Digging in Deeper: Exodus 10:21-24

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“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.’ So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days. One person could not see another, and for three days they did not move from where they were. Yet all the Israelites had light where they lived. Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, ‘Go, worship the Lord. Even your families may go with you; only your flocks and herds must stay behind.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The summer after we moved to where we live now, there was a total solar eclipse that was almost fully visible from here. You had to go a bit further west to experience the moment of actual darkness, but it was pretty cool to look at through the special lenses we had. And the dimming of the light of the sun was wild. It was an interesting reminder of just how powerful the sun is. A great majority of it was blocked out and yet it was still mostly light. The penultimate plague God brought to the people of Egypt was darkness. It has always seemed to me to be a bit out of place as compared with the others, especially the ones that came just before it. Let’s talk about what is going on in this second-to-last plague, and why it was almost effective enough by itself to accomplish God’s purpose.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 10:16-20

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“Pharaoh urgently sent for Moses and Aaron and said, ‘I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Please forgive my sin once more and make an appeal to the Lord your God, so that he will just take this death away from me.’ Moses left Pharaoh’s presence and appealed to the Lord. Then the Lord changed the wind to a strong west wind, and it carried off the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in all the territory of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the Israelites go.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the more fascinating stories in the Scriptures that reveals a great deal about God’s character, and which (ironically, considering its historical reception) gives us confidence the whole thing is true, is the story of Jonah. Setting aside the giant fish part that everybody simultaneously knows and doubts, the story is about God’s granting forgiveness from judgment and destruction to a people who would later conquer and destroy Israel. Why would God do that? Because they repented. God always responds to repentance. The ending of the story of the plague of locusts shows us the same thing about Him. Let’s talk about God’s incredible forgiveness.

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Not Merely Converts

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After a couple of weeks off, this week we are picking back up in the incredible story of the church in Acts. My Minister of Students walked the congregation through Acts 12 last week (click here and tune to the 35:30 mark to catch his excellent treatment of it), so this week we are on to the next part of the story in Acts 13-14. This is where we find the travelogue of Paul’s first missionary journey. Travelogues like this can make for tough point-seeking, but as the story unfolds on Paul’s disciple making efforts, we discover a series of principles worth considering in our own similar efforts. Let’s explore these together as we see that merely making converts to the Christian faith is not our goal.

Not Merely Converts

For nine weeks now we have been working our way through the story of us; the story of the church as told by Dr. Luke in the incredible narrative of Acts found in the Scriptures. And we’ve learned all kinds of things along the way about how we should be doing church if we are going to rightly stand in the long history of tradition that stretches out behind us. We’ve learned that people best connect to Jesus through the three-fold ministry of powerful words, loving actions, and an attractive community. We’ve learned that the way we survive the myriad of challenges all churches face is by being boldly committed to advancing the message and mission of Jesus and by taking the church as seriously as it deserves. We’ve learned that sometimes this kind of boldness sparks persecution, but also that the only response that will get us through these challenges is to double down on Gospel boldness. We’ve learned that when we do our part, pairing our efforts with those of our Father who always does His part, the church grows, and that having as many people as is possible in the church is the point of the whole endeavor. Indeed, if we’re not reaching people with the Gospel message then what on earth are we doing wasting our time and money on all of this for? We’ve been impressed by the fact that our whole identity as Jesus followers is built on the idea of including everybody. “Christian” is an inclusive identity. Just last week, after taking a week off to hear about all the work God did among our students this summer at camp, Nate walked you through the remarkable story of Peter’s miraculous escape from prison, and helped us see that when we pray big, bold prayers, God just may answer them and we need to be ready for that.   

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Digging in Deeper: 2 Timothy 3:13

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“Evil people and imposters will become worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

What if the people around you weren’t who you thought they were? Maybe you’ve had that experience. You thought you knew someone really well, and then seemingly out of nowhere they did something so profoundly out of character as far as you had understood it that you were struck with a powerful sense that maybe you didn’t actually know them at all. Depending on how close you are to the person with whom you had this experience, this could be a pretty painful discovery. I know of a woman who discovered after more than two decades of marriage that her husband had a completely separate family including a woman he called his wife and kids. Learning people aren’t who we thought they were can be intensely disorienting for us. But what if we learned they weren’t simply not who we thought they were, but were in fact aliens who could assume the identity of anyone around them. Then we’d be living in a comic book world. It is this very comic book world that was the focus of Marvel’s latest streaming release, Secret Invasion. Let’s talk about what worked, what didn’t, and the Gospel implications of a series with enormous potential, but which couldn’t quite stick the landing. By the way, if you haven’t watched the series yet, proceed at your own risk. This is going to be full of spoilers.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 10:7-11

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“Pharaoh’s officials asked him, ‘How long must this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Don’t you realize yet that Egypt is devastated?’ So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. ‘Go, worship the Lord your God,’ Pharaoh said. ‘But exactly who will be going?’ Moses replied, ‘We will go with our young and with our old; we will go with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds because we must hold the Lord’s festival.’ He said to them, ‘The Lord would have to be with you if I would ever let you and your families go! No, go – just able-bodied men – worship the Lord, since that’s what you want.’ And they were driven from Pharaoh’s presence.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

As a dad of three boys, one of the things I most enjoyed when my boys were little was wrestling around with them. As they’e gotten older (and bigger), it’s not quite as much fun as it used to be as they are big enough to gang up on me…and occasionally beat me. Especially the oldest who just nearly looks me in the eye now. Still, as I’ve gotten older, my stamina isn’t quite what it used to be. When I’m ready to be done, I’ll stop holding back so much to the point they know they’ve lost. I’ll ask if they’re done. And while they’re mostly done, they want to get one last shot in. So, while they’ve yielded almost completely, they’re not quite ready to give up entirely. As a result, I’ll keep piling on. Pharaoh wanted the plagues to stop. But he wasn’t willing yet to yield completely. Let’s talk about Pharaoh’s folly and our willingness to do what God says.

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