Exodus Week 1: Small Group Guide
Exodus: The Way Out
Week 1 — Exodus 1–2
This small group study and discussion guide is based on the sermon preached at Valley Life Church on September 13, 2026. The sermon video and audio is available on our website, youTube, and your preferred podcasting app.
BEFORE YOU MEET
Encourage group members to read Exodus 1–2 and Genesis 50:15–21 before gathering. Ask them to come ready to share one moment in their life when they felt like God was silent or absent.
OPENING QUESTION
Take a few minutes to get the conversation started. Keep it light and accessible.
Think of a time when you felt completely stuck — trapped by a circumstance, a relationship, or a season of life. What did that feel like, and what eventually helped you move forward?
SERMON RECAP
This week Valley Life Church opened a new series in the book of Exodus by grounding it in its Genesis background. God made a covenant with Abraham and Sarah — a seemingly impossible promise to an old, childless couple — that their descendants would be so numerous they would outnumber the stars and the grains of sand. That promise was not simply for Abraham's family. It was meant to flow through them as a blessing to every family and nation on earth. The story of Joseph showed that even betrayal and slavery could not stop God from keeping that promise. As Exodus begins, the Israelites find themselves enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. Yet the text records a turning point: God heard their groaning, God remembered his covenant, God saw his people, and God knew. The week we established that Exodus is not merely a record of what God once did. It is a revelation of who God is and what he continues to do.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
God's promises to his people are not cancelled by suffering, delay, or opposition — they are often advanced through them.
The blessing God gives his people is not meant to stop with them. They are called to be channels of that blessing to the world.
Exodus is the defining story of redemption in the Old Testament, and it shapes the entire Bible's understanding of salvation, deliverance, and God's character.
Even in 400 years of silence, God had not forgotten. He heard. He remembered. He saw. He knew.
You are seen, you are known, and you are loved — even when circumstances suggest otherwise.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Work through as many of these as time allows. Do not feel pressure to cover every question.
Getting Into the Text
Genesis 12 is described as a "drastic right turn" in the biblical story, where God shifts from addressing all of humanity broadly to calling out one specific family to carry out his mission. Why do you think God chose to work this way? What does that approach say about how God tends to operate?
God promised Abraham blessing and a great name, but then immediately clarified the purpose: "so that you will be a blessing." What is the difference between receiving a blessing and being a blessing? How does that distinction challenge the way we typically think about God's favor in our own lives?
Joseph told his brothers, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good." How does Joseph's story in Genesis set up the themes we will see throughout Exodus? What does it teach us about how God works through painful and unjust circumstances?
Exodus 1 describes the Israelites being oppressed, enslaved, and threatened with the murder of their newborn sons. Yet the text keeps noting that they continued to multiply and grow stronger. What do you think the author wants us to understand about God through that repeated observation?
Exodus 2:24 records that God heard, remembered, saw, and knew. The people had been enslaved for 400 years before this moment. What questions does that long silence raise for you? What does God's response in that passage tell us about the kind of God he is?
Going Deeper
Pastor Adam described the Bible as "Exodus-shaped" — meaning that redemption, deliverance, Passover, covenant, and God's presence as described in Exodus become the lens through which the entire Bible, including the New Testament, explains who God is and what salvation means. How does knowing that background change the way you read or understand the story of Jesus?
The sermon described three movements in Exodus: the way out, the way through, and the way in. Which of those three movements resonates most with where you are in your own life right now? Are you longing for a way out of something, needing strength to get through something, or seeking a deeper sense of God's presence?
Pastor Adam closed by naming specific forms of slavery people carry into a Sunday morning — addiction, the weight of others' expectations, shame over the past, fear of the future. Which of those resonates with you, and how does the Exodus story speak to it?
Personal Reflection
Is there an area of your life where you have started to wonder whether God has forgotten you or his promises to you? How does the Exodus narrative challenge or comfort you in that place?
The Bible teaches that God's people were meant to be "funnels" — channels through which God's blessing flows to others. In practical terms, what would it look like for your life, your family, or this group to function that way in your neighborhood, workplace, or community?
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
Choose one or two of these to discuss or commit to as a group before your next meeting.
Read ahead. As a group, commit to reading Exodus 1–6 before the next session. Come ready to share one thing that surprised or moved you.
Identify your Egypt. Take time this week to honestly name one area of your life where you feel trapped, enslaved, or without a way forward. Write it down. Bring it to God in prayer each day this week, and ask him to help you trust that he sees, hears, and knows.
Be a blessing this week. God's design was always for his people to funnel blessing outward. Identify one specific person outside your immediate circle — a neighbor, coworker, or someone in need — and do something intentional and tangible to bless them this week. Come back next week ready to share what happened.
Memorize a truth. Reflect on the closing truth from the sermon: God heard, God remembered, God saw, and God knew. Write those four phrases somewhere you will see them daily. Let them serve as an anchor when circumstances tempt you to believe God has forgotten you.
CLOSING PRAYER PROMPTS
Close your time together in prayer. Consider praying through these themes:
Thank God for being a God who hears, remembers, sees, and knows.
Ask for faith to trust his promises even in long seasons of silence or suffering.
Pray for one another by name, specifically for the areas where group members feel trapped or enslaved.
Ask God to make your group a channel of blessing to the people and community around you.
Next Week: Continue in Exodus as we look at the raising up of Moses and the early movements of God's plan to set his people free.
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