Greatness Waiting To Happen

Greatness Waiting To Happen

1/22/ 94 Exodus 12:31-42 John 12:23-28

When you get up and look in the mirror each morning what do you see? Do you see a person who can’t wait to change his or her appearance in order to be more presentable to the world, or do you see what God sees. God sees greatness waiting to happen, if the right decisions are made throughout the day and there is a willingness to serve God..

One of the reasons God sees what He does is that God created you. He knows what a difference He could make in your life if given the chance. God knows that your potential for greatness far exceeds, your willingness to pursue and to obtain it. Just as a sculptor sees not just a large rock, but rather the magnificent statute hidden inside, when God looks at you, God sees something wonderful that you can be chiseled and shaped into greatness.

Travel with me for a moment to the land of Egypt, on the night when the people of Israel are finally leaving 430 years of slavery. You will see the greatness of a people that was waiting to happen. God causes so much havoc and destruction upon Egypt for their oppression of his people, that whatever the Israelites ask of the Egyptians, they give it to them. They ask for gold items, silver items, designer clothing, pearls and other jewelry and the Egyptians gladly give it to them in order to get rid of them.

The one thing about greatness is that it is not found on easy street. In order to reach greatness that matters, one has to reach God for that is where the ultimate greatness in majesty, in power and in authority is. There is but one way to God Jesus says "I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me." But Jesus never says, "come to me and you will forever be happy". He never says there will be no more pain, no more hunger, nor more sickness and no more death. Instead he says, come follow me.

In order to get in touch with the greatness that is within you, you’ve got to get in touch with God. Being in touch with God goes far deeper than an occasional or even a consistent attendance at church. You can go to every Cavalier game that ever was, but that will not make you a player on the team. You can sit around the Cavs locker room and buy you a uniform that looks just like theirs, but that will not make you a player on the team. Until you’ve entered into a contract with Cavalier’s owner, you’re just a fan.

We can go to church all our lives, but until we have entered a personal contract with Jesus Christ on terms that He has established, we’re nothing more than a fan of the church. Unfortunately, being a church fan, even good church fan, will not allow us to reach the greatness God has in mind

When the people see Moses telling Pharaoh, God said let my people go, the people see greatness. Moses is greatness waiting to happen. Look around this morning. It does not matter whether you look to the right, the left, in front or behind you, you will be looking at greatness waiting to happen. He or she may not look like much at the moment but take one more look and you may see a person whose going to make a difference in this world, by making a difference at home, at work, at school or in the church.

When Moses looks over all the people that are leaving out of Egypt, he likewise is looking at greatness waiting to happen. Yet the sad reality is that sometimes greatness waiting to happen is never allowed to fully come forward

What holds us back from reaching our greatness?. Do you know why there is often an emptiness in our lives even when we get things that we thought would truly make us happy? George MacDonald wrote, "Man finds it hard to get what he wants, because he does not want the best; God finds it hard to give, because He would give the best, and man will not take it."

I am amazed at how quickly we can forget God and forget how bad our situation use to be where we were. God brings us back from our dying bed, and yet we are know more faithful in our service than we were before we made all those promises to God of what we would do if given another chance.

God’s best is sometimes pushed aside when our circumstances change.. Less than a month after they leave left Egypt, Pharaoh and the Egyptians get upset that they had let God’s people go and they go after them. Not only have the Egyptians forgotten the power of God, but so do God’s people. Pharaoh is approaching with his chariots and soldiers. The people of God see them coming. The sea is in front of them so it looks as though they are trapped