Sermon Body Outline
Opening Illustration: [use natural gestures]
Last night I took a journey to a land far ’cross the seas; I didn’t go by boat or plane, I trusted on my knees. I saw so many people there in deepest depths of sin, and Jesus told me I should go that there were souls to win. But I said, "Jesus, I can’t go and work with such as these."
He answered quickly, "Yes, you can by traveling on your knees."
He said, "You pray; I’ll meet the need, you call and I will hear; be concerned about lost souls, of those both far and near."
And so I tried it, knelt in prayer, gave up some hours of ease; I felt the Lord right by my side while traveling on my knees.
As I prayed on and saw souls saved and twisted bodies healed, and saw God’s workers’ strength renewed while laboring on the field.
I said, "Yes, Lord, I have a job my desire Thy will to please; I can go and heed Thy call by traveling on my knees." (story by Sandra Goodwin)
Did you know that God has a mission for each one of us? Yes, He does. [pause]
In order for our mission to succeed, we must be open and willing to do what God is calling us to do. How do we know when God is calling? There are three important factors that come into play in this passage.
The first factor to consider is this: when God is calling us for a certain mission; God will get our attention. When He does, we must listen to what He says…as in Moses’ case.
I) God Gets Our Attention…We Must Listen
When we look at his life, it is evident in vs. 1 of our text that he had a mundane lifestyle. Day in and day out, he would go to work, walk his father-in-law’s goats and sheep and then come home to his family for some rest and relaxation. Next day, he would start all over. Sound familiar? He did this for 40 years.
However, God changed Moses’ routine when He diverted Moses’ attention from his daily sheep-herding tasks to a weak, flimsy bush, burning on the far side of Mt. Horeb. Moses decided to take a look and discovered something amazing: this bush was not consumed by the heat (vs. 2).
God saw this and called Moses by name in vs. 4, “Moses, Moses.” Moses reply was, “Here I am.” [use frightened response]
God told Moses not to come any closer and instructed Moses to take off his sandals (vs. 5), which was a sign of respect and humility.
When God identified Himself (vs. 6), Moses hid his face with his hands because he was afraid to look at God. Moses had just entered into God’s holy presence!
In vs. 7-10, God tells Moses:
“I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.
So I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and (I will) bring them out of that land and into a land flowing with milk and honey.” At that point, God commissioned Moses for this mission was by telling him, “I am sending you.”
In order for Moses to accomplish such a mission, it would utterly be impossible without God on his side. However, this mission requires Moses to not only take a step of faith, but to trust in God to help him through it.
[pause]
Illustration for point 1
One day, Marty was knocking on some doors to hand out some flyers for their churches upcoming Bible camp. Marty noticed a young lady watching TV in her apartment. There were some old toys outside of her door, so it was obvious to him she might have some children that could come to camp. Marty walked down to her door and knocked, but she didn’t come and answer. Marty knocked again - but she just sat there. Marty could see her sitting there, and she could see him standing there, but she just kept watching TV. So Marty left a flyer in her door and walked away, thinking to himself, “I guess she didn’t want to talk to me.” To tell you the truth, Marty was a little put off by it.
As Marty thought about it, that little slice of his life is representative of how our society has become. Instead of having open doors and welcome mats, we have closed gate communities with “no soliciting” signs posted everywhere. We have caller ID on our telephones so we can see WHO is calling, and then determine whether or not they are worth our time.
[pause]
Application for point 1
Take a moment to examine yourselves. Have any of you settled into a comfortable routine not expecting God to call you to a certain mission?
We get to the point where we are so in tuned with our everyday lives that we forget that God wants to be part of our lives.
God has a plan for each one of us. The possibilities are endless when it comes to God’s call on our lives. We just need to recognize this and listen to God no matter what the cost. It may very well be that God is trying to divert your attention off what you’re doing to redirect your attention to what He wants you to do. What is God doing to get your attention? Are you listening to God? Or are you too busy to listen?
When we’re open to what God is calling us, He will first, get our attention and then we must listen. Secondly, God will reveal Himself to us.
II) God Reveals Himself to Us
When God called Moses into service, God knew that Moses was ready to execute God’s plan, but Moses found it very hard to believe. He was very hesitant.
His response to God was “You’ve got to be kidding? What makes You think I will pull this off?”
God’s response to Moses was, “I will be with you.” Notice here, God did not rebuke or chastise Moses; God wanted Moses to know that He was the One, who was going to rescue His people from slavery. Moses was assigned for duty as God’s sacred agent.
Moses was not only questioning his own ability, but he was also questioning God’s judgment in His choice for an agent.
Quite frankly, Moses was suffering from what I call the “Me” syndrome. It was “Me” this and “Me” that. Moses’ focus was completely on himself and not on God.
In verse 13, Moses asks God another question, “What is Your Name?” God responds and tells him, “I AM WHO I AM. Tell the people of Israel, ‘I AM sent me to you.’” “This is what you’re to say to the Israelites: ‘GOD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob sent me to you.’ This has always been my name, and this is how I always will be known.”
What does I AM mean? It means our God is Self-sufficient. God is God no matter how we look at Him. Jehovah God is the ‘same yesterday, today and forever.’ God very much wants to be involved in the lives of His children. God doesn’t take a day off just because He feels like it. He is there ALL THE TIME. God very much would like for us to change our ways of life and follow Him completely.
[pause]
Illustration for point 2
“The college professor was furious when nine students failed to show up for the evening class. Not until 7 p.m. did the first student straggle in.
"I’m sorry, sir," the student explained, "but I had a date and lost track of time, and I missed the bus back. Being determined to get in on time, I hired a cab. Halfway here, the cab broke down. I went to a farmhouse and persuaded the farmer to sell me a horse. I was riding to camp when the animal fell over dead. I walked the last ten miles, and just got here."
Though skeptical, the Professor let the student off with a reprimand. However, after him, seven other stragglers in a row came in with the same story-had a date, missed the bus, hired a cab, bought a horse, etc. By the time the ninth student reported in, the professor had grown weary of it. "Okay," he growled, "now what happened to you?" "Sir, I had this date and missed the bus back, so I hired a cab."
"Wait!" the professor screeched at him. "don’t tell me the cab broke down."
"No, sir," replied the student. "The cab didn’t break down. It was just that there were so many dead horses in the road, we had trouble getting through." Excuses! (Contributed by John F. King )
Sometimes our excuses hold us back from accomplishing anything for God.
[pause]
Application for point 2
When God gives you an assignment, do you find yourself offering excuses like: “I will seek Your Will, but I…” you fill in the blank. Or, “I would gladly answer Your call, but I am comfortable with my lifestyle. I don’t have the desire to change right now. I’ll do it later.” God’s timing is not always our timing. God uses anyone He chooses to accomplish His mission. There is no mission too large or too small. We must be willing to accept the call of God without asking any questions. God knows what He is doing when He chooses people and we are under no authority to question it. God has chosen us for a very important mission, but it is up to us to accept it.
When we’re open to God’s calling; God will get our attention. We must be willing to accept the mission He has given us. Sometimes it may be a mission we are not willing to accept, but it is imperative that we listen to God. When God reveals Himself to us; he will reveal His plan for us.
III) God Reveals His Plan
God gave Moses specific instructions of how He wanted Moses to accomplish this mission. These instructions can be found in verses 16-22 of our text. Moses had to first, assemble the elders of Israel (vs. 16-17), then, go to the king of Egypt (vs. 18-20) and finally go to the Israelites (vs. 21-22).
In order for this mission to go smoothly, Moses had to be obedient to God. If he didn’t, he was sure to fail his mission. Failing a mission would not look too pretty on his record. God knew beforehand on what the outcome of this mission was going to be. So it was important that Moses followed God’s instructions to the tee. Since God knew that Pharaoh would not budge; God forewarned Moses that plagues will come upon the land. Pharaoh had to freely release God’s people from slavery. God wasn’t going to use force.
In verse 21, it was Israel’s custom, that when a slave was released, gifts would be provided to the slave as payment for their services. Since all the slaves were free, the Egyptians were plundered.
[pause]
Illustration to point 3
In the eleventh century, King Henry III of Bavaria grew tired of court life and the pressures of being a monarch. He made application to Prior Richard at a local monastery, asking to be accepted as a contemplative and spend the rest of his life in the monastery. "Your Majesty," said Prior Richard, "do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience? That will be hard because you have been a king."
"I understand," said Henry. "The rest of my life I will be obedient to you, as Christ leads you."
"Then I will tell you what to do," said Prior Richard. "Go back to your throne and serve faithfully in the place where God has put you."
When King Henry died, a statement was written: "The King learned to rule by being obedient."
[pause]
Application to point 3
What is God’s mission for your life? Is God calling you from a life of sin and oppression to a life of hope and prosperity as His child? Do you have the certainty of knowing if you are, in fact, a child of God? If you are a child of God, is God calling you for another purpose? Whatever it is, it is imperative to answer the call of God in an affirmative way and seek His Will every step of the way. We must be obedient to God and His call in order to have a successful mission.
[Keep it slow & steady- you’re almost there]
The factors for this successful mission include: first, we must listen to God when He gets our attention. Secondly, God will reveal Himself to us. Thirdly, God will reveal His plan to those He’s called. We need to remember that God will make an unsuccessful mission successful only if we follow His plan and keep our eyes focused on Him.
[pause- you’re not done yet]
Closing Illustration:
Jesus, in His ministry, spoke these words of wisdom, when He said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
[Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27, Luke 18:27- do not use these- for reference only]
Closing Prayer
