Jethro's Story Series

So today I am making a case again to each of you about how important it is to have godly father figures in your families lives! Listen to me father’s you matter to your children and to your grandchildren! Men you were created by God to invest into your children and grandchildren – God designed you to do this!

I shared these new and updated statistics and social research observations to remind all of us here today that - “Father's Matter” Spiritually connected Father’s and Grandfather’s make a difference in a person’s life know matter how young or old they are.

T.S. - So today I am going to highlight a father figure from the Bible to remind us of the importance of fathers and how they can make a difference in their children's lives, in the spiritual lives of their children and in your family’s lives.

Sermon: Jethro’s Story

Thesis: Jethro is a fatherly figure who made a difference in a young man’s life when he needed encouragement, guidance and spiritual direction. He was placed in the path of Moses when Moses was at his lowest point in life. Jethro embraced a young man on the run and helped him renew, refresh, refocus on his divine calling and He also helped him reconnect and be restored with God.

Scripture verses:

Exodus 2:15-22:

15When Pharaoh heard of this (Moses killing the Egyptian), he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. 16Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock. 18When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?” 19They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.” 20“And where is he?” he asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.” 21Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 22Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become an alien in a foreign land.”

Exodus 4:18-20:

18Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law (after the burning bush experience with God) and said to him, “Let me go back to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.” Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.” 19Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.”

20So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

Exodus 18:1-27:

1Now Jethro, the priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moses, heard of everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt. 2After Moses had sent away his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro received her 3and her two sons. One son was named Gershom, for Moses said, “I have become an alien in a foreign land”; 4and the other was named Eliezer, for he said, “My father’s God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.” 5Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ sons and wife, came to him in the desert, where he was camped near the mountain of God. 6Jethro had sent word to him, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.” 7So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. They greeted each other and then went into the tent. 8Moses told his father-in-law about everything the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the LORD had saved them. 9Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the LORD had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. 10He said, “Praise be to the LORD, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. 11Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly.” 12Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.