Welcome to South! We are happy you are worshipping with us today! These sermon notes are there for you to encourage you, and help you follow along with Pastor Scott's message. We are in a series entitled "Exodus: God's Presence and Glory," and we hope that you will be uplifted by all that you experience in our service today!

This Series

Our desire for this study has been that, as we grow in our understanding of the book of Exodus, we would also grow in our understanding of how amazing God is, and therefore want to live for His glory and share His glory with others.

God's Presence in the Book of Exodus so far:

The book opens up with God’s presence on display in the protection of the Israelites' baby boys from the abortion attempts by the Egyptians. Next we saw God’s presence on display when he met with Moses from a burning bush in order to call him to lead the people out of their enslavement to the Egyptians. That in turn led to God’s presence clearly being on display throughout the ten different plagues that he sent on Egypt in order to prove to everyone, Egyptians and Israelites alike, that he alone is Yahweh. After the plagues, and release of the Israelites from their enslavement, God put his presence on display by way of a pillar of fire at night and a pillar of cloud during the day - a presence that would continuously be on display for the guidance and protection of his people from that day forward. Finally, the Israelites saw God’s presence on full display when he… parted the Red Sea, gave them water from a rock, and fed them with bread from heaven.

Promise without Presence

God was going to hold up his end of the bargain and give them the blessing of the land that He had promised them, but it would happen without His presence with them. The Israelites were distraught about this, and they mourned, and their hearts began to turn back to God. They displayed their mourning by not putting on their ornaments. These “ornaments” mentioned in the text refer to the costly items of jewelry and clothing that the Israelites brought out of Egypt from the Egyptians.

They were setting aside these items that tied them to their old life in Egypt and to the golden calf they had just been worshiping, and with a broken and contrite heart, they were turning back to God.

{The greatest blessing God can give any of us is not His promises fulfilled, but rather His presence abounding.}

After responding properly to the news of God’s promised land without His presence, Moses speaks with God on behalf of the Israelite people. In that conversation, starting in verse 12, we see him tell God that His presence was a greater blessing than the Promised Land because GOD’S PRESENCE IS WHAT GIVES CONFIDENCE TO MOVE FORWARD.