God Deserves Our Obedience Series

God Deserves our Obedience

Exodus 4:18-31

- We’re continuing our study of the book of Exodus, and as we study, we’re asking the question, “What can I learn from this passage about honoring God?”

- Last week, we looked at 3 ways that God strengthens our faith…

- He strengthens our faith through signs, He strengthens our faith through our weaknesses, and He strengthens our faith through our doubts.

- As Moses talked with God, He provided him with 3 signs to bring to the Children of Israel…

- God would turn his shepherd’s staff into a serpent, and then back into a staff…

- God would turn his hand leprous and then heal it.

- And He would turn the water of the Nile River into blood.

- Today, we’re going to look at Moses’ obedience, as he leaves the burning bush, and moves forward, ready to be obedient to the call God placed upon his life.

- Obedience is an important thing for us to learn.

- I’m reminded of when I was a young child, my mother’s favorite Bible verse to quote to us children was Ephesians 6:1…

- “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right…”

- Without fail, this was her go-to verse whenever we talked back or dragged our feet or chose to disobey…

- “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right!”

- So, at a young age, she taught us the importance of obedience.

- I’m reminded of the many times she took us on walks around the beautiful little village of Brockport, NY where we lived.

- The town was located on the scenic Erie Canal, so our walks included a stroll down to the park next to the canal and having a little picnic.

- One of the things we learned while doing this was just how important obedience was!

- She taught us to watch for traffic, look both ways before crossing the street, to keep our distance from the edge of the canal, and many other important safety lessons.

- But the one thing we always knew was that when we heard mom’s voice, we needed to obey.

- She was our mother and deserved our obedience.

- But not just that, she also understood more about our surroundings than we did.

- So if she saw a car coming that we didn’t see, and she yelled, “Stop!”, we’d know to stop and let the car pass by so we didn’t get run over.

- If we were downtown and were crossing the busy street, she’d yell, “Go!” when it was the right time to cross.

- If she saw we were getting too far ahead of her and she couldn’t see us, she’d shout, “Come here!” and we’d know to come back to her.

- Even though we were young, mom taught us the importance of obedience, which was a great life-lesson.

- As Christians, we all would agree that God deserves our obedience as well.

- That’s one of the ways we honor Him, is through our obedience to Him.

- As we’ll see in this passage today, Moses understood the importance of obedience as well.

- So let’s look at 3 things we learn about obedience from Moses in this passage.

I.) Our Obedience Must be Bold and Courageous- Vs 18-23

- When I was in Army Basic Training, I’ll never forget the day we went out to the grenade qualification course.

- Before we even got to look at a live grenade, we had to practice throwing duds over and over again.

- The Drill Sergeants were very particular about training us in the proper throwing technique and with good reason…

- This was because, obviously, hand grenades are very dangerous.

- Anyways, they drilled into us every step, building our muscle memory.

- Then, finally, the big day came for us to blow stuff up.

- I had to wait in line, and was way in the back, but I remember my heart beating fast, waiting, and watching other soldiers throw theirs.

- I was anxious and just wanted to get it over with.

- Finally, it was my turn.

- The Sergeant went through the steps with me once more, so it was fresh in my head, and off to the bunker we walked.

- The Sergeant told me to wait until I heard the range officer sound the signal that it was time to throw…

- He was close and watching my every move, making sure I didn’t make any mistakes.

- When the signal came, I popped up, threw the grenade, yelled, “Frag out!”, and down I went to the ground in the safety of the bunker.

- The Drill Sergeant had his hand on my helmet, keeping my head down, and after 3-5 seconds, I heard the boom.