Palace or Desert

Popular but ungodly vs. Godly but unpopular

allow students to give some examples, then tell them to keep those examples in their minds throughout the lesson.

Exodus 2:5-10

Moses was adopted into the family of the Pharaoh of Egypt. He was loved, nurtured & educated as a prince of Egypt (Acts 7:21, 23). There is nothing in scripture that indicates that he was unaware of his lineage. Despite the romanticized stories of Hollywood, he apparently knew he was a Hebrew most, if not all, of his life. Moses defended a fellow Hebrew and in doing so killed an Egyptian. By doing this, he made a choice to do what was right even though it would cost him

Exodus 2:15

discuss what choices Moses could have made at that point.

Moses made a choice to leave the palace life and run away. Nobody knows for sure what he was feeling or why he did what he did, but I'm sure he wasn't unafraid and uncertain as to what was going to happen in his life. Even when God was speaking to him and telling him what he needs to do, Moses was questioning God and sounds fearful of the Egyptians and even the Israelites (Ex 3:11 - 4:17).

Is there anything in our own lives that we know God wants us to keep away from but we give excuses as to why we can't or won't? Is there anything that we know God wants us to do but we don’t want to because of peer pressure from the world? What if Moses didn't fight his fear and go against the flow? God would have had to find another person to do His will.

When it comes to our own Christian lives, we have to make decisions daily that are like choosing the palace or the desert. Nine times out of ten, the Christ-like choice is the unpopular one by the world's standards. Being a Christian is unpopular and looked down upon…sometimes even violently oppressed. Christ made this point clear in John 15:20.

In your small groups, I want each person to confess an area in their lives where they need to take God's tougher road instead of the easy palace road.

give example from your own life and current examples for the present and future of your life