WES HUMBLE

Your True God Colors Exodus 3:11

A woman and her husband interrupted their vacation to go to a dentist. "I want a tooth pulled, and I don't want Novocain because I'm in a big hurry," the woman said. "Just extract the tooth as quickly as possible, and we'll be on our way." The dentist was quite impressed. "You're certainly a courageous woman," he said. "Which tooth is it?" The woman turned to her husband and said, "Show him your tooth, dear." It is always easier to be brave and courageous when we are making decisions for other people.

Today we are looking at the calling of Moses. It is an unbelievably realistic look at God communicating with someone He wanted to use. It is God finding someone who had been set up for failure. Moses was born into a Jewish family but raised in an Egyptian palace, consequently when he came into adult life he didn’t fit anywhere. One day he came across an Egyptian beating a Jewish man. Without hesitation Moses came to the aid of the Hebrew man and he killed the Egyptian and hid his body. The next day he came across two Jewish men fighting and tried to stop them and they both turned on him and asked if he planned on killing them like he had the guy the day before. Moses realized he was marked as a murder and he fled. Even Pharaoh, whose house Moses had been raised in sought to kill him. Moses ran. He fled the country to the backside of the dessert where no one would no him or recognize him. He was forty years old or so when he fled.

We are looking into the life of Moses forty years after that. He is now eighty years old and tending sheep out in the dessert when God decides to converse with Him. God drew Moses by setting a bush on fire but not burning it up. It was a remarkable thing and Moses went to see it and God called his name.

For forty years Moses had been living a pretty black and white life but now God was speaking to him from a burning bush. For years the people of Israel had been in slavery to the Egyptians. They were miserable and had cried out to God for deliverance. God was looking for a leader. He chose Moses.

God calls everyone who wants to follow Him to do something.

Next week is Servant Appreciation Day and we are celebrating the hundreds of people who serve in this church to make it happen week after week. Some of them you see but most of them you do not. They just quietly go around behind the scenes doing what they do and honoring God with their service. Most of the time God will call us to do something that seems to be beyond our comfort zones.

There is nobody more unlikely then me to be standing here today. (Briefly explain)

But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" So He said, "I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain."

I don’t know if you have thought about it or not but this had to be the most ludicrous proposal in Moses mind and life. I want to deal with his question that he asked God.

The third question in this series is simply this, “Who am I ...”

I want to deal with three scriptural facts from this story today that apply to our lives.

1. People may question God’s ability to use you because of your past.

“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

Moses was overwhelmed because of his past. He was overwhelmed because of his inadequacies.

You may have a very checkered past. You may have done things that you are not proud of but we believe that God not only forgives you but enables you to live a life that is now different and so much so that those around you will see the difference.

You can be so much in love with God that the issues or addictions or sins of the past will not longer hold any power over you.

“Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, "The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, "What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, "I AM has sent me to you."

God is the I AM. He is only one that can say that with authority.

Take you life with all of its imperfections and give it to God and you will be amazed at what he will do.

Scottie Pippen of the world-champion Chicago Bulls is one of basketball's best forwards. But nine years ago in Hamburg, Arkansas, Pippen was just a six-foot-two, 145-pound point guard on his high school team-with no prospects. The coach from the state campus at Monticello told Pippen, sorry, no vacancies. As a "last shot," Pippen worked out with the University of Central Arkansas's head basketball coach, Donald Dyer, who offered him a work-study scholarship to be the team manager. Most players would have been insulted by such an offer, but not Pippen. He had already served as manager for Hamburg High School's football team. Dispensing towels in the locker room as easily as he did the basketball on the court, Scottie Pippen was accepted. Later at Central Arkansas, he would grow to six foot eight and average twenty-three points a game, earning a full scholarship. But first he took the manager's job. That is how Pippen got into college-his last stop before the Chicago Bulls. - Harvey Araton, New York Times

God gives us the ability to overcome our past. It is the story of nearly every great historical figure in Christianity. Read the biographies. It’s not the smartest or most educated that do great things for God, it is the most surrendered to His will.

Another thing that will keep us from attempting to do something for God is our lack of confidence in our own abilities.

2. God will empower us to do things that are beyond our own power.

Moses and God continue their dialogue:

"What is that in your hand?"

He said, "A rod."

And He said, "Cast it on the ground." So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail" (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), "that they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you."

Furthermore the LORD said to him, "Now put your hand in your bosom." And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow. And He said, "Put your hand in your bosom again." So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh. "Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign. 9And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land."

God had a specific job in mind for Moses and he gave him three very impressive tools or tricks you might say that would empower him to do the job of leading the people.

When God calls you and I to do something it is not because of our ability it is because we are available and teachable.

I’ve got to tell you this is wearisome at times. Sometimes you just get tired and that is usually when you’ve been trying to do it all in your own strength. I don’t think God is passing out magic tricks to empower people these days but when something great in ministry happens and you get to be a part of it when its over you’ll stand back and say that was all God.

It is the critical component of ministry most often overlooked. Without God you and I are nothing.

Whatever God is calling you to do He will empower you and enable you to do it as long as you give Him the credit and honor.

3. God allows us to find a workable plan for top performance.

Now here is the most interesting part of this story. Moses has just been talking with God. God is asking Him to go and lead the Jews out of Egyptian bondage. It is a huge task with unbelievable risks and dangers. It is a life-threatening, life-altering move.

Moses decides to go for one more attempt at escaping what God is wanting him to do.

Read verses 10-17 of Exodus 4.

“Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do.”

It is an incredible thing really. God calling on one of us to do something for Him and yet that is how His work gets done. For the most part today we don’t get called to do exciting things like slaying giants, building arks, spending the night in lions dens or standing inside of fiery furnaces.

We get called today to go and tell the good news. We are called today to be the kind of church and Christians that touch the world and the culture where they are living.

I have heard church people all my life whine and say things like I can’t do it or I’m not good enough or smart enough. Your right we’re not. You’re not and I’m not.

I don’t know what you are doing for God or attempting to do for God but you will never experience your true God colors until you do what He wants you to do. Quit holding on to the safe. Quit trusting in yourself. Let go and let God.

If you go to her website you will see an amazing front page. . . it simply and beautifully says, “With God’s help anything is possible.”

She is no longer the reigning Miss America, but she will always be remembered as one of the most impressive winners of the coveted crown. Heather Whitestone overcame tremendous obstacles just to appear in Atlantic City, and then many more after walking down that historic runway. She was accused by some in the deaf community of giving the wrong impression about hearing loss. Because she is so adept at lip-reading and speaking, some deaf leaders said the world would expect the same from all deaf people. She accepted the criticism with grace and continued to reflect the light of her Christian character. When she ended her reign, Heather knew she would be forever tagged as the “deaf Miss America.” Although she does not resist this label, she reminded the world that there are disabilities far greater than physical impairment. She said, “Negative thinking is our country’s greatest disability.” She’s an upbeat Christian who understands adversity and insurmountable odds, yet in her mind there’s no barrier greater than a negative outlook. Parade, Sept. 10, 1995, p. 12

Heather Whitestone simply went out her true God colors.

God is looking at you today and calling you to do something for Him.

No excuses. No whining.

Let go and let God do what He wants to do.

2004/06/20

Sermon Reources available here...