1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,360 Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. 2 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:18,720 This season of messages takes us through some of the great comeback stories in the Bible. 3 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:23,820 Pastor John Metter of Cross City Church will show us how God can take any situation in 4 00:00:23,820 --> 00:00:27,800 any life and bring hope and victory out of hardship. 5 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:34,680 These messages will inspire you to trust God in your own challenging seasons. 6 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:36,280 I am so glad that you're with us today. 7 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:39,440 I want you to take your Bibles and turn to the book of Exodus, the second book in the 8 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:41,440 Bible, Genesis and Exodus. 9 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:46,080 Today I want to talk to you about your past need not define you. 10 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:50,040 Man, isn't that a good word that you don't have to be defined by your past? 11 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:53,960 How many of you in the room would say, I've got some things in my past I don't want to 12 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:55,080 define my future with? 13 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:56,080 Would you raise your hand? 14 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:58,320 I guess most of us in the room. 15 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:01,920 God's Not Done With You is our message series and it goes by the same name as the book that 16 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:03,680 we're releasing today. 17 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:05,240 I just want to make that available to you. 18 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:08,480 If you're a guest, in particular a guest, let me just say this to you if you're a first 19 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:11,120 time guest, please come to our guest reception room. 20 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:12,120 We have a free book for you. 21 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:16,800 We have books available at discounted price for everybody in the room. 22 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:20,160 But for guests, we want you to be able to have a free one so we've made that available 23 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:22,760 to you and I hope that you'll come by. 24 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:26,280 And I hope that you'll commit for the next eight or nine weeks as we walk through this, 25 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:28,520 God's Not Done With You. 26 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:32,320 Because every week we look at a different character, a different person that thought 27 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:36,560 God was done with them because of something in their past or because of circumstances 28 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:41,360 that they were going through or some trial that they were going through. 29 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:45,520 In the end, they look back on their lives and said, God was not done with me. 30 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:48,040 My great surprise, he wasn't done with me. 31 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:52,360 And today we're going to look at a very important figure in the Old Testament by the name of 32 00:01:52,360 --> 00:02:00,280 Moses, who was defined by his past for about 80 years until God broke through in his life. 33 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:04,960 You know, I love the testimonies of people in this church present day because so many 34 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:10,680 of us have testimonies like that where we have a past and now Jesus Christ has intervened 35 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,800 in our life and now we have a whole different future because of the presence of God, the 36 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:15,800 presence of Jesus. 37 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:19,480 Now, one of my favorite guys is a worship leader in this church. 38 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:21,040 His name is Brad Riley. 39 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:27,800 And I have his permission to share intimate details about his life. 40 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:29,720 So Brad leads with joy. 41 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:33,520 He leads with contagious enthusiasm, with excellence. 42 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:37,000 He's a young man that I just really love to be around. 43 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:41,680 I remember an office conversation about two or three years ago. 44 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:44,280 And for some reason we were talking about 2006. 45 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:49,000 I came to this church in 2006 and some of those that are on staff now were there back 46 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:50,000 then, some were not. 47 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:51,000 And Brad was not. 48 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,640 And so I said, Brad, where were you when I came in 2006? 49 00:02:54,640 --> 00:02:58,240 And his answer was, I was in jail with my father. 50 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,240 And I thought, how'd you get on staff? 51 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:03,080 I mean, did I miss that part? 52 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:08,040 Did I not interview very thoroughly? 53 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:15,960 But what God did in Brad's life was so significant that he was not defined by his past. 54 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:19,880 That whatever happened in the past had been forgiven and redeemed to such a significant 55 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:24,760 way that he leads worship for hundreds and thousands of people every single week. 56 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:29,040 I mean, I can just give glory to God for something like that, can't you? 57 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:31,320 That is such a big deal. 58 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:35,880 However, not everyone can say that yet. 59 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:40,560 Everyone has the opportunity to have their past redeemed and changed so that their future 60 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:42,000 is not defined by their past. 61 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:48,320 But not everybody in the room can tell that story yet because they haven't yet seen how 62 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:50,080 God can do that in their life. 63 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:51,840 And that's what today is all about. 64 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:56,160 I want you to consider the life of Moses today, the life of Moses. 65 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:58,100 When you think of Moses, you think of a great leader. 66 00:03:58,100 --> 00:04:01,920 You think of perhaps the Exodus, maybe the parting of the Red Sea. 67 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:07,200 You think of Moses as being this great, great leader whom God used in a powerful way. 68 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:13,960 But what you don't see is 80 years of living before God started using him in a significant 69 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:17,120 way with lots of bad things in his past. 70 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:21,520 And a short look at Exodus 2 and Exodus 3 will tell us that story. 71 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:27,040 I want you to stand with me as we read Exodus chapter 2, verses 10 through 15. 72 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:33,780 Now, the first nine verses have some detail about Moses' life that you will remember. 73 00:04:33,780 --> 00:04:38,400 He was a baby that was under the threat of the Pharaoh who wanted all Hebrew babies to 74 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:39,680 be put to death. 75 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:43,600 His mother preserved his life because the Bible says he was a beautiful child. 76 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:48,320 And of course, every mom thinks her child is a beautiful child. 77 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:51,920 And reality is God rescued him in a unique way. 78 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:56,160 She put him in a reed basket and put pitch around the bottom of it, put him in the river 79 00:04:56,160 --> 00:05:00,120 Nile and Moses was discovered by Pharaoh's daughter. 80 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:05,440 As soon as he was discovered, Moses' sister runs up and said, can I find a nursemaid for 81 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:06,440 you to help? 82 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:09,040 And of course, that nursemaid was Moses' own mother. 83 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:14,240 So he was miraculously delivered and raised in Pharaoh's palace. 84 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:19,400 Verse 10, however, takes a turn in his life that we'll pick up the story with. 85 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:24,240 Verse 10, the child grew and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. 86 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:28,240 And she named him Moses and said, because I drew him out of the water. 87 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:32,960 Now it came about in those days when Moses had grown up that he went out to his brethren, 88 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:37,640 that would be the Hebrew people who are in bondage to the Egyptian people. 89 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:43,480 And he looked on their hard labors and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his 90 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:44,480 brothers. 91 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:47,800 So he looked this way in that and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down 92 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:51,400 the Egyptian and hit him in the sand. 93 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:54,440 He went out the next day and behold two Hebrews were fighting with each other. 94 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:58,880 And he said to the offender, why are you striking your companion? 95 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:02,400 But he said, who made you a prince or a judge over us? 96 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:06,160 Are you intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? 97 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:10,360 Then Moses was afraid and said, surely the matter has become known. 98 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:15,520 When Pharaoh found of this matter, found out, that's this matter, he tried to kill Moses, 99 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:20,680 but Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian and he sat 100 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:23,920 down by a well. 101 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:28,520 Father in Jesus' name speak to us today, show us what part of our past needs to be forgiven 102 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:30,560 and redeemed. 103 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:35,200 Help us to believe by faith that our future is not defined by our past. 104 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:36,920 I ask this in Jesus' name. 105 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,400 All God's people said amen. 106 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:42,760 Please be seated. 107 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:45,920 You know, life is often lived in seasons. 108 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:48,040 I've noticed this about Moses' life. 109 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:52,520 He lives in three seasons of life. 110 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:55,000 He has three 40-year seasons. 111 00:06:55,000 --> 00:07:00,520 The first 40 years is a 40 years of privilege after Pharaoh's daughter discovers him in 112 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:03,200 that reed basket and basically adopts him. 113 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:08,440 He gets the benefit of being raised intimately or one-on-one by his mom, but also in the 114 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:10,680 palace of Pharaoh. 115 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:17,200 And he is excluded from the hard labor that all the other Hebrew people are enduring. 116 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:21,080 So he's got an adopted status in Pharaoh's palace. 117 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:25,840 He's positioned to make an incredible difference in the world. 118 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:30,120 He's positioned in leadership-wise to be able to help set the Hebrew people free. 119 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:33,200 They've been under bondage for dozens and hundreds of years. 120 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:39,600 And so Moses has all that potential about him, but with one angry moment, just one moment, 121 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:41,420 that's in verse 12. 122 00:07:41,420 --> 00:07:43,200 He throws all that feature away. 123 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:49,240 On that one moment in verse 12, he strikes down the Egyptian oppressor, even though everything 124 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:54,560 that was happening was unjust, even though in his mind he could reconcile all that, he 125 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:56,200 still killed a man. 126 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:59,680 He murdered a man and others saw. 127 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:02,300 And all of a sudden he had to flee. 128 00:08:02,300 --> 00:08:08,000 One devastating act of personal revenge that sent him fleeing to the backside of the desert. 129 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:13,320 Now, as you enter into the second 40 years of his life, because he was about 40 at that 130 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:20,280 time, how many of those days and weeks and months do you think he spent in regret? 131 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:22,600 And I would say almost all of them. 132 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,920 I wouldn't think that the backside of the desert was a place where you could forget 133 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:26,920 much. 134 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:27,920 You remember all those other things. 135 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:31,280 He probably entertained ideas like, I will never see my family again. 136 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:33,320 I'll never be around my people again. 137 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:35,680 I'll never be able to lead again. 138 00:08:35,680 --> 00:08:37,480 God will never use me again. 139 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:43,000 I'll never know what it means to be used by God or spoken to by God. 140 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:50,400 And for at least 39.9 of those next 40 years, everything was silent as far as we can tell. 141 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:52,040 God is not speaking to him. 142 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:55,080 He has no clue of what God is going to do in his life. 143 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:59,360 And all of a sudden at the end of that second 40 year period of time, which I call 40 years 144 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:04,900 of darkness, by the way, something happens that's beyond his wildest dreams and imagination. 145 00:09:04,900 --> 00:09:10,440 God reveals himself to Moses and all of a sudden Moses enters into a brand new, the 146 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:15,720 last 40 years of his life, which we know as the Exodus, where God uses him in an amazing 147 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:16,720 way. 148 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:24,280 So what happened to Moses to make his path so redeemed and so changed that God can use 149 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:27,160 him so powerfully in the future? 150 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:28,740 You're going to want to know. 151 00:09:28,740 --> 00:09:32,360 And we find it in Exodus chapter two and Exodus chapter three. 152 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:37,040 And Moses' life is going to remind you that your past, no matter what it is, does not 153 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:38,040 need to define you. 154 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:41,080 I know some of you in the room today are thinking about your past. 155 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:42,140 I hope you are. 156 00:09:42,140 --> 00:09:45,480 I hope you're thinking about something you said, something you did, something you didn't 157 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:47,240 do that you should have done. 158 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:50,720 I hope you are thinking about some way that you betrayed someone. 159 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:56,040 I hope you are thinking about something that may even be criminal, something that is always 160 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:58,360 a smear on your life story. 161 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:00,660 I hope we're thinking about that for just a moment. 162 00:10:00,660 --> 00:10:04,840 And the reason I hope you're thinking about that, it's because I hope you can see that 163 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:08,080 that God can take even that and redeem it 164 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:09,780 for his good in the future. 165 00:10:09,780 --> 00:10:12,800 Your past does not need to define you. 166 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:17,040 You can look forward to a new kind of future. 167 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:18,760 So what is it about Moses' life 168 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:21,800 that helps us know about this and how to do it? 169 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:23,240 It's really very simple. 170 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:26,460 In fact, it's so simple that it's just a couple of phrases 171 00:10:26,460 --> 00:10:29,600 that help us know the things that help us 172 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:31,240 not be defined by our past. 173 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:33,240 First of all, in the life of Moses, 174 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:35,400 you're going to learn that like Moses, 175 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:37,880 you must listen to God. 176 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:40,520 You must listen to God. 177 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:43,000 Now we're gonna read chapter three, one through five there, 178 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:45,320 and those five verses, we'll learn 179 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:47,880 that God is going to speak to Moses. 180 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:50,040 Now the reason that I want you to pause for a moment 181 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:52,000 before we read that text is, 182 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:54,720 Moses has done things out of his own mind, 183 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:58,720 out of his own heart, and that's what's messed him up. 184 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:00,440 So for the first time in his life, 185 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,480 he needs to stop and listen to God. 186 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:05,560 He wasn't listening to God when he killed 187 00:11:05,560 --> 00:11:08,360 the Egyptian oppressor, he was listening to his heart, 188 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:09,760 he was looking at the scenario 189 00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:11,520 and doing what he thought he needed to do, 190 00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:13,640 but it wasn't what God wanted him to do. 191 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:16,040 And now it's time for Moses to listen to God. 192 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:20,120 After 80 years of life, it's time for him to listen to God. 193 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:22,920 Look at chapter three, look at the first five verses. 194 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:25,880 Now Moses was pastoring the flock of Jethro, 195 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:27,820 his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, 196 00:11:27,820 --> 00:11:31,200 and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness 197 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:33,320 and came down to Horeb, the mountain of God. 198 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:35,080 This is Sinai or Horeb, 199 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:37,560 both words describe the same mountain, 200 00:11:37,560 --> 00:11:42,240 far, far south in the land of the children of Israel. 201 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:44,260 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him 202 00:11:44,260 --> 00:11:46,960 in a blazing fire from the midst of the bush, 203 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:49,740 and he looked and behold, the bush was burning with fire, 204 00:11:49,740 --> 00:11:51,800 yet the bush was not consumed. 205 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:54,040 So Moses said, I must turn aside now 206 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:56,340 and see this marvelous sight. 207 00:11:56,340 --> 00:11:58,600 Now the word marvelous in the Hebrew is a word 208 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:01,640 that defines what this looks like a little bit better. 209 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:05,200 Some translations use the word great, but it means massive. 210 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:09,060 It means intense, the fire is intense, the bush is massive. 211 00:12:09,060 --> 00:12:12,280 This is not a little tumbleweed that's smoking. 212 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:13,260 That's not what it is. 213 00:12:13,260 --> 00:12:15,120 It's a big blazing fire, 214 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:18,680 this huge bush out on this mountain. 215 00:12:18,680 --> 00:12:21,200 And Moses saw this. 216 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:22,960 He said, the bush was burning with fire, 217 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:24,360 yet the bush was not consumed. 218 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:26,600 So Moses said, I must turn aside now 219 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:30,560 and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up. 220 00:12:30,560 --> 00:12:34,520 And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, 221 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:37,440 God called to him from the midst of the bush 222 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:40,000 and said, Moses, Moses. 223 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:41,280 And he said, here I am. 224 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:44,560 And then he said, do not come near here. 225 00:12:44,560 --> 00:12:46,220 Remove your sandals from your feet 226 00:12:46,220 --> 00:12:51,220 for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. 227 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:54,220 Now let me just tell you today, 228 00:12:54,220 --> 00:12:56,280 as I've done a study of all these characters 229 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:59,000 in the Old Testament that God used in such big ways, 230 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:01,460 such great heroes of faith, 231 00:13:01,460 --> 00:13:03,160 I've learned they all have something in common. 232 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:07,640 And one of those things is that God took a past 233 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:10,760 that was checkered at best and transformed it 234 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:14,240 into something that he could use in a glorious way later on. 235 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:17,240 And number two, every one of them had an encounter 236 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:19,540 where they had to listen to God. 237 00:13:20,460 --> 00:13:21,840 They had to listen to God. 238 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:23,480 Because until they listened to God, 239 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:25,440 their life would not change. 240 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:27,760 They had already had the opportunity to live life 241 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:29,440 the way they want to live it. 242 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:31,080 And you have too. 243 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:33,600 All of us in this room have had plenty of opportunities 244 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:37,120 to drive behind the wheel of the car of our life, 245 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:38,360 going wherever we want to. 246 00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:40,480 At some point, that's not good enough. 247 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,440 At some point, that's not healthy enough. 248 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,040 At some point, we want something better than that 249 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:47,480 and we have to take our hands off the wheel, 250 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:49,480 start listening to God about our lives. 251 00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:52,480 So Moses and you, we must learn to listen to God. 252 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:54,480 And let me just say, God may not speak to you 253 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:56,280 the same way he speaks to Moses. 254 00:13:56,280 --> 00:13:58,280 You may not encounter a burning bush 255 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:00,760 that's 20 or 30 feet tall with intense heat 256 00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:02,760 and an angel speaking out of it. 257 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:05,280 That's not what you probably should look for. 258 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:07,800 I mean, I'm just seriously giving you advice. 259 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:10,000 Don't look for a burning bush. 260 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:11,800 But I will also say this. 261 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:15,000 God is able to speak to you in a way that's undeniable. 262 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:18,000 It may or may not be undeniable, 263 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:21,760 it may or may not be audible, but it's undeniable. 264 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:23,800 You may not hear his voice with your ear, 265 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:26,080 but you can hear it with your heart. 266 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:27,840 And you know when God speaks to you, 267 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:29,960 you will never forget that he's spoken to you, 268 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:31,480 that he's led you in a certain way, 269 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:34,840 that he's allowed the words of scripture to jump out at you. 270 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:37,760 There's a million ways God can speak to you. 271 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:41,440 But the important thing is you must listen to God. 272 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:45,840 So let me tell you some things about listening to God. 273 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:48,080 First, let me just say that God can interrupt us 274 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:49,480 to bring change in our life, 275 00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:52,800 to bring us to the point of being willing to listen. 276 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:54,080 If you look in verse two again, it says, 277 00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:56,240 "'The angel of the Lord appeared to him, 278 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:58,840 "'this big burning bush experiences, 279 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:02,400 "'large, intense, and loud.'" 280 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:06,920 Sometimes God interrupts us in loud, intense ways. 281 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:11,680 Sometimes he interrupts us in ways that make us miserable. 282 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:15,160 And sometimes he interrupts us in ways that are marvelous, 283 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:17,520 ways where we're just so stunned by what we're seeing, 284 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:20,960 we have to stop and pause and wonder what's going on. 285 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:23,320 Sometimes we call those situations 286 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:27,680 where we are encountered by God, come to Jesus moments. 287 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:29,680 You familiar with the phrase, come to Jesus moments? 288 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:32,480 Anybody in here ever had a come to Jesus moment? 289 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:34,320 I mean, sometimes it's just the seriousness 290 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:36,760 of the situation is a come to Jesus moment. 291 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:37,720 What am I gonna do? 292 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:40,680 Or sometimes something completely out of our control 293 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:42,280 confronts us in the face, 294 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:43,920 and that's a come to Jesus moment 295 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:45,520 because we can't get through that. 296 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:46,760 We don't know the answer. 297 00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:52,320 So God uses interruptions like these come to Jesus moments 298 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:56,840 in order to help people not be defined by their past. 299 00:15:56,840 --> 00:15:59,600 Moses had a come to Jesus moment, if you will. 300 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:02,480 I mean, we're talking about the whole Bible here, right? 301 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:06,320 Hezekiah had a divine interruption 302 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:08,440 when he was given the death sentence 303 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:09,400 and said he was gonna die. 304 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:12,760 David had a moment where his life was interrupted 305 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:14,640 by the confrontation with the prophet 306 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:15,840 because of David's sin. 307 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:17,360 Jonah had one of those moments 308 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:19,120 where he was swallowed by the whale. 309 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:20,720 I don't know what you call a moment 310 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:22,200 where you're swallowed by the whale, 311 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:24,600 but it ought to be come to Jesus or something like that. 312 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:27,800 Paul had one of those moments. 313 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:30,760 Peter had a lot of those moments. 314 00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:34,040 Those moments where everything halts 315 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:37,240 and God has our undivided attention. 316 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:39,240 You know, it's really important. 317 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:40,280 You won't listen to God 318 00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:41,880 until you have an interruption sometimes. 319 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:43,280 Sometimes we just don't listen. 320 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:44,840 We're not on his wavelength. 321 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:46,120 We don't spend time. 322 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:49,440 We don't open ourselves up to what God may say or do. 323 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:51,360 And those divine interruptions 324 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:53,040 that God allows to happen in our lives 325 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:57,160 are designed for him to speak into our hearts. 326 00:16:58,240 --> 00:16:59,080 And let me just tell you, 327 00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:00,840 it's not just us sitting in this room, 328 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:02,240 but when you are around people 329 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:03,760 and they have crossroads moments, 330 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:08,760 somebody dies in their family, a loss of a job, 331 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:11,920 the loss of a relationship or a marriage, 332 00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:13,160 or they're extremely disappointed 333 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:15,800 by the way life is going for them, 334 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:18,120 those are great crossroads moments 335 00:17:18,120 --> 00:17:21,800 for you to step in and pray for them and encourage them 336 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:24,760 because they're on the verge of having a moment 337 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:26,440 where God is interrupting their lives 338 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:28,440 and wants to speak to them. 339 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:30,080 This is happening in Moses' life. 340 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:31,000 It happens to all of us. 341 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:32,600 And Moses in verse three says, 342 00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:36,800 I must turn aside to this marvelous sight. 343 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:38,160 The second thing about listening to God 344 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:39,760 that's important is that God will speak 345 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:42,360 when we're ready to listen and not a moment before. 346 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:46,520 I'm convinced that God is speaking all the time. 347 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:48,120 We're just not always listening. 348 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:52,520 So God will speak very loudly, very clearly. 349 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:55,360 When we're ready to listen to him, we will hear him. 350 00:17:55,360 --> 00:17:57,440 Verses three and four, I must turn aside now, 351 00:17:57,440 --> 00:17:59,480 see this marvelous sight. 352 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:00,880 While the bush is not burned up, 353 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:05,880 God called to him from the midst of the bush. 354 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:09,200 Now, I must confess that if I saw a burning bush, 355 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:11,320 that I would be ready to listen to God, 356 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:13,080 just like Moses was. 357 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:15,800 But there are other things besides this burning bush 358 00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:17,960 that makes Moses ready to listen. 359 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:21,240 He's now been living on the backside of the desert 360 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:22,880 for 40 years. 361 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:24,120 He has no solutions. 362 00:18:24,120 --> 00:18:26,400 He has no future, no plan. 363 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,400 He's got a different family than he did when he started. 364 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:32,600 He has no idea exactly how God might use him in the future. 365 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:36,560 He knows that the children of Israel are still in bondage 366 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:37,880 and he's still burdened by all that, 367 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:39,640 but he has nothing to offer God. 368 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:41,480 He's at the place where he's saying, 369 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:43,200 I've got nothing here. 370 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:44,920 So I'm gonna spend the rest of my life 371 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:46,240 on the backside of this desert, 372 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:48,280 just doing what I do, just living life 373 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:50,800 with whatever meaning I can squeeze out of it, 374 00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:54,440 missing what I could have had 375 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:56,440 back in the day if I had listened to God. 376 00:18:57,360 --> 00:18:59,240 It was a land of regret in every way. 377 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:01,720 And so Moses is finally starting to listen. 378 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:04,800 I've written this down for myself and for others. 379 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:08,400 He was alone, he was listening, he was ready, 380 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:10,840 he was humble, and that's why he could hear God. 381 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:13,240 There's a really interesting verse 382 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:15,520 in Numbers chapter 12, verse three. 383 00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:16,440 I love to point it out. 384 00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:18,880 It says, now the man Moses was very humble, 385 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:22,240 more than any man, he was on the face of the earth. 386 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:23,720 Don't you think that's an interesting statement, 387 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:26,640 especially when you realize Moses wrote that verse? 388 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:30,040 Let that sink in. 389 00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:35,120 When you look at the context, 390 00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:37,520 and there are some commentators that say 391 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:40,240 that couldn't have been Moses that said that himself, 392 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:41,280 but if you look at the context, 393 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:43,360 you realize what's going on there. 394 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:45,800 Moses is being accused 395 00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:48,200 and he's not willing to defend himself. 396 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:50,360 He was willing to let God defend him, 397 00:19:50,360 --> 00:19:52,640 and that's exactly what God did. 398 00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:55,800 So Moses is basically saying, I'm modest, I'm meek, 399 00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:58,720 I'm not gonna get into this argument at all. 400 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:00,960 In fact, I'm so humble that God has humbled me 401 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:02,760 to the place where I can't imagine 402 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:04,160 anybody more humble than me. 403 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:06,800 It wasn't a prideful statement, 404 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:09,080 it was just a statement of fact. 405 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:12,800 I'm as low as a man can be. 406 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:15,680 And sometimes humility is exactly where you need to be 407 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:17,320 in order for you to hear God. 408 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:20,160 If you're prideful, you'll never listen to God 409 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:23,080 in the first place, and God will never speak to you. 410 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:27,400 You know what it says in James chapter four, verse five, 411 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:29,760 God is opposed to the proud. 412 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:32,600 But you know the rest of this verse, 413 00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:34,680 but he gives grace to the humble. 414 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:37,160 I don't know about you, 415 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:39,320 but I don't think I'm ever gonna win any battle 416 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:41,680 where God is opposed to me. 417 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:43,240 I don't think there's any hope. 418 00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:45,280 No hope for me, no hope for you. 419 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:48,400 But if I could have God's grace, that's where I wanna be. 420 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:51,360 And the humble place is the place where grace comes. 421 00:20:51,360 --> 00:20:53,040 And that's where it was in Moses' life 422 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:54,240 and that's where it'll be in our life. 423 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:58,160 God will speak to us when we're ready to listen. 424 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:00,920 The word humble means to be modest, to meek, 425 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:04,120 poor in spirit, easily led by God. 426 00:21:04,120 --> 00:21:07,480 Now the interesting thing about this phrase, to be humble, 427 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:10,840 is that Moses was on the opposite side of the spectrum 428 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:13,120 when he put that Egyptian to death. 429 00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:15,480 Because what happened was he was prideful enough 430 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:18,120 to think that he could get away with it. 431 00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:20,440 That being raised in Pharaoh's palace was enough 432 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:21,840 for him to murder a man 433 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:25,120 and still be able to move forward in life. 434 00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:27,120 He was also so prideful that he didn't think 435 00:21:27,120 --> 00:21:29,520 he needed God's approval or God's permission 436 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:30,520 to do what he did. 437 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:32,400 He just took matters into his own hands 438 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:35,640 and the result was 40 years on the backside of the desert. 439 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:38,400 So yeah, Moses is talking about humility now 440 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:42,120 because it's his pride that kept him waiting so long 441 00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:44,680 for God to speak to him again. 442 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:46,680 Sometimes we wonder like Moses, 443 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:49,680 why we're not hearing God 444 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:52,000 and why our situation hasn't changed. 445 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:55,200 Why doesn't God help us? 446 00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:57,000 Why are we oppressed? 447 00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:58,760 Why do others have it better than we do? 448 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:01,400 Why is my life as it is? 449 00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:04,800 Sometimes we can get really angry about things like that. 450 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:06,720 And I can tell you that one season of my life 451 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:09,920 was defined by my anger and my anger, I believe, 452 00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:12,160 was rooted in the fact that I'd lost my hearing 453 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:15,080 as a young boy and I just didn't think it was fair. 454 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:17,480 I didn't think it was fair that I had such a hearing loss 455 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:19,800 and such a struggle to communicate, a struggle 456 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:23,520 to make grades in school, embarrassed by words 457 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:25,720 that I would try to pronounce that I'd never heard before 458 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:26,920 that came out funny. 459 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:30,040 Not funny, ha ha, but funny, embarrassing. 460 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:34,680 And I can just remember angry at God, being angry at God, 461 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:38,440 being angry at people because they wouldn't accept me. 462 00:22:39,360 --> 00:22:42,760 And everything I did in that anger turned out bad. 463 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:45,000 It never worked. 464 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:49,200 God had to get me ready before I would listen to Him. 465 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:50,520 He had to get me over my anger 466 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:52,680 and get me to a place of humility. 467 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:54,960 And one of the things that God really convinced me of, 468 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:56,920 and it's something that I live for this day 469 00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:58,360 in so many different ways, 470 00:22:58,360 --> 00:23:01,960 God convinced me that if I could hear or not hear, 471 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:04,280 it didn't matter, but if I could hear God, 472 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:05,800 it was infinitely more important 473 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:07,840 than being able to hear anybody else. 474 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:10,800 I'm gonna just tell you today, 475 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:15,440 it's more important that you hear God than anything else. 476 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:20,840 And God brought me to that place of willingness with that, 477 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:23,960 even though I couldn't do anything about it anyway. 478 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:25,480 God will speak when we're ready to listen. 479 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:29,160 He wants you to be humble and willing to listen. 480 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:31,360 And then something else about listening to God, 481 00:23:31,360 --> 00:23:35,920 one word from God can change our entire lives. 482 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:38,760 If you jump down to verse 10 of chapter three, 483 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:41,120 God gives Moses a command. 484 00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:44,160 He says, therefore come now and I will send you to Pharaoh 485 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:46,640 so that you may bring my people, the sons of Israel, 486 00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:48,560 out of Egypt. 487 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:49,760 Couple of things here, first of all, 488 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,360 think about the fact that the God of the universe 489 00:23:52,360 --> 00:23:54,880 is speaking to a mere man like Moses 490 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:59,440 with that kind of background, with murder in his past, 491 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:01,520 running from all those things. 492 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:03,360 Now God is gonna talk to Moses. 493 00:24:03,360 --> 00:24:05,000 He's gonna speak to him. 494 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:06,200 Please, please listen to me. 495 00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:09,680 No matter how bad your past may be in your eyes, 496 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:12,200 God still loves you, God still has a word for you. 497 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:15,000 Listen to him. 498 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:19,160 Secondly, it's amazing to me that God sends him 499 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:23,080 all the way back to Egypt to the scene of his crime, 500 00:24:24,120 --> 00:24:26,080 to the place where he was foolish, 501 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:29,040 to the place where he actually committed murder. 502 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:32,920 He had to go all the way back so that God could show him 503 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:35,080 when you walk through life by yourself, 504 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:38,840 there's one outcome, but when you walk through life with me, 505 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:41,440 there's a total different outcome. 506 00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:45,160 This time, Moses goes back with the Lord. 507 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:46,680 That's always better with the Lord, isn't it? 508 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:48,080 It's always better with him. 509 00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:52,600 So you've got God speaking one word that changes his life. 510 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:56,560 God often walks us back before allowing us to walk forward, 511 00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:58,560 and sometimes the hardest things we ever have to do 512 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:02,400 is walk back to the most awful thing we ever experienced 513 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,320 in order to overcome it. 514 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,280 Has God ever walked you back to the scene of your crime, 515 00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:09,120 so to speak? 516 00:25:09,120 --> 00:25:11,520 Has he ever walked you back to your most embarrassing moment? 517 00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:15,240 Have you ever had to go back through that time of life, 518 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:19,560 maybe that angry outburst or that embarrassing act? 519 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:24,080 Whenever God's taking you back where you've been before, 520 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:27,560 he's at work, he's at work. 521 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:29,960 He's gonna redeem it, because you're different 522 00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:34,080 when you go back this time when he tells you to go back. 523 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:36,280 So, so important that you recognize that. 524 00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:40,840 Corey Tenboom has this amazing testimony. 525 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:43,960 A concentration camp survivor 526 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:46,160 during the Nazi oppression years, 527 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:49,320 when all of our Jewish brothers and sisters, 528 00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:51,640 most of them were put to death. 529 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:53,360 Corey Tenboom tells of an encounter 530 00:25:53,360 --> 00:25:55,640 with one particular soldier that embarrassed 531 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:56,800 both she and her sister, 532 00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:58,960 stripped them naked in front of everybody, 533 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:01,560 humiliated them in every possible way. 534 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:04,960 And after she was miraculously delivered 535 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:07,640 from that concentration camp, 536 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,080 she began to write of her deliverance 537 00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:13,360 and of the forgiveness that God required of her 538 00:26:13,360 --> 00:26:16,120 for all those that had hurt her so bad. 539 00:26:16,120 --> 00:26:20,320 And as part of writing about that, she began speaking. 540 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:21,920 One day, Corey Tenboom was speaking 541 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:23,560 about the power of forgiveness, 542 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:25,120 and at the end of the meeting, 543 00:26:25,120 --> 00:26:27,880 a man walked up to her that she instantly recognized 544 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:30,240 as that oppressor that stripped her naked. 545 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:34,400 And he said, is this forgiveness you speak of true? 546 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:37,280 Because wouldn't it be marvelous 547 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:40,600 if God could forgive all of us of our sins? 548 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:43,000 And she had that moment where she had to say, 549 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:44,880 that forgiveness is real, 550 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:48,160 and I grant that forgiveness to you by the power of Jesus. 551 00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:51,840 See, those are not easy moments, are they? 552 00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:56,080 But those are moments that God sometimes walk us back through 553 00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:57,880 so that we can have incredible victory, 554 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:01,280 because we're different when we come back to those moments 555 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:04,000 than we were when we first went through them. 556 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,240 God's going to go with Moses this time, 557 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:08,920 and this time it's a much better outcome. 558 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:12,000 Moses will have different results, 559 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,280 and he wants to do that with you. 560 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:16,000 He wants you to have different results 561 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:18,120 because you're listening to him. 562 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:21,200 So first of all, you must listen to God. 563 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:23,720 Second of all, secondly, you must trust God. 564 00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:26,640 If God speaks to you, you can't just listen to move on. 565 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:30,400 You must trust him with what he says to do. 566 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:32,960 So in verse 11 of chapter three, 567 00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:36,000 we see Moses responding to God's command. 568 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:37,360 I'm gonna send you back to Egypt. 569 00:27:37,360 --> 00:27:39,840 He said, who am I that I should go? 570 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:42,720 So Moses is about to make the first step 571 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:44,880 into the greatest season of his life, 572 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:47,560 and he'll become known as the leader of the Exodus. 573 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:49,680 I mean, whole books are written about Moses. 574 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:51,640 Movies are made about then, this man. 575 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:53,880 Everybody wants to be like in Moses, 576 00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:56,080 but he doesn't know that yet. 577 00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:57,680 He doesn't know what his future is. 578 00:27:57,680 --> 00:27:59,720 He doesn't know what God is going to do with him. 579 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:01,160 So he's got objections. 580 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:03,040 What are you doing, God? 581 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:06,360 Who am I that I should go back to that place? 582 00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:09,200 You know I'm wanted for murder. 583 00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:11,920 So how does Moses learn to trust, 584 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:16,920 and how do we learn to trust God with what God says? 585 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:17,960 This is gonna be important. 586 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:22,240 This is gonna be important, so make note of this. 587 00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:24,560 First of all, you must know who God is. 588 00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:30,160 You know who you are, but you may not know who God is. 589 00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:31,560 Moses said, who am I? 590 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:35,080 And God says, no, that's not the right question. 591 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:38,160 The right question God says is, who am I? 592 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:40,440 Who am I? 593 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:44,880 You see, you and God are gonna be a majority. 594 00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:46,480 You're gonna have success. 595 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:48,160 So Moses said, who am I? 596 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:51,440 And God says, you need to know who I am. 597 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:53,080 And God gives him clues. 598 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:55,760 In fact, if you look in chapter three, verse five, 599 00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:58,680 it says, for the place you are standing is holy ground. 600 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:02,280 God first of all says, I am the holy one of Israel. 601 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:04,280 I am the distinct, unique God. 602 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:06,120 There is none like me. 603 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:09,040 Now then in verse six, I am the God of your father, 604 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:12,360 the God of Abraham, Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 605 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:14,960 He's alluding to his eternal nature. 606 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:18,240 I mean, he's going back three or four generations here 607 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:21,200 right away, but the word I am is so significant. 608 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:23,320 The word I am in the Hebrew and the Greek means 609 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:26,480 I always have been and I always will be. 610 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:29,000 It's got an eternal nature to it. 611 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:33,640 Later on when Moses says, who should I tell the Pharaoh 612 00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,400 that has sent me here, he's gonna say to him, 613 00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:38,200 the great I am sent you here. 614 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:39,800 Tell him the I am sent you. 615 00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:42,560 I think God says in verse seven, 616 00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:45,200 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in 617 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:47,880 Egypt, I am aware of their sufferings. 618 00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:50,880 He says, Moses, I may be this holy, infinite, 619 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:54,080 all-powerful God, but I know everything about your life 620 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,400 and I know everything about the suffering of my people. 621 00:29:57,400 --> 00:29:58,640 I have seen it. 622 00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:00,320 I am aware of their suffering. 623 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:03,280 Never for a moment are you out of my sight, Moses, 624 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:04,680 even though you think you are. 625 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:08,000 And then he also says in verse eight, 626 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:10,480 so now I have come down to deliver them 627 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:13,360 and to bring them up and these statements are all 628 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:14,200 unmistakable. 629 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:18,360 God is introducing himself to Moses in a very personal way 630 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:22,560 and God is gonna show Moses how to get to know him better 631 00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:25,000 in these days ahead than he ever did before. 632 00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:28,840 Now you apply those statements to your own life. 633 00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:29,760 Just take a moment to do it. 634 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:34,320 You've thought about your past for a few times today. 635 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:36,320 So God is standing before you today saying, 636 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,280 you're on holy ground if you're near me. 637 00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:40,600 And he's saying, I'm the God of your father, 638 00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:44,000 God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I'm eternal. 639 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:48,680 And he's saying, I'm aware, I'm fully understanding 640 00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:49,920 of what you've gone through. 641 00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:53,720 I know who you are, I know where you're at, what you need, 642 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:57,520 and I will come down and I will meet with you. 643 00:30:57,520 --> 00:30:59,600 Those are the words of God to Moses. 644 00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,360 Those are the words of God to people 645 00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:04,720 who want him to change their lives. 646 00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:06,920 So know who I am. 647 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:09,320 Also know what he does with your past 648 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:11,040 because for some of us, we need to know, 649 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:12,800 God, what are you gonna do with my past? 650 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:14,440 I mean, you say you can overcome it, 651 00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:16,000 but what are you gonna do with it? 652 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:21,040 And God certainly redeems Moses' past. 653 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:24,800 But Moses just keeps bringing that, who am I? 654 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:26,000 What about me? 655 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:27,200 You know my past. 656 00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:28,680 I mean, you say to you, God has a way 657 00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:31,840 of taking care of your past to make it a non-factor 658 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:33,760 for everybody else and a lesson to you. 659 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:34,600 Amen. 660 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:35,440 Hallelujah. 661 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:37,000 Amen. 662 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:37,840 Hallelujah. 663 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:40,520 Moses will never go that same way again, not exactly, 664 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:44,840 because God is gonna show him how he's gonna redeem that. 665 00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:46,880 Now one of my favorite verses is Romans chapter eight, 666 00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:50,080 verse 28, which speaks later on in history, 667 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:52,680 back to everything God does, and here's what it says. 668 00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:54,520 And we know that God causes all things 669 00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:56,920 to work together for good to those who love God, 670 00:31:56,920 --> 00:31:59,800 to those who are the called according to his purpose. 671 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:01,600 Don't you just love that verse? 672 00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:02,560 Yes. 673 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:04,040 I mean, can't you look back in your life 674 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:07,000 and see so many times when God has caused things 675 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:08,440 to work together for good? 676 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:12,080 These words ought to be a life verse for all of us. 677 00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:18,560 God causes all things to work together for good. 678 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:23,840 Now remember, that verse impacted me when I was so angry 679 00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:25,880 at God for my hearing loss 680 00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:28,280 and everything that accompanied that. 681 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:29,720 And I've told this story before, 682 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:32,440 being in my car in the parking lot on the college campus, 683 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:35,160 just fed up with life and kind of fed up with God 684 00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:36,760 and fed up with people. 685 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:38,960 And really, I didn't have the acceptance of people 686 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:40,440 and that bothered me so badly. 687 00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:42,280 At least I thought it didn't. 688 00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:43,800 And I remember God coming to me 689 00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:45,680 and meeting with me in that car. 690 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:49,760 And again, it wasn't a burning bush experience. 691 00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:52,040 I didn't hear anything audibly. 692 00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:54,280 But I remember being impressed so strongly 693 00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:56,040 that God was asking the question, 694 00:32:56,960 --> 00:32:59,640 is my love and acceptance of you not enough? 695 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:00,720 No. 696 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:01,560 Is it not enough? 697 00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:02,920 Do you have to have everybody's love, 698 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:04,040 everybody's acceptance? 699 00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:06,680 Do you have to check everybody's boxes? 700 00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:08,680 Do you have to be everybody's cup of tea? 701 00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:11,640 Is my love not enough for you? 702 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:13,400 Is my acceptance not enough for you? 703 00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:17,560 My life changed from that moment on. 704 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,400 Because at that moment, I was forced to admit, 705 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:26,840 yes, God's love and acceptance is enough for me. 706 00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:28,800 And it ought to be enough for anybody. 707 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:32,520 And the way you live life after you admit that 708 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:34,920 is different from the way you live life before. 709 00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:38,400 You live life differently 710 00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:41,360 when you know you've been accepted by God. 711 00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:45,760 God takes care of our past by forgiving it and redeeming it. 712 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:47,200 That's what he does in our lives. 713 00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:49,520 That's what he did in Moses' life. 714 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:51,400 But listen very carefully to me. 715 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:53,200 Your guilt and your inadequacies 716 00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:56,840 are not any longer the ultimate truth about you. 717 00:33:56,840 --> 00:33:59,600 It's who you were, but it's not who you are today. 718 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:01,480 And it's not who you're gonna be in the future 719 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:03,520 if you will walk with God. 720 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:05,280 Isn't that great news? 721 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:07,680 I mean, isn't that phenomenal? 722 00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:10,280 That God can truly redeem your past. 723 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:13,840 Is that when Moses learned who God was 724 00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:16,320 and how God deals with his past, 725 00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:17,760 then his future was bright. 726 00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:19,880 One more thing. 727 00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:23,440 You need to know how he ensures the future 728 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:24,520 and he does it with promises. 729 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:26,320 If you jump down to verse 12, 730 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:28,520 God says something that I first read years ago 731 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:29,760 and thought, this is odd. 732 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:32,920 But God says when you have brought the people out of Egypt, 733 00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:35,400 you should worship God at this mountain. 734 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:36,680 In other words, God is saying, 735 00:34:36,680 --> 00:34:38,560 Moses, you're right here right now. 736 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:39,400 There's this mountain 737 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:41,480 where you've had this burning bishop experience. 738 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:43,560 Now, when you go all the way back to Egypt, 739 00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:45,280 which was a long way, 740 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:47,960 and you bring all those millions of people out, 741 00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:49,880 you're gonna come back, no matter how long it takes, 742 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:50,720 how many years it takes, 743 00:34:50,720 --> 00:34:52,080 you're gonna come back to this mountain 744 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:53,960 and you're gonna worship me here. 745 00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:55,880 Moses, I know what the future looks like 746 00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:57,880 and you're gonna be back with the people 747 00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:00,560 and you're gonna be back and worship me. 748 00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:01,400 Now, this is Sinai. 749 00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:04,800 This is where not only he saw the burning bush or horrib, 750 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:06,160 it's the second word for it, 751 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:08,200 but it's also the place where he went up on the mountain 752 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:11,560 and saw God write the 10 commandments on the tablet. 753 00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:14,600 These are moments where Moses saw God 754 00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:16,680 and worshiped him in a powerful way. 755 00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:21,800 But God ensures the future by giving us promises now 756 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:25,120 that we have to wait on and walk in. 757 00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:29,200 That's how we hope in God, 758 00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:31,600 by remembering what he's told us 759 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:34,000 and continuing to follow him. 760 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,600 You know, I have promises that I haven't seen fulfilled yet 761 00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:39,600 in my lifetime that I believe God has given me, 762 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:42,200 but I believe he will fulfill them in time. 763 00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:44,160 I'm sure not gonna give up on them. 764 00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:47,560 And I don't believe God will go back on his word at all. 765 00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:48,400 What about you? 766 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:51,480 Have you got some promises that you've got 767 00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:53,200 that you've got promises that you pray about, 768 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:55,440 that you think about, that you've read about, 769 00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:56,840 that you believe God has given you 770 00:35:56,840 --> 00:36:00,360 and are you holding on to the hope of those promises? 771 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:02,720 That's how God ensures the future. 772 00:36:02,720 --> 00:36:05,080 What he says, he will do. 773 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:07,560 So listen to what he says. 774 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:10,400 Listening to God and trusting God 775 00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:13,200 is our part of the abundant life he promises. 776 00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:14,240 Isn't that the truth? 777 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:16,800 You know, I think this is all good news. 778 00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:18,320 Do you think this is good news? 779 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:20,760 I think this is incredible news. 780 00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:23,160 I've got something better for you though. 781 00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:25,240 You know what's better than that? 782 00:36:25,240 --> 00:36:27,160 What's better than that is you and I 783 00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:29,560 are now on the other side of the cross. 784 00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:33,280 Jesus has come, he's forgiven us of our sin 785 00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:36,040 and all of our past is redeemed through the sacrifice 786 00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:38,800 of Jesus on the cross and now God is not with you. 787 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:41,560 God is in you because of Jesus Christ. 788 00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:42,400 Yes. 789 00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:45,240 He's in you. 790 00:36:45,240 --> 00:36:46,080 He's in you. 791 00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:49,840 He will lead you, he will guide you, 792 00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:52,960 he will convict you, he will do everything necessary 793 00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:55,560 to give you the step-by-step instruction 794 00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:57,840 you need to walk with him into the future. 795 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:00,080 Listen, you're on the right side of history 796 00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:03,040 because you're on Jesus' side of history 797 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,440 and he can speak to you at any given moment, 798 00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:09,680 including right now, including right now. 799 00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:14,360 Your past need not define you. 800 00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:19,360 Let God, let Jesus define your future 801 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:23,680 by placing your trust in him. 802 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:29,360 This is a significant moment for people 803 00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:31,320 who are thinking about the life of someone, 804 00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:33,800 taking just about 30 minutes to walk through someone's life 805 00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:36,320 and thinking, wow, what are the high points? 806 00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:38,120 And the high points are very simple. 807 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:41,120 He had to listen to God, he had to hope in God. 808 00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:43,120 He had to trust God. 809 00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:45,520 And if you wanna describe the Christian life, 810 00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:47,240 that's what it is right there. 811 00:37:47,240 --> 00:37:48,800 But in your faith and trust in Jesus 812 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:50,640 and then begin listening to him 813 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:53,480 and trusting him day by day, it's not complex. 814 00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:58,880 But God is there to make a different future for you 815 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:01,480 and you are not defined by your past. 816 00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:04,000 In just a moment, I'm gonna close this in prayer. 817 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:05,080 A couple of things I wanna say. 818 00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:08,480 We have decision stations that are open today. 819 00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:09,840 And I say on this side of history, 820 00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:11,880 your next step is to put your faith and trust 821 00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:13,840 in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. 822 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:17,160 And he puts the Holy Spirit inside of your life 823 00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:18,280 to dwell in you. 824 00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:20,640 And God is not just with you, he's in you. 825 00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:24,320 That's unbeatable, it's an amazing promise that God gives us. 826 00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:27,120 On your way out today, stop at a decision station. 827 00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:28,360 If you're a guest, I wanna invite you 828 00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:29,520 to our guest reception room, 829 00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:31,880 right outside the center exit doors, 830 00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:33,840 across that hallway and that glassed-in room. 831 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:36,560 And I'd love to visit with you for just a few moments. 832 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:37,560 Thank you for coming today. 833 00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:39,520 I'd love to give you a copy of the book. 834 00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:43,120 We've also described that we have books available to you. 835 00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:44,080 God's not done with you. 836 00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:47,120 And we'll walk week by week in the next nine, 10 weeks 837 00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:47,960 in that book. 838 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:49,480 It has 10 chapters, so actually we'll walk 839 00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:50,840 through all of them. 840 00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:54,960 And I wanna encourage you to realize that each week, 841 00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:57,240 we can walk with more and more depth 842 00:38:57,240 --> 00:38:59,600 as to what God wants to do in your life 843 00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:00,560 through those resources. 844 00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:01,880 So I'll encourage you to get a book today 845 00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:04,120 and I'll be available to sign those in just a few moments. 846 00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:06,640 Would you stand with me for a closing word of prayer? 847 00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:13,160 Father, I am so thankful that you give us stories 848 00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:16,040 of real men and real women 849 00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:20,400 who go through incredibly challenging periods in their lives 850 00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:25,520 but who learn to hear you and learn to trust you. 851 00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:29,880 And Father, my heartfelt prayer for people in this room, 852 00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:33,560 for all of us, is that we would realize we can hear you 853 00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:35,720 and we can trust you. 854 00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:39,320 And I don't know, Father, what you're doing 855 00:39:39,320 --> 00:39:40,760 in different people's lives, but I know 856 00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:43,920 that you're speaking to them by your Holy Spirit. 857 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:45,720 And I ask you to make it clear to them 858 00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:49,560 that you have a plan and that they can trust you 859 00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:51,040 and follow you. 860 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,160 So I ask that you do that in Jesus' name, I pray. 861 00:39:54,160 --> 00:40:04,160 Amen.