God Encounters

Good morning, it is such a pleasure to be able to spend this time with you today! Before we hop into the message, let’s open with a word of prayer.

Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to gather together today to lift up praises to you and to dive into your Word and learn from what you have written to us. We ask that you would make your presence known to us today and that you would open our hearts and minds to receive what you have for us. We thank you and we praise you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As I was preparing for this sermon, I had an idea in my mind and I really liked that idea. So I started to write the message from that passage and got about 1600 words in only to realize… this was not what I was supposed to share today. Definitely a humility check, I realized I had not asked God what He wanted me to say and then actually listened for the answer without an agenda of my own. I don’t know about you, but this is a mistake that is all too easy for me to make. I am super excited about something, but oh, I should probably pray about it first… and then all I can hear in my own mind is my excitment going, “go for it!” How often do we find that the still small voice of God gets drowned out… whether by the Enemy’s voice, the voice of the world around us, or our own desires. Since we’re on this train of thought, let me ask you. When was the last time you had an encounter with God? Maybe there was a time when you intentionally took the time to spend with God and sit in His Presence and listen for His voice, or perhaps it was a huge moment of God showing His power so evidently that BAM you experience God in a new way. Which of these would you define as an encounter with God?

I looked up the definition of the word “encounter”, because I realized as I was trying to define it that I wasn’t quite sure how to do so. Looking through the definitions from Merriam Webster, I realized why I didn’t consider the term “an encounter with God” to be a bad or even necessarily an unexpected thing. It’s because I was thinking of the definition “to come upon face-to-face”. So, an encounter with God would be coming upon Him, face-to-face. Now, you might be thinking: Ok, Katie… sure hope you don’t mean that literally. You’re right, I don’t. Necesarily anyway. Some people have incredible encounters with God where they have a vision of Jesus. But I find that the more common encounter with God is when people step into His Presence and meet with Him spiritually, face to face, or maybe better, spirit to Spirit.

For me, an encounter with God that really stands out is when I was pregnant with Jonathan. I started out the pregnancy so very afraid that I was going to have a miscarriage. I knew the stats, that most women will have a miscarriage in their life, and I was so very afraid that we would lose our baby. One night I was in bed, probably feeling terrible since that was the norm in those early days, and I was prayer journalling. I told God about my fear, how it was gripping me, and with all the ease that only the Almighty could possess, He told me that we were not going to lose this baby. And suddenly, that fear was chased away by peace and a tangible promise to hold onto. As you can all tell, He kept that promise, and now we get to chase Jonathan around all over the sanctuary because he so badly wants to press all the buttons on the sound system! It’s great!

Looking back to nearly the beginning of the salvation story, Moses had an incredible encounter with God which is recorded in Exodus 3:1-12. For some background, Moses had been raised in the palace of the Pharaoh as an Egyptian prince, despite his Hebrew heritage, but fled Egypt when he roused Pharaoh’s wrath by killing an Egyptian overseer in defense of Hebrew slaves. He stayed out in the desert for 40 years, married the daughter of a Midian priest, and became a shepherd. That leads us to our passage, so if you will turn in your Bibles with me to Exodus 3:1-12, or follow along on the screen, let’s dive into it.

Exodus 3:1–12 NASB95

Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. “So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. “Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. “Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.”

Talk about an encounter with God, hey? It was both unexpected, surprising, and powerful! Looking at this passage, at Moses’ experience, we can see that when we encounter God, everything changes.

When we encounter God everything changes!

And today we’re going to explore three stages to that life-change. The first stage is: Entering His Presence.

Entering His Presence

So, right away you might notice that this passage says that it was the angel of the Lord that met Moses in the burning bush. In the context of the text and the surrounding texts, however, it makes more sense to read this as a reverent and respectful way of referring to God’s own Presence. With that in mind, let’s set the scene a bit and imagine what might be behind the passage, what might the experience have been like? Moses is walking with his flock, feeling the heat of the wilderness sun beating down on him. The sounds and smells of the sheep surround him as he leads his flock towards Mount Horeb to find safe shelter and food to graze on. Maybe he turned a corner and there was the bush, perhaps the light caught his attention out of the corner of his eye, either way, Moses found his way to where he saw the bush. A bush on fire is not such an abnormal sight, but it would be something to steer his sheep away from ordinarily. This was no ordinary bush, however, it was brilliantly ablaze! But… the bush was not charred, it was not being devoured by the flames, there wasn’t even any smoke. It was as if the bush was housing something that did not belong to this world. So he stepped closer to look at it, musing to himself in surprise. And then, out of the midst of the bush came the VOICE. Somehow, it knew his name, and it called to him. Like the story of Samuel later on in Scripture, Moses replied with humility, almost a servant-like posture - “Here I am.” And the VOICE responds by revealing that Moses is standing on holy ground, ground that is set apart by the very Presence that is revealed in the bush, ground that is so holy that the only response can be the reverent removing of sandals. I imagine that his response to this was to fling his sandals off as fast as he could [TAKE OFF SHOES]. The VOICE then explains that Moses stands in the presence of the very God who had made personal covenants with Moses’ ancestors - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Ancestors of a people now enslaved and beaten down. Filled with sudden fear and awe, Moses hides his face so as not to look upon God.

This is an incredible moment, the God of the Universe has revealed Himself to a shepherd, a man who has murdered, who has been raised in a pagan country and been in a position of power over his own enslaved people. The bush isn’t God’s home, He doesn’t normally live in a bush, but He chooses to appear in the form of this fire so that He can get Moses’ attention, talk with him, and commission him to the task of leading the Exodus. What would it have been like to stand in God’s Presence? I know when I have experienced brief moments of the Holy Spirit hovering heavily, I almost can’t stand, my knees grow weak. Would Moses have felt like that? Why does this part of the scene where Moses is entering into God’s Presence even matter? We can see his reverence, but more than that, this is the first necessary step to entering into communion with God. The passage says that God spoke to Moses after He saw that Moses had turned aside to look at the bush. In order to talk to God, Moses had to come to Him and seek Him. Stepping closer to the bush, stepping into God’s Presence, was what started the conversation. Even beyond that, one commentator explained that taking off his shoes is a postition of servitude, as slaves were often barefooted. Moses entered into God’s presence with awe, reverent fear, and a posture of service.

In a later passage in Exodus 33:12-13, we can see that Moses recognises that God’s Presence is something to be sought after and desired. “Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ “Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.””

Exodus 33:14-16 “And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. “For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?””

God’s Presence is what sets His people apart from the rest of mankind - we do not walk alone but with His Presence, through His Spirit now living inside us. Moses could only dream of such intimacy with God, and so could even King David, the man after God’s own heart. We can see this in Psalm 63:1-3.

Psalm 63:1-3 “O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You.”

David spoke from within an Old Covenant relationship with God, where the closest a person could get to God’s Presence was from a distance, separated by the curtain into the Holy of Holies, or the Spirit of God coming upon those chosen to be His prophets. But even with that separation, he knows that God’s Presence is something to be desired, something that is life giving, just like Moses.

Now, for us today, what I’m calling “entering into” God’s Presence is not the act of moving from being without His Presence to being with Him, because when a person is saved God’s Presence dwells within them. Rather, I am talking about choosing intentional awareness of that Presence and choosing to spend time with Him.

The second stage to experiencing that life change is:

Discovering His Plan

Now that Moses was in God’s Presence, God began to reveal His plan. “I see the suffering of my people,” He told Moses, “and I’m going to deliver them to a good land. And I’m going to use you to do it.” This is a huge plan, or it would certainly seem that way to any human who was being informed of their part in the deliverance of an entire enslaved nation! But to God, this plan was simple, and we know that He carried it out flawlessly through Moses and Aaron. Sometimes, discovering God’s plan can be the hardest part… sometimes we don’t discover His plan until after it is completed, simply because we could not see what He was doing.

One example would be the story of Saul, who later became known as the apostle Paul. He was a Pharisee, which meant he spent his youth and childhood learning and studying under a Pharisee rabbi, and then had to live his life according to the Law, plus the added interpretations and extra laws created by previous Jewish Pharisees and teachers of the law. He is then filled with what seems to be righteous fury about the “blasphemy” of suggesting that Jesus is the Messiah and begins to heavily persecute the new Christians - imprisoning whole families. But then one day on a journey, BAM, he is blinded by light and hears Jesus speaking to him asking why he persecutes him. This causes him to realise that Jesus is actually the Messiah, the promised Son of God, and his whole life turns around. He becomes the author of more than half of the books of the New Testament, a powerful evangelist and church planter, and an outspoken advocate for Jesus. Would Paul have ever imagined this would be God’s plan, if he had been asked earlier in his life? Absolutely not! Yet God’s plan ended up being marvelous, filled with difficulty yes, but also such joy that Paul was able to write Philippians 4:4 from prison: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!”

Ok, Katie, you say that stage 2 of experiencing life-change in a God encounter is discovering His plan… but what about when you don’t know His plan? I’m glad you asked! I often don’t know God’s plan, and sometimes even when I think I hear Him, I hear wrong… that is a growth area and will be until I can hear Him without my sin and the voices of the Enemy and this World in the way. For example, again, when I was pregnant with Jon, I was absolutely convinced that I had heard God say that my baby was a girl, that Abigail was the name. To the point that I ignored the ultrasound that said otherwise. Evidently, I did not hear correctly, but as God’s plan for our baby’s gender became evident when I held him the first time, it also became evident that His plan was good. I am so grateful for our son, and I would not go back and change who he is.

So… am I saying that even when we can’t be certain of God’s plan until afterwards that we can trust that His plan is good? You bet [thumbs up]. Life can be hard… really hard… but I know that God is love, as 1 John 4:8 says. Romans 8:28 is another promise that we can trust: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” God’s plan of love centers around the saving of the world and His creation from what sin has turned it into - saving humanity so they can be in right relationship and communion with Him again and saving creation so it is not tainted by death any longer. To this end, Jesus died for us, taking our place for the punishment that Romans 6:23 talks about “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” If God’s plan demonstrates His love for us by choosing to die for us, then how can we not trust that His plan is good, even if from our very limited perspective it does not seem that way?

My grandfather on my dad’s side was a geologist in the oil fields. He was a scientist through and through and would argue evolution until the end of the day. He did not believe in Jesus. He got the news one day that he had pancreatic cancer, the same cancer which had killed his mother, his brother, and his sister. They did a surgery and thought that they had gotten all the cancer, but as I’m sure you can guess, they didn’t. It got worse and worse, and eventually he ended up in hospice at the Royal Aleks hospital in Edmonton. A few days before he died, I was visiting him and faciliating a video call with my dad from the States. While I held his hand, my grandfather squeezed my hand in acceptance of the gift of salvation, even though that was the only movement he could make. The day before he died, I prayed with him and told him of eternity that was waiting, of how Jesus would wipe away every tear from his eye and there would be no more death or sickness. When he died the next day, I know that he was ushered into the arms of Jesus, and stepping into an eternity that is far better than his entire life here on earth ever could have been. The cancer was terrible, and it was so hard to watch him suffer, I cannot imagine how much harder it must have been to experience it. Could God have taken the cancer away and healed him completely? Yes, He could have. Did He? No. Do I know why? Not with any certainty, but I seriously doubt that anything except reaching the absolute lowest point that is humanly possible would have convinced my grandfather to accept the salvation of Jesus. And if that was what it took to save his soul from an eternity of torment, then I know that my grandfather would now agree with certainty that any cancer is worth that rescue.

Stage 2, discovering God’s plan could perhaps be better worded this way:

Trusting God’s Plan

How can we trust His plan when we may not know it, or when it looks dark and scary, much like the plagues would have in Egypt? Because we know that God is good, His plan is good, and because we know that God is love, we can know that His plan is the best one for us. Does God cause evil? No. But is He capable of using something evil to accomplish a good plan, despite the evil? Oh yes. That trust, that surrender, is a major part of life-change. Stage 3 is:

Walking in His Power

Moses had entered God’s Presence, he had learned God’s plan - although he didn’t quite trust it at this stage in the text, that came later - and now, he had to walk in God’s power. Where on earth do you get that, Katie? Well… again, Moses doesn’t do it in this part of the passage, but God tell him to do so.

Exodus 3:11-12 says, “But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.””

Who am I? Moses asks, and God’s answer is clear - it doesn’t matter who you are, it matters who I AM. Moses already knew that God was the God of his ancestors, that He had the power to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, the power to give a child to Abraham and Sarah both way past childbearing age. The power to appear to Jacob in a dream, the power to lead Joseph from being a slave to being second in command to Pharaoh. God is saying, because I am going with you, you could be the smallest mouse and it wouldn’t matter. I AM the biggest being there is, and I am sending you in my power.

My dad has a T-shirt that I absolutely love, it says “I’ve got your back!” Now, although this is funny, that is sort of what this part of the text makes me think of. God is with Moses, He is backing Moses with His power and actually sending Him out to walk in His power. It doesn’t matter who Moses is, what matters is who God is. So… what about us? Does it matter who we are? Do our past mistakes and our future flub-ups determine what God can do with us? Does it makes God smaller? Not at all! Rather, if anything, it makes God bigger, because we are demonstrations to everyone around that our God is so big, He can even use a screw-up like me to accomplish His great plans. Paul calls himself the chief among sinners - the worst one there is! And God used him for amazing things! But, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”

We don’t have to be all powerful Pharaohs, rather, it’s almost better if we’re not. We are supposed to walk in God’s power and know that in our weakness, God’s power is perfected and perfectly revealed. He gets the glory that is due to Him when we do amazing things in His power! And we get to be part of an incredible story of salvation.

Conclusion

Looking past this passage, we can see the inredible life-change that occurred because of this encounter with God. Moses went on the lead the nation of Israel out of slavery and into freedom, just as Christ has done for us with His death. So, we can see that this passage shows us:

When we encounter God everything changes!

Only an encounter with the God who created us, has an incredible plan for our lives, and is all-powerful could spark the depth of change that we see in this passage. Moses went from a runaway Hebrew-Egyptian prince who had murdered someone to the one that God used to deliver all of Israel. So, what are the stages to that kind of life-change during an encounter with God?

Stage 1: Encountering His Presence - only His Presence can bring about transformation, and since believers have the Spirit of God living in them, we must choose to be aware of the Presence that is always with us.

Stage 2: Trusting His Plan - If we do not discover His Plan like Moses did in this encounter, then we know that we can trust His plan, because He and His plans are good.

Stage 3: Walking in His Power - Once we have encountered who God is and know that His plan includes walking with us, we then must walk in His power. Our own power does not need to be much, but we do need to know how to rely on His.

Alright, that’s all fine and dandy… so now what?

Well… For those of you who are here and may not know Jesus, I pray that sometime during this service you have enountered God, just a little bit. Perhaps you have a curiosity about all this, perhaps you have felt something shift and you’re ready to accept the gift of salvation that Jesus offers. Well, Romans 10:9 says “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;”. It’s as simple and as difficult as that. If anyone would like to chat more about Jesus after the service, you can come talk to me or to Pastor Josh, we’d be happy to chat!

For those who do believe, I’d like to challenge you to take ten minutes this week… only ten minutes Katie? Yup, unless you want to do more, then feel free. Ten minutes and get away from all the noise. If you have kids, wait until theyre asleep or napping or out with their other parent, so that there are no distractions. Put your phone on silent or leave it in a different room… turn off the noise. Then, sit or kneel, and ask God to come and reveal His Presence to you, to help you become more aware of Him. Then, sit in silence in His Presence. You may find that ten minutes feels a lot longer than you expected it to or it may fly by. I pray that you will encounter God in those moments intentionally seeking Him.

Will you join with me and let’s pray to close before we do one more worship song.

Jesus, thank you so much for the transformation that we experience when we encounter you! Thank you that we can enter your presence and experience your nearness, thank you that your plans for us are good, and thank you that we can walk in your power. Help us to be intentional about spending time with you and help us to walk in your power, it is sometimes easier said than done. Lord, may you get all the glory and honour for whatever you accomplish through us - it all belongs to you! We thank you for who you are and that you have called us yours. Amen.