Greg shared an image that he uses to represent how principalities and powers pollute the “air” we breathe by drawing on the impact of sins committed in the past. Norm shared his story of how he got out of living in poverty with the help of a friend who provided key opportunities.
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Getting Egypt Out
• Greg Boyd
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Greg shared an image that he uses to represent how principalities and powers pollute the “air” we breathe by drawing on the impact of sins committed in the past. These powers were presented as a toxic cloud drawing power from sins committed against groups of people both in our history and presently. Whenever individuals or groups oppressed people, they were feeding this cloud and it grew
stronger and poisoned the air even more. This increases the tension between various groups of people.
When we talk about people escaping the cycle of poverty, it is important to understand that this is not simply about a person or family moving from having too few physical resources to having enough. It is also about breaking the cycles that keep us trapped in poverty. To illustrate this, Greg took us to Num. 11 to remember the story of the Israelites as they were freed from Egyptian captivity. At times, when things were difficult, the Israelites sincerely wanted to go back to captivity where they understood the rules of the game and knew how to make do. This may strike us as incredible, but we have to remember that these people had never known freedom from Egypt before. This tribe had been in captivity for 400 years! Generation after generation had known only the life of a slave in Egypt. So
even though God used Moses to get the people out of Egypt, there was still much work to be done to get the patterns of thinking they had learned out of them.
Norm shared his story of how he got out of living in poverty with the help of a friend/mentor/father figure named Doug who provided key opportunities as well as consistent challenges to Norm’s way of thinking which was shaped by his environment. Norm shared the challenges he faced as he strove to escape from poverty. He met resistance from many surprising places. Perhaps the strongest resistance was from his own father and those he considered his friends.
Hide Extended SummaryTopics: Fear, Hope, Poverty, Spiritual Warfare
Sermon Series: Compassion by Command
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Focus Scripture:
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Numbers 11:4-6
The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”
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