C: Moses was one of the great men of the Bible. He was born around 1500 years before the birth of Jesus (1526 B.C.). At that time when the Israelites in Egypt (originally brought by Joseph 430 years earlier) had grown to several lakh in population, and they were working as slaves for the Egyptians. Their lives were very difficult.

Exodus 1:14
They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly.

C: This verse talks about the Egyptians' cruelty to the Israelites. Then Pharaoh decided to kill all the boys born to Hebrew parents

Exodus 1:22
Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: "Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live."

For this reason, when Moses was born, his mother hid him to save his life. Let's see what happened.

1. Chosen by God.

Exodus 2:1-10
1 Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman,
2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.
3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
5 Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it.
6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. "This is one of the Hebrew babies," she said.
7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?"
8 "Yes, go," she answered. And the girl went and got the baby's mother.
9 Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you." So the woman took the baby and nursed him.
10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water."

C: Moses' mother hid him at birth (v.2), so that the Egyptians would not kill him. But as he grew, it became harder to hide him. So she made a basket for him, and placed him in the river Nile (v.3).

Pharoah's daughter was bathing at that very moment, and she saw the basket in the river (v.5). She felt compassion on baby Moses (v.6). Moses' sister noticed this, and immediately she asked the sister if she could go and get a Hebrew woman to nurse the child (v.7). And so Moses' sister got his mother to come and nurse him! So Pharaoh's daughter paid Moses' mother to nurse him (v.9). The child ended up in Pharaoh's house, growing up with the Pharaoh's daughter (v.10). It is amazing how God watches over us!

C: We see two great examples in this passage. Pharaoh's daughter felt pity in her heart towards a suffering child, and she was willing to take a risk, pay her own money, and make sure this child was OK. If you feel like doing something good, go ahead and do it! That feeling is from God.

Moses' sister also acted in a great way. She seized the opportunity when she saw Pharaoh's daughter looking at the baby. She was confident. She was sensitive to how Pharaoh's daughter was feeling. She grabbed the chance.

So often God puts opportunities in our path, but we miss them because we are too afraid.

Q: What are some opportunities that God gives us?
* New job.
* Making new friends.
* Inviting someone on the road, at a bus stand, or on a bus.
* To encourage someone who is down.
* To help the poor.

C: Moses was chosen by God. God made sure that he lived, that he got a loving upbringing (by his mother and Pharaoh's daughter), and that he had great opportunities to be trained as a leader. He must have learned a lot living in the house of the ruler of Egypt!

We also are chosen by God. Out of all the millions of people in our city, he picked us. Let's get fired up about that. And let's have the conviction that God has chosen each of us so that we can help save others.

2. Living by Faith

Hebrews 11:24-28
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.
26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

Q: Once Moses had grown up, what did he do (v.24)? [He refused to be known as the son of Pharoah's daughter.]

C: Moses could have had great wealth and position. Instead, he gave it all up to be with his people (v.25). He would rather be disgraced for his cause than have the wealth of Egypt (v.26). He did this because he was looking forward to heaven he saw the invisible God (v.27).

C: We face a similar choice in our lives when we follow Jesus. The way of sin appears to be easy at first, but it turns out to be very difficult. The right path is tough at the beginning, but it leads to eternal life. Think about your life.

Q: What is the tough choice you are facing right now? Will you live by faith, like Moses, or will you compromise? What are some examples of decisions we must make?
* Putting God 1st or exams.
* Giving up a girlfriend/boyfriend.
* Rejecting our family's arranged marriage.
* Standing up to family opposition that we are disciples.
* Going out of town for too long.
* Giving generously for special contribution.
* Secretly sinning or living purely.
* Living lazily or on the cutting edge.
* Hating others or finally forgiving.

C: Let's all live by faith in the coming weeks, having great quiet times, and making right decisions.

3. Standing for His Convictions.

Exodus 2:11-12
11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.
12 Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

Q: After Moses had grown up, what did he see one day (v.11)? [An Egyptian was beating a Hebrew man (v.11).]

What did Moses do? [He killed the man and hid him in the sand (v.12).]

Acts 7:25-30
25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.
26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, 'Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?'
27 "But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, 'Who made you ruler and judge over us?
28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'
29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.
30 "After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.

C: In verse 25, we see that Moses thought that his people would realise that God was using him to rescue them, but instead they criticised him! Sometimes people don't understand our good deeds. The next day, Moses tried to break up a fight between two Hebrews, but one of them asked him if he would again kill one of them, like he had done to the Egyptian
28).

But even though people did not understand him, Moses stood strong for his convictions. In the same way, we must stand strong. Sometimes our families, our bosses, our friends, or even our neighbours or landlords criticise us for following Jesus. People criticise us for telling the truth, being pure, and coming to meetings. But we must stand strong, because they also criticised Moses and even Jesus. Don't ever let negative people stop you from doing what is right!

4. Protected by God.

Exodus 2:16-25
16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father's flock.
17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.
18 When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, "Why have you returned so early today?"
19 They answered, "An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock."
20 "And where is he?" he asked his daughters. "Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat."
21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.
22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, "I have become an alien in a foreign land."
23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.
24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.
25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

C: Even though Pharaoh had tried to kill Moses (v.15), we see here that Moses escaped. He saw some young ladies drawing water. Then some shepherds came and were unkind to the girls, but Moses protected them. Moses also gave water to their animals (v.17). They told their father about him, and the father invited Moses to stay (v.21). Moses married the man's daughter Zipporah (v.21) and had kids. He was there for 40 years (Acts 7:30). But God saw the suffering of the Israelites, and was concerned for them (v.25). Soon he would call Moses again to save his people.

C: In these verses we see that even in a foreign land, Moses was protected by God. Moses cared about others, and God blessed his righteousness. He stood up for his convictions, and God stood up for him! When we do what is right, God will bless us and take care of us.

Conclusion

God had chosen Moses from the beginning to do great things for him. God has chosen us, too. Let's make sure we stand strong by our convictions. Let's make the right decisions in our lives.