Exodus 3
Theme: Our theme for this week is “Moses”. The story of Moses points us directly to the Gospel. Moses being sent to the Isrealites to deliver them out of slavery was imagery and forshadowing for the savior to come: Jesus! As we let this story remind us of the Gospel, don’t miss some of the other key points. Notice Moses's inability to simply submit to God and do what he said because of his sinfulness, how God spoke to Moses, and how God commissioned him out on mission. God continues to speak in our lives today and it is my prayer that as we study this story God would teach and sharpen us using Moses so we might become better listeners & servants for the one who saved us.
Major Points:
(The call of God) As Moses stumbles onto the burning bush he finds himself being spoken to by God. God places a calling on Moses’s life in this moment and makes very clear what is expected of him. It wasn’t a time of Moses saying God i'm going in this direction and I could really use your help blessing my path. The call was for Moses to put down his own plans for his life and join God on his mission instead. We have been given that same calling on our lives, but for many of us we are either too busy, too consumed with self, or simply too proud etc. to hear God speaking into our lives. When God called Moses out three things became clear in Moses’s life; humility, fear, & surrender. If we are to step into the calling on our lives then these three things need to start characterizing our lives.
(The response of Moses) Moses’s initial reaction was not obedience. Moses was focused on his own abilities which produced fear and insecurities in his life. However, when we look at God’s response we see the opposite. God reminds Moses: you can’t but I can. This is a reminder that we can find confidence when we rest in God’s ability to work through us instead of pulling up our bootstraps and trying to make it happen. God wasn’t looking for Moses’s ability, he was looking for his availability. The point here is for us to simply stop trusting our own abilities and rest in God’s work in our lives.
(A picture of Christ) The book of Hebrews talks about Jesus as a “better Moses”. As you look to the story of Moses, understand that God wants to show us that Jesus has always been the plan. Moses delivered God’s people from physical slavery to point to Christ delivering His people from spiritual slavery. We worship an intentional God that foreshadowed from the beginning that he would free his people, and on this side of the cross we get to rest in the grace that was hinted at in Exodus!
Question Bank:
How has your week been spiritually? / What is God teaching you?
What sins are you struggling with that you need to confess?
Have you ever had a “burning bush” moment where God was clearly speaking to you?
How has God clarified the specifics of the calling on your life?
How does humility, fear, & surrender characterize your life?
What does it look like to trust in your own abilities over God’s?
What has your response to God’s call on your life produced (insecurity, obedience, fear)?
What is God calling you to do that you have been avoiding?
How does the foreshadowing of Jesus make you want to change the way you live your life?