Acts 18:9-18

The Lord knows what we go through, and from time to time will give us direct encouragement, as He does here with Paul. You cannot force God to give you a vision, but the more we walk with Him the more we will receive from Him. 

Paul was going to face much opposition, but God had a purpose, to save many people. So Paul was to keep on preaching, and God assured him that no one would harm him. Note that elsewhere, both earlier and later, God speaks of the suffering Paul will have to endure. Sometimes God saves us from danger, at other times He takes us through danger. Sometimes there is suffering to be endured, at other times He will rescue us from suffering. There are no hard and fast rules on this. The key is to keep close to God and to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Luke immediately gives an illustration of the vision being put into practice.Some Jews made a joint attack on Paul. Paul was about to defend himself, but there was no need. Gallio dismissed the charge out of hand, and it was the Jewish leaders who ended up being beaten.

Acts 18:1-8

Corinth was the chief commercial city in Greece at the time, having ideal trade connections. Claudius had expelled the Jews from Rome because of riots. Aquila met Paul, and had presumably already converted to Christianity. Aquila and Priscilla were tentmakers like Paul, and Paul worked with them. Note that Paul was quite happy to work for his living. As in other cities, Paul went to the synagogue to expound the gospel. Paul went to the places where he could get a hearing. What are the best places for us to get a hearing today?

After Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia Paul was able to devote himself entirely to preaching about Jesus. There is no hard and fast rule about whether preachers should be fully employed in preaching. The key is to take the opportunities as they present themselves. When Paul had to work he preached on the Sabbath, when it became possible to devote himself entirely to preaching he did so.

As usual there were Jews who objected and abused him and it became impossible for him to preach in the synagogue. So Paul declared he would go to the Gentiles.

"So Paul went next door". I love this verse, Paul was thrown out of one place, so he simply went next door and preached there, and the whole family got saved, along with many others, and so were baptised. What counts above all are not strategies, but the condition of our hearts. May God give us the same attitude that Paul had.

Acts 17:26-34

"From one man He made all nations." All mankind is descended from one man, Adam. Man was made to fill the earth (Gen 1:28). Moreover, God set the times and boundaries in history. God is the Lord of history. Now this does not mean that it doesn't matter what man decides, it does. It does mean that God has a plan, and it is being fulfilled. We have a terrible tendency to think that any hint of predestination means that we do not really have free will, or that everything is predetermined. This is fatalism and is not Biblical. The Bible teaches that we have free will and that it matters what we do, and also that the Lord has a plan and a purpose. 

Indeed in the next verse the plan and purpose is set out, it is that men would reach out to God and find Him. Note also that it says "perhaps reach out", see the element of uncertainty. God is actually close to everyone. We do not worship a distant God. The problem is that man has turned away from God.

God has set a day when He will judge the world through Jesus Christ. The resurrection was the proof that Jesus is Lord. Our response to this should be to repent and turn to Him, to acknowledge Him as Lord.

The resurrection was the sticking point. Some thought it nonsense (as they still do today), others believed.

Acts 17:24,25

We now get a lot of the creation/world view theology of the gospel. The first thing is that God created the world. Some believed that the world just was, others that it came about as a by-product of conflict between various "gods". The truth is that the world was created on purpose and for a purpose, and we were created on purpose and for a purpose. Please note that it is not necessary to believe in a  6 day creation or" intelligent design" in order to believe that the world was created and designed by God. It is quite possible that evolutionary processes play a part (and a designed part at that) in the creation process, but I am sure that evolution does not explain everything. The key thing is that God created us. This is as important today as it was then. For some extreme evolutionists seem to delight in us and the universe supposedly being the product of purely random processes and utterly without meaning. This is nonsense, it is even nonsense from an evolutionary science perspective! We have meaning, and that meaning is found in Christ, through whom all things were created and have their being (Col 1:17-20)

God does not live in man made temples. Stephen made a similar statement in his speech in Acts 7, and this is relevant to both Jews and Greeks. The Jews revered the temple, and Athens was full of temples, indeed you can still see many of them today. God is not dependent upon us, and He certainly was not invented by us!

Acts 17:18-23

Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to argue with Paul. Originally the Epicureans had taught that the supreme good is happiness (something that still holds sway to a certain extent in the West), but not mere momentary pleasure. However, it had degenerated into a more sensually oriented system. Stoic philosophers taught that people should live in harmony with nature and suppress their desires, it too had degenerated into pride and self-righteousness. They didn't think much of Paul's preaching, which was focused on Jesus and the resurrection. So they took him to Mars hill and wanted him to explain more. In Greek society at the time there was a great interest in various ideas and debate, but Luke implies that this was a rather idle notion, rather than one truly devoted to the betterment of mankind.

So Paul addresses the people. When he says they are religious this could be either positive or negative, ie saying they are devoted to higher things, or that they are merely superstitious. Paul points out that they have lots of gods, including one called the "unknown god". So Paul uses their own points of reference as a way in to explain the good news to them.

Acts 17:16,17

Some see the encounter in Athens as a prime exemplar of how to do evangelism, others see it as a bit of a failure! Anyway, let's see what we can learn.

Athens was full of idols and this caused Paul great distress. Why was Paul distressed? Probably not because he was offended, but because he knew that the people were living futile lives, when things could be much better. In the increasingly anti-Christian environment in the West we need to make sure that we keep the correct focus. We are not to be concerned so much about our being offended. Indeed, I might even go so far as to say we should not be overly concerned about the name of Christ being offended. Instead we should be concerned for the salvation of the lost. Jesus said that even blasphemy against God could be forgiven, and His primary purpose was to bring life to people. If we become obsessed with being offended it will only detract from our true mission.

Paul argued in the synagogues and in the marketplace, essentially anywhere where he could get a hearing.

Acts 17:1-15

They then moved on to Thessalonica, and as usual went along to the synagogue. For three Sabbaths Paul reasoned with them from the scriptures. Note that although miracles and signs were a key part of the New Testament church, proclamation and explanation were still fundamental to the advancement of the gospel. Signs and wonders back up the word. The focus of their preaching was that Jesus was the messiah and had been raised from the dead. A significant number of people were convinced and became believers.

At the same time, jealousy was aroused among others. We should not be surprised that the same message can have radically different effects on different people. This group fermented dissent against Paul and started a riot. Failing to find Paul and Silas, they attacked Jason who was looking after them.

At night Paul and Silas slipped out of the city. Note that sometimes Paul faced opposition head on, at other times he fled from it. There is a time to stay and a time to go. They went to Berea, where the reception was much better. They received the message eagerly, and examined the Scripture to see if the message was true. Many became believers.

We should always check the message we hear against the Bible. This is particularly true with some charismatic preachers. A lot of it is good , but sometimes rubbish is preached. 

The agitators from Jerusalem came after Paul and caused trouble in Berea as well. Paul left the city and went off to Athens.

Acts 16:25-40

Despite the difficult situation, Paul and Silas spent at least part of the time praying and singing hymns. This may not have made them too popular with other prisoners, so perhaps it was fortunate that they were in the inner cell, which may have meant they were in seclusion from the other prisoners (though they could certainly hear them). Sometimes factors which on the face of it seem to make things more difficult can actually be to our advantage, for they can make calling upon the name of the Lord the only option, and can make it easier for us to do so.

At midnight there was a violent earthquake, the foundations were shaken and the prison doors flew open. Everyone was set free. The jailer had been given special orders to guard Paul and Silas and imagined that his life was now worth nothing, so he was about to kill himself. Paul stops him, and the guard asks Paul what he must do to be saved. Paul tells him to believe in Jesus, and the guard's whole family is saved and baptised. So a situation which initially seemed desperate for him was actually the door to salvation.

In the morning the orders came for Paul and Silas to be released. One might think this was rather superfluous now, presumably the magistrate did not know what had happened. So why did God free Paul in such a dramatic fashion? Perhaps He did this on order to save the jailer.

One might also have thought that Paul and Silas would just have been glad to be free, but instead Paul objected to the officers, taking advantage of his rights as a Roman citizen. Being a Roman citizen was a privileged position, so the magistrates were alarmed. So they gave them special attention and Paul and Silas went to Lydia's house. It is still not clear why Paul made such a fuss.

Acts 16:16-24

There is a great contrast between Lydia and the women we meet here. She was a slave and was possessed by a spirit that enabled her to predict the future. In doing this she earned a lot of money for her owners. There is such a difference between being filled with the Holy Spirit, who brings freedom, and being possessed by an evil spirit who brings only slavery. There are warnings in the Old Testament against having anything to do with fortune tellers and the like (Deut 18:9-13), and this is because there will be an evil spirit behind it.

Jesus encountered people who had evil spirits and they often shouted out who he was. In a similar way this women shouts out that Paul and his companions were servants of the most high God. Paul put up with this for several days, but then finally got fed up and rebuked the spirit.

The spirit left the woman, and it would seem that there must have been some obvious physical evidence of this. Her owners were angered by the loss of their "little earner", and so took their anger out on Paul and Silas. They took them before the city authorities, accusing Paul and Silas of being anti-Rome. The crowd also joined in the uproar. So Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into prison. In the prison they were put in the most secure part with their feet fastened to the stocks.

There are parallels here with the trial of Jesus. Jesus was tried on trumped up charges, the crowd joined in, and He was severely beaten. 

It is sad that the woman just seems to be a victim, with no mention of what happened to her afterwards.

Acts 16:6-15

Paul and his companions went to Phrygia and Galatia. Paul clearly had desired to go to Asia, but the Holy Spirit stopped prevented him from doing so. We can sometimes get ourselves in a real tizz over making the right or wrong decision about something. While it is obviously best to make the best decision, if we do make the wrong decision the Holy Spirit is perfectly capable of redirecting us. The thing we need to be truly on our guard against is having a hard heart, for then we will not be able to hear the Holy Spirit.

Paul received a vision of a man of Macedonia, urging him to come and help them. It is perfectly normal for God to communicate via visions and dreams. At the same time we need to note that it was not used frequently in Acts, but was used on a number of occasions. Moreover, the dream tied in with the clear mission that Paul knew that God had given to him.

So Paul went Philippi, part of Macedonia. Paul often accused of being a misogynist, but this really is a load of nonsense with precious little Biblical evidence to support it. Here we see Paul speaking to the women who had gathered where they were. One of these was Lydia.The Lord opened her heart to receive the gospel, and she became an important part of the spread of the gospel.

Acts 16:1-5

They came to Derbe and Lystra, where Paul first became acquainted with Timothy. Timothy must have been very young at this stage, and was to work very closely with Paul. Timothy's mother was Jewish, but his father was Greek. Even at this early stage, people spoke well of Timothy. It is important that we have a good reputation amongst those we live along side.

Given the big debate over circumcision, it might seem surprising that Paul had Timothy circumcised. The difference is the reason for circumcision. Paul was neither for nor against circumcision itself (Gal 5:6), what he was vehemently against was circumcision being seen as necessary for salvation. He had Timothy circumcised so that there would be no unnecessary obstacles to the spread of the gospel. It is important that we recognise the kernel of arguments and disputes, and fight over only what matters, not over what does not matter.

As they travelled they spread the news of the decision from Jerusalem, and the various churches were encouraged and strengthened.

Acts 15:22-40

In order to demonstrate the unity between Jerusalem and the Gentile churches, some men from Jerusalem were sent with Paul and Barnabas back to Antioch. One of these, Silas, was later to accompany Paul on his missionary journeys.

The Jerusalem church also sent a letter. This emphasised that those demanding circumcision had no authority from the Jerusalem church. It also warmly supports Paul and Barnabas. It then reiterates the decision of the Council.

The outcome pleased the church in Antioch. Note also that the two men, Judas and Silas, sent from Jerusalem were not mere officials, but were prophets. They offered spiritual encouragement as well as their other duties. So the work in Antioch continued to flourish.

Just in case anyone thinks that Acts is an attempt to gloss over differences and offer a rose-tinted view of the early church, Luke immediately describes a serious disagreement between Paul and Barnabas. There were many good things about the early church, but they were all weak human beings like the rest of us. Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them on their next journey, but Paul disagreed, because John had failed to complete the last trip.

They could find no agreement, so went their separate ways. It should be noted that both Mark and Barnabas receive warm praise in Paul's letters. We need to be realistic. Disagreements will happen, and may be painful, but we must not let them lead to festering resentment.

Acts 15:5-21

The people who were demanding circumcision belonged to the Pharisees. This shows how far the gospel was reaching within Judaism, but also that when we get saved we still carry a lot of "baggage" from our past. As noted in the previous post, we need to appreciate how deep and strong was the attachment to Moses. The Mosaic Law was central to Judaism, and so it is no surprise that many still considered it central. We should also remember that the Law was given to Moses by God.

After long discussions Peter addresses the people. See now how crucial it was that Peter had his revelation and experience with Cornelius. Although Paul was going to be the primary instrument in taking the gospel to the Gentiles, Peter had a crucial role as well. Peter refers back to the Cornelius incident. He then points out that the Jews themselves were not particularly good at keeping the Law, so why burden the Gentiles with something they themselves could not carry? In his letters Paul would put this in a theological context. Peter declares that it is by grace and faith that people are saved, and we are saved "just as we are".

Paul and Barnabas then give testimony of the many things they had seen and experienced during their missionary journeys.

Next James stands up, and puts things in a Biblical context quoting from Amos 9:11,12. He agrees with Peter and Paul, but does say that the Gentiles should abstain from sexual immorality, and eating some forbidden foods. The first of these makes perfect sense to us (though not to the world!), but the food stuff seems a bit unnecessary, and indeed Paul does address this issue in some of his letters.

See how the debate went. A key theological issue was being decided, but an awful lot of the argument centred around experience, the experience of Peter and of Paul. James then supplied a little theology, and in time Paul would supply a whole lot more. But note also that the experience was largely the experience of what God had done and was doing, not someone's subjective view of what happened. Theology and experience must go together.

We might even say that the food requirements were not really necessary and only muddied the waters, but there was a need to both welcome the Gentiles and to allow for the sensibilities of the Jews. Compromise itself is not bad, it is a matter of knowing what to compromise on.

Acts 15:1-4

The Council of Jerusalem was one of the most important events in the early history of the church. Theology and doctrine do matter, and it was vital that the church got this right in for it to continue to grow. The issue at stake was whether or not Gentile believers needed to be circumcised, and the issue crops up many times in Paul's letters.

To most of us it seems a silly matter, but we need to remember that the church grew out of Judaism, and that the Old Testament explicitly commanded that Jews be circumcised. So if someone was to be a full member of God's family then they needed to be circumcised, or so the argument of some went.

Paul and Barnabas were strongly against this. The issue erupted in Antioch and elsewhere, and it was decided to send a party, including Paul and Barnabas, to Jerusalem to get things sorted out with the apostles and elders.

Even on their way they told many people about the new believers, and it gladdened many people. In Jerusalem the church and its leaders welcomed them. Luke is stressing that the amen Jerusalem church was in favour of the eventual outcome.

Exodus 12:31-50

Pharaoh is finally completely desperate and calls for Moses and Aaron. At last he agrees to their demand and tells them to taking everything with them. He even asks them to bless him, though this could be a sarcastic comment.

The Egyptians as a whole were all for this and urged them to go as quickly as possible. The Israelites had been in captivity for many years, but when the release came it came quickly. There can be situations in our own lives where we seem to go for ages without any breakthrough, but when it does come it will do so quickly.

The Israelites left with the unleavened bread, and with silver and gold from the Egyptians. The Israelites left, and were also joined by many other people. Perhaps these had been in slavery as well and were taking their chances.

God gives Moses commands on how the nation is to celebrate the passover in years to come. The event was so important that the nation was to continue to celebrate the day. Similarly it can be good to remember the day you got saved, as it is the day your new life started.

Exodus 12:1-30

In the previous chapter God has said the Israelites would be saved, but they had to do something in order to gain that salvation. In the same way, God has declared salvation on the cross and resurrection, but we need to believe in order to take advantage of that salvation.

"This month is to be the first month". The Passover was to mark the founding of the nation. In the same way, when we believe we are born again, it is the start of a new life. Each family was to take a lamb, so each person had to appropriate the protection of the blood for themselves. They were to daub the blood on the doorways, and to eat the meat. Moreover, the meat was to be eaten in haste. 

Notice that there are no priests involved in this. Similarly, the cross and your faith is all that is needed to appropriate the benefits of the cross. 

That night every first born child and animal would be killed. This is a terrible event, but the blood would protect the Israelites. Moreover, the people were to commemorate this day for future generations.

And so it happened that the angel of death passed over Egypt.

Exodus 11

The Lord knew that all the foregoing plagues would not be enough to make Pharaoh let the people go, but the last one would. However, all the preceding plagues had been part of the build up. The Israelites were to ask the Egyptians for silver and gold, because of the preceding plagues they would be desperate to see the back of them.

Interestingly, the Egyptians actually had quite a high opinion of Moses, Pharaoh was the stumbling block. The gradual build up of plagues and repeated requests had probably contributed, or at least maintained, Moses' reputation. Countries are sometimes led by idiots (no doubt you can name a few current countries to whom this applies ....).

The final plague would involve the deaths of all the firstborn in Egypt, from the least to the greatest. The Israelites would be spared.

In verse 8 it says that Moses left Pharaoh "hot with anger". There were several occasions when Moses displayed his anger, and it could get him into trouble. Indeed his anger was a contributory factor in his not being allowed into the Promised Land. We do well to heed the words of James 1:20.

Exodus 10:21-29

The penultimate plague is one of darkness. This would be particularly poignant for the Egyptians for they worshipped the sun god Ra, so the blotting out of all light would be a demonstration that their god had no power. Complete darkness can anyway be very frightening and can almost cling to you. This went on for three days, and everything ground to a halt, except the places where the Israelites lived.

Pharaoh summoned Moses and told him and all his people to go and worship, but they had to leave their flocks behind. Moses refused, because they needed the sheep and goats to make sacrifices. Note that the sacrificial system of the Law had not been introduced at this point, but offering sacrifices was a common feature of worship.

Pharaoh is having none of this and tells Moses never to appear before him again, which indeed he will not.

After this will come the plague on the firstborn. It is puzzling why the demand was just to go into the desert to worship, when the goal was complete freedom from slavery.

Exoddus 10:1-20

God tells Moses to go to Pharaoh again, but also reminds and explains to Moses what is happening. God knows that Moses is bound to find repeatedly going to Pharaoh and seemingly getting nowhere a bit frustrating to say the lease, so He explains to him what is going on. Similarly, in Acts we read of the Holy Spirit encouraging Paul to stay in Corinth (Acts 18:9,10). God understands what we go through.

Rather than being a negative, Pharaoh's hardness of heart was all part of the plan. It would act as an encouragement for future generations. How would this work? Well sometimes the opposition seems to be unyielding, but God can always ramp up the pressure more than the opposition can. No matter what is coming against you just now, God is well able to enable you to withstand and overcome it.

We tend to see the battle only in its immediate context, how is it affecting me now? Sometimes we need to look beyond this and see it in its wider context. God takes us through things not just for our own sake, but also for the sake of others.

Moses goes to Pharaoh and threatens him with a plague of locusts. The officials are quicker on the uptake than Pharaoh is, knowing that they are on to a loser here. Pharaoh tries to give a little, but will not let the women and children go, so the plague comes. As was becoming a familiar pattern, Pharaoh relented, only to harden his heart again later.

Exodus 9

The next plague falls on all the livestock, so it is now directly affecting the livelihood of the nation. Yet again Pharaoh is given the opportunity to repent, but as usual refuses to do so. All the Egyptian livestock died, but none of the Israelite ones. Pharaoh investigated this, found it to be true, but did nothing. When people are hard of heart even the facts of the matter will not move them.

The next plague comes without an opportunity to repent, and this time affects the people directly. A plague of boils will come upon all of them. Still Pharaoh refused to change his mind. 

By now Pharaoh should realise that he is dealing with something that he cannot resist or oppose, and the Lord gives him yet another chance to repent.

God could have wiped out Pharaoh in an instant. Why didn't He do this? One was to give him the chance to let the Israelites go, and secondly to let the world see who He was, and how guilty Pharaoh was. This time He tells Pharaoh what the plague will be, hailstones, and instructs him to take action to avoid the worst effects.

People often ask questions about God's judgement, and particularly about hell, usually saying something like "how can a God of love ...." The truth is that at the final judgement the only question we will ask is why was God so patient, why didn't He do something sooner.

The warning and advice brought a division, some heeded it, others ignored it. Man's pride often leads him to do stupid things. The hail duly fell everywhere, except on Goshen.

At the end of it Pharaoh appears to have had a change of heart. Moses knew it was not real, but called for the hail to stop, and Pharaoh of course hardened his heart again.

Exodus 8:16-31

Next come the gnats. This time there is no warning to Pharaoh. It has been made perfectly clear to him what he has to do, and he has refused.

As well as speaking for Moses, Aaron is also using the rod for Moses. He strikes the ground and gnats spring up from all over the land of Egypt.

This time the magicians were unable to replicate the miracle. They told Pharaoh that it must be God who was doing this, so Pharaoh is being steadily backed into a corner, and will eventually have to acknowledge the Lord. However, that time had not yet come, and Pharaoh continued in his stubbornness.

Next Moses is told to go to the river to meet Pharaoh. Pharaoh probably went there either to worship at some shrine or to bathe. See that Moses is having to maintain contact with the enemy. When the enemy refuses to yield, and we have not been told by God to back off, we must continue the confrontation, dealing with the enemy directly.

This time Pharaoh does get the chance to let the people go. If not there will be swarms of flies all over the land. Note that the whole people suffered because of Pharaoh's stubbornness. If we live in rebellion against God it is not just us who will suffer, but those around us as well.

This time there is a difference, the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, will not be affected. God is making it steadily clearer who is in charge, and what He is doing. When troubles hit a nation sometimes Christians will be affected like everyone else (though they will/should react differently from everyone else), at other times there will be a clear distinction between the people of God and the rest.

Pharaoh seems to relent again, but is trying to compromise with God by getting the Israelites to sacrifice in Egypt. Moses is having none of it. So Pharaoh seems to agree to let the people go. Moses warns him not to be deceitful like the last time. However, Pharaoh again acted in the same way as before.

Exodus 8:1-15

The Lord gave Pharaoh seven days to think about things, before the next plague came. Again Moses is to tell Pharaoh to let His people go. So again Pharaoh is given the opportunity to avoid the plague, but as usual he is stubborn and refuses to repent.

This plague involves the Nile teeming with frogs. The Nile was involved in some of the plagues because it was vital to the harvest for Egypt. The frogs would expand from the Nile and get everywhere.

Aaron again acted on Moses' behalf and the frogs came, but the magicians were able to imitate the miracle.

Pharaoh was starting to get rattled and says he will indeed let the people go if Moses gets God to stop the plague. Moses has every confidence in his prayer, even allowing Pharaoh to set the time. It is strange that Pharaoh did not say do it now, instead of choosing tomorrow and so subjecting himself and his people to more torture. Perhaps he was trying in some way to save face.

Moses prayed to the Lord and the plague stopped, although the after effects continued, namely piles of stinking frogs.

Pharaoh, however, reneged on his promise once there was relief from the plague.

Exodus 7:8-24

First of all Moses and Aaron were to perform the "staff becoming a snake" miracle. This presumably had worked with the Israelites in convincing them, but it did work with Pharaoh. Pharaoh's wise men were able to do the same miracle, though Moses' snake ate up all theirs.

Jesus often rebuked the people, especially the religious leaders, for demanding a sign (Matt 12:39). If a person's heart is hard, then demanding a sign is only an excuse to continue in unbelief, and a sign will actually make no difference. It did not with Pharaoh, did not with the religious leaders in Jesus' day, and will not today. Now this is definitely not to say that miracles should not happen, they should. It is to say that we need to disabuse ourselves of any notion that if only people could see a miracle they would believe. If their heart is hard then they will not believe, if there heart is open then the miracle can be a key to opening their heart.

Now comes the first of the plagues. These plagues are designed to demonstrate beyond all doubt to Pharaoh who the Lord is. The first plague changed all the water into blood. However, Pharaoh was unmoved, and his magicians could repeat this miracle.

Exodus 7:1-7

Verse 1 is quite an amazing statement, "I have made you like God to Pharaoh". Moses is mediating God's will to Pharaoh. In the same way we represent Jesus to the world. We are his ambassadors of Christ (2 Cor 5:20), so we we do not hold this position to do what we like, but have to fulfil it in obedience to Christ. Aaron would be his prophet.
Then God says that He will harden Pharaoh's heart. This does not mean Pharaoh has no responsibility for his actions, God is just telling Moses what will happen. Sometimes people will reject God's word, and when they do this their hearts become hardened. God's response would be to increase the judgements and eventually they would be forced to let the Israelites go, and they would know that the Lord is God.
Moses and Aaron obeyed God. Note that they were also getting on in years at the time, yet were to live for another forty years or so.
See the role that Moses had in God's plan. We too have a role in God's plans. We can easily let troubles and worries bog us down. We need to beware of this (Matt 13:20), and lift our eyes to focus on, and look for, the greater purpose that God has for our lives. Your life is about more than you.

Exodus 6:9-30

Moses had received the word of God, but when he delivered it to the Israelites they did not listen to him. In fact they could not listen to him "because of their discouragement and harsh labour". Sometimes people are so bound up, so discouraged, that they cannot receive the word of God. 

God tells Moses he has to go and speak to Pharaoh. Pharaoh was the one keeping the Israelites in slavery, and he was the one that needed to be dealt with. Jesus said that first the strong man needs to be bound up before his goods can be taken (Matt 12:29). Sometimes when people do not listen to what we say we need to look behind the refusal and see what the source of the refusal is.

Moses is not convinced that God's plan will work. Why? Because of his "faltering lips". Moses is still looking to his own abilities, instead of God's abilities. This is despite having had personal encounters with God. We need to realise that it takes time to unlearn our old ways of living and thinking, and to renew our thinking (Romans 12:1,2). One experience or encounter with God is not enough.

Exodus 6:6-8

Moses is to declare to the Israelites that God is going to free them from their yoke of slavery. He would redeem them with "an outstretched arm" (ie His acts of power against Pharaoh) and acts of judgement. So why did God allow the Egyptians to increase their oppression of the Israelites in the first place? Perhaps it was to make them aware of the position they were in. Maybe they had got used to living under oppression, so the oppression needed to be increased in order for them to realise their situation. This may seem crazy, but it happens. It is amazing what we can get used to. God wants to bring us out into complete freedom.

The Israelites were set free by acts of judgement against Pharaoh, we were set free by acts of judgement against our sin, ie by the cross.

"I will take you as my own people and I will be your God". Salvation is not about getting things (healing, deliverance, etc), but about coming into a relationship with God. This will involve practical blessings, but the relationship is the key. It is vital that we know that it is God who saves us. Why is this? Why does this matter? Because we need to know that God is the source of our life, nothing and no one else. If we live as if anything else is the source of our salvation we will go wrong.

Exodus 6:1-5

"Now you will see what I will do ..." Moses was quite understandably rather downcast about the situation, but God knew what He was doing, and now He would demonstrate His power. If you are in a situation where it seems that God has let you down, or is not doing anything, do not despair, you may be about to see God's power at work in a way you never imagined.

See now how things develop. Before the release of power, there is the new revelation of God to Moses. See that there is continual revelation. The incident of the burning bush was only the start of God's revelation to Moses. No matter how dramatic (or undramatic, for that matter) conversion experience, or subsequent experiences of God we have had, there is always more.

See also, that although Moses is receiving new revelation, what God is going to do is based on two other things as well: (i) the promises He made in the past to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and (ii) His current concern for the people. God's revelation to you will not be the only reason He is acting, His concern and vision goes way beyond you. God's plan for your life involves much more than just you. It has a place in history (both what has gone before, and what is yet to come), and His plans for other people.

Exodus 5

In obedience Moses goes to Pharaoh and tells him that the Lord wants him to let the Israelites go so that they can worship Him in the wilderness.

Not surprisingly Pharaoh is unimpressed. Moses says who God is, but Pharaoh still refuses and tells the people to get back to their work. We should not be surprised when godless people pay no heed to the word of God.

Pharaoh then commands his slave drivers to make the people make bricks without straw. Straw was used as a binder to make the bricks stronger. Pharaoh was a bit of an idiot as it was hardly to his advantage to have the Israelites make second rate bricks, or to make it harder for them to make bricks, but people will do stupid things. It is a mistake to always expect people to act rationally. Indeed people will sometimes be motivated by hatred against God's people, as we see here, and most horrifically saw in Nazi Germany.

The people had to work all the harder to make the same number of bricks, and were beaten by the slave drivers when they did not manage it.

The Israelites went to Pharaoh to complain about this, and when he refused to yield, they turned their anger against Moses. So Moses' attempts to free the people have so far resulted only in more suffering for them. Not surprisingly Moses asks God what is going on, and why He hasn't rescued His people.

We need to realise that there is a power struggle to set people free. We can be frustrated because sometimes we will act from the best motives, and act in a godly way, yet things only seem to get worse for the people we are trying to help.

Exodous 4:24-31

"At a lodging place on the way the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him". 

Now what is going on here? His wife, Zipporah realised that it was because Moses had not circumcised his son, so she took action to put this right, and Moses life was spared.

Now, given all the trouble that God had had persuading Moses to go on the mission, and now that he was finally on his way, God would just be relieved that things were under way. Or, if this was so important, why did He not deal with it before sending Moses? 

In our own lives we can sometimes find that God seems to bring things up at the most inopportune times. Maybe as you are preparing to preach God will suddenly raise an issue in your life and this needs dealing with now. These may be issues that have hung around for ages, why couldn't God have raised last week, or last year, or wait till next week? Why now?

Well, the long and the short of it is that I have no idea, but two things I know are: (i) when God does raise an issue in our life we are going to get no peace until we do deal with it, so the sooner we accept the situation and get on with it the better; and (ii) when we go to a new level (as Moses was doing here), a new level requires a new degree of holiness, and things we may have "got away with" before can no longer be tolerated.

God met Aaron and told him to go and meet Moses. Then they went to the Israelite leaders, told them what God had said, and performed the signs. The leaders believed and worshipped God.

Exodus 4:18-23

Moses went to his father-in-law to seek permission to go back to Egypt. We might think it odd that he did this, having been told by God to go back. Surely that was the end of the argument? When God tells us something we do not just ignore all human relationships and authorities, instead we are to respect them. If they go against God's will then there might be difficult decisions, but we are to respect and honour them. In fact Moses received wise advice from Jethro later on in his life.

God knew the fear that would be in Moses heart, so he assured him that all those who wanted him dead were themselves now dead. God knows our fears, and actually does much more to take account of them than we ever imagine. Likewise, most of the things we fear will never happen. A good bit if advice is never to make a decision based on fear.

God makes it clear to Moses that Pharaoh will be hard-hearted, and will only relent after the first-born plague has happened. He also reminds Moses that he must perform all the wonders that God has empowered him to do. This might seem an odd thing to say, but we have a terrible habit of quickly reverting to living out of our own strength and wisdom, instead of using all the resources that God gives to us.