SPEAKER_00: Oh, there we are.
SPEAKER_00: Two very dangerous things is to first of all give me a hot mic.
SPEAKER_00: And the second thing is to give me extra time.
SPEAKER_00: So thank you for both of those this morning.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: We'll read the Bible in just a minute.
SPEAKER_00: I know what you're thinking.
SPEAKER_00: Crazy to have Pastor Summer up here this week.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Caleb preached an awesome message last week.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, my husband, yeah, go ahead, clap.
SPEAKER_00: My husband bragged about him so much that I almost made Justin go working life kids this morning, just so I wouldn't feel the pressure.
SPEAKER_00: But Pastor Caleb, thank you for an awesome word.
SPEAKER_00: I love your heart for the next gen.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but Pastor Jeremy, he's okay.
SPEAKER_00: I promise.
SPEAKER_00: Last week he was on vacation.
SPEAKER_00: This week he is actually finishing or taking his last class for his doctoral program uh before he starts his dissertation.
SPEAKER_00: And so we just thought today you might need a break from looking at your neighbor and talking to someone strange and telling them repeating lines over and over again to the front and to the back and to the side.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm not gonna make you do that today.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna make you do that today.
SPEAKER_00: Also, I don't know about you, but I I I hope he's not listening.
SPEAKER_00: I absolutely despise his dad jokes.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, for real, guys, every week he puts them in like this little slack group for all the all the um staff to vote which ones are the best.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, they're all horrible.
SPEAKER_00: So please just stop and absolutely don't say that one because it's just awful, right?
SPEAKER_00: But today, because it is Mother's Day and because we're not doing dad jokes, I thought we could do a few mom memes.
SPEAKER_00: How does that sound this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Be honest with you.
SPEAKER_00: I turned these in last week and I don't even remember what all of them are, but if you'll throw that first mom meme up there format for us.
unknown: Yep.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have mom memes.
SPEAKER_00: All right, well, perfect.
SPEAKER_00: We're just gonna keep going then.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Now I got lots of extra time today.
SPEAKER_00: But for real, we do want to wish everyone a happy Mother's Day.
SPEAKER_00: And also, I don't know if everyone in this room knows our story, but because of our story, which I'm not gonna share, I realize that there is a weight to this day today.
SPEAKER_00: Oh Lord, I'm already gonna start crying.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
SPEAKER_00: So for you moms who have lost children, for you daughters who have lost moms, for those of you who have suffered from miscarriage or infertility, from those of you who didn't have a great mom growing up, for those of you who, for one reason or another, have estranged relationships with your children, for the young moms who feel so guilty for feeling overwhelmed and not even enjoying being a mother.
SPEAKER_00: For those of you who have children who are lost and wayward and you blame yourself and wonder where you went wrong.
SPEAKER_00: For those of you young ladies in here who are still waiting to be married and start families of your own, I want you to know today we all come from lots of different places.
SPEAKER_00: We all have lots of different situations where this may not be a happy day.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to know today, you are loved, you are seen, and you are not alone.
SPEAKER_00: Will you please, thank you?
SPEAKER_00: Will you please stand and get your Bibles if you have those today?
SPEAKER_00: If not, you can read it off the screen.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're gonna read from Exodus 1, verse 8, and while you're turning there, 1 verse 8, Exodus 1, verse 8, it's easy to find, second book of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to shout out a few names this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Heather Abston, Jasmine Brawley, Kylie Moberg, Samantha Redmond, Mary Kate Goswick, Carmen Loper, and Ashley Wallace.
SPEAKER_00: They are spending their day, their Mother's Day, serving our children and life kids.
SPEAKER_00: And would you please just give them a shout and a round of applause?
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, ladies, so much.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate all you do.
SPEAKER_00: All right, we I've got four chapters to cover this morning, so I hope you're ready.
SPEAKER_00: No, we're just gonna read a little bit, though.
SPEAKER_00: We're just gonna read a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: So uh bear with me.
SPEAKER_00: We are gonna skip around some just for the sake of time.
SPEAKER_00: In Exodus verse one, I'm sorry, Exodus chapter one, verse eight, it says this A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.
SPEAKER_00: He said to his people, Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we.
SPEAKER_00: Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply, and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us and fight against us and depart from the land.
SPEAKER_00: Skip down to verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shifrah, and the other one named Pua.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birth stool, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death.
SPEAKER_00: But if it is a daughter, then she shall live.
SPEAKER_00: But the midwives they feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live.
SPEAKER_00: So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, Why have you done this thing?
SPEAKER_00: And let the boys live.
SPEAKER_00: And the midwives said to Fi Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth more before the midwife can get to them.
SPEAKER_00: So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very mighty.
SPEAKER_00: Because the midwives feared God, he established households for them.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 22.
SPEAKER_00: Then Pharaoh commanded all of his people, saying, Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray today that your name would be glorified.
SPEAKER_00: Speak to our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray you would encourage us by your word.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for your word because it is alive and active.
SPEAKER_00: It strengthens, encourages us, and cuts away what doesn't need to be there so we can be more like you.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray that process would happen today as we soak up every word from your mouth.
SPEAKER_00: We ask all these things in your name.
SPEAKER_00: And everybody said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever felt overlooked, underestimated, undervalued?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody in the room?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody?
SPEAKER_00: Mamas, especially, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like we, I don't know about y'all, but like I work all day, and then I come home and I work more.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And um, I have a great husband, so I'm not gonna rip him to shreds up here because he's amazing.
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes I'm literally like, tag, you're it.
SPEAKER_00: Like, why do I have to cook dinner?
SPEAKER_00: Why can't you?
SPEAKER_00: Uh no, he's incredible.
SPEAKER_00: But hey, we we feel overwhelmed sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: We feel undervalued, overlooked, and it's not just women, right?
SPEAKER_00: This can happen on your workplace, it can happen anywhere.
SPEAKER_00: Well, today in our story in the Bible, we are gonna look at a very common topic that is throughout all the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you think about it, Isaac overlooked Jacob, who became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Joseph's brothers overlooked his dreams, which ended up coming true and saving their lives.
SPEAKER_00: Jesse overlooked David, who would be the king of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And the disciples were overlooked by the religious elite because they were uneducated men, but look at how they changed the world.
SPEAKER_00: Today, I want to talk to you about some women who were also overlooked in a very popular story.
SPEAKER_00: We need to look at some of these very overlooked details because at the end of the day, what I want you to know is that God delights in using what man overlooks.
SPEAKER_00: God delights in using what man overlooks.
SPEAKER_00: Now, just a few things that I want you to note.
SPEAKER_00: Exodus is actually the Greek title for this second book of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Exodus, uh actually in Hebrew, the the title of this book is not Exodus, but it is Shemat, which means names.
SPEAKER_00: And that's gonna come into play in a little bit because you're gonna hear me say this word a lot in this message.
SPEAKER_00: That's ironic.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to the irony because man, I don't know about you.
SPEAKER_00: I know God is love.
SPEAKER_00: I know he is.
SPEAKER_00: God is faithful, he is all the good things, but God has such a sense of humor.
SPEAKER_00: And he is so, and I love God's word because as you read it, you get to see that a little bit more.
SPEAKER_00: And our story today shows us a little bit of God's humor and his irony in some things.
SPEAKER_00: And so Shemmat means names, and that's gonna come into play in a little bit as we continue on in this message.
SPEAKER_00: But let's talk about what's happening.
SPEAKER_00: So, Exodus is a continuation of Genesis.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, your Bible's probably taken out this word, but the first word in the Hebrew Bible of this book is and, meaning, hey, this is a continuation of what's just happened.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what's just happened?
SPEAKER_00: If you've been in my small group for the past two years, you should know because it has taken us almost three years to go through Genesis.
SPEAKER_00: But this is the story of uh Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: Jacob has 12 sons.
SPEAKER_00: Joseph is the is the second to youngest.
SPEAKER_00: He's the favorite, he has these dreams, what and yada yada, yada, you know all that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna go into all that, all right?
SPEAKER_00: So he gets sold into slavery, he goes to Egypt, his whole family ends up moving there, and he saves Egypt and his family from famine.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Exodus, where we pick up, is a continuation of that story.
SPEAKER_00: And if you go back and read, which I do hope you will this week because I am covering four chapters very quickly.
SPEAKER_00: But if you go back and read, you'll see that the people of God were multiplying, they were teeming and swarming.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same exact words used in Genesis 1 during the creation.
SPEAKER_00: Everything was coming to life.
SPEAKER_00: They were multiplying, they were subduing, and they were taking over.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's almost two or three hundred years later, after Joseph's story and the Pharaoh that was in that story, and actually, this is like a new Pharaoh that has come into power, a new family of pharaohs, right?
SPEAKER_00: And it says, he did not know Joseph.
SPEAKER_00: Now, that verb there actually kind of means he just didn't, he he not he obviously couldn't know him because he's two or three hundred years older, right?
SPEAKER_00: But he chose not to acknowledge the history of Joseph and the Israelites.
SPEAKER_00: So you see, what one Pharaoh, the group that he viewed as an asset with a specific skill set of shepherding that could be a blessing in his land, this new Pharaoh chose to look at as a problem.
SPEAKER_00: They were a threat.
SPEAKER_00: Because what's gonna happen, what's gonna happen?
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna take over, they're gonna multiply so much, they're gonna take over, or they're gonna desert in a battle, and then we're gonna be left stranded.
SPEAKER_00: So he he has this threatening appearance about him, and so he comes up with this plan and he says, Hey, I know what we're gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: The first thing we're gonna do is we're gonna make them slaves and we're gonna enforce hard labor.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that didn't keep them from multiplying.
SPEAKER_00: We won't go into that.
SPEAKER_00: You can think about that later.
SPEAKER_00: But they continued to multiply no matter what was happening, right?
SPEAKER_00: So Pharaoh has to come up with plan B.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we just read.
SPEAKER_00: Plan B was the two murderous midwives who in fact turned out to not be murderous.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that plan is gonna fail.
SPEAKER_00: And so his third plan is that all the Egyptians are gonna throw the baby boys into the Nile River and kill them.
SPEAKER_00: But what I want us to focus on here today is that twice, both in verse 16 and in verse 22, Pharaoh says, Let the daughters live.
SPEAKER_00: Now he could have just said, kill the boys.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we don't need further discussion, right?
SPEAKER_00: Kill the boys means kill the boys.
SPEAKER_00: But he's emphatic, kill the boys and let the daughters live.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, whoever is videoing today, I know I move a lot.
SPEAKER_00: I'm used to talking to kids and you can't stand still, so I'm sorry about that.
SPEAKER_00: But he says twice, let the daughters live.
SPEAKER_00: And oh the irony, because the author of our story, who is probably Moses actually, is now going to go into great, great detail about not just one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven.
SPEAKER_00: That was for you, Zeke.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, not six, but seven women who rescued the rescuer.
SPEAKER_00: And oh, the irony that we see because Pharaoh looked at these women.
SPEAKER_00: He overlooked them.
SPEAKER_00: He thought they were worthless nobodies, and yet they're gonna be his downfall.
SPEAKER_00: Our first two women to look at today are Shifra and Pua.
SPEAKER_00: Shifra and Pua, they were midwives to the Hebrews.
SPEAKER_00: We don't actually know if they were Hebrew or Egyptian because the way it's translated could go either way.
SPEAKER_00: And we really don't know a whole lot about them, except that we do know that midwifery back then was a very elite job to have.
SPEAKER_00: They were more than likely managers because the Hebrew people were so large, there's no way they could get to every birth, right?
SPEAKER_00: They're multiplying like crazy.
SPEAKER_00: So they were probably managers of other midwives who concocted the scheme to save the baby boys because they knew that God's law stood above that of any man.
SPEAKER_00: Whether, even if they were Egyptian, they realized there was a moral law and it was wrong to take someone else's life.
SPEAKER_00: And in a book that places emphasis on names, we don't even know the name of the Pharaoh, but we know the names Shra and Pua.
SPEAKER_00: Because Moses wants to make sure that they are forever remembered for their courageous act of standing in opposition to an evil regime.
SPEAKER_00: That's it is good.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't write it, God did.
SPEAKER_00: All right, so Pharaoh's first plan, it's failed, right?
SPEAKER_00: His covert operation, where he spoke to these midwives, and he says to take the lives of the boys in the privacy of their own homes, that didn't work.
SPEAKER_00: So now he goes to an overt operation, right?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, everybody's involved, and I command you to throw all the boys into the Nile River.
SPEAKER_00: But he says it again, right?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 22, we just read it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read it again.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 22, then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, Every son who is born to you, who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.
SPEAKER_00: Now, your Bible translation this morning may say girls.
SPEAKER_00: Let the girls live, let the girls stay alive.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna argue translations this morning, but I know this.
SPEAKER_00: The real Hebrew word there is daughter.
SPEAKER_00: It's bot.
SPEAKER_00: Looks like bat, it's like you swing a bat, but it's bot, and it means daughter.
SPEAKER_00: And we only hear the irony of this, because these are Pharaoh's last words recorded.
SPEAKER_00: Let the daughters live.
SPEAKER_00: And when we flip the page, or you might not have to, but if you go to the very next verse, our next character, who has a name, and you'll find it out in Exodus 6, but Moses doesn't call her that, he calls her the daughter of Levi.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Moses wants us to catch the irony this morning that Pharaoh says the daughters are worthless.
SPEAKER_00: Enter the daughter of Levi.
SPEAKER_00: The daughter of Levi.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: She has a baby boy.
SPEAKER_00: And some of your translations this morning say she saw he was special or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: That's a really hard word for translators to translate because it literally in the Hebrew the word is Tov and it just means good.
SPEAKER_00: She saw that he was good.
SPEAKER_00: It's actually the same exact word.
SPEAKER_00: If you go all the way back to Genesis 1, when God created on the in the six days of creation, what did he say at the end of every day?
SPEAKER_00: It is, say it louder for the people in the back.
SPEAKER_00: It is, you didn't, I didn't make you look at your neighbor and say it.
SPEAKER_00: Just shout it out, just clarifying.
SPEAKER_00: It's good.
SPEAKER_00: She is looking at her son through the eyes of Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: She is seeing him as made in the image of God, and she says, He is good.
SPEAKER_00: So what does she do?
SPEAKER_00: She built him.
SPEAKER_00: Your Bible probably says a basket.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what the actual word is?
SPEAKER_00: It's Teva.
SPEAKER_00: You know what Teva means?
SPEAKER_00: Ark.
SPEAKER_00: Wow, well, we've heard that before.
SPEAKER_00: Because what did Noah build?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's not actually an archie archie.
SPEAKER_00: It really is just an ark that he built.
SPEAKER_00: She built her baby an ark.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Noah, he built an ark and he pitched it with gopher wood and pitched it to make it waterproof, and he puts his family in the ark to save them from the chaotic waters of the flood that would surely bring death.
SPEAKER_00: And she does the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's just on a smaller scale.
SPEAKER_00: She builds her little ark.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says she takes the time to tar and pitch it and make it waterproof.
SPEAKER_00: She places her precious baby in that ark, and then she places that Tava into the waters of death of the Nile.
SPEAKER_00: And I know she did it with faith in God in her heart, but I also know she did it strategically.
SPEAKER_00: She didn't just haphazardly place that basket.
SPEAKER_00: She didn't.
SPEAKER_00: She knew this is where Egyptians come to bathe.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, but I'm convinced of it.
SPEAKER_00: She knew.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, she had faith, but she knew she was wise.
SPEAKER_00: Enter female number four.
SPEAKER_00: Miriam.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going backwards in my notes.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, let's do this.
SPEAKER_00: The next female in our story, the next daughter is Miriam.
SPEAKER_00: Miriam is Moses' sister, and what does it say?
SPEAKER_00: We're in chapter two, in case you're wanting to keep up with the scriptures that we're reading.
SPEAKER_00: It says that she keeps a distance and she watches.
SPEAKER_00: She becomes the watchman, the guardian of her brother.
SPEAKER_00: She wants to know what will happen to him.
SPEAKER_00: You know what's funny about that word there to know?
SPEAKER_00: It's the same exact word used in verse 25 at the end of chapter 2, chapter 2, verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: It says, God saw the sons of Israel and God took notice of them.
SPEAKER_00: He was watching them to see what would happen.
SPEAKER_00: Just like Miriam was watching her brother to see what would happen.
SPEAKER_00: See, we're supposed to pick up on this language here that Miriam is acting in this moment like Yahweh, as a guardian of her brother, a watchman of the people.
SPEAKER_00: So she can take action when needed.
SPEAKER_00: Enter daughter number five, the daughter of Pharaoh.
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to talk about her very long right here.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to come back to her.
SPEAKER_00: But she comes to the Nile River to bathe.
SPEAKER_00: And she sees the ark and she doesn't know what it is.
SPEAKER_00: So what does she do?
SPEAKER_00: She enters into the story, daughter number six, who is the maidservant.
SPEAKER_00: And the maidservant doesn't have what we would consider a big role.
SPEAKER_00: But why is she mentioned?
SPEAKER_00: Because Moses wants us to pick up on the fact that seven daughters, seven overlooked women, underestimated, undervalued women, rescued his life.
SPEAKER_00: So the maidservant, all she does is fetch the Teva, the ark, and brings it to the princess.
SPEAKER_00: And the princess, she opens the Teva.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read Exodus 2, verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: I think I have that on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: It says, When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying, and she had pity on him and said, This is one of the Hebrew children.
SPEAKER_00: So she sees, she hears, she takes pity, and she rescues.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, guess where we can see those same verbs same place.
SPEAKER_00: Exodus 2, verses 24 and 25, when we're talking.
SPEAKER_00: About Yahweh and his people.
SPEAKER_00: God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.
SPEAKER_00: The same verbs in different, they're in different order, but the same verbs.
SPEAKER_00: God sees, he hears, he has compassion.
SPEAKER_00: And then as we continue, we're going to read the rest of the rescue story, right?
SPEAKER_00: So what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: It means that in this moment, the daughter of Pharaoh is acting in character with Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: She sees this baby.
SPEAKER_00: She immediately understands the situation.
SPEAKER_00: And she has compassion on a life that otherwise she should disregard because he's Hebrew.
SPEAKER_00: And the Egyptians hated the Hebrews.
SPEAKER_00: But she acts in character with Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: She sees him, she hears him, she has compassion on him, and she rescues him.
SPEAKER_00: Sister Miriam comes back into the story, right?
SPEAKER_00: As the Bible's first social worker.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want me to fetch for you?
SPEAKER_00: Can I go call for you?
SPEAKER_00: A nurse, someone who can nurse this baby for you.
SPEAKER_00: She's the mediator.
SPEAKER_00: She's acting like Christ in this moment.
SPEAKER_00: She is mediating on behalf of the life of her brother to save his life.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Go fetch the mom.
SPEAKER_00: Let me pay her wages.
SPEAKER_00: She can raise this baby for a few years, and then when you bring him back to me, I'll adopt him.
SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what happened.
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what happened.
SPEAKER_00: And we're skipping a page.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry about that.
SPEAKER_00: Can y'all tell I'm nervous?
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00: And then Pharaoh's daughter does something that I just find fascinating.
SPEAKER_00: And I wasn't going to mention it because I was afraid we wouldn't have enough time, but I'm going to tell you right now, that time they're so small I can't even see it anyway.
SPEAKER_00: So Pharaoh's daughter, she names Moses.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what's so cool about his name because his name has a meaning in both Egyptian and Hebrew.
SPEAKER_00: You see, in Egyptian, Moses means son of, but it's almost always attached to something else, like Thutmos or Ramses.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And it means the son of that person.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Moses is the son of.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Because she doesn't know who his dad is.
SPEAKER_00: He's the son of.
SPEAKER_00: But in Hebrew, Moshe means one who draws out.
SPEAKER_00: So I like to put them together.
SPEAKER_00: I know technically you're not supposed to do that, but I don't really care.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So I like to call Moses son of the one who will draw out.
SPEAKER_00: You see, I think God told Pharaoh's daughter what to name him because she was giving him a prophetic name.
SPEAKER_00: You are the son of the one who will be the rescuer, who is the true rescuer.
SPEAKER_00: All right, so Moses, he grows up in Pharaoh's own home, right?
SPEAKER_00: Under the guard of Pharaoh's daughter.
SPEAKER_00: And one day he goes out, and again, I'm skipping so many chapters, so please go home and read this for yourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Don't just take my word for it.
SPEAKER_00: Read it for yourselves, because I'm about to be all the way in chapter four now.
SPEAKER_00: He he grows up, he goes out, he sees some of his Hebrew brothers, and they're being mistreated.
SPEAKER_00: So he kills the Egyptian, buries him.
SPEAKER_00: Pharaoh finds out he has to flee to Midian.
SPEAKER_00: He flees to Midian.
SPEAKER_00: He comes upon a well where there's not one, two, three, four, five, six, but seven daughters at a well.
SPEAKER_00: He marries Zipporah.
SPEAKER_00: For some of you that are older here today and you don't know what that means, it's nothing bad.
SPEAKER_00: It's just a thing kids and live kids do constantly.
SPEAKER_00: And it really gets on your nerves sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: But you just gotta go with it and laugh with it, right?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So he's right, he goes to Midian, he meets Zipporah at the well.
SPEAKER_00: Zipporah and her family take him in and they guard him from Pharaoh until Pharaoh dies.
SPEAKER_00: And he marries Sepporah.
SPEAKER_00: He has two children with her, two sons, and he has his burning bush experience where God says, Hey Mo, it is time for you to be that person that you're supposed to be.
SPEAKER_00: I think, I'm pretty sure God came down at some point at the burning bush and said, I need you to go to Pharaoh and say, Pharaoh, Pharaoh.
SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty sure that's exactly how God said it.
SPEAKER_00: Almost 100% positive.
SPEAKER_00: But if God talks to Pharaoh, or God talks to Moses and he says, Moses, it is time for you to do what I have called you to do.
SPEAKER_00: Go back to Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: Tell Pharaoh to let my people go so they can worship me.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Moses, he makes all kinds of excuses.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure he had a really big complex being an adoptive child and probably very confused about his background and stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And so he just, he's like, God, I can't do this, I can't do this.
SPEAKER_00: And God says, shut up and go.
SPEAKER_00: So he does, right?
SPEAKER_00: But here's a crazy thing.
SPEAKER_00: On the way back to Egypt, we encounter this really weird story where God is ready to kill Moses, the person he just told to go back to Egypt and do this really big thing, and he's about to kill him.
SPEAKER_00: Let's see why.
SPEAKER_00: We're in chapter 4, verse 24.
SPEAKER_00: Now it came about at the lodging place on the way, the Lord met him and sought to put him to death.
SPEAKER_00: Then Sepporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and threw it at Moses, at Moses' feet, and she said, You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me.
SPEAKER_00: So he let him alone.
SPEAKER_00: At that time, she said, You are a bridegroom of bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision.
SPEAKER_00: Weird story.
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to go into it.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what we know.
SPEAKER_00: Another story for another time.
SPEAKER_00: I love telling these kind of stories to your kids on Sunday mornings and then being like, Go home and ask your parents what that means.
SPEAKER_00: Look, Moses had been called to do what God called him to do, but he had neglected to do what God commanded him to do.
SPEAKER_00: And that was to circumcise his son.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Moses was probably circumcised by his parents because she hid him for three months.
SPEAKER_00: And he knew what to do, but he neglected to do it.
SPEAKER_00: So one big difference between Zipporah and our other six women is that while the other six women saved, helped to save Moses and rescue him from the wrath of God, Zipporah saved him.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, from the wrath of Pharaoh.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing like messing up your great line.
SPEAKER_00: Let's start over.
SPEAKER_00: While the other six women saved Moses from the wrath of Pharaoh, Zipporah saved Moses from the wrath of God.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, seven women, seven different roles, all noted, all worth mentioning, all valuable to our story.
SPEAKER_00: We're just gonna run through them real quick, and then I'm I'm getting close to the end, guys.
SPEAKER_00: Believe it or not, I'm on page five of seven.
SPEAKER_00: The first ones, Shifra and Puah.
SPEAKER_00: They feared God over man and they acted accordingly, saving the lives of many boys.
SPEAKER_00: They were brave and they were courageous.
SPEAKER_00: Joshabed, or the daughter of Levi, she saw the good of God's creation and she made a waterproof ark to save her son from the waters of death.
SPEAKER_00: Miriam, she became a watchman and a mediator, the maidservant.
SPEAKER_00: She just performed a simple act of obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Pharaoh's daughter.
SPEAKER_00: She exhibited the compassion of God and provided life and protection for Moses in the same household of the persecutor.
SPEAKER_00: She is brave and she is courageous.
SPEAKER_00: And then Zipporah.
SPEAKER_00: She acted quickly and wisely in obedience to what God had commanded.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if I'm going to give you three points, because every sermon has to have three points, right?
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to give you three points this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to linger long on them.
SPEAKER_00: Three things we can learn from this story, from this text.
SPEAKER_00: Number one is this never underestimate your value.
SPEAKER_00: Because you see, in our story that is taken from a very male-dominating society, every single character that was important was female.
SPEAKER_00: That lets me know your value is not based on your gender.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not leaving you out, men.
SPEAKER_00: You're valuable too.
SPEAKER_00: Your value is not based on your gender.
SPEAKER_00: At least two of these women were non-Hebrew.
SPEAKER_00: They were foreigners, potentially up to four.
SPEAKER_00: You know what that tells me?
SPEAKER_00: That your value is not based on your skin color or your ethnicity.
SPEAKER_00: Miriam was a child, and more than likely the princess and the maidservant were also quite young.
SPEAKER_00: Your value is not based on your age.
SPEAKER_00: Three women held high positions, but four women did not.
SPEAKER_00: So that lets me know that your value is not based on the size of your bank account or the job title that you hold.
SPEAKER_00: What makes every single one of these women valuable is the fact that they were ready and willing to do the right thing.
SPEAKER_00: You see, they weren't concerned about who was looking.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, if someone had been looking, they probably would not have been able to complete the task.
SPEAKER_00: We're too busy being concerned about who's noticing what all we're doing.
SPEAKER_00: And God says, I need you to stay behind the scenes if I want to get this accomplished.
SPEAKER_00: But we like to put our value in how other people see us.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm here to tell you today that you don't have to worry about what man sees in you when you know God values you.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just getting revved up.
SPEAKER_00: Never underestimate your task.
SPEAKER_00: You see, it'd be easy to look at this story and go, oh, well, the maidservant, all she did was retrieve the little basket.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, the daughter of Pharaoh, she actually had to like be fearful of her life every day.
SPEAKER_00: Ship her and Pua, they could have lost their jobs or their lives.
SPEAKER_00: Like her role was all insignificant.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, hey, hey, hey.
SPEAKER_00: We're getting the bare bones of what happened here.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know what happened behind the scenes.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know what that maidservant went on to do because she saw the boldness of that princess.
SPEAKER_00: We have no idea.
SPEAKER_00: And underestimating was the beginning of Pharaoh's downfall, so we should not let it be ours.
SPEAKER_00: You see, ordinary obedience can create extraordinary impact.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, mamas, I know you get so tired.
SPEAKER_00: You do the same thing over, over, over, over.
SPEAKER_00: Do the laundry, do the kit cooking, do say the prayers at night before they go to bed.
SPEAKER_00: Kiss them on their head.
SPEAKER_00: Tell them that tell them you love them.
SPEAKER_00: Tell them Jesus loves them.
SPEAKER_00: And you just sometimes it just feels so mundane.
SPEAKER_00: We're doing the same thing over and over and over.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, ordinary obedience produces extraordinary results.
SPEAKER_00: Keep doing the ordinary obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Which brings me to point number three.
SPEAKER_00: Never underestimate who's in your basket.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say it's about to get good.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to look at your neighbor, but just nod at them.
SPEAKER_00: Those women didn't know who they were saving.
SPEAKER_00: They had no idea what Moses would grow up to be, who he would become.
SPEAKER_00: They had no idea.
SPEAKER_00: And you see, I think we have a little bit of a problem in the church.
SPEAKER_00: Because we like to place value on people that God has already valued.
SPEAKER_00: We underestimate who might be in our basket.
SPEAKER_00: I'll be honest, I wrestle with this sometimes in life, kids.
SPEAKER_00: I got a kid that's just constantly causing problems.
SPEAKER_00: Just, oh, you know, oh Lord, they guess they showed up today.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm a human, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, we can't underestimate who's in our basket.
SPEAKER_00: We don't get to determine who has value and who doesn't, because I'm gonna tell you something, church.
SPEAKER_00: In case you didn't know, you either believe John 3.16 or you don't.
SPEAKER_00: He came and he died so that none would perish.
SPEAKER_00: But we're too busy wanting to stand up and say we're pro-life when really all we mean is that we're anti-abortion.
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's great to be anti-abortion.
SPEAKER_00: I am, but we gotta be pro-life.
SPEAKER_00: We can't turn around and undervalue the person next to us because of their skin color, because they don't vote like us, because they don't look like us.
SPEAKER_00: We don't get to set somebody's value.
SPEAKER_00: God did that.
SPEAKER_00: And God thought every life was good.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know you will never, ever, ever look anybody in the eyes that God doesn't love?
SPEAKER_00: Never.
SPEAKER_00: We don't get to say who has value and who doesn't.
SPEAKER_00: That's God's job.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna tell a story this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I warned my mom beforehand.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Mom, you may not even remember this conversation, but I promise you we had it.
SPEAKER_00: So if people ask you about it after church, just nod your head and say yes, because it was such a small conversation, but it just meant so much to me.
SPEAKER_00: But Justin and I, we have we've lived on the same street for like 21 years in unincorporated Jefferson County.
SPEAKER_00: That is a joke in between he and I.
SPEAKER_00: We live in Bessmer, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And a very quiet, quiet, quiet street.
SPEAKER_00: We've, I mean, the only thing that's really like made a big fuss on our street was one time our dogs killed all of our neighbors' chickens, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Like, it was a bad day.
SPEAKER_00: Bad few days, actually.
SPEAKER_00: A quiet street! 21 years.
SPEAKER_00: Well, all of a sudden, and it's it's a long street, so it stretches, it's actually a loop, so it's pretty big.
SPEAKER_00: And about six months ago, there started being some problems on the other end of the loop.
SPEAKER_00: And how many of you are in those like group neighborhood group chats?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Right, nod your head, raise your hand.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all still with me today?
SPEAKER_00: I promise I'm almost done.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: They're like from the devil, right?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Ours has always been fairly quiet and not a whole lot going on.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody, you know, maybe somebody's sick or need to borrow something, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: But we're super quiet until the last six months.
SPEAKER_00: And oh my goodness, we've got this guy at the end of our street on the other end of the loop, and he's gotten into drugs.
SPEAKER_00: He's probably been into them for a while, but now it's like bad.
SPEAKER_00: And so the neighborhood group chat's blowing up because this dude's like, he's always got people come to the house to buy drugs, and they're coming at all times of night.
SPEAKER_00: And actually, not too long ago, this female came running out of the house and she had no clothes on, and she ran into the neighbor's house screaming, and she was high as a kite.
SPEAKER_00: So, just all kinds of stuff going on in our in our little group chat because of the guy at the other in the neighborhood.
SPEAKER_00: But it hasn't really affected Justin and I because we're on the other end of the loop, right?
SPEAKER_00: So I'm sitting at work, I mean, it's probably been a couple months ago.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, it's not been too long ago, but I'm sitting at work, everybody else is at work except Lily.
SPEAKER_00: Lily was home by herself that day.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why school was out, but it was out.
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden my phone starts blowing up, this group chat, and I'm like, oh Lord, what's going on now?
SPEAKER_00: So I pull it up, and they're saying on the group chat that this guy is in front of my house, high as a kite, dancing and screaming in the streets.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, oh my gosh, Lily's home by herself.
SPEAKER_00: So I real quick text her and I'm like, hey, Lily, lock the door, stay inside, don't go outside.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the cops have been called, but sometimes it takes them really long to get time to get there because we're unincorporated Jefferson County.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so it takes, and I'm just like, I'm panicking, I'm panicking.
SPEAKER_00: And in that moment, my mom calls.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, oh gosh, do I answer?
SPEAKER_00: Do I not answer?
SPEAKER_00: I hate to not answer a call from my mom.
SPEAKER_00: I just hate not to, you know.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm like, I'm panicked.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna tell her, I'm not gonna tell her what's going on because she'll freak out, she'll freak out.
SPEAKER_00: So I answered, I'm like, hey mom, she goes, hey, hey, you know, she's so cheerful, like, you know, she has no idea what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like a mess over here.
SPEAKER_00: She's like, hey, your dad and I are actually in Birmingham and we're real close to your house, and we need to drop some papers off for Justin.
SPEAKER_00: Can we just drive by and put them in your mailbox?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, yes.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm like, don't tell them what's going on because they'll freak out.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, y'all know my dad, right?
SPEAKER_00: So I don't tell her what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking, well, the cops are gonna be there, they'll have it, everything will be under control.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe maybe he wandered off from our street.
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, it's some time has passed, so maybe they won't even say anything.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna freak them out.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm like, okay, yeah, please, please go by.
SPEAKER_00: I say, hey, Lily's home by herself.
SPEAKER_00: You mind just like checking on her?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sure.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So I look on my phone, I realize at that moment, when I look on my phone, you know, the like find me up or whatever, I realize Valerie is actually at the house, which is crazy.
SPEAKER_00: It's just because that's how God works, right?
SPEAKER_00: So for some reason or another, she had come home from school that day from UAB, she needed to pick something up, and she was at the house.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, oh, Valerie's there, and my parents are almost there.
SPEAKER_00: I was looking how far away they're almost there.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, oh shoo, I can calm down.
SPEAKER_00: So I calmed down, everything's fine.
SPEAKER_00: My mom never calls me back, so I'm assuming they didn't see anything and everything's good.
SPEAKER_00: It's a couple days later.
SPEAKER_00: And some other things have happened in those couple days with this same guy in the same house and people coming to buy drugs.
SPEAKER_00: And I mean the group chat is hot, right?
SPEAKER_00: Have y'all y'all been in those, right?
SPEAKER_00: The group chat is hot, and I am getting livid.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sitting in my house, it's almost time to go pick up Lily from school.
SPEAKER_00: It was a Monday, I was off work, and I'm I'm just re- Oh my we've been here 21 years! 21 years! What's this fool doing here?
SPEAKER_00: He's messing up our quiet, peaceful street.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, we're gonna have to move.
SPEAKER_00: What am I gonna do with Lily?
SPEAKER_00: She's still got two years of school left.
SPEAKER_00: She's not gonna move school.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm like, I'm getting hot.
SPEAKER_00: They're hot, I'm hot.
SPEAKER_00: I realize it's time to, I mean, I know y'all don't know me very well, but I can get hot sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: I'm hot.
SPEAKER_00: I'm reading all these things that's going on, that's been going on, and I'm just getting angrier and angrier and angrier.
SPEAKER_00: It's time to get in the car and go get Lily.
SPEAKER_00: So I get in the car and I'm driving down the street and my mom calls.
SPEAKER_00: We call each other a lot.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, oh, I'm telling her today.
SPEAKER_00: My mama's gonna know today.
SPEAKER_00: Because when Nana gets mad, woo! Things change when Nana gets mad.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, all right, she's calling me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna tell her what happened, I'm gonna tell her what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: So we start chatting, and I'm like, hey, you won't believe, mom.
SPEAKER_00: You you know the other day when y'all were like dropping some papers off the house, and Lily, I thought Lily was home by herself.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: There's this drugie that has overtaken our street.
SPEAKER_00: Like he's just out of control, and the cops had to be called, and he was in front of our house.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just expecting my mama to just get so angry with me.
SPEAKER_00: Because you know, if you need somebody get angry with you, you need to call your mama, right?
SPEAKER_00: Or your sister, one of the two.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just expecting Nana to get so angry.
SPEAKER_00: I can't believe that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just here.
SPEAKER_00: I can hear her in my own head.
SPEAKER_00: I'm responding for her.
SPEAKER_00: I can't believe that.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all were so safe on that sh- I mean, just I can't believe it.
SPEAKER_00: But she said, Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: I saw that guy.
SPEAKER_00: I saw him.
SPEAKER_00: I felt so sorry for him.
SPEAKER_00: She said, Summer.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody Son.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna tell you what, I had to get off the phone with her.
SPEAKER_00: Because in that moment, the Holy Spirit whispered to me, that's not just anybody's son.
SPEAKER_00: He's not just somebody's son, he's my son.
SPEAKER_00: You see, church, we've got to stop assigning our value to people.
SPEAKER_00: Because God values every person.
SPEAKER_00: And today, what I want us to take from this message is this that God has called us to be part of his rescue plan.
SPEAKER_00: So some of you here today, I don't care if you're male or female, some of you need to be shifras and puas.
SPEAKER_00: You need to be brave and courageous and take a stand in the face of evil.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you this morning need to be daughters of Levi.
SPEAKER_00: And you need to begin to pitch and waterproof an ark for somebody who needs to be rescued from the waters of death.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you today need to be the maidservant.
SPEAKER_00: You just need to act in obedience to whatever God's telling you to do.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you need to draw baskets out of water and show some compassion on people.
SPEAKER_00: Just show some compassion.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you need to be mediators, intercessors for somebody that's struggling.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you may be called to take action with somebody that you know is walking in disobedience.
SPEAKER_00: You see, I don't know your part.
SPEAKER_00: That's your part.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if what you do is gonna be noticed or unnoticed, but I know it's valued.
SPEAKER_00: I know that no matter what your role is, whether you think it's big or you think it's small, we're all called to be rescuers today.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna ask you, church, will you be a rescuer?
SPEAKER_00: Will you be a rescuer?
SPEAKER_00: Will you stand with me this morning?
SPEAKER_00: A little bit later, there's gonna be some of the prayer team at the front, and they're going to be ready and willing to pray with anybody who might need prayer this morning.
SPEAKER_00: But I just want us to take a minute and let the Holy Spirit speak.
SPEAKER_00: I really do encourage you to get in God's word this week.
SPEAKER_00: Go reread the story.
SPEAKER_00: Let the Holy Spirit just make it alive to you.
SPEAKER_00: Let him speak to you.
SPEAKER_00: Let him show where there may be a pharaoh in your own heart.
SPEAKER_00: Let him cut that out of you.
SPEAKER_00: And let him show you how to be a rescuer.
SPEAKER_00: But this morning, if you'll just bow your heads and close your eyes for just a minute.
SPEAKER_00: I know this may be awkward, but it's something new we've started doing in life, kids, where we just take like a moment of silence.
SPEAKER_00: I don't mind if the keys are playing, but we're just gonna take a moment.
SPEAKER_00: And it may feel a little awkward, but nobody's gonna talk.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna quit talking in this microphone because I want to make it more available for the Holy Spirit to talk to you.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes that's hard when the person on the microphone won't quit talking or they're singing and all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_00: So for just a minute, we're just gonna have a moment of silence where the Holy Spirit can speak to you.
SPEAKER_00: God, today we thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you that you give us hope that we're not undervalued in your eyes.
SPEAKER_00: But God, you don't want to stop there.
SPEAKER_00: You don't want it to be selfish.
SPEAKER_00: You want us to also, in turn, examine our own hearts and lives and see, God, where we may have attitudes that are keeping us from being the rescuer you've called us to be.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, do your work today.
SPEAKER_00: You know what needs to be done.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there is somebody in this room that's suffering from being undervalued by someone they love.
SPEAKER_00: Do your work in their life.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna look different from somebody else who may need to have a pharaoh's attitude cut out of their heart.
SPEAKER_00: God, just do your work.
SPEAKER_00: Do your work today.
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray that as your people begin to read your word, that it would come alive to them, that they would fall in love with your word and what you're trying to tell us.
SPEAKER_00: That God, there is a world that you have already paid the price to rescue, and you want us to be part of your rescue plan.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for rescuing us when we were drowning in the waters of death.
SPEAKER_00: Help us, God, to turn around and begin to pull others out of that same water.
SPEAKER_00: Speak to us today, God, and through this week, we need you to teach us to sit and listen.
SPEAKER_00: Teach us to hear and know your voice and act in obedience to what you've called us to do.
SPEAKER_00: Make us rescuers, God.
SPEAKER_00: Make us rescuers.
SPEAKER_00: I pray this week you would show us someone, every one of us, someone that we can help rescue.
SPEAKER_00: We pray and ask all of this in your name.
unknown: Amen.