November 3, 2018

"Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians...." Exodus 6:6

This is the first of the four great and timeless promises God offers to His people. He will bring you out of bondage!

Somehow when I read that promise what came to mind was this New Testament promise:

"What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31

So, in other words, if God wants to bring you out of bondage He can bring you out of bondage!

There was no more daunting or formidable force in the world at this time than the Pharaoh of Egypt. No nation or army could come against him so none tried to take him on. So, what chance would a group of downtrodden slaves have against him?

None!

But as feckless as the Hebrew slaves were against the Pharaoh the Pharaoh was even less helpless against their God!

I'm sure that over that 400 year period of slavery there were many Israelites who doubted God was with them. In fact, I suspect they believed God had forsaken them. And who can blame them?

I have had those moments when I feel trapped by the circumstances of life. So have you!

But that is why both of these promises are SO powerful and comforting! God said, "I WILL bring you out...." He didn't say, "I might bring you out." Or he didn't say, "Maybe I'll bring you out." Nor did He say, "I sure hope I can bring you out." "I WILL" He said!

And He did!

Because He can anytime He wants to!

And when He wants to nothing can stop Him!

He would do all the heavy lifting all they had to do was believe that He was willing and able to do what He promised!

If you are feeling trapped by the circumstances of your life right now, and you have wondered if God has forgotten you or if He has lost His touch - re-read this post!

Re-read these promises!

He can bring you out of your bondage! He will bring you out! All you need to do is believe that He will and wait patiently until he does!

The Right Master

“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians." Exodus 6:6-7

Here's a reality check: everyone of us is in bondage. We all serve something or someone. 

Jesus said as much when He stated, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other." Matthew 6:24

This profound truth reveals several significant insights about our bondage:

1) Everyone has a master but no one can have two masters.

2) We serve the master we love.

3) It is possible to choose your master.

Now, rewind some 3,500 years to God's first promise to Israel through Moses, "I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians....."

Let me remind you that the Hebrews had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years! They had served one cruel master for four centuries. That's four generations of bondage. That means their great-great grandfather, and their great grand father and their grandfather and their father had all been slaves! And not they were, too.

That's a long time to serve a cruel master that you hate!

So, it is to these people that Moses announces the four promises of God! And the first promise was the promise of salvation.

It had become apparent to them by now that they could not save themselves. If they could they would have long ago! Only the Almighty God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob could deliver them from the mighty Pharaoh.

And He was now ready to do that through His servant, Moses.

But how was it that He planned to save them, to set them free from the bondage of Egypt? By believing His promise! By believing that He could do what they could never do for themselves! And by trusting Him to do it! By making Him their God!

God's plan for saving His people was for them to choose Him as their Master! They were to set themselves apart by choosing Him! For 400 years they had not had that opportunity but now, because of Moses, they did! Now they could choose their Master!

Today, because of Jesus, you can choose whom you will serve. You can choose your master. Will you serve your sinful desires, attitudes and habits or will you trust Jesus to bring you out from under that yoke? Will you choose to love Him more that you love your sinfulness? 

He promises that if you will make Him your Master and serve Him He will do what you can never do for yourself. He will save you! 

Salvation comes from serving the Right Master!

November 1. 2018

"...give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." I Thessalonians 5:18

One of the earliest lessons we learn as children is to say, "Please" and "Thank You". It is a simple concept, really.

Of course, we are taught to express our thanks whenever we are given something that is nice, or helpful, or valuable, or generous.

However, in this verse, the Apostle Paul instructs us to "give thanks in ALL circumstances". Say, what? Be thankful in "ALL circumstance"? Are you kidding me? How do I do that? Some circumstances are painful and hard and unwelcomed. Am I supposed to be thankful when stuff like that happens? Why is that?

Read the rest of the verse, "for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Oh.

Here is the deal. We don't have to be thankful for difficult things that happen to us. Am I to be thankful that I lose a job, or my health, or a loved one? I don't think so! But, what we can be thankful for is that God is in control of our circumstances and He has promised that "all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose" and "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

So, what we can be thankful for is that when troubles come it means that God is at work! Our pain is working for our gain because that is how God works, Who He is and what He does! Thank Him that even what works against us in life works for us because His Kingdom is coming and His will is being done - in us!

The "I Am"

“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.  I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians." Exodus 6:6-7

When God called Moses out of the burning bush on the backside of the desert Moses asked Him, "When Pharaoh asks me who sent you Whom shall I say has sent me?"

God replied, "Say the I AM has sent you!"

Moses did!

The "I AM" comes to Moses with four great promises for the Israelites. In these promises the "I AM" says, "I WILL!"

"I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians!"

AND

"I will free you from being slaves to them"

AND

"I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment"

AND

"I will take you as my own people"

The "I AM" says "I WILL"!

And you know what?

The "I AM" Who said "I WILL" - He did!

God is still the "I AM"!

And when the "I AM" says "I WILL" He still does!

So, He can still bring you out of bondage! 

He can still set you free and keep you out of bondage!

He still has an outstretched arm that can redeem you and restore you to what He created you to be!

He still can take you as His own and bring you into community with His people - others who have been saved and set free and restored and brought into fellowship!

What do you need the "I AM" to do for you today?

He will!

October 30, 2018

“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians." Exodus 6:6-7

You have heard the heart-breaking stories of impoverished debt-ridden people who suddenly won millions of dollars in a State Lottery drawing and it literally ruined their lives because they weren't ready to be rich. Going from rags to riches overnight is not as simple as it sounds!

So, how would God's people go from being slaves to free people literally overnight? How could that happen? How do you unlearn slavery after four hundred years of bondage to the powerful Egyptians?

I have to wonder if that question occupied the mind of Moses as he considered the call of God to be the Deliverer of the Hebrews. 

Maybe the four promises God gave Moses in the two verses above came in answer to that question! Because these four promises are more than just promises but they outline a plan, a path, a progression that leads out of slavery and into freedom.

"I will bring you out" - This answers the question of how will I escape the brutal tyranny of the Egyptians? It would take an army to overpower the Egyptians and release all their slaves! And they didn't have an army. In truth, they didn't even have a posse!

But the didn't need an army they already had a God Who has the power to lead them out from under the Pharaoh's hand.

So this is most definitely a promise but it is also the first step of a four step path from slavery to freedom!

"I will free you from being slaves" - Wait! This sounds redundant. Didn't He already promise do bring them out of Egypt? How is this different?

Well, in fact, it is very different! After 400 years of being a slave and feeling like a slave and thinking like a slave and acting like a slave and doing slave labor you don't just wake up the next morning and become a free person. Everything has to be changed! You must learn to think like a free person and view yourself as a free person. You must learn what free people do and condition yourself to do those things!

It takes just as much God power to take the slave out you as it does you take you out of the slavery! It requires a supernatural transformation is how you view yourself and think about yourself and conduct yourself! 

You may have come out of Egypt overnight but Egypt isn't coming out of you overnight! It takes time! It is the second step in the path to freedom.

"I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment" - For you to become truly free you must be saved FROM something in order to BECOME something!

God never intended His people to be slaves. He wanted them as sons (and daughters). He had a specific and perfect plan for each and everyone of them! He had created them with unique talents, abilities and gifts and now He wanted them to discover and develop and demonstrate those for their benefit and for His Glory!

That's the third part of the path to freedom! It's a promise!

"I will take you as my own people" - This is the promise of belonging and being part of a family or a fellowship. 

I can only imagine that slavery must have be a lonely life! There isn't much chance to chit chat when you are making bricks or baking bricks in the hot son or laying bricks while a scowling smelly Egyptian guard stands over you continually.

But now God promises to make you free and give you purpose and put you with people who you can share life and life experiences together!

So, as wonderful as God promises are! And as awesome as His power is! His promises are more that just promises but they are a path that leads from a life of bondage to a life of abundance!

October 29, 2018

"As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age."  Genesis 15:12-15

“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians." Exodus 6:6:7

I am focusing on the four great promises God made to His people through Moses as He was about to deliver them from the bondage of Egypt.

So far, since a promise is only as good the person who makes it I thought it important to show that God can be counted on to keep His promises. Always has and always will! How can He be God and fail in a promise. The promises that have not yet been fulfilled certainly will be in due time. In fact, they will happen at just the right time!

But this morning I want to point out one more important and inspiring insight about promises. In order for a Promise-keeping God to be true to His promises He must depend on promise-keeping men!

The first promise above was made to Abraham. We know that Abraham wasn't perfect and that his judgment was occasionally flawed. But God was willing to enter into a covenant with Abraham that when kept would bring salvation to the world! I think it is safe to say that God believed in Abraham more than Abraham believed in God!

It is accurate to say that if the first promise had not been kept the second promise - the four-fold promise - would not have been made!

But it was!

So, enter the second promise-keeping hero, Moses! Yes, Moses the Egyptian raised murderer turned fugitive turned rancher. That Moses!

It was to this guy that God revealed the most strategic promises in history! Does it encourage you to think that you don't have to be perfect to be a promise-keeper? Does it give you hope to think that God's faithfulness is greater than your flaws?

The faithfulness of Abraham and then Moses, imperfect men, allowed the life-changing, world-changing, history altering and eternity changing promises of God to be fulfilled! Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

We should also include other Bible heroes such as Isaac, Jacob and Joseph who also sustained the Covenant through the generations from Abraham to Moses. They were far from perfect but faithfully fulfilled their purposes within the promise!

Here is the truth to wrap your head and heart around this morning: A promise-keeping God is depending on you to help Him fulfill His promises to you and to those you influence!