A. INTRODUCTION
1. Life-changing events happen on average days. “Moses was tending the flock” (Exodus 3:1).
2. Life-changing events happen to those who do their duty. “He led the flock” (3:1).
3. Life-changing events happen in out of the way places. “To the back of the desert” (3:1).
4. Life-changing events occur in the routine of life. “Kept the flock” (3:1, KJV).
5. Life-changing events are rarely expected. “He looked . . . but the bush was not consumed” (3:2).
6. Any old bush can be life-changing when God is in it. “The bush was burning with fire; but the bush was not consumed” (3:2).
The bush was a symbol of:
? God’s people in fires of affliction (1:14, 22)
? God’s wrath is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29)
? God’s call to Moses (Romans 11:29)
7. What life-changing event could happen to you: today _______________________________________________, this month ___________________________________________, this year _____________________________________________?
B. GOD OF THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
1. We are attached to our PAST. “Thy father Abraham . . . Isaac . . . Jacob” (3:5).
a. Makes us think God only worked in previous generations.
b. God has a plan for each person, in every new generation.
2. God was PRESENT as His people faced problems.
a. I have seen their oppression (3:7).
b. I have heard their cry (3:7).
c. I know their sorrows (3:7).
Our Response to God
? Stop and look. “I will turn aside and see” (3:4).
? Answer. “Here I am”
? Fall on your face. “Moses hid his face” (3:6).
? Fear. “He was afraid to look on God” (3:6).
3. God had/has a future plan for His people/you. “I know the plans I have for you … plans to prosper you and not to harm you” (Jeremiah 29:11). God told Moses, “I have come down to deliver them” (3:8).
C. GOD’S CALL
1. God’s plan involves using a person. “Come now, I will send you to Pharaoh.”
a. God’s call is personal. “God called to him … Moses, Moses” (3:4). God knows our name, and all about us.
b. God’s call involves holiness. “Take your shoes off your feet” (3:5).
c. God’s call involves danger. “When Pharaoh heard ... he sought to kill Moses” (2:15).
d. God’s call involves action. “I will send you.”
e. God’s call involves yieldedness. “Here am I” (3:4).
f. God calls Moses who had failed in the past.
(1) Moses tried to hide his actions. “He looked this way and that” (2:12).
When we look both ways to see what men think of us, it is sure we have not looked to see what God thinks.
(2) Moses thought he could do right in the wrong way. “He killed” (2:12)
(3) Moses tried to hide his sin. “Hid him in the sand” (2:12).
g. God calls those who have run away in the past.
(1) Moses feared. When both Israel and Pharaoh knew he murdered (2:14).
(2) Moses fled into the Sinai Desert (2:15).
When you run from God into the desert, He meets you at Sinai, the mountain of God.
h. God’s call involves delivering people from bondage. “I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians” (3:8).
i. God’s call involves supernatural help. Egypt was the most powerful nation on earth and Moses was called to deliver slaves from their control.
j. God’s call never guarantees an easy task, nor does it involve pushover enemies. God may call us to potential wars. “Bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites” (3:8).
k. God’s call involves a vision of needy people that will move us to an emotional response and all-out effort. “Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them” (3:9).
l. God’s call demands a response. “Come now . . . I will send you to Pharaoh” (3:10).
If you have never really accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, would you do it right now? Do not delay or put it off. If you would like to receive Christ by faith, pray this simple prayer in your heart:
Dear Lord, I acknowledge that I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for my sins on the cross, and rose again the third day. I repent of my sins. By faith I receive the Lord Jesus as my Savior. You promised to save me, and I believe You, because You are God and cannot lie. I believe right now that the Lord Jesus is my personal Savior, and that all my sins are forgiven through His precious blood. I thank You, dear Lord, for saving me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, God heard you and saved you. I personally want to welcome you to the family of God and rejoice with you.
Dr. Towns’ email is eltowns@liberty.edu.
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