string(7) "m-66998" Burnt Hickory Baptist Church

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Jul 30, 2023

You are not Defined by Your Past

You are not Defined by Your Past

Passage: Exodus 2:10-15

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: God’s Not Done with You

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: church, worship, faith, jesus, god, sermon, christian, bible, christ, hope, new testament, grace, sermons, moses, jesus christ, the bible, lord, christianity, transformation, bible study, god is good, self improvement, the secret, life transformation, bible stories, study the bible, bible teaching, trending, change your life, 2023, burnt hickory worship, burnt hickory baptist church live stream, how to change your life, motivational video, god's not done with you, gods not done with you

When you are feeling like the world has ended, that things you’re striving for are falling apart, when it seems like all hope is lost, God’s not done with you. We look in scripture through this sermon series at the lives of people who have not been defined by their past, but God has shown that even in their failures, He’s not done in their lives. Today we look at Moses and see that God was not done with him, and that every person that is greatly used by God has had an encounter when they have had to listen to God. God speaks when we are humble and ready to listen to Him, and one simple word from God can literally change our whole life. As we listen and begin to trust God, we see that God can ensure our future no matter what our past looks like. Are you listening to God? Do you trust Him? Do you have questions about who God is? We’d love to connect with you and answer any questions you’ve got and spend time praying with you. Take the next step today by visiting burnthickory.com/next.

Well, good morning Church and happy New Year. You can almost kind of say that today because we are stepping into a new kind of ministry season here. And let me just tell you, it is so good to be back. You know, I love the fact that I can kind of take a week or two or three in the summertime and allow other pastors to speak. But what happens during that moment is that today gets longer and longer every week that I am able to take off. But I do want to say this in all seriousness. It has been incredible to hear from Chip and Marty and Eli over the last couple weeks. And it's incredible the team that God has put inside this church just to be able to proclaim the gospel. So I just want to publicly say thank you to those guys over those last weeks. So today is a huge day in our community. It is obviously, like I just said, first of all, it is promotion Sunday and so can we just give it up for all the new little sixth graders that are in the room today? They are with us. Oh man, they have been looking forward to this day forever. And now they're like, that guy talks for a long time. That's what's about to happen in their lives today. But that is okay. I still love you. We know where you are. And it is great to have you guys. Today's promotion Sunday and all of our grade levels. So there's new ministries, new stuff happening all over this church. But for those of you that are adults, we would rather you not promote because there's only one more step for you. All right. And it's not on this planet. So you stay right where you are. And it is good news in your world. Secondly, it's a big week because this is the week that school starts back around this place, which is brought with so much emotion. Right? On one end, there is sorrow, weeping and gnashing of teeth and on the other end people are dancing for joy. Right There are both of those things happening in this community this week. But with the new year, let me just say this. Every year we try our best to make sure that we are doing what we can as a church to pray over our school leaders.

So so listen, today, if you are a teacher, if you are a principal or if you are on any of the school staffs, if you are a bus driver, if you are the chancellor of your homeschool unit today, we want to recognize you today and we want to pray for you today as this new season starts this week. So would you do me a favor? If that is you today, would you stand up? If you are in any of those categories of teacher, admin, county workers, all of those. Man, we are thankful for you guys. We're thankful. Don't know. Don't sit down. Don't sit down. Stay. Stay where you are. These people are used to being in control. And when they're not, they're nervous. All right? They're nervous. This is my classroom. All right, so you guys stay standing just for a minute, and we just want to pray over you this morning. If you're with them, you reach out and just kind of put your hand on their shoulder or somewhere beside them and let's pray for them.

Lord Jesus, Today we are so thankful, Lord Jesus, for the people that are pouring into the next generation. God, we know this coming week comes with a lot of anxiety, a lot of newness, a lot of just admin things that are happening. And God today, we just want to offer these people up to you. We want you to just give them just grace this week, show them mercy this week. God give them knowledge this week. But God, most of all, Lord Jesus, allow them to see how they can become lights for you in a lost and broken world. Lord Jesus put them in situations where they are able to speak your name and shine your light. Lord bless them this week as they step back into their schools. In your name, Jesus. Amen.

Let's give them one more hand as they sit down this morning. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Well, hey, as you saw on the intro video this morning, we are starting a new series today called God's Not Done With You. And here's why that is going to be kind of the kickoff series for the fall. The more that I meet with people and the more that you meet with people, the more we begin to realize that there is a common thread through a lot of our stories is that just says that something has happened at some point or some season of our lives where we feel like God is kind of done with us or God is kind of gone silent on us, or God has kind of maybe even turned his back on us. For some of us, it is from some decision that we have made and the reality is, it has felt like ever since that decision that has kind of cut that relationship. Or maybe it is never going to flourish the same. For some of us. It was a tragedy that happened in our lives and it never really that connection never felt the same. For some of us, we had a past lifestyle that every time God just kind of wants to move in our lives, there's something inside of us that just reminds us of that or drags us back to that or keeps us from moving in that. For some of us, it's nothing that we have done. But for some of us it's something that was done to us at some point in our lives. And as a result of that, we've never felt worthy. We never felt like God was really talking or God was really communicating. You see church today, I want to start this whole series as well as this morning by just proclaiming over you that if you're still breathing and your heart is still beating, God is not done with you. He's not done with you, and God is the God of second chances and third chances and fourth chances. He's the God that picks us up when all of our broken pieces hit the floor. He's the God that gives grace when we don't deserve it. And he is the God that sent Jesus his only son, to take on your sin, to take on your shame, to take on your struggle and to take on your pain. And I want you to think about this before we jump in to the actual series. If God did all of that when you were at your worst and when you were separated from him and not his, imagine what he will do for you now as his son or his daughter. You see, God is not done with you and God wants to give you the chance to have the abundant life that you read about all through scriptures. Believers in Jesus, there is hope for you. There's hope for you no matter what someone else says, no matter how Satan tries to drag you down, no matter what your mind tells you, there's hope. And over these next couple of weeks, what we're going to do is we're going to see that future for you. We're going to see that hope.

We're going to see that calling in your life. And here's my prayer over these next weeks. My prayer is that as you see these people, we're going to study scripture. My prayer is that your understanding of the character of God grows and your understanding to the call of God in Jesus grows in your lives. This morning, if you have a copy of Scripture, I want you to turn with me to the second book of the Bible. The Book of Exodus this morning. The Book of Exodus this morning. We're going to start in chapter two, finish up in chapter three. And the first person that we're going to look at, out of these incredible examples of scripture of God reaching into the life of people and setting them up to be his, is this life of the seemingly dead-end life of our man named Moses, our man named Moses this morning. You see, when you begin to study Moses's life, what you're going to see really quickly, is that for a season of Moses's life, he thought that God was done with him. He thought that God would never use him. He thought that he would live his life in his isolation, his pain, or maybe even this mundane living. But God showed up and redeems Moses in the same way He wants to redeem you. In fact, I want you to write this principle down before we get to the text this morning. Write this in your notes. Here's the first principle: Your past does not need to define you. Your past does not need to define you. You are not defined by your past. Now, let me ask you this. If I was to ask this morning, man, if that is something in your life. If that is something that you could just kind of raise your hand and say, Matt, listen, if I could just grab hold of that, it would set me free this morning. If that's you this morning. Listen, you are in good company because all of us struggle with that idea. And that's why today is such a good day for us. Because Moses is about to prove to us that no matter how bad your past got, God can use you. He can use you. Because for Moses, for 40 years, he was drugged down because of his past until God broke him in his life. Listen, I love reading redemption stories and the Bible is one of my favorite areas to study in Scripture. I love hearing your stories. I love watching God redeem us. But I also know that not all of us can tell our redemption story because we're just not there yet. We're still in the middle of it. And listen, that is exactly where we're about to take up this story in the life of Moses today. When I say the word Moses, most of us think of the Red Sea or we think of him leading the children of Israel. We think of him getting them to the promised land. But what we're about to see. Moses, or what we often don't see or maybe we forget, is that for 80 years of Moses's life he lived a seemingly just nonsignificant life. In fact, I want you to go with me to Exodus Chapter two. We're going to start in verse ten this morning.

But before we get there, let me just kind of pull you up to speed on what is happening. Moses was born as a baby, like most people right there were born as a baby. Some of you, you'll get that in a minute. He was born. His mother in this time period was in a really rough situation because the pharaoh had just proclaimed that all Egyptian male babies were to be put to death. He was trying to control the population, control their power. Right. Control what was happening, because he thought that they were just breeding too much evidently. Well, Moses's mom loved him so much. She came up with this plan because she already had a little bit of an end in the pharaoh's house through his princess, through his daughter. So Moses was put in a basket on the river Nile and sent down the river, not aimlessly, like hope for the best. Moses's mom knew that at this time, at this place, the Princess, that is where she came to take care of herself, to bathe. And she also knew that her other daughter, Moses's older sister, was the helpmate for the princess. And as a result of that, she floated Moses down the river. The princess sees her, and the princess thinks that the gods, the little “g” Egyptian gods, have blessed her with a son because we know through history that she could not have a son. She was looking for an heir, and she thought this was like this gift of god.

But we know in Scripture that it was a gift of the big “G” God because his deliverer was coming down the water. She takes Moses out of the water, the little helpmate beside her, which is Moses's sister, I might add, says, Hey, do you want me to find someone that can help you take care of this baby? She was like, Man, that would be amazing. Would you do that? Yes, I would. She goes and gets a nurse for the baby Moses, which is his mom, I might add, the sovereignty of God in place again. And now Moses is reunited with his mother, raising him up till the time that he was weaned, to the time that he could feed himself or someone could feed him other than his mother. He was raised by the princess in the king's house. But then we get to verse ten, listen to what it says. It says this Exodus two, verse ten. It says, When the child grew older, she, that's his mother, took him to the pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, I drew him out of the water. One day after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and he watched. In other words, he knew who people were. He knew that he was not Egyptian, that he was Hebrew. He watched them in bondage. He watched them in the harshness. But watch this. He went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating in Hebrew, one of his own people looking this way and that way. Seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. Now, that's a real sterile way to say he murdered him and he buried him. All right. Verse 13, The next day he went out and he saw two Hebrews fighting. That's his people. He asked the one in the wrong, Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew? The man said, Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian? Evidently he didn't look both ways. Right? Moses was afraid and thought What I did must have become known. When the Pharaoh heard of this, because the Pharaoh hears about everything right? He tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by the well. I love the details. He goes and sits down by the well. You know, when you think about life, most of us think of our lives in what we would just kind of call seasons of life.

And when you think about Moses's life, Moses's life is kind of seen in these three seasons of Moses's life. The first season we could kind of define as the season of privilege. He was born into basically the Pharaoh's house. He was given everything he needed. He was trained in all the ways and all the fighting skills and all the education. He was not subjected to the harsh punishment. He was raised as a prince. He had authority. He had the reason to make such a difference, even for his Hebrew people. If he would have just relied on God and not relied on himself. But what did he do? In one act of anger in verse 12, he throws all of this away. Any murders a man, therefore he flees to the wilderness. Which would bring us into the second season, the second 40 years of Moses' life, that I would just kind of for me, in my kind of mind, I would define that is the season of darkness. He moves to the back side of nowhere. He goes from being a prince to a pauper. He goes from being powered full to having no presence in his life. He moves to literally nowhere and he steps into the desert. Now, let me ask you, how many of these days do you think that Moses probably spent just regretting his decision? Probably all of them. When you go from riches to rags, you regret. He spent this whole time with his own thoughts, by himself in the wilderness, with just the animals. And I'm bet Moses his life was a lot like a lot of our lives when there is something that is dragging us down. I bet Moses probably thought to himself, like a lot of us have thought from things that had happened to us, like, Man, I'll never be with my family again. I'll never be with my people again. I will never have the presence of God like that in my life. God will never use me like that again. Even the joy that I had, I will never have that again. And we have all lived in those seasons of our lives when we've made decisions that aren't in God's will.

For 39.9 years of Moses's life, this was his existence. And everything it seems as far as we can tell in Scripture, everything seems like God isn't speaking or really God always speaks. Moses just wasn't listening. And then at the end of what I would kind of call that 40 years of darkness, we see Moses in one miraculous beyond his wildest dreams event. We see something happen and God reveals himself to Moses, to which we could kind of define is the last 40 years of Moses's life is the one where most of us are familiar with if we study scripture. And that would just kind of be the season of Exodus. Where he's delivering the people. Now God moves in the life of Moses, and He uses him in an incredibly amazing way. And I want to spoil the story, but you can read it on your own. He delivers the people. But what happened is the question I want us to look at for a few minutes this morning. What happened to move Moses from the darkness of the wilderness of despair into the light and the love and the grace and the movement of God in his life? What brought him out of despair and reminded him and redeemed him to be useful? That is what we see in the rest of Exodus Chapter three. And that is where we see that Moses's past did not end up defining him, and neither does yours. So as we read the rest of the story, I just want you to think about something in your life, maybe something that has happened to you, maybe something that a sin that has knocked you down or a time that you've betrayed someone or an action that you have had in your life that has really defined you. And I want you to pray today like Moses, that God would begin to soften that and he would begin to show you that that does not have to define you. But how do we do that? Well, Moses shows us in this story. Let me give you three ways I can move you from the desert to being useful in God's kingdom.

Number one, Moses would say this from the text. He would say, number one, that you must listen to God. You must listen to God. Now, what we're about to see in chapter three is that Moses hears from God, and this appears to be the first time that Moses stops and listens to the only one that can give him what he needs. Up until this point, who has Moses listened to? He's listened to himself. He's listened to his own desires. God didn't tell him to murder somebody. He told himself to murder somebody. God didn't tell him to run. He told himself to run. But now it seems like Moses is finally deciding to listen to God. He does it here and he hears from God. And Moses sets this incredible precedent for the rest of the 40 years of his life. You will see over and over and over and over God spoke to Moses. God instructed Moses, God led Moses, God gave Moses. And He sets a precedent here that all of us should pay attention to, to listen to God. In fact, look at the texts. Exodus three, verse one says this Now, Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father in law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. This is Horeb. This is Sinai. This is an incredibly significant place in the far side of Israel. They are the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. So Moses thought, I will go over and I will see this strange sight. That word strange there does mean strange on one side, but it means miraculous on the other side. Don't think of some little small little tumbleweed like poof on fire. Think of a massive event that got his attention. He says, I will go over to see this strange sight and why the bush doesn't burn up. Then the Lord, when the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to Him from within the bush. Moses! Moses! And Moses said, Here I am. Do not come any closer. God said, and take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy ground. Now, what you just saw right here is God, as He does with just about every major figure in Scripture. He takes a past and he transforms it into something that can be useful for him. But also what you're seeing here is a second principle, and I want you to write this down as it goes with our point. God is showing us also, secondly, that every person that is greatly used by God has had an encounter when they have had to listen to God. Every person that has been greatly used has had a moment in their life where they have had to choose to listen to what God is saying to them. You say Matt, what do you mean by that? Here's what I mean by that.

Every person at some point in their life has had to be driving their own bus down the highway of life and has had to decide to give the controls over to God, or they would continue going the way that they were going. And the first step to do that is to say, Yes Lord use me, I'm hearing you. We got to listen to God. Moses listens to God, and so should we. But here's the thing. God may not speak to you in the same way that he spoke to Moses. He might. And if he does tell us we want a video that will be a fabulous Sunday morning event. But listen, he's going to speak to you.You may never see a burning bush. You may never hear the voice of an angel. You probably won't, I might add. That's probably not even what you should be looking for. But God will speak to you and he'll speak to you in a way that is undeniable. He may not be audible, but it's undeniable. He may not be something you hear with your ears, but it's something you hear with your heart. It's through things like scriptures. It's through things like worship. It's through things like situations. It's through things like people pouring into your life. And believers listen to me real closely. When he does speak. Please listen. Please listen. You say Matt, I don't even know how to listen to God. Let me give you a couple of quick listening lessons from Moses. This from this text. This is not the only way to listen, but it's just some that we stick with the text this morning that he gives us. Number one, Moses said, hey, listen, God can and will interrupt us to bring change in our lives. He can and will put interruptions into our lives to bring change. You say Matt, what do you mean by that?

Well, look at verse two in chapter three. It says there, The angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Don't you think that's a little bit of an interruption to a shepherd's life? This was intense. It was marvelous. It was unmistakable. And listen, sometimes God will bring these what I would just kind of call a come to Jesus moment in your life. You ever had one of those kind of come to Jesus moments in your life where everything seemed regular until boom. It was like, Whoa, oh, no, I got to do something about this one. That's exactly what he's saying here. Come to Jesus moments in our lives are moments that change everything. Or maybe for you, it's a roadblock that God has put in your life. And no matter how many times your heart had tried to run through it, you just couldn't seem to do it. But I would just ask us, how many times have you tried? How many times has there been a roadblock in your life, and instead of just saying, Hey, God, what are you trying to do? Have you just tried to knock that thing down?

Listen, Church, are you at a point in your life where you're seeing the interruptions of your life as a possible voice of God moment saying, Hey, you probably need to do this? Or are you just throwing them out for chance? That's what Moses is saying right here, this moment. He's showing this right here, that this interruption is not just an interruption of chance. This interruption is God calling him to do something. So let me ask you something. Is there something going on in your life right now that you've tried to run through it 100 times, but it just doesn't feel right? Listen, your first call doesn't need to be to run through something. Your first call needs to be the one who knows what's going on. And his name is God. His name is God. When moments just don't make sense, let's make our first call to God, not us. So what does Moses do? It's the same thing that we should do. Look at verse three. It says So Moses thought, I will go over and I will see this strange sight. In other words, what do you do? You paid attention to it. He paid attention. Number two listening lesson is that God will speak when we are humble and ready to listen. God will speak. He's always speaking, but he'll speak even clearer when we are humble and ready to listen. And listen, many times he will and not a moment before that. You see, when our hearts and our souls turn toward the father, it is at that point that we hear him. I can't tell you how many times people are in my office, how many times people are asking for kind of spiritual counsel like, Matt, I just don't hear God. I just don't know what God wants me to do. I just don't know what God wants to be. I say Okay, well, let's talk about your lifestyle. Let's talk about your time with the Lord. Let's talk about your time in prayer. Well Matt, I don't really pay attention a whole lot about that. I'm like, Well, hey, why don't you try that and then come back to talk to me? That's the point in verse four. Watch what God did. Says, When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, in other words, he had humbled himself. He got ready for it. God called to him from within the bush. That was just to point out the obvious here. If I saw a burning bush, I would listen too, right? All of us would. But there's other things that were already making Moses ready for this. You got to think in 40 years of living on the backside of the desert that he had no solution, he had no plan. He had no real hope for the future. He has nothing of substance to offer. In fact, I wrote this down just to help me this week. Moses was alone. He was listening, he was ready and he was humble. And that is why God spoke when he did and how Moses could hear. I love numbers. Chapter two, Chapter 12, verse three. That backs this up.

Let's listen to what Moses said. Now, Moses Numbers 12:3, Now, Moses was a very humble man. He was more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth. Now, that's such an interesting verse when you think about how Moses wrote it right? I mean, let's just let that sink in just for a minute, Right? Matt was a humble guy, and Matt told you he was a humble guy, right? But if you see this in context, it's not pride. This is Moses saying to everyone through the inspiration of God, this is Moses saying, Hey, listen, you don't understand how humbled, how greatly humbled I have been. And Moses is looking at all of us and saying, Hey, listen, there is not another person on this earth that was brought as low as I was, and then to realize that it was God and God alone that could hold me up. You see church, that's when we begin to hear from God. It's when we realize that humble living invites God to speak into our life. But our pride divides God's Word against us. James 4:6. God opposes the proud and brings favor to the humble. That's exactly where Moses is right now. He was pretty prideful when he thought he could solve all their problems by killing a guy. But now he is just merely saying, Hey, Lord, use me, use me. So let me ask you something. You position yourself in a humble way to go, Hey, God, speak to my life. Here's the third listening lesson from Moses. Number three One word from God can literally change our lives. One word from God. Jump down to verse ten and watch what it says.

God says this. He says, So now go. Says, Go, Moses. I'm sending you to the Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. All right, now you can imagine just how mind blown Moses is at this point. He is in the backside of nowhere, minding some sheep that aren't even his sheep, I might add, for 40 years. And God comes to him and literally changes his life through one message. The God of the universe is speaking to a mere man with a shady background which tells me even one more time, no matter how bad your past is, God loves you and God has a word for you and God wants to use you. And what is God doing here? God is sending Moses back to the scene of his crime for a point. Number one, it was just to deliver the people, but also it was to show him that when Moses lives his life with himself in control. There is one outcome, but when Moses goes back in the name and in the glory of who God is, there's victory to be had. And there was victory not to spoil the story again, but Moses delivers the people. He delivers the people. And when you walk with God, that happens. Number one, you want to move from the wilderness to being useful. You got to listen to God. But number two, write this one down. You must trust God. You must trust God.

I know it's so simple. It seems so simple, but it's profound. It's not enough just to hear from God and move on. We got a whole bunch of spiritually fat Christians who never exercise is what it's saying, right? Who never trust, who never walks out, what is being poured into them. Here's what Moses is saying. We have to take the step to trust. We have to take the step to move on. What God is saying for us to do. In fact, look at verse 11 and watch Moses process through this. Moses says this in verse 11, watch his response to God saying He's going to send them back. But Moses said to God, Who am I? That I should go to the Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? Moses is saying, Moses is saying man, Who am I? Now, Moses is about to become the deliverer, right? We know how this story ends, but Moses doesn't know how the story's going to end. He's still in this dialog with God. And Moses happened to learn how to trust God. So he's looking at God. He's going, God, who am I? Why in the world? Why is this about me? But Moses learns to trust God and we see him trust God for the next 40 years of his life. But what does Moses learn? He learns two things about trusting God. How do we learn to trust God? Saying we Moses to number one, we learn to trust God by knowing who God is. We learn to trust God by knowing who God is. You see, You know who you are. But do you know who God is? That's the question. Moses looks at God. He's like, Man, who? Who am I that you are going to send me? And if God claps right back at Moses and says, Hey, Moses, that's not the right question. The right question is not who are you? The right question, God says is, Who am I? Listen to me closely. If our culture could grasp a hold of this, that it is not about the I, but it is about him, then a whole lot of our identity issues, a whole lot of our struggles, a whole lot of our pain and a whole lot of our shame would go away.

The question is not who am I? The question is who is he in my life to be shaped around him and not me. That's what he's about to teach him. The question God said is, Who am I? And God has been sneaking in descriptions of himself from verse five all the way to this point. You don't believe me? Great. Let's look at him. Look what God said about himself. God says this in verse five. God said take off your sandals for the place that you are standing is holy ground. God is looking at Moses and saying, Hey, I am the Holy one of Israel. There is nobody like me. Look at verse six. He says, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. What is he saying to Moses at this point? God is alluding to the fact that he is eternal. Even the word I am in Hebrew means that he has always been and will always be. If that's not enough, go on to verse seven, watch how God describes himself. God says, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I've heard them cry out because of the slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. It is not good enough that we have a holy God. If it's not good enough, do we have eternal God? God just looked at us and says, Hey, I've seen you and I've heard you, and I'm convinced about you and I know everything about you. And as my child, you will never be out of my sight and never out of my care. In verse eight he goes one more step father on top of all that, and he says, That wouldn't even be great if that's all the things I was. But look at what else I am in verse eight. So God says, I have come down to rescue. Circle that word rescue, because that's what God is in the business of doing.

I've come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the land into a good and spacious land. God says, I care enough about my people. Listen church, that is the gospel in the Book of Exodus. That he's a holy God, He's an eternal God. He hears us, He sees us, He's concerned about us, and he wants to redeem us. And that God is the same God that we serve today, and he's given us Jesus. You see, the problem in our lives is not necessarily just our decisions. The problem is that we just don't really understand who God is. Because if we understand who God is, the only natural response in our lives is to live our lives in full submission to him. How do you trust him? You learn who God is. And secondly, number two, you know what God has done with your past. That's how you learn to trust God. You see, Moses right here is beginning to see through the lens of God is the only one that has forgiven me. He's the only one that can give me life, the only one that can give me hope, the only one that can move in me. And if you watch Moses's life. Even after this point, Moses keeps bringing up his past. He keeps bringing up his limitations. Thank God, every time he steps in and says, You are mine. And listen, instead of just kind of knocking down and telling Moses just to forget about his past, God redeems his past and God uses his past.

In fact, this is exactly what Paul says in Romans 8:28 when he says, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose. You see, despite your past, God can use you. In fact, if you look at Moses's life real quickly, we don't have time to go into real big detail. But listen to this. God put him in Pharaoh's court for 40 years to learn all the ways. To learn what it's like to lead, to learn what it's like to know the language, to learn what it was like, to understand the ways so that when God used him later on to walk into Pharaoh's court, he knew exactly what to do, who to talk to, what to say. God used the time in the wilderness to do what in Moses's life? To deliver the children of Israel to go live in the wilderness for 40 years, to be off the grid, to be able to know how to survive and how to provide and how to use all of the farming and all of the camping and all of the herding that Moses had done his whole life. Listen, Church God doesn't not want to use everything that has happened to you. He is not saying that it didn't happen. He is saying he has redeemed it and now he wants to place you in people's lives with your past being behind you to step into their plight. God knows it and he uses it. He takes your past and he moves it behind you. But the question is, do you trust it? Will you keep walking on the backside of the desert or will you understand that it is a God that wants to redeem you and use you? Number one, if you want to move. You've got to listen to God. Number two, you got to trust God. And super quick.

Number three, you've got to know that it is God that ensures your future. You've got to know that it's God that ensures your future. You know, from the moment we begin our walk in this life as an intelligent human being, right? We are told that our future is in our hands, but its not. Our future is in his hands. Now, I'm not saying you roll over today and just kind of become a sloth of a person, but I'm saying this when you place your trust and then the ensuring future that God has to give you, he is always faithful and he does it with his eternal promises. In fact, look down at verse 12. And watch the promise that God gives Moses. And God said, I will be with you. Man, I think you need to hear that this morning. And this will be a sign to you, Moses, that it is I who sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship on this mountain. Now, I know we're reading this through this kind of history, looking back, but in real time, you've got to realize that Moses doesn't know what's going on. He doesn't know how all this is going to work. And God has just called him to be the deliverer. But then God turns right around and says, and hey, listen, when this happens and when you do this, you are going to come back to this spot. In other words, you, Moses, you are going to rescue, you are going to lead, you are going to protect. And God says, even though you don't know it yet, when you do all of that stuff, you are going to come right back to this solemn mountain and worship me. Listen church, God is the only one that knows the future, the only one, but is the least of who we trust to get us there. Moses is in this spot right here where God looks at him and says, Hey, listen, you're going to be back here one day.

And you know what? If you know the story, you already know where this is going. If you don't know the story, listen to this. Years later, after all the plagues, after all the wandering after all the craziness that happens. Years later, Moses brings the millions of Hebrews back to the bottom of this mountain called Sinai. Moses heads up the mountain, tells them to stay. And what happens on this very mountain is that the voice of God writes the ten Commandments and comes down and meets with Moses in worship. Church listen, that's what God wants to do in you. He wants to take you from wherever you are on the backside of the wilderness. He wants to use you. He wants to bring you into his promises, and he wants to show you that it is because he lives that you can face tomorrow. That you can face tomorrow.

Now I get it. You're like Matt, this is just an old story. In fact, this is the Old Testament. We're in the New Testament place. Good point. Let me talk about that for just a minute. You know, when we read this about Moses, our tendency is just to say, well, man, that was just then and this is now. But let me tell you something, New Testament Church: we have it even better than Moses did on this side of the cross and on this side of the resurrection. You see, God was with Moses. But God can be in us. You see the difference here? God was with Moses, but through the Holy Spirit, God can be in us. And that's what He wants. So let me ask you a question as we jump into our invitation this morning. Is he in you? Have you come to a point in your life as Moses has, to where he looked at God and he surrendered his life. He said, yes, God move. For you, have you come to a point in your life where you have said, Jesus, I know you are who you say you are. And I know that you will do what you say you will do. Would you come into my life and forgive me my sins? Would you give me life? Would you be my Lord? Is that you today?

Because, listen, if you've never hit that point in your life before, no matter how much you scrape and claw and crawl from the wilderness, you will never get out. But in an instant, through the power of the resurrected Christ, he can deliver you. Do you need to trust him this morning? In just a second, we're going to sing because he lives. I'm going to be standing over here at the next steps banner. If you need to give you a life to Christ today, I'm just going to ask you to be bold today. Walk over to myself or one of the counselors and just look at us and say, hey, listen, I don't know if I've ever done this before. I'm really probably sure that I haven't. But today I need to give my life to Jesus. I'm tired of living in the backside of the wilderness. I want to be his. Just look at us and say, I need to be saved. We'll talk to you through the rest. Maybe today, you are Christian already. You've already given him your life. But man oh, man. You have allowed something in your past to hold you in the wilderness.

God, today, God, I just pray Lord Jesus, that you move in this place in these next couple of minutes. God, I just pray for people that need prayer today. They would just come down to the next steps banner and just look at us and say, would just pray for me? For people that need to get saved today, God, that you would do the same thing. But God move in us today. Show us that because you live, we can face tomorrow. Thank you Jesus.

Amen. Amen.

Let's stand and sing together.

Follow Along with the Message

You Are Not Defined By Your Past (Moses)

July 30, 2023

PRINCIPLE: Your does not need to define you.

Exodus 2:10–15
10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.” 11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” 14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.
How Do We Move from the Desert to Being Used?

1. You must to God.

Exodus 3:1–5
1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight — why the bush does not burn up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

PRINCIPLE: Every person that is greatly by God has had an encounter when they have had to listen to God.

3 Listening Lessons from Moses

1. God can and will us to bring change in our lives.

Exodus 3:2
There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush.
Exodus 3:3
So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight.

2. God will speak when we are humble and to listen.

Exodus 3:4
When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
Numbers 12:3
Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.
James 4:6
God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.

3. One word from God can literally our whole life.

Exodus 3:10
“So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

2. You must God.

Exodus 3:11
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
How Do We Learn to Trust God?

1. By trusting God is.

Exodus 3:5
God said, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
Exodus 3:6
“I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”
Exodus 3:7
“I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.”
Exodus 3:8
“So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land.”

2. By knowing what God does with your .

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

3. You must know that it is God that ensures the .

Exodus 3:12
And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
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