Get out of your Shell
Notes
Transcript
Handout
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Intro:
so I want to talk about about this turtle. You see, the turtle has a shell, now his shell is used to protect him from what are proposed threats. Whenever he feels threatened or scared, he can squeeze into that hard shell and it keeps him out of danger. Or so it would seem anyway. Some tribal colonies were known to cook turtles inside their shell, and then eat them after. Seems that placed in the fire, the shell does little to protect the turtle. hmmm..
So today I want to challenge us all, to get out of our comfort zones, and out of our shells. Reason being, is we get to comfortable inside that shell don’t we, well I’m safe, nothing is gonna happen to me in my shell, no risk, no worry. But the thing is, if your hiding away so nothing happens to you, then well, nothing is gonna happen. Let’s look at that today.
1. God uses us in ways that are always going to draw us out of our shell
Look at Moses
7 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of My people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I know about their sufferings. 8 I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey —the territory of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 9 The Israelites’ cry for help has come to Me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 Therefore, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead My people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
God has an incredibly big call for Moses, one that would be overwhelming for almost anyone. But nonetheless, it was God’s call on his life, but how does Moses respond?
11 But Moses asked God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
Here my friends is the turtle creeping back into his shell. Who am I, I can’t possibly do what your telling me to do. But God assures him, just like He did with Joshua, surely I will be with you.
10 But Moses replied to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent—either in the past or recently or since You have been speaking to Your servant —because I am slow and hesitant in speech.” 11 Yahweh said to him, “Who made the human mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh? 12 Now go! I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say.” 13 Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”
and then the excuses. But God, I can’t speak, I will mess it up, pretty much saying, can’t someone else do it. Listen friends, if Moses allowed his fear to when, he would not have been the one to lead God’s people out of captivity.
Jesus didn’t die on the Cross, so that we could die in our shell
2. God is our protection
Lets look back at our verse this morning. Who is our protector, is it the shell we create for ourselves? Or is it God. The answer is clear here, now let’s not make a mistake of thinking that, God is our protection, so if I feel like riding a skateboard down the grand canyon, I’m gonna be just fine. No that’s just foolish. But when God calls us to something, He will see us through it. Joshua had a huge call on his life, it was to be the successor to Moses, to lead God’s people into the promise land, something that could be challenging, probably very scary to. Remember the Israelite people weren’t the easiest people to lead, but God brings this encouragement to Joshua, and it is the same encouragement we have when God is calling us to something.
Illustration:
I believe for us to be willing to step out of our comfort zones, we need to recognize who this heavenly father is that is speaking to us in the first place friends. Often we don’t get out of what is comfortable, because we don’t realize the great magnitude of the Holy God that is calling on us. The God of the universe has called upon us to step out, even though it is scary, but He doesn’t tell you your alone, no, just like Moses wasn’t alone, just like Joshua wasn’t alone, you are not either.
When my kids were little, they would hold my hand to cross the street, or to cross over in a parking lot. As their father, even if they weren’t looking both ways, which I always encouraged them to do, I was looking, I was watching the cars, and I was standing in front of any vehicles coming into the parking lot just in case, because I would not allow anything to get to my kids, before first coming through me.
That is your Holy God, the God of the universe my friends, He doesn’t call you out of your shell to leave you, He’s holding your hand to cross those scary places, and He is shielding you as He does it.
3. It’s how our metal is tested
3 A crucible for silver, and a smelter for gold, and the Lord is the tester of hearts.
We are tested my friends, and we get tested by adversity.
JFB Commentary
3. God only knows, as He tries (Ps 12:6; 66:10) the heart.
cf Job 23:10, Is 48:10
Our growth in relationship to the Lord does come from the testing of our metal friends. The more we lean into God during times of adversity and challenges that scare us to the point of wanting to hide in our shell the more we grow closer in our fellowship with Him.
God want’s us to lean into Him, not into our shells.
Conclusion:
An animated movie that I really enjoyed, the Croods, featured this one saying from the daughter to her over protective dad. You see, as cavemen, most of them died off in this movie, so the Dad kept his family in a cave at all times except to hunt. This was to keep them safe, but in doing so, the daughter was beginning to rebel. She says to her dad about his efforts to keep them alive, it’s not living, it’s just not dying.
Listen friends, if you stay inside of your shell your entire life, then it’s not living, it’s just not dying. Christ gave Himself up for you, so that you can have life, and have it abundantly! To live that kind of life, you must accept that God is going to draw you out of your comfort zone, but when He does, for His purpose, He will be with you, your protection and your comfort, and He does this for good reason, because it is meant to grow you.
So whether it is joining small groups, getting involved in the church boards, serving on one of our activities like the upcoming trunk and treat, or VBS, a Bible study, or inviting someone to church, know that if you feel the nudge to do it, but your innards get all tight, and you skin clams up, chances are, you’re trying to hide in your shell, but that’s not where God wants you.
So what is God calling you to do, is it scary? Is it clearly from Him because you wouldn’t have thought of it yourself? How are you gonna respond? How should you respond? I hope that God’s Word shared here today can be an encouragement to you on how to respond, get out of your shell friends, and if you need guidance on how to do that, well you have two pastors here that will gladly meet with you to figure that out.
So let us commit ourselves to be a people not hiding in our shells, but a people free from any shell, leaning into God, to do what He calls on us to do.