Just about 4:30 on this sunny Labor Day* afternoon. I know, it's late in the day for me to be starting on this, but I just finished watching the sermon online about 10 minutes ago. I did a few things to stand up for a bit, and here I am. I didn't end up going to church yesterday because I just wasn't in a good frame of mind to be around people at that time. Anyway, I'm doing this now because Mike is going to be here for about a week, starting tomorrow!! 😍🥰 My oldest, Carissa has agreed to drive me there to pick him up since she doesn't have to work until later in the day. I'm not sure what the plan will be after this. I haven't stayed over at his place in quite a while. But that's a week away yet...

Meanwhile, Andrea and Matt had some good news the other day. Although Matt has been sent back to the same facility where multiple people lied about the use of his motility equipment, the administrator who had been rude to them over the situation has been sent to another branch of the network, over an hour away, for the next 3 months. Praise God for that!! And of course, continued prayers for Matt's full recovery.

No other updates, so let's move on, shall we??

In considering what to use for this week's Message Intro., I'm just thinking of a different aspect from the one I originally had in mind. However, in the interest of our title today, I'll use that one first, then share the other.

So, as you know by now, I'm quite active on Quora. Over the past couple of days, I've been in a very frustrating conversation with a particular person. I was commenting on an answer he had given regarding why people sometimes resist helpful information because it will change their belief about the given situation. This guy was trying to use a personal experience relating to someone who had shared some pictures with him, thinking that there was something miraculous happening. After just one, this guy ended up explaining about the camera settings having the "miraculous" effect on the image. I commented by asking why he was trying to steal this man's joy by ruining his belief in what the images showed. The guy has continued to respond about truth being more important than people's "delusions". I have responded by asking why he's trying to fix something that isn't bothering anything. I even gave the example that, if someone were cutting down a tree, and he knew they were doing it wrong, then THAT would be the important time to speak up, but not for camera settings.

The other thing that I though of for this Intro. relates to something Pastor Matt brought up in the course of his message. He spoke momentarily about how, in Lord of the Rings, Sam and Frodo are venturing out to destroy the ring. When they get to a certain spot, Sam stops. He makes the observation that if he takes one more step, it will be the farthest he's ever been from home. With that in mind, I was thinking that Mike's and my trip to Hawaii, almost exactly 2 years ago now, is hands down, the farthest I've ever been from home. Until that point, the farthest I had ever gone was to Lincoln, Nebraska before my 2x ex-boyfriend, Jeremy, moved back east to be with me for nearly 2 yrs.. What's the farthest you've been from home??

Our passage today is from Exodus 12 --

Exodus 12:29-42

New International Version

²⁹ At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. ³⁰ Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.

The Exodus

³¹ During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. ³² Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”

³³ The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” ³⁴ So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. ³⁵ The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. ³⁶ The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷ The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. ³⁸ Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. ³⁹ With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves.

⁴⁰ Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt^[a] was 430 years. ⁴¹ At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt. ⁴² 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.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Pastor Matt read this yesterday morning, he paused a couple of times to comment. The first was to say that, when God changed Pharaoh's heart to let Israel go, He was keeping the promise He had made to Abraham, centuries before. He had cursed him for having cursed Israel, and now He would bless him for letting them go. (At least for a while, right??)* Pastor Matt also brought out the point that the number of people who left would be like if 2/3 of the population of NH were to depart from here. The other thing was to point out the fact that it was EXACTLY 430 years* that God had kept them in Egypt. To the day. We can notice this by reading in verse 29 of our Scripture above because it specifically says, "At Midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn of Egypt...".

Pastor Matt suggested here that the timing was so precise because God was holding vigil to be sure.

He then went on to present the takeaway thought for the week. "When God says, "GO!!" -- THEN RUN!!" Prior to opening his message with prayer, Pastor Matt had mentioned something to the kids about "Ready, Set, Go", but I was skipping through to the core content, so I missed it. Anyway, that is the theme and set up for this sermon today.

Ready -- God prepared Israel during this time of pre-exile, if you will, in order to build their national identity*, but also, in the context of the Exodus story in particular, He officially introduced Himself and revealed His power. At the same time, God was preparing Pharaoh for the spiritual confrontation that would be necessary to prove Himself as the True Power in the universe.

Set -- The institution of the Passover Meal was God's way of setting the stage ahead of the Exodus. In this, He was drawing the Israelites into His story of rescue and redemption. The Midnight deaths were like the starting gun.

GO!! -- The power of God displayed that night in the deaths was unmistakable. The Israelites were not to "dilly-dally" or hesitate. God had instructed them to leave at a moment's notice. This, as we saw last week, was the purpose of flatbread and cloaks being tucked.

At the same time, as Pastor Matt proceeded to show, there are 2 main reasons we may have for delaying when God has told us to move.

• Second-guessing either ourselves or God due to doubt and/or skepticism. Pastor Matt also mentioned here that the Exodus may actually be the ONLY time in Scripture where we see the Nation of Israel show up in faithfulness, as a whole. Then, for those of us who, like me, appreciate a good plan, and knowing every step of it as far ahead as humanly possible; he said this... "We don't need to know every step. Just GO!!".*

• We may have grown accustomed to the position we've found ourselves in. Freedom may actually feel scary.* This is the point at which he mentioned about LOTR and how Sam and Frodo had stopped at the edge of someone's farm. He then encouraged us by saying, "Don't stop to consider or pray; just keep going.".

Pastor Matt then showed how we find this "Ready, Set, Go!!" scenario in the thread of the entire Bible. All of it pointing to the "2nd Moses", or Jesus. Here, once again, we have each stage...

• Ready -- Throughout the Old Testament, we see Yahweh preparing His people by first building a nation, then building trust.

• Set -- Even in times of exile and the 400 years of "silence" found between the Old and New Testaments, God was drawing them into His story of rescue and redemption. The New Testament story of the Prodigal Son, found in Luke 15, is a wonderful picture of the Father's love. It tells of the son's longing for a better life after realizing that his life has come to ruin, and then of the father's invitation, standing ready whenever his son was ready to come home.* We may come to our senses through the stories of others, or by our own experiences and core desires for true fulfillment. Meanwhile, we may delay our redemption and rescue by getting caught up in self guilt and shame. But then, in the beginning of the New Testament, a baby is born in Bethlehem. About 30 years later, He begins to preach...

• GO!! Jesus proclaims Good News to all who would hear Him, "The Time has Come, repent and believe!!..." (Mark 1:15). Salvation will be ready soon!! No longer do we need to remain captive. As we live in that space of "already/not yet", we are meant to walk in the freedom of Christ. (Gal. 5:1) We find practical ways to do this in the OT book of Micah. He tells the people what God has said in chapter 6, verse 8. "...Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God."

In closing, Pastor Matt presented a final set of "Ready, Set, Go!!" statements --

• Ready -- The work of Christ is done. God is now preparing people today to hear it and respond.

• Set -- He is drawing us in, both through others and through our own imagination for rescue and seeking truth as we, like the Prodigal Son, come to realize that our life is just a pile of slop.

• GO!! The Day of Deliverance is here!! But we still delay with excuses, as mentioned above. Pastor Matt encouraged us here saying, "The chains of our bondage are broken. Not by our will or power; but by the love and will of God. The Creator of the Universe loves us and wants the best for us. What does this look like?? First, we repent of our unbelief in God*. Then we embark on a journey of faith. As Pastor Matt said here, "We may walk out of Egypt, but it takes a life time for Egypt to leave us."

Although we may feel as though we can never get out of our mess, we can, like the Prodigal Sons (and Daughters) we may sometimes be, can ALWAYS run home to the Father.

The God of Scripture calls out to us. Will we run??

-- God Bless!!

Footnotes:

1. I realize that some of you are from Singapore, and may not know what Labor Day is about here in the US. Basically, it's about celebrating the time when a group of workers banded together for better treatment, safer work environments, and better pay. That's when Unions started, for better or worse, as it may be. In practice, government agencies take the day off while private sector businesses may have special sales, or not open, as they choose. In any case, it's the "official" End of Summer for us, in terms of school year schedules. People generally celebrate the long weekend with short trips or barbecues at home.

2. As always, parentheticals are mine.

3. If you're wondering why that exact time span, I have as well. The answer is that God was waiting for the evil of the Amorites to reach its peak before having them annihilated. (See Gen. 15:16)

4. Pastor Matt didn't mention about the "pre-exilic" status or the "National Identity" thing, but it is part of the context here.

5. The bit about people like me needing to know every step of a plan is partly mine.

6. I marked the thing about freedom being scary because I personally struggle with change. Especially major upheavals. For me, change should preferably be my idea. I don't like having it forced on me. I'm one of those who may not move when God says because I DO get used to where I'm at. To me, it's like that expression about how the "devil" you know is better than the "devil" you don't know. What if the new situation is worse??

7. Because I never know who is going to see what messages, I always make it a point to mention the AMAZING book about the Prodigal by Canadian Christian minister and author, Henri Nouwen. Look for it!!

8. Another concept often discussed on Quora is repentance. While many see it as a change of behavior, I have come to realize that it's really about repenting of unbelief, as mentioned above. The truth is that, for people like me, who accepted Salvation at the tender age of 6, there WAS NO pattern of "bad behavior" that I needed to turn from. Not to say that the behaviors of others who accept Salvation later don't matter, but I'm just saying that not everyone NEEDS to repent of bad behavior, only of their unbelief.

9. Pastor Matt never mentioned the Podcast, "Dive in with Matt and Joe", yesterday, but tune in anyway to see what they might have this Wednesday.

No music today, as I skipped that in the interest of time.