ENCOUNTER: The Call of Moses

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For me, let me introduce myself before I jump in.

Not often you have a the young guy with chucks up front speaking to you, but I'm excited to be here before you.

I'm the student.

My name is Aaron Cotton, and I'm the student pastor here at Grant Parkway.

And it is my privilege and honor uh to stand before you and to carry on uh what Neil has gone through uh in this series called Encounter.

And we've been taking certain characters within the Bible and uh and um I mean just unpacking what God has done uh in their lives.

Uh what we've seen, a trend uh week in and week out, is God using unlikely people.

Uh we're gonna see that this morning uh again in and birthing within them a burning desire to extend the kingdom.

Uh to extend to say, hey, uh I got a plan for you, Moses, and I'm I'm gonna include you in the mix of things, and we're gonna see this morning that God's gonna be saying the same thing to us.

He's gonna be saying the same thing to us.

If you've got your Bibles, look with me in Exodus chapter 3.

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

Uh we'll start in verse 1.

And it goes as this Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush.

He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

And Moses said, I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.

And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, Moses, Moses, and he said, Here I am.

Then he said, Do not come near, take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you stand are standing is holy ground.

And he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

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

And then the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters.

I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of out of that the land that is good and broadland, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Parizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and now behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them.

Come or go.

I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.

But Moses said, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?

And he said, But I will be with you.

I'll be with you, and this shall be a sign brought from the people out of Egypt, and you shall serve God on this mountain.

This morning I want to talk about a guy named Moses.

Uh for somebody who had been uh was once in a leader within uh the Egyptian rulers uh who uh who God spared him when the rulers of the Egyptians were saying, Hey, we don't want these Israelites, we don't know anything to do with them, so let's put them in bondage, and we'll put chains on them, hopefully, so they could stop growing.

And God spared Moses, remember the baby, remember being put in the basket, remember the river, all these things.

The prince of Egypt within me comes out a little bit when I think about Moses as a kid, and it's God spares Moses, and then and then it says and then it says in this moment where Moses sees his people getting beat, and then he goes out just burning within with justice and actually kills uh somebody and actually was so was so fearful of being found out, he runs and he flees.

And so for 40 years, all right, for 40, 40 years we see this guy named Moses in the wilderness.

40 years, which puts him at 80 years old when we get to Exodus chapter 3.

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

He's a fugitive.

There's a warrant out for this guy's arrest.

He's a nobody.

He's hanging out with sheep, retired.

And not only this, but I can understand this a little bit more, just being married, he's living off his father-in-law.

Above all places where God is gonna use somebody.

This guy's an unlikely cat.

Who is this?

Who is this Moses?

He's he's hit retirement age.

But yet, what we're gonna see this morning, church, is we're gonna see God meet him right where he's at.

Right in the midst of being in the wilderness.

And I believe this morning that he's gonna do the same for us.

He's gonna meet us right where we're at.

We see Moses in this preparation stage within the desert.

He was keeping the flock, according to verse one, of his father-in-law Jethro, and he leads the flock to the west side of the wilderness.

If you got a pen, put just a foreshadowing mark right next to that.

That Moses is leading and pasturing and shepherding a flock, and he's going to the mountain of Sinai or the mountain of Horeb, which is foreshadowing of what is to come.

And the Bible says that he was on the west side of the wilderness.

Translation, this guy is out in the middle of nowhere.

We say here in Texas that he's out in the sticks.

Uh they would probably say he's out on the rock because he was out in the desert, out in the middle of nowhere.

He's weeks away from home.

And he's hanging out with sheep, and he's by himself.

You think, Aaron, why would you go off and say all that?

Because, church, sometimes God has to get us alone to get our attention.

He's getting Moses alone, he's preparing him, he's putting him in a place to where he's about to appear and he's about to reveal himself.

And church, I want to ask you a question: where do you get alone with God?

Where do you get alone?

Where do you get alone with God?

For me, when I was in high school, uh, when I first got saved, alone time with God looked like me coming into my school with my truck, with my 10-inch sub in the back, cranking out, uh, casting crowns, jamming out to a voice of truth, opening up my Bible, uh, and just getting prepped up for my day at school.

Now that's a little different.

I always thought it was weird when I traveled with my dad.

We just traveled in silence.

The radio was never on, all right?

And it always had animal crackers.

So I had vivid memories of riding with my dad, all right, just in silence, doing going out into the country and him eating animal crackers.

All right.

I blame him for having a pet peeve of when people smack and crunch, because that guy really enjoyed him, some animal crackers.

Because here's the deal is my dad's sanctuary was his truck.

I mean, that that is where, yes, he got alone with God.

And for some of us who who travel a lot, who go to work, who are commuting, uh what it would what would it look like to bring God into into the where we he intervenes in our everyday lives?

Because here's the deal you can only take people to the point in which you live.

You can only take people to the point in which you live.

We gotta learn to be with God on the go.

We got to.

I said that to my wife.

Uh, you can only take people to the point in which you live.

And I she asked me what I was preaching on this morning, and I mentioned that, and that sounds real good.

Uh, we like to say that from up front.

And wow, yeah.

And she I love, she looked at me, she goes, And I have no idea what that means.

Uh let's just let's just be honest.

I said, Thank you.

Thank you for sharing that.

This is what I mean.

You can only take people to the point in which you live, live is translation, is that you have to be full of Jesus, Jesus, in order for Jesus to come out of you.

You have you got you gotta be full of spirit.

If we talk about love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness and all these things, and those things aren't overflowing, it's because maybe we ain't getting alone with God.

Because what what Jesus says in Matthew 12, out of the overflow of the heart, the the the mouth speaks.

Men, in order for to lead your family well, you have to allow Jesus to lead you.

No wonder our families are so jacked up in America.

It's because we think we're in charge.

News flash.

No, no, no.

Jesus is in charge.

He's the chief shepherd.

So lead on King Jesus, our mighty warrior, as we follow, as we follow you and be and allow you to speak into our lives.

Verse 2, this big deal, all of a sudden in the angel of the Lord, Moses, on his typical day in midwork week, right?

The angel of the Lord appeared.

Which is good news.

This is this is if you're the Hebrew reader, this is awesome news because the Lord is appearing after 400 years of silence, of thinking, God, what are you doing?

Where are you, where are you at?

Don't you know we're in change?

Don't you know we're suffering?

Where have you, where have you, where have you been?

Then all of a sudden the Lord appeared.

He discloses himself, he reveals himself, and he makes himself available.

Yeah, he makes himself available through a burning bush.

A burning bush within Moses.

I had to look at my Bible a little bit and see where how often did God reveal himself by fire.

Do you remember Abraham?

Remember Genesis 15 when he's making a covenant, when a flaming torch passes, God appears by fire at Mount Sinai to meet with Moses.

Remember when Elijah called down fire?

I always tell my students, you ought to be reading the Bible sometimes and think, man, I wish I was there.

I want to see that movie.

I don't even, I don't only want to see it, but I want to, I want to I want to see that, I want to live that.

Can you imagine Elijah?

450 people out there, Baal prophets, and he's the only one.

He's saying, Hey, you want to contend with my God?

Let's make some altars here.

All right, you make your altar, I'll make my altar, and from noon, from from sorry, from morning till noon, the Baal prophets are going crazy.

They're shouting, and Elijah sits in the back saying, Shout louder, do more, because I'm about to show you who who God is.

Moshe comes up, I mean not Moses, Elijah comes up, prays a prayer, fire falls down from the sky and burns up everything.

Why?

Because God is who he says he is, and he is the creator, and in that moment burns everything up.

I love that story.

We're not preaching that though, we'll continue on.

Often, often Jesus said, or Jesus said this in Matthew 3.

He says, Hey, I'm gonna baptize you, or he'll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Jeremiah 20, verse 9.

Jeremiah 20:9

Jeremiah says this when the people are telling him to shut his mouth.

Hey man, quit talking.

You're talking way too much.

Jeremiah says this in Jeremiah 20, verse 9.

Jeremiah 20:9

But if I say I will not mention his word or speak any more in his name, his word is in my heart like a fire.

A fire shut up in my bones, and I'm weary of holding it in.

Indeed, I cannot.

Jeremiah is saying, Hey, I'm so burning hot that that God has put a passion with inside me, and if I don't get this out, I'm literally gonna be burnt up on the insides.

I I gotta get it, I gotta get this out.

Why would you mention all that?

Is uh where are the burning people in the room?

Where are the burning burning people, the ones burning hot to extend the kingdom and to be a part of what God is doing?

How do you know if you had this word in you like a fire?

How do you know?

I did some reading this past week, probably should have, preparing for this morning.

And I I ran across this reformers' creed.

And I want to read it to you.

This is these are the ones that are burning hot this morning.

It says this.

It says, You are a reforming generation.

You are here because God has marked you.

You are here because you want to be a difference maker.

There is something in your DNA that cannot accept status quo, business as usual, things as they are.

You will never fit into the box marked normal.

Deep in your heart you know you are called to change things, to rock the boat.

You love God but hate religion.

When you taste him, it only makes you hungry for more.

You have God cravings, you crave his presence, but loathe the average church service.

You refers to let you refuse to let the world around you shape or define you.

When you dream, it is about the impossible.

When you see pain, you know you are called to heal it.

When you see adversity, you don't fear it because you measure it against your God.

You are dangerous to evil.

You don't fear it because you measure it against your God.

To die to live as Christ and to die as gain.

You wonder why you are so strange, so different.

When others want to party, you want to pray.

When others laugh, you want to weep.

When others dance, you mourn.

You will never fit in the typical so societal niche because you are a reformer.

You don't live for fame.

You never would lower your goal to be rich and famous.

Bullets don't scare you.

Mediocrity scares you.

Indifference scares you.

Losing your life doesn't scare you.

Wasting it does.

You've already died.

So you're free.

And the question I want to ask us is where are the difference makers in the room?

Where are the ones who have God cravings?

Where are the dreamers?

Where are the ones willing to die so that others could live?

Where are the people like like Jeremiah?

I don't get this out of me.

I'm gonna burn up on the inside.

What's the Lord called you to do?

What's the passion that He's put on your heart?

Church, my fear is that how easily we can we can coast hitting the cruise control in our walk with the Lord.

And this morning, God's gonna be lighting a fire.

And my prayer, that's it's it's it's within you.

So when we get out there, we just unleash on the place.

So yeah, I I know I have a relationship with the Lord.

The Christ has redeemed me, and I can't help but talk about it.

Where are the people in the church who are burning hot?

Where are the people in the church who's saying, hey, I would love to somebody go back to their warehouse and say, Yeah, you're your student pastor?

Yeah, hey, I got a burning hot desire to just unleash on some kiddos.

All right.

Like I probably should do a background check check after that comment.

Um, but I think I know what you're talking about.

Oh, you're yeah, yeah.

Where are the people, where are the where are the leaders who are saying, yeah, I want to invest in the younger generation?

I want to go within to Jannah and I want to go say, hey, I I got a burn-hot desire to serve.

We're the ones going to Wade saying, hey, I think I think I may be called to go to do mission.

And I I think we all are in this room.

And that how can how does that look like for me to live that out?

Man, what where are the people who have the passion to unleash?

I love the story of Moses because he's in a typical day, hanging out with sheep out in the middle of nowhere, and this burning bush shows up.

And not only is it burning, it it it it's not, it's not being extinguished, it just continues to burn.

And not only that, it's talking.

And not only is it talking, but it knows Moses' name.

Like, can you imagine?

You're just in your mid-work week driving in your car.

Alan, Alan, Aaron, Aaron, like, who's what can you imagine Moses?

But here's the deal the Bible says that Moses gets so curious.

And I wonder, church, have we lost our curiosity?

Have we lost our curiosity to what God may do in people?

Can we stop looking at people through the lens of their outward appearance and say, the gospel is for the sick?

Jesus didn't come for the righteous, but for the unrighteous.

What is God doing?

What fires is He is He lighting?

Have we lost our curiosity, our sense of curiosity and wonder?

Some of you guys know my story, but I uh I'm a country boy at heart.

Amen.

Amen.

For all three of you out there.

Uh I grew up in the country and we had about five acres.

And occasionally we out at my property uh we would allow brush piles to build up.

Uh and because there were certain times where you weren't supposed to burn things, and so they uh intentionally were left alone.

And I remember I was out one day by myself, and we had some horses we're gonna put on our property.

Uh and uh this is Texas, isn't it?

Pastor talking about horses on a field, yes.

And I got out there and I was gonna start burning some stuff, and I remember got this one pile thinking I gotta burn this so I don't I don't want the horses catch their feet in it.

And I I remember it was so dry for all the for all the pyros in the house, like me.

Uh I went over to this this brush pile and I take the paper.

I didn't need lighter fluid, I didn't need anything.

I just took some just a paper underneath it, and it just started growing.

It started growing.

And by the pile, it's no joke, it's probably this big, but by the time I lit that thing, like you would have thought I was Elijah calling down fire by the how tall this thing was.

I mean it immediately just went like high up, and it was cool.

And I remember it, it was uh my my um there's a right here to my right.

I I couldn't see you, you couldn't see, it was kind of a wooded area.

And I I heard my name.

I heard Aaron.

Aaron.

And I thought, Lord, is this is this the burning bush moment?

Is this what's is this what's happening right now?

No, it was my uncle actually, and he saw the fire and he comes over and he says, Hey, what are you doing?

I said, What does it look like?

I'm making fire, all right?

Because I'm a man and I like to light things on fire, right?

And I'm having that dialogue with him, and he says, Hey, don't you know there's a burn ban out?

And translation, what's that mean?

It means that if I'm lighting fires, that's an automatic$500 fine for having a fire, for having a fire during a fire ban.

So I look at my uncle, and in that moment, I'm just my heart dropped a little bit, PT'd my pants a little bit too, and all of a sudden, right, this this police car comes around the corner.

And from the distance from the street, I see it, and you'd have thought I was on fire by the way I was running, because my uncle said, Hey, you better put the thing out before they get over here.

And so that's what I did is I got buckets and I'm running.

I got like horse, or what we'd feed the horses with, and I'm running and I'm dumping this water on the fire, and and I finally it just went out.

But no joke, if you know where Monaville is, speaking of out in the middle of nowhere, the whole Monaville fire department, right?

Because they got nothing going on, anyways.

They hear about this fire that's probably around this big, and the all fire trucks, right?

All five of them are in my pasture.

You would have thought it was the 4th of July, the way my pasture was lit up with all these lights from all these firefighters, right?

Because when they saw something, they couldn't help but come check it out.

Why would you tell us that story?

Is this I think God's lighting fires.

I think he's lighting fires and he's trying to get our attention in certain things with which he's calling us to, saying, hey, I'm doing this over here.

Here's where the party's at.

Why don't you come join me?

Why don't you come join me in the dialogue?

Why don't you come engage and have a conversation with your wife instead of just checking out when you get home from work?

Why don't you come over here and actually engage your kids?

I hear a lot when I public confession of the morning.

When I come home, I hear a lot, the Lord just saying, engage, engage, engage.

Because He's inviting He's inviting us to these burning bush moments.

But I think we've allowed our busyness to blind us to it.

We're just busy people.

We're just busy.

I was reading an article and uh it was extremely convicting, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Uh and the article uh is by a game guy named Brady Boyd.

Uh he says, uh certain signs that you may be addicted to busyness.

Certain signs that you may be addicted to busyness.

First thing first is this is you are more fascinated with gadgets and your job.

We busy ourselves with inconsequential things that don't matter.

Facebook.

I think Facebook is more about stalking than uh than anything, to be honest, all right?

And apparently a really good excuse to play Candy Crush saga.

I'm good on all the invites, people.

I think I've had enough of all the invites of Candy Crush saga, but how much we busy ourselves on inconsequential things, our job is all you think about, becoming an obsession you use to fill your need of importance.

We can barely look up from our phones and engage in conversation.

I always tell students out there, I I love being obnoxious out there because I students are so used to the norm.

They're just so used to the routine, the routine and going and going.

I and I love to get in front of students, especially when they're on their phones, right?

I mean, hello, hello, there's a world out here.

Imagine looking up from your phone, and I love just to get right next right up next to them, make it really awkward, right?

I love I love doing that and I love saying hello and then oh yeah, hello.

Yeah, there's a there's a world, there's a world out here.

What what would it what would it look like for us to put down our phones?

Speaking of entertaining inconsequential things, second thing is your favorite compliment has become wow, wow, you're always busy because we enjoy impressing people with our busyness because we think we're important, and we want you to know that we're important too.

There's this deep-seated need to feel needed and for others to know, hey, we accomplished something.

And the last thing he says is that you don't have time for the ones you love.

How do you know you're busy?

You don't have time for the ones you love.

We excuse ourselves from experiencing authentic community.

That's why we have relationships that are stale and boring, and our spouses resent us.

I love what Proverbs 27 says.

It says, How deceitful are the kisses of an enemy, but how faithful are the wounds of a friend.

Church, when's the last time you had a wounding conversation?

Not talking about superficial, uh just surface-level things, but one says, Hey, how are you doing?

And then responds with, Hey, how are you doing for real?

Let's let's really let's really talk.

I would I'd hate for us to continue on with our jobs and our days and things that we got going on and busy ourselves with those inconsequential things that don't matter.

And that's why Jesus says, What profit would it be to gain the whole world but yet forfeit forfeit your soul?

Are we forfeiting our souls?

The first thing this morning, church, is I want to communicate to you is this is don't miss the burning bush.

Maybe we should be asking questions.

Hey God, what are you doing?

What what are you what are you doing?

Look at me in verse 4.

This burning bush is burning.

And Moses said, I will turn aside to see this great sight.

Why the bush is not burned?

And when the Lord saw that, he turned aside to see church.

Sometimes when we notice things, we should probably go take what we see and go do something about it.

Not only is the bit this bush burning, but Moses sees it, and then he's gonna go do something about it.

What if, what if God is waiting for us to have to take a step?

What what what what if?

And he calls out, sees that Moses responds and says, Moses, Moses.

And he said, He said, Here am I.

There's a sense of urgency within the voice.

Remember when when Samuel was called?

Samuel.

Samuel.

He thinks it's Eli.

Can you imagine Eli?

No, man, I'm sleeping, dude.

What do you no?

Not me.

Three times.

Moses.

Moses.

I was like, yeah.

What's up?

Here am I.

Not only do we have the uh our farm growing up, but I had an older brother who's about two and a half years older than me.

Um so I I grew up uh just with little man syndrome up just core.

Uh and I always always competing with my brother.

And uh I remember um we have have our gangs that we I say gangs, they're healthy, fun games, gangs, I promise.

Uh we had the our our our crew of buddies that we'd run around with, and um and we'd we'd always we're always active.

We're always playing football, we're always playing basketball, um, and we're always having our our little tournaments, and we were we we were so full of ourselves that we actually came up with the with the name.

We were called the town park rebels, right?

Town, yeah, that's who we were more like town park punks.

Uh like when I think back on it, and I'll never forget this moment.

I I remember we're about to play uh a game of football, and my brother, he used he was chief.

Whatever, whatever Nathan said went.

Like if we want to if you wanted to play basketball, we all we all played basketball.

Uh just the way it went.

I I remember I looked up to my brother so much that when my mom would ask me, Hey, what do you want for Christmas, or what do you want for your for your birthday?

I would, I would go, I would go ask my brother, hey, what do you want?

Like, hello, Aaron, do you not have a mind of your own?

Can you not think for yourself of what what you what you want?

No pressure, older siblings in the house.

Uh, but we look up to you.

We just can't help it.

And my my bro my brother was just a huge influence in my life.

And I remember we were about to play a game, and he had it, we he had us all spread out, right?

We're all lining up, and uh all of all of his buddies are two and a half years older than me, and it's going down the line, and you got these guys who are in junior high, uh who are already men with full beards uh right next to me, and then you got just down the line then scrawny me who's who's standing there.

And I remember my brother, we're it's like a draft, right?

He's picking his team, the other captain's picking his team, and and I remember I was looking and there was an odd number out, which means that I wasn't gonna play.

It just odd number Aaron.

Sorry, buddy.

Usually that would happen, but I'll never forget that one day we're sitting we're sitting there and odd me and out, and I had interest, I just knew what was gonna happen.

I just started I just started walking away because I just it was predictable.

And within that moment, first pick, I hear my brother say my name, Aaron.

I was like, Aaron.

And I turn around and my brother's saying, Hey, how I want you on my team.

And church, you would have thought that I got selected for the Super Bowl, all right, to play in the Super Bowl at the NFL draft, right?

Like you, a way I sprinted on, like, no more.

My I'm a little man.

I've turned into just a little bulldog out there with my chest hot, right?

About to go show some people how to play some ball.

Why?

Because because the chief, he he called my name.

I think, Aaron, why would you say all that?

Because God's gonna come to Moses and say, Hey, I know you're a shepherd.

You're an old shepherd.

You're about 80 years old, shepherd.

Which news, hey, hello, like God's not done with you.

He's he's not done with you.

He's retired, he's he's he's a fugitive, he's he's on the run, an unlikely person.

God says, No, no, no, Moses, I want, I want you, and I want you to be on, I want you to be on my team.

And Moses gets a little excited.

Look with me in verse 5.

It says, then he said, Do not come near, take your sandals off your feet, for the place in which you are standing is holy ground.

And he said, I'm the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid.

He was afraid to look at God.

Moses was so intrigued in that moment.

Like he's like, a bush is burning, and he's walking towards, and God's saying, Hey, back up, man.

Hey, you can't just roll up on me.

I gotta call you, I gotta, I gotta summon you uh to come closer because have you forgot how holy I am?

In case you did, hey, I'm the God of Abraham, I'm the God of Isaac, I'm the God of Jacob.

And in that moment when Moses is confronted with the God of promise, he hides.

I think it's interesting with all our Jesus is my homeboy theology and skipping with Jesus songs that we got.

I think we've lost our reverence for who God is.

Because in that Moses, Moses can't help himself.

Oh, yeah, my bad.

Yes, yes, I and he says that he he was so afraid he couldn't even look at God because to look at God would mean that you would die.

That's why Jesus says, God is not the God of the dead, but but but of the living.

But in this moment, when when when Moses is coward, God's gonna remind him a truth.

He's gonna remind us this morning, verse 7.

Then the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters.

I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of out of the land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Sign me up to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and maybe a termite in there, I don't know.

And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

That we serve a God who not only sees, who not only hears, not only is aware, but he's coming down to do something about it.

He knows how stressful your job is.

He knows that you just lost a family member, he knows that you're lonely, he knows all these things, he knows your kid is off the rails, he knows that you're single, you got some burning desires within you.

He knows, he knows all these things.

He knows, he needs and he's aware.

And we're gonna see here in a second that he makes himself available even in those moments of suffering.

He knows.

He knows.

I love verse 8.

What a beautiful picture of redemption.

I've come down, I don't know, not only do I know and I'm aware, but I'm coming down to do something about it.

I know I know my people.

What a what a great picture of the incarnation.

That Jesus didn't regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself.

He knows his people to come down to rescue us.

That's why it says in Colossians 1, for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son, He whom He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

God makes this promise.

I'm gonna redeem you, I'm gonna bring you into a land that is flowing with milk and honey.

Absolutely stinking literally.

I don't even know what that means.

Sign me up for whatever that is.

So he's gonna bring us into a land of freedom, of plentiful, of goodness, of good things, and yet, and yet these these Israelites are we're gonna see later on, is they're gonna turn their back and say, God, I don't want anything to do with you.

These other neighboring nations have a lot have a lot, what I think is good.

I'm gonna go entertain some of those things.

And God gives them over to that.

And so we get to Nehemiah, get to Nehemiah 9, and the people are just broke.

They're in the land that God promised to deliver them to, yet they're in chains.

And it says this in Nehemiah 9 Behold, we are slaves this day in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts.

Behold, hey man, we're we're slaves.

We're supposed to be a freed-up people, but yet we're we're in chains.

And I wonder, church, since Christ has set us free for those that have a relationship with him and who know him and who have surrendered everything to follow after him, I wonder, even though he said these words and liberated liberated us from the bondage of sin, I wonder how many of us are walking around in chains of guilt, fear, and condemnation.

I love this quote.

Let me read it to you.

It's thick, but it's good.

It's good for our soul.

It says this to know at the deepest level of our being that God is our Father and we are his sons and daughters is not the result of theological research or moral achievement, but the result of God's sending the Spirit of His Son to speak to us and to convince us that despite all our guilt, fears, and doubts, the Father of Jesus is our Father too.

To know God our Father in this way is not merely intellectual apprehension of a doctrine.

I love this, not merely warm feelings about God, but a life transforming conscience awareness of the reality of our intimate relationship with God our Father.

Whoa.

Of course a guy named Walter would write that.

That's thick.

What's that mean?

It means this a transformation has got to take place within us.

We've got it's not necessarily about doing, but it's about being.

That's why the Bible says that the old is gone and newness, newness has come.

A transformation is in our midst.

If we'd reach out and believe and surrender everything, the voice of truth has got to be louder than our condemning thoughts.

And brought us out.

I have a lot of stories on the farm, and another story that I have is we have a Nissan we used to have a Nissan uh pickup truck.

It was a 1989 uh standard, right?

And uh and I we would take that truck out, man.

You would have thought, man, I was king of the world on those country back roads.

I'd take that Nissan pickup and I would drive everywhere, right?

I was I was so short at the time uh that my we actually had to have cushions uh in the back so where I where I could sit on so I can actually see over the dash.

Uh I was I was so I was so small.

And I remember driving uh in my one of my buddies was coming over to hang out with us, and I remember we were out in the pasture just kind of cruising around, all right, uh shooting stuff, because that's what little boys do.

Uh and we're out there, and I just got to thinking that uh it would be a great idea to do a donut in my uh in this truck, right?

And so, of course, you got somebody who has a little bit of experience, is a little too comfortable behind the wheel, and then you got some buddies around.

Not a good combo, all right, in that moment.

My buddy looks over and I say, Hey man, you want to see something?

Yeah, I want to see something.

I'm like, and we're all like in the moment, like, yeah, yeah.

And I'm like, of course I gotta turn up the music, right?

I'm turning up the music, get just getting my cool my cool on.

And I remember taking that, and I remember taking the first gear, and I'm spinning this truck, right?

Like it's a little think of an S10 pickup.

I don't know if they sell those anymore, but it's this little dinged up 89 Nissan truck, and I'm in this pasture doing doing this donut, spinning those wheels, I'm looking over my buddy, like it's like a movie, right?

I'm looking over my buddy, like yeah, you see this, you think what's going on?

And for some reason I popped it in second gear in that moment, right?

And I I lost control of the tires come at traction and actually just went straight forward.

And in that moment, I'm out in the middle of a pasture, I hit a car, like we had a park car out there.

Still to this day, I always I asked my mom, mom, why in the world was that car out there in the middle of the pasture?

I'm in the middle of nowhere.

Why is it why is a car out there?

She doesn't have any response whatsoever.

But the car was there, and I remember I just drilled that thing.

I mean, just nailed it, right?

It was so bad that the car that I got hit was over leaned over like this, right?

And there I am in the in the driving behind the wheel, and uh, and I just broke because I I knew my dad was gonna be coming, because it was loud.

And my dad was older at the time, like he was older, and you would have thought that that guy that was running on the track of these high school competitions.

I mean, he was going like perfect form, like out there to go see what was going on.

And I just knew because we grew up, spare the run, spare the child.

I got discipline, right?

Bell's coming off, end of story, don't do it again.

And I remember that was coming, and I just I just lost it uncontrollably.

My dad's coming.

I look over to find some comfort from my buddy.

He's even gone.

Like he just bolted out of the vehicle himself, and there I am alone, just about to endure the wrath of my father, and my dad comes to the car, and the first thing he says is, I remember this, he goes, Hey, can you back up a little bit?

You're I mean, let the car down at least.

All right.

I was like, Yeah, of course.

I back I back it up a little bit, put it in neutral.

And my dad opened that car, and I just knew he was gonna grab me by my shirt and just be just and it was about to happen.

I just I just knew it.

But instead, he grabbed me and just my my and just took my face and I just buried it in his in his chest, and I just wept uncontrollably.

And the one thing that he said to me that has just shaped my understanding of belonging to God is hey, you're my son.

You're my son, and nothing, nothing's gonna change that.

And in that moment, I I I I deserve to be I deserved punishment.

I deserved that moment.

But for me, as as a kid, in that moment, he was teaching me say you're my son.

Hey, not nothing, nothing is gonna is gonna change that.

Those are the words that have just shaped my understanding that I that I belong to God.

No, it doesn't give us free reign to do whatever we want.

No, no, no.

I'm saying that we've been made new, we we are new people, that that the that God has put his spirit within us to live out these truths, therefore we don't have to walk around in chains.

We don't have to walk around with this sense of condemnation or this sense of anxiety and punishment and fear because our God has delivered us from all that.

That he has redeemed us from all that, he's forgiven us from all that.

And he says, Hey, you're my son.

Hey, no, you you're you're my you're my daughter.

And no, no one can change that.

No, no one can change that.

So don't miss the burning bush, church.

Don't miss it.

Don't miss those God ordained our opportunities he's creating.

Also, man, freedom means free.

Then when the Bible talks about you being free in Christ, that means you're free indeed, according to Paul.

Look at me in verse 10.

This urgent God, come, come and I will send you to Pharaoh, or go to Pharaoh, that you will bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.

But Moses said to God, Who am I?

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

Church, the great commission of Matthew 28 existed a long time before.

I'm about to bring my people out, I'm about to redeem them, I'm about to free them up.

And Moses, hey, I'm going to use you to do it.

Church, God is calling you to liberate people from their sin.

That's why it says the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.

And because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison of those who are bound.

You, Moses, are going to be instruments to set people free, to liberate them with the message of Jesus and what he's done for us.

But I love I love Moses, and I love, I love just the uh man, just how the Bible lays out that he wasn't perfect.

Hey, Moses, I'm gonna call you to go do this.

Speaking of TT in your pants, can you imagine that call?

Hey, go back to the land in which you've you you killed somebody, which you once belonged in royalty, and you're gonna go back to that, all right, and you're gonna say, let my people go.

Moses in that moment's like, it comes across as who am I?

Like this humility, Moses, but Moses is scared.

He's he's just scared out of his mind.

I wonder, church, how many of us are scared out of our minds?

Because the greatest prom the promise that that that God says to Moses in this moment is, Hey, I'm gonna be with you.

I'm gonna I'm gonna be with you.

Who am I?

Aren't you tired of living in the excuses?

Because of the presence of God, it man cancels those excuses and lays them down to the side where they fall and where they need to be.

In the midst of question, in the midst of doubt, in the midst of God, are you sure you're calling me to go do this?

God says, Hey, I'm gonna be with you.

And Moses was so caught up in the presence, church, I would pray this it wouldn't be just a song that we sing on a Sunday morning, but he was so caught up with the presence of God that the sheer thought of God in his presence not being among his people is something that Moses just couldn't handle.

That's why he says later on, God, if you don't go with us to this promised land, if you don't, if you don't dwell among your people, then we ain't gonna go.

And I wonder if we'd start our day thinking and praying, God, I pray that your presence would just be filled within me.

I pray that I would be sent out to unleash on the on the world of uh this fire set ablaze within me to go proclaim your gospel and to live it out.

But I need your presence because I can't do it without you.

That's why we sing songs, I need you.

I I I need you.

My fear, church, is that we've been in church for so for so long that we've lost our thought, that we need God.

That we can just simply coast.

God says, No, no, no, no, you need me.

And you're incapable of doing this on your own.

I know you feel inadequate, I know you feel ill-equipped, I know you don't think you're smart enough, I know you don't think you have the personality, I know you're always in a rush.

But I'm with you.

I'm pr I'm present, I'm present with you.

I want to read just these last verses because they're powerful and I'll be done.

Verse 13.

Then Moses said to God, If I go to the people of Israel and say to them, and they asked me, What is his name?

What shall I say to them?

And God said to Moses, I am who I am.

And he said, Say to this people of Israel, I am, has sent me to you.

What's the last thing?

Not only don't miss the burning bush, not only does freedom mean free, but the greatest gift of all is the I am.

If I was Moses in that situation, I heard God say, I am who I am.

I would have been thinking, You are what?

Like, it's an incomplete sentence, God.

Do you not know?

Can you just complete the sentence, but it's intentional?

What's he saying?

He said he's the creator, God, he's the self-existent one, he's the creator, the sustainer of all things.

He's immutable.

He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

He's eternal.

He's the absolute reality, has always existed, therefore, he is king.

That's why Jesus in John 8.58 says, Hey, before Abraham was, I am.

And the Pharisees pulled out their beards and wanted to kill the guy because they knew exactly what he was saying.

He was saying that he was the I am of Exodus 3.

The all-powerful one, the sufficient one.

And church, I don't know what you're going through.

I don't know what value that you may be going through.

You may be just going through life like Moses was.

Going through the typical schedule of hauling kids and jobs and all these things going on.

But I wonder what Bush is God's lighting on fire to get your attention.

I wonder how restless we are, because when we embrace the truth that God is present with us, that the greatest gift of all is available to us, our restless souls find their rest in Him.

Are we restful this morning?

And this is the closing word I would I would love for us to walk away with.

Is that God has extended Himself, that you're not alone, that though you go through the valley of shadow of death, he's with you.

The great I am is available to you.

Go walk out of here with a burning desire to just go live it and go do it, whatever that passion is.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.