Don’t Let The Chatter Stop You
Exodus 2:11-; 3:1-5
Introduction:
I’ve never met anybody who was powerful who wasn’t also pain filled. In fact pain is just power in its embryonic state. So the next time you ask for power, understand that you are also asking for pain. We all have different back grounds, some better than others. We are all unique in our own special way. Unique sounds wonderful but it carries the weight of loneliness. Some of you have labeled yourself as lonely not realizing that is a part of uniqueness.It is by design because God forges great power through great pain.
He Made it
Moses had a troubled childhood. Before he was ever born there was a decreemade, and he was on the hit list. He was a defenseless baby in the crib with assassins coming to kill him in the most vulnerable moment of his life. So much trouble in the home that his mother thought it was safer to put him in a basinet, and send him down the river. Don’t feel bad for him though because he made it. In spite of the turbulence of the river, he made it. He came out on the others side and nobody could explain why the things he went through didn’t kill him. There are some people in here today that if you ever told anybody your real story they wouldn’t be able to figure out how you made it.
God Compensates You
Now Moses is in a unique situation; that most male children his age are dead. He is unique, but lonely. His name means to be drawn out. Now he is pulled out of the river and brought him into Pharaohs house. He is raised in Pharaohs house. He is dressed like Pharoahs kids and talks with an Egyptian accent. He was an Egyptian on the outside but a Hebrew on the inside. What do you do when your outside and inside don’t match? When people see one thing and get another?The more time he spends with the Egyptians, the more he’s drawn away from the Hebrew customs (good and bad). He is raised with advantages that he never would’ve had if it hadn’t been for the trouble he was in. Isn’t it funny how your trouble creates advantages for you? It was bad when it happened but it built up toughness in you that good times can’t do. God compensates you for the pain you’ve been through. God never leaves you the way He finds you.
What You See on the Outside
Now Moses sees an Egyptian and a Hebrew fighting. What he sees on the outside is a reflection of what’s happening on the inside. He raises his hand to stop it. This is a pivotal moment in his life. The fight he sees outwardly looks like the fight going on in him inwardly. He’s trying to stop it in them so he can stop it in him. Now, face to face with this conflict he has to choose.This one incident raises his conflict to the surface. Now he has to decide to either choose his pedigree or his conditioning. Now he chooses his pedigree and kills an Egyptian and buries him in the sand. Eventually we have to do the same…
There Will Always Be Conflict
24 hours later, there is still conflict going on because there are two Hebrews fighting. He rises up to solve it. His greatness is coming out but it’s coming out before he is positionally at a level where he is able to perform what his greatness is calling for. He is functioning like a king but he’s not a king. One important note about greatness is that it often comes out before you have been placed in the position. You are rich, educated, preacher, leader, visionary, wife, and husband. If you’re not that before you won’t be after. So you have to go through a period of displacement. This creates frustration because you feel it with everything you have but you don’t have the resources to make it happen. What do you do when your thoughts are up here and your situation is down here? You are ready for the change but nothing on the outside acknowledges what’s going on in your thought pattern.
If it were not enough conflict to be grown man with unresolved childhood issues; he is an Egyptian speaking Hebrew. Not only that, but now God is now bringing greatness out of a man who doesn’t have a position to match his intellect. This doesn’t make any sense. Some of you are like that now. Your life doesn’t make any sense. You are a grown man still trying to work out childhood conflicts. Your thought pattern is up here but you can’t seem to make your life match your thoughts. Now you’re trying to fix people around you and you’re sick. You’re wondering how can I help others and I can’t help myself.
Surviving Frustration
One of the Hebrews said who are you? Who made you prince? He was trying to do the right thing at the wrong time. Don’t try to be there before you get there. Just because you are anointed doesn’t mean you have appointed. Just because you can think there doesn’t mean you have been placed there. One of the tests of greatness is your ability to survive frustration and let your gift make room for you. God will put greatness in isolation, and this causes frustration. He does this so you can confront and handle your inner frustration. Because if you can’t handle your inner frustration and not quit how are you going to handle outer conflict. You have to learn how to be frustrated and still be faithful, committed, and diligent.
Dichotomy of Deliverance
In one instance he’s discovered that he is a prince and has greatness and didn’t know it. In the next sentence he’s found out that his past has come back to haunt him. The conflict is that the prince is a liar and a murderer. What do you do when you’ve got holiness and freakiness? You are a strong person but you are equally as weak in another area. People see the strong side but not the weakness.Moses is a prince and the deliver, but he is also a liar and a murderer. He just murdered someone, lied about it, and buried him in the sand.
Voice of Frustration
The enemy will always send an APB when you are closer to your destiny. He will always defy you to go higher to keep you from your destiny. Moses heard the voice of his past coming against him and he ran from it. He thought that no one saw him because he looked both ways, but satan will always have a witness from your past appear in your present to stop your future. Moses runs thinking he can never go back to Egypt because Pharaoh has heard it. He runs to Midian and now is associated with the Midianites. They think hat he is an Egyptian. He enters into their rank as an Egyptian. But he’s a Hebrew, so the conflict has not gone away. He still has to face what he ran from.
Burning Passion
Moses is now trying to fit in with the Midianites. He has even married a Midianite woman. He has reestablished himself in another place. So he’s just living out his life with the Midianites and all of a sudden he runs into this burning bush. The burning bush symbolizes the return of passion. Someone today has a passion that will not die. You have tried to blend in with the scenery and talk yourself out of being great. But there is a burning desire down inside of you that will not shut up. You are on fire. You’ve got the pain, problems, but you’ve got the passion too. So now he runs into this burning bush and what he sees on the outside is a reflection of what’s happening on the inside.
Burning But Not Consumed
The bible says he turned aside to see. In the desert it’s not unusual for a bush to catch on fire. The spectacular thing that caused him to turn aside was not that the bush was on fire, but that it wasn’t consumed. What he saw on the outside was a reflection of what was happening on the inside of him. You ought to tell somebody I’m under attack, frustrated, in conflict, broke, busted, but I’m still on fire. The amazing thing is not that I’m on fire but that I’m not consumed.He’s 80 years old and still on fire. Now he’s looking at the bush and the bush is looking at him. He dialogues internally with the bush. This is a message for people who have messed up; your life is not over because God has not put out your fire. Youare burning but you are not consumed.
The Fire Has a Voice
A voice speaks out of the bush and says Moses, Moses take off your shoes. Whenever God repeats Himself that is covenant; it is the echo between heaven and earth. Abram, Abraham hold thy hand behold I have a ram tied in the thicket; verily, verily I say unto you this day shall thou be with me in paradise; truly, truly you must be born again. The bible says once has He spoken it, but twice have I heard it, that all power belongs to God. He spoke it in the heavenlies, it echoed in the earth realm. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. He’s calling me. I messed up, confused, under attack but He’s calling me. He says take off your shoes because the ground you stand on is holy ground. Your holy ground is when you stand on what God says and not what man says. The fire has a voice and it will speak to you until you move.