P.O. Box 53055    
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Hello, I’m Connie Jeffery, and I’m Lonnie Melashenko.

LONNIE: Today we invite you to join us on a journey as we look at one of the most famous escapes in history. The story told in the Biblical book of Exodus.

CONNIE: It certainly is a fascinating story. It’s been told over and over again by Hollywood, in films like The Ten Commandments, and recently in the animated version Prince of Egypt. I guess that’s because there’s something exciting about going on a journey. Especially when you’re headed for places you’ve never been …

LONNIE: And don’t forget that the people in this story were headed for freedom--out of slavery to independent living in a brand new land.

CONNIE: But is that really true, Lonnie? Were they really headed for freedom? Or were they just jumping from one kind of slavery into another?

LONNIE: Good question Connie. If I understand what you’re saying, you’re implying that maybe God led the people away from Egypt, but that once He got them out in the wilderness, He enslaved them all over again, by handing them a whole bunch of rules and regulations they had to obey.

CONNIE: Well, isn’t that what happened at Mt. Sinai?

LONNIE: I’ll be tackling that question in my message, “Exodus, Free to Follow,” a bit later today, but before that, let’s take a moment to consider how Don and Yvonne McClure answered that question. They spend a lot of time in prison, helping prisoners find new freedom in Christ, and Ken Wade challenged them with the same sort of question you’ve raised. Let’s listen:

KEN: In our program today we’re talking about the Exodus, and God delivering His people from bondage in Egypt. Now I have in the studio with me a couple of very interesting people, I’ve been listening to them talk. They work with people who are very much in bondage, with prisoners all over the country, and Don and Yvonne I’d just like to pop a little question on you here as we think about the theme of Exodus of God’s delivering His people from all the hard taskmasters in Egypt. Interesting thing about it is when you read the story, within a few days they’re out in the wilderness, they’re out by Mt. Sinai, and here’s God throwing all these rules and regulations at them. It’s almost like you take them out of one set of rules and just drop them into another very stringent set of laws. What happens with your prisoners when they meet Christ? Do they feel like they’ve just been enslaved in a new way, or do they feel liberated?

DON: Well if they got a chance to hear the broadcast we just got through doing, they’ll find that there’s a freedom in prison with Christ that is absolutely unique. They know they have to live under the laws of the state of California, or Kentucky, or New York or wherever they happen to be, but to be free in Jesus is to be free indeed. An example, a young inmate, Mexican who came out of the Southern gang system of LA into prison, instantaneously went to the chapel for protection, and he wanted to get out of the way of life he was in, and he went into counseling, he accepted Christ and the gangs did come to him, and he told the gangs, “No more, I want to be with Christ, I want to get out of here, I want to get back into the community into a life that I was really born to be in.”

KEN: But Don, so many people, especially young people look at Christianity and say, “I don’t want anything to do with that, it’s too restrictive.”

DON: No, I’m an ex-alcoholic, I’m an ex-drug addict, and the freedom that you find, better yet, the high that you find in Jesus will set you completely free. There is not a moment that I can find in my life, and I think Yvonne, cause she...

YVONNE: Well, I was just thinking of the saying that we have in prison, we have a God’s prison gang, and that is such a nice thing for the men to come into, or the women to come into, because they know that the Christian brothers, and the Christian sisters are going to be praying for them, they’re going to be helping them, they’re going to be fellowshipping together, and it’s a relief that they don’t have to look over their shoulder all the time.

KEN: I think it was the apostle Paul, wasn’t it, who said that you can yield yourself one way or the other, if you yield yourself to sin, you’re a slave to sin, but if you yield yourself to Christ, you’re a slave to Christ, but there’s a difference isn’t there.

YVONNE: Yes.

DON: Well getting you out of Exodus into Mark 8:4 where the Bible says, “Deny yourself, pickup your cross and follow me.” Well cross bearing is execution-like, but this in prison, this cross bearing, this weight that they carried is a weight that’s released.

KEN: So you’re seeing men truly liberated when they meet God.

DON: I’ll tell you what. Wardens go where we go now, and I say that with an open heart because when a prison is changed--it’s not Yvonne and I. It’s the Jesus in us, it’s the Holy Spirit. Now, we live because we’re Christians under the rules of Genesis to Revelation. As you grow in Christ, you learn what was ceremonial, what was nailed to the cross, what we’re under, and then you learn to live within the rules of the society. I got a ticket the other day. I deserved it. I broke a law.

YVONNE: Don, we were holding a fellowship at one of the prisons, and one of the officers came down and wanted to know what was going on because there was a different type of attitude on the yard that day.

KEN: Amen! Praise the Lord! Because it does make a difference. Those kind of rules, it’s a heart religion, isn’t it?

DON: Yes.

KEN: It becomes a part of the heart, and that was God’s goal, I’m sure in delivering His people from Egyptian bondage.

DON: And God is still, if you’re listening audience today, God wants to release. We’re still on that track to the promised land.

KEN: Don, tell me the name of your ministry, and just tell a wee bit about it as we go.

DON: Someone Cares Prison Ministry, anyone that wants to get in touch with us can call us at, (559)739-7400, if you want to learn about Prison Ministry and Jesus on the main line we’re located in Visalia, California, and just call the VOP, they know where we are.

KEN: Absolutely! Thanks very much. Especially for your testimony of the deliverance God gives to people who are truly in bondage.

DON: Amen.

YVONNE: Thank You.

CONNIE: Ken, It’s certainly great what Don and Yvonne are doing with those prisoners--helping them to find freedom even in a prison setting.

KEN: It sure is. I was excited to talk with them, because I’ve spent quite a little time in prison myself--visiting that is. And I’ve found that at least some of the prisoners are always open to the gospel.

CONNIE: There’s something about ending up in prison that makes a person stop and think, isn’t there?

KEN: Well, I’m sure that’s a part of it--having time to ponder where life has taken you--and where you’re headed.

CONNIE: Do you think that might have anything to do with why God took the people of Israel from Egypt out into the desert?

KEN: I don’t doubt that it did. Solitude ought to be an important part of all of our lives.

CONNIE: I think you’re leading us into our next song.

KEN: In fact I am. It’s called “Solitude,” and the artist is Merilou Luthas.
“Solitude”, Merilou Luthas, from The Midnight Cry CD, Track 10

CONNIE: That was Merilou Luthas singing “Solitude.” The song was taken from her album “The Midnight Cry.” If you’d like more information about any of the music heard on our program, it’s always available on our website at www.vop.com. Stop by and check out the links to music heard on the broadcast.

If you’re challenged by the need to have more quiet time in your life, I have an important recommendation for you. Stop whatever you’re doing right now, and call this number: 1-800-872-0055. Well, if you’re driving on the freeway, don’t slam on the brakes, but try to remember the number, and call it later: 1-800-872-0055. And when someone answers, ask them for a copy of the little booklet “How to Have a Quiet Time.” It’s brief, practical, and to the point, and best of all, it’s our gift to you today, just for calling. I’ll give the phone number and our address again later.

CONNIE: Lonnie, have you ever been out in the wilderness in a total survival mode?

LONNIE: Actually Connie, a number of years ago, Jeannie and I were on the Rogue River in Oregon out with the bears and some friends. Quite exciting.

CONNIE: Well it must have been quite an experience. I’m glad you had friends with you, but you know some of our listeners may remember a program a few weeks back when we told the story of a group of young men who found themselves living with a bit more solitude than they bargained for.

LONNIE: Yes, I remember the story. They were taking part in some sort of juvenile disciplinary program that involved living out in the deserts of Utah for a couple of months. I think it was called the Red Cliff Ascent Project. But they got tired of the program and decided to escape.

CONNIE: Their escape didn’t last long, though, did it?

LONNIE: Well, no. Actually these kids were dropped off there in this great, big, barren oasis of nothing where the state of Utah works with these young kids. (We used to call them juvenile delinquents), who have substance abuse problems, behavioral problems, depression, defiance, family conflict, and problems with authority. And they get out there into some pretty high altitudes where the temperatures can drop into the 30s and 40s, and they have nothing, they have to learn to cooperate, and learn to get along with each other. Which is the whole thrust of it, and learn to survive.

CONNIE: But what happened when they escaped?

LONNIE: Well what happened is they went out there and they weren’t ready to cooperate yet so they beat up some of the counselors, even tied up one of the ladies, and then not knowing what to do they headed off into the interior.

CONNIE: Well they picked them up I hope.

LONNIE: They came back after a few days, realizing they had tied up the very people that could help them get out of there.

CONNIE: Well I hope that their outdoor therapy works, and I’m sure the program does work, but don’t you think it helps for all of us just to get away from it all, as a way to bring our life back into focus.

LONNIE: Yeah that’s right Connie. Kind of like the time Jeannie and I were out on the Rogue River. When you’re in touch with nature. It kind of helps you to get in touch with your real self, and the real world.

CONNIE: And you know Lonnie there’s something more though, going on in the Biblical story of Exodus. Something more than just getting away from it all out in the wilderness. God had more of a plan than that for His people. Just like He does for us today. Will you share with us your message “Exodus: Free To Follow.”

SERMON

LONNIE: Comfortable.

That’s how the people would remember their lives in Egypt.

Oh, sure, there had been some pesky task masters, demanding more and more bricks made with less and less raw materials. And there was the problem of all the boy babies being thrown in the river.

But no place is perfect. All-in-all, it hadn't been such a bad existence, they thought.

If only Moses hadn’t come along and upset the whole thing by demanding that they be “set free.” It was really his fault, after all, that the taskmasters had taken to treating them so badly.

But Moses had brought the power of God with him. And God had seen to His people’s liberation--we’ve all heard the story of the ten plagues that brought Pharaoh and the Egyptians to their knees and finally liberated Israel from slavery.

But just forty-five days later--out in the wilderness, on that great journey we call The Exodus--some of the Israelites were sitting around the campfire, reminiscing. Soon the reminiscing turned to what the kids today would call “dissing.” They dissed on Moses, they dissed on Aaron, and for that matter, if you cared for their opinion, they’d tell you that they didn’t really care for God Himself, or the path He was leading them down.

Here’s what they had to say about all this. It’s found in Exodus 16:3
"If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."

How quickly they had forgotten how unhappy they had really been back in the days when they were Pharaoh’s slaves! All of a sudden they had amnesia. No one remembered that Moses had come to deliver them from slavery BECAUSE God had heard their miserable groaning.

In fact, the reason they found themselves out in the wilderness, following Moses, was simple. It’s found in Exodus 2:23:

The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.

God tuned in to their cries and asked Moses to go to the rescue.
What happened next is almost funny. First you have Moses telling God “You know, Lord, I’m really pretty comfortable out here in the wilderness, leading sheep. I don’t think I really care to make a trip back to Egypt to take up leading people.”

Moses finally agrees to go do what God is asking, but just as soon as things get a little rough for the people he’s come to rescue, they start complaining and wishing he’d stayed out with the sheep.

It’s a pattern that occurs over and over in the book of Exodus. Because Exodus is a book about a journey. A life journey. A journey to freedom.
It’s a book that reveals a lot about human nature. MY human nature--and maybe yours, too?

It’s not easy to get people to move out of their comfort zone.

It’s not easy to get ME to move out of my comfort zone. And even when I do, if things start going wrong, I’m likely to start wondering whether I shouldn’t have just stayed back where everything was easier.

But God had a plan for Israel, and He has a plan for your life and mine. And sometimes it involves getting “up off our duffs” and trying something new and different.

For Israel it meant a journey out into the wilderness--out to an austere mountain called Sinai.

I was there just last year--climbed to the top--didn’t see God face to face, but could empathize with people complaining about the accommodations. Wow! The rest of our group went up with camels, but I climbed alone with the guide. As that sun came up, creating that mirage on those heat waves, shimmering off the desert floor. It was just like a lunar landscape. I mean there’s no water there, there’s no trees, no grass, no animals, no birds. Just rocks and sand, heat, searing, scaring, scrimping, sweating, soul searching, stretching silently, and stealthily, surely and certainly, and I thought of those people out there. Looking around, nothing to see, nowhere to go, nothing to do. Just desert sand, camping out for years out there.

When Israel arrived at Sinai, they had an encounter with the divine that they would never forget--more excitement than a three-ring circus, a Las Vegas production, and a street carnival combined. God Himself came down onto the mountaintop, and there was lightning, thunder, smoke, and the loud wailing of a trumpet.

When it was done, There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that they had come to the right place to find God. The only question left was, Did they WANT to find Him? Did they WANT to live with Him? Or would they be better off back serving the Egyptians instead?

Notice how they responded to God’s “sound and light show”:

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die" (Exodus 20:18-19 NIV).

They were frightened--and I guess I would have been too. But to their credit, notice what they said after Moses delivered God’s message to them:
They responded, "We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey" (Exodus 24:7 NIV).

Well, how else could they respond, under the circumstances?

It was a natural human response to the fireworks display they had just seen. But a few weeks later, after things had calmed down on the mountaintop, their reaction was quite different. Suddenly they were seized with another longing for “back home in Egypt.” They even went so far as to make themselves a god like the bull gods worshipped back there beside the Nile.

But even that rebellion with the golden calf became a learning experience for the people who had chosen to follow God out into the wilderness. They learned how much Moses cared about them when he asked God to pardon them, and they learned that the God they had met at Sinai was a gracious, forgiving God. Oh yes, lightning and thunder would be an important part of their relationship with Him. But so would the grace of a forgiving Father.

There is much more, of course, in the 40 chapters of Exodus. A lot of description, pages of instructions on how to build a tabernacle where God would dwell in the center of the nation, lengthy descriptions of how priests should dress and what they should do.

But the book of Exodus is best summed up in the brief vignettes I’ve mentioned: God’s delivering His people from slavery; God’s giving of the law; the people’s natural responses--YES, we’ll do it (as long as you’re watching) NO, we won’t when we think you’re not looking; and the people’s all-too-normal longing to go back to simpler times when they didn’t have to respond to a God who was personally interested in them.

The lesson of the book is clear: God loves His children; He wants us to be with Him; He will be faithful and true to us.

And the challenge is clear as well. The challenge to respond to God, and to follow Him, even when things get rough along the way.

I want to take that challenge, and to be true to God, as He is to me. How about you?