Surrendering after we've given up

I just got to move along a little quicker.

Anyway, hold your Bible up nice and high.

Let's make this declaration of our faith all together ready.

Go.

This is my Bible.

It is my primary source of spiritual nourishment.

I will read it every day and become all that God wants me to be.

My mind will be renewed.

My life will be transformed.

I will become fully surrendered to Christ.

Therefore, I will hide his word in my heart so I can be all God has destined me to be.

Amen and amen.

Would you remain standing in honor of the word of God?

We are going to the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter number three, beginning in verse one.

The scripture says, Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian.

And he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

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

So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.

Then Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.

So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses, and he said, Here I am.

Then he said, Do not draw near to this place.

Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

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

And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon the Lord.

Today we are considering continuing in our series White Flag, where we are learning what it means to surrender not partially, but totally to God.

And last week we met Jonah, the prodigal prophet, but our persistent God who wouldn't give up on the man that was running from him.

And today I want to talk to you about, I want to introduce you to a man who didn't so much run from his assignment, he gave up on it.

And so what I want to talk to you about today is surrendering even after you've given up.

Can you say amen?

Let's pray.

Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, would you speak like only you can by the power of the Spirit of God to each and every heart transform and draw each person closer to you in Jesus' name and everybody said you may be seated.

Here's what I discovered.

Sometimes we think we have surrendered, but we've just given up.

From the outside, surrendering can look exactly like giving up.

They can look exactly the same, but they're worlds apart.

Giving up is quitting on God.

Surrendering is trusting God.

Giving up says, I can't.

Surrender says he can.

Giving up says it's over.

Surrender says, God, it's yours.

Giving up folds the white flag and walks away.

Surrender raises the white flag and walks towards God.

And some of you, you didn't raise your white flag.

You just dropped it in the middle of a struggle, a hurt, or a mistake.

You stopped praying for the prodigal.

You stopped believing God for the marriage.

You stopped dreaming the dream.

You stopped fighting the habit.

And you said it is what it is.

There are times in my life where I am tempted to think that it's over.

And I have to be reminded by the Holy Spirit that God is not finished yet.

Is there anybody that can say amen?

You've had times in your life you feel like it's over, you feel like you've gone too far, you feel like it's lasted too long, but you need God to say, I'm not finished yet.

And if you're here today, maybe you're stuck in a chapter of life.

I want you to know God's not finished.

Maybe you can't see your way out.

I want you to know God's not finished.

Maybe you feel like darkness has enveloped you like a solar eclipse.

I want you to know God is not finished.

See, we all see God as a healer, we see God as a deliverer, we see God as an advocate, we see God as a provider, as a strong tower, as our redeemer.

He's all of those things.

But do you know what else God is?

God is a finisher.

The Bible says in Hebrews 12 and verse number two, he is the author and the finisher of our faith.

And my assignment today is to stir your faith to realize that God is not finished, that it's not too late to surrender your white flag even after you've given up.

Enter Moses.

Moses is the boy who had everything.

Moses was a special child.

And he was special because God saved him.

When all of the other Hebrew children were being killed because they were ordered to be thrown into the crocodile-infested Nile River, Moses' mother trusted God.

She made an ark, she put him in the ark, she floated him down the river in the ark.

And it just so happened.

How many of you know when you trust God, things just so happened?

And it just so happened that at the same time that Moses was floating down the river, there was a particular woman from the palace.

She was the daughter of Pharaoh who saw the little baby in the ark, and she adopted Moses as her own.

And if you read the rest of the story, Miriam was watching Moses' sister from a distance, and she saw Miriam, and Miriam spoke up because how many of you know when you trust God, God will tell you what to say when you need to say it.

And Miriam spoke up and she said to Pharaoh's daughter, Would you like me to go get one of the Hebrew women to help you raise the child?

And Pharaoh's daughter said, Yeah, go ahead.

And guess what Miriam did?

She ran back to Joch Bed and she said, Joch Bed, guess what?

Mama, guess what?

You come into the palace too.

You haven't given up on your child.

You're gonna raise your child in the palace with protection.

Come on, God is good.

And so here, Moses is, he's being raised in the palace.

Moses has got everything.

He's got the privileges of the palace.

He will he goes to the best schools, he wears the best clothes, he eats the finest food, he has the inside track to becoming the next Pharaoh.

He's 40 years old, he's next in line for the throne.

He is powerful, he is educated, he is influential, he is rich, he is handsome, he is Mr.

Egypt, 1300 BC.

He is on the cover of Cairo cosmopolitan.

Moses has got it all going on.

No midlife crisis for Moses.

40 years old, he's gonna be the king.

He's got it all going down.

But when we meet Moses in our text, this same Moses is tending somebody else's sheep on the backside of a desert in a strange land called Midian.

And he's asking himself a question that I'm sure you've asked yourself or you will ask yourself at some point in your life.

How did I get here?

How did I wind up in this mess?

Maybe for you, how did I become so angry?

How did I become so bitter?

How did I become so joyless?

How did I become so cynical?

When did I start to believe that things were too difficult for you?

When did I start talking myself out of miracles?

Have you ever been there before where you've looked around your life and you've asked yourself the question?

I don't know how I got here.

It's not where I intended to be, not where I thought I would be, but here I am.

And as we peer into the story of Moses, I'm reminded that giving up doesn't happen all at once.

It usually starts like this.

Number one, giving up begins when right goes wrong.

Giving up begins when right goes wrong.

Moses has got it all, but he's unsettled.

Because success outside of purpose will unsettle you.

Listen to me carefully.

Because there's a lot of people they're chasing success.

They're chasing stuff, they're chasing jobs, they're chasing money, they're chasing opportunity, they're chasing promotion, they're chasing a lot of things because they think that those things will make them happy.

But but but but but but Solomon, the wealthiest man who ever lived, who had everything at the end of his life, looked at it all, he said, What does it all mean?

It's meaningless, meaningless, meaningless.

Because success without purpose, success without a cause, success without God leaves you empty on the inside.

And so Moses has got everything.

He's gonna be the next Pharaoh, but he's unsettled on the inside.

He's unsettled.

So he decides to come down from the perch of the palace to check on the people because he has this feeling on the inside that they are being mistreated and marginalized and abused, and that his privilege is the result of their mistreatment.

And he's right.

The feeling is right, the outrage is right, the desire to intervene is right.

So he goes down to check on the people and he sees an Egyptian abusing a hero a Hebrew, and right, and he rises up against him, and in defense of the person that is being mistreated, Moses kills the Egyptian, and then he hides the body.

And I know he was raised Egyptian, I know he had DNA of a Hebrew in his bones, but this text proved he was Italian.

Because he had to make sure nobody knew where that body was.

There's a lot of Italians in the Bible, by the way.

You may have heard me say this before.

Jesus was Italian.

He hung out with 12 guys all the time.

None of them had any jobs.

I mean, he's Italian.

Lived with his mother till he was 33.

He's Italian.

Walked around telling everybody, you know who my father is?

He's Italian.

A lot of Italian people in the Bible.

And Moses, right there, he goes down to check up, and and and and he this thing rises up on the inside of him.

He goes home, he tries to sleep.

He wakes up the next day, he goes to check on the people, and he rightfully feels compelled to deliver them.

And this time he finds two Hebrews and they're fighting one another.

Not an Egyptian abusing a Hebrew, but two Hebrews fighting one another.

And so he says to the two Hebrews, why you all fighting one another?

You got an enemy.

Don't fight one another.

You guys are bros.

And one of the Hebrews looks at him and says, But but I saw you yesterday.

By the way, who made you ruler and judge over us?

I saw you yesterday.

You killed the Egyptian.

And if you don't get out of my face, bro, and go back to the palace, I'm gonna tell everybody where you hid that body.

And all of a sudden, Moses realizes right has gone wrong.

Right has gone wrong.

The reality of life.

Sometimes right goes wrong.

You can have good intentions, but right can go wrong.

You can marry, you can think you're gonna marry for life, but right can go wrong.

You can love and nurture your children, but right can go wrong.

You can have a plan for your life.

You're gonna go to this school, you're gonna get this education, you're gonna graduate at this time, you're gonna get this kind of job, you're gonna live in this kind of house, you're gonna marry this kind of person, you're gonna have these kind of kids, you're gonna achieve this level of success, and somewhere along life's journey, right goes wrong.

And when right goes wrong, something happens.

You find yourself asking the question, How did I get here?

And this is most, I believe this is where Moses started to stutter.

Because when we read about Moses in Acts chapter number seven, and Stephen talks about him, he says, Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in words and deeds.

But by the time we come to Exodus chapter number four, and God says to Moses, Go, Moses says, But my Lord, I'm not eloquent, neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant.

I'm slow of speech and slow of tongue.

And so this man who is mighty in words all of a sudden becomes slow of speech.

And the question is, how did that happen?

And I think the reason why it happened is because one day he woke up and he didn't understand where he was and why he got there.

And when asked to explain it, he was so dumbfounded he couldn't put it into words.

Has life ever left you speechless?

I don't understand how I got here.

And then the voice of the enemy comes in, and the voice of the enemy says, You blown it, you made the mistake, you'll never be, it'll never happen.

You've missed your moment, you killed your dream.

And when you listen to those voices long enough, guess what happens?

You stop fighting, you stop believing, and you give up.

And here is where giving up gets dangerous.

Because when we give up, we usually don't crash.

Guess what we do?

We settle.

And listen to me, point number two settling is not surrendering.

Moses doesn't realize God is still at work.

And the reason why most people settle is because eventually we believe that God is no longer at work.

Eventually we believe God has moved on.

Eventually we believe that that's no longer going to happen for us.

Eventually we give up on our dream.

And so we settle, and Moses he thought, God is not at work anymore in my life.

As a matter of fact, he settled into his new life with his new wife.

And he married Zipporah.

He's working for his father-in-law, he's got some kids, and he has survived right going wrong.

And by the way, I don't want to make light of that because there are people in this room you are survivors to the glory of God.

You have survived right going wrong, you have survived the things that should have taken you out, and there is a level of gratefulness and there is a level of thankfulness in your heart because God has brought you well beyond where you deserve to be.

And that's good.

But it doesn't mean you should settle.

He survived, but he let go of the thought that he could be Israel's deliverer.

Surviving took a toll on him, made him stutter, made him stop fighting.

Now he has to settle for something less like shepherding somebody else's sheep.

Moses survived, but he gave up on his dream.

He gave up on the passion, he gave up on the purpose.

Am I talking to anybody?

And unlike Jonah, who ran, Moses isn't running anymore.

Moses has just settled.

And settled is a nice word for stuck, because they are not the same thing.

Surrender says God, your will be done.

Settling says, God, I guess this will have to do.

Surrender lays down my will.

Settling lays down my hope.

Surrender, trust God with my future.

Settling stops me from believing that I have one.

And some of us have mistakenly confused resignation and consecration.

We have resigned to fatalism.

Whatever will be will be.

This is my lot in life.

And I came here this morning to lift you from that hopeless, desperate, uh, disgusting, if you will, way of living.

I came here to call you higher to the dream and the purpose and the plan that God has for your life.

Even after you've given up.

Midian was Moses' safe place.

It was the place that he retreated to where life could just make a little sense.

What is your medium?

What is the place that you retreat to because you've settled that old job, that old habit, that old friends group, that old way of life.

Because there at least life made sense.

You didn't have to ask yourself how you got there.

You were just there and you were choosing to be there.

Here's the good news though: Moses gave up on God's plan, but God never gave up on Moses.

I want you to know that even when you and I give up, God never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever gives up on us.

I want to encourage you today, because we serve a God that can make right out of wrong.

We serve a God who can take wrong, clear wrong, clear wrong.

Stuff that was really, really wrong.

Has God ever used something in your life that was really, really, really wrong and brought right out of it?

Has God never used a wrong experience in order to give you some wisdom so you can help somebody else?

Has God ever taken you through something and you thought now I'm equipped to help somebody else get through that situation?

God can take a wrong and God can turn it into a right.

How in the world did I get here?

Moses is asking.

I'm a prince and I'm tending somebody else's sheep.

I'm privileged and I'm living and having a job like a peasant.

I was a military hero next in line for the throne, and now I'm on the backside of a desert learning how to survive the wilderness.

I'm in the wilderness.

I'm learning these plants will kill you, but these plants you can eat.

I'm learning these animals are poisonous, but these animals are fine.

I'm learning how to take care of sheep in the wilderness, how to protect them from predators, how to keep them fit.

I'm learning how to take these sheep through a wilderness.

See, some of y'all ain't hearing me yet.

Because Moses didn't understand something.

Even though Moses had went to the backside of a desert because he gave up, God said, Okay, okay, okay, I'm gonna take where you're at and I'm gonna enroll you in a place that most people don't even know God enrolls them in so that you can learn.

I'm gonna put you through in a school called Du.

What's DU, Pastor?

Desert University.

Have you ever been there?

See, you got there all by yourself.

You got there because right went wrong.

You got there because you made some poor choices.

Or maybe you got there because you didn't.

Maybe somebody else made some poor choices.

And there you are.

How did I get here?

How did I get here?

And God said, it's no sweat.

We're gonna use this too.

We're gonna take all things and work them together for the good.

For those that love me.

I'm gonna learn you some things, I'm gonna teach you some things.

And if I had time, I would break down all the classes that God puts you through when you're in DU.

Audiology.

That's when you learn to listen to the voice of God.

See, some of y'all is just too busy.

Oh, I don't understand why God don't talk to me.

You don't make time, he don't talk.

See, if you be still, you'll know that he's God.

Audiology in the desert, learning Mount Horeb, the mountain of God, the place where you hear, theology, where we learn who God really is.

When God said to Moses, go before Pharaoh, Moses said, Well, who should I say sent me?

And what did God say?

Tell him I am sent me.

See, Moses had to understand who God was, and the reason why most people give up is they don't understand who God is.

They don't understand God is a God who makes all things right.

God is a God who can turn your situation.

Of course, they don't understand who God is.

Then there's surrenderology.

That's where we learn the difference between giving in and giving up.

And then, of course, there's advanced theology.

Most Christians don't like to go to this class.

It's hard.

Reason why it's hard is because it really requires the crucifixion of your flesh.

It requires a total paradigm shift from the American dream to following God.

Because most Christians have to realize that they don't really need a new house, a new car, a higher-paying job.

I don't know.

Can you turn me up?

Because this thing might not be working today.

I don't know if this is on right now.

Because there's a lot of people that think they need all these things that the world has to offer in order to get to where God wants them to go.

But you get to a point in your spiritual journey when you go through advanced theology where you realize that you don't really need anything more than you need God.

In Him, you live and move and have your being.

And when you realize that God is the secret to all you think, my God.

And so God begins to take Moses to a place that most people don't like because God, God was trying to enroll Moses in a different school.

Moses had been raised and reared in the ways of the Egyptians, but his purpose was never to lead Egypt.

That was just an inside peak.

That was a peek into the palace.

That was God giving him a chance to see behind enemy lines.

That was God educating him before the real education.

Now God said, Moses, now it's time for Peter.

At Desert University, where you can learn how to lead a people out of Egypt and through the wilderness into the promised land.

God's not done with you.

God doesn't give up.

He's not going to leave you because you complicated it.

He's not going to forget you because you failed.

He's not going to give up on you because you gave up on yourself.

We serve a God who finishes what he started.

And because he's a finisher, when we've given up, sometimes what God has to do, number four, on your outline, God sets things on fire to rekindle our surrender.

Exodus chapter 3, verse number 2.

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

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

So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire.

But the bush was not consumed.

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

Why the bush does not burn.

Moses is attending his father-in-law's sheep on the backside of Horeb, the mountain of God, in the middle of a desert, and a bush erupts into flames.

No big deal.

That happens all the time.

But there was something different about this bush.

Not only was the bush not on fire, on but not only was the bush on fire, but the bush, the bush, the bush is on fire.

How do y'all know that?

I just don't understand, you know.

Not only is the bush on fire, but but it's not being consumed.

And so now Moses says, you know what, I'm gonna I'm gonna turn around, I'm gonna turn aside to see this extraordinary sight.

Can I just caution you that when God interrupts your ordinary, pay attention?

When when the ordinary flow and cadence of life suddenly gets interrupted in your life, don't push back, but say, say, speak, Lord, here I am.

Just like Samuel, Samuel kept getting waking up in the middle of the night.

He kept hearing a voice.

Some of y'all, you wake up every night at three, four o'clock in the morning.

And here's your thing I can't sleep.

How about speak, Lord?

Your servant is listening.

Here's how I figured it.

If I'm gonna lose some sleep, I'm gonna hear God speak.

See, I like to redeem my moments.

I like to redeem anything that's not supposed to go my way.

I like to say to God, God, how can we maximize this moment?

God, I can't sleep, but I know you never stop speaking.

And God, everything's quiet.

Talk to my heart right now.

But sometimes God's gonna light some stuff on fire.

And the text says that Moses turned aside.

When something in your life is not being consumed, but it's always on fire.

In other words, when you can't put a fire out, when you can't stop a nagging, when something is always going, no matter how hard you try, you can't get rid of it, you can't stop it, you can't make it to change.

That could be God putting some stuff on fire to pull you out of the place that you quit and put you back into the purpose that he has.

But here's what I heard the Holy Spirit say: don't wait for God to put it on fire.

I like what Jeremiah said.

There's a fire shut up in my bones.

I I I like to I like to keep the fire on the inside rather than waiting for God to set some things on fire.

And so when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses! Here's what I love about this.

This is the bush.

And the bush is on fire, but it's not being burned.

And Moses is like, Man, this is odd.

I don't know if I should say this, but one of my one of my black friends said, Why do all you white people always go to investigate what is odd?

We don't investigate that stuff.

We just like, yeah, I'll see you later.

So Moses, he's looking.

And this is odd.

Still look odd.

Still look odd.

I'm like, because this is what I would do if I was God.

I would wait for Moses to get right up here, thinking everything's alright.

Moses, Moses! Can you see a God scared to beat Jesus right out of him?

But here's what I want you to see: that this Moses, who God thought would forsake him, and God thought he thought God would punish, doesn't forsake him, but rather what God does is he calls his name.

Can I tell you that even in the midst of your quitting, God knows your name, he knows every step you take, every move you make, every tear you cry, he knows your name.

And Moses is expecting punishment, but instead, God doesn't forsake him, God is waiting to forgive him.

When we surrender, God forgives.

Number five, the first thing God tells the man who has given up, the first thing he says to him is not an insult, it's an invitation.

Notice what he says.

Check it out with me.

Famous, famous portion of the Bible.

He says, Do not draw near to this place.

And most of us are thinking, well, he better not because he's a murderer.

Don't don't don't come don't come close with your murder and self.

Don't look at Moses in that tone of voice because you know that's what you're thinking right now.

Do not come near this place.

Take off your sandals, take them off your feet.

For the place where you're standing is holy ground.

And we interpret this through our culture.

In our culture, when you go to somebody's house, if you want to be respectful, you take off your shoes.

Right?

I hate the people who just presume they don't have to take off their shoes.

Hello, you coming into my house.

You see how clean everything looks?

You know how it stays clean like that?

So you come into my house, it's clean, y'all.

You know why?

Because cleanliness is next to godliness.

I just want you to know there ain't no dirt in heaven.

When we get there, there's no stuff that's misplaced in heaven, everything's orderly in heaven.

But we we think it's respectful, and it is.

Take off your shoes.

You don't want to tramp mud through the whole house.

Or you go to a Japanese restaurant.

You ever been to one of these places where they make you take your shoes off before you can eat, right?

Because that's a sign of respect.

But in Bible times, it was just the opposite.

In Bible times, it was disrespectful to let your skin touch anything that was holy.

And so when they passed around the Torah in the temple, they put a cover over it because no fleshly, sinful flesh could touch something that's holy.

And so now here is murdering self Moses.

Who quit on the plan of God, who's expecting God to blast him for what he did.

And most of y'all are thinking, yeah, that's right.

Don't come into the presence of God with your unholy self.

But God says, Moses, take off your shoes.

Moses, like, what are you talking about?

If because they didn't wear socks, y'all.

They had they didn't have socks, they had sandals.

And so when you took off your sandals, immediately your your ugly, gnarly second toe bigger than your first toe foot.

Sorry, y'all, that don't have even digits.

I'm sorry for y'all.

That's a mistake right there, you know.

That's just a mistake.

He says, take your skin and walk into my presence, skin on skin.

What is God saying?

God is saying, Listen, if you and I are gonna finish what we started, if you're gonna surrender to me, it starts with an intimate, skin-on-skin relationship with me where there is no more shoes in the way.

Can I tell somebody, take off your shoes?

Take off the shoes of shame and guilt, take off the shoes of unforgiveness and bitterness, take off the shoes, anything that is standing in the way of you and God, take them off.

Because God wants to have an intimate relationship with you.

He wants to know you in your messy parts, not that he don't, and in your beautiful parts.

And I love the fact that God uses feet to illustrate this.

Because feet are nasty.

Some of y'all know what I'm talking about.

Some of y'all like, thank God it's winter.

Thank God it's winter.

Some of y'all ought never to show your feet in public.

I'm just, I'm just telling, I'm just trying to be good to you.

Okay.

I'm just playing with y'all.

Intimate.

God with us.

Face to face.

If you're gonna surrender, you gotta get rid of all the stuff that's in the way.

But then, lastly, this morning, the thing that brought Moses all the way back, the thing that caused him to raise his white flag, was not that God invited him into intimacy.

Because God invites us into intimacy.

Was not that God said, Come on, this is what I want.

I want face to face, I want closeness.

I want you.

It's amazing to me that when God first created man, they were naked.

They were naked.

And the reason why they were naked, or one of the reasons why, is because it spoke to the pureness and the intimacy between God and man.

And I know this isn't a marriage seminar, and that's why any marriage that never gets naked is is is doomed.

It's doomed.

Because there's no intimacy.

And when there is no intimacy, there is no vulnerability.

Where there is no flesh on flesh contact, there is no real intimacy.

There are barriers that are in the way, and intimacy is just a sign of that.

And when we have our shoes on, when we go into the presence of God, it's stuff that's keeping us from God.

And so God is saying, Strip down and come to me totally bare, bare before me, because I want to see all the parts of you.

I want to see all your curves and all your edges, as John Legend says.

None of this changes Moses.

God has spoken to him, called him by name.

God has invited him into shoes-off relationship.

But it's not until God says this, listen, Exodus chapter 3, verse number six I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and and the God of Jacob.

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

It's not until he says this to Moses that Moses is believing and ready for God to do something different.

And I want you to notice how Moses is probably hearing this.

He's hearing, yeah, yeah, I know you're the God of Abraham.

Who wouldn't be?

Abraham, father of our faith.

I mean, left everything he had for land he didn't know of, offered up his only son as a sacrifice to you.

Circumcise himself, Lord, as an adult just to please you.

Hail to the chief.

I know why you're the God of Abraham.

And the God of Isaac.

I know why you're the God of Isaac.

Isaac's the promised child.

He's he's the one through all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

I know why you're the God of Isaac, but God, I think you stuttered.

Because at the end, you you you you made a mistake.

You said you were also the God of Jacob.

I I think you meant the God of Israel.

I think you meant the God of Israel, not the God of Jacob.

Why?

Because Jacob was the part of Israel.

Jacob was the part that was messy.

Jacob was the part who was a trickster.

Jacob was the part who was a supplanter.

Jacob was the part who did a lot of things.

Jacob was the one where right went wrong.

He wanted the blessing, but he got it the wrong way.

He got it because he tricked and he ran for the rest of his life.

And God is like, now you're telling the story.

Now you know why I'm calling myself to you, the God of Jacob, because guess who else ran?

Guess who else right went wrong for Moses?

It was you, it was you, it was you, it was you.

And here's what God is saying, and here's what caused Moses to finally get it.

He understood that God is not the God of just our good parts, God is not just the God of the parts of us that behaves, God is not just the part of us that submits, God is the part of our Jacob, He's the part of our waywardness, He's the God who follows after us even when we don't deserve it.

And when He said, I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all of a sudden Moses realized something that God still can use me.

I'm here to tell somebody whether you mess up or whether you're perfect, God can use you.

I want to tell you that God takes you as you are.

Hang-ups, mess ups, hurts, faults, failures, family struggles.

But I need you to know that even though he receives you in that condition, he doesn't allow you to stay the same.

The world has got it half right.

And the half-right is that you just gotta take me as I am.

This is who I am, and God is like come just as you are, but then when you come just as you are, God said, We can't leave you as you were.

We've got to change you into the image of Jesus from faith to faith and glory to glory.

We gotta kill some things on the inside of you, we gotta let some light some stuff on fire, we gotta maybe bring you through the wilderness so some stuff can get knocked off of you because the plan that I have for you requires an intimate relationship with me.

And Moses learned something that he's preaching to us today that when we surrender, when we give up, God finishes what he started, that it's never too late, that it's never too late to raise the white flag, it's it's never too late for God to work again.

Your Midian is not your final destination.

God doesn't need you to have it all together, He needs you to take off your shoes and surrender, and when you do, God says, Okay, let's finish what we started, and so God says, He says, So now go.

So just like that.

One conversation, one conversation with God can change your life.

One encounter with God can change your life.

See, I know what y'all are thinking.

Y'all thinking I'm just trying to pack the church by telling you to bring somebody.

What I'm trying to get you to do is realize that one encounter with Jesus can change somebody's life.

I'm trying to get you to understand who God is.

I'm trying to get you to understand what God can do for somebody who's lost, what God can do for somebody who's broken.

One conversation, and God says, Okay, go.

I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, Israel, out of Egypt, and boom, just like that, Moses resumes his role.

Surrender even after we give it up.

Allows God to finish what he started.

And if you're here today, you need to declare some things over your life.

You need to declare over your life, I drifted, drifted, but I'm getting my dream back.

I've given up, but now I'm giving it back to God.

Right when wrong, but now God is making my crooked path straight.

I sinned real good, but God has invited me to take off my shoes.

I failed, God is not finished.

I quit, but God is calling my name.

I've disappointed God, but God still thinks I'm a deliverer.

I'm settled for less.

God wants me to surrender.

I acted like Jacob.

I acted like Jacob, but God is the God of Jacob, too.

He's the God of Jacob.

Come on, somebody, let's sing this out loud.