Transcript

Sermon Transcript: Responding to God's Call

10/2/2022 Jeff Schwarzentraub 44 min read

This morning, I want to talk to you about responding to God's call. Responding to God's call. Many of us have heard the call of God in our life. We've responded by repentance and faith and trusting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. And yet, for so many of us, from time to time, we wonder this question. What's the Lord want me to do? Or even when we begin to think about what it is that the Lord wants us to do, how do I do it? What is my next step? What do you expect of me? And how is it that I hear stories of people that have heard the Lord and followed him and saw great things happen, but I hear the Lord and I'm not quite so sure what to do?Responding to a voice is really important. All of us have cell phones. There are features on our cell phones now. When we see a call coming in, we can do things now that we couldn't do 30 years ago. We can silence it. We can see who it is that's calling. We can decide to schedule a call for the future to call them back. We can even text message them back instead of responding to a call. We can leave all sorts of messages. But we have to respond in some way.

The same is true spiritually. When you hear the voice of the Lord, the Lord is calling you not just so that you can hear him. The Lord is calling you so that you can do something about it. Parents, when you instruct your kids, you're not just doing it so that you can pat yourselves on the back and say, "I'm doing my job." You're instructing your kids so that they will respond. A teacher is teaching students not just so that they can dispense information, but so that the student can respond. Even playing football. When a play is called, it's not what was called. It's that that was received and was called in the huddle and that was then executed. The same is true spiritually. Many of us come to church month after month and week after week and we hear the Lord of the Lord, but we don't do anything with what we hear. That's why I pray a very simple prayer. I pray it routine every time. For those that want to hear the word of the Lord, who will believe what Jesus says and who will do what? By faith, put into practice what he shows you.

Now, we learned in the Book of Hebrews that faith is the assurance of what we hope for, the conviction of what we do not see. And in Hebrews 11:6, we learned that, without faith, it is impossible to please him because anyone that comes to him must believe that he is and that he rewards those who diligently seek him. So an answer to God's call on your life, an answer to hearing the word of the Lord, the simple answer... Like what do I need to do? It's have faith. Or trust. The question becomes, okay, so how do I do that? What does it look like for me to trust God right now presently in this season? If you've been praying to the Lord or you've been wondering for a while, I just wish I knew what he wanted from me, I believe that God has a word for you today.

To take a look at that word, we're going to be in the Book of Exodus this morning. Chapter four. We're going to try to traverse the whole chapter this morning in responding to God's call. For those that have been with us, we've started this book. And in Exodus chapter one, we see the dire straits that the children of Israel are in Egypt and God has a plan. God is going to orchestrate something significant in that He's going to raise up Moses behind the scenes to be the one that is going to deliver the people. In chapter three last week, we took a look at what God does when he goes after a problem in the world. He goes looking for a man in order to make him a worshiper so that that man that's worshiping him will know how to respond accordingly. And today, what we're going to take a look at in chapter four is, so how do you respond to that call?

To pick up at chapter four, just to give you an idea of what's been going on... I mean, Moses saw God. He experienced God. He heard God directly. He saw a bush in the wilderness and it was unlike any other bush in that the bush was on fire, but the bush itself was not being consumed. And so he went over and said, "I want to see what this strange site is. I've seen burning bushes before, but never one that's not consumed." And when he got to the bush, what did he hear? "Get back. The place you're standing is holy ground. Take off your sandals." So Moses took off his sandals and stood in that place and begin to hear the voice of the Lord call him to something special.

And then when he was asking the question, "Okay, I know what you want me to do. When I go, who do I tell them sent me?" And what did God say? "I am who I am. Tell them I am sent you." We took a look at the Creator God that's self existent, that's always been, that will always be. That's the very God that sent you. For many of us, we would say, "Well, if I was on my way home today and I saw a burning bush that wasn't being consumed and God spoke to me directly out of that bush and told me exactly what to do, I'd do it." But Moses is very much like us. Just because he hears the voice of God doesn't mean he still doesn't have questions.

We're going to take a look at four ways to respond to go God's call today. Four requirements of faith. What faith looks like in your life. And the first is this. Responding to God's call requires trusting his authority and power to accomplish his purposes. Responding to God's call requires trusting God's authority and God's power to accomplish God's purposes. Notice chapter four and verse one. After all that he's told them, after all he's told Moses and all he's told him that will take place for the children of Israel... Chapter four, verse one says, "Then Moses said, 'What if they do not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you.'"

He's saying this. God, I heard you. God, I know what you want me to do. I understand what you want me to say. It's clear. It's clear what you want to accomplish. It's clear that you say you're going to accomplish it. I have one question. I've heard you tell me what I'm supposed to do, but what if I tell people that you told me but they don't believe that I've been with you. They don't believe that I've been called. They don't see the calling on my life that you tell me that I have. For instance, we can sit here and we can hear the Lord month after month, week after week, and sense that God's calling us to do something. But the question that goes off in our mind is, what if other people don't sense that I have that calling on my life? How will the people you're calling me to know that I have that calling on my life? That's Moses's question.

And so God has him do a learning illustration. The Lord said to him in verse two, "What is that in your hand?" And he said, "A staff." Now, Moses has been shepherding for a long time. How important is a staff to a shepherd? I mean, it's very important. It's his tool. It's what he uses. It's an Excel spreadsheet to an accountant or a calculator to an accountant. It is his staff. It's what he's been with. It's used for walking on difficult trails. It's used for fending off prey for the sheep. It's used for guiding the sheep. I mean, he's had this in his hand for pretty much his whole adult life. This is the tool that he needs. So God says, "What's that in your hand?" He's like, "It's my staff."

So what's God going to tell him to do with this staff? This tool that's brought him comfort, this tool that's brought him protection, this tool that's been everything that he's ever needed. Then he said, "Throw it on the ground." Throw it on the ground. In other words, he's telling Moses, take what you think are your best resources, take what you think is most important to you, and lay it down before me. What is it in your life that's your staff? What is that representative of for you? Maybe it is a calculator. Maybe it is a computer. Maybe it is something like that. Maybe it's something more internal. Maybe it's your ability to persuade people. Maybe it's your ability to build friendships. Maybe it's your ability to encourage other people. Something that you say, without this, I couldn't be who I'm supposed to be. What's God say? Lay it down. What's God say? Throw it down. It's no longer you that's going to be holding that. I need you to see something.

And so Moses throws it on the ground and, in verse three, it says, "So he threw it on the ground and it became a serpent. And Moses fled from it." God is going to show him that what he's holding in his hand, when God empowers it, is way more powerful than if he just held onto it himself. He puts it on the ground and we see the first Raiders of the Lost Ark experience, right? I mean, he's fleeing from that thing. He's like us. I've seen snakes. I live on five acres. I see them all the time. I don't go up and hang out with them. He saw that snake and he's running the other way. Here he's been holding this staff his whole adult life. He's never been afraid of his staff. He's never been afraid of his gifting. He's never seen how powerful it is when God empowers it. He lays it on the ground and, all of a sudden, it turns into this huge serpent and he runs away. And then he hears the voice of the Lord.

And what does the voice of the Lord say in verse four? "But the Lord said to Moses, 'Stretch out your hand and grasp it by the tail.'" No. I mean, I watch television shows like that, but that doesn't seem fun. He's telling him, hey, you better be ginger with this. You better understand that I'm the one that's empowering this. You better understand that what you've been holding in your hand, you've used and it's been your tool, but if you lay it down and you let me empower it, it's way more powerful. Lay it down. I will show you how powerful your gifting can be. So he does. And then God tells him to pick it up by the tail. Be gentle with it.

Now, Moses is obedient and Moses does that. And when Moses does that and grabs it by the tail, he stretched out his hand and caught it and it became a staff in his hand again. And God said that they may believe that the Lord the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has appeared to you. He's telling them, here's how you're going to know. You're not going on your own power anymore. You're going on my power. If people don't believe you, you put that staff down, it will turn into a snake. They'll see that it's my power in you. They'll see that it's me that's doing the work. They'll see that it's not you because you can't do that on your own. But I can do that. So lay it down.

When God calls us to something great and we need to see his authority and his power in our life, he oftentimes asks us to lay down the things that bring us the most comfort. He often calls us to lay down the things that we think we personally are the most gifted in. He often calls us to lay them down so that we know that he's in charge of the thing that we've been holding onto. If you want to follow the call of God, lay down your gifting. Lay down what you hold in your hand. You lay it before him. My singleness, my marriage, my abilities, my gifting, the tools and resources. They're all yours, Lord. And he lays them out before the Lord.

Now, in verse 20... We're going to get there later. By the time he picks that staff back up, it's no longer going to be called Moses' staff anymore. You know what it's going to be called? The staff of God. Because that staff is going to be used to bring all sorts of miraculous works over the Egyptians. All sorts of plagues. It's going to part the Red Sea. Moses does not have the ability to do anything that God was going to call him to do. He needed to respond to God's authority and God's power in order to do that. And that's what God does in our lives. God helps us see those things before we move forward.

Notice what he says, if that wasn't enough, in verse six. "The Lord furthermore said to him, 'Now put your hand in your bosom or inside your cloak.' So he put his hand inside his bosom and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow." Leprosy was a disease centuries earlier that turned your hand white. It was extremely painful. It was incurable. So he says, hey, if they won't believe this, then maybe they'll believe this. Put your hand inside your cloak and pull it out. And he does and, all of a sudden, his hand's leprous. He sees that there's no cure for his hand. And then God says this. "Then He said, 'Put your hand back into your bosom again.' So he put his hand back in his bosom again and when he pulled it out of his bosom, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh."

See, God had him lay down his staff because that was a tool. That was his resource. That's what he had. God showed him that he also has control over the whole body. God is the one that makes well. God is the one that can heal. God is the one that ordains all of your days before one of them comes to be. And if that wasn't enough, he goes on in verse eight and he said, "If they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign that they may believe the witness of the last sign." If they don't believe the staff becoming a snake, then hey, perhaps they'll believe in the leprosy that I showed you. But verse nine says, "But if they will not believe even in those two signs or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile, pour it on the dry ground, and the water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground."

So you can turn water into blood. How important is water for sustaining life? I've been told you can go only three days without water. You can go a long time without food. I've gone weeks without food on different fasts. You can go a lot longer without food than you think, but you cannot last for more than three days without water. What was God saying? He's like, I need to be in control of your resources. I need to be in control of your body. And oh, by the way, I'm in control of every life-giving source that goes on for you and the entire nation of Egypt. I'm in control of it all. Submit to my authority and submit to my power. If you want to be used by God in the calling that he has for your life, submit to his authority and submit to his power. That's what Moses is learning.

What I've found over the years is that God will give you lessons that you need. Little lessons that he will grow you in things to believe that he is the one who's actually doing the work. I remember when I went to ministry at the age of 24, I had to raise about... I think 3500 bucks or something like that. At the time, it may have well been $35000. I didn't have any of it. What was really hard for me at the time was, when people were encouraging me to write letters and ask for provision for ministry, it made me feel weak because I began to think I went to college to earn my own way. I don't need to write letters to the people I went to college with and other people asking them to give me money so I can go do ministry. It just didn't feel right. I'd been taught you work for everything that you get. And yet God humbled me and I wrote these different letters. And wouldn't you know. The day before I was ready to go, I was $200 shy of going on this trip that I needed to go on and just assumed God will provide the rest.

So I was going to a Bible study that night that was an hour and a half away where I went to college. I had called a couple guys on the phone and both of them told me the day before, "Hey, don't worry about it. You're $200 away. I'll write you a check for a hundred." And the other guy said, "I'll write you a check for a hundred." And I said, "Lord, you are so awesome." Just in time. First time I've ever seen God provide like that. So I get to the Bible study and our Bible study leader was there and I was so excited. We did our Bible study. But the other guy didn't show up. At the end of the Bible study, he wrote me a check for a hundred dollars and the other guy wasn't there. What was I going to do? I don't want to call the guy and be like, "Yo, I still need a hundred bucks."

But I ended up calling him and saying, "Hey, I'm not going to get to say goodbye to you. I'm moving to Minnesota, but hey. Just keep me in your prayers.' He's like, "Oh, yeah. The check! I forgot. I'll be right over." And he came by and he wrote a check and I got in my car and I was backing out of the driveway. I'm not a detailed person and I thought, you better look at the check because if it doesn't have a date or a signature, it's not going to count. I looked at the first check, it was for a hundred dollars. I looked at my friend's check, that came late, and it was for a thousand dollars. I was like, what? So I went back in the driveway. I went back in the house. I'm like, "Bro, I only need a hundred bucks." He's like, "That's okay." He goes, "The Lord's provided me with so much. You'll find some way to use it in ministry," which I did. And I remember thinking the Lord always provides for my needs. I've watched the Lord now for 30 years do that over and over and over and over and over again. The Lord is the one that provides. So when I read scriptures like Philippians 4:19, "and my God will supply all my needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus," I 100% totally believe that. 100%. God taught me that.

I used to read things in the Bible about people that would get cured of diseases or they'd be delivered from demons. I didn't grow up in a church that talked like that. I never saw that. Only thing I saw was stuff on TV that looked weird and strange. You know why? Because it's weird and strange. I'd never seen the power of God. But over time, God had me praying for different people that I saw get healed and God had many praying for people that I saw get delivered. Now, to this day, I believe that the God of the Bible that we read about is the same God that we serve today and he's capable of doing it all.

But then I remember when it came to preaching... I changed my major my sophomore year in college to speech communications at the University of Illinois, but I wasn't a top communicator. I mean, I sat in the classes where we had to give different kinds of speeches. Informational speeches, persuasive speeches. I did all the same things y'all did and I wasn't one of the better ones at it. I remember I did a persuasive speech in the early nineties in college on the new seatbelt law. Some of you will remember this because, when I grew up, the way the seatbelt law worked is, when you were driving, whoever was driving, when they put their hand on the brake, would extend their right arm. That was the seatbelt law and it seemed to work pretty effectively. But then they changed the laws and they said people need to wear a seatbelt. Click it or ticket.

And so I gave a persuasive speech, a five minute speech, on why you should wear your seatbelt and encourage everybody to do it. I think I got a B on it or something like that. It didn't change my life or anybody else's. I remember thinking, I'm not that good of a communicator. My friends are all good communicators. Even at my wedding when they came the night before and they all gave speeches. It was hilarious. They roasted me and they told the best stories. They're all good communicators. I'm not. And so I always told the Lord, "You got to pick somebody else that can do this."

But what I learned was that, when God started using me to speak, it wasn't me speaking. It's God speaking through his Word. And that the reason I love to preach rather than give a speech is, when I'm preaching the Word, I know God is using what he wants to get done in the lives of each one of you individually even though it's different things that you're all hearing. Somebody will come up to me a week after I preach and say, "I loved that sermon on forgiveness." "Loved that sermon on marriage." "Loved that sermon on singleness." "Loved that sermon on giving." I don't remember saying any of those things. Who was that? That was the Holy Spirit through his Word telling you what you needed to hear. Amen?

I remember the first time I shared the Gospel in this small little church where I was called. It was about a hundred people big. We had 20 youth show up for our first meeting. I remember I shared the Gospel and several of them raised their hands to respond by repentance and faith. And I remember thinking, I don't even know if they heard me right because why would they be responding? So I went back over it again because I wanted to make sure they really understood what it meant to repent and believe in Jesus. And then I watched God do that over and over and I realized it was just being faithful. That's what was doing it. And I still see those stories now.

I was just at a wedding on Thursday night. I know the bride and groom really well. I know the father of the bride. The father of the bride was telling me this story. It was so powerful. I made him tell my daughter later in the evening. He's 71 years old. He told this story. He said, "Jeff, from the time I was six..." He goes, "I accepted Jesus. I believed the truths about him. I've always carried my Bible. People have always made fun of me for being a Christian and all these different things. I've done all the good stuff I'm supposed to do." Two weeks ago, which had been two weeks ago today, he was watching online listening to our online service, watching it on a screen while he was 12 foot up on a ladder. And he was complaining to God while I was preaching.

He was saying to himself, "How come it is, God, that you never really answer the simplest prayer of mine and I don't see you work like Pastor Jeff's talking? None of these things seem to be happening in my life. Right as I was saying that to God, Jeff, here's what you said. You said sometimes the hardest people to get saved are those who think they're saved who really aren't. And I heard a voice behind me." This is him talking. "I was 12 foot up on a ladder. I heard a voice behind me coming through the pine trees saying his name and saying, 'That's because you've never been saved.'" He said, "I about fell off my ladder. I got down off the ladder on my knees, repented, and trusted Jesus." He goes, "I've been saved for 12 days and it's awesome."

Now, how's that work? That's not something I planned. That's not something I predicted. That's not something I wrote in the sermon. That's something that the Holy Spirit had for that man from eternity past. Amen? And God does all those different things to us to grow us. When he grows us, he's not asking you to change your temperament and personality. Did you know that? You can't. Sometimes people think, if I go all in with God, I've got to change everything about... You can't. God made you just the way He made you. Psalm 1:39 says, "You're fearfully and wonderfully made. You were knit together in your mother's womb." You can't change your temperament. You can't change your personality. What I find that God likes to do over time is sanctify it.

But he uses all sorts of different things. I mean, we see the first story of David in one of his first victories of slaying Goliath. David says, "Well, that's no big deal. I've already slayed the lion and the bear. What's this Philistine doing here?" Or what about Peter? All throughout the gospels, all Peter ever did was talk and accomplished nothing except foolishness. And yet, when he was empowered by the authority of the Holy Spirit, he stood up and gave one message and 3000 people came to Christ in a moment. Or what about the Apostle Paul that spent his life as a religious zealot studying the Hebrew scriptures and then got saved? Did God change his personality? No. He just became a religious zealot for the Lord Jesus Christ and a phenomenal apostle and wrote two thirds of the New Testament. God doesn't change your personality. He doesn't change who you are. He wants you to be who you are.

This is a big deal because sometimes when you talk about laying your stuff down or coming to Christ or giving him your best, you falsely hear the devil say something like this. That means you got to become one of those weird Christian people. That means you got to become like them. You don't have to become like anybody else. You want Christ to fill you and be the fullness of who Christ is in your life. I argued with the Lord for a long time. I'm like, I do not have the pastor temperament. That's not who I am. I'm visionary. I'm directing. I'm bold with my words. That's who I am. God, I'm not sweet by nature. I'm not kind by nature. I'm not shepherd-y by nature. That's not who I am. You got the wrong guy. But here's what I found. God doesn't care. All God wants to do in the process is have us be obedient and then sanctify that as we continue. Amen?

You don't have to change who you are. God's just asking you to be you because he's the one that made you. He's the one that gave you your temperament. He's the one that gave you your personality. All he's asking is, will you let my authority and my power be what works through you? Amen? One of the reasons that we have a hard time taking the next step is we want to do it under our power and our authority and accomplish our purposes with our decisions. And then we wonder why we're not seeing the power of God at work in our lives. All he is asking is this. Will you lay it down? Will you lay it down? Will you let me empower what you have? Because when I supernaturally empower who you are, I can do far more than you ever dared dream or imagine according to the power that is at work within you. Amen? Responding to God's call requires trusting or faith-ing in his authority and power to accomplish his purposes.

Number two is this. It's trusting his design and choice to empower you. Responding to God's call requires trusting his design and choice to empower you. Notice verse 10. "Then Moses said to the Lord..." Here's what he's saying. He's like, okay. I mean, you would think... He's been talked to at the burning bush. He's been told that God's the great I am. He's been shown that his staff becomes a serpent. He's been shown a leprous hand that can be healed. He's shown that water can be turned to blood. And you'd think he'd be like, "That's fine," but that's not what he says. He says, then the Lord... "Then Moses said to the Lord, 'Please Lord. I've never been eloquent. Neither recently or in time past. Not since you have spoken to your servant for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.'" Here's what he says. I know what you want to do. I agree that it needs to be done, but God, I want to tell you something. I'm not good at what you're asking me to do. That's not my skillset. That's not who I am.

Now, what would you expect the next verse to be? And God said, I'm sorry, Moses, I guess I got the wrong guy. Do you think that's going to happen? I mean, we can debate with the Lord, but I think the Lord loves choosing the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. He loves choosing those that, when God shows up through them, whether it be David killing Goliath or Peter being the preacher or Paul being the apostle... He's picking people that are unlikely. You know why? Because we say it all the time. That's the only people he can pick. He's not calling you because you're qualified. He's going to qualify you because you're called.

So he's telling him... So Moses says to him, It's not me. I'm slow of speech. "Then the Lord said to him, 'Who has made man's mouth or who makes him mute or deaf or seen or blind? Is it not I the Lord? Now then, go." Now, you're going to see that word all over the place. Every time God commissions... Even Jesus in the Great Commission. What's he say? Go. Just go. Quit dragging your feet. Quit thinking about what you don't have. Quit thinking about what you're not good at. Just go. So he says, "Go. And even I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to say." Hey, I made your mouth. I give you the thoughts. Don't even worry about. Just go. I got you.

Now, what do you think Moses is going to say now? He's ran out of excuses. I mean, come on. What if people don't listen to me? Told him what to do. What if they don't believe me? Told them what to do. What if I don't have the power? He showed him how to have it. Hey, but my voice isn't so good. I'll go with you. I'll empower it. I made your mouth. Don't worry. Just go. Then you think Moses would be like, "All right, got it. Now, I'm going to go." That's not what he says. I love the humanity of the Bible. No human would write this book. But he said... This is Moses talking. "Please Lord, now send the message by whomever you will." Translation? God, good luck with who you're going to pick because it's not me. That's what he's saying. Do you realize, even when we hear the Lord and even when we know what the Lord wants us to do and even when we're confirmed that he could do it through us, oftentimes we're like, Yeah, but I just don't.... It's not on my agenda. It's not what I want. That's not what I'm looking to... That's not how I saw my life playing out. I saw it going in a different direction. I don't think I'm qualified. He's still thinking about himself. He's not thinking about what God's going to do.

And notice what happened in verse 14. "Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses." He ticked God off. I mean, God is patiently showing him what's going on. God has been waiting 40 years to deliver him to Midian and another 40 years to have this conversation with him. So for 80 years, he's been developing Moses for this specific task, spells it out in grand detail, and Moses is like, hey, good luck with your choice. And God's thinking, from eternity past, I picked you for this. This is all I have for you. God ordained all for you in eternity past. He gave you the time to live according to Acts chapter 17. You're living in this moment because this is what God has for you.

So God's angry with Moses now, but then he's still gracious because notice what he says. "Is there not your brother, Aaron, the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart." In other words, and we're going to see this later when God provides resources, while God is talking to Moses, God is also calling his brother Aaron to be a part of this venture. God is always going to provide what you need when you step out in faith. He's like, I already got the guy that's the good speaker, but I'm still going to speak through you. But Aaron will help you.

Verse 15. "You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth and I will teach you what you are to do. Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God for him." What's he saying? He's like, I'm raising up a guy, your brother, who's been in Egypt, who's an elder for Israel. He'll have relationship there. You tell him what I told you to say. I'll use his influence to grow, but people will see that you've spent time with me as your God. I'm going to do this. Who's the one that accomplishes a call in a person's life? Is it you or is it God? Biblically, it's God. We write a lot of books about a lot of people that have done a lot of great things. But if there's anything that's supernatural and lasting, it's always God that's the one that gets glory for doing the work. It's always God that does this. It's always God that is the one that makes this happen.

And what Moses is needing to learn is not only to trust God's authority and power, but God's design and choice to empower you. I mean, Moses' thought is, I'm not your guy. I don't fit the mold. I'm a shepherd. I'm not a deliverer of people. And I'm kind of happy being a shepherd. I don't really want to go back to Egypt. People there were seeking my life. That doesn't sound like fun. But God is the one who ordains what you're going to do before a day even comes to be and you need to trust his design and his choice to empower you. He selected you.

Now, what the enemy is going to tell you is who do you think you are? You don't have what it takes. You're never going to be able to accomplish any good thing for God and here's why. And he'll go through a litany of things. He'll go through your sinful past. He'll go through the fact that you don't have the intelligence or you don't have the background or you don't have the education or you don't have the people or you don't have the people skills or you don't really know what you're doing. He will try to talk you out of everything and it will sound really good because with whatever he's saying, if you look in the mirror, you'll say, I see all those things. I am a sinner and I'm not really good at anything God's calling me to do. That's why you're not called to look in the mirror. You're called to look at the glory of God, the one who called you who says, even though you're not, I can make you what you need to be. Amen?

And that's what he's telling us. You trust his authority and power by laying down your resources before him and saying, God, everything I have is yours. Use whatever you want however you want to use it. And God, thank you for making me just the way I am and thank you for choosing to use me just the way I am. You don't want to spend your life trying to change who you are, trying to change your personality, or trying to change anything else. God made you just the way you are because that's the way he wanted you to be. Do not apologize ever for who you are, your nationality, your color of skin, your gender, whoever. That's what God wanted you to be. Just be the best of that for him. Amen. That's who you are.

And then he says this. Responding to God's call not only involves trusting his authority and power and his belief that he's chosen and selected you, but responding to God's call requires trusting in his demands for obedience in all areas of your life. The way that God works out his call is through his demands for obedience in all areas of your life. God wants you to be obedient to everything that he's shown you. He did not write this book just for you to look at and say, oh, that's pretty good, but I'll never accomplish anything there. He wrote this book so that you would submit to the authority of it and become what this book wants you to be. Not perfectly, but increasingly.

So notice what Moses does in verse 18. He goes to his father-in-law. "Then Moses departed and returned to Jethro his father-in-law said to him, 'Please let me go that I may return to my brethren who are in Egypt and see if they are still alive.' And Jethro said to Moses..." There's that word again... "Go. Go in peace." Who's he go to first? He goes to his family. When you have the call of God on your life, it requires you to go public with the call of God. The first group he goes to is who? His family. That's one of the most difficult groups of people to go to. Do you know why? Because they know everything about you and they know all the reasons why you're unqualified to do the very thing that you're telling them God called you to do. Like who do you think you are? Where does he go first? He goes to his father-in-law. He says, "This is what God's calling me to do. I need to take my wife, your daughter, and our two boys. We got to go back to Egypt." And what does Jethro say? Go.

Here's what I find. If you're obedient to what God says, he'll open the door. Even from people that can't fully see what you're supposed to be, he'll open the door. All you're called to do is be obedient. So he goes public to his family. And then notice what happens in verse 19. "Now the Lord said to Moses in Midian," there's that word again, "Go. Go Back to Egypt for all the men who are seeking your life are dead." Isn't it cool to know that God designs the timing? I mean, if Moses goes back any earlier, he's in this pickle because he killed a man, right? People were upset with him. People were still upset with them years and decades later because he killed someone and took innocent blood. God tells him, "You can go back now. Those people that were looking to take your life, they're gone. You won't have to worry about that ever again."

Now's the time. How long did he have to wait? 40 years. 40 years. He's going to be 80 when he's going back. So God tells him, "This is what it's going to be." "So Moses," verse 20, "took his wife and his sons and mounted them on a donkey and returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took..." What? "The staff of God in his hand." That same staff he'd been carrying around for 40 years that wasn't doing anything, now it's the staff of God. It's the empowered tool and witness of the Lord. He takes that with him.

"And the Lord said to Moses, 'When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before the Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power, but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.'" He says this. When you go to Pharaoh, make sure that you tell him everything I've told you and you do everything that I've showed you. He doesn't say do some of it. He doesn't say go back to Pharaoh and say, hey listen, God showed me some things and I need you to let the Israelites go. He said, "You show him everything. Do not hold back. Show him the whole counsel of God. Everything that I put on your heart to do. And when you do, I'm going to harden his heart."

Now, we'll talk about Pharaoh's hardness of heart over time because, for Pharaoh and the Egyptians at that time, much like many of us, we think that hardening our heart towards God is a good thing. I don't need that Christian crutch. I don't need to be a weak person. I'll make it through life on my own. We do that today just like Pharaoh's going to do in front of God. So here's what God says to Moses. "You tell him and show him everything." What does that mean? Give him the whole counsel of God. We don't like to do that. When it comes to the gospel, we like to tell people this. That Jesus Christ is God's one and only son who died on the cross for your sins and, through repentance and faith, you can be saved and saved to the full and have everlasting life with God. And that is 100% true. But the whole counsel of God would also teach that, if you refuse to repent and believe that Jesus is the Christ alone, you will meet him one day and you will hear these words. Depart from me, you worker of inequity, for I never knew you. And you'll be cast into eternal hell forever and ever. Amen.

Some people have hard hearts to say, well, what could a loving God... Why would a loving God do something like that? The bigger question is how could a holy God let you into his kingdom? He hates sin enough that he slayed his own son. What makes you think you're going to get away with your sin? There are some people that play games with God because they think that Christianity is just something to think about every now and again. When I'm talking to you about the claims of Jesus Christ, you will think about it for the rest of your eternity. Are you saved? Have you repented and believed that Jesus is the Christ? Have you made him the Lord of your life? That becomes the question. He says, "When you go to Pharaoh, tell him everything. Don't hold back." When God commissioned Jeremiah, he told him, "Hey, you go to your own people and you call them to repentance. And if you tell them everything, then their blood's on their own heads. But if you do not, then their blood is on your head."

What are pastors called to do? Preachers called to do? Preach the whole council of God. If people refuse to repent and believe, that's people's problem. If you don't tell them, then that's your problem. So when you come to Brave, I'm going to preach the whole council of God. Do you know why? Because I'm way more afraid of Jesus than I am of you. And I care way more about what he thinks of me than I care about you. And I love you enough to tell you that. Because God doesn't want anyone to perish. He wants everybody to come to a knowledge of him. I'm not telling you this because God hates you. I'm telling you this because God loves you and God wants to be in relationship with you and anybody that comes to him will never turn away. So come to Jesus. That's the point of the message.

He says to go to Pharaoh, tell him everything, and I'm going to harden his heart. He goes, "Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord. Israel is my son, my firstborn, so I say to you, 'Let my son go that he may serve me.' But you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son. Your firstborn.'" So how would you like going back and telling the king of Egypt that? I've met with God. He views Israel as his own son. You let them go now. We're going out for a three day journey to worship. If you don't, God loves his son so much that, if you don't let them go, he'll kill your son. That's the message Moses is supposed to say. And if I were Moses, I'd be like, "That's kind of harsh," but it's true. And God says you got to tell him everything.

There's no way that you can take shortcuts in obedience. You have to do everything that the Lord put in your heart. You have to do it all. Not just some of it, but all of it. You can't say, well, I'm being obedient in this area and this area and this area, but this area here, this is a big area. Give me a break, Lord. No, God wants to grow you in that area too. In every area of your life, God is constantly trying to grow you in holiness. He's always trying to grow you in a way that lets people see that he's really the Lord of your life. Not perfectly, as I've said, but increasingly.

Now let's look at verses 24, 25 and 26. I've spent a lot of time on these verses. See what you think. They're on their way to Egypt. It says this. "Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah, who was his wife, took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and threw it at Moses' feet and she said, 'You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me.' So he let him alone. At that time she said, 'You are a bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision.'" And all God's people said... What?

What in the world is that doing there? I mean, it's the weirdest place for this. I studied it all week. I've heard all this. And it's interesting because, in the text, the word Moses is not mentioned. Some of you that use the NIV or other dynamic equivalent versions that are inserting the word Moses there. That God was going to kill Moses. The text doesn't say that. He could have been trying to kill Moses, but I think it's even better to take it this way. We've just been talking about God's son. Who's God's son? It's Israel. We've been talking about the Pharaoh's son. His first born. What's he talking about now? He's talking about Moses's son. What was the problem?

God established the covenant of circumcision in Genesis chapter 17. And Moses apparently had not made sure that his son was circumcised. God is saying this. Just because you're in ministry, there's no hall pass for disobedience. I've called you to a blood covenant. If you don't circumcise your son, I will kill him. That's why you see the mom getting all upset. Zipporah is like, "Fine. I'll circumcise him myself. I didn't want to circumcise him. It's painful for my boy. I didn't want to put him through that. And it's because of you. You're the bridegroom. You made me do this to my son." And she throws it at him. Can you see this? I mean, I've studied more than I want to talk about this morning to be honest with you.

But the point of it is, whether Moses was going to be killed or Gershom, his firstborn son, was going to be killed, it doesn't matter. The same rules apply. God was so serious about his blood covenant. Even when they're going to paint blood on the doorposts here in a few chapters. It was blood covenant. When Jesus Christ comes into the world, what is it? It's the blood covenant. God is not shortchanging his holiness to accommodate your disobedience. He's not going to do that. And that's what we see here. We see Moses being responsible as the man of his house to bring the covenant there and that holiness is important.

I remember reading a book on ordained ministry some 20, 30 years ago. And the one chapter I did not like was that your life was going to be a fishbowl for other people to see. I remember thinking, I don't like that. I don't want people knowing what I'm doing. My life is my life. What I've found over time is that's not just a book on ordained ministry. It's for any Christian. Your life should be transparent. Not that you have this perfect life to show, because none of us do, but that you're growing in the holiness of Christ and that you're not ashamed about what he's doing in your life and where you've made mistakes. You can talk about, hey, here's what I did and here's what I was and God was still growing me through this at the time. God wants all of us to be put on display. He's trying to use us. They way we grow is as a worshiper that's growing in the holiness of God.

There's none of us who's perfect. There's nobody that could stand here, me included... Anybody else from anywhere we'd find in the country that could come stand here and be like, hey, I used to struggle with sin, but in the last five years, it's just been pretty cool and it's just me and God and it's blessing. What I've found is, from the time I've entered ministry, God has put me on his anvil and been cranking stuff out over and over and over. And what has God used? He uses his word. He uses his spirit. He uses prayer. He uses people. If you're a boss, he'll use your employees. If you're an employee, he'll use your boss. If you're a child, he'll use your parents. If you're a parent, he'll use your children. If you're a student, he'll use your teacher. If you're a teacher, he'll use your student. He'll use people all the time to rub against you. If you're single, it'll be who you date. And if you're married, it's who you marry. That's what he does. And if you've ever said something like this before, I don't know what it is, but everywhere I go, no matter where I live, there's always a person like this in my life, it's because God's given you a test you haven't passed yet.

God is always trying to grow us into the likeness of himself and I find that he never ever stops. That from the time I went to ministry and went to seminary and even being a pastor, it's way more about what God's shaping in my life than what he's accomplishing through me. Does that make sense? And in our calling, he demands obedience in all areas of our life. He wants us to grow in all of them. And we can't just say, well, I'm not worried about that. It would be like if there was a house and you were in your house and I was driving by your house and I said, "Hey, I'm looking up at your bedroom and your bedroom's on fire." And you said, "Eh, don't worry about it. We're we're downstairs in the basement. We're fine. Thanks for calling, though." You can't have disobedience in one area of your life and not have it spread.

So oftentimes the Lord uses circumstances in your life to show you an area of disobedience that he's trying to grow and he's trying to help you with and trying to grow you through and grow you out of so that he can work greater in your life. And do you know when that stops? For the Christian, it stops when you get to heaven. It won't stop until then. There's always things that God can educate you in and grow you in. His demands for obedience in all areas of your life are a way that you can take a greater step of faith. Amen?

So because Zipporah was obedient, circumcising her son, God's like, okay, you can go now. And then this final one. This final way to respond to God's call in your life. It requires trusting his timing and his resources necessary for the results. God has already told him what the results are going to be. The results are going to be that Moses is going to lead them out of Egypt, plunder the Egyptians, and lead them out in the desert where they're going to worship the Lord. God says, "This is how you're going to know. That's going to happen." But the timing and resources necessary are what we need to trust God for.

Notice what happens in verse 27. "Now the Lord said to Aaron." So while he's speaking to Moses, he's speaking to Aaron. "Go meet Moses in the wilderness. So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him." So he brings the brothers together. Moses is coming from Midian to Egypt and Aaron's coming from Egypt to Midian to meet their brother. They meet in between. They hug each other. They kiss. Their brothers. They're saying, man, family. We're together. God's been speaking to me. Oh, he's been speaking to me too. "Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord which he had sent him and all the signs he had commanded him to do. Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the sons of Israel. And Aaron..." not Moses... "Aaron spoke all the words, which the Lord had spoken to Moses. He," that's Aaron, "then performed the signs in the sight of the people."

Aaron has been in Egypt. Aaron is seen as a leader of Israel. Aaron meets his brother. Moses tells him, "Here's everything God showed me to do. Here's everything he told me to say. Let's go round up the elders. Let's go round up the people of Israel. Let's go tell them." So Aaron plays an instrument in that. Aaron is a resource that God is using to bring those people together to make Moses believable. He's the one that tells him what God is doing. Here's what he told my brother. He's the one that performs the miracle. Says God is doing that through him. And guess what the result is? The result of all these people after waiting 430 years for a deliverer. Verse 31 says, "So the people believed and when they heard the Lord was concerned about the sons of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed low and worshiped." Who did they worship? They didn't worship Aaron and they didn't worship Moses. Who did they worship? They worshiped the Lord.

Now, when I read this story, I would like the story to end about right here. Maybe another chapter. Maybe in chapter five after they worshiped, they got up, Pharaoh let them leave, and then they went off and they worshiped in the wilderness and they all lived happily ever after. And that's the end of the story. But do you realize it's the beginning of the story? That God's timing and resources were for that season, but there's going to need to be timing and resources for a lot of other seasons, for a lot of other plagues, for deliverance through the Red Sea, for providing water, for providing mana, for providing quail. There are different seasons with different people for different things that are going to be needed to accomplish the call of God in his life.

Now, this is why this is important. Because sometimes, once we're obedient and we step out in faith and we see God begin to work, we're like, good, it's over. When God is saying, no, it's just getting started. I remember when Kim and I moved to Denver in 2010. I was talking to my buddy who was not a Christian at the time. His wife had just come to Christ. And I asked him this question. I said, "Hey, we're coming out here to plant a church. Do you know any Christians at all in the Denver area? Do you know like one?" And he said, "Well, I've just gone on a mission trip with a church to Katrina to help out. I met a bunch of Christians there." I said, "Can you invite them over to your house? We'd like to come out and share about the kind of church we're going to plant." Sure enough, including me, there were 21 people at his house in his basement while we begin to share the vision of what our church would look like someday.

And I was totally fired up. Totally had the same vision I have now and how big it was going to be and what we could do and how we can impact the whole city and how we're going to be a national platform and all these things. But nobody was nearly as excited as me. About half the people were like we either go to another church and the other half of the people were like We're not even Christians. This is the stupidest thing ever. We were showing a baptism video of people coming to Christ. Some of the people were moved and the other people were like, this is stupid. I remember... We used to call these meetings Party with the Pastors. At that Party with the pastor, I remember a couple guys going back and tapping a beer and they're drinking beer while we're showing the baptism video. And I was thinking, God, this isn't working very well, but we'll still stay at it. Well, sure enough, after that meeting, two families called and said, "We want to be in." And I said, "Do you know any Christians that might be looking for another church?" And it spread. About 15 weeks later, we had 208 people in launch at Cherry Creek High School. And then we promptly grew the church to about 113, but that's a whole other story.

But in each season, God's brought the right people at the right time with the right gifts and the right resources to do the right things that are needed there. But we're not done and we'll never be done until Jesus Christ says that we are. Because he continues to build his church. In each and every season, there's always those times of desperation like, when are you going to bring a person that can do this? Or when are you going to bring the resources so we can do that? And when are you going to help us get the resources so we can get more comfortable chairs so people aren't complaining? All those different things that people ask. What's that going to look like? The reality is God knows just the right time for all those things and for when they need to take place and how they're going to do it. And we don't need to ask the how question. What question are we asking? Who? Jesus, it's you. I just want to be obedient.

So when you think about this... This is not just a call for people that are pastors or Christian ministers, apostles, prophets, evangelists, and teachers. This is a call for anybody that's been called to the Lord Jesus Christ themself. Have you laid down your life, your gifting, the things that God has for you, to trust His power and authority for him to supernaturally supercharge what he's called you to do? Have you trusted his design of you? Are you comfortable in your own skin, who He's made you, and his choice of choosing you to do whatever he is called you to do? By the way, that's not ministry for all of you. Some of your ministry occurs outside the walls of these church doing things that no one else can do in a way that only you can do.

Are you trusting his demands for obedience in all areas of your life? Are you just kind of playing cavalier like, yeah, that's not important. And are you trusting his timing and his resources that if you step with him, he'll provide what you need? You see, God sets the timeline. God provides the resources. You're the one that exercises faith. Your only responsibility is believing that God will and acting as though he's going to and stepping into it and speaking about it before it happens as though it will because God showed you this. That's the risk. That's the challenge. And that's what he calls all of us to.

But there are great rewards. I mean, the Bible talks about a day that we're going to meet the Lord Jesus Christ. If you know him, it's going to be the most glorious day in your life, but it's going to be even better if you have a great return on your investment where you can look the Lord in the eye and say, "Lord, you know how bad I messed up and I'm only here by the blood of Jesus, but to the best of my ability, I tried to steward everything that you gave to me for your glory. And yeah, I know I could have done more, and I know I didn't do enough, but I love you and this was my offering to you." That's what he has for all of you. That's why, when you hear a preacher preach and you hear the word of Lord, there are things that percolate on the inside. Because you know that day's coming.

And there are two groups of people here today. There are some that know that day is coming and you're trying to harden your heart saying, "I'm not listening to that garbage. I don't want anything to do with that." I'm here to tell you, on the authority of God's word, I love you enough that you need to repent and trust Jesus. He came to forgive all your sins. He's not asking you to get religion. He's not asking you to become a different person. He's asking you to receive the grace of God in your life. To have all your sins forgiven.

And if you know him, then here's what he's saying to you. What area of your life do you need to trust him more? What's he doing with your calling? What's he doing with your gifting? Again, you may not even know what that is, as we talked about last week. Here's what it is. Worship God, and then as he shows you, just take the next step. Maybe it's a step of obedience, maybe it's a step of submission. Maybe it's a step of just trusting another person. I don't know what the step is for you, but just take that step. If you do, there will be a day when all will bow before him. People from every tribe, tongue, and nation from all around the world saying, "Glory, glory, glory. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty." He's inviting you to that eternal party and wants to use you now until you meet him. Amen? Amen. Would you stand with me?

Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory and honor for who you are. Lord, not only did you love us enough to create us and be image bearers, but you loved us enough to send your son to save us and you loved us enough to fill us with your spirit so that you could use us here. Lord, let us receive who you made us. Let us be thankful for who we individually are and for all that we've been through. And Lord, as we worship you today, help us just take that next step. Lord, maybe today at the altar, we just need to pray with somebody. Maybe today we just need to sit and hear words sung over us. Maybe we just need to stand in awe and worship you. But Lord, use us mightily both individually and collectively for your glory and we will give you all the praise. If you're here today and you've never trusted Jesus, here's how you can pray. Jesus, I know that I'm still in my sin, but I believe when you died on the cross, it was final. It was the final payment. Lord, forgive me for all my sin. Come into my life, be the Lord over it, and use me any way you want. In Jesus name, amen and amen. Can we give God praise this morning for who He is?