July 5, 2026 - The Words That Form Us - Ex 3:1-14, 4:10-12

Listen to this week's sermon from Pastor Dan MacGillivray on Ex 3:1-14, 4:10-12 in our summer sermon series The Words That Form Us.

For further information about Fort St John Alliance Church, check out our website fsjalliance.ca

Our desire is to become a community of people who practice the Way of Jesus together, and through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, live on mission to meet the social and spiritual needs of the world around us. Each week, we gather as a community to worship, learn from God’s Word, and be encouraged in our walk with Christ.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Fourth Lane John Alliance Sermon Podcast. I'm Nate Perry, the youth pastor here at the church. We're so glad you've joined us today. Our desire as a church is to become a community of people who practice the way of Jesus together, and through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, live on a mission to meet the social and spiritual needs of the world around us. Each week we gather as a community to worship and learn from God's Word and to be encouraged in our walk with Christ. In this podcast, you'll hear the latest message from our Sunday service. Whether you're listening from right here in Fort St. John or from afar, our prayer is that God will speak to your heart and strengthen your faith. And let's lean in together as we hear today's sermon.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Our scripture reading today is from Exodus 3, uh, 1 to 12, and then also um 14 10 to 12. 10 to something. I don't know. It's an Exodus. Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. So Moses thought, I will go over and see the strange sight. Why the bush does not burn up. When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called them from within the bush. Moses, Moses. And Moses said, Here I am. Do not come any closer, God said. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing is holy ground. Then he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. At this, Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. The Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of my people. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the home of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Parasites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the ways the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? And God said, I will be with you, and this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. Moses said to God, Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, What is his name? Then what shall I tell them? And God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites. I am has sent me to you. Moses said to the Lord, Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue. The Lord said to him, Who gave human beings their mouths? Who made them deaf or mute? Who gives them the sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, and I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say. This is the word of the Lord.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Thank you, Dara. Appreciate that. Good morning, everybody. It's good to be with you today. What a nice day out today, right? Oh, so pretty. It's wonderful. Love it. Welcome here this morning. If you're new here with us, if you're here just for a visit, really glad that you're with us this morning. So glad you showed us to spend time with us today. Just before I get into the message, I do have a few announcements. Um I am running solo as far as staff, well, myself and Norma. Um Aaron and Nate are both away this weekend. Uh, so uh everything has fallen to us. And I think we're doing a bang-up job, actually, Norma. So um I think we're doing great. Um, but I do have a few announcements uh just to uh share with you here before uh we uh look at the word this morning. Um Camp Amout uh registration for our uh family camp is right happening now. Uh if you are Spillish isn't coming, uh you can still sign up if you go to the next episode. There will be somebody there. Uh I know the spots are filling up, and we'd love for you to come out. It's such a great weekend, such an awesome time. Um, and so uh just so you're aware, as well, Sunday morning, we're out there for uh church service as well. So make sure that you know that. Don't come here because we won't be here. But if you can meet us down at the camp, that would be fantastic. So anyway, if you are still interested, you can sign up at the Next Step Center and we'd love to see you there. Uh we are expecting starting tomorrow that the street in front of us on 99th uh is gonna get some major work done to it, uh, which is great. Uh, I'm sure you've all seen and felt in your vehicles. Uh it needs some work, uh, so it's gonna be fantastic. Uh that being said, um, the plans as to how that work happens changes every now and then. And so uh we were let know uh just this past week uh that what we thought was going to happen won't be exactly the way it's laid out, but they're not even totally clear on how it will all play out. So I don't have anything new to tell you other than um we're not sure how it's gonna look for next Sunday just yet. So um what we will do is um Nate is gonna film a video here this week. We're gonna get stuff up on socials, it's gonna be in the newsletter uh that will let you know what to do when you arrive. Uh what I do know is that we will still have the parking lots, those uh those will be accessible. Uh it's my understanding that uh street parking will not be accessible. Uh so um just a heads up, but if you need to park uh more to the door, you can park around back here as well. Uh but anyway, um we will try to let you know as much as possible so that way you're not wondering. Uh, but we have to see it first for ourselves before we can tell you this is what's happening. Okay, so anyway, just so you're aware of that. And then uh this Saturday, July 11th, is the uh National Day of uh Prayer. It's happening at uh CLC Church. Uh it's actually 12 to 4. Um so make sure you come at 12 if you want to be part of it. It's just a great opportunity for us with others across the nation just to pause and pray for our country. I think it's such an important practice that as the church we come together to pray and we just, I mean, it lift up our nation uh in just such a meaningful way. Uh and so um I want to encourage you, if you have space that Saturday, make time to come. I think it's important. Uh so anyway, just to have that on your radar. Um, as we look ahead to Saturday, I do think there's something significant about the church coming together. I do think it matters deeply. Um, and so this morning, though, I recognize that not all of us will probably be there. So I thought we'd just take a moment where I just just we're gonna just, I'm gonna pause and pray here for a moment, just for our nation. So if you wouldn't mind, or just we're gonna pray here together. So let's pray for Canada. So, Lord Jesus, as we come out of this last week of Canada today, we pause and we bring our nation before you. Lord God, we thank you for the gift of this place we call home, for the land that it is, for the beauty that it is, for the people who make it up, for the ways in which you have been kind to us as a nation, even when we don't earn it, or I think it'll deserve it. But today, Lord, we don't just want to be thankful for Canada, we want to intercede for Canada. So, Lord, have mercy on our nation. Have mercy on us. Where we are not unified, where there is just how many division, would you make us just just how many people of peace? Where there is injustice, would you raise up righteousness? Where there is pain, would you bring healing? Where there is just how many confusion, would you lead us into truth, your truth? Where hearts have grown cold and away from you, would you awaken hunger for you again across our country? Jesus, would we see people come to know you in real and radical ways? Lord Jesus, we pray for those who are in charge. Pray for those who lead our nation, Lord, our province, our city, give them wisdom, humility, courage, and a concern and love for the people that they serve. Lord Jesus, we pray for the church in Canada. Would you wake us up to the moment that we are living in? Would you make us a just how many people who carry the presence of Jesus into our homes, our neighborhoods, our workplaces, and our city? And Lord Jesus, would you teach us to pray? Would you teach us to listen? Lord, would you teach us to love our neighbors well? Would you form us into people who practice your way and live on mission through the power of the Holy Spirit? Lord, would you renew us? Not so that we can be louder or not so that we can say more things that are impressive, but so that we can be faithful witnesses in our country. Jesus, we pray this morning for the Church of Canada that we might be humble, spirit-led, and full of love. So, Lord Jesus, have your way in us, have your way in your church, and have your way in our nation. And we ask these things in your name. Amen. Thank you. Well, as this morning, as we get started, I have a question for you. Have you ever looked at someone and thought they were made for that? Like, oh man, perfect fit. They were made for that. I think about that every time I look at my uh brother Rob. He uh he's made for a number of things. I wouldn't have said that when we were kids. Uh we fought a lot as kids, but that's what you do as brothers. There's always kind of like this level of I'm better than you kind of thing. And you'd have to try to constantly just, I'm gonna show it, show him up and all these sorts of things. Um, but from a young age, though, I could tell Rob was gifted at music, like loved to play music. Uh, in particular my dad's older guitar. Like he just loved playing it. And uh one day when he decided it was his and not mine, he just started to play it nonstop. And he just kept playing and playing and playing in his room. And eventually he just became really talented, really good. I mean, it's self-taught, knows exactly how to do it. And I remember when he was about 15, 16, he was invited to be on stage on a uh Sunday morning worship service. We got to play guitar alongside other people. And as I watched Rob play, I thought to myself, man, he is really gifted. I can never say that to his face, of course, at that time, but really gifted, like really, really talented, but just like really humble, though, too. Like he didn't really have a way about him, but just felt really spirit-led. Just felt easy to listen to him, just so full of just, I mean, yeah, grace at the same time for other people. He just has a way, even now. He's actually been in ministry for about 20 years, and he's actually been a worship pastor for about 15 of those years. And he just leads people into worship in such an engaging way. Like he was just made for that. Every time I watch him, I just think, man, you are really gifted, incredibly gifted. Clearly, he is just aminiya called to these things. He is meant for it. And, you know, as I look back on my life, I can see the moment too when I felt I was just aminiya called to do this. I remember I was at a just Aminya youth conference, and when I felt God say to me, as I watched the speaker and I'm listening to him talk, I felt God say to me, Dan, you're gonna talk too. And I thought, there's no way that's gonna happen. Uh, but I still felt it in the moment, and I wanted that though. Like rather, I wanted what he was offering, I wanted that invitation. I have at that point in my life, at that moment, I was about 15, 16, I had lived my life not saying a whole lot. I had kind of lived in the background, lived in the shadows. Was very okay to not talk. It was very okay just to let other people speak. I love to listen. I still love to listen, but I'm more than okay to not talk because every time I feel like I did talk, it just wouldn't go well. It just wouldn't go the way that I thought it would. I was made fun of by my friends at times, I was made fun of by just, I mean, adults at times, because my words could not come as easy as theirs. So I felt like there was this deep shame that had set in. That I don't want to speak, I don't want anyone to see me, I just want to hide in the background. And even though I felt that sense of just, I mean, a calling from God, stepping into what He has for me, I couldn't help but feel like I had that wrong. Like, no, no, no, you wouldn't ask me to do that. You'd ask somebody else. What do you do when God calls you into something and you don't think you have what it takes? If you feel like, ah, this isn't for me, right? And we all face this on just, I mean, a multitude of levels, having a having a difficult, just I mean, just um, I mean, a conversation with someone, right, right, that that you've been avoiding, right? Because you're just not sure how it's gonna go, and so you don't think you have what it takes. Sharing just, I mean, your faith with a friend and feeling just like you don't have the words, you don't have the story to share. Stepping into a ministry or a calling that maybe God has on your life, but feeling like you don't have what other people have. And so you just pull back and you decide not to dive in. But as I read scripture and I understand God, and the more time that I spend with him, what if the whole point of what he's inviting us into, you and me, the church, what if the whole point is that God isn't looking for people who have it all together? Right? Like, what if he's not looking for everyone who looks shiny and polished? Right? That he's not near as interested in that? What if he's not looking for perfect people to build his kingdom? What if he's not looking for that? And what if he's just looking for you to be willing? Right? Like, what if he's just actually saying to you, I just need your yes? Or like, I'm less interested in whether or not you think you can do it. I'm more interested in whether or not you want to, and whether or not you can give me your yes, and with that obedience, that the things that we feel like are weaknesses or inadequacies or just I mean, fears or anxieties, what if those things just begin to fade into the background? Because they don't matter near as much as you think they do. They feel less than because what God is forming in you and doing through you will last well into eternity, regardless of how you feel right now. Right? What if God is just looking for your yes? And so this morning we're gonna start a new series over the summer. We're gonna look at the words that form us. We're gonna look at the words that we see in scripture that shape and mold who we are, that help us to become the kind of people that Jesus is shaping into. And over the course of the next two months, we're gonna hear from people share scripture close to their own heart that have helped to form their own story, that have helped to inform who they are in Christ, what they ought to be doing with their life, these sorts of things. It's gonna be fantastic. I'm so looking forward to it. And we're gonna hear how those words intersect with their own story and the story that God is telling, how they both line up together. And so, you know, one of the big reasons why we share stories, why we share our stories, why we hear stories from one another is because in the Hebrew it actually means that we want to see it happen again. When we share story from the front, we share what the Lord has done, it's because there's this hope, this eagerness that says, Jesus, I want you to do something like that again. And so that's why we share story. And so over the next while we're gonna hear the story. We're gonna hear God's story, and you're gonna hear my story and other stories about what God is doing, how he is shaping us, and that through the Holy Spirit, that he would use the word to renew our minds, to transform us from the inside out, that we would see how our story is a part of the bigger story that God is telling. How it all intersects within itself. You know, we often say around here, the most important thing about you is who you are becoming. And for every single one of us, we are being formed. We are being formed by just, I mean, a family experience, relationships, screens, all these sorts of things. We are being formed. And my prayer this morning over the course of the summer is that whether you've been with Jesus for a long time or a short time, as you hear others share about the word of God and how it has formed them, that your longing for the word would grow and that you would start to see the story that God is telling through you, and in that you would be formed as well. That you would start to be shaped by the words that God has already said. And so this morning as I was praying about what the Lord would have me share, like what can I just I'm gonna talk about? I feel like I'm up here a lot, and so I feel like I share a lot of myself already, right? So, how can I say anything new? And you know what, there isn't really anything new under the sun, just so you know. I'm not gonna share anything radically different about my life. But what I do want to share is how a story of a man on a mountain next to a just I mean a tree that was on fire shaped and formed something in me so deep, and how the Lord has been just I mean, continuing to use that. And all throughout scripture, we see so many people who have felt this just this just uh just just this weight of not having what it takes. You know, Gideon, Esther, Isaac or um uh Gideon, Esther, um, Isaiah, just I mean, Peter, Paul. It just goes on and on. The story of scripture is the march of people who are not qualified, right? Like that's really what it is. It is just full of just I mean, men and women who just simply chose to give God their yes, not because they had it all together, but because God was calling them. So they just offered it up every time. And so this morning we're gonna look at Moses, a man that didn't feel like he had the words to say, and yet God called him anyway. And so, if you have your Bible, turn to Exodus 3. Um, just to give a context of Moses here, a little bit about his story, he ends up starting here in history in such a pivotal moment for the life of the nation of Israel. They have been enslaved for 400 years, like they are desperate to leave Egypt. They've been there for so long, at first it was great, and now it's not, and they just don't know how to get out. And Moses arrives on scene as a helpless baby that his mother is saving from death because of the fact that the uh Pharaoh decides or he hears about the fact that there's gonna be just a just, I mean, a savior is gonna come from the midst of Israel that is gonna rescue this people. And so Pharaoh says, Well, I have to get rid of these kids. That's the only way to stop that. And so Moses' mom sends him down a river in a basket, ends up at the palace in Egypt, where he essentially becomes just almost royalty in the palace, right? And so he is living this life of just ease and not wanting for much. Meanwhile, those that he is actually just I mean, related to all around him, are suffering greatly, right? And so he lives this way for quite some time, and then one day he's out and he's watching all these people work and they're just I mean, slaving over what they're building, and he watches a guard be cruel to someone else. And so Moses decides, I can't take that anymore. I don't want to see that. And so he kills the guard, he buries him in the sand, and then being worried that someone is going to just, I'm gonna find out, he decides I have to run. I just have to get away from where I am, I have to get away from my experience, I have to take off, right? But Moses, though, has an interesting story because he has been formed by the people before him and the stories that they have lived out, right? In fact, the story so far that we see in scripture is a just, I mean, a people that are marked by lying, running, and hiding all throughout scripture so far. It is a marked line of their just, I mean, a family in which they decide to run and hide from sin, but they cover it up, they do whatever they can, and they live in this place of shame. Moses finds himself unknowingly in the same space. Now he is running and he is hiding and he is fleeing from what he is ashamed of. And so he ends up running all the way across the desert, spends a good time in there. I bet he had lots to think about, gets married, he becomes a shepherd, and just begins to live this life of simplicity, of just playing it safe, hoping his past wouldn't find him. And then one day when he's out, he notices on the just side of a mountain, this bush is on fire. Right? He sees this light coming and he thinks to himself, I have to go closer to that. And so as he gets closer, he hears his voice coming from a bush. I don't know about you, I would probably turn the other way, or I'd probably go back down and say, You gotta come with me. I think I'm hearing things. But Moses hears his name from this bush. Moses, Moses. And Moses gets closer to it, and then the voice says, I want you to take off your shoes, Moses. Because where you stand is holy ground. And from this point forward, for Moses, everything is going to change. Right? He did not realize that when he woke up this morning. But he has this back and forth with God, and where God says to him, Moses, I have seen the pain that my just I mean, people are experiencing. And I want to rescue them from that. And I'm gonna send you to do it. And I love how Moses goes on for the next probably chapter here and just gives excuse after excuse as to why he shouldn't be the one to go. He just keeps on saying, Why I shouldn't be the one? And finally see this in verse uh 11. He says this. He says, For Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? And God said, I will be with you. That's key. Hold on to that. Okay, I will be with you. God says that. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this very mountain, Moses. Moses said to God, Suppose I go to the Israelites and I say to them, So the God of your fathers has sent me to you. Right? So just say I say that, he says. And they asked me, What is his name? Right? Like, what do I tell them? He says, What shall I tell them? God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites, I am has sent me to you. You know, first Moses starts with this place of who am I that I should go? I mean, right, when you think about everything that Moses has already been through, he's not on the surface the qualified guy that you would expect to ask to be a part of this, right? Like you think to yourself, there's got to be somebody else that we can invite in. Moses looks to his past. Moses looks to his shame. He looks to the things that he has done. He looks to who he is and he says, I don't have it. Like I am not the right person for this job. I don't know why you would call me into that. And we do this all the time. We look to our shame, we look to our past as a reason why God shouldn't choose you, why you shouldn't choose me. We feel like we don't have what it takes. We say things to God that sound similar to what we see from Moses. We say them even right to ourselves. We say, God, you don't know what I've done. If you knew my past, you wouldn't pick me. I've failed too many times, I've made too many mistakes, I've wasted so many years, I'm too broken for you to use. Someone else would do a better job. I'm a hypocrite, I'm not spiritual enough, I still wrestle with the same sin. I'm not worthy, I'm damaged. Right? Like we say things all the time. And then shame starts to sink in, where we start to believe what shame actually says. Shame has lies that it wants for you and I to believe, that it says that your past defines your future. Right? Because Moses looks at his past and he says, because of who I am and what I've done, there's no way that you can call me into anything past that. It's like this is where my story ends. It ends at my past. Right? It says things that, you know, you will always be what you did. That God may love you, but he can't really use you. Right? We say these things all the time. Maybe not even necessarily allowed, but internally, somewhere deep inside, there's a shame root for all of us that if we don't deal with it, can just take hold and keep you in chains. But God hears Moses saying all this, right? He says, you know what, God, I can't do this. I don't want to be a part of this. You have the wrong guy, whatever he says. But then God says this when asked about his name. God says, Well, I am, right? Which sounds like a weird way to announce who you are, right? Because it doesn't really give, well, right, is that a name? But in fact, it is. Because what God says, what he means when he says I am, he means that I am the one true reality, self-existent, unchanging, eternal God. So what he's saying, in other words, is that everything that you are not, I am. Everything that you feel like you're lacking, I have. Everything that you feel like is not there, I can give to you. I am. Whenever you feel wanting, I am, he says. Right? But Moses feels not only broken, right? But Moses feels unable, right? Like he just does not feel like he can, right? Because here's what I think. And when I read this passage, this is where I get stuck on. Because as someone who struggles to speak, I don't often say, no, I can't do something, and say it's because I can't speak first. I wait, right? This is kind of like a last excuse for me, because I don't want people to know that about me. And so as I read this for Moses, I'm like, man, I've been there, I've done this, right? So he gives all these excuses. Finally, he gets to this one, which I think is important for Moses. It's a crux for him, right? But it says this in uh 4.10. He says, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past, again, looks before, nor since you have spoken to your servant, meaning right now. I am slow of speech and tongue. You see, he looks to where he does not have it. And see, I think for Moses, this is actually where his heart truly lies as to why he really feels like he can't do it. I mean, I know there's all these other things, and I don't just want to just just have any say that because that's me. But man, oh man, would that not get in the way if he's asked you to go say something? Right? Like, would this not be a reason to say, uh, nope, can't do it, can't do it. You know, I have felt the same way. I felt the same way. You know, I had to stutter at a young age, I had to stutter from the age of six. And since that point forward, I have never wanted to speak in public. I've never wanted to talk out loud. And this has been challenging for me because I come from a line of pastors, I come from a line of people who love to talk, who are good at it, who are like really, really great with the words. I would sit in church services, listen to my dad and my grandfather preach, and just powerful in the way that they shared and communicated. And I would say to myself, I can never do that. I could never be them, I could never do that. And every time I would get an opportunity, for a long time, I would always just kind of like, ugh, I don't know. And I've shared this before with you guys, I've shared. There's been many times where I've struggled to say yes. Because it's so easy to say no. And it's so easy just to think, oh man, if I don't do it, then I can't mess it up. And if I don't do it, then God can do somebody who's more qualified and ready. I don't know if you ever feel that way, that if you just say no, that maybe God will simply bring someone else in. But we forget that God's actually calling you and I. Right? That he didn't wait for the person who comes along to the burning bush who has it all together. He called Moses, who does not have it all together, who is afraid, who is scared, who is terrified, and who now finally says, I can't speak the way that you want me to. He says, You've got the wrong guy. I have felt that way. I have felt that way, you've got the wrong guy. Even in my three years in Bible college, I said, God, you've got the wrong guy. There's no way that I could do this. But I love what God says to him in the next verse, right? Because God is going to address this for Moses that doesn't really fully flesh out until much later in Moses' story. But it's such an important thing that I think we need to grab onto and has resonated deeply with my heart. Every time that I say no, or every time that I feel anxious or afraid to speak, I'm reminded of this verse. He says to him, Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is not I. Meaning, don't I get to choose that? Don't I get to decide those things? If I can make somebody talk, I can make somebody not talk. If I can make somebody blind, I can make somebody see. Right? So it's so important here. God doesn't make mistakes. We have to understand this about ourselves. He hasn't created accidents. You are not here by accident. You are here because God loves you and He has plans for you and because He has something for you. You are fearfully and wonderfully made, as we read in the Psalms. You have been created and set apart for good works. You are not nothing. You're important to what God is doing. Your feelings of inadequacy are not a reason to feel like you can't participate in what God is calling you into. And that's the same for Moses in this moment. God says to him, You need to trust me. That if I am calling you, then I am has everything that you need. That I can control your voice, that I can help you speak, I can give you everything that you need. Right? It's so interesting that God continues to call people that don't feel like they have what it takes, right? Because God has a kingdom that is upside down from the rest of the world. It's like when you were a kid and you know you're in gym class and you have to pick teams at school, right? Everybody who's in charge of a team, what do you do? You pick the kids that can play best, right? You pick the athletes first because you want to win. God does not pick teams that way. He starts at the back end of the line every time he says, I want that end. Because that end I can use. That's perfect. He loves it. He just continues to call us into it. God flips that around. He's not worried about their talent, their ability, their skills. All of those things matter significantly less to Jesus. It's not near as important as your willingness, as your yes. He says, I'm looking for people just to step out in faith, that they might be willing, to trust that I will be with them and that I have what they think they are lacking. This is what God says. Right? And so again, God basically says this to Moses. He says, You need to trust me. God is not looking for you to be just, I mean, as successful but faithful. Right? He's not looking for just just for just for just how many results. He's looking for faithfulness. He's looking for you just to say yes. How many times do we feel God's nudge in our lives? That we would step out in faith in a real way, in a in a moment of trust that we just feel like I don't know if I have what it takes, where you feel yourself anxious about sharing your faith with your neighbor or offering to pause and pray for a coworker because you know they're going through something difficult and you just feel that that gentle push on your back, and you just think, oh man, what if I get the words wrong? What if what if it doesn't happen the way that I want it to? Showing love and hospitality as well to a stranger, how do we do that well? And you're worried, well, what if they don't like my home? What if they don't like what I serve them at the table? Right? There's all sorts of ways this can just play out in our lives. And so instead of stepping into that though, we retreat, we take a step back and we say, God, you have the wrong guy. And then fear and anxiety take over, shame sets in because we're too worried about how it is going to go. And then we miss out on God's invitation to be a part of the kingdom story He's telling. And you know what? I would say from an outward ex from an outward experience, and I know most of you could probably say this about me, I fail a lot. I stutter quite a bit when I get up here. Sometimes not so much. I'm doing okay today. But there are plenty of times where my words don't come out the way that I want them to. And I can feel it in the moment, right? Like I can feel it as I'm trying. And I love you guys. You guys are so kind and gracious the way you're just like, yeah, you can get it, right? Like, yes, I can, like, and I will. But man, every time I do, I just feel like I just want to step back a little bit further.

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Right?

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That if I just took a couple more steps back, that'd be okay. But I feel like continually God is just calling me in. He says, No, Dan, I want you to step into that. Every time that I take a step forward into obedience, I feel like there's more peace, more power, more grace, more love extended. In fact, you may not know this, but I intentionally take a little step forward before I get to this spot every Sunday. The reason I do that is because, as a reminder, that I want to step into all that God has for me. And I don't want to be afraid of it. I just want to be where he wants me to be. I want to give him my yes. And that what I have found over the course of my time in ministry is that God continues to use that. He has continued to use me in myself as broken and as fallible as I am. He continues to use me. A number of years ago, there was a um there was a student in my youth group, his name was Matt. He showed up to group, he was a new kid, didn't say a whole lot. Matt was sitting towards the back. I went to go introduce myself to Matt at the end of the night. I said, Hey, you know, I'm Dan. And he had a terrible stutter. Like he he could not get even two words out. And so, but what I've learned about some of the stutters is that the best thing you can do is just take your time and just let them talk. And so just let them as long as they need, you just listen for them. We sat there for 20 minutes as he just like slowly got out his words. But Matt though kept on over the next just, I mean, a year or two, he just was just, I mean, coming, just just just I mean, faithfully. But Matt would only ever talk to me. Matt would never talk to anybody else because he knew that there was something safe in me, because I knew what it was like to be in his shoes. I understood that it's hard to talk in front of people, and so sometimes you just want to hide away a little bit. And so he would only ever come and talk to me. But what I found about Matt over the course of time is his confidence began to grow slowly and slowly. I remember one night we were in a small group and I heard Matt start to pray out loud, and when we were all praying, and I thought, that's awesome. And I can just see him slowly starting to come out of his shell. It was about six months later, we were in Calgary at a youth conference. There was a student who was really sick in our group, and she had asked for just she had asked just for just um for just um uh prayer for uh uh uh uh healing. And so um I had gathered my small group, I'd gathered our leaders around this young lady, and I said, for sure, we're just gonna pause and pray for you now. And I asked for everyone just just to pray as they felt led. And so there's a few of us praying, and then it gets quiet for about like 10-15 seconds, and you're wondering as a pastor, like, okay, do I end it now? Do I pray or do I, you know, kind of give more opportunities? There's always an awkward moment there. But then all of a sudden, just as I'm about to pray, Matt begins to pray out loud. And as Matt prays, he doesn't stutter once, he just gives it and he's just praying for healing, he's just going for it, and I am crying because I'm watching the healing in front of me as I'm watching Matt pray. And he is just full on, he's just giving Jesus his yes. And after it's done, you know, I just you know, had um that um sorry, what once he said I had Matt there to the side, and Matt and I, you know, kind of give each other a big hug. And I just looked at Matt and I said, Matt, what was that? And he just said, I felt like God wanted my yes, and so I just prayed. And I just gave it. What I have found in my time now in ministry, and as someone was a stutter, someone who has just a hard time getting out, I love that God has given me a part of my ministry that celebrates people who have a difficulty getting out their words because I know more than anyone that they have important things to say and share. It's a beautiful part of my ministry. I love it. It's so fun. I just I mean I work with people all the time who have stutters, and it's so it is so encouraging to watch them take just steps of faith and obedience with Jesus. Here's a quote from Erwin Lutzer. He says, This God is not in the business of helping the humanly strong become stronger. Rather, he takes the weak and makes them strong in himself. This is what God is up to. This is what God is doing. He takes people who do not feel like they have what it takes. And he says, I'm gonna use them. I'm gonna use them. You see, Matt learned that God has been saying all along, you can trust me. You can step in faith that I have what you don't have. And then the most important part of what God says to Moses comes back in verse 12. It's something that Matt really understood and that I've really come to understand. He says, This, I will be with you every time. I will not leave you on your own. I am sending you and I will be with you. I am calling you and I will be with you. I wonder, I'm gonna invite the band up here at this time. Has it ever crossed your mind that the weakness that you feel like you have, the things that you feel like in your life are holding you back, or that you feel like God can't use, have you ever paused to wonder that maybe the reason why you experience that is because God wants to trust you with it? Because he wants to trust you with it, because when he gives you those things, when he allows these things in your life, that God has given you a story, and in that story is entrustment of his story. That you have this beautiful gift and opportunity to express and to share Jesus and who he is through what he's done for you. That you get to lean on him when you feel weak, that you get to point back to him, that he has chosen you for such a time as this, and that in your weakness you would model to others that God is actually strong. That when I don't feel like I have what it takes, God has everything that I need. That he is the great I am. And so, how do we just eminair respond? We're gonna do this in a couple different ways. In just a moment, we're gonna come down to the communion table, but but what is God calling you to? What is God calling you to? We talked about this even like a couple weeks ago. We talked about if you have a burden, you have a ministry, and I genuinely believe everybody in here has just they just sorry, they just they um have a ministry. But so often we talk ourselves out of it and we say, I don't have what it takes. But just maybe God wants to invite you into something. What is he calling you to? Even this week, maybe it's a witness to a family member, maybe it's to love your neighbor, maybe it is to step into a ministry, maybe there's a burden that he's given you here within this church, but you just don't feel like you have it. And so this week I'm gonna invite you into a practice, just a simple one. And um, it has helped me all throughout my years with a stutter. I say this often. I say, Jesus, I'm gonna give you my yes. And I just say that daily as a prayer. Jesus, when I feel inadequate or afraid, I'm going to give you my yes. Every time that I feel like I don't have what it takes, Jesus, I'm gonna give you my yes, because if I have my way, I will say no. But what might start to happen in your homes, where you work, where you live, where you learn, if every time you felt the nudge from the Holy Spirit to step into something, you just quietly said, Jesus, I'm terrified and you have my yes. I am really scared and you have my yes. Right? How would that start to shift the world around us? How would we see God's kingdom start to break out if more people just became willing? And so this morning, here's what I want to do. I just want to pray, and then we're gonna come to the table here together. I'm just gonna pray just just how many of you that you might step into whatever Jesus has for you, that you would recognize that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, and that Jesus is inviting you in, and that you don't have to be afraid to give him your yes. So let's just pray together. So, Lord Jesus, thank you for this morning. Lord, thank you for your grace, your goodness, your kindness, your patience with us. And Jesus, thank you for the example of Moses. Thank you, Lord, that we get to read his story. One of just this terrified man who had loads of excuses as to why he had to say no. But then Jesus, God, you shared with him all that he needs to know. And that is, I am that I am. Meaning that, Lord, you have everything that he needed. Everything that he felt like he lacked in, you could provide for him. That as you make the seen or the blind, as you make the mute, as you make the deaf, whoever it is, you have the ability to do anything. You can bring words to someone who does not feel like they have the words to say. And so, God, I pray for those in this room today who might feel like they do not have what it takes. That they feel like they have said no far too often because they don't feel like they are called, they don't feel like they're they're equipped enough, they don't feel like they have the skills and talents that others have, they don't feel like they can even share their disaminiya story in a way that could be helpful. Lord Jesus, I pray for each one today that by your just amnia spirit, that you might empower us to give you our yes, even when we don't feel like it, that we would step into what you have for us, trusting that just as you said, you will be with us. So, Lord Jesus, I pray that you would mold us to be the kind of people that would practice your way, that we would do as you did, that we would live life the way you lived it. And just as you did, Lord Jesus, that we would give our yes. That we would give our yes. So, Lord Jesus, I thank you and ask these things in your name. Amen. Um, I'm gonna ask the elders here just to now come to the front here for Nassau serve and those up top as well. You know, this morning as I was thinking about coming to the communion table, you know, like our lives give witness to the saving work of Jesus. Did you know that? Right? That when we choose to step out in faith, when we give God our yes, it actually gives witness to people around us that Jesus is who he said he is. It's a way in which that happens, that in our humanity, in our just just how many of brokenness, we are revealing the story that God is telling. This beautiful story of how we were lost, lost in our sin, dead in so many ways, and God in his great love for us, saw us and said, I love them more than they could ever know. And I'm gonna give my son as a sacrifice. I'm gonna come and take the penalty of sin, I'm gonna take the penalty of death and put it on myself that that we, you and I, church, might have abundant life, that we might live free, free from sin, free from shame. All of these things. And this is what actually just just in uh 2 Corinthians, this is a read from the Apostle Paul. He says this, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard-pressed on every side but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus. The death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mort in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. Isn't that a beautiful, beautiful picture of that? It's beautiful. And then Paul finishes with this. He says, Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that outweighs them all. In other words, everything that you experience doesn't compare to what Jesus is building in you that will last into eternity, the things that he is forming and shaping in you. So we fix our eyes, he says, not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is seen is eternal. And so this morning, as we come to the table, it is a moment to pause and to remember what Jesus did for you. And that as we leave the table, that you leave with the hope of the world within you, right? That you would be a witness to the fact that Jesus is alive, that he has died for your sin, that he has covered it by his blood. And that your story that God is forming in you starts to intersect with his story, and you can begin to share who he is and what he's done. That's the beauty of this table. And so, in just a minute, we're gonna pause and do this together. So I'm gonna ask you just to stay seated here this morning. You don't have to come to the front, just to simply stay where you are. And in a moment, we're gonna take each of the elements, just um uh uh uh separately and together here. And so uh in just a moment, um, you're gonna get the bread here first and then the cup afterwards. And so once you get the bread and then the cup, just ask that you just wait and hold on to it just until we all have it, and then we're gonna take it together. If you're here this morning and you have chosen to say yes to Jesus in your life, if he is first in your life, this table is for you. And so I want to encourage you just to come and receive today of all the goodness God has. So let's pray together. So, Lord Jesus, we thank you for your love and your grace and your mercy, and we thank you for the cross. We thank you that you are more than enough. That you died for our sins, that you took the penalty, and that through your shed blood we have eternal life. And so, Lord, as we come to the table, may we just pause and remember. Just remember what it is you have done. So, Lord Jesus, we love you and we ask these things in your name. Amen.