“Back on Track”
God is still a supernatural, miracle working God today in the New Testament just as He was in the Old Testament.
The miraculous did not pass away with the Apostles in the Book of Acts and did not come to a close somewhere during the early church age.
Hebrews 13:8 NKJV (8) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
We are going to take a look at the life of Moses and the miracles that God did in order to bring the Children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage and see how they apply to us today.
We will look at the ten plagues and see that what God was doing was addressing the gods of Egypt and in essence saying to the Egyptians, “If you like your gods, that has fine but how would you like to live with them 24 hours a day and have them in every part of your lives.”
God is never afraid of a challenge and rather looks forward to a challenge because He will not be outdone in any way. He sees it as an opportunity to show up and show out on behalf of His people and His Name.
Hebrews 11:23-27 NKJV (23) By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command. (24) By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, (25) choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, (26) esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. (27) By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
Hebrews 11:23 NLT (23) It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.
His parents saw the child and knew that he was a “child of the city.”
This simply means that his parents saw that Moses had a destiny. They knew that he was going to do something great and that is why they hid him, not because they were afraid.
Hebrews 11:8-10 NLT (8) It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. (9) And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. (10) Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.
Abraham was a very wealthy man and could have afforded any permanent home he could have desired. But he chose to dwell in a tent because he knew that God had a plan for his life and he would arrive at the destiny that God had for him: the Promised Land.
Moses is regarded as one of the great heroes of the Jewish faith and Christianity but interestingly enough, he bears a Gentile name. Moses is Egyptian for “pulled out of the water.” When Pharaoh’s daughter found him, she did not know what to name him so she called him “pulled out of the water” because he was pulled out of the water.
Moses kept an Egyptian name all of his life. This goes to show that it does not matter what your background is or even what your name is, God can use you in a great way.
Let’s look at the time frame that this took place and start by looking at the time when the call of God was conferred upon Moses.
Moses had a call from God on his life and he blew it and messed up the opportunity of the call.
He had to go and live in the wilderness for 40 years until God showed up and re-confirmed the call.
It does not matter how long you have been living in the wilderness because you messed up, the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. If you have an open heart and God can get you back where you can continue with the call.
Genesis 15:12-16 NKJV (12) Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. (13) Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. (14) And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. (15) Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. (16) But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
Moses knew that there was a call on his life long before he had the burning bush experience but it was only then at the burning bush that the 400 years prophesied to Abraham was complete.
Many times God will tell you that there is a call on your life but we must wait for the proper time for that call to come to pass.
Most of the time we do not wait and we run out the door and try to make things happen.
After the 400 years the iniquity of the Amorites was full. God gave the Amorites 400 years to repent and they did not.
God always sends grace before judgment. The Amorites are a people that occupied the land from the Nile to the Euphrates.
Moses was 40 years old when he killed the Egyptian and had to flee. He lived in the wilderness for 40 years. He has married a woman named Zippora, a daughter of Jethro, and has had two sons with her.
He was in the wilderness for 40 years to get Egypt out of him and the same thing was going to happen to the children of Israel for 40 years. They would need to get Egypt out of them as well.
Moses went back to Egypt with Egypt out of him and God in him and to be used to deliver the children of Israel.
In Egypt he learned self sufficiency and to depend on himself and his fists to accomplish the call of God.
There is an appointed time for the call of God to come to pass in our lives and it is better to be a little behind God then it is to get out ahead of God.
It is the plan of God for the Children of Israel to have the land as He prophesied to Abraham:
Genesis 15:18 NKJV (18) On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—
This will be ultimately fulfilled when Jesus comes back.
Exodus 3:1-2 NKJV (1) Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. (2) And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
The Angel of the Lord is a pre-incarnate visitation of the Lord Jesus Christ. (not “an” angel of the Lord)
The bush is a type of our flesh. God dwells in us and we burn but are not consumed. God lives in us and we do not burn up.
Exodus 3:3-5 NKJV (3) Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” (4) So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” (5) Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”
“The place where you are standing is holy ground.” That is significant. It was holy because the presence of God is there.
What makes you holy is because the presence of God dwells inside you.
Exodus 3:6-8 NKJV (6) Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. (7) And the LORD said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. (8) So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.
Moses went to the mountain range of Horeb but he was actually standing on Mount Sinai.
It is not the place that makes it holy, it is the presence of God that makes the place holy.
Our church is holy because it contains holy people and we have the holy presence of God in us, but the structure is not holy.
The only reason the Temple was holy was because the presence of God dwelt there but He came out so that He could dwell in us.
The burning bush did not take place in the promised “holy” land but it happened in Arabia and the Jews would never say that Arabia would be holy. No if an Arab gets Born Again, he then becomes holy ground.
Now why did God choose to visit Moses at this particular moment in His life to renew the call upon his life?
What was it that happened to Moses during the 40 years that he was in the wilderness tending sheep?
He went from being a person that heard God’s voice, clenched his fists and went out to accomplish the call but he was premature because he thought that he could do it in his own strength.
He had to get to a place where he no longer had confidence in himself.
Exodus 3:11 NKJV (11) But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
Notice Moses asked the question, “Who am I, that I should go…”
He went from being the one to say, “I can do this because I know that I called and I can make this happen,” to being at a place where he no longer had self confidence in his own ability.
Moses is now timid and hesitant. He no longer has the strength of Egypt in him.
Moses puts forth five arguments as to why he cannot be the one to deliver the Children of Israel:
- Who am I Lord?
He is powerless in himself. It no longer matters who you are but only in Who I Am.
Exodus 3:11-12 NKJV (11) But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (12) So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
- Who are You?
Exodus 3:13-14 NKJV (13) Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” (14) And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ “
- What will I tell the courts of Pharaoh?
Exodus 4:1-5 NKJV (1) Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’ ” (2) So the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.” (3) And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. (4) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), (5) “that they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
- I can’t speak.
Exodus 4:10-12 NKJV (10) Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” (11) So the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? (12) Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”
Acts 7:22 NKJV (22) And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.
Even though this wasn’t totally true, God has a sense of humor and says, “Fine, Aaron can talk for you…”
- I really don’t want to go.
Exodus 4:13 NKJV (13) But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”
Exodus 4:13 AMP (13) And he said, Oh, my Lord, I pray You, send by the hand of [some other] whom You will [send].
We have to have the attitude that I cannot do it by myself.
God wants the world to see the fire in the bush and not the bush.
He wants the world to see the fire in you and not you.
You may feel like you are in the wilderness because you may have messed up 40 years ago. Accept where you are and keep serving God, doing what you are doing.
If you are still alive, God can still use you. As long as you are alive God can still use you.
Become weak in yourself and strong in the Lord.