Pick My Brother

Pick my brother

Exodus 4:10-14

10/26/06

Then Moses said to the LORD, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." So the LORD said to him, "Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say." But he said, "O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send." So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and He said: "Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

1. Excuses

a. He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. Benjamin Franklin

The Bible is filled with people who make excuses. It is usually God who speaks the line, "No Excuses." In the Bible most people are found making excuses for avoiding his or hers Divine call. In fact, we can find a whole pile of alibis there. People find all sorts of creative excuses for not serving God. And God always seems to respond with a no-nonsense, no-excuses mandate. For God, those who excuse themselves actually accuse themselves.

In Luke 14, Jesus told a wonderful parable about excuse-making. He says that someone gave a great dinner and invited many guests, but they all began to make excuses. "The first one said ’ I have bought a piece of property, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.’ The next said, ’I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.’ Then the last one said, ’I have just been married and therefore I cannot come.’" When there’s a job to be done, God takes "no excuses."

• There is an old saying that says “Work comes first” Our work for the Master must come first in our lives!

Then you have Jonah. When God called him to preach in Ninevah, Jonah took a fast boat in the opposite direction. A man of few words, he didn’t even bother to argue with God. He just sailed off into the horizon.

I can relate to the life Jonah, when God called me at the age of eighteen, I said “I’m not a preacher and Bible School is not for me!” I choose to run from the call of God for seven hard years. I often think how much did I lose out on through those years of disobedience?

b. When the call came first to Moses at the burning bush, the first thing out of his mouth was an excuse. “ Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh”

2. Disabilities might be for a reason?

A little later in Luke 14 Jesus says:

Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor; the crippled, the blind and the lame....Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.

Why didn’t Christ ask for the wealthy, physically fit, the popular, and the handsome? Because God looks at the heart only!

God can and does use disability to bring glory to His name. Perhaps the best known example of this is the man born blind whom Jesus healed (John 9.1-3). Christ said the man was not blind because of sin but to glorify God.

Many times we only allow God to work in our lives when there is a disability! When someone’s life is on the verge of death; That is when we really passionately cry out to God in prayer.

Just remember that God is more concerned with your eternal life than your earthy life!

3. God is calling for you and nobody else for your spiritual tasks

God has plans and tasks that are designed and prepared for you only!

Matthew 25 tells a parable about the “Talents” what I get out of that parable is that whatever the amount of talent that we have been given by God he expects us to use it to fulfill our calling from him!

We will never be truly happy until we are working in our spiritual tasks. I wonder if that’s why we have a lot of grumpy Christians!

4. Disobedience will prevent your entrance into the promise land

The disobedience at the burning bush, the striking the rock twice, and not heeding the call of God caused Moses to miss out of being in the promise land here on earth. Many of us are like Moses and miss out on all the blessings God has for us because disobedience is in our life. If disobedience continues and a root of disobedience forms, you might miss out on the ultimate promise land (Heaven).