Sunday Service (2)

Sunday Service: Heart of Stone

(01-05-20) Ptr. Lynard Molo

*Moses had felt like giving up.
*His meeting with the Pharaoh (oppressed)

"God is always at work on behalf of His people."

*Exodus 7:1-5
"1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.
2 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.
3 But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt,
4 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.
5 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."

=Heart of Stone=

"Because of their stubborn heart, plagues began in Egypt."

Purpose of the Ten Plagues of Egypt:
1. To bring Pharaoh and the Egyptians to their knees. (Exodus 5:1-2)
"1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert.' "
2 Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go."

*Exodus 7:4-5
4 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.
5 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."

The Ten Plagues:
1. Blood
2. Frogs
3. Guats
4. Flies
5. Livestock died
6. Boils
7. Hails
8. Locusts
9. Darkness
10. Death of the first born.

"The Pharaoh's and Egyptians' heart is still stubborn."

*Exodus 10:3
"3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, "This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

*Exodus 11:8
"8 All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, 'Go, you and all the people who follow you!' After that I will leave." Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.

*Hebrews 3:15
"15 As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."

*1 Peter 5:6
"6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time."

2. To show the Egyptians that their gods were powerless. (Exodus 18:9-11)
"9 Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the LORD had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians.
10 He said, "Praise be to the LORD, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians.
11 Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly."

*1 Samuel 12:21
"21 Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless."

3. To show the Israelites that the God of their fathers was alive and almighty. He never changed. (Ezekiel 20:6-7)
"6 On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of Egypt into a land I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands.
7 And I said to them, "Each of you, get rid of the vile images you have set your eyes on, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the LORD your God."

Realizations:
1. People's heart are stubborn. (Isaiah 46:12-13b)
"12 Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are far from righteousness.
13 I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel.

2. People focus on other gods.

3. People lost their trust in God.

Application:
God deserves our:
1. Submission and obedience.
2. True worship.
3. Confidence and commitment.

*Ezekiel 36:26
"26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.