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I wonder why we study the Old Testament.

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After all, isn't the New Testament more for us today?

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Well, yes and no.

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The Old Testament is certainly not written to us because it was written to peoples who

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lived many years ago and to the Jewish nation primarily.

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However, it is for us in that there are lessons there for our lives.

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As the writer of 1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul says to us, these things happened as

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examples for us, speaking about what happened to Israel.

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And he says, these things happened to them as an example and they were written for our

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instruction upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

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So we have a lot we can learn from the Old Testament by way of illustration and instruction.

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Furthermore, a knowledge of the Old Testament is absolutely essential as a foundation to

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New Testament truth.

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One who does not know his Old Testament is not going to know his New Testament.

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The two go together hand in glove.

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So it's important for us to study the Old Testament as well as the New.

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Now with that in mind, would you turn with me please to Exodus chapter 3.

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We read here of the commission of Moses, the servant of the Lord.

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Now, Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian.

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And he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain

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of God.

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And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush.

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And he looked and behold the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.

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So Moses said, I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not

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burned up.

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When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of

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the bush and said, Moses, Moses.

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And he said, here I am.

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And he said, do not come near here.

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Remove your sandals from your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.

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He said also, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and

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the God of Jacob.

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Then Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God.

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And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and

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have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.

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So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up

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from the land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to

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the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the

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Hivite and the Jebusite.

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And now behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me.

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Furthermore, I have seen the affliction, the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing

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them.

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Therefore, come now and I will send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring my people, the

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sons of Israel, out of Egypt.

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When you and I run ahead of God, we get ourselves into trouble.

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How much better to wait upon the Lord for His time and His way, and then His purpose

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will be wonderfully realized.

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Moses, it seems, had attempted a premature rescue of the Israelites, and he had miserably

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failed in it.

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There are three possibilities for this aborted attempt, and I think there's truth in each

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of these three.

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Number one, that was not God's time or God's way.

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We know that to be the truth.

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Therefore, it did not succeed.

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Secondly, Moses was not yet fully prepared himself for that work of delivering the people.

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That too would seem right, for he has now been through 40 years of post-graduate work

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in the University of the Wilderness.

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And then a third possibility is that the Israelites themselves were not ready for the lessons

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they would need to learn in the process of their deliverance.

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And so things had not gelled yet.

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It was not yet the right time.

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So Moses failed in his first attempt.

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But let me say this regarding failure.

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You and I, like Moses, learn more through our failures than we do through our successes.

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Failure promotes brokenness.

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Brokenness that makes us more obedient and more teachable.

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And those qualities are essential if God would use us.

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Therefore, we should seek to make the most of our failures.

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Chuck Swindoll has these helpful words.

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We usually continue to make mistakes because we do not stop to learn from failures.

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This sends us into a tailspin that often drains our strength and shatters our confidence.

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It is unfortunate that God must often bring us to the end of our resources before we will

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listen to and heed his word.

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But the good news is that we do not have to remain bruised and broken.

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We can use our failures to move closer to our divine healer and counselor.

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This can be accomplished by taking some time to reflect on and learn from our mistakes.

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However, if we keep stepping into the same self-made traps, then our feelings of despair,

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loneliness, and uselessness will most likely increase and our walk with God will continue

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to suffer.

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The alternatives are clear and the choice between them is ours.

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Another generation went by in those years as Moses was in the wilderness.

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Forty years transpired of Israel's bondage in Egypt.

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During that time, Moses did nothing more than work for his father-in-law as much as we know,

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as a shepherd.

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But behind the scenes, God was quietly and imperceptibly working, working to deliver

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the people of Israel, those whom he had chosen as his own.

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And God's way of doing that was a man, a human being.

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His man was now 80 years old, true, but he was a vigorous 80 years old.

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He was one who had failed, yes, but he was one also who had learned from his failures

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and who was now ready for another opportunity.

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The main lesson I want us to see in our text today is this, that God chooses to do his

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work through human beings and often human beings who have failed.

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God chooses to do his work through people, people who are imperfect, people who have

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learned sometimes hard lessons, people who have been broken to their own self-will, people

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who are pliable, yielded, and therefore usable in his hand.

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It is wonderful to note that God delights to give a second opportunity to those who

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have blown it the first time around.

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They often know better how to trust God than those who have only known the thrill of victory

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but who have never experienced the agony of defeat.

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Samuel Chadwick said, the Holy Ghost does not come upon methods but upon men.

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He does not anoint machinery but men.

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He does not work through organizations but men.

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He does not dwell in buildings but in men.

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I want you to know today that God has a purpose for you to accomplish in life.

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We will not all be called to be like Moses, but God has a purpose for you because God's

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method is people.

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He chooses to work through human beings and often those human beings who have known failure

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in their lives.

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God can and does channel his work in other ways as well.

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Of course, he uses angels.

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He can use animals.

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He uses miracles.

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He uses nature.

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But these are all exceptions.

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God's normal method is to use redeemed men and women to get his work done.

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But as we think about that, some questions come to mind.

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The first one is, what kind of person does God use?

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Well, I think we find the answer to that as we think about Moses' situation.

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God uses the kind of person in the first place who is faithful in routine responsibilities.

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God looks for that.

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He looks for the one who keeps his commitments in the everyday routine of things.

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The measure of one's readiness for greater responsibility is his handling of lesser responsibility.

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In this case, Moses had proved himself consistent and not impetuous for 40 years.

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Day after day, month after month, year after year, for more years than many of you who

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are sitting here are old, Moses did nothing but shepherd sheep.

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When God saw that he was faithful in the routine responsibilities, he then called him to do

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something greater.

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We see an illustration of this in a parable that Jesus told in Matthew 25.

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And I'd like you to turn there with me.

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In Matthew 25 and verse 14, we have what is commonly called the parable of the talents.

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Jesus says, it is just like a man about to go on a journey who called his own slaves

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and entrusted his possessions to them.

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And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to

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his own ability.

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Please notice that the talents were not abilities given to these stewards.

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The talents were opportunities given according to the abilities they already had.

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And so he gave to one the opportunity to use five talents because he had the ability to

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use it, and to another two and to another one.

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Then he went on his journey.

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Immediately, the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them and

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gained five more talents.

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In the same manner, the one who had received the two talents gained two more, but he who

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received the one talent went away and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.

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Now after a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.

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And the one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying,

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Master, you entrusted five talents to me.

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See, I have gained five more talents.

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His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave.

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You are faithful with a few things.

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I will put you in charge of many things.

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Enter into the joy of your master.

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A very similar thing happened with the one who had two.

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He said, Master, you entrusted to me two talents.

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See, I have gained two more.

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His master said, Well done, good and faithful slave.

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You are faithful with a few things.

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I will put you in charge of many things.

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Enter into the joy of your master.

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Notice what the master was looking for was faithfulness, to use the opportunity given

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to the stewards according to their abilities.

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And then there was the one who had received the one talent.

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He said, Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering

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where you scattered no seed.

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And I was afraid and went away and hid your talent on the ground.

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You see, you have what is yours.

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But his master answered and said to him, You wicked, lazy slave.

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You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.

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Then you ought to have put my money in the bank and on my arrival I would have received

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my money back with interest.

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Therefore, take away the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.

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There are three observations that we make as Jesus tells this parable.

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The faithful slaves experienced blessing in this way.

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They began with few things.

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And because of their faithful use of the few, they received many things.

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They began as servants, but because they proved themselves, they were promoted to be rulers.

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And thirdly, notice that they were workers.

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They worked, but they were promoted to know joy because of their faithfulness.

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But for the one who was unfaithful, even the opportunity that was given to him was taken

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away and given to the one who had proven faithful.

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I remember as a teenager hearing the phrase at that time, use it or lose it, with respect

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to spiritual gifts.

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I'm not sure that's entirely appropriate with respect to that subject, but it's certainly

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true with opportunities.

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We either use the opportunities that God gives to us or we lose them.

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When God is going to choose a man or choose a woman for use, He looks for one who is faithful.

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One who is faithful first in the little things, who is faithful as a slave, who is faithful

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as a worker.

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And then He will bless that one and give that one who is faithful the opportunities to do

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many things and be a ruler and to enter into joy.

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What kind of person does God use?

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In the first place, one who is faithful in routine responsibilities.

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Does that describe you?

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Are you willing, even if you can't enjoy it, are you willing to do the routine things and

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to do them faithfully for Jesus Christ?

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Our Lord looks at that and based upon that, He then will select those whom He would use.

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Secondly I noticed by looking at Moses that the Lord looks for one who is responsive to

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His holiness.

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One whose heart is sensitive toward the person of God is the one that He will choose.

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Here Moses was told, take off your sandals, the ground you stand upon is holy ground.

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And then I noticed that when God identified Himself as He did, Moses hid His face.

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He was afraid to look at God, the New Testament commentary on this says that He shook with

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fear.

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He was a man who was responsive to the holiness of God.

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He knew the fear of the Lord.

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If there is anything that is cursed, contemporary Christianity is the loss of the fear of the

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Lord.

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We no longer remember that He is a holy God.

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He is our big buddy in the sky.

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He is the one we can put our arms around and not have to be afraid of.

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May I remind you that there is a time for that intimacy and friendship.

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But that intimacy and friendship must be based upon something and that something is the fear

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of the Lord.

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Moses was aware of the holiness of God.

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Now what do you think of when you hear the term holiness?

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Usually we think of the purity of God, but that is a secondary meaning to holiness.

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Literally the word holy comes from a verb that means to separate or to cut.

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The idea behind holiness is God's separateness from everything else.

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This is just the opposite of the religion that is taking America by storm today, the

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New Age religion, which says that God is in you, God is in me, God is in everything.

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Isn't it wonderful?

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God is all of us and what we have to do is tap into that Christ consciousness.

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That is an absolute lie.

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It denies the holiness of God, which says that God is absolutely separate from all of

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His creation.

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Not in the sense of the way the deists use that idea, that God has just gone away somewhere

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and doesn't really care what happens to His creation.

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Please remember that God is not His creation.

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He is the creator.

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He is separate from the universe.

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He is brought into existence.

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Percy Sproul suggests that holiness might be defined as transcendence.

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You say, well that is a big ten dollar term.

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Yes it is.

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Listen to his explanation of it.

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The word transcendence means literally to climb a cross.

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It is defined as, quote, exceeding usual limits, close quote.

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To transcend is to rise above something, to go above and beyond a certain limit.

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When we speak of the transcendence of God, we are talking about that sense in which God

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is above and beyond us.

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It tries to get at His supreme and absolute greatness.

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The word is used to describe God's relationship to the world.

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He is higher than the world.

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He has absolute power over the world.

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The world has no power over Him.

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Transcendence describes God in His consuming majesty, His exalted loftiness.

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It points to the infinite distance that separates Him from every creature.

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It is an infinite, He is rather, an infinite cut above everything else.

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When the Bible calls God holy, it means primarily that God is transcendentally separate.

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He is so far above and beyond us that He seems almost totally foreign to us.

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To be holy is to be, quote, other, close quote.

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To be different in a special way.

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And that, my friend, is what God is.

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He is different in a special way from us.

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He is above and beyond us.

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When God looks upon the earth to see a man or woman that He can use, He looks for someone

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who knows that and who, because he or she knows that, has the fear of God in them.

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The response to holiness that is appropriate is examination.

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It is that response as Isaiah had when he saw the holy God and said, woe is me.

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It is that same response that Peter had when Jesus exposed His deity to the fishermen.

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Peter fell on his face before Jesus and said, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

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The holiness of God.

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When God would use a man or woman, He looks for someone who is able to respond to what

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that means.

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Do you know what it means?

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Do not be casual in drawing near this God.

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Do not be careless with God.

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Jesus said, yes, I call you friends, but remember with whom you are a friend.

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And do not take that lightly.

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The more you realize who God is and that God is holy, the more you and I will fall upon

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our face as did Moses and even be afraid to look at God.

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When God selects a man or woman, He also looks for one who listens with a willing heart.

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One who listens with a willing heart reminds me of Samuel, who having heard the voice of

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God and then understanding as a child what it was, responded by saying, speak, Lord,

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for your servant hears.

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A willing heart.

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It reminds me of Saul, who when he saw God on the road to Damascus, fell on his face

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and said, Lord, what would you have me to do?

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And again is Isaiah, who said, here am I, send me.

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And like those early disciples who when they heard the voice of this God say, follow me

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and I will make you fishers of men.

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It says they forsook their nets and they followed Him.

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God looks for those who will listen with a willing heart.

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If one would be used of the Lord, a surrender of one's own will, one's own rights, if you

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please, is essential.

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For God will not use a person who clings to his own rights.

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But he looks for that person who knows what it is to open the hand and to give those rights

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to God.

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Have you given him the rights to your life?

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Then one who would be used of God is one who is aware of his personal insufficiency.

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I think we see that in Moses.

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Perhaps an awareness of his own sufficiency was what helped cause his initial failure.

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You see, God is not above allowing us to experience defeat in order that He might teach us our

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own inability to know success apart from Him.

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God looks for one who is aware that he needs God.

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God will not choose one who feels himself independent of God, who sees himself as autonomous

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and self-sufficient.

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He looks for one who calls upon the Lord out of a sense of desperate need of the Lord.

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May that describe all of us.

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Then finally, when God selects a person for use, He looks for one who is groomed by divinely

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arranged circumstances.

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We need to see our lives, beloved, as the teaching discipline of a loving Father.

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That the circumstances that come to you and to me are divinely arranged by Him to teach

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us, to instruct us, to build us.

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When God is looking for someone that He can use in His work, He looks for that person

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who has been groomed, who has been adequately prepared by those divine arrangements.

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So, instead of chafing at our situation in life or those circumstances that have fallen

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to us, how much better for us to accept them from a loving Father and to trust Him in the

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midst of them.

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My friend, God would use you today.

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That's the kind of man, that's the kind of woman He's looking for.

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But there's a second question that comes to mind, and it is this.

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How does God speak to His servant?

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If God chooses people to serve Him, how does God speak to them?

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Well, we look at Moses, and I think we see some lessons that we can learn for ourselves.

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Notice in the first place that God speaks in the realm of the familiar.

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Moses did not know this particular morning that this was going to be a different day.

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This day dawned like others for the last 40 years of his life.

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He got out of the place where he was sleeping, took the sheep and led them off to find some

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pasture to eat.

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This day was like every other day except for one thing, God intervened.

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God does not forewarn us, folks, when He's going to do something unusual in our day.

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That's kind of exciting.

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God wants us to learn to live each day within the routine, but also with an alertness to

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see His possible intervention.

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When God speaks, He speaks in the midst of the familiar.

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And when He speaks, He speaks when He has our attention.

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I want you to notice that in this case, that familiar day, God arranged a shrub, a bush,

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just a thorn bush, just a plain bush, like undoubtedly millions of others in the Sinai

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desert.

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But in this case, there was an angel in the midst of that bush which caused it to burn

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with fire and yet not to be consumed.

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God uses uncommon events in our routine also to get our attention.

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Swindle calls these God's taps on the shoulder.

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It's that time when God arranges something so that He can intervene in the familiar routine.

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And by that, He is trying to speak to us.

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Do you remember the time when we were going through the God hunt together about a year

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and a half ago?

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And we were looking for those interventions of God.

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That's exactly what we're talking about now.

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So often we classify these as coincidence or as chance, when in fact they are God's

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ambassadors.

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God speaks to us when He has our attention.

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I think it's instructive to notice that it says in verse 4, when the Lord saw that

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Moses turned aside to look, God called to him.

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Had Moses only glanced and gone on, God would not have spoken to him that day.

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But Moses recognized that here in the midst of the familiar was something very unusual.

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And he actually turned aside and went toward the bush to examine what was going on in this

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strange sight.

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And it was then that God spoke to him because God has His attention.

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Does God have your attention today?

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And then when God speaks to us, He also speaks with personal knowledge of who we are.

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Do you notice here that God didn't say, hey you, fellow, you guy over there with the

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sheep, you, come here a minute.

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Did God do that?

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No.

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God didn't know who that fellow was.

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That was Moses.

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And when God spoke, the very first thing He said was, Moses, Moses.

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When God speaks to you and me, He knows who He's talking to.

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In this case, God had been watching him for 80 years.

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God knew everything there was to know about Moses.

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His ups and downs, his successes, his failures.

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There was nothing hidden from God.

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And I remind you that when God speaks to us, it's the same way.

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There's nothing hidden from the knowledge of Him with whom we have to do.

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He knows our strengths.

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He knows our weaknesses.

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He knows our victories.

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He knows our defeats.

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He knows our past.

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He knows our future.

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He knows your potential, just like He knew Moses' potential.

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And God called him.

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I may be speaking to some people here today that God has tapped on the shoulder regarding

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some very special work.

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And your response thus far has been, who, me?

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That was what Moses said, as we'll see next week.

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But I want you to know that when God tapped you on the shoulder, it wasn't an accident.

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God knew who He was tapping.

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God knows the people He commissions.

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He knows what potential lies within you.

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He knows the gifts He's given to you.

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And He knows what you can and cannot accomplish.

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God will never ask you to do something you cannot do.

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And everything that God asks you to do, He can enable you to do because He knows you.

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When He speaks to commission us, He speaks with personal knowledge of who we are.

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And I want you to notice that He also speaks through His Word.

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Here it is a verbal word from God which was very audible to Moses.

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There was a conversation personally between the two of them.

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But God does not do that today.

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Not that God could not do it.

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But God does not do that today.

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He does it in a written form.

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We have in the Bible what God has to say.

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So whatever that quiet inner voice of God might seem to say to us on the inside, we

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must always check it with this invaluable written Word of God.

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For God will never tell us subjectively, inwardly, with that still small voice, something that

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is inconsistent with this Book.

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We have this objective propositional truth written down to guide us as we seek to interpret

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what we believe God is saying to us internally.

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God speaks through His Word.

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But I have a third question.

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It's the question that seems to be obvious but I think it's worth thinking about in

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the light of Exodus.

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It is, why does God send His servants?

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I want you to notice in the first place in verse 7 that God is a God who knows and cares

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for those in bondage.

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That's why He sends His servants.

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I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have given heed to their

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cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.

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Why does God commission His servants?

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Because He knows the suffering of those who are in bondage.

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God is not isolated from His creatures, though He's separated from us, He is holy.

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He knows the sufferings that are caused by sin, as surely as He knew the suffering of

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His people Israel in their slavery.

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God is a compassionate God.

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He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

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God does not delight in the death of the wicked and because of the great compassion of the

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heart of God, He commissions His servants.

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That's why God has sent us into the world.

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Because God cares for those who are oppressed and afflicted by sin.

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God loves every sinner.

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Do you know the meaning of burden?

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Some of you do.

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My youngest son was listening to a tape this morning on which was a tune to 1 Peter 5,

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7 that says, God cares for you.

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They were using the term burdens.

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And he looked at me and said, Dad, what are burdens?

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Can you remember being six years old and not knowing what a burden was?

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It doesn't take you long in life, though, to discover what burdens are.

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As I talked this morning, there are some people here in this auditorium who know the meaning

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of burden.

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I want you to know that God is compassionate for you.

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God loves you.

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And God wants to deliver you.

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Why does God send His servants?

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Because He has compassion for those who are afflicted.

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Secondly, He is a God who takes action to bring about deliverance.

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Look in verse 8.

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He says, I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring

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them up from that land to the land that I have promised them.

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God had come down from heaven, as it were.

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Not that He wasn't always on the earth.

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He is omnipresent.

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But He had come down in the redemptive sense.

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He had come down to deliver them.

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Now He was about to use Moses as His human channel to accomplish it.

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Does that not remind you of the way that He has come down in the greater sense still?

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For He has come down in the sense that He came in the incarnation Himself.

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He the great God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, came down

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and united Himself to sinless humanity in the person of Jesus Christ, the God-man.

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And He said, the Son of Man has not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life

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a ransom for many.

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He knew exactly what His mission was in life.

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He said, I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.

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Our God is a God who takes action to deliver.

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My friend, He came down 2,000 years ago in the person of His Son to deliver you from

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your bondage and sin.

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You who are groaning under the oppression and the weight and the guilt of your sinful life.

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God has compassion on you.

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In fact, God had compassion on you before you were born.

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He provided a Savior who went to the cross and paid the ransom that He might deliver

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you and free you from the oppression of your sin.

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All you have to do is respond in faith to Him who came down to save you.

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And instead of running from Him, run to Him.

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And instead of resisting Him, believe in Him and receive Him, He will save you as surely

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as God came down to save the Israelites.

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There is another application I want to make to believers and it's this, that today, today,

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00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:14,560
in 1988, God still comes down.

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00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:21,040
God comes down through the personality of His chosen servants whom He commissioned to

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00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:25,000
represent Him to a lost world.

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00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:29,080
God comes down to that office building where you are employed.

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00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:32,960
God comes down to that neighborhood where you live.

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00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:37,480
God comes down to that circle of friends, to that business group.

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00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:44,640
God comes down to them and as it were incarnates Himself in you.

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00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:47,440
Why does God come down?

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00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:55,480
Because He has compassion on those who are afflicted by sin.

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00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:59,960
Today He wants to use you, my Christian brother and sister.

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00:38:59,960 --> 00:39:06,960
He wants to use you in those relationships He's given you in life, in family and friends

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00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:10,840
and business, neighbors, casual acquaintances.

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00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:13,560
God wants to use you.

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00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:17,000
Will you let Him?

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00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:20,600
Will you be the kind of person that God can use?

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00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:26,800
The kind of person we described in the first part of this message.

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00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:31,360
Will you be like Isaiah the prophet who said, oh Lord, here am I, send me?

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00:39:31,360 --> 00:39:38,800
Will you say, God, make me the kind of man, make me the kind of woman that you can use?

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00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:43,360
Commission me?

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00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:48,720
God will be delighted to hear that because that's exactly the purpose that He's had

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00:39:48,720 --> 00:39:52,600
in view all along.

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00:39:52,600 --> 00:40:00,240
You may moan and groan about the fact that here you are now an old person of 30 or an

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00:40:00,240 --> 00:40:04,680
old person of 50 or an old person of 90.

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00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:08,600
You say, I'm just now learning what my purpose is.

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00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:13,160
Hey, Moses was 80.

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00:40:13,160 --> 00:40:16,040
Moses was 80.

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00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:22,320
And the best years of his life were the ones that followed his 80th birthday.

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00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:26,960
When he understood the kind of man he needed to be, and he understood what God wanted him

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00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:29,760
to do, and he did it.

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00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:34,280
It's not the age, it's the hard attitude.

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00:40:34,280 --> 00:40:38,560
That's what counts.

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00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:44,520
Let's pray.

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00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:56,960
Will you say in your heart, oh God, make me a person that you can use?

502
00:40:56,960 --> 00:41:01,080
When he says to you, follow me, will you leave everything?

503
00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:04,440
Will you forsake all and follow him?

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00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:17,040
If you will, tell him right now, tell him how humbling it is that God chooses to use

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00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:19,680
imperfect vessels like we are.

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00:41:19,680 --> 00:41:25,280
But that, my friend, is His plan.

507
00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:32,560
And even the failures that you and I have experienced in life, God uses those.

508
00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:36,720
He delights to give new opportunities.

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00:41:36,720 --> 00:41:44,360
Will you put yourself in His hand afresh this morning?

510
00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:50,000
Are you here without Jesus Christ as your Savior?

511
00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:53,080
You desire to be saved today.

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00:41:53,080 --> 00:41:57,600
You can seated right where you are by opening your heart and trusting Him.

513
00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:02,800
If you need someone to answer some questions or to help you, seek me after the service,

514
00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:09,480
and we'll find someone who will be able to do that before you leave the building.

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00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:13,920
You know it's possible just before I pray that there's someone or some couple here

516
00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:22,240
today who have been wondering whether God has called you to special ministry, to vocational

517
00:42:22,240 --> 00:42:25,720
Christian service.

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00:42:25,720 --> 00:42:31,480
God doesn't call everyone to do that, obviously, but there are those that God does commission

519
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:41,400
to invest themselves full time in ministry in a local church, in teaching, in church

520
00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:45,800
planting, either here or overseas.

521
00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:51,240
Will you tell God you're available today?

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00:42:51,240 --> 00:42:57,520
Perhaps God has arranged some intervention in the realm of the familiar, and you're

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00:42:57,520 --> 00:42:59,880
wondering if you should turn aside to see.

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00:42:59,880 --> 00:43:07,240
Oh, yes, my friend, don't miss this opportunity, for God would speak.

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00:43:07,240 --> 00:43:16,680
Father, I pray that all of us today will respond to this word from you in a way consistent

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00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:23,360
with your good purpose for our lives.

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00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:29,720
In Jesus' name, amen.

528
00:43:29,720 --> 00:43:32,120
You may not even need the words to it.

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00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:34,760
It's have thine own way, Lord.

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00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:37,760
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.

531
00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:48,400
Follow me and make me after thy will while I am waiting, yielded, and still.

532
00:43:48,400 --> 00:44:04,080
Let's remain seated and prayerfully sing that verse of 445.

533
00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:14,240
Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way.

534
00:44:14,240 --> 00:44:24,480
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.

535
00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:48,760
Follow me and make me after thy will while I am waiting, yielded, and still.

536
00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:56,000
Now let's stand together, please, for the benediction.

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00:44:56,000 --> 00:45:02,200
Father, I'm reminded of the chorus we sometimes sing that says, in His time, He makes all

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00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:06,200
things beautiful in His time.

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00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:12,680
There are occasions in life when we don't know what your time is or what your way is,

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00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:22,280
but even in those confusing moments, may we trust you, may we respond to you as we've

541
00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:30,480
sung, being still, being yielded, and waiting.

542
00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:39,200
We confess you are the potter, and we make our hearts moldable before you, as moldable

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00:45:39,200 --> 00:45:51,040
as clay, form us and fashion us into those individual vessels you want us to be, and

544
00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:53,440
then use us for your glory.

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00:45:53,440 --> 00:46:10,240
In Jesus' name, Amen.