, Jesus response was, “My grace is all you need.” King James says, “My grace is sufficient.” If Jesus, who is Jewish, would have said this in Hebrew His response would have been, “Paul, Dayenu.”
The moment Paul heard, "Dayenu", he never prayed again for the thorn to be removed. The moment he heard His messiah say, "Dayenu", he went, “I almost forgot. If you never do nothing else, you've already done enough. If this thorn stays in my side, if the only thing you would have done is given me the ability to have the scales fall from my eyes and understand you as messiah, Dayenu. If you would to let me go on all my missionary journeys but not let me get any revelations, Dayenu. If this is the last sermon I preach and this thorn still is sticking in my side, Dayenu.”
Then, what does he say after that? Therefore, I boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. Here's the way Paul really lived the rest of his life;
[singing]
Da, Dayenu,
Da, Dayenu,
Da, Dayenu,
Dayenu,
Dayenu,
Dayenu
Da, Dayenu,
Da, Dayenu,
Da, Dayenu,
Dayenu,
Dayenu
He just said, basically, "This affliction is not going to stop me from being reminded of what you've already done." If you can answer those three questions, you can have your own song. What would it sound like for you to have your own, Dayenu song? What would it sound like for you to remind yourself, your family of what He's done in your life? I took the time to write my own song because I thought to myself, "There's no way I can teach this message and ask you to write something that I haven't."
Here's my Dayenu song. If He had engrafted me into the covenant made with His chosen people, Israel, but had not broken the generational curse over my life, Dayenu. If He had broken the generational curse over my life, but had not given my family a generational blessing, Dayenu. If He had given my family a generational blessing, but never called me to preach the gospel, Dayenu. It would have been enough.
If He had called me to preach the gospel, but never brought Juliet into my life, Dayenu. If He had brought Juliet into my life, but never gave us Nathan and Noah, Dayenu. If He had given us Nathan and Noah, and had never brought our family closer to Himself, Dayenu. If He had brought our family closer to Himself, and never does another thing for us, Dayenu. This could have been 30 verses longer, but I just wanted a start.
Because I never want to get to a season in my life where I'm left with a complaint about God and not a compliment. He's done enough. He has done enough and as a part of this reset, you need to go be reminded that no matter where you are right now, He has already done enough. If you never get the next thing that you think He owes you, Dayenu. If you never get promoted, Dayenu. If you never get the next breakthrough, Dayenu. If you never get married, Dayenu. If you don't have a baby, Dayenu.
if you don't get healed on this side, Dayenu, Dayenu, Dayenu. I don't want to be left with a complaint. I want to be left with a compliment. I think the most extravagant compliment that you could give the Lord at any season of your life is Dayenu. I'm good, you've done enough. It's all good, Lord. I didn't expect what you did let alone what you've promised to do.
If I don't see it and my great grandkids do, Dayenu. If I thought it was going happen in my lifetime, but it's really for Nathan and Noah, Dayenu. If I don't get credit and someone else does, Dayenu. I've got nothing else to say except, Dayenu. Go write your song, sing it loud and be left with the reminder that whatever God has done for you is already enough. I'll see you next week.
