Journey of Faith

Lifegroups at OBC (Sept – Dec 2015)

Moses Journey of Faith By Rev. Martyn Travers

Contents

Introduction /Dates to note

“ Moulding me” Exodus 2: 1 1-17 13 Sept

“ Meeting with God” Exodus 3: 1 -17 20 Sept

“Setting people free”Exodus 5: 22 – 6: 12 4 Oct

“Trust in Him” Exodus 14: 10 – 31 1 Nov

“Just 10” Deuteronomy 5: 1 – 21/ 6: 4 – 9 15 Nov

“Go with us” Exodus 33: 7 – 23 22 Nov

(Please note the dates in brackets are the Sundays we hope to focus on this reading.) Dates to note: -

6 September Believer’s Baptism Service 7 – 12 September Prayer Week 9 September LIFEgroup leaders’ meeting 16 September Church Family Meeting 19 September Emily Sumner’s Wedding 20 September 6.30 – United Churches Together Service focusing on Street & College Pastors @ OBC 26 September Harvest Quiz & Meal 27 September Harvest Thanksgiving 11 October All Age & Parade 6.00 – Pressures facing Young People (CTIO @ OBC) 24 October Katy Dennis’s Wedding 7.30 – Concert with Gari Glaysher & Friends 25 October Church Anniversary with Rev. David Shosanya 4 November Questions & Answers with Jeff Lucas and Adrian Plass 8 November All Age & Parade Remembrance Sunday “You Are Special” Remembrance Tea 15 November 6.00 – 150th Anniversary Celebration London Baptist Association – Westminister Central Hall 18 November Church Family Meeting 19 November Lighting Up Event (6.15 – OBC Carols) 29 November Advent Sunday 13 December All Age & Parade Service 6.00 - Alternative Carol Service 20 December 6.30 – Candlelit Carol Service 25 December 10.00 – Christmas Day 27 December 10.30 – Wise People Worship List of LIFE groups at OBC Telephone

Remi Adesina & Jo Lewis (Tuesdays) 862654 Melanie & Keith Warren (Thursdays 871420 Paul & Sonia Mulley (Wednesdays) 858215 Ivor Reveley (Wednesdays) 815344 Sue Cooke (Tuesdays Ladies’ Daytime) 858853 Colin Salzer (Wednesdays) 850258 Cooperative Group (Wednesdays) 839815 Dulcie Marjoram (Thursdays Daytime) 602028 Alison Welch (Wednesdays) 838952 Sue Brown & Soo Chu Clift (Thursday Daytime – Morning) 637396/818646 Danny Brown (Young Adults – LIFEgroup) 07888 399714 Introduction

In six new LIFEgroup sessions I want us to share together around the story of Moses. He is one of the most significant Old Testament Characters whom God uses to bring freedom to his people and the law that was to guide them as they settled in the Promised Land. Just like us, Moses has many faults and weaknesses, yet through this fragile human being God shows his glory. For many people, the Old Testament is a closed book, yet we can learn so much from the way in which God moulds and guides His people from the earliest days.

One danger to avoid with Old Testament stories is to think that knowledge of the story is enough in itself. We need to dig deeper in each of the stories to see how God is at work and to find the application for our discipleship today. LIFEgroups is one of the best contexts that we have to be able to do this effectively. As we share, pray and encourage one another around God’s word He will speak to us through these particular stories of salvation history.

I’ve selected six points in the story of Moses but, of course there could be many more. I encourage you to read the whole story. In our Sunday morning series I plan to run with these same readings, but it’s good to look at them in the wider context. I hope you enjoy getting into an Old Testament character. Like Moses, may we also have a journey of faith that teaches us lots more about God.

Moulding Me

Reading: Exodus 2: 1 – 17

Reflection

In the early verse of Exodus we read of how things have changed since the years of Joseph’s influence. A new Pharaoh has come to power who oppresses the Hebrew people and enslaves them to work on the famous Egyptian building projects. Moses is born, hidden in a basket floated on the Nile and in God’s providence Pharaoh’s daughter rescues him. His own mother is employed as a nurse maid and Moses grows up in the privileged luxury of the Egyptian court. As a hot- headed adult, with a blazing sense of injustice, Moses murders a task master and flees for his own life into the desert life of what is now Saudi Arabia. We reflect on how God’s providence moulds not only Moses, but our lives that we might be the people He wants us to be. Sharing together

 Think about the way in which God’s unseen hand plays a significant part in Moses’ life story.

 Moses is right to feel passionate about the injustice towards his own people but wrong to murder someone. Do you think we have similar struggles between what we feel and what we do?

 Look at Hebrews 11: 23 – 29 and what it says about Moses there. What encouragements to faith do you think his story is giving us?

 Think of the different influences that would mould Moses’ life and direction. What kind of influences might mould us and how can we be sure to allow God’s influence in our lives to prevail?

Prayer time

Pray for the children and young people that we have some influence with. Pray that their early moulding might be shaped by God. Meeting with God

Reading: Exodus 3: 1 – 17

Reflection

Through many years deserts have been good places for meditation. It was in this kind of solitude, free of the security blanket of material things that Moses comes face to face with God. In one of the most famous “call” stories of the Bible, God speaks to Moses out of a burning bush that is not consumed. Notice the immediate sense of God’s holiness and the natural human fear that accompanies it. In contrast to that, God reveals himself to be deeply concerned about his people. He hears their cries and plans to set them free via Moses. Understandably, Moses expresses reluctance and doubt: Here I am – send Aaron! The name by which God wishes to be known and worshipped is “I Am who I Am”. Yahweh is the God who is actively present with his people who is to be worshipped and trusted. His name expresses his character as the faithful and everlasting God that He is. Jesus also applies the name to Himself and in so doing claims to be God – I Am the Light of the World (John 8: 12). God promises to be with Moses in going back to Egypt.In Him alone, his strength will be found to bring his people to the Promised Land. Sharing together

 Look at the different elements of how God is revealing himself e.g. holiness, compassion and deliverer. How do we see them in our own understanding of God today?

 Think about the calling that Moses is given and his human reluctance about it (expanded on in Exodus 4). What reservations do you bring to the call of God to your life?

 The name of God can also be translated “I will be what I will be”. The Hebrew sounds very like the word for Lord – sometimes translated Jehovah, but better Yahweh. What do you make of the name that God chooses for Himself?

 The promise to bring his people to the Promised Land is to dominate Israel’s whole history. What are God’s promises to us that are central to our faith?

Prayer time

Pray for one another and others we know, that we might hear God’s call for our lives today. Set my people free

Reading: Exodus 5: 22 – 6: 12

Reflection

Back in Egypt, Moses turns to God in desperation and doubt. In the face of a mighty Pharaoh, Moses lacks confidence and questions whether God really will fulfil his promise of deliverance. Things seem to go from bad to worse for the people as Pharaoh increases his oppression and hardens his heart. God’s covenant from the days of Abraham onwards, that has promised the land, will be fulfilled whatever the human powers that might look to prevent it. God has heard their groaning and He will set them free.

The ten plagues are presented as a virtual contest between the stubbornness of Pharaoh and the purposes of God. The final plague, with the death of all the Egyptian first born, breaks Pharaoh’s hard heart and he acknowledges, for a time at least, the superiority of the Hebrews God (12: 31 – 32). Before the last sign, God tells Moses & Aaron how they are to protect themselves with the blood of the Lamb on their doorposts. The institution of the Passover takes root and the festival that it begins will play a huge part in the story of God’s redemption.

Sharing together

 Look at the way in which Moses both doubts himself and questions God. Do the doubts and questions that we may have share any similarity?

 Think about the ways in which God is presenting Himself as the Lord who will fulfil his promises, who has heard the cries of his people & who will set them free. In what ways does God set people free today?

 Imagine how this contest between the power of Pharaoh and the claims of Yahweh seemed. What things, people or powers, might present to us that kind of battle today? How do you see it working through?

 The Passover becomes the most important Jewish festival and still is today. In the New Testament Jesus deliberately draws the parallel with his ministry in the Last Supper at Passover time and in his sacrificial atonement. He becomes our Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5: 7). What does it mean to us as we think about Christ’s blood both protecting and saving us?

Prayer time

You might like to include in your prayers some praying for people who need to be set free. Trust in Him

Reading: Exodus 14: 10 - 31

Reflection

After some 430 years the Hebrews are leaving Egypt, reverently taking with them the embalmed body of Joseph. The story of God’s deliverance in the drama of Exodus becomes the bedrock of Jewish history. Even in Acts 7, at the martyrdom of Stephen, he recounts a potted biography of what happened. Note the emphasis on God’s saving grace and God’s power alone that led the Israelites out of slavery. They are continually told to forget it (Deuteronomy 6: 12).

A glance at a map in a study Bible may help to build up a picture of where and how the Exodus took place. It’s generally accepted that the more authentic translation of “Red Sea” would be “Sea of Reeds”, part of the Gulf of Suez today.

Once into the desert the people’s courage evaporates. Their memories of life in Egypt are distorted and they snipe against Moses. Each time, God shows them how they need to trust Him. In the miracles of the parting of the sea for them to cross over, in the manna and quail for them to eat and in the water from the rock God proves to them again and again that He is to be trusted. As in the song of Miriam – “Who is like you – majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders” (Exodus 15: 11). Sharing together

 Caught between the Egyptians pursuing them and the sea, Moses tells the people not to be afraid, to stand firm and see the deliverance of the Lord, to trust God to fight for them. How do we apply that kind of faith ourselves today?

 The people are quick to grumble and to forget what God had done. Do you think that this a danger for us as well? What can we do about that?

 We read of how the Lord’s presence is seen in the pillar of the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. In what ways now do we look for the Lord’s presence?

 For the Israelites it was the Egyptian army, the sea, threatened hunger and thirst. In these situations and more they needed to discover trust in God. What situations are there for us in which we need to do the same?

Prayer time

Pray for one another, in the situations that we face, that we might remember what God has done and trust. Just 10

Reading: Deuteronomy 5: 1 – 21/ 6: 4 - 9

Reflection

Moses has led the people to the oasis area in the shadow of Mt. Sinai. In preparation for life as a Nation in community together, God gives the Ten Commandments and other laws to govern their lives. It might be easy to regard them as a list of “Thou shall nots” but actually they are the Maker’s instructions for us all. Many of them also form the basis of a civilized legal system. First and foremost our relationship with God is the focus of the first four commandments; family and relationships with others follow on. This is God’s blueprint for lasting community justice and wellbeing.

What became known as the Shama, Hebrew for “Hear”, is established as the Jewish confession of faith, still recited daily by Orthodox Jewish people. Jesus reminds us of it when he tells us the greatest commandment to love God with all your heart, soul and mind and strength. In his teaching he emphasizes that he had not come to abolish the law, but to fulfil it (Matthew 5: 17) and to help us understand that it goes not only to outward actions, but inner motivations.

It’s sometimes said that “No one breaks the Ten Commandments, we break ourselves against them”. Lives are ruined and societies spoilt because these Commandments, first given through Moses, are ignored or despised. Sharing together

 Think about the first four commandments that focus on our relationship with God. Which commandment do you find the most challenging?

 Consider the six commandments that focus more on our relationships with others. Look at the way in which Jesus increases our understanding of them (Matthew 5: 17 – 48). Which broken commandment has hurt you the most?

 In the light of Deuteronomy 6: 7 what teaching/priorities do you feel need to be passed onto our children the most?

 J.John put it in his book and nationwide tour “Just 10: “We are being confronted with a rise in crime, family breakdown, personal debt and drug abuse. We live in a generation that has lost its fixed standards. Our society needs to take the 10 Commandments seriously once more.” What do you think?

Prayer time

Pray for our community and Nation that we might submit ourselves to the law of God. “ Go with us”

Reading: Exodus 33: 7 - 23

Reflection

Even whilst up the Mountain, receiving the commandments, the people are breaking them by creating an idol and worshipping the Golden calf. Moses, as God’s servant, models authenticity as he pleads for their forgiveness and expresses his longing to see God. An amazing description of his relationship with God puts it 33: 11 “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend”.

The Tent of Meeting, which Moses has erected outside the camp, becomes a holy place of prayer. A sense of God’s glory in the pillar of cloud would come down whilst the Lord spoke with Moses. The Tent is a precursor to the Tabernacle which Moses had built from God’s detailed instructions and later still the first Jerusalem Temple, which Solomon dedicates.

The glory of God passes by Moses while God proclaims his name, yet not even Moses gets to see God’s face. Seeing God face to face had to wait until Christ came. Perhaps remembering this very story, John’s Gospel records “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only” (John 1: 14). Sharing together

 Moses had a special place set aside to meet with God outside the camp. Is it important for us to have a special place and time in order to connect with God?

 Moses expresses to God his dependence and desire for an assurance of the Lord’s presence. Not just for himself but for the Nation. What might get in the way of our sense of dependence and desire for the Lord’s presence?

 Think about ways in which Moses has seen spiritual growth in his life since his early days. How do we encourage spiritual growth in our own lives?

 Moses is described as a “Friend of God”. He intercedes for the people and carries something of their burdens and sins as leader. Do you think we need to recapture that sense of being “Intercessors” for others?

Prayer time

Pray for those today that may feel far away from God’s presence in their lives.