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Bitter Water Turned into Sweet Water

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Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood.
He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them.

(Exodus 15:25)

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God allowed the Israelites to cross the Red Sea like land.

The Egyptian army that chased after the Israelites into the Red Sea did not survive,
and all of them drowned.

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When the Israelites saw the great power that God had performed, they had great faith.

They saw with their own eyes that nothing is impossible with God.

Moses and the Israelites praised Jehovah God.

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Moses and the people of Israel glorified God by singing the following song.

“I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.

The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.
He is y God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.

Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea.
The best of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea.

The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone.”

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Then Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her,
with timbrels and dancing.
“Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.”
All the Israelites thanked God for His great grace and praised Him with joy.

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After seeing the miracle of the Red Sea, the Israelites left the Red Sea and went into the Wilderness of Shur with great faith that they could believe in God and follow Him no matter what they encountered.

The Israelites walked through the wilderness of Shur for three days, but found no water.

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The Israelites walked to a place called Marah. Fortunately, there was water in Mara.

The people who ran with joy when they encountered the water were greatly disappointed.
However, the water there was so bitter that no one could drink it at all.

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This is the reason why the name of the place was called Marah, which means bitter.
The Israelites were angry that the water was so bitter that they could not drink it.
The people began to complain again.

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The angry people went to Moses and complained.

“What are we supposed to drink?”

The way the Israelites were angry because of the bitter water was completely different from how they praised God a while ago.

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After receiving protests from the people, Moses cried out to God and prayed.

God showed Moses a tree. Moses went to the tree that God had shown him.

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Moses picked up the tree and threw it into the water. When the tree fell into the water, God performed a wonderful miracle.
It turned bitter water into sweet water.

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God solved the problem that the Israelites complained about with one tree.

The Israelites once again experienced the great power of God. It showed that the size of God's power is greater than our human imaginations.

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A man of faith Moses was a man who first prayed to God no matter what he encountered.
When the people complained about bitter water, he did not quarrel with them.
He first asked God what he should do in prayer.

God heard Moses' prayer and performed the miracle of turning bitter water into sweet water.

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Contrary to this, the Israelites were the first to get angry and complain when they encountered a small problem.

They experienced the miracle of crossing the Red Sea like land and sang praises to God together with Moses, but after meeting the bitter water, they forgot all about it. And they spoke harsh words to Moses.

Their actions are a sign of unbelief toward God who leads them to Canaan.

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God spoke to the Israelites who grumbled against God with bitter water.
“If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”

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All of us who have believed in Jesus and have been saved are spiritually Israelite people.

Like the Israelites, we must not fall into the bad habit of complaining and testing God when we encounter something. We must do what God said to the Israelites. We must obey Jehovah God and do what is right that pleases God. Whenever we do something, we must do our best not to go against the words of the Bible.

(This is the sample conclusion provided by CTM. Please feel free to change the conclusion to best suit the listeners of your sermon.)