Exodus 21-24: More Laws
Exodus is a fascinating book filled with some remarkable stories: a baby boy saved from death; a burning bush that God spoke out of; terrible plagues of judgment; a miraculous escape through the Red Sea.Today we are entering into a much different look at Exodus. Not some exciting, miraculous story. Rather, 3 chapters of detailed laws that Israel was to obey. When we read these laws, we might find ourselves bored with some of it. And puzzled with other parts,…
Exodus 19-20: The Ten Commandments
Please open your Bible to Exodus chapter 19. As we pick up our series today we find Israel now three months into their journey out of Egypt, through the wilderness of the Sinai penninsula, headed toward their new home in the promised land. In our passage today we find them having arrived at Mount Sinai for their most crucial encounter with the Living God yet: the receiving of The Law. Today we are going to study, The Ten Commandments. The…
Exodus 17: Testing and Quarreling
In our series through the Book of Exodus, we are in Chapter 17. Exodus 17:1–7 (CSB) 1 The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the Lord’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing the Lord?”…
Exodus 15-16: Proving, Testing, Resting
Please open your Bibles to Exodus 15. The last few weeks we have been studying God’s powerful deliverance of his people from slavery in Egypt. Last week we looked at how God miraculously defeated the Egyptian army, and led them to safety through the parted waters of the Red Sea, and they celebrated their rescue mightly and created a magnifient song that they sang! When we left off, these were the words ringing in the air. Miriam sang to them:…
Exodus 14-15: God’s Guidance
Please open you Bibles or turn into your scripture journal to Exodus chapter 14. We are on week 8 of 20 our walk through of the book of Exodus, and today we’re finally getting out of Egypt! This “scene” in the story is extremely dramatic, it almost feels like a Lord of the Rings sci-fi fantasy story. It’s more accurate to say that The Lord of the Rings feels a lot like the book of Exodus. You know what they…
Exodus 12-13: The Passover
This morning we are in week 7 of our walk through of Exodus. Last week we looked at one of the most well known and powerful stories in Exodus: God’s judgment on Egypt through the ten plagues. In these plagues God judged Egypt’s idolatry, worship of false gods, proving them to be powerless. Perhaps there were real spiritual forces at work, but they were no match for The Most High God. Also through these plagues, God revealed to Pharaoh and…
Exodus 7-11 The Plagues
Today’s passage is a story of war, a war between God and the nation of Egypt. And it is a war between God and Egypt’s gods (or their so-called gods). The Egyptians worshiped dozens, even hundreds of false gods. And through the Story of the Ten Plagues, the Lord easily defeats all of them. God is the initiator of this war because his chosen people, the descendants of Abraham are enslaved, being violently oppressed by the king of Egypt. And…
Exodus 5-6: God’s Faithfulness in our Faithlessness
Today’s passage sits at a transition between two famous “scenes” in the Exodus narrative: The Burning Bush, and the Plagues. It sets the stage for one of the most important and encouraging messages God sends his people by his actions in delivering them from their bondage. Paul puts it this way to his young protege Timothy: 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. 2 Timothy 2:13 (CSB) Let’s back up into our passage from…
Exodus 3-4: The Burning Bush
Let’s read Exodus 3:1-10. Exodus 3 (CSB) 1 Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush. As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed. 3 So Moses thought, “I must…
Learning to see the invisible
In today’s passage, we see a story of trying to carry out God’s work in our own timing and in our own strength and with our own wisdom, and how this always brings about disaster. Last week, we studied the narrative of Moses’s birth and God’s amazing protection and providence in his being saved from genocide, and being adopted by a princess of Egypt. In today’s passage, the narrative fast forwards through all of Moses’s upbringing and early adult life,…
Exodus 2:1-10 Moses’s Birth and Adoption
In this passage, God is at work in his providence through simple human deeds, all of it working towards sending a deliverer to redeem Israel from centuries of cruel bondage.
Exodus 1: Israel’s Oppression
We are beginning a sermon series for the Fall on the Book of Exodus. Exodus is filled with many well-known stories: These are all remarkable, inspiring stories that tell us who God is, and we see examples of both faith and unbelief. Examples of great deeds of faith, and extraordinary acts of evil. Almost 2/3 of the book is stories. Yet Exodus has even more to offer us than those stories. For there is something grand going on at the…
Every Member a Minister
Last week we took a look at one of the points of our ministry emphasis at Stonebrook: “every member a minister.” We have four points to this emphasis that is directing our ministry programs this year. They are: Last week we looked at the second point: “every believer a member”, how the scriptures call each believers to commit themselves to a local fellowship, a local congregation, and how we work that out here at Stonebrook through a membership process. This…
Members of One Another
I have a question to start us off this morning. How many memberships do you have? Think about it for a second. Costco, Amazon Prime, Sam’s Club, The ISU Alumni Association, Maybe a golf club, a gym membership, Rotary, Toastmasters, Kiwanis, maybe you are a member of a professional association related to your vocation. You can be a member of a coffee shop rewards program, or if you’re like me, you can be a chick-fil-a signature status rewards member because…
2 Timothy 4
If you were to know the end of your life on earth was very close….say, you have a terminal disease…what would you want to say about your life? Specifically, what would you want to say about your life following Christ? We would not want to hang our heads in shame, thinking of a lifetime of regrets. Of the many choices we made that were not in line with the will of God. Instead, we would want to worship God for…
2 Timothy 3
Before the Apostle Paul was the “Apostle”, he was a religious leader who hated Jesus Christ and any of his followers. In his obsession against Christ, he persecuted many men and women, unjustly dragging them off to prison, and even having some of them put to death. A few years later, Paul had an encounter with Jesus, and he repented of his rebellion against God, he believed in Christ, and then he became the most well-known follower of Christ in…
1 Timothy 3– The Mystery of Godliness
When Jesus was on the earth the first time, the religious leaders knew many of the right answers. They had studied the Scriptures. Memorized them. Taught them to the people. But there was a huge problem. Jesus said, Matthew 23:2–4 CSB The scribes and the Pharisees are seated in the chair of Moses. Therefore do whatever they tell you, and observe it. But don’t do what they do, because they don’t practice what they teach. They tie up heavy loads…