WEBVTT 00:00:01.606 --> 00:00:01.967 Hey, what up? 00:00:01.967 --> 00:00:03.826 It's Mark Carter on, the Pastor of Fierce Church. 00:00:03.826 --> 00:00:04.863 Welcome to our podcast. 00:00:04.863 --> 00:00:07.168 I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today. 00:00:07.168 --> 00:00:16.689 I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you. 00:00:16.689 --> 00:00:17.844 Enjoy the message. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:23.109 So, y'all, i have a confession to make to you today. 00:00:23.109 --> 00:00:24.362 Are you ready for this? 00:00:24.362 --> 00:00:28.088 Yeah, this is my set the scope in a box. 00:00:28.088 --> 00:00:39.209 It has been sitting on my counter for almost a month now and I have not opened it because I'm afraid, and I'm going into nursing school in the fall. 00:00:39.209 --> 00:00:50.707 August 28th, i started masters in nursing at Marquette University and I'm terrified, terrified, and I feel like this box talks to me. 00:00:50.707 --> 00:00:56.368 The set the scope inside it talks to me and it tells me you're too old, you're 45. 00:00:56.368 --> 00:00:58.886 And it tells me you're not smart enough. 00:00:58.886 --> 00:01:01.006 And it tells me you're not capable enough. 00:01:01.006 --> 00:01:01.802 You can't do that. 00:01:01.802 --> 00:01:03.585 And it tells me you don't have what it takes. 00:01:03.585 --> 00:01:05.766 And it tells me you're gonna fail. 00:01:05.766 --> 00:01:07.984 Who do you think you are? 00:01:07.984 --> 00:01:14.429 And I walk by and I'm like, yeah, you're right, you're right, you're right, you're right. 00:01:14.429 --> 00:01:25.367 And I fight this over and over and over again, these insecurities that are so deep within me about this next step that I'm about to take, and it just keeps going. 00:01:25.367 --> 00:01:27.528 Maybe you have something like that too. 00:01:27.528 --> 00:01:35.489 Maybe it's not a set the scope on your counter, but maybe there's something in your life that speaks insecurity over your life. 00:01:35.489 --> 00:01:37.084 Do you have something like that? 00:01:37.084 --> 00:01:40.962 Yeah, i have to tell you. 00:01:40.962 --> 00:01:47.168 It is deep within side of me And it tells me what I can and I can't do. 00:01:47.980 --> 00:02:05.769 Today we are gonna continue our series on the road out, and this has been such a powerful series And we are gonna be talking today about how all of our spiritual problems go back to a view of God that he is too small, that we're looking at him And we're looking at him and thinking that he is too small. 00:02:05.769 --> 00:02:10.725 The first week we started off with two truths when we feel forgotten. 00:02:10.725 --> 00:02:14.746 The first one was that God remembers us even when no one else does. 00:02:14.746 --> 00:02:19.788 And the second truth was that God rewards even simple obedience and that is a blessing. 00:02:19.788 --> 00:02:36.467 And the second week we talked about how God has to do it in us before he can do it through us, and that was all about God building that character in us And we have to go through those trials And if we go through those trials and God is building in us, what he can do so that he can do with us what he wants to right. 00:02:36.467 --> 00:02:37.983 That was awesome. 00:02:37.983 --> 00:02:53.049 Today we're talking all about insecurity in Exodus three And the feeling that we are not enough to face life's challenges, and it comes from a view that God is too small. 00:02:54.240 --> 00:03:00.187 Insecurity is that voice inside of us that whispers I am not blank enough. 00:03:00.187 --> 00:03:02.024 What is that for you? 00:03:02.024 --> 00:03:04.205 What do you put in that blank? 00:03:04.205 --> 00:03:07.048 What bubbles up to the surface when you think about that? 00:03:07.048 --> 00:03:17.408 I am not blank enough, i'm not good looking enough, i'm not athletic enough, i'm not young enough, i'm not smart or funny or spiritual or capable enough. 00:03:17.408 --> 00:03:31.567 When I feel insecure, i feel like life in front of me is like a delicious bowl of soup and I'm a fork And I'm like I can't even get into that soup, like I don't even belong here, and that's what it feels like. 00:03:31.567 --> 00:03:33.286 What's what insecurity feels like to me? 00:03:33.286 --> 00:03:35.646 Maybe it feels something like that to you too. 00:03:35.646 --> 00:03:46.067 Maybe you just got hired for a job and you really don't feel like you belong there, and you feel like, as you walk through the office, like everybody else doesn't feel like you belong there, and when they laugh, you're like they're surely laughing about me. 00:03:46.067 --> 00:03:48.967 Ugh, i hate that feeling. 00:03:48.967 --> 00:03:55.729 Or maybe it's a new season, you just became a new parent, or maybe your kids are flying out of the nest like mine. 00:03:55.729 --> 00:04:01.487 Or maybe you're starting a new career And it's you're wondering can I do this? 00:04:01.487 --> 00:04:04.609 Do I have what it takes to do this next step? 00:04:04.609 --> 00:04:11.325 Or maybe you just started dating someone And you're wondering if you're measuring up to their family's expectations? 00:04:11.325 --> 00:04:20.925 I remember when Mark would sit around our family table and he would feel like everyone was auditioning him And he would like leave the table and people would vote on him. 00:04:20.925 --> 00:04:24.651 I think that's how he felt, right, they love him, They like, adore him. 00:04:24.651 --> 00:04:26.466 But that's how he felt. 00:04:26.466 --> 00:04:31.249 Maybe you're married right now and you feel like you're still not meeting those expectations. 00:04:32.180 --> 00:04:36.747 Well, exodus three starts off with Moses as a pretty insecure man. 00:04:36.747 --> 00:04:40.310 Moses had started off his life as a very confident guy. 00:04:40.310 --> 00:04:49.526 You know, he had a wonderful job, he was high paid, he lived in the palace as Pharaoh's adopted son And he was great. 00:04:49.526 --> 00:04:52.749 And then he felt like God called him to do something. 00:04:52.749 --> 00:04:57.463 He felt like God called him to deliver the people of Israel from slavery. 00:04:57.463 --> 00:05:10.947 But when he did that, when he took that step of faith, they met him with rejection And they mocked him And Pharaoh just owned him And he killed a man And he buried him in the sand, like we learned about last week. 00:05:10.947 --> 00:05:19.968 He fleeced to the desert, which we learned that was like 700 miles away, and he spends the next 40 years there. 00:05:19.968 --> 00:05:22.406 Can you imagine that 40 years? 00:05:22.406 --> 00:05:27.245 And that's where we're going to pick it up today in verse and chapter three, verse one. 00:05:27.245 --> 00:05:31.651 I'm going to take a drink of water, thank you. 00:05:36.620 --> 00:05:40.846 One day, moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, jethro the priest of Midian. 00:05:40.846 --> 00:05:44.925 He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God. 00:05:44.925 --> 00:05:48.290 Now y'all, he was Pharaoh's adopted son. 00:05:48.290 --> 00:05:52.326 Now he is on the backside of the mountain And he is tending sheep for his father-in-law. 00:05:52.326 --> 00:05:55.146 I don't think this is what he had in mind. 00:05:55.146 --> 00:05:57.324 I don't think this was his plan. 00:05:57.324 --> 00:05:58.680 All right There. 00:05:58.680 --> 00:06:02.007 An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of the bush. 00:06:02.007 --> 00:06:04.146 Moses stared in amazement. 00:06:04.146 --> 00:06:08.125 Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it did not burn up. 00:06:08.125 --> 00:06:09.564 This is amazing. 00:06:09.564 --> 00:06:10.627 Moses said to himself. 00:06:10.627 --> 00:06:13.088 Why isn't the bush burning up? 00:06:13.088 --> 00:06:15.726 I must go see it. 00:06:16.459 --> 00:06:20.826 When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, god called him from the middle of the bush. 00:06:20.826 --> 00:06:23.567 Moses, moses, here I am. 00:06:23.567 --> 00:06:24.723 Moses replied. 00:06:24.723 --> 00:06:31.651 We need to stop there Because I feel like we get so busy in our lives, don't we? 00:06:31.651 --> 00:06:47.946 We get so distracted by our phones, by our goals, by our careers by everything that we're doing all around us, and sometimes God is trying to show us a burning bush in our life and we are not able to see it because we are so busy And that is detrimental. 00:06:47.946 --> 00:06:58.648 God wants to speak to us And I just think it's so incredible that, because Moses turned to see the burning bush, that is when God spoke to him. 00:06:58.648 --> 00:06:59.422 Amen. 00:06:59.422 --> 00:07:02.127 And so God is going to want to speak to you. 00:07:02.127 --> 00:07:04.208 So we need to look up and around. 00:07:04.208 --> 00:07:06.065 We can't be down all the time. 00:07:06.065 --> 00:07:09.788 We have to look up and around because God wants to speak to us. 00:07:09.788 --> 00:07:10.610 Word. 00:07:10.610 --> 00:07:12.684 Yes, all right, let's keep going. 00:07:12.684 --> 00:07:14.343 Do not come any closer. 00:07:14.343 --> 00:07:19.370 The Lord warned Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. 00:07:19.370 --> 00:07:21.805 Something special is about to happen. 00:07:21.805 --> 00:07:27.423 I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 00:07:28.019 --> 00:07:33.249 When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. 00:07:33.249 --> 00:07:37.187 This was the God of his people And he was talking to him. 00:07:37.187 --> 00:07:43.009 Then the Lord told him I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. 00:07:43.009 --> 00:07:47.148 I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. 00:07:47.148 --> 00:07:50.420 Yes, i am aware of their suffering. 00:07:50.420 --> 00:07:56.322 He sees and hears and is aware of your suffering as well. 00:07:56.322 --> 00:08:03.874 So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and Spacious land. 00:08:03.874 --> 00:08:11.119 It is a land flowing with milk and honey, the land where the Canaanites, hittites, amorites, parasites, hittites and Jebusites all the ice, they all live there. 00:08:11.119 --> 00:08:22.670 Look, the cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I've seen how harshly the Egyptians abused them, which reminds me to keep praying right, because that prayer reached God. 00:08:22.670 --> 00:08:24.862 Let's keep praying for what we need to pray for. 00:08:25.225 --> 00:08:26.029 And this is so funny. 00:08:26.029 --> 00:08:29.336 This is what God tells him of all the direction He can say. 00:08:29.336 --> 00:08:34.534 This is all he gives Moses now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. 00:08:34.534 --> 00:08:37.201 You must lead my people, israel, out of Egypt. 00:08:37.201 --> 00:08:40.573 That's it, okay. 00:08:40.573 --> 00:08:42.850 But Moses protested to God. 00:08:42.850 --> 00:08:45.918 Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? 00:08:45.918 --> 00:08:49.529 who am I to lead these people out of Egypt? 00:08:49.529 --> 00:08:51.293 Hold up, okay. 00:08:51.293 --> 00:08:54.480 When did we start talking about Moses here? 00:08:54.942 --> 00:09:05.440 up until this point, everything in this scripture has been about God and who God is and what God wants to do, and all of a sudden, moses makes himself The point of the conversation. 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:07.730 Did you see that, and he is the writer of this book. 00:09:07.730 --> 00:09:18.450 He makes himself the point of the conversation and scholars say that this reveals his deep in Securities that Moses has been carrying around from past failures. 00:09:18.450 --> 00:09:21.905 It's just like a bag of failures He's carrying. 00:09:21.905 --> 00:09:44.171 In fact, they point out that the question who am I is an echo to the very question Then he tried, when he tried to rescue his people, israel in chapter 2, when he announced how he was going to deliver them and they said who are you and why would we follow you that Security? 00:09:44.171 --> 00:09:48.282 the repetition of that question, who are you? 00:09:48.909 --> 00:09:55.783 Continues to go through his mind and shows us that their doubts have seeped deep into his soul. 00:09:55.783 --> 00:10:00.782 Has any doubts seeped deep within your soul? 00:10:00.782 --> 00:10:03.753 Maybe that's happened to you. 00:10:03.753 --> 00:10:09.817 Someone has criticized you for so long that you started to believe Those things about yourself. 00:10:09.817 --> 00:10:14.139 Maybe it was a friend, maybe it was an ex-spouse, maybe it was a dad or an abusive boss. 00:10:14.139 --> 00:10:33.332 Somebody has been speaking things over you and it keeps going over and over and over in your mind like a broken record, so that when there's an opportunity in front of you, when God calls you to do something, when something is in front of you, all that plays in your head is your insecurities, over and over and over again, and that's how you answer God. 00:10:33.332 --> 00:10:39.063 And that's how Moses answered God in that moment out of his insecurity instead of out of faith. 00:10:39.063 --> 00:10:44.335 Wow, but this is how God responds to him in chapter. 00:10:44.335 --> 00:10:49.224 In verse 12, god answered the most powerful five words ever. 00:10:49.224 --> 00:10:53.442 I Will be, with you. 00:10:53.462 --> 00:11:00.360 I Will be with you and this is your sign that the one that I am the one who has sent you. 00:11:00.360 --> 00:11:05.038 When you have brought the people of Egypt, you out of Egypt, you will worship God. 00:11:05.038 --> 00:11:10.330 At this very moment, i will be with you. 00:11:10.330 --> 00:11:12.498 That's what he says to you. 00:11:12.498 --> 00:11:14.714 This is important. 00:11:14.714 --> 00:11:16.399 I want you to notice what God didn't do. 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:19.115 God didn't give him a pep talk, right. 00:11:19.115 --> 00:11:23.434 He didn't say you got this, moses, you got everything it takes. 00:11:23.434 --> 00:11:25.260 I know you do you go? 00:11:25.260 --> 00:11:29.283 He didn't say that, right, and he didn't like play a song. 00:11:29.302 --> 00:11:34.929 Like on my way to work, when I'm going to the hospital, i usually put on like roar by Katy Perry, and I'm like seeing a lot. 00:11:34.929 --> 00:11:42.249 I am the, i am the tiger Fire dancing through the fire, because I am a champion. 00:11:42.249 --> 00:11:44.676 Yeah, and you're gonna hear me, roar. 00:11:44.676 --> 00:11:53.052 Yeah, i do that on the way to work really loud, and those things are great, right, they're really fun, they're really kind. 00:11:53.052 --> 00:11:58.283 When people give us compliments, it builds us up, but it builds us up only for a moment. 00:11:58.283 --> 00:12:03.590 It can't give us the strength to carry us through what God is calling us to do. 00:12:03.590 --> 00:12:11.738 It isn't gonna give us the strength to carry us through the hard times that we're about to walk into, we need God. 00:12:11.738 --> 00:12:14.999 And God says to us I will be with you. 00:12:14.999 --> 00:12:27.177 The real confidence comes not from a better assessment of our own potential, but a clear view of how big and Powerful God is. 00:12:27.177 --> 00:12:32.754 So I've been like walking around my house as I've been preparing this message And I've been thinking about I will be with you. 00:12:32.754 --> 00:12:41.687 And I've been thinking about just the different times, like I have to do Something and I need strength, right, and so God is with me, and so I'm like I will be with you. 00:12:41.687 --> 00:12:44.057 High five, god, you're right there, right. 00:12:44.057 --> 00:12:46.049 And so I walk through and like I need to go. 00:12:46.049 --> 00:12:48.038 I don't know, god calls me to talk to somebody. 00:12:48.038 --> 00:12:49.687 I'm like, okay, i will be with you. 00:12:49.687 --> 00:12:53.981 Okay, high five, let's go because God is going to be with us. 00:12:53.981 --> 00:12:56.570 Right, so we can give a high five to God, amen. 00:12:57.613 --> 00:13:09.495 But Moses still doesn't get it, just like we don't get it a lot of the time, and he keeps talking about his deficiencies, as we do, and in verse 13 It says Moses protested. 00:13:09.495 --> 00:13:16.933 If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, the God of your ancestors has sent me to you, they will ask what is his name. 00:13:16.933 --> 00:13:18.577 And then, what should I tell them? 00:13:18.577 --> 00:13:20.361 Can you just imagine Moses? 00:13:20.361 --> 00:13:24.289 He is in a complete tizzy right now and he's like what do you want me to do? 00:13:24.289 --> 00:13:26.034 What if they ask him me this? 00:13:26.034 --> 00:13:27.076 what am I supposed to say? 00:13:27.076 --> 00:13:28.562 What am I supposed to do when this happens? 00:13:28.562 --> 00:13:35.083 He wants to know the whole story, like we do most of the time, before we even are willing to take a step. 00:13:36.270 --> 00:13:44.164 But in verse 14, god redirects us Moses's focus once again on his own person and his own purpose. 00:13:44.164 --> 00:13:49.261 14, god replied to Moses I am who I am. 00:13:49.261 --> 00:13:55.581 Say this to the people of Israel I am Has sent me to you. 00:13:55.581 --> 00:14:01.006 He says, moses, this is not about you having what it takes. 00:14:01.006 --> 00:14:08.591 This is about me accomplishing my purposes in your life, it's. 00:14:08.591 --> 00:14:10.758 I don't need to have everything memorized. 00:14:10.758 --> 00:14:12.615 I don't need to know the whole manual. 00:14:12.615 --> 00:14:17.155 I don't need to know the answer to every question that someone's gonna ask me. 00:14:17.155 --> 00:14:22.456 I don't need to float along on a cloud of grace and like get everything together, because I flail like all the time. 00:14:22.456 --> 00:14:24.014 I don't need any of that. 00:14:24.014 --> 00:14:27.239 All I need to know is that God is going with me. 00:14:27.239 --> 00:14:31.456 He's saying to Moses and he's saying to you today, i don't need you to be the victor. 00:14:31.456 --> 00:14:39.559 I need you to be a vessel, a vessel that I can fill and I can use. 00:14:39.559 --> 00:14:50.552 Confidence comes from seeing how big and powerful God is and discovering his purposes for your life and getting swept up in them Amen. 00:14:51.590 --> 00:14:54.840 So last summer, my family went to Walt Disney World. 00:14:54.840 --> 00:14:57.094 I know everybody has different opinions of Walt Disney World. 00:14:57.094 --> 00:14:59.277 I love Disney World. 00:14:59.277 --> 00:15:01.378 Okay, i cry when I walk through the gate. 00:15:01.378 --> 00:15:13.375 I'm like a little girl and I'm in my favorite place, and what I wanted to do is I wanted to take my kids to Walt Disney World altogether before they all fly away, and so that's what we did. 00:15:13.375 --> 00:15:19.556 Last year, we spent one day in the park and it was one of the best days I don't know if y'all agree of our lives. 00:15:19.556 --> 00:15:19.998 Right? 00:15:19.998 --> 00:15:21.394 Yeah, it was amazing. 00:15:21.394 --> 00:15:25.395 Okay, you need to know something, though, before you get into the story. 00:15:25.509 --> 00:15:30.697 So back way when, 24 years ago, mark and I went on our honeymoon to Walt Disney World. 00:15:30.697 --> 00:15:38.176 It was awesome, but I was filled with such fear I don't even know why Such fear and such. 00:15:38.176 --> 00:15:42.756 I was just so insecure and I was afraid of every ride. 00:15:42.756 --> 00:15:51.398 You guys, i did not ride a ride, not one ride Cause I let fear and insecurity feel me so much that I paralyzed myself and I could not get on a ride. 00:15:51.398 --> 00:15:54.318 My poor husband, i like, could not do it. 00:15:54.710 --> 00:16:00.500 And there was one point where we did this virtual computer thing where we had to design our own roller coaster. 00:16:00.500 --> 00:16:05.332 And he designed this huge roller coaster with loops and loops and all this stuff and I was terrified. 00:16:05.332 --> 00:16:06.577 I was like Mark, i can't ride that. 00:16:06.577 --> 00:16:11.499 It's not even a real roller coaster, you guys, it's a virtual computer program, okay. 00:16:11.499 --> 00:16:13.475 But I was like I cannot get on a ride. 00:16:13.475 --> 00:16:14.438 But I did. 00:16:14.438 --> 00:16:18.994 And then I designed mine And if you've been around from any length of time, you know what it was called. 00:16:18.994 --> 00:16:25.057 It was called the Jolly Trolley And my roller coaster literally went ch-ch-ch-ch, whee. 00:16:25.571 --> 00:16:27.857 And I was like, okay, i can handle this. 00:16:27.857 --> 00:16:30.214 Not this time. 00:16:30.214 --> 00:16:37.596 This time I was like I'm gonna be brave, i'm gonna go on every single ride with my kids and I'm gonna love it and it's gonna be awesome. 00:16:37.596 --> 00:16:40.139 And so here I am, ready to get on Splash Mountain. 00:16:40.139 --> 00:16:43.073 I'm going through the line, okay, i'm looking at my watch. 00:16:43.073 --> 00:16:43.890 I'm. 00:16:43.890 --> 00:16:46.558 Oh, my heart rate is really high right now. 00:16:46.558 --> 00:16:52.018 My heart rate was really high as I was standing in line in the hundreds and I'm in that gate part. 00:16:52.018 --> 00:16:52.490 You know where. 00:16:52.490 --> 00:16:54.437 You're like, no way, there's no return, right? 00:16:54.437 --> 00:16:57.475 You're like there, there's a gate behind you, you're the next person to get on it. 00:16:57.475 --> 00:17:02.339 And I'm like, oh, and so I'm like Mark, i cannot do this. 00:17:02.339 --> 00:17:03.715 And he's like trust the Lord. 00:17:03.715 --> 00:17:05.797 And I'm like, okay, i'm gonna trust the Lord. 00:17:06.190 --> 00:17:11.295 And so I like had to put away my bravery and I had to look to God. 00:17:11.295 --> 00:17:15.755 I had to remember God will be with me, he is going with me. 00:17:15.755 --> 00:17:17.236 I could do all things through Christ. 00:17:17.236 --> 00:17:21.336 I went on that ride, you guys, and I had the time of my life. 00:17:21.336 --> 00:17:23.577 I screamed as we went down everything. 00:17:23.577 --> 00:17:24.698 I was like what the heck? 00:17:24.698 --> 00:17:27.258 Like I had to count down everything. 00:17:27.258 --> 00:17:28.977 I was a mess, but it was so fun. 00:17:28.977 --> 00:17:34.497 So this is me, and here is a live video Check this out of what it was like. 00:17:34.497 --> 00:17:37.366 Are you really doing it, harry? 00:17:37.366 --> 00:17:38.898 No, that was terrifying. 00:17:38.898 --> 00:17:42.647 Yay, we did it. 00:17:42.647 --> 00:17:46.413 We did it, i did it And it was awesome. 00:17:46.413 --> 00:17:53.894 But it wasn't because of my bravery, it was because I had to do it with God, because God was going with me. 00:17:53.894 --> 00:18:03.259 That's why I could do it, because my God is so big and so powerful, and my confidence needs to be in Him alone. 00:18:03.259 --> 00:18:04.152 Amen. 00:18:05.170 --> 00:18:11.135 The road out of insecurity it's not about us guys And it's not about being enough. 00:18:11.135 --> 00:18:12.032 Praise the Lord. 00:18:12.032 --> 00:18:16.980 It's about God and His person and His purpose and His power. 00:18:16.980 --> 00:18:30.430 Many people assume that the Bible is about them, about looking through the Bible for all these spiritual insights that will help me live a victorious Christian life And there is stuff in there on that. 00:18:30.430 --> 00:18:33.779 But the Bible is primarily about God. 00:18:33.779 --> 00:18:46.220 The Bible is, page after page, revealing who He is, and only when we come to an awareness of who He is can we discover who we really are. 00:18:46.220 --> 00:18:53.199 Only by becoming confident in His purposes for our life can we ever become confident to do what He's calling us to do. 00:18:53.970 --> 00:19:01.701 So many of us have tried to find God's will, and we're like God what is your will for my life? 00:19:01.701 --> 00:19:04.298 And it's always like my right. 00:19:04.298 --> 00:19:06.337 And we're like looking like for my life. 00:19:06.337 --> 00:19:09.353 We're looking all around trying to find what does God want me to do? 00:19:09.353 --> 00:19:10.954 What does God want me to say? 00:19:10.954 --> 00:19:13.317 What does God want me to go in my life? 00:19:13.317 --> 00:19:16.214 How do I achieve God, my life purposes? 00:19:16.214 --> 00:19:19.237 He doesn't want you to hold a magnifying to yourself. 00:19:19.237 --> 00:19:19.919 It's not about you. 00:19:19.919 --> 00:19:23.855 It's not about you, it's about God. 00:19:23.855 --> 00:19:25.875 It's about coming before Him. 00:19:25.950 --> 00:19:29.633 When we are so focused on ourselves, we're just so inward focused. 00:19:29.633 --> 00:19:36.038 It is so stifling and paralyzing And we can't breathe because all we see is ourselves. 00:19:36.038 --> 00:19:37.674 There's no power in that. 00:19:37.674 --> 00:19:49.473 What we really need to do is what Moses did in front of the burning bush and take off our shoes and realize that we are standing on a holy ground in front of God Almighty And we need just to render to Him. 00:19:50.174 --> 00:19:52.220 God, i am your vessel. 00:19:52.220 --> 00:19:54.074 What do you want me to do? 00:19:54.074 --> 00:20:00.441 I'm yours, and look up, instead of down in ourselves and magnifying ourselves. 00:20:00.441 --> 00:20:01.914 We look up and out. 00:20:01.914 --> 00:20:03.654 God, this is your world. 00:20:03.654 --> 00:20:05.355 What do you want to do here? 00:20:05.355 --> 00:20:06.954 I'm your vessel. 00:20:06.954 --> 00:20:09.815 Amen, that is where the power is. 00:20:09.815 --> 00:20:19.913 So this is what God tries patiently, and he shows us patiently how to do this, and he drives the point home with the introduction of His name I am who I am. 00:20:20.609 --> 00:20:23.740 Say this to the people Israel I am has sent me to you. 00:20:23.740 --> 00:20:25.253 And that sounds strange. 00:20:25.253 --> 00:20:25.936 Right, i am. 00:20:25.936 --> 00:20:26.631 What do you mean? 00:20:26.631 --> 00:20:32.067 I am, but God is saying Moses, i am not like anything you've ever experienced before. 00:20:32.067 --> 00:20:35.266 I don't have needs, i don't require any help. 00:20:35.266 --> 00:20:40.628 I don't get tired, i don't have limits, i did not have a beginning and I will not have an ending. 00:20:40.628 --> 00:20:44.327 I am unchanging, unbounded, always and forever the same. 00:20:44.327 --> 00:20:49.048 So I am not intimidated by Pharaoh and he is not intimidated by your mountain. 00:20:49.048 --> 00:20:54.228 He is not intimidated by that circumstance, he's not intimidated by your marriage and what's going on in it. 00:20:54.228 --> 00:21:02.873 He's not intimidated by it And he is not limited by Moses' abilities and he was not limited by your abilities. 00:21:02.873 --> 00:21:10.690 So, whatever you said last week that you regret, he's not limited by that And he's not limited because that failure happened in the past. 00:21:10.690 --> 00:21:12.125 He's not limited by that. 00:21:12.125 --> 00:21:15.328 He's God Almighty and he wants to move in your life. 00:21:16.141 --> 00:21:21.353 The burning bush is supposed to give us a glimpse of God's eternal, self-sustaining nature. 00:21:21.353 --> 00:21:26.904 The fire burned continually in that bush without burning up the bush, and we know for a fire. 00:21:26.904 --> 00:21:29.704 If we were to make a campfire right here, we would put wood on it, start it. 00:21:29.704 --> 00:21:33.903 But if we didn't continually stoke it and put more wood on it, it would go out. 00:21:33.903 --> 00:21:38.550 But that's not the fire that Moses saw in that bush. 00:21:38.550 --> 00:21:46.951 It was self-sustaining, it didn't require anything And in the same way, god, the eternal I am needs no external fuel. 00:21:47.441 --> 00:21:51.346 Nothing precedes him, nothing sustains him, nothing contains him. 00:21:51.346 --> 00:21:53.406 He is God Almighty. 00:21:53.406 --> 00:21:58.750 So we put our confidence in him and not in our prepared selves. 00:21:58.750 --> 00:22:04.773 We know that God has been preparing Moses Like we've seen all that In our human person. 00:22:04.773 --> 00:22:11.246 We would tell him Moses, don't you worry all that stuff with failure and feral, that was just preparation. 00:22:11.246 --> 00:22:12.684 Now you're ready. 00:22:12.684 --> 00:22:16.653 But that's not how God responded to Moses. 00:22:16.653 --> 00:22:17.935 That's not what he said to him. 00:22:17.935 --> 00:22:22.365 He didn't say now you have what it takes because you've gone through all this. 00:22:22.365 --> 00:22:35.426 Instead, he simply says Moses, i am with you, walk forward in confidence, knowing that what I have called you to I will supply you for. 00:22:35.426 --> 00:22:39.027 And Moses did that Once he started to take a step. 00:22:39.027 --> 00:22:47.890 He started to see how God indeed had been ever present in every part of his life, preparing him for this great work that he had called into. 00:22:47.890 --> 00:22:55.269 God doesn't even want our confidence in the preparation, but in him right now. 00:22:55.269 --> 00:22:58.969 He is a very present God right now. 00:22:58.969 --> 00:23:18.539 So what if we looked at our life through the eyes of faith, believing that in everything the good and the bad, the exciting and the disappointing, the tragedies and the triumphs a sovereign, loving God was behind it all, preparing you for his purposes. 00:23:18.539 --> 00:23:30.383 And that same God is now calling you forward, trusting that the one who faithfully prepared you will faithfully see you through, amen. 00:23:31.240 --> 00:23:40.009 So this last May was our 24th anniversary, mark and I and we went away for a couple of nights and I was sitting out having my quiet time and I was journaling. 00:23:40.009 --> 00:23:46.388 And I wrote this to the Lord again, because I'm always not always, but I'm asking God for confirmation. 00:23:46.388 --> 00:23:48.023 And I wrote to him. 00:23:48.023 --> 00:23:53.643 Sometimes I feel lost and scared In your mercy. 00:23:53.643 --> 00:23:55.169 I pray for one more. 00:23:55.169 --> 00:24:02.886 And then I put a dash another smiley face, confirmation that this is the right direction for me to go. 00:24:03.800 --> 00:24:09.640 And I sat there for a while and I heard the Lord say, not in like an audible voice, but in my head. 00:24:09.640 --> 00:24:15.667 I heard him say these things to me I will make it clear as you step out on the water. 00:24:15.667 --> 00:24:19.246 It's okay that you don't know how. 00:24:19.246 --> 00:24:23.303 Just trust me, i've got you. 00:24:23.303 --> 00:24:24.828 I won't let you go. 00:24:24.828 --> 00:24:29.930 Remember that I am doing a new thing. 00:24:29.930 --> 00:24:36.517 And lastly, he said to me be still and know that I am God. 00:24:38.563 --> 00:24:41.631 You'll notice that all of those things are not about me. 00:24:41.631 --> 00:24:45.229 They're all about God doing what God does. 00:24:45.229 --> 00:24:53.969 God leading me, god pursuing me, god telling me what next step to take and that it's all going to be Him from beginning to end. 00:24:53.969 --> 00:24:57.910 And that is where our confidence comes from in Him. 00:24:57.910 --> 00:25:06.903 God doesn't deal with Moses' insecurities by teaching him anything new about himself, even though Moses has a lot to learn In this moment. 00:25:06.903 --> 00:25:12.970 God deals with Moses' insecurities by calling him to focus on who God is. 00:25:12.970 --> 00:25:19.608 Confidence doesn't come from a clearer self-assessment, but a clearer view of God. 00:25:19.608 --> 00:25:31.530 So when Moses says but God, i am not eloquent enough, i'm not smart enough, i'm not successful enough, god responds I didn't choose you because you were any of those things. 00:25:31.530 --> 00:25:33.846 I didn't choose you because of that. 00:25:33.846 --> 00:25:37.628 I am enough of all those things for both of us. 00:25:37.628 --> 00:25:41.950 You are not, but God is enough. 00:25:42.961 --> 00:25:46.788 In fact, throughout scripture we learned that God doesn't often choose the person. 00:25:46.788 --> 00:25:50.269 That's like all right, i know why God chose me. 00:25:50.269 --> 00:25:54.068 It's because I'm so talented and he just wanted me on his team. 00:25:54.068 --> 00:25:56.867 He doesn't really do that ever. 00:25:56.867 --> 00:26:13.532 He usually humbles that person, but I praise the Lord for it is that he prefers instruments who are broken and feel insufficient to know that they need to lean on Jesus. 00:26:13.532 --> 00:26:21.192 That's why Paul says in First Corinthians he chooses the weak and the despised so that the glory will go all to him. 00:26:21.192 --> 00:26:22.001 Amen. 00:26:22.001 --> 00:26:29.550 I would actually you guys go so far as to say feeling inadequate is a prerequisite to being used by God. 00:26:29.550 --> 00:26:33.119 Most of us says but God, i'm not good enough. 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:35.759 And God says I know I am God. 00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:37.366 I'm not skilled enough. 00:26:37.366 --> 00:26:42.826 I am God, i'm not confident enough, i am. 00:26:42.826 --> 00:26:44.972 Put your confidence in me. 00:26:45.710 --> 00:26:53.359 In the New Testament, jesus takes this I am to himself and applies it very intimately to every area of our life. 00:26:53.359 --> 00:26:57.720 The greatest areas of brokenness and need is the need for God. 00:26:57.720 --> 00:27:03.747 The greatest areas of brokenness and need, he says to the hungry, he says I am the bread of life. 00:27:03.747 --> 00:27:07.390 To the thirsty, i am the living water. 00:27:07.390 --> 00:27:10.747 To those in darkness, jesus declares I am the light. 00:27:10.747 --> 00:27:13.107 To those in need of a fresh start. 00:27:13.107 --> 00:27:16.066 He says I am the door To those who feel abandoned. 00:27:16.066 --> 00:27:18.588 He says I am the good shepherd. 00:27:18.588 --> 00:27:21.145 To those who feel lost, he says I am the way. 00:27:21.145 --> 00:27:24.265 To those who are afraid of death, he says I am the life. 00:27:24.265 --> 00:27:25.223 To those confused. 00:27:25.223 --> 00:27:26.067 I am the truth. 00:27:26.067 --> 00:27:30.066 To the unrighteous, he says I will be Your righteous covering. 00:27:30.066 --> 00:27:32.165 To the empty, he says I am your fullness. 00:27:32.165 --> 00:27:35.148 To the dead, he says I am your resurrection. 00:27:35.148 --> 00:27:39.912 To the defeated he says I am your hope. 00:27:39.912 --> 00:27:43.684 And to those who got overlooked, cut from the team Passover promotion. 00:27:43.684 --> 00:27:53.028 God says to you today I have a plan for you to use you in a significant way for my kingdom, to give you a future and a hope and a blessing. 00:27:53.028 --> 00:27:55.709 Make you a blessing to all those around you. 00:27:55.709 --> 00:27:58.186 He has not forgot about you. 00:27:59.500 --> 00:28:03.369 The Bible's message is not about self-actualization. 00:28:03.369 --> 00:28:10.568 The Bible is about God and what God wants for you and how he wants to accomplish in your life. 00:28:10.568 --> 00:28:20.830 The gospel is not that God would help us become righteous enough for him because we could never, never be righteous enough for Jesus. 00:28:20.830 --> 00:28:31.930 It's that Jesus was righteous in our place and he died the death that we should have died so that we could be given his righteousness as a gift in his place. 00:28:31.930 --> 00:28:40.769 For all that we need, my friends, and all that we lack, all that we can never be in and of ourselves. 00:28:40.769 --> 00:28:44.269 Jesus is the great I am. 00:28:44.269 --> 00:28:45.843 I am not enough. 00:28:45.843 --> 00:28:53.671 Y'all You're not enough, moses wasn't enough, but God is God enough for both you and me and Moses and everybody else. 00:28:54.862 --> 00:28:59.529 Some of you might be saying, kenzie, this isn't like a round round message like usual. 00:28:59.529 --> 00:29:06.409 This isn't like yay, i'm kind of feeling a little small here And I tell you that is a good thing. 00:29:06.409 --> 00:29:08.285 It is a good thing. 00:29:08.285 --> 00:29:23.904 You see, this world is kind of on fire I don't know if you recognize that yet And everything and everyone, whether it's social media or the news or anywhere, anywhere you go, it's all about what do you need? 00:29:23.904 --> 00:29:27.044 What do you need, do you right? 00:29:27.044 --> 00:29:29.222 Like, whatever you need, that's what you should do. 00:29:29.222 --> 00:29:30.801 Whatever you want, that's what you should get. 00:29:30.801 --> 00:29:32.019 It's all about you. 00:29:32.019 --> 00:29:35.002 But that's not what God says. 00:29:35.002 --> 00:29:39.882 And I don't want to step on any toes, but I'm kind of gonna right now. 00:29:39.882 --> 00:29:43.003 Okay, this might offend some people. 00:29:43.355 --> 00:29:45.502 The scripture says you don't really know the half of it. 00:29:45.502 --> 00:29:48.663 You're so weak you can't even guarantee you'll be around tomorrow. 00:29:48.663 --> 00:29:54.960 We're so small that we shouldn't promise that we'll be here tomorrow, like we don't know what God's gonna do. 00:29:54.960 --> 00:30:06.939 We are a wisp of smoke, a blade of grass, the slightest shift in wind and direction, the slightest change in temperature and we're gone In the scope of the universe. 00:30:06.939 --> 00:30:09.979 We're as small as a grain of sand on the bottom of the ocean. 00:30:09.979 --> 00:30:14.805 Very loved, very seen grain of sand, but we are a grain of sand. 00:30:14.805 --> 00:30:20.519 We're so powerless that Jesus said that apart from me, you can't do anything. 00:30:20.519 --> 00:30:33.884 Dude, so evil that the book of Romans declares that literally nothing good dwells in our flesh, that anything good that happens to us is God working to do it in us for His glory. 00:30:33.884 --> 00:30:35.400 It's all Him. 00:30:36.536 --> 00:30:39.718 I know that's jarring, i know that's not. 00:30:39.718 --> 00:30:44.097 I wouldn't put that in a cheer like yay, weakness, go Like no. 00:30:44.097 --> 00:30:51.067 But it's good for our soul to know that God is God and we are not. 00:30:51.067 --> 00:31:07.105 The reality is is that we are not the point and even though everyone and everything is trying to get us to believe that we are the point, that is the bait of Satan And he is trying to ambush us and take us out. 00:31:07.105 --> 00:31:22.007 Because only when you see that you are not are you ready to lean in to the great I am and discover what full and abundant life is really like in him. 00:31:22.994 --> 00:31:35.601 When you realize that God has declared the great I am named to you, in the midst of your insecurities, when everything is dark around you, you can say God, i don't feel like I can be a parent, i don't even know how to parent this child. 00:31:35.601 --> 00:31:36.979 I don't know what to do here. 00:31:36.979 --> 00:31:40.001 And God says I know I do. 00:31:40.001 --> 00:31:44.239 You say I can't make it anymore, i can't do this. 00:31:44.239 --> 00:31:45.999 And he says I can. 00:31:45.999 --> 00:31:51.842 You say I'm so doubtful, god, i don't even know what to believe anymore. 00:31:51.842 --> 00:31:54.881 He says to you but I'm so faithful. 00:31:54.881 --> 00:31:58.303 You say I feel so dysfunctional. 00:31:58.303 --> 00:32:00.201 He says I am so complete. 00:32:00.201 --> 00:32:06.162 You say I'm so deficient, god, yet I am so sufficient. 00:32:06.162 --> 00:32:08.721 You say I'm so sinful. 00:32:08.721 --> 00:32:10.980 And he says to you I'm so gracious. 00:32:10.980 --> 00:32:14.384 You say I'm at the end of my rope, god. 00:32:14.384 --> 00:32:18.526 And God says to you I've got a rope that goes on for eternity. 00:32:18.526 --> 00:32:20.980