Come Up Higher

Exodus 24:1 NKJV

1 Now He said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar.

Confession of Faith

I am not moved by what I see or by what I feel. I am moved by what I believe. I believe the WORD of God! The victory is mine! I have it now! I can see it through the eyes of my faith! In Jesus Name!

Ordinary

adj.

1. Commonly encountered; usual.

2. a. Of no exceptional ability, degree, or quality; average.

b. Of inferior quality; second-rate.

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.”

In this text we find:

God was calling Moses to a to do something he had never done before.

He was calling him to the un-ordinary.

He was calling him to the uncommon.

He was calling him to a higher purpose.

Here is the problem: When God calls us to places that are not ordinary, not the norm, not comfortable - many times we respond like Moses did in

Exodus 4:1 NCV

1 Then Moses answered, “What if the people of Israel do not believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

In verse 10 we hear him complaining…

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.”

But later on in the book of Exodus…

We find Moses stretching forth his rod upon the Red sea and we see the entire nation of Israel crossing through it on dry ground.

“Tell Your Neighbor Come Up Higher”

Small Minded Thinkers

--Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM said in 1943

 "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." - Small minded thinkers!

--An Engineer Working at the IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip. "But what is it good for?" - Small Minded thinkers

--Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977 - Small minded thinkers!

He Said "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."

--An Internal Memo from Western Union, 1876

"This ’telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us. - Small Minded thinkers

Friends of a man by the name of David Sarnoff’s - he was trying to get them to invest a wireless music box! - small minded thinkers

The first radio station was formed in the radio in the 1920’s

A management professor at Yale university reviewed one of his students proposal for a reliable overnight delivery service! The professors said the

He would only give his student a “C” on his paper for the proposal! “Small - Minded Thinkers”

Fred Smith went on to start Federal Express Corp

People said no one would pay to ride in a car with a complete stranger - Small Minded Thinkers

Today we have Uber and Lyft !

John 1:46 NKJV

46 And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

This was a reference to Jesus!

Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip told him unto him, Come and see.

What has been said of you?

What has been said of your life?

Better yet, what do you think of you?

Do you realize that there is a divine purpose and call upon your life?

God is calling you up Higher

There is a higher purpose for your life.

As God called Peter and his brethren to become ‘Fishers of men’,

God is calling you to a higher purpose.

What we fail to realize most often is that we were not born into this world to carry on our father’s deeds.

We were not born into this world to continue in the generational mindset that eludes the will of God for our lives.

We have a higher purpose.

There is a reason we were born into this world.

God has called us up higher.

God has ordained to each of us His will and reason for our existence.

WE come from varied backgrounds :

But our purpose is the same – to let our lives become what God has ordained us to be.

Our will today is to allow His will to be done in us.

Our will today is to enter into the riches of his perfect design for our lives.

The saddest thing in the world to me is a life that has not yet found its purpose in God.

The saddest thing in the world is a life that is full of potential and yet it has not yet found what it is God would have them to do.

What is sad to me is someone like Peter going back to fishing in his father’s boat after Christ was crucified.

Thank God for his Grace

Thank God for his love.

If Jesus had not called to Peter as he returned to his career as a fisherman, Peter never would have become the anointed Apostle who preached the

message of salvation

Acts 2:38 NKJV

38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Who could have known that the man throwing the net into the sea to catch fish that night would just days later be the man who threw the net of the Gospel into the sea of humanity

Jesus is calling to us

He is asking us - “will you come up higher?”

Will you allow me to take your life to a higher place of purpose and meaning?

I doubt that there is a person here today who at some point in their life didn’t say, “God why am I here?”

“What is my purpose?” When you look into the Bible, you’ll find person after ordinary person who appears to have no talent or purpose for his or her life.

But after hearing the voice of God in their Life, they become something amazing.

It’s the little shepherd boy David tending his father’s sheep

It’s young Joseph telling his brothers about a dream he just had.

I hear Mordecai saying to Esther

Esther 4:14 The Message

14 If you persist in staying silent at a time like this, help and deliverance will arrive for the Jews from someplace else; but you and your family will be wiped out. Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this.”

 I hear Jesus telling Peter, “I’m going to make you a fisher of Men”.

 I hear Jesus telling Saul,

Acts 9:5 NCV

5 Saul said, “Who are you, Lord?” The voice answered, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

Sometimes we wonder why everything seems to be going wrong in our lives.

Sometimes we wonder why it just seems like our lives are going nowhere fast.

Could it be that we are spending our energy kicking against the vary thing that God is calling us up to?

Could it be that we are running from our calling and our purpose?

I wonder today what could happen if each and every one of us could somehow find our purpose?

I wonder what would happen if somehow each and every one of us could not only hear the Will of God spoken into our lives, but that we also would begin to walk in that Purpose”?

Here is what I believe…

Here is what I know to be true…

Each and every one of us here today has a divine purpose.

Each and every one of us here today has a reason and call of God upon our lives.

Not a one of us are an accident.

None of us are just a coincidence

None of us are without purpose.

 Each and every one of us was created of the purpose and will of God.

Jeremiah 1:5 NIV

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

The scriptures declare to us that He knew us “while we were yet in our mothers womb.”

Don’t think for one moment that He is not concerned about you.

Don’t think for an instant that He doesn’t know right where you are at this moment

Psalm 139:8 NLT

8 If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there.

You say, “Pastor Ken you don’t know the depth of sin and depravity I have gone to.” What I do or have done

Romans 5:8 NKJV

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Don’t think for one moment that you could stoop so low that God could not pick you back up.

One old song says, “He brought me out of the Miry Clay. He placed my feet on the rock to stay.”

 Sure our lives get off track.

Sure we lose our direction.

But I hear him saying today, “Come Up!”

You see when you’ve lost your direction in God, there is only one direction to go.

It’s not to the left or right.

It’s to the North or South.

The only direction you can go to find God is UP!

Jesus is telling someone here this moment,

Luke 21:28 NKJV

28 Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”

Up might mean a time of repentance for someone here today.

Up might mean being filled with the Holy Ghost for someone else.

Up might mean a deeper commitment for you today.

It could be walking away from something that you know is keeping you from His will in your life.

Going up signified to Moses that he was separating himself from the carnality of the common people.

While they were forging molten gods of silver and brass, he was up on the mountain top seeking the face of the One True Living God.

There’s a reason why you are listening this moment

There’s a reason why you have found yourself in this viewing this message place today.

There is something in you that is searching.

There is something in you that is reaching for its purpose in God.

It’s the soul crying out, “Help me find my direction.”

I wonder today if anyone here would like to come up higher?

I wonder if anyone is ready to move away from the ordinary and into the extraordinary.

I wonder if you would be willing to make a commitment to go higher in God today.

Let’s find our place in God.

Let’s find our purpose here at this time.

Pray for Purpose

Extend Invitation to Jesus

Next Steps:

Read Old Testament :

Songs Of Solomon & Isaiah

New Testament :

1 John, 2 John, 3rd John