Sunday Service Online Stream

This page has the notes for the sermon and links for songs used during children’s music time each week. Scroll down to the bottom for the children’s info.

A Staff, a Snake, and the God of the Hebrews

Sunday, April 25, 2021
Pastor Jojo Ma

Join the live sermon video through this link.

Download the weekly bulletin here.

The lyrics for today’s worship can be downloaded here.

Pages for children can be downloaded through this link.

Exodus 7:8-16

8 Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 9 "When Pharaoh says to you, 'Prove yourselves by working a miracle,' then you shall say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.'" 10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. 12 For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

Eph 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

We must recognize the unseen war that wages over this world and through human hearts but taking place in the heavenly places.

I.          A snake and the God of the Hebrews [vv8-10]
II.        Many snakes and the magicians of Egypt [vv11-12]
III.       A hardened heart gets harder [v13] 

I.         A snake and the God of the Hebrews [vv8-10]
8 Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 9 "When Pharaoh says to you, 'Prove yourselves by working a miracle,' then you shall say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.'" 10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.

10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.

Church, that is what you want in your own life. It’s a mark of Christian growth and maturity: godly decisions becoming godly habits.

All of us who name Christ as Lord and Savior should want our responses in life to be more and more like Moses and Aaron: They did just as the LORD commanded.

Where God guides, God provides. When God promises, God fulfills. The staff turned into a snake…just as God said it would. 

When we faithfully submit to the Lord’s will, He will provide all the resources we need to serve Him. Isnt that encouraging? Doesn’t that make you want to obey Him more? Knowing His power, His provision, His presence?

9 "When Pharaoh says to you, 'Prove yourselves by working a miracle,' then you shall say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.'"

We become what we behold. Show your family and friends that Jesus alone is worth beholding.

II.        Many snakes and the magicians of Egypt [vv11-12]
11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. 12 For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.

As Christians, we know what many don’t: that human beings were created for worship. Our hearts don’t exist in a vacuum or in neutrality. Every human heart will worsh something. The question is: What will we worship?

Gal 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.

2 Thes 2:9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders.

Satan can only corrupt, he doesn’t create. He only counterfeits, he can’t innovate. He’s a copy cat. He’s a rip-off artist. He doesn’t create truth; he takes God’s truth and twists it.

12 For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.

III.      A hardened heart gets harder [v13]
13 Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

The take-away for us today is to make sure we don’t harden our hearts against God. The heart that is hardened against God is one that primarily doesn’t listen to Him. 

1 Cor 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” Grace is opposed to earning not to effort.