Life Groups // Fall 2023 // Week 4
Posted September 29, 2023 — Lincoln Berean
Don’t Forget Your Staff // Exodus 4:1-31
Introduction
Exodus 4 continues the dialogue between Moses and God that began in chapter 3. As Moses poses one excuse after another, God engages Him with proof of His power to deliver the Hebrew people. In this exchange we come to learn more about our God who sees, hears, and responds to each of us.
To think through the main ideas in the sermon and prepare for your discussion together, we invite you to look over all the questions on the following pages and write your thoughts down before you meet with your group. Due to preferences over a wide range of groups, we do not expect you will cover every question each week.
Warm Up (Suggested time: 30 min)
1) What’s the most recent project or idea to which you gave 100% effort? Share some results or take-aways you learned.
2) If you could summarize the past week in one word, what would that be? Share a bit more about your answer if you’d like.
Getting Started
1) Open group discussion with prayer. Here are a few potential prayer items:
a. For the Spirit of God to lead you in truth
b. For the fruit of the Spirit to be cultivated in your lives
c. For grace to hear and apply what the Spirit says to you
2) Choose someone to read the passage aloud for the group.
Study Questions (Suggested time: 40 min)
1) Exodus 4 continues the conversation that God initiates with Moses from a burning bush. What did you learn about God in this dialogue? What did you learn about Moses?
2) In Exodus 4:1-9, God encourages Moses to lead by showing His power through signs. What is Moses’ response in verse 10?
Read God’s reply in verses 11-12. Notice that Moses says, “I am …” (to rebut his qualifications) and God says, “I will”. What does this teach us about our adequacy to fulfill God’s calling?
If you are willing, share about a time when have you felt inadequate for a task or role God encouraged you to step into. (Did you argue with God? Were you met with failure? Did it strengthen your faith?)
3) We’re told in Exodus 4:14-17 that “the anger of the LORD burned against Moses”. What caused the LORD’s anger with Moses?
As Moses walked away from the burning bush and the LORD’S burning anger, consider what he might have felt about God’s call to deliver the Hebrew people from Pharoah/Egypt. What do you think God was teaching Him through this encounter?
4) Even before Moses approaches Pharaoh, God says that he will “harden [Pharaoh’s] heart, so that he will not let the people go” (4:21). How did Pastor Bryan explain what this passage means? What can we learn about how God interacts with people from this example?
5) Exodus 4:24–26 can be a confusing passage because our modern practices are different from the way circumcision was viewed in ancient times. Read Genesis 17:9-14 for context related to circumcision and the covenant of God. What does this teach us about the weight of leadership upon those whom God calls to lead?
Personal Spiritual Exercises
Just like physical exercises help strengthen and stretch our bodies for healthy living, these spiritual exercises are meant to move us spiritually in ways that may be new so we might experience inner growth. Since God longs for us to experience Him with our whole selves—mind, body, spirit—we invite you along each week to strengthen your souls with suggestions and prompts. Next week in Life Group, take a few moments to share how the Lord may have used this exercise in your life.
Scripture Focus: We all struggle with feelings of inadequacy at some point. Scripture reminds us that God is more than adequate to meet the challenges before us; we are simply to entrust ourselves to Him. Read 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 as a strong reminder that your adequacy is in Christ alone.
Prayer Focus: Listening to God. Prayer isn’t a one-way expression on our part but also a time for us to listen. We won’t likely hear God call to us from a burning bush as Moses did, but we can take time to be silent before God at regular intervals, like first thing each morning or at the end of each day. Choose one of those times and set a reminder to pause daily this week. Simply pray, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
Plan to spend 5-10 minutes actively listening to God. You may find yourself distracted during this time. That’s okay, just release the thoughts back to God and pray again, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” The point is to practice turning your attention to God. Every time you get distracted is an opportunity to turn your attention back to God.
Prayer (Suggested time: 20 min)
A significant part of “coming together” is being open and honest with our lives. Sitting in a group of people for prayer may be new or it may be familiar to you. If you would rather not pray aloud when it is your turn, feel free to pray silently and then say “Amen” aloud signaling the next person in the group to pray. Whether or not you choose to verbalize your prayer, everyone is a participant in sharing this time before God together.
Take a few moments to prepare a prayer request. What did the message, working through the above questions or the discussion cause you to notice about your own relationship with Jesus? Would you be willing to share your prayer request with the group?