Journey Church - Chattanooga Journey Church

The first 9 plagues are more than just increasing arguments for Pharaoh to let the Hebrew slaves go. 3 triads demonstrate the power of Yahweh over all of creation and all of the gods of Egypt. YHWH is making his name known among the Egyptians. There is much we can learn about God and life during this intense time in Israel's life.

This week, we found that even though God had chosen Moses, he still had to give all of himself to this new God that had revealed Himself to him. Moses and Aaron then share God's plan of deliverance with the Hebrew slaves and everything is going great...until it isn't...just like our lives. There's much to learn in Part 5 of "Exodus: Hard Choices".

Moses, like many of us, faltered when called to do something that seemed unimaginable. Standing up to Pharaoh and leading the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt seemed too big for him, even though he was standing in front of the burning bush. The big part of the story wasn't Moses's 5 excuses, though, it was the name that God revealed to him.

The story of the Exodus is the origin story of the Jews, however, if we get too focused on Moses and Israelites, we can miss the bigger story of God showing himself to the nations as the "God of gods".

The church is more than just a collection of activities and programs for it's members, it's meant to be a blessing to the community around it. While the nation of Israel was in exile, Jeremiah prophesied that they should seek the prosperity of the cities that they were in. This call is as relevant to us today as it was then.

We are meant to mimic the life and priorities of Jesus through holy and ethical living but our ethics must be a response to our own experiences with Jesus rather than weapons we fashion out of rules that never actually touch our own hearts.