God Already Knows Your Excuses

Good evening! Thank you all for being here tonight. It's a really exciting night for me. I get my one daughter-in-law helping lead worship, and my other one, we're going to be dedicating her babies tonight at the end of the service. It's really exciting. I'm not a really experienced speaker yet, like pastor, so it takes me a lot longer to put my messages together. I generally spend the entire month praying about it, researching, taking notes, studying, to come up with my message. So about two weeks ago, when we decided to do the baby dedication, and God called me to completely change my message, I was a little bit nervous. I said, okay, God, I don't know if I can come up with something in two weeks. I don't know how I'm going to do this. And God said, Katie, I don't need you to do anything, but listen to my voice. I'll tell you what to say. And so, that night, after prayer, he gave me one verse. One verse, and it was Jeremiah 1-5, which says, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And that's such a beautiful verse, and much more fitting for a baby dedication than the original message that I'd planned. And God's saying, before you were ever even formed in your mother's womb, he knew you. And he's speaking to the two little babies that are going to be dedicated tonight, but he's also speaking to you. He knew exactly who you were going to be at this very moment. He knew who you were going to turn out to be. He knew what kind of choices you would make. He knew the way that you would think. He knew the things that you would do. And he thought, you know what? I want one of them. And I just think that's so cool. But, I said, God, I need more than just one verse. I can't really get up in front of the church and say, Jeremiah 1-5, and sit down. So, I prayed about it for days, and he finally put together the message that you'll hear tonight. And I'm really excited about it. I really hope that it touches you tonight, because I believe it's good, and I believe he knew who was going to be here tonight, and he wanted this message to be heard by you. So, we're going to start in Jeremiah chapter 1. If you have your Bibles, you can open up to that. I'm going to be reading from the NIV version. If you don't have your Bibles, that's fine. It'll be up on the PowerPoint behind us. But, if you are going to be using your own Bible, I would recommend a bookmark if you have one, because I'm going to be flipping back and forth between several chapters tonight. So, if you'd like to open up to Jeremiah chapter 1, I'm going to pray, and then we will get started. So, Jeremiah 1, 1-3 says, The words of Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth, in the territory of Benjamin, the word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, son of Ammon, king of Judah, and through the reign of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, son of Josiah, king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile. Okay, what does that mean, right? Basically, that's Jeremiah's history. Okay? It doesn't really tell us a lot. It tells us his father was a priest, which most likely, because of the times that they were living in, he would have followed in those footsteps and become a priest himself. We know where he lived. He lived in Anathoth, which was just a few miles northeast of Jerusalem. We know this was about the 700th century B.C. We don't know for sure how old Jeremiah was, but theologians believe, based on historical facts, that it was somewhere between the ages of 17 and 21 years old. Aside from that, we know absolutely nothing about Jeremiah's life. Now, I love when... God does this when he purposely doesn't tell us about someone's past. We don't know what kind of kid he was. We don't know if he loved God. We don't know if he made good choices or bad choices. God doesn't tell us because it doesn't matter. God doesn't leave things out accidentally, okay? His word is perfect. It includes everything that he wants us to know. So if he didn't tell us about Jeremiah's life, it's because it doesn't matter. When God calls you with a purpose, it doesn't matter what you've done in your past. He doesn't care what kind of decisions you've made. He doesn't care what kind of person you were up to

the very point that he's speaking to you because it's irrelevant. It's irrelevant for Jeremiah. It's irrelevant for your life. Verse 4 says, the word of the Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nation. Wow, God is saying that he has a plan for Jeremiah's life, something he planned out years before Jeremiah was ever born, and it's big. And Jeremiah responds by saying, ah, sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak. I am only a child. So he's basically saying, God, I realize you have a plan. I realize you made this plan a long time ago, before it was even formed in my mother's womb, but let me tell you why your plan isn't going to work. Has anyone else ever done that? Told God, I know you have a plan for my life. I know you're speaking to me. I know that you've called me to do something, but let me tell you why I can't do it. Jeremiah's excuse was he was too young. I've heard that excuse. Maybe you've used that excuse. Maybe yours sounds a little bit different. Maybe you've said it's too scary. I'm not a public speaker. I could never go up and talk to someone. I don't have the money. I don't have the education. I don't have the experience. What would happen to my family? What about my job? How many of you are willing to admit that God has called you to do something? You know in your heart God has a plan for your life. He has spoken to you, yet you've argued with him and said, no, I cannot do it, and you've given him a list of reasons why. You don't have to be embarrassed to admit that. I do it all the time. Daily I argue with God and tell him why I can't do something or why his plan is wrong, as if I know more than him, as if God needs to know why I can't do something, because obviously he doesn't know the whole story, right? Well if you're willing to admit that you've done that, I want to reassure you it's not just you, me, and Jeremiah. We're going to look at a couple of other people in the Bible who have had similar stories of arguing with God. So we're going to turn to Exodus chapter 3, and we're going to read about Moses. Now Moses was an Israelite living in Egypt. Okay, the Israelites were slaves, and they were growing fast in population. The Egyptian pharaoh was nervous that so many young men were going to grow up strong, and there were so many of them they were going to overthrow

him. So he ordered that the midwives kill every Egyptian baby born, every Israelite male that was born. So Moses' mother had a baby, and she couldn't bear the thought of her son dying. She was blessed to have an Egyptian midwife that couldn't go through with carrying out the pharaoh's orders, so Moses was safe. So his mother couldn't be caught with him, so she took him down to the river, made a little basket, put him in it, and pushed him out into the river to float away, because she thought his chances of survival were better there than with her. So pharaoh's daughter just happened to be bathing in that river and came across this baby. That's no coincidence. So she found this baby, and she thought, I'm going to take this baby home and raise him. So the Israelite, who should have been dead, wound up growing up in the pharaoh's castle as a prince. So he grows up, and one day while he's watching his Israelites' family suffering, being abused, and he watches an Egyptian actually beating someone, and he runs to stop them, and he kills the Egyptian. And he knows that he can't stay there, so he runs away scared, and he runs off in the middle of nowhere to a place called Midian. He starts a new life, he gets married, he becomes a sheep herder, and he becomes a king. And he's just content to live his new life. But the Israelites were still suffering and God needed Moses to go back and help them. So Exodus three, I'm going to read to you. It says, 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 desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw, though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. So Moses thought, I will go over and see this strange sight. Why does the bush not burn up? When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look,

God called to him from within the bush, saying, Moses, Moses. And Moses said, here I am. Do not come any closer, God said. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing is holy ground. Then he said, I am the God of your father, 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. He knew at that moment he was talking to God, the creator of all things. The Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I'm concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians, to bring them up out of the land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. He goes on to say, so now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. God's saying, I need you. Your people, the Israelites, need help. The very God, the creator of the universe, is talking directly to Moses, telling Moses, I need your help. And Moses says, but God, who am I

that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? I'm not the right guy. Why would you send me? You have the wrong person, God. So God goes on to promise that he'll be with Moses, and Moses says in verse 13, well, what should I tell them? Because obviously, God promising to be with you isn't enough, right? Moses needs to know the whole plan, and he probably thinks, well, God, you don't really have this figured out yet. I don't know what I'm gonna tell them. I know you're going to be with me, but I need to know all the details of what you want me to do, so tell me, what am I supposed to tell them? So God goes on, he gives them some more advice, he tells them what to say, and in chapter four, verse one, he says, but what if they don't believe me or listen to me? Obviously, God must not have this planned out, right? Moses is like, God, you didn't think about this. You didn't think about what if they didn't listen to me. I know before the earth was created, you planned this, but you probably forgot to make a plan for what I should do if they don't listen. Let me tell you, God, what could go wrong with your plan. So the Lord goes on to tell him all the ways he's gonna prove to the Egyptians

that he is who he says he is. So at this point, you would think Moses would be like, all right, let's go, right? But in chapter four, verse 10, it says, Moses said to the Lord, oh, 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. You have the wrong person, I can't be a speaker. That verse, I am slow of speech and tongue, some people believe Moses stuttered or had a speech impediment. Some just believe he wasn't quick-witted enough to talk to the Pharaoh. He's telling God, you need to find someone better than me. But we need to get past the idea that God needs us to be good, okay? Because we've got this idea that God needs us to be good, and God needs us to be a good speaker, and he needs us to have a plan. We have to figure this out, we need to get past it, because God doesn't need us to be good at something, he simply needs us to be obedient. Because like Moses, God will be there with you if he's calling you to do something. So now I wanna go to Judges, chapter six. So first, just a quick history on the Israelites during this time. The Israelites were stuck in this cycle of sin, okay? They would love the Lord and honor him,

but then they would get dragged into other things, and idols, and negative things, and they would start doing bad, and they would quit praying, and suddenly they're not following the Lord anymore, and they'd get themselves into trouble. And usually they'd get overtaken. Or something really bad would happen and then they would turn back to God and say God save us help us. We need you They would beg and cry out So God would send them someone says to save them from their problems and they would turn back and say wow Thank you. God. We love you again, and that would last for a little while and then they'd get dragged away into something negative again And it was this cycle over and over and over and over the Israelites would go through this So this is during one of those times when they've cried out to God for help and we're going to read about a man named Gideon Okay, Gideon also is someone we literally know absolutely nothing about prior to his name being mentioned in this verse They tell us who his father is that is literally it. We don't know his age. We don't know his past We don't know his occupation. We know nothing about him So verse Judges chapter 6 verse 11 Says the angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak and Oprah that belonged to Joash The Abiza right where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites Okay, so the Midianites had invaded the Israelite territory in what would today be Palestine It had been about seven years and they had plundered the land So the Israelites were starving literally they were impoverished and starving Verse 12 says when the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon He said the Lord is with you mighty warrior. I Love he's calling him a mighty warrior. He hasn't done anything yet He hasn't acted like a mighty warrior But God is calling him what he knows he will be because that is who God created him to be Verse 13 says But sir Gideon replied if the Lord is with us. Why has all of this happened to us?

Where are all his wonders that his father told us about when they said did the Lord not bring us up out of Egypt? But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of the Midians Here's God the father Literally speaking face to face with Gideon and Gideon is complaining to him complaining God why is this happening? God nothing's going the way that I expected it to be God your promises don't look like they're working Out the way that I thought they would that sound familiar to anybody God. I don't understand what's going on God This isn't the way it's supposed to be. What are you doing God? He's complaining to God But our God is so good and so gracious. It doesn't faze him for a second He just keeps right on going. This is the Lord turned to him and said go in the strength you have and Save Israel out of the Midian's hand. Am I not sending you? but Lord Gideon said How can I? save Israel My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family God you've got the wrong person God now I know that you have a plan and I know that you have a plan God now I know that you have a plan and I know that you've said that I'm a mighty warrior, but how can I? save Israel you must realize I'm not strong enough. I am the weakest of the weakest clan Well, God goes on in the next several verses to promise to be with him and then Gideon has the audacity to say Well, give me a sign Not just give me a sign he actually tells the Lord wait here I'm gonna go get a sacrifice and bring it back. So wait here I'll be back in a little bit with a sacrifice and then you can prove to me that you are who you say you are

Wait here God just a minute So he goes and he gets a sacrifice and he comes back and God is so good the it says in verse 20 the angel of the God said to him take the meat and this unlaven bread and Place them on the rock and pour out the broth and Gideon did so and with the tip of the staff that was in his hand the angel of the Lord touched to the meat and the unlaven bread and fire flared from the rock Consuming the meat and bread and the angel of the Lord disappeared and when Gideon realized that it was the actually the angel of the Lord He explained our sovereign Lord. I've seen the angel of the Lord face to face. Oh, that really is you God There really is you? Oh, okay Thank you for proving it to me So Gideon does one little job that God sends him on he goes to tear down an altar And God protects him during that job, but then God comes back and tells him now it's time to battle the Midianites. And Gideon says, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, I need another sign. You actually proved to me you were who you said you were, and then you protected me like you said that you would, but you have another job for me, I need another sign. Actually I need two more signs. He said, I'm actually, I'm going to take this fleece and I'm going to leave it on the ground and if in the morning when I wake up, the fleece is wet, but the ground all around it is dry, then I'll know you're really God. And when he woke up the next morning, the fleece was wet, but the ground all around it was dry, and he said, oh, but God, could you give me one more sign? I'm going to leave the fleece out again, and in the morning when I wake up, if the fleece is dry, but the ground all around it is wet, then I'll know you're really God. So the next morning he woke up, and sure enough, the fleece was dry, the ground all around it was wet, and he said, oh, I guess, I guess you really are God. How many times do we have to question God? How many times do we have to say, God, could you prove it to me, God, could you give me another sign, God, could you prove that your promises are real, God, could you prove that this is my path, could you just show me one more thing, could you just bear with me and

give me another sign, could you just prove it one more time, because I'm still not sure, still not sure you are who you said you are. Just prove it a couple more times for me, God. But he keeps doing it, that's what's great. Okay, so now we're going to turn again to Acts chapter 9. The story in Acts chapter 9 is the story of Saul, and this is one of my absolute favorite stories in the entire Bible. Saul was a Jewish Pharisee, which means that he studied the Jewish law, he was very well educated, and he loved God, like, he loved God. He lived in a time, though, where Jesus had come to earth, Jesus had done his ministry on earth, he had died on the cross, he'd been resurrected, he ascended into heaven, and people knew that he was the Savior we'd been waiting for. And those people went off to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to all the people that they could, but Saul didn't believe Jesus was the Messiah, okay, he loved God, he loved the Old Testament, okay, but he didn't believe Jesus was who he said he was. So he was determined to stop this false doctrine from being spread. He didn't want people thinking Jesus was the Messiah, and he was going to do whatever it took to stop them. And whatever it took, whether it meant dragging them and throwing them in prison for the rest of their lives, or watching them be stoned, whatever it took. He was determined, and he was angry. So he's on the road one day, walking to Damascus, on his way to try to find people that we would today call Christians, and literally drag them back to Jerusalem to have them stand trial and go to prison. And he was on his way there when he met Jesus. He's walking along, and Jesus, he hears this voice, and he sees this bright light, and Jesus says, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And Saul went, oh, Jesus does exist. Whoops! The light from Jesus was so bright, Saul went blind.

He knew in that moment that what he was doing was wrong, and he was going to turn and spend the rest of his life following Jesus. But nobody else knew that yet. Nobody else knew about his conversion yet. So Jesus tells him, keep going on to Damascus, go to the house of Judas, a man will come and pray with you, and you will get your sight back. So Saul went. So now God goes to a man named Ananias to tell him that he's the one that gets to go pray with Saul, okay? And again, I want to tell you, we know absolutely nothing about Ananias before his name is mentioned in this chapter. Zero. We don't know anything about him other than the fact that he's a disciple, which means that he believed Jesus Christ was the Messiah. So we are going to read Acts chapter 9, verse 10. In Damascus, there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, Ananias, yes, Lord, he answered. The Lord told him, go to the house of Judas on straight streets and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight. Lord," Ananias answered, I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. He has come here with the authority from the chief priests to arrest all who come in your name. Lord, don't you know who Saul is? Lord, don't you know what you're asking me to do? Lord, don't you know this is bad? Don't you know this is dangerous? He could take me to jail. He could kill me. You must not know because you wouldn't

tell me to do it if you knew. You must not know, God. So that's four. Four men. Four men, and every single one of them told God that he didn't know what he was doing. I don't know about you, but I think God knows what he's doing. I think God has a plan. Jeremiah actually tells us later in his book that God says, for I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. He's saying, I have good plans for your life. And just like these four men, God has a plan for your life. And it is good. What excuses are you giving God? Doesn't it sound a little bit silly when you hear the things these men are saying? Doesn't it sound a little bit silly to hear these men saying, God, I can't speak to people. God, I'm not strong enough. God, I can't do this. It sounds a little silly when they say it. Well, guess what? Your excuses sound a little silly to God, too. This is where it gets good. Do you know how God responded to each of these men? This just blew me away when I read this. This is so great. I'm going to start in Acts since that's where we are. Acts chapter 9, verse 15, the Lord said to Ananias, Go. Go. No more excuses. Quit talking. Go. And if you jump back to Gideon, in Judges chapter 7, verse 9 says, Get up and go. Get up and go. And if you look at Moses, Moses, in chapter 4, verse 12, it says, Now go.

Go. Stop giving excuses. Go. And his answer to Jeremiah, it's my favorite. It's my favorite. I'm going to read verses 9 through 11. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot, to tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant. The word of the Lord came to me and said, What do you see, Jeremiah? And basically he told Jeremiah, Before you were formed in the mother's womb, I called you to be a prophet. And a prophet means to prophesize. And to prophesy means to foresee something that will happen in the future. He's saying, I called you to be a prophet. Now prophesy. Right now. Don't think about it. Don't make a plan. Don't make excuses. Don't work things out in your head. I called you to prophesy. Now prophesy, Jeremiah. What do you see? No more excuses. What do you see? Do it. Go. Right now. God is telling you the same thing. He has a plan for your life. Before you were ever formed in your mother's womb, God knew what you were called to do. He put a desire in your heart. He doesn't want your excuses. Because in every story we've read, He promises, I am there with you. We need to stop thinking that we need to be good enough, strong enough, talented enough, educated enough. Because we have the best possible thing on our side. We have God on our side going with us. We don't need to have everything lined up. We don't need to know the entire plan. We simply need to

know that God told us to go and we need to obey Him and go. And maybe you say, Katie, that's really great. I really want to go. I know God is calling me to something. I want to go, but I don't know what God is calling me for. I don't know why I'm here. I don't know what my purpose is. I hear that all the time. What's my purpose in life? Why am I here? I don't know my purpose. I'm going to tell you right now what your purpose is. But I want to look at these four men really quick one more time. Jeremiah's purpose was for God to use him to save his people. Moses' purpose was for God to use him to save his people. Gideon's purpose was for God to use him to save his people. And Ananias' purpose was for God to use him to save his people. I think it's clear God's plan for your life is to use you to save his people. That's why you're here. That's it. That's your purpose. To save God's people. And guess what? It's not as hard as it used to be. You don't have to go to battle and fight the Midianites. You don't have to go before the Pharaoh and demand that he let your people go. All you have to do to be saved is to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. That's it. We all fall short of the glory of God. None of us could get to heaven on our own. None of us are good enough. We should be punished to a lifetime of eternity in hell because of our sins. But God said, I want you. And he sent his son Jesus Christ to this earth to live a perfect life and to die on the cross to pay the ultimate price for our sins so that we could spend eternity with him. That's it. That's all it takes. And your purpose is to tell people that. To tell people that Jesus Christ is the way to heaven. That you can be saved through Jesus Christ. Because with Jesus Christ you don't have to suffer under bondage and sin anymore. You don't have to be damned to eternal hell. You are saved through Jesus. And that is your purpose.

Your purpose is to tell people that. So that God can use you to save his people. It's simple. It's not easy. It's not easy. These men that we talked about, some of them went on to live some pretty difficult lives. But God was with them. And God may use you to save millions of people like Moses. Or God may use you to save one like Ananias. But the person God used Ananias to save was Saul, who became Paul. And Paul went on to be the greatest evangelist, church planner, missionary that has ever existed. And millions upon millions of people have been saved through the writings that God gave him. Because one person, Ananias, went when God said go. Because he trusted him. Imagine what God could do for you if you said, I'm ready, God. I'm ready to go. Imagine how the world could be changed if you just obeyed and listened to God. Now, first and foremost, if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, that's the first step. Because you can't tell people about him if you don't know him. And it's simple, like I said a minute ago. If you don't know Jesus Christ, you simply need to say, God, I believe that you sent Jesus to die on the cross. And I'm sorry for the way I used to live. I love you. And I want to follow you. I believe Jesus died on the cross. I want a relationship with you. It's literally that easy. So tonight I'm asking you that if you don't know Jesus, that you don't wait another minute. That God is telling you, tonight is your night and you need to go. And you need to just say that. That's it. And you can sit in your seat and say it. Or in a minute you can come up here and pray. And we will happily pray with you. And I guarantee you, if you make that decision tonight for the first time, there will be a giant party in heaven. And God will be looking down and saying, another one of my children is saved.

Let's celebrate. Or maybe you say, Katie, I'm saved, I've just been scared. I've been scared to go. I've been making excuses. But you know what, as of right now, I'm done making excuses. But I'm still a little nervous. Maybe you need someone to pray with you. If that's you, it means I want to. I want someone to pray with me, to just give me the courage and the faith to just go. And let God use me to save his people. I want you to come up front, and me and the other ministers, we want to pray for you. Dinah's gonna sing us a song. If you want prayer, come up. If you don't, just sit and stand quietly in your seat, and you can pray to God all on your own. And after that, we're going to do the main communication.