Empowered For Ministry

Intro:

What I mean when I talk about your “Call or Ministry”.

Anything that God has told you to do.

Could be life long thing...

could be a today only thing...

Could be a year long thing...

God humbles his people to prepare them for ministry.

God humbles his people to prepare them for ministry.

Dangers of pride in the church and in the world.

God will do whatever is necessary to remove pride from our lives.

We need to come to the realization that we have nothing to bring to the table.

God cannot use us until we have been humbled.

God calls us in His timing to accomplish His work.

God waits until people are ready.

When we are ready, God reveals his plans to us.

God confirms the passion that He has placed in our hearts.

God gives very specific instructions about where to go, who to speak to, and what to say.

God promises His presence to Moses and we have the same through the Holy Spirit.

It was God doing all the work through Moses and it will be the Holy Spirit doing all the work through us.

God provides for the call that He has given us.

God’s call will always be bigger than anything we can accomplish.

Moses call was bigger than he was and our call will be bigger than we are.

If we are willingly obedient to God it will be obvious to those in our lives that we are following Gods direction.

We will be able to accomplish the goals that God has for us because he is working in us to complete the work.

Exodus 4:1–17 ESV

1 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will 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 it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. 4 But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put 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 Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. 7 Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. 8 “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. 9 If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, 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, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” 13 But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” 14 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 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 both what to do. 16 He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. 17 And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs.”

God qualifies us for Ministry not our resume. God calms our fears by giving us the resources we need to accomplish the work He has given us. Moses knew that he need evidence to present to the Israelites and to Pharaoh to prove that God had sent him. God’s economy isn’t affected our abilities or lack of abilities.God is aware of Moses concern about his speech, but God is not concerned. We should spend our time pursuing God for His plan rather than worrying about how unqualified we are to accomplish it. We should invest our energy in what is productive. Our worry is counter productive. Our excuses are not sufficient because God is the author of all. Whatever excuse you have made yourself believe about why you are not able to fulfill your call is simply disobedience. God gives a clear vision of His call and the people that are needed to accomplish it.

God qualifies us for ministry, not our resume.

We talked a lot last week about how God spent 40 years humbling Moses to get him to a place where he was able to completely trust in God’s ability instead of his own.

We need to allow God to get us to a similar place.

However, that is a scary thing to think about, but we have to get there.

Just like when Moses was afraid...

God calms our fears by giving us the resources we need to accomplish the work He has given us.

God’s timing is not our timing...

God’s idea of “what we need” and our idea of “what we need” are not the same.

We must ask God to increase our faith and trust him.

Need and example here...

Football analogy - one a passing play, the receiver doesn’t leave the line of scrimmage with the football.

God addressed Moses’ fear with patience and love.

Moses wanted evidence to present to the Israelites and to Pharaoh to prove that God had sent him.

Moses was still very unsure of his ability to convince both Israel and Pharaoh that God was the one calling the shots.

Even though God had the ability to speak through Moses in a way that was unmistakable, He gave Moses some tangible expression of His power to share.

While God may not give us the ability to turn staffs into snakes, He has given us the gift of communicating in a way that we can share and show people that it is Him guiding us.

God reveals Himself to give us confidence in our call.

God gave Moses these signs to deepen his understanding of how powerful God is.

In the same way, God gives us experience after experience with Him that builds up our confidence and give us stories to share so that others can see God.

Every time we complete a round in the abiding cycle our faith is stronger because of what we have just experienced with God.

Our continued pursuit of God is where we see the miracles in our lives happen.

We may not get a staff that turns into a snake, can I get an amen Kyle, but what we will get is God speaking a word that we desperately need to hear and it changing everything.

God telling me that Bethany would be healed is a great example of that.

God’s economy is not affected by either our abilities or our lack of abilities.

God can’t be any clearer about this issue.

Whatever you think is an advantage, it isn’t.

Whatever you think is holding you back, it isn’t.

We see these amazing miracles that God has just give Moses as a sign for him, Israel, and Pharoah to prove that God is speaking and working.

What is his response? I don’t speak well...

It’s at this point in the story that I wish that God spoke through memes...

God is aware of Moses concern about his speech, but God is completely unconcerned.

I love God’s response here.

Oh, your mouth doesn’t work? Who made your mouth? Oh yeah, the God who spoke all things into existence!

Now, as we are talking about it, it seems so dumb of Moses...

BUT! we do the same foolishness!

God I can’t do this thing because...

Our excuses are not sufficient because God is the author of all.

Any excuse we could ever come up with is null and void because God has the power, as the God who speaks things into existence, to do anything.

Our excuses aren’t sufficient for the same reason that Moses weren’t.

Also, let’s keep things in perspective here. I’m pretty sure God hasn’t told you to go and free millions of slaves from a world power.

I’m not in any way diminishing your call, but, I’m just saying...

It’s no where near as dangerous as Moses’ call.

We don’t need to fall into the trap of comparing things

We should spend our time pursuing God for His plan rather than worrying about how unqualified we are to accomplish it.

We should invest our energy in what is productive.

Our worry is counter productive.

Instead of us racking our brains trying to figure out how to do what God is asking, get in the word. He will tell you!

Our excuses are not sufficient because God is the author of all.

Our excuses about why we can’t obey God are disobedience and nothing else.

God has made it abundantly clear that we don’t need to and can’t bring anything to the table.

When we make excuses about why we can’t do something it isn’t because we can’t. t is because we won’t.

In verse 13 we see that Moses excuses really boiled down to the fact that he just didn’t want to do it.

And in vs 14 we see that God becomes angry with Moses. He was angry because of Moses disobedience and fear.

This ultimately shows us that there is a lack of faith in Moses.

God does not give up on us because we lack faith.

Because God is loving, instead of punishing Moses, He provides him with a ministry assistant.

If you are still struggling with the idea of obeying God’s call, just know that you are in good company.

I went into vapor lock when learning the abiding cycle because I didn’t want to do anything until I was absolutely certain that God was saying it.

I lacked faith in both my ability to hear God and his ability to speak in a way that I could hear.

I would ask though that instead of disobeying, either through idleness, fear, or willful disobedience, share with your life group the call God has placed on you and pray together that God would call someone to assist you.

As we pursue...

God gives a clear vision of His call and the people that are needed to accomplish it.

God will layout the resources and the ways in which we are to proceed just like he did for Moses.

Even though Moses is lacking faith and is trying to find a way out...

God clearly still has Moses in charge of this mission to free Israel and He tells Moses that He will speak through Moses to Aaron and then Aaron will speak to Pharoah and Israel.

I think it is important to note that Moses wasn’t absolved of the responsibility of leading just because God sent him help.

If God called you to a mission, you can’t give that call away to someone else.

God reveals more detailed plans as Moses inquires about how they are to do what God has said.

If you guys will remember our distinctives, one of them is that all our ministry will be grass roots.

You will never have an Elder come to you and ask you to start a ministry.

If you come to us with a ministry that God has spoken to you, we will pray with you and confirm, but then it is yours. We aren’t going to take it and assign it to someone. It is yours.

If that happens it is probably because we have been praying about it and felt like God has pointed you out to us. However, we want God to confirm that to you.

The reason we operate this way is because this is how God operates.

He ask the person He wants. We aren’t going to get in the way of that, but we also aren’t going to allow people to try and give away their call to ministry.

80/20 rule at most churches.

God gives both Moses and Aaron specific roles that they are to fulfill in order to accomplish God’s purpose.

God doesn’t leave anything to chance in terms of what Moses’ role is and what Aaron’s role is.

He speaks to Moses, lays out the plan, and rely’s on Moses to communicate that to Aaron.

He also tells Moses that He will be speaking everything to Moses and Moses must then tell Aaron.

As you are trusting God and following in obedience, He is going to tell you the people and the resources that will be needed in order to fulfill His objective.

Each person must be obedient in order to fulfill God’s Call.

If Aaron would have shown up and been like Nah…, I have plans for the next 40+ years, it would have been devastating to Moses.

Moses was counting on Aaron.

Each of us, as members of this body, must be pursing God so that we will know, what God has called us to, who God is calling to partake, and when it is supposed to happen.

Let me give you a great example of this.

Bethany and I have been partners in ministry since 2001.

I knew that God was saying that I needed to be replaced as her help when I began to pastor full time.

I knew that God was telling me that I could be there on Wednesday nights, but that He wanted some one else teaching.

I didn’t know who that person would be, but I began to pray and ask God to send that person and that HE would tell them that they would be taking my place.

Guess what, one day after service, Kyle tells me he needs to tell me something.

He is now helping Bethany by teaching every other week.

God provides what we need, but that requires that everyone of us is seeking God and obeying God.

Your

We have been called to an incredibly important task, to join God in setting people free.

Blackaby this morning...

Deuteronomy 8:2–3 ESV

2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Duet 8:2-3

God allows us to suffer difficulties and hardships for a purpose. God led the children of Israel to wander through the wilderness for forty years in order to humble them and test them. When they refused to obey Him and enter the Promised Land, the Israelites revealed that they did not really know Him. If they had, they would have had more faith. God spent the next forty years testing the hearts of His people to see if they were prepared for His next assignment.

Obedience is hard. It is hard because it requires faith. Faith is produced when God brings us through something hard.

James 1:2–3 ESV

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

James

We can be like the Israelites and continue to disoby

We must allow God to change our perspective on doing hard things.

Difficult task make us who we are and who we need to be.

God has given us a clear vision of who we, at TGP West, are supposed to be.

We are to be Moses...

Wrap up:

The story of Exodus isn’t just a story of leaving...

When you leave a place you are, by nature, headed to another.

God commissioned and empowered Moses with the purpose of freeing Isreal and delivering them to the promised land.

Last week I asked you to pray about and ask God what your call is.

I also mentioned that it is my goal that you and I would not be the same people at the end of this study of Exodus.

To further that thought, I want you to consider where you are coming from and where you are headed.

What has God called you to free someone from AND What has God empowered you deliver them too?

We are not just living in the the theoretical. This is a call that God has placed on each of us here at the Gathering Place.

Heb 11:

Hebrews 11:8–13 ESV

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

What is it that God is asking you to be faithful in?

What God sized thing has He called you too that will require great faith?

Faith which demands that you focus, not on your life here, but to look forward to the fulfillment of a promise that you may never see?

Our call is sooo much bigger than us and will require every ounce of faith we have.

You may have long since given up on yourself or maybe you never considered yourself worthy of the call.

God has not given up on you. He knows you better than you know yourself.

Trust Him. Let Him do something in you that will change your life and change the lives of the people He has put around you.

Every person in this room wants to be a part of something that matters. Something that makes this world a better place. Your call is that thing!