The Challenge Of God's Call-6 Series

The CHALLENGE OF GOD's CALL-VI—Exodus 3:1-22

Assistance/Availability/Discovering/Significance

Attention:

Dog days of summer—Sweltering hot day—Humidity saps your energy—Sweat just stepping outside—

BUT you go to Ichetucknee Springs—Rent a tube—Walk to the put-in point at the northern end of the river—You decide to brave the alligators, snapping turtles, cottonmouth moccasins, & mosquitoes—You jump in!—The water is so cold that your whole body draws in on itself as if you’ve walked into a meat locker barefooted!—You settle into your inner tube & the current takes you along a most beautiful ride—The trees hanging over the river offer a respite from the blazing sun—Spanish moss blows in the occasional hot breeze—Resurrection fern colors the bare trunks of trees with a rich green hue because it has rained the day before—Fish are at your legs & feet—An occasional lilly blooms on the bank—Turtles plop into the water from their water-bound log as you approach—Your friends &/or family are all floating down-river with you as you enjoy their company & conversation...

...OR...

Before you take the plunge, You could assume the worst—The alligator will make a meal of me following the scent of blood from the snapping turtle’s having taken off two few of my toes, just after the cottonmouth has bitten me on the neck, after the rabid raccoon broke my skin as it chased me into the river!

There is a Challenge offered by Ichetucknee Springs! Fun or Fear! But you will never be able to experience the fun, if you invent & live in imagined fear!

The same Challenge is offered by God’s Call!

Exodus records the significance of God’s call to Moses.

Answering God’s call presents a significant challenge.

To What does God’s call present a challenge?

16 challenges of/to God’s call.

We found earlier that,

God’s call presents a challenge to...

1. Our OCCUPATION(:1)

2. Our OBSERVATION(:2-3)

3. Our AVAILABILITY(:4)

4. Our APPROACH(:5)

5. Our AWE(:6)

6. Our COMPASSION(:7-9)

7. Our INABILITY(:10-11)

8—God’s call presents a challenge to...

Our POWER(:12a)

Explanation:(:12a)

:12—“So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” ”

God’s counter to Moses’ inadequacy is a “certainty,” on Moses’ part, that God Himself will “be with” him.

“Certainly”—yk keey—Conj.—1) That, for, because, when, as though, as, because that, but, then, certainly, except, surely, since. Strong—a primitive particle[the full form of the prepositional prefix] indicating causal relations of all kinds, antecedent or consequent; (by implication)very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb; often largely modified by other particles annexed.

“Be”(See :14—“I AM”)—hyh haw-yaw—1) To be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out. Strong—To exist, i.e. Be or become, come to pass(always emphatic, & not a mere copula or auxiliary).

“With”—Me eem—Prep.—1) With—1a) With, 1b) Against, 1c) Toward, 1d) As long as, 1e) Beside, except, 1f) In spite of. Strong—adverb or preposition, With(i.e. in conjunction with), in varied applications; specifically--Equally with; often with prepositional prefix(& then usually unrepresented in English).

Argumentation:

Mk. 8:34-38—“When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, & take up his cross, & follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake & the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, & loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me & My words in this adulterous & sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

Acts 1:6-8—“Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; & you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, & in all Judea & Samaria, & to the end of the earth.”

Lk. 24:46-49—“Then He said to them[travelers on the road to Emmaus], “Thus it is written, & thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer & to rise from the dead the third day, & that repentance & remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”