Discipleship School - Exodus 5

What would I title Exodus, chapter 5?

T. Jones

Demised are the people: Lord save us

S. Caver

Lord Help!

Sis. T. Camell

Where is your faith in God?

E. Caver

Just trust me

Sis. D. Cooks

Don’t question God, just do it!

me

That didn’t go so well.

What in the world is God doing?

Review

Descendants of Abraham are slaves in Egypt

Question: Give me other names for his descendants (children of Israel, Israel, people of Israel, Israelites, Hebrews, Jews)

Moses reluctantly accepts the call to be used by God - we learned to HAVE FAITH, NOT EXCUSES

People accept that Moses has been sent by God and worship God . . . and so it begins

Verses 1-8

Moses and Aaron go make their requests: The Lord says let us go worship him in the wilderness

Pharaoh gets angry and accuses Moses and Aaron of distracting the people “with all this foolishness”

Pharaoh’s angry response should not have been a surprise

he doesn’t know that the God of Israel is God

They worship many gods in Egypt

Pharaoh considers himself a god

he has no reason to believe Moses

Pharaoh also responds by telling the people in charge of the slaves to stop giving the slaves straw to make their bricks, they will have to supply their own straw.

Exodus 5:9 NLT

Load them down with more work. Make them sweat! That will teach them to listen to lies!”

Pharaoh want to cause the slaves to stop listening to Moses

Verses 10-16

People are unable to make the same number of bricks and the slave foremen/leaders are punished - whipped

They complain to Pharaoh, but to no avail

Exodus 5:17–19 NLT

But Pharaoh shouted, “You’re just lazy! Lazy! That’s why you’re saying, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifices to the Lord.’ Now get back to work! No straw will be given to you, but you must still produce the full quota of bricks.” The Israelite foremen could see that they were in serious trouble when they were told, “You must not reduce the number of bricks you make each day.”

So the slave foremen in turn go off on Moses

Exodus 5:20–21 NLT

As they left Pharaoh’s court, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who were waiting outside for them. The foremen said to them, “May the Lord judge and punish you for making us stink before Pharaoh and his officials. You have put a sword into their hands, an excuse to kill us!”

they tell Moses and Aaron, “I hope God gets you for what you done to us!”

I’m sure Moses is thinking, “I didn’t even want to be here in the first place” . . .

even when you try to serve God, people can and will get upset with you

Lesson 1: Don’t let the enemy divide you.

Pharaoh had put the leaders against Moses and Aaron

One way the enemy tries to stop us is by causing division . . .

husbands/wives

parents/children

family members

church members/church members

you/God

foremen should have been mad at Pharaoh (the enemy, the slave master) instead of Moses.

watch out for that strategy . . . unity during difficult times is so much better than division through difficult times

be mad at the problem not at each other.

Lesson 2: Serving God does not mean instant results.

When you follow after God, things might get worse before they get better

there is usually a test of your faith and commitment (new Christians)

Mary went from engaged to almost divorced

Gideon went from small army to super small amry

things often get worse . . .

Then Moses complains to God . . .

Exodus 5:22–23 NLT

Then Moses went back to the Lord and protested, “Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!”

back to lesson #1 - Don’t let the enemy divide you. (Moses turns on God)

When we allow the enemy to cause division, we turn on the only one who can help us

or on the people who can help and support us

Moses seems really surprised by these events, and this leads us to . . . .

Lesson 3: Pay attention to what God actually says.

not what you want him to say

Read what God actually says . . .read to understand

What did God tell Moses earlier?

Exodus 3:19 NLT

“But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand forces him.

God told him this would not be easy

step 1 - he will not let you go

step 2 - it will take a mighty hand

Moses is in step 1.

Exodus 3:20 NLT

So I will raise my hand and strike the Egyptians, performing all kinds of miracles among them. Then at last he will let you go.

Then at last . . . this is going to be a journey

Exodus 4:21 NLT

And the Lord told Moses, “When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do. But I will harden his heart so he will refuse to let the people go.

I will harden Pharaoh’s heart . . .

not only will he say no, be he will be dead set against it

he will refuse to let you go

he is going to be stubborn . . . disagreeable . . . resistant . . . . even to miracles

so why was Moses (we) surprised things didn’t go well?

Seems all Moses heard was, “Go to Egypt and Pharaoh will let the people go, and you all will be rich on the way out”

Application: What has God said about our lives?

and we know that all things work together for good . . . that implies there will be some bad things

no weapon formed against you . . . implies weapons

In the world you will have tribulation . . . implies tribulation

Yet we are surprised that life with God is hard. Not one saint in the Bible had an easy life

trouble, trials, suffering, waiting, persecution, disappointments, misunderstood . . . .

let me reword lesson #3 - Pay attention to what God actually says . . .

It’s a sad thing to lose faith in God because of what He didn’t say.

It is not good to lose faith in God about something that he did not promise.

sometimes we get mad (disappointed) at God for something he didn’t say

Guesses

often all we can do is guess as to why God allowed things to go this way

No appreciation of who God is, if Pharaoh just said yes

Will never know God’s power

not respect for Moses as a leader (they gave him a hard time even after all the mircales, imagine how bad it would have been without the display of God’s power)

Class Quiz

3 Lessons

Don’t let the enemy divide you

Serving God does not mean instant results

Pay attention to what God actually says

it’s a sad thing to lose faith in God because of what he didn’t say.

Names for descendants of Abraham

Israel, people of Israel, children of Israel, Israelites, Jews, Hebrews

one of these small proofs of the Bible - conflicts going on all over the world, but most of the world is focused on Israel, Abraham’s descendants (love or hate them)

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