Breaking Through Barriers - "When Others Distact"

Part 2
Moses has a lot to teach us. One of the things I want to talk about today is by looking at the life of Moses I want to ask this question: How do you and I remain faithful in the small things day in and day out? How do we remain faithful to following God’s ways day in and day out?

last week says, What do you do when God captures you’re attention with all this big stuff happening?
All this stuff has been big: Follow your dream! Reach the world! All this stuff. Because of that today I want to go small. I want to focus on the small. Because really for the big to ever happen you’ve got to be able to master the small. How do we stay faithful in the little things, day in, and day out following God’s ways?
To help us find some answers and connect with last week’s message I want to look at the life of Moses. The journey that Moses took and why he finished well.

Deuteronomy 34:10. That talks about Moses at the end of his life. It says this. “There has never been another like Moses whom the Lord knew face to face.” Here’s a guy, it’s describing him. There’s never been another like him, the Lord knew him face to face. When you know somebody face to face you’re not a stranger. This passage was written right before the death of Moses. It was talking about Moses’ life.

What’s interesting to me I think is one of the things that pulls us away from knowing God is the busyness and the bigness of stuff around us. But here’s a guy Moses – he was surrounded by the big and yet he was faithful in the small. ” The stuff with the Pharaoh, the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the manna, the food coming down from heaven, the ark of the covenant, – all that stuff that surrounded Moses. Yet in the midst of the big, he didn’t lose sight of being faithful to God in the small. In all the activity, he was with God. In the midst of all the noise he was able to find silence. With all the chaos of the people that was always around him he sensed God’s presence.
Can I tell you what Moses did? Let me just give you a summary of what Moses did. He loved God and he loved others. That was the life of Moses. He loved God and he loved others. Can I tell you what’s very clear throughout all of scripture? That message is very consistent. That is God’s call to us. If you were to read the Old Testament, you would find that’s what it’s all about – love God, love others. Then it’s shouted in the New Testament in the life of Jesus. God comes on to earth as Jesus and says, “Love God, love others.” As a matter of fact when Jesus was asked to summarize the entire Old Testament, the entire what was called the Law of Moses at the time here’s how Jesus summarized it. Matthew 22 they asked “’Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the Law of Moses?’ Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important. Love your neighbor as yourself.’” God shouted it in the Old Testament, lived it in the New Testament. Basically simplifying it so that in the twenty-first century a knucklehead like Joe Parks could not only understand it but teach it in the simplest form. You want to remain faithful in the small? Love God and love others.
Some of you are thinking, “Hey, Joe, that’s nice. I’ve heard that before, though. How about something new and fresh?” My response is, Are you living it? I look at a lot of people’s lives and I wonder how different our world would be, our homes would be, our relationships would be, our families would be if that’s all we did – love God and love others.
Why don’t we do that? What is the hang-up with this?

I want to talk about these distractions today.
I believe it’s longing inside of us all, God hard-wired that into their soul, it’s longing to do right would draw them to Him because He wants a relationship with them. But whether you’re a non-Christian or a Christian today there are distractions. If you’re not a follower of Christ there are distractions to doing what is right and being a moral person and living the right way. And if you are a Christian there are distractions to loving God and loving others.
I want to walk through four distractions that I think get us off track.

1. Lack of confidence.

These distractions don’t come out of just my life although I can see them in my life. You probably see them in yours. I also see this in the life of Moses. Sometimes the biggest distraction is not other people – that’s the other three we’ll talk about. Sometimes the biggest distraction is ourselves. We are our own worst enemy in the pursuit of being faithful in the small.
I’ve heard people say, “I’m not very religious,” or “I’m not very spiritual.” They lack confidence to get involved in different things. They go, “I don’t know that much...so I’m going to feel dumb so I don’t want to extend myself and put myself out there. It’s this whole lack of confidence.
What I want to say to you is if you lack confidence about being able to love God and love others, you’re not alone. This isn’t new. A s a matter of fact, the story of Moses, God appeared to Moses in this burning bush – the presence of God. The Bible says God said, “Moses, you’re on holy ground.” Even when Moses was standing on holy ground and God said to Moses what He wanted him to do, listen to the very first words that Moses says back to God, “But who am I?” God appears to Moses and He tells him what He wants and there’s an immediate lack of confidence. “But God, who am I?” – this total lack of confidence.
I wrote in my Bible the word “doubt” next to that.
Immediately it goes to doubt.
Why did Moses doubt? I don’t know. But he had doubts. Maybe he doubted because he had some of the same feelings that you and I have. Why do you doubt?

Some of you doubt because of your past. Moses didn’t have a stellar past. If you know something about Moses you know that one of the reasons that he was in the desert is because he murdered somebody. He killed somebody trying to defend an Israelite. He killed an Egyptian then he ran away. Murder
That’s in his past. That’s not like a minor character flaw.

Maybe you’re sitting here and you don’t feel all that great about your past. You’re not alone. Every one in here has a past. Many of us are ashamed of things that we’ve done. When you think about your past it’s hard to focus on what your future could be like with God. People have doubts about your past. Maybe you?
Does God really love you? Could He really use you? Maybe Moses had doubts because he didn’t think he was smart enough to do this whole job. I’ve heard people say that. “I don’t know if I have what it takes… I don’t think I’m ready…” This lack of confidence enters in.

Moses may have been thinking that. For forty years you know what his job was? Tending sheep. He was a shepherd. That’s not a cool job. You don’t put that on your resume. It’s not sexy. “Watching sheep.” Sheep are dumb.
That’s his job. Sitting there every day, watching the sheep. And he wasn’t even the head shepherd. He was the co-shepherd working for his father-in-law. What a loser job that is!
So when God says, I want you to know Me and love Me and follow Me and love others, “I don’t know that I have what it takes.” A simple command.
This simple command – love God, love others – I just want to ask you a question where you’re sitting right now. Do you really feel right now that you can love God and love others? Or do you lack confidence in that? Do you feel like I can have a loving, vibrant, growing, passionate relationship with God and through that love I can extend that to other people. Or do you have doubts that that can actually happen with you?
Because if you do have doubts God’s answer to you is the same as it is to Moses. When Moses doubted, God came up with an answer. Moses says, “’Who am I? How can You expect me to lead the Israelites out of Egypt?’ God told him ‘I will be with you.’” Those five words are key for today. Would you underline those five words? In that promise, in the moment of doubt with Moses lacking confidence here’s what happened. God says, “I will be with you.” That is a promise. With the promise comes His presence. And with His presence comes His power. So He made a promise – I will be with you. That’s the promise of His presence. And with His presence comes His power.
The second distracter I want you to write down is what I would call…

2. Consuming challenges

The challenges that Moses faced, they were not small challenges. This main challenge that Moses had… Imagine God saying, “I want you to lead that entire nation who have been enslaved by these Egyptians who loved having slaves. I want you to lead them out of Egypt. I know you’re eighty years old, Moses, and it’s going to take you forty years even though if you just walked from Point A to Point B where I want you to go it would only take about eleven days, but you’re going to wander for about forty years. And this people group that you’re leading out they’re not always going to be happy with your leadership. They’re going to be prone to what I might call Miracle Memory Loss. They’re going to occasionally worship some cattle along the way.”

Imagine that challenge for a minute. But really how different is it from the challenges that you and I have? Our lives are filled with challenges. Some of you in here today you have children who are sick and when they’re sick they’re a challenge and work. Some of you have parents who are aging and sick. And that’s a challenge. For some of you your job has disappeared and you’re surrounded by challenge. Maybe you’re a mom here this morning. You’ve got little kids in diapers and you’re always exhausted. And that’s a challenge. Maybe you have a job where you’re always frustrated because you work for an unpleasable boss. Whatever it is, we all have challenges. What do those challenges do? They take our eyes off of God, that simple command – Love God, love others. They take our eyes off of Him and put it on the problem or the challenge.
And it’s not just challenges at home. It’s challenges everywhere. It’s challenges in the marketplace. Just by show of hands how many of you have challenges at your work that consume a lot of your thoughts? You’re not alone
Here’s my point. We all have challenges. Challenges have different faces but we all have challenges.
Different settings, different circumstances. But you can’t go through life without challenges.
Whatever Moses’ challenges were he remained faithful. You know why he remained faithful? Because he never lost sight and he never forgot those five words – “I will be with you.” And with that promise was the promise of God’s presence and with His presence came God’s power – I am and who I am is enough. And Moses believed that in the midst of these challenges. That’s why he was able to remain faithful, to love God and love others.
There’s another distracter I want you to write down.

3. Conflict

Conflict is a big distracter. I think if it was just challenges, just the difficult tasks, Moses would have said, “Bring them on. I like a challenge.” But conflict has a way of making it a little more difficult and painful. Moses had conflicts with all kinds of people.

Let me read a verse out of Exodus 14 says “They turned against Moses and complained. ‘Why did you bring us here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? Why did you make us leave?’” Here are the people. They were in captivity for 430 years as slaves and Moses frees them. Now they’re saying we’re going to die in the wilderness. We could have died as slaves. He had conflict not just with the masses.

He had conflict with his key leaders. There’s one time when he went up to the mountain to spend time with God and he stayed up there a little too long for some people. By the time he came back down some of his key leaders were melting down gold to build calves for idol worship. He was always around conflict.
But really that’s no different than you or me. Our stories are filled with conflict. Sometimes I think the word “life” and the word “conflict” are synonymous. God walked on earth as Jesus and everywhere He went there was conflict. Those who are closest to Jesus, His disciples, were in conflict with one another. The Apostle Paul who wrote half the books in the New Testament was in conflict with Barnabus. This was the guy who was known as the Encourager. You’ve got the guru of theology, Paul, and Barnabus who get in conflict so much so that they have to go their separate ways. Why would we think it would be any different in our lives? When we experience conflict in our homes, with roommates, family, neighbors, people that we work with.
It’s everywhere you go. What happens is these things are distracters.
But the thing with conflict is it eats at you, doesn’t it? You feel it, you think about it. You’re in the shower. You’re quiet. You turn off the radio. It’s all consuming. And what does that do? It takes us away from focusing on God. It takes us away from loving God and loving others.
What was the secret of Moses? He remembered and hung on to those five words – I will be with you. When conflict hit his life he remembered God said, “I will be with you,” that promise was a promise of presence and with His presence came His power. “I am” is enough.
There’s a fourth distracter. This distracter is bigger than conflict. It’s a little more personal. This one is really a drag.

4. Criticism.

b/c it’s personal. Conflict is like a boxing match. Criticism is like backyard wrestling where anything goes and nothing is unfair. These people that should have been the most thankful to Moses were criticizing him all the time. They questioned his leadership, they attacked his faith. Exodus 16 says “The whole community of Israel spoke bitterly against me.” Some scholars believe there was over two million people. He’s saying everybody did.
Numbers 14 – I love the word picture here – “Their voices rose in a great chorus of complaints against Moses.” I think of a choir. I picture everywhere Moses went there was a chorus of “We don’t like you… Your leadership stinks…” Whatever it was. He was always being criticized. I can’t even imagine that. I get my share of criticism but I can’t even imagine a whole chorus of it.
I understand criticism and so do you. Some of you are criticized for coming to church....criticized for being a Christian...criticized for the way you raise your kids...
criticized for where you live and who you hang out with and what you listen to and who your friends are. What we try to do is we try to go through life pretending that criticism doesn’t hurt. But it stings. Even though criticism doesn’t require truth, nor intelligence. And criticism doesn’t typically come from a critical mind. It usually comes from a person’s critical heart. Hurt people, Hurt people.
And even though we can try to talk ourselves out of some of this stuff you can only hear this depressing junk for so long and it begins to demoralize your spirit and drag you down.
You know what Moses did in the midst of that being criticized? With big challenges and conflicts and already feeling a little bit insecure about himself you know what he did? You know what he wanted God to do? Kill him. Surprise! Here I’m talking about this great man of faith and it got pretty dark and he said, “God, kill me.” Numbers 11:11-16“He asked the Lord, ‘Why have You brought this trouble on Your servant? What have I done to displease You that You put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? They keep wailing to me. I cannot carry all these people by myself. The burden is too heavy for me. If this is how You’re going to treat me put me to death right now. But if I have found favor in your eyes do not let me face my own ruin.”
If you ever get to the point where you’re deeply discouraged, you’re in good company. One of the things I love about the Bible is how real the Bible is to true human feelings. Have you ever got to the point in your spiritual life where you just wanted to cash it in? You wanted to give up? You waned to turn your back to God and to the church and to other Christians and just walk away? Because your prayers don’t seem to be answered. You come here to church and you hear a guy talk about having great dreams and God gives everybody a dream and you’re sitting there going, “I don’t have a dream.”” You hear people talk about cool things God is doing in their lives, “He’s not doing that in my life.” You really want to love God and you want to love others but you are just so distracted. And you want to cash it in.
Can I tell you that when you have that feeling you’re not the first? You’re not the last. That’s part of it. That’s part of the journey. Moses spent forty years walking in the desert, being faithful to God, loving Him and loving others. It wasn’t a walk in the rose garden. That’s not the Christian life. The Christian life is surrounded by distractions where the enemy wants to take our eyes off of God and off of loving Him and loving others.
But you know what Moses did to get that reputation of being a man like no other? You know what he did? As I study his life because I have really studied his life I go, “What was it about him?” it is painfully basic.

He got before God.

He was always getting before God.
Folks, I want you to get this so bad. Here’s why I want you to get it. People in church and out in the community when it comes to their spiritual life they’re spiritual life is dry. They’re spiritually anemic. They’re relationally void. Because they think just coming to church, sitting in a chair and singing some songs is going to do it all. They’re inundated by all these distractions when it’s really simple –
love God, love others.
How do I do that? You get before God. Mon - Sat
So my rhetorical question to you is, How are you getting before God? When are you getting before God? I’m not telling you what to do when you’re before Him. I’m not saying, Read three chapters, memorize this, write in a journal, create acrostics. I’m just saying get before God. Whatever that looks like for you.

Then second is follow God’s ways.

Do what God tells you to do. That’s what Moses did.
Somebody says, “How do I do what God tells me? How do I know?” Start here in His love letter, which is really the direction for living. If you’re a Christian listen to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is going to impress on you decisions, direction. That’s the job of the Holy Spirit. Don’t know what to do, here’s what I would suggest. You think, What step would honor God and love others. What direction would I take to do what God wants me to do? What would be honoring to God and loving to others? Chances are that’s what God wants you to do.
A third thing is you point out the goodness of God to others. Point out God’s goodness to others.
That’s what Moses was always doing. He said, The reason is God is good.

There’s something I want to ask you to do.
It’s little experiential for us here today.
I want to ask you something. Would you write down what distraction you’re feeling right now? What’s the main one that’s kind of gripping your heart? Is it a conflict? Is it a challenge? Is it a criticism? Is it your lack of confidence? You don’t have to write down the word. Maybe write down the initials of the person or something. When we’re done, What I’d like you to do is I’d like you to symbolically take this and give that distraction as an offering to God. That’s what an offering is. You’re saying, “God, take what is mine and I want to give it to You.” Put this in the offering basket, your distraction. Then my prayer this weekend is that you will feel in that moment, maybe you just need to say to yourself in the silence of your heart, I will be with you. I will be with you. So you give the distractions as an offering and you sense God’s presence saying, “I will be with you.” Write down a challenge that you’re focused on, a conflict that you’re facing, a criticism that you’re feeling an area of your life where you lack confidence. What God wants for us is when we’re doubting He wants us to hear those words,
“I will be with you.”

Breaking Through Barriers - "When God get Your Attention"

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When God gets your attention, what do you do? As we think about what happened over the last couple of months in ‘Chasing Daylight’
I would guess that for some of you this past series God got your attention as we begin to talk about God’s going to use you in a way that makes a difference in the world, and all around you. That’s an attention getter! Even if you missed some of those mess. go online.

God’s got a lot of ways of getting our attention, have you noticed that? Sometimes...a little phrase that somebody says, an offhand remark that does something to you...through a problem. Sometimes God gets your attention through a success. Have you had that happen? Things go great and God does something through that success to help you realize there’s something happening here in my life.

But as you hear things about that, as God gets your attention about things like that, my question is what’s your response. How do we respond? A response is not always what you might think our response would be.
If you were setting there thinking, “That makes me feel a little uncomfortable. I'm not sure I want to do that. I like where I am. I like how things are going now.” There’s some fears that brings up of all the things that might happen. If you were feeling that way, let me just tell you, join the human race. We all feel that way. That’s how we feel as human beings.

Take a look at the Bible. People that God used in the greatest ways they all had those kinds of feelings. They had to come face to face with those kinds of feelings. In fact, we’re going to look at one of those guys today. A guy by the name of Moses.
Moses had an immediate reaction when God came and said, I'm going to do something great with your life. His immediate reaction was the same as a lot of us have. He was confused. He didn’t know what to say. He had some questions.

Let me just bring you up to speed on the life of Moses.
Moses, you remember, lived the first 40 years of his life in Pharaoh’s palaces in Egypt. He was at the top, the center of power. Then in frustration over the fact that the people of Israel were being held captive in that nation, he couldn’t do anything, he couldn’t make a change, he eventually murdered an Egyptian out of his frustration. And in fear of what would happen to him he went out into the desert. Not Palm Springs desert, but a desert called Midian. In this desert he spent forty years. He was a shepherd out in this desert for forty years. He worked for a guy named Jethro. He eventually married the boss’s daughter. He’s going to inherit the family business. He’s got this perfect little life. He can see the future all laid out for him.
Then he runs into a problem. He runs into a bush – not a George Bush but a burning bush. This bush, this fire, look at what the Bible has to say in Exodus 3 “One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro and suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to him as a blazing fire in a bush. Moses was amazed because the bush was engulfed in flames but it didn’t burn up.” That moment changed everything. God got his attention. It changed everything in his life.

You and I are probably not going to trip across bushes burning and that don’t burn up. But let me explain to you what a burning bush experience is. What is it that happened in Moses’ life?
A burning bush is when in the midst of the routine, this was just a common old bush. There were hundreds like it on that mountain, very routine thing. In the midst of the routine, when you least expect it, this was totally unexpected. Moses had been living there for forty years. He’d awakened to the same landscape for 14,600 mornings. Now this. In the midst of the routine when you least expect it you’re surprised by God’s invitation. What made this bush extraordinary was the fire. It was God’s presence at the center. His presence changed things. It caused this bush to catch fire. It causes our lives to catch fire and God to do something in us.
Look at what happened when Moses began to approach this bush in Exodus 3:4-5 “When the Lord saw that He had caught Moses’ attention [you might circle “caught his attention”. That’s what God wants to do. He wants to catch our attention just long enough for us to be able to hear what He has to say, the strength the He wants to give, the faith that He can bring into our lives.] When the Lord saw that He had caught Moses’ attention God called to him from the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ ‘Here I am,’ Moses replied. ‘Don’t come any closer,’ God told him. Take off your sandals for you’re standing on holy ground.’”

I think the amazing thing is the first thing Moses heard was his name. It became very personal. This is a personal experience. We’re very personally seeing, God wants to do something in my life that only God can do in my life. Moses hears this great thing that God wants to do and he’s got some questions. He wonders how is this going to work, how is this going to work out. He asks the same kind of questions that you might be asking when God say I want to do something great in your life. You may very well be asking one of these four basic questions that Moses was asking.

1. Who am I?

Who am I to do this? How can I do this? Exodus 3 “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh,’ Moses asked God. ‘How can You expect me to lead the Israelites out of Egypt?’” Moses was saying, “Right God! How am I going to do this? I'm too ordinary. I am not qualified to do this job.” And the truth is if God asks you to do something great and all you’re looking at is yourself, you aren’t qualified. You’re always going to be too old or young or fat or skinny or hairy or bald. Moses says, “I can’t do this. Who am I?” God’s got an answer for him. To encourage him in the midst of what he’s facing. He was hearing knock, he was hearing God call in his life. But he didn’t feel qualified to answer that knock, that call.

Halloween. out of candy. And you know there’s a bunch more kids coming by. At that point you have two options. Option one, you dress up, get their candy, come back give it to the kids. But the other option is the one we usually use. You turn out the light, you make sure they can’t hear you. Somebody knocks on the door and you don’t go to the door because you don’t have anything to give them.

I think a lot of us feel that way in our relationship with God. We see Him invite, we hear Him knock and say, I want to do something great in your life. But the truth is we feel like “If I went to that door I don’t have anything to give Him. So why should I even answer the door. It’s going to be embarrassing for us both. I don’t have what it takes to make it.” That’s why we don’t answer.

Moses faced that feeling and God had an answer for him. When he said, “Who am I to do this?” God answered in Exodus 3:12 “God told him, ‘I will be with you.’” The amazing thing to me about that is God could have built Moses up. God could have said to Moses, ”Moses! Who are you? You’re the guy who grew up in Pharaoh’s household. Who are you? You’re the one who understands the ins and outs of that government on a personal basis better than anyone else I could call. Who are you? You’re the best guy for the job!” But instead of saying that, because He knows that wouldn’t be enough, He says to Moses, “I will be with you.” And that was enough. He didn’t point to Moses’ qualifications. He pointed to His greatness. He pointed to what He could do. “I will be with you.”

Some of you need to hear God saying that right now. You’re going through the greatest transition of your life. Everything’s changing.It’s all up in the air.Maybe God brought you here this morning so you can hear Him say to you,“I will be with you.”
Some of you, you’re going through your greatest problem of your life. It’s never been this tough. You’re wondering how you’re going to make it through. You’re wondering if you
have the strength to make it through. God brought you here to say to you, “I will be with you.”
I know some of you are feeling like God’s taping you on the shoulder. He’s saying I want to do something in your life. You’re not sure if you can do it. God wants to say to you, “I will be with you.”

Psalm 91:15 “When you call on Me, I will answer you. I will be with you when you’re in trouble. I will save you and I will honor you.” In the end it’s not your ability that matters. It’s your availability. Let me tell you why that’s more than just a cute phrase. When it comes right down to it, if God asks you to do something and you don’t have all that it takes to do that, don’t you think God is more than able to make up for your lack of ability? Of course He is. That’s why the person who isn’t very able but he makes himself available to God can do great things because God can make up for whatever lack, whatever gaps there is. It’s your availability that matters. That’s what makes the difference. Because God will be with you. No doubt about it. God is more than able.
Who am I? God will be with you. That’s where Moses starts. After God says “I’ll be with you,” there’s a second question that’s pretty obvious. The next one is, “Ok, God, You’re going to be with me.

2. Who are You?

That’s the next question. Who are You if you’re going to be with me? Excuse me for being doubtful God but how are You going to give me strength. God gives him a real simple answer. Two words: “I am.” That’s His answer.
Exodus 3:13-14 “They will ask, ‘Which God are you talking about? What’s his name? What should I tell them?’ God replied, ‘I am the one who always is. Just tell them I am has sent me to you.’” Moses had to be thinking, “That’s really going to help! I am. Could You at least finish the sentence? Give me something here God that’s going to really help them. What does this mean – I am.” That’s one of the most powerful and important names of God but what does it mean?
What God was saying to Moses and what He was giving him to give to the people he was going to talk to was, “Tell them this. Tell them that I am the one who can meet their needs. Whenever needs arise, I am the one who can meet those needs.” How do I know that? Because when you look at the rest of the Old Testament God uses this name again and again, this “I am” name. And as He uses this name He keeps tacking different endings on it. As a new need comes up in their lives God says I am.
Then had a need for food, they had a need for provision. When that need came up God said, “I am your
provision.” “Jehovah” which means “I am” and jireh which means provision.
When they had need for victory in their lives, their personal lives and in the life of their nation, God said “I am your victory. ”
When the need came up for peace in their lives, God said “I am your peace.” “Jehovah” – “I am” and shalom which in Hebrew means “peace.”
When they just needed to know that God was there, God said, “I am there.”
Each time someone had a need, God gave them a new name that was the way that He said, “I will meet that need in your life.” What He’s saying is, I can meet the needs of your life. In a world where we say, I wish, God says “I am the one who can meet your needs.”
Who are You? I'm the one who can meet your needs one at a time.
Moses isn’t done. He’s talked about himself, he’s talked about God, but he’s got somebody else in mind. He says, I’ve got another question.

3. What about them?

What about this group I’m going to? What about these people of Israel that I'm going to go talk to? They might have some questions. The Bible says in Exodus 4:1-2 “Moses protested again, ‘Look! They won’t believe me. They won’t do what I tell them. They’ll just say, “The Lord never appeared to you.”’” He’s almost saying, “God, I hate to be difficult here but I’ve got a bad feeling about this. I'm going to go in and I'm going to say, ‘God told me to set you free,’ and they’re going to say, ‘How do you know God told you to set us free,’ then I'm going to say, ‘Well this bush talked to me.’ And, God, it’s not going to work. It’s going to go downhill from there.”

He had this feeling that they were going to reject him. And it wasn’t an invalid feeling. Forty years earlier when he said, “I'm going to set you free,” they rejected him. Part of the reason he left was not only was he afraid of getting arrested for that murder but because the people of Israel had rejected him. So he’s walking right back again into that fear.

And it is serous business. It really is. It’s amazing what they keep us from in our lives. “What will they think? They might reject me. They might ignore me. They might ridicule me. They might not accept me.” The thoughts of that are huge in many of our lives. Sometimes it’s even people who are gone. Some times it’s a friend who moved away years ago. It’s a parent who died years ago but still somehow that voice is in your mind. And it echoes. And when you hear somebody say, “God wants to do something great in your life? There’s a change that He wants to work in your life.” The first voice you hear is some them voice that say, “It’ll never work. It’ll never happen.”
How do you break through that?

Here is God’s answer to Moses. “‘They won’t listen to me,’ Moses said. The Lord asked him, ‘What do you have there in your hand?’ ‘A shepherd’s staff,’ Moses replied.”

God’s answer: What’s in your hand? You can see what God’s doing. God’s saying, “Moses get your eyes off of them and just look at what’s in your hand. Get your eyes off of the unknown and get your eyes on the known. Get your eyes off of what might happen or what they might say and look at what you do have and what I can do. Look at what’s in your hand.” God’s taking familiar things and He’s using them to take care of Moses’ imagined fears. But Moses has to do something to make this whole thing work. God says “Moses, what’s in your hand? I want you to take it and place it in My hand.”

You break thru when you realize that you can’t give God what you don’t have. You don’t need to worry about giving to God what other people have. All you can do, all I can do, is give God what I do have. When I make that choice it begins to break through some of those fears.
Exodus 4:3-4 “God said ‘Throw it on the ground.’ So Moses threw it down and the staff became a snake. Moses was terrified so he turned and ran away. The Lord told him, ‘Take hold of its tail.’ Moses reaches out and he grabbed it [which I think took a lot of faith, I don’t know about you. But he took it by the tail] and it became a shepherd’s staff again.”

What’s going on here? Why is God doing this? He’s saying Moses take this familiar thing – it’s the most familiar thing in his life, carried with him every day of his life – take the most familiar thing in your life, the most ordinary thing in your life and make it available to Me. Watch what I can do with it. It was a snake and Moses picks it up. That staff, that simple stick, Moses is going to hold it out over the Red Sea and it’s going to split in two. Moses is going to touch the Nile River and it’s going to turn to blood. He’s going to strike a rock with it and water’s going to flow out of a rock. God’s saying this is what I can do if you’ll just give it to Me. Something amazing happens when you and I look what’s in our hands and we say, “God it’s not mine, it’s Yours.” So the question obviously is “What’s in your hand?” I don’t know what it is. What is it that you need to give to Him. It might be some ability that you’ve been holding on to pretty tightly. It might be a relationship. It might be a step of faith in your life. What’s in your hand? It might be a failure. It might be a hurt in your life. Sometimes those are the things we’re holding in our hand, things that are most obvious to us, things that we’re living with every day. If you give those things to God He can even use those. He can use your failures, He can user your hurts. He can use anything when we put it in His hands. You’d think after this snake thing that Moses would have been done. That’s pretty cool really if you saw this whole thing happen. But he isn’t finished. He’s got one more question. You can almost sense that he’s been saving this one till the end. The big question.

4. How about this?

It’s the big this in his life. It is the thing in his life that he feels like “I cannot serve God because of this. I cannot do what You’re asking me to do because of this.” This is the big gun. He says in Exodus 4:10 “Lord, I'm just not a good speaker. I never have been and I'm not now even after You’ve spoken to me.” Do you see a little blame toward God, some little jabs in there? “You’ve spoken to me. I’m not any better. Obviously I'm not going to get better. God, I'm clumsy with words. How about this, God. You’re telling me to go speak to Pharaoh. I'm clumsy with words. This isn’t going to work. So take that!” It’s almost that a moment. It’s as if God didn’t understand what Moses was going through. It’s as if God wasn’t aware of what Moses was going through. “I can’t talk!”
Moses felt handicapped. There’s all kinds of handicaps. Some of you feel handicapped by your past. You’re not but you feel that way. Some of you feel handicapped by your education. You’re not but you feel that way. You might feel handicapped by your age or your health or your emotions or your circumstances. You feel that way.
God has an answer. God looks at Moses and He says in Exodus 4:11 “Who makes mouths?” That’s pretty simple isn’t it. “Moses, who makes mouths? It’s as if I didn’t under stand that you’re clumsy with words. I'm the one who made the mouth. Don’t you think I can help you?” In fact, the next verse says, “Moses, I’ll help you. I'm the one who made your mouth.” He’s saying, “I'm in control. I'm aware of your handicap but I want you to be aware of My strength, My ability.”
And God’s aware of your handicap. But He also wants you to be aware of His power. He’s aware of your shortcomings. And who doesn’t have those? But He also wants you to be aware of His overcoming strength.

My big question about Moses is how was he able to do it? A lot of us have heard these answers. We know that God will be with us. We know we shouldn’t listen to them. We know all these things. But somehow we can’t break through those barriers. What enabled Moses to get a different perspective on life to help him begin to live this great life that God had planned for him?
The New Testament talks about that. This different perspective that Moses had. Hebrews 11:26 “He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value that the treasures of Egypt because he was looking ahead to his reward.” Circle “reward”. He’s talking about eternal reward he was looking ahead to. How could Moses make this decision? He wasn’t just looking at this earth. He was looking ahead at the eternal reward that God had. That enabled him to break through these questions that he had.

There’s another thing he was looking at. Hebrews 11:27 “He had his eye on the one no eye could see. So he kept right on going.” He had his eyes on God. So by putting his eyes on God and not on the circumstances he was able to have the strength to make the tough decisions and the tough choice in life.

The truth is many of us are stuck in our little world that’s comfortable. We’ve got things figured out. We know what’s going to happen each day. We get stuck there and that’s all we have. We know that there should be something more but it is scary. How do you break out of your little world?

Chasing Daylight - MOVEMENT - 'Ignite a Reaction'

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Sometimes we under-est. what 1 action might cause - sometimes we can’t even begin to imagine what 1 choice, 1
decision, 1 step, 1 sound, 1 word could catalyze a kind of movement - that you could ignite a reaction.

I wander how many times in life we have the opportunity to ignite a reaction, to be a part of even a small movement, but we just don’t step up and step out and step into that moment.

We have been following Jon and Saul in 1 Sam. 14, and as we wrap this series up today we will see how 1 person can be the catalyst of a movement, that you can ignite a reaction and begin to see things happen thru your life that you could have never imagined.
1 Sam. 14:15-20

We find a moment that no reasonable human being could imagine that they’d have success in, much less survive -
when Jon stepped past that zone of safety and went into battle there had to be in his mind this thought that his life was going to end that day.
How could he have ever guessed that thru his actions history itself would shift and that the activity of God would become undeniable thru everything we have talked about over these last couple of months.

I want to talk today about how we can move our lives into the epicenter of God’s activity - I think many times we live
oblivious that God is even there - in a rel. w/ J.C. and frankly a part of what’s suppose to happen is that there is this swirl of the invisible taking place where God becomes visible thru our lives to those who do not believe.
But it doesn’t just happen by acc.
How can we ignite a Reaction?
How do we find ourselves in the center of God’s activity?

BREAK

We have to break out of the status quo. We have to be willing to break out of the crowd.

The story at this place centers around this EQ and Saul asking who left, and discovering what had happened by leaving us this phrase, v. 17, “it was Jonathan and his armor-bearer who were not there.”

I know this sounds a little strange, but often what separates us from other people is that we separate ourselves from other people.
I’m not talking about relational isolation or trying to live a life disconnected to people.
I’m talking about living a life that sets you apart from others.
Simply put you’ve got to break out from the crowd.

1 of our problems in life is that it’s so easy for us to conform to the crowd, it’s so easy for us to hide in the middle and not be seen. And the reality is God uses people who are willing to break away from the crowd, break away from the norm, to separate themselves, to distinguish themselves from every1 else in the world.
That’s exactly what Jon did!

If you’re gona pursue the life God has for you, there are gona be moments when everyone in the world thinks you’re out of your mind and you’ll know that your out of your mind, but you’re gona have to do it anyway b/c there’s some things in life that even if there’s no possibility of accomplishing them you can’t live unless you try.

Let me give you a few ways to set yourself apart from the crowd, to distinguish yourself, to move out of the herd, to break away
1. The Quality of Your Work

We live in an environment where people give so much less than their best. People go to work, they take the paycheck, get the job done, do the minimal of what’s expected of them.
And we justify it in our mind, “Ahh it’s just a job”

The truth of the matter is, as long as you’re cashing that check and you’re a follower of J.C. you’re obligated to give your absolute best!
1 of the ways you break away from the crowd is you give your very best of who you are, and you lay it on the table day after day after day. It will begin to distinguish you from others around you.

2. Your Attitude

B/c alot of us live and work in this very competitive world where there are those who are always gona bring it, I mean they show up w/ their ‘A’ game.
They’re working hard, bringing their best, they’re pouring it all in and you’re thinking even if I brought my best I’d still be a part of the pack.
One of the great opportunities we have is to change theenvironment around us.

There are those in this world who have great abilities and know how, and great ideas but are never really utilized b/c they are not well liked. (mayb arrogant, loner, not a good people person, negitive, gossipy)
Have you noticed the opposite is true - not the best ideas or know how but I really like this guy so I’m gona do everything in my power to help him out.
Have you noticed when you like your boss you’re willing to work harder.
- Part of the way to BF from crowd is 2 create an envir. where other people enjoy their lives. To create an envir. where people feel valued, cared for, empowered, and heard - By the way, if you’re connected to God you’re supposed to be one of those people who always infuses optimism and hope into an envir. Christ followers really don’t have a reason to be absolutely cynical, and pessimistic and angry - a part of what it means to be connected to God is to infuse HOPE - now I’m not saying you always have to put on a show and be all stepford, don’t look out when it’s raining and say gee it’s so sunny out today” People will think you’re on drugs, not God.
You can shed light on gloomy sit. though

3. The Character you Demonstrate

There’s a person at work that you can trust, you know that when they give you their word they’re gona keep it.
1 of ways to BA from crowd is to live a life of integrity.

It’s the character you demonstrate and not to allow yourself to compromise your ethics.
I’m amazed by the fact that so many believers find it OK to blur the lines and smear their character.

I think it’s just that we live in an envir. where it’s OK to be dishonest, to compromise values and principles - I think what we under-estimate is that we are supposed to be the human personification of the exact opposite of Enron.
We should be the solution to the corruption in the world.

And people whether they believe in God or not, should be able to watch our lives and say, “I don’t know all about this guys belief system, but I know I can trust him. His values, his chara., his morals”
It shows by the Character you Demonstrate
“Our character is more caught than taught”

SHAKE

If you’re going to Ignite a Reaction you have to be willing to shake things up. - I love how Jon jumped into the battle and didn’t tell his father (I’m not sure why I like)
The point being that there are going to be times in life,
opportunities to seize, to take LIFE to the next level, when we will have to go against the status quo.
Those 600 men w/ Saul could have stepped out but they didn’t, you know why, b/c we all love permission to do the minimum.
It just makes it easier - if everyone agrees to do nothing it feels like your doing something, doesn’t it.
But then you have people like Jon. That if they get in the battle you feel obligated to do something.

Or if you really don’t want to jump right into the battle what do we do? PRAY- isn’t that like a form of running somtimes?

Jon in battle-kills 20-EQ comes-what does Saul do?
He calls the priest and has a prayer meeting.
(BTW, ever wander why some stuff is in the bible? Numbers, genealogies - name child after, show that you can’t speak or even pronounce Hebrew) something to note here -

1 Sam. 14 tells us early that the priest Ahijah was there.
Notably that there has always been an opportunity to pray.
Not only that, Saul asks him to bring over the 'Ark of God'
(which we all know what the 'Ark of the Covenant' is b/c we’ve all seen
‘Raider’s..’ and we’ve seen it’s potential for good/evil.
The Ark was there telling us the power of God was available if they just had the guts to step out and shake things up.
‘We have to do our part - God will do HIS.

When was the last time you did something after you prayed?
AMEN now go do it!
Actually alot of times after prayer we don’t move right into action - we like to speculate, contemplate, deliberate,
conversate, but we usually don’t like to initiate, instigate
we just like to talk God talk.

And God is wanting us to step out and shake things up.
How cool would that be? You’re just living your life for God day by day, just trying to follow Him, and you’re willing to shake things up a bit and all of a sudden you realize the whole earth is shaking and you go, “Wow, man, I didn’t
realize I could that” Then you wake up, “Ohh yeah, I’m getting some help”

Believe me when you begin to ignite a reaction moving w/ God’s heart/purpose you’re gona see that there is more
going on outside of you which leads to our 3rd word:

ILLUMINATE

Jon in battle-God shakes the earth-the lookout sees the Ph. army scrambling-Saul gathers his troops-begin running to the battlefield thinking they’re dead-they see the Ph. fighting boldly, courageously, stupidly, they are killing each-

You realize that Jon instigated this moment, but God has taken it over.
And there’s more going on that they could ever imagine.
When we move w/ the heart and purpose of God we no longer simply committed to a cause, we now become the cause.
God uses us to ignite a movement - in the hearts and lives of others.
And our lives become proof of God.

Steroid abuse in Baseball-
How many believe there's no abuse in MLB? If you believe there is steroid abuse in MLB raise your hand?

Here we are a bunch of cynics b/c we live in a world where people say I don’t believe in God - prove God to me - If you can’t prove it in a lab. I wont believe.
Do you realize every player in MLB today has passed Steroids test? And yet we still believe there’s Steroid abuse. Why is that?
Is it b/c guys are bigger and stronger at 42 than they were at 22, b/c age usually decays production but they hit more HR’s - once they were bruce banner now they’re the Incredible HULK. Do we really have enough evidence even though they came clean on every test. No proof of St use. Sure you do - U know Y?

B/c you can intuitively see the affect of something you have no evidence of.

This is what happens when we begin to live a life in God - it’s like Spiritual Steroids - they may not be able to prove it in a lab. but they know that your life is evidence of God.

Jon stepped into this dark, dangerous moment and he began to illuminate and evey1 around him saw that it was much bigger than flesh and blood. God sent the quake.

(glow sticks - break it, shake it, let it illuminate)

If you begin to break away from the crowd, and shake things up, you begin to illuminate the presence of God
- you will begin to ignite a reaction.

Chasing Daylight - IMPACT - 'Leave a Mark'

1 Sam. 14:8-17

The story turns at this point; over the last several weeks we have looked at the characteristics of different individuals, discovering in their lives how we can take Life to the next level. How we can live out our dreams and seize these
divine moments God lays before us.
We’ve discovered that the choices we make is most likely the most spiritual activity we engage in and that those who want to seize the extraordinary opportunities in life need to take initiative and advance forward. That we also need to take responsibility of what we breath in and who we are
influencing; that life is full of uncertainty and we are to live by faith and move forward.

In all of that there comes this time in life where you realize that there is a whole lot more going on around you that you could possibly take credit for... have you ever had one of those moments?
You know your talent and you know your giftedness and most likely you are under-estimated by people and still there are these moments in life when we think,
“WOW, what’s going on around me is much bigger than I am”
There’s this God-intervention in my life and that’s when it becomes fun! That’s when it become different.

So we see this with Jon - in this moment where he steps out into conflict, danger, of risk - it’s like you were to lay the odds in Vegas or something it’d be like a million to one chance that Jon and his A.B. would actually survive
Remember Jon is heading into this battle w/ one sword against a huge army. Outrageous odds against, forget
success, their survival.
Yet what we see is when Jon steps out into the valley and lets the Phill. see him and moves into the point of no return all of a sudden things begin to happen that were outside of their control.
I think all of us have these moments where we know there are things happening outside of our control.
But most of the time when we feel that things are out of control, that’s not a good thing. But there are moments when OoC and that becomes a wonderful thing
Bigger, better, more extraordinary things that are happening that we could ever trace back to our own, abilities, talent, intelligence, anything...

Jon and A.B. engage the Phill. and do an ExORD thing by defeating 20 Ph. warriors.
Then everything shifts and God sends an earthquake and there is this huge panic - vs. 15 makes sure it is very clear that GOD sent it! So that everyones focus would shift to this moment in life, and Saul and the others began looking around, “Who’s missing? Who’s left the camp?”

They found out it was Jon and AB and I’m telling you this is what happens in life...
As people journey together and do life together the one who begins to connect w/ God, get heart to heart with God begins this new journey that if you do not join them in a similar
journey, years later you find them in a very different place.

I want to talk to you this morning about making an impact - leaving a mark. Not all of us are going to be a ‘Columbus’
or ‘Magellan’ or something... but every1 of us in this room was created by God not only to make an impact, but to long to as well. You can try and hide it all you want, but inside us all there is this incredible fear that our lives wont amount up to what they could have. It’s in us all.
The further you are from living the life God wants and has for for you, the more it just burns away in your soul.
On the other side, the more you begin to live your life for God, the more your life becomes a reflection of the dreams God has for you, you begin to live in this sweet spot, that you know it doesnt matter what any1 else thinks , or says, you don’t have to compare yourself to any1 else b/c you’re living the life God created you to live - that’s good stuff!

Heros
Sometimes I think we’re looking for that big moment in life where we have a huge impact where our name is up in lights
but the reality is w/ most of us when we look back on our lives the most significant times of life are going to be those small moments that we can’t even tell it’s had an effect in that moment on another human being.
I don’t know what Jon was thinking, but I don’t think he thought that his action would create this pivotal moment in Israel’s history that would awaken all those troops that were afraid to go to war and that God would use it as an ExTOrd victory that would remain in the annals of time for all of us to learn from.
How can we Maximize our IMPACT in Life?
How can we make sure we leave a mark?

FOCUS
How do you optimalize your life?
How do you make an impact

It really begins w/ Focus, which is a hard 1 for me b/c I have such a tuff time doing it myself. And what happens is we become OK w/ our lives out of focus. Life is comfortable.
The problem is we may not really know it b/c we don’t have anything to compare it to.
(Jessi needing glasses)
Alot of times I think we don’t even realize our lives are out of focus. We need to have some sort of focus to make an impact

Jonathan had all these choices of where to enter the battle - he had to choose a point of entry
Eventually if you’re gonna make an impact, you have to choose a point of entry... only then can God take over

We have to do our part - God will do His

What do I focus on? On what matters.

Ask yourself some basic questions:
Who do I want to be? What is it I long to accomplish?
What on that path am I able to control? (What can happen is we can have a good idea of who we want to be... want to acc... but we become paralyzed b/c there are some things along the way we cannot control - we then relinquish, we let go of what we do have control over... ahh forget it)

Sometimes we are focusing on all the wrong stuff...
This is what Solomon said in Ecc. 2, If you’re over working, if you’re trying to feed your pleasures it’s all meaningless...
like chasing after the wind - it’s like trying to punch the wind
(handprint in air)
Some of us are living our lives trying to affect the wind - b/c we’re living our lives for things that don’t matter
(millionaire?)
Sometimes we’re not focusing on what matters, but we’re focusing on making an impact on those things that are worthless.
Sometimes instead of affecting the wind we try to affect
water - ever try to make an impact on water?
I’m really important look at how much space I fill.
So we have this sense that we’re making an impact b/c we’re filling a space - the true test comes whenever we move, not necessarily away, just somewhere else even w/in the same area, will there be any evidence you were ever there at all?
If you want to make an impact in life, if you want to leave a mark - then you’re going to have to focus on what matters and even beyond that you need to focus on what’s going to matter - so here’s the tuff ?
What are you doing right now in your life that’s going to matter a year from now? 5...10
We have to re-direct our lives to the stuff that’s at the core of our soul - to the things that really matter.
Focused on eternal matters.

Are you standing at what is ‘the epicenter’ of your effectiveness?

LEVERAGE

If want to make a maximum impact you have to learn how to leverage your life.
You think Jon didn’t know he was son of a King, that he was a prince? He knew if went out to war
it would cause his father to act.
Alot of times in life you can’t force some1 to do something but you sure can be a magnetic pull in a certain direction,
can’t you?
You hated soccer until your little girl started playing soccer
You never had any interest in CheerLeading ever - until your little girl got involved. Or maybe your son playing baseball or the flute or whatever... we end up loving what those we love love?

Jon couldn’t command dad, waste of energy beg him to get him to engage, but if he jumped into the battle, he knew his father loved him enough to go into that battle, and I’m thinking if it was some1 else Saul would be like, ‘Uh let’em die.’
B/c it was his son, there was this magnetic pull into the heat, into the conflict.
If you’re gonna M I - L M - your gonna have to be able to leverage your life -
How can we do that? Simply leverage your Time, Energy, & Resources.

So many people waste their time - I think we have a problem w/ laziness - we have to ask How do I leverage T E & R

How do I leverage my time? Do I waste too much time?

“Who you are tomorrow is your responsibility today”

We need to invest in ourselves today so we have something to give tomorrow.

We have to leverage our E - we sit around not doing much
I think b/c we’re bored - just watching life happen - if we would live life the way God intended we’d be sooo energized
and exhilarated
A part of the way you stay energized is by doing the things you love - remembering that it doesn’t get you out of focus on what matters - healthy balance but have fun!

INVEST

If your going to make a lasting impact on life then you have to invest, but listen you have to invest in people.
How? Invest in people who invest in people
Invest in others who care about others; invest in people who are giving their lives away - that’s what I do - that’s where my time goes in those who want to move forward.
(Pareto Principle)
I love how Jon took his A B - he could have said, ‘this guys is just gonna hold me back. Ever felt that way? Ever thought, ‘I could do so much better if I could get rid of all these people - or atleast my spouse’
(walk too fast for Alli)
Look at what Jon says here, yet so subtle v.11-12
For Israel, what do you mean Is., you mean for Jon. NO Jon is not trying to make a name for himself, or trying to get a promotion for AB, he’s doing it for all the people of God - I love this about him.
He was investing in people who would invest in people - his long term dream was that his life would leave a mark in the lives of others who would leave a mark.

What is the one thing I need to do this week to begin to leave a mark?
(relat. job to pursue, job quit, forgiveness i need to ask, a risk i need to take)
I want you to think about what is the mark that you need to make this week - then move forward with F L I

Something so small, so simple can make a huge impact in the lives of others.