Exodus 3:1-6 " Lessons from a bush "

Exodus 3:1–6 ESV

1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

“ Lessons from a bush “

This sermon

is going to help

the Pastor and the people

even though I know

it's the Pastor’s anniversary

But this text

is going to help

the Pastor understand

When you feel like a Misfit in Ministry you’re in the right place

When you feel like a Misfit in Ministry it’s because

1st You feel like you’re Unappreciated by People

2nd You feel like you’re in Unproductive Places

3rd God will Undergird you

“ Lessons from a bush “

One of the things

we have to learn

how to do

is learn from other people

and other things [ Like this bush ]

It's most times

when we are in dilemmas

we become

unteachable

whether it's because

of a hard head or the frustrations of life

But God

always

have a way

of teaching his people

“ Lessons from a bush “

You can learn from the

LGBTQ community — How they come out the closet & christians is in the closet

LGBTQ community — They Stand up for their rights but christians is not standing up for God

You can learn from a

ALCOHOLICS — How they share there bottle with Love and christians don’t share in love one with another

You can learn from someone that’s addicted to

DRUG Addiction — They will take their last and the last of anybody else to get their fix but christians want take their last for the Lord

You can learn from a

PROSTITUTE — she will give her body away to strangers and christians want present their bodies as living sacrifices to the Lord

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro

And Moses led the flock

To the backside of the desert

And came to the mountain of God

And the angel of the LORD

Appeared to him in a flame of fire

Out of the midst of a burning bush

And the brush was not being consume by the fire

And Moses thought

He was going to turn aside

And see this great thing

That the brush was not being consume

And when God saw

That Moses was turning aside to see

God called Moses out of the midst of the burning bush

And Moses said here I Am

And God told Moses come not near

Take off your shoes

Cause this is Holy ground

And God told Moses

That I am the God of

Abraham Isaac & Jacob

And the LORD said

I have seen the affliction

Of my people which are in Egypt

And I have heard their cry

And I am come down

To deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians

To bring to a land

Flowing with Milk & Honey

And God told Moses

I’m send you to Pharaoh

That thou mayest bring forth

My people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

And Moses said who Am I

That I should go to Pharaoh

And the Lord told Moses

Surely I will be with you.

Then Moses tells God

When I go to the children of Israel

And tell them that you sent me

And if they ask me what is your name

God told Moses tell them

That I AM THAT I AM have sent you

Exodus 4:10

Exodus 4:10 (KJV)

10 And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

4:10 Moses’ statement in this verse

Has generated much misunderstanding

On the part of those

Who have not recognized it as a ritual protest,

And it has often been taken literally,

As if Moses actually

Either had a speech defect

Or was incompetent

As a public speaker

Or had forgotten his Egyptian.

In fact, Moses did a huge amount of speaking

In the remainder of the Pentateuchal narrative and law,

Yet nowhere

Did he reveal

The slightest speech

Hesitancy or inability to make himself understood.

Why, then,

Did he make the claim

To be “slow of speech and tongue”?

The answer lies

Not in the organs,

The tissues or the cells

In the mouth or the tongue

But it lies in the culture—

In the style of ancient

Near Eastern

It’s called “exaggerated humility,”

This was often employed

In situations where one

Is appealing for help or mercy

At being given a great assignment

4:10 in a Nutshell — Moses has been away from Egypt and from the Hebrews for some 40 years. It was 40 years since he has spoken the language the word tongue in the verse is language. So he was not eloquent. His problem was with fluency not necessarily that he stuttered. Remember Egyptian was never his native language so he struggled with it. Since he grew up in Pharaoh’s house he didn't hear Hebrew much after he was weaned from his mother

Note: And so whatever God was going to do with the children of Israel He was going to do it through Moses.

Pastor

you and this bush

have some similarities

y'all have the same creator

y'all didn't have a choice on what you would be

y'all both are provided for by the same God

But also

you and this bush

have some dissimilarities

As a bush

This bush have never sinned

This bush

has done EVERYTHING

God told or commanded it to do

This bush

has always been

where it was supposed to be

If this bush normality

was to talk

all the time

just like you

this bush would have some questions for God

And because I myself

personally

have not lived long

but I've lived long enough

to ask this first question

to God if I was this bush

Question: God when you thought of me and when you God wanted to give me existence why you didn't think enough of me to ask me first where I wanted to live?

Question: God why you didn't put me in the Garden of Eden

It's always 72° there

It's a beautiful place

It's paradise

Note: But God didn't place this bush there

If God

would have place

this bush there

in the garden of Eden

there wouldn't have been

the tree there of knowledge of good and evil

Then there wouldn't have been

a tree to temp Eve and Adam

if God would have placed

this bush in the garden of Eden

the world would probably still be free from sin

Canaan

Note: If the bush had a say so in the matter he probably would have recommended Canaan

The land flowing with milk and honey

The land that God promised

he was going to give Abraham descendants

Note: But God didn't place this bush in Canaan

Jerusalem

Jerusalem would have been a wonderful place for this bush

Whenever they went to Jerusalem they would go up to Jerusalem

Ancient Jews would gather in Jerusalem for the

Feast of Weeks — Passover — Pentecost — Unleavened bread

The Holy city of God

that would have been a great place

Note: But God didn't think enough of this bush to put it in Jerusalem

When God got ready

to give this bush existence

God said

I think enough of this little bush

to put it in a place called Midian

Note: Midian in Hebrew means — a place of strife, a place of stress, a place of intense pressure, a place of scrutiny, a place of pain,

Note: It's a place of chaos and agony

Out of all the places

that God could've put me

this bush to live

not the garden of Eden

not Canaan

not Jerusalem

but God thought so much of this bush God put it in Midian

“ Lessons from a bush “

1st God will sometimes Plant you in undesirable Places

No matter

how much you deny it

you are pastoring in

a place called Midian

Because Pastoring

comes with

strife, stress, strain, intense pressure, scrutiny, Pain, Chaos, agony

Note: Some of you work in Midian

Note: Some of you are married to your Midian

Note: Midian it's hot there it's a desert place why did God put me in a desert place

Note: God don't always sends his best servants to a place where things are always well but he sends his best service to a place where it’s hot & deserted

I know you would rather

be in a dessert place

rather than a

desert place [ Desert - Dessert ] “S”

Note: That sweet place in life

You can rebuke it

all you want to

but God will put you

in a place

that's dry, hot, strife, pressure, and you're in the right place

Note: what happens when God put you in a place that you wish God would move you out of.

Note: I wish I was like some of you where I wish I had control over my roots like a lot of people do in church. They plant their own roots and as long as they are happy they stay there but when times get bad they pick up their routes and go somewhere else [ I wish I could do that ]

Note: God has not abandon you, deserted you but you are right in the place where God wants you to be

“ Lessons from a bush “

Question: You smell that !!!!!

I believe

if the bush could talk

the bush would say

One morning

I started to smell something

which was not unusual

being out here

in the desert

but it was how close the smell was

And because

of that smell

out here

in the desert

and because of our location to the sun

The sun

would beat down

on the other bushes

and every day

every single day

a bush would catch on fire

And the bush

would say

that this particular day

the smell wasn't unusual

but it was how close the smell was

And two hours later

from the time

I started smelling the smoke

I realized

that it was me on fire

Note: usually when a bush would catch on fire in Midian in 9 hours that bush would be gone and eliminated it would have no more life after 9 hours

So the bush

had 9 hours to live

once it caught on fire

but at 9 hours

and 1 second

I'm still here and I wasn't consume

No bush have never endured this much heat and stayed alive

“ Lessons from a bush “

1st God will sometime Plant you in undesirable Places

2nd God will Protect you from heat and destruction

Note: In other words what this bush survived would have kill some other bushes/People

Note: Pastor you have gone through some stuff that would have taken other people out [ shoes on their head — sock on their hands ]

[ A man went on a business trip ]

He put the shirt on the ironing board

He begin to iron his shirt

The shirt started talking to The man

The shirt said to the man, man are you trying to burn me

The man say to the shirt no shirt I'm not trying to burn you

The man said I'm trying to make you better

You got to go somewhere the man said to the shirt

And you can't go looking like you are

You got too many wrinkles on you

So the man said for you to be seen I got to put some heat on you

The shirt said to the man how do you know you're not going to burn me [ This iron hot ]

The man said to the shirt I love you and brought you with a price

The shirt said how you know you're not going to burn me

The man said I looked at your label [ wool - cotton shirt ]

The man said I pre-set the iron to cotton

I know how much heat you can take

Lessons from a bush

1st God will sometime Plant you in undesirable Places

2nd God will Protect you from heat and destruction

3rd God will Provide wherever He Plants you

God had

Nurture and Nourish

This bush out here in Midian

God gave this bush

Everything it needed to fulfill it’s purpose

Nurture — care for and protect while they are growing

Nourish — provide with food or other substance necessary growth , health, and good condition

Lessons from a bush

1st God will sometime Plant you in undesirable Places

2nd God will Protect you from heat and destruction

3rd God will Provide wherever He Plants you

4th God Always have a Purpose for you in Midian

The bush catch on FIRE in Midian

The Bush got it’s voice in Midian