Exodus

The Story of Exodus

December 22, 2019 • Joe Rigney

"Yahweh is the Author. He is the Creator. He is the author of the story, and we are his characters. He is everywhere and everywhen. He hears and knows everything. He sees, he hears, he remembers his covenant, and he acts in faithfulness."

The God Who Will Have A People

December 15, 2019 • Jonathan Parnell

What God intended first for a person (Adam), and then a people (Israel), has now been realized in a Person (Jesus) and a people (the church). The church is the people of Jesus. We are men and women brought into fellowship with God by God through faith. We are created new in Jesus. We are forgiven by the cross of Jesus and filled with the Spirit of Jesus, to walk in the way of Jesus.

Jethro's Surprising Visit

December 8, 2019 • Kevin Kleiman

The story of the Exodus is a paradigm by which Christians can understand our own salvation. Through the first seventeen chapters of Exodus, Yahweh consistently and convincingly delivers his people with miraculous, supernatural power. But as we come to Exodus 18, we something much more ordinary. In chapter 18, we see how normal, everyday relationships are transformed by the good news of what God has done. As we review Exodus 18, we see Moses and Jethro’s interactions, and we learn from two very different people, and we see practically, how our lives should look differently after experiencing the saving grace of God. We are reminded to tell the whole story of God’s rescue, take a risk and offer good advice, and to happily receive feedback in humility.

Drink From The Rock

December 1, 2019 • Jonathan Parnell

The Old Testament teaches us that people sin and we deserve God’s judgment, but God still gives grace. Humans are rebellious. God has every right to be done with, but he chooses to show grace. Some have shook their fists at God. Others have just ignored him. Either way, our rebellion demonstrates our spiritual thirst. And God proactively sought us and provided the means to quench our spiritual thirst. In Exodus 17 the Jewish people drank from a rock that was struck. This was a foreshadowing of the true rock, Jesus. He was struck so that we might drink from him. We’re all dying of spiritual thirst, until we drink from the Rock that was struck. Jesus is the Rock. Jesus was struck so that we might drink.

The Self-Giving Grace of God

November 24, 2019 • Jonathan Parnell

The manna in the book of Exodus is all about the self-giving grace of God. In Exodus 16 God's provision of manna demonstrates God's mercy and desire to provide for his own people. The greatest provision he has given is Jesus. In fact, Exodus 16 is actually all about Jesus. Jesus is God's way when there is no way. And Jesus is always enough.

The Glory of His Mercy and Fury

November 17, 2019 • David Mathis

When we examine the Exodus, Yahweh rescuing his covenant people from slavery, we see a single event where the God of heaven revealed much about himself. In that single event God revealed more about himself, and more clearly and memorably, than he had revealed about himself at any other event up to that point in human history. In fact, the Exodus, and more specifically the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, demonstrated more about God than any event in human history, ever, except for Calvary. At Calvary the cross of Christ became the new single greatest and most God-revealing event in the history of the world. In the person and life of the Son of God, God reveals himself in a profound way, and at the cross both the mercy and fury of Yahweh are demonstrated.

God’s Hand and the Pharaoh’s Heart

November 10, 2019 • Joe Rigney

This sermon is more of a theological summary message. A key theme in the Exodus is God’s relationship to Pharaoh’s heart. And this raises questions for us about God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. The good news from Exodus is that God rules and reigns over and in this hardening. He is sovereign over our hearts. Our hearts are streams of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns them wherever he will. He can break into our efforts to strengthen our resistance and deaden our hearts. He can humble us and turn us around, not against our will, but by transforming our hearts so we have a new will. And then, he can strengthen our hearts for faith and obedience.

What Can We Learn From Rituals?

November 3, 2019 • Jonathan Parnell

In Exodus 13 we see God instituting rituals for his people. The reasons for these rituals are clear. God is reminding his people: 1) Worship is the primary he rescues us; 2) Freedom means saying no to sin; 3) Your future will cost you everything. Rituals have the potential to greatly remind us of these truths, and to usher us into greater intimacy with Yahweh.

How Passover Speaks Today

October 27, 2019 • Joe Rigney

When God made a distinction in the earlier plagues, he just did it. God's people didn’t have to do anything. But here, with the tenth plague, they must do something, or else God won't make a distinction. This difference is important.

Yahweh Is Greater Than All

October 20, 2019 • Jonathan Parnell

In Exodus 7, we begin to see God orchestrating the plagues on Egypt. Pharaoh has refused to obey Yahweh's commands to release the Hebrews. But, as we examine the plagues, it’s important to keep in mind that the plagues will not convince Pharaoh to release the people of Israel. God is clear about that in Exodus 7. So the purpose of the plagues is not persuasion, it’s revelation. Pharaoh is not going to listen, but he is going to see. He's going to understand what it means that Yahweh is Yahweh. That is the purpose of the plagues, and, like we saw a couple weeks ago, that purpose statement gets repeated over and over again in these chapters. All of this, Yahweh says, is so that they may know I am Yahweh.

How God Reassures a Dejected Servant

October 13, 2019 • David Mathis

After several decades of living in the desert, God calls Moses back to Egypt, at age 80, to be the deliverer of God's people. Moses tells Pharaoh to let God's people go. Of course, Pharaoh refuses. Moses seems to have accomplished nothing and his confidence is greatly shaken. However, in Exodus 6, we see that Moses’ discouragement and his lack of confidence doesn’t keep God from using him. Moses is dejected, but he will still be the one who delivers the Hebrews from slavery. God calls Moses to his most important, most intimidating work—speaking face to face with Pharaoh—when Moses manifestly doesn’t feel ready for it or worthy of it. But God reassures Moses, then commands Moses to continue the task. And God handles us similarly in our dejection and discouragement. There’s a time to answer questions and address objections. But eventually it is time to "do the next thing." Eventually it’s time to obey God’s instructions and trust that God will do what he has promised to do.

The God Who Feasts with His People

October 6, 2019 • Jonathan Parnell

In Exodus 5, Moses confronts Pharaoh. Moses tells Pharaoh that Yahweh wants him to release the Hebrews from slavery. Pharaoh, of course, refuses, citing the fact that he does not know Yahweh. This will begin the chain of events that leads to Yahweh doing two amazing things: 1) Freeing his own people from slavery, and 2) Making himself known to Pharaoh. The reason why God wants his people to be free is simple: God desires to feasts with his people. This was true in Exodus, and it is still true today. Yahweh is the Holy One who celebrates with us. He invites us into his joy. What does he celebrate? His own victory and majesty. God is Supreme over all, and that is worthy of feasting and celebration. God invites us to feasts with him as the means of celebrating his sovereignty and supremacy. For that reason Jesus came to Earth and died for us, to make a way for us to celebrate with Yahweh for all eternity.

A Strange Return to Egypt

September 29, 2019 • Joe Rigney

At age forty, Moses left Egypt. He spent the next forty years living in Midian. At age 80, he encountered God, and that led him back to Egypt, to be the eventual deliverer of God's people. Exodus 4 tells us the story of how Moses begins his trek back to the land where he was born. However, this passage is also filled with unique and strange elements. Passages like Exodus 4 provoke lots of questions. Quite frankly, it is a strange passage of Scripture. But this passage also highlights that God is faithful, he has supernatural powers over nature, and he is mighty to save.

The Holy One Who Saves by Grace

September 22, 2019 • Jonathan Parnell

God is sovereign and free. He does what he wants. We cannot twist his arm. This is the picture of God we see in Exodus 3. Yahweh, the Creator, the Holy One, is absolutely sovereign over everything, and he is the one who saves by grace.

God Makes Men in the Desert

September 15, 2019 • David Mathis

Many of us feel ordinary, or even subpar. However, God uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. God accomplishes his will through people who feel ordinary and subpar. God accomplishes these feats by first developing his own people, molding us and sanctifying us through desert experiences. We see this play out in the life of Moses in a beautiful and glorious manner. Before Moses could be a deliverer and a protector, he first needed to be delivered and protected. What we see in Moses' life highlights the sovereignty and faithfulness of God.

Cities Church

Exodus Sermon Series (Fall 2019)