Podcasts about Midian

What if the season you're in isn't punishment... but preparation?In this powerful message from our Summer Series, Dr. Chris Vaught unpacks the hidden years of Moses' life and reveals how God often develops us in the dark before He reveals us in the light.Before Moses led a nation, he spent years in Midian. Before God used him publicly, He worked on him privately. The darkroom wasn't rejection—it was refinement.In this message you'll discover:• Why hidden seasons are often God's greatest work• The difference between isolation and separation• How God develops character before influence• The Gershom Phase: When God builds you while nobody notices• The Eliezer Phase: Learning that God is your help and strength• Why your gifting may get you noticed, but your character determines how long you stay"The darkroom doesn't mean you're forgotten. It means the image God is developing in you is too important to expose too early."

Telling the Story: Part 2 Acts 7:1-16 by William Klock When I was an American school kid in the 70s and 80s I learned that the defining events in the history of the United States were was the founding of Jamestown in 1607; the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620; and, of course, the Revolutionary War that began in 1775 and the signing of the Declaration of Independence—well—almost exactly 250 years ago.  There were plenty of other events that shaped the story, but those were the events that set the United States on its trajectory: a heritage from Britain with a good dose of religious freedom and Protestant work ethic coming together in a grand expression of the rights of man shaped by the Enlightenment.  Were there flaws?  Yep.  Slavery was a big one.  But the way I learned the story, the British mainland colonies of North America were on the fringe of the slave trade.  We received a tiny fraction of it.  The real slavery problem was in the Caribbean and Latin America.  Plus, we dealt with it.  The whole Civil War thing—a tragedy.  But it was a story to be proud of. But in 2019, the New York Times began a new publishing project.  They called it The 1619 Project.  It was subtitled, “A New Origin Story”.  Why 1619?  That was the year the first African slaves were brought to Virginia.  Before the Pilgrims.  Before the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  It was a deliberate attempt to reframe the story of the United States.  Instead of a story rooted in a proud English heritage and religious liberty and Enlightenment ideals of freedom and liberty, the 1619 Project told the story of the United States as one rooted in racism and slavery and oppression.  Instead of a story that makes you stand proud, it's a story meant to instil shame and guilt. The 1619 Project didn't come out of nowhere.  It made public a story that many people had already been telling, especially to younger generations. And, as you would expect, this resulted in a great cultural clash.  Both sides shouting at the other, basically saying, “How dare you tell our story wrong!”  It wasn't so much a matter of the events themselves.  Both versions of the story involved the same events, the same people, and all of that.  But it highlights how much how you frame a story, how much you stress certain events and people and ideas over others, that you can end up with stories that are essentially the same, while dramatically different.  One instils national pride; the other instils national shame.  That doesn't mean there's no right or wrong.  Framing the American story as if slavery and racism are its fundamental core is dishonest.  But at the same time, telling a story that glosses over those evils for the sake of instilling pride, well, that's a problem too. And as much as this Postmodern metanarrative dilemma was nowhere on the radar of First Century Jews, I think it's a good way to understand what was going with Jews in those days and it's a good illustration of what Stephen is doing in his speech before the Sanhedrin in Ats 7.  [It's page 1087 in the Pew Bibles.]  There were different “parties” competing for influence and control in First Century Judaea and as much as they all told the same story of Israel, reaching back to Abraham and Moses and David, to the law and the Prophets, all rooted in the same exodus and exile and the same promises, how they told the story produced very different results, different feelings about Israel's present situation, different ideas about the future and how to get there—just as how I learned American history makes you smile when you see the Stars and Stripes, but others, having learned The 1619 Project story, feel shame. For Pharisees, unfaithfulness to the law resulted in exile—one that was still effectively ongoing—and only national faithfulness to the law would get them out of it.  For the Sadducees, that was all in the past.  God had restored them from their exile, and the temple and its priests were the proof.  All was well.  For the Zealots, the story said that armed revolution was the only way out of their oppression.  For the Essenes, the group responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls, the story said that the everyone and everything had been defiled by unfaithfulness, even the temple itself.  God would wage holy war on the unfaithful, so they—the only truly righteous ones—retreated to the desert to wait and to keep pure.  And there was the historian Josephus.  A generation later, he told the story—after the disaster had happened—to say that the Jewish revolutionaries had brought God's wrath on themselves and that God had raised up the Romans to act as his instrument of judgement.  Same story, but the different ways they told it, the different parts they emphasised, the way they interpreted certain events like the Babylonian Exile, landed them in very different places.  Like I said last week, the story got them to the airport, but they were all waiting at different gates—and none of them the right gate for the God's real homecoming.  That said, all of them held the same markers of Jewish identity dear: the torah, the temple, the promised land, their circumcision.  They disagreed on a lot, but attack any of those things and they'd all join in stoning you after charging you with blasphemy. So what Stephen is doing before the Sanhedrin, backing up all the way to Abraham and telling the story yet again, was in good keeping with what was going on in First Century Judaea.  So—in case you missed last week or have forgotten—in the first sixteen verses, Stephen began telling the story of Jesus and the Spirit by going back to Abraham.  This was the moment when the God of glory—Stephen wants to stress that he's here to glorify the God of Israel, not blaspheme him or his holy things—Abraham was the moment when God stepped into the darkness and misery of his broken, fallen, corrupted creation and called to Abraham.  In Abraham, God was launching his project to restore rebellious humanity to himself and to set to rights the creation that we broke.  Now, there was more to it than this—it's online if you missed or forgot it—but Stephen's main point is that the gospel is not a departure from the story of Israel.  It's not something new that has no roots in what happened before.  He's saying to the Jewish elders: When the God of glory, the God of Israel called Abraham out of Ur and settled him in the promised land and established his covenant with him to make him a nation, that was the beginning of the story that brings us to Jesus, to the cross and the empty tomb, to the ascension and to Pentecost.  The story of Abraham is the story of the gospel and vice versa. Remember, they accused him of blaspheming torah and temple and Stephen's saying, “No way!  Torah and temple are good.  They're glorious.  They're how God prepared us and brought us to Jesus.”  Like I said last week, when you leave your car and board the ferry, you are in no way saying your car was bad.  It got you to the ferry.  But you can't drive on water.  Now it's time do something new—to do the very thing your car brought you to do. And then from Abraham to Joseph.  Stephen tells Isreal's story in such a way to highlight that when the God of Israel acts to bless and to save his people, it's often in unexpected ways.  Abraham was promised the land of Canaan, but never had any more of it than a little burial plot.  And Jacob and his sons were forced to flee the land of Canaan in order to survive a famine.  And Jacob's sons were wicked men who sold their brother, Joseph into slavery after nearly choosing to murder him.  And Joseph went from slavery to prison.  How was God going to work anything good from any of that?  But he did.  The sovereign God was at work all along.  Slavery and prison led Joseph to the premiership of Egypt just in time deliver his family when they arrived.  None of them had ever expected any of that.  But God delivered them.  And Stephen's telling of the Joseph story also highlights that gracious forgiveness has always been at the heart of the story of God and his people.  There was Joseph, hated, abused, sold into slavery by his brothers, but instead of taking revenge, he welcomes them and throw a party. This is what Jesus had been doing as the lost sheep of Israel, the tax collectors and sinners, came to him in repentance and faith. And this is the sort of rejoicing that would take place in heaven were the Sanhedrin to see how the story leads to Jesus and repent.  God was waiting for them with open arms and a promise of blessing, and they should know that, because that's how God's great story has always worked.  It's the key in which this great symphony is written. So now, Moses.  As important as Abraham and Joseph were, Moses stands like a colossus over the story of Israel.  Moses was the deliverer who led Israel out of Egypt and parted the sea.  It was Moses who went up Mt. Sinai and saw God for himself.  It was Moses who came down and delivered the torah to Israel.  It was under Moses that God made a nation out of Abraham's family.  And this is where they've accused Stephen of blasphemy.  They've accused him of speaking against the torah and temple and Moses.  So look at Acts 7, beginning at verse 17.  Stephen highlights three things about Moses.  The first thing he stresses is how Moses was raised up by God to be the right man at the right place at the right time—even though no one would have guessed at the beginning that Moses was God's man for the hour. Stephen says: “God had sworn an oath to Abraham.  [Remember the promise to make him a great nation and to give his descendants the land of Canaan?] When the time drew near for this promise to be fulfilled, the people had increased and multiplied in Egypt, until another king arose over Egypt, one who had not known Joseph.  He got the better of our people, and ill-treated our fathers, forcing them to abandon their newborn children so that they would die.  It was at that time that Moses was born, and he was pleasing to God. He was nursed for three months in his father's house.  But, when they abandoned him, Pharaoh's daughter claimed him and brought him up as her own son.  So Moses was educated in the full teaching of Egyptian wisdom, and he was powerful in what he said and did.” Already, in the life of Joseph, Stephen has stressed that God works human evil for good.  Nothing escapes his sovereign hand.  And just so with Moses.  First, this new Pharoah decides to make slaves of the Hebrews.  Not good.  And then, when their numbers increase so prolifically that Pharaoh fears being able to control them, he hatches a plan to murder all the baby boys.  And so Moses ends up in a basket in the river, where Pharaoh's daughter finds him and decides to raise him as her own.  God turns Pharaoh's hate, prejudice, and injustice against him, sovereignly placing one of those Hebrew boys right in Pharaoh's own home, raised at Pharaoh's expense, and tutored by Pharaoh's own tutors in the famed wisdom of the Egyptians.  God ensure the story is full of irony.  Pharaoh unwittingly nurtures and educates the very man who will be his downfall.  And Moses, himself, receives the training needed one day to oversee, to govern the people of Israel.  Again, at the time, none of this made any sense.  No one could see any significance to the story as it was unfolding.  But God has a plan and one of the things the Jewish people learned from Moses' story—and so many others—is to trust God.  In the famous words of William Cowper, God moves in a mysterious way.  It's another motif in the divine symphony—one that comes back over and over and that God's people out to recognise when they hear the music. Second, Stephen stresses the rejection of Moses by his own people.  Look at verse 23: “When he had grown to forty years old, it came into his heart to see how his brothers, the sons of Israel, were doing.  He saw someone being wronged, and came to the man's defence; he took revenge on behalf of the man who was being oppressed, by striking down the Egyptian.  He thought his kinsfolk would grasp the fact that God was sending him to their rescue, but they didn't. “The next day he showed up as two Hebrews were fighting, and he tried to bring them back together again. ‘Now then, you two,' he said, ‘you are brothers! Why are you wronging each other?'  But the man who was wronging the other wasn't having it.  ‘Who made you a ruler or judge over us?' he retorted, pushing him away.  ‘Do you want to kill me in the same way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'  At that word, Moses ran away, and lived as a guest in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.” Yet another motif in the symphony, another recurring theme in the story.  Jesus wasn't the first of God's deliverers to be rejected by his own people.  The story highlights that this is sometimes how God works.  Now, there's no one-to-one equivalence between Moses and Jesus.  Moses was rejected because he wasn't ready yet.  He had a desire to see his people freed, but he hadn't yet been called by God to that mission, nor had he received instruction on how to do it God's way.  This way of telling the story, this way of looking back to the Old Testament is something we see all through the New Testament.  I think of the way Matthew regularly explains how something in the Jesus story “fulfils” this or that thing from the Old Testament.  And often we're left wondering how the connection works.  Thanks largely to the Church Fathers, we've been taught to see these connections as literal prophecies or as “types”, as spiritual shadows that prefigure Jesus and various events in his life.  That's kind of close, but it's not quite what Stephen (or Matthew) do.  When Matthew, for example says that in the birth of Jesus Isaiah's words about the virgin conceiving and bearing a child are fulfilled, we wonder how that works.  Isaiah was talking about a young woman in his own day bearing a child…and she wasn't a virgin.  What Matthew was doing was pointing back to an event in Israel's past, in Israel's story, where the birth of a child to a young woman—maybe a princess, maybe the Prophet's wife…it's not clear—but where the birth of this child signalled that God was about to act to deliver his people.  Matthew latched onto that.  This is how God works, but this time—in the birth of Jesus—it's not just a young woman, it's an actual virgin, and this time God's not just delivering his people from a foreign king; this time it's deliverance from sin and death.  Matthew recognised the motif in the music.  It was there in Isaiah's day, a lone violin telling a story that most people missed, but in the birth of Jesus that motif returned, and this time the whole symphony was playing it. Stephen's drawing on the story of Moses the same way.  Moses was rejected by his own people.  A repeating theme in the story that the Sanhedrin—people who know this story, know this symphony so well already—a theme they ought now to see plain as day in what happened to Jesus.  It should be obvious.  They were the ones playing the instruments this time, after all. And then, third, Stephen stresses how through Moses, the God of glory, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God Israel had known for two thousand years, had revealed himself in a new way that no one had expected.  Look at verse 30: “After another forty years, an angel appeared to him in the desert at Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush.  When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the vision.  But, as he came closer to see, there came the voice of the Lord: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.'  Moses was very frightened, and didn't dare to look.  But the Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.  I have looked long and hard at the trouble my people are having in Egypt. I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them.  So, come on now: I'm going to send you to Egypt.'” Stephen wants to be clear—and we see this all through early Christian preaching—the God revealed in Jesus the Messiah is not new.  He is the same God who has been directing this story, this symphony from the beginning.  This is the God of their fathers, the God who has been rescuing his people according to his promises for two thousand years.  The God they know.  The God whose character and ways they ought to have recognised in Jesus. Yes, Stephen's saying, Jesus was not what we expected.  In Jesus—and now in the Spirit—God is doing something amazing, something astounding, something new.  And that's why you rejected him.  But knowing the story, knowing the music, we should have expected God would do precisely this: something new, something wild, something we didn't expect.  Because the story is already full of episodes where God does just that.  No one, least of all Moses, exiled to the wilderness, tending his father-in-law's sheep—expected the burning bush.  And yet in that moment, heaven and earth came back together, God spoke, a man was called, and the world was never the same again. And Stephen's point is this: You can't predict the unexpected thing that God will do; but you can be sure—because the story is full of such moments—that God does act unexpectedly to do the things he's promised and that we expect, the very things in which we hope. Holy ground, for example, was something Stephen and his fellow Jews understood.  The temple was holy ground.  It was where heaven and earth met.  But it wasn't the end-all-be-all of holy grounds.  It began at Mt. Sinai—not in Isreal, but in the wilderness—where God met Moses in the burning bush, where the plan to rescue Isreal from her bondage began.  When the Israelites built the tabernacle and the cloud of God's glory descended to fill it, God upstaged what he'd done at the burning bush.  And then again, with the temple.  As if it were the strings playing the motif at the burning bush, and in Exodus 40 as God's glory fills the holy of holies, the woodwinds join them.  And the music was good and it was beautiful, but the Sanhedrin should now be hearing that same motif as, in Jesus and the Spirit the whole symphony comes together to play.  Stephen isn't disparaging Moses.  He's not blaspheming the law or the temple.  He's saying, “Can't you hear it?  Their beautiful theme is now being woven into something far grander and played by the whole symphony.  The motifs have been there all along, the story has always been told this way.  Don't plug your ears to this new thing.  Listen.  And hear how it's taken up all the old themes into something that is nothing short of glorifying to the conductor, to the God of glory. That's as far as we have time to go this morning.  Like I said, Acts 7 is long and there's a lot to unpack.  But I think the great take-away for us from this part—in addition to learning to hear the great story of God and his people—I think the most important thing here is to know that God really does do new and unexpected things.  As we get to know the story, we ought to expect for God to do the unexpected, for God to do new things that upstage what he's done in the past.  And yet, the story also emphatically tells us that as much as God does new things and upstages the things he's done before, those new things are always in keeping with what he's done before.  The past always points to the future and the future never undermines the past.  As the writer of Hebrews tells us, “God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.”  We live in an age where too many people are ready to do something new themselves—something that breaks from what or how God has already revealed himself, something that breaks from or that disparages or that blasphemes God's past actions or his past instructions—they take this new human thing and declared that God is doing a new thing.  Andy Stanley saying we need to unhitch from the Old Testament so that God can do something new.  No!  Churches embracing sexual immorality and post-modern notions of identity and sexuality and family and marriage and then saying, “See, God is doing a new thing!”  A thousand times, no!  Brothers and Sisters, the theme of the story, the key of the symphony doesn't change.  God does new things, but those new things follow from what God's already done.  On the other hand—and I think it's mostly in response to all the proclamation of “new things” that aren't godly at all—on the other hand, we can become too fearful, too conservative and we can end up where the Pharisees and Sadducees and the Essenes were: locked down, afraid of the new, and turning away from burning bushes, and unwilling to go where God is actually leading. This why we need to steep ourselves in the story.  This why we need to immerse ourselves in the great symphony and to let the music wash over and through us.  Brothers and Sisters, we need to know the themes and the motifs, to learn the key in which God is playing, to be intimately familiar with how they interact, weaving around and through each other, so that as the story continues to unfold, as the symphony bursts into new movements, we can hear God bringing those old familiar themes to new heights, while also being able to recognise when a different story is being told, or a different symphony is being played.  I've said over and over, Brothers and Sisters: God's word is life.  Know, meditate on it, let it mould you, and then let it pour forth from you to give life to others. Let's pray: Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things:  Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

In this study we will take a look at the women within the Bible. We will look at each one of them and see how their story influences our lives today.As we continue our study in this fantastic insight of the Women of the Bible, this morning we shall finish up with Zipporah and then take a look at Miriam the sister of Moses. ZIPPORAH (bird): THE WIFE OF MOSES.Exod. 2:15-22        Zipporah is the wife of Moses, given to him in marriage by her Midianite priest father. She heroically saves Moses and her sons from a random attack from an angel by cutting off her son's foreskin; the explanation for this act is unclear. However, Zipporah is shown as fiercely devoted to her husband, even though he neglects her.        Zipporah is a Midianite woman who becomes the wife of Moses. After Moses kills an Egyptian, he flees from the pharaoh and settles among the Midianites, an Arab people who occupied desert areas in southern Transjordan, northern Arabia, and the Sinai. He meets the seven daughters of Reuel, priest of Midian, at a well; rescues them from shepherds who are harassing them; and fills their jugs with water. In gratitude, Reuel (called Jethro or Hobab in other biblical passages) offers Moses hospitality, then gives him his daughter Zipporah in marriage (Exod 2:21–22). She and Moses have two sons, Gershom and Eliezer (Exod 18:3–4).       Zipporah is the heroine of a bizarre incident that takes place as Moses heads back to Egypt with his wife and sons (Exod 4:20). On their way, at a night encampment, “The Lord met him [Moses] and tried to kill him” (Exod 4:24). No reason is given, just as no reason is given for the angel's attack on Jacob as he came back from Mesopotamia (Gen 32:24). Jacob was alone and wrestled with the angel all night; Moses is with his wife, who comes to his rescue. She takes a flint and cuts off her son's foreskin. She then flings the foreskin at “his” feet, declaring that he is hatan damim to her (Exod 4:26). Zipporah's enigmatic statement has two possible explanations: she flings the foreskin at Moses's feet, saying, “You are a bridegroom of blood to me” (NRSV), or she flings it at Yahweh's feet, saying, “You are a blood father-in-law to me.” (Damim means “blood,” and hatan can mean either “bridegroom” or “father-in-law.”) Either way, her deed and words stop the attack. The story is already difficult for the narrator, who adds a comment that hatan damim refers to circumcision. The situation remains unclear to us. Zipporah, however, understood it and acted decisively to rescue Moses. Zipporah's name, meaning “bird,” combined with her protection of Moses, is reminiscent of the fierce loyalty to her husband Osiris of the Egyptian goddess Isis, who is often portrayed as a bird of prey.        Zipporah is not well rewarded. At some point before the exodus from Egypt, Moses sends her and the children away (Exod 18:2). After the exodus, her father, the priest of Midian (here called Jethro), comes to visit Moses, bringing Zipporah and her two sons. Moses is told that his father-in-law Jethro is “coming to see you, with your wife and her two sons” (Exod i8:6). Moses goes out to greet Jethro and takes him into his tent, but nothing is said about his greeting Zipporah.        Moses' neglect of Zipporah is obvious, as he (not Yahweh) tells the men at Sinai not to approach any women in preparation for Yahweh's approach in three days (Exod 19:2). Since he himself is apparently always in preparation for meeting with Yahweh, we can infer that he never sleeps with Zipporah. In Num 12:1 Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses because of the “Cushite woman” whom he married, but they do not mention her name. Midrashic tradition assumed they were discussing Moses' neglect of Zipporah. Other interpreters see the Cushite woman as a second wife, with Miriam and Aaron opposed to the marriage. But no children are ever recorded for a second wife of Moses.Miriam (rebellion) – Moses Sister – A ProphetessMiriam was the older sister of Moses, and it was she who watched over him when he was placed in a basket on the River Nile. She went on to become a leader of the Hebrews when they escaped from Egypt and went in search of the Promised Land.Miriam is best known for helping to deliver Moses at the Nile River and leading the Hebrew women in singing, dancing, and playing drums after crossing the Red Sea. Later, she and her brother Aaron challenge the actions and authority of Moses. She understands leadership to embrace diverse voices, female and male. But the price of speaking out is severe; Yahweh punishes her, after which she never speaks, nor is she spoken to. Centuries later, prophecy remembers her as the equal of Moses and Aaron in representing Yahweh before the people, and as the inaugurator of a performance and composition tradition of song, drums, and dances in Israel."I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy."—Joel 2:28.                Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron (Exod. 15:20.), is the first of her order mentioned in the Word of Yahweh. While Yahweh never ordained a woman to be priest, nor do we read of women as bishops or pastors in the New Testament, the vocation of "prophetess" is common to both dispensations. Hannah (1Sam. 1:2) was practically a prophetess, and so was Huldah, to whom King Josiah went in his time of perplexity. Deborah (Judges 4:5) was a prophetess (2Kings 22:14), and there were also false prophetesses, such as Noadiah (Neh. 6:14), as well as false prophets.                In the New Testament, Peter expressly declares that the pouring out of the Spirit of Yahweh upon all flesh should be upon sons and daughters, servants, and handmaids, "and they shall prophesy," quoting from the Old Testament. (Joel 2:28-32); compare (Acts 2:17-18.)  A number of those who "spake" "AS THE SPIRIT GAVE THEM UTTERANCE," (Acts. 2:4.) of the wonderful works of Yahweh on the Day of Pentecost, were women speaking in the spirit of prophecy. Philip, the deacon, we read, had four daughters "which did prophesy" (Acts 21:9); the Apostle Paul speaks of those women who labored with him in the Gospel. (Phl. 4:3.) It is he who especially recommends that, when women pray and prophesy, their heads should be covered; and explains what is this office of prophesying in the words: "He that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort." (1Chorin. 11:5; 14:3.) And while Paul commands that women should not speak in church, he ordains that all, i.e., both men and women, may prophesy, one by one, that all may learn, and may be comforted. (1Corin. 14:31-34.)                Yahweh's order in the family is not according to earthly birthright. Speaking of the leaders of His people Israel, He says: "I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam." (Micah 6:4.) All these children of Amram were of the prophet order. Miriam was the eldest, Moses the youngest; yet Moses is first mentioned, because he knew his Yahweh more fully than either his brother or his sister. Aaron, his elder brother, ranks next, and Miriam, the eldest of the three, ranks last.     Miriam was a leader of the Hebrew people during the Exodus, the great founding event of Judaism. The episodes we have about her are disjointed and probably only represent a fraction of the stories originally told in the oral tradition of the Hebrew people. The story of Miriam contains four different episodes:   1 Miriam saved her brother Moses, Exodus 2:1-10. This well-known story shows that the survival of the leader of the Exodus, Moses, depended on the courage and ingenuity of one young woman, his sister Miriam.   2 The song of Miriam, Exodus 15:20-21. This fragment of the Song of Miriam is one of the oldest poetic couplets in the Old Testament. It is an example of a literary genre devoted to celebrating military victories with triumphal poems. 3 Miriam's ordeal, Numbers 12. This story is about the authority of established law. Moses was the great lawgiver of the Hebrew people Moses' legislation formed the basis of Hebrew life. The story acknowledged that Miriam and Aaron were both popular leaders, but the Law, represented by Moses, bound them.  4 Miriam's death, Numbers 20:1-2. Miriam died in a waterless place in the wilderness, but Yahweh subsequently caused water to appear there. Join me as we go Chapter by Chapter, Verse by Verse, Unraveling the Words of Yahweh!Have any questions? Feel free to email me; keitner2024@outlook.com

What happens when the man who once found refuge forgets the power of mercy? Drawing together Moses' flight to Midian, the cities of refuge, and one of the Torah's most difficult passages, we discover an enduring challenge to break the cycle of vengeance before it breaks us.

Moses and the Phases of Vision In the recent sermon titled "Moses - EP6 7.12.26," the story of Moses as depicted in Exodus 3 and Exodus 4 is used to explore the development of leadership and vision in the context of faith. The sermon emphasizes the idea that effective leadership is developed over time and through various phases, as explained by Dr. J. Robert Clinton in "The Making of a Leader." The Phases of a Godly Vision The sermon outlines the four phases of a vision anchored in God's call: Birth of a Vision: This is the initial spark of an idea for God's kingdom. For Moses, this began with the vision of delivering the Israelites from slavery. Death of the Vision: This phase is marked by obstacles and setbacks that cause doubt and abandonment of the vision. Moses experienced this when he fled to Midian after his initial attempt to lead ended in failure. Rebirth of the Vision: God rekindles the vision, as seen when He appeared to Moses in the burning bush at Exodus 3:10, commanding him to return to Egypt and lead his people to freedom. Fulfillment of the Vision: This occurs when the vision becomes reality, as Moses eventually leads the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses' Objections and God's Responses Moses raised several objections to God's renewed call: "Who am I?" (Exodus 3:11): Moses doubted his worthiness, but God assured him, "I will be with you" (Exodus 3:12). "What if they do not believe me?" (Exodus 4:1): God provided Moses with signs like turning his staff into a snake (Exodus 4:2-4) to prove His presence. "I am slow of speech" (Exodus 4:10): God reassured Moses, "I will help you speak" (Exodus 4:11-12). Despite these reassurances, Moses initially resisted, saying, "Please send someone else" (Exodus 4:13). However, God's anger was kindled, and He provided Aaron to assist Moses, demonstrating that God equips those He calls. Vision and Leadership The sermon suggests that every believer is called to have a vision for God's kingdom, whether grand or modest. It highlights that visions are not always about monumental tasks like Nehemiah's rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls, but can be simple acts of faith and obedience, akin to the servant girl's vision for Naaman's healing. Reflection and Call to Action The sermon concludes with a call for self-reflection: Do you know God's vision for your life? Are you willing to pursue it, despite objections or fears? It encourages believers to pray for clarity and to rely on God's strength to fulfill His purposes. The message is clear: God can resurrect visions that seem dead when we acknowledge our limitations and depend on Him. In closing, the sermon reminds us that a relationship with Jesus is foundational for receiving and pursuing a God-given vision. As Jesus transforms our hearts, He enables us to serve His kingdom purposefully. For further reflection, consider reading Exodus 3-4 to see how God's interactions with Moses can inspire your own journey of faith and leadership.

In our final discussion on parsha Yitro we cover some of the following topics.How does the High Priest of Midian compare to the High Priest of Israel. Does it reveal that religious systems are only relevant if the heart of the individual is changed and that the identification with the religion of the nation does not guarantee obedience to the instructions of GODWe also look more carefully at elements of the 10 words and the profound and far reaching implications that they have when we see them as more just a list of do's and dont's as they reveal the character of GOD and His love and compassion toward all of mankind.

De lezingen van de parshot Matot-Mas'ee zijn Numeri 30:1 – 36:13 en Jeremia 1:1-23, 2:4-28, 3:4. We focussen in de onderwijzing in het bijzonder op de vijfde aliyot van deze beide parshot. Dit zijn de gedeeltes van Numeri 31:42-54 en Numeri 35:1-8. We lezen daarin over de verdeling van de buit, die op de Midianieten behaald werd. Ook lezen we over een groot wonder: er was geen enkele Israëliet omgekomen in de oorlog tegen Midian. Welke geestelijke lessen zitten hierin verborgen? En wat hebben de getallen 42 en 48 hiermee te maken? In het tweede gedeelte lezen we over de Levitische priestersteden met hun weidegronden. We vragen ons af wat dit te maken heeft met dé Priesterstad, het hemelse Jeruzalem. En we ontdekken dat wij deze hemelse stad met elkaar mogen opmeten…!Support the show

Parshas Matos & Massei: The Real Battle Season 8 Episode 35 | #366 The war against Midian was over, yet Moshe declared the mission incomplete. Why? In this episode, we explore Rashi's explanation and the Alter Rebbe's profound insight from Tanya, revealing that the greatest battles are not always fought on the battlefield. Discover why the greatest threat to the Jewish people has never been external enemies alone, but anything that weakens our connection with G-d and our true purpose. ✨ The most important battle is not against the world around us, but against whatever pulls us away from who we are meant to become.

In this Parsha Review Podcast episode on the double portion Matos-Masei, Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe explores the continuation of Pinchas' story from last week. As the Jewish people prepare for war against Midian, Moshe sends 1,000 men from each tribe along with Pinchas — carrying the sacred vessels and trumpets. Rashi explains that Pinchas was singled out because he had begun the mitzvah of zealously defending Hashem's honor and was therefore told to complete it. The episode also highlights the Midrashic connection between Pinchas and Yosef through his mother's lineage (Putiel / Yisro).Rabbi Wolbe focuses on the seven names of Yisro, particularly “Putiel.” While it can be interpreted negatively (fattening calves for idol worship), it can also be seen positively: Yisro was at the “fat” (peak) of his illustrious career and sacrificed everything to join the Jewish people. This leads to a powerful discussion on perspective — choosing to see the positive in people, situations, spouses, children, and even world events.The episode ties beautifully into the Three Weeks: lasting change in avoiding Lashon Hara comes not from simply stopping negative speech, but from changing how we view others. Rabbi Wolbe encourages judging the whole person favorably (kol ha'adam l'kaf zechus), practicing hakaras hatov (gratitude), and refusing to be kafui tov (one who rejects the good done for us). He applies this to family life, parenting, and current events, urging listeners to avoid knee-jerk negativity from media narratives._____________This episode of the Parsha Review Podcast is dedicated in honor of Lenny & Teresa FriedmanDownload & Print the Parsha Review Notes:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ncaRyoH5iJmGGoMZs9y82Hz2ofViVouv?usp=sharingRecorded at TORCH Meyerland in the Levin Family Studios (B) to a live audience on July 7, 2026, in Houston, Texas.Released as Podcast on July 9, 2026_____________Subscribe: Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/parsha-review-podcast-rabbi-aryeh-wolbe/id1651930083)Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/22lv1kXJob5ZNLaAl6CHTQ) to stay inspired! Share your questions at awolbe@torchweb.org or visit torchweb.org for more Torah content.  _____________About the Host:Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Director of TORCH in Houston, brings decades of Torah scholarship to guide listeners in applying Jewish wisdom to daily life.  To directly send your questions, comments, and feedback: awolbe@torchweb.org_____________Support Our Mission:Help us share Jewish wisdom globally by sponsoring an episode at torchweb.org. Your support makes a difference!_____________Subscribe and Listen to other podcasts by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe: NEW!! Hey Rabbi! Podcast: https://heyrabbi.transistor.fm/episodesPrayer Podcast: https://prayerpodcast.transistor.fm/episodesJewish Inspiration Podcast: https://inspiration.transistor.fm/episodesParsha Review Podcast: https://parsha.transistor.fm/episodesLiving Jewishly Podcast: https://jewishly.transistor.fm/episodesThinking Talmudist Podcast: https://talmud.transistor.fm/episodesUnboxing Judaism Podcast: https://unboxing.transistor.fm/episodesRabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection: https://collection.transistor.fm/episodesFor a full listing of podcasts available by TORCH at http://podcast.torchweb.org_____________Keywords:#Torah, #Parsha, #Numbers, #Bamidbar, #Matos, #Masei, #Perspective, #HakarasHatov, #ThreeWeeks, #PositivePerspective, #Pinchas, #Yisro, #JudgeFavorably, #BeGrateful ★ Support this podcast ★

In this Parsha Review Podcast episode on the double portion Matos-Masei, Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe explores the continuation of Pinchas' story from last week. As the Jewish people prepare for war against Midian, Moshe sends 1,000 men from each tribe along with Pinchas — carrying the sacred vessels and trumpets. Rashi explains that Pinchas was singled out because he had begun the mitzvah of zealously defending Hashem's honor and was therefore told to complete it. The episode also highlights the Midrashic connection between Pinchas and Yosef through his mother's lineage (Putiel / Yisro).Rabbi Wolbe focuses on the seven names of Yisro, particularly “Putiel.” While it can be interpreted negatively (fattening calves for idol worship), it can also be seen positively: Yisro was at the “fat” (peak) of his illustrious career and sacrificed everything to join the Jewish people. This leads to a powerful discussion on perspective — choosing to see the positive in people, situations, spouses, children, and even world events.The episode ties beautifully into the Three Weeks: lasting change in avoiding Lashon Hara comes not from simply stopping negative speech, but from changing how we view others. Rabbi Wolbe encourages judging the whole person favorably (kol ha'adam l'kaf zechus), practicing hakaras hatov (gratitude), and refusing to be kafui tov (one who rejects the good done for us). He applies this to family life, parenting, and current events, urging listeners to avoid knee-jerk negativity from media narratives._____________This episode of the Parsha Review Podcast is dedicated in honor of Lenny & Teresa FriedmanDownload & Print the Parsha Review Notes:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ncaRyoH5iJmGGoMZs9y82Hz2ofViVouv?usp=sharingRecorded at TORCH Meyerland in the Levin Family Studios (B) to a live audience on July 7, 2026, in Houston, Texas.Released as Podcast on July 9, 2026_____________Subscribe: Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/parsha-review-podcast-rabbi-aryeh-wolbe/id1651930083)Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/22lv1kXJob5ZNLaAl6CHTQ) to stay inspired! Share your questions at awolbe@torchweb.org or visit torchweb.org for more Torah content.  _____________About the Host:Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Director of TORCH in Houston, brings decades of Torah scholarship to guide listeners in applying Jewish wisdom to daily life.  To directly send your questions, comments, and feedback: awolbe@torchweb.org_____________Support Our Mission:Help us share Jewish wisdom globally by sponsoring an episode at torchweb.org. Your support makes a difference!_____________Subscribe and Listen to other podcasts by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe: NEW!! Hey Rabbi! Podcast: https://heyrabbi.transistor.fm/episodesPrayer Podcast: https://prayerpodcast.transistor.fm/episodesJewish Inspiration Podcast: https://inspiration.transistor.fm/episodesParsha Review Podcast: https://parsha.transistor.fm/episodesLiving Jewishly Podcast: https://jewishly.transistor.fm/episodesThinking Talmudist Podcast: https://talmud.transistor.fm/episodesUnboxing Judaism Podcast: https://unboxing.transistor.fm/episodesRabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection: https://collection.transistor.fm/episodesFor a full listing of podcasts available by TORCH at http://podcast.torchweb.org_____________Keywords:#Torah, #Parsha, #Numbers, #Bamidbar, #Matos, #Masei, #Perspective, #HakarasHatov, #ThreeWeeks, #PositivePerspective, #Pinchas, #Yisro, #JudgeFavorably, #BeGrateful ★ Support this podcast ★

Share a commentFailure has a way of making life feel like a desert, silent, exposed, and endless. We lean into three of Scripture's most relatable “blown it” moments and ask a different question than “How did they mess up?” We ask: What did God build in them afterward, and what can He build in us when we're tempted to quit, hide, or numb the guilt?We walk through John Mark's story in Acts, the young helper with every advantage who deserts the mission and becomes a point of sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas. From there we widen the lens to the pressure points most of us actually face: fear of ridicule, the ease of keeping quiet about Jesus, and the moment where convenience starts to look like wisdom. It's a practical conversation about Christian perseverance, courage, and why spiritual potential means little without endurance.Then we turn to David, not as a coward but as a man crushed by moral failure, and we sit with the raw honesty of Psalm 32 and the turning point of Psalm 51. Finally, we revisit Moses, trained for leadership yet forced into Midian's obscurity, where self-sufficiency dies and dependence on God is born. A surprising thread ties it all together: God often speaks in the desert through another believer, a Peter, a Jethro, a timely voice you're meant to hear.If you're walking through regret, disappointment, or spiritual dryness, this is a reminder that the desert doesn't have to be the end of your story. Subscribe for more, share this with someone who needs hope, and leave a review so more listeners can find the conversation.Learn more about twenty-five years of global impact, and reserve tickets to our gala. https://www.wisdomonline.org/mp/25 Learn more: https://www.wisdomonline.org/Support the show

Share a commentFailure has a way of making life feel like a desert, silent, exposed, and endless. We lean into three of Scripture's most relatable “blown it” moments and ask a different question than “How did they mess up?” We ask: What did God build in them afterward, and what can He build in us when we're tempted to quit, hide, or numb the guilt?We walk through John Mark's story in Acts, the young helper with every advantage who deserts the mission and becomes a point of sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas. From there we widen the lens to the pressure points most of us actually face: fear of ridicule, the ease of keeping quiet about Jesus, and the moment where convenience starts to look like wisdom. It's a practical conversation about Christian perseverance, courage, and why spiritual potential means little without endurance.Then we turn to David, not as a coward but as a man crushed by moral failure, and we sit with the raw honesty of Psalm 32 and the turning point of Psalm 51. Finally, we revisit Moses, trained for leadership yet forced into Midian's obscurity, where self-sufficiency dies and dependence on God is born. A surprising thread ties it all together: God often speaks in the desert through another believer, a Peter, a Jethro, a timely voice you're meant to hear.If you're walking through regret, disappointment, or spiritual dryness, this is a reminder that the desert doesn't have to be the end of your story. Subscribe for more, share this with someone who needs hope, and leave a review so more listeners can find the conversation.Learn more about twenty-five years of global impact, and reserve tickets to our gala. https://www.wisdomonline.org/mp/25 Learn more: https://www.wisdomonline.org/Support the show

Tending sheep in the backside of Midian, Moses finally meets the Lord, who reminds him of his godly heritage.  But before God could redeem Israel through Moses, He first had to redeem Moses.

This year, the Book of Numbers ends with a double parsha – Mattos and Masei. We learn about the laws of vows and oaths; the miraculous war with Midian; the unusual request of the tribes of Gad and Reuben; the Torah delineates the 42 different places that the Nation encamped for their 40 year sojourn; […]

Audio Transcript Elders here and I get the privilege of preaching for you guys this morning. So quick announcement before we get too far. It is a holiday weekend, so we don't have our full kids ministry as usual. So we have, we'll get all the kids in here today. So we got snacks and activities over there kind of where you walk in and then if, if, you know, I got four boys, we only got two here today. So I get it. If they get a little antsy and we need some more room to run, you can go through this back door here, you know, kind of turn back around this way. But we have a meeting room down there where I think the service is projected and just, just some space for the kids to move and you can still follow along with the service. So, yeah, like I said, my name is Rob Fisher, one of the elders here, privileged to. Privilege to preach for you guys today. And so every summer we try to give Aaron, our main teaching pastor, the at least eight weeks off or so out of the pulpit. We think it's important for a couple reasons we want, you know, the Bible says that elders should be, should be able to teach. So we try to get all the elders in here and we also elevate. We elevate preaching, not the preacher. You know, we think it's important not to. We love Aaron. We love the faithful week. He does faithful work. He does week in, week out. But we think it's important to, to be developing other voices and not just be only receiving the word from, from one guy. Now I will say Aaron is preaching his campground this weekend. So they've done a lot of faithful ministry there and we're excited they can do that. So just an overview today we're continuing our series through the book of Exodus. So we're in Exodus chapter 6 today. So we'll start out by reading the text. We'll pray together. Then we're going to work through the text together really line by line. And Lord willing, after we're done working through it, we'll put some main points to it and some themes and we'll see how God is going to use the life and the story of Moses to inform us how we should live in the here and now. Right? So again, we're in Exodus chapter 6 today. We can go ahead and turn there. Continue, continue to the book of Exodus. We're doing this summer. We're going to follow the life of Moses. God has been calling him to be a, to be a part of delivering the Israelites out of Egypt. And we're going to we're going to pick up here in chapter six. So this is the word of the Lord. But the Lord said to Moses, now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand, he will send them out. With a strong hand, he will drive them out of his land. God spoke to Moses and said to him, I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty. But by my name, the Lord, I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians sold as slaves. And I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the Lord. And I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm. With great acts of judgment, I will take you to be my people. And I will be your God. And you shall know that I am the Lord, your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you for possession. I am the Lord. Moses. Thus. Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel. They did not listen to Moses because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery. So the Lord said to Moses, go in. Tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let the people of Israel go out of his land. Moses said to the Lord, behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me? For I am of uncircumcised lips. The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh, king of Egypt. To bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. Now these are the heads of their fathers houses. The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel. Hanak, Palu, Hezron and Carmi. These are the clans of Reuben. The sons of Simeon, Jamil, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohor and Sha'. Ul. The sons of the Canaanite woman. These are the clans of Simeon. These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generation. Gershon, Kohath and Merari. The years of the life of Levi being 137 years. The sons of Gershon, Libni and Shimei. By their clans, the sons of Kohath, Amram, Ishar, Hebron and Uziel. The years of the life of Kohath being 133 years. The sons of Merari, Mahil and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their generations. Amram took as his wife Jochebed, his father's sister, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. The years of the life of Amram being 137 years. The sons of Izar, Korah, Nepheg and Zikri. Don't know about that one. Sons of Uzziel, Mishael, Elsaphan and Sitri. Aaron took as his wife El Shaba, the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon. And she bore him Nadab, Abuhu, Eleazar and Ithamar. The sons of Korah, Asir, Elkanah and Abiasaph. These are the clans of the Korahites. Eleazar, Aaron's son, took as his wife one of the daughters of Phutiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers, houses of the Levites by their cleans. And these are the Aaron and Moses, to whom the Lord said, bring out the people of Israel from the land of Egypt by their host. It was they who spoke to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, about bringing out the people of Israel from Egypt. This Moses and this Aaron. And on this day, when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, the Lord said to Moses, I am the Lord. Tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I say to you. But Moses said to the Lord, behold, I am of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me? Let's pray. Lord, you're grateful for your word. Grateful that we get to learn from it and study it. We're grateful that your word, it studies and examines us as we study and examine it. Grateful for the life of Moses and the story of Moses. We pray that we would be faithful learners of it. We're grateful that you've sustained this church. And we ask that you would. I ask that you would help me speak your truth. Clearly. We don't come here just out of. Simply out of practice. We want it to be beneficial for the building up of your church, beneficial for the equipping of your saints. And. Yeah, we just pray that it's for your glory and for the. For the good of. For the good of those who know you. And it would be a means of evangelism for those who don't. So it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. So Exodus 6 is just a. It's just one chapter in the larger Moses narrative, right? So before we can focus on the, on the details of this passage, we have to remember where it sits within the larger story. So if we come to chapter six, without considering the setting of Moses life and his calling and the recent events, we're going to miss a lot of the weight of what God says here. So the Bible, right, is first and foremost a book about God and God's work to bring redemption, restoration to a fallen and rebellious and sinful people. And in this section of Exodus, though, God is in the process of bringing his people out of slavery in Egypt, and he's using Moses as his church chosen instrument. And because of that, we get this kind of like mini biography of Moses. So chapter six should be read as a chapter within a larger story. It is an isolated scene, but we can't. We can't really understand that isolated scene without the broader context, right? So before we work through chapter six, we need to. Just briefly, I want to look back briefly at Moses life and just see what's brought him to this moment. So, so Moses was an Israelite boy. He was born into an Israelite family while the Israelite nation is enslaved in Egypt, right? And when he was born, there's an Egyptian decree that says, you know, all the Israelite boys need to be killed. The Israelite nation is becoming too strong. Moses, however, was miraculously saved by his mother. He's eventually adopted by the Egyptian royal family, and he grows up in the Egyptian royal household. He's 40 years old. He's an adult. And Moses, he's somehow knowing that he's actually an Israelite, and he's seeing the slavery and the oppression of the Israelites, his true people. He stops an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite by murdering the Egyptian, right? And the day after his murder, Moses realizes he's like, I am in trouble. So he flees, he settles in a foreign land. He lives out. And he lives out 40 years, the next 40 years, right, as a shepherd in Midian. So he has a Midian wife, he has a Midian family, he has an occupation, and he's made a life for himself in this. This foreign land. Now, while Moses is being a shepherd, he has an encounter with God. God charges him to be the means by which God takes the nation of Israel out of Egypt. And in that encounter, Moses raises a lot of objections about his own shortcomings for the tasks. We're going to get into more. We're going to get into more of those shortcomings as we continue. But just know that Moses had a lot of questions and concerns about the task that God is giving him. And in response to Moses concerns and questions, God gives Moses powerful signs and miracles to demonstrate his power. And God also gives Moses the help of his brother Aaron to act as Moses spokesman, since Moses is always expressing his concern over his inability to speak well. Right? So that initial exchange between God and Moses is like all of chapter three and half of chapter four. Then at the end of chapter four and through most of chapter five, Moses then is acting on God's command to go back to the people of Israel who are enslaved in Egypt, and then to Pharaoh and to tell them that, you know, God is going to bring them out of Egypt, right? So Moses and Aaron, initially, they go to the elders of Israel. They tell them, God is going to deliver you from Egypt. And obviously this is well received, as we can imagine. And the Bible says the people believed and bowed their heads and they worshiped. But next, in chapter five, the end of chapter five, Moses and Aaron take their message to Pharaoh. And it goes about as well as we can imagine. So we covered last week. It was. It was far from well received by Pharaoh. Pharaoh does not let the Israelites go. And instead of letting them go, he increases their workload. So the Israelite work leaders take their complaints to Pharaoh. Pharaoh receives them without a shred of sympathy. And the Israelite slaves, then they turn their frustration towards Moses and Aaron. And that's seen at the last, at the end of chapter five. Here. This is the last scene that we have before we go into where we're starting today, into chapter six. So I'm going to read you these verses that lead up to where we're going to start from today, so we can get a grasp on the setting here. So Exodus 5, 20, 23 says they met Moses and Aaron. This is the. They say the Israelite foreman who are waiting for them as they came out from Pharaoh. I just can imagine the scene. Moses and Aaron are outside the meeting room. They're just like, oh my gosh, this is not going good, right? And they say to them, the Lord look on you and judge you because you have made a stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants. You've put a sword in their hand to kill us. Moses turned to the Lord and said, lord, why have you done this evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? Since I came to Pharaoh to speak your name, he's done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all. So again, the background matters here, because chapter six Begins with Moses discouraged. The people are downcast and Pharaoh is unmoved. So when God replies to Moses, he's replying to, you know, he's replying to his chosen instrument. Moses is still chosen, but the chosen instrument is once again, he's questioning God's plan. He's questioning God's timing, he's questioning his own calling. So we enter chapter six. Keep this God's. Chapter six is God responding to this mood in Moses. And he's answering Moses's frustrations and fears. So in response to Moses complaints, God is gonna, he's gonna reply to Moses questions, not directly, but rather he's gonna call. He's gonna call back to his previously stated purposes. So God is, there's, there's kind of a short answer in verse one, and then there's the long answer in verses two through eight. So verse one says, the Lord said to Moses, now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. With a strong hand, he will send them out. With a strong hand, he will drive them out of his land. So the short answer is that God is going to use his strong hand. And this verse, right, the verse is a good reminder to be a good and thorough student of the Bible, right? If we read this over too quickly in this translation of the Bible, it's like it's not clear who the strong hand belongs to, if it's God or Pharaoh. But if you look in the commentaries or the translation, it says the first and second strong hand, it's God. This is all God's work. And this is similar language to the initial conversation between God and Moses at the burning bush about this, how this interaction would go. So like Moses first encounter with God at the burning bush, it lays out how the deliverance process is going to go. And we don't see all the details of the narrative laid out in the in the burning bush conversation, but we see, we can see most of the narrative cover. So Exodus 3, verses 19 and 20. We also, God is using the similar language to convey, to lay out the extraction process of how it's going to go. He says, I know the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand, my hand again, and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it. And after that, he will let you go. So this, this repeated language matters, right? The strong hand, the mighty hand, the outstretched arm, it all points us to the same truth. Israel's deliverance is only going to come by God's power, right? Israel's deliverance is only going to come by God's power. So when we think about verse one, it's just important to see that God is clearly stating that the deliverance of his people will be by his power, his mighty, strong and active outstretched hand. It's important to note that it's not from the willpower of Moses over Pharaoh, and it's not from the generosity of Pharaoh either. Right? The Israelite people can only be on. They're only going to be delivered by the workings of a strong and all powerful God. And the people will be led by Moses, he says, but only because Moses is the man that God chose to be the messenger. So the people would be freed by Pharaoh, but only because of the more powerful and strong mighty hand of God that he showed over the stubbornness of Pharaoh. Right? So God's short answer to Moses is that my promise is not wavered. Moses says, why me? Why is this so hard? Why can't we make any progress, right? God essentially says this. He says, keep watching what I will do. So the current difficulty Moses finds himself in, it's not evidence that God's plan has failed. It's actually evidence that things are going to according to plan. Like Pharaoh will not be easily moved. This was laid out at the burning bush, right? So in God's short answer to Moses in verse one, that's, that's the short answer in verse one. But now let's look at the longer answer, verses two through eight. So as I was reading and I was meditating on this task, being prepared for this, I was just struck again at how God's lengthier reply to Moses groaning again. It's a repetition of something that's already been laid out in the Moses narrative, right? It's been laid out in God's conversation with Moses at the burning bush. So looking at verses four and five, it says, I established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan. And I heard people's groanings as slaves. And I remembered my covenant. I remembered my covenant. The same language that Moses uses. So Moses wrote all this when he writes the end of chapter two. At the end of chapter two, just this huge turning point in the narrative, you know, Moses has established himself in the land of Midian. Meanwhile, business as usual, we can say, continues in Egypt. And the rest of the nation of Israel is still under the oppression of Egyptian slavery, right? Chapter 2, verse 23 and 24 says, the people of Israel are crying to God for help to be freed from slavery. And God hears their Cries the key words here. God remembers his covenant with his people. God remembers his covenant with his people. After that, the narrative turns and God calls Moses at the burning bush. Right then, in the burning bush encounter between God and Moses, God twice recalls his covenant to give the land of Canaan to the offspring of Abraham. And that covenant is going to pull us way back to Genesis 12, the Abrahamic covenant in which God promises. Abraham says, your offspring will inhabit the land of canaan. So Genesis 12 is really the basis of the Exodus narrative because it's setting, it's establishing the promise that God's people will have a home where they can live and prosper and worship the true God. Now, keep working forward through verses 6, 7, and 8, God is gonna. He's gonna drive the details of this promised home even further. It's his promise to his people to remember the covenant, right? So verse six says, I, God, I'm going to free you from Egyptian slavery. And we see the imagery of God again here says, I'm reaching out and pulling his people out of slavery with an outstretched arm. In chapter four, God says, I'm going to use a mighty hand. In the beginning of chapter six, he says, I'm going to use a strong hand. And now here in chapter six, verse six, God says, it's worth an outstretched arm with great acts of judgment, right? In verse seven, it says, you will be my people, I will be your God, and you will know that I brought Israel out of slavery. And finally, verse 8 reminds us of the covenant that God made with Abraham. Says God, the promise that God would give the land of Canaan to the Israelites. Okay, so that's our first eight verses of this chapter. And this narrative is going to continue in verse nine. And Moses is going to start taking action on these commands next. But before we get into that, let me just look it back on these eight verses. I want to summarize as best I can here. So verses one through eight, they're. They're God's reply to Moses's grumblings, really, at the end of chapter five. And so if this were like. So I was thinking about this. This is a TV show. It's divided into episodes, right? Chapter 5 ends with. With Moses in the depths. He's standing outside of the meeting place if the Israelite foreman had just brought their failed appeal to Pharaoh. And so, like, right before the credits roll, Moses is just discouraged. He's frustrating. He's wondering why his obedience to God's commands have only made things worse. And I was thinking about this, the Bible doesn't tell us. We don't get any physical demonstrations from Moses in this moment. So I can only imagine it from my own experience. But I'll just say this, if you don't know me, I've worked in construction management for the last. Trying to remember now, 6, 7, 8 years now 9 out of 10 days wear work boots, jeans, a butt down shirt and a hat. When I need to look more presentable, I just don't wear the hat. Okay? Right. But when something goes wrong on a job site, which believe it or not, sometimes happens, right, the person responsible, usually me, you have to figure out what happened, we have to figure out how to fix it. You have to figure out how long it's going to take and then you have to explain it to everybody involved. Right. And then sometimes when multiple things go wrong at once, like my hat comes off, it's a good thing to throw when you're frustrated, right. And your hands go through, your hands go through my hair like this, right. And you're just going, I don't know anything, I don't know anything about anything. Right. But this is like, this is the kind of human frustration that I, that we see Moses in here. Like, we obviously don't know what he was wearing. We don't know if he wears a hat, if he throws it, we don't know if he turned around and kicked the sand or punched the wall. But, but because, but the, his words here, they're a man overwhelmed by a mission that seems to be collapsing in front of him. And we see this frustration mounting in Moses right here. So that, so Moses again, just keep this in mind before this whole conversation happens. Moses is rejected by Pharaoh, he's blamed by the Israelite foreman. And then he's just kind of like, he's like, this is all going backwards. Like nothing is going right here. So his questions at the end of chapter five, they're not like calm theological observations. They're the words of a desperate man. And he's like, he's like, I'm trying to be obedient, but all I'm doing is leading to more suffering here. So that's the first thing to remember in these first eight verses, right. God's answer is replying to a moment of great frustration. Okay, the second thing to remember here is that God never told Moses it was going to be easy. He was like, like at no point was he like, you're just going to waltz in there and it's going to, you know, it's one conversation. It's over, right? It's not how it's laid out. From the burning bush onward God. He's already told Moses that Pharaoh would resist, that the deliverance would require God's mighty hand. So God's reply isn't a change of plan. It's more of a reminder of the plan that he's already revealed. And it's a reminder that Moses, he's like, you should have expected some hardship here, right? And the third thing to remember about these first eight verses, it's God presenting himself as the covenant maker and the covenant keeper. And God is delivering Israel from slavery by delivering Israel from slavery and bringing them one step closer to the land of Canaan. It's more than Moses assignment. It's actually. It's God fulfilling the promise he made to Abraham. So Moses has to trust in this difficult obedience. He says, I have to trust that this is a part of God's larger plan. Okay, okay, we'll keep working through it here. Let's look at verses 9 through 13. I'll read these for us. Just to refresh it here. Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses because their broken spirit and harsh slavery. So the Lord said to Moses, go in, tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let the people of Israel go out of his land. But Moses said to the Lord, behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me? For I am of uncircumcised lips. The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about a people of Israel, about the people of Israel, and about Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt, Egypt. So. So first of all, here, I think we got to give Moses a little bit of credit here. He has some. We have obedience without grumbling in this case, right? He does what God commands. He's delivering the covenant reminder message to the people. But he hits another setback here. The message falls on deaf ears, right? Verse nine says that they don't. They wouldn't listen because their broken spirit and the harsh slavery. So, like going back to chapter five, Pharaoh's strategy has worked, at least for the moment. And the burden on the Israelites has become so heavy that, like, the mental occupation of survival has crowded out any glimmer of hope. And it's just one of the painful realities of this passage is like, when people are. When you're just crushed by the weight of the present moment, it's hard to see any promise of the future. So the Israelites, I don't think they're rejecting God's promise because it's untrue. I think they're just too burdened to receive it right now. So then moving forward in verses 10 through 13, the focus is going to shift from, from the people's inability to hear God's promise to Moses ongoing struggle to trust God's calling. So, so God tells Moses, he says, go back to Pharaoh and command to let Israel go. But immediately, Moses immediately goes back to his familiar objections. And Moses argues that, he says, if the people of Israel won't listen to me, Pharaoh certainly won't, right? He's like, these are the people. I'm these people who are going to benefit from this, right? Why is Pharaoh gets nothing out of this? Why would he listen? He says, he says, I have uncircumcised lips. And other translations say I have faltering lips, I have poor, poor speech. So in other words, Moses is saying the people who should most want to hear this message are not listening one, and then two. So why should Pharaoh? And lastly, third, I'm still not a good communicator. So God answers, he answers both objections. He gives a charge to Moses and Aaron. And Aaron's present presence is an answer to Moses concerned about speaking, right? Like we go back to chapter to the burning bush encounter. God says, I'll give you Aaron to help you speak, right? So just having Aaron there is an answer to one of the objections. Then the charge itself to Moses and Aaron, it just keeps it mission focused, right? He says, you gotta speak to both Israel and Pharaoh because God me, I am still intending to bring the nation of Israel out of Egypt. So, so neither Pharaoh's resistance, nor Israel's discouragement, nor Moses insecurity can overturn God's command. Okay, so that's, so we're through verse 13 now. Now at this point the narrative is going to pause for a genealogy and like, rather than skipping over it, we need to, we need to, we need to look through this and see how this serves the, the flow of chapter six and how it fits within larger narrative of the Old Testament. This is by no means the, the longest or the most, the most thorough genealogy of the Old Testament. But this one, the purpose of this genealogy, it's going to anchor Moses and Aaron and the family line of Israel. And it reminds us that this rescue mission that we're on here is, is tied to God's long standing covenant promise. So we see the genealogy start with Reuben and Israel, and Israel is another Name for Jacob. And Jacob, right, is the grandson of Abraham, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. And so we see again that Moses, he's just God's tool to fulfill the covenant between God and Abraham. Okay. And secondly the text self identifies its purpose in verse 26 to 27 says these are the Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said bring out the people of Israel from the land of Egypt by their host. It was they who spoke to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, about bringing the people of Israel from Egypt. This Moses and this Aaron. So by including this family history, Moses connects the deliverance of Egypt back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He's not just, he's not stepping into this random moment in history. He's being placed place within the covenant story of God that God has been working on for generations. So this genealogy reminds us that God's promise has a history and his faithfulness is not interrupted by Moses weakness or by Pharaoh's resistance. Okay, final section of text here, verse 28:30. It's going to return us back to the main narrative, right? God is again going to direct Moses to speak to Pharaoh. And that's going to set us up for the events in chapter seven, right? There's a slight, there's a slight difference here. It says, tell Pharaoh, King of Egypt, all that I say to you. So we're kind of setting up for what's going to be happening next here. But this genealogy has reminded us that God's covenant purposes are still moving forward. And now the narrative is going to remind us that Moses has to continue forward as God's messenger. Right? But Moses again is going to repeat his old objection. He says, I'm not a strong speaker. How will Pharaoh listen? And the chapter is going to end with this kind of unresolved, unresolved tension in Moses mind. But not, not an unresolved, but nothing unresolved in God's plan. Right? The tension is with Moses. So that's our, that's our, that's our text, that's our passage. So Lord willing, let me just try to wrap this up for us here. It's not, it's not hard to see the repeated patterns here, right? As I, when I start writing a sermon, I have the Bible and I have a blank piece of a yellow legal pad. And I just, I make notes verse by verse, verse by verse. And as I'm doing this, I'm like, Moses complains about inability. God reminds him of God reminds Moses of God's greater purpose. Moses complains again. God reminds Moses again. Moses complains. I mean I Mean, it's like, it's not, it's not a. We don't have to be scholars here to see this repeated pattern, right? But that's like the power of the narrative, though. Like God is giving Moses this clear command. It's grounded in his power, it's grounded in covenant faithfulness. But Moses just keeps going back to his own weakness. Then God keeps pointing Moses, think beyond yourself. He's like, he's pointing Moses away, away from himself. He's pointing Moses back towards God who can accomplish the deliverance, right? And as we think about applying this passage, we have to be careful that we don't turn this into like the hero's journey of Moses and needing to believe in himself, right? The main point is not that Moses finally finds enough courage within himself. And that's the risk. These well known Old Testament narratives like Joseph, Moses, David, Daniel, Jonah, to name a few, that's the risk of these passages. The main point of these is that God is faithful, God is powerful, and God is using weak messengers to carry out his saving work. And that the danger in reading these like famous biblical narratives as if their deepest lesson was merely like, follow the healer's good traits and avoid his bad traits. Like, there's just a we can learn from Moses. But the shortfalling of that is that these characters and Moses, he's not the central figure of the passage, right? The strong arm of God, the mighty hand of God the mighty. The strong hand of God is the force that keeps the story moving forward. So when Moses is just repeatedly questioning his ability to do the work that God has called him to do, in one sense he's right. He's not wrong in his assessment of his own abilities, like Moses did not. He doesn't have the power to change Pharaoh's heart. He doesn't have the power to break the Egyptian oppression. He doesn't have the power to fulfill God's covenant promise. But Moses, still, he just keeps missing the point. It's like God is never asking him to be the deliverer. He's. God is asking him to be the messenger of the deliverer, right? Exodus chapter 3, verses 19 and 20 establish this. They say, I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand, this is God speaking, and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it. And after that he will let you go. So again, God is never asking Moses to be the mighty hand. He's just asking Moses to be the messenger. God is never commanding Moses to fulfill the covenant by his own strength. He's just commanding Moses to be an obedient participant in, in God's plan of keeping the covenant. So guys, if we can, this is like, if we can get this through our brains, we can save ourselves so much worry and hanry and consternation. Like, we are not the Saviors, we are not the Saviors. Moses cannot deliver Israel, deliver Israel by his own strength. And we can't deliver ourselves from the consequences of our own sin. Right? We can't save ourselves. Moses couldn't do it. We can't do it. Salvation belongs to the Lord and our calling is just faithful obedience in that. Now back to thinking about, thinking about this narrative as a whole. Like when we read narratives and especially these biographical narratives, it's easy to be the critic. So I say this next part with some hesitation because I don't, I'm confident I would not have done much better than Moses if I were in this situation. So with that trepidation, I, I, if we can glean one like kind of follow Moses lesson out of this or maybe don't follow Moses lesson. The, the lesson we need to learn is we need to be better at speaking the truth to ourselves, right? Moses has some moments of faithful obedience, but, but he's, more often than not he's, he's just plagued by his own self doubts. So when we think about this in the real world, I think about the phrase, I don't know where I heard it first. It's like you don't rise to the occasion, you drop to the level of your training, right? So I've just gotten done this summer. It's the seventh summer I've coached Demetrius, our oldest in baseball. And the past two summers I've been the first base coach. So I get a little bit of like mid at bat coaching time. And it takes me about half the season to remember that like you're not significantly moving the needle in like player development and talent in the middle of the game, in the middle of the at bat, right? Like you got a player with a bad swing at the beginning of that bat. Nothing you can say is really going to make a significant adjustment in the middle of the at bat. So like in the middle of the, in the middle of the game, in the middle of the moment. Most people, we don't rise to the occasion, we just stoop to the level of the training. Like the game moves so fast, the next moment comes so fast and the next moment is so overwhelming that like you stoop to the level of your training, right? So what we can learn from Moses Bad example here is that we have to be faithful and consistent and diligent in consuming what is right and true and what is from God. And we have to be faithful and consistent and diligent in reminding ourselves that like God is the strong and mighty hand and we are not. Right. And again, in full honesty, I don't think I would stack up much better than Moses. Again, it's easy to be the critic. Our life isn't canonized, Right. The main application is not be better than Moses. The main application is this. Like, we have to be mindful of how highly we view our own abilities and we have to be mindful of how low or not we view God's abilities. Right? We have to be mindful of how highly we view our own abilities. And we have to be mindful of how low or how high we view God's abilities. Right? One of my dear friends and mentors in construction and just life is a man named Travis. He's been doing construction management for over 30 years. He's a wonderful man of God, father of three faithful kids, grandfather, he's in construction terms. He's forgotten more work than I've ever managed and he's forgotten more lessons than I've ever learned yet. Right. If you've been to Lucille Downtown, he managed the renovation. It turned the bank vault into this wonderful event space. He's managed like a 500,000 square foot manufacturing plant. He has the experience and the credentials to be respected. And when I first met Travis, I'd been managing projects for like two years. I was like the most stressed out I had ever been. I had more responsibility than I ever had. Like deadlines in 1, 2, 3, 4 weeks. Coming up, Rachel's eight months pregnant with Chris. I'm like overwhelmed. And I meet Travis. I can remember it's like the Panera in Fitchburg. I'm like, Travis, how do you manage this? And he didn't. I can still remember this conversation. He says he didn't give me any. Do this every day. This is my project management checklist. He goes, you know, Rob, you do everything you can. Sometimes you just have to pray those projects over the finish line. Like that was it. It's like, it's, it's hopefully simple, but. But painfully simple, right? It's like you do all we can, but we have to. We have to. We have to show up, but we have to. We have to show up and do the work that God has called us to. Do diligently. But we have to realize that there are responsibilities and goals that seem impossible for man to shoulder. So we have to have to appeal to the all powerful God for help. So when we think about Moses and our narrative today, like Moses repeated objections, they just reveal we're seeing a man who felt the weight of his own weakness, but he struggled to rest in the strength of God. So church just wrapping this up. As we continue to think about Moses and we continue to think about God using Moses to carry out his work, my prayer is that we would learn to be faithful and obedient voices for God in the world. And not because we're strong enough to accomplish his purposes, but because we serve a God who is. So that's all we got for today. Let me pray for us today and then we'll do Lord supper after that. Lord, what a, What a joy and a burden it is. To be able to. Just take time to go into Moses's life in detail and take time to see, to see his shortcomings and to see, to see your strength and your promises and to see how you're using a flawed and sinful man to fulfill your promises, to fulfill your plan to redeem the world. Like. Pray for us, pray for our church that we would, we would diligently serve, we would diligently show up, we'd be faithful, obedient servants. But we would ultimately remember that it is not, it's not on our own strength. We serve an all powerful God who has a strong hand and a mighty arm. Even thinking of this sermon today, you're using a flawed and sinful man to bring, to deliver a divine and holy word here. So pray these words will not return empty and that they would be faithful for the good of your church, the evangelism of the world, and for the building up of the saints. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. The post God Promises Deliverance – Exodus 6: 1-30 appeared first on Red Village Church.

In Shittim, Moav and Midian lure Israel into Baal Peor, triggering a plague and the public rebellion of Zimri with a Midianite princess, until Pinchas spears them and is vindicated by God. A punitive strike against Midian follows, including Bilaam's death, and Moshe's fury when captives are brought back, underscoring the need for vigilance, clear identity, and daily self-scrutiny taught by Rambam and Ramhal.Rabbi Dweck has held rabbinic leadership roles in the US and the UK. He is the Rosh Bet Midrash of TheHabura.com and the Rabbi Levy Chair of Jewish Wisdom at the London School of Jewish Studies.For more, check out rabbijosephdweck.com.Instagram: https://instagram.com/rabbidweckTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rabbidweckYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RabbiJosephDweck

Moses in the Wilderness: A Journey of Humility and Divine Calling In the fourth episode of our series on Moses, we delve into the transformative years Moses spent in the desert, a period that refined his character and prepared him for God's mission. The story, rooted in Exodus 2:3 and Exodus 3:1-10, provides profound insights into God's ways and how He prepares us for His purposes. The Desert Experience Moses, once a prince of Egypt, found himself in the wilderness of Midian, a stark contrast to the splendor he was accustomed to. This wilderness was not just a physical place but a spiritual crucible where Moses faced his deepest desolation. Despite having a family, he named his son Gershom, meaning "foreigner in a foreign land," reflecting his inner turmoil and sense of displacement. The desert, as explained, is a place where God speaks, a concept rooted in the Hebrew word midbar, meaning "to speak." In this barren land, stripped of worldly comforts and distractions, Moses was positioned to hear God's voice. This period was crucial for Moses to shed the pride of his past and embrace humility, paving the way for God to use him mightily. God's Unwavering Faithfulness During Moses' time in Midian, the Israelites in Egypt cried out in their suffering. Interestingly, Exodus 2:23-25 reveals that their cries were not specifically directed to God, yet God, in His grace, responded. This highlights a key theme: God's faithfulness is not contingent on our perfect prayers but on His promises and character. God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, showcasing His unwavering commitment to His people despite their waywardness. This divine response underscores the truth that God hears and answers prayers, proving His deity by doing what no other god can do. The Call of Moses In Exodus 3:1-10, God appears to Moses in a burning bush, a pivotal moment marking the beginning of Moses' divine mission. God declares His intent to rescue the Israelites and calls Moses to lead this mission. This encounter transforms the desert into holy ground, a place where God confirms Moses' calling. Moses' initial response to God's call reflects his newfound humility. Unlike his younger self, who was eager to act on his own accord, Moses now questions, "Who am I?" This humility, forged through years of hardship, made him ready to partner with God in delivering His people. Lessons from the Wilderness God's Aim is Transformation: The desert is not merely a place of trial but a tool for God to refine us. God is more interested in making us better than just making our circumstances better. Humility as a Prerequisite: True service to God begins with humility. As Philippians 2:5-8 illustrates, Jesus exemplified this by humbling Himself to the point of death. Trust in God's Grace: Even when our prayers are imperfect, God's grace is sufficient. He works in our lives to fulfill His purposes, often in ways we cannot foresee. Worship in the Wilderness: In times of desolation, we are called to worship and listen for God's voice, trusting that He is at work even when we feel abandoned. In conclusion, Moses' journey from the palace to the desert teaches us about the power of humility, the faithfulness of God, and the transformative potential of the wilderness. As we reflect on these truths, may we be encouraged to embrace our own desert experiences, knowing that God is with us, speaking, refining, and preparing us for His divine purposes.

In this study we will take a look at the women within the Bible. We will look at each one of them and see how their story influences our lives today.As we continue our study in this fantastic insight of the Women of the Bible, this morning we shall take a look at Jochebed and Zipporah.JOCHEBED (Yahweh Gloried): THE MOTHER OF MOSES.Jochebed, wife of Amram and mother of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, is mentioned by name only in Exod 6:20 and Num 26:59, both genealogical listings. Jochebed, whose name apparently means YHWH is glory,” is notable as the first person in the Bible to have a name with the divine element yah, a shortened form of YHWH.Jochebed, wife of Amram and mother of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, is mentioned by name only in Exod 6:20 and Num 26:59, both genealogical listings. The narrative in Exodus 2 about Moses' birth introduces her, without providing her name, as a member of the priestly tribe Levi; she marries a Levitical man, also unnamed here. The mother, in defiance of the Pharaoh's order that every male Hebrew child be killed, hides her newborn son for three months and then places him in a basket in the Nile. Pharaoh's daughter (also unnamed) finds the child and accepts the offer of Moses's sister Miriam, who witnesses the rescue of her brother, to find a Hebrew woman as a wet nurse for the infant. The narrative cleverly places Jochebed as the caregiver for her own son.The story in Exodus 2 clearly focuses on Moses, whose rescue from the river resembles other birth tales presenting culture heroes. The omission of the names of the child's family members contributes to the heightened interest in Moses. The genealogical information about his mother, as not only the daughter of Levi but also as the wife (and aunt!) of a Levite, serves to highlight the priestly pedigree of both Moses and Aaron. In addition, Jochebed, whose name (Hebrew yokheved) apparently means “YHWH is glory,” is notable as the first person in the Bible to have a name with the divine element yah, a shortened form of YHWH. The tradition that Moses announces to the Israelites that YHWH is the name of their Elohim (Exod 6:1–8) is thus embedded in his maternal lineage: if his mother bears YHWH's name, Moses learned it from her.Pharaoh's daughter said to Jochebed: "Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages." (Exod. 2:9.)This is the last we hear of Jochebed, Moses' mother.THE RESULT OF HER LIFE's WORKwas the man Moses. The true mother lives again in her son. There is the answer to her prayers; there is the result of her watchfulness; there is the true correction of her own faults reproduced in her son. Moses might never have been the man he was had it not been for Jochebed.                Who knows how many a leader of Yahweh's people may be at the present time in course of training by some pious mother? Who knows but that the little James or John or William, who is playing with the kitten in the living room, may someday become a man to whom hundreds or thousands may look for help and direction? Oh let every mother who reads these pages understand her vocation when a higher than Pharaoh's daughter says to her: "Take this child and nurse it for Me, and I will give thee thy wages."                But the wages of Jochebed were not to be given by the princes of this world. To be the mother of a Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face, like who there arose not since in Israel (Deut. 34:10): this was an honor which none but Yahweh could give. ZIPPORAH (bird): THE WIFE OF MOSES.Exod. 2:15-22                Zipporah is the wife of Moses, given to him in marriage by her Midianite priest father. She heroically saves Moses and her sons from a random attack from an angel by cutting off her son's foreskin; the explanation for this act is unclear. However, Zipporah is shown as fiercely devoted to her husband, even though he neglects her.                Zipporah is a Midianite woman who becomes the wife of Moses. After Moses kills an Egyptian, he flees from the pharaoh and settles among the Midianites, an Arab people who occupied desert areas in southern Transjordan, northern Arabia, and the Sinai. He meets the seven daughters of Reuel, priest of Midian, at a well; rescues them from shepherds who are harassing them; and fills their jugs with water. In gratitude, Reuel (called Jethro or Hobab in other biblical passages) offers Moses hospitality, then gives him his daughter Zipporah in marriage (Exod 2:21–22). She and Moses have two sons, Gershom and Eliezer (Exod 18:3–4).Zipporah is the heroine of a bizarre incident that takes place as Moses heads back to Egypt with his wife and sons (Exod 4:20). On their way, at a night encampment, “The Lord met him [Moses] and tried to kill him” (Exod 4:24). No reason is given, just as no reason is given for the angel's attack on Jacob as he came back from Mesopotamia (Gen 32:24). Jacob was alone and wrestled with the angel all night; Moses is with his wife, who comes to his rescue. She takes a flint and cuts off her son's foreskin. She then flings the foreskin at “his” feet, declaring that he is hatan damim to her (Exod 4:26). Zipporah's enigmatic statement has two possible explanations: she flings the foreskin at Moses's feet, saying, “You are a bridegroom of blood to me” (NRSV), or she flings it at Yahweh's feet, saying, “You are a blood father-in-law to me.” (Damim means “blood,” and hatan can mean either “bridegroom” or “father-in-law.”) Either way, her deed and words stop the attack. The story is already difficult for the narrator, who adds a comment that hatan damim refers to circumcision. The situation remains unclear to us. Zipporah, however, understood it and acted decisively to rescue Moses. Zipporah's name, meaning “bird,” combined with her protection of Moses, is reminiscent of the fierce loyalty to her husband Osiris of the Egyptian goddess Isis, who is often portrayed as a bird of prey.Zipporah is not well rewarded. At some point before the exodus from Egypt, Moses sends her and the children away (Exod 18:2). After the exodus, her father, the priest of Midian (here called Jethro), comes to visit Moses, bringing Zipporah and her two sons. Moses is told that his father-in-law Jethro is “coming to see you, with your wife and her two sons” (Exod i8:6). Moses goes out to greet Jethro and takes him into his tent, but nothing is said about his greeting Zipporah.Moses' neglect of Zipporah is obvious, as he (not Yahweh) tells the men at Sinai not to approach any women in preparation for Yahweh's approach in three days (Exod 19:2). Since he himself is apparently always in preparation for meeting with Yahweh, we can infer that he never sleeps with Zipporah. In Num 12:1 Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses because of the “Cushite woman” whom he married, but they do not mention her name. Midrashic tradition assumed they were discussing Moses' neglect of Zipporah. Other interpreters see the Cushite woman as a second wife, with Miriam and Aaron opposed to the marriage. But no children are ever recorded for a second wife of Moses.

The history of Israel series continues as we move into Judges 6 with the start of the story of Gideon. The Israelites have fallen away from the worship of Yahweh, so God sends the Midianites to oppress them. After 7 years, they cry out to God for relief and He sends Gideon...the youngest man from an insignificant family. Gideon's faith is tested as God calls him to do a difficult task before taking on the Midianites. Then, after that's done, God whittles down his force to such a small number that it will have to be recognized that God won the battle. How does that happen? Listen to this episode to find out.If you're enjoying Bible Backdrop, please leave a 5-star rating and review. To get in touch with the show, you can e-mail the address given in the episode.

For four books of the Bible now (Exodus-Deuteronomy), we have journeyed from a bushel basket in Goshen to the royal palace in Egypt, from the desert of Midian to the wilderness of the Arabah, from the top of Mt. Sinai to the top of Mt. Nebo, following every step of the way one central figure: Moses. But this Sunday as we conclude the book of Deuteronomy, Moses's story comes to a close. As we have learned from his words and example these past 134 chapters now, so too in these final two chapters do we learn from Moses how to “finish well” the race of faith that God has set before each of us. Join us for this sermon for the grand finale of Deuteronomy (and the Torah!)!

Send us Fan Mail“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, ‘I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.'“So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!'“And he said, ‘Here I am'” (Exodus 3:1-4). Freshly written and sent out immediately "morning by morning" from the morning prayer time of Tommy Hays each day.God bless you and you have a great day!—Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministrieshttp://messiah-ministries.org

Have you ever found yourself hiding from your purpose? Maybe you've pulled away from people, convinced yourself you have to handle everything on your own, or felt like no one even notices you anymore.In this episode of When the Scriptures Become Real, we walk through the life of Moses and discover God's call to go back. Before Moses could lead Israel out of Egypt, he had to leave the comfort of Midian and answer God's invitation to return to the place he thought he had left behind forever. Maybe its time for you to go back too?If you've been stuck in the wilderness of fear, discouragement, or comfort, this message is a reminder that God still calls His people by name and still has a purpose for their lives.

God isn’t looking for the strongest, the smartest, the most experienced, or the most qualified. None of the things we place such importance on are on God’s list of expectations of us. God asks for something specific from us … believe. Simply believe he will do what he says he will do. Believe he can do it through you and he can do it for you. We are so quick to dismiss ourselves. We’re so accustom to playing little and sitting it out. Experience has shown us if we will just sit and wait, someone else might step up and do it for us. But really, is that what God created you for? Did he create you to be the girl who never does anything hard? Did he create you to be the girl who watches others do what you should be doing? I think not! Your Creator expects you to believe his power is enough to overcome every single inadequacy you may have. Your Creator expects you to show up like you’re chosen, and count on divine providence to make things happen as you go. This whole laying low, hiding in dark corners, and playing little nonsense has got to stop. Your muscles are atrophying because you’re not using them. And let me tell you something, your faith is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. But lack of use causes it to wither and deteriorate. If you haven’t been showing up in the middle of circumstances that are beyond your own ability and putting yourself out there in the face of potential failure, then you’ve started to believe you never could. Your focus has become set on all you can’t do, rather than what GOD COULD DO through you. What could God do through you? Oh girl, you have no idea! But don’t you want to know! I totally want to know what God could do through an ordinary girl like me. I want to know what my life could become with a disciplined surrender to his promptings. Notice I said “disciplined surrender” to his promptings. I’ve discovered this journey of being led by the Holy Spirit is a daily act of discipline. It means I get up when I don’t want to get up. It means I show up no matter what. It means I believe there’s something greater guiding me than my feelings in the moment. It means I start small and humble and refuse to give up in the struggle, because eventually God will grow it to something greater. But he doesn’t grow great things out of our nothing. He doesn’t show up and use magic in our lives. Is that what you’ve been counting on? Magic. God, just make it happen. Do something big, while I do nothing. Nope. God uses seeds. Your disciplined surrender every day is a seed. If you don’t plant it by showing up when you don’t feel like showing up, then guess what … you forfeit the blessing of seeing what God could have done with your little. You dismiss yourself from growth. So, God will grow someone else. God will use someone else’s seed of disciplined surrender to create what you’ve been dreaming of, and you’ll sit there and watch it happen wondering why it couldn’t be you. Well, honey, maybe it couldn’t be you because you weren’t willing to believe to the point of action. Yes, that’s what we’re talking about today. Belief in God that makes us move. Believing so much that we can’t sit in inaction. Believing God is doing something so good, no one could make you sleep the day away. Believing God is guiding you so powerfully, that nothing could hold you back from taking the next step. Would God really choose someone like you for that? YES – You’re perfect for this! In the Old Testament, the Lord chose Gideon as his mighty warrior to rescue his people. But there was one little problem, Gideon was a very unlikely candidate for a warrior position. No one else would have chosen Gideon, but God did. And you need to know why. You need to know why God chose someone totally unlikely for great things, because you’ve been focusing on how unlikely you are while God has been trying to tell you YOU ARE CHOSEN. Judges 6: 11-16 “The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you,mighty warrior.” “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?” “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.” Why would God choose the least person out of a family in the weakest clan to rise up as a warrior? Oh honey, don’t you remember what Jesus said in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My power is made perfect in your weakness.” Gideon being a total unlikely warrior was God’s divine opportunity to show his power. So, Sister, all the reasons why you can’t … all the reasons why you’re not good enough … all the reasons why you dismiss yourself … those are the exact reasons God has chosen you. YOU ARE THE ONE HE WANTS because his power is made absolutely perfect in you. You can’t do this on your own, and you’re not supposed to. But you are supposed to do this with his power! Gideon began following God’s promptings with disciplined surrender. He did things that were hard for him to do. He did things that made absolutely no sense to him. He did things that would cause others to question. And with each act of disciplined surrender, God’s power was made perfect within him. This is how the least person in a family of the weakest clan became a mighty warrior. He actually BELIEVED what God said about him. And he believed it so much, he took action. And this is exactly where you are today. You’re at this place where God is speaking to you. He is telling you you are his beloved and chosen girl. He is telling you he created you for a purpose and he has great plans for you. He is telling you the deepest desires of your heart have been put there by him, written into your soul by your creator, as a guide to your destiny. Will you BELIEVE IT? Will you believe this could be true for you? Will you believe your weakness makes you a perfect candidate for God’s power? Will you believe it so much that you stop dismissing yourself? Will you believe it so much that you greet the feelings that tell you you don’t want to, and show up with disciplined surrender anyway? Will you believe it in the face of your most recent set back? Will you believe it when it looks totally unlikely? Will you believe it when you’re tired? Will you believe it when it doesn’t make sense? Will you believe it to the point of action? God has aligned things for you that your mind simply cannot even begin to fathom right now. It’s crazy perfect how God’s plans for your life will fulfill every dream you’ve ever had and bring purpose to every struggle you’ve ever lived through. Yip, God meant it when he said he will give you the desires of your heart. He meant it when he said he would take everything the enemy ever meant for harm and use it for good. Now, you get to choose whether you believe it. And if you choose to believe it, something will start shifting within you. That belief will stir up power and courage and strength you never knew possible. The warrior stuff inside of you will start showing up. And every day, through disciplined surrender pushing you through all the things you don’t feel like doing, you will discover you really are the one God has chosen! Your job today is to start believing it and start showing up for it. My whole world changed when I spent more time believing I could be the one God spoke through than dismissing myself from the calling. No more dismissing yourself. God is calling you. He’s calling you out of the corner where you’ve been hiding. Out of the rut where you’ve been stuck. Out of the comfort you’ve been clinging to. Out of the excuses you’ve been using. Believe it and see where your feet are guided next! Each act of your disciplined surrender invites God’s power to be made perfect within you. Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

Ever wonder why God meets us in our most barren moments? From Hagar's desperate flight to Moses at the burning bush, Scripture reveals a stunning pattern: God doesn't avoid the wilderness. He uses it. Moses fled Egypt as a murderer, ending up in Midian tending sheep in the far reaches of the wilderness. That's exactly where God appeared in flames that didn't consume. In your wilderness, God is watching. He is listening. The question is: are you paying attention when He calls?

What do you do when life looks confusing, painful, delayed, or completely out of place? In this sermon, “God Knows What He's Doing,” we look at the life of Moses and see how God was working even when the picture looked impossible.From Pharaoh's death decree, to Moses floating in the Nile, to his years in Midian, to the plagues, Passover, and the Red Sea, every moment proves one powerful truth: God sees the finished masterpiece before we understand the brushstrokes.You may not understand every trial, delay, loss, or unanswered question, but you can trust the Artist. The painting is not finished. The story is not over. God is still working.Scripture Text: Exodus 5:22–23, Exodus 1:22, Exodus 2:1-2, Habakkuk 2:3, Romans 8:28, Philippians 1:6Key Thought: Don't judge the painting before the Artist is finished

Deen Salami | Guest Pastor Standing Firm: A Look at Stephen Check out the weekly sermon here or on our SRBC podcast on Apple Podcast and Spotify. While you're at it, check us out on Facebook and Instagram too. Like what you hear? We'd love to know.At South Run, we read every message personally. Whether you have a question, want to share how God is moving in your life, or are thinking about visiting in person, this is the place to start. If you click the link below, Pastor Eric will personally reach out to you. Listening online? Let us know. Sermon Transcript Standing Firm: What Stephen's Martyrdom in Acts 6–7 Teaches Us About Faith Under Fire — Sermon TranscriptSouth Run Baptist Church | Springfield, VA Guest Preacher: Deen SalamiActs 6:8–7:60June 7, 2026This is a full sermon transcript from South Run Baptist Church in Springfield, Virginia. In this message, guest preacher Deen Salami preaches on the martyrdom of Stephen from Acts 6–7. This sermon addresses how Stephen — an ordinary believer full of faith and the Holy Spirit — stood firm against hate and persecution before the Sanhedrin, what his conduct, his defense, and his death reveal about the cost of following Jesus, and why the church's first martyr was not a tragic accident but a catalyst for the spread of the gospel. Opening: A Passage That Can Almost Preach ItselfI am a little excited today about the message. We've got a lot of ground to cover. There's a large section of scripture that I want us to go through. I'm going to act as your guide. It's not very often that there are passages of scripture that actually can preach themselves. This passage just might be one of them. So what I'd like to do is just to act as your guide. I'll read through big chunks of scripture and I'll just make a couple of observations for us to consider as we do. To do that, though, I'll only need about another hour. Are you guys good with that? I know better than to get in the way of lunch, so I'll make sure that I'll get through this thing in a reasonable amount of time, and I promise we'll survive the experience, all right? All right, why don't you join me in prayer? Gracious God and Father, behold this time. It is you who have called all these people here. None are here by accident. You have assigned me to this task for this day and this hour, and I just pray, Lord God, that you would act and move. Empower now your servant to be able to bring forth this majesty for your people's benefit and for the glory of your great name. May everything that be said and done would be pleasing to you. We pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Context: Who Was Stephen, and Why Does He Matter?Now, we've already had the first section of our passage read to us. We're going to look at the first martyr of the early church. If you guys know, that is a follower by the name of Stephen. Before he was crucified, Jesus warned the disciples that the world would hate them because of him, and as a result, they would suffer persecution. So how do we stand firm against the hate and persecution? Well, Stephen is going to help us answer that question because he experienced exactly what Jesus said he would. How he handles the hate is a great example for us to follow. Now, again, we've already read that first section in Acts 6:1–8, but as we go into the commentary of it, I want you to consider three simple things: the charges brought before Stephen, his conduct throughout this whole trial, and what it costs him at the end. Three things — charges, his conduct, and the cost. The gospel was being preached early on. It's the early part of the church's existence. The gospel was being preached, and after an early reception by the masses, opposition began to rise, specifically from the religious leaders. Stephen was a Hellenistic Jew, which means that his native tongue was not Aramaic, but it was Greek. He was also a Diaspora Jew, meaning that he was not born and raised inside Israel proper. He was born and raised outside of Israel. He came to Jerusalem, heard the gospel, and became a believer. He was not one of the original 12. He had no special place of prominence. In fact, when we first learn of Stephen a few verses earlier, he was in charge of food distribution for the church. In other words, Stephen was a simple, normal person, just like any one of us. His only desire was to serve and to be used by God. Now look at how he was described in this section. It says that he was full of God's grace and power, and he performed great signs and wonders. Up until this point, that description was only made of the apostles. But he ran into his fellow Diaspora Jews, and they could not withstand him in debate, because the Spirit of God had given him great wisdom. Since they were unable to defeat Stephen in debate, they slandered him, brought him up on trumped-up charges, and dragged him before the Sanhedrin. And this, by the way, is the third time that a follower of Jesus was dragged before the Sanhedrin. The first time it was Peter and John for healing a lame man. But because the crowds were praising God, they let them go. The second time was with all 12 apostles. They were beaten and sternly warned no longer to preach the gospel. This time, the Diaspora Jews were mobilized as a mob against Stephen, and if you were hearing properly and paying attention, you noticed that Stephen is alone. Incidentally, this is the same council that sentenced Jesus to death. The Charges Against Stephen: Disrespecting Moses and the TempleSo let's hear the charges brought against Stephen. It was the disrespect of the law — which is referred to as Moses — and the disrespect of God, the temple, because they believed that God's presence was in the temple. But Stephen is going to take these two charges and turn them on his accusers. But for now, I want to draw your attention to how Luke describes Stephen as he stands before the Sanhedrin. He says that he has the face of an angel. Now, I doubt very much that the Sanhedrin thought Stephen was hot, right? But what is it that made his appearance unmistakable? The question I want us to consider is, how is it possible that a normal person like Stephen — who was not part of the inner circle of Jesus — is able to do the things that Stephen had done and was described the way Luke describes him? Acts 6:5 — Full of Faith and the Holy Spirit: What That Actually MeansAnd I believe that the answer is found in verse 5 of chapter 6. This is the very first description we have of Stephen: he's a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. But the question is, what does that mean exactly? Let me start with full of faith. Because there are three aspects of faith that we see in Stephen. First, there's an intellectual determination. What do I mean by that? It simply means that he's asking himself, is the gospel true, and do I believe it? Am I a sinner, like the gospel says, and do I need a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ? Stephen's answer is yes. The second is, do I trust Jesus? Will I submit my life to him and proclaim him as my Lord? Again, Stephen answers, yes. But finally, will I commit everything to him, even if it means my death? And as we will see, Stephen will answer that question yes as well. But let me ask us all a question here. How are we doing in these three aspects? For most Christians, they're okay intellectually up here. Do I need a Savior? Yes. But it's the other two that they stumble at. Is he actually Lord? Am I running my own life? Do I just need Jesus as an advisor — I'll call on him when I need to? Or is he actually Lord? Do we actually commit our lives to him, willing to die? Because Stephen was all in with Jesus, it gave the Holy Spirit free reign to use Stephen any way he wanted. Not like a puppet, but as an active and willing partner in the work of advancing the kingdom. It's like the Fellowship of the Ring. Do you guys remember the Fellowship of the Ring? Remember when Frodo said he was going to go and take the ring to Mordor? Aragorn said to him, if by my life or death I can protect you, I will. Why? Because the fate of Middle Earth hung in the balance, right? But for us today, it's the souls — the eternal souls of people — that hang in the balance. And the only hope for them is Jesus Christ. Amen? If by our life or death, if we have the opportunity to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ, will we? Are we all in like Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit? What the Sanhedrin saw in Stephen was the very presence of the divine emanating from him. But let's move on and see what happens next. Acts 7:1–16: Stephen's Defense Begins — Summarizing Genesis 12 Through Exodus 1 from Memory I'm going to read from chapter 7, verse 1. "Then the high priest asked Stephen, are these charges true? To this he replied, brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran. Leave your country and your people, God said, and go to the land I will show you. So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no children. God spoke to him in this way, for 400 years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, God said, and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place. Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, and Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later, Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs. Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace. Then a famine struck all of Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was. And Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family. After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, 75 in all. Then Jacob went down to Egypt where he and our ancestors died. Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money. And as the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die." Now, for those of you who may have picked up on it, Stephen just summarized Genesis 12 all the way through Exodus 1. Genesis 12 is where we have God's promise to bless the world through Abram. Stephen starts there and ends in Exodus chapter 1. That is approximately 39 chapters that he summarized from memory under pressure. Now, if you were on the Sanhedrin, what would you be thinking right now about the charge of disrespecting the law? At least at this point, it looks like that charge is on kind of shaky ground. In fact, some of the Sanhedrin might be looking at Stephen and secretly giving him a thumbs up. Way to go, bro. Good job, all right? Why Stephen Uses Geography and the Stories of Joseph and Moses StrategicallyWhat I don't want you to miss, though, is how Stephen is telling this story. I want you to notice the way Stephen is making use of geography — Mesopotamia, Haran, Israel, Egypt. He is summarizing what God did in those places, but why is he doing this? Also, I want you to keep in mind what he says about Joseph and his brothers. I'm going to develop that here in a minute. Just be patient, okay? Now, before we move on, I want to highlight how Stephen addresses his adversaries. To the mob, he refers to them as brothers. To the Sanhedrin, he refers to them as fathers. This mob who dragged him forcefully before the Sanhedrin, and this council that not only sentenced Jesus to death but beat the 12 apostles — the question on the table is, why is Stephen so cordial? A few observations. First, he does not seem to be taking their behavior toward him personally. The moment is not lost on Stephen. He's acutely aware of the danger he is in, but he remembers his mission, which was the same as Jesus. He does not want to condemn them. He wants them to know the truth. So he speaks to them in a way fitting that purpose. He does not retaliate against them for mistreating him. Second, Stephen understands that their behavior is symptomatic of a bigger issue. He knows what the Apostle Paul will later go on to understand and share with Timothy. As we read in 2 Timothy 2:25–26, Paul says this: "Opponents must be gently instructed in the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will." Stephen understands that these people have been taken captive by the devil so that they would do his will. But Stephen hopes that they will come to their senses. So he begins by instructing them gently. And in his approach, Stephen is reflecting the very heart of God. Back in Ezekiel 33:11, we hear God say this: "As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways. Why will you die, people of Israel?" Stephen does not clap back at them. Third, he is gentle because he is focused. He knows it's not about him. This encounter is much bigger than Stephen, and he is keenly aware of it, and we can tell by the way he conducts himself. It's a powerful lesson for us today, isn't it? If we're going to stand firm against hate and persecution, we will resist the urge to take people's behavior toward us personally. We remember that their behavior is symptomatic of a bigger issue. They are captives of the devil, and what we want to stay focused on is our mission to be active agents in freeing them through spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now one last point before we move on. We are 19 verses into Stephen's speech and in all his words, Stephen is not trying to defend himself. He has not yet answered the question that was put before him: are these charges true? He hasn't quite answered that question, at least not directly. Acts 7:20–43: Moses, the Burning Bush, and the Pattern of Rejected MessengersBut let's get back to the rest of Stephen's speech, because I think we'll find some more for us to consider. "Now at that time, Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months, he was cared for by his family. When he was placed outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. When Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The next day, Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, men, you are brothers. Why do you want to hurt each other? But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. After 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say, I am the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt. This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, who made you ruler and judge. He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for 40 years in the wilderness." Once again, Stephen has done an excellent job in summarizing that next section. He pretty accurately brings the story to the lawgiver himself, the man Moses. But let me begin to tie some pieces of this puzzle together for us. Stephen brings up Joseph and Moses very strategically. Joseph, with his dreams, and Moses, even at his birth, were both marked by God for God's use and for the good of his people. But in both cases, they were originally rejected. In other words, our ancestors, says Stephen, missed God's messengers the first time. Even though the signs were there, they rejected their God-appointed leaders the first time. And Stephen is about to be very clear about the implications of this for them. He mentions God being with Moses in Midian and in Egypt. All the geographical references that Stephen has made is the point he's taking aim at — the misunderstanding of the temple. They refer to the temple as this holy place. But yet Stephen reminds the Sanhedrin that when Moses was in Midian on Mount Sinai, Moses was commanded to remove his sandals because where he was standing was holy ground. So which is it? Is it the holy ground that Moses was standing on in Mount Sinai in Midian? Or is it this holy place, the temple in Jerusalem? Wherever the presence of God touches down becomes holy. What Stephen is saying is that God is not bound by any single location. This is what the Sanhedrin failed to see in their attempt to defend the temple. And it is a pattern that Stephen is pointing out for them. In addition, Jesus sternly rebuked the religious leaders when he turned over the tables of the money changers and called the temple a den of thieves, because they were keeping people from God. God had left the building, and they were completely oblivious. Let me highlight the wisdom Stephen is using here. First, he knows the word and how to apply it to the situation he is presently in. Second, he understands the charges brought against him and how to use those same charges to highlight the error of his accusers. And finally, he does not lose focus of his mission. And the question on the table for us is, if we were under this pressure, could we do the same? Acts 7:44–53: Stephen Flips the Script — You Are the Ones Who Violated the LawNow Stephen is about to end his time with the Sanhedrin, and it's going to be a colossal end. Let's finish reading. "This is the Moses who told the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people. He was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our ancestors, and he received living words to pass on to us. But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him, and their hearts turned back to Egypt. They told Aaron, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him. That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in it in what their own hands had made. But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon, and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets: did you bring me sacrifices and offerings 40 years in the wilderness, people of Israel? You have taken up the tabernacle of Molech and the star of your God Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore, I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, who enjoyed God's favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says, heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build me, says the Lord? Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things? You stiff-necked people, your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You were just like your ancestors. You always resist the Holy Spirit. Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him. You who have received the law that was given through angels, but have not yet obeyed it." Stephen ends his speech with a powerful rebuke of the Sanhedrin and this mob. The history of the Jewish people had been one of rebellion, culminating in the murder of Jesus, their long-awaited Messiah. Just as they did with Joseph and Moses, they missed Jesus the first time. I want you to underline verse 53. Stephen courageously tells the truth and provides a proper diagnosis of their problem. In so doing, he flips the script. So you accuse me of violating the law and desecrating the temple? I'm not guilty of either one of these, but you are. The evidence he provides is rightly in the law of Moses, and he records the embarrassing incident with the golden calf. This was abject idolatry, which got them exiled, and it's clear that their stubborn rebellion continued to blind them. Making the Means the End: The Sanhedrin's Fatal Error with the Law and the TempleThe inherent problem the Sanhedrin and the mob suffered from was that they made the means the end and did away with the end itself. What do I mean by that? Well, in Galatians 3:24–25, Paul says this: "So the law was our guardian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian." The law was the means by which we would be ready for Christ, who was literally the end of the law — he was what the law was preparing us for. But they made the means, the law, the end, and did away with the end itself, Jesus. Jesus says the same thing about the temple. In Mark 11:17, Jesus says this: "My house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves." The temple was the means by which all the nations would come to know who God is and pray to him. They turned the temple into a money-making machine, and they did away with God altogether. It's the same pattern. Acts 7:54–60: The Stoning of Stephen — Dying Like His LordLike all who stubbornly live in rebellion and refuse to hear the truth, they go after Stephen. "When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Look, he said, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of the young man named Saul. And while they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. When he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul approved of their killing." Stephen took a bold stand and it cost him his life. But here's the beauty of this passage. Stephen died in the same way his Lord did. He dies praying for the forgiveness of the people stoning him, just like Jesus. And because Stephen was so faithful to his call, the heavens opened so that Stephen sees the Lord Jesus rise from his throne to welcome his faithful servant home. How to Stand Firm Against Hate and Persecution: Look Up, Not AroundHow do we stand firm in the face of hate and persecution? First and foremost, we look up, not around. We look to Jesus. We need to be focused on Jesus because he is all he's asking us to be, and he has done all he's asking us to do. That includes suffering for his sake. Second, we need to remember one important thing. We're not simply spectators or victims. We are active agents of change. In other words, we do not lose sight of the mission, because this is why we are here. You know, I know some people — I've spoken to some people about this passage — and they seem to think that it's unfair for Stephen to have died. After all, why couldn't God have saved him? He saved the apostles. He saved John and Peter. Why couldn't he have saved Stephen? But if we read Acts 1:8, where Jesus told the disciples that they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and in the uttermost parts of the world, we begin to realize one important thing. Up until this point, guess where the church was localized? Jerusalem. Guess where they had their small groups? Jerusalem. Guess where they had their worship time? Jerusalem. But where were they supposed to go? But after Stephen was killed, we read this: "On that day, a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria." Stephen's death was the catalyst for the advancement of the gospel outside of Jerusalem. Remember, our faith is not a faith that we simply talk about. Our faith is a full contact sport. If by my life or death I can advance the gospel, I will. Stephen did it by his death. Closing: Active Agents of God's Redemptive WorkLet me read you one quote as I close. It says, "Suffering becomes the ongoing evidence that creation awaits restoration. And believers, bearing God's image and indwelt by the Spirit, participate in that redemptive work. Rather than passive victims of evil, they become agents through whom God's original creative intention progressively reasserts itself against the disorder introduced by sin." Will you be a part of that? Because this is our purpose. And once we understand our purpose and totally embrace it, then we look at the world very differently. We can stop asking why the world is the way it is. Because that's really the wrong question. The right question is, what are we going to do about it? Because we are supposed to be the active and willing participants in God's redemptive work. Is this work dangerous? Yeah. Stephen found that out very clearly. Remember, Jesus died for us first. So it is not like God is asking us to throw away our lives cavalierly. Far from it. Stephen understood the stakes and was keenly aware of the moment. But he determined that his life was worthy of sacrificing for the gospel. He stood firm. Can we? Let me pray. Our gracious God and Father, we thank you for this time that we can be in your word. We are reminded, Lord, that it's you who preserved your word, lo, these 2,000 years for us, this generation of believers, to learn and glean from. I pray, Father, for whatever lessons that may have been brought out here, that those seeds would be scattered in the hearts of your people and that they would grow into folks that would stand firm for the advancement of the gospel. Our only desire, Lord God, is like Stephen. We ask humbly that you would use us as we serve, and that you would be glorified. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. South Run Baptist Church | 8712 Selger Drive, Springfield, VA 22153 | Sunday Worship at 11am Serving Springfield, Burke, West Springfield, Lorton, Alexandria, Fort Belvoir, and Franconia, Virginia. Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Step into the story of a prophet with Fr. Juventius Andrade, C.Ss.R., in this episode of Who's Who in the Bible. In this installment, we explore the transformative life of Moses, specifically his transition from the halls of Egyptian royalty to the humble life of a shepherd in the land of Midian.Throughout the video, Fr. Juventius unpacks the profound layers of Moses' life—from the etymology of his name and his complex dual identity to his life-changing encounter with the Burning Bush at Mount Horeb. You will gain unique insights into how God responds to the suffering of the oppressed and calls individuals to fulfill divine purposes. Whether you are seeking spiritual nourishment or a deeper understanding of biblical history, this episode offers a compelling look at faith, justice, and the courage to answer a divine call. Tune in now to be inspired by this timeless story!

Why does Moses still matter today?In this episode of the Bible and Theology Matters Podcast, host Dr. Paul Weaver is joined by Dr. Michael Emmons, Chris Katulka, and Steve Herzig to explore the life, leadership, and legacy of Moses—one of the most influential figures in the Bible.Discover how God transformed a Hebrew child rescued from death, a prince raised in Pharaoh's palace, and a shepherd in Midian into the deliverer of Israel and mediator of the Mosaic Covenant. Learn the theological significance of the Exodus, the Passover, the Ten Plagues, the Red Sea crossing, Mount Sinai, and the giving of God's Law.This conversation examines Moses' role in God's redemptive plan, his unique relationship with God, his failures and triumphs, and how his life points forward to Jesus Christ.In This EpisodeThe miraculous birth and preservation of MosesMoses' upbringing in Pharaoh's householdThe significance of the tribe of LeviMoses' flight to Midian and years as a shepherdThe burning bush and God's call on Moses' lifeThe Ten Plagues and God's judgment on EgyptThe Passover and Israel's deliveranceCrossing the Red SeaThe Mosaic Covenant and the LawMoses as mediator between God and IsraelMoses' failure at MeribahThe death of Moses and the Promised LandLessons Christians can learn from Moses todayKey Biblical PassagesExodus 1–20Numbers 12Numbers 20Deuteronomy 34Acts 7Matthew 17Hebrews 8About Bible and Theology MattersBible and Theology Matters exists to equip believers with biblical truth, theological clarity, and practical application for faithful Christian living.

Audio Transcript How are we this morning? Excellent. All right. It's my privilege to bring the word to you this morning, so let's get into it. Recently I read a story about a young man who never wanted to be a soldier. He had no visions of fame or ambitions of glory. When his father announced that he'd secured him an appointment to West Point, the boy protested. He wanted to be a farmer or perhaps work the river trade. But his father was not a man to be argued with, and so the 17 year old boarded a coach east. Sick with dread, he got off to a rough start. Through a clerical error, his name was copied incorrectly and it would stick permanently. He hated the academy. He finished 21st of 39 cadets, distinguished only in horsemanship and mathematics. The Mexican War found him a reluctant quartermaster, competent, but unnoticed afterward posted to lonely garrisons on the Pacific coast. Far from his wife Julia and the children he barely knew, he began to drink. In 1854, facing either court martial or resignation over his drinking, he resigned his commission in disgrace and went home with empty pockets. What followed were the worst years of his life. He tried farming on land his father in law gave him outside St. Louis, and the crops failed. He hauled firewood through the city streets in a worn army overcoat, occasionally passing former West Point classmates who looked away embarrassment. He pawned his gold watch one Christmas to buy presents for his children. He tried bill collecting and was terrible at it. He tried real estate and failed at that, too. By 1860, at 38 years old, he was working at a clerk in his younger brother's leather goods store in Galena, Illinois, earning $800 a year. He was a man whose life, by every visible measure, had failed. Then Fort Sumter fell. The quiet clerk who couldn't sell harnesses turned out to understand something that most West Point polished generals did not. The war was not about elegant maneuvers or reputation, but about pressing forward relentlessly, accepting losses and refusing to stop. Donaldson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, the Wilderness, Appomattox. The failures had taught him things that successful men never learned. What it was to be underestimated, to be written off, to keep moving even when the odds looked long. The boy who didn't want to be a soldier, the the lieutenant who resigned in shame, the farmer who failed, and his brother's store. Hiram Ulysses Grant, or as the West Point Clerk mistakenly wrote, U.S. grant, ended the war as General of the armies, the man who had saved the Union and later President of the United States. It turned out that the long road had been the training. Weeks before his death, Grant wrote the preface to his personal memoirs, saying, man proposes and God disposes. There are but few important events in the affairs of men brought about by their own choice. Most of us at some point will know what it is to be in our own wilderness. We will know what it is to wait, to wait through years that seem to lead nowhere, to feel forgotten by God, to look out at a landscape that gives no sign that he is at work. And we will be tempted in those years to conclude that nothing is happening, that God has misplaced us, that our life is being spent in vain. This morning, as we come to a passage in the Book of Exodus that speaks directly into that experience. It is the story of 40 silent years in the life of Moses and 400 silent years in the life of Israel. It is the story of a God who appears to all human eyes to be doing nothing. And it is the story of how, beneath that silence, he was doing everything. So if you would with me open your Bibles, please, to the Book of Exodus. And this morning we're going to finish chapter two, verses 11 to 25. One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, why do you strike your companion? He answered, who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Then Moses was afraid and thought, surely the thing is known. When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well. Now, the priest of Midian had seven daughters. And they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. The shepherds came and drove them away. But Moses stood up and saved them and watered their flock. When he came home to their father, Reuel, he said, how is it that you have come home so soon today? They said, an Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and even drew water for us and watered the flock. He said to his daughters, then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him that he may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell with the man. And he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he Said I have been a sojourner in a foreign land. During those many days. The king of Egypt died and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God, and God heard their groaning. And God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel and God knew. Let's pray. Father. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts this morning be acceptable in your presence. Lord, I pray, after my words are long forgotten, that your word would be remembered. Jesus name. Amen. Exodus is an epic of God's love and redemption of his people. Every scene reads like an action novel. The baby in the basket, the burning bush, the plagues, the angel of death. The parting of the Red Sea, the thunder and lightning around Mount Sinai, the covenant with the Almighty. Before we dive into our text, we must read Exodus rightly. We have to read it Christologically, that is, in relation to Jesus Christ, who is our perfect sacrifice, who saved us out of our bondage to sin and delivered us into a right relationship with God. When Jesus appeared to his disciples on the road to emmaus in Luke 24:27 Records beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. If Jesus started with Moses when describing himself, perhaps we can also we also read it historically. Scholars debate whether the Exodus took place around 1446 BC or around 1260. Good evidence exists for both dates and ancient Israel did not work with an absolute calendar the way we do. But what matters for us this morning is not the precise year, but the fact that it is history, not myth. The renowned Old Testament scholar Nahum Sarna observed that no nation would invent for itself and then faithfully transmit for thousands of years an inglorious origin story of slavery, grumbling and and idolatry. Israel did not flatter itself into existence. This happened. Exodus 2:11 to 25 sits at 1 of the great hinge moments of redemptive history. The book opens with the sons of Jacob settling in Egypt under the protection of Joseph. But there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. What begins as refuge becomes bonding. Hebrews multiplied, and Pharaoh, fearing them, enslaved them and decreed that every male child be cast into the Nile. Into that decree Moses is born. Wes laid out for us last week that Moses mother hides him, his sister watches over him, and then Pharaoh's daughter draws him out of the water. He grows up in the palace, Stephen tells us in Acts 7:22 that he was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in his words and deeds. And that is where our passage begins. The structure that we will use this morning breaks down into four movements. Verses 11 to 14 Moses takes matters into his own hands. Verses 15 to 17 Moses flees and is shaped at a well. 18:22 Moses is welcomed and becomes a sojourner. 23 To 25 While Moses tends sheep, Israel groans and God acts. Start with 11 to 14. Moses has grown. Now the infant in the basket has become a man in Pharaoh's court, raised as Egyptian royalty. How much did he know about his true background growing up? Wes mentioned last week that Moses mother was allowed to nurse him. So did they still have a relationship? Certainly possible. There are so many unanswered questions. Did he live with a divided heart for years? Did he spend endless nights pleading with Pharaoh? Was he embarrassed by his background and didn't want to believe it? We have no idea. What we do know is that he was raised to be a prince of Egypt. But by the time he was 40, he knew exactly who he was and who his brothers and sisters truly were. Were. One day he goes out to his brothers, the Hebrews, and he looks on their burdens. And what he sees he cannot unsee. An Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own. He looks this way and that, and when he sees no one watching, he strikes. Strikes the Egyptian down and buries him in the sand. Now this raises a nagging question for me. If Moses was a member of Pharaoh's household in the royal family, so to speak, why would he have feared killing someone? Wouldn't a royal be able to kill a lowly Egyptian taskmaster with little to no reprisal? This goes into the historical context at the time. Exodus 1:8 says, now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. Commentators note that this likely indicates a dynastic change. A new royal house with no political or familial loyalty to the previous regime. In fact, during either time period, you believe royal houses at that time were very politically unstable, with different factions having different claims to the crown. The princess who had adopted him was almost certainly aging or dead. And the reigning pharaoh would have viewed an adopted Hebrew with suspicion, not affection. And the man Moses killed was not a slave. He was an Egyptian official, a representative of Pharaoh's economic and political authority. This is crucial. In ancient Egypt, killing a Hebrew slave was something an Egyptian could do with little consequence. But a member of the royal household killing one of Pharaoh's taskmasters. This probably would not have looked so much like murder. It would have looked like the potential beginning of an insurrection. The next day, Moses goes out and this time he finds two Hebrews fighting each other. He steps in to make peace, and the man in the wrong rounds on him with words that must have cut deeply. Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill us as you killed the Egyptian? And Moses is afraid. The secret is out. Beneath these interactions is something deeper that the New Testament helps us understand. The writer of Hebrews tells us this whole episode began in faith. By faith. Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the Reward. That's Hebrews 11:24-26. When Moses walked out of the palace, he was not slumming, he was choosing. He looked at the gold of Egypt on the one hand and the suffering of God's people in the other. And he chose the suffering. That is faith. So what went wrong? Well, it can be summed up in the next phrase. He looked this way. That a long line of preachers have lingered over those words and noticed what was missing. As Chuck Swindoll says, he looked east, he looked west, he looked over his shoulder, but he didn't look up, did he? He looked in both directions horizontally, but he left the vertical completely out of it. Moses was a man with a true call, but a glance still fixed on the ground. Here is the heart of the problem. Moses tried to bring about by his own hand what God had promised to bring about by his covenant. The deliverer was right, the cause was right, the method was wrong, and the time was not yet. And the proof is what he is in what he does next. He hides the body in the sand, as if sand could keep a secret from God. Within a day, the rumor was loose. Within a week, Pharaoh wants him dead. Three things to take from these opening verses. First, a true call from God does not exempt a man from from the discipline of God's timing. Moses had the right cause and the right collar. But he ran ahead. And it will take 40 years in the desert to refine him. Second, hidden sin is a poor investment. Sand is a thin grave. What God means to expose, no man can keep buried. Third, there is mercy for those with juvenile or immature faith. John Calvin's pastoral word on this passage is really helpful. Even the obedience of the saints, stained as it is by sin, is still sometimes acceptable to God through his mercy. So Moses runs, but God was not finished with him. He was only beginning verses 15 through 17. Verse 15 begins with collapse. However noble Moses motives may have been, when he took matters into his own hands, he was outside the will of God. And yet God still had a plan for him. This is one of the great promises of Scripture. God uses sinners for his glory. It's the only kind he has to work with. When you read the heroes of the faith, they read a lot more like a Alcoholics Anonymous meeting than a catalog of superheroes. I can almost see them in a church basement, sitting in a circle on folding chairs, sipping bad coffee, introducing themselves. Hi, I'm Abraham and I'm a liar who pimped out my wife. Hi, I'm Jacob. I'm a deceiver and I'm a thief. How? Hi, I'm Samson and I'm a lust addicted vow breaker. Hi, I'm David. I'm an adulterer and a murderer. Hi, I'm Jonah and I'm a racist runaway. Hi, I'm Peter and I'm a coward who denied my Savior. Hi, I'm Moses and I'm a murderer. When Janet and I lived in Atlanta, we had a pastor who was fond of saying that God doesn't look for ability, he looks for availability. God uses broken people because it's his strength, it's his wisdom, it's his power, and it's for his glory. God would be using Moses, but he had some seasoning yet to experience. Verse 15. When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. There's no firm consensus on where exactly Midian was, but the traditional and most widely accepted location is in northwest Arabia, east of the Gulf of Agapa, in what is now northwestern Saudi Arabia. The Midianites appear to have been a semi nomadic people, so Midian may refer to an area where the tribe ranged rather than a specific location. Calvin, commenting here, sees in Moses flight not cowardice, but the sovereign hand of God, breaking a man down before he builds him up. Calvin's instinct is that the Lord put his servant through a long banishment precisely so that he would learn humility and dependence, because the work for which he was designed was greater than human strength could compass. 40 Years of palace training had to be matched by 40 years of desert undoing. Augustine, in a different connection, spoke of being in the region of unlikeness that far country, where the soul learns who it is by losing what it had. Moses, sitting by that well is in the region of unlikeness. Verse 15 ends noting that Moses, obviously exhausted, sat down by a well. One of the beauties of Scripture is the inclusion of what so often to us seems like pointless details. But wells, as it turns out, is an important location in the Bible, specifically, if you are looking for a wife. In Genesis 24, Abraham's servant meets Rebekah, Isaac's future wife, at a well. In Genesis 29, Jacob meets Rachel at a well. This time, who is Moses going to meet? Verses 16 and 17. Now, the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up to save them and watered their flock. Moses is once again faced with injustice. Has he learned anything? A group of young women have come to the well to draw water, and a group of shepherds is going to give them a hard time. Moses, again courageously rises to their defense. Already we see clues that he is learning from his past mistakes. The text does not record that he killed the shepherds, and not only that he served the young women by watering their flock. For the first time, he was learning what it was to be a deliverer. He stands firm for what is just and begins to practice true leadership, which is born out of service. It would have been unthinkable at the time for a man to perform a menial task for women. But Moses stooped to serve. And by learning to serve, he was learning to lead. For all God's leaders are servants. He, in time, the one who is the true and better. Moses would himself kneel and wash 12 pairs of dirty feet and tell his disciples that whoever wants to be great must be a servant of all. Service is always one of the first courses in God's leadership training. Anyone who aspires to spiritual leadership, especially in the church, should begin by finding a place of humble service. If you travel to my alma mater, Wheaton College, one of the most striking little buildings on campus is the Marion E. Wade center, which houses the largest collection of C.S. Lewis writings in the world. Its namesake, Marian Wade, was an American businessman and founder of the large company Servicemaster. Wade was a man of deep faith who established a tradition called six weeks on the front lines. Every future executive at the company would spend six weeks scrubbing floors on hands and knees, doing the work of those they would later lead. Wade believed that those who refused to serve had no business leading. One of the other blessings of servant leadership is that when kids watch authentic service from their parents, it has a tendency to be passed down through the generations. The other founder of Service Master was a gentleman by the name of Ken Hanson. Ken's son, Walter Hanson, when he grew up, would move to Cleveland. He started a little church in his living room. And it grew, and it grew to about a thousand. In 10 years, the church would grow into what is now called Parkside Church. And if that name rings a bell, it would be because it's the church that Alistair Begg just retired from. It's amazing how these things pass down. Moses is being molded. Though he must feel lost and alone, God is right there, directing the most salient detail, refining his champion. God creates this dress rehearsal. The stage is a backwater. Well, the cast is seven anonymous girls, but the script is the same script that would one day be played out at the Red Sea. This is how God so often works. CS Lewis, in his collected letters, wrote that the great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's own or real life. The truth is, of course, that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life, the life God is sending one day by day, Moses thought his real life had ended at the border of Egypt. In fact, his real life was just beginning in Midian. There are seasons of our lives where it seems to have been derailed, where the calling we thought we had has collapsed and we find ourselves sitting by a well in some unfamiliar place. The temptation is to read those seasons as God's absence. But this text invites us to read them as God's curriculum. The God who is going to deliver Israel is at this very moment teaching his deliverer how to stand up for seven helpless women at a watering trough. Nothing in your wilderness is wasted. Turn to verses 18 to 22. The daughters return home and their father called Ruel here or Jethro elsewhere, most likely the same man. So don't get confused. Very common at the time for there to be multiple names for somebody. And he asked why they're early, and they say, an Egyptian delivered us. It's a quietly ironic line. Moses has gone out to deliver Hebrews and was rejected as a meddling Egyptian. He flees to Midian and is received as a generous Egyptian. The man cannot escape his identity, and yet his identity is not what God will make of it. Ruel rebukes his daughters for leaving the man unhosted. Call him that. He may eat bread and Moses is brought in. Verse 21 simply says Moses was content to dwell with the man. The Hebrew verb here ya all carries the sense of consenting, of being willing, even of resigning oneself. Moses is not striving anymore. He has come to the end of his striving. He sits down and he stays. The Book of Acts tells us that 40 years passed between Moses flight to Midian and his encounter with God at the burning bush. D.L. Moody is often quoted as saying Moses spent 40 years in Egypt learning to be something. 40 Years in the desert learning to be nothing. And 40 years in the wilderness proving God to be everything. Philip Reichen notes that whenever we are tempted to grow impatient with God's timetable for our lives, we should remember Moses, who spent two years of preparation for every year of ministry. Zipporah is given to Moses as a wife and a son is born. Moses names him Gershom new meaning I have become an alien in a foreign land. The name comes from the Hebrew verb garash, which means to drive out or expel. It may refer to Moses own experience of being driven out of Egypt. It also sounds like the Hebrew words ger and sham, which is a pun that means an alien there. Every time Moses speaks his son's name, he confesses that he does not belong. Midian is not home. Egypt is not home. He is a man between worlds. The Puritans loved this theme of sojourning. John Owen described the believer as a stranger and a pilgrim traveling through a country not his own, with his heart fixed on a city whose builder and maker is God. Jonathan Edwards preached a famous sermon called the Christian Pilgrim, in which he said that the true Christian travels on through this world as a wayfaring man and looks not upon any of the enjoyments of this world as his own. GK Chesterton, with his usual paradox, put it this way. How can we contrive to be at once astonished at the world and and yet at home in it? The answer of Scripture is that we cannot. Not fully, not yet. We are pilgrims. Gershom is the name of every saint. But notice Moses, sojourning is not a punishment, it is a preparation. RC Sproul emphasized that the entire 40 year sojourn in Midian was God's way of thinking. Moses for leadership, a man trained only in Pharaoh's court could not lead Israel through Pharaoh's wilderness. But a man who had himself become a shepherd of sheep in that very wilderness could one day shepherd God's people through it. The geography of Midian is the geography of the Exodus. Route. The skills Moses learned watering Reuel's flock are the skills he would use leading Israel's flock. God was not killing time. God was forging an instrument. And Moses doesn't know he names his son after his displacement. He doesn't name him soon to be deliverer or heir of promise. He names him Sojourner. The man cannot see what God is doing. Alistair Begg has spoken movingly of how God's people are very often in the dark about the brightness of God's plan for them. Moses is in the dark, but the brightness is gathering. If you are a Christian, you are a Gershom. You are a sojourner in a foreign land. The disquiet you feel, the restlessness, the sense that this world is not home is not a defect of your discipleship. It is a feature of it. CS Lewis spoke of this often when he talked about the pilgrim longing in Mere Christianity. He wrote, if we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world. The long ordinary years in which it seems nothing of eternal weight is happening to you are very likely the years in which God is doing his deepest work. Verses 23 and 20 through 25. And now the camera pulls back, just like in a movie. We get a break from the action in Midian and the screen flashes. Meanwhile, back in Egypt. Verse 23. During those many days, the king of Egypt died and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. 40 Years have passed. A Pharaoh has died, another has come. Nothing has changed for Israel. They are still in chains. Bricks still must be made, whips still fall. And from those brick fields raises a sound. The text uses the strongest words in Hebrew for it. A groaning, a crying, a shrieking that goes up out of the dust. Where does the cry go? To all human eyes, the cry goes nowhere. Pharaoh doesn't hear it. The Egyptians don't hear it. Moses doesn't hear it. And then come four of the most precious verbs in the Old Testament. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God, and God heard their groaning. And God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel, and God knew. God heard. God remembered. God saw. God knew. John Piper has called these four verbs the Gospel before the Gospel, the announcement hundreds of years before Bethlehem that the God of heaven is not a deistic clock maker, but a covenant father who hears the groaning of his enslaved children. Each verb carries a war world. God heard, not merely overheard, the Hebrew implies attentive, responsive, hearing the cry that no human ear answered, the cry that seemed to die in the air over the Egyptian sky. The cry arrived at the throne of heaven. The silence of God is never the deafness of God. When his people cry, he hears with the ears of a father. God remembered. This does not mean that God had forgotten and now recalled. To remember in the covenantal sense is to act upon a prior commitment. When Scripture says God remembered Noah, the next thing is that the waters subside. When it says he remembered Hannah, the next thing is that she conceives. When it says he remembered his covenant with Abraham, the next thing is the Exodus. God's remembrance is the prelude to his deliverance, the covenant he made 400 years before. I will be a God to you and to your offspring after you has not faded. He was about to honor it. God saw. The verb is the same verb used in Genesis 1. And God saw that it was good. It is the verb of attentive, evaluating, sight. He saw the bruises, he saw the broken backs. He saw the widows, the unburied babies. There is no suffering of his people that is hidden from him. The Scottish divine Samuel Rutherford, writing from his imprisonment in Aberdeen, often returned to the image of God as the watchman over Israel, who never slumbers, whose people's tears are gathered in heaven long before they fall to the ground. God sees and God knew. Interestingly, the verb stands alone in the Hebrew. There is no object God knew. Some translations may supply one. God knew their condition, but the Hebrew leaves it bare. Why? Perhaps because what God knows here is larger than any object can contain. He knows their pain, he knows their bondage, he knows their names, and he knows what he is about to do. Jonathan Edwards taught that every act of God in history is the unfolding of a purpose conceived before time began. God knew. While Moses sits in Midian thinking he had been forgotten, and while Israel cries in Egypt, thinking that they have been forgotten, neither has been forgotten. God is doing two things at once. In Midian, he is shaping his deliverer. In Egypt, he is hearing their cries. The two threads are converging towards a burning bush in the next chapter. But neither Moses nor Israel can see it. Yet Augustine in his Confessions, wrote this sentence. Thou, O Lord, wert more inward to me than my most inward part and higher than my highest. That is the God of Exodus 2. He is closer to Israel's groaning than the chains on their wrists. He is closer to Moses weariness than the dust on his sandals. He is not far off. He is not distracted, he is at work. Four thoughts to close. First, be still and know that he is God. What we are very often is people who run ahead of God. Moses is not alone in this. Abraham had the promise of a son and and couldn't wait until he took Hagar. And the household of faith has lived with the consequences ever since. Jacob had the blessing already promised to him, but couldn't wait, and so he stole it with a goatskin and a lie. Peter had a lord he loved and couldn't bear to see him arrested. So he drew a sword in Gethsemane and cut off a man's ear. The pattern is older than Moses, and it is as new as this morning. The right cause can be pursued in the wrong way and the wrong time. Bradley Gray puts it bluntly. Nothing good happens when you get ahead of God and take matters into your own hands. Second, the silence of God is not the absence of God. 40 Years passed in Midian and 400 years in Egypt before God spoke from the bush. But not one of those years was empty. God was hearing, he was remembering. He was seeing, he was knowing. If your life feels like a wilderness right now, if you have been sitting by your own well in Midian waiting for a word from heaven that just doesn't come, take this passage and press it to your heart. The silence is not absence. The God who shaped Moses in obscurity is shaping you now. In his 1967 book Spiritual Leadership, J. Oswald Sanders quoted this anonymous poem. When God wants to drill a man and thrill a man, and skill a man. When God wants to mold a man to play the noblest part, when he yearns with all his heart to create so great and bold a man that all the world shall be amazed. Watch his methods, watch his ways, how he ruthlessly perfects whom he royally elects. How his hammer he hammers him and hurts him and with mighty blows converts him into trial shapes of clay which only God understands. While his tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands, how he bends but never breaks when his good he undertakes, how he uses whom he chooses and with every purpose him by every act induces him to try his splendor out. God knows what he's about. Third, your sojourning has a destination. Moses named his son Gershom because he felt the foreignness of his life. But the foreignness was not the end of the story. It was the prelude to a calling. The writer of Hebrews tells us that all the saints acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. They desired a better country. That is a heavenly one. Your pilgrimage is not a pointless one wandering. It is a movement towards a country God has prepared for you. Fourth, and most importantly, the God who heard Israel has heard you in a fuller way still. The end of Exodus 2 is a foreshadowing. The four verbs heard, remembered, saw new, find their final fulfillment not at Sinai, but at Calvary. There the Father heard the cries of his people. There he remembered the covenant he had made before the foundations of the world. There he saw his Son lifted up between heaven and earth, bearing the groaning of every enslaved soul in his own body. And there he knew in a way only the triune God could know the cost of redeeming a people for himself. If God heard Israel groaning under Pharaoh and he sent Moses, how much more has he heard your groaning and sent his son? The exodus from Egypt is the shadow. The exodus from sin and death is the substance. And the same four verbs hover over the cross. Today God hears your cries that come up from the dust of this fallen world. God remembers his covenant with you. God sees you right now in this room, in your struggle, in your brokenness. And God knows exactly what he's doing. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this text. Father, thank you for your covenant with us. That you know us, that you love us, that you see us, that no prayer goes unheard, no silence is a waste. And that wherever we are in our life, whatever burdens we are carrying, that you're right here. That you are molding us and you are creating us in just the way that you had planned for us before the creation of the world. Thank you for who you are. In Jesus name, amen. The post Moses Flees to Midian – Exodus 2: 11-25 appeared first on Red Village Church.

God's Mercy With Gideon's Doubt by Autumn Dickson The book of Judges records a time period in which Israel had no centralized prophet. There was apostasy and partial restorations as the Israelites would sway into worshipping like the Canaanites did. The Lord sometimes sent judges to help Israel against their enemies. These judges were charismatic, military leaders. Some of the judges would save all of Israel; other judges were more regional. Gideon was one of these regional judges, primarily protecting Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, Naphtali, and Ephraim. Gideon is interesting because he struggled with his faith in the Lord, and yet, the Lord was merciful. There are plenty of instances in the scriptures where the Lord doesn't seem to respond to that very well. Right after the Red Sea parted, the Israelites demanded a sign of Moses to show his favor with God. They were complaining and challenging Moses to show a sign. The place was named Massah as a memorial to their lack of faith. When Zechariah was told that his wife would have a son, he didn't believe it because she was old. He was struck as a mute. Thomas the apostle was likewise rebuked for his lack of faith. Gideon receives not just one, but multiple signs from the Lord. The angel burns up his offering to the Lord. His blanket is covered with dew while the ground is dry one night; his blanket is dry while the ground is wet one night. As he stands in the camp with his 300 men to go against the Midianites, the Lord encourages him to go spy on the Midianites and see what they're saying in order to receive comfort. He does so and overhears a Midianite sharing a dream in which a barley loaf came and flattened a tent. The Midianite's companion interprets it as God helping Israel defeat them. Here is Gideon's response. Judges 7:15 And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian. Multiple signs! God continually blesses Gideon and gives him signs to encourage him along. In fact, Gideon didn't even ask for the last sign. The Lord just gave it to him, and He gave it to Gideon in a powerful way. It would have been one thing to send a dream to Gideon about defeating the Midianites. It would have been easy for Gideon to wonder if it was just wishful thinking. In comparison, hearing the mighty Midianites have a dream and interpret it as defeat by the Israelites was much more powerful in calming Gideon's fears. So why did Gideon get multiple signs while others seem to be rebuked for asking for the same thing? I think there are a lot of reasons because the Lord works according to individual circumstances, but I want to talk about two potential reasons that can be applied in our own lives as we work to approach the Lord. The first reason the Lord was willing to work with Gideon is because the Lord is wise enough to understand that Gideon didn't have much of a relationship with the Lord. The fact that his father had a Baal altar implies that Gideon's family had fallen into idolatry. How much did Gideon know about God? We know Gideon had some knowledge of God because he asks about the deliverance from Egypt, but how much had Gideon experienced God? There's a difference. How much could the Lord reasonably expect Gideon to trust Him? The Lord knew Gideon, but did Gideon know the Lord? The Lord isn't looking for blind, obedient dogs. He is looking to have a true relationship with us. The fact that Gideon was cautious about running into danger isn't a sign that Gideon is faithless; it is more an indication that Gideon did not yet know the Lord. So what does this teach us about our own lives? The Lord will not begrudge us the time it takes to learn how to trust Him; He doesn't mind allowing us to approach Him until we've built up a number of encounters and start to understand His character. David fought off two wild animals before he fought off Goliath. We recently read about Moses whose trust in the Lord was extremely fragile in the beginning; Moses grew to the point where he encouraged the Israelites to have faith in the face of certain death even though he did not yet know the plan for rescue. The Old Testament gives us a front row seat to watching people experience the Lord and grow in their trust of Him. In contrast, imagine a powerful stranger coming up to you and saying, “Trust me.” When you ask them why you should trust them, they respond with, “Because I told you to.” Um…what? You may not immediately hate them or be wary of them, but you're not going to give them your darkest secrets or social security number (or hopefully you won't…). The Lord understands that He is a stranger to us; He is the one who put the veil there. He understands that we need experiences with Him before we're ready to run into danger when He asks. Once again, He isn't looking for blind, obedient dogs. He wants His children to be wise and consciously and voluntarily choose Him. He gave Gideon experiences because Gideon likely hadn't had many previously. He was patient with Israel. He was patient with Moses. The Lord has no problem being patient. If He seems impatient in specific scenarios, we can usually assume it's for the benefit of the person He is working with. He is trying to get their attention or get them moving. Which leads me to my second reason: The Lord allowed Gideon to approach Him multiple times for signs because Gideon's heart was soft. Over and over and over and over and over we read about the Lord responding with intensity in response to a hard heart and responding with mercy and encouragement to a soft heart. Gideon's heart was obviously soft. Look at this verse. Judges 6:17 And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. Gideon approaches the Lord so humbly. When the angel gave him a sign, Gideon immediately built an altar unto the Lord. That night, Gideon went and took down the altar of Baal according to the direction of the Lord. We see this multiple times with Gideon. He approaches the Lord in humility and asks for help knowing the truth. Gideon was willing to follow the truth and power and peace; Gideon was just trying to make sure he was looking in the right direction before moving forward. It is only when we've closed our heart off to that truth and power and peace that the Lord shakes the earth to reach us. I think of the Egyptians that saw all the same signs as the Israelites but didn't bother to ask whether they should follow after the same God as the Israelites. I think of Rahab and her people. The Canaanites were all terrified, but it didn't change who they put their faith in. Only Rahab was willing to follow the Israelite God and was spared because of it. You would think that people would open their eyes and ask, “Is there something here?” You would think that they would pause long enough and open their hearts so that the Lord could speak to them. Gideon asked, but Gideon was likewise prepared to follow through. This was part of why the Lord was so willing to encourage him along. I testify of a Lord that responds with wisdom. He knows what He is doing. He will not condemn us for approaching Him for reassurances if we're doing so with the intent to follow after Him. He doesn't even condemn us when we struggle; His intensity is not a sign of condemnation. It's a sign of God's love in trying to reach us! However the Lord is working in your life, you can take it with the perspective that He is trying to do what's best for you. I'm grateful for a Lord who is wise and can train me so purposefully and deliberately. Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR's 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Judges 2–4; 6–8; 13–16 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

On today's show:   First up Wanda Bertram from the Prison Policy Initiative joins the show to talk about what we dont know and what we think we know about mass incarceration. Wanda shares some stats and facts that youll never hear on corporate media, and debunks myths that betray our propagandized thinking. Next up, MiDian Shofner sits down to unpack antiracism, abolition, and reframing what an expert is when it comes to building alternatives to our cruel system. MiDian calls on us to linger in the reality of what this country really is, who we are, and where to look for solutions that benefit the people. — Wanda Bertram is the communications strategist at thePrison Policy Initiative. ThePrison Policy Initiative uses data to highlight the harms of mass incarceration and to spark campaigns for reform of the criminal legal system. MiDian Shofner is the CEO of the Epitome of Black Excellence & Partnership and the Owner/Founder of 8PM Consulting for Humanity. MiDian's work is founded upon three core pillars designed to catalyze learning, reflection, growth, and societal transformation aimed at educating and empowering individuals to confront and dismantle the insidious forces of racism and injustice that plague our society.   The News That Didn't Make the News. Each week, co-hosts Mickey Huff and Eleanor Goldfield conduct in depth interviews with their guests and offer hard hitting commentary on the key political, social, and economic issues of the day with an emphasis on critical media literacy. The post Project Censored – Incarceration, Antiracism, and Abolition appeared first on KPFA.

This sermon from Legacy Baptist Church examines Exodus 3, focusing on God's call to Moses through the burning bush after 40 years of Moses shepherding in Midian. The message explores the identity of the Angel of the Lord as a pre-incarnate appearance of God the Son, and highlights God's awareness of His people's suffering and His perfect timing in raising up Moses at age 80. The central challenge for listeners is to remain usable for God during seasons of waiting, trusting that no time spent walking with Him is wasted if we are ready when He decides to use us.

We explore the life of Moses, from his miraculous survival as a baby to his escape to Midian after killing an Egyptian. His choice to intervene when an Egyptian mistreats a Hebrew leads to his exile in Midian. There, Moses marries and starts a new life. However, God's plans for Moses extend far beyond a quiet life in Midian. As the Israelites groan under Egyptian slavery, God hears their cries and remembers His covenant.Support the showRead along with us in the Bible Brief App! Try the Bible Brief book for an offline experience!Get your free Bible Timeline with the 10 Steps: Timeline LinkSupport the show: Tap here to become a monthly supporter!Review the show: Tap here!Want to go deeper?...Download the Bible Brief App!iPhone: App Store LinkAndroid: Play Store LinkWant a physical book? Check out "Bible Brief" by our founder!Amazon: Amazon LinkWebsite: biblebrief.orgInstagram: @realbiblebriefX: @biblebriefFacebook: @realbiblebriefEmail the Show: biblebrief@biblelit.orgWant to learn the Bible languages (Greek & Hebrew)? Check out our partner Biblingo (and use our link/code for a discount!): https://biblin...

The David Alliance TDAgiantSlayer@Gmail.com  Garth Heckman Driving with Kim in the car when we were first married. I pulled a gun on a guy in a corvette!  I was on my way to Youth Group - I was the youth pastor.   Judges 6  11 Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” 13 “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn't they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt'? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.” 14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”         1. He Was Living in Poverty and Oppression For seven years, Israel had been brutally oppressed by the Midianites, Amalekites, and other eastern peoples. The oppression was so severe that the Israelites had abandoned their homes in the valleys to live in dens, caves, and strongholds in the mountains (Judges 6:2). The invaders would sweep through the land like locusts, destroying crops and slaughtering livestock. The text notes that Israel was "brought very low" because of Midian. Gideon wasn't a wealthy noble or a ruling judge; he was a victim of a devastating, nationwide economic and military siege.   2. He Was Hiding in a Winepress When the Angel of the Lord finds Gideon, he is threshing wheat in a winepress (Judges 6:11). Why this matters: Wheat was traditionally threshed in an open, elevated area (a threshing floor) so the wind could blow away the chaff. A winepress, however, was a pit dug into the ground or carved into rock. Operating out of fear, survival and panic.     3. He Was From an Insignificant, Idol-Worshipping Family   4. He Was Battling Deep Skepticism and Grief Gideon's immediate reaction to the Angel's blessing ("The Lord is with you, mighty warrior") is not pride, but bitter skepticism. He looked at his current reality and concluded that God had abandoned them:   The Irony of the Title When God calls Gideon a "mighty warrior," Gideon is: In hiding (not in battle) Doubting God's presence (not acting in faith) Belittling his own status (not displaying courage) The title was prophetic. God was not validating Gideon's current resume; He was naming the potential that He was about to unlock through His own power.       When the Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon in Judges 6:12 and addressed him as a "mighty warrior" it was a statement of what God would do through him, not a description of who Gideon currently was.   He saw what he would do - which in turn is who he would be - in turn is who He really was in Gods eyes!      Can an egg fly? Can a puppy protect you?  Can an acorn shade, protect and feed thousands of animals? Can a spark destroy city?    We see an egg - God sees an eagle! We see a puppy - God sees the Rottweiler that attacked the sex predator who ran into the Childs yard.  We see an acorn - God sees The Foret de Trancais 26,000 acre forest We see a spark - God sees the Chinchaga fire burning 4.2 million acres.    Do you think when Jesus saw the disciples arguing over who would be the greatest, when Peter would deny him, when Thomas would doubt him, when they would not understand simple scripture, when they could not heal a boy, or worried over storms, food or religious leaders… HE SAW THEIR STORY! You will all be so committed and change the world so powerfully that they will need to Kill you to stop you! And you will be honored to give your life for me!      How does Jesus see us? We are salt We are light We are friends We are secure in him We have overcome the world We will do greater works then Jesus We will have rivers of living water flow out of us We will tread on serpents, scorpions, nothing will hurt us We are plugged directly into him He is always with us We will crush the serpents head We are the head and not the tail We wear a robe of righteousness We are more than conquerors    EVEN WITH THE DISCIPLES… JESUS WOULD BE DISAPPOINTED IN THEM - BUT NEVER REJECT THEM OR GET ANGRY AT THEM OR SHAMED THEM. Rather he would Ask a question Correct their perception And never reject them.      2 Kings 6 The King of Aram is mad and thinks there is a traitor. It is Elisha… Go kill him.  -  14 So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city. 15 When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha. 16 “Don't be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” 17 Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man's eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.      -  Its right there!  What is? Your answer - it's right there. You just can't see it.  **Yesterday I was praying and seeking Gods wisdom on finances… he pointed to my kitchen table and showed me a stack of money… he said its right there. You just can't see it… but its there.     You might think you can't see it because you are in the dark… no you are not in the dark, you are in the preparation phase which can feel like the dark.   The Chinese Bamboo Tree (your example) Spends the first 5 years growing almost nothing above ground while developing a massive, deep root system. In the 6th year, it can grow 80–90 feet in just 6 weeks.   The Saguaro Cactus Grows extremely slowly — often only 1–2 inches in the first 10 years. It can take 30–40 years before it even grows its first arm. Then, once established, it can live 150–200 years and reach 40–60 feet tall.

​​“Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.” And Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil.” (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)”- Judges‬ ‭8‬:‭22‬-‭24‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Could the real Mount Sinai be right where the Bible says—in Saudi Arabia? From the Split Rock of Horeb to Jethro's Midian and the golden calf altar, the evidence is stunning. Join Jim Scudder on InGrace as Exodus Found concludes with an epic climb up the Mountain of God.

When we last left Gideon and his army, he had attacked the forces of Midian with 300 hundred men. Though he and his small band had already killed 120,000 men, there are still 15,000 left. We begin with a discussion between Gideon and the men of Ephraim who have just killed the two princes of Midian as Gideon's men routed them from battle. They're upset that they weren't called to fight, but Gideon basically tells them their leftovers are better than the full harvest of what his men have reaped. After securing victory, Israel tries to make Gideon their leader, but he refuses and says that the Lord should lead them. Then, strangely he makes an ephod out of gold, which becomes a snare of idolatry. Judges 8 - 1:01 .  Judges 9 - 8:23 .  Psalm 79 - 19:20 .  :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by the Christian Standard Bible.facebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org

Where did the Israelites travel after crossing the Red Sea? From the bitter waters of Marah to the oasis at Elim, the wilderness journey may still leave clues on the landscape today. Join Jim Scudder on InGrace as Exodus Found – Part 3 continues, tracing the possible route of Israel's historic journey.

When we last left Gideon and his army, he had attacked the forces of Midian with 300 hundred men. Though he and his small band had already killed 120,000 men, there are still 15,000 left. We begin with a discussion between Gideon and the men of Ephraim who have just killed the two princes of Midian as Gideon's men routed them from battle. They're upset that they weren't called to fight, but Gideon basically tells them their leftovers are better than the full harvest of what his men have reaped. After securing victory, Israel tries to make Gideon their leader, but he refuses and says that the Lord should lead them. Then, strangely he makes an ephod out of gold, which becomes a snare of idolatry. Judges 8 – 1:12 .  Judges 9 – 8:36 .  Psalm 73 – 20:00 . :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by Bobby Brown, Katelyn Pridgen, Eric Williamson & the Christian Standard Biblefacebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org

In Week 6 of the Judges series, Pastor Brandon begins the story of Gideon in Judges 6 and reminds us that there is always a battle before the battle. Before Gideon ever faced Midian, God called him a “valiant warrior.” The same God calls us right where we are—not where we think we should be—and declares our potential before we fully see it ourselves. Victory begins when we encounter God's presence, receive His peace, and allow Him to tear down the idols closest to home.

April 25 | Gideon Defeats Midian (Judges 7:19-25) by Christ Covenant

Judges 8:5 NRSV “So he said to the people of Succoth, “Please give some loaves of bread to my followers, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.””

In Exodus 2, the life of Moses begins to unfold under the quiet but steady hand of God's providence. We see a mother entrusting her child to the river with an uncertain future, a sister watching from a distance, and Pharaoh's daughter unexpectedly raising the very one who would later challenge Egypt's power. As Moses grows, he witnesses injustice, acts in haste, and flees to Midian, where his life again seems hidden and uncertain. Yet while Moses' story develops in the background, Israel cries out in their suffering, and the chapter closes with a powerful reminder of God's faithfulness: God remembered His covenant, God saw His people, and God knew.

Exodus 3 NABRE 1 Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock beyond the wilderness, he came to the mountain of God, Horeb. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him as fire flaming out of a bush. When he looked, although the bush was on fire, it was not being consumed. 3 So Moses decided, "I must turn aside to look at this remarkable sight. Why does the bush not burn up?

Sean reacts to a messianic-style image of President Trump posted on Truth Social and later removed, calling it a complicating factor for Christian voters who supported him against the Democratic platform. The conversation turns to leadership: why good leadership is scarce, how leaders are both born and made, and why character is forged in private, using David, Joseph, and Moses as examples. Recommended reading: J. Oswald Sanders' “Spiritual Leadership” 00:00 Show Intro Banter01:34 River City Updates03:22 Music Gatekeepers Shift04:08 Trump Messianic Image06:09 Voting Tension09:25 Leadership In Short Supply10:50 Born And Made Leaders12:06 Leaders Get Followers12:34 David Goes First13:56 Joseph Built in Secret15:54 Moses Prepared in Midian17:34 Start Leading Now19:06 Servant Leadership Defined20:43 Politics and Character Drift23:16 Guardrails Against Compromise24:26 Who You Follow Matters25:48 Church Vision and Invitation

Sean reacts to a messianic-style image of President Trump posted on Truth Social and later removed, calling it a complicating factor for Christian voters who supported him against the Democratic platform. The conversation turns to leadership: why good leadership is scarce, how leaders are both born and made, and why character is forged in private, using David, Joseph, and Moses as examples. Recommended reading: J. Oswald Sanders' “Spiritual Leadership” 00:00 Show Intro Banter01:34 River City Updates03:22 Music Gatekeepers Shift04:08 Trump Messianic Image06:09 Voting Tension09:25 Leadership In Short Supply10:50 Born And Made Leaders12:06 Leaders Get Followers12:34 David Goes First13:56 Joseph Built in Secret15:54 Moses Prepared in Midian17:34 Start Leading Now19:06 Servant Leadership Defined20:43 Politics and Character Drift23:16 Guardrails Against Compromise24:26 Who You Follow Matters25:48 Church Vision and Invitation

854 Why Does The Bush Not Burn Up, A Guided Christian Meditation on Exodus 3:1-3 with the Recenter With Christ app The purpose of this podcast is to help you find more peace in  and connect with the true source of peace, Jesus Christ.  Outline: Relaxation, Reading, Meditation, Prayer, Contemplation and Visualization.  You can sit comfortably and uninterrupted for about 20 minutes.You should hopefully not be driving or anything tense or unrelaxing.  If you feel comfortable to do so, I invite you to close your eyes.   Guided Relaxation / Guided Meditation:   Breathe and direct your thoughts to connecting with God. Let your stomach be a balloon inflate,  deflate. Scripture for Meditation Exodus 3 NABRE 1 Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock beyond the wilderness, he came to the mountain of God, Horeb. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him as fire flaming out of a bush. When he looked, although the bush was on fire, it was not being consumed. 3 So Moses decided, "I must turn aside to look at this remarkable sight. Why does the bush not burn up? 3 Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, unto Horeb. 2 And the angel of Jehovah appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. Reflection on Scripture: Moses had been living his life. It appears he was not very familiar with the workings of God and then suddenly God showed him something. God showed Moses a miraculous thing. Something that Moses could not understand. There was nothing in Moses' understanding that would allow him to comprehend or explain what he was seeing. It began with wonder. As he led his flock in the mountains he saw a bush which seemed to be on fire but was not consumed. Moses stopped what he was doing. He noticed the wonder. He did not create the situation. He did not make the Lord burn a bush. All he did was wonder at what he saw and he responded In our lives if we pay attention we can see the hand of the Lord, normally in much less subtle ways than for a prophet who was so central to God's plan with His children, nevertheless we get our own version of signs. The question I ponder is, am I looking for God's wonders? How often do I pass by a miracle from the Lord because I don't pause to wonder why that bush is burning so to speak. For Moses this experience was part of his call from God. Similarly you have a call from God. I don't know what yours is, perhaps you know and perhaps you don't. One thing that is crucial… Keep looking for God in your life.  He who has ears to hear let him listen. Let us listen with our ears to what God proclaims. Those answers often come from the scriptures are we are more likely to hear them if we pray to the Lord. So let us spend time in God's word and in prayer to God. Then when we see His word fulfilled or we read a passage that rings out from beyond, turn and look at that burning bush. Respond to the voice of the Lord.   Meditation of Prayer: Pray as directed by the Spirit. Dedicate these moments to the patient waiting, when you feel ready ask God for understanding you desire from Him. Meditation of God and His Glory / Hesychasm: I invite you to sit in silence feeling patient for your own faults and trials. Summarize what insights you have gained during this meditation and meditate and visualize positive change in your life: This is a listener funded podcast at patreon.com/christianmeditationpodcast Final Question: If you consider the invitation and command to persevere in the faith, what change in your life does that bring to your mind?  FIND ME ON: Download my free app: Recenter with Christ Website - ChristianMeditationPodcast.com Voicemail - (602) 888-3795 Email: jared@christianmeditationpodcast.com Apple Podcasts - Christian Meditation Podcast Facebook.com/christianmeditationpodcast Youtube.com/christianmeditaitonpodcast Twitter - @ChristianMedPod  

This episode is part 2 in a study of the book of Exodus. Moses grows up, kills someone, flees Egypt, and becomes a shepherd in Midian. But God is not done with Moses or with Israel and calls to Moses from a burning bush. https://thebiblestudypodcast.com/exodus-2-3-the-burning-bush/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Fr. Mike breaks down the battle against Midian and explains why God would allow destruction and warfare that can seem brutal. He also highlights how we can learn from Israel's weakness by destroying the things in our lives that lead us away from God. Today's readings are Numbers 31, Deuteronomy 30, and Psalm 116. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.