Caught in the Middle of Things

I began our new series, “The Name,” this weekend at Eastbrook Church. This series explores Moses’ encounter with the Living God at the burning bush in Exodus 3 and 4. My message today focused on the fact that God meets with us even in the wilderness places of our lives, and came from Exodus 2:23-3:3:

²³ During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.²⁴ God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. ²⁵ So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

3:1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.  ³ So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

You can listen to my message, “Caught in the Middle of Things,” at the Eastbrook web-site here. You can also follow the RSS feed for Eastbrook sermons or follow Eastbrook Church on Twitter or Facebook.

The message outline from the bulletin is included below. I must confess that I didn’t stick to that outline too strictly today.

Coming to Grips with Our Circumstances – 3 Features

1. Past History
2. Change
3. Present Realities

Attending to God in Our Circumstances – 3 Barriers

1. Believing our circumstances are bigger than God
2. Believe that God has no plan
3. Believing that God is done with us

Learning to Turn to God in Our Circumstances – 3 Practices

1. Groaning and crying out
2. Turning aside
3. Choosing to see