The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 2: What is That in Your Hand?

Episode Date: October 2, 2022

God does not call the equipped, but He equips the called. What is He calling you to do? What is the NEXT THING for you?

Amen and amen. Hey, if you got your Bibles, I hope you do grab them. We're going to be in Exodus. I really need to do four chapters, but we're just going to do mostly chapter three, a little bit of four. We're going to back up to two for a second, okay? So Exodus Chapter 3 is where we'll primarily be. We are in week two of this series, this teaching series, that we're calling the next thing that's based on a song, but that song is based on the Bible, because what we do here is just teach the Bible. And in case you weren't here last week and you don't know who the guy in that video is, my friend Jeff Moore, and if you grew up in youth group in the 80s and 90s. This is the Jeff Moore of Jeff Moore in the distance. He wrote a song called The Next Thing. And particularly if you're my age, you're like middle age, it'll get all over you. Because ultimately it's asking you, what in the world are you doing with your life? And what do you do when you don't know exactly what to do? What do you do when you don't know whether to turn left or right or you don't know exactly what the thing for you to do is? and the whole point of the song is that there's wisdom in trusting God and doing the next thing. And so a part of the reason we're going to look at Moses is because in the song, he talks about the life of Moses.

So the question I want to ask you is this, what are you doing with your life? Because sooner than you think there will be a day where we all gather together and we talk about you. I hope you realize that. the death rate in America hovers right around 100%. And one day, one day, you are going to die. And we are going to dig a hole,

dress you up, put you in it, throw dirt in your face, come back here to the church, eat potato salad, and talk about what a great guy you are. Now, I do not want you to live in such a way that you have to make me lie when I do your funeral. You understand what I'm saying? That we all live for something and what on earth are you living for?

what are you doing with your one and only life? And again, you don't have to have it all figured out. What we need to have figured out is this, that there's wisdom and trusting God and just doing the next thing. In Exodus chapter 3, we find out from God to Moses what the next thing is for him. Now, just a, I never know how much background to give you. When you get to the end of the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, you find out that God

has rescued the Hebrew people through this kid named Joseph. He grows up and he ends up by a series of crazy events to be the senior vice president of all of Egypt, and God places him there to save his family from a coming famine. And it's actually God's provision that God has been in charge of every detail of his life all the way through his life. and what he often saw his pain was actually God's provision for his people. Then when you turn the page to the book of Exodus, 430 years have passed. 430 years.

And from that time of the time of Joseph to the time of the book of Exodus, the people of God have become slaves in Egypt. Because though Joseph had a good relationship with the Pharaoh, that as the generations came and went and the Hebrew people were super plentiful, then the Pharaoh was insecure and he was afraid there were too many Hebrew people and so he enslaved them.

And in fact, he thought there were too many of them and so he was going to wipe out all the little boys, ages two and under. He told all of the people, all of the maid servants to kill all the little boys. And so Moses' mom has a kid, and she's like, nope, not doing it. And so she wraps up Moses in this little basket, puts him in the river and says, good luck.

Praise and just basically says, God, he's yours. Would you please take care of it? And the crazy thing is, is that through the sovereign hand of God, some of Pharaoh's people were hanging out down river, and here comes little baby Moses in the basket. And so they take baby Moses, they take him in, and they say, we're keeping him. It's kind of like a puppy. But they say, we need help to raise him. And through God's sovereignty of all the people in the world that they hire, to be able to, to raise baby Moses, they hire his mama.

And so Moses grows up, the prince of Egypt. He grows up in the household of Pharaoh. It's pretty awesome. Now, what he doesn't realize, and what they don't realize, is that God has been preparing Moses his entire life to know the inner workings of Pharaoh's house. And then one day, when Moses, as a young adult, the Bible doesn't say exactly how old,

he has a passion for the people of God, and he sees an Egyptian bullying one of his brother. and so he kills the Egyptian. And then like a cat, he tries to cover him up with kitty litter, sort of. He just kind of buries him in the sand. Well, word gets out that Moses is a murderer, and because Moses is a murderer, he's afraid, and he takes off running, and he goes to work for his father-in-law, and he thinks it's over for me. So we're going to pick it up in chapter 2, verse 23.

And one of the things I want you to pay attention to is that God often uses, the very thing that we are most passionate about and oftentimes the things that gets us in the most trouble for his glory. Moses thinks he screwed up everything for the rest of his life. Chapter 2, verse 23 says this. During those many days, the king of Egypt died and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came to God, came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel, and God knew.

Some of you just need to hear this. Some of you are in a very difficult time in your life, and I just need you to hear this. God sees you, God hears you, and God knows. Now, if you've done this Jesus thing for any time at all, you will really really, that oftentimes God timing and our timing are not the same timing, can I get an amen? So I know sometimes you pray in real hard on Sunday and he gets through about Tuesday and you're like, where are you, God? Well, he's hanging out for 430 years before he does anything about this one. But he, and I'm going to tell you, man, he's never late, but he's rarely early.

But God all throughout this time has a plan and God knows your situation. He loves you, he sees you, He knows you, and he has a plan, and God often uses us to accomplish his purposes. Chapter 3, verse 1. It says, now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness, and he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And here's the thing about this day. Moses thought it was a day just like every other day. Moses has been doing this for 40 years.

And at this point in Moses' life, Moses thinks it's over. He thinks his life is over. Not that he's dead, but he thinks he's purposeless, he's passionless, and he is not productive. You see, his life started out so strong. He was the prince of Egypt. He grew up in the house of Pharaoh. He had access to everything. And then because of one decision, everything changed like that.

And now he's looking at his life. probably thinking, what a waste. Then in one mistake, he feels like he's ruined everything. You ever feel like that? You ever look back at your life and think, what have I done? And you realize you can't blame it on anybody else. You see, I got something deeply theological to share with you right now. You're ready for this?

I want to write this down. You are here. That's right. You are here. And here's what I mean. You used to be there, and then you made some decisions, and now you're here, wherever here is for you. Here in this room, here at any of our campuses, here at home, wherever here is, and you have made the decisions that you have made, and other people have made decisions too that have led you to the place that you are right now.

And some of you think, some of you believe this lie from the enemy that God can't use you here. Well, that's not true, man. Because no matter where you are, I've got even better news, God is here, wherever here is. Where can you go to escape from his presence? If you go to the heavens, he's there. If you go to the depths of shield, he's there. He hymns you in before you and behind you. And Moses thinks this is just another ordinary average day working for my father-in-law,

taking care of these stupid sheep. And the reason I've got to take care of stupid sheep is because I make stupid decisions, and so I deserve to be here. You see, some of you think today is just a normal, normal day. You just got up, you came to church, praise God for that, and you think just a normal, I would do my thing, I'm going to go home, watch the Jaguars win, praise God for that, and that's what I'm going to do.

This day is going to change the rest of Moses' life, and this day changes the rest of our lives. All the way back to this one particular point in history, everything in human history changes. And for some of you, today is going to be the day that you can look back to, and you thought it was just a random Sunday in October, way back in 2022, and you will look back to this very day when you encounter the one true God

and you don't stay here anymore, you go to the place that God has called you to go. That's where we're going. Verse two, and the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked to behold the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside

to see this great sight. Why the bush is not burned. You know why he goes to look at the burning bush? Because he's a man. That's what men do. If men see things on fire, they're like, oh, what is that? You ever been to a campfire?

What do men do? They just sit at it. Look at it. It's mesmerizing, isn't it? That's what he does. And when the Lord saw that he had, and when the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see God called him out of the bush, Moses, Moses. And he said, here I am. And he said, do not come near,

take off your sandals off your feet for the place on which you were standing as holy ground. Now here's the thing. Moses has been tending sheep there for how long? 40 years. Every time I read by this, I think if I'm Moses, I think I'm thinking, you mean this is holy ground? I've been here before. I've been walking around this ground for 40 years. I don't even want to tell you what the sheep been doing on your holy ground for the last 40 years. Which leads to me to 10-ass, has it always been holy ground? Have I been missing this for 40 years?

Now, we know, theoretically speaking, it's holy ground because God has showed up and manifested himself in a unique way. But how many burning bushes maybe Moses walks by for the last? 40 years and he hasn't been paying attention to it. You see, my question to you is this. How many times do you think God may be tried to speak to you to get your attention and you walk right by holy ground

because you were too busy? Because the noise of this world was just too loud. If it wasn't weird, every single weekend when we come into this place together and worship the one true king, the Bible says that God inhabits the praises of his people. Now I'm not asking you to come to church, barefoot, but it would be a normal thing to do for us to take our shoes off here because it's

holy ground. You see, it's kind of like when you walk into a place that has Wi-Fi, you realize that the Wi-Fi is there whether you're connected or not. Do you realize that? Do you know that God is speaking to his people, and what determines whether you hear him or not is if you are connected to him or not? Let me ask you this. If you were God, would you keep talking to you? What did you do with the last thing he told you to do? I don't know about you, but it's aggravating for me to tell people the same thing over and over and over and over and then do nothing with it. And yet God reaches out to Moses, take off your shoes, because you're on holy ground. And he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.

and Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God. You see, you got to think about this. What Moses does in response to God is not saying, you know, I've been meaning to ask you some questions. No, no, no, no. When he sees God for who he really is, when he realizes that he is talking to the one true God, his normative natural response is to bow down in fear,

which is what you should respond. Why? Because think about this, Moses is a fugitive. He's a murderer. He's on the run. And now God's going to show up and go, hey, I want to talk to you for a second. I don't know, maybe this has never happened to you. But when I was in school and they would call my name on the loudspeaker,

Jobb. Martin, please come to the office. I never once thought, I probably won a prize. Never, never, never, never, never. No. I thought, I'm busted, right? You see, the natural normative response to a holy God is this. Isaiah, who is a prophet, says, I have seen the Lord. Woe is me, because I am a man of unclean lips.

When John, Jesus is fishing buddy, the one that he loves, when he sees Jesus in his glorified state, he doesn't high-five him and say, what's up, homeboy, that's not what he does. He falls down on the ground as if he is dead. When Peter, James, and John on the mountain of transfiguration, when they see the transfigured Jesus, they bow down their heads because they think sinners in the presence of a holy God means doomsday for us. And yet, yet what we see on the mountain of transfiguration is that Jesus puts his hand on his disciples and says, do not be afraid.

You see, two things are simultaneously true. That God is dangerous and God is drawing us unto himself. that God is all powerful and God is personal. And through the cross of Jesus Christ, you and I are invited to stand in the presence of the very God that deserves and ought to judge us, but because that judgment has been heaped upon Jesus at the cross, we are invited into his very presence.

You see, again, man, a campfire sometimes is a pretty good image for who God is. Did you stand and you look at that fire? and he simultaneously draws us to it, and it's really, really dangerous. And so, Moses, he hides his face because he was afraid to look at God. Verse 7, and then the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings.

And so I want you to hear this again. If you're hurting, God hears you. If you're in pain, God sees you. If you've been done wrong, God knows. And God loves you and God has a plan. But its timing may not be your timing. Verse 8, I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land,

a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Parasites, the Hivites, and the Jebysites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. You see, what I want you to see here is that God has a plan and God is the active agent in this.

To which if you're Moses, you might be thinking, cool God, so why are you telling me all this? I think it's great that you're going to go save your people from Egypt. I think it's great that you're going to rescue them out of slavery. So why are you giving me all this information? Here's why. because God loves to use his people to accomplish his will.

He loves it. He doesn't have to. He doesn't owe us. But he loves to use his people to accomplish his will. I hope you were paying attention last week when Pastor Adam was talking to us about the next thing to do. The next thing for you and I to do is the thing that brings the most glory to God. The next thing for Moses. to do that is going to bring God the most glory is to be obedient to God in exactly what he is telling

him to do. You see, because what the people in Egypt, the Israelites in Egypt, what they don't know is what they see is pain and punishment, God is actually forming a people. Because God, out of this people, is going to take them to the promised land, and then out of this people in the promised land is going to come a Messiah. And the timing is not our timing. God's ways are not our ways. We can't get our mind around the mind of God.

But you want to know what hangs in the balance for you doing the next thing that God has called you to do? Moses had no idea. You and I have no idea what part of the plan that you and I may play for God's redemptive purposes. Verse 10. He says, come, I will send you. to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. Again, man, God delights in using his people. Not for self-importance, but really for self-denial.

Because God's a good dad, man. God could do it however he wants to do it. But he loves to invite his sons and daughters to come to work with him for his glory. I think I've told you this before, but about five or six years ago, maybe longer than that, seven or eight years ago, my in-laws gave us a trampoline because they hate us and they want to kill us, I think. And on that Christmas day, when I went to put the trampoline together,

I invited JP to come with me. Hey, buddy, you want to help me here? Let me just tell you, how much help do you think he was? Not helpful at all. In fact, at one point I asked him, whose team are you on here, son? This is not hide-and-seek. What are you doing?

And yet, what happens at the end of our trampoline building time, We had all the parts were there. Everybody was still alive. It took us three times longer than it ought to have. We walked back into the house, and Gretchen says, what have you all been doing? And J.P. says, we just built a trampoline. So what you wanted said.

No, no, no. You didn't do anything, but aggravate me who built a trampoline. And yet, even though God does not need us, God delights in working alongside of his children. that you and I have been created in his image, that we are co-creators with him for his glory to accomplish his purposes. Now, you think when Moses heard this, he'd be excited. Remember how passionate he was 40 years ago when he saw the Egyptians beating up the Israelites?

And now he could be a part of redemption for his people. Verse 11, but Moses said to God. You see, everywhere in the Bible I find the words but God, it's usually good news. But when I find the words but me or but I, I or but a person's name, it's not good news. But Moses says to God, here comes the excuses. Who am I? Who am I? Who am I to go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out?

What we're going to see here is Moses gives at least five excuses and insecurities about why he can't do what God is calling him to do. One of the things that happens all the time is I hear people, especially church people, when some tragedy, some bad thing that's going on on the planet and they say, God, why don't you do something about that thing? To which I think God would say, I was asking you the same question. God, why do you let bad things happen to which God would say to his people? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was going to ask you the exact same thing. Because it's crazy here, because when I read this, man, when I read this in the 21st century, I think how in the world is Moses going to give excuses?

He's talking to God through a burning bush. But the same thing would happen to you. I mean, think about this. This is crazy. Imagine, put it in our world today. Imagine if you were on your way to your car after the service. today. You had plans, you were doing your regular thing, and you're walking out to your car, and there's a car on fire. And you were like, what would you do? If you're a man, you'd walk

over to it, you know, just gather up. Look at here. And what if from the burning car, the radio tuned in, Joby, Joby, I'd take my shoes off because I read the Bible, I know what to do. And then what if via the radio of the burning car, God told me exactly what to do, would you think that you would be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, I don't know if I can do that. And I know we think, well, of course I would do what God says. Let me tell you what the burning bush is telling you to do. It's telling you to love God. It's telling you to love your neighbor as yourself.

Husbands is telling you to love your wives. As Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. That the voice of God is telling you to take this gospel into the very ends of the earth and to make disciples everywhere you go of every tribe, tongue, and language. And yet you know what we do? We have excuses just like Moses. Excuse number one, he says this, I'm not enough. I'm not enough.

By the way, guys, you already know this to be true. Ladies, this is the number one fear of every man on the planet. What we are primarily afraid of is this, is that somebody will realize that we are just a sham and we don't have what it takes. That's the fundamental fear. I don't know what your fundamental fear is, okay? But I know what every man's is.

It's this, do I have what it takes? What if I'm a failure? What if I don't have what it takes? And you see, what Moses initially turns to, his excuse number one, when God has a call on his life, is that he wants to focus on himself and not on God. But look at how God responds. He said, but I will be with you. This is always going to be God's answer to why we should not be afraid.

that God is not calling Moses to go show Egypt how great Moses is. God is calling Moses to go show Egypt how great God is. The reason God calls you ain't because of you. The reason that God causes you is to demonstrate God to his people. He says, but I will be with you. And this shall be a sign for you that I have sent you. and listen to the sign. I love this so much.

When you have brought this people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. Do you see what he's saying there? If Moses is like, how do I know what's going to work? He goes, here's the sign. It's going to work. You're going to look back one day and be like, golly, he was telling the truth.

The sign is it's going to work. And you can decide if you believe me going into it or you can decide if you believe me after I do it, but what you decide does not change what I do, it's going to work. And then Moses said to God, here comes excuse number two. If I come to the people of Israel and I say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they ask me, what is his name? What shall I say to then?

It's kind of a weird question. He just said he's the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And he goes, so what's your name? Here's his excuse. What if they don't believe me? What if they don't believe me? Because I don't know if it's going to work. And God says to Moses, this is very important.

He gives Moses and to us his covenant name. It's translated in English, I am who I am. I've talked about this as a bunch. It's called the tetragram. It's just four letters in Hebrew, W-8, or H-W-H-W-H. In English, if you grew up in Dillon, it's pronounced Yahweh. Some people, some like rabbis pronounce at Haya, but it reminds me a karate.

It throws me off, so I can't, I don't think his name is. Haya, okay? It's just Yahweh. It's hard to translate in English. like eternally present, I am that I am, that in the past God is, in the now God is, in the future he is already there, that maybe this is why in the heavens, the angels and the elders are gathered around singing the forever worship song, who was and is and is to come, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. What they are singing to God is Yahweh, Yahweh, Yahweh. And it's not his title,

like Adonai. It's his name. It's his covenant name. It's his first name. It's supposed to sound like breathing in Hebrew. Yahweh, to breathe out, to breathe in. That God Almighty, he says, I am with you, and I am as close as your next breath. This is who he is. God said to Moses, I am who I am, and he said, say this to the people of Israel. I am. That's Yahweh has sent me to you. God also said to Moses, say this to the people of Israel, the Lord, that's Yahweh again. So anytime in the Old Testament, when it's translated, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, that is the covenant name, Yahweh. That the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, the Lord, Yahweh. the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me saying, I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amarites and the Parasites and the Hivites and the Javisites, a land flowing with milk and honey.

And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, the Lord, The God of the Hebrews has met with us and now please let us go a three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Here's what he's saying. You go before the people and you say that Yahweh has sent me. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob has sent me.

In other words, Moses, what you're about to do is not new. It's just your turn. And you remind the Israelites that the God who was faithful to Abraham, you know, that the God who was faithful to Abraham and faithful to Isaac and faithful to Jacob, that same God who worked in your great, great, great, great, great grandparents' life is going to work in your life too. Church of 1122, I need you to hear this. What God is doing in us and among us and through us and to us is unbelievable. Unbelievable. We had 347 people get baptized just on saturated Sunday. Amen? Praise God for that, man. Praise God. We've had thousands of people come to Christ.

through this ministry over the last 10 years, but please know that everything that God is doing in us and through us and to us is not new. It's just our turn. That we stand on the shoulders of faithful men and women who have gone before us, who have faithfully preached the gospel in this city, who have prayed in this city, who have asked God to move in miraculous ways in this city. And all of those prayers have come together, and you and I are being used by God. God, it's not new, it's just our turn. And so he tells them, Moses, you tell them that. Verse 19.

But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. Here's what I love about this. God says, Moses, I want you to go and you tell Pharaoh, let my people go. And here's what I want you to know. It ain't going to work. until I make it work.

That's what he's going to say. You see, oftentimes, one of the biggest excuses that we bring to God when he calls us to do something is this. Well, God, what if it don't work? And what God is saying, of course it ain't going to work. Until I make it work. And when I make it work, nothing can keep it from working.

And until I make it work, I don't care how hard you work. It ain't going to work. Because who's your trust in, Moses? Is your trust in you? Because if you put your trust in you, It's never ever going to work. If you push your trust in your strategy and your five-year plan and your marketing scheme and your hiring strategy, it's never going to work.

Ferra ain't going to pay no attention to you. Who are you? Dumb old shepherd out here for 40 years, don't even notice when it's holy ground you're walking on. But when I decide to use somebody like you, you can't stop it. But I know that the King of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it. After that, he will let you go.

And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. And when you go, you shall not go empty. But each woman shall ask of her neighbor and any woman who lives in her house for silver and gold and jewelry. Look, women have been asked for that stuff for a long time. For silver and gold, don't email me, okay? And for clothing, you shall put them on your son. and on your daughters, so you shall plunder the Egyptians. You see, one of the things that I hear often in evangelicalism,

which is the dumbest thing I've ever heard, is this, God will never give you more than you can handle. Oh, help you. You realize the whole basis of the gospel is we can't handle it? There's nothing you can't handle. I need you to know that, okay? that the whole point of the gospel begins with, blessed or the poor in spirit,

because when you're poor in spirit, you realize that you're spiritually bankrupt and that you need someone to do for you what you cannot do for yourself. What God is sharing here with Moses is two things simultaneously. In and of your own power, there's no way you're pulling this off. But if you will partner with me

and be submissive to be and be obedient to me, then your mind cannot even comprehend all the things. that we're about to do. You see, you think that maybe I can just get the people out of slavery, but I'm about to tell you that when I get my people out, they're going to go door to door, and they're just going to collect cash and prizes. They're going to have cash just falling out of their pockets as they walk across dry land on the Red Sea. That God is going to accomplish exceedingly more Moses than you could ever hope or imagine. You see, Moses, it's not going to work until God makes it work. Now, what's great is.

here is that God is neither dependent nor measuring our success, but what God is looking at is our obedience. Do you remember the parable of the talents? Do you remember what he tells the men that make it in? He does not say, well done, good, and fruitful servant. He says, well done, good and faithful servant. Because God measures our faithfulness, the fruitfulness is just up to him. And then sometimes God chooses to be glorified in our successes, and sometimes God chooses to be glorified in our failures. But it's God that gets the glory. So what do you do? You just do what God tells you to do, and then you trust him with everything else. Chapter four, then Moses answered, here comes the third excuse. But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice,

for they will say the Lord did not appear to you. His excuse number three is, again, it's not going to work. Who's going to believe me? Which I get, because if you open, with God told me. Then most people think you crazy, because it's what crazy people say, okay? It happens to me every week. But what did you do? What did you do with last week's sermon? I mean, Pastor Adam said the next thing for you to do is do the next thing that would

glorify God most. Did you actually do that thing? Because you knew, when you were in church, whether you listen online or you're sitting in one of our buildings, you knew that moment, you know what it was. And it could be huge for you. sell it all and go be a missionary somewhere? Or it could be a new attitude for you. Go back to work tomorrow, just go as a missionary.

Or it could be pick up the phone and begin to reconcile. Or it could be offer forgiveness. But did you do the thing that he told you to do? Or did you bring excuses? Our excuses are a little different than Moses. Some of us are like, I'm too busy. Too busy doing what? That I care too much about what everybody thinks?

that I'm afraid, that honestly I'm in loving my comfort. What is it? What are you doing with the thing God has called you to do? And then look how God responds. Verse two, it says, and the Lord said to him, what is that in your hand? And he said a staff. Now, here's what you've got to understand here.

When he says, what is that in your hand? It's not just the shepherd's staff. It is the symbol of his staff. sin and his shame because he wouldn't be a shepherd working for his father-in-law if he hadn't killed the guy back in Egypt 40 years ago and run and hid and just be content to live this life. God's saying, what is that in your hand? He's like, oh, this thing. You mean my embarrassment?

My regrets? The thing that I'm ashamed of? The thing that I hide behind? You see, I don't know if you know this, but God is sovereign over all things. and that God can use the thing that you're most ashamed of. God can use the thing that has gotten you in the most trouble. God can use the thing that the enemy tries to beat you down with, and that can be the very thing if we will turn it over to God

that God uses for His glory and to change the whole world. So what's that in your hand? Answer that question. What's in your hand? Maybe it's a relationship, a career, resources, a skill, a heart, a passion. That's why we did that video, man. My friend Brad Bowen, I met him 12 years ago, 14 years ago or something.

He was a general contractor. And honestly, when I met him, his life was a wreck. It was all jacked up. Goes on a mission trip with me, gets saved, gets baptized, came to work on staff at 1122 for a couple of years. And what he began to realize is that what God was calling him to do was to not leave his vocation so he could be a professional Christian and work at church.

That's not what was in his hand. But what God had put in his hand was a general contractor's license and a hammer. And he just leveraged that thing, the thing that he knew how to do for the glory of God so that people would meet Jesus. Because Jesus changed his life. One time we were in the truck, this was a little inappropriate, we were in the truck going hunting one day. And he's like, I can't remember how old he was then. But he was good looking, smart, good business.

Everything was lined up and he was single. And I was like, bro, how are you single? I mean, you're smart, good-looking, great dude, you got money now. How in the world are you single? And he thought about it for a minute. He looked at me and he said, you know, it was a lot of fun until I met you. That's what he said. Here's what he actually meant, man.

He meant his whole life was different. What used to be a priority was now not a priority. And I didn't change his life. I can't change the people's minds that live at my house that I pay to eat. You don't understand what I'm saying. I can't change nothing. But I told him about Jesus, and Jesus changed his life. And God asked him the question, what is in your hand?

And he looked at his hand, and he simply used the thing that was in his hand and said, all right, God, how about I just give this thing to you? And you use me and this thing in my hand however you see fit. And God used that man to change a whole bunch of worlds. And God used this man, Moses, to change the entire world. He says, what's that in your hand? And he says, a staff. Verse three, and he said, throw it on the ground.

So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. On the one hand, you can't blame him, all right? If you see a stick turned into a snake, you'd probably run too. But the crazy thing is, is please, whatever you do, don't run from God's demonstration of power in your life. Honestly, I see it often, man. I see people kind of, they know God's drawing them to himself, and then he demonstrates power. He does something miraculous, and then people take off because you're so comfortable in the life that you had that we can have a tendency to run away from what God has in store from us.

And then God's going to give Moses three tricks. So here's what he's saying. When you go before the Pharaoh, I'm going to give you these three tricks. Okay? By the way, I just let you know, God is fine with tricking people. So if you got tricked to be here this morning, God has no problem with it. If somebody's like, hey man, I'm going to go to breakfast, and they threw a hot pocket in your lap and they drove you to church. God, it's totally fine with it, all right?

Verse four, but the Lord said to Moses, put out your hand and catch it by the tail. And so he put out his hand and he caught it and it became a staff at his hand. And here's God said, I'm giving you these tricks and here's why, verse five, that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob has appeared to you. He's saying, I'm giving you these tricks not to demonstrate your power. but so that these things will point to me. And then verses six through nine, he gives them two more. He's like, all right, if the staff to the snake thing, if that's not enough, take your hand, stick it in your cloak,

pull it out, it's got leprosy. Stick it back in, pull it out, it's fine. All right, that's two. Third, go get a little water from the Nile, put it on the ground, it'll turn to blood. So if you stand before the people in power and says, God said, let my people go. And they're like, who are you?

You can throw a snake down, you pull out your hand, and you get a little water, throw it on the Nile blood. That's going to be your blood. That's what you can do. Okay? Now listen, man, you would think that would be enough for Moses, right? Because I'm telling you, regardless of how good I can preach, if I could do that, if I could take a stick and throw it on the ground,

it turns it to a snake and then pick it back up and miss a stick, we would have a growing church. All your one mores would come. You'd be like, you've got to come to my church. Be like, why? What does he do? Well, he can't speak good, but he can stick his hand in. and it comes out, got leprosy, and pull it back out, and it's fine again.

What? Are you serious? Seriously, you can bring your hydrophlask, and he could just pour it out, and it turns into blood, all right? You would. You think it would be enough for Moses? Nope. Verse 10, but Moses said to the Lord. There comes another excuse. Oh, my Lord.

I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and tongue. He says, I don't have what he says. takes. I'm not a good speaker. I'm not talented enough. Moses is basically saying, God, here's my problem, I stutter. And God says, yeah, but I don't. Why you keep talking about you, man? From the very beginning, this has not been about you. Remember, I am with you. So God solves his problem. Then the Lord said to him, who has made man's mouth, who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I? The Lord, now therefore, go and I will be with you. your mouth and teach you what you shall speak. He's saying, I'm not choosing you because of you.

I'm choosing you because of me. Listen, I know this firsthand. Okay? First Corinthians chapter 1, 1, verse 26, the following says this, for consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing, things that are, so that no human being may boast in the presence of God.

And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, let the one who boast. boast in the Lord. I can tell you, man, I think God was like, you know what? I want to manifest from 1 Corinthians 1. I need something low and weak and not that smart. There's a high concentration of that in Dillon, South Carolina. Why don't I just pluck this one out? Talk, boy. You see, God's saying, all of your excuses about you, that I use the weak to demonstrate my strength. I use the foolish things of this world to demonstrate to everybody that it's not the talented.

It's not the best and the brightest and the smartest. How about this? Anybody at our church, were any of you, were any of you a valedictorian in high school or college? Anybody, if so, raise your hand really high. Anybody? I didn't expect we would have one at 1122. Okay, none? Are you serious? How about maybe like a National Honor Society? Anybody was in the National honors, raise it high, you better extend that elbow. Come on, higher, higher, higher. Okay, all of you, smarty pants, all right? Listen, listen.

I've got good news. God can even use you. It's just much harder, all right? Than using nobody's like us. Why? Because God is the one that gets all the glory. Verse 13, but he said, oh, my Lord, please send someone else. Here's his last excuse.

Can you just get somebody else? then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. And he says, is there not Aaron your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you both what to do. He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him.

please notice how patient God is. We're on the fifth excuse. And then after the fifth excuse, after God, every time he makes an excuse, he's like, quit focusing on you, man, if you'll focus on me, all your excuses will go away. And then he does it again. Can you just get somebody else?

And then finally, he gets anger. God is so patient with us. How many excuses does it take for you? to get angered. Moms, this afternoon when you've asked your child to do whatever glorious thing you've asked them to do. Okay?

Do you just patiently wait five times? Ha, ha, ha. Let me tell you how many excuses it takes me for my anger to be kindled. Less than one. When I begin to smell that the first half of one begins to come my way, I'm just like, and everybody on staff knows the death blow,

if I hear an excuse, and I'm like, no, don't worry about it. Here, I'll take, I'll handle that. No, I'm sure you're busy. Just give that back to me. Aren't you glad God doesn't treat us that way? Aren't you glad God is patient with us? You see, here's something to pay close attention to.

God has to be stirred to wrath, but God is love. That God's predisposition towards us is love, and the Bible says that love is patient. verse 17 and take in your hand this staff with which you shall do the signs and so moses picks up the thing that's in his hand which represents all of his mistakes his sin his shame the thing that he was running from and god uses that very thing and his obedience to god and then he uses moses to change the world that god uses the very sign of moses's shame and excuses to be the sign and symbol of God's power. And if you don't know that that's God's M.O., then look at the cross.

You see, you might look back at things in your life and think, well, I am disqualified. How in the world could God use my life? I'm just telling you, if we were all at the foot of the cross out Galgotha 2,000 years ago, and we didn't know that Jesus was going to be resurrected three days later, and we were standing there, and we saw the sin of the world heaped upon the son of God, and we saw the Roman army trying to shame the son of God. And we saw this spectacle that God became flesh and they were killing him. We would have a tendency to look at God and be like,

God, what are you doing? Have you completely lost control? And he would say, no, I'm using the worst thing that has ever happened in all of human history to redeem the world. And so if he uses the cross that way in our lives, then surely he can use you. Surely he can use you with your spiritual gifts and your heart and your aptitudes and your personality and your pain and your past and all of those things. He simply asked you this question.

What's in your hand? Will you bring that to me? Will you bring that thing to me? And will you just do what I am telling you to do? And then what's crazy, man, I don't have time to go through it. But if you keep going in chapter four, the next thing that Moses does, He doesn't just send his father-in-law an email. He'd be like, I quit.

Here's my two weeks notice. God told me to go to me. That's not what he does, man. Because if God actually tells you to do a thing, you don't have to tell everybody else that God told you to do it. Because God will always, always fulfill his promises. He will always confirm what he calls. And so he goes back to his authority, and he explains,

I think this is my next step. I think the next thing God is calling me to do is to go to Egypt. and his authority says, go in peace. Here's the point. That God does not call the equipped, but he equips the called. But God does not call the equipped, he equips the called. And the question for you, not the person sitting next to you, you, the person you brush your teeth with this morning. That's the you I'm talking about.

What is he calling you to do? What is the next thing for you to do? Because the reality is this, you can make excuses. or you can make a difference. And you're going to get really good at one of those. I don't know anybody that's good at both of those. That you can make excuses or you can make a difference. And your excuses are always rooted in fear

because they focus on your own shortcomings. But making a difference for the kingdom of God will be rooted in faith because you're trusting in him. Let me ask you a couple of questions that have helped me like crazy. One is this. A guy named Doug Fields asked me this question a long time ago. He said,

for the glory of God if you knew it wouldn't fail. That's a way to figure out what the next thing is for you. What would you do for the glory of God? Because that part matters. See last week's sermon. Because you can't just ask, what would you do if you knew it wouldn't fail? Because you'd be like, I'd play a lotto. That's not what we're talking about, okay?

What would you do based on who God has created you to be? What would you do for the glory of God if you knew it wouldn't fail? And the moment you know what that thing is, And it might be big, man. It might be quit your job, full-time missions. It might be sell a whole bunch of stuff and be radically generous to the kingdom of God. Or it might be seemingly very small.

Go home and keep doing the same thing. Just do it with your mind focused on His glory and not your own. Might be easy. Might be hard. Might be really big. Might be seemingly small. But what would you do for the glory of God if you knew it wouldn't fail? And then the next thing is this.

the moment you know the answer to that question, the next question is, then why aren't you doing it? And be honest. Just say it out loud. I think it'll cost too much. Because I'm afraid. What if it doesn't work? Listen, if you were to ask me that question, what would you do for the glory of God if you knew it wouldn't fail? My answer would be, I'd plan a church in Jacksonville, Florida, to be a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus.

Now, if you, you may look at that and be like, that's cheating, that's cheating, you're cheating, because you already did it. I know. But like 11 years ago, it was the scariest thing I'd ever heard of in my life. I had a million excuses. I've never been a lead pastor. Never been a senior pastor, okay? I don't even own dockers.

You understand? I don't know how to do that. There was a million reasons because of my past, because of my mind, that I shouldn't do this. Jacksonville doesn't need any more church. is how's a Methodist church going to plant a non-denominational church. We got nothing. How, how, how, how, how. That's not, it don't matter, man.

It doesn't matter. Because if God has called you to do this thing, then what we are responsible for is just being obedient by faith to do what he says. And then we leave all of the details, all of the successes or failures, all of the results up to him. Why? Because there's nothing that you. you have that if God doesn't want you to have it, there's nothing that you have that any person

on this planet can keep you from if it's God's will. And there's also, and if it's not God's plan for you, I don't care how hard you work for it. You will never attain it. So what would you do for the glory of God if you knew it wouldn't fail? What would you do? And if you're like, well, how do I figure that out? Man, you pray, you guess, you go. That's what you do. There was some general commands all throughout the scripture about God's plan and God's will for our life. What is your part in the Great Commission? Every command in this scripture is more real than you hearing a verse out of a burning bush. You start with those things. You trust God and you just do the next thing. And if you want to get some real handles on this, tonight at six o'clock, at all of our campuses at six o'clock, we're going to have

a worship service and then I'm going to stand on stage and I am going to share with you the next thing, that God is calling us to as a church. And there's all kinds of ways that people are going to be able to get involved in the city and to the very ends of the earth. And so if you want to know what the next thing is for you, I want you to be here at six or whatever campus you're at, I want you to be there at six. With ears wide open saying, all right, God, what is it? You are calling me to do.

And the thing you've got to pay attention to, some of the things I'm going to say about what it means to be a part of the 10-10 life, about what it means to offer the abundant life of Christ to everybody in our city and to the ends of the earth. Some of these things, the moment you hear them, you think, well, that's too big. We can't do that. Right. That could be the very thing God is calling you to step into. And you know what hangs in the balance?

You have no idea. You have absolutely no idea. So, trust God and do the next thing. Would you please stand and pray with me? our good and gracious heavenly Father God, we love you more than anything because you are the author and the perfector of our faith. Lord, I pray that by the spirit of God in us, you would lift our eyes up off of our circumstances. God, you would get our eyes off of ourselves.

You would get our eyes up off of our excuses. The million reasons in this world why whatever the thing is you're calling us to do won't work and you would help us fix our eyes on the one reason it will, because you said it will. God, may we be a people of faith, not fear. May we be a people that does what you tell us to do. Spirit of God, I pray that you would speak so clearly into the hearts and lives of men and women and students,

that it would be just as clear as your command to Moses about where to go and what to do. Lord, I pray that thousands of thousands of people, Thousands of people would get over the excuses and show up tonight at 6 o'clock. Trusting that you want to speak with your people because you love, like a good dad, inviting your sons and daughters into the kingdom building gospel ministry with you. And Lord, I pray that this day, this day, we thought it was just a normal, average Sunday, that this day will change lives, will change the city, will change the world. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

So church, we're going to respond to the gospel. We're going to sing. And we're going to sing what I just pray. We're going to sing that we would turn our eyes on Jesus, not on our excuses, not on all the reasons why you can't do the thing God is calling you to do, but we would turn our eyes to him. And we're going to bring our first and our best, our ties and our offerings, and we're going to pray.

And I want you, whether you're in the way, way back or right down front, I just want you to think this is the burning book. This is holy ground. Keep your shoes on. Don't make it weird. Okay. But why don't you come kneel before the Lord and say, what are you calling me to do? So let's sing, let's bring, let's pray. Let's respond.