GOD WILL MAKE A WAY

4 Then Moses answered, “But suppose they do not believe me or listen to me, but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ ” 2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” 3 And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw the staff on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses drew back from it. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand, and seize it by the tail”—so he reached out his hand and grasped it, and it became a staff in his hand— 5 “so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

6 Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” He put his hand into his cloak; and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, as white as snow. 7 Then God said, “Put your hand back into your cloak”—so he put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored like the rest of his body— 8 “If they will not believe you or heed the first sign, they may believe the second sign. 9 If they will not believe even these two signs or heed you, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”

10 But Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.” 13 But he said, “O my Lord, please send someone else.” 14 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “What of your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he can speak fluently; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad. 15 You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. 16 He indeed shall speak for you to the people; he shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him. 17 Take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.”

THE WORD OF GOD - FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD!

SPECIAL DAY...

You may ask what this has to do with Father’s day: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!! Fathers are people who have an important impact on the lives of children. Working in the prison system, I see the negative impact that fathers can have. I just want to thank all of our fathers, grandfathers, great grandfathers, and step-fathers on this very special day.

Chris Tomlin released a song entitled “Good, Good Father” a couple of years ago:

I've heard a thousand stories of what they think you're like But I've heard the tender whispers of love in the dead of night And you tell me that you're pleased And that I'm never alone

You're a good good father It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are And I'm loved by you It's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am

Today we celebrate the gift of our earthly fathers…Thank you dads!!!

HOWEVER...

I have some GOOD NEWS for you this morning: No matter what life may throw at you, no matter what hardship or problem you may face, no matter how hard the solution may seem to be…GOD WILL MAKE A WAY, even when there seems to be NO way!!!

This is our heavenly Father. He is our example of what our earthly fathers should imitate: a love that does not accept our excuses to be: all that He intends us be, AND, like our earthly fathers try to do, our Heavenly Father supplies the WAY to accomplish our CALL and our Purpose for HIM — with NO EXCUSES!!!

I don’t know about you, but I can certainly say that I have used way-to-many EXCUSES throughout my life, even to this day!!! Sometimes I make EXCUSES in order to get out of certain obligations, responsibilities OR to try to justify myself, my actions, or even my “NON-ACTIONS!” If we are honest with ourselves, amny of us have, and possibly still do!

Perhaps we say:” I just don’t have the time to call this person,” when in actuality we really just don’t WANT to call this person. OR, perhaps you have said, “ I just don’t have the time for...” OR “I’m too busy, OR “I don’t think I am able to...” OR “I can’t afford to...” And on and on and on...

I don’t know about you, but I am a pretty good excuse maker. In fact, I’ve been working on it for years. Husbands can be the worst…JUST ASK YOUR WIFE!!!

I find that most of the time when faced with something that I’m unsure about, or something that I know is really difficult, I can quickly come up with an excuse IN THE BOOK. Now you may not want to admit it, but maybe you can relate to me — JUST A LITTLE BIT on this.

MY EXAMPLE:

I shared with you last time I preached -MY STORY- of my call to be a preacher, and my reluctance. I was radio newscaster for a radio station in CoCoa, Florida. When I gave God all of my excuses for NOT answering His call.

God said, “You made the excuse of not wanting to speak in front of people, that you were nervous, and did not want to pick up roots and move to Washington DC. But you are now prepared. You have BETTER News to share, compared to what you are doing now in radio news.

*** NOW, FAST FORWARD to just 6 weeks ago. I had another excuse for this next chapter in ministry AND MINISTRY that I’m about to embark on: “Lord, I don’t want to go back to preaching full-time. I will be happy to be a supply or fill-in preacher “once in a while”, but LORD — NOT full-time.”

Low and behold, God had an answer again. I had just come back from Key West, and that Monday, I received a call from the District Superintendant, asking me to take a church, Hopewell UMC --- Part-Time!!! God has a sense of humor. There was no excuse that I could have used. YES: GOD will ALWAYS MAKE A WAY to use me, AND to use you!!!

As we discover in this morning’s text: God ALWAYS has answer, no excuses allowed!!

A. MOSES” FIRST EXCUSE: THE “WHAT IF I FAIL” EXCUSE.

In Verse 1 we read: “But suppose, they do not believe me or listen to me, but they say, ‘The Lord did not appear - to you.’ ”

How quickly Moses forgets, or ignores God’s promise. Earlier in Chapter 3 when God had given Moses instructions to go to the leaders of Israel first, then to go to Pharaoh and ask to let his people go. And even more importantly: GOD gives Moses a PROMISE, a WAY in Verse 12 :

12 He said to Moses, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you - that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”

But MOSES is still not convinced, he is still not persuaded. OR IN MY OPINION: Moses, is Stubborn - JUST LIKE ME! But God does not give up on him. And the GOOD NEWS IS: He does not give up on any of us!!!

In we are told, “He is able — to do exceedingly — abundantly

above ALL we that we ask or think.”

Whenever you are faced with the call to step forward in faith, to answer a commitment, and you respond “I’d like to Lord, but you’ve got the wrong person”. or “I don’t have that kind of ability in me,’ remember this promise this morning: Jesus never calls us to do anything on the basis of our perceived ability we may have within ourselves. It is ALWAYS on the basis of what HE can do within us, by HIS Power — by His Holy Spirit! BUT, we must SURRENDER to “that still, small voice” calling and prompting us to move. HE IS ABLE!!!

B. MOSES’ 2ND EXCUSE: THE “I’M NOT A PREACHER OR GOOD SPEAKER EXCUSE.”

Moses could have said: “God you can’t possibly have use for me, and besides, I have things to do, so let me just go back to what I was doing: shepherding, and watching my father-in-law’s flock.

I heard a preacher once give a few examples of how our Lord may call us, perhaps even out of our “Comfort Zone:”

FIRST, WITH OUR TIME:We can do the same thing today. “God I know you need someone to fill this ministry position in the church, and yes, I know I have that talent, but honestly -- I’m just too busy! You see I have a lot in my hands.” PLUS, you know the problems that I am dealing with right now! AGAIN, GOD MILL MAKE A WAY, WHEN THERE SEEMS TO BE NO WAY!!!

LET’S LOOK at Our Time: He could have said: “God you can’t possibly have need for this staff; BESIDES, and I have things to do, so let me just go back to what I was doing: shepherding, and watching my father-in-law’s flock. We can do the same thing today. “God I know you need someone to fill this ministry position in the church, and yes, I know I have that talent, but honestly I’m just too busy, you see I have a lot in my hands.” PLUS, you know the problems that I am dealing with right now! AGAIN, GOD MILL MAKE A WAY, WHEN THERE SEEMS TO BE NO WAY!!!

NEXT: With Our Money: God, I know you are calling me to tithe, but I just have a lot in my hands, you know: expenses, hobbies, toys and a LOT of other things that I have to take care of. Don’t forget God, I’m want to do things for You and for Your glory. BUT I’ve got to take care of these things first.

AND: With Our gifts and talents: God, yes and am gifted in that area, as a matter of fact that is actually my profession. I mean I do it every day; surely you don't need me to use this gift for you. Tell you what God, let me hold on to that and I’m sure some way to serve you will come along later.

God, I know you are calling me to tithe but I just ha

Sometimes I think God just shakes His head at all of the excuses we can come up with.

Sometimes I think God just shakes His head at all fo the excuses we give.

I’m thankful that the Bible is real, about Moses, and about you and me. I’m thankful that Scripture does not sugar coat the fact that Moses is really struggling with his faith and his call in God.

AND EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY I am Thankful for YOU!!!

I can honestly say that since I have been here at McEver, and even in churches that I have served as a full-time Pastor, I have NEVER experienced the Love, the commitment, and the dedication to the Lay ministry in which I have experienced here…and I thank all of you for that!!!

C. MOSES’ 3RD EXCUSE: THE “IT’S SOMEONE ELSE’S JOB” EXCUSE.

I can remember after I retired form the Sheriff’s Office, I went went to work at UNION GENERAL HOSPITAL in Blairsville as a Security Officer. My Chief of Security was an arrogant know-it-all, and a micro-manager! You probably have worked with those kind of bosses at some time in the past yourself. He also liked to put a lot of new duties on the officers — that really were not a “reasonable” part of our job duties. He was a retired police officer from New Jersey. Needless to say, our personalities clashed.

One day I was complaining to one of my co-workers about him. I said, “You know, this really is not part of my job.” To which my co-worker replied, “You know what he would say if you told him that it is not “part” of your job is, don’t you?” I replied, “No, what?” My co-worker put it in perspective: “our boss would say, ‘WHAT JOB!?”

In other words, If I really don’t think it is my job, my supervisor will find someone who will - do the job!!!

That excuse did now work for Moses either. God told him that He can use Aaron to speak for you. “But moses, You will still go!!!

I will deeply miss everyone here at McEver. Not only for those of you who have made me feel like family. Those of you who were my mission partners at Redbird.

I can only pray that in this next chapter in my ministry, I will experience the same things, especially all of you who serve this church — WITH NO EXCUSES!!!!!

FINALLY ONE MORE ILLUSTRATION:

ILLUSTRATION:

I read a story about a pastor who had heard so many excuses around his church about why folks did not feel like attending that he decided to proclaim one Sunday “No Excuse Sunday. This story has been around for a while, so maybe you’ve heard it before:

“No Excuse Sunday”

The pastor’s goal was to make it possible for everyone to attend church, without excuse. To do this he implemented some really interesting things: by having a special "No Excuse Sunday!"

having a special "No Excuse Sunday?"

Cots will be placed in the foyer for those who say "Sunday is my only day to sleep in".

There will be a special section with lounge chairs for those who feel that our (seats) pews are too hard.

Eye drops will be available for those with tired eyes from watching TV late Saturday night.

We will have steel helmets for those who say, "The roof would cave in If I ever came to church."

Blankets will be furnished for those who think the church is too cold, and fans for those who say it is too hot.

Scorecards will be available for those who wish to list the hypocrites present.

Relatives and friends will be in attendance for those who can’t go to church an

We will distribute "Stamp Out Stewardship" buttons for those that feel the church is always asking for money.

One section will be devoted to trees and grass for those who like to seek God in nature.

Doctors and nurses will be in attendance for those who plan to be sick on Sunday.

The sanctuary will be decorated with both Christmas poinsettias and Easter lilies for those who never have seen the church without them.

We will provide hearing aids for those who can’t hear the preacher and cotton for those who can!!

**** When no excuse Sunday finally came around a husband and wife who were members of this church woke up early on Sunday morning to get ready for church.

It was just about time for the service when the wife noticed her husband hadn’t moved a finger toward getting dressed.

Perplexed, she asked, “Why aren’t you getting dressed for church?”

He said, “Cause I don’t want to go.”

She asked, “Do you have any reasons?”

He said, “Yes, I have three good reasons.

First the congregation is cold.

Second, no one likes me.

And third, I just don’t want to go.”

The wife replied, wisely, “Well honey, I have three reasons why you should go.

First the congregation is warm.

Second, there are a FEW people there who like you.

And third: you’re the pastor!

So get dressed!

*** If you get anything out of this sermon this morning, it hope it is this:

GOD WILL ALWAYS - MAKE A WAY --- WHEN THERE SEEMS TO BE - NO WAY!

AMEN!!!

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