Sometimes people will say, well, you know, I’ve read the Bible, but I just don’t seem to understand it.
I, I can’t, I, I would read it more often if I understood it.
Well, what I’d like to do is in this passage of scripture, give you an idea how to get more out of whatever you’re reading in the word of God.
Because oftentimes we read it a little quickly and um, we think, well, God and tell me exactly what I need to know right now.
And I want you to turn if you will to the uh third chapter of Exodus.
And um I’ll give you a little idea of what’s happened before the passage we’re gonna read.
You’ll recall that um Moses kill an Egyptian.
And as a result, he spent 40 years on the other side of the desert from Egypt and became a herdsman.
And so he had a great downfall in his life.
So now this passage of scripture begins with Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro, his father in law, the priest of Midian.
And he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God on Mount Sinai.
And then you know the part about the burning bush and how God worked in his life and how suddenly he saw and heard and felt something that absolutely changed his life.
So I want us to look at what happened to Him and I want us to look at it in light of how you and I read the scripture and not just a matter of what it says, but how do we read the scripture?
And because the question you and I always want to answer is God, what are you saying to me?
You know, I could read any part of this Bible if I’m just reading it externally and have no heart in it, most of it wouldn’t make sense at times.
But I want you to understand how to read the Bible.
Read a narrative that you could say, well, I’ve read that before and I know what happens.
But the big question is what happened to you when you read it?
What did God say to you? How did, what happened to you?
And most people don’t read the Bible with that in mind.
They’re looking for something for God to say something to them.
But the question is, what is God saying to you in that passage?
So remember Moses is on the backside of the desert 40 years ago, he killed an Egyptian, he’d been banished and he’s herding sheep.
Now, I think most any of us would learn something within 40 years.
And so here he is doing what he never would have dreamed he would have been doing.
And so the first word I want you to write down is the word surprise because he’d been there 40 years and all of a sudden he sees this bush that’s burning, yet it’s not consumed naturally.
It frightens him naturally. He doesn’t understand it. He’s seen a lot of bushes burn but not like this.
And as he stood there, God spoke to him in a very special way.
This is a total surprise to Moses. Sometimes when you and I are reading the word of God.
God has surprises to us. He’ll say something that you weren’t looking for that you didn’t expect you didn’t anticipate and you didn’t think you needed to hear it.
But God said something to you in a very special way.
So he certainly said something very special to Moses. The second word is personal.
If you read the word of God only as a narrative and you sort of exclude yourself from the environment and you’re just talking about something that happened years ago, you’ll miss God’s personal message in your life.
So we read it asking the question God, what are you saying to me?
And in this particular passage after God having dealt with him at the burning bush, uh I want you to think about this.
He says in the 10th verse and I’ll read a few verses therefore come now and I will send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring my people the sons of Israel out of Egypt.
But Moses said to God, who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the sons of Israel of Egypt.
And he said, certainly I will be with you and this should be assigned to you that it is I who have sent you.
when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.
So he’s in this setting now and God has spoken to him.
So the next word I want you to jump down, this specific God doesn’t speak in generalities.
Everything about that is specific. God says, therefore, I will send you and you are to bring my people the sons of Israel out of Egypt.
And so naturally, he has a question.
Think about this, when you read the word of God, do you read it with, with God’s message to you in mind is very specific.
He said I have a mission for you 40 years in the back side of the desert.
Now, God is speaking to him.
And the fourth word, I want you to jot down is encouragement because any time God gives us a word of something he wants us to do or how to do it.
Oftentimes He gives us a word of encouragement because He knows we need it.
So when I think about that.
I look at this 10th verse, therefore come now and I will send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring my people, the sons of Israel out of Egypt.
It was a word of awesome encouragement. Think about this. That was his idea.
40 years ago when he killed one Egyptian, he had the wrong means wrong time, everything about it was wrong.
And now 40 years later, God says, all right, you’re ready.
And so he says, I’m gonna send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring my people, the sons of Israel of Egypt.
But Moses said to God, who am I? Who am I?
That I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt.
And so the words encouragement because oftentimes God will say something to us in his word.
And usually he prefaces it sometimes with encouragement sometimes afterwards.
But God always wants us, not only to listen, but to believe when He’s speaking to us, you said, well, I don’t know if anybody, God spoke to, how would I believe Him?
We believe God speaks to us because He is God and because He’s a God of love and how does he encourage us?
He doesn’t just encourage us by giving us things. That’s what most people think. Well, look how wonderful God is.
Look what he gave me or what about the time you were sick?
What about the time you were going through a difficult and hardship and pain, sovereign loss.
What did, did God love you then? Yes, he did.
So what I want you to say is in these narratives, there’s truth, the things that God wants to say to us that oftentimes we overlook.
So that fourth word is encouragement and then the fifth word is serious. This is serious business.
The burning bush was God’s way of miraculously getting Moses attention, attention from anything and everything else that he had ever thought of and reminding him that he’s the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and that God is still there that he hadn’t left him in 40 years though.
He is suffering from the result of doing things his way. And so what does he say?
He says, therefore come and I will send you to Pharaoh Moses said to him, who am I?
Certainly I will be with you. God says what an encouragement word that is listen to that.
He didn’t just say I’m gonna be with you. He said certainly that is rest in this.
Make sure you know this I will be with you and this should be the sign to you that it is I who brought you the people out of Egypt.
You shall worship God of this mountain. God always wants to watch this carefully.
He wants us to understand when He’s speaking to us.
Well, can God speak to us anywhere any time? Yes, he could.
But I think God wants to speak to us oftentimes we’re not listening, but our minds are on other things.
Our attention is on other things, God loves you.
Jesus died for you and God intends for you to listen to Him because He has something to say to you.
Nobody is beyond the voice of God because He’s always calling always to get our attention.
And so little by little, he speaks to Moses. So what did God do to get his attention?
He started a fire in this bush that was not consumed. He knew exactly how to get Moses attention.
He was a herdsman. He’d seen lots of bushes.
He’d been in lots of situations, but he’d never seen a bush burn that was not consumed in the burning.
Now, listen carefully. Sometimes God may say something to you, show you something, send you somebody do something in your life that you know, that it has to be God.
How many times have I heard? People say?
Well, you know, I wonder but, but I it had to be God had to be God.
Why it was something unusual. God spoke to a person that maybe you don’t even like or He did something in your life that you didn’t particular like he took something away from you or gave you something, but he got your attention.
God always wants our attention. He wants our attention because he is speaking to us.
He wants the best for us. He’ll guard us if we listen to Him.
But if I’m not listening and paying no attention, I’m not gonna follow the will of God.
So the next word is command now, it’s wonderful to listen to God and it’s wonderful to think how wonderful God is and how gracious and good He is.
But when he gives a command, what does he expect? One word? What is it? You got it obedience.
And so listen to what he said in the 10th verse.
He said, therefore, come now and I will send you now. That’s the part.
I think all of a sudden really got his attention. It’s one thing to see the burning bush.
Maybe God’s speaking to somebody. But he said, I’m sending you to pharaoh. Yes. Pharaoh in Egypt.
Mhm The pharaoh that cast you out is dead.
But there’s another Pharaoh I’m sending you to Pharaoh so that you may bring my people the sons of Israel out of Egypt.
Totally unbelievable how send, send me there, send me there to take two million people out of Egypt.
When Egypt is armed like an armory, God, I, I must, I must have misread that God.
Say that again, come down and I will send you to pharaoh so that you may bring my people, the sons of Israel out of Egypt.
Moses said to God, just what you and I would say, what would we say? Who am I?
Who am I? That I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the sons of Israel.
That is God, you, you knocked on the wrong door, you, you had, you had the wrong person.
You rang somebody’s doorbell but not me. I’m a fugitive. I’m an enemy. As far as Egypt is concerned.
You listen to God. You don’t, you don’t put God in the box when God says I wanna send you somewhere or I want you to do something.
He means what he says now, inescapable, write that word down, inescapable when God chooses to do something in your life, when He chooses to use you in a certain way to speak to someone to win them to Christ or to do something to whatever it may be.
It’s inescapable. That is the eyes of God.
He doesn’t change his mind because you don’t like it because you think you can’t afford it because you don’t know what somebody will say or you don’t, you, you, you question their particular viewpoint.
That’s not the issue. God says, I’m gonna send you, I’m sending you to Pharaoh.
And when God listen, when God says this is what I’m gonna do, you, you don’t change God’s mind.
So the next word is frightening, you say, well, why, why you use the word frightening.
Well, verse 11, but Moses said to God, who am I?
And he said, certainly I’ll be with you and this should be the sign to you.
It is I who have sent you when you brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.
And so was he frightened? Yes. Do, do you?
And I ever have a right to be frightened when God tells us to do something.
I’ve heard many people say over the years when God called me to preach, I said absolutely not.
I can’t scared to death. I couldn’t stand up in front of anybody. I couldn’t remember anything.
I, I, I know I’d forget people are frightened. And so what was God’s answer to this?
This is an awesome answer. What was God’s answer?
So look at verse 13, then Moses said to God behold, I’m going to the sons of Israel.
And uh I will say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you.
Now, they may say to me, what’s his name? This was the answer.
Just tell him I am sent you what I am.
Just tell him that I am who I am.
And thus you shall say to the sons of Israel I am has sent me to you.
I am has sent me to you. What would you have said to that?
Who is I am the great I am. That’s who He is.
He’s a sovereign God of the universe.
And he introduced himself to Moses by saying, you tell him that I am the maker of all things.
The one true God has sent you to free my people out of Egypt.
Now, he could, God have said so much.
He could have said, well, I have armies or this, that and the other.
But when he said, I tell him that I am sent you. I am, I am here.
I am the sovereign God of the university in control of all things.
Therefore, I sent you, what should that say to him? Well, first of all, they wouldn’t understand that.
But he said that that’s what you had to say to them. He also made him a promise.
He said, I’m gonna send you and I’m gonna be, I’ll be with you and this will be, this should be assigned to you.
So remember this, whenever God tells us to do anything, we have the promise of His assistance, His presence, his power, his, his, whatever we need.
He’s there. God would never send you empty handed to do a task.
And I think oftentimes God will impress upon our heart to share their faith with somebody and we don’t do it because we think, well, we, we don’t know what to say.
Well, here’s Moses smart as he was after all these years. And what did he say to God?
What, what am I gonna tell him? One thing?
If you’re a follower of Jesus, you don’t ever have to wonder what to say.
I trust that Jesus Christ is my personal savior.
I’m eternally secure in Christ covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.
You can say that to anybody when you’re witnessing to him.
But you’ve got to be sure that you can say that you know the great I am not, not, I was but not, not, not a but I am that is the sovereign of the universe, is speaking to you.
And in, in your life, think about this when you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal savior.
What happened to you? One thing that happened to you is this.
He came into your heart to dwell and the Holy Spirit who now inhabits you speaks through you has all the answers you and I need to be obedient to God.
He says, I’m gonna be with you.
You and I can write this down, you can write this by this verse.
That is that God will always be with you no matter where you go, where he sends you, what goes on in your life.
He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Have you ever felt forsaken by God?
I have once forsaken by God was I believer then yes, I was.
But the circumstances I felt forsaken. I knew He hadn’t forsaken me, but I felt it.
But I also realized I don’t live by my feelings.
I live by the truth, the truth of the word of God.
And so therefore I could claim his presence. So he made a promise I’ll be with you.
And then he was his word of assurance to them. He said in verse 19.
But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go except under compulsion.
So I will stretch out my hand, strike Egypt with all my miracles which I should do in the midst of it.
And after that, he will let you go think about that.
You said, well, I don’t think God would be that clear to me. Yes, he would.
I’ll tell you how clear God will be. He’ll be clear enough that you understand what he’s requiring of you.
God would never tell you to do something with that.
Help you understand how and reminding you that He will aid you in the process of word of assurance.
Then requirement is another word.
Remember what he said to me, the burning bush, what was His requirement?
He said, I want you to take off your shoes.
I want you to recognize your listen, I want you to recognize your standing on holy ground, not on shoe leather, not on sandals, on holy ground.
It’s you me. God says the fire and holy ground. There is a reason.
And so he said, take his shoes off.
Now, once in a while, when God’s working in our life, he’ll require something of us and we think foolish.
So Lord, I don’t, I don’t need to do that.
If God tells you to do something that may, he won’t do, he won’t tell you to do something wrong, but he may require you something that appears to be foolish to you.
Let’s say if God spoke to my heart about something and he said to me, I want you to give him that sport coat.
Well, Lord, he, he’s got a lot more money than I have.
And uh besides it may not fit him, give him the sport coat. I could argue all day.
I may have 20 sport coats or it may be my last one.
But the important thing is we obey God and do what he says, do as simple as it may be.
And he said to him, what did he say?
Take off your shoes, do what I tell you to do.
And many people miss the will of God because before God brings them to the, the thing that will make a difference in their life, he takes them step.
He takes us step by step. So how do you teach your Children when they are first born?
They’re growing, they learn simple things. We have to learn to talk to God.
We have to learn to listen to God. We have to learn to be obedient to God.
It’s a process when you go through hard times, it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love us.
It means that God is equipping us to be a better servant, equipping us to understand how to have a personal intimate relationship with him.
And so he’s accomplishing his word. Very clear. God doesn’t speak in generalities.
So in the 10th verse, here’s what he said.
Therefore, having the burning bush experience come now and I will send you to Pharaoh, listen carefully. Watch this.
God will never tell you. This is what I think you should do.
He’s gonna speak specifically clearly, personally, understandably and in a way and with the promise that He’ll enable you to do whatever he requires of you, he says come now come now and I will send you well, that was the hard part.
Now, what are the circumstances? This is how God usually works. Just trust me.
How does God grow us up spiritually? He grows us up spiritually by testing us with trusting Him.
He doesn’t tell us to walk out on a gang plank and fall 100 ft.
He teaches us to trust Him by telling us simple things. And so what does he say?
He says, the only thing you’ll have on your side is what the great I am and that I am will prove sufficient to set 32 million Hebrews in Egyptian bondage.
The great I am will do it.
And I just remind you this morning, the great I am is living within you. Watch this.
We have what he didn’t have at Pentecost.
The Holy Spirit came now when you trusted Jesus as your savior, the holy Spirit of God, the third person of the Trinity is in dwelling.
You ready to equip you enable you instruct you, encourage you to do whatever God requires of you.
And so God says, here, the circumstances, then he says, what’s the goal? The goal is real clear.
The goal is to set my people free.
God will never tell you to do something for which He does not have a reason, a purpose or a goal and listen carefully that the sooner you and I are willing and ready and able to, to obey him and simple things, little things, then what will he do?
He will test the larger things and greater, test and greater test.
But with each one comes a blessing, many people live their whole Christian life miss out on God’s best because their faith only got three ft long when God had intention, a mile long.
Trust me for big things. Trust me, trust me for all that I can do for you.
And yet we limit him because, because we can’t see our way clear.
He doesn’t tell Moses and here’s what you do is for as long as you can see your way clear.
No. And he said the next word is unforgettable. Here’s what I want you to remember.
I am the God of your fathers, Abraham Isaac and Jacob, the God of Jacob has sent me to you.
This is my name forever and this is my memorial name to all generations.
God made it crystal clear, but it took faith on the part of Moses to grasp and to understand this because his last, his last experience in Egypt was running from being persecuted or imprisoned or even killed by a pharaoh.
Now, he’s having to go back unforgettable, unforgettable. I am the God of your fathers.
Then his reassuring word. Listen, he says, he says, I’m gonna stretch out my hand in this 20 verse.
I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my miracles which I shall do in the midst of it.
And after that, uh they’ll let you go. God’s awesome promise.
And what’s the promise if you’ll notice in all these passes? The promise is His presence, his wisdom, his power.
God’s working. If somebody ask you, does God change? What would you say? No?
Well, most of you don’t have any out there.
Let’s just think about this for a moment. Does God change in his character?
What about His power? Does God change in anything? God is omniscient? He knows all things.
He doesn’t know some things today and something tomorrow, that’s the way we operate. He knows all things.
He has all power and when he says I will be with you.
And he says, here’s what I’m going to do. I know they’re not gonna let you go.
I’ll stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my miracles which I should do in the midst of it.
And after that, he will let you go. Pharaoh will let you go.
I will grant this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians and it should be that when you go, you will not go empty handed.
He says, look, not only am I, not only am I gonna free you, but here’s what it’ll happen.
When you leave, you’re gonna have their gold and silver and pots and pans and everything that Egyptians treasure.
You’re taking it with you. Look, look at this, every woman she’ll ask her for her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house, articles of silver, articles of gold clothing and we put them on their sons and daughters.
Thus, you will plunder the Egyptians.
You’re going out rich, everything you wish you had that they have you, you’ll have it.
They took a lot of faith for man in sandals and now in bare feet to believe that God would use him on all those Egyptians with all their might and power and chariots and soldiers and a bunch of Hebrews head toward a sea across the sea free from Egyptian bondage forever.
It took faith, it took obedience to God.
Now he said, why do you, why do you list all these words up here?
Because I want you to think about it.
When you read a passage of scripture, ask yourself some questions, ask yourself some questions, God.
What, what does this say to me? You can ask Him anything.
He will share with you what you need to know to be obedient to Him.
In other words, God is so willing to fill us up with himself and to meet every single need of our life.
He will trust him. And this passage is a wonderful passage about a man who 40 years on the other side of the desert had nothing.
What does that say about forgiveness? But what does it say about chastisement?
What does it say about being disobedient to God and paying the consequences?
There’s some sins that are very, very, very costly. Let’s put ourselves in that passage thing.
What, what I think? Why was that burning bush?
I’ll tell you why because Moses would never have believed out of the blue.
We would say that God would speak to him 40 years later as a mere shepherd and tell him to go back and meet Pharaoh challenge him and then personally lead all of the Hebrews out of Egyptian bondage without firing a shot.
Nobody believed that. But that’s exactly what God did.
Well, you may know in your heart, God has been speaking to you and you’ve been putting it off.
Maybe you’re not even really sure what God is saying. But would you be willing to say to him today?
Lord? I don’t know what you’re saying, but I humble myself before you and I’ll make it my priority to listen to you quietly, listen to you until I hear what you want me to do.
If you’ve never trusted Jesus Christ, as you say, yeah, I can answer that question.
He wants you to ask Him to forgive you of your sins, place your trust in Him, rely upon him and watch him begin to work in your life.
Things you would never dream of.
You know what God will do far more in your life than you expect.
If you will ask him, watch it carefully, ask him and obey him. Step by step.
It all ends up in obeying God, trusting Him no matter what he says and watch him work.
He will change whatever needs to be changed in your life.
If you’ll trust Him, now, you may say what Mose said. Who am I?
I think God loves that. You know why God loves us?
Ask that question because what we say, we’re asking Him, tell me who you are the great I am.
That’s who I am the great I am. And he’s always willing to answer that question.
And then he’s willing to say to us, watch me work. That’s who God is. Amen. Father.
We thank you for being who you are being patient with us, helping us through those difficult times.
We know that we will never see a burning bush as Moses saw it.
We don’t need to, we don’t need a bush. We just need the cross.
And what we see at the cross is your love, goodness, mercy, kindness, generalize to help, help it.
It’s all there we say. Thank you for loving us.
Thank you for forgiving us, teach us the truth, teach us how to walk in it and teach us how to be obedient.
And we pray that you’ll use each of us to bring yourself glory and honor.
And Lord not that we would bring people out of bondage by the thousands.
But one at a time with a personal testimony of your grace in our life in Jesus name. Amen.
Amen.