Exodus: Everything Changes

That's how I am, I know when i’m off key, but I don’t know how to find the right key…it’s like being in a different hotel, waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and looking for the light switch.

Stumbling around....feeling the walls and everything. I have to think that looks pretty silly.

My dad explained it like this. He had been leading worship a’Capella for 50 years. HE had sung those songs over and over, he knew them. He knew their sound. Not what they sounded like, but he knew their sound.

David Olsen is a firefighter in Baltimore City. He can tell yo the story better because I’ll probably leave out some facts. But he has been sharing how he reads the bible more now, even at work. He has shared how his relationship with Jesus has begun to change the way he sees things and people. This is exactly what happens when we get close to Jesus.

But over time, he would tell me, I can learn to sing on key…it takes time to hear it before we sing it.

A couple of weeks ago, David went out on a call for a person in cardiac arrest. When he arrived he found a woman had died and her husband trying to do CPR. HE had to tell the husband that his wife was gone. HE broke down right then and there. But instead of just packing up his stuff and getting back in his bus. David spent the next hour talking and praying with this man who’s world had just been turned upside down.

Why did David do such a thing? Because he heard the cry.

Tension

This is how I believe most of us what our relationship with God to be. We want to do the right thing, we want to live “good” lives whatever that is. We wan tour lives to lign up with God's purposes for us. But sadly, we often don’t hear God’s voice. His call. What is God thinking? I can’t hear him for all the noise in my life.

Sadly, other times I just tune out. I turn up the volume of other voices and ultimately I fail to hear God's still small voice.

Sadly, often times it is that which God wants me to hear that I tune out.

Today I’m speaking to you.

Well today

Actually, I”m going to share with you. Because I don’t know how many times I get into my week and Thursday comes around and I have this long list of people I was going to call.

We often struggle to see ourselves as we truly are. Often times it requires us to be seen.

Truth

This passage is the transition for the book.

We have seen Moses’ mom

We have seen Pharaoh’s daughter

We have seen Pharaoh himself

We have seen Moses and even his Father in law

For the first time we see God at work.

Here we find a description of the Character of God.

But first, let’s remember what’s happened.

Pharaoh turned up the pressure.

Moses interfered but was rejected.

but it did pave the way for Moses to return.

Silence, but God is at work.

Exodus 2:23 NIV84

During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.

You can imagine this right.

Now Pharaoh dies…hoping for relief…but no.

Change comes, and you are anticipating one sort of change…but then it’s not what you expected.

Pastor…knees...job…child…school…year

For the Hebrews, when they heard of Pharaoh’s death, many i’m sure had hopes that relief to their suffering would come…but then. It didn’t.

But it did pave the way for Moses to return.

Silence, but God is at work.

What’s God doing in your waiting?

In your impatience?

In your perseverance?

WE can cry out but for some the cries are hope filled cries.

Their cry became a prayer.

Now it seemed that God was didn’t care

but here we see the character of God.

Exodus 2:24 NIV84

God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.

Misery

Examples of when we cry out

Tears have a voice

God hears

Often times our pain and grief aren’t expressed in words

times our pain and grief aren’t expressed in words

Examples of when we cry out

God remembers

Tears have a voice

God remembers

Genesis 12:1–3 NIV84

The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

The story is always that God remembers…He never forgets us.

The common theme through scripture isn’t that the people

Moses, Noah, Adam and Eve, Joseph, David, even the disciples and the apostle Paul…pleased or displeased God.

The story is always that God is faithful to his promise.

We see it here. that God heard the people’s cry and he acted on his promise.

Exodus 2:25 NIV84

So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

Turned his attention to them

God Sees

Psalm 34:15 NIV84

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry;

Ra’ah…more than seeing with the eyes…a deeper sense of understanding…God understood them and their pain.

Ra’ah

Even though would not be considered righteous, God had made a covenant with their fathers. That would be enough to cause God to

Often times, we may get in a painful moment and say things like, But I love you Lord, why do I have to suffer like this” as though because God has blessed us with faith in Jesus, he must not be aware of my situation. I would remind us that God sees all

Knowing vs knowing

Psalm 145:8–9 NIV84

The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.

Acknowledge them

God knows

yada....intimacy

It is as though God shares their pain and suffering

Here we see that God enters in to our pain.

Compassion.

So far this is a story of Compassion.

Compassion of Moses’s mom

Compassion of Pharaoh's daughter

Compassion of Moses

Compassion of Jethro (Reuel)

Compassion of God

Deuteronomy 26:7 NIV84

Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression.

This tells us a lot about the character of God. He heard the cries of the suffering and he responded.

How do we respond to the compassion of God?

This is good to know, that God is a compassionate God. He didn’t just create this world, but he is engaged in it.

That’s good to know, but what do we do with it?

We were created in God’s image. We were created to represent him.

It’s not like we can fake it. We try that sometimes and it becomes a burden.

So how do we do that?

Application

We were created in God’s image. We were created to represent him.

It’s not like we can fake it. We try that sometimes and it becomes a burden.

It’s not a burden for God though, it just comes natural for God to hear the cries of those in need. The question is for us today, how do we become more like God?

Remember that song about being the hands and feet of Jesus, what good is it to be the hands and feet unless we hear what He is hearing?

Before we can act with the character of God, we have to hear the voices that God hears.

Before we can do what God requires, I believe we have to hear the voices that God hears.

The reality is,

The nearer we get, the clearer we hear.

It’s not like we can fake it. We try that sometimes and it becomes a burden.

Before we can do what God requires, I believe we have to hear the voices that God hears.

This is what Jesus put before us.

Matthew 25:34–41 NIV84

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Kiros Ministry

This may not mean that we all hear alike…So what you want me to care about, I may never hear. I stand up here every week and ask you about tithing…about getting involved in …about serving …all great things. But some of you hear a different cry.

In fact I am pretty sure that God uses each of us to hear different cries.

this week, we got to talking in our small group. Someone shared of their travels to work over the years. How over time they had found that they were numb to the problems of people they came into contact with in their day to day job.

But then things changed.

Why did David do such a thing? Because he heard the cry.

Inspiration

But think of the power of our witness for Christ when we as a church get so close to God that we all hear the same cries.

Bishop Leontine Kelly tells the story. She was elected a bishop of the church in 1984—the first black woman, and only the third woman, to be elected a bishop in the United Methodist Church. She’s a powerful preacher.

Bishop Kelly grew up in a parsonage. Her father was a Methodist preacher. When she was a little girl he was assigned to a church in Cincinnati. It had been all white, but the neighborhood had changed and it had become a black congregation. It was the most magnificent church she had ever seen—an awe-inspiring Gothic structure. There was beautiful polished wood and a huge crystal chandelier. The church had been a prestigious and wealthy one in which presidents had worshiped.

Just as impressive as the church was the parsonage. Bishop Kelly says it was so big that each of the children had his or her own room—and that was something new for them. There was a cellar too, a dingy, dark place with a couple of dim light bulbs. There were cobwebs and shadows down there, and she was frightened by it.

One day, when her brothers were down in the cellar, they found a hole behind the furnace which seemed to lead to a tunnel. They asked her to go with them to explore it, but she went to her father and told him about it instead. They all went down to investigate. Her father became very excited. “I think you’ve found something; let’s go over to the church and look.” They went over to the church which was next door, down into the cellar, and there behind the furnace they found some old boards, and behind those boards they discovered other tunnels.

That night around the dinner table at the Calvary Church parsonage in Cincinnati, five blocks from the Ohio River, her father told them the story of the underground railroad, a railroad that didn’t have tracks or trains, but was a network for helping slaves escape to freedom. The slaves were hunted down like animals, and brutally punished when caught. It was against the law to help them, but the members of the underground railroad accepted risk to themselves in order to help the slaves get to freedom in Canada.

Bishop Kelly says she has never forgotten what her father said that night. “Children, I want you to remember this day as long as you live. We’ve found a station on the underground railroad. The greatness of this church is not its Gothic architecture, its beautiful furniture, its crystal chandelier. The greatness of this church is below us. We are on hallowed ground. These people dared to risk their lives to become involved and care about the poor, the frightened runaway slaves, and that was the mark of their greatness.”

Action

The nearer we get to God, the clearer we hear what we need to hear.

How can we begin to hear the cry of our community?

Do they need worship services? yes

Do they need bible studies? yes

But what is their cry? Can we hear it.

Perhaps we need to get close.

Perhaps we need to listen to those of us who are already close.

Perhaps we need to sit in the presence of the Lord and hear as he hears.

My prayer for you this week is to grow deeper in love with God’s Word and more dependent on God’s Spirit.

******************************************

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic* church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Or a pastoral prayer may be prayed.

CONCERNS AND PRAYERS

Or a litany of intercession and petition may be prayed.Or a pastoral prayer may be prayed.

INVITATION

Pastor stands behind the Lord's table.Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him, who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another. Therefore, let us confess our sin before God and one another.

Gary Priddy / General

CONFESSION AND PARDON

Merciful God, we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart. We have failed to be an obedient church. We have not done your will, we have broken your law, we have rebelled against your love, we have not loved our neighbors, and we have not heard the cry of the needy. Forgive us, we pray. Free us for joyful obedience, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.All pray in silence.Leader to people:Hear the good news: Christ died for us while we were yet sinners; that proves God's love toward us.In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!People to leader:In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!Leader and people:Glory to God. Amen.

Liturgy

THE PEACE

Let us offer one another signs of reconciliation and love.All, including the pastor, exchange signs and words of God's peace.

OFFERING

As forgiven and reconciled people, let us offer ourselves and our gifts to God.

RESPONSE TO THE WORD

THANKSGIVING AND COMMUNION

THE GREAT THANKSGIVING

The Lord be with you.And also with you.Lift up your hearts.We lift them up to the Lord.Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.It is right to give our thanks and praise.It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life.When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast.You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God, and spoke to us through the prophets.And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn:The pastor may lower hands.Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.The pastor may raise hands.Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.Your Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people.He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners.By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection you gave birth to your Church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit. When the Lord Jesus ascended, he promised to be with us always, in the power of your Word and Holy Spirit.The pastor may hold hands, palms down, over the bread, or touch the bread, or lift the bread.On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:"Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."The pastor may hold hands, palms down, over the cup, or touch the cup, or lift the cup.When the supper was over, he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:"Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."The pastor may raise hands.And so,in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us,as we proclaim the mystery of faith.Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.The pastor may hold hands, palms down, over the bread and cup.Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine.Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.The pastor may raise hands.By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world,until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet.Through your Son Jesus Christ,with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church,all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father,now and forever. Amen.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

THE LORD'S PRAYER

The pastor's hands may be extended in open invitation.And now, with the confidence of children of God, let us pray:The pastor may raise hands.Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

BREAKING THE BREAD

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

The pastor, still standing behind the Lord's table facing the people, breaks the bread in silence, or while saying:Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. The bread which we break is a sharing in the body of Christ.The pastor lifts the cup in silence, or while saying:The cup over which we give thanks is a sharing in the blood of Christ.

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again;

he ascended into heaven,

is seated at the right hand of the Father,

and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic* church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.

CONCERNS AND PRAYERS

Or a litany of intercession and petition may be prayed.

Or a pastoral prayer may be prayed.

INVITATION

Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him,

› Pastor stands behind the Lord's table.

Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him,

who earnestly repent of their sin

and seek to live in peace with one another.

Therefore, let us confess our sin before God and one another.

CONFESSION AND PARDON

Merciful God,

we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart.

We have failed to be an obedient church.

We have not done your will,

we have broken your law,

we have rebelled against your love,

we have not loved our neighbors,

and we have not heard the cry of the needy.

Forgive us, we pray.

Free us for joyful obedience,

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

› All pray in silence.

› Leader to people:

Hear the good news:

Christ died for us while we were yet sinners;

that proves God's love toward us.

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!

Glory to God. Amen.

THE PEACE

Let us offer one another signs of reconciliation and love.

OFFERING

› All, including the pastor, exchange signs and words of God's peace.

CONNECTION CARDS

OFFERING

Prayer Requests

As forgiven and reconciled people,

let us offer ourselves and our gifts to God.

*********************************

THANKSGIVING AND COMMUNION

****

THE GREAT THANKSGIVING

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing,

always and everywhere to give thanks to you,

Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

You formed us in your image

and breathed into us the breath of life.

When we turned away, and our love failed,

your love remained steadfast.

You delivered us from captivity,

made covenant to be our sovereign God,

and spoke to us through the prophets.

And so,

with your people on earth

and all the company of heaven

we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

› The pastor may lower hands.

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

› The pastor may raise hands.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.

Your Spirit anointed him

to preach good news to the poor,

to proclaim release to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

and to announce that the time had come

when you would save your people.

He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners.

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection

you gave birth to your Church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death,

and made with us a new covenant

by water and the Spirit.

When the Lord Jesus ascended,

he promised to be with us always,

in the power of your Word and Holy Spirit.

› The pastor may hold hands, palms down, over the bread, or touch the bread, or lift the bread.

On the night in which he gave himself up for us,

he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread,

gave it to his disciples, and said:

"Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me."

› The pastor may hold hands, palms down, over the cup, or touch the cup, or lift the cup.

When the supper was over, he took the cup,

gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:

"Drink from this, all of you;

this is my blood of the new covenant,

poured out for you and for many

for the forgiveness of sins.

Do this, as often as you drink it,

in remembrance of me."

And so

in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,

we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving

as a holy and living sacrifice,

in union with Christ's offering for us,

as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

› The pastor may hold hands, palms down, over the bread and cup.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here,

and on these gifts of bread and wine.

Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,

that we may be for the world the body of Christ,

redeemed by his blood.

› The pastor may raise hands.

By your Spirit make us one with Christ,

one with each other,

and one in ministry to all the world,

until Christ comes in final victory

and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ,

with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church,

all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father,

now and forever. Amen.

THE LORD'S PRAYER

› The pastor's hands may be extended in open invitation.

And now, with the confidence of children of God, let us pray:

› The pastor may raise hands.

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial,

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours

now and for ever. Amen.

BREAKING THE BREAD

› The pastor, still standing behind the Lord's table facing the people, breaks the bread in silence, or while saying:

Because there is one loaf,

we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

The bread which we break is a sharing in the body of Christ.

› The pastor lifts the cup in silence, or while saying:

The cup over which we give thanks is a sharing in the blood of Christ.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 6:48 AM February 4, 2018.

Related Media

Related Sermons

Exodus: Everything Changes

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God hears

God remembers

God remembers

God Sees

God knows

How do we respond to the compassion of God?

The nearer we get, the clearer we hear.

CONCERNS AND PRAYERS

INVITATION

CONFESSION AND PARDON

THE PEACE

OFFERING

THANKSGIVING AND COMMUNION

THE GREAT THANKSGIVING

THE LORD'S PRAYER

BREAKING THE BREAD

INVITATION

CONFESSION AND PARDON

THE PEACE

OFFERING

THE GREAT THANKSGIVING

THE LORD'S PRAYER

BREAKING THE BREAD