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Wednesday 22 January 2014

God's Covenant Promises - Moses and the Exodus

Exodus 3:14  And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.


Our church is studying through the Bible in one year. Our Pastors are preaching on the stories and topics of their choice. This Sunday our sermon focused on Moses and the Exodus. Pastor Ben preached a good sermon. He began with some review and just telling the early stories of the Israelites in bondage to the Egyptians and how God led them out of Egypt. A day or two after Sunday I was reading in my Bible and I happened to read Psalm 105 and I thought to myself how incredibly fitting it would have been if Pastor Ben had read from Psalm 105. Therefore I want to post it here before I begin with my notes that I took from listening to the sermon. Please do read the following verses from Psalm 105.

Psalm 105: 4-45 (KJV from Biblegateway )
  Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face evermore.
Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;
O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen.
He is the Lord our God: his judgments are in all the earth.
  He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.
Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac;
10 And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant:
11 Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance:
12 When they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it.
13 When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people;
14 He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes;
15 Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.
16 Moreover he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole staff of bread.
17 He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant:
18 Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:
19 Until the time that his word came: the word of the Lord tried him.
20 The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.
21 He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance:
22 To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom.
23 Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
24 And he increased his people greatly; and made them stronger than their enemies.
25 He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants.
26 He sent Moses his servant; and Aaron whom he had chosen.
27 They shewed his signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his word.
29 He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish.
30 Their land brought forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their kings.
31 He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies, and lice in all their coasts.
32 He gave them hail for rain, and flaming fire in their land.
33 He smote their vines also and their fig trees; and brake the trees of their coasts.
34 He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillers, and that without number,
35 And did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground.
36 He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength.
37 He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.
38 Egypt was glad when they departed: for the fear of them fell upon them.
39 He spread a cloud for a covering; and fire to give light in the night.
40 The people asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
41 He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river.
42 For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant.
43 And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness:
44 And gave them the lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labour of the people;
45 That they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise ye the Lord.

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Okay so now to my notes:

We are walking through the Bible.
We are seeing how God is involved.
We went through Genesis and now we are in Exodus.
God is not distant/
God made promises in Genesis 12 and it marked a shift in human history.
God to Abraham -- descendants, blessing, and land.
These promises carry through throughout the Bible and even today - they are everlasting promises.

God delivers the people out of slavery in Egypt.
Jacob has 12 sons and 1 daughter. One of his sons, namely Joseph is sold into Egypt. A famine hits Egypt. Jacob and his family move to Egypt. Jacob is named Israel and his descendants are the Israelites.

Pharoah enslaves the Israelites - he decides to destroy all the baby boys. Moses escapes this death when Moses mother hides him for three months, then puts the baby Moses in a basket out on the Nile River. The Egyptian princess finds him and claims him as her own son. Thus Moses life is spared.

The Israelites are oppressed and cry out to God. God heard their cries. He sends Moses to Pharoah. and a showdown begins between God and Pharoah!

God sends the plagues - ten plagues.  Each one of the ten plagues represent one of the Egyptian gods which have no power against the LORD God Almighty.
God moves to set the Israelites free. 
God reveals his personal name - Yahweh,  Jehovah.  In the Bible when you see LORD in all capitals, this refers to the personal Name of God. 
Exodus 6:2-3 And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord:
And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them.

Names carry meaning in the Bible - What does Yahweh mean? - Exodus 3:14 has the answer - And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.
It means I AM THAT I AM.
This means that He is the ONLY GOD!

We see that God never struggles at all in any of the plagues that He sends upon Egypt. He sends the plagues and He lifts them again at a given time.
This is still true today! No power or system can compete with God. If He wants to do something, He will!!

We are praying to the Great I AM!
There is One God and none equal to Him!

He says - I AM with you.
Yahweh is present here with us!
The Great I AM is not distant!

He is here to act, not just to watch!
He brings deliverance!

He works with us - He chooses to use us to fulfill His purposes/

The cries have reached Him!

He responds to the prayers of His people!

Have you cried out to Him?

God works through people - He sent Moses. Moses was a man of no influence or power.

God is doing more and bigger than we can imagine!

The LORD has all power and authority!!

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