Powerpoint Pictures: David Cameron; Gordon Brown; Barak Obama; George Bush; Queen Elizabeth II; King George Vi; Roy Hodgson, Fabio Capello [Need to be updated as these change]

Who is the current Prime Minister?  [David Cameron]  Who was the Prime Minister before David Cameron? [Gordon Brown]

Who is the current President of USA? [Barak Obama]  Who was the President before Barak Obama? [George Bush]

Who is the current monarch of Great Britain? [Queen Elizabeth II]  Who was the monarch before Queen Elizabeth II? [King George VI]

Who is the current England manager? [Roy Hodgson]  Who was the England manager before Roy Hodgson? [Fabio Capello]

With a new leader things change and are done differently to how they were done before, and that was the case in Egypt as we’re going to see as we continue the Big Bible Adventure.

Joseph and his brothers have all died, and so had the Pharaoh or King who was in charge while they were alive too.

There was now a new Pharaoh in town and this one did know Joseph or how God used him to save the Egyptians (as well as Israelites) during the 7-year famine.

This Pharaoh saw that there were so many Israelites living in Egypt and was worried that in the future they might fight against the Egyptians.  So he made the Israelites his slaves.

Imagine for a moment what it would be like to be a slave in Egypt.  One of the jobs you had to do was make bricks.  And you made bricks by collecting straw.  It was backbreaking work.  Imagine having to do that all day, with no rest, and forever.  Life wouldn’t be much fun at all!

And as the number of Israelites increased, the Egyptians worked them harder and harder.  It was a desperate situation.

The Israelites needed help and they cried out to God, and then we read that “God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant [a promise he had made] with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.  So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.” (Exodus 2:24-25).

God heard the prayers of His people.  God was concerned about His people as He saw the situation they were in.  But would He do anything to help them?