Sunday Sermon

Pick Up the Phone Dave Shaner January 18, 2004

Introduction: Have you ever been reluctant to take a call?

Text: Exodus 4:1-17

Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'?" Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he replied. The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground." Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. Then the LORD said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. "This," said the LORD, "is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has appeared to you." Then the LORD said, "Put your hand inside your cloak." So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow. "Now put it back into your cloak," he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh. Then the LORD said, "If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground." Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it." Then the LORD'S anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it."

When God nominates you for a job, He does not extend an invitation, but gives a commission.

Two chief ways we frustrate God when He calls:

1. Running ahead of God.

2. Lagging behind God.

What are some excuses we (and Moses) use?

I. ______________ - Exodus 3:11

But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"

A. Do not confuse humility with a spirit of inadequacy.

B. We can deny ourselves and still operate under God's strength.

II. No ______________ - Exodus 4:1

Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'?"

A. This is a denial of God's clear promise. - Exodus 3:18

"The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.'

B. We just need to be God's ambassadors.

III. No ______________ - Exodus 4:10

Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."

A. Acts 7:22

Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.

B. Concerning inability:

1. God is aware of our shortcomings when he calls us.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. - II Corinthians 4:7

2. God never commissions and then abandons.

and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."  - Matthew 28:20

3. If God commands you to do anything he empowers you.

C. Philippians 4:13

I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

IV. Send ______________ ____________. - Exodus 4:13

But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."

A. The Lord's anger burned against Moses. - Exodus 4:14

Then the LORD'S anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you.

B. Why is God so patient with Moses and with us?

C. II Corinthians 3:4-5

Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

Conclusion: When I AM designates he does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called. Pick up the phone and respond to God.

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