1. Moses finally obeyed God and started his journey to Egypt (Exodus 4:18-28)

   1. Before leaving, God told Moses that the Egyptians who wanted to kill him 40 years ago had all died out.

   2. This must have helped eliminate any fears he would have had in returning to Egypt.

   3. He met Aaron along the way to Egypt.

2.  After arriving in Egypt, Moses was blessed to perform the miracles God told him to do in front of the children of Israel and revealed God’s plan to deliver them from slavery (Exodus 4:29-31).

   1. They believed that God would free them and give them the land of Canaan just as He said.

3. In the next Bible scene, we see Moses and Aaron standing in front of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, just as God instructed them to do (Exodus 5:1-21).

   1. The interesting part about this scene is that Moses and Aaron did not even ask for the children of Israel to be released from slavery.

   2. Instead, they asked if the children of Israel could have a holiday of three days to go and make a sacrifice in the wilderness to God.

   3. Unfortunately, Pharaoh accused them of being lazy and ordered that the straw to make their bricks would be taken away.

   4. This means they would have to work harder to make their bricks for Pharaoh.

   5. Unfortunately, they could not keep up with the number of bricks Pharaoh wanted and their Hebrew supervisors were beat for not bringing in the amount of bricks Pharaoh wanted!

   6. So, the Hebrew people were angry with Moses and Aaron, because their lives got harder instead of better.

   7. What do we learn from this incident?

      1. We learn that just because things get harder for us after we ask God for a blessing does not mean God is not going to grant our request.

      2. Sometimes, we have to go through a little more hardship before the blessing comes.

      3. So, don’t get discouraged.

      4. God knows what He is doing.

      5. Trust in Him or He will not give you anything at all (James 1:5-8).

4. In the next Bible scene, we see Moses’ discouragement, because Pharaoh would not let the children of Israel go into the wilderness as he requested (Exodus 5:22-6:10).

   1. Moses took the matter to God by saying, “22…Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? 23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all” (Exodus 5:22-23 New International Version).

      1. Moses did the right thing in taking his worries to God in prayer.

      2. We are to always take our concerns to Him, because this is how God calms us down and strengthens us to continue on with the mission that He gave us to do (Philippians 4:6-7; Ephesians 3:16).

   2. God repeated His promise to Moses.

      1. He said, “1… Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country….2… I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord…” (Exodus 6:1-8 New International Version).

         1. God was nice enough to repeat Himself, when He did not have to.

         2. This makes us as Christians always reassure ourselves with the promises of God.

         3. When we get discouraged, we should let God repeat His promises to us through our restudying the Scriptures.

         4. This will re-strengthen us to continue our mission of living the right type of life for God!

   3. Moses went back to the children of Israel and repeated the things God just told him (Exodus 6:9).

      1. Sadly, they did not believe that God was going to give them their freedom and the promised land of Canaan like they did at first.

   4. After this sad event, God told Moses to go back to Pharaoh and demand he let the children of Israel go (Exodus 6:10).

      1. Unfortunately, Moses did not believe Pharaoh would let them go, but followed God’s commandment to go see Pharaoh anyway.

5. God talked to Moses again and told him, “1…See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. 2 You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, 4 he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. 5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it” (Exodus 7:1-5 New International Version).

   1. Notice, God wanted Moses and Aaron to go back to Pharaoh and demand he let the children of Israel go.

      1. God forewarned Moses and Aaron that Pharaoh would refuse to do so even though He was going to perform many miracles right in front of Pharaoh’s face!

      2. However, God let Moses and Aaron know that He would personally intervene and force Egypt to let them go!

         1. He would send many miracles as judgment on Egypt to make them release the children of Israel.

         2. God would soon severely punish Egypt with many plagues for not obeying His command to let the children of Israel go!

      3. Always know that there is no enemy too powerful for God.

         1. He can make anything happen (Luke 1:37).

         2. No one can stop Him; not even the most powerful king on the planet at the time, which was Pharaoh!

      4. Also know that God will punish those who purposely rebel against Him.

         1. This is why it is really important to repent (i.e. change our ways), confess our fault to God, and ask Him for forgiveness when Christians have done something wrong ourselves (Acts 8:22; 1 John 1:7-10).

         2. He will give us second chances if we change.

         3. However and sadly, Pharaoh will be too stubborn to be forgiven.

6. Moses and Aaron went back to Pharaoh as God commanded (Exodus 7:6-24).

   1. The Bible says that Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83 years old.

   2. Moses and Aaron performed their first miracle in front of Pharaoh (Exodus 7:8-13).

      1. Aaron threw his staff down and it turned to a snake.

      2. However, Pharaoh’s magicians did the same thing and their staffs also turned into snakes.

      3. God’s miracle was far superior, because Aaron’s snake ate the other snakes!

      4. Unfortunately, Pharaoh still would not release the children of Israel!

   3. After praying to God, God told Moses to have Aaron use his staff to turn the water of the Nile River into blood in the sight of Pharaoh (Exodus 7:14-42).

      1. Not only would the Nile River turn to blood, but the water the Egyptians had in their homes would turn to blood too.

      2. Aaron did as Moses commanded him and the water of the Nile River and the water in the homes of the Egyptians turned into blood just as God said.

      3. However, just like the snake miracle, Pharaoh’s magicians found a way to imitate the turning of water into blood just like Aaron did.

      4. As a result, Pharaoh did not let the children of Israel go.

7. After these things, God sent Moses and Aaron back and told them to tell Pharaoh that if he did not release the children of Israel, He would send a plague of frogs upon Egypt (Exodus 8:1-13).

   1. Pharaoh did not listen so the Lord did as He said.

      1. He sent frogs throughout the land of Egypt.

         1. They were everywhere.

         2. They were all over the land.

         3. They were in the houses of the Egyptian people.

         4. They were even hopping on the people!

         5. They became so annoying that Pharaoh asked Moses and Aaron to pray to God to take them away!

            1. Pharaoh said he would release the children of Israel if they would pray the frogs away!

      2. Moses prayed to the Lord and He killed the frogs in the land.

         1. Dead frogs were piled up everywhere and they stunk something awful!

      3. Unfortunately, Pharaoh refused to let them go!

         1. He lied to Moses and Aaron!

8. God performed another miracle right in front of Pharaoh’s eyes (Exodus 8:14-19).

   1. Through Moses, God told Aaron to take his staff and strike the dust of the ground.

      1. Miraculously, the dust of the ground turned into swarms of gnats!

      2. The gnats were so bad that they began to cover the people and the animals.

      3. Not even Pharaoh’s magicians could imitate this miracle.

      4. The magicians said, “This is the finger of God” (Exodus 8:19 New International Version).

         1. Even they could see that God was at work.

      5. However, Moses was still hardened in his heart and refused to let the children of Israel go!

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