Exodus - God Hears the Cries: Week 3

Written By Hayley Lotter

Opening Prayer:

Lord God,

We have heard Your call.

You have heard the cries of the people, You have responded, and You call us to respond too.

You are calling us - always calling us - forward into new places and new ways of loving Your world and its people.

Break our hearts for what breaks Yours.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Key Scriptures:

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

Exodus 3:1-12

Sermon Summary:

Carrying on from last week’s service, we find ourselves in a position to respond - what will we do? What is God saying to us as a people and as individuals? Where is He calling us to go? Who is He calling us to be with?

We heard that God disrupts. God disrupted Moses, Moses moved to investigate, and God turned up. In response, perhaps we need to ask ourselves what we need to be disrupted from. How might God disrupt us? What might be required of us in order for us to find ourselves in a position when God turns up?

We heard that God disturbs, hearing the cries of His people. He turns up and He promises to do something about it. Are we disturbed the same way God is? Are we disturbed about the same things? Do our hearts break for the same things that God’s heart breaks for? Are we putting ourselves in the way of things that will break our hearts? And what are we doing about it?

Finally, we heard that God dispatches. God told Moses to go. Moses complained and dodged, and tried to get out of it because he wasn’t ready, gifted or worthy. God agreed and sent him anyway.

How are we to respond to God, His word and His call? What can we do - what should we do, what must we do - in order to faithfully hear Him and obey? In general, yes, for all of us, but also specifically for each of us: what is God saying to us?

Questions to Consider:

  • What has God been saying to you throughout Global Week? What has He been stirring in you? How has He done this?

  • What are you hoping to hear from God? Why?

  • What distractions and deceptions keep you from hearing God clearly? How will you avoid them?

  • How is God asking you to join in freeing people from slavery today?

  • How do you hear the cries of the people, the cries of the poor and the cries of the oppressed?

  • What can you do locally, globally, daily, weekly, monthly, in order to support the work of God’s kingdom?

Practices to Consider:

  • How are you standing alongside the poor and oppressed? Remember to: Give. Pray. Go.

Prayer Prompts:

  • Pray for the people of Afghanistan after the devastating earthquakes.

  • Pray for our people and communities overseas.

  • Pray about how you can Give, Pray, and Go.

Additional Resources:

Further Study Resources:

Find the full sermon recording here
For a printable version of this guide click here

Hayley Lotter
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Exodus - God Hears the Cries: Week 2