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Exodus 5:10-21Seeing the Momentary Inch Vs. the Divine Yardstick! 10-12-14

Exodus Studies Pic
©2003
Fellowship
Life of Moses
Lesson 10
Seeing the Momentary Inch Versus the Divine Yardstick!
Ex 5:10-21
10/12/14
 
Intro…Often times when we try to do something right, it is not as quickly rewarded as we might have hoped, especially when we have been doing a lot of bad things. It’s as if, we hoped that just because we decided to go straight in the moment, that God would stand up and applaud after years and years of sin and Spiritual neglect. I am not saying that God or heaven doesn’t applaud a genuine turning back to God and the truth, but, as I have stated previously, it seems that heaven has built in a delay between deed and consequence, both good and bad, and the reason for this might just be to flush out how genuine our repentance truly is. Is it for a moment or is it genuine, sustainable and lasting?
In this case, Moses and Aaron will do what God tells them to do, but in life’s momentary inch, it will appear things are going backward in God’s deliverance of Israel. Pharaoh refuses Israel’s appeal for either more straw or less bricks to make, with the result being that the Israelite foremen turning upon the effective cause of Pharaoh’s harsh response, Aaron and Moses and their request to Pharaoh to allow the Children of Israel to go out into the desert to enjoy a festival with their God, Yahweh.
With all this in mind, have you ever had an experience in which your attempt to do what was right or good seemed to initially backfire? Be willing to share this with your classmates? Why did it backfire, do you think? Did things ever turn back around? Or did you give up on attempting to do good?
A major, major life lesson is to learn to sustainably remain committed to doing the good versus succumbing to Evil’s pleasure and ridicule.
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 pasture your flock of sheep in an out-of-the-way desert valley. You see something strange in the distance. It’s a fire with an inextinguishable flame.
As you venture forth for a closer look, you experience something that changes your entire existence—you encounter God!
Out of all the people on the planet, God has chosen YOU to free and lead an exodus of a divinely-emancipated nation of over two million strong through a vast desert wasteland, with little food or water resources, to a land that is flowing with milk and honey and that was once given by God to your ancestors.
Impossible, you say? Ridiculous? Unless the God of Creation is the one doing the calling, as well as, the work of liberating and deliverance. Do you have the crazy faith to be obedient to this divine calling… to trust and 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? For us?
Pray
Read the Passage three times…
Ask questions…
10 Then the slave drivers and the foremen went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: `I will not give you any more straw.   
Now I am sure that was received with great joy!
11 Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.'”   
Instead of rejoicing over Moses and Aaron’s prophetic message of divine deliverance, the Israelites will be forced to choose between their faith in what God is about to do or minimizing their losses.
12 So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw.   
13 The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.”   
These are hard days…
14 The Israelite foremen appointed by Pharaoh’s slave drivers were beaten and were asked, “Why didn’t you meet your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?”   
What does Pharaoh think is going to happen? Is this a move to discredit Moses and Aaron?
15 Then the Israelite foremen went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why have you treated your servants this way?   
16 Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, `Make bricks!’ Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”   
17 Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are –lazy! That is why you keep saying, `Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’   
18 Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.”   
So, on royal reprieve. Beware, Pharaoh, of pushing things too far.
19 The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.”   
20 When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them,   
21 and they said, “May the LORD look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
Was this Pharaoh’s objective? Regardless, it is the result.
Who’s? 
Where’s? 
When’s?  
What’s? 
• The Israelites are told that they must keep up their daily quota of brick making despite not being the necessary straw to give substance to or hold the wet mud required to make the bricks.
• So the people, being both perhaps frightened and resourceful, scatter out to scrounge for more straw to make their quota of bricks with.
• When the people fail to meet their daily brick making quotas, they appeal to Pharaoh for relief, but instead Pharaoh describes their wanting to go into the desert to worship their God as laziness and refuses their appeal for relief.
• Having received no relief from their harsh taskmaster, Pharaoh, the Israelite foreman now turn on the only logical source of their frustration, Moses and Aaron.
Summary…Perhaps and shrewdly, Pharaoh’s unmerciful response to the Israelites request to go out in the desert to offer sacrifices to their God, Yahweh, now causes the once receptive Israelites to turn on God’s messengers for having been the effective cause of Pharaoh’s harsh treatment of them.
Summary…At the moment, Israel’s plan to celebrate at feast in the desert to their God has seemed to backfire.
Bottom Line…The Children of Israel’s desire to worship God has precipitated not only persecution, but seemingly, in the moment, a step backwards in God’s plan for their deliverance.
Whys? What do I learn about God? Life? People? Myself? 
• We are so naïve, at least I am. I think one thing, or this is all that is involved in fixing a problem, but like an unforeseen money pit, one problem typically exposes many more underlying, but neglected flaws. It should be simple, right? God is on my side. Tell Pharaoh to let God’s people go out into the desert to worship, and of course Pharaoh says yes, and the world is wonderful. God exists. All is right with the world. God called me to worship. I worship, and therefore God is real, and my worship was rewarded or not in vain, not in question. But that’s not what happens at all. God calls me to do a task, and I do it—tell Pharaoh what God has told me to tell him—and then matters only become worse, not better. So is God still God? Does he really exist? Did he really talk to me? Was what I experienced in the desert real? If not, then why am I experiencing obstacles to his expressed will? Why is Pharaoh NOT cooperating? Doesn’t Pharaoh realize who he is dealing with? Does Pharaoh NOT realize the consequences of fighting God? Or why doesn’t God change Pharaoh’s heart? Why the obstacles? Fair question, but the answer is, our viewpoint is so limited. We see only the NOW…the brief. We see about an inch ahead of us on God or life’s ruler, when the ruler is much much longer, bigger and grander, perhaps NOT even twelve inches or a yard stick of life, but hundreds or billions of yardsticks. Bottom line, we cannot measure God only in the brief limited moment. While normal and human, it is utterly, from a longer-term Spiritual viewpoint… insane. And thus, the necessity of faith or trust in God’s decrees for the long term. Trust to last through not only the next inch or yard of life, but in the case of the Children of Israel and dating all the way back to their father Abraham, seven hundred years previous, thousands of yardsticks, looking both backward and forward…no doubt a tough thing to do…to, by faith, pull back and view yardsticks of life versus the inch or two that I am currently staring down–in this case, Pharaoh’s refusal to supply the Children of Israel straw to make bricks and yet require the same amount of bricks to be made as before when they were supplied straw for brick making. Fortunately, in this case, it will NOT be long, or in just a few, short divine inches, before Israel will see both the glory of God, as well as, his deliverance.
• As Pharaoh clearly demonstrates, some people are just jerks. Some people, for whatever reason are just hard and unmerciful.
• Man’s temptation to control perceived disorder…in this case…Israel’s request to take some time off from brick making to worship God as opposed to making more bricks…is to control more. By god, I will show you who is in charge because, to you, I am god. I will show you to challenge my will and authority.
• Man is so insecure. So frightened. So godless. All this seems so paradoxical. One approach to life is look inside insecure, threatened self for your own flawed godness, salvation and deliverance, and the other is, by faith, to seek or trust a divine, higher creative, original designing, and ever-present, loving and just power…God…to save me. Well, we all know how this story turns out. The man and kingdom which depends upon its own self or man-made gods is utterly wiped out, while the people, leadership and nation that thrusts itself on the mercy of God is born.
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.) 
2014 Application…
Thanksgiving…Much to be thankful for. Cards playing for the National League Championship…again…for the fourth time in four years. Rain is coming. Thanks, God. The fall rains have been gradually making their return, after a dry late summer and early fall. The weather is nice, although the storms are coming, and I have gotten do to some serendipitous, but provocative and powerful counseling this past week that involves drug abuse, boundaries, love and prodigals. It doesn’t get any better than this. Trial by fire. Life lived in the moment. Dependence upon God on what to do in the very next second, which makes for a very exhilarating and electric experience or dependence upon God in what to do next. Thank you, thank you, thank you, God.
Struggle…Trust…trust for finances, trust that as I am out there on the front lines dealing with sin…and seeking and obedience…God will take care of my rear…my supply lines. I am taking the fight to the enemy, will God protect my rear? Will he keep me supplied? It is a walk of faith. And if not, I choose no other battle, no other war, no other fight. My fight is against evil, do or die, sink or swim. There is no other life, no other calling, no other purpose. I will fight until I die. God, protect those I love and those around me that trust and follow my leadership. Honor their courage, their obedience, their faith, not in me, but in you. Make them strong, true and steady warriors in YOUR fight against evil. Amen.
Truth…that just because God calls you to do something big or small, heroic or not, requiring sacrifice or not, does not mean, that in the immediate future, or the next inch of life, that all will go positive. And that is okay. I can struggle. I can accept Pharaoh’s not only rejection, but his hardening and persecution. I don’t expect good to immediately come from good or confronting evil.  The battle is not just about the now, but the long term. Obedience, confidence, hope, faith, love, joy, perseverance in the now… until my role is complete within this divine drama or the good is sustainably achieved.
Application…Fight on. Fight on. If God chooses to protect my supplies line, so be it, and if not, for his glory, so be it. I will fight on. Hopefully, unlike Patton, who often was fully willing to advance so far and so fast that he risked his supply lines being cut, or as Sherman who lived off the land in his total war approach to war and his March to the Sea during the Civil War, I will NOT outrun my divinely-inspired supply lines, but I will fight. I must fight. God, supply your servant, as he wages war in your honor and for your glory.

 

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.)
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 5:1-9 Let My People Go, Diablo! 10-5-14

Exodus Studies Pic

©2003-2014
Fellowship
Life of Moses
Lesson 9
Let My People Go, Diablo!
Ex 5:1-9
(1.26.03; 10.5.14)

Intro…Let my people go! What a message! One that is still being proclaimed over 3400 years later! It is still being echoed in prayers and pulpits throughout the world, even as I write. Maybe not in those exact terms, but there are prayer warriors who daily intercede on behalf of God’s oppressed children, be that oppression economic or political; spiritual or physical; mental or emotional; marital, family, children or parents; job or employment-related; obvious injustice, drug-addiction, deception and denial, and a thousand other ways.

Let my people go! Let my people go, Diablo! They have been bought with a heavy price—the precious and powerful blood of God’s eternal lamb, the Son of God. Let my people go!

And yet the war drags on…the war between good and evil…God and Diablo…light and dark…It never ceases…It never goes to sleep…It never rests…Every second of every day in every corner of the planet.

And for whatever reason, God uses his saints to save other saints. He uses intercessions to intercede on behalf of those who need intercession. Perhaps to remind us that we do not fight this fight alone. We need each other. This is not a solo war.

If so…WHO are you fighting for? If people count…if lives matter…if you souls are important…who are you interceding for? Who are you bravely standing up to king of Egypt on behalf of, even if the king refuses to listen to your courageous intercession–Let my people go! Let my friend go! Let my family go! Let God’s saints go! Let my husband, wife, child, parent go! In the name of Jesus, let my loved one go, Diablo? Continue reading →

Ex 3:12ff “I am” 9-14-14

Exodus Studies Pic

©2003-2014
Fellowship
Life of Moses
Lesson 6
I AM
Ex 3:12ff
(Edited 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*.

Exodus Moses_Angel

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).

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.

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?

NT; (c) Kingston Lacy; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

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.)

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 3:1-10 Who am I? 8-31-14

Exodus Studies Pic

©2002
Fellowship
Life of Moses
Lesson 5: Who Am I?
Ex 3:1-10
12/8/2 (Update: 8/31/14)

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 down. You decide to take a closer look. As you draw closer to the inextinguishable flame, suddenly your life changes forever…

Ever had that feeling or that gnawing, Spiritual sensation that God might be calling or beckoning you or urging you to do more…step out into the deeper waters…above your head…not feet touching the ground…floating…resting…treading water…looking up into the heavens…laying on your back…and looking up at the sky above you…floating…in water above your head. Scary feeling, taking such a risk, isn’t it? Scary feeling, climbing out of the boat to walk to Jesus? This is NOT supposed to be done. This is impossible! Man! Are you kidding? With my inadequacies? No way. Easier to stay safe. Easier to hide. Let others take the risks. Safety means elimination of failure, costs or consequences.

But if there are no risks, how does one ever truly learn to rest, trust or depend upon God, and therefore see his power and experience his provision? No risk; no God, or certainly NOT MUCH GOD! Risk, and much God…a lot of God! Why? Because we need him. Little risk and little need! What a boring, non or little-Spiritual existence? Why? So I can watch the next TV show? So I can ease into retirement? Are you kidding me? This is life? This is God? This is the Spiritual? Where there is God, there are risks. Where there is God, there is trust. Trusting God building huge Spiritual muscles—muscles that God can use to move mountains, or if need be, lead three million people out of national bondage, through a desert wilderness and eventually into a land of their own. Seem impossible. Well, it was done, and God used someone who said, “Who am I?” His name was Moses…

Pray
Read the Passage three times…
Ask questions…

Exod. 3:1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro
his father-in-law,
the priest of Midian,
and he led the flock to the far side of the desert
and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

Exodus Moses_Angel

Was his father-in-law “the priest” of Midian, like the big dog? Did Moses just luck out here when he rescued his daughters at the well? Where is Midian? Kind of southeast of the Promised Land and the Dead Sea? So if he goes to the far side of the desert does he go closer to Egypt to the south of Sinai? (I just watched a movie on Lawrence of Arabia, which is a biography of a British soldier who galvanized the Bedouins Arabs into a fighting force against the German allies, the Turks, during WWI. When Lawrence crosses the Sinai peninsula from Aqaba, Saudi Arabia to Cairo, Egypt, a journey of a couple of hundred miles, his journey is a life-threatening one through the desert.)

Why is the mountain called Horeb? Is this the same mountain called Sinai that Israel will return to and receive the Law? Why was this called the mountain of God? Because this is where God met with Moses and later his people? Why this mountain? Why a mountain at all? What was special about this place? Do we know which mountain this is today?

How did his flock handle the journey? Why did he make the journey? Was there water or grass there? How many sheep? Did Moses have help? Is this forty years after he had first arrived in Midian? Had he been there before?

2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him
in flames of fire from within a bush.
Moses saw that though the bush was on fire
it did not burn up.

Note it says, the angel of the Lord, not the Lord. Did God or the preincarnate (preflesh) Christ or second person of the Trinity appear in the form of an angel in order to be present with his people? Did he look like an angel? Or was this an angel, such as Gabriel? Why flames of fire? Why a bush? How large a fire? How large a bush? How did it not burn up? How long did he see it? How far away was he when he saw it?

3 So Moses thought,
“I will go over and see this strange sight
–why the bush does not burn up.”

It must have burned for a while.

4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look,
God called to him from within the bush,
“Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”

Why does it say, “gone over” instead of “come over” like the Lord is watching from a distance instead of from inside the bush? Then it changes to God versus the angel of the Lord. Do we have two different persons of the Godhead being referred to here, the Father and the Son? God and the angel of the Lord? Why does he say his name twice?

5 “Do not come any closer,” God said.
“Take off your sandals,
for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

Why was this holy ground? What is holy ground? Ground belonging to God? Was he trying to inform Moses that he was in the presence of God and therefore the ground was different, like being in heaven at the throne of God? Why does one take off shoes or sandals out of reverence for God?

6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father,
the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac
and the God of Jacob.”
At this, Moses hid his face,
because he was afraid to look at God.

Who did he think was talking to him before this? What if he had not hid his face, what would have happened?

7 The LORD said,
“I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.
I have heard them crying out
because of their slave drivers,
and I am concerned about their suffering.

Now he shifts back to LORD or Yahweh.

8 So I have come down to rescue them
from the hand of the Egyptians
and to bring them up out of that land
into a good and spacious land,
a land flowing with milk and honey
–the home of the Canaanites,
Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites,
Hivites and Jebusites.

Come down from heaven? Why was it flowing with milk and honey? Livestock and bees?

9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me,
and I have seen the way the Egyptians
are oppressing them.

10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh
to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

Moses has got to be freaking out. Me? But I am the guy with a price on his head? Me?

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

Whos? Moses, Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, God, angel of the Lord, the Lord, your father, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, my people, their slave drivers, the Egyptians, Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, Pharaoh, Israelites

Wheres? to the far side of the desert, Horeb, the mountain of God, there, in flames, within the bush, over, within the bush, Here I am, closer, where you are standing, in Egypt, come down, up out of the land into a good and spacious land, the home of…., to Pharaoh, out of Egypt

Whens? Now, when the Lord saw, then he said, at this, and now, so now

Whats?

• Moses takes his flock to Horeb, where he sees a bush that does not burn up, though it is on fire.

• When Moses goes over to see the strange sight, God calls to Moses from the burning bush and tells him to not come any closer and to take off his sandals. He is on sacred ground.

• God goes on to identify himself—he is the God of Moses’ fathers.

• When Moses learns who is speaking to him, he hides his face out of fear of death for having looked upon the face of God.

• God tells him that he has seen the misery of his people, Israel, and has come down to rescue them and to deliver them to their Promised Land.

• He goes on to tell Moses that he intends to use Moses to accomplish this objective. Moses is to go to Pharaoh to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

• Moses responds, “Yeah, right! Me?”

Summary…God uses an undying flame to gain Moses attention; He tells him to respect the ground he is standing on; He identifies himself; He tells him that he knows of his people’s suffering; that he has come to rescue them and deliver them to another land, and that Moses is to go to Pharaoh to accomplish all of this.

Moses is incredulous that God has chosen him for this task.

Bottom line…Moses reacts with incredulity that God has called him to deliver and lead Israel out Egyptian bondage and back into his ancestor’s promised lands.

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

• You never know when God may want to call you or get your attention.

• He may use the strangest things to get our attention, even a bush that doesn’t burn up.

• You never know where God may want to get our attention; in this case, it was in the middle of the desert, while shepherding a flock of sheep.

• God can do anything; even cause a bush to burn, but not burn up.

• God’s presence is holy.

• God knows our suffering and pain.

• God has his own time table for accomplishing his will and/or deliverance.

• It would seem that most of us would doubt a divine calling to accomplish the seemingly impossible. Not just because of whether the calling is real or not, but our own abilities. Only great people do such things. But in this case, that is God’s point—I will bring about Israel’s deliverance…you are just the tool…not that Moses doesn’t have talent or natural leadership abilities that need to be trained and refined—talents, skills and abilities that no doubt he will need to accomplish such a mammoth undertaking. And yet, as is the case with everything, including a person’s natural talents, without God, without biblical, Spiritual and moral constraints to the task or tasks we attempt, there seems to be a certain lostness or even emptiness to the task. I am not saying that God doesn’t or can’t use what some would refer to as secular, if there is in all reality, such a thing, which I am not sure there is. But what I am suggesting is that when we do life or something, whatever it is with God, there is something different, something special, something incarnate, something meaningful or purposeful, beyond the seemingly mundane. I suppose we can do things, knowingly or cooperatively, with God or unknowingly or uncooperatively with God.

The choice is ours. “With me…without me…with me…without me…with me…without me….” Tom Cruise’ character, super agent, Roy Miller (Matthew Knight) in the spy thriller, Knight and Day, informing Cameron Diaz’s character, June Havens, concerning her chances of survival. With me…good…without me…not good.

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.)

A Look Back in Time (2002)…

Update: Neil tells me that the nighttime temp needs to be above 50 degrees or my grass probably won’t grow. But maybe that’s a blessing because there are still a lot of rocks in that ground. I looked it up on the Internet, and one study I read suggested cool season grasses, such as perennial rye, should be planted by the end of October, so maybe Neil is right.

(2014: I can’t remember how all this developed. I know today, I have warm-season Bermuda grass planted there because there are no trees. In fact, because of the recent drought and severe temperatures, I have been watering my hybrid Bermuda grass. So my guess is I waited to plant Bermuda until the next summer—the planting season for warm-season grasses.)

Oh well, I tried to “save my child via a papyrus basket,” but sometimes our best is not good enough. I am doing this by myself, and while I attempt to seek out the expert advice, it still does not work. I don’t regret having done the work. At least is was something. And perhaps it was another learning experience—just ask Shan about his $20 rick of wood that ultimately cost him 20 times that (on second thought, I wouldn’t ask him). Sometimes our best intentions are just not good enough. Hopefully we learn from it.

With respect to Amanda, we had a talk this evening. This basketball season may close her athletic career for now. She is thinking about dance for next year. I told her I was fine with dance, but my only warning to her was to be careful trying to find something you are good at for your identity. Maybe she will be a good dancer and maybe she will not.

(2014: On a funny note: I don’t remember much about this, but I do remember her taking some belly dance classes, and I think today, many years later, she can still roll her belly.)

She told me God had created her for a purpose, but she had just not found out what that was yet. I told her that her mother and I did not find our current niches until our early to mid-twenties. And the verdict is still out how well we do them.

I also reminded her that her identity is in Christ. Her value in Christ remains constant. The value of what we do changes with time and perception. Just ask Kurt Warner, QB for the St. Louis Rams football team. Less than a year ago he won his second league’s MVP trophy in three years and barely lost the Super Bowl on a last-second FG by the Patriots. Now he can’t hold on to the ball, buy a win, and many in St. Louis are having second thoughts about last year’s best player remaining as their quarterback. Life is fickle.

Whether you are good at something or not, to remain good at it or to become better, ultimately requires extra work, dedication and sacrifice—a delay of one’s gratification…work first, play second—be it dance, softball, marriage, parenting, etc. Life is not all about fun. Often times it requires the simple drudgery of doing something again and again and again.

This week’s (2002) struggle: I don’t like how our debt keeps edging upward. It is not a net debt, I would just have to liquidate stocks and IRA’s to pay it off, which as many know, now is not the best time to do so when the market is so far down. Still, every month we go further in the hole. I want to cut up the credit card and only pay for what we can pay for with the debit card, then begin to pay down on our debt.

(2014: I think we eventually got out of debt, and we don’t use credit cards anymore, but in recent years we did have to use our home equity loan which was for housing improvements to pay for lapses in salary. And while I don’t like this, if we had to, we could liquidate some capital on order to pay it off or just refinance our house to a fixed rate mortgage. So in essence, when the economy was down, we were able to pull out some of our home’s equity to make it by.)

Principles: God knows our suffering and has his own timetable for our deliverance.

Prayerful application: Tend your flock, Joe, even if means taking them to the ignoble and dry desert, because you never know when God may call you to something special. And even if he calls you to that something special, it will not be a picnic. Be faithful. Enjoy your life. Don’t panic. Stay the course. God knows my destiny. God knows my future. God will bless me in his time. For now, just remain faithful. Don’t seek to escape the pain. Instead live with it via his strength and might.

2014 Application…

Thanksgiving…

A lot of good ministry going on both personally and strategically within the church. NOT perfect, by any means, but there is still life; there is still integrity; there is still fight; there is still that comittment to Christ and truth…the Rock exists. This past week, I was able to divide our Learning Center’s minitry labors, manangement and direction up among my current LC coordinator and another gal. One will take 3rd-8th and the other 2nd grade and below, and since both these gals are busy moms and do this purely as a ministry, this is a huge relief. On the other hand, apparently our high school situation, I am finding out, does NOT appear to be the healthiest, but one of our former students who is back in the area after college is willing to help, so hopefully, there is a shot in the arm there.

Application…

In addition, our Back to School Water Bash went great on Sunday! With Shelly’s help, we continue to make progress on transforming Sustainable Love into something publishable. The Story of Sin via John’s Gospel continues to explode into wonderful truth before my eyes. Things are happening, I guess is what I am saying. A nice, little tenuous momentum. I say tenuous because you never know, but I do think it is time to challenge our body. I think they need a challenge, a purpose, a vision…a direction. They seem hungry and looking for what is next Spiritually, and I think I know what is next—purpose in depth of relationship, ministry and discipleship…the risk to be shepherds. Not much different that Moses here. Certainly mature enough, but just needing that extra Spiritual something, push, challenge, vision, motivation…etc. The risk to go deeper; to be leaders; to risk the extra mile; to ask the tougher questions; to pray (as one my Spiritual daughters suggested the other day) with expectation.

NT; (c) Kingston Lacy; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

Moses and the Burning Bush by Pedro Orrente

Father, give me the words…give the match…to light a generation of Spiritual Moseses….

Your servant,
jc

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.)

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 2:11-25 The Child Grows Up, but the Young Man Runs 8-24-14

©1998-2014
Fellowship at Cross Creek
Life of Moses
Lesson 4: The Child Grows Up, but the Young Man Runs…
Ex 2:11-25
12/1/2 (edited and updated… 8/24/14)

Introduction… Most of us would all love for our children to have these perfect loves, without devstating pain, loss or sorrow, but that’s not the reality…or it’s not been the reality for us or most of our parents, and it will NOT be the reality for our kids or grandkids! The reality is that there will be devastating moments, despite the best intentions of our parenting. The real question it seems is: are we or are our children resilient? Spiritually resilient? Like a Timex watch advertizing slogan of many years ago, Do we take a licking and keep on ticking?

Last week, I had to break a young teenager’s heart, and then I had to attempt to rebuild them. I think it worked. I had to tell them truth I would have rather NOT shared, and watch it crush them, but as they were crushed…and I could see all the body language to that extent…I said that they had two choices…to go through this with or without God. They replied that it seemed pointless. I loved their answer because it was honest. I then told them that this life is not heaven, and it’s not hell. It’s a hybrid. Therefore the choice is to try to do it with or without God. For me, God gives me hope to fight on. To accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. Ultimately, they left my presence with smiles, but they have a long and difficult journey ahead of them. My goal…reinforce God in that difficult journey—their only hope and salvation!

So how do we teach our kids resiliency, especially without pain? It doesn’t happen! Pain, loss, failure, disapointment, injustice are all requrired to learn life’s required resiliency. So how do we reconcile the two? How much do we go out of the way to protect our children? Afterall, when thy are young, isn’t that our job? Yes, it is. But as they grow, there is a wise, gradual and certain release that must take place, a release that is not without its risks. And then there comes, observation over rescue. How are they responding? Do they have the truths and skills to pick themselves back up and never give up…that is, with respect to life? Do they understand that when they are knocked out of the saddle that life’s real lesson or salvation, is constructing and depending upon one’s faith or trust in God as life’s scaffolding in rebuilding one’s God-inspired hopes and dreams. Such was the case with Moses. Forced to make a difficult choice, he rescues one mistreated person in his own human power. Confronted with the knowledge of his secret, his confidence in himself fails, and so Moses runs. But thankfully, God is not finished with his servant, as he is not finished with us, after our fleshly failures and despite the best of intentions. Rather, in time, God rebuilds his broken servants to do the seemingly difficult or downright impossible in his strength and power.

Might I challege you…might I challenge all of us to embrace, not only our own fleshly failures, but our children’s, not merely as failures, but as Spiritual opportunities, over time and via the Spirit, power, truth and love of God, to do something infinitely better than we could have ever imagined? With God all things are possible! Amen!

Your servant,
Joe

Note: We have 15 verses here. You may need to fly through the reading and who, where, with part of the study because there are a few more verses. Some great principles, potential for some good applications. Remember to challenge them to share some of their struggles so they can make the applicational bridge.

Pray
Read the Passage three times…
Ask questions…

11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.

Time flies fast. How many years have passed? What was Moses’ life like? Was he privileged? Did he ever see his family? Did he frequent the Pharaoh very much? Did the Pharaoh know he was an adopted Hebrew “puppy”? Did he enjoy his upbringing? Did he know everything about Egyptian culture? Was he being groomed to be an important official in Egypt? Was he well liked? Respected? What was his relationship with his adopted mother like? Did he have an adopted father?

Why did he go out to where his own people were laboring? Did he feel guilt? His actions seemed to suggest so. So obviously he knew he was Hebrew? What does Hebrew mean? Is this the same as an Israelite? Israel was the new name God gave Jacob when he wrestled with him, but where did “Hebrew” come from? What does it mean? What does Israel mean? Why use “Hebrew” over “Israelite”?

exod2-11

12 Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

Did he try telling the Egyptian not to beat the Hebrew? Why was the Egyptian beating the Hebrew? Had he not done his job right? Why was there no one else around? Was there not something else Moses could do? Or was this because he felt so much guilt, having lived a privileged lifestyle, while so many others his age had been mercilessly killed? He had to be asking, “Why me?” So was this an over reaction to what was being done? Had it just built up in him for so long? Can you see him beating the Egyptian to death? Can you see Moses hurriedly digging a place to bury the Egyptian? Why sand? Was there no dirt around? Were we not near the Nile River? What is the geological terrain around the city they were building or working at?

13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”

Why does he go back? Is he trying to watch out for his people? Why were they fighting? How is it that Moses just happened upon these two men? Same general location? Moses definitely senses a loyalty for his people. At this point he is trying to help his people in his flesh—the murder, now the role of the peacemaker.

14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

How had word gotten out and around so quick? Were people thinking that Moses could be their deliverer? A savior? A defender? But Moses is like all the rest of us, he still has his fears. As long as he could do something without anyone knowing, he was brave. Now, fearing the retribution of Pharaoh he is not so brave?

15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.

Word spread fast. How did Moses’ adopted mother feel about all this? Was she still alive? How did Moses get away from Pharaoh? How did he not get caught? Where is Midian? Near the Promised Land? Why Midian? We have seen the well theme several times in Genesis, both with Abraham’s servant when he went to look for Isaac a wife and Jacob as he fled Esau. Wells must have been very important places in the ancient Middle East due to the scarcity of water.

Exodus Screen Shot 2014-08-20 at 4.40.09 PM

16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock.

Good priest or one that worshiped another god or religion? Priests could own flocks? Where were the men to protect these women? Was this a safe place?

17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.

Some things never change. The bigger and stronger shove the weaker and smaller around. The white knight comes to the rescue. He does what is fair and right. How hard was it to rescue these gals and what did he have to do? Was there a fight? Did he just get them back their turn? Were all the sheep getting mixed up? How large of a flock are we talking about? How large a water hole or well? Did one have to raise up a bucket and fill a trough? How many times?

18 When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”

Why were they able to water the flock so much faster than normal? Was it because Moses was stronger? Did the father expect the girls to be shoved to the back of the line?

19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

They seem to indicate that their father had knowledge of the bullies? Was he old? Why did he not go himself? Was he functioning in a priestly role somehow that kept him from going to the well?

20 “And where is he?” he asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”

How far away was the well? Was the father licking his chops that here may be someone to marry one of his daughters? Or was he just truly thankful?

21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.

This was quick. Why so quick. Was it quick? Why Zipporah? Was she the oldest? Was Moses attracted to her?

22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become an alien in a foreign land.”

We see what is on Moses’ heart—Egypt and his people back there.

23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.

Things are getting worse. They have officially become slaves. I wonder how one decides what is a slave and what is not? Were they slaves or were they just being treated in a slave-like manner?

24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.

How does God hear their groaning? Their prayers? Why had he waited so long? How bad was he going to let it get? Covenant? Contract? Treaty? What was God’s contract with these three individuals—grandfather, father and son? To bless them and their descendents? To give them a land—the Promised Land—a people—descendents—and to bless the world through them some how (Genesis)?

25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

Concerned in what way? To do something about their situation? What is he going to do?

Whos? Moses, his own people, an Egyptian, a Hebrew, seeing no one, two Hebrews, the one in the wrong, your fellow Hebrew, ruler and judge, Pharaoh, priest of Midian, seven daughters, some shepherds, Reuel their father, his daughter Zipporah, a son, Gershom, an alien in a foreign land, king of Egypt (Pharaoh), Israelites, God, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

Wheres? out to where his own people were, this way and that, in the sand, Midian, where he sat down by a well, where is he?, with the man, in a foreign land, Egypt, up to God

Whens? One day after Moses had grown up, the next day, then Moses was afraid, when Pharaoh heard, Now a priest, when the girls returned, during that long period

Whats?

• Moses kills an Egyptian for beating on one of his own people.

• Moses is found out and runs away to Midian, where he rescues a priest’s daughters as they attempt to water their flock.

• The priest welcomes Moses into his family and gives him one of his daughters in marriage; Moses also has a son and names him Gershom, meaning “an alien in a foreign land.”

• At that same time, God is hearing the cries of the Israelites in their oppression and is remembering his promise to their Fathers.

Summary… after failing in his own human attempt to sympathize with his people’s oppressive plight, Moses must flee Egypt, where God gives him a family. At the same time, things are becoming worse for his people. But God is listening.

Bottom line… God’s sovereign puzzle pieces for putting his people back in their Promised Land are all coming together: Moses’ failure, exile, and family; the Israelites’ oppression and God’s concern.

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

• When we attempt things in our own human power, we may fail miserably.

• We can have all the feelings and good intentions in the world, but they are all meaningless outside of God.

• When it costs us nothing, we are brave. When the costs become apparent, we cower.

• We can be very hypocritical. We can murder, but criticize someone for fighting.

• We try to cover over our sins because we are afraid of the repercussions.

• At the same time, God is sovereign and will use that failure to accomplish his purposes. Never give up. Never doubt that God still can’t use it.

• Sometimes things look bad, before they get better.

• God provides for us, even during our times of exile or rejection.

• God still expects us to do the right thing or the good thing even when things are down, such as Moses helping the priest’s daughters at the well.

• Despite God’s provision, there is still an ache in our hearts for home and what we have lost.

• No matter how bad it gets, God is still faithful to his promises—even for centuries. For God a deal is a deal. Time does not diminish his integrity to fulfill his promise or word. There is no statute of limitations. His word is his word. That ought to be the way it is for us, his children, who aspire to be like his Son.

• God hears our prayers, knows our afflictions and is concerned about our trials. God has not forsaken us, though he is patient.

• God is not afraid to allow his children to suffer.

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…

My struggles: Hey, I got some rocks picked up and some grass planted! I took to heart last week’s application of making a watertight papyrus basket to place my deepest concern in, even though it was only a short-term solution. I jumped on the tractor to see if it would start. It did, and before long I was back to my old tractor driving farming days. I drug the rocks to the low side of the front lawn, then with a bucket in hand, I scoured the ground for the larger rocks that had not been drug to the side. I then borrowed the Barkley’s seeder, seeded and fertilized the ground, then spread some straw out and began watering.

Are there still rocks, yes? Is this my final answer? No. It is just a temporary solution. It is a start. Another step. A journey of a thousand miles begins and continues with one step at a time. We did it with the church, our new facility, and we will do it with our grounds. Thanks mother of Moses…(in doing just the next thing.)

What about this week? What to do with Amanda and her athletics/basketball? She really needs to be working on her overall athletic speed and quickness-running. But she chose to go out for basketball. But it is the same old story. She needs so much work. So I/we are sorting out an approach to this season/year. Do I not get involved and just let her drift near the bottom of the bench (she will play because there are only eight girls left for freshman basketball; the others were taken up for JV)? She doesn’t have much time left to begin with during the week. But she says she wants to work. I am praying and asking Jordan for some insight into this one. Obvious choices: a) no expectations; no investment; no help; watch a few games and let her have her physical exercise and bonding; b) Help her shore a few basics—shooting, rebounding, defense, passing…etc. and still make it fun; c) Work on the things she really needs to work on—plyometrics-jumping and skipping, running, strength-training, softball drills, etc.; d) Some combination.

Principles: Good intentions are not enough—obedience to God is everything; God still uses our failures; God knows are suffering; God uses our moments of exile to prepare for his future. God still provides our needs while in exile. God allows us to suffer.

Prayerful application: I want to do what God wants me to do with Amanda and not what Joe, or even for that matter, Amanda, wants me to do? This is not just her time, it is mine as well. Show me how to love her God…how to inspire, influence, and encourage her. Help me to figure out what you have created her for and what you want her to be doing or learning. Help me to see clearly. Help me to tolerate what I perceive to be poor play, but may be her athletically-challenged best. Help me not to crush her spirit. Help me to affirm her value as a human being created to serve God. Help me to see the long view. Allow Jordan to give me some insight into this matter. Help Amanda to see clearly and to have ownership on her life, time and choices.

2014 Update… Man, reading this application is a little embarrasing or exposing, particularly my over-the-top analysis of my daughter’s athletic skills at the time. Am I really this intense or think this deeply? Probably. The good part of all of this was I did let go, at least I think so. We will see later applications. Her team was terrible and poorly coached, in my opinon, although I loved the coach as a person. She just wasn’t a very good coach. Great human being and Christian. I would probably do anything she asked me to do, if she asked.

Basketball-wise, this was it for Amanda, at least I think so. Interestingly enough, now, on her own, she goes over and shoots at our church gym, and she manages a sporting good store. So you never really know, do you?

And I do tell a lot of parents to learn from my mistakes and take a chill pill. Is work required to be a competive athlete? Absolutely, and especially, if you are not naturally gifted, but in the end, what does it really matter? Nintey-nine percent of our kids are NOT going to do much with athletics past high school, even if they are talented. And there is so much more to life. I think there are tons of social, self-discipline and learning to accept failure and dissapointment lessons to be learned with being involved in sports, but if your kid is not really interested in putting in the work required to be competitive, it’s NOT the end of the world. And even if academic lessons tend to be more important, looking back now, I would say, it’s learning to live and survive life that’s probably the most important lessons, and these are priceless. Does my child have character? Do they love and trust God? Are they ethical and moral? Are they willing to work hard and be faithful? Can they overcome dissapointment? Will they choose a good mate? And then if that mate turns out not to be what they thought them to be or is unfaithful, can they survive? Can they effectivly parent themselves? Are they willing to kindly speak up the truth in love and Spiritually and positively affect their work and living environments? Do they have courage, with school, sports, the arts and all these other activities, including work, church, home, friends and family really just providing the backdrop to learn the “real” lessons of life?

And Amanda today? She seems to have a lot of this. A lot. It took a little awhile, but she has matured into a wonderful human being that I continue to have more and more respect for each and everyday. She loves God. She serves. She speaks the truth in love. She can be fearless. She seems contented. Basically, when it came to culture’s mold, I had to throw it out again and again, with resepct to my wife, myself, both my kids, my church… just about everything. It makes me wonder, where in the heck did I get my mold to begin with? Regardless, my daughter, and now friend, is maturing into God’s plan for her life and NOT mine…and thank God, because, in the end, mine was pure fantasy. It was NOT real. It was untested. God’s perfect plan is not onl real, but much more mysterious and wonderful. Thank you, God. Kind of sounds like Moses’ life, doesn’t it?

Who could have predicted the twists and turns? No one. But a mother and sister did their part. They did the impossible and kept that baby safe when the rule of that moment was for babies like him to die. Well, this baby did not die, his life had more twists and turns that one could have ever possibly imagined, both good and bad, and then God graciously appears to him and uses him, despite his flaws and imperfections, to change the world for good. Would not we wish that for all our children? A pro-active parenting that seeks the leadership of the Holy Spirit, so that the child is God’s and not ours? Their salvation is God’s, not ours. We were just the tools—the instruments in the hands of God, and in so doing we were made holy…used for the purpose we were created for…to be used by God to Spiritually influence the next generation for his kingdom’s sake and glory? Not a bad purpose, if you ask me. And for those without children of their own, and for those with children of their own…there are still a lot of Spiritual children out there that need some holy guiding, loving and influencing…

Your servant,
jc

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.)

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.

Ex. 2:1-18 Just One More Thing 8-17-14

Exodus Studies Pic

©1998-2014
Fellowship @ Cross Creek
Life of Moses
Lesson 3: “ Just One More Thing”…
Ex 2:1-10
11/24/02; Edited: 8.17.14

Thought to consider:  Quite often, we want our salvation or deliverance from life and its struggles and challenges to be all spelled out for us. We want to see daylight. And yet, that is NOT often the case, how it is. It is daily obedience; daily trust; daily seeking the Lord; daily seeking the Spirit’s leadership through some of the most challenging and complex double binds that a person could imagine. Whether we like it or not, life is a serious of ones and zeros…a series of choices…choices with consequences we are not always fully aware of. We must choose and live. Choose and live. Choose and live out the consequences of those choices, which mean more choices, some of which are okay, and some of which we would have rather avoided.

What do you do when you are not sure what to do? What if the choice is really really tough? What about now? Are you in jam now? A tight squeeze? Is there hope? There’s always hope. Consider Moses’ mother’s choices. Did she choose desperately? Perhaps? Wisely? It sure would seem so. How did she do? Was she brave? Were there risks associated with her choices? Absolutely. But each choice bought her precious time. Did she have everything figured out? Doubtful. Was she thinking? Yes. Praying? It doesn’t say. We might assume so. Was God involved? It would certainly seem so. Do you think God cares about us and our decisions too, regardless how desperate those choices seem to be? I think so.

Do you think you could present one of those choices clearly to God right now? And could he inspire you with just the next step, out of possibly many steps, turning in to what could be your deliverance? I think so. Why don’t you try him out and see what comes of it? Intuitive or counter-intuitive Spiritual dependence upon God, even if imperfectly interpreted by you?

Pray
Read the Passage three times…
Ask questions…

Exod. 2:1   Now a man of the house of Levi
married a Levite woman,

What is Levi? Is that a jean or a tribe?

2 and she became pregnant
and gave birth to a son.

When she saw that he was a fine child,
she hid him for three months.

What determined that he was a fine child? Did he look good? Was he healthy? How did she hide him for three months? Did no one hear the baby crying? Obviously the Israelites wouldn’t turn anyone in. What was going on in the mother’s mind? the father’s? Were others doing the same thing or only this family?

3 But when she could hide him no longer,
she got a papyrus basket for him
and coated it with tar and pitch.
Then she placed the child in it
and put it among the reeds
along the bank of the Nile.

What is a papyrus basket? A reed basket? Was the child not in danger of alligators or something? Was the Nile at flood stage? How big is the Nile? Is it gentle near the edges? How long could this have lasted? At some point this child would have rocked the basket or tried to crawl. This had to be a temporary solution.

EX raft on nile-river-05

4 His sister stood at a distance
to see what would happen to him.

How far away? What did she think would happen to him? What about nights? Was this just during the day? Would she hide the baby in the basket and transport it back and forth to their home? How old was his sister?

5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe,
and her attendants were walking along the river bank.

She saw the basket among the reeds
and sent her slave girl to get it.

Coincidence or God’s providence? Pharaoh’s daughter just happens to choose the one place where this baby was floating? Or was this intended by his mother?

6 She opened it and saw the baby.
He was crying,
and she felt sorry for him.
“This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

So obviously she knew what was going on—that the Hebrew children were being thrown into the river. No doubt this one is one that the mother could not bring her heart to drown. How awful a thought! How awful an experience! But one mother was courageous and shrewd enough to try something different. Does God reward her for this or was Moses always chosen, even before the womb and that is why he was protected? While I would like to think the former, my theological foundation says the later.

7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter,
“Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women
to nurse the baby for you?”

Now where does she pop up from? Out of the bushes or reeds, along the bank? Were there other people around? Did Pharaoh’s daughter suspect something or did she know? I can’t help but think she knew what was going on, but because her heart went out to this infant (like one does for a puppy) she spared this child and this family from the horrors of what others were going through because of her father.

Obviously, Pharaoh’s daughter, if not having any infants of her own, which is not an unreasonable assumption, was in no position to nurse this child.

Which leads to other questions such as: how old was Pharaoh’s daughter? How many daughters did he have? How many wives? More than one? Many children? Was this one married? Was she unmarried? Was she young? How she lost a child in a miscarriage? Lots of things could be going on here.

Ex plains nile-river-09

8  “Yes, go,” she answered.
And the girl went and got the baby’s mother.

Hallelujah! What an amazing “yes”! What a run! What an answer to prayer—can we assume that Moses’ mother had prayed? I think this is a safe assumption. Perhaps even placing the infant in a basket along the river was an answer to prayer, although the short-term reasoning is quite understandable. The infant is away from the population.

9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her,
“Take this baby and nurse him for me,
and I will pay you.”

So the woman took the baby and nursed him – a double bonus! Is God not amazing? Not only does she get her child back in freedom but, because now it is the Pharaoh’s son, she is getting paid for her services. God has a special purpose for this child. Can you imagine the feeling Moses’ mother felt everyday as she held her child in her arms and gently nursed him? My friends, that is grace. That is thanksgiving.

10 When the child grew older,
she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter
and he became her son.

She named him Moses, saying,
“I drew him out of the water.”

This must have been tough. Did Moses’ family tell him who his real parents were or to protect him, did they not reveal his identity? But if one considers the alternative, then I assume this was worth it. Major question: at what age did she take him back to the princess? After weaning? 5 years of age? 10? How old was he?

Whos?  A man of the house of Levi, a Levite woman, a son, his sister, Pharaoh’s daughter, her attendants, Hebrew babies, one of the Hebrew women, Moses.

Wheres?  hiding (implied), in the papyrus basket, among the reeds along the bank of the Nile, at a distance, to the Nile, along the river bank, take this child, to Pharaoh’s daughter, out of the water

When’s? now a man, when she saw, three months, but when she could, then she placed it, then his sister, when the child grew older

Whats?

• A Levite man and woman marry and have a child.

• She hides him for three months instead of throwing him into the river.

• Then she prepares a waterproof basket to place the child in and places the infant in the basket along the river’s edge, along with his sister hiding in the reeds to watch out after the child.

• Pharaoh’s daughter appears, sees the child and feels compassion for it.

• Out of the reeds steps the child’s sister who offers to run and get a Hebrew woman to nurse this child.

• Pharaoh’s daughter replies affirmatively.

• The daughter retrieves the child’s mother.

• Pharaoh’s daughter hires the mother to look out after the child.

• When the child grows older, the child’s mother takes the child to Pharaoh’s daughter and she adopts him as his own and names him Moses because she drew him out of the water.

Summary: Grace. Via a protectively, shrewd mother, a waterproofed basket, a pharaoh’s daughter, a vigilant, quick-thinking sister and the grace of God, the baby Moses, who will grow up to be used by God to liberate his people from slavery is spared certain death.

And not only is he spared, he is adopted into royalty–into the family of the very man who was seeking his life.

What a story!

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

• God is incredible–how he can manipulate the events of life to provide for his children.

• Nothing is by accident. Nothing.

• If God can care for Moses, then he can care for me.

• God desires to care for us in a royal manner; we are royal priests in the household of God (1 Peter 2; Rev. 1), just as Moses was a grandson of the Pharaoh.

• God desires to protect us as he did Moses, though sometimes it is not in what we might consider a normal or traditional manner. He does this so that there is no doubt that he is the author of our salvation; so that we might trust and believe in him.

• Moses’ mother was both courageous and shrewd. God no doubt honored her shrewd courageousness, even if the plan was but a short term solution.

• Although the child’s older sister played a lesser role, it was momentarily of utmost value. She was vigilant and when the moment came, she was lightningly shrewd. She saved her brother’s life. Ultimately she saved the life of her entire nation because it will be this baby that God raises up to lead Israel out of slavery and to the promised land.

• Pharaoh’s daughter felt compassion and acted generously. She acts as a type of Christ rescuing us from our certain death down at the river.

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.)

Thanksgiving (2014):  Another good Sunday…by God’s grace. Returned to (Jesus) Yah-Saves’ words concerning the Stories of Man’s Sin and God’s Deliverance from Man’s Sin in John 12. The basic big idea as Jim Elliot’s revised qoute…He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep for that which he cannot lose. No doubt, in reaction to her brother having received the impossible, life after death, Mary breaks and pours a precious vail of imported oil, valued at a years’ wages, upon the head and feet of our Lord. Mary got it. She was in the presence of God in the flesh. Nothing would have been too invaluable for her to have shown her love and devotion for Christ. And nothing is too invaluable for us to demonstrate our confidence in him as well. That is the definition of worship.
Also, we realized an over eight year dream on Sunday when we found and purchased a truck that met the description I had been looking for – for quite some time… a four-wheel drive, five-speed 2003 Toyota Tacoma with extra cab and nice camper shell. One of its previous owners served oversees for four years, so it only has 112,00 miles. These trucks were made to go over 200,000 easily. We shall see. At least we have a four-wheel drive for this winter. Thank you, God. In addition,  Rhonda and I got to know one of the CRU gals from Russia on the trip there and back. What a joy!

Finally, one of the men who have had the most positive, Spiritual impact on my life for the past twenty plus years passed away on Sunday. He was 87, and his name was Jim Perry. He was a gift from God, but not just for me, but literally for thousands of others. He was a man’s man who was not afraid to say he prayerfully sought “the leadership of the Holy Spirit.” While others might have thrown around WWJD, meaning what would Jesus do? repeatedly, I would ask myself, WWJD…what would Jim Perry do?  because Jim got me into the ballpark of what Jesus might do. Actually, Spiritually imititating either would be very difficult, but Jim, in the way that he lived and sought the Spirit’s leadership, was a living embodiment of someone who lived WWJD. My reward…besides having become more of a godly man because of Jim, was having the honor, or responsibility, of spending time with his immediate family and officiating Jim’s memorial. Perhaps I may have the priviledge of experiencing other honors in my life, but to have preached this man’s memorial, it may be the highlight. His matchless legacy, including his Christ-like dependency upon God’s Spirit, will live on through countless lives and souls that Jim touched for the kingdom of God.

2002 Application…

My struggles: For those following the weekly trials and tribulations of “the Osbournes” i.e. “the Crosses” on LC1 (instead of VH1), I did not pick up my rocks last week. At some point in time, I ran out of time. On Saturday, I took Amanda on a surprise trip to see the Razorbacks play. She loved it.

Of what I can remember, it was still a good week and I got a lot done. It has carried over on into this week as well. But each week hangs in the balance, especially Wednesday and Thursday with respect to getting the extras done. Rhonda is being patient with me to fix Tod’s fallen shelves (he hung them last time) over the washer and dryer. Just a lot to do and not enough of me to go around. I am still flirting with the idea of getting over to the church and picking up some rocks and planting some grass Wednesday and Thursday.

So struggles are primarily the same: balancing the variety of demands. In the midst of everything else, I have a wedding rehearsal, ceremony and reception going on this weekend. As much as I love the premarital counseling, everyone knows how much I LOVE doing the social/ritual aspects—NOT!

Principles:  Despite not being able to solve problems completely, sometimes all you have is a tarred papyrus basket down at the river.

Prayerful application: In other words, do the best you can and quit whining. Even if the solution is a short-term solution, do the best I can and leave the rest to God. So even if I can only do a little bit, do a little bit—buy some time until God can send the Pharaoh’s merciful daughter down to the river and rescue my baby. In the meantime, it doesn’t hurt to be hiding in the reeds, waiting for my deliverer.

Try to do something at the church and try to do something with respect to Rhonda’s shelves that can never seem to stay up. And whatever I can fit in, will be better than nothing.

2014 Application…

Struggle: Tired. Ministering to the Perry family was about a full day and half commitment. I felt I did pretty good with my ministry to the family. Eulogy or message, was pretty good. Not my best, but certainly not my worst. It could have been tighter. Still I know it meant a lot to the family and they repeatedly said so. Jim meant so much to my life, I would have preferred to have nailed his memorial perfectly, but alas, I am but a feeble sinner. I know I and many many others loved and looked up to him. I was a very late PeeWee Football Pirate in the making.

Now it’s time to get back into a different groove. It would be nice to be better prepared for Sunday and not to experience all the last minute angst. Also, seeking the balance between the weekly ministry chores and writing. And finally, watching my flock a little more closely these days as we exit the summer vacation season and return back to school.

Truth: Survive. Jesus’ (Matt. 6) and Gen. Moore’s “Just one more thing…” strategy, or as Gen. Hal Moore would say, “Three strikes in baseball, and you are out; not so in the game of life. There is always one more thing you can do.” Think of it; pray it and do it. And then after that, when you think that there is nothing else you can do, think of “one more thing” and do it, and so on and so forth. There’s always one more thing. Think of it and do it. That’s exactly what Moses’ mother and sister were doing. It saved his life, and then God used this life to save a nation. Amazing!

Leadership by Gen. Hal Moore…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGNxHMFjigA

Application… Play the game as it is being dictated to me. Last week, it was finding and buying a truck. This week, it was honoring someone who was argubly, the greatest and most practical Spiritual impact on my life, and certainly as a young man. Now, it is to finish this study revision; do some counseling tomorrow and prepare for Sunday. One day, one moment, one struggle, one prayer at a time.

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.)

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

Exodus 1:15-22 Undaunted Courage 8-10-14

Exodus Studies Pic

©2002-20014 Fellowship
Life of Moses Lesson 2
Undaunted Courage Ex 1:15-22
Orig. 11/17/02 Updated 8.10.14

Introduction… Ever had a moment that seemed to require extraordinary courage…to do what you absolutely feared to do…perhaps it was even something that later, after you had faced it, it seemed rather benign, such as something to do with the dark or riding a scary ride? Ever felt your heart beating so fast that you thought it might explode? Fear, anxiety, fight or flight response can really be a scary expereince?

So in the story we are about to explore, would you have courage to obey God rather than the king? Even to lie to cover up a greater truth? Even at the risk of your own life? Ever faced anything even remotely close to standing up for something that could cost you your life? Talk about the fear….Thank God, these courageous women choose to revere God over the king…

Exodus Infant Art

Pray
Read the Passage three times…

Ask questions…

1:15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives,
whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,   

Just two midwives for the entire nation? What do midwives do? Do they help deliver the baby? How? Tell the father to calm down? Check the umbilical cord to see if it wrapped around the baby’s neck? Why do we have doctors today? Why do some still use midwives? Why do they call them midwives? Does mid- mean part way here? How many babies did they deliver a day? A week? A year? How did they get into this service? Did they learn it from their mothers? Did they do it together or on their own? Were they paid?

How great a palace where they called into at this time? Were they in awe? Did they know what was up? Were they afraid?

16 “When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth
and observe them on the delivery stool,
if it is a boy, kill him;
but if it is a girl, let her live.”   

This must have been a shock to them. How did they feel about this? Did they respond at all? Or were they just quiet in receiving their command? I am sure had they said anything they would have been put to death. Why does he want boys put to death and not girls? Boys could do work? Women are the ones who would have children. Would the men have just sought out Egyptians wives after a time? What was going on here?

17 The midwives, however, feared God
and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do;
they let the boys live. 

This took great courage; obviously it was based on their reverence for God. Now what is interesting here is that 300 plus years have past since Joseph, his father Jacob and his eleven brothers lived. Yet, we still see a monotheistic faith in God. How many or how strongly had all of Jacob’s descendents chosen to worship God? And how were they doing this? There was no Mosaic Law at this time? That happens in about 80 years, after Moses turns eighty. How did they know what was right and wrong? How had Job known? Or Abraham or Isaac or Jacob or Joseph? How did people worship God before the Law and the tabernacle?

I imagine there were a lot of thankful parents for what these midwives were doing.

18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them,
“Why have you done this?
Why have you let the boys live?” 

Ought oh! Were they afraid? Was the king furious?

19 The midwives answered Pharaoh,
“Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women;
they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”   

What does vigorous mean? Strong? Push their kids quicker and harder? Was this true? Or had this happened on occasion and so they knew it was a good way to get around the king? Did they fear their lives? Why did the king just want it done when the baby was being born? Would they have been able to murder the babies without the parents knowledge? But eventually wouldn’t have someone figured out that only girls were being born? Was the king asking the midwives to murder the baby boys and lie to their parents? Interesting thought. Similar to what the “Pro-choice” movement does today. It is only years later when women realize what they have really done—taken a life—does the horror of their choice become evident.

20 So God was kind to the midwives
and the people increased
and became even more numerous.  

How was God kind to the midwives? How did Moses the writer of this book know? Was it because they had children too? So the king’s attempt to control the population backfired on him. It is not working. How many years did this go on?

21 And because the midwives feared God,
he gave them families of their own.   

Was this one of the reasons they helped others have children—they did not have families of their own? God honored their obedience.

22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people:
“Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile,
but let every girl live.”

Who were Pharaoh’s people? Egyptians? Who did this awful deed? Was this to the Hebrews? Did they comply if it was said to them? What if they didn’t—would they die? What an awful choice to have to make. Why the river Nile? Why drowning? How far did they live from the Nile? How many baby boys were actually killed? What affect did this have on this have on the Hebrew people? This must have been devasting? A horrible tragedy!

Exodus Nile

Note: The river that has given so much life to Egypt will now become an instrument of death.

 

Whos?  king of Egypt, Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, Hebrew women, boy, girl, God, Egyptian women, the people, families of their own, every boy, every girl

Wheres?  On the delivery stool, into the Nile

Whens?  When you help the Hebrew women, then the king summoned, before the midwives arrive, then Pharaoh gave this order

Whats?

• Pharaoh orders the Hebrew midwives to kill the baby boys as they are being delivered; let the girls live.

• But because of their fear in God, the Hebrew midwives do not obey the king’s orders and allow the boys to live.

• The king summons the midwives back in and questions them as to why they are allowing the boys to live?

• The midwives answer by saying that the children are already born by the time they get there.

• God prospers both the midwives and the nation: the nation grows in people and the midwives are given families of their own.

• Pharaoh ups the ante when he commands that all baby boys are to be thrown into the Nile.

Summary: In an attempt to put a chokehold on the growing Hebrew populace, Pharaoh resorts to infanticide.

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

 

• People can be really evil and cruel, especially rulers.

• It is interesting to note that despite four hundred years since Joseph’s passing, there are those that still believe in Joseph’s God…i.e. the Hebrew midwives were courageously obedient and protective of the male Hebrew infant born because of their fear of God. Apparently, they believed God existed and revered him. This in turn turn affected their actions. God had promised Abraham a nation. By killing the Hebrew baby boys born, in turn, they would have been going against that promise. Remember, the official Law, did not exist yet. Mt. Sinai is still on the horizon.

• In this case, to save life, as the rabbis would later teach, their lying was justified. It was accomplishing a greater good.

• In turn, God honored courageous obedience.

• And yet, evil does not give up without a fight.

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

My struggles (2002): I have a lot to do today: several hours of premarital counseling this morning, check on a few people, make a few pastoral visits, find out the estimate on Jordan’s car and when it can get fixed; try to pick up some rocks and plant some more grass around the church; start getting ready for my talk with the youth on dating Wednesday and a few other things that are on my mind.

Principles:  1) The Hebrew midwives were obedient because they feared God; 2) Because they were courageously obedient and defied Pharaoh’s unconscionable command, God honors them; 3) and yet, Evil does not give up without a fight.

Prayerful application: My hope and prayer is that no matter what comes up today or this week, I want to be courageously obedient because I fear or revere God. The watch word of the day is “courageous obedience” or more simply put, “courage.”

“Well is there anything you are particularly facing Joe, that might require courage?”

“Oh a thousand things it seems like.”

“Well pick one.”

“One, huh?”

“Yeah, one.”

“Well, as much as I hate to admit it, to pick up some stupid rocks out front.”

“Ouch, that is a tough one. Why is that so tough?

“Because there are so many. And I have nothing really to haul them off in because I loaned Jordan my truck to get back to school.”

(Note: In 2002, Jordan was in his freshman year at community college, had just had wreck on Haloween and the church had just been completed that summer. Apparently, we were still working on the grounds.)

“Well, remember, God honors courage.”

“Great, just what I wanted to hear.”

“Well, let us know how it turns out, Mr. Midwife.”

“Thanks (sarcastically). I will.”

2014 Application…

Thanks…Good Sunday, as we said good-bye to our CRU students and as we attempted to make the comparison of local Bass Pro and Big Cedar billionare  Johnny Morrison’s use of rocks out at his acclaimed Top of the Rock Wilderness resort to the true King’s use of living rocks or stones…us… that are not only attracted to the stone the builders rejected, but has become the corner stone, that is Christ himself, but, through his Spirit, he is transforming these stones into a dynasty of royal priests offering Spiritually acceptable sacrifices that in the end declare the virtues of God himself (1 Peter 2:4ff). Pretty special…huh? More special than even billionare Johnny Morris’ rocks that attempt, in a way, to declare Johnny’s virtues as a dreamer, builder, designer, etc. I think over the last two weeks, we anchored this truth in their lives…hopefully for a lifetime.

In addition, it has just been a good overall week, especially catching up on some pastoral counseling, visits and ministry. I am very blessed, including, after eight years of gradual searching, and two and half years of having only one vehicle and no truck, Rhonda and I have found and are purchasing a used 2003 four-wheel drive, five-speed, six cylinder Toyota Tacoma pickup with camper shell and only 112,000 miles. After passing a mechanical inspection yesterday, we go to pick it up on Sunday in Washington, MO. Thank you, God, for your grace in this journey. Bring us home safe.

Truth…Courageous obedience in the face of unrelenting evil.

Application…I am not sure I have ever had to face an unrelenting evil of the magnitude that the Hebrew midwives faced, but at times, it probably has felt like this. Perhaps those occasions were training for later moments or even moments to come in the future. Certainly, contemporary culture’s rapidly changing anti-God, anti-Christ or anti-Bible attitude appears to have its in-the-future unavoidable implications. For the most part now, courage seems to be of a more midler variety, such as being willing to share my difficult truth, including painfully challening, or willing to risk the rejection of those I dearly love. But it would seem true love…sustainable love, genuine love, Christ-like love… demands it. Or the courage of knitting together into an engaging and thoughtful presentation all the many tools or threads of SLove. Perhaps not the pious and shrewd courage of the midwives, but courage no less. And, if the most severest of times does come upon us, hopefully, all these smaller lessons in courage will lead to moments of extraordinary Spiritual courage.

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.)

 

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

Exodus 1:1-14 400 Years Later & a New Season 8-3-14

Exodus Studies Pic

©1998-2014
Fellowship
Life of Moses Excerpted Lessons…
Lesson 1: 400 Years Later and a New Season…
Ex 1:1-14

8/3/14 (orginal lesson date: 11/10/02)

Introduction…Anyone ever had an experience where, despite pain, suffering, injustice and oppression, you still prospered? Talk about it. Why would God do or allow such blessing in the midst of injustice?

After listing the names of the sons of Israel and telling how many of them that made the sojurn to Egypt, the book of Israel’s Exodus (or way out…of Egypt) opens with these words… “Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.” Ex. 1:6-7. Four hundred years after both Jacob and Joseph pass away, Moses, the author of both Genesis and Exodus, tells us that a new pharaoh sits on the throne, one who did not know about Joseph or his salvific exploits on behalf of Egypt and Egypt’s throne, and thus begins our drama. We move from the lives of Israel’s early partriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph to the lives of a nation—a nation led by one man, Moses. We move from Genesis, where we learn how Israel came to be in Egypt, to Exodus, where Israel will miraculously leave Egypt to take possession of her previously promised lands back in Canaan. The sins of the Amorites have reached the full measure. It is time for a change.

As you read, notice Moses’ simple beginning structure, which stylistically ties nicely with his previous book…the Beginnings or Genesis:

1) Moses list Jacob or Israel’s sons, vv. 1-5;
2) eventually, they all pass away v. 6;
3) but many more, a potential nation in fact, takes their place, v. 7;
4) which threatens Egypts’s reigning king or pharaoh, vv. 8-10;
5) who then comes up with a harsh plan to suppress, contain and enslave their vast growing numbers, vv. 12-14.

I wonder will it work.

Pray 
Read the Passage three times…

 Exodus 1 

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob,
each with his family:

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;

3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;

4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.

5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all;

Joseph was already in Egypt.

6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,

7 but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly
and became exceedingly numerous,
so that the land was filled with them.

8 Then a new king,
who did not know about Joseph,
came to power in Egypt.

9 “Look,” he said to his people,
“the Israelites have become much too numerous for us.

10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them
or they will become even more numerous and,
if war breaks out, will join our enemies,
fight against us and leave the country.”

11So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

12 But the more they were oppressed,
the more they multiplied and spread;
so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites

13 and worked them ruthlessly.

14 They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields;
in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly.

Ask questions…

Exod. 1

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, 
each with his family:   

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;   

3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;   

4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.  

Are Jacob and Israel the same person? Why are both names used here? Did God not change Jacob’s name? Did he still use both names?

5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; 
Joseph was already in Egypt.   

Did this include wives and children or just children? So 12 sons had 70 children? Did this include Joseph’s sons because Joseph is mentioned after the mention of the seventy descendents?

6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,   

How long did it take them to die? Did they live long like their ancestors did? Didn’t they live to be like over a hundred? How old was Joseph when he died? His brothers? Did everything go well with them until his death? How about their children? Did they all get along? All the cousins? Then second and third and fourth cousins?

7 but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly 
and became exceedingly numerous, 
so that the land was filled with them.   

Sounds like they flourished to me. Is this why God took them to Egypt in the first place, to give them a place to prosper? To prosper off of Egypt’s great wealth? And to give the Amorites—the peoples living in the Promised Land—to build up more sins and therefore more judgment, because God was not unjust in taking their land away? (See Gen 15:12-15).  How many? Some say, several million. Where do they come up with that figure?

So because they were multiplying so rapidly, does this mean economic times were very good for them? Were they wealthy or just prosperous—ate well, flocks multiplied?

8 Then a new king, 
who did not know about Joseph, 
came to power in Egypt.   

I could see where after four centuries, everyone would forget about the past? That is twice as long as the history of our country, or it would be like going back to the Pilgrims? And we have certainly after almost 400 years thrown away most of their values. It’s illegal to talk about God in school. Pray to him. Post the Ten Commandments. Adultery is acceptable. We are working on homosexuality. So I could see where in 400 years, people might have forgotten where these people had come from in the first place. After all there were only about 80 in all to begin with. Nothing in Egypt.

This all leads to another question: how did they maintain their ethninticity all this time, that is their nationality? Did they all intermarry cousins, etc.? Did they ever marry Egyptians?

9 “Look,” he said to his people, 
“the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. 

Were they becoming more than the Egyptians?

10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them 
or they will become even more numerous and, 
if war breaks out, will join our enemies, 
fight against us and leave the country.”   

So he seems to be using intimidation? Will this work out? Is this the best strategy? Is this smart? Who were their enemies? Usually it was kingdoms from the other side of the Fertile Crescent. In later centuries it will be the Assyrians, the Babylonians and the Persians. After that the Romans? Who cares if they leave? How would they leave? There are so many?

11So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.   

12 But the more they were oppressed, 
the more they multiplied and spread; 
so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites  

13 and worked them ruthlessly.   

How long a period of time was all this? Ten years? Twenty years? Fifty years? How did they work them ruthlessly? Did they not let them tend their flocks? Did they work long hours? No time with their families?

14 They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; 
in all their hard labor 
the Egyptians used them ruthlessly.

They were slaves?

hebrewslavesinEgypt

Whos?  the sons of Israel, who,  Jacob, his family, 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;   Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher, descendants of Jacob, seventy in all, Joseph, all his brothers, all that generation, Israelites, them, new king, who, his people, Israelites, we, us, they, them, our enemies, slave masters, Egyptians.

Wheres? went to Egypt, in Egypt, the land, in Egypt, leave the country, over them, Pithom and Rameses, store cities, in the fields

Whens? Now Joseph, then a new king

Whats?

• Jacobs’s sons all die off. vv. 1-6.
• But as their descendants replace them, and they become numerous. v. 7.
• Their sheer numbers threaten a new pharaoh who seeks to harshly repress them to keep them under control via work as slaves. vv. 8-14

Summary… A new pharaoh, having no knowledge of Joseph and what he did to save Egypt and prosper the royal dynasty, is threatened by the growing numbers of the descendants of Joseph’s father, Israel, and so in an attempt to keep them subdued, via forced labor, he enslaves the children of Israel.

Bottom line…a new day, a new king, and a new set of circumstances result in the sons of Israel being oppressed as opposed to protected as their forefathers were.

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

• Most big things started out small, such as a savings or retirement account, a business, a country, an illness, such as cancer or even addiction. Everything has a beginning somewhere. The children of Israel started out with one couple, Abraham and Sarah. From there was added one son, Isaac. Then Isaac had two sons, only one of which, Jacob, did God extend the same promises of a people, land and blessing to that he had extended to Jacob’s father and grandfather. Then, via 12 sons, Jacob’s family, four hundred years later, as grown into a subdued people group suffering under the harsh hand of Egyptian rule. The church also started out small. One shoot from the stump of Jesse, Jesus, calls out 12 to follow, trust him and build his church. Surrounding those 12 is another hundred plus. At Pentecost, God’s Spirit liberally pours himself onto thousands who repent of not having trusted the Savior’s sacrifical atonement for their imperfection, and from there, over the next almost two thousand years, millions and billions come to trust, follow and obey the name of Jesus. Most big things started out small.

• Despite, persecution, repression and injustice, God’s blessing prospered.  Persecution will not stop the will of God. God’s will always trumps man’s misguided plans to thwart his plans and will. Nothing was going to stop the Children of Israel from growing into a people group, not even harsh, repressive slavery. God wins this one. He always does.

• God allowed the king of Egypt to make his natural choices. Pharaoh saw numbers and naturally saw threat. In his own way, he attempted a solution. Little did he know his flawed, insecure solution would be used by God to bring about the very thing he feared. His lack of knowledge or trust in Yahweh or I AM God resulted in his and his nation’s own downfall. One pharaoh trusted many years before and is richly blessed; another does not, and is cursed by the God he refuses to bow down to. He chose the wrong god and wrong methodology. This is the story of man. Again and again, foolishly kings, man, rulers attempt to disprove the Creator of the Universe, and again and again, they are brought to their broken knees. Litle does man realize that all will bow; those who do so because by faith and trust, they see or believe in an invisible Creator find the salvation they so desperately were seeking; those that refuse choose their own required destruction. To submit or not to submit, that is the question. It makes all the differene in the world. In fact, you could say, it’s the only difference that really counts when ALL is said and done.

• Despite God having chosen and blessed the children of Israel, in the shorter term, just as he had with Jacob and Joseph, he allowed his beloved to suffer at the hands of an unfair earthly judge and ruler. We tend to think that if we suffer, something is wrong, and perhaps it is, but not in the way we think. Things have been wrong since the beginning of Creation, or at least the man and the woman’s choice to not trust God and instead believe the half-truth of the Deceiver. So definitely things are wrong. Yes, there is sin, injustice, crime, poverty, suffering and misery but, due to sin and man’s flawed choices. And as a part of this, God’s people, from time to time and in different seasons, will suffer in the midst of man’s chaotic unrighteousness. And sometimes, God’s people will even suffer because they are God’s people. The Scriptures have foretold us this, and we know even from the onset, as the righteous Job learned, there is a spiritual war that is being waged within the eternal heavens and that has spilled over into time and space, including earth itself. And yes, God does allow his people…those that do believe in him…to suffer injustice in the midst of this. Sometimes, we even suffer, due to our own sins and the sins of the righteous. No one is perfect. And yet, God will use the cries of the suffering to demonstrate the contrast between good and evil, salvation and destruction. So yes, for a time, God’s people are allowed to suffer in the midst of evil, but justice delayed will never be justice denied. And we have a Savior.

• Threat is natural element of a fallen, imperfect world, and thus Pharaoh felt threatened by what he perceived he might not be able to control. His security was not in God, but in what he could do. Well, what he does turns into a royal failure.

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

Note: While I may not include 2002’s application every time, perhaps for the sake of truth in time or a longer-distance Spiritual perspective, from time to time, I may mix it in with 2014’s application.

Struggles (2002): I have been really dragging lately–got my nights mixed up with my days and would rather work and study through the night and sleep in the mornings. Things are pretty quiet around the house (without Jordan home and gone off to college) and the church (since, we have finally completed constructing our new church home). I find myself struggling to prepare or study ahead. Not sure if its burnout or PBS… post-building syndrome or what? There is still a lot to do—much of which I can’t do or don’t want to do by myself. So I am kind of in the middle—unfinished. It is something I am very uncomfortable with, but am trying to accept on a daily basis.

2014 Update…We had begun planning to build with the purchase of 26 acres back in the early to mid-90s. After several church fractures in sucession where one church became three, we were forced to put our building plans on hold for quite a few years. Finally in 2000, after some healing and Spiritual rebuilding, we raised up a mortgage buffer fund of $50,000. In 2001, we began building a church of our own. We moved in during the summer of 2002. So in some ways, 2002 represented the completion of an almost decade long dream.

Thanksgiving (2014)…We are still alive, and at times, in ways perhaps not measured by man, we are thriving. Over the years, what many within the church growth world thought was God’s blessing at the time, now, many years later, appear more like cheap man-made imitations. Numbes, expansion, buildings, monies given, even evangelism and outreach can all appear like signs of God’s growth, and they may well indeed be at times, but NOT always. True growth begins from the inside out…a mind reborn, a love sustained, a flesh slain, a flawed human instinct crucified, Spirit-driven counter-intuitive obedience and discomfort, truth courageously spoken and confessed, Spiritual stones becoming a Spiritual one, working through conflict and differences to accomplish a Spirit-inspired greater good. What a broken, dysfunctional and flawed family of believers failed to accomplish in the way of outward, artificial and superficial numbers it has more than made up in attempting to create a real, bibical and Spiritual enviromentf for growth, one characterized by more than your average or typical Spiritual depth, truth and honesty.

This week. It has been a good-time, another good month. June was focus, and a lot had to get done and was done. July was about balancing ministry with some time off with my family. We did pretty good. I think we experienced a happy medium, and now the pedal has once again begun to be pressed ever more aggressively. Thank you, God. Now please, bless all my Spiritual endeavors, including writing and ministry.

Principles: 1) Big things start out small and can grow very large. Sometimes, the growth can even be exponential as it was in the case of Israel and later the church, which means in the beginning, there is slow growth over a long period of time, but then suddenly there comes an explosion of growth over a very short period of time. We typically refer to this as overcoming the learning curve, and in many ways, with respect to humanity, it would seem that in the last few centuries, and especially with respect to technology, we have become the beneficiaries of previous generations’ long, slow climb up the learning curve’s more horizontal section. Thus, we are now screaming up the vertical section of the learning curve with explosions of knowledge. Perhaps, we only think we are on the vertical section? Perhaps we are still in the midst of a long slow climb? But with the ability to destroy ourselves many times over via nuclear annihiliation, it would seem we are peaking with respect to knowledge and technology. And in fact, what does come next on the learning curve because afterall, you can’t grow at this rate forever? Eventually comes a recession or bust, with the learning curve morphing downward again and thus becoming a bell curve.

2) Only God can defeat bell curve.  What does that look like? Heaven, I suppose. Unlimited growth. Unlimited blessing? I am not sure how it all works. I do know that despite suppression and ruthless oppression, both God’s old covenant people and later on God’s new covenant people experienced exponential growth and blessing. Therefore, don’t discount both God’s provision and blessing even in times of great sinful hardship. God can and will bless and reward his people for their faith-based obedience, hope, love, trust and service.

Prayerful application: I don’t have all the answers. I know that there seems to be seasons in my life. “For every time there is a season.”

Eccl. 3:1   There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

9 What does the worker gain from his toil?

10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men.

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time.
He has also set eternity in the hearts of men;
yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

12 I know that there is nothing better for men
than to be happy and do good while they live.

13 That everyone may eat and drink,
and find satisfaction in all his toil –this is the gift of God.

14 I know that everything God does will endure forever;
nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.

God does it so that men will revere him.

15 Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.

When I read Solomon’s thoughts on time, I realize that I have only begun to skim the surface concerning the manifold seasons of life. I would venture to say that just about nothing about life or ministry has ever been predictable. It’s never been the same. I would even venture to say that while yes, the earth’s hemispheres move from cold to hot back to cold, even within the designated seasons, while there is some similiarities, even these similarities seem to vary from year to year. Some summers are cooler than normal; others hotter and dryer; some wetter. So what is Solomon actually saying? What is he trying to tell us and why? That life is not static; it’s always in a constant state of flux or change. That you can’t hitch life’s wagon to any one thing, time or season because things will change. A baby will be born, someone dies; someone is healed, another dies; there are moments of both joy and tears. But in the midst of life’s seemingly constantly unpredictable chaos, one thing stands for certain…God exists. God is in charge; God is in control, so Solomon concludes, we all might as well take a chill pill and, within divinely-guided moral boundaries, enjoy this life because it’s all going to happen, whether we want it to or not, anyway.

So whether I or we are at the small of something that could become very large, recapturing the Bible’s essence of just what Christ’s body, the church, was really supposed to look and act like, in the first place, or if we are done with our large with the church in general and things are about to become increasingly worse as they have just become for the children of Israel within our story, or we are somewhere in between, it just doesn’t make any difference. Our hope is in God regardless of the outward circumstances and he can still bless his church in the midst of great oppresion.  Thank you, God for the imperfect ministry you have allowed and are allowing me to attempt today,

Your servant,

Joe

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.)

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

Gen. 50:22ff It’s Not Just a Body! It’s a Promise! 7-27-14

Ruins. Genesis Studies

© 1998-2014
Fellowship at Cross Creek
Gen. 50:22ff
It’s Not Just a Body! It’s a Promise!
7.27.14

Intro… Name some powerful symbols. What about symbols of the Christian faith? What purpose does a symbol serve? What about you, do you have any symbols that serve a critical role in your life? Such as…

Mummy_art_ramses

My thoughts somehow still return to mummy or the embalmed body or the great Ramses I which, after being looted from his tomb in the 1800s, was discovered here in North America and then finally returned to Egypt just a few short years ago.

Excerpted from our previous study: Shepherding in Goshen…Gen. 47:1ff: “Many scholars date Ramses I to the 1290s BC, which is about a century and half later than the Bible’s conservative dating of the Children of Israel’s Exodus out of Egypt. In addition, it was only about a decade ago that what many believe to be a royal Egyptian mummy was returned to Egypt after spending almost a century and a half in a private Canadian museum. And whose mummy was it? Many now believe it to be the lost mummy from Ramses I’s empty sarcophagus which was discovered in the Valley of the Kings at Luxor. So in essence, the great Ramses I’s mummified body spent almost a century and a half in North America as a cheap tourist attraction!

[See http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/04/0430_030430_royalmummy_2.html]

As the Book of Beginnings or Genesis ends, an old and dying Joseph makes the children of Israel promise to take his mummified body with them when they return, as God has promised, to the land of his ancestors, as well as his birth…the Promise Land. I believe Joseph has his body mummified for entirely different reasons than the pharaohs. Joseph’s mummified body will serve as a powerful symbol of Israel’s great destiny. It also serves as a bridge to perhaps our next great exploration, the second book of the Bible and the amazing story of the Children of Israel’s return to their Promise Land, beginning with their Exodus from Egypt. Can you figure out that purpose and how it might still relate to us today?

Your servant,

jc

Series INTRO… 

The Bible’s very first word is the Hebrew word Bərēšīṯ, which means “in [the] beginning.” “Genesis” is actually the Greek word for “beginnings” or “origins,” and thus the origin for both the Latin and English transliteration: Genesis.

So what’s our goal? Just to explore. Like an archaeologist exploring ancient ruins, we are going back to the Scripture’s beginnings to do a little Spiritual digging and poking around to see what was God doing before God’s Son was Spiritually conceived in his mother Mary’s womb? What were the world, people and life like from the very beginning?

Closing Note:

Well, 50 chapters later and exactly a year and a half later, we have reached the end of our first set of explorations into Scriptures’ ancient biblical ruins—the Book of Beginnings or Genesis. We have studied the lives of the Bible’s ancient patriarchs–how they came to know, be called upon and existed with God. They certainly were NOT perfect, and yet, God still used them; God was still glorified, despite their imperfection, as he is, despite ours, today. Despite mistakes, despite even death, God’s redemptive plan continued and still continues in and through us, his imperfect, faithful children.

Summary of Recent Explorations…

• The Creation: The Creator Creates His Creation and its Caretakers (Adam and Eve). Gen. 1-2.

• The Fall: But a Crafty Adversary Emerges, Infecting the Creator’s Caretakers with a Virulent Strain of Deceptive Evil (non-beneficial actions). Gen. 3-4.

• The Flood: The story of the righteous Servant and a devastating Flood.  In order to Save his Creation from a self-destructive and merciless evil, the Creator Must radically purge or cleanse his Creation Gen. 5-7.

• Creation’s New Beginning…Gen. 8-11.

• Creation’s New Caretaker: The Creator Raises up, Chooses and Greatly Blesses a righteous and trusting Caretaker named Abraham. Gen. 12-25.

• The Torch of the Creator’s Trusting Caretaking Now Passes to Succeeding Generations (Isaac, Jacob, Joseph…) Gen. 26ff.

Joseph’s Story…Gen. 37-50.

• Jacob’s older sons grow deeply resentful of their favored younger brother, Joseph. Gen. 37:1ff.

• Joseph’s jealous older brothers cruelly sell their younger brother Joseph, against his will, into slavery, and then inform their grieving father, Jacob, that Joseph has been killed by wild animals. Gen. 37:12ff.

• Despite being trafficked as a slave and falsely imprisoned, God’s favor mysteriously still accompanies Joseph. Gen. 39:1ff.

• Despite correctly interpreting the baker and cupbearer’s dreams while in prison, Joseph’s good deeds, go momentarily unrewarded. Gen. 40:1ff.

• Finally, when Pharaoh has two strange dreams that neither he, nor his priests, can’t interpret, the cupbearer remembers Joseph. Joseph is released from prison and is able to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams as seven years of plenty followed by seven years of severe famine. Gen. 41:1ff.

• Pharaoh empowers Joseph to guide Egypt through these next fourteen years of plenty and famine. Gen. 41:38ff.

• When Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt in search of grain, they have no idea that the Egyptian official that they are seeking to purchase the grain from is their brother Joseph. Then still portraying himself as an unknown Egyptian official, Joseph accuses his brothers of spying and forces them to leave their brother Simeon behind as surety that they will return with Joseph’s brother Benjamin. Gen. 42:1ff.

• When Jacob’s sons tell him of the bargain that they were forced to accept for their grain, Jacob initially refuses to risk losing a third son. Gen. 42:19ff.

• Finally, accompanied by Benjamin, Joseph’s brothers are able to persuade their father to allow them to return to Egypt where the Egyptian official hosts a great banquet in their honor. Gen. 43:1ff.

• When a planted missing missing silver cup of the Egyptian official is found within Benjamin’s grain sack, Judah must now offer himself in place of his younger brother.  Gen. 44:1ff.

• Finally, no longer able to contain his emotions, Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers and their need to return to Egypt with their father to survive the famine. Gen. 45:1ff.

• Pharaoh, in gratitude for all that Joseph had done for both Egypt and his realm, offers Joseph’s family, the children of Israel, the best that Egypt has to offer. Gen. 45:16ff.

• With God’s blessing Israel takes his entire family and flocks to Egypt where he is reunited with his son Joseph and settles in the land of Goshen. Gen. 46:1ff.

• Israel, close to his death, makes Joseph swear that he will return his body to in the Promised Land to be buried.  Gen. 47:1-12; 27-31.

• During the famine, Joseph saves many lives from starvation, as well as, solidifying Pharaoh’s great wealth. Gen. 47:13-26.

• Jacob, shortly before his death, doubles Joseph’s inheritance by adopting Joseph’s two oldest sons. Gen. 48:1ff.

• Jacob (Israel) prepares to die and prophetically blesses his 12 sons. Gen. 49:1ff.

• After blessing his sons, Jacob dies, and his sons fulfill his wish to take his body back to Canaan to be laid along side the bodies of his fathers.  Gen, 49:28ff.

• Joseph kindly exhorts his brothers not to fear that he will take retribution against them for the wrongs he suffered at their hands—what you meant for evil, God meant for good. Gen. 50:15ff.

Pray; read three times (perhaps just twice) and ask questions… 

22 Now Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and his father’s household, and Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. 

So if Joseph came to Egypt when he was 17, Joseph lives in Egypt for almost a hundred years. Amazing.

23 Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim’s sons; also the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees. 

So despite the hardships and loss of not being with his family for all those years, Joseph is now greatly rewarded, not only with being reunited with his family and delivering them through the harshest of seasons, but he experiences the births of his great great grandsons. Joseph has been greatly rewarded. It does make one wonder, did he maintain his position within Egypt throughout his entire life time? Or did it gradually diminish? What about his children and children’s children?

24 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.” 

The Promise remains, and just as his father, Jacob, was keenly aware of it as he was about to die, so is Joseph. I may have made Egypt great, but my destiny is still tied to the Land.

25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.” 

26 So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Joseph is embalmed as the Pharaohs were. Makes one wonder? Has Joseph’s body survived, and might it be found even today or someday in the future?

Who? 

Where? 

When? 

What?

• Joseph lives in Egypt for almost a century and is able to see his great great grand children.

• As Joseph is about to die, much as his father before him, he makes the sons of Israel swear to carry his body or bones back to the Promise Land when indeed God fulfills his promises to their fathers to bring the children of Israel back to their forefathers’ Promised Land.

• Finally, Joseph dies and his body is embalmed, awaiting to be taken back to the Promise Land (Note: that wait will be plus or minus four hundred years.)

Summary: Then many years later, as Joseph dies, he makes Israel’s descendants promise to carry his bones back to the Promise Land.

Why did God include this event in his record or what would we not know–about God, life, myself, others, etc.–if this story were not in the Bible? 

• Still after living in Egypt with all its wealth and splendor, and despite being one of its most influential, salvific figures, there is no doubt where Joseph’s heart and faith lies. His embalmed body, embalmed as Egypt’s pharaoh-gods, represents God’s presence, providence and promise in the lives of Israel’s children. The plan is always to go back to the Promised Land. It was never, in the long run, about Egypt. Egypt was a temporary home…a temporary resting place…a transitional place…in order for God to build up a nation of 600,000+ men over the next four centuries, as well as, give the wicked Amorites who dwelt in what was Israel’s Promised Land, grace, or at least no excuse when it came to their pagan fertility worship. Traditionally, they not only failed to recognize God as Creator and Lord, but they engaged in every kind of sexually, immoral vice, as well as, the sacrificing their own children in order to please their various fertility gods.

Gen. 15:12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants (the sons of Israel) will be strangers in a land that is not theirs (Egypt), where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 Then in the fourth generation they (the sons of Israel) will return here (your Promise Land), for the iniquity (sins) of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

It would take roughly 700 years (300 years from the time of God’s promises a land, people and blessing to Abraham [2100 BC] until Joseph dies [1800 BC], plus another 400 more years before the Children of Israel under Joshua’s leadership reclaim her Promised Land…1400 BC) or seven centuries for those sins to reach their full measure or completion. It is difficult for me to even fathom seven centuries, or at least a promise being made that takes seven centuries to complete. But, because there in essence is no time to God, or as the psalmist describes and Peter reiterates, a thousand years is like a day to God (Ps. 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8), seven hundred years is like a partial day or a few hours to God. To us humans, it is huge; to God, a blink of an eye.

So what keeps us going in the mean time, if we can’t see or will not see the fulfillment of God’s promises in our lifetime? Faith (according to Hebrews 11). Trust, and thus the biblical patriarch’s legacy. Paul, writing to the Roman Christians, references Gen. 15:6 when he writes, “Abraham believed (or trusted God…at his word…his promise), and it was accounted to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:3). Faith in God, hope in God, trust…a trust that leads to a continually maturing obedience to God…sustains us during an entire lifetime when we may not see the fulfillment of God’s promises or deliverance. No doubt faith sustained Russian Christians during seventy years of Communistic atheism. Faith has sustained Chinese Christians for about the same length of time. Faith sustained the early church for almost three hundred years until under Emperor Constantine, state restrictions and persecution of Christians ceased. And faith is what sustained Joseph during his difficult days until he was reunited with his family, and no doubt faith will sustain the children of Israel until they return to their Promised Land with the bones of their patriarch Joseph. Joseph was clearly sending a message. My home is NOT Egypt. My home is the Promise Land.

By the same token, by faith, our home, the Christian’s home, is not this earth… not now, not here. We are renters, tenants, shepherds. But we long to be reunited with our Lord in his heavenly paradise. By faith we momentarily live in Egypt, but we live to go home, just like those whose feet had never touched Canaan’s soil, somehow, someway, looked forward to the day that they would walk on Canaan’s fertile soil or their children or their children’s children would. In the mean time, they lived by faith that it would take place some day. The same is true with us. Though we have not seen heaven literally, oh…perhaps only briefly, in moments or worship when it seems that heaven bends down and kisses earth…we have that promise of eternal life, or life with God in heaven forever…and whatever that means. We hold that hope. And someday we will.

• In the meantime, we hope to see our great great grandchildren as Joseph did. Egypt ain’t bad. At least at first it wasn’t. It was very good. Very good. But this earth is evil and evil is enslaving, and just like the children of Israel are about to become slaves, so it is true of us. This life, this earth can be very mixed, up and down, good and bad. We thank God for his blessings, that he will see us through the difficult times, and that a few of us will live to make a significant contribution on this planet—hopefully, the deliverance of many from sin’s destruction—as well as to see our great great grandchildren, but we also understand, as was with the case of Jacob and Joseph, most all of us will experience our difficult seasons. And yet, as God is with us in the midst of the trials, we know that a much greater deliverance awaits all of us.

• Thus the story of Genesis…or beginnings, is our story…the Christian’s story. Genesis lays the foundation for so many stories to come. We see it all, Creation, naivete, deceit, sin, consequences, grace, jealousy, murder, sin’s contagion, God’s judgment, more mercy, the rebuilding of earth, man’s genius to build, the struggle to communicate with another, tribal rivalries and conflicts, immaturity, more deceit, God’s control and knowledge of the future, man’s impetuousness, man’s lack of trust in God, man’s great trust in God, man’s patience for God’s promises to be fulfilled and countless other truths and lessons. It’s all there. All. And by studying the lives, lessons, obedience and mistakes of our Spiritual forefathers, we can not only learn about our own human natures, but how our only real deliverance lies in a simple child-like faith or trust in God. Faith saves. Amazing.

So What? 

Thanks… Thank you for your many graces this past week, Lord. What you shared through me this past Sunday was amazing. I mean I knew what I wanted to communicate, but even at the last minute, I was making changes and adjustments, adding a video, a Keynote, illustrations, tweaking the order…but somehow it came out almost exactly as I had hoped—that through a conversation with my aunt I realized how we can build walls of self-deception and denial and in the process make things, such as family, greater even than the truth or you, God, and thus, in essence, turn what was a gift or stewardship into an idol, and in doing so, NOT seek your kingdom or righteousness or your Son and Spirit’s salvation or deliverance from sin or our imperfection, and therefore, skewing our decisions in such a way as to self-sabotage your goal or desire, through our righteous, truth-based choices to provide us with a divinely filtered version of our wants…and thus our true needs (Matt. 6:33). I get it, Lord, seeking your truthful deliverance from our own self-wickedness and denial is like trying to make 2 + 3 = 4. It just doesn’t work, and we don’t get our real needs met. Instead, we get a skewed version of our poorly-filtered wants being partially met. Since Creation though and since you’re a merciful God of deliverance from our sin, it was always 2 + 2 = 4. Your design for Creation has always been for your desperate creatures to seek your deliverance, and when they do, your Spirit has promised to light a path in the midst of the darkness so that we can see the food, drink and clothes or basic needs that your have provided for us, just as you have provided for the rest of Creation, including the sparrows and lilies. 2 + 2 = 4.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks also for some incredible ministry moments this week, two in particular. Two, maybe three, very real, powerful…and one perhaps, off the chart…a breath of heaven.

Struggle(s)… Father, how does one taste heaven and then return or live on earth? How does one experience the divine and not crash back to earth? I don’t suppose it is possible to sustain heaven’s presence 24-7, or at least I haven’t been able to do. I probably shouldn’t complain, but I feel so much like a child when I do experience your grace, your joy, your presence, your power, that afterwards, I am absolutely lost. Sometimes I need to rest afterwards, but then it seems so hard to return to the mundane, the more common tasks that need to be done, and my spirit so so rebels. Thanks for heaven, but I suppose I really need to know how to transition back to earth. Perhaps softer landings, God.

Truth(s)… Joseph enjoys this life’s blessings, after paying such a difficult early price. But despite both the blessings and sufferings of this world, his hope lay squarely upon something for his children in the future. It wasn’t about building a great monument to himself in order to attain a better place in the afterlife, much like the pharaohs had done, rather, it was about using his body to send a message. When the children of Israel reached the Promised Land four hundred years in the future, they would know that God was faithful to his promises. That Egypt was not their permanent home; they were not slaves; they were God’s covenant children…the children of promise. And just as God had brought Joseph through his harsh unjust treatment at the hands of others to his place of deliverance and salvation, God would do the same for the sons and daughters of Israel. Joseph’s embalmed body was that symbol or token of salvation past and salvation future.

Application… It is clear from the lives of the patriarchs, including Joseph, that all of us, even or particularly, God’s faithful, will experience seasons of great joy and blessing and yes, perhaps deep suffering, sorrow, death, loss, threat and injustice. It is just the way life on the earth is. A battle rages that we are not fully aware of, and like civilian refugees, we are often caught in its heavenly crossfire…and blessing. It would appear, it is not about always sustaining heavenly bliss. Oh were such the case! But rather, can we both taste and enjoy heaven and then endure the missiles, bombs and bullets? Can we go on, despite the inconsistency…despite ups and downs and changing Spiritual seasons? Can we rejoice in blessing and then have the wherewithal to not become discouraged when the blessing goes away for a season…perhaps a great season? Can we endure the pain, suffering and sorrow, while patiently waiting for God’s season of deliverance? Do we worship God or his blessings? Much like Job, Lord, I repent in dust and ashes. To sustain heaven’s blessing, presence and power 24/7 would not be very realistic from everything I read in Scripture or have experienced in life. But after the glory, and then after the letdown, and after the failure or rebellion, can I again run to you and know that you have promised to be with me until the rains have passed and the morning dawn appears? Life’s eternal cycle…

Your application:

Biggest Struggle at the moment:

How does what happen here relate to you?

What about your kids?

Biggest Struggles (Imagine these or several–put yourself in their shoes–walk through a day with them at school, at home. What might they encounter?)

Now how does what happen here possibly relate/ (Remember this is only to give you a feel or an introductory hook or a reinforcing took; in there looking, they may come up with something entirely different.)

Remember to have fun, sense the Spirit’s leading and develop a love for these kids.

As always, thanks!

Joe

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968,1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission.” (www.Lockman.org).

Gen 50:15ff Crocodile Jerky! 7-20-14

Ruins. Genesis Studies

© 1998-2014
Fellowship at Cross Creek
Gen. 50:15ff
Crocodile Jerky!
7.20.14

Intro… Well, 50 chapters later and a year and a half later, we are coming to the end of our first set of explorations into Scriptures’ ancient biblical ruins. We have studied the lives of the Bible’s ancient patriarchs–how they came to know, be called upon and existed with, God. They certainly were NOT perfect, and yet, God still used them. God was still glorified. Despite mistakes, despite death even, God’s redemptive plan continued and it still continues.

Chapter 50 brings us to the close of the life of Joseph and Joseph’s words to his brothers in v. 20…while you meant it for evil, God meant it for good, says it all. Grasp this verse…understand this verse…understand this truth…press against this truth and take into your heart, mind and soul with all of your heart, mind and soul and you may have just figured out life’s greatest truth…or greatest drama—the ability to see life through faith via God’s eternal gaze. Instead of being bent out of shape by all of life’s dramas, rather having peace in the midst of the storm. Why? God is still in control. It is not man’s evil we must seek to overcome by any means possible. No, this is NOT our mission. Rather, it is trusting in God, despite the apparent injustices, evil, misfortunes and suffering, that his greater will will prevail, and that within that greater will, whether it be in this life or the life to come or both, I need not fear. God has my destiny and ultimate good firmly in his hands. So when I feel others have wronged me, I need not be fueled by the need to wrong back, rather I trust God and go on about my business in doing things in such a manner that will bring him ultimate glory. His purpose becomes my purpose.  Remember the life of Joseph; read, trust, believe, hope in, obey the promises we have as God’s children and bring an angelic, heavenly light to a world that grows more dark with each passing day. Be Joseph, be Jesus in the flesh; be his bride; be his body; be his church; his flock; his lamb; his light…even in the midst of suffering. Suffering is NOT everything. It is only the beginning. The end is his glory.

If I was teaching this to kids, I would talk, talk and talk about unfairness…life’s injustices…or perceived injustices. Why do they bend us so out of shape at times? Why do they rock our world and sometimes disproportionately, so?

kid-crying

After Rhonda and I had finished walking at the Landing tonight and were stretching, there was a family getting out of a van and getting ready to head down to the Landing and the American Idol pre-tryouts concert. As they were leaving, there was a six or seven year old little boy with them, kind of heavy set, who was whimpering—he wanted to throw a fit, but with this kind of subdued, but irritating whimper, you could tell he was pushing things only so far. His parents were threatening to either leave him at the car or not go at all because they were not going to put up with his whining. And what was pushing this kids’ buttons? He wanted his Crocodile Jerky, even though the family was about to eat out. Crocodile Jerky! Heck, I would have said, Give the kid the jerky. Who cares if he eats out or not! The night is supposed to be fun to begin with, right? But not having his Crocodile Jerky was rocking this little six year old’s world. And I can’t blame him. It must be good stuff. But the parents weren’t giving in, and thus the tears…thus the controlled, but definitely get-your-attention whimper.

What’s your Crocodile Jerky in life right now ‘cause we all have one? And how can God use what feels like evil for a greater good? Ever had one of those moments? Sometimes you have to wait for the reward, and kids need to be reminded of this.

Your servant,
jc

Series INTRO…

The Bible’s very first word is the Hebrew word Bərēšīṯ, which means “in [the] beginning.” “Genesis” is actually the Greek word for “beginnings” or “origins,” and thus the origin for both the Latin and English transliteration: Genesis.

So what’s our goal? Just to explore. Like an archaeologist exploring ancient ruins, we are going back to the Scripture’s beginnings to do a little Spiritual digging and poking around to see what was God doing before God’s Son was Spiritually conceived in his mother Mary’s womb? What were the world, people and life like from the very beginning?

Summary of Recent Explorations…

• The Creation: The Creator Creates His Creation and its Caretakers (Adam and Eve). Gen. 1-2.

• The Fall: But a Crafty Adversary Emerges, Infecting the Creator’s Caretakers with a Virulent Strain of Deceptive Evil (non-beneficial actions). Gen. 3-4.

• The Flood: The story of the righteous Servant and a devastating Flood.  In order to Save his Creation from a self-destructive and merciless evil, the Creator Must radically purge or cleanse his Creation Gen. 5-7.

• Creation’s New Beginning…Gen. 8-11.

• Creation’s New Caretaker: The Creator Raises up, Chooses and Greatly Blesses a righteous and trusting Caretaker named Abraham. Gen. 12-25.

• The Torch of the Creator’s Trusting Caretaking Now Passes to Succeeding Generations (Isaac, Jacob, Joseph…) Gen. 26ff.

Joseph’s Story…Gen. 37-50.

• Jacob’s older sons grow deeply resentful of their favored younger brother, Joseph. Gen. 37:1ff.

• Joseph’s jealous older brothers cruelly sell their younger brother Joseph, against his will, into slavery, and then inform their grieving father, Jacob, that Joseph has been killed by wild animals. Gen. 37:12ff.

• Despite being trafficked as a slave and falsely imprisoned, God’s favor mysteriously still accompanies Joseph. Gen. 39:1ff.

• Despite correctly interpreting the baker and cupbearer’s dreams while in prison, Joseph’s good deeds, go momentarily unrewarded. Gen. 40:1ff.

• Finally, when Pharaoh has two strange dreams that neither he, nor his priests, can’t interpret, the cupbearer remembers Joseph. Joseph is released from prison and is able to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams as seven years of plenty followed by seven years of severe famine. Gen. 41:1ff.

• Pharaoh empowers Joseph to guide Egypt through these next fourteen years of plenty and famine. Gen. 41:38ff.

• When Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt in search of grain, they have no idea that the Egyptian official that they are seeking to purchase the grain from is their brother Joseph. Then still portraying himself as an unknown Egyptian official, Joseph accuses his brothers of spying and forces them to leave their brother Simeon behind as surety that they will return with Joseph’s brother Benjamin. Gen. 42:1ff.

• When Jacob’s sons tell him of the bargain that they were forced to accept for their grain, Jacob initially refuses to risk losing a third son. Gen. 42:19ff.

• Finally, accompanied by Benjamin, Joseph’s brothers are able to persuade their father to allow them to return to Egypt where the Egyptian official hosts a great banquet in their honor. Gen. 43:1ff.

• When a planted missing missing silver cup of the Egyptian official is found within Benjamin’s grain sack, Judah must now offer himself in place of his younger brother.  Gen. 44:1ff.

• Finally, no longer able to contain his emotions, Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers and their need to return to Egypt with their father to survive the famine. Gen. 45:1ff.

• Pharaoh, in gratitude for all that Joseph had done for both Egypt and his realm, offers Joseph’s family, the children of Israel, the best that Egypt has to offer. Gen. 45:16ff.

• With God’s blessing Israel takes his entire family and flocks to Egypt where he is reunited with his son Joseph and settles in the land of Goshen. Gen. 46:1ff.

• Israel, close to his death, makes Joseph swear that he will return his body to in the Promised Land to be buried.  Gen. 47:1-12; 27-31.

• During the famine, Joseph saves many lives from starvation, as well as, solidifying Pharaoh’s great wealth. Gen. 47:13-26.

• Jacob, shortly before his death, doubles Joseph’s inheritance by adopting Joseph’s two oldest sons. Gen. 48:1ff.

• Jacob (Israel) prepares to die and prophetically blesses his 12 sons. Gen. 49:1ff.

• After blessing his sons, Jacob dies, and his sons fulfill his wish to take his body back to Canaan to be laid along side the bodies of his fathers.  Gen, 49:28ff.

Pray; read three times (perhaps just twice) and ask questions…

50:15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!”

Fair question? I would be asking it. What it reminds me of, is that when we think people have forgotten things, they have not? Perhaps they have suppressed those thoughts or memories, but these guys are not dumb. They have to be thinking this—was our father being alive keeping us alive? Were we protected by his shelter? But what they seem not to understand is that God’s plan is for each of them to in essence to become a patriarch as well. These sons will become the twelve tribes of Israel?

16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father charged before he died, saying,

17 ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph, “Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.”‘ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

Is this true? Scripture does not say this. I tend to think NOT. The brothers want to lie to protect themselves. Isn’t this what we all do? Lie, to protect ourselves?

18 Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.”

19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place?

No. I am not in God’s place and therefore not in a position to judge your fate.

20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.

The line of the entire book, and one of the greats of the entire Bible…”you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good…to bring about the present result and to preserve many lives.” If we could only see this life, and all its evil, from heaven’s eternal, timeless perspective, in order to see the good that God is still performing and all the lives that are being saved, either physically or Spiritually, either in the midst of evil, or incredibly still using man’s evil and the suffering caused by that evil, to do even greater things, it would indeed change how we view this life and its evil. As a friend of mine says, if Jesus were here he would say, “Cool it. I have it all under control.”

Thus, Joseph, now looking back, fully sees God’s plan. Amazing. Amazing for any of us to be able to look back and see God’s saving graces emerge despite man’s attempt to thwart them.

21 So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

The grace, mercy, kindness and love of God in human form…

Who?

Where?

When?

What?

• After Jacob dies, Joseph’s brothers fear that without their father around, their brother Joseph may take revenge for the wrongs that they inflicted upon him as a young man, so they concoct a story and message which has their father telling them to tell Joseph to forgive them for their past sins.

• But when they go before Joseph, Joseph weeps and very kindly exhorts them to not be afraid for he is NOT God, and what they meant for evil, it is clear from how things have worked out, God meant for good—to save many lives. Therefore don’t be afraid. Both you and your little ones will be provided for.

• Joseph lives in Egypt for almost a century and is able to see his great great grand children.

Summary: After Jacob dies, Joseph comforts his brothers that indeed he will not take revenge for their past sins against him because in the end, God meant their evil for both his and their overall deliverance and good.

Why did God include this event in his record or what would we not know–about God, life, myself, others, etc.–if this story were not in the Bible?

• First, how man fears. Joseph’s brothers naturally fear that Joseph has not forgotten their cruelty directed towards him as a young man. And there is Scriptural precedence for having a long-term memory. In fact, as 2 Samuel begins and King David is about to die, he will command his heir, his son Solomon, in essence, to avenge those that had dishonored the king in earlier days, and indeed Solomon will get the job done. In other words, there are always consequences to our actions, even if delayed. So naturally, they are afraid. Will Joseph remember? Without our father there to protect us, will our brother take his revenge? So they do what most of us do, they concoct a lie and send a message to that end to their brother. We always think about ourselves, and justify any means to protect ourselves, even deception. Our nature never changes. Little trust in God, but great fear in man.

• Joseph says it all. Perhaps one of Scripture’s greatest truths—what you meant for evil, God meant for good…to save many lives. Can we, like Joseph looking back on his life, say with absolute assuredness that I need not take revenge upon you for any harm you may have directed towards me. Why? God is bigger. God is greater. God is more sublime. God is infinitely more incredible. How does God use man’s evil for much better, greater purposes? Purposes that lead to man’s deliverance? How does the Creator of the Universe redirect or direct the course of human affairs in such a manner as man must take responsibility for his actions, including both good and bad deeds, and in so doing, may or will cause others to suffer or be injured, and yet, God causes even evil deeds and the suffering caused by the evil deeds to accomplish a much greater, better and beneficial purpose? And yet, that is the story of Genesis. That is the story of the Bible’s “Beginnings.” Suffering is not the end. God is alive. God can and does redeem even man’s evil to fulfill God’s nature, not only to save and deliver man from a greater evil, but to richly bless man. God seeks those who will believe, who will trust, who will put their faith, hope and confidence in the truth that he is, does exist, is all-powerful, is in charge, is merciful, loyal, faithful and kind and wants to help those who by faith do see him and will reach out to be saved or delivered by him. What’s the key? Endure evil. See the bigger picture. Trust in God, despite evil all around. Don’t panic. Seek God. Trust God. Believe God. Never, never, never give in. Never say die. Always hope, always trust, always believe, always love, always seek. Trust God despite momentary evil. Don’t play God. Don’t seek revenge. Allow God to figure out the real justice in all of man’s deceitful scheming. Can we trust God? Can we suffer? Can we trust the bigger, better perspective that this is NOT all, but only a foreshadow of a much greater existence and reward to come? If so, then we can suffer. We can see with heavenly eyes…with a heavenly heart and ears and soul. We can be God’s angel of light and truth, love and mercy in a dark and, at times depressing, gloomy, hopeless world. As Christ becomes God in the flesh to us, we, his church, his body, can be Christ in the flesh to the world. Good in the midst of evil, or a transforming good…an ongoing, maturing, changing, growing good in the midst of hatred, jealousy, thoughtlessness etc. Looking back, Joseph saw the truth. Looking ahead, can we become the truth?

So What?

Thanks… Great week away with family. Great past month, in fact. Family in from Californina…the kids are growing up and were a lot of fun to be with…followed by the incredible sounds of the Taneycomo summer Festival Orchestra–music that we rarely get to hear in the Ozarks–followed by a week of touring our home state of Missouri with wife and daughter…followed by a low key ministry week at home with the wife in wonderful weather conditions. Apparently, an artic front came out of Canada and brought us highs in the 70s in July. Amazing. Tag this along with some great biblical teaching, working on Sustainable Love © and great times with CRU, it has been a wonderful summer so far. More than I could have expected. At first I was apprehensive with all that had to get done in June, but we not only survived, we thrived. Cool temps and time away in July. It just doesn’t get much better than this. Now there are still four critical weeks to go to finish out the main portion of the summer for us, but again and again, I/we have been a beneficiary of God’s amazing grace. God give me grace for this next four-week segment, and I shall praise you abundantly. I shall praise you either way, but if this summer is NOT the summer of summer’s recent past, I will be once again amazed how no one can truly predict what lies ahead. Don’t compare the past to the present. In fact, never compare period! Trust God, one day, one moment, one task at a time.

Struggle(s)… Balance. Enjoying time with Rhonda before she goes back to work, while I am still working, but trying NOT to work full-speed, but more two-thirds speed, so I am still available to do a few things she enjoys doing during her mandatory layoff. At the same time, there are still a lot of people with lots of seemingly personal ministry needs, or at least my list grows. But I must remember, it is God’s list that counts. Summer is always a precarious season. I just thank God for the first half of summer for the Crosses. We have been seemingly unusually blessed.

Truth(s)… Seeing things, life or evil through a lens in which God exists, the Son has atoned for my sins, I have been empowered with the Spirit of God to guide me through every day, be that day and those trials, seemingly good or bad according to my typical, flesh-driven human interpretation.  In other words, not sweating the small stuff. In fact, no sweating the big stuff, either. Rather, seeking to cooperate with God’s Spirit to do his will as it is laid out before me. Not riding life’s waves up and down, but staying centered, focused, dependent, open, resilient, flexible, true and for the most part obedient, even if that obedience means being treated unjustly or wrongly…even if that obedience means suffering unfairly. Why? Because what man means for evil, God can and will use for mine and others’ good. Why? For he causes all things to work together for the good of those who love God…to those called according to his purpose…that is his children…believers…the faithful…Christians…those who believe they are forgiven through the Son’s atonement for sin and are empowered with both truth and power via the presence of God’s Spirit within their lives. God’s good…God’s Spiritual benefit…our benefit…will prevail…will triumph…no matter momentary appearances. Be the faithful son, be the faithful servant; be the faithful prisoner; be the faithful administrator…be faithful…good or bad…up or down. Trust in God. Embrace heaven even in the midst of hell.

Application… For the moment, life is good. I have known it when it is not…when it has seemed incredibly unfair…dishonest…unjust…and repeatedly such. I have cried. I have whined before God. I have prayed, groveled, poured out my heart, questioned, asked for mercy, justice, relief, help…hope, and I am still alive. I thank God for the brief moment of peace because I know it can all turn on a momentary, thin dime of life. I was called to visit a family visiting from Dallas. On the previous night, they had had a great time as a family when a young seventeen-year old girl, pregnant with twins, from Branson and who had ridden the bus to Branson with one of their daughters, showed them the sights of Branson. They ended up at the Landing awed by the fountain show. The next day, after a swim at their time share condo, they were headed back to the Landing to ride the zip line, but that all changed when one of the kids went out onto the back deck to check on their dad. He was dead, lying on the porch, having been slayed by a heart attack. He was fifty. Needless to say, their lives had suddenly turned on that fragile dime. As I was sitting there, Laura, the wife, dialed a number, but then didn’t talk to anyone and then she suddenly began to greatly weep. I knew what she had done. She had dialed her husband’s voice mail just to hear his voice. Repeatedly, she told me she could still smell him in their bedroom. He had met her when her daughter had put in an ad on Craig’s List for someone to fix her brakes for twenty dollars. Later, when she was experiencing an allergic reaction to some medication, he held the trash can for her until she stopped throwing up. She said finally, she had lifted her head and said, “I will marry you,” which she did. She then said, “And he loved my kids. He loved my kids.”

As I sat there while she grieved the gargantuan change that had just occurred in her life—her angel had gone home to be with the Lord– I thought…this could have been my family in St. Louis the week before.  How fragile life can be…and none of us knows. We cling to God, strap on our boots and suspenders and go live. God, be gracious to this family. Thank you for being gracious to mine, through both the difficult times and the wonderful times. My life is yours. Do with it as you wish. Use my life to save. Use my life and the lives of my family, both physical and Spiritual to save others, just as you used Joseph’s. Amen.

Your application:

Biggest Struggle at the moment:

How does what happen here relate to you?

What about your kids?

Biggest Struggles (Imagine these or several–put yourself in their shoes–walk through a day with them at school, at home. What might they encounter?)

Now how does what happen here possibly relate/ (Remember this is only to give you a feel or an introductory hook or a reinforcing took; in there looking, they may come up with something entirely different.)

Remember to have fun, sense the Spirit’s leading and develop a love for these kids.

As always, thanks!
Joe

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968,1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission.” (www.Lockman.org).