Salvogesis

'Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial' In 2014 Susan, the kids and I went down to Montana. We saw Pompey’s Pillar. Do you know what that is? You know Lewis and Clark – the 2nd or 3rd explorers to travel across North America to the Pacific Coast; Mackenzie was first and Thompson may have been second. Lewis and Clark, we’ve heard of them, right? We saw a rock that Clark famously signed in the 19th Century as he was traveling through. It was really quite interesting. We also saw the Little Bighorn. We are all familiar with the Battle of the Little Bighorn right? That is where the Sioux had their last successful resistance to American conquest and US General Custer famously had his last stand. As we were leaving that area, we stopped by the gift store and Rebecca showed me this bumper sticker: Our adventure was quite an enjoyable time – at least in the daytime. The nights were an entirely different story. As Susan mentioned last week to those of you

The Plague on the Firstborn And finally this will bring us to our last Plague Pop: The Plague Pop of Death. Reading from Exodus: 11:1-8: Now the   Lord   had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go   from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. 4  So Moses said, “This is what the   Lord   says: ‘About midnight   I will go throughout Egypt.   5  Every firstborn   son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill,   and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.   6  There will be loud wailing   throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.   7  But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the   Lord   makes a distinction   between Egypt and Israel.   8  All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and sayi

This series makes up a sermon written and presented by Sarah-Grace Ramsay when she 12 years of age.  This leads us to the Plague Pop of Darkness. Reading from Exodus: 10:21-23, 27-29: 21  Then the   Lord   said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness   spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.”   22  So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness   covered all Egypt for three days.   23  No one  could  see  anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived. 27  But the   Lord   hardened Pharaoh’s heart,   and he was not willing to let them go.   28  Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my  sight!  Make sure you  do not  appear  before me again! The day you see my face you will die.” 29  “Just as you say,” Moses replied. “I will never  appear   before you again.” There is something I find amusing about this plague…  The Bible says that it was so dark that no one

This will bring us to our next cake pop of Salvation: The Plague Pop of the Locusts. Reading from Exodus: 10:1-6: 10  Then the   Lord   said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart   and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs   of mine among them   2  that you may tell your children   and grandchildren how I dealt harshly   with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the   Lord .” 3  So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the   Lord , the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble   yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me.   4  If you refuse   to let them go, I will bring locusts   into your country tomorrow.   5  They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left   after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields. 6  They will fill your

And this brings us to the Cake Pop of the Hail Storm for God’s Salvation. Reading from Exodus: 9:13,14, 18-20: 13  Then the   Lord   said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the   Lord , the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship   me,   14  or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know   that there is no one like   me in all the earth… 18  Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm   that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now. 19  Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every person and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die.’” 20  Those officials of Pharaoh who feared   the word of the   Lord  hurried to bring their slaves and t

The 7 th  Cake Pop: the Plague Pop of Boils. Reading from Exodus 9:8-12: 8  Then the   Lord   said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh.   9  It will become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt, and festering boils   will break out on people and animals throughout the land.” 10  So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on people and animals.   11  The magicians   could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians.   12  But the  Lord   hardened Pharaoh’s heart   and he would not listen   to Moses and Aaron, just as the   Lord   had said to Moses. Something I have noticed about this plague is…  Note how this time the scripture says, "The  Lord  hardened Pharaoh's heart", but other times so far it said "Pharaoh hardened his heart" or "

Sometimes we are spared but not always... Our next Plague Cake Pop is the Plague Pop of the Dead Livestock. Reading from Exodus: 9:1-7: 9  Then the   Lord   said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the   Lord , the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may worship   me.”   2  If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back,   3  the hand   of the   Lord   will bring a terrible plague   on your livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys and camels and on your cattle, sheep and goats.   4  But the  Lord   will make a distinction  between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die.’” 5  The   Lord   set a time and said, “Tomorrow the   Lord   will do this in the land.”   6  And the next day the   Lord   did it: All the livestock   of the Egyptians died,   but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died.   7  Pharaoh investigated and found that not even one of

The 5 th  Cake Pop of Salvation: the Plague Pop of the Flies. Reading from Exodus: 8:20-21, 28,32: 20  Then the   Lord   said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning   and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘This is what the   Lord   says: Let my people go, so that they may worship   me. 21  If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them. 28  Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the   Lord   your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray   for me.” 32  But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart   and would not let the people go. Something I have noticed about this plague is…  In the summer we often see flies in our houses. When we see these flies we should always remember to keep our word just as Pharaoh should have kept his wo

The 4 th  Plague Pop of Salvation, the Cake Pop of the Gnats. Reading from Exodus: 8:16-19: 8  16  Then the   Lord   said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff   and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.”   17  They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats   came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats.   18  But when the magicians   tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere,   19  the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger   of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart   was hard and he would not listen,   just as the  Lord   had said. Something I have noticed about this plague is…   this time the magicians could not even pretend to do what God did. They couldn't make gnats. But, Pharaoh still didn't turn to God, like God wante

The 3rd Plague Pop for Salvation: The Cake Pop of the Frogs. Reading from Exodus 8:1-4,7,15: 8  1  Then the  Lord   said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the  Lord   says: Let my people go, so that they may worship   e.   2  If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs   on your whole country.   3  The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs, 4  The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’” 7  But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt. 15  … [Later] when Pharaoh saw that there was relief,   he hardened his heart   nd would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the  Lord   had said. Something I have noticed about this plague is…  Like with the Blood Cake Pop, the magicians could have

Our second plague cake pop to help us remember God’s Salvation is the Cake Pop of Blood . Reading from Exodus: 7:14-15, 20-22: 7  14  Then the   Lord   said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go.   15  Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile,   and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.   20  Moses and Aaron did just as the   Lord   had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood.   21  The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt. 22  But the Egyptian magicians   did the same things by their secret arts,   and Pharaoh’s heart   became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the   Lord   had said.   One question I had when I read about th