God Freed His People from Slavery
Read study #30, Patriarchs in Genesis, before doing this study. Those who teach children should read studies #30 and #31.
1. Prepare with prayer and God’s Word to teach about the Exodus.
Prayer. “Dear Lord, give us the courage, faith and obedience that Moses had, when you used him to free your people from Egypt’s king Pharaoh and his army. We trust you to do great miracles also today, to bring nations into your Kingdom, heal and transform lives in the Name of Jesus.”
Find in Exodus chapter 1 why a bad king tried to kill baby boys. What similar events followed Jesus’ birth (Matthew 2:13-16)?
Find in Exodus 2:1-10 who saved baby Moses.
Find in Exodus 2:11-15 why Moses later fled to Midian and what happened to him there.
Find in Exodus chapter 3 what God told Moses to do, speaking from a flaming bush.
Find in Exodus chapter
5 the conflict between Moses and king Pharaoh, and
between Moses and
his own people.
Find in Exodus chapters 6–11 ten plagues that God sent to force Egypt’s king to free God’s people, and how the last plague was the worst of all.
Find in Exodus chapter 12 what feast God established, and why God’s people painted blood on their door posts.
Find in Matthew 16:17-28 what feast Jesus was celebrating when He established the Lord’s Supper.
Find in Exodus chapter 14 how God’s people escaped from Egypt’s army.
The greatest Old Testament miracle was God’s making a path for the Israelites through the Red Sea, to escape death. God based His Old Covenant with Israel on this great event, which happened about 1,500 years before Christ was born.
God’s people left the Nile River delta in Egypt, crossed the Red Sea and trod to Mount Sinai, where God gave Moses their ancient Law. Some traditions put Mount Sinai at site #1 but archaeologists have found discarded pottery and jewellery at site # 2, indicating an ancient camp of many people.
See the Israelites’ route from Egypt on the map below.
Find in Exodus chapter 16 why people complained and what two things God gave them to eat.
Find in Exodus chapter 17:1-13:
· Why people complained again and what God provided for them.
· Why Aaron and Hur had to hold up Moses’ arms.
Find in Exodus chapter 18 how Moses organized the people.
2. Plan with your co-workers their activities to do during the week.
· Start congregations and cells, by applying Jethro’s advice of naming capable shepherds.
· Train novice shepherds to teach this study from Exodus to their flocks.
· Ask these leaders to visit people who have needs or are sick, to counsel and pray for them.
3. Plan with your co-workers the next worship time.
Choose activities that fit the needs of the people.
Recount or act out some of the events you studied in part 1.
Explain why Jews painted their doorposts with blood. Explain how the Passover Feast corresponds to the Lord’s Supper.
Explain that the bad king Pharaoh is a biblical picture of Satan.
· Like Satan, Pharaoh had great power and kept people in slavery.
· Just as God freed the Israelites from Pharaoh and his great army, so Jesus frees people from Satan and his army of evil spirits.
· Pray for people who need Christ to free them from sin and spirits.
· Let the children present the things that they have prepared.
·
To introduce
the Lord’s Supper read Exodus 12:3 and
explain:
(1) Israelites ate a Lamb to celebrate the Passover feast.
(2) God’s angel passed over Egypt and slew the oldest child in each
house, but
spared the sons in homes where blood of the lamb was painted by the
door.
(3) Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
(4) Since Jesus came and died, the Lord’s Supper is our Passover Feast.
Let believers give testimonials of how the Lord’s Supper has helped them to remember and appreciate Jesus’ sacrificial death.
Form groups of two and three people to pray for one another and discuss how they can help other people to be freed from Satan’s slavery.
Let the men memorize Exodus 15:18-19, the women, verses 20-21