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church
I. Introduction
-- turn in
Bibles to Exodus 3:1-6
Exodus 3:1-6
New International Version
Moses and the Burning Bush
3:1 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.” 6 Then he said,
“I am the God of your father,[a] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the
God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at
God.
-- as you
know, last week we took a family trip up to Ellijay to spend a week-long
vacation in the mountains – we’ve had this planned for a long time, and it was
our only vacation for the year – and now, with Kim’s diagnosis, the timing was
right for us to just get away and spend some quiet time away from the hustle
and bustle of our everyday lives and from the journey that lies ahead
-- we’ve been up to north Georgia
before, but when Kim asked me if there was anything I wanted to do when we got
up there, I immediately said, “Yes!” – I wanted to go to the Bigfoot Museum in
Blue Ridge – I had seen the sign on the interstate and I had seen people on the
internet talking about it – and I wanted to go – it was the only thing I had on
my agenda for our trip
-- I’m sure none of you knew this,
but I love Bigfoot – I've always been fascinated by Bigfoot -- back when I was
a kid in the 70s, there was a rash of Bigfoot sightings in the Pacific
Northwest, and while there never was any real evidence, it was just something
that caught my imagination, especially because I spent a great deal of time as
a kid outdoors in areas where a bigfoot might live -- and even now, as a
wildlife biologist, the thought of being the person who finds proof of the
existence of a new species -- especially a large animal like Sasquatch -- that
would be the pinnacle of a scientific career
-- and,
truth be told, any time I'm out in the woods -- whether it's hunting or working
-- I always just keep an eye open for the unusual -- for anything that would
point to the existence of a creature like Bigfoot -- something rumored to exist
but never actually seen or documented by science
-- the
museum was kind of small, but it was fascinating – it had all kinds of displays
and evidence gathered from teams all around the world who had gone on
expeditions to find the elusive Bigfoot – whether he was known in that area as
Sasquatch or as the Yeti
-- regardless
of what you think about Bigfoot, you have to admire these men and women who
went to these remote areas hunting for something that they have heard of –
something that they longed to see with their own eyes – to experience
first-hand
-- just
think of the dedication and the time and the expense these teams went to to go
to these areas and find what they have been hoping to see for their whole lives
-- their
heart’s desire was to find and see Bigfoot – but, inevitably, they all left
without any conclusive proof that Bigfoot existed – the exhibits didn’t say anything
about how the people felt at the end of their expeditions, but I wonder if the
researchers were disheartened and sad because they never could find what they
were looking for
-- I think
we can all agree that it can be frustrating to spend your entire life searching
for something that you know is out there but that you just never quite can find
-- have you ever felt that way? --
maybe not about bigfoot, but about God? -- have you ever been in that place in
your life when you really needed God -- you really wanted to see Him -- to hear
Him -- to experience Him -- but He never seemed to show? -- you never could
find Him? – and you left your search without any evidence that God was really
there?
-- that's
exactly what was going on with Moses in the early part of his life -- so, I
want to spend some time this morning looking at Moses' search for God in a
message that I've entitled, "Finding God"
II. Moses
-- now
before we move on and look at Exodus 3 in a little more detail, let me remind
you of the story of Moses -- as you remember, at this time, the nation of
Israel was living in the land of Goshen in Egypt -- they had moved there during
a famine while Joseph was leading the nation of Egypt for Pharaoh and had
enjoyed a prosperous life -- but now, as the Book of Exodus opens, Joseph and
his Pharaoh have long since died and the Israelites have been pressed into
slavery by the current Pharaoh
-- their
lives are difficult at best, and to make conditions worse, the Pharaoh
commanded that all male Hebrews be killed at birth -- Moses, of course, was
hidden in a basket and set adrift in the Nile River to save him, where he was
rescued by Pharaoh's daughter and raised as part of the royal family
-- but
despite being raised in the lap of luxury, Moses was still missing something in
his life -- so he went out to the Hebrews looking for two things -- he went
looking for himself and he went looking for God
-- it
seemed like a good idea -- it seemed like the way to find God would be to
immerse yourself in those who know God, but Moses quickly learned that just
being part of the religious crowd doesn't make you part of God's kingdom -- as
we all know, finding God is a personal quest that every person has to take --
and Moses also learned that just being Hebrew by birth doesn't make you part of
the Hebrew nation -- he couldn't relate to their slavery and their experiences,
and he ended up being rejected by his own people
-- in the
end, Moses killed an Egyptian slave-master and was forced to flee to the Midian
Desert, which is where his real story of Finding God begins
III. Finding God
-- look
back at Exodus 3:1 with me
3:1 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.
-- by this
time, a lot of years have passed since Moses fled
-- now,
it's important to note that Moses' father-in-law was a priest of God -- what
this means is that during these past 40 years, Moses has been around the people
of God -- he was part of a family that believed in God and worshiped God and
sought God with their lives – but he's evidently not found God on his own
-- over the
time that I have been here, I have shared with you the principles that Henry
Blackaby taught in his Experiencing God Bible Study about the means by which
people hear and experience the presence of God – as Blackaby taught and as we
have experienced in our own lives, there are four ways that God has chosen as
the normal means by which He speaks to His people -- does anybody remember what
they are?
-- the Word -- the Scriptures – this
is God’s primary way of speaking to us today
-- the next is prayer – and remember
that the key to hearing God through prayer is to leave space for God to talk
and to open your ears that you might hear His voice
-- third is the church -- being
around God's people and hearing Him through them and through our shared experiences
as being part of the family of God
-- and, finally, circumstances – events
and situations and trials and triumphs in our lives that proclaim to us God’s
presence or through which we see His hand working and know that He is with us
-- now, keep in mind that these are
the normal ways that God speaks to us, but God is God, and He can choose to
reach out to us in other ways -- but these four are the usual ways that God has
chosen for us to hear His voice and to find Him
-- and I’ve
shared these more than once with you – but, even knowing this truth, what
happens more often in our daily lives? -- even though we are like Moses and
live in a society where the Bible is more common than ever before in history
and we have churches on every corner and the knowledge of God is rampant
throughout this land, what happens? -- we have a tendency to neglect God and to
not listen as He speaks to us through these means of communication
-- we know
what to do, but we choose to not do it – sound familiar? – let me give you an
example of what I’m talking about
-- one
thing that Kim really enjoyed about our trip was how well the air conditioner
in the cabin worked – our house here is old and drafty and leaks like a sieve –
it’s hard for us to maintain a constant temperature or to get the temperature
where we want it – and if Kim had her way, that would be constantly chilly
-- so, when we got in the cabin and
she found the AC worked well, she cranked that thing down and almost froze me
to death -- I got cold in the middle of the night while I was sleeping – the thing
was, I knew what to do about it
-- I knew where the blankets were
stored in the room we were staying – I could have gotten up and gotten a
blanket and put it on me, but I didn’t -- that would have required effort, and
I just didn't want to rouse myself enough to do that -- I chose to suffer in
cold rather than do what it would take to warm myself up
-- it’s the
same with hearing from God -- we know how God speaks -- we know where God
speaks -- but a lot of time we just don't make the effort to put ourselves in a
place where we can find Him and hear Him
-- God
can't speak to you from the Word if you never open your Bible -- He won't speak
to you in prayer if you never do more than throw up a wish list first thing in
the morning -- He can't speak to you through His people if you don't associate
with them more than just on Sunday mornings
-- that’s how a lot of us live –
and that’s exactly how Moses had been living up to this point in his life -- Moses
had all the opportunities to find God through His word or through prayer or
through His people, but he chose not to listen – and so God remained elusive
and something that Moses could never quite grasp or experience
-- so, if
the Word and prayer and the church are out, what does that leave? -- that
leaves circumstances -- God's megaphone to our heart -- and here in this
passage, we see God calling out to Moses in a way that he would be forced to
hear and respond as God called Moses to come to Him
-- In her book,
"John Paul the Great," author Peggy Noonan answered the question,
"How do you find God?"
-- the first thing you do, she
said, is get yourself in trouble -- in order for us to find God, we first have
to be in a place where we are looking for God -- we have to be in a place where
our only frame of reference is up – sometimes you have to hit the bottom before
you can begin to climb
-- God
allows His people, even Christians who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior,
to go through periods of trouble so we are forced to seek His face -- just as
God led Moses out into the Midian Desert, He leads us into deserts in our
spiritual lives -- into periods of dryness when we just can't seem to hear from
God or find Him
-- God lets
us go into these arid periods in our lives because He's trying to get our
attention and trying to get us to start seeking Him and His presence even more
-- the key
to finding God in the desert is to keep on pressing on with the spiritual
disciplines of reading scripture, praying, and going to church -- but you will
find that it is in these times that God really speaks through your
circumstances to capture your heart
-- that is
what we see with Moses here -- Moses had ignored the opportunities to find God
that had been given to him through his marriage into a priest's family -- and
so God called out to him in a way that was sure to get his attention
-- verse 2
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.”
-- burning
bushes aren't that uncommon in our area, especially in the late fall and winter
– it’s a common practice down here for folks to burn their property to kill off
weeds and to get rid of leaf litter and to get the land ready for the spring
green-up – if any of us were out and about in the winter around here and saw a
bush that was burning, it wouldn’t surprise us
-- and you
get the impression here from Moses' response that burning bushes really weren't
that unusual in his day, either -- but what caught his attention was the fact
that the bush was on fire, yet it wasn't burning up -- God did the
extraordinary to get Moses’ attention so that Moses might respond to His call
-- God does
that to us, too -- our natural tendency in life is towards complacency -- we
get comfortable in life -- even our spiritual lives -- and we can become
stagnant -- but God doesn't want us to stop growing, so He goes to
extraordinary efforts to get us to seek Him
--
sometimes he lets hardships and troubles come into our lives -- sometimes he
blesses us beyond belief -- and sometimes He hides from us -- He draws away,
leading us into the desert, so we will seek Him and search again for His
presence
-- He plays
hide and seek with us to get us moving -- seemingly ever out of our reach, but always
close enough to touch -- just far enough away that we have a desire to find
Him, but close enough that we can be led by His presence
-- God had
led Moses into the desert and put him into a godly family so that he might hear
God's voice and hear His call and lead His people out of Egypt -- but Moses
refused to listen -- so, God appeared to him in a sign that was sure to catch
his attention -- a bush on fire that refused to burn up
-- the
lesson here for us is that when we find ourselves in the desert place in our
spiritual walk -- when we're just going through the motions and not really
growing or listening to God's voice or seeking Him with all our heart -- God
will move and do the extraordinary to get us to seek Him again
-- when you
see burning bushes popping up around you, know that this is God's call for you
to come close
-- before
we move on, let me just point out one thing right here in verse 2 -- when you
see the phrase, "the angel of the Lord," in the Old Testament, know
that this is what we call a theophany -- it is a preincarnate appearance of the
Lord Jesus Christ -- in other words, when you see the phrase, "the angel
of the Lord," know that this is referring to God Himself -- Moses saw God
in the burning bush
-- let's
move on -- verse 4
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.” 6 Then he said,
“I am the God of your father,[a] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the
God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at
God.
-- when
Moses responded to God's call from the burning bush, he found himself in the
presence of the living God -- for the first time in his life, Moses found
himself face-to-face with Yahweh, the Great I Am -- for the first time in his
life, Moses heard God and responded to His call and found what he had been
seeking his whole life, from the moment he went out to the Hebrew slaves in
Egypt through all his wanderings in the desert
-- when you
seek God, you will find Him – this is a promise and a truth that you can stand
on -- the Bible tells us that as we draw near to God, He draws near to us --
Psalm 22:3 says that God inhabits the praises of His people -- and 1 Chronicles
28:9 says, "if you seek Him, you will be found by Him"
-- God wants
us and He wants us to continually seek Him -- to chase after Him in our daily
lives -- knowing that we need Him to survive – knowing that we need Him more
than anything else this world might offer
-- do you
remember playing hide-and-seek as a kid or playing it with your children or
grandchildren? – if you think about, this simple game teaches us a profound
spiritual lesson
-- it
teaches us two things: first, it teaches
us that there is Someone who is always looking for us – Someone who cares
enough about us to search for us and call for us when we are hiding from His
presence – that even when we are trying to hide, Someone loves us enough to
come find us
-- remember the story of Adam and
Eve after they ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? –
remember what they did?
-- the
Bible says they hid from God – but God sought them – He searched for them – He called
out for them, “Where are you?” – He does the same for us every single moment of
every single day – He seeks us because He desires us
-- the
second thing this little game teaches is that we have to seek for what is true
and good and desirable in our lives – this fallen world is not just going to
drop good things into our laps, and that’s especially true when it comes to
lasting relationships – we have to seek out and search for the desire of our
heart – for our loved ones, even for God
-- sometimes
God hides, so that we can experience the delight that comes when we finally
discover Him – the joy that comes when we pull back the curtain and God steps
out and says, “Here I am!”
-- the goal
of the game, whether you are the seeker or the hider, is to find and be found –
to know that Someone loves you and wants you enough to search for you or to be
found by you
-- and when
we are together again – when the game of hide-and-seek is over – our souls are
filled with joy because we are in His presence again
-- the
thing to remember, though, is that when God hides from us, it is usually
because He is calling you to do something more for Him or to become more like
Jesus in your spirit – just like He is doing with Moses here in this passage
-- so, how can you be sure that it is
really God that you have found?
-- we live in a world of
counterfeits -- of glittering gods and illuminating idols, just as we talked
about last week
-- it is easy for us to be misled
and to think we have found God when in fact we are following a false idol or a
desire of our own heart -- so, how do you know that it is really God that you
have found?
-- just
like we discussed last week, it should be a warning light to your spirit if
what you are hearing and what you have found is exactly what it is that you
wanted in the first place -- a lot of times, we create deserts of our own
making because we want to meet our own desires -- we justify our own wants by
telling ourselves, "God wants me to have this"
-- for
example, let's say you have been unhappy at work and you really want a new job --
things continue to get bad and you start to believe that God is telling you
through your circumstances to leave your job
-- what is really going on is that you
want to leave, so you create circumstances that you ascribe to God to justify
what you wanted to do from the beginning -- this could be a case where you are listening
to your own heart rather than God's heart
--
generally, when God leads us into the desert, He leads us into an area that is
out of our comfort zone -- a place that makes us question who we are and what
we are -- when God calls us in this way, His call usually isn't to give us our
heart’s desires, but to lead us down a new path that will challenge our faith and
grow us in our faith
-- when Kim
and I started looking at moving back to Valdosta, we were both involved in an
organization called Bible Study Fellowship -- as it became obvious that God was
truly wanting us to move to Valdosta, the desire of our heart was to start a
Bible Study Fellowship group here -- we felt that this was what God was calling
us to do -- every sign -- every circumstance -- pointed to that
-- but that
was not what God was doing -- He was calling us to do more -- we could have
gone ahead and tried to start a Bible Study Fellowship, but it never would have
been a success, because that wasn't what God wanted -- it was what we wanted
and we were trying to make the circumstances fit our desires
-- you have
to be careful and make sure it is God you are hearing and not your own internal
voice or the lure of this world's siren call
-- when God
spoke to Moses, it was a voice unlike any Moses had ever heard – and when God
spoke, He called Moses to greater faith and to a greater mission than Moses
could envision on his own
-- God told Moses that He was
calling him to go back to Egypt to set God’s people free -- it was a task that
Moses could not do -- it was a call that he could not fulfill -- and that's
always a good indication that it is a real call from God
-- skip
down to verse 11 and let's close there
11 But Moses said to
God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of
Egypt?”
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[b] will worship God on
this mountain.”
-- when you
have found God, being in His presence will always make you question who you are
and what you can do -- God's call will always be greater than what you desire
and greater than what you can accomplish
-- if you
think God is calling you to do something and it is something that you can
easily do with your own talents and abilities and it requires no great effort
on your part, then it probably isn't from God
-- a call
from God will always force you to ask the questions, "Who Am I?" and
"Who are You?" -- it forces us into a crisis of belief where we are
forced to step out in faith, knowing that we are not capable, but believing
that God will do it through us -- knowing that without God we will fail
-- that is
where Moses found himself at the burning bush
-- when he found God, God called
him to do something that was impossible -- the only way Moses would be able to
lead the people out of Israel would be if God led the way
-- as Moses
learned, God puts a desire in our heart to find Him so that He can grow us and
empower us to do more for Him than we could ever do on our own -- God led Moses
from the palace of Pharaoh through the deserts of Midian until he was finally
in a place where he could hear God's voice and find God with a seeking and open
heart
-- we need
to remember that seeking God is a continual process -- our need to find Him
doesn't end at the cross – the cross is just the beginning of our life of faith
with God
-- in our
Christian lives, there will be times when God will lead us through the desert
just like He did Moses so that we will be compelled to find Him -- and when He
lets us find Him -- when He finally reveals Himself to us -- it is for the
purpose of leading us into new depths of experiences with Him or into greater
levels of ministry in His name
IV. Closing
-- let me
close by sharing with you a note I read from Anne Benefield -- she has a friend
who has been out of regular work for a couple of years -- her friend has found
enough temporary work to stay afloat, but it has sometimes been a week-to-week
challenge to pay the bills.
-- as they
were talking about this desert place that her friend found herself in, her
friend said, "I am walking through my worst fear -- I can't explain it,
but somehow each time I think I'm at the end of my finances, something comes
through -- I think that God is teaching me to trust in Him
-- "It
isn't easy, but I'm walking through what I feared more than anything—-losing my
career and livelihood -- Somehow, through it all, I'm finding God.”
[Anne
Benefield, Sermon Central Website]
-- all
those teams who seek after Bigfoot may never be able to find their elusive prey
– they may be chasing a myth
-- but one thing is for certain – our
God is real – and He wants us to pursue Him and to pursue a relationship with
Him – and if we chase after God with all our heart and all our mind and all our
strength, we will find Him, because just like a little kid playing
hide-and-seek, God wants to be found
-- He wants
us to pursue Him -- to chase after Him -- so that we can grow and mature and
become more like His Son and do great things for Him in this place
-- He calls
us to lives of faithfulness and trust and love -- but if we do not heed His
call, He will do whatever it takes to bring us to the place where we are
compelled to follow -- whether that means putting burning bushes in our path or
leading us into deserts of trouble or periods of spiritual dryness
-- so, as I
close, let me encourage you to do this one thing -- take a look at your heart
and see where you are with God -- can you honestly say that you are chasing
hard after Him, or has your spiritual life become one of complacency -- a
routine that you follow without any real fruit to show for it?
-- ask God
to show Himself to you -- to lead you into greater depths of intimacy and
ministry -- and chase Him hard, knowing that you will find Him if you do so
-- let us
pray
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