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Long Branch Baptist Church
Halfway, Virginia; est.
1786
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Enter to Worship
Prelude David Witt
Invocation Michael Hollinger
*Opening Hymn #43
“All Praise to Thee”
Welcome & Announcements
Morning Prayer
*Responsive Reading [See Right]
*Offertory Hymn #40
“All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name”
Offertory Mr. Witt
*Doxology
Scripture Exodus 3:1-16;4:1,10-13
Special Music Alesia Walp
Sermon
“Here I am – Send Him”
Invitation Hymn #334
“Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine”
Benediction
Congregational Response
May the grace of Christ of Savior / And the Father’s boundless love
With the Holy Spirit’s favor / Rest upon us from above.
Amen.
* Congregation, please stand.
Depart To Serve
RESPONSIVE READING
For thus says the LORD: surely I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.
When you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.
Jesus said, You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am.
I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.
I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
I am the gate.
Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.
I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
I am the resurrection and the life.
Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.
Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.
Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
- Jeremiah 29:11-12; John 13:13;6:35,51;8:12;9:5; 10:9,11;14:6;11:25;8:58;15:5;14:12; Phillippians 4:13
Intro:
In 1873, those who bothered probably knew Phoebe Knapp as nothing but the organist at her Methodist church in NYC.
She was a wealthy enough woman – her parents had left her a large estate.
But much of that was tied up in her husband’s company.
Joe was the president of a declining insurance company called National Union Life and Limb.
Nowadays, that company takes its name from the Metropolitan District where they eventually became successful – as MetLife.
But in 1873, she wasn’t really all that special.
MetLife was started during the Civil War with the aim of helping assist soldiers who survived but were injured.
After the war, making payments was hard.
The great financial panic of 1873 hardly helped matters – it was like a miniature version of the Great Depression.
Businesses were failing, and the insurance market was in great jeopardy.
But Phoebe and Joe Knapp felt called to providing insurance.
They stuck it out, and God’s providence they were able to continue their business.
When the comparative wealth of the 1880s rolled around, they began to experiment with the British model of selling industrial policies door to door.
With that mixture of hard work and good luck that defines most businesses, Joe and Phoebe Knapp were able to gain the wealth and fame comes with running an American icon like MetLife.
But Phoebe Knapp’s most enduring legacy was one that came in the depths.
As I said, in 1873, she was just the organist at church.
She and her husband were known for their piety.
But, key to who they were was their trust in God, letting him work through them through their circumstances.
Exodus
In Exodus 3, Moses is in a similar situation.
You’ll remember two weeks ago we learned about Moses’ eye for justice and how it compelled him to action.
When Moses set out to accomplish righteous ends using his own human methods, things didn’t go so well.
When Moses set to accomplish righteous ends using God’s methods, things worked out better.
But still, Moses was now stuck way out in the desert.
For all practical purposes, he was a nobody.
Here was a man who was prince of Egypt, now stuck watching sheep.
Talk about a waste of potential.
You’d think that a prince would be destined for better things.
God had a plan for Moses.
And if God wants to do something, it’s going to happen!
God wanted Moses to be the man who gave Israel his deliverance.
That’s a pretty demanding deed for desert wanderer.
So God did something he doesn’t often do.
He called Moses directly.
We all have some image in our minds of the burning bush.
It’s a famous encounter.
God calls on a man, and asks man to join him in what He’s doing.
God still calls us today, even if he is less dramatic about it.
One of the joys of serving this church is seeing how many of you respond to his call.
But you know that isn’t true of everyone.
For whatever reason, when God calls, their response is more like that of Moses – Here I am, Send my brother.
Why is that?
Well, I’d like to suggest an answer to that this morning – one that I think is illustrated by the questions Moses asks, and more importantly by the answers God gives.
You see, when God calls us to join him, it’s pretty natural to have questions.
After all, he’s God, and well, we’re not.
How we answer those questions determines what part we’ll have in his work.
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