TRADING SILVER SPOONS
FOR SANDALS
Big Faith Series-Part 5
Hebrews 11:23-28
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Pastor Brian Matherlee
Introduction
George W. Bush, in an airport lobby, noticed a man in a long flowing white robe with a long flowing white beard and flowing white hair. The man had a staff in one hand and some stone tablets under the other arm.
George W. approached the man and inquired, "Aren’t you Moses?" The man ignored George W. and stared at the ceiling. George W. positioned himself more directly in the man’s view and asked again, "Aren’t you Moses?"
The man continued to peruse the ceiling. George W. tugged at the man’s sleeve and asked once again, "Aren’t you Moses?" The man finally responded in an irritated voice, "Yes I am".
George W. asked him why he was so unfriendly and Moses replied, "The last time I spoke to a Bush I had to spend forty years in the desert.
What do you know about Moses?
Moses is somebody that had it made. He had power, prestige, possessions and everything else the world craves and admires. But he gave it all away? Why? The reasons come clear as we read through the Hebrews 11 of Moses. Here his faith chapter credentials are presented for us to learn from and emulate.
1. Moses had a Holy Purpose (11:23)
a. His parents acted in faith—not fear
i. They saw he was no ordinary child
ii. This doesn’t mean he was perfect—no every parent knows certain things about kids…
• 1. You spend the first two years of their life teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend the next sixteen telling them to sit down and be quiet.
• 2. Grandchildren are God’s reward
for not killing your own children.
• 3. Mothers of teens now know why
some animals eat their young.
• 4. Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn’t have said.
• 5. The main purpose of holding children’s parties is to remind yourself that there are children
more awful than your own.
• 6. We childproofed our homes,
but they are still getting in.
iii. They hid Moses for 3 months—background of the king’s edict was that the Israelites had become very numerous and were outpacing the Egyptians in births. (Exodus 1)
iv. They sent him to Pharaoh’s daughter—and not in ignorance—scholars suggest that Pharaoh’s daughter was an only child and herself childless. Moses would be protected by the only one in Egypt who could protect him from the King’s order to kill every male Hebrew.
v. Moses’ purpose was to know God and lead the people of Israel to the Promised Land.
vi. I like what the great evangelist D. L. Moody said about Moses—“Moses spent his first forty years thinking he was somebody. He spent his second forty years finding out he was a nobody. He spent his last forty years discovering what God can do with a nobody.”
vii. What if we would realize now how much God can accomplish through us. We don’t have to be somebody special for God to have a purpose for us…we just need to offer ourselves.
viii. During Gladys Aylward’s harrowing journey out of war-torn Yang Chen during the Communist take-over, she faced one morning with no apparent hope of reaching safety. A 13-year old girl tried to comfort her by saying, "Don’t forget what you told us about Moses in the wilderness," to which Gladys Aylward replied, "Yes, my dear, but I am not Moses." The young girl replied, "Yes, but God is still God."
ix. Our purpose—love God (worship), love people as ourselves(ministry), live to tell others about Jesus(evangelism), grow in knowledge of Christ & practice living it(discipleship), unite ourselves with other believers (fellowship).
2. Moses had a Heavenly Perspective (11:24-27)
a. Traded a Silver Spoon for Sandals (24)
b. Traded Pleasure for Persecution (25)
c. Traded a Pedestal for a Footstool (26)
d. Traded Paralysis for Perseverance (27)
3. Moses had a Hopeful Preservation (28)
a. We learn here what it means to find shelter in God alone.
b. It can be easy to stick with our mistaken notions and ideas of what is going to get us by or is good enough to get us through. Many people are sincere and end up sincerely wrong.
c. What will it take to convince us that God’s way is the only way? Pharaoh and all of Egypt had to learn the hard way to let go. Is there anything we need to let go of?
d. Deviation from God’s plan brings destruction upon us.
e. A burglar broke into a house and began to steal all of the valuable. At that moment he heard a voice that said Jesus is watching you. He was so scared he froze for a second. He regained his composure and started stealing again, when the voice came louder Jesus is watching you. He just about lost it right there. After regaining his composure he began to steal again this time watching very intent around him when he heard the voice again this time he recognized a shape in the corner as he approached he realized it was a bird cage. He removed the cover to find a parrot. He was so relieved when he saw the parrot he said, “what is your name”? The parrot replied "Moses". The thief then said what kind of person would name a parrot Moses? The parrot replied the same kind of person that named a Rotweiler "Jesus".
f. The blood applied to the doorway of the house preserved all who were inside.
g. The blood of Christ applied to the doorway of the heart is our only hope for preservation.
