Monthly Archives: September 2014

Exodus 4:18-31 Redemption… 9-28-14

Fellowship at Cross Creek

Life of Moses

Lesson 8: Redemption…

Ex 4:18-31

(1.12.03; 9.28.14)

Intro…Can God both give you an assignment to do and it be hard? Yes. Why? Why would God do this? Why would a parent, teacher, coach or employer do this? To see the mettle of his student? To expose their strengths and liabilities. If we come to the table already fit, what’s the point? What do we have to learn? How will we grow? Sometimes we are given a difficult, challenging assignment that we may or may not be able to accomplish, particularly in our own wisdom and strength, as Moses sought to do when he intervened on behalf of the Hebrew slave that was being beaten by the Egyptian steward. Moses in his own strength and wisdom ends up killing and burying the harsh steward. When he finds out that others know what he has done, he panics and flees Egypt, and then spends forty years in a self-imposed exile. Moses had talent, no doubt about it, but he needed what only God could do through him, if he was to pull off the impossible. This is true of all of us. Pretty good, on our own, perhaps, but not good enough…not God enough. God is our only hope and salvation. With God, always greater than.

How might you demonstrate or expose this truth to your students. Good, bad or indifferent without God; invincible, called and empowered with God.

Series Introduction: You make a mistake…perhaps even a huge mistake; you think your life has changed forever–that there is no going back. In exile, you take your flock of sheep, which you have been pasturing for these past forty years to an out-of-the-way desert valley that seems to symbolize your exiled existence. You see something strange in the distance—it’s a fire…an inextinguishable flame.

You bravely venture forth for a closer inspection of the undying flame. As you draw closer, something happens–you begin to experience something that will change your entire understanding of your human existence—you encounter God of the Universe.

Out of all the people on the planet, the Creator of the Universe has chosen YOU–a wandering, lonely, exiled, imperfect shepherd–to free and lead an exodus of what will become an emancipated people group of over two million strong from the oppressive grip of a much stronger nation that enslaves them—a nation that does intend to just allow you to walk in and then walk out with all its slaves. And even after you pull off this miraculous emancipation, you must now lead or shepherd this massive new nation across a vast desert with little food or water resources to a land that, while flowing with milk and honey, only somewhat briefly belonged to your forefathers over four centuries ago and is now currently occupied by many wicked or evil tribes that just don’t intend to hand you back your ancestors’ tribal lands.

Impossible, you say? Ridiculous? Utterly insane, if you ask me. Unless the God of Creation is the one doing the calling AND the work of liberation and deliverance. Do you have the guts or crazy faith to be obedient, to trust, to put one foot in front of the other no matter the costs?

I write all this to encourage all of you NOT to minimize what is about to take place in this, one of the great stories of human history. It is one of gargantuan proportions. And yet, our faith…your faith, born in heaven itself, is a faith of gargantuan implications. If God could do this with Moses, what might he still have planned for you?

Pray

Read the Passage three times…

Ask questions…

18 Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me go back to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.” Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.”

Was it respectful to ask the father-in-law to leave or cultural? Jethro seemed very trusting of Moses. But after 40 years, this kind of trust makes sense. Now Moses knew that his brother was coming to him because of the previous passage, but did he think he was coming to tell him that his family was dead? Why did Moses not tell Jethro what God had told him? Was his father-in-law not a believer? Was this the reason? He was a Midianite priest? Who and what did the Midianites worship?

19 Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.”

A new wrinkle that we were not told of earlier in the LORD’s conversation with Moses, so we don’t know everything that might have been said. Does this mean that the nation has forgotten Moses? He is a non-issue?

20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

Now it has become the staff of God; no longer is it the staff of Moses. How long a journey was it across the Sinai to Egypt? Was it a difficult journey? Would this journey be difficult on his family? Would it be safe? How old were his sons?

21 The LORD said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

Was this a second conversation or from the previous conversation? If from the previous conversation, why did the writer, presumably Moses, choose to use this approach to tell us more of what was said? Why is God going through all this—the miracles and the hardening? What is the purpose to defeat your purpose? To cause a greater miracle? To severely discipline the Egyptians? Did he have a reason? Was it for enslaving Israel? Was it due to their polytheism?

22 Then say to Pharaoh, `This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son,

How is a nation his first-born son? I thought Jesus was? Was this because of Abraham? First-born, usually means eldest and by which the family land, name and authority were handed down? Is this a metaphor? Does this mean that Israel is special?

23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.'”

Here is the discipline? Intervention to allow them to go? Why so severe? Makes God sound vindictive? Is this literal—Pharaoh’s son or the entire nation’s firstborn sons?

24 At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met [Moses] and was about to kill him.

Where did this come from? This sounds extreme? Why is Moses in brackets? How was he going to kill him? It would seem that the same God that is sending Moses to Pharaoh to tell him that he is about to lose his first born son—no small act…to take the life of a prince of Egypt—certainly means business and is NOT afraid to take the life of the servant he is sending…

25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched [Moses’] feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.

Why did Moses’ wife act so fast? How did she know what to do? Why now had the LORD chosen to do this? Is this something that Moses had been instructed to do, but had failed to follow through on? Why does this event come so out-of-the-blue? Why did she touch Moses’ feet? Why had Moses failed to circumcise his son? Why was it important now? Because they were getting closer to the nation once again? Would the LORD actually have killed Moses? What would he have done to find a leader to lead the nation out of Egypt? Did Israel’s redemption hang so narrowly in the balance? What does this say about God? That he will not be disrespected? That he does not play favorites? Did Zipporah resent having to circumcise her child? What was the custom of circumcision all about in the first place? Was this the symbol or sign of God’s covenant or contract with Abraham? All his male descendants would have the foreskin of their penis removed? Why this painful symbol? At one time we thought it was hygienic? Easier to clean? This does not seem to be the case today? Was it a symbol of the flesh that needs to be removed in our lives? A symbol that says that our biggest struggle with sin will be through the male’s reproductive organ? It allows us to have children, but at the same time because it is a source of great pleasure, mankind finds it difficult to stay within godly, healthy limits? (Okay enough. Just some wild thoughts.)

26 So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)

27 The LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the desert to meet Moses.” So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him.

Is this Mount Sinai or Horeb where Moses was first called to the burning bush and later where he will receive God’s covenant with Israel or the Law, the code of ethics of how Israel was to live and worship God in the new land they were traveling to—their constitution so to speak?

What was running through Aaron’s mind? Did Aaron know what was going on? Did God speak to people often then since they did not have many or any Scriptures?

28 Then Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and also about all the miraculous signs he had commanded him to perform.

29 Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites,

The story jumps immediately forward to their being in Egypt? Did people remember or know who Moses was? That he was raised in the house of the Pharaoh when other infant boys were put to death? That he traded all that for the role of an exiled shepherd via his coming to the defense of a fellow Israelite that was being beaten and the murder of an Egyptian who was beating him? How many elders?

30 and Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people,

So Aaron becomes Moses’ mouthpiece. All the people or just the elders?

31 and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

Who’s? Moses, Jethro, his father-in-law, my own people, any of them, all the men who wanted to kill you, his wife and sons, Pharaoh, the people, Israel is my firstborn son, your firstborn son, Zipporah, her son’s foreskin, Aaron, elders of the Israelites, the people, LORD

Where’s? went back to Jethro, to my own people in Egypt, in Midian, to Egypt, in his hand, before Pharaoh, at a lodging place on the way, into the desert, at the mountain of God

When’s? then Moses went back, still, when you return, then say to, then Moses told, and when they heard

What’s?

• Moses asks his father-in-law if he can go back to his people.

• Jethro has no problems with this and wishes him well.

• The LORD reassures Moses that all those seeking his life have passed on—kind of like King Herod with Jesus, just in reverse. Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Egypt.

• Moses loads up the family and heads back to Egypt with the staff of God in hand.

• The LORD reminds Moses that his task will not be easy. Despite the miracles, God will harden Pharaoh’s heart and refuse to let Israel go.

• At this point, God will severely discipline Egypt, taking their first-born sons, because Pharaoh refused to allow God’s first-born son, Israel, to leave Egypt and worship him.

• On his way to Egypt a strange episode occurs. The LORD almost takes Moses’ life when his wife intervenes and circumcises Moses’ son.

• The LORD instructs Moses’ brother Aaron to meet Moses in the desert.

• They meet at the previous mountain where God had called Moses.

• Moses tells Aaron God’s plan for the both of them to lead Israel out of Egypt.

• They meet with the elders of Israel, and after performing the miracles before the people, the people fall down in worship because God has seen their plight is about to deliver them.

Summary…

• Moses must return to Egypt.

• God reminds Moses that Pharaoh’s heart will be hard, but that God will take care of this—he will take his firstborn son.

• Zipporah spares Moses’ life by circumcising his son.

• Aaron is directed to meet Moses in the desert where he learns of God’s plan to liberate the Israelites.

• The Israelite elders, back in Egypt, respond worshipfully to Moses and Aaron’s message of God’s intended redemption.

Bottom line…

Despite a serious bump in the road, Moses, equipped with a seemingly impossible mandate from God—to lead Israel out of slavery, now makes it back to Egypt.

Whys? What do I learn about God? Life? People? Myself?

• Despite his great call, Moses is still respectful of his father-in-law.

• Eventually, our enemies…God’s enemies… will be destroyed.

• God can be and is multi-purposed. He allows Moses to perform the miracles, but at the same time, he hardens Pharaoh’s heart–two seemingly contradictory objectives. And yet in the long term this will all make sense. In the short run, Pharaoh’s lack of a positive response, despite the miracles, could seem discouraging. But don’t be discouraged that things don’t always go the way we would like them to, even if God has called us to the task. Both the task and the resistance are allowed by God. God has something bigger up his sleeve.

• Despite Moses’ call, God was still not going to bend the rules for his especially-chosen leader. Moses had failed to circumcise his son—something all the children of Abraham were supposed to have experienced (Gen. 17:9ff). Moses’ failure to recognize God’s covenant had almost cost him his life. God must make it clear to his servant—if you work for me as my holy instrument, you will be holy…no exceptions. I am not afraid to take the life of Pharaoh’s son, and I am certainly not afraid to take your life. Get holy. Do the basics. Do what you have failed to do. Circumcise your son.

• Zipporah’s shrewd and quick acting spared her husband’s life, though it cost her as mother to inflict pain upon her son. But she did it anyway because she knew it was the right thing to do, albeit painful and costly, as she admits. (Why Moses did not do this or why she took it upon herself to circumcise her son is not clear.)

• God can work in two different peoples lives at the same time. in very separate ways He did this with me and Rhonda in order to bring us together and he still does this in people’s lives today.

• The proper response to the news of God’s merciful intervention, such as his sending of his Son to Spiritually intervene on our behalf, is always worship.

So What’s? (Prayerfully connect a specific personal struggle to one of the above truths or principles and be willing to share or confess it with the group.)

2003 Application…

This week’s struggle: Just a lot to do, the chief of which is to prepare to present to the Body the elders’ ministry/financial goals for the upcoming year. There is also a renewed emphasis of work going on the church this week to finish up left over construction projects, as well as my message to prepare, etc. Just feeling a little nervous about getting it all done or managing it.

Principle/Application: Just because God may have called us to do something doesn’t mean that it will be easy, or there won’t be divine resistance involved. In fact, there probably will be. But this is what builds up our Spiritual muscles.

Just because he may have called us to build a church facility or to strengthen our ministry via an increase in staff, does not mean it will be easy. But you step up to the plate, honestly present your case and allow the Body to respond how they are going to respond. So far they have always come through very solidly, particularly, in these last seven years. My part is just be obedient. God is responsible for the results.

2014 Application…

Thanksgiving…It was an amazing Sunday, especially my teaching, lunch and a picnic afterwards and a baptism and walk. I was actually better prepared than I had been in awhile. I had taken the previous week off, which no doubt helped, but I was still late in the process. And yet, even late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, the passage, illustrations and application all came together. It felt truly of the Lord–As we experience, trust and walk or live in the divine Light of the Son’s atonement for our sin and the Spirit’s words, truth and power, we are becoming children of Light to those who are lost in a ever-darkening world. We become light. We are light in a dark world. We give out hope and truth to those lost in the dark. It’s an amazing Spiritual process and journey—one not to be taken lightly or for granted. Amen! (John 12:33ff).

In addition, one of the Spiritual grandparents of one of the children I had the honor of baptizing into Christ, it turns out, attended my church over a quarter of a century ago…as a college student! In addition, they want to get together. They are from out of town and our meeting for reasons I can’t elaborate right now is absolutely crucial. I am telling you, you can’t make this stuff up…modern-day hints of God’s miraculous working in the life of Moses and the Children of Israel so long ago…

Struggle…A lot to get done seemingly. A lot of study, reading and writing…this revised lesson, this Sunday’s teaching and filling in some gaps in SLove. And yet there are still lots of sheep to shepherd, check on or look after, including wayward sheep, as well as, administrative, facility and grounds and personal tasks to get done. God give me the grace to pace myself. Grace, Lord. Grace. In your strength…your tasks…your time…your leading…your power…your truth…

Truths…God’s multi-tasking purposes within our lives; God’s call does not exempt the called from even the very basics of the Covenant’s demands. In other words, the messenger is NOT above the message he is to deliver; Zipporah quickly and shrewdly moves to save her husband’s…the messenger’s…life; the message of deliverance validated by God’s power ought to inspire worship of the Deliverer.

Application…Because I am seeing evidence of God’s eventual deliverance and power, I will worship Him. I must thank Him. I must look forward to the battle…the struggle…the war…understanding that he is constantly weaving individual destines and plot lines together to accomplish his greater will…even plot lines that seem resistant or contrarian to the task he has given us. So therefore, even if something is difficult, that really means very little. Expect it. As the writer of Hebrews, quoting the Proverbs, reminds us: “As a father disciplines his son for his own good, so God disciplines those he loves for our own good.” We can be called to a Spiritual task, and yet, there may be divinely allowed obstacles strewn within our path. It has certainly been true of my life. Both are critical for our growth…the call…and its acceptance, and the resistance that must be overcome in order to fulfill the call. For me, this week, it is balance, patience, insight, trust, perseverance.

Your struggle?

Principle/Prayerful application?

What about your students? What are some of their current struggles?

Which principles seem to relate?

How could God prayerfully apply these truths to their lives? (Just try a few in your preparation…then try leading the application in that direction. It may go another direction. Be sensitive to God’s leading among the group.)

Special Note on the “LORD”: Notice that I AM WHO I AM as well as LORD are in all caps in the NIV. Why is this?

The reason for this is that both phrases or words are one in the same. LORD in all caps becomes a substitute for I AM (or Yahweh, pronounced Yah-way in Hebrew) for God’s personal name. That is why we call him LORD. When “Lord” is not in all caps, it is the Hebrew word for “master” (adonai).

Why LORD for I AM? Good question. Because God’s personal name, I AM or Yahweh, was consider sacred and not to be taken in vain (Ex 20, one of the ten commandments), scribes substituted the vowels for “Lord or master” (adonai) underneath the consonants for the Yahweh (I AM) within the biblical text since there were no vowels to begin with (Jews did not need them; we did). Rabbi’s knew they were to substitute “adonai,” Lord, for “Yahweh,” I AM, thus not profaning the LORD’s name. But what we, later readers did was to come up with an entirely new word, one that did not really exist, one that combines the consonants of Yahweh with the vowels of adonai–Jehovah.

In fact, for the most part, I will seldom use it. It does not really exist. We have made it up. Either use LORD (Yahweh, I AM ) or Lord (adonai, master or Lord).

So now you know why LORD is in all caps. Remember it stand for I AM or Yahweh, God’s personal name, just like my personal name is Joe or Joseph.

Scripture quotations, unless noted otherwise, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version‚ NIV‚ Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.

Exodus 4:1-17 Overcoming the Excuses 9-21-14

Fellowship at Cross Creek

Life of Moses

Lesson 7: Overcoming the Excuses…

Ex 4:1-17

(1.12.03; 9.21.14)

Introduction…Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that perhaps one of the biggest obstacles to anyone’s Spiritual growth is the insecurity to risk the attempt or responsibility to lead others… be it one’s marriage, family, Sunday School class, Bible study or just about anything in life that involves others. I have seen it over and over again. Sheep without a shepherd. Great sheep. Talented sheep, and yet none of the sheep takes it upon themselves to risk shepherding or leading the other sheep in the very real need that needs to be met or the assignment that needs to be carried out. Someone take charge. Someone risk leadership, even imperfect leadership…even the complaints and grips of others. Seen a family or marriage without a leader? … Tragic. Seen a Bible study, small group or ministry project without a leader? … No direction.

Now you can’t be a jerk…I mean… all the time…and be a good leader as well. Sometimes the kids think mom or dad are jerks, we all understand this, but good leaders are teachable…trainable. They want to become better leaders, not so much for their own personal glory in leading, but to get the task done and done right, and this involves people…it involves a wise, expedient expenditure or allocation of time, manpower and resources.

What can I say? People need leadership. Not necessarily dictators, but definitely leadership…leadership and responsibility. Good leaders are willing to face their insecurities to become a better leader in order to meet the need or get the assigned task done.

And bottom line…no leadership risked, Spiritual growth and maturity, I promise you is arrested. NO WAY around it. Even servants must eventually risk leadership.

©iStockphoto.com/JLBarranco

So how does this relate to kids or students? I think a good teacher or leader seeks to identify, encourage and equip others, including students, to own the process of meeting the need or accomplishing the assigned task, as well as, constantly meeting the need or accomplishing the assigned task better. In other words, a leader seeks to build leaders. It is this easy? Heck, no. There are lots of pitfalls and nuances that must be navigated, but are we just teaching children for the sake of teaching or are we equipping students to think, lead and make difficult, complex and morally courageous decisions? What is our ultimate goal?

If I was exposing this study to children, I would probably attempt to get them to recognize a moment in time in which the kids interpreted a moment when a situation needed leadership and NO ONE stood up to the plate? Or perhaps, I would get them to talk about moments in which they felt someone was being too bossy and why? Now contrast that with a situation in which there was no direction? Where’s the balance? Why didn’t they step up to the plate? Why don’t most people? Just get them thinking about the concept of leadership and why many are fearful to risk its desperate plea.

Life of Moses’ General Introduction: You make a mistake; you think your life has changed forever; that there is no going back. In exile, you take your flock of sheep, which you have been pasturing for the past forty years, to an out-of-the-way desert valley that seems to symbolize your life. You see a fire in the distance that refuses to die. You decide to take a closer look. As you draw closer to the inextinguishable flame, suddenly your life does change forever…

The God of the universe has plucked YOU, out of all people, a wandering shepherd, to lead your entire nation, numbering well over two million people out of the country where they are currently enslaved, across a barren wasteland with little water or food resources, to a land which their forefathers had previously shepherded their flocks for a seemingly brief three hudred years, but has been now been abandoned for over four hundred years and is currently occupied by inhabitants who have no intention of giving that land back up to their forefathers’ descendents.

Impossible you say? Ridiculous? Sounds like it to me, unless the God of creation is the one doing the calling and doing the work. Do you have the guts to be obedient no matter what…no matter the price?

Pray

Read the Passage two or three times…

Ask questions…

Exod. 4:1 Moses answered,

“What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, `The LORD did not appear to you’?”

Who is they? The elders of Israel? The Egyptians? Believe about what? That it was God or I AM or the LORD sending him to lead the children of Israel (or Jacob) out of Egypt and slavery? This is a great question. I would be asking it. Who would believe him?

2 Then the LORD said to him,

“What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied.

Why a staff? Was it because it was just convenient? Or was the particular tool of validation that God wanted to use? A staff to shepherd sheep. Fend off wild animals? Count sheep? Gently nudge or guide them? Lean on?

3 The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.”

Moses threw it on the ground

and it became a snake,

and he ran from it.

How did God do this? How does God transform a wooden staff into a living snake? Was the snake hissing at him? Was it a dangerous snake? I still jump at snakes. This does come across as a bit humorous as Moses runs from his staff-transformed-into-a-snake.

4 Then the LORD said to him,

“Reach out your hand

and take it by the tail.”

So Moses reached out

and took hold of the snake

and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

That took courage. Why the tail? I would rather take hold of it right behind the head, so that it could not bite me. And yet, I watch snake handlers grab the tail, and then use a stick about half way down the snake’s body? How is God doing this…changing the snake back into his staff and vice versa?

5 “This,” said the LORD,

“is so that they may believe that the LORD,

the God of their fathers

–the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac

and the God of Jacob

–has appeared to you.”

Proof. Validation. Would they think this trickery? Only something God or a god could do?

6 Then the LORD said,

“Put your hand inside your cloak.”

So Moses put his hand into his cloak,

and when he took it out,

it was leprous, like snow.

Did this scare or frighten Moses? Is this what leprosy look like? Like snow?

7 “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said.

So Moses put his hand back into his cloak,

and when he took it out,

it was restored,

like the rest of his flesh.

Moses had to be shocked.

8 Then the LORD said,

“If they do not believe you

or pay attention to the first miraculous sign,

they may believe the second.

Makes sense, but would they still think it gimmickry?

9 But if they do not believe these two signs

or listen to you,

take some water from the Nile

and pour it on the dry ground.

The water you take from the river

will become blood on the ground.”

A third sign. It’s as if God expects Israel’s skepticism or lack of trust in Moses. And yet, God can do anything as he is about to do. He is sparing no price at accomplishing his promise or objective of placing Abraham’s descendants back into their forefathers’ promised lands. God is keeping his word. And this is only a small token of the miracles or supernatural that he is about to perform.

10 Moses said to the LORD,

“O Lord, I have never been eloquent,

neither in the past

nor since you have spoken to your servant.

I am slow of speech and tongue.”

Another obstacle anticipated. So despite three signs, Moses is still insecure. Does he mean that he is struggling even just communicating to God at the bush? Why was this important to Moses? Even then did leadership seem to require a mastery of words?

11 The LORD said to him,

“Who gave man his mouth?

Who makes him deaf or mute?

Who gives him sight or makes him blind?

Is it not I, the LORD?

Why or how does God do this—make one blind and one not? Or is it that he simply allows the laws of genetic and disease run their courses?

12 Now go; I will help you speak

and will teach you what to say.”

God has answered his objection. I will do it for you. If I can turn a stick into a snake, and water into blood.

13 But Moses said,

“O Lord, please send someone else to do it.”

Despite everything God has equipped him with, Moses still hesitates. It doesn’t surprise me. Moses still struggles. Why was he so afraid? Was his speech (such as the king’s speech in the film the King’s Speech) this bad? Did he stutter? Why would God use or allow his servant to be such a poor communicator? What was he afraid of? Would people laugh or not take him seriously? Is Moses really still asking out of the whole project?

14 Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses

and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite?

I know he can speak well.

He is already on his way to meet you,

and his heart will be glad when he sees you.

God seems to have had enough of Moses’ excuses. Why was Aaron already on his way to meet Moses? Had God put something on Aaron’s heart to go to Moses? Had God planned this anyway? Why did he become angry at Moses, if Aaron was already coming? Or had God picked Aaron for a different supporting role, but not a primary mouth-piece role? When it says that God’s anger burns, just how mad is God? Is he really mad? Impatient? Or is Moses really pushing the envelope here?

15 You shall speak to him

and put words in his mouth;

I will help both of you speak

and will teach you what to do.

So Moses will speak after all? But Aaron will be the primary mouth piece?

16 He will speak to the people for you,

and it will be as if he were your mouth

and as if you were God to him.

What an interesting expression—“God to him.” Moses would carry this much influence?

17 But take this staff in your hand

so you can perform miraculous signs with it.”

(Note: for a change of pace, sometimes try skimming the passage looking for nouns or naming words, then verbs or action words, or color words such as adjective or adverbs. Or look for stated questions or commands. Don’t get caught up in perfection either. Remember, the goal is to use any legitimate observing device to read or skim through the passage enough times that the student becomes more and more familiar with the passage and its narrative or argument. The more you observe the passage, the better will be your interpretation of the passage, and the better your interpretation of the passage, the better your application of the passage’s embedded truths or meanings.)

Who’s? Moses, the LORD, they, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, man, who makes…who gives…I, the LORD, someone else, your brother, Aaron the Levite, the people,

Where’s? on the ground, inside your cloak, from the Nile, on the dry ground, on his way, in his mouth, in your hand

When’s? then the Lord, then the Lord said, then the Lord said, and when he took it out, in the past, nor since, then the Lord’s anger, already on his way, when he sees you

What’s?

• (Review) vv. 1-11 God calls Moses for the mission of his life—to deliver the people of Israel from Egypt and to take them back to the land, which was promised their forefathers.

• (Review) vv. 12-22 God not only answers Moses question that he will be with him to help him accomplish the mission God has given him, he tells him his eternal name and gives him the message he is to take of freedom for Israelites from the Egyptians via God’s mighty hand. They will also not leave empty-handed.

• 4:1-17…

• Moses asks another question, “What if they don’t believe me?” v. 1

• The LORD gives him three signs:

a) his staff that turn into a snake and back 2-5

b) his hand turns to leprosy and back 6-8

c) water from the Nile River turning to blood 9

• But this is still not enough for Moses; he informs the LORD that he is not an eloquent speaker. v. 10.

• The LORD reassures Moses that he is capable of handling this and helping Moses. Vv. 11-12.

• But Moses protests and still asks for the LORD to send someone else. V. 13.

• Though the LORD becomes angry, he gives him his brother Aaron, to help him speak. Vv. 14-16

• He reminds him to take the staff; it will be the tool that God will perform his miracles through Moses. V. 17.

Summary…3:1-11: God calls Moses for a special mission; 3:12-22: God tells Moses he will not go alone and gives Moses God’s special name, I AM.

4:1-17: But Moses, still fearful, asks about two problems: 1) what if the leaders of Israel don’t believe me? And 2) what about my lack of eloquence?

God answers both of these concerns: 1) along with two other signs, your staff will be a special staff that will manifest God’s powers; 2) Your brother Aaron will speak for you.

Bottom line…I am not sending you back to your people empty handed. I am giving you a special powers and your brother Aaron’s voice.

Note: Despite all this, Moses still does not seem secure or desiring of this call.

Special Note on the term “LORD”: Notice that I AM WHO I AM as well as LORD are in all caps in the NIV. Why is this?

Why LORD for I AM? Good question. Because God’s personal name, I AM or Yahweh, was considered sacred and not to be taken in vain (Ex 20, one of the ten commandments), scribes substituted the vowels for “Lord or master” (adonai) underneath the consonants for the Yahweh (I AM) within the biblical text since there were no vowels to begin with (Jews did not need them; we did). Rabbi’s knew they were to substitute “adonai,” Lord, for “Yahweh,” I AM, thus not profaning the LORD’s name. But what we, later readers did was to come up with an entirely new word, one that did not really exist, one that combines the consonants of Yahweh with the vowels of adonai–Jehovah.

In fact, for the most part, I will seldom use it. It does not really exist. We have made it up. Either use LORD (Yahweh, I AM ) or Lord (adonai, master or Lord).

So now you know why LORD is in all caps. Remember it stand for I AM or Yahweh, God’s personal name, just like my personal name is Joe or Joseph.

Whys? What do I learn about God? Life? People? Myself?

• God can do anything. Nothing stops him. He has no limitation, even turning water into blood or wood into a snake.

• Humans, even God’s servants, initially can be very insecure, not only doubting God’s call upon their lives, but their ability to truly accomplish the task God is giving them to do.

• In human terms, God can and does become impatient with our doubting his provision for the task ahead.

• God is not afraid to answer all our fears/requests, nor to give us the power, truth and tools we need to accomplish the job.

• In the end, God can and does direct man, including his mouth, ears and eyes, including his being deaf, mute and blind.

• God uses what we have as his tools.

• God can use our families to help us, as Aaron with Moses (not that there weren’t problems. In fact, there were.)

• God was already providing the answer to Moses’ rebuttals in Aaron’s coming to Moses before Moses had even brought up his speech impediment.

So What’s? (Prayerfully connect a specific personal struggle to one of the above truths or principles and be willing to share or confess it with the group.)

2003 Application…

This Week’s struggle: I started off strong, but in the middle of the week, along with Jordan, I started watching the DVD of 24, a television series that allegedly takes place in a real time of 24 hours. It was so addicting–like a book that you can’t put down. Each episode—an hour—ended as a cliff-hanger, so it was hard to STOP watching it! Once you were finished with one DVD or episode, you wanted to go on to the next to see how the previous cliff-hanger was resolved. So I watched the entire 24 hours–actually about 16 hours (commercials had been edited out). Needless to say this really shot my productivity at the time. While it was fun, I fell behind, lost sleep and am not feeling well right now, and all this with a lot to do, as the weekend is coming up.

Principle/Application: Despite all that God attempts to provide us with to do the job, we can still doubt that he can help or resource ME to do it.

Can God get me through the next 36 hours? In fact, quite often, my life does seem like a 24 hour drama, especially as each weekend arrives.

God can do anything. I only need to be sensitive to the tools and support he provides and walk in faith. He will give me the illustration, examples, editing and rehearsal I need to finish preparing my teaching.

And in my various meetings, draw from the people God has brought me. Pull the answers from them. Empower them. In other words, everyday, be aware of God’s answers and resources as I am living out my life’s drama.

2014 Application…

Thanksgiving…I have young adults whom either I remember being born or knew shortly after they were born, independently coming to me saying I see a ministry need and I am not only willing to meet that need but am willing to lead it, if called upon. Tell me, who gets to see fruit like this in a lifetime of ministry? I am blessed beyond measure!

And guess what? After a stressful and sustained drought, the Fall rains have returned. Something symbolic here, if you ask me.

Struggle…an irritating fly in my joyful ointment, or perhaps as the “Beloved” cries out to her “Lover” in the Song of Songs, Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes, that ruin the vineyard—for our vineyard is in floom bloom (Song of Songs 2:15).

After seemingly a good, long run of not really having to think too deeply about finances—which has NOT been the case in previous years—we came up somewhat short here recently. It kind of caught me by surprise. My real concern is whether there is a gradual trend in which our financial output has been exceeding our financial input and that trend is just now getting exposed. We shall see.

Truth…There are a thousands reasons something seemingly impossible will or cannot work, and yet if God calls for it to be done, and for whatever purpose, he can and will provide the resources, tools, truth and power necessary to accomplish or bring about his divinely-inspired decree or will. And despite all our seemingly reasonable human objections, there comes a point in time when the only alternative left to us is to merely trust God and step out in faith. And if God wants it done; He will do it. We are just the tools. And if he wants it done immediately, it will occur immediately, and if not, it will take longer, and longer is okay, maybe even better, because over time, it builds a stronger, more sustainable Spiritual confidence, faith, trust, backbone and relationship with our Creator…as opposed to miracles, that come and go so quickly, that as time goes by, we are tempted to question Why is God Not working in the same way as he did in the miracle?

Note: I have seen people step out in denial. In other words, it was NOT trust in God, but their own selfish denial. And how do I know this? 1) long-term fruit or the lack thereof, and 2) they failed to take advantage of all the Spiritually supportive checks and balances that Scripture provided for them within the local church because God, it seemed was only talking to them…in a room of not just cold-hearted saints, but very godly men and women that just as passionately sought the will of God as well.

This is not to say that God can’t or doesn’t call out the individual, as in the case of Moses, here (although Moses does have Aaron), or perhaps a Joan or Arc (France) or Gideon (Judges) or Christ himself, to go against the general public or cultural grain, and in so doing, establish a new Spiritual direction, trend or paradigm. But in those cases, history or Scripture usually makes it clear, that those surrounding the individual being led or called by God are NOT sincerely seeking the LORD as well.

In the cases I am referring to, there are no checks and balances, and the person who is advocating that they are being led or called upon by God to do something special can’t even answer some basic motivational whys or validation of God’s direction. In this case, God over-abundantly validates Moses’ call and leading, and in fact, it is Moses who doubts the call. And in fact, I would probably be much more willing to listen to or trust someone WITH a speech or some other impediment who inwardly probably doesn’t want to do what they or others feel God is calling them to do.

Application…Stick to the present general trend or course. I have been doing this a long time…listening to, sensing and courageously seeking to be obedient to God’s leading within my life. I feel fairly confident of the message he is giving me now, and the human resources (or Aarons) certainly seem to be stepping up to the plate and validating this direction. Stick to the course and message…Boots on the Ground…regardless of the proverbial flies in the ointment or annoying little foxes that will seek to ruin the crop. And what does Boots on the Ground mean? More to come…It’s a metaphor for where I believe God is leading or taking our Spiritual family. Time will tell. It always does.

Your struggle?

Principle/Prayerful application?

What about your students? What are some of their current struggles?

Which principles seem to relate?

Ex 3:12ff “I am” 9-14-14

Introduction: You make a mistake, perhaps even a huge mistake; you think your life has changed forever–that there is no going back. In exile, you take the flock of sheep you shepherd and which you have been pasturing for the past forty years to an out-of-the-way desert valley that seems to symbolize your exiled existence. You see something strange in the distance—it’s a fire…a fire that refuses to die out. You decide to go over and take a closer look. As you draw closer to this inextinguishable flame, you experience something that will change your life forever—you experience the presence of God… God. Nothing will ever be the same again. Praise be to God.

What has just happened? The God of the universe has plucked YOU, out of all the people on the planet–a wandering, lonely, exiled, imperfect shepherd–to free an entire nation of over two million Spiritually straying sheep or human slaves from a much more greater nation that does NOT intend to just allow you to walk in and then just walk out of the door with two million slave workers, and then, once God has somehow empowered or used you to free these people, to now lead or shepherd them across a vast desert wasteland with little food or water resources to a land that is flowing with milk and honey…a land that only a few of their forefathers briefly occupied almost seven centuries before… and a land that is currently occupied by wicked people that have no intention of just handing, what they believe to be their land, back over to you.

Impossible, you say? Ridiculous? Sounds utterly insane, if you ask me, unless the God of Creation is the one doing the calling AND the work. Do you have the guts to be obedient, to trust, to put one foot in front of of the other… no matter what and no matter the price?

I write all this only to encourage all of you NOT to minimize what is about to take place here. This undertaking is of gargantuan proportions. And yet, our faith, born in heaven, is a faith of gargantuan implications. If God could do this with Moses, what might he still have planned for you?

Special Note: Notice that I AM WHO I AM as well as LORD are in all caps in the NIV. Why is this? See note below*.

Pray

Context…

Ex. 3:1 Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

2 The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.

3 So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.”

4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

5 Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

7 The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. 8 So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

9 Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?”

Read the Passage three times…

12 And God said, “I will be with you.
And this will be the sign to you
that it is I who have sent you:

When you have brought the people out of Egypt,
you will worship God on this mountain.”

Why does God say this? What just came before in the text? Moses’ doubts—albeit reasonable ones? How is this a sign—if we make it this far, then you know I was the one who did it and I was the one with you pulling off this incredible miracle?

13 Moses said to God,
“Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them,
`The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’
and they ask me, `What is his name?’
Then what shall I tell them?”

Why is the name important? Did they not have a name for God before? What did they call him? What was their worship like? How did they distinguish it from all the other pagan religions and idol worship? What does the name signify to the Israelites?

14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.
This is what you are to say to the Israelites:
`I AM has sent me to you.’”

What does this mean? I don’t have a name or I don’t have to answer the question—“I am who I am”? That “I AM”? That “I exist”? That “I am not silent”? That I do communicate? That I do lead? That I am involved in the affairs of men? That I do intervene? That I do have a purpose? It is almost as if to say, “Before you did not know me real well, but now I am revealing myself very specifically…as I have done in creation, as I have done to your forefathers in promising them the land that I am about to take you back to…as I have done in building this nation of several million people out of one man, your father, Abraham.”

It is like Moses is supposed to say, “Guess what folks. He is alive. He does exist. And he is about to do something important. Something that will never be forgotten. A timeless event.”

15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites,
`The LORD, the God of your fathers
–the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac
and the God of Jacob
–has sent me to you.’

This is my name forever,
the name by which I am to be remembered
from generation to generation.

Now he connects himself to their forefathers. In the previous verse it was his self-existence. Now it is that he has done business in the past with their forefathers. That they have a purpose. That this is no accident that they are slaves in Egypt. This was also a part of the plan. Now I have something else for you. We are about to take another step, just as each of us who knows and accepts God as our Savior has an integral part of the plan in God’s universal purpose.

*Special Note on LORD: The reason for this is that both phrases or words are one in the same. LORD in all caps becomes a substitute for I AM (or Yahweh, pronounced Yah-way, in Hebrew) for God’s personal name. That is why we call him LORD. When “Lord” is not in all caps, it is the Hebrew word for “master” (adonai).

In fact, for the most part, I will seldom use it. It does not really exist. We have made it up. Either use LORD (Yahweh, I AM ) or Lord (adonai, master or Lord).

So now you know why LORD is in all caps. Remember it stand for I AM or Yahweh, God’s personal name, just like my personal name is Joe or Joseph.

16 “Go, assemble the elders of Israel
and say to them,
`The LORD, the God of your fathers –
-the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—
appeared to me and said:
I have watched over you
and have seen what has been done
to you in Egypt.

Why does he restate this? (By the way the word for Lord here is the same word for I AM—Yahweh.) Why did Yahweh or I AM wait so long? Why did he allow the Israelites to suffer under a merciless king?

17 And I have promised to bring you
up out of your misery in Egypt
into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites
–a land flowing with milk and honey.’

When did he promise to do this? A long time ago? Who are all these people? Good or bad? Why milk and honey? Prosperity? What was the big deal about milk and honey? Were these luxuries? What did this say about the land? Why would these other peoples who were there share or give it up? This doesn’t sound fair. Sounds kind of like today with respect to the Palestinians being displaced and wanting a land of their own? Sounds like some things never change. And yet this has not always been the case. The Jews have only really been back in the land for the last 50-100 years. Before that it was occupied by many different people, including Muslims, Arabs, Christians and yes some Jews. After the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in AD 70 by the Romans, the Jewish people for the most part have been displaced and wandering.

18 “The elders of Israel will listen to you.
Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt
and say to him, `The LORD, the God of the Hebrews,
has met with us.
Let us take a three-day journey into the desert
to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.’

How far will a three-day journey take them? To this mountain? Why will the king of Egypt let them go? What will he use for slaves to build his storehouses?

19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go
unless a mighty hand compels him.

20 So I will stretch out my hand
and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders
that I will perform among them.
After that, he will let you go.

21 “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed
toward this people,
so that when you leave
you will not go empty-handed.

22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman
living in her house
for articles of silver and gold and for clothing,
which you will put on your sons and daughters.
And so you will plunder the Egyptians.”

Jewish women? Why would they have Egyptian women living in their home?

Ask questions…

Whos? God, I , you, the people, Moses, Israelites, your fathers, me, I AM WHO I AM, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, generation to generation, elders of Israel, Lord, the God of your fathers, Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, king of Egypt, Hebrews, Lord our God, the Egyptians, every woman, her neighbor, any woman living in her house

Wheres? with you, out of Egypt, on this mountain, to you, to you, to you, in Egypt, the land of Canaanites…, into the desert, in her house

Whens? When you have brought the people out of Egypt, then what shall I say, forever, from generation to generation, then you and the elders, three-day journey, will (future), when you leave

Whats?

(Review) Bottom line…vv. 1-11 God calls Moses for the mission of his life—to deliver the people of Israel from Egypt and to take them back to the land, which was promised to their forefathers.

Summary…vv. 12-22

• God tells Moses he will be with him in answer to his question of v. 11 “Who am I to do such a momentous task?”.

• God gives Moses a sign, you will come back to worship at this same mountain with the entire nation.

• Moses’ ask by what name (or authority) is he to lead the Israelites?

• God answers, “I AM WHO I AM.”

• God also answers that the I AM (LORD) of their forefathers is sending Moses..

• God also tells Moses that this is the name that he is to be forever remembered by.

• God also tells Moses to tell the assembled elders that God has seen their plight within Egypt.

• God also tells Moses to tell them that he has promised to return them to their rich Promised Land.

• God also tells Moses that the elders will listen, and that they are to go together to the king of Egypt and ask to leave on a three-day journey into the desert to sacrifice to their God.

• He also knows that Pharaoh will not let them leave unless compelled to by force.

• So God will compel the king of Egypt to release them via his mighty miracles.

• He will also make the Egyptians favorably disposed to the Israelites when they leave so they will not go empty-handed.

Summary….God not only answers Moses’ question that he will be with him to help him accomplish the mission God has given him, he tells him his eternal name and gives him the message he is to take of freedom for the Israelites from the hand of the Egyptians via God’s mighty hand. They will also not leave empty-handed.

Bottom line… I AM WHO I AM will accomplish this great miracle of releasing the Israelites from the Egyptians, now fully supplied for their journey back to their rich ancestral Promised Land.

Whys? What do I learn about God? Life? People? Myself?

• God is with his servants for the tasks he has given them. He does not leave them alone.

• He is also not ignorant of his people’s plight.

• As demonstrated in his name, God is eternally self-existent. He has always existed and always will. He has no beginning and no end. He exists outside of time and space.

• He is involved in the affairs of man; in fact, he has plans for man.

• He desires to bless us and to bring us to his rich Promise Land, and, if not fully here, then certainly in heaven.

• God is more powerful than man. Man ultimately changes, as Pharaoh will do, because of God’s power and intervention.

• God wonderfully provides for his people or children. He does not send us out upon our long journey empty-handed.

• Our hope, or salvation…everyone’s hope and salvation is to trust and worship God.

So What’s? (Prayerfully connect a specific personal struggle to one of the above truths or principles and be willing to share or confess it with the group.)

2002 Application…

This week’s struggle: Getting ready for my message on Sunday. I was becoming burnt out just before Christmas. After Scrooge, I had pretty much shot my wad, so I got a late start for the next Sunday.

We survived and got the message across:

Just as no one could have predicted the destinies of Bethlehem and Jerusalem…that one village (Bethlehem) which lived in the shadow of the other (Jerusalem) would be exalted in such a manner that it was chosen as the Messiah’s birthplace, while the other (Jerusalem) would fall, having been completely destroyed by the Babylonians (as predicted in Micah 5)…we DON’T KNOW our futures!

Therefore don’t compare your life situation to another’s, especially at Christmas time with all the accompanying travel plans, decorating, gift-giving and family pressures etc.

But while the idea was good, apparently I felt I did a poor job of execution because I was not as prepared as I needed to be. I was just hanging on by the skin of my teeth and fatigued for whatever reason.

I would like to do a better job this Sunday. God has called me to this task, whether I feel adequate or not, and quite often I do not. The pressure to not waste people’s time or bore them or to exalt the Word and my Father to others does build from time to time.

Enough of my whining.

Principle/Application: God will be with me this weekend as I finish preparing for Sunday. He desires to richly provide for me and not leave me empty-handed. I have gotten a good jump on the passage. It is now the finishing up–the editing and presentation parts that usually cause me pressure and fear. Therefore, I will trust I AM WHO I AM, Creator Sovereign of the Universe. If he can create this incredible planet and universe with all its order and diversity, certainly he can help continue to perfect my craft, no matter how handicapped and inadequate I feel in the final presentation portions of my teaching. I can and will trust him for the applications/illustrations, their arrangement and development within the teaching.

This also can carry over into finishing building the church, as well as, seeking to lead the church towards the task of increasing staff and ultimately putting into print many of these ideas and basic fundamentals I seem to keep pounding from the pulpit, such as “Rekindling Relationships”, “Bible Study Methods”, and the “Purpose of a Church.”

So just take a deep breath and go in the name of I AM, and by putting one foot in front of the I will go back to Egypt and do the seemingly impossible…the difficult.

Your Son, LORD

2014 Thoughts… Wow! While those previous paragraphs are pretty much par for the course…I mean I could have said that about last Sunday, that next to the last paragraph was a bit humbling. We did finish the church; staff was increased, and then we went backward staff-wise and with new help, 12 years later, I am taking another run at putting these “fundamentals” into print. What can I say? Some things are more difficult than we think, and life often has us taking two steps back, after our three steps forward. I guess the real question is: Do we quit? Do we give up…when things don’t initially work out as we had hoped? And the answer is…Of course not, if it is of God. And in fact, as it will turn out, even after Moses does leave Egypt with Israel, because of Israel’s foolish choices, the Children of Israel, with their earthly shepherd, Moses, will spend forty years delayed in the desert. Could this have happened to Fellowship, not once, but twice? It would certainly seem so. Are we getting closer each time? I think so. Is this the norm? Oh, I think very much so. We battle fickle, sinful human nature. And human nature, like a deadly cancer is often seldom fully cured. In other words, it comes back. As they say, it only takes one cell. And yet this is the call of God, and somehow in all the madness, the Ships occur and Spiritual Growth occurs. So let’s not get so hung up on the achieving of a goal, as the process of pursuing the goal, because ultimately our goal is Spiritual Growth and God, it would seem, has his own unique ways of bringing this about, despite our flawed attempts to fulfill this same goal in our own very-much flawed human understanding and power.

Your struggle?

Principle?

Prayerful application?

What about your students? What are some of their current struggles?

Which principles seem to relate?

How could God prayerfully apply these truths to their lives? (Just try a few in your preparation…then try leading the application in that direction. It may go another direction. Be sensitive to God’s leading among the group.)

Imperfect Pastor

An Imperfect Pastor for An Imperfect Church

Monthly Archives: September 2014

Exodus 4:18-31 Redemption… 9-28-14

Exodus 4:1-17 Overcoming the Excuses 9-21-14

Ex 3:12ff “I am” 9-14-14