(3:1-10) What we must learn is that God calls people to serve Him. Just think who it is that calls us to serve Him. It is the sovereign Lord of all who actually stooped down and breathe the breath of life in us that gives us the privilege to serve Him. This should excite us. This should make us want to shout and to seek God's will, and to seek God's hand upon our lives.
To all who are seeking God, to all who are wanting God’s hand upon them will see and feel change upon their lives, and those that want to feel a sense of freedom when we serve God, these Scripture will show us how we can receive God's call, it will teach us how we can feel God’s move upon our lives, and how to feel the Spirit of freedom from.
So, we see a few important things here in the scripture
1. We see the kind of man God called (v.1-3).
If you remember, Moses had been the prince of Egypt. Consequently, a disappointed Pharaoh was seeking Moses' life and Moses was forced to leave down into Midian. In that distant but safe land, Moses met and agreed to work for Jethro, the priest of Midian. But notice: all this had happened forty years before this present Scripture. God's call to Moses took place after Moses left Egypt and settlement in Midian, and forty years later, a significant event happens: God called Moses, and God called him to an epic task.
So notice the kind of man God called.
1. Moses was a shepherd, which suggests that he had a heart that could shepherd people. When the call of God came to Moses, he was tending the flocks of Jethro, (his father-in-law).
The Hebrew has the idea of a continuous action; that is, tending the flocks was his job. Moses was a shepherd by occupation. And the work of a shepherd was...
• to feed the sheep,
• to water the sheep.
• to guide the sheep.
• to seek and save the sheep who got lost.
• to protect the sheep.
• to keep the sheep separate from the goats, and to keep them safe from the wolves.
In other words, His heart had to be both, tough and tender, hard and compassionate, disciplined and soft.
In addition to this, the shepherd had to spend a great deal of time alone out in the countryside.
While alone he could of just allowed his mind to waste time and wander about, from thought to thought or he could’ve utilize that time to develop his thought processes and to draw near God. In others words, the shepherd always had the opportunity to use his time to become a man of great devotion and prayer.
And obviously, Moses had spent forty years doing just this: developing the heart of a true shepherd and utilizing the hours alone to draw closer and closer to God. With this being said now God was ready to call him to be the shepherd of God's people.
And what this is telling us is that God doesn’t call a particular profession, but he calls a particular heart, a heart that is willing to tackle the task at hand. God's call comes to the heart that is willing to shepherd God’s people.
1) I’ve learned from this lesson that God calls on a people who does not waste time, but who uses his time wisely; to a person who utilizes his time to develop his thought processes and to draw near him, God calls a people who don’t mind becoming an individual of devotion and prayer.
2) God call on people who is willing to feed and guide the multitude, the people, to seek and save people who are lost, and to protect and keep people for God.
That’s why Jeremiah 3:15 say "And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.”
(Jeremiah 23:4) “And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.”
2. Moses was a hard-working, industrious man (Exodus 3:1). Look at where he was when God's call him: he was tending the flock at the far side of the desert.
He was working for his father-in-law Jethro. And the job that Jethro had given him was hard, he was a shepherd.
Understand that a shepherd's job demanded long hours, seven days a week. His work sometimes demanded that he be far away from home, away from his family for weeks at a time. The work was also lonely and dangerous. The point to see is that Moses worked hard; He was not lazy, nor was slothful. And because of that, when God looked at Moses, He saw a hard-working, industrious man that would get the job done.
3. Moses was a man of faith, a man who believed in the miracles of God, he believed in the impossible acts of God (Exodus 3:2). The people God uses must be a person of faith, a person who believes God.
Look at what now happened.
The angel of the Lord appeared to Moses (Exodus 3:2). He appeared to him as a blazing fire within a bush, a flame of fire that did not burn out nor consume the bush.
? God's voice called out to Moses from within the burning bush (Exodus 3:4).
? God identified Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 3:6).
? The Lord continued to speak to Moses from within the burning bush.
What I’m trying to tell you is that God Himself was meeting Moses. He was manifesting and revealing Himself, meeting Moses in a very special way. Moses needed a deep, intense, unforgettable experience with God. He needed an experience with God that he would never forget as he launched out for God.
Moses needed to see the glory of God.
• before he could undertake the mission of God. Moses needed to see the glory of God
• before he could minister and serve in the power of God. he needed to see the Glory of God, and somebody this morning needs to see God’s Glory.
And I don’t know about anyone else, but I want to see the Glory of God. Before, I preach I want to see the Glory of God, before I minister, I want to see his Glory, before I lay hands on anyone, I want to see the Glory of God.
Every born again Christian needs to seek deeper experiences with God, to know God more and more, to draw closer to Him.
Moses was a man who would stop and seek the meaning of things (Exodus 3:3). Notice how he stopped, turned aside, and went over to see the unusual sight; he wanted to know why was this fire blazing. It did not burn out, nor did it consume the bush. Just think what would have happened if Moses had not stopped and gone over to see the unusual sight: he would have.
• missed the blessing of God.
• missed this deep experience with God.
• missed the call of God upon his life.
And sometimes many people are not interested in the meaning of things, not enough to stop and study the real meaning lying behind a thing, especially the meaning of God and of spiritual things. Many people ignore God and the things of God.
They are.
• just too busy and too wrapped up in the affairs of life.
• just interested in the pleasures and possessions of this world.
Most people are not like Moses: they just are not willing to stop and to seek the meaning of the spiritual things. The Lord was appeared to Moses, and Moses stopped and sought the meaning of the Lord's appearance. And I don’t know how you feel about it, but I want to see everything that the Lord has for me to see.
1. God's call was to a seeking man. Notice when God called Moses: Moses stopped and sought the meaning of the burning bush. Then and only then did God call out to Moses.
Here is a nugget. The person who seeks to know the truth and meaning of things, and is open to God, will be met by God. God will meet and call the seeking person. And to somebody that is in this room if you are looking to meet God, then God is willing to meet you.
The Bible clearly says that any person who seeks God, who seeks to know and understand God, will find God.
(Deut. 4:29)"But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul".
(Proverbs 8:17) "I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me."
(Jeremiah 29:13) "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."
(Amos 5:4) "For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live."
(Luke 11:9-10). "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
God's call, was a personal call (Exodus 3:4). God called Moses by name, and Moses' response was: "Here am I." in other words, God know us by name. If you think I’m making it up we need to read EX 33:12
"I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight" (Exodus 33:12). He called Moses and Moses said here I am. Has God every call your name
God stopped Moses dead in his tracks. He told Moses to come no closer and to take off his shoes. Why? Because the ground where he stood was holy ground.
God called Moses for three very specific reasons.
1. God was deeply concerned about the suffering of His people (Exodus 3:7).
a. God saw the affliction and misery of His people (Exodus 3:7). God said forcefully: "I have surely [indeed] seen the affliction of my people" (Exodus 3:7). This is the first time God ever called Israel "my people."
God heard the cries of His people (Exodus 3:7). With what they was going through it seems as though they had no hope but God, and they could do nothing else but cry, they then cried out to God, and when God heard their cries, God moved to meet their needs.
And may I tell somebody up in here this morning, that you need to cry out. And for those of you who has been crying out, I stopped by to tell you that God has heard your cries and now he wants to set you free.
• God sees the affliction and misery of people.
• God has heard their cries for help.
• He knows all about their sorrows and is deeply concerned for them.
So, God came down to deliver His people, to set them free, and to give them liberty from their suffering. He wanted to deliver them from their enslavement hand of their enemies (The Egypt).
God came down as the God of deliverance, the God of redemption, and the God of restoration. God came down to save His people, to deliver them from the bondage of the evil prince, and of the evil hands of Egypt.
God wanted to give the Promised Land to His people (Exodus 3:8).
So, it is said that God called Moses to go as his messenger to deliver his people from their enslavement of Pharaoh, but it is said that his heart was harden and he would not release them, and he would not listen to the man of God.
So the Lord said he won’t listen to me I’ll send 10 plagues his way.
The 1st plague he sent was that he turned their water to blood: and I don’t know about you but I don’t want no bloody water, but that didn’t get his attention.
So the Lord sent Frogs: and the city was sink from all of the frogs that were in the city, but that didn’t get his attention.
The Lord sent Lice or gnats and the lice didn’t change their hearts.
The Lord sent flies:, I can’t stand one fky so I know that I couldn’t handle a city of flies. But his heart was still harden.
5. The Lord sent Pestilence to the livestock: which would kill off all of the food, that didn’t work.
6. They had Boils all over their bodies: Ex. 9:8-12
7. Thunderstorm of hail and fire:
8. The Locusts came:
9. Three days of darkness: Ex. 10:21–29
10. But then there was the Death of firstborn son:
Pharaoh couldn’t take anymore so he set the people free. And my question is what does the Lord have to do to free the people of this day and time.
I’m reminded of a story about a man who want a eagle so he built a snare and lured the eagle into the snare, he caught a bird in his snare and he want to keep it. so what he did was he took the bird to the Farmer’s Market, and tied a string around his leg, and then tied the string around the pole. With the string attached to the bird legs the eagle just walked around in circles hour after hour.
But there was a customer who did like what the man had did to the bird, so he purchased the birds and then cut the strings off their legs, giving the bird their freedom. But in-spite of the strings being cut, the eagle continued to walk around the pole in the same circles. They did not know they were free and could go in a new direction. The man had to chase them away from the pole before they understood that they were free.
And over thousand year there was a man that cut our strings but some people are still walking in circles, but you need to tell your neighbor, neighbor I’m no longer bound because the Lord has set me free.
