Let My People Go!

let - go Jacob

Wednesday 10/25/17

Message – Let My People Go

Series: Thru the Bible – Exodus 4-11

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***Video is HERE***

Let My People Go!

Exodus 4

Moses makes excuse of being ineloquent
God asks, “Who made man’s mouth or Who makes the mute, deaf & blind?”
- This can be understood two ways:
  - God is the One Who made them this way for His purposes in order to do His work THROUGH them without reliance upon their ability.
  - God is the One Who changes the mute, deaf & blind and will aid you in your in-eloquence of speech.
- Regardless of how you take it, God aids the mute, deaf, blind and ineloquent.
God gives Moses signs to perform before Pharaoh.
God get’s angry with Moses because of his continual avoidance.
God tells Moses that Aaron will be his mouth piece (prophet) and he will be as God to Aaron.
God say’s Aaron is coming out to him, but he does not arrive for many days (vs. 27, “And the LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he went and met him on the mountain of God, and kissed him.”)
God calls Israel His “firstborn”.
God seizes Moses intending to kill him, until his wife circumcises their son Eliezer.
- The particulars about this are not written, but obvious none-the-less. Zipporah< Moses’ wife, clearly did not like the idea that Moses had circumcised their first son Gershom.
- Her disdain for the practice is evidenced by two things:
  - The fact that even though Moses knew it was required of him as a Jew – he had allowed his wife’s objections to restrain his hand from obeying God
  - She almost resented saving Moses’ life by quickly obeying this command of God, accusing Moses of being a “husband of blood to her”.
- Whether this came to a head here and now because of God’s impending call upon Moses or because of discussion between Moses and his wife – cannot be known, but in either case it CLEARLY demanded the action of God.
Aaron comes to see Moses by God’s instruction.
Moses tells Aaron the plan and they go to the Elders of Israel and tell them and perform the miracles before them and they believe & worship.

Exodus 5

Pharaoh is confronted
Israel is punished as idle
The Israelite “foremen” appealed to Pharaoh and were scoulded
The foremen blame Moses and Aaron
Moses questions God

Exodus 6

God reassures Moses
God reveals Himself as Jehovah (the most holy name of God in the Jewish faith)
God tells Moses to reassure His people
The Israelites do not listen
Moses tells on them
God tells them to charge both Israel & Pharaoh about their impending departure.
Genealogy – Levi being the most important (Gershon, Kohath & Merari)
God tells Moses to go before Pharaoh again and Moses asked “how can I and how will Pharaoh obey me?”

Exodus 7

God makes Moses like God to Pharaoh and Aaron as his prophet
God say’s he will harden Pharaoh’s heart.
When this began Moses was 80 and Aaron was 83.
Moses and Pharaoh’s magician’s have a face off.
Pharaoh’s heart is hardened.
Plagues begin…
- Water to blood (repeated by Egyptian magicians)

Exodus 8

Plagues continue 2-4
- Second is Frogs
- Third is Gnats or Lice
- Fourth is harmful and hurtful flies
- Pharaoh attempts to bargain by encouraging them to sacrifice to their god here in Egypt.
  - Moses refuses saying it would be an abomination but that they had to go at least 3 days journey into the wilderness.
  - Pharaoh agrees to let them go – but not far away – now “intercede for me”
  - Moses agrees to intercede but warns Pharaoh not to deal deceitfully anymore.
- Pharaoh hardens his heart.

Exodus 9

Plagues continue 5-7
- Fifth is livestock die
- Sixth is Boils
- Seventh is Hail
  - God informs Pharaoh that it was in fact for this very purpose that God placed him in power over Egypt – to show His power in him and cause His name to be declared around the world.
  - God accuses Pharoah of exalting HIMSELF against the Israelites in not letting them go.
  - God shows mercy in warning them to bring in both cattle and people from the fields to lessen the impact of the plague.
- Pharaoh admits to wickedness and sin, asks them to intercede for them and ask God to relent and promises to let them go.
- Moses plays the part of God to Pharaoh and stop the plague by spreading out his hands to the Lord to cause the plague to cease, but tells Pharaoh that he knows that he does not yet truly fear God and will not let them go.

Exodus 10

God tells Moses to go in and do more so that future generations will have something to hear about concerning the mighty deliverance of their God.
- Moses asks Pharaoh how long will he refuse to humble himself before God and let his people go?
- At this point even Pharaoh’s servants are imploring him to wake up and realize that Egypt is already destroyed – just let them go!
- Pharaoh calls them back in and asks who would go if he let them.
  - Moses replied – EVERYONE
  - At first Pharaoh tells them to go – them and their god with bitter and disrespectful words.
  - Then he accuses them of evil intent and says that only the men may go and with that commanded them out of his presence.
God has Moses respond by sending the Eighth plague of Locusts.
In haste Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron again – admitting sin and this time asking for forgiveness.
God removes the plague and hardens Pharaoh’s heart so that he did not let them go.
God sends the Ninth plague of darkness
- Pharaoh tries to bargain and offers to allow the children to go if only the livestock remain.
- Moses says, “not even one hoof will be left behind”
- God hardens Pharaoh’s heart and he does not let them go and threatens them to never come before him again.
- Moses says, “You have spoken well because I will in fact never have to look at your face again.”

Exodus 11

The announcement of the tenth and final plague – death of the firstborne
God tells Moses that they will ask you to leave and Pharaoh will practically push you out of Egypt this time!
God gives command to His people through Moses to tell his people to borrow gold, silver, jewelry and such from the Egyptians.
- God caused them to be pitied by them – Ps. 106:46
Moses was very great in the eyes of all the people
Moses makes a public declaration of the plague and that the next day all his servants would be bowing down to him and asking them to leave.
Pharaoh’s heart is further hardened by God and he does not let them go.

The hardening of Pharaoh is both his own work and the work of God.

Several commentators say that the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is mentioned 20x’s

10 attributed to Pharaoh himself.
10 attributed to God.

As I looked up the words hard, harden, hardened I only came up with 13x’s in total.

7 attributed to Pharaoh himself.
6 attributed to God.

Exodus 7:13 (Sign of serpents) – grew hard
Exodus 7:22 (Waters to blood copied by magicians) – grew hard
Exodus 8:15 (Saw relief from frogs) – he hardened his heart
Exodus 8:19 (Magicians couldn’t make lice) – grew hard
1. Finger of God revealed.
Exodus 8:32 (After flies left) – hardened his heart at this time also
1. Difference made between Israelites and Egyptians
Exodus 9:7 (Livestock) – became hard
1. Pharaoh checked to make sure only his land was affected.
Exodus 9:12 The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh
Exodus 9:34 – he hardened his heart
Exodus 10:1 “I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants”
Exodus 10:20 “…the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart”
Exodus 10:27 “…the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart”
Exodus 11:10 “…the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart”
Exodus 14:8 “…and the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt”

There is more information in the audio/video of the actual message. I hope you listen, learn and enjoy!

…Blessings!

I hope this teaching will challenge you and encourage you to place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

You have a special place in God’s family & kingdom. If you do not know Him, please use our ‘Contact Us‘ page and reach out so we may have the privilege of introducing you to the Lord. Neither money nor attendance at our church will be mentioned.

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Blessings!

Pastor Mark

View posts by Pastor Mark

Hi my name is Mark and though I am opposed to titles, I am currently the only Pastor (shepherd/elder) serving our assembly right now.

I have been Pastoring in one capacity or another for nearly 30 years now, though never quite like I am today.

Early in 2009 the Lord revealed to me that the way we had structured our assembly (church) was not scriptural in that it was out of sync with what Paul modeled for us in the New Testament. In truth, I (like many pastors I am sure) never even gave this fundamental issue of church structure the first thought. I had always assumed that church structure was largely the same everywhere and had been so from the beginning. While I knew Paul had some very stringent things to say about the local assembly of believers, the point of our gatherings together and who may or may not lead, I never even considered studying these issues but assumed we were all pretty much doing it right...safety in numbers right?! Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!

So needless to say, my discovery that we had been doing it wrong for nearly two decades was a bit of a shock to me! Now, this "revelation" did not come about all at once but over the course of a few weeks. We were a traditional single pastor led congregation. It was a top-bottom model of ministry which is in part biblical, but not in the form of a monarchy.

The needed change did not come into focus until following 9 very intense months of study and discussions with those who were leaders in our church at the time.

We now understand and believe that the Bible teaches co-leadership with equal authority in each local assembly. Having multiple shepherds with God's heart and equal authority protects both Shepherds and sheep. Equal accountability keeps authority and doctrine in check. Multiple shepherds also provide teaching with various styles and giftings with leadership skills which are both different and complementary.

For a while we had two co-pastors (elders) (myself and one other man) who led the church with equal authority, but different giftings. We both taught in our own ways and styles, and our leadership skills were quite different, but complimentary. We were in complete submission to each other and worked side-by-side in the labor of shepherding the flock.

Our other Pastor has since moved on to other ministry which has left us with just myself. While we currently only have one Pastor/Elder, it is our desire that God, in His faithfulness and timing, may bring us more as we grow in maturity and even in numbers.

As to my home, I have been married since 1995 to my wonderful wife Terissa Woodson who is my closest friend and most trusted ally.

As far as my education goes, I grew up in a Christian home, but questioned everything I was ever taught.

I graduated from Bible college in 1990 and continued to question everything I was ever taught (I do not mention my college in order to avoid being labeled).

Perhaps my greatest preparation for ministry has been life and ministry itself. To quote an author I have come to enjoy namely Fredrick Buechner in his writing entitled, Now and Then, "If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that He speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if we keep our hearts open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear Him, He is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, His word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling." ~ Fredrick Buechner

Well that is about all there is of interest to tell you about me.

I hope our ministry here is a blessing to you and your family. I also hope that it is only a supplement to a local church where you are committed to other believers in a community of grace.

~God Bless!