The Denzel Washington movie from 2000, “Remember the Titans,” portrayed the true story of an underdog high school football team coached by an African American man who took them to the state championship. It is an inspiring story and worth a watch, for sure. But the center of the movie was that they, as a whole team, had to have confidence in what the new head coach was doing with them and where he was leading them. They had to know their coach and trust his lead so that they could finally join together as a unit—and ultimately, they did win the championship.
This Sunday, October 30, we are in the next chapter of the study, “Knowing God.” Over three Sundays, we will tackle three important, quite extensive Bible stories:
- The nine plagues in Egypt (Exodus 7-10) — October 30
- The tenth plague: the death angel and the Passover (Exodus 11-12) — November 6
- The crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 13-14) — November 12
Each of these stories describes a contest of sorts—not between Moses and Pharoah, but between God and Pharoah. Each story also portrays a challenge of trust: how much were God’s people willing to trust God during some very tense life-and-death moments? What does this teach us?
If you don’t know God the Great Deliverer, then you will never truly trust God. How much we trust God the Great Deliverer determines a loss of everything, or a win for eternity.
Our human instinct will always ask God during tense times, “God, WHY are you doing this?” But when we come to know him as Yahweh the Great Deliverer, then we ask the much more important question: “God, WHAT are you doing in this?”
How to prepare for the Sundays ahead
Your assignment for the next three weeks is to read Exodus 5-14 on your own. This is the whole section of stories that we will cover. Please take your time in reading slowly and reflectively. Get a good study Bible or two and look carefully at what is going on. Think about why God used nine different plagues in this confrontation with Pharoah. Walk slowly through the Passover story, then immerse yourself in the story of the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea as they are being chased by Pharoah’s army. Think deeply about what God is telling us even today through these ancient stories. We will all come to know God in a fresh way, which in turn will teach us to truly trust God.
See you Sunday morning at 10 a.m.
