March 24, 2019
This is our ninth week in the book of Exodus, a book all about God’s mission to redeem a people for His Kingdom in this world.
This is also the third week of Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter where we prepare our hearts to remember and celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection. A couple good resources for this season include this recent blog by Joel Limpic and The Christian Year. Here’s how you can prepare for our service together this week:
1. Read through our text, Exodus 6:14–7:7.
Here we come across our first genealogy in the book of Exodus. Although genealogies have a reputation for being boring and challenging to read, they actually play a significant role in the narrative.
First, the genealogy connects the story to real, ordinary, Hebrew families. This is not a fictional story about some mythical hero. It’s a story about real people, real families, and what God did to deliver them from evil and to make them into His People. Second, the genealogy serves to connect Moses and Aaron to the broader story of God. This genealogy picks up from the genealogies in Genesis that go all of the way back to Adam and Eve, reminding us of God’s promise that an offspring of the woman will come to crush the head of the serpent and restore God’s blessing to the world (Genesis 3:15). Moses and Aaron stand in continuity with that promise, and the evil reign of Pharaoh stands in continuity with the serpent as the enemy of God and His people.
Though the people of God have suffered greatly, God again promises that He will deliver them and crush His enemies under His feet.
2. Read, pray, and sing through the service:
CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 90:1–2; 12
All Creatures Of Our God And King (William Henry Draper, St. Francis of Assisi arr. The Christian Year)
Yet Even Now (Joel Limpic)
CONFESSION OF SIN: From The Worship Sourcebook:
Most merciful God
whose Son, Jesus Christ, was tempted in every way, yet was without sin,
we confess before You our own sinfulness;
we have hungered after that which does not satisfy;
we have compromised with evil;
we have doubted Your power to protect us.
Forgive our lack of faith; have mercy on our weakness.
Restore in us such trust and love that we may walk in Your ways and delight in doing Your will.
Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: 1 Peter 1:3–5
Living Hope (Brian Johnson, Phil Wickham)
GREETING, SERMON, RESPONSE, & COMMUNION
O Come To The Altar (Brock, Brown, Furtick, and Joye)
VOCATION COMMISSIONING: FINANCE
Your Labor Is Not In Vain (Wendell Kimbrough, Isaac Wardell, Paul Zach)