Excuses — Exodus 3-4

0:00 Good morning. Such a privilege to be back here at Westlake. It's been a few years. I just like to tell you a bit about a certain woman in Zambia who we worked with for many years. And this lady, she was an elderly lady, probably up in her upper sixties.

0:26 And she was very frail, very thin, she had certain health issues. A person who was very insecure and fearful. And what amazed me so much about this lady is that she would come out to Africa to serve the Lord. I'm sure she thought that she would question the Lord, who am I that I should go out to the jungles of Africa? It just amazed me that she was willing to do that and able.

1:10 And the Lord did enable her. And what amazes me even more is that she worked with the older ladies, widows, who have lost their husbands. They were considered witches. If they were an older lady and they lost their husbands, the village, they would consider them a witch. And they were abandoned from their village.

1:43 They did not help them, the family rejected them, and sometimes they would accuse them of causing the death of their husband. And sometimes they would beat them and kill them. So, the mission there has a, sort of like a small compound with some houses with these elderly ladies, these widows who are looked after. And this missionary lady who was so frail, she, no one would really want to work with them, but she worked with these ladies. And it admires me so much, her desire to minister to them.

2:25 To even go to Africa and also to minister to them. And so, I'd just like you to turn to Exodus chapter three. Exodus chapter three, you probably know this passage very well about when God called Moses from the burning bush. And as you know the story, God, Moses gives several excuses for not going to Egypt, gave several excuses for not serving the Lord for various reasons. And so perhaps Moses was afraid or fearful of going back.

3:36 And so he gave these excuses, and the first excuse we see in Exodus three eleven, He says, who am I? Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? Moses had a sense of insignificance. Why should I go? I'm not qualified, but I find that a bit strange because Moses, he grew up in Pharaoh's house.

4:04 He was a prince. And, he probably had the best education. But yet, he didn't want to go back. He he says, who am I? I'm a nobody.

4:19 At least that's what his excuse was. And we also have the same excuse. We often say, Lord, who am I that I should go to Africa or South America or whatever? I'm nobody. And perhaps this elderly lady felt the same way, but she followed the Lord, she obeyed the Lord's voice.

4:42 And so, you know, but we say, well, I don't have the gift of evangelism. I'm not an elder or pastor. You know, who am I Lord that I should go? Jeremiah, he said the same thing. Lord, I'm a youth.

5:03 I'm a youth, you know? So whether it's a youth or an older person, the Lord can use us. And that's what the title of this message is, that God can use us in spite of our fears, in spite of our failures, in spite of who we are. But he called Moses. Moses didn't think he was qualified.

5:28 So Jeremiah says, I'm a youth. And God says, don't be, don't say that you're a youth. Don't be afraid of their faces. Quite often we think the same way, you know. Mentioned we're working with Pepsi and we go out to do open air evangelism and we're giving out these tracks.

5:50 And I sort of judge people as they come, know, should I get this person on track? He looks too scary. He may have the purple hair and spikes or whatever and earrings all over and his nose and his tongue and tattoos all over his body, leather jacket with spikes. I don't know if I wanna talk to that guy. It's scary.

6:21 You know, sometimes I think the Africans are more civilized. But, so yeah, we also have the same fears. And what's amazing is that type of person is the one that quite often would be more receptive of the gospel compared to maybe someone in a business suit. Joshua had the same problem. He was taking over for Moses.

7:01 And what did God say to Joshua in the first chapter? He says, don't be afraid, don't be discouraged. Be of good courage. Be not afraid nor be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. And I remember, I hung my life, I guess, when I was doing my training for aviation work.

7:27 I hung on to that verse. You know, just when I was doing my first solo, that verse came to my mind. Don't be afraid nor dismayed for the Lord your God is with me. So I knew that the Lord, he was in the cockpit with me. He was my pilot.

7:44 I was the copilot. He was the pilot, you know. So, and throughout all the years in Africa, I can certainly testify that the Lord was with us, the Lord was with me. And Jesus also said when he gave the great commission, he says, he says, know, go and make disciples to all nations and low, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Throughout the scriptures, many times, God encourages his people, his servants.

8:39 Another excuse that we often use. What's his name? Or we may say, but they will ask me hard questions. Oh, I won't know how to answer those questions. They might ask me something about evolution or a very common question that they like to ask is, well, if God is a God of love, why does he allow so much suffering and evil in the world and all these very hard questions?

9:09 So what if they ask me a hard question? What will I say? And that's what Moses was asking. And God answered him. He says, I will, I am who I am.

9:22 He was telling Moses who he was. I am that I am. I will bring you up to this land. I will stretch out my hand. Again, I will do it, he says several times.

9:38 I will, I will. Then he asks, then he says another excuse in chapter four verse one. Moses said, but behold, they will not believe me. Again, a very common excuse that we often give. Well, he won't believe me, I see a person sitting in there at the university and I wanna go and talk to that person about the Lord.

10:11 I look at it, they probably won't believe me. We often have the same excuse that Moses had. And what did God answer? He says, Moses, what's in your hand? Oh, a staff.

10:29 He says, Moses, throw it on the ground. He threw it on the ground and became a serpent. Moses picked it up by the tail. He picked it up and it became a staff. What is the Lord asking us?

10:39 What is he asking me? John, what's in your hand? A bible? A bible? Yes, then John used it.

10:49 It is a sword. It's the sword of the spirit. It is powerful just as we read earlier. It's powerful and sharper than any two edged sword and and is able to divide the soul and the spirit and the bone and the marrow. Use it John, that's what's in your hand.

11:36 My wife knows that. She corrects my grammar all the time. She's an English teacher. And so, God said, who has made your mouth? Jeremiah asked also said, Lord, I can't speak so well.

11:52 I'm just a youth. God says, I have put your words, I have put my words in your mouth. God is saying to us, you have my word. You have my word right here in written form. Use it.

12:09 They didn't have the completed word of God back then. And so God literally put his words in their mouths. We have the word of God and all we need to do is speak it. This is our authority. Just like he told, the disciples.

12:26 All authority I've given unto you, go and make disciples. Then finally, Moses said in verse 13, he said, oh my lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of whom thou shalt send. That's a interesting way of saying, lord, send someone else. Don't send me. I'm not I'm not qualified.

12:56 I don't want to go. Send someone else. I'm not fit. But the Lord, so the Lord became angry. And he saw Aaron coming.

13:09 He said, look, your brother Aaron is coming. I will use him and you together. You will both go out. You go out in pairs. That's that's even...

13:18 That's that's great in evangelism. Going out in pairs, just like the JWs do and the Mormons, go out in pairs, have someone, with you to encourage you to pray together. This is God's work. We have to remember that. It's God's work, it's not our work.

13:54 He ran. He was disobedience. He ran the other way. But God persuaded him to go back. God may have to persuade us sometimes, but he, in spite of Jonah's failure, God was able to use him.

14:15 In spite of Moses' fears and Joshua's and my own, in spite of these fears, in spite of our failures, God is able to use us. He's able to use you and me. Ordinary people, just like these heroes of the faith, they were ordinary people. They had fears and failures just like we do. I'd like to tell you a little story about what happened in my life when I was in the US Air Force.

14:46 I was based up in Northern Michigan. And I tried to be a Christian, a witness. I tried not to do those things that the guys wanted me to do with them, you know. And so I tried to be a witness, but I probably wasn't very good. So I put a poster up on the, know, a poster on my wall in the dormitory.

15:10 And there was a Coca Cola advertisement back then. You guys, the older folks probably remember it. It says, Things go better with Coke. You remember that? Okay, well this poster, it was a big red sign.

15:24 This poster, it says, things go better with Jesus. Okay, so I had that in my room. People knew I was a Christian. And so one day, this guy came up to me, another person in the dorm, he says, hey, I have a little color TV. Color TV was a big thing back then.

15:46 And a stereo hi fi, that's what they call them, a hi fi. Record player, know, AMFM radio tape player. He says, hey, you wanna buy these things? I'll sell them to you. I said, yeah, I would like to buy those.

16:00 I'd like to record some Christian music and that. So I paid him some money. I don't know how, maybe it was like a couple $100 or so. And so I bought them, gave them the money. Then maybe a few days later, he came up to me and he says, John, I have a deal for you.

16:19 Let's go up to the pool room and let's shoot some pool. And if you win, I will give you all your money back and you can keep those things. But if I win, then you give me those things back. I said, yeah, right. Yeah, you think I'm that super?

16:35 I'm not gonna fall for that. You're probably some pool shark. So I... He said, okay, I'll tell you. I'll make it fair.

16:43 You only have to get one ball in the pocket and I have to get all the rest. Really? Wow. Well, okay. Well, maybe...

16:51 I used to go to my friend's house and play pool, and I thought I was pretty good. That shouldn't be too hard. Okay, let's go. So I went up there, I was ready to break, and he said, oh, by the way, you have to get the eight ball in. Now you're changing the rule.

17:07 You have to get the eight ball in, I have to get all the rest. Well, I should be able to do that. Okay, I was ready for a break, and he says, oh, no, you have to bank the ball off the side and then into the pocket. Oh, now you're changing the rules. We say, well, you know, but my pride got ahold of me.

17:25 You say, okay, let's go for it. Can, you probably can guess, who won. It wasn't me. And so I lost all that money. I had to give those things back.

17:40 And I said, oh, come on. I begged and begged him. Know, he had witnesses there. No, no, it was fair and square. I begged and begged.

17:47 I said, I can't just throw away money like that. No, no, he refused. And then, he came to my room late... Little bit later. I said, look, you see?

17:59 You see that poster on the wall there? I'm a Christian and Christians don't gamble. Christians don't do things like this. Come on, please. He refused.

18:13 Okay, then maybe about a week or so later, it was Easter, And he came to my room, knocking on my door, he says, John, what's this, you know, today's Easter. What is Easter all about? Oh, wow, okay, well let me tell you. Let me sit down right here, you know. So, wow, I presented the gospel to him.

18:36 And he accepted the Lord. We were so grateful. Were so thankful. And he became a believer. He still didn't give me my money back.

18:48 But he left. He went up to his room. Some minutes later, he came back, or no, his roommate came to my room. He says, hey, John, you know that what you told my roommate? Tell me what what you told him.

19:04 I said, okay. So I sat down and I shared the gospel with him and he became a Christian. Oh, thank you, Lord. So so then some years, not some years, maybe some months later, I went to college in San Diego from from Northern Michigan all the way down to the Southeast Corner Southwest corner of the state, San Diego, California. And I went to college there, Christian College, after being discharged.

19:31 And so, we went out to the, it's called Hortons Plaza. It's really a bad place of the city, you know. We went there handing out tracts and preaching the gospel. And as I was handing out the tracts, this guy comes up to me and he's the second roommate that came up to me that was saved. He was there, he says, John, remember me, Henderson?

19:57 Hey, how you doing? I couldn't believe it. You know, what are you doing? Oh, he's in the Navy now there, you know. So he said, you know, John, was so grateful that you gave the gospel to me, that I became a Christian.

20:12 I was so grateful that the God gave me a ministry. And now I'm ministering to others and probably over 100 people have been saved. Oh, I said, praise God. Praise God. So God can use us in spite of our failures, In spite of our fears, in spite of who we are, God can use us.

20:37 And so I pray that he will more and more as the years go by. Doesn't matter how old we are or how young we are. With that, I'd just like to close prayer. Father, we just thank you for the privilege of meeting together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to worship together, to pray together, to praise your name. We just thank you that you are the reason that we are here to worship you and we desire to serve you in whichever capacity that you would have us.

21:10 And we thank you that you have promised that you will never leave us nor forsake us. That you will be with us wherever we go and just help us Lord, fill us with your spirit and help us to have boldness to speak the good news to those who are lost. And so give us a burden and a desire to be your witnesses wherever we may be. So we just thank you again for your presence with us and we pray all these things in our Savior's precious and worthy name. Amen.