Tag Archives: Exodus

Exodus 34:27-35 Glory Reflected! 11-8-15

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©1998-2015
Fellowship
Life of Moses
Glory Reflected!
Exodus 34:27-35
11/16/3; ed. 11.8.15

Introduction…When is the last time you really felt the presence of God? Or when you saw God’s power and glory at work? What were the circumstances? Can you think of some Old or New Testament stories or occasions when God’s glory was witnessed? What were the attending circumstances? What do you think is required to see God’s glory or for others to see God’s glory in you?

Pray for Insight…

Read Passage several times…

Ask Questions…

27 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”   

28 Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant –the Ten Commandments.   

29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD.   

Stained glass moses Continue reading

Exodus 34:10-26 God’s Do’s & Dont’s of Living Safelty 11-1-15

 

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©1998-2015
Fellowship
Life of Moses
Exodus 34:10-26
God’s Major Dos and Don’ts of Living Safely…
11/9/3; 11.1.15

Introduction…Have you ever noticed how you become like, good or bad, those whom you hang with? Why is that? So what if you are hanging with someone that says or does something that you strongly disagree with? No way is this good. This is BAD! Do you speak up? Do you voice your opposition? Abruptly? What does that do to the party? Make you look like the bad guy? Or are you silent for fear of the mob turning on you, perhaps making fun of you or telling you to chill? Makes you think doesn’t it?

Repeatedly, I have had to watch most everyone that is successful at coming off drugs or addiction change friends and acquaintances. It just goes with the territory. At first we resist it, and then we have to learn the hard way. Why is this? Is it fear? Fear of rejection? Isn’t this instinctual—don’t we want to be accepted? But what about when things get out of hand. Do you think God was aware of this when he was telling the Israelites that if you want to dwell safely within your new borders, you are also going to have to have internal moral boundaries as well..?

do not cross

 

While God chooses to forgive his Bride for her sin and reaffirms his promise to take her to and place her safely witihn her Promise Land, there are two important stipulations. One is negative, and one is positive. Both are meant to protect his bride from further dangerous Spiritual unfaithfulness: 1) the first has to do with those who don’t or will not worship Yahweh God within Israel’s Promise Land borders, and 2) the second has to do with respect to how Israel will preserve and sustain her active worship of her Spiritual Groom within their Lands.  Continue reading

Exodus 32:1-35 The Bride Betrays Her Vows 10-4-15

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Fellowship at Cross Creek
Life of Moses
The Bride Egregiously Betrays her Vows and her Groom…
Ex 32:1-35
10/12/3; ed. 10.4.15

Have you ever experienced a major disappointment. Everything seemed wonderful. All seemed to be going wonderful, and then the surprise and shock of your life happens? You didn’t see it coming? How could it have gone so wrong? And why did it happen? Been there? Welcome to life. People can be fickle and evil is always, ever present. It would seem anyone who has ever attempted what he or she believed was a holy mission, whether it was raising a godly family or shepherding a church, has been sideswiped by evil and disappointment. But even in those moments and, perhaps even more so in those moments, God is just as real and alive. Perhaps in those seemingly ridiculously incongruent moments, like a blacksmith forging out a piece of metal, the Divine forges out his holy leadership—holy leadership that is desperately needed within broken, fallen humanity.

Continue reading

Exodus 23:20-33 Follow the Angels 9-23-15

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©1998-2015
Fellowship at Cross Creek
Life of Moses
Following the Angels…
Ex 23:20-33
9/28/3; ed. 9/13/15

Introduction…How do you think God leads and protects us? How has he lead or perhaps directed or guided you? Do you have any experiential evidence of how God may have led or protected you? If you think or suspect God has perhaps a specific purpose for your life, what might it be?

Pray…

Read Passage several times.

20  “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.   

So is this the Angel of the Lord? Was the Angel of the Lord, the pre-incarnate (before flesh) Christ or second person of the Trinity? And if one does subscribe to a triune Godhead, is God the Father speaking to Moses and God the Son serving as his angel or messenger?

Why do I ask all this? Because in Judges 6 and the calling of Gideon, the Angel of the Lord and God seem to refer to the same person. It was also the Angel of the Lord who spoke to Moses from the burning bush years earlier [Ex. 3].

Seems to point out our need for Spiritual or heavenly or divine leadership and help along life’s way, and yet, just like Israel, we still sin and rebel against this Spiritual leadership.

PIC BY MARC SZEGLAT / CATERS NEWS - (PICTURED: The mordor looking volcano) - This incredible scene looks just like Mordor from the Lord of the Rings but its actually a volcanic eruption so powerful it created a lava fountain one kilometre high. Looking like the mythical evil land from the books by J.R.R. Tolkien this volcano is definitely reality erupting this month in Kamchatka, far eastern Russia. Known as the Land of Volcanoes Kamchatka - which is more than 5,000 miles from Moscow - is home to 29 active craters. SEE CATERS COPY

PIC BY MARC SZEGLAT / CATERS NEWS – (PICTURED: The mordor looking volcano) – This incredible scene looks just like Mordor from the Lord of the Rings but its actually a volcanic eruption so powerful it created a lava fountain one kilometre high. Looking like the mythical evil land from the books by J.R.R. Tolkien this volcano is definitely reality erupting this month in Kamchatka, far eastern Russia. Known as the Land of Volcanoes Kamchatka – which is more than 5,000 miles from Moscow – is home to 29 active craters. SEE CATERS COPY

Deut. 1:31 and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.’ 32 But for all this, you did not trust the Lord your God, 33 who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.

Pillar of Fire…KAMCHATKA – With a pillar of fire stretching up into the clouds, this spectacular image captures the moment a volcano erupted in remote Russia. The stream of lava rose up to a kilometer above the summit of Klyuchevskoy, one of the active volcanoes on the Kamchatka peninsula in the east of the country. The volcano, which erupts around every two years, is one of the largest on-land active volcanoes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It stands at 15,584 ft on the north end of a belt of 30 active volcanoes. The dramatic picture of Klyuchevskoy was captured by photographer Marc Szeglat on October 16 at a distance of approximately 9.5 miles from its concealed cone, as the volcano erupted for the first time in three years. The explosion triggered by the eruption could be heard from 20 miles away. In September 1994, an eruption caused disruption after it affected airline routes across the Pacific Ocean. The active nature of the volcano, which first began erupting in 1697, means it is still rarely a target for climbers. Continue reading

Exodus 22:1-15 When Life Goes Awry…

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©1998-2015
Fellowship @ Cross Creek
Life of Moses
Exodus 22:1-15
When Life Goes Awry…
9/7/3; ed. 8/16/15

Introduction…Had a bad break happen to you lately? Ever break something that belonged to someone else? Did someone break something of yours that you had loaned to them? How did it make you feel? Guilty? Angry? Did you and your friend talk about it? Did you resolve it? Did it tear apart your friendship? Why? Why are rules, laws and principles so important if people are to live in community with one another?

How do people, teachers, parents, coaches, referees, officials, officers of the law determine what is fair or right? Have you ever just absorbed the loss when the other person was at fault, but didn’t think they were?

Below are some more rules or laws to think about in how humans deal with one another? What do they teach you about God? About life? About people?

broken window

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Exodus 21:1-14 The Law: Mercy and Servants 8-2-15

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©1998-2015
Fellowship@CrossCreek
Life of Moses
Exodus 21:1-14
More Laws: Mercy in the Midst of Struggle…Treatment of Servants…
Orig. 8/24/03; ed. 8/2/15

Introduction: Do you know what scaffolding is? What is its purpose? You just can’t construct something out of nothing. You have to have a way to get to what you want to build or renovate, thus the need for scaffolding.

The Law, the Covenant between God and Israel, our Constitution, classroom or house rules all serve as a type of moral scaffolding. These are the things we use as we seek to build a moral conscience that please, imitates and honors God, while at the same time learning how to love or respectfully treat my fellow man. Why? Because our natural tendency is to mainly think of ourselves and what we want? That tendency is so strong without some form of temporary moral constraints, we would probably destroy one another. Thus the need for law, rules and even customs.
Rio Jesus Renovation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Renovation: The statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio is covered in scaffolding. The iconic statue, inaugurated in 1931, is getting a $4million facelift (March 13, 2010).

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1257689/Statue-Christ-Rio-covered-scaffolding-gets-4m-facelift.html#ixzz3hVAjC0bF Continue reading

Exodus Studies Pic

©1998-2015
Fellowship@CrossCreek
Life of Moses
A Most Divine Wedding: Part IV: A Most Important Vow…
Ex 20:8-11
7/27/3; ed. 6.28.15

Introduction: Got a best friend? Perhaps, your mate? Got some good friends? So how do you maintain that or those friendships? What happens when you don’t maintain that or those friendships? I mean what happens over time? How do you most enjoy spending time with that friend or friends? Might any of the same things that make friendships, meaningful, satisfying and enduring apply to our relationship with God or the community of fellow believers in Christ?

Couple at sunset

General Introduction:  Moses, led by God, is leading the children of Israel, perhaps as many as 2-3 million strong, away from Egypt and closer to the land promised to their forefathers seven centuries before. Their journey has not been without its problems. Having overcome food, water and leadership issues and a threatening military foe, God’s people have reached his mountain–the same place where Moses was called by God to lead Israel out of Egypt.

The Bride, Israel, having ritually purified herself and refrained from having sexual relations with each other, via her leadership, approaches her Groom’s mountain and prepares to take her vows—the covenant.  Continue reading

Exodus 20:1-7 Divine Wedding Part III: The Vows

Exodus Studies Pic

©1998-2015
Fellowship@Cross Creek
Life of Moses
A Most Divine Wedding: Part III: The Vows…
Ex 20:1-7
7/20/3; ed. 6.21.15

General Introduction:  Moses, led by God, is leading the children of Israel, perhaps as many as 2-3 million strong, away from Egypt and closer to the land promised to their forefathers seven centuries before. Their journey has not been without its problems. Having overcome food and water issues, a threatening military foe and leadership issues, God’s people have now reached his mountain, the place where Moses was called by God to lead them out of Egypt in the first place.

The Bride, Israel, having ritually purified herself and refrained from having sexual relations with each other, via her leadership, approaches her Groom’s mountain and prepares to take her vows—the covenant.

Continue reading

Exodus 19:15-25 A Most Divine Wedding: Part II 7-13-15

Exodus Studies Pic

©1998-2015
Fellowship@Cross Creek
Life of Moses
Preparing to Meet Her Divine Groom—
A Most Divine Wedding: Part II
Ex 19:15-25
7/13/3; ed. 6.14.15

Introduction…Been to a wedding lately? What was it like? Anything you really liked about it, or was it just a formal, seemingly uncomfortable religious ritual? I mean what is all that religious ritual all about in the first place? And why in a church so often? Why the dresses, suits, flowers, candles, decorations and formal music? Why does the bride wear an expensive white dress? Why do bridesmaids and a bride, often times escorted by her father, enter in to the sanctuary in such a formal manner?

BC chapel wedding

by Shann Swift at Swiftshots; To see tons more beautiful wedding photographs like this one go to: http://www.swiftshots.com/weddings

Continue reading

Exodus 19:1-14 Preparing for a Wedding with the Divine

Exodus Studies Pic

 

©1998-2015
Fellowship @Cross Creek
Life of Moses
Preparing for One’s Wedding with the Divine…
Ex 19:1-14
7/6/3; ed. 5/31/15

Introduction…What does it take to get into or find the presence of God… His real, intimate presence? Is there a bit of holiness or Spiritual cleansing that needs to take place? And if so, what does that look like?

Within this account of Yahweh and his bride Israel’s wedding, there is a sense of sacred awe surrounding God’s holy mountain.

Does God’s Spirit still do this with us, either the very first time, by faith, when we enter into an eternal covenant with God or even on a daily, seasonal or moment by moment basis? Do we the church, the bride, still need our dirty feet washed to enjoy intimacy with our Groom?

Jord-april close up wedding

If so, what could or does this look like right now? Today? What does it take for you to feel or enjoy the presence and power of God? Worship? Music? A song? Prayer? Confession? His word? The community of the faithful? Perhaps different things at different times? But what works most of the time? How does it feel? Do you like this feeling? Would you like it more often? How might you better prepare to be in the presence of your Divine Love?

Your servant,

jc Continue reading