CLOSE ENCOUNTERS SERIES
4 – MOSES
This morning, we come the FOURTH INSTALLMENT of our “Close Encounters” series as we talk today about the life of Moses
Just a few weeks ago, we got the news that Charleton Heston died, and we remember him most in the movie, The Ten Commandments, playing Moses
Moses – that…
--one who told Pharaoh – “let my people go”
--one who divided the Red Sea
--one who came down from the mountain whose face shown
There’s no doubt that Moses is one of the top 3 to have the closest encounters with God any mortal human has had
In fact it was God Himself who said in Numbers 12:6-8 that with all the other prophets, God said that he would show a vision or a dream, but not so with Moses
God said, “I’ll talk to Him plainly and directly”
Talk about CLOSE ENCOUNTERS!
And yet despite the fact that he had close encounters with God, he had…
--his failures
--his moments
--times when he acted to fast
--times when he sinned against God
And that’s what we’ve been learning in this message series, that no matter…
--who we are
--where we’ve been
--what mistakes we’ve made
We can all have CLOSE ENCOUNTERS with God
So, with that in mind, let’s read…
Exodus 33:12-23 ( KJV ) 13Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight… 14And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. 15And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence…17And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. 18And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. 19And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy…22And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 23And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
INTRODUCTION
Moses was many things…
--deliverer
--lawgiver
--prophet
--prince of Egypt
--founding father of a new nation
--song writer
--author
But if you could encapsulate the entire life of Moses into one verse that would BEST describe all that he was about, it would be found in the words of our text this morning…
Exodus 33:15 ( KJV ) 15And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
In other words, Moses was saying… I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT YOUR PRESENCE
And how powerful that is, because the secret to having CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH GOD is not…
--living a perfect sin-free life
--having money in the bank
--the church you are a member of
--your position in the social class
The secret of having CLOSE ENCOUNTERS with God is one word – DESIRE!
In other words, Moses was saying…
--I CAN’T GO ON WITHOUT YOU
--I don’t want to know about God, I want to know God
--I don’t want to just seek His hand, but I want to seek His face
--I want close encounters with God
And I do sense an urgency in these messages that I’m preaching, because…
--we’re all wrapped up in the price of gas
--we’re all concerned about the next President
--we’re all worried about our businesses and jobs
But what we really need to do is, like Moses, say, I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT YOUR PRESENCE
We all need…
--every parent
--every grandparent
--every teenager
--every church worker
--every deacon
--every preacher
--every person
WE ALL NEED CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH GOD!
And I want us to look at the life of Moses today, and what I want to do is to break it down into three parts, because when you look at Moses life, it can easily be broken down into every 40 years
In fact, it was D.L. Moody, the great evangelist, that said about Moses…
“Moses, spent his first forty years thinking he was somebody. He spent his second forty years learning he was a nobody. He spent his third forty years discovering what God can do with a nobody.”
And in looking at the life of Moses, that’s what I want to do this morning is to follow that outline and look at…
--the FIRST 40
--the SECOND 40
--the LAST 40
And see how we, just like Moses, can have CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
So let’s look at, first of all at…
1. THE FIRST 40
And the very first thing you need to understand about Moses is the fact that before Moses…
--delivered a nation
--said “Let my people go”
--parted the Red Sea
The Bible tells us that none of this would have happened, if it were not for his parents
A. THE FAITH OF HIS PARENTS
And it’s in the book of Hebrews that we find that the Bible says…
Hebrews 11:23 ( KJV ) 23By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
And I want you to understand that…
--who Moses became
--what God did for and through Moses
--all that we know today
Didn’t start at the burning bush or the court of Pharaoh, but it started in the cradle
And here’s what had happened: King Pharaoh issued a decree that all the male children would be killed but the Bible tells us that Moses parents, by faith, hid Moses
Now, it was a great risk to hide him, but they were people of faith and finally, when it got impossible for him to be hidden, his parents put him on a little float and sent it down the river and he landed at Pharaoh’s daughters doorsteps, and the rest is history
And this tells me right there that parents, you have a lot to do with the destiny of your children
And if you…
--don’t pray
--don’t read the Word
--don’t live a godly lifestyle
Then it will affect your child because if it had not been for the FAITH and TENACITY of Moses parent’s, the plan of God might would have died
I thought about my great-grandmother – a tremendous decision to take me to church! Destiny was in the balance
And so, Moses mother pushed him off into the water, and Pharaoh’s daughter pulled him out and he became a prince of Egypt
And that tells me right there that…
B. THE THING THAT WAS MEANT TO KILL MOSES WAS THE VERY THING THAT PROPELLED HIM TO HIS DESTINY!!!
And the thing that the devil means for your good, if you trust God, will propel you to your destiny…
--if you’ve been divorced
--if you’ve been fired
--if you’re gone bankrupt
Don’t you worry about it – learn from it, but it can be turned around to propel you to greater things!
And as a result he became educated, skilled as a solider
And then one day, when he was about 40, (the scripture just says it came into his heart in Acts 7:23) Moses began to feel that God was calling him to free his brothers from Egypt
And the Bible says that Moses saw an Egyptian hurting a Hebrew and Moses killed him and buried him in the sand
And then, the next day, Moses saw two Hebrews fighting and he said to them, “Why are you fighting?” And they said, “Who make you a king over us, are you going to kill us like you did that Egyptian”
And Moses got scared and fled – he thought nobody knew what he buried in the sand
And that tells me 2 things…
C. YOU CAN’T COVER YOU SINS IN SAND!
What can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood!
D. YOU CAN GET AHEAD OF GOD!
No matter what God has called you to do, there is a timing issue!
And so, that’s the FIRST 40, and so now, we come to, secondly…
2. THE SECOND 40
And here’s where we are…this…
--mighty man Moses
--one who was mighty in words and deeds
Now, he finds himself in the backside of the dessert and it seems…
A. HE’S A COMPLETE FAILURE
He’s failed…
--morally
--financially
--politically
He goes from being a mighty prince, commanding armies, to shepherding his father-in-laws sheep
And that’s a real lesson on humility right there
B. A REAL LESSON ON HUMILITY WHEN KEEPING HIS FATHER-IN-LAW’S SHEEP
There are some people “to spiritual” to clean up the church bath room
And Moses could have looked at his father-in-law and said, “Man, you know who I am?”
And all the Moses had ever hoped of doing died in the dessert of humility
And that’s the way it is when God calls you to do something – it dies
C. WHEN GOD CALLS YOU TO SOMETHING, IT HAS TO DIE
Because only when it dies, can you then trust and completely watch God do it!
Brother Byrd, my mentor and hero, use to quote another preachers who said…
God is not looking for men strong enough to use, but for men weak enough to use!
And then, came that day, when Moses saw the burning bush, and whereas before he was right ready to take on the Egyptian Army, Moses gave 5 excuses why he couldn’t do it
He’s going from ONE EXTREME to ANOTHER!
Here’s the five excuses…
--I’m a nobody (Who am I that I should go?)
--I don’t really know who you are (who will I tell them sent me)
--What if they don’t believe
--I can’t talk, I have physical problems, I don’t know what to say
--Send somebody else
There is nobody else
There is nobody like you!
Did you know that your…
HUMAN BODY IS SUCH AN INCREDIBLY PRECISE MACHINE THAT IF YOUR SENSORS ARE WORKING NORMALLY, YOU CAN DO THE FOLLOWING:
- FEEL ON YOUR FINGERTIPS OR FACE A
PRESSURE THAT DEPRESSES YOUR SKIN A BARE
.00004 ten-thousands of an INCH.
- SEE EITHER A SMALL CANDLE FLAME FROM
THIRTY MILES AWAY AT NIGHT, OR 300,000
DIFFERENT COLORS IN THE LIGHT.
- SMELL ONE DROP OF PERFUME DEFUSED
THROUGH A THREE-ROOM APARTMENT.
- TASTE .04 OUNCE OF TABLE SALT DISSOLVED
IN 530 QUARTS OF WATER.
Listen, every minute 3 million cells die
Somebody said, "If you could see half of what's going on you'd be afraid to move!"
Ronald Reagan asked
If not you, who? If not now, when? If not here, where?
I hear these excuses all the time, but God answered everyone of them, and thank God that Moses got over all his excuses and went on
And some of you need to as well!
We’ve looked at…
--the FIRST 40 years
--the SECOND 40 years
But now, we’re coming to…
3. THE THIRD AND LAST FORTY YEARS
And this is where it really gets good and gets going, because it’s in Moses last 40 years that…
--he sees God face to face
--he births a nation
--he does his greatest work
A. Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s too late to serve God
The games are always won IN THE FOURTH QUARTER!!
A 60 year old woman wrote Dear Abby and asked her advice on going back to college and getting her degree. She wrote to Abby and said, "When I get finished, I'll be 64!" Abby wrote back and asked her, "Well how old will you be if you don't get the degree?"
And we know the story
Moses goes to Pharaoh and the 10 plagues and the Passover night
And then, now, they are before the Red Sea
And what did God tell him to do? STRETCH OUT YOUR ROD
B. And what do we have as a rod? THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT
And by the way, it’s the REMEAH word that we can part the obstacles
And then, Moses led them to the Mountain of God
And he went up alone (oh, and there’s something about being alone with God)
And God gave him the 10 Commandments, the laws, and something happened while he was up there
The people built a golden calf and God was ready to wipe them out
C. But Moses interceded for them
You know you are maturing in God when your prayers aren’t all about you!
And Moses came down and then went back up again and that when he prayed – LORD, WE’VE GOT TO HAVE YOUR PRESENCE!
And then, the Bible says that when Moses came down, his face shown!
Talk about CLOSE ENCOUNTERS!!
May it happen again!
But you know the story, the children of Israel doubt God and God made them stay in the wilderness for 40 LONG years
And even Moses made a huge blunder (note, I don’t care how much God has used you, you can still mess up!)
And God said to Moses, you can’t go to the promised land, I’ll show it to you
And the Bible says that Moses walked to his own funeral
And that’s the way it ought to be when we die – no BIG DEAL, just a walk with God like Enoch!
IN CLOSING
Moses did make it in to the Promised Land literally and physically!
With Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration
And I can do all things through Christ
Remember that prayer that Moses prayed – SHOW ME YOU WAYS!
Did God do it?
Psalms 103:7 ( KJV ) 7He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.
Have you failed? Are you ready for death? If not, come to Jesus today!
