Exodus: Chapter One

Welcome to our first sermon diving deep into the text of Exodus! Today, we're in chapter one, asking the right questions to unlock its meaning. We'll explore why Israel is in Egypt, why the mighty Pharaoh is unnamed, and how two overlooked midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, become the unlikely heroes of the story.
Scripture References

• Exodus 1: The enslavement of Israel in Egypt.
• Genesis 12:1-3: God’s promise to make a great nation from Abraham.
• Genesis 46:3-4: God’s command for Jacob (Israel) to go to Egypt, promising to be with him.
• Genesis 1:28: The creation mandate to "be fruitful and multiply."
• Genesis 3:1, 15: The "shrewd" serpent and the promise that the woman's offspring would crush its head.

Key Points

1. Israel in Egypt: An Act of Obedience

The book of Exodus starts like a sequel, connecting directly to Genesis. The Israelites are in Egypt not by mistake, but because God led them there during a famine, promising to be with them. This is a crucial reminder: following God often leads us into hard places, not just easy ones.

2. The Unnamed Pharaoh: A Symbol of Evil

Pharaoh is left unnamed for three reasons:

• It’s an insult: "May his name be forgotten," while the Hebrew midwives are named forever.
• He’s a symbol: He represents the oppressive evil of every empire built on exploitation.
• He's the serpent: He acts "shrewdly" (the same word used for the serpent in Genesis 3) against God's people, who are fulfilling the Genesis 1 mandate to be "fruitful and multiply." This is a cosmic battle, not just a political one.

3. The Midwives: A Blueprint for Greatness

Shiphrah and Puah are the heroes because they show us what true greatness looks like in God's kingdom. They were servants to the servants, yet their actions changed history.

Conclusion

True greatness isn't found in power, status, or worldly authority like Pharaoh's. It's found in the quiet, courageous faith of the overlooked. The midwives feared God more than the most powerful man on earth, and that reverence produced a fearlessness that allowed them to defy evil, serve others, and suffer well. Their legacy is a testament that God esteems the humble and uses the seemingly weak to overthrow the proud.

Calls to Action

1. Serve the Servants: Look for opportunities to serve those who are overlooked. Greatness starts with humility.
2. Fear God, Not Man: Let a holy reverence for God be the driving force that frees you from the fear of human opinion or authority.
3. Practice Righteous Resistance: When instructed to do evil, practice civil disobedience for the sake of others, not for personal gain.
4. Abandon "If/Then" Thinking: Don't wait for perfect circumstances to be obedient. Serve, give, and act now, right where you are.
5. Suffer Well: When God feels distant, don't let your reverence for Him fade. Trust Him even when deliverance seems far away.

Transcript

Hey, we're in a study of the Book of Exodus, which is the second book in your Bible. So if you Genesis is the first, Exodus is the second. I encourage you, to bring your Bible. We're going to march through Exodus chapter one today. Next week will be chapter two. So, go ahead and, open your Bible if you've got one.

I'm going to read Exodus chapter one. After two weeks of introducing this book, we're finally in it.

These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher. All the descendants of Jacob were 70 persons. Joseph was already in Egypt, and then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. But the people of Israel were fruitful, and they increased greatly.

They multiplied, and they grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them. Now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, behold, the people of Israel are too many, and they're too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply. And if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us, and escape from the land.

Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens they built for Pharaoh store cities, Pythian and Ramses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied, and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service and mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field, in all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

Then the king of the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named shipwreck, and the other poor, when you serve as a midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birth stool, if it is a son, you shall kill him. But if it is a daughter, she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them.

But they let the male children live. So God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people. Every son that is born to Hebrews, you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live. There's a lot going on here in chapter one, and I want to frame the sermon this morning around, three questions.

Sometimes we think that discipleship to Jesus starts with having all the right answers. But I actually think our apprenticeship and our training under Jesus starts with having the right questions. How many of you have noticed as teachers that progress is being made when your students are asking the right questions? How many of you have mentored or discipled or had an apprentice apprentice in business and you notice, oh good, they're finally starting to ask the right questions.

So sometimes we think that following Jesus is about having answers. I actually think that following Jesus well starts with having the right questions. So here's the questions I want to ask of, Exodus chapter one. What are the sons of Israel doing in Egypt? Why is the Pharaoh unnamed in a second? And did you ever know that you're my hero?

Hebrew midwives are everything I wish I could be. What are the sons of Israel doing in Egypt? How did they get there again? After two weeks of me building up this book and telling you you can't understand your Bible unless you understand Exodus and you can't understand Jesus unless you understand Exodus. Again, I've built this thing up.

Teeing it up is the most epic tale ever told. And it doesn't start strong, does it? It actually starts with the Hebrew word and and these are the names. And then it rolls the credits. But this is a very on purpose start to the book of Exodus. It connects the book of Exodus to the book of Genesis that comes before it.

So Exodus is part two and a series of five books that Moses wrote that we call the Pentateuch. So the book starts, and these are the names of the sons of Israel. It's like a mid sentence start to the book of Exodus. But if you've read the book of Genesis, you know this isn't just a family. This is not just a family.

This is the family. This is the family that's featured throughout almost the entire book of Genesis. I need you to know a few things. As this book starts, the first thing that might come as confusing to you, you need to know that Israel and Jacob are the same dude. That's the same dude being referred to with two different names.

Jacob had his name changed. He had his name chain named. He had his name changed because he wrestled with God. And that's what Israel means. It means those who wrestle with God. So Jacob's name becomes Israel, and Israel also becomes the name of a nation in fact, those 12 sons that I read, those names, those would become the 12 tribes of Israel.

Maybe you've heard that phrase before. So here we go. Jacob, who is Israel, is the son of Isaac. Isaac is the son of Abraham and Abraham. You may have heard this before, is the father of our faith, our God in fact, is often referred to is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's how he refers to himself.

So Abraham receives a promise in Genesis chapter 12. He he gets this incredible promise that ends up being passed down like an inheritance to his sons. Listen to the promise. The Lord said to Abraham, go from your country, your people, and your father's household to the land. I will show you. I'll make you into a great nation. That's awesome.

I will bless you. I'll make your name great and you'll be a blessing. You will bless those who bless you. And whoever curses you, I will curse. And all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you. So there's a lot going on in this promise. But it boils down to, I'm going to make you a great nation.

I'm going to bless you, and I'm going to bless those who bless you. And then I'm going to curse those who curse you. And I'm going to make your name great. And the whole world is going to be blessed through you and your offspring. So Abraham would miraculously, have a son named Isaac. Isaac's the one that Abraham, puts on the altar.

You probably know that story because you read it. You know, you read your kids the storybook Bible, and they're confused. My kids always go back to that page and they're like, wait, God told them to kill this kid. You know, like, it's every kid's worst nightmare. And you're like, yes, because Isaac didn't go to bed when he was told to go to bed.

So God said, kill him. Every kid's like, hey, this is way, this is in my Bible. And they're like, yeah, it's at the very beginning. And it's a theme that runs throughout. Isaac, would have a son named Jacob. Jacob again would have his name changed to Israel, and Jacob would have a son named Joseph. Now, we don't have a ton of time to get into the story, but Joseph would end up in a prominent place of power in Egypt, and because of his prominence, he could provide a space and a place for his family who is migrating to Egypt from Canaan.

So I just made this story sound like a really straight line. And if you've read the book of Genesis, it's far from a straight line. In fact, it's the story of God drawing a straight line with a very, very crooked stick. This family is busted up, so if you're here and you're like, oh, my family, you're deciding in your head your family doesn't fit in church, I would encourage you, keep reading your Bible and don't judge the book by the cover, because there's a number of broken families in the Bible who end up being families of faith.

So in this family, there's favoritism. We talked about it in our pack. It destroys families. It really causes trouble. There's deceit, there's pregnancies, there's infertility, there's illegitimacy, there's murder, there's lying, there's stealing. There's a reason that the first ten Commandments are put in place. And it's not just for the other nations. Right? So this family is a family of faith, but this family is far from perfect.

And you need to know that, especially if you're sitting here thinking, I don't know if I fit you do. If you're broken and in need of Jesus and your family has baggage, we're here for it, right? So these guys ended up in Egypt due to a famine. A famine breaks out. And again, God granted to Joseph a place of prominence in Egypt because God spoke to Joseph about this famine.

And fam and Joseph provided food not just for Egypt but for the surrounding nations. Also, you need to know that the family fled to Egypt not just because there was a famine and they needed food, but they fled to Egypt because they had a word from God that moved to Egypt was in step with God's promises. It wasn't out of step.

It was not disobedience. And this is really important for you to remember. Here's why God invites us into things that are hard. And so whatever, whatever misconception you have, that if God calls you into something, it's going to be rainbows and butterflies from here on out. You just let it be confronted because this is the family of God following God into what would be a really rough space.

God will call us to do hard things. Need proof marriage? Need further proof career. You think, oh, this place is going to be the best job. I'm gonna climb the ladder. I'm gonna find myself in the know. God invites us into hard things. Need further proof? He called you to move to Visalia. And it's not been all easy, right?

Need further proof you had kids and God called you. He invited you into what is a slow sort of death through self-denial. You need further proof. Christianity. You were called into Christianity and it wasn't like immediately just walk into the land of milk and honey. Some of you found yourself going. My life was easier when I didn't know God.

My life was easier when I wasn't being haunted by the Holy Spirit. My life was easier when I could just sin and get away with it. I didn't wake up feeling sick in the morning. If God says it, it doesn't mean it's going to be easy and you need to know that. So here's what in Genesis 46, God says, so Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, Jacob, Jacob again there is there it is. So Israel set out, and then God says, Jacob, Jacob. And then Israel says, I thought you changed my name. Why are you calling me to no, son, it that's not in the Bible. I am God, the God of your father.

He said, do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation. There I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph's own hand will close your eyes, meaning you're going to be buried by your son. So God calms his fears with three promises.

I'm going to make you a great nation in Egypt. I'm going to go with you there. You're not going to go alone. And then I'm going to bring you back to the land that I promised you, the land of Canaan. And this is the Exodus. This is the exit, the we're leaving Egypt. So the second thing you need to know, or at least understand, is why is the Pharaoh unnamed and a and a sicko?

So number one is that the Pharaoh is unnamed, making it difficult to date this book because it's an ancient insult. May his name be forgotten.

It's like the ancient equivalent of like a mom joke would be to not mention his name. Further insult would be to get the specific names of two Hebrew midwives we know, Shipper and PUA. Oh, who's the pharaoh? Can't remember how many of you have watched, like, you know, some teenybopper film where, you know, some girl is overlooked and then she has a glow up, and now the boy is interested in her, and he comes knocking and she's like, oh, I can't remember you.

What's your name? And then she walks away. I mean, that's exactly what it is. This is the most powerful man in the world, in the most powerful nation in the world. And it's like, What's his name again? May his name be forgotten to, you know, like, this is exactly what's going on. This is an ancient insult.

The second reason the Pharaoh remains unnamed is because he is a symbol of evil. And every empire, not just the Egyptian empire. This is oppression and exploitation. 101. Every nation has bought has built their empire on the backs of people being exploited and oppressed. Egypt is not the only one. In fact, our own history is marked with this.

So the name is left blank so that you can fill in the blank. The Pharaoh is not the only one doing this. He represents evil. He represents power. He represents exploitation and here's how he did it. It says in this scripture that he forgot their humanity. He forgot the contribution that Joseph made. A new Pharaoh rose up that didn't know Joseph didn't know the contribution that the Hebrew people have made, and he forgot them.

And then you're on your way to oppression and exploitation. When you say and think things like they're too many. They're too many. And then you're on your way to exploitation and oppression when you need them as a labor force. But you fear their presence as a perceived threat to your power and place. Welcome to what every empire has done along the way.

The third reason that the Pharaohs unnamed is because he represents not just evil and empire. He represents Satan and he represents the serpent in Genesis. So there's a few things that are said in Exodus, one that take us back into Genesis. But there's a few things specifically said in Exodus, one that take us back to the very beginning of Genesis, as in the creation story in Genesis chapter one.

They take us right back to the Garden of Eden. I want you to see as I read this what words are meant to be a hyperlink that takes us right back to the first chapter of Genesis. Genesis one 2728 so God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God. He created them male and female. He created them.

God bless them and said, be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, and over every living creature that moves on the ground. Did anybody notice a word or a phrase in the first chapter of Genesis that also appeared in the first chapter of Exodus that we just read?

Yeah, fruitful, be fruitful and multiply. In fact, multiply appears three times inside of the first chapter of Exodus. Verse seven says, but the people of Israel were fruitful and increase greatly. They multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them. I mean, they did exactly what they were mandated to do at creation, verse 12.

But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.

Verse 20. So God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied. They grew very strong. Now there's another link between Exodus one and Genesis chapter one that's a little more subtle. It's a little more obscure than this one. And it's the word shrewd. The Pharaoh is described by saying, hey, let's deal shrewdly with them. And that would take you right back to the creation story as well, because the serpent is described as in many of your translations as being more crafty than the other animals, but some of your translations say shrewd.

Now the serpent was more shrewd and dealt subtly, deceitfully with the people. Genesis three one says, the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals in the Lord that the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, Did God really say, you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden? So Eve, there in the garden is deceived.

She decides to sin. That sin brings about a curse and a consequence, but it also brings about a promise. Listen to the promise that Eve receives after she sins and separation takes place in the garden. So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you deceived Eve, cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals. You're going to crawl on your belly, and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers. And then he says he interesting that he switches over to a male. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. We know this, of course, to be a promise about Jesus, that the serpent will strike his heel and crucifixion, but our Savior Jesus, will crush the serpent's head in resurrection.

So the serpent here's the promise. The serpent will always be at war with the offspring of Eve. He will crush your head. You will strike his heel. This, Eve will always be battling. Even her offspring will always be battling with this shrewd deceiver all of their lives. But the. But, the seed of Eve is going to crush the serpent's head, so.

Okay, we went back, but now back to the story. This is where this gets really interesting is that we know that the Egyptian god War jet was represent was represented by a serpent. That Egyptian god War jet was meant to protect royalty and women in childbearing. We know that war jet is the cobra represented on the Pharaoh's headdress, and that even the pharaoh's headdress itself was meant to look like the head of a cobra.

If you're familiar with the Exodus story, you know that multiple times as a sign that God was going to lead Moses and his people out of Egypt, Moses threw down his staff, and his staff turned into what, a snake? And we've read that story and just thought, that's kind of random. It is absolutely not. The serpent represents Pharaoh.

And when Moses picks up the snake and it becomes a staff in his hand, God is clearly communicating, I'm going to give you authority over the snake, over the serpent, over Wajid, this protector of royalty and women and child childbearing. So this Pharaoh, this serpent, this Satan is, it says in the text, ruthless in oppression and exploitation. He then invites the midwives to kill the kids.

And when the midwives won't do it, he says to every Egyptian citizen, you have permission to pull from some mom's arms their child and throw that child in the Nile. These are dark days. Which leads me to my third point. Did you ever know that you're my hero? You're everything I wish I could be. Why are the midwives remembered forever?

We're going to get to heaven and someone's going to be like, my name is Puia. You're going to be like, you know, we don't remember the Pharaoh's name. May his name be forgotten and never mentioned again. But Shipwreck and PUA are named, and if you want your name to be remembered, you're here. And you. You want to be great.

Don't associate greatness with what the Pharaoh had. Associate greatness with what the Hebrew midwives did. And here's what they did. Point one they served the servants. I don't know if you've picked this up, but midwives in Hebrew culture were often barren women, and they were slaves to the slaves. They were servants to the servants. They were worthless. And God is again esteeming the weak and forgetting the proud.

If you want to go down in history, serve. If you want your name to be great, serve the disciples of Jesus came to Jesus and they're like Jesus, we want to be great. And Jesus doesn't say to them, like, I don't want that. He says, oh, you guys want to be great? Great. Here's how you should be great service.

Become the slave of the slaves. And this is what made these women great. No, this is this is so ironic. I love this, this is too good because the Pharaoh says, what? Kill the boys. The boys are a threat to me. But let the girls live. Who ends up taking down the Pharaoh? The girls. He overlooks them because they're so low.

He overlooks them and they overthrow him. Let the girls live. They matter. Not to me. Okay? You're going to pay for that. No midwives. No Moses, no! Mary, no! Jesus. Serve even the servants. Be a slave to the slaves. If you want to be great. Number two, be as shrewder than the snake, and as innocent as does so.

This is a net again, an exhortation that Jesus gives his disciples. And he said, I want you to be a shrewd as snakes, but I also want you to be as innocent as doves. And it's motivated by what Jesus says right before it. He says, I'm sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves. So the apostles are about to enter a very, very dangerous situation.

And Jesus is essentially saying, keep your head on a swivel. You're going to be a defenseless animal amidst predators. So there's this proper combination that Jesus calls us to of innocence and simplicity, but also prudence. And I think we know what this looks like. It's an awareness of our circumstances and the danger. Being innocent as doves and as shrewd as snakes, means that the disciples should avoid unnecessary provocation of opponents because they're defenseless against them.

Romans 1619 says, I want you to be wise. And what is good and guileless and what is evil. So I want you to go into these very complicated circumstances, and I want you to maintain your innocence. And we all know that's really difficult, is it not to be sort of drawn off sides? I love this. So the king of Egypt called the midwives, and he said to them, why have you done this?

Why are you letting the male children live in? The midwives said to Pharaoh, oh man. Well, hey, it's crazy. The Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women, for they're vigorous and they give birth before the midwife comes. I don't know.

So good. Bad. That's the most backhanded like. I don't know what to tell you, Pharaoh. When I was reading this, I was thinking I bought my first pair of red wing boots, probably like five years ago, and I was all pumped and I went into the Red wing store, which is like actually a shoe store. You still get your like foot sized and someone helps you.

You don't have to go on a screen, you know what I mean? So this lady, she's awesome. She's she's getting me sized up for boots. I'm like so pumped. I feel like, oh, man, this looks like I do something more than read books. And I walk out and I wear the red wings for like three days, and I'm like, dude, these are rough.

These are so uncomfortable. I must be missing some sort of, like, insole. Like she must have sold me, without the insoles. It's just so hard. So I went back in and I was like, hey, these are hurting my feet. And she. She said to me, this is the one of the greatest days of my life. She looks at me and she goes, oh, honey, I don't know how to tell you this, but they've been making those boots the same way for 100 years, and men were just a little tougher back then.

And.

I was like, I started laughing. I was like, I thank you so much for saying that to me.

I even know that deep down in my spirit. And that's the most truthful thing anyone's ever said to me. And I marched out with my book, my boots, and I was like, oh, that was awesome. This is what they say. Oh, Pharaoh, I don't know what to tell you. It's just that your women are kind of soft.

If you want to be great, practice civil disobedience for the sake of others. Some of you might be reading this and thinking, does this mean I get to lie on my taxes? Does this mean I get to tell the DMV that I bought the car for $500? Is that what the Bible is giving me permission to do? And the answer is no, because they were practicing civil disobedience, not for selfish gain, but for the sake of others.

So, does this mean I can sacrifice my life for others? Yes. Does this mean that you can house Jews in Nazi Germany and face death? You sure can. But you can't tell the DMV that you bought a car for 500 bucks. That's not the permission that's being granted here. You benefiting from your civil disobedience is a little bit shy, I think, when the scriptures call us to civil disobedience.

So if you have something to personally gain from lying, please don't call it civil disobedience. Number four, if you want to be great, live in the fear of the Lord. The midwives that says they did what they did, not to stick it to the man or to hear me roar. They did what they did because they feared the Lord most.

They feared God more than the Pharaoh, and it produces a sort of fearlessness in their lives because they know ultimately they're in the hands of their God. So here's how the fear of the Lord produces in us a reverence. That reverence produces obedience, that obedience produces faithfulness, that faithfulness is rewarded. In the end, the fear of man or the fear of Pharaoh will produce in you a sort of reverence towards the man.

And then a disobedience, a compromise, and then punishment in the end. So they have a fear of the Lord, and it's producing in them a fearlessness. This is not hear me roar. This is the fear of the Lord in their lives. The fear of the Lord, it says in Scripture is clean and it's pure. It's different than other fears because it produces a fearlessness.

I don't know if you guys have discovered this as you've followed your fears, but fears are incredible. Faith reveals your fears will reveal what you've placed your faith in. So when you have, an inordinate amount of fear towards your family and what's going to happen to your family, what you can find if you dig there is that you've put a lot of faith in your family to fulfill you.

When there's a lot of fear around money, what you'll find when you dig around is a lot of hope, a lot of trust, a lot of faith in money to bring you through and to save you. What you'll find is some sort of a savior. If you follow your fears. And I would encourage you to do that because the person who fears the Lord has nothing left to fear.

And if you want to be great, fear the Lord. Fear the Lord. If you want to be great, get yourself a partner in crime, someone who can go with you. I love this that ship run pure. Got to stand before that cobra together. And this is the kindness of God when he calls you to put your neck on the line, you usually have one good friend you get to do it with.

Get yourself a partner in crime. Moses would have to go stand before this same guy and go, hey, can I go with Aaron? Could somebody go with me? And God and his kindness will give you and send you to by to number six. If you want to be a hero, you want your name to go down in history.

Don't buy into if then thinking. They didn't believe the lie. These women didn't believe the lie that they had to have certain things in order to have an impact. They didn't have to have a family in order to serve families and to be a mother to the tribe. I love this there potentially as barren women standing in delivering babies, and it says that God was so pleased with them that he gave them families of their own.

So they weren't even in ancient times believing the lie that you had to have a family in order to have an impact, they got on with it. And this isn't just for barren women or for single women. This for all of us. When I have a husband, then, then I'll do this when I'm married, then. Then I'll stop the pornography when I make over 100 AK.

Then. Then I'll give when I know all the answers. Then. Then I'll share my faith when I have time. Then. Then I'll serve. When I don't have small kids. Then. Then I'll open my home and be hospitable. Then when or when then. Thinking is not a way to greatness. It's a way to paralysis and to just keep punting.

What will make you great? You won't either. Like that's the thing. Once you make 100 K, you won't start giving. That's what the statistics show anyway. Sorry. Last thing, worship team, would you guys come the last thing that they did. And if you want to be great do this suffer well. It's what separates the men from the boys.

It's what separates the women from the girls. Suffer well, those that have greatness, the you aspire to be like, I guarantee it. They suffered well. And instead of getting better, they got better, right? They let it make them, not break them. This is what happened. They changed their frame on suffering and these women suffered well. Can I remind you that these women are going to be a part of putting Moses in a basket, and Moses won't come back to deliver them for 80 years?

This looks like the beginning of the end. And it is, but it's going to take 80 years for them to be delivered from Egyptian rule. These women are fearing the Lord, and they're 80 years out. You know what the first thing to go is? When we're suffering the fear of the Lord. Because I'm not going to do my part of the bargain.

God, if you're not going to do yours, and if you're going to be absent and you're not going to be present and you're not going to deliver us and you're not going to do anything for me, then don't expect me to do anything for you. Here's these women, centuries into suffering, still possessing the fear of the Lord and obedience, reverent obedience, even when they feel forgotten.

Is that you? Or when you feel forgotten? Do you forget what God's invited you to do? Would you stand with me?

We're going to come to the table, and I'm going to ask Danny to bring us to the place of response.

Thanks, Trav, for that encouragement today. I, I was thinking of that statement he began with where he said that God invites us into hard things, embracing those seven ways of.

Living like a Hebrew midwife are hard things. And as we come to the table, this morning that's been prepared for us, know that Jesus went before us into the heart of things first. And I was reminded in Hebrews where it said that for the joy set before him, he endured the cross and what Jesus calls hard, he also calls joy.

For the joy set before him, for the for the joy before us, these hard things that were called to we can embrace them because we have a Savior that embrace them. And we want to come to the table with that in mind this morning that he went before us, and he's given us the gift to remind us that we can do it as well.

And finally, there's going to be a prayer team up here, waiting to pray with you as you respond. And a couple of words that came this morning I just wanted to invite you to respond to is number one. There was an image of an ox carrying a heavy load, and the word that came with that image was that, that that load is an offloading of our stuff onto that ox there.

Christ wants to remove the load from us and take it on him, on his back. And if you're carrying something this morning, the invitation is that it's time to remove it off your back. And give it to him.

The second image that came was that the paralytic and how, his friends brought him to Jesus to be miraculously healed, in Jesus words, was, pick up your mat and go home. And this morning could be a moment where you decide to pick up your mat specifically to anxiety and depression and go home healed and whole. And those are the two kind of images that came.

And I just want to be sensitive to those that if those are you, then there's going to be a prayer team, ready to pray with you. So, let's prepare our hearts and let's come with a posture of unloading what we carry on to him. Seeing that life that he has ahead of us with joy. Would you come?