Moses

Introduction

Reality 1: God is always at work around you

Reality 2: God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal

Reality 3: God invites you to become involved with him in his work

Reality 4: God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the Thur has to reveal himself, his purposes and his ways.

Reality 5: God’s invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.

Reality 6: You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.

Reality 7: You come to know God by experience as you obey him and he accomplishes His work through you.

Introduction

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describes the story of Moses in just a few sentences:

Hebrews 11:23–29 ESV

23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. 29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.

Hebrews 11:23-

By faith. That’s the refrain of , and its the only way that anyone has ever walked with God.

https://www.cardus.ca/comment/article/transform-this/

In 1995 a Christian was hired as the new warden of Angola Prison in Louisiana.

Angola prison had been known as one of the bloodiest maximum security prisons in the country. Most of Angola’s prisoners are violent offenders who are serving life sentences. One inmate said, "This place was completely hedonistic; it was the survival of the fittest." In 1971, the American Bar Association described the conditions at Angola as "medieval, squalid and horrifying." 

Soon after being hired, the Christian, Warden Cain presided over an execution of one of the prisoners on death row and faced the reality that He had just ended the life of a man who most likely had never had a chance to know Jesus as his Savior and Lord. In that moment he sensed that God wanted him to bring hope and salvation to the prisoners of Angola.

He partnered with the New Orleans Baptist Seminary to offer a Bible class to any prisoner who wanted to participate, and especially to the death row inmates. The Bible class eventually grew into a full-fledged bachelor's degree in pastoral ministry with Greek and Hebrew classes and everything else a pastor would need to train for the ministry.

The prison developed many other programs that helped rehabilitate their inmates, completely turning around the prison’s reputation. Today there are over 400 inmates going to church each week in 30 congregations led by prison pastors. The partnership with the seminary produces 30 to 40 new trained pastors a year, and other prisons around the country have requested transfers of these pastors so they can start Bible studies in their prison populations. In 2013 the state of Louisiana began a rehabilitation program that took 1,000 medium security inmates that were nearing release and sent them to the maximum security, Angola prison to be mentored by Angola lifers. In this program four medium security inmates would be matched with a “Re-entry Social Rehabilitation Mentor” from the Angola prison population. They would spend every waking hour together—eating with each other, going to vocational classes, working a trade, and doing a Bible study together every evening. After being mentored at Angola, the medium security prisoners would be released.

Warden Cain believed that God had a plan to reach the prisoners at Angola and he made himself available to be used by God. As a result, violent prisoners have been converted and have become workers for God. God has made that awful prison a place where the Gospel changes lives for eternity.

7 Realities of Experiencing God

Faith in who God is, in His power, and in His plans and purposes is the foundation of every story of walking with God.

Moses’ story of faith begins with the faithfulness of his parents, a miraculous deliverance from the Nile river, years of training in the royal family, a murder, and then Moses fleeing for his life. But Moses’ story is just as much about God as it is about Moses.

Through the story of Moses, we’re going to discover seven realties that take place every time someone encounters God.

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Reality 1: is that God is always at work to save the world.

The Israelites were in Egypt for hundreds of years and their position kept getting worse and worse.

Never before had the Bible recorded the kind of evil Pharoah perpetrated on the Israelites. He even mass-murdered babies to thin out the Israelite population when he felt threatened by them.

In we see a people broken down and pleading with God for help.

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Exodus 2:22–25 ESV

22 She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.” 23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

Exodus 2:23–25 ESV

23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

God saw, and God knew.

This is not an aloof God who has bigger things to worry about than the people of earth. This is the creator God who sees and knows all. This is the God of the Great Controversy who is working all things out for our good. This is the God of salvation who has a plan to save mankind.

By the time we pick up on Moses’ story in Exodus chapter 3, it’s been 40 years since he fled Egypt. God was working all around Moses while Moses was learning humility, tending sheep. When God finally chose to reveal himself to Moses it was at the right time and place for Moses to hear and obey so that God could do a great work in saving His people.

himself and a plan for Israel and gave moses a command to go back to Egypt (consider the servant scenario—God isn’t just asking Moses, He’s designed Moses for this very moment, Moses is God’s servant).

Moses may have thought his had already ruined his chance to serve God. He might have grown accustomed to his new life as a shepherd. He probably didn’t know much about what was going on in Egypt, much less what God plans God was developing.

God was working all around Moses, and when he finally chose to reveal himself to Moses it was at the right time and place for Moses to hear and obey so that God could do a great work in saving His people.

But God saw, and God knew, and God was working to save His people.

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Reality 2. God pursues a loving relationship with you that is personal and practical.

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Exodus 3:1–4 NLT

1 One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. 3 “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.” 4 When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses replied.

Exodus 3:1-2

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Multiple times in Moses’ story we find God interacting with Him. He protected Him on the Nile river when Pharaoh’s daughter found him floating among the reeds. He drew Him close through the fiery bush that didn’t burn up. He met with him and spent hours and days together with him in the tent of meeting and on the mountain at Sinai.

God was uniquely interested in Moses, the problems He faced, and the calling He had given Him. God orchestrated his life circumstances, putting people in His life to help him like Pharaoh’s daughter when he was a baby, his brother Aaron when he felt he couldn’t speak on his own, the priest of Midian when he was overwhelmed with his leadership responsibilities, and Joshua when he needed someone to take over for him.

Every story in the Bible is a story of God pursuing someone. God intervened in Paul’s life through a blinding light and a voice that called Him to know Jesus. God intervened in Isaiah’s life when He appeared to Him in the temple and called him to be a prophet to a stubborn and hard-of-hearing people. God intervened in Gideon’s life when He appeared to him while he was threshing wheat and He called him to join Him in delivering Israel from their oppressors. Every prophet, preacher, elder, and disciple, the women and even the children of the Bible have a story of God pursuing them.

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1 John 4:19 ESV

19 We love because he first loved us.

John We love because He first loved us.

God took the lead in inviting Moses into a personal and dynamic relationship with Him.

Ex

This is the most important factor in knowing and doing the will of God. If your love relationship with God is not as it should be, nothing else will be in order. If you feel like you’ve been doing life your own terms and you need a new direction, then start by looking to God. He’s been pursuing you all along, and he’s just waiting for you to respond before the real fun begins.

God sees you, and God knows you.

Do you see God, and know Him?

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Reality 3. God invites you to become involved in His work.

Forty years before the burning bush, Moses had a dream to free Israel. It was a noble dream, but doomed to failure because it wasn’t God’s dream, yet. Things in the government of Egypt, in the hearts of the Israelites and in Moses’ heart had to change. So Moses’ big dream failed miserably. But God didn’t reveal himself in a big way to Moses as he fled Egypt. I’m sure there were evidences that He was still watching over Moses, but there was no voice or flame calling to Him. And then, when God’s timing was perfect, He showed up and revealed Himself to Moses.

God doesn’t ask us to dream big dreams for Him. He asks us to abide in Him, and let Him abide in us. Until God reveals Himself to us, He just needs us to spend time with Him in His word and with His children. He needs us to wait and to watch. When God reveals where and how He is working in the world, that becomes an invitation for us to join Him in His work, and that is the time to respond to Him.

In Moses’ story, God’s purpose was to rescue the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and to establish them as a nation in their own land. God invited moses to become involved with Him in His work:

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Exodus 3:7–10 NLT

7 Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. 9 Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. 10 Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”

Ex 3:7-

Exodus 3:8–10 ESV

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.”

It would never have crossed Moses’ mind to go back to Egypt, face Pharaoh, and boldly demand, “Let my people go!” Yet, Moses was being called to join in a work that God had been preparing for decades and centuries.

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Reality 4: God speaks by the Holy Spirit through direct revelation in the Bible, through His providential leading, and through the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to our hearts as we pray.

Every time Moses had an interaction with God, it was an invitation to join God in something bigger than himself. At the red sea the people faced certain death, and Moses prayed. God revealed himself to Moses and told him to stretch out his staff over the Red Sea. Moses faithfully commanded to the Israelites to “stand still and see the salvation of the Lord,” and then stretched out His hand. God was going to work a great miracle to give Israel victory over Egypt, but He invited Moses to play a representative role in stretching out His hand over the sea. God worked the deliverance, but invited Moses to play a part.

Reality 4: God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the Church to reveal himself, his purposes and his ways.

As we talked about when we explored the story of Elijah a couple weeks ago, God reveals himself to us by the Holy Spirit through direct revelation in the Bible, through His providential leading, and through the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to our hearts as we pray.

As we talked about when we explored the story of Elijah, God reveals himself by the Holy Spirit through direct revelation in the Bible, through His providential leading, and through the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to our hearts as we pray.

When you hear God’s spirit speaking to you in His word, its always a good idea to verify His calling by discussing it with other believers, by praying, and by exploring your circumstances to see how God’s providence has been working.

God spoke to Moses out of a burning bush to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.

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Exodus 3:4–6 ESV

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.

Exodus 3:4-

God revealed His holiness, His mercy, His power, and His name. He revealed His purpose to keep His promise to Abraham and to give Israel the Promised Land, as well as many things not described in the story in .

When God spoke, Moses knew it was God. He knew what God said, and he knew what he had to do in response.

God doesn’t always use burning bush experiences to reveal himself. Most of the time his revelations are quiet, but they are no less significant than Moses standing before God on Mt Horeb.

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Reality 5: God’s invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.

When God reveals His plans to you, He’s not going to ask you to do something that everyone will attribute to you. He’s going to call you to an assignment that you cannot accomplish apart from His divine intervention, and without his name being glorified. God’s assignments have God-sized dimensions.

God may invite you to take on a mundane, seemingly ordinary task, but when God it involved in something there are always eternal, divine dimensions, implications and possibilities.

Because God’s tasks are God-sized, when God calls you to do something you will inevitably experience a crisis of belief that requires faith. That’s one of the reasons Hebrews repeats, “by faith” so many times. Moses experienced a crisis of belief when God showed up and told him to go to Egypt.

Here are some of the things he said to God as he expressed his crisis of belief:

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Exodus 3:11 NLT

11 But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”

If Moses had understood and believed in the God who was calling him to action, he wouldn’t have been worried about who he was.

Exodus 3:13 NLT

13 But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”

Exodus 4:1 NLT

1 But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?”

Exodus 4:10 NLT

10 But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”

Exodus 4:13 NLT

13 But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”

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Moses was doubting whether God could accomplish such an enormous task through him, whether the Israelites would believe God appeared to Him, and whether he was capable of speaking eloquently enough to convince Pharaoh and the people of what he said.

In each case, Moses doubted God’s power more than he questioned his own ability.

He faced a crisis of belief: Is God really able to do what He says?

God finally convinced Moses to become involved in delivering Israel from slavery, and the book of Hebrews uses Moses’ faith as a model of belief in the Almighty God.

I find it comforting that God didn’t blast Moses for his unbelief, but rather kept working with him, encouraging him, empowering him, and supplying everything Moses would need to take the step of faith and follow God.

That leads us to our next reality:

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Reality 6: You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.

When Moses encountered God on the mountain, he could have either rejected God’s call and continued his course as a shepherd, or he could change his priorities and life situation to match what God was doing.

To get from where you are to where God is requires significant adjustments in your life. It may be an adjustment to your thinking, circumstances, relationships, commitments, actions or beliefs.

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To move from your way of thinking or acting to God’s way of thinking or acting will always require fundamental adjustments. You can’t stay where you are and go with God at the same time.

In Moses’ case, returning to the court of Pharaoh could have been a death sentence. But, after hearing God describe himself, and seeing God turn his staff into a snake and make his hand leprous and then heal it, he had worked through his crisis of belief and he trusted that God could do what He said.

Moses placed himself at God’s disposal in the same way as Elijah had. Moses was a servant of God who was moldable and willing to be used as God chose. No matter where God wanted him to go or to whom He wanted him to speak, Moses was now willing and had ordered his life in such a way that he and his family could follow God’s direction.

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Reality 7: Walking with God happens when you obey Him, and you get to know God by experience as He accomplishes His work through you.

When you believe God, and have adjusted your life so that you are at His disposal, that’s when the rubber meets the road and you obey Him.

What’s exciting about the story of Moses is that we realize that when Moses obeyed God his experience with God deepened dramatically.

Until the mountain he was a shepherd who believed in God. He got to experience God through his creation.

But after the mountain he got to see a nation who stood in opposition to God crumble without a single war campaign. He was part of a religious campaign to uncover the fraudulent gods of Egypt. He saw the sea part, water come out of a rock, and received the ten commandments from God’s own hands. He even ate at God’s table served by the angels on the way up the mountain. He spent 40 days with God, twice, besides hanging out with God in the tent of meeting and talking with Him about every challenge he faced leading the Israelites. When his life was coming to an end the Lord showed Moses a supernatural view of the land of Canaan, the work of the Messiah, and ultimately the New Earth.

After the mountain he was the mouthpiece of God and got to see a nation who stood in opposition to God crumble without a single war campaign. He was part of a religious campaign to uncover the fraudulent gods of Egypt. He saw the sea part, water come out of a rock, and received the ten commandments from God’s own hands. He even ate at God’s table served by the angels on the way up the mountain. He spent 40 days with God, twice, besides hanging out with God in the tent of meeting and talking with Him about every challenge he faced leading the Israelites.

Moses must have felt humbled and unworthy to be used in such a way. Yet moses obeyed ad did everything God told him. Every step of obedience brought Moses (and Isreal) to a greater knowledge of God.

Conclusion

Hebrews 11:26 ESV

26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

Heb 11:

“By Faith” is that repeated refrain of Moses’ life. His life was one of great accomplishments, but not because Moses was anything wonderful. His life was great because he joined God in His great plan of salvation.

I want to be one of those people who is moldable and pliable in God’s hands—ready to be used by Him for some mundane task with eternal consequences, or some great feat that could only be accomplished by God’s power. I want to be God’s servant.

In order for that to be a reality, I need to start with my relationship with Him. I need to have my eyes open as he reveals himself through His word, through other Christians, and through His providential leading. I need to let Him abide in me, and make abiding in Him an intentional part of my daily life.

I need to be ready for when God reveals his plan to me and invites me to join Him. I need to step out in faith and say “yes” to God. And I need to obey Him.

How about you?

How about you? Would you like to be molded and shaped by God? It’s not always comfortable. It will likely require a shift in priorities, or thinking, or activities. You'd be opening up your calendar to be adjusted by God. You’d be giving up your family to be changed by God. You’d be surrendering your business and vocation to be controlled by God. You’d be submitting your home and vehicles to be used by God. Your talents, interests, time and money would all be subject to God’s authority.

While it may not be comfortable, the results of surrender to God will always end up being better for you. In eternity you’ll look back and see what you gave up to God and praise Him for He has led you through your life. You’ll never regret saying yes to God.

A friend of mine owns an auto body shop. He poured his heart and soul and pocketbook into his business for years, building it into one of the more reputable body shops in his city. One year he began to realize he needed to spend regular time with God in study and prayer. In one of his morning devotional times he felt convicted that God wanted his business. Not 10% of his profit, but the entire business. After a crisis of faith, he began to adjust his life to God’s calling. He told his workers that the business was going to be God’s business from then on. They started working on some people’s cars for free, and the workers became part of the vision of a God-centered auto body shop. Sometimes they would take a totaled car, fix it up, and give it away to a family in need. He started being a different kind of boss. His profitable business had been building him a nice nest egg, but because this was God’s business now he listened when God told him to pay his workers better. When God told him to sponsor a mission trip, he did. One day God told him that he wasn’t spending enough time with his kids, so he listened to God and sold the business. A couple years later God gave the business back to him and still, today, he sees himself as under God’s management. The results of my friend’s decision to recognize God as the owner of His business will only be truly seen in eternity, but I am confident he will be seen as a great man, much like moses. A man who walks with God by faith.

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In April I’m planning on spending

Pretty soon we’ll be starting a small group ministry with a half-dozen small groups that you could join. This initiative is a result of praying for God’s leading, reading in the Bible and spirit of prophecy, and exploring discipleship ideas together as a church. Some of you already take time out of your week for bible study, so being part of a small group won’t be an inconvenience to you at all. But there are some who will see this as an inconvenience. Something will have to get booted from the schedule to allow you to be involved in small groups. Whether its the book club, the varsity sport, the tv night, or a nap, God

Where are you in the process? Is God pursuing a love relationships with you? Has He revealed himself to you and invited you to join His work of saving the world? Are you in the middle of a crisis of faith, or facing the adjustments necessary in order to follow God?

Wherever you are in this process, I invite you to make the best decision you can ever make and submit yourself to God.