
My pastor taught on Exodus 14. He focused on the Israelites response to seeing Pharaoh's army. God had made himself known to Egypt and his people when he displayed his power through the plagues, but what the Israelites saw did not produce faith in them. They knew God was real and knew he was there because he showed himself in the pillar of cloud and fire, but they were not living by faith. Only after he delivers them through the Red Sea do they believe in him and Moses, but this was not true faith. They continue to display this pattern of not living by faith and then believing only after God provides for them. Hebrews affirms this in Hebrews 3:16-19. My pastor gave three application points for what it means to live by faith: not trusting in your own righteousness but in Christ's, not trusting in your own abilities but in God's, and waiting in hope for God's salvation.