"Freed to Worship: It's Time to God"

SERIES THROUGH EXODUS

· YOU WERE MADE FOR WORSHIP AND GOD DESIRES FOR YOU TO EXPERIENCE THE BLESSING OF THIS WORSHIP

· THE PROBLEM: GOSHEN

GEN 47:6- KEY WORD (SETTLE)

Genesis 47:6 ESV

The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of Goshen, and if you know any able men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”

GEN 47 27- KEY WORD SETTLE

Genesis 47:27 ESV

Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.

THEY WERE OBEDIENT

Exodus 1:6–7 ESV

Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

COMFORT IN PLACES, RELATIONSHIPS AND A CHARACTER THAT IS LESS THAN WHAT YOU WERE CALLED FOR AND TO BE

COMFORT IN GOSHEN HAPPENS WHEN YOU BEGIN MINIMIZING YOUR IDENTITY WITH GOD IN AN EFFORT TO MAXIMIZE YOUR EXPERIENCE IN GOSHEN

§ IT IS THE TOLERATION OF LESS

· WE TOLERATE = THE WILLINGNESS FOR THE LORD TO BE SLIGHTED

· WE TOLERATE= THE WILLINGNESS TO LIVE BELOW YOUR CALLING

· WE TOLERATE = EMBRACING THE “MORE” OF THIS WORLD AS THE BEST

BUT HERE IS THE PROBLEM:

THEY WERE NOT MADE FOR GOSHEN AND WE WERE NOT MADE FOR THIS WORLD: SO YOU MUST STRIP YOURSELF OF THE

· MINDSET

· MOTIVES

· PASSIONS

· DESIRES

· AND LOVE OF GOSHEN

THESE WEIGH YOU DOWN FROM LIVING FREE; THEY DISTRACT YOU FROM YOUR TRUE CALLING AND PURPOSE

BUT GOD WANTS YOU TO EXPERIENCE THE JOYS AND THE DELIGHTS OF WORSHIP SO MUCH THAT HE WILL DO THE FOLLOWING:

o HE WILL MAKE YOUR GOSHEN TO BECOME YOUR GOLGATHA

§ THIS IS HOW YOU KNOW THE LORD IS CALLING YOU TO A DEEPER WORSHIP OF HIM?

· EXPLAIN GOSHEN AND GOLGATHA

SOME ARE IN A GOLGATHA BECAUSE THEY HAVE CHOSEN GOSHEN AS YOUR PLACE OF RESIDENCE AND THEIR POINT OF IDENTITY.

WE NEED DELIVERANCE

GOSHEN-COMFORTABEL: GOSHEN IS THE PLACE WHERE CALLING IS CRUSHED

- Comfort kills calling

BUT HERE IS WHAT THE LORD WILL DO

· GOD WILL DISRUPT YOUR COMFORT IN THIS WORLD TO DEEPEN YOUR COMMUNION WITH HIM

o THAT IS WHAT THE EXODUS IS ABOUT: GOD DOING FOR HIS PEOPLE A GOOD THAT THEY WRE NOT DOING FOR THEMSELVES

SERMON TITLE FOR TODAY AND NEXT WEEK

THE SIGNS THAT GOD IS CALLING YOU TO GREATER INTIMACY

THIS IS HOW YOU KNOW THAT GOD IS ABOUT TO MOVE IN YOUR LIFE

THIS IS WHEN YOU KNOW THAT THE LORD IS TAKING YOU INTO DEEPER DEPTHS OF INTIMACY WITH HIM THAT WILL INCREASE AND INTENSIFY YOUR WORSHIP OF AND COMMUNION WITH HIM

Sign 1: WHEN GOSHEN TURNS TO GOLGALTHA (1-2)

A. See Your Pain Through the Lense of His Providence

Speaking of this slavery that Israel would endure the Lord had given this promise:

Genesis 15:14 ESV

But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.

1. GOD RULES ALL OF HIS CREATION AND THE BEAUTY IN THIS EXODUS IS THAT HE IS RULING IT IN YOUR FAVOR

a. He shows from the start that nemesis of Egypt – pharoah and his power – is no match for the Lord’s

WHAT PHAROAH IS ATTEMPTING TO DO IS STIFLE THE HEBREWS GROWTH: HE IS AFRAID THAT THEIR GROWTH WILL THREATEN HIS RULE:

THIS IS WHAT THE DEVIL IS SEEKING TO

BUT WHEN THE DEVIL ACTS - GOD BRINGS ABOUT DIVINE REVERSALS:

VERESES 10-11

Exodus 1:10–11 ESV

Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.

REVERSAL: EX 1 12

Exodus 1:12 ESV

But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.

ATTACK 2: EX 1 15-17: KILL ALL MALE CHILDREN WHEN THEY ARE BORN

Exodus 1:15–17 ESV

Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.

REVERSAL

Exodus 1:17–21 ESV

But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

ATTACK 3: KILL ALL THE MALE INFANTS BY THROWING THEM INTO THE NILE RIVER (EX 1:22-

Exodus 1:22 ESV

Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

REVERSAL EX 2:1-11-

Exodus 2:1–11 ESV

Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.” One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.

DESPITE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE AND DESPITE WHAT SEEMS TO BE HIS ABSENCE IN YOUR EGYPT

a. In each, God brings blessings

HERE IS THE POINT

When God Is Ready to Deliver The Enemy Tactics Cannot Stand

i. They will come (in each instance)

ii. But God will reverse them and use them for your Good

ISAIAH SAYS - No weapon formed against me....

Isaiah 54:17 ESV

no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.”

3. Spiritual warfare

a. God is at war against the enemy, embodied in Pharoah

b. Spiritual warfare and divine reversals against the schemes of the enemy

c. The enemy want to thwart your commitment to being fruitful and multiplying

d. He wants to thwart the your personal fruitfulness and multiplying growth

B. The Power of His PRESENCE Through the Presence of Others

1. The women GOD USES IN THIS (in this context)

THE MIDWIVES

PHARAIH’S DAUGHTER

HERE IS THIS POINT: HELP CAN COME FROM THE MOST UNLIKELY OF PLACES AND GOD WILL USE THE MOST UNLIKELY OF PEOPLE

2. Talk about community in the present

3. Broaden it to include the past – you came from somewhere and someone and those someone’s inform your present

“ ‘Who you are now’ must be understood in the connection with ‘who came before you and who they were.’ What the Israelites could come to expect from God in their present situation is directly related to how he dealt with the Israelites in the past.” (NIV App Comm 45)

ISRAEL BEGAN AS IDENTIFIED WITH INDOVIDUAlS - ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB

THEY WERE NOW, THROUGH THEIR EGYPT, BEING MADE INTO A NATION

GOD WAS TAKING THEM FROM IDENTIFYING AS INDIVIDUAL TO IIDENTIFYING AS A NATION

EGYPT IS GOD’S DESIGN OF BREAKING THE INDIVIDUAL TO BELONGING IN COMMUNITY

i. This is why we need to have testimonies

ii. Hebrews 11 is a chapter of testimonies

Speak here is what is seen as the absence of God. Call is God’s PASSIVE PRESENCE: THROUGH PEOPLE

IN THIS WE ARE TO TRUST WHAT HE HAS DONE IN THE PAST. THIS IS WHY COMMUNITY IS SO IMPORTANT – WE ARE REMINDED THAT HE IS STILL WORKING

c. BETTER

i. The cross is God’s testimony and the resuurection is the signature of God – the signed paperwork that binds the agreement

ii. Jesus was delivered from DEATH – you were too!!!

C. The Exodus Embodied PURPOSE of Your Life Providence and Power Shapes Your

MOSES HAS EXPERIENCED AN EXODUS BEFORE HE LED THE PEOPLE IN THEIR OWN EXODUS

Exodus 2:10 ESV

When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

MOSES IS AT RISK FROM PHAROAH - LIKE ISRAEL

MOSES IS AT RISK IN THE SEA - LIKE ISRAEL

MOSES WAS RESCUED - DELIVERED FROM THE SEA - LIKE ISRAEL

a. The making of An Exodus Leader

i. We must embody the Exodus in order to lead them out of it

ii. We must be In Exodus to lead others through exodus

iii. Our Exodus Story Makes Us Fit to Lead Others Out of That Exodus

iv. Whatver You Have been Through and the Lord Has Delivered You From You Have Two Obligations

1. It Is Time to Go: Live Like you Are Free

2. It Is Time to Show: Leads Others Who Are Where You Were

3. YOUR PERSONAL EXODUS IS YOUR MINISTRY

QUESTION: IS THE LORD, IN THIS SEASON, CALLING YOU TO A DEEPER INTIMACY WITH HIM?

IS YOUR GOSHEN NOW YOUR GOLGATHA

IS YOUR PLACE OF COMFORT NOW SEEMING TO BE YOUR CROSS?

GOD IS CALLING YOU TO DEEPER INTIMACY

SO HERE IS YOUR CALLING

TRUST HIS PROVIDENCE

TRUST HIS PRESENCE

TRUST HIS SHAPING POWER

FROM WHAT, SPECIFICALLY, HAVE YOU BEEN DELIVERED?

- Because of your obedience (fruitful/multiply

- If you have not experienced Golgatha, you are at ease in Goshen

- The enemy attacks the movement of a people who glorify God in and through Christ

- You do not have to seek out golgatha- we do not need to create battles; when we live in obedience to the Lord the enemy comes

- But here is what we know: he comes to

o Kill: not the power of God -but your experience of it

o Steal: not the joy of God – but your experience of it

o Destroy: not the purposes of God – but your engagement in it