The People of God Reflect the Character of God Today we’re coming to the end of the section of rules and starting to come down Mount Sinai and set our eyes toward the Promised Land. The laws in Exodus 21-23 are specific examples of how the general principles of the Ten Commandments can be applied in everyday situations. They’re expositions of the T…

The Law in Local Churches The laws in chapters 21-23 are specific examples for how the general principles of the Ten Commandments can be applied in everyday situations. They’re expositions of the Ten Commandments. In 22:16-23:9, most of the laws are focused on how God’s people treat one another, what’s commonly called “social justice.” These laws s…

The Ten Commandments Applied Chapters 19-24 is the “Book of the Covenant” (24:7). This “Book” has a prologue (ch. 19) and epilogue (ch. 24). In between, are the ten words (ch. 20) and the judgements (chs. 21-23), or the Ten Commandments and then several chapters of case law applying the commands to specific situations (“rules,” 21:1). The “words” a…

By John Sypert

The Book of the Covenant Exodus 19 begins one of the most important sections in the Bible. It’s when Israel arrives at Mount Sinai. Their stay at Mount Sinai is the heart of the Pentateuch.[1] Chapters 19-24 is the heart of the heart. Moses calls it the “Book of the Covenant” (24:7). This “Book” has a prologue (ch. 19) and epilogue (ch. 24). In bet…

A Shepherd is With His Sheep I want to start our study of Psalm 23 in Genesis with the story of Jacob. What does Psalm 23 have to do with Jacob? Long story short, because of poor decisions, Jacob is a fugitive on the run, sent away by his parents, and on a journey by himself into the unknown. But as he sets out on this journey, God meets him and te…

The Bible Tells One Story One reason it can be hard to read the Bible is because we don’t see how it all connects. It feels disjointed and confusing so we struggle to keep reading, especially the Old Testament. To get the most out of the Bible, we have to understand that it tells one story. If we only read one chapter out of a book, without reading…

By John Sypert

Knowing the One We Pray To I said last week that the psalms give us a language to guide our prayers, that the psalms help us pray. That’s true, but they also help us know the One we pray to, and they help us know how we know the One we pray to. How do we get to know someone? Through communication, both verbal and nonverbal. How can we know the One …

Pray the Psalms This week we’re beginning a six-week series through six psalms (18-23). We’ll pick back up in Exodus in August. Why study the psalms? To help our prayer life. Do you struggle to pray? Get in the psalms. Read them slowly and carefully and meditatively. Make them your prayers. The heat of summer can make us tired and lethargic. So can…

By John Sypert

By John Sypert

By John Sypert

The Book of the Covenant Exodus 19 begins one of the most important sections in the Bible. It’s when Israel arrives at Mount Sinai. Their stay at Mount Sinai is the heart of the Pentateuch.[1] Chapters 19-24 is the heart of the heart. Moses calls it the “Book of the Covenant” (24:7). This “Book” has a prologue (ch. 19) and epilogue (ch. 24). In bet…

Yahweh is Savior and Lord Last week we saw how grace is the basis of how God relates to his people. This wasn’t a new development when Jesus died on the cross. From the beginning, God loved his people simply because he loved them, not because of their performance. Yahweh made Israel his son (Ex. 4:22-23) before he gave them the law. He set them fre…

Does God Like You? Does God love you? Many of you don’t hesitate to answer “yes” to this question. But are we as sure of this as we seem to be? Kelly Kapic, in his book You’re Only Human, says that our automatic “yes” doesn’t always reflect our internal world and that underneath our quick responses we’re not so sure. He says that asking another que…

Theological Function of the Wilderness In our journey with Israel in the book of Exodus, we’re with them in the wilderness. They’ve been saved from death in Egypt by the blood of a spotless lamb and delivered from the floodwaters of judgment at the Red Sea and are following Moses into the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. We’ll arrive a…

By John Sypert

Worship Shapes Culture In Exodus 15, we find the first song in the Bible. It’s a song that informs the book of Psalms because it sets up the biblical pattern for singing, namely, God acts and God’s people respond with praise. Songs are responses to stories. This isn’t unique to the Bible. Every culture has events that lead to celebrations and memor…

Recap of Exodus 11-13 In our study of Exodus, we come today to chapter 14. God has decimated Egypt with the ten plagues, culminating in the death of the firstborn and the Passover. Every house in Egypt, including the Israelite houses, were subject to the judgment of God if they weren’t covered by the blood of a spotless lamb. Those covered by the b…

By John Sypert

Remembering is about Hope Where does hope come from? The Bible says that remembering God is what brings us back to hope and hope back to us. Lamentations 3:21-24 , “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness…

What is Church About? We all come to church for various reasons. Kids come because they have to. Grown-ups come because they want to. Why we want to varies from person to person, and from Sunday to Sunday. I am so glad each of you is here! You are each made in the image of God and loved by Jesus, and by this church. But I want you to consider why y…

The First Passover Last Sunday, we looked at the announcement of the tenth plague and the instructions for the Passover in Exodus 12. The tenth plague would be the death of the firstborn in any home not covered by the blood of a spotless Lamb. The plague would come upon Egypt and Israel because the Israelites weren’t any better than the Egyptians. …

“Something Will Have Your Heart” As we’ve been studying the opening chapters of Exodus, we’ve seen Pharaoh stubbornly refuse to let go of his idols, his false gods of power and wealth. Why did he refuse to let the people of Israel go, especially after the first nine plagues? Why didn’t he submit to God when he saw the power of God all around him? F…

Who’s in Charge? Do you ever think that things are out of control in the world? Listening to the news can lead us to think, “Who’s in charge around here?” Who’s in charge of the nations, politics, money, social media, natural disasters, disease, and death? We wonder, “Is there anyone at the wheel? When we come to the Bible, we learn that the Lord i…

Where Do You Go When You Fail? Have you ever had any setbacks or disappointments in your job, your relationships, your friendships, your education, your ministry? Maybe something happened that wasn’t your fault, or maybe it was your fault. Have you ever felt like you let the Lord down? What did you do? Where did you go with your failure, or when yo…

By John Sypert

The Author Writes Himself In When Russian cosmonauts first entered space, they came back and said they didn’t find God there. C. S. Lewis pointed out how silly this way of thinking was. He said if there’s a God and he wanted to be known he would have to write himself into the story of the world, just as the only way Hamlet can know Shakespeare is i…

An Unlikely Deliverer Last week we began studying Exodus 3. I said that the end of chapter 2 is Moses’s way of saying, “God is fully aware of what’s happening to his people and he’s about to act.” Or as C. S. Lewis would say in The Chronicles of Narnia, “Aslan is on the move!” In chapter 3, God takes center stage and starts to reveal his plan to sa…