Be A Champion For Christ! - Part 2

Be a Champion for Christ! - Part 2

Exodus 3:1-15

Sermon by Rick Crandall

McClendon Baptist Church - May 6, 2007

*Of all the heroes in the Old Testament, nobody stands out more than Moses. We see him leading the Children of Israel across the Red Sea on dry ground. We see him on the mountain with God as the Lord writes out the 10 Commandments. And God used Moses to give us the first 5 books of the Bible.

*But Moses also had a past. He was a murderer, and he spent 40 years in the middle of nowhere taking care of sheep. But that was O.K., because God was preparing Moses to be a champion for Christ. And on this big day in Moses’ life, we can see how God wants to prepare you. God wants you to be a champion for Him, and you can be. Here’s how:

1. Move closer to God’s radiance. This is what Moses did in vs. 1-4:

1. Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

2. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.

3. Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.’’

4. So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!’’ And he said, "Here I am.’’

*Imagine the scene. Pastor Billy Strayhorn got a little taste of what it must have been like when he went to visit a lady recovering from minor surgery on her foot. She and her husband were very active in the church, and nearly always brought their grandkids. Dustin was 6 and Ashley was 4.

*Pastor Billy said: “I had been out of town during this woman’s surgery and couldn’t be with the family or visit her in the hospital. But she was home now and I thought I would drop by to check up on her.

*I got out of the truck, rang the doorbell and here comes little Ashley running to let me in. Just about the time she got to the door, she came sliding to a stop. Her eyes were as big as saucers and her mouth just kind of hung open in surprise.

*She immediately did a 180 and went running back into the house. I heard her yell out in a very awed voice, "Grandpa, God’s at the door!" (1)

*God’s at the door! And you know what, He really is. In Rev 3:20, Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” And in Matthew 18, Jesus said: “Where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.”

*The Lord is here today, and He wants to turn your ordinary day into an extraordinary day! Remember that this started out as an ordinary day for Moses. He was just going through his daily routine.

*As Pastor Jonathan Edwards wrote:

“For Moses this was an ordinary day. He’d been in Midian 40 years faithfully tending the flock of Jethro. I’m sure he was expecting the day to be the same as any other day, but this day was different.

-The ordinary became the extraordinary.

-The usual became the unusual.

-The normality of life was replaced by the suddenlies by God.

*And His direction in life, his attitude towards God, his purpose for living changed the moment God came down like an eternal flame. . .

*[Moses] didn’t find God but God found him. He wasn’t looking for God but God was looking for him. And here probably to Moses it was the least likely time and the most peculiar place, but God in his grace appears to him through the flames of fire. (2)

*God met with Moses, and today, the God of Moses wants to meet with you. He wants to turn your ordinary day into an extraordinary day! So He comes with fire. And you probably won’t see a burning bush here this morning, but God comes with fire.

*When Moses later led the Israelites out of Egypt, God led them in a pillar of fire. When the prophet Elijah wanted to show the people who the real God was, the Lord sent fire down from Heaven to burn the offering. After Jesus rose from the dead, He walked along with two disciples, and at the time they didn’t realize who He was, but later they said: "Didn’t our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?’’