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Exodus 3:7-12
We invite you to join us for worship each Sunday morning at 9:30. You can download our service on iTunes or tune in for “The Good Word” each day on AM 1230 WSAL or on Hoosier Country 103.7 FM just after 8am. Probably one of the most horrifying thoughts too many Christians is “What if God calls me to be a missionary?” Sometimes just the very thought of the word “missionary” conjures up the same thoughts and feelings as the phrase “total submission in all of everything!” However, if a person truly understands their salvation, and they understand that as one of God’s adopted children they are a missionary by the fact of their rebirth! In our focal passage today we’re going to look at:
- GOD’S CONCERN FOR HIS PEOPLE. If you glance back at 2:23 – 25, those last three words “and God knew” say at all. Only a fool thinks he can pull the wool over God’s eyes. What evidence do we have that God really was concerned about His people? He gives us four identifiable proofs.
Proof 1 = v. 1 “God has seen the affliction of his people. Affliction means anything causing pain, distress, suffering, or calamity. Affliction in any form and to any degree is a consequence of sin. Israel was suffering because they had been forced into slavery by an ungodly Pharaoh.
Proof 2 = God heard their cry. God has great interest in His people and His attention is intimately and intensely focused on them. It is interesting to note that what caught God’s attention was the cry of His people. The root of the word “cry” means to call out for help under great distress! It was of great concern to God that His people were so distressed and afflicted that the only sounds He heard were those of sorrow, despair, and pain.
Proof 3 = God knows their sufferings. The words from the old song – “nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, nobody knows my sorrow” do not apply where God is concerned. God not only knows our sufferings, He knows them completely. That would mean God also knows and understands how you might feel about being a missionary in the field He has given you to harvest!
Proof 4 = God delivered them out of their bondage into freedom. Whenever God delivers a person from the slavery of sin, He always delivers them to the freedom of salvation!
Here’s the point: God was concerned enough about the human race being in bondage to sin He allowed His only Son to die to redeem us. When a person claims to be a Christian and does not follow the Holy Spirit’s leading and prompting them to become more like Christ – the lost around us can come to only one of two conclusions: we are either hypocrites and are salvation means nothing to us; or we are liars and have never been saved at all.
If we can help you answer your spiritual questions, call us at (574) 643-9419.
