Preacher: Mr. Brendan Stamper. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Part 2 of Covenant Waterfall's catechism class on Covenant Theology - Covenant of Redemption Part 2. Teacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola. This catechism class series is based upon Faithful God: An Introduction to Covenant Theology by Antonio Coppola. The book is available internationally through Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0639967566 It is available in South Africa through Christian Book Discounters: https://www.christianbooks.co.za/shop/faithful-god/ For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

We South Africans tend to love to complain, especially around a braai! We complain about the government, loadshedding, terrible drivers on the roads, lament at how our country has degenerated, and we hark back to better times. I’m guilty of this, I think most of us are. It's one thing to voice the reality around us, another to get utterly consumed by it, bitter and twisted about it as this makes us even more frustrated and really solves nothing. In this passage we see that after three days of wandering in the parched wilderness, God leads the Israelites to a spring with bitter waters. There, instead of trusting in God’s faithfulness and goodness, the Israelites moan and complain. What we will see here is that God leads us to bitter waters in order to sanctify us. Preacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Part 1 of Covenant Waterfall's catechism class on Covenant Theology - Introduction. Teacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola. This catechism class series is based upon Faithful God: An Introduction to Covenant Theology by Antonio Coppola. The book is available internationally through Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0639967566 It is available in South Africa through Christian Book Discounters: https://www.christianbooks.co.za/shop/faithful-god/ For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

If you’ve ever been to a stadium to watch a sports event, you’ll know that when the final whistle goes, shouts and songs of celebration erupt from the winning side throughout the stadium. The natural response to a victory is celebration in song. How much more appropriate is it then to sing and celebrate when it is God who has won the victory? This is precisely what we see in this text. Last week we saw how God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt by his mighty hand and outstretched arm by miraculously opening up the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to pass through in safety to the other side, while destroying Pharaoh and the host of Egypt. Now, safely on the shores, the Israelites celebrate their deliverance. They celebrate God who has crushed their enemy and saved them. How do they celebrate this victory? Through a song of praise, a song that sings of the mighty salvation of our God. What we’re going to see in this text is that because the Lord has saved us with his mighty hand and outstretched arm, we are to sing praises to his name. Preacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Part 31 of Covenant Waterfall's catechism class on the Doctrine of God: The Providence of God, Part 3 (Miracles). Teacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

We’ve come to what is one of the highpoints in the book of Exodus and indeed one of the most significant events in the whole of Scripture – the parting of the Red Sea, the moment of deliverance for Israel. This momentous event has often been used as a metaphor for many oppressed peoples throughout history. African American slaves, the Boers under British rule, black South Africans during apartheid, the poor in Latin America who were experiencing social injustice at the hands of the rich - all have seen this event as evidence that God was on their side against their oppressors. This event has been used to support what is known as liberation theology – that God is on the side of the poor and the oppressed and is against the rich and the oppressor. While all sorts of oppression and injustice are certainly sinful, to see that the parting of the Red Sea just teaches us that God is on the side of the oppressed is to really miss the point. Instead, what we’re going to see in this sermon is that this event is less about human longings for freedom, and more about our God who sovereignly and miraculously saves his people by his mighty hand and outstretched arm. In short, it’s all about the gospel. It’s about God who conquers his enemies and graciously delivers his people so that he alone will be glorified and he alone will be feared and worshipped as the true God and King over all. Preacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Part 30 of Covenant Waterfall's catechism class on the Doctrine of God: The Providence of God, Part 2. Teacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Preacher: Mr. Brendan Stamper. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Part 29 of Covenant Waterfall's catechism class on the Doctrine of God: The Providence of God, Part 1. Teacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Preacher: Mr. Brendan Stamper. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Part 28 of Covenant Waterfall's catechism class on the Doctrine of God: The Decree of God, Part 5 (History). Teacher: Mr. Brendan Stamper. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

In the early 1800s, a revival known as the Second Great Awakening swept through large parts of North America. Lots of open air, hell-fire preaching across the country. One of the revivalist preachers most associated with this awakening was Charles Finney. His approach to revival was not so much about trusting in the power of God’s Word and Spirit, but rather about following a formula in order to get desired results. Finney believed that if the preacher was able to manufacture the right atmosphere, right background music, apply various techniques with your voice, you could manipulate people into a certain emotional state that through that, in his eyes, achieve a revival. Here’s quote from him, “A revival is not a miracle, or dependent on a miracle, in any sense. It is a purely philosophical result of the right use of the constituted means.” The modern-day church growth movement owes much of its ideas to him. In fact, the concept of the “altar call” was invented by Finney. In this text, God calls Moses to preach his Word to Pharaoh and then tells him that Pharaoh is not going to listen in any case. Moses will do everything right – be a faithful prophet, a faithful preacher of God’s Word, yet it will fall upon deaf ears. Even a miracle is not going to change Pharaoh’s mind, as God has hardened his heart. What we’re going to see this morning is that because God is sovereign, his Word hardens some, and softens others. Preacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Part 27 of Covenant Waterfall's catechism class on the Doctrine of God: The Decree of God, Part 4 (Implications). Teacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Most of us can agree that times are tough here in South Africa. Corruption, loadshedding, economic decline – I don’t need to depress you anymore. But elections are around the corner. It’s absolutely possible that this election will bring a positive change. But there is also the real possibility that things may just get a whole lot worse. That we’ll jump from the pan into the fire… In this text, we see that Moses and Aaron come before Pharaoh and ask him to let the people of Israel go. He stubbornly refuses and on top of that, he significantly increases the level of brutality and cruelty inflicted upon Israel. They are pushed from the pan into the fire. They thought things couldn’t get worse and now they just have. And it all seems like a sick joke. God has just promised them through Moses that he would deliver them out of slavery. That promise is now really hard to believe in the midst of their new found circumstances. What we’re going to see here is that even though things may get very bad and may even seem that God is nowhere to be found, he remains faithful, even when we are faithless. Preacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Part 26 of Covenant Waterfall's catechism class on the Doctrine of God: The Decree of God, Part 3 (Reprobation). Teacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Perhaps you have been in a conversation about your faith in Christ with unbelieving friends or family. They respond to you along the lines of, “Well I’d love to believe all that, but I need a sign, as there’s no proof that God exists. Once I see a sign from God, then I’ll believe!” Or maybe even you have cried out to God for some kind of a sign that shows that he cares, that he’s near, that he indeed loves you. In this text, God provides signs through Moses for the elders of Israel so that they will believe that he has indeed sent Moses and that he does intend to save them from bondage in Egypt. Yet these same signs will also be performed before Pharaoh. The same signs lead to faith for the Israelites, yet hardness and unbelief in Pharaoh. What we’ll see here is that because God has defeated the powers of darkness by his mighty hand and outstretched arm – through signs – the only appropriate response is to trust and worship him. Preacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Part 25 of Covenant Waterfall's catechism class on the Doctrine of God: The Decree of God, Part 2 (Election). Teacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

There’s a reason why parents carefully take time to name their children. Names are hugely significant, they form part of your identity, as you hear your name numerous times every day. Any parent desires that the name they give to their child is not only going to sound good, but hold some special meaning. In a way, our names shape us, tell others something about ourselves, our character and perhaps even reveal something about our destiny. Throughout the Bible we see just how significant names are and how they are tied to one’s character and purpose. Consider Noah (“rest”), Abraham (“the father of a multitude”), Moses (“the one who draws out”), Joshua (“God saves”), Elijah (“God is the Lord”) just to name a few. If names hold such significance for us and these Bible characters in revealing something about their character and purpose, how much more important is it regarding God’s own name? In this text, for the very first time in the biblical narrative, does God reveal his own name to man. In doing so, he reveals something of his character, as the holy and eternal God – the Great I Am. What we will see here is because he is the holy, Great I Am, he alone is worthy of worship. Preacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Part 24 of Covenant Waterfall's catechism class on the Doctrine of God: The Decree of God, Part 1. Teacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola. For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!