Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

What do you think of when you see something on fire?

What comes to your mind?

My Fiance when she was a kid did something kind of crazy, you could kind of say she was obsessed with fire.

She would take boxes of tissues that her family bought and go into their attic with a lighter.

She would then sit there and burn each tissue in the box until the entire box was empty.

You could imagine her families reaction when they caught her.

They were mortified knowing that their house could have burned down at any time.

They also never allowed her to use tissues again.

Moral of the story, don’t burn tissues in your parents attic.

Fire is something that scientists believe was one of the first human discoveries.

It is a power source, a heat source, and it has been a relevant natural phenomenon since the beginning of time.

However fire is dangerous.

It can burn your son or daughter as they roast marshmallows in your back yard, it can burn your daughter as she burns tissues in your attic, or it can destroy entire forests killing thousands of plants, animals, and humans.

Fire consumes, engulfs, and when it grows out of control it is extremely difficult to put out.

Today we are going to be planting ourselves in Exodus 3, In Exodus 3 we find a man named Moses who had to flee Egypt because he had murdered Egyptian Soldiers, he was no longer allowed to return.

After he had fled, he found a man named Jethro, and he was now tending his sheep.

Lets Begin by reading Exodus 3:2-6

“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, zGod 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, c“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.”

God Reveals Himself to His People.

God does something very interesting in this passage, notice that Moses was not concerned for what was happening in Egypt, he had fled, and was no longer allowed to return.

God knowing this had to do something radical, he came to Moses.

Notice that the bush was not consumed, when Moses saw that from the distance it was a magnetic affect, it drew Moses towards God.

God’s holiness is clearly something that is extremely important and something that God makes apparent to Moses.

In Exodus 3:5 we see that God asks Moses to remove his shoes.

Moses couldn't even be near the bush until he was holy.

Before God even reveals who he is to Moses, he commands Moses to acknowledge his holiness.

In Exodus 3:6 God identifies who he is, God says, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

Immediately Moses know who he was in the presence of and Moses hides his face, because Moses knows that he is not worthy to be in the presence of the Holy, Almighty, God.

Skip forward to verse 8, God says “I have come down to deliver them” Them being his people.

Notice that God came to Moses, and not the other way around.

The text does not say that Moses was tending sheep in search of help from God, or that Moses was searching for God, No. God comes to Moses.

God came to Moses, revealing himself to Moses because he has a plan, a plan to save his people, and uphold the covenant that he made with Abraham years ago.

The salvation of the Israelites could have only been achieved through God come to his people, and that pattern continues throughout Scripture.

There are a lot of people in here who have bought into the lie that we need to do things in order to have God reveal himself to us, but that could not be farther from the truth.

God revealing himself to us is not dependent on what we can accomplish, but completely dependent on God coming to us.

Thankfully in Jesus God did come to us, he lived the life we couldn't live and took the death that we all deserved.

God revealing himself to us through Jesus was not because of anything we did, in fact God came to us despite what we had done, rejected him, despised him, hated him, sinned against him, and yet God still came.

That is the gospel.

And all you need to do is believe that it is true.

God Reveals Himself to His People.

God Hears His People.

In Exodus 3:7-9, “7 Then the Lord said, e“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 gI 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.”

we see another truth about God and who he is.

God Hears His People.

In Verse 7 God says “Surely I have seen the affliction of my people,” In again in Verse 9, where God says, “behold the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.”

God clearly sees and hears his peoples cries for help.

There was never a moment in which God was not listening to his people.

And not only did God declare that he heard his people, but he declared that he was going to save his people.

Verse 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.”

A good parent does the same thing with their children.

When I was young and in school I struggled with people bullying me, they would mock me, make fun of my large eyes, and even sometimes force me to buy their lunch when they forgot to get their lunch money.

THESE ARE 3RD GRADERS.

Eventually I went to my mom and told her the situation.

My mom sat down with me, listened to what I was saying, and then went to the school to ensure that it didn't happen again.

Although this is not a perfect illustration, it gives us a little picture of how god listens to his children.

When they were being oppressed he listened, but his listening was followed with action.

The deliverence of his people.

This is something that is true for all believers, we can be confident that God hears us when we call out to him.

Maybe you are in here and there is just a lot of pain in your life right now.

Maybe a family member just had just been diagnosed with cancer, or maybe you are just struggling to make rent.

Or maybe the suffering is a little less serious, your struggling in school, or your are having trouble making friends.

The comforting thins is that regardless of your oppression, God hears you, cares about the situation and promises deliverence wether it be in this life or the next.

In Romans 8:28 we are promised that for people who are in Christ, according to the will of God, all things will work together for the good of his people.

God Sends His People.

Exodus 3:10-12 “ 10 nCome, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

11 But Moses said to God, o“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 He said, p“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, qyou shall serve God on this mountain.”

Notice the progression, God comes and reveals himself, God hears and cares about pain and suffering and God saves and restores, then God sends.

Notice Moses’ hesitation “Who am I that I should go?” he asks, and frankly that is a great question.

Many of us will read this text and blame Moses for hesitating on Gods calling.

But that is not what is happening here.

Moses is viewing the MAJOR task that God is calling him to, and realizing that he is not capable of this task.

This is a realization that we ALL must have before we can be effectively used in ministry.

God responds reassurance saying “I will be with you”

Maybe you are in here and you are struggling with being sent.

God has revealed himself to you, and he has saved you, and he is now sending you, but take comfort in the fact that God is not sending you alone, you are being sent with the power of God.

The same power that saved Israel from years of slavery, the same power that split an entire sea in two, and the same power that saved you from eternal separation from God in Hell.

If he has the power to do all those things and more, than it is silly not to trust him when he sends you for his cause.