Well, hello and welcome to our broadcast. We call it plain and simple. We're trying to make it as plain and as simple as we possibly can. We're into the story of Moses in the book of Exodus. Have your Bible ready if you can. Well, we left off in our last broadcast, we were comparing Moses and Paul the Apostle. It's a very interesting study. Like Moses, we said, Paul will spend time in God's wilderness school. Like Moses, Paul will become an abomination in the eyes of those who were one time his friends. And like Moses, Paul will meet with God and get instructions concerning how things ought to be done. And like Moses, he will meet on the exact same mountain that Moses met on. And the Lord gave Moses instructions how he wanted things done during the Old Testament period. And he gave Paul instructions as to how he wanted things done in our local church age. Very quickly reviewing, we found that Paul, he went to Damascus looking to get Christians and have them imprisoned and even put to death. On the way into Damascus, he met the Lord. Then he had some instructions from Ananias as to what he should do. The Bible says he spent certain days at Damascus confounding the Jews and preaching in the synagogues. And as a result of that, they took counsel to kill him. We read in verse number 25 that the disciples took him by night, led him down by the wall in a basket. He went to Arabia and then back to Damascus. As he said, I want to read it again in Galatians 1.17, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me. but I went unto Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus." Now it tells us in Galatians 1 and 18 that he was three years in Damascus, and then he went up to Jerusalem. He said it there in Galatians 1 18, then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him 15 days. Well, they were all afraid of Paul because he had been killing Christians before. Anyway, we find in Acts chapter 9, 26 and 27 that Barnabas took them and introduced them and said, you don't need to worry about him. Well, in Acts chapter 9, rather in verse 28, it says, and he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem. And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed with the Grecians. But they went about to slay him. Now there was never any middle ground with Paul. You either loved him or you hated him. Well, we find then that he went back to Tarsus because his life was in danger. It says the believers brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus. Now we do not know how long he spent in Tarsus. The next thing we hear about him is in Acts chapter 11 verse number 25 where we read, Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek for Saul. Now, again, we want to mention that when Paul left Damascus at the beginning here, he traveled to the same mountain where Moses had received instructions for the dispensation of the law. In Galatians 1, verse 11, we read that Paul said, But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." That is, Jesus met with Paul on that same mountain where he had previously met with Moses and gave him instructions. He said, I wasn't taught by men. I received what I received. from Jesus Christ himself. Galatians chapter 1 verse 11 and 12. How long he was alone with God then in Arabia is uncertain. Paul said in Galatians 1 and 17, I went on to Arabia and returned again in Damascus. Perhaps like Moses it was 40 days on that mountain. receiving instructions. We don't know for sure. Well, Paul said again, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Then he continued in verse 17, saying, neither went I up to Jerusalem, to them which were apostles before me but i went into arabia and returned again to damascus now the bible says the secret things concerning uh the local church age were revealed to paul secret things it says in deuteronomy 29 and 29 the secret things belong to the Lord our God. And Paul met with Christ and learned one of God's secrets. In Galatians chapter 1, again, he said it was revealed to him by the revelation of Jesus Christ. In Colossians 1, 25, Paul said, I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery which had been hid from ages and from generations." In Ephesians 3, Paul referred to what he had learned as the mystery which was from the beginning of the world had been hid God in Romans 16 and 25 Paul referred to it as my gospel which was kept secret since the world began and so Paul got some some instructions that nobody knew about that had to do with the local church age now some very interesting observations one Paul went to the same mountain that Moses went to for a very special meeting with Christ. Two, Moses received information concerning how God wanted things done under the law. Three, Paul received information concerning how God wanted things done in the local church age. Four, the information Paul received had been hid. It had been hid. It was a mystery from the beginning of the foundation of the world, the Bible says. It was hid in God. And finally, Paul spent the rest of his life establishing local churches and writing the books of the Bible that are designed to tell us how to establish and how to operate local churches. Now, in Exodus chapter three, let's go back there. We're going to find out the first thing that happens here with Moses is a communication from God Exodus chapter 3 and verse number 2 it says and the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush and And he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses, and he said, here am I. So we have, first of all, a communication. Second, we have a focus on the creator. Moses needed to realize who he was dealing with. He said in verse five, draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereupon thou standest is holy ground. The next thing God focuses on in this portion of the scripture is the covenant. He says in verse 6, Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God. God had made a covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, and God was about to bring this to a reality, and he was going to use Moses to do it the next focus we have here is the compassion it says the lord said i have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their task masters for i know their sorrows and i am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the egyptians and to bring them up out of the land into a good land and a large land unto a land flowing with milk and honey unto a place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hibbites, and the Jebusites." And so he says to Moses, we got some work to do here. And there was the challenge, it says now in verse 9, Now, therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me, and I have seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them." He said, now, I want you to behold the cry that I behold. I want you to see what I see. Then the command, verse 10, come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth my people. the children of Israel out of Egypt." Well, Moses had a comeback. He said unto God, who am I that I should go into Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? Now, I think that's good. I think he needed to, yeah, you know, it would have been terrible if he said, yeah, I'm your man. I've been waiting here for you, wondering when you're going to call me. No, Moses had learned in these 40 years in his God's training program, he had learned to be humble. Well, he says, I'll be your companion. The next thing we see here is the companion. He said, certainly, verse 12, certainly I will be with thee, and this will be a token unto thee that I have sent thee, when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. He said, now I will be with you. It doesn't get any better than that. It doesn't get any better than that. You've got the creator of the world with you. Things are going to be okay. Well, Moses is still concerned. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers has sent me unto you, they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say to them? And God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am has sent me unto you. And God said, moreover unto Moses, thus thou shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me unto you. This is my name forever. This is my memorial unto all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt, and I have said, I will bring you up out of the afflictions of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites. And it says in verse 18, They shall hearken to thy voice, And thou shalt come, and thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt. And ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us go, that we beseech thee three days journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Now in verse 19, God said, I am sure the king of Egypt will not let you go, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders. And I will do in the midst thereof. And after that, he will let you go. And he said, I will give this people favor in your sight. And he says, you're not going to go out empty. Verse 22 says, you're going to go out with jewels and silver and gold and raiment. And they are going to give you everything and tell you to leave. Then in chapter 4, he says, I'm going to give you three signs, it says here, that Moses still answered and said, verse 1, But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice, for they will say, The Lord has not appeared unto me. And so he said unto him in verse two, what is that in thy hand? He said, it's a rod. He said, cast it on the ground. He cast it on the ground and it became a serpent. And Moses fled from before it. I would too. And the Lord said unto Moses, put forth thine hand and take it by the tail. and he put forth his hand and he caught it, and it became a rod in his hand. And he said in verse five that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent thee, this is what we'll do in front of them. Now the rod was turned into a serpent and then back again into a rod. A rod was that thing that the shepherds, they depended on it in the walk of life as a shepherd. And God is saying here to Moses, I am delegating some power to you. The rod will be turned to a serpent. It'll be turned back to a rod. We're going to show them that God is in control. We're going to show those Egyptians who's in charge. And we're going to show them that Moses was the representative of God. Well, the second sign, he said, put your hand in your bosom. And you remember, he did that. And in verses six and seven and eight, And it came out with leprosy. And he said, do it again. And he cured the leprosy. And what we have here is a picture of sin and the power of Christ over sin and how he has the ability and the strength and the power to redeem God's people from the world. And that's exactly what he was going to do through Moses. Well, it seems like we just got started and we're out of time again. Be sure and tune in tomorrow. We'll carry it on from here. We'll try to make it plain. We will try to make it simple.