God Is Working All Around Series

God Is Working All Around John 17:1-3

INTRO.: Have you ever wanted to know God better and be sure He was working in your life? Most of us want this if we are serious about our Christianity.

I was recently introduced to a book named "Experiencing God" written by Henry Blackaby and Claude King. It is an attempt to guide its readers in their effort to know God. The book points out that knowing God is much more than just knowing about Him. Knowing God means experiencing God working in and through you. It involves a relationship of love.

In the book, Blackaby and King set forth seven "realities of experiencing God," they say are common to all Biblical characters used in a significant way by God. They seven realities are:

1. God is always at work around you.

2. God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal,

3. God invites you to become involved with Him in His work.

4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the Church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.

5. God’s invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.

6. You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.

7. You come to know God by experience as you obey Him and He accomplishes His work through you.

The book cites Moses as a prime example of these seven realities at work in the life of one man. The story of his birth and early life is seen in Exodus 2, 3, and 4. Chapter three, which records Moses’ experience at the burning bush is especially important. As I read the book, I found many exciting ideas I’d like to share with you.

Today we begin a series of messages. The title of the series is "Moses and Me" and its aim is be to help you know and do God’s will and experience a personal relationship with God based on love. This, according to the words of Jesus in John 17:3, will enable you to enjoy the abundant life Jesus has to offer and, hopefully, find satisfaction in your Christian walk.

I chose the title, "Moses and Me" because I want each of you to personally examine your Christian experience as it compares to this great man of the Bible. I don’t propose to preach the book, Experiencing God, but to share with you some of the lessons I see in the book. You can buy the book and read it for yourself if you wish.

Now, let’s begin with the first principle, God is always working around you.

I. Let’s look at Moses experience at the burning bush: read Exodus 3:1-10 and notice:

A. The background: Eighty years of Moses’ life has already passed. He is an old man.

1. A member of a slave nation, Moses was reared in the palaces of Egypt as the son of the king’s daughter, educated in the universities of Egypt and given every advantage.

2. At age 40, he kills an Egyptian slave driver and is forced to flee for his life. The next forty years are spent as a shepherd in the land of Midian.

3. Now, at the foot of Mt. Horeb (Sinai) he encounters God in a way that will change his life and catapult him into a position of such importance that men will still be living by his writings 3500 years after his death.

B. The event: Moses’ encounter with the Living God: a fearsome, awe inspiring scene.

1. As he leads his flock in an isolated region, Moses sees a bush burning that is not consumed and curiosity draws him to it. A messenger of God is about to speak to him.

2. The message from God is "I am God. I have seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have come to rescue them and lead them to a promised land."

3. Then, the frightening, surprising command: So now, go. I am sending YOU to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt." Ex. 3:10

C. Laying aside all other details, let’s take note of God working behind the scenes to execute His will. Forgetting what God has done through Noah, Abraham, Isaac, etc., let’s begin with Moses’ early life:

1. It was God Who engineered saving the baby Moses allowing his mother to teach him all the traditions of his own people, and having him learn all the wisdom and knowledge the Egyptians had to offer.

2. God protected Moses in Midian and brought about a political situation in Egypt that allowed Moses to return after forty years.

3. Now, God is in the desert, revealing His will in this miraculous way. God had brought him to this place.