Deliverance Series

Deliverance

The Story – Chapter Four

ALRIGHT… let’s do this ‘The Story’ chapter four.

AND LISTEN MAPLE GROVE – from where I stand, all I can say what an awesome journey so far! Wow!

AND REMEMBER – like I said back on 1/13… if we really lean into This Story during the next 31 weeks we will have a comprehensive (big picture) understanding of the Bible like never before. AND UNDERSTANDING – that will serve us well in life and in this journey to become who we were created to be.

OKAY – I’m curious, how many of you, in preparation for this lesson, have read Chapter 4 of The Story? Would you put your hands up? Wow! That’s awesome. AND – this week our homework will be… that’s right Chapter 5.

NOW IF – you do not have a book you can pick them up at the Welcome Center for $5.00… we moved around 450 books at that price – only have a few left.

IF – you are a first time guest with us this morning we would like to give your family a copy… just bring your connection card to the Welcome Center…

AND IF – you can’t afford one, we’ll give you one.

NOW – one of the things we have seen in the first few chapters of The Story is that…

God, the All Knowing, Sovereign King of the Universe loves to use ordinary people to do extraordinary things, blessing the world through them, as He engages them in a life transforming relationship with Himself.

IN - chapter 2 of The Story we have is Abraham and Sarah, an elderly, infertile couple who are chosen to give birth to a nation… I MEAN – think about it…

• They are in their 70’s

• For decades they have not been able to have even one child…

YET – our Sovereign King picks them to build a nation.

AND LAST WEEK - we saw God use a spoiled teenager from an extremely dysfunctional family… a guy who was:

• His dad’s favorite

• Attacked and sold into slavery by his brothers

• accused of attempted rape

• spend a few years behind prison bars

• abandoned by his friends

YET GOD - somehow elevates him to a high position, second in Egypt only to Pharaoh himself… to order to persevere God’s newly formed nation from famine.

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives…

- Genesis 50:20

YEAH - Isaiah was not kidding when he said in 55:8, “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD.”

AND LISTEN – as we continue in our journey through The Story, we will see God running the same play, over and over again… using ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things, blessing the world through them…

HEY LOOK UP – if you are feeling kind of ordinary this morning… IF – your resume’ is not all that impressive. IF – you feel like an unlikely candidate to do anything significant for God (where you work, where you do to school, in this world… LOOK OUT – because you just might be the person that God taps on the shoulders and says… “Hey, (Tim, Laurie) there is something really awesome I would like you to do.”

IN FACT – that is exactly what we are going to see happen in Chapter 4 of The Story this morning, as GOD unfolds His perfect will and plan in the life of another very unlikely individual and 80 year old fugitive tending sheep in the wilderness, named Moses.

YEAH – I know to us, who live 3500 years on the other side of Moses’ story (and have watched Charlton Heston part the Red Sea or The Prince Of Egyot)… God using Him makes perfect sense… BUT – believe me when I tell you it make no sense to Moses or anyone else at the time.

AND THE WAY - I want to attack Chapter Four of The Story this morning is by first looking at the lower story… and then at the upper Story of Moses life.

REMEMBER…

THE LOWER STORY… is all the junk we go through down here.

• It’s being in your 70’s and childless

• It’s living in a very dysfunctional family

• It’s been attacked and abandoned by your friends

• It’s a bad report from the doctor

• It’s doing the right thing, but still ending up in prison because of it

• It’s struggles in your marriage

• It’s an addiction you are trying to break

• It’s stress at work or school

AND THE UPPER STORY…

• is God’s perfect unstoppable (will, plan, purpose and story) always being done.