God Enough, Part 2 | The Time Is Right for God to Use You

You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast supported by Harvest Partners. For more ways to deepen and challenge your spiritual walk, enroll in Pastor Greg's free online courses.

Sign up at harvest.org. It doesn't matter. You have good news about a good God. You don't need to be eloquent.

You need to be obedient. God can use just about anybody. He can use a former shoe salesman such as D.L.

Moody. He can use a young dairy farmer such as Billy Graham. Or use an aimless young high school kid looking for answers such as Greg Laurie. The Bible is full of people who seem to lack ability but offered availability. And today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out that time is right for God to use you. What's holding it back from saying yes to what the Lord has in mind? We're looking at Moses now. And we're looking at the excuses he offered to God as to why he could not be used by the Lord.

So let's sort of backtrack and then come back to where we last left off. He was now 80 years old watching a flock of sheep for his father-in-law. And he married a woman named Zipporah. And suddenly there's a bush that will not stop burning. And the voice of God comes to him through the bush. And the Lord says, I've seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt. I've heard their cry because of their taskmasters.

And I know their sorrows. And then the Lord says, I'm calling you to go and deliver those people. Moses is saying, ah not me. I don't think I'm the right guy. So he offers excuses.

Here's excuse number one if you're taking notes. He said, I am not deserving to be used by God. I am not deserving to be used by God. Exodus 3 11. Who am I, says Moses, to appear before Pharaoh? How can you expect me to lead the Israelites out of Egypt? Now he does have a point.

I mean if you were God would you have picked Moses? In some ways he was a has-been, a failure, an embarrassment. Even worse, a murderer who was running from the law. He was a fugitive. And now he's an 80 year old dude. He's been out in the sun. His day is done. There's no more. He's retirement age.

He's beyond retirement age. And the Lord says, yeah I think you're just about the right guy I could use at this moment. Excuse number two. I don't have all the answers.

I don't have all the answers. Look at Exodus 3 12. Moses protested, if I go to the people of Israel and tell them the God of your ancestors has sent me to you they won't believe me. They'll ask, which God are you talking about?

What is his name? What should I tell them? God replied, I am who I am.

Just tell them I am has sent me to you. I love that. And then Moses says, excuse number three, I'm not a good speaker. Exodus 4 10 now. Next chapter. Moses pleaded with the Lord, oh Lord I'm just not a good speaker.

I never have been and I'm not now. Even after you have spoken to me I'm clumsy with words. And so Moses says, I can't do this Lord.

I'm just not the guy. And then he says, excuse four, number four, I'm not qualified. He said, Lord send anyone else. And the fact that he says Lord, he says actually in verse 13, oh Lord send someone else.

What do you mean oh Lord? If he's Lord you obey him. You don't say no Lord. You say yes Lord. Otherwise is he really Lord? The very title Lord implies master, control, in charge. No Lord, not me.

Send someone else. So basically Moses says, I have a brother. His name is Aaron. This guy is the silver-tongued orator. This guy knows how to communicate. He's a wordsmith. He knows how to verbalize truth. Get him to do the talking. I'll go along. I'll participate.

But I'm not your guy. And the Lord acquiesces. The Lord agrees.

And I would just say to that, careful what you wish for, you might get it. I heard about a couple, 65 years old, both of them were. And they'd been married for 35 years. So it was a big day. So they're celebrating. What a milestone. We've been married 35 years and isn't it fantastic. And then suddenly a genie appeared.

True story. And the genie said, because this is such a significant day I'm going to give to each of you one wish. Alright what do you want? He says to the wife. She says, well I'll tell you what I'd like is I love my husband so much I'd love to be in an island in the south seas somewhere surrounded by beautiful turquoise water, white sand. That's my wish genie.

To be in a beautiful tropical island with my husband. Poof. There they are together. Husband says, one wish huh. He looks over at his wife, 65 years old. He says, genie I would like a wife 30 years younger than me. Poof.

He was 95 years old. So careful what you wish for, you might get it. And here's why this was a bad idea. Because Aaron made a mess of things. One day the Lord was calling Moses to run a very important errand.

To go up to Mount Sinai and receive the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God on tablets of stone. He said, Aaron I'm leaving you in charge. Behave yourself. Do the right thing.

See you soon. As he's coming down from Mount Sinai Moses hears a lot of noise down in the camp where the Israelites were. At first they thought it was a war. As they got closer it was a party and Aaron was in charge. What does Moses see? He sees a golden calf and the people are dancing around it naked worshiping it. Moses looks at Aaron like what's going on Aaron.

Says I know this looks bad. I can explain everything. Well what happened was Aaron said to the people bring all of your gold, your earrings, your jewelry, your bling. And we're going to melt it in the shape of a calf. And then he put it up there in a pedestal and said that calf delivered you from Egypt oh Israel. Man that's the guy that Moses wanted and that's the guy that Moses got. So go with God's plan.

It's better than your plan. Well moving forward in this story and bringing it to a close Moses goes and tells his father-in-law he's leaving now and what he's going to do and he gets his wife Zipporah and his children. Well there's a little problem. Moses has neglected his responsibilities in the home. And what happened was he did not circumcise his son. So Zipporah did it and she was very upset with Moses. And the Bible says if mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy.

Actually the Bible doesn't say that. But there's some truth to that saying. She was angry with him. But he took it on the chin.

He did not argue with her because actually she was right. So here's the takeaway truth. Husbands listen to your wives. Go ahead wives. Applaud for that. That's a good statement. Come on. Husbands you should have applauded too.

Let me take it a step further. If you don't give your wife the respect and the honor she deserves it can actually hinder your prayer life. Here's what First Peter says 4-7 in the same way husbands. Give honor to your wife. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are but she's your equal partner and God's gift of new life.

Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered. See you need to have it together in your home. And here's the deal. Zipporah was effectively saying to Moses you're not doing your job here. You know you're the great Moses about to lead the Israelites out of bondage. You're not taking care of your house and your kids. And you're not doing the things you're supposed to be doing. And this is the case in far too many Christian homes. The wife is not only doing her job she's doing the husband's job. Doing the husband's job. The husband isn't being the spiritual leader that God has called him to be. You know it's the wife that will say maybe we should pray after you're halfway through the meal and husband's eating like a viking. Food in both hands. Shouldn't we pray? What? Yeah.

That's a good idea. It's a wife that says hey read a Bible story to the kids and pray with them before they go to bed. It's a wife that often says come on we need to be getting ready for church.

The wife's taking the initiative. I'm telling you it would make all the difference in the world if husbands would be men of God. Let me say this to you who are single. When you're looking for a guy get a godly guy. Get a man who's strong in his faith. A man who will lead you.

Don't get some guy who's compromised. Find someone that's more spiritual than you are and let that be your husband. And that's true guys also when you're looking for a wife look for a godly girl. I'm telling you if husbands would do what they're called to do and take the initiative to lead in their homes it would change our country. Pretty much every social ill in America today can be traced directly back to the breakdown of the family and specifically the absence of fathers. Fathers who have abandoned their responsibilities. Fathers who walk away and they don't do what God has called them to do.

Look at the stats. Higher suicide rates. Higher incarceration rates. Higher drug use rates.

Alcohol use rates. The list goes on. Girls getting pregnant outside of wedlock coming from fatherless homes. Men it's time to really man up and be a man of God. So Moses got a little lecture from Zipporah and he had to get things right. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We love to hear stories of how lives have been changed through the teaching of God's word like this one. I bought Greg Laurie's New Believers Bible last year but I couldn't commit to something I didn't understand. After reading it I accepted Jesus less than a month later and my whole life is changing.

I then saw the movie Jesus Revolution and didn't realize until the end of the movie that the story was about Pastor Greg the one who helped me become a Christian. Thank you. We're so grateful to hear of the changed lives through Harvest Ministries and if you have a story to tell I hope you'll contact us today. Call 1-866-871-1144.

That's a special number 866-871-1144. Well you're joining us for Pastor Greg's series Water, Fire, Stone based on the life of Moses. Glad you're along for today's message called God Enough Part Two. But now he has one last thing to do before he goes into the court of Pharaoh and we'll look at that next time. He has to let the Israelites know what he's about to do. So he gathers some of their leaders together in Exodus 4 verse 29. Then Moses and Aaron returned to Egypt called all the elders of Israel together. Aaron told them everything the Lord had told Moses and Moses performed the miraculous signs as they watched. The people of Israel were convinced that the Lord had sent Moses and Aaron and when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery they bowed down and worshiped. I love that little verse there.

When they heard the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery they bowed down and worshiped. It really makes a difference to know that God cares about you doesn't it? Because sometimes you might feel nobody cares about me. Nobody cares about me. No one thinks about me. God never cares about me.

You couldn't be more wrong. He said I'm aware of their suffering. I'm aware of their pain. God knows what you're going through right now. He's very aware.

He's very concerned. One day the Lord is going to right every wrong. One day the Lord is going to wipe every tear and he's going to use what you have gone through. He's going to use your pain and suffering to help others who are going through suffering and pain. You know it's an amazing thing that God wants to use us. I don't know why. If you were to ask me why does God want to use us I don't have a clue. But he does.

I think maybe a very simple answer would simply be this. Why does God want to use me? Because God loves me and God wants me to participate in the work that he is doing. He said to Israel I did not choose you because you were greater than number than others because you were actually smaller in number.

I chose you because I loved you. And God wants to bless you and work through you and touch other people through your life. As one person put it and I quote God uses pathetic people for his glorious purpose to show his superior power end quote. I like that. He uses pathetic people.

That's us. For his glorious purpose to show his superior power. You say well God could never use me. Let's go over those excuses one more time.

Number one I'm not deserving to be used by God. True. No one is.

But God does some of his best work through weak people. Oh well I don't have all the answers. Well no one does. Of course the Bible does. And if you're talking to a non-believer and they ask you a hard question there's nothing wrong with saying you know what I don't know the answer to that.

I think sometimes Christians just make stuff up. Don't do that. I don't have the answer but I'll find it for you. Or you might say well I'm not a good speaker. It doesn't matter. You have good news about a good God. You don't need to be eloquent. You need to be obedient. As I've said before God does not call the qualified.

He qualifies the called. Just take that little step of faith. You might say well the people won't believe me but God will go before you. Let me just close with this thought. And when a preacher says close with a thought that could be a 30-minute thought. And it might be a two-minute thought.

We'll see. There are excuses as to why people will not accept Jesus Christ too. And I think the number one excuse has to be there's too many hypocrites in the church right. Well the reason I'm not a Christian, non-believer might say, is because there's too many hypocrites in the church.

I wish I could say you are wrong. There's no hypocrites in the church. We have a hypocrite free church.

Well that wouldn't be true. So what about the hypocrites in the church? I would just say hey there's always room for one more.

Come on in. Seriously though I'm not excusing hypocrisy. But maybe we need to understand what hypocrisy actually is. I think it's thrown at Christians maybe too often because people don't know what it means. If you say I'm a Christian and you contradict that there's something you say or do that doesn't necessarily mean you're a hypocrite. It may actually just mean you're a human. A flawed human.

And you can own it. Someone might call you out saying hey aren't you a Christian? Why did you just talk to your wife that way?

You say you know what? You're totally right. I'm sorry about that. I shouldn't have said that or said it that way. Then that's a hypocrisy. That's just a person who's growing in their faith. Hypocrisy is different.

The word hypocrite comes from the root word that's translated actor. It's a performer. A person who puts on a performance. You're playing a part. It's not you but you're playing the part of something. And in this case you're playing the part of a Christian. So you come to church you have your Christian smile. You've got your Bible.

You hold it just the right way. You have your lingo down. You have it all together. But the moment you leave church you're another person. And you live like that other person without God, without faith, without obedience for the rest of the week.

And then you show up at church and put on your little Christian mask again. And that's what a hypocrite is. It's a person who's hypocrite is.

It's an actor. We don't want to be that. But if you fall short you're just a person who's growing in their faith.

But look. Trust me when I tell you. I've seen the best and I've seen the worst.

I've met the most godly people and I've met people who I thought were godly who weren't godly at all. I've heard some things I wish I'd never heard. I've seen it all. I've heard it all. But let me tell you.

Because I'm a pastor and we hear all this stuff. Right? It comes on our doorstep. People ask us to sort it out.

We're like aye chihuahua. You know what? You wouldn't believe the things that come our way. But here's what I would say to you. In my over 45 years of walking with the Lord I've seen hypocrisy on the part of some Christians. But Jesus Christ has never failed at any of the promises that He made to me. He's been faithful. And I didn't sign up 45 years ago to follow Christians. I signed up 45 years ago to follow Jesus. And that's what we all need to do.

Follow Him. Because I'll tell you what. When you stand before God on that final day of judgment the old too many hypocrites in the church excuse will not hold water. The Lord will say, what did you do with my son Jesus Christ? Well there were too many hypocrites in the church. The Lord might say, you're really going with that?

That's it? I called you. I sent my son to die for you. I paid the price for your salvation and you're going with a hypocrite excuse. It's not even a good one. There are no good ones. No good reasons.

No good reasons. And so stop hiding behind that. And come to Jesus. Because you see He has the answer to your questions. He has the solution to your problems. And He can take your sin and remove it from you and give you a new purpose and meaning in life that you've never had before. And best of all He guarantees that in the afterlife you will be in heaven. Is there anything more important than that? Listen if being a Christian meant you accept Christ.

You live a really hard difficult life and then you go to heaven. I'd go with that. That'd be good. But that's not the promise. Yes you will go to heaven but He'll guide you in this life. He'll give you peace in the midst of your hardships in this life. He'll provide for you. He'll touch you. At times He'll heal you. He'll take care of you. He'll protect you.

He does so much more for you. But you must come to Him and say, Lord I know I'm a sinner and I know I need Jesus. So as we close in prayer I'm going to extend an invitation for anybody here that wants to ask Jesus to come into their life and be forgiven of all of their sin. And if you need to do that respond to this invitation right now as we pray. Let's all bow our heads for prayer if you would please. Father, speak to the hearts of those who need Jesus today wherever they are. Speak to them because your word is truth and they need Jesus. And we pray that they will come to their senses and come to you now. In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer. And if you'd like to make a change today in your relationship with the Lord, Pastor Greg will help you do that in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. Well Pastor Greg, the new movie Johnny Cash the Redemption of an American Icon is such an engaging film. It highlights the spiritual journey of the man in black but it does so from a number of different perspectives. You hear many people reflect on Johnny's unique story.

Tell us about that. Well when you order your copy of Johnny Cash the Redemption of an American Icon on DVD along with the streaming code so you can download it to your computer your phone or your tablet you're going to see that a number of very well known people talk about their relationship with Johnny Cash. One man in particular who actually narrates the film and was very close to Johnny in fact he toured as a member of Johnny's band is Marty Stewart. Marty tells us now a story of the last time he was with Johnny Cash and what happened.

Give a listen. I went over to his house and I was about to go on the road and I just wanted to go check in on him, hug his neck, tell him I love him and I had recorded a song of his called The Walls of a Prison that I wanted to play for him. And so I played it for him and I sat at his feet. He put his hand on me he said excellent son. I said you got it. I knew he didn't want to hang out too long so we talked a minute and before I left the room he says I said is there anything in this room you want?

I said just your love. He said you got that. As I was about to leave he was sitting in his wheelchair with his back to the window and the late afternoon light was coming in and I had my camera all in my bag and I said JR let me take your picture. And there was like four frames and the first three he just kind of looked like this. I said JR.

He reared up and he looked like an old president and when I got the negatives back right there is the picture. Before I left the room I said how's your spirit? He said good. I said you got plenty of rope left. He said I got plenty of rope.

I said all right I'll be home in 10 days whatever it was. I didn't think it would come while I was gone on that trip but it did. Country music singer Marty Stewart from the movie Johnny Cash the redemption of an American icon. You know the film could focus on all of Johnny's hit records or the massive crowds that came to see him. It could focus on his TV shows or recording an album at Folsom Prison but instead it focuses on Johnny himself who grew up poor faced unbelievable heartache but always in a home with a deep resounding faith in the Lord and that's what pulled him through the tough scrapes and failings of his later years. Now Pastor Greg refers to this as an evangelistic documentary and it's so inspiring.

It's great encouragement for the rest of us who've had some failings. We want to send you a copy of Johnny Cash the redemption of an American icon on DVD along with a free streaming code so you can watch it on your phone or tablet or TV. We'll send it to say thank you for your generous support of these daily radio studies.

So why not contact us today call 1-800-821-3300 call anytime 1-800-821-3300 or write a new beginning box 4000 Riverside, California 92514 or go online to harvest.org. And then Pastor Greg just before we go would you mind praying with the person listening who wants to make a change today in their relationship with the Lord? I'd be happy to Dave you know as you've been listening to this today maybe you've heard another voice by that I mean yeah you heard me say a few things but you heard God's voice speak to you deep in the recesses of your heart and it suddenly dawned on you this is what I need or to state it more accurately this is who I need. I need Jesus and I want Jesus but maybe you don't know how to make that connection let me help you. God is only a prayer away he stands at the door of your heart and he knocks and Jesus says if you'll hear his voice and open the door he'll come in let me help you open the door so to speak of your heart as you invite Jesus to be your Savior and Lord. So here's what I would like you to do I'd like you to stop what you're doing and I want you to pray a prayer after me I'll lead you in this prayer and as you pray it God will hear you pray this after me right now if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life. Lord Jesus I know I am a sinner and I am sorry for my sin and I need your forgiveness right now would you come into my heart my life as Savior as God as friend I choose to follow you from this moment forward thank you for calling me and accepting me and forgiving me in Jesus name I pray amen. I know that was a relatively short prayer maybe you felt something as you prayed it maybe you felt nothing that doesn't really matter because God's word says these things work these things we write to you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life it doesn't say so you may think you have it or you may hope you have it if God's in a good mood no that you can know it and I want you to know if you pray that prayer in minute Jesus Christ the Son of God has come into your life so congratulations you're now a Christian now continue to follow the Lord yeah and to help you as you follow the Lord we'd like to send you some materials we call our new believers growth packet it'll answer many of the questions you might have and get you started off right in your new relationship with the Lord so get in touch and ask for it we'll send it to you free of charge call us at 1-800-821-3300 we can take your call anytime that's 1-800-821-3300 or write a new beginning box 4000 Riverside California 92514 or go online to harvest.org and click know God well next time Pastor Greg looks at the way we sometimes ignore the clear call of God on our lives it's a study from his series water fire stone a study of the life of Moses join us here on a new beginning with pastor and bible teacher Greg Laurie. Hey everybody thanks for listening to a new beginning this is a podcast made possible by harvest partners so for more content that can help you know God and equip you to make him known to others or to learn more about how you can become a harvest partner just go to harvest.org