Questions of the Called

Introduction

Exodus 3:6–12 KJV 1900

6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy 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 upon God. 7 And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. 11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12 And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

Last week we looked at the first 5 verses of this chapter,

And we found that Moses went from being distracted in the desert

To being captivated by the burning bush on the Mountain of God.

God had gotten the attention of this man named Moses,

Who, was destined for much more than just dying in a desert place.

The Burning Bush was a wake up call,

And Moses was now awake.

Exodus 3:6 KJV 1900

6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy 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 upon God.

When we picked back up tonight in Ex3.6, Moses hides his face from God.

This was out of fear when God identified Himself as the one true God,

the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

He Sees Us

Exodus 3:7 KJV 1900

7 And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

We see a contrast here in the text, when Moses turns his eyes FROM the Lord

God takes a moment to remind us where His eyes have been.

He says in verse 7, I HAVE SURELY SEEN the affliction of my people in Egypt.

God doesn’t just see where they are,

He sees what they are going through.

I want to remind someone out there listening,

That even when we turn our eyes from the Lord,

His eyes are always on us.

The Devil will lie and tell you that God doesn’t know what you are going through,

That God doesn’t understand what you are going through,

That God is too busy to care about what is happening your life.

But The Bible Makes it Clear:

Hebrews 4:15–16 KJV 1900

15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Jesus cares about you, and what you are going through. HE loves you, and don’t let anyone ever try to tell you any different.

He Hears our Cry

Exodus 3:7 KJV 1900

7 And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

In verse 7 of our text, not only does God remind us that he sees his people,

The Lord also HEARS our cry, and Knows our sorrows.

God sees your situation.

God Hears your cries,

And God Knows your sorrows.

That means, like the Song by The Statler Brothers so aptly puts it,

it is okay to tell Him all about your troubles

He will hear our faintest cry

and He will answer by and by When you feel a little prayer wheel turning You'll know a little fire is burning You will find a little talk with Jesus

makes it right

God sees your situation.

God Hears your cries,

And God Knows your sorrows.

God’s Purpose

Exodus 3:8 KJV 1900

8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

In verse number 8, God identifies His purpose.

The purpose He was driven to because of the cries of His people,

A purpose that was promised to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob centuries prior,

And remember, God always keeps His promises.

Even when they don’t come when we want them too,

They get here right on time.

Exodus 3:9–10 KJV 1900

9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

So, God tells Moses, I hear my people’s cry

I see my people’s oppression

And now THEREFORE, I’m will send YOU.

This is when God Gave the Mission to Moses.

There is often a delay between when you are called and when you find out where you are going.

For me, the delay was about 15 years or so.

Very few people know they are called and what they are called to do at the same time.

God gave me a dream when I was 14, but all the details were not provided.

I didn’t get a step-by-step plan on how to get from my burning bush moment, to where I am now.

If you feel like God has called you, but you don’t really know clearly what the mission is,

Wait. Stay faithful and wait.

Don’t get frustrated. Don’t go off and produce and Ishmael.

Wait upon the Lord, and in due season, He will make it plain.

Sometimes God just wants to watch you be faithful.

Sometimes God just knows you’ve got to live through some things first.

Sometimes you don’t even know why, but God knows why, and you’ve got to learn to trust Him.

So, God makes it plain for Moses in verse 10.

Exodus 3:10 KJV 1900

10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

I don’t know if you caught this,

But in verse 8 God said “I am come down to deliver them”

And then in verse 10 God says, “I will send thee to deliver them”.

I just want to highlight that this is how God historically operates

God could manifest himself as a burning bush, or and angel to everyone

But God chooses to work through people that He has called to get His will done

This is important, because when you are called of God

You often start by questioning it, because none of us feel worthy

And if you are one of the few that feel worthy to do God’s work

Then you aren’t going to last long,

because pride comes before the fall

But questions come after the call.

And today, I just want to talk about Four

Questions of the Called

Who AM I?

Who Are You?

What if they don’t believe In Me?

What if I don’t believe in Myself?

These are the Questions that Moses asked after God called him from the midst of the Burning Bush

And these are the Questions that will race through your mind when God calls you too.

It is normal, and it is part of the process, but these are questions that must be answered

So, that you can get to work for the Lord.

Four Questions of the Called

Question One: Who Am I?

Immediately after God tells Moses the details of His Purpose

Moses starts to question it.

Question Number One is in verse 11.

Exodus 3:11 KJV 1900

11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?

WHO AM I?

Moses went from Here AM I

To WHO AM I real quick.

When you’re having a burning bush moment, it is easy to raise your hand and say, HERE AM I

But then when God say, okay, Go sell everything and move to Africa and start a new church,

Go pack up your wife and 3 kids and drive 2,000 miles to a city where you don’t know anyone and start a new church.

Or even more common… Go ask your coworkers to join you in a Bible study

Go witness to your neighbors down the street.

Go do this, or Go do that,

And then all of a sudden our “HERE AM I”

Turns into a “WHO AM I?”

Well, let me just remind you who you are:

You are fearfully and wonderfully made

You are a chosen generation

You are a child of God

You are a born again believer

You are filled with God’s Spirit

You are the image of the Creator

You are the redeemed

You are the bride of Christ

You are the body of Christ

You are the Church of Christ

You are the apple of His Eye

And you are going to be there when Satan is defeated by the blood of the lamb and the word of YOUR testimony.

That’s who you are!

God never make mistakes, and calling you to His service is not going to be His first one.

He called you despite your past

He called you knowing your insecurities

Knowing your faults

Knowing your failures

Knowing your weakness

In fact, I believe He calls us because of weakness.

Because if you think you’re going to get any credit for what God does through you

Think again… Because He will keep reminding you of that moment when you asked, WHO AM I…

And as He begins to use you, and you start to realize that it is God making everything happen

He is the one pulling all the strings.

When you said, HERE AM I

It didn’t matter WHO YOU WERE

God is going to be in control, he’s just looking for someone to show up!

Because in verse 12, God Said:

Exodus 3:12 KJV 1900

12 And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

So don’t worry Moses,

I’m going to be with you, God says.

Question Two: Who Are You?

The next question Moses asked was, Who are You?

Moses probably thought about how messed up he was,

He murdered an Egyptian

He married a Midianite

He wasn’t keeping the covenant of Abraham as we will find out if we read on,

So, his past and his faults led him to ask “WHO AM I”, verse 10

And when God said, Don’t worry, I will be with you, in verse 12

Moses essentially says, well then WHO ARE YOU? in verse 13

If I’m going to tell them that you are with me

Then I need to tell them who you are.

Exodus 3:13–14 KJV 1900

13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Moses said What is your name?

And God simply said, I AM THAT I AM.

I AM in Hebrew means “to be”.

It is the first person singular version of the verb “to be”.

It is actually very similar to a phrase we here often today:

It is what it is.

That phrase according to dictionary.com means:

Deal with it. It is what it is is an expression used to characterize a frustrating or challenging situation that a person believes cannot be changed and must just be accepted.

It is what it is means, the thing you want to change, cannot change. You can’t do anything about it, so deal with it.

If we change the object from an it to a who, we go from It is what it is to I AM THAT I AM.

And the mean is still the same.

God is saying… I have always been, I will always be, and I cannot change, so just accept it.

I didn’t come from anything, and I’m not going to become something else.

I AM THAT I AM

The word “that” in Hebrew is the word “ASHER”, and here it is used as a conjunction.

It can mean when, where, how, because or in order that.

So God is saying: I AM WHEN I AM

I AM WHERE I AM

I AM HOW I AM

I AM BECAUSE I AM

or simply I AM THAT I AM.

Some would like a further explaination,

Can you tell me where you came from?

I AM WHERE I AM

Can you tell me how long you existed? I AM WHEN I AM

Can you explain what cause you to exists? I AM BECAUSE I AM

Can you just prove it somehow?

I AM THAT I AM and that IS WHAT IT IS, deal with it.

You’ve don’t get to have God convince his existence and power to you before you believe.

God makes the rules, and God said

Hebrews 11:6 (KJV 1900)

6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is…

God is that He is… and if you can’t look around and see His creation and accept

that no man could have made this universe,

No monkey could have made it,

No fish could have made it,

No single-celled organism could have made it,

And only a fool would say that it accidently made itself,

Psalm 53:1 KJV 1900

1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: There is none that doeth good.

Colossians 1:16 KJV 1900

16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

Romans 1:20 KJV 1900

20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

The Bible starts by simply saying, In the Beginning God.

Then it explains the creation

But it doesn’t explain where God came from

Why? Because God is eternal

God was not created

God just existed

And it might be hard to hold that idea in our finite minds

But that’s why God simply said

I AM THAT I AM.

That’s as far as I need to explain it.

Other so-called gods have an origin story,

but not my God

My God existed while men were inventing other gods in their minds or with their hands

My God is the only GOD

and His name is JESUS

I could preach a while on this, but we don’t have time,

But to satisfy those watching online who might be pondering the name of Jesus

When I just read that God’s name is I AM THAT I AM.

John 8:56–58 KJV 1900

56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

That’s why Jesus said, If you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father.

That’s why Paul said:

1 Timothy 3:16 KJV 1900

16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

That why Paul also said:

Colossians 2:9 KJV 1900

9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Jesus is the Great IAM

And Jesus said it Himself many times, including from the Throne in Heaven

Jesus isn’t a Jehovah Junior, or 1/3 or God.

Jesus is the same God that spoke to Moses from this burning bush in Exodus chapter 3.

Revelation 1:7–8 KJV 1900

7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. 8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Notice the words “IAM”, “WAS” and “IS”. That is the verb “TO BE”.

The Father is not the Alpha, and the Son the Omega,

Jesus said, I AM Alpha AND Omega

Which “IS”, and which “WAS”, and which “IS” to come.

The fact that Jesus is the All Mighty God is the greatest revelation anyone can get.

You’ve Got to know WHO HE IS, if you want to fulfill His purpose,

And Moses asked that as his second questions.

Now, I’ve got to hurry.

Question number 3:

Question Three: What If They Don’t Believe In Me?

We gotta skip down to chapter 4 verse 1 for the sake of time

And jump down to the 3rd question of the called

Exodus 4:1 KJV 1900

1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.

When you are called of God, There are going to be many naysayers

People that will question your calling

People that will try and steer you another way

Or cast doubt on your destiny

David was questioned by his brothers and by Saul before he face Goliath

Noah was questioned by the whole world..

Why are you building a boat Noah!

Even Paul was questioned by the Apostles until Barnabas took him under his mentorship.

People will questions your calling.

I had people ask me questions like:

Why are you planting a church when we have enough churches?

Why would you move to Decatur to start a church?

Why a Pentecostal church? Don’t you know they don’t survive in this city?

Why would you leave California to live in Alabama?

Why would you move your family that far for this?

Why would you quit a high paying job to do this?

Why would you plant a Pentecostal church in Decatur?

People are going to question your calling,

But that’s when you’ve got to remember your burning bush expierence,

Cling to your calling,

because that will get you through the questions that come.

Question Four: What If I Don’t Believe In Myself?

The Final question is perhaps the hardest question to deal with.

This is one that every called person will have to face.

This is when you start to doubt yourself

And your own abilities.

And for fear of failure, many people fail.

The great prophet Elijah questioned himself under a juniper tree

And even went as far as to ask God to take his life

Gideon, who would later lead Isreal to one of their greatest victories

First questioned himself, for he said,

How can I save Isreal, my family is poor, and I’m the least in my father’s house.

Saul even hid himself on the day he was to be crowned as Israel’s first King.

And Jeremiah told God that he was too young to be a prophet.

In chapter 4 of Exodus,

Moses also asked this 4th question when he points out his own shortcomings.

Exodus 4:10 KJV 1900

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.

It isn’t really much different from the first question,

When Moses asked WHO AM I.

But even when you think you’ve got it figured out,

When you know who you are

That you’ve been called by name

And you know who God is,

And that God is with you,

And You ignore the voices of the doubters and the haters

And then you get more versions of that first question.

The devil will point out how much you’ve sinned

He will point out how many times you’ve failed

He will tell you that you’ve been here before, and it didn’t work out last time

He will tell you that you don’t have the ability

That you don’t have the knowledge

That you don’t have what it takes to do what God has called you to do,

But let me just tell you, that you’re looking at the question all wrong

Because the devil knows that if he can get you focused on yourself

You will forget all about the calling and the one that called you.

Because in the end it doesn’t really matter what skills you have or don’t have.

It doesn’t matter what knowledge you have or don’t have.

Because in my Bible, God can use a donkey to prohpesy.

He doesn’t need me at all,

He wants me, but there is a different between needs and wants.

God’s has already factored in all your faults and failures before He called you.

To question your abilities is to question God’s judgment.

Don’t you think He already knows what you can and can’t do?

When Moses points out his slow speech and lack of eloquence,

God responds by reminding Moses who made his mouth.

Exodus 4:11–12 KJV 1900

11 And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.

Moses said I have slow speech and a slow tongue,

which literally means a heavy or slow mouth and a heavy or slow tongue.

And God says, don’t worry, I’ll be your mouth.

Closing

Let’s all stand.

I want to remind someone here today,

God knows your shortcomings.

God knows your abilities

And God called you knowing everything about you including your past and your future.

When you begin to question the calling,

Remember this, God already knew your questions when He called you.

Altar

Is there anyone here that has some questions about the journey God has you on? Let’s bring them to the Lord today

And let’s not leave this place without answers

And Remember,

He sees you

He hears your cries

And He knows your situation