It's Never Too Late for Your Calling

Hey, we're Todd and Julie Mullins, Senior Pastors here at Christ Fellowship Church, and we're so glad that you're tuning in for service today. Yeah, Christ Fellowship is one church that meets in lots of different locations, including right here with you. Yeah, and our prayer for you today is that you would sense God's love for you. See, I don't personally know all that you're going through today and what you're up against, but God does. And He hears your prayers, and He knows your name, and He's right here for you today as you call out to Him. Yeah, thanks again for joining with us today. We love you, and we're praying for you. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. It's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. The Bible inspired what we're celebrating this week, our Independence Day. Welcome to church today. Psalm 16 says, In the presence of the Lord, there is fullness of joy. That means today, it's good news for us. We don't have to chase it, for it's already here. For the presence of the Lord is here in this place. So we sing together. That this is the day you were made. So I'll rejoice and be glad, rejoice and be glad it is. For this is where I believe, That you are more than enough, you're more than enough for me. We sing. You are faithful to your promise, you are strong when I am weak. When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need.

The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. We testify. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh my soul, oh my soul, I will bless his name. All that is within me say. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. So Jesus, oh come what may. You are worthy of all, you're worthy of all my praise. We sing. You are faithful to your promise, you are strong when I am weak. When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. It's more than a feeling. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Sing oh my soul, oh my soul, I will bless his name. All that is within me say. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. The world didn't give it, the world can't take it away. Can't take it away. ♪ Hey, oh we, every voice ♪ Let it rise up ♪ Like a river ♪ And overflowing ♪ Sing Holy Spirit ♪ Let it pour ♪ Let it pour out ♪ With no limit ♪ Overflowing ♪ Holy Spirit ♪ So let it rise, let it rise

♪ Let it rise up ♪ Like a river ♪ And overflowing ♪ Holy Spirit ♪ Would you pour it out, Lord ♪ Let it pour out ♪ With no limit ♪ And overflowing ♪ Holy Spirit ♪ Yeah So every breath, every answered prayer, every moment of mercy is a reminder that the Lord is good. He's kind, He's faithful. So church, today we lift this up all across this room. ♪ The joy of the Lord ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ The joy of the Lord ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength Everything I need. ♪ Hold my soul, I will bless His name ♪ All that is within Hold my soul. ♪ Hold my soul, I will bless His name ♪ All that is within One more time. ♪ Hold my soul, I will bless His name ♪ All that is within One more time. ♪ The joy of the Lord

♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength Thank you, Jesus. We worship you, Father. You are our strength. You are our hope. All we need is in you, O God. ♪ Oh, you come ♪ At the right time ♪ When I least expect it ♪ Never behind Come on, is this true for you? ♪ So why would I be surprised ♪ When you deliver ♪ Every time ♪ So on mountaintops ♪ On mountaintops Lord, you say the same. ♪ Yes, He is there In valleys low. ♪ In valleys low ♪ You never change ♪ And I believe ♪ That I will see ♪ The goodness of the Lord ♪ I'm confident of this ♪ I'm confident ♪ As seasons they change ♪ Your faithfulness ♪ Remains ♪ Jesus, your faithfulness remains

♪ Oh Lord, I trust in your name ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Lord, you go ♪ You go before me ♪ To prepare a blessing ♪ You make a way ♪ You always make a way ♪ It's more ♪ Than I could imagine ♪ More than I can fathom ♪ Or comprehend So on the mountaintop we will sing. Oh Lord, you say the same. ♪ You say the same ♪ In valleys low You never change. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh You know what He said, come on. ♪ Yes, I believe ♪ That I will see ♪ The goodness of the Lord I'm confident of this. ♪ I'm confident ♪ As seasons change ♪ Your faithfulness remains ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh I have this hope in you, Jesus. I have this hope in you, Jesus. Because you are ♪ God of my present

♪ God of my future ♪ You write my story ♪ You hold it ♪ All together, God of my present, God of my future ♪ ♪ You write my story, You hold it all together ♪ ♪ God of my present, God of my future ♪ ♪ You write my story, You hold it all together ♪ ♪ All together, God of my present, God of my future ♪ ♪ You write my story, You hold it all together ♪ ♪ So in faith when You claim it, yes I believe that I will see it ♪ ♪ I will see the goodness of the Lord, yes I believe it ♪ ♪ I'm calm, baby, as seasons change, Your faithfulness is healing me ♪ ♪ God of my present, God of my future, You write my story, You hold it all together ♪ ♪ God of my present, God of my future, You write my story, You hold it all together ♪ ♪ God of my present, God of my future, You write my story, You hold it all together, yes You do, yes You do ♪ Welcome home church. We believe that we will see the goodness of God. What we're doing today, the Bible says we are entering His gates, entering His courts, entering His presence with thanksgiving. Aren't you thankful today that we have a good God? Conrad, you're over here leading us in worship my friend. Aren't you thankful today that we worship such a good God? Come on up here, come on up here. Hey everyone, this is Conrad. And every week, those of you joining online, welcome home. This is Conrad and every week he sits on the front row and he helps me lead worship. He brings his microphone and hey buddy, I'm so thankful for God's hand on your life and the joy that He's given you. Thank you for coming into this place and coming in and leading from the front row. I want you to know God's given you a song, He's given you courage, He's given you a word for people, leadership. Hey, we love you so much. All right, come on, you're gonna keep singing with us. Hey, here's what I'm thinking about as we're singing these songs and I've actually written it up here on the platform. This has been my verse just this week out of Romans 8. He says, if the Lord is for you, He can be

against you. And then it would go on to say, nothing can separate you from the love of God. Nothing can separate His hand from your story. Nothing could separate His hand from covering your life. Nothing could separate His hand from your family. Nothing could separate His hand from the work of your hands today. And I want you to know if you're new, this is for you today too. He loves you more than you know. Church, you can have a seat. We want to have a time of communion together as the church. And if you're new with us, we want you to know we serve open communion, which just means if you have a right relationship with the Lord, if you've declared Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life, you can partake in this moment. And you would have gotten the elements, cracker representing the body of Jesus, and juice representing the fruit of the vine or the new covenant, forgiveness of sins. And our team's gonna sing over you and then Pastor Cole's gonna lead us through those elements together. But my reminder is this, as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians, that we would not take of these elements in an unholy or unworthy manner, meaning take the next minute, search your heart, ask God forgiveness. He is faithful to save. He is faithful to forgive today. God, we thank you for this holy moment. It is yours. This day belongs to you. We do not come here without intention. Our intention is to meet with you, God. Would you clean us, make us holy? In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Take a moment, church. You said you woke me up this morning And my cup is overflowing You have blessed me and I know it So I hold you my praise. Now I'm standing here forgiving. Knowing life is worth the living. You're the God of new beginnings. So I hold you my praise. Praises, O Lord, you deserve. O Lord, you deserve all of my praises. O Lord, you deserve. Only you deserve all of my praises. Praises, O Lord, you deserve. O Lord, you deserve all of my praises. O Lord, you deserve. O Lord, you deserve all of my praises. We're remembering a sacrifice that Jesus made 2,000 years ago. We're reminding our soul of the forgiveness and the healing and the hope that we have access to right this very moment. The beautiful thing about the gospel is that Jesus came not just to die for me, but to die as me. He said, this is my body, which is going to be broken for you. And he was broken so that I could be made whole. Today, I don't know what you're facing. I don't know what you've walked in here with that might feel broken.

But Jesus, he died on the cross so that you could be made whole today. He died so that you could have hope. He died so that you could have healing inside of your life that you never thought was possible. We couldn't earn it on our own. But Jesus, he's died for us and as us. So today, I want you just to take a moment to think about the sacrifice, his body broken. And when you're ready, you can take the bread. He then took an ordinary cup and he said, this is my blood. It's a new covenant. For all of humanity's history, we had been reaching out towards heaven, building towers and offering sacrifices and just trying to get closer to God. But now Jesus, he stepped out of heaven so that we could have a relationship with the Father. It's a new covenant. No more striving, no more trying, just receiving the grace and the mercy of Jesus. Today, whatever you've experienced, whatever mistakes you may have in your past, there's grace for you today. And I want to encourage you to take a minute to reflect, be grateful for the covenant that we have. When you're ready, you can take the cup. Jesus, I'm grateful today for your sacrifice. God, not one that we remember that is echoing just years ago, but it echoes in my life today. God, it's not just a historical moment, but it's a moment of power that we have access to right now, today, in this very moment. So Jesus, we put you at the center of our lives. You are worthy of our praise. You're worthy of our attention. You're worthy of our devotion because of the sacrifice that you made. And we, as the church, we will not hold back our song. We will not hold back our praise, but we will give you everything that you deserve today. And the church said, Amen. Come on, I think the only appropriate response is to stand to our feet across this place, begin to lift our voice, singing. Now I'm standing here forgiving. Knowing life is worth the living. You're the God of new beginnings. So I owe you my praises. Praises. Oh Lord, you deserve. Oh Lord, you deserve all my praises. Oh Lord, you deserve.

Only you deserve all my praises. Oh Lord, you deserve. Oh Lord, you deserve all my praises. Oh Lord, you deserve. Only you deserve all my praises. Come on, just begin to say, Thank you. Come on, just begin to say, Thank you. Oh, even if you never did another thing. But when I think of all you've done When I think of all you've brought me through When I think about your love I can never say nothing new When I think of all you've done When I think of all you've brought me through ♪ When I think about Your love ♪ ♪ I can never stay in love, baby ♪ ♪ When I think about Your touch ♪ ♪ When I think about Your love, baby ♪ ♪ When I think about Your love, I can never stay in love, baby ♪ ♪ It's getting crazy, crazy, oh Lord, You deserve it ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, You deserve all my praising ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, You deserve, all that You deserve of my praising ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, You deserve, oh Lord, You deserve all my praising ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, You deserve, all that You deserve of all my praising ♪ ♪ When I think of all You've done ♪ ♪ When I think of all You've brought me through ♪ ♪ When I think of all You've done ♪ ♪ I can never say enough things to You, Lord ♪ ♪ When I think of all You've done ♪

♪ When I think of all You've brought me through ♪ ♪ When I think of all You've done ♪ ♪ I can never say enough things to You, Lord ♪ Come on, say thank you. ♪ I can never say enough things to You, Lord ♪ Come on, one more time, let's say thank you. ♪ I can never say enough things to You, Lord ♪ Come on, let's give our God the highest praise today. Yeah. Come on. No place I'd rather be than right here with you. Whether you're joining with us online or here in the Gardens Campus, we're so glad that you're here. Hey, why don't you turn to one or two people around you, give them a high five, and you can grab your seats today. Well, church, it's so good to have you with us today. I'm so honored to have you in the room or joining with us online. We love you so much. If we haven't gotten the chance to meet yet, my name is Cole. I get to serve as the campus pastor here at Palm Beach Gardens. And man, happy July 5th, July four and a half, whatever it is for you. We're so glad that you're here. And listen, last weekend, we took some time to celebrate our incredible country

and the gift that we have to worship in our country freely. What an incredible blessing it is to be an American, to live here in this country. We celebrated that last weekend. We wanna take a moment today just to honor God and be grateful for what He's given us. And that is this land. This land of the free. This land I love. This land I love. This land I love. This land of the free. This land of purple mountain, rivers wide, wild, the soil of a billion seeds, land of Chesapeake and Cherokee, land of sojourners, seekers, land of progress and preacher with the beat of every borough and the hero of the classroom teacher. This land of Bell, Thomas Edison, land of Jackie Robinson, land of bandstand and farmland, bluegrass and grace land. This land is a Sunday meal, still warm on the kitchen oven. The warm brilliance of Abraham Lincoln and the bravery of Harriet Tubman. This land is a good movie in the making, an idea in the waking, light of liberty still blazing, a bold prayer in the praying.

Yes, this land is a land where we never forget, where we may fall, but we shall rise. Land of one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Land of these many states united, indivisible under God. Land of dreams on every street and hope on every block. Land of working, land of wading through the water, through our fears, land of our father's blood, land of our mother's tears, land of 250 years of America, America, the young and old, America, the people, America, the beautiful. This land I love. Well, I wanna welcome everybody joining us across all of our campus locations today and everybody joining us online. And you may not know this, but I need your help for a second this morning. Over the last three weeks, our staff and volunteers have hosted three weeks of Kids Camp in a row. and we had over 400 decisions for Jesus in those three weeks. Come on, can you help me thank all of our volunteers, all of our staff, every sacred moment. We're believing we will not know for a long time

the impact of those weeks. And I covet your prayers because starting tomorrow, our high school kids are gonna be at movement camp. And it is like Christmas Eve for me, y'all. This is my favorite time of year. And so please be in prayer this week because we are believing for a mighty move of God unlike anything we've ever seen before. And so every time you think of us, would you pray? Well, as you've already heard, we're jumping into a new series today all about the life of Moses. I am pumped because over the next couple of weeks, we are going to be looking at the life and legacy of Moses. Now, one of the things that I think is most important to say from the very beginning is that when you look at the life of Moses, you begin to realize that it wasn't really this one great accomplishment that kind of set his life apart or one great accomplishment that defined who Moses was. Really, it's a series of encounters with God. And each and every one of those encounters, they marked Moses in a significant way. I love Moses because he is proof that one moment in God's presence can change the trajectory of your life forever. Come on, is there anybody who believes that today? That one moment in the presence of God can change your life forever.

And so really our goal over the next couple of weeks is not to meditate on the life of Moses. It's to meet with the God who marked him because what God did for Moses, he wants to do for each and every one of us. He wants to mark you too. Now, Moses is obviously one of the most recognizable names in scripture, right? Everybody has heard the name of Moses and there's a few reasons for that. In the New Testament, Moses is actually the most referenced Old Testament character in the New Testament. Of all the characters we read about, all the people we read about in the Old Testament, the New Testament has more to say about Moses than any other person. And in the Old Testament, he actually gets 45 chapters in the Old Testament that explain all about his life. There's only one person who gets a longer biography in the Old Testament, and that is David. Now, Moses is understood to be the author of the first five books of the Bible, okay? The Torah or the Pentateuch. Moses is the author of those. He's the one who actually captured those stories and wrote them down. And so Moses is kind of a big deal. But in order to understand the man, the myth, the legend,

we've got to go back to the beginning of his story. Because how many of you know every great hero has an origin story? What's interesting about Moses is that before he was a man standing barefoot before a holy God, he wasn't just a shepherd. He was a baby who had survived genocide. He was a priest who had everything and then lost it. He was a murderer carrying decades of shame and regret. He was a man who thought that his best years were behind him. And I don't know if you've ever felt that way, but I know there have been plenty of times in my life where I felt like my best days were behind me. I felt like maybe I couldn't escape my past. And again, Moses shows us that one moment in the presence of God can change everything. So you may know, but Moses was actually born under a death sentence, right? So Pharaoh had actually ordered that all of the Hebrew children be killed. And so he was a young boy at that time when that decree went out. And so his mother, she hid him. For three months, she hid him. And then eventually she could hide him no longer and things were getting so bad that she puts him in a basket and sends him down the Nile River. Now that sounds like child abuse.

That sounds like neglect, but it's not. She was hopeless. It was out of desperation. She was actually trying to protect him. And thankfully the Lord had already gone before him. So in God's providence, Pharaoh's daughter actually picks up this basket from the Nile River and Moses ends up being raised in the household of Pharaoh, which means that he had the best education. He had access to every resource. I mean, he literally grew up in the palace. He had everything that Egypt could offer him. And yet Moses, he never forgot who he really was. So when he was 40 years old, Moses actually witnesses an Egyptian who is beating a Hebrew slave. Remember, that's the moment in history that we're talking about, that the Israelites are enslaved in Egypt. And so he's 40 years old. grown up in the household of Pharaoh, and he witnesses an Egyptian beating one of his own people, and he gets upset, he gets frustrated, angry, indignant, and he tries to do something about it, and things get out of hand, and he ends up killing that Egyptian in order to protect one of his own. And in that moment, as Moses kind of buries this body in the sand with it, kind of die all of his dreams, he thinks his life is absolutely over. And Pharaoh, when he learns

that Moses is killed an Egyptian, he obviously, he puts out like a death threat. He's like, we're gonna kill him. He's chasing after Moses, and so Moses has to flee from Egypt. He is quite literally in this moment running for his life because he is a marked man. And for the next 40 years, Moses kind of quietly disappears from history. In those 40 years, he marries, he starts a family, and he spends all of his days tending to someone else's sheep. If you had met Moses then, you probably wouldn't have guessed there would be anything remarkable about his story. If you had met Moses in this season of his life, you wouldn't have guessed that God was going to use him to do anything significant, because again, his greatest opportunities seem behind him. His biggest failure defined his story, and his dreams look dead, buried in the sands of Egypt. But God, but God had other plans for his life. At 80 years old, at 80 years old, if you need a little, if you're feeling like you are one of our seasoned saints, and you need a little bit of hope today, it is 80 years old when Moses encounters God in the middle of the mundane, and everything changes. Because one day, God showed up in an extraordinary way. And we're gonna read this scripture to you today

across all of our campuses, Exodus chapter three, starting in verse one. Here's what the Bible says. It says, now Moses was tending to 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 he came to a place called Horeb, the mountain of God. 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. So Moses thought, that's weird. I'll go over and I will see this strange sight. Why does this bush not burn up? 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. Don't come any closer, God told him. Take off the sandals on your feet for you are standing on holy ground. And then he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. And at this, Moses, actually, he hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. And then the Lord said to him, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying because of their slave drivers and I'm concerned. I'm concerned about their suffering.

And so Moses, listen up. I've come down to rescue my people. I've come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the land into a land that is good and spacious, a land flowing with milk and honey, the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. You got all that? Can you repeat it? Go, all right. So, and now, here's what God says. Now the cry of the Israelites has reached me. I've seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. And so now, Moses, here's what you need to know. I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. So this is the moment. At 80 years old, when God meets Moses in the middle of the mundane, he calls to him from this burning bush, and he calls to him and asks him to do something incredibly specific and incredibly significant. He calls Moses to lead God's people, the Israelites, out of slavery in Egypt, where they have been enslaved for over 400 years. And although God spoke clearly, and although that calling is specific and significant, I also have to imagine that it was pretty scary.

I have to imagine that when Moses heard what God was asking him to do, that his heart was maybe gripped by fear or insecurity. Security, because God was asking him to do something incredibly significant. And if we read the Bible, which we're gonna do today, surprise, if we read the Bible, you will see that Moses is not exactly enthusiastic about this encounter at first. In fact, when God calls Moses, Moses actually has five different objections to what God is asking him to do. Here's the first one. Objection number one is this. Moses goes, God, who am I? Who am I that you would ask me to do this? Who am I that you would ask me to free your people? Here's the way Moses says it, Exodus 3.11. But Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? And so Moses' first response to this inquiry of God is insecurity, because even at his best, even at his best, Moses probably would have been insecure about what God was asking him to do. But God didn't call to Moses at his best. He didn't call to him when everything was going well, when he was on top of the mountain, but instead he reached out to Moses in one of the most down periods of his life, right?

Because after everything Moses had been through, after all that he had done, after hiding for so long, he certainly feels like, God, you got the wrong guy. Like, there's a mistake here. God, you must be confused. Do you know who I am, right? Who am I, he says. Who am I to deliver these people? Who am I to stand up against Pharaoh, right? God, don't you know? Don't you know I'm an orphan? Don't you know I'm a murderer? Don't you know I'm a coward, a shepherd, a nobody? And God's response to Moses is beautiful. In verse 12, here's what it says. And God said to Moses, I'll be with you. I will be with you, and this will be a sign to you that it is I who I've sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. I love that God doesn't actually tell him like, oh no, Moses, you got this, you're good, you're the guy. He just goes, I'll be with you. I'll be with you. And when this is all over, Moses, I'm gonna bring you back to this very place. And it's on this very place where you're gonna worship me after you have seen all that I will do through you. God basically says, you're not enough, Moses, but I am. I'll be with you.

I will help you do this thing that I've called you to do. And then I'm gonna bring you back here to this place where you can remember all the fear and all the insecurity and all these objections that you have right now. But I'm gonna bring you through all of this. And once it's done, you'll worship me here. Now, here's what I believe. There's one thing that's true for each and every person who is here today at any one of our campuses. Here's what you need to know. God has a specific and significant calling on your life. Every single person, every single person in this house today, if you can hear my voice, God wants to remind you today that he has a specific and significant calling on your life. Moses is not unique in that sense. God is calling to you as well. And sometimes, if we're honest, we have a similar objection, like, who am I? God. And God wants to remind you today that no matter where you come from, no matter where you've been, no matter what you have done, God wants to use you in ways far beyond anything you can conceive or imagine. He's got a specific call on your life, a significant call on your life. And no matter what lies behind you, God is calling you. He's inviting you to respond to him. And when God makes that calling clear to you, when he calls you to do something hard or scary

or costly or impossible, our first inclination, like Moses, is insecurity. It's insecurity. Who am I, God? Who am I, God, that you would choose to use me? To which God wants to say to each and every one of us today, no, no, no, I'll be with you. I'll be with you. So I want you to know, as we begin this message today, God has a significant and specific calling on your life. And even if it seems scary, he wants you to know today, he will be with you. He will be. But here's Moses' second objection, right? First one, he goes, who am I? But then he's like, okay, God, but who are you? Who am I? But God, who are you? Which is a really interesting question if you think about it. Here's what he says. Moses said to God, okay, Lord, fine. Suppose I go and I say to the Israelites, the God of your fathers has sent me to you. And if they ask me, what is his name? What should I tell them? Like, if they ask me, what is your name? What should I tell them? And I want you to notice what happens here, right? Because Moses has already told,

or God's already told Moses, like, I'll be with you. But now there's another specific question that surfaces, like, okay, God, but who exactly are you? Great, you're gonna be with me, but who are you? And you need to remember that Moses has spent the last 40 years of his life in Midian. And you may not know, but that would have meant that he was surrounded by people who worshiped many different gods, okay? And the 40 years before that, he spent in Egypt. And Egypt, as a nation, they had their own deity with its own name and own territory. They had hundreds and hundreds of gods. So in neither of these places did they really worship the one true God of Israel. And so Moses is essentially asking, like, well, they're gonna ask me which God sent me. And what do I say to them? What do I tell them? And God's response is beautiful. Here's what it says. And so God said to Moses, God said to Moses, I am who I am, I am who I am. Now, it's worth pausing there for just a second, because one of the things that God is doing is reminding Moses there actually is no other God. I am the only one, I am who I am. And we could pause here, we could do a whole message on those five words, I am who I am. Because in this, God actually does give Moses

his personal name. We would actually take these words, and this is where Yahweh comes from. We would use that name to describe God, because it's the name he's given to himself, right? So that's one of the things, God's going to Moses like, there's only one God. But Moses is actually asking another question too, because he isn't just asking for his name, he's going like, okay, God, but are you really enough? Like, are you strong enough? Can you stand against Pharaoh? Can you really rescue a nation? Can you really accomplish what you're asking me to do, right? And so it's not just questioning whether or not God exists, it's actually, he's trying to figure out if God is sufficient for what he's calling him to do. And so I want to continue reading, here's what it says. God says to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites. Tell them, I am has sent you. Tell them, I am has sent you. And God also said to Moses, say to the Israelites, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation, right? So this is God's response. He says, I am who I am, tell them, I am sent you. And what's interesting to me in that moment is like,

God doesn't give Moses his resume. He doesn't tell him about all the things that he's done in the past. He's just like, no, I am. I am the self-existent one. I am the eternal one. I am the God who depends on no one and needs nothing, right? He simply is the God who is. In other words, God is saying, Moses, you don't need to know everything the future holds because you know the one who holds the future. You don't need to know everything that the future holds because you know the one who holds the future. He's going, like, I am everything you will need. I am everything that you will need. When Pharaoh refuses to let the people know, I am, like I'm enough. When Pharaoh refuses to let the people know, I am. When the people complain about you, Moses, I am. When you feel overwhelmed, I am. When you don't know what to say, I am. When the obstacle is bigger than you, I am. And in many ways, we feel some of the same things when God asks us, calls us to step into something new. We feel all of that insecurity and time and time again, God just wants to say to each and every one of us, he is. When people complain about you, God's going, I am. I am enough. When you don't think you can handle it, you can't, I am. I am enough, right?

He just speaks these words, I am. The greatest answer to an uncertain future is not information. The greatest answer to an uncertain future is not information. It's a greater revelation of who. who God is, because God often calls us into uncertainty. Some of us aren't struggling because we don't know what God is asking us to do. If we're honest, some of us are struggling because we're not convinced that God is big enough to do it through us. Some of us already know what God's asked us to do, but we hesitate, we object, and at the end of the day, maybe we're not convinced that God is big enough to do it through us, right? But our confidence isn't found in understanding every step of God's plan. Our confidence is found in knowing the God who wrote the plan, the God who is enough, and so when you know who he is, you can trust him with what he asks you to do. Here's the third objection from Moses on that day at the burning bush. He says this, well, what if they don't believe me, God? Like, what if I go and I tell them that you sent me and I tell them your name and what if they don't believe me? Here it is in scripture, chapter four, verse one. Moses answered, what if they don't believe me or listen to me and say, the Lord did not appear to you?

So now Moses moves from questioning himself to just further questioning, you know, he went from questioning himself to questioning God. Now he's questioning everyone. Like, what if they don't believe me? What if it costs me something? What if I obey you, God, and this doesn't work out for me? What if I step out in faith and they reject me, right? What if I look foolish, and if we're honest, this is where a lot of us live. God asks us to do something and you go, well, what if they don't believe me? What if I look foolish? What if I lose a friend? So maybe God asks you to invite a friend to church and you're like, what if they say no, right? We use different words, but it's the same thing. God calls you to share your faith. You're like, well, what if they reject me? God calls you into ministry. Well, what if it doesn't work out? We have all of these same kind of questions, right? Again, God asks you to share your faith. Well, what if they think I'm weird? What if they find that strange? God tells you to forgive, and you're like, what if they never change? Like, we have all of these questions. What if, what if, what if? See, we're often, I'm convinced,

less afraid of obedience than we are of what might happen if we actually do obey. Because obedience costs you something. Surrender's gonna cost you something. I think sometimes we're less afraid of just actually listening to God and being obedient to God. We're actually afraid of what will happen if we do obey. And so God has this incredible response to Moses in this moment, right? Here it is in chapter four, verse two and three. Then the Lord said to him, Moses, what is that in your hand? Remember, Moses is a shepherd, right? So he's like, it's a staff. It's a shepherd's staff, right? And so the Lord said to Moses, throw it on the ground. Now, what happens over the next nine or 10 verses, I wanna explain to you today, because when Moses throws that staff on the ground, immediately it turns into a snake, right? God's performing like a sign or a wonder for Moses. He's like, what if they don't believe me? He's like, well, watch this, right? And so Moses throws down his staff and it turns into a snake and he picks it up and it turns back into a staff. God tells Moses like, oh, put your hand in your cloak. And when he puts his hand in his cloak and brings it out, it's diseased, it's leprous.

And so he puts it back in and it comes back out and it's healed. God says, if they don't believe you, show them those two things. And if they really don't believe you, take some water out of the river Nile and put it on the ground and that water will turn to blood. By the way, Moses had to use all three of these signs and wonders in the process of doing what God had called him to do. What's interesting to me is that when Moses says, well, what if they don't believe me? What if they don't accept me? God just simply reminds him that he wasn't going in his own strength. He would not be able to deliver the people in his own power, but God's power could be on display through him. The power was never in the staff. The power was never in Moses. The power was in the God who could use extraordinary things for extraordinary purposes, right? The power was in the God of the universe who was calling Moses to do something specific. And God doesn't ask Moses to come up with something he doesn't have. Instead, he asks him to surrender what he already has. For Moses, it was the staff. But for you and I, it'll be something different. We might have a few shepherds here today,

but most of us don't carry around a shepherd's staff. But God's going, what's in your hand? What's in your hand? God was calling Moses to surrender something that he already had. So I gotta ask you today, what's in your hand that God might want to use to display his power and strength through you? Like what gifts has he already given to you? What opportunities has he already placed in front of you? What relationships has he already entrusted to you? He starts with what he's already placed in your hands. Your responsibility, my responsibility is simply obedience. God's responsibility is the outcome. Our responsibility is obedience. God's responsibility is the outcome. Remember, God doesn't ask you to produce the miracle. He asks you to surrender the staff. And so when you feel like, what if they don't believe me? God goes, what's in your hand? Because I'm gonna take something ordinary and use it to do something extraordinary so that my power would be on display through you. All right, we gotta move a little faster. Objection number four. Moses goes, but I don't have what it takes, God. I don't have what it takes. Moses said to the Lord in the scriptures, pardon your servant, Lord. I've never been eloquent, neither in the past

nor since we've started this conversation, God. Like I'm slow of speech. I'm slow of tongue, right? And so now Moses, he gets really specific. God, let me tell you exactly why you've chosen the wrong person. You're calling me to speak to Pharaoh and lead a nation, but do you remember, God, I can't speak. I've never been a good communicator. I wasn't born with that gift. I just don't have what it takes. And I wonder how often we feel the same way. And God calls us to do something. You're going, Lord, I don't have what it takes. Now you might say, like Moses did, I'm not a good speaker. Or you might say something like, I don't know enough. I'm not smart enough. I'm too young. I'm too old. We have all of these excuses. I've messed up too much. You don't know where I've been. You don't know what I've done. We all have that thing. Listen carefully. God has a significant and specific calling on each and every one of our lives. But we all have that thing that we secretly feels like disqualifies us from the call of God on our lives.

Disqualifies us from doing what God has asked us to do. But listen carefully to God's response because he doesn't say, no, Moses, you're actually a phenomenal speaker. I'm gonna give you that gift. I'm gonna take care of it. He doesn't argue with Moses. He just asked him a question. Verse 11, chapter four, the Lord said to him, who gave human beings their mouths? I love that question. Is Moses like, Lord, don't you remember I'm not a good speaker? And this, he's basically like, boy, shut your mouth. Like, don't you remember? Like he gets a little like, who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf and mute? Who's able to give them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say. And God's just going to Moses like, I gave you that mouth. And so if I wanna use that mouth, guess what? I can use it. I made it. If I wanna use it, I can use it. And here's what's gonna happen. I'm gonna actually help you speak so much so I'm gonna teach you what to say.

Can I just remind you today that what you think is your greatest weakness is actually the very thing God wants to use to display his strength. And so when you feel like I'm not enough, I don't have enough, don't you remember God, right? God's just going, no, no, no, I made you. I made your mouth. I can speak through you. Or whatever the excuse is, God's going, I made you. And if I wanna use it, I will. And your area, whatever you think is your greatest weakness, God wants to use it to display his strength. The last objection for today, objection number five. Moses goes, all right, God, please send somebody else. After all of that, he's like, all right, God, just no. Please send somebody else. But Moses said, pardon your servant, Lord, but please send somebody else. Like, I didn't make that up. This literally is where it's in the Bible. And I think that's incredible because. So many times, let's just be honest, have we thought, God, use somebody else? I just, I resonate so much with what Moses feels, right? Finally, at this point, just Moses just says it, no more questions, no more hypotheticals, no more what if, no more I can't,

just please send somebody else. This is the first time he doesn't ask for reassurance, he asks for a replacement. And God says, he basically is saying, God, I can believe that you can rescue Israel, I just don't want you to do it through me. And if we're honest, we've prayed a prayer like that too. God, somebody else can lead that Bible study, somebody else can invite that person to church, somebody else can pay for that woman's groceries, somebody else can pray for them in the parking lot, God, send somebody else, somebody else can serve, somebody else can share their testimony, somebody else can step into ministry, somebody else can be the one to forgive first, somebody else can obey. We've all prayed this, God, use somebody else. I want you to notice God's response. It's a little different than the others. It says, then the Lord's anger burned against Moses. And he said to him, what about your brother Aaron, the Levite, he can speak well, he's already on his way to meet you, and he'll be glad to see you. You shall speak to him and put word in his mouth, I will help both of you speak and I will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you and it will be as if it were your mouth and as if you were God to him,

but take this staff in your hand so that you can perform those signs with it. That phrase, then the Lord's anger burned against Moses, strikes me. And God's not angry because Moses had questions. God patiently answered each and every one of his questions. But there does come a moment where faith is not about getting another answer, it's about taking a next step. And I feel like at the end of this conversation, Moses is like, Lord, I don't wanna go, and God's like, I can't give you any more information. It's just about taking a next step. But even here, I want you to look at the grace of God. He's already called someone else to come alongside Moses, to lock arms with him, to help him fulfill this seemingly impossible calling. He's going, what about your brother Aaron? I'll send him with you. I'll teach both of you. I'll help both of you. And some of us, the truth is, we're afraid to walk in our calling when God has already raised up someone to walk it out with you. He's already given you brothers and sisters to lock arms with you. He's already raised up someone to walk it out with you. And at some point, each and every follower of Jesus reaches a moment where there are no more questions

left to answer. There is only a decision to make. Will you trust him or not? No more answers, no more information, just a question. Will you trust him or will you not? See, it was at the burning bush when Moses surrendered to God's calling on his life. It's a significant moment, marked him. If he hadn't, in this moment, surrendered to God's call on his life, we wouldn't be talking about him 3,500 years later. And I wonder today if perhaps this is your burning bush moment, where God is calling you to do something specific and something significant. Perhaps today is the day that God wants to meet you in the middle of the mundane and he wants to call you into his extraordinary plan for your life. That's the moment that we all need. Like Moses, we need to be marked by a moment where we meet with God, we overcome all of our objections and we say yes to his plan for our lives. And here's what I would want you to remember today. The burning bush, it wasn't the starting point of Moses' story, it was the turning point. And I wanna tell somebody today, I wanna encourage you today, here's the good news today. Regardless of your starting point, it's never too late for a turning point.

Regardless of how your story started or the pain of your past, where you come from, what you've been through, regardless of your starting point, it's never too late for a turning point. I love the way that Pastor D.L. Moody summarizes the life of Moses. He says this, he says, Moses spent 40 years thinking he was somebody in the palace of Egypt. 40 years learning he was a nobody in the deserts of Midian, and 40 years discovering what God could do with a nobody. And here's what I would want to say to you, church, across all of our campuses today. If God can use a nobody like Moses, he can certainly use a somebody like you. But it starts with surrender. I want to invite you across all of our campuses today, if you would, close your eyes and bow your heads with me as we pray and respond to the word of God. Jesus, I want to thank you today. For the word of God, which does not return void. I want to thank you for what we can see in the life of Moses, a man who, even though he was 80 years old, called by God in a specific and significant way. Would you remind each and every person under the sound of my voice today, God, that you have a calling on their life.

You have a calling on their life. And if you feel like Moses today, like maybe you've been making some excuses, maybe you've had some objections to what God is calling you to do, but today you want to decide you're gonna surrender to that very thing. It might seem small, no, it's actually significant. But you want today, like Moses at the burning bush, to be marked by your surrender. The time when you finally give up all of your objections, you surrender those to God and you say yes to his will, his plan, his purpose, his calling. If you want to say yes to whatever God has in store for you today, if you want to say yes to your life, if you want to be marked by the presence of God in such a way that every day your response to the Lord will be yes, Lord, use me, then I want you to just raise a hand today because I want to pray for you. You're just going, I want to surrender to God's calling on my life. I want to do everything that he asks me to do. I want my life to be marked by obedience. I want to surrender my life and what's in my hands so that God can use me. And so Jesus, I pray, as we look at the life of Moses, a marked man, we would understand that God, you have marked each and every one of us.

You call us into your presence so that we can understand calling and assignment and purpose because God, you want to use us. And I pray like Moses at the burning bush, our lives too would be marked by surrender to you. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray today. And everybody said, amen, amen.