Repeat

We had a student at Life Bridge who recently posted a picture of me preaching.  With the picture, she included the following caption: “What do you get when you stay for two services at Life Bridge?  Re-Pete!”  Pretty smart, wasn’t it?

Pharaoh said to Moses, "Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die." "Just as you say," Moses replied. "I will never appear before you again." (Exodus 10:28-29 NIV)

Moses never faced Pharaoh after that moment.  One more plague was going to hit the land and then Pharaoh finally let God’s people go free.  He would change his mind again and chase after them, but God wouldn’t let his people die that day.  They would be protected by God’s pillar of fire and cloud.  The Red Sea would part.  They would walk to the other side on dry ground.  Pharaoh’s army would try to follow and then drown.  God did exactly what He said He would do.  He set His people free.

Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD's divisions left Egypt. Because the LORD kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the LORD for the generations to come. (Exodus 12:40-42 NIV)

All the way through this process, Moses needed to be faithful to his part of God’s plan.  He encountered God at the burning bush.  Then he made it real by working through his questions and doubts with God, Aaron, and the Israelite elders.  Finally, he lived it out by confronting Pharaoh.  Once he had done this, however, he couldn’t quit.  He needed to repeat the process all over again.  His God encounters happened in different places through prayer.  He made it real by removing doubts at different times with different people.  He lived it out over and over again as more conversations took place with Pharaoh.  In the end, Moses had to repeat the process, repeat it again, and then repeat it again.  Moses took step after step after step walking together with God.

How about you?  Have you taken more than one step with God in your life?  Do you take those steps more and more consistently?  Do you encounter God, make it real, and live it out?  Do you repeat?  Do you walk together with God?

Take Another Step

Moses tried to live out God’s call.  He went to Pharaoh and it seemed to backfire.  Everyone turned against him.  That’s why he turned to God and asked what he should do.  God made it clear that moment wasn’t going to get the job done.  Moses was going to have to trust God step by step.  So, Moses trusted God and took a step.  Aaron turned the staff into a snake.  Even when the Egyptian magicians turned their staffs into snakes, Moses and Aaron’s staff swallowed them up.  Their first step was a success.

Then 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. Confront him on 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, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. (Exodus 7:14-17 NIV)

Moses saw God’s faithfulness with the last step.  The snake won the confrontation and was now turned into a staff again.  So, when God calls Moses to go back to Pharaoh, he goes back without any resistance or complaint.  Moses takes another step.  This would begin a pattern that continues over and over and over again.  Ten plagues would beset Pharaoh and Egypt before he would finally set God’s people free.  Moses would need to be faithful every step of the way.  Take a look at what happened:

• (Exodus 7:14-25) Water into Blood

• (Exodus 8:1-15) Frogs

• (Exodus 8:16-19) Gnats - Magicians could not match this.

• (Exodus 8:20-32) Flies - Goshen different. Pharaoh flip flops.

• (Exodus 9:1-7) Livestock

• (Exodus 9:8-12) Boils - Magicians affected, too.

• (Exodus 9:13-35) Hailstorm - Egypt warned first. Pharaoh flip flops again.

• (Exodus 10:1-20) Locusts - Pharaoh officials turn against Pharaoh.

• (Exodus 10:21-27) Darkness

Moses was faithful each step of the way and the result was that God set the Israelite nation free.  So, how about you?  Are you faithful to God’s call in your life, even when it takes multiple steps before you see the results God promises?  Do you stay with God and His plans each step of the way?  Are you always ready to take another step?

Watch for God’s Faithfulness

Moses and Aaron decided to take the step of faith.  Everyone was turned against them except God.  So, they trusted God.  They faced Pharaoh the second time and told him to set God’s people free.

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "When Pharaoh says to you, 'Perform a miracle,' then say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,' and it will become a snake." (Exodus 7:8-9 NIV)

Now it gets very real…again.  They are facing Pharaoh.  Pharaoh is asking for a miraculous sign.  They have to decide again.  Will they take another step of faith?  Will they do their part of God’s plan?

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. (Exodus 7:10 NIV)

It may be difficult for you to follow through with your part of God’s plan.  You may find yourself struggling, doubting, or even wanting to quit.  When you do your part, though, God is always faithful to His part.  Those are the moments you can just pause and watch God do His part.  You can see God’s faithfulness at work.

Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. (Exodus 7:11-12 NIV)

Even when someone else tries to convince you that it is not God, you will know it is.  Even when someone else tries to show you that they can duplicate the magic trick, God will swallow it up.  God is real.  God is big.  God is all-powerful.  No one else can touch Him.  Their magic tricks are just that – tricks – illusions – fake.  But God…God is real and faithful to His word.

Yet Pharaoh's heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said. (Exodus 7:13 NIV)

How about you?  Do you trust God?  Do you see God?  Do you do your part and watch for God’s to do His?  Are you encouraged by God’s faithfulness?

Today

Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded them. (Exodus 7:6 NIV)

When Moses and Aaron took this step of faith, it was against all odds.  Pharaoh was already against them because of their first confrontation.  The Israelites were being punished and against them because they caused it by talking to Pharaoh in the first place.  They were going up against the most powerful ruler and nation of their day…but they did it.  They took the step.  They let God work through them that day.

Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh. (Exodus 7:7 NIV)

I point this out because I’ve encountered many people over the years who are ready to give up on ministry because they are getting older.  “I put in my time,” they might say.  Or I might hear, “It’s time to let the younger people do some work.”  Unfortunately, that sentiment is completely against every Godly example we find in Scripture.

Moses was eighty.  Aaron was eighty-three.  Elders were not leaders in the Israelite community because they signed up for a short-term assignment to lead and were voted in by the community.  On the contrary, they were considered elders because they were older.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  Older does not equal wiser.  But older plus God equals much wiser.  You see, older people have the benefit of having walked together with God over a longer period of time.  They not only know Scripture, they know how to apply it.  They’ve done it.  They’ve lived it.  The Israelite community understood and respected this.  The early Christian communities did, too.  They turned to their elders for wisdom, advice, and leadership.

Perhaps we can learn something from this today.  Maybe we have trained ourselves all wrong in our society today.  We think of older years as the time we get to kick back, retire, and not have to do anything of any significance.  For Moses and Aaron, however, the best years of their lives and ministries were just getting started.  They walked together with God and God used that to set millions of captives free.

So, how about you?  Do you respect your elders?  Do you know people who are older and wiser than you because they walk together with God?  Do you turn to them for wisdom and leadership?  What do you look forward to in your older years?

Take A Step

Now when the LORD spoke to Moses in Egypt, he said to him, "I am the LORD. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you." But Moses said to the LORD, "Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?" (Exodus 6:28-30 NIV)

This is where we left Moses last week.  He had already tried to live out what God had called him to do during his God encounter.  He even made it real for himself, working through his doubts with God, with Aaron, and with the Elders of Israel.  Moses lived out God’s call to go talk with Pharaoh when it seemingly backfired.  Pharaoh pushed back, the Israelites were punished, and the Israelite leaders gave up on what they thought was Moses’ plan.

Then the LORD said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it." (Exodus 7:1-5 NIV)

So, Moses has a decision to make.  Living out God’s plan is not going to be easy.  His part is going to take faithfulness.  It’s going to take time.  He’s going to have to commit for the long haul.  Moses cannot be content with his faithfulness to God’s plan yesterday.  He needs to decide again for today.  He needs to take a step with God.

Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded them. (Exodus 7:6 NIV)

How about you?  Do you take a God encounter, work through all your doubts to make it real, and then live it out?  When you live it out, do you encounter resistance, retribution, or people retreating on you?  What do you decide then?  Do you confirm your calling with God?  When you do, do you take a step?