God's Fireworks On Display

God’s Fireworks on Display

Exodus 7-11

July 4, 1999

How many of you watched some fireworks last night? We went over to Lamar

and watched their show, they had a huge crowd come out and they put on a pretty good

show. To be honest, I was surprized by how many had come out, they had come from all

over, we parked on the street and just sat by our van because it was so full, plus we had a

good veiw anyway.

What is it that you like about fireworks anyway? Why so much interest? The

power, the colors, the holiday excitement,........

I like the firepower, the ones that go real high and bang real loud.

The reason for all our Celebration is of coarse our freedom, we were once under

the rule of a King, and we were not free to worship as we pleased, we were burdened with

heavy taxes which is a form of slavery, our lives were restricted. Of coarse, if you payed

attention in your history class, the revolution was started by some great hero’s, many of

them Christian men who gave their lives for thier right to be free. You know, we hear

about revolutions today, and we think of some crazy group who has been in the woods

too long, but we should realize that we are afforded our freedoms today because of people

who were willing to go against the norm, and stand up for thier freedoms.

I’m not going to get political on you today, but I would challenge you to not take

for granted the freedoms you have, and be alert to what is going on around you, so we, or

our children are not faced with the same tyranny that our forefathers fought to overcome.

It just so happens that today we have come to the point in our journey with Moses

and the Isrealites, who are being help captive, we are to the point where God

demonstrates his ability to put on a HUGE firework display, in fact it was bigger and

better than anything you have seen, ever.

This week I’m asking you to read chapters 7-11, so you can pick up on all the

details of what is going on in this story, if you’ve never read it, it’s really amazing how

stubborn this Pharaoh really is.

This morning I’m going to briefly tell you about each plague, but more importantly

this morning, I believe God would have you notice more than just the fireworks today.

What God does in these chapters is just amazing, in fact, you can almost see some humor

in it since it’s not you living in downtown Egypt, God picks the most annoying animals he

ever created, and sent them in droves to the Egyptians as a plague. I thought about each

plague if it were to happen today, you would have found me in a rubber room after the

gnats came, Do You Know What I Mean?

But hear me today, it’s more than the fireworks, it’s more than the annoying

plagues that will be sent. God wants you and me to see, to understand what a stubborn,

what a hardened heart will cost you in life. There’s nothing more damaging in life than a

rebellious heart, it will cost you everything you ever thought was valuable.

In chapter seven Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh, and interestingly enough, it

tells us their age, as to say, See, God will still use you when you reach the Golden Years.

It says Moses was 80 years old, and Aaron was 83 when they first went to speak to

Pharoah, they probably felt alot older by the time this was all over.

The Plague of Blood---- The Nile is the mainstay, it’s what keeps Egypt from becoming

like the Saheara desert, it seems significant that God would strike the nile first.

What’s more amazing is the reaction of Pharoah, his magicians were able to

duplicate this feat, but they were unable to make the blood go away, and God allowed it

to stay for seven days. Pharoah, in his stubborn and rebellious heart must have felt that

the power of Yahweh could not possibly be stronger than his own.

Now we shouldn’t be so surprized I guess, most of us at some point in our life,

maybe before we really knew God, some of us even after we knew him and his power,

most of us have had those times where we have “turned our back, shrugged our shoulders,

and walked away going to do what we wanted to do no matter what we knew God

wanted us to do.” Friends, if you know God has made clear to you what you need to do,

or maybe say, or stop doing, whatever it might be, be obedient, don’t allow your heart to