WEBVTT 00:00:00.879 --> 00:00:03.359 Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons, 00:00:03.459 --> 00:00:06.419 a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg. 00:00:07.059 --> 00:00:08.939 It's our hope that these sermons will draw you 00:00:08.939 --> 00:00:11.359 more into the life of following God, Father, 00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:14.160 Son, and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:16.239 and joining with us each Sunday morning at 10 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:18.660 a .m. in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You 00:00:18.660 --> 00:00:21.960 can find us online at secondcitychurch .org and 00:00:21.960 --> 00:00:24.480 on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. We hope 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:29.699 you enjoy this sermon. God bless. Let's pray 00:00:29.699 --> 00:00:33.320 again together. Lord, we're thankful that as 00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:35.799 we read in your word that the grass withers and 00:00:35.799 --> 00:00:38.020 the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands 00:00:38.020 --> 00:00:41.179 forever. So Lord, we ask again today that you 00:00:41.179 --> 00:00:44.740 would speak to us that these texts that are old 00:00:44.740 --> 00:00:48.359 for us, seem forever old to us, might be made 00:00:48.359 --> 00:00:51.079 fresh and new and alive, that you can use the 00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:53.039 words of my mouth, that the meditations of all 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:54.759 of our hearts might be pleasing in your sight, 00:00:54.799 --> 00:00:59.060 oh Lord, our rock and our Redeemer. Amen. You 00:00:59.060 --> 00:01:01.640 may have noticed on the front cover of our bulletin 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:04.079 in this little series we're in in Exodus, there 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:09.079 have been paintings from Mark Chagall's work 00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:10.859 on Exodus. He actually did a whole collection 00:01:10.859 --> 00:01:17.040 from the Exodus narratives. And I have a Mark 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:20.700 Chagall lithograph sort of framed in my house 00:01:20.700 --> 00:01:23.859 that is not from that, but instead it's from... 00:01:24.219 --> 00:01:27.159 the call of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 6, some of 00:01:27.159 --> 00:01:28.780 you might be familiar with that famous passage, 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:33.019 it's a great passage. And there in chapter 6 00:01:33.019 --> 00:01:35.319 verse 8 of Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet, 00:01:35.340 --> 00:01:37.480 you know, he's writing and he says, I heard the 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:40.340 voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:44.140 Who will go for us? And in this lithograph, there's 00:01:44.140 --> 00:01:46.739 this six -winged seraphim pointing and Isaiah's 00:01:46.739 --> 00:01:50.480 kind of looking like this, like me. And you might 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:52.719 know how it goes because Isaiah responds like 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:58.870 this, then I said, Here I am. Send me. Or maybe 00:01:58.870 --> 00:02:04.010 he said, here I am. Send me. I love that passage 00:02:04.010 --> 00:02:06.129 in Emight too. And part of what I love is the 00:02:06.129 --> 00:02:08.610 eagerness and the willingness, the readiness 00:02:08.610 --> 00:02:12.229 that Isaiah has to hear the Lord's voice, to 00:02:12.229 --> 00:02:15.229 go where he is called, right? And in our best 00:02:15.229 --> 00:02:19.430 moments, in our places of deepest and widest 00:02:19.430 --> 00:02:23.289 faith in our great days, we can kind of associate 00:02:23.289 --> 00:02:30.189 with it. But I think also, the fact is that we're 00:02:30.189 --> 00:02:34.650 also often, maybe more often, comforted by the 00:02:34.650 --> 00:02:37.610 words of the father with the convulsing son in 00:02:37.610 --> 00:02:41.530 the gospels that says to Jesus, Lord, I believe, 00:02:42.250 --> 00:02:48.110 help my unbelief. Or maybe we are comforted by 00:02:48.110 --> 00:02:50.150 Gideon in Judges chapter six, when the Lord comes 00:02:50.150 --> 00:02:52.740 to him, and this is what the Lord says. Go in 00:02:52.740 --> 00:02:55.460 this might of yours and save Israel from the 00:02:55.460 --> 00:02:58.960 hand of Midian. Do I not send, do not I send 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:05.800 you? And Gideon's responses, please Lord, how 00:03:05.800 --> 00:03:11.340 can I save Israel? Behold. Look Lord, that's 00:03:11.340 --> 00:03:14.620 kind of what he's saying. Behold, look. God had 00:03:14.620 --> 00:03:17.419 just said, in this might of yours, he says, behold, 00:03:17.939 --> 00:03:21.199 my clan's the weakest. in Manasseh, and I'm the 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:24.020 least in my father's house, which is like, I'm 00:03:24.020 --> 00:03:27.039 the wrong guy here. Or maybe you're comforted 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:30.020 by Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter one, the Lord comes 00:03:30.020 --> 00:03:31.580 to him. This is what the Lord says to him. Before 00:03:31.580 --> 00:03:33.919 I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:35.699 you were born, I consecrated you. I appointed 00:03:35.699 --> 00:03:39.960 you as a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah's response? 00:03:42.020 --> 00:03:52.280 Ah, Lord God, behold, look. I don't know how 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:58.699 to speak. I'm only a youth. I have inability. 00:03:58.819 --> 00:04:01.759 I have inexperience. You probably got the wrong 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:06.360 guy here. And the fact is I can give you more 00:04:06.360 --> 00:04:08.659 examples from scripture. I can give you even 00:04:08.659 --> 00:04:11.560 more from church history of people hearing the 00:04:11.560 --> 00:04:13.759 words of the Lord, hearing what they're called 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:16.639 to do, where they're called to go, and saying, 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:20.509 I don't know about this. questions arise, doubts 00:04:20.509 --> 00:04:25.110 surface, objections abound, rebuttals resound, 00:04:25.269 --> 00:04:28.050 right? And that's part of what we have going 00:04:28.050 --> 00:04:30.029 on in Exodus four for us this morning. Remember, 00:04:30.029 --> 00:04:32.269 we're looking at the life of Moses and part of 00:04:32.269 --> 00:04:33.790 what we're doing is we're looking at the narratives 00:04:33.790 --> 00:04:35.709 primarily in Exodus, but through the life of 00:04:35.709 --> 00:04:38.829 Moses. So we're seeing Israel's story, but more 00:04:38.829 --> 00:04:41.430 than that, we're seeing God and actually we're 00:04:41.430 --> 00:04:45.689 seeing ourselves. It's God's story and our own 00:04:45.689 --> 00:04:49.899 story. And we're here at chapter four, and here 00:04:49.899 --> 00:04:51.740 in chapter four, it's beginning, sorry, it's 00:04:51.740 --> 00:04:53.459 not beginning, it's continuing the story that 00:04:53.459 --> 00:04:55.420 began in chapter three, really they're together, 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:57.879 because here we're still at that burning bush 00:04:57.879 --> 00:05:00.480 event, right? That we talked about last week, 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:03.319 you remember back to last week, God said that 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:05.279 he had seen the affliction of his people, he'd 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:07.600 heard their cry, he knew their suffering, he's 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:10.240 come down to bring them out. And he said to Moses, 00:05:11.060 --> 00:05:17.319 I will send you to Pharaoh. that you may bring 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:22.040 my people out of Egypt." And what was Moses's 00:05:22.040 --> 00:05:29.439 first question? Who am I? Who am I? God's response 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:32.480 is, I'll be with you. And Moses basically says, 00:05:33.660 --> 00:05:38.339 who are you? Who am I? Who are you? I don't know. 00:05:40.019 --> 00:05:42.139 So today we're going to continue this dialogue. 00:05:42.699 --> 00:05:44.980 And mostly what we're going to see is Moses has 00:05:44.980 --> 00:05:49.000 quite a few objections. And yet with his objections, 00:05:49.079 --> 00:05:53.279 God gives his provisions, okay? So let's look 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:56.720 it up. And actually you'll notice that the sections 00:05:56.720 --> 00:06:00.319 that bring up the objections always begin with 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:02.860 but, which is exactly how we so often bring up 00:06:02.860 --> 00:06:05.680 our objections. But have you thought about this? 00:06:06.819 --> 00:06:14.899 So we begin. Now, I think the first one is, Moses 00:06:14.899 --> 00:06:17.740 really, he's like, what if they don't believe? 00:06:18.839 --> 00:06:20.180 What if they don't believe? That's his first 00:06:20.180 --> 00:06:21.839 objection. What if they don't believe? Meaning 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:24.560 the Israelites, right? Now, I know this, that 00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:27.319 Moses does not really ask the question necessarily 00:06:27.319 --> 00:06:33.319 here. Actually, here, yeah, that's okay. Verse 00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:37.970 one, but behold, it's that same word. that Gideon 00:06:37.970 --> 00:06:40.889 used in Jeremiah's Lord Look, have you considered 00:06:40.889 --> 00:06:43.389 this side of it? Can you turn this around and 00:06:43.389 --> 00:06:45.589 see that it's not really gonna work? But behold, 00:06:46.050 --> 00:06:49.769 they will not believe me or listen to my voice. 00:06:55.149 --> 00:06:58.759 This is actually an exact contradiction. of what 00:06:58.759 --> 00:07:00.980 the Lord said in 318. If you have your Bible 00:07:00.980 --> 00:07:03.620 open, you can look back up there, verse 18 of 00:07:03.620 --> 00:07:05.920 chapter 3, and they will listen. This is the 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:08.879 Lord speaking, and they will listen to your voice. 00:07:10.180 --> 00:07:13.639 Moses says, but behold, Lord, they will not listen 00:07:13.639 --> 00:07:19.420 to my voice. I want you to first understand that 00:07:19.420 --> 00:07:25.339 I think Moses' objection is not with some reason. 00:07:25.969 --> 00:07:30.810 It's not like it's not warranted. Think with 00:07:30.810 --> 00:07:34.910 me back not long ago, not five verses earlier, 00:07:34.970 --> 00:07:39.589 but two chapters earlier. What happened the last 00:07:39.589 --> 00:07:43.189 time that we had read about Moses talking to 00:07:43.189 --> 00:07:45.889 some of the Israelites? Did they listen to him 00:07:45.889 --> 00:07:50.470 when he said, why do you strike your companion? 00:07:51.970 --> 00:07:55.759 No. No, they did not listen right. What did they 00:07:55.759 --> 00:08:01.040 say? Well, he who made you Prince over us So 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:03.420 he's got some reason right that's that was their 00:08:03.420 --> 00:08:06.160 response this objection this objection is unreasonable 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:10.139 They're not the excuses that we might make up 00:08:10.139 --> 00:08:14.339 the dog ate my homework My baby sister ate my 00:08:14.339 --> 00:08:17.279 homework. My mom washed my pants that had my 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:19.879 homework in them you know they're not kind of 00:08:19.879 --> 00:08:21.980 like dismiss dismissive he's like they don't 00:08:21.980 --> 00:08:24.399 listen to me lord i've got an example they don't 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:26.379 listen to me and i mean he knew that he had left 00:08:26.379 --> 00:08:28.860 as a fugitive under sentence of death he knew 00:08:28.860 --> 00:08:31.220 that he had spent half of his life not in egypt 00:08:31.220 --> 00:08:38.259 40 years now um would the israelites risk confrontation 00:08:38.259 --> 00:08:42.470 with pharaoh over this guy who had fled and been 00:08:42.470 --> 00:08:45.009 gone for 40 years coming back say hey y 'all 00:08:45.009 --> 00:08:47.870 listen to me let's uh go to pharaoh and say let's 00:08:47.870 --> 00:08:52.210 let let this whole slave people go please why 00:08:52.210 --> 00:08:55.929 would they risk being worse off for that kind 00:08:55.929 --> 00:09:00.370 of effort really why would they believe some 00:09:00.370 --> 00:09:06.570 reports of having met with the lord so i i think 00:09:06.570 --> 00:09:08.330 firstly let's just say like it's kind of reasonable 00:09:08.330 --> 00:09:11.429 we're like how They're not gonna believe. They're 00:09:11.429 --> 00:09:14.789 not gonna listen to me. And I think this is kind 00:09:14.789 --> 00:09:16.769 of reasonable actually even because of God's 00:09:16.769 --> 00:09:23.090 own response to Moses. Almost sort of reminding 00:09:23.090 --> 00:09:27.509 us of Genesis chapter three where Adam and Eve 00:09:27.509 --> 00:09:29.669 sin and God doesn't first come in and say like, 00:09:30.070 --> 00:09:33.990 oh, what'd you do? Do you know what that's gonna 00:09:33.990 --> 00:09:38.370 cost me? God doesn't say, hey, five verses ago, 00:09:38.370 --> 00:09:42.570 I told you they were gonna listen to you. What 00:09:42.570 --> 00:09:47.330 are you saying? How dare you contradict what 00:09:47.330 --> 00:09:49.870 I just told you? He doesn't say that. Instead, 00:09:49.870 --> 00:09:52.490 what he does is he provides some signs for Moses. 00:09:52.610 --> 00:09:54.309 Okay, so let's consider these three signs. First, 00:09:54.370 --> 00:09:57.110 it's the staff, right? God first says, hey, what's 00:09:57.110 --> 00:10:00.330 that in your hand? Most like a stick, it's a 00:10:00.330 --> 00:10:03.049 staff. God says, throw it on the ground. And 00:10:03.049 --> 00:10:04.990 he throws it on the ground and it becomes a snake. 00:10:07.209 --> 00:10:08.950 And, you know, you kind of wonder like, is God 00:10:08.950 --> 00:10:11.029 just showing, we were going to find out this 00:10:11.029 --> 00:10:13.090 isn't just the case later on, but is God just 00:10:13.090 --> 00:10:16.029 showing, ah, look, I can transform things? Is 00:10:16.029 --> 00:10:21.149 it a magic trick? Is it more than that? Is it 00:10:21.149 --> 00:10:23.210 a sign maybe that God can take ordinary things 00:10:23.210 --> 00:10:25.269 and make them extraordinary? I think maybe it's 00:10:25.269 --> 00:10:28.049 partly that. I think it's more than that though. 00:10:29.690 --> 00:10:32.289 God tells him to pick it up. And if you notice, 00:10:32.309 --> 00:10:33.750 there's a funny detail there. He says, pick it 00:10:33.750 --> 00:10:37.529 up by the tail. well you don't pick up snakes 00:10:37.529 --> 00:10:39.990 by the tail you pick them up right behind the 00:10:39.990 --> 00:10:42.850 head because you don't want them to bite you 00:10:42.850 --> 00:10:45.409 and Moses probably very fearfully is like um 00:10:45.409 --> 00:10:49.049 okay but even in that small act what's happening 00:10:49.049 --> 00:10:52.549 is you've got to trust me i can take care of 00:10:52.549 --> 00:10:55.690 it i can take a stick turn into a snake and you 00:10:55.690 --> 00:10:57.470 are not going to get bit you are going to be 00:10:57.470 --> 00:11:01.470 okay reach out take hold you can trust me and 00:11:01.470 --> 00:11:05.580 the second sign is this leprous hand And I imagine, 00:11:06.340 --> 00:11:08.320 I do not like snakes. Actually, one of the most 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:10.600 fearful scenes in any movie that I watched growing 00:11:10.600 --> 00:11:13.220 up was the scene with the snakes in Indiana Jones. 00:11:13.460 --> 00:11:15.600 You know what I'm talking about, right? So I 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:17.519 would hate that idea. I'd be so scared to do 00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:19.779 that. Pick it up by the tail and I'd be like, 00:11:19.820 --> 00:11:23.740 okay, well, maybe I can trust God. But then he 00:11:23.740 --> 00:11:25.600 takes his hand and he sticks it in his cloak 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:30.480 and it comes out and it's leprous. It's deadly. 00:11:31.479 --> 00:11:33.679 And it's not just something that's deadly that's 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:35.659 outside of him, like the snake, but it's actually 00:11:35.659 --> 00:11:41.659 a part of him. He's frail, he's fragile. This 00:11:41.659 --> 00:11:45.039 hand that he has is now useless and God heals 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:49.200 it. Christopher Wright, one of the great contemporary 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:51.159 Old Testament scholars who I hope some of you 00:11:51.159 --> 00:11:53.820 have read. He's one of the really great writers 00:11:53.820 --> 00:11:57.299 on missions in our day too. Says Moses' hand 00:11:57.299 --> 00:12:01.529 symbolized Moses himself. then he too was being 00:12:01.529 --> 00:12:05.230 transformed from uselessness to useful again. 00:12:06.909 --> 00:12:08.889 And you gotta keep in mind, leprosy, it was a 00:12:08.889 --> 00:12:10.889 pretty common disease, and actually it was a 00:12:10.889 --> 00:12:13.570 common disease in Egypt, and it was a common 00:12:13.570 --> 00:12:16.549 disease in Egypt that was widely considered as 00:12:16.549 --> 00:12:19.809 totally incurable, which is to say that God can 00:12:19.809 --> 00:12:22.669 actually cure things that we think are incurable. 00:12:23.500 --> 00:12:26.120 And I'm guessing, at least in this moment, when 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:28.940 Moses contradicts what God had just said, is 00:12:28.940 --> 00:12:31.460 that he's saying, you don't know how fearful 00:12:31.460 --> 00:12:36.039 I am. You are sending the wrong guy. I'm not 00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:40.039 the one for this. And of course, our fear can 00:12:40.039 --> 00:12:43.840 feel totally incurable. You all have probably 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:50.470 heard that in 1977 in the Book of Lists, Death 00:12:50.470 --> 00:12:54.850 actually got second place to people's greatest 00:12:54.850 --> 00:13:00.850 fears behind public speaking. It's like, Lord, 00:13:01.269 --> 00:13:05.850 they are not gonna listen to me. How are you 00:13:05.850 --> 00:13:10.570 gonna take what is so fearful, who's willing 00:13:10.570 --> 00:13:14.639 to contradict the I am himself? that's as you 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:18.299 can take your hand in and you are in a way and 00:13:18.299 --> 00:13:23.460 of yourself incurable and I can cure you you 00:13:23.460 --> 00:13:27.580 can be changed from useless to useful I can cure 00:13:27.580 --> 00:13:30.059 your fears too you can trust me I can cure your 00:13:30.059 --> 00:13:32.879 fears too then we have the Nile and this is kind 00:13:32.879 --> 00:13:35.460 of interesting verse 9 says you shall take some 00:13:35.460 --> 00:13:37.779 water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground 00:13:37.779 --> 00:13:39.580 and the water that you shall take from the Nile 00:13:39.580 --> 00:13:43.259 will become blood on the dry ground You know 00:13:43.259 --> 00:13:46.480 what's so interesting about this, unlike the 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:48.440 first two where it happens with Moses right there 00:13:48.440 --> 00:13:52.320 on Mount Sinai, on Mount Horeb, they're interchangeable, 00:13:53.899 --> 00:13:58.440 is that this can't, he's not gonna see this miracle 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:05.179 unless he goes, unless he goes. Sinai can't be 00:14:05.179 --> 00:14:08.360 done unless, well, unless Moses is in the land 00:14:08.360 --> 00:14:11.509 of the Nile, unless he's down in Egypt. And it's 00:14:11.509 --> 00:14:14.009 not so much a sign there of convincing Egypt 00:14:14.009 --> 00:14:16.330 or Moses or even the Israelites. This is a sign 00:14:16.330 --> 00:14:18.409 that we'll learn later is for the Egyptians. 00:14:19.230 --> 00:14:22.509 But how's that a provision for Moses' objection? 00:14:24.789 --> 00:14:26.730 Well, in a way, God is saying right there, I'm 00:14:26.730 --> 00:14:28.769 not just going to have the Israelites listen 00:14:28.769 --> 00:14:30.149 to you. You're going to do some wonders. You're 00:14:30.149 --> 00:14:31.889 going to see some things that even the Egyptians 00:14:31.889 --> 00:14:35.470 cannot deny. They will not be able to deny them. 00:14:37.370 --> 00:14:43.009 So God is God is speaking to him, but he's also 00:14:43.009 --> 00:14:44.850 speaking to the Israelites, and he's assuring 00:14:44.850 --> 00:14:46.129 him that the Israelites are going to hear, and 00:14:46.129 --> 00:14:47.590 he's assuring them not just the Israelites are 00:14:47.590 --> 00:14:49.490 going to hear, but also the Egyptians. And you've 00:14:49.490 --> 00:14:51.570 got to think of the importance of the Nile. The 00:14:51.570 --> 00:14:54.909 Nile was one of the Egyptian gods, but it's also 00:14:54.909 --> 00:14:58.110 the source of their life. It's not just the source 00:14:58.110 --> 00:15:00.970 of their life. The Nile is the reason Egypt was 00:15:00.970 --> 00:15:02.950 there. It was the source of their abundance, 00:15:03.490 --> 00:15:09.000 of their prosperity. If God can control the source 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:12.200 of life for that great nation on earth, he can 00:15:12.200 --> 00:15:14.740 also control whether or not they hear Moses. 00:15:16.519 --> 00:15:18.720 He can meet Moses and his doubts and fears and 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:23.100 insecurities and all of his objections. And he 00:15:23.100 --> 00:15:27.500 can do that for us too. So this is Moses' first 00:15:27.500 --> 00:15:29.820 objection, right? They're not gonna listen to 00:15:29.820 --> 00:15:33.799 me. You got the wrong guy. Behold, just like 00:15:33.799 --> 00:15:37.279 these others later on, say behold. But there's 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:42.779 more, right? The second but here that Moses brings 00:15:42.779 --> 00:15:50.600 up, but Lord. Verse 10, but Moses said to the 00:15:50.600 --> 00:15:54.320 Lord, I'm gonna paraphrase it first. I can't 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:59.000 speak. Okay, we're gonna get to that, but I actually 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:01.919 wanna take a pause in a moment here, for a moment 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:06.509 here, okay? Because I think Moses knew in a way 00:16:06.509 --> 00:16:10.970 that signs aren't always enough. And I think 00:16:10.970 --> 00:16:13.330 maybe it's a temptation to think, oh man, if 00:16:13.330 --> 00:16:16.309 I was just there at the time of Jesus and I saw 00:16:16.309 --> 00:16:20.669 him, heal the blind man, you know, allow the 00:16:20.669 --> 00:16:26.850 lame to walk again. Miracles, you may know this, 00:16:26.870 --> 00:16:29.250 they're not like spread evenly throughout the 00:16:29.250 --> 00:16:31.919 Bible. not even close actually, you have largely 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:34.120 Moses, you have Elijah and Elisha, the beginning 00:16:34.120 --> 00:16:37.039 of the prophetic movement. You of course have 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:43.419 Jesus. And sort of like those events, you know, 00:16:43.559 --> 00:16:46.580 Pharaoh doesn't necessarily believe. The Egyptians 00:16:46.580 --> 00:16:48.360 don't necessarily believe because of the signs 00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:52.340 at the time of Elijah and Elisha. People didn't 00:16:52.340 --> 00:16:54.139 necessarily come flocking to the Lord because 00:16:54.139 --> 00:16:56.059 of what they did. And certainly at the time of 00:16:56.059 --> 00:16:57.460 Jesus, it wasn't necessarily that people were 00:16:57.460 --> 00:17:01.220 like, oh, look at this. Let's listen to him. 00:17:01.460 --> 00:17:05.019 He actually says as much. But miracles are a 00:17:05.019 --> 00:17:07.480 kind of accreditation to these major turning 00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:09.720 points in salvation history. And that's what's 00:17:09.720 --> 00:17:12.200 happening here for Moses. He's saying, I'm with 00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:16.569 you. You can trust me in this. Another interesting 00:17:16.569 --> 00:17:18.450 thing, kind of just to pause to think about this, 00:17:18.490 --> 00:17:20.950 is that the Egyptians didn't deny that the miracles 00:17:20.950 --> 00:17:23.390 were happening, just like the people in time 00:17:23.390 --> 00:17:25.509 with Jesus didn't deny it. They just rejected 00:17:25.509 --> 00:17:27.150 God still. The Pharisees weren't like, oh, that 00:17:27.150 --> 00:17:30.630 didn't happen. They're like, we don't buy you. 00:17:32.329 --> 00:17:35.630 And I think why I pause there is because Moses 00:17:35.630 --> 00:17:38.029 knew there was a possibility of that kind of 00:17:38.029 --> 00:17:43.069 thing. We can see wonders, Jesus says. Blessed 00:17:43.069 --> 00:17:45.319 are those who... believe without seeing. In fact, 00:17:45.339 --> 00:17:47.180 he says, it's better that I leave than the of 00:17:47.180 --> 00:17:50.440 the spirit, right? Moses knew this was a possibility. 00:17:50.440 --> 00:17:52.680 And so he has more objections. He's like, okay, 00:17:52.700 --> 00:17:54.660 you give me signs, but I've got more for you, 00:17:54.819 --> 00:17:58.880 God. I can't speak. Actually, what he said is, 00:17:59.460 --> 00:18:03.099 oh, my Lord, I'm not eloquent, either in the 00:18:03.099 --> 00:18:05.700 past, or since you've spoken to your servant, 00:18:06.380 --> 00:18:08.359 which is just these last few minutes, probably 00:18:08.359 --> 00:18:12.940 for him. I've never been eloquent. But I'm slow 00:18:12.940 --> 00:18:16.599 of speech and of tongue, which literally means 00:18:16.599 --> 00:18:21.119 I'm heavy of speech and I'm heavy of tongue. 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:26.019 Some take that to mean that Moses is saying I 00:18:26.019 --> 00:18:30.019 have a speech impediment. It's not just that 00:18:30.019 --> 00:18:32.119 he wasn't adept at speaking in front of others, 00:18:32.299 --> 00:18:34.319 but his tongue didn't work well is what he's 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:39.230 saying. It's heavy. Others of course say that 00:18:39.230 --> 00:18:42.230 what most things I'm not a good public speaker 00:18:42.230 --> 00:18:47.390 You put the wrong guy for this job He's saying 00:18:47.390 --> 00:18:50.509 the training that I had in Egypt, you know Lord, 00:18:50.509 --> 00:18:52.289 you know that even back then when I went through 00:18:52.289 --> 00:18:54.589 this great, you know Egyptian University education. 00:18:54.609 --> 00:18:59.549 It didn't really stick a Slow speech or you know 00:18:59.549 --> 00:19:04.519 either in the past or since Maybe others think 00:19:04.519 --> 00:19:06.279 that he's just saying, hey, I've been in Midian 00:19:06.279 --> 00:19:11.480 now for 40 years. I've lost much of my knowledge 00:19:11.480 --> 00:19:15.599 of Egyptian culture and Egyptian customs. I'm 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:18.880 the wrong guy for the job, Lord. And think about 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:21.759 this. I think this is reasonable, again, in a 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:24.819 way. It would be bad enough to be the one that 00:19:24.819 --> 00:19:27.950 has to go before Pharaoh. kind of the greatest 00:19:27.950 --> 00:19:30.450 ruler of the day and say hey you should really 00:19:30.450 --> 00:19:32.750 let this whole population that does all this 00:19:32.750 --> 00:19:34.769 brick work and all this work for you just you 00:19:34.769 --> 00:19:38.990 should let him go but imagine doing that with 00:19:38.990 --> 00:19:42.710 a stammering tongue looking like a goof he's 00:19:42.710 --> 00:19:46.250 like no lord this is this is not this is not 00:19:46.250 --> 00:19:48.569 really what i want to want to do you know he 00:19:48.569 --> 00:19:51.769 knows he's not like Winston Churchill and Frederick 00:19:51.769 --> 00:19:54.049 Douglass and Martin Luther King jr he doesn't 00:19:54.049 --> 00:19:59.950 make the list of like great orators And I love 00:19:59.950 --> 00:20:04.750 this part. I love this for a number of reasons. 00:20:05.789 --> 00:20:08.730 I love this part where Moses is dialoguing with 00:20:08.730 --> 00:20:11.369 God because it feels so human. It just feels 00:20:11.369 --> 00:20:13.970 so real. Like, Lord, I have these inabilities. 00:20:14.430 --> 00:20:17.730 He has fear of rejection, right? He has doubts 00:20:17.730 --> 00:20:22.710 of his own competencies, his own abilities. You 00:20:22.710 --> 00:20:23.789 know, we can think of, Lord, I don't know how 00:20:23.789 --> 00:20:27.009 to help. tell people about you. I haven't studied 00:20:27.009 --> 00:20:31.069 apologetics. I don't know how to make a convincing 00:20:31.069 --> 00:20:36.250 argument. Lord, I don't know how to raise a child 00:20:36.250 --> 00:20:39.990 to nurture them in your ways, to discipline them 00:20:39.990 --> 00:20:42.809 with love and grace and care and attentiveness. 00:20:43.710 --> 00:20:47.190 I didn't receive that. What are you calling me 00:20:47.190 --> 00:20:53.140 to? I love this because because it feels so human 00:20:53.140 --> 00:20:54.740 and I also love it in part because it feels a 00:20:54.740 --> 00:21:00.859 lot like my own story. I had four years of mandatory 00:21:00.859 --> 00:21:04.079 speech class in high school and I emphasize the 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:07.099 mandatory because if it was not mandatory, I 00:21:07.099 --> 00:21:12.920 wouldn't have been there. I remember very clearly 00:21:12.920 --> 00:21:20.140 sweaty, sweaty palms. you know, double layering 00:21:20.140 --> 00:21:23.220 the deodorant in the morning. Actually, I remember 00:21:23.220 --> 00:21:26.019 pretty clearly, at least twice, fidgeting so 00:21:26.019 --> 00:21:28.140 much with my flashcards that they got out of 00:21:28.140 --> 00:21:34.240 order and kind of freaking out inside. I remember 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:37.819 preparing, rehearsing my first sermon that I 00:21:37.819 --> 00:21:39.920 was supposed to give in one of my first sermon 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:41.940 practicum, like a practical thing where you were 00:21:41.940 --> 00:21:44.140 giving it in front of others in seminary. I remember 00:21:44.140 --> 00:21:46.500 exactly where I was practicing it in Edwards 00:21:46.500 --> 00:21:49.599 Hall at Covenant Seminary. because frankly, I 00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:55.839 didn't really wanna give it. And shockingly, 00:21:55.880 --> 00:21:57.839 I did not win the speech awards in high school 00:21:57.839 --> 00:22:01.319 and I did not win a preaching award in seminary. 00:22:02.500 --> 00:22:05.940 When I was in high school, I signed up my senior 00:22:05.940 --> 00:22:08.480 year for the play, Much To Do About Nothing. 00:22:09.240 --> 00:22:12.279 It was fantastic. I mean, it's one of Shakespeare's 00:22:12.279 --> 00:22:13.960 funniest, for sure, greatest, and you probably 00:22:13.960 --> 00:22:19.980 are familiar with it. I got... the smallest role 00:22:19.980 --> 00:22:23.619 possible, Virgis, who's just clotting behind 00:22:23.619 --> 00:22:25.920 agreeing with everything that Dogberry says. 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:34.079 That's what I got. And while I felt called to 00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:39.019 go into vocational gospel ministry, at first 00:22:39.019 --> 00:22:43.720 and at second, and maybe at third, I didn't really 00:22:43.720 --> 00:22:48.119 think. Sign me up to be a preacher, Lord. This 00:22:48.119 --> 00:22:51.380 just feels so relatable. My guess is it feels 00:22:51.380 --> 00:22:54.279 relatable to you too, on many levels. You've 00:22:54.279 --> 00:22:59.900 got the wrong person. I'm not able. It's so human. 00:23:00.279 --> 00:23:04.799 But I also love God's response. Who's made your 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:08.519 mouth? Who makes you mute or deaf or seeing or 00:23:08.519 --> 00:23:12.980 blind? Is it not I, the Lord, and that the Lord 00:23:12.980 --> 00:23:15.230 is his name that he had just revealed? chapter 00:23:15.230 --> 00:23:20.630 before Yahweh. One who is. Now therefore go and 00:23:20.630 --> 00:23:23.089 I will be. That's that same word when he says 00:23:23.089 --> 00:23:25.690 I will be who I will be or I am who I am. It's 00:23:25.690 --> 00:23:31.369 the exact same word. I am and I will be with 00:23:31.369 --> 00:23:36.410 your mouth and teach you what to speak. If most 00:23:36.410 --> 00:23:40.230 did have a speech impediment that says I know 00:23:40.230 --> 00:23:45.220 I'm with you in that. If he had forgotten the 00:23:45.220 --> 00:23:47.559 speech and the customs of the Egyptians after 00:23:47.559 --> 00:23:49.140 all he'd been away for 40 years, God says, I 00:23:49.140 --> 00:23:53.180 know your story. I've woven it together. I'll 00:23:53.180 --> 00:23:58.119 be with you in that. See, God is not just saying, 00:23:58.259 --> 00:24:00.460 I understand your objections, but I provide you 00:24:00.460 --> 00:24:04.799 with my very self. What God is not doing in this 00:24:04.799 --> 00:24:08.480 is giving him a motivational pep talk, right? 00:24:08.819 --> 00:24:13.990 Motivational speech. Moses, stop saying all of 00:24:13.990 --> 00:24:20.269 that. Think positively. You can accomplish all 00:24:20.269 --> 00:24:24.750 that you put your mind to. It's not in this text 00:24:24.750 --> 00:24:30.730 at all. There's nothing like that here. He doesn't 00:24:30.730 --> 00:24:33.910 even say, ah, you're giving yourself too little 00:24:33.910 --> 00:24:39.500 credit. You are the Prince of Egypt. You have 00:24:39.500 --> 00:24:42.180 the finest education. You're just the man for 00:24:42.180 --> 00:24:48.339 it. Though we may be able to see that. No. His 00:24:48.339 --> 00:24:52.079 answer is, is it not I, the Lord, who will be 00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:57.140 with your mouth? I am. I will be. I read this 00:24:57.140 --> 00:24:59.059 week actually from a sermon from my pastor going 00:24:59.059 --> 00:25:01.900 up about this great revival that broke out in 00:25:01.900 --> 00:25:03.619 Scotland during the first great awakening. So 00:25:03.619 --> 00:25:04.900 the first great awakening didn't just happen 00:25:04.900 --> 00:25:09.390 here in the US, just 1730s, 1740s. think of George 00:25:09.390 --> 00:25:12.589 Whitfield and that whole crew. But actually, 00:25:12.730 --> 00:25:14.349 some of it happened. There was a great revival 00:25:14.349 --> 00:25:16.609 in parts of Great Britain, what we think of today 00:25:16.609 --> 00:25:19.089 as Great Britain. Well, one of those towns in 00:25:19.089 --> 00:25:21.549 Scotland was the town Campbell's Sling, and the 00:25:21.549 --> 00:25:24.450 pastor there was William McCullough. He was such 00:25:24.450 --> 00:25:28.049 a poor preacher that it took him nine years having 00:25:28.049 --> 00:25:32.150 graduated seminary to convince a pastoral search 00:25:32.150 --> 00:25:33.970 committee, I don't know what it was called then, 00:25:34.650 --> 00:25:40.099 to hire him. Nine years. His own son said he 00:25:40.099 --> 00:25:45.140 was not eloquent. And he actually got a nickname. 00:25:46.299 --> 00:25:49.579 His nickname was the ale preacher. We might say 00:25:49.579 --> 00:25:51.700 the beer preacher. Not because he drank beer 00:25:51.700 --> 00:25:53.740 while he was preaching, but because as soon as 00:25:53.740 --> 00:25:56.579 he got up to preach, most of the men in the congregation 00:25:56.579 --> 00:26:03.240 went to the pub. Like, okay, I'm out. But it 00:26:03.240 --> 00:26:06.859 was through his poorly composed and even more 00:26:06.859 --> 00:26:11.019 poorly delivered sermons that in 1742, 3 ,000 00:26:11.019 --> 00:26:14.640 people came to faith in Jesus in that small town 00:26:14.640 --> 00:26:18.099 on the outskirts of Glasgow. 3 ,000 people in 00:26:18.099 --> 00:26:21.799 one year. I mean, that's like 10 ,000s in Harrisburg 00:26:21.799 --> 00:26:24.700 from somebody that no one thought was a great 00:26:24.700 --> 00:26:31.920 preacher, like nobody. You probably know that 00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:36.160 John and Charles Wesley were the brothers who 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:37.519 were raised in the Anglican Church and then, 00:26:37.660 --> 00:26:39.259 you know, were in the States for a while down. 00:26:39.420 --> 00:26:41.720 And now it is sort of the coastal Georgia and 00:26:41.720 --> 00:26:44.599 Carolinas a little bit, with George Whitefield 00:26:44.599 --> 00:26:47.240 and all. And they led part of what became the 00:26:47.240 --> 00:26:49.500 first great awakening in the United States. Same 00:26:49.500 --> 00:26:54.119 time, 1740s -ish. I mean, on a little bit. Well, 00:26:54.200 --> 00:26:55.500 you know, there are some of the greatest hymn 00:26:55.500 --> 00:26:58.240 writers. We sing some of their hymns. We didn't 00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:00.289 sing any today, but we sing their hymns. still 00:27:00.289 --> 00:27:01.730 today. They're some of the greats. They started 00:27:01.730 --> 00:27:08.130 the Methodist Church. These great wordsmiths 00:27:08.130 --> 00:27:13.710 haven't read much of their sermons, but I've 00:27:13.710 --> 00:27:18.190 heard they are better than melatonin. Next time 00:27:18.190 --> 00:27:21.950 you're struggling to sleep at night, grab your 00:27:21.950 --> 00:27:28.170 volume of John Wesley. Give that a try. How does 00:27:28.170 --> 00:27:32.029 God work? He so often uses the people that we 00:27:32.029 --> 00:27:34.910 go there's that's the least person we would expect 00:27:34.910 --> 00:27:40.269 But Moses goes on God says I'll be with you and 00:27:40.269 --> 00:27:44.390 with your mouth and Moses has another but Lord 00:27:44.390 --> 00:27:58.269 verse 13 But he said oh my lord, please send 00:27:58.269 --> 00:28:03.980 somebody else The Hebrew is actually a little 00:28:03.980 --> 00:28:08.400 bit different. That's really a paraphrase. Literally 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:12.900 translated it's more like, pardon my lord, please 00:28:12.900 --> 00:28:16.700 send by the hand who you will send. Which is 00:28:16.700 --> 00:28:18.460 a little clunky and so some other translators 00:28:18.460 --> 00:28:20.059 trying to get closer say something like this, 00:28:20.119 --> 00:28:24.079 please my lord, send anyone you decide. Which 00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:27.400 some commentators say this is like Moses kind 00:28:27.400 --> 00:28:31.099 of. grudgingly submitting to the possibility 00:28:31.099 --> 00:28:35.160 that maybe possibly in some way God might use 00:28:35.160 --> 00:28:39.039 him, but he'd rather use somebody else. He's 00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:46.380 like the child with his parent. All right, you 00:28:46.380 --> 00:28:49.460 win. Send whoever you want, I guess, whatever. 00:28:51.119 --> 00:28:54.039 And I sort of love the picture of Moses, 80 -year 00:28:54.039 --> 00:29:00.069 -old Moses as a 14 -year -old. Okay. You know, 00:29:00.269 --> 00:29:01.849 shrugging his shoulders, muttering under his 00:29:01.849 --> 00:29:04.849 breath. But most people do think it's best to 00:29:04.849 --> 00:29:07.730 translate it, please send someone else, Lord. 00:29:09.769 --> 00:29:13.630 And again, we find God's provision. And his provision 00:29:13.630 --> 00:29:17.309 is not him giving in. This isn't plan B for God, 00:29:17.809 --> 00:29:21.190 right? But Aaron is not like, ah, hey, what have, 00:29:21.549 --> 00:29:27.000 well, how about Aaron? It's his provision. And 00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:28.940 you can see, he's not a fan of our reluctance 00:29:28.940 --> 00:29:31.160 obedience, or disobedience, but he works with 00:29:31.160 --> 00:29:34.700 it. Our objections, he goes, okay, I can work 00:29:34.700 --> 00:29:37.839 with this, right? He works with them. God already 00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:40.319 has Aaron on his way, sort of a providential 00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:43.440 family reunion at play here. And there are two 00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:46.859 things again here that are worth noting. One 00:29:46.859 --> 00:29:51.259 is that the work that God calls us to do is almost 00:29:51.259 --> 00:29:56.079 always him calling us into his community. It's 00:29:56.079 --> 00:29:58.759 not a shock on God that we are not able enough 00:29:58.759 --> 00:30:02.980 ourselves He calls us into the life of his body 00:30:02.980 --> 00:30:05.880 You're you aren't called to parents alone. You 00:30:05.880 --> 00:30:08.720 aren't called to evangelize alone. You aren't 00:30:08.720 --> 00:30:13.039 called To seek the welfare of those who are suffering 00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:16.839 in the world by yourself Right. I mean we just 00:30:16.839 --> 00:30:18.779 heard from logos. We are not called by ourselves. 00:30:18.839 --> 00:30:21.420 You are not called as individual take on the 00:30:21.420 --> 00:30:24.230 question of telling little kids about Jesus and 00:30:24.230 --> 00:30:27.650 helping them learn to read well and turn to the 00:30:27.650 --> 00:30:30.450 wide body of Christ. The I cannot say to the 00:30:30.450 --> 00:30:34.109 hand I have no need of you. But the other thing 00:30:34.109 --> 00:30:37.869 that we learn is that while we don't do God's 00:30:37.869 --> 00:30:42.890 work alone, we are not off the hook from doing 00:30:42.890 --> 00:30:50.920 it. Aaron's gifts will compensate for Moses' 00:30:51.319 --> 00:30:54.220 deficit. Like the whole operation is not like, 00:30:54.279 --> 00:30:57.900 if I can just find the right guy, then it'll 00:30:57.900 --> 00:31:02.740 come about. But God still will use Moses for 00:31:02.740 --> 00:31:05.259 what God called him to do. So verses 15 to 17 00:31:05.259 --> 00:31:08.839 say this, you, speaking to Moses, you shall speak 00:31:08.839 --> 00:31:11.319 to him and put the words in his mouth and I will 00:31:11.319 --> 00:31:14.339 be with your mouth and with his mouth. He's not 00:31:14.339 --> 00:31:16.039 just saying like, okay, I'll just reuse him. 00:31:17.319 --> 00:31:20.900 and I will teach you both what to do. He shall 00:31:20.900 --> 00:31:25.519 speak for you to the people and he shall be your 00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:28.519 mouth and you shall be as God to him." Meaning 00:31:28.519 --> 00:31:31.140 God actually, I'm actually speaking through him 00:31:31.140 --> 00:31:33.859 to the people. And taking your hands to the staff 00:31:33.859 --> 00:31:37.880 with which you shall do the signs. So I'm saying 00:31:37.880 --> 00:31:44.190 God provides but God also equips. The objection 00:31:44.190 --> 00:31:46.349 of Moses here is God providing, but also God 00:31:46.349 --> 00:31:49.130 equipping him both through Aaron and also saying, 00:31:49.329 --> 00:31:53.329 I'm going to use you as I said I will. So let 00:31:53.329 --> 00:31:56.910 me get back to the beginning. The Bible seems 00:31:56.910 --> 00:32:01.470 to share some lessons just again and again with 00:32:01.470 --> 00:32:03.750 us. Have you noticed that? Like when you start 00:32:03.750 --> 00:32:04.809 reading the Bible, you're like, I think I heard 00:32:04.809 --> 00:32:06.990 that before, or there's an example of that elsewhere. 00:32:07.390 --> 00:32:09.410 And a lot of times those are the lessons that 00:32:09.410 --> 00:32:11.210 are said again and again because we need to hear 00:32:11.210 --> 00:32:14.539 them. again and again. And this is one of those. 00:32:14.839 --> 00:32:16.640 God's showing us that we have all these objections. 00:32:16.740 --> 00:32:18.759 God, I'm not the right person to do this. I know 00:32:18.759 --> 00:32:20.279 you told your people live this way. I don't think 00:32:20.279 --> 00:32:23.119 I can do that. Like we bring these objections 00:32:23.119 --> 00:32:25.500 to God and again and again, God still calls us 00:32:25.500 --> 00:32:27.640 and he still provides for us. He still equips 00:32:27.640 --> 00:32:29.460 others. He still brings us into the life of his 00:32:29.460 --> 00:32:33.420 body. And part of what I think is telling us 00:32:33.420 --> 00:32:37.559 is that in some ways you can't, you can't do 00:32:37.559 --> 00:32:41.950 what God calls you to do. None of this was a 00:32:41.950 --> 00:32:44.549 surprise for God that Moses was saying that. 00:32:46.450 --> 00:32:49.069 My God, the speech impediments, they're not gonna 00:32:49.069 --> 00:32:53.150 listen to all this stuff. You can't do it on 00:32:53.150 --> 00:32:58.170 your own strength. In some ways, Moses is totally 00:32:58.170 --> 00:33:00.029 unlike us. I mean, he literally brings people 00:33:00.029 --> 00:33:02.250 out from Egypt, right? The great superpower of 00:33:02.250 --> 00:33:05.990 the day, to worship the Lord. But in some ways, 00:33:05.990 --> 00:33:11.039 he's exactly like us. I mean, we cannot do what 00:33:11.039 --> 00:33:18.480 God calls us to do in our own strength. You can't 00:33:18.480 --> 00:33:22.359 keep the law of God in your own strength. You 00:33:22.359 --> 00:33:24.299 can't put sin to death in your own strength. 00:33:24.920 --> 00:33:27.779 You can't share the good news of Jesus with your 00:33:27.779 --> 00:33:30.440 neighbor and expect that that neighbor will turn 00:33:30.440 --> 00:33:33.880 to faith in your own ability. That never happens. 00:33:36.019 --> 00:33:38.769 We cannot worship Him as we should. We cannot 00:33:38.769 --> 00:33:41.250 live into the life of the body of Christ as we 00:33:41.250 --> 00:33:45.210 should. None of these things, there's nothing 00:33:45.210 --> 00:33:47.369 that God calls you to do that he thinks you can 00:33:47.369 --> 00:33:51.750 do it on your own strength. None of it. It is 00:33:51.750 --> 00:33:55.990 always God meeting us in our inability, in our 00:33:55.990 --> 00:34:02.130 weakness and saying, I am, I will be. Think about 00:34:02.130 --> 00:34:04.309 this one example I didn't give at the beginning. 00:34:04.750 --> 00:34:07.609 but that kept kind of coming up in my mind was 00:34:07.609 --> 00:34:10.030 Mary, the mother of Jesus. She's met by Gabriel. 00:34:10.130 --> 00:34:12.789 Gabriel says, greetings, O favored one, the Lord 00:34:12.789 --> 00:34:15.389 is with you. And the first thing we read is Mary 00:34:15.389 --> 00:34:18.309 is very troubled, greatly troubled, right? And 00:34:18.309 --> 00:34:19.550 of course I've always thought of that as like, 00:34:19.730 --> 00:34:21.269 that makes sense. I don't really see angels. 00:34:21.349 --> 00:34:22.909 Some angel shows up to me. I'm like, this is 00:34:22.909 --> 00:34:26.210 a little bit scary. But actually maybe she knows 00:34:26.210 --> 00:34:28.130 the story of God's people. All these stories 00:34:28.130 --> 00:34:30.210 like Moses and Gideon and Jeremiah and others. 00:34:30.630 --> 00:34:36.110 And she's like, oh dear. she's told what's gonna 00:34:36.110 --> 00:34:38.630 happen and she says, she asks the question too, 00:34:38.750 --> 00:34:42.130 how will this be? She says, for I'm a virgin, 00:34:42.789 --> 00:34:45.250 how will this be? Because I'm not able, how will 00:34:45.250 --> 00:34:48.070 this be? Because from my own experience, right? 00:34:51.210 --> 00:34:52.929 She's sort of questioning God, but she's also 00:34:52.929 --> 00:34:56.230 questioning herself. And yet her song becomes 00:34:56.230 --> 00:34:59.840 the song that we say so often if you read. sort 00:34:59.840 --> 00:35:02.380 of the daily prayer book you know her song is 00:35:02.380 --> 00:35:05.639 every day said by many in the church but what 00:35:05.639 --> 00:35:08.019 she does in her song is she constantly says what 00:35:08.019 --> 00:35:14.039 has God done who is he it's not look at me so 00:35:14.039 --> 00:35:16.679 she says stuff like this his mercy she sings 00:35:16.679 --> 00:35:20.840 rather his mercy is for those who fear him he's 00:35:20.840 --> 00:35:24.159 shown strength with his arm He has scattered 00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:26.840 the proud and the thoughts of their hearts. He 00:35:26.840 --> 00:35:28.960 has brought down the mighty from their thrones 00:35:28.960 --> 00:35:31.880 and exalted those of humble estate. He has filled 00:35:31.880 --> 00:35:34.400 the hungry with good things and the rich he sent 00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:38.559 away empty. He's helped his servant Israel in 00:35:38.559 --> 00:35:42.820 the remembrance of his mercy. You see, it's again 00:35:42.820 --> 00:35:47.639 and again, his, him. I mean, the truth is that 00:35:47.639 --> 00:35:49.219 none of this she can do on her own. And that's 00:35:49.219 --> 00:35:50.900 the same story that you live into. It's the same 00:35:50.900 --> 00:35:53.599 story of Moses, same story of Gideon. Same story 00:35:53.599 --> 00:35:57.960 of Jeremiah. His power of inability that is met 00:35:57.960 --> 00:36:01.880 with God's power. And so when God speaks to Paul 00:36:01.880 --> 00:36:05.139 in his weakness with his thorn in the flesh, 00:36:05.639 --> 00:36:11.639 he says, my grace is sufficient for you. My power 00:36:11.639 --> 00:36:19.079 is made perfect in weakness. Our objections to 00:36:19.079 --> 00:36:22.039 what God calls us to may arise, they do arise. 00:36:22.980 --> 00:36:26.980 But God's provision is found just in those places 00:36:26.980 --> 00:36:30.019 where we're frail, when we're unable, when our 00:36:30.019 --> 00:36:35.360 inabilities are so present. It's there that God 00:36:35.360 --> 00:36:38.300 shows us that he provides and that his strength 00:36:38.300 --> 00:36:42.119 is at work even through us, can use even us, 00:36:42.219 --> 00:36:45.719 can do great things even through us. Friends 00:36:45.719 --> 00:36:48.099 and sisters, his grace is sufficient for you. 00:36:48.380 --> 00:36:50.500 Whatever he calls you to do, wherever he calls 00:36:50.500 --> 00:36:56.510 you to go. He will provide His powers made perfect 00:36:56.510 --> 00:37:00.989 in weakness Lord This is a lesson that we are 00:37:00.989 --> 00:37:03.909 told again and again Because we need it again 00:37:03.909 --> 00:37:09.769 and again We're so eager to think Well to fall 00:37:09.769 --> 00:37:13.449 into one ditch we can do it all or we have nothing 00:37:13.449 --> 00:37:18.170 Neither of which is true we can't do it, but 00:37:18.170 --> 00:37:23.210 we have you The God who is, the great I am, and 00:37:23.210 --> 00:37:28.030 the God who will be, I am with you. I pray that 00:37:28.030 --> 00:37:32.289 in this, we would press on to what you call us 00:37:32.289 --> 00:37:37.050 to. That we would live lives of great hope, of 00:37:37.050 --> 00:37:40.489 great faith, of great belief, not in what we 00:37:40.489 --> 00:37:43.550 can do, but in your great work in and through 00:37:43.550 --> 00:37:47.610 us. In Jesus' name, Amen. Thank you for listening 00:37:47.610 --> 00:37:50.340 to Second City Sermons Podcast. We hope this 00:37:50.340 --> 00:37:52.360 sermon has encouraged you to worship God and 00:37:52.360 --> 00:37:55.199 to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please consider 00:37:55.199 --> 00:37:57.619 subscribing to this podcast and joining us in 00:37:57.619 --> 00:38:00.780 person each Sunday at 10 a .m. You can find us 00:38:00.780 --> 00:38:04.139 online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Instagram, 00:38:04.280 --> 00:38:06.820 Facebook, and YouTube. Thanks again for listening. 00:38:07.159 --> 00:38:07.739 God bless.