Salvogesis

Today we read in Genesis about the LORD reducing the size of Abraham’s entourage for harmony and we read in Judges about the LORD reducing Gideon’s numbers for mission. The passage in Judges comes near the end of a very difficult time. Some people – at least the tribe of Manasseh, probably the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali as well - and maybe even more or all of the Israelites have been under the control of the Midianites for 7 years.[1] And this was not the first time that they had been in dire straights, under the control of another and having everything that they had seen built, torn down bit by bit so that more and more of their people are fleeing and in hiding (cf. Judges 3-5). It is in this context that the people of Israel cry out to the LORD and, Judges 6:7-10: When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I r...

2 Corinthians 2 is an interesting chapter. Scholars like to guess as to the nature of the sin and/or event that transpired here and whether it is referred to elsewhere in scripture or not. We do know a few things from the immediate context. We know that someone in the church family has done something to cause some people some grief. We also know that most of the people who were affected directly or indirectly by whatever transpired took some action; referred to here as a 'punishment';[2] we know that if Paul was not directly involved in this whole mess that someone has brought it to his attention and Paul here is recommending to the grieving parties that indeed they should forgive the person who hurt them. He goes on to get as close as I think Scriptures gets to formalizing the 'forgive and forget' concept. Vs 10, he says, "if you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven - if there [even] was anything to forgive - I have forgiven them in the sig...

I met with the Bulldogs, the local hockey team the other week. As a kid, I remember going out to the arena to watch the Victoria Cougars with my dad - it was a big deal. As a kid the excitement is intense. The excitement is amazing when you go out to cheer for the home team. Years later, when I was working for the College (CPCI), I can remember the excitement of taking a number of our Japanese students to a couple of play-off games for the Mann Cup final of box lacrosse. I don’t know if anyone here knows anything about box lacrosse – but the Mann Cup is pretty important. I can remember that at first I didn’t really realize what a big deal the final series was – I thought that I could just get someone to swing by and get tickets for the final home and away series so I asked Susan to just go down and pick us up some tickets on her way to wherever she was going. Well there must have been five to six thousand people lined up (at least!) to try and get one of the remaining tickets. Susa...

'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...

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  app...

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 ...

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 fear...

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 P...