Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #10203 - Excuses, Excuses Pt. 1 - Exodus 3

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#10203 - Excuses, Excuses Pt. 1 - Exodus 3 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the Study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through a
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bounding Grace media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now here's Pastor Ed to take us
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into our study. Amen.
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Take your Bibles. Open them to Exodus Chapter 3.
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Exodus chapter 3. And I've entitled our Bible
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study Excuses Excuses, Part One, so you can guess.
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Next Time Excuses Excuses Part 2.
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But today it's part one. Because we all have in our lives
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these times where instead of offering up obedience and
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surrender, we offer up to God. Excuses.
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Sometimes we call them reasons, other times we call them
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explanations or justifications. But many times they're just
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fancy words to describe our excuses.
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As someone once said and I quote If it's important to you, you'll
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find a way. If it's not, you'll find an
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excuse. I was like, man, if it's
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important to you, you'll find a way, but if not, you'll find an
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excuse. So much of what God wants to do
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in and through US simply disappears with an explanation
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of why it can't happen or an excuse why we don't want to do
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it. You know, the word excuse when
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you define it in the dictionary means to grant an exemption or
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to be released from. And it seems like the easy way
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out at times, the quick fix. And yet the Lord is looking for
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that woman and for that man that will rise above the excuses and
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the reasons and the exemptions, living out our lives in loyalty
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to him, walking by faith and obedience.
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And here we are in the book of Exodus.
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We've seen that the time for deliverance has come to the
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nation. They are in a place where they
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need and want deliverance. They've been in bondage now for
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hundreds of years. It's only gotten worse.
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They are literally slave laborers building with handmade
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bricks. Notice back in chapter one and
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verse 14, it says. And they made their lives bitter
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with hard bondage, in mortar, in brick, in all manner of service
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in the field. All their service in which they
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made them serve was with rigor, and in order for there to be a
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deliverance, there must be a deliverer.
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And God has found one. Will he send a powerful legion
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of angels? He could.
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Will he send a seasoned veteran? You know, believer someone, he's
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trained well. One that's ready, willing and
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able. Not in this case.
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In this case, God sends an 80 year old failure.
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An 80 year old failure. You'll remember Moses at about
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the age of 40, felt that sense in his heart to deliver the
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nation. He took things into his own
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hands. He looked to the left, he looked
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to the right. He failed to look up and he
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murdered that Egyptian and he found out that everybody knew.
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And he ran away into the backside of the desert where he
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spends 40 years of his life in obscurity.
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A man who tried, tried on his own to deliver the nation, but
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miserably failed. Now God in the desert.
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It was the desert experience where a call comes upon his
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life, where there's development and discipleship and strength
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and God is preparing his man. Even you and I, we're being
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prepared in the situation that we're in right now.
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You could call it a desert experience, something that's dry
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and difficult, perhaps the result of your own failures,
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your own flesh. But God has not abandoned you.
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He's developing you, training you, helping you to become the
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woman and the man that he wants. Remember, this is a theme that's
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been coming up quite a bit in our Bible studies over the last
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few weeks. Remember this.
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God's ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our
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thoughts, he says. For as the heavens are higher
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than the earth, Isaiah 55 verses 8:00 and 9:00.
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As the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher
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than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
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We see this so clearly in the people that God uses.
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It's different than the way the world will measure a woman,
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measure a man. The basis of God's choice is
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contrary to human reason. It's contrary to what you would
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expect. You want proof?
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Just look around. These are the ones that God has
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chosen. Not many wise.
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Can I get an Amen on that? Not many from a noble
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upbringing. Not many that look.
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Look at that and go, oh, this is what I deserve.
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Don't be speaking about what you deserve now.
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We deserve such the opposite of what we received from the Lord.
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He's been so good and gracious to us and He's chosen to use us.
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Look who God has chosen. Take a good look at yourself in
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the mirror. Even if you're much farther
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advanced than some of us, even if you're much more wise than
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some of us, even if you're much more educated than some, even if
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you're much more ex you know, trained and prepared, and you
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have all this experience. Even still, God has chosen the
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foolish things of the world to confound the wise so that he
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might get all the glory. We think of someone like Peter.
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Would you have picked Peter after his failure?
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That guy? I think he's got a future.
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Maybe before, perhaps, but after.
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Would you have picked the Sons of Thunder to be in your inner
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circle? I mean, what those guys are,
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Wildman? Would you have picked Matthew,
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Jonah, Jacob, all of his kids? But God did, and this is what
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I've learned. God so often chooses the
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unlikely candidates so that he receives all the glory, so that
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he receives all the attention, so that you do look and you just
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scratch your head and wonder. Is this even true?
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Is this even possible? I believe also God will choose
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the foolish things of the world because it encourages fools like
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us. Well, we see God's hand upon
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just a regular person. Just we see God's anointing not
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because of training, not because they're so smart, not because of
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their hours of study or their years of experience.
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But you see the anointing of God.
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You see the hand of God upon someone.
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Then you look at yourself and you go, you know, I don't have
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much to offer. I don't have much schooling.
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I don't have much smarts. I don't have much to offer.
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But, you know, I want to be the man that receives the anointing
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of God. I want to be used by him.
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I want to be the one he picks up when I fall.
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I want to be the one that lives out.
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The scripture though, a man fall seven times.
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Have you counted how many times you've fallen?
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Though? A man falls seven times, You
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know, seven times and I've lost count.
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Yeah, but he'll rise again. Why?
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Because of God's faithfulness in your life of his goodness.
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It's not God's desire that man get the credit.
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He doesn't want any man lifted up except the man Christ Jesus,
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that he might be high and lifted up.
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So God often chooses people that are rejected, people that are
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looked down upon, so that he gets all the glory, all of it,
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including now Moses. Moses at this phase in his life
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is a failure. He's failed greatly.
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And I hope as we study the life of Moses that you are encouraged
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in your own personal walk. Because if God can use Moses and
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God can still use you, you just need to come to him, submit to
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him, allow the circumstances in your life.
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You know what happens is so often we fight against the
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circumstances that God allows into our lives sends into our
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lives. We fight.
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We fight. We fight.
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We fight. We fight.
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Instead of humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God so
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that he might lift us up, we push back.
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We push back. We push back.
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We complain, We complain, We complain on and on the instead
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of allowing the circumstances to cut away the flesh to humble us,
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to bring us more dependent, more surrender where we finally just
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wave the the white flag. Lord, you're right.
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My life belongs to you. We serve the God of the second
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chance. Amen.
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And the 3rd and the 100th. We know the God of the second
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chance. He allows us to experience these
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failures so that we might see his strength in our own weakness
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after 40 years in the desert as we jump into the chapter today,
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Moses is a different man. He might have even overcorrected
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a little bit as we study this chapter, but he finds himself
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very different than he was trying to take things into his
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own hands. 40 years in the wilderness has changed him.
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And by the way, 40 years in the wilderness will change you too.
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40 days, 40 weeks, 40 months, 40 years.
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Time alone with the Lord will change a woman, change a man.
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Trials, difficulties, consequences.
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They've educated him, As we learned last time.
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He's earning that BSD degree, the backside of the desert.
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He's getting alone with the Lord, being pulled away so that
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he might learn personally. Earlier he was a very eager man,
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eager to deliver, but now, 40 years later, he's very
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reluctant, very hesitant, and as we'll see, he's full of excuses.
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Notice with me now in verse one of chapter 3.
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Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the
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priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the desert,
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came to Horeb, the mountain of God, and the Angel of the Lord
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appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a Bush.
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So he looked, and behold, the Bush burned with fire.
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But the Bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, I will now turn
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aside to see this great sight. Why does the Bush not burn?
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So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called
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him from the midst of the Bush, and said, Moses, Moses.
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And he said, here I am. And then he said, do not draw
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near this place. Take your sandals off your feet
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for the place where you stand, this holy ground.
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Moreover, he said, I am the God of your father, the God of
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Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
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And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.
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Here is the great deliverer, alone, isolated, tending the
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flock of his father-in-law. He's a shepherd every day,
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listening and smelling and chasing and caring for sheep
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that weren't even his. How different than his
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upbringing in Egypt, where he would have the best of the best
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of the best of the best that the world had to offer.
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And now he's at the backside of the desert to have the best of
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the best of the best that God had to offer.
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You got to get this church. You got to get this whatever
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station in life you are right now, and the best that you might
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enjoy this world. It's the exact opposite of what
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the Father has for you, chasing after the things of this world
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and going after them and making them the goal until you get
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them. And then you find out it wasn't
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really all that worth it. It wasn't really what you
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thought it would be. I think of how many people I've
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met over the years, and even in the beginning I was a little bit
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like this myself. Chasing after the buck and
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chasing after the career and chasing after the titles and
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chasing after the promotions until I started getting a few of
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them only to find out, and this is not what I thought it was at
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all. This is hard stuff, man.
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And how many times have you said this?
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You don't have to Amen or even raise your hand.
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But I could tell by your faces, if you've ever said this, they
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don't pay me enough for this. Exactly.
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Exactly. And you know what the Lord has
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for you. Perhaps you pursue again, it's
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perspective, right? It's in the right perspective
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because if God has you on that track to have responsibility at
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work, that's what he has for you.
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If he has you on that track to progress and have a place of
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authority, that's what he has for you.
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I'm not speaking about the things that He has for you.
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I'm speaking about your heart of those matters.
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You see, what the world had to offer for Moses in Egypt was not
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his value. All the money, all the food, all
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the the, the luxury was nothing compared to what he received in
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the desert. Because all that he received in
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the desert, the training, the discipleship, the humility, what
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he really received was a deeper walk with the Lord.
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He learned how to hear his voice.
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He learned how to pay attention to burning bushes.
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Like burning bushes. Yeah.
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Here he is, faithfully taking care of the sheep.
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Unknown, unseen. Nobody cares about this guy.
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Nobody's talking about him in Egypt.
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Nobody's writing blogs about him or posting on social media.
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He's not doing selfies with the sheep.
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Posting him on Instagram. Look at me.
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I'm nobody in the desert. No, he's in isolation.
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As God develops him and he comes across this Bush, that's on
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fire, but it's not burning away. It's a regular day.
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It's a regular day in his life, just like the day before.
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Probably like the day that's going to come after.
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But on this particular ordinary day, God is about to intervene
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and change things for Moses. Incredibly.
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Which reminds me, if you're taking notes, I want you to
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understand this. God doesn't always warn us when
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He's ready to jump into our lives dramatically.
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He doesn't always warn us. And go, OK, I just want you to
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know this Friday at three O 2:00 PM, look out your window.
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I'm going to meet you. You know that Bush that you
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always complaining about? It's going to be on fire.
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And I want you to take your shoes out.
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Go meet me at the Bush and I'll talk to you.
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He doesn't do that. And by the way, I don't want you
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looking out your window for burning bushes.
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OK? This is a unique time in the
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life of Moses. But he doesn't warn us.
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He doesn't say This is the day he wants us.
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What? To be ready.
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You remember, Jesus was teaching about the 10 virgins?
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Five were wise and five were foolish.
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What made the five foolish? They weren't ready.
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They didn't have their Wicks trimmed and their oil filled.
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They weren't ready. They were neglecting a sense of
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being ready for all that God had for them.
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Why do we read our Bible and pray every day to be ready?
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Why are we waking up in the morning and and just orienting
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our life through devotional life, through prayer life just
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in our minds toward the things of the Lord to be ready?
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I know it's an ordinary day. I know you have work planned
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tomorrow and you've got a stack of things you left, and I know
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it's an ordinary day, but God has something for you.
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He's going to meet you there. It could be something dramatic,
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or it could be something less dramatic.
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But notice he uses the Bush here to get his attention.
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And as he turns his attention toward in verse three, toward
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this Bush that doesn't burn, the Lord met him there and called
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out to him. Moses, Moses, verse four.
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And the response was here I am. He was ready.
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He was ready at this Bush that was on fire.
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And the Lord spoke to him. The Lord spoke to him in what's
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commonly known as a theophany, or sometimes referred to as a
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Christophany, A preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ prior
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to coming in the womb of his mother.
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We find him in different places, coming and appearing, speaking
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the truth. Genesis Chapter 16 or Genesis 22
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Exodus 14 Later on, or Numbers 22 judges chapter 2.
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It says right there in verse 2. Then the Angel of the Lord
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appeared to him this ordinary day with these ordinary sheep.
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With this ordinary Bush, the desert became a sacred place.
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Take your sandals off, man. You're in the presence of God.
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Gives us a different perspective, doesn't it?
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Of what you do every day. It gives you a different
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perspective of the place that I work, my office, my cubicle, my
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truck. Because the opposite takes place
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far too often. Why am I working here?
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I want to work there. Why am I here?
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I want to be there. And we forget.
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Wherever we are, we're on holy ground, ordained of God.
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Any place can be a great place when the Lord is there.
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So therefore, any place is a great place because the Lord is
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there. You can look to him.
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Make that your prayer church. Be ready.
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You don't need a burning Bush. You go.
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OK, pastor, I'll give you a burning Bush, and then I'll pay
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attention. No, no, no, no.
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Because if we lit it on fire, it'd be gone.
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Like then your fence and everything.
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We all get in trouble. So God is going to use what it
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needs to get your attention. He has His ways, doesn't he?
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God has His ways to get our attention, to remind us that
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we're on holy ground, that wherever the sole of our feet
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tread, God told Joshua. Remember, I've given to you
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those are your that's your place, because I have you where
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I want you and I want you to be faithful.
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There. Notice in verse 6 again.
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Moreover, he said I am the God of your father, the God of
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Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.
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Moses hid his face, for he's afraid to look upon God.
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And the Lord said verse seven. I've surely seen the oppression
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of my people who are in Egypt, and I've heard their cry because
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of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
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If you'd like to write in your Bibles, mark these words seen,
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heard and know, and you could put yourself in this text.
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God has certainly seen the oppression you're facing.
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He's heard your cry and He knows your sorrows.
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God knows and his response in verse eight I'm going to come
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down. I've come down to deliver them
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the reward in difficult times as God draws near to us, the Bible
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says. As we draw near to Him, He draws
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near to us. These are ways to draw near
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here. Hearing their cries expressing
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their sorrows, God is ready to come down.
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Verse eight out of I've come to to down to deliver them out of
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the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land
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to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and
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honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites, and
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the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and
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the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry
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of the children of Israel has come to me, and I've also seen
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the oppression with with which the Egyptians oppressed them.
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Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you
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may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of
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Egypt. God says.
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I've heard their cry. God hears our cries, and he's
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ready to come down to deliver. It's been 40 years now since
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Moses ran away, and he's learned faithfulness.
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He's learned contentment. He's learned solitude.
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He's learned a life of quiet confidence in the Lord.
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He's learned to tune his ear to the voice of the Lord.
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He's learned not to dismiss supernatural things, which the
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burning Bush. It would be a supernatural
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thing. It would be something that is
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special and unique and not just going through the day, but
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living in such a way where I pause at the miraculous and I
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look for it in my life. Then in notice in verse 10 there
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is a call upon his life. Come now, therefore, I will send
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you to Pharaoh. And so he's in this holy ground.
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God has got his attention. It's no ordinary day.
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And the call comes upon Moses. It's a very clear call.
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It's often times when there's men and women battling, you
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know, serving in the ministry. We teach you this in the school
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ministry as well. But you got to fall back on the
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call, because everything is going to.
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The enemy's going to pull out all the stops to discourage you,
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to take you out, to make you feel like you heard wrong, to
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make you want the past, to make you want to go back, to make you
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want to run away. And you've got to listen and
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stick and hold on to the call. Just like God here.
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Hey, Moses, I'm going to send you.
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Moses doesn't like the call, but he needs to hold on to it
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because it's from God. This is where God wants him, and
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he's prepared for it. Notice.
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Come now, I'm going to send you. You're going to go back into the
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Kingdom there. And we're about to read Moses
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Response. Before he goes, I count at least
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five excuses that he offers in trying to sidestep the will of
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God, the call of God upon his life.
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And one of the things I want you to notice in the background is,
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is that even though he has valid reasons, valid explanations,
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even as he assesses himself and may be true in some respects,
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his excuses don't change the heart of God, and his excuses
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don't change the call of God upon his life.
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Mark that as you go through. Now notice with me in verse 11.
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But Moses said to God, I'm ready to go.
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I can't wait. I'm going to obey you with all
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my no, no, no, no, no. Because verse 11 started with
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the but and so verse 10 says, come now I'm going to send you.
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And then Moses. Oh no, no, no.
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Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring
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the children of Israel out of Egypt.
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Excuse number one, who am I? Almost a false humility here.
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Who are you? Moses?
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You're the dude that just saw the burning Bush and heard the
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voice of God. That's who you are.
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But that's not how he's looking at He's looking at his
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resources. He's looking really, as he
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examines himself. What we might say today, you
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know, what about my education? What about my experience?
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Like, who am I? You know, where, you know, where
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I grew up, You, you know, the family I came from you, you, you
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know that you know. And you started examining
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yourself, comparing yourself to anyone.
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Someone else says, Who am I? Well, we know who he's not.
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We know he's not the man that was eager and cocky and wanting
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to take things into his own hands anymore.
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God has been working that out of him.
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But he's also in this place where he's still learning this
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valuable lesson. He's learning that apart from
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God and his power, he was nothing.
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He was weak on his own, but here he's learning that in God, God
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can re enlist him into the call upon his life and he can still
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be used. Do you ever feel inadequate?
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You can say Amen to that. I feel inadequate all the time
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when I'm taking greater steps of faith.
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I generally don't feel inadequate when I'm in a place
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of comfort and ease. I'm sure you've seen the same
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thing when everything's the way it is and there's no big
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challenges and no big issues. I don't see a build depth of
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prayer like from me. I mean it's not like I'm
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prayerless but I'm not desperate if I haven't been taking steps
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of faith or great issues I've never dealt with before I'm just
24:51
like, hey I like the waters calm.
24:53
I I mean just as a human just just pastor.
24:56
Friend to friend, brother to sister, brother to brother.
24:59
Like I'm not too I don't feel I don't have feelings of
25:02
inadequacy when what's before me seems to be within my what do
25:06
they say in the world in my wheelhouse?
25:08
If it's in my wheelhouse, then I don't feel too inadequate.
25:11
So you know what God does? He gives me different
25:13
wheelhouses so that I will then feel.
25:16
I would just say this if you haven't felt inadequate lately
25:21
to the task before you. My question is, have you really
25:24
taken a step of faith? Because God wants you to feel
25:28
inadequate in your own resources, so you'll cry out to
25:30
him. And So what do we want?
25:32
We want confidence. We want to know that we've can
25:35
figure this out and we'll take care of it and don't worry about
25:38
it. Give it to me.
25:39
Some of you at work, give it to me.
25:40
I can handle it. Well, start asking for things
25:44
that you can't handle so that you'll depend upon the Lord.
25:47
Try that. Say, hey, Lord, you know, I've
25:50
just been feeling so comfortable, and so it's just
25:53
been such an easy time here. I need to get back to the place
25:57
where I realized that in my own strength I'm nothing.
26:00
It doesn't have to be a big huge trial.
26:03
It could be something new. It can be something fresh.
26:05
It doesn't have to be any big huge painful thing.
26:09
But this sense of inadequacy, Remember Paul, Paul later on in
26:12
Second Corinthians? You can jot it down.
26:14
In chapter 2 and verse 16 he says to the one where aroma of
26:18
death leading to death, and to the other aroma of life leading
26:22
to life. And who is sufficient for these
26:24
things? When's the last time you asked,
26:26
though? Who is sufficient?
26:27
Like, look what I'm Look what I'm do.
26:29
Who's sufficient for this? Which really is another way of
26:32
saying I need the Lord. I'm not going to make it without
26:35
him. We're not going to get through
26:37
this without his string. Even as we look and as we begin
26:43
to examine, you know, it's I get news of my pastor passing away
26:48
and I automatically my mind just starts spending about my time
26:51
there, how I walked in, all the mistakes I made, all that.
26:55
Just I just mind just spins out of control.
26:57
And then stepping out in faith and coming to Colorado and
27:01
picking the wrong city and then going back home and then coming
27:03
back and then being involved in what we're involved in right
27:06
now. As hard as it is and as
27:08
challenging, it is such a serious challenging season in
27:11
our church right now under under the leadership that God's
27:14
entrusted to me. But I look around and I'm in awe
27:18
of what God lets us be a part of.
27:20
Just to know that God is in the midst.
27:24
And who is sufficient for these things?
27:26
None of us. Our sufficiency is in Christ.
27:31
You want to be the kind of husband that you just want to
27:34
aspire to be that husband so much better than you are right
27:37
now. Who is sufficient?
27:38
No. Your sufficiency in Christ.
27:40
God will get you there. You want to be that wife.
27:43
You, you want to be that employee.
27:45
You want to be that servant of the world?
27:46
Who's sufficient? I I can't do this.
27:48
I don't even want to do this. Hey, look, your sufficiency is
27:51
from Christ. Doesn't matter what you want to
27:55
do. You want to know.
27:56
You want to obey God. That's what you want to do.
27:58
But right now, it's your flesh. You're listening to your flesh.
28:02
You're entertaining your flesh. You're probably feeding your
28:05
flesh. And you need to repent.
28:08
Your sufficiency is from the Lord.
28:11
So your excuse, Who am I? I mean, God could say you're
28:15
Moses, bro, and I just sent you. That's who you are.
28:18
Why are you even talking to me about it?
28:19
I just told you to go. But we know why.
28:23
He's human, as we all are. And you know, for some, you
28:29
know, you just go from one thing to another thing into another
28:31
thing and another thing, and it's.
28:34
I don't think the Lord blames us for wanting a rest every once in
28:36
a while. Like that's my life.
28:40
It's one thing after another after another after another, but
28:42
that's a unique work upon your life.
28:45
That's a unique opportunity for you to grow for what's up ahead.
28:50
God knows He has His hand, if you will, on the thermostat, and
28:55
He's letting the temperature be exactly what's needed to refine
28:59
your life and prepare you for what he has prepared for you.
29:03
Well, what can I say? And I forget where I learned
29:07
this from, but one of the things that this brother was telling
29:11
his kids, and I was teaching my kids along the way too, that if
29:14
you get good at making excuses, that's all you'll be good for.
29:18
So Moses is making excuses, and wouldn't you imagine?
29:21
Here's another one, verse 13. Then Moses said to God, Indeed.
29:25
Well, actually, the encouragement that he gives in
29:27
verse 12 is I will certainly be with you and this will be
29:31
assigned to you that I've sent you.
29:33
When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you'll serve God
29:35
on this mountain. So that's a great promise from
29:37
God. You know, MO, I know you don't
29:39
want to go, but I'll be with you and that would be enough, don't
29:42
you think? I've just made the burden.
29:43
I've been with you for 40 years. You hear my voice.
29:46
Burning Bush. I mean, it's enough.
29:48
Everyone's looking for the signs and wonders.
29:50
Here it is. Should be enough.
29:53
But verse 13 then Moses said to God.
29:55
Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to
29:58
them, the God of your Father has sent me to you, and they say to
30:02
me, who? What is his name?
30:04
What shall I say to them? This is excuse #2.
30:08
I don't know what to tell them. Who am I going to say send me
30:14
oh, you're going to be with me, and oh, I have the call of God.
30:16
But when I get there, what am I going to say?
30:20
Who do I say you are? And understand there's some,
30:24
there's some. Don't Don't read into this.
30:27
All of this like massively sin or anything.
30:30
This is a normal response. The Egyptians had thousands of
30:35
gods. So for Moses to come back after
30:38
40 years unknown, and I've come from God, like who am I supposed
30:42
to say sent me? That's going to make you stand
30:44
out among the thousands of gods in this polytheistic culture.
30:49
And you'll notice as we get through it, studying later on,
30:52
as we go through the plagues against this rebellious, hard
30:55
hearted Pharaoh, the plagues will come against each one of
30:59
them, against one of their favored gods.
31:01
Little G But Moses won't go until he gets more information.
31:06
What does God give him? Verse 14 More information.
31:09
And God said to Moses, I am who I am.
31:13
And he said, Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am
31:18
has sent me to you. Moreover God said to Moses, Thus
31:22
you shall say to the children of Israel, the Lord God of your
31:25
Father's, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac.
31:27
The God of Jacob has sent me to you.
31:30
This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all
31:35
generations. So the instruction was you tell
31:38
him that you tell them that I am sent you, which is a technical
31:43
phrase, a technical title. Now in the names of God, in the
31:49
name of God. In the scriptures we don't know
31:51
exactly how to pronounce the name of God, because the Jews do
31:55
not pronounce the name of God. And in the what's known as the
32:00
Tetragrammaton, just the four letters YHVH it is as no vows to
32:06
it. So in order to to pronounce it,
32:10
vows have been added or even letters change.
32:12
So sometimes you hear that referred to as Jehovah, or
32:16
sometimes you may even hear the name of God referred to as
32:20
Yahweh. And that's our attempt to put
32:23
vows to the unspeakable name of God.
32:27
The unutter, the unutterable name of God, as you just didn't
32:32
say their name. Yet God is revealing himself as
32:35
I am. Again, if you like to take
32:37
notes, you could say that God is revealing himself as the
32:40
becoming one. I am the Eternal 1 that God will
32:46
become to you whatever you need in the moment.
32:49
Strength he'll be strength to you, Hope he'll be hope to you.
32:52
Provision, He'll be provision to you.
32:54
Righteousness, healing. This name I am reflects his
32:58
eternal existence and improving his deity.
33:03
Jesus, before the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the people
33:06
referred to himself as I am. That would take their ears right
33:12
back to this text in the Greek Ego MI coming back to the
33:17
Hebrew. I am in John chapter 8 and verse
33:22
58. Jesus said to him most.
33:23
So surely I say to you before Abraham was I am, they knew what
33:29
he was saying and they wanted to kill him for it.
33:32
Today you have all these Colts like Oh no, Jesus never claimed
33:35
it, never claimed to be God. No, that's not what he's saying
33:37
there. Then why did they want to kill
33:39
him? Why did they accuse him of
33:41
blasphemy? Those that were listening to
33:44
Jesus knew exactly what he was claiming, and those that lived
33:49
with him and saw him after the resurrection knew that what he
33:52
said was true. Eyewitnesses.
33:55
Eyewitnesses to the resurrected Christ.
33:58
Now one more word on this excuse before we finish the chapter
34:01
today on this second excuse, you know, who am I going to say?
34:05
Often as believers, we're reluctant to move out and to
34:09
step into situations simply because we don't have all the
34:12
answers. We think that we'd be more
34:15
equipped if we just knew every angle and every situation and
34:18
every answer, and after we get every answer, then we'll step
34:21
into it. Like, for example, you know you
34:24
want to share the gospel at work, but you won't do it yet
34:26
because you don't know what to say.
34:28
But the problem is you don't know what to say until you open
34:30
your mouth and say something like hello.
34:35
That's a good beginning. Let's go for a cup of coffee.
34:38
Like, like you. You're so reluctant because
34:40
yeah, what if they ask me this question?
34:42
And what if they say, but then you forget that stepping out in
34:45
faith makes you dependent upon the Lord, and you're too worried
34:49
and fearful about the unknown. What will I say?
34:53
How will I respond? I can't do that.
34:56
What if I say something that makes me look dumb or whatever,
35:00
and the word is just go. I'll be with you.
35:02
God says I'll be with you. God has called us.
35:06
He will equip us no matter what situation we're in.
35:10
It's true across the board. God doesn't always call the
35:13
qualified, but he always qualifies the called.
35:17
And if He's put you in that office and a heart for your
35:20
boss, he's going to give you the words to share the gospel with
35:22
your boss. If God has placed you in that
35:24
neighborhood with that neighbor, God is going to give you the
35:27
right timing to step into their lives and give them the answers.
35:32
So but, Ed, what if they asked me some Bible question that, I
35:35
don't know. I'll have them call you.
35:36
Don't you have them call me? You look it up.
35:41
That's the best way to learn. It's like, man, this is.
35:43
I've never heard this question before.
35:45
Here's a number. Call the radio station.
35:46
No, give them your number and say call me in a week and I'm
35:51
going to look it up. And then you're like, oh, no
35:53
problem, man. I'll call the station and I'm
35:54
fine. You can do whatever the Lord
35:56
wants for you. But let me tell you, get
35:58
yourself into some things where you have to look things up,
36:01
where you've got to wrestle with the text, where you've got to
36:04
open up your Bible and go, man, what is this?
36:06
And you pull out a Bible dictionary, and you pull out,
36:09
maybe go to blue letter, Bible org, All those free resources
36:12
there. And you look up a word, you
36:14
know, not too long from now. I want you guys to be prepared
36:16
for this. So not too long for now.
36:18
I don't remember. It's late April or May, but
36:20
we're going to have a brother. We're flying a brother out to
36:23
teach us as a church. You have to sign up for this,
36:26
and there'll be limited space, but we're going to teach you how
36:29
to study the Bible inductively the same way we I learned how to
36:33
study the Bible. We're bringing out a brother
36:35
that's going to teach you how to do that.
36:37
If you'll invest an evening and half a day on Saturday, this
36:41
brother's going to come. He's perfected this methodology
36:44
of how to teach it. And by the time you're finished
36:47
with this little mini seminar, you're going to have a greater
36:50
hand on handling the word of God, just like we learned many,
36:53
many years ago. It's called the inductive Bible
36:55
study method. It's going to take a little
36:57
effort, a little scheduling on your part, a little investment
37:00
of your time and in your money. But I promise you, I promise
37:04
you, if you put your time into it, God will bless you
37:08
amazingly. And you'll be able to handle the
37:09
Bible just like this. You'll be reading it and you'll
37:11
be able to observe it. You'll be able to interpret the
37:14
text, and then you'll be able to apply it in other people's
37:17
lives. I mean, imagine if you could
37:19
just do that with one verse. Wouldn't that be cool?
37:21
Sometimes you listen to a pastor on the radio or you listen to
37:24
the pastor teach here and you go.
37:26
How did he get that? We're going to teach you how it
37:31
takes a little effort. It takes a couple of tools.
37:34
It takes like learning how to go to Boo Letter Bible and clicking
37:38
on and looking up the Greek word and then understanding what it
37:41
means in context. It's amazing.
37:42
It's going to be so good. When is it Josh May.
37:46
It's going to come in May. So you got plenty of time and
37:49
there'll be limited space, but it's going to be great.
37:52
And it's been many years since we brought this brother out, and
37:56
I know that God's going to bless.
37:57
How many of you guys would go to that if we brought him out?
37:59
OK, good. So we're full already.
38:00
Sorry weekend and everybody, but this will be for everyone
38:03
online. We'll make room if we need to.
38:05
But everyone watching online right now, listening on the
38:08
radio, will make sure to get the word out.
38:10
Because the best thing that you can do in a world that's gone
38:14
upside down is know the word of God for yourself.
38:19
You know, sometimes pastors will say, myself included, that when
38:21
you're going through a Bible study, you're supposed to take
38:24
what the pastor says and compare it to the word of God.
38:27
And then what happens? You go, well, how do I do that?
38:29
Glad you asked. We're bringing a guy out to help
38:31
teach you how to do it so that you can listen to a Bible study
38:34
and go back to the text and go, oh, I see it.
38:37
Yeah, that was right. I get it now.
38:40
And you'll be able to walk with confidence, not just because you
38:42
were taught it, but because you've found it yourself.
38:45
You know, the Bible says study to show yourself approved.
38:47
A Workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the
38:50
word of truth. If you've ever wanted to do
38:52
that, we're ready to help you in this little seminar.
38:55
So that was just something I think will encourage you.
38:57
Let's finish up now as God qualifies.
39:01
I think that's where it came from.
39:02
God's going to qualify you one of the ways he qualifies the
39:05
quality is he trains them and you can learn the same way I
39:09
did. Let me just say one more thing.
39:11
When I walked in to this little school classes they did at the
39:16
church, I came from Calvary Downey.
39:18
I took classes just like you do. I took an inductive.
39:20
When I walked into this inductive Bible study class, I
39:23
had no idea whatsoever how to study the Bible.
39:29
I didn't know. I thought I knew and I thought I
39:33
knew if I just read this and put this over here.
39:36
And I was soundly corrected by the teacher as he then took the
39:39
time for for the next 8 weeks I think was the class.
39:43
And then I took a second one as he did a second 116 weeks of
39:46
training and some other things he had us do where I learned how
39:50
to handle the text. And then the more you do it, you
39:53
know, once you learn this method.
39:54
By the way, once you learn this method, you won't read the Bible
39:57
the same ever again because it will be automatic.
40:00
You will observe automatically. You'll come to the questions
40:03
that will draw out the meaning because an interpretation.
40:06
The Bible says there's no private interpretation.
40:09
So you can't just make it up as you go.
40:11
You know, you can't read a text and go what do you think?
40:13
What do you think? What do you think?
40:15
We don't care what you think. What does the Bible say?
40:18
It doesn't matter what you think about the text.
40:20
We need to find out what did God say and what did he mean to the
40:25
audience that received it. Once you get that
40:27
interpretation, then you can apply it.
40:30
But most people come to the Bible, they apply it first and
40:33
don't even mess with the so they What do they think?
40:35
They take scriptures out of context.
40:39
A lot of people do that. And you want to be careful.
40:41
So enough of that. You've got to come to the class
40:43
for the rest of it. And I know you'll be blessed.
40:45
OK, here we go. Verse 16.
40:48
Go gather the elders of Israel together and say to them the
40:52
Lord God of your father's, the God of Abraham and Isaac.
40:55
And Jacob appeared to me, saying, I've surely visited you
40:58
and seen what it's done to you in Egypt.
41:00
And I've said, I'll bring you out of the affliction of Egypt
41:03
to the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the
41:05
Amorites, and the Perizites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites
41:08
to a land flowing of milk and honey.
41:10
Then they will heed your voice, and you shall come, you and the
41:15
elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt.
41:17
And you shall say to him, The Lord God of the Hebrews has met
41:20
with us. And now please let us go three
41:22
days journey into the wilderness, that we may
41:24
sacrifice to the Lord our God. But I am sure that the king of
41:28
Egypt will not let you go. No, not even by a mighty hand.
41:32
So I'll stretch out my hand and strike Egypt and all my wonders
41:35
which I'll do in its midst. And after that he'll let you go.
41:39
And I will give this people favor in the side of the
41:41
Egyptians. And it shall be when you go that
41:44
you shall not go empty handed. Verse 22.
41:46
But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who
41:49
dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold and
41:53
clothing. And you shall put them on your
41:55
sons and your daughters, and you shall plunder the Egyptians.
41:59
Now, basically, what God is telling Moses here is it is a
42:03
done deal. Moses, I'm going to be with you.
42:07
You tell them I am sent you, and then he lays out the whole plan.
42:12
Don't miss this. He tells them exactly what's
42:15
going to happen before it has. What do we call that in the
42:17
Bible prophecy? He gives him a prophetic word.
42:22
He says in verse 18, they're going to, they're going to heed
42:24
your voice. In verse 18, you're going to
42:26
come to Pharaoh and ask him to leave the elders, the people.
42:30
The people will heed your voice, so you don't need to worry about
42:32
them chasing you out anymore. Like the first time.
42:35
This is different. You're not doing in your own
42:37
strength anymore. You're doing in your mind.
42:38
Then you're going to go to Pharaoh and ask to leave, but
42:41
he's not going to listen to you. Verse 19, verse 20, I'm going to
42:45
strike them with signs and wonders.
42:47
Verse 20, then he'll let you go. And verse 21, I will give this
42:50
people my favor. And you're not even going to go
42:53
empty handed. You're going to leave with all
42:55
kinds of plunder. You're going to leave with
42:57
everything. You're going to leave with more
42:59
stuff than you can handle. And again, this would be a great
43:02
Bible study to develop. But many times when you're
43:05
looking for a word from the Lord, he tells you how it's
43:07
going to go down. Trust me, This is what's going
43:11
to happen. Even if God, the way he tells
43:14
you to go down is trust me, I'm going to be with you.
43:17
Isn't that the greatest? To me, that's the greatest.
43:20
I'm going to be with you. Yeah, but I'm out of work.
43:23
I know. But I'm going to be with you.
43:25
But we're at the last. I know I'll be with.
43:27
I got this court date coming up. I know I'll be with you.
43:32
This will be my presence. I'm the becoming one.
43:36
I am. You can trust me.
43:41
And I pray that brings comfort to you today.
43:43
That you can trust in the living, all powerful, all
43:47
knowing, all sufficient God of the universe.
43:49
He knows your future. You're worried about your
43:52
future. I have some concerns about my
43:54
future as well. But God knows your future in
43:57
detail. If he wanted to, he could tell
43:59
you how it's all going to go down.
44:01
This is going to happen. This is going to happen.
44:02
This. Oh, not this is going to happen.
44:03
You're going to take three steps forward, five steps back.
44:06
Like he could lay it all out for you, but he won't, because even
44:09
some things he holds out on Moses, he gives you just enough
44:11
to go. Will you trust me now?
44:13
Will you trust me now? And if you're one of those men
44:16
and one of those women that need three things, you know what?
44:19
God will meet you with the three things.
44:21
That's how gracious he is. He doesn't have to give you the
44:23
three things. He could just yell, trust me and
44:27
follow me. But you know he loves you.
44:29
Just like a parent would love their kids and just kind of
44:31
nurture them along. Nurture them along, nurture them
44:33
along. He'll do that.
44:34
If you need that until he can, you can wean off those things.
44:38
You go, you know, Lord's been favored before.
44:40
I don't need that anymore. God, you could tell somebody
44:42
else their future. I don't need that anymore.
44:44
It's just you and me. I learned it in the desert.
44:46
Here we go. Let's go.
44:48
Moses is still learning here because even when you get out of
44:51
the desert, there's still more lessons.
44:53
She's like, man, I got my degree already.
44:55
Time for another one, because obviously he has more to learn.
44:59
And I wonder today, I wonder today how many of you have come
45:03
to God recently with excuses. No, you don't understand.
45:08
And no, God you don't. I don't want to do this.
45:10
Who are you? I'm not good enough.
45:13
God says, OK, you're going to go.
45:17
You're going to go the easy way or the hard way.
45:19
But you're my choice. I want to use you.
45:24
This is my will for your life, and he knows your future.
45:28
Never be afraid to trust an unknown future into the hands of
45:32
a known God. God never panics.
45:35
He's never surprised. He's in full control as you
45:38
yield your life to him. So, Father, replace our excuses
45:45
in our hearts, Lord. It might reflect our fear,
45:48
anxiety, or are just. Maybe we're tired or we want to
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go backwards or, I don't know. There's so many things, God,
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that we have lost the excitement and the awe of following you.
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And now we're following this guy on YouTube and we're following
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this guy over here and we're doing that and we just forgot
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you. We become someone.
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That man. It's not in awe of your presence
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anymore, not living in radical faith.
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We were when we were new believers.
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And then we started learning a little bit of the Bible, and we
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we started, you know, veering off to the left or to the right.
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And so, Lord, we just ask you call us back to yourself and we
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would answer that call and live by faith.
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Lord, these are real issues. They're not small things.
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It's good. We could laugh about them a
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little bit and smile about them, but they're real.
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They they cut to the heart. And I just pray for those that
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are not humbling themselves under their current situation,
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just coming to you, Lord, casting their cares upon you.
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But they're fighting and they're just fighting this.
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Like they got this chip on their shoulder.
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You know, it's got to prove something to someone.
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They just got to have that last part of control and and they
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can't control their circumstances.
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So they control their attitude, or they control relationships,
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or they. And are you just calling us to
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release that? That we might walk humbly with
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our God, trusting you with our lives, getting to those places
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of these steps in faith where we feel inadequate to the task
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because you've called us to something higher, something
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greater, something grander, something beyond anything we've
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ever experienced before. So God, we hear the voice, we
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see the burning Bush, and we want to respond with faith, draw
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out from us, Lord faith, to move forward day by day, moment by
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moment, in Jesus name. Amen.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
48:08
prayer. Call us at 87730 Grace.
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That's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
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entirety or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
48:23
online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Be blessed as You Worship Jesus
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this week.