Messages on Spiritual Growth (Page 4)
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.…
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…
Evil King Manasseh
Burt Beals shares about the evil inside a person’s heart and how God is in the business of redeeming us from that evil.
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.
Personal Renewal
I believe God wants to do something amazing in our community and in our church this year. But he can’t do any of that through us if we don’t first experience a personal renewal of our faith and our passion for him.
Remember to Look back
Day to day, moving through the busyness of our lives we sometimes fail to see the forest through the trees. Spiritually speaking, in the middle of the chaos of our lives, we can feel like God is nowhere to be found. But if we take a moment to look back, to gain some perspective, and to remember the big story of our lives, we will often see the fingerprints of God at work in our lives.