Out of Egypt · Fall 2026 · Sept 13 – Jan 3 · working schedule
Exodus mapped to Acts
Three Exodus Sundays, then one Acts Sunday that gathers the block. Every Exodus week carries the Acts passage that echoes it, so the anchor slide, the 30-second audio, and the midweek email can always point across the aisle.
“I got you out of Egypt; these instructions are designed to get Egypt out of you.”
The Fall · Sept 13 – Nov 22
Speakers as currently planned. Bold Acts references are the recommendation where the plan still says “still deciding.”
Empire notices you
Sept 13 – 27Speaker: Donnell
Conditions of oppression · Joseph recap · series vision
Stephen retells this exact passage: “a king to whom Joseph meant nothing.” Acts 4:1-2, 5:17: growth makes the authorities afraid.
Speaker: Hannah
The midwives, the women, Moses’ birth
“No ordinary child,” raised by Pharaoh’s daughter. Acts 6:1: widows overlooked in the daily distribution.
Acts 6:1-7
recommended · alternatives on the plan: Acts 2:42-47, Acts 10
Both stories open with a people multiplying (Exodus 1:7; Acts 6:1, 7). Pharaoh answers growth with fear, manufactured division, and forced labor. The church answers growth by noticing the overlooked widows and putting a cross-cultural team of seven in charge of the tables. The midwives and the seven both use their bodies to serve those underfoot.
Leaving
A world where growth is a threat.
Entering
A community where growth means more tables.
Who am I?
Oct 4 – 25Moses’ exile
“Who made you ruler and judge over us?” and God hears the groaning. Acts 9:23-25: Saul lowered in a basket, into exile.
The burning bush
Stephen on the bush. Acts 9:3-6: light, a voice, a name: “I am Jesus.”
Moses’ calling and his objections
“Unschooled, ordinary men.” Acts 9:15: “my chosen instrument.” Acts 4:29-31: they ask for boldness.
Acts 4
set on the plan · “ordinary, unschooled men” · “the place was shaken”
Moses says “I have never been eloquent”; God says “I will help you speak.” Peter and John are unschooled, ordinary men, and the council can only note that “they had been with Jesus.” The community prays for boldness and the place is shaken.
Leaving
Disqualification.
Entering
Boldness that comes from having been with God.
It gets worse first
Nov 1 – 22“Who is the LORD?” · Pharaoh increases the burden · the foremen turn on Moses
“By what power or what name?” and Gamaliel. Acts 16:19-24: the owners lose their income and Paul and Silas are beaten.
Moses’ complaint · “I am the LORD” · the people cannot hear for their broken spirit
The community’s prayer under threat. Acts 16:25: singing at midnight. Acts 7:35: “this same Moses they rejected.”
Staff and snake · Pharaoh’s magicians · the hardened heart
“Stiff-necked… you always resist the Holy Spirit.” Acts 13:6-12: Elymas the sorcerer. Acts 8:9-24: Simon the magician.
Acts 7
recommended · alternatives on the plan: Acts 6, Acts 10
Acts 7:17-44 is the longest retelling of Moses in the New Testament and covers exactly the fall’s ground, Exodus 1 through 7, in one speech. Stephen names the pattern of rejection and hard hearts, then dies at the hands of Empire forgiving his killers. His vision of the Son of Man standing hands the series to Advent and Luke 1 the next Sunday.
Leaving
Hearts hardened against what God is doing.
Entering
A story big enough to die inside.
Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany (unchanged)
Luke 1 through Dec 20, with the congregation reading Luke 1 weekly. Dec 24 John 1:1-5, 14. Dec 27 Gratitude Service. Jan 3 Matthew 2, Christ the true and greater Moses.