Edge Night 5 An unlikely leader An Edge Night on

EDGE NIGHT GOAL: The goal of this Edge Night is to identify the importance of Moses in salvation history. From learning about the life of Moses, the youth will identify that God is all-powerful and can do great things. It does require we trust in Him, like Moses and the Israelites did. Their forty years in the desert teaches us that the path may not always be easy, but it will be worth it in the end.

Gather: Video https://lifeteen.com/cym/videos/ots-got-talent-moses/

Proclaim: MOSES’ BEGINNING Moseswas a Hebrew. Around the time that Moses was born the Hebrews were under persecution and all the newborn male babies were being killed. In order to save Moses, his mother put him in a basket in the river to float away. One of the Pharaoh’s many daughters found his basket and adopted him and raised him as her own. As an adult, Moses saw an Egyptian abusing a Hebrew slave, so he murdered the Egyptian and fled the country. He left Egypt, got married, and became a shepherd. One day he was walking around and he saw a bush burning, but the flames did not consume the bush. We know what happens when things burn; they turn to ashes, but this bush did not. Well, God spoke to Moses through this bush and when Moses asked who it was who was speaking to him, God revealed His name as “I AM” or “Yahweh.” This is a big deal because God revealed His name to Moses and this was the start of the many years to follow where God continued to reveal Himself to His people. MOSES IS SENT TO FREE THE ISRAELITES When God spoke to Moses, not only did He reveal His name, but He also gave Moses a very special task. He said to Moses “I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt”. At the command of the Lord, Moses returned to Egypt and went to see Pharaoh, telling him that the Lord said to let His people, the Israelites, go. Pharaoh paid no attention to Moses and thought that he was crazy. There was no way he would let all those slaves go. Moses warned him that the Lord would bring down His wrath if Pharaoh did not agree, but Pharaoh still said no, not believing Moses. THE TEN PLAGUES To show that He was greater and more powerful than all the gods of the Egyptians, the Lord sent upon the Egyptians ten plagues. First, He turned the water in their river to blood. Then, He covered the covered the whole land with frogs. During the third plague gnats covered the land. The fourth was flies; there were flies everywhere, in the Pharaoh’s house as well as everywhere in Egypt. Still at this point, Pharaoh refused to do what God was asking through Moses. He still would not let the people go. Then things started to get more serious. In the fifth plague, all the livestock of the Egyptians died. The sixth plague was boils on every man and beast in Egypt (except for the Israelites). Then the Lord had a huge storm of thunder and hail rain down on the land of Egypt in the seventh plague. Nearly everything was destroyed; the plants that were not destroyed by the hail were destroyed when the Lord sent down locusts upon the land in the eighth plague. Then for the ninth plague, Moses stretched out his hand over the earth and there was darkness for three days. Despite all these things, Pharaoh still would not let the Israelites go! Finally, the worst plague of all of them, all the first- born boys in Egypt were killed, man and beast. This was a huge blow to the Egyptians, and it is what finally motivated Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave. THE PASSOVER This feast, that is still celebrated by Jews and was a foreshadowing of the , commemorates this last plague when the angel of death passed over the house of the Israelites. The Israelites were saved from the last plague, the death of the first born, because God instructed Moses to have the Israelites, each in their own home, take a lamb to be slaughtered and put its blood on the doorposts of their homes. The blood on the door was a sign for the angel of death to pass over. They were to eat the lamb in haste that night and be ready to flee Egypt. That night Pharaoh’s first-born son and all those of the land were killed. Seeing the anguish of all the Egyptians, he was terrified of the power of the God of Moses and told him to take his people and leave. THE FLIGHT OF THE ISRAELITES The Israelites left Egypt and God led them by day in a pillar of cloud and by night in a pillar of fire. Pharaoh was upset after letting the Israelites go, and he changed his mind about giving them their freedom. He decided to follow them and bring them back to Egypt. But God would have none of that, so to help the Israelites escape the Egyptians, He had Moses take the Israelites to the Red Sea. Then, Moses held his hands up and the seas parted for the Israelites to walk through to the other side. They made it through, and then when the Egyptians followed, Moses lowered his hands and the waters crashed in on the Egyptians. The Israelites were finally free! THE ISRAELITES TRUST IN GOD After the Israelites made it out of Egypt, they wandered for a long time in the desert before they made it to the Promise Land. This is called the exodus. The Israelites learned to depend on God as He led them in the desert for 40 years. Through this time, God built up a whole generation that knew they could trust in Him and who knew the peace that comes with depending on God. When they were hungry, God provided manna in the desert. When they were thirsty, God provided water. On Mt. Sinai, He gave them the Ten Commandments that ultimately gave them a freedom they had never known before, to know that there was a difference between right and wrong. In the end, God led the Israelites to the Promise Land, which was flowing with milk and honey.

OUR TRUST IN GOD What we can learn from Moses is how to trust in God. In our own lives we are called to trust in God in the same way. We are called to trust that God first of all wants our best and wants us to live lives of true freedom, just like the Israelites. God also wants us to be happy and to get to the Promise Land, which for us is heaven. And as we walk on this journey, Moses and the Israelites teach us how to have utter dependence on God and faith that He does love us enough to save us from our own slavery to sin. So how does God save us from this slavery? He sent us His only son Christ who died for our sins. This reveals to us that God had a plan for us all along and that Christ comes to save us just as God came to save His people from the Egyptians.

Break: Questions - When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, Moses was open to listening to God and responding to His call. What is something you could do to make sure that when God tries to speak to you that you are able to hear Him?

-We see through the story of the Israelites that God moves slowly in helping His people come to know they can trust in Him. Looking at your life, what can you identify as areas where God has been taking care of you, even with you recognizing it? -The Israelites were saved from the final plague because they put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. What is the connection we can make between that and Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God? -Have you set aside time in your day to speak with God? How? -What are some ways that you have seen God working in your life, building up your trust in Him? -In what ways have you turned away from God? How did He use those circumstances to show you that He is bigger than your biggest problems?

Send Closing Prayer And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ~ Mark 11:22-24