When You’re Tempted to Grumble and Complain

/in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 16:1-18.  Let’s go!

Exodus 16:1-3 (NIV)
1  The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.
2  In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
3  The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

On verses 1-3:  When we’re having a tough time with life today, sometimes we can be tempted to idealize and even worship the past.  Have you ever done that before?  It’s when we speak in exaggerated terms about the past versus the present:  “Before life was so happy and perfect; now everything sucks.  Things were so good back then.  Today things are so bad.”   That’s what the Israelites were doing: in their hunger, they grumbled against their leaders Moses and Aaron.  The Israelites idealized their lives in Egypt when they apparently “sat around pots of meat and ate all the food they wanted” (v3).  Of course, in their worship of the past, they conveniently left out the fact that when they were slaves in Egypt they were crying for deliverance.  They also seemed to ignore the fact that whenever you start a new season, there will be new things to learn, new skills to develop, and new systems to create and get used to.  To expect that life would be perfect as soon as they stepped out of Egypt would be unrealistic.

Read more

From Bitter to Better

/in /by

Hi GAMErs!

There are so many good lessons we can learn from today’s passage, Exodus 15:19-27.  Let’s go!

Exodus 15:19 (NIV)
19  When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

On verse 19:  The Israelites were looking just to escape the Egyptians, but God was looking to defeat them completely.  That way the Israelites would never have to worry about ever being enslaved by the Egyptians again.

God did the same when Jesus died on the cross and rose again.  God’s goal was not simply to help us escape the clutches of sin and death.  God wanted to defeat sin and death completely so that sin and death would no longer control us.  God didn’t just provide a temporary escape.  He provided a permanent victory.

Exodus 15:20-21 (NIV)
20  Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing.
21  Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.”

Read more

God Is Faithful Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

/in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 15:1-18.  Let’s go!

Exodus 15:1-3 (NIV)
1  Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: “I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.
2  The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3  The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name.

On verses 1-3:  In Exodus 15:1-18 we see Moses and the Israelites responding to the incredible way God parted the Red Sea to rescue them from the Egyptian army.  They respond by singing a song of worship to the LORD.  In light of all that God has done for us and the ways He saved us and provided for us, every day let our response be to worship the LORD.  Worship is always the appropriate response to who God is and what God does.

Read more

Saved by the Power of God’s Love

/in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 14:15-31.  Let’s go!

Exodus 14:15-22 (NIV)
15  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.
16  Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.
17  I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.
18  The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”
19  Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them,
20  coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
21  Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided,
22  and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

On verses 15-22:  In arguably the most incredible scene in all the Old Testament, God parts the seas so that the Israelites can walk right through to safety on the other side, with a wall of water on their right and left.  Get ready for THRIVE Church online today (www.thrivechurch.ca/online) as we take a close look at this passage together.  You don’t want to miss this powerful message!

Read more

The One Who Fights For You

/in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 14:1-14.  Let’s go!

Exodus 14:1-4 (NIV)
1  Then the LORD said to Moses,
2  “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon.
3  Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’
4  And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” So the Israelites did this.

On verses 1-4:  At first the fleeing Israelites were heading southeast (according to some historians), and now Moses’ GPS (the LORD) tells Moses to lead the Israelites in a new direction, which is north toward the sea.  Knowing that Moses and the Israelites would question this move, God tells Moses the reason why: He was making the Israelites look like they were lost and confused in order to bait Pharaoh to go out and pursue them (v3-4a).  God reassures Moses, “I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.”

Read more

The One Who Goes Before You

/in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 13:11-22.  Let’s go!

Exodus 13:11-16 (NIV)
11  “After the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your forefathers,
12  you are to give over to the LORD the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the LORD.
13  Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.
14  “In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
15  When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in Egypt, both man and animal. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.’
16  And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the LORD brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”

On verses 11-16:  Here the LORD reiterates that every firstborn belongs to Him, whether it’s a firstborn child or the firstborn male among one’s livestock.  To get that firstborn back, an Israelite would need to redeem (i.e. buy back) that firstborn by sacrificing something in the firstborn’s place.  This system of redeeming (buying back) the firstborn was to be an obvious reminder (“like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead”) of how the Lord saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt with the death of Egypt’s firstborn.  But this system of redeeming (buying back) the firstborn with the life of something else was also pointing forward to the day that God would redeem us by giving up His Son Jesus Christ.  That is why Paul would later say to the Christians in Corinth: “you are not your own; were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19b-20a).  It is because you and I have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb.

Read more

Not Just the What, But the Why

/in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 13:1-10.  Let’s go!

Exodus 13:1-2 (NIV)
1  The LORD said to Moses,
2  “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal.”

On verses 1-2:  To consecrate means to declare that something belongs to God.  The Israelites were expected to consecrate their firstborn child and even the firstborn from among their livestock.  The idea that the first fruits belong to God comes up over and over again in Exodus through Deuteronomy, whether we’re talking about children, livestock, or crops. 

When you see the first fruits of what you produce as belonging to God, it changes the way you look at the people and things God has given to you.  You start seeing yourself as a trustee and a steward, rather than as the centre of your own universe.  

Exodus 13:3-8 (NIV)   
3  Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the LORD brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast.
4  Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving.

Read more

Don’t Break His Legs

/in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 12:43-51.  Let’s go!

Exodus 12:43-51 (NIV)
43  The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover: “No foreigner is to eat of it.
44  Any slave you have bought may eat of it after you have circumcised him,
45  but a temporary resident and a hired worker may not eat of it.
46  “It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.
47  The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.
48  “An alien living among you who wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat of it.
49  The same law applies to the native-born and to the alien living among you.”
50  All the Israelites did just what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.
51  And on that very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.

On verses 43-51:  In these verses the LORD makes certain distinctions concerning who may eat the Passover meal and who may not.  The distinction goes like this:  if you have placed your faith in the LORD, as evidenced by circumcision (in the case of males) (v48), then you may, in fact you must, partake of the Passover meal.  If your faith is not in Yahweh, you were not to eat the Passover meal; instead, eat something else.  This principle applied regardless of your social status and whether the person was an Israelite by birth or a foreigner who became an Israelite later on in life.

Read more

I’m Not Ready, But Let’s Go

/in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 12:31-42.  Let’s go!

Exodus 12:31-32 (NIV)
31  During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested.
32  Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”

On verses 31-32:  Pharaoh kept playing games with God and lost.  He lost his firstborn son.  He lost his pride.  Coming to an end to himself, at least for a moment, Pharaoh finally gives Moses and Aaron the go ahead to take the Israelites and their flocks and herds and leave Egypt as they had requested all along.  Then Pharaoh also says a startling thing: “And also bless me” (v32).  The last time the Bible recorded an Israelite blessing Pharaoh, it was 430 years earlier in Genesis 47:7, 10 when Jacob (Israel himself) blessed Pharaoh.  This was a generation before the enslavement of the Israelites had started in Egypt.  Now that the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt has officially and suddenly ended, Pharaoh asks Moses to bless him. 

Why did Pharaoh ask Moses to bless him?  Probably because he finally acknowledged that God was with Moses and that Pharaoh needed the Lord’s mercy and grace at least in some way.  This is Pharaoh at his most humble and most humbled point in the story of Exodus.  What can we learn from this?  It’s when we are humble, or humbled, that we begin to be open to God working in our lives. 

Read more

Jesus, My Unleavened Bread and My Passover Lamb

/in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 12:15-30.  Let’s go!

Exodus 12:15-30 (NIV)
15  For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.
16  On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and  another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat–that is all you may do……

On verses 15-30:  At THRIVE Church online yesterday, I shared a message called “Too Much To Pass Over:  Understanding the Passover” where we looked at this passage together.  If you missed the message or just want to see my painting skills, click HERE.

Wanna check how well you listened to the message this past Sunday as well as your understanding of this passage?  Try to answer the following questions:

–        Pastor JB shared two reasons why God require that the Israelites eat bread without yeast.  What were those two reasons?

–        What was yeast supposed to symbolize in this case?  Does that mean that yeast is in fact bad and that we should avoid eating yeast all the time?

–        In what way is Jesus our unleavened bread?

–        In what way is Jesus our Passover lamb?

–        Why did God tell the Israelites to observe the Passover not just on the week that they actually left Egypt but on every anniversary of that event as well?

Read more