When God Calls, Exodus 3:1-12

God called Moses when he was in Midian but the people needing salvation were in misery.

God called Moses when he was in Midian but the people needing salvation were in misery.

Who did he call? An eighty year old man who was tending sheep. How? By using a Halloween prank. 😊 Scaring him half to death. Startled by a bush ablaze that is not consumed & then speaking from that burning bush

This left Moses, slightly freaked out. Why?

A. Otherwise Occupied ()

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.

1. Moses was tending a great flock of sheep

a. He had grown up in the home of Pharaoh

b. His early years had been times of ease

c. Now he is a working shepherd and God calls him

2. Does your schedule seem too full?

3. You are the one God is calling to serve

4. God always calls when we are busy

a. Elisha plowing

b. Peter fishing

5. Satan calls when we are idle

B. Obstacles are Insurmountable ()

Exodus 3:7–10 ESV

7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

1. In Egypt, things were bad for Israel

2. The cruel taskmasters; low morale

3. Forty years earlier things were different

a. Moses then had political power

b. Now he is but a shepherd

4. Moses thinks the obstacles are too great

5. God delights to deliver in difficult times

6. On the darkest day, God makes a way

C. Prior Attempts have Failed ()

Exodus 3:11–12 ESV

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

1. “Who am I that I should go …?”

2. He tried before and failed ()

Acts 7:20–25 ESV

20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, 21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. 23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.

3. He has no self-confidence left

4. The difference: God’s time and God’s power

5. Moses had been high and mighty; now humble and meek

6. He is God’s man for the occasion

Application

A. God Calls Those Who Are Weak: Who Have Failed

B. Respond to His Call Today