AIM: God provides all that's needed to complete his plan
Exodus 3 & 4
- God calls Moses at the burning bush
- (3:1-3) God appears to Moses in flames of bush that didn't burn up at Horeb
- (4-5) God calls Moses by name, warned to stop, remove shoes - holy ground
- (6) God: I am God of your father & Abraham, Isaac, Jacob
- (7-10) God: aware of suffering/oppression/distress & cry of his people in Egypt, sending Moses to Pharaoh to lead people out to land of milk & honey
- (11-12) Moses: who am I?, God: I will be with you, you'll know because it will happen as I said and you'll worship God here
- (13-15) Moses: who are you?, God: I AM WHO I AM, LORD, Yahweh, YHWH, Jehovah - God of your ancestors
- (16-18) Go instructs Moses to call together the elders of Israel, tell what I said, they'll listen w\them tell king of Egypt God met with you, we need to take a 3 day journey - sacrifices to the LORD, our God
- (19-22) King of Egypt will no let you go unless forced, miracles - all Israelite woman will ask & get silver, gold, fine clothes - plunder Egypt
- Principle: God gives clear instructions, answers our doubts and foretells signs authenticating himself as God
- Application: When has God tried to get my attention and what was my reaction? Have I ever cried out to God and known in my heart that he was aware of my suffering/oppression/distress? Has anyone who knows my name ever shared God's redemptive plan for humanity with me? If I'm a Christian who has God placed in my life that needs to hear about Him?
- God gives Moses miracles and a spokesman to deliver His message
- (4:1-5) Moses: what if they won't listen & believe? God teaches him to turn staff to snake, back to staff.
- (6-9) God teaches Moses to turn his hand leprous, then healed and turn Nile water to blood
- (10-12) Moses: I'm not a good speaker. God: I give people mouths, make deaf/mute, give sight or blindness - now GO I WILL help you speak & teach you what to say
- (13-14) Moses: PLEASE send someone else. God (literally burned in anger against him): your brother Aaron can speak well - He's on his way to gladly meet you
- (15-17) God: speak to him, I'll help you both to speak and teach you what to do - Aaron's spokesman to the people, you will tell him what to say on my behalf
- Principle: God has provides all we need to share His message with people
- Application: Do I get in the way of ministry with doubts about how people might respond? Have I seen God do miracles and yet continue to ask him to "send someone else"? Will I trust God to help me and teach me what to do? How can I demonstrate that trust today? Who is God leading me to share his message with?
- Moses returns to Egypt by the grace of God shown in Jethro, Zipporah and Aaron
- (18-20) Moses asks Jethro to return to relatives in Egypt, receives his blessing, assurance from God of safety, brings wife, sons and staff of God
- (21-23) God instructs Moses to Go to Pharaoh, perform the miracles - he'll refuse so tell him "God will now kill your firstborn son!"
- (24-26) God confronted Moses to kill him, but Zipporah circumcised her son - God left him alone. (Ben's thought: prayer doesn't change God's mind, rather doing the right thing in love covers a multitude of sins 1 Peter 4:7-11)
- (27-28) God tells Aaron to meet Moses, Moses tells him what God said and about the signs
- (29-31) Moses & Aaron go to Egypt, called elders together, told them everything, performed miracles and they were CONVINCED, bowed down and worshiped God
- Principle: God's Grace is more than we deserve or could ever pay back
- Application: Do I see people acting in my favor as a gift from God? Do I show appreciation for the people who are helping me, even saving me by doing what I should have done? Am I convinced about God's message or is it a "passive" belief. Does my life show I'm convinced, if so how?
