Moses: 2024
Series: Never seen before in 2024!
Thesis: To see something we have never seen before in 2024 - we must do something we have never done before in 2024! What is the one thing you need to do? Is it read the Bible daily – Pray – have consistent devotions? Step out in faith? Follow the call of God? Pray for miracles for others? Use what is in your hands?
Introduction:
We have been looking at stories of real-life people in the history of the Bible.
We have looked at:
• Jesus
• God
• Abraham
• Isaac
• Jacob
• Jospeh
• Matthew
• Luke
Today we are looking at Moses – a central figure of the OT!
As we have looked at some of the Heroes of the Faith found for us in the Bible. We have seen people who made a difference for the Kingdom of God with their lives.
The messages have revealed to us some life changing truths:
1. Life is not always fair, but God is faithful.
2. God’s Hall of fame recipients know how to say, “I choose to lose!”
3. Over-comers in life say, “I will never quit!
4. God’s heroes of the faith say, “No Pride!”
5. God uses imperfect people to do His perfect will.
6. These real-life stories teach us what to do.
7. These real-life stories teach us what not to do.
8. Life is about servanthood not about attaining fame and fortune.
Learning from real life teaches the most valuable lessons of how to live in this life. These heroes of the faith show us the lessons of life. We will learn how to please God. We will discover that it is God who creates heroes of the faith with those who say, “Here I am Lord!”
I look at these men and women and I discovered that they where people who made a difference with their lives. Why? They believed God – they had faith over fear! (A critical trait to have if we desire to serve God!)
The other reason they made a difference was because they had a relationship with the LORD. They lived their lives in service to the Lord. It was God alone whom they served. They were individuals committed to Jesus Christ and His work. They discovered what God was doing and then became involved in it. The result of this decision propelled them into becoming a hero of the faith.
Sermon: Moses
Thesis: Moses saw the invisible God and it empowered him to persevere through anything and He heard God say, “What is in your hand?” He looked at the staff in his hand and God used that staff to deliver the people of Israel from slavery and bondage!
Introduction:
Today we will look at Moses. The man God chose to deliver the people out of Egypt yes out of cruel bondage, slavery, and the horrible edict of Killing all male boys at birth!
Moses would become the man of the hour and become an example of what God can do with a person who spends time with God in His presence. Whenever I think about Moses, I immediately picture the movie “The 10 Commandments.” Starring Charleton Heston as Moses!
But I really want us to take another look at Moses today and see something we have never seen before in his life. I want us to take a realistic look into the life of a Biblical hero of the faith.
Moses was a man not much different from you and I. He was a boy born to die by a tyrant! A man who faced difficulties in life, like unfair treatment, wilderness wanderings, burning bush experiences and desert wanderings with complaining multitudes. A man who had faith in God even when God asked him to face life threatening scenarios. He chose God over fame and fortune -He obeyed God- and became God’s man of the hour. He was a man who knew the pain of leadership. He knew what it was like to hear Gods voice and communicate that to God’s followers only to have them rebel against God. He knew what it was like to get angry with the people for complaining – murmuring and rebelling against the authority of God. Moses knew hardship but he saw God and talked with God!
Today I want to start and highlight a NT Scripture Text about Moses:
Hebrews 11:1 –3 (NIV)
1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
2This is what the ancients were commended for.
3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. (Hold that thought a moment)
Hebrews 11:23-29
23By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.29By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
Moses is highlighted in the Old Testament and in the New Testament as hero of the faith! He is one of the whose who of the Bible!
One phrase I noticed in Hebrews 11: 27 was “He persevered because he saw him who is invisible!” Did you catch that phrase?
Question? - Have you seen Him who is invisible? Have you had a divine revelation of Jesus? Have you seen Him? Have you heard His voice?
I. Have you seen the invisible God like Moses did? I think this is a valid question to ask people!
a. Here is the lesson from this one sentence statement - If you have seen Him who is invisible you will have the ability to persevere through anything!
i. If you have seen the invisible God a secular culture, injustice, murder, sin, failures, wilderness experiences will not keep you down!
1. Because you will still see God in it all! Do you see God in the hard times – Do you hear God in the hard times?
ii. If you have seen the invisible God, you will still see God in leadership difficulties and in the pain of leadership!
iii. If you have seen the invisible God, you will be able to fail forward through your mistakes in life!
iv. If you have seen the invisible God, you will push through the desert wanderings!
v. If you have seen the invisible God, you will see God in a burning bush – hear His voice and listen to His direction for your life!
vi. If you have seen the invisible God, you will be able to stand before secular rulers with faith and not fear and speak with authority!
vii. If you have seen the invisible God, you will be able to do miracles with what God has placed in your hands!
1. It could be a shepherd Staff! (Like Moses)
2. It could be a hammer! (A wrench, a welder, a car)
3. It could be a football or sports item!
4. It could be a pen or keyboard!
5. It could be a piano or musical instrument.
6. It could be you fill in the blank! ____________?
viii. How does this work? The Lord likes to show others and especially His followers that He is God, and he can take nothing and make it something – truth is nothing is impossible with God!
1. Moses discovered that all He needed to deliver the Israelites from Egypt was a staff empowered by the Word of the Lord!
a. Moses came to understand the He would be able to deliver God’s people out of slavery and bondage with what’s in His hand!
b. He would be able to lead God’s people through the wilderness with the staff!
c. He would be able to part the obstacles that came in his way with what was in his hands.
d. Moses discovered he would be able to persevere through the rebellion of the people and the complaining of the people and still see God keep His promises!
e. Moses was able to lead the people of God to the edge of the promised land!
i. Truth: God can use the resources you have to do a miracle!
ii. Case in point New Life:
1. Halfway house
2. Counseling center
3. Cafe
2. I am always amazed at the ways God stretches my life. He uses me in ways I thought I could never be used.
a. Examples: The call to ministry “I said who me God – I am just a carpenter!”
i. The hammer went to pen – to the mouth – to the typewriter – to the key board – to other places!
b. God also desires to use you as well!
3. Exodus 4: In Exodus 4:2 after Moses is trying to make a case to God why he should not be used by God – Making excuses – God asks him a question, “What’s that in your hand?”
a. In other words, “Hey Mo – what do you have there?”
i. Moses’ probably looks down at his hand and says, ‘It’s only my shepherds stick!” It’s nothing special.
ii. God then proceeds to show him how He can take an ordinary everyday item “A shepherd stick” and do miracles with it!
iii. Moses’ only talent or gift in his view at this point in his life was his ability to care for and tend for the sheep. He did not think that gift was of any value to the supreme Lord.
1. Remember prince Moses has died in the wilderness!
4. Wilson states, “So, what do you have in your hand?”
a. All Jochebed had in her hand was some straw, but she used it to weave a basket to shelter Moses as he floated down the river.
b. All Miriam had in her hand was a tambourine, but she used it to lead the people to celebrate God’s faithfulness. “SO, what do you have in your hand?”
i. A guitar – piano-bass-horn-trumpet -flag?
c. Hannah held a small child in her hand, but when she gave him to God, he became a great prophet. So, what do you have in your hand?
i. A family?
ii. A son or daughter?
d. All Ruth had was a stalk of grain, but God used it to sustain her family’s life and lead her, by His providence for her to be included in the linage of Jesus. So, what do have in your hand?
i. Dirt – plants- clothes?
e. All the little boy had was a sack lunch, but Jesus used it to feed the 5,000. So, what do you have in your hand?
i. Can you cook?
ii. Can you sing?
iii. Can you teach?
f. All the widow had was enough food for one more meal for her and her son, but God used it to feed her family and the prophet throughout the famine. So, what do you have in your hand?
i. Just a little food – a little money?
g. All Moses had in hand was a plain old staff, yet God used it to.
i. To Turn into a snake before Pharoah and eat his snakes.
ii. To turn the Nile from water to blood.
iii. To unleash a plague of frogs in Egypt.
iv. To unleash the plague of gnats in Egypt.
v. To unleash a plague of flies in Egypt.
vi. To unleash the hailstorm on Egypt.
vii. To bring forth the plague of Locusts.
viii. To bring forth the plague of blackness in Egypt and release the death angel.
ix. To part the Red Sea and deliver the people of Israel.
h. He thought “I can only shepherd sheep-that’s it!”
i. “I cannot preach- I cannot teach!” therefore I am useless for God. Not so my friend!
ii. “All I have is a staff! What’s that going to do!”
iii. “All I have is ________________? God I only have ______________!”
1. Question: What is in your hand?
b. We need to get a fresh revelation of Jesus today. We need to see Him as He is in glory. A vision of Him today will inspire you and change you. It will encourage you to go where He wants you to go. It is the greatest thing you could ever see, and it will inspire you to persevere.
i. Moses saw the Lord and it made him determined to fulfill the call that was on his life. This is why he could never say, “I quit!”
1. He thought like Winston Churchill:
a. “We shall go to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender.”
c. The Bible is clear that God wants every Christian (and church) to have and to use their spiritual gifts – what’s in their hands.”
i. This is how the church will grow and the Kingdom of God will grow!
ii. This is how millions will be delivered from bondage!
iii. This is how lives will be transformed!
iv. This is how people will be encouraged to press on in God!
v. This is how miracles will happen in the church!
vi. This is how the church will get to the promised land!
vii. This is how the world will see Jesus!
1. Today more than ever we need to see and understand that the body of Christ – yes that’s you sitting here this morning -have a personal responsibility to do ministry by using your spiritual gift, or gifts for the Lord’s work.
a. So what is in your hand – God wants to use it to do miracles and set people free!
T.S. – Have you seen the invisible God and heard the question after all your excuses to Him of why God cannot use you – Have you heard this “What’s in your hand?” God knows life is not fair, but He is faithful to His word!
II. Life is not always fair, but God is faithful (Exodus 1:1-22; 2:1-10)
a. Moses started out life being forced by a death sentence into a basket and sent adrift down the Nile River filed with Crocks.
i. Was this fair? To be born a boy and receive a death sentence. A baby faced with a tyrant king who makes and edicts to kill all the boy babies because he is in fear that one day the Israelites will go against him and leave the country. That one day they would be too numerous (Exodus 1).
1. Fear has done more to bring injustice to people than any other emotion in the world!
a. It has caused prejudices.
b. It has distorted the truth.
c. It causes people to become cruel and brutal.
d. People who fear loss in life are driven to lash out at others. They cling to and fight those who they fear are trying to steal from them.
i. Jealousy is in this category.
ii. Greed is in this category.
iii. Control freaks are in this category.
iv. Bullies are in this category.
e. The fear of being put down drives people to strike first before the person they fear puts them down.
f. The fear of exposure has caused people to do cover ups, to use deception and lies to hide their sins. Even going so far as killing to cover up their sins.
g. Fear is the driving force behind abortion today!
i. Do you know? The overwhelming majority of all abortions, (95%), are done as a means of birth control. Only (1%) are performed because of rape or incest; (1%) because of fetal abnormalities; (3%) due to the mother’s health problems.
ii. Some of the reasons I have heard why people have had abortions under the 95% bracket:
1. I am too young to have a baby!
2. It will mess up my career!
3. I am too poor to have another child!
4. It will mess up my education!
5. I am not ready to handle a baby right now!
6. Our relationship is bad!
7. It will have a bad life!
a. They are all driven by “FEAR!” – all these reasons!
2. This same spirit of fear driving pharaoh in Exodus to kill baby boys of Israel is still at work today in the abortion realm.
a. But I want you to listen to the Midwives report to Pharoah in Exodus 1:17 “The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.”
b. They had the fear of God – the type of fear that Proverbs says” leads to wisdom.” It’s a healthy beneficial fear. Where is this type of fear today?
i. I John 4:18 “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
ii. Many back then said, “Where is God?” Many ask that same question today!
1. The answer is God is right there with Moses and right here with us!
a. Swindoll states, ‘…you are a product of your time. All of us are. That’s important point to keep in mind when you’re considering anyone’s life. We cannot and must not separate a person from his or her times. Our moment in history and our unique, individual circumstances become the anvil upon which our character is beaten out and formed. We will either rise to the challenge or our times, or we will remain stuck on the sidelines. Moses became God’s man for a transitional epoch in history” (1)
b. How about you with the genocide of abortion?
c. Did you know that you and I can become the transitional epoch in history to stop the slaughter of innocent babies.
i. Lou Engles mission ban abortion!
d. Fear has throughout history done the work of genocide – With Pharaoh, with Herod, with Hitler and now with the policy of abortion.
2. God had heard the cry of his people in Egypt, and he was birthing a baby boy into the midst of the storm. Why? Because this boy would be raised by the enemy to deliver the people from them. God and Egypt would teach him and equip him how to be a leader.
a. God’s plans of action always amaze me! God does the impossible!
iii. His basket trip down the Nile seemingly unfair and cruel ended up landing him in the royal house of Egypt.
1. Come on Now is that not like our God!
b. God’s divine plan – It would be through Egypt’s own educational system that Moses would be trained to become a leader, and administrator, that his talents and gifts would be honed by God.
i. Why would God allow this – Why? Because God was going to raise up the leader who would lead His people out of bondage. He would use the very educational system of Egypt bent on doing evil and turn it around for the good of the people of Israel.
1. Yes, God can turn America’s collapsing morals around and raise up people to overthrow the evil of abortion! It’s happening! God can change America back to One Nation Under God!
T.S.- Moses was birthed in adversity but his parents lack of fear of the king and their faith in God lead their boy right into the royal household of the King who wanted him exterminated. That is why Moses could say Lord I choose to lose to you!
III. Moses learned how to say, “I choose to lose to you God!’ (Exodus 2:11-25; Exodus 3-4:17).
a. Moses was raised and educated by the royal household. But his mother was a part of his life and so was God.
i. Some point in time he was told about his lineage and who God was. He chooses God over all of Egypt’s riches, education, power and prestige.
1. Hebrews 11:24 tells us, “He refused to be known as Pharoah’s son because he belonged to God not Pharoah!”
ii. He chooses at this point in his life to be a God Pleaser and said, “Yes” to God.”
iii. He risked his position and status to be “God’s deliver of the people of Israel.”
1. I believe he knew he was to deliver the Jews from the Egyptians and that is why he killed the Egyptian who mistreated his fellow brother.
a. Moses reacted too quickly and did not wait for God’s timing or direction. His “Lets do it now mindset” got in the way and he blew it.
i. He responded without praying to God and it cost him a trip to the wilderness for 40 years.
ii. Can you relate to Moses?
b. Swindoll adds, “Timing is as important as action. I think this is where wisdom comes in. Knowledge tells me what to do; wisdom tells me when to do it and how to carry it out. The longer I live, the more I believe the words of the sage who wrote, ‘One blow struck when the time is right is worth as thousand struck in premature eagerness.’ God has no limitations in His ability to pull something off, but He’s going to do it in His time and not before” (57).
c. He also adds, ‘The problem, of course, is not that God is too slow. It’s that we are too fast. Too fast for our own good” (58).
i. How about you? Are you synchronized to God’s timing or your timing?
ii. Are you investing your time in eternity or wasting it away on yourself!
2. Moses misunderstood how God would deliver His people. It would not be through Moses’ strength, education or ability but through God’s miraculous power.
a. It would be done through a spirit of humility and “No pride!”
b. Swindoll states, “Spiritual leadership is God-appointed, not self-assumed” (61).
3. So, the Lord had him escape to the wilderness to learn what faith was all about and what humility was all about.
a. He sent him to the desert to learn a valuable lesson in patience and humility.
b. Swindoll tells us, “There are two things I can say about failure…Experiencing failure promotes an obedient life…Experiencing failure prompts a teachable spirit” (53).
c. Maxwell states, “No matter what happens to you, failure is an inside job.”
d. You fail in failure when you refuse to get back up and deal with the consequences. You repent, take responsibility and learn through the ordeal. Moses learned through his time in Midian.
i. He learned servanthood.
ii. He learned what responsibility was in tending sheep. In doing a job most would seem to be boring and thankless.
1. Egypt loathed shepherds and they considered that job to be at the bottom. Yet God took a prince trained in the ways of Egypt and made him a shepherd.
2. In reality this humble job led him to the burning bush. So can yours!
3. Your mundane job for the Lord can lead you to a burning bush experience!
iii. He grew in maturity by raising a family and providing for the family faithfully.
iv. His mindset changed from a look at me prince to a humble shepherd of sheep.
v. He learned to rest and rely upon God to provide and guide.
vi. He learned to slow down his life.
1. Capen states, “So many people I meet are in such a hurry but reflect a shallowness that bellies their busyness. You can’t be very real if you’re rushing through life” (24)
2. Strumpt and Lang state, “Datsun-we are driven!’ That old advertising slogan could easily be reworded ‘Americans-we are driven!” Of course, not all Americans feel a strong drive to produce, to achieve, to be constantly busy (even in leisure), constantly changing and improving, exploring as many of life’s options as possible. But the air we breathe in America is the air of busyness. Most of us feel we must be doing something. Busyness has become such an American ideal that we often feel guilty when we aren’t busy” (75)
3. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know I am God.”
4. But,” in America, the ‘land of opportunity,’ the land of ‘the pursuit of happiness,’ even Christians have difficulty being still, being content, just accepting life. So many options are open to us, and we run ourselves ragged, cramming our days full” (77).
5. But we need to understand that doing a lot of things is no substitute for a genuine relationship with God. And sometimes we need to slow down and hear from God before we do anything!
vii. He learned to listen to God’s plan of action.
1. Swindoll states, ‘Our problem isn’t that we’ve failed. Our problem is that we haven’t failed enough. We haven’t been brought low enough to learn what God want us to learn. We’re still trying to redeem Egypt single-handedly” (68).
b. Moses after years of dieing to himself tending sheep in Midian sees God – and hears from God in a supernatural way.
i. The Bush burns and he hesitates.
1. His response is classic “Who me!” I am unable to do that God.”” I am a nobody!”” I am a has been.”” You don’t want me!” “God, I blew it before not again!”
2. Moses’ attitude has changed he now said in essence “God I don’t have the ability!” Where before I think he thought he did have the ability!
3. When we die to ourselves then my friend God can use us!
a. When we learn to choose to lose to God he then says, “Now I can use them!”
4. Moses died in the desert and God resurrected him to his mission in life. God set up Moses to be successful that’s why he went to the desert.
ii. Moses eventually says, “Yes to God – in essence he says not my will Lord but yours be down.’ Good words that we all need to say daily!
1. It’s the magic words which bring miracles to our lives.
2. The desert has taught him well.
3. He understands that he cannot do it, but God can and his faith says put your life in God’s hands!
iii. Even after a horrible failure and a lot of excuses he once again says “Yes.”
1. Edison said, “All great achievers are given multiple reasons to believe they are failures. But in spite of that, they persevere” (26, Maxwell).
2. I think it is harder to say yes to God after we blow something for him, then when we succeed at something.
3. Maxwell tells us that there are 7 abilities needed to fail forward and to progress on with God:
a. Achievers reject rejection- They tell themselves “I missed that one, “or “I made a mistake” but they never say, “I am a failure and will always be a failure.”
b. Achievers see failure as temporary- They tell themselves, “This is only for a short season I will succeed in the end!” I will learn from this and do it right.
c. Achievers see failures as isolated Incidents- They understand that this not a lifelong epidemic.
d. Achievers keep expectations Realistic- They understand that’ setbacks are a part of life. They understand that everything will not work out perfectly.
i. Hank Aaron first game was a disaster he went 0 for 5 at bats. But he shrugged it off and noted there would be other games and of course he became the best home run hitter in the history of baseball.
e. Achievers focus on strengths- Butera states, ‘What distinguishes winners from losers is that winners concentrate at all times on what they can do, not on what they can’t do…”
i. Our greatest strength is The Lord! Focus on your strength.
f. Achievers vary approaches to achievement- in other words they keep trying and adjusting until they find something that works for them.
i. They look for ways to succeed not quit when things get tough!
g. Achievers bounce back – Caruthers states, ‘Life is a series of outcomes. Sometimes the outcome is what you want. Great. Figure out what you did right. Sometimes the outcome is what you don’t want. Great figure out what you did so you don’t do it again.” This is the key to bouncing back. (Failing Forward, by Maxwell 27-30)
c. Moses showed the “I choose to lose” attitude when he went before pharaoh speaking God’s word to him.
i. He said “yes” by going to Pharaoh- He risked his life, and it did not matter what because he had already died to himself.
ii. He did it God’s way this time – not his way!
1. He quit singing the song “I did it my way!”
d. Moses showed the “I choose to lose” mindset when he led the multitude into the wilderness.
i. He said “Yes” to the Lord by taking the leadership position God had given him.
1. He knew leading these people would be very hard and difficult. There are times when he said to God, “Why me Lord!” These people are driving me crazy!
a. I have said the same to the Lord – just being honest here!
ii. Many people say “No” to God when it comes to stepping out in a leadership position.
1. Maybe because leadership always requires you to deny yourself and challenges you to become a servant leader.
2. When I was teaching Special Education in High School one of kids in my class said, “They wanted to be the boss!”
a. My response back to them was how they had no idea what they were asking for. Because when you are the boss, you deal with a lot of major headaches on a daily basis.
i. Complaining people!
ii. Negative people!
iii. Prideful people!
b. It is so true! Leadership takes us saying, “I choose to lose to you Lord!’
T.S. – We need to die to ourselves and serve God as leaders and quit thinking we must be perfect!
IV. God used an imperfect person like Moses to do his perfect will.
a. Moses tried taking things into his own hands-the result was he committed murder.
i. Moses went away to Midian to be schooled by God in the desert.
1. But it was in the school of the desert that he learned the most important lessons of life to help him succeed at his position in God.
b. When Moses encountered God in the bush Moses was quick to list all his shortcomings and imperfections to God- but it did not matter to God.
i. Exodus 3
10So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
11But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
• “God I am nobody!”
• “God I am not qualified – I sinned – I committed murder!’
• “I am just a shepherd in the desert!”
12And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
13Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
• “God they will think the heat got to me in the desert and I just saw a mirage- I need to know your name – something that identifies to them that I am not delusional.”
• “God, I don’t even know you that well how can I do it!’
• “I don’t even know your name.”
• “Lord, I do not have a strong relationship with you!”
14God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
15God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.
Exodus 4
1Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?”
*” God, they don’t know me or even know who I was, I have no credibility. I am not important or even remembered by most. Even if they do remember me, I committed murder!”
2Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. 3The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4Then the LORD said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5“This,” said the LORD, “is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”
6Then the LORD said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow.
7“Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So, Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
8Then the LORD said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. 9But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”
10Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
• “God, I hate speaking in front of crowds- I never know what to say!’
• “God I cannot convince people that you are real!”
• “God, I don’t know how to witness!”
11The LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? 12Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”
13But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.”
* Moses here does not want to go – rebellion sets in, and it makes God angry
14Then the LORD’S anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. 15You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. 16He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. 17But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it.”
ii. Why would God use Moses – a man full of imperfections. A man full of excuses because he cannot do it. A man even unwilling to go because God uses imperfect people to do his perfect will.
iii. He uses people like you and me to reach this world.
1. People with flaws – shortcomings – character defects – poor public speakers – nobodies – sinners.
2. It does not matter how imperfect you are because He is perfect, and He is in control, and He will use you if your heart is right.
3. Remember he will give you the words to say! He will show you what to do!
c. Moses got in trouble for not obeying God’s instructions directly when he struck the rock to many times in (Numbers 20).
i. God’s words are to be followed precisely – it’s not a pick and choose what I want to listen to relationship.
ii. He paid the price for His disobedience, but he still loved the Lord with his whole heart. God still used Him!
iii. God wants to use you too!
Conclusion: What do we need to learn and do from this message?
• Have you seen the invisible God and Heard Him ask you, “What is in your Hand – I can use that!
o If you have seen the invisible God, you can persevere through anything.
o God is asking, “What do you have in your hand?” He wants you to let him use it to deliver people, to help people, to save people, to transform a world and turn it right side up for God!
o To change Chicago!
• Friends’ life is unfair, but God is faithful, and the question is what will you do about the unfairness in life?
o Swindoll “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react.”
o Moses overcame the injustice and made an impact for God – How about you?
o Moses overcame obstacles to be hero of the faith.
o He overcame the fear of man by fearing God and this propelled him into becoming the man of the hour for God.
• Moses taught us that we need to say, “I chose to lose to God!”
• We need to reject the pleasures of sin for a season and serve God.
• We need to die to our time schedules and adhere to his time schedule.
• We need to not take things into our hands.
• We need to hear from God and do it His way.
• We need to learn through our failures and let God teaches us and hone us.
• We need to learn the lessons from the wilderness.
o Servanthood
o Responsibility
o Slowing down our busyness
o Hear from God
o Be patient.
o Be humble.
o Be ready to go!
• God used an imperfect person like Moses to do his perfect will.
o God will use anyone who says “Lord here I am – use me!”
