Say Yes

Oh well, if you have your Bibles with you, turn to Exodus chapter 2.

Exodus 2 · chapter mention

I'm excited to be able to share the word today.

The title of the message is Say Yes.

Say Yes.

And it's really a part of the journey that I've been walking, me and my wife, who's down here with me.

A lot of people may already know who she is, Elaine.

She's been a rock as we walk through this process, beginning to plant a church.

But these are some things that I've kind of walked through that we're going to talk about today, and how God spoke to me through those, and I believe that it'll be beneficial for all of us here today.

Because everyone is walking through a process.

Everyone is walking through a process to fulfill the promise that God may have been given to that God has given to them.

And Moses, most of you know who he is, he's pretty famous.

Got a couple of movies done about him, The Prince of Egypt.

Charlton Heston played Moses in another movie.

The law and the prophets.

Moses is the law portion of that.

And even in the New Testament, many times he's put up against Jesus by the scribes and the Pharisees.

So Moses is a big deal in the scriptures.

But what you may not realize is that if you read the beginning of his story, there was a process for him to be able to get to the place where he was able to deliver the people of Israel.

And many people love the highlight reels, but they don't want to get into the valley.

And when that moment comes, what comes out?

And we're going to look at that from Moses' life.

So Exodus 2, verse 11.

Exodus 2:11

Now it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens.

And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.

So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

So this has nothing really to do with my message, but I'm going to take a pause for the cause real quick.

And just say this is interesting because it would be terrible to play hide and go seek with Moses.

Who kills someone and then hides them in the sand?

Because sand moves, wind blows, they would be eventually exposed.

And it's I almost liken this to playing hide and go seek with my kids.

And I enjoy it so much because I always know where they are.

They'll get behind the curtain, they'll try to hide, but I'll see their feet.

Or I'll walk into a room and they're behind a mirror, and all I hear is this.

They're chuckling the entire time.

So if Moses was in a CSI episode, it'd be the shortest CSI episode ever in the history of the world.

Okay, nothing to do with it.

Let's jump back in.

And when he went out the second day, verse 13, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, Why are you striking your companion?

Then he said, Who made you a prince and judge over us?

Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?

So Moses feared and said, Surely this thing is known.

When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses, but Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down by well.

So as you look at this story, around 40 years old, I don't know it took him so long, but he began to see what was happening to the Israelites.

It said he went out there and he looked at their burdens.

This word looked at their burdens is a phrase, but it really means to see with emotion or distress, to see something that you cannot see, to where you actually have to take action and deal with what's happening.

But it's interesting because Moses shared God's heart, but he didn't share God's timing.

And many times there's a long bridge before those two line up.

The what, I call the, I call it the what and the when before those two things line up.

So he steps out and under his own power, he tries to free the Israelites.

And I don't know if he was planning on doing it one by one, but this was going to be a really bad plan and not anything that God had planned when it came to delivering all of the people of Israel.

Because Moses was no doubt to be the deliverer.

He just wasn't supposed to be the source of the deliverance.

And I think many times as we look in our society and we look in our culture, we can get distressed with what we see.

We see the hate, we see the racism, we see the poor, we get distressed, but we need to come to God and ask him, hey, when am I supposed to step out?

Because we can't seek to create an assignment that can only be given.

God is the assignment giver, so we have to trust him.

So here's the bridge between the what and the when.

The bridge is everyone's favorite word, and that's patience.

Sometimes it's translated long suffering.

But that's the bridge between the what and the when.

Here's the truth.

Many people would rather sacrifice their life rather than wait for God's timing.

They're willing to kill for something so badly that they sabotage their relationships, they sabotage their careers to get something that they desired so badly.

But patience is a fruit of the Spirit, and it's something that God wants to develop in us.

Acts 7.25 said this.

Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but he didn't.

How many of you have ever made assumptions in your life in a relationship?

If you're married right now, your hand should be up, but all across all of our campuses.

I made some assumptions.

But here's the problem with assumptions.

Unmet assumptions typically lead to our expectations.

And when our expectations aren't met, it typically leads to frustration.

And when our frustration isn't dealt with, it ultimately ends in bitterness.

And there's a lot of people that are bitter at God, and there's a lot of people that are bitter in their relationships because they assume that people would see the anointing on their life, how great they were, what they bring to the table, instead of waiting for God's timing.

So Moses is out in the wilderness now.

He doesn't even have anything of his own.

He goes from the palace to the wilderness.

He's a shepherd, and he's on the top of the mountain taking care of sheep.

And out of nowhere, many people know this story, there's the burning bush, or the bush that was on fire, but it wasn't consumed, and God calls to him.

Now the place where he is is called Mount Oreb.

And I feel like this is significant because this is what that mountain means.

It's a place of desolation, it's a place of destruction, and it's a place of emptiness.

And it was in this place that God told Moses, take off your shoes, because you're standing on holy ground.

And I want you to know that God, even in our lives, when we were empty, when we were headed toward destruction, he stepped into our lives and he made us holy by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

That's why we can rejoice, even in the times where we feel like we may be in the wilderness, we know that God still is aware of us in those places.

Because God calls to Moses and draws him in, and this is when he has the encounter with God that totally changes his life.

So why was he in the wilderness, though?

Many people today, whenever they're in the wilderness season, they feel like it's for punishment.

But I want to tell you, the wilderness season is not for punishment, it's for pruning.

It's to prune the things off of your life for you to be able to fulfill the destiny that God has for you.

So here's another way to say it the wilderness is actually training grounds for your destiny.

So how long is that going to take?

I don't know.

It depends on what your trajectory is, because your trajectory will determine your training.

There's some people that I know that run marathons.

I am not one of those people.

Why they would is beyond me, but I cheer them on from the sideline and hand them water as they run by.

It's great.

But training for a marathon is totally different than training for a sprint.

So your training will be shaped by your trajectory will be shaped, will shape your training.

So it's important for us to realize that God is working even in that season and not to be discouraged, not to feel defeated because God is with us even in those moments.

So now I'm gonna get to the three excuses that keep us from saying yes to God, and Moses did them all.

Here are the three excuses.

I'm gonna phrase them in the form of a question.

The first one is this Who am I?

And it deals with our identity.

Who am I?

It deals with our identity.

Exodus 3, starting in verse 11.

But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?

And that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt.

So he said, I will certainly be with you, and this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you.

When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this very mountain.

So you recognize he was supposed to bring them back to where he currently was.

Then Moses said to God, Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, What is his name?

What shall I say to them?

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

And he said, Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, The I am has sent me to you.

Moses had buried the idea that he was going to be a deliverer for the children of Israel.

And here's how you can tell, because of what he named his son.

His firstborn son's name is Gershem.

And that word means foreigner or banished.

Many people here today feel like they are forgotten by God.

And I want to tell you, be careful what you name the seasons that you go through.

Because God was not banishing him, he was hiding him for the plans and the purposes that he had for him to do in the future.

So don't get so locked in on your moment that you misunderstand what God is doing throughout your life.

So God's reply to Moses puts the focus where it should be.

Because who Moses was was really irrelevant.

Who God was, the one that was speaking to him, was really the key.

And he says, I will certainly be with you.

I will certainly be with you.

That is one of the greatest promises that we have as believers.

That no matter what we're going through, we can trust that God is always with us.

Even when we feel like there's a gap in our identity because our circumstances don't line up with what we feel like God has promised, we can trust that He is always with us.

So he said, okay, since I'm not important, what's your name?

And God begins to tell him his name.

Now this is important because the first time Moses tried, he went with his own credentials and it didn't work.

Plus, it's important for him as he goes back to the people, children of Israel, for them to be able to understand who is sending him.

Because the first time he tried under his own power and they sent him away.

This time he was going to come back under God's power.

But I want you to think about this.

He's been gone for 40 years.

There was no social media back then.

There wasn't a Facebook, there wasn't Instagram, there wasn't Twitter, there were no selfies with him and the sheep.

Hashtag squad goals.

There weren't any of those things.

He's been out in the desert, and he's going to come back to them and say, hey, God showed up to me and it was a burning bush, and he told me that I'm here to deliver everybody.

I'm going to go to Farote and let my people go, and we're going to go out and worship him.

They would have probably asked, what type of bush was burning again?

Because you sound really crazy right now.

Some people got that, it's okay if you didn't.

But it would have been crazy for him to go back.

He's been gone.

They don't know who he is, so it's important that he understands who's sending him, and God says, the I am is sending you.

The one who always has been, the one who is, and the one who will be.

It's announced, it's an announcement as much as it's an introduction.

It's announcing his self-sufficiency as the creator and sustainer of life, but also an introduction to letting you know that I desire to be in relationship with you because I love you so much and I hear what's going on in your life.

And it's the same for us.

But he tells them, now go, I'm sending you.

But I want to say this is why this moment's importance is important for us as well.

Because he was validated in private.

Private validation precedes public power.

God validates, man confirms.

If you're looking for our identity in people, you're always going to be stuck chasing the wind and trying to grasp something that you can never grasp.

We have to get our identity from God.

I remember several years ago, as Pastor Robert mentioned, I was a pastor of young adults.

And during that time I began to speak a little bit more than I normally had, and I actually got a nodule on the left side of my throat.

Went to the doctor, talked with him, and he said, Hey, uh, you can't talk for over a month.

So when you're stepping into a role, and part of your role is speaking, that can kind of weigh on you a little bit.

So during that season of my life, I got really good at listening to my wife.

I think she enjoyed it more than anyone else.

I listened and I listened and then I listened some more.

As a matter of fact, listening to my wife became one of my favorite hobbies, and it's great it works because sometimes she likes to talk.

So it worked well for us.

But during that time, truth be told, I was faced, I was frustrated.

I was like, why in the world is this happening to me?

And I felt like God whispered something very simple to me.

He's like, Ethan, don't aim to live a life of prominence.

Aim to live a life of significance.

And there's a big difference between the two.

Because your identity is rooted in the significant part of what God has placed on the inside of you.

But if you're looking for prominence, a platform, a stage, whatever, the job, the business, whatever it may be, you may have an identity crisis if your life is built on prominence because it's temporary.

But if you like, you desire to live a life of significance, where you love God, you love people, and you walk in the center of God's will, it's something that's eternal, and that is a solid foundation for us to live on and live by.

Amen?

Alright, so the first one is that.

Who am I?

The second one is this what if they don't listen?

This has to do with influence.

Exodus 4, 1 and 2.

Then Moses answered and said, But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice.

Suppose they say the Lord has not appeared to you.

So the Lord said to him, What is in your hand?

And he said, A rod.

So even with the promises that God had already given him, Moses still was unsure of going.

So he says to Moses, What is in your hand?

And it's always great when God answers a question with a question.

I don't know about you, but I love those moments in my life.

Well, I have to try to figure it out.

And he said, A staff.

Now a staff is what shepherds use.

But here's the thing God can use what is already in your hand.

So many people focus on what we don't have instead of saying, What do I have?

Because you can put that in service to him.

Because with that rod, he raised it up in the Red Sea parted.

With that same rod, he struck the rock and water came out, and all the children of Israel were able to drink and quench their thirst.

With that same rod, he raised it up and they were able to win battles.

Listen to me.

You may have everything that you already need, but you need God's perspective on what you have.

This is how we become content with realizing that what God has for us, even we may already have it, and that we don't need to look ahead because He's provided everything you need for the season that you're currently in.

Acts 735 says this.

Through the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush, God sent Moses to be their ruler and their savior.

I want to say this.

Your influence will be determined by the person that sends you.

The first time around, Moses tried to go under his own power.

Second time around, he actually was working, after having an encounter with God, he was working in the spirit, not the flesh, and he was able to fulfill what God had called him to do.

There may be seasons where God had you go back to the area where you may have experienced the greatest rejection.

So he can bring a miraculous miracle through that moment.

But so many times we can get caught up in what if they don't listen to us?

What if I don't have the influence?

What will happen then?

And I want to ask you today, where are you saying to God, I will never do something?

I will never go back.

I will never go next door to my neighbor.

I don't like my neighbor.

I will never have that conversation I know I need to have with my parents.

So in this season, when we're planting a church, God has talked with us, to me, our team, and we've always said really a slogan that's kind of taken our hearts is never say never.

You never know what God wants to do in your life.

But so many times, because of our thinking, we could limit what God is able to do in us and what He's able to do through us.

But we think our nevers are harmless, but I want to tell you this distraction is on the other side of your never.

And so many people have been distracted for so long because they're not walking and saying yes to what God has for them, they don't even know their road back.

But I want to tell you that God wants to speak to you so that you can say yes and get back on the road that He has for your life.

Because it's important.

It's a part of the influence that He's given to you.

So our distractions aren't harmless.

Social media can be, it's a great tool, but it can be harmful if you're using it in the wrong way.

And our distractions really aren't harmless, they're discipling us.

And many people are being discipled to hate, many people are being discipled to attack, and they're using the influence from the voice that God has given them and forfeiting what he has for them in the future because of what they're how they're using their influence today.

And it's important for us to come to a place where we realize that God has given us influence.

Matthew 9, 37 and 38 say this.

He said to his disciples, the harvest is great, but the workers are few.

So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest.

Ask him to send more workers into his field.

How many of you know you're needed?

We are an answer to prayer.

We want to go after the harvest.

Everyone would agree to that.

But you and I, we are the laborers that God wants to send out.

But it's only going to happen as we get past our comfort zone.

And I want to say this because if you desire to simply live a life based on comfort, you have no need for the comforter.

Jesus said the Holy Spirit will come to comfort you because you will have trouble.

There's an assumption that if I need a comforter, there's a reason for it.

God wants to comfort us, but we have to get out of our comfort zones.

When we talk about influence, as a parent, I want to do my best to influence my child in a positive way.

My kids, they got it from this is the Morris side of the family.

They're all super competitive.

And apparently that is passed down to my daughter.

She's super competitive as well.

I'm gonna be on this side, not looking at them, I'm kidding.

It's from it's from me as well.

So whenever you play games, it's it's always an instructing time, learning time.

So my daughter, Addie, oldest, she's five years old.

She always asks it this way.

She's like, Daddy, will you play with me?

And I can never say no, even if it's a game that I may not want to play.

So this day she chose Candyland.

How many of you played Candyland before?

Simple game.

Hey, it's gonna be fun.

So I played with her the first time, and it's going well for me.

I totally dominate and annihilate her.

It was phenomenal.

But I just saw her as I won.

She just felt beginning to feel a little bit dejected.

And I was just like, hey, Addie, teaching moment as a father, I was proud of myself.

Addie, remember, it's not whether you win or lose, just as long as you have fun.

That worked the first game.

We played another game.

And during that game, as she was drawing a card, she got the cinnamon bun.

Now, for those who have played it, you know what happens when you get the cinnamon bun.

You pretty much are gonna win the game.

So she won the game, she started dancing, getting up.

You remember that competitive side, gloating in my face, and I was like, I don't want to play this anymore.

And she said to me, true story, Dad, remember, it's not whether you win or lose.

It's all about having fun.

And I have not played with her again since.

So it's great.

But influence, those a question that we're always asking.

And here's the third thing that Moses asked, and the question that we asked too, Am I able?

And that has to do with our insecurity.

Three eyes.

I know my father-in-law would be proud of me.

Exodus 4, verse 10 says this.

Exodus 4:10

Then Moses said to the Lord, Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.

So the Lord said to him, Who has made man's mouth?

Or who who makes the mute?

The deaf, the seeing, or the blind?

Have not I, the Lord?

Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what to say.

But he said, O my Lord, please sin by the hand of whomever else you may sin.

So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.

So Moses' insecurity came out, but it was irrelevant to this equation.

And here's why.

I want you to think about this for a second.

At this moment, God's talking to him through a burning bush.

Do you think God has a problem using people and speaking through us?

Nothing is impossible with God.

God can use you.

And many times we try to disqualify ourselves because of our insecurities, because of our weaknesses, because of our flaws, what we may have done.

And the problem with that is we don't realize that our weaknesses don't disqualify us.

They actually qualify us because our weaknesses are simply a place for God to exhibit his strength.

So many times we come to our weaknesses with a microscope.

And a microscope is meant to make small things large.

And we begin to shrink back and we're insecure about the things that we may have done, the things that we've gone through, our lack of experience, whatever it may be, and we become smaller and smaller in our own eyes.

The problem is God has never called for us to look through a microscope.

When we look, we're supposed to look through the lens of the cross.

That we are a child of God, that he loves us, that we're accepted, and that he's called us his own.

So it's not about our own ability, it's about him.

And if we aren't on guard, our fears can limit the thrill of our faith.

And I want to say this.

Everyone knows, probably a lot of people know this scripture.

The just shall live by faith.

Faith is the answer if you don't know.

But there's the opposite side to it, too.

That if you aren't living by faith, let me say it this way: faith that's not activated will soon be vacated.

And a lot of Christians haven't taken the time to get along with God to hear, because that's where faith comes from, hearing by the word of the Lord, believing what he said, and obeying him.

And they're bored in their Christian walk.

But there's a generation behind you that's looking towards you to say, what does it look like to live a faith-filled life today?

There's a lot at stake here when it comes to living by faith.

And I want to say this.

If you look throughout the scriptures, no one was bored.

Here's the reason why you're bored.

Because you're a spectator, not a participator.

And I say that in love and kindness.

But that's the reason.

Because God has called us to live by faith.

And sometimes that means stepping out of our comfort zone and trusting what He has to say to us.

So it takes all of us to be able to bring heaven to earth.

He's called for all of us to do that.

So here's what it really comes down to.

After all the excuses, Moses finally shares his heart.

It wasn't that he was unable, it was that he was unwilling.

He was unwilling to say yes.

He didn't trust God enough to step out and say yes.

But I want you to notice something.

God was not angry with him until this moment.

He wasn't angry at the fear, he wasn't angry at the insecurity, he wasn't angry at the doubt, but he was angry not at his lack of ability, but as at his lack of obedience.

And Moses had to come to the place where he decided to say yes to God to walk out all the purposes that God has for his life.

So why did God choose Moses?

Whenever he knew he was going to have to walk through this.

Why does God choose us?

When many times we can make excuses.

We can try to push back on God's plan for our life.

Moses is a type of Christ, which means in the Old Testament he points to Jesus in the New Testament.

Moses was supposed to be the deliverer, but I want you to think of something.

This is my personal belief.

One of the reasons why God chose Moses.

Because he's a type of Christ.

Moses was the only, may have been one of the only people who had never known what it was like to be enslaved to the Egyptians.

Think about that for a second.

He was in the palace and then he was in the wilderness.

So Moses had never been in bondage from a physical standpoint to be enslaved.

So how does that point to Jesus?

Jesus said yes to God, was willing to come from heaven to earth, to live a life that we could not live, to die death that we deserve to die.

He said yes, but he was always free and was never under the bondage of sin.

And because of that, he could free us, which is why it says, Whom the sun sets free is free indeed.

So if we go looking for freedom anywhere else, it can't truly be found, but only and alone in Jesus, which is why we come to him as the author and the finisher of our faith.

But imagine for a second, if all of us decided to say yes to what God had on our life.

Imagine how our communities would be shaped, how our schools would be shaped.

If we took the time to hear from God, believe what he said, and obeyed, and stepped out, I promise you we would change the world.