The Town

The gospel change is the heart of the Christian. That heart change will overflow with external signs of health and vitality. It will produce singing, sustenance, and sending in believers and local churches.

Repentance requires more than a true zeal to be delivered from your circumstances, or even a passing knowledge about God and his power...it requires a steadfast heart that is faithful to God's covenant. This can only come by being given a new heart (Ezek. 36:26-27). This new heart is able to receive God and all his benefits without contempt. Only then will we understand everything that God has done (and will do) for us; that he is sovereign and able, that we can quickly run to him in our time of need, that there are ongoing consequences to our sin that he wants us to learn from, and that our salvation is secured.

In this passage, God teaches us about the office of a prophet. A prophet must proclaim the word of God. Aaron plays the part of a prophet in front of Pharaoh and prepares us for the prophetic ministry of Jesus.

What do you do when redemption doesn't go the way you expected? Are you tempted to throw up your hands and say "This just isn't what I signed up for?" For Israel, and often for our own redemption, things got harder before they got easier. Redemption wasn't going like they thought it would. But in this trying time, we must remember that Jesus is enough; his redemption will come, albeit in his way, according to his Word, at his time, and for his own glory!

God had called Moses to be the deliverer of his people and he had promised that his Holy presence would go with him. But God doesn't stop there. Along the way, he prepares Moses, his brother Aaron, and the Israelites themselves for the work at hand. God is gracious in equipping the called. And he continues to do this in the church today through sanctification, corporate ordinances, Christian partnership, and opportunities to exercise our faith. The kingdom of God is advanced when his church embraces its role to move forward faithfully in all the means that God has appointed.