From Reluctance to Purpose

JO Broad Outline

Intro: Prepared and yet makes excuses, overwhelmed by the weight of stepping into that moment

Driving a car classes, permit, license

athletics, work, student

It’s easy to come up with a long list of reasons you aren’t qualified for the task at hand

Moses, likewise felt hesitant when he recieved God’s call for his life. What about you? Have you heard God’s call and if so how have you responded? Are you sitting back overwhelmed and

Exodus 3:1-17.

Moses’s excuses

Ex 3:13 He didn’t know what to say, Ex 4:10-13 He stutters

But the reality is Moses was qualified… God was preparing him uniquely for this role

Prince

Shepherd

What if you’re calling isn’t just something that will come in the future, what if it’s something that is here now? What if you’re walking in it.

The season you’re in isn’t just preparing you for your calling, the season you’re in is a part of your calling.

Moses was a shepherd

Ex 3:10 Moses receives this weighty calling

Yet Moses not only made excuses about why He wasn’t qualified, he responded to God “Who am I”? 2x Ex 3:11.

God responds I AM who I AM. Ex 3:14.

Exodus 3:14 “14 God replied to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.””

Who we are is transformed when we encounter Who He is.

Who is God in this passage?

Holy, Eternal, Self-existent, Hears, Sees, Cares, Compassion, Acts, with us, Rescuer

how does God want to rescue ppl. By inviting Moses to be a part of the way in which he works

God is the hero not Moses,

Moses a foreshadow of a Greater Moses - Jesus

See God appears to Moses in a burning bush and sends him to deliver the people of Israel, but for you and I, Jesus has come, not in a burning bush but in human flesh, died on a cross and rose again from the dead that he could deliver us!

offer opportunity to be delivered

If are delivered - then get to participate on this grand rescue mission that God has for the world.

2 Cor 5:17-21 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

And we are messengers and ambassadors not to Pharaoh but to the world. But don’t get it twisted, we are not the hero! Just like Moses wasn’t the hero, God was, God was the deliverer.

If you’re feeling reluctant or hesitant to take that next step or to step into your calling. Perhaps your feeling reluctant to step into your calling because you feel inadequate or incompetent

or perhaps your reluctant because you feel like your calling is unkown, know that the season you’re in is not just preparing you for your calling, it’s a part of your calling.

Have confidence not in your own competancy, not in who you are but in Who He is. Go with confidence and joy because He has called you and He is with you!

but in Who has called you, not just to some mission but first and foremost to Himself that He may then send you to the world.

Have confidence not because of who you are but because of Who He is. And He has promised to go with you! All He’s asking is for you to obey. to be an obedient ambassador of Christ.

Maybe you’re still in Egypt or your still in the desert and you haven’t had this moment of clarity on your specific calling and how God is going to use your story, but know that He will not waste any of it. So walk faithfully, steward this season well. Walk in obedience in being His ambassador this week.

JO Detailed Outline

Intro: Prepared and yet makes excuses, overwhelmed by the weight of stepping into that moment

Driving a car classes, permit, licenses - The overall sentiment and storyline meant to communicate you trained and prepared for something, but then the moment comes for you to do it and you hesitate, you get filled with fear, doubt, insecurity, and excuses as to why you can’t do it.

Then transition and briefly give ode to other fields

athletics, you were JV, finally get a Varsity spot, or perhaps you were scout team and now you’re starting

Student, you’ve studied, you get to the exam and you second guess everything you know

work - You’re employed and you finally get the promotion you’ve hoped for only to experience imposter syndrome and wonder if you should be in that role doing that task

It’s easy to come up with a long list of reasons you aren’t qualified for the task at hand

Moses, likewise felt hesitant when he recieved God’s call for his life. What about you? Have you heard God’s call and if so how have you responded? Are you sitting back overwhelmed and

Exodus 3:1–17 NLT

1 One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. 3 “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.” 4 When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses replied. 5 “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. 6 I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. 7 Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. 9 Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. 10 Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 God answered, “I will be with you. And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.” 13 But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” 14 God replied to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations. 16 “Now go and call together all the elders of Israel. Tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me. He told me, “I have been watching closely, and I see how the Egyptians are treating you. 17 I have promised to rescue you from your oppression in Egypt. I will lead you to a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live.” ’

Moses’s excuses

Ex 3:13 “13 But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?””

He didn’t know what to say,

Ex 4:10-13 “10 But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” 11 Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.” 13 But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.””

He stutters

Exodus 2:11-12 “11 Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his own people, the Hebrews, and he saw how hard they were forced to work. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews. 12 After looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand.”

And I don’t want to read into the text too much but he very as well could have also made the excuse - God look at my past! I am a murder! What in your past has you chained to shame and not to Christ?

But the reality is Moses was qualified… God was preparing him uniquely for this role

Prince - in Egypt

Shepherd - in Midian

(Give background of Exodus 1,2)

What if you’re calling isn’t just something that will come in the future, what if it’s something that is here now? What if you’re walking in it.

The season you’re in isn’t just preparing you for your calling, the season you’re in is a part of your calling.

Moses was a prince and shepherd, before he lead the people of Israel.

Ex 3:10 Moses receives this weighty calling

Exodus 3:10 “10 Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.””

Yet Moses not only made excuses about why He wasn’t qualified, he responded to God “Who am I”? 2x Ex 3:11.

Exodus 3:11 “11 But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?””

God responds I AM who I AM. Ex 3:14.

Who we are is transformed when we encounter Who He is.

Who is God in this passage?

Burning Bush: Holy, Eternal,

YHWH: Self-existent,

Hears, Sees, Cares, Compassion, Acts, with us, Rescuer

Exodus 3:7 “7 Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering.”

Exodus 3:9 “9 Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them.”

Exodus 3:16 “16 “Now go and call together all the elders of Israel. Tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me. He told me, “I have been watching closely, and I see how the Egyptians are treating you.”

He sees us! He watches us closely! He hears us! He knows of our affliction!

The affliction of Israel - slavery

What’s the affliction you are facing today? Depression, suicide, anxiety, physical, relational?

Perhaps it’s spiritual. All of us are born in spiritual bondage - but Christ came to set us free!

God does not just see our suffering, He acts to redeem our suffering

Exodus 3:7-8 “7 Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live.”

Exodus 3:16-17 “16 “Now go and call together all the elders of Israel. Tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me. He told me, “I have been watching closely, and I see how the Egyptians are treating you. 17 I have promised to rescue you from your oppression in Egypt. I will lead you to a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live.” ’”

How will He rescue? He sends us as His ambassadors but He does the saving

Jesus is a Greater Moses

Moses a foreshadow of a Greater Moses - Jesus

See God appears to Moses in a burning bush and sends him to deliver the people of Israel, but for you and I, Jesus has come, not in a burning bush but in human flesh, died on a cross and rose again from the dead that he could deliver us!

We see God doing the Miracles in the book of Exodus, but because Moses has chosen to walk in obedience he gets a frontrow seat to the 10plagues of egypt, God demonstrating Himself as greater than every egyptian god, he gets a front row seat to God parting the red sea, and to God guiding them back to the very mountain he received his calling on, Mount Sinai.

But it’s God that does the saving, God that does the delivering!

Your calling starts with coming to Jesus - do you hear him calling you to Himself? We all are in need of rescue

Gospel opportunity

If you’ve already come to Jesus to receive salvation, continue coming to Him, that He may direct you in your calling. Be obedient! to what? Becoming an AMBASSADOR for Christ not to Pharaoh or Israel but to the world

2 Corinthians 5:17–21 (NLT)

17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

English Standard Version (Chapter 5)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Exodus 3:10 “10 Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.””

Just as God sent Moses God is sending you!

God may not have called you to set Israel free but there are people in your classroom, on your team, in your friend group, in your family who are in spiritual bondage and Christ wants to use you to set them free!

Does that sound terrifying? Does it create in you hesitation and reluctance?

Jesus’s felt overwhelmed by His calling - His purpose for coming to earth was the cross

Our grand calling is the Cross

Gal 2:20-21 “20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.”

English Standard Version (Chapter 2)

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Perhaps your feeling reluctant to step into your calling because you feel inadequate or incompetent

or perhaps your reluctant because you feel like your calling is unknown, know that the season you’re in is not just preparing you for your calling, it’s a part of your calling.

Have confidence not in your own competency, but in Who has called you, not just to some mission but first and foremost to Himself that He may then send you to the world.

Have confidence not because of who you are but because of Who He is. And He has promised to go with you! All He’s asking is for you to obey. to be an obedient ambassador of Christ.

Exodus 3:12 “12 God answered, “I will be with you. And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.””

Maybe you’re still in Egypt or your still in the desert and you haven’t had this moment of clarity on your specific calling and how God is going to use your story, but know that He will not waste any of it. So walk faithfully, steward this season well. Walk in obedience in being His ambassador this week.

Interesting notes:

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/mhc/Exd/Exd_003.cfm?a=53001

He gives him a commission to act in it as his ambassador both to Pharaoh (v. 10) and to Israel (v. 16).

The years of the life of Moses are remarkably divided into three forties: the first forty he spent as a prince in Pharaoh's court, the second a shepherd in Midian, the third a king in Jeshurun; so changeable is the life of men, especially the life of good men. He had now finished his second forty, when he received his commission to bring Israel out of Egypt. Note, Sometimes it is long before God calls his servants out of that work which of old he designed them for, and has been graciously preparing them for. Moses was born to be Israel's deliverer, and yet not a word is said of it to him till he is eighty years of age.

What the appearance was. To his great surprise he saw a bush burning, when he perceived no fire either from earth or heaven to kindle it, and, which was more strange, it did not consume, v. 2. It was an angel of the Lord that appeared to him; some think, a created angel, who speaks in the language of him that sent him; others, the second person, the angel of the covenant, who is himself Jehovah. It was an extraordinary manifestation of the divine presence and glory; what was visible was produced by the ministry of an angel, but he heard God in it speaking to him.

1. He saw a flame of fire; for our God is a consuming fire. When Israel's deliverance out of Egypt was promised to Abraham, he saw a burning lamp, which signified the light of joy which that deliverance should cause (Gen. 15:17); but now it shines brighter, as a flame of fire, for God in that deliverance brought terror and destruction to his enemies, light and heat to his people, and displayed his glory before all. See Isa. 10:17.2. This fire was not in a tall and stately cedar, but in a bush, a thorny bush, so the word signifies; for God chooses the weak and despised things of the world (such as Moses, now a poor shepherd), with them to confound the wise; he delights to beautify and crown the humble.3. The bush burned, and yet was not consumed, an emblem of the church now in bondage in Egypt, burning in the brick-kilns, yet not consumed; perplexed, but not in despair; cast down, but not destroyed.

A name that denotes what he is in himself (v. 14): I am that I am. This explains his name Jehovah, and signifies,

(1.) That he is self-existent; he has his being of himself, and has no dependence upon any other: the greatest and best man in the world must say, By the grace of God I am what I am; but God says absolutely-and it is more than any creature, man or angel, can say-I am that I am. Being self-existent, he cannot but be self-sufficient, and therefore all-sufficient, and the inexhaustible fountain of being and bliss.(2.) That he is eternal and unchangeable, and always the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever; he will be what he will be a

Other content:

Our calling often comes as we walk in obedience to the things God has already entrusted us with. Our calling comes is found at the intersection between the mundane and the miraculous.

Exodus 3:2-3 “2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. 3 “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.””

“angel of the Lord” - explain

Moses meets God - encounters & experiences Jesus. He had heard about Him, now he hears Him!

Do you have an intimate relationship with God, do you hear Him? Do you know Him not just about Him?

“One Day Moses was tending the flock…in the wilderness” — God meets us in the mundane

Exodus 3:1 (NLT)

1 One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God.

Once we come to know the person from who our calling comes, we can gain clarity on what our calling/purpose is.

Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.”

Dale’s Version

Exodus 3:1-12.

The Will of God Discerned through Moses' Surrender

Introduction: In this sermon, we will explore the life of Moses, a man chosen by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Through Moses' surrender and willingness to follow God's instructions, we can learn valuable lessons about discerning and fulfilling God's

will.

Key Points:

Encounter with God's Presence:

Þ Moses encountered God in the burning bush, and God revealed His divine plan to deliver the Israelites.

Þ God's presence reassured Moses and gave him the confidence to fulfill the task.

Overcoming Reluctance:

Þ Moses initially hesitated and raised objections, feeling inadequate for the task.

Þ God assured Moses of His presence, provision, and authority, dispelling his fears.

Trusting God's Guidance:

Þ Moses learned to trust God's guidance and instructions, even in the face of challenges.

Þ Through Moses' obedience, God displayed His power and brought about miraculous deliverance.

Embracing God's Purpose:

Conclusion: Moses' journey teaches us the importance of surrender and trusting God's guidance in discerning and fulfilling His will. By embracing God's purpose for our lives, we can overcome our reluctance and become effective instruments of His deliverance

and blessing.