Elevation with Steven Furtick - Let’s Face It (Larry Brey)

Episode Date: May 31, 2021

The thing that’s been holding you back? It’s time to face it. In “Let’s Face It,” Elevation Matthews Pastor, Larry Brey, shows us how our shame and rejection can hold us back from God’s plan for our future.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your fate. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. Are you ready for the Word of God? You sounded about 30% as ready as I need you to be. Let me ask y'all, are you all ready for the Word of God? L.B. Skinner is coming to preach in just a moment. Hang on before he comes. This is an epic warrior for Jesus Christ. Larry Bride. Larry and Janet were two of the original core team members of our church. They've been with me all the way. They believed in this church when it was nothing more than a sonogram.

Janet told me, because she was my dental hygienist at the time, I said, I'm going to plan a church. She said, have fun with that. I would never go. 15 years later, she's on the front row. But I'll get out of the way because I want to give him the pulpit. I just wanted to say that this ministry would not be possible without this man. From the time that he almost rammed the gate with his truck at a storage unit to get our equipment so we could have church at the Providence High School atrium in the early days, to the day that he almost broke the window out of my Jeep Cherokee so I could have a prop for a sermon illustration. As you can see, he's got an anointing of violence.

And I love him for it. He hails from Minnesota. He is a former NCAA Division I national champion wrestler, or something like that. Maybe not he wasn't that good, but he used to wrestle. And what I want you to know about your dad, Corbyn, is that he's had my back at every turn. No matter what I've asked him to do for the ministry, Dalyan, he's had my back at every turn. It's just absolutely amazing that whatever we asked him to do to serve for him.

God, he did it. There are pastors and ministry that were burning out, and we would always send your dad. And we say, if we could send them LB, it'll be like an intravenous anointing. Thousands of churches around the world would say we would not be who we are without him. And I say that to you today. Thank you for everything you've sung. I want you to welcome to this pulpit today, the man who has had more job titles at Elevation Church than I've had hairstyles. The great Larry Bride. Come on.

LB. LB. It's hard to come up after that. Pastor Stephen, I love you. 15 years ago, I said, do all that you have in mind. I'm with you, heart and soul. My answer is yes.

Now, whatever question you ask, the answer will always be yes. I wonder if you've already said yes to the question that's waiting to be asked of you. I wonder what would happen of your life if you predetermined the answer before you ever ask the question. Let's not have conditional faith. Let's not have a faith that's based upon convenience or comfort.

It's simply saying, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. And in the past year and a half, all of us have experienced this thing called COVID. And I think there's two parts of every story that I get into that I always hear. And the first one is something like this. And then COVID happened. They could be talking about a marriage. They could be talking about a funeral.

They could be talking about school. They could be talking about alone. And then COVID happened. And it's real. It happened. It did. And it's affected all of our lives. But there's always the second part of every story that I'm a part of anybody who goes to elevation.

First part is then COVID happened. And the second part is, and then Pastor Stephen preached. It's real COVID happened. But there's a greater reality in the Word of God. I'm so glad that we live in a house that there's a greater reality. And then Pastor Stephen preached. What was it for? you because he preaches sermons every week that'll that'll encourage you but there's some that mark

the moment maybe it was comfort food same devil's new levels built different what you call small unlearn your limitations for me though it was it was lonely places that was the sermon that marked for me because COVID affected us but there's a greater reality and there was 30 people in the room last July when Pastor Stephen preached this sermon and he walked off the stage into that entire section here at Ballantown. There's nobody in it. And he got in the fourth row, one, two, three, four second seat over. And he sat there and he talked about the lonely places. And for me, that hit me. Because that lonely place, I wanted to stay afar away from it as I could. I stay away from it by getting busy. Just saying, how you doing today? Blessed and highly favored brother. Like,

I'll do everything I can to avoid that lonely place. But Pastor Stephen does this thing where he kind of forces you into that seat in a loving way, and he forces you to look at what you've been hiding from. And today I want to talk about what God showed me in that lonely place. I watched the sermon eight times that week, and I cried every time. Because God was revealing wave after wave after wave of his revelation of the place that I didn't want to get to that. I found the blessing when I sat in. And I just want to unpack for a few moments with you what God showed me in that lonely place.

Maybe this would encourage you for anybody's in that lonely place. For anybody who feels like they're outcast or overlooked, for anybody who feels like they're marginalized or pushed to the periphery of life, this is a word for you. God's going to meet you in this place. And it's not just going to encourage you. It's going to mark the moment. It's going to mark the moment of your life. Help me thank Pastor Stephen every week for getting in this pulpit and preaching words that we live on.

I love you, Pastor Stephen. Thank you. We honor you. And the character, I want to give you a couple of verses, and then you'll be seated. The character that God led me to is Moses. It's in Exodus chapter 3. It's just a few verses. This is what I learned in that lonely place that maybe you would be encouraged with.

Exodus 3, verses 1 to 6. It says, now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to horror of the mountain of God. There an angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. So Moses thought, I will go over and see this strange sight. Why does this bush not burn up? When the Lord saw that Moses had gone over to look, he called him from within the bush.

Moses, Moses said, here I am. We would do well to consider the cadence of this text. God is present, but his voice is absent. And it's easy for us to stand at a distance saying, God speak. but her feet aren't moving. And the progression of the text indicates that as Moses moved, God spoke. And I want to celebrate your decision to move towards God today, to get out of bed and go to the Orlando campus, to get out of bed and go to the Gaston campus, to roll over in bed and to click on the link and just to watch those small movements, God sees. And when you make one small step towards God, he comes moving towards you.

And some of you have felt like God, you're at a distance and I can't hear you. just move towards him and trust that he will speak to you today. He says, do not come any closer. God said, take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy ground. Then he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. At this, Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. And for the few minutes we have together, I want to consider this subject. I need your help announcing the sermon title to your neighbor if you're in a room. Maybe you'd say it out loud to your cat.

It's this. Look at your neighbor and say this to them. Say, let's face it. Now, maybe there's somebody else you would have preferred to talk to. Look at them and say, let's face it. Maybe in the comments you would drop in like some emojis. Type in the title. Let's face it.

You guys can be seated here at Balentine in all of our locations. Thank you, worship team. Now, when I was in third grade, I loved school. I loved it. I would sit for hours in the living room and doing my math and doing my science and doing my words. It was amazing. I would hear my mom, little Dorothy, four foot 11 on a good day. She would be yelling from the kitchen like, I'm so proud of you, my baby.

Hercules, you look, you're so good. And I'm like, yeah, my mom is proud of me. I'm smart. She's like, you're so smart. And then one day at school, my third grade teacher, Mrs. Rasmussen, she gave me a note to take home to my mom. It was stapled together. and I thought, oh my gosh, she wants to, like, throw a party from here or something. She's so proud in me.

I bet I'm going to win, like, student of the month award or something like that. So, of course, I did what every third grader does. I opened the note. The staple didn't mean anything that was insignificant. I opened the note. But I tried to read it, but that was the problem. I couldn't read very good. And so I can make out a couple words.

I can make out one of the words like, special. I'm like, oh, this is Rasmussen thinks I'm special. Oh, this is amazing. Yes, Ms. Rasmus' Thank you. And then I could make out another word like, slow. I'm like, obviously she's not seen me at P.E. Like, I am the fastest kid in the school.

Mrs. Rasmus, and I am very fast. What do you mean? She must not have seen me. And then I came to this other word that I tried to read and I like, rem, I asked my buddy, Paul. I said, what's this word? And he said, remedial. I said, what's that mean?

He said, it means you're stupid. And I can tell you what I was wearing. I could tell you where I was standing. And that was the first moment in my life. I felt shame. I felt it. It was like a coat you put on me and I wore it. And so I took the note and I folded it back up

and I'm trying to figure out a way to give this to my mom, but I'm not going to give it to my mom. So I took my little Dukes of Hazard Lunchbox. And on one side it opened up and you had the thermos and all the stuff in it. But on the other side, if it had like a secret compartment, the other lid opened. And you would put like your napkin in there and your suit. spoon and all that stuff. So I thought, that's where I'm going to put my note. So I hit it in that

little secret compartment. So when I took it home and I gave my mom my lunchbox the next day, Mrs. Rasmus said, did you give the note to your mom? I'm like, yes, I did. Isn't an amazing what shame will cause you to do that's inconsistent with your character? Isn't it amazing what shame will get you to do? And that day, I went home. My mom said, are you going to do your math? I remember telling you, no, Mom, I'm not very good at it. She says, what do you mean? I just, I'm kind of done with that, mom. So I go back to school and the next week,

teachers are like, well, your mom hasn't called me because there was no text message back in this day. And she goes, here's another note, take it home. So I put it right with the other note in my Duke's Hazard lunchbox. A couple weeks go by, she finally feels like, I don't think your mom's getting these notes. So here's what we're going to do. She staples the note to my shirt.

True story. Of course, I took it off my shirt and I put it right in with the other ones. And a couple of weeks go by and Mrs. Rasmus is like, make sure you give your mom that note so she can call me. And I can't even look at her because you know what shame causes you to do? It doesn't even let you look anybody in the face. Shame makes you feel so unworthy. You can't even look at anybody.

I can't even look at Mrs. Rasmussen. And that little boy who used to do all those math things died and he would never come alive again. And I'm walking on the way out to the school bus and I accidentally hit my lunchbox against the desk. and it opens up and out floats all my notes. Mrs. Rasmussen sees it. She's like, Larry. And I hide my face. And I just start crying.

She comes in so gently, and she says, L.B. Larry, she says, you've got a learning disability. But I'm with you. She said, let's face it. So in the text, when Moses hides his face, I identify with that situation. That's the lonely space.

That's the place where you go to. where you hide your face because you don't even feel worthy to look anybody else in the face. That's that lonely space for me. So when God comes to Moses in this scene in chapter three of Exodus, I get it. God's got a job for him to do. And he's like, not me. He gives him all these excuses, not me. Send somebody else.

Who should I tell him? What about all these things? And finally, he gives this answer in verse 10 of chapter four. Says Moses said to the Lord, pardon your servant, Lord. I've never been eloquent neither in the past nor since. You have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue. And if you've grown up around the church world, you've heard that voice before.

And every time you hear the character of Moses preached, he sounds a little bit like Forrest Gump with a stutter. Because I can't talk very good. And that's the story you've heard your whole life and you've believed a lie. Because that's not true. This is the part about the lonely place and makes you believe lies that are not real. They're not real. Because as I jumped into this lonely place and I started to inspect the story of Moses,

I came to the book of Acts where it's recorded. Luke records this in 722 and this busted the bubble of my perception of Moses. And maybe God wants to bust your bubble for how you see yourself today. The stereotypes you have labeled yourself with. The things you said, I'm not going to do math because I'm dumb. Because in Acts 722 it says this as Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech. And what?

Like, that's got to be a typo. That doesn't really have, that's not in the Bible. Because I always heard that Moses was slow and he was dumb. But what you're telling me is in the text, if there's a place where it says he was powerful in speech and in action, it's the same word that pastor referenced a couple weeks ago when you talked about the Holy Spirit. When it comes on you, it will give you power. It's the same word that's talked of Jesus.

He says with him, all things are possible. So if the limitless potential of God is in this moment, why is Moses responding with an inferior answer? And it made me examine myself. Are my answers really just excuses rooted in insecurity? Or are they responses grounded in truth? What answers have you been giving that are rooted in insecurity? Because it's a story you believed when you were in third grade? I'm stupid.

What is it? Where's that at? This is the lonely place for me. This is the place when God took me to that space. I didn't want to look at because I couldn't look at myself. But before we impugn his character, it's important that we look at the backstory. Never judge the behavior without knowing the backstory. Never, never, because how did he get here? That would be a good question for you to type into the comments. How did you get here? How did you get to this point? How did you get to these beliefs? How did you get to the system where the that defines who you are. How did you get here? And you're just saying, well, I'm just not very smart. That's a lie. Shut your pie hole. That's not true. But Moses believed it. But God simply ministered to Moses in the moment. But let's look at the backstory. I want to summarize, if you flip a chapter over into Exodus chapter two, you can type into the comments. This would be your additional reading during the week, verses 1 to 10. Let me just summarize for you. Moses is born onto the scene. He's got a mom and a dad. Amram is dad and Jacobed is mom. And at that time, an order had been issued among the Israelites from Pharaoh, the king of the Egyptians,

who said, hey, the firstborn must be thrown into the Nile River. The Israelites are getting too big. We can't let them overtake us, so we need to exterminate some of them. So they have a baby, and the scripture says that he was a fine child. It says that he was special. In the King James, it says, goodly. It's the same word that when God created, he said it was very good. The mark of God was on Moses.

His mom and dad saw it and they said, we have to protect it. And so this week when somebody asked you, how are you doing? Don't let it be just a back-end comment saying, I'm good. No, no, no, say, I'm good. I'm good. God made me. God formed me. God fashioned me.

I'm good. I'm good. And Moses' mom and dad. and they saw it so they hid him for three months. Wait now. As a grown man, he's hiding his face. And his life started at obscurity being hidden by his parents. Was his behavior something that was created by God or conditioned by man?

Was the environment that you grew up in? Did it shape you to change your decisions for how you expressed yourself as an adult? How did you get here, Moses? It wasn't the story in that day. It was the story that had been unfurbed. holding his whole life and you got to peel it back. You will not understand the scene of your life unless you rewind the movie a little bit. And Moses, he's hidden. And they said when he can hide him no longer, they had to put him in a basket and toss him out under the Nile River. Mama had to abandon him

because she didn't know what to do with him. Could it be that God is hidden something in your heart and you haven't known what to do with it? And you've been staring at situations and say it's not going to happen. So I guess I'll just abandon it. I wonder how many abandoning you. dreams are left on the floor of all of our services because you have given up on it and you've settled for the lie. I'm just not smart. I'm not good. No, that's that's that's not true. That's not true. So she has to abandon this thing. Can you imagine the pain of Jokabed as she just hands over her son onto the Nile River? The very thing that was created to destroy him. Now she has to lay him in. But say but. But Moses's older sister, Miriam was watching at a distance.

and she sees where the basket comes against the shore and it just so happens that it's near Pharaoh's daughter where she's coming down and she's seeing this and God sees you and you might feel like you've been tossed out onto the waves of life but God is controlling the current and he controlled where she landed and he sees me and she sees Pharaoh's daughter come and get this baby and she just happens to walk out of

oh do you want me to go get one of the Hebrew mamas to nurse him for you? She says yes so she takes Moses back to his mom Imagine the joy and Jacob had in hearing like, oh my gosh, this thing that I gave away come back to me. Oh, my soul, and the story gets even better. They're going to pay me to do it. Oh, I declare over you. Whatever the devil has caused you to forfeit, God's going to restore and he's going to make him pay for it.

God's going to make it pay for it. And it comes back to her. Oh, my God, you brought this back to me. But then she hears the other part of the story. But you can only have him for a certain time because Pharaoh's daughter wants him as her son. what? God, this isn't faith, or maybe it really is. So now Jacobed begins this process of training up a child in the way he should go because she knows she's only got a finite time with him. Some theologians, it would have been only about four years, up to about eight years,

because the child would have needed to be weaned. But in that time, there wasn't a whole lot of bread on the Israelite tables. So they would nurse these children as long as they could because it kept more food on the table. So it's reasonable to assume that, Jacobed was delaying the process as much as she could because she didn't want to hand this child over, but she knew she would have to do one day. So she begins the process of every day looking at Moses and say, Moses, you're a deliverer. Your God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You are created for it to be a deliverer, Moses.

And every day she'd speak it over him. She'd speak it over him. She'd speak it over him. And she'd make him repeat it back. Moses, you're a deliverer. You are special. God's hand is on your life. Your God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Because she knows she's got to give him over to a household of the Egyptians. and not just any household, the household of Pharaoh. Ramsey's the second, the one who wanted all the Israelite baby's dead. She's got to give her baby to. You imagine the uncertainty of this situation, and she's got to hand her son over? Every day, Moses, you can do this. Moses, you can do this. Moses, your God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

And every day, every day, every day, training up this child. Because she knows he'd end up in a household where they did not believe that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. No, they had a bunch of other gods. They were polytheistic. everything, not the true God, not the living God. So she's got to hide the word in his heart that so he can endure that environment when he gets handed over. Imagine the pain of Jacobette and she holds her boy's hand and she's got tears welling up, but she can't let him be expressed. She's got to say, remember who you are, Moses. Remember who you are. Remember who you are.

And she's going to walk this child over to be handed over to the Egyptians. Remember Moses. Remember Moses. Remember Moses. And I have to believe the sound of mom's voice is ringing in Moses' ears because now he's got to be handed over to the Egyptians. And the first thing he hears over here is forget. Forget all that. Don't let anybody know you're a Hebrew. Don't let anybody know. He is trying to be conformed into the image of an idol in the Egyptian household.

He would have had his clothes changed outside the palace. He would have been given a completely new haircut. And he was given the name Moses. Moses was not his first name. That was his second name. We don't even know his first name. That was not his Jewish name. That was this Egyptian name.

And so by the time he gets to the palace, he's hearing from his new mom, forget all that. Don't let anybody know. Don't let anybody know. But I have to believe in his heart. He still hears Mama's voice. Mama speaking over. My mama said, my mama said, I'm a deliverer. My mama said, I am special.

My mama said, my God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Because he's going to have to sit in a religion class because he was trained by all the smartest Egyptian minds. And they were the leaders in the world at that time. and he's got to sit in their science classes and their religion classes when they hear about the God raw, the God of the sun or the God of the moon or the god of the alligators. They had all these gods they worship. And I have to believe he's sitting in these classes going, yeah, you get your raw.

My God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And he hears Mama's voice, just encouraging him. Just encouraging him. Pastor Stephen preached it last week. Spiritual growth isn't always learning something new. It's remembering something old. I wish I could shake every single one and say, do you remember who you are? Do you remember who you are? Do you remember who you are? Do you remember who you are?

And so Moses gets raised in this household. And then the story continues in Acts chapter 7 and says this. In Acts 7, 23, it says when Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. Interesting story. I believe that Moses knew who he was. He knew whose he was. And he knew his purpose. He weathered the storms for 40 years of living in an Egyptian household. And the moment came, this is the moment, God. This is what I was created for. This is what I'm called to do. I'm ready.

I'm going to jump onto the scene and I'm going to deliver my people. Here we go, God. Here we go, God. And the next verse that tells us that verse 24 says, he saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian. So he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Verse 25, Moses thought that his own people would realized God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The whole story hinges on that verse right

there, but they did not. Ashter Stephen preached last week, then they gathered. There's a good day and there's a bad day. But they did not. See, Moses, he was prepared to stand against the Egyptian, but he wasn't ready to battle the disbelief of his own people. He was prepared for the enemy. he wasn't prepared for the friend. We teach our kids to fight the devil, but will we teach them to endure their friends? But they did not. There was someone who's supposed to look out for you,

but they did not. They said they would be with you for good or for bad, for better or for worse, but they did not. They said they were going to care for you, but they did not. They said they were going to protect you, but they did not. Who is they? Who were the ones that were supposed to be there for you that they did not?

And it's not always the big day. Sometimes it's, you thought it was funny, but they did not. You thought they'd be proud of you for going to that church, but they did not. And it was the rejection of the people he was called to rescue that caused him to pause in this moment. The very people he was sent to rescue rejected him. sounds very much like Jesus doesn't it? And the story continues. He says, the next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting.

He tried to reconcile them by saying, man, you are brothers. And I'm a brother. Why do you want to hurt each other? But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, who made you? Ruler and judge over us. And what you see in this pivot point, this is a lynchpin in the story of Moses.

This is the shift in his life. Because up until this point, it's like, I'm created, I'm ready, here's my moment, this is going to happen, this is good, but they did not. And the voice of his mother saying, you're creative for this and you can do this, it faded in this moment. He could not remember it. Their disbelief caused his doubt. Whose disbelief has caused your doubt? but they were supposed to be there for you. I just don't think they'd be the smartest decision with your life, but they did not.

Don't let they keep you from knowing who. Who? Here's the question. Who made you rule and judge over us? Moses could have appealed at two different levels. He's got two nature. He's got an Egyptian nature and he's got a Jewish nature. He's a Hebrew and he's Egyptian.

He's got both of these natures and he's so conflicted. He has on both of these things, I'm both of these things. and some of us are living in a world that you're so conflicted. I got one hand raised with a Red Solo Cup on Saturday night, but I'm raised it on Sunday in worship, and I'm conflicted. I don't feel like I belong in either place. I won't make it real practical, because some of us are straddling the fence in different worlds,

and we don't feel like we belong in either. And when you give equal weight to competing voices, you'll always be conflicted. You'll always be conflicted. But I do believe in my spirit that Moses gave greater weight to the voice of his mom and his heart, saying, you're special, your deliver, you're creative for this. And he could appeal to either of his natures.

Because at an Egyptian nature, he could have said, who made me rule and judge over you? You might have heard of him. He's my grandpa. Ramsey's the second. Pharaoh, yo, I can do whatever I want. I'm the Prince of Egypt. He had a very natural level that he could have appealed

and he would have won that argument. But he didn't. Why did he forfeit his memory in that moment? Because of their disbelief. Their disbelief caused his doubts. And the entire direction of his life is shifted because of the doubt. because of the doubt. Who is stolen in on you?

Who has busted in on you and stole your faith? Because of their disbelief. But he could have appealed if you had remembered his mama's voice. Who made you ruler and judge over us? Oh, wait, Mama said. Mama said, Mama said. Mama said, Mama said, Mama said, Mama said, Mama said, Mama said, I'm a deliverer. Mama said, I'm special.

Mama said, I'm going to lead the Egyptians or the Israel. out of Egyptian slavery. My God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So I guess my God made me ruler and judge over you. He could appeal at the natural level and at the supernatural level, but he forgot both. He forfeited it. Where in your life, when you tell the story,

you go back to the backstory, and you can come to this pivot point? Where did your life shift because of someone else's disbelief that caused your doubt? They caused you to forget who in the story verse 28 says are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday

when Moses heard this he didn't even answer he just shut it down and he fled to Midian where he settled as a foreigner and he had two sons he's so intimidated by the situation that he ran from it you'll always be defeated

by something you're intimidated by Moses was intimidated by something he did not understand. And because he didn't understand it, he was intimidated by it. This doesn't make sense, God, I thought they were going to receive me. So rather than actually sitting in this lonely place, he hides. He was hidden for the first three months of his life. In Exodus 3, read the story where he's hidden. He's hiding his face.

That's at age 80. This is at age 40 right here, this scene. so what does he do he hides himself and where does he go midian midian can anything good happen from nazareth it's like midian midian the the egyptians would have referenced it as the abomination they would have called in the scriptures as those detestable shepherds of midian so moses has got to go to the place that is detestable in the eyes of the family that he had it's the only place he could go to survive and as moses is heading towards a new place and everything he had is washed away. And he's going to go to a place where he's got to learn a whole new

language, a whole new culture, a whole new family, a whole new job. Everything's going to be new. It was the second time he would have went through this event in his life. Because the first time he had to do it when he went to Egypt. But as he was going to Egypt, he was heading to Egypt with purpose. But now when he's heading towards Midian, he's only moving with pain. It's different this time, isn't it? Say it's different. This time it's different for Moses. is different. So when we see his behavior of hiding his face in front of God, we got to rewind the scene to 40 years earlier

when he's like, God, I tried it your way. I thought I heard you in it. It didn't work. So now he's got to go live in Midian. He's going to get a new name. This would have been his third name. He's got to have a whole new family.

All that's forgotten. And it says he lived this of first. foreigner in the land for 40 years. Whatever's unfamiliar is always foreign. Man, talk about the last 18 months of our life in this unfamiliar territory. But here's the thing for Moses. Even if it became more familiar, it was no less foreign. Because he always felt like he didn't belong there. In fact, he named his first son Gersham, which means wanderer, foreigner.

And so you got Moses. was like, God, I thought, I thought I heard you right. I heard Mama's voice. And it did what she said. And it didn't work out. Didn't work out, God. Because we talk about Moses being Egyptian and being Hebrew. Well, for the first seven years of his life, he was Hebrew.

Next 33 years of his life, he was Egyptian. For the next 40, he's median. We don't even talk about that part of his life. Isn't it funny how you skip over big, parts of your life that shaped you and you'd forgot it? Because you want to forget the foreign part of it. And you want to sit in a moment. How are you doing a blessed and highly favored sister?

But you're a foreigner. And Moses, so when the scene in Exodus 3 gets picked up, it says, Moses went to the far side of the wilderness. The far, as far away from God as you could be. And he paints a picture of Moses, sitting in this place and it's an image of contentment. There's two competing visions of contentment in the scriptures. One of them is from the Apostle Paul when he pens the book to the Philippian church.

I know what it is to be in plenty and I know what it is to be in want. I know what it is to have everything and nothing. He says, and have learned the secret of being content. And he says, this is all I'll ever be. And it's the highest potential possibility for contentment. because it doesn't matter where you put me, it doesn't matter what happens to me, I know who I am, and I know whose I am. This is all I'll ever be. The pendulum swing of contentment now goes way over here to Moses. And he's sitting in the desert far away from the promises, and all he has is pain. And he says,

this is all I'll ever be, a foreigner, a wanderer. This is my life. This is my life. in life, and it's the lowest expression that you could have for your faith. I vacillate between these different levels of contentment. I like to be like Paul, but some days I'm a lot like Moses. And I get it. So when God comes to him in Exodus 3, I get it, I get it, I get it. And he hides his face. He didn't start hiding his face in that moment.

He started hiding it 40 years earlier. It's been in motion for 40 years. And now you just see the expression of it. And so God comes to him. him in the middle of this bush. And in Acts, it picks up the story here. And I love the way that Acts unfolds this. Acts 30, it says, after 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of the burning bush in the desert of Mount Sinah. When he saw this, he was amazed at the side. He went over to get a closer look and he heard the Lord say, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham,

the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Moses trembled with fear and he dared not look. it brought Moses to the place where he's covering his face. And I get it. I get why he did it in that moment. I so resonate in that moment with Moses as he's, in the scripture it says that he called, he called his name twice. God did, Moses, Moses. It's a Hebrew term of intimacy. It means that God is close. It means he's whispering because he's close.

But I also think there's a practical reason why he had to say his name twice. Moses. And Moses is like, who? I ain't heard that name a long time. Who's that? And he hears the second. Moses! Oh, that guy died a long time ago. I don't even want to think about him.

I just, no, I can't even go there. Don't kick that door back up. And he thinks it's just his mama's voice in his head. But he pushed that down a long time ago. That voice died in that part of him. him was over. But he thinks it's just mama's voice. And then he realizes like, this ain't mama's voice. This is actually the God that my mama spoke about talking to me. And he hides his face. I get it. He's given up on everything. And now the God that he had heard about is coming to him.

And he's like, I can't. No. Leave me alone, God. And his response to God in this moment is amazing. And I think it paints a picture for the struggle of the lonely place. In Exodus 311, it says, but Moses said to God, and he says, who am I? Who am I, God? I don't know who I am I an Israelite. Am I an Egyptian? Am I a Midianite? Am I a slave?

Am I a prince? Am I a shepherd? Am I a failure? Am I a mistake? Who am I got? I don't know who I am. Leave me alone. I want nothing to do.

with you. I tried it your way. I stepped out like my mama said, and it didn't work. Just leave me alone. And I love the tenderness of God in this moment. I love how God just gently pushes past of all the excuses that he's given in this moment. And I think this is what God is speaking over you today as well. I think this is what he's telling you because some of you know that hiding place you go to. And Moses is saying, God, I can't look at you because I can't even look at myself. And In verse 12, God said, and God said, I will be with you. Because I think God's telling Moses, Moses, up until this point, you've only heard about me from your mama. It's time for you to see me for yourself. It's time for you to, Moses, I'll be with you. Wherever you go,

I'm in it with you. And I think God is telling him, let's face it together. I'm in this thing with you wherever you go. Because in the past, all you took with you into Egypt was a memory from your mama. No, no, no, no. God is saying, I'm sending you back to Egypt this time. And it's not just a memory from your mommy. It's my presence that will go with you. I will be with you, Moses. I got you. I'm in this thing with you. You don't have to do this on your own. And I think some of us are coming to the point that maybe God is saying, quit living off a mama's faith. Quit living off a mama's faith. It's time for you to have your own faith. It's time for you to see God face. to face. It's time for you to embrace God rather than just reject him because somebody else rejected

you. And I love the tenderness of God in this moment. And Moses asked God like, who, who am I supposed to say, sent me like if I go to the Egyptians in a verse 14. God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is who you are to say to what you say to the Israelites. I am has sent you. and I think what God was speaking to Moses in this moment, he says, you will never know who you are if you don't know who I am. You've been searching for answers. You've been searching for answers in yourself. The real answers will only come outside of yourself. It will only come from that space. Who am I, God? God's saying, I am. I am. I am your God.

And for 40 years up until this point, Moses had lived as a foreigner. He had lived as a failure, lived as a fraud, a fake. All these things. And he's hiding his face because he can't even look at himself. And it begins this beautiful relationship that Moses gets to have with God. And in Exodus 33 Levitt says, The Lord would speak to Moses face to face as one speaks. speaks with a friend.

In this moment, what I picture is, is God gently grabbing Moses by the chin and lifting it up so that he could see God's face and he spoke over him, friend. You've lived as a foreigner, but I call you friend. You feel like a failure, but I call you friend. You feel like you are such a fraud, but I call you friend. God speaks over you. I call you friend, and I will go with you. I will be with you. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I will be with you as one speaks

with a friend. And God is saying to Moses, let's face it together. He would see God face to face. And for me sitting in that lonely seat over there, this last year has stripped a lot away from us. And if I'm really honest, one of my biggest struggles in my life is, is my worth coming from my work. My identity is so intertwined into what I do. So that as I lost parts of job, it wasn't that I lost parts of a job. It's I lost parts of me. And it made me wonder like, who am I? And I sat in that lonely seat and I'm so glad pastor preached on it because it was for me. In that lonely place, I had to ask the question, God, who am I? I don't know who I am.

And if you're in that seat or you struggle with that seat, maybe you would take comfort from how God comforted me. He said it's the right question. Who am I? He said, it's just the wrong perspective. He said, God said, he's spoken to my spirit. He said, Elbe, you keep asking me who you are. How about you flip it and you hear me ask you, who am I?

He's my beginning and my end. He's my bright and morning star He's my wonderful counselor He's my ever-present help and trouble He is my rock He's my salvation He's my mighty refuge He is the gate

He is my Jesus He is my Savior The only way I saw that Was in the lonely place And I sat And I thought about Moses Why did you Why did you faint in the moment

Like I do Pastor preached borrowed confidence. What you put your confidence in determines when it leaves. I think Moses put his confidence in what his mama said. I think he put it in what the teachers taught him. I think he put it in the thought that they would receive him. And when that was taken away, you had no confidence.

So if I put my confidence in what I do when that leaves, I come to an identity crisis. You and I can have confidence in the feelings. finished work of Jesus Christ. You and I can have confidence in the salvific work of Jesus that he died as substitutionary death for your sin and for my sin. Because as Jesus went up onto the cross, they didn't nail him, but he put himself up there. They didn't take his life. He gave it. And as he's on the cross, all the sin that should have been laid on you and on me was laid on him. And there was a moment that the sin, the wrath, the penalty for all the sin needed to be laid on

him. And as he stretched on the cross, God had to turn his face away from his son for a moment. And the sky grows dark and the veil is torn and Jesus cries out in a loud voice. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Because he didn't see his father's face. He didn't feel his presence. And for three days it was dark. And the enemy thought they had won. But after three days, God, God, turns his face back towards his son. And he said, let's face it. Here's the keys to hell in the grave rise in victory. And he broke the end out of a borrowed too many rows in victory. You and I, you and I can have the assurance that God sees you face to face. Why? Because of the finished work of

Jesus. Because when God looks at me, he doesn't see LB. He doesn't. He doesn't see LB. He sees Jesus. And as Jesus ascended, he said, I will not leave you as an orphan. But I will send my spirit to live in you. And where you go, he will go with you. God promises to be with you, to never forsake you, to never leave you. And he's saying, let's face it together. Whatever's going on in your life.

Let's face it together because I'm with you. If you go to the mountaintops, I'm there. If you go to the depths, I'm there. Where can you go to escape his love? He is with you. That's the assurance you have if you've placed your faith in Jesus. And if you haven't placed your faith in Jesus, this is the moment that God brought you to. This is the moment that will mark you for the rest of your life. If you have never placed your faith in Jesus, he is asking you to come in. And he says, I will be with you. And all of our locations, would you buy your heads and close your eyes? Someone feels the presence of God in their spirit right now. And you feel

I'm calling you back to yourself as he ran after Moses. So he's running after you. 40 in the Bible means season. The first season of Moses' life was marked by man's rejection. At age 80, it was marked when he saw God's acceptance. Would you accept him today? Would you receive him today? In all of our locations, all of our online, our ephem, I need you to pray with me. God. Pray this with me for the benefit of somebody who's making this decision to place their faith in Jesus. I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God who died on the cross and rose from the grave to forgive me of my sin. I give you my life. I give you my sin. I give you my shame. Forgive me and I'll spend my life following you. With your head still bowed in your eyes,

so close. If you just place your faith in Jesus, I'm going to count to three. When I get there without hesitation, boldly shoot your hand into the air. This is your moment. This is the time where you see God. One, two, three. Shoot your hand up. All of our locations. Come on. All of our locations. If you just made that decision, let us know in the chat. Let us know in the chat. Come on. Let's celebrate that elevation. Come on. No, let's celebrate that elevation. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry is because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now or visit elevationchurch.org slash podcast for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe, you can share it with your

friends. You can click the share button. Take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.