by Lakeshore Christian Church on Jun 23, 2024
### Summary
Today, we delved into Exodus 7, exploring the timeless question posed by Pharaoh: "Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?" This question is as relevant today as it was in ancient Egypt. Despite our technological advancements and perceived progress, the fundamental issue of the human heart remains unchanged—sin. Pharaoh, much like modern society, believed in his own sovereignty and questioned the authority of the God of the Hebrews. This led us to examine the first three plagues God sent upon Egypt: turning the Nile into blood, the plague of frogs, and the plague of gnats. Each plague was a direct challenge to the Egyptian gods and demonstrated God's supreme authority.
The Nile, central to Egypt's prosperity, was turned to blood, showing that the true source of life and sustenance is God, not the Egyptian god Happy. The plague of frogs, which invaded every corner of Egyptian life, mocked the god Hegat, who was supposed to bring fruitfulness. The plague of gnats, which turned the very dust of Egypt into a nuisance, showed that even the smallest creatures are under God's control, not the Egyptian gods. These plagues were not just punishments but revelations of God's power and authority, meant to answer Pharaoh's question and to remind the Israelites of who their God truly is.
In our modern, pluralistic society, we often face the same challenge. We live in a "post-truth" era where feelings often dictate beliefs, and the idea of an absolute truth is frequently rejected. Yet, the plagues remind us that God's truth and authority are unchanging, regardless of human opinion or technological advancement. As Christians, we are called to live as a chosen people, a royal priesthood, set apart to declare the praises of God. Our mission is to live such good lives that even those who do not believe may see our good deeds and glorify God.
### Key Takeaways
1. **The Root Problem of Humanity:**
Despite technological advancements, the fundamental issue of the human heart remains unchanged—sin. No amount of progress can solve this root problem. Our advancements may improve our quality of life, but they cannot address the core issue of our sinful nature. This is why we continually see cycles of crime, dishonesty, and mistreatment in society. [26:48]
2. **God's Authority Over Creation:**
The plagues in Egypt were not just acts of judgment but demonstrations of God's supreme authority over all creation. By turning the Nile into blood, God showed that He is the true source of life and sustenance, not the Egyptian gods. This serves as a reminder that all we have comes from God, and He alone has the power to give and take away. [44:04]
3. **The Deceptiveness of Feelings:**
In a post-truth world, people often rely on their feelings to guide their actions. However, the Bible warns that the heart is deceptive. Our feelings are unstable and can lead us astray. True guidance comes from God's unchanging truth, not our fluctuating emotions. [39:14]
4. **Living as a Chosen People:**
As Christians, we are called to be a chosen people, a royal priesthood, set apart to declare the praises of God. This means living lives that reflect God's holiness and love, even in a pluralistic society that may reject absolute truth. Our lives should be a testimony to God's goodness and authority. [01:05:44]
5. **Our Mission and Purpose:**
Our primary purpose as Christians is to live out God's mission on earth. This involves abstaining from sinful desires and living such good lives that even non-believers may see our good deeds and glorify God. We are temporary residents on this earth, and our ultimate citizenship is in heaven. [01:12:11]
### YouTube Chapters
[0:00] - Welcome
[26:48] - The Root Problem of Humanity
[28:27] - Technological Advancements and Human Sin
[31:07] - Pharaoh's Question: Who is the Lord?
[32:41] - Pluralistic Society of Egypt
[36:48] - Post-Truth Culture
[39:14] - The Deceptiveness of Feelings
[42:27] - God's Response: The Plagues
[44:04] - The Plague of Blood
[48:18] - True Source of Happiness
[51:17] - The Plague of Frogs
[54:12] - The Plague of Gnats
[57:08] - God's Authority Over Insects
[01:05:44] - Living as a Chosen People
[01:07:18] - God's Kingship and Our Citizenship
[01:12:11] - Our Mission and Purpose
[01:14:09] - Closing Prayer
[01:19:17] - Prayer Requests and Announcements
### Bible Study Discussion Guide
#### Bible Reading
1. **Exodus 7:14-25** - The Plague of Blood
2. **Exodus 8:1-15** - The Plague of Frogs
3. **Exodus 8:16-19** - The Plague of Gnats
#### Observation Questions
1. What was Pharaoh's initial reaction to Moses and Aaron's request to let the Israelites go? (Exodus 5:2, [31:07])
2. How did God demonstrate His authority over the Nile River in the first plague? (Exodus 7:14-25, [44:04])
3. What was the significance of the plague of frogs, and how did it challenge the Egyptian god Hegat? (Exodus 8:1-15, [51:17])
4. How did the magicians of Egypt respond to the plague of gnats, and what did they acknowledge? (Exodus 8:16-19, [57:08])
#### Interpretation Questions
1. Why do you think Pharaoh's heart remained hard despite witnessing the plagues? What does this reveal about human nature and sin? ([45:19])
2. How do the plagues serve as a direct challenge to the Egyptian gods, and what does this tell us about God's authority over creation? ([42:27])
3. In what ways does the sermon suggest that modern society is similar to ancient Egypt in terms of questioning God's authority? ([31:07])
4. How does the concept of living as a "chosen people" and a "royal priesthood" apply to Christians today, according to the sermon? ([01:05:44])
#### Application Questions
1. The sermon mentions that despite technological advancements, the root problem of humanity—sin—remains unchanged. How do you see this reality manifesting in today's world? ([26:48])
2. In what areas of your life do you struggle with acknowledging God's authority, similar to Pharaoh's question, "Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?" ([31:07])
3. The sermon warns about the deceptiveness of feelings in a post-truth world. Can you identify a time when your feelings led you astray? How can you seek God's unchanging truth in such situations? ([39:14])
4. As Christians, we are called to live as a chosen people, set apart to declare the praises of God. What specific actions can you take this week to reflect God's holiness and love in your community? ([01:05:44])
5. The sermon emphasizes our mission to live such good lives that even non-believers may see our good deeds and glorify God. Can you think of a recent example where your actions might have influenced someone's perception of God? How can you be more intentional about this in the future? ([01:12:11])
6. Reflecting on the plagues, how can you remind yourself that God is the true source of life and sustenance, not the "gods" of modern society (e.g., technology, wealth, status)? ([44:04])
7. The sermon calls us to abstain from sinful desires and live as temporary residents on earth. What practical steps can you take to focus more on your heavenly citizenship and less on worldly distractions? ([01:09:25])
### Day 1: The Unchanging Problem of Sin
**Description:**
Despite the rapid advancements in technology and the progress we see in various fields, the fundamental issue of the human heart remains unchanged—sin. No amount of technological progress can solve this root problem. Our advancements may improve our quality of life, but they cannot address the core issue of our sinful nature. This is why we continually see cycles of crime, dishonesty, and mistreatment in society. The story of Pharaoh in Exodus 7 is a stark reminder that human pride and self-sovereignty often lead us to question God's authority, just as Pharaoh did when he asked, "Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?" [26:48]
**Bible Passage:**
Jeremiah 17:9-10 (ESV): "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 'I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.'"
**Reflection:**
Think about an area in your life where you see the cycle of sin repeating. How can you invite God into that space to bring transformation and healing?
### Day 2: God's Supreme Authority Over Creation
**Description:**
The plagues in Egypt were not just acts of judgment but demonstrations of God's supreme authority over all creation. By turning the Nile into blood, God showed that He is the true source of life and sustenance, not the Egyptian gods. This serves as a reminder that all we have comes from God, and He alone has the power to give and take away. The plagues were a direct challenge to the Egyptian gods, revealing their impotence and highlighting God's unmatched power. This is a powerful reminder for us today that no matter what we rely on—be it technology, wealth, or human wisdom—God's authority remains supreme. [44:04]
**Bible Passage:**
Psalm 24:1-2 (ESV): "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers."
**Reflection:**
Reflect on something in your life that you have been relying on more than God. How can you shift your trust back to Him, acknowledging His supreme authority?
### Day 3: The Deceptiveness of Feelings
**Description:**
In a post-truth world, people often rely on their feelings to guide their actions. However, the Bible warns that the heart is deceptive. Our feelings are unstable and can lead us astray. True guidance comes from God's unchanging truth, not our fluctuating emotions. The plagues in Egypt serve as a reminder that God's truth and authority are unchanging, regardless of human opinion or technological advancement. As Christians, we are called to live by God's truth, even when it contradicts our feelings or the prevailing cultural norms. [39:14]
**Bible Passage:**
Proverbs 28:26 (ESV): "Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered."
**Reflection:**
Identify a recent decision you made based on your feelings. How might God's unchanging truth have guided you differently in that situation?
### Day 4: Living as a Chosen People
**Description:**
As Christians, we are called to be a chosen people, a royal priesthood, set apart to declare the praises of God. This means living lives that reflect God's holiness and love, even in a pluralistic society that may reject absolute truth. Our lives should be a testimony to God's goodness and authority. The Israelites were reminded of who their God truly is through the plagues, and we too are reminded to live in a way that honors God and sets us apart from the world. Our mission is to live such good lives that even those who do not believe may see our good deeds and glorify God. [01:05:44]
**Bible Passage:**
1 Peter 2:9 (ESV): "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
**Reflection:**
Consider how your daily actions reflect your identity as part of God's chosen people. What is one specific way you can demonstrate God's love and holiness today?
### Day 5: Our Mission and Purpose
**Description:**
Our primary purpose as Christians is to live out God's mission on earth. This involves abstaining from sinful desires and living such good lives that even non-believers may see our good deeds and glorify God. We are temporary residents on this earth, and our ultimate citizenship is in heaven. The plagues in Egypt were a powerful demonstration of God's authority and a call for the Israelites to remember their identity and mission. Similarly, we are called to live with a heavenly perspective, focusing on our mission to declare God's praises and bring glory to His name. [01:12:11]
**Bible Passage:**
Philippians 3:20-21 (ESV): "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself."
**Reflection:**
Reflect on your daily routines and habits. How can you align them more closely with your mission and purpose as a follower of Christ? What is one change you can make today to live with a heavenly perspective?
This morning made me see it. So glad you're here with us today. Welcome everyone. Welcome Smyrna Campus. We love you guys. Glad you're connected there. Everyone connecting with us online, we're so happy to have that connection with you as well.
As we continue our message series, we're going straight through the book of Exodus. "He draws us out to draw us in" is the theme for the whole series. Today we'll be in Exodus chapter 7 to begin with. If you want to open up your Bibles, turn there and get ready for that. Exodus chapter 7.
I think one of the things we tend to buy into in 2024 is that humankind tends to think that every generation is advancing far above the previous generation. We tend to think that every generation is advancing far above the previous generations. We think we're smarter. We think we're more enlightened. We think we are more progressive. We understand more.
And it's true. We have great inventions. We have new technologies. We've got maybe safer cars. And we've got, you know, cell phones are amazing and how the smartphones are now getting even better and better. We're developing AI. All of those, you know, things that we tend to see as great advancements.
But what people tend to think is that we're kind of in this upward trajectory away from the dark ages to these greater levels of enlightenment. And that would be awesome if it were true. But it's not. It's not true at all. We have access to more information than we've ever had before. But we are not any more advanced at the root of the problems of mankind than any generation that's ever lived before us.
You see, the root problem is in the heart of man. And we have not solved that with all of our advancements and all of our enlightenments, all of our progressiveness that we've been able to have in our current culture. It has not solved the problem in the heart of man. At the root of the heart of man, the problem is sin. It always has been. And it always will be. And none of our advancements will do anything to take care of that problem.
That's why it is so frustrating for us as human beings. We keep thinking we are the rulers of our own fate and we can fix everything ourselves. And so we keep trying. And all you have to do is turn on the news one time today and you will see just how much we failed in that effort. All of the crime, all of the murders, and the dishonesty and the mistreatment of each other, all of that that's going on all over the world, it's the same cycle being repeated from way back in the dark ages. It has not changed at all.
Because the problem was not a lack of technology. The problem was not even a lack of information. The problem was not our education system, was it? It was the kind of system we had and it was the kind of system that was built to accomplish our needs. And so that's why we have to continue to work together in a way that is momentarily where we've been at, but at the end of the day, this is where we get lost.
And I've watched a lot of people live on the way to salvation. And I think this is where it is. And I think that's what that aflame is. It is a great way to go to salvation. And that's where the person who has been saved is being healed. And that's where we're going to get healed.
And that's where we get healed, from the way that we have been. We had the most advanced civilization that had ever existed. And if you go back and you study history, the Egyptians had some magnificent things that they developed. As a people, they were well advanced for that time period.
On top of that, they were the most economically successful people for their time. During the time we're reading about in Exodus, they had the most luxuries for that day and time that any people had. They had developed a lot of them themselves. A lot of the archaeological discoveries they found in Egypt say they were well ahead of many of the other people groups in the world at that time on some of their advancements that they were able to do and enjoy as a people.
But what we're going to dive into today is how this very modern guy, Pharaoh, probably thought a lot like we think today. And you see it in how he responds to things and how he reacts to things. In our time today, we're going to see how God responds to a question that Pharaoh asked.
And we're starting in chapter 7 today, but I want to go back to a statement he made in Exodus chapter 5 and verse 2. Here's what he said. Remember, Moses and Aaron have come to him. They said, you know, God met with us and spoke to us and he said to come to you and tell you to let our people go, right?
And here's Pharaoh's answer to that: "Who is the Lord that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go." That's the question, isn't it? Who is the Lord? That's what Pharaoh was asking. Who is this Lord you're talking about that I should listen to him, that I should let him have authority over me?
Who is this Lord that I should actually, even though I'm the ruler of the world in my day, the most advanced civilization of our time, why in the world should I submit to the authority of this Lord? That's the question everybody asks in every generation of every civilization because we all think we're so advanced.
Who is this God that we should listen to him? Can't we take care of things ourselves? Aren't we really the ones in control? Aren't we really in charge of our own fate?
You may remember there was a kindergarten teacher that was walking around observing her classroom, and all of her children were there drawing pictures. She got to one girl who was working really hard on a picture, and you could tell she was putting a lot of effort into it. The teacher asked her what she was drawing, and the girl said, "I'm drawing God."
The teacher said, "Well, actually, nobody knows what God looks like." She kept working really hard and said, "They will in just a few minutes."
Who is this God, right? What is he like that we should actually submit to him and his authority? You see, this question is being asked in Pharaoh's mind because Pharaoh lived at an age very similar to the age we're living in. It had become a very pluralistic society.
Now, Egypt is the biggest entity of a nationality group in the world at that time as far as their power and their wealth and all of that. They're at the top. So here we have Egypt that's leading the definition of what culture should be like in that part of the world at that time.
And Egypt is a very pluralistic society. It's a very pluralistic society. It's a very pluralistic society. And Egypt was very pluralistic. The culture was very pluralistic, and their religious world was very pluralistic.
By that, I mean most scholars have estimated that Egypt had about 114 gods that they at least recognized and worshiped to some degree. That's pluralistic in your religious view, right? They had a god for everything.
Now, that's important because the Hebrews had a God, right? They were in Egypt, and they were slaves there, but they came from another place and they brought their God with them, their belief and their God with them into Egypt. And you know what Pharaoh would have said to that? That's no big deal. We don't care if you have a God. We all have a hundred gods. You can have a God, and he didn't even care that they said their God spoke to them. That was fine with him. That's what gods do.
In fact, Pharaoh saw himself as a god, one of those hundreds of gods that were out there. So it was fine with Pharaoh that you're going to recognize another god and that he spoke to you and that you're trying to listen to him and do what he says. Pharaoh would have no problem with that.
Here is the problem Pharaoh had with the Hebrew God: your God doesn't get to tell me how to live my life. Who is this God that you think I should listen to him? I've got plenty of gods. I'm already a god myself. Why in the world would I be willing to listen to your God?
You see, Pharaoh struggled with this idea that there was actually this God of the Hebrews that was the one true God above all the others. What he would struggle with is that this God has a right to rule over him and what he wants for his life.
That's exactly the culture we're dealing with in the world today. Christians are seen as haters if we say that our God is the one true God and that we all should be under his authority and that he has the right to rule and reign and set boundaries over other people's lives. They might even say, "We don't care if you have a God as long as you don't try to put his rules on them. That's between you and your God."
That's what the Egyptians were doing. We don't care if you have a God, but don't tell us we have to listen to your God. We're in charge of that, not you, not your God.
We struggle with it today in our culture. Not only did Pharaoh struggle with that, but we struggle with it because we live in a day and age. I don't know if you caught this or not, but this was 10 years ago. Every year, have you heard this? Every year, the Oxford Dictionary will add new words to the dictionary that have become common use, words that weren't in the dictionary before.
They will pick the ones that are the most common ones used that need to be included in the dictionary. Guess what it was in 2014? It was a hyphenated word: "post-truth."
Now, why would they put that in the dictionary? Well, they were saying that it's relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.
So when you deepen your understanding of the dictionary, it reflects the redstone dictionary because I didn't use it anyway.
And it's a homeless dictionary. The dictionary has been partisaned all over the world for years because it had the right to a lot of things.
To do that, you say, or second up, fourth dealing with the dictionary is to try to do something that can't be done in a post-truth world.
No one truth that could be applied to everybody. You've heard it said this way: your truth is your truth, my truth is my truth. There is no set truth for anybody anymore.
So they created this word to think about it for the entire existence of the human race. We never needed that word, but now all of a sudden in 2014, we have to come up with a word that we could put in our dictionary to describe the way our culture thinks about life in the world today.
It's a post-truth culture. And if you believe in a post-truth culture, then you could say like Pharaoh, "Well, who is this God that I should listen to him? That's your truth. That's not my truth. That's your belief. That's what you feel. It's not what I feel I should do."
So people today are being ruled by their feelings. And that sounds like maybe it could be a good thing, right? If it feels good, maybe it's right for you. I love it when they say, "Just listen to your heart, honey. Just listen to your heart."
But the Bible says the heart is deceptive. Whoa! If the heart is deceptive, why are we listening to it? If it can lead us down the wrong path, take us the wrong way, why would we be listening to it?
And by the heart, they mean what you feel. That's your heart leading and directing and guiding you by what you feel. And you think it might be a good thing until you realize just how unstable our feelings are.
I woke up this morning feeling good. I woke up yesterday morning not feeling so good. So is my life going to be dictated by how I feel that morning? And later today, I might not feel as well. So am I going to make decisions based on how I feel then or based on how I feel now?
Because I feel pretty good right now. So what's going to be the guide? Which feelings, which set of feelings, at what time of the day am I going to let my feelings determine for me what my life should be like?
That's what happens in a post-truth world. The Bible describes it as everybody doing what is right in their own eyes. That's how the Bible describes it. Whatever you feel like, that's right in your eyes, in your view. That's what you should do. Just do that.
But that leads to utter chaos because everybody feels differently about different things at different times. Everybody. That just leads to chaos.
We live in a world where people feel like this is okay, and these people feel like it's not okay, and these people, I just don't know. You just do what you want, I'll do what I want. So you got it. You got it all across the board.
But here's the thing. Just because you feel it's okay and you act on that, everything we act on by our feelings affects other people, whether we want it to or not. Sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a really bad way.
If we just let our feelings dictate how we act, then it can be very destructive and disruptive and chaotic in the world.
Now, have you ever just felt like throwing a rock at somebody like Ernest? Ernest T. Bass? Some of you don't know that reference. That's okay. You can Google that. Ernest T. Bass, Andy Griffith Show. Check it out.
He would come into town and throw rocks at people in places that he was upset with and didn't like, right? He felt like doing that because he was upset.
Just this past week, not far from our house, we live not far from here at all, there was a guy that we're connected to through my wife's job that's in a band. That was supposed to be starting a new tour. He just stopped at a service station not far from our house, went out to pump gas, and somebody felt like stabbing him the other day. Just came out of the woods and stabbed him seven times. Didn't know him, didn't even know who he was. Just felt like doing that for whatever reason.
Now he's probably got emotional problems, mental problems. We don't know for sure yet because they don't know. They haven't found him yet. But you see, if you're ruled by your emotions, that's what happens. You get chaos.
You don't have anything stable anymore if everybody's just being ruled by their feelings. And so Pharaoh is thinking, "Who is this God that I should obey him?" And God's going to answer that question.
And with the time we have left, I want to look at God's answer to that question. Because God's answer to that question is to directly show Pharaoh just who he is because he's going to be ruled by his feelings.
But compared to the gods they worshipped. And that's where the plagues come in. That's when God starts bringing the plagues onto the nation of Egypt to show that he is who he claims to be. He is the one true God who has all power, all authority, all the right to impose his will on the world that he created.
So let's pick up here in Exodus 7. We're going to start with the first three plagues. Next week we'll look at the rest of these up through the ninth one. And then the next week we'll look at the tenth one as we look at the Passover that week.
So this week we're on the first three. The first three, it starts with the plague of blood. Let's pick up with verse 14 through verse 25.
The Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is unyielding. He refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river, the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.
Then say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews,' right? He's identifying the God here, 'has sent me to say to you, let my people go so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you've not listened. This is what the Lord says. By this you will know what? That I am the Lord.'
You see, God's answering his question. Who is this God that I should listen to him? Well, God's saying, 'Pharaoh, I'm going to show you who I am. I'm going to demonstrate who I am. So there's no question in your mind who I am and why you should do what I'm telling you to do, okay?'
With the staff that is in my hand, I will strike the water of the Nile and it will be changed into blood. The fish in the Nile will die. The river will stink. I like that they put that detail in there. God puts a dead fish in the river. What's it going to do? Stink. There you go.
All right. It will be changed into blood. The fish in the Nile will die. The river will stink. The Egyptians will not be able to drink its water. The Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs. They will turn to blood. Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone."
Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised the staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. The fish in the Nile died. The river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.
But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh's heart became hard. He would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. Instead, he turned and went into his palace and did not take even this to heart.
And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water because they could not drink of the river. Now what's interesting here is we need to remember how God is answering this question. Who is the Lord? He said, "Well, I'm going to show you, Pharaoh. First, this is the first evidence I'm going to give you. I'm going to turn the water of the Nile into blood."
But not just the water of the Nile. I'm going to turn the water of the Nile into blood. Remember he said, "Aaron, you stretch out your staff too." And it means the water in all their basins, the water that they had stored up everywhere, it was all turned to blood. So there was no drinking water available.
And all the fish in that environment, they can't survive in water like that that's turned into blood. All of them die, and it's beginning to stink, right? Everything is really bad. And it doesn't take long for that to happen if the Nile River turns to blood.
Here's the thing. The Nile River was the source of all of their prosperity there in Egypt. It was the center of everything. And they had a God that was specifically the primary God of the Nile. Guess what her name was? Happy. Not spelled H-A-P-P-Y, but H-A-P-P-I.
Happy was the God of the Nile. And it doesn't lose its humor to me that it was actually pronounced happy. Because everything that they thought would make them happy centered around the Nile River and the prosperity that it produced for them.
Because with that great water source and that culture, especially even today, if you let a good water source dry up in an area, that's going to be devastating to that area. We still depend on that today. And back then, the Nile River was their primary water source for all of life and sustaining life in that area.
When that's not working the way it should, it affects everything that brought them their prosperity. And in their mind, what would make them happy in the world? And they thought we have to keep the goddess happy, happy with us. Because if she's happy with us, the Nile will always supply for us what we need to be happy in life.
And God is saying, "You think Happy makes you happy? Guess who controls the Nile, really? Guess who's really the one who has authority over this and providing those resources that you depend on, that gives you the life that you enjoy? Who do you think that really comes from? I'm going to show you who the Lord is over the Nile River."
And so he's demonstrating that he is the one. Now, Jesus clarifies it for us even more in the New Testament when it comes to this source of happiness. And not just happiness, but abiding joy, right? Having the life that God wants us to have.
Jesus said, "I have come that you may have life and have it to the full." What's really the source? It's God in Christ. He's the source of what will truly give us joy in life. Whether you feel like it or not, he's the source.
Whether you think you feel more like it's this, when that is not in your control, but it's in God's control, who's really the one providing then? God. And so your feelings don't get to control that. God controls that. The one true God, the real God controls that, not your feelings.
And so Egypt, Pharaoh is learning. And this is also a lesson for the Israelites, right? Because they're seeing this. They're experiencing this too. They see what's happening, what God is doing. They're hearing this. They're hearing this. They're hearing from Moses and Aaron what God said to do, and they see the results of that.
So even as his own people are being reminded of, even if you don't feel like I'm doing things the way you think I ought to do them, look at who's really still in charge here. Who's really in control here. Even if you don't feel like I'm doing it the way you think I ought to. That doesn't change the facts.
Remember? We could claim to have a post-truth society if we want. But here's the thing about facts. They don't change based on your feelings or my feelings. And God is revealing the fact that he is the ruler and the one who's over all things, not our own made-up gods and feelings that we have about those things.
The next one we find starting in chapter 8. This one to me almost sounds cute until you understand the full extent of it: frogs. Okay? My wife actually collects frogs. She uses that wording that they use with the letters from frog: fully rely on God. That's how she breaks down frog. Okay?
But this is not cute. Let's read beginning in chapter 8, verse 1. Seven days passed after the Lord struck the Nile. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, this is what the Lord says: let my people go so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs to you. I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country. The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace, in your bedroom, in your bed, into the houses of your officials, on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs.
The frogs will come on you and your people and all your officials." It's not sounding as cute so far, right? It's getting worse now. The Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt."
So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land. But the magicians did the same thing by their secret arts. They also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.
Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord." So Pharaoh's thinking now, right? He's thinking, "Well, you know, the blood was one thing. We survived that one, though. We dug trenches and got other water sources and all that. Now the frogs said, well, maybe there's something to this. Maybe we should let them go."
Moses in verse 9 said to Pharaoh, "I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs except for those that remain in the Nile."
"Tomorrow," Pharaoh said. Moses replied, "It will be as you say so that you may know that there is no one like our God. The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials, and your people. They will remain only in the Nile."
After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh, and the Lord did what Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses and the courtyards and the fields. They were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them.
But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, guess what happened? He hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.
Now, believe it or not, the Egyptians had even a God for the frogs. It was the God Hegat. And Hegat had a frog face, as a matter of fact. That's how he was portrayed, as a God with a frog face. No comments about anybody you know, but that was this God of Egypt.
And he was supposed to be, to the people of Egypt, the God of fruitfulness. Now, not just, they had another God for fertility, so it's not just talking about fertility with this God. This God was more about being fruitful in life in every aspect of your life, right? Not only with children, being fruitful there, but with business, with home life, just bearing good fruit in your life.
That Hegat is the God of that. And so the frog God was the one that represented that to them. And here God is using the frogs to not do anything. Hegat is the God of the frogs. Hegat is not only not giving them a fruitful life, but taking away the enjoyment of their lives with all of these frogs that are everywhere, all over everything.
Now, remember, maybe a junior high kid would think this is fun, but no, not with that many frogs. I mean, that many frogs is going to be not even fun for anybody because you can't be anywhere or do anything without frogs just being all over you.
And here's the thing about frogs. Not only would they be all over you, but they're not the cleanest things to have all over everything all the time, okay? So they'll be messing up everything, everywhere they are.
So here you've got all these frogs. Nothing can be kept sanitary. Nothing can be kept clean. They're all over everything all the time. And it would be something that would disrupt this prosperous life that you were trying to have.
But they thought Happy and Hegat were going to get rid of the frogs. And so they're going to keep providing that for them. And God is saying, "Well, guess who's really in control of that? I am. These gods that you think are in control, that you feel like are so good for you, can't control this for you like you think they can. I'm really the one over that."
And then the third one that they come up with is beginning in verse 16, and it's gnats. Now, how many of you, honestly, maybe at the Smyrna Campus too, how many of you know you've been around gnats and you know what gnats are? Raise your hand. Okay, most people do. You've been at least exposed to gnats.
This past couple of weeks in our office, for some reason, we don't know exactly where they came from, we've had gnats get in our office. And I'm usually here a lot during the week, and other staff here during the week. And at first, it was just a few, and it's no big deal, right? You're just swatting gnats all the time.
But here's the thing about gnats. They are persistent little creatures. You can swat all you want, and what do they keep doing? They keep coming back. And they don't just keep coming back. They come back on your face, your mouth, and your eyes, your ears. I mean, they just come back, and every spot that you think would bother you, they pick those spots, come to those spots. That's what gnats do.
Now, I'm sure there's some science behind it. I don't care. I hate it. I want to get rid of the gnats. So we are spraying and stuff like that because we want to get rid of the gnats.
Listen to this. This, verse 16 and following. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Tell Aaron, stretch out your staff, strike the dust to the ground, and throughout the land of Egypt, the dust will become gnats."
Think about the dust becoming gnats. The dust covered the whole place in Egypt, right? And all of that becomes gnats. They did this when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust to the ground. Gnats came on people and animals, and all the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats.
But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." But Pharaoh's heart was hard, and he would not listen, just as the Lord said.
Here's the thing you have to realize about what God's saying to Pharaoh in Egypt and to the Israelites. They had a god that was supposed to be over the insects and all of that too, right? So again, he's showing I'm the one in control of that, not these other gods.
But here's the other thing. The Egyptians prided themselves on being the elite people of their time. And they saw people of other races and nationalities as less than them. And most of the time, they would look down on them, and they would look down on people who were kind of dirty and not sanitary and not keeping everything clean and nice like they did in Egypt with all of their servants.
They kept everything pristine and clean and nice. It was a beautiful place. It was the most noted place of beauty in the world at that time with all of their art and all of their culture, right? And they saw the dirty other people as people that might have gnats, but not them, right? That wouldn't be a problem for them, and they're clean.
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### Quotes for Outreach
1. "We have access to more information than we've ever had before. But we are not any more advanced at the root of the problems of mankind than any generation that's ever lived before us. You see, the root problem is in the heart of man. And we have not solved that with all of our advancements and all of our enlightenments, all of our progressiveness that we've, we've been able to have in our current culture. It has not solved the problem in the heart of man. At the root of the heart of man, the problem is sin. It always has been. And it always will be. And none of our advancements will do anything to take care of that problem." [26:48](49 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2. "Who is this God that we should listen to him? Can't we take care of things ourselves? Aren't we really the ones in control? Aren't we really in charge of our own fate? Who is this Lord that we should listen to him?" [31:07](16 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3. "Just because you feel it's okay and you act on that, everything we act on by our feelings affects other people, whether we want it to or not. Sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a really bad way. If we just let our feelings dictate how we act, then it can be very destructive and disruptive and chaotic in the world." [40:25](23 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4. "Jesus said, I have come that you may have life and have it to the full. What's really the source? It's God in Christ. He's the source of what will truly give us joy in life. Whether you feel like it or not, he's the source. Whether you, whether you think you feel more like it's this, when that is not in your control, but it's in God's control, who's really the one providing then? God. And so your feelings don't get to control that. God controls that. The one true God, the real God controls that, not your feelings." [48:18](42 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5. "Who is the Lord? That's the question Pharaoh had. That's the question every human being on earth has to answer. Who is the Lord? Not what do you feel, but what's the fact about who is the Lord? Who has shown themselves to be the Lord? Who has given the evidence? Upon which you can base your decision on who is the Lord." [59:23](32 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
### Quotes for Members
1. "God is revealing the fact that he is the ruler and the one who's over all things, not our own made-up gods and feelings that we have about those things. The next one we find starting in chapter 8. This one to me almost sounds cute until you understand the full extent of it. Frogs. Okay? My wife actually collects frogs. She uses that wording that they use with the letters from frog, fully rely on God. That's how she breaks down frog. Okay? But this is not cute." [49:52](38 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2. "God is our king. And God's people are now our family. And the third fact is this. God's mission is our purpose for being here. As his children, part of his family. We are here as aliens on mission for God. With the time that we have here, we're on mission for God. Remember what he said in verse 12? Well, before that, he said in verse 11. As foreigners and exiles abstain from sinful desires, that's part of the mission, that wage war against your soul. And then, here's the mission. Continued. Live such good lives among the pagans. The word pagan just means someone who's not a Christian, right? So live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they can still see your good deeds and glorify God on the day that he visits us." [01:12:11](-353 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3. "So in that revelation and what God's telling us through the Exodus encounter with the plagues is three things. First, God, the God of the Bible is king. You need to know that. I may not always feel like. He is my, my emotions that day, my feelings that day may not point that direction, but that doesn't change the fact. Here's the fact. God is king period. He's demonstrated it over and over again. If you ever think you're in control, be aware of how God might prove to you that you're not. You are not in control and neither am I. And that's a good thing. You better be glad I'm not in control. I might throw. Rock a, we're not in control, but God is, that's a good thing, not only because we couldn't handle it well, but because God handles it exactly right, the way it needs to be handled." [01:07:18](59 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4. "I am a citizen of heaven above everything else. And the benefits and the blessings of being a citizen of heaven through Jesus, not because I've done anything, but for what Jesus has done. I'm a citizen of heaven. And that citizenship is what should drive my life more than anything else. More than even that I'm an American. I should be much more driven by being a citizen of heaven than I am by being an American. And so should you. Now that doesn't mean I need to tear down the place where I live. I shouldn't. I don't need to try to tear down America. But I have a higher, holier calling as a citizen of heaven. That's my first allegiance above everything else." [01:08:21](42 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5. "Now, the nation of Israel was supposed to do that under the old covenant. They were supposed to show a set-apart lifestyle different than the rest of the world so that people could see the people of God have a different life than the people who don't know God have. And it's better. And it has blessings that people who don't know God don't have. And today, who are the people of God set apart for God? We are Christians. So what are we supposed to be doing? Showing the world a set-apart life and what that looks like when you live for God and honor God and serve God. We're supposed to be that example to the rest of the world that does not know God. Even if they criticize us and ridicule us for it, here's what they can't say. God's people weren't what they claimed to be. You see, that's what we're called to. That's our mission." [01:13:02](56 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
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