God Enough, Part 1 | Lessons From Moses

Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here with an update on what is happening over on the island of Maui. As you know, devastating fires have effectively destroyed most of this old town of Lahaina and many lives have been lost. The number keeps climbing and there are a thousand people unaccounted for. This is so tragic. And as you also know, we have a church there called Harvest Kumalani.

It's about 10-11 miles from downtown Lahaina. Our church has been dramatically affected. Many people in our congregation have had their homes burned down.

Our church has a great sense of ohana. That's Hawaiian for family. They're pulling together. They're caring for each other. And right now we have a team on the ground and we're assessing the situation and trying to determine what we can do to help. We're very glad that our friends at Samaritan's Purse led by Franklin Graham are on the ground as well. We'll be working closely with them to do what we can for the people of this island that have had their lives turned upside down. As you know, we've established a special fund that we're calling the Harvest Hawaii Relief Fund.

And you can go to harvest.org and you can give. And we're going to put it to good use, bringing hope to the hurting people of the entire island of Maui. So let's keep praying for the folks there. Pray for the relief efforts. Pray for the first responders. Pray for those that are trying to rebuild the infrastructure of this island. They don't have power there right now. They can't really communicate at all. So they need God's intervention. Let's all be praying for them together.

And as they say in Hawaii, mahalo, which means thank you. So here comes Moses. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brothers. So he looked this way and he looked that way.

And when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and then he hid him in the sand. Moses checked for witnesses before he sinned. Pastor Greg Laurie says avoiding being seen is a warning sign about our behavior. When you're about to do something you shouldn't do, you look around. Is anybody watching me? He looked this way. He looked that way.

Too bad he didn't look up. The Bible helps us learn real lessons from real people. Sometimes we learn from their successes. Sometimes we learn from their failures.

But it helps to see principles lived out in real life. And currently on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie is helping us learn from the life of Moses. He was a great prophet, a true man of God. But he was a man with shortcomings and blind spots, as are we. And today we will learn from Moses' impulsiveness and we will learn from his shortcomings.

Ok. So to pick up where we last left off. The Jewish people are growing in number and they are serving the Egyptians as slaves. The Egyptians want to get them out.

They want to trim their numbers way back. So the Pharaoh gives a decree. He says to the Hebrew midwives that would deliver the little babies, Now if that baby that is born is a boy I want you to kill him.

The girls can live. But kill the boys. Apparently he saw these boys as a potential threat in the future. Well these Hebrew midwives feared God the Bible says. And they refused to obey what the Pharaoh told them to do.

In fact the irony of the whole story is the Pharaoh thought the boys were the threat. And it was the women who saved the boys and saved Israel and preserved their nation. And two women in particular are identified among the Hebrew midwives. Shipra and Puah. Now there were others.

But these two ladies are identified. And it was Jochebed and Miriam. Jochebed the mother of Moses. Miriam the sister of Moses that obviously played the role in saving him. And even an Egyptian woman that ultimately had compassion on the beautiful baby boy and adopted him into her home. And even remember that Moses was put in that little basket covered with pitch to make it waterproof. And it drifted right down there to where the Pharaoh's daughter the princess would spend time. And she fell in love with the little baby Moses.

Took him into the court. And Josephus the Jewish historian believes that Moses would have potentially been the Pharaoh of Egypt. And so offering commentary on this Stephen in Acts chapter 7 said, At that time Moses was born he was no ordinary child.

For three months he was cared for by his family. When he was placed outside Pharaoh's daughter took him in and brought him up as her own son. Moses was educated in the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. So Moses was the whole package. He was handsome. Athletic.

Smart. And he was charismatic. He could sway the masses. And then he was educated in the finest school of the day. To be taught in the wisdom of the Egyptians meant he would be taught in Egyptian military tactics, art, music, painting, and of course their religion. This was done in what was known as the Temple of the Sun.

Which was sort of the Oxford of the ancient world. But underneath those royal robes beat the heart of a believer. Underneath those royal robes was a Jewish man that felt the pain of his fellow Jews who were being treated horribly as slaves to do the work of the Egyptians and he wanted to help them but he didn't know what to do. Now if he had played his cards right and kept a low profile he could have ultimately ascended to the throne of Egypt, become the Pharaoh, and let the people go. But for Moses this just wasn't right.

He knew that's not really what he wanted to do. And we already looked at that passage in Hebrews where it says, Moses chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. I think Moses was beginning to understand his destiny. I know God wants me to help the Jewish people but how should I do it? Well he had the right idea.

But he went about it in the wrong way. Let's look at what Exodus 2 has to say. Turn there with me if you would. Exodus 2. Drop down to verse 11. Now it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown he went out to his brothers and looked at their burdens. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew.

One of his brothers. So he looked this way and he looked that way and when he saw no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day behold two Hebrew men were fighting and he said to the one who did the wrong why are you striking your companion? He said who made you a prince and judge over us?

Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Moses said, surely this thing is known. And when Pharaoh heard of the matter he sought to kill Moses but Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian.

Ok let's stop there. Ok here is a quick question for all the Bible students. Who wrote the book of Exodus?

Who knows? Moses. Now if you were Moses and you were writing these words down would you have written the words we just read?

I might have left that part out. Because Moses is not presented in the best light in what he did here. Same is true of the book of Jonah. I mean Jonah's book is pretty amazing. Here is a guy running from God and he is going in the opposite direction. The Lord wants him to go and the Lord through some gentle but firm persuasion brings him around.

There was something very fishy about it I might add. Ultimately Jonah does what God wants him to do. A massive revival breaks out in Nineveh. Great story. Great arc.

Everything is great. And then at the end of the last chapter Jonah is bummed out because God didn't destroy Nineveh. He was complaining about it. If I were Jonah I would have left that last chapter out.

But he put it in. You know why? Because you can trust this book called the Bible. It presents its heroes warts and all. It tells the truth about everything. And Moses is telling the truth. Man I messed up.

I should never have done this. And he even tells us what the consequences were as a result. Stephen offers some commentary on this over in Acts 7 23. He writes, It entered the mind of Moses to visit his brothers the children of Israel.

I think this is a bad idea from the outset. Because he was just sort of setting himself up for trouble. And sure enough he found it. He saw an Egyptian slave driver mistreating a Jewish man.

And it is interesting in verse 12 it says he looked this way and he looked that way. You know if you ever look at a surveillance camera in a store and you want to find a shoplifter that is usually what they do. They walk up to the item they are going to take and they go.

Grab it. Right? When you are about to do something you shouldn't do you look around. Is anybody watching me? He looked this way. He looked that way. Too bad he didn't look up.

Because if he would have looked up the Lord would have been saying, No. No. No. No.

No. Don't do what you are about to do. And he kills this guy. How did he kill him?

We don't know. With his bare hands? With a big stone? Did he thrust him through with a sword? We don't know how he killed him. But he killed this man and then he hid him in the sand.

Kind of a thing to consider. If you are going to kill someone don't bury them in the sand. Especially when the wind is blowing and it is only a matter of moments before the body is exposed.

He went out over every Egyptian social media platform simultaneously. And Moses realized surely this thing is known. Here is the point. We want to do the right thing in the right way at the right time. And just as important as the will of God is is the timing of God.

Moses is showing us what happens when impulsiveness reigns. How many of you would describe yourselves as impulsive? Raise your hand up. Oh I think there is more. Ok.

I am going to own it. By nature I am an impulsive person. I am the person who if I am bringing a pizza home for dinner will eat half the pizza on the way home. And by the way it is not easy to eat a pizza when you are driving. Some foods are easier to eat on the road than others. Burritos work very nicely.

Hamburgers are challenging. Pizza forget about it. Because you know you pick the pizza up and it is dripping grease.

It is hot. And you know you are trying to eat it. You know how it goes. And I think that retailers understand our impulsive nature. That is why when you are at the market and you are waiting in the line. And I always go to the 12 items or less line.

Even if I need to buy more I just want the shorter line. And I will be standing there with my six items. And I notice the person in front of me. I am counting how many they have. Am I the only one?

How many of you do that? Wow. You are not impulsive but you are counters aren't you? Ok. Now I see what is going on. So I am counting.

It is 14 by my count. But I won't say anything. But I will think it. Oh I will think it.

But as you are standing there what do you have all around you? Things to buy on impulse. Oh I could buy this magazine. Or I could buy this gum. Or I could buy these batteries. Or I could buy this parrot in a cage.

They don't usually have that. But you know things to buy on impulse. And I will tell you what.

Online they really are figuring this out. Now you have sponsored ads on Instagram. So you are going through your Instagram feed and here comes an ad for something.

You click it. Next thing you know you have ordered this thing. You didn't want that thing. But now it is ordered. A drone is already delivering it to your house.

It is on its way. Or you order something really quickly. I was on Amazon the other day and I have a bird feeder so I ordered a bag of bird seed. But I didn't pay attention to how many I ordered. I wanted one bag. I got like 12 bags. All these boxes are coming in.

Kathy is like, what did you order? Looks like I got more bird seed than I wanted. The birds were very happy. They sent a tweet out. Let everybody know. I am very loved in the bird community by the way. I don't know if you know that. Just ask them next time you talk to one.

So impulsiveness. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everybody. Greg Laurie here. And I want to personally invite you to the Harvest Ministries Israel tour.

April 9 to 19, 2024. Listen, this is your chance to walk in the steps of Jesus literally in what we call the Holy Land. Learn more at Israel.harvest.org. Shalom. And now Pastor Greg continues his message called God Enough Part 1.

And our special thanks to our Harvest partners and others who support us regularly for their help in making today's program possible. Let me say a word to you who are single. How many of you are not married yet? You are single.

Raise your hand up. Ok. Let me just say this to you. As you are looking for that right person take your time. Don't rush.

Because sometimes people, oh we can't wait. I will have couples come to me. Pastor Greg will you marry us like next week?

Wow. How long have you been knowing each other? We met last week.

Oh wait. You don't know each other well enough. I have had couples come in for counseling and I will say, well have you had an argument yet? Oh we don't argue at all.

Get out of here. Go have an argument. Because you are going to be doing some arguing. I guarantee that. Ok.

So take your time. You are going to literally spend the rest of your life with that person. If you don't want to spend the rest of your life with them don't marry them. Don't add to the divorce statistics. Well we are so in love we need to get married. Love is patience says 1 Corinthians 13.

Patient. I recommend a minimum of knowing each other for one year. Minimum one year. Better even longer. Kathy and I courted if you will for three years before we got married. And we broke up three times. We got all the breakups out of our system ahead of time. And these were big breakups. These were like I never want to see you again breakups. Then we got back together. And it has been said, love at first sight is nothing special. It is when two people have been looking at each other for a long time that it becomes special. I have been looking at Kathy Laurie for 45 years.

She looks better all the time. So that is true. If your love is real it will stand the test of time. Because the Bible says many waters cannot quench love.

Neither can floods drown it. So here comes Moses. He kills the Egyptian.

Really bad decision. He was probably just filled with anger. You know how it can be when you get outraged by something. So he makes this horrible decision and now the next day he goes out and he sees two Jewish guys having an argument. He stops saying, hey why are you guys having an argument? They are like, who died and made you king? There is one sibling who would say to an older sibling, you are not the boss of me.

They are looking at him like, who elected you? In fact you are going to make life harder for us. Because now the Pharaoh is going to crack down on us and everybody knows you did this.

It is out there everywhere. You have ruined our lives. You see Moses was called to be a leader but his timing was way off. You know sometimes people think they are called to be leaders.

Here is a good test. You think you are called to be a leader? Go lead.

See if anybody follows you. If no one follows you maybe you are not called to be a leader. Not everybody is called to be one. But Moses was called. But no one was following him yet.

Because his timing was off. Moses life can be divided into three 40 year sections. He lived to be 120 years old. He spent 40 years in the court of the Pharaoh being groomed presumably to be the next Pharaoh. He spent 40 years in the wilderness tending sheep. And then he spent 40 years with the children of Israel wandering through the wilderness. Or as it has been said he spent 40 years finding out he was a somebody. 40 years finding out he was a nobody. And then 40 years finding out what God can do with a somebody who finds out they are a nobody.

And I think I heard that from J. Bernard McGee the first time. I am not sure. So now he flees to the wilderness. You know there are posters everywhere. Wanted. Moses. Picture of him.

Yeah I am out of here. He goes as far as he possibly can go. And he ends up becoming a shepherd. Now that may not seem like a big deal to us but in Egyptian culture they really look down on shepherds. That is the lowest of the low.

I am not really sure why they did but they did. And so he goes from being the prince of Egypt to a shepherd. He goes from being the potential heir apparent of Egypt to becoming a shepherd over someone else's sheep. God was his self-confidence and his visions of grandeur.

One person summed his life up this way. He was a child of a slave and the son of a queen. He was born in a hut and he lived in a palace. He inherited poverty and he lived in royalty. He was the leader of armies and the keeper of flocks. He was the mightiest of warriors and the meekest of men.

He was educated in the court and he dwelt in the desert. Yes Moses failed but he failed forward. What does that mean? We all fail in life. But do we learn from our mistakes? You see if you go and do that bad thing read the consequences of it and do it again and face the consequences and do it again and do it again and do it again you are not learning from your mistakes.

What is the definition of insanity again? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? So what we want to do is fail forward. What does it mean to fail forward?

It simply means I blew it and I have learned from this mistake and I never want to do this thing again. That is what Moses did. He learned from his mistakes. He was deeply humbled by it all. But don't forget the Bible says he was Moses the man of God.

He was just still a work in progress. So are you. So am I. We all mess up in life. We all fail. We all have our lapses.

And I wonder if there is someone here that needs a second chance today. You have failed as a husband. You have failed as a wife. You have failed as a parent. You have failed as a child to your parents. You have failed as a believer. You have done something you are ashamed of.

Ok can you fail forward? And by that I mean learn from your mistakes and not continue to repeat the bad behavior by the help of God's Spirit? You can't. But you have to come to the Lord and say, Lord I admit my sin. I don't make excuses for it. I am not blaming anybody else. I did this. I am sorry.

I want to make it right today. And there might be somebody here that has run away from the Lord. I talked about Jonah who tried to run from God. That never works. And maybe it is time for you to turn around and come back to the Lord. Well I know it is time.

Maybe it is. And then finally there might be somebody here who has never put their faith in Jesus. And by that I mean you are not sure as you listen to this message that you are a child of God. Do you know with certainty that you will go to heaven when you die?

Let me ask this. If Christ were to come back today would you be ready to meet Him? If the answer to those questions is no you can change that right now by believing in Jesus. I am going to extend an invitation for anybody here that wants to commit or recommit their life to the Lord. Let's all pray. Father thank You for Your Word to us. Thank You for the promise of everlasting life. If we will believe in Jesus and trust Him as our Savior and Lord. And I pray for anybody hearing wherever they may be. If they don't know You yet. If they don't have You living in their life.

Help them to come to You now and believe in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. And then we're so excited to make available the unforgettable film called Johnny Cash, the redemption of an American icon. There was no one like Johnny Cash. He was a country superstar but also a man whose shortcomings and missteps often ended up as front page news. His honesty and vulnerability came through his singing but also the country toughness that kept him moving forward. Johnny or JR as his family called him was a man of deep faith but a man who needed large doses of God's forgiveness.

And we want to make this new film available to you right now. A film that tells this fascinating story. You know when you order your copy of Johnny Cash or redemption of an American icon from us here at Harvest on DVD along with the streaming code so you can download it to your computer, phone or tablet. You're going to hear some stories from well-known people including Johnny's sister who he was very close to, Joanna Cash-Yates. One of the events that dramatically impacted Johnny's life was when his older brother Jack was killed in a tragic accident.

Listen to Joanna now, the sister of Johnny Cash, tell that story. He said, mama, I have a feeling I shouldn't go today. And mama said, well, don't go. Go fishing with JR. Jack worked part time after school and on weekends at a local wood mill cutting fence posts. He happily volunteered to make a few cents to help pay the family bills. And he said, no, I'm going to go make three dollars.

We need it for the groceries. So he told Johnny, I'll meet you at the Blue Hold and we'll fish when I get through. And so they both went their separate ways and Jack went to the sawmill and he was sawing some fence posts. And as he pushed the fence posts and jerked him into the saw.

He was cut from his neck to his groin and survived, even though it tore him open very badly. And Johnny was sitting at his bedside holding his hand and he looked at Daddy and he said, Daddy, will you meet me in heaven? Daddy dropped down on his knees and gave his heart to the Lord. And so did the doctor. Jack called me Jana. He said, Jana, tell me bye. And I was scared. And I said, no, I don't want you to go anywhere. I wished I had.

But I couldn't. And that's when he left us. He went to heaven. It was a moment of unbelievable sorrow for the Cash family, but it played a role in influencing the pathway Johnny Cash chose for the rest of his life. You owe it to yourself to hear the full story.

As told in the new movie, Johnny Cash, the redemption of an American icon. And we'll send it to you. The DVD and the free streaming code to thank you for your partnership in bringing these daily studies your way.

And thank you for your generosity. This resource is a bit more expensive than normal, so please get in touch today. You can call us at 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514.

Or go online to harvest.org. Well, Pastor Greg, today you wrapped up your message by talking about eternity. Yeah. How can somebody listening know that they're going to heaven? Well, that's a great question, and I guess let me take it a step further.

I know that is the most important question you can ask. How can a person know they're going to heaven? Let me say at the outset, I believe I'm going to heaven. In fact, I'll take it a step further. I know I'm going to heaven. You say, Greg, isn't that kind of arrogant?

Not really. Because I know this because God has made a promise to me, and I've believed that promise. The Bible says we write these things to you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. I've believed on the name of the Son of God, thus I know I'll go to heaven when I die. Here's my question to you. Do you believe on the name of the Son of God? Is there any more important issue than that?

I can't think of one. So I'd like to lead you in a simple prayer, and this is a prayer where you will be asking Jesus to forgive you of your sin, and you'll be asking him to be your own savior, friend, Lord. It's a prayer only you can pray.

Pray these words if you would. Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner, but I know that you are the savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose from the dead. Jesus, come into my life. I want to believe in you. I want to follow you. I want this relationship with you. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin and rising again from the dead, and I thank you that you've heard this prayer, and I believe you've come into my life.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen. I want to help you grow in your faith. I want to help you grow spiritually. So I have a free gift for you. It's called the New Believers Growth Packet. What's in it?

No, not a bag of seeds to plant in your backyard. I guess it's sort of a form of a bag of seeds because I want to sow some spiritual seed in your life to help you develop as a follower of Christ. So I'm going to send you a copy of the New Testament in the New Living Translation, but it's a special edition. It's called the New Believers Bible, and it's filled with notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this new commitment or recommitment you've made to Christ, and there's some other materials in the New Believers Packet as well. So order your copy today, and I'm so glad I had this privilege today to lead you in that prayer. God bless you.

You've made the right decision, the decision to follow Jesus Christ. Yeah, and here's how to get that New Believers Packet. Just call 1-800-821-3300.

We're here 24-7, and again that number 1-800-821-3300. Or write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or go online to harvest.org and click the words Know God. Well, next time, more from Pastor Greg's series on the life of Moses called Water, Fire, Stone.

We'll see the value of reaching further than we ever have before. We'll see what great things God can do in our lives just past the edge of our comfort zone. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins. The preceding podcast was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Learn how to become a Harvest Partner, sign up for daily devotions, and find resources to help you grow in your faith at harvest.org.