God is Abundant | The River 2026-27 | Lesson 2

Heat. Heat.

That's it.

Good morning.

Good morning and welcome back. Why don't

you stand if you're able? I know some

people are still out getting some coffee

and tea and

>> [clears throat]

>> It's good to see you again this morning.

And we're going to sing a new song. It

might be a new song to some of you this

morning, but scripture tells us that the

joy of the Lord is our strength. And

yes, the joy of the Lord is our

strength. And I think that we can always

be reminded of the joy that we have in

Christ. It's not dependent on our

circumstances. It's just that deep down

joy because of the hope that we have in

Jesus. So, we're going to we're going to

sing this song and we're going to sing

it throughout our time at the river. And

we'll be learning some new new songs.

And if I get my act together, maybe

we'll have a Spotify list or an Apple

playlist with some of the songs on it

that we're doing. But this is called The

Joy. And let's start with the chorus.

I'll teach you the chorus. It's not a

difficult song. It's just a joyful song.

And it's a great way to start our time

together this morning. So, this is the

chorus. I'll sing it. Um, and maybe you

know it already. And then you can just

jump right in. We'll sing it again and

you can join in.

Goes like this.

The [music] joy of the Lord, the joy of

the Lord is my strength.

The joy [music] of the Lord, the joy of

the Lord is my strength.

Oh my soul, bless [music] his name. All

that is within me say the joy of

[music and singing] the Lord. The joy of

the Lord is my strength. Pretty easy.

Let's sing it. The joy of the Lord. The

joy [music and singing] of the Lord is

my strength.

The joy of [music] the Lord. The joy of

the Lord is my strength.

Oh my [music] soul. Bless his name.

All that [singing] is within me say the

joy [music] of the Lord. The joy of the

Lord is my strength.

[music]

This is

the day you make.

>> [music]

>> So I'll rejoice and be glad. Rejoice and

be glad in it. [music]

And this is [music] where I believe

that you are more than [music] enough.

More than enough for me.

You are faithful to your promise. You

are strong when I am weak. When I'm

standing [music]

in your presence, I have everything I

[music] need.

The joy of the Lord, the joy of [music]

the Lord is my strength.

The joy of the [music] Lord, the joy of

the Lord is my strength.

Oh my soul, bless [music] his name. All

that is within me. Say the joy of

[music] the Lord. The joy of the Lord is

my strength.

Jesus

[music] come.

You are worthy of [music] all. worthy of

all my praise.

You are faithful to your [music]

promise. You are strong when I am weak.

When I'm [music] standing [singing]

in your presence, I have everything

[music]

I need.

The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord

is my [music] strength.

The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord

is my strength.

[music] Oh my soul, bless his name. All

that is within me. Sing the joy of

[music and singing] the Lord. The joy of

the Lord is my strength.

[music]

Let it rise [singing] up

like a river

overflowing.

[music]

Holy Spirit,

[music]

let it pour out

with no limit.

overflowing

[music]

Holy Spirit.

Let's sing it again. Let it rise [music]

up

like a river

overflowing. [music]

Holy Spirit,

let [music] it out

with no limit.

Overflowing [music]

[singing]

Holy Spirit.

[music]

[music] The joy of the Lord. The joy of

the Lord is my strength.

[music] The joy of [singing] the Lord.

The joy of the Lord is my [music]

strength.

Oh my soul, bless his name. All [music]

that is within me, sing. Oh my [singing]

soul, bless his [music] name. All that

is within me, sing. Oh my [music] soul,

bless his name. All that is within me.

Sing. The joy of [music and singing] the

Lord. The joy of the Lord is my

strength.

>> [music]

>> Isn't that a great [music] song to start

our day with? So, go look it up. You can

go look it up wherever you like listen

to things. It's called The Joy. And

we'll be singing that um throughout the

year when we need to be reminded that

his joy is our strength.

[music]

I call you maker.

You give [music] life.

Let's get in the right key.

We don't want [music] to sing it that

high.

I call you maker.

You give [music] life an eternal spark.

I call you healer

cuz [music] you can [singing] mend any

broken heart. I call you faithful

father.

You finish everything you start. My soul

was made [music]

to respond.

And I know you by a thousand

[music and singing]

names

and you deserve every single one. You've

given me [music] a million ways

to be amazed at what you've done. And I

am lost [music and singing] in wonder

at all you do. I [music] know you by

[singing] a thousand names

and I'll sing them back to you.

[music]

Your love is [music] boundless,

beyond what I could dream. Your grace

[music] is patient

cuz you're never giving up on me. I call

you [music and singing] bondage breaker

cuz you're handing out the prison keys.

My soul was made [music] to be free.

I know you by a thousand [singing] names

[music] and you deserve every single

one. You've given me a million ways

to be amazed [music] at what you've

done. And I am lost [singing] in wonder.

>> [music]

>> at all you do. I know you by a thousand

names [music]

and I'll sing them back. I'll sing them

back to you. [music]

You are rock of [singing and music]

ages. You're the great I am. You are

king [music] forever,

the [singing] beginning and the end. You

are Lord [music] and Serant. You're the

son [singing] of man. You're the [music]

light of Judah. You're the [singing]

risen lamb. [music]

You're the second [singing] Adam here to

lead us home. You are Yah's [music]

glory now revealed in flesh and bone.

You are ocean [music and singing]

parter. You will make a way. You are

death defeater.

[music] You have risen from the grave.

You are full of [music and singing]

mercy. You are rich in love. You are

Jesus the Messiah, [music]

the one true God. And I know you by a

thousand [music] names.

And you deserve every single one. You've

given me [music] a million [singing]

ways

to be amazed at what you've done.

[music and singing] And I get lost in

wonder

at all you do. I know you

[music and singing] by a thousand names

and I'll sing them back to you. I know

you [music] by a thousand names

and you deserve every single one. You've

given me a [music] million ways

to be amazed at what you've done. And I

am lost [singing] in wonder

at [music] all you do. I know you by

[singing] a thousand days.

And I'll sing them back. I'll sing

[music] them back to you.

I'll sing them back to you.

Your name is power.

Your name is healing.

Your name is life. [music and singing]

Break every stronghold.

Shine through the shadows.

burn like a [music] fire.

And I just [music] want to speak the

name of Jesus

over every heart [music] and every mind.

Cuz I know [music] there is peace within

your presence.

I speak Jesus [music]

and I [music] just want to speak the

name of Jesus.

Till [music] every dark addiction starts

to break.

[music]

Declaring there is hope and there is

freedom.

I speak [music] Jesus

cuz your [music] name is power.

Your name is healing.

Your name is [music] life. [singing]

Break [music] every stronghold.

Shine through the shadows. [music]

burn like a fire.

Let's just speak [music] the name of

Jesus over our lives and the lives of

people that we've been praying for.

Wherever you're concerned in your life,

let's just lift it to Jesus as we sing.

I just want to speak [music] the name of

Jesus

over fear and [singing] all anxiety.

To every soul held captive [music] by

depression,

I speak Jesus.

[music and singing]

Break every power. [music]

Your name is healing.

Your name is [music] alive. [singing]

So break [music] every stronghold.

Shine through the shadows.

Burn like a fire.

[music]

Shout Jesus from [singing] the mountains

and Jesus [music] in the streets.

Jesus in the darkness over every

[singing] enemy.

And Jesus for my [music] family. I speak

the holy name

Jesus. [singing]

[music]

Shout [music] Jesus from the mountains

and Jesus in the [music] streets.

Jesus in the darkness over [music] every

enemy.

And Jesus for my family. I speak the

holy name. [music]

Jesus.

Oh,

[music]

shout Jesus from the mountains and Jesus

in the [music] streets.

Jesus in the darkness over [music] every

enemy.

And Jesus for my family. [music]

I speak the holy name.

Jesus [music]

[singing]

cuz your name is power.

Your [music] name is

Your name is life.

Let every stronghold [music]

shine through the shadows.

Burn [music] light.

Your [music] name is power.

Your name is healing.

Your name [music]

is life.

Oh Jesus, your name is life. [music]

Break every stronghold.

Shine through the shadows.

Burn like a fire.

And I just want to speak

[music]

over every heart and every mind

[music]

there is peace in your presence.

I [music] speak Jesus

and what a [music] beautiful name it is.

What a beautiful name it is. The name of

Jesus

Christ [music and singing] my king.

What a beautiful name it is.

Nothing compares to this.

What a beautiful name it is, the name

[music and singing]

of Jesus. What a beautiful name. What a

beautiful name [music] it is, the name

of Jesus.

What a beautiful [music] name it is. The

name of Jesus. [music]

Let's pray.

Jesus,

we thank you for the power in your name.

The power that whenever we just even

speak your name into the atmosphere,

you can just

do anything. Anything is possible with

you and the power of your name through

the power of your blood. and we're so

grateful. And so when we when we sing

these words and the we speak these words

and you're here

in our presence that you're

we just feel you're here with us. And so

you you move in our lives and you move

in our hearts and you just prepare the

soil for us to hear your word and for us

to be changed by it. And we're so

grateful. And so we lean into you this

morning and we ask you to speak a new

fresh thought for us. um from your word

that helps us see you more clearly, love

you more, become more like you.

And we pray it all in your precious

name, your beautiful name this morning,

Jesus. Amen.

Well, who can tell me whose silhouette

is this?

I heard Hamilton. Does anyone remember

his first name?

>> Alexander Hamilton. Right. So, it's from

the musical where Alexander has all the

big musical numbers. He even gets this

whole song about who he is. And from the

very beginning, he wants us to know his

name. He has a song spelling it out

letter by letter. A L E X A N D E R. to

make sure we don't forget his name. So,

everything in the show seems to be

heading towards showing us that this man

is the center of the story and he's on a

journey to make his name stand out. Now,

I think Pharaoh would have liked this

guy because Pharaoh is another guy who

is on a journey to make his name great.

In ancient Egypt, kings were famous for

being name makers. They carved their

names into stone. They made pyramids,

temples, and enormous monuments so that

everyone know would know who they are

and no one would forget them. It's as if

Pharaoh's shouting out with every

monument saying, "Remember me. Know who

I am. Know my name."

Well, hold that thought as we step into

Exodus 1 because I think the narrator

will have a surprise for us about names.

And so, as we go into our outline today,

here is our sections that we will go

through. Section number one, we'll talk

about a name wanting to be great.

In section two, we'll talk about two

names worth remembering.

And in section three, we'll talk about a

name above all names.

So we'll go into section one, a name

wanting to be great.

Now pay attention to what the narrator

does with the names in this passage. In

English, we call the book Exodus. It's a

word meaning departure, which we'll see

later. But in Hebrew this means and

these are the names because the whole

book starts with names. The beginning

verses listed out the sons of Israel,

the sons of Jacob, those who came down

to Israel with Jacob. And every one of

them was named and last week we got to

see those names.

Now notice where the narrative now takes

us in verse 8. It says, "Now there arose

a new king over Egypt who didn't know

Joseph."

So, we notice something right away in

the book of names. The narrator doesn't

give this king a name.

Many in Egypt considered Pharaoh to be a

god. And so, the writer of Exodus, it's

as if he doesn't even want to give him

anything close to that. He doesn't want

him to be remembered as such.

And a king who longs to make his name

great gets none.

He also doesn't know Joseph. Remember we

looked back at Genesis chapter 41 last

Genesis 41 · chapter mention

week and that earlier Pharaoh, the

Pharaoh of Joseph, who empowered Joseph

to lead Egypt looked at Joseph and

asked, "Can we find a man like this? In

whom is the spirit of God?"

So, Joseph's Pharaoh recognized the work

of the Lord and set Joseph over the

land, over the entire region, including

over his family. And it was through that

that he kept the them alive during the

famine. This new king, however, hundreds

of years later, where we are today in

our text, looks at the descendants of

that same family and only sees a

problem.

He says, ' And he said to his people,

'Behold, the people of Israel are too

many and too mighty for us. Come, let us

deal shrewdely with them, lest they

multiply. And if war breaks out, they

join our enemies and fight against us

and escape from the land.

So listen to how Pharaoh talks. if they

multiply, if war breaks out, if they

join our enemies, they might escape. So

these are all hypotheticals for him at

this point. Nothing has happened. Israel

doesn't have an army. Pharaoh fears a

threat that doesn't even exist. It's not

there. And that fear is enough to cause

him and justify him to enslave a people

and dehumanize them. In verse 11 it

says, "Therefore they set task masters

over them to afflict them with heavy

burdens.

They built for Pharaoh store cities,

Pitham and Rammeses."

And this is how fear works. In every age

we see it, we have rulers that say we

need to be wise. We have to protect our

own. We have to protect what we have.

And Pharaoh calls this shrewd. He calls

it wise. Now, it's true that preserving

and preparation and security can be

wise, but look at the difference here.

If we look back at Genesis, the Pharaoh

of Joseph versus this Pharaoh we're

seeing here, both Pharaohs face threats,

right, of of famine and of people. where

one saw opportunity, the other feared

the threat.

Both calling their plans wise,

using even the same Hebrew word.

But a decision based on fear is never

wisdom.

They both filled their storehouses.

The same kinds of buildings we can even

see today. Some of those storehouses

today. And again the same words. So it's

different.

It's their motivation.

Which brings us to truth number one.

Wise decisions are based in faith,

not fear.

Wise decisions are based in faith, not

fear.

Joseph followed the wisdom of God which

was aiming at saving many people and

keeping them alive.

But this new king, he followed his own

wisdom which aimed at building his own

name.

Remember what Joseph told his brothers

in 5020. As for you, you meant evil

against me, but God meant it for good to

bring it about that many people should

be kept alive as they are today.

So, Genesis, we find ending with God

turning evil towards good.

But now here in Exodus 1, things turn

and we see that the king is bringing

about a reversal of God's blessing. a

king who takes the abundance that God

gave and bends it towards evil.

And it says in 13, "So they ruthlessly

made the people of Israel work as slaves

and made their lives bitter with hard

service and mortar and brick and in all

kinds of work in the field. And in all

their work, they ruthlessly made them

work as slaves."

So look at those adjectives in this

verse. We've got ruthless, bitter, hard.

So the plan was to exhaust them and to

crush their spirits. And for what are

they building? Storehouses to keep a

name great, a king's name great, and for

his own glory.

Now, in Genesis 28 that we looked at

last week, remember God told the humans

to be fruitful, multiply, fill the

earth, and to subdue the earth.

And we saw in Exodus 1 that same

creation language at the beginning,

right, for Israel. And now a king rises

to reverse that blessing by force. And

they're multiplying, but he's trying to

subdue subdue them.

Yet, humans were never created to subdue

other humans. Here's a picture of them

making the bricks that he required, the

heavy labor. and Pharaoh tried to rename

these people that were God's children,

that were people of God as slaves.

But their true identity was set long

before Pharaoh and no ruler can unwrite

it. Again, Genesis tells us that every

person is a image bearer of God and

their identity is not as slaves yet they

are being enslaved.

It's what's happening to them, but it's

not who they are. And watch what happens

in verse 12.

But the more that they were oppressed,

the more they multiplied and the more

they spread abroad. And the Egyptians

were in dread of the people of Israel.

So Pharaoh threw his entire empire at

this growing number of people. And the

blessing that was spoken in Genesis at

the beginning keeps having the last

word.

Every new burden produces a new baby.

And the more he crushes, the more they

flourish.

Think about what that might have taken.

I mean, these enslaved women in the

ancient world faced brutal odds at

childbirth. One of the commentaries I

read was even a 50% mortality at this

time in ancient Egypt.

Yet, they beat the odds. They

multiplied.

Pharaoh counted the women as nothing.

And yet what God does can't even be

counted.

Pharaoh controls everything in Egypt.

And yet the life keeps coming anyway.

And Pharaoh's only getting started.

So let's go to part two. Two names worth

remembering.

So when oppression fails, rulers reach

for their ultimate weapon, which is

death.

So Pharaoh's plan B is to eliminate the

baby boys.

And if you remember the promise in

Genesis 3:15, after the fall, it is that

Genesis 3:15

a descendant of Eve would one day crush

the serpent that deceived her. And every

generation since that line and now

Pharaoh they're it's all targeting that

line directly and if Pharaoh can stop

this line he can stop the plan.

In 15 it says then the king of Egypt

said that to the Hebrew midwives one who

was made Shiffra and the other Huah.

So again remember we are in the book of

names. It began with a roll call of the

sons of Israel and then gave us a king

with no name. And then if you'll notice

as we went through the text, even the

Israelites stopped to drop away from

this long stretch. And now they just

become this nameless suffering. No

longer do we get the names of even the

Israelites.

It's as if that when we get to verse 15,

the narrator clears the stage and says,

"Stop. Hold on. I want you to hear these

names. These are two names I want you to

remember." And I think we should

remember them. Shifra and Pua.

The po most powerful name in Egypt

remained nameless and anonymous. Yet

these two women named and their names

now are remembered for thousands of

years.

Shiffra named something like beautiful.

And Pua is often connected with the

words to mean splendor or jewel.

And it was Tim Mackey, a biblical

scholar who said something. He wondered

whether or not that's meant to remind us

as some of the splendor of Eden that

we're seeing them emerge as the

lifegivers in this text.

And there's lots of speculation about

these midwives and their role. Their

names do seem to be Hebrew, yet some

scholars wonder if they may have been

Egyptian midwives.

And that's why Pharaoh uses them to do

his bidding because the phrase here can

be translated either Hebrew midwives or

midwives to the Hebrews.

So where they came from doesn't seem to

matter to the narrator. It doesn't seem

to be as important as what they do.

But Pharaoh gives them an order. He

says, "When you serve as a midwife to

the Hebrew women and see them on the

birth stool, if it is a son, you shall

kill him. But if it's a daughter, she

shall live.

Interesting that last phrase, he's

willing to let the daughters live

because he doesn't consider the women a

threat.

Pharaoh in his prejudice is blind.

The people who will unravel his empire

are standing right in front of him and

he has just assigned them a job. And

then comes verse 17, the hinge of the

whole chapter.

But the midwives

feared God and did not do as the king of

Egypt commanded them, but let the male

children live.

So Pharaoh, who's in a position to end

their lives, gives a command. And these

two women look at Pharaoh

and then they look at God and they

decide which one's greater.

They feared the Lord more than they

feared the king.

The verb for let live is exactly

opposite of the verb that Pharaoh uses

here for kill.

And the midwives choose life.

The Pharaoh, he rules by fear and fear

rules him.

The midwives live under a different kind

of fear. The fear of the Lord.

As Proverbs 14:27 says, "The fear of the

Proverbs 14:27

Lord is a fountain of life

that one may turn away from the snares

of death."

So it's a fountain of life. The women

who fear the Lord become this fountain

of life which pours out.

The fear of the Lord is the recognition

of who is the true king.

And it frees everyone from every lesser

fear.

And do you notice what Pharaoh is called

in this scene? Three times in verses 15

and 17 and 18. He's not even called

Pharaoh, but simply the king of Egypt.

Again, it's a way of diminishing him to

be a king who has borders, who has

limits.

Yet, these women answer to a king who

has no rule or has rule that has no end

and has limited abundance and goodness

and power and reign. And he's the one

that reigns forever and ever.

And these midwives, they weren't

priests. They weren't prophets. They

weren't ma pastors or missionaries. They

were women doing the necessary ordinary

daily work.

Day after day, the midwives were

unnoticed, but they chose to continue to

do their jobs.

And of course, Pharaoh finds out in chap

in verse 18, he calls them in. Can you

imagine being in that room in the palace

of Pharaoh?

They've know, they know what they've

done. And now they're before the king.

And it says, "So the king of Egypt

called the midwives and said to them,

"Why have you done this? And let the

male children live."

This is a question that could have ended

their lives.

Yet, here's how they chose to answer.

The midwife said to Pharaoh, "Because

the Hebrew women aren't like Egyptian

women, for they are vigorous and give

birth before the midwife comes to them."

So the word vigorous here in Hebrew is

actually often most used with animals in

the sense of like they're being lively

when they give birth or they're robust

when they give birth. And the irony here

is that Pharaoh has been treating the

Hebrews like they are animals. He's been

working them like they're animals and

now they're as strong as animals. What

are we going to do? They don't need

midwives. They're animals themselves

now.

So, it's funny.

Pharaoh's policies seem to be working

against him.

The midwives used Pharaoh's contempt

against him. Pharaoh already thought of

the Hebrews of lesser. And he's no

longer even calling them the people of

Israel. If you notice, he's calling them

now Hebrews. And this was a term that

they would use then to describe people

who were displaced or migrants or

outcasts or those who were forced into

labor rather than recognizing them as

someone as part of his nation.

So the midwives wrapped up all that

prejudice into a story that he would be

ready to believe and used it to protect

the babies.

They took the tools of the empire and

they used them to take apart the empire.

Now, we could debate whether or not this

was a halftruth or whether it was

deception. The scholars are back and

forth about that. But what is clear is

it's they seem to be highlighting the

features of a story that would appease

Pharaoh that it would appeal to his

senses, that would appeal to what he

thinks he already knows and that Pharaoh

wouldn't question it.

And he was probably already very

unfamiliar with women and childbirth

anyway. And so he probably didn't even

want to know the details.

And the midwives, they had no power at

all. But as one com commentator said,

they practice quiet creative resistance

and peaceful disobedience

right where they were in their ordinary

day-to-day work, in one sphere where

they had agency, which was the birthing

room, and they used every inch of it for

life.

And as Paul says in Romans, they were

doing this. Do not become over do not be

overcome by evil, but overcome evil with

good.

And they didn't even need to do anything

big. They were doing their jobs.

Their job was to bring forth life.

And here's how God responds in verse 20

to 21.

So God dwelt well with the midwives and

he and the people multiplied and grew

very strong. And because the midwives

feared God, he gave them families.

They guarded life and God gave it back

to them.

So we find the first deliverers in the

book of deliverance are women.

The first deliverers in the book of

deliverance are women, the people at the

margins. And God works through them. And

this is how God works, right? He works

through the ordinary to bring about

life, to bring about goodness, to bring

about fruitfulness.

Do you ever feel ordinary? If so, this

is for you.

Maybe you're sitting there thinking this

morning, I don't have influence. I'm not

going to be able to change anything like

that. What significance could my life

possibly have?

But look at Shiffra. Look at Pua. Time

and again, the Lord's enormous, enormous

purposes are used and carried about by

ordinary people living with integrity.

It's like if you're a parent

quietly raising your kids to love

others.

Maybe you work in an office and you've

refused to cut corners

or it's a person that notices the people

who are sitting on the sidelines in our

society

or it's just a neighbor who opens the

door.

You don't need a platform to partner

with God.

You need to choose the next faithful

thing that's in front of you. And it may

not always be the comfortable thing, and

it's rarely without risk. But here's our

second truth.

God works through ordinary people who

are faithful to him.

God works through ordinary people who

are just faithful to him.

God's always wanted partners

in the garden. He gave the humans the

work of caring al about creation

alongside of him. And here are two women

that choose to do that. And the whole

series of events turns on their choice.

And so can you. Don't think that this

doesn't apply to you because you're not

in Pharaoh's palace.

Every day we have choices.

Everyone is a farmer of a garden.

And your choices will either produce

fruit or they'll produce weeds.

Everyone who is in here today and

everyone who leaves here today will have

a choice.

And there's no choice to do nothing.

But it's the choice to ask what is the

thing in front of me that God is calling

me to do

to cultivate to nurture to bring into

life.

What is it that God is calling you to?

Section three is the name above all

names.

Now, we get to the place in this story

and we realize that Pharaoh still thinks

it's the midwives who have failed. What

he can't see is that in fearing God that

they have stepped into the work of God

and it was God who is doing the work.

But Pharaoh's response in 22 shows us

how fear behaves. And when the plan

fails, he escalates. It says, "Then

Pharaoh commanded all his people, every

son that is born to the Hebrews, you

shall cast into the Nile, but you shall

let every daughter live."

So now he's commanding all of his people

to join him, not just the midwives. And

we realize that evil never stays small.

Once fear is in charge, it recruits and

it creates destruction.

and Pharaoh who had every storehouse in

Egypt, every soldier, every taskmaker,

he couldn't even produce a single life.

But the midwives who had no resources,

no power, no political power, no

protection. They only had a pair of

hands and their faith and the nation

grew strong.

You see, God's abundance never depended

on their supply. The abundance is his

and the willing hands are ours.

God sees our lack. He takes what we have

in the place where we are and he

supplies what's needed. When we think

that we need more money, more time, more

influence, more security, or any of

those things before we can obey him, we

forget that the one who fills the earth

with life never runs low.

Or maybe you're still here thinking, I

keep hearing that God is abundant,

but I haven't seen it.

I've prayed and my bills are still due.

I've prayed and the diagnosis is still

there.

I've prayed and my loved ones are still

lost.

And scripture doesn't offer us a tidy

answer. Um, yes, the Israelites, they

multiplied,

but their lives were still bitter.

For years, the people groaned. And we'll

see in Exodus that God tells us that he

heard those groans. He remembered, he

saw, and he knew.

And Jesus acknowledges the struggle,

too, when he said, "In this world, you

will have tribulation,

but take heart.

I have overcome the world."

So then if we get to Paul in Romans and

when he writes, he says,"For we know

that the whole creation has been

groaning together in the pains of

childbirth

until now."

Paul sees all of creation in labor, in

the pain.

But something new is being born.

A world is being made new where heaven

and earth will overlap and where one day

all peoples from all nations will come

together and worship him and we will to

be together as one in his presence. But

until then we do live in this in between

time where God has begun something but

we're still waiting for the finish and

for now we're in the pain.

That makes us midwives.

We're laboring alongside of the Holy

Spirit.

As the world is groaning, as we are

groaning, and as the new world is

beginning,

it's the work of saying, "Your kingdom

come, your will be done on earth as it

is in heaven." And yes, it is costly.

And yes, every generation has pharaohs

who would rather have that promise be

cut off.

But Shiffra and Pua, they still went

into that birthing room. Even in the

hard labor, they went into the hard

labor where the women were laboring

hard. We labor hard.

We are groaning. The earth is still

groaning.

But I wonder,

can we be midwives in this season? Can

we go into those hard places?

Who might be someone that God wants you

to be a midwife, too?

Maybe it's someone in time of trouble

that you could show up with, a meal or a

ride, or maybe it's a gift of time or

prayer or just your presence.

Some of God's abundance might be right

in your willing hands.

Now, we tend to measure abundance by the

comfort or the security or ease. And all

of us feel the pull to fill our own

storehouses and say, "I must protect my

supply first. I must keep what I have

first."

But what am I building storehouses to

protect?

Pharaoh spent his whole reign trying to

build his name to be above all the other

names.

But Philippians 2 tells us that there is

only one who has the name above all

names. There's only one who holds that

name. And though he was in the form of

God, Jesus emptied himself

and took the form of a servant. and he

spent about 30 quiet years in Nazareth

before anyone outside his hometown even

knew his name. And then this happened

says it in verse 9. Therefore God has

highly exalted him and bestowed upon him

the name above all every other name. So

that at the name of Jesus, every knee

shall bow and in heaven and on earth and

under the earth and every tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory

of God the Father.

So the one who has all the abundance in

all of the world chose to take the

ordinary road first

and at his name every pharaoh of every

age will bow.

And everything the midwives needed and

everything you need is found in him

because Jesus holds the name above every

name and everything we need is in him.

Now this account as you see is larger

than just these two women. It points to

him. It points to Jesus. The one who

said, "I came that they may have life

and they may have it abundantly."

Everything the midwives guarded was for

him

because he is the deliverer who crushes

the serpent's head and he is the one who

generates life. life abundant.

So how do we walk like Shiffra and Pua?

We choose to cultivate life

one faithful moment at a time.

Deuteronomy 30:19 says, "I have set

Deuteronomy 30:19

before you life and death, blessing and

curse.

Therefore, choose life."

Jesus has made a way for us to choose

that life. And he did so by giving his.

And as the spirit forms us step by step

into his likeness, into the likeness of

Jesus, we can participate in that

abundance.

It is God who has the abundance. So we

can choose his abundant justice. We can

choose his abundant good, his abundant

peace, his abundant kindness. We can do

good by cultivating life. And our truth

number three is God cultivates a

fruitful life in us through Jesus.

God cultivates a fruitful life in us

because of Jesus through Jesus.

It's easy to want to measure our

fruitfulness by the size of our moments.

Usually the visible winds or the open

doors are the ones we want to see or the

seasons where you can clearly see what

God is doing.

Yet here is what I've learned.

The fruit that lasts comes from the

moments that nobody sees.

Like Luke says, "One who is faithful in

little is also faithful in much." And

that word little there means the

ordinary moments of your life. The ones

that feel too small to matter,

those are the ones where exactly God can

be at work. He's not waiting for you to

get that big stage. He's already

building something in the place where

you are.

And faith makes choices looking at God's

abundance, even when our own supply

looks small.

And I know some of that soil is really

hard. Since sin entered this world,

cultivation happens among thorns and

vipers and sickness and death. And some

of us are sitting in the hardest soil

right now.

And look at Shipper and Pua. Nobody

lifted them out of Pharaoh's Egypt. They

were right there, right in the midst of

the suffering,

in the enslavement, in the pain, in the

groaning. And they went back to that

birthing room day after day under that

same king and asked, "What does

faithfulness look like in that room?"

And they chose.

Shifra and Pua acted while the the risk

was still real. Pharaoh never softened

and the women moved anyway because they

feared the Lord. So the question I again

invite you to ask today and bring to the

Lord is Lord what is the thing in front

of me that you are calling me to

the thing that you're calling me to

cultivate to nurture to bring into life.

Ask him to give you eyes today to help

him you see opportunities where you

could cultivate life and where you could

resist the temptation to hide sec

self-protect or hoard

for him to revine your desires to be

oriented toward him and notice maybe

he'll put someone in your day. Maybe

you'll have the opportunity to stand up

for someone who is vulnerable or to

notice someone that's in pain and take

that extra step that it takes right

there, right where you are to cultivate

their life, to cultivate new life. You

can take that step

without having the whole plan. You might

not know how it all is going to end, but

you do know the one who holds the

supply. And that's what we mean by

abundance. He is generous with his

abundant goodness, his abundant peace,

his abundant love. And so what is he

calling you to? Is it a phone call you

need to make, kind word to your kids?

Is it a place you need to press in and

stay steady? Or is it a place where you

need to step out and be bold?

It'll look different, but whatever he

calls you towards is the invitation, the

same one that the midwives received to

do the next faithful thing that's in

front of you. And that moves you towards

him.

And you trust him then with the outcome.

They never saw what their faithfulness

set in motion. You know, they couldn't

know. There was no way they could have

known that a deliverer would be rise

from all these children that they

protected or that centuries later the

greatest delivery would come through

that same line. There's no way they

could have known. And but here's what

they teach us. They chose to do the

faithful thing that was right in front

of them. And God who was abundant did

the rest.

And our main truth for today is that

God's abundance flows through us.

The abundance is his. God's abundance

flows through us.

The willing hands are ours.

Now remember Alexander Hamilton, the man

who made sure that the whole world would

know his name.

Pharaoh wanted that same thing. He

wanted those monuments. He wanted the

storehouses. He wanted a name that would

outlast him. And the Exodus, the writer

of Exodus gives him no such name. The

only name that will outlast every

pharaoh is the name at every name that

every name everyone shall bow.

And back to Hamilton, it's only in the

very end, at the very last number in the

musical that we see someone that was

hiding in plain sight.

Alexander's wife, Eliza.

Now, she wins none of the battles, none

of the rap battles for sure, but she

quietly and faithfully loves her family,

stays true, and cares for others. It's

quiet in the musical. We hardly ever

even notice, but in the final number,

she tells us how she spent decades after

Alexander's death writing the stories of

the people that she knew and loved. She

spoke out against slavery. She started

an orphanage.

And I don't know whether it's the

writer's intention or not, but I can't

help but wonder. I wonder if the title

of the musical Hamilton actually belongs

to Eliza.

Eliza Hamilton.

What I keep thinking about her is that

she was so consistent, but she never

chased power. She never chased the

prestige. She didn't want to be in the

room where it happened like everybody

else did, right? Her quiet integrity.

She did what was right behind the

scenes, faithful for the long hall.

And at it's only at the end did she step

forward and finally get seen.

I wonder if I can be faithful like that.

Can you in your ordinary daytoday life

without recognition just faithful to his

calling?

Now we may never get a monument or a

song or a line in the history books. Yet

the one who is the one who is the name

above all names and named Israel knows

your name. and he's already writing the

story that includes you with your

ordinary faithful yes.

So let's pray.

Well, Father God, we know that your name

is the name above every name

and you are the king,

the only one that gives life and all

abundance is yours. So we ask that you

show us today

where we can be planting, where we can

be cultivating,

and where we can have courage to

cultivate the life that you have in

front of us.

So give us courage to step out or

courage to stay

wherever it is that you're calling us to

choose life in our homes, in our work,

in our city. We ask that you just show

us today that one step, that one thing

you're asking us to choose that's right

in front of us in our everyday

in today. So we thank you. In your name

we pray. Amen.

Now before you go to your groups, I do

have an announcement for those of you

that are in the sanctuary. Um, we will

get to pray together as we do every

week, but at the end we ask that you

please hold that last 10 minutes wherein

other people in the sanctuary are in

prayer as quiet. It's it's tempting to

be loud and when we're done praying, but

there are other people praying in the

sanctuary. So, if you can keep quiet

till 11:30 before you start visiting,

just continue your prayer or quiet talk

until 11:30 when we all break. So, enjoy

your groups.