The Power of God’s Presence

Exodus 3:1-12

“I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Sermon Transcript:

Good morning. Good morning. Happy New Year. Happy New Year, 2023. Wow. Wow. Uh, happy New Year. So I, uh, I was under the impression that they canceled the 10 30 service so I could preach longer, but I was informed that is not the case. So , we’ll, we’ll keep it short in compact. I know there’s probably some of you that made it to midnight last night.

I was not one . I haven’t, I can’t remember the last time I made it to midnight and I can’t say I miss it too much. So we’re gonna dive right in. Exodus three, one through 12 is our text this morning. If, uh, you don’t have a Bible with you or on your phone, uh, there’s a Bible in the pew in front of you. It’s page 43.

Uh, if you can follow along as I read,

Exodus three, one to 12. Now, Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horrib the mountain of God. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked and behold the bush was burning.

It was not consumed. Moses said, I’ll turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush. Moses. Moses, and he said, here I am. Then he said, do not come near. Take your sandals off your feet for the place on which you are standing as holy ground.

And he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hit his face where he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord. I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their task masters. I know their sufferings and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land.

A land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the parasites, the Hivites and the Jees. And now behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me. And I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come. I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt.

Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? He said, but I will be with you. , and this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain man. As we get ready to embark on a new year, 2023, and maybe some of you are looking at this and you’re excited, you’re ready to go.

You’re, you’ve got some things on the calendar. Maybe you got a, a new role at work, a new promotion, some new responsibilities, something’s happening. You’re excited. Ready, ready for 2023. Maybe some of you are not in that space. Maybe some of you are like, man, I’m still trying to process 2020. You know, , it’s like, I’m with you there.

It’s like there’s been so much change and upheaval, and maybe you’re in a space where there’s been some loss. Maybe there’s been some tough things in your life and you’re trying to figure some things out. Maybe, maybe there’s some things in your past. that you can’t seem to get by, you can’t seem to get over, can’t seem to get past.

Maybe there’s some things that people have said to you, ways people have treated you. Maybe there’s some things you’ve done that you or, or said yourself that you can’t get by. We’re gonna look today and see from this text exactly what it means for God to be present with us. Even in, you know, no matter where you are, you’re ready to go or you’re, you’re a little bit drawn back from, from where your life has led you to this point.

We’re gonna see from this text, the power of God’s presence in our lives, and we’re gonna look at this through the lens of Moses who we just read about. We got a couple questions to look at first. First, how does Moses view himself? And I want you to think as we dive into this passage and really consider this for, from how Moses is, uh, viewing this, how do you view yourself?

How do you view yourself in relation to other people in relation to God? And we’ll take a look first at how Moses views himself. Just have that question in mind. So first to consider this how Moses views himself. We gotta do a real quick recap and maybe some of you are familiar with the story of Moses, but I just wanna refresh our memories very quickly.

So Moses is born a Hebrew, he’s in Israelite. He’s born a Hebrew in Egypt. During a time when the Hebrews are ens, In Egypt, and we just sang a lot about that. But the, the Hebrews are oppressed by the Egyptians, and Moses is born into a Hebrew family, and then through a series of events, he ends up being adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter.

And so he’s part of Pharaoh’s household. He’s raised actually as an Egyptian prince. And then when he’s about 40 years old, after coming up in this Egyptian house, this, uh, this fair, like, he’s, he’s, he’s got a, a good life as good a life as anybody can have in Egypt, when he is about 40 years old. The Bible says in Acts seven Stephen’s speech that it came into his heart to go see his people, his, his Hebrew brothers and sisters.

And he goes out and he sees an Egyptian beating, an Israelite, and that enrages him. And he takes matters into his own hands. He takes vengeance into his own hands and he ends up killing this Egyptian. I don’t know if that’s, that was on purpose or I don’t know if that’s something that maybe Moses just didn’t know his own strength and he had a good right cross.

You know, who knows? But regardless, this Egyptian is dead because of Moses. And Moses didn’t watch csi. Like he didn’t, he didn’t know how to cover up all the evidence. Like he left some evidence and people found out. So the next day he goes out to see the Hebrews again, and he sees a Hebrew beating up another Hebrew, and he is like, yo, what are you guys doing?

And this Hebrew that’s beating up the other Hebrews says, who made you ruler and judge over us? What are you gonna do? Are you gonna kill me? Like you killed that Egyptian? And Moses is like, oh no, people know. And that freaks him out. And then he finds out, Pharaoh knows about it, and Pharaoh’s like, Hey, Moses is a dead man.

You’re dead. So Pharaoh wants to kill Moses. This thing’s out. Moses gets out of there, he gets out of Egypt, he hightails it out of there, and he finds himself in a place called Midian. And he meets this family. He ends up marrying one of their daughters, having a couple sons. He settles down in this land of Midian, and that’s where we meet him.

In our text, we started off saying Moses was keeping the flocks of his father-in-law, Jethro. So how does Moses view himself? Is he a Hebrew? Is he an Egyptian? Is he Midianite? Is he a slave? Is he a prince? Is he a shepherd? Who or what is he? And maybe, maybe you have some of these same feelings in your own life.

Like, maybe there’s a sense of, you know, like, uh, where do I fit in? Where do I belong? And we get a, a quick glit window or insight into how Moses views himself in Exodus 2 22. I’ll just read this quickly.

Uh, it says here, she’s zPo, who’s wife gave birth to a son, and he, Moses called his name germ. Germ. Sounds like the Hebrew word for Sojourner. He called his name germ before he said, I’ve been a sojourner in a foreign land. So Moses views himself. This is your first couple blanks here. Moses views himself as a sojourner in a foreign land, and at this point, like he’s 40 when he leaves.

He’s 80 at the burning bush, and he had germ somewhere in between there. But regardless, like he’s a grown man. He’s a grown man, and he has this sense of I don’t fit in and I don’t belong. I don’t know who my people are. And I’m sure like the last thing in his mind, like what’s ringing in his ears. The last thing that we have recorded that a Hebrew said to him is, you’re not one of us.

Like who made you ruler and judge over us. You don’t belong to us. And then if he’s looking at his Egyptian family, like Pharaoh, like the house that he grew up in, he wants to kill him. Like where does he belong? Who is he? And if you can relate to that, pay attention to this. This next thing. How does God view Moses?

That’s our next, next thing to consider here. And if you’re hearing these voices and there’s things that you can’t get, get by because maybe somebody has said something to you and there’s pain there, and a lot of times people are speaking out of their own pain and that just rests with us and we can’t get by it.

Or maybe there’s something that you’ve done in your past, like think about Moses’s life. I’m sure there was these senses of, I’ve just lost it all. I’ve thrown it all away. I I don’t fit in, I don’t belong. I’m just a stranger in a stranger land. And at it’s at that point that God, God comes to Moses, God comes to Moses, and we have this burning bush.

Moses meets God here. Let’s take a look at Exodus three, six. How does God introduce himself to Moses? He says, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, man. I think Moses needed to hear that and that I, I, I’m pretty confident of this. I did a little bit of study. I could probably do some more, but I, I think the only times that God introduces himself as I’m the God of your father, and it’s God speaking and he’s saying, I’m, I’m your God, is to Abraham, or sorry, to Isaac, to Jacob and to Moses.

I am the God of your father. And there’s this sense of intimacy and inclusion. and belonging. And if you are sitting here having questions about who am I? Where do I belong, where do I fit in, understand that God says to his children, you belong to me. You’re mine. And that’s what he says to Moses, here, you’re my child.

You belong to me. I am your father. I’m the God of your father. An another thing here, as Moses learns more about who God is, he learns more about himself. And it’s in , it’s in who God says Moses is. That’s where his true identity is. So there’s other voices that we can listen to and focus on or things in our past, things that people have said to us.

Shortcomings, failures, all of those types of things. We can listen to those voices. But God says, you’re my child. If you are God’s child, you are his. And that’s where your identity is rooted. That’s where you’re grounded. You’re grounded and rooted in God’s love for you as his child. Hear that this morning.

One last thing to notice here, as Moses encounters God, he first is scared and he looks away. You, you pick up that, pick that up in, uh, Exodus three, six. Moses hides his face. He’s, he meets God, looks at God. God introduces himself. And then Moses hides his face. He’s scared. He stops looking at God, but he doesn’t stop listening to God.

He stays there. If you’re in this space of wondering what it is, sometimes it can be a little scary and intimidating to think, all right, I’m going to lean into a relationship with God and I, I don’t feel worthy. I don’t feel like I’m, I’m there. Don’t, don’t stop listening to God regardless of even feelings of fear or inadequacy.

Don’t stop listening to God because you have a God who wants a relationship with you. Says you’re if, if you’re His child who wants this relationship with you, and look at Exodus 33 11, or you don’t have to look at it. I’ll just read it. Throughout Moses’ life, he’s introduced here, he meets God and God takes him on this incredible journey, and we get one glimpse in Exodus 33 11, it says that God and Moses used to speak to each other face to face.

As a man speaks to his friend. So Moses didn’t stay in this space of being afraid of, you know, it’s like he’s brought along this relationship where he learns that God is his father, he is God’s child, and God is the safest person for him to be in relationship with. He learns that about God. It didn’t happen in the snap of a fingers He had, he was, he learned to trust God more and more and more.

And if you’re a child of God, I, I can say that in my life that’s been true. There’s been times that I have been afraid of God and I’ve learned that God is the safest person in my life.

We learned some other things about who God is in this passage. That we’ll keep, keep moving along here. So what do we learn about God and who he is here? Well, verses seven and nine, if you’ve ever wondered if God sees, hears or knows he, he does. Look at this, it says he sees, he hears and he knows his people.

And sometimes there’s these questions of like, is God paying attention? Does God see? Does God hear? Does God know? And like I don’t, I can’t sense that at different times we learned something else about God here, Exodus three eight, the next verse, God rescues, but it’s in his time. And a lot of times that doesn’t line up exactly.

with how we want things to go or how we want things to pan out or immediately like, Hey, this is my timeline. And we don’t know exactly why or when as we’re in these moments, but we can lean into a God and trust a God and know that God does see God does hear. God does know, and he rescues. He delivers in his time.

He’s a God who isn’t blind, isn’t deaf, and isn’t aloof, or he doesn’t, it’s not like he doesn’t know what’s going on. You can trust that God who sees ears and knows and rescues. Last thing here in Exodus three 10, God partners with humans. He partners with broken lowly. Unqualified humans to accomplish his will.

He works to transform humans into people who accomplish his good work on this earth and bring his kingdom to earth. So he works. He wants to work through his children. He wants to work through you and me to bring his kingdom here on earth to do good works

and he wants good for his children. And that’s really the power as we finish up here this morning. That is the power of God’s presence in our lives. And sometimes, like if we look here, Moses initially reacts to. With an objection, God’s, it’s like God’s saying all of these different things, like, I’m gonna have you rescue my people.

I’m going to do all of these different things, and, and you’re gonna be the person that I do this through. Moses immediately says, we can go to the next slide. Um, Moses immediately has an objection and he says, who am I? Who am I that I should do all of these different things? And if you keep reading in chapter three, Moses has objection, after objection, after objection.

And it’s like he’s completely focused on himself. And it’s like you want to take him and shake him, you know, and say, Moses, stop focusing on yourself so much. But man, do I do that , like, if you’re like me, you do that too. And it’s like you, we, I, I focus on my insufficiencies my inadequacies and think like, but how, you know, I can’t.

And if you have those thoughts right now of like, well, how can God through me, like, how could God want a relationship with me? I can’t do this. I can’t do that. Pay attention to how God answers Moses’. Objection. He doesn’t say, but Moses, you just don’t understand. You have so much undeveloped ability in and of yourself.

You just gotta tap into that. And he doesn’t say, you know, Hey Moses, what, whatever you put your mind to, you can do. You know, as we step into these New Year’s resolutions, like if you, if you’re making any kind of New Year’s resolutions and you’re like, you are wondering, you know, can I, can I think about how God answers Moses?

Moses says, who am I? And God says, but I’ll be with you, but I’ll be with you. I am present. It’s my presence. That is your power. So as , as we step into a new year, hear that, if you’re wondering about your insufficiencies, you’re inadequately and you’re like, how’s this gonna happen? I don’t know what God is calling you to or what he’s calling to change in your life.

I, I know he’s calling for change in my life cuz I know I haven’t arrived there yet. And I know that the power for me to be able to do that is because of his presence in my life. And that’s what he says to his children. I am present with you. I will be with you. God’s not staying there on that mountain and saying, Moses, you gotta get back to me.

He’s going with Moses saying, I’ll be with you and I will bring you back. His last thing here is he’s not going to fail. God won’t fail, and he says to Moses, the sign that you’ll know that I sent you and did all this is that you’ll be back here with my people worshiping me. , like what I say is going to happen doesn’t mean it’s an easy road.

I don’t think Moses thought he was gonna go in there and do the whole 10 plagues. Like if you read the rest of the story, it’s not an easy journey at all. But Moses, like the last 20 chapters of Exodus, are all about Moses and the Israelites worshiping God there at that mountain. God will do. What he says he will.

He will accomplish his will, and he wants to partner with you and me. He wants to partner with humans who are available, not qualified, maybe not sufficient, in and of ourselves. All of those things are true, but are you available? Am I available for God to partner with us? He wants to partner to do his will in this world.

So as we look forward to another year with a mix of excitement and exhaustion, you can lean into the God who sees the God, guy who hears, the guy who knows you, the God who rescues in his time, the God who wants to partner with. To accomplish his will in this world. The God who is present with you, as you consider your own shortcomings and inadequacies, hear God say, but, but I’m with you.

And I don’t know if that means you need to, you know what? What is God saying to you? You need to leave your job. You need to stay in your job. Do you need to maybe just like we were saying, like Randy was talking about, do we need to make room some way for God to work? Maybe that means you, you change the way you drive.

I don’t know. We’re Jersey drivers. There’s a lot of , right? Maybe that means you change your spending habits. Yeah. I, I don’t know what it means. I just know. That God wants to work and change us into people that do His will, that do his good in this world. So let’s resolve to make room for God to understand that there’s power in his presence.

If you can stand up, we’ll receive this benediction and be dismissed. Um, but just in the stillness of this moment, if you can close your eyes, close your eyes, maybe bow your heads. I’ve said some things a few times this morning, if you’re a child of God, if you’re a child of God, if you’re a child of God, and if you’re wondering right now, am I a child of God?

It’s as simple as this,

do you believe. Do you want to be a child of God? And do you believe that Jesus came to earth, died for your sins, rose again? Do you believe that? And do you say, Jesus, you are my king. I submit to you. I’m not my king. You are my king. If you’ve done that in the past, if you’ve just done that right now, if you do that later, you’re a child of God.

You are his. You belong to him.

I couldn’t think of a, I couldn’t write a better benediction than what Paul said to the Ephesian. So as we’re dismissed, just listen to this and receive this. I bow my knees before the father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints, including Moses, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now go in peace, being rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. You’re dismissed.