Transcript

Sermon Transcript: The Making of a Worshipper

9/25/2022 Jeff Schwarzentraub 40 min read

I am so fascinated with people that are able to take things that are broken and put them together, whether they're using their hands or whether they're using tools to do something. And probably the reason that I'm so impressed with that is that I can't do it. I don't have a toolbox at my house. I don't spend time putting stuff together. I like watching shows where people do that, in half an hour they can do more than I could do in my entire lifetime.

But there's something about seeing things get put together that were needed to be assembled or that were broken that come together and all of a sudden you're like, "That looks fantastic." It happened to me again yesterday. My wife had bought a new basketball goal for our house and she had told me yesterday morning, "Hey, why don't you put that together before noon?" And I thought, okay, I'll call my father-in-law. So I called him really fast and he said, "What about 1:00?" And I said, "Well, what about now? I mean, you might want to come over sooner."

And so he did. And he and my son put everything together. I held the instructions for a while and held the poles up while they screwed different things in and made me feel like I was a part of it. And before noon, this whole basketball goal was finished, it looked awesome. And I thought, good job guys. Because I'm so impressed to see something that was in pieces get put back together.

Let me tell you, the God of the universe, that's his job. He takes what is broken and he assembles it and he puts it together and uses it for his glory. He does that on an individual basis with every single sinner that's willing to repent and trust him. He also does that with his church family when his church family will allow him to assemble it correctly. We've been studying the book of Exodus, what God's plan for deliverances and how he brings freedom and joy to his followers. And in the first chapter we took a look at how desperate and dire the circumstances were for Israel at the time.

And then in chapter two last week, we took a look at God's orchestration, that he's the master conductor, that he had a plan for all of it before the foundation of the world. And we studied the life of Moses, taking a look at what can we learn about how God orchestrates things. Today we're going to look in chapter three of when he orchestrates things, what is he looking for? How does he put us together? How does he put a church together? And I want to tell you from the get go that God has a workshop that he likes to have and it's a workshop for worshipers. God wants to put together people who worship his holy name.

Now, many of you when you think about worship, you think about church or you think about religion or you think about singing songs or you think about a certain style or a liturgy. But worship is giving all that you know of yourself to all that you know of the living God as is revealed in the scriptures. You may remember the story where Jesus met the Samaritan woman in John chapter four, often called the woman at the well because that's right where he met her. He had to go through Samaria, he had to meet this woman, he needed to see her.

And when she was talking, she started talking about religion like many of us talk about religion like, "Hey, you Jews worship on that mountain and we worship on this mountain over here, but one day when the Messiah comes, he'll tell us where to worship." And Jesus begins to answer her questions, telling her, "It's not a question of who or a question of where, it's a question of who." And he talks about what the Father is looking for. And in John 4:23-24, he says this, "But an hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such people the Father seeks to be his worshipers. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

What is God looking for? Of all the things he wants from you, of all the things he's looking for, what is he looking for? He's looking for worshipers. He wants you to give all that you know of yourself to all that you know of him as is revealed in the scriptures. And that's what we're going to see when he begins to call Moses for his life call and what he wants. And when you see the making of a worshiper and you see God's workshop, you'll see what God is trying to do in your life.

And oftentimes we think about, what's a worshiper? What's he want from me? If you've ever asked that question, God has an answer for you today. I encourage you to open your Bible up to Exodus chapter three. We'll be going through that today and taking a look at four things that God is looking for when he's talking about the kind of worshiper that he is seeking.

You remember in chapter two, we left off that God was taking notice of Israel. They'd been in bondage for 400 years. Just to bring you up to speed, we saw at the beginning all the things that had been happening. We saw Moses's birth then we fast forwarded about 36 years, so he is 40 years old at the time that he kills a man and has to flee to Midian.

Now we're fast forwarding again in chapter three about another 40 years. Moses is about 80 years old at this time. We've traversed through a lot of ground very quickly. And here's where it picks up. It says, "Now Moses was pastoring the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the West side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush and he looked and behold the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, I must turn aside now and see this marvelous site why the bush is not burned up."

Point number one is this, God is looking for those who reverence the glory and holiness of Christ. God is looking for, he's seeking out those who reverence the glory and the holiness of Christ. And I'll take a look at what Moses is doing. He's pasturing the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro. He's probably been doing this for a period of about 40 years. He grew up in Egypt. He grew up in the palace. Now he's shepherding, that's what he's doing.

And nothing in the text gives us any indication that he's unhappy doing that. He's just doing his job. He's shepherding. Let me ask you a question. What's he going to be doing for the rest of his life? He's going to be shepherding an entire nation. What does it mean? God doesn't waste anything that you're doing for what he's calling you to do.

Let me say that again. God is not wasting anything that you are doing for what he is calling you to do. Sometimes my kids will ask me, "Dad, when am I ever going to use this in life?" And here's my answer, probably never. You probably won't do the Pythagorean theorem ever. I don't use it on a regular basis. But what you will use is the disciplines that you're learning to study the Pythagorean theorem and that God is the one that created all the angles and shapes and all those different things, that you'll be aware of for the rest of your life.

But no matter what you're doing, God is using it. If it's a trial, if it's a joy, if it's a difficult circumstance, if it's a short season, if it's a long season, make no mistake about it. God does not waste anything that you're doing. Moses is learning to pass your sheep for like 40 years thinking, okay, this is a good life. This is all I'll be doing. And he came to Horeb the mountain of God. Horeb is going to be used all the time through the Book of Exodus. When you see Horeb, it's synonymous with the word Mount Sinai. Horeb is Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai is Horeb, that's what he's talking about.

He is coming to this place, Mount Sinai, where he is going to get the law delivered to him later where the people are going to come worship later. It's a significant spot. And notice who meets him there. It says, "The angel of the Lord appeared to him." The angel of the Lord. Well, who is that? There's a lot that could be said here. We could preach a whole sermon on who's the angel of the Lord. I believe that every time in the Old Testament where we see the angel of the Lord, it is a theophany. It is the pre-incarnate Christ. It is prior to Jesus putting on flesh in the New Testament. It is Jesus the Christ, the son of the living God, who is going to be the one speaking to him.

You say, "Well, how do you know that?" Jesus told the religious leaders in his day, you study the scriptures because you think that in them you have life. Yet these are the scriptures. What were the scriptures? The Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures, yet these are the scriptures that testify about me, yet you refused to come to me to have life. Jesus was saying everything in the book from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22, 21 is a testimony of me. Everything you see go on, that's me. When God created the world and he spoke it into existence, that was Jesus Christ speaking the world into existence. When God brought down fire from heaven, that was Jesus bringing fire down from heaven.

Everything we read about in the Old Testament, this is Jesus in the bush. I'll show you how I know that later with some other context clues, but I take it to be Jesus. And he's in the midst of this bush and he looked and behold the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, "I must turn aside now and see this marvelous site why the bush is not burned up."

Now if you're in a desert and it's 120 plus degrees, it would not be uncommon to see a bush that's burning. Moses had been pasturing sheep for a number of years, he would've seen burning bushes. What was interesting about this bush is while this bush was burning, it wasn't being consumed. This bush is just staying the way it is. The leaves are still on the bush, it's still green, it's on fire, but nothing's happening to it.

And he says, "This is marvelous. I've never seen, what's going on." This is unlike anything that I have ever seen. Can I just tell you, God is unlike anyone or anything that you have ever seen. Amen. He turns aside to take a look, and when he gets there, here's what he hears. It says, when he turned aside, when the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses." And he said, "Here I am." He says his name twice to be endearing like Moses my son, Moses the one I created, Moses the one I want to have relationship with. Moses, the one I have a destiny for. Moses. Moses. And when he hears the endearing voice of the Lord, what's he say? Here I am. I mean, that's a good response in worship when God calls your name, here I am. When you hear God speak, here I am. That's what he says.

Now, oftentimes we approach God the way Moses is going to approach God. We're way too cavalier with worship. And I'm not talking about style of worship. I've grown up in so many different traditions and I've worshiped in so many different places. I've been in Lutheran churches where they chant back and forth and I know how to do that. I've been in Catholic mass. I know when to stand up and sit down. I know what to say. I've seen God show up in all sorts of different liturgies.

God doesn't come to brave more because we have the right liturgy. God shows up at brave because we exalt Jesus Christ as the living God, that's why. But Moses is going to be pretty cavalier with God like most of us are because we've been taught that Jesus is our friend and that's about all he is.

Now, the Bible says in John 15, I have called you friends, we are friends of God, we are his friends. But the pendulum has swung so much that we sometimes view Jesus as no more than just a benevolent buddy down the street. Yeah, he's perfect and he's good and he's fun to have as a neighbor. And if you're in trouble, go ahead and call on him. But we miss on the glory and the holiness of God. So he says, "Moses. Moses." He says, "Here I am." He starts walking towards God and notice what he says, verse five. Then he said, "Do not come near here. Remove the sandals from your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."

What's he say? Moses is like, "Yeah, here I am." He's like, "Get back. Stop coming any closer. You can't get closer to me. I'm holy and you're not. There's a difference between us. I'm not like you. You come into my presence, you will be consumed. Get back. And oh by the way, take off your sandals. Do something to show me that you recognize that my presence is holy."

Now what made the ground holy? God's presence was there. I mean you can go see Mount Sinai today. You can go to Horeb today, I've been there. You can stand there. It's not special any different than it is here. What was special about that place was in that moment, Jesus Christ in his glory was standing right there. Get back. Why? Because he's holy and you're not. Show reverence when you worship him. That's what he was trying to say. See, when we worship God and we reverence God and we honor God, that's when we have the opportunity to put his manifest presence on display.

That's when we can see him heal and deliver and save and do all the things he can do. But he wants us to know as much as he loves us and through Christ how we can become friends that he's not like us at all. I mean, when we read through the book of Revelation and we taught on that a couple years ago, you remember in Revelation chapter one where we see this picture of the resurrected Christ in all of his glory and his feet are burnished in bronze and his eyes are like fire. And there's a sword coming out of his mouth. In Revelation 1:17, when John saw the fullness of the picture of Jesus, he fell at his feet as though dead.

Friends, when we see the glory of God someday in the fullness of Jesus Christ, we will fall down too as though we were dead. All the power of the universe is in him. There's not a force, there's Jesus. Amen. And we need to treat him reverently. Like when we come to worship, God is looking for us to reverence his glory and his holiness that he's distinct and we can be engrossed in Christ. He says, "The place you're standing in is holy." He also said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." And then Moses hit his face where he was afraid to look at God. He said, "I'm the God of your fathers. I'm the God who's always been God. I'm the only God. I'm the one that created everything. You better understand who you're talking to when you talk to me." And when he got a picture of God's glory, he's hiding from him. He's scared of him.

I mean the kind of worshipers God wants are worshipers that are captivated, engrossed, enthralled. And do you know why? Because you were created to worship God. You were created for worship. And if you don't worship him, you will find someone or something else to worship, you will. You'll exchange the truth of God for a lie. You'll worship your girlfriend or boyfriend. You'll worship your wife or your husband. You'll worship your family. You'll worship your job. You'll worship your money. You'll worship your house. You'll worship your possessions. You'll worship your neighborhood. You'll worship your status.

Tonight, you may or may not know, there's a worship service that's going to take place nine miles North of here at Mile High at 6:20. I'll be there. People will be gathering from all over the city to come and worship. And I love football. I enjoy football. I'm going to have fun being there. But I have found over the years that that's not nearly as satisfying as worshiping the Lord because I know the Lord will never let me down. I'll stop right there.

But God is looking for that. And if you go to a concert or you do whatever, you'll see people all the time with their hands raised, pagans that raise their hands. Pagans that sing songs, pagans that jump around. And here's why, because in their heart they were created for worship, it's just misplaced worship. And so what is God looking for? He's looking for those who will center their worship on him.

You may not know what the calling is on your life. It doesn't matter that you don't know what the calling is on your life. You don't have to know every little detail. Here's what God wants you to know. This is the day the Lord has made, rejoice and be glad in that worship the Lord and then respond however he shows you by taking the next step, that's it. If you do that on a consistent basis, all these things will be added on to you.

First and foremost, we need worshipers. The first thing God wants you to become is a worshiper. Why? Because if you are not a worshiper, you will focus on yourself. I'm sorry, you'll focus on yourself rather than focusing on the Lord. If you're not a worshiper, even as a Christian man and you're thinking about yourself, it's hard for you, if you're married to love your wife. If you're a single guy and you're not a worshiper, it's hard for you to truly love who you're dating. If you're a married guy and you're focused on yourself, it's hard for you to be the parent that you need to be, the dad that you need to become.

If you're focused on yourself, you can't serve anybody else. As a worshiper, you put all your attention on the Lord and you let him be the one that works in and through you. See, the problem is if you're not a worshiper, then everything else Christ demands will always seem like a burden to you. Christ makes a lot of demands in the Bible. If you're not a worshiper, anytime you hear about one of them, it'll be like, "Oh, you got to be kidding me."

I mean a pastor teaches on tithing and here's what you'll think, seriously? I mean, how do you know it's really 10%? Because tithe means 10th. But how do you know that? And do I really need to do that? And how can I ... But if you're a worshiper and you truly believe that the one you're worshiping saved you from an eternal hell, rescued you, placed his spirit in you, gave you purpose and direction and will be with you forever, promising you a perfect utopia and great life with him both now and forever more. It's not an issue of should I tie? It's how much can I do to be generous to God? It's a different question.

If you're not a worshiper, all the other spiritual disciplines become difficult. And I don't know if I feel like serving. Well, you don't because you're not a worshiper. If you're worshiping, you'll want to serve. If you're worshiping, you'll want to help God's people. Or how about this? And I'm not looking at anybody when I say this because you'll all think I'm talking to you and I'm not. I've just heard a lot of people in different small groups over the years or different counseling session, people say, "Hey, I need to read my Bible more or I need to pray more."

Well, I could teach you how to read your Bible more or pray more, but that's a religious activity. If you're a worshiper, you'll want to. If you worship, you'll want to know more about the God you worship. If you worship, you'll want to spend more time with the God you worship. You'll want to pray and you'll want to read your Bible more. And what about evangelism? If you're not a worshiper evangelism, I promise you'll feel like a task. It'll feel like, well, I'm not really a salesman and I'm not into that whole thing. I don't know that I want to go out there and make a fool of myself. I don't know.

Because let me tell you this, God's not looking for you to help make heaven more crowded. God already knows all those that are his. God knows everybody that's coming and God's the only one that can save anybody. What's God looking for? He's not looking for more crowds, he's looking for more what? Worshipers. If you're a worshiper of God, you won't be able to keep your mouth closed about how good your God is. Evangelism is natural. Evangelism is just telling another person about how awesome the God is that's given you life in this world. Amen.

If you're having a hard time with spiritual disciplines, I go back to worship like, how's your worship? Because when you're worshiping there's a hunger and a desire to get together with God's people to do that very thing. I mean, we've been blessed. I mean because of COVID, we have an online platform. We literally have people that are watching today from all around the world. We love our online worshipers. Can we just give them some appreciation? We love you.

And I've heard from so many of them that they wish they could be here in Denver with us. I know the people here in Denver that wish they could be here with us, but because of a sickness or an ailment or they woke up late today or whatever, they couldn't be here today. But if they had their choice, this is where they'd want to be. And I wish you could be here with us too. But I want to tell you why online is not the same as being here. It's not what God calls us to do. You know why? Because in heaven there's nobody that's going to sign up for the online option. That'll never happen because you'll want to be in the presence of God and in the presence of all of his people. So while it serves a purpose, it's not the ultimate purpose.

And some people have told me, "Jeff, I'm called to just be the church, not go to church." That's somebody that's not a worshiper. Because if you're a worshiper, you would be called to be the church and also go to church because your heart couldn't keep you away from a worshiping community to celebrate the resurrected Christ that all of us share. Amen.

That's why worship's primary. I see when there's problems in the world, when there's problems in God's word, what he goes after is he tries to find a man. And when he finds that man, he tries to get that man first and foremost to be a worshiper of his great name. Whether you're male or female, what does God want out of you? He wants you to worship him with everything you have. He wants you to give your full allegiance in every area of your life to the authority of him all the time. Amen. God is looking for those who will reverence the glory and holiness of Christ.

Second is this, God is looking for those who will celebrate the mercies of Christ that result in mission. God is looking for those who will celebrate the mercies of Christ that result in mission. Aren't you thankful this morning that our God is merciful? I mean in Lamentations three after Israel, they screwed up royally and the whole book of Lamentations is all about lamenting everything they've done. There's a whole book in the Bible on it. I mean some of us could write our own book of Lamentations. In Lamentation 3:22-23 says, "The Lord's loving kindness is indeed never cease for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness."

Aren't you glad that God's mercy doesn't run out, this compassion for you and his people never run out that he loves you. And when we can celebrate his mercies, of Christ, it results in mission. The more you worship the Lord, the more you're going to hear his heart for the world. The more you worship Christ, the more in tune you're going to be with what Christ is trying to get done in the world. God is able to fix everything in the world, but God always is looking for somebody to fix it with.

One day God's going to come in a moment, in a nanosecond it's all going to be done. But until that time, he's looking for a worshiper who will worship him and then respond accordingly to what he wants. Notice what he says in verse seven. The Lord said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have given heed to their cry because of their task masters. For I am aware of their sufferings. So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up from the land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to a place of the Canaanite and the Hittites and the Amorite, and the [inaudible 00:22:22], and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Now behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come up to me. Furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are opposing them."

What is God saying? I've seen the suffering of my people and I've had enough. When you pick on God's people, that's a bad idea. Every time I see someone in the Old Testament or New pick on God's people, it does not go well for them. God loves his people. If you have repented and trusted Christ, God loves you with an unconditional love. BRAVE Church, God loves us with an unconditional love.

It's interesting that when Saul of Tarsus gets saved, Jesus' first question to Saul who's been going around persecuting Christians and dragging them into prisons and seeing them persecuted and killed, he says this, "Saul, why are you persecuting me?" You pick on one of Jesus's, you pick on Jesus. He loves you, He loves his church. That's what we see here. He's saying, "I see all the suffering." Do you know God sees all the suffering? Isn't that good news this morning? He sees all the suffering in your life. He sees the anxiety in your life, the doubt in your life, the fear in your life, the dread in your life, the shortness of money that you have, the health issue that you have, the challenge in your marriage, the challenge with your kid, he sees it all. He's like, "I see it all there."

There's nothing that has escaped my notice. I'm still God. The enemy will lie to you and say, If your God was so good, then why hasn't he fixed it? If your God was so good, why hasn't he healed you? My god's so good, he will. He promises he will. And that's what's going on here. And here's what we have. We have a need to revel in God's mercies, to celebrate God's mercies.

God has enough compassion not only to fix the world, but isn't it good to know God has enough compassion to still call you? I mean when we think about this story, we lose sight of what we've already read about Moses. Who is God going to call to be the deliverer of his people? A murderer. That's who he is calling. Now you might say from an earthly perspective, he's unqualified and you would be right, because you know why? Because the only people that God can ever call are unqualified people. There's nothing God could call you to that you're qualified to do, otherwise it wouldn't be a calling, it would just be your life work. God calls you to things that he wants to get done that you can't get done. And which is why he wants you to worship him, so you'll believe that he's asking you to take a step and you'll ask the same question.

Moses is going to ask, "How's this going to happen?" Because God can only call unqualified people. Isn't that good to know? Let me tell you, some of you are here today that feel like you've been disqualified for serving the Lord because of a blank. And you can fill in the blank with whatever you want. It can be something that happened to you, something that somebody did to you, some poor choice that you made or a series of poor choices, friends, it's not over ever until God says it's over. He can still use you, faithfully as he who will call you, who calls you, he will surely do it.

Some of you need to hear that because the enemy whispers in your ear all the time, even when you hear the word and you're hearing the call and you're hearing God and you leave and you're not even out in the lobby yet and the enemy is saying to you, "You can't do that. You're not smart enough. You're not good enough. You don't have the experience enough." And you start believing the lie rather than the truth, which is God saying, "I already knew that about you. That's why I picked you."

God always chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. That's why he wants you on his team. I mean, what have you gone through that nobody else has? Where is it that you feel guilt and shame had the Lord not saved your life? I mean this is the call of God to Moses. I mean, he hears all the compassion. If we heard the Lord tell us, I'm going to fix the school system and I'm going to fix politics and I'm going to fix your money issues and I'm going to fix your health, we would all say praise the Lord. And one day he will fix all that.

But in the meantime, as we look out at the world and we see all the different problems and as we worship the Lord, we're aware of that need and God says, "I want you to go do something about it." We answer a lot of times like Moses. Notice what God says in verse 10, "Therefore come now, I'll send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring my people, the sons of Israel out of Egypt." I'm going to send you back to where you came from. And you can almost hear in Moses like, "Been there, done that, don't want to go back to Egypt." But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?" Did you hear what he's saying?

God's talking about his plan, says, "Moses, you're going to do my plan." And Moses is like, "I can't. I don't want to do that. That's not me." When God calls you, it has nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with God. Do you see the difference? He's like, "How am I going to do this?" And here the response, God says in verse 12, "And certainly I will be with you and this shall be assigned to you that it is I who have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain. I'm going to give you a sign Moses. Here's how you'll know it's me and not you. I'm sending you. And here's the plan. You're going to bring all 2,000,000 back here and in the way you're giving me reverence right now, all 2,000,000 are going to give me reverence right here. And when that happens you'll know that I was in charge."

Sometimes we like to know early on like, okay, just tell me how it's going to work. And God doesn't always give us the house. God can point us in a direction to see if we'll take steps of faith. That word is a lamp into my feet and a light into my path. God often doesn't tell us everything we need to do. And even when he does and shows you a specific, that call gets confirmed over time and gets sharper and sharper and sharper. Which is why I would say this to you, if you were saying to me today, "I just don't know what my call is. I don't know what God wants me to do." Become a worshiper of him, I know he wants that.

And if you'll do that and respond to whatever he shows you by taking a step, God will use that to draw you closer and use your purpose for his glory. Even if you never know what it was on this side of heaven, you'll know it when you get there. Become a worshiper. Celebrate the god's merciful. Celebrate that he does this. I mean, there's so many times I've had knock down drag outs with the Lord. I remember after I graduated from seminary and the church planning residency I was in didn't work out and I was telling the Lord, "Okay Lord, I've trained now for five years, went to seminary, didn't want to do that." If you've got something else for my life, I will do it. I don't know what it is, but I'm going to start pushing on doors, coaching, business, you show me, I'll do ministry, still you just have to show me what it is.

And I remember I was over in Europe with a friend who's a missionary in the Czech Republic and we traveled all over Europe and during that time God used the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel to clarify the calling for me at that time in my life. Now I knew a little bit about those books because I went to seminary and studied them. But I'd never read them intimately and personally for myself. And for me I was at the time as a single guy, I was telling the Lord, I'll go anywhere. I can learn languages fast. I'm pretty good with people. Send me to any Middle East country, I'll go. Send me to Russia, I'll go. Send me anywhere in the world, I'll go, you got me Lord.

And as I was reading through Jeremiah and Ezekiel, God began to speak to me and say, "You ain't going anywhere. I want you to go back to your own people in the United States and I want you to call them to repentance and send them all over the world." And I said, "I don't want to do that. That's not what I want. I mean send me, I'll go." And that's why I'm doing what I'm doing now because that was God calling my life and that's what he's still doing. And I'm still open to what that looks like. But John Piper says, "When we talk about worship, here's why global missions exist. Global missions exist because worship does not."

What's God looking for? He's looking for worshipers. Why would you share the gospel? I mean sometimes we share the gospel and we'll say, "I think they came to faith but I'm not so sure." Well, the Lord knows those who are his, so sometimes we truly don't know, I get that. But I'll ask this question, "Do they worship the Lord? Do they want to be in the present?" Well, they're not that kind of Christian yet. Well, then they're not a Christian because there's something that goes off in our heart when we're truly saved, not about where to go to church and not about style of worship, but there's a desire to give our full allegiance to the one who saved us.

And that's what we're doing here. God's looking for worshipers that reverence his glory and his holiness. He's looking for worshipers that celebrate his mercies that result in missions. Because God's going to tell you as you worship him, you're going to see things in this world that just aren't right. And you're going to see him clearer than somebody else sitting next to you and you're going to say, "Something needs to be done about that God." And he's like, "Yeah, you go do something about that." And you're going to feel, well, not me. Maybe my pastor can do that or something. I'm kind of busy right now. No, no, it's you. And that's why God gives you clear vision when you worship him.

The third thing God says is he's looking for worshipers who trust the awesome power of Christ who uniquely created you. In verse 13, then Moses said, "Behold, I'm going to the sons of Israel and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is his name?' And what shall I say to them?" He's saying, "Okay God, I'll go. And when I go, I'll give him the whole routine, I'm being sent by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But God, you got to understand, they may say to me, 'Well, who sent you? How do we know you're for real? 40 years ago you left. 40 years ago you killed a guy and left. Why should we listen to you.' God, what am I supposed to tell them? I'm so unqualified. Nobody's actually going to listen to me in this venue. Sheep listen to me. I can pastor them, I can shepherd them. But how is anybody in Egypt ever going to listen to me?"

This is an incredible verse, you'll be familiar with it. And God said to Moses, "I am who I am." And he said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am has sent me to you." "God, what's your name?" "I am who I am." It's this phrase, Yahweh. It's the strong personal creator God of the universe, the one who keeps all his covenants, the one who has been here in eternity past and eternity future and dwells in the present. The one who is unlike any other, that's the one who is sending you to them. And that's what we got to get in our understanding of God. It's the awesome power of God.

I use the word awesome purposefully. I think it's okay when I preach about God to use the word awesome. I think the word originated probably by the valley girls in my decade in the 80s or something like that. How was last night? It was awesome. It was so awesome. How was dinner? It was awesome. Did you go out with your friends last night? Yeah, I did. How was it? It was awesome. Did you eat at that restaurant? Yeah. How was it? It was awesome. We don't know what awesome means. We dumb it down. Awesome really means awe inspiring, jaw dropping. There are no words for what I'm witnessing right now. The only one that can be attributed to is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's awesome and his power is awesome. His power is mighty, his power is great and there is no other.

He says to Moses, "When they ask you who sent you, tell them that." And he said, "Well, how do you know it's Jesus in the bush again?" Remember in John chapter eight when the religious leaders were pushing on Jesus and they're like, "Who do you think you are?" And he said, "I'll tell you what, Abraham longed to see this day and rejoiced when he saw me." And they said, "Abraham? You're not even 50 years old. You think you know Abraham?" He said, "Before Abraham was, I am."

What was he saying? I'm the God you're reading about in the burning bush. I'm the one that you've read about in your whole Old Testament, I that am standing before you am the one that created and sustained everything. I'm the one that gave you your body. I'm the one that's giving you moisture in your eyes for you to be able to blink. I'm the one that keeps your heart beating. I'm the one that gives you oxygen for your lungs. I am. That's who I am. They picked up stones to stone when he said that and it wasn't his time, so he got away.

That's who you serve. That's the God who has your back. That's the God who when he is talking to you in a church service, you're like, "How am I ever going to accomplish that?" That God is the one who's telling you, I can do it in and through you, stop doubting and believe, that's what he's saying. God is not just okay, he's God and he's a bigger God than some of the other gods. Now he's the only God, he's the reason that you're still being held together. He's the reason that you have purpose. He's the reason you're still breathing. He's the one that orchestrated all your days. He's the one that orchestrated your purpose. He's the reason you're good at things and bad at things. He's the one who's done everything for you in and through you. He is worthy of all your worship. He's worthy of all your praise. And he's telling Moses like I'm telling you, "I got your back, you don't need to worry."

I mean even later when Moses is going to commission Joshua in Deuteronomy 31, two different times, Joshua 31 verse 6 and 31 verse 8. I'll read 31:8, said, "Is the Lord who goes ahead of you, he will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismay." God is your personal covenant keeping God who created all things and he is awesome.

I mean we introduce people at games and they run out. We have all sorts of fanfare and music behind it and all these different things. When God introduced himself to the world says in the beginning what, God, who was there? God who's always been here, God who single handedly created everything out of nothing. God, who's the reason that you're here. God who's the reason that you're still breathing. God he created the heavens and the earth. He created the universe. He did it in six literal days by just the breath of his mouth. And he could have done it just by thinking the world into existence. He was just giving us a pattern for how to live a week. Our God is awesome. When you hear him in a service and he's calling you and telling you things that he wants you to do or how he wants you to do, know that it's that God that's prompting you.

It's that God who's talking to you. That's what he says. And in verse 15 he says this, "God furthermore said to Moses, thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever and this is my memorial name to all generations."

The same God we gather to serve is the same God that's speaking there. The one that we're going to spend eternity with, the one that is all powerful. Here's the question, what are you so worried about? What are you so fearful of? What are the areas in your life you wish you could have a do over or a reset or I wish this hadn't happened or I wish this. God either authored or allowed that for your good and for the good of others and he's doing things in and through you and he's all powerful, he's got it.

And yet what happens? Sometimes we come to church, we sit here with a health problem and we're like, "What's he going to do about that? We sit here with a financial problem." We're like, "What's he going to do about that?" We have a marriage problem, we say, "What's he going to do about that?" We have problems with our kids. What's he going to do about that? Let me just help you out a little bit, okay? If you are alive and you breathe long enough, you will have a health problem at some point in time. If you're alive, even if you get a job at some point in time there'll be some financial tension in your life. No matter how much money you make. If you are alive and you choose to get married and you keep breathing, I promise you, you will have a marriage problem at some point in your life.

If you're single and you want to get married, you will have a single problem in your life at some point in your life. I mean just keep breathing and challenges come. The answer is not what's God going to do for me, the answer is God's saying worship is a weapon over all the things that are coming against you. And no matter what you're going through, if you'll worship me, I'll take care of that. He's the burden lifter.

I mean when we meet Jesus for the first time, I mean we don't know what it's going to be like. I don't know anything else than what the Bible reveals, but it sure seems to me that John was falling down a lot in the Book of Revelation. I mean every single time he was even falling down at beings that weren't even Jesus. And they're like, "Get up. I'm not Jesus. I'm just a being." I mean it is going to be so incredibly massive that if you knew that that was the God that was for you, you would say, "Who can be against me?" Your view of God is too small.

The reason you worry is your view of God is too small, he's too weak, he's not capable, he's not powerful enough. My God is unstoppable. The God of the Bible can heal, deliver, set free, do whatever his word teaches that he can do, so stop worrying and start worshiping. That's what he's saying. Trust the awesome power of Christ. He uniquely created you. He wants you to worship because he wants to do something through you that he can do through nobody else.

I mean when I see people that are elite in their field and doing different things and I think that looks so easy and it looks so easy because I know I can't do it. It can be as simple as seeing somebody on a platform. It can be as simple as seeing somebody put together a basketball hoop. Good job, Bob. It could be any other thing, is like when somebody's good at something, it's like, wow, that's pretty incredible, right?

If you'll worship God, he'll do things through you that other people will say that's incredible. Some of you are incredible encouragers. Some of you have incredible mercy gifts. Some of you have incredible prayer gifts. Some of you have incredible evangelistic gifts. Some of you have incredible administrative gifts. All God's asking you to do is like if you worship me, I'll show you the next step to take. I'll put you in play where I need you at just the right time to do what only you can do and nobody else can do it quite like you can do it. And that's what he wants you to do.

And then finally he says this, "If you want to know what worshiping is, God is looking for those who obey and fulfill God's calling as though people's lives depend upon it." God wants you to worship in such a way that you'll obey and fulfill God's calling as though people's lives depend upon it. And here's why, because they do.

When we're talking about responding to the God of the universe and worship, here's what we're talking about. We believe that every single person who's ever taken a breath is finite and that apart from Christ, they will be separated from God in a place called hell for all eternity. What is God doing? God told us to go and make disciples of all nations. What does that mean? God says, "Be a worshiper of me so I can pour my life through you because I want more worshipers." If you worship the Lord individually and in a community that worships him, you will hear God more clearly and you will step in the direction he wants you to go and he will use you for his glory even if you don't see it on this side of heaven. And why is that so important? Because people's lives depend upon it.

Now I know what some of you are saying, "Well, I don't know man. If God ever appeared to me in a burning bush and spoke to me, I guess I'd do what he wants me to do too." You wouldn't because Moses didn't. You'll see it next week. I mean some of you want this big revelation and then you do it. But yet all the time you come week after week, month after month, God tells you one little thing to do and you refuse to do it because you don't think it's that big of a deal. For some of you it's this, you need to break up with that girl or you need to break up with that guy because they're not godly enough for what I'm calling you to do, and you're waiting and waiting and waiting.

Here's what God's saying, "You need to break up not just because you need to break up because the destiny of other people are relying upon you doing the right thing." Aka your future wife or husband, aka your future kids, your neighbors that you're going to come into contact with. It's not just about your obedience in the moment, it's about what that obedience is going to lead to. Or God tells you how to serve your boss that's tyrannical and he's not very good and don't quit right now, that's what I'm telling you to do. Why? Because what you don't see is that because you open your mouth and told people you're a Christian, they're watching you to see how you're going to respond When somebody doesn't treat you fairly.

Their life is depending upon it, not just this life but their eternal life. How you worship and live for God has eternal ramifications even in the littlest thing. And isn't it good to know, because all of us have blown it in the littlest thing and in the medium thing and in the big thing. His mercies are new every morning. So start fresh now but be obedient and then fulfill all the way to the end. Because notice what God says. He starts telling Moses the vision, here's what's going to happen. In verse 16 he says, "Go and gather the elders of Israel together." What do you notice when you're worshiping and God's calling you to commission, what's the first word you're going to hear? Go. We want to know how. God's like, "Don't worry about how, just go. Go make disciples." How? Just go.

Go and gather. Why gather? Because whatever God's calling you to do, it's not about your individualism, it's about what God's going to use you in a community to accomplish for his great glory. Go and gather, that's why he formed the church. It's not about one individual preaching, it's about the body of Christ being alive and manifesting itself to an entire city.

Go and gather the elders of the Israel, say to them, "The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has appeared to me saying, 'I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt.'" So I said, "I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite and the Hittites and the Amorite and the [inaudible 00:44:25] and the Hivite and the Jebusite to a land flowing with milk and honey. They will pay heed to what you say and you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt and you will say to him, 'The Lord, the God of Hebrews has met with us, so now please let us go a three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.'"

Earlier in the text you saw how God came down to see what was going on. God is spirit. He didn't come down anywhere. In Genesis 11, we see how God came down to see what was going on at the Tower of Babel to see what they were doing. It's a metaphoric way to say God is coming down, he's concerned with what's going on. Here's what he tells Moses, "Go and gather the elders. Tell them I sent you. When you do, you need to know this, you're going to go to Pharaoh, he's going to let you go. You're going to come and have a three day journey out to the mountain and we're going to worship together."

We're just going to invite him to a worship service. And so far so good, that call sounds really great, and now verse 18. I'm sorry, verse 19. The elders are going to listen to you but verse 19. But I know that the King of Egypt will not permit you to go except under my compulsion. So go, it's all going to work out for you. But one thing you need to keep in mind, when you get there, the Pharaoh's not going to listen to you. He's not going to let you go until I show my mighty hand. But I already told you who I am and I promise I'm going to do it. I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my miracles, which I shall do in the midst of it.

And after that, he will let you go. I will grant this people favor in the side of the Egyptians. And it shall be that when you go you will not go empty handed. But every woman, she'll ask her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house, articles of silver and articles of gold and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and your daughters. Thus you will plunder the Egyptians.

What's he saying? He's saying, "When I deliver you, I'm not just delivering you so you can go live some mopey life somewhere else. I'm going to deliver you and I'm going to prosper you and I'm going to set you free. And it's going to be a whole new way of living than how you were living before."

Friends, when Jesus Christ came and died on the cross and he rose from the grave and through repentance and faith you trusted in him, it's not just to get you out of hell so you can go to heaven. It's to give you an entirely different filled life with his glory both now and forever more. That's what he was saying was going to happen. And he had to prepare the people for that.

It's really interesting for me as I was studying this week, the word slavery and the word worship are the same two words in the Hebrew language. Isn't that interesting? I mean the book of Romans, it says we are slaves to the ones that we obey. We're slaves to what we worship. You can either worship something other than the living God and be a slave or you can be a slave of worship to the living God and be completely free. There's no other way around it.

And here's what he's asking us to do. He's saying, "Come worship me and then fulfill the calling, fulfill it." That means walk it all the way through. I've told people several times, when God called me to plant this church. I remember 12 years ago when Kim and I moved out here and we didn't know anybody and we moved, it was such an exciting time because we were like, "Who are we going to meet? And where's the church going to be located? What's it going to be?"

But in my mind's eye, I mean I have a vision of what our church can be. We're not even close to being what God show me in my own spirit. But it's taken time. But even in my own spirit, because of the vastness of the vision that I brought to Denver, I honestly thought when we launched the November 7th, 2010, within a year we'd probably be a couple thousand people.

And apparently nobody got the word because we were a couple of hundred people. And I was wondering what's going wrong. And over time, God's grown our worship and he's taught me that it's not about the number of people that come, it's about the number of worshipers that are giving their life to Christ that matter. That we won't waiver in the word and we won't waiver in our worship and we won't waver in prayer and we won't waver in evangelism. We're not going to twist and turn things to make people comfortable. We want to give them the fullness of who God is, so that for those that want to worship him, they can give him their full allegiance. Amen.

But had I known some of the challenges we'd face, I don't think I would've come. Isn't that true? Everything God calls you to, you get into a new job, or you get into a new marriage, or you have your first kid and they're great for two days and then you realize that they take a lot of work and I mean, all the things that you wait for, there's challenges to them. A vision and a calling does not mean easy street. A vision and a calling means continually giving your allegiance to the one who called you when things get hard, because inevitably they will.

And friends, I want to be a church that worships the Lord, that's why I love this church, that's why I love gathering with this church, because I know that we're always going to worship and put Jesus on display. You say, "What's this mean to me?" What it means to you is today you got an opportunity to worship the Lord, not just here, but all day long. And if God gives you breath tomorrow, what does he want you to wake up doing? Worshiping him, getting to know him. He's a relational God. Not go through the motions, not put in the time. Not saying, well, listen to a Christian song, but Lord, I want to give you my best. Lord, I want to know what it means to give you my full allegiance. I want to know that you have my whole heart and you can take me and use me however you want. And if you do that on a daily, regular basis, God will take you to places you never even dreamed of. And he'll use you in ways you never even thought possible.

And who's he going to use? Broken, unlikely, unqualified people just like me and you, because that's all he is got to choose. Isn't that good news? His mercies are new every day. Do not believe the lie of the enemy he can't use you, believe the truth of the gospel that through Christ you have the power and the salvation for God to do anything that he wants to do through you that's exceedingly abundantly more than all that you ever thought or imagined. Amen.

Would you stand with me as we pray today? Father in heaven we give you all the glory, honor and praise. And Lord, as we sing to you today, we ask you to be enthroned upon our praises. Lord, we ask you to do in and through us what only you can do. Lord, we ask to become greater worshipers of your name. Lord, even as we worship in this song, as we gather around the altar, as we seek your face, as we pray Lord, speak to us, move among us, do works that can only be attributed to you. And God we'll give you all the glory, all the honor and all the praise. Lord, we'll worship you now and we'll worship you when we meet you face to face, in Jesus name. Amen. Can we give God some praise this morning?