A Matter Of Timing Series

A preacher was invited to an area church to preach. When he began his sermon, there was enthusiasm. The more the congregation responded loud to his sermon, the longer he went on. Finally, he noticed that the host preacher had started responding to his sermon by saying "Amen, Pharaoh."

After a long-winded sermon and the host pastor's constant repetition of "Amen, Pharaoh," he finally ended. Back in the office, he was bold enough to ask the host, "Why did you say 'Amen Pharaoh' to my sermon?"

The preacher responded: "I was trying to tell you to 'Let my people go!'"

We will try to keep our lesson to a reasonable time

We will deal with Moses and some of his issues in serving God

“Moses spent his first forty years thinking he was somebody. He spend his second forty years learning he was a nobody. He spent his third forty years discovering what God can do with a nobody.” Dwight L. Moody

Acts 7.17-22

Moses was raised to deliver the nation – as was predicted in Genesis 15.13-14

13 Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.

I. Moses Jumped the Gun

A. Moses Was Esteemed

1. He was Esteemed by God – 7.20

2. He was Esteemed by his Parents (Exodus 2.2)

3. He was Esteemed by Pharaoh’s Daughter

4. He was Esteemed by Pharaoh (Acts 7.22)

Mighty in Words and Deeds

Groomed to be a leader in Egypt

When King Louis XIV of France was dethroned, someone kidnapped his son. They tried to spoil him and dethrone him. The people who captured him exposed him to vulgar language, excessive alcohol and women—anything to feed his passions and to try to keep him from fulfilling his destiny. After 6 months he refused and refused and refused. Finally his captors said, “Why haven’t you succumbed to any of these passions? Why haven’t you indulged yourself in any of these things?” The king’s son replied “I cannot indulge in any of those things because I was born to be a king!”

5. He Esteemed Himself

B. Moses Expected a Following (7.23-25)

1. Apparently Understood his destiny – a type of king to deliver Hebrews from affliction (7.18 cf. Exodus 1.7-8)

2. Tried to right a wrong by doing wrong

Did not see God at work and did not wait on him – Psalm 27.14

Wait for the LORD;

be strong, and let your heart take courage;

wait for the LORD!

[Do we ever deal with church issues in Moses’ manner?

No one is trying to fix it – so I will; no one is looking and I assassinate a person’s character with a whisper campaign

14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. Galatians 5.14-15

What SHOULD we do?

3. Rejected and Fled to Midian

4. Good News – even when we make rash decisions God can still use us – in time; Moses needed more training – with the sheep

II. Moses Tried to Dodge God’s Bullet

“Send Me a Sign” – Flaming Arrow, etc.

A. An Enlightening Encounter – a Burning Bush

1. Pattern for the Hebrews’ Menorah in Tabernacle/Temple

2. God’s Lamp for Man’s Light

B. Elaborate Excuses

It was Benjamin Franklin who said: “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”

John Swigert, Jr. had an interesting excuse in 1970. Who is John Swigert, Jr.?

• John L. Swigert, Jr. was one of the three astronauts aboard the ill-fated Apollo 13 moon mission in 1970.

• Swigert was originally part of the backup crew for the mission, but was assigned to the mission just 3 days before launch, replacing astronaut Ken Mattingly, because Mattingly had been exposed to German Measles and he had not been immunized against it.

• Swigert’s last minute substitution interfered with filing his federal income-tax return.

• On the second day of Apollo 13, April 12, Swigert asked Mission Control to begin work to get him an extension on his filing, giving the excuse that he was a last minute substitution.

• The IRS didn't have to make a special ruling to grant Swigert a two-month extension because of his “I'm-on-my-way-to-the-moon excuse.”

• There was already a regulation that provided an automatic extension for anyone out of the country and being on the moon qualified as being out of the country.