When God Calls

When God Calls

02-01-2019

Welcome to MBF

Intro

So excited this morning, because we will look at the Call of Moses

God called Moses

Exodus 3:1–4 NASB95

1 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. 2 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. 3 So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” 4 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.”

Moses is in the wilderness shepherding his father in laws flock

Remember at this time he has run from Egypt because

He was raised in Pharaoh’s house for about 40 years and he had found out that he was not blood related and then he killed a man and ran for his life

He ends up marrying a shepherdess and settling down and starting a family

Then God calls Him

a few things about the CALL

God speaks, God spoke to Moses and called him by name

God still speaks today and He still calls us by name

If you are looking for another burning bush moment you will be looking for sometime, this is the only one recorded in Scripture, and I would bet this is the only one

It means that God doesn’t always call the same way, I mean when God called Aaron, He didn’t use a burning Bush

God is still very much in the business of calling His people, but often times we miss it because we are looking for a burning bush

we don’t hear Him calling our names because we aren’t that close with Him

If you will recall where Moses was

vs 1 He came to the Mountain of God

See for Moses to hear God clearly he had to be near God

Moses maybe not knowing positioned himself in a place to hear clearly from God

I wonder how many times we get ourselves out of position and then complain we don’t hear from God

So what does God call Moses todo?

I am so glad you asked

Exodus 3:7–10 NASB95

7 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. 8 “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. 9 “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. 10 “Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”

After the introductions God begins to explain I am hearing my peoples cry and I am coming to save them

At this point Moses must be excited but in the back of his mind he knows that he can’t go back

Moses couldn’t go back because people were going to put him to death for his crime

Moses was to ashamed to go back and stand in front of Pharaoh because he didn’t speak well

To be honest Moses had built a pretty nice life in the wilderness and I bet did not want to leave

But

Genesis 15:13–14 NASB95

13 God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.

See God is faithful

Its funny to say out loud and maybe you have never said it out loud so you can hear it yourself so lets try it

God is faithful

I wonder if Moses would have done the same thing

Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that God is in fact faithful

He is inviting and calling Moses to be a part of His promise to His people

God is calling and inviting us to be a part of His promise to spread the good news to the entire world

We just have to hear Him clearly, we have to position ourselves close to God to ensure we are able to hear Him

Then we have to remind ourselves of His promises

We have talked about that in the past, in the midst of struggles we have to remind ourselves of what God has done in the past.

See God was reminded of His promise to the people and he was calling Moses to be a part of that story

2 Peter 3:9 NASB95

9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

God desires no one to perish

God desires no one to not know Him

God is calling you and I church to be a part of His plan to spread the good news!

the question you need to ask yourself is are you standing close enough to God to hear Him clearly

Rather than looking for a burning bus to hear Him are in the word and praying so you can hear Him when he calls your name and gives you instruction

So what was Moses instruction

Exodus 3:10–16 NASB95

10 “Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 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?” 12 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.” 13 Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” 15 God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations. 16 “Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt.

Notice the back and forth with Moses and God

God would give him the task and before God could finish Moses seemed to interrupt Him an excuse

God would answer that and before God could finish Moses would interrupt with another excuse

Moses had a lot of excuses and we would probably agree with some of those, and maybe even help justify those with Moses

But God gave Him direction

Its funny when we pray and ask God, and then God answers but its not the answer we like we start to maybe back track, or start to come up with excuses

God you have called me to share the Gosepl with the lost

But God what am I to say to them, I don’t know everything about the Bible

God says I will speak for you

God what if they don’t answer the door

I will knock on their heart

God what if they ask me something not on my scripture

I will speak for you

God what, and the list goes on and on and on much like Moses did

But what we do is we go, you know if God calls me to live in Africa I would say yes to that, deep down knowing He is not but rather is calling you to go across the street and talk to your neighbor

See if you notice God didn’t call God because he was qualified, if anything Moses was the least qualified person, except for the fact God called him

God does not call the qualified, God equips the called

Church I was so not qualified to be pastor and yet here I am, and God has he equipped me to be pastor

Moses was not qualified he was called and God is going to prepare and equip him for his call

So far God has called Moses, and Moses was in a place where he could hear God clearly

and now he has just been given instructions, and probably like most of us is trying to figure out a way to side step those instructions

God is going to begin to answer some of those side steps and in fact God is going to equip Moses to go and bring His people from captivity

Exodus 4:1–7 NASB95

1 Then Moses said, “What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ” 2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “A staff.” 3 Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. 4 But the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail”—so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— 5 “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” 6 The Lord furthermore said to him, “Now put your hand into your bosom.” So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. 7 Then He said, “Put your hand into your bosom again.” So he put his hand into his bosom again, and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.

Moses begins with one of those questions that we often ask God and hope He doesnt’ answer

But God answers

See God begins to give Him powers to show people that they might believe

God equips Moses whom He called

God gives him power to turn his staff into a snack that Pharaoh might see it and believe, God then gives him the power to heal the sick

How amazing it would be to be Moses at that point, some of us sitting here today would say yep that is enough for me to believe that God is going to complete His promise

Remember this is all coming about to fulfill the promise He made to Abraham in Genesis, and if we are honest Moses struggling to believe God is who He said He is

That is part of the equipping and the growing of our faith church

Moses would not have been able to grow his faith had He not been in a position to hear from God and then brought his burdens before God and allowed God to deal with Him

Moses had to experience God before he could go and tell people about God!

Exodus 4:10–14 NASB95

10 Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 “Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.” 13 But he said, “Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will.” 14 Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

Moses goes to God again and tell him another struggle

You can almost hear Gods frustration here, because you have to read it with the punctuation

God is frustrated with Moses

vs 11-12

He has called him through a burning bush, that was on fire yet not consumed, and then does some amazing miracles and yet Moses is still struggling

how bold it is of Moses to go to the Lord

God answers Moses struggle through

He gives Moses his brother Aaron to be a speaker for Him

See church you don’t have to have it all together to be called, you don’t have to have a seminary degree to be called

Moses was called because he was in a position near the mountain of God

Are you in a position to hear from God clearly, to be honest some of you need to clear your ears out because he has been calling you for quite sometime

Are you experiencing God through that call or are you like Moses and coming up with excuses

Now we know the rest of the story

we know the 10 plagues

we know the Egyptians drove out the Israelites, and God’s promise was fulfilled

We know that God used Moses and Aaron to be glorified

But I wonder had Moses not continued in his excuses if He would have been the one speaking instead of Aaron and how much more he would have experienced with God

Closing

So church the question you must ask yourselves today is God calling me?

Is God calling you into a personal relationship with Him through His son Jesus?

Is God calling you to join this church

Is God calling you to serve somewhere here at MBF

As they play would you be obedient to the call God has placed on your life!