Exodus 5

This chapter of exodus opens up with Moses and Aaron going right to pharaoh. They go to confront the enemy of their people.

This was the point that Moses returned back to his Egypt, to confront his past sin, shame, and guilt. this was the begining of Moses Journey of redemption and th begining of the redemption story of his people. And both stories start with trusting God in conflict and oppostion.

We have heard this theme throughhout th ebook of exodus, God uses Oppostion to shape his people and bring about his plan.

Pastor Josh talked about three points that we draw form this passgage of how to deal with opposition .

Expect opossition

As Christians we have to expect opposition. as a human you need to expect oppostion. expect hard things to happen, and pain to come, and people to stand in your way.

Jesus says in John 15:20 “20 Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” do not be suprised when the world hates you and persuctuion comes, Jesus told us it would.

oppostion can come from various different places. lots of the time its from somehting stupid we did. and other times its from God.

ILL* - Losing my liscence

i broke the rules and faced oppostion. That wasnt Gods fault that was mine. so dont be so quick to pin everyhting bad that happens to you on God ltos of hte time we bring it on ourselves. btu what we see here in this story is moses and aaron facing opposition even though they did the right thing and obeyed God. which seems like a pretty brutal deal.

Opposition doesnt mean Absence

But If Jesus promises oppostion, and showed us that he went through it himself, then what does that tell us? that he is present in it. In us following his commands we will be led to into oppostion. you guys might feel that in your own lives today, when you follow Jesus some people wont like you, it means you ahve to have hard conversations, it means you have to do hard htings, it means that people will always make your life more diffcult becaus eyour lvoe God.

but the promise that we find in Jesus is not that we ar ealone when we follow his word but that he went through the same struggles we do, therefore he is present in them with us. that is the promsie that God Gives Moses through out the whole Old Testemant, that The isralites will face oppsotion but God will be with them through it.

God is never absent in our struggles , he is often closer then ever be0cause of them. If we understand that God uses conflict and oppsotion to grow us than that means two things. he is present, and he apporachable.

Pray in the pressure

through what Jesus did for us in suffering on the cross and restoring our relationship back to God that means we have a speedial to Call God in the midst of oppsotion. we have the chance to walkalognisde God in oppostion not in oppostion to God.

prayer is the escpape route of oppsotion, when you face oppsotion and struggle, rpayer is the thing that will reveal what is truly happening and what God is doing within it.