Sermon Central
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God Builds Our Faith Series
Contributed by Bobby Oliver on Mar 5, 2018 (message contributor)
Summary: God strengthened the faith of Moses through signs, through his weaknesses, and through his doubts. God also strengthens our faith, even when we doubt.
God Strengthens Faith
- We’re continuing our study through the book of Exodus.
- As we go through this study, we’re asking the question, “What does this passage tell me about honoring God?”
- Last week, we looked at the confidence we can have in God.
- We have confidence because God “is”, He “was”, and He “Is to come.”
- Moses learned that as he talked with God through the burning bush.
- God tells Moses His name, “I AM that I AM”, and tells him to tell the people, “I AM has sent me to you.”
- God wanted Moses and the people to know that He was with them.
- He also reminded Moses of His past promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
- Those were promises that did not go away, so God wanted Moses to remind the people that God, who “was” the God of their Fathers, was also their God.
- Then, God told Moses how he was going to deliver His people, and this would give the Israelites confidence in the God “who is to come”, who has the future in His hands.
- Today, we’re going to look at how God builds and strengthens the faith of Moses.
- When I was in the Army, one of the things I hated to do was shovel dirt to make sandbags.
- It was hard work, especially in the burning sun, but it was also very important work, because it could save lives.
- We needed to be able to build strong, defensive, fortified positions in a short period of time, and sandbags were the way to do it.
- So we were taught to dig foxholes, and as we dug them, we took the dirt and sand and filled these bags with the dirt…
- They were heavy, but they were also life-saving, so the hard work was worth it.
- As we filled the bags, we’d stack them on top of each other.
- When we were finished, we’d have a safe, fortified place to protect our position because the sandbags would absorb the impact of any bullets or shrapnel fired at us.
- We also used sandbags to protect the buildings in Iraq from the shock waves of explosions.
- So you could take a weak, unprotected, vulnerable position, right smack dab in the middle of enemy territory, and within hours, have a fortified, protected, defensive position.
- Sometimes, our faith is like that weak, unprotected, vulnerable position.
- We know God can do amazing things, and His Word confirms that, but unfortunately, we oftentimes forget that.
- So instead of having a strong faith, our faith starts out weak, and we have doubts.
- That’s where we find Moses today, working through some of this weakness in himself, as God promises to strengthen his faith.
- Remember, last week, we saw 3 reasons that Moses could have confidence in God…
- Yet even when we have confidence in God, we are still vulnerable to doubts and struggles because we have a human nature.
- So let’s look at 3 ways that God strengthens Moses’ faith, and see how we can apply that in our lives today.
I.) He strengthens faith through signs- Vs 1-9
- A few years ago, my mother and father in law lived in Rockland, about 3 hours away.
- We enjoyed visiting with them but didn’t get to very often.
- One day, they called and told us that they wanted to move here to live closer to family.
- They weren’t sure if God wanted them to or not, so they committed it to prayer and asked us to as well.
- Then, they felt that God wanted them to step out in faith, and put their house up for sale, so they asked God for a specific price, so they’d know that it was His will.
- Then, at the same time, they asked God to provide a home near us for a very reasonable price.
- One day, they were visiting us and went walking around town.
- Turns out, they were praying about houses for sale as they walked.
- At one house they walked by, there was a for sale sign and some folks there with a moving truck.
- Mom and dad approached them asking about the house, and long story short, God led them to make an offer on the home at a price they felt God led them to make, and it was accepted!
- At the same time, there was a gentleman in contact with them about their house in Rockland, and he offered a price that was in the range they had prayed about!
- So now, they live just down the street from where my family lives, not even ¼ of a mile, all because they committed it to prayer, and God provided several signs to confirm it to them.
