Sermon

Don't just look, LEAN IN!

Rock Hill Baptist Church II Podcast

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  1. Welcome to the official podcast of Rock Hill Baptist Church 2

  2. where we are focused on glorifying God, spreading the

  3. gospel, and making disciples of Jesus Christ right here in the

  4. heart of Greenville, SC. Each week we bring you a life

  5. changing word from our Senior Pastor, Pastor Matthew D Long

  6. Junior, or one of our anointed guest speakers.

  7. We pray this message strengthens your faith, deepens your

  8. understanding, and empowers you to elevate in every area of your

  9. life. Let's join the service already

  10. in progress. Amen.

  11. Hallelujah to God. Exodus chapter 3.

    Exodus 3 chapter mention

  12. Let's start at verse one. We've been reading the Bible all

  13. day by stop NOW. Verse one of Exodus chapter 3

    Exodus 3 chapter mention

  14. reads as such. Now Moses kept the flock of

  15. Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the

  16. flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain

  17. of God, even to Horeb. And the Angel of the Lord

  18. appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a Bush,

  19. And he looked, and behold, the Bush burned with fire, and the

  20. Bush was not consumed. Verse 3 reads.

  21. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight

  22. by the Bush is not burnt. 4 And when the Lord saw that he turned

  23. aside to sea, God called unto him out of the midst of the

  24. Bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

  25. Verse 5 And he said, Jaw not nigh, hit her, put off thy shoes

  26. from off thy feet, for the place where on thou standest is holy

  27. ground. Verse 6 Moreover, he said, I am

  28. the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,

  29. and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he

  30. was afraid to look upon God, the word of God, for the people of

  31. God, Thanks be unto God. I'm going to preach.

  32. I'm going to preach from this thoughts.

  33. Are you ready? Help me out.

  34. Turn to neighbor. Say neighbor.

  35. Don't look lean in. Don't look lean in.

  36. Don't look lean in, don't look lean in.

  37. I could be honest by dear brothers and sisters that as we

  38. have found ourselves stumbling into Exodus chapter 3.

    Exodus 3 chapter mention

  39. Come on here I love it. Come on, he going to help me for

  40. real. He he we got a constant praise.

  41. He just running for everybody. He gonna run for me.

  42. We found ourselves here in Exodus chapter 3 with a man,

    Exodus 3 chapter mention

  43. Braylon, the man who is not a wide eyed baby floating down the

  44. Nile River. He's not a fiery young Prince

  45. slaying Egyptians in a fit of righteous anger.

  46. No, when we meet him here. This man, Mother Gordine, is an

  47. older man at this point, Deacon Davis.

  48. He's weary and has been humbled saying you know him.

  49. His name, Sister Hauser, is Moses Moshi.

  50. In Hebrew, it means drawn out. And isn't that the paradox of

  51. his entire life? He's always being drawn out of

  52. something, drawn out of the water, drawn, drawn, drawn.

  53. Good to see Jesus being drawn out of Egypt, drawn out of

  54. position, drawn out of pride. And yet here he is again,

  55. finding himself always being drawn into something else, drawn

  56. into tension, drawn into destiny.

  57. Moses is a man who is living in two worlds.

  58. Help me out, say 2 worlds. He's living in two worlds, but

  59. belongs to neither one. He's too Hebrew for the palace,

  60. and he's too Egyptian for the slaves.

  61. He learned early how to survive by cold switching and Pharaoh's

  62. palace. He spoke the language of power,

  63. but in his mother's Hut he whispered the prayers of a

  64. slave. He never fully fits into either

  65. place. So he walked the tightrope

  66. between both a Prince with a slave's memory and a slave with

  67. a prince's education. And now by the time we see him

  68. in Exodus chapter 3, he is 80 years old.

    Exodus 3 chapter mention

  69. I'm going to say that one more time and let that settle in. 80,

  70. not 08, but 80, if I don't mind. I guess I better help paint this

  71. a little bit more vividly for you.

  72. That's about 960 and a third month of life he's had.

  73. That's about 4174 and 286 weeks of life at this point.

  74. That's about 29,220 days of life.

  75. Or if you really feel being analytical, that's about 7 and

  76. 701,280 hours of 42,076,800 minutes.

  77. Check this out at 80 years old, Mother Spurgeon.

  78. He's been alive for 2,524,608,000 seconds, 40 years

  79. and Egypt thinking he was somebody.

  80. And now 40 years in Midian realize that he was nobody, but

  81. God was about to show him what he, God can do, but somebody who

  82. knows he's a nobody. For four decades he had been

  83. hidden. No miracles, no no angelic

  84. visitors, no visions, no burning bushes yet.

  85. Just sheep and sand. Just the grind of a man who has

  86. learned to settle. I'm going to say that again.

  87. Just the grind of a man who has learned how to settle.

  88. Many brothers and sisters. How do you survive 40 years and

  89. the gap between what was promised and what is possible?

  90. I know that made me say too, when I was researching and

  91. studying the texts because really, how do you keep walking

  92. when your past feels wasted and your future feels gone?

  93. Moses is caught in detention of what was and what will be, and

  94. he carries palace memories but lives and desert realities.

  95. Deacon Glenn, he's, he's the education.

  96. He has the education Deacon Davis of Egypt, but the

  97. occupation of a shepherd, of a pastor, of a caretaker.

  98. He is both overqualified, Sister Chris, and underutilized.

  99. He is both called and sidelined. He is both drawn out and shut

  100. in. And maybe that's where somebody

  101. is sitting right now. Not in your Egypt anymore, but

  102. not yet in your promise. Not who you used to be, but not

  103. yet who you're going to be stuck in detention.

  104. Sister Davis of an unfinished testimony.

  105. Woo Lord, I'm sorry, I thought the little preaching slip on me.

  106. But the backside of the desert is not a glamorous place.

  107. It's it's, it's the place of obscurity.

  108. It's the place of forgottenness, the place no one celebrates, no

  109. one visits, no one sees. It's the place, Dick and Davis,

  110. where second guesses piled up with the sand and old dreams

  111. start to dry out in the sun. And here.

  112. Here, yeah, I believe. I believe in the backside he

  113. finds a place of life that really nobody will post about.

  114. It's the quiet corner where unfulfilled dreams collect dust.

  115. It's the space where applause has faded and all you hear are

  116. your own second guesses. It's where time feels long,

  117. where opportunities feel lost and, and even where the world

  118. seems to have moved on without you.

  119. Right. And yet it is here, in this

  120. hidden geography, if I could say it like that, in this place of

  121. exile, obscurity and second chances, that the next chapter

  122. of God's story featuring this life begins.

  123. Yes. And my dear brothers and

  124. sisters, if you don't mind, I think, I think we may have a

  125. little gas. Join me in observing 3 movements

  126. in this text. You got your Bible open right?

  127. Exodus chapter 3, verse #2 says, And the Angel of the Lord

    Exodus 3 chapter mention

  128. appeared unto him, and a flame of fire out of the midst of a

  129. Bush, and he looked, and behold, the Bush burned with fire, and

  130. the Bush was not consumed. Verse 3 just to make sure we add

  131. to this. And Moses said, I will now turn

  132. aside and see this great sight. Why the Bush is not burned.

  133. Many brothers and sisters. The first movement of this text

  134. is the strange sights. Strange sights.

  135. It's the desert. Hot, dry and quiet shrubs are

  136. out there, and so that they can they can really catch heat, They

  137. can catch fire at any drop of a moment.

  138. But this time, under brothers and sisters, something different

  139. is happening. The Bush is burning, but it's

  140. not burning up. Moses looks, then looks again.

  141. Because the fire won't quit. Lord, I think somebody need to

  142. hear me. I think they need to hear me.

  143. The Bush is burning, but it's not burning up.

  144. Moses looks that looks again. Because this fire won't quit.

  145. It's not the clouds opening up in the sky.

  146. It's something lit right in front of him and your Bible, our

  147. scripture for today says in Exodus chapter 3, verse 2, it

    Exodus 3:2

  148. says, behold, the Bush burned with fire and the Bush was not

  149. consumed. This isn't a show up there sign.

  150. It's a sign for right here, in this moment.

  151. Sometimes what's near you lights up to see if you're still paying

  152. attention, and what should burn up is being held together.

  153. That's really the tension of this entire text.

  154. The flame is real, but the finish never comes.

  155. Sometimes the very thing you step over is the thing set on

  156. fire for your future. You keep stepping over.

  157. The little nudge to pray before you scroll on your phone.

  158. The quiet conviction to forgive before you clap back.

  159. The the kids question that carried more God than your whole

  160. entire calendar. The open door that didn't look

  161. like your dream but sounded like more of God's will.

  162. The reminder to call the person you've been avoiding.

  163. You keep calling it nothing, pushing it off to later, saying

  164. not yet, it's not the right time, it's not the right season.

  165. But may I suggest that might be the Bush?

  166. Because what feels like an interruption is often an

  167. invitation. John Ziegler's zinger, Excuse

  168. me, says great leaders are not defined by the absence of

  169. weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths.

  170. And my dear brothers and sisters, as we are perusing

  171. through this sets of strange sights, I got to take you back

  172. to verse #1 because verse #1 starts off with a very

  173. particular set of words for the grey.

  174. Did I get it right? This ain't the Lord, all right?

  175. I've been, I've been working all week.

  176. I'm like verse #1 of Exodus chapter 3 says Now Moses kept

    Exodus 3 chapter mention

  177. the flop. Now Moses kept the flop.

  178. You might have missed it. You might have missed it.

  179. Now Moses kept the flop. So in one hand he has a

  180. shepherd's staff, ordinary wood in an out of the way place and

  181. it's really revealing Moses clear strength.

  182. You ready the staff that he used to keep the flock reveals the

  183. staff as guidance, the muscle of movements.

  184. I promise you I'm going somewhere.

  185. It represents protection, the staff being strong for everybody

  186. else. It represents provision, the art

  187. of making a way to pasture for the flock and providing water

  188. for them. It also represents discipline,

  189. firmness with tenderness, correction without crushing.

  190. But then also the staff these out of this these few words

  191. represents testimony. Help me out.

  192. Turn to your neighbors and neighbor testimony, testimony

  193. and notice notice, notice for the Bible readers.

  194. If you go to Exodus chapter 4 around about verse #2 the

    Exodus 4 chapter mention

  195. question becomes since you keeping sheep, what's that in

  196. your hand? Moses responds and says arrived

  197. the ordinary thing becoming an instrument of extraordinary use.

  198. And here's the shout for us as we journey along that even in

  199. obscurity, I want you to know that your ability is still seen.

  200. Oh Lord, that head, not Spirit, just went, Josh, that God often

  201. brands your gifts in the backfield because before He

  202. broadcasts your name in the spotlight, He needs you.

  203. He needs you. He needs you to know what's in

  204. your hand. Because what's in your hand may

  205. look like a stick. But may I suggest that what's in

  206. the hand is really a strategy in God's hand?

  207. You may not realize that one small flame can change a whole

  208. room. But that's why when we come

  209. together, when we come together, I'm so intentional about pushing

  210. you to praise the Lord. I'm intentional about pushing

  211. you to hug your neighbor. I'm intentional about pushing

  212. you to pray together over your offering and your tie.

  213. Because a candle shifts the atmosphere, Huh.

  214. Y'all must not like no candles. I thought.

  215. I thought this is the candle crew.

  216. I thought it's the crew. What's near gets lit to reveal

  217. what's next. So you got to watch out the

  218. sight. The sight, the sight of what

  219. Moses observes pulls him into a shift notice.

  220. Notice in the text that the Bush gets his eyes but the turn gets

  221. his ears. Moses said in Exodus chapter 3

    Exodus 3 chapter mention

  222. verse three. He said, and I will now turn

  223. aside and see this great sight. I think the NIV says strange

  224. sight. Uh huh, why the Bush does not

  225. burn. The text teaches us three steps

  226. in one sentence. You ready?

  227. I got a lot of notes for you to go back to YouTube and get later

  228. on. The text teaches US decision,

  229. direction and discernment. Oh God, I'm going to say it

  230. again. Decision, He says.

  231. I will now turn aside. This isn't maybe later, this is

  232. now. Notice it's not curiosity, but

  233. commitment, because when you give God a glance, you'll only

  234. get hints. But when you give God a turn,

  235. you get instructions. God didn't speak when it burned.

  236. He spoke when he turned. The first thing is a decision.

  237. But notice the second thing of this sentence.

  238. The second step is direction. The text says, and now I was

  239. turned aside. Check this out and see this

  240. great sight. He chooses focus, Sister

  241. Shirley. He doesn't just notice, he

  242. studies what's been lit. Because faith grows when

  243. attention lingers on what God highlights.

  244. No, go to sleep on this part right here.

  245. Because what you stare at, you start to understand.

  246. Thank you. I must say it again.

  247. I said what you stare at, you start to understand and what you

  248. understand you can't obey. I can hear the words of my

  249. pastor Bishop Borders now say you can't stand over what you

  250. haven't stood under. So.

  251. So the second, second step in the sentence is direction.

  252. But notice the third step in this sentence.

  253. He says and Moses said, I will now turn aside one and see this

  254. great sight too. Check this out why the Bush is

  255. not burned. Notice this is not suspicion.

  256. Come here. Notice this is discernment.

  257. Now he asks the deeper question, Come here because, because we'll

  258. read the Bible so fast and miss it.

  259. He says, why is it burning? He asked the question.

  260. He asked the question, why is it burning but not burning?

  261. But that's maturity. Looking past the spark to the

  262. source, I think I'm going to throw this and then this, since

  263. we all together don't just shout about the fire, learn the

  264. faithfulness that sustains it. How about this one?

  265. Don't just talk about the fruit, uncover the roots because it's

  266. so easy that we are attracted to other people's fire that will

  267. want to go and be warned by their own fire without realizing

  268. what is it that keeps it from being not burnt up.

  269. I'm I'm reminded I'm reminded of a real story of a gifted

  270. musician. Deacon houses you're looking

  271. sharp today who had been in a busy train station in New York

  272. and he played beautiful music. People had rushed by they they

  273. would find themselves late for work, heads down, barely really

  274. hearing it. However, the the music that the

  275. man played didn't ever fail. But what really failed was the

  276. focus of the people on the man's playing because greatness

  277. doesn't I better slow this one down.

  278. This might be this one of those moments ready.

  279. Greatness doesn't always dress up.

  280. Sometimes it waits to see who will slow down and listen.

  281. I'll save one more time for you, deke.

  282. Greatness doesn't always dress up.

  283. Sometimes it waits to see who will slow down and listen.

  284. In the same way, God may not turn up the volume, but He'll

  285. cause you to slow down and look, It is here.

  286. It is here by the brothers and sisters that we find ourselves

  287. quickly moving on from this strange sight, our first

  288. movement to the second movement of the text, which is this

  289. sacred summons. It's in your Bible, Exodus

    Exodus 3 chapter mention

  290. chapter 3 verse #4 it says, And when the Lord saw that he turned

  291. aside to see God called unto him out of the midst of the Bush and

  292. said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I Johnny,

  293. we got to get out of here. But, but, but I want you to know

  294. that something happened in that desert that day that changed the

  295. course of history. Not when the Bush started

  296. burning, Sister Chris, but when Moses turned Ed.

  297. I'm going to save one more time for you, Sister Shirley.

  298. I don't want you to get lost on this.

  299. I said something happened in that desert that day that

  300. changed the course of history. Not when the Bush started

  301. burning, but when Moses turned, Ed.

  302. It wasn't the fire that triggered God's voice.

  303. It was the turn. Moses said in verse three that

  304. he would go see, but in verse four he turned aside to see.

  305. And there is always a gap between what we say and what we

  306. do. But it wasn't until Moses body

  307. backed up his curiosity that God broke his silence.

  308. Because God doesn't respond to good intentions, He responds to

  309. holy interruptions. A lot of us say I'll turn

  310. someday, but but God's waiting to see if your turn today.

  311. This was the first time in Scripture that the Lord's

  312. silence is broken by someone's movement, Deacon Glenn and not

  313. their mouth. Come here.

  314. I, I said it and it went over your head.

  315. I said this is the first time in Scripture that the Lord's

  316. silence is broken by someone movement and not their mouth

  317. because when he saw action match curiosity, then direction had

  318. met destiny and don't miss this. The verse says the Lord saw that

  319. phrase is a new it's in Genesis chapter 6 verse five that the

    Genesis 6 chapter mention

  320. Lord saw the wickedness of man was great and it was even in

  321. Genesis chapter 21 and 17. He saw the tears of Haggai in

    Genesis 21 chapter mention

  322. Genesis chapter 29 and 31. He saw Leah was unloved.

    Genesis 29 chapter mention

  323. He even saw the affliction of his people in Exodus chapter 2

    Exodus 2:25

  324. verse 25. But this time God saw a man

  325. turning. God, y'all don't know when to

  326. shout? I said.

  327. This time God saw a man turning. I think I better get ahead and

  328. just push this a little bit further.

  329. That I can hear the words later on to be written in the Holy

  330. Scriptures that God will heal a land, but only if the people

  331. will turn from the wickedness. That the same God who sees pain

  332. also sees pursuits. And some of us are living

  333. beneath revelation because we haven't moved yet.

  334. We keep waiting for God to speak.

  335. Yeah, but God is waiting for us to turn.

  336. And I've got to let you know, don't push too hard, John.

  337. I still got away. That God called unto him out of

  338. the midst of the Bush and said, Moses, Moses, you read it too

  339. fast, you missed it. It says And God called unto him

  340. out of the mist within of the Bush and said, most shy, most

  341. shy. Now, now, now, now, this is

  342. deep. He didn't call him shepherd.

  343. No, no, he didn't call him murderer.

  344. Knew he didn't even call him fugitive or sister Walker, but

  345. he called him Moses because that's his name.

  346. That's his identity, that's his intimacy and and even that's his

  347. authority. And let me remind you that God

  348. knows your name even when you've forgotten your calling.

  349. Lord, I feel it. I better ride a little bit that

  350. God even does something strange. He double calls him Deacon

  351. Glenn. Come and look at the text.

  352. He doesn't just St. Moses one time, but he says

  353. Moses, Moses and Hebrew called culture.

  354. Calling a name twice meant urgency.

  355. It meant intimacy. It even meant some type of

  356. divine establishment of some type of covenant or agreement.

  357. It means what's being said and now it has to be established on

  358. earth and established in heaven. Come here, think about it.

  359. It's the same team Lord who called Abraham, he said.

  360. Abraham, Abraham. He shifted him from sacrifice to

  361. substitution. It's the same God that called

  362. Jacob, Jacob, Jacob and shifted him from being a running man to

  363. a man full of revelation. It's the same God that called

  364. Samuel the little boy and shifted him from silence to

  365. speaking. Yeah.

  366. And you even know it's the same one that called Simon, Simon and

  367. shifted him from being sifting to being strengthened.

  368. And I got to let you know that when God called, calls your name

  369. twice, it means he's about to change your story without

  370. changing your name. Yeah, and here's where the

  371. tension lies. That some of us have only heard

  372. our past shouted at us because the enemy keeps yelling failure,

  373. keeps yelling addict, keeps yelling divorce, keeps yelling

  374. broke, keeps yelling unworthy. When the Lord speaks, he calls

  375. you by name. The enemy calls you by your

  376. past, but the Lord calls you by your purpose.

  377. Notice that God didn't say hey you.

  378. He said Moses, Moses. And that name carries a legacy

  379. of survival. It survived genocide.

  380. That name survived rejection. That name survived identity

  381. crisis. That name survive 40 years of

  382. obscurity. But when God calls your name, it

  383. means all that is part of the testimony is not the termination

  384. of your destiny. And I'm so glad that when God

  385. called Moses, Moses shows us what to do next.

  386. The Bible says that Moses responds to God and he says he

  387. says here am I that phrase right there, here am I isn't just

  388. presence, it's posture. Come here, I'm trying to preach

  389. to you that phrase right there, it's availability.

  390. That phrase right there it's surrenderance.

  391. And then Hebrew, that phrase hinay means here I am Lord, I'm

  392. ready. I've got to let you know that

  393. here I, I am doesn't mean I have it all together.

  394. It means I trust the one who does.

  395. It's the same answer Abraham gave.

  396. It's the same reply Jacob gave. It's the same posture Samuel had

  397. and it's the same spirit Isaiah carried.

  398. And Isaiah chapter 6, You know that one when he says woe is me

    Isaiah 6 chapter mention

  399. for I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell amongst our unclean

  400. people. This wasn't ability, it was

  401. availability. I think I better get on out of

  402. here now before we rush past this here, can I ask you a

  403. question today? 19 brothers and sisters, when

  404. was the last time you gave the Lord a fresh yes?

  405. When was the last time you gave God a here I am not a recycled

  406. yes from your youth, not a broken yes.

  407. How do your fear but a fresh surrender The ass God's next

  408. move in your life doesn't depend on your resources, but it

  409. depends on your response. And I got to let everybody on

  410. the side of my voice know that it's not.

  411. It's not tied to your money. It's not tied to your credit,

  412. but God is asking for your commitment.

  413. He's not calling for your resume, but he's calling for

  414. your response. Because God doesn't need your

  415. ability. He's drawn to your availability.

  416. I got to get on out of here for real.

  417. So now Moses has turned and God has called and a holy yes is

  418. hanging in the atmosphere. But before Moses can run off

  419. shouting, God tells him something that would stop

  420. everybody who really understood in the chat.

  421. Deacon house him. Your Bible says that the Lord

  422. tells him in verse #5 Davis. And he said, Draw not nigh unto

  423. me, put off thy shoes, from off thy feet, for thy place where on

  424. thy stand. This is holy ground.

  425. Moreover, he said, I'm the God, I'm thy father.

  426. Yeah, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac.

  427. Yeah, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he

  428. was afraid to look upon God. My name, brothers and sisters,

  429. I'm going to get out of here for real.

  430. Now. If you push, I go even faster.

  431. But if not, I might sit for a second because the last movement

  432. of the tags is they got to surrender.

  433. They got to surrender the sandals.

  434. You got to look at the text here.

  435. He tells unto them, He says try not night there my new brothers

  436. and sisters. The fire invited him, but the

  437. voice corrected him. And the tension of the text is

  438. God says come close but not too quick because access without

  439. reverence is arrogance. That's why we got to praise Him

  440. with intentionality. That's why we got to praise Him,

  441. not out of obligation, but we got to praise Him because we

  442. Revere him, we respect him, we honor Him, and we make sure he

  443. knows that we're thankful for him because God will bless the

  444. steps we take and pride only the ones we take and all.

  445. And this is the part of our walk where yes Sir, where direction

  446. meets discipline. But God says, slow down, take

  447. your time. You can't just run upon this

  448. glory, His calling Moses in, but he's teaching him to come

  449. correct, because the same God who calls your name will check

  450. your approach. And so he tells him, yes, Sir,

  451. put off the shoes from off thy feet.

  452. Now they get to the core of this.

  453. God doesn't ask Moses to lay down his title.

  454. Neither does he ask him to lay down his testimony.

  455. He doesn't even talk about talk about his trauma, but the Lord

  456. says, take off your shoes. Why would he ask this question?

  457. Why would he give him this command?

  458. But Deacon Davis, I'm glad you're wondering because shoes

  459. carry residue and they check dust.

  460. Yes, Lord, from the places you've been.

  461. And so the Lord said unto him, no, not here.

  462. No, not now, because you can't bring the wilderness residue

  463. into a worship moment to Moses's sandals had walked through

  464. Egypt's palace, Moses's sandals had been through Midian's

  465. pasture, and Moses's sandals had been on the backside of the

  466. desert, and they seemed to survive.

  467. Come here. Survive his failures.

  468. Survive. Survive his fears.

  469. Come here, survive. Survive his fight.

  470. But God, I said God, God says, take that off here.

  471. Yeah, take it off here. Because what carried you through

  472. the pain can't cover you in purpose.

  473. You see, sandals represent what we use to protect ourselves from

  474. the rough places. But when you're in the presence

  475. of God, the protection becomes a problem.

  476. Reeling. And he doesn't want your guarded

  477. heart. No, He wants shall bare soul,

  478. because worship us. Lord begins when your defense,

  479. your defense comes down and ends.

  480. And so suddenly the Bible says that he says unto him, for the

  481. place, the place we're on, we're on that stand.

  482. This is holy ground. Let me deal with this real

  483. quick. It wasn't a church.

  484. No, it wasn't a temple. No, it wasn't a tent.

  485. No, it was dirt, sand, and rocks.

  486. So what made it holy? Boiling.

  487. Not the location, but the presence made it holy.

  488. Because holiness is not about the ground.

  489. It's about who's standing in it with you.

  490. The same desert place became sacred because the presence of

  491. the Lord stood in the midst of it.

  492. And when Moses obeyed, when he stood still, when he took off

  493. but separated him, that's when God spoke again.

  494. I think I bore you long enough. Go back and get the word of the

  495. Lord if you want it. But I need you to know, Deacon

  496. Davis, that it's here the Lord reintroduces himself.

  497. And he says, Moses, I am the God of your Father.

  498. I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac and Jacob, not the God God

  499. in your past, not the God God of Egypt, not the God of Pharaoh,

  500. but the God of your lineage. And he's saying I've been with

  501. you all this time. I've been in your bloodline and

  502. I've been walking with the old people.

  503. I didn't just show up here, but I've been there the whole time.

  504. Even when you lost sight of me as a youngster.

  505. Yeah, God is saying I stay in your story.

  506. I stay when you try to run off. I when you try to abandon

  507. purpose and Moses, Moses hid his face, not because he was

  508. ashamed, but because he wasn't all.

  509. And this is what happens when the fire is in front of you.

  510. It reveals the God that's been within you.

  511. I got to get out of here now. But whatever you do, Saints, I

  512. need you to remember the Take your shoes off when you come up

  513. in here next week. Take your shoes off when you

  514. come to practice. Yeah, take your shoes off after

  515. we cut this live stream off. I never thought he's leaving out

  516. of here. Take your shoes off because this

  517. is holy ground and no matter what it looks like on the

  518. outside, you got to know he'll push me a little hard of your

  519. mind. Got this?

  520. Here's where the Lord dwell, and whatever you do, don't just look

  521. lean into it. Don't just look lean into it.

  522. Don't just look lean into it. Lean into this place 'cause when

  523. you drop drop your sandals, God going to drop His strategy.

  524. When you find yourself removing the hidden places of your heart,

  525. God would uncover your purpose for this season.

  526. I've got to go, John. You better come a little higher

  527. now because I need the Saints to know that God's not done.

  528. He's not done with you. And no matter what you may be

  529. going through, get on out of it. Don't just look, but leaning to

  530. it. I feel like giving the song the

  531. songwriter's head. Lean with it, rock with it.

  532. Lean with it and rock with it. God saying you've been stuck too

  533. long. God saying you've been here too

  534. long. God said he's not done.

  535. Whatever you do, lean into it because God not done but to you.

  536. God not finish with you. God has more for you.

  537. So don't get stuck gazing at the fire.

  538. Come home, shop in the fire, shop in the fire, shop in the

  539. fire, shop in the fire, shop in the fire.

  540. Might be 80. Jump in the fire because gods

  541. not done with you, Gods not through with you.

  542. If you want to die there's plenty of saying.

  543. But sure, in the fire gods send the revival, gods sending

  544. another glory gods sending another wave.

  545. But whatever you do, don't get stuck looking and gazing that.

  546. Remember after Jesus how to send it to heaven?

  547. He sent some angels back down to ask them a question.

  548. Why stand here gazing? He who has risen from the dead

  549. is a lie. That a lie power, it's going to

  550. heal your body. That a lie power it's going to

  551. save your marriage. That a lie power it's going to

  552. save your family. Get up from here.

  553. Jump in the fire. Jump in the fire.

  554. Shopping the fire. I got to stop shopping the fire.

  555. Shopping the fire. He don't want your ability

  556. Shopping the fire. He wants your availability.

  557. Shopping the fire. I'm at my time.

  558. Hallelujah. Where's mine?

  559. Don't look lean. Lean.

  560. Yes, Sir. Hallelujah.

  561. You keep reading. God tells him about his family.

  562. He tells them I'm the God of your forefathers.

  563. But then he starts to deal with Moses in a very real way.

  564. He says you came here for a fire that attracted your senses.

  565. I'm trying to recalibrate you because I'm not done with you,

  566. he says. I've heard the cries of my

  567. people and I've known the whole time that you've been hiding.

  568. I know the whole time you didn't think you were the 1.

  569. You have discounted your own self.

  570. But he essentially tells Moses, I'm coming to get you off the

  571. clearance rack. I'm buying you back to let you

  572. know they're still fit in your garment.

  573. They're still you send you. Moses says tell it OK, I said it

  574. says yes, Lord, we we got to cut out all the extras.

  575. It's either yes, Lord, or no at all.

  576. We could sit up and meet, have private meet and solve it all.

  577. We did all day long and then the day is, will we do the will of

  578. the Lord or will we wallow in 40 years of obscurity, thinking and

  579. rehearsing what was and what could have been and what did

  580. happen, what what maybe didn't happen or maybe it should have

  581. happened this way. He's a murderer on the run at 80

  582. years old and God says you're Moses.

  583. That's all I really came to tell you today in person online.

  584. You are not what you have done. You are not what you are

  585. currently doing. You are the name God gave you.

  586. That's why I take so much time and baby dedications going

  587. through the name, giving you all these prophetic words.

  588. Yes, yes, because you are your name.

  589. I can hear them, the old writer who says long there's breath in

  590. my body. I've still got hope, still got

  591. purpose. Today's the day for you to give

  592. God another yes, praise the Lord.

  593. I don't want you to come to an altar.

  594. I want you to right there at your seat.

  595. I want you to close your eyes, bow your head, and I'm not going

  596. to pray out loud and I'm going to give us a few moments for you

  597. to create your own space. We love and join corporate fire

  598. gatherings, but when we go home, we complain about the coldness

  599. of our homes because there's no fire within.

  600. Today God wants to relight the pilot, but He's only going to

  601. relight it when you avail yourself to Him.

  602. Hallelujah. I'm just your mailman today.

  603. I know it's 133. I'm over the time I purposely

  604. wanted to take the time to give you this word because I keep

  605. wanting to go back to Matthew chapter 27.

    Matthew 27 chapter mention

  606. But I keep getting pulled away from finishing the series

  607. because I hear the Lord almost like, like a a strong cry that

  608. he wants us to come back to him. No pretext, no, no extra, no

  609. frill stuff, none of that fake stuff.

  610. Let's come back to him. Let's renew ourselves with him,

  611. Davis said. Lord created me a clean heart.

  612. Yes, yes. And manure within me.

  613. All right, spirit. Every posture we stand and sit

  614. in has meaning. It tells Moses to take his shoes

  615. off. Take your shoes off.

  616. John's going to play for just a few seconds.

  617. Literally. Why don't you create an altar

  618. right there? Listen.

  619. Listen. Thank you for never leaving us,

  620. Father. Thank you for always being

  621. there, even in the moments when we were unsure if we were there.

  622. Father, there's still moments when there feel like there are

  623. more question than answers in life.

  624. So, Lord, just as Moses was drawn to that Bush, we are drawn

  625. to your presence right now, my Father, we simply say yes.

  626. Heart still aching, but yes, still unsure about some things

  627. in life, but yes, yes, that you can have the fragile parts of

  628. me. Yes, that you can have this old

  629. feeble body. Lord, I still got a determined

  630. heart to go all the way with you.

  631. So Lord, send the fire. Send the fire that caused the

  632. church to be ignited in Acts 2. Send the fire.

  633. Send it that calls a valley of dry dead bones to become a great

  634. army Lord. Send the fire that protected

  635. Hebrew boys and a furnace. Well, they didn't even come out

  636. smelling like smoke. Send the fire that burns up all

  637. things that are not like you, knowing that this is the

  638. refiner's fire, that you are purifying us, and that which is

  639. not like you. Lord, scrape it away.

  640. Lord, remove it away. Lord, take the desire away.

  641. Lord, take the appetite of it away.

  642. Lord, take the connections of it away.

  643. So Lord, when we leave this place, we leave this place like

  644. Moses left that Bush a new man. We leave this place a new woman,

  645. a new boy, a New Girl, a new church totally committed to you

  646. in Jesus name, Amen. You may not know Jesus in free

  647. partner he's sending, but you pray this short prayer after me

  648. say Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, come into my heart save me.

  649. I want to be saved. Lord Jesus, thank you for dying

  650. on the cross for me. Lord Jesus, thank you for rising

  651. out of the grave for me. Lord Jesus, thank you for soon

  652. coming again for me in Jesus name, Amen.

  653. Thank you for tuning in to the Rock Hill Baptist Church 2

  654. Podcast. We pray today's message planted

  655. something in your spirit and gave you the strength to keep

  656. growing here at the Rock Hill Baptist Church 2.

  657. We're a growing church, and growth starts with one step.

  658. If you're ready to go deeper, visit us online at

  659. www.myrockhill2.org and click Next Steps to get connected,

  660. join a ministry, or give your life to Christ.

  661. Be sure to follow the podcast so you never miss a message and

  662. share this episode with someone you know is ready to grow too.

  663. And remember, no matter what comes your way, you were built

  664. to elevate. Until next time, walk in

  665. purpose, live in power, and grow in grace.