Priceless | Donovan Rillion | Delivered to Deliver

Man, what a good song to have before the sermon.

Because my hope is, is that what I say is the

word of God. And what I hope that I'm doing is

illuminating God's will for our life in the,

you know, please reveal your will for me. I believe

he has revealed his will for us. In fact, in

a lot of churches, they sing that you've revealed.

your will, because I believe he's revealed his

will for us as a collective. Now, each of us

in our own individual lives, maybe we still haven't

figured out what we've been called to, but as

a group, as a collective, we know what the will

of God is. And we're going to talk about that

this morning, but I just need to say, because

I mean, I've got this feeling like I can remember

when I, in 2019, LSU was on this national championship

run and I got to go to my first LSU game. And

Eliza got me a ticket or tickets for her and

I to go. And we watched LSU play against Auburn.

And if you're like a super football fan, you

may remember this. But it was the closest game

besides maybe the Alabama game that LSU played

that season. It was just a fight. And I remember

sitting there and I'm thinking, we might lose

this game. Sure enough, we win, and I can remember

the feeling I had when the game ends, the game's

over, we won, and it was just electric in the

stadium, and I'm feeling, you know when you're

in a stadium or maybe you're in a concert and

you can feel just like this electricity in your

body, right? That's what I'm feeling right now.

It's what I felt when a guy came out of the water

last week. It's what I felt when I was doing

the welcome last week, and I think I said the

word excited 25 times, but I couldn't tell you

that there was going to be a baptism that afternoon,

but I wanted to tell you. you because there's

nothing that fires me up more than seeing someone

snatch from the grip, the grasp of Satan. There's

nothing that fires me up more than seeing somebody

give their life to Christ. You know, like when

you were a kid, maybe you went to church camp

or you went to a youth conference or whatever.

And when you come back, you're on the spiritual

high. But then like a week later, it's gone or

two weeks later, I'm on a spiritual high right

now. And I got to be honest, I had been discouraged

because I was kind of running on empty for a

little bit. And then I see a guy in the the water

and I'm back up on top and I'm feeling that.

And here's what I'm going to challenge you to

do. Please don't let me get empty. Let's get

some more people in the water. Not because it's

cool to see people in the water, but because

it is a joyous thing in the eyes of God when

somebody gives their life to Christ and joins

the family of God. Can we do that? We talk about

revival. In fact, last week was the 225th anniversary

of the Cane Ridge revival. And at that moment,

in that space, something amazing happened. Truly,

revival broke out, and the Protestant church

took over the southeast of this country. And

I believe we can do that again. And it starts

with one guy getting in the water and then other

people saying, hey, can I tell you about the

gospel? And then more people getting in the water.

And next thing you know, we are changing this

nation or as the song that we just sang said,

we are flooding the nations with the glory of

God. Can we do that? Okay, it doesn't sound like

we can do that. Like I'm up here, like I'm excited

right now and I think y 'all are still asleep.

What can I do to wake you up this morning? Are

y 'all excited about what God could possibly

be doing right now? Okay, can we just, we can

take that with us, right? Let's take that with

us. Let's take this excitement. Me being excited

up here doesn't do much of anything except like

get y 'all fired up. Drew Brees got in, what's

the word? He was put in the Hall of Fame yesterday.

Greatest quarterback of all time. Debate with

somebody else. I won't argue with you. Drew Brees

got inaugurated into the Hall of Fame yesterday.

And I spent some time yesterday watching some

of his pregame hype speeches. And Drew Brees,

what a motivator of men. Like I said, the greatest

of all time. I'm sitting on my couch in my PJs

watching these hype speeches, and I'm getting

fired up. And I should have watched some this

morning. So this is my Drew Brees pregame hype

speech to you guys. Let's go take this nation

over. Let's take this world over for the kingdom

of God. Amen? Okay, I think y 'all fell asleep

again. That's fine. All right. Now, that wasn't

a part of the sermon. I just had to say that

because I feel like I'm in the stadium and the

electricity is running through my body right

now. So let me center myself. Let's center ourselves.

Let's pray again. Father God, thank you for today.

I thank you so much for the good news and the

excitement that it can bring to our lives. And

God, quite frankly, I'm just going to say, if

we don't get excited about the gospel, we may

not really understand it. So God, my prayer is

that we understand it, that we feel it, and that

we are just as fired up about the good news.

taking over someone's life as we are about a

touchdown or as we are about a promotion or as

we are about a graduation. God, will our lives

show excitement for what Jesus Christ has done

everywhere we go? Father, this morning, my prayer

is that I would preach your word. My prayer is

that your word would get into the hearts and

the minds of the people in this space and that

we would go out into this world and change the

nations. And God, I mean that plural. I hope

we can take over this world for you and only

you. God, it is by your glory, by your grace

that we are allowed to be here and we thank you

for that. May your word be proclaimed and may

our lives be changed. It is in Jesus' name we

pray, amen. All right, everybody take a deep

breath. Okay, I'm trying to calm down. I don't

know if it was the coffee, the good news, the

Holy Spirit, what, but I'm up, all right? So

I'm gonna try not to yell at you this morning,

all right? So over the last few weeks, what I

have been, or I've been planning this idea in

your minds and trying to hammer it home that

God is the only one who gets to define your worth.

And not only does God define you as priceless,

Do we have a clicker? There it is. Okay, not

only does God define you as priceless, but he's

gone to great lengths to prove that he believes

you are priceless. He's gone to great lengths

to prove that he means it. We talked about what

Jesus did last week and how Jesus giving his

life, him dying on the cross, being buried, rising

again, ascending to heaven, going into these

communities, living among us, how that proved

that God does believe you. In all of your sin,

in all of your shame, in all of my evil, wicked

ways, he believes we are priceless. He created

this whole universe with us in mind. And from

the moment we messed it up, he saw us as so valuable

that he couldn't just let us go. He couldn't

just let this burn. Like I mentioned the idea

of if you had that really expensive baseball

card and you run back into the burning house

to save it because it is just that valuable for

you. That is what God did. He sent Jesus into

this world to pay the price to buy us back from

sin and set us free to walk in a new, eternal,

abundant life. If you believe that, can we just

say amen? But the lesson doesn't stop there,

at least it shouldn't. It should never stop at

just God loves me, he thinks I'm great. Because

we still need to answer some very important questions.

Questions like, if I'm worth so much to God,

then why don't I feel, or why do I often feel

so worthless? Or what does worth even mean? Or

maybe, how can I be so valuable to God if I don't

even have or feel like I have a purpose in this

life? And those are all valid questions. Those

are all really important questions to ask and

answer, but those questions aren't unique to

you. And I hope you don't feel that way. I also

hope you don't feel like those questions are

new to us in our current context. The Bible,

this compilation of letters, historical accounts,

songs, poems, and testimonies written way back

in ancient history is full of people who had

reason to ask those same questions. And these

people, they all struggled with their worth just

like we do. All of these Bible characters, these

figures that we learn about in Sunday school,

we sing the songs about, they all had their moments

of struggling with their worth just like we do.

The reason is, is because this is a very human

problem. This is just the circumstances we live

in. And as I will continue to say, it all stems

from that horrible, hate -filled, spiteful liar

named Satan. And so we think about these Bible

characters, these real people who face real problems

in a real world just like us, and we see in them

what we see in us. They could look at the details

of their lives. They could look at the circumstances

of their lives and probably not feel very priceless.

They too struggled with their value and their

worth. And today, I want us to look at just one

of those figures, one of the most well -known

men in all of the Bible and all of Christian

history and Jewish history, and his name is,

maybe you guessed it, Moses. And so this morning,

we're going to spend some time in Exodus chapter

Exodus 2 · chapter mention

2 and a little bit in Exodus 3. If you've been

in church before or you know a little bit about

the Bible, you're likely familiar with Moses.

But let me just give you a little bit of a background.

So in the time Moses was born, this is about

400 years after the Israelites, the Jewish people,

went into Egypt. So you remember, if you know

the story of Joseph, Joseph brings his family

to Egypt. They live. They set up shop. And now

they are, because Joseph is like second in command

of Egypt. And so his family is in a good spot.

And so the Jews, they stay in Egypt and they're

doing well. Well, some things change. Next thing

you know, the Jews are enslaved in Egypt. And

so we've got 400 years past from Joseph to Moses

where the Israelite people are slaves in Egypt.

And now there is this decree put out by the Pharaoh

saying if there's any Israelite boys born, we're

going to throw them into the Nile River to drown

them. This was an attempted genocide by Pharaoh

and the Egyptians. He wanted to get rid of, he

wanted to make sure that the Israelites were

not able to grow so much that they would be able

to overpower Egypt or take over Egypt. But this

guy Moses, he's born, there's this decree, throw

the baby in the river. Well, Moses' mom... She

ain't going for that. So she instead makes this

basket. She places him in the basket where he

would float and ended up floating into the life

of Pharaoh's daughter. And Pharaoh's daughter,

she would end up raising Moses as if he were

her own child in her home, which is the king's,

the Pharaoh's palace. And so Moses is raised

in royalty. But through the providence of God,

Moses actually was cared for by his mother, his

birth mother. And so he's being raised in Pharaoh's

palace by his Jewish mother, who was a servant

for Pharaoh's daughter. Now, now that you have

that backstory, I want to take you to Exodus

2, where we see an interesting development come

up in Moses' life. And this is what we read in

Exodus 2. One day when Moses had grown up, he

went out to his people and looked on their burdens,

and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one

of his people. So at some point in Moses' life

as he's growing up, somebody told Moses where

he came from. Somehow he knew that he was not

an Egyptian, but he was... an Israelite. Maybe

it was his mom, his birth mother who was living

and taking care of him. Maybe she said, you know,

you're in the Pharaoh's house and the princess,

yeah, she's your mom, but you're really my son

and you're an Israelite. Or maybe he just, I

don't know if there was like some physical differences

that they could look at and say, yeah, he's obviously

not an Egyptian. I don't know how Moses found

out that he was Jewish, but he knows because

he goes out. He's on the town and he's in the

city and he sees his people. And it says he saw

their burdens. He looked out, he saw their struggles.

And not only did he see their struggles, but

he saw an Egyptian beating one of his own. So

Moses knows who he is. And I don't know, maybe

the moment where Moses finds out he's a Jew is

kind of like Luke Skywalker finding out who his

dad is. And it's like this. moment of dread and

fear. And it's like, no, what do you mean I'm

not Egyptian? Does that mean I'm not going to

be? Because think about Moses likely could have

been Pharaoh. So does that mean I'm not going

to be Pharaoh? Does that not mean I do have to

move out of this royal palace? Like, have you

heard the stories of people who find out way

late in life that they're adopted? Maybe she'll

watch this. I don't know. But my mother -in -law

found out at like 50 years old that she was adopted.

Isn't that crazy? Everybody knew except for her.

And so it's like this moment of questioning,

who am I? What is my life actually about? Where

did I come from? What's my story? What's my background?

But Moses, he knows now that his lineage is a

people that are enslaved to the very nation that

he has been a benefactor of his entire life.

I want you to imagine how that would feel. You're

dressed and living in the home of the most powerful

man in the world, but knowing that you are never

truly going to be one of them. You'll never be

like Pharaoh. You'll never be royalty. You'll

never be what you would like to be or what you

were supposed to be. I can only imagine the kind

of mental punch that that must have been for

Moses. Not only finding out that you aren't who

your setup says you are, but also you're feeling

a connection to your real people. So you're finding

out that you're not royalty, and then you're

finding out that the people that you actually

come from, they are seen as scum by the people

that you've been raised by. Can you imagine the

type of mental torment this must have been for

Moses? And maybe you've been there in your life

where you found out that you aren't who you thought

you were. In fact, you're a lot worse. And as

the passage says, Moses looked on the burdens

of his people. And I read that as he felt for

them or maybe the old Bill Clinton line, I feel

your pain. And so in a sort of radical attempt

to step in and help his people, I want you to

look at what Moses does in verse 12. Remember

there was an Egyptian man beating one of Moses'

people. Moses isn't having it. Moses looked this

way and looked that way and seeing no one, he

struck down the Egyptian and hit him in the sand.

He sees this Egyptian. hurting one of his people,

one of his cousins, or he doesn't know. This

could be his brother for all he knows, but he

knows he's being beaten and he's not going to

stand for this. So he does what maybe any of

us would do. He steps in. But I want you to notice

the text says that Moses didn't want anyone to

know. He looked and he looked and he made sure

that nobody was looking. He made sure that nobody

could see, and then he tried to cover up what

he'd done. He does this, one, because he knows

that this is wrong, and this is a sin. At this

point, we don't have the law of Moses yet, because

that's not a thing. We don't have the Ten Commandments,

but Moses has definitely heard the story of Cain

and Abel, where Cain kills Abel, and so Moses

knows this is not right to kill somebody. So

he knows this is wrong, it's sin, but also...

Because he knows that there will be some harsh

consequences for killing an Egyptian man. But

obviously people find out because what's done

in the dark always comes to light. And in verse

13 and 14, we see this scene where two Jews are

fighting and Moses tries to split them up. Moses

kind of goes into social justice warrior mode

or whatever, like he thinks that he's got to

solve all of the conflicts of the world. So Moses

tries to step in between these guys that are

fighting, but they look at him and they say,

oh, what are you going to do? You're going to

kill us too? And can you imagine the feeling

in Moses knowing people know what I did? People

know. They know I'm a murderer. They know that

I've sinned. And they think this is what I do.

And at that point, Moses gets paranoid. He feels

like if they know the word must be spreading,

and sure enough, the word was spreading. And

word does get to Pharaoh. He finds out and he

sets out to kill Moses, further proving that

just because Moses had grown up in Pharaoh's

house did not mean he had much worth in Pharaoh's

eyes. And I want you to look what Moses does

then in verse 15. Moses fled from Pharaoh and

stayed in the land of Midian, and he sat down

by a well. See, in just the span of a few days,

Moses went from prince to fugitive. He goes from

royalty to outcast. Moses himself didn't change.

He's still Moses, still the guy that grew up

in Pharaoh's household, still the guy that was

raised in royalty, but he did something that

tarnished his image. And so all of a sudden his

life is in ruins. He's on the run. He was already

struggling with where he fit in. And now he knows

for a fact he has no place in either his biological

family or his adoptive family. And so he just

sits down at a well in this foreign land. And

I just want to stop there for a moment and ask

you what you think he was thinking while sitting

at that well. Maybe a better question is what

have you thought about when you were sitting

at your well? And I don't know what your well

in a foreign land is, but I know you've sat at

one, maybe not physically, but is it possible

that you've had to take a seat somewhere after

trying to escape harm or trying to escape your

unwanted circumstances or even worse, your consequences?

Is it possible that you've put yourself in a

position in life, you've done something, you

found yourself in a place where you just have

to run? And you just have to try to hide. And

you find yourself sitting at a well, just trying

to breathe, catch your breath because you've

been running and you're giving up and you just

need to sit for a moment. And when it's in that

place where you're sitting and you're alone,

alone with your thoughts, where you have to deal

with the circumstances and the consequences of

your life. And at that moment, sitting there,

what do you think? How much do you feel like

you're worth? See, it didn't matter how privileged

Moses' upbringing was. The feeling of worthlessness

had found him, just as that feeling finds all

of us. At some point in your life, whether it

was in your teenage years when you're trying

to figure out all the things you have to figure

out as a teenager, Whether it was in your young

adult life where you've gotten married and things

aren't working as you thought they would, or

you have kids and things aren't going as they

thought they would, or you're trying to have

kids and it's not going, or whatever it is. You

get older and you're in a job, you're in a career,

but you get let go. You had this nice social

group and all of a sudden they don't like you

anymore. I don't know what you have done or where

you have been, but I know that at some point

in all of our lives, we find ourselves sitting

at a well wondering, what am I worth? It finds

everybody. It does not matter. There are two

things in this world that I know to be true.

One, the feeling of emptiness, hopelessness,

and worthlessness finds everyone, and death finds

everyone. And then there's the thing about taxes,

right? So we know those things to be true. So

the first thing we have to do is name that. We

have to identify that we all will struggle with

this if we are not currently struggling with

this. And the truth of the matter is there's

about 100 people in here right now. I know somebody

in this room might just be feeling this right

now. You may be surrounded by privilege. You

may have always been well fed and well cared

for, but somehow you still feel worthless. And

you ask yourself, if I'm not good enough for

them, then who am I? If I don't have this, then

what do I have? If I can't do that, then what

am I worth? And sure, it's okay to be sad for

a moment, but hear me when I say this, you are

not meant to stay that way. You aren't meant

to stay sitting at the well. I'm going to go

on a Drew Brees thing again because he's the

greatest of all time. Drew Brees, I was listening

to his Hall of Fame speech yesterday and he talked

about, I see Rick shaking his head. We can debate

later, Rick. So he's talking in his Hall of Fame

speech about how in his junior year he hurt his

knee. And his whole life was about athletics.

I mean, he was one of those guys that played

a sport every season, baseball, football, soccer,

softball, not softball, football. I mean, all

of the sports, right? He played all of them.

And so he was always, his identity, as he said,

was an athlete. Well, he hurts his knee. He can't

play sports anymore, at least not for a while.

And he said he was in church. And it was in church

that he found out that he came to know the truth

that his identity was not as an athlete, that

it was as a child of God. And so I just want

to say. If you are sitting at your well this

morning feeling like if I can't do that, then

who am I? If I can't have that, then what am

I? If you are feeling that way this morning,

I need you to hear me. Your identity is not that.

Your identity is not Egyptian. It's not royalty.

Your identity is child of God, and that is priceless.

And so get up. out of that seat. Stop feeling

sorry for yourself. It's okay to be sad for a

moment. Let me just go ahead and say that again.

It is okay to feel the hurt. In fact, it's a

healthy thing. There's a song, I love it, and

one of the best lines ever written in music,

and again, argue with somebody else, is laughing

ain't a pleasure until you know about crying.

And you can't understand the joy that God brings

until you understand the sorrow that this world

gives you. And so Moses is feeling the sorrow

that the world gives him, but he doesn't stay

there because you can't stay there. You have

to get up. And I want you to see how Moses gets

up in Exodus 2, verses 16 through 22. It's a

Exodus 2:16–22

little bit longer. Bear with me. If it's underlined,

read it, please. Now the priests of Midian had

seven daughters, and they came and drew water

to water their father's flock. The shepherds

came and drove them away, but Moses stood up

and saved them and watered their flock. When

they came home to their father rule, he said,

how is it that you have come home so soon today?

And they told him what Moses had done. He said

to his daughters, then where is he? Call him

that he may eat bread. And Moses was content

to dwell with the man. And he gave Moses his

daughter Zipporah. She birthed a son, and he

named him Gershom, for he said, I've been a sojourner

in a foreign land. First thing, ladies, how would

you feel if your dad just gave you to some random

guy all because he did some random act of kindness?

Oh, that guy held the door open for you, honey.

There you go. I'm kidding, but seriously, overnight,

Moses' situation changes. He finds a new home.

He finds a wife, and here he finds purpose. which

ultimately helps Moses regain a sense of worth.

And work can do that. Acceptance can do that.

And when you are both working and you're accepted,

your sense of worth grows. There's been a lot

of studies done about church involvement. And

some of the stats point to the people that are

most active in their church are the ones who

most enjoy their church. And when I say active,

I don't mean the people that attend the most.

It's the people that are involved in a ministry,

the people that are serving in a ministry, the

people that are active, the people that are working.

And if you're working in a church, then most

likely you are accepted for the work you do in

that church. And then you know how your feeling

of worth grows because you feel like you have

a responsibility and you feel like people need

you and they count on you. And that is a good

feeling to have. Now, that shouldn't be your

motivation for doing good things, but it's a

nice thing to know that you are appreciated,

that you have purpose, that you have worth. And

so now Moses, he's found new work in a place

where he's actually being accepted. This is Moses'

moment of deliverance. He'd been from the awful

state he'd just found himself in not long ago,

delivered. I want you to remember when Moses

was sitting at the well, fearing for his life

and unsure about what would become of him. The

doubt. The feeling of worthlessness. The feeling

of I don't know what to do, where to go, who

I am, what I will be, what will become of me.

And all of a sudden he has a life now. He's delivered.

And there's a purpose for his deliverance. I

want you to watch what happens. During those

many days, the king of Egypt died and the people

of Israel groaned because of their slavery and

cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from

slavery came up to God and God heard their groaning.

And God remembered his covenant with Abraham,

with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people

of Israel, and God knew. I think it's interesting

that this passage is right there in the beginning

of Moses' story. It's almost like, as I said

before, we read the passage that there was a

purpose for this deliverance, that there was

a purpose for Moses getting a new life, getting

a new wife, finding purpose, finding acceptance,

finding a place of belonging, his sense of worth

growing. And then we have this thing just transplanted

right in there about how the Israelite people,

yeah, Moses is getting his life together, but

they're still suffering and they're crying out

to God. And I love this idea that God hears their

groaning and God saw the people and God knew.

Here's the deal. I believe that God rescues us

not just to prove that we're valuable to him,

but because he has a desire to use us for valuable

purposes, that God has big things for us to do.

And right here, it would seem, based on the story

that we're in and the placement of verses 23

through 25, that God delivered Moses so that

Moses could be used for something. But what could

it be? If you know the story, I need you to just

act like you don't know for a moment. Look at

verse 25. God knew. What did God know? Well,

God saw what Moses saw. The oppression, the pain

of his people, his children, his chosen race.

And God hears their cry for rescue. The same

cry that Moses heard when he saw the Egyptian

man beating his family member. And Moses responded

to the cry. But Moses quickly found out that

he couldn't rescue all of them by himself. And

he ended up a fugitive for his effort. His rescue

effort was worthless. So maybe he was worthless

or so he may have thought. But the truth for

today that I need you to take with you is God

doesn't make worthless things or worthless people.

He doesn't do that. We read in Scripture, every

good gift comes from God. Only good things come

from God. All things work for good from God.

God doesn't make worthless things. He only makes

things of high value with high purpose. God saw

the people of Israel and He knew. He knew not

just that He was able to rescue them, but He

knew how and who He would use to rescue them.

He had a plan. But first, He had to convince

Moses. Maybe you've heard the story of Moses

and the burning bush, but if not, let me give

you the Cliff Notes version. You can find this

in Exodus 3. Basically, God takes the form of

fire, a burning bush, but not consuming it. That's

pretty cool. And he appears to Moses while Moses

is out in the back country tending the sheep.

He appears to Moses this way, and God tells Moses,

essentially, hey, I see the suffering of my people,

your people, Israel. And I've come to rescue

them, and I've come to deliver them to a land

of abundance. And Moses hears this, and he's

like, yes, finally. Thanks, God. Can I go too?

But then God told him how he would do it, and

now this changes things for Moses. God's like,

I came to rescue my people, and you're going

to help me do it. And all of a sudden, Moses

has to think about some things. Yes, sir, think.

about what God is going to do. I want you to

watch this interaction between God and Moses.

But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should

go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel

out of Egypt? He said, But I will be with you,

and this shall be the sign for you that I have

sent you. When you have brought the people out

of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.

Who am I? You ever ask yourself that question?

I sit up here and tell you, go tell somebody

the gospel. I sit up here and tell you, invite

somebody to church. I sit up here and tell you,

you need to be making disciples. We need to be

making disciples. And you're like, well, who

am I? What can I do? I don't have that many friends

that aren't Christians. How can I bring the gospel?

They all go to church already. Or, well, yeah,

you know, I'd like to, but my friends, they know

about how I talk. Or they know what I do. Who

am I? Moses kind of, he goes on this. This excuse

-making rant. And I would say this is the longest

recorded list of excuses in the Bible as to why

God shouldn't use somebody. I'm not worthy. What

will I say? They won't believe me. They won't

listen. I'm not a good speaker. And then he straight

up insists that God send someone else. God send

anybody who's trying to convince God. that he

couldn't possibly want him because he was worthless,

as if God didn't know who he was calling. You

know, worthless people don't do big things. Not

in Moses' mind. But God doesn't see us like we

see us. God doesn't see us. as worthless, first

of all. God doesn't see us for our speech impediments.

God doesn't see us for our lack of ability to

memorize scripture. God doesn't see us for our

cussing problem. God doesn't see us for our addictions.

God sees us as his children. Now, all of those

things he sees. Yet he still chooses to love

us, as Truman said. Yet when we were still sinners,

God still sent Christ for us. He still calls

us. He still tries to rescue us because he doesn't

see us as worthless. He just sees us as priceless

people who somehow got themselves stained. But

you know what Jesus can do? He can wash away

every stain. And if you can take a stain out

of something that is valuable, it is still...

And that's what God sees. He sees our true worth.

And when we can see and we can become sure of

our worth to God, we will begin letting God use

us for big things. And the big thing that God

has called us to is not too dissimilar to what

God called Moses to here. God called Moses and

us to the same thing, delivering his children

from a wicked world. As I said earlier, God has

revealed his will for us. It is to go into this

world and partner with God on the greatest rescue

mission of all time. And I want you to notice,

God didn't call some warrior king. He didn't

call a foreign army to deliver his people. He

didn't call the most... well -known leader, the

well -known businessman, the well -known... He

didn't do that. He chose somebody that nobody

would have wanted or expected. The Egyptians

wanted him dead. The Israelites saw him as an

outsider. But God takes Moses and puts him in

the middle of both of them, a man of worth, negotiating

on behalf of God to set his people free, to show

how much God's people are worth to him. It was

Moses. that God would use to first demonstrate

how far God would go to remove his children from

slavery and redeem us. And as Moses became faithful

to God, he was more and more convinced of how

much he was worth. Ultimately, God exalts Moses

to not just be deliverer, but the leader of over

a million people. And just like Moses was deemed

valuable and priceless in God's story, so are

we. Like I said, God wants to use us for big

things. He wants to use us for a really great

cause. And our big thing is just like Moses'

in Matthew 28, verses 19 through 20. Jesus gives

Matthew 28:19–20

us... our deliverance mission. This is what he

says. Go therefore and make disciples of all

nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father

and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching

them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I'm with you always to the end of

the age. Sounds kind of like what God told Moses.

God said, Moses, go. And when Moses is given

his excuses, God says, I'll be with you. And

Jesus here says, go. And before the disciples,

before those listening ever get a chance to make

their excuses, Jesus says, I'll be with you.

So as Moses stood before Pharaoh, empowered by

God to deliver his people, we proclaim the good

news, the gospel message, and we make disciples

of Jesus, freeing and delivering them from slavery

because God... sees us as valuable, as indispensable,

as priceless, and he sees us as an integral part

of his plan. The puzzle needs your peace. We're

not just valuable people who are in need of saving.

We're valuable people who get to help God in

the saving. And as I said, when you are accepted

and you're working, your sense of worth grows.

There's a lot of people who are dissatisfied

with church. Just being honest. There's a lot

of people who are dissatisfied with church. I

don't get anything out of church. I go because

I know I'm supposed to. I go because I have to.

I go so that I can get my parents off my back.

There's a lot of people that are dissatisfied

with church. Can I tell you the truth? And I

kind of hinted at it earlier. The people that

are dissatisfied with church are the ones who

are working the least. They're the ones who are

not living in the call that God has given to

each and every one of us. But the people that

are working, they can't get enough of it. The

people that are working cannot be here enough.

They cannot be doing enough. That's why people

that are working and serving, they sacrifice.

They give up time. They're willing to do that

because they know that what they're doing is

an outpouring of the work that God has put in

them. We work out of salvation, not for salvation.

And when you know that you have been saved, that

you are priceless, and that God has called you

to something really big, you are glad to do something

really big. So can I tell you something this

morning? And I wasn't planning on saying this,

but I'm going to say it anyways. If you're not

happy about church, maybe you need to get off

your tail. And elders, I hope I'm okay to say

that. If not, I'll take the reprimand later.

And I say that because I have dealt with that

feeling in my life where I felt like I wasn't

doing enough. There was a brief period of time

in my young adult life where I stepped out of

ministry and I sat in the pew every Sunday morning,

worshiping, listening to the sermon, and I would

come out like, yeah, this is, that's great. But

I felt like I was missing something. Like I felt

like I was, there was something that I wasn't

doing. There was something that wasn't being

fulfilled. There was something that just wasn't

being done right. And so Buddy Bell was here

a few weeks ago and I talked to Buddy after our

small group, which by the way, if you haven't

signed up for a small group, please do because

we launch in a week from next Sunday. So I'm

talking to Buddy after our small group and I'm

like, Buddy, I'm here. I'm engaged. And I feel

like I enjoy my job. I enjoy the music that I

get to go out and play. But I'm just not, I'm

feeling like something's missing. I feel dissatisfied.

And Buddy said, well, yeah, you spent five years

in ministry doing everything you could for the

kingdom, and then you just decided to occupy

a pew. Now, he didn't say it in those exact words.

He's not as eloquent as I am, right? But he said

something like that. Something to the effect

of, Donovan, you need to get off your tail. And

that is kind of how I ended up back in ministry.

Because I realized that I wasn't doing what I

needed to be doing for the kingdom. And so I

say that to you to say, and visitors, if you

just heard that, I'm not talking to you. I hope

you'll get plugged in. I hope you'll connect.

But that was a message just for these people.

I heard a preacher say, I used to love Sunday

night church because Sunday night was when you

really got to talk to the church. to the members.

Well, we don't do Sunday night church, so I just

got to talk to everybody here, visitors, disregard

everything I just said, until you become a member,

and then that stands for you get off your tail,

all right? But members of the Blairsville Church

of Christ family, you may be here, and you may

be hearing me say, God loves you, God sees you

as priceless, and that is absolutely true, but

you may be wondering why you don't feel that,

and why you don't feel that when you come into

this building. And the truth is, is when you

are not using the gifts that God gave you, when

you are not living out the call that God has

put on our lives collectively and individually,

you will feel empty. And so you have something

to offer to the kingdom, to the world, because

God has a big thing for you to do. He has a big

thing for us to do. And this is why I get so

excited when I see somebody give their life to

Christ. This is why I get so excited when I come

in this space and I see people that are starting

to change. This is why I get excited when I see

my life starting to change because I know that

God is at work and that makes me fired up. It

gives me that feeling like I'm in the stadium

and the electricity is moving because God's will

is being fulfilled. And so can I just please

encourage us to take... the big mission that

God has for us. And let's go do it in an incredible

way. Whatever you do in word or in deed, do all

in the name of the Lord. And if you're going

to do it in the name of the Lord, you better

do it well. And so God has given us a mission.

As a church, as individual members of the body,

it is just time for us to accept the mission,

stop making excuses like Moses did. And just

trust that God not only sees you as valuable

enough, but he's also there to empower you along

the way. God has done big things for us in the

salvation he gives through Jesus. And now, working

out of a place of worth, we get to do big things

with God. Notice I didn't say for God, with him.

And that's good news. And I hope you hear that.

I hope you take that and run with it this week.

And I hope that when you start doing it, you

feel the same electricity, the same fire. And

I'm just going to say, I think that is the spirit

stirring. I hope you feel that when you work.

We're not working for worth. We're working out

of our worth. And that's what we get from the

story of Moses. At least that's what I get. And

I hope you see it too. I'm not going to give

an invitation, although the invitation is there.

But I'm not going to do the whole speech thing.

If you need prayers, if you need to give your

life to Christ, if you are worried about somebody,

if you're struggling, if you're hurting, whatever

it is that you need, we would love to pray with

you. We would love to get you in the water. Wherever

you're at, know that the invitation is open.

Please come as we stand and as we sing.