Preach Exodus! Week Two

This session creates opportunities for people of all ages to:

• think of ourselves as God’s ‘set free’ people
• look at the good things God has given us as his people – including one another – and thank him for them
• share experiences of discovering freedom from wrong attitudes to wealth and be honest about our difficulties in this area.

This week’s material is based on the ‘snapshot’ moment of the Israelites setting off from Egypt carrying a great wealth of Egyptian gold, silver and clothes along with large numbers of animals and people. This abundance of people and property all comes from God. The blessing of wealth was part of the freedom. As God’s people today, we are called to live in the freedom that Jesus has won for us in every area of our lives. That must include the right handling of money and possessions as a gift from God

The activities set this narrative alongside our own stories of freedom. The New Testament writers use imagery of slavery and freedom to describe what Jesus has done for us – setting us free from the slavery of sin and the ‘basic principles of the world’ (Galatians 4:3 NIV) – including attitudes to wealth and possessions. And they show us coming into this freedom inundated by God’s abundant riches – not an increase in our material wealth, but the riches of belonging to God, being made into his people together and of knowing him. Some of the activities use material from Ephesians 1-3 to bring this perspective.

• See the Exodus Introduction which explains more about their significance of the wealth Israel took from Egypt.
• Read the Week Two Introductionfor an overview of the theme and activities for this second week of the Exodus story.
• ExploreFree at Last! The Exodus Game. This game can be used as a one off here or as a "coming in" game at the start of later sessions to recap on the Exodus story so far.