Women's Bible Study - September 14th, 2022
September 14, 2022 · Deborah
Scripture referenced 11 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Exodus 3 Key verse source about God seeing and hearing the misery of the Israelites in Egypt
1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb.
2 Yahweh’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3 Moses said, “I will go now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
4 When Yahweh saw that he came over to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, “Moses! Moses!” He said, “Here I am.”
5 He said, “Don’t come close. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.”
6 Moreover he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God.
7 Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
8 I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
9 Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
10 Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
11 Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
12 He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
13 Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you;’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
15 God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.
16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt;
17 and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’
18 They will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh, our God.’
19 I know that the king of Egypt won’t give you permission to go, no, not by a mighty hand.
20 I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do among them, and after that he will let you go.
21 I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will happen that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed.
22 But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who visits her house, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons, and on your daughters. You shall plunder the Egyptians.”
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Keep this verse
Exodus 3 (specific verse with the Lord's words about misery of people in Egypt)
Quoted directly: God hears, sees, cares and wants to rescue His people from Egypt
1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb.
2 Yahweh’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3 Moses said, “I will go now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
4 When Yahweh saw that he came over to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, “Moses! Moses!” He said, “Here I am.”
5 He said, “Don’t come close. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.”
6 Moreover he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God.
7 Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
8 I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
9 Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
10 Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
11 Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
12 He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
13 Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you;’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
15 God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.
16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt;
17 and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’
18 They will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh, our God.’
19 I know that the king of Egypt won’t give you permission to go, no, not by a mighty hand.
20 I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do among them, and after that he will let you go.
21 I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will happen that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed.
22 But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who visits her house, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons, and on your daughters. You shall plunder the Egyptians.”
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Romans 6:23
Paul's statement that sin brings death but the gift of God brings eternal life
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Exodus 3 (Moses and the burning bush exchange)
God tells Moses 'I am who I am' and to tell the Israelites 'I am has sent me to you'
1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb.
2 Yahweh’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3 Moses said, “I will go now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
4 When Yahweh saw that he came over to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, “Moses! Moses!” He said, “Here I am.”
5 He said, “Don’t come close. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.”
6 Moreover he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God.
7 Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
8 I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
9 Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
10 Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
11 Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
12 He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
13 Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you;’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
15 God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.
16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt;
17 and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’
18 They will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh, our God.’
19 I know that the king of Egypt won’t give you permission to go, no, not by a mighty hand.
20 I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do among them, and after that he will let you go.
21 I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will happen that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed.
22 But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who visits her house, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons, and on your daughters. You shall plunder the Egyptians.”
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Psalm 92
Quoted to establish God's eternal nature: before the mountains were born, from beginning to end, God is God
1 It is a good thing to give thanks to Yahweh, to sing praises to your name, Most High;
2 to proclaim your loving kindness in the morning, and your faithfulness every night,
3 with the ten-stringed lute, with the harp, and with the melody of the lyre.
4 For you, Yahweh, have made me glad through your work. I will triumph in the works of your hands.
5 How great are your works, Yahweh! Your thoughts are very deep.
6 A senseless man doesn’t know, neither does a fool understand this:
7 though the wicked spring up as the grass, and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.
8 But you, Yahweh, are on high forever more.
9 For, behold, your enemies, Yahweh, for, behold, your enemies shall perish. All the evildoers will be scattered.
10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox. I am anointed with fresh oil.
11 My eye has also seen my enemies. My ears have heard of the wicked enemies who rise up against me.
12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 They are planted in Yahweh’s house. They will flourish in our God’s courts.
14 They will still produce fruit in old age. They will be full of sap and green,
15 to show that Yahweh is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
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John 5:26
Amplified version quoted to show God and Jesus are self-existent, having life in themselves
26 For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself.
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Genesis 1:1-2
Referenced to show the Spirit hovering over the waters at creation, supporting God's non-material pre-existence
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
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Matthew 1 (angel appearing to Joseph)
Angel tells Joseph to name the child Jesus because He will save His people, connecting to Yahweh saves
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob. Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers.
3 Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron. Hezron became the father of Ram.
4 Ram became the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon. Nahshon became the father of Salmon.
5 Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse.
6 Jesse became the father of King David. David became the father of Solomon by her who had been Uriah’s wife.
7 Solomon became the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam became the father of Abijah. Abijah became the father of Asa.
8 Asa became the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat became the father of Joram. Joram became the father of Uzziah.
9 Uzziah became the father of Jotham. Jotham became the father of Ahaz. Ahaz became the father of Hezekiah.
10 Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh. Manasseh became the father of Amon. Amon became the father of Josiah.
11 Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the exile to Babylon.
12 After the exile to Babylon, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel became the father of Zerubbabel.
13 Zerubbabel became the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim. Eliakim became the father of Azor.
14 Azor became the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim. Achim became the father of Eliud.
15 Eliud became the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan. Matthan became the father of Jacob.
16 Jacob became the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the exile to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this: After his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
19 Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.
20 But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
21 She shall give birth to a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”
22 Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel”; which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”
24 Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself;
25 and didn’t know her sexually until she had given birth to her firstborn son. He named him Jesus.
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John 8:58
Jesus says 'Before Abraham, I am' in the temple, leading people to pick up stones
58 Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.”
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Exodus 32
The people ask Aaron to make gods while Moses is on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments
1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.”
2 Aaron said to them, “Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me.”
3 All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
4 He received what they handed him, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molten calf. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh.”
6 They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7 Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves!
8 They have turned away quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
9 Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.
10 Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”
11 Moses begged Yahweh his God, and said, “Yahweh, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
12 Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?’ Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”
14 Yahweh repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.
15 Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand; tablets that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other they were written.
16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is the noise of war in the camp.”
18 He said, “It isn’t the voice of those who shout for victory. It is not the voice of those who cry for being overcome; but the noise of those who sing that I hear.”
19 As soon as he came near to the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Then Moses’ anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain.
20 He took the calf which they had made, and burned it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it.
21 Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you have brought a great sin on them?”
22 Aaron said, “Don’t let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.
23 For they said to me, ‘Make us gods, which shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’
24 I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them take it off:’ so they gave it to me; and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
25 When Moses saw that the people had broken loose, (for Aaron had let them loose for a derision among their enemies),
26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on Yahweh’s side, come to me!” All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.
27 He said to them, “Yahweh says, the God of Israel, ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’”
28 The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
29 Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to Yahweh, yes, every man against his son, and against his brother; that he may give you a blessing today.”
30 On the next day, Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to Yahweh. Perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin.”
31 Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold.
32 Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.”
33 Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
34 Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
35 Yahweh struck the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.
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Exodus 34 (Lord passing before Moses declaring His name)
God declares Himself compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, quick to forgive
1 Yahweh said to Moses, “Chisel two stone tablets like the first. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
2 Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.
3 No one shall come up with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain. Do not let the flocks or herds graze in front of that mountain.”
4 He chiseled two tablets of stone like the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, and took in his hand two stone tablets.
5 Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed Yahweh’s name.
6 Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,
7 keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.”
8 Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.
9 He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go among us; although this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
10 He said, “Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among which you are shall see the work of Yahweh; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you.
11 Observe that which I command you today. Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
12 Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among you:
13 but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherah poles;
14 for you shall worship no other god: for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
15 “Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice;
16 and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods.
17 “You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.
18 “You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out of Egypt.
19 “All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep.
20 You shall redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb. If you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one shall appear before me empty.
21 “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.
22 “You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year’s end.
23 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel.
24 For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before Yahweh, your God, three times in the year.
25 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The sacrifice of the feast of the Passover shall not be left to the morning.
26 “You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of Yahweh your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
27 Yahweh said to Moses, “Write you these words: for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”
28 He was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. 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 Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mountain, Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him.
30 When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him.
31 Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them.
32 Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all the commandments that Yahweh had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.
33 When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.
34 But when Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
35 The children of Israel saw Moses’ face, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This was a women's Bible study session taught by Deborah at First Baptist Jackson. She built on the previous week's framework that what we believe about God shapes the condition of our lives, then took the group into Exodus 3 to look at what God revealed about himself to Moses and why it matters for how we live now.
What was said
Deborah opened by returning to the formula introduced the week before: adversity plus what we believe about it equals the condition of our well-being. The point is not that problems do not hurt, but that what we believe about God while we are in them determines whether we stagnate or thrive. She noted that research, even secular research, is showing that many Christians in the post-pandemic period describe themselves as empty rather than flourishing, and she framed the whole study as an answer to that.
To illustrate the power of what we feed our minds, she shared a Cherokee story her daughter Jules passed along, about two wolves fighting inside every person, one representing fear, envy and bitterness, and the other joy, peace and faith. The grandmother in the story says the wolf that wins is the one you feed. Deborah connected this to a piece of secular research she had read, which found that when a person rehearses negative statements, the mind actively looks for evidence to confirm them, and that the reverse is equally true. She also did a quick exercise with the room, asking everyone to find three red objects, then asking them to name three brown ones without looking, to show how focus shapes what we actually see.
She then moved into Exodus 3, where God calls Moses to go back to Egypt and lead the Israelites out. Moses pushes back twice: first asking who am I for this, and then asking what is God's name. Deborah pointed out that God never answered the first question. Instead of giving Moses a pep talk about his own abilities, God simply said, I am who I am will be with you. She said that when she is in crisis, she does not look at what she is capable of; she goes to the names of God and stays there until peace comes.
The name Yahweh, she explained, comes from the Hebrew word meaning to be, and carries two central ideas. First, God is eternal: Psalm 92 says before the mountains were born, from beginning to end, you are God. Second, he is self-existent, needing nothing outside himself to sustain him. She brought in John 5:26 in the Amplified and connected it to Jesus' own words in John 8:58, where he says before Abraham, I am, a statement the people in the temple immediately understood as a claim to be the eternal God. She also noted that the name Jesus comes from the Greek form of Yeshua, which means Yahweh saves, threading the Old and New Testament together.
After establishing who Yahweh is, Deborah turned to Exodus 32 and 34, where the Israelites turn back to other gods while Moses is on the mountain, and God tells Moses he is done with them. Moses intercedes, telling God that the promised land is not worth having without God's presence in it. God relents, meets Moses on the mountain, and in Exodus 34 declares his own character: compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, quick to forgive. Deborah said she believes Moses was undone by that moment, and that the invitation God gave Moses is the same one being extended now: walk out of the land of stress and into a life of thriving with him.
She closed by describing a moment during the pandemic when she came downstairs to find her husband crushed by the weight of keeping their business and their employees afloat, and her phone rang with her daughter reporting that rioters were moving through her Los Angeles neighborhood. Deborah said she walked out on the porch and could only pray, "Jesus, help me, Jesus, I trust you," and that she immediately heard in her spirit the phrase turn your eyes upon me. She played the hymn on her phone and chose, she said, to feed the narrative that God sees, hears and cares. That is the choice she put before the room: not to deny that things are hard, but to decide which wolf gets fed.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Deborah described the formula 'A plus B equals C,' where what we believe about our problems matters more than the problems themselves. What is a belief about God that you have found yourself returning to in a hard season, and how has it affected how you handled what you were going through?
- Deborah shared the Cherokee story of two wolves and said the evil wolf represents the false self, the lies the enemy whispers, while the good wolf represents the Holy Spirit of truth. What are some of the false narratives you find yourself feeding, even without meaning to, and what has helped you stop?
and 3 more questions in the guide
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