Moses' encounter with our Lord at the burning bush gives us great incites into God's character and His care for His people. -Be with us tonight as we continue our series in the book of Exodus -chapter 3-. The message is entitled- The Burning Bush.

A Memorial Before God

Exodus 2 -Moses and the Bulrushes

The book of Exodus takes us from the birth of family -Abraham in Genesis- to the birth of a nation. In Genesis we saw the Lamb provided. In the Exodus we see the Lamb slain. Genesis is book of beginnings. Exodus is a book of Redemption. Be with us tonight as we begin a new series in Exodus. The message is entitled- The Birth of a Nation.

After the Resurrection our Lord spent forty days with His disciples affirming His resurrection and preparing them for His departure. He taught them -you will be witnesses to Me-- This commission is basis for the outline of Doctor Luke's historical account of the beginning of the church.

The word of God is infallible. Whatever subject it deals with, it must be totally accurate. Luke was Paul's personal physician, and he was a historian. Therefore, when he mentions anything involving health, he must be totally accurate. God made no mistake in using him to record the virgin birth and other miracles involving health. As a historian, Luke was equally accurate. He mentions 104 places in the book of Acts. Each has been verified. The English skeptic, William Ramsey, traced the journeys of Paul as recorded by Luke with the express purpose of disproving Luke's narrative. He found Luke to be 100- accurate. He is one of the few archaeologists who accepted Christ as Savior after finding many infallible proofs.--In his first narrative -treatise-, Luke writes to most excellent Theophilus- that he might know the certainty of the things you were instructed-Luke 1-4-. Luke gave this Roman official a full account of what Jesus began both to do and to teach until the day He was taken up- -Acts 1-2-. The word began- indicates that the Gospel of Luke was just the beginning. Now comes the work that Jesus is doing through the Holy Spirit.

It has been said- -the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.- While this may be an over-statement, it does stress the importance of mothers in a society. Clearly Hannah was one of those women whose influence affected the destiny of a nation.-Israel was at a crossroads. The nation had been devastated by civil war, enemies were on every side, idolatry had made a strong impact through the sins of the tribe of Dan. Eli, the head priest, was weak and his sons were perverted. The theocracy was in shambles. Our Lord was ready to make changes. It is interesting that our Lord set up the office prophet before He established a king in Israel. From now on it would be the prophet who would pronounce -Thus saith the Lord.- It was through them that the nation was called to repentance and kings were chastised. -After the bedlam in the book of Judges and before the chaos in I Samuel, we have two stories of great mothers whom God used to change the course of history. Ruth establishes the lineage from which the Messiah would come. Hannah, whose name means grace, produced a son who would be the last judge. Samuel was the divine instrument by which the foundations of the monarchy were laid and preserved.

John ends his amazing Gospel with some personal notes to his readers. Be with us tonight as we conclude our study in the book of John. The Message is entitled- And What Shall This Man Do- -John 21- 18-25-

It is the most personal and emotional conversation in all of Scripture. Promising our Lord that he would never forsake Him, that is exactly what he had done. Now, we see our Lord in His treatment of this penitent and forgiven soul. He is forcing Peter to take stock of his heart. It is significant that our Lord did not confront Peter about his lies about not knowing Him. He did not rebuke Peter for cursing or for cowardice. The Lord is much more interested in restoring the love relationship. If we truly love our Lord with all our heart, everything else will fall into place -John 15- 9-10-.