Exodus- " The Story Of God's Presence"Part 3" What's Your Excuse? Series

Exodus

“The story of God’s presence”

Part 3

“What’s your excuse?”

Exodus 3:1-22---- Exodus 4:1-17

Excuses

We all have them

And

We have all heard them

And most of them are pretty lame

Kids

Got a bad grade on your report card

It was the teachers fault

Or the dog ate my homework

Late for work or school

The traffic was bad

Or my alarm did not go off

Or worse

Someone did not wake me up in time

Get a ticket

I was in a hurry

I was distracted

It was a speed trap

We all make excuses in our lives

When things don’t go the way we think they should

When we feel we have been wronged

When we know it was our fault that something came unbolted

Just make an excuse

That is the way of the world these days

Politicians going against the wishes of the voters or even the country

Make an excuse

Criminals breaking the law

Just make an excuse

Unfortunately

There is no part of our lives that breed excuses like our Christian walk

We tend to be very fast to offer excuses in this part of our lives

Excuses about why we don’t go to church

I’m too busy

I’m too tired

It’s too far

It’s too hot

It’s too cold

It’s raining

I’ll go when I get my life together

I’ll get more active when things slow down

Excuses about why we don’t give more

I can’t afford it right now

I’m saving for a????

The church doesn’t need my money

Someone else will take up my slack

Excuses

Excuses as to why we don’t get more active in discipleship programs

It’s too early

I’ll be there too long

I don’t really need it

Me and Jesus have our own thing going

Excuses why we don’t tell people about Jesus

They might not like me

They might think I’m weird

They might not listen

I’m afraid

Excuses

Or worse

Excuses about why you haven’t accepted Jesus as your savior

Some sound the same as the others

I’m too busy

I’m having too much fun

I’ll give my life to Jesus when-----?

We all make excuses

And we are not alone

Even the founders of our faith

The bible hero’s

Made excuses

Today we are going to continue in our journey through Exodus

Let me recap last week just a little then we can dig in to today’s study

Last week we looked at Jachobed

Moses’ momma

We studied about how she saved her child by giving him to God

And how by giving him to God she not only gave herself to God

But she gave him her hurts and disappointments

Her faith and her trust

In our round pen bible study

We took a hard look at how we often get ahead of God’s plan

And how we need to wait on his timing in our lives

How we need to be prepared for what he has for us

And how we need to be preparing

Moses tried to do things his way

He had been told that he was special

He had some idea of what he was called to do

But he

Took matters into his own hands

And

Killed a man

We know that all sin has consequences

And this sin was no different

He could not bury his sin like he buried the man

As a result

Moses lost the trust of his own people

He caused Pharaoh

And the Egyptians to hate him

Want to kill him

So

He split

He ran to Midian

Where he became a shepherd

Moses spent many years there

And he was being prepared

The whole time

And now

40 years later

God was ready to put Moses into play

Let’s read Exodus 3:1-6

One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro,[a] the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai,[b] the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. 3 “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.”

4 When the LORD saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

“Here I am!” Moses replied.

5 “Do not come any closer,” the LORD warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. 6 I am the God of your father[c]—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.