Key Question:
What Is A Wilderness Season?
A season of life where things are:
- Difficult
- Confusing
- Disorienting
- Uphill
- Out of the ordinary
Wilderness Seasons are a MAJOR PART of the Christian Walk
- We anticipate them
A WILDERNESS SEASON IS WHERE WE LEARN WHO GOD IS, HOW HE LOVES US, AND HOW WE SHOULD INTERACT WITH HIM
1 Peter 1:6-7
6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
This series is about MAKING THE MOST out of these seasons
- Don’t waste pain
- Learn what God is teaching
We will be looking at the TRUE story of the EXODUS
The freeing of the people of God (Israel) from captivity in Egypt
One of the most powerful stories in human history
The story up to this point:
- Joseph
- 400 years in Egypt
Exodus 1:13-14
13 They worked the Israelites ruthlessly 14 and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar and in all kinds of fieldwork. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them.
The Exodus story is also Moses’ story
- Placed into a basket on the Nile
- Rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter
- Raised in Pharaoh’s Household
- Kills an Egyptian taskmaster
- Flees to the “WILDERNESS” for 40 years
- Burning Bush
- God sends him BACK to Egypt
The Great Rescue
We have a people who are:
- Oppressed
- Broken
- Tired
- Under Pressure
- Stuck
- LOST
Step 1 of God’s Rescue is:
1: God Promises Freedom
Exodus 6
2 Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I was not known to them by my name ‘the Lord.’ 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land they lived in as aliens. 5 Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are forcing to work as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.
6 “Therefore tell the Israelites: I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians and rescue you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you to the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.” 9 Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their broken spirit and hard labor.
Israel’s freedom is found in God (Yahweh) ALONE
God is REINTRODUCING himself to his people
- He reminds them of His promise to their ancestors
But the people DO NOT believe
- They are so broken
- So LOST
How will God free them from the most powerful kingdom in the known world?
Step 2 of God’s Rescue is:
2: God Confronts Egypt
Exodus 7
1 The Lord answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. 2 You must say whatever I command you; then Aaron your brother must declare it to Pharaoh so that he will let the Israelites go from his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you, but I will put my hand into Egypt and bring the military divisions of my people the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the Israelites from among them.”
Egypt was the SUPERPOWER of its day
Superpowers think they are untouchable
They can do WHATEVER THEY WANT to WHOMEVER THEY WANT
God confronts the “gods” of Egypt through the plagues
Examples:
- Turn Nile River to blood – Hapi, the bull god, god of the Nile; Isis, goddess of the Nile; Khnum, ram god, guardian of the Nile
- Death of livestock – Hathor, goddess with a cow head; Apis, the bull god, symbol of fertility
- Darkness – Ra, the sun god; Horus, a sun god; Nut, a sky goddess; Hathor, a sky goddess
The “gods” of the Egyptians were POWERLESS against the God of Israel
At first, they tried to COPY God’s power, but they could not and were powerless to stop it
Step 3 of God’s Rescue is:
3: Israel Chooses to walk out free
Exodus 12
33 Now the Egyptians pressured the people in order to send them quickly out of the country, for they said, “We’re all going to die!” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped up in their clothes on their shoulders.
35 The Israelites acted on Moses’s word and asked the Egyptians for silver and gold items and for clothing. 36 And the Lord gave the people such favor with the Egyptians that they gave them what they requested. In this way they plundered the Egyptians.
God had MADE A WAY
Israel still had to choose to LEAVE
- All they had known
- All the gods they had known
Application:
WHAT DOES THIS STORY MEAN FOR US?
1: God Promises Freedom – We Need Freedom
Like how Egypt made slaves out of Israel – Sin makes slaves out of us.
Romans 6:16
16 Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?
Sin…
- Oppresses us
- Harms us
- Kills us
The “WILDERNESS OF HUMANITY” is because of sin
Some of you are LOST IN THE WILDERNESS because of your sin
- Your choices
- Way of thinking
- Lifestyles
- Beliefs
There are HOLDING YOU CAPTIVE
<<NOTE>>
Every wilderness season is NOT because of some hidden sin, but many times it is…
<Your Prayer>
Father, please reveal to me any hidden sin, thought pattern or way of living that is not in alignment with your ways
2: God Confronted Egypt – God Confronts lies and breaks strongholds
John 14:6
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
- Jesus came to show us the way through the TRUTH of His life
Sin is based on lies… It says…
- I know what’s best for me…
- This isn’t hurting anyone…
- No one will ever know…
- Did God really say?
In order to free us, God must directly challenge the idols, false assumptions, and lies—whether they originate from within ourselves or from our adversary
What does this look like for us?
- Reading and understanding the Bible (Learning Truth)
- Sermons and Bible study with others (Hearing Truth)
- Relationships that can speak TRUTH into your life (Hard Truths)
- Holy Spirit Conviction
3: Israel Chose to walk out Free – We must choose to walk in God’s Freedom
Galatians 5:1
For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Staying in Egypt meant staying a slave — Staying in our sin means staying its slave
- When God frees us, we must CHOOSE to walk in that freedom
- Don’t return
- Don’t stay put
- MOVE!
The reason you may be in the wilderness is for God to DEMONSTRATE his POWER and TRUTH to you
- Can’t see it when things are good
Our God is a God RESCUES HIS PEOPLE
- Then and NOW
- Don’t be a slave to LESSER THINGS
The START of making it through the wilderness is BREAKING THE HOLD of SIN, LIES, and STRONGHOLDS
It is only the POWER, TRUTH, and FREEDOM of God that can give us hope and purpose for our lives and our world