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Yahweh
Sets People Free |
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Exodus 6:5-7; 11:1; 12:29-33 1) Most of us are familiar with forms of bondage. It seems that everyone is under one form or another. Let's name a few. addictions, mental illness, low self-esteem, disease, poverty, lost hope, bad marriages.... Who hears our cries for deliverance? 2) Exo 5:6 "I will free you from the bondage of Pharaoh." Yahweh's promise from this time one is always one of freedom. Isa 58:6; Luk 4:18; 2Co 3:17 Author Pat Floyd: "Recently, a young woman in my Sunday School class who is now happily married, the mother of a beautiful daughter, and expecting another child, spoke of her experience with being set free from addiction to both alcohol and other drugs. She had a powerful experience with the presence of Yahweh. But to her disappointment, her addictions did not go immediately away. As she struggled, she became discouraged by new addictions to food and cigarettes. To be free, she needed the support of other people and the help of a Twelve Step Program. Now she sees that the grace of Yahweh was at work through her struggle." Was Pharaoh willing to free the Israelites from bondage on Moses' first approach? 3) Even the Israelites got mad at Moses! Despite his failure, he did not deny Yahweh's promise though the Israelites would not listen. Why wouldn't they? See Exo 6:9. Prisoners in solitary confinement are reluctant to leave their cell when liberated. Their spirits are broken. In what areas are you facing discouragement and resistance in your struggle to be set free as a child of Yahweh? Where do you find hope and courage to act? 4) Yahweh's redemption took the form of "mighty acts of judgment" (Exo 6:6) - 10 plagues. Such acts were sent in order that "you might know that I Yahweh am in the land" (Exo 8:22). In the Bible, signs and wonders always stand in close relationship to the promise (word) of Yahweh. But Pharaoh would not acknowledge the signs. Scripture often records that signs, wonders, and judgment do not compel belief. Pharaoh: Not concerned about righteousness, religion of a people, justice. He did not fear Yahweh. He was a promise breaker. His only interest was in maintaining power and economic advantage. Pharaoh is typical of the devil and the world. 5) We live in a world where great powers entertain the idea of mutual destruction (North Korea, Iran, Iraq). Where warring factions allow millions of people to starve rather than make peace (Ethiopia, Ruwanda, Sudan). Where powers poison the water, food supply, and the air rather than change the wasteful, destructive way they live (United States). Do we discern Yahweh's "mighty acts of judgment in the world today? Where? 6) Yahweh not only sets free from something, but for something. He set the Israelites free in order for them to be the people of Yahweh (Exo 6:7). In terms of the New Covenant, see 1Pe 2;10; Eph 2:18-19. Yahweh has called us to be the people of Yahweh, and we must believe and receive his promises of freedom in order to be whom we are to be. Author: "For 29 years a woman had been married to a man who called her worthless and who got drunk and beat her up repeatedly. The woman began to attend a small church in her neighborhood and take part in a Bible study. One day when her husband beat her and she had to be taken to the hospital for stitches, she said, 'That's enough!' She had finally learned that she was a person of worth who Yahweh wanted to set free from oppression. How is Yahweh working in your life bringing you freedom and helping you to bring freedom to others?
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