Exodus 2:11–6:30

Bringing the sermon home:

The first six chapters of Exodus that lead up to the ten great plagues are not merely written as an interesting historical record. They are written to instruct us in how to deal with the difficulty of faith in the face of difficulty. Having lived in exile away from his homeland for 40 years, an 80-year-old shepherd struggles to accept God’s call to be His mouthpiece to others, so God directs Moses’ attention to three things: 1) who God is, 2) what He has already done, and 3) what He has promised to do.

In whatever difficulty you are facing and whatever suffering you are experiencing, no matter how hard it might be to imagine how God could possibly be at work to bring good out of the evil around you, and no matter how timid you might be to do what you know God is calling you to do, look to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and take heart in knowing that God will accomplish His good purposes through you, for He has proven Himself faithful in all that He has already done.

The reading in our Advent devotional for this Saturday includes John 16:33, where Jesus says to His disciples, in His final hours before His arrest: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

God is not concerned with your sense of inadequacy. It’s not about you. It’s about what He is going to accomplish through your obedience, so take heart.

Sermon outline:

• 3:1-15
  
  Take heart in knowing who God is.
  
  
• 3:16
  
  Take heart in knowing what God has already done.
  
  
• 3:17–6:30
  
  Take heart in knowing what God has promised to do.