The Rut Of Christianity Series

Sermon Brief

Date Written: February 26, 2010

Date Preached: February 21, 2010

Where Preached: Oak Park (AM)

Sermon Details:

Sermon Series: The Great Adventure – Rediscovering the Adventure

Sermon Title: The RUT of Christianity! Part 3 of 6

Sermon Text: John 14:12, Exodus 3:1-6

Introduction:

Exodus 3:1-6 [NLT]

1 One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro,[a] the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai,[b] the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. 3 “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.”

4 When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses replied. 5 “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. 6 I am the God of your father[c]—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.

I can guarantee you that on this morning when Moses woke up and got ready to go out to the fields… he probably did the same things he had been doing for the past 40 yrs. He never knew or suspected God would call him to deliver the people of Israel.

Moses may have left Egypt with a sense that he had to do something to free his people. We know he had a passion about delivering the Hebrew nation because he had actually killed an Egyptian guard who was beating a Hebrew slave. But over the yrs in the wilderness, something happened to Moses, he had become distracted from that passion, caught up in the routine and responsibility of being a shepherd and husband.

So much so that Moses had not thought about going back to Egypt and was rather shaken when God told him what He wanted Moses to do. Moses had settled into a life where he had found comfortable life. He was married, he had children, he had possessions, he had responsibilities, he had SETTLED into a life where he was content.

Yes, I am sure that Moses remembered what he had seen in Egypt. I am sure that he thought about that terrible day when he tried to defend a fellow Hebrew and killed an Egyptian. I am sure he wondered how the Hebrews were doing because he knew how difficult their life was… BUT Moses had ‘moved on’, Moses had another life now, Moses was settled where he was!

But it was just then when God got Moses’ attention as we see in v.4 when God called from the burning bush to Moses and set into motion a series of events that would FOREVER change Moses’ life!

Today I want us to look at our own spiritual life and where we are in our spiritual walk… Has God called you out of your spiritual RUT to a life of adventure and excitement within the Kingdom? Have you had a ‘burning bush’ moment in your life when you knew that God had a special calling for you?

So often as believers we settle for something easy and routine instead of striving for the best of what God has to offer for our lives. So many of us, have been called by God, but we find ourselves fenced in by our own trappings that we either don’t hear God calling us, or we believe that we cannot escape this fenced in area of our lives!

What sort of fences do we build that can prevent us from heading in the direction God is calling us? What sort of trap do we set for ourselves that enslaves us to NOT serving and living as God has called us to live? I believe one of the most heinous traps we can fall into as a believer is the trap of the ROUTINE!

Over the past 2 weeks we have looked at how the Christian life is not a life of drudgery or ritual, but it is supposed to be a great adventure that we are on with Christ. Last week we learned that many times we find ourselves missing out on some great blessings and the abundant life that Jesus promised because we refuse to submit and surrender to God… and we do it all under the excuse that we have responsibility and what God is asking would makes us act Unresponsible...

We saw how God has taken many people out of their comfort zone only to prove to them that He is able and that He will guide them to do what He has called them to do…