When the Innocent. must die

Transcription

1 When the Innocent must die Mountain Life Church Life Pack Man in the Gap October 30, 2011

2 When the Innocent Must Die Sermon Notes October 30, 2011 Exodus Write any notes from the week here I. The Tenth Plague A. God saves the best for last B. Total victory! 1. Plundering the Egyptians 2. The personal toll on Pharaoh II. Foreshadowing the Messiah A. The Passover celebration B. The spotless Lamb C. The biper herbs D. The unleavened bread E. Dedication of the firstborn III.Have You Celebrated the Passover? A. Freedom from slavery B. Receiving grace C. Freedom! 2 19

3 Table Talk Teens Meal One: As a family read Exodus 11-13, then ask these questions: In verse 11:7, the Lord in His mercy protected His people even as He executed judgment on those who opposed Him. Share in your own experience how God has protected you in the past. Meal Two: In verse 11:9, it was part of God s plan that Pharaoh would not heed God s commands or warnings. Only in the face of Pharaoh s stubbornness might the power of God be displayed. Share a time when in the midst of your own stubbornness, God revealed his mercy and power to you. Meal Three: The Passover commemorated God s deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, but it also pointed to the coming Deliverer and Savior of all people Jesus Christ. The Hebrew name for Passover means to spare or skip. Jesus death on the Cross was to spare each of us from the judgment of our sins. Describe how you feel knowing that Jesus death spared you from facing eternal death. 18 3

4 Life Group Questions for October 30, 2011 The Man in the Gap Series Message = When the Innocent Must Die Ice Breaker: Tell about one of the greatest victories in your life, be it in sports or personally. Read Exodus Make any observations you see in this passage. 2. What do you think the significance is that God told the Hebrews to request silver and gold from their Egyptian neighbors? Table Talk Elementary Day 1 - Read Exodus 11:1-10. What was the last plague? What do you think is important about this plague? Day 2 - Do you know what the word foreshadowing means? How is the lamb and the blood a foreshadowing of the coming of Jesus? Day 3 - Tell the story of the passover in your own words. Pray and thank God for giving His son, Jesus, to us to save us from our sins and spare us from death. 3. What does the Passover symbolize? 4. Have you ever been enslaved to something, and through Christ found freedom? Please share with the group about it. Read Exodus Why do you think the Lord wanted the sacrificial lamb or kid to be one year old and without blemish? Is there symbolism here? 6. The Passover has been celebrated by Jews since its inception in Exodus. Why do you think the Lord wanted them to continually celebrate it? Do you take time to celebrate victories in your life that God has brought about? Tell the group about it. 7. Pray for one another. 4 17

5 Table Talk Preschool & Nursery: Read to your child the story of the last plague and Passover from Exodus If you are reading from a children s Bible it may be included in the story of all the plagues which can be repeated. Questions for discussion: 1. What did God say would happen after this plague? (Pharaoh would drive the Israelites completely out of Egypt.) 2. What was going to happen to all of the Egyptian families? (All of the firstborn males, both people and cattle, would die) Personal Devotion Pages The following pages are designed to help you enjoy a regular time alone with God. We have divided up the curriculum to help us grow wherever we are at in our relationship with God and in our knowledge of His Kingdom. LEVELS: Since we are a Colorado church, we use skiing imagery to communicate the different levels of intensity and time involved in relating to God. BEGINNER: If you are new in your relationship with God, we encourage you to try the exercises under this symbol: 3. At what time was this plague going to take place? (Midnight) 4. Why do you think Pharaoh let the people go after this plague when he didn't after the first nine plagues? (It affected him personally, taking the life of someone dear to him.) 5. Is having a fear of the Lord a good thing or a bad thing? Why? (It is a good thing, because when we fear the Lord, we become obedient to His Word and receive His blessings.) Bible Verse: Exodus 12:31 Pharaoh said: Up! Leave my people..go worship the Lord as you have requested. Prayer: Dear God, Thank You for saving us. Help us to remember and celebrate all You have done. Amen. Activity: Explain to your child about bread without yeast, what ingredients make it different. Make or buy bread without yeast and let your child try it. INTERMEDIATE: If you have walked with God for some time and would like a little more challenge and more time involvement, try the exercises under this symbol: ADVANCED: These exercises are for people who have walked with God for some time and display maturity in their relationship with Him. These exercises provide a practical way to encounter God and His truth on a regular basis. There are no rules here. Please don t hurry through the process. Slow meditation and memorization seems to soak in better than cramming. Enjoy! 16 5

6 Day One 1. Take some time to praise the Lord for who He is and enjoy thanking Him for what He has done in your life lately. 2. Read Exodus This week, we will focus on this part of the Lord s prayer: Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name... Hallowed means, high and above all others. Take a few minutes to lift God above all your situations and circumstances. Take 5 minutes and pray for your family for whatever comes to your mind. Memorize Isaiah 53: 7. Take 10 minutes to pray for your family, and 10 minutes to pray for people in your life who need the Lord. Memorize Isaiah 53: 7-8. Take 10 minutes to pray for your family, and 10 minutes to pray for people in your life who need the Lord. Take whatever time you have left to pray for your church leadership. Memorize Isaiah 53: 4-8. Day Five And the people of Israel did as Moses had instructed and asked the Egyptians for clothing and articles of silver and gold. The LORD caused the Egyptians to look favorably on the Israelites, and they gave the Israelites whatever they asked for. So, like a victorious army, they plundered the Egyptians! ~Exodus 12:35, 36, NLT What a strange thing for God to command His people to do! He instructed them to ask the Egyptians for clothing and articles of silver and gold - the same items people pick off of dead bodies on the battlefield. The Hebrews had not swung a sword at the Egyptians - so why the battlefield imagery? God had brought the people of Egypt to their lowest of all lows. After the plagues, the Egyptians no longer had food for the year, no livestock, and the Nile was just recovering after being turned into blood. God had revealed to Pharaoh and his people that He was victorious. Pharaoh and God had been at odds, and God won with a landslide. The lesson for you and me is this: My enemies have been brought under the feet of Jesus. As Paul would say, we have been made more than conquerers. Please, oh please, don t say, I guess I ll always deal with this enemy of mine. I guess I ll always have good days and bad days. The truth is, your enemy has been trampled. God has absolutely and completely defeated fear, bitterness, addiction, greed, covetousness and rebellion. He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ s cross. In this way, God disarmed the evil rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross of Christ. ~Colossians 2:14, 15, NLT 6 15

7 Day Five 1. Take some time to praise the Lord from your heart. Enjoy Him thoroughly before moving into a time of thanks. Thank God for all the good things He s done for you lately. 2. Take time to write down in this space all of your worries and cares. After you write them down, cast your cares on the Lord. Day One They say education is wasted on the young. In my case, this is infinitely true. As a young man, learning was about 143rd on my list of priorities. I almost flunked geometry because I couldn t stop talking with and gawking at the Norwegian dream girl who sat in front of me. The one class that was especially difficult for my male adolescent brain was English. English teachers are in that profession because they have a strange fascination with things like symbolism, foreshadowing, typology, and the deeper meaning of anything written. For a young man who needed large daily doses of fun (Umm, I think I still need this), nothing could be more boring than mining the hidden nuggets buried in a classic novel. Then I fell in love with Jesus... I fell in love with the Word... And I became just like my English teachers! 3. Ask God to teach you about submission today. Is there an authority (boss, teacher, parent, etc.) in your life who is difficult to respect? Tell God that you will choose to respect that person, even though they are not very respectable in your eyes. Write their names here. 4. Finish your Bible memorization today. The Bible is an English teacher s dream. The symbolism, typology, and foreshadowing in it s pages eclipse any other writing on earth. Mark Twain s got nothin on the Holy Spirit. The Spirit inspired writers from different ethnic groups that spanned a couple of aeons to write the Book that has amazing continuity in theme and message. One great example is that of the tenth plague of Egypt. God memorialized this plague in the Jewish holiday called, Passover. The Passover shows us how a one year old spotless lamb foreshadows the coming perfect Messiah, Jesus. Everyone who slaughtered that innocent lamb, and placed it s blood on their doorposts, was kept safe from the destroyer. Now, everyone who liberally applies the blood of Jesus to his heart (figuratively), finds freedom from slavery and eternal life. 14 7

8 Day Two 1. Take some time to quiet yourself before God and thank Him for all He s done in your life lately. Then praise Him for who He is. 2. Read Exodus 12 slowly. 3. Take time to pray for friends, loved- ones, and co- workers who don t know the Lord. Ask Him to bring people to them who will boldly live and speak the grace and truth of God into their lives. Ask God if you are one of those people who should be investing into their lives. 4. Continue memorizing and meditating on the scriptures for this week. Day Four That evening everyone must eat roast lamb with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. ~Exodus 12:8, NLT The Passover supper had so much foreshadowing for the coming Messiah. Jesus was the sacrificial lamb, crucified on the eve of Passover. He was the Bread of Life, free of what He called the yeast of the Pharisees, which was hypocrisy. The bitter herbs were to remind the people of their many years in oppressive slavery. Later, they would remind us all of our miserable life apart from Jesus, and his horrible pain suffered at our expense. The Passover was memorialized as a Jewish Holiday for all time. It was something God wanted the people to remember every year of their lives. It s as if He was continually reminding us that life was slavery apart from Him, and He is our Deliverer! We have need for continual reminders of where we were, and where He has brought us. We need to eat our ration of bitter herbs when we see a brother or sister fall into sin. The herbs remind us that apart from Him, we could be in the same predicament. We need to eat our herbs when we think we are certainly special and great people. We need them when we think we got to where we are by our own holiness and greatness. The bitterness of the herbs tell us that apart from Him and His sacrifice, we are truly nothing. Father, thank you for Jesus sacrifice on my behalf. I quietly take time to remember what life was like apart from Him, and I rejoice that He is truly my all in all! 8 13

9 Day Four 1. Take time to praise God for who He is and then thank Him with a grateful heart for all He has done for you lately. 2. Read Isaiah 53 today. How does it relate to Exodus 11-13? Day Two He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. ~Isaiah 53:7, NLT Our local high school has perhaps the most ridiculous mascot known to high school sports. They are the Lambkins. Not the Sheep (grown ups), but the Lambkins (baby sheep!). As I try my hardest to mentally harness the idea of a Lambkin being fierce, scary and intimidating, the mental images are quite humorous. Then I read about the Passover Lamb and I am silenced. 3. Take time to pray for your boss and other employees today. If you are a student, pray for other students and your teachers. Ask God to show you how to pray for their protection from temptation and sin in their lives. Throughout scripture, the sacrificial lamb is memorialized as a great picture of the coming Messiah. God didn t just whisper to us about the nature of His coming Son. The Old Testament shouts that the coming Jesus would be a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief! He would come to set His people free from the slavery of sin through weakness, not through strength. The awesome power of the Son of God would be released through innocent, nonviolent weakness. Jesus disciples are like me, they didn t like the Lambkin mascot either. All of Israel stood on my side on this issue. They thought the Messiah would be a great military general who would set them free from the oppression of Rome. 4. Continue meditating on and memorizing the scripture for this week. But the Lamb of God came in supernatural strength to free us not from political oppression but from the oppression of sin! In all of history, no greater power has been released than through the Lamb of God as He was sacrificed for our sin. I now humbly admit, Fort Collins High, you guys have something there! 12 9

10 Day Three 1. Take time to praise God for who He is and then thank Him with a grateful heart for all He has done for you lately. 2. Sit quietly before the Lord for a few moments and slowly let Him speak to you. Give Him permission to say whatever he wants to say. 3. Read Exodus Continue meditating on and memorizing the scripture for this week. Day Three The people of Israel had lived in Egypt for 430 years. In fact, it was on the last day of the 430th year that all the LORD s forces left the land. ~Exodus 12:40, 41, NLT The Hebrews served as slaves for a long time. The time they were in Egypt was almost twice as long as the U.S. has been a country! As the day of deliverance nears, God commands several things. One major command to the Hebrews is that they eat bread that has no yeast in it. His reasoning in this was aimed at preparing the people to move quickly. He didn t even want them to wait for the bread to rise! As a Hebrew, I would be asking the Lord, Lord, if we ve been in slavery for 430 years, why would you not let us at least let us get our bread to rise before getting on the road? The story teaches us something deep 9 and memorable. Life seems to be a lot of nothing days and a very few something days. God sometimes seems to be gently brooding and quiet on nothing days. But when He shows up on a something day, get ready to move fast! The reality is that He is just as present on the nothing days as He is on the something days. Yet, when He moves us to another place of depth and freedom, He will sometimes do it supernaturally fast! The key is not to lose hope on the nothing days. Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act. Don t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. ~Psalms 37:7, NLT 10 11