Crossing Jordan 1 – Moses, When God Calls On You NV 5/5/05 a.m.

OS: 1 What do you do when God calls on you?

This fellow went next door to borrow his neighbor's lawnmower. The neighbor explained that he could not let him use the mower because all the flights had been canceled from New York to Los Angeles.

The borrower asked him what canceled flights from New York to Los Angeles had to do with borrowing his lawnmower. "It doesn't have anything to do with it, but if I don't want to let you use my lawnmower, one excuse is as good as another."

*********When your driver's ed teacher gets to that chapter titled, "How to Fill Out an Accident Report," show your brilliance by offering these for-real examples:

Check out these other strange-but-true "accidental descriptions":

"I thought my window was down, but I found out it was closed when I put my head through it."

"The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him."

"I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment."

"I had been driving for 40 years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident."

"I was on my way to the doctor with rear-end trouble when my universal joint gave way, causing me to have an accident."

"An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished."

Excuses are the cradle that Satan uses to rock men to sleep. In the case of Moses God wouldn’t let him sleep. What do you do when God calls on you?

TS] Let’s take a look at when God called on Moses and see if we can learn anything about our own response to the invitations of God.

BG} Moses, no doubt, thought at an earlier time in his life that he had been placed in a position to do something to help his people. The result of his effort led to his expulsion or escape to save his own life. Forty years passed and you have to wonder what Moses felt during that time; Failure, confused, forgotten, guilty, or maybe relieved and comfortable. As you have probably discovered in your own life sometimes God’s activity and direction is clear, and sometimes we seem unable to understand at all what God is doing. One thing is for sure, God is active (:Phil 2 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.), He is always right, and always right on time.

2 Exodus 3 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.  10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

PQ: What do you do when God calls on you?

I.       3 Forget excuses - Moses comes up with every excuse he can find to not do what God is asking of him.

A.     Not, “let me tell you why I don’t want to” It’s “Let me tell you why what you are asking is impossible.”

                     1.       * Exodus 3:11 “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

                     2.       4 Exodus 3:13 “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?”

                     3.       *Exodus 4:1 “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?”

                     4.       5 Exodus 4:10 “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.”

B.     Are obstacles the issue here? Is that the principle we are to learn?

                     1.       November 8, 1970 the New Orleans Saints and the Detroit Lions where involved in a knock down drag out football game that came down to the wire. The crowd gasped when they realize the Saints were going to attempt a 63 yard field goal. It had never been done in the history of man. A man came on to the field who didn’t have any toes on his right foot. In fact he only had half of a kicking foot at all. As the last seconds ticked off that man set a world record and kicked a 63 yard field goal to win the game. The kickers name was Tom Dempsey and what an example he is of overcoming obstacles. Demsey played 11 seasons with five NFL teams. Despite being born with a handicapped right (kicking) foot, Demsey scored 729 points in his career.

                     2.       Obstacles are an issue, but is that the lesson of this text?

C.     6 The real lesson is that our greatest obstacle is fear.

                     1.       Moses is afraid of failure.

                     2.       Have you ever been afraid when it comes to serving God? (teach? Talk to my neighbor? Get more involved? Small group leader?)

                     3.       As a church are we afraid? Let’s not shoot for 5,000 members because we might not make it. Let’s not try to do to much…

                     4.       The seed of excuses is the fear of failure.

TS] If we tend to have this fear of failure then what is the answer to our fear?

II.    7 Answer? = God (Trust God)

A.     8 “Moses do not fear! Trust in Me!”

                     1.       *Exodus 3:12 “I will be with you.”

                     2.       *Exodus 3:14 “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

                     3.       9, 10, 11 Exodus 4:2-9 2 Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. 3 The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it.  4 Then 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.” 6 Then 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. 8 Then the LORD said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second.  9 But 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.”

                     4.       12 Exodus 4:12 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

B.     God says to Moses essentially the same thing He said to Noah, Abraham, Joseph, and even to us today, “Trust Me”.

                     1.       “I want all men to be saved” Trust Me.

                     2.       “Go into all the world” Trust Me.

                     3.       13 Proverbs 3:5-6 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 

C.     There is no reason to fear! Peter walked on the water didn’t he? Until he doubted.

                     1.       Whatever mountain you are trying to climb in your life that you believe is to big God says, “Trust Me”.

                     2.       Whatever hurt in you life that you don’t believe will ever set you free God says, “Trust Me”.

                     3.       God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to let you stay that way…you can change! He says, “Trust Me”.

III.  14  There is a progression of Thought.

A.     *God calls on you.

B.     *We grapple will all the excuses and reasons we can’t do what He wants us to do.

C.     * hopefully we discover trust, and we act - live the rest of our lives in amazement of all God does through us. That is what it means to walk by faith.

D.     So when God calls on you erase your fears with belief, trust, and confidence in Him because God is able to do more than you can imagine. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

What does it mean in Exodus 19 when God says he carried the Israelites on eagle's wings?

Mamma eagles are caring and loving creatures. Somewhere down the line the mamma eagle decides her little eagle needs to learn to fly. So she takes that little eagle out of the nest and flies up as high as she can go. At this point, she drops the fledgling, and he falls fast. The fledgling has never flown in his life. The ground is coming up, his heart is ready to burst, and he knows there is no way he is going to survive.

But the mamma eagle is watching, and at the last moment she swoops down and catches the baby eagle. Relieved, the baby eagle thinks, I'm saved, I'm fine, I'm gonna survive. The mamma eagle then flies up as high as she can go and again drops him. She continues to do this until he learns to fly.

The Lord bore the Israelites on eagle's wings. When they didn't have any water, He swooped down and provided water for them. When they came to the Red Sea, He provided for them. When they didn't have any food, He swooped down and provided manna for them.