Who Gave Man His Mouth? Series

TEXT: Exodus 4:1-12

TITLE: “Who Gave Man His Mouth?”

SERIES: Questions God Asks

TOPIC: God’s Power to Enable those He calls!

OCCASION: Burnside Christian Church, August 10, 2008

PROP.: I want Christians who are struggling with doing what God asks them to do, to KNOW that God is big enough to see them through! God is big enough to use you for His glory!

INTRODUCTION: Today we continue in our sermon series Questions God Ask. Last week, we looked at the first Question If this is your first time joining us, you might be wondering: “Why does God ask questions? He knows everything!” And I would say, You are exactly right! God knows everything! So why does he ask questions?

Let me explain it to you by telling you this story:

Paul Shriver is a friend of mine. He’s married to Kathy who runs a day care in their home. Paul is a school teacher so he is home during the summer. He frequently calls me during the summer and he called me this past week to tell me a funny story.

Paul was in the basement in his office. He heard Kathy tell one of the day care kids (her name is Reese) to go to the bathroom and wash her hands to get ready for lunch. A little while later, he heard Kathy say: Reese! Reese…how many squirts of soap do we need to wash our hands? Reese said, “one.” Kathy said, “How many squirts of soap do you have on your hands?” Reese explained: “26” Kathy has been teaching Reese to count. And apparently, she’s gotten very good at it!

I tell you that story to help you understand WHY God asks questions. He asks questions to help us reflect. To help us see truth!

Last week, we looked at God’s question: “Where are you?” We learned that this is the most important question. This is the question God cares about the most! I hope this sermon challenged you to walk WITH God instead of hiding FROM God!

This week, God asks the question: Who Gave Man His Mouth. Our text comes from Exodus 4:1-12 Please be turning there.

BACKGROUND OF MOSES:

To help you better understand and appreciate this story, let me give you a glimpse into the life of Moses.

--Moses was a miracle child. He wasn’t a miracle child like Isaac, Samson, Samuel, John the Baptizer or Jesus, but the fact that he survived was a miracle.

--He was born to Jewish parents in Egypt during Israel’s enslavement and in the middle of when the Egyptians were killing all of the Jewish baby boys. Moses’ parents successfully kept Moses hidden until they couldn’t hide him anymore.

--That is when they came up with a plan to to put Moses in a basket, place him in the Nile and let God take care of him. And God looked after Moses, and brought him to the princess of Egypt. So this son of a Hebrew Slave grows up in the Palace of Egypt.

--He benefits from an Egyptian education and learns the way of the Egyptians royal court. For 40 years, Moses has the benefits of Egyptian royalty.

--But somewhere along the way, Moses learns that he isn’t an Egyptian, let alone a physical descendent of Pharaoh, and that he is in fact the descendant of slaves.

--Moses begins to believe that he was meant to help his people. This comes to a boiling point one day when he sees an Egyptian task master beating a Hebrew slave. Moses kills the Egyptian to help the slave. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. That is until Moses realizes that the murder is not as secret as he though it was. So he takes off into the desert to escape the wrath of Pharaoh.

--In the desert, he meets a girl, becomes a shepherd and has a family. For the next forty years, Moses is a nomadic shepherd learning the ways of the wilderness. His thoughts of power, prestige and heroism vanish and he is taken over by the day to day duties of life. That is, until one day he sees a strange sight:

--Moses and his flock of sheep are all alone at the base of Mt. Sinai when he sees a bush that is on fire! But it never burns up.

--Moses turns aside to see this sight and God calls to him from within the flames of that burning bush.

--Moses is told that God will strike the Egyptians and that Israel will plunder Egypt without a fight. And that Moses was going to be the face to this amazing operation! What an amazing task set before this now humble shepherd: to face the most powerful man in the world!

HAVE YOU EVER FELT THAT WAY? The job is too big that you are asked to achieve? That you are under-qualified and not ready?