Moses

Transcript

what i want to talk about tonight x is moses x obviously from the screen in front of x you and x the problem with moses there is a x problem is there is so much information x so i literally have cherry picked i've x cherry picked different x stories different lessons different x character traits so forth so on just to x do a very broad brush of moses i may do x a follow-up i don't know next month what x my class is going to be depending on x what happens tonight i may do a x follow-up i may do something totally x different but x i just x as i was thinking about moses dana and i x were talking about this the other day x and i think and and you can you can jump x in right now and tell me if i'm wrong on x this but i think x from birth to death x there is probably x more written about moses x and maybe david than anyone else x i mean we know about moses from the day x he was born x to the day he died now david we don't x know about his birth but there's a lot x infra a lot written about david as well x but for 120 years for moses x we know a lot now we know x some about his first 40 years x we know really x in reality very little about his second x 40 years from 40 to 80 but from 80 to x 120 there's a lot of information x there's no way in the world i'm going to x do moses justice tonight but what i x really am trying to get at are the x lessons that we can learn from moses x because moses x moses wasn't a perfect man x you know he just he wasn't neither was x david neither am i you know we're just x we're not perfect but with moses x he's written about in hebrews 11 a man x of faith x and so with the the bulk of information x that's there i just think it x it's been good for me any time i've x looked at moses and it seems like i can x always x pull more out of it x the other thing is about moses is x passover time right now as we speak so x it's passover time we read about x passover in today's readings in john x you know with moses that's where x passover started so i thought okay x another reason another good thing and a x good time to talk about moses x when i think about moses and his x character x the first thing i think about are some x of the scriptural descriptions of moses x it says in x exodus 2 that he was beautiful x and sort of in connection with that in x acts it says he was lovely in the sight x of god x the verse i really one of the verses i x really like about moses in verse 22 in x acts 7 it says he was a man of power x in words and deeds so you know he didn't x just x preach the word he walked the walk as x well so a man of power in words and x deeds it says in verse 25 of acts 7 x he supposed that his brethren understood x that god was granting them deliverance x through him x so you know moses made some assumptions x in his life x and later he was told yes you are going x to your people are going to be delivered x through you x and verse 35 at acts 7 says moses is the x one whom god sent to be both a ruler x and a deliverer so moses was sent x with a purpose x in exodus 11 it says the man moses x himself was greatly esteemed in the land x of egypt both in the sight of pharaoh's x servants and in the sight of his people x so x you know this isn't just x a servant of god in passing this is a x this is a pillar x of faith a pillar of x in his life to all those who are around x him x another verse that i really really like x about moses is in numbers 12 it says now x the man moses was very humble more than x any man who is on the face of the earth x i mean x to put that as your epitaph on your x gravestone well first off you wouldn't x do it because you're too humble to do it x but you know just that thought just that x thought more humble than anybody period x and then later in number seven or x numbers 12 it says he is faithful in all x my household with him god says with him x i speak mouth to mouth x so just some scriptural descriptions of x moses x i think it's interesting too x that we have two more x two summaries at least two summaries x there's there's more in the old x testament but in the new testament we x have two summaries of moses's life we've x already talked about some of those in x acts 7 it talks about moses being raised x by pharaoh's daughter and again we're x that's why i didn't do a reading because x there's just too much to read and we all x know the general basic story about moses x i believe but he was raised by pharaoh's x daughter x he kills an egyptian but he was despised x by his brethren x he flees to midian after he killed x killed someone where he lived for 40 x years x he then god appears to moses in a x burning bush at mount sinai x and then eventually he finally returns x to egypt he delivers israel and brings x them into the wilderness x so you know just a a quick summary in x acts 7 i think it's it's telling that x stephen in acts 7 x takes enough real estate in x his speech x to describe x moses the other thing is in in hebrews x 11 and again we just touched on this x briefly a few minutes ago but x the the the hall of faith the hall of x fame of faith in hebrews 11. you know x there's another summary of moses x and it says by faith he was hidden for x three months they were not afraid of the x king's edict by faith when grown up he x refused to be called the son of x pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to x endure ill-treatment while the people of x god with the people of god than to enjoy x the passing pleasures of sin x and then says by faith considering the x reproach of christ greater riches than x the treasures of egypt for he was x looking to the reward x by faith he left egypt not fearing the x wrath of the king for he endures as x seeing him who is unseen x and here we have the passover by faith x he kept the passover in the sprinkling x of blood so that he who destroyed the x firstborn would not touch them and x finally in hebrews 11 it says by faith x they passed through the red sea as x though they were passing through dry x land x so we have x this summary of moses x obviously x talked about a lot in exodus and some in x leviticus deuteronomy we've got x psalms that moses has talked about we've x got the gospels there's references being x made to moses but then we have these two x pieces in acts 7 and hebrews 11 that x just sort of flesh out some of the more x details of moses's character so again i x think it's to me x it's important to realize that again x that the depth of description x descriptions of moses and say if he's x talked about this much there must be x some reason x so i want to jump forward to i want to x jump forward x 80 years to when moses was x 80 years old x when god calls moses at the burning bush x so x moses grew up in pharaoh's household we x just read a few verses about that you x know moses was a prince of egypt x but he had to flee in midian and we're x going to talk about this later midian he x became a shepherd x for 40 years he was x wandering admitting as a shepherd now x there's other things going on at that x time too he met his wife x his father-in-law first obviously but x at the end of that second 40 years of x his life is when he was called by god x at the burning bush x i wonder i asked myself the question x what would my response be x if i were called x from a burning bush x you know i've had 80 years to understand x i mean x you know you wonder the the moses the x man x mighty in words and these deeds humble x above all other men on the face of the x earth x you wonder x where he was at this moment in his x thought process x i think we have a little clue to that x and this is something when i was doing a x class at our bible education center i x don't know let's call it 10 years ago x now x i i x came across this somewhere and i wrote x these notes down in my bible and i just x i x i like it because it unfortunately it x reflects me x but what it is is in exodus 3 and 4 x it's what i call the excuses of moses x because when god speaks to moses out of x the burning bush x moses says five different things and god x responds x he's moses says who am i x what shall i say x suppose they'll not believe me x the one i always think about is when he x says i am slow of speech and slow of x tongue and then his last excuse as it x were as i look at it is he says please x send whom whomever else you may send x moses at the burning bush i think was in x an uncomfortable place x but he was in a place of growth x and god was calling him in this place of x growth x god didn't wait until moses was x his preparation was finished and said x okay now you're ready x god could see where moses was and see x the end from the beginning and say i can x see where you're going to moses and you x are the man i want and that's why i'm x going to call you i'm calling you to x lead the children of israel out of x egyptian bondage x moses then says i'm x not real sure about this god x the lesson for me is x you know as god's people today x do we have a special calling from god x you know we're not going to go to a x country i don't think and deliver those x who are physically in bondage in slavery x but we are called to go to a world x that's in bondage to sin and to help x deliver those people that are in sin x but the question i have for myself when x i look in the mirror is do i make x excuses too x so i wanted to take a look at these five x again what i call the excuses of moses x first off he says who am i x you know x god calls him and moses says am i the x right man for the job x god immediately answers x and says i will certainly be with you x well x you know x if i'm called from the burning bush and x i say that to god to the angel to the x bush x and i hear an answer back i will x certainly be with you x i'm hoping i would say x okay x i'm good now x you know god promises that he's going to x be with moses x and it should x i would think have been sufficient i x would hope x it would be sufficient for me x you know in romans 8 paul writes if god x is for us who can be against us i mean x this is where moses is at this moment x you know x 40 years had passed since he had been in x egypt and x we think he he's probably looking at x himself x maybe x and saying how adequate am i right now x you know am i adequate all i've been x doing is i've been out here in the x wilderness as a shepherd for all these x years x you know i haven't been around hordes of x people i haven't been standing up as a x leader for x hundreds thousands however hundreds of x thousands of people i've just been out x here by myself am i adequate x am i adequate x you know we think i think about the x apostles who it says in acts 4 that they x were uneducated and untrained men x and x moses i think it's x i think i may have this written here x somewhere i think it's josephus maybe x that said moses x could have been a general in egypt's x army which would make sense growing up x in pharaoh's household x but yet here he is as a shepherd and x here he is saying x i'm not adequate god x so x god answers him and says no it's okay x you don't have to be adequate moses i'm x going to be with you x the next one so moses says well okay but x then what am i gonna say x you know he's saying okay i know god x you're gonna be with me but x you know x what what am i gonna say am i gonna say x when they say to me the children of x israel say who is this guy who sent you x to us what am i supposed to say what if x they say x why are we going to leave this country x that we've come to consider home for x over 400 years x why x and moses is saying again in a way i'm x inadequate i don't know what to say x god immediately says to him x thus you shall say here's what you need x to say you know god instructs him very x clearly what to say and immediately x shoots down that x reasoning that thought process that x excuse in moses's mind x so moses then says well suppose they're x not going to believe me you know i can x tell them this but what if they don't x believe me i mean is is he afraid is x moses afraid of failing you know x did he already forget x that god was going to be with him x you know so what does god do he responds x and says look i'm going to give you x these three convincing proofs a rod x which turns into a serpent your own hand x which turns into leprosy and this water x which is going to turn into blood x that should take care of it don't you x think so moses x you know that that should have made x moses feel a lot better and feel more x comfortable feel more adequate x and these evidences certainly are x similar things that we have as we are x called to go out x you know we've got x evidence of the resurrection of christ x we've got the evidence of fulfilled x prophecy there's so much in scripture x that we have x you know do i say well if i go out to to x preach somewhere well what if they don't x believe me x wait a minute god is saying to me here x you've got all this evidence i've given x this to you so x use it and help help there x then the excuse that i always x think is as x i guess to me i think this is the only x excuse but you know when you look at it x there's more but x moses says well i'm slow of speech and x slow of tom x he just says i'm not eloquent speaker x i'm not a speaker god x you know and x i've said that before and i think x probably most people have said that at x some point that well i'm not prepared x i'm not eloquent i'm not i i can't x share my thoughts appropriately i heard x one person say well i'm not a what was x it i'm not an original thinker all i can x do is repeat other things it's like well x no that's sort of an excuse of moses x you know x god says now not going to deal with that x objection because x i know x your ability or your inability and i x know you're okay x you know at work a lot x for years now x when we have i have discussions with x some employees my question is always x not always my question to some people at x times when there's x performance issues is are you unwilling x or unable x you know x moses so far has says has said x i'm unable x you know who am i are they going to x believe me what if they don't believe me x i'm slow speech and slow of tongue he's x saying i'm unable x and x god promises again to be with moses and x he actually says you know don't worry x aaron is going to to help you out here x your brother is going to help you out x so think about that unwilling and unable x conversation that i just mentioned for a x second because finally x moses says please send whomever else you x may send x my question is for moses is did he just x simply not want to go was he unwilling x were his other excuses just sort of a x smokescreen saying i'm really unwilling x but i'm going to make up these other x reasons why i can't or shouldn't go x this is where x it says the anger of the lord was x kindled against moses god finally says x okay enough is enough x we've gone through that unable unwilling x thing and now what i'm hearing from you x moses x is you're unwilling so x let's talk about that x so x it's easy it's easy for us x to make excuses we're not talking face x to face with god x we are in our prayers but god's not in a x burning bush there in front of us x so it's easier to make these excuses to x come up with reasons about why not or x why or you know whatever to to come up x with our own human reasons and what i x always say to do what's right in our own x eyes x instead of to do what's right for god x you know when we were when we were x running the bible education center in x champaign-urbana illinois for 10 years x we visited a x uh some brethren a brother and sister x out of state at one point who had heard x about the work we were doing and and had x been supportive of us x and they were very intrigued and so we x were traveling we stopped by their place x we i think just had an afternoon tea or x something with them x but x they wanted to start a bible education x center in their own ecclesia x but what they said was they weren't x getting full buy-in they were getting a x lot of excuses just like moses made x and they said in fact one older sister x came to them and said i think having a x bible education center is a good idea x but it's going to be a lot of work x so this is an old very very elderly x sister so she said could you wait and x tell them until after i'm gone x and they were like oh my no we can't we x can't do that but you know and i'm not x picking on this older sister because you x know running a bible education center is x hard it's messy but we're not going x there but x my my my response to sometimes where x things are hard x or messy x is x is god calling me to do this right now x at this time and what is my response am x i saying okay x because i think that the what what god x tells x moses to tell the children of israel had x to instill confidence in them x over and over and over and over x for 40 years x but they just kept falling back x just like we do x but the thing and again i came across x this information was preparing a bible x class x again we'll call it 10 years ago with x about moses x and i call it the in exodus 6 where god x is x well in exodus five x the end of exodus five it says then x moses returned to the lord and said lord x why have you brought harm to this people x why did you ever send me x ever since i came to pharaoh to speak in x your name he has done harm to these x people and you have not rescued your x people at all x so in exodus 6 x god says x say therefore to the sons of israel i x am the lord x and i will x bring you out from under the labors of x the egyptians x and i will x rescue you from their bondage x i will x also redeem you with an outstretched arm x and with great judgments x then i x will take you as my people x and i will x be your god x and then parenthetically and you shall x know that i am the lord your god who x brought you out from the under the x labors of the egyptians and then i will x bring you to the land which i swore to x give to abraham isaac and jacob and i x will give it to you as a possession i x am the lord x okay x i read excuse me i read that x god's not saying you know x i might x figure a way to get you out from under x these burdens i might deliver you maybe x sometime down the road somewhere x possibly i might redeem you x i don't really want to take you for my x people but okay maybe i will someday x you know that's not the way it is x this is a very x black and white i mean sort of like the x the in deuteronomy 2 what are you going x to choose make your choice life or death x what are you going to choose i will i x will i will i will x god just keeps saying that over and over x again x and we've got the entirety of scripture x for god to say that to us x but do i revert to x the excuses of moses or do i say i'm not x going to be like the children of israel x and x grumble and complain x and we're going to we're going to talk x about that in a few minutes i want to x sort of take a little aside x and just look at pharaoh for a second x our class is really about learning x lessons from moses x but i just want to for a moment x take a lesson look at learning lessons x from pharaoh you know the with the x plagues x and pharaoh pharaoh x chose i just talked on deuteronomy about x you know choose what are you going to x choose x pharaoh freely chose x his life of resisting god i mean it's x who he was you know we talked about a x bible class last week david dave 11 x talked about identifying as who you were x well this is pharaoh's identity his x identity is i'm going to resist god x you know you look in exodus 9 10 11 14 x here these verses i've got listed you x know pharaoh is grieved at the x consequences of sin x but not the sin itself you know oh poor x me pharaoh says x you know and then the pride the pride x that the pharaohs has exodus 10 i mean x well throughout these these plagues x like with pharaoh how many warnings do x we ignore x it's like how many times is god going to x have to slap me upside the head to say x ray don't you get it x because that's what he kept doing with x pharaoh that's through moses that's what x kept happening x and then how quickly they forget how x quickly we forget you know again my x goodness the children of israel x it didn't take long ever x ever for them x to have this lesson right in front of x their eyes and we're x tonight we're not going up on x mount sinai we're not going other than x the burning bush we're not going to the x ten commandments we're not doing all x that tonight but x that x you know they moses comes down from the x mountain there's the golden calf i mean x just all this stuff over and over and x over and over again x pharaoh was the same way x children of israel were the same way x it's human nature we can very easily be x the same way but we can't and shouldn't x and i try not to use that as my excuse x to say x well i'm sinful that's the way it is x take it or leave it we should be x striving always for for par x for perfection x sort of as a x thought with that x you know i just wanted to x pass through these x three chapters real quickly in exodus 14 x 15-16 x you know you think about the parting of x the red sea i mean x moses how courageous was moses he didn't x know what god was going to do he had to x wait for god x to reveal his plan x why to see the salvation of the lord x you know as i was looking at this in x this passage in exodus 14 i think it's x getting written somewhere i think it's x in verse 13. x this is only as far as i can see x the second time in scripture that's the x word salvation is mentioned it's x mentioned first in genesis 49 x and so then shortly thereafter here in x exodus 14 the word salvation is x mentioned and it's mentioned again in x exodus 15 in the song of moses but you x know i when i first came across that x little tidbit i thought well that's x interesting we go through almost the x entire book of genesis before salvation x is even mentioned x then we've got the song of moses um that x could have been another reading tonight x because it's just a beautiful thing x you know my question is x was it a spontaneous thing was this just x moses's heart and miriam's heart was x this just their heart spelling out um x just another tidbit here that i've got a x note written in my bible that x we read about back in early in exodus x about moses and sister but in exodus 15 x verse 20 this is the first time x miriam is actually mentioned by name x so again just an interesting tidbit x but then in in exodus 16 we've got manna x and quail x it's literally one month later one month x after x the partying of the red sea x and x what's the problem they they just didn't x see the big picture they don't see the x big picture they have sort of this x collective remembrance oh we remember it x like this all those egyptians weren't x they so good to us why did you ever do x this this and then they actually accused x moses of evil intentions i mean what's x wrong with this picture what's wrong x with these people x and you know you think about moses and x aaron x and it's a good thing that the children x of israel weren't ruled by the majority x you know i've had this conversation with x other people in a x myriad of different ways but x there is a point for the majority but x the majority is not always right so x you know the way is narrow the way is x narrow x and so good thing that moses said x i'm a strong character and i'm going to x say x no this is the way it's going to be and x we're going to talk about that again in x just a second here but the one other tip x that i have written in my bible in x exodus 16 verse 23 this is actually the x first time the word sabbath is used you x know we certainly have the the concept x all the way back in genesis but this is x the first time the word sabbath is x actually used um x so just a point x going back to a second saying you know x this they didn't see the big picture x they were they had this collective x remembrance x you know god finally just gets x frustrated and x god wanted to destroy the israelites x he wanted to destroy it says then the x lord said to moses i have seen this x people and behold they are an obstinate x people so now x leave me alone that my anger may burn x against them and that i may destroy them x and i will make of you a great nation x then moses pleaded with the lord as god x and said lord why does your anger burn x against your people whom you have x brought out from the land of egypt with x great power and with a mighty hand why x should the egyptians talk saying with x evil motives he brought them out to kill x them on the mountains to destroy them x from the face of the earth turn from x your burning anger and relent of doing x harm to your people remember abraham x remember isaac in israel your servants x to whom you swore by yourself and said x to them i will multiply your descendants x as the stars of the heavens and all this x land of which i have spoken i will give x to your descendants they shall be x inherited forever x so x the lord relented of the harm which he x said he would do to his people x what a beautiful position that moses is x in to have the relationship that he does x with god that he can intercede on behalf x of the children of israel directly with x god and say god x could you reconsider x and i think there's there's enough x information just there to do an entirely x different class but i always think back x to that x you know x we x god knows the path that we're on god x knows where things are going x but god and there's a whole x conversation we can have about free will x but here moses is saying god please x change your mind and moses and god says x god relented of the harm which he said x he would do to his people x thinking about the attitude of the x children of israel in the wilderness for x 40 years wandering in the wilderness x think again for x about moses for a moment x and especially x i think about that x middle 40 years of his life when he was x in midian as a as a shepherd x and now here he is x his last 40 years of his life he doesn't x know that at this point but the last 40 x years of his life x right in the middle x right in the middle of the children of x israel i mean x it had been a pretty i got to believe a x pretty peaceful existence for 40 years x and now we're 360 degrees on the other x end of that x but you know poor moses moses lived for x 40 years in the wilderness surrounded by x sin x dana and i were having a conversation a x few weeks ago and and she said this x sentence to me and i said i wrote it x down real quickly because i thought yeah x poor moses x the strength of character that he had x because god had called him directly x well it's just to me is just amazing to x think about x you know i i think about living on the x farm that we live on and i think about x just sitting there on the deck and x looking out back and thinking how x peaceful it is x and then i think about x uh going to the chicago marathon x and there's 45 000 runners and being x right in the middle of 45 000 runners x and for 26.2 miles it's crowded crazy x crowded just like boston you know not x actually boston isn't isn't even as big x as x the chicago marathon so not as many x runners but just as crowded because the x streets are narrower x but x that to me i look at that dichotomy and x i say okay x in my life i love that peaceful x existence x and that's one of the lessons we're x going to talk about here in a couple of x minutes but moses was called for to x something different he was called to be x surrounded by sin x and surrounded by grumblers and x complainers x and sinners of which he was also one x but people who couldn't remember what x had just happened yesterday when god x delivered them when god gave them a x tablet the tablets the ten commandments x when god did the manna and god gave them x the quail and so forth so on over and x over and over again x so x i take all that that i've talked about x so far tonight x and now i want to talk about some x lessons and i x at one point i had like x i don't know 50 lessons and i thought x okay we can't do 50 lessons that's too x much jim would yell at me for for having x to go go through go through them too x quickly so i i pared it down to some x that i think were x were um x applicable to me and maybe they will be x to you too x the first is x that god knows me by name x god knew moses by name he called moses x at the burning bush when god calls me he x knows who i am x he chooses me specifically he has chosen x me i believe x specifically x in my life for a reason for a purpose x you know there are times where i'll sit x back and dana and i will sit and chat x and say okay x look at the the winding pathway of life x and where we are at this minute and how x this one little decision this one day x in this five minute segment of life x got me to this place x good or bad unfortunately too often bad x choices x but choices nonetheless x but god knows who we are x when he calls us and when god calls x us what did moses do x he took off his sandals x when god calls us x we should stand still x we should listen x we shouldn't run x we should bow before god x so there's there's a lesson x another lesson is it's not going to be x easy x it's not going to be easy i mean think x about moses confronting x pharaoh x you know and we'll call pharaoh the x dictator the dictator pharaoh did not x give in right away x you know x farrell let his people x suffer through plagues after plague x after plague before he finally gave in x and then he gave in then he reloaded he x gave in and relented finally he's like x okay i give in go but then he chased him x so you know but x it's it's not going to be easy in life x it's just not x and you know we we always talked about x that at the bible education center that x life can be messy x life can be messy life can be hard i x think i've mentioned this in another x class because i mentioned it a lot of x times over the years when my boys were x in high school maybe x we took them to um probably before that x probably junior high we took them to a x conference in indiana just for whatever x reason remember that but the conference x was called x do hard things x do hard things x and i think about that frequently when x there's things i don't want to do or x things i sh i just say x i just x i don't want to do it x you just do it x do hard things because life isn't going x to come easy for us you know it comes x easier for some than others becomes very x difficult for some x but we've all got a free will x righteous people x unrighteous people x but still wherever we are x we've got a choice and we have to x wrestle x in our own mind to do the right thing x the next lesson is x god isn't small x you know i remember x goodness how many years ago was it 15 x years ago maybe x we went to bozeman bible camp in montana x and after that we actually went out to x kept on going to x glacier national park x when you're in montana and you look out x at the sky x it's big x thus montana's state motto is i think x big sky country big sky something like x that the big sky state thanks guys to x thank you jim i knew i was somewhere in x the right ballpark i think about that i x think about texas too you know texas is x they're just texans are just proud of x the size of their state right x you know i think sometimes in my little x room and my little den and my little x pickup truck or you know wherever my x little life x sometimes we tend to shrink god down x we can but god x you know you i just remember driving x through montana and saying look at this x our god is an awesome god just an x awesome god god is not small god is big x let's not put him in a box let's not x make god a small minded person god is x big that's just just a lesson x one that i sort of touched on a few x minutes ago and want to x elaborate a little bit is getting alone x with god x you know x frequently throughout moses's life he x got alone with god to commune with him x and pray it talks about we read about x those verses about um x is what he says spoke of the mouth to x mouth i've got a verse here in a few x minutes somewhere talking about seeing x god face to face x but you know x there's a place for x group x communal x worship and there's a place for being x alone with god just being alone with god x i think i remember was it last week i x think yeah as last week in bible class x where steve talked about his happy place x on his bike x you know my happy place is out running x you know that's that's i don't know if x you can see that's my that's my shirt x tonight it says run i'd love to run i'm x i identify as a runner you know was x carrying on with last week's x conversation but that's my happy place i x rarely x listen to music i just don't listen to x anything i just think x i think x and pray x and think some more but it's it's it's a x time to just get alone you know if x you've ever been to central illinois x out in the corn in the bean fields x there's plenty of places to be alone x with god x you know in illinois unlike the boston x area in illinois x everything is set up in one mile grids x so you know when you get to a crossroads x you've run a mile another crossroads is x another mile another crossroads is x another mile you turn right and go a x mile you know there's a four mile around x as a section x but x when i'm running many times it's a mile x of corn a mile of soybeans another mile x of soybeans a mile of corn x and it doesn't change much but god is x always there x so spend time somehow x you're probably not going to go out x writing like steve too much you're x probably not going to go out running x like me but everybody in one way or the x other can spend time to get along with x god x another lesson is we have to believe we x just have to believe you know moses x tried to excuse his way out of god's x calling calling him in his life x and god just says no moses i'm not x having it x you know x god's not going to abandon us in our x calling either he didn't abandon moses x you know i've asked the question many x times over the years x do we believe in god x or do we believe god x there's a difference x i say if you go out there to many people x they're gonna say yep i believe in god x but then the deeper question is do you x believe god do you believe what he is x saying to us moses did you believe god x moses you must have because you went out x and led the children of israel through x the wilderness x all right just to give you a time check x we are at 8 15 so i don't know how much x time you want to leave for questions but x uh there we are we're coming up to the x end here so thank you jim i appreciate x that x um i think we've got four more quick x lessons four or five more quick lessons x the this lesson is to get help x you know moses wasn't just a prophet he x was a leader moses was a lawmaker moses x is a military commander moses is a judge x moses was a spiritual leader and just x much much more x moses was very versatile x multi-talented multi-faceted person x but it became overwhelming x and so his father-in-law jethro said you x know what moses you need to get some x help x we can't do it alone we need help in our x lives x you know it's it's just i know people i x know people that just won't ask for help x you know it's almost like they're a x martyr i'm gonna do this on my own i'm x not going to bother you that's you know x that's the mindset well i don't want to x bother you i'm just going to do it alone x if we're going to try to learn a lesson x and be like moses and try and be humble x we sometimes need to say we can't do it x alone we need to get help x we need to remember the lesson that god x was with moses and he will always be x with us you know god led his people god x fought for his people god was always x with his people the pillar of fire by x night the cloud by day god was with his x people god is always with us so no x matter where we are whether i'm out on a x run whether i'm driving to work whether x i'm sitting at my office whether i'm x feeding my chickens you know whatever it x is whatever i'm doing x god is with us god was with moses x i've talked about this a number of times x tonight about x moses being humble and x the lesson is god uses the humble not x the proud x moses growing up in pharaoh's household x you know x if that were me x what i have said puffed out my chest and x said i am a member of pharaoh's x household i can do whatever i want to do x and would that have ruled my life x you know x i just think about the the humility of x moses the beginning of his life when he x was let down into the into the nile you x know his parents didn't know x that this moses was going to change the x course of history x you know he he enjoyed x his life his benefits of being part of x this royal family x the same family that ruled the world's x greatest empire at that time x you know x it said he was x said he was good looking you know x natural charisma i mean this is sort of x who moses was x but as i've always said too it's always x about the heart it's always about the x heart x you know moses could have been a leader x of the egyptians could have been a x leader of the people and yet for x the second 40 years of his life instead x of speaking to the egyptians he was x speaking to sheep x you know different little different x audience as a shepherd that lowly job x you know genesis 46 it talks about the x job of the shepherd when when um x joseph's brothers came there to see to x to to talk to pharaoh and x joseph he talks about the egyptians x despising the lowly job of being a x shepherd but this is who moses became i x think that's what helped him as days x turn into weeks into months and into x years that i think moses's confidence in x himself x started to fade away x and little by little x that proud and that mighty moses x who he who was there earlier in his life x became a very humble and a very meek x shepherd x god's going to fight our battles for us x and again i just go back to the the x crossing of the red sea the parting of x the red sea x you know this was this is x dramatic it doesn't even begin to x explain x what this would have looked like could x have looked like x but again it wasn't moses x it wasn't moses x god will fight our battles for us x you know we we have on our fridge at x home let go and let god i mean we've all x heard that and sometimes it can be sort x of a trite phrase but i think it really x just let god take care of it x you know let god take care of it because x he will he promises he will x i'm going to skip over that next one and x then go to the last last two x is this one you know x the lesson is chew choose the treasures x of heaven rather than the treasures of x this world moses could have easily x chosen the treasures of the egyptians x he could have had all the riches he x could ever wish for he could have had x the most comfortable life that anybody x would dream of x but x he said no not gonna do it it says in x hebrews 11 it was faith that made moses x when he had grown up refused to be x called the son of the king's daughter he x preferred to suffer with god's people x rather than to enjoy sin for a little x while he reckoned that to suffer scorn x for the messiah was worth far more x than all the treasures of egypt for he x kept his eyes on the future award it was x faith that made moses leave egypt x without being afraid of the king's anger x so x we need to set our eyes toward the x kingdom we need to set our eyes toward x jerusalem we need to set our eyes to the x treasures that god has stored up for us x in heaven just like moses said you know x what i'm not going to focus on these x treasures in egypt i'm going to focus on x something much bigger and much more x long-lasting x the last lesson that i have is x developing a personal relationship with x god x this is what moses did exodus 33 it says x so the lord spoke to moses face to face x as a man speaks to his friend x like a lot of other faithful men and x women of scripture moses had a very x close relationship with god x very close relationship x you know it's x it's going to be impossible in our life x to be faithful to god if we don't have x that close relationship with god x you know it has to start there it has to x start there x it says in deuteronomy 34 x sort of a retelling but just a little x bit different in deuteronomy 34 it says x but since then there has not arisen in x israel x in israel a prophet like moses whom the x lord knew face to face x so again imagine these same words used x to describe ourselves i would love to x have that said about me it would it x would be incredible it would be humbling x and moses x as a lesson to us x remained humble that made him even x closer to god x so this is a very quick snapshot a very x quick overview tonight of the life of x moses x and x god wants us to be close to him god x wants us to put our trust completely in x him x god uses moses as a template for our x lives to say x ups and downs good and bad choices good x choices bad choices x but a life of faith x that that thread is there from day one x through his family x all the way to the end even though there x were some some issues there which again x that's a whole other whole other subject x we're not going to talk about x but still x no matter what happened to moses life x no matter the mistakes he made x he is still x mentioned in hebrews 11 as one of the x faithful so that is my goal is to be of x the character of moses