Main Idea
We’ve all buried things in our lives secrets, shame, guilt, pain…hoping no one will ever see them. But what if those buried things are the very things keeping us stuck? In this week’s message, we learn that freedom requires honesty. Honesty with God and with ourselves.
Scripture
Exodus 2:11-16
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 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”
14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”
15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.
Exodus 3:1-12
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father,[a] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you[b] will worship God on this mountain.”
Exodus 5: 1
Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’”
Discussion Questions
- Icebreaker: What’s something funny or harmless you tried to hide as a kid but your family eventually found out?
- Why do you think it’s easier for people to hide pain, guilt, or secrets rather than face them?
- Read Exodus 2:11–15. What do you think was going through Moses’ mind after he buried the Egyptian? Can you relate to the feeling of running from something in your past?
- What’s one area in your life where God might be saying, “It’s time to stop running”? How can this group support you as you face it?
- The sermon said, “Freedom comes when you face what you’ve buried.” What step can you take this week to begin that process?
Moving Forward
You may feel like you’ve buried things so deep that even God wouldn’t want to deal with them. But the truth is He already sees it, and He’s not running away. He’s running toward you. Allow God to meet you at your burning bush moment and lead you into the freedom Jesus already secured for you.
