Exodus – Freed to [BE]

For more than 430 years the descendants of Jacob resided in Egypt.

They had come there under the leadership of Jacob’s most beloved son, Joseph, who had been sold into slavery there and yet (by God’s providence) ascended to a position of prominence and power, second only to Pharaoh himself. It was by his invitation that his brothers and their families (seventy persons in total) settled in the land of Egypt.

Now, faithful to the creational commission to “be fruitful and multiply,” and in keeping with the promise made to the Patriarch Abraham, they were becoming “more numerous than the stars.”

In the Old Testament book of Exodus, however, we are told in the course of time a new king rose to power in Egypt; a new pharaoh who “did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:8).  On that day, everything changed. Ruling from a heart of fear and paranoia, the new pharaoh enacts unimaginably cruel policies intended to subdue the once thriving population of Hebrews. Now enslaved in toilsome bondage, the “people of promise” now suffer and wait.

Walter Brueggeman suggests that we have all been “smitten by Pharaoh.”
I agree. We are all (at one time or another) enslaved in brick-making bondage to something.
But the message of scripture is there as a liberator who desires to lead us to freedom.

This is the story of Exodus.
This is our story.
There is always an Egypt and always a Pharaoh.
There is also always a call to a land flowing with milk and honey.
But there is never a direct flight. It always requires a wilderness.

This Sunday, April 8^th we begin a new sermon series entitled,
Exodus: Freed to BE.

This series will be the longest series I have ever preached.
This study will have 25 parts, and will take us to the end of September.
We will grow together each week, as we read the same chapters in preparation for worship.

This Sunday, I will be giving a birds-eye view of the entire book.
We will look at how the very layout of the story is a call to risky faith in God.
I do hope you will join us.

Have I told you lately how much I love being your pastor?
Well, I do.

Shaun King
Senior Pastor
Johns Creek Baptist Church