Free at Last
An Easter Exodus
Have you ever noticed the similarities between the Exodus of Israel and the Resurrection of Jesus? Where the Israelites looked to the Exodus story as the moment God save them, Jesus came and made a new salvation story, one that set all of humanity free from sin and brought us into an eternal promised land with Jesus as our King! I love the hope and excitement of Easter and its focus on life and salvation! Good Friday is dark and…
The Passover
The 10th and final plague, the death of the first born, only impacted the Egyptians because God passed over the Israelites who sprinkled the blood of a perfect lamb over their door posts. This foreshadowed the work of Jesus, the spotless lamb of God who covers the sin of humanity for all who put his blood over the door posts of their heart. The Message I love the song “Hallelujah, Praise the Lamb”; but have you ever wondered how weird…
The Plagues
Many of us have heard the story of the plagues of Egypt but most of us miss what God is teaching the Israelites and the Egyptians about himself. More importantly, there are lessons for us today about who God is and how he relates to humanity. The Message The early chapters of Exodus read like an epic adventure; and today we begin the climax of the story – the final encounter between the hero and the villain, God and Pharaoh.…
God’s Sovereignty
Have you ever wondered what the Bible meant when it says that “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart”? In this message, we take a look at what that important phrase means in the Exodus story and how we can avoid having hard, stubborn hearts like Pharaoh. The Message Today we come to a slow-down in the action in the book of Exodus. Between where we ended last week (Exodus 6:12) and where we will pick up next week (Exodus 7:8), we read a…
Responding to “No”
In Exodus 5, The Israelites were excited to hear God was going to set them free, but instantly became upset when Pharaoh said “NO” and then increased their work load. Sadly, we often do the same thing; we are so happy with God when we feel like his hand of blessing is on our life but then mad at him at the first sign of adversity. We must learn how to respond when life doesn’t play out how we hoped.…
Circumcision Matters
Some parts of the Bible are unsavory and some stories leave us scratching our head. Today’s story about God wanting to kill Moses right after calling him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt is one of those stories. And even stranger, the entire story is centered on circumcision. But with a surprise twist, looking at other parts of the Bible we see that God has always desired a “circumcision of the heart.” What does this mean? It means God…
Moses’ Reluctance
It’s an honor for God to be willing to work through us, yet we so often find excuses to say NO to God. That’s the story of God calling Moses to lead his people out of Egypt, and more often than not, that’s the story of our lives. Let’s learn to instead say YES to God and stop with the excuses!
God’s Plan
God heard the cries of the Israelites due to their suffering under the Egyptian oppression and responded by meeting Moses at a burning bush and telling him the plan to rescue His children. Most importantly, it’s a plan of rescue and victory that still applies to every single one of us.
God’s Man
After fulfilling his promise to create a nation through Abraham, God raises up a man, Moses, to set His people free. This week we look at the early life of Moses from Exodus 2 and see how God prepares us for whatever he calls us to do as well.
God’s Faithfulness
On the surface, the beginning of the book of Exodus appears to be about Pharaoh’s efforts to eliminate the Israelites in Egypt. But behind the text we see God is at work in fulfilling his promise to Abraham, to create a nation of people as numerous as the stars in the sky. And Pharaoh’s actions can’t stop God.