INTRODUCTION
• Life can be full of irony.
• When things happen in life, sometimes all we can do is scratch our heads.
• Life is ironic, and God loves irony.
• Here are a few funny examples of irony: “The most shoplifted book in America is The Bible.”
• “According to researchers, duct tape should never be used for sealing ducts.”
• Q-tips are sold in boxes that are labeled “do not insert inside the ear canal” (Brandon Specktor, “25 Funny Examples of Irony in Real Life,” Reader’s Digest, accessed October 11, 2018, https://www.rd.com/funny-stuff/funny-examples-of-irony/).
• When we face things in life, we may question why we are facing the situation at hand, or we wonder what possible purpose could this event serve in my life other than to make my life miserable!
• Last week we began our journey through the book of Exodus by seeing that God has a plan and that a few God-fearing people can make a huge difference in this world.
• These midwives were called to do something they never expected they would have to do.
• These ladies were told to kill the very children they were helping to bring into this world.
• These ladies received a call they did not expect!-
• After the midwives' heroic stance, Pharoah doubled down and commanded that all newborn Hebrew male children born were to be tossed into the Nile.
• Today we will examine parts of Moses's life, a man who will receive a call he never expected!
• We will be covering parts of Exodus 2,3,4. So you may want to open your bibles to that spot so you can follow.
• Today we will examine three things God we need to know about how God works with us.
SERMON
I. God provided for and protected Moses.
• Let's read Exodus 2:1-7
Exodus 2:1–7 (CSB)
1 Now a man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman.
2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son; when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.
3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with asphalt and pitch. She placed the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.
4 Then his sister stood at a distance in order to see what would happen to him.
5 Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe at the Nile while her servant girls walked along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds, sent her slave girl, took it,
6 opened it, and saw him, the child—and there he was, a little boy, crying. She felt sorry for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.”
7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a Hebrew woman who is nursing to nurse the boy for you?”
• We open Exodus 2 with a Hebrew woman who bore a son and wanted to spare his life.
• She put him in a basket and sent him drifting down the Nile River.
• Pharaoh’s daughter discovered this Hebrew baby in the basket and adopted him.
• We do not know how many Hebrew males were tossed into the Nile, but one that was not was Moses.
• I love verse two; Moses’ mother saw that he was beautiful and decided to hide him for three months.
• What mother does not think their child is not beautiful?
• When his mother could no longer hide Moses, she made a basket and set Moses afloat on the Nile.
• Once again, God protected Moses from dying or drowning in the Nile.
• Look at verses 8-10
Exodus 2:8–10 (CSB)
8 “Go,” Pharaoh’s daughter told her. So the girl went and called the boy’s mother.
9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the boy and nursed him.
10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
• God provided for Moses as Moses would be raised in Pharaoh’s house as one of his own (Exodus 2:1–10).
• God always has a sense of irony when he provides for his people and fights against the wicked.
• For the mother of Moses, she got to nurse him and parent him, AND she got PAID to do it!
• God rewarded her faithfulness!
• For Pharaoh, the Hebrew boy his daughter saved would be the one to bring about his downfall.
• God would have to protect Moses once again as he grew older.
• Have you ever tried to fix something yourself?
• Give it that DIY try!
• If you watch any of those home improvement shows, they make remodeling a house or fixing a broken window seem easy.
• The best shows are the ones where people tried to fix something themselves and made it worse.
• That’s what Moses tried to do, and that is what all of us can try to do with God sometimes.
• We think we need to fix a problem or bring about a promise in our own strength, but we end up making it worse.
• That is what Moses did.
• Moses would grow up and see his people being mistreated.
• One day, he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave—and killed the Egyptian.
• Moses fled out of Egypt a fugitive and married into a nomadic tribe in Midian (Exodus 2:11–22).
• Once in Midian, God provided Moses with a family in verses 16-25!
• Here is what you need to understand: Moses does not know that God is behind the scenes providing and protecting up to this point in his life.
• Some of the events in the life of Moses to this point were beyond his control; other things, like killing the Egyptian, Moses brought on himself.
• Yet, God had plans for Moses that Moses had no clue was coming down the pipe for him.
• In your life, God has a plan for you, and He has provided and protected you for such a calling!
• Next, in chapter three, we see...
II. God called Moses.
• Moses was getting ready to get something he never expected!
• This chapter begins with an ATTENTION GRABBER!
Exodus 3:1–3 (CSB)
1 Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
2 Then the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush. As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed.
3 So Moses thought, “I must go over and look at this remarkable sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?”
• Moses is living life, shepherding the flock when God does something to get the attention of Moses!
• I love verse 3!
• I MUST GO OVER AND LOOK AT THIS REMARKABLE SIGHT. WHY ISN’T THE BUSH BURNING UP?
• God has a way of getting our attention if we are paying attention.
• Moses sees the bush on fire, yet the bush is not being consumed!
• So Moses goes over to investigate.
• Isn’t it enough that the bush is on fire yet not being consumed?
• Moses gets the surprise of his life!
• Moses is introduced to God!
Exodus 3:4–6 (CSB)
4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am,” he answered.
5 “Do not come closer,” he said. “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
6 Then he continued, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.
• God caught up with Moses. While Moses was shepherding sheep, he spotted a burning bush, but he noticed that it was not burnt up.
• God spoke to Moses, declaring that he was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
• God explains that He sees the Israelites' suffering, and God is about to act!
• Here is where the problem begins for Moses!
Exodus 3:10 (CSB)
10 therefore, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
• WAIT! WHAT? WHO?
• I am sure Moses is happy to hear that God will intervene on behalf of the Hebrews UNTIL Moses finds out that God is going to use HIM to lead the people!
• Now here comes the excuses!
Exodus 3:11–15 (CSB)
11 But Moses asked God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12 He answered, “I will certainly be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I am the one who sent you: when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will all worship God at this mountain.”
13 Then Moses asked God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I tell them?”
14 God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”
15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the Israelites: The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever; this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.
• Moses asks, WHO AM ITO DO THIS?
• What if the people do not listen to me or believe you sent me?
• Later he will complain that he is not good with words, nor is he a good speaker!
• I can understand the trepidation of Moses!
• When God called me, I was scared to death!
• Here is what we need to understand, God had ALWAYS planning to call Moses, yet Moses did not know this.
• God has ALWAYS planned to call you; you just did not know it!
• So, how does God deal with all the excuses?
III. God equipped Moses for the call.
• TEST
• Moses begins chapter four with more excuses!
• I bet we can all think of excuses not to answer God’s call; Moses is full of them to the point that God started getting angry with Moses!
• What does God do?
• God equips Moses with power!
Exodus 4:2–8 (CSB)
2 The LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.
3 “Throw it on the ground,” he said. So Moses threw it on the ground, it became a snake, and he ran from it.
4 The LORD told Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail.” So he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand.
5 “This will take place,” he continued, “so that they will believe that the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
6 In addition the LORD said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was diseased, resembling snow.
7 “Put your hand back inside your cloak,” he said. So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it had again become like the rest of his skin.
8 “If they will not believe you and will not respond to the evidence of the first sign, they may believe the evidence of the second sign.
• God did not empower Moses with random things but rather with things that would be a direct challenge to the gods of Egypt!
• In verses 10-13, God would equip Moses with the words to speak!
• In verses 14-16, God equipped Moses with a helper when He told Moses that Aaron would be a mouthpiece for Moses!
• Four times, he questioned God’s call and decision to choose him for this task (Exodus 3:11; 4:1, 10, 13).
• God continually reminded Moses that he would be with him and that Moses would do tremendous acts in the name of the Lord.
• God eventually became angry at Moses and told him to get his brother Aaron to help speak to Pharaoh and free God’s people.
• Moses did not know God had been equipping Moses his entire life.
• You know that God has been equipping you to do what He has called you to do while you are here!
• You are the sum of all that has happened to you in your life. So was Moses.
CONCLUSION
• We do not think God can use nor would He call us because we think God only uses special people.
• God doesn’t always call the most charismatic, skilled, and gifted persons for his plans.
• He calls those people he can work through.
• Like Moses, you do not know what God is planning for you.
• You do not know what God is preparing you for.
• Since this is true, instead of fighting and being bitter about life, look at the rough spots of life as training for something God will call you to do.
• God was protecting, preparing, and equipping Moses for the biggest task of his life.
• God is doing the same with you!
› Application Point: We will not have excuses for being called and used by God.
