Here I Am

(upbeat music)

- Hey, this is Pastor John Ryan Cantu

from PNEUMA Church in Houston, Texas.

Thank you for listening to the message today.

I hope that it blesses you

and all those that you share it with.

God bless you.

(upbeat music)

I'm gonna ask you, you can see for a minute.

Then we'll get back up as we read the word of God.

You guys know that I always ask the Lord

for confirmation, right?

I say it over and over again all the time

when I have the privilege of bringing the word.

And Pastor Ryan took half of my message.

And it's pre-message, and the pre-message.

And I rejoice because God is so good to me

that he's like, yep, you're on the right track, lady.

And so I'm grateful for that.

We're gonna be speaking about Moses.

But I wanna thank Pastor for giving me the privilege

and the honor to bring the word to you guys.

It's always an honor.

How's your 2024 going?

(audience cheering)

All right.

If you are saying maybe it's the same thing,

Pastor D is just a different year, and it's not the best,

can I tell you that maybe your perspective

needs to change a little bit and know and understand

that if you leave it in God's hands, he knows better,

and he can take care of it better than we can?

And if you're not doing that yet,

I wanna encourage you to do that.

Let him take over, and let him fix

whatever needs to be fixed.

And for those of you who are having an awesome 2024

and your year's starting strong,

and you're going to the gym, and you're eating healthy,

not just because you're on a fast, but you know, keep it up.

Don't let the half a year come, and then you're like,

okay, there it goes.

Next year, no, keep it going.

For me, it has been good so far.

I've been on a journey where I ask God

that I wanna hear him better, I wanna know him better,

and I wanna be guided by him 100%.

I don't want any of Demerits, I want all of God.

And he's been taking me through a journey,

started last year, I started a study on the book of Acts,

and before that year ended, like around October,

and it led me to know the Holy Spirit in a new way.

I knew who the Holy Spirit was.

I love talking to the Holy Spirit

and inviting him into my life,

but he has given me a new perspective on who he is,

and I absolutely love that.

And so, when pastor asked if I could take today to preach,

and I said yes, I'm ready, I go to my prayer,

because I have a lot of notes already

from the study that I've been doing,

and actually I have a preaching on the study that I did,

and when he asked me, I said yes, pastor, I'm ready,

and then I go to prayer, and God's like,

yeah, but that's not it.

So I'm like, but I've spent like the last 10 weeks

reading Acts, what do you mean?

And he's like, nope, Moses at the burning bush.

And I'm like, okay, so you want me to prepare a whole other,

this is good, it's Paul and Ananias, God, nope.

It's Moses at the burning bush.

And so, I'm being obedient to what God asked me to do.

Let's go ahead and stand, let's open our word

on Exodus three, and we're gonna do very little reading

this morning, just four verses.

Exodus, verse three, and we're gonna,

chapter three, and we're gonna read from verse one to four,

and it'll be in the back.

In the screen.

And I am old school, so can you say amen once you have it?

- Amen. - Amen, there you go.

The word of God says, now Moses was standing the flock

of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian,

and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness

and came to Horeb, the mounting of God.

There the angel of the Lord appeared to him

in flames of fire from within a bush.

Moses saw that though the bush was on fire,

it did not burn up.

So Moses thought, I will go over and see this strange sight,

why the bush does not burn up.

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look,

when the Lord saw that he had gone over to look,

God called to him from within the bush,

Moses, Moses, and Moses said, what did he say?

- Here I am. - Here I am.

Let's go ahead and pray, thank you Father God,

for giving me the honor to bring this word

that you have given me to your people.

I ask my God that you take over.

Holy Spirit, let it be you through me,

not a word that I wanna say, but only what you have placed

and what you have for the church this morning.

I ask my God that you remove any distractions, Father,

that we may be able to focus on what you have for us

this morning, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

You may be seated.

A Native American was walking down the street

with a businessman one day.

The Native American stopped.

Listen, he said.

For what, the businessman replied.

Don't you hear it?

Hear what?

Crickets, crickets.

I do not hear any crickets.

The Native American continued to try to help

the businessman hear what he heard.

Oh, but they're loud.

Just listen, don't you hear them?

Getting a little irritated, the businessman said,

I don't hear any crickets.

The Native American looked around,

and right over there on the side, there was a cricket,

and he went up and picked it up.

The businessman looked shocked.

I can believe that.

We are here downtown with all these people,

you and I are talking, and you can hear a cricket.

I don't know how you did that.

The Native American reached into his pocket

and took out some change.

He threw it on the ground.

20 people stopped walking.

Then he said, you always hear what you are tuned into.

You are tuned into money, you are going to hear a penny

when it's dropped.

I am tuned into nature, I hear a cricket.

A lot of Christians will miss the still small voice of God

because they are not tuned in.

My prayer is that you will tune into the voice of God

this morning, and just like Moses said,

you will be able to also say, here I am.

That's the title of my message, Here I Am.

To give you some content, at the time when Moses was born,

Pharaoh had given the order to throw every Hebrew boy

born into the Nile River, but let every girl live.

Moses is born, and mama is able to hide him

for three months, but when she couldn't hide him any longer,

she puts him in a basket.

We read the story when we were little,

if you grew up in church, if not, I promise your children,

I already heard it, if not, they're going to,

puts him in a basket, puts him in the river.

And then he asked his sister, keep an eye on the basket.

And so I can picture the basket floating in the water,

and the little sister by the bushes,

running next to the basket.

At that same time, Pharaoh's daughter is going to take a bath

into the river, and so she sees the basket, right?

And then she tells one of her servants to go get it.

When she does, there's baby Moses.

And so the little girl, I don't,

the Bible doesn't say how old she was,

but she, I'm guessing she was, I don't know,

let's say 12, right, she comes and she,

she asks Pharaoh's daughter, do you want me to go get

a Hebrew woman to feed your baby?

And she's like, yeah, go ahead.

So what does she do?

I can picture it, really, I like to picture what I read.

Her running to the house, right, and saying,

mama, guess what?

They picked up the basket, and now they want you

to go feed Moses.

And I can picture the mom probably sad and crying

and thinking, I'll never see my baby boy again.

He's gonna drown.

But she even got paid to feed her own child.

That's a protection of God over Moses,

since he was a little bitty baby.

Moses grows up a well-educated Egyptian,

and although he was a Hebrew one day, right,

we've read the story as well, he goes out,

he sees how his people are doing,

and he's watching them work.

He sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew,

and he kills the Egyptian.

Then he ends up fleeing Midian,

because someone had actually seen him kill the Egyptian.

And so Pharaoh now wanted Moses dead.

So he has to flee, he meets his wife, Sephora,

I wanna say that's how it's pronounced, in Midian.

So now Moses finds himself 40 years after fleeing Egypt,

an 80-year-old man tending his father-in-law's flock.

I wonder how Moses felt.

He's tending his father-in-law's flock.

Not even his flock, his father-in-law's flock.

And he leads the flock into the wilderness,

and he comes to Horeb, which means desolate place,

or dry land.

He was probably doing what he was already used to doing,

it was his routine.

I wake up in the morning, I put on my sandals,

I put on my clothes, I take the flock into the wilderness,

and then we come back at nighttime, we have dinner.

You know, it was part of his routine,

but little did he know that that day was going

to change history forever, and his life forever,

because he was going to have an encounter

with the living God.

[audience member speaking faintly]

Can I tell you that sometimes we make our desolate place

our habitat?

And the enemy is a master at telling us

that that is our permanent place.

Your grandparents struggle with that,

your parents struggle with that, your tios, your tias,

everyone in the family struggle with that.

Therefore, get used to it.

That's gonna be your life, too.

And the enemy is so, such a master

at allowing us to believe that,

and sometimes we camp out in our desolate place.

[audience members applauding]

How many of you can say, it stops with me, though?

[audience members shouting]

My grandparents didn't do it, my parents didn't do it,

my mama, my daddy, my sister, my brother,

but I'm going to do it, I'm gonna be the one

that's gonna make a change.

Just because that's all you've ever known,

it doesn't mean it will always be like that.

God is calling you by name today.

By name today.

And you have a choice to respond and say,

I'ma keep repeating it, here I am.

I would like to think that it took him 40 years

to receive his calling because he had to get rid

of Egypt's influence.

A few days ago, is she here, Louisa?

She's not here, a few days ago,

Louisa posted a video, and it truly blessed me,

because she, I don't know if you ladies saw it,

but she made a real journey since she said yes to Jesus.

As of this morning, 'cause I checked,

she had over 3,000 views and over 200 comments.

She talked about the lonely season,

where it feels like you don't belong in the world anymore,

or people just walk out of your life

because you're not fun anymore,

and now you're a Jesus freak,

but then also you don't feel like you belong in the church

because you're in the process of creating friendships

with the church members,

and so you find yourself in the wilderness.

And I really love that she was transparent

because sometimes we let you walk alone,

or it seems that you're walking alone,

but it's not to punish you,

but to process you and to find you there.

It's not to punish you,

but to process you and find you there.

Some of you might be in the wilderness right now,

but don't camp there, keep moving, keep seeking.

There are influences you need to get rid of.

Perhaps they have been a part of your life for so long,

but trust the process, it won't last forever.

Your encounter at the burning bush is around the corner.

This moment at the burning bush changed not only Moses' life

but history, it changed history forever.

He was the chosen one to free God's people from slavery.

All it took was Moses' willingness to go from spectator,

what's going on, to investigator,

let me see what's going on,

to a listener, followed by, here I am.

As Moses is walking around and he sees the bush on fire

and then not burn up,

he decides to go see was the fire not spreading.

We know that fire not only consumes everything,

but it also spreads, but not this one.

I wonder if Moses was like, ah, it's another fire.

But then hold up, no, and it's probably not another fire

because it's not spreading, it's not dying,

it's just burning.

Okay, let me go see what's going on.

I love how the scripture in verse four says,

when the Lord saw, when the Lord saw

that he had gone over to look,

God called him from the bush, Moses, Moses.

How many of us, church, see the fire of God

descend in this place week after week?

And we see others approach it and we are comfortable

and okay with everyone else having their moment

at the burning bush, and then we're just spectators.

How many of the youth,

'cause this is also for you guys all up there,

see your parents serving, see your parents leading,

see your parents worshiping.

And you admire it, but you're okay with just admiring.

How many of us have said, man, service was amazing.

Man, you should have been there, you didn't go.

That word, pastor broad was, whoo, fire.

The worship list, man, you should have been there.

That sister over there, the worship is like

nobody's watching her, like Sister Heather

and Sister Stephanie and the Shouter, Pastor D,

they don't care, they're like between just them and God.

But then that's all, that's it.

You're okay with just seeing how everyone else

has their moment in the presence of God

while you're just watching everyone else

have their moment in the presence of God.

God is waiting for you to come and experience

his presence on your own, not just live it

off of someone else's experience.

Verse five, which we didn't read, says,

do not come any closer, God said.

Take off your sandals for the place

where you are standing is holy ground.

Then he said, I am the God of your father,

the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac

and the God of Jacob, the God of your father.

God reminded Moses of his Hebrew roots.

Not where he grew up, not who raised him,

not where he went to school, but his roots.

He was a Hebrew and he reminds him of the covenant

that he had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,

telling Moses that he is a God that keeps his promises.

Some of you need to be reminded today

that God is not a man that he should lie,

but that he is a promise keeper.

And if you haven't received your promise yet,

don't give up, we serve a God of a covenant.

And if he said it, he will do it.

For Moses, it had been 40 years, right?

Perhaps he had already given up.

But God reminded him who he was

once Moses chose to get close to the burning bush.

He wasn't just Sephora's husband or Jethro's son-in-law.

No, he was a Hebrew.

It is when you stop and notice God moving, listen,

that he speaks.

Once you pay attention that he is in the room, he speaks.

Once he has your attention, he speaks.

God could have spoken to Moses any other way

'cause God can do anything.

He could have talked to him through a prophet

or through a dream or a vision, but he didn't.

He chose the bush.

God requires more than just getting close.

He requires obedience to follow

you approaching the presence of God.

God told him, take off your sandals.

Take off your sandals.

Removing sandals in the time was a symbol

of respect or reverence.

Moses removed his sandals.

Once you get close, be ready to obey.

Once you get close, get ready to obey.

Sadly, church, this is the part where many of us turn around

we see the move of God, we come to the altar,

we have a moment in his presence,

but once God gives you instructions,

you turn around because it either made you uncomfortable

or it messed with your pride or he was asking you

to give up things that you were not willing to give up yet.

I'm gonna be 100% transparent with you guys this morning

'cause I believe in transparency.

So you won't think that we don't go through things

because we do.

I started 2023 ready to go deeper in his presence

and I was doing all the right things.

But there was certain situations that had caused me pain.

As a consequence, I built a wall

because I didn't wanna get hurt again.

And so I tried to ignore the pain and keep moving

and put on a happy face, but God kept tugging at my heart.

You still haven't dealt with that one.

Honestly, I got tired of fighting God.

And I said, okay, here, you can have it.

I'm not sure how you're gonna handle it though.

Please be gentle.

But here it is.

You know what God asked of me?

He said, go have those uncomfortable conversations

you've been avoiding.

Love like Jesus, keep walking.

This was difficult for me to do.

But I knew I had to do it in order for me to be

where God wants me to be.

So I did.

I had the uncomfortable conversations.

I love like Jesus and I kept moving.

And the wound that I had initially

just put a little bandaid on,

whenever things will come up and we'll tap it, it would hurt.

I dealt with it.

I ripped off the bandaid, processed the healing.

And now I can tell you that I'm 100% healed

for something that I struggled so long for

because I decided to give it to God and it hurt.

And it was hard.

But when you do that, there's healing in your process.

Obedience sometimes will make you uncomfortable,

but it will also make you grow.

God asked Moses to remove his sandals.

To me, when I read it, I read it as,

where I'm taking you, you can carry the dirt

that you've walked through.

Remove your sandals.

Some of you are perhaps, you've already been

before his presence for a while and you've been saying,

well, here I am, God, here I am, God.

But you're ignoring the instructions that he's giving you.

(congregation cheering)

Have you left everything behind?

Or are you still keeping that one little thing

in your pocket just in case you need it tomorrow?

Remove your sandals.

Literally.

Remove your sandals.

And step into the instructions

that the Lord is giving you.

(congregation applauding)

This was the last step before Moses received his assignment.

The sandals are staying.

It's okay, I'm more comfortable.

Where you've been, what you've done,

what you just did before coming in this morning

doesn't matter anymore.

What matters is your willingness to leave it all behind

and trade it for what God has in store for you.

Are you ready for his instructions?

That might not make sense though,

but doesn't he know better?

Pastor, mention this once.

Here are the excuses that Moses gave.

One, who am I that I should go?

The Lord says, I will be with you.

Two, who will I say send me?

I am who I am.

What if they don't believe me?

You will do the signs that I have given you the power to do.

I am slow of speech.

I will teach you what to say.

Please send someone else, God.

And then God got a little angry and said, fine.

Aaron is coming to meet you.

He's gonna go with you.

You see how many excuses Moses gave God?

Shouldn't it have been enough once he told them,

I will be with you?

I can definitely identify with Moses and relate to Moses

because I too have given God so many excuses in the past.

I still do because I'm human.

And in my human understanding,

sometimes I don't understand what he's asking me to do

and sometimes it doesn't make sense.

Or it seems too big for me.

And I have told God, little me God,

I don't have a degree like other people.

I'm giving you my excuses.

This is what I've told God.

I don't have a degree like other people do.

I'm not that educated.

I don't use eloquent or fancy words when I preach.

I have an accent.

I come from a broken household.

I come from a divorce.

I'm getting old.

And God's like, yes girl, you.

Because I will be with you.

[audience applauding]

How many can relate to that?

Up to this point you've given God nothing but excuses.

But God's like, come on.

Will you trust me Linda?

Will you trust me Paola?

Will you trust me?

I will be with you.

Can I ask the worship team to come?

The Holy Spirit was pressing in my heart

the fact that there are people here

who have just been okay with coming to church

Sunday after Sunday.

Seeing the presence fill the room.

But just remain as a spectator.

And it was so heavy as I was preparing.

He's like, Demerius, there are people that are okay

just coming Sunday to Sunday.

They're okay just chilling and coming

and seeing everybody else go into my presence

while they're just there.

[audience applauding]

But God doesn't want you to be a spectator anymore.

He wants you to have an encounter with him.

[audience applauding]

He's waiting for you.

He wants to have an encounter with you.

He wants your here I am.

Your here I am.

Not your parents' here I am.

Not your mom or dad's here I am.

Not your husband's here I am.

Not your wife's here I am.

Your here I am.

We have history changers in this room.

Y'all don't believe me.

We have history changers in this room.

Don't let any more time go by

and you just sit on the sidelines

while everyone else is getting a feel

of the presence of God.

God has a task with your name on it.

Nobody else can do it.

Nobody else has been equipped to do it.

You have to do the job.

You husband, you're the one that needs to rise up

and be the priest of your home.

You wife needs to be the one who leads your daughter

and your son into what it's like to be a cuddly woman of God

and a cuddly man of God.

Husbands, it's your responsibility to show your son

how does it look like to raise someone in the faith

to be a priest.

Our culture right now, it's feeding our children

lies and lies and lies.

And we have very few men and women of God

who can stand up and say it starts with me.

Whatever my grandparents, my parents,

whatever they did, it stays with them.

But the new starts with me.

I will be the one who will usher my family

into the presence of God.

I will be the one who's gonna step into the calling

and I'm no longer gonna be comfortable

with just sitting on the silence

and see how sisters so and so receive a gift

and how brothers so and so is being used

and how oh my goodness, how this sister sings so beautiful

and how he plays so good.

And while you have the talent,

what God has telling you, I have given you something

but you're okay with just everyone else doing

what he has called you to do.

Would you remove your sandals this morning?

Literal or not?

Listen, some people need to do it in order for it to,

for real, it's happening.

I'm gonna ask you to stand.

How many people do we have in the room

that can say God, I wanna enter into your presence?

I don't wanna just see.

I don't wanna just watch while everyone else

is at the altar crying while I'm just sitting.

I don't wanna just continue to see

how everyone else is serving while I'm just sitting.

There are gifts that the Lord has given you,

gifts of prophecy, dreams, discernment,

and you feel it.

Listen, I'm not making this up.

The Holy Spirit told me big time,

there are people in here that are just chilling

and are asleep.

And the Lord this morning is calling you into his presence.

It's calling you to step into the unknown.

Yes, it's scary but trust me, it is worth it

because I am is with you.

Because I am goes before you.

Because I am stands behind you.

Because I am.

Because I am, that's it, because I am.

I ask the prayer team to come to the altar.

And for those of you who are ready to say, okay,

I don't wanna just see, I don't wanna just watch.

I'm ready.

And maybe you've already experienced the presence of God

but you haven't listened to his instructions.

I love how the verse says that God waited

for Moses to approach.

The Lord is waiting for some of you this morning.

(gentle music)

To come before his presence and say,

you know what God, here I am.

Hey, I don't know what you're gonna do.

I don't know how it's gonna work out.

I don't know, I don't know that, I don't know.

But I do know that if you're calling me

and you're telling me and your word says

that you're gonna be with me,

then you're gonna be with me.

And I'm gonna trust you and I'm gonna step

into what you have called me to do

and I will listen to my instructions.

Listen to my instructions and follow your voice.

As the worship team sings.

- Thanks for listening.

If you'd like some more information on PNEUMA Church,

visit us on our website at mypneumachurch.org.

If you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe

or share it with your friends on social media

and tag us @mypneumachurch.

Thanks again and God bless.

(gentle music)

[ Music ]