Joy For Today, Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. One way or another, over and over again, we use two words that make it impossible for us to rejoice in the blood.

And we use them almost every day and surely in days that aren't to our liking. I can't. That's what we say, I can't. Under these circumstances, I can't. Under that diagnosis, I can't.

On the basis of what they did, I can't. I can't do this. And we say it over and over again. I'm not smart enough, I'm not young enough, I'm not old enough, I'm not spiritual enough, I can't. These words destroy this potential of this verse. And we're all susceptible to this, even the best of us. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's word meets our world. Have you ever noticed how easily a really, really good day can go bad?

I mean, it doesn't really matter. You work for weeks to get this special deal with a big client and you prepare all weekend for the meeting. You get up early in the morning, put on your best suit. You head out on the interstate. You have an eight o'clock appointment and then you find out there's a traffic accident up ahead. Two hour delay and you lose the meeting. Or you decide it's time to do something about your car, so you wash it. You put under a tree and then you wax it.

You spend a half a day working on it. Then you go inside for some lemonade and then you come out and you find out that a flock of birds with bombardier accuracy has ruined your day. Traffic will snarl. Airports will be delayed.

Friends will forget. Spouses will complain. And then the lines. Deadlines, long lines, receding hairlines, luggage losing airlines, wrinkle lines, unemployment lines.

And there's ever present bottom lines. It's amazing how fast that can happen. And yet the Bible says this. This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice.

And be glad in it. There's a couple of words in that verse that are really, really problems for us. The first one is the word this. This day. I mean, I could understand it if he said wedding days, holidays, vacation days. He says this day. That includes divorce days. Final exam days. Surgery days. Tax days. But God made this day, he says, so that you and I can rejoice and be glad in it.

Imagine if we did that. You see, there's something else he says here. He said we will rejoice and be glad in it. Not after it.

Not because of it. He said in it. You see, God knows something. God knows this. When you have joyful, thankful days.

And you start putting them together, you end up with a really good life. You see, that's how he does it. He does it in one day increments. Fourteen hundred and forty minutes.

Eighty four thousand heartbeats. A complete rotation of the earth on its axis. You see, God knows yesterday's gone. Tomorrow's hypothetical. This day.

We will rejoice and be glad in it. Here's the question. Why don't we? You see, why don't you? Why don't I? Why don't we do this?

I think it's because. One way or another, over and over again, we use two words. That make it impossible for us to rejoice and to be glad in it.

And we use them almost every day and surely in days that aren't to our liking. I can't. I can't. That's what we say, I can't. Under these circumstances, I can't. Under that diagnosis, I can't. On the basis of what they did, I can't. I can't do this.

And we say it over and over again. I'm not smart enough. I'm not young enough. I'm not old enough. I'm not spiritual enough.

I can't. These words destroy this potential of this verse. And we're all susceptible to this, even the best of us. Go with me to Exodus chapter three. Exodus chapter three. He's famous. We all know him. His name is Moses.

You and I would say if there is a Mount Rushmore. For certain believers throughout the ages, Moses has got to be one of the men up there. He finds himself in the land of Midian. If you remember, he had murdered an Egyptian. They ran for his life and he hid out in the land of Midian. And he begins the 10 sheep. It says Moses was pastoring the flock of Jethro, his father in law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness. And he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And it says, and the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of the bush. And he looked and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight.

Why is this bush not burned up? And when the Lord saw that he had turned aside, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here I am. He said, Do not come near here.

Remove your sandals from your feet for the place in which you're standing is holy ground. What a scenario. 40 years of tending sheep. Never having a conversation that wasn't bad.

OK, every single time. Just wondering what happened in my life. I grew up as a prince of Egypt. Now I'm in the land of 40 years.

The man is 80. And you had to think all the regret. How did this happen to me?

And then out of nowhere, think of this. Now, by the way, because the bush was burning, didn't have any effect on Moses at all. In the Sinai there, spontaneous combustion of bushes is normal.

So that didn't. He said, Why is it not burning up? You see, why is this not burning up?

I don't quite understand this. And then he has this conversation. God is speaking out of the burning bush. And he's speaking to you. Now, remember, 40 years of nothing. Now he's speaking out of the bush.

How would that affect you? Now watch. God says, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. And then Moses hit his face and he was afraid to look at God. He said, I've surely seen the affliction of my people are in Egypt. I have given heed to their cry because they're taskmasters. I'm aware of their sufferings. So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, to bring them up from the land to a good and spacious land.

A land flowing with milk and honey. Verse nine. Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel have come to me. Furthermore, I have seen the oppression in which the Egyptians are oppressing them. Therefore, come now and I will send you to Pharaoh. The reason I'm saying that is reading it that way. You see how many times God says me. I, I, I, I, I've seen it. I understand that I'm going to do something about it.

I'm going to do this. This is God speaking. And then at the end there, he throws Moses the curve and says, Therefore, come now and I will send you. The Pharaoh.

And what would have been the best day he had in 40 years? Becomes a really terrible day. What? I'm going to send you. I can't. I just can't. I can't.

You see, there it is. I can't. Verse 11.

Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, that I should bring out the sons of Israel out of Egypt? I don't have any identity. I can't. I can't do this.

I just can't. Verse 13. Then Moses said to God, Behold, I'm going to the sons of Israel. And I shall say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you.

And they may say to me, What's his name? And I don't even know what to say. I can't. I can't do that. I can't. I can't do that.

What would I even tell them? I don't have a message here. Chapter four, verse one. Then Moses said, What if they don't believe me or listen to me on what I say? He said, For they may say the Lord does not appear to you. I can't do I don't have any authority. They're going to tell me I'm I don't have it. I can't do this.

I mean, this is off. I can't. I just can't do it. Verse 10. Then Moses said to the Lord, Please, Lord, I've never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since you have spoken to your servant. I'm slow with speech and slow in tongue.

This is one of our favorites. I don't have any ability. I can't do this. Verse 13. He said, Please, Lord. He said, Now send a message by whomever you will. I can't because I don't have enough faith. I don't. You have to do use somebody else. What's God's response to this?

Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses. You ever think about that with the Lord? When you give it one of your can'ts. You just can't. Who am I? I don't have anything to say. I don't have authority. I don't have any ability. I can't.

I can't do. I'll talk in a minute about why I think the anger of the Lord is burning against Moses. Notice what God says here, though things I skip.

Go back to Chapter three. In verse 12, because he's not just saying this to Moses, he's saying to you, me. And he said, Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be a sign to you that it is I who have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship the God on this mountain.

Well, I will be with you. Notice what God didn't do. None of the Dale Carnegie positive thinking. Let's get it. You're a better man than you think. You've got to dig down deep. You've got to be positive. Look yourself in the mirror and tell my you got it, Moses.

You can do it. There's none of that with God. God doesn't waste time talking about something like that at all. He says, Moses, look. You have my presence. So you have my presence. I'm here.

Look at 317. He said, So I said, I will bring you out of the affliction of Egypt, the land, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Parasite, the Hivite and the Jebusite to the land flowing with milk and honey. I will do this.

That's God speaking. I will be with you. I will do this.

320. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my miracles, which I shall do in the midst of them. And after that, he will let you go. I will do this. Verse 21, I will grant this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. And it shall be that when you go, you will not leave empty handed. You'll get the plunder of the Egyptians.

I will do this. 411. When Moses said he had no ability to speak at all. God said to him, Who has made man's mouth?

Or who makes him mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I? Oh. I created your mouth for this job. You think I made a mistake?

You think I don't understand you? By the way, what's interesting about that is we know that Moses is lying. We do that often.

We want to have a bad day. We find out from Stephen and in Acts Chapter seven that Stephen says that Moses was raised in Pharaoh's household and he was a man of great power, of word and deed. God wasn't buying any of this law.

There's something else here, though, that's so interesting. Look at Chapter three, verse 14. Here's God's final answer. God said to Moses. I am who I am, and he said, Thus I shall say to the sons of Israel, I am has sent you. Yahweh. Most holy word of the Jews never spoke it, even by the time you get the Jesus Christ.

No Jews use these words. You don't say those words. Whenever a scribe was writing the Old Testament and he saw Yahweh, he had to every time he came to the word, use a new quill and bathe himself. Sometimes you'd have to do that often just in one paragraph.

Every time new quill, bathe yourself. This is Yahweh. I am who I am. I wasn't. Not that I was. Not that I will be. I am. That's who I am.

That's my name. God says. You see, what's going on with Moses?

The same thing goes on with us. A complete misunderstanding. Moses said, Look, I don't have authority. I don't have a message. I don't have ability. And you know what God says? I don't need you to have any of those things.

I have all those things. See, Moses, I'm doing this. I don't need that. I don't need your ability.

You see, I don't need that. I have all the ability that exists. I'm God. I'm not very skilled. I am.

I'm not sure who I can trust. I am. Nobody's listening to me. I am.

Why can't we get pregnant? I am. Hey, they stole my retirement savings from me. I am. Everybody thinks I can't do it. I am.

What if I fail again? I am. I don't think I can hold on. I am.

I need a fresh start. I am. I feel so alone.

I am. It doesn't matter what your insecurity is. I am is all you need for every single day. He doesn't need your ability. He needs your availability.

You see, that's what he needs. Look, I'm not trying to make you feel small. I want to tell you, you are small. We're all small.

You see, that's what God is saying. This isn't about you. This is about me.

I am. This becomes so important. Go with me to John chapter 6, Gospel of John chapter 6. You could follow along with this.

I'm going to go right through this pretty quickly. John 6. The Gospel of John written by the great apostle has one goal in mind. It's an amazing book.

Probably the book that most of us would always recommend a new Christian read first or a person considering whether to be a Christian should read. The reason for it is John's goal in this book is one thing. Jesus Christ is God. That's what he wants to say. Jesus Christ is God.

And he says it over and over. But the structure of the whole Gospel hinges on seven statements that Jesus makes. Seven is the perfect number of completion from God's point of view. And seven times in the Gospel of John, Jesus says, I am. Just like he spoke as the angel of the Lord through the bush. Notice verse 35. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.

He who comes to me will not hunger and he who believes in me will never thirst. Now, in Greek, that's written ego, I mean. And a lot of people say, yeah, but Jesus spoke usually in Arabic and then the writers wrote it in Greek.

That's true. But I believe that every time Jesus spoke this and he spoke with the Jewish audiences, every time he says I am in John, I think Jesus says Yahweh. And boy, they hated him to say that. No one speaks those words. Yahweh.

I am. He said the bread of life. Look at Chapter eight, verse 12. Then Jesus again spoke to them and said, I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

The bread of life, the light of the world. Look at Chapter 10. And verse nine. Jesus says there, I am the door, if anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. Chapter 11, verse 25. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even if he dies and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this? Chapter 14, verse six. Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the father but through me.

Chapter 15 and verse five. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit.

For apart from me, you can do nothing. Of all the I am's, that's the one that most applies to you and I in this message. I'm the vine.

You're the branches. You just abide in me. If you don't, you can't do anything. You won't rejoice in me, glad in your days. You don't have that capacity.

I am. I have that capacity. That's what Jesus says over and over again. He has no limitation. You're sinful. He has unlimited righteousness.

You're powerless. He has his supernatural strength. You are afraid and he says, I'll be your refuge. You're empty and he says, I can be your fullness. He said, your past is full of disappointment. He said, but I will give you a living hope.

See, the conclusion is I am not enough, but he is. That's oneplace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word, 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana, 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.

That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.