Outline—Exodus 8:16–32

1. Plague of the gnats (vv. 16–19)
2. Palgue of the swarm (vv. 20–24)
3. Pharoah’s continued deceipt (vv. 25–32)

Related Scripture

• Romans 6

Take Home Points

• Though we are welted up by sin, God still wants to show that He is in the land through us.
• Your task is to bear witness to God’s grace.
• Believers relate to sin differently than the unsaved because God has set us free.
• We’re all sinnners, but you are not still in sin if you’re saved.

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Outline Exodus 8:1–15

1. Prediction of the plague (vv. 1–4)
2. Performance of the plague (vv. 5–6)
3. Repeat performance by the magicians (v.7)
4. Prayer (vv. 8–15)

Related Reading

• Moses and the God of Egypt by John J. Davis

Take Home Points

• The hardened/unsaved heart is superstitious.
• You can recognize Satan’s counterfeits:
  • They will questions God’s certainties.
  • They try to diminish God’s stated law.
  • They will try to destroy believers, accuse them, and eliminate them from usefulness.
  • They will try to rob God of things that are His glory alone and try to inject themselves in it.

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Exodus 7:14–18—Outline not available.

Related Scripture

• Numbers 33:4

Take Home Points

• God can break through hardened hearts. Pray with confidence for those in need of the Gospel.
• The trials that come upon your life may appear to be judgments, but if you are a child of God, know that God loves you with an everlasting love.
• Our God is able because He exists. He is a living God, and we should not fear the false gods of this world.

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Outline

1. My background
   1. Personal life—father
   2. Professional life—corrections
2. Analogies to a man’s role in his family
   1. Taproot of a tree
   2. Anchor of a boat
3. Man’s roles and responsibilities as given in scripture
   1. Leader
      1. Spiritual leader—Deuteronomy 6:4–9
      2. Intercessor in prayer for wife and children
      3. Exercise dominion (not dominance nor dictatorship, but being orderly and organized)—Genesis 1:26–30
   2. Protector
      1. Physical protection of family and home—Nehemiah 4:13–14
      2. Failure to protect family—Genesis 3:6–12
      3. Protect from false doctrine—2 Timothy 1
      4. Protect children from bad companions—Proverbs 13:20
      5. Protect wife from carrying burdens she should not carry
   3. Provider
      1. Provide a vision for his family that is aligned with scripture, and the focus is that they have a vibrant, growing relationship with Jesus Christ, His Word and His church.—1 Timothy 5:8
      2. Seek to develop good, strong Biblical character in his family.
      3. Provide a vision that they are servants with a very strong work ethic.
      4. Meet the emotional needs of his family by giving affirmation when they have done a good job, and pointing out where they could do better.
      5. Provide for his family’s future.
4. Statistics bear somber witness to negative impacts on children from fatherless homes.
5. Thoughts for consideration
   1. Man creates a void when he steps back from his roles and responsibilities.—Romans 1:18–32
   2. God the Father is the example of the perfect father
      1. He loves us unconditionally.
      2. He corrects, rebukes and instructs when it’s necessary.
      3. He is trustworthy.
      4. He leads.
      5. He listens.
      6. He is always there.
      7. He is patient.
      8. He is kind.
   3. Jesus is the example of the perfect man and perfect husband.—Ephesians 5:22-27
   4. As man refuses the roles & responsibilities that God designed for him, so his marriage goes, and as the marriage goes so the family goes, and as the family goes so the church goes, and as the church goes so the state goes, and as the state goes so the nation goes.—Men, as you take on these roles and responsibilities, even the small things can have a national impact.
   5. As men step back from their roles and responsibilities, they turn their families over to those things described in Romans 1.

What to do

• Remember who we used to be before we were saved.
• Remember that our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • God is the initiator; man is the responder.
  • God will pursue a heart if He desires to do so.
  • He can change the worst person we know—just as He did us.
  • He can restore and redeem them.
• Pray for men, even the worst.—1 Timothy 2:1–4
• Remember God’s desire is that none perish.—2 Peter 3:8–9
• Remember God is patient with others just as He was patient with each one of us.

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Outline

1. The key players
   1. Protagonist: God
   2. Antagonist: Good, moral upright guy (Jonah)
2. God’s purpose
   1. What is God concerned with?
   2. What is God trying to do?
3. The importance of cities
   1. Strategic
   2. Cultural
   3. Gospel-sharing
   4. Economic welfare of His people
4. Two layers of every city
   1. General population
   2. Those who belong to the City of God
5. Christian impact in cities
   1. Christians are the best possible citizens.
   2. Christians preserve culture.
   3. Christians expand literacy.
   4. Christians have preserved entire communities.
6. The eternal City that is to come
   1. It will never fall.
   2. One can never lose one’s citizenship.
   3. We’ll enjoy the city, its economy and community, forever.
7. God loves cities because God loves people
   1. If we want to think more like God, we have to appreciate that where we are is filled with people.
   2. God loves people so much that he provides a means of salvation that does not depend on how good they are—God saves them because He wants to.
   3. God even stops from destroying a city just because they say they’re sorry.

Related Scripture:

• Book of Jonah
• Jeremiah 29:4–12
• Hebrews 13:12ff

The Challenge

• Because of our salvation and resultant citizenship in the City of God, we can go out to cities and know that no matter what, God is doing something that will have a preserving effect because of a child of His being there.
• We need to be like those Christians in the early parts of our church history who rescued people at their own risk, who got involved in their community, and preserved art, literature, learning and music for generations to come. They are the ones who ushered to us Western thought that would have been completely lost had it not been for Christians in cities.

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