Experiencing God in My Life

Title:  EXPERIENCING GOD IN MY LIFE

Text:  Exodus 2, 3, 4

Introduction:

            Have you ever wondered how God works?  If you’ve had the concept that after He was finished with creation that He sat down and did nothing except to dispatch angels when there’s trouble, you’ve got the wrong idea about God.  God is more active than you and I can conceive.  He is busy right now…He is working through the Holy Spirit in you right now.  Because God wants to do His work through His people!

            But before God can work through you, He has to get you from where you are to where He is.  That’s what I want to talk about this morning.  And in the process you are going to learn how to experience God in your life.

            It all begins by listening and watching what God is doing around you.  When you know what God is doing, then you know what you need to do…join Him!  You cannot stay where you are and go with God.  You must adjust your life to go with Him.

            What is involved in a relationship with God?  How can I know when God is speaking?  How do I know where God is at work?  What is the difference between adjustment and obedience? All the questions are going to be explored as we look at the life of Moses.

Moses is a good example of how God works with His people.  The Bible’s record on his life helps us see how Moses came to know and follow God’s will..  Let’s look at Moses’ call and response.

I.      GOD IS ALREADY AT WORK

A.    Ex. 2:23-25     Because of the cries of the children of Israel, God was already at work in preparing a deliverance.  Moses was that agent of that deliverance.

B.    What did it take for God to bring Moses to the scene?

1.     God’s preparation began long before by saving him right after birth.  (River, bulrushes, Pharaoh’s daughter.)

2.     He learned leadership through Pharaoh’s household.

Application:  Your cry does not fall on deaf ears!  God has been a deliverer a lot longer than you have had problems, so be assured that He is already at work as soon as your cry goes up.  Delays don’t mean He isn’t at work…it means there may be some spiritual conflict after He has dispatched the help.
Dan. 10:1-13, 20, 21

II.   GOD PURSUES A PERSONAL LOVE RELATIONSHIP

A.    God took the initiative to come to Moses and start a love relationship.  (Ex. 3 - Moses was shepherding sheep on the mountain, burning bush, remove your sandals, I am the God of your father, I have seen the affliction of My people, I am going to deliver them, therefore I will send you, deliver them and come back to this mountain to worship Me.)

B.    After the dramatic deliverance, God drew them back to the mountain.

Application:  How has God communicated that He loves you?  Whether you find yourself under bondage, in a desert, or at the base of a mountain, God wants to draw you into a love relationship with Him.  Even while we were yet enemies, God began seeking you to love you.  Sometimes it just takes getting our back against the wall to realize it.

III. GOD INVITES YOU TO BECOME INVOLVED IN HIS WORK

A.    Ex. 3:8-10  Even though Moses was an exile in the desert, he was right on God’s schedule, right in the middle of God’s will.  Notice: It wasn’t God’s will for Moses that was important…it was God’s will for Israel that was of supreme importance!  God’s purpose was to deliver Israel.

B.    Once Moses heard what God was doing, he found himself right in the center of God’s will:  he was to be the deliverer!                     

Application:  Since God is Almighty, why does He use us to accomplish His work?  Because that’s why He created us.  We are the instruments of His hand to accomplish His work on earth.  Therefore we need to take our eyes off our schedule and seek to be at the center of His work.  God has other deliverances to perform and He needs you in place when He wants to accomplish it!

IV. GOD REVEALS HIS PURPOSE

A.    Num. 12:6-8  * Whenever God gets ready to do something, He reveals it to His people what He is going to do.  Get familiar with His work and purpose…it’s written in His Word.

B.    Amos 3:7  The way God works is to work with His people!  The only difference between you and a prophet is that a prophet is fully submitted to Him and listens to what God has to say.

Application:  LISTEN folks!  Listen to God’s voice…listen to others when they speak in behalf of God.  God may be trying to tell you what He is doing and invite you to be involved with His work!  Secondly, be careful what you say to others; make it align with what GOD wants to say to them, not what you want!

V.    A BELIEF-CRISIS REQUIRES FAITH-ACTION

A.    God’s invitation for Moses to work with Him led to a crisis of belief.  Ex. 3:11, 13;  4:1, 10, 13 

B.    Working with God is an awesome thing.  Usually the caliber of the things He does are beyond our abilities.  That leads to a belief -crisis.

C.    Being a part of the work of God, then, requires FAITH that takes action!  Moses was a man of such faith.  Heb. 11:24-29          Every one of those works of God was bigger than Moses…but his name is recorded in the hall of fame because faith in a mighty God made it happen!

Application:  Faith moves mountains…that’s how big God’s work is!  If you want God to work in your life…if you want to be involved in His work…you need to sow mustard seeds of faith to reap the harvest of the miraculous!  Eph. 3:20-21

VI. YOU WILL HAVE TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO JOIN GOD’S WORK

A.    Moses had to make major adjustments to join what God was doing.  Ex. 4:19-20  He had to go back where things were difficult, and to make a request with Pharaoh that wasn’t going to be popular.

B.    I’ve moved my family to 4 different states to do what God wanted me to do.  In one of those ministries I wanted to quit, but God said He wasn’t finished with me yet, and He held my feet to the fire for 5 more months.  And now, once again I’m making major adjustments to join God’s work.

Application:  I’ve not yet seen anybody who hasn’t had to do some stretching and adjusting to join God’s work.  God’s tasks are big…beyond us…and to join Him we will have to make adjustments.  That may be a higher level of purity, a change of way of thinking, a yielding of control.    But through it all, God wants us to depend on Him and be willing to make adjustments!

VII. YOU COME TO KNOW GOD AS YOU OBEY HIM

A.    As Moses obeyed God, God accomplished through Moses what Moses could not do.  Here’s an example where Moses and Israel came to know God as their Deliverer.  Ex. 14:15-17, 21-23, 26-31 

B.    Folks, God really is able to do what He says He is going to do!  That’s where a lot of people get hung up and quit following God’s leading…they don’t believe God is really going to do what He says!  Folks, if you stand on the shore and don’t move, you’re going to be left behind!

C.    But as you step out in faith and obey Him, the walls of the impossible go up right in front of you…and that’s when you realize you’ve just gotten to know God intimately!

Conclusion:

            Question:  Do you think God can work in extraordinary ways through your life to accomplish His will for the kingdom?         You don’t have to be a Moses.  God doesn’t want you to be a Moses.  God wants you to be you and let Him do through you whatever He chooses.  When you believe that nothing significant can happen through you, you have said more about your belief in God than you have said about yourself!  The truth is, He is able to do anything He pleases with one ordinary person who consecrates themself to follow Him by faith!     Illus. - John the Baptist only lived 6 months!  Jesus: “None greater than John!”